No skiing this weekend :'(

No skiing this weekend :'( What happen was that I didn't get to sleep til early hour on Friday night due to stuff being on my mind so I postponed til Sunday. I was so excited about goin skiing today til I looked out the window....... IT'S *BLEEP* RAINING.... It kinda ruin my mood for the day but I rang the Chiropee and asked if you can still ski there. They said no 'cause of the amount of rain they are recieving as well as where I am. It's POURING rain.

NO FAIR
NO FAIR
NO FAIR

At least I am goin to Blue Mountain next weekend with a group of friends. I will learn to ski and enjoy myself.

*sigh*

somethings i forgot to add

Alice did get her luggage back.

Freeze Rain

I just want to clarify what freeze rain is.

Freezing rain develops as falling snow encounters a layer of warm air deep enough for the snow to completely melt and become rain. As the rain continues to fall, it passes through a thin layer of cold air just above the surface and cools to a temperature below freezing. However, the drops themselves do not freeze, a phenomena called supercooling (or forming "supercooled drops"). When the supercooled drops strike the frozen ground (power lines, or tree branches), they instantly freeze, forming a thin film of ice, hence freezing rain. http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/cld/prcp/zr/frz.rxml

The ice on the ground varies on how much rain you have that day. On the day when i fell, it was a moderate rain and covers not just the pavement and roads but the ground as well which make it dangerous for anyone to walk on. My friend, Alice, she said that I should've stayed home and not worry about coming to uni. If she told me that beforehand, then i'll be wiser not to go out. Oh well. I learn my lesson.

Skiing this weekend

I am learning to ski this weekend..... YIPPEEEEE!

Culture Shock

Culture shock has many stages. Each stage can be ongoing or appear only at certain times. The first stage is the incubation stage. In this first stage, the new arrival may feel euphoric and be pleased by all of the new things encountered. This time is called the "honeymoon" stage, as everything encountered is new and exciting.

Afterwards, the second stage presents itself. A person may encounter some difficult times and crises in daily life. For example, communication difficulties may occur such as not being understood. In this stage, there may be feelings of discontent, impatience, anger, sadness, and feeling incompetence. This happens when a person is trying to adapt to a new culture that is very different from the culture of origin. Transition between the old methods and those of the new country is a difficult process and takes time to complete. During the transition, there can be strong feelings of dissatisfaction.

The third stage is characterized by gaining some understanding of the new culture. A new feeling of pleasure and sense of humor may be experienced. One may start to feel a certain psychological balance. The new arrival may not feel as lost and starts to have a feeling of direction. The individual is more familiar with the environment and wants to belong. This initiates an evaluation of the old ways versus those of the new.

In the fourth stage, the person realizes that the new culture has good and bad things to offer. This stage can be one of double integration or triple integration depending on the number of cultures that the person has to process. This integration is accompanied by a more solid feeling of belonging. The person starts to define him/herself and establish goals for living.

The fifth stage is the stage that is called the "re-entry shock." This occurs when a return to the country of origin is made. One may find that things are no longer the same. For example, some of the newly acquired customs are not in use in the old culture.

These stages are present at different times and each person has their own way of reacting in the stages of culture shock. As a consequence, some stages will be longer and more difficult than others. Many factors contribute to the duration and effects of culture shock. For example, the individual's state of mental health, type of personality, previous experiences, socio-economic conditions, familiarity with the language, family and/or social support systems, and level of education.

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/CGuanipa/cultshok.htm

21st Jan 06

I had Orientation Day today along with other international student coming in for Winter term and onward. They talked about University of Waterloo, International Office Service, International Student Connection, Counselling and Culture Shock.

I say I've already have culture shock and has been for a few weeks. They pointed out things that is related to culture shock and one of them was saying my country is better than this. I have had few conversation with other people about comparing our universities. It was obvious somewhere in the blog. Every country is different and you cannot jump to conclusion or assumption about something. It is normal for people who is having culture shock. Wow. I was thinking yeah i am having that at the moment but it's getting better and i am getting more involved with the university and around Waterloo.

I am in process of joining a group to learn skiing at Chiropee Skiing School and goin to Blue Mountain on February 4th.

Anyway, after Orientation day, Rob, he is an interpreter and he is of course breakin the rule of involving someone in personal life but hey he was being consicous as I was having a hard time trying to get involved and there isn't any deaf people at UW. So he asked me if I wanted to go to St Jacob today, from other day and I said yeah why not. Well St Jacob is different and I love it. It's not like any other town like Waterloo or Kitchener but yeah WOW. http://www.stjacobs.com/

I saw Mennonite. Rob was explaining what Mennonite are and everything. It was interesting. I actually enjoyed listening about the history and how things change over time. There was a old flour mill and it has been turned into shops inside but outside it still looks like a flour mills. I was fantasted. I am definitely going back there.

There are few events coming up and I can't wait for the Maple Syrup Festival which is on April 1st at Elmira.
http://www.elmiramaplesyrup.com/

As for the injury sustained on last Tuesday, well the doctor has referred me to physiotherapy and there hasn't been any damage to my back which i am lucky. There was a girl who has broken her leg slipping over on the pavement on that night. Well I slipped durin the night walking to the bus stop at 6:15pm but it was dark as in dark.

So yeah that the story of my life at the moment :-p.

Student Life Centre (SLC)

This is where you can go and get Tim Horton's coffee and donuts as well as other things. You will find that alot of student goes there for lunch and dinner.

Inside the Student Life Centre you'll find:
Apple II Hairstyling Salon
Bank and banking machines
Bike Centre
Brubaker's (Food Services eatery)
Clubs room
Federation of Students office
Ground Zero
Imprint Office
Massage Therapy
Multi-faith Prayer room
Off Campus Dons
Ombudsperson
Piano room
Pixel Pub
Quiet study areas
Scoops
Spinal Orthopedic & Sport Physiotherapy Clinic
Student Health Pharmacy
Techworx
Turnkey Desk
The Bombshelter
Used bookstore
UW Sustainability Project
Variety and Post
WATCARD Office
WPIRG (Waterloo Public Interest Research group)

Photo of University of Waterloo

William M. Tatham Centre ................................B.C. Matthews Hall

Mathematics and Computer.......................... Central Service Building

Today weather is no joke

Today weather
1°C
Partly cloudy. Light rain.

Light rain my arse. What happened today was that it rained most day and once the water hit the ground, it turns into ice which makes walking dangerous. I slipped and fell twice today at uni. First one jarred my back and second one was a full body slip which i hit my head on the concrete. THIS IS DANGEROUS. There should be covered footpath so that no-one can injury themselves and suing the university for the injuries occured within their ground.

2nd week of uni gone by

Hey everyone,

Well 2nd week of uni gone by. I pretty much know my way around and knows where most of the coffee shop are located. I only need to go to SLC to get Tim Hortons Coffee as the coffee shop in Library and some places are espresso coffee (yuck!!)

Donuts?!? They all are "glazed" donuts. None like Aussie-like donuts, you know cinnamon and sugar donut while it's nice and hot...... mmm........

Only thing that is intersting at this uni is that they use watcard as their student id and like-a-bank card which deduct money from your account to buy food/drink, printing, stuff from UW shop etc. It's kinda good idea really because you don't have to worry about changes too much or goin to the atm to get the money out and etc. First week, omg, somehow i got so many 1 cents or i should say a penny, it droved me crazy.
http://www.watcard.uwaterloo.ca/

Class? I find it old fashion. 2 of my lecturer use overheads. One use powerpoint and that is in the newer building. You cannot ask questions in the lecture. I only have one tutorial class which is for ENVS 178. I find that Griffith University is actually lucky to have tutorial for each subject and fortunately to have the technology to make learning more easier. We have this motto, "Don't be afraid to ask questions".

The other day, I was sitting next to a girl who was had a laptop out and ready. I was shocked. Why? Well, it kinda distracted me as she was talking to someone on MSN and checking her email etc etc while the lecturer was talking. They have the full wireless coverage of the whole university. :-/ Well I can understand why the Griffith Uni only have part coverage at the uni so that it does not distract students' learning while in lecture.

University of Waterloo was voted number 1 for
Comprehensive Universities
Best Overall
Leaders of Tomorrow
Highest Quality
Most Innovative

When I thought about this university, I thought wow, looks good and reasonable learning experience. Now, this kinda reflects on how lucky we Australian are. I don't mind studying here. It's just different. Plus it depends on who you study with, who is your lecturer and how it is taught. Art thou cannot judge.

Ok ok ok. I think I've done enough rambling.

Cheers
Rachie bachie

Homesick

I am homesick for my country. This is going to be a very long year without my family and close friends. At least I can keep in touch with them via email and msn but needing to have cuddles every now and then might be nice. Well just reporting my first homesickness. At least I have the photos, remembering the good times. And of course I have my pooh bear to cuddle. :-)

Today Weather

-6°C Overcast
Light snow

FEELS LIKE -13°C
WIND GUSTS NW 19 km/h
RELATIVE HUMIDITY 73%
DEWPOINT -10°C
PRESSURE 101.42 kPa
VISIBILITY 11 km
CEILING 2300 ft

The Waterloo weather link is: http://www.theweathernetwork.com
/weather/cities/can/Pages/CAON0728.htm

First Canadian Hair Cut

Today I got my first Canadian haircut. It's shoulder length with layers. Cost me 20.06CAD which is roughly 22.82 AUD. I've been having alot of trouble with my hair at it get very dry and all knotty. Also I just want some change.

Time difference

Canada ---> Aussie
12am ------> 3pm
1am-------> 4pm
2am-------> 5pm
3am-------> 6pm
4am-------> 7pm
5am-------> 8pm
6am-------> 9pm
7am ------->10pm
8am-------> 11pm
9am ------->12am (next day)
10am------> 1am
11am------> 2am
12noon----> 3am
1pm-------> 4am
2pm-------> 5am
3pm ------->6am
4pm ------->7am
5pm-------> 8am
6pm-------> 9am
7pm-------> 10am
8pm ------->11am
9pm ------->12noon
10pm------> 1pm
11pm ------>2pm

Canadian are 16hrs behind you Aussie but in Summer, we have daylight saving which I will remind you of. Sorry about the arrow, I just wanted the 2 column to be separate but when publishing it, it's all clashed up for some reason. Oh well. It will have to do.

Strange Questions

Are the Kangaroo friendly?
Zoo ones, yea, outback, better watch out.

Are there any bears in Aussie?
Bears? You mean koala?

Are all Aussie friendly?
I dunno. Are they?

I think that is about it so far as I came across many who has travelled Aussie.

Class

Anthropology: Social & Cultural Anthropology My first class. OMFG!! I nearly fell asleep. This "professor" was droning on about nothing and I don't think I learnt anything in the class. Well that obvious if I don't have an interpreter. But then I was sittin up the front like a nerd and lipread him. Still he was on about Anthroplogy and not about the actual course. *sigh*

Intro to Research Method My second class was more fun. The professor was fantastic. I loved it. I should recommend this class to James McBroom so he can learn a few jokes to put the lecture on a lighter note.

Intro to Environmental Assessment Last class was not too bad as it was only introductory and 1.5 hrs. It was hard understanding him and I have nothing to rely on so basically I sat in the class watchin the screen. So *yawn*

Interpreter and Laptop Writer

I recieved this on 21st of December 2005:
Unfortunately, we have no freelance interpreters available for any of theuniversity courses. We have contacted freelance interpreters throughout our region and othersurrounding regions and no one is available for any of the dates and times.At this time due to lack of resources and upcoming deadlines, we have todiscontinue our search for this assignment.

There is shortage of ASL Interpreters in Ontario which is a bit of a shock to me as I thought they would be abundant in ASL Interpreter due to numbers of deaf people living in Ontario.

And this on 4th of December 2006
Anth 102 (001) - Social & Cultural Anthropology - computerized note-taker hired, she will start on Friday, January 06th, 2006!

ENVS 178 (001) - Intro to Env Research Methods - computerized note-taker hired, she will start on Friday, January 06th, 2006!

ERS 241 (001) - Inro to Env Assess - 2 interpreters (Lisa and Kim) may be hired as shared interpreters because it is a three hours class, they will start on Wednesday, January 11th at 7pm!

Oh well. I just hope that next semester will be better than the first semester.