boo! :) ah was too tired to blog yest, really. went to a number of places after painstakingly cleaning my apartment yest morning. first abit abt that. had to vacuum e place, inc the area under the carpet. was really terrible cos i had to get rid of the table (on which many things sit) first then the carpet, to get to the floor. also changed my bedsheets :) yay! cleanness! :)

riight then in e afternoon went to e botanical gdns! not bad, huge park w a small castle, lots of trees and all that. comes with explanations too which are usually too long for me :P then went to e city centre.. walked ard and along the Rhein.. until i came to the chocolate museum (aka imhoff-stollwerk-museum)! ahaha then went in to take a look. pretty gd. lots of history of cocoa, its pdtn, how it spread, how it was used.. and there was a production chain right there! n we cud look it e processes, and try e final pdt :P not bad :) went to watch movie after that - mad hot ballroom - a documentary abt a program in new york. free for kids to teach them social dance, in order to like help them find direction/confidence and keep them away fr crime.

thus ends my initially boring but eventually interesting day :)

and today.. had lessons again! qt highly anticipated cos i was gonna get new classmates and a new tchr. got this guy who's pretty interesting but goes too fast for me, and comes too close to us for comfort. plus he likes to write on my paper and his handwriting is bleahh. dont feel so great abt him, miss my prev tchr loads :( bahh. nvm mus get used to it! -nods- new classmates qt nice, they're fr brazil, russia and mali.

ah shall spare u all boring details of the rest of my day. in short, i've got a new bio book in german to read. that shall occupy much of my time i guess :) whee! qt exciting! first word i saw - cell = die Zelle. qt similar! there is hope yet! :) hahaa

forgot to write this - i passed my exam! :D so will be moving on to the next class, A6 :) supposing i take a mth to complete each module, and there are 10 modules in all, i shd finish by march/april. not sure what happens with the christmas break of abt 2 weeks. anyhow, after the course finishes i will be taking the DSH exam, and after that i might be doing praktikum i.e. internship. :) depends on how it goes, i might be done qt early. hmmm. need to find out lots of stuff and plan my yr ahead. :)

saw lots of 2006 calenders and diaries, so pretty! tempting me to buy, and to organise and plan my life a little. well well.

upon consulting my tchr, i concluded tt its almost impossible to find a sports club to join, or to play badminton and table tennis without friends who enjoy it too. she told me the best bet wud be to join a fitness club, or go swimming. neither of which, frankly, i enjoy v much. hmmm. what shd i do? :/ eeks.

roman amphitheatre. where pple used to fight against each other and animals. and pple watched for fun! almost unbelievable. some steps leading downwards u might observe. in fact they lead to underground rooms where tigers and lions were housed, and prisoners were executed. in that way, yes. -shudders-

porta nigra - an old roman gate, again dating fr ages and ages ago. interesting thing abt this is tt no mortar was used to join the stone pieces together. instead bent iron pieces were used to go thru both sides n joint w molten lead or sth. whee! its like a gate to trier. :) qt nice.

roman bridge - the oldest bridge in germany! some sights are not spectacular, i mus admit, but they do make u think abt what things were like many many many yrs ago.

this one is of the Imperial Baths, where pple used to go to bathe and socialise. w hot and cold water facilities too! inside there were open places to bathe and underground tunnel-thingys. not sure what they were for but ahwell :) qt fun to walk ard n explore. hehh.

booo!!! :)

heyy :) am back fr Trier. pretty pleasant trip, tho i suspect i'll suffer fr severe muscle ache tmr after walkin fer sth like 5h tdy. :P hahaa. walked ard with Hadi in the oldest city in germany! :) pretty place, lots of heritage sites and history. enjoy e pics :)

hellos :)

today is, i realised, the end of the 3rd week im in germany! well well, seems like such a long time to me already! almost feel like i know this place damn well like ive lived here forever. been buying more household stuff - multiplug, fotoalbum, socks, headphones, boots - and going to more places to haf lunch n shop. pretty happy but yea need sth to make life more interesting. 1st idea is to learn (yet another) foreign language like french. tried to ask for sponsorship, see if it'll be approved :P am not sure if i shd join some organisations, maybe i need to be more confident abt my german and also find out more abt organisations i can do stuff in.

ah well. will be in a new german class nex monday. changes changes. one of my classmates left for hungary, today was her last day. pretty sad to say bye to her, altho we've only known each other fer 3 weeks its some sort of fate, and it is abt to be lost. ah well.

a pic of the mountain ranges ard. wad else can i say? v peaceful feelin to look ard and see all these. :)

old couple admiring e mountains. i love old couples who show their love for each other by holding hands and all that lovey-dovey mushy stuffs. awww. :) this was one of the stops of the cable car. we had to take 4 separate trips up :)

villages in between mountains - this is qt typical of switzerland. its a country that thrives on tourism. one out of two pple i saw in luzern was a foreigner. in fact, met malaysians up on the mountain. mus say tt they've got the resources and tapping on it well. mountain's nicely equipped w cable cars, trams etc, and hiking routes are superb. v picturesque, no? :)

INTERNET

yoohoo my dearest dearest friends

after struggling for sth like 2 hrs with my comp, the router, and the cables, i haf finally gotten online. wait, did i mention the 2 calls to T-online (which cost me 12 cents per minute and im not sure how long i spoke :S)? yeah, the nice guy helped me get online using the last resort, he mentioned. gd thing abt those calls is tt i practised my german? ermm. -nods-

anyway, I AM ONLINE :D chatting with 3 pple who're now in germany too :P hehhs. my dear friends, talk to me!!!! :D hahahaa. and of cos u all can call me too. i hesitate to publish my numbers here and i cannot recall if i've mailed u all. haf i? i haf now a home number (i can call you all at home at 3.3 cents per minute), a handphone number (i can sms u all at 19 cents per sms), and internet. yayness! oh yes, pls call me anytime, i receive calls for free. do check how much it costs u tho, and ask ur parents fer permission if its too ex :P

ok on to more pics soon.

before i end - mus thank the pple whove been supporting me thru my darkest days (not many fortunately), with smses, calls and comforting words. truly feel qt at home here alr, the initial lonely days are gone! maybe loneliness is jus sth tt one has to get used to.. hmm.

rheinfalls. pardon the crappy picture :) but its beautiful! :D :D :D pity the lousy weather which didnt help the photography.

cows on some meadow against the backdrop of some mountains. and the cows were typically smelly, and had some bells ard their necks! so cute :D

me on top of Mount Titlis, after walkin on ice for some half an hour to reach the end of the road. i look qt frozen apparently, but really was feelin qt gd :) despite the temperature i thot it was pleasantly cool. yayness!

chapel bridge in luzern. lake luzern. very very pretty!! :) plus i was lucky with the weather too :D

23rd October

am actually typing this on the morning of 24th oct :) but yeah! Am safely back fr the trip without any mishaps. Reached zurich on fri 3pm after a 6h long train ride during which I read my (formerly yifan’s) bill bryson’s “In a Sunburnt Country” and laughed like mad. wandered ard a while but found zurich nth spectacular – shd’ve gone for class! :P haha feel so guai :) anw then took a train to luzern. First thing one notices abt switzerland is the exhorbitant cost of everything, esp food. That which we cannot do without :/ cheapest snack I found along streets of zurich was plain crepes, abt S$7. a macs meal costs abt S$16. :( boohoo, everytime I spent I felt so xin1 tong4! Then my aunt’s tour guide said tt a waiter’s starting pay was like 2000+ Franc, and could rise up to 5000+ Franc. Then we all were enlightened. –nods– spent the night chatting w my relatives abt europe mostly. :)

nex morning went to tour luzern. It is most famous for its mountains, of which it has at least 4 that welcomes tourists. Went to Mount Titlis, 3020m high. Took a cable car up which rotates ard its own axis! First in e world! :D hehhs. Then walked ard up there on ice. Its sposed to have lots of glaciers. Anyhow the view fr up there was SUPER!! Lots of ice-/ snow-covered peaks, and green/ orange/ red smaller mountains. And I could see to miles and miles away! Fantastically cool weather too :) shall post some pics soon. :) sad thing abt travelling alone is that e pics frequently consist of lots of scenery & feel pple. Ahhh. At the mountain I met some indians tho, they were really friendly, we walked ard together n had lunch together. 2 of them were working in Qatar, which turns out to be more interesting than what we know – apparently it gets to 50 deg C there frequently, hence the working hrs are as such – 7 or 8am to 12 noon, rest fr 12 to 4pm cos its too hot to work in or outdoors, and 4pm to 8pm. And whenever it rains, the whole city they live in stop working – cos it floods due to lack of a drainage system as it rains so seldomly. I was qt shocked! –nods– oh then I hiked down fr 1800m to 1000m! took 1half hrs! really lovely scenery, fresh air, being alone.. all was quite nice :) hiking alone was actually not bad, can walk at own pace, stop to take photos etc :) ladidums. And now im aching all over, havent been exercising enuf :/

whee! Then went to see “the dying lion of Luzern” monument, which was really sad. And the Bourbaki Panorama was gd too – 110m by 10m of painting abt the Franco-Prussian War. Luzern was much nicer than Zurich indeed! :) dinner cost a cool S$120 at a chinese restaurant for 3 of us. Ahh. My uncle & auntie really v zhao4 gu4 wo3, v touched. They bought me (yet another but one could always have more) sweater, chocs and stuff fr singapore. And paid for my hotel & gave me some pocket money. Turns out that I didn’t spend a cent on this trip apart fr transport, and in fact gained some. Erpsys.

Okayy update more later :D

19th October

nth much to write abt tdy apart fr the fact that I havent spent so long doing homework for a long time, my goodness. From abt 2pm to 5pm I was preparing fer my oral presentation tmr abt CNY (and chatting as well :P) and then after dinner from abt 9 or 9:30pm till now, almost 12 midnight, I’ve been doing homework! I feel so hardworking! :P

realised suddenly that an EDB event is coming up in the 2nd week of Nov in Köln! That means that many many singaporeans are gathering here (abt 30 I should say), including leeting! For those who don’t know, shes the (only) other person fr our batch in Germany, and we were german classmates fer 4 yrs and classmates in sch a year. Yayness! I offered to put her up at my place, prob have to squeeze on one bed but nvm :) shd be nice and cosy. Would haf to see if she’d rather pay to stay at a youth hostel tho :P ahh much to look fwd to!

Weather’s turned cold suddenly tdy, think it was abt 12 deg C at like 3pm :( rained lots too, all thru morning & the early afternoon. Will need to get winter wear soon, and better shoes that are waterproof! Ahhh! More money spent!

me in front of the garden of the Castle in Bruhl, dont remember the name oops :P haha this is so typically me, taking a pic myself right. whee! but theres a taiwanese here whos abit like me, jus that she also praises her own photos frequently :P

view from halfway up the mountain. lovely lovely region along the Rhein! :)

oldest mountain railway in germany :) so charming, no? :)

me on top of Drachenfels, having a nice icecream while a nice asian lady offered to take a photo for me, seeing that i was alone :) heh. gd weather on e whole but abit too foggy. the view's great nontheless. :)

lovely flowers - my trip to bonn. lots of flowers sold in the market square, this is but one of the stalls.

17th October

okay accomplished super a lot of things today, in my humble opinion :P think I feel this way especially because somehow in super-efficient Germany, the telecom shops and travelcentres make pple wait damn long, like 15 – 30 mins, which can get quite unbearable esp if ure carrying a load (like ur laptop bleahhs)

and so today I signed up for CountrySelect with my home phone, and I pay €1 per mth and call Singapore for 3.3 cents per min! das heisst (i.e.) it is comparable to phonecards, and much more convenient! :D cheers! Am so lookin fwd to getting my fone and internet connection :) whee! Then went to a bookshop & got my “europe on a shoestring” (lonely planet’s) fer €25 which I think is really gd! Has all the countries even the newly opened up eastern european ones, which are sposedly great fer budget travellers cos its really cheap! And morroco even! Hahaa :D yayness! Shall devote some time reading it everyday. Hmm what else, oh yes, went to get my Bahncard 50 + RailPLUS, which cost €100 + €15 – allows me to travel on half price everywhere in Germany, Austria & Switzerland, and three-quarter-price everywhere else in Europe, on train. Yups, think it’s a pretty gd investment, esp when after that I went to buy tickets to Zurich. Here goes my plan fer the coming weekend:

fri morning, take train fr Köln Hbf (Hauptbahnhof, main train station) to Zurich, will take abt 6hrs. it cost me €34 (+€3 for a sitting place). it’s an Angebot, a special promotion. Yupps, then reach Zurich at 2+, explore, at night stay at a youth hostel, which will set me back by sth like €20. next morning take train to Lucerne, which will cost sth like €10 I think, then explore explore. Meet my relatives sometime, stay overnight at their hotelrm probably. Next morning, spend more time with them, by noontime they shd be on their way to Zurich to catch their flight back to Sgp. Meanwhile I’ll try to hitch a ride :P if not I’ll take a train back to Zurich, then back to Köln and I’ll reach Köln at abt 9pm. The trip baq costs €54.90 (+€3 for a sitting place, otherwise I stand for 6h which is damn sad), cos no more seats on offer cos I booked too late :( such a huge diff lah, this is a lesson for me man!! Must book early!! BAH. Ok shant let that spoil my gd mood :) yayness to seeing relatives!!! :D in total wud haf spent sth like €170 or sth plus all the food. What does not help, is that Switzerland is one of the most luxurious (read: expensive) places in Europe, along with the Scandinavian countries.

Yayness :) lots of money spent, gotta watch my finances abit. This mth I guess I still haf the excuse of “settling in” and all that, so I can perhaps be abit less strict with myself, but in e following mths I will try to be more thrifty. –nods– one way which helps is to book tickets far in advance. Will remember that!!! :) anyhow, cookin jus now was nice I guess, but after the tomato + egg experiment, I realised I prefered pure egg to that, and lots of tomato is not really my cup of tea. Been faithfully taking pics of my dinners and cooked meals, so that I can track my progress in cooking :)

Oh forgot to talk abt lunch :D had lunch w my australian classmate (she happens to be like twice to three times my age) which was qt nice. We were sposed to write a Restaurantkritik for class, so she asked me to join her in 2 meals then it wudnt be so boring (as eating alone is) so I gladly agreed :) not bad, italian Ciazone (a pizza sort of folded together so that the toppings remain hot, I nvr knew it existed!) for €7 and coffee for €1.50 – good price for a restaurant. Bad news is, mineral water cost me €2 which is outrageous if u compare to Singapore, where u get served water immediately once u’re seated – do treasure that. So :) pretty gd lunch nonetheless, and speaking english is such a joy :P hahaa. Anyhow I realised I haf few opportunities to speak german, mus think of sth! And I swear im gonna join redcross tmr, I haf nth on yet in the afternoon! YAYNESS :)

Oh yeah had dinner last night with Singaporean seniors, 2 Gabunese & a Chinese. Not turkish food unfortunately, but traditionally German food! At a Brauhaus (a brewery, but actually just a chain of very traditional german restaurants), where pple drink lots of beer, talk loudly, smoke (sometimes) and enjoy v gd german food. I didn’t try the Schweinhaxe which is famous, it’s the pork knuckle, cos I don’t really enjoy meat. My friends had it, 2 girls couldn’t finish one! Try imagining sth 25cm by 15cm (breadth) by 10cm (height). Its just huge lahh. Not bad, singaporeans gave gd advice as usual, then we went separately for coffee, just the singaporeans :) lovely lovely. So nice to speak in Singaporean-accented English lahh :D

Okay tts all fer tonight :) new readers of my blog, WELCOME! And everyone in Singapore (and UK), do take care, will be keeping in more contact with you all once I get my internet :)

18th October

ARGHHHH. Ok I just tried to install the software for my DSL in germany and guess what, I get some message that says my computer’s language or sth is is not German so I cant install. And I tried to change all the language configurations I could in the comp but it still wouldn’t work. Then tried calling e hotline which is sposed to be €0.12 per minute, but within 5 mins the €3.67 or sth in my prepaid card DIED. I am so sad lah, think €0.12 is for home numbers while for mobile numbers it is much more expensive. Very sadd :( boo. Anyways the thing is that I still havent got it installed. So will prob bring my laptop down to the shop to get help. Am praying they’ll be able to help me.

Otherwise yeah, today was not a bad day. School was as usual gd, but but but I couldn’t get onto the wireless tdy, no idea why, would have to try again tmr and see if it works. Then had lunch with australian classmate again at a chinese restaurant! Shall be writing a resturant-critique of it tonight, later I hope. Was gd, tho they got the order wrong. I had fried rice and my classmate Miriam a rice with tofu & veg. Rather gd. :) got to see a menu in Chinese as well, yayness! Hahaa. Then went to use the net, call my relatives in Switzerland (super cheap!) and then tried looking for the laundry shop. Sadly couldn’t find it, shall ask for more instructions. Oh yeah in btwn went to get more chinese grocceries like cai4 xin1 which I cooked tonight which tasted great! :P and MILO yayness :) and some peanut cookies we eat during CNY. Thot it’d be useful for my presentation which I’m sposed to be making on CNY on thurs, then can let them try when I’m introducing this new yr goodie :) whee!

Today when reading bun’s blog I was thinking abt choices we make that lead us to such different paths. May be very duhh, but I think much of the time we decide based on very short-term considerations and then only discover a lot of stuff we overlooked along the way. I mean, I find the fact that I’m living the life I’m living now (and in the future many years) a very, I don’t know, interesting combination of factors, coincidences and what nots. And sometimes I think abt the what-ifs, and how differently things make turn out. Ah well :) no point spending time thinking abt that huh.

Okay shall go and do homework. Qt a lot of stuff to do and I shd really spend more time on homework :/ erpps. And spend some time preparing for my (short) trip to Switzerland as well :) Tschüss! :)

booooo

argh this stupid comp cant read my thumbdrive!! whinneee. the point is that i haf long entries typed in my thumbdrive and it cant be detected or sth. this computer is too old. no wonder its so cheap! only 80 cents per hour lahhs. bahh.

ok anyhow the main point is that im going to the swiss on friday morning and back on sunday night. wish me luck and much fun! hehhs. will try to take many many pictures :D i love travelling!! altho travelling alone is abit sad.. ohwells :) not much other updates tt are v impt, so u all take care!

looong entry coming up :P typed at home. hehhs.

14th October

After a 3-day break in long-diary-like-entries, I’ve decided to start again! :D hehhs. Just enjoyed a great meal, one of my best attempts at cooking to date. Basically I cooked si4 ji4 dou4 with xiang1 gu1, fried potato slices, and fried egg. The beans didn’t turn out too bad, quite cooked and tasty, and the egg was as usual well done (thanks to the non-stick pan more than to me). Potatoes were prepared by boiling first for 20 mins so that the skin was easier to remove. Indeed it is true (thanks yang for gd advice!) and then I sliced them. Sadly my knife-skills left much to be desired, and the slices were abit too thick. Then put oil in the pan, and fried them. Sadly, I think initially I put too little oil and cooked not long enough, and at the end too much oil. Erps :) nvm lah huh, first-timer that I am. Whee! And rice, after being left at ‘kept warm’ for almost an hour, with much less water as well, turned out better than the past few days!
Sorry for the long para abt cooking, for those uninterested or who don’t have to cook, well.. it’s new to me! So naturally I feel pretty excited especially when the food turned out decent :P ladidums, and a cup of milo sits in front of me while I type this :D

Anyway, the past few days have been good, better than the first few, I guess :) let’s see. On wed I went to the Dom. Forgot to bring my camera, that must be the stupidest thing I’ve done since I got here. It’s as beautiful as I remembered it from 2 yrs ago, and the tour guide was really gd too. Lots of history and religious relevance behind the cathedral (it is said that the 3 Kings’ relics are there), and it used to be one place pple make pilgramages to! Well well. Then climbed up the Dom, and the magnificent view made the 509-step climb worthwhile. It’s I think 300 feet or so high, took maybe half an hour to get up there.

Yesterday was Thursday? Yepps. Went to the Uni Mensa (aka cafeteria) to lunch. For €2.15 I got a pork-sth (I have no idea what it was) and super a lot of potato wedges. The whole thing is like twice to thrice the size of what you get in s’pore. When the Mensa closed, I finished only abt half, and couldn’t eat anymore. Scary huh. No wonder the pple here are big in size!

Subsequently went to apply fer my internet, house-phone and handphone lines. Not much of a hassle, and so the house-phone will be activated on 20th oct, internet 21st oct, and handphone is alr activated! Cheers :D calling’s expensive here, but I think I wont be using tt much anw so nvm :) whee!

Tdy went to the Max Ernst Museum. He is a painter/ sculptor/ artist who lived in the 20th century in Germany – France – USA. Think the art was gd, but I didn’t know how to appreciate it much. Pity eh? Hmm, enjoyed myself nonetheless, and learnt something abt art, his style, his ideas.

Hmm apart from stuff I did, the last 3 days represented getting to know pple :) its really nice and interesting to talk to pple fr different places. Let me try to recall e pple I’ve gotten to know :D firstly, there’re the Taiwanese. 4 of them here for abt a yr, and they’re really chatty and speak mandarin so yay! A Chinese from guang3 zhou1 is here aswell. There’s a Jap whos gonna study music (piano esp) here. A French who’s on a 2-week intensive course. An American who came here cos of her german boyfriend. Another American here on a programme to learn german and gain job experience. An Ethiopian who wants to study here.

And these pple tell me abt their countries. Tdy found out that Ethiopia is situated near the Horn of Africa, has 71 native languages if I didn’t hear wrongly, and also learn English in sch. English is taught fr 1st grade, and fr the 7th grade it is the medium of instruction. Their climate consists of 2 periods – wet period and dry period. Their temperatures range fr like 5 – 27 degC. Quite interesting, no? and he speaks gd english! Call me ignorant, but I was under the impression tt africa is not v advanced or modern, in terms of education. But what I learnt today, coupled w the fact tt there are pple fr Mali, Gabon (many!) and other African countries here, tells me that, yeah the literacy rate may not be high, education may not be widespread, but these countries are making progress.

On wed afternoon also went with some of them to a pub to drink some beer. It’s pretty normal here, even in the afternoon, to drink beer. Sitting outdoors enjoying the sun, wind and watching pple go by can be qt enjoyable :) drank some Kölsch, which turned out to be light and nice. And no, not pressured to drink, the jap in fact ordered an apply juice, but Kölsch is the beer of Köln, so mus at least try b4 I leave here huh? :)

Listening to mp3s now, and it so reminds me of home! But yeah, am feeling that I will indeed learn something from this experience – indeed I am learning how to manage my life, manage my time better, and plan ahead. Newest plans include:

1. going to Nürnberg or Switzerland during my Christmas break – would be planning with Leeting my other friend in Germany
2. going to Paris!
3. going to London! York! Cambridge! Oxford!

Meanwhile, collected brochures on cultural events in Köln :P shall be trying to attend some of the concerts or performances, learn to appreciate different types of culture. Hmmm tomorrow will try to go to Bonn for a day-trip! :) May it work!! :)

15th October

haha it worked! Went to Bonn tdy and had a pretty gd time! :D lets see, woke up at an early at 7 and left the house at 7:20am. Btw did I mention tt german trains come right on time and one has to check e schedule in order not to spend like 10mins waiting. Yups so caught e train, bought ticket to Bonn and hopped onto next train to Bonn. Journey took like 30mins? Yeahh. Very cold and foggy morning :( reached too early, so walked ard old-city-centre while waiting for tourist info office to open. Decided to skip all e museums since I prob wud be bored anyway, apart fr the Beethovenhouse :) its like the whole tourist industry of Bonn depends on Beethoven being born there, so cudnt give it a miss. Quite nice! Saw a 3D depiction of one of his operas, heard some music, saw some original manuscripts & music scores, and some musical instruments he used etc.

then decided to take a cruise down river Rhine (or Rhein auf Deutsch) to a town called Königswinter, which is at the foot of this mountain called Drachenfels. It also happens to be one of the "7 mountains" or Siebengebirge, tt lines the most scenic part of the Rhine. So enjoyed a 45min cruise, very shu1 fu2 feeling, better weather, nice scenery. :D at Königswinter I took a tram up the mountain (not that high actually), a very old and quaint looking tram. :) hmm then took many many pics up there. Pity the lousy visibility otherwise it wud look much better than it does. –nods– and walked down! On the way saw the pretty-famous Drachenburg (castle), so went in to take a look. Quite nice and big compound! Gd for strolling and dog-walking and scenery-enjoying. And weather just got better and better! :D yayness! Then came down and read while I waited for the cruise, went back to Bonn on cruise, and back to Köln on train. All in all a pretty relaxing and calm day. :)

and had a gd time cooking again! Simple stuff, I must admit, but little satisfactions can be gained fr these experiments when they succeed. Tdy did xiao3 bai2 (I realised they arent really xiao3 bai2 but shang4 hai3 qing1, its kinda different, the stalk is fatter & smoother) and chicken nuggets! Used my non-stick pan to fry, turned out qt gd I guess. And the veg just gets better! I realised that – I need to use more oil, I need to rmb to add sesame oil, and fry it longer so it becomes softer :) yayness! :D enjoyed my dinner. Actually wanted to cook some chicken, but the 2 thighs I bought got stuck together after I put it in the freezer. Couldn’t thaw it quickly so gave up, and put it in the non-freezer compartment hopefully it’ll thaw. Hmmm dunno whats the right way :( bleahs. Anyway will get more adventurous wrt food, think variety is gd too :D
Apology here to 78 pple – I received yang’s SMSes and in fact I replied (wonder if you got it) using my german number. Was out and couldn’t find an internet café near the city centre, then found out too exp, and then no time. Erps. Paiseh! Hope you all had a gd qing4 gong1 yan4 with steamboat!!

Shoutout to steph, fid, chow, ryan, yang – who have been frequently messaging me and updating me on stuff happening at home. Bad news is that replying an SMS thru my singtel hi-card costs $1.50 each, so I’m very sorry I cant afford to reply you guys! When I get my internet connection you can be sure that at least when I reach home I will definitely reply.
Okay think I shall sleep soon :P last night slept only like 6 and a half hours, so feeling tired today. Hurhur, and I think I shall leave showering and erm washing dishes, revising german etc. until tomorrow! Hahaha :)

16th October

whee! Had a super day by chance. Lets see. Basically it started off very normal, with me waking up at an early time of 8+ (apparently on Sundays germans sleep till 11 normally), and then deciding to go out to jog since the weather was still nice & warm. So jog jog jog, and then stumbled upon this path into which there are nice fields & apartments on one side. Went in, and guess who I met? The chinese whom I met a few days b4! He was at the playground w his son, so I said hi, and after jogging further, came back to talk to them. I asked him where I could play badminton & table tennis.. and then he said, his family plays! Whee :D so he invited me to play with them/ him (the son cant really play, he’s only 4) so I agreed! :D then spent like an hour playing table tennis and badminton with him/ his son hurhur. Whee. Nice env where he stays. Apparently they are rented apartments, and its like a small community, with a common playground and field (and sometimes table tennis tables :P) for a few blocks. The blocks tho, are only 5 stories high. So that concludes a great morning! :)

came back to cook lunch, yummy yummy though I suspect oily and unhealthy :P hahaa fried potato strips (aka tried to make fries), fried chicken (didn’t really know how to cut the thigh, next time will buy breast meat) and da4 bai2 cai4. yayness! Qt tasty (cos I’m qt sui2 bian4 and I like bland stuff :P) so yayyy :D

shall be meeting senior Jialin and maybe a few others for dinner later :D yayness! Talking in Singlish suddenly seems v appealling, and I think she’ll be bringing me to try some affordable turkish food! Yayness! :D need to ask her a couple of things – what is the cheapest way to travel, where she does her laundry (yes I regret to say that the past 10 days worth of clothes are still piled up at home, tho not a huge pile as I don’t wear a new set everyday), where she gets cheap lunch, what she does with her free time.. blahblah :)

hello pple :) got my internet connection (activated 21 oct), phone line (activated 20 oct) and handphone (activated yest! cos its a hi-card) yesterday :) :) like finally! after so much searching and walking ard, i finally decided on the ex plan which was easiest to apply for. some cheaper ones dun haf shops here, or like anywhere. weird but.. ohwell :) i got internet!! cheers!! :) after sch will be visiting max ernst museum. its an art museum, hopefully i erm learn to appreciate art better? btw max ernst is the painter :P ladidums! new things to do:

1. find out when my hols are.
2. find out what the cheapest budget airlines are.
3. plan visits!! :D :D

hey :) everythings more or less settled now, gonna apply for internet, house phone and handphone line later. will be using a prepaid card, on seniors' advice that it is the cheapest. been going for lessons, doing my homework, cooking (i suppose im getting bettet at it..) and life is muchly boring. more updates when i haf inspiration :)

11th October

Boo :D hehh today was a great day! The big event (of sorts) that occurred tdy was that I found out that there was a wireless network in my school building! How cool is that!? :) heh so I can actually bring my laptop to sch and use it everyday :) :) but okay lah before that I had lessons as usual. Schedule is like that – 0845 – 1015, break, 1035 – 1205, break, 1215 – 1300. That adds up to 3h 45mins of lessons! Wow huh. And mostly I don’t even feel sleepy or disinterested. Probably cos I cannot afford to, or I will just lose track of what’s going on, and the class is too small for me to sleep inconspicuously. Anyhow, today’s theme was family! I actually missed much of the fun activity cos I went to register at the town hall and did my visa and applied for my bank account. More on that later :) anyway I found out that the spanish girl was from Mexico actually, and most of her relatives are in Brazil! And the Georgian guy’s mum & stepfather are in Ukraine! So interesting right :) like they come from all over the world, literally. –nods– then blahblah, not so interesting stuff followed.

Oh yes the before-lesson part was interesting. Cos I was talking to the Zivi who brought me around and helped me out. So whats a Zivi yah? Basically in Germany there is compulsory military service as well, 9 mths of that for all males. But the difference is that there is an option of saying – No I don’t want to fight – and one can choice to do social service instead (in German Zivildienst, I think), so one could be sent to home for the handicapped, or kindergarten, or my school (which is sposedly like non-profit and “help people out”) so yah :) Interesting eh? Any comments, my army-going friends? :)

Ok shant talk abt my boring rest-of-the-day, dinner was edible, plus I bought a chicken nugget burger (for €0.99) so that I would have some meat hurhur. Yeahhs. Homework to be done, much to catch up on. That shall be done later.

Right, I figured that I shouldn’t spend my days like this, end lessons, stay in CDC to chat or surf net, come home at ard 7pm, that’s quite meaningless, no? I should look for some interesting or meaningful (or both!) things to do. This is my new things to do list :)

1. join the Red Cross (Deutsche Rote Kreuz!)
2. learn music? – I wonder if there are music schs like in Singapore, and if I can borrow instruments so I can practise at home. Probably I’d continue learning the violin. Or alternatively, I could ask if any of my classmates are super at the violin and learn from them! Hmmms.
3. join a sports club – table tennis? Badminton? Oder was? Netball? Are these sports played here, indoors probably? Hmmms, more to find out.

10th October

Just finished my dinner! Been having dinner later, probably cos I keep on only realising its dinnertime at 7, and by the time I cook its alr 8. anyhow, it was a great dinner! Cooked xiao bai cai, fried an egg which turned out great! and cooked rice (with xiang gu and da bai cai). Its so chinese, so singaporean that I felt so warm inside eating it. :) especially after lunch’s horrigible pork and potato that I cudnt bear to finish. –nods–

Okay from the start – basically I got up bright and early, went to school and attended class. My class had 9 pple = me, a british 30-something-with-2-kids-and-halfgerman-wife John, an australian Uni lecturer who quit and came to germany (I havent found out why), a greek doctor, a hungarian 21yrold girl whos here to do her masters I think, a georgian guy who wants to study art and spends lessontime doodling (extremely artistically) on his paper, a spanish girl who seems rather pre-occupied, a japanese guy whos sposedly great at soccer (and is gonna attend the sports high school in Köln, also the only one in the whole of germany), and a mali-ese girl whom I havent met yet. Sounds exciting huh, so much so that I spent the entire above para just describing them!

Unfortunately.. (yes there has to be an unfortunately), I think im the worse in german in class! Some of these people seem to speak with such a comfortable accent, its as if they’re from germany! Anyhow think I can work hard and catch up so time to mug later :P got homework to do too hehhs. Almost forgot the feeling of studying alr! My latest resolution is to read the dictionary (and maybe memorise it too :P) haha lets see how long it can last. Whee!

Okay after sch I did a few things. Basically I had the horrigible and expensive lunch, the good thing being that I sat with a taiwanese and heard and spoke chinese again. yayness! And after that I went to get stamps (€1.55 for a letter to singapore, super ex!) and got 10 of them. Then went to telecomm shop to find out abt internet and phone charges here. Seems to be pretty ex, or maybe the guy was just recommending the most ex choices. Shall go ask my CDC (language centre) caretaker tmr :) cant wait to get internet!

Anyway I signed up for a museum tour on Friday yayyys. And tmr im going to (finally) register with the city authorities and foreigners-authorities, so I can finally get internet phone and bank account! Very impt, that last one. :P turns out that I get €800 instead of €750 a month, cos I get also €50 as “cultural fund” – i.e. money spent to get to know the german culture. I.e. watching movies? Going to pubs? :P hahaha.

Okay time to mug (after clearing up after my meal bleah that’s the sucky part but after redcross training it is possible! Yes!) more updates tmr and onwards :) also hope to be sending out a letter tmr or the day after! :) you guys take care!! –HUGS–

my kitchen! very small one but almost got everything la. nth much to comment abt :) got this milk thingy, its like pple in germany drink lots of milk and buy milk by placing their milk bottle (the yellow one) at the doorstep.. in the past. yep.

this is my apartment or room! qt nice, abit small for my many many things.. but really qt gd :) bad news - sports channel does NOT work bahh. and cooking area is too small i need more spaceeee. to the right is the wardrobe. left is table as u al can tell :)

red leaves! lovely reminder of autumn, that welcomes pple into the tram station. all the stations near my house are this pretty! yupp. everyone here takes e tram anyway, its cheap n fast :) there are like 150 stations, i counted :P and like 20 lines. whee.

house opposite. my house looks sth like that but much smaller. nice place eh? now the weather is superb, can walk abt in the day with jus a normal top, plus a sweater if ure afraid of cold. nice sunshine too!

more updates, extra detailed again since i haf nth better to do at home than to write this :P

8th October

well well woke up early at 7am, then went to make myself breakfast – fried egg and hot milo. Tasted quite good apart fr the fact that it wasn’t salty enough, cos I didn’t bring soya sauce :/ ahh then left the house in search of an asian supermarket. Asked my host last night where it was and she mentioned some place, so I went there this morning. Unfortunately it looked like orchard road there, and I was too early, nth was open yet, and it was super cold this morning! I underestimated the winds bleah. Then walked ard and finally decided I would go again another day, and came back to the internet café I was at yest. Cheers, it was open! So used the net :) I so need the internet man!! Fastly fastly arrange for me, CDC pple! Hmmm right so after using e net went grocceries shopping, got myself cabbage, rice (dunno what kind, dunno nice not), sugar, no soyasauce!!, hot water flask, toilet paper, tissue paper, oil.. something like that. Qt nice, met a nice couple there who gave me a token to use to get the trolley cos I didn’t have a coin of the right denomination. Yupppps, cooked my first meal. The cabbage is hard and undercooked, and the rice tastes different from that found in Singapore. Oh well :/

what next? Right, it was about then that I felt muchly homesick. Arghh must quickly get over this otherwise I will be spending precious time doing nothing but thinking about how miserable my life is. Then again, once I get my internet and phone line, I should think this would be less of a problem, no?

after that I decided, yeah, best way to counter homesickness is to go on the internet and talk to friends! So I took the tram to the trusty internet café, and used for another like an hour and a half. Then went off to look for stamps! Didn’t find them unfortunately but found a sports club thingy, that screens soccer matches! So bought myself a drink (I think if I go again in the future I shall jus not buy anything :P) and watched Eng-Aust. Was good to watch soccer again after a long time not watching. I thot Aust was gd! But unlucky and the strikers just couldn’t find the target. Pity.

Came home after that and decided that I was sleepy, so wanted to take a nap. That was abt 8pm and I havent had dinner even! But nap turned out to last for 11 whole hours, woke up at 7 this morning. Weird, I seem to be very tired though I havent been doing much.

9th October

Right, so I woke up bright and early this morning, and decided to take a jog! Cos yeah, it would be gd to get fit plus I had nth else better to do, apart from unpacking and arranging my stuff. Am experiencing some inertia doing that, cos I find that I don’t have enuf space nor containers or shelves to hold my stuff. Don’t think I shd change how the room looks so I just hafta figure out sth I guess. –nods– anyway thanks to you guys for always messaging me, its really really helpful in making me feel better abt everything. Big hug to you all! Meanwhile, impt news of the day – pls send me stuff at my house address, not the language centre one! That is, Neufelderstrasse 26, 51067 Köln, Federal Republic of Germany. That way, I shd get it quicker. :) Thanks :) Will try to write back but its so freakin ex lah, €1.55 per letter. BAH. K its 9.40am now, shall start unpacking. :)

Whee :) its 6:40pm and I’m home! Cooked myself a meal after unpacking most of the stuff. Meal consisted of four-seasons-beans and egg cooked with the beans. Turned out qt good despite the beans bean slightly undercooked. Good as in edible lah, could be much better I guess. These few yrs shall allow me to improve majorly on my cooking man. From nothing to something, that is always an improvement hurhur. Then went out to walkwalk. Discovered I’d lost my beloved thumbdrive, so went to get another one. But before tt I saw a bkshop so went in. saw lovely lovely travel guides so bought one of germany (its in english yay!) and it was ex, like 25 euro. But the cheaper ones didn’t look that good (cheap as in like 7 euro, 17 euro..) so quite pleased with my purchase still :) then went internet-ing again. Don’t my days sound the same? Internet, walkwalk, internet, eat. Ah that shall change tmr lah :) finally gonna hit the books, learn german and make new friends. I am so looking forward to some meaningful activity mann.

Anyway then I went to a chinese takeaway café thingy, where I got fried rice for 5 euro. If u convert to sing its really exorbitant but then again, I am desperate (not to eat my own food, and not to eat disgusting rice) so I paid for it pretty happily. I guess if u don’t convert it wasn’t ex lah. –nods– anyway it was a humongous plate, cudnt finish half of it so da-bao-ed it home :P hehee. In all a pretty gd day I would say.

Special thanks to yang and ryan for particularly comforting SMSes. To chow as well, for messaging so very often-ly. Hope that all of you back home are good and happy, I think tmr will be a better day for me too! :)

Shall write down a list of things to do in the near and not-so-near future:

register with authorities so I can get internet and phoneline!
get internet and phoneline!! :)
find the asian supermarket and get the lovely thai fragrant rice
find a laundry shop near my place!
apply for a bahncard so that I can travel cheaper ard germany (+ europe?)

not so urgent stuffs:

figure out which unis I may consider and go touring at these places to find out more abt the unis and the town/city.
read my neww travelguide and decide where in germany to visit
rob a european travelguide and decide where in europe I want to visit :P

anywayys. I realised tt this is a challenge for me. This whole thing. I’ve been living in comfort all my life, its time for me to try doing things alone, starting all over again, without the presence and support of my friends. Yes I know you’re still there but just not immediately within reach. –nods– yupps must try to combat loneliness! Try harder! :)

ok super long post below, typed at home and posted at internet cafe. enjoy! or dun read if its too long and luo suo :P

6th october

arrived safely in Köln after a long journey. Felt very gd on the plane – in fact 13 hrs didn’t seem like all that long. Probably reading the notes and admiring the gifts helped me kill some time and had a lasting feel-gd effect. Hmmm :) felt very touched by the amount of effort u all put in to do/ write/ get everything, all to reassure me that our friendship is impt, and to help me settle down better here in Köln. Thanks to ryan – for co-ordinating the class gift I think as well as the CD, yang – for the necklace (I dunno what to do with e tattoo erps!), chow – for the frames pictures and cooking stuffs :) I promise I will try them out, fid – for the tablemat (which Im using!) and photothingy, yit – for the huge card (no there was no one in the seat immediately next to me hahaa) lipbalm and tee!, zhen – for the bedsheet (am gonna change it sometime!), steph – for the booklet and CD (omg your voice is booming and saying I’m such an embarrassment to you! And ur german pronunciation is appalling hahaha!)

shall stop awhile to listen to steph torture my ears :P omg so super funny!!!

okay back to detailing my life here. So after I got here, met up with my host family pple – the lady is called Hanni (short for Johanna, I thought Honey erps), the guy’s Willi (short for Wilhelm). Hanni and Willi (pronounce Villee! Not Weellee or Villai hurhur). Anyway so we had lunch, consisting of salad (erps which I don’t like but ate a little anyway), and this yellow thingy. Im sorry no idea what its called :( but it tasted not bad! Especially with their tomato sauce (its squeezed out of a tube, and its more like a paste). Talked to them and it was generally quite comfy. There’s still much we can find out abt each other, maybe we will in time to come. –nods–
after that cleaned up my room, put some stuff in place, I decided to be adventurous! I think it’s a first day thingy – like everything’s fresh and new and exciting you just want to see it all and try it all. So armed with camera, sweater, notebook, dictionary and moneys, I went to the Hauptbahnhof (main station) and got tickets to Aachen. Met a senior Lester there, who brought me to Poon Li’s house. Basically they all study at Aachen’s Fachhochschule (technical university) and meet up for all the major festivals or occasions. It was Poon Li’s birthday so everyone gathered to celebrate with her. Yups :) had rice and very well cooked chicken (yang: yes I must learn!), and some other stuff which were all spicy so I didn’t try hurhur. Also ate some Auflauf (german food, its like lasagne but creamy and may have like just cabbage instead of pasta? I think.) and tried the cake that this guy Azman made. Very enjoyable in all :) especially nice to hear Singaporean accents, and see Singaporean faces. Was tired though from the travelling and time difference so didn’t talk that much. Plus first time meeting them so not so comfy yet, but it should get better :) anyway they convinced me to stay overnight at her place and take the train back next morning cos it was brighter in the morn and safer, so I agreed :) yay had a gd nights sleep (cos very tired la)

7th October

woke up early and went to the busstop with Poonli who very nicely accompanied me there. Took an early bus, but missed the stop (okay I shd stop thinking I can recognise things after just one glance, and be more enthu abt asking for help –nods–) so missed the train too (cos I had to queue to buy the tickets, didn’t know I cud have used the Automats (automatic machines) with cash too!). in the end reached the language centre late (plus got abit lost there too) by almost an hour. Very bad :( the hour was mostly due to the Aachen-Köln train, which comes every like 30 mins. Bleahhhs.

Okay then met the pple there, took a test, and then happily left at 11 or so. Initially wanted to go to the famous Kölner Dom (cathedral) to sightsee and take pics, so I followed the spires I could see and just walked randomly. Somehow after awhile it disappeared from sight, and what I saw was even better – internet cafes! So I got into one, paid 80 cents for an hour of use (woohoo!) and chatted. Cheers to cheap internet cafes here! :P went off then came home, went groccery shopping in between. Looked super long for eggs, and also got four-season beans. The interesting part was that after paying I realised tt I shdve brought a bag big enough for grocceries – cos in germany its considered env-unfriendly to use plastic bags to contain newly-purchased stuff. So bought a cloth bag instead for 50 cents (plastic bags cost 10cents each), which I will remember to bring everytime I go to the groccer’s. –nods– then came home and cooked a simple meal of maggie mee (fid: on top of your tablemat! Yay!)

Well well. Then went internet café-searching again, after fumbling for like half an hour with the showers – couldn’t get them the right temperature, and the heater was abit cranky. Walked walked walked, asked fer directions, finally found the internet café after asking like 10 pple (I’m tempted to suggest 1million but perhaps not) and getting 10 different answers. So I was just walking around without keeping track of where I was. Anyhow, found one and it was almost as cheap (one buck per hr) so happily used :) I so need my own internet connection! Argghhh. Cured me of homesickness, this session. :) then came home by walking to the nearest train station and getting on the train tt comes home! Yayy. Met a chinese guy too and chatted with him. Turns out he stays near me and has been here for many yrs! Qt heartwarming to meet chinese :) and speak chinese!

Some observations – germans are sticklers for rules! Cos they generally wait at traffic lights even if there aren’t cars, and at where the Strassenbahn track crosses the road, we’re not sposed to cross when a train (better called a tram) is coming, cos its dangerous. Well I did and I heard someone go "tsktsk!" goodness. So I was qt shocked. Learnt my lesson though, wont do it in the future :)

Germans also are very loud. Nobody’s afraid of talking loudly on the trains and trams or on the streets, and are very open with their views (or so I deduce), cos they like to loudly exclaim "ja ja!" meaning yes, or "nein nein!" meaning no, when others say stuff. It just feels like a very open place. People also discuss politics and economics and all that pretty freely (those of working age and above mostly), can tell they are generally a well-informed bunch.

Weather’s been good, very moderate and comfortable. Am wearing HC shorts :P not cold at all especially when all windows are closed. :) superb feeling of always walking in fresh aircon.

Made myself some Milo just now, its really comforting cos it so reminds me of Singapore! Thank goodness I brought it :) Hmm time for me to go to the supermarket really – need to get foodstuff (like soya sauce! Rice!) and other stuff (like more hangers! Detergent!). Must find the Asian supermarket too. :) What else. Yeah Laundry service, here I cant wash clothes! Saddd. Still have to walk out to wash, probably will do it once a week? :)

Anyways my host couple’s out for an interesting literature session they say, at a wine shop. I went along to meet her friend, and I think it was most interesting! That 30 pple would gather in a wine shop to taste some fine wine and discuss abt literature. What are the chances of that happening in Singapore man?! Next to nothing, I’d think.

Did I say already, that my host couple’s going out for 13 days? And I would be home alone! Erps. Door’s got 2 locked though and my room door’s also locked. Don’t feel unsafe at all, its just weird coming home to an empty house. Anyway will have to decide what to do with the weekend. Probably sight see mostly – go to the city centre and walk around and act all touristy again :P

Allright, feel tired now though its only 9:11pm here so I shall go to bed :) more unpacking cleaning and shopping tomorrow! Oh yeah hopefully I stop spending money. Don’t know how much I shd be spending but it seems much. BAH.

xuhan me fuzzy justin

typed some stuff just now but blogger refused to process it. bleahh. in short, i guess this only gathering im having w the councillors - consisting of a grand total of 4 - reflects how few gd friends ive made in council. better few than none i guess. :) and lovely dinner! :D thankew ryan & yangs, fer gd company & useful fruit-&-veg-choosing lesson. :)

yinglu in the middle :) pity she cudnt join us, otherwise we wud haf laughed twice as much. our dear sillybilly loo. :D

hmmm. 4 more days! mus spend them well. lunch w fuzz justin & xuhan tmr, and dinner w class to look forward to tmr :) :) :)

fer the unacquainted - eemin weiqing yiting michelle stephrene zhenni me fidelia

i think e coffeetable arrangement was great :) cozy n can see each other clearly. (not like steph's idea of seeing and observing tho) and altho conversation was unusual to say the least, it was so gd to see u all :) and everybody was still like how i remembered them to be. eemin nth much to say as usual, steph's interesting observations, fifi disgusted, yada yada. yay :) u all are like my childhood friends. pple who watched me grow up. ahhh must continue doing this k. and mus continue celebrating each others bdays ok?!

me and dear fifi :) hehhs. honestly zhen, the angle is NOT artistic, i cudnt figure out which way to put it la. but yay :) bighug to you fid. cheers to our days of worrying abt the unit, dreading swoc, training camps and all the redcross stuff. :)

and the rest. i do not haf decent shots with u all tonight. sad, but we'll take again k!