Kindness of a stranger

I set out to explore the city last weekend. I had to take the bus to get to the metro station. Sitting in the bus stop shelter, there was an old lady around 80 year-old. Outside the shelter, there were two men sitting on the fence, chatting, one of them wore glasses. A few minutes later the bus approached. When the bus stopped, she walked slowly in front of the bus, then the man with glasses helped her to get on the bus. He then waited and let everyone else got on the bus first. So I got on the bus just before him. Unfortunately, my metro card didn't work because I was on a non-metro bus. When I was trying to fish my money out, he already had paid for my fares...what a nice guy!! Later, I managed to find some money and gave it to him. He refused but I insisted, so he unwillingly accepted it. However, the 25 cents slipped off his hand, but for some reasons none of us wanted to pick it up. I stared at it for a while until a woman got on the bus and picked it up. Funny enough, the 25 cents had become someone's luck!!

My list about things :-) & :-(

Things that I really like :- Lights, traffic, and people at night ) Postcards esp antique ones ) Pictures ) Mickey mouse ) NASA and space stuff ) Pop-up books ) Nice boxes ) Very large mirror ) Tea ) Ice tea ) Stripy shirts ) Woolly jumpers ) Pink ) Blue ) Coca cola ) Strawberries with cream and sugar ) Roast chicken dinner ) Tiffany ) Nice coats ) Duvets ) Pillows ) Perfumes ) Stickers ) Snow ) Long eyebrows, longer than the eyes ) Mangos ) Water melons ) Lai Chee ) Grape candies ) Sea ) Clouds esp when they are moving ) Running down the stairs/hill ) The sound of music ) Cold toast ) Leather bags ) TV ) Cello ) French toast bagel with cream cheese ) WWII history ) Macadamia chocolate ) My neighbour totoro ) Maryland blue crabs ) Nice photos ) Google earth ) Jujyfruits ) Hershey's ) Yes we can ) Magnet ) Good data ) Paper plane ) Asics Ultimate 81) A & F) Pink Ranunculus ) Old Corona typewriters) Florida )

Things that I don't like :- Chomping ( Snoring ( Not able to sleep at night ( Walnuts ( Raw peppers of any colours ( Alarm clocks ( Loud ticking noise from a clock ( Red wine ( Cats ( Superficial people ( Clowns ( People who don't say much ( Cold weather (

The list will just get loooonger and loooonger! Please send me your list too, so that I can know how your habits change ;^)

Pics: My office

Caption: uLP = Unit on Learning and Plasticity, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition
Checker board = In a scan section, subjects were presented with flashing checker board in order to identify lower level visual areas in the brain.
Body parts = Research in people suffered from phantom pain.
Map = Apparently, Britain is almost half of the USA.....oh I see, that's why the "not drawn in scale" sign is there!



Latrice; Stephanie; Dwright. I think Lalitha was taking the pictures.

Video: Food!

I had a Philly Cheese steak sandwich in Johnny Rockets, in the Union Station. It's a very cool fast food restaurant!

Pics: Union station & national postal museum

Look at this, I will love to have this shelf in my house, and I can fill each pigeon hole with my favourite things ;-)




Look at the ceiling, don't you think it will be so cool if it is a wrapping paper!

Pics: United States Botanic Garden

This is how your brain will look like if you don't drink enough water!!


United States Botanic Garden


Guess what, I couldn't get into the Capitol, may be next week!

Pics: Where I work

heehee....

This is building 1, I work in building 10.

Pics: I am staying here for now

ABC

Went to the credit union bank today and talked to my bank manager. While she went to arrange my paper work, a Chinese man who worked there approached me. He asked in Cantonese, "did you just get here from Hong Kong?" I replied " it's complicated, I was born in HK, then moved to the UK, and just arrived here." (Well, an honest answer) Then he said " oh, you STUDIED in the UK." (well, my family is there and I have living there for almost 10 years!), but I just smiled and nodded, because I didn't want to explain too much. Then he went, "I was born here". And I thought, ok but WHO CARES, and why are you telling me this, does it matter?? I didn't know him, and I had no intention to get to know him, and I was not interested in making small talk with him, so I simply replied politely "oh yeah". That whole conversation makes me feel so uncomfortable. I think what he wanted to say is, althought we speak in the same language, he is different from me and he is special because he was born in the US (hence he is an ABC; American Born Chinese, which makes me a HKBC)

My point here is...It bothers me that when some people just could not accept the fact that others like to move from countries to countries just to live and explore, instead of STUDYING!! Why do some people always need to ask "Why Are You Here??" I wonder if it is really important for them to know (can't they be satisfied with the answer of "because I want to"!). Also, it bugs me when he didn't really want to welcome me or to ask me how I get on, he merely wants to tell me that he and I are different.

St Paul's or US Capitol

I didn't take these pictures, but I found them on the web. Just realized the similiarity today, and thought you may find it interesting too!! According to the Wikipedia: "The Capitol draws heavily from other notable buildings, especially churches and landmarks in Europe, including the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, and St. Paul's Cathedral in London." By the way, I am going to the Capitol this Saturday......

Hey... I am over here!

2 April, 2007 Monday: I left Bristol around 4am, arrived at Heathrow around 6. It took me a while to get my broading pass etc...And due to the heightened security level at Heathrow, I had a full body check treatment. After enjoying two films, I arrived at Washington Dulles.

3 April, 2007: My first day at work, it was rather hectic. I had to go to many different offices in different buildings, each building is a maze in itself. To get my ID badge, they had to get my finger prints, and after several hours of waiting I finally got my badge and my email account.

7 April, 2007: First weekend here. Cold and there was a little bit of snow! I went to a nice shopping mall in Wheaton, which was two metro stops from Silver Spring. I like the metro, but one scary about the metro is that, the escalator was very steep (too steep.....oh my god), long, and slow. It took ages to reach to the ground level. I held on tight to the rail because I didn't trust myself, I thought I might fall back. I didn't even dare to look back. Some people were too brave, they would turn back and talk to their friends behind! I was so worried on the way down, and thought I better use the lift, unfortunately the lift didn't work, but in fact coming down wasn't too bad, because I could see what was in front. (It's always comforting to know what's ahead of you!) Quite a few tourists were taking pictures, and I did so only when I reached the bottom ;-)

12 April, 2007: Kiss and ride, another phase for short-term parking......funny!!



I took the z11 metro bus to get back to the house, but I soon realized that it was an express line and didn't stop near to my house. So I set on the bus until it arrived at the last stop, which is a kiss and ride place miles away.....Luckily I wasn't the only one that had got on the wrong bus, the woman next to me didn't realized the z11 was an express line too, and I got back home ok. Unluckily I didn't find a kiss!



That was my first bus trip in the US. The bus was really really long. I couldn't find a button to press to request my stop, instead there was a cable to pull, interesting!