Day 1 and 2 X'mas Delight - Klagenfurt in Austria

Woke up at 5am to catch the 1st train to Berlin for my flight. It was still snowing so i had to put on all my gear and brave thru the snow to reach Wismar Bahnhof. It took me longer time to reached there as the path was covered with thick snow.
Managed to get on the train but the train was late to departure. So i was late to catch the exchange route to Berlin Tegal airport. Thanks to my brain and my berlin train route on hand. I quickly took another route to get to the airport, this route i had to walk and change bus. But still i managed to reached the airport on time. Again, due to the heavy snow the plane had to be delayed for an hour. Gosh... i was rushing like mad on the 1st day of my vacation trip.

Finally i reached my 1st destination in the afternoon. KlAGENFURT. It was really cold there, -10 degree. I was shivering and trying to find my location of CS. The local was rather helpful. To my surprise, most of them could speak english. Whereas the youngster in germany dont like to speak english at all. Hmmm... Without much difficulties the CS place was really so close to the old town area. Just located directly behind the one and only shopping mall there.

My CS host was a doctor. She had really nice and cosy house. She was very friendly and helpful. I was given the study room. As she had to be on duty in the afternoon, i was given a set of keys of her house myself. So that i could have my own arrangement. She pointed out the town highlight and suggested to me where i should visit. I was roaming thru the old town inner court and churches. It was so beautiful and classic.



Initially my plan was to visit Burg Hochosterwitz as well. But due to heavy snow, i had to give up the idea of going. It was mention as one of the most impressive medieval castles in Austria. I can't possibly climb up the hill to reach the castle when i can't even see the stairs. It was all covered with snow and plus the cold cold weather i totally give up the idea.
Still i went to the Wothersee. It was suppose to be a very nice lake but it was all frozen. Too bad, i missed quite a few nice sight at Klagenfurt.

Last but not the least, it is a definite place to visit. "Landemuseum" There was quite a few exhibition on display. I loved the chocolate exhibition best. I even get to taste different range of chocolate and the process of how chocolate was made. Lovely and Tasty.

My Backpacking Schedule

Baby Kaden

My bro woke me up in my dream thru skype. I was like grhhh.... it was 2pm in spore but about 9am in germany. I was still sleeping lar.... no early class mah. Luckily it was of good reason. I saw baby kaden crawling on the floor. He can do 360degree turn on his tummy. I was so happy to see baby kaden. He is so so adorable. Everyone at home was treating him like a prince... everyone taking turn to play and cuddle him. How i wish i was there as well. But better than nothing i can still see him live on my laptop.
Really thanks to the technology we had now... no more expensive oversea telephone bill and yet we can see each other face to face online.

My dear...

I was so surprise and touched to receive my "dear" parcel. I was totally caught in surprise. When i opened my letterbox today, i got a note from the post asking me to go SKY to collect my stuff. Braving thru the snow (coz it was snowing this afternoon) i made my way there, freezing and shivering of coz. When i saw the parcel i was like... OMG... i was really very happy. My 'dear' in spore send me my X'mas cum BD present... Thank dear... love you..... miss you.....

Wismar X'mas Market

I caught Bert and Ernie in Wismar X'mas Market... They are having great fun...

A week before my Xmas vacation...

Eyes was not feeling that good. Dry! Maybe it is the result after the combination of long hours looking at my laptop screen plus the weather is cold and dry here. Bought a 7euro eye drop… so expensive… but no choice…

So many things to do for this whole week. Forcing myself to try and complete all asap, maybe even before I go off on my vacation. There will be more travel ling to do next year. Booked my trip to Frankfurt and Milan just yesterday. Going to fly off from Frankfurt to Milan in April for the Furniture design fair there.

Really lack of sleep

I'm really lack of sleep... Had been rushing for work and presentation for the past few days... and even if got time to sleep, i didnt sleep soundly as well. Too many things going on at the same time. Ned to find an easy way out to lighten my workload and enjoy the life.

My dishes...

被骗了。。。

Felt cheated…. Light and symbol elective was not what was introduced when the course started. Every course as given a briefing of the outline and workload . But now, there was an increasing workload and tons of things to do for light & symbol. It is also clashing with other presentation. Gosh…
Everyone was nagging or complaining about the additional load of work to be done. It was not as what was describe in the outline. Totally different. Hate it..

Didnt sleep well for the past few days. A lot of things to be done. And to make things worst i was still doing a job for boss in spore, making my time schedule even more stressed out..

Lighties Chinese Party Night out

Gosh... was realli tired now. Just came back... 2am in the morning. This was my 1st night out party since i've arrived in Germany. Went over to Haus 25 for the party. Lighties Chinese Party Night out. We, chinese students prepared out traditional chinese food... Jiao Zhi... Now i noe how to make the dough, skin and the filling. Will do it for daddy and mummy when i get back to spore. Hehehe...
After our delicious meal, we had wine of coz... It is something that shouldnt be missed out. I drank a bit as usual but not drunk of course. We played "who is the killer" so funni and some other games. From 6pm the dinner started till 2am... gosh.. had so much fun..

Now i noe i'm not suitable to eat beef at all... Had tried beef for a couple of times, but in the end... end up having diarrhea after taking beef...
Now i now, i will cut down on eating beef unless no choice.

The flower is blooming in my room....

Lighties Public Presentation at St. Nikolai Church

12am.... final reached my dorm. My mood was still swinging in the cold cold weather outside. Had our Public presentation for "My Lumiaire" at St. Nikolai church just now. We had many interaction with the local resident. After the grand opening at the altar, we were all invited to the prayer room to had our interaction with the public. This is what i would never get while studying in Spore. We, as student was place sitting in front to face the public. And on top, we had to answer their queries about our design and somehow i would say to defend our idea against their belief. One german guy was like asking about why we had the intention to use colous in our design. Initially, i had no intention of speaking up, but thanks to my dear classmates. Everyone was like.. Ting, ting... that's your question!
OMG! Okie, no choice, i was forced to speak up using the mike. But thinking back, i was not at all panicking, instead i was answering quite well. I think... the prof was staring at me all the way. but still i perform well... Well done... to me...

Super cold today

Today was really super cold... It didnt snow but still i feel worse than it was snowing. As usual, had check the temperature before i go to school. In the morning, the temperature was only 0.1 degree. OMG. Immediately i put on my full gear. Wore my long john inside, long sleeve shirt, one jacket and my thick coat before i left my dorm. had my gloves and hat ready as well. Still i was shivering on the way..
As the weather was too cold, i decide to pamper myself... I made soup to go with my meal. Yummy... add a lot of nice and delicious ingredient... hehehe....

MidTerm Presentation

Finally, the mid term presentation for Design Project 01 is over. The result was rather satisfying... a lot of work was presented by still there is always room for improvement. Will work harder for my final Presentation.

But i was rather disappointed with Andreas grp Presentation. Is my expectation too high as usual. Andreas was rather prof.. he was in the lighting industries for couple of year so he had some experience. But the work he presentation today was rather disappointing. I expect to see better work qualities. Hmm... maybe i shld..... learn from the mistake and remind myself not to repeat their mistake....

The flower is blooming

The pot of flower which i brought back from Neuruppin is blooming. Was so excited. Does it mean i will be having luck for my presentation for the next few days or even my study in germany will be going very smoothly...

My own creation of Fried Rice

Cooked a big pot of Fried Rice... had no time to cook for the next few days, so just now... i cooked my meal for the next three or four days.
Got many ingredients
1. Rice (of coz)
2. carrot
3. potatoes
4. Lettuce
5. hotdog
6. Nuggets

Internet connection sucks here.....

Sucks, internet connection is giving me hell lots of problem in my dorm. Cant find the information as and when i like. Praying hard that the connection issue willb e resolve soon.

How cum ya... suddenly got so many fren by the name of Shawn popping out of nowhere.
Strange and weird... Tomorrow having my midterm presentation for Airrail. Preparation is still going on.. didnt feel any stressed at all. Instead, i was feeling kind of lazy and relax mood. Might be due to the cooling weather.
Time passes real fast in germany. The day was bright at about 8am and dark at 3.30pm... day is so short and night is to long...

SAD = Seasonal Affective Disorder or winter depression.

Hotpot session

Just came back from the hotpot session… didn’t eat much. We had Vietnamese style.. very spicy and sour. Didn’t really like the soup base. Rush to the toilet after my meal, just as i expected. Guess it was because of the spiciness and sourness. But we had a good time chatting and laughing ard.

Thank-Giving dinner

Just came back from my 1st Thank-Giving dinner. International dishes we had. Chat, crack jokes, exchange thots and even secrets. Tried several dishes which I’ve never seen before, some taste funny… but still I like the glut wine best. Glut wine is a type of typical german x’mas wine, it had to be drink piping hot. Real hot and it taste delicious. I drank so much; luckily there wasn’t much percentage of alcohol. So I was still sober.. Cool…

There was like this break-off virus in our batch. I just came to know there were already 4 couples that break-off with their partner in their home town. I was shocked. Everyone was here for only less than 3 months and so many things happened. When they came over, they were still happily chatting about their relationships. But now sad to say that things is happening this way. It is so difficult to maintain long distance relationship?

My own problem...

It seem to be my problem... Is my expectation too high...

Happened several times, i expect my grp members to be more independent and complete the task by themselves instead of being late and keep on waiting. In the end, i wasted my time doing nothing except waiting and waiting.
Just a simple task and yet cant make their own decision. Really pissed me off. If they want to book consultation time then go ahead. If not dun bother. It seem that everything they do they have to ask, ask and ask. Trying to test my temper only.

Neuruppin

Neuruppin - November 09

Day 1 – Neuruppin
After 2 hours journey down southeast of Germany, we had reached Neuruppin. We are doing our small project here in the famous attraction of the town.
My impression of Neuruppin.. weather was cold… beautiful lake… quiet and peaceful town. We first started with a simple city tour… well… it was quite pleasure to walk down the street. We went to the destination of where we had to be going for the next couple of days; Temple Garden. It was a small garden but with many sculpture and statue of the famous people in Neuruppin left down from past history.
Dinner was served at a restaurant in temple garden. Had beef for the 1st time. I had no choice but to eat the food. The food was standard… nobody can be picky about it as accommodation and food was free and included for this small project. Traditional german food. Had to behavelike the german.
After the food, we went to tour the temple garden for the night view so we can be prepared about how we are planning with the lighting effect. Spooky and creepy… not a single lamp was lighted. It was so dark inside this garden. We had to walk so slowly and watching our steps. I was commenting that with the wind blowing, the botak tree branches (due to winter the leaves all fallen) it was exactly like a typical western horror movie…

Day 2 and Day 3 – Neuruppin
We started working in the temple garden from 1pm till midnite after 1am then we return to our dorm. It was raining and we were all freezing. Still we have to work.. gosh… we were all like slaves. It was really hardwork. We were all drenched, tired, cold and starving.

Day 4 – Neuruppin
Finally is the showdown. We went to the park really earli to make sure that things were in place and getting ready for the public. God really heard all our prayers, it went on smoothly till eveing. TO my surprise, there was a long queue of public waiting to get into this garden. Everyone was shocked at their present. It was really touching. After three days of preparation, we can exhibit our work and the public were really amazed by the result. There was a couple of hiccups… half way thru the whole garden got into total darkness. I couldn’t even see my own finger let say even walking a few steps. The power fuse was overloaded and for almost half an hour, there was no light and we were like all going like mad running ard to solve the problem. Luckily we managed to powerup the fuse and things went back to normal again. Everyone stayed till after midnight to clear all stuff. We were like really super terribly dying to go back and rest.

Day 5 – Neuruppin
All were over, I was really glad to be cuming back to Wismar. To my own small whole. Everybody went early to studio for our last briefing. The prof showed us the local newspaper, we were all on the news. Our works received remarkable great positive comments. Everyone were giving us thumb up for all the effort we made and we created a night of pleasure for the local. Great job… so all the really hard work was worth it.

Stupid me...

Didn’t sleep well at all… Stupid me, I washed my blanket cover yesterday noon as I was thinking that since I will be away to neuruppin for a week. I might as well wash the cover up and make use of the week to let it dry. But I was wrong. I was freezing last night. In the middle of the nite, I have to get up and dig up my sweater to cover myself before I can rest. But still I didn’t enjoy resting at all.
Early morning, the postman call me up and said he will be delivering my parcel. So I was glad that I didn’t have class in early morning and I wont missed my parcel. Who’s noe. I waited and waited and finally I gave him a call. He told me he will be sending at 11am which I had my presentation. Had to get my german fren to call him back and ask him to send between 12 to 1pm. Which means, during lunch break I had to rush back to my dorm to wait for the parcel. Finally, I’ve received my parcel. Cool! Didn’t waste my rushing journey back to get my parcel… So many goodies inside, I was like a kiddo. When I open the box I was like digging for gold.
Thanks to everyone back home who had contributed to my parcel…….

Kaden... in action!

Naughty Ai-Yi did some editing for baby kaden... so cute...

Thank you but no thank....

Back from my heavy dinner. Had dinner at Paula's place today.. I cooked Bak Kut Teh and Heng's cooked japanese curry... Yummy! I can start my own cooking bz liao... hahaha....
Was busy doing Light & Symbol rendering. Cool... now i had even in-depth knowledge on this software... after this rd of trial i will move on to using relux and see how good it is...

Paula talked to me just now, she wanted to share the room with me.. she said she wanted to stay with close fren and not by herself. She was suggesting either she share the room with me or i can moved downstair to stay with her as her room was 4x bigger than mine. We can have partition and share the rental together. In that case, the rental i'll be paying will be about 40% lesser than what i'm paying now.
After some consideration, i guess i will still reject her offer. I kinda wanted some privacy of my own and i dun realli wan to stay with anione at this moment. It will be so inconvenience...althot i can save up on the rental but still there are many complicated things involve of sharing the room with anione here. I kinda like my own space and i'm used to it already so i can only say thank you for the offer and no-thank to the room sharing....

Architectural Management Presentation!

Just finished my 1st presentation of AM this morning. 15 minutes presentation for individual... Culture Shock of own country.. Can never imagine myself sitting in front of the PC to read article and facts. Completed my presentation and report in a total of 15 hours. Long journey... but it was rewarding. As a singaporean, i should have know all its history by long ago but now i really have the chance to read carefully and summaries all things. I can even answer you its history now... hahaha...
Knew a lot about china, usa, thai and the kiwis (NZ) culture. Cool! I'm loving this courses day by day..

Tired, tired and tired…

Tired, tired and tired… no other words can describe me now… so many 1st time for today..
Just finished the presentation for my lumiaire at St. Nikolai Church… it was bloody hell cold and raining outside… I was really shivering when doing my presentation. Everyone else was also… there was no heater inside the church and it was so dark and creepy… dark because nightfall by the time of 4pm and creepy was becoz we were all stepping on the crypt of ancient heroes who were bombed in Wismar when walking around… I dun like the feeling the church had given me especially during night time…
Fell down of my bike when coming back to my dorm. Didn’t get hurt but mud stained on my jeans. Luckily tomolo got no class but had consultation time with the professor and I ned to prepare for my presentation on Thursday.

My Luminaire

Monday... another day gone...

Tired... just came back from my english class... skip my german class again... i dun wanna learn about vater and mutter again... so boring.
Woke up earli today to went to the immigration office, going to get my new visa on the 26th november... waiting period again.

Had to complete my lumiaire and the poster by today. I would say both were 90% done, just ned some touch-up. Tomolo going to be another super stressed up day. Had to go to the church to set up and printing of all my material and submission.

Was listening to Olivia Ong Bossa nova album lately. I love her voice.. great to listen at late night. The sky is dark again. Heard from tae that it will be snowing tomolo again. Praying hard it wont as i'll have to carry my things to the church for the PM presentation.

It's Snowing in Wismar.....