Time check: 3.15pm.
Just uploaded my draft for the Geometrical Metrology Functional Analysis Report for the Danish group-mates, and now I have approximately 4 hours to prepare my Risk Management presentation slides for next Tues before I upload it to let my partner carry on her half, and also continue my Social Economy and Policy individual report, also due next Tues. Too much work, too little time...
...all because I'm leaving for Stockholm tonight with 1 polish, 1 German, and 7 Italian friends on a 9 hour overnight bus later. Ken, Jeff, and Tianyao so kindly agreed to host us with free accomodation, so that saves me quite a fair bit of moolah. This trip should be fun, especially with this fun and funny bunch of guys (and gals). Heh. See ya all when I come back to rush my reports on Monday!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Isn't it spring yet?
Just when I thought spring had arrived.
I woke up to find campus village covered in snow with more chunks falling from above.
No wonder they say the weather in Denmark is crazy.
Oh and with daylight saving time we're now one more hour ahead.
That makes us 6 hours behind Singapore instead of 7.
I woke up to find campus village covered in snow with more chunks falling from above.
No wonder they say the weather in Denmark is crazy.
Oh and with daylight saving time we're now one more hour ahead.
That makes us 6 hours behind Singapore instead of 7.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
The G container
At first it was dinner for 8, then it became 18.
Fili prepared 5 pizzas (in case you're asking, they are all similar, read: same), with assistance from Colin's sister, Elsa, and Monika. This time I only helped do the mozarella cheese and monitoring the oven heat. After dinner seemed to come to an end...
...more people and drinks (read: alcohol) arrived and changed the occasion to a festa (Italian for 'party').
Now Fili and Victor claim they want another party next Friday with 40 people and no less. And we haven't even attended the one later today (Saturday night) at Mikolaj's house (the same Lundtoftevej one). My container really lives up to it's 'famous' reputation. Need I say more?
By the way, since coming to Denmark I've learnt at least 5 ways to open a beer bottle, but I believe there's another 100 alternatives. One of the coolest ones so far must be this one, highly specialised and dangerous if not handled properly. Be amazed!
http://ableabel.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album21
Fili prepared 5 pizzas (in case you're asking, they are all similar, read: same), with assistance from Colin's sister, Elsa, and Monika. This time I only helped do the mozarella cheese and monitoring the oven heat. After dinner seemed to come to an end...
...more people and drinks (read: alcohol) arrived and changed the occasion to a festa (Italian for 'party').
Now Fili and Victor claim they want another party next Friday with 40 people and no less. And we haven't even attended the one later today (Saturday night) at Mikolaj's house (the same Lundtoftevej one). My container really lives up to it's 'famous' reputation. Need I say more?
By the way, since coming to Denmark I've learnt at least 5 ways to open a beer bottle, but I believe there's another 100 alternatives. One of the coolest ones so far must be this one, highly specialised and dangerous if not handled properly. Be amazed!
http://ableabel.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album21
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Amsterdam 17th-20th March 2006
The wind is always against you in Amsterdam.
It’s true.
We actually became convinced why windmills exist in the Netherlands the moment we stepped out of central station in downtown Amsterdam. But I’ll elaborate more later. The weekend in Amsterdam was fantastic, less the (incredible) fatigue we all experienced by the 2nd day when walking about town. I could take one weekend to pen down what we 11 Singaporeans experienced, but I’ll try to sum it up as best as possible so as to provide the most wholesome (and clean) entry which I’m assuming the others will take reference too (read=plagiarise). *cough*
Friday night, 17th March 2006
Let’s start at the check-in in Copenhagen airport Terminal 2, where the X-ray machine at the departure gates detected my pocket knife in my carry-on backpack. Having failed at “sneaking” in my utility tool (not because I wanted to hijack the plane but simply so I didn’t need to wait for any baggage at the arrival hall in Amsterdam), the security packed my utility tool into a cardboard box and directed me back to the check-in counter to, what else, check-it-in. *duh*
Okay, fast forward an hour or so of flight time later, we arrived
safely at Amsterdam Schipol Airport just before 9pm, where I became the first “RDS” (rate determining step) that held the rest of my friends up because I had to wait for at least 20minutes before my white box (containing a solo utility tool) appeared on the baggage carousel. Thanks for being patient guys. Then again, you had no choice since you needed me to lead you to the hostel where I made the reservation for all of us.
SY and Andrew had arrived in Amsterdam early that morning, and were kind enough to receive us at the airport. After proclaiming how expensive food downtown is, we advised us to eat our dinner at the Burger King joint at the airport, where the cheapest “double”-bacon meal with fries and coke cost €4.75. *holds back whining and complaining*
We bought a ticket to downtown Amsterdam for €3.60, but committed the same mistake as we did for Roskilde, where we sat in First Class of the train. When the inspector came and clipped our tickets he was kind enough to warn us not to commit this blunder again for it will incur a hefty fine. What we really appreciated was the fact that he let us remain in that exclusive cabin (which actually looked and felt no different from the 2nd class cabin less the privacy) for the rest of our journey until we arrived in Amsterdam Central. As we got off the train, he even bid us farewell and wished us a good stay for our weekend there.
SY’s
pseudo-experience in navigating the streets of Amsterdam (and the red-light district) seemed to take a wrong turn he realized the streets at night looked remotely different from that he and Andrew took in the day. Safe for Andrew and his newly purchased guide book of Amsterdam, I used his map to bring us back to our designated hostel within minutes. We checked-in to Stayokay Stadsdoelen where our hostelling card saved us €7.50 off room rates (We each paid €65.75 for 3 nights stay, inclusive of breakfast and bed-linen). That being my first hostel stay since traveling for over 23 years, I wasn’t all ready to accept our living conditions – 20 bed mixed-dorm, common toilet, locker facility along the corridor outside the room, but later warmed-up to the fact that this is what bed-and-breakfast really meant.
Summoning whatever remaining energy we had after the flight, we decided to walk along the red light district and take in the “sights” it offered. In any case, our hostels were located just 2 streets away from Chinatown and the red light district so everything was within walking distance. Amsterdam is pretty small, as we soon found out by Day 3.
For educational purposes and broadening of seemingly-closed Singaporean mindsets (me excluded), I shall attempt to describe what the famous red light district of the world was like, since we didn’t manage to take any picture of the prostitutes (or kueh, as described in Hokkien by SY, who warned us against taking any pictures of them for they will get du-lan). Taking pictures of anything other than the sex-workers themselves was fine, but we definitely took SY’s advice seriously, just in case of anything.
Now….
How the way things work around there was “simple”. Prosti
tutes rent a window space in a house from a landlord. They will entice potential customers with their skimpy lingerie/bikini outfits as they stand by the window. If they are “engaged”, the curtain would be drawn shut to indicate that a business is in progress. Otherwise, she would be available. All this happens along a street no longer than 3 Geylang Lorongs combined I think. The difference between Amsterdam’s red light district and Geylang, according to SY, was how open the former is, whilst in Geylang, one would have to bear the embarrassment of walking into the house in order to see the girls sitting behind window panes. Of course if you were a regular like SY, you wouldn’t feel at all bad knowing where to go. Just kidding.
Saturday, 18th March 2006
Interestingly enough, my bodily clock responded to the sunrise and by 7.30am, found daylight streaking through the window into my eyes. A quick wash-up later, we headed downstairs for a hearty breakfast that was to last only between 7.30am and 9.30am. With bread, ham, cheese, cereal, and a variety of juice and hot drinks available to the early bird, we ate our fill, knowing lunch was to be combined with dinner.
After walking about town for a good 2 hours, I met up with the rest a little past noon at the Rijksmuseum (National Gallery) where we would meet our guide for the Mike’s Bike Tour in and around the city, including an exclusive visit to a cheese factory and windmill in the outskirts. I’ll let the pictures and videos do the rest from here.
When we ended the bike tour at the bar Boom Chicago, we rewarded our 4 hour effort of cycling with a round of beer each, before proceeding to the adjacent Burger King for a “cheap” dinner again.
Save for Andrew, the rest weren’t keen on watching a live comedy and improv sho
w by an American/British cast at the Boom Chicago. Highly inspired by the hit-comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway based in the States, Andrew and I couldn’t let the chance of watching something similar in a city like Amsterdam pass us by. So we each paid €18.50, and sat down for slightly under 2 hours, in a 200-strong audience, sipping (by sipping I meant ordering only ONE glass and savoring it the whole time) one pint of Heineken, and living the moment where the lines between reality and comedy blurred.
Sunday, 19th March 2006
After breakfast we headed straight to the Van Gogh Museum, which housed several h
undred paintings, drawings and letters of the late Vincent Van Gogh. Thanks to our hostel, which offered a slightly discounted ticket price of €9.50 (usual price €10), we queued in a different line, which moved a lot faster than the one where people hadn’t yet bought their tickets. Photography inside the museum was forbidden, and so I tried my best to remember certain facts, one of which was Eugène Delacroix’s pieta, a depiction of Mary mourning for her son Jesus. For the who, what and how of the description, google it because I forgot. What I did learn after strolling through all 3 storeys, was that Van Gogh shot himself in the chest in 1890, and died only two days later (don’t ask why, I don’t know why either), after seemingly losing faith that his art wasn’t well received or reciprocated by the public.
After noon, we walked down to the Heineken Brewery, where we paid €9
.50 (usual price €10) to enter. The ticket entitled us to tour the museum and understand how beer is made from malted barley, hops and water, after which we were entitled to 3 “free” beers and a souvenir glass. I’ve put up the steps to brew a Heineken so if you’ve got what it takes, do it. Overall I felt better about visiting Heineken than Carlsberg (back in Denmark) since it offered more (like 2 simulator “rides” and the souvenir I could take home). With my visit to 2 breweries completed, how many more can I have?
We headed back to the hostel sometime in the evening where we took a
break. There, the rest were enthusiastic about visiting Moulin Rouge after SY brought them to have dinner at some Chinese restaurant. I figured €25 wa
s a little pricey to pay especially after I already watched Boom Chicago just one day before, plus I also had to visit the Anne Frank House since I bought the €7.50 ticket a day ago. It was sheer coincidence Daren came into the hostel and indicated that he too bought an evening ticket, and so we left at 6pm on foot. Despite sayings that the house is just another "tourist magnet" that only seeks to earn your money (which to some extent is true), walking in and about the house, and climbing up the steep stairwells and bookcase opening gave me a sense of how the Frank Family lived during the war, and the air of uncertainty was never more surreal.
Monday, 20th March 2006
Right after breakfast, Song Ning, Edwin and Emmy left by bus to some tulip auction, whilst Daren went for a tour to more windmills and a fishing village. Andrew, SY, YS, and YH had already left for Copenhagen early that morning, so that left Grace, Lin Chang and myself to explore Amsterdam free and easy on our last day.
According to Lin Chang, who was miserably disappointed that SY, YS and YH pang-seh-ed him and Andrew, they decided to pass on the opportunity to visit the Moulin Rouge the night before. It was also surprising for him when only Andrew seemed keened on going nonetheless. Either way, I didn't miss out on much then.
We headed for Waterlooplein to check out the “pasar malam” (outdoor flea market) of sorts, before heading back to Singel where the flower market offered a better variety of souvenirs and such. Given that much time and that little energy remaining, we decided to sink €6.75 each on a canal cruise ride which took approximately 75 minutes (after grabbing a flyer from the nearby casino that took 25% off the usual price of €9). With at least 100 bridges over the numerous canals, and the some parts of city being 3m under sea level, Amsterdam offered a different experience for the uninitiated.
At the end of the boat ride, we entered the Holland Casino with a free admission ticket obtained from the canal cruise ticket office (normal admission fee €3.50) just to see what it was like. There wasn’t much about the casino, as it is with every other casino. However, what caught my eye were the jackpot machines (most of them had buttons as opposed to the lever), which varied in credits from 2 cents to a few dollars of Euro. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered trying since it was pure luck and the house always wins. But when I caught sight of a section of machines that gave 25 credits for €0.50, I figured there wasn’t much harm sinking one gold coin into the machine. Even Grace agreed in trying her luck after we were both convinced the machine said €0.50.
When I tried slotting the €0.50 coin in my machine it didn’t seem to go in. When I tried it on Grace’s machine it went in halfway, so I summoned brute force in jamming it in, thinking the hole might have been just a wee-bit too small.
Then it got stuck.
So I signaled to the security, indicating my problem, to which he gladly helped open up the machine. He took out my coin and tried slotting it in the machine first, before he turned to us and said, “this is a real coin…you need to get a token.”
*insert super embarrassment here*
Grace and I left that area promptly while I was still looking out for some machine or counter to change for tokens. When I finally saw one counter, several people were changing hundreds and thousands of Euros for chips. I looked at my €0.50 gold coin and thanked myself for not asking that security guard earlier on where I could change my one gold coin.
After strolling one round about the roulette and black jack tables, we left the casino (without spending or losing a single cent) to grab a free beer at Thodebeckplein, which the Bike Tour coupon rewarded us with. Unfortunately for Grace and Lin Chang, their coupons were valid only on the date which was specified 2 days ago, whilst m 0.5L frozen pint of Heineken came free because my coupon was stamped improperly, allowing some gap between 2 dates, causing enough ambiguity to reward a long weekend of never-ending walking.
We rushed back to the hostel to grab our belongings from the cupboard, before heading to Central Station to catch the train to the airport for our 9.25pm flight back to Copenhagen. Just one weekend and everyone agreed how tiring it was. We now fear the 12-day long Easter vacation to London-Barcelona-Madrid-Berlin, and even more so the proposed “grand Europe tour” in June/July.
4 pages of blogging, 5 hours later, here are the pictures, which I haven’t even completed adding captions to.
http://ableabel.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album19
Amsterdam – done.
It’s true.
We actually became convinced why windmills exist in the Netherlands the moment we stepped out of central station in downtown Amsterdam. But I’ll elaborate more later. The weekend in Amsterdam was fantastic, less the (incredible) fatigue we all experienced by the 2nd day when walking about town. I could take one weekend to pen down what we 11 Singaporeans experienced, but I’ll try to sum it up as best as possible so as to provide the most wholesome (and clean) entry which I’m assuming the others will take reference too (read=plagiarise). *cough*
Friday night, 17th March 2006
Let’s start at the check-in in Copenhagen airport Terminal 2, where the X-ray machine at the departure gates detected my pocket knife in my carry-on backpack. Having failed at “sneaking” in my utility tool (not because I wanted to hijack the plane but simply so I didn’t need to wait for any baggage at the arrival hall in Amsterdam), the security packed my utility tool into a cardboard box and directed me back to the check-in counter to, what else, check-it-in. *duh*
Okay, fast forward an hour or so of flight time later, we arrived
safely at Amsterdam Schipol Airport just before 9pm, where I became the first “RDS” (rate determining step) that held the rest of my friends up because I had to wait for at least 20minutes before my white box (containing a solo utility tool) appeared on the baggage carousel. Thanks for being patient guys. Then again, you had no choice since you needed me to lead you to the hostel where I made the reservation for all of us.SY and Andrew had arrived in Amsterdam early that morning, and were kind enough to receive us at the airport. After proclaiming how expensive food downtown is, we advised us to eat our dinner at the Burger King joint at the airport, where the cheapest “double”-bacon meal with fries and coke cost €4.75. *holds back whining and complaining*
We bought a ticket to downtown Amsterdam for €3.60, but committed the same mistake as we did for Roskilde, where we sat in First Class of the train. When the inspector came and clipped our tickets he was kind enough to warn us not to commit this blunder again for it will incur a hefty fine. What we really appreciated was the fact that he let us remain in that exclusive cabin (which actually looked and felt no different from the 2nd class cabin less the privacy) for the rest of our journey until we arrived in Amsterdam Central. As we got off the train, he even bid us farewell and wished us a good stay for our weekend there.
SY’s
pseudo-experience in navigating the streets of Amsterdam (and the red-light district) seemed to take a wrong turn he realized the streets at night looked remotely different from that he and Andrew took in the day. Safe for Andrew and his newly purchased guide book of Amsterdam, I used his map to bring us back to our designated hostel within minutes. We checked-in to Stayokay Stadsdoelen where our hostelling card saved us €7.50 off room rates (We each paid €65.75 for 3 nights stay, inclusive of breakfast and bed-linen). That being my first hostel stay since traveling for over 23 years, I wasn’t all ready to accept our living conditions – 20 bed mixed-dorm, common toilet, locker facility along the corridor outside the room, but later warmed-up to the fact that this is what bed-and-breakfast really meant.Summoning whatever remaining energy we had after the flight, we decided to walk along the red light district and take in the “sights” it offered. In any case, our hostels were located just 2 streets away from Chinatown and the red light district so everything was within walking distance. Amsterdam is pretty small, as we soon found out by Day 3.
For educational purposes and broadening of seemingly-closed Singaporean mindsets (me excluded), I shall attempt to describe what the famous red light district of the world was like, since we didn’t manage to take any picture of the prostitutes (or kueh, as described in Hokkien by SY, who warned us against taking any pictures of them for they will get du-lan). Taking pictures of anything other than the sex-workers themselves was fine, but we definitely took SY’s advice seriously, just in case of anything.
Now….
How the way things work around there was “simple”. Prosti
tutes rent a window space in a house from a landlord. They will entice potential customers with their skimpy lingerie/bikini outfits as they stand by the window. If they are “engaged”, the curtain would be drawn shut to indicate that a business is in progress. Otherwise, she would be available. All this happens along a street no longer than 3 Geylang Lorongs combined I think. The difference between Amsterdam’s red light district and Geylang, according to SY, was how open the former is, whilst in Geylang, one would have to bear the embarrassment of walking into the house in order to see the girls sitting behind window panes. Of course if you were a regular like SY, you wouldn’t feel at all bad knowing where to go. Just kidding.Saturday, 18th March 2006
Interestingly enough, my bodily clock responded to the sunrise and by 7.30am, found daylight streaking through the window into my eyes. A quick wash-up later, we headed downstairs for a hearty breakfast that was to last only between 7.30am and 9.30am. With bread, ham, cheese, cereal, and a variety of juice and hot drinks available to the early bird, we ate our fill, knowing lunch was to be combined with dinner.
After walking about town for a good 2 hours, I met up with the rest a little past noon at the Rijksmuseum (National Gallery) where we would meet our guide for the Mike’s Bike Tour in and around the city, including an exclusive visit to a cheese factory and windmill in the outskirts. I’ll let the pictures and videos do the rest from here.
When we ended the bike tour at the bar Boom Chicago, we rewarded our 4 hour effort of cycling with a round of beer each, before proceeding to the adjacent Burger King for a “cheap” dinner again.
Save for Andrew, the rest weren’t keen on watching a live comedy and improv sho
w by an American/British cast at the Boom Chicago. Highly inspired by the hit-comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway based in the States, Andrew and I couldn’t let the chance of watching something similar in a city like Amsterdam pass us by. So we each paid €18.50, and sat down for slightly under 2 hours, in a 200-strong audience, sipping (by sipping I meant ordering only ONE glass and savoring it the whole time) one pint of Heineken, and living the moment where the lines between reality and comedy blurred.
Sunday, 19th March 2006
After breakfast we headed straight to the Van Gogh Museum, which housed several h
undred paintings, drawings and letters of the late Vincent Van Gogh. Thanks to our hostel, which offered a slightly discounted ticket price of €9.50 (usual price €10), we queued in a different line, which moved a lot faster than the one where people hadn’t yet bought their tickets. Photography inside the museum was forbidden, and so I tried my best to remember certain facts, one of which was Eugène Delacroix’s pieta, a depiction of Mary mourning for her son Jesus. For the who, what and how of the description, google it because I forgot. What I did learn after strolling through all 3 storeys, was that Van Gogh shot himself in the chest in 1890, and died only two days later (don’t ask why, I don’t know why either), after seemingly losing faith that his art wasn’t well received or reciprocated by the public.
After noon, we walked down to the Heineken Brewery, where we paid €9
.50 (usual price €10) to enter. The ticket entitled us to tour the museum and understand how beer is made from malted barley, hops and water, after which we were entitled to 3 “free” beers and a souvenir glass. I’ve put up the steps to brew a Heineken so if you’ve got what it takes, do it. Overall I felt better about visiting Heineken than Carlsberg (back in Denmark) since it offered more (like 2 simulator “rides” and the souvenir I could take home). With my visit to 2 breweries completed, how many more can I have?We headed back to the hostel sometime in the evening where we took a
break. There, the rest were enthusiastic about visiting Moulin Rouge after SY brought them to have dinner at some Chinese restaurant. I figured €25 wa
s a little pricey to pay especially after I already watched Boom Chicago just one day before, plus I also had to visit the Anne Frank House since I bought the €7.50 ticket a day ago. It was sheer coincidence Daren came into the hostel and indicated that he too bought an evening ticket, and so we left at 6pm on foot. Despite sayings that the house is just another "tourist magnet" that only seeks to earn your money (which to some extent is true), walking in and about the house, and climbing up the steep stairwells and bookcase opening gave me a sense of how the Frank Family lived during the war, and the air of uncertainty was never more surreal.Monday, 20th March 2006
Right after breakfast, Song Ning, Edwin and Emmy left by bus to some tulip auction, whilst Daren went for a tour to more windmills and a fishing village. Andrew, SY, YS, and YH had already left for Copenhagen early that morning, so that left Grace, Lin Chang and myself to explore Amsterdam free and easy on our last day.
According to Lin Chang, who was miserably disappointed that SY, YS and YH pang-seh-ed him and Andrew, they decided to pass on the opportunity to visit the Moulin Rouge the night before. It was also surprising for him when only Andrew seemed keened on going nonetheless. Either way, I didn't miss out on much then.
We headed for Waterlooplein to check out the “pasar malam” (outdoor flea market) of sorts, before heading back to Singel where the flower market offered a better variety of souvenirs and such. Given that much time and that little energy remaining, we decided to sink €6.75 each on a canal cruise ride which took approximately 75 minutes (after grabbing a flyer from the nearby casino that took 25% off the usual price of €9). With at least 100 bridges over the numerous canals, and the some parts of city being 3m under sea level, Amsterdam offered a different experience for the uninitiated.
At the end of the boat ride, we entered the Holland Casino with a free admission ticket obtained from the canal cruise ticket office (normal admission fee €3.50) just to see what it was like. There wasn’t much about the casino, as it is with every other casino. However, what caught my eye were the jackpot machines (most of them had buttons as opposed to the lever), which varied in credits from 2 cents to a few dollars of Euro. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered trying since it was pure luck and the house always wins. But when I caught sight of a section of machines that gave 25 credits for €0.50, I figured there wasn’t much harm sinking one gold coin into the machine. Even Grace agreed in trying her luck after we were both convinced the machine said €0.50.
When I tried slotting the €0.50 coin in my machine it didn’t seem to go in. When I tried it on Grace’s machine it went in halfway, so I summoned brute force in jamming it in, thinking the hole might have been just a wee-bit too small.
Then it got stuck.
So I signaled to the security, indicating my problem, to which he gladly helped open up the machine. He took out my coin and tried slotting it in the machine first, before he turned to us and said, “this is a real coin…you need to get a token.”
*insert super embarrassment here*
Grace and I left that area promptly while I was still looking out for some machine or counter to change for tokens. When I finally saw one counter, several people were changing hundreds and thousands of Euros for chips. I looked at my €0.50 gold coin and thanked myself for not asking that security guard earlier on where I could change my one gold coin.
After strolling one round about the roulette and black jack tables, we left the casino (without spending or losing a single cent) to grab a free beer at Thodebeckplein, which the Bike Tour coupon rewarded us with. Unfortunately for Grace and Lin Chang, their coupons were valid only on the date which was specified 2 days ago, whilst m 0.5L frozen pint of Heineken came free because my coupon was stamped improperly, allowing some gap between 2 dates, causing enough ambiguity to reward a long weekend of never-ending walking.
We rushed back to the hostel to grab our belongings from the cupboard, before heading to Central Station to catch the train to the airport for our 9.25pm flight back to Copenhagen. Just one weekend and everyone agreed how tiring it was. We now fear the 12-day long Easter vacation to London-Barcelona-Madrid-Berlin, and even more so the proposed “grand Europe tour” in June/July.
4 pages of blogging, 5 hours later, here are the pictures, which I haven’t even completed adding captions to.
http://ableabel.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album19
Amsterdam – done.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
The weekend of Mambo and Roskilde
Okay, just printed more pics, anyone else wanna complain they're not up on my wall? I need to leave space for my Amsterdam trip this weekend, as well as the Easter break. Shoots. It was meant to come as a surprise. Oh well, you'll know sooner or later when I don't update my blog for some time. Mr D I believe you know where to find yourself...and if I haven't sent you that pic from Commencement 2005 yet, please remind me to. To Lia, I couldn't find a nicer pic (of me with you) so I took the one at Mezannine where I was intentionally looking away from the camera. Heh.Anyway I had been busy with several things lately, partly the Dynamics of Machinery project (which I really haven't done anything for because I was trying to introduce myself to MATLAB first before I can keep up with the rest), as well as late night meetings with the other Singaporeans to discuss the "grand" Europe trip we all have in mind for June/July. The initial plan drafted out by Grace was remarkably ridiculous considering how we zip around half of Europe in a zig-zag fashion, but it was based on the cheap flights (on average 30-40 Euros per leg, including taxes). In "retaliation" I proposed an alternative route, which made more sense since it covered a slightly circlular path so we don't spend more time on the plane than on the ground. But we haven't yet finalised anything, and we're only planning such stuff early so as to capitalise on cheap flights, like how we did in January for this coming Easter break. And transport is only a third of the battle procedure, the other 2 include finding afforable accomodation, and researching places of interest.
But in every project or planning committee, etc, there will always be leechers. It's a joke SY, don't take me seriously! Ooops. Don't worry, Grace, YH and I will do a good job, you just flash your Platinum at the right time can already. Heh. Luckily your easy-going and accomodating nature makes things easy too. Feel better already? Heh.
Anyhow, let me not digress.
Friday night was the first time DTU held a party in Building 208, themed "Disco Night". After pizza and lasagne in my container, all of us headed to check out what a DTU party was like. What I was impressed with was the enthusiasm of the students who came dressed up w
ith retro-hairdos (some even had combs stuck in their afro-styled hair) and glittery tops. Imagine holding a party in between LT 7a and Engin Auditorium back in NUS, with the security counter turned into some "drinks-dispensing bar area" and peusdo-Mambo music playing from temporary speakers placed strategically to get your feet grooving. Higly unlikely or even impossible in NUS. Even NUSSU's Jam-And-Hop at Forum doesn't get us dancing/drinking. People just have an immense amount of eye-power and critique what's happening on stage and with the organisers.On saturday (despite lack of sleep), I woke up at 9 to meet YH, Daren and Grace, who planned on going Roskilde and Hillerod in a day. Roskilde used to be where the Viking Ships and all originated, whereas Hillerod offered a sight of the Frederiksborg Castle (however we only reached Hillerod in the evening after 6.45pm, so we pretty much rushed to the castle perimeters where we snapped a few shots, and then "fast-marched" back to the station to hop on the train back to Lyngby while our tickets still retained it's time validity.) Had it not been for me and my Canon Powershot, we wouldn't have gotten such a nice picture in extremely poor-lit conditions. What looked like this on most cameras
looked like this 
when I set my manual settings to a 6 seconds exposure and 3.2 F-stop. Oh before you start the applause, I think I also deserve some credit for the excellent pizzas I made on Sunday night. And it was from first principles, ie, flour! Thanks to Fili who taught me, Grace for donating her can of tuna, and Chang's can of pineapples. I was highly motivated to serve a piping hot tray of pizza without it being overburnt that I suffered a slight burn in my palm when taking out the tray from the oven. Why didn't anyone take pictures?!?! Just cos the photographer himself is busy doesn't mean you can slack! Grrr. No more pizzas people!*pats back at this moment in time, bows for applause*
Right. I knew you'd say I'm being narcissistic again. Sometimes I wonder how someone like me could get used to be being used. No one really understands anymore. They just see how colourful the surface is and neglect who or what lies inside. *shrugs*
On one hand I miss you UCC peeps, all the events and post-event suppers, on the other hand I almost forgot how to roster duties and even feel our new "management" is a turn-off for me to return to UCC to work. The looming possibility of dropping everything I've built up seems all too easy, and migrating even popped into and out of my mind last night when the Singaporeans here were discussing how Singapore will die once our northern neighbours build their side of the bridge (leaving our southern ports less attractive to stopover), or when our "first-class" airport doesn't hold it's title anymore.
Enough brooding. Time to get back to MATLAB and understanding the unfathomable. Sorry for the laziness for the comments in the pics. It gets tiring after a while, that you should know. Hope to blog again before I leave on Friday to Amsterdam for the weekend. Cheers~!
http://ableabel.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album15
Oh by the way, Happy Belated Birthday SueAnn! Please wake Pingggg up and collect your presents from my house soon hor. I better not find it lying around when I get home. Heh. Happy Birthday to Koko too!
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Situation Report: Week 6
Situation report: 6 weeks in, and my readings for the module 02431 Risk Manag
ement is already 3.5cm thick (I kid you not). That's the file below. The blue one above is not as much, but still considerably thick for a supposedly-slack module, 34821 Social Economy and Policy. My other 3 core modules are somewhere in the room. And my floor space is filling up with work, while I just "decorated" my wall space above my bed. Remember I said that printing was free in DTU? Well it was only recently I found a databar which I had access to (because of one particular module) that had a laser colour printer with A3 paper loaded. The rest, is well, almost history. I took the liberty of printing out some pictures of my Singaporean friends, as well as the people and places I've visited in Denmark so thus far. The plan is to complete my wall by the end of the semester, though I might need another room by then. Heh. good luck trying to find yourself! Back to work!
ement is already 3.5cm thick (I kid you not). That's the file below. The blue one above is not as much, but still considerably thick for a supposedly-slack module, 34821 Social Economy and Policy. My other 3 core modules are somewhere in the room. And my floor space is filling up with work, while I just "decorated" my wall space above my bed. Remember I said that printing was free in DTU? Well it was only recently I found a databar which I had access to (because of one particular module) that had a laser colour printer with A3 paper loaded. The rest, is well, almost history. I took the liberty of printing out some pictures of my Singaporean friends, as well as the people and places I've visited in Denmark so thus far. The plan is to complete my wall by the end of the semester, though I might need another room by then. Heh. good luck trying to find yourself! Back to work! 
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Lundtoftevej House Party #3
Well now.
School's been busy, same old 4 hours classes that drains every energy out of you by the time you think the day's over. The only saving grace becomes the time you get together with your friends to cook (but only after thinking and preparing what you need, so that takes time too). We all agreed by now how good cooks we probably have become, having started from scratch when we first came. In fact, I wasn't the only one who didn't ask my mum anything about cooking, we just came to Denmark and cooked the way we thought it should taste like.
Every dish must start with garlic and onions in the frying pan, followed by the meat or vegetables, and the sauces. Somehow eggs are important to our meals here, but we still try to limit our intake with no more than 2 a day, for fear of high cholesterol. I guess everyone appreciates the convenience of eating out in Singapore by now, together with the 24 hour coffeshops around our tiny island.
And of course, I miss mum's cooking, and her unwavering efforts to do so after every long day at work. And of course, there's some special quality about mums that allow them to pick and choose a wide variety of dishes to cook, so you won't get tired of eating the same thing every week. My friend Fili here cookes pasta 6 days a week for him and our other French friend Colin, and he always invites us for dinner pretty almost everyday. But Chang and I don't always accept it for two reasons: 1) it's a pai-say thing to always eat off other people and their efforts, and 2) you really get sian of pasta 6 days a week! Even Colin think so. *covers mouth*
So then, last night was Mikolaj's 3rd Polish party at his shared house at Lundt
oftevej. The first party we went to had no rules; the 2nd had one - that you needed to bring something (so Chang and I bought one bottle of cheap wine costing about SGD$5 to the party. The 3rd party last night had 2 rules, with the first being the same as the 2nd party, the additional rule is to wear something green if you were single and red if you weren't. Prior to the party I had constantly declined the invitation since I had nothing green, but at Fili's constant jio-ing and other friends expecting me to turn up, I decided to put off work till today (which I predict will need to be put off till tomorrow) and head out for some fun.
Than
ks to Huiping (who still hasn't collected your present hor...tsk), Sue, Jerm and Tong (is it right) who gave me the T-shirt at the airport in Singapore just before my departure, I figured it was the closest thing to wearing green (cyan words written on a plain white T-shirt bordered with purple lining, you'll see later). And the words were just apt for the party, so I figured why not.
This time round, there was two dance "floors", downstairs (Mikolaj's room) and upstairs (Matteo's room). After some time when the one downstairs got boring, we went up where the music was much better and so was the crowd. People were dancing (and jumping to Cumbawu
mba, Linkin Park, Offspring etc) so much I could feel the wooden floor teetering on the brink of giving way, but we managed somehow. Chang and I enjoyed ourselves tremendously, though he was whining so much when someone left for home. Heh. But we later got back on our feet quickly thanks to the music and crowd that made you forget the floor was only made of wood. Out in one corner also lay one couple who were, well, french-ing for more than an hour at last sight, and Chang and I were just impressed how ye they were oblivious to their surroundings. You can look out for that pic in the link below.
Luc
a M. was the other highlight of the night, and Chang was more than in love(?) with his coolness and dress sense, though I guess the beret and retro shades made all the difference. I even had my fair share of borrowing his beret for a picture with Chiara. Andrea from Italy was in his pyjamas (I don't know why), whilst Alvise stood out in his striking Playboy T-shirt.
We left the party around 2.30am, and walked back with Chang, Baek, Hong, Si Nae, Fili, Sebastien and Agris to container M where Fili made pasta for supper (no surprises there, heh).
Okay dinner with Naweed in my container in an hour's time, first time he's cooking and only because he's invited some girl and other friends over. And later tonight, we might well be hopping over to the "party" in container F where Fernando (of Madrid, Spain) invited everyone at last night's party to. It's "good" I'm finding myself cooking less and eating more, but that only means getting fat. And the recent snow and sub-zero weather hasn't allowed me to exercise yet. Then again it could just be the work and projects that are hindering me.
Generally speaking, it's really when I'm abroad I've learnt how easier it is to make friends, where you can introduce yourself and ask where they're from, but in Singapore you really can't. Or at least find difficulty in. Imagine:
Me: Hi, I'm Abel...from Singapore. And you are?
*: Hello I'm *, and I'm from Sengkang.
Imagine that. You'll first get strange looks before the ignored look.
Okay, here are the pics.
http://ableabel.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album14
Anyone coming Denmark or Europe in June?
Iris - how? French Open?
Beat, Sheena, Val, Evarn - any plans to return to Europe this year?
Yihan & Yushun - heard you guys wanna come up in May?
School's been busy, same old 4 hours classes that drains every energy out of you by the time you think the day's over. The only saving grace becomes the time you get together with your friends to cook (but only after thinking and preparing what you need, so that takes time too). We all agreed by now how good cooks we probably have become, having started from scratch when we first came. In fact, I wasn't the only one who didn't ask my mum anything about cooking, we just came to Denmark and cooked the way we thought it should taste like.
Every dish must start with garlic and onions in the frying pan, followed by the meat or vegetables, and the sauces. Somehow eggs are important to our meals here, but we still try to limit our intake with no more than 2 a day, for fear of high cholesterol. I guess everyone appreciates the convenience of eating out in Singapore by now, together with the 24 hour coffeshops around our tiny island.
And of course, I miss mum's cooking, and her unwavering efforts to do so after every long day at work. And of course, there's some special quality about mums that allow them to pick and choose a wide variety of dishes to cook, so you won't get tired of eating the same thing every week. My friend Fili here cookes pasta 6 days a week for him and our other French friend Colin, and he always invites us for dinner pretty almost everyday. But Chang and I don't always accept it for two reasons: 1) it's a pai-say thing to always eat off other people and their efforts, and 2) you really get sian of pasta 6 days a week! Even Colin think so. *covers mouth*
So then, last night was Mikolaj's 3rd Polish party at his shared house at Lundt
oftevej. The first party we went to had no rules; the 2nd had one - that you needed to bring something (so Chang and I bought one bottle of cheap wine costing about SGD$5 to the party. The 3rd party last night had 2 rules, with the first being the same as the 2nd party, the additional rule is to wear something green if you were single and red if you weren't. Prior to the party I had constantly declined the invitation since I had nothing green, but at Fili's constant jio-ing and other friends expecting me to turn up, I decided to put off work till today (which I predict will need to be put off till tomorrow) and head out for some fun.Than
ks to Huiping (who still hasn't collected your present hor...tsk), Sue, Jerm and Tong (is it right) who gave me the T-shirt at the airport in Singapore just before my departure, I figured it was the closest thing to wearing green (cyan words written on a plain white T-shirt bordered with purple lining, you'll see later). And the words were just apt for the party, so I figured why not.This time round, there was two dance "floors", downstairs (Mikolaj's room) and upstairs (Matteo's room). After some time when the one downstairs got boring, we went up where the music was much better and so was the crowd. People were dancing (and jumping to Cumbawu
mba, Linkin Park, Offspring etc) so much I could feel the wooden floor teetering on the brink of giving way, but we managed somehow. Chang and I enjoyed ourselves tremendously, though he was whining so much when someone left for home. Heh. But we later got back on our feet quickly thanks to the music and crowd that made you forget the floor was only made of wood. Out in one corner also lay one couple who were, well, french-ing for more than an hour at last sight, and Chang and I were just impressed how ye they were oblivious to their surroundings. You can look out for that pic in the link below.Luc
a M. was the other highlight of the night, and Chang was more than in love(?) with his coolness and dress sense, though I guess the beret and retro shades made all the difference. I even had my fair share of borrowing his beret for a picture with Chiara. Andrea from Italy was in his pyjamas (I don't know why), whilst Alvise stood out in his striking Playboy T-shirt.
We left the party around 2.30am, and walked back with Chang, Baek, Hong, Si Nae, Fili, Sebastien and Agris to container M where Fili made pasta for supper (no surprises there, heh).
Okay dinner with Naweed in my container in an hour's time, first time he's cooking and only because he's invited some girl and other friends over. And later tonight, we might well be hopping over to the "party" in container F where Fernando (of Madrid, Spain) invited everyone at last night's party to. It's "good" I'm finding myself cooking less and eating more, but that only means getting fat. And the recent snow and sub-zero weather hasn't allowed me to exercise yet. Then again it could just be the work and projects that are hindering me.
Generally speaking, it's really when I'm abroad I've learnt how easier it is to make friends, where you can introduce yourself and ask where they're from, but in Singapore you really can't. Or at least find difficulty in. Imagine:
Me: Hi, I'm Abel...from Singapore. And you are?
*: Hello I'm *, and I'm from Sengkang.
Imagine that. You'll first get strange looks before the ignored look.
Okay, here are the pics.
http://ableabel.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album14
Anyone coming Denmark or Europe in June?
Iris - how? French Open?
Beat, Sheena, Val, Evarn - any plans to return to Europe this year?
Yihan & Yushun - heard you guys wanna come up in May?
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