Visiting Ms Shin Yee Tan in Goshen

Finally, I have the time & mood to blog further. As I've previously 'promised', I shall blog about my visit to Goshen, Indiana.

My trip to Goshen was a mere 5 days - 2 days of transport, 1 day of being at home as Shin was working, 1 day of my not feeling well, & 1 official day of my exploring the area. Goshen is a small, slow-paced, intact town. Very similar to Bemidji, I would say. The population's bigger than Bemidji though. However, BSU has roughly 4,000 students while Goshen college only has about 700 students (according to Shin). Then again, the comparison isn't fair cos BSU's a state university while Goshen college's a private one (I think). Anyway, I left Bemidji in the morning & reached Chicago airport around 4.30pm. Took Coach USA all the way to Southbend. If I had known earlier that there was a direct plane to Southbend, I wouldn't have bought an airticket to Chicago. Well, I guess Shin & I had some miscommunication in between. What has been done, has been done. Haha... Tiring journey, all by myself... When I reached Southbend, Shin & her friend soooo coincidently reached the bus stop/ airport as well. Erm... truthfully, I didn't feel all that supposed excitement, most probably due to the tiring plane n bus ride. Shin had all the excitement & enthusiasm. My apology on this... Stayed over at Shin's rented house. I wouldn't call it rent at all! Seems that the owner of the house seldom leaves in that huge house (which feels similar to a bungalow) & that Shin & her friends can stay in the house through out the whole summer without having to pay a single cent - no house rent, no utilities payment. All they have to do is just to housekeep the house. Wow! What a SUPERB deal!!! Issh.. I wish I had that (cos I have to so pay for my rent in my Bemidji house..)

Shin had to work the next day. So, I stayed at home the whole day. Watching tv, exercising, eating, reading my Tami Hoag's "Lucky's Lady", my first ever love novel read in standard 6 (12 yrs old). I'm rereading it after 8/9 years? Haha.. Ate at a Korean restaurant for dinner. Nice meal. Loved it. Awesome! The one with loads of vege's mine while the soup's Shin's.





























The next day, we were suppose to take a walk around the campus & do other stuffs (e.g. badminton) but unfortunately, I was down with my once in a while sickness. I have no idea how or why, but I just succumbed to my worst enemy. So, we had no choice but to stay at home the whole day. Did I faint? You guys gotta ask Shin that cos she was there all the time. haha... Played pictionary at night.


Day 4 - We toured around the campus & the neighbourhood. Not bad place. The people there have very strong religious identities. Ate at this Amish pie place. Healthy & delicious meal! Visited an Amish home at night. Amish is a special culture at one end of Goshen (I think). They are quite 'conservative' people who do not use today's technology. No cars, no electricity (including lights, washing machine etc), customary clothings, & NO PICTURES! Weird? I wouldn't say weird.. Interesting would be a more apprpriate word? For the first time in my life, I drank fresh milk milked from the cow! Too delicious to be true!!! Full of cream... I have no specific word to describe that astounded feeling I had when I had my first taste of the milk. Just plain yummy! I sooo wish I had another chance to it. Will be one of the best memories in my life... Had a nice time with the Amish family. Shin & i talked for long hours during the night, sleeping only about 3am. Shin said that she was quite disappointed during her recent trip back to Malaysia cos there was too little time to spend with the bunch of friends. Sigh... She took out the 'diary/autograph' that she gave around people to write during form 5. Such sweet reminiscence. All the sweet memories came flooding back. The days in high school... Precious memories.. Looking at all the pictures, we started with how we got to know each other, beginning the story since form 1 till form 5; our conflicts in between esp in form 2; all the projects that we did together - geography bentuk muka bumi in f2 in my house (the day when i called hc & officially became his friend), wedding project for PMR in f3, biology hand bone stucture using plaster & flour in f4, biology board, Bancruptcy (maths project) which was similar to monopoly, moral banner project in f5 - the times we cried together when were unable to carry out the project as intended and yet we always manage to persist & the outcomes were desirable. My position as ketua keceriaan, suan's as ketua kebersihan & always had to make sure students in charge throw away the rubbish at the end of the day, Cham's position as ketua disiplin, Sze, Deb & May in the prefects board & committee. How Shin, Suan & I quit our prefects' position... How the junior prefects, in particular QYS, were afraid to approach our class esp Suan for our misbehavior... N mel with her chikwando & prayer/sembahyang during assembly time (action of 'chinese god rasuk the body' shown by Shin, haha...) Hanging out during recess time with Pei Khee & gang at the canteen, eating nasi lemak, keropok, hotdog, waffle etc. Also, the girlguide camp that we had in school - how we cooked maggi mee when the fire didn't help the juniors in their meal... The times we ran out of class to take pictures esp during the last few months before SPM... Even as I'm typing all this, all the memories are rushing through my head. Makes me feel old in a way, having to know that we've gone through so much together.

Last day. I had to leave Goshen in the morning cos of my scheduled flight. We both were in the verge of tears, not knowing when will be our next time of seeing each other. With a heavy heart, I went up the bus, waving goodbyes & hugging Shin. As the bus left, I turned back & waved as much goodbye to Shin... Heavy emotions... Very heavy indeed... Well, i guess life's like that. We meet, get to know each other & move on with our lives. I believe we will one day meet again, definitely, no doubt. I even told Shin that when I have children in the future, I want the 7 sisters (6 of cos) to be my child's kai ma. Haha.. Abit too far, yes I know.. But no harm done to have that intention even from now... I think at this point, some frienships do last forever. We don't have to always be in each other's range of sight but we'll always have a place in each other's heart...

One word to Shin (if you're reading my blog) - You're a strong girl, inside & outide. Either I believe in that opinion myself or you don't realize it yourself. I know you'll be able to achieve your dream cos you have that 'Ummph' in you! You're probably the strongest among us 7. Even when you lack of faith in yourself, don't forget that you have your family & us to support you. At least, you'll have me on your back. Go ahead! Step forward! Reach for what you want... Cos YOU CAN!

Pictures of my trip to Goshen can be seen in facebook.com (if you have an account there). I think that page is only valid for those who has an American university's email, if i'm not mistaken. I dunno where else to upload the pics cos friendster's taking forever.... Tell me if u guys have some place for me to upload by just ticking on the pics instead of browsing one by one.

That's all for now. Cheerio!