Most of the NTU students had left for East Coast (New York, Philadalphea etc.).
My closest friends, Mark, Andy, Daryl, all had their own programs.
Mark was with Suhui, Andy was with his dad. Daryl was with Candice.
Left only Wendy and me.
Found her rather irritating all along. Haha.
But the last 8 days spent with her proved to be ones where stronger friendship is forged. She was my only consolation. She became a friend, a confidante, a mother, a match-maker wannabe. Really appreciated her company, time, putting up with my nonsense, thoughtfulness, introduction of new friends.
June 12, Saturday: Whitewater Rafting
Was really fortunate not to have missed this wonderful trip. Almost passed this trip to go for a small-scale triathlon event 100 miles away.
From this trip I made new friends, young and old.
No photos were taken for this trip but the memories are profound.
The weather was perfect. Strong sun with no clouds. Temperatures around 18 degrees C.
Took a 2.5 hours drive to reach the rapids.
Despite the weather, the waters in Norther Americas were always cold. It was probably around 10 degrees C.
From the gathering point, we took a a 30min ride upstream of the rapids in a chartered bus.
Then we set into the waters. Was in the same boat as Wendy, Stephanie, Yi En, Jill and 2 other ang moh lady friend of Jill's. The guide was a big white and fat man who was lazy. While other guides were fooling around with their boat people, ours preferred to sit back and chat with the white ladies. Mostly high-tea talks. Sian. While the rest of guides played games that tricked the people into falling into the waters. Wendy and I had to specially request to jump into the cold waters ourselves. Haha. Damn losers.
After a 1.5 hours of rapids, we were finally ashore. Tired but extremely satisfied. They provided meals. Wolfed down 3 pieces of steak. Think nothing comes better than a good steak after a tiring work out. It was simply perfect. The sun was still shining bright, the weather was warm, the grass was clean, the mountains behind summed up as backdrop. The 11 of us (9 Asian kids + 2 white girls) formed one circle on the grass and ate together. Reminded me of my dragonboat days. A good meal after a hard training.
June 13: Strawberry Jam making / Lawn mowing / Big Bike riding
It was Sunday. Had nothing to do again. Was contemplating against going over to Jill's for strawverry jam making but really had nothing to do. Had no interest in jam making. Would have been great if I were doing it with my loved one but definitely not with a bunch of girls. So awkward. Went to mow the lawn with Jill instead. Haha.
Think she fell in love with me. Haha. Seems like no one had helped her mow the lawn in a long long while. Kept saying she wanted to adopt me as son and commenting on the body I carried. Super comical. Haha.
The Gardener
Jill and I
Came evening, Dick (Jill's hubby) brought us to Chittenden Locks.
Chittenden Locks is a water channeling port that seperates Washington Lake's fresh water from the Pacific Ocean's salt water. It controls incoming and outgoing vessels from the lake. An engineering marvel more than a century old. Pretty cool seeing the salmons swim upstream.
Vessels holding point. Channels vessels in and out of Lake Washington
Fresh water flowing into the sea.
June 14, Monday: Alki Beach
Alki Beach is a short beach strip on West Seattle.
Takes about an hour's bus ride to reach. Nothing fantastic about the beach. A rather plain one in fact. But the company was fantastic. Originally, it was an outing only for Wendy, Christine and myself. Managed to convince Steph and Manni to come along. Man, were they prepared. We brought some egg sandwiches. They came with cold drinks box and a variety of sanwiches prepared by Jill and Dick. So sweet of them =)
Upon reaching the beach, we were pretty turned off by the number of people on the beach. Lack of peace of privacy. Anyways, we managed to find a pretty good spot with both privacy and convenience. Good sun, strong sea breeze, warm sand, fantastic sandwich, cold drinks, good music coupled with great company made the entire experience an awesome one. Had a really good time just laying on the sand and sleeping away. Superb.
Bunch of good company. From left: Christine, Stephie, Manni, Wendy, Greg
Plain looking Alki Beach
June 15, Tuesday: Seattle Premium Outlet
Nothing happending much today except for a quick trip to the outlet mall.
Finally bought a Caphalon Santoku, Katana series for Mom. Felt so happy =)
Ended the busy day pang seh-ing the girls to meet Stacy. Had no choice. Finally had the chance to meet Stacey to thank her for her help in MSE 342. Wouldn't have passed without her books.
Stacey, Greg
June 16, Wednesday: Packing and sending off day
Nothing much for today except that Christine was leaving. Stephanie needed to have her stuff shifted into her new apartment, and I, had to move out of my apartment. Went through the moving-out process with the leasing agent. Had to bunk in with Wendy for the night. I took her bed while she took Daryl's bed. Stephanie and Manni returned to Jill's place for the night. Last time I saw them. Sad. Haha.
Had a HTHT with Wendy at night. Really, really, really grateful to her for accomodating and spending the pass few days together with me.
Terry Hall Entrance: Wendy, Christine, Stephanie
June 17, Thursday: Departure for Amtrak
It is the day of my departure.
Woke up early morning. Had to carry 3 check-in bags, 1 laptop bag and 1 huge backpack. Initially I was still thinking that I might be able to handle it alone. Luckily Wendy was sending me off, had her assistance for the journey to the station. She was really really helpful. Just as I stepped out of the University West's door, one of the wheels of the luggage, that Josh gave me, snapped. Had to lug it all the way to the station. Every minute that I carried the luggage was a torture. Had to lug along my backpack and another luggage on top of that spoilt one. It was madness. Finally reached
Amtrak Station: Greg, Wendy
