Kite and Cherry Blossom Festivals

I went for my third Cherry Blossom Festival on March 27 since I came to USA. Before heading to DC, I went for Dim Sum brunch at Jesse Wong's in Columbia with a group of Singaporeans. Nine of us paid $21 each including tips. For $189, it was too expensive.

Thereafter, we drove to Greenbelt Metro Station. It cost $4.70 for a round trip. There were long queues buying the subway tickets. Before taking a 30-minute ride, a few of us wanted to use the restroom. Upon asking the staff, we were directed to a door with no conspicuous sign except a small unisex sign at knee level.

We were told to wait in-line outside the door while the restroom was in used. As it was cold, we decided to wait inside instead. The door led to the employees' lockers and different rooms pertaining to operating a subway station. Upon entering the restroom, there were an urinal and two bowls. The best of all, there was no partition. Basically, at least two persons could use the restroom at any one time. I often wondered why doesn't the Metro management simply install the restroom outside where they do not have to deal with the issue of security.

By the time we reached Smithsonian Station, there was a sea of people flowing out of the train. Some had kites since it was the Kite Festival. The National Mall was packed with people too. The peaceful ambiance I felt last year was replaced by constant jostling with people coming to admire the cherry blossoms.

I particularly love this picture of a cute baby with cool shades, all bundled up and sitting calmly on a branch! He was so adorable.



Cherry Blossom pictures.

White water kayaking

Yesterday, I went to my first of two rolling sessions to prepare for April 6 white water kayaking trip to one of these rivers, the Potomac River, Shenandoah River, Lower Yough, Muddy Creek, and Gunpowder Falls.

I had surfed JHU Outdoor Pursuits website which offered a variety of outdoor activities like sea kayaking, mountain biking and climbing since last year. This time, I wanted to participate in at least one of these activities.

After work, I had a quick dinner of two bananas and a pot of beef soup. I was lazy to transfer the soup into a bowl as I would have to wash the bowl too.

When I reached the pool at 7pm, I was the only person attending the rolling session. There was a small test before the session, I had to swim 50 feet and tread water for 2 minutes. After only 45 minutes of digesting my dinner, I swam slowly to prevent regurgitation. It is advised not to exercise strenuously one hour after meal.

After passing with 'flying colors' (quoting the tester), I was introduced to my instructress, Jamie. I had to put on a spray skirt to keep water out of the kayak (imagine a ballerina tutu). Getting into a tiny kayak was difficult for me since I had long legs.

Jamie taught me how to get out of the kayak upon capsizing. Basically, I had to lean forward toward the bow, tugged my head, pulled the
grab loop toward me and pushed the kayak away from me.

I had no qualm in water as I love swimming and water sports but I hate being inverted where water tend to get into my nose.

Next, I had to learn hip snap to row the kayak upright upon capsizing. This movement utilized muscle groups which I hardly used. A good thing I had been training my abs, obliques and back (core muscle) for running longer distance.

I practiced at the side of the pool where there should be a smooth but forceful movement involving twisting your hip up and keeping your head close to the shoulder where you last exit the water. Lifting the head up (a natural instinct to breathe) while hip snapping makes it harder to upright the kayak as it offset the roll.

I had little trouble uprighting on my right but had to practice more on my left. Next, we proceeded to T-rescue where you signaled for help by tapping on the sides, sliding both hands on the sides to feel for a rescue kayak and hip snapping using the bow of the rescue kayak as support.

The next training involved hip snapping using two floats and subsequently one float to simulate the paddle.

I had fun learning rolling though my neck is aching now. I am looking forward to the beginner level on April 6.

The Horse Whisperer

I took a while to finish this fiction as I had to flip through a dictionary to find the meaning of a word at every other page initially.

The way Nicholas Evans had written this novel was compelling and descriptive.

Definitely a good book to read.

Natural beauty in the sky

I was supposed to go snowboarding on Saturday, Mar 8 for the last time this season as winter is ending. This trip was organized by the Johns Hopkins Post-Doctorate Association where Hopkins post-docs were subsidized and paid only $25 compared to the usual $77.

However, the weather on Saturday was bad and the trip was re-scheduled to Sunday. I slept till 9am since I always sleep better when I am warm and cozy under my blanket on rainy days. My usual waking time is around 7+am. I needed the extra since I had a busy week.

The sky did not let up till 3pm and the sun peeked out from the overcast. I thought the rest of the day would be clear but Mother Nature proofed me wrong.

While cooking laksa for dinner, there was sudden pelting of the windows. It was falling 0.5 inches of hailstones. Just as I looked out of the window, I saw a beautiful bow across the sky.

I dropped what I was doing and took out my camera to capture shots of the rainbow. There were two rainbows, the primary bow with seven colors (mnemonic: Richard of York gave battle in vain; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) and the secondary bow in reverse order and of lighter intensity.

The amazing sight was the rainbow ending at a ruin castle-liked building and a sun ray illuminated the building while the rest of the surrounding was overshadowed. It was like heaven reaching out and pointing a way to me.

Whenever I see a rainbow, I remember the Bible passage of Genesis 9:13,15 where God made a pact with man to never flood the earth again: "I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth... .. the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh."

Rainbow pictures.

Second hand item

Recently, I bought a Toshiba SD2805 5-Disc Carousel DVD and CD Player from a moving sales for only $5.

Since someone beat me to a $60-DVD player from a previous moving sales, I was on the lookout for one. In retrospect, I was glad that I did not get that DVD player.

When I went to pick up the Toshiba player, the owner highlighted to me that the metal case was dented, otherwise it was functional. Upon testing its function, I was a happy owner of the $5-DVD player. Now, it is sitting in my bedroom where I can watch up to five movies without moving from my bed to change discs.

I could not imagine buying anything second hand in Singapore but this seems to be the culture here.