Chapter 1: Of Merlions and Prairie Dogs
Hmm, so much for "one blog entry a day for the next few days", haha.
Anyway, the first week of our stay in the States was... eventful, to say the least. And by eventful, I mean wracked with sickness as we were struck by bouts of vomiting, diarrhoea, and in some truly horrendous moments, vomiting and diarrhoea at the same time. It was fascinating in a way, as you could almost see the path that the virus was taking. First, it was the girls. And then it struck me, as I would usually go over to the girls' room to cook and eat. And then it was the rest of the guys in my room, except for Khoi who had the constitution of an iron bull. It was a shame that we all fell sick like that, especially since we had quite a few field trips that week. Many thanks to Erin, who quickly rushed down to our classroom all the way from the other side of the campus to check up on us. She also made appointments for us with the school nurse, but we missed them because of the field trips, heh. Fortunately, we all got better by the third day, so yay for us.
Even so, the first week was pretty awesome, regardless of sickness. Our first module was Environmental Science, which was really a mix of Geography, Archaeology, Ecology, and The Ramifications Of Genetically-Modified Food. Hence, we had field trips pretty much every day. We visited abandoned oil fields and a few creeks, but the highlight of the field trips that week was definitely the one to the Wichita Mountains. Thankfully, the weather was pretty clear, so we could see cute little prairie dogs running around. It's really fascinating how crucial prairie dogs are to their environment - take them away and the entire ecological system of their habitat collapses. Amazing, no?
Speaking of the weather, it's probably noteworthy to point out that the average temperature while we were in Oklahoma was roughly between 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit. So what does that mean to the rest of the world who are using the Metric system? A low of - 7°C and a high of -1°C. But, really, the important thing is something called "wind temperature", which is lower than the "normal" temperature. Add all that up to the fact that we were on a mountain range and the resulting temperature at Wichita was really a wonderfully comfortable "freezing your balls off"°C. Good thing most us were prepared - I was wearing something like 6 layers of clothes and I still could feel the wind biting through everything. Can't say the same for the rest of the Group 2 folks, though; I can remember Manly, Elsa, Vicky, and Hong Hong going out, taking a pic or two, and then rushing back into the warm comfort of the bus, haha.
Honestly speaking, at this time, the awesome unit known as Group Two still hasn't fully come together yet. We were still pretty much in our separate cliques. Come Week 2 and the broadcasting module, all that was about to change.
Anyway, the first week of our stay in the States was... eventful, to say the least. And by eventful, I mean wracked with sickness as we were struck by bouts of vomiting, diarrhoea, and in some truly horrendous moments, vomiting and diarrhoea at the same time. It was fascinating in a way, as you could almost see the path that the virus was taking. First, it was the girls. And then it struck me, as I would usually go over to the girls' room to cook and eat. And then it was the rest of the guys in my room, except for Khoi who had the constitution of an iron bull. It was a shame that we all fell sick like that, especially since we had quite a few field trips that week. Many thanks to Erin, who quickly rushed down to our classroom all the way from the other side of the campus to check up on us. She also made appointments for us with the school nurse, but we missed them because of the field trips, heh. Fortunately, we all got better by the third day, so yay for us.
Even so, the first week was pretty awesome, regardless of sickness. Our first module was Environmental Science, which was really a mix of Geography, Archaeology, Ecology, and The Ramifications Of Genetically-Modified Food. Hence, we had field trips pretty much every day. We visited abandoned oil fields and a few creeks, but the highlight of the field trips that week was definitely the one to the Wichita Mountains. Thankfully, the weather was pretty clear, so we could see cute little prairie dogs running around. It's really fascinating how crucial prairie dogs are to their environment - take them away and the entire ecological system of their habitat collapses. Amazing, no?
Speaking of the weather, it's probably noteworthy to point out that the average temperature while we were in Oklahoma was roughly between 20-30 degrees Fahrenheit. So what does that mean to the rest of the world who are using the Metric system? A low of - 7°C and a high of -1°C. But, really, the important thing is something called "wind temperature", which is lower than the "normal" temperature. Add all that up to the fact that we were on a mountain range and the resulting temperature at Wichita was really a wonderfully comfortable "freezing your balls off"°C. Good thing most us were prepared - I was wearing something like 6 layers of clothes and I still could feel the wind biting through everything. Can't say the same for the rest of the Group 2 folks, though; I can remember Manly, Elsa, Vicky, and Hong Hong going out, taking a pic or two, and then rushing back into the warm comfort of the bus, haha.
Honestly speaking, at this time, the awesome unit known as Group Two still hasn't fully come together yet. We were still pretty much in our separate cliques. Come Week 2 and the broadcasting module, all that was about to change.