Still alive & kicking...;p

30 September 2006 (Saturday) 3:51am
Was supposed to be recovering from jet lag in Reno’s Holiday Inn by now. The long flight from Singapore to Los Angeles was trying. A near 17 hours in the executive economy cabin. Guess it’s a real common thing in the States for flights to be cancelled. One big hiccup at the start of the trip. Stranded in Seattle now without my luggage and clothes to change. Putting up in The Coast Gateway Hotel for the night. The aircraft bound from Los Angeles to Reno, NV got a broken window due to some bird knocking onto it at a high impact. How the heck did it even happen…beats me. Anyway, the flight was cancelled. It was already 10pm then. Authorities at Tom Bradley International Airport got us take another 2 hours of flight to Seattle, put up at a little hotel for the night and catch the next flight at 6.33am from Seattle to Reno. *Yawn* Tired and drained but I can’t get to sleep…fearing that I might not be able to wake up for the flight. Hope to get to Reno as scheduled with my checked in luggage intact.

Clearing the customs and checking in our luggages were rather grueling processes. Probably due to the tight security especially for flights bound to places in the States. Though the rules were not as strict as before, we still had to declare any fluid, gels etcetra products and they should not exceed a certain volume. Even had to remove our shoes at the customs in Los Angeles. Laptops, handphones and certain electronic devices had to be switched on to make sure it’s a genuinely functioning device and not one to activate some explosives etcetra etcetra…which explains the long queues and long waiting time. *Phew* Singapore never had such long waiting time when it comes to clearing customs and checking in..though with lesser counters, the efficiency was never compromised. *Applaud..we don’t get the title of Best Airport for nothing. Geez! I feel so proud of my home, haha!* It was rather funny when I was clearing the customs at Los Angeles hours ago. They had to “interview” every visitor, take digital pictures of fingerprints and face. When they knew my purpose of visit to the States was for training in composite bonding for aircraft structures, it was obvious I hit the sensitive issue – aircraft. They got a little more interrogative but everything went fine.

Touched that Daddy and Ah Ling came to the airport to see me off yesterday:) First time leaving home to a foreign land so far…it’s really nice to know there’ll be people missing me back home. Listening to Michael Buble’s Home now…the feeling of missing home is even more intense. Hee..though it’s only a day since I departed from home. I love Singapore…there’s no place like home:)

15mins to checking out of The Coast Gateway Hotel, Seattle. Another flight..argh! Better go get ready.

02 October 2006 (Monday) 11:44pm
It’s been a rather eventful weekend since I stepped into the USA soil. As if flight cancellation and diversion to Seattle wasn’t bad enough. Upon reaching Reno on Saturday morning…our luggage did not arrive. Waited for about 3 more flights before we finally took a break…checking into our prearranged hotel before we continue our search for the bags lost in transit. To our disappointment, the hotel cancelled our pre-booked rooms and there we are…tired from long journey traveled…jet lag…stranded without any luggage, daily necessities, clothings to change. Bad start for my first trip to the States I guess.

Pissed and irritated by the whole baggage system, we decided to make a trip back to the airport to try our luck for the next few flights coming from Los Angeles. Again, no luck. Determined to try every means, we finally approached the check in counter for Alaskan airline. Alas, a nice chap that’s really helpful and sympathetic to our situation helped us do a thorough search and true enough..previous airport personnel just didn’t bother to check. Hmpf!

We had a sumptuous Mexican food for dinner! To celebrate the fact that we found our luggages and that our luck is turning for the better. Wooh…delicious food:) Serving was humongous, couldn’t finish though it’s good.

3 October 2006 (Tuesday) 21:30
Second day into Abaris training. Intense stuff on mechanics of solids and composite materials. Made my own composite sheet with preimpregnated materials…cut and scarfle to prepare the sample for wet lay-up tomorrow. The theory portion is dry! Lotsa matrix, stress, shear, strain, bonding, fibers etcetra etcetra. I fell asleep everyday after lunch during lesson, even though the instructor is pretty good looking. Gosh! Haha!

Travelled a lot by foot the past couple of days. Realised it isn’t a common thing for locals to travel from one place to another by foot even if it’s within walkable distance. Perhaps that explains their high obesity rate? *Shrug* We’re like aliens whenever we walk along the roads. Drivers in cars will tend to shoot us an extra look. *Weird* I felt it was a rather good way for digesting all that beef, meat and fast food that’s in the American’s everyday diet. Guess by the time I’m back home, I’ll probably put on some weight..argh!!

Great scenery they have at Reno. Lots of mountains…a pity I won’t have the time to drop by Lake Tahoe due to time constraints. The weatherman forecast it to be snowing 6000 metres above sea level at Lake Tahoe. It’ll be so nice to get first hand experience with snow! Geez…though I’ve a low threshold for cold weather. Oh yeah, it’s getting colder by the day here in Reno. Hovering around 45oF for it’s low temperature of the day..hmm, how much is that in oC? Brrrrrr…

Probaly update on the photos at a later date:)