2:26 AM
Austria!So some unpleasantness was going around the past few days, but its better now (I think). Frustration will build up sometimes when two people live together - especially when its only 2 people, because there's no third or fourth party to buffer the occasional grudge you hold with the other party, and no one else to turn to complain, something we both need from time to time. But it was nice to hear so many concerned voices when such entries come up on my blog, haha. Its a process of growing up I guess, and anyway its nearly holiday time!
I'm so looking forward to Austria. That and the fact that I have completed 2 presentations this week. YES. 2 down, 3 to go (yeah alot, I know! there's one crazy module with 2 presentations, hence the ghastly load)! And its gonna be travelling time soon, and tomorrow's lesson will be only sitting in and watching a presentation. No need to think. Excellent end to the first half of my term in Bern.
- Anyway I'm eating some bio yoghurt now, and it doesn't taste half as good as the Migros (a supermarket in Switz) house brand. Which is cheaper somemore. -_-" -
And back to Austria: one major factor why I'm so excited to go Austria is because it will be much cheaper comparatively. I'm sure many of you have heard of my complaints over msn or email about how friggin' expensive it is here, which is the reason why I have to cook all my meals. Bah. I will be able to eat out without having a mini heart attack everytime I see the prices on the menus. I sincerely wish Austria will be like that, and I can perhaps stretch my Euro abit more.
I'm feeling really broke right now, what with withdrawing the money for the trip and the stupid CHF-SGD exchange rate escalating like nobody's business. I am definitely feeling the pinch everytime I have to part with some money to buy stuff, and right now I'm only buying groceries. How sucky is that? But don't worry, I'm not starving myself, just wish that I can have the luxury to eat out everyday like in Singapore.
Wow this is turning out to be a bitching session on the sky-high prices in Switzerland, I think I should stop before it gets repetitive. And my skin is still hideously dry even though I'm applying moisturizer, Gerald. And xiaoqian your emails today were really funny. LOL.
Kay Key
Sunday, March 16, 20087:08 PM
I don't like being forced to do things. If privacy is given such a wide definition, perhaps the internet is not the best place to present your ideas.
On a totally unrelated note, the weather is making my skin damn dry. They look hideous now.
Kay Key
6:04 AM
Busy!I have been busy! So many things, so little time. Every weekend there will be a new and interesting experience for us. Here's the list:
Week 1 - We went Munich
Week 2 - (ok, nothing, just stayed in hostel and rotted. but hey, that's a new experience too!)
Week 3 - Met up with Mohit and had a tour of the entire Bern city
Week 4 - Snowboarding in Lenzerheide (Friday), Raclette evening in my buddy Anja's town (Saturday), Singaporean dinner (Sunday)
Week 5 - Skiing at Murren
Week 6 (this week) - Easter egg-painting at Anja's house!
Happening right, every single weekend is filled! I seriously don't have time for school. There's no time to do all my work and readings, heng I already read all the texts for my lit classes. But I really don't have enough time to complete my work, well mainly because I have been slacking during the weekdays after class ends, haha. I just come back, cook dinner, and slack in front of the computer until its time for bed. What a great life. If only there are no deadlines as well.
I have 2 presentations lined up for the coming week! The very thought makes me sian. But what to do, one of them is an individual presentation, which means I have to really work for it. Bah. So irritating. Its getting in the way of my schedule! I want to try baking stuff this week loh, hope I get to squeeze some time in for it tomorrow. Which probably means I should not be doing things like blogging and uploading pictures. But what the heck, as yun says, I am on exchange, I should enjoy myself! Hope to chiong finish my work by tonight so tomorrow will be dedicated to less boring stuff.
But on to more exciting stuff - my buddy Anja messaged me this morning to invite me to her house to paint easter eggs, something I have not done ever since I left my kindergarden. So we went and it was a whole new experience! Definitely nothing like the painting of eggs we do in school.
A step-by-step instructuion manual:
Step 1 - Pick small plants with nice patterns and shapes.
To get these we went up a hill behind her house, which is practically her backyard(!). The walk itself took quite awhile - not that I minded though, it was great weather and we didn't even need our coats.
Here's a look at the hill:
She lives just below this hill, and can go for a stroll whenever she wants a breather from studying - how lucky is that? We crowded Singaporeans will never get to see this sight just next to our homes. I'm so envious.
But yeah, back to the egg-painting.
Step 2 - Stick the small plants onto the egg with some water. Let your creative juices flow and arrange them artistically on the egg!
Yeah, like that.
Step 3 - Secure your egg with some pantyhose/stockings, and tie them with string.
You can get a friend to help you secure the egg.
Step 4 - Put everything into a pot filled with water and onion peel, and boil!
Voila! You have nicely painted Easter eggs.
(I don't have any pictures of the nice easter eggs though, forgot to take them. Ours turned out quite bad, but we really had fun!)
Then we had dinner at her place, where a Canadian exchange student they were hosting cooked really good soup for us, and we had that with bread and cheese and assorted vegetables. Very delicious meal, and we really had fun. They also took us on a tour of their house with has been standing since the 1700s. Which effectively gives it an age of over 300 years old. Everything is historic in their town I tell you. They are like living in historical sites everyday. Such a new thing for us, we of a 40-year-old country.
I feel really lucky to have gotten Anja as my buddy man, she has really given me a taste of real Swiss living, something you don't get when you live in a hostel with such an international mix. Now I'm just trying to perfect my cooking skills so I can invite her over someday for dinner and really thank her for all the nice things she has done for me. :D
Oh yes, moving on, I'll be going to Austria for the whole of the Easter break, actually from next Thursday onwards. Will be meeting friends at Graz, and I'm so looking forward to seeing familiar faces in a foreign land! Will try to upload more photos before I go, when stupid webshots decide to work properly for me.
Very long post! To compensate for the lack of prompt updating, hehe.
P/S: This is totally unrelated, but 宥嘉's song is now playing on my media player, and I really love listening to him sing. So envious of Jerena, who will get to hear him sing live soon! Sigh. More pictures and maybe the concert dvd please! Thanks jer!
Kay Key
Tuesday, March 11, 20085:50 PM
A postI'm supposed to be doing my readings for class later, but what am I doing? Blogging! Haha. Just did some editing to my chinese post, haha that's what happens when you don't check what you write - you make lots of mistakes! lol. Thanks Chan Eng for pointing them out!
But anyway, have been rather busy, went to try skiing on saturday, and I totally sucked. LOL. I guess the sight of me perpetually falling was quite amusing, even I am tickled when I think back, and I had to enlist the help of 2 guys just to guide me through the slopes. Damn paiseh can. But big thanks to Mohit and Andri for their patience, I'm glad they went off after lunch so they could do some real snowboarding. Haha.
Ok, here are some pictures!
The view was great!
Me at the rental shop
Me at the rental shopI'm skiing (on a very gentle slope)!
Tired already 
Snowball!
Yep, I think I fell in weird angles, and my wrists started to hurt abit, so I decided to stop and make the most of all the snow around, since its not everyday that I get to see it. So I started making snowballs and stuff, that was fun. Haha.
Ok I better get back to my readings now, shall update soon!
Kay Key
Saturday, March 8, 20086:22 AM
久违了。。好久没写华文字了，这应该是我到瑞士以来，第一次以华文写blog entry 吧。其实，没什么话要说，只是想用另一种方式与浏览这个部落格的人沟通。不知你们看得懂吗？早前的那番文字也许吓到一些人，但其实这是个非常正常的过程。就算是在新加坡，也会有这种不是很开心的时候，不是吗？毕竟，人在异乡吗，自然的会想家里的人和事。
在这里的生活算是习惯了吧，上的课也蛮有趣的。只是最近有点冷，但这也让我见到了下雪的情景，是应该庆幸的。非常漂亮，却稍纵即逝。三月的雪，很难得，因此非常珍惜。对于从来没见过雪景的我，这是一份礼物，好感激啊！谢谢。:)
Sorry to the non-chinese readers (if there are any), just felt like writing in chinese, haha. And if you are chinese, but can't understand the above, then well, you have no excuse!
Kay Key
Friday, March 7, 20087:05 PM
I miss..Sometimes part of me just wishes for so many things. Living at home, having my mom around all the time, meeting friends, eating out. Its just a random feeling that mostly catches me unawares, with nothing eliciting it.
Of course, exchange is very exciting, and I relish the chances it gives me, to do things that I will never see hide or hair of in Singapore. But I guess its human nature to long for things that are not at hand; the grass is greener at the other side, after all.
And living with another person is not easy. Having to take into account the other's habits, needs and moods. I have lots to learn in the lesson of tolerance, as personalities, no matter how alike or diverse, will create moments of friction. Now I have to get used to being named "the girl" online, since I am told its funny. Or maybe I shall take up the suggestion thrown at me when I questioned the use.
Oh well, this slightly angsty post is just a manifestation of what I have been sporadically feeling. Of course I am having fun here, but sometimes I just miss talking to people who know me for who I am, without much explanation for every step I take and everything I say. Socializing only goes so far for me.
But anyway, on a slightly lighter note, I will try to upload more pictures onto my blog next time, though blogger's rather a pain in the ass about the speed, especially with my not-so-good internet connection. Oh, for those at home, midterm break must have ended like last week, if I remember correctly, so good luck for the last lap before exams (and the holidays)!
Kay Key
Tuesday, March 4, 20083:54 AM
Peanut Butter!I bet most people will think I'm crazy, but what the heck. I shall post what I like on MY blog. Wahaha. Why is peanut butter the title of this post? Because of this:
I bet Charlene will roll her eyes at this post, she was already rolling her eyes when she saw me take a picture of my peanut butter. But still! This is the first jar of peanut butter I have found in Switzerland! And I have been craving for peanut butter since like the start of the 2nd week here. Can't blame me ok, I eat bread with peanut butter almost everyday when I'm at home. My dad said its readily available here, which was why I didn't bother to bring any over. Who knew. Even though its crunchy peanut butter (I like the creamy kind more), I'm happy! Because I can finally enjoy it on my bread tomorrow! And it makes me feel more at home here. :D
Kay Key
Saturday, March 1, 20085:42 AM
LenzerheideI'm back from the mountains! We didn't go skiing actually, decided to go for snowboarding instead. Ask me some other day if it was fun. All I can remember right now is that it is extremely tiring. Constantly trudging up the slope (albeit a gentle one) wearing the heavy boots is no joke. (It also says something about my lack of talent in sports and extreme bad coordination, but I shall not comment much about that. Draw your own conclusions lah. haha.)
But anyway, we were actually supposed to meet up with a bunch of the people from st gallens to go ski together. I only know 2 of them, so I have no idea who was going. However, the train we were on did not reach the station on time, and european trains being european trains, especially since this is Switzerland, the land which made watch-making famous, buses also leave on time. After wasting some precious minutes walking in the wrong direction, we finally found the bus station, by which time the bus the st gallens people were taking already left. AND the next bus was 1 hour away. That plus the fact that charlene, being the only point of contact, didn't bring her phone, resulted in us just settling for going down to the resort by ourselves. I mean, we already travelled 2.5 hours. Might as well go, right?
-At this point, Charlene suddenly interjects, "Blogging! That's so unlike you!" Unlike many things she says, I actually agree with this! lol.-
Moving on, the bus finally arrived, and we boarded. As we got closer and closer to the ski resort, the snow-capped mountains came into view.
It was really amazing. I believe my mouth formed an "O" for the majority of the trip. The view was breathtaking and humbling at the same time, especially for a suaku like me, who has never so much seen that much snow at one time. Granted, some snow was already melting, but to my inexperienced eyes, every bit was a revelation. I know I marveled at man's ingenuity a few posts back, but how can man compare to this? It really puts things into perspective - how small we actually are compared to mother nature, and how many millions of years of weathering shaped these majestic summits we see today. What petty problems people puzzle over!That was the highlight of today's trip for me actually, we took a lesson in snowboarding, and since it was the first time for both of us, we pretty much sucked. I was just sitting in the snow half the time being damn tired. But it was not a total disaster, so I guess I'll be going back and try skiing the next time round. I think I'll suck too, being extremely bad at balancing and what not, but heck lah, you haven't gone to the swiss alps if you haven't done snow sports there! But for now, that is all talk. Wait till my muscles recover first. (I'm weak, I know. Stop sniggering!)
Kay Key