Sun God and Surfing!

The 25th annual Sun God festival happened last Friday. This is by far UCSD’s largest single social event (basically, cause=inebriation and effect=rowdiness). Drinking was commonplace from the morning, as some students went into class intoxicated, attempting to perform to their academic fullest. Throughout the day, there were various activities set up around campus to warm everyone up for the concert that was to come later on in the evening. Some of these included sumo wrestling (with the puffy suits), massive inflatable slides and obstacle courses, gladiator style battles and waterslides.

Hip hop dance teams performed and the UCSD pep band were in action, entertaining the already much internally entertained crowds. All under the watchful eyes of our Sun God (our most famous statue on campus). Fountains around campus were foamed out, and someone even kayaked down one of them.

Police patrolled around campus as expected, and one of them were attacked on our very own I-Walk! The day provided me with many surprises, including the handcuffing of two of my very own friends, sent to detox cells! The day of mingling crowds culminated with the nighttime concert of 17,000 people. Third Eye Blind rocked the stage earlier on in the evening, and later on in the night rapper T.I urged everyone to get crunk during his performance.

The next morning, I got up early to learn how to surf! Slipping into wetsuits to aid in warmth and buoyancy, I learnt the basic theory behind this sport, and then jumped into the harbour holding our large beginner foam boards. Saturday morning was just to get a feel for the board and basic techniques, before going into the beach on Sunday. The waves at Mission Beach were perfect for our learning surfer selves, as we shuffled our feet to avoid stingray bites and observed beautiful dolphins jumping into the incoming waves. Learning to stand was definitely not as easy as it looked, as many failed attempts got me bruised, battered and saline-filled. However, by the end of the morning, standing on the board for even only a few seconds as the wave carried me towards the shore was rewarding.

On Monday, Al Gore came onto campus to give his famous seminar on global warming. Luckily for us, tickets were free since we were UCSD undergrads. Before his presentation outside the entrance, there were people offering up to $50 to see him! Despite the controversy that is always associated with former politicians advocating issues about the environment, I found him influential in making many good points. A bit of history - Al Gore gained a passion about global warming issues after being mentored by Dr Roger Revelle at Harvard (one of the founders of UCSD, famous for being one of the first scientists to study global warming). This connection with UCSD seemed to ramp up his charisma, and so too the audience.

Cinco de Mayo and Asia-Pacific Culture Night!

Cinco de Mayo is Spanish for "5th of May", and is celebrated largely in Mexico and in the US as it commemorates the victory of the Mexicans in a famous battle against French forces in the 16th century. I took this opportunity to go to Mexico during the day. Previous Mexican experiences had been limited to nighttime, so this day was the ideal time to capture some true Mexican culture and heritage. Esther, Tania (Esther's roomie), Janna (Dutch friend) crossed the border late afternoon into Tijuana. Tania mentioned that true Mexico was much further inland, hundreds of miles southeast from the touristy near-border cities like Tijuana and Rosarito. Crossing the border, the transition in terms of living conditions were profound. We were encountered by many young kids wanting loose change, and even my camera.

Walking deeper towards the city centre from the border, I saw Mexican flags at half mast, and taco shops almost every hundred metres or so. Local stalls privately selling Mexican souvenirs were within arm's reach of each other as we progressed further into the city. Some of the less well-off folk that couldn't afford to have a proper sales stands were selling hand-made items on the streets. Poverty played a huge role, as I spotted the differences between a developing and developed country. And this city was supposed to be too developed, therefore unrepresentative of a typical Mexico, due to its close proximity to the border and its reputation as a tourist city. As the sun sank into the horizon, the neon lights of Tijuana nightclubs flashed to generate attention. American hip-hop music from clubs was unusually blended in with locals speaking Spanish. We also saw what looked like a busker, with a donkey painted like a zebra to grab people's attention. Since bargaining was widely carried out here in Mexico, Janna attempted and succeeded in getting the better part of the price tag for her beloved poster. One of the highlights for me that night had to be the quality of the tacos! I had ten tacos in total, with an assortment of flavours such as carne asada (beef), pork, tripe, and even goat. Each taco was made step by step, starting from slashing a large chunk of heated meat, and we saw the local chefs professionally put together the beautiful stuff at light speed. A traditional Mexican drink, the horchata (rice milk with a blend of other ingredients including cinnamon), spoiled my taste buds, especially with the tacos. I loved it all. Three tacos were just one dollar, and so was a single horchata.

We then went into a club for a few drinks. What's worth mentioning was the way that the bartenders tricked us into spending more money. A two-for-one drinks deal sounded good, as we were going to have a drink each, but we weren't "obvious enough" and received two drinks each instead. After we enjoyed the first few sips of the drinks, along came the "tequila headbang" guy with the whistle. I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but I wasn't wary at the time. He would blow the whistle and make vigorous movements, force-feeding me shots of tequila, repeating it on Janna and then banging our heads together (hence the name). I thought it was fun and so I cooperated, playing along with what surely seemed like complimentary Mexican club tradition. After three shots, I strongly gestured that I had enough. Instead of moving onto the next table, the guy's facial expression changed from jubilant to straight, as he blurted out "Sixteen dollars". We were shocked by this, and with our self-esteem on the line, we managed to get the price down from $16 to $8 to $4 to $0. If that wasn't enough, another guy approached us offering to take a photo of us. We defected without hesitation. We finished the night with some more tacos and some churros (a Spanish-Mexican cinnamon-flavoured, tube-like doughnut).
On a different topic, yesterday was the much anticipated Asia-Pacific Culture Night. This International House event had the main purpose of bringing cultures together by showing Asian and Pacific culture in the form of traditional dishes, activities and performances. To show Korean culture, I put together an I-House Taekwondo demonstration, collaborating with the UCSD Taekwondo team. We showed "Goryeo", paddle kicking, sparring and board breaking. The Korean girls did "Buchaechum" (fan dance), the Japanese did the "Nanchu Soran Bushi" (fisherman's dance), and there were Indian dances as well as Filipino performances. A cultural fashion show was also very nice indeed. Food was diverse and delicious, and the decorations were great too.

Following this, some of us went to an A Cappella Show hosted by the UCSD Tritones (the Tritons is UCSD's symbol...so the Tri-tones....clever isn't it?). Thomas Kim (the friend I went to SF with during spring break) is a member of this group. A Cappella is a vocal performance without the accompaniment of instruments - in fact the voice and mouth substitutes for the instruments. For example, drumming is beatboxing. Different UC's from around California came to perform, and some of the ways in which they mimicked the real songs were amazing. This show really got us pumped and singing by the end.

Los Angeles!

During the past two days, I truly and finally got to experience Los Angeles for what the glamorous city is famous for. Early in the morning, we caught a long bus ride to Oceanside, where the Metrolink train took us up the coast into downtown LA. I was surprised by the ease of public transport use around the city. Train systems contained many loopholes for free trips from A to B, and there were many, many bus routes that intertwined the district (although these buses were jam packed, especially with the lower class).

Associated with Hollywood is the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, where we walked along first. Its name is ridden with glamour, justified by its footpath of a seemingly endless stretch of stars. We passed by Mann's Chinese Theatre (star's autographs are set in concrete here), El Capitan (where many world premieres of animated movies are shown), The Guinness World of Records Museum, and the Kodak Theatre (the home of the Oscars). Hooters was the chosen place for lunch. Basically, Hooters is famous for female waitresses wearing tight spandex. They are employed according to their looks. Although I predicted that food would not be their forte, I found my sandwich delicious.

We then headed out to UCLA for a roundabout walk, where the architecture of some buildings were magnificent! Their sculpture garden was impressive too. The campus overall was beautiful. We then walked along Wilshire Street in the heart of LA's Koreatown to look for a nice restaurant to eat (Korean of course!). I miss mum's home cooking so much (that's a shout out)!

After dinner, we had a taste of what Chinatown had to offer, had a good long stare at how the Walt Disney Concert Hall would have been built (crazy architecture), and entered downtown. There were many high-rise buildings as you would imagine, but I found San Francisco's were more impressive. After a minor glitch in navigating towards the nearest bus stop, we found ourselves caught in a very awkward situation. Three big homeless guys approached us, and they were looking for the same bus stop. I was not 100% sure about the way that I was going, but I was leading the pack, with the homeless guys following me. These big African-American guys were exhausted and hungry, yelling various profanities along the way. I was hoping (like never before) that I was right! Counting my lucky stars, we all ended up on the same bus unscathed. The bus took us to Santa Monica, where we stayed the night at Hostelling International.

Early the next morning, we ventured out into Santa Monica beach, where countless people were either running, walking, rollerblading or cycling. This beach is famous for "Baywatch", the hit lifeguard TV series. Santa Monica Pier was a centre for fishing areas, shops, buskers and a mini-amusement park. Further down the coastline, Muscle Beach was at work. Arnold and many famous bodybuilders and athletes are known to have trained there.

Later that morning, I arrived at Staples Center in downtown LA. This was the home of the LA Lakers. I was here to see the fourth NBA playoff game between the LA Lakers and the Phoenix Suns. On the way in, I saw many "Bryant" basketball shirts flashing yellow, purple and white. From the distance, you would hear booing, which would sound closer and closer until an orange Phoenix Suns shirt passed through the crowd. Much like a Mexican wave. The atmosphere was great. Although my ticket was ridiculously expensive, I got a seat that was at the very top of the arena. Min and my Chilean roommate Andres came too, and we all enjoyed the live basketball (although we were too far away to see the trash talk, or the Laker girls). Celebrities tend to attend Lakers games, and I saw Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jack Nicholson, Jack Black and even Chris Tucker way down below (on the primo seats). It was a great game despite the loss to the Lakers.

Earlier tonight, there was a Russell Peters show right here at UCSD! Gutted after the early sell-out of the tickets, Esther and I decided to try and crash the show. By the time we got there, the show had finished and the seats were empty. Heading back towards I-House however, we saw him outside talking to a group of people! Then came my brief exchange of words. With Russell Peters!