Goodbye Champaign, IL.

This is for all my friends past and present in Champaign-Urbana, IL. And this is difficult.

It is difficult to say goodbye to you. It means I cannot see you as often as I like. It means that our paths will go separate ways. It means that all the things we've experienced together in the past will be faint memories and I cannot touch them.

This has been and always will be my home. For here is where I have left a part of my heart. That part will very soon split into a hundred pieces, and each go their own way to various parts of the earth. Is this not the most painful thing in the world?

Till we meet again.

Those Darn Geese!

Charlene and I took a break at the Kickapoo State Park. The other Singapore students were there too. They took the wet route...canoeing! But we decided to have a quieter time with picnic and my Fables comic. Ha ha ha. By the way, if you don't know about Fables, shame on you. I'll tell you about it next time. Back to Kickapoo...

The day was great. Sunshine and blobs of clouds. When the sun er...shinded down on us, we got warm. But when the clouds went by, it was chilly. Acherly hor, the weather these days are siao lah. Its supposed to be warmer, but for some reason, they never turn off the outdoor air-conditioner. But ok lah. So the rest of them went canoeing, and according to the reports from Qinwei, they got really really wet and cold...in fact, they almost dieded. We also took her camera hostage, for reasons I shall not elaborate.

Anyway, we were hanging around the lake and saw a bunch of geese chillin out there. But oddly, they had a strange behavior...perhaps they were trying to show us some attitude? Here...take a look and see for yourself:

Thanksgiving 2007: E-Poem

It was time.

Time to do anything
Anything but work.
This Thanksgiving break
We headed to Starved Rock.

We forded the streams
We conquered our fear
We reach to the top.

We even ourselves "caught" a deer.

A few days later,
we were out again,
this time it was noisy
But all the same
We were happy


We were out late
Late into the night,
And that's when it all started
We began to see some lights.


After which, we went in
for turkey and a din.
Prepared by Nina
Nina and Mr Lin.

The feast was a great
It was a fantastic
It filled our stomachs
We were almost ballistic

After all is eaten and said
All is said and done
We each one of us
Noticed it was fun

So for each and every year
Once a time
Time and again
We remember to be thankful
To be sober
and sane.

St Louis

St Louis is a pleasant 2 1/2 hr drive south-west of Champaign. We met Sam there as he was on his way up from Nashville after a friend's weekend wedding. We arrived at the St Louis Botanical Garden in time for lunch, and sat at the nice outdoor cafe area for a simple, but delightful meal amidst the beautiful plant life. The weather was awesome, and walking in the Gardens was definitely a much wanted breather. Click here for the [photos].

We also visited the famous arch of course. There is a museum at the base of it. And you can actually go up in it, but we missed the closing time at 5pm.

Downtown St Louis itself was a little quiet. For city like St Louis, it was actually hard to find a place where we could sit down and have a satisfying meal. We walked around the riverside area, saw a few pubs, but nothing eye-catching. We decided to drive around a bit further away from downtown and ended up around Washington University area. But still nothing inviting. We ended up eating at the hotel restaurant, which was actually not bad.

So all in all, a nice day trip, but plan your restaurant locations ahead.

Lake of the Woods

This is a park about 15 min drive away from Champaign-Urbana. Not bad lah. A little small, but got lake. As you can see, its all frozen over, can walk and skate on it if you want...good for Sunday afternoon picnic.

Winter Trip to Starved Rock

Took a trip to Starved Rock Park about 1 and half hours away. So what happen here is the Indians had a fort on the rock. Then they kena got war lor. Then they retreat to the top of the rock to defend themselves. But then, the enemy surround them and basically they cannot get supplies to eat or anything. So slowly all of them die. I think they dig up about a hundred bodies. Ok, not say the bad part, the park itself is quite good lah. Got canyons and got bluffs. I never bluff you. They is got many bluffs. Is not bluffing. Then the waterfalls in the winter they turn into ice. But then ah, you know lor, this winter is very the gu-niang one, so not cold enough. The waterfall still falling water. Not complain lah. Is still quite chioh looking. Then got nice pub there to get a beer after a long hike. I recommend you to go lah. Oh by the way, entrance is free. Check out my movie and my latest photo album.

Oleng Color in Allerton and UIUC

See ah, I press, then he sing
"Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!"
That's why the Sun Singer sings
Hands up high high
Butt press ring ring
That's why the Sun Singer sings

Click here for the full movie. And here for the picture album. All the color belly nice. Got gou, oleng, led, gleen, bloun. I see already also my eyes get huay huay. See already also can cry ah. I recommen Allerton park for new visitor to UIUC lah. The uni own it. Used to belong to some rich man son. Then dunno why, he sian already then he sell to the uni. Wah lau, his house is still there. Then the backyard ah, is acherly the whole forest leh! Piang! If your backside garden is a forest ah, I everyday go camping ah. Got a river flowing through some more. Can catch fish jiak sushi lah. Or else, catch deer jiak deer meat on hot plate, season with spring onion and ginger.