In less 3 days the exchange will be officially over, everyone will be heading back from where they came from. Its a wierd moment a mix of emotion, something that is overwhelming and uncontrollable. Today, the second exchange student, Julia has left and as i had expected all the girls cried like mad. This is the part i hate the most when you know for sure you won't see them again and unlike girls when they can just cry, guys??? The sadness is just inside. Even though I may not be that close to certain people but i think i will certainly miss them.
Whether there were differences or not, these will be common memories everyone will take home, never forget and bond the group together. Compared to the most of the other people here, i know exactely how it feels and sometimes i guess i am just too "advanced", i feel things way ahead of others as well. Damn... and the thing is i am still feeling it. Like one friend said to me, 'Leaving is always tough especially when you leave your friends behind too but come back to see your friends for 11 years as well' haha. Another told me, 'its good cause it shows that you have expeirence many things and have many memories and isn't that a good thing?'.
The added task of looking for a job is adding to the mix of emotions, after nearly 2 decades of education, i am finally going to step into the working world only to face the worst recession in like almost a 100 years. I can't believe my luck man...
I will certainly miss my host families from Seattle, Niagara falls to Oshawa and the friends I met in Bentley. I do hope someday i get to meet them again.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Toronto & Oshawa 18th to 20th April 2009
We arrived in Toronto in the afternoon.
Behind us the Canadian Hockey Hall of Fame
CN tower behind us.
Buy the Citypass online (US$48) if you are going to visit more than one attractions especially the CN tower because it cost 30 odd dollars without taxes. If you are a person that have been to many towers, you might want to give the tower a miss. 
The only special thing that the CN tower has that i do not find in many other places is the glass floor.
This is a must visit for all Chinese. The chinatown in San Francisco is huge, there are streets and streets lined with resturants. I don;t have the pictures of the food but you will love it if you are missing chinese food. 
Casa Loma, certainly a place worth visiting, there are very nice old furnitures and stuff.
Casa Loma has a lot of photo taking opportunities.
The long pipe thing is actually part of an organ whhich occupies an entire room by itself.
going up to one of the towers of the castle. 
This is the kind of photo you will get when u let loose a group of students like us.
As usual, we are trying to kill Scott. 
This is the backview of the Castle, the front part was still under renovation.
A visit to the 151 Charburn Sqn in Oshawa. This is amazing for me, I really didn't think I will have the chance to visit Lt. Col Ted and the 151 Sqn. I have been in contact with Lt. col Ted for 6 years on the email, video conference him on msn and who would have guess we will meet. 
The 151 Sqn is huge. 
The unlucky thing was that the Sqn was out on tagging (flag day for us) and he got like 30,000 over 4 days which is amazing given the current economic climate. 
If, we had some more time, i would be able to see the whole Sqn. 
Lt Col. Ted's wife, Nancy. She is so humourous. I am really so amaze by their network, their support base. Nancy along with other cadet's parents were helping to count the coins that the cadets collected and they were all volunteers. Its almost impossible to see that in Singapore, that kind of support.
Some guy donated 230 model planes if i remember correct and a whole lott of books, magazines and videos. 
Their walls are filled with photos of the activities. 
The junior NCOs room. Just image after 10 years we just got one small room and we had to borrow space from the land cadets for so many years before we got it.
How true it is, stop whining people and just do what you got to do.
We got a free ride on a small craft. 
Lt col. Ted somehow manage to arrange the flights in such a way that the cadets flew with us and the rotary club sponsered these flights 
Mr George, our pilot.
We returned after the flight back to 151 Sqn.
As i said, i really didn't expect to be visiting the Sqn so i didn't prepare much and i had to make do with some other stuff. I am so sorry, i will go back to Singapore and send something back there. 
We had a private tour of a Tank Museum nearby later in the afternoon. 
From left me, P.k, Nancy, Lt.Col Ted, Scott
Their house was lovely and those lamps are sensor operated... i was like wow...
Nancy prepared some pudding with the strabberies and some prepackage mixer. I never knew package stuff can be that good. 
Their backyard is full of animals and Nancy seems to know all the animals that would come along. Like i said, i really would never have never expected to make it because it was not that accessible and i had dropped the email to Lt. Col Ted via the wrong email so I didn't get any reply till i was here and i didn't get to prepare anything for this visit.
The 151 Sqn is huge. 
The unlucky thing was that the Sqn was out on tagging (flag day for us) and he got like 30,000 over 4 days which is amazing given the current economic climate. 
If, we had some more time, i would be able to see the whole Sqn. 
Lt Col. Ted's wife, Nancy. She is so humourous. I am really so amaze by their network, their support base. Nancy along with other cadet's parents were helping to count the coins that the cadets collected and they were all volunteers. Its almost impossible to see that in Singapore, that kind of support.
Some guy donated 230 model planes if i remember correct and a whole lott of books, magazines and videos. 
Their walls are filled with photos of the activities. 
The junior NCOs room. Just image after 10 years we just got one small room and we had to borrow space from the land cadets for so many years before we got it.
How true it is, stop whining people and just do what you got to do.
We got a free ride on a small craft. 
Lt col. Ted somehow manage to arrange the flights in such a way that the cadets flew with us and the rotary club sponsered these flights 
Mr George, our pilot.
We returned after the flight back to 151 Sqn.
As i said, i really didn't expect to be visiting the Sqn so i didn't prepare much and i had to make do with some other stuff. I am so sorry, i will go back to Singapore and send something back there. 
We had a private tour of a Tank Museum nearby later in the afternoon. 
From left me, P.k, Nancy, Lt.Col Ted, Scott
Their house was lovely and those lamps are sensor operated... i was like wow...
Nancy prepared some pudding with the strabberies and some prepackage mixer. I never knew package stuff can be that good. 
Their backyard is full of animals and Nancy seems to know all the animals that would come along. Like i said, i really would never have never expected to make it because it was not that accessible and i had dropped the email to Lt. Col Ted via the wrong email so I didn't get any reply till i was here and i didn't get to prepare anything for this visit. Nevertheless, I was glad we make the trip up. It was simply amazing to see the kind of special bonds that run in the air cadets that ran across generations and even spouses. I hope there is a chance that our officers can have a formal visit to see for themselves what we are truely lacking but i think that day will only come when I become uber rich which is not forseeable in the near future.
Dear Lt.Col Ted and Nancy, I am glad we got the chance to meet and i really hope your investment portfolio picked up and you can visit us back in Singapore. You guys are really amazing.
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