The end marks the beginning...

so my immersion has finally ended...

after a month of german lessons, great wurst, bread, ice cream, chocolate, swims in the lakes, excursions to other cities, visits to chapels, hundreds of walks around the stadtmitte and thousands of visits to the penny markt...i must now say goodbye to Freiburg...

it's really sad coz i really like this city, for the people, the scenery, the culture and even the food...i like my NUS friends too...

this trip has not only been enjoyable, it has also been an experience in which i had a few first-times...first time i drank so much beer, first time i like beer, first time i swam in a lake, first time i saw naked pple sunbathing, first time i had italian and french friends, first time i got to hear so much german, first time i ate bread for almost every meal, first time i ate 3 cones of ice cream in a day...and yes, even the first time i smoked a cigarette...

and with the end of my immersion, my own backpacking journey is just about to start...
tomorrow yingshi and i shall embark on a new trip on our own, without the help of any god or goddess, cross-eyed lion or uncle gin...tomorrow...

to say the truth, i think we are not that well-prepared for the trip...we have booked all our hostels except for a night and i am not sure whether we can get an accomodation at all...we might lose our way, we might sleep on the streets...but it just makes everything even more interesting...

i feel that at 20, my life is just beginning to be exciting...good luck to the both of us...

Ice cream

becoz i've been eating ice cream almost everyday and becoz the ice cream is so good...i've decided to rank all the flavours i've eaten so far...

in the 3rd place is........hazel nut with cornflakes from Eis Mariotti!!!

in the 2nd place is........after eight from Eis Rossini!!!!

and the first place goes to......bacio from Portofino!!!!

clap clap...
the ice cream is so so good here...
i tink i've tried about 10 flavours already...
each time i have a different one...
and it's good ice cream for a cheap price too!!!
a scoop on the cone is €0.60 at Eis Mariotti and €1 at Portofino....

Unglaublich, aber war

the first couple has been paired up from the group in Freiburg now...
interesting and quite surprising...
not dat i totally dun expect them together...but to be together is really quite unbelievable?
and so who is the couple? i will keep mum bout it till their relationship is real stable...
like pregnancy...the early stages are the most vulnerable...
ok, dat might be some bad analogy there...

i drank beer again!!! 1 mug of it...0.5 litres...
is a house beer called Inselhopf and i tot it tasted quite good...
i was all rosy and getting light headed and was really in the mood to go to some club...
but apparently dat Agar discotheque is for losers and they din allow us to bring water in...
even though those water was in bottles kept in the bags...
so u see 5 jokers trying to finish 2 bottles of water outside a disco...
and in the end walked away from it...we are not losers leh...

hot hot hot

it's been real hot these few days...with temperatures hitting 33 degrees celsius and the sun was very strong...

so wat's the best thing to do on such hot days???

option a:
eat ice cream...
u can choose from Eis Mariotti to Portofino to many other ice cream parlours...
flavours range from tiramisu to after eight...from bacio to orange...
and they look just as good or even better than those from venezia...
but one thing for sure...they sure do taste better...

option b:
go swimming...
where? in a lake of course! unless u would like to pay €3.30 to swim in an indoor swimming pool.
although yingshi has brought up the concern of parasites in the lakes...it is really not a major problem...u get to swim in cool waters...be near nature and animals such as swans...see many pple sun tanning and some of them are topless and u can join them as well...in proper swim wear...

option c:
hide in a shady place...
such as the münster in Breisach where the thick walls blocks out the heat and gives the cathedral natural air conditioner...sit there to enjoy the coolness while admiring the beautiful paintings, sculptures and artifacts that date back to centuries ago...

option d:
do all of the above...

answer is option d!!!
although the options were not completed within a day...

booooooo

i'm not calling boo but i'm booing....so boo dun get offended here...

a glass of coke cost €1.90...dat's 4 bucks...and i probably drank it in 4 gulps...booooooooooooo

the weather today was so hot dat i started perspiring in the car...boooooooooooo

the highest temp on monday is going to be 34 degrees celsius...boooooooooo

i havn't read the next chapter of Sonnenallee...a german storybook which we are going through for german lesson...booooooooo

saying something

because lao ge complained that my blog is boring...i decided to entertain him with the next few sentences...yes there are pretty girls here...some hot babes too...wear revealing clothes, dress real nicely and put on make up...hot hot hot...even if the weather is cool, they are still hot...

ok, so i hope my blog is now more interesting...and hopefully dat horny and pian tai lao ge won't have dat many complaints now...

i finally understood y my aunt felt her life has changed after coming to europe for a month...it has been amazing so far...seeing how friendly pple are...how much they enjoy their lives...how well traveled and knowledgable they are and just how beautiful the place is...it makes me want to be like them...to make the most out of my everyday...even though i am very tired by the end of the day...i felt dat each day spent was fulfilling as i have not only learnt more german but have also seen more new things...

and so finally i have bought my tickets for my backpacking trip...i'm thankful to sonni for helping us get the tickets...it is really not dat hard...so my plan is as below:

30 june: leave freiburg to salzburg (austria)

4 july: leave salzburg to vienna

5 july: take night train to prague

10 july: take night train to frankfurt

11 july: take plane back to spore...

i'm trying to find a farm to stayover for a night or 2 in salzburg...which i tink would be fun...probably have a day of cycling or hiking as well...i'm hoping to go to the alps but yingshi and i only have 2 sweaters each and i tink we will just freeze...

and i found special edition of ritter sport!!! with liquor in them...cognac and dunno wat...i'm gg to buy a lot a lot of choco back...yes, each of my friend will get choco from me...and dun expect it to be one big block...

Summer?!?!!

summer isn't summer in freiburg when...

it is 2 degrees at night...
it is 6 degrees in the early morning and about 10 later...
yingshi has to wear a super thick winter clothing to school, courtesy of her host...
u have to wear 3 layers of clothes while studying in the classroom...
u have to wear 3 layers of clothes to bed and cover yourself with 3 blankets and still feel cold...

this is not summer...this is winter...
hopefully the weather will get better next week...

the Hello Kitty Club

tot i should introduce some interesting pple from the group that is in freiburg now...

*put ur hands together for...deng deng deng deng...the Hello Kitty Club*

The Members

the hello kitty club was started by uncle gin, who is supposedly afraid of everything from the cold to long distance walking. he is joined by 2 other members, clarence and najib. there is also a ranking system within the club, but it is not strictly enforced. clarence is the officer kitty or OK, najib is the specialist kitty or SK (we waiting for a SKII to come along) and uncle gin is man kitty or MK. yingshi and i have been cordially invited to join the club and we will be civilian kittys or CK. yingshi would be CK Tan (not tang) and i would be CK Huang. but we havn't decided whether to accept the invitation.

The Activites

the members of the hello kitty club like to tell jokes and has a special preference for army and dirty jokes. (dat is why yingshi might not want to join the club) they have recently mastered the skill of counting from 1 to 12 in poses for the camera. (courtesy of joan) on top of these special talents, the members also have the ability to put across sarcastic remarks and use vulgarities. (much to yingshi's disapproval) najib has participated in the anti-rabbit-eating movement because he has 8 rabbits at home, but siwei the german god thinks otherwise. (unwise of najib to go against the ever hungry german god) he is also a temporary nanny who likes playing with young children. clarence enjoys cutting grass in the garden, but hates unfriendly cats to the core. (kitty and cats are not best of friends) he is a party kitty that goes dancing. uncle gin prays everyday to be able to use the washing machine. najib and uncle gin are in the escort team which escorts girls home after the sun has set.

The Characteristics

you are likely to spot a member of the hello kitty club by the following traits:

• fun-loving
• humorous
• sarcastic
• hokkien-speaking
• vulgarities-speaking
• gentlemanly (must say some good stuff lest they kill me after reading this)
• has a phobia to almost everything
• likes to make funny face or make funny actions
• likes to look at pretty girls
• likes to give pretty girls his name and asking them for theirs (rejection is another thing altogether)

the Hello Kitty Club is an exclusive club and membership is by invitation only.

membership fees is a kebap or a pizza a day. other donations like nuts and cakes are also welcomed.

the Hello Kitty Club pledges to let its members have maximum fun, while still being nice people.

Wat is happening in singapore??

so although i am miles away from singapore...i am still up-to-date wif current affairs in spore:

my good frien is attached!!! again. shall not named names here coz i dunno if he or she wan to be named. but i share in his or her joy anyway and wish him or her happiness...now i have one less person to hang out with...lonely...haha

boo has 2 blisters on her toes!!! now so u tink wat's the big deal with the 2 blisters...those 2 blisters are ugly!!! her toes are no longer pretty!!! but i'm sure the 9 bucks she earns per hour is suffice to pay for plastic surgery for her toes...

yu ying has left for france for immersion...i hope she has as much fun as i do now...woo hoo...

val misses me...haha...

a few days in Germany

as u can see...i am getting lazier at writing my own blog...

some of things that have happened between the 4th to 6th days in germany:

on saturday we went to the marktplatz to look at the weekend market...
the wurst is fantastic...oh man...so much better than those sold in biz canteen...
i'm gg to buy some back if possible and organise a bbq or smth...
u can sign up with me now to my bbq...haha...
then we went to najib's house and played with the kids...
both yingshi and i lamented dat children in spore aren't as happy as the german kids...
they have so much childhood...unlike pple like val or ldj if i rem correctly...^hee
and i ate the best strawberry strudel ever!!! so so so so good!!!

on sunday we went to heidelberg...a university city with a beautiful castle...
yingshi and i...in a bid to save money...survived on 60 euro cents of bread for lunch...
while the guys ate kebab and pizza...boo hoo hoo...
and if u r wondering whether sip will get fat wif all the food dat she eats...
i will tell u not...
coz we walked so much juz to get to the castle...
then we walked so fast to the station coz we were going to miss the train...
that i tink all the food dat i have ate wud have been used up for energy...
besides, the food here is very healthy and not oily at all...

today we went to Schlossberg in freiburg...it means castle mountain...
it was raining but we went there anyway...
after nearly 2 hours of walking...in which yingshi and i were drenched because we refused to seek shelter under umbrellas...
we stopped to take pictures...
we were all expecting to see some ruins of a castle...but coz of the rain...
we were unable to climb this slope to see the ruins!!!
so we walked like 3 hours for nothing...no castle...nothing...pui....
but after that the guys (cept for yixiang) and i (only girl...and i can juz imagine lao ge saying dat i'm a guy too wat) went to a cafe for a drink...
i ordered cappucino which cost 4 bucks...xin tong...
but the guys were good company and very entertaining...
it was real funny to hear their army stories and about their host families...
i juz came back from a lecture (yes lecture...for the public) on colours in films...
it cost me 10 bucks and i understood only like 2 percent of the lecture...and dat was with the aid of slides...boo hoo hoo...
but it was interesting nevertheless...and i thought that spore shud have more of such lectures too...but at a cheaper price...

some other stuff:

the comp i using now is anti-hotmail...i can't do anything at all with hotmail...

i sleep real early and wake up real early everyday...i sleep at 11pm and wake up at 7pm...and dat is only becoz i force myself to sleep after waking up at 5am...

ritter sport chocolate is from germany and is a lot cheaper than in spore...who wan chocolate? i'll sell u at 50 cents cheaper than in spore...and don't tink dat i'm a cheapo...coz 50 cents a lot of money...u save 50 cents here and maybe u go to a store and save another 50 cents...u get a dollar...then u can go to the dollar store to get smth else...haha

we are gg to colmar in france for excursion...i might be going to basel in switzerland and milan in italy with the group when we have free days...plus yingshi and i are going to austria and prague in czech republic...dat's like 6 countries including germany...schöne!!!

if u wan to come to europe for exchange...u better save up money now...things are expensive here...like a meal in the mensa...is 2.40 euro which translates to more than 5 bucks...so i've decided to sell ritter sport chocolate for help-sip-go-to-germany-for-exchange fund...

i really wan to learn to cook!!! especially their superb cakes...wah...and i could sell them too in spore...hmm hmm...money face sip...

3rd day in Germany

and some other things which i have learnt, realised, noticed or found out:

1) Luka's name is actually spelt as Luca and he is an IT manager...

2) i don't like to be kissed on the face...Luca kissed me farewell and i thought it was awkward...

3) rain in freiburg can be heavy...there is also lightning and thunder...

4) no plastic can be used in a festive party...which is bad because when it started pouring during the Annafestival, Luca ran off with the beer mug in his hand and so it has now become a souvenir for him...

5) i reget not learning cooking from mum...both Luca and Alice have cooked, so i am obliged now to cook too...where is mum when i most needed her? i wonder if i can fry maggie mee and call it singapore noodles, they won't know it because as a singaporean, i don't even have any idea wat singapore noodles is...and yes...there is maggie mee here...

6) there is pantene, head and shoulders, dove and nivea here...

7) all the bottles are made of glass so that they can be recycled...that applies mainly to drinks...
not stuff like shampoo and soap...can u imagine ur shampoo in a glass bottle?

8) it cost 1 euro to buy a 0.5 litres of coca-cola from the school canteen and u will get 15 cents refund if u return the glass bottle...

9) the coca-cola is more gasy than those in singapore...

10) the university canteen is called the mensa...so u can tink of urself as a genius because u r IN the mensa...is it any wonder that it is an university canteen?

11) 3 months of courtship can translate to 30 years of blissful marriage and 3 children...frau sonni and herr man met when they were in their 30s...see the magic number 3? is that y there are many shot gun marriages? but it seems that many have back fired...

12) it is really attractive to see Alice smile, because she is an ice queen...now i understand y an emperor can do stupid things just to make his concubine smile...i'm waiting for alice's smile again...

13) there is a man from switzerland who is coming to study under frau sonni next week...but he is 40 years old...

14) if u wan to add water to ur wine, u shud only add sparkling mineral water and not normal tap water...so i have wine with sparkling mineral water for dinner every night...

15) the rhineland is the warmest place in germany...it is on top of a faultline...so there are earthquakes and a thermal swimming pool...

16) it cost 1.70 euro per entry to the swimming pool...and even more for the swim suit...

17) german kids work for allowance...like teach children to ski or swim...like frau sonni's children...

18) i finally know how to switch on the big light in my room...it was the same knob which i turned on the first day i came...but it fell out and so i did not dare touch it again...

19) the keyboard here has y and z interchanged...and also addition keys like ü ä ö...so if i tzpe and mz words become like this u will understand whz...

2nd day in Germany

and so i have learnt that:

1) Germans can really drink a lot...wine and beer...
2) having a birthday party in the garden can be real fun...since my host did it...
3) u r likely to get a kiss from a German if u give him/her a present...i got mine from frau sonni when i gave her a bday card...
4) Italiens can eat a lot...to the point that NS guys will be shamed...
5) the italien hand signal that russell peters did for his standup comedy, is not necessarily a vulguar gesture...it can mean - what u want to eat...just like what the hand gesture will mean to an indian...it all depends on the circumstance at which it is used...
6) half a glass of orange juice mixed with wine is real delicious...
7) German ice cream is nice but expensive...a 2 plain scoop cost 4 sing bucks...
8) having German lesson in a cafe coz the classroom was locked is fun, but that will set u back 4 sing bucks becoz u want to eat the ice cream...
9) there is an ice cream flavour called after eight and i tink it is made of the same brand of chocolate...real nice and highly recommended...
10) Nino the Georgian girl is an aerobic instructor, but she is not exactly very slim...but i tink she is real funky...
11) Alice the French girl smokes...a lot...
12) Freiburgers really enjoy life...the pace is so slow...sometimes it makes me want to sleep...
13) the cafes have wonderful atmosphere...there are musicians playing beautiful music and sometimes river flowing by...
14) being a German that is lactose-intolerant is pretty sad coz u can't eat all the delicious cakes and cheese...frau sonni's daughter, Sophie can't eat cakes, but makes delicious ones all the same...
15) the computers in the Freiburg University library uses a different program which i dunno how to use...so i can't upload my pictures...
16) it is of utmost importance to have rechargable batteries and charger if u wan to use ur digital camera often...i don't but thankfully yingshi has...so the advice is...if u don't have them...make sure ur friend has...
17) the house i stay in is about 100 years old...a little rickety...but still in good condition...no amityville horror here...
18) Bayernstrasse where i stay in...is somehow colder than other streets...no ghost...just lots of shade...
19) Bing did well for her exams...yeah!!! but a lot of other pple got killed including me...
20) my results did not dampen my spirit despite not being too good...
21) i lost every bet dat i've made with lao ge regarding our results (i tink)...i'll be broke when i go back to spore...ARH!!!!!!!!

1st day in Germany

woo hoo........
so, after a mad rush for the plane and realising that it was not going to fly yet, after delays of the plane and the train...we finally made it to FREIBURG!!! safe and sound, albeit tired and worn out with almost 24 hrs of travelling and waiting and travelling...

yeah.......
my host is frau sonni, a german teacher who teaches at home. the house is old and looks like a very typical european house. and y is sip not going to get fat during the trip? on top of the reason dat she is going to carry a load of 11.4kg on her back. because she stays on the top floor of the house...the 4th storey!! no lift...juz the staircase. but what's interesting is that she's not alone on that level. there are a few more other girls staying there as well. there are frau sonni's daughter Sophie, the 16 yr old girl Alice, the Georgian lady Nino, the Bulgarian girl whom i tink is Anna, a Poland girl who i havn't met and another girl who i dunno where she is from or what she is called. besides them, frau sonni has a 36 yr old italien man staying wif her till friday. he is learning german under her. is really a united nations over here...interesting...

yum yum yummy........
regarding the food...it is really not bad. there's a bakery down the road where frau sonni always buy the bread from and the pretzel is real nice. frau sonni makes wonderful strawberry cake and Luka the italien man makes some very good strawberry dessert which has wine and ice cream too. so yes, i'm eating lots of strawberries and i just had strawberries for breakfast. there is also lots of salami and cheese which i like too. the only thing which i don't really like, is the mineral water. they don't drink boiled tap water as we do, instead, they drink mineral water from a glass bottle. but the mineral water is sparkling water!! so now i have resorted to drinking unboiled tap water which frau sonni said is safe to drink.

over hills over dales.....
the adventure begins with alice showing me the way to the city central. we walked past beautiful houses and a large cathedral. i realised freiburgers cycle a lot too. on the waz, i tried to communicate with her in german, often lapsing into english. dat is how atrocious my german is. after the walk, frau sonni, Luka, Nora the dog and me went to the Black Forest. Contrary to what i had previously thought, Black Forest isn't a land with barren trees that are killed by acid rain. instead, it is a mountainous region. the view is breathtaking. there are many tiny flowers along the hill side and i plucked some of them for my study table. frau sonni said she would bring me back again. after dinner, i went out wif Luka to the city centre. we saw the cathedral in the city centre and went to the city garden. freiburg is a small city, beautiful and quite peaceful. before heading for home, we went to maria, a pub, for a drink. i did not take any alcohol coz i had some wine wif water during dinner.

an exciting and fun filled first day. i hope there is more to come.

tschüs!