Goodbye Madison, hello San Francisco

I know I haven't updated in a while (my cousin is getting bored re-reading my old posts!) Right now I am writing to you from next to a recycling can, in the corner of baggage claim ...in San Francisco! Why am I next to a garbage can you ask? Well, I'm tired and this was the closest to an outlet to charge my very dead phone. I have about another hour here at the airport before I board a BART to take to my friend Christy's work. She's helping driving me around town today looking at apartments. Then tonight, we will meet up with my friend Kevin (aka Vinh) for dinner and whose home I will be staying for a few days until I find a place to live. Thank goodness for good, reliable, supportive friends that I am lucky to have in my life. I was supposed to start work tomorrow at UCSF but since it is a university holiday and my new boss is not in town, she's told me to come in on Monday instead. Which is probably helpful, I can dedicate all day tomorrow to apt hunting. So far, I have 2 appointments today to look at some downtown studios. So expensive. And I think christy mentioned that these might not be in a good neighborhood, but really, I think this is the max I can spend on rent ($1200 for a studio! That's 3x what I paid in Madison for my place!)! Anyway, we'll just have to see.

I got back from Singapore last Sunday and have spent the last 3 days packing, cleaning the house and the lab, archiving my work in lab, and spending all available moments with the people I love in Madison. I've made some wonderful friends that I will truly miss. I don't think that I have necessarily absorbed the finality of my move yet...I am barely trying to keep afloat with everything I had/have to do. Yesterday was a long day. I was exhausted and was struggling so hard to just keep up. I shipped 3 big boxes of clothes and shoes, 2 small boxes of books, and 2 medium boxes of random items to my parents' house in Stockton, CA to be picked up later once I find a place to live. The shipping only costed about $250, much to my surprise! I was really expecting it to be at least double the price. I threw away 2 garbage cans worth of trash and recyclables, so many of which were pictures and momentos I had treasured for years but now don't seem to mean very much anymore. I made 3 trips to a St. Vinny's donation drop off site (probably 5 big boxes worth of donations) and gave away 80% of my ceramics to people at work. I guess this move could've been a lot worst.

On Tuesday night, I got together with some friends at a grad student favorite bar, The Library, for some drinks and bittersweet goodbyes. I loved that so many people made it out on a Tuesday evening to say bye to me...it means the world for me to see them one last time. I felt so loved, thank you :).

Not having a computer has been difficult, I haven't been able to get as much real work done as I would've liked to. Turns out my hard drive is completely shot --death by thesis (did I mention it died less than 24 hrs before my thesis defense?!). Luckily I can just replace the hard drive and the computer should be okay. One less monetary obligation for me to worry about.

Some have mentioned that my blog is hard to follow bc I don't have pictures...hang in there, once I get my computer working, it should be easier for me to include pics. But for now, I've been blogging through an app on my phone. I'll leave you with a pic of the mess I'm sitting among. Hopefully the next time I write, I will have found a new home. I miss you all in Madison already, but I'm excited for this new life in San Francisco.

Homeless but rich in shoes and family

I still haven't found a place to live in San Francisco when I move there next week on Thursday! And I'm still in Singapore! But at least I've got my new four pairs of shoes...ah, I love stilletos! I especially love when they are of good quality, good design and nice to my pocket like the ones from a local brand Charles & Keith!! I need to get out of Sing Sing ASAP before I buy more shoes! But anyway, I have 6 days to find a place to live, I'm focusing my attention on the north east side close to the mission bay campus where I will be working. I also like the panhandle area so I can be close to golden gate park! Luckily I have good friends in the city who are giving me a place to crash til I find a home!

Two more days til I come back to the US...I'm just trying to soak up every free after school minute with the nieces and nephew. Last night, my 6 year old niece Isabelle slept with me because I'll be leaving her place today when she's at school and I won't see her again. Poor girl was crying in the morning to her nanny :( tonight, i'll be going back to my other cousin's house and endure more sad good byes in a couple of days. The thing about kids is that they will get over it in a couple of days and since I live so far away, they won't really remember me in the long run. I'll be the sad adult who will think of them and miss them all the time after I leave. So, I'm trying to soak up every minute with the kids and memorize all the precious moments we have together.

Black sand, black jacket fish, and a memorable boat exit

Good morning! It is the third full day in Bali at 7 am, and I assume my position in front of the ocean with my morning coffee for some peaceful me time. Yesterday was another amazing day with the family that I will never forget. In the morning, we took a boat out 20 mins to the shore of a nearby island to go swimming and hang out. Swam in the ocean all day long!

One of the little girls is up and wants to hang out! I'll have to continue later.

4 days later, back in Singapore...

I haven't had much time to blog since all of my time has been sequestered by the kids! And I wouldn't have it any other way! So I'll make this a quick one bulletting a few interesting things I have observed in Bali thus far:

Rural Balinese women can be quite educated, up to 12th grade. One set of masseuse we met in Bali was a younger group and were hilarious! The young generation spend their spare time at the beach hanging out with their friends.

Bali has 2 active volcanoes on the island. The last eruption was in 1963 (I think) and killed thousands and thousands of people. Because of the volcanic activities on the island, you can find black sandy beaches! They were really quite a sight to see! The black stones get harvested and can be made into concrete. Around Bali, you will find temples or big mansions with black exteriors, black walls, or black statues. The black stone and concrete are very very expensive and strong, and can only be affordable to the very rich.

When going around you will sometimes find a tall, flexible, decorative straw structure swinging and hanging in front of a home. This is a happy announcement, like a wedding in the family. Every family and business will typically also have a small alter in front of the home or the store with a statue of one of the gods. This is to help bless the home or the business with health, happiness, prosperity, etc.

My family tried to catch crabs off the terrace of the vacation home because there were so many of them!! We spent all afternoon taking turns hanging over the railings with a koi pond net, a pool cleaning net, and a string with a prawn tied to the end. All we caught were a single medium size crab and a tiny baby crab. That wasn't gonna feed even the fish in the koi pond! So we let them go. It was really fun to chase the crabs along the wall of the railing though!

The staff at the villa told me that when there are no guests, they fish off of that terrace! They catch these big black jacket fish that are smooth with no scales. The fish has a very thick black skin, hence the name black jacket. Supposed to be really yummy! Sometimes when they can't catch the fish off the railing, they get one of their friends on the boat to go out a bit further and catch the fish with a spear!!!! So cool! You have to fish for black jacket fish only around 7 in the morning, they're not around much longer after that.

My stories on Bali would not be complete if I didn't tell you about our adventurous day at the shore I started to 4 days ago. So we took a motorboat out to another part of the island where there was supposed to be a beautiful white sandy beach. We had so much fun playing in the ocean! I was in the water all day with the kids and one of my cousins. The water is PERFECT in southeast Asia! But i think the water is better in Bali than in Vung Tau, Vietnam, when I was there 2 years ago. The temperature of Bali water is a bit cooler and muuuuuch more clear! Theres nothing like the feeling of swimming in the ocean and floating with the waves...I have always loved it since I was young. Anyway, around 4 pm we started to head back to the villa. The water was starting to get quite choppy. Once we got closer to the villa, the boat was basically swaying harshly from side to side. The little girls (except my 5 year old niece who was totally passed out in my arms!) were screaming because they were scared the boat was gonna flip! So the boatmen tried to land the boat in the small sandy beach where they originally picked us up, but because it was high tide, the landing strip was no longer there! They circled around and tried to land us in 3 other places but the water was too choppy and the tide was too high for them to get to shore. Then we heard: "there's only one way out: we have to swim to shore!!!" imagine the reaction of a group of 5 little kids!! Screaming and crying followed that announcement! One of the boatmen, and the husbands jumped into the water, "kids first!! Kids first!" like it's the sinking of the Titanic!! The water came up to their shoulders and the kids reluctantly jumped into the water and onto their dads' shoulders and were taken to shore. I jumped into the water in my long summer dress because I thought this was the coolest funnest way to end our day at the beach! They were all yelling if I was okay, but I had already swam halfway to shore! My cousin had avoided getting wet all day at the beach but all that effort was useless because she now had to jump into the ocean to exit the boat!! Lol!! The 10 of us were drenched in water when we had to walk through a rural village for 10 mins to get back to our villa, like a bunch of escaping refugees! Lets just say that that was the most adventurous end to a nice day at the beach most of us have ever experienced!

Ok I should go, my cousin is having a big luncheon at the house with her Tai-tai friends In about an hr so I should probably get out of bed. Is tai-tai a derogatory word? Why do ppl laugh whenever I repeat it? Tai-tais are rich Singaporean housewives.

So much for a quick blog! Until next time.

Bali: the swank and the raw

It is the start of my second full day in Bali with my cousin and her husband, my nieces Annabelle, Elisa and Elody, and my cousin's best friend Yvonne's family. There's no doubt that it is amazing here, along with beautiful, hot, humid, the family time and the activities have been memorable and irreplacable. But my favorite times during this trip have been the mornings, at around 7 am when I wake up before everyone else, sit on the terrace of our vacation home facing the ocean, and have my morning cup of french press coffee. I have never experienced such peacefulness, from my direct view of the ocean, to the sound of the crashing waves and the birds in the background, to the warm taste of freshly made local coffee. During this time of my day, I reflect on my experience thus far on this trip, remembering the people I have recently lost and gained in my life, and how long I've waited for this particular trip to visit and spend time with my Singaporean family. So, this seems to be the perfect time to write.

I got to Singapore on Monday afternoon around 11:30 am and was picked up by my cousin chi Thuan and her little girls, Elisa and Elody. This was my first time meeting my nieces in person, although we Skype on a somewhat regular basis and the girls send me pictures they have drawn of me (not very flattering, but oh so fricken adorable). That night, we met up with my other cousin's family (chi Thao, anh WeeHann, their kids Annabelle, Lucas and Isabelle), whose kids I had met almost 5 years ago when I visited our family in France. Had a great dinner, and somehow convinced anh WeeHann to let Annabelle come with us to Bali the following morning! What a great night!

We flew out the next morning from Singapore to Bali for our 5-day long family vacation. It was a 3 hour flight, with a 1.5 hr shuttle ride from the airport to the vacation home in a more remote area of Bali, away from the hussle bussle of the typical tourist areas. Let me tell you, so far I have seen 2 sides of Bali --both of which I love and are so interesting! The first is the swank of Bali --what I mean is luxury living. We stopped during the car ride at a spa resort to have lunch and it was one of the most beautiful outdoor restaurant I have ever seen with the lush settings and tables in a courtyard connected to their own white sand beach. The scenery was gorgeous and very different from immediately outside the spa where the locals are riding around in their motorbikes among traffic, trash, and run down shacks for homes and businesses. When we got to the vacation villa, I am talking some serious.fricken.swank. There is no other way to describe it, especially for someone like myself who has been a student for most of my life and grew up in a less privileged home. This villa is of open concept, directly facing the ocean with an infinity pool. The villa comes with staff and a driver --all in a beautiful setting. My cousins have worked very hard to build their success from the ground up and from what I have learned about Asians in Asia so far is that they are a true example of working hard and playing hard. Singaporeans work normally 10-12 hours a day (their regular work day is 8-7 --traffic jam happens around 7:30 pm in Singapore). But when they go on vacation, they spoil themselves and their family --rightfully so because they absolutely earned it! Money is not a real object when Singaporeans go on vacation --they have worked so incredibly hard to earn that time off, and for them, it's worth it to spare the stress of money and just have fun. I really like that.

The second side of Bali that I love is the raw, organic, nature of rural Bali --the real Bali. Yesterday, we all went for a walk outside the compound and I witness one of the most beautiful things. There's a tiny water lilly pond about a quarter mile from where we were staying. It sits in front of a temple, and behind a small primary local school. It isn't at all fancy, it is in fact quite a dirty little lagoon --mirky water with plenty of algae to color the pond green and brown. At the far end was a group of 5 boys swimming and playing in the pond. They are dark, skinny, look like a bunch of neighborhood kids who were having the time of their lives. These kids' families probably see less money in a month than a kid in the USA have to eat lunch everyday. But they were so happy, so content, having so much fun. From what I could see, it didn't matter what status, what money, what level of education their had --they live a simple life having the essentials like enough food to eat, friends and family, a roof over their heads and that was enough. What do we, as Americans, have to always complain about? Why the stress? Don't we have more than enough? Isn't it enough to live, eat, laugh, cry, and be with the people we love and who love us? How can it ever be not enough?

Anyway, gotta go --time for breakfast and head out for the day. Family is all up and the kids are about to get reaaaal hyper!!! There's plenty more I've got to say, maybe tomorrow morning during my coffee.

Congee, epic layover and a freshly minted Ph.D.

Got about 20 mins until the congee place at the Hong Kong airport opens so I can get my rice soup fix! I've been here for 10 hrs now, with 2 more to go until I get to board my connecting flight to Singapore! Leave it to the American to look homeless, sleeping spread out on some seats in a nice airport terminal! This place is huge but is so empty between the hours of 11 pm and 5 am...as if there are no flights coming in or out. It's about 640 am here and things are starting to come back to life. I had one hell of a time yesterday morning trying to catch my flight from Chicago O'Hare to Hong Kong. My friend Kelly was picking me up from my house to drop me off at ORD since she also needed to be in Chicago that morning. I couldn't find my wallet!!!! For the life of me, I tore up the house, my coat pockets, my backpack, everything! I started panicking, especially since I was relying on someone else for a ride and she had an appt time she needed to make in Chicago! Luckily, my passport is usually kept on my dresser so I at least still had a way to get out of the country! But I didn't have my bank card, credit card, or anything! So Kelly drove me into lab and I tore up my desk there too, and nothing! So I sent Kelly on her way, said I'd make it to Chicago by bus in an hr or so, I needed to find my wallet! First thing I did was online check in to my flights because I knew taking the bus was gonna cut it pretty close, especially for an international flight. Then I walked to the bank with my passport ID and pulled out cash --as least I would have some traveling money! Cancelled my debit card at the bank and got a new one for my trip. This left me with 30 mins to get to the Union and buy my bus ticket and get on the bus! A good friend got his car and helped me out. Finally I got to Chicago and boarded my flight with just about 20 mins to spare! Damn, I cut shit so damn close. Luckiest son of a gun you will ever meet.

My flight was amazing, Cathay Pacific Airlines was great! The seat is a great design where you don't lean back your seat and impose on your neighbor's space, in fact, you pull the seat forward so it leans at an angle! Very comfortable flight, awesome individual outlets to charge your electronic devices, individual TVs with your own remote control. I chatted with a really cool woman sitting next to me for a while and became friends with her. We had a very insightful conversation about life, love, and science funding and science policies. The latter subject deserves its own blog post, but I will say that my conversation with her really affirms my belief that we as scientists do not do a good job at all at teaching the public about the scientific process! They have no idea where their monetary contributions go and are under the impression that there isn't enough scientific research being done to create cures to diseases. Again, I can go on for days about this, and will, at a later date. Congee in 5 mins, better type faster!!

When I was hanging out at the airport, I ran into a professor from my alma mater, the University of the Pacific! It was absolutely random and was so cool! Dr. Richard Tenaza was never my professor but UOP was a small school do I knew who he was. He recognized that I looked familiar and my name rang a bell (I was very active in the dept as an undergrad researcher). Lets be honest, he probably had no idea who I was. We hung out for almost 4 hrs! He was on his way back to CA from Bali and I was on my way from the Midwest to Singapore! We had a really nice time.

Congee place is opening in one minute! Gotta go! Oh, BTW, I defended 2 days ago...I'm officially a doctor (of philosophy)!!!

Still homeless in April...and still high on life!

Like the title says...I'm still homeless in April, but I am still high on life! I haven't found anyone to sublet my place in Madison yet. And I still haven't found a place to live in SF. Haven't packed, sold my furniture, or sent my stuff to CA. I haven't finished my stuff in lab, or reviewed my defense talk. But I am still ridiculously happy!

I kinda need to get all that stuff figured out by the end of the week because I am leaving for Singapore and Bali this Saturday. While I am there, it will be very hard to find time to deal with all the logistics, especially with housing. I've emailed a bunch of people who are looking for roommates on craigslist, but none has worked out yet. Nevertheless, this time next week, I'll be a doctor, and will be on my way to Bali with my family! Plus, I just got my new fancy Canon Powershot G12 camera in today --all ready for my trips!

Last Saturday, I went with a dear Wisconsin friend, Angie, to clean up horse stalls at a barn where she boards her horse, Winston. Why in the world would I want to clean horse poop at 7 in the morning? Because I won't ever get to do something that fun with someone as awesome as Ang ever again when I am in CA! I love the Wisconsin country scenery, and will miss it dearly.

The contrast of the red barn against the snow is gorgeous. 

I don't think life can get any better right now. As a side note, one of my random musings: a simple eye contact can speak a million words without a single sound. It's a nice little human thing and can be so special.

Jason Aldean - See You When I See You