Sze Pan signed me up for an exchange buddy and surprise surprise...I got myself a swedish! It's going to be real fun bringing him around Singapore. Looks like I'm so stuck with this whole exchanging of culture, food, politics, jokes, and loads of Fuun! Well..hopefully he turns out ...very hot...*winks* but most importantly he invites me to all his exchange parties...whoo hoo!!
***
Some new sem resolutions:

• master mahjong
• learn french
• stick to danish/european lifestyle and mindset
• exercise (take up some kinda new sport/dance.)
• be happy

love!

Konichiwa! Welcome to Singapore!

Itinery for today----

Look at dried lizards, sea horses, dried mushrooms, sea cucumbers and exotic spices all displayed along the stores of Chinatown.

Then, have a break at the best dessert house along Temple Street. Mango sago is the best...

Since haircuts are expensive in Japan, why not get one at Reds located at the very heart of our city in Orchard Road? It's only half priced!
Head down to the tourist food trap, Newton Circus , for some local food like satay, bbq seafood, or luat, char kwey teow and some very non impressive-and can find better sting ray even at AMK food court-bites.

One has not visited Singapore if she has not experienced the one and only night safari in the world!just be prepared that some of the animals maybe darn lazy and sneaky that they maybe hiding behind the bushes away from us.
Next, you should start off your day with a nice morning walk through the botanical gardens. Just remember to bring those shades, sunblock and umbrella for Singapore's screwed up weather. Highlight of the park--> the orchid garden.
hungry? Why not try our proud to own Singaporean listed company, Sakae Sushi Japanese Restaurant? Go ahead, bitch to your fellow men how lousy our standards are. Bet our conveyor belts are better tho!

Pet some strange looking creatures at Sentosa. And squeeze in with the local crowd in the shuttle buses...now u know how we singaporeans are good at jostling through the shopping malls! End your day with the very high tech laser beams dancing along with the musical fountains.

Wowee...

Enjoy Singapore (LA!)!!!!

Miss Prissy princess yang, the cutesy irritating girl is turning 22 tomorrow. Thumbs up to her! Happy birthday babe! Lurb u deep deep!!!

Exchange extends your network. It's true. And guess who came over to visit over the weekend? A japanese girl whom I got to know during my stay in Aarhus. Ayako was my neighbour and also an exchange student but in a different school. It's kinda difficult to think of places to take her, especially singapore (hor), really (has) nothing to do, as tourists. ok besides eating, eating, sometimes shopping, and more eating. Anyway, I hope that in future, my weekends will not be just occupied with the mundane eating, dining and chatting, but also receive bits of excitement like entertaining someone overseas whom has decided to give our little fine city a chance. it's really kinda fun! I've got to do more research though...Can someone tell me where is exactly the best chicken rice in singapore?

2 days of internship at EY. Same people. Warm and friendly. Things got busier and a couple of new faces. I'm talking more and feeling comfortable in my own space. They call me the happy intern. Because I keep smiling. I think i smile alot because i feel very very welcomed. =) Still can't get used to the waking up though. And job scope wise...still very very menial and mundane despite hopping to another department. Guess you eat the same shit at the end of the food chain. I guess to keep myself from getting bored from Singapore...routine has kept me occupied and focused. I don't know. but i find it nevertheless dull. Juggling between social life and work has been keeping me away from my beauty sleep. Now with even tighter deadlines because of the peak period at year end. Three more weeks to go.....

Liberation (10th /7)

Cropped hair with a new refreshing style (though I wished it wasn't this short! Argh! i swear I was prettier the day before)-Hl, thanks for getting me the hairband. I can't stop raving about my fallen locks.

Internship commencing next week Monday at Ernst and young at the valuation department. (hope it teaches me to earn some money in future) Lunch anyone?

Bad news that the three of us failed one course in asb. A freaking paper that we thought we could pass so easily..i mean after all ,we scored As with just one day's of last minute work and a week on holiday? We're given a second chance to re-exam by faxing the answer scripts over. hopefully it will work out.

Catching up with the old
for the new.

Shedding the old in finality

Zouk sucks. First and last time going. I swear.

Family reunion.

All in all...
Putting everything into a new clean slate.

Summer Hols: Part 1

Aarhus to Teplice (czech replublic)

It's great to know a local whenever you go travelling in a foreign country. I was lucky to have my exchange ending just prior to the summer hols and have most of my foreign friends going back to their home countries. It's awesome because you get to stay in a nice and cosy home for free, peeking into what the local lifestyle is like, exploring non-touristy places and having a translator so that communication gets so much easier(especially when I had Katka to help me at the road customs(yes they do check passports at road borders!). I began my summer hols tagging along with Katka, her bf Kuba, and another Czech girl Ratka, and embarked on a 9 hour road trip driving from Aarhus to Teplice (via Germany's no limit highway) with the help of their high tech navigating device. We managed to reach there safely by midnight albeit a broken window plastered with heavy duty tapes. Our road trip was delayed by 5 hours because Katka's bf's car got smashed into at the Bilka supermarket within the vicinity of Brabrand. The culprits were looking out for their navigator as the stand of the device fixed onto the car desk caught their attention. To their disappointment they couldn't find it and got away with just a couple of CDs. Oh well, tough luck.

Katka on the right and Ratka on the left Dead beat from all the rush and travelling, I checked myself into the guest room (above pic) and crashed. Next morning, I found myself nudging Ratka who was fast asleep beside me . I think I woke myself up realising that i'd crossed borders to the other side...Oops. Anyway, Katka together with her bf and sister, were really hospitable throughout my stay -ensuring that i enjoyed myself comfortably. And i did!

It's also cool to see that Katka's garden had home grown strawberries and cucumbers. Imagine having your own little organic garden and eating the fresh fruits of your labour at the end of the day. We had fresh strawberries for breakfast and tzatziki made from her very own cucumbers for our bbq dinner that evening. My favourite...Yummy-licious!

See the green stuff? That's Tzatziki(minced cucumber mixed with garlic and sour cream). My favourite. served with chicken chop and egg and carrot pasta. Tastes great on bread too.

That's Kuba with a cheesy grin. Beside him is one of Katka's sister's friends who is going through the experimental age of smoking pot. Check out his stoned look!

Katka's sister posing in front of their home garden. She was the chief chef for the BBQ. Very friendly and apprently grown alot more matured after Katka's exchange. She's 18 years old. Like the majority of Czechs, her English was queer but comprehensible.

The next plus point in having a local to take you around is that most of the time, the family car is at their disposal. Katka drove me around to many places around her town, making travelling so much more convenient and seeing more within a short time.

Going around her little town, we caught sight of a few spa houses. Basically, the concept of spa houses is very much different from what we normally perceive in Singapore. In this supposedly more authentic view because of its novelty stemmed from here, spa houses are places for people to seek therapy, massage ..more for medical healing purposes. Not neccessary having a bath tub with rose petals=p.. along this stretch of spa houses, we saw a plague that inscribed Beethovan's name on it, indicating he onced lived in teplice.
In the middle of teplice, u see a black gloomy monument placed to remember the deplorable plague that swarmed across Europe. This reminds me of what I had learned in European History back in junior college. The black plauge was one of the many factors which sparked the anti-monarchy sentiments among the unhappy citizens followed by a series of world revolutions.
Here's Katka and I standing in front a bed of flowers. Beautiful. We adjourned to a mosquito cliff (literally translated) and sat on a sky chair to get a bird's eye view of the town. It was breath taking!

We closed our little vacation together at the Terezin Camp which was a 20 minutes drive from Teplice. It was an eye opening experience seeing how the concentration camp really looked like-the shower rooms, the isolated prison cells, the potato shaving room, the operation room, the execution grounds...gave me the shivers. It's kinda ironic how the surrounding looked kinda peaceful but at the back of our heads we knew the horrific cruel events that happened.

Holidays like this gives me a very enriching experience. Don't think I would have ever gained this much of knowledge back home.

PS: sorry for the rather narrative and boring entry. I will improve!

Photos here

Malmö

I always love to put myself to challenges. To test how gutsy I can be. To always prove to myself something. An endless task of proving my independence, the feminism in me, to simply throw myself into the murky waters and see how long i can stay afloat. Best still, the freedom of having only yourself to answer to-one of the many perks of exchange and being single( it's been scientifically proven that single girls are more adventurous *grinz*)..And I'm glad a spur of events propelled me to make an impromptu decision to go on a lone ranger trip to Malmö, Sweden. (only half hour ride from cph to malmo+3.5 hour ride from aarhus to cph)

Upon hearing that there was a bed available in the hostel, I packed my bags, caught the bus to the train station and plonked my ass onto the train within an hour. I couldn't imagine myself doing it. I know many people have done it before, especially the caucasians and men, but to me it was something I had never anticipated myself to do! Though I was alone, I was never lonely. It was really a breath of fresh air having the liberty to shop for as long as you want, making friends with 5 other strangers (all ladies) in the hostel (a canadian girl even went out dinner with me), talking to random strangers who turned out to be drunkards and mormons at the train station( some church organisation originating from Utah aiming to preach their own version of the bible) etc. It was indeed an eye opening and exciting experience for me. Never was I a moment's bored as I was assured that something sooner or later was going to surprise me-in a hugely positive sense.

Looking at the above pictures ( first top: square of malmo; above: river near malmo castle), I think you will all agree with me that malmo is a small little city that isn't too fantastic but nonetheless has its beauty to flaunt. Armed with my map and other essentials, I carried my aimless and curious heart, exploring the city with delight.

Unravelling many surprises was one in which I found my new found respect and idolism for this lady by the name of Mary Beth Edelson. Guess it was a splendid opportunity to admire at her wonderful works of art touting her femistic views. Despite many rather offensive works, she continued to pursue her message relentlessly. I really respect her alot and will always keep her constant reminders close to my heart. Basically she used anything artistic to express herself -

I liked this very interactive and free concept of hers very much. Edelson had this box of cards which asked several provoking questions; one of which was about what your mother/father taught you about women. The box was being displayed and moved through several exhibitions around the world and i was indeed amused, disgusted, disappointed in some of the answers written by people. I too threw in my 2 cents worth by writing my answers on some blank cards.

Edelson also played around with the image of Gina Rowlands holding a gun in the movie Gloria. A lady holding a gun denotes some kind of power that she oughts to have. She had her image on a silk curtain, bed, collages, and other forms of art works. I loved this moving message that she'd written around the image of gina:

'Today, I'll be grateful to all my relationships. I will open myself to the lesson and the gift to each person in my life. I will trust that I, too, am a gift, in other peoples' lives.'
And lastly, my favourite of all was her 'portrait' project. She painted several pictures of great women of the century ( recommended by like minded feminist artistes) and placed all these portraits behind a formidable looking desk and chair. She wants to shift the popular idea of having great and powerful men (always leaders)'s portraits hung behind an office desk to the idea that women too have contributed greatly to the society and should be admired and inspiring to others too. It's super cool!!
Treating myself to a good meal at Lilla Torg that evening, I ordered a delicious plate of pasta with crab meat. It was delicious. The waiters were yummy too. *grinz*.

A good end to my little 3 days 2 nights expedition was seen with the victory of Sweden over Paraguay 1-0 in the World Cup. Unexpectedly, the two were playing with one another and I was just in time to catch the match together with the enthusiastic locals who were donned in yellow and blue. I managed to witness the Swedish peoples' moment of passion and glory when they scored at the last minute.
I urge all of you, anyone of you, to dare yourself on trip alone. Rough it out, it's character building. Good luck.

Photos

The gradual transition into reality began with the serving of curry chicken rice on thai airways and having several asian passengers surrounding me. I knew I was not far from tasting home when I sat with a typical Singaporean during my flight back. He was impatient, rude and obnoxious, spoke in perfect singlish and all else singaporean. That was when I couldn't help but to grin deep inside of me knowing that hey-you-are-truely-back-in-singapore.Welcome back. It was great to see my family and some friends again but i just can't help but to feel a sense of dislocation-the unfamiliar familiarity. i'm starting to miss my life back there-my friends there and to miss having not to deal with anything that used to bother me back in singapore. Now it's here, and I think I have to muster the courage to face all of them. Maybe, the courage built up overseas to deal with what is left here. Whatever it is, we'll see in time to come.I feel somewhat vulnerable but yet strong. Now, am i dislocated or am i displaced?

Barely rested and having the maximum time with my neighbours, I had to pack up and leave beloved Aarhus. Somehow, the mad hectic rush to catch the bus to the train station and the train to copehagen didn't even give me time to feel any sense of longing or to bid it a proper goodbye. Least I managed to spare some good o' quality time alone dining at my favourite Global Flakket restaurant savouring delicious danish delicacies and later proceeded to briefly have a one last look at the city of Aarhus. Then I took my bike to the statsbibliotek (state library) to enjoy one last free printing courtesy of the state and cycled down to Riskov beach.

Peaceful and tranquil. The bay filled with half naked people. Just as I had expected. By the time I reached there, I was totally exhausted from all the cycling and inadequate rest after travelling. But it was kinda cool just spending the next hour enjoying the sea breeze and writing letters to all my neighbours as a token of appreciation. I love them to bits.

That's me and my trusty old bike. Cycled back home from Riskov, I finally parked my bike right in front of my kollegium. For the last time. Good bye bike. You were good while my time here lasted. Frankly, I feel that my time in Aarhus was somewhat special because of the cycling experience. It's cool to treat a bike as a mode of transport rather than pure leisure. I used it to buy groceries, run errands, go to town with friends etc. My final responsibility is to pass it to someone reliable. Speaking about my bike, I was conned by my neighbour, Mette. She paid me half of the money for the bike promising me to pay the other half once she's not that broke. I trusted her and did not hound her for the money. .Months after months, she speculated that my bike tyre looked worned out and in her opinion 'is going to explode'. She refused to pay me the money giving the excuse that the bike is not value for money. fuck. Firstly the bike is in good shape, and secondly i gave her time to inspect the bike and she used it for 5 months. Anyway after a civilised confrontation with her, I finally made the decision to sell the bike to someone else. Even if I end up just giving the bike away, I will never ever let her use the bike ever. dirty bitch.
Anyway, I spent the rest of the evening eating my favourite chicken casadias made by Shanti and Pernille, and watched France VS Portugal in the World Cup with them. It was somewhat a light but special evening -though I wished small Pernille was around=/ The next day, Shanti sent me off at the train station and being the sweet girl she was, she helped me with my extremely heavy luggage dragging it to the bus stop and onto the train. It was amazing how I coped with it thereafter from the train to the airport. After waving my final goodbye, I plonked myself onto my reserved seat at the smoking wagon. Apparently there were no other places available because everyone was just heading to copenhagen for the robbie williams concert. How timely. And speaking of that, the train chugged along really slowly because of the unusual fixing of the railways and thus I was 1 hour and 15 mins late for check in. Luckily I managed to find a seat available on the train at the non-smoking section, saving myself from the bunch of rowdy greasy looking women smoking like chimneys. More obstacles to come when I reached the check in counter at the airport. The lady at the counter refused to let an additional bag in for check in as it would amount to an overweight of 5 kg. Convincing her that I was going to send it home, I went to a corner and unpacked all the things in it and stuffed it into my back pack. Don't ask me how i did it but i managed to do it. The lady was too not that stupid. She informed through the system that I had an additional luggage and those at the gate please make sure that I don't sneak in anything. I didnt know that little trick of hers until I entered into the departure gate whereby the lady at the counter asked me whether I still had my additional luggage. I waved my empty hands and said no. She was convinced. Thank god that I managed to make it in time, plus in addition to all the rush, I even squeezed in the time to claim my tax free which amounted to 64 euros. I was impressed with myself.
With the date with Denmark ending rather abruptly, I made my way relieved, exhausted and nonchalent to any feelings, back to Singpore via Bangkok.

ok im in aarhus after 18 hours of excruciating bus journey. sat till my ass created a huge crater on the seat. anyway, i can't believe that i'm leaving for Singapore tomorrow! Argh! But all good things must come to an end. So now, I shall be taking my bicycle out to see the last of Aarhus and gosh, it has to be summer now huh?