odds & ends,bits & pieces

1st post back in Sg!

2007-08-11T17:17:00.000+01:00

Yes, i'm back.. for 2 weeks and 2 days already. Was just plain lazy to log in and write something. I had wanted to write abt my last few days in Switzerland, but well, just never got around doing it. :) Those will go into my photo album, which i'm putting together after collecting my 269 photos i've developed.

And so much has happened in the past 2 weeks that it felt like it was already so long ago that I got off SQ345, collected my luggage from the belt, made my way home and ate my first chee cheong fan!

Kbox, cycling at the beach, eating at Tiong Bahru and Chinatown, watching movies, and of course, hanging out with friends! Spent most of the first week with dearest yuan, then met up with the guides for Potter as promised since May or so, and then the crazy 'econs girls', and the german immersion peeps of course :)

Yuki's been far from forgotten. In fact, very much missed :( Received 2 cards from her already, and i've sent her a small parcel :) Man.. I wonder how people endure long distance relationships...

What else... oh yea, been feeling somehow schrecklich for 2 weeks already, and only today did i know why when Dixie told me it's because of aircon! Better not fall sick!!

School starts again on Monday!! Oh my oh my.. i'm looking forward to it quite a bit, cos I seriously miss lectures in English. But the cors bidding is so screwed up this semester (esp for econs) that I'm half frustrated and half scared I can't get my modules. Sucks.

Rheinfalls/VENICE!

2007-07-19T12:00:00.000+01:00

Activities lined up from last week till now... and lots to say..! But too tired now to describe everything here.. haha so once again, i'll let the pictures do the talking:

Yuki's japanese friend, Takashi, who's studying in Portugal, visited Zurich last week, and on Thursday (12.07) Esther drove us up to Rheinfalls. I heard it's the largest waterfalls in Europe, though i'm not 100% sure. Still, it was magnificent enough. We took a boat all the way up to that huge rock u see in the middle of the falls there... So exciting!!

Esther kindly invited us later to her grandma's house for lunch, where we almost wiped out the spread:

Over the weekend, i went to Moutier to spend my last weekend with Aunty Brigitte and Uncle Jean. Ate lots and played lots, especially with the two grandsons..... Soooo cute!!!

Came back on Sunday, and on Monday morning together with Yuki and Takashi, caught the early train to Milan, before changing trains to VENICE!!!

It's such a lovely city, and the three days spent there was even more fun with the two Japanese. The whole city was made up of intertwining rivers and roads and bridges. Haha a map wasn't necessary, cos we simply found our way through trial and error. All the streets looked almost the same to the foreign eye and except for the yellow signs which gave us our rough direction, we just WALKED.... and discovered...
And we also saw all forms of transportations by river: the morning post, cargo, food and beverages for the restaurants.... EVERYTHING!! No vehicles on land meant that public transport took the form of these boats too:Venice is famous for its glass, and of course, masks! EVERY street had at least a shop/stall selling masks, and some i actually found quite eerie, like this one:Gondola rides cost a bomb, so I made do with pictures:
The famous San Marco square was so crowded.. And the queue to the museum and palace was unbelievably long, so we gave it a miss. Who knows if we'll even get a chance before it closes.
The Rialto bridge, also one of the most photographed features of Venice.
One of my best night scene shots.. Venice at night was really romantic :)
In the three days, we made a promise to each other. Takashi and Yuki would not speak Japanese with each other, while Yuki and I can't communicate in German. So it was English for the benefit of all of us. Haha freaking hilarious, cos the their English, although seriously quite up to standard, was so cute! And Takashi's humour meant that we were always talking rubbish, laughing non-stop, doing silly actions, learning phrases in all sorts of languages, singing Japanese songs......

The train back from Venice to Milan yesterday was delayed by almost one hour, which resulted in our missing our train from Milan to Zurich. Almost every train that left Milan was delayed by 30 mins or 1 hour, and tensions were high in the station. We queued and were referred to three different places before getting the correct authorisation for our train tickets, and three of us stoned and just kept staring at the 'train-info-board' (sorry, i'm short of vocab now.. too tired..) for at least one hour, so that we could run to our train once we knew which platform it was departing from. On the train, again, it was lots of nonsense talk and stupid games. And the ticket officer who checked our tickets chatted us up a bit too. Guess what, he actually spoke to me in perfect Singlish (if there's such a thing) when I answered him that I'm from Singapore! Turns out his wife is Singaporean, and so of course, he's often in Singapore. :)

By the time we arrived in Zurich, Takashi's intention to have some good swiss food for dinner couldn't be fulfilled cos all the restaurants' kitchens were closed. We had kebab instead, before catching the last tram home.

In the wee hours of this morning, Yuki and I sent him off at the airport, which is why I'm going back to sleep right after finishing this post. Next week this day, i'll be going back to the airport, and this time, it'll be ME flying off. Man...... time's flying by tooo quickly!!!!! :'( *sobz*

Züri Fäscht 2007

2007-07-09T11:12:00.000+01:00

www.zuerichfaescht.ch

This carnival, held only once in four years in Zurich, is like THE occasion to let loose, cos the whole city turns into a playground; rides of various sorts, food stalls aplenty and lots more to buy! This year is only the 3rd year after the previous one, though, cos next year they'll be having the Euro Cup, so I'm lucky!! :)

So, all the rides and stalls were opened from 5pm on 6th till 10pm on 8th July. No vehicles were allowed in the city centre, and the streets were PACKED! I counted: i couldn't take 5 steps in a straight line, cos someone was sure to come in the way, and I'll have to siam. Read in the papers that there were altogether more than 2 million visitors over the weekend! Woot!

So... initially, on Friday afternoon, as the stalls started opening...

haha I tried Raclette, a typical swiss cheese, that they melt and scrape on potatoes/bread, and serve together with gurkins or pickled onions. yumm..

The rides lit up at night.. The city literally DIDN'T sleep over the weekend..
Of course, I took the rides.. I liked the Freefall the most, but only because it gave a breathtaking view from right on top :)

The main highlight of the festival is of course, the fireworks. They were on display both on Friday and Saturday night, in accompaniment to classic and pop music respectively.
On Friday night, we arrived a bit too late, and were squashed between much taller Europeans, so we learnt our lesson, and camped right by Zurich lake 5 hours before the fireworks to ensure we'll get a good view the next day. Indeed, the half-hour display was so... enchanting. And romantic too!

But getting home after that was another task. We had to walk a distance to where the trams were allowed, and i'm sure canned sardines felt at least a bit better than i did.

8th July was Fumi's birthday, to whom I gave a tin of cookies I baked myself on the same day. We were invited to her party, where we had delicious japanese food, fruit salad, and of course, the cake :)

Supposed to catch the 11am train to Munster, Germany, today. But was only notified last night that my german host mother is too sick: she can't even walk. So I cancelled this trip, and luckily managed to get back a partial refund at the Hauptbahnhof. Hope she gets better soon! (Countdown: 16 more days in Zurich!) :) AND :(

24 days left

2007-07-01T11:44:00.000+01:00

Exams are finally over! That huge burden is lifted off my shoulders, and I'm looking forward to my last three weeks plus in Zurich. :):)

So far, it's been relaxing and chilling out, yuki staying over often, spazieren gehen and shopping... Gotta settle quite a few administrative matters this coming week too.

Most significant activity, though, would be EATING. Check it out:

Apart from the first picture, the rest were self-prepared. And they're just a fraction of it all. What else can I say... :)

the last weekend before exams...

2007-06-10T22:58:00.000+01:00

... and where was I? Taking excursions with papa to other parts of Switzerland. Bravo.. I can only say good luck for exams.

Nevertheless, the two days were good.. apart from being able to spend time with my dad, i got to see more of german Switzerland. Papa told me I was here in 1994, sitting at this spot by the river or taking pictures there.. But heh, I was what, 7?? Couldn't recall much, naturlich...

Anyway, so Saturday, we took the train to Basel, the 'triangle' border city, cos it's the city at the border of Switzerland, Germany and France. A big town, I'd say.. There was a lot going on, and very hustle-and-bustle-y... From the Basel SBB Bahnhof below:We walked through the city to the Marktplatz, where you see the prominent town hall:
Till we got to the River Rhine:
Yea, and we met up with an Austrian friend, with whom we had dinner with before heading back to Zurich. I'd say I was in Basel, but it's not necessary to go back.. :)

Sunday morning, we took an earlier train to Luzern, arriving at a comfortably crowded city, which looked very 'swiss'. A pity it was Sunday, so most shops apart from eateries were closed. Still... Along the bank of the Lake Luzern: (reminds me a bit of Clarke Quay)
The famous Chapel Bridge, apparently the most photographed monument of Switzerland:
And we took a 2 hour ship cruise on the lake, on a ship very much similar to this:
I'd say Luzern's a quaint yet sufficient city, which I'd most happily visit again, if I have the chance. Didn't get to see the other famous sight, the 'Dying Lion of Lucerne' monument, cos it was quite a distance from where we were... Still, I like Luzern and I wanna discover more :):)

We arrived back in Zurich at about 18:00, took a short rest, and met Yuki to have dinner together with my dad at the Chinese Restaurant. Haha part of our order: 'mai hiam, boi pai, ai hiam, gana sai' would be a very apt description here... :)

Haha those pictures with my face are not in my camera, so Entschuldigung! :)

Alright, gotta turn in; tmr sending papa off in the morning :(

Nevertheless, time's running out for me in Zurich! *frantic* ahhhhhhhhhh.....

'studying'

2007-06-08T15:05:00.001+01:00

By right, I shld be studying.. But by left.......

Tuesday night, Yuki came over to my place to spend the night, and she brought along a surprise gift! which reminded me of the sunflower Maggie and Glory gave before my departure here.. Sunflowers are like, the prettiest flowers.. :):)

Seems like this is the first time I've experience spring, so I was blown away by the blooming flowers, and couldn't resist not taking this picture on my way to school: love the rose bush.
And this morning, at Migros... Woo!! It's strawberry season.. Compare these to what we had months earlier: then, it was scrawny and barely red and pathetically small, now it's shiny bright red, huge and oh-so-yummy-looking!! Needless to say, these were really sweet :)

A few of us are invited to dinner tonight at a Swiss friend's place, and I offered to bake a cake to bring along. This below, is a typical swiss cake, called Carrot cake. One with real carrots, ground almonds and a slight hint of lemon flavour. The whole corridor of my apartment here smelt delicious when it was baking in the oven. Yummy!!

Will be going to Basel and Luzern over the weekend, and hopefully take lots of pictures! :)

it's june...

2007-06-03T18:24:00.000+01:00

i'm officially in Zurich for 3 months. And this month, is the month I've been dreading all semester: exams. But now that it's here, I can't wait for it to be over! Haha I told myself I'll really concentrate on studies, and not undertake any 'extra' activities. But.. haha my plan doesn't seem to be turning out as expected...

1st June, Yuki asked if I wanted to go with her to the Chocolate factory. I mean, who can turn down such a trip! We found our way, and the moment we alighted the bus, we smelt chocolate in the air! I'm serious!! the factory was just by the main road, but still!! Haha the people living in that area must be feeling so fortunate. This endearing smell also stirred up my craving for a chocolate, even though I had just told Yuki earlier in the bus that I somehow didn't feel like eating chocolates that day.
I love this poster!! haha it says below: Created with love and passion.
Yup our main purpose there was actually to buy chocolates, cos Yuki's mum will be coming to Zurich in about two weeks, but wouldn't have time to head down herself, and thus asked Yuki to buy 30 small boxes of swiss chocs for souvenirs to bring back. Unfortunately, the actual production process is not opened for public viewing, but people come here to buy chocolates cos the prices are much cheaper than what you get in Migros or Coop; sorta like warehouse prices. The shop, though, definitely looks nothing near a warehouse. Haha i just felt like letting out a squeal of excitement when I saw the shelves packed with all sorts of chocolates in this shop... (sorry for the pic quality, though. I took it from a postcard, since I had, in my choc frenzy, forgotten to take a pic in the shop itself)
Haha I'll surely be going back there. Most probably before i fly back, to get enough chocolates for all my dear friends in Singapore. Haha if you happen to be reading this, I suggest you fix a date to meet me shortly after I return, to collect your share of chocs, otherwise I can't guarantee that what happened last year wouldn't happen again this year.. haha *winks to Liuyin* For the clueless, just to fill u in if u're interested:

Last year, in Germany, we visited a chocolate museum, and naturally, i stocked up on quite an amount of chocs to bring back for friends. Thing is, that visit was somewhere at the beginning of our trip, which meant that the chocs were not exactly fresh by the time I returned. What's more, I only got to meet some friends when school started, and by then, the chocs had already EXPIRED. haha Liuyin ka-qiao-ed me about this matter quite a bit, so nope! I shall not let history repeat itself!!

Yesterday, I paid a visit to another of papa's friends, in Grenchen. A small town southwest of Zurich. They were a nice simple couple, and took me around to walk in Solothurn, while telling me about the past of certain buildings and statues. Which set me thinking: the Europeans are really well informed of their surroundings. They knew when a particular building was built, to which family it had belonged to, what happened inside, what it's used as currently, etc... Wonder if I can do that with the buildings in Singapore. Hmm, wahrscheinlich nicht..
Oookie, time to get back to books. :( I just CAN'T WAIT FOR EXAMS TO BE OVER!!!

yet another week(end)..

2007-05-31T07:18:00.002+01:00

Yes! That's BA CHANG you see! Bought in Zurich? Haha in my deepest of dreams, perhaps.. ..and what's this? ZHI MA HU!
Wahaha they were brought over by my dad, who stopped over in Zurich for one day, before flying to other parts of Europe for his business trip. And both my parents prepared the following spread..! My mum bought SEVEN Ba Chang-s, froze it, and wrapped it up to let my dad hand carry it over... Love you, mummy and papa!! *muacks*
Yup, and while my dad was here on 29th May, we actually ate in the chinese restaurant in the alt stadt of Zurich, which i always pass by. I remember the first time i checked out the menu placed outside, and decided that no matter how much i miss the food back home, it was just not worth it to fork out 20+ Francs for a bowl of laksa or something along those lines. Haha i had Hor Fun with shrimps, which surprisingly turned out quite good! :)

And, over the weekend before that, I went to Neuchatel, together with Yuki and Eiko, to visit another swiss couple, friends of my father.
Yea, they were nice. The wife cooked good food for us, and the husband brought us around, telling us about the history of the area.Here's a palace in Gruyere.. The origin of the famous brand of cheese I always see in Migros..And the city of Neuchatel/Neuburg..Yea, we also took the paddle boat out on Neuchatel lake. Just a pity the sky was overcast...On board a ship from Neuchatel to Biel, which took almost 2 hours..And on our way back to Zurich, 3 of us playing around and talking lotsa crap.. :)

June's almost here.. Exams are drawing near.. *scary* That means i'll confine myself to Zurich for this month, and study hard, so that I can play guiltlessly in the month after that. And then, it'll be back to Singapore. Waa!! Time's flying!! On one hand, I can't wait to go back and see all my beloved family and friends, but on the other, I can't bear to leave such a beautiful city and great friends. Oh well.. guess that's what memories are for....

Prague!

2007-05-21T19:45:00.000+01:00

17th May (Thursday) was Auffahrt public holiday, and Friday was my free day from school. And i'd say my weekend was utilised to the max, cos I was in Prague!! The most beautiful city of Europe.... (though I somehow like Zurich better) Still, the city lived up to its reputation and was gorgeous. There was a lot to see, and could get a bit overwhelming if you attempt to see too much in one day. The weather was sunny and warm, which made it picture perfect to snap pictures, though it started feeling really uncomfortable after walking long enough under the merciless sun.

Kay, I'll start from my train ride from Zurich Hauptbahnhof. I got on the 22:40 train on Thursday evening, which was supposed to take me direct to Prague in 13 hours. Shared a cabin for 6 lying couchettes with another 2 Taiwanese ladies and a Hawaiian chinese guy. Haha i actually communicated effectively to both sides, switching from English to Mandarin successfully! Unbelievable that I didn't get tongue-tied when it came to Chinese. So we just slept, ate and talked lots through the whole ride, which made it seem like it passed so fast. We wished each other good luck and went our separate ways upon arrival.

Met up with Dixie's friends (who're exchange students in Mannheim) in Prague and we navigated ourselves through the main attractions as stated on the map that day.

Prague's city is also divided into two, with a river running between the two sides, and the famous Charles bridge stretching from one bank to the other.
It was really crowded! Look at the number of people on the bridge itself. Tourists came from EVERYWHERE; saw many japanese and korean tour groups, as well as many English speaking free and easy tourists. And on this bridge, many artists set up their 'stalls' (the kind u pay them to draw a portrait of yourself), as well as others selling paintings and accessories.

This is one of the main Platz of the city area. Almost all the buildings in Prague have some architecture going on at the top of their building, which gave every building a unique look, but also made it look somewhat messy. Haha and this 'old-town' part was so huge....

The 2nd day, we took a three hour bus ride to the southern part of Czech to this place called Cesky Krumlov, a UNESCO protected site. A palace sat amidst the quaint little town, which was really relaxing to walk through. Unfortunately, pictures are in other people's cameras...

The third and last day, we visited the palace in Prague, and this day became my try/take/buy as-much-as-i-could day. So I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Oh yea, there were quite a few representative items of this country, i noticed.

Bohemian crystal was one, as there were many shops selling glassware and proudly proclaiming 'bohemian crystal'. The other one which I saw almost every 8 shops were puppets. The kind that had strings attached to them, and the 'witches' would cackle and do that evil laugh every now and then. Like this shop below:

A shot of Charles Bridge from the tower at the beginning of the bridge from this side:

And more snapping...

And here's the local specialty I tried: Fried Cheese. It was super goooooood...

I had to catch the 5.14pm train back to Zurich, in order to arrive in time on Monday morning to put my things down and go to school. I was thinking, since I'll have the 13 hour ride to sleep, it shouldn't be any problem in school.

BUT, we were cheated! Instead of having a direct trip, like what I was told I would get when I bought my ticket, there were some problems along the way, and we had to change from train-bus-train. Man! Luckily I gathered with a group of other travelers who were also going to Zurich, and we found our way around, when we had to change to a bus from Sommerau to Linz in Austria. Only in Linz did we get the proper night train, the kind with beds, and I felt even more cheated when i saw my cabin! (I had to get the first class sleeping wagon, cos there wasn't any vacancies on the other wagons by the time i bought my ticket), and it was sooooo comfortable! I had my own sink, and an armchair, and there was even a cabinet with hangers! Thing is, I supposed to be in this cabin right from the start of the trip, but with all those 'problems' was stuck in this run down train and had to sit through 5 hours of it, then an hour's bus ride, before I finally got to enjoy this! Sheesh!

What's more, I could choose 6 items from a menu for breakfast. Fantastic! To think the kiasu Singaporean mentality in me bought so many cups of joghurt and bars of fruit snacks from the supermarket before my train ride! Haha so breakfast this morning in the train, and looking out into the pretty swiss countryside scenery before arriving in Zurich, was pure luxury... :)

wet and cold :(

2007-05-17T15:48:00.000+01:00

It's been a long time... And the reason for my absence? Haha there's just not much going on: with work at uni piling up, exams in june coming up (yikes!!) and most of all, that gloomy weather that's threatening to throw me into depression from boredom.. almost..

Yea exams back in Singapore are all over, and you lucky guys can play and enjoy their 3 months hols! haha viel Spass, peeps. *envious*

The weather now is so schrecklich that it's making me miss Sg alot! In the morning when I wake up, the sun no longer shines into my room like it did a few weeks ago. Instead, i see dark clouds and hear sounds of the trees rustling from the strong winds. We've had this grey weather for quite some time, and i finally understand why the old people here tend to die from depression. Although it's 'normal' spring weather now, i hate it!!! Argh!!

So I'm thinking back home more often now. :( How i wish i can just sms Ziyuan now, "let's meet in toa payoh in 1 hour", eat my red bean pancake from Mr. Bean, then buy some 'not here not there' food and smuggle it into Kbox. Or go to Tiong Bahru for breakfast with my family. Or go cycling in East Coast. Or go window shopping and try all sorts of clothes, but not buy them. Or just bumming around at home!

Ok, but then again, I'm going to Prague tonight!! wahaha the most beautiful city in Europe, yea? ;) Will catch the night train and arrive there at arnd 11am tmr: a good 13 hours. Looking forward to it lots! And i'll have updates for this blog, then! (if I have the time to update, that it) haha so stay tuned! Ciao!

busy busy busy!

2007-05-02T22:32:00.000+01:00

It was a fulfilling and eventful weekend! Dixie came down from Mannheim, to spend the weekend in Zurich.

She arrived on Friday evening, and we headed back to my apartment after a short walk around the 'Altstadt (old state'). Haha i'd cooked maize soup in the afternoon, and we heated that up, as well as cooked a rosti (typical swiss) for dinner. Maybe in the first hour, she actually had a slang to her English! and I was sooo not used to it. But luckily (or unluckily), she lost that as we spoke, and soon, we were comfy with Singlish. Yep, updated each other on many things, and spoke about many thoughts and feelings. Haha basically ANYTHING. At 2am that night, we were still talking about Roti Prata, and how people can eat it with sugar (apparently we both don't).

Saturday, I took her on a 'city tour', haha just walking and buying souvenirs. It was great, cos even I discovered new things on this tour, like particular shops that i'd love to go back to. Haha we sat by Zurich lake for quite some time too, taking in the sun, water and mountains, and chatting away. We met a friend of her buddy at 5pm, and I stayed a while, before leaving for a house warming party of another friend. Dixie wanted to join me there later, but she called a bit too late, and I didn't want us to miss the last tram, so i decided to leave the party a bit earlier, meet her at the main station, and go back together. We were both, afterall, super tired after the whole day's walking and all.

The next day, we went on a tour, which we had booked at the Tourist Information Centre at the main station. Heidiland, was the name of the tour. It was fantastic. We set off at 11am to Rapperswill, a tiny town by Zurich lake. Then headed to Vaduz, Liechtenstein (a small country sandwiched in between Germany, Switzerland and Austria), and finally to Heididorf. It's apparently where the story Heidi (i love it) originated, and the setting of it, where Heidi lived with her grandpa. Sights were gorgeous indeed...

And this pic was taken outside Heidi's house, where goats were running about. Just love the countryside of Swit!! :):)
That evening, we arrived back at Zurich at around 7pm, met Yuki, and came back to my apartment to cook Japanese curry for dinner. Haha three of us slept in my room that night, and it felt like a girls' overnight party or something.

Oh yea, but on the tour, there were three other Asian ppl (2 female and 1 male). We saw their dressing and behavior and had a bad feeling. Dressing was way absurb for spring (boots and wool looking like tops), and behavior was schrecklich! Lk, when the tour guide was explaining something, they'll be somewhere nearby snapping their own pics, and in their own world, making their noise. Yucks. Thing is, the moment Dixie and I heard their accent, we looked at each other knowingly. Singaporeans. 99%. Haha we didn't wanna let them know when we were b*tching abt them, so we spoke in Deutsch when they were nearby. Even gave them the nickname 'hasslich Blumen', meaning ugly 'flowers'. haha. Oh well, we didn't speak to them AT ALL. Only one girl approached me to ask about sending a postcard from the souvenir shop.

Hmm ok back to my week. Mondays are my looooooong days in school. From 10-6pm, after which i feel basically drained. So Dixie was alone, and she did her own walking around. I met Yuki after school, and we both made our way to the main station, to send Dixie off, who was taking the train back to Mannheim at 7pm. Dixie even wrote me a card! so sweet! :):)

Haha on our way back, Yuki asked if I wanted to go to Uetliberg the next day, since it was May Day, and I had nothing on. Ok, we decided to go there, and have our own small picnic. So Yuki stayed with me again for another night, and the next morning, we prepared our potato salad to bring for our picnic.

Ueltiberg is actually called "Zurich's own mountain", and is the highest point of Zurich. So you can imagine that the panorama was pretty! Not just Zurich city, but it's surroundings too. Yup, 'top of Zurich' is actually a climb up a structure that brings you 900m above sea level. Took some shots..

And this evening, Catherine told us about an interesting restaurant, called Blindkuh (blind cow). What an experience! We had made a reservation 2 weeks before, and upon arrival, were given a short introduction at the reception. We then left our bags in the lockers outside (nothing with light was allowed inside; things lk handphones and watches), and were told that we'd be served by Elizabeth. Oh yea, i forgot to mention, all the service staff were blind. So we were guided into the dining area, with 4 of us following Elizabeth, by putting our hands on the shoulders of the person in front us, to form a 'train'. We went through the curtain, and were engulfed by total darkness. Yup, it's the kind that closing or opening your eyes would make no difference! We were guided to our seats, and I basically started feeling what was on the table. My napkin, fork and knife. We placed our orders (the menu was outside, and we'd decided), and started talking.

Then came our food. I had NO IDEA how it looked like, or how much of it there was, so I used my fork and knife to make out the shape of my lagsane on the plate, before attempting to cut it. Haha first few times, I raised and empty forked and just about poked my face around the mouth area before i found my mouth. haha i was laughing at myself. When I finally got something on my fork, the piece was so large. TOO large. haha and the thing is, when I was eating, I was concentrating so much on my sense of feel and putting the fork into my mouth, that I hardly participated in the conversation. It's tiring, you know!

When I thought i'd finish, but was not sure, I used my fingers to feel a bit around the plate, and picked up what few pieces of Lagsane before I was quite sure there was nothing left. The food was good, really.. :) Yup, we talked quite a bit after the dinner, and then decided to leave when it felt late enough, led out by Elizabeth, whom we had to call randomly and hoped she could hear us.

Yea, the main setting of this restaurant was actually to let us have a feel of how the visually impaired feel, and do things. I wouldn't say I know how they feel after only about 2 hours, but at least I know that it's really not easy.

Okok, for now, that's all! it's late, and I'm gonna sleep! To everyone back in Singapore, enjoy ur hols! haha exams are over, so it's time to play hard! But don't forget to miss me too! love y'all! *muacks*

> sunshine * sunscreen <

2007-04-23T18:59:00.000+01:00

Yup lots of both during the weekend that just passed.

Saturday, we went to the Zoo. Many many animals. Duh hah. It's really big, and we took quite a few hours walking through the whole place. Comparable to Singapore Zoo though, just that I think we've too many monkeys in the Spore one. This one had a Rainforest setting at the end, and the humidity coupled with the temperature... oh my... so warm!! But felt really familiar at the same time :)

Haha Sunday was even more eventful.. I went to Kondi with Yuki at the Uni's gym (free for all students). Haven't exercised for such a long time before that, and it was really strenuous! haha but got an enormous sense of satisfaction after that, cos it the workout felt super good. Oh but I was a bit surprised at the changing room. When we went in, there were only a few other women, and looking around, I didn't see any cubicles. Just benches with hooks and hangers, and a big mirror on one side. Then one lady started changing, and I understood.. Ok.. Haha later more came in, and some really change COMPLETELY! But the fact that everyone was so easy about it, made me hide my surprise, and go along. Though not that completely.. haha

After that, Yuki and I came to my apartment, to bake a cake. We were going to a picnic later on in the afternoon, where we were celebrating 3 of her classmates' birthdays together. Yuki had suggested baking a cake, and of course i gladly agreed. (haha come to think of it, it's my 5th cake in less than 2 months that I've been here.. I don't even bake this often in Singapore! But apparently, my accidental mistake in my first Chocolate Cake for Yuki's bday, gave me quite a reputation for 'that delicious choc cake')

Ok back to baking.. Haha ironic thing was, Yuki was more busy writing the cards and wrapping her presents, that I ended up baking everything myself, and then preparing lunch for us. But everything went well.. Until.. After lunch, we were clearing up the table, and Yuki alerted me to a bad sign. There, on the table of the common kitchen I use with 12 other people, was a burnt mark from my frying pan, which i'd put directly on the table!! Oh my!!! I tried cleaning it, to make it lighter, but to no avail.. duh.. I was worried, but found it so funny at the same time. Yup, the mark is still there.. haha and I think I've left my legacy here in the Personalhaus. Told the person-in-charge of the Personalhaus this morning about it, before I went out to school, and he said he'll take a look. Haha I told him I'd compensate if I have to. Seriously, even if it means I've to pay for a new table. But now, going into the kitchen and seeing that dark patch on the table really makes me feel embarrassed of myself. Haha lk, everyone else is probably thinking, 'which idiot did that..' Yea.. it's me.. haha Yuki took the following pic of it:

Yup, so last night, I was yet in another park, where we had a fire, and grilled our wursts. Everyone brought a little something too, so we had quite a bit to eat and drink. And of course, the sense of satisfaction, when the birthday girls blew out the candles on the choc cake i baked, and when everyone enjoyed it.. Perfect.. :)

So, this group of people at the picnic are from the Japanese studies department in the Uni, and though being swiss, I was pleasantly surprised when we struck conversation. They'd say "do you know Stephanie Sun?" (haha of course I do!) "Oh she has such a good voice!" And they'd carry on asking things like
"Do you watch Taiwan drama serials?"
"Did you watch Mars? It started with a kiss? Devil beside you? Love contract? Hana Kimi?"
"Do you listen to Huang Yida? Fahrenheit?"
"Oh! I love Zaizai! and Ariel Lin too! Jiro Wang's so cute!"

Hoho we were jumping together when we talked about all these. And boy was I super excited! oh course I knew these people and watched these shows! :)

So, one of the bday girls brought her best friend along. And he's Chinese! 24 yrs old.. But I realised most of the Chinese here speak Cantonese, and not Mandarin. This guy was born in Switzerland, and spoke Cantonese too. Nevertheless, he could speak a bit of Mandarin. So all the other people were quite curious, as to how come two Chinese can't really understand each other, and we got to the topic of dialects. Haha I was telling him I was most familiar with Teochew, which i can understand much better than i can speak.

Then he said "Oh! Me too! I only knew a bit of Teochew... Like.. Argh can't really remember.." So he stoned for a while, recalling what he knew, then suddenly, his face lit up. (Note: we were eating our choc cake while chatting, and I was about to put a piece in my mouth)

He blurted out "PANG SAI !!"

My god.. For a long time, I couldn't stop laughing.. Then he said a few more other phrases, but with a serious Swiss/foreign accent that made it all sound soooooo funny!

After all the eating, we all sat down to unwind, and chat. So the three couples sat on the grass, a group sat nearby, and I sat down with 4 others at a bench. It was getting dark, and cooling, so a relaxing and lazy mood we were in. Still a lot of nonsense chatting though.. haha then interesting thing #2:

So, we were translating a phrase in various language.. Deutsch, Swiss-deutsch, French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese.. Then one guy turned to me and asked in german,

He: " So how do you say it in Thai?"
I: " ????!!????? I don't know! I come from Singapore, not Thailand!"
He: " Oh! I though Singapore was the capital of Thailand!"
I: "....................................... hhahahahahahahah......................"
He: " Oh yea, that's Bangkok. Oh or is it in Malaysia?"
I: " NO! Thailand's a country, Malaysia's a country, Singapore's a country.."
He: " Oh really! So what's the capital of Singapore?"
I: " Singapore."
He: " Right.. and what do you speak there? Singaporish or something?"
I: " Erm we speak English, and Chinese, Malay or Tamil"
He: " Oh really! I see..."

He was thoroughly laughed at by the whole table, but being the witty one, thereafter, he'd turn to me once in a while and ask jokingly "So what's it in Thai?"

Oh my oh my.. haha but it was great fun, and I must say, everyone were really sweet.

Today was my long day at school, and I was soooo tired at the end. Plus, my muscles all over my body are aching slightly from Kondi. Effective exercise huh..

Haha ok, tomorrow's my free day, so i'll take things slowly.. Yup, that's all for now.. Off to bathe.. Ciao!

Summer in Spring??

2007-04-16T22:36:00.000+01:00

The weather now's like that in July last year when we were in Germany! Cool mornings and evenings, and warm sunny afternoons up to 25 deg C. So i'm back to 'Spore' clothes now. Haha and after the weekend in the sun, i'm already a few shades darker!

Saturday, we had a picnic in a big big park. Found a large picnic spot, and made ourselves at home. I prepared potato salad and a peach cake, with Yuki and Eiko earlier in the morning, which everyone said were good :) We also had a fire, and grilled wursts, which we ate with bread.. yummy!

After eating enough, it was time to move! haha out came the football and volleyball, which we played in random groups on the vast greenery.

Then it was slacking time, when we chit-chatted the afternoon away under the trees. Yuki and I laid on the grass in the sun for quite some time too. Haha when will (/can) i ever do that in Singapore, given the determination of our sun to practically burn you in 2 seconds? hmm..

Sechselaeuten also took place this weekend, and it's a traditional festival of Zurich to celebrate the end of winter. The city centre area is turned into a large funfair, with booths (selling food, accessories, balloons...) set up everywhere. All kinds of vehicles are not allowed in this area too.

So on Sunday, I caught the children's parade. Little kids dressed in costumes, mainly from the medieval times, and walking through the city, throwing sweets at the many many onlookers lining their path.

Haha somewhere towards the end, there was also a showcase of groups dressed up according to nationalities.. That's China below: (haha see the dragon behind?)

But today (Monday), is the actual and main parade of these celebrations. People dress up and parade through the city centre. And watching them, i somehow felt.. nostalgic.. haha i have no idea why though..

So groups of people decked in colourful costumes according to occupations paraded to the beat of their accompanying band:

Oh yea there were so many horses that after the parade, you had to walk the streets cautiously, cos it was so much easier to step on horse shit than not to. And I felt so sorry for the poor animals as I watched them pull the wagons and carriages, with so many decorations and people sitting inside..

So, more occupations.. These below are the tai-tais then..

Another band..

Oh yea, haha i forgot to mention: I was actually standing along Bahnhofstrasse :)

And these are.. erm soldiers? or bodyguards?

Oh and one more thing.. Realised almost all of the paraders have flowers in their hands? The audience sitting in the first row along the streets (mainly women) usually had bunches or stalks of flowers, which they went up to paraders they knew to present them with flowers and three smacks in the face.. *muack muack muack* haha so you can roughly tell who're the anti-socials amongst the paraders.. ;)

So, the parade lasted 3 hours, from 3-6pm. At 6pm, another major activity was starting at Bellevue.

Where what seemed like the whole of Zurich gathered by that time, the Boegg (snowman figure) was lit.. We were saying bye to winter officially...

And it started burning...

By the time the Boegg actually caught fire and started burning, we could hear 'explosions' from it. And everyone cheered..

So, the thing is, the people here say that the longer the Boegg takes to 'explode', the better Summer will turn out to be that year. This time, it took about 19 mintues, i think.. and that's considered long. But i can't imagine! Now is already 25 degrees, so in June? 45 degrees?? oh my.. let's hope Summer will really turn out fine :)

After that I went on the Ferris Wheel with Eiko and managed to snap some pretty scenes or Zurich from the top:

Hmmm i actually took some great videos too.. But, heh, i don't know how to post it here.. :S I guess the pictures will suffice, huh.. Yea..

Ok, that's all for now. Super sleepy!! haha night night!! Miss you all!! :)

Easter

2007-04-10T08:47:00.000+01:00

The Easter weekend lasted from 4pm on Thursday (5th Apr) to Monday (9th Apr).. And it was great :)

Thursday I had lessons in the early afternoon, then went out to walk walk with Yuki. Haha i've read several times about the Lindenhof in Zurich, but somehow didnt quite know my way around. But on thursday afternoon, our taking the wrong train turned out to be the 'right' way to the Lindenhof, as we found out unintentionally..

So, the Lindenhof's actually a rather high place where you can get a good panorama of Zurich city. We started snapping away with our cameras and wanted to take a picture of ourselves with the view in the background, so looking around, we saw an old couple and a young soldier. Haha managed to convince ourselves that old people might not know how to use the camera, so the young soldier we will ask *grin* More importantly, he actually looked quite good :)

So he willingly helped us snap a picture, and even asked if we wanted one more pic. Great, haha why not.. haha we didn't mind smiling for the camera when the person holding it looked like he did :) We later thanked him and started walking away, then Yuki stopped in her tracks and pulled me in to whisper, "Charlene, keine!" (it means 'none'!) I scrolled through her pics in her camera, and found out that the soldier didn't take a single picture!!

We were debating whether we should go back to the spot to take a proper picture, but decided against it to avoid embarrassment both for us and the soldier who was still sitting there. "We'll come back another time" we thought.. yes we will.. to get a proper picture..

Haha so for now, it's just pictures of the panorama..

And old men playing giant chess..

Haha friday morning, Yuki and I took the train to Moutier to spend the Easter weekend with the Hofers. Yippee.. That day, after arriving, we took lunch, before going out to have a walk along a lake. Trekking in the slushy mud while enjoying the beautiful scenery.. Relaxing...

Saturday, we drove 2 hours to France and visited three small towns in the region Alsace.

First was Turkheim.. Man, immediately as we drove through the town entrance, our sleepy eyes were as opened as can be.. it was soooo beautiful! Almost EVERY window was decorated with Easter bunnies and colourful eggs and pretty flowers!! Let the pictures do the talking..

After lunch, we went to Riquewihr.. which was also sooooooo prettily decorated..

And the last town was Colmar, where we took a short trip on a tiny train that went around the city, with accompanying audio guides..

Sunday was Easter Sunday, and we were told that it would be a relaxing day, since everything was closed outside.. But after breakfast, Aunty Brighit was telling us how they'd 'celebrate' Easter sunday..

The Easter Bunny would come the night before, while everyone was asleep, and hide baskets of Easter gifts for children who were not naughty.. (somewhat like Santa, huh).. Just that this one, you had to find the basket.. and you'd hear 'Water', 'Coal' or 'Fire', meaning you're very far, rather close or very close respectively, to the basket.. Haha so Yuki and I ewnt searching for our baskets.. and it was soooo pretty!! (haha using this adjective a lot in this post)

We later took a walk outside, up to one of the shorter mountains of Moutier.. where we got yet another bird's eye view..

And to the next topic.. FOOD!! haha I've probably ate enough during the weekend to provide enough energy for two weeks or something!! Just a fraction of it is...

Ok, that's all for now.. haha gotta go to school! till the next time, *MMMMMMMMUUUUUUAAAAACKKKKKKKKSSSSSSSSSSSSS*

snowy week

2007-03-25T21:18:00.001+01:00

The past week flashed by in a blink.. and made me realise, that i've already been here for 3 weeks, almost one fifth of my time here switzerland.. i've to make better use of my time here! cos i definitely don't wanna look back after this experience, and say 'how i wish i did this, and did that..' 5 months, from a moment's perspective is one long time, but barely makes up a fraction of my lifetime.. still, i can and should make this 5 months a memorable one.. so far, i'm adapting well and have had some fulfilling experiences, definitely.. :)

Yup, so the uni semester started officially this week.. With anxiety weighing down my excitement, i made my way to my first lecture.. alas, i was super early, and settled down at the end of a row somewhere in the middle.. wrong choice.. the lecture theatre setting was soooo impractical.. the rows were marked by entire rows of table that streched across the whole LT, and chairs were folded up like in the cinema, placed rather closely to each other.. that meant that, if the whole row was occupied, but someone in the middle wanted to get out, the entire half row had to get up, move out to the side of the LT, so that this person can make his/her way out.. do i make sense? hmm haha maybe i should take a picture if i can..

so.. my first lecture, and the lecturer started speaking.. gosh.. i started fretting.. ALLES AUF DEUTSCH! (everything in german).. i've been, in my whole life, attending lessons in which i understood the lecturer (even if i didn't know his content), but suddenly, this man (with such a high forehead you'd think he can beat Einstein in a debate of physics or something), who was supposed to be my lecturer for the next 3 months, was speaking this language i've barely got a grasp of, in which i was supposed to learn something else like econs!

I just stoned, not quite knowing how to react, and trying hard to catch what he was saying.. but hey, i've only learnt things like "Ich esse Pizza gern" (i like to eat Pizzas) or "Ich bin eine Studentin und komme aus Singapur" (i'm a student and come from Singapore) or those vocab used on a frequent basis.. however, i had to deal, in the lecture, with things like "Steuerungseffizienz des nationalstaatlichen Systems" or "Pluralismus von Rechtssystemen und Wertegemeinschaften" etc...

Haha but i just have to convince myself, that all will be fine.. if others survived exchange, i can too :) just gotta put in a bit more effort, and maybe do some translation.. no problem.. really, no problem.. *nods*

And it wasn't all school.. on Tuesday, we had a party organised by the ESN student network for all students, but especially for exchange students.. There were so many ppl squeezed into that small space.. but quite a few of the peeps from our intensive german class met and were together.. it was not bad too, given the more opened attitude, and i met this girl who said she was born in Singapore.. but who now lives in london.. but still, yippee!! finally, someone who knows a bit more Singapore.. we exchange numbers and promised to meet up someday.. Eiko, Yuki and I were taking a break from the crowd and noise in the toilet, when we chatted up with this girl from Finland, and later another girl joined our toilet gang too..

Just some pictures from my cam that night.. more from others' cam, but they haven't sent any yet..

More importantly, this week was SNOW-week!! haha my first experience was on Tuesday, when i woke up in the morning, and jumped at my window view! all white and it was still snowing.. The picture below was taken on Thursday, when the snowfall was even heavier, and more obvious in the photo.. My first time walking, as snowflakes fell everywhere from the sky, and i had to tret carefully in accumulated snow in the streets.. It was especially slippery, where the ice was compacted by someone else's footstep, so i had to be careful where i took each step.. anyway the snow was rather wet, cos it was like, way below freezing point, and the strong winds made me feel like the blood in my face would freeze.. So, the picture below was taken from my room on Thursday morning..

And the picture below was taken from the tram stop where i take the tram to school everyday..

On Friday, i took a train to Moutier, to spend the weekend with the Hofers.. and caught some impressive views from the train.. There was definitely more snow in the mountain-sides.. and they all looked just magical..

Haha Aunty Brighit's house was covered in snow too.. and Uncle Jean didn't drive to work that day cos the risk of skidding on the ice was too high that day.. So, a relaxing and typical (hopefully) lazy european weekend it was..

Saturday, we went to Delemont, to shopped a bit.. then later in the afternoon, we went bowling.. haha great fun, cos it's been some time since i last did that.. :) Oh and from Sat to Sun, the whole of Europe's time was adjusted one hour ahead, so now, we're just 6 hours, instead of 7, behind Spore's time :)

Sunday, we just ate, chatted (haha i did more listening ;) and took walks around Moutier.. So now, im geared up for a new week in school.. The weather will become warmer from tomorrow, and Spring's officially here.. can't wait for full bloom of the flowers and the lovely colours.. :)

"Was hast du am Wochenende gemacht?'

2007-03-18T23:41:00.000+01:00

That's one of the questions most frequently asked in german class when we had to practice past temse grammar, and means 'What did you do over the weekend?'

So, my first weekend in Zurich is over.. what did i do?

Yesterday, saturday, was a 'for myself' day.. tidied up my room, which was getting a bit disorganised.. then went out shopping for groceries as well as Yuki's present.. Mid-afternoon, chatted with everyone back home.. Yay!! the webcam's finally put to use! :) Later, for the first time in my life, i attempted to do my own laundry in a washing machine.. haha let's just say it was a learning experience..

Today's Yuki's 21st bday.. so in the morning, i had to make a trip to the Hauptbahnhof because i had forgotten to buy eggs.. such a bother to travel all the way there just to get a carton of eggs.. sheesh.. what's with not working on sundays??

After that, Yuki, Fumi and i started our baking session at my apartment.. We fixed a quick lunch of mushroom soup with croutons and some bread while the cake was baking in the oven.. The cake later cooked to perfection, and we decorated it with some icing before setting off the Yuki's apartment..

It was also a Personalhaus of some Uni-clinic, and was nearer to the Uni than mine.. But the walk from the tram station in was so long! Also, her room's much smaller, has less cupboards, and a smaller common kitchen for 15 people.. oh, and it's 100 francs more ex!! *shake head*

Oh, just a side note: the flowers are blooming all over the city now, and it's such a pretty sight!! Flowers of all colours and shapes really make the city so much more lively and cheerful than the gloomy winter.. here's what i saw outside Yuki's apartment..

I helped a bit here and there as they prepared some japanese food for dinner, as they had invited a few other friends over to celebrate.. So there were altogher 6 of us, to finish quite an amount of food, but it was super yummy and was snapped up in between chit-chat..

After dinner, we sang Happy Birthday and Yuki blew out the candles on the cake..

I was so tired that i requested to leave earlier... It was FREEZING tonight.. it was literally teeth-chattering, even though i wore my thermalwear.. hmmm looks like gotta pile on lots more in the coming 'cold spell' week..

Anyway, come tomorrow, and the new semester starts.. yet again meeting new people and learning new things.. *yikes*

Tierpark Langenberg

2007-03-16T19:52:00.000+01:00

Today was the official last day of the Intensive german course, and we all took an excursion to the above place (meaning Animal Park), which is a park/forest/hill with animal enclosures scattered here and there.. It was located a bit out of Zurich, so we took the train there in the morning, and hiked up to our destination..

The entire hike took probably 1 and 1/2 hours and we were quite shagged when we reached the top of the hill.. Good exercise, though.. Cos we were all removing our outer jackets along the way.. Oh and the weather was great too! The picture below was taken halfway..

So when we reached the top, first thing we did: take a group photo! haha so this my class for the past 2 weeks, though a few are missing from this picture, cos they couldn't make it today..

The teachers started a fire, while we prepared the food.. Haha below, Marta taught us how to make slits in the wurst such that they'll 'open' up like a flower when cooked..

Sitting around the fire, cooking our wursts.. Such a campfire setting reminded me of my Girl Guides' days.. "Campfire's burning, campfire's burning, draw nearer, draw nearer..."

Oh and here's Yuki and i... :)

And my wurst when it was done, dusted with some ash (unintentionally) and topped with mustard.. Tasty!

After lunch and enough rest, we set off downhill to take the ship, which sail in the Zurich See to bring us back to the city.. The view was marvellous, but a pity there was some slight fog, so it wasn't all that clear.. Took this picture while we were waiting for the ship..

On the ship, I collected everyone's email and numbers so that I can send a contact list to everyone, together with some of the group photos in my camera. We reached the city at Burkliplatz.. It was supposed to be good-bye here, and we presented the card we all wrote for Marta. She was so touched.. haha oh but thank god we got her as our teacher, cos i got a feel of the other teachers today, and they were far from motherly, cute, humorous and friendly as she is.. So we took a final picture..

We later bought a drink and sat by the river to chit chat for a while more, before we finally said our goodbyes.. Oh, but it seems to be always the case.. Just before we say goodbye do we really bond and become that much closer as a group.. Haha but we'll meet up again definitely! Finally, hugs and kisses exchanged, and it was Auf Wiedersehen for the time being...

I'm getting the hang of it...

2007-03-15T21:27:00.000+01:00

So... in a blink of an eye, the weekend is just at my doorstep. Wow, 2 weeks in Zurich already, but I seriously haven't seen enough to be considered to have stayed here.. there's definitely more to come :)

Last night, Eiko (another Japanese girl in my class) organised a gathering with her apartment mates and kindly invited me along with Yuki.. So nice of them :) and they were a fun bunch of people, i must say.. Speaking in german, but somehow as time goes by, my ears have been trained to better pick up key words in their language.. And the hosts cooked Japanese! So a type of sushi (which is like the Japanese version of Chinese fried rice) and curry rice! Really yum.. :) but it also made me crave for sashimi, which, where you hardly get fresh seafood, is unbelievable hard on the pockets.

Anyway, the pictures, as promised... here's the view I get to enjoy every weekday the past two weeks, as I walk from tramstop to classroom.. Beautiful, especially when the weather's kind.. This was taken a few days ago, and the weather so far this week has been perfect.. It's still cold in the morning, like 5deg, but by afternoon it warms up to abt 15deg and tt's perfect to sit in the sun outside.. But today we had quite a fog and this view unfortunately was not visible.. and I've read that come next week, there'll be a sudden cold front and there might even be snow!

Often, after lessons, i'll head here with Yuki to settle some admin stuff, post a card, shop, or just to take a walk.. It's the Zurich Hauptbahnhof (Main Station). You pretty much always arrive in and depart from Zurich here. And just infront of it (where I was standing while I took this photo), is the Bahnhofstrasse. So, we often take quite a walk and feel so tired but satisfied at the end of the day. Haha communication between Yuki and I is improving lots! Haha she's trying the learn English too, so we conduct a 'Tandem', whereby a pair is a teacher and student of each other's mother-tongue. So I officially know a few more Japanese words now :)

The picture below was taken on Wednesday (14th March), when there was a food market (like the kind they have at Takashimaya's basement now and then) in the Hauptbahnhof. Many stalls are set up here every Wednesday and Saturday, and they have quite a variety. There was a Gyoza booth, a vegetable (a la wet market Singapore style) booth, and of course, a few cheese stalls. You always know when you're approaching a cheese stall due to the pungent smell that hits you in the face abt 5m from it..

Anyway, Yuki and I took a long walk after lessons today, so that I could take pictures... So there's the Limmat bank, lined with many tiny shops.. I chanced upon a souvenir shop there today and I'm sure i'll be going back there :)

And the Zurich See...

So along it's bank now, pretty flowers are abundant and people sit in the sun to chit chat (an act that would have been ridiculous at this time last year). So, we did what the Zurichers did and sat down to chat and rest from the long walk.

Managed to capture a shot from where we were sitting just before the sun went down behind the mountains.. Once it gets dark, the temperature drops so fast.. Which means, scarfs on standby! So we started walking again after sunset, and sat in the streets of the Altstadt to savour our take-away Kebabs.. Super lecker (tasty, auf Deutsch).

On my way home tonight, I caught sight of the beautiful night scene of Zurich which I had always wanted to take a picture of. So I hopped off the train, crossed a few tram lines and roads, and found an ideal spot. The sight before me was breathtaking, but I somehow couldn't get my camera to shoot what I saw.. This was my best shot... sorry folks, haha a picture is afterall uncomparable to seeing with your very own eyes..

Lastly, my class! haha here's my classroom, and tt's the teacher, Martha, standing in front. Haha she's this very strong Italian accent to her german, and thanks to that, she calls me 'Char-lehhhh-neh'. So, the rest of the class pretty much call me like that too.. haha my swiss name..

and everyone else in class.. we sit in 3 groups of 4.. so there's my seat at the table on the right side of the picture..

Yup, tomorrow, we're heading to a Tierpark (which literally translate into Animal Park) for the official last day of the Intensive Course.. Looking forward to it.. :)

Finally..

2007-03-13T20:42:00.000+01:00

great.. i'm finally back in touch with the cyber world! gosh, the long wait was excruciating.. been away from Singapore for 21 days, and only today could i sit down and use the internet at my own disposal on my laptop.. have quite a lot to update but squeezing all i wanna say in one post is quite impossible.. guess i'll just let the pictures do the talking..

23 feb to 28 feb in Vienna was quite alright.. but there were simply too many appointments with parents' business friends that it somehow felt like i didn't quite see the city enough.. still, being around for 5 days left quite an impression..

and so, the pretty hotel we stayed in:

and some sights which brought back fond memories of last year's Deutschland:

a shot of us in front of the parliament house (what this building is.. or so, i think):

Oh and we caught some drama in a popular shopping area, Mariahilferstrasse: while walking there from our hotel after breakfast that morning, we saw and heard so many police cars speeding through the streets. Their sirens blasted through the early morning silence and we were thinking it must have been some hedious crime. Alas, when we came to our destination, a crowd had gathered where the police cordoned off part of the street, and curious onlookers (including us, of course) craned their necks to see what was going on. We later found out from a shopkeeper that it was a bank robbery. Man, with all those police cars, army trucks and what not, it was easy to believe that whoever was/were commiting this crime was not easy to deal with...

After a while, commandos arrived in full gear.. Woho, must be serious, we thought...

We waited in vain to find out what was going on, but were still clueless after 2 hours, so we left.. But later that night, we found out that it was actually a STUPID 'crime'. This mad man held the entire bank at gunpoint and demanded that all his friends be informed of his crime. Oh, and his gun was a plastic one too. Meanwhile, he asked for coke and cigarettes to keep entertained. Haha to think the police force was fooled by his 'crime' and played his game for 5 hours..

Anyway, we also drove to Wachau, and walked some peaceful villages, but everything was closed since it was winter time.. makes one think, what do these people do then??

On the 28th of Feb, we flew to Zurich via Austrian Airlines, and after settling some admin matters, we took a train to Moutier (another part of Switzerland) on the 2nd of March. There, we put up in the house of old friends. What a pretty room they let up for us!

And also travelled to other nearby little villages: At one of them, Murten, a carnival was to take place that evening and we managed to capture some moments before we left:

All the kids and even some adults were all dressed up in costumes of all sorts:

In Neuchatel, thanks to the great weather and clear skies, I was able to see the alps from across a lake.. It was breathtaking..

And so, I was back to Zurich to start a German Intensive Course on the 5th of March. My class has only 12 ppl, from quite a variety of nationalities.. Great fun, I must say, with a nice mix of internationality amongst the students, as well as a cute comical teacher whom we all call by name..

But the apartment where I have a room to myself in Zurich was such a let down for me. I was hoping it'll have the typical campus hostel mood, but my neighbours are all working adults of the nearby Psychiatric Hospital and not very friendly.. The type who just grunt a barely audible 'hallo' or 'morgen' when you try to greet them with all smiles in a cheerful tone..

Luckily I got along especially well with a Japanese girl from my class, Yuki.. Thank god for her, cos she totally understands my situation and has been able to make me feel much better too.. So we hang out quite often and walked Bahnhofstrasse (the orchard road of Zurich) together..

Here's a shot of the Altstadt (old city) of Zurich, where the streets are cobbled, narrow and often inclined at quite an angle..

Zurich's a beautiful city indeed, and i promise more photos! I'd think itll be prettier in spring, since I'm already seeing flowers pop up on lawns and grass patches. Oh! Just now, I saw the exact same flowers, on the lawn outside of my apartment, as those on the 'happy field' where we ate the strawberry cake in Dusseldorf last year too :)

Yup, this weekend, I was at Moutier again.. Haha Saturday (10th March), we went to an ice skating ring and I tried skating for the first time in my life.. Great fun!!! and i'd definitely want to try it again.. I could glide on the ice for abt 20 metres without wobbling, so it could be considered a feat for me..so this's where I skated.. there were other ppl who were zooming around, playing ice hockey, but we pretty much managed in our corner..

The next day, we had lunch at a farmhouse on the mountain top and there was snow all around! Yippee! My first experience with snow this time.. The sights were enchanting too.. Such a peaceful area..

So.. tt's all for now.. cos it's time to start on homework! haha will be back soon with more updates! Miss you all in Singapore!

It's time..

2007-02-21T04:25:00.000+01:00

it's time.. almost.. haha decided i'll succumb to the blogging fever.. but sheesh it's not easy work.. anyway, what better way to record my experiences and to stay in touch with everyone back home while i'm on the other side of the globe right?

preparations underway: food-to-be-missed eaten (thanks to cny), packing sort of done, confirmations made, contacts noted...

oooh, but i still wanna sing Kbox!!! haven't done so in ages.. probably tmr before the flight? haha the fact that the flight's in the middle of the night gives me the impression that there's still a lot of time.. we'll see... :)