SNOW!

Our latest weekend trip brings us to Frankfurt-am-main, the capital of Germany. Initially we resented the idea of going to Frankfurt, a really busy financial center (think Raffles Place x100). Anyhoo, since my Lonely Planet travel guide advised that the trip to Frankfurt 'will be beyond your expectations', we went ahead to explore Frankfurt with our Hattenheim gang.
Frankfurt is divided into 2: a historic half and a modern city half. We (duh) focused on the older part of the city and it was really lovely:)

That's the Kaiserdom behind me...

The marketplace that holds flea market every Saturday...
?Did you know? In german architecture, the more wood you have on your house, the richer you are. You notice the wooden xxxxx on the buidlings? These belong to really rich people!

The highlight of the day was of course, SNOW! It started having flurries of snow when we were walking to to Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It got heavier after we had our dinner. We were so excited we took our beers outside to 'bask' in the snow:)

sipping hot cocoa in freezing winter :)

The temperature is falling by the day and the weather forecast says there'll be flurries of snow tonight and tomorrow. Exciting! So before I cycle home in the -5deg coldness, I shall update you friends on our lives...

We cook dinner on most days. One day Chinese, one day Western. Our culinary skills have drastically improved, I must say. Jemmy can fry a perfectly-shaped and perfect-tasting ham omelette. Yey! Exchange mates in Europe are welcomed to visit us in our little village of Hattenheim and we'll serve our 拿手好菜: sweet-sour pork, mushroom chicken in teriyaki sauce, oyster sauce cabbage... and ham omelette!

Every Thurs, we have our 3 lovely French pals Elodie, Marjoline and Sophie over to for Asian-French dinner, sort-of. So far, we've had Chinese food (I contributed curry chicken!), French food (quiche, pies and smelly cheese), and tonight it's Boys-cooking night! Jem wants to rush home to prepare soon, and so I hurry.

I've heard from my auntie that Germany is devoid of Asian stuff. Heh luckily it's not true. We frequent the Hong Kong Express at Wiesbaden station, thought I embarrassed myself by talking excitedly in Canto the first time I was there, only to have the Asian-looking woman replying me in German. (Hello HK express don't speak Canto?!) In Mainz we went to Thai Express! It tasted really Thai (yey!) but the serving was so Angmoh.

And the most exciting news: We found an Asian supermarket! Woohoo! We went crazy la, bought teriyaki sauce, oyster sauce, soysauce, egg noodles, 1kg jasmine rice... They even have CaiXin and XiaoBaiCai!

weather forecast: Brrr COLD.

The Germans are unhappy that it has been the hottest winter in decades. For the past week or so, the temperature has lingered at 10 to 15 deg, a drastic contrast to this time last year: below -10deg and a few inches of snow. For us Hot people from Singapore, the weather was just fine (though i secretly wished for snow).
Anyway, the real winter is back. The temp for the last 2 days has been near zero, and last night it officially went below zero. Today's forecast is -1 in the afternoon, -4 at night. It should drop to -6 on Friday. Woohoo, so much for hot winter.

More pics from Heidelberg!

Heidelberg -- a fusion of historic beauty and modernity

Heyyy we're back from a lovely weekend in Heidelberg :)

Heidelberg is at the south of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It was a 4-hour train ride to get there, and we changed trains 5 times. Got lost in an ulu-land cos we took the wrong train midway thru too. Anyhoo, we met up with our 4 friends from HK and set off to explore the Hauptstrasse. Striding along the bumpy brick road, there were quiant souvenier shops, bars and restaurants.

?Did you know? Every town in Germany has a Hauptstrasse. It means main street. Don't you think it's a bit funny to have over 100 Hauptstrasse in one country? Beats me.

Cute toys in a souvenier shop...We turned into a narrow street to visit a famous attraction: the Student Prison of Heidelberg University. HU is the oldest university in Germany, and they used to punish MALE students who drank, smoke, took drugs or womanise by putting them into this Studenten Karzer. Haha. Supposedly it was quite fun in there. They drew on the wall, played cards, gambled. It seems more like a free dormitory for the naughty boys.

The biggest attraction of Heidleberg is its Castle. It's situated on a hill and overlooks the entire Heidleberg city. Can you spot the castle up the hill?

And the night view...

Met up with our friend Stephanie and her bf Valentin for dinner. Valentin is also French and on exchange in Mannheim (a neighbouring town) and has a real talent in learning Canto vulgarities :)

We stayed in this really dodgy hostel for 16euros a night, probably a record low for hostel price. Ah well the room was worth less than that for sure. When we opened the door (which couldnt be locked), we were greeted with 3 double-decker beds and a tiny heater. There were no pillow, no blankets. And sooo, 1) we didn't bathe cos there was only a translucent white cloth separating the shower and the dim street outside; 2) we barely slept that night, cos the room was too freaking cold.

Ah nonetheless, we woke up enthusiastically for another day of sight-seeing. The weather was good and we took the cable-car up to the castle. We were freeezing from the gusts of wind but the sight of the Heidleberg city below was worth freezing my fingers to take pictures.

And we took a slow stroll along the river...

People say that Heidleberg is where they get all those postcard shots from. Yes, we totally agree.

Embracing Civilization

Term has started proper in the EBS. In the Schloss campus, we see the german students strutting around in their branded trenchcoat and LV bags, air-kissing and welcoming each other back to school.
The reality of school hasn't really kicked in for us though. We don't have classes till Thurs, and the next lesson a week later! It's weird, isn't it? We are so used to having a certain class say every Monday 12 to 3.15, then another every Wed 8.30 to 11.45, and so forth. Here at the EBS, a module can be finished after one week! Our Intro to Asset Mgmt class starts in mid-Feb, from Monday to Friday, morning till evening, and it's done! Profs can set classes anytime within the term, and there can be no regularity. One week it can be Mon morning, another week it can be Thurs evening. It looks to me as if the Prof just took out his organizer and slotted in classes when he could took leave from his day job. Heh.


And so, since we have no classes and couldn't bear to idle in our little village of Hattenheim, we jio-ed our 3 Asian pals: Kit, Nicole and Alice to go Wiesbaden for a day of shopping, more shopping and Asian food. We set off at noon, taking the Bahn and arrived 20min later. Hey, that's faster than the trip from Woodlands to Orchard okay. Basically, we shopped fullstop. Only stopped to grab a cheapo Pizza Bread for 'lunch'. Jemmy and my combined expediture for the day was about 100Euros (S$200), including our very filling Asian buffet as dinner. The buffet was incredible. We girls devoured almost a full platter of sushi. It wasn't that fantastic tastewise, but it just seemed ages the last time we had sushi. Jemmy gobbled down 5 Goreng Pisangs. And yes, they have Goreng Pisangs! How the hell did they get that? There was also fried beehoon, fried mee, curry veg, stir-fried beef etc. :)
We were sooooo pleased carrying our new jacket, tops, earrings, snowhats and groceries, plus a full stomach home.

.party animal.animal party.

Exchange Parties have officially been made into a weekly affair. Every Sat night without fail.
Well the main rationale is that Sunday is a day when all shops are closed and u have nothing better to do than to sleep in and watch DVDs. Or as Elodie puts it, "We must get drunk to forget what a miserably boring village we live in."
?Did you know? There is a law here that states that all shops must be closed on Sunday. Restaurants which wishes to open on Sunday must pay$ to apply for special license. Supposedly it is for the welfare of all German citizens. And just as i exclaim how ridiculous it is, Stefanie informs me that there is such a law in France as well, and most European countries. All I can say is, serve you right for the rapidly declining economy.

Last Sat we had a fantastic party hosted by Tom&Thomas of Flat5. There was a huge turn-out: exchange peeps, past and present, their pals, even some random dudes the angmoh chicks picked up at a bar. In a brief summary, we drank beer, chatted, drank medicamenta, ate chips, drank wine, chatted more, drank vodka, got a little tipsy, then more tipsy. Jemmy got sehhh, i brough him down, he puked everything, he slept. I went back for more action: everyone danced, chatted, drank more, and finally called it a night at 2+am. It was awesoooome :)

Wir wohnen in Hatteheim!

Only updates for UK trip so far, before we forget anything! But of course, how can we forget to update you all on our current situation:)

We arrived in Frankfurt Main Airport on 2Jan, officially embarking on our German exchange program. Our preeetty Burbury-clad friend Maria came to fetch us to our new home. Our address is:

Flat 4
EBS Wohnhaus
Rheinstraße 14
65436 Hattenheim

Germany

So when we run out of Lee Kum Kee sauce and Ho Yao etc, you know where to send your love.

Hattenheim is a village. We are far from civilization, especially during this winter period. Nothing much is opened even in the day, cept our fav. hangout -- Aldi Supermarkt. We live by the Rhine river. The view from our window is sooo beautiful. You have to see it to believe it. Btw, we took this picture inside our flat, with the windows opened.

Our daily program for the past week has been oh-so-intensive German class from 8.45am to about 4pm. From where we live, we walk 40min to the Berg, where we have classes now. So you can imagine how early we set off. We have slowly got accustomed to walking for an hour to and from sch everyday, but sometimes when you wake up in the morning (esp after a late night party) and you think about walking alllll the way to sch and having boring German lessons the whole day, you just feel like falling asleep again. On the topic of German classes, sigh it is so hard. German is not good for Asian tongue. It sounds like coughing up phelgm. Chkrrrrrrrr- without the pui thats all. I can whine on for an hour...


We've made plenty of friends here! They are real lovely people. Particularly close friends are the Koreans, HK girls, 2 Frenchies and a Lituanian. We had a preconceived mentality that Frenchies are clique-ish, don't-speak-english people. To our plesant surprise, they are reallllly nice! Despite the fact that we don't completely understand their lousy English, they are friendly and love to chat with us. Then again, of course there are stuck-up angmohs who disregards us Asians who look like little kids. My HK friends and I love to bitch about them. Ha!


Living in Germany, how can we forget the beer and partiesss! So far, we've had a wine&wurst gathering, a huge exchange party and many smaller exchangees gatherings. We practically drink everyday and are loving every bit of it:) Picturesss time!

Me and Alice my Korean pal. Jemmy is pretty good at these drinking games. I too hamchee to play. Surely lose and get drunk.
More parties over the weekend! Woohoo!

UK Road Trip [Part2]

Inverness - Land of the Loch Ness Monster, -2 degC: Our first day in Scotland and also Jemmy's first time at the wheels! Clocked 150kmh, he says the feeling damn shiok:) 5 long long hours went by, with breathtaking-ly beautiful scenery along the way. The temp dropped to -5 degC midway thru! Brr. Mountains, rivers, lakes, valleys went by slowly. There were sooo many lambs/ sheeps, my dad insisted we have an all-lamb feast when we arrive. Stopped at a service station to grab sandwiches and chips for our little picnic by the famous Loch Ness. The surrounding was just beauuutiful, but damn windy. Enjoy the pics below, which i risked freezing off my fingers to capture the beauty of LN.

On the way back from Inverness, our car kena cow/sheepdung. Freaky smelly! When we drove to York and parked in a shopping street, people stared at the car. It was that bad. So we went for a cheapo automated carwash. The smell unfortunately lingered on for the rest of the trip.

Edinburgh & York, 1 degC: Edingburgh is a really historic, quaint old town. I consider it a must-go in Scotland. Every building blows you away with its 'oldness' and grandeur. Love the tartan patterns of diff colour combinations! Beats the boring Burbury one for sure. I shall let the pics do the talking:)

That's the famous Edinburgh Castle up there!

Top of Edinburgh!

York is a mini-Ediburgh. Similarly old and historic. Yellowy-brown buildings made of stone, which in a SG context, would have been obsolete, disgusting. Somehow these lichen-infested buildings look so artsy in York, a city with much history. I love gothic design of the Yorminster very much:)

Hallo! Wie geht's?

FRIENDS!

Blame it on my internet-less home, I haven’t been able to stay in touch in quite awhile. And now, the long-awaited first entry…

UK Road trip [part1]

Arrived in London Heathrow Airport on 21 Dec ’06, 4am and (gasp) at -1 degC. We later found out that we were miraculously lucky to land in London! There has been severe fog in UK for the past days and all UK domestic flights have been cancelled. Inter-European states flights as well, leaving millions of travelers stranded at Heathrow. The flight was surprisingly good! 12 hours and I slept through most of it. BA has touch-screen monitors, win SQ wor! Parents fetched us and we went on to collect our rented car for the road trip: a 7-seater Volkswagon Sharren.

Portsmouth, 0 degC: Sadly didn’t get to see much of the scenic coastal city. Most of the time we were just freezing our butts off trying to navigate through the terrible fog. Had lunch at a Chinese restaurant, probably the best one throughout our trip! Owner spoke canto ad gave us real useful directions for exploring Portsmouth. We for shopping at this fab place called Gunwhaft Quays: a massive mall of (gasp) factory outlets!!! Gap Levi’s Nike Polo Adidas. Blah.

Stonehenge & Bath, 2 degC: The first, a bunch of ugly stones. The second, a quaint little town of nicely-yellow buildings and the magnificent cathedral. Every turn, every corner brings with it a photo-taking opportunity. Then, we face our biggest problem as yet: Homelessness. Drove into a Travelodge (UK’s biggest hostel chain) along M6 (major expressway) hoping to call it a night. Lo and behold, full and full for the next few TL along the way. Damn. We left for Manchester and found Campanile Hotel. Phew. ₤50 is actually cheap for UK standard, but convert it to S$150 and you probably can stay a night in a 5star hotel in SG.




Manchester & Liverpool: The highlight of the day was of course, the Manchester United FC Tour! Even more awesome if we had caught a game there. It’s the red devils’ fan pilgrimage tour. Definitely value-for-money for us (with student discount) and lasted for 1.5 hours. I even sat on Wayne Rooney’s seat in the changing room lah. The feeling of running through the players’ tunnel with the (taped) cheering fans was OMG the greatest feeling! A short drive away was our Premier League rival Liverpool. On the way, we were clueless exactly where Anfield was in Liverpool. Fear not! We saw streams of cars and buses carrying the Red fans, decorated in Pool’s scarves, flags... They led the way. We were outside the stadium taking photos and touts kept walking by, whispering ‘Tickets! Tickets!’ Ah, so clandestine.


More coming soon!