It's snowing!

Ok I woke up, blur and groggy, to a WHITE landscape. Really White. And I realised, it had snowed the night before! Gosh.

And I had gone out yesterday nite at 1am to see if it snowed. No, it was foggy.

Yay! Snow in Eindhoven! Heard from Huiying that it snowed at Utrecht too! And Amsterdam was super foggy yesterday also!

Snow snow snow...'tis the season to be jolly~~

On Monday


Today (Thursday)


Looking forward to Kiruna! But first...I need my camera to be working!!! UGH! (Might have to get a camera here. sighs)

Current Mood: Festive mood!

1 min of Silence...

R.I.P.

Another cold day in Eindhoven. Went up to Amsterdam today to get my Scanrail pass, and I realised that Amsterdam was rather foggy. Cold, but luckily it was not windy. Walked quite a bit and felt warmer after that. And definitely, felt hungrier even before 4pm came.

Gosh, I'm eating more and more :(

Current Music: Dan Fogelberg - Leader of the Band

Smelly Eindhoven

Returned home to a weird stench...smelling like a cow farm all around Eindhoven, from the airport to my apartment. Gosh, it stinks

Shall not blog tonight about Lyon and Grenoble, will do that tomorrow (I hope!) I've not even done my Spain trip yet. And my Switz trip is forever in the to-do list. Hehs.

It was a good trip down south, took in the good and the bad. Nonetheless, another memorable trip (yea I think Xiaowen and Lynn can attest to it).

Lotsa assignments to get done. Christmas...12 more days to go.

Current Mood: Sleepy

Picture of the day...

Boy, it sure did crack me up. Haha. I wonder if Singapore could do so, since we've like 5 stars, and USA could prolly contribute one of their 50 stars. Haha!

Well if you do not understand the picture, a good clue would be to look up for flags!

Current Mood: Artistic-fied

Current Music: F.I.R. - Change

An orh-cheh-fied adventure

The poster read...Indoor Skiing...and the rest is in Dutch. Forgive me if I cannot read further, because other than the place (Bottrop, Germany), price (€38.50) and the date (27 Nov) for the event, I had absolutely no clue whatsoever about the event. Except, of course, that it's an indoor skiing event organised by one of the students' club in TU/e.

And I gamely signed up. Din know what to expect, just felt that the indoor area would prolly be more suitable for me since I did not know how to ski!

And I pulled Joanna along. Luckily for her, there room for one more on the bus and she could get into the event. And that meant that I'm not the only non-European dude there. Haha!

The bad thing was that the bus was late by an hour, and there was a huge crowd there! When my bus arrived, there were about 9 other coaches parked in the huge carpark, and it took me some time to get into the ski center. And for that, I was late for my lesson and I was not allowed to take it. Sheesh.

Anyway...we had fun! Well, learning skiing yourself sure is tough. Getting to 'walk' up the slope was tough, braking was worse! Especially when I came down the slopes at high speeds...

And I fell down not once, not twice, but three times! Dang. And the third time hurt the most cos I fell down, and I was like..."OOWWWWWW...." My left butt hurt, and after the entire skiing thing was over, I realised that it was a fresh wound with skin which seemed to be scraped off, and an orh-cheh below it.

Dang...

The crazy slope we had to climb up!


Indoor skiing!


My equipment!


Me after an hour of skiing and trying to move around with 2 extended stuff stuck on my feet -.-


Joanna, resting...prolly :P


Readying...


Yay!

And after the ski slopes closed at midnight, we had about an hour to chill out prior to boarding the buses. And there was a pub and dance floor in the indoor ski centre! Gosh! U wonder what is the dance floor there for!

And imagine people partying with their ski pants and shoes on (well i'm a little far-fetched with the ski shoes...lol)

And the event closed with us boarding the bus for Eindhoven, and within 2 hrs (or less) we were transported back to cold Eindhoven, ready for the next day in...let's see, 4 hours? haha!

It was definitely fun! But I do know that if I ski outdoors, I would need to know how to break! DEFINITELY!

I dun wanna crash into a tree -.-"

Current Mood: Nursing the orh-ba-ka

Current Music: Westlife - Something Right

Time flies...

This blog entry transpired out of a very simple conversation I had with Chee Hau, as I was asking him which university he was in in Hungary, since I read from Weihuang's blog that he's going to the same country also. So, I though since they're prolly the same university in question, I should check out with CH and see which university he is in.

It's really interesting how time flies past here. Whilst our NUS friends are busy mugging for their exams now (same for the NTU and SMU peeps), we're here...trying to sort out the last 2 months of our exchange with regards to...

CHRISTMAS PLANS

Well..for those who are on exchange, or WERE on exchange before, what were your first thoughts on stepping foot abroad? As Peiyu would say, step by step... and yes it's kinda true, it's a step out of our comfort zone called Singapore, and another step into a foreign land, with totally different languages and culture.

Culture-shock on the first day? Definitely.
Unsure what to do on arrival? I bet you were.
Having orientation problems? Sure!
Difficult to converse with the locals? Well...if u aint in England or USA, I THINK so...unless u know their language.

For those who've ventured abroad and went to countries which you knew little about it beforehand, save for their famous exports and their capital city, I applaud you for the bold decision to shoulder on and dive into the entire culture there.

I thought time passed by me pretty fast. Well apart from the regular classes which I had to deal with, as well as the projects, essays, readings, MadlabMatlabbing stuff to handle, there were plannings for trips to be done and the mad rush when there's a flight to catch. Europe's like a huge playground for me...and I think I can roughly list the places I've been to, and I've enjoyed each and every city/town, because each one exudes its own inner beauty...

Copenhagen, Helsingor (Denmark), Malmo (Sweden), Paris, Versailles, Fontainebleau (France), Berlin, Munich, Konstanz, Freiburg (Germany), Zurich, Bern, Basel, Interlaken, Grindelwald, Luzern, Geneve (Switzerland), Madrid, Segovia, Avila, Barcelona, Tarragona (Spain).

And how can I forget the country which I am in, the country famed for weed, lesbians and gays? Oh, and we often associate the Netherlands with "Holland", orange colour, as well as windmills and Dutch milkmaids.

Perceptions. Definitely. Some were reinforced, some were changed. A fulfilling experience till today, and a love-hate relationship I have with my SEP experience here also.

Anyway, the conversation which sparked this idea, must be placed here ;)

ME: i just told him i know of ppl who went hungary lor
CH: he's as crazy and adventurous as me
CH: haha
CH: i salute him
CH: did you have that kind of "what the hell am i doing here" feeling on the first day of arrival?
ME: for me..it was surreal
ME: it was like...WAIT...i'm in EUROPE!
CH: it sure did for me
ME: maybe i shld blog on THAT
CH: the language was unnavigable
CH: and everything was foreign
CH: crapz
CH: now it's like nothing
CH: so funny
ME: yea mans
ME: i shld blog on that. u just gave me an inspiration

Credit goes to Chee Hau for inspiring me for this blog entry.

To all those battling hard in NUS, gambatte! And for those on exchange, enjoy your exchange dudes!! Gonna be doing indoor-skiing tml!

Current Mood: In thought

Current Music: 苏打绿 - 无与伦比的美丽

Bike trip!

First time I'm having a bike trip in the Netherlands, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Despite having my hands freeze off and my toes going cold, as well as cycling in the forest in the dark with limited light, it was a great experience. Thanks to Ondra and his Czech friends!

Cycled from Eindhoven to Valkenswaard, and then crossed the Netherlands border into Belgium to visit the monastery and have some beer and pastries! Shiok ah!

Playing with one of the donkeys we see on our way


Mushroomed sign


The group of 5!


Ondra posing with his bike during one of the photography stop-overs.


Cycling in autumn...


I'm on the top of the Netherlands!!!




My trusty bike that brought me thus far!


Nothing like a cup of beer and a piece of apple pastry! Damn nice la!


I'm in Netherlands AND Belgium!


Sunset


Dinner!

Time certainly flies...gosh. It's almost the end of November!!! And I'm almost seeing the end of my exchange here in Netherlands...a sweet experience to me, but wished it could be better.

Like always.

Current Mood: Cold...

Fuhong & Weixian's visit!

On Timeline: 7-12 Nov 2007

Panorama of Nieuwe Maas

Well well, weeks after Felix and Hong Keat came over to my place for the stayover to go to East Europe, and me going over to Peiyu's for a short trip, this time round I've got 2 friends from Sweden who came over to explore the Netherlands - Fuhong and Weixian.

Incidentally, I met Weixian in one of the U-Bahns in Berlin whilst I was on my Berlin-Switzerland trip. And I still remember how I went up to him and his friends...

"Heys, you must be from Singapore right? 'Cos of the Goretex jacket..."

Ok and after that, I thought he was very familiar, but I did not remember where I met him before...and it was only when Jacqueline Fu added me to a conversation between her and him that I realised I met him in the Engin Camp this year! Gosh. What a coincidence!

And so, I found another friend living in Europe for this period of time. hurhurhur.

Ok I digressed, but the 2 of them arrived in Eindhoven late in the afternoon. Went to pick them up at the Glaslaan stop near my place, and we made our way to my place to put down the stuff, and then to the nearby C1000 to get some groceries for their trip the next day.

Of course, as every student (or almost every) on exchange would do, we cook our dinner...and this time round I decided to do something...uhhh....special :P


Nasi Goreng (first batch!)


Weixian cooking the nasi goreng


Mix and mix...


Fuhong the server.


The dishes to go along with the *ahem* rice.


Pork floss rocks! w00t!

Yeaps! We cooked up nasi goreng with the rice I bought. A pity the Euroshopper rice aint as great as the normal Jasmine rice we use in SG, so it turned out to be pretty...uhhh...mushy?!?! But I think the pork floss and marinated meat helped to save some of our appetite.

Then again, 3 hungry boys who've been through Army...nothing can be worse than combat rations right?!

And well, the next day I was off to Hanau whilst the 2 of them went up to Utrecht and Amsterdam, thus I will jump straight to the weekend, where I met up with the 2 of them again to go to Felix's place at Delft and then to Rotterdam the next day.

I was supposed to meet them at 3pm in Delft, and after getting my groceries and stuff from the open market (having to wait due to the morning downpour), I made my way down to Delft, but unfortunately the train stopped at Breda and I had to take a 45 minute bus ride to the outskirts of Rotterdam! That totally made me late and I finally reached Delft at 4.30pm. Geez. But luckily Felix was there to pick us up, so we made our way to his place, not forgetting to stop by Aldi *cough*cheapest supermarket u can find*cough* on the way there.


I'm in Singapore!


Felix cooking up a meal for the hungry people


Dinner @ Felix's

Well, slept late as we guys just sat up to slowly talk and cook dinner, and after that the 3 of us (except Felix) went to Den Haag, and tried to get to Scheveningen, but it was a failure as we had not enough stripes on our strippenkart, and the shops selling the card closed on me! Damn! So we just walked around Den Haag at night (nothing much also), and we chanced upon this group of (apparently) drunk Dutch ladies who went "你好!" and high-fiving your hands...and thinking that we're from China (as usual, the link...) Well, talked a bit, but realising they're probably high and would not remember what we said, we just left after the short chat, and promptly took the midnight train back to Delft.

And we woke up late the next morning to go to Rotterdam. Sunlight peeked through the windows and we soon woke up.


I'm back in Singapore..............NOT.


Look at the array of satellite dishes!


River in Delft

And Rotterdam is like 10 minutes away from Delft, so soon after we managed to figure out how the entire bag deposit system works, we went out of the station....into Rotterdam!

Well Rotterdam is famous for its world class port, in fact I think it is ranked among the top in the world, handling millions of tons of cargo yearly. And being a port city, it's also famous for its bridges, skyscrapers and its many museums dotting the city-scape.




Kiss & Ride??? lol!


A rare sight in Europe - Skyscrapers.


Before (left) and After (right)


Elephants in Rotterdam!


Me and the giant Gnome with an even larger ice cream cone??


Ideas?


Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Panorama


Talk about a cliff-hanger office.


To where har??


Erasmusbrug


Walking up Erasmusbrug




Erasmusbrug as viewed from another angle


Villa Zebra


De Hef!


Willemsbrug


Up Willemsbrug


Erasmusbrug stands out in the horizon


That's the place where Jackie Chan did his sliding action in a movie...


Kijkkubus

And of course...I had to introduce them to some of the 'delicacies' which Netherlands has to offer, and I was in luck...there was a weekend market in Rotterdam! (It's a Sunday, that's why I was quite surprised!)


Weixian and Fuhong having the Frikandel


Eating the herring, Dutch style


Fish with mayonaise. NICEEEE~


Poffertjes - close up look


The making of the Poffertjes (reminds me of takopachi)

Introduced them to Frikandel and the herring, and taught them how to eat it Dutch style, which was to grab it by the tail and swallow it together with chopped onions into one's mouth. Well you can read more on the herring and it's rich history here.

And we chanced upon a shop selling Poffertjes, which was a type of Dutch pancakes, served over powdered sugar. (Ok I personally loved the sugar icing. Simply amazing!!!)


Evening time at Schouwburgplein


Tents in the middle of the square??

After leaving Rotterdam, we had to take a train ride from Rotterdam to Utrecht, then change to the train towards Eindhoven. Well apparently Weixian read about the Glow Festival, and I, being a resident in Eindhoven, did not know much about it. Walking about in the rain, I chanced upon the Glow festival exhibition centre and we went in to have a look at how light can manifest itself in...art!


Before (top) and After (bottom)


Lights...the wonder of it.


The Perfect Metaphor


See the words?


Weixian taking a rest in the Garbage cushioned seat


Glow

And finally, after a long day without a proper lunch, we went home and got ourselves into the business of cooking...Bak Kut Teh!!! I had too much meat, so we cooked some Char Siew at the same time with the pork ribs I got from the weekend market!


The handling of the meat...


Chefs at work!


Bak Kut Teh (top) and Char Siew (bottom)


The finished products!


I thought the Bak Kut Teh was simply wonderful! 2 packet thrown in for good measure with about 4.5 slabs of ribs, and loads of garlic too! Man...I miss the Bak Kut Teh in Singapore already >.< It's...simply Singapore!

Just wanna say that: Sorry guys for not being such a good host...especially on the 2nd day after your arrival. But nonetheless, I hope u guys had fun here in Netherlands, and enjoyed the places u've visited thoroughly! (despite the lack of daylight...geez)

Food links: Dutch food and eating habits

Spain beckons...Will be away for 5 days dudes!!

Current Music: Troy & Gabriella - Breaking Free