Happy New Year to ALL~!

I can imagine you guys from the other side of the globe are preparing for the new year eve. Although it’s just 8.12am for me now, barely started my working day, I can feel that the new year atmosphere is getting thicker.

Coz I just saw email from my friends asking to join for new year countdown in Boston. As I’ve just come back from a Christmas trip in Washington DC like a day ago, I don’t really have concrete plans yet as to how I should spend my very first new year eve in US. But I’m pretty sure that I would prefer not staying home when the clock ticks past 12 here. Hehe.

After a few days of no-snow, the piles of accumulated snow were already melting since 2 days ago. Roads, bushes, pavements, curbs are slowly shedding off their white coatings and revealing their true colors again…until last night when it started to pour down some snow/rain mix again. And this morning I was waking up welcomed by a thin layer of fresh snow at the back of my yard. The awe was not as much as compared to the first time I saw it, but it still more or less lightened me up.

So obviously changes in the weather do leave certain impacts on one’s emotion.

Yesterday was a nice day, in terms of the joy of getting a belated Christmas gift from Mars. It traveled a few million miles (I hope it’s correct) and finally was sitting inside my cold silver-color mailbox like 80meters outside my house.

It’s a nice little thoughtful gift, and as he put it himself, it’s not something that he would normally prepare, which I truly agree. But he really is making progress in becoming a more romantic guy, haha, I appreciated that.

Times flies by and 365 days are almost gone. Memories of us celebrating new year at Marina bay, counting down awaiting the million-dollared fireworks squirting into the skies of Singapore, are still vividly clear. I still remember how we squeezed to find a spot amongst the sea of human, and how we captured those moments of awe with our little camera and most importantly, how we wished each other a happy new year with hands holding, and the joyful kisses he left on my cheek and vice versa.

Although it’s to my dismay that we could not celebrate new year this time round, ya…emotionally I wish very much that he could be here…yet I know these are some phases of life that we have to pass through like this, like this long-distancedly…

I will do as I promise, to enjoy and live the most out of my life in US. The living and traveling have been great so far, you can see that I’m always occupied with something, busy enough to shun me away from writing very detailed blogs and sharing all the special pictures I took on my trips. The trips are really nice, they really are.

I know it might be hard on you to really experience how I live here just through the small little rectangles of pictures…but as you can see, these are the only proof of how I keep my promise.

If I am keeping my promise to live the fullest out of this, I so hope that you’ll do as well. You and I, we both will be happy throughout the new coming year, and the many many years to come.

Please agree with my statement above. And…

Happy New Year 2009!!!




With full love,
Venus

逛Walmart

逛Walmart是我有时候不得不做的事情。这里东西卖得最齐全的非它莫属。

有一天我撇下琐碎的事情不管，在里面玩起了拍照游戏。

自己玩自己开心。


超级市场里面竟然有卖书。


还有排行榜。。。真的有人从这里买书吗？


我曾经爱看的Stephen King，原来他的书本在美国卖这么便宜。


Dan Brown的平装版也只是这个价钱！


Da Vinci Code还更加便宜有没有。。。


连圣经也卖wor...


这种tissue paper不是拿来擦嘴巴的，是包礼物用的，我没用过wor...


古典可乐，两瓶五块。


琳琅满目。


Ruffles，2包5块！


Tostitos，一包3块，Salsa一罐也是3块。


Pringles，一罐才一块钱！


我不知道这些是什么，硬硬的牛肉条？？


Beef jerk?!


不到一块钱的粉红色的水，不知道是什么。。。


五颜六色的维他命水，1罐1块OK!


Starbucks和Dunkin Donut有这样的包装呢。


Gift cards，在这里好像很流行，什么东西都能有gift card，买了这些gift card拿去送给别人，他们就能用那张卡去买那个牌子的任何东西。


美国最特别的就是什么东西买了不喜欢就可以在30天内退货，没有人会问你为什么要退货，只要你拿了单据，就是盒子开过了，还是能够照样退货。


Walmart 请人wor...不过我没兴趣。




Venus

雪（2）

标准的圣诞树，就在眼前。


看起来好像北极，其实只在我公司附近。


眼前漫天飞雪，高速公路变成乌龟小路，大家都爬着去上班。。。




Venus

雪（1）

上个礼拜开始，天空终于下雪。

等了许久的白，终于到来。

我不时拿着相机，随意地摄下眼睛看到的一切。

企图。。。把它们留在记忆（卡）里，不留白。


上班前从门内望出去，一片白。


上班途中从车内望出去，挡风镜上的雪滴化成了液体，它们的后面，还是一片白。


快到公司前，从司机位摄出去，漫天漫地。。。

尽是一片白。




Venus

Ice storm---how it looks like

I captured these photos, at 7am from the window of my own room, when I just woke up, on 12 Dec 2008, after an overnight ice storm in the northeast area of US.

Venus

Heavy ice storm, downed trees and power off

It’s 11.55am, 12Dec2008 now.

It’s been raining since yesterday. When I got off work, I saw ice forming on the roads, on the road signs, and on the trees, it wasn’t that bad anyway, I just thought it’s special, something I’ve never seen before.

At night at home, it’s still raining outside, I was doing almost nothing in my room. Around 10pm the lamp starts flickering, internet went off and on. That was the first time in US that I experience power problem. The lamp was on and off for a few times, and I thought I should just go to bed. So I tucked in and went to sleep.

Half way in the wee hours of morning, when I was still sleeping, some horrible sound woke me up. Something’s just struck my roof I thought. I was looking up my ceiling in dark, and saw no holes, and thought it’ll be fine, so I went back to sleep.

Half an hour later alarm rang and I woke up. As usual, the first thing I do after waking up, is to close the window. And when saw the window outside, I yelled softly, “oh boy…”

Trees are freezing in front of my window. The whole bush behind my house, is frozen. All the branches of the trees are covered with crystal clear ice, and it’s still raining. I took my camera and snapped some shots, feeling very amazed. At the far end back, I saw bigger trees are having problem staying up, it's too heavy at the tree top because of the huge amount of ice formed. I guess the loud noise that I heard, was caused by one of the fallen branches, it was just too heavy for them to hold the ice, so they just broke off.

I looked up at my ceiling again, hoping that my roof is okay.

On my way out to the bathroom, I stared at one small glass window on the high top of my house, it’s fine, no holes, no break. So I washed up, brushed and prepared for work. And then again, lights started to flicker, the power wasn't stable.

Anyway, I still drove out to work. And when I drove out of my garage, the whole world outside was like an ice world. Except of the roads, everything else was covered with ice. “Oh my god,” I thought again.

And at the junctions, we saw a number of emergency cars, look like the fire department or some other cars that go rescue something. I drove slowly, and there’re branches of trees laying down on the road, blocking our way.

The wire for power, the lamp posts, the sign posts, the trees, the curb on the road, the grass, the everything…are covered with ice. Maybe power cut off because of the power wire downed by ice.
I drove carefully to work, on the highway I was driving at 50miles per hour (not kilometer per hour), when I normally could drive up to 70 or 75miles per hour. Electronic sign of “Winter Driving Condition, Drive with Caution” was seen on the road shoulder.

Some of the roads are flooded with stagnant waters, and more trees are blocking my way to work.

Then I reached office, and started to hear people talking about power cut off. I then realized that my area was better, some of the other people had no power since 9pm last night. They could not take hot shower, as there’s no heat, you can't take cold shower here, you'll freeze to death, and the whole house could be cold if the heat is run by electricity.

I looked up on the internet news…it’s a state of emergency declared. Local government is urging people not to travel and stay at home. A party in my company has just been cancelled because of this. A lot of people are powerless and they are setting up temporary shelter for the needy people.

I was a bit stunned to realize that it’s the worst ice storm since 1998, according to the news online.

I’ve never experienced ice storm at all, and I have absolutely no idea if the ice forming this morning is very serious, or is it very normal… and it's not until I heard and saw those news that i realised it's...really bad.

I just hope that the trees are not going to fall onto my house tonight…and we will have our power.

With all the news and updates, I suddenly feel that it’s not so fun…

Ice storm.



Venus

图说The Freedom Trail of Boston, USA --- 第二章：全美最古老的公园

Freedom Trail的起始点：
Boston Common, 1634.
Allegedly the oldest public park in US.



Boston Common位于Park Street Subway Station的旁边


Subway station 入口之一


过了马路，来到了Boston Common的Park St Station


有这些售卖Freedom Trail map的摊位，
别以为是旅游局免费派地图，
其实是要给钱的。
而我们，当然没有买。


Boston Common旁边很美丽的教堂，
叫做Park Street Church，
也是Freedom Trail的景点之一。

Boston很多这些售卖sweater的摊位，

除了Boston的衣服之外，

卖得最多的就是Harvard University的衣服，

哈佛大学嘛，几乎等于波士顿。

Boston Common的小小的公园，

历史悠久，很多人名人在这里演说过。

包括马丁路德，和教皇。

星期六的早上，公园很清幽

Park Street Church的前面有一个穿着看起来像修女的人，

拿着一大袋东西在喂鸽子

鸽子从对面的建筑物飞涌下来吃早餐

无数代的鸽子，

就这样每天盘旋在几百年历史的Boston Common上空。

大概，

只要有教堂存在一天，

有修女存在一天，

就有鸽子飞过来，

历久不衰。

这就是活跃的历史古镇的形成。

它虽然古老，却很活生生，

障显着它的重要性。

Venus

我从纽约回来了！

刚刚结束了我的纽约之旅，现在有点累，明天要上班，但还是想要跟大家分享分享我的一手心情。因为时间有限，所以先大概大概形容，下次再详细介绍我的4天3夜纽约之旅~！

概括如下：

玩得很开心；
拍了很多照片，我的相机里就有588张；
吃了不少好料；
见到了我们看到的纽约；
去了时代广场，Broadway街，帝国大厦，大都会艺术博物馆，中央公园，唐人街，Rockefeller大厦，纽约蜡像馆，Yankee Stadium。。。
最重要是，看到了自由女神！

即便如此我们还是有一些地方没有去到，也有一些照片没拍到，所以我下次还是会再去的。我还没有去到华尔街，没有看到华尔街上面的公牛，也没有看到坍塌了的世贸中心遗址，还有Trinity Church，还有很多博物馆，很多很多其他东西等着我再去！

还有还有，今天回来的车程中，看到了我在美国第一次的snow/rain mix，路边有微微的积雪，还有路旁的河/湖结起了一层的薄冰。。。

此时此刻，只等待着第一场冬雪的降临。

并且盼望着，什么时候啊，能够和Mars去纽约看看！你会很喜欢的，我了解你，什么时候我们一起去纽约？我好想念我们一起旅行的日子。。。~！






Venus

Mars眼下的Henderson Waves

Mars一个人在新加坡，

有一天晚上自己再去了Henderson Waves，

用他的新相机摄了这些照片，

然后寄给在地球另外一端的我，

让我想起两个月以前，

我们才一起在黄昏时候站在Henderson Waves上面。

只叹时光荏苒啊。

他工作很忙碌没有时间写部落，

所以我就来代劳了。

期待他更多的美丽的照片！


Venus

.

图说The Freedom Trail of Boston, USA --- 第一章：旅途开始之前的故事

我们驱车从波士顿边陲渐渐前往市区。
要开始一个美丽的旅游天。


沿途看到的街景，只是想要拍Chealsea这个地方名。


在车里面经过看到这些看起来蛮特别的屋子。


美丽的大桥出现在眼前。
但是由于车子移动速度快，难以捕捉。


来到了波士顿市区某个公路隧道里。
准备进入了吗？


出了隧道看到了波士顿德士和美国到处可见的可爱校车。
有时候这些校车还会大大声播放儿歌。


褐色的Starbucks Coffee，别处不容易看到吧？


波士顿街景。


首先我们去了波士顿唐人街。


吃了一顿广东式点心早茶！


餐厅看起来很中式吧？还有双喜在墙壁上。


波士顿唐人街某一隅。


接着我们再从唐人街驾车前往我们的第一个目的地---停车场。


我们要去的是South Station地铁站的停车场。
在波士顿市区停车不太便宜。
但是在South Station礼拜六停一整天才USD10，算是很划算。


South Station, we are here!


South Station旁边的建筑物。


交通不是很顺畅的样子。


停车之后，我们就要开始我们的旅途，用我们的双脚！
Freedom Trail的第一站由Park Street地铁站那里开始。


South Station附近一个小公园。
一个我不知道是谁的雕像。
景色看起来很不错吧？


小公园旁边有一个可爱的路牌。
No Parking, Street Cleaning 2.01am to 7.00am。
原来如此。。。


前往Park Street Station途中。

看到美国很有名的Departmental Store---Macy's!

刚好那天在Macy's门外有庆祝会。

一群美女拉拉队在跳拉拉队舞。

天气那么冷她们还穿得那么少。

庆祝Macy's成立150周年纪念！

（150年！马来西亚新加坡立国都没有那么久咧~）

Macy's 附近一条可爱的街道。

名字叫做Summer Street。

更可爱的是，Summer Street附近还有一个Winter Street！

Park Street地铁站入口已经进入眼帘。

就是照片中间那个米黄色顶的小建筑。

可是你的目光，是不是停留在他身上呢？

街头上靠着路灯的一个黑人。

我不知道他是干什么的。

不过这张照片确实是为了要拍他而照的。

不是因为他很帅。

只是我觉得他好像是美国街头故事的一部份。

而我，正在发掘着美国的故事。

Venus