Swiss Time

2008-08-06T21:01:00.001+08:00

Hey everyone, thanks for all your tags! I will be discontinuing ths blog. All subsequent posts will be posted on my other blog. Its been a great 6 months. :)

Thank you!

2008-06-19T18:57:00.002+08:00

Thanks for the birthday surprise people! Especially Charlene. Haha. I was really not expecting anything for my birthday this year aside from some sms wishes. But it was a really nice surprise, and I got to spend my birthday in front of the Eiffel Tower. That's something not many people are able to boast of! It was great.

And now I'm back in Bern for the last few days, nuaing around right now. But I will need to start packing everything in since I'm checking out soon, and now all I can muster up strength to do is to write out my packing list for traveling. Just looking at the amount of things I have in the room is giving me a headache loh, have to put all of them in the suitcase again! Die. Hate packing man.

Anyway, for those who didn't know, because I didn't update for a very long time, I just came back from France. Went to Nice, Normandy and spent 1.5 days in Paris. It was quite nice, but I didn't really like Nice, didn't think there was much to see there. Normandy was great, I got to see lots of historical things, and even had a very extreme workout when we walked more than 10km just to see the Normandy D-day beaches from World War II. But it was fun, because I had very good company in the form of charlene and the st gallens people. :D

Well, next stop will be Italy for 12 days, and after that plans are still undecided. I'm sure time will fly, and before I know it I will be back in Zurich airport waiting to board the plane. Half of me wants to go home, but half of me wants to stay here, in Bern, for a longer time. But right now, I probably need to pack my stuff up before I can start contemplating on my feelings. Haha.

more information

2008-06-04T06:16:00.002+08:00

International trade exam was a royal pain in the ass. Seriously. I had to think through all the questions that were asked, which resulted in too little time for the questions behind. I came out the exam room with totally no idea how I would do. I didn't even know if I would pass. Zai right? That's why my status was GG. Slang I picked up from the guys. Haha. Means game over in plain english. lol. That exam totally killed my brain cells, and I was so tired after it.

But people on the 12th floor are really great! I love the times I share with them, we now have dinner together almost every night. The configuration might be different, but the atmostphere is always great. Good food (almost too good actually, i'm gaining weight and getting fat) and good friends everyday. I could get used to this, and not even want to travel Europe anymore. The thought of not seeing these people on a daily basis takes some getting used to.

The korean girl will be leaving for London on saturday, and I'm getting really sad! She still has one term here, while we will be back in singapore. Sigh. There will always be a time for parting I guess, and ours with the 12th floor will come very soon. So we are trying to make the most of the time we have left, having dinners with different people every night. Tomorrow will be asian dinner with the French people, and thursday will be a thank-you dinner for my buddy. Suddenly I don't want to leave. :(

But well, before everything happens, I need to go continue reading the multitudes of papers I have found for my pol psych paper. Yes, my work in bern uni is not done yet. And I'm totally sian diao by that. BLEARGH.

Status Report

2008-05-29T06:46:00.001+08:00

Econs exam: GG

Current mood: thankful for the 12th floor!

(Short one now, tired!)

我要爱Econs

2008-05-25T00:06:00.002+08:00

They always say that when playing mahjong and you get a lousy set of cards, you must always tell yourself that you love the cards you got. Because then you still be able to get some formation out of it, and who knows? Perhaps it would be your chance for a 十三么 win!

This random strand of thought occurred to me while I was (and still is) painfully trawling through my econs notes for the exam next week.

Hence, I came to a conclusion. I must learn to LOVE econs. Repeat after me: 我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs我要爱Econs

HELP.

2008-05-24T17:34:00.003+08:00

"But men may construe things after their fashion, Clean from the purpose of the things themselves."
- Cicero, Julius Caesar Act I Scene III

So true. Miscommunication abounds everywhere, especially in an international environment. Loads of problems with locals and among people from different backgrounds man, and sometimes its really a test of patience on all sides to get the exact meaning through without one side exploding and launching into a tirade. Especially when that party's personality makes he/she more prone to such tendencies. I speak from both first and second-hand experience, and I'm sure many in Bern right now will agree.

But oh well, nasty people will be nasty no matter what.

I have come to the conclusion that it is definitely not winter. I don't know if its spring or what, since the temperature likes to play seesaw, going from 20 degrees to 10 degrees in 1 day. (Here charlene will insist that its spring, but I know what I feel - there are certainly times when it feels like winter, even though the months tell us it should be spring)

But still, how would I know that its not winter? Because the BUGS are out! Bloody irritating things are flying around through the open window in the room, and now dozens are settling down happily on the ceiling, occasionally flying around to explore the place, or to find a final burial spot on my desk. Yesterday night we even had a very big one with extremely long legs gliding, yes gliding, around the room looking for a comfortable spot. Both of us were freaked out by it, but since killing it was rather scary, and quite challenging because it did not stay at one spot for long, we decided to just ignore it. Hopefully it doesn't appear again. Stop scaring me, stupid creepy crawlies!

Yes, I have to deal with these while trying to study (and occasionally succeeding) for my exam next week. And obviously I'm not even trying to study now, since I'm sitting in front of the computer typing this blog entry out. Hahah. Its just so BORING. Hate economics. And its especially tedious after I have slacked for an entire term, travelling, playing, watching shows, etc, and generally not doing work like in SMU. But then, I just want a pass. I HOPE i pass. Please pray for me!

And nuha is coming on sunday (tomorrow)! So I should finish studying before she comes so I can be a good host and at least accompany her around for 1 or 2 days. Sigh. The troubles of an exchange student man! :D

I hope the bugs keep out of my way (and sight).

Croatia and London

2008-05-19T17:12:00.006+08:00

Yes, this is Croatia! The top picture was taken just outside the apartment we stayed in at Zadar, which was along the coast. The second picture was taken in the Plitvice National Park, where there were tons of waterfalls greeting you at every turn. It is seriously such a beautiful country, almost as if it was undiscovered yet by the rest of the world. The waters there are so clear, you can see everything underneath if it is shallow enough, and places there are almost completely unspoiled by pollution. Everyday in Croatia we woke up to the view of the ocean and the sea breeze. Totally amazing.

Sunset, taken from the balcony of our apartment.

I want to go back there again. After so many countries of looking at the effects of industrialization and modernization, its nice to just stare at nature's beauty, and not worry so much about rushing to the next tourist spot and ticking places off a to-see list. I could have stayed on the beach there the entire time, and longer, if I did not have to go back to Switzerland in order to fly to London.

But that other trip was worth it as well. Really. The weather was terrible though, I felt as if I was there during winter, with the strong wind and all. Bah. But still, I got to visit many places, and it somehow reminded me of Singapore, probably because of all the British-inspired buildings we have. Pictures will come later I guess, have not even had time to upload the other pictures from the day trips we had before Croatia.

But it was great to see Nuha again after so long, and she will be coming to Bern soon as well. Yay!

Ok, I know this was rather an unsatisfying post, so I shall post loads of pictures from Croatia below. Enjoy!

Slunj, where houses were built on water

I would love to live here

Small waterfall at the Plitvice National Park

At the beach, with people from Graz

Sunset on our last night in Zadar

Beautiful eh? I definitely did not want to come back to Switzerland. I hope I will get a chance to go back there one day, just lazing at the beach and watching the world go by would be more than enough for me.

I should be crowned..

2008-05-07T19:55:00.002+08:00

THE QUEEN OF PROCRASTINATION

Seriously. This is not even about school work. I supposed to be packing for the trip later (more on that later) and now I'm blogging, chatting, surfing net, and basically doing everything but packing. Haha. I never knew the limits of my laziness till I got to Switzerland. Too relaxed already. lol

Ok, about the trip. These 2 weeks will be crazy travel for me. Tonight I will be taking an overnight train to Graz, and we'll meet our friends there and go to Croatia on Friday. So we'll spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday there, then take the bus back to Graz on monday night. And we will then go back to switzerland on tuesday.

Sounds good?

Wait! There's more!

After coming back from Croatia, I'll go for 1 day of lessons, and then on thursday afternoon I'll be leaving again to Geneva and fly off to London for the weekend. I'll be back on Sunday.

Hip eh?

Therefore, in effect, I'm only spending 1 whole day in Switzerland for the entire next week. Crazy schedules now have a new definition in my book. Haha. Therefore, will probably have loads of photos again that I will slowly upload onto both facebook and webshots. (key word: SLOWLY) Haha. So yes, I will see everyone online in 1.5 weeks' time.

I have not even had time to blog about my crazy weekend, but probably pple will have heard about it from either charlene and me already. Now I really need to go do my stuff!

And so concludes a very rare blog entry from me! Hahah.

Cookies!

2008-04-30T04:49:00.003+08:00

Woo~ I can bake cookies now! Nice to know that I can finally do something in the kitchen well. I mean, I'm functional in the kitchen, I can cook to feed myself and the dishes taste not bad, but cooking is not something I can boast about, like tell people that "I think I'm a good cook" kind.

I have very high standards for myself. Lol. But I can say proudly that I think my cookies now are not bad! I am finally able to know the amount of flour to put in to get the right mix without consulting a recipe, and just the right amount of time so that the cookies I bake turn out to be crunchy on the sides and still retain a certain degree of softness in the middle. Yay!

Finally something I can be proud of. :D

PS: Oh yeah, no pictures cos I didn't bake alot this time, and we ate most of them already. Haha.

Posting about nothing

2008-04-29T16:44:00.002+08:00

I'm bored! Seriously. Yes, I have lots of activities every weekend (and lots of food, but that's besides the point), but still! I need to do work, and I have totally zero motivation to even start. Its just really annoying, because I don't feel like I'm here to do work at all. The classes are interesting and I really enjoy them, its just the work that makes me really sian.

Well, most classes are interesting, except the econs class. I can't seem to muster enough enthusiaism for it no matter how I try, and it astounds me to see how people around me are always seemingly very attentive. Econs just do not interest me, unless they include math or political situations. Lol. I sound like a nerd now.

But what to do? This is what happens when you want to skive off school and decide to transfer a credit for an econs module that is compulsory at home. At least its pass/fail here.

To give you a glimpse of how bored I always get during econs class, I will post a poem I wrote in class. Yes, so bored, until I have to resort to such measures. Not very good, but I think its quite funny, and hey, first one I have written that rhymes! Lol

今天下午天气晴
早上却没好天气
懒洋洋的sian心情
只想赖在被窝里

啊我好闷啊
啊好想睡觉
发呆睡觉
吃饭睡觉
超爱睡觉

现在如此好天气
却被困在教室里
教授虽然蛮风趣
还是闷得听不进去

wahaha I write until I also laugh at myself. This is boredom at its most creative I guess. Not very good I know, but it very effectively shows exactly what I was feeling at that time!

Ok seriously I am also getting bored of writing this post. Shall go back to watching shows. (See how there's totally no mention of "work" or "study"?) Ja ne!

2008-04-27T20:06:00.002+08:00

One thing I hate about posting picture entries: formatting always refuses to follow my command. Rargh. Just keep that in mind when reading the post below!

Chocolate Fondue

2008-04-27T19:14:00.006+08:00

Once again, I thank whoever is up high for blessing me with this exchange, and this place to stay. Having seen people beset with problems with others on the floor they live in, I am really grateful that we were assigned to the 12th floor in Tscharnergut. People here are great. We come from all walks of life, from opposite ends of the world, but somehow, we all gathered here, in Bern. And its really incredible how we can become a group of friends who always get together and have dinner, then talk about anything under the sun until late at night.

Such is the dynamics on our floor. Everyone is friendly to each other, and it is rare that you see open animosity. In fact, I have never observed it in my time here. How great is that?

Ok ok, I bet many were expecting a light-hearted picture post with that kind of title, and it was originally supposed to be. (But sorry, i don't really like to do picture posts, haha) But I really wanted to express my gratitude for getting to stay where I am right now, since I almost did not get permission to even stay in the student hostel. (Erm, very long story, will only talk about it when I am in the mood. lol)

But yeah. Now for the light-hearted part! Hope people are still reading. Haha.

Charlene had the idea of having a chocolate fondue dinner with our fellow 12th floormates, and so we started to gather people, and buy all the groceries. And alot was bought: 4 bars of 300g chocolates, 2kg of bread, 6 apples, 2 bunches of bananas, and loads of baking stuff (to bake cookies for dipping).

So on saturday afternoon, I met with the korean girl on our floor to start baking the cookies.

I'm mixing everything together

We started with some chocolate ones (personal consumption, not enough to go round), and then the plain ones, and next were some hazel nut ones. Baked trays and trays of the stuff, as you can see here:

More were to come.. see all the cookie dough?

Yep, did ALOT of baking yesterday. And I realized that its really easy, I can almost remember all the amounts of the various ingredients needed already. No more cookie mixes for me! But I have not succeeded in baking cakes yet though, think I wasn't too familiar with the oven controls then. But I'll definitely try it before I leave Bern, since I found a fellow baker in the 12th floor as well! Haha.

So we had our ingredients ready, and then melted the chocolate into the fondue pots. Really easy actually, just break the chocolate up, and melt it over a low fire if you are scared that it would be burnt. Add some butter and milk to make the chocolate more runny, and a bit of alcohol. We had Bailey's, so it was doubly good - milky alcohol.. didn't even need too much of milk in this case.

And so everything was done, coupled with wine that the japanese guy went to buy, we were all set. And the dinner was great. Never thought I would have chocolate fondue for dinner, since it is supposed to be a dessert. Haha. Great food nonetheless. No need for expensive chocolate fondue packs or in restaurants when I get back to Singapore! Everything can be done at home. :D

After dinner, we just sat there and talked. Its really interesting how we are all just able to click somehow, and simply talk about anything and everything. I always laugh alot when I am with this group. Definitely something I will miss when its time to go home. We then started to play a game, which lasted us well into the night. We started the dinner at almost 8pm, and only started to disperse at nearly 1am. If it was not so late at night, I believe everyone would have wanted to continue the session.

But its always like this isn't it? A group of strangers get thrown together by some chance, and they click really well, and form a great bond. But once taken out of that context, this great dynamic is gone, mostly because the group almost never has a chance to fully reunite. That's life I guess, 天下无不散之筵席. With any meeting there will be a parting sometime.

Ok, I guess the knowledge that in around 1 month's time, I would be ending the school term here and going travelling almost immediately after is affecting me. Starting to think of what I would miss already!

But this floor will definitely remain one of my best memories of exchange. Thank you guys!

Update

2008-04-25T18:21:00.002+08:00

Currently loving this song: 传说 by 林宥嘉 and 刘力杨. Thanks to Aries for introducing it to me! We are both yoga fans, haha. And totally envious of Jerena who's going to watch his concert in taiwan soon. :( I want to go too...

MV of the song here:

ok lah, enough whining. But I reccommend him to anyone who like chinese music. A really good voice and talent for singing.

But anyway, I realize that I miss bridge alot. The St Gallens guys who came over for 2 nights brought cards, and since they were only 3, I joined the game. I didn't even know that I wanted to play it until we started. Even though it was quite late at night already, I still wanted to continue. Reminds me of all my JC times and our overnight mahjong/bridge sessions during chalet. Haha. HC really machiam gambling school, not many go through HC without learning how to play bridge and mahjong at the end of the 2 years. And loving it. So what can I say? I'm a typical product of HCJC. LOL.

The weather these few days is getting better, its quite warm already, sometimes we don't even need a coat when we are outside. Hope this continues for a longer time.. Summer is great and all, but I guess it will be hotter. Haha. And I don't really like hot weather.

And we went shopping yesterday, not many sales leh, but H&M was selling stuff at unprecedented low prices (so far in switzerland, other places keep having 1 Euro items. -_-") So yes, could not resist, and bought some things again. I swear the most amount of things I bought here are H&M things. Really don't know what to say about that. Haha. But well, I'm a girl and like pretty clothes! Lol.

Actually, I'm supposed to start on my work today, but I've spent the entire time chatting, blogging, emailing, watching shows and facebooking. Everything except what I'm supposed to do. Haha. So I should probably try to start something now, if not I won't be able to complete my work before the term ends.

Fondue!

2008-04-22T19:31:00.003+08:00

Yes, fondue. Haha. My nice buddy had a voucher for a fondue meal at a restaurant, and invited me. Definitely much better than the prepacked fondues from migros that I have been eating. But hey, the price is also much higher, so no reason not to have good quality! Anyway, it was really good food, and the 2 of us finished one big pot of the cheese fondue. Felt damn bloated after I got back. And I think she was rather shocked to see me eating so much, perhaps she was worried that I would not be able to handle fondue, but well, I had training beforehand on the 12th floor of Tscharnergut already. So no problems for me, other than the terribly full stomach. Lol.

That was how I spent my monday evening, really nice not to have to cook and think of what to eat. Running out of ideas + feeling lazy = fuss-free and repeated menus. But I'm not aiming to be a gourmet cook here, and I'm in no mood to experiment and stuff. Still feeling nua. Haha.

And I should stop here, since I need to get to school by 2pm. And the train will be arriving at the station in less than 10 min. So, have to get out, even though the weather sucks, still raining and howling wind, makes me want to just go back to bed and sleep it away. But well, you can't have all you wish for, so I'll bid everyone adieu! Till next time!

Hello

2008-04-18T21:17:00.002+08:00

Well, nothing much to update right now actually, just that Charlene has gone on a trip with this club she joined in Bern, while I'm just sitting back and enjoying the alone time this arrangement has afforded me. Quite nice actually, just that there is no ready-made company right now. haha. But its nice like this, I can blast my music out loud without worrying about bothering someone else in the room. Missed this. Haha.

Oh anyway, one of the guys at st gallens will be coming over next week, maybe staying over at our room. But we definitely would be playing host to him, and hopefully we will get to eat Chew's Famous Fried Rice! (He say one, not me! lol) Then we'll be going to st gallens with him to visit for a few days and to meet the numerous singaporeans on exchange there. There's like a mini-singapore over at st gallens lah, 21 i think, including a few from ntu and 1 from nus. lol. While here in Bern there're only 3 singaporeans! What a contrast man, lol.

And I booked my tickets to London already! Going to visit Nuha at her sister's place in the 3rd week of may, so looking forward to that man, to see a friend so far away from home! Time passes real fast, we've known each other for 3 years already, and its always good to see a good friend again in a foreign land. :)

But ah, I think I'm not cut out for this living abroad thing. Travelling is really great, broadens your horizons and expands your world view, but somehow my thoughts keep going back to that tiny island back in SEA. Living so far away from home for the first time perhaps, but I don't think I'm strong enough to live so far away from family long-term. I've always grown up in a close-knit and large family which has always lived close to each other. So I guess I'm not used to having only email and phone calls as the only contact with them. Of course I have good times here without them, but to me coming home means seeing my family, and not seeing them everytime I come back from a trip just feels weird.

Perhaps I'm too sheltered and all. Perhaps. But I'll definitely be looking forward to going home. Because home is where the heart is, and going away for 6 months has just convinced me that my heart lies right where my family is.

Back!

2008-04-15T04:18:00.002+08:00

Sorry to leave everyone hanging with such an emo post, but was off in a hurry to Poland. (Yes, I know the Austria pictures are still not up on webshots yet, but i'm working on it!) Didn't really take alot of pictures this time, cos Charlene lost her camera, and well her need to take pictures is always greater than mine, so I lent her my camera, and used my sony ericsson phone's cybershot.

Not that I'm complaining, cos my phone's camera is really rather good, it really takes nice pictures. Not for the real pros, but its good enough for me. The only thing is that it can't zoom in camera mode, only in video mode. Sony Ericsson, this is the one flaw you have to eliminate. After this is corrected, nothing will get in your way for handphone market world domination (except perhaps bad marketing plans).

So yeah, Poland. It was quite fun actually, met up with the people we got to know from german class back in singapore, the 2 guys from St Gallens and the 2 from Graz. They are hilarious people, and I'm really tickled by them. Haha. But the plan to go both Krakow and Warsaw turned into just Krakow, so we were stuck there for an extra 2 nights, during which we just went and sampled more traditional Polish food.

Quite fun, actually, even the journey to and from Poland. Had to take train from Bern to Bergamo, Italy, then change to a plane, which landed in Krakow. Had to do the entire thing again when we were coming back. Even though travelling is tiring, but somehow I really like Swiss trains. They are nice and clean, and the seats are really comfortable, especially for my size, where i get alot of room to maneuver. Best thing is, they are usually quiet and rather empty, so you can take an entire row of seats if you like (seats here are arranged on 2 sides, and there will be 4 seats arranged in the configuration you see around a table. Not sure if I'm getting the description right, hope you get the idea). So you will get some quiet time to yourself to sleep, read, or basically stone. Which is what I do best. So I just plug in my mp3 and i'm good to go.

Love travelling on Swiss trains. But right now, reality calls. I have to finish my powerpoint for my presentation tomorrow, and I really shouldn't be doing this blog entry right now. Haha. So, look out for the pictures on facebook! Will be back real soon. :D

A response

2008-04-07T18:29:00.004+08:00

Blogging is therapeutic, I think. Once I let my frustrations out, I feel better already. But I only usually blog when there are things I'm unhappy about. Perhaps the characterization is too one-sided, I apologize. But its what I was feeling at that moment. I don't apologize for what I have said because it is one side of you, albeit the less desirable side. Everything I write online, every word I use, I think it through many times before posting it up. I hope you understand.

I can't help feeling like a blithering idiot everytime we discuss things, even when I know I'm right. (Bear with me, I just need to get this out.) I'm sure there are many things that are irritating about me as well, and I totally understand the fact now that living with another is tough. Maybe now its PMS period, so tempers are short, I don't know. I just didn't think I was being snappy at that point. I guess you are going through a bad patch right now, and I should be more understanding. Just happened that today wasn't one of my best days either since I woke up with a sore throat.

When it comes to such matters, articulation of my thoughts don't come easy. And I hate confrontation. All I know is right now, bad times seem more frequent than the good, and I have no idea how to fix it. Perhaps the clash of personalities is much more than we expected, huh?

Actually wanted to post up the 2nd thing I wrote just now, but was still not in the mood, cos it sort of talked about friendship, and the relationship we are sharing now. But here it is. A peace offering of sorts, I guess.

旅程

旅程的收获
需要知音欣赏
行程的疲惫
需要爱人抚慰
过程的精彩
需要同类一起感受
启程的青涩
需要时间慢慢淡化
回程的感触
唯有同行者了解

© Kaykey Teo

Another post

2008-04-07T17:25:00.002+08:00

Wow, seem to be posting up alot of entries at one go. None of which are about Austria though, sorry for those who have been looking forward to that! The internet's too slow for me to endure uploading pictures here, so just go facebook and see lah. Those who don't have facebook, well, ask me for the link to the albums. Haha. But they will be up on webshots as well, perhaps later. Hee. Sorry for being such a horrendously slow updater!

Anyway, congratulations to Winston and the other performers on Friday night! Sorry I wasn't in the hostel for a live broadcast though, was out on a day trip to Konstanz, which is a German town bordering Germany and Switzerland. :D

But I miss doing such performances leh, call me weird, but I enjoy rehearsals even more, cos we always have fun, and the littlest things crack us up, well, me at least - Winston might strum a funny chord, or I'll sing off-key suddenly or get words mixed up, or someone else will make a weird comment. The smallest things set me off lah, basically.

The best part is that we accomplish stuff while having fun. It's really rare, especially in today's cutthroat world, to be able to make such a claim. Music just has this magic about it, that makes everything seem better. I may not be the best around, but I really enjoy it because it makes me happy. And sometimes, that's all that matters. I can totally understand why some people give up everything to pursue a career in music, but at the same time, I'm not sure if I have the tenacity to become one of them. Money and security is still something I have to think about. I can't help it, I am a true-blue Singaporean. Haha.

But nonetheless, I hope there will be other chances to perform when I get back to Singapore. I miss all the jamming sessions man!

Random!

2008-04-07T17:21:00.001+08:00

Random inspiration on the train the other day. Actually wrote 2, but I just wanted to post this one up this time.

I Saw A Lonely Cross Today

I saw a lonely cross today
It seemed aloof yet welcoming
No words accompanied it
Yet a feeling of calm pervaded

I saw a lonely cross today
Set up upon a a small hill
It must have weathered winds and storms
And sat through countless sundowns
Yet it still stands
Erect and sturdy

I saw a lonely cross today
A monument perhaps?
Whose secrets will long outlive man.

© Kaykey Teo

Bah

2008-04-07T17:07:00.002+08:00

Photos are up on facebook, do check them out.

Damn cold today, apparently its 0 degrees outside and it snowed yesterday while I was sleeping. And yahoo weather says it feels like -6 degrees outside. I rather agree, stupid winds keep howling and banging against the shutters.

And well apparently I'm being snappy again today. Can't seem to say anything right can I? Or maybe its just my face that pisses people off first thing in the morning. I don't know. Weather is getting me down, and I just want to go back to sleep. Don't feel like going for class, but later people say I copycat again. Fine lah, whatever.

This is MY blog. I shall whine about whatever I want. No justifications on the tagboard please.

Rotting in school

2008-04-02T19:35:00.001+08:00

ok this is weird, i think there's something wrong with the computer in school, cos I did write something in this post.. but nothing was published apparently. Bah. whatever. I'm now back in the hostel and I'll try to resize the rest of my photos now and hopefully some will be up on facebook soon.

Some people from st gallens will be coming over today for 1 night, so we'll see if i have time to post them up!

And no, not rotting in school anymore, now i'm rotting in bumpliz! lol

Back from Austria!

2008-04-02T04:49:00.002+08:00

Hello everyone! No, I have not disappeared into thin air after Austria; I just have not been in the mood to blog! haha. Anyway, this is just going to be a short post, still busy resizing my photos and sieving out the ugly ones. So photos will be slowly uploaded, but hopefully at a faster pace compared to Munich. Lol. Check out facebook for the abridged version, and my webshots for the entire set (when they are up, anyway).

But Austria was fun! Especially Graz, where we got to sample Kenneth's cooking and met many new people. Nice to see friends in a foreign land, I must say. Details will come soon in another post when I have finally settled back into life @ bumpliz nord. So not looking forward to school everyday man, even the interesting classes seem boring to me. Bah. AND i have another presentation to prepare for next week. Double bah.

But well, I think I'm more fortunate than my friends back home who are experiencing the SMU hell week. Good luck everyone!

Austria!

2008-03-20T02:26:00.002+08:00

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.

2008-03-16T19:08:00.002+08:00

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.

Busy!

2008-03-16T06:04:00.017+08:00

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!

A post

2008-03-11T17:50:00.010+08:00

I'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

I'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!

久违了。。

2008-03-08T06:22:00.003+08:00

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!

I miss..

2008-03-07T19:05:00.002+08:00

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)!

Peanut Butter!

2008-03-04T03:54:00.003+08:00

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

Lenzerheide

2008-03-01T05:42:00.008+08:00

I'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!)

2008-02-29T05:08:00.002+08:00

Its 10pm here, but I'm not bathing yet. Why? Cos I'm eating chocolates. Yes, those that I bought from Camille Bloch. I am so gonna get fat, but I don't really care lah, they are damn nice! Haha.

This is just a random update, since I always get scolded for neglecting my blog and not updating. But tomorrow we will be going skiing, so have to wake up early, prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner to go, and very likely return with a sore butt (from falling down too much). Apparently its going to either snow or rain at the resort we will be going tomorrow, hopefully I won't come back with a frozen butt as well! Lol.

Speaking of snowing, the weather forecasts promises some snow in Bern sometime next week! I'm rather excited, though not very looking forward to the cold weather again, cos this week we enjoyed temperatures of around 10 degrees, which to me was just nice. So if there's snow, I'll definitely be back with lotsa pictures!

Yep, I'll end off here, cos we want to bring pancakes tomorrow and have decided to make them first. And charlene apparently has no idea how to do it and is just surfing people's pictures on facebook while she waits for me to end this post. Lol. So hopefully I'll update soon! And depending on whether I'll be reading Wuthering Heights, my writing style might be rather weird again. So wini, don't complain so much lah!

Amusing day

2008-02-26T05:22:00.002+08:00

I had a very fun day! We skipped 2 lessons today just to go for the chocolate factory tour organized by ESN Bern, which was definitely worth it. We went to the Camille Bloch factory, and the chocolates are really fabulous! The moment we started the tour I could smell chocolates everywhere and started getting very high. Chocolate was EVERYWHERE. It was heaven. And there is something really exciting about seeing tonnes of chocolate being made right in front of your eyes.

I didn't take lots of pictures, because they didn't allow cameras inside the factory, and also because when we were finally allowed to take our cameras, I was too busy gorging on the selection of chocolates that were laid out, for free, for us to eat .

But 2 very hilarious things happened today.

Incident 1: At the chocolate factory
Someone was heard to remark upon seeing the many different chocolates laid out for us, "I should pocket some to take home!" This incited a flurry of activity from another person, (note: that person was neither a girl, nor an Asian) who started to fill his pockets with a lot of chocolates. Others started to follow after seeing him sweep many of the chocolates out of sight.

While previously everyone was just busy eating all the chocolates as fast as we could, now most of the people were grabbing as many chocolates as they could! And in no time, the trays were almost empty. The one who made the comment that started it all was rather amazed at the reactions that followed, and kept repeating after that at random intervals, "I was just joking!" And we came to the conclusion: its not just Singaporeans who are kiasu and will grab all the free stuff they can, its an universal trait.

Post-kiasu-grabbing scene, the guy who led in the flurry of activity was also spotted carrying an extremely loaded basket when we were at the chocolate shop.

Incident 2: Back at the hostel
First, some background info - the guy who was in Bern for exchange the previous term had left some things for us with some other people who lived on the same floor. He passed us one of their numbers and I smsed Guy A a few times, and he told us that we could just go down to get the stuff. Because the layout was such that there was a common door leading to 2 different rooms, that door would be unlocked when one of them was there. The stuff being behind that common door, we were told to just go and collect the things when it was unlocked.

Therefore, we did take some of the things, but as there were too many, we left some of them behind.

Some time had elapsed after we took the items, and we decided we should take the entire bag even if we did not need everything, since the people living there were just taking care of it until we showed up for them. So, we went down today to take the rest of the things. Guess what we found?

On the bag was an envelope (actually containing a letter for the 2 guys who lived there), with these lines written on afterwards: "Who are you? What have you done with the things? Please inform us!!!" It was written obviously for us, and in such good faith that we would turn up again to take the rest of the things. We suspected that Guy B was the one who wrote it, and knocked on his door to explain things.

To our surprise, we found that we had met the guy before! We just never connected the name we heard and the tag on the door. Recognition dawned on both sides of the door, and the following conversation ensued:

Guy B (B): What are you doing here?
Us (U): We saw the note on the envelope, and just wanted to inform you that we were ones who took the things.
B: It was you?? I was so shocked to see some things gone!
U: Oh we told Guy A, but we didn't have your number, so we couldn't tell you.
B: Oh! (Took up the envelope) See, I wrote this! I didn't know who came to take the things and how you did it!
.
.
.
He sounded really amazed that we managed to take the things from under his nose and what we found very funny was that he actually wrote on the envelope that was on top of the bag to ask who took the things. What faith he had in us going back down to collect the rest of the items! And what shock and amazement he displayed when we recounted the entire story for him! I was laughing so hard when I was talking to him, lucky he didn't take offense.

What a funny day today was; I'm still high on chocolate, I believe. I do hope I don't grow fat from all the chocolate I ate and will be eating!

PS: If my writing suddenly sounds different towards the end, it will have to be attributed to intensive reading of Jane Eyre for my lit class, in which Charlotte Bronte writes in rather the same way. Read something from that era and you will know what I mean.

2008-02-24T07:26:00.005+08:00

New blogskin! Yep, suddenly feeling illustrious about maintaining my blog. (But no, the picture is not one of Bern, or even Switzerland, lol.) Haha. I'm just lazy when it comes to technological updates. But anyway, while I was doing editing to this new skin, there were suddenly fireworks coming from the opposite building! Charlene managed to capture like only 1 shot before it stopped. I tried Googling about it, but apparently its just some bored person on the roof of the other building letting off some steam, albeit very nice-looking "steam". lol. But yeah, all in the life of an exchange student in Bern!

Oh yes! Remember to go observe the gradual progression in the level of difficulty of food we have cooked on my webshots link! And I -finally- can blog more than 1 post per day. Perhaps that would give me more incentive to blog. I hope. Perhaps. We'll see. *Sheepish expression* Hehe.

2008-02-24T06:10:00.002+08:00

My feet are so tired now; we've walked the entire day around Bern, looking down at the city from all the different high points. Of course in order to get such a good view, we needed to first climb up to those locations, which is the main contributor to my tiredness right now. But I had a very enjoyable time today - special thanks to our guide Mohit - plus the weather was so nice. Sunny, but without the humidity that makes the warmth so hard to bear in Singapore. The wind would occasionally blow, and the temperature was just above 10 degrees. If only the weather would stay like that the whole year round.

But yeah, we have seen almost the whole of Bern already. There really isn't nothing much to really see, as much as the tourist spots are concerned. The exploration of the city, of where to dine and shop and find entertainment; that's for us to slowly discover while we are living here. These take time, and there's no way to hasten this process.

I'm starting to like the city more and more actually, perhaps it feels a little like home after spending some time here. I can see myself living here (ok, maybe not in Bumpliz Nord, which is the area I am living in now, but near the city itself), and seeing the River Aare everyday. While it holds the title of capital to the country of Switzerland, Bern city itself actually proceeds at a rather sedate pace. It does not have the harried pace of Singapore, nor the bent heads and generally sullen-looking people. I don't need to live in a tourist attraction, and see beautiful castles everyday. Bern has an understated charm which is slowly but surely working its way into my heart.

How do I start to describe the city? It is never noisy - indeed, I don't hear a cacophony of voices, cars and horns here - there is just a serene feel to the place. Shops close as the sun sets, which is rather early right now, and Sunday is a day of rest here, as well as most of Europe I think. Almost no one works on Sunday, which seems like heaven to me compared to Singapore's 24/7 workforce. I used to regret it a little when I first arrived, because the place did not seem as beautiful as Switzerland was described. Now I see that beauty takes many forms, and Bern's beauty one that slowly grows on you.

I believe I would miss the place when I leave. :)

Update: Food pictures are up!

2008-02-22T18:33:00.004+08:00

I realised I have not updated stuff for a long long time. Sorry lah, but that's me, I find other new things to do and I forget to do some other things. Just woke up like 1.5 hours ago, because I HAVE NO CLASS ON FRIDAYS! Yay. But Charlene just came back from school cos she went to sit into another class, and she seems ravenous. So she has chionged out of the room to start on lunch. I probably should go and help, but oh well, after this post lah, I owe it to everyone reading the blog to at least post something new! Haha.

Ok anyway, I know this is extremely late, but all pictures of Munich are up. Lol. I am a sporadic updater, as most people would realise by now. :D

But well, school has started for the first week! I attended so many classes, there were days when I went for like 3 classes back-to-back. But no lah, I'm not so crazy to be taking all of them, just going in to test the waters and then decide which ones I want to take, and how many I want. Yes, another item on my to-do list.

But I was wondering, why SMU doesn't have such nice courses? Ok, I know most of the classes I find interesting are the english lit classes, but still. We also have arts classes what, why don't the profs have something more exciting to offer the students? Since arts classes are mostly about exploring and experiencing anyway.

I have more pictures of food to post up, of almost all the meals we had so far. Haha. Still at the exploring stage lah, so whatever we cook still seems exciting if its not maggi mee and spaghetti. Lol. So here's a teaser first:

Will hopefully update soon! Till then, if you are dying to talk to me or something, can email me lah, haha. All emails to myname.surname@gmail.com (add in my real name of course!) Shall go help charlene now before she goes mad with hunger! Ciao~

2008-02-17T18:51:00.004+08:00

Switzerland has been an interesting ride so far. I'm still discovering more new things everyday, and it helps to have an open mind when going about your daily schedule. Perhaps I'm not a person who needs to have reminders of my heritage everywhere, because I find all the ancient architecture very fascinating. How could man be so ingenious to design and build such intricate things with little technological help? It is such a different environment from Singapore, as every stone and brick has a story to tell, having weathered at least 100 years each. You would find small monuments everywhere, even along the streets of your neighbourhood. I have seen some of these while out buying stuff, but its regrettable that I have not had the time to slowly explore each nook and cranny.

I used to want to see Europe so badly, but now that I am here it seems like such a daunting task. History is infused in each small corner, and I wonder how I would even be able to start to scratch the surface of such a rich heritage. Even things that we always associate with modern times and technology actually have huge legacies and interesting stories behind them.

I feel that this is where I envy people who come from old countries, as they are blessed in this sense. Singaporeans do not have the same rich culture and identity like they do, given that we are a nation of immigrants who have yet to become really integrated into one people, no matter what our pledge says.

I guess this is the reason why I don't mind not seeing anything that is distinctly asian in this place - if you want to see asia, go to asia. There you can see the authentic things. Of course I don't deny that I get excited when I see things that remind me of home, who doesn't? Its just not really the point to search for Asia in places that are so quintessentially European, isn't it? I want to be able to enjoy my stay in Europe and explore the sights and sounds that are so different from what I am familiar with, soaking in the atmostphere here. And then, I'll be ready to go home after these 6 months and to all that I love and miss while over here.

Great plan, yeah? Right now, Squishy will remind me of home. :)

2008-02-15T04:25:00.010+08:00

Ok, feeling rather lazy to blog alot these days. Probably because there are quite alot of things to be done here now, with all the orientation activities starting. And we discovered the city centre of Bern! Its like the Orchard Road of Bern lah basically, so there are shops and stuff that we can go browse in.

And there's H&M, our new favourite store since coming back from Munich.

There's now a sale, and the stuff is really rather cheap considering they come from Europe. The clothes and accessories there are really quite nice, so when we go in there, I inadvertently come out with at least 1 item. Lol. Kinda like me during Mango sale, but this is even better than Mango! Haha, allow me my bimbo moments please, every girl needs some good shopping places. :)

And we cooked carrot and potato soup today! I have discovered a gradual progression of the level of difficulty in the dishes we are cooking as the days pass:

Day 1: Maggi Mee (with salami and egg)

Day 2: Spaghetti with tomato sauce

Day 3: Fried egg with salami bits + sausages (brunch)

Today: Carrot and potato soup (with chicken meat and bacon bits) + rice (first meal with rice here!)

They all look good yeah? I think we are starting to be more and more daring about cooking, and its rather fun to go supermarket and get groceries cos we can plan the stuff we want to eat. Plus the supermarket is just downstairs, which makes it very convenient to buy things.

The more i cook, the more I feel at home in Bumpliz!

2008-02-12T17:02:00.000+08:00

Morning people from Switzerland!

Yes I'm back from Munich already, for those who still don't know that I did go, and i took shitloads of photos! Am still in the process of uploading them as I type, but the first batch is up! The slideshot is below. Will continue to update this post as I finish uploading! :)

Munich Day 1

2008-02-08T02:30:00.000+08:00

This is a blog entry in response to Charlene's 大年初一post.

I like sleeping. That is a fact I cannot deny. Then I guess the term opposites attract also come in play when talking about individuals' sleeping habits. Cos Charlene Tan DOES NOT LIKE SLEEPING AT ALL! This is a rather big difference for me, whose friends mostly love sleeping too. Anyway. She's still in the midst of adjusting her internal clock to Swiss time (hey! that's my blog's name! ok random.) and complains of tiredness and non-hunger at the weirdest times - say, 3pm for the former and dinner time for the latter. I'm mostly fine already, except for getting tired earlier and still getting shocked by the fact that the sun goes down very early (5.30pm or 6pm).

But that's not really what I was getting at. She woke up at 6 freaking am this morning and started clattering around. Now its almost 9pm here and she's really tired, cos her body still thinks that it is 4am (which is sg time). And its quite cute to see her wandering aimlessly around, actually with stuff to do, but which she cannot for the life of her remember. She now has this blank look on her face and takes to muttering to herself while she sits at her computer. And her thoughts have this disconcerting way of taking great leaps all over while I am still lagging in her wake and trying to catch up.

I think its rather hilarious, the way we interact, and its like a setting in a comedy. Sometimes she has almost no response to my questions at all, and sometimes she really starts getting agitated over very small comments I make.

Example:
Me: Charlene are you ok? (admittedly i have asked this question many times, cos she always forgets rather obvious things, like the fact that she just packed an item)
Charlene: Don't ask me whether I'm ok! Of course I'm not ok! Ask me that question again tomorrow and I'll give you another answer.
Then she falls silent and resumes calmly going through her things.
Me: ROFL

I guess when people are tired, they tend to have funny quirks, and I probably have them too, but this is really too funny to pass up not blogging.

I better get back to planning our Munich trip (which is tomorrow) before she kills me with the murderous stares that she has perfected. Will not appear online till maybe Monday night, so till then, everyone take care! Pictures will be up on my photo links, rather lazy to wait for stupid blogger to upload them. :D

2008-02-06T14:45:00.000+08:00

-updated-
check out the pictures i just posted! click on the link on the right. haha. and its raining rather heavily now, trapped inside. haha.

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Guess what time it is now? 7.48 am! Haven't been up so early since the times when I had morning classes. That's not the craziest part - I woke up at a freakish 5 am! The things jet lag does to people sia. The funny thing is I don't really feel like it should be afternoon, which is the time it is in Singapore right now. I'm just feeling aches all over from yesterday's hellish exercising.

Here's what we had to go through:
Changi airport - ran all the way to the gate at the end with two of our bags, no trolley.

Bangkok (airport's name is too long to remember) - had to walk a long distance before finally snagging a trolley each to place our stuff. We decided to explore the airport abit, since we had nearly 2 hours. Bad move, cos when we went up to the 3rd floor (our boarding gate is on the 2nd floor), the lift decided that it was time for maintence and died on us. Therefore, we had to abandon the trolleys - which were promptly snatched up by some angmohs - and took the escalator down, all weighed down by the stuff we were carrying.

Zurich airport - NO TROLLEYS AT ALL. Had to carry everything all the way, and what do you know, the distance between arrival hall and baggage claim is so far apart that we had to take a 5-min train just to get there. While carrying everything ALL THE TIME. Now would be a good time for the fainting emoticon on msn. Haha.

After claiming our suitcases, at least we both had trolleys, and a nice uncle helped us out with loading our suitcases onto the trolleys and he even helped us find the train station, which trains to take, and where to buy the train passes from.

-Sidenote: seems to be very windy outside right now, and its been raining since don't know when. -

Right, going on. We settled everything and once on the train, we had to carry all our luggage by ourselves. Woah, what a challenge! One of the trains we took had steps up, so we had to work together. I went up first, and Charlene stood at the platform and sent the suitcases up. All the time I was very scared the doors would close on one of us, which thankfully didn not happen.

After reaching the train station, we had to walk out, cross the road, go up a slope, across an empty quadrangle (not sure what its called), down a relatively short path, before reaching the hostel building. Not very far lah, but we had to push and pull our luggage all the way, when we were already rather tired from all the pushing and pulling from before. I can't imagine how I did it now that everything is in the room, but we'll have to do it all over again when we leave! *inserts fainting emoticon again*

Yeah. That explains most of my aches.

And I've been blogging from when its dark all the way to daytime! What an achievement. Haha.

And happy CNY to everyone at home! I will be thinking about the food.. :(

2008-02-05T23:27:00.001+08:00

Latest update: I'm now in Bern!

It was quite a long flight. Thanks to the people who came to send me off, Wini, Jer, Aries, Winston, Marcus, Desmond, Frances, Nuha, and of course my family: my parents, my uncle and aunt, my 2 cousins and my brother.

It was a rather eventful journey from the start. We didn't really have time to properly say bye to everyone, cos we found out that it was already the last boarding call for the flight we were supposed to be on. So we ran all the way to the gate, which was at the very end. It doesn't sound that bad right? But we each had 2 bags that were extremely heavy, and had to carry them while running. Good exercise, I guarantee, people who want to lose a few kilos can try that. Haha.

After checking in, there was still time before the gate opened, so we had a chance to catch our breaths. We had to hoist our bags up again when it was time to board the plane. Throughout the entire trip, the most welcome sight for us when moving from place to place was a trolley. Yes, the lifesaving trolley which enabled us to deposit our laden bags for awhile and enjoy a few blessed moments of being light again.

The in-flight meals were not bad, as was the in-flight entertainment en route Zurich, which made up for the less-then-comfortable seats we were in - too cramped and rather hard.

After we got off the flight at Zurich, we had one more burden to carry - our suitcases. It was really a feat cos they really weighed TONS.

Am really tired now, shall go turn in for the day first. Photos will follow soon. For now, my new penguin Squishy (named and given to me by my cousins and brother) will bid you good night.

2008-02-01T11:16:00.000+08:00

Had steamboat at home yesterday with my family. As usual, when we all gather under one roof, it got really loud and boisterous, and its a wonder my neighbours (being the typical complain kings and queens) didn't make the security guard march up to our door in all self-righteousness while themselves hiding behind to make us stop. (That really happened once.. don't doubt my neighbours' abilities!) Yeah but anyway, it was great, and I really thank my mom for organizing it. I guess it counted as a farewell dinner of sorts, since I might not get to see most of my family before I go off. :)

And guess what? I finally got down to packing my stuff! My main suitcase is done, my backpack also done, now I'm just left with the things I still need to use here. So.. 90% packed! Must also thank my aunt for helping me out with some of the more fussy items, of course.

I can't believe it.. only 3 more days left..

2008-01-30T23:25:00.001+08:00

The fact that I will be leaving in less than a week's time has just started to sink in. Slow, I know, but that's me. It takes a seriously long time for me to really accept that something is really going to happen.

Went to school today, and met so many people - Nuha, Wini, Des, Winston, Alan - and it was great seeing all of you, especially nunu, whom I haven't really seen or talked to properly for quite some time. Apparently many people want to come and send me off, and I really appreciate the thought. If you really cannot make it, its ok. Its the thought that counts. I hope I won't start blubbering at the airport though, that would be so paiseh! *crosses fingers*

On to something more urgent: I have not really packed! Shit. Will have to chiong everything these 2 days, which I have already set aside for packing and last minute shopping for necessities.

2008-01-29T00:12:00.001+08:00

Ok I realized this blog somehow cannot handle multiple blog entries posted in one day, cos the formatting just goes haywire when i try to do that.

Anyway, I'm feeling much better now, after that rather depressed entry in the afternoon. Probably because of the great food I just had - Turkish food at Rendezvous and Rochor tau huey (which is one of my favourite foods). Its really interesting how much happier you can feel after eating something you like, cos I immediately became more cheerful. I mean, the change was really rather drastic. I guess the company helps too. :)

*This is usually the part where loads of photos are shown of the food that we ate and everyone's happy faces, but yours truly was too busy eating to remember that she actually brought her camera out. So, yeah. No picture!*

Anyhow, I had the chance to savour Rochor tau huey just before I leave, for which I am rather satisfied. Lol.

1 week!

2008-01-28T12:02:00.000+08:00

1 week more in Singapore. Do I feel excited, or apprehensive? In all honesty, I don't know. What do you say when departure is imminent, but everything feels so unsettled? People will come up to me and ask if I am looking forward to going over, but I can't summon up enough enthusiasm to answer it properly. Is this pre-departure blues? Maybe.

This seems to be shaping up to be such a depressing post, but ah well, I'll be able to look forward to things once I am able to adjust my mindset accordingly.

2008-01-21T23:13:00.000+08:00

Today was sweltering hot, a large contrast with the recent spate of alternate rain/sun weather. Even the aircon in the bus that I took was of no help, with the strong sun penetrating the windows and the high humidity.

Taken with my phone's camera through the bus window

Needless to say, I was sweating like crazy. It felt both uncomfortable and familiar at the same time. Uncomfortable was because it was so hot, and made me sweat. It was also familiar, however, because it is the signature Singaporean weather, one which I have grown up in, having not really known spring, autumn or winter before in my life.

It then occurred to me that this might be one of the last really sunny days I would experience before leaving for 6 months, and I found that I really wanted to remember this particular mix of humidity and heat, which to me is one of the defining characteristics of my hometown. Everyone who has lived (and sweated) in Singapore would agree, I'm sure.

I wish I could bottle this up and bring it over, so that when I am experiencing the bitter cold winter that Europe has to offer, the memory of this blistering hot afternoon can remind me of what home feels like. :)

Blog up!

2008-01-18T01:02:00.000+08:00

After some tweaking, this blog is finally ready to face the world! 问世了, haha. Check out the first column on the right, it shows where I'll be moving to next, and will help keep track of where I am right now as well! Will try to keep it updated, haha.

First Post!

2008-01-17T22:54:00.000+08:00

Finally got down to getting a blog for my Switzerland exchange! Will be posting more stuff soon. :)