catching crooks

2007-08-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

Started my Police training 3 weeks ago... 10 more months to go. Although it's a residential course, surprisingly i am not dreading it.

It's going to be an interesting career with a steep learning curve I would say.

2007-07-12T18:13:00.001-07:00

The balancing act and sacrifices.... can we ever have the best of both worlds?

I think no.

2007-07-10T00:14:00.000-07:00

renoma renoma renoma renoma!!!

O_o *twist*

Naked Music

2007-06-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

I want to buy all of Naked Music's productions!!!

My kind of music:
http://www.naked-music.com/

2007-06-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a long time. Working really makes a person lazy to blog (at least for my case).

Recently, I read a novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind. It’s actually a Spanish text translated to English. Seriously, I think it is a super duper fantastic novel – the characters, the plot…. There’s a bit of everything in this novel that makes it seem so complete.

I think if you are into novels, this is worth a read.

Oh, Laia, if you are reading this, I think you should search for this book… the story’s based in Barcelona so I think you should enjoy the novel even more.

2007-05-03T10:33:00.001-07:00

And I wonder when can I do this all over again....

2007-05-02T09:16:00.000-07:00

I don't like people to go gaga over "superstars". I don't know why maybe it's because I feel jealous? Basically I just think it is not just for us to channel so much energy into "appreciating" the talents of a superstar cos I think there are so many other people who deserves that more than them such as our siblings, parents and friends.

And I have a bad habit of stereotyping such people as unoriginal. Maybe I need to learn how to accept such outrageous ways of expressing appreciation.

2007-05-01T06:54:00.000-07:00

To the poor dessert shop gal: You do not look like a monster; my friend is just easily freaked out.

2007-04-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

I guess the guys at STB figured out that the sun, sand and sea of Sentosa is incomparable to those of Bintan and Phuket. Maybe that is why they built so many pubs and entertainment outlets along the shore leaving only a small stretch of beach for people to lie around.

Today was an eye-opener for me; I have no idea that Sentosa can look this good at night; The whole place feels really magical with all the cool lighting and designs. And the "songs of the sea" is a must visit at 6 dollars per entry.

Let's see how long more those guys need to take to make all the tourist attractions attractive not only to foreigners but also to locals like me. I think it should be soon.

2007-04-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

A bEAch, A plane, A rainbow, A blue blue SEA.....

thE sound of wAves and birds chirping plus....

A dinner with the stars

sAtisFaction...

2007-04-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

The Sweet scent of hair gel....

my new Addiction

2007-04-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

A test of patience.

I love that idea. A real challenge for a worthwhile reward.

Coffees

2007-04-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

I think I have had too much fun over the weekend; feeling a slight hangover at the moment but i'm actually surprised at how I fast I managed to get my focus back on work. Maybe that's a sign of maturing. Sometimes I wonder if being matured = being more disciplined. If that is the case then maybe I can say that our society advocates individuals to control their basic animal instinct? Alright alright I shall stop thinking.... I do think sociologists have a tough job; I wonder how often they confuse themselves.

Anyway, the weekend was filled with loads of walking, searching for cheap and nice bargains in town. Haven't done this for quite some time (since my NS days.. i think), ended up to be quite fun although tiring. I really think the company makes a big difference; thanks ah Ms Glutton. I was determined not to buy anything but just window shop to keep my fashion sense updated but I guess I succumbed to both the attraction of the product and the persuasion of shopping queen so in the end, i bought a pair of berms and a packet of coffee powder.

The berms were nothing interesting but the coffee was:

Cuppa coffee. I should say I bought it 90% due to the very nice and patient salesman who went all out to find something that suits my taste; i am no coffee connosieur if you are wondering. I only got this "addiction" during my exchange in Finland. Talking about that, I really have to thank my flatmate then, Andrea for sharing with me his interest in coffee. The coffee powder he uses is from Lecce, Italy. I still think that was the best coffee i ever tasted so far. Maybe that explains why I like to try new coffee powder... maybe subconsciously I am hoping to find something that is of the same quality if not, better? I have no idea how i fell in love with this kind of "ang moh" coffee cos it's naturally more bitter and seems more diluted as compared to those you find in the kopitiams. BUt dun be fooled by the diluted appearance, it actually has a stronger aroma than those you find in kopitiams. So maybe that shows that I am more of a smell person than taste? since I am willing to put up with the bitterness for the aroma? oh... i am thinking too much again. haha.

I nearly was able to taste some of the chilean wines that were sold at the coffee booth but there was a stupid uncle who came forward and tried to show off his knowledge in wines to the salesman. I think it must have freaked him out. I so much wanted to tell the uncle: "Eh if you think you so good, don't waste your talent, go join him as a salesman" But decided not to cos this kind of ppl sure got a glib tongue and it will be so paiseh if i lose the debate with him. So i grabbed my packet of columbian Cuppa and left.

Just had my first cup of the columbian cuppa... oooh I must say it tasted better than any of the powder I bought from cold storage. I guess the best part of it is that it does not leave a dry feeling in your mouth after drinking it.

I can't wait to finish this packet cos I came across this really interesting shop in dhoby exchange. It's called jamocha: the beanie boutique. They were having a promotion for coffee powder which the boss imports in by himself. Both Ms Glutton and I agreed that the boss opened the shop purely based on interest cos he looks old enough to have retired. Managed to get hold of this informative brochure from him which explains how coffee beans are categorised, the terminology that ppl use to describe coffee and the proper way to grind coffee.

Just when I thought I could get by with cheaper 3 in 1 coffee... i was wrong.

Re-kindled coffee love.

2007-03-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

And suddenly, I thought of Miss Laia. Her happy-go-lucky attitude makes me miss her so much

My wonderful SDP project mates

2007-03-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

Public

2007-03-25T00:14:00.000-07:00

I have come to a conclusion that most people here abuse anything that is public... be it communal kitchens, TV lounges, Washing machines, etc.

And most of these people usually take very good care of their own private property. So this refutes the point that they don not know how to take care of things; yep they are plain selfish.

So for those out there who thinks that working in the public sector is easier than in the private.... i suggest that you think again.... Public = abuse.

2007-03-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

It's really a wrong time to be down with a cold. But i'm really glad I am recovering quite fast.

Hope I get well soon... that pile of work on my desk is waiting for me.

2007-03-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

Please knock before you enter. Basic courtesy. Thanks

2007-03-19T11:08:00.001-07:00

Guilty conscience =(

2007-03-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

Life must be full of ups and downs because it is only when you experience the downs then will you cherish the ups.

2007-03-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

My thighs are aching now. I crazily attempted an unintentional 20km run on saturday. Of course I did not manage to complete it... probably finished only 17km before my thigh cramps set in... had to walk/limp back home; it's really an experience that I haven't felt for a long time (since NS)

It certainly taught me a lesson: never plan a run route without calculating the distance. Was feeling adventurous on saturday and yearning for a bit of sun tanning so i decided to venture out of my neighbourhood abit but that abit proved to be too much for me. Ran from hougang to Punggol and decided to follow the LRT track only to realise that it covers a really long distance... wanted to turn back but i was in the middle of nowhere.

But I must admit the view along the way was really nice, especially at Punggol... it was so peaceful and there were still many patches of open grassland. I even saw the occasional remote planes zooming over my head and also not to mention the countless make-shift squatters for the foreign construction workers.

Even though my thighs were busted, I guess I will do this some time again. This time I hope to be able to go all the way to Punggol Jetty. Not sure if it is a good idea... but i guess that would take me a bit of training.

2007-03-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

Oh my I think I am indulging myself in too much candies. I seriously should stop. You can help by dropping by to finish the candies in my room.

Last morning, I was taking a bus to buona vista mrt. It was such a refreshing feeling to be taking a bus admist the morning rush hour; seeing the crowds, the young executives rushing for time, old ppl enjoying their morning stroll. It made me realised that my 4 years of stay in a hostel has made me lose the morning rush hour sensation. I have no idea if that was good or bad but I know it certainly made me appreciate that feeling more (I think most ppl hate it anyways).

It made me come up with this weird analogy:
"if there is ever something in life that is routine and not enjoyable for you but absolutely necessary, you should try making it less routine. That way you will appreciate it more and maybe learn to see the more enjoyable side of it" - In short, it can make you a happier person.

And never ever become a perfectionist because I think perfectionists are naturally pessimistic people; they are constantly searching for problems and worrying that things are not complete enough. And very sadly, if you ever become one, you will deny that you are one which means that you will remain that way and lead a relatively unhappier life. Maybe this could be termed as "The Perfectionist Vicious Cycle".... A good topic for a sociology thesis... perhaps...

Lau Pa Sat

2007-03-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Finally after working so hard for a week, I treated myself to an overly-sumptuous dinner at Lau Pa Sat. Surprisingly, even though it has turned into a tourist kind of hawker centre (like Newton Circus), the quality of food is still quite good.

Ms Glutton and I had bbq sting ray, satay, kang kong and mussels. It was definitely too much even for 2 gluttons.

A spicy meal = a sweaty and messy event

It was a bit too much for Ms Glutton and me... but we still managed to empty the plates.

To end off the spicy meal... we had an ice kachang for cooling down which left both of us bloated.

Lau Pa Sat is definitely worth a second visit.

my childhood and a temple

2007-03-04T01:05:00.000-08:00

I still remember during my childhood days when my ah ma was still around. She would take my little sis and me to this temple near where i live very frequently. She's a really devoted taoist. I remember how everytime she would pray for our good health and good academic results while all I cared was the free sweets and stationery that we can get from the temple. (the temple i visit used to give sweets and stationery to kids as some form of lucky objects)
Obviously they don't give these out for free, you need to make a donation and my ah ma is never stingy when it comes to making such donations.

I never really like going to a temple because it's always hot, stuffy and filled with smoke from the incense; it has never failed to make me sweat and tear even up till today. Nevertheless, I still went upon the instruction of my ah ma.

Despite the numerous visits I made to that same temple, i still have no idea about the correct sequence i have to pray to the huge variety of deities in the temple.

Today, I had the chance to pay that temple a visit again. It's the year of the pig and there's something about those born in the year of the pig needing to pray to this deity called "tai sui ye". Yes, i sweated and teared again.. so did my mum.... I guess there's no way one can ever get used to the amount of smoke inside.

The visit gave me mixed feelings: My parents know that I see myself as a free-thinker but they still decided that I should go pray. Frankly, I do not mind going but I seriously feel i do not deserve the blessings of the deities since I have zero knowledge about the customs and beliefs and more importantly, I do not observe any of the practices. I do respect the religion but I somehow cannot get myself to put in my commmitment which is the main reason why i decided that i should just become a free-thinker.

And so today I went; i went thru all the rituals but this time round, I did not ask for any blessings; i feel i do not deserve it. It was purely an act of respect to the religion that my family believes in.

Perhaps I am too practical; i believe in ancestral worship not because I believe that they will offer some kind of spiritual protection but more of it being an activity that allows me to remember who they were and the times we spent together.

I hope my parents are not too disappointed in me.

Alcohol

2007-02-22T23:28:00.000-08:00

Here's what you are paying for to get "high":

Effects of alcohol:

1) mAKES your brain SHRINK; yes the perfect stupidity potion

2) mess up your coordination so you look like an idiot

3) vomitting so that you can choke on your own vomit while you are unconscious

4) dehydrates you so that you can look more matured aka age faster

5) kills your liver which gives u a reason to start saving for a replacement

6) increases your risk of contracting cancer; a good incentive to get some hardcore health insurance

7) hangover; the perfect reason to get an MC the next day

8) makes you aggressive; beat up someone and you get to experience life in Changi

9) makes you fail the breathalyser test; start looking for an agent to sell your precious car

Well, isn't it weird that ppl still enjoy paying money for this?

Maybe the government should pass a law for compulsory drinking since the Earth is so over-populated now.

Hmmm....

2007-02-14T07:54:00.000-08:00

Ivan is happy because he made a timely and good decision.

Mr Zeng

2007-02-12T06:36:00.000-08:00

This is Mr Zeng, he is enroute to UK where he will drink a lot, slack a lot and study really little. I had my fair share in Finland but I am still very jealous!!!

Well, I think that will be my last time seeing Mr Zeng in NUS. I'm sure we will keep in touch somehow. He is a Mr Nice Guy; help to take over my takraw captain's 烂摊子.

These are the alcoholics from A3. Looking forward to our CNY corridor party! HAHA

2007-02-09T23:34:00.000-08:00

“阿 bee ，你的眼泪很大啊！"

Are you "Hate-able"?

2007-01-28T23:00:00.000-08:00

A "Hate-able" person:

1) is one whom you can be prejudiced against him without feeling guilty

2) is one whom you will continue to hate even after you give him a 2nd chance

3) is one who brags alot and does nothing useful

4) is one who has bad breath but don't acknowledge it

5) is one who always think he is the most beautiful creature on Earth

6) is one who does not know anything but always pretends he knows alot

So are you "hate-able"? or have you met someone like that?

2007-01-25T11:11:00.000-08:00

I think sometimes I am too quick to pass my judgement on ppl. I tried and tried but I just cannot hold back. Maybe it is just in me. Probably I should be thankful that I can at least feel the guilt when I realised I misjudged someone.

This week was a mad rush but i'm glad I found some time to reflect. Happy about my life despite the work. Made new nice friends. Made good progress in my academic work.

Admist all the priorities and responsibilities, I felt that I have matured even more. I'm a person who needs stress to motivate myself... does that make me a sadist? I don't know.. perhaps

2007-01-24T05:08:00.000-08:00

I finally can understand why some people needs more than 24 hours a day.

I'm sorry if I haven't lived up to your expectations.

I need more time.

2007-01-23T04:17:00.000-08:00

Even though I am very sick of IHG dragging for so long... I still don't wish to lose my game.

I cAN't wait for IHG to be over soon... it's eating into too much of my social life.

2007-01-20T19:00:00.000-08:00

Just this morning while I was buying breakfast at the coffee shop opposite my house, I saw something that irks me. I wonder if I am overtly sensitive or too critical sometimes; I seem to always see such things. Maybe I am too ideal a person... I don't know.

I was at this busy prata stall this morning. I could see that they were severely short-staffed so I decided to stand and wait and hopefully give the poor stall owner some breathing space before I place my order. And while I was waiting, there were many patrons who approached the stall and just shout out their orders without even mentioning where they were seated. The worst is that they didn't even bother to check if the stall owner has managed to catch their orders. I was so disgusted by all these people; they are so plain inconsiderate. I bet they would complain if the stall owners do not serve them their food because he did not catch their orders.

Maybe they have assumed that by paying 60 cents for a piece of prata, the stall holder has the responsibility of remembering their order and face with their superb photographic memory. I'm plain disgusted by how selfish people are; why can't they just put themselves in the shoes or others and see if they can remember that well and yet prepare the food. I mean even if you can, it is so wrong to assume everyone is like you. Why can't people just be more considerate? I think self-service is such a good concept but I really hope one day, people can serve themselves even without the "self-service" sign.

Is it that hard to be helpful and make life slightly easier for everyone else? I guess we still have a long way to go in the service industry.

2007-01-15T07:52:00.000-08:00

I think something's wrong with blogger.... I just can't post any photos.

It is time for a change I suppose...

elated!!!!

2007-01-14T23:39:00.000-08:00

My sis has named me her nominee and that means I get to enjoy 90percent discounts off cathay pacific air tickets, subject to availability.

Maybe Barcelona isn't too far a dream for me now. Let me do the maths for now.

2007-01-12T04:36:00.000-08:00

I finally found my thirst for knowledge.

But I guess it's too late.

2006-12-17T22:04:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since I came across a novel that I think I can read multiple times without getting sick of it...

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

I shan't talk about its content. A really nice book if you have time to spare.

Just found out that a ticket to Barcelona will cost me 2K. I guess I have to shelf my plans to be in Spain next July. =(

2006-12-10T06:59:00.000-08:00

I had a nice weekend, catching quinceanera with nice company.

I really need to start working to fulfill my dream of going to Barcelona next July. But it seems that my commitment to IHG is going to prevent me from doing that... 5 days training a week... sigh...

I'm not sure how I can find time to work especially with my FYP not even half done.

argh.. headache even when my exams have ended.

Foreign "talent"

2006-12-04T06:35:00.000-08:00

I really can't stand it anymore... the overseas students in my hostel (I'm sure you all know which country i'm referring to) ... omg they really have hygiene problems...

Don't they know that by pouring noodles into the sink it will choke? To think they are undergraduates... sometimes I really would like to question their intellect and common sense...

And if they do know that it can choke that way... they are then just plain inconsiderate.

They should build a hostel specially for them... I bet it will be the world's biggest incubator for the rarest bugs one can ever find.

Inconsiderate pieces of shit!

I am weird

2006-11-29T04:48:00.000-08:00

I have just developed both a liking for classical jazz and trance... yeah I know it's 2 extremes... but i can't help it.

Today I found out that I can still do a doctorate without getting a masters through research. Really excited because i'm toying with the idea of doing a PhD. I'm not sure if I can make it but i'm feeling excited about it because I see it as a challenge to myself.
But that will probably happen a few years later... or maybe it won't happen; i'm worried I will be too comfortable when I have a stable income. We'll see

Exam stress

2006-11-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

It took me 16 years to realise that exams are not that scary after all...

remember please!

2006-11-15T04:36:00.000-08:00

Some people like to borrow but hate to remember that they need to return. (or should I say deliberately forget that they need to return)

It irks me alot when buggers make me remember the debts they owe me.

It just seem illogical that I have to waste my brain cells on such unnecessary stuff.

Now I truly understand the pains of finance companies and loan sharks.

I know this is evil. But I hope buggers who choose not to use their brain cells to remember their debts turn senile soon.

Sociologist engineer

2006-11-09T23:17:00.000-08:00

How do you combine something soft with something cold and hard?

The answer is Kansei engineering.

I'm so fascinated by this idea. I think Japanese are just so smart.

Putting emotional concerns as priority in engineering concepts... I love this concept so much.

HAIL to the new generation of product design. IPod has already done it and there is more to come.

I guess I need to be a sociologist to do well in engineering soon.

...

2006-11-07T04:10:00.000-08:00

you reap what you sow.

if you want more, try harder.

Some people just cannot understand this

Crossroads

2006-10-13T01:31:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a lot about my life after I graduate. And I finally came up with 2 options:

1) Find a nice girl, get married, have kids, earn lots of money, take care of my parents and family. Basically a really conventional and stable life. I guess it would be what most of our parents would consider to be a "successful" life.

2) Stay single, earn loads of money, travel the globe. This sounds like a more interesting option to me minus the stay single part though.

It seems so easy now that I have only 2 options to choose from. But well it's really tough; follow the crowd and make the people around me happy or deviate and make myself happy?

It seems that it is not that easy to always follow your heart. At least I don't think I have the courage to deviate from the norm as of now. There are just so many people around me that i can't bear to disappoint.

Maybe I will find an answer when i'm faced with the realities of the working life...

maybe...

I feel good

2006-10-04T11:28:00.000-07:00

It always feels good when you go online on msn and you have friends you made during exchange making the first move to find out how you are doing.

I guess it always feels good to know that someone cares about you; humans are insecure beings.

Thank you my friends for remembering me.

Feeling nostalgic...

I miss you guys!

santa's office

seems like yesterday

when will i get to see such beautiful sunsets again?

How i wish i could re-live the days of my exchange...

We need to change

2006-09-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

Was working today at the chocolate bar. Encountered some ridiculous customers and it made me wonder what is wrong with our values.

Customer 1:
My show starts at 8pm, I have to be seated by 7.45pm. Do you think it is possible for you to serve me a waffle before that.
Excuse me, miss, the time now is 7.40pm, I can get it ready in 30 seconds but do you intend to swallow your waffle? If that's the case I can serve you without fork and knife.

Customer 2:
I'm running late for my show. Do you have something that you can prepare fast, I have to leave in 10 minutes time?
Yes.
[takes 10 minutes deciding what to eat]

If you want to eat before a show, why don't you come earlier? If you can't why don't you grab a sandwich??? It puzzles me really. Why can't we make the effort to be early or at least punctual all the time? Is it really that difficult?

I guess something is wrong with our values.

Feeling the guilt

2006-09-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

Oops, it's been 2 months. Luckily blogger is nice enough to not delete my blog away. Well, for my friends overseas... I have finally moved into my hostel for about a month now. Now that I have fast internet connection, shall show you some pictures:

Max Brenner chocolate bar (my workplace)

My good friend Wendy has graduated

Mr Retro with sideburns painted on.. haha

Nothing is new, singapore's education system always makes sure that the student is over-worked; and if you don't feel you are over-worked, probably you have forgotten to do one of your assignment.

Busy with my school work especially when i have to write my thesis and also complete a project with an external body. And i'm still as playful as before; I just cannot resist the temptation to play squash, handball and takraw. That leaves me with even lesser time.

And with my exchange in Finland, i have become quite poor and so i'm also working part time at the chocolate bar still.

Sounds like i'm whining right? But well i'm happy with the way i am now although i yearn for more time to keep in touch with the friends i made in Europe and also my friends who are working overseas. I shall try my best (I still remember you people =)

Tried to make plans to do my PhD but seems like my scholarship does not allow me to do that. I guess they are probably worried that I will break my bond. (oops)

I miss Finland still. Hope I will have a chance to go back there someday...

oH and thank you qian for reminding me to update my blog. Haha, at least I know someone still pays attention to it. =)

I guess that more or less sums up my life as of now.

Enjoying my job

2006-06-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

Finally, I had my best day at job... manageable number of customers... nice colleagues and a damn nice free brownie. So for ppl who goes to max brenner... i strongly recommend the brownie. Wanted to make myself a waffle after that... but i held back thinking about the amount of food i had in Hong Kong the past 3 days.

Oh and for my European friends: Stop buying Esprit in Europe!!! It is severely over-priced... Apparently in HOng Kong, A pair of ladies jeans cost only 10 euros... t-shirt = 5 euros
And yeah... you guessed it.... i engaged in unnecessary retail therapy... now i'm quite broke and am trying to curb on my expenditures so if any of you out there has job lobangs with flexible working hours... please let me know! kiitos paljon (thank you very much in finnish)

The worst kind of mistakes

2006-06-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

are those careless ones that make what was originally right become wrong and once made.. the impact becomes irreversible.

Well, shit happens...

Forgive and forget. smile.

Updates for my dear friends in Europe

2006-06-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

Hello friends, it's back to warm warm singapore for me. Here's an update of my life back home... no photos though. I only have dial up back home just like alesh.

Guess what, my flight from Helsinki to Singapore was delayed for 3hours and i spent 3 hours in the airport watching V for Vendetta with my friend and a finnish kid. (we were nice to let him join us :P)
And we got some coupon for refreshments at the cafeteria (Fabian you were right abt the compensation :)

So it was 2.15am (Helsinki time = singapore time +5 hours) when the plane finally took off.
The 3 hours was unbearable... i missed my friends so terribly that i was rambling non-stop to poor xianzhi. so thank you xianzhi. I can't imagine how it will be like if i were taking the flight alone man.

Then i finally arrived in singapore at 9.30pm and i was so not used to seeing so many asians :P and when i stepped out of the airport.. it felt so suffocating... the humidity makes me feel that breathing was so difficult. Fortunately, it had just rained and so the temperature was bearable and i did not melt.

As for now, I have found myself a job at Max Brenner chocolate bar in esplanade mall... pay is meagre but given the conditions that i can only commit for 2 months plus the freedom to choose when i want to work... i thought it was alright. In addition to that, i'm a guy. (Girls usually have less difficulty finding part time jobs cos of sex appeal.. i guess)
So free chocolates for 2 months =)

Wish me luck in my first F&B job.

Reindeer meat for the last time...

2006-06-08T01:01:00.000-07:00

And today I happily spent S$80 on a meal at Kuu (finnish specialties restaurant). Yes and I really mean it when I say happily… no signs of regret after that nor symptoms of the inability to swallow my food.

The appetizer… salmon soup with toasted rye bread

Main dish…. Reindeer fillet with fried barley

The remaining Leppavaara gang

I guess the dinner was too nice that I conveniently forgot to take pictures of the cheese and dessert of chocolate tart with orange sorbet… well, so readers out there just use your imagination k? =p

Well, this was a sort of final farewell dinner because Andrea would return to Italy tomorrow and me to Singapore on Friday. So, when dinner ended, I presented my little gifts to my friends and they were really touched. It affected me quite a bit cos it showed me how much they feel for me and I was also on the verge of tears.
It’s always sad to part but I guess that’s part of life. I guess what’s important is that we cherish the moments now and remember it for life. Like what I told them, “all of you will become part of my grandpa tale to my grandchildren in the many years to come… the chapter of grandpa Ivan’s adventures in Finland”

Emotions are running high now. Still I will finish this blog entry.

This was 2 days ago when Andrea and me decided that we should indulge in the legendary gigantic burger from grilli (fast food kiosk near our place). And I found out that it is not legendary.. it’s really huge:

Me and Andrea preparing to sink our teeth into the sandwich

And the day before, we were off to the tallest building in Helsinki for a drink in the pub and hopefully catch some nice view of the city.

Independence day??

Me and Anais (the girl from France whom I met on the trip to st petersburg)

Who can forget, my dear Fabian…

The expensive cocktail I had… Aalto… fortunately it was nice

And this was taken when we walked from Kuu restaurant to the train station. Mind you this was 10pm already

Once again the remaining chaps

And finally, on our way back, I took some pictures to remind myself of the path I frequent during my stay in Finland

First the underground portion of Leppavaara train station

Next the path from the station to my apartment

Although I still have 2 days before I officially say goodbye to Leppavaara but I’m already starting to feel nostalgic…

I miss you Leppavaara especially the wonderful chaps who made it so special.

to leave...

2006-05-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

To leave a place where you feel a sense of belonging to is always tough. I used to wonder why people cry when they leave while the others who are still around can usually control their emotions.

Now, I fully understand why. It often hits you the hardest when you are the one leaving the group. I feel sad that I will not see some of my friends whom i met in finland in the next few years. We usually think of all the possibilities to meet again but more often than not... the reality does not allow us to capitalise on such possibilities.

Fortunately, we have the internet... but i guess it's really hard to talk after a few years when all of us are doing different things and exposed to different kinds of environments. I guess that is life.

I miss you my friends. I miss Leppavaara. I know i will be back in 10 days but there will be so many of you gone by then.

I miss you all. Thank you for everything! All the best to you guys! I really hope to see you all again... in singapore or even in some other part of europe.

I have never yearn so much for an affordable teleportation machine before.

Lily's farewell

2006-05-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

We had an outdoors bbq at Otaniemi for Lily's farewell. The weather was beautiful and the place was nice.

My flatmates and the bbq pit

Our dear Lily

The beautiful sunset... i'm so going to miss watching beautiful sunsets when i go back to singapore.

This is the season for farewells... That's the only drawback of exchanges... All the best Lily and hope we can meet again someday =)

my finnish tutors

2006-05-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

I have finally manage to take "proper" pictures of my 3 nice finnish tutors:

Marika

Elina and...

Sami

I sincerely thank them for their efforts to make my stay in Finland a nice one. Thank you!

Wappu

2006-05-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

The 1st of May in Finland marks the start of Spring. There's usually a major celebration in the city centre.

students clean the havis amanda statue as part of the celebrations

Haven't seen helsinki so packed before... basically i was "pushed around" so i had no idea where i was walking to when i hit the streets

The next day, we headed off to Kaivopuisto park to have a picnic... apparently, this is the usual way of celebration for the finns. Look at the crowd in the park and observe that almost everyone has the teekari cap on.

The park... first time ever... helsinki is packed with life. It was a nice sight though.

Revitalised!

2006-05-25T14:15:00.000-07:00

My laziness has once again gotten over me. I reckon if I do not update my blog any sooner, i might as well remove it. Well, after some motivation from q, i've decided to try and recap and provide all the missing entries...

Let's start with my easter break where i spend it in latvia and estonia.

So we took a ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn, rent a car and drove to Riga, Latvia where we spent 2 nights and then back to tallinn, Estonia.

On the ferry with Anja (Nicole's dog)

"Marriage" bridge... apparently each lock represents one wedded couple. The groom will carry the bride across the bridge and then place a lock there. [Riga]

And what happens if you divorce and marry again?....

Riga is very much like Russia probably bcos of the soviet union period

The baltic sea.. the breeze is really cold... brrrr

beer is sold in plastic bottles just like soft drinks

Andrea and me!

TV tower - 368 metres

Alberto and me!

christmas market square

And so that's all for Riga... next stop: Tallinn

the old city

tallinn

batman?

A good meal before departing

In fact, after having been to Russia, Tallinn and Riga did not appear to be special to me.

So hope you enjoy this short post with few photos =)

Ask when in doubt

2006-05-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

It is always good to speak the truth.

Even if sometimes the truth hurts...

You can be sure you are not misunderstood.

Don't you agree? =)

For you.

2006-05-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Moments that I thought of you:

Places I wish we could be sitting together and gazing at the sky:

I should start saving.

Happy

2006-05-02T10:46:00.000-07:00

I am a happy man today - 2nd May 2006.

My friends

2006-04-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

And somehow, my German flatmate, Fabian, cooked his first meal for me... tortillas!!! ok i know it's mexican but still he cooked... here's photo evidence:

Mr Fabian and his wok of minced meat, paprika(capsicum or bell pepper), beans, corn, onion, garlic and tomatoes

It was really good and he did not believe that 200g of minced meat was enough so we had to invite our nice neighbours over for dinner (sounds bad, haha)

Oddly I suddenly started to think of how people usually start to regret after passing bad judgements on people (unless they are real jerks which is really uncommon) -
I was really not feeling all that comfortable with my course buddy, daida, ever since we started to have some disagreements with our work recently. Until today when he suddenly approached me to ask if I would like to join him for his Holland-Belgium-Luxembourg trip which i agreed. It suddenly struck me that it might be a sign that our friendship is progressing... after all how can you call someone your buddy without having some disagreements along the way right?

And so i came up with my own theory - tolerance brings acceptance and then understanding.

Sorry i'm feeling philosophical today... maybe it was because of the refreshing long jog i had today.

And i guess the most important thing is to face the music no matter how awkward it is.. running away is never a solution; it just makes it worse.

So ppl cherish your friends and don't expect good times 365 days a year. Go thru together the bad times and you will appreciate them more.

Sports Academy

2006-04-18T15:05:00.000-07:00

Today, I decided that I should go along to catch the match between Milan and Barcelona. So we went to this pub called sports academy. As usual there was beer and cigarette smoke. (What's new) Well so we settled for a standing corner since all the spots were full.

So the match commenced. I was expecting more shouting and screaming but I did not get my fair share. Well, my italian friend, Andrea was really excited when the camera showed the stadium and he kept telling me about the atmosphere there and how he has the season pass for all the games.... I guess i really have to go there one day and watch a match and feel the ground tremble.
And it was not long before I start to miss the phrases: "Referee kayu!!"... "kelong ah!!"
Well, here it was all spanish and italian...

I don't know but I think beer and cigarettes don't go along with sports. I prefer to be on the pitch after all. It is just surprising how a game can be so captivating.

It was a nice experience but I guess that will be my last one as well.

Nice Easter

2006-04-12T14:32:00.000-07:00

Just before all of us leave for our Easter trip, the girls in leppavaara were really nice to invite me to their egg-painting dinner. So today I had my first go at egg painting (celebrating easter the authentic way). All thanks to the 3 kind ladies who organised, cook, baked, and prepared everything.

And here they are, from the foreground: Lily, Laia and Fredie

We literally had a feast... salads, omelettes (we needed the egg shells for painting), cakes, chocolates, sweets... burpppp
There was no space for the ice-cream i brought in the end.

The salads

Potato, cucumber, mushroom, tomato, bacon omelette, you name it we have it... and all of them really tasted so good. Confused about how we retain the shape of the egg but get the contents out?? Well it is called egg-blowing.

As demonstrated by Alesh. Basically you make a hole with something sharp for blowing... and a smaller hole at the other end for the contents to come out. Interesting.

The cakes!!! superbly yummy..... They were not bought but baked by the 3 wonderful ladies.

Dinner is served!!!

Professor Lily lecturing on the techniques of egg painting =p

Egg-painting tools; those are dyes, the base is vinegar i think...

What we created

My first authentic easter egg

Thank you girls again! I really enjoyed this Easter dinner and egg-painting. For now I shall catch some sleep before I wake up at 6am to catch the ferry to Tallinn.

Eastern Europe... here I come!!!

Russia - St Petersburg

2006-04-08T03:39:00.000-07:00

I finally found the energy to start this once again overdue (what's new) blog. The bad thing about bloggin so long after an event is that i usually don't feel the excitement anymore.
But i shall try my best here.

I was in Russia on the 9th march till 12th. I was with a tour agency for students since russia seems to be dangerous. And they have weird alphabets too.

At the checkpoint, i was queueing up behind this guy from china and so the immigrations officer (she was my first encounter of how beautiful russian girls can be) thought we were both from china after she saw the guy's passport and she signalled for me to hand over mind... But i guess it totally confused her. So she got all her superiors out... i was thinking what's wrong with being from China? After all the both of them were once communist states before... Why are they so wary of chinese visitors? spies? Me not sure.

st petersburg: Old city, highly-polluted, traffic congestion, many museums, historical. Sounds bad isn't it BUT the russian girls are all so gorgeous! I think that makes up for all those, right guys? For girls, just when you are wondering if the guys were suppose to be the same.... I'm sorry they are not. It is weird though.... the guys are not so good-looking but i say they are the luckiest chaps around cos their gfs will be beautiful. hahahahaha.

They have clubs also but the difference is that... it is a norm to have striptease shows in clubs... i bet the guys must be thinking... wow shiok! sorry there are male strippers also... yucks! I still remember we were staying quite close to the male stripper when a russian girl came to ask if we were gay... hilarious... haha.

But seriously with the amount of babes there... the strippers don't look that special also. It's basically eye-candy feast in the clubs. But to enter the clubs is like entering some secret facility... got body search one! I wonder what happened before that made them come up with such procedures. Then there was this other club which hire asian females as security guards... confused? well they were all former judo team members... they make clubs sound like so dangerous. But i still haven't figured out why asians???
And one more thing about the metro club... some of the girls who go there are dressed like machiam only lingerie. ReALLY skimpy outfit... culture shock man... unfortunately we cannot take pictures in that club so i cannot show you all... i'm not bragging really! Beautiful, good physique, skimpy outfit... I bet even a monk will can't help but steal a glance at them. hahahahaha.

CDs are cheap there but i only bought a russian pop band CD recommended by the shop assistant. I also bought many souvenirs here. Apart from the commercial side, i think the whole place gives you a feeling that the ppl there are trying to make ends meet but i dun understand why this is the case because the prices are generally similar to singapore. Well, maybe they are unproductive because they drink too much of their cheap vodkas. hahahhah.
When i say cheap... i really mean it... 1 litre for 16 sing or less.... 16 sing is good quality one. hahaha. Oh and vodka is cheaper than beer in clubs... weird. That's russia.

I would say the city is really nice for ppl interested in history. In fact, I enjoyed the tour a lot. All the experiences with going to their supposedly very dangerous subway stations and roaming the streets with my czech friend martin (who knows a bit of russian)
We even had a go at buying groceries from a typical russian groceries shop. I think the life should be comparable to how singaporeans will feel about living in malaysia.

So for now... once again i let the pictures do the talking :D

Russian street - bad congestion

Bad congestion again - notice how dirty the cars are, that's common there

Hotel moscow (even thought this was st petersburg)

Me, St Isaac's cathedral behind

Don't be deceived by what i wear, it was cold but i was lazy to wear my jacket since it was just a 5 minutes photo stop. hehe

And this is martin from Czech republic.

anais and guys

me at palace square

this was how tall the monument is.. just in case you are wondering

me at i forgot what's the name... haha

my tour group

from top of st isaac's

from top of st isaac's again

and again :)

me with mr Lenin

an expensive ball room

Wedding - the Russian way

Another wedding.
Basically during weddings the couple goes around the city taking pictures and fortunately I was there on friday which is supposedly the best day for weddings since they can have 2 days to recover from vodka poisoning.. haha. If you want to see how exactly it is like... go watch "Russian doll" the movie.

palace sqaure at night

ice palace at palace square

daniel and me

"Nevskiy prospekt" not sure if i spelt the main street's name correctly

view across neva river.. not sure about the spelling again :P

Kazan cathedral

across the same river again

battle field tour - winter war; finns vs soviet union

damaged command post of the finns

across neva river in the day

again

In fact that is not all the photos I have, i uploaded them but i can't seem to find them on photobucket and i'm lazy to do it again. So bear with what I have here.. will show you upon request.
Pictures include - russian dinner, opera and many more.

So what was memorable for me... hmmmmm... the babes. =D

Occupation: student

2006-04-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

Right, i'm studying rather hard nowadays because I really don't wish to re-take these modules in singapore. Well but that does not explain why my Russia blog is not up yet. Photobucket has started to give me problems during uploading. Maybe I will try picasa soon.

As for now, I will work hard so that I can enjoy my trip to Eastern Europe in a week's time. I guess I will try to put the Russia and Eastern Europe blogs up after that.

Exchange is fun.

Lahti

2006-03-20T13:03:00.000-08:00

On the 4th of March (yes i know it's outdated), I went to Lahti with Dai Da (north of Helsinki) with the intention to snow board but somehow, I was lucky and I managed to watch one of the greatest winter games: the Lahti Ski games and not to mention join in one of the warehouse parties there. All these, thanks to my hospitable finnish friend, Toni!!! Toni was on exchange in Singapore and that's how I got acquainted to him. I didn't know how crazy he can be until I went to Lahti (the place he stays). Enjoy the photos.

Me and Toni's dog, Leevi. It was so adorable. Sorry Yvonne, it was cuter than loki and I bet my sis must be really jealous of me. hehe.

And finally, this is Toni!!! in his kitchen.

Toni's beautiful house. I can imagine how it will be like in Summer...wooo

Kite-boarding at a harbour in Lahti; Toni drove us there =D

Walking towards the sea to take a closer look at the kite-boarders

Yes, i'm not kidding you, we really went onto the sea... look at the jetty

The closer look as promised

Ski-jumping towers, pay me a 1000 euros and I will still never jump down that tower

3 of us, freezing except toni... he's finnish. haha

Some pretty hosts of the event

Cross-country skiing event

Cheerleaders... want a closer look?

Here you go

Cute baby and mum, yes i sought her approval

FINLAND!!!

There were 28,000 ppl there

Fireworks after the events ended. It lasted really long so I gave up and videoed it down after taking these 2 photos.

Mr Leevi again, poor dog, I guess it must be really confused by me speaking english.

Warehouse party!! toni, daida, camel and me... chamel-pronounced as "sha-mel"

Snowboarding!!!

Before I fell

Gravity triumphed

Our nice host... Toni!!! Connections work in Finland. He got us a huge discount for the snowboarding and i mean really huge. Probably the best rate you can find in Finland. hehe.

And who can forget our cute Leevi staring at us when we were about to leave for Helsinki.

i'm still very much alive

2006-03-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! sorry for not updating my blog for the past 2 weeks. And you could have guessed why. Just taking this chance to have some sort of update so that you know that my blog is still active. I have been snowboarding and stayed with my finnish friend for a weekend and also visted russia over the short past 2 weeks. That explains why i'm having no time to blog. Plus my period 4 (they split the semester into 2 periods) is hectic. With many many projects and assignments to do. But i'm not complaining because they are all so interesting. Well, look out for the photos soon (i hope). I'm still pretty busy with my project proposals and farewell parties for Hans and Michael who are heading back to Germany soon. But I promise I will somehow upload pictures and blog about all that had happened.

ramblings

2006-03-01T14:29:00.000-08:00

Training was tough today; my hands nearly fell off from my shoulders. That's besides the point. I have just realised how little I know about my friends until I came for exchange. I never had time to surf and read their blogs but now I do and I realised that you can really learn alot about them through their blogs. I'm not sure if I will continue to do this when I go back to s'pore but I really hope I will find the energy to do it.

Oh and I heard that the bus drivers will go on strike this coming sunday if some dispute is not settled by then. Luckily I have no classes next week :D
Actually I really hope there is a strike (I know i'm evil) but I haven't seen a strike before so really interested to see one. Yeah and for friends who are reading this and not from singapore. YEAH most singaporeans haven't seen a strike before because the law forbids it. hahaha.

Anyway, just taking this chance to post some over-due pictures:

And I learnt to make this mint with lime, vodka, sugar and 7-up... it's damn nice

And this is a new friend I met at that party. She's from Poland and everyone agrees that she has a pretty face.

This is the court where I have my handball training. Really a nice place.

And I finally found time to catch my team (DICKEN) in action. They are in red. The man standing up at the bottom left corner is my coach, Johan - a very nice and patient man.

On the way back from the handball match.

The following photos are taken by Dai Da - my department in TKK:

The library

Outer-coat area

Main entrance

Cafeteria (oops accidentally captured alesh and miki in the picture)

2nd level

Oh and i'm going to lahti this weekend to stay with toni, my dear very hospitable finnish friend whom I got to know when he was on exchange in s'pore. I will be catching the lahti ski games (some really big event in finland) and trying out snowboarding or maybe skiing.

soooo singapore

2006-02-25T16:12:00.000-08:00

I discovered this website in my quest to search for interesting recipes to try out.

http://www.makantime.com/index.html

And I realised it's so singaporean. So for friends who want to experience a little bit of what singapore is like, visit the site.

And I bet no singaporeans would want to disagree with me that the best way to get to experience singapore is through the wonderful and tasty variety of food we have. Eating is a social activity here and we often like to introduce one another to places that sell nice tasting food.

I have decided that I will try to make kaya in finland.

Wish me luck.

So predictable

2006-02-22T05:02:00.000-08:00

Just when I have complained about the system NUS has, I came across this email about the outcome of the recent fee hike issue in NUS. When I first saw the heading of the email, it sounds good that the students' union had done something but then again even before the heading I knew what was the outcome - nothing changed. Yeah this is so typical in singapore... when you don't like something, you sign a petition. I guess you can't protest unless you want to get jailed. haha. So everyone feels good that they had "stood up" for their rights by putting their signature. In the end, nothing gets changed and we are still satisfied. Maybe that's why singapore is a safe country and i'm not complaining since this is good news for the Singapore Police Force. HAHAHA.

It sounded nice when they referred to students as stakeholders of the university but I guess they left out some details - stakeholders with minimum say in decisions (or maybe none) haha.
As much as we like to complain, we must realised that if we have a lot of say in decisions, it would also mean we will have much more responsibilities other than to mug and get good results. I guess the chaps who should be complaining will be the NUSSU, considering the responsibility they have in NUS and in the end all they could do was to arrange a formal session for the management to tell them why the fee hike has to go on. haha. sad case.

I guess all the proposed measures to inform students earlier before a fee hike would not improve the situation much... instead of students complaining after one day of the fee hike announcement, now we will have students complaining maybe 1 month before the fee hike. haha. No diff.

I thought the main concern here is that students want NUS to promise them improvements in their education. It's the same logic as getting your money's worth when you pay for a service. So much about service excellence when the educational institution is not even practising it. I guess they should start conducting a survey to get feedbacks from the students and probably they will realise that they should provide students with tutors who can teach. ok maybe i'm too demanding.. maybe tutors who speaks human language would suffice. haha.

It is true that the education abroad is free because the tax is high. BUT the difference is the institutions make constant efforts to make the system better for students which unlike NUS - achieve a world class standard. Yah and in the end NUS will be a world class institute with lots of grumpy students inside... how nice.

I guess it is just a different culture.

All NUS students should go for exchange

2006-02-21T12:43:00.000-08:00

I have been reflecting and realised that i'm learning so much more non-academic stuff than when I was in Singapore. Like for example, i'm online now to search for the recipe for goreng pisang so that I can cook them for my friends here; in singapore, I will probably type something like "simulation and optimisation" into google all the time. I think exchange helps us realise that there is more to life than getting a good degree, like adapting to new environment, learning culinary skills, cherishing our friends, exposure to different cultures (which I think is really important since we are so globalised nowadays) and many other more important things that I think lots of NUS students are missing out.... we are trapped in our tiny globe of work and more work!
I'm not saying that it is not good to focus on academic areas but I thought the system that NUS has, is too demanding on a student's time. Like here in Finland, most of the students have done some sort of summer job or are even part-timing; I took a CV writing course here and I just realised how pathetic my CV looks in comparison to theirs - they had to question me why I put my NS under work experience. I was like "hey, we are all students, if I don't do that what else can I put under work experience?" Well, they proved me wrong... apparently, it is so common to have a whole list of work experience on your CV here.
I thought it was good if most students have the time to work as they are schooling because in this way, they can try and see if they like to work in the field of their study. At least, I know of quite a few finns who change their major after a year or so because of their work experience.
This kind of trial-and-error culture is really what we need in singapore - entrepreneurship that's what we call it. Singaporeans are too critical and harsh about failures.
Alright I don't know if I am making sense also.

So all NUS students should go for exchange to ensure that they have a well-balanced education.
I can't deny also that exchange is like a partial holiday for NUS students. But since most of us can't bear to deviate from the norm and have an official holiday for half-a-year or more, well this is the chance to take a breather and not feel remorseful. At the same time, it would be a good chance to slow down and reflect.

Now I fully understand why government agencies are still sending their scholars overseas despite the fact that we have a TOP 20 university in Singapore.

A good balance, that's what it is all about.

Snow flakes

2006-02-16T11:01:00.000-08:00

Oops, in the midst of my excitement to post all the photos from my trip, I left out this particularly interesting one. Have you ever wondered why the "snow flakes" design in your windows wallpaper is of that asterisk-like design?

Well, I observed this in Turku. the snow in helsinki is ice-kachang... but those in Turku... they have a shape. take a look...

The white thing is a snow flake. Does it resemble that of your windows wallpaper? Interesting... i'm apologetic for referring to snow as ice-kachang.

oops

2006-02-15T04:51:00.000-08:00

Alright it's finally up. well I messed up the sequence so please read from bottom up. (the first article is titled "Destination: Rovaniemi"

Destination: Turku - last stop

2006-02-13T15:28:00.000-08:00

Turku was once the capital of Finland. This city has a long history and it was finally time for Kuo Yi to give us a lesson about Finland.

We arrived at Turku at 8.00am on Sunday morning. The city was really quiet then, sort of reminds me of singapore on the first day of chinese new year. I felt the buildings here had a really unique design from helsinki and rovaniemi. I guess it was because many of them were really old.

We visited the Turku cathedral which was the mother church of the Lutheran Church of Finland and the country's national shrine. It is over 700 years old! Of course, part of it was rebuilt after the Great Fire of Turku in 1827 which destroyed most of the town. I think you should be able to notice from the picture that the bottom half of it is stone and the top is bricks.

We even had the opportunity to attend their sunday service. Wow, their choir was good although we had no idea what they were singing. haha. The worship they have here is really traditional and very much unlike those in Singapore. Maybe that's why most of the ppl i see there were middle-aged and above whereas in Singapore, it's common to see groups of youths. But I really thought this was the way a worship should be - traditional and unique.

Turku Cathedral

Turku Cathedral - entrance

Interior

From the place we sat

We visited the museum of Sibellius. And this is the portrait of Sibellius who wrote Finlandia. A great man in Finland.

After that, we came upon this river when we were walking towards the castle of turku, that resembled slightly of singapore river but wider. There were many wild ducks along the river and they were really beautiful.

There were many ships along the river too. Unfortunately they are only open for visiting during summer.

And we finally reached the castle of turku. Well it was a bad idea to travel on sundays in finland because most of the places were closed pretty early. And so we only managed to visit the perimeters of the castle. It was better than nothing.

So we departed from the castle after the terribly long walk there. We decided to roam the city and we came across another pretty church - St Michael's Cathedral:

And that was the end of my road trip to lapland and Turku. Next up - Stockholm then St Petersburg :D

Rovaniemi city

2006-02-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

We still haven't recovered from the excitement of seeing the northern lights the previous nite. Nevertheless, we got up at 9am so we could explore the much neglected city of Rovaniemi.

Museum of the northern lights

We visited the museum of the northern lights. It was really nice especially when we could relate the scene last night with the exhibits and explanations. Alright let me try to explain the phenomenon of the Aurora:

The Aurora Borealis is the result of atoms and molecules hitting against the atmosphere of Earth. The solar wind blows at these atoms and molecules which are then attracted by the north and south poles of the Earth (so theoretically, you could see this in the south pole provided that there is land mass there) The colour of the Aurora is then determined by the percentage of Oxygen, nitrogen and other gases in the atmosphere. Green is the most common form because it's associated to Oxygen. Other colours are red and violet.

I hope I remembered all these correctly.

Foot trail on a frozen lake

The frozen lake

Frozen sea with foot trail and snow mobile trails.. nice place to snow mobile

Walking on the frozen sea

Nice view along the sea

Admist the fog

Dai Da admist the fog along the sea

Sunset; beautiful

path along the sea

Rovaniemi city centre

AURORA BOREALIS!!!

2006-02-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

We walked away from the city and attempted to go to this place called the sky hotel. Yep it was located on a hill top away from the city. It was a long walk up a never-ending slope before we finally reached the place.
The sky was clear and we saw so many constellations along the way.

View of Rovaniemi city from the hill top

We had a first glimpse of the Aurora when we reached the hill top; we saw a couple of ppl there and we decided to verify what we just saw. Yes! it was really the aurora. But it was really heart-breaking when they told us that there was a bigger scale one 10 minutes ago. We thought we missed it....

Fortunately, we decided that we can't be that unlucky. We waited and waited. Then it started to appear again... it was so magical. Everyone was hysterical, the group of japanese with us started screaming. I couldn't believe my eyes... unfavourable weather forecast, only 1 night in lapland and I saw it.... the Aurora Borealis....

The first signs of Northern lights (left bottom corner)

The strip of greenish lights above the brightly-litted city; a pity that I did not have a tripod with me

It's really hard to describe. Those who saw it will agree with me that words can't do the Aurora Borealis justice unless you see it for yourself. Spectacular, magnificent...

Lapland objective met.

Igloo Bar

2006-02-13T14:34:00.000-08:00

And this was Igloo bar. It was built by running water over a big balloon.

Igloo bar

Interior of Igloo Bar

Interior with flash

Santa Claus Village

2006-02-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

After having breakfast at Rudolf hostel, we headed for santa claus village.

Just when I thought the scenery in Rovaniemi city was fantastic, I was wrong. As the bus travelled away from the city... oh my god. The scenery was just too amazing --- totally white. dense acres of pine trees that were covered with snow; everything felt so magical and I finally start to feel like winter for the first time in Finland -- this is the real winter wonderland, I thought to myself.

Journey to the village

At last we reach santa village after 20 minutes on the bus. Yeah and as usual it looked too commercialized but still it was beautiful. We headed for santa's main office to catch a glimpse of him before his bed time. We wandered around the village but everything was too commercialized and so I decided we should venture away from the village so that we could get closer to the beautiful nature. I shall let the photos do the talking:

Giant snow man outside santa village. Yes it's real snow.

In front of santa's main office

Vandalising the thick snow wall. HAHA

Arctic circle centre, notice how clear the sky was. hehe.

And I finally had a chance to use my sunglasses

winter wonderland - mesmerizing

The "playground" we found

My snow bed - very very comfortable

With blanket

This was how thick the snow was

The number of dives we did

Santa knew where s'pore is; where's my presents?? got to interrogate him. hehe

Good idea to kidnap his reindeer in exchange for all my presents

Snow mobile!!!!

After getting our snow mobile licenses from santa. haha

A last glimpse of santa's village

Destination: Rovaniemi

2006-02-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

It was 7.00pm. I arrived at the railway station in Helsinki, ready to catch express train 61 to Rovaniemi (lapland). There I met a new friend. He is from Taiwan and is joining me and daida for the trip (or rather I was the one who joined them). Kuo Yi had done some research on the cultures of societies (民间文学 - not sure if I did a right translation) According to him, Finland was the first country to recognise this as a school of thought and then it spread to US, England then to Japan and China(who is still reluctant to accept this idea).
Apparently, the Finns were in search of a national identity after the numerous wars they have been through (winter war, etc) so there was this great man, Sibellius, who wrote a song, Finlandia that united the country. How amazing was that? I guess they should hire him to help singapore to write her national day songs.
It was really interesting listening to him on the train ride. He really value-added my trip to lapland since my only objective was the northern lights. (aurora borealis)
Unfortunately, there are no photos of the scenery of the journey bcos it was at night when we travelled (for the sake of saving on hostel charges and time).

enroute!

It was a 12 hours ride before we reach Rovaniemi. Prior to this, the weather forecast was not promising at all for an aurora sighting but I decided that the forecast can't be that accurate and I left it to fate.
So when we stepped out of the train. MY! Clear sky!!! totally opposite of the weather forecast. Dai Da and me just couldn't stop grinning.... Aurora Borealis!!

Rovaniemi is totally amazing - snow's thicker, finer, whiter! To describe snow as Ice Kachang here will never do it justice. Can't wait to dive into it man.

Rovaniemi city

I like this picture

Hostel Rudolf

1st Road trip in Finland

2006-02-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

Hey ppl! I'm back in Helsinki. Went on a road trip to lapland (northern finland) and turku (the old capital of finland) It was a really great trip. There were so many nice things that I saw and I can't wait to share them here. (I have to sort out the pictures; there are over 500 of them) Get ready for the long posts or at least multiple posts with lots of pretty pictures. Alright I shall go start with my first entry.

A promise to myself

2006-02-07T11:16:00.000-08:00

Yes and I have just rejected a kind offer to go to the sauna because I thought I had sweated enough from yesterday's training. I was wrong. How can a Singaporean ever get enough of sweating?? The problem with sauna here is that... it is not fun to join a sauna halfway; the fun comes from standing in the cold together and watching each other fight the cold.
The other reason was that I had already showered so I was lazy to sweat and shower again. Moreover, my skin's turning really dry from the a-shower-a-day. Moisturizer can't really work here.
Nevertheless, I have come to a conclusion that I must make it a point to go for saunas on Tuesdays and maybe saturdays!
And I did something sinful today, I introduced O2JAM to my flatmate (I hope he will not become too addicted to the game, oops)
Today, my flatmate said he will bake rice the italian way for me... woooo... *droolz* and he showed me a website that has the Italian main paper translated to chinese; apparently, there are so many chinese living in Italy that this was necessary. Well, it's something that I do not know though: Italy has many chinese.

Helsingin Urheilutalo

2006-02-06T14:14:00.000-08:00

I scored my maiden goals in handball today. Haha. But my passing was shit! still not used to the sticky balls... but luckily my team mates were really forgiving. Maybe they had gone thru this phase before. I realised today that it was really mentally draining for me to train, especially when I have to try to understand the instructions of the coach. So I basically observed every drill before I could do it.
And I just found out that my shoes can be bought in Singapore!!! and for a cheaper price..... heart-breaking man. Fortunately, they proved to be effective today so I feel better at least.

The place where I have my handball training. The full name is helsingin urheilu talo (sports house)

Taken from the bus stop when I was going back from my training at Töölön. And it was snowing slightly.

Untitled

2006-02-03T16:14:00.000-08:00

Wow I just watched the myth. I thought it was fantastic... and i'm beginning to regret having not catch it on the big screen. The theme song is still ringing in my head; I want the song! haha. I think Jackie Chan is just so talented. I've just made a promise to myself that I will catch his next show on the big screen. It's 2.30am now but i'm still wide awake... happens to me all the time when I watch an action-packed movie so I've decided to post some pictures and add some content to my blog which will most likely expire in 5 months time. Yeah and my flatmate is still out partying; I hope he is not freezing outside. (-21 degrees.. brrrrr)
And I hate uploading photos in blogger... it's so hard to get them to the place I want them to be. Anyone has a better idea for uploading photos?
Oh and my finnish friend has just moved into my neighbourhood and she invited me to her house warming; such a great chance to meet real finnish ppl :D Any suggestions for a house warming gift?

For my brother: this is half of my room; can't get an angle to capture the whole room.

The other half.

This is senate square. Friederike (corner of the picture) went with me to the city centre hoping to get some free posters for our rooms from the tourist centre... but it was closed bcos there was an ongoing travel fair.. no luck. But fortunately, it was -6 degrees that day and snowing so we got to see a beautiful snow covered helsinki. This was really really more beautiful than the last time I was here.

Outiside the church at senate square.

For my cousin: Interior of the church; it's really grand, yeah that's friederike admiring the design on the ceiling.

This is the church i'm talking about. Didn't manage to take a clear picture at that temperature cos my hands were trembling too badly.

This is from my fren's camera. It makes me feel shameful that I still do not know how to ice-skate. I must learn to do it!!!

From my fren's camera again. Don't you think this is such a well-taken photo?

pictures

2006-02-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

I tried posting pictures last nite but blogger had some problems so here they are.

My new handball shoes. Like wat I told kailin, must show off to make my money seem well-spent, and luckily it was. Apparently, this design is not on sale in singapore. HAHA.

The main building at my campus. (I stole this from Laia's blog, hope she won't mind. oops)

The dogs here are so cute... hardly can you find cats ard. This dog was waiting patiently outside the tickets office for it's owner; it was completely oblivious to my presence. NOw that's wat I call loyalty. gives me the urge to keep one.. hmm

The feast we had on CNY's eve: brocolli with prawns, curry chicken, stir-fried lettuce with oyster sauce and bak kut teh.

The Singaporeans! plus crazy Daniel. HAha.

Yes. and we had bak kwa. thanks to zhengmin (2nd from left). He brought them from singapore and kept them for this occasion.

Fresh longans. Xianzhi and Mervin brought them. (I just realised wat coincidence. both of them are in black)

An avenue to sweat

2006-02-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

Yes and I turned up for the 2nd training. Man, it was tough! I nearly couldn't make it past the physical training. Well I guess the key to them being so good is strong abs. I can't recall how many sets of abs exercise I did... but luckily my abs didn't cramp. But the good thing is I sweated!! Haven't had that feeling for so long.... And after training I was still sweating walking outside at a temperature of -2 degrees. I guess humans can never live without exercising. Well, their ball's really too sticky for me; maybe it was because they play indoors. And now I have a good grip but I cannot pass properly... the ball just won't leave my hand. For a moment, it made me wonder if I should carry on training with them because, since the balls were so sticky, my grip will never improve.
Trainings are monday, wednesday and friday. woah. that's a big committment. I will be so bogged down just with handball. Hmm.. should I continue? Then it daunt upon me that I need to invest in a pair of court shoes 'cos I had a few close shaves with spraining my ankle today. Time and money; I'm still considering.
The coach was not here today and so we conducted our own trainings. They conversed in swedish (Rianne you are right, only swedish speaking-finns play handball, or at least most of them are like that). Well there was this really nice guy who tried to translate in english to me. I really appreciated his efforts. Then later, I found out he studied in KL before and has even been to singapore! wow wat a coincidence. Maybe that was why he tried to include me in their conversations; perhaps.
But slowly, as we progressed from gym exercises to the court game. Ppl started to open up and recognise me as being part of them. I felt great naturally. Even the coolest guy there managed a smile at me at the corner of his lips... 1 month... I did it in 2 days.. woohoo... maybe the finns aren't that shy after all... They just need you to break the ice. Good news and bad news. time and money is making me think of quitting the stint in finnish handball but this group of guys; woah I really have a strong urge to know more abt them.
But hey. I'm on exchange, my priority should be meeting ppl and making friends and not travel! I can travel when I work next time but I can never afford 3 days a week to train with a bunch of guys from finland. Well, I will still travel but I guess it's going to be my 2nd priority.

I will stay.

travel plans

2006-01-31T13:58:00.000-08:00

Headache headache! so many places to go and so little time. I hope my plan works: next weekend - Sweden, Estonia, Lapland at end of Feb?, St petersburg in march, London during easter? I guess this is going to cost a bomb for me... maybe I should give Lapland a miss since it is within finland and it is probably going to be the most expensive but then again that is the place where I might see the northern lights and meet santa. Such a huge risk to take, I might not even see the northern lights (all depends on the cloud conditions). I don't want to end up in lapland skiing. Sorry, just felt like thinking aloud and maybe this can serve as a reference to my thoughts later on.

And I just had my shower which made me realise how much I miss the humidity in Singapore (seriously). The sensation of being drenched in sweat (the sensation from the sauna is nowhere near the authentic feeling from singapore). I miss sweating under the hot sun!

Alright enough of my ramblings... I shall upload some photos from the first sunday house party.
The singaporeans cooked tom yam soup.

Michael; I think he has a good sense of humour especially when you put him together with Matej.

Hansi and he said he was smiling or at least that was the best he could... I found this hilarious.

Fabian! My flatmate; he's in love with photography and he made a portrait of me; will upload someday.

Me and Friederike. I like her because we always have common topics to talk about.

Me and crazy Daniel. Apparently he saw the part where I said he was full of shit but luckily he wasn't angry with me but I changed the comment anyway. I got to watch my language. hehe.

Matej, me and Andrea! Matej is a real nice and funny chap, but he looks lifeless when Michael is not ard. Haha. Andrea is my flatmate. I'm thankful to have known him 'cos it was him who introduced me to this group of nice and funky ppl.

Rianne; the girl who gave me the chance to play handball in Finland. Thanks! I love the food you cooked that sunday!

Me trying to open the beer bottle the German way (with a butter knife), watched by Chris, another nice nice guy. I failed in the end (my first attempt so i guess not that bad)

This is Laia. She's Catalan (Spain). I know she's reading my crappy blog and so here's a tribute to her: Don't you think she is beautiful?

This is for my sis; the shoes I bought at Zara

Finnish handball

2006-01-30T15:05:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah and I did manage to convince myself to make my way down to Helsingin Urheilutalo for the handball training today. I was a bit hesitant because I knew that i'm going to be smaller size than most of the players and talking about game experience.. I have only about a year or so. Am I going to make a fool of myself there? I didn't know but I thought who cares, even if I did make a fool of myself, I would probably not meet these ppl in my life again.
As usual, when I walked into the indoor court, the players stared at me with that "what are you doing here" look. But I didn't care. I stood there and observed while the coach shouted lots of instructions in finnish. Finally he noticed me and he came over and welcomed me with a warm handshake. He handed me the changing room key immediately. Wow no questions asked and I could join. How nice.
Because of the recognition of my presence by the coach, some of the players started coming over to make a self-introduction and it was really nice of them, I felt less alienated. Even though I could sense that some of them could not accept my presence yet but I guess it's normal; I shall give them and myself more time to break the ice.
As I was late because of lessons. I stood and observe after I changed thinking that I will probably not get a chance to touch the ball this time round. Suddenly, the coach pointed at me: "You put on the blue shirt!" Woohoo, I get to play! But I was a bit confused 'cos I hadn't managed to observe their style of play and I was really conservative, playing the normal wave throughout the match. More time i guess... shan't do stupid stuff now.
Oh my, their ball handling is really good. And I thought maybe it was because the ball was very sticky. Well I was wrong when I saw how fast they can pass and how sharp they were in noticing lapses in the defence. And when they take a shot... super powerful. I haven't seen a shot bounce off the top bar of the goal and flew to the centre of the court! strong! The wingers are even more amazing... with their twisting and fast hand actions... droolz... How I hope I can go back to singapore like them. hehe.
Looking forward to the training on wednesday. Physical training and individual skills... shall find out wat's the key to the amazing skill of the wingers. I don't know what's installed for me, but I will try my best and be as thick skinned as possible. I hope the coach won't ask me to leave. haha.
Oh yah... and just when I thought I should be fine, one of the players told me they are playing in division 1 and not 2. I hope I survive.

"Reunion dinner"

2006-01-29T15:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry but this is going to be a photoless entry. We had a good dinner for new year's eve. Yes and I mean really good. We had curry chicken, bak kut teh, baked salmon, stir-fried brocolli with supposedly crab meat. And there was abalone and bak kwa. We even had chinese new year cookies and fresh longans. I have no idea where my friends got those from but i'm really thankful for their "preparedness"; so I didn't manage to experience a very different new year except for the fact that there were no ang baos. Will post more photos when I have more time. Really excited about my first handball training at a finnish 2nd division club.

Sledding

2006-01-22T14:10:00.000-08:00

On our way back

Andrea finally able to make a jump from the small hump we made

Friederike on the sled pulled by Andrea; watched by michael

And I went sledding today which made me realise how much more fun it is to be a kid in Finland. There were some kids there and they made me look like someone with a deprived childhood (but i guess this time i have to admit to this; i never got to do in my whole life before)

On my 2nd ride down the slope, my glove fell off halfway and as I was walking up the slope I could feel my hand freezing... and then it felt numb... i was thinking oh shit... would my fingers fall off... so i started to keep moving them and thankfully, they didn't fall off. I thought that was really something; a singaporean finger surviving a -20 degrees celsius temperature. I'm beginning to appreciate and love the snow as they get thicker and thicker. And thick snow no longer looks like ice kachang now.. it looks like a giant cushion... it's just so comfortable to fall on them (provided there are no hidden rocks beneath of course)

Bar Iguana

2006-01-21T16:51:00.000-08:00

Woah i'm really happy today because I may have the chance to play handball in Finland!!!woohoo. Maybe I can bring some of their set pieces back to singapore.
I went to Espoo today for a really nice dinner prepared the holland way. It was really tasty and i'm determined to get the recipe from her somehow... the best thing was that she plays handball! And yes she's going to help me ask for contacts... so i can train with the men's team; according to her... the men's team isn't that fantastic but i'm pretty sure i'm worse than them but practice makes perfect so i'm really determined to do some training here. hehe.
And we went to bar iguana after the dinner at her place. It was so hilarious when one of my italian friend nearly got chased down the bus by the driver because he brought a snow ball up the bus. Oh and we were having major snow ball fights throughout the whole journey when we were walking. It was really fun even though I felt kind of childish. The good thing is that no one cares about how others look at them and so we could do watever stupid things as long as it does not affect the others. It was enjoyable.
I'm still really excited at the prospect of me being able to hone my handball skills here. woohoo... ok i'm really tired... ciao

1st sauna party in Otaniemi

2006-01-20T14:52:00.000-08:00

Jinfu and me at the party

My crazy spannish friend, Daniel; he's always so funny - free entertainment

He's holding a 'diploma' to certify that he ate the finnish snacks and jumped into the sea

My tutor, Elina and Aya, japanese exchange student

The finns love sauna (naturally because of the cold climate) but wat was interesting was that, they jump into the sea after the sauna; I heard that this was good for blood circulation but I decided that I might die of shock under that kind of sudden change of temperature so I gave it a miss. But I did try to do something like that at the place I stay; we had a sauna there. So we went in and when everyone was steaming, we stood outside in the cold with only our towel on. Well, it was not that bad and it felt really refreshing; guess I will jump into the sea the next time. And I had my taste of some finnish snacks. I especially like this candy salmiakki which was salty and smells of herbs. But I thot it was really unhealthy since it contains lots of salt. Well, the party was fun but I thought it could be better if I had joined my other group of friends at club oopperra cos there was a nice finnish band playing there that night. Well, I guess I will have my chance... 5 more months... hehe

olympic stadium tower

2006-01-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

The 1st instance of the sun setting

This is like within 2 minutes

1 more minute later

And the sun is gone

The tower

The viewing area, irritating grills; had to put my camera outside to get good pictures and the strong winds always make me worry that my camera will fall down the tower

The sun shining on the city; notice that most of the buildings are pretty short

Buildings in city area

Stadium from the tower

As the sun was shining brightly, dai da and me decided that it was time to make our way back to stadion hostel. There was this tower there which allows us to have a bird's eye view of helsinki and so of we went with my camera and 6 batteries. Hehe (had to make my 2 euros entrance fee worth the money)

We reached there at around 2.30pm and quickly made our way up the tower (because the hours of daylight are really short here, possibly less than 3 hours on a typical day) Well, it sure looks like spring from up there and everyone is saying that this a warm winter. But, as we were on high ground, the wind was strong and it was really cold up there. I had trouble trying to steady my camera. So we went down the tower to warm ourselves before going back up (singaporean attitude = stretch the euro)

And that was not the end, we decided we had to wait for sun set (2 euros well-spent) and so we went down again to prepare for our 3rd trip up for the sunset. Well, it didn't take long for that to happen; short hours of daylight.

The sun sets really quickly, I was basically trigger-happy, trying my best to capture the moment in as many angles I could for that few precious minutes.

Oh and I forgot to mention, we could also see the moon at the opposite site of the tower... so basically you can see the colour of the sky fading from bright orange to purplish red as you turn from the sun side to the moon side; really breath-taking. I filmed that down with my camera and luckily I managed to capture the difference in shades of the sky. After the sun set, dai da and me rushed to school for our first sauna party.

museums and reindeer meat!!!

2006-01-19T10:48:00.000-08:00

I know this is a repost but I thought the last post had a bad description. haha. The lady in blue really looks like liv tyler in real person (elf princess in lord of the ring)
And here we are at the restaurant called kuu which means moon in finnish. It was really a posh restaurant and for a moment I thought I was going for fine dining judging from the knives and forks that were laid before me. Luckily it was not and the portion was huge enough. I had porykanista (I hope i spelled it correctly) It was sauteed reindeer meat with mashed potatoes and fresh cranberries. It was really really tasty. Taste a bit like mutton but 100 times nicer. haha. It was quite expensive 16.80 euros but I thought it was worth it for eating santa claus' transport. I wanted to take a picture of the dish but the atmosphere was too posh for that and my finnish tutors were around... I guess I will do that on my next visit when i'm with my s'porean frens; I intend to go there again before I fly back to s'pore.

We went to another art gallery and sad to say I did not manage to appreciate those paintings... Well they were beautifully done but I could not appreciate their value beyond that (fortunately, it was free entry, haha) But this was one painting that I particularly liked; the expression in the girl's eyes; it's a kind of helplessness and despite her young age, she knew she had to help (she's carrying a thin branch) I thought this was really a good one.

At the museum

I thought I had wasted 4 euros when I first entered the museum when I saw the rocks and pebbles on display. Luckily, it was not as boring as it seems. I realised that the whole museum was carefully arranged in such a way where it took you on a systematic chronological path to learn about the finnish history. They have really informative and interesting write-ups but I didn't manage to finish reading them all because we were rushing for time to visit another art museum. The finns have never failed to impress me with the way they consider human factors in their designs be it their basket in the supermarket, layout of buildings, safety features. They are really good. I'm not sure but they give me a feeling that they really put in lots of efforts when they want to do something. Impressed.

Alright i really got to leave soon. moi moi (bye bye in finnish)

taking the easy way out

2006-01-19T10:05:00.000-08:00

The super grand church at Senate Square

Me at Senate Square

Ferry terminal at helsinki city centre

To IKEA with my finnish tutors and exchange students; my tutors were really nice, at least the nicest ard. They plan so many trips, to bars, skating, finnish dinner..... more photos later

Learning to play spannish cards from Daniel (left of picture). It's something like bridge but more fun (at least I thought so). I told him to get a pack for me when he goes back to spain in Feb so I can go back to s'pore and teach those who are interested. Btw, it's not poker cards that we are using.

I cooked, hehe

Wet clothes left at the balcony for too long; luckily they didn't break

Freezing our ice-cream in the balcony; why do you need a freezer in winter?

Shopping mall (sello) near my place

View from my room

dinner at my place

My neighbourhood on a rare sunny day

The street along where I stay

Alright I had intended to account for every single day I spent in Finland so far but I just can't find the motivation to start recalling the events. So I shall do this haphazardly (whenever I feel like it). At least, I will have more stuff on my blog for reading; I hope. Anteeksi (sorry in finnish) for making this blog look like a photo blog. Well, I started my finnish classes... they were really interesting but this is really a difficult language; it sucks that I cannot show off more of my finnish because my keyboard does not have 2 vowels they use. School started but i'm not at all feeling unmotivated because they do not use the bell curve here for grading and I finally felt how is it like to be learning stuff purely for the sake of gaining knowledge; in singapore it is for passing exams and getting 'A's. As good as it sounds, exchange has started to make me appreciate myself being singaporean (seriously).

And after going to a club here, I don't think I will want to go to one in singapore anymore. The atmosphere is different and it is really more fun here. You get to meet ppl and get acquainted with them. Now this is what I call a real club. But then again those in Singapore are much safer I guess... at least for girls who get too drunk.

Oh and zara is the cheapest boutique here and so I got all the clothes I needed for this -20 degrees temperature country. I guess I will be too branded when I go back to Singapore. Haha. I actually have many more photos of the night view of the city area but it takes a really long time to upload those. So I have done it only selectively. Ask from me when i'm back in Singapore. Btw the internet connection I have here is 512 because I live off campus (shucks!)

Just when I thought my blog was the most outdated, I saw Jinfu's. He has only one post so far! HAHAHAHAHA. Ok I will try to make this longer in the 30 minutes I have left before i'm off to barfly. I think I shall start a new post... this is too long I guess.

timpurinkuja

2006-01-15T14:54:00.000-08:00

I especially like this picture (jinfu is getting 1st class service)

Well the 3rd day in finland was our moving out day from stadion hostel. Timpurinkuja (pronounced as tim-pu-rin-ku-ya) is the street name of my 6 months of residence in finland.

Me and Jinfu

This was at a small shopping mall near my place. Timpurinkuja is a really nice place.. with 4 supermarkets and 2 shopping malls (one really big one) within walking distance. That explains why I have to pay 299 euros a month (without meals). I hadn't realised this when I first arrived that this was a really convenient location with many buses and trains. However, what irritated me was the fact that the shops here were closed on sundays. It's like so different from singapore where most shops are 24 hours. I guess I had to get used to that.

too much fun

2006-01-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry people; have been really busy socialising that I have no time to continue with my blog. But I promise I will do it once I find the time. There are just too many activities going on at nite and I dun wish to be regarded as "dao" by rejecting their kind invitations. Well reindeer meat is really tasty. hehe. I really need to sleep; wonder where they will be asking me to go tomorrow. Good nite.

new year

2006-01-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

And it started snowing on new year's morning. I was really excited 'cos it was my first time that I saw snow. Although I was really tired from the previous nite's walking ard the city centre but I decided that I had to get out to experience all this. Well, so I got out. It was really nice; instead of rain you have this. I tried to taste it too.
Well, for those who thot snow was magical. (I know i'm going to be a spoiler) but snow is just like ice kachang falling from the sky. HAHAHAH
Bad description but I think that's the most accurate description. Despite it being ice kachang (hahaha) it was really nice.
I heard that in places further north in Finland. When it snows, it really feels magical; I think I can only tell you in February, hehe.

new year's eve

2006-01-10T12:19:00.000-08:00

Statue at Senate square

This is senate square where the mayor was going to give a new year's eve speech. I have no idea what kind of speech was that though. Yeah and my dressing is really outlandish. Can't help it because i'm totally not used to the weather. The finns call 1 degrees celsius warm; I was like what?

That was the extra large kebab I was talking about although it looks small here.

stadion hostel

2006-01-10T12:02:00.000-08:00

olympic stadium

Because i arrived on the new year's eve, I couldn't move into my apartment and so I stayed here for 3 days. It's actually a hostel at Finland's famous olympic stadium. Surprisingly, the rates are cheap and it's a place for backpackers; a bit ulu but nice place.

Fortunately, there were already 3 of my friends who had arrived before me. So they brought us to the city centre. We had our extra large kebab (which was really expensive - 4.95 euros = S$10 ) There were lots of fireworks that nite but we couldn't capture any because we did not have a tripod, but it was really beautiful.

finally... after 11 days

2006-01-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

I've finally managed to overcome my laziness to start this overdue blog.
Well, Finland is really a nice place. The people here have got lots of integrity and are helpful, kind and considerate (I think Singaporeans have a long way to go to be like them). You can leave your bike unlocked in a public area and it will probably not get stolen. There are so many loopholes in the system that people can exploit but surprisingly, NO ONE DOES IT!!! i'm totally impressed.