NBA - Detroit vs Dallas

Went to my first NBA game today (3-28-2006) in the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit. It was a game between the Detroit Pistons and the Dallas Mavericks. The game was intense, but we managed to secure a 97-90 victory at the end of the match. We had a lot of fun cheering with a crazy crowd of 22000 (about the stadium’s full capacity) and seeing all the extra performances (including magic show, cheerleading dance etc). I would say that the whole experience was definitely worth a whole lot more than the 20 bucks I paid!!!

Impressive crowd, isn't it?

In the Palace of Auburn Hills!!

Time out

The final score

Happy 21st birthday

The title says it all...I'm officially an adult (although I refuse to accept that fact...)

Group photo (in my room)

Birthday boys

An econ story

The economy is failing. Indicators are going the wrong direction, and the projected growth seemed inauspicious. For the first time, technology advancement appeared to have stalled, posing question to whether the economy can sustain its current level. Such recession at times came dangerously close to a depression. It was always the faith of the people that pulled the nation out of such embarrassing failure.

A bailout from the foreign investors or other economic powers is an impossibility, a fact the nation knows too well. It would be foolish to expect the homo-economus-like foreign investors to put down their self interest and start doing charity. It would be fortunate enough if they don't launch a capital flight at such times.

Ultimately, the government has to do something. A stimulus package is certainly to be devised, but could the government have enough foresight and sagacity to concoct the elixir? As usual, time will unfold everything. At the meantime, all the people can do is to support and have faith in their leaders.

Another week

The past week had been a tough one….had 2 midterms which I screwed badly. Life was pretty much like a vacuum cleaner – it sucks (a brilliant statement by vs I think?). Now, the only thing that cheers me up is the thought of being able to go back Msia in less than two months’ time. Really looking forward to the sleep-marathon that I will certainly engage in when I’m back home. It has been like eons since I last get a good night’s sleep and some real rest. And it’s certainly very comforting to know that the effects of sleep deprivation adds up: “sleeping only six hours a night for a week makes you as tired on the seventh night as if you had had no sleep at all” (quoted from Sanjay Gupta’s article on Times)

Okay, will sign off soon. Still feeling a bit dizzy from listening the one-hour long 7th symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich performed by Kirov Orchestra in Hill Auditorium…..it’s simply too long and too overwhelming. Guess I still prefer the more pop-classical….

p.s: ASB chapter update finally completed…

Saturday 3/4

We woke up at 6.30am, and Marjorie prepared breakfast for us. We left at about 7.30, and again, I took the second shift for the journey back home. Reached Ann Arbor at about 7.00pm.

Friday 3/3 - Last day in School!

School in morning. Science class was cancelled, as there was a dancing performance for the kids in the gym. In the afternoon, we had a Hmong party with Hmong dancing and Hmong food. We were all dressed in the traditional Hmong costume, and a party scene was shoot (for the play) in the cafeteria. It was a hard time for us, knowing that we were about to say goodbye to those adorable kids.

We went to the Perkin’s for dinner, and after that we were back packing, ready to leave.

In Hmong traditional costume!

Students in my class

Group photo with Mr Mark (ASB 2006 yay!)

My "niece" and "nephew"

5th graders

Thursday 3/2

School as usual in the morning. In the afternoon, we went to the Mall of America, which was a huge shopping mall and a tourist attraction in Minneapolis (In fact, it was the fifth biggest in the world). We were there looking for a present for Mark and Marjorie.

From the Mall of America, we went straight to Old Spaghetti Factory for a Michigan alumni dinner. We met up with another ASB group there, which was in the domestic violence issue. We chatted with the alumni, and I had had a delectable plate of ravioli.

After dinner, we went back and spend the whole night making cards for the kids.

Group photo in Mall of America

Inside the Mall of America (yes, the theme park is inside the mall!)

Making cards for the kids (see the yellow card that Cher Yang was holding? That's my masterpiece)

Wednesday 3/1

We had school as usual in the morning. There was an after school program in the afternoon (2.40-4.40pm), which the students learnt how to type and did math in classroom.

For dinner, we had tacos (prepared by another group of 5 people who weren’t involved in the stir fry dinner yesterday). After dinner, we went to watch a Triple Espresso show in downtown Minneapolis. It was a truly original and hilarious performance, but I think it was easily forgettable, nevertheless a good way of spending the night.

Piano videos on youtube

Found a couple of nice piano videos on YouTube. Thought of sharing..(pisses me off when I see Yundi Li plays the FI so effortlessly...)

Victor Borge + Guest + Liszt HR 2

Yundi Li's Fantasie Impromptu

(p.s. not quite done with the ASB part yet. Waiting for the photos...)

Tuesday 2/28:

Another day in school. We started practicing and filming the play, which I was part of it as an uncle of Vong (a student in my class which I worked with closely). We taught them how to speak some Chinese in the play.

In the afternoon, we (only those who dealt with 5th graders) went to Chai’s house. We were supposed to help them with their unfinished homework, but the supposedly major homework session only lasted for like about 15 minutes. After that, the children (Vue Pao, Lor Ka, Mai Huoa, Chai) started to have fun. The girls played the rope game (which is very similar to what the girls play back in M’sia), and soon after we were led to the attic to play chase. We were also led to the basement and their rooms. We had a great time there running around, and it’s like suddenly the language barriers were shattered. The children seemed to like us more and accepted us into their circle.

We went back to Mark’s house, and for the day we had to prepare our own dinner. The “Awesome Group” (Marco, Cher Yang, Spencer, Jen, and I) managed to produce something edible (in fact quite tasty) and very presentable to the group (chicken stir fry and salad).



Nice presentation huh?


In Chai's house

Chicken stir fry

In Chai's house (the girls were playing the rope game)

Filming the play at the entrance of ComoEl

Monday 2/27:

We had to wake up at about 6.30 and get ready for school at about 7.15am. I was quite nervous about how things would turn out to be in the school. We went to Mr Mark’s room, and were led to our classes by the kids. Dana and I were assigned to Mr Wald’s class, a 5th grader class. I was quite surprised to find out that almost 75 percent of the class was Hmong kids. The first day was quite an eye-opener; I got to know how the school life in United States is.


Basically, this was what I did in school about everyday (not so sure about the time):
8-8.30: Help the kids with their homework
8.30-9.30: Practice singing with the kids, Grammar and Spelling session
9.30-11.00: Science Class
11.00-12.00: Math and Writing
12.00-12.30: Reading
12.35-1.00: Recess – lunch with the kids and soccer
1.00-2.30: Math Class
2.30: School ends

After school, we went to the State Capitol in St Paul. We were scheduled to meet with Senator Mee Moua, the first Hmong senator in the States. However, she wasn’t there, as the secretary scheduling this meeting made some mistakes. So, instead of the senator, the secretary met us and answered some questions by us about the Hmong population in the immigration issues inside the senator’s office.

At night, after yet another wonderful dinner by Marjorie, we played Catch Phrase, which was a lot of fun.


Listening to the secretary inside the Senator's office

In front of Minnesota Senate

Group photo in front of the State Captiol entrance

The State Capitol

Helping the kids in Mr Mark's room in Como Elementary

Sunday 2/26:

I woke up early in the morning (but not as early as Gretchen and Alex, who went out with Mark for a morning walk by the lake). We had breakfast, and for the morning, we learnt the Hmong language from a Hmong teacher in the ComoEl called Gao Li. As we had to communicate with the kids whose English level was below average, we were urged to learn some Hmong so that the kids will feel more comfortable in talking with us. We learnt a few sentence like “What’s your name?” and “Hello” in Hmong.

In the afternoon, we drove to ComoEl, which was situated in St Paul (15 minutes from Mark’s house). There, we played with the Hmong kids in the school gym. At first, they seemed reluctant to play with us, but after a few games, we started to hear laughter filling the gym. We had a great time playing with the kids. It’s been maybe years since I last actually felt like a kid.

At night, we had a wonderful dinner prepared by Marjorie. A guest speaker from Hmong joined us for the meal, and he shared his sad but interesting experience with us after the treat. He was in the army during the Vietnam War days, and he was the only one survived in his unit. It was fun listening to his experiences, among them including how he escaped from the military hospital and how he got to know his wife.

We went to do some groceries shopping after that.



In the school gym

From left: Dana, Der, Vong, and I

Saturday 2/25

I woke up at 6.30am on the very first day of spring break. Jen came to Baits 2 to pick me and Cher Yang up, and we headed to Michigan Union to wait for another car (we had 2 Ford Taurus to transport our group of 10 people). We pulled off at about 7.45am. We took turns to drive, and I was the driver of the second shift. A bad choice it seems, as the traffic near Chicago was not as smooth as traffic in other areas. Besides, there were a lot of tolls in the state of Illinois, which was a weird thing because there’s none along the Interstates in Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The journey from Ann Arbor to Minneapolis took us about 10 hours, as we reached there about 6.30pm in the evening (there’s one hour time difference as Minnesota is in Central Time Zone).

We were welcomed by Mark and his wife Marjorie. They would be the host for us for the following week (they’re among the nicest people I’ve seen). Mark is a teacher in the Como Elementary school. After a brief introduction session, we headed to a Chinese restaurant to have dinner. As it was Alex’s birthday, we went to buy a birthday cake and gave her a surprise. We had another discussion about stuff that we’ll do for the week, and we called it a day at about 11.30pm.




In the chinese restaurant

ASB Como group 2006 (10 ppl plus Marjorie on the right)

Alex's birthday (she's not in this picture though)

The Hmong People in Minneapolis-St Paul

It was hard being back to Ann Arbor. The past week was really one of the very best week in my life. I had had a truly amazing spring break, a spring break that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Before spilling out all the stories that happened during the week (which I really hope but doubt I have the patience to do so), let me lecture on what the program was all about first. It was an Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, and since I chose the Immigration and Borders issue, I was assigned to this group called the Como group. Basically, our responsibility was to go to Como elementary in St Paul and get involved in helping the Hmong kids to adapt to their new lives, especially the school life in the States. The Hmong kids we worked with had just recently immigrated from Thailand. Most of them were here not more than one year, and they could speak little or no english.

To trace back their roots, the Hmong people were originally from China. A lot of them stayed in Laos, and during the Vietnam War, they provided help to the US troops. As the result, after the States lost the war, they were exiled and a lot of them seek refuge in Thailand. Recently though, the Thai Government was closing down the refugee camps. The Hmongs had only two choices; they could choose to go back to Laos, or to move to the United States (since they once helped the US in the Vietnam War).

Due to the welcoming environment and friendly policies, a huge population of the Hmong immigrants concentrated in the Minneapolis-St Paul metropolitan area. This was the reason we had to go to the famous twin cities for our spring break. Como Elementary is an elementary school that schools a lot of Hmong kids.