Around UC Berkeley

Wannabes...

It turns out that the University of California at Berkeley is listed as one of the recommended places to visit in Berkeley. It's really a nice campus, with loads of museums and historical buildings. In fact, there's even a visitor's centre on campus where guided tours are available. With 18 Nobel prize winners (7 of them still active staff) and its history of idealism and revolution, UC Berkeley remains as one of the top universities in the world. So it's really an honour to be here - in particular to be able to meet and work with some of the top astronomers/astrophysicists in the world, some of whom we've seen on TV documentaries!

The cute little squirrels that run around the campus...

The famous clock tower that rings every hour...

The gardens and wooded enclaves within the campus are really refreshing...

Agnes at Campbell Hall, home of the Astronomy department of UC Berkeley

Trip to Stash

Being a huge fan of Spud Says, Agnes had always wanted to try knitting with some Spud and Chloe yarns. So she went and checked which of the yarn shops nearest to us carried the brand, and found a yarn shop called 'Stash' in Berkeley. Via a short bus ride and a few kind souls, she found the yarn that she wanted, loved it so much and has never stopped knitting since then!

While all this has been happening, Kevin has been busy working on some data analysis on this desk he calls his own at the UC Berkeley Astronomy Department for the next two weeks:

Day out to the city

On Day 2 (Sunday), though still jetlagged, we were ready to explore San Francisco City. So, we hopped onto the train closest to the campus, which went across the bay from Berkeley under water. Agnes was not thrilled with the thought of that but we managed.

Kevin found online that the best place to start is its premier shopping district, Union Square. When we walked up the stairs from the train station we alighted, our eyes were dancing.

the buntings for "Wicked" the musical got Agnes all excited...

After a mandatory-for-Kevin stop at the Information Centre and then lunch, we took a leisurely stroll to the Orpheum Theatre, to get the tickets for "Wicked" the musical, for next Sunday. 

Here's Agnes gleaming with the tickets for the show that was to start in 20minutes! It was the same price with better seats than what we can get for the week after...

We had a great time! We hung around the stage door for a while after the show and caught glimpses of the casts for the Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Elphaba.

After the show, we window-shopped in Westfield, a big shopping centre and afterwards took the train back to campus.

It was almost 8pm by the time we got our take-away dinner and there was still plenty of daylight. It was awesome!

Won't see this in Australia or Malaysia

Yup... we're in earthquake territory...

The Longest Day

22nd May 2010 -- the longest day of our lives...

By 2.30am, we were awake.. getting ready to go to the airport to catch a 5.30am flight from Perth to Sydney. After slightly more than 4 hours, we arrived at the Sydney airport, got a transfer to the international terminal, and waited to board our 13 hour flight to San Francisco. 

A glimpse of Sydney from a distance, with an A380 in the foreground

Thinking about the flight again now makes us feel so 'sien'... We were glad for the more comfortable seats and on-board entertainment - but still found it very hard to sleep.

We arrived at San Francisco at about 10.45 am... on the 22nd of May 2010! 

For Kevin, it was a return to SF after almost 15 years since he came here for a holiday with his family. For Agnes, it was the first time she set foot on American soil.

We took a taxi directly to the University of California at Berkeley (UCB), where we would be spending the next two weeks. We were walking around looking for our on-campus accomodation at the Women's faculty club, when we saw what looked like an old, abandoned building...

...which turned out to be the building we were looking for! (It really looks better in the photo than in real-life!) 

But it was really nice inside...

Jet-lagged and super-tired, Agnes went to bed immediately, while Kevin went out to hunt for some food to take away. After lunch, we both had a long nap, and woke up just in time for dinner. 

We couldn't sleep on our first night here... our biological clocks were still following Malaysia/Perth clocks... despite how tired we felt...

Seasons Come, Seasons Go...

The winds are chilly again, the maple leaves are turning red and gold... autumn is in full swing. This also means that a year has passed since we arrived in Perth. What an adventure it has been!

Tomorrow morning, we fly off for another adventure... as we head to the US for a month-long sojourn.

700 balloons

To kick start the first youth meeting, the team decided to design a balloon room. Well, it's pretty simple to do that, just fill a room up with 700 balloons. The not-so-simple part is inflating the balloons. Nevertheless, we had fun blowing the balloons as a team and more fun letting ourselves (and the youth, of course) loose in the balloon room!

The humble beginning...

Ta-da!