AERA 2010

Today is the first day of the AERA 2010 Conference. It is the biggest education conference and one of the most prestigious conference in USA. It attracts many participants from all over the world. The acceptance rate is low due to the sheer number of submissions so it is really great when you get your submissions accepted. :) This is my first AERA and I am really excited that I will be presenting at a paper session for a paper both my PI and I wrote. :)

Denver, Here I Come

Updated 6 March 01:01am
You have got to be kidding me! I was flipping through the channels on cable when I saw this movie titled "Things to do in Denver When You're Dead"! Ok now I know someone or something is telling me something.

Actually not yet, I still have another 1 and a half months to go. :) But things happening around me are reminding me of my coming trip to Denver. First, the 2009/2010 Official Visitors Guide to Denver & Colorado came in the mail. I had requested for a copy back in January 2010 and I have totally forgotten about it until now. Second, while monitoring Juliane with her homework whereby she has to capitalise names of people, places and things, one of the sentences was "We went to Denver for a ball game." Haha. Third, while I was just browsing through a food blog and what caught my eyes at the bottom of the web page were the Denver adverts lol.

Maybe it's just coincidences that I keep seeing Denver or maybe it's some cosmic law at work here reminding me to start planning for my Denver trip (so many places to visit, so many places to shop, so many places to have food! :P) lol.

Airline

I just found out today that a colleague of mine will be attending the AERA conference in April as well. It was a pleasant surprise for us to find out that we are both going. We were wondering who else would be attending the conference, especially the RAs.

Anyway, the discovery came about because he was asking me which airline my boss would be taking to the USA. We cross-checked with each other about what we have found out about the various airlines going to Denver, USA. I think we both agreed that UA might be the best airline to take in terms of timing, convenience and pricing.

Photo Memories of My USA Trip

Here are some of my favourite photos of my USA trip.

Buildings










Nature

Journey Home

I took some more photos before I left my "home" - Room 205 where I have been staying for the past 8 days. It has been cosy enough for me. :)

My Room 205 which is on the second level

The reception building and the breakfast room (green door on the right most bottom corner)

The swimming pool and the jacuzzi/ spa which I never got to use

Anaheim to LA International Airport
The coach arrived right on time at 10:35am outside my hotel lol. I had a nice chat with the driver as I was the only passenger he had picked up so far on his round. He picked up another 2 more passengers before he drove us to Disneyland Hotel where we would be taking different coaches to the various airports. At 11am, I was on my way to LA International Airport. The journey was very smooth. By 12pm, I was delivered right to Terminal B where Singapore Airlines is situated. :) Check in was a breeze, done by 12:10pm. I had my lunch at Daily Grill restaurant instead of the food court. I wanted to spend my money lah haha. :P I ordered a Manhattan Clam Chowder (US$4.95) and a Turkey sandwich (US$9.95). The clam chowder was tasty and different from the usual cream based ones. The sandwich was huge, I had to pack the other half to go lol. :P



Clearing immigration was really quick too, under 15 minutes. However, once I cleared immigration, I realised I made a mistake. There are very few shops inside or they are rather small size. I didn't get to do any airport shopping. :(

LA to Tokyo
Flight SQ11 took off at 3pm (USA time 24 April Friday; Singapore 25 April Saturday 6am). I was very lucky, the seat next to my 37G was empty again. Let's hope for the next leg, it will be empty too lol. There were some turbulence on the way to Japan which I didn't mind at all lol. :P Again, I had diabetic meals and they were pretty delicious. Good thing with pre-ordering meals was that I could get to eat earlier and I could use the washroom to freshen up after my meal before the others hahaha. :P

Lunch: Chicken salad, Chicken with steamed tomato and artichoke

Light meal before arriving in Japan: Green salad, steamed salmon with veggies

I managed to watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and half of Revolutionary Road before my personal entertainment unit conked out on me. I had to finish watching Revolutionary Road at another empty seat. Didn't realise Benjamin Button was such an emotional show, I cried! Not a good thing to cry on board the plane - very awful puffy eyes and blocked nose! :( I touched down in Japan at 5:10pm (Singapore time 25 April Saturday). After clearing immigration again, I managed to buy some mochi for the girls at the Narita Airport shop before rushing to board the plane at 5:40pm (Singapore time).

Tokyo to Singapore
My flight was supposedly to depart at 7:10pm. However due to very heavy rain earlier in Tokyo, there was a back log of airplanes waiting to depart. My flight didn't get to depart until 8:15pm. However I couldn't get to do any shopping due to the delay because when they made the announcement about the delay, the cabin door has been shut! :( So we just sat in the plane doing nothing. But I think I fell asleep lol. :P Real lucky, the seat next to mine empty again. Must give thanks. :) Didn't watch any more movies because of my faulty entertainment unit. Instead I read my Hamilton. It was interesting lol. Didn't take photo of my diabetic dinner meal because it was the same as what I had when I left from Japan to LA.

I finally arrived in Singapore close to 2am, safe and sound and somewhat tired. By 3am, I was back at home. By 4am, I was ready to sleep but sleep didn't come. Oh no, jet lag?!

Farewell, USA

I am leaving USA and heading for my home today. My flight is in the afternoon, 2:45pm (24 April Friday USA time). I will catch the Disney Express which will bring me to the LA International Airport. The journey will take about an hour and a half.

It is always bitter-sweet when a holiday ends. On one hand, I am looking forward to seeing family and friends again. On the other hand, I was enjoying roaming, wandering and exploring around on my own, the freedom and space I have had lol. I am a wanderer/ traveller at heart lol. Oh well, there is always the next trip to somewhere hahaha. :P

Guess this will be my last blog post from the USA. The next time you see me, I will be back in Singapore. Farewell. See you soon.

Being A Child Again :)

Today I was a child again. :)

I bought a 1 Day Park Hopper ticket so that I could go to both Disney's California Adventure Park and Disneyland Park. I went to California Adventure Park first as it closes earlier at 8pm whereas Disneyland closes at 10pm.

California Adventure Park
I went straight for Tower of Terror in Hollywood Pictures Backlot section, a free fall roller coaster ride lol. I had the time of my life, screaming in the darkness not knowing if I was going up or free falling down several storeys. It was darn fun. Next I went to California Screamin', another roller coaster ride in Paradise Pier. This ride has many big ups and down as well as a loop! HAHAHA. Again, I had so much fun screaming and laughing when I was on the ride. :) In fact, I had so much fun that I went back for a second time lol. :P However, I didn't go on any more rides as the heat got the better of me. It was a hot day again, 34C. I settled for a chocolate mint ice cream while I took a break. After my break, I browsed through the stores because there was air-condition lolol. It was almost 2 pm when I decided to go over to Disneyland.










Disneyland Park
It is a LOT bigger than Adventure Park. It was de ja vu when I walked into Disneyland. Hong Kong Disneyland was an exact replica of this one, except HK Disneyland was a lot smaller in size! I went mainly on the rides: Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean in New Orleans Square; Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Frontierland; Indiana Jones Adventure in Adventureland; and Buzz Lightyear, Space Tours and Space Mountain in Tomorrowland. Of course, I browsed in most, if not all of the Disney stores. :) Stayed for a peep at the 7pm parade: Celebrate! A Street Party. Unfortunately, there was no fireworks so I left early rather than stayed till the closing time. But no real loss for me as I have seen the fireworks at the other smaller Disneyland.










I came back to my hotel around 7:30pm really tired but really happy. For a day, I was a child again lol. :P

Lights, Camera, Action and Stars!

When in close vicinity to the movie capital of the world, LA, what shall I do? Go see the stars, of course. And many stars indeed, I saw! :)

On Sunday 19 April in USA (20 April Monday in Singapore), I went on a day trip to see the stars and movies. The tour started in the morning bringing us first to Staples Centre where LA Lakers was playing a game that afternoon, and then on to Olvera Street, the oldest part of Downtown LA and part of El Pueblo LA Historic Monument, for some photo-taking (15 minutes). Olvera Street has some historic buildings like Avila Adobe and it is a very lively and beautiful area with its rich history. Should come back here next time.






Next stop was Hollywood Walk of Fame to see the stars (45 minutes). :) Yar, literally the movie stars' handprints, footprints, signatures and their stars on the street! Lol. :P I took photos of some of them and with the famous Hollywood sign. :) Next we went to Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive where the rich and famous live and shop lol. Unfortunately we didn't see any rich and famous persons. :(











At about 1pm, one family and I were dropped off at Universal Studio with our pick up returning at 7pm. Ok, that's about 5 hours for me to do and see things lol. I went straight for the Studio Tour which was really fun and educational. :) I went on The Mummy ride and saw two shows, Shrek and Waterworld. I went into most of the shops at Universal Studio lol. My favourite shop was Marvel Mania. :) I left Universal Studio around 6pm so that I could look at the shops just outside the Studio. :) Found a few more things to buy. :)













The coach came on time at 7pm to pick us up. I returned to my hotel around 8pm. Went to a nearby Chinese restaurant for my take away dinner - Yang Chow Fried Rice. Goodness, the portion was so huge that I could only finish half of it. :(

Me all happy after the visit to Universal Studio, my childhood dream

PS. Today was really hot, 37C!!! That's even hotter than in Singapore! I kept re-applying my sunscreen and drinking water but I think my cheeks still got a bit burnt.