On November 7, the week after Halloween, I went to Twin Cities, Minnesota with my Hmong friend, Na Lee. Twin Cities is actually Minneapolis and St Paul as there is no boundary between the two places. As an Asian, it was great hanging out with Asian in America. I felt so comfortable when hanging out with them. It was unbelievable! It can’t tell that I am in USA. Hmong are actually pretty much similar as Chinese. I would say Hmong kids look like Chinese kids. They are called as MIAO in China. They are very much native American now. The difference is they can speak better English than I do. They grew up in USA, get educated in USA and apparently they do everything in American ways.

USA is a melting pot or a salad bowl. There have a lots of ethnics and races diversities. A week before that, I was the only Asian hanging out with all Caucasian (White American) on Halloween in Madison. Thanks to Na Lee who invited me to her sis’s house. It was so fun filled meeting your family members. Thanks to Amy and Dao, you guys are so friendly! I went to clubbing on Saturday night with them. A club called EPIC which is an Asian Club. The differences between bars and clubs are: Cover fees, Band, much room on dance floor, and more expensive.

The next day, we went to Hmong flea market aka Hmong marketplace. It’s just like an Asiantown. Some of the products are from Thailand and Laos. I tried some Hmong food there and it was delicious!

We joined Dao’s family baseball game on Sunday evening. It was my first time playing baseball in America. Well, I still remember vividly the first time I was introduced to baseball was in primary school. It was Vichian’s father who taught us how to play during our PJK class. Playing baseball in Minnesota was so nice. The baseball field is at Minneapolis, so I could see a lot of flights landing and taking off in the sky. Aim high, hit the plane down, and home run!!

I went to Mall of America after that. I got myself some long sleeves sweater and some t-shirts. I love shopping in Minnesota! Tax free for clothing!!
After that, we headed to Na Lee bro’s house. He is a good cook who works in an Italian restaurant. I managed to try Hmong terrific noodle called PHO, which was prepared by NL brother. It was the hottest and spiciest noodle I had in USA! It’s similar as the combination of Hokkien Mee, Curry Mee, Tomyam Noodles, and Spicy Noodles in Malaysia. Nice!

I learned a lot about Hmong American. Wisconsin and Minnesota have a majority of Hmong population. It was a great weekend hanging out with them! I hope I can make a visit to Twin Cities again before I return to Malaysia.

Hmong History = Check this out!


I went to Dooley's Pub for an International Student gathering and headed to a random house party just now. It was actually Tamika's 21st birthday party! (I knew her from BSA video in my US Culture's class) After that I went back with Wendrall to my dorm. After saying good bye to Wendrall at the staircase's junction (He lives in another dorm), I headed up to my dorm alone. A few guys were walking with me. When I was heading to the staircase up the hill. I heard....

EEEEEE.... a car break squeaking sound and here they go..

"Hey stop! I called you stop!!" a loud shout came from my back.

The two guys who were walking next to me were running up at the staircase and trying to take to their heels.

"When the police calls you stop, you stop"
"Why are you running for?" "Lay down!"

The cop was fucking serious! The cop put the handcuffs on the two guys in front on me!!

"Are you guys together?" the cop said.

"No Sir!" I answered!

What the hell! I saw that at my first sight in the USA!
It was just right in front of me. I stopped at there for a while because they were blocking my way!
I wanted to take a picture but I don't think it is a good idea though!
The police might grab my camera away, I bet!

I walked away after that... and barely heard this...

"You guys are underage drinking huh?"....

I kept walking and heading to my dorm!

It sounds creepy though! I watched it a lot in the movie but I have never seen it until today!!

That was cRazy!!





As an ordinary Chinese-Malaysian guy who grew up in Malaysia and adheres to Chinese Traditional Culture, I have never celebrated Halloween until this year! Fall 2009, October 31 is my first and the greatest Halloween ever! I would never forget about this day and I'm gonna blog about it!!


As living in Malaysia for the past twenty years, let me tell you guys why Halloween does not work in Malaysia. It's affected by two major factors, Malay and Chinese beliefs. First of all, anything related to unworldly being and spiritual ghosts is a taboo to the Malaysian government. Malaysia is an Islamic country. Neither does homosexual allow in Malaysia too. It's illegal to be gay! (LOL, I saw guys kissing in front of me at my first sight in a Halloween Party in Madison.)



Secondly, ghosts and ghouls are considered as bad luck in Chinese Belief. If you happened to knock someone's door with a Vampire costume, I bet they will call the police and make a report. Also, don't expect to get any candies from them!! Furthermore, Chinese believes that the early birds get the worms. Parents always ask their kids to go to bed earlier. With these reasons, do you think Halloween still can be celebrated in Malaysia? Perhaps next 5-10 years... until we are totally being influenced by western culture!



Another interesting fact is the pumpkins in Malaysia are not big enough to be carved into scary faces. I don't think pumpkin is available for sales all the time. I carved my first pumpkin in my life at the mid of October. It was at Kim's and Andy's house which is located off campus. We had a pumpkin carving party and potluck! Before I carved a pumpkin, I used my friend's Blackberry to go online and search for some scary designs. I carved it with a girl from Costa Rica, Paola. My first pumpkin was not too bad. It took pretty long time though. I gotta shave the tooth of the scary face in order to make it white. That is why it was time consuming.



On October 30, Halloween eve, it's Friday!! My class ended at 11am. I went to the best restaurant on campus, called Dulany, with my classmates for Halloween Buffet. I heard about it the week before Halloween yet I didn't make any reservation. Luckily we went there pretty early and they have some open seats for 3 of us. We paid 9bucks for the Halloween Buffet and I didn't regret to pay for it!! The Halloween Buffet was great and the restaurant setting was worth than what we have paid for. I like the chicken and steak in Dulany. It is definitely better than the Cafeteria! The food and beverage there was purposely designed for Halloween. The eggs were decorated with olives and it looked like eye balls. I had some ghost salad which is made with marshmallow. It was so good and so delicious! The waiters and waitresses dressed up with costumes. I got my picture taken with a ghost who served the food at dessert bar.

Madison, the capital of Wisconsin. I was there for Halloween. Why I end up happened in Madison? Sometime around September, I heard my roommate said Madison is the best place for Halloween Celebration. It's one of the well-known Halloween Celebration spots in the USA. Before Halloween, I wished I could make myself to Madison and enjoy the best Halloween in the USA. (As I'm here for only 6 months.) I'm not American Degree Transfer (ADP) student, so I don't have many country-mates who are in the United States. I met some Malaysians who have friends in Madison and they invited me to Madison together on Friday. I got 15minutes to get ready! It was really in a hurry, wasn't it? My friend, YJ, a Johor girl, who has a car here and she knew that my roommate was gone to Madison since Wednesday. I followed her to Madison with two other Malaysians.



I have had the best Halloween in my life with all Americans. I was the thorn among the roses!! I stayed overnight with my roommate's high-school's friend, Sam, who lives pretty close to State Street. What a great experience as being the thorn among the roses! At first, I felt bad as I was like a homeless who request for a stay in Madison. I thought I would be ignored by them as I am Asian. I was wrong! I met a bunch of awesome guys and everything went well. They were so surprised when they knew that this would be my first Halloween ever!! I received a lot of wishes and that was the way our conversation started. I went to pre-Halloween party with them on Friday night!! We played some drinking games before heading to the house party! Before this, I only knew about Beer Pong as I played it before at my friend's house in Eau Claire. In their house, I learned about Quarters game, Flip cup, and Powerhour. Overall, I did pretty good though. Our team was off the hook and was dominating all the time!! We almost won in every games. We have a slogan or a shout called, "SHIFT". A sudden brainwave was created by one of the players while playing flip cup. They wanted to shift the team player and it became the our slogan for the night! We shouted SHIFT SHIFT SHIFT on our way from one party to another! That was hilarious!



It's the crunch time!! What was I in the Halloween Party? Guess....?

I was a PIMP!!! An Asian PIMP among Americans!!!

Whenever walking along the State Street or on my way hitting the road to house party, people kept looking at me.. greeting to me.. talking to me and so on... People tend to be friendly when they are drunk. Haha...



I forgot to get some golden chains as I have been busy the week before Halloween. I did some shopping with them and I got a clock as my chain! It was a perfect match!



On Halloween night, I went to State Street for Third Eye Blind's (3eb) concert. I went there pretty late at about 11+pm. The State Street was packed like sardines! It was pretty windy though, I didn't feel any cold because of the crowd. The band is awesome!! By joining with Americans, I gotta know a lot of local culture and stuff. I would say I didn't miss anything that I would have supposed to try. I had my first Halloween and it turned out to be a real blast!!



Thanks to Sam and Garrett for letting me to sleep overnight in your house. Thanks for letting me the futon while you guys slept on the floor. It was so touched! I treated the house as my own one as I was the one who "played" the door intercom whenever someone rang the bell. Thanks to Laura, Kate and Meghan for giving me the "first piece of cake" that you guys made. It was so delicious! I had a great time in playing XBOX 360 with Paul, Aaron, Garrett and Phil. Thanks Aaron for hitting the bars together with me... I enjoyed watching the comedy called STELLA!! We have had lots of fun!! I will never forget about all this moment!!




I went to Career Conference last month (Sept 24) because my class was cancelled. Lol! Why it has been canceled? Cuz almost 90% of my classmates were going to the conference as some of them are graduating in this December. I am not a degree seeker here and I can't get a job here. I didn't bring my resume as I know it would be useless because I can't work in my period of staying in the US. However, I have thought of getting a job here in the future. I was wondering if Deloitte and Touche were there, it would be great! As I used to work in Deloitte Malaysia for about 4months before I came to USA!!


Career Conference here is just like Career Fair in TARC. After a glance in Zorn Arena. There are only 2 companies that I know! The first one that I talked with was Allianz, an insurance company. My car insurance and life insurance are from Allianz. So I know about it pretty well. They are hiring people from UWEC and there are a lot of UWEC students who work there for internships and permanent jobs.

I went to Ernst and Young (EY) booth and asked them about job opportunity for me, a Malaysian who wants to work in USA. Well, in order to work in EY USA, I have 3 options. The first one is going to EY Malaysia and apply for Global Exchange Program in EY. The second one is getting a degree from UWEC and joining the alumni program. The third option is go through the interviews in EY and if you got accepted, they will prepare all the Working Permit and stuff for you. Well, the next day I told that to one of my classmates. He used to work in EY Minneapolis this summer. I just realized that I was talking to EY Partner in the career fair.

I got some souvenir from EY booth. A highlighter and a pen. Guess what?! I didn't know until last week.... the pen is actually from EY Malaysia. Picture will be attached!! Perhaps the labor cost in Malaysia is cheaper and they imported the stationery from Malaysia.




http://people.uwec.edu/taneh/nightlife.htm


Please refer to my website. These are all my favorite bars in Eau Claire. It's actually pretty near to UWEC. I have to walk down the hill, cross over the footbridge, and 2 blocks away it is Water Street. Why Water? Cuz here is Eau Claire!! Eau Claire means clear water in French!!

Frankly speaking, I am not a big fan of clubbing when I was in Malaysia. However, I go to the bars here almost every week since the Fall semester starts. Cuz... I love dancing!! There is no cover fees charge in the bars on Water Street. That's the reason I go there often!

At the first few weeks, I used to go to Aaron's house for house party on every Friday night. Aaron is a Malaysian... a "karat kaki"... Anyway, there is no more party in his house recently cuz last month he got a big ticket as having a party to underage students. A lot of students got underage drinking tickets too. Underage drinking ticket in Wisconsin costs $260, and for the owner of the house party, it is $460. That's a lot!!!!

Someone might say going to the bars is not a good habit! For me, Hanging out with friends in the bars is actually the best way to socialize and make more friends. She-Nans is one of the bars that I go almost every weekend. I like the dance floor!! It's better than the Brats as they have stages where you can dance on it!

I have been really busy in enjoying everything right here until I got no time to update my blog.
I have tons of pictures in my laptop until its memory is full and I got a brand new 640GB external hard drive here, can you imagine that? Also, I got a new Macbook here too!

LOL... at the first few weeks here, some people called me CREEPER as I took a lot of pictures.
Recently, I seldom take pictures as everything is not really new to me now. I got used to everything here and I started to miss my home in Malaysia!! Especially Malaysian Foods and of course my mom's food.

Everything goes fine right here and I am taking 4 classes with 13 credits here.

1. ACCT 425 Ethics in Accounting
2. MKTG 338 Marketing Analytics and Technology
3. US Culture and Institutions
4. Basic Japanese 101

For the 1st subject, my classmates are all senior or supersenior, it is a level four class. We sit in a group at Hormel Lab room. The room is freaking advance with technology. Every table has a big LCD screen sticked on the wall. 43inches LCD Flat screen. Our professor, Dr. Miller (CPA) conducts a lecture with his powerpoint slides up in the screens. It is a every nice way to teach! The class is not so big and we have 23 students. The course talks about Ethics!! I will take ACCA P1 paper when I got back to Malaysia. So, this is the reason I choose for this subject. Integrity is all about doing something right even nobody is watching. I learned about Kohlberg's, Rest's, DIT, DIRR so far. Hopefully it is same as the syllabus in ACCA P1 Professional Accountant.

For the 2nd subject, it is really a fantastic subject that I couldn't find in Malaysia. The subject is for Marketing Major. I am actually Accounting major but I am really interested in this subject!!! It is all about how a marketer runs his analytics with the aid of technology! It is undeniable that the United States is a developed country and it's well-known with its high tech system! Bill Gates is from USA... At the first weeks, I learned about Adobe Photoshop!! I am really happy with that because I still remember my friend refused to teach me how to use Photoshop in college. And now, I know how to use it but not really pro as I just have one week lesson. Next assignment was Dreamweaver! Dreamweaver is all about Webpage development. I struggled badly for my dreamweaver assignment! I asked my friends in TARC who are marketing major, they had dreamweaver assignment before but it was a semester project. They have 3 months time to complete it. For me, I have only a week!! The lesson was ended at Friday and I have to turn it in on next Monday, not really a week actually! I tried my best and used some flash knowledge that I learned when I was a beginner blogger. I made it perfect and I got 50/50 for the assignment.

The webpage is http://people.uwec.edu/taneh (My initial= TanEH)

For the third subject, it is US Culture and I gotta learn about the ways US people do and their histories, their attitudes, values and so on. It is a great class which I don't have pressure at all.

For the forth subject, Japanese 101. I am a newbie for Japanese Language now. Just for now, I know how to write Hiragana and Katakana. I have some Japanese friends here and I am an officer in Japanese Culture Society. (http://www.jcsec.org/) I am treasurer in JCS!!
Recently, we had an International Folk Fair right in UWEC. I was treated as a traitor! OMG! A lot of Malaysians called me so. WTF!! I am not! I love Malaysia.. I am treasurer in JCS and I have to take care of the money and stuff in JCS. So I was the one who takes order and collect money as a cashier in Japan Group during the International Folk Fair. I was the cashier for the first two hours in Japan Group. After that, someone took over my place and I was able to join the Malaysian Traditional Dance in Malaysia's booth downstair. Luckily I went there on time and the traditional dance was published as the headline in the local University press. I am not a traitor as I went to all the meetings in Malaysian group and I helped them up in decoration and stuff. I was one of the representatives in Malaysia group. My name was written in the folk fair application form too and I got the email from the key personnel in regard of any updates and claims. So, I am not country traitor!! lol... (why need to explain so much... if I am not means I am not... do come clean as what I learned in Ethics in Accounting)

Well, being an officer in Japanese Culture Society is so fun!! It would be great if I could have a job on campus. I can't have a job though, because of the rules restricted as a UGRADer. Having a job here would be nice and I am sure it can improve my English and make more friends....

Time does fly, doesn't it?

I am in the United States for almost 4 months for Summer and Fall semesters.
I did a lot of travel in Summer and prior of the Fall semester.
I went to a couple of places in USA.
In July, I went to Minnesota, Illinois (Chicago) and of course the nice places around in Wisconsin. I would say the country name instead of the city name because they are a lot of cities that I have been to.

In August, our summer program has ended but UGRAD students had to go for a bridging course before Fall semester starts. However, I proposed a plan to everyone, just 5 of us (Plus a China girl), to travel to California. We did a great job in discussing the learning hours with our Professor and made this plan to a success. 2hours class per day became 3hours. We managed to stay in Los Angeles for a week!!

In Los Angeles, it was the best trip that I ever had. Before we went there, I was expecting to make the trip perfect as we got the break from Professor and we have to attend the class a little bit longer each day. I was crazy in searching for places, looking for recommendations online. I borrowed Los Angeles Travel Guide from my University library for that. I was pretty serious about it, wasn't I?

We met great people in Los Angeles and it made our trip cost much cheaper that it was. They are Saintsan's Uncle, Saintsan's Uncle's friend (Mr. Cornel), and their family.

We went to Anaheim Disneyland and California Adventure Park at the first day. We booked two nights in a hotel in Anaheim, Orange County. The interest thing part was I got premium Disneyland and Hopper park tickets for only 50bucks!! I got it from eBay. The ticket was great as we can use it to reserve a ride.

Besides Disneyland and California Adventure Park, we went to Universal Studios Hollywood on the second day. We spent our whole day there. I bought a discount coupon from eBay too! I got 18bucks off from each tickets. We paid for 51bucks instead of 69bucks. The best thing was the coupon can be used by anyone, you need not to be a Californian in order to use the ticket! It was great!! That was my little intelligence!! We saved a lot!!

The third day, we went to Downtown Los Angeles! That day was a free day! We planned it ourselves and I made my step to Staples Center, LA (Lakers Home Stadium). It was a great timing!! We reach there about 10am and there was an event there. I joined the 3points shoot-out competition and I got a new nickname called TOKYO GUY there. I made a great first shot and the DJ kept praising on me. It made everyone knows who is TOKYO GUY and after the game, a lot of people called me TOKYO GUY when I was walking around in Staples Center.

After Staples Center, we went to Hall of Fame, Hollywood, ThaiTown, ChinaTown, MexicanTown, Disney theatre, and other places that we could reach by Subway.

We went to Getty Museum and Santa Monica Beach on the next day. We walked around Santa Monica beach and did some shopping at Third Street Promenade. Thanks so much to Uncle Cornel who brought us to all those places. In LA, you need a car in order to go to such fantastic places. To get there by bus, you will spend half of you day in LA!! By cab, it will be freaking expensive!!

A brainwave was suggested by Uncle Cornel. "I would strongly recommend you guys to go to Las Vegas while you are in Los Angeles! It was just 4hours drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas by car." If we were unable to book a bus ticket, Uncle Cornel would drive us there, he said! We booked our hotel the day before and the bus tickets 2days before. (When we were in Universal Studios)

It was totally exceeded my expectations and my desires. My utilities have been fulfilled freakingly!! I didn't expect we would happen stepping in Las Vegas! By taking the bus to Vegas, it was a bus company operated by Chinese. 90% of the passengers are Chinese. I was just like in Hong Kong or a bus to Genting in Kuala Lumpur. What the heck... everyone was talking in Cantonese!! Some old folks, aunties and uncles were gossiping about the latest entertainment news in HongKong. I couldn't believe my eyes!! I sat with a chinese girl, named Lisa and we talked with each other in Chinese too. We have had a fun time in Vegas.

Accidentally, some unexpected incident happened in Vegas. The personnel in the bus told us that if we happened in The Venetian Las Vegas, we would get a 50USD gambling voucher, provided that you are 21 years and above. Without hesitation, I raised my hand and we were gonna hit The Venetian as our first station!! Why I said it was unexpected incident? It was really great to me as my favorite place in Macao is The Venetian!! I have been to Macao 2 years ago with my parents and my brother. I like that place very much!! It is so beautiful!! The Venetian Vegas is the same as Macao, just Macao is the newest one.

To be frank, I know how to gamble and I sneaked into the casino in Genting Highlands, Malaysia a couple of times. I went to the casinos in Macao too. Sneaking into casinos in Malaysia because I was not at legal age yet!! I turned 21years old in the United States and I made my visit to Vegas when I was 21years old and 1 month!!! It would be a fantastic memory for me forever!!!

I like to play baccarat and blackjack in Malaysia. Anyway, in Las Vegas, you would hardly find a small table with trends and records computer board in Baccarat. So, I made up my mind and decided to play just blackjack!! They have a lot of blackjack tables as compared to Genting Highlands and Macao. I won about 300+ USD around 2-3am in the morning. It was a lot!!! But my friend and I decided to keep gambling and visiting all the casinos in Vegas. We gambled till 5am in the morning and we got nothing left!! We didn't lose nor win!! We bought ourselves some drink in casinos with the winnings.

The next day, my hands were so "itchy" and my greedy devil told me to play before heading back to Los Angeles. I lost 100bucks in just 30minutes. I was so depressed and felt so blue. An hour before the bus came, I was trying to fight back and yes I made it! I turned 100usd to 300usd in just 15minutes in a blackjack table. My stakes were higher than everyone in the table. My highest stake was 60usd and I got a blackjack! That was why the turnover was so fast!! I won back my capital and the another 100bucks was my friend because we were sharing 50-50 of the capital.

Forget to talk about the hotel. The hotel rate in Vegas is freaking cheap! 70usd a night and I could get a double bedroom in Flamingo Hotel Casino. I paid for the freaking retarded hotel at Anaheim for 60bucks per night! I am willing to pay extra 10bucks for a higher class hotel in Vegas.

After we went back to Los Angeles, we had a great dinner (well, actually we did almost everyday in LA) with Uncle Cornel. The last dinner was our turn to treat Uncle Cornel as he treated us to lunch/dinner/supper and be our tour guide for those few days. He is really a great tour guide, if he were not a CAD designer, he would be the best tour guide in the States and Thailand too. (He likes to go to Thailand, he visits there almost twice a year)

3 and half hours flight from CA to WI. Say bye to California!! I like California so much!! If I would have to choose where to migrate to (in USA), my first choice will be in California. They have 6-8 Chinatowns (HongKong, Taiwan, China) and my mom is able to communicate with them!! She can speak Taiwanese with them too!!!

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EngHwa Tan
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States
A Chinese-Malaysian who knows how to speak 6 languages. He went to Las Vegas when he turned 21 years old in the United States. Eau Claire Wisconsin is his another home in the USA. He looks forward to knowing more people and making more friends from all around the world!!!
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This blog is created in the United States by the awesome owner, EngHwa. All his ups and downs will be sharing here! He has a previous blog site http://enghwa23.blogspot.com which recorded his past logs in Malaysia.

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