new discoveries
certainly a very exciting year.. it's kind of funny to answer people who ask "did you go home for break?" and i'm like nope, i went to florida, bahamas and tahoe three times. exotic indeed. although it cost a LOT. actually i'm sure europe cost a substantial amount too, i guess i just had more money in my account at that point in time.
okay my train of thought derailed along the way cos it's been a day plus since i typed the above paragraph and my browser died on me -_-
BUT. we shall do a little update on my classes/roommate situation and .. whatever else i remember. my biblical hebrew class is rather exciting, although i was quite shocked when i walked into the first class and she started teaching us the vowels and part of the alphabet. so many squiggly lines! i told my pastor that, he laughed and said "but you learn chinese!" and i was like but it's different.. chinese has more strokes so it doesn't look so pictorial/sketchy... i don't know how to explain it.
anyway, we read the first verse of Genesis 1 on thursday (in the beginning, God created the heaven and earth). it was SO cool... as hard as it is to decipher hebrew in small font, it sent a delicious shiver down my spine. can't really explain it. i guess i felt like i was discovering how God spoke to people in the old testament or something. that was the language!!! i guess i've always been somewhat of a purist. only somewhat though... the original is always nice.
okay now we shall rewind to what happened before i got back... my last tahoe trip was certainly very eventful. it was snowstorming as we drove up. actually now that i think about it it's quite amazing that we didn't need chains at that time. anyway it totally reminded me of the first trip this season, snow blowing into the windshield and all. although when we got up there it was dark already at that time... anyhow. yes, snowy windy day, boarding was slightly miserable, i don't know if it was just as cold or a little better... but only a few lifts were open. kinda sad :( but boarding with pearline is so interesting, she is definitely v adventurous. tree-skiing, going down blacks (which i was certainly NOT contemplating and was mostly falling-leaf-ing down).. after the last run i was like i am NEVER going on a black again... and then wait to hear what happens the next day:
second day @ heavenly was good! very clear and pretty.. yay for ridge run and lake tahoe view. i looove that run. anyhow, we had a good time with the other cornell ppl, i was just amused at how huangyu kept sitting down. and he's a skiier! ah.. so, the concluding run - we were coming down roundabout and having experienced the pain of having to unstrap and walk over some flat parts, yuanxiang was like eh, let's do gunbarrel instead. the sign said it was a black. and i clearly remembered the pain of unstrapping etc and i thought it was a black, should be manageable albeit not the best, so.. i said okay! and then we started going down the slope and it was CRAZY. why?? we discovered later (after surviving down the slope i.e. sliding down as best as possible) it was a DOUBLE BLACKKK. i kept blaming yx after :p and we only realized how long the slope was after we'd come down because, as yx said, we were focused on short term survival while coming down.. absolutely ridiculous :p
oh, we went to the outdoor hot tub in the hotel.. it was pretty good! despite the slight shivering before getting in and after getting out..
and then third day we ended up going to sierra. a little bit of deja vu again since i'd been there the previous weekend. but unfortunately.. i think i was kinda tired and for some odd reason somewhat hungry even though i did have breakfast and all.. maybe i really can't do more than 2 days. anyhow. on one of the blue slopes i somehow managed to catch my board and flipped somehow or other and hit my head on the slope... ouch. it was SO painful. my first thought was "great.. this is exactly what mommy told me not to do". second thought "i was praying for safety! why'd God let me injure myself!" (kinda irrational really) and third "crap! i need to graduate!" opened my eyes, saw stars on the left side, decided i needed to close my eyes.
after a few minutes this skiier stopped in front of me and asked "are you okay?" and i opened my eyes and was like yeah.. i'm just going to sit here for a while. and he had my hat/goggles (they flew off when i hit the slope) so i was very thankful. anyhow after that i still had to board down the slope, but carving was giving me a headache so it was actually quite a pain to get down (yes, very tragic). but basically i decided i was done for the day and went to rest.. it was somewhaat cold though.. headache continued throughout the night and jackie almost freaked me out cos she was like GO TO A HOSPITAL IF THERE'S BLINDING PAIN!!! and i guess either i can tolerate pain or i don't like going to doctors when i don't absolutely have to, cos i was thinking that it's a similar kind of pain as if i had just gotten sick and was moving around a little too much than i ought to. but thankfully after sleep it was better..
okay. done with the whole tahoe episode. so i move in, and this girl comes in the door and says "hi! i'm mattie! my stuff is in your room" and i'm somewhat surprised, cos i thought lilianna was going to be my roommate right. but i thought oh, maybe something changed along the way so i shut my gaping mouth and was like hi! etcetc. and then later i find out that there was a mixup. man.. awkward situation. well anyway thankfully it worked out...
and then classes-wise, i was kinda confused about what to take and all but thankfully i was blessed and got into the classes i wanted! although... i had a terrible moment with the dschool class. because i realized, with a sinking heart, that this class has SATURDAY labs. meaning no more boarding for me! well, unless it's president's day weekend. but then i was like heck, dschool classes are hard to get into and i may not get to take one next quarter either (and i'd already been rejected by two, i think). so i'll just apply and if God lets me get in i'll take it as a sign. so.. i did get in and my classes are settled and i almost know all the classes i'm taking next quarter too! not bad...
ah. yes. karo's bday dinner last night was lovely. haven't seen the XA girls in a while.. not in a grp, anyway. twas great fun. although it was rather interesting that half the night was centered around guys..... heh. i guess for different groups (of people) there're different conversation focuses. the only thing was that i didn't do my 280 reading/hw so had to cram it today.. i think it was alright though. i hope. -prays hard-
lazy lazy me. really need to restart the job hunt.. i kinda like my schedule this quarter though. even though i can't believe i reneged on my promise to myself not to take 9am classes! i guess kash is right though, at least it's near enough at the econ building. and it's a midterm/final class so shouldn't be so much work. basically it's mon 4-6pm, tues/thurs 9am-2pm, wed 1-3, 4-6, fri 1-3.