Birds gone wild

The birds are crazy. They attack people!! Just today, I got attacked by a small black bird with colourful wings, THRICE. They just swoop down out of no where, and just attacked my ponytail, and before I knew what was that, it was gone. I'm just thankful they aren't the huge seagulls.

Today was a good day, in terms of work. Wasn't working anywhere in general, so I just sat in the 'camp' (where they store all the things they need for wagons like cups, spoons, etc) and did miscellaneous stuff. Which was pretty good! Quite slack and relaxing, and I was training my biceps by scooping out at least 20 bags of ice today, for the snowcones. They snowcones they sell here are like the iceballs they use to sell in the old days in Singapore...except here, they charge $4!! Amazingly overpriced huh. But people still buy, because it's SO HOT out here...I think it's safe to say:

SUMMER IS OFFICIALLY HERE!

It's hot, humid, and...very hot. As hot as singapore, but I THINK Singapore is more humid...

Groan I miss singapore food! =P

Prayer requests:
1) That I'll be able to get the morning off to go to church next sunday
2) Discipline in doing quality quiet time
3) That God will take away the discomfort in my throat...think got a little dehydrated today!

Managed to sneak in my camera to work one of the days...as you can see I was pretty bored in my dippon dots stand haha.
"Would you like Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate or Cookies & Cream with Oreo?"


Hoo yeah. The good stuff in BULK.
Was still bored.


The view from my dippin dots stand last week...I got kana scolded for taking this shot by this supervisor who saw me happily taking pictures haha. This week I was posted at a different stand, so different view...and too busy to take photos during work =P

The view of the dragster from my window...it shoots you up at a 90 degree angle at 130miles in 5 sec. Whooboy.


"Matterhorn"
One of the first few kiddy rides I sat on to 'warm-up' for the bigger ones later in the summer =)


Carol, Me, Nick (standing), Danny & Jumbo...we're all in the wagons dept!


Carol & Nick playing table-tennis in the rec center...one of the ways to destress after work, if you're not dead from aching feet and a sore throat from talking all day yet!


Our visit to Walmart...the whole row of freezers was filled with ice-cream! And yeap, you saw that right, Carol's in front of the drool-worthy Ben & Jerry's...haha. Man, we're eating Ben & Jerry's EVERY night...and I'm not exaggerating. Gulp.


Some friends I've met here - I'm sitting with Preow (thailand), behind us are Reina (left) & Marilyn from Singapore...they extra extra popped their heads into the picture when I was taking with Preow hehe.


To prevent Cedarpoing employees from going mad from working to much, they hold some activities at the rec center now and then. This is BINGO NIGHT! Haha...yes yes, nothing exciting, but still. The prizes were good ok...was hoping to win the huge teddy bear so it could be my substitute bolster while I'm here. Speaking of which, Americans don't use bolsters! Gasp. Should've seen Danny's face when I was trying to describe it to him...his reaction was like, "What? Why would anyone need a cylindrical pillow??" Teehee. Oh, this is Carol & Utt! =)


Ploy! The cutest & friendliest thai girl I've met here in Cedarpoint =)

Discoveries of the past week

Americans are not rude. On the contrary, their phrases ALWAYS start with, "Hi, how are you doin?" They would make the extra effort to ask how you are, on top of the normal, "Hi"s. Except whether they want to hear your reply is a different issue! =) And over here, if you want someone to repeat him/herself, you just have to go, "Hah?" And no, it's not the singaporean ah-pek, "HAH??". I found that when I couldn't make out someone's accent, and I went, "I'm sorry?" And she looked at me funny, and asked me what I was sorry for. So from now on, let's do it the American way..."Hah?" =)

Haven't been updating much about my life here, just been posting up pictures =P So I'll try to do a little summary...

When we touched down, Carol & I had a little accommodation issue. Well to cut the long story short, the girls we are staying with were initially not very happy about us moving in, as it means less space and privacy for them. To be honest, I understand where they're coming from...to a certain extent. I want my space & privacy (and not to mention, safety!) too, just that they really have no choice but to let us stay, as even if it's not us moving in, there will be other girls in the room as well. At this point I'm really thankful Carol & I moved from the Commons Apartment to the Bayside Apartments. The difference is...10 less people. 'Nuff said. Anyway the Commons is very 'happening', there will be cops every other night, because of some fight or some girl crying wolf, or a fire alarm which went off probably because of someone smoking in the dorm. The guys' apartment ceiling light went out cos their upstairs neighbours were either wrestling or playing DDR really enthusiastically.

Well even if the Commons are 'happening', we girls at the Bayside had our share of a saga as well. We have 2 bedrooms, a living room & a kitchenette in our apartment, and when we first came, 2 girls slept in the living room on the sofabed (don't ask me why) and the other 2 girls slept in the other bedroom. One night when we were all in slumberland, I woke up because of what sounded like really loud laughter outside in the living room. I sat up and I saw Carol was up too, and I just said, "Those girls are mad" and went back to sleep. And fyi, if I could actually wake up from something, it is REALLY loud. In the morn we asked the other girls wad happened, and they told us that one of the girls sleeping in the living room saw a ghost and she got scared and went into their room crying. Long story short, they were hysterical by the time everyone woke up. And Carol & I happily went back to sleep heh. Well that kinda worked in our favour cos then they didn't sleep in the living room anymore, and I don't feel bad about sprawling over the sofa now.

Cooking. I cook! Or at least I try to. I tried beef vermicelli the night before, and it was not bad ok...except that the noodles were not thoroughly cooked, and it just sucked up all the sauce so were were left with a weird-looking dish. But well...it's edible. I'll learn a culinary skill or two by the time I get back home ;)

Thank God for the weekly devotion/sharing/worship sessions we have every week; just had our second one last night, and we seem to be increasing in numbers =) I hope more people can join in as the week's go by. Am very thankful for sessions, it feels nice to sing songs with other people again. =) I hope this continues.

That's all from me for now, cos Carol is falling asleep at the table hehe. I'll post pictures next time. Thank you for keeping me in your prayers.

Dippin Dots! The ice-cream of the future...
Americans are crazy. Even when it's 8degrees out, they STILL buy dippin dots...

Thanksgivings

1. Being posted to Dippin Dots this week, that during a rainy & cold few days, at least I had a shelter over my head, and a little booth to block out the wind =)

2. For food, that Carol cooks for me! Haha...

3. That I recovered from my back strain literally over night! Thank God for that, cos at least I could work without hindrance. And YES, I got it from scooping Dippin Dots. Sheesh.

4. For accountabilty, with the grounded Christian friends I have here.

5. For a quieter heart

Day 9...already??

I can hardly believe I've been working here for more than a week...ok, not really working. "Working". =) I don't really wanna bring my camera to work, so I prob won't be posting as many pictures...and type more words in my blog! Hehe. So this is prior warning: Have plenty of eye-rest before reading this page! =)

Work here has been pretty uneventful, as I still can't get over their inefficiency, and the way they do things here...they have NO form of system really. Like today for example, I'm sitting here in the recreation center, in the middle of the day, getting good internet...why? Cos everyone else is working in the park except a selected few told to go home cos there was nothing else for us to do. Which I really doubt, cos today's a Sunday, and there ARE going to be crowds! Just that at that point of time, John (one of the area supervisors) didn't have anything for me to do. Yeesh. Haha Mark (one of the cotton-candy guys) has been trying to convince me that Americans are stupid. Pretty funny, since HE'S an American himself! But apart from the inefficiency around here, what makes up all of that, are the people here. They are really fun, friendly and nice...there's Danny, Ebony, Josh, Fred, the thai peeps, Nong, Byrd, Pan, etc...will introduce them again.

Oh no I gtg now, will update again sigh.

Carol & I on our first day of work...


Me in my yucky uniform...the shirt is 2 sizes too big, constantly smells of grease, and the pants are too short, but too baggy. Unfortunately no asian-fits. Haha...but as ugly as my pants are, I'm REALLY thankful for them. Some people just have coulottes! Behind me is the Power Tower...where people get dropped at 240 feet...that's like 73metres!


The Singaporeans at the all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta & salad (i.e. junk food) buffet...for only USD5.79!! Yeah, that's dirt cheap here. The guys have vowed to come back here every week haha...
(from left to right)Me, Charles, Ambrose, Yongchang, Gabe, Carol & Nic

Johny Rockets!!

Haven't been able to update in a while, so sorry guys! Upon touching down here in Ohio, internet has been really hard to get, and for the past few days, the router in recreation centre was down...and they got a new one today!! =)

It's been real bo-liao past few days actually, cos the amusement park doesn't open till saturday, the 'foods' people are basically just cleaning and re-cleaning...and RE-CLEANING. Nothing much...Carol & I got assigned to wagons, so we'll most likely have a cotton candy wagon or smtg...we'll know tmr =)

but today was HAPPENING man!! After another day of 'acting busy' (which according to yongchang is what guys have been trained in army haha), we were invited to go to Cedarpoint's Johny Rockets (the largest in the world!) to try out the food! AWWWEESOMEEE!! Johny Rockets is actually a diner fashioned after the 1940s era, where they have really enthusiastic staff, had little jukeboxes on the table where they gave u nickels to play songs like "Staying Alive" (beegees), "Chapel of love" & "Walk like a man" (but sing like a woman haha). Cool stuff. Every 20 min, the waiters would start yelling and whopping, and then the service will come to a standstill, and they'll dance. Yes, they'll start DANCING! It was SOOOO fun! I had SO much fun watching them, that I can't imagine how fun it must be to be in their shoes and dancing as well. Really had a taste of the American culture here this evening, they were really going ALL out and really enjoying themselves. Man. =) AND. This young lady sung their national anthem at one point. I heard smtg about her being on American Idol, but then again I could be wrong. SHE WAS POWERFUL! She has like...4 lungs or smtg! She belted out at the climax SO LOUD that my ears were LITERALLY ringing. Whoop.

Today was a good day...and their closing the recreation centre now. Drat.