Cafe Mediterranean (4/27)

   

I'd thought Sam's Mediterranean offered the best Mediterranean cuisine in Davis before Taimour took me and Hide to this restaurant. I liked the roasted half chicken I ordered and savored the chuncks of chicken dipped into yogurt. If my memory serves me right, it costed me around 8 bucks, which was a bit expensive. Another less glamorous aspect is that it wasn't filling at all, so I left the restaurant with still a bit of food cravings.

To the West

It was Saturday afternoon when I went biking with Tim to the west of Davis. It was really nice weather, neither too hot nor chilly. Along the way, I enjoyed the breeze and  the country scenery.  There were mountains far away, trees and shrubs beside the roads, and some farms, horse corrals, vineyards on our way to nowhere. And once again, I got to experience the vastness of the U.S.

The Passion Experience

    This year, Easter Day falls on 24th April. The week before Easter is called "Passion Week" or "Holy Week."  Jesus was crucified on Friday that week and then resurrected 3 days after his death(which is Easter Sunday). I've been to a church in Davis for quite a while, and I was told to sign up for "The Passion Experience," an exhibit in the church. The exhibit shows what leads to the crucifixion of Jesus as from the perspective of various characters in the Bible, such as Judas, Chief Priests, Pilate, Peter, and the crowd). It took about an hour to finish the Passion Experience. Basically, I was guided by the narrated audio from MP3 player through 5 booths that feature events causing the death of Jesus. I lingered at each booth, picturing how Jesus went through all these sufferings and thinking about how I was like those biblical characters that either betrayed, disowned, tested, or crucified Jesus. The part that really got me crying is hearing Jesus being flogged and then picutring  Him nailed to the cross. This is the worst way a man can die. To me, "The Passion Experience" was really impactful since I got to know how Jesus has taken all our sins upon himself and how He has gone through all the physical pain and spritual as well.

An hour before Sexuality Midterm

    It isn't the high time for me to blog as my Human Sexuality midterm is only one hour away. What I should do instead at the moment is go over all the lecture slides and my notes. However, I am really not in the mood for studying. Part of the reason is that minutes ago I just came across some blogs of previous exchange students from NTU and reading their diaries got me thinking about my life in California. Thus, I decided to put my thought and feelings into words on my blog.
Having been in the U.S. for more than 7 months, I've been to quite a few places, yet there seem to be a lot more for me to visit and explore; I've made a bunch of friends, yet I feel like getting to know more people; I've tried quite a few restaurant, but there always seems to be another restaurant worth going to.
    Today is April 21. Possibly I will be leaving for Taiwan on June 20, which is about two months away now. How can I make the most of these remaining two months in the U.S.? I wanna go to Las Vegas, Yosemite National Park, Napa Valley, etc...wanna watch an NBA basketball game..wanna lying on the grass for an entire afternoon...

Picnic Day 4/16

    It's this time of the year again(sounds like I've been in Davis before LOL). There is this "Picnic Day" event in UC Davis, which is one of largest student event in the U.S. From what I heard, there is gonna be a lot going on, such as animal events, exhibits, parades, club demonstration, student-organization faire, multicultural children faire, and such. UCD is proud to present Picnic Day as this showcases its richness, diversity and achievement and also nearby communities' contribution as in different arenas, such as teaching and campus life. Yet, this Picnic Day is not all sunshine and roses as over the previous years, the daytime patrol or policemen in general had made several arrest on the account of public intoxication and drunken driving. Also, the campus became littered with beer cans and garbages. As a consequence, the Picnic Day came under fire and a cancellation threat had been issued last year. Thus, this year's Picnic Day is very crucial as it's trying to save the Picnic Day. For that reason also, the theme of the Picnic Day is "rewind." And students are encouraged to sign a pledge to act responsibly during the event.

First time to donate blood (right before ESL)

     

    There was a blood drive(and actually a marrow drive as well) going on in Freeborn Hall at UCD campus this past Thursday. I remember back in Taiwan, I had been thinking about donating blood, yet my thinness always got in the way of me doing just that. Yet, this time, at the the urging of Hide (and with the lure of a free T-shirt), I  stopped by the Freeborn Hall and made my blood donation for the first time in my life. I got there at around 1 o'clock, right after having a heavy lunch. And I thought it wouldn't take long and I would be able to make it to the ESL class at 3:10, but it ended up taking me up to two hours to go through the whole process.