Annie and Aunt

Red bean bread sample

pudding cake

Bakery

Aunt and myself

My aunt paying for the bakery

Pretty much just like that in HK

The Bakery

GiGi is hiding in the garage

Heading out with aunt

25th August, 2004

The third day of school. I'm sleepy...I didn't sleep well still...

21st, August, 2004: Walking Campus Tour by myself

Starbucks @ Student Union. Sweet!!!

Library

There's recycling trash cans on campus

Library

He's late. Sneaking to the classroom

Art

Business building

clock tower

Clock tower

21st August, 2004: Not Gold but Silver

(L-R) Lai Chak Ko and Ching Li of Hong Kong (silver), Ma Lin and Qi Chen of China (gold) and Michael Maze and Finn Smirnov of Denmark receive their medals for the men's doubles table tennis event at Galatsi Olympic Hall in Athens on 21/08/2004

http://www.athens2004.com/en/OlympicMedals/medals Check out HKG on the medals ranking. Finally we got our second medals ever in the Olympics. And our first medal after the handover in 1997. HKG was so close to tie the game. HKG had 2 serve errors on the last two points (8-9)@Game6. HKG was too nervous I guess... That gave China another Gold medal easily. China defeated Hong Kong by total set 4-2. I was cheering for Hong Kong all the way during the live broadcast. I was so happy when HKG got the fifth set (CHN3-2HKG).

HKG still have a chance to get another medal by Lee Lai Shan on windsurfing. She'll try her best to compete.

Jan-Ove Waldner from Sweden advanced to the male's single table tennis final. Wow...he's 38 already. Will this master get a gold this year???

18th August, 2004

This Japanese swimmer "Kitajima" swam so well in the 100m & 200m breaststroke. He completely outran the other competitors. He even beat the WR holder Branden Hansen (USA). 2 golds for Kitajima.

1992 men's table tennis gold recipient "Jan-Ove Waldner" from Sweden is still playing this year in the Olympics. He got into the quarterfinal. I'm wondering how old he is now...must be over 40

Lee Lai Shan (Shan Shan)is looking forward for her second gold medal. She climbed up from the third to the first now on the women's windsurfing standing. She got our first ever gold medal for Hong Kong in 1996 Olympics.

17th August, 2004: Finally I can use internet at home

It's been boring weeks for me without the internet connection. I felt like I lost track of time. Indeed, the cable TV helped me a lot. If there's no cable TV I cannot imagine how I'd be like now. School will begin in about a week. My new cell no. is 618-303-0380. 13th I was waiting all day for my phone line to be activated. So the whole day I was waiting...what a waste. Finally it came to a conclusion that it's not activated...I phoned Verizon and asked what's happening. I gave them my phone number and they said they don't have anything on their computer. I was like what??!!!! This is the most rediculous thing I've ever experienced in my life. I called them almost 4-5 times. I gave them all the info that they needed. At first they said my service would be activated on 9th. Later I phoned again and inquired. They said 13th 8pm. I don't know why it has to be 13th 8pm friday the end of their service hour. They're tricking me. Stupid Verizon...I hate them. I'll find out what's up on monday. Hopefully I won't have to wait for another week. 11th Everything's back to normal. Everything's in place. I'm still waiting for my phone line to be activated. 10th I got the furnitures finally. I could organize stuff. All the furniture that I got were rusted. I sneaked into the room where they carry the furnitures from. I found a better chair for my desk. 9th Since there are so many TV channels, I went to get a TV remote control. I also went to look for another wireless network carrier. There are just 2 carriers available in here (AT&T and Verizon). I compared both. I decided to go for the AT&T local plan. Verizon doesn't offer any free or cheap phones. So that's one of the reasons I go for AT&T. I got the same phone that I got from T-Mobile. I watched TV for the whole day. Yet I don't have internet, that's the best way to cure my time. I like the food network and speed channel on TV. 8th August, 2004 The night before I move, I was so worry about carrying all the stuff to my new apartment. So I loaded up half of the stuff to my car. I was also worry about my car. I was afraid my car cannot withstand all the heavy load. I got up at 10am on that monring. I started cleaning and packing after I got up. I spent almost 3 hrs in doing all that. I said goodbye and thanks to every single objects in Champaign. My car was fully loaded with my stuff. I couldn't even see the rear mirror. I was going relatively slow when I was driving. On the way I kept checking on the signals that my cell receives. 3 hrs later, I arrived safely without any problem. I unloaded all the stuff by myself. I was so tired in doing all that. Long drive and stressful unloading...then I sat down a rest for the night. I hooked up the TV. There are so many channels. I watched Romeo must die with Jet Li on that night. I picked up my cell and decided to call my family. Wait a second....there's no service here??? I tried to phone back to the store where I purchased the phone and started the service. But it never connected.

7th August, 2004: Leaving Champaign Tomorrow! Bye!

I'll move down to Carbondale tomorrow. I won't be back here at least for a while. I must look forward for my future. I must stay happy and smile more. Eat and exercise regularly. I have to stay healthy. My phone line in my new apartment won't be activated until 13th. Nobody could reach me. Well...however I got a cellphone today. If anyone want to contact me, you can still call me 217-721-1268. I'll not have internet access for a while. As soon as I get my phone line hooked up. I might have a chance to use the internet.

5th August, 2004

Nikon Coolpix3200 is my new camera. There are so many new functions. I'm practicing how to use this new toy.

4th August, 2004

I'm back. I need rest.
Gosh...I'm still frustrated in choosing university. Should I go to Aurora University or Southern Illinois University? For tuition and size of the campus, SIU definitely is the place to be. But I'm still thinking if I would get more job opportunities if I live near Chicago. I don't want to regret and pick the wrong school to go to. Time is running out. I can't sleep because of that......
That's the hat that I got from my friend's host family. It's an Alaskan cap.
Myself wearing the cap.

3rd August 2004

Here is some news for today. I looked for the apartment for the whole day. It took me a while to look over all the apartments. Plus today is ultra hot!!!! That didn't make my apartment search easy. But finally I found a 1 bedroom furnished apartment which is about 10-15 mins walk to business buildings. It's $465 per month includes all the utilities. So I don't have to run over to the post office and pay the bill. All I have to do is to pay the phone bill. I like that apartment. It's roomy and clean. The closet is almost as big as my room in Hong Kong. Isn't that nice? Tomorrow I'll go to register for classes. After that I'll head back to Champaign and take approximately 3 days rest before I completely move down to SIU. Yup...that would be the last few days that I could stay in Champaign my dream university campus town. Although I'm here in Carbondale, my mind and all the memories are still in Champaign. I'm still little upset about my past. I just think it shouldn't be this way. Until now I feel that everything is so uncertain. I've never feel anything like this. Perhaps that's life. I'll try to get over it in this week. God...please help this little baby Alan.

2nd August, 2004: August already dude!

On 31st July, I packed all my stuff and went down to Olney to visit my friend's host family. They were really nice to me. I had Mexican food with host father on the first night. We watched TV and uploaded pictures that they've taken i9n Alaska. They gave me a cap as a sourvenir. Thanks you very much!!! They second day I helped to move my friend's stuff out of my apartment. So me and host father went up to Champaign and get all the stuff with his truck. It was quite a long drive. But I wasn't the driver. Thanks again!!! I went fishing after moving. There are so many kinds of baits for different kinds of fish. I learned how to cast a bait by imitating. I still don't know how to catch a fish though T_T...I didn't catch any fish. So as host father. The neighbor caught one. I took a picture of her and the fish. I'll get that post as soon as I go back to Champaign. I'm now in Carbondale. I'll looking for apartment tomorrow noon. Just bless me that I can find one. Or I'll have to live under a bridge.