Lead. Care. Inspire

That's the creed that my profession lives by.
Leading can be done through autocratic ways or laissez-faire methods. Caring can be shown through concern for your charges over their daily lives.
But INSPIRE?!

There's no guideline or official manual on what are the ways to inspire! Hit by a cognitive disequilibrium, I was truly stumped at the prospect of being an inspiration to others.

How does a person become inspired? Usually it occurs through admiring someone or some organisation's superhuman/extraordinary feat and that sudden stirring of the heart and adrenaline rush drives you to imagine yourself acheiving similar heights. Alas, those lofty goals don't usually materialise and remains as a pipe dream.

How can I inspire others? This is a question that I have no answer and must take on a journey in search of the path towards being an inspiration.

Certainly being passionate about what you do helps a great deal. But passion is a severely overused word isn't it? In addition, passion can be doused by fatigue and other issues that seeks to distract and disrupt you. That clouds one's vision.

So what then? I would say having a clear purpose for each season in life is something that keeps us on track in this race of life. Having a genuine interest/love in something and pursue it with excellence. When fatigued, take a sabbath and recharge your batteries and get back to the race.

To inspire others, one must have the belief and your passion/love will shine through and that influence you have will permeate your surroundings such that it is impossible to avoid. Being real and true to oneself breaks down all barriers to inspire, for you show who you are.

That said, a plumbline/blueprint is needed to keep you in check when all else fails, you need a role model to be there for you too.
I am thankful for that.


"You need to be inspired to inspire"

I get inspired by beautiful scener

Steak House Satou - Finest Matsuzaka Beef

Paying homage to the greatest steakhouse (in my opinion) was one of the best experiences of my post-exam travel. I have earlier read up about Steak House Satou from Paul's Travel Blog and was so mesmerised by the marbling of the meat and the immaculate way the chefs handled the meat. To see it first hand and taste it was another experience altogether.

The concept was to have a butchery below and the restaurant above and thus the restaurant has supply to the freshest and finest cuts available.

Very beautiful piece of paper (im biased)

I chose the Omakase set which is to trust the chef and it cost 5250 yen ($83SGD)

Look, even the salad was made so prettily.


The chefs were separated by seniority. The junior ones would be cooking the veggies while the head chef dealt with the steak.



Look at the size of the steak!
Viola! Here goes my set: Salad, Steak, veggies, rice, miso soup and tea.

Close up of the wondrously marbled steak

Simply seasoned with ground pepper and salt. The meat was gorgeous. The fats were dealt with separately.

The vegetables.

The friendly staff took photo for me.

Check out my marbled prize

All done!

One to remember.

My four months @ U of A

Four months just flew me by and its time to say goodbye to the University of Alberta and Edmonton! It was really just yesterday when the minus 30 degrees hit me in the face and the camera was so cold that it couldnt function.. I remembered the first night where we couldnt even make it to the traffic junction as it was too cold for us!

And so its just about right that I chronicle the past 4 months in this post.. the things that were not said and the pictures that were not posted would all be up here!


DEPARTURE and ARRIVAL into EDMONTON

Leaving home for 6 months was never gonna be easy! Though I put up a smiley face here, I was choked with emotions here with great friends and family sending me off, i was so touched. I never knew that so many people would send me off. I really felt loved. Thank God.

Arriving was a huge shock to our body systems! From tropical Singapore to Frosty Edmonton of minus 30 degrees! Even my mucus would freeze! Here the camera froze, my oakleys froze too! This was outside the hostel we stayed in the first 3 days.

SHIFTING INTO NEW HOME

When we shifted into ECV, it was such a torture! With all the luggage in tow,we had to lug it through knee-deep snow and it was so COLD!

But we made light of it and had snow fights!

The house was totally EMPTY.

HAHA.. we just threw everything on the floor and we bought all household items from scratch. From Dollarama!Cooking was an integral part of our lives! To save money we cooked almost daily except the weekends and special occasions. Jo brought the rice cooker from Singapore and each of us had sauces packed from our mums and herbal packs!

This was the kitchen.. we experimented with baking, frying.. you name it, we did it!

SAMPLE OF THE FOOD WE COOKED!

Our standard protocol is to have one soup, one veg and one meat per meal!

And we cooked both chinese and western food! During this time, we really missed Singapore food and home-cooked food!

Soup

Vegetable: Oyster Sauce Kailan!


Mapo Tofu with Minced Meat!

Teriyaki Chicken!Pasta and Pizza!Keep the best for last: This is my master piece! Fish in Chilli crab sauce. Formula is really simple: Mix chilli sauce and ketchup, then beat few eggs into it.. It really tastes like the real thing!

We bought our own mattresses and bedsheets! We slept on sleeping bags on the first week and broke our backs (pun intended). IT cost $50CAD!!! Pretty pricey!

We used t-shirts as pillow case. Poor Students!

School: University of Alberta

This was in school with the two school mascots! GUBA and Patches.At the iconic Butterdome where all the sports takes place.

Watching volleyball, basketball and ice hockey games in the Main Gymnasium.

Eating Cabana E sucre! The hot maple syrup poured on crushed ice! Its a French Canadian traditional thing.

Singaporean Society at U of A

The Singaporean Society was a real blessing that chanced upon us (yes u read it right). One night as we were walking back to ECV, two Singaporean girls, Lynette and Caelyn overheard our conversations and found that our Singlish gave ourselves away and told us to join them at the Society for their gatherings!

And what a blast it has been! Multiple makan gatherings (Chianti, Buddy, Sai Woo, Brewsters, KEG) Sports Sunday (At butterdome) and Jasper Trip!

This was at Phily's house.. we were watching the olympics opening ceremony!

At Buddy's having reunion dinner on CNY Eve!

Sports Sunday!

We played sports like basketball, frisbee, badminton and volleyball! They were all fun-filled games at the butterdome!

Friends: Glen Flach and Sarah Balla

I really want to thank God for these two Canadian friends that im close to. I knew Glen through Ecology Lab as he's my lab partner! He's such an easy-going guy with no airs. Even though he is so knowledgable and has a degree already (pursuing his 2nd one). And he doesnt discriminate. We have alot to talk about and he offered to bring me to visit his farm which was an awesome trip. He's a great friend.

Sarah Balla is another awesome friend of mine! In fact, she's the first friend that i've made in Canada and we met through genetics lecture! She initiated the conversation and I found out she did an exchange in Australia! She's also a PE teacher and she also teaches Biology.. So exact same combination as me! She's really into sports too, especially softball! She brought me to church, taught me to drink half coffee half french vanilla for tim hortons! We also went to Earls' to try the iceberg slush + beer!

SPORTS IN CANADA

I played and tried many sports in Canada! Im truly blessed.

Here's Kinsmen sports centre which I frequent every monday night to play the winter league Ulitmate frisbee league. Team 6 emerged as Champions!

Played outdoor ultimate at Hawrelak Park!

Snowshoeing at Athbasca Falls
Cross-Country Skiing at Strathcona Wilderness Centre

Snowboarding at Snow Valley

Biking on ice at North Sasketchwan River

Shooting in Opal, Glen's Farm

PLACES that we VISTED!

1. JASPER NATIONAL PARK (Twice! Once in Winter and once in Spring!)

This was with the Singaporean Society people and we did biking there!

It was a beautiful place to bike.. exploring all the lakes..

We had ICE-CREAM!

BANFF NATIONAL PARK

Lake Louise is the only mention-worthy place that I would put up on this post and it was really beautiful!

CALGARY

We went to Calgary during reading week and gosh, it was the best week of our lives! We were so well taken care of by Derek and Carol to the point that Im embarrassed. They are so nice to us and we really felt loved there. We bought them a cake on Valentine's day and also dinner on the last night!

DRUMHELLER

This was abit boring except with the landscape pictures were pretty interesting!

And the bus ride was horrendous!

DRIVING IN CANADA

Driving on the left hand side of the road has brought its fair share of laughs and scares! I got onto the wrong side of the road in Calgary downtown once and saw oncoming cars to my horror! HAHA..

Drove Glen's Manual 4WD truck! IT was a real experience to drive manual on left hand drive.

The past 4 months have been nothing short of amazing. I can only thank God for his blessings that he showered upon me and my travel mates. I also wanna thank all the friends that I have made in Canada and will miss them dearly!