I have never..

i have never driven in the snow before.. i have never stayed away from home, family and friends for so long before.. i have never had my own car before.. i have never received an email from a school principal asking me if i'm interested in an opening (a teaching position - just!).. i have never filed my taxes nor worry about it.. i have never dreamt of going to a good school, lest dream of doing well in the school (i never had good grades to begin with..) i have never baked so much in my life before! haha.. neither have i driven so much (almost the entire east coast of US) nor written so many papers! (ai yah, engineer not supposed to write.. just do math eqns all day)

anyhows, it's been a good experience so far. being away from home.. learning full independence. able to guide my brother in his uni application (keng did help me and gave me a couple of advice here & there but i learnt mainly by myself). another 3 months or so to seeing my family.. so exciting! =)

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as i reflect each time i listen in on a conversation here, i find that i'm always so "behind". of coz there are cultural differences that is certainly causing me not to understand things.. but as i think about it, sometimes i wonder what i had done in school throughout my life. at graduate school level, one should be able to use more "cheem" words, speak & write more fluently, discuss political issues and everything else. even simple things like 'nouns' and 'verbs' and english terms are fuzzy. which is bad. haha! i need to learn more. though sometimes i wonder if i'm just too old to catch up with the younger folks.

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it's one-week break here. lots to do.. but determined to rest as well. love got me started on diablo II last night. it's interesting and i see how the guys get caught up in playing games. haha! certain a steep learning curve for me but enjoying it.. esp the time of interaction with love. CNY this year's quiet. brother was complaining about how different it was w/o me -- no one to talk to him. haha! well, that's my extended family for you. they hardly talk to us. and we've absolutely no idea where our generation pple are - always MIA. =P for that brother, i cant be sure how many CNY you will face like this, if i'm gonna stay here for a longer term. thanks for helping me collect my share of ang baos! will bring you out for a meal when i'm back.

here's my current list of to-dos:

• study MTEL (exam on 3 March)
  
• driving test (probably this Friday)
  
• finish up readings and write up for T-210N
• do up a teaching philosophy for T-208
• read books (wanna read some C.S. Lewis books i borrowed from Karen H.)
  
• cut love's hair (i bought an electric hair shaver!)
• prep for bible study & worship (on Friday)
  
• search for private schools around the neighborhood
• BAKE cookies!
• make ice cream =P
• email folks (lots, lazy to list)