muse

2012? Bring it on.

2011-12-31T19:43:00.004+08:00

I turned 25yrs 3 months ago, with frankly not much to show for in the past year.

A year is alittle long to be feeling a little lost and disconnected…I take comfort thatthis will not last forever. The upside to this is that in comparison, the newyear is going to be an interesting one (in good way), and one that I will makeresolutions for…something that I haven’t done in years. And different resolutions.

Nottask-oriented ones that I usually make…like read the Bible in a year or pack myroom every 2 week etc. Rather guiding principles that I hope will shape myworldview and who I am. The thought of change use to frighten me, but now...

At thispoint it feels like I’m at a crossroad...whether I want to continue holding onto the same expectations in understanding myself, others and how I’ve looked atthe world, or embrace life from here and now with a more open mind andpossibilities. My Source of strength, hope and faith has not changed…but I don’twant to live life backwards or looking back. While people my age are startingto live out the blueprints of their life they have already planned, it israther refreshing to not know the blueprint of mine, and discover the choicesand what else might be in store in the future, on a regular basis.

Here’s anote to self, on how 2012 will be different:

Be intentional

In the thingsI do, the people I meet and the issues to address. Be purposeful. This callsfor a personal ministry plan, in keeping track of how often I meet who,remembering what has happening in their lives, have an idea of what we shouldbe ‘covering’ when we meet, and be purposeful. If it’s just to be a listeningear, then just listen.

100%

Be presentto the present. So when I’m in something…be there, in both body and mind. If it’straining, put in my all. If it’s time with family, don’t split my attention andstart texting. I am only given my parents for this brief period of time, and Ishould treasure them. Avoid ‘I should have’s! I also have a horrible habit ofnot listening, or being distracted when people are trying to tell me something.Asking people the right questions starts from listening…and then after understanding,connecting the dots (to their life stage, emotion etc.) and then (hopefully)…readingpeople!

Don’t beeverything to everybody, because you can’t. Focus on building your inner man,to be something to some people. What are the building blocks to strengtheningthe inner man? A song comes to mind…”Read the Bible, pray every day…pray everyday. Read the Bible, pray everyday…and you’ll grow, Grow, GROW!” How simple.

Don’t pigeonhole myself. Discover and develop my own likes, dislikes, passion, gut instinctand opinions. I tend to fold others’ advice/opinions and adopt them as my own. Takethem as reference and consideration and from now on, formulate my own first.

A mistake, is a mistake

But that’s life.Don’t be afraid to make a decision, worrying if it is a mistake. At least makeit and move on from it.

Live life face-forward

“Life canonly be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” – Soren Kierkegaard,Danish philosopher (1813 - 1855). Let the past remain behind me, and live lifeface-forward…facing and not shying away from what may come my way. Whatever itis…I do not have to fear or worry it, for I know Who leads me.

Highlight of SUO '11

2011-09-21T10:33:00.003+08:00

epic

A Short Prayer

2011-08-16T15:18:00.002+08:00

LORD, nothing is going to happen to me today that You and I together can't handle.

2010-07-08T18:42:00.001+08:00

Missed an opportunity to share Christ today...my loss, what a loss.

Need to make it a point to carry a tract with me.

Seattle

2009-09-08T17:33:00.020+08:00

Sunday 23 Aug 09

First time on Eva Air - I didn't know what to expect, so had pretty low expectations. Overall the experience was pretty good! The Taiwanese air stewardesses were quite pretty too - a few looked like Taiwanese actresses heh. Thankfully I had good seats on the way there - especially for the long haul (11 hour stretch from Taoyuan to Seattle) - where I could half-stretch my leg out on the side compartment.

~ SIN - TPE: 4hrs 35min ~

~ TPE wait time: 5hr 15min ~

DFS in Taoyuan Airport - LA MER? *snigger*

Had plenty of time in Taoyuan before my connecting flight to Seattle, so I walked around the airport and explored every inch of it. Even found a free massage chair (rather painful though) and tried out iGallop at a pharmacy. Spent the remainder of my time on MSN chatting with people back in Singapore (I love my ipod touch for reasons like this).

~ TPE - SEA: 11hrs ~

After waiting a while for my brother's flight - we got picked up at Seattle Airport!

After settling into Rach's friends' apartment (John & Jo-ae) where we would be staying the night, we set out to look for some food and settled on Dominos. Wasn't our first choice (we got kicked out of the pub/bar cos Rach & Aaron didn't bring their id!) but the pizza was GOOD. John & Jo-ae's apartment was so lovely & the hosts were extremely hospitable - pity I didn't think of taking pictures at their place!

Monday 24 Aug 09

After sleeping in some, out for some good dim-sum!

Rach & Jason had to do some planning, so Kor & I scuttled out of their way and preoccupied ourselves with the Pike Place market.

Fresh blueberries that we thought we could keep for Mum & Dad when they arrived later that evening...but we finished the whole box! :p

Had a nice time catching up with Kor, eating blueberries, trying to hit pigeons, relaxing by the pier & doing some suntanning :)

Flowers Rach & Jason bought for John & Jo-ae!

(notice the leaf in Aaron's nose hehe)

We picked Mum & Dad from the airport early, dropped off their stuff at the hotel and arranged to have dinner together at Alki, a seafood place across the sea from downtown Seattle.

The crew! (minus Aaron)

After dinner Rach & Jason drove back to Burlington while we stayed the night at Seattle Pacific Hotel, resting up for the next day at Pike Place market.

Tuesday 25 Aug 09

The space needle from afar.

The 2 'pig's in front of THE pig!

A cool take-away sandwich stand.

Back to Pike Place Market!

Ugly fish.

So fresh so fresh.

There's tons to see and do just in Seattle downtown itself (like the underground sewer walk or the legendary duck tours), but we decided to stick to just have a relaxing day at the market. Best decision; hassle & stress-free. We took in the sights & smells @_@ of the market, and chanced upon a clam chowder cafe which was delicious. We had a lovely lunch with a great view of the pier. We had to try to dungeness crab of course; the meat was unbelievably sweet (they must have added smtg @_@) & the shell so soft and easy to break through. I don't know why I didn't take pictures...too busy eating I suppose. Topped with tea/coffee at the Crumpet Shoppe & buying enough fruits to last us for 2 weeks :) I love markets.

Dad in the foreground...leaving the market in the late afternoon.

2009-08-10T00:21:00.002+08:00

I can finally burst my (literal) bloody blister.

2009-07-16T15:10:00.001+08:00

Saw this on http://www.adverblog.com/

"Very cool use of webcams and of interaction with consumers/fans. For the Sour's 'Hibi no Neiro" the cast was selected from the actual Sour fan base, from many countries around the world. Each person and scene was filmed purely via webcam."

Brilliant :)

Commencement '09

2009-07-13T01:42:00.003+08:00

Wanted to preserve the pretty flowers in pictures!

Thanks mum :)

Job interview

2009-07-04T23:05:00.003+08:00

1. Issues Management

Not too bad - haven't been oiling my writing skills so it took me a little while to warm up.

2. Press Release Writing

Got the engine running so it went smoothly.

3. Media Pitch

This would have been fun if I had more than 5minutes left to do this :/

4. Translation: Chinese to English

Aaaaaaaaand this is the point where I gave up @_@

NDP (Rehearsal 3) 2009

2009-07-04T22:21:00.037+08:00

There was YF breakout before this...only went for an hour - it looked fuuuun. Pity I couldn't stay and join in on it! Super impressed with the simple but nice decor around the palm trees :) The group did a good job :) *thumbs up*

Fighting our way through the crowds to collect our funpack

Mummy in the crowd

Collection of funpacks

I thought you wouldn't be able to choose the colour of your bag, but people just jam their way in and pick whatever they want on the table. Quite hectic in a lot of ways - It would be a lot more organised if people don't get to choose what they want and just be given a random bag and be shoved along. People linger to choose or to wait for a colour they want to be replenished on the table. Aside from the overly bright and bold colours (which I suspect was the point) of the bags, I really like it that it can be a tote bag :) It looks pretty decent - I must say they did a good job on the design...such that the tote didn't look like a disfigured version of a messenger bag :p

Being herded along up the stairs to the seating area. Completely elderly-UNfriendly. Some of the elderly folk were struggling up the staircase amidst the humid and muggy crowd.

Finally - an opening.

Red Lions!...?

The descent -

I really like this shot :)

Very impressive, exciting and smooth landings!

Fighter Planes

Choir!

I think this was the part where Sang Nila Utamah had to do a forced landing on Temasek because of stormy weather.

I liked how they introduced the SAF - they showed this urgent news report (by Cheryl Fox) on a explosion that happened at Marina Bay, and all the forces came in to show off their equipment, skills and military might.

This is police chasing bad people by boat. Quite interesting to watch - they shot flares at the 'baddies' instead of real bullets (of course) so you could see the action. I wonder if the flares ever accidently landed into the boat before :p

Ooh must ask jm what's this called...the one that can suddenly 'jam brake' and change directions! It sprayed lots of water much to the people's (sitting at the merlion) delight.

Taking off.

The bit where they show off their military might.

Be afraid...be very afraid.

'Raiding' the audience.

Mum made a interesting observation - 8 out of 10 of them were wearing glasses. Aiyoh.

Parade

The area where I was staring at for a bit...until jm told me he was in the control room @_@ How embarrassing. People were wondering why I was turning around to take pictures when the action was in front.

Just learnt from chubbie that they have a back up contingency - a separate chopper with another flag...flying around somewhere in the West in case anything happens to this one. Pretty impressed - kiasu, but well-prepared.

Live firing from the river.

Distracted by the clouds and rays from the setting sun.

I like.

I like I like.

Mum with her heart.

Sampan? The puppets freak me out.

One of the things I really like about this year's NDP - this boxy thing, one on each side of the stage. At first glance it looks like a screen, but noooo - there are REAL people inside. I like. Mum counted - 56 on each side, 112 in total. So many people!

This. Is. Hilarious.

I think they haven't finished making all the space costumes, and just put a box over their heads.

My heart against the backdrop of the stage.

Simulated 'Electrico'.

The stand-in guy looked like he was having fun strumming the placard and singing to the words.

Finale!

And guess who I saw - Yvonne Lieeeeewwww :D with her mum too! heh always nice to see a familiar face...an ever-mischievous one at that.

I like this year's NDP - it was much simpler and unified in theme and had a smooth flow to it...yeah sure, it had the usual cheesy stuff like - what do you treasure, what does Singapore mean to you etc etc. But on the whole the show was pretty candid, less scripted and natural. There was only one display float - which was good. Don't like the many-floats-not-worth-the-effort-super-messy-and-logistically-crazy stuff. I think previous years there was 'a lot going on' and it looked like organisers were trying very hard...maybe too hard. This year had a simple concept with the usual crowd pleasers (formations, lots of action & colourful costumes), interjected with cute story lines and heartwarming excerpts.

My top 3 favourite things:

1. "When I grow up" segment

Super-duper cute kids talking about their aspiration, with excellent creatives in doodling out their dream aspiration as the kids themselves act it out :) One boy said, "I want to be a PSP-helper...*slumps back in chair sheepishly* and help people play PSP." Too cute :D

2. Song mix

Found myself tapping to the song choices as they did a flashback...I like how they expressed this flashback / journey-to-the-past segment through music :)

3. Photos shown

Candid and heartwarming - not the kind specially taken to kick up the emo-factor...but those kind dug up from peoples' shoeboxes. Actual memories.

3 things I raised my eyebrows at:

1. Pole dancing??

2. Brief Michael Jackson photo...an attempted tribute?

3. And yes, I can't let go off the boxes on their heads.

The ending was nice - with the national song sung acapella. Haven't said the national anthem in unison for ages! Since JC ended...nostalgia.

Fireworks

Yay :)

2009-05-16T02:26:00.000+08:00

Camping at Diablo Lake 1-3 May

2009-05-12T04:57:00.026+08:00

It was Jason B.'s brother's birthday (his name is Aaron too!) so his siblings and friends decided to go on a camping trip at a lake 2 hours from their home in Burlington. Trish arrived that week, so after her first night in Vancouver, we all packed off to take a drive down south! They camp a couple times every year...when we asked whether this camping was vacation, they said it's life!

Vancouver: North-West on the map

A: Jason B.'s home

B: Diablo Lake

Friday 1 May 09

Made a krispy kreme stop before stopping by at Jason B.'s place to pick up the camping stuff. The coffee was US$0.99! 1937 prices :)

While on the drive out to the lake, made a pit-stop at a look-out...a little cloudy and the sun was setting, so not much nice pictures. But it was steep!

Can you spot Tricia? :)

Jason B.'s ride - he jumpstarts it! I'll put up the video/pictures one day.

By the time we reached the campsite the sun was setting, so first things first - set up tent, and START FIRE! :)

Getting all cosy around the fire

Austin - Aaron B.'s dog. Too bad I don't have a better picture of him...he's a sweet pooch! He absolutely adores Aaron B., and actually whines and gets depressed whenever he's separated from him! Aww how sweet. I think it's the same for Aaron B. too :p

Enjoying home-made chilli soup, made by Jason B.'s sister...who is also called/spelled Tricia! Getting way to confusing here :p

Tricia B. and Aaron B.'s girlfriend, Sarah

Hunting for good marshmallow sticks!

Tricia T. & Aaron B.'s friend, Brett

Steps to make a marshmallow stick:

Carefully select and pluck off a thin long branch from a tree. The trick is to pluck it while it's still green so it does not catch fire over the campfire. Also, ensure it is a comfortable length to allow you to stand a distance from the smoke.
Shave off the marshmallow end to make it pointy, if not pointy enough
Burn the pointy end in the campfire to 'sterilize' it
You're ready to load on the marshmallows!

Throughout the 2 days and 2 nights, the guys were busy chopping wood (dead & fallen) for our campfire! Man were they kept busy. Although it's back-breaking work, they actually enjoy it...they just kept continuously at it even though we had enough :p But we enjoyed the fruits of their labour - our 2nd/last night was so comfortable - we felt the warmth of the campfire from inside the tent! I didn't even wake up once :)

Brett (in blue), Aaron B. (in cap) & Joe (another of Aaron's friends)

The girls enjoying the warmth of the campfire :) It felt quite shiok sitting around doing nothing...the girls weren't expected to lift a finger!

Campfire marshmallows!

Saturday 2 May 09

More wood! It's the big/thick ones that give the warmth...the twigs just catch fire easily.

The girls:

Rach, Tricia B., Tricia T., Sarah & me

We were bored so we decided to help hehe.

Trish trying her hand - under Aaron B.'s watchful eye!

Yowza!

Time to open Aaron B.'s presents! This is the one that Rach, Trish & I got for him..nicely wrapped by Trish in the moving car...kudos.

(With Austin looking on)

This one's from Jason B. - super comfy, ultra-padded flip-flops!

After opening the presents - my turn to chop wood!

I was paranoid that I'd miss and hit my shin instead @_@ (That's what Brett told us he witnessed before...) But actually all you need is a good amount of concentration, hand-eye coordination & momentum.

Teehee.

Disclaimer: After all that chopping, all 3 of us still couldn't get a chunk off -_-

Can't remember what flower this is...taken by Jie. Apparently quite rare to find it wild?

We played disc golf!

So it was one of my favourite parts of the camp - steak lunch! It was an awesome deal - angus steaks (6 slabs) for only US$10! We marinated them and grilled them...oh yum.

Joy.

Joy joy.

Burger patties!

This is the view from the public toilet (that's why Trish is holding a toilet roll!)

I like this jumping shot! :)

So after the energy from lunch, Trish & I continued hacking on that small piece of wood...and it FINALLY CAME OFF!! Woooo!

Aaron B. trying out one of his birthday gifts!

It was a super cute tiny fishing pole! (He cringed when I said that...he told me I can't call guys' toys "cute" haha...it's like calling guy's motorcycle "cute". No guy buys a motorcycle cos it's "cute"!) Meant for hikers...to fit into their backpacks. Was thinking of getting it for Dad but it couldn't really flick very far :/

Aw!

Didn't get too far either.

View of Diablo lake

2nd night where we playing cards games, eating non-stop, reading books & watching the campfire. Tricia B.'s pointy hoodie was a scream :)

Sunday 3 May 09

Packing up to go home!

Keeping the mega tent that kept us warm :)

Last flames from the fire.

Mesmerizing

2009-05-12T03:23:00.003+08:00

Check out Amanda's expression at 1:35 - priceless.

2009-04-30T14:06:00.033+08:00

Monday 27 April

Tulips are springing out from the ground! :)

Went to Nat Bailey Stadium just down south of our place: UBC Thunderbirds v Lewis-Clark State Warriors. It was sorta Thunderbirds' warm-up game for regionals. It was originally $4 entry but by the time I got my butt off the sofa and down to the stadium, they were playing 6th inning so it was 2/3 over...and the guy just let me in for free :) Was a good thing too - didn't wanna really stay and watch for 3 hours!

My first baseball game I watched was back in 2006, and we were sitting SO far up I couldn't really see the action, except from the big screen. But this was a non-pro college friendly, so I could get really close to the action! The skills were good enough for me to try and observe their play! It was exciting nonetheless :) Definitely not the same atmosphere as pro games like the Indians I saw in Cleveland, but it was interesting to watch :)

Pitcher no. 12 from UBC - he was fantastic! Very consistent, and 'out-ted' at least 2 batters!

Gearing up for the swing!

Baseball players are HUGE. They looked so tall and intimidating! Well, so are the umpires...in a different way. They all had huge tummies...they looked like they were going to tip over any second.

Final score: 11-2 to UBC!

I was so tickled at how they manually change the score teeheehee. There are actually people behind the scoreboard to change the numbers. What a boring job...hope they get to at least watch a bit of the game.

(As I was cycling back) Pretty street!

Passed by Vancouver Community College - it has a city campus, with a small greenery but overlooking the city...beautiful view.

Tuesday 28 April

Tuesday is house dinner - Ingrid grilled salmon! Oh yum.

Wednesday 29 April

Yay! She received the flowers :) Happy Birthday Mum!

Wish we could be there...

I wanted to be cultured and attend a free string quartet lecture concert at UBC. And I didn't wanna spend $$ taking the bus, so I ambitiously decided to cycle from the East side, all the way to the West where UBC campus is.

14km. I think I was mad.

This was where I officially gave up, and got off to walk for the first time. I was already near UBC, but I just couldn't bike up this hill!

I was utterly confused biking on the streets of Vancouver...it wasn't anything like Copenhagen at all - no structure no fixed lanes. In cph you had to have hand signals, and you had to cross the street before you turned left etc. Here when I cycled on the road the buses honked at me. When I cycle on the pavement the pedestrians block me...and I felt kinda silly wearing a bike helmet and cycling on the pavement -_-

Was a nice park bench where I decided to rest...a sweet dedication to a couple.

I FINALLY reached...after 2 hours! @_@ Was a good work out I must say...probably won't do it again. I'll just pay for the bus ride :p So I met up with Jason & Jie, but by then we were 15min late for the lecture concert, and it was kind of a private setting so it wasn't nice to go in...so we just headed straight for dinner :p So much for being cultured!

Heading towards Jason's truck. I couldn't cycle no more...so he took over!

Vancouver School of Theology (VST)

the other theology grad school.

MEGA tulips...the size of our heads!

(I like this picture :))

Prayer Labyrinth

You're supposed to walk and meditate...very cool. I only had time to walk till there :(

Still walking to Jason's truck parked at Regent...

Jie decided to hitch a ride! :) I like this pic too!

We went to Dentry's for dinner where I had fish & chips and 12 wings :p I was hungry after so much bikiiing. It was Jason's friend's birthday - didn't know majority of the people there, but it was nice to see a familiar face from last year. Looking forward to the class I'm auditing at the end of May - Spiritual Discernment!

Vancouver Day 2

2009-04-25T14:02:00.008+08:00

Jie's room - it's really neat!

Was surprised at how neat she kept it hehe.

The view from her window - her room is on the 2nd floor.

Rach & Ingrid

Our lunch - a mixture of leftovers! (doesn't look too bad huh)

Her house is really happening...full of music and chattering. AND the smell of coffee...whoo :)

Melissa & Nance jamming on the front porch on a sunny afternoon!

Basking in the sun :)

Took a walk down Commercial Drive after lunch...I love how the streets ends with so much greenery :)

Beautiful flowers (not sure if it's cherry blossoms) against a white house.

After doing some errands we parked ourselves in an cafe along Little Italy (which doesn't look very much like Little Italy to me...it's too clean :p) and drank really strong coffee @_@ and chilled.

The in-your-face gaudy decor...which yeah, was the whole point I guess!

Cherry blossoms! :)

Haven't seen so many cherry blossoms before...saw some in DC at the basin (but it wasn't blooming yet :/) and at Copenhagen during the Sakura Festival at Langelin Park...but those were not more than 8 trees I think? Beautiful :)

I have so much time to blog now...cos Jie doesn't have a TV! @_@ gasp. It's so strange not to have a TV in the house. Gives me time to do other stuff I guess!

2009-04-25T02:35:00.006+08:00

Prob one of my last flights on SQ...

Jellyfish at Vancouver Airport

Jason & Jie picked me up at the airport!

As the plane descended, I was reminded of how beautiful Vancouver really is...the scenery was lovely! A city so close to snow-capped mountains. And the weather was fantastic! Cool and sunny...Jie said that it just had a turn for the better just this week! Yay :)

Jie's cosy little townhouse-like home, where she lives with 4 other gals.

Jie cooking dinner for us - basil tomato-based pasta

(LOOK AT THE HUMONGOUS TOMATOES!)

Jason getting in on the action :)

He does this twisty thing to make sure the pasta gets cooked evenly...

and voila!

Oh yum.

Watched a bit of Ip Man before crashing...had a little headache upon coming here - think I'm still jetlagging a little! Had quite a flight...sat next to an elderly lady who didn't speak much english...and as I found out, could get quite...restless when sleeping. Was watching Departures (some Jap show about preparing dead bodies...btw, bad idea to watch it while eating meat. Felt a bit sick throughout the rest of the journey), when her hand flung over to my side and nearly hit me on the face! I was quite shocked and amused at the same time. But I decided not to risk it and moved to another empty seat when I wanted to sleep :p no offense granny.

I love the shining sun this morning...Jie's housemates are sunbathing on the porch as I type this! :)

2009-04-02T01:53:00.002+08:00

Haha I only just saw Carol's blogpost...that's how detached from blogging I've been (only saw it 3 weeks after??).

Excuse me while I shamelessly link her post here...well yeah, because she mentioned me (I'm privileged!), but also...a reminder of times in school that I will look back with a smile! Thanks Carol for blogging :)

ps: yeah the CPR/resuscitation is not working out too well.

So here's the thing...

2009-03-31T11:06:00.003+08:00

There's this deadly virus that's slated to attack our computer hardware, and the local newspapers advises all of us to log on to www.singcert.org.sg to get rid of the virus.

But lo and behold, here's what I see when I go to the website -

A sign of impending doom...?? #_#

posted by: a proud macintosh-user

(yea I just had to add that in)

Psalm 51

2009-03-21T13:01:00.001+08:00

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

CPR

2009-03-05T14:08:00.002+08:00

*degghead is attempting to perform CPR on her dead blog*

watch this space for a continuation of adventures in Eastern Europe...

Christmas Ding

2008-12-29T01:39:00.000+08:00

Whodunnit?

2008-11-29T16:36:00.002+08:00

How observant are you?

WHO DONE IT:

Advertising Agency: WCRS, London, UK
Creative Directors: Yan Elliott, Luke Williamson
Art Director: Kit Dayaram
Copywriter: Tom Spicer
Agency Producer: James Lethem
Director: Chris Palmer
Production Company: Gorgeous
Editor: Paul Watts at The Quarry
Post-production: The Mill
Audio post-production: Wave

hvor, hvor, hvor...

2008-11-13T01:13:00.001+08:00

Why is it that I feel like blogging only when I have a million and one other things to do??

StudyIN' God

2008-11-09T23:24:00.000+08:00

Yes, we can.

2008-11-09T23:20:00.003+08:00

click here.

2008-11-09T00:28:00.000+08:00

me thinks they fired the Internet Banking staff too...

2008-08-09T15:20:00.000+08:00

8 Aug 3:00pm - 12 Aug 8:00pm

Examination in progress...

Scribbling The Cat

2008-08-07T10:09:00.002+08:00

Not an attempt to do a book review, but one of the few books that had an impact me in a good/bad way. Well, few things actually affect me, so the fact that I felt something for/about this book already says quite a bit.

Picked up the book when I was in Vancouver with Jie. The local public library down at Point Grey was having a major clearance, and basically we spent too long just rummaging through the stuff to find good deals :) Jie found a couple of (really heavy) good deals, and we saw this one as well. We picked it out mostly because of the cover - appearances do make a difference! Anyway, bottom line is that we've both never heard of the book, nor knew what it was about, but it turned out to be one of the best reads I've had in a while.

Fuller's writing is chillingly beautiful especially at the beginning (the later parts are more wrapped around human drama) - especially her description of the African landscape and people.

"He looked bulletproof and he looked as if he was here on purpose, which is a difficult trick to pull off in this woolly climate. He looked like he was his own self-sufficient, debt-free, little nation - a living, walking, African Vatican City. As if he owned the ground beneath his feet, and as it the sky balanced with ease on his shoulders.

He looked cathedral."

For the curious - "scribble" means "to kill"

(and yes, the cat referring to the one in the phrase: 'curiosity killed the cat')

Shakespearean quote of the day:

2008-07-30T22:31:00.002+08:00

"[Thou art] as fat as butter."

-Taken from Henry IV, part I

HOME

2008-07-21T03:02:00.001+08:00

Home sweet home :)

----

This may be old, but it's one of the best virals I've seen in a long time :)
Simply excellent - watch the whole thing!

www.whopperfreakout.com

Favourite Things...

2008-06-04T06:46:00.001+08:00

LOOK WHAT I GOT IN THE MAIL!! :D

"Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens;

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens;

Brown paper packages tied up with strings;

These are a few of my favourite things!"

Eeyore loves 'em. I do too. :D

Thanks Michelle!!! :D I really love it. Not just because you wrote me a letter, used your really nice paper to do so, posted me a box of my favourite biscuits (and postage must have been ex :/) - but mostly because it was really thoughtful of you :) You made me smile and tear at the same time. I miss you! Made me think of all back at home too...:/ I'm really glad and excited about this year's church camp (which you all are in right now) - I'm hoping and praying all goes well, and the experience would be priceless. Exciting times :) I'm also really glad that some of the young adults got to go too! Like Justin & Louis ;) I know the preparations must've have been hard on you guys :/ Wish I could've been there to help too. I miss Shalom.

International Friendship Day :)

2008-06-04T05:10:00.001+08:00

I can safely say that today was one of the best days I've had in Copenhagen :) Not because of anything else, but just hanging out with people I've gotten to know here, eating great food, enjoying brilliant weather and having fantastic conversation. I'm gonna miss the group that I've met in Danish class so much. I think they're really great friends, not only because they're fun to be with, but they are truly down-to-earth people that just make me feel so comfortable to be around. We've been through an entire course of Danish language - and it has been fun practicing together :) Assia (Bulgaria), Cornelia (Austria), Yurong (Taiwan), Louis (Canada) and of course Carol, you guys are the best. My only regret is that I didn't get to meet up with Louis properly before he left! :/ Too bad I'll be missing you when you get back dude.

There were so many pictures for today - but I like them all equally as much! So I decided to post up all of them heh :)

Assia's risotto rice - rice cooked in wine and spices :)

And her sister's boyfriend, Nick, tending religiously to the barbeque.

Laying the table for the wonderful spread of purple rice, salad (with absolutely delicious Bulgarian cheese), pasta, mushrooms and the meats!

It was funny because Assia insisted that although their slightly salty Bulgarian cheese tasted like fetta-cheese, it was different and the Bulgarian cheese is the original one of the two :) Just like how it was recently proven that the Bulgarian slavic language was the original language that other Eastern European countries had stemmed from - even the Russian language! The Bulgarians (or maybe it's just Assia) are really patriotic eh? :)

Having fun in the sun!

It got so blazing hot that both Assia and Cornelia decided to change to their bikinis. They even resorted to putting on sunblock. And I decided to sit in the sun to hopefully get a tan haha. Can you believe it - that it was probably high 20s degrees? I mean, we were told the hottest it would get in June was 10deg! But I'm really glad for the weather...I heard it's gonna be sunny the entire week! :D Yay...I decided from now until I leave next Tues, I will force myself to get out of the house and enjoy the sun while I can...and not rot on the couch in front of the T.V. Let's hope that happens.

Our confused looks are thanks to our camera-man, David, who made us all giddy by circling us and taking pictures without warning us -_-

After a real full and fantastic lunch (err...a really late one at that...by the time we ate it was nearl 3pm! :p) We decided to head back to Assia's to eat somemore! :) While we had some coffee, Cornelia was busy whipping up (literally) an Austrian dish called kaiserschmarren! The poor girl worked so hard in the kitchen while some of us bummed in front of the T.V. :p Well, apparently Carol has learnt the recipe - so maybe she'll whip it up one day for us hehe. But I'll definitely try it when I get home - it was delish :) So...yeah, do remind me someone - if you'd like to try kaiserschmarren!

I said she was literally whipping up the dish because the electric mixer didn't work, so we had to use the whisk and try to whip the egg white ourselves. After whipping for like more than half hour Assia's sister had a brilliant idea to but it a bottle and get her burly boyfriend to shake it to death to get the froth hehe.

The 'shaker' and the 'bummers'!

(Although I would exclude Yurong because she worked hard in the kitchen too!)

The final product and the ever-happy host :)

Did I mention the food was delish??

The end to our never-ending day of eating! :D

Britain's Got Talent Fever

2008-06-03T04:54:00.000+08:00

Yay I'm so glad George Sampson won!! :D Totally deserved to win.

2008-06-02T06:48:00.001+08:00

Stockholm - Helsinki - Moscow - St Petersburg - Riga - Stockholm

We had a one-day stop in Helsinki, real quick but honestly, quite sufficient. The highlight was going to naval fortress, Suomenlinna. The rest of city was pretty small, but rather interesting.

Our boat - the Gabriella!

Where we got off at the habour

Captain Haddock day??

Nej! It was May Day! :) A good excuse for a big party.

At the Market Square where a carnival was going on.

Fun with dog-doo! heh

L: For reasons I did not know, people dressed up in real weird racing-like costumes

R: The streets were littered with confetti!

The palace - where something was going on, but we couldn't see what as we were too short to peer inside! :(

On the boat on the way to Suomenlinna

A nice couple picture! :)

All of us 'cept for Jiamin got off the boat - he felt like bumming around, so decided not to join us for our day chiong-ing around Helsinki!

View from the boat.

(people actually live on that small island??)

Suomenlinna

Otherwise known as Castle of Finland - a sea fortress

It was this naval fortress that helped Finland develop its major city status in the 16th century period.

L2R: Carol, Ansen, Yocksong & David

Suomenlinna Church

Suomenlinna Church was built during the Russian regime, by order of Czar Nikolay I, to function as a military church in 1854. Its church bell is the largest in Finland - cast in Moscow in 1855 weighing 6,683kg! The following text, in Slavic and inspired by the Psalms, is cast on the church bell of Suomenlinna:

"Praise the Lord upon the loud cymbals.

Shew forth His salvation from day to day.

Give unto the Lord glory and strength.

Fear before Him, all the earth.

Let the sea roar and the fullness thereof.

All the earth shall worship Him."

Too bad we didn't get to go to the bell tower because of the construction.

How it looked like then - with 5 onion domes

How it looks like now

The interior is really modern and stylish!

Many picturesques views of the fortress

Cannon and the mounds

HUGE anchor-ring.

David & I being touristy

I was sooo freaked out on climbing the cannon! It IS actually really way above the ground okay.

Haha I really like this shot.

AHOY!

Afterwards I went back to the boat to see what Jiamin was up to while the rest headed to the stadium (that held the 1952 olympics). After dragging his bum outta the bunk bed, we walked around the city area with our bags for a short while before heading off to the train station to meet the rest of the group.

Uspenskin Katedraali (Upenski Cathedral)

Eastern Orthodox cathedral in Helsinki

with people picnic-ing at the base!

Helsingin Tuomiokirkko (Helsinki Cathedral) in the distance.

Built, in neoclassical style, in tribute to Grand Duke Nicholas I, Tsar of Russia.

A little peek into the inside - while a choir was singing during service.

On the steps outside of Helsinki Cathedral.

I was pretty curious as to why Helsinki had so many connections with Russia, regarding their architecture and history. Whilst reading up found out that Russia had defeated Sweden whilst Finland was part of Sweden in the 1800s. And in order to reduce Swedish influence in Finland, Tsar Alexander I moved the capital from Turku to Helsinki, and the city was rebuilt in neoclassical style to resemble St Petersburg. It was really awesome to take in so much of their rich and long history, and make the connections to the other places we were headed off to :)

Goodbye Helsinki!

Hello Russia! :)

i had the most interesting conversation with ben...

2008-05-31T18:48:00.001+08:00

deb: www.degghead.blogspot.com
hey ben, how have u been

12:47

Benjamin
I am currently idle.

Hiatus

2008-05-28T19:08:00.001+08:00

I'll be back to do some hardcore blogging...after my paper tomorrow!

Stay tuned.

And here's what's been keeping me busy.

2008-05-10T21:24:00.003+08:00

Stockholm -[cruise]- Helsinki - Moscow - St Petersburg - Riga - Stockholm

View of Stockholm from Gabriella

A little while afterwards, still in the archipelago.

Yocksong randomly waving to someone on shore!

After deciding we had enough of the cold on the deck, we decided to explore the ship!

It's a real party boat, with lots of booze and places to party. Although the disco floor had only 3 people at night...but it was entertaining, to see them flailing their arms while trying to keep upright :p (not because of the boat, but because they were intoxicated :p)

An elderly couple dancing away to the live music in the lounge...awww.

Karoke - Finnish style!

Hea hea hea!

Lots of tax-free alcohol.

Our highlight of the boat - dinner buffet!

They had at least 8 different kinds of herring! Been wanting to try that...heard it's the fish of the scandinavian area. Well, turns out - it's really too rich for my palette :/

Finland is one hour behind

First sight of Helsinki, Finland!

30 April - Stockholm, Sweden

2008-05-10T03:23:00.003+08:00

My journey:

Stockholm - Helsinki - Moscow - St Petersburg - Riga - Stockholm

I'm just gonna start blogging about the most recent trip I took - RUSSIA! :D

Never in my life did I think I would be able to see Russia...the 'closest' I've every gotten to it was through my godbro's cousin - celyn, who studies there. I remember when she first told me she was going to Russia to study...my first thought was the harsh winter cold, trans-siberian railway and Anastasia. And of course, my secondary school history lessons. Although Russia was the highlight, the other cities we (literally) sailed through were pretty sights too.

This was a kinda-school trip arranged by an external organization, open to students from all Scandinavian schools. So naturally, us exchange students (with our priorities all mixed up :p) took the opportunity to travel!! It was over 30 students in our group in all.

King and Queen of Sweden

Shopping street in Stockholm

Sweden - land of the moose

(having the highest density of moose in the world!)

Bridge leading to the Old Town; Gamla Stan

We stumbled upon a group of soldiers preparing their way up to the castle. We merely followed the crowd to see what was going on...

A whole of lot of people!! But we were still left wondering what was going on...

Until much later we realised that we were expecting the king! :D

Soldiers all lined up outside the entrance in anticipation.

The military band that was performing was fantastic! They sang too...and really well :)

For more of their talent...ABBA Medley!

A little girl waving her Swedish flag

Different colour/unit

King Carl XVI Gustav!

After all that excitement, we met up with the rest of the Singaporeans and Taiwanese to walk around Gamla Stan before boarding the cruise ship to Helsinki.

The narrow, pretty streets of Sweden's Old Town.

The guys busy finding their way around while Carol and I were slacking and clowning around.

Ahh...alfresco dining in the warm weather :)

Inside Storkrykan, the Cathedral of Stockholm,

where all the royal coronations and weddings took place.

Also where we saw St George and the Dragon statue (it didn't quite turn out well in my picture), a statue known its age and symbol. It's made out of oak and elk horn in the 15th century, and many believe that it represents Sweden's need to struggle against evil.

View of Stockholm

Public buses with Swedish flags attached to the front.

Our stay for the night! - Gabriella

I Can't Even Walk (without You holding my hand)

2008-04-28T05:42:00.003+08:00

This song was sung as a testimony in church today by a guy called Mike. I really liked the lyrics...and I came home to find out that it's actually an old 'country' hymn :) This video was the only decent sound of the song I could get off the internet.

Good ol' gospel hymn

I thought number one would surely be me,

I thought I could be what I wanted to be.

I thought I could build on life's sinking sand

But I can't even walk without You holding my hand.

I can't even walk without You holding my hand.

The mountain's too high and the valley's too wide.

Down on my knees, I learned to stand.

And I can't even walk without You holding my hand.

I thought I had done a lot on my own.

I thought I could make it all alone.

I thought of myself as that woman who can,

But I can't even walk without You holding my hand.

I think I'll make Jesus my One and my All

From now on when I'm in trouble, only His name I'll call

And If I can't trust Him, I'll be less of a man

'Cause I can't even walk without You holding my hand.

I know what you're thinking - where is the gospel choir?? :p

2008-04-20T21:18:00.003+08:00

(clearing some random videos...)

Chef Carol!

Copenhagen City museum

(this was in early february when it was still freezing!)

the Sunday during Juline's visit

2008-04-20T21:13:00.000+08:00

I have never heard a sound so beautiful...

of water going down the drain.

2008-04-18T16:52:00.001+08:00

If you want to see something funny that happened last night...

see here

I resorted to calling my dad at 7am singapore time, and countless of other things...

As of now it' still clogged @_@

Amsterdam 27-29 February 08

2008-04-08T20:34:00.005+08:00

Taking opportunity of the zero kroner special on flights, Jiamin, Carol, Jinjoo and I decided to zoom off to the Netherlands and Belgium...managing to skip zero classes - hurrah! Our flight was delayed for 2 hours, so instead of reaching Amsterdam at 8pm, we got in at about 10pm...with no dinner! :(

Jinjoo and I - first meal in Amsterdam at her friends hostel room
This girl from China in the next room kindly gave us her stash of instant noodles...to us poor hungry Copenhageners! :p

Getting around Amsterdam with our Macbikes!

Cycling along

Amstel River

The boy who refused to pose for the camera

Whee!

The Amsterdammers are really sweet.

Whenever we opened our map, there never fails to be a local who comes up to us to offer us their help. We enjoyed chatting with 2 of them - one of them being a mother who carrying her toddler behind her. Busy as she was carrying all her things, she was really kind to help us! You wouldn't find this kind of pro-active pleasantry towards tourists were you in Singapore or Copenhagen!

Traffic in Amsterdam is QUITE crazy. I didn't realise how organised Copenhagen road and motor traffic was until I was cycling in Amsterdam! The narrow cycling path sometimes goes 2-way, and there are no traffic lights for bicycles, so it gets confusing at times...and the motorist are out to knock you over :/

'Floating' houses along the canal...
The one at the bottom even has a gate, just for that boardwalk! :p

More cycling!

Tempgina Amsterdam!
(no idea what that means)

Fun with musical steps

Met a cutie cat along the way...

I love these pictures...so I'm not bothering to shrink them!

After half a day of trying a self-cycling tour (but mostly getting lost :p), we met Isaac at the Van Gogh museum. It wasn't too bad...couldn't take any pictures inside, so these are the replicas on the outside of the building.

I realise I'm not a big fan of impressionist art! heh...look like random colours to me. I prefer detailed fine paintings...so Van Gogh, as talented as you may be, I prefer Ruben's! :p

At the market - ooh had so much to see...and eat! :p

And Jinjoo going to stick her fingers up the animal's nose hehe.
(The animal's been made into a purse...eww.)

Afterwhich we stopped by a restaurant/cafe to eat somemore! hehe.

Isaac eats his cheese & bacon with a special maple syrup...ugh. As strange as that sounds - most of them loved it!

Signs of spring just outside the restaurant

One of the many canals in Amsterdam at night
(sorry it's so blur :/)

"Smartshop"
One of Amsterdam's famous shops that specialize in psychoactive substances...i.e. drugs.
Liberal Netherlands!

This is my only picture taken from the notorious red light district.
(hey I thought it was cute!)
We figured we shouldn't all be taking out our cameras and gawking. So our appointed professional photographer's pictures can be found here.

Amsterdam was a real eye-opener for me, in terms of how liberal (and arguably decadent) it really is. (sidenote to vasu: you might love this place) Realised a few things:

My parents have been to Amsterdam before...and my dad a few more times before that. It suddenly struck me as we weaved in and out of the souvenir shops (as Carol was on her magnet-hunt :p) that those popular touristy porcelain wind-mills created a wave of nostalgia within me. And I realised why when I spoke to my parents when I came back to Copenhagen...that they bought one of those things and have been on display in my home ever since I can remember. Strangely made me think of home :)

Those unfamiliar with Amsterdam's famed drug policy can read about it here. So basically, abusing drugs is one of the tourist highlights here...it's absolutely and completely legal. Sure, that's cool. BUT something cooler is that Uniquely Singapore is the only country (to my current limited knowledge) that has laws that extend beyond her physical territorial borders to actually hold Singaporeans liable for drug abuse...anywhere in the world. How cool is Singapore :p (thanks waddles for the tip)

Consumption of drug outside Singapore by citizen or permanent resident
8A. —(1) Section 8 (B) shall have effect in relation to a person who is a citizen or a permanent resident of Singapore outside as well as within Singapore where he is found as a result of urine tests conducted under section 31 (4) (B) to have smoked, administered to himself or otherwise consumed a controlled drug or a specified

Where an offence under section 8 ( b )is committed by a person referred to in subsection (1) in any place outside Singapore, he may be dealt with as if that offence had been committed within Singapore.

The red light district was...interesting, to put it mildly. It was incredible, because the method is new to the conservative Asian culture/mind. (oh go ahead and call me a prude waddles I don't care) Just to help you picture it, it's basically window-shopping...except you buy women. The prostitutes each book a room that comes with a window space, and just enough space for a chair and a bed. They stand at the window to try to invite business. Interested customers go up and try and bargain through the window, and when a deal is struck he steps in and the curtains are closed. So if you see pictures of closed curtains in the link, you know they are in business. Why this can never work in Asia - come on, a guy steps in and out in full of other tourists, locals and tons of other people just strolling around. Asians still have their face to protect. One amusing thing is that the rooms work like residential property...the nearer you are to the main red light district street, the more expensive it is. And the further into the narrow little streets you venture into, you can see the taste in women vary a lot...different shapes, sizes and...uhh...strange outfits. A little scary and intimidating. Isaac has the opinion that it's better this way - a controlled district rather than outlawed, and out of control.

Guess who we bumped into on our second day! Our dear OG mate and Cedarpoint colleague Esmond haha...and together with another exchange Singaporean, Daphne.

WHAT A SMALL WORLD. We were happily cycling along on our red citybikes when we heard someone shout (in a VERY Singaporean voice mind you), "CAROL!" Like those hokkien-scolding-uncles-tone. Nice to meet Singaporeans around the world...shows you how small it really is.

In front of dam square, historical centre of Amsterdam.

oops sorry I kinda ruined the picture whilst in the process of experimenting...but was trying to add in the 2 funny buggers that were standing there :p

Anne Frank Huis (Anne Frank's House)

The place of hiding was on the 1st floor in the picture on the right. (European 1st floor = our 2nd) We didn't go in because of the Incredibly long queue that snaked all the way round the block. It would have been nice to see the original diary...but owells.

During the WWII many Amsterdammers sheltered Jews at a high risk to themselves and their families and those that were discovered were also sent to the concentration camps. More than 103,000 to 105,000 Jews were deported from the Netherlands to concentration camps, of whom perhaps the most famous was young German girl, Anne Frank.

In front of the Rijksmuseum

This HUGE museum houses a large collection of art from the Dutch Golden Age. It was undergoing restoration when we were there, so only one wing was open...but we were still occupied for quite some time! I really enjoyed it, as the paintings were so refined, stark and beautiful...and also because it also told a little bit about Dutch history, during the time it flourished in the arts.

Spring is coming...no?

Ans: We were severely fooled into believing so :p (as you will see later on in my Eastern Europe photos)

The floating flower market (mostly tulips) along the canal...so pretty!!

Farewell to our great host and ambassador to Amsterdam ;) (with his special maple syrup)

Has it been 2 years on since our USA escapade? Gosh.

Our stash after our visit to Amsterdam Chinatown! Sooo much better than ours...some of the sauces are like 1 euro! An Asian is not an Asian without his Asian food.

Funny bikes that some young punks were using for stunts

Half a car!

The central station where we were waiting for our train to Leuven, Belgium.

A visit from a Londoner

2008-04-02T19:03:00.001+08:00

Because Juline always posts way too little photos of herself :p I shall do her the favour of posting all the pictures of her hehe...

Eating our lunch along Nyhavn

Passed by some pretty yellow houses on the way to the castle

The famed (smaller-than-life) H.C. Andersen's The Little Mermaid.

Taking a walk in the Norrebro graveyard/park where H.C. Andersens is buried.

The crew.

Really missed hanging out with Juline! Always nice to have great company...glad you're back and safe. Made me realised the precious times of fellowship taken for granted when we were younger...all the time during camps and yf activities. Now that we're a bit older and somewhere around the world, meet-ups are few and very treasured :)

Get ready for some tear-jerking laughter

2008-03-10T04:53:00.000+08:00

Ultimate Frisbee Seeding Competition
23 Feb 08

It's different from outdoors, the indoor competition is 5-on-5, much faster and way more high fancy throws (no wind to blow it away mah). Anyway it was pretty exciting, and although there were only 4-5 teams playing round robin...gosh, it taught me that size really does matter @_@

The Flying Circus after their 'pep-talk'
(of which Jiamin understood nothing, because they were speaking in Danish all the time :p)

Their post-game with Ragnarok's II (second team in blue)

Ragnarok I, Copenhagen's seeded top team.
The guy in the foreground's like 2m tall @_@
He came for Flying Circus training once, and he was THE MAN I tell you. Caught EVERY single thing that came in his way...even during drills.

The Spinners

Post-game; Ragnarok I vs Spinners.
It wasn't a close score, but Spinners fought really hard.
And just to give you a rough sense of the size of these players, I'm up to no. 2's armpit.

Post-game: Flying Circus vs Spinners
(the young guy in blue pattern pants looks like Harry Potter! :p)

Biased videos of Flying Circus vs Ragnarok II heh.

Flying Circus team-talk

The Flying Circus Jersey
(Jiamin & Oscar)

Aaaand finally, the best thing that happened at the game :D

Dinner with Poo Chu, 21 Feb 08

2008-03-09T17:59:00.000+08:00

Was invited to dinner by Godma's friend. She's a bubbly Malaysian lady, who married a Danish and has been here for the past...13 years or so. I expected to be having dinner at her place, but when I got there, it turns out that she was bringing me along to a dinner with her girl-friends heh. So after finding out the directions to her friend's place (and also after taking a quick snap shot of her and her family), began my cycle up north to Østerport.

Poo Chu & her family
(minus one boy who was in school I think)

Poo Chu in the background
Karen hiding somewhere in the middle
Thora in the foreground

It was Karen's place that we went to, also a Malaysian. Her bunch of girl-friends are all working in Unicef, and it's been by far the most intriguing and captivating dinner company that I've ever been in. Thora's from Baghdad, and the whole night I was just listening to her stories...stories of when she was a child, where and what kind of environment she grew up in, what her work in Baghdad entailed, the friends she lost in the war...gosh, it was never-ending. I wish I could have stayed to listen to her talk the whole night. I wouldn't be able to document it all here though, but I will one of these days...I hope she gets to write the book (about her life story) that she has been wanting to do :)

Scrumptious dinner

Hyggelige
(ask Su Re! :p)

And more Hyggelige...

Dinner at Orsi's, 16 Feb 08

2008-03-09T17:34:00.000+08:00

The wonderful meal Orsi [Hungary] cooked/baked from scratch.
Main dish: Hungarian Goulash
(which I unfortunately didn't take a picture of as we were busy eating :P)

Our host(ess) making drinks...

Dimo [Bulgaria]
I thought he was posing for me, but it turned out he was holding out the glass asking me to help as the drink was overflowing...oops, miscommunication! :p

This dinner was organised by my Hungarian friend, Orsi whom I met during our first week of school orientation. She's a fantastic host, and the dinner company was really quite international :) Heh. It made dinner all the more interesting, as people were trying hard to understand each other, and it was quite funny in some instances. But, it was real heartwarming to see that all of us were trying, and enjoying the company, and not just some 'forced social gathering' :) The Europeans are really quite friendly and very willing to come out of their comfort zone/social clique...those not in their home country anyways! :p

Was completely bemused by the interesting cup designs that Orsi had!
Left: A coffee cup that you hold by rim
Right: A ceramic cup molded to look like a crushed plastic cup
(I almost bought that for you Jie! :p)

Dimitri [Greece] trying to get Dimo to try his concoction

L2R: Dimitri, Orsi & Dimo
With Dimitri looking set to make everyone drunk with his drinks.

Orsi lives in this really nice (and expensive) apartment with her Danish boyfriend

So, story is that she's already been in Denmark for the past year or so, but only just decided to transfer to CBS...as her uni in Hungary bored her to tears :/

Wanted a picture with us and the host(ess), but the
French dudes decided they wanted to 'chap' in haha.
Both French dudes are Thomas.

The dinner company! :)
L2R: Thomas, me, Annika [Netherlands], Jiamin, Dominika [Poland], Dimo & Thomas

2008-03-09T00:47:00.001+08:00

TOOK PART IN A FLASH MOB and a STREET MARCH TODAY!

:D

seriously exciting.

Where everyone froze in their tracks for 4mins when the clock struck 1pm,
right in the middle of busy shopping street [Stroget] on a Saturday.

No to 'buying' women!
(that's Jianfeng & myself...being overly-enthu :P)

People say the darnest things...

2008-03-08T23:47:00.003+08:00

In response to Dimo's comment on how tough it is to be a guy, especially on days like International Women's Day (where it is tradition that women receive flowers).

Annika: What? You guys are so lucky, you get to pee standing up! Just for one day if I were a guy, I'd pee the whole day!
.....

In response to Annika's comment that in some countries, tomas means tomato.

Thomas: [matter-of-factly in his frenched-english] Well you can eat me.
.....

Day trip to Roskilde 15 Feb 08

2008-03-06T22:31:00.004+08:00

Departing from Hovedbånegardens Station
(a.k.a. Grand Central Station) to Roskilde, the previous capital of Denmark.

I honestly didn't think this trip would amount to anything much, after all it's just another town outside of Copenhagen that is probably hyped-up for tourists. Well, it is semi-true, while they kept highlighting the fact that Roskilde was a place of the vikings, it was one of the most important cities in the 11th century...and is 'home' to the body of King Harald I (those of you who know the anglo-saxon literature, or movie for that matter, Beowolf). I was really impressed with their materials for tourists...really tourist-friendly with excellent maps. Funny town.

A very pretty graveyard...serious.

Beautiful skies :)
and yup, that's David & Carol on the left

Inside the Roskilde Cathedral,
where all Danish kings - and almost all queens - have been buried since the Reformation.

Before the Reformation in 1536, the cathedral was Catholic (evident from the Catholic-looking High Altar) but they later removed the side altars and new furniture was installed for the new Protestant service.

That section of the Cathedral was funny, because they had actual scratch marks on the pillar to indicate the height of the kings...and one of the Christians (either I or III) was only a few cm taller than the visiting Thai king at that time...no taller than 1.63cm. Looks like they saved some marble from making his coffin.

Tombs

Frederik V (1746-66)
One of the tombs that awed me the most.
[with our 'tour-guide', Rasmus, at the far-left corner]

Amazing work of art.

Loved how this coffin was 'decorated', so sombre yet stately.

The view of the sanctuary, with Harald Bluetooth lying in the foreground.

Sarcophagus of Queen Margrete I
(surprisingly there are only 2 queen Margrete-s to this day)
They say a special bell is rung twice daily in commemoration of this queen....
but I didn't hear nothing. Owells.

The 1554 grand baroque organ.
We were trying to see if there was anyone up there playing...
but figured it was probably a tape playing.

Roskilde Palace

I know what you're thinking - THIS? is a PALACE? I had the same reaction. But it's no longer a real palace, it's the bishop's residence, since 1923. And today it also houses a few museums (that we were too kiam to pay to enter)

Inside the Viking Ship Museum...
Oh yes, let the mighty viking alpha-males roar.
(Although David looks quite happy to be a viking)

These ships displayed just outside the Viking Ship museum are exact replicas from the ships that made years ago. They built these ships from scratch with the tools and materials used from that time period...yeap, that means with old fashion tools such as axes to cut the timbre.
Such hard work!

Haha...'tis for me waddles.
Can you believe they managed to fit 30 vikings in one of these ships??
Oh boy, the smell...

The original viking ships from the 11th century.

While we were in the museum, the lake froze over...and the excited boys (yes, I emphasize the choice word of boys :P) scurried to throw whatever they could find, into the water.

The evidence caught on tape.

Us...uh, blocking the Roskilde station in the background :P

Day trip to Malmo, Sweden 9 Feb 08

2008-03-04T22:18:00.001+08:00

Waiting for our train to Malmo, Sweden

Wind farm

The old post office

The same symbol we saw in front of the UN hq in NY!

In front of Stortorget (1536) with Ubah.
The biggest square in Malmo...with King Karl X Gustav who historically took Skane from Denmark :P
And yes, ice-skating! :D This was where part of the movie (from student movie night) was filmed heh.

Norway & Finland
In Tromsø, the guy at the visitor's centre told us (off the record) that the Norwegians have a love-hate relationship with the Finnish.
Denmark & Sweden
And the fact that many Danes live in Sweden (due to lower currency exchange rate) but work in Denmark have irritated the Swedish government regarding their tax system.
Singapore & ...
I guess we're not the only ones dealing with neighbouring relationships :)

Yocksong & Jiamin in front of the City Hall (1546)

The streets in Malmo are oh-so-pretty :D
And thank God for a wonderful sun-shiny day! It really felt like Spring was coming...just for that one day.

Pausing for a touristy shot

Lilla Torg, Malmo's charming square, surrounded by buildings from the 16th century.
Pretty, pretty, pretty.

Charming building-cum-house-cum-art gallery.

Inside the 19th century warehouse where Scandinavian design, architecture and art are displayed.

This is my absolute fav :)

Walking along the moat of Malmohus Castle.
Jiamin with his obsession with duck rice.

The oldest Renaissance castle in Scandinavia. But disappointingly, the interior was quite modern :P

This is the largest dog park I have ever seen. Trashes Bishan's dog park 100 million times :P But yes, that means lots...and lots...and lots of dog poo.

And yes, the obligatory SMU jump...except I was the only person from SMU in this picture haha.

The Turning Torso, one of Malmo's architectural pride. An apartment building which is Sweden's tallest building at 190m. Haha telling of how short the buildings in Sweden are...OUB Centre at Raffles Place is like 1 1/2 times taller. But it's pretty neat, considering it twists 90deg from base to top.

Did I mention that it was a beautiful day??

Took this especially for you Dad :P

St Peter's Church / S:t Petri kyrka

Oldest building in Malmo, dating from 14th century, built in "Baltic Brick Gothic".

The interior with Renaissance-styled pulpit, baptismal font and retable (although it's kinda small in this pic)

Being such foodies, while the rest went shopping, Jiamin & I tried walking a few km away from the city centre to Mollevangstorget square to find the fruit & vegetable market, cheese specialists and their bakeries. But everything was closed by the time we reached...(it closes at like 4pm! So darn early -_-)
But managed to catch the setting sun rays on one of the buildings :)

One of Jiamin's 'award-winning' shots. Right.

Randaom bell tower we passed which looked like they had at least 50 bells of different sizes. It looked like grapes on a string heh.

The Malmo crew :)

Amsterdam & Brussels, away I go.

2008-02-28T05:54:00.000+08:00

27-29 Feb

1-2 Feb

2008-02-20T15:38:00.004+08:00

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

2 Timothy 1:7-8

Chinese New Year Dinner in Copenhagen

2008-02-20T04:38:00.001+08:00

I'm back-blogging...but oh well, better late than never :P

Top L2R: Adeline, me, Yiling, Yiling, Liu Jia, Ginny & Mi Young
Middle row: Jin Joo & Wanshan
Bottom L2R: Jianfeng, Yili, Jiamin & Yocksong

Random photos over the past month

2008-02-19T05:35:00.001+08:00

Struggling...to keep up with the blogging times @_@

I shall try to post as much as I can now, so I can 'clear' my backlog of photos heh.

In Kongens Have (translated as the King's Garden)

Brightly lit Magasin, one of the largest (and high-class) shopping centres in Copenhagen...

Was cycling along on the street, when I just had to stop and take a picture of this. They are moving their heavy furniture from their balcony window!! How cool is that :P

They do that probably because of the way European-style houses here are generally very narrow and have a more 'closed' concept to their houses. For example, instead of a open living room leading to an open dining room, it's segregated into units, with only a door leading to each 'compartment' of the house.

The first day that we had beautiful weather...for once.
The sun was shining, had to catch the rays shining on the couch in Jiamin's living room.
What a rare sight. A beautiful day...which we spent slacking indoors :P

The place just downstairs of my place where the 'unrest' was going on. Our flatmate, a Dane, was one of the 'victims' whose car had been torched. I actually saw the burnt up cars on my way to school the day before I took this picture, but I couldn't take pictures cos I was uberly late for school @_@

On the way to Apotek (pharmacy), I passed by this greaaaat smelling place...mmmm. :)

At this point, I should probably explain why I was going to the Apotek in the first place. To those that do not know yet, I met with a leeetle accident last Monday. Leetle, but big enough to land me in ER to wait for the doctor to give me stitches. No, I didn't fall off my bicycle, so I'm sorry my dear waddles, you won't have the chance to say, "I told you so" :P The wound isn't actually very big, it's just 2 stitches. But anyway, was training at Valby-Hallen, and I crashed into an unidentifiable object (unidentifiable at the time of impact), and the next thing I knew, I was injured. To be honest, it really didn't hurt AT ALL (I'm not just saying it to reassure my family), but I was more freaked out by the blood than anything else. Going to take out my stitches tomorrow...eww. Was just thinking during my 2hour wait in the hospital, that lots of people get stitches...just not at age 21 @_@

But I got to see first hand, Denmark's famed social and welfare system. Apart from the 2hr wait, nurse was helpful, doctor was reassuring, and best of all, treatment was completely free! :)

Back to other photos...

A wonderful package, from a wonderful person, who had picked up my phone on the floor of London airport.

Nice people in the world:

James, who found my mobile phone, went through all the trouble to find me, and mailed it back to me from the UK, and refused to accept any payment. Where do you find people like that in the world anymore.
Unnamed man at Nyeland Cykler, who gave me those tiny caps to put on the spoke of my bicycle wheel for free :)
A random Dane who asked about my chin in Danish, whilst cycling side by side. But of course, I couldn't reply in Danish :|

School Events

2008-02-18T00:39:00.003+08:00

MOVIE NIGHT

Movie night during orientation week, where we ended up watching a romantic comedy...of a different kind as originally planned, due to some technical hiccups. [Shake It All About starring Mads Mikkelsen] But they really went all out to decorate the place! (so that's where our money for the program went...:P)

"Local dinner with your buddy" Night

This was really special, where I really felt true Danish hospitality (although some would argue the general lack of it). My exchange buddy (this program where a local student from CBS is assigned to an exchange student to help him/her settle down) and her friends invited me and their buddies over for a good home-cooked Danish meal. We helped cook, so I'm gonna try it out for myself one of these days!

The preparation

Danish Frikadeller!

Starters

Tom [HK] & Thea [Denmark]

L2R: Benedikte [Danish, and owner of the beautiful apartment],
Camilla [my incredibly helpful Danish buddy] and Tom [again]

Tom was clowning around being funny while there was mayhem in the kitchen haha. He's quite amusing...when I was talking to Carol (in our usual Singaporean fast-paced conversation speed) while he was washing the dishes, he suddenly turned around, gave us a completely bewildered look and said, "Were you speaking English?? I did NOT understand that at all." I don't know why but his reaction was hilarious. But well...whenever Singaporeans lapse into our monotonous Singlish, no Asian can understand us :p Anyway, Benedikte and Camilla were trying the "Brun sauce" to make it "brun sauce og kartofler", an extremely authentic Danish dish. It overheated, but it tasted really good :)

The wonderfully-laid out table that already greeted us when we stepped into the apartment :):):) The Danish girls were such great host.

The yummy product - tadah!

And the happy receivers of the product :D

On top of my own local buddy dinner, I crashed Jiamin's one as well hehe :P I know I know, greedy me.

Starters

(chips as always...which I really treasure here, because although it's junk food, it's 'luxury' junk food...things that I won't eat at home but want some here just because I can't afford to add it to my grocery shopping list :|)

Jiamin's buddy, Johannes on the left.

Preparing a 'typical Danish cake'...which was basically piling on lots of cream, chocolate, jam and...whatever you can find in the refrigerator @_@

Special salad prepared by Henry
(he's half-Danish half-Brit...I love his British accent! JJ & Juline - come back with one haha :p)

Mikkel & Michael

The extremely sweet dessert @_@

It's quite embarrassing how our counterparts here in Europe find out that some of us don't really have that much cooking experience...but it's mainly due to the fact that a lot of them live on their own by the time they are 17-19 yrs old. That's unheard of in Singapore, not necessarily because we're a tighter family unit, but we just can't afford to live on our own! @_@ But was just reminded how fortunate I am to have my mum take care of my meals for me (with great food all the time :p)...how I appreciate that much more now that I have to cook on my own! :p But students here are extremely independent, and have it really good! (well, that's just my opinion) Education is COMPLETELY FREE (yes, that means parents don't have to worry about their cpf funds going into their children's education, and yes, even at university level) and the Danish government actually gives the students monthly allowance of 4000dkk a month to study! (That's about S$1,000+) BUT, they take care of their own expenses entirely. They have to pay for rent (which is usually really expensive), food, textbooks, transport etc etc. That's why most of the Danish students here (if not all of them) work, depending on their expenditure. My buddy has 3 jobs @_@ She's a dance instructor, ski instructor and a sales girl. The international office director warned us that Danish students are extremely busy...now I can see why. And in most cases (explained by the director), too busy to have a religion as well.

FORMAL WELCOME DINNER

Formal Welcome Dinner (our last social program for orientation), where again they magically transformed the school area into a gorgeous fancy place. The student crew who put this together impressed me incredibly with their effort. I find it quite similar to SMU, in the sense most of the things here are student-initiative & student-run.

Some of Jiamin's Danish local friends from his local buddy dinner together with Liu Jia (also an exchange student) from China.

Fastelavn Celebration

It was a costume party, where I went to see them crack open the barrel of sweets. According old folklore, in the olden days, they used to put a real cat in the barrel @_@ aiyee.
(I honestly think that in modern context, it's another excuse for the Danes to go out and party :|)

The barrel in the background...no live cat.

Cracking the barrel

(the sweets here are disgusting here by the way. They Danes absolutely love liquorice!! I have no idea why...they even have liquorice mentos!!

Top 2 winners for best-dressed (in my book anyway) are...

*drumroll*

NETTO-MAN!

Considering how almost all of us students are on a really tight budget and cannot afford to actually BUY a costume, or eat out for that matter, this creative fella took Netto bags (Netto is like our NTUC, where we visit almost daily in order to cook our meals) and made it into a suit. A+ for creativity :)

PASTA-MAN!

From afar, I thought he had just put a pot on his head for fun (it was a scream), but I realised he had a whole pasta-theme to it. He strung pasta tubes and hung over his red shirt...geddit-tomato sauce! :p I was extremely tickled. It's a pity he's not from Italy (he's actually from Spain)...would've have been so original :)

Tromsø, Norway: 25-28 Jan 08

2008-02-11T00:21:00.000+08:00

Finally, an update :P

Took a weekend trip to Tromsø (Northern Norway) to catch the famed Northern Lights. It was short, but so worth it.

Touch-down in Tromsø

We took a plane from Copenhagen (Denmark) to Oslo (Norway), and then a connecting flight from Oslo to Tromsø. Very thankful for the half price tickets that a friend told us about, helped in our travel finances, as most of the cost went to the plane tickets. We started off our exciting journey by running for our lives to our connecting flight @_@ I have never sweat so much in an airport in my life. Worse still, we piled on our warm jackets and sweaters as we wanted to pack light by wearing our warm clothing. We were literally steaming by the time we hopped onto the plane, and we made it just in time, thank God.

The little plane that we came in on.

Proof that 7-11 is ubiquitous with its presence even in Tromsø airport @_@

Stepping outside of the airport

And I'll make it official - I LOVE TROMSØ!!! It was so beautiful. We made our first stop at the Visitor's Centre, to pick up any information we could lay our hands on (typical touristy Singaporeans aye). That's when I first discovered I had left my handphone on the aeroplane :| I'll save that story for another day...I have half a mind to blame it on the security checks that they keep making us go through, where I had to take my belt on and off so many times that it was inevitable that I would have left my phone somewhere...(I had my hp pouch strapped to my belt)...but yes, I was careless :( So we finally left the visitor's center after 1 hr of trying to locate my phone. Anyway. Tromsø is an EXTREMELY tourist-friendly place...and I thought it would be more ulu as we head up north, but I was proven wrong over and over again. They have excellent and efficient systems, be it transportation, plumbing, roads etc. Everybody speaks some English and people are extremely helpful. But oh gosh, the best thing is the weather. I thought I'd turn into an icicle...considering how cold Copenhagen is (below 5deg), what more one of the northern-est part of Scandinavia? AND I didn't have any ski-wear...thankfully I borrowed a really thick fleece inner jacket from Carol.

Random
Things that I am thankful for:

THE WONDERFUL BOOTS - THANK YOU JIE you've no idea how grateful I am for them...I practically wear them everyday :P
my long nike socks

BUT, I found out that I didn't have to worry as the weather was absolutely awesome. It was the same temperature as Copenhagen, but it snowed everyday...so as we walked around, we were crunching into fresh snow, and it was so beautiful when it suddenly started snowing, and we would look up to see snowflakes floating towards you against the dark sky. It's like what I had imagined from Archie comics...where if you pick up a ball of snow and throw, it'll go *poof* :D I know I have had the privilege to travel quite a bit, but never in my life have I seen snow quite like this. Beautiful.

Our first encounter with Tromsø snow.

Our first day, we just walked around the small town of Tromsø with all we had on our backs. It was amazing to see they had brands such as United Colours of Benetton, Levis, Nike, and all the big brands you could think of...in this small town of a grand total of 60,000 people.

"Mack Brewery - proudly lays claim to being the northernmost brewery in the world."
Apologies that it's a little dark, but the brewery is where I'm pointing at. Hmmm. They can probably lay claim to being the northernmost-anything.

Ol' Mack himself

Wandered into a sports shop, where we stumbled upon a whole array of hunting guns :| They have a lot of wildlife on the outskirts of Tromsø city. Their favourite is reindeer...uh, yum?

We were told that the town was having their Northern Lights Festival that night! :):):) What incredible timing.
Setting up for the performance along the main shopping street, Storgata.

The performances for the festival. Apparently the 'dancers' with torches in the background are the 'aurora-seekers'...or something like that.

The performers

The fire-breathers were quite scary...they looked like they were doing it for the first time @_@

The days are so short in Tromsø, literally. The sun rises about 8pm or slightly earlier, and sets at 4pm. So by the time it's 8pm, it feels really late and I get sleepy :| A rather strange feeling. Everything closes early too, promptly at 4pm. So by then, there's nothing much to do, but walk, eat or sleep.

The mountain that left me awestruck. I first saw it at night as we trouped to our accommodation. I couldn't see it clearly at first, but I first saw white patches (of snow) that was on it, and as I drew nearer, and as I slowly made out the shape and SIZE of the mountain, it scared me quite a bit! But it was a breath-taking scenery to wake up to.

Playing with poof-able, throwable snow :)

They say that to see the Northern Lights/aurora, you have to go to a really dark place to see it on a clear night...but no guarantees. 'She' is said to have her mood, and appears only when 'she' feels like it. Well on our first night, armed with a torch and a flask of hot milo, we walked down about 5km into the valley, where we thought it would be a place dark enough. But it was still too bright as we were still relatively near the brightly-lit city, and the path we were on had really bright lamp-post. We weren't going to wander into the forest in the dark, so we decided to head back. On the way back we saw something really bright just behind the mountain...but it wasn't green. We decided to wait and see what it was anyway...and it turned out to be the rising moon -_- But it was beautiful anyway, except that we were too cold to stay out any longer...and I was kinda wet from happily lying down on the snow to star-gaze, so we just went back without seeing anything that night :P

The 'entrance' to the valley, just where our accommodation was located.

Walking to the bus stop that will bring us to the connecting bridge to the city.
I just can't get enough of the snow :)

The Domkirke - the northern-most church (what did I tell you) which was completed in 1861.
"It bears witness to the prosperity of Tromsø's 19th century merchants, who became rich on the back of the barter trade with Russia. They part-funded the cathedral's construction."

"Ronald Amundsen, the polar explorer (1872-1928). Amundsen spent 30 years searching out the secrets of the polar regions, and on Dec 14 1911, he and 4 of his crew became the first men to reach the South Pole, famously just ahead of his British rival Captain Scott."
Ok I didn't even know who this guy was until I blogged...I didn't have time to read up when I was there, so I just took a picture first and decided I could find out who he was later. And he apparently has the finest set of eyebrows north of Oslo...haha.

Reindeer fur in a souvenir shop. It felt really weird touching it. :| But it's apparently quite popular (despite it's steep price), by the time we exited the shop, 2 of them were gone off the shelf.

A fish shop that appeared out of nowhere, in the main square Stortorget. This is where the fresh fish and prawns are sold direct from inshore fishing boats. I didn't buy any fish from Tromsø, but I managed to buy some Norwegian salmon at the airport...cos it was half price heh (expiring of course).

View from the bridge connecting the Tromsøya island and the city.

View of the city from the bridge. It was reallyyyy windy.

Wandered into a free art museum that showed paintings of Northern Norway in the past, before it was populated into a city. It was there that I learned a little more of the (natives) people, and how the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden tried assimilating them by converting them to Christianity and forbidding their language from the 17th century.

A piece of art in the museum. No, the painting did not fall off the frame.

We decided to sign up for an overnight excursion on our 2nd night. Although it was a little more expensive that what we would pay for a normal accommodation, it included an experience we knew we could not miss, and would be a waste if we were to give it a pass. It included 3 meals in a traditional lavvo, dog-sledding, survival equipment and a chance to see the northern lights in the artic wilderness throughout the night :) It honestly exceeded all expectation because I thought the place (which is actually a site where they breed Alaskan dogs) would be dinghy and run-down. But no, the quality test (which was the toilet) passed with flying colours. It was better/cleaner than any hostel toilet I've ever stayed in, and they seriously looked after us really well. Except that I felt the organization that provided this 'program' was understaffed and the people overworked. The same people who cooked the meals, served them. The same people who serve food are dog-sled...uh, drivers. And these same people breed the Alaskan huskies themselves.

We first arrived at night - where we saw 240 Alaskan huskies (I think Mom would have freaked out :P)...and the people who take care of them know each of them by name.

All suited up, looking like marshmallows and ready for any snowstorm!!

Dinner with the rest of the 'tour group' in front of the open fire. Boy did it feel like Christmas :)

And guess what we had for dinnerrrr...reindeer meat. I was glad that we could have a chance to try some of their local delicacies. Although not appreciated by all...the spanish lady next to me refused to eat anything after she heard what was served :P It tasted very much like beef - it was boiled into a soup with lots of carrots and onions. J-man said it reminded him so much of the home-cooked Chinese soup that we get at home, which was quite true :) Sigh, it was so nice to have a leetle taste of home :):):)

Because we were staying with the people who breeding the Alaskan huskies, we had the chance to 'go behind the scenes' and watch them prepare the dogs for the sled ride and feed the puppies the next morning :) The food looked mushy and gross, but they explained they had to add water to the meat/fruits as the huskies don't like to drink water. But as I was out feeding the puppies, I saw the smart ones get around drinking it by turning over their dish bowl and eating the 'liao' from the snow heh.

We stayed out till almost 1am to wait for the aurora. We heard the previous night that it was supposed to be clear night that evening, but it snowed quite heavily, and I was getting pretty disappointed. I mean, I did come out here especially to see it. But on the bus I tried to diminish my disappointment by counting of all the things that I should be grateful for...that the beautiful nature and scenery everywhere I looked were already testament of God's marvelous creation in itself. And I wasn't saying that just to comfort myself in case I didn't get to see the aurora...but it was really true. I loved being there in the midst of nature and the way it really takes your breath away, because it makes you feel that small, unimportant and awed by some things cannot be imagined or made by man.

At about 11pm, we saw it.

It was indescribable. I'm trying not to be drama or hype it up or anything, but it really was hard to describe it...it looked unreal! It reminded me of the scene in The Lion King, where the older Simba saw his dead father in the sky...the clouds were moving and taking shape. It was almost the same, except that it was an eerie greenish clear hue instead of clouds. I half thought that it was going to form a shape or something legible! The one that we saw at 11pm was really clear and beautiful, it was snaking to the left. It left us speechless, and I was just staring up in the sky, forgetting that I had a camera in my hand. Afterwhile we went to get the tripod, but I couldn't make the exposure long enough for it to be captured on camera. Ah, the whole tripod thing is another story. One thing I regret not bringing is a camera tripod :| We figured it might be a good investment, so we bought one that could be attached to anything stable (we couldn't find a cheap one that could stand on its own). BUT, when we brought it out to use it when the aurora appeared, it was missing the adjoining piece (the piece for the camera to attach it to!). AHHH. -_- So we figured we weren't meant to take a picture of it anyway, and decided to just sit back and enjoy the phenomenon whilst we could. A good thing that we did too, because it didn't last for long. After the snaking line disappeared, a large patch of it appeared - and it was dancing, almost! :) It was moving in such a way that it was mesmerizing. I was so excited. Thank God thank God thank God. After that was gone, we didn't see any that was as clear since. At about 12ish 1am, there was a green hue, but it was more spread out and not so clear...so you had to strain to see it.

So that's why I don't have any pictures of the aurora :| But I bought a postcard...:P

Our scrumptious breakfast that we ate for 3 hours! It was the heartiest breakfast that I've had in a loooong while :) Gosh...milk, tea, coffee, juice, bread, cheese, ham, pate, jam, butter....siiiigh. :)

Siiiiiigh.

Our McGyver trying to start a fire from scratch

Toasty

Dog-sledding!
You have no idea how strong these animals are! And they are extremely and real excitable too. 10 of them were pulling 4 grown adults = 3 riders + 1 driver. They are smart and well-trained...they were extremely sensitive to our driver's orders and commands. Good doggies! The dog-sledding was quite fun and surprisingly quite comfortable (I suspect they lined the sled with reindeer fur :|), except for the occasional pelting of ice in our face :P

The dogs all excited for their ride. They have so much stamina - all 13 sleds/teams went out with full loads of tourist thrice!

Playing with the ever-friendly huskies :)

Proof of how strong these dogs are. And for the record, I was making so much noise cos one of them was trying to bite the arm that was holding up the camera :P

Getting the dog saliva off :P

Saying goodbye to the comfy lavvo

Our bus-driver, food server, dog-sled driver, and everything else! He was really crazy-funny :) He has 21 dogs of his own, and plans to compete in the upcoming dog-sled race.

Back to the small Tromsø airport, which has a grand total of 2 luggage belts.

Back to Oslo airport, which is pretty nice and well-designed. Where we also met a strange guy who kept harassing us -_-

Aaaand back to Copenhagen.

The end of our weekend trip to Tromsø :)

Tromsø, Norway

2008-01-29T07:12:00.000+08:00

[Random] Genting videos

2008-01-21T16:02:00.000+08:00

Søndag

2008-01-21T07:56:00.000+08:00

Went to church today, First International Baptist Church. Forgot to take photos! But will have other chances to I hope. Service was a bit short, but enjoyed the sermon. They are going to Portugal for a women's conference in April...maybe can go - sounds interesting! We'll see I guess. A whole gang of us went together today - about 8 of us! Mostly from Singapore, one from Shanghai and the other from HongKong.

Had dinner over at Jiamin's place today! Most wonderful Italian hospitality. We offered to cook for them Asian food...hope we don't disappoint them with our horrible cooking :|

Marco at work in the kitchen

Romina & her Danish friend, Michelle dishing out and mucking about :) Michelle can speak 6 languages!! And really well too.

The wonderfully laid out table for a sumptuous dinner :)

Pasta Bottarga!

Pork neck stuffed with spinach. The meat was so good, tender and yet not too porky. The Italians really know how to appreciate their food! We soaked up the leftover sauce (which they whipped up from scratch) on our plate with his home-made bread. Yes, HOME-MADE. Hmmmm...reminds me of the bread at Zambucca godma! :) We were really so blessed to be welcomed by them with such a nice dinner. They had Romina's Danish friend, and Marco's colleague from work over for dinner! Yes, his colleague! The only 2 chefs in his restaurant at our dinner, having such a wonderful spread before us. This is probably the best meal I'm gonna have for these 5-6months :| While I was eating, I thought to myself I better enjoy it while I can! :p

First few days in Copenhagen

2008-01-20T05:14:00.000+08:00

Send-off
thanks to those who came but I didn't take a picture with :| much appreciated! :)

-_-
Tiangster

Spas ultimate friends...busy photo-taking at the airport without us! haha - will miss you guys ;)

Being brought around CBS (Copenhagen Business School) campus by our exchange buddies - they were extremely helpful! Mine was waiting to pick me and my heavy luggage at the arrival gate :)

My S$3 meal at CBS cafeteria :|

Jiamin's full S$20 meal! *pengsan*

Met Jiamin's apartment-mates; Romina and Marco from Italy. They're extremely nice and hospitable! Really enjoy their company...and Marco is a chef! They invited us to join them for dinner tmr night...mmmm ;)

Getting Jiamin's bike fixed

My bike! Wheels are tiny though :| Takes twice the effort to cycle...see most of the tall Danish long-legged people whiz past me on the left lane. Here they even have traffic lights and special bicycle lanes for cyclists! Apparently more people cycle than drive. Tiring as it is, hope I can keep up the cycling! :)

A street in Copenhagen City. I think this is Old King's Way, the old castle where they used to use it as a summer palace for the royal family in the summer in the 18th century. Will double check that bit of info again!

Random: a stuff toy strapped into a car seat.
The kids here are ultra cute...so bundled and...helpless haha.

Accompanied J-man (that's how everyone pronounces his name now) for his first training - and they are super skilled. Very big sized, quick throws and powerful overheads :| gulp.

Kobenhavn

2008-01-18T05:18:00.000+08:00

Perth - Day 3

2007-12-01T21:59:00.000+08:00

Slept in while Kor & Regina packed

Lunch at...

chicken ribs! yeah, who knew.

went to return the toyota that Kor & Regina rented to drive me around the past few days!

While Kor was busy packing, Regina brought me around the place.

Pretty trees in someone's garden/jungle.

Pretty skies along Matilda Bay.

A guy setting up his para-sail.

Woot.

More pretty skies! Played Frisbee in windy condition :P

Came back to find Kor in the midst of packing his room

All done!! *beams at kor with pride* Heading to the airport soon! Home sweeeet home :)

Perth - Day 2

2007-11-30T21:58:00.000+08:00

Had a marvelous breakfast/lunch with Su Re! Arrgh wanted to kick myself for forgetting to bring my camera out. A good thing she did! I want pictures Lau Su Re! And this was just after a lovely chat with good ol'friends from sc the night before. Sigh. You know the feeling when you meet up with some friends and there doesn't seem to be any time lapse between your last chat/meet-up, even though it had been ages? It's like...you can pick-up where you left off, and a wave of nostalgia and warmth hits you all over again :)

Off to pick some strawberries! :)

Finding our way to Strawberry Fields, an hour's drive away from Kor's place.

strawberries ripe for the pickin'!

we actually just missed peak harvest season by just a few weeks!

Amazing skies.

Ripe for the pickin' aight. Got strawberry-sick from eating too many :P

The strawberry field-owners have a bear for a dog. woof.

Slacked around for a while before going for....
Vietnamese dinner! :)

Yummy thick avocado shake in the background.
Ate till i nearly burst :|

Perth - Day 1

2007-11-30T02:51:00.000+08:00

Long travelator ride to gate E28. Boarding gate at 1935hrs. Perth here I come!

Cold and rainy touchdown in Perth.

Okay, from here on I failed to take any photos in the afternoon, because
1)I was too busy eating
2)I was too busy shopping
Hey, those are good excuses okay. Anyway. Kor & Regina brought me to DOME for a scrumptious breakfast/lunch (cos it was lunchtime but I had a breakfast platter :P) It was blessing in disguise really that all the indoor seats were taken, because the air and scenery outside was so much fresher and welcoming :)And ahhh...had an affogato, which was really nice! :D I always served in Gelare, but never tried it myself. Of all the coffee places, I would have to say that DOME was definitely a great place to taste affogato for the first time :)

Did some mucking around at home for while before leaving for crabbing in the evening.

Crabbing photos!

having our 2am 'supper' at a chinese restaurant after crabbing

And guess what the highlight of our supper was :)

Okay wayyyy past bedtime, at this rate I'll prob oversleep my breakfast appointment with SuRe! :| Can't wait! :D

Cambodia videos

2007-09-06T23:15:00.000+08:00

Part 1

Part 2

Cambodia

2007-04-23T01:18:00.000+08:00

Leaving for Cambodia in about 18 hours time for 2 weeks (overseas community service) - really looking forward to it! Will be touching down in Phnom Penh and staying there for the 1st 2 days, afterwhich will be bus-sing down to Siam Reap where the school is, and where the real work begins! Yes, we'll be building a road in a place where they don't drive cars, BUT it's more for accessibility TO the place qiang!! -_- AND we're gonna be teaching too...which reminds me i'd better finalize the materials now :P

Things I hope to achieve during my trip:
1. Look around to observe His creation.
2. Spend a solid half hour with God daily.
3. Write letters.

Your prayers for safety are much appreciated it! :)

Random

2007-04-23T01:08:00.000+08:00

BEN & JERRY'S FREE CONE DAY!! AWESOME. Brenda you're so fortunate that B&J celebrates with you.

People take to jm so easily...;)

Yummy yummy eclairs! (THANKU for looking after me!...and making me fat in the process :P)

From here! (I should be paid for doing their marketing)

Something to greet me on Saturday morning! (Although it was already afternoon when I woke up and saw it on my table :P) Glad my parents are home and safe!

Princess Pearlyn's Birthday

2007-04-23T00:50:00.000+08:00

One of my SC friends celebrated her 21st about 2 weeks ago...on a yacht! fellow squasher princess p! :) Heh she's the nicest and most apologetic sportswomen i've ever met! So generous and cute ahaha.

Our 'entree'!

The boat was huge! As large as a normal 3-room flat or something. This was the 'bar' counter overlooking the kitchen. In the foreground is the living room area.

She ordered pizza for dinner...except it came in the form of a chef instead of a pizza box!

One HUMONGOUS longevity bun.

The large guest bedroom (the master bedroom was the largest - it had an adjoining bathroom!) with Alvina preening in the mirror heh. Really enjoyed catching up on old days, reminiscing secondary school days and just updating each other about life!

One of FOUR of amazing cakes that ppp had! She designed this one herself - neat!!

ANTS INFESTATION!

2007-04-04T04:25:00.000+08:00

Headed to my kitchen to quieten my rumbling stomach. Saw a roll of durian sticky kueh and decided to cut a piece for myself. Took out the knife out from the wooden holder and had it poised ready to slice the kueh into half. To my horror the entire knife was covered in ANTS! I'm not exaggerating. Ok I probably shouldn't be writing about this in public, since many of you have been to my house...to eat. haha. No worries, as long as you don't have a stomachache, you're fine. ANYWAY, discovered an entire COLONY of ants hiding beneath the knives holder! Was so shocked when I lifted it up that I NEARLY flung it across the kitchen. Just to show you exactly how many ants there were -

Decided not to risk poisoning my family members by spraying shieldtox, so I drowned them...every single one (I hope). The knives holder is still soaking in my kitchen sink...shudder. I feel itchy just thinking about it.

Oh well. Checking/sending/replyin emails, a few hours of watching snippets of Friends and a battle with the kitchen ants later...and I'm still working on ONE chapter of Company Law. Here's to a long night/morning ahead!

yummy

2007-03-30T18:54:00.000+08:00

krispy kremes :D

had a blueberry jam-filled one, fresh from the HK outlet bought just this morning...OOOOHHHH!! All thanks to 'leafy' :D

haha that would be the highlight of my entire day...just feeling rather slow since the start of the morning. Let's recall what I did today...
Morning - Precepts. Sleep. Apply for one internship. Print out notes...which I still haven't read.

Afternoon - Lunch. Poured during lunch! Apply for one more internship. Attempted 3 questions for my exam on Monday.

Hmmm. I wouldn't say that I'm UNproductive, just inefficient :P Gak. At this rate I'll only be ready for my exam...next month.

Radio Project! :D

2007-03-25T01:43:00.000+08:00

Malcolm Gladwell

2007-01-12T15:07:00.000+08:00

Malcolm Gladwell - The Spaghetti Sauce.

Trip to the Zoo

2007-01-09T20:47:00.000+08:00

Sheba, the world's first tropical polar bear, who has lived to a ripe old age of 29 years old!