Calgary Exchange
Gord's Exchange to the University of Calgary
Friday, April 14, 2006
Updates part 2
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West Edmonton Mall West Edmonton Mall used to be the biggest mall in the world, until some mall in China knocked it off the top. http://www.easternct.edu/depts/amerst/Malls.htm However, I don't really find it very big, only 2 levels, and most of it is taken up by the carpark, amusement park, and water park. Its big because its a self sufficient entertainment centre, it even has a casino, mini golf course and a chapel! The main focus of our day there would be the water park. Though we have to queue quite long for each ride, and its freezing while we were queueing, the rides are damn fun! We basically tried all the rides (except for those meant for kids la). My favourite is called Nessie's revenge, which is a stairs like slide, consisting of a few vertical falls which are very exciting. Unfortunately, cockster me dropped my specs on this very slide. And cannot find back some more. So spent the next few hours playing without my specs, actually quite ok in a way cause I don't have to worry about my specs then. Another favourite is the "Sky Screamer". Basically its just a verical drop down, similar to the negative part of an x^2 curve. Wow, what a nerd I am to describe the curve in terms of an equation. When at the start of the slide, we can see a group of people just hanging around. Guess they are too scared to go down the Sky Screamer, cos I got a bit scared when I looked down too. However, I think its not as fun as Nessie's Revenge. An interesting slide would be the "Tropical Typhoon". Its basically like going down a toilet bowl, just go round and round until you drop into the hole at the bottom, very fun! haha The slides are damn fun, makes me want to go Wild Wild Wet to try and see how good they are. Anyway, at the end of the day, went back to the Nessie's Revenge to try and find my specs again. Luckily, the lifeguard this time helped me find also, and he found it easily. Damn pro lor, that time I tried to find, and jioed a whole bunch of students to help me find also, and cannot find. He just dive in a while only can find my specs liao. Wanted to send an email to the waterpark to thank him one, but I'm so tired that I forgot his name when I reached back. I think its Jeremy or something, but just can't remember. So decided not to send the email, hahaha. COP part 2 Spring is coming, and COP was having a discount on its last few days of opening. So we went to learn snowboarding. Very worth it, $15 bucks, then got a series of stations where you can stay as long as you like until you mastered that station. With such a comprehensive training program, MZ and I mastered it in a few hours. SY quit halfway. According to MZ, she took off her snowboard and threw it down the hill when she fell her last fall. Stylo. Can't really blame her, as spring is coming, the snow is hard, so its very painful when you fall. Also, the hard snow makes it harder to learn also, since it makes the terrain very rough. After finishing the stations, MZ and I went down the hill a few times. On one of these runs, I had a major fall, and lost my handphone!! Realised it when I reached the bottom, so I quickly got back up the hill and went down again, hoping to find the phone. Alas, I couldn't find it. We then used MZ's phone to call me, and thankfully, someone picked up. A kind soul had found my phone on the hill, and passed it to the Lost and Found. Canadians are so nice, if this were in Singapore, it would be harder for this to happen. Can see how lucky I am, lost my stuff on 2 trips, and both times managed to get them back. Damn heng lor. French Maid French Maid is a strip bar in Calgary. No photos cause I scared it will get confiscated in the bar, so I never bring. Had dinner there, and the food is actually quite good. There are about 5 strippers in the bar, and they will take turns to dance. Each dance is about 2 minutes only, and then they will proceed to walk around the stage and let the guys throw money at her. Quite boring, dunno why so many people say its nice. Ok la, the girls quite chio with nice body, but the dancing quite boring lor. I was expecting acrobatic pole dances, but they just move around the pole only, not much acrobatic moves. I also feel that its quite demeaning to women. Not the stripping part, but the money throwing part. In the chinese custom, its an insult to throw money at someone, and over here, everyone is throwing money at the stripper. Its actually a "game", where she puts a coin on her body and the guy will try to hit the coin with his coin. If it hits, he gets a poster or postcard. If the guy uses a note, he is guaranteed a prize. Seeing that the lowest value for a note is $5, its a high price to pay for a poster. Anyway, I still want to try throwing the coins even though I find it demeaning. Well, its like a form of tipping *innocent face*. Wanted to throw quarters, but the others were telling me that they think need to throw at least a dollar coin. Being the cheapo me, I don't want to throw dollar coins, so decided not to throw. On the way out, I walked nearer the stage and tried to see what coins everyone is throwing. But still cannot see clearly lei, maybe because got other "views" distracting me. But I am quite sure its quarters, since I think most of the customers aren't exactly the rich type, and they are throwing the coins like nobody's business. Oh well.. Old Spaghetti Old Spaghetti is a chain of restaurants in Canada. At first wanted to try it in Edmonton Mall, but the queues were damn long. So went to try in Calgary instead. Also have to queue, but we can spare time in Calgary. They have this cool antique height measuring machine, which I guess is for the people queueing to waste time on. Anyway the food is damn nice, no wonder so many people come to eat. I had veal, and its heavenly. For less than $20, including taxes, we had the main meal, unlimited bread (like Cafe Cartel, but the bread is served), unlimited drinks and an ice cream desert. Top it off with flawless service and food, and you get a wonderful eating experience. Recommend it to anyone who's going Canada to try eating here. I think most big cities will have Old Spaghetti. Tibetan Cultural Performance Jioed by Yoichi to go to this performance. Its in a damn ulu place, and its quite sleazy as well, a Ninja School! Probably set up to scam innocent young kids who like Naruto and Sumarai X. The performance is quite good, though I feel its not worth the effort to travel to such a ulu place to watch. Its by a group of renegade Tibetan Monks who fled to India after China occupied Tibet. They are so poor, that they have to send their monks around the world to tour and earn money. An interesting performance is that of a Yak Dance, which is very very similar to the lion dance, only that the yak is all black. The yak can swing its tail also, quite pro, I wonder how they do that. Also, the mouth cannot be opened, and it "picks" things up using its horn. Another interseting performance is this dance. The costume is kinda "shaman-like", and it scared the little kids who were there. However, I enjoyed that dance, find it quite pro. BSD Bermuda Shorts Day marks the end of school for University of Calgary. Today, students just drink till they almost literally die. By right, students can only drink in the "Beer Garden", which is a football sized field set aside for BSD. In the Beer Garden, its impossible to walk without stepping on beer cans. Beer cans are all over the ground. Even the trees were not spared, and they were all decorated with beer cans. There is also the stink of beer lingering in the air, which is very pro considering that it is in the open. Because I don't have drinking buddies, and the beer is cheap beer (Canadian beer) sold at expensive prices (3.75 per can), I did not drink. Just hung out near the performance area, and the deejay area. Saw many drunks who cannot make it already. Even got a few kena ambulance evacuation. After a while, went with MZ to his "homeroom". A homeroom is a very good idea which should be implemented by NUS. Its a room set aside for a particular level in particular faculty. For example, MZ would go to the Year 3 CE room (but he hangs out more in the Year 4 room as he took Year 4 modules here). There are tables and lockers in the room, which students can reserve for a fee. More importantly, students are allowed to furnish their own homeroom, and CE's one has a tv, sega, fridge, sofa, etc.. As we were in the final year Homeroom, there were many students celebrating their final day of lessons. Most of them are obviously drunk, spraying water everywhere, throwing frizbees around, and playing substandard Mortal Combat on Sega. And thats the end of the recap. Tomorrow, I will be going on a road trip with 2 Japs. Exams start on Monday. So need to start studying now. But no mood to study, already thinking of my holiday trip and tomorrow's trip. Hahaha. |
posted by Gordee @ 6:23 PM
