Swiss Adventure

Hawaiian Themed Party

2006-02-22T05:51:00.000-08:00

Behind us are to 'chew hak yan'

Everyone in light , Hawaiian clothings

The Lee Siblings. Taken the nite b4 my dear bro left

Fat Mou

2006-02-22T05:35:00.000-08:00

yeah, already been 3 weeks back from a place I call home- Switzerland. Been hanging around these few days....replying mails which btw should have been replied early.

The Post orientation camp at Shah's Village was ok. Great finally seeing after 1 exciting year.

My dear brother has already left for Germany. I didn't cry as much as I expected. I'm gonna so miss him lah....gonna miss all his crappings...hahahah (no offense my dear...=) still luv ya! )

Went around different colleges to check them out. Damn. Now it's time to study. That's the problem with me. After a whole year of enjoying, it's time to be down to earth. Something I dread. Had a few couple of college choices in mind.

Ended up in Nottingham Uni in Semenyih to check out the Business course there. Was pretty impressed with the campus. Met with one of my best friends since primary, Rahayu who happens to be studying mechanical engineering there. Smart gal. HELP, Taylors, checked them all out.

Last weekend was pretty ok. Attended this Hawaiien themed pool side party in some hotel in KL. It was ok, the music could've been better though. Been downloading tons of spanish music which happens to be the best music in the world. David Bisbal, Alex Ubago....Spanish music is really THE BEST!!!!!

Frens are all into studies and what am i doing now? Moping around doing nothing.

Man, I really should get a life.

Snap Back to Reality

2006-02-13T19:49:00.000-08:00

The Goodbye part at Zurich airport was one of the worst things I had to experience. I cried. Mami cried. Pat cried. in Short, all of us cried, joined by our hostfamilies and friends.

The Crying Fest didnt end there. It continued or should i say worsened in the plane when all of us started reading our remembrance book together. Puffy eyes with tears running down our faces, we didnt give a damn of how terrible we looked from all the crying. REading my own book written from my classmates and good friends and of course my hostfamily, I realised that how much they made an impact in my life. These are the people who made my stay worth while, taught me things, accepted me into their lifes for who I am.......

Despite all the crying, I couldnt sleep the whole way back. Watched more than 2 movies...oh btw, I should add that Msians should be proud of our own Msian Airlines.... it's choon...thats all I can say...

Getting used to the f******** hot weather was not the only thing I had to get use to. My English and Chinese was kind cacated. Malay was even worse. The first thing I said to my new Indo nesian maid was ' Halo, ich bin Chong'en, wie heisst du' ? She looked at me wondering was I talking to her. I then finally realized that what I had done. Great. Now I cant even speak the languages I used to speak, at least not as fluent. Takes time.

Typing was another issue. the 'y' and 'z'. Keep typing the wrong key!!!!

anw, things r ok now...not the best...but trying my best to adjust back to my ol' life. My exchange year was GREAT and i have no regrets.

I already miss mami, my hostfamily, my friends, my life in Switzerland.

Time to snap back to reality. Damn

Tears Running Down my Face

2006-01-24T01:17:00.000-08:00

Countdown is on. Trying my best to coop with the oncoming stress and return jitters. Trying to meet up with friends whom I wont be seeing for a long, long time.

The Evaluation Camp was pretty boring till the end till we started crying. I'm such a sucker for tears. I?m going to be so depressed when I leave. No kidding. If I cant even handle that, how am I going to handle such a farewell when I really leave Switzerland?

Skiing at Flumserberg was great. Unless u are born Swiss, I suggest that anyone who wants to go on Ski holidays take classes b4 they even start going up on lifts or gondolas. without the ski lessons, skiing down the steep slopes are hell. Trust me. Looking at the steep slopes will just freak u out. Not to mention little 2,3 years old kids happily skiing way pass u is enough to dampen your spirit. Thank god for my ski teacher who came looking for us up in the slopes. If he didnt turn up, I would've literrally WALKED down those slopes myself, BY FOOT. I mean it. A one day ski trip is enough to cost u your energy and money. Skiing is freaking expensive! THank god I have a GA. I dont have to pay for the train rides. But the ski rents and ski lifts pass are enough to kill.

It was all worth it to have the ski lessons. It was sooooo much better skiing down those lofty, steep slopes covered with soft, white snow. The adrenalin rush is just great. SKiing requires control. Just like life. If you go too fast, U lose control. If u go to slowly, it's just as exciting as dried peanuts in the dessert. THe weather was also great. SKiing is a strenous sport. I was too tired to take my sister's advice therefore I had muscle aches ALL OVER MY BODY the next day. However, it was one in a lifetime opputunity and I really enjoyed it.

Weekend dinner with my family at Blindekuh in Basel. It was a great and unforgettable expereince. It's a special restaurant where all the waiters and waitresses are blind. N we get to expereince how is it like to be blind. We were led into the pitch black dining hall by our blind german waiter -Norbert. We were led to our places and we sat there for the whole meal. (Duh, where could we go? WE counldnt see anything! ) Norbert served us our drinks, soups withour spilling a drip. We had a search our way through our utensils and glasses carefully and avoiding spilling drinks. It took quite a while between our appetizers and main course. Cant blame Norbert coz he has to serve 23 guests and he's blind. WHen our main meals were served, it was just hilarious trying to eat noodles and cutting the fish, not knowing how big the piece will turn out. WE are forced to use our senses to really taste our food coz there are no sight senese to distract our tastebuds. Dinner turned out longer than I thought. 3 solid hours as blind people.

THe food was great and the company was great too. It was kinda like a goodbye dinner for me. Mami had to book it really early coz this restaurant is just to popular. People wait months to get a place. Consider myself a lucky gal. REally lucky after the accident I had last Tuesday. Lets just say I was hit by a car. I'm living though. No serious injuries. Thank god.

My whole week is fully booked. EVery day.Weekdays too till the day I leave. Meeting up with friends, family in Zürich,etc. I cant imagine how will it be in the airport. People, just to let u know, I handle farewells really bad, so be prepared.

Skiing trips and New Year's Eve

2006-01-20T12:56:00.000-08:00

Skiing trip at St. Moritz......breathtaking view of Piz Palu and Piz Bernina

Flavio and I celebrating the truimph of successfully skiing down the lofty slopes at Flumserberg

New Year's Eve party at a Brasilian Party in Lucern....it rocked!!!!

Together with Taina from Brazil and Virginia from New Zealand at the NYEve's Brasilian party

Countdown

2006-01-13T07:23:00.000-08:00

Q : How do u feel now?
A : Tired

Q : How much time do u have here in Switzerland left?
A : ** days (it's a surprise for the peeps back home!)

Damn. I cant believe that we r going home soon. SO SOON! I know I've been crapping bout all these stuff these few days, but I cant help it. I know I want to see my family and friends back in Malaysia, but on the other hand, I also want to see my Swiss family and friends here in Switzerland! I know I'm going to miss them like hell! My family,my weekhostfamily in Zürich, my friends. Esp good friends who has been for me the whole time, friends whom I got to know better at the later part of the year, classmates whom I had a great time with during my stay here......I'm gonna freakin miss everything here! The punctual trains, buses, the security, the cold (despite it's often below 0 degrees now), the cleanliness everywhere (inclu public toilets!) EVERYTHING

Thats life I guess. THe best things in life often has to come to an end. It's snap-back-to-reality-time. I hate it when I have to be down to earth. I hate it when I 've gotta decide for my future. Childhood is the best where we dont have to worry about anything.

My weekends are fully booked. My normal weekdays are also booked. Afs camp, skiing trips in the mountains, meeting up with friends for the last time...etc. All booked up that I dont even have time to organise a GOODbye party! =( Classmates were hoping that I throw a goodbye party, but sorry folks, literally no time.

I'm gonna miss doing all the things I'm used to doing here when I get home.Seriously.

I know I'm gonna cry terribly when I leave. In fact I've already cried in front of mami while talking to her how much I'll miss them and while she was also saying how different it would be when I leave. I'm gonna miss mami soooooooooooo much!!!!!

The bell just rang. Gotta meet up with a friend. Going to the Stadt zu a bis trinken.

Prost.

Welcome 2006

2006-01-01T13:22:00.000-08:00

We didnt get pissed as we promised ourselves b4. At least not THAT pissed. Met up in Lucern for the New Year's Eve party. All 7 of us turned up in that Brasilian party in Lucern in the Stadt. Tainà had a great time as she knew the lyrics to every single songs played in the disco. The brasilians can freakin good dance. It's really in their blood. To all non brasilians--No use trying. Unless u haf some bit of brasilian blood in u....it really takes talent and practise to dance as well as them.

The disco didnt turn out as what we thought. The people were older than us. Older in a way where they have gfs or wifes...and even CHILDREN! A little hard to flirt or hook up with ppl our own age. Of course there were some exceptions... =P But anyway, it was still cool celebrating in a Brasilian party with good friends.

Partied till early morning and took a cab back to Izra's place. Almost 4 francs per person. Pretty cheap infact.... considering once I paid a much, much higher price(or rather my friend) from Olten to Aarau, a 10 minute drive with a FR55 cost! BLOODY EXPENSIVE! Thanks to his friend who cost us to miss our last train back to Aarau.

Had a great time with them lah....really....!!!! Laughed, joked, chatted.... Suddenly, we were hit with the fact that we would be going home soon. We will be 19 this year. We will all separate soon. We all promised each other that we will visit each other ---some time or another. Promises are promises, but reality is reality. All of us came from different countries, different continents for our exchange year. 1 year of friendship can't be just erased by the location of our homeland. But based on experience, out of sight, out of mind. I hope to prove this saying wrong with the friendships I 've made during my exchange year here in Switzerland, by keeping in contact with them---despite the distance between our homeland.

To all my friends in Malaysia and Switerland,happy 2006! And not to forget my jakuns, thanks for being there and I really treasure your precious friendship. Hope that it will really last coz it's really a life changing experience where we will never, ever forget. Gotta really enjoy the last bits of our exchange year....coz I'm definitely gonna be depreseed as I start counting the days.

Kisses.

Christmas 2005

2006-01-01T13:07:00.000-08:00

Let me start off with Christmas. Christmas eve was a comfortable celebration with my hostfamily. Benny came with his girlfriend and we had a really warm,typical Christmas. It was really my first Christmas where I got to decorate a REAL Christmas tree! Not to mention the Christmas tree looked so MEGA SCHÖN!!!!! With candles lighted, we sang Christmas songs---in German, of course. Stille Nacht. The German version of Silent night. Thank God I learnt it in Deutsch zusatz.

On Christmas day itself was a family gathering at grandmama's place in Lenzburg. Something like CNY. It was also a very lively gathering...which included some conflict between the adults....which is really not worth mentioning.I guess it's a common thing between families.I was surprised to get a present from grandmama. She's 86, but still mentally clear. She's so cute! She thought that I'm from America, therefore she wrote ' Für die Fraulein von Amerika' (For the lady from America). Got a box of Ferrero Roche from her and additional pocket money. A pretty big one...heheh =P

Christmas was really great! Got tons of gifts. A CD and a Swatch from my hostparents....something typical Swiss,they said, that they wanted me to have =) Of course presents from my hostsiblings....really cool!

On Wednesday, a 1 day trip visit to my week hostfamily in Bülach ended into a 3 days 2 nites stay. I really had a great time there too lah! 1st day, Julian and I went shopping together. 2nd day,Julian and I did the salsa, something I've been longing to learn all these time...I'm lucky to have a hostbro who can really salsa! We danced and danced to the music and it was soooooo much fun!!!!! Paula was there to correct my dance steps. She can also verdammt gut salsa!

At night was a trip to the cinema. Mrs Henderson Presents from Judi Dench. I bet this film is banned in Malaysia coz this film is about nudity and u can see boobs hanging off naked women throughout the whole film. It's more of a typical British sense of humour too. Not all appreciate it. After the show, went to the bar with them and took the last train back.

Man, I really love both my hostfamilies. I'm a really lucky gal.

Christmas Stress.......

2005-12-22T03:47:00.000-08:00

Have been abandoning this place for quite some time yeah? Well, some upates.....Went to see the Matterhorn last last week....sunday , if I recall......Or known as Tolberone Berg. why? It's one of Switzerland's most famous mountain peak. U getta see it on practically every Swiss chocolate packaging. Travelled more than 10 hours by train to have a peek at the world renowned mountain. Was worth it though. Tons of Japanese and Asian tourists. I think there were a bunch of Malaysia or maybe Singaporean tourists coz these nationalities are so easy to spot.

' Ya lah...U go take the photo lorh'
' No lah....it's my one.....'

Yeah, maybe more Manglish than Singlish.

Sch's pretty stressed up....or maybe tha Christmas time is actually quite stressing. Gotta attend sch till 23rd. Can U believe that? Kinda stressed with Christmas gifts etc.... Typical me. Everything last minute.

Last weekend went clubbing with friends at kettenbrücke. As usual, took the last bus home. I'm gonna miss all the transportation and safety when I get back to Malaysia. I ask u. how on earth U can walk back home about 3am in the morning alone in Malaysia?Unless u wanna get killed or raped or whatever some pervert would wanna do lah. Without any single soul on the street? That's how I've been living my life here whenever I go home late. gonna miss all these good moments........

Deustchland sucht den Superstar. German version of American Idol. It's all the same. All the show. The lady is always the more diplomatic and more lovable charactor. Trying her best not to hurt anyones's feelings. I feel the male juries are less mean and less critical compared to Simon Cowell. THat's my opinion. Or maybe Simon really want to earn his reputation as the 'Jury from Hell'.

Yesterday's episode of DSDS really made me love the Malaysians. Thank god we are not tone deaf. At least Jac won the Malaysian Idol based on her skills. (Dunno about MI 2. Didnt watch)
In yesterday's DSDS,one male candidate in particular,who isnt singing material, is still in the show in the expense of 2 other much better singers. He sucks in my oipnion(I'm not the only one who thinks that). in the end, He's in top 5 guys, thanks to the ' little-tone-deaf- teen-gals's voting, he's still in. I mean, he's not even CUTE?!!!! I guess they're not only deaf, they're blind too.

Thank god the Malaysians are smart enough to vote for the right Malaysian Idol.

Clubbing at Kettenbrücke

2005-12-17T11:08:00.000-08:00

Hip hop nite at Kettenbrücke, Aarau. Me, Maria and Diana

Swiss SPorts

2005-12-05T11:57:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was pretty quiet for me. Anna and I went to Zurich after school, where we thought we had enough time to shop. Turned out that we had to rush for the train to make it for dinner. On the way, someone called out my name. It was Julian! Great seeing him again! HOt bro! =P Anna had dinner with us and it was good. Mami's cooking's the best lah....hmm.....

Thanks to Sunway Pyramid's ice skating ring, I at least could ice skate when I went out with friends yesterday for ice skating in Wettingon. The difference was the ice skating ring was not that crowded nor was it in the middle of a shopping complex with spectators looking at you from every single level. It was outdoors, perfect weather for ice skating. By perfect it doesnt mean sun was shining and stuff. It was in fact a little dark, kinda like evening like weather. At least it didnt rain. I'm grateful enough when there's no rain, nor does the termometer score states a negative number.

Today's sports. Fit check. Something like the Malaysian sports check where we have to lie or rather exaggerate our original sum of sit ups we did, or push ups we really did.

Malaysian style.
Sit ups. Actual figure : 30. Recorded figure: 45

Push ups. Acutal fugure : 45. Recorded figure: 70

Swiss style.
Push ups. Actual figure: 50. recorded figure: 50.

Long jump. Actual figure: 180cm. Recorded figure: 180cm

Man, the students here are darn sporty. More all rounders I would say. Malaysian sport subject in my opinion is not taken seriously nor does it really matter to us. Here, it's not the same. It's all in the attitude. In fact in Malaysia, we can actually sit through the whole hour just chit-chatting and the teacher doesnt even bother. Here, we dun have a chance to do that coz sports class is taken so seriously.

Volleyball. the sport I used to suck at. But thanks to some tips from friends, at least I dont feel as if I'm embarrassing myself when I play volleyball. At the beginning , I felt myself as a liability coz I really couldnt hit. the group I belong to will lose. At least they r polite enough to encourage and teach me. That even makes me feel more guilty. But luckily for the time being, I dont suck. I'm not the best, but at least I dont suck in volleyball now.

Swimming. We have to do a 12 minute breath stroke for our 'Fit check' . My eyes nearly popped out looking at the score sheet. I blame the Malaysian education system. why didnt they construct a better education sytem for all of us? To score a 4 (just passed, not fail. a 3.9 is fail), we have to at least swim 400m! And that is 16 laps for us! Damn. For a perfect score? 24 laps, which is more than half a km. It'll be a miracle that I dont drown in the process or die of exaustion. It's not that I cant swim. I can, it's just that for breath stroke, I seem to be doing something wrong. I guess that explains why I feel so lethargic after my 'chong'en's version of breath stroke'. Hey, people, b4 u judge, breath storke is not easy, ok?! Not mention the number of laps is enough to scare one out of their wits.

More than half a km to a perfect score, GILA BABI!

life, oh life.....

2005-12-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

Nothing's much happened since the last weekend, not to mention that it's a school day and ppl here dont really go out on weekdays. Today's the last day of the week and damn, time flies. Pretty soon it'll be my turn packing my bags, which btw I have no idea how am I going to manage it with all the Swiss chocs and Swiss cheese(and they say that we will lose weight when we get back to Malaysia.)

Come to think about it, time really did fly like a blink of an eye. From winter, to spring, to summer, to Autumn and now back to winter. Man, I love winter! My favourite time of the year. How cold can it be, some ppl may ask. FYI, it can get as cold as below 0 celcius. THe moment I remove my gloves, my hand immediately freezes! That's y now I would prefer waking up a bit earlier just to catch a ride with Papi to the train station. Used to ride there with my bike, but now with thw snow and ice, it's advisable not to do it.

Come to think back on all the things I've done for the past 9 months (gosh, was it 9 months?), I cant believe how much i've learnt and grown up. Things that I've never tried or done, I put myself on the line and done it. (More things coming...hahhaha) Today's the second day of December, second day of advent days...comething like that...24 days b4 Xmas. Got an advent calender from mami and papi and 24 lil gifts where I should open everyday till Xmas, where the big gifts come in..ahahah..Got also and advent calender from my 1 week host family in Büllach.... should call them to say thanks though. How sweet of mami and papi and my 1 week hostfamily in Bülach to give me those gifts... =)

Well, gotta go now...going to Zurich with my Götti to do some shopping......or they say in Schwiizer Dütsch....i go ladele... sunday going out with friends ice skiing! Yoo!

How I got involved with the Police

2005-11-28T21:19:00.000-08:00

I've not been updating my blog these few days havent I? Well, my as usual my weekends were spent outside with friends. Last 2 Fridays, attended a friend's birthday at Da Vinci Bar, thanks to his brother who works there, we could enter despite the fact that we were all under 20 years old. Got a bit pissed together with my classmates, who by the way can be really hilarious when they r pissed. Thank god we made it for the last night bus home. (I'm known for 'always' missing the last bus....=P)

Last Friday, went all the way to Biel to watch HP 4. I found it quite dissapointing in fact. Dumbledore was too bubbly, the whole movie in fact was not that good. So much for the more than RM50 movie. & the Swiss wonder why there arent much movie patrons. Slept over at Sharmin's place. Had a great time there! SNoW is Just so BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Despite the cold, I LOVE WINTER! Imagine having snowball fights in school! I also managed to make my 1st snow angel!! WOO!!! =D

Ok, back to the topic of how I got involed with the police. My 'involvment' with the police cost my hostparents at least Fr300 to Fr500 ! No the money wasnt' used to bail me out of jail. No I didn't murder anyone nor did I plan a terrorist acttack. No I didn't sell drugs on streets or stuff like that. No I didn't break into anyone's house, except my OWN house, which set off the police alarm. One thing let to another, the police came. No kidding.

Well, I got home from Shar's place in the afternoon. As I opened the door legally with the key mami gave me, the key which I have been using the past 9 months, the alarm was already on. Damn. I only had 5 minutes to off the alarm b4 the real alarm went off. No 1 was at home. The worst thing was I didnt know how to off the alarm!

Wasting no time, I immediately called papi to ask him how to off the alarm. Too late. The alarm went off and it was REALLY REALLY LOUD. LOUD enought to scare off burglars and tempararily deafen me. As I couldnt find the controller, all I could do was wait for the police to turn up.

Within minutes, the police arrived. THe policemen asked for my identidication ,etc. I told them that my hostfmaily was out I didnt know that they had on the alarm. I called papi and the police man spoke to papi. A couple of policemen turned up. They were in fact pretty friendly.At least they didnt think that I was some Asian refugee trying to break into some house.

Papi and Laura came home within minutes too. Explained everything out. Thank god. I was a bit shakened lah. As it was a false alarm, papi had to pay between Fr300 to Fr500! Haih. Well, it was no one's fault. If one good thing came out of this, the alarm really works and it's really efficient. The police turned up within minutes!

As papi put it, it is one expensive story to tell. =P

Only fondue, no Kebab

2005-11-17T11:04:00.000-08:00

The Swiss football team won the 1st match in Bern last Saturday against the Turkish team. 2:0.

Yesterday, the Swiss team is officially qualified for the World Cup 2006 in Germany. All papers here have the same headlines : Deutschland, wir kommen(Germany, we are coming). Since the last victory, the Turks were pretty pissed off the the Swiss team won. When the Swiss team arrived in Istanbul for the 2nd match, the Turkes were holding up cards saying ' Welcome to hell' , ' 8:0' etc. I guess the good sport spirit has gone down the drain.

The Swiss team scored their 1st goal in the half 1st minute! It was a penalty goal by Alex Frei coz one of the Turkish player had the ball hit his hand. Well, cant blame him coz it's perfect normal human reaction to raise the hand when an object comes flying towards him. 1st goal for the Swiss team. The Turkish team was certainly motivated coz they scored the following 3 goals. By head. The Swiss team obviously determined to get into the World Cup, kicked their way up another goal. The end result for Swiss Vs Turkey was 2:4.

The Swiss team is qualified coz they won the 1st match, and playing as a guest in another country gives them an advantage. The once ranked 3rd football team is now out of the game. THe Turks actually played very well. Well, just blame it on bad luck.

My piano performance on Tuesday went on well despite my nervousness. I was so bloody nervous! Sweaty palms. I 'm glad that I got through it. Mami, Laura and a couple of my friends stayed back after school to watch me play. How sweet of them. Glad it's over now. It was a good experience though.

Well, gtg for my Deutsch class. Chao guys.

Kuala Lumpur

2005-11-14T21:59:00.000-08:00

The November autumn weather is a perfect example of why the Swiss worship the sun. Apart from the cold and thick fog, I see no reason why autumn is considered the season with terrible weather. The sun doesnt come out till 7.30, it's dark by 5pm...I see no reason...yeah right. Imagine when we go to school, it's dark. By the time we go home, it's dark.

School was as usual. Nothing special. Had to do breath strokes for swimming class. Promised myself to go swimming at least once a week when I go back to Malaysia to loose all the BLOODY weight and fats I accumulated for the past 8 months. It's amazing how a lil bit of joghurt, cheese and chocolate and tons of bread can do wonders to one's weight. It's even more amazing that ONLY the FEMALE exchange students are affected by this kind of diet. The Swiss, I guess are immune to this. The Swiss gals eat like a horse(or least the gals I know) and yet they are stick thin! BLame it on my Asian genes.

Physics. One of my worst subjects. Even in Malaysia I've sucked in physics. Ask everyone who knows me. German is not the reason I dont understand the stuff taught by the physics teacher.

Geography. One of my favourite lessons. Learning about South East Asia now even makes it more interesting for me! YOO! PArtically today. Herr Gloor taped a TV programme on KL and we watched it during our lesson. I was really glad that the programme was really well done and projected a really positive outlook on Malaysia. A total opposite from the misleading book on the Malaysian culture.

Petronas Twin Towers is THE only relationship between Malaysian and Switzerland.It was a good thing our ex-PM made it a point to build the Twin Towers. When people talk about M'sia, it's not KL Tower which come to mind.It's the Twin Towers. Watching together with my class, I suddenly felt so proud and patriotic.

What made it even better was we were actually studying the development of SEA countries. Herr GLoor asked the class to compare the 2 countries. Indonesia and Malaysia. The pictures from Indonesia were a complete opposite from Malaysia. Memang ulu and kampung. Therefore, with the well edited documentary on Malaysia, my homeland was seen to be a metropolitan, modern and developed country.

THanks to the Twin Towers, Malaysia is famous.

Finally....Weekend

2005-11-13T17:39:00.000-08:00

Well, my weekend was pretty normal. One of the unusual days staying back at home during my weekends. Friday night's programme was kinda last minute coz my piano teacher gave me the details of the Janos Tamas(some Swiss musician) concert really the last minute. Got home after a 35 minute train ride, told mami bout it and we rushed back to my school for the concert.

The concert was really interesting. Really modern music. The kind where I dont mind hearing in a FREE concert, but wouldn't buy the CD and listen at home. Or maybe my music knowledge is under the limit for me to appreciate real modern and abstract music. From my point of view, the music played sounded as if they were playing 'impromptu'. There was one where there were 3 pianists playing together in 1 piano! The performers were really good musicians. THe music itself was abstract. Maybe some people may beg to differ the word abstract. It's something like Picasso, abstract art where it requires a high knowledge of art to comment on.

Anw, I enjoyed myself( no puns intended) . I enjoy hanging out with mami, doing 'mother-daughter stuff'. Not really mother-daughter, but still it was nice.

Saturday itself was spent cleaning and clearing my room. Damn. I dunno how am I going to bring back all my stuff back to Malaysia. Gonna cost a bomb shipping it back. Went out with mami and Laura to the cinema.

Stolz und Vorurteil. That's the German title for Pride and Prejudice. Yeah, that's the ENGLISH literature Jane Auestin movie I watched --- IN GERMAN! Thanks to my biological dad's advice to read at least some English literature and banning me to read no more of those lovey-dovey love novels like Sweet Valley,etc, I understood the whole story line. Most of the conversations too, despite the whole movie was in German(mind you there was NO English undertitles)

What I didnt understand were the jokes, or maybe the sacarsm in the movie. That is what I hate most. Despite understanding the German language now, sometimes I really find it hard to understand jokes in the German language. People say that the hardest jokes to understand are jokes in a foreign language. Maybe my German level is not THAT good. Or maybe my humour is NOT THAT high. Or maybe both.

Today, went up to Pilatus mountain. The weather was real shitty in normal grounds. Thick fog. Something like haze, the only difference is that fog is unfatal(if u dont consider the cold factor). However, the weather in high grounds, like mountain tops and so, was SUPERB! TOns of sun, bright blue sky, no fog. From the top, we saw the thick fog beneath. It was so beautiful and breathtaking. Thanks to the 'suffering' of the folks in the low lands(coz they hafta bear with the fog), we had a great scenery from above. As a saying goes, one man's garbage is another man's gift...or something like that lah.

Didnt go trekking this time coz LAura absolutely HATES trekking. Therefore, went home earlier than I expected.

TOday's the last day of my weekend. Tomorrow's back to square one. School. Damn. At least I get to skip the morning class due to the fact that I have to reherse with my friends for the school concert. Thank god.

Havana Club @ Latin Palace

2005-11-08T18:33:00.000-08:00

hey guys, check out this website coz there are 2 pictures of of Paula (my week hostsis) and I at the Havana Club Zürich.

http://www.tropicalvip.ch/deutsch/ver_fotos.php?id=00063&variavel=24

http://www.tropicalvip.ch/deutsch/ver_fotos.php?id=00063&variavel=25

Austauschwoche -- Xchange Week

2005-11-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

1 whole week in a whole new different family, whole new different school. In short, whole new different environment. That's y people call it 'EXCHANGE'.

Last week was AFS exchange week. Left on Sunday for Bülach, which is 20 minutes from zürich by train. THe time I met my 2 host siblings, Julian and Paula, we really hit it off! My whole week with my new host family is Bülach was FANTASTIC! My new-1 week-hostfamily consisted of Albert(father), Brigitte(mother), Maja (20, dai ka jie), Julian (18, hot bro), n Paula (17, mega sweet gal!) My hostparents are watch/clock repairers. Not the normal Omega or Rolex kinda watch or clocks. They restore real antique clocks and watches which can cost up to FR40,000 for just 1 ordinary looking wooden clock. Julian, who is doing his last year in the watch/clock school in Solothurn has to build a clock as his 'matur arbeit' which is something like SPM project. Cool ya?! I had a chance to look at his work and my god, it really requires skill, art, dedication, patience and concentration. Everything has to be precise,etc,etc. My god! Anw, his clock is really one cool hand-made clock!

Sch was pretty boring. Most of the people in my class were 15, 16year olds. Not to mention they were kind the quiet bunch too. Yeah, we did chat and stuff, I personally I find them very nice too. But sometimes I just dislike small talks. It's just so cheap. For my 1st day of sch, I skipped the classes after lunch to go to an auction house in Lucern with my hostparents. It was interesting. It makes 1 wonder how can people pay so much money for just 1 wooden clock! Or even better, so much money for a picture which consists of a few coloured streaks?! I can also do that, the difference is no 1 is willing to pay for it =P

Went to Zürich with Paula for salsa lessons. Interesting. The Latinos memang Latinos lah. They can freakin' dance so well. Coincidently, met other 2 exchange students from HOng Kong and Indonesia, Sharmin & Virginia too!

I DIDN'T REALISE HOW TERRIBLE MY MALAY WAS TILL THURSDAY.

I couldn't complete a normal Malay sentence WITHOUT any mistakes or pausing to think. DAMN. For your reference, read on to see how it went on:

THURSDAY- 3RD NOVEMBER 2005- 22.30 - ZÜRICH HAUPTBAHNHOF (mainstation)
Meidy(M) : The Indonesian exchange student
Chong'en (C) : The Malaysian exchange student who USED to speak MALAY till now.

C : Hi! Which country are you from?

M : Halo! Indonesia! Oh, kamu?

C : Malaysia!

M : OH!!! Kamu boleh cakap Bahasa Melayu ke?

C : Ya!!!

M : Apa khabar?(smiling widely coz finally some1 who can speak Malay with her)

C : Khabar baik! Und du?

M : Huh? Oohhh!!! ya, ya, sangat bagus!

C : Ya! Aku juga! Kamu.....(pause)....... ada Gute Gastfamilie und Schule? Scheisse! (started cursing coz the words just didn't come to my mind)

M : Sangat bagus! Saya sangat suka sini. Orang di sini juga memang baik!

C : YA!!! Aku denke auch! (swearing again)Damn! ahhh...(Long pause again. the words just didnt seem to come!) Scheisse, aku tak boleh cakap BM lagi, memang teruk sangat! Tak ingat langsung!

M : *laughing*

C : Wirklich! Shaumal? Kann nicht gar nicht gut auf Malayisch sprechen! Haih! Also, schönen Abend! ( It's true! See? I cant speak good Malay at all now. Well, have a nice evening!)

M : YA! Kamu juga! Selamat tinggal!

C : CHao!! (breath a sense of relief)

MY GOD. & just for your info, the conversation was not that short and I typed in more Malay words now. The actual scene was worse, was longer and was more terrible, in the sense that I was really tongue-tied for Malay vocab. I sounded as if I was some cacated German or Swiss trying to speak Malay. I'm not exagerating. I swear to God I was much terrible than what I typed above.Cant imagine how will it be like when i go home.

Anw, Saturday nite outing was an interesting outing. REal interesting. We went to this Latino disco in zürich, had a great time(interesting for me though, where at 1 point I had to run and hide in the toilet for 20 minutes due to some reason or rather someone......wont go into details...) & of course missed the last night bus home.

Missing the last night bus = taking the 1st train home.

Paula and I stayed the whole night, whole morning in the disco. I was dead tired by 5am. Our 1st train was at 6.37 and we finally reached home at 7.10am. I was almost dead. Dead tired from all the dancing, all the music etc.

Anw, packed and left for Reinach on Sunday.Back to my original hostfamily.It was also great meeting my host family too.Will definitely miss my week-hostfamily in Bülach.Will miss their jokes and laughter.Will miss the humourous chats with Paula and Julian.

Mami's brother from Malaysia and his Malaysian wife came for dinner! WOO! IT was Malaysian-connection time.=P

Anw, will update this place as soon as I get my sleep and time to use the comp. Have been pretty tired these few days. Blame it on the atumn weather where it's pure dark by 5.30pm. Blame it on the cold. Blame anything and anyone but me.

Exchange Week In Bülach 2

2005-11-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

My room for the week....well, actually it belongs to Julian...Sweet of him to let me have it for da week! =)

Julian, my hostbro for the week........ Mega funny, mega nice, not to mention hot too! =P

Paula, my hostsis for the week! Same as her bro, mega nice, mega Sweet, hot gal too! =)

Exchange Week In Bülach

2005-11-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

Paula, Julian and I ! Had tons of fun with them!

Brigitte, Albert and I. My hostparents for the week. Mega nice people!

Paula and I b4 our outing to the Latino Disco... =)

Paris , city of Love and etc....

2005-10-20T12:04:00.000-07:00

Personally, if I would compare romantic, I would prefer Venice by night.THat's really romantic. Eiffel Tower by night was totally beautiful too, with all the bright coloured lights, for my personal choice, I would give the title to Venice.

That was my best Autumn hols so far! Out of 4 weeks, I was away for 3 weeks! WOO!! Paris was a great experience, went there with another friend.We stayed with 2 hostfamiles during our stay due to AFS rules saying that we are not allowed to stay in hotels without a Swiss accompanying us. THanks Mum and Lin Lao Shi for helping me and making this trip come true for me! =D THANKS!!!!!!

THe ride to Paris was about 6 hours from Zurich. I was my first time going to a foreign country WITHOUT being chaperoened by someone who knows the country. Everything was from zero. Despite the fact that we had no idea which trains to take(at the beginning lah), we manged to navigate through Paris and reached Versailles, our hostfamily in France. THey are a nice bunch of people. Really friendly and warm and welcoming.=) Nice of them to host us during our stay.

According to weather forecasts, the week would be rainy and cold,etc. To my amazment, the weather was great! Warmth and sunshine, all week long! The weather was so perfect that I was infact quite 'dissapointed' coz if it was cold and windy, at least I had an excuse to wear my overpacked Autumn clothings. After Venice, I decided to bring more thick clothes to Paris, but of course had never the chance to use them. Darn.

The weather was great for sight seeing and touring the city. We decided to go to Disneyland on Tuesday as it was a great day and a weekday. A tip for all students: Always bring along your student ID. YOu really save $$$. For our Disneyland ticket, I saved saved 20 euros by just presenting my student ID. Lourve was even better. The lady misread our birthdates and decided that we were under 18 and we managed to go in --without paying a single cent! Therefore all students out there, no shame in presenting your student ID to get cheaper bargains.

It was a good thing we decided to check out Disneyland Studios instead of Park first. The Disneyland Studios was really great. I enjoyed myself really much there. We even saw how they shot stunts in films. Damn geil! U know those kind of action films where the bad guys on motorcycles riding really fast while the good guys chase from behind, and then 2 cars crash causing a huge a fire and this bad guys end up going through the fire, body burning with fire. THat was the kind of stunts we saw. Geng leh?!

It was a good thing we decided to check out the studios first. Let's just say that everything was well planned. We practically walked into every ride WITHOUT waiting. The longest we had to wait was 25 minutes for 1 ride. Considered not bad liao. REally. Imagine the ppl waiting such a long time just to get on a less-than-5-minute ride. I really cant imagine that. As how Mark Twain once said : Waiting(Golf was actually what he said. I changed it to waiting=P) is an easy game. Just hard to play. THink about it.

Disneyland park was an ideal place for reminicsing our childhood memories. Despite the fact that I'm already 18, I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a 100% Disney fan. However, I think that I may appreciate Disneyland Park more if I was younger. But anyway, I had a great time!

Eiffel TOwer was great. Started off at some palace and walked all the way to Eiffel Tower. Turning part Swiss, we decided to walk up the Eiffel Tower.(Swiss LOVE walking.Trust me.A free time or holidays, they'll go off some random moutain to do trekking or walking.Take it from someone who has been doing tons of trekking and walking in Switzerland.) Ok lah, to save money was also one of our reasons lah.Not cheap ok to take the lift all the way up. Anw, it's good exercise to burn off the fats we accumalated from all the biscuits we ate during our travel.

The weather was so clear so sunny. HAd a great view of Paris city from the top. It's something one will never forget. Of course I was partly proud to find Malaysia's flag in the sign board up at Eiffel Tower. Dunno why, but spending time in a foreign country somehow makes one more patriotic in a way. I even too a picture of it. Call me 'jakun' but, yeah, what the heck.

Arc de Triomphe: All roads leading to this arche.

La Defense: Modern version of Arc de triomphe. Opposite Arc de Triomphe too.

Lourve: Glass pyramid and Lourve musuem. THey make money coz ppl juz crowd to catch a glimpse of Mona Lisa. THEY say that with the Mona Lisa, u can see that she's looking at you at every angle. Who's that 'they'? Btw, I didnt find it true though.

Centre Pompidou: Modern art. If you arent interested in art like Picasso, or some other modern or abstract art which can easily pass as a 3 year old kid's drawing, no point wasting money and time to go in. As I had that 'some little bit of art knowledge' Mami had imparted in me, personally it was worth the entry for me.

Notre Dame: I think Walt Disney made it even more famous than it used to be.

Sacre Coere : Another pretty famous church. Dont ask me why these churches are so well-known.

Jardin de Tuileries: Beautiful gardens. A must for all tourists.

Musee d' Orsay : Once an old train station. NOw a museum. One place worth going.

Picasso Musuem: A must for all Picasso fans. A no-no for ppl uninterested in art. Maybe an interesting place to go to, just to see how work that seem like a 3 year old kid's doing can be so famous. I won't be surprised when ppl comment that they can propably draw better than what they see. Or maybe I'm just too 'art knowledge-less' to appreciate Picasso's work.

Versailles: King Loius the 16th's palace. U'll be amazed how huge the place is.Esp the gardens. They can practically change it into a new residential area when one day Paris run out of land to build anymore buildings and can only build high-rise buildings(just like Singapore, or Hong Kong)

Lyon: Ok lah. Travelling 2 hours from Paris, I expected more.

Tourists + Camera = Power -------------- Equation no.1

Scene: Lourve Musuem by the Venus statue.
The Chinese tourists crowded the statue. They held some small silver box which looked like a digital camera. Dunno how many mega-watt lights flashing off simutenously. Blinding one temporarily. Unfatal though. The French or white tourists overpowered by the Chinese tourists sat pathetically by the side as if they've given up hope in catching a glimpse of the well-known statue.

That was 1 scene we saw in the musuem. I don't mean to criticize, but really they acted sooo bloody jakun! Really pai seh u know! No wonder my Swiss friends automatically stereotype Asians as phototaking humans. I dont mean not to act touristish, but there's a limit to it, doesnt it?

Tourists are really interesting ppl. They can be oblivious at times. For example they can also choose to be blind whenever they want,esp when there's a huge board saying photography is forbidden at most churches. In Notre Dame for example. There's practically no tourist WITHOUT a camera in hand, WITHOUT their cameras flashing off INSIDE the church. If there was some invention where electricity could be generated by flashes by cameras, Notre Dame would be the perfect place to generate electricity.

As I said, touristS with cameras = power. No one does anything about it.Or maybe they know that it's no use trying to stop them. It isnt as strict as the churches in Venice, where it is really vorbidden to photograph. Japanese tourists standing by the altar, two fingers holding up forming a 'V'....*click*

The French are a nice bunch of people. Really friendly and helpful. Learnt one thing. If u dunno, ASK. We are borned with a mouth for a reason.

Paris wasn't the place I imagined where there were only perfect mowed lawns, posh French women with perfect manicured hands with equally perfectly shaved poodles. It was just another touristic spot with many tourists. HOwever, I really enjoyed my stay in Paris and it was a good thing I had a chance to travel there too. Learnt a lot. Really. Met new people who I think I will never forget.

Paris

2005-10-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

In Jardin de Tuileries opposite the Lourve......beautiful gardens... =)

Arc de Triomphe

In Disneyland Studios......FUN!!!

Eiffel Tower!!!!! That guy was supposed to help take our picture, but he ended up in our photo too......haha!

At the glass pyramid by the Lourve Museum

Speazialschulwhoche -- Venedig

2005-10-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

Venedig, the German name for Venice. Venice, the city above the sea in Italy. When ppl mention Venice, gondolas come to mind. Venice, the destination I would defnitely want to visit one more time.

It was a good thing I chose Venice for my Spezialschulwoche ( special school week, it's compulsory to choose one of the items stated in the list. Things like ' Physics is fun !' is defnitely a no-no for me.So sue me) coz I really had a great time there.

I LOVED EVERY SINGLE MINUTE IN VENICE.

This time, I decide to cut my blog shorter coz (1) I'm too busy (yeah rite!) (2) THe 1st was just an excuse. I'm just to lazy, ok not lazy, but having spent 2 hours on the comp is not very healthy for my eyes ,ok?!

The 1st two days in Venice was not THAT exciting. It rained. For the 2 WHOLE BLOODY DAYS-- continously. Non stop. Never trust weather forecasts. Ok, not NEVER, but always play it on the safe side, coz I didnt bring much thick clothings for my Venice trip. I ended up having a buy a scarf(it was a must, it was freakin cold! WIth the wind, the rain and wet feet, you'll agree that the scarf was a must) and shivering my way through the 2 freakin cold days!

We were at San Marco Basilika, despite the rain -- & the flood. Not the real flood flood, but maybe more than ankle-deep flood. As floods are really common in Venice when it rains,they were all prepared. All of us had to walk on wooden panels or some kind of 'bridge' along the way. The Americans and the Japanese who had plastic bags with them tied them on their feet, walking boldly through the more-than-ankle-deep-flood. Ppl like us with normal sport shoes were vulnerable to the flood. Therefore the shops selling plastic or rubber boots were making tons of money, esp from the tourists. Infact, I accompanied a friend of mine to a shop to buy her boots and the sales girl was telling another couple that personally, she finds it not necessary to buy those boots.

Well, as European tourists are rich in a way and touring the city with wet feet isnt that comfortable, her advice was merely like wind passing by their ears. I bet the shop owners were showing mega-watt smiles coz tourists were willing to pay at east 15 euros for low quality- uncomfortable- not suitable for touring rubber boots. Tying coloured-waterproof- plastic bags on each foot is really not that flattering for most ppl. Therefore, it wasnt a surprise that the sales went up on that particular rainy day.

The weather for the next few days were better. It wasnt summer great or summer warm, that kind, but at least it wasnt raining. We toured the Doge Palace, Rialto Bridge different musuems, etc. OMG. The Doge Palace was magnificent. Really gotta see to believe. We visited tons and tons of churches. I think I''ve been in more churches in 1 week than I have been in temples for 6 months. The churches were really great. As in the decoration. Unbelievable. U see all these architecture and gold plated-less than 2cm square mosiac pieces all being built together to form those huge churches, all I could say was 'wow'. To show respect, we werent allowed to take any photographs in churches.

Venice is really a city above the sea. Instead of cars, taxis and buses, we travel by boat. There's boat taxi, police boat, ambulance boat, vaperretos (bus on water). Instead of seeing parked cars on perfectly mowed lawn, there's boats parked outside houses on poles.

Traveled through the Grand Canal. Beautiful. We were at the Campanile (big ben of Venice), San Giorgio Maggiore( great view of the whole Venice from the top), Murano (world's most famous glass making centre, damn expensive), Burano (each house has its own colour) and Torcello ( once, 20000 ppl live on the Island. 2005: less than 50 humans), Santa Maria de Salute, etc. Had a great time.

Oh ya, we were also at a fish market too. Well, being Malaysian, it wasnt anything special to me. For the Swiss, it was like a whole new place to take tons of pictures.As Switzterland has no sea, they have no fish markets like the ones in Venice. It was no surprise when they started taking tons of photos--of sea food! Well, cant laugh at them though, coz for me, I take photos at almost every river, every mountain I see in Switzerland. Therefore, it's just the same.Maybe the only thing worth taking photos in the fish market were the cute fish mongers. REally! HOt, young ones too.

We had a really great group. We spent most of our time together as a group. Doing stuff together. A tight 6 gal group. For our last nite in Venice, we went to a piano concert by Arcadi Volodos. I didnt know that he was THAT famous till I got home and Mami was like ' U went to a piano concert by Volodos? He's like world famous!' Ok, now I know paying the price doesnt always reflect the popularity of a musician. Prices sometimes are misleading.

After the concert, we decided to go once more to San Marco place again. It was such a romantic place to be. really...ahhh..... Classical bands were playing in some of the cafes. So romantic (and expensive). I really swear by this place... =)

It was really a memorable and enjoyable trip to Venice. The place was great, the group was great, the weather -- soso( I cant be always bitching bout the weather considering the fact that I had a great time there=P). In all, it is one experience I will never forget --ever.Unless I'm old and grey, or I have amnesia or something like that... choi ! choi! =P

Venice

2005-10-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

Our Spezialschulwoche group...a really great group! =) Had tons of fun with them !

Christina and I by the cafe...... Rialto Bridge across the Grand Canal

Venice...Beautiful Venice.....

Santa Maria de Salute by the Grand Canal

Pictures from Turkey 2

2005-09-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

My really good friend and I by the Apollo Temple

Class teacher and I...Frau Eggenschwiller =)....really sweet lady

Pictures from Turkey

2005-09-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

Me at Apollo ruins....

Me & friends during the boat ride to Side

At Aopollo ruins

At Zurich Airport

South Turkey -- Day 6 and Day 7

2005-09-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

22nd Sept 05 , Thursday -- Visited old ruins. Aspendos.Also visited some bridge. Went to Manavgat to see the waterfalls. According to my classmates who have been to the Rhinefalls, this Manavgat waterfalls is not that big. Nothing spetecular.Wanted to visit the Amphitheatre, but was too expensive. We tried different ways to enter illegally without paying. I followed this classmate of mine and we managed to get a few pictures.hee hee....

23rd Sept 05 , Friday -- Normal day, swimming in the sea....time flies when we r having fun. Soon, it was time to pack and go home. Gathered at 3.45 am n left for the airport.Every1 was half dead as no1 slept.This time with the imigration officer, it was a total opposite. He saw that I was from Malaysia(Islamic country), he started talking to me in Turkish! Coming from an Islamic country doesnt make me a Muslim, nor does it make me fluent in Turkish. It doesn't work that way! I told him that I didnt understand a word he said, and he was smiling all the way, continuing to speak to me in Turkish!

Arrived home safe and sound. Tired, tired, tired.....I really enjoyed myself. The destination was not that important. The important thing was I got to spend more time with my classmates and I really did have a good time with them. =)

South Turkey -- Day 5

2005-09-27T15:03:00.000-07:00

21st Sept 05, Wednesday -- We had a boat tour from Alanya till Side. Firstly, we toured the town, Alanya. Again, encountered ppl who tried to get us to rent their boats. Typical.

At 12.30, we had our lunch in the boat. THe boat was double decker, packed with mostly Swiss and German tourists. We sailed from 12.30 till 6.40.Along the way, we had some stops for passengers to jump off the ship/boat into the water.For some of my classmates, me included, we had sea sickness. THe boat rocked really vigourously. Luckily, no 1 threw up. At least not me.I ended sleeping during the boat ride for the 1st few hours. Unfortunately, we didnt manage to see any dolphines...=(

Oh ya, also manage to collect planktons during our boat ride. Bio session. Cute little blue dots swimming in the glass can.Out of curiosity,I shook the glass can really vigourously as I wondered whether planktons would die if I did that. Hipothesis proved wrong. They didn't die.They are small, insignificant yet hard willed living things.

At night, met the guys by the beach smoking Turkish smoke.Shisha. Smoked shisha with them.All I can say that Shisha tastes and smells better than ciggs.=PIt wasnt a surprise that the guys each bought shisha back home.Costs bout 40 euros exclu 'tabak' --tobacco. Apple flavour tastes and smells great. If I would rank the different kinds of smoke, shisha's the best.Cigars and pipes really turn me off. Cant stand them at all.Makes me wanna vomit blood.

South Turkey - Day 3 and 4

2005-09-27T14:25:00.000-07:00

T19th and 20th Sept 05, Monday & Tuesday - As usual, sports in the morning till afternoon. Then it's biology session which included snorchling(to find stuff under the sea), water experiments, autopsy session(with a small fish)etc.....

Went to the town with friends. Man , I was really really surprised that there were soooooo many tourists in Side. German and Swiss tourists in specific. In the hotel itself, 90% were German and Swiss tourists.What surprised me more was that the Turks can speak and understand German! I assume better their German is better than their English. All shops are filled with fake goods from Puma, Adidas, Lacoste, Ralph Lauren, etc....a really huge variety of clothes, bags and shoes...a shopping paradise for shoppers...Oh ya, let me describe a few scenes we encountered in the town.

We as 1st timers in the town:
Scene A:
Tourists (we) walking along the streets. The Turks hear us speaking German or rather Swiss German. T-Turks. U- Us

T : CHOCKILAND! CHOCILAND! Bist du von die Schwiez? (Are u from Switzerland)
U : Ja (Yes)
T : Kommt, kommt! Heute alles gratis!!(Come! COme! Today everything's free! )

Scene B :
T : Guten Tag! Wie gehts (Good day! How r u?)
U : Gut, sehr gut! (good!)
T : Haben Sie eine Minuten?(Do u have a minute?)
U : Ja
T : Heute ist meine Geburtstag. Eine für 12 Euro! (Today is my birthday!
1 for 12 Euros!

Not as 1st timers any more:
Scene A:
T : Hallo, hallo! Bist du Schweizer? (Are u Swiss?)
U : Keine geld mehr! (No more money!)

Scene B:
T : Hallo! Hallo! Haben Sie eine Minuten? (DO u have a minute?)
U : Alles zu teuer! (Everything's too expensive!)

Those are the scenes we encountered in the town for god-knows- how many times was that.Every shop we pass, there's bound to be some1 to ask all these questions......but sometimes it can piss ppl off...like my friend was pissed off by this. Other tourists too. I guess every country has their own way of doing business.Oh ya, my nationality was also questioned for the whole week when we were in the town. Below are the results:

Japanese : more than 15 times
Chinese : 3
Dutch : 2 ( Dunno how the hell they can see me as a Dutch?!
Sunglasses covering my eyes is no excuse! Of all nationalities,
Dutch!?!?! How hilarious is that?!?!?! )
Korean : 1
Philipines : 1

As I said, a trip into town is sometimes really interesting and hîllarious.

South Turkey - Day 2

2005-09-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

18th Sept 05, Sunday -- It was sports in the morning. Officially, the whole week is a school week in school. But for the 3rd class students, we are allowed to organize class trips and have our 'school week'during this whole week.

Swiss being typically Swiss, e.g sporty and 'sun worshipers', all of us walked under the scorching sun for 20 minutes to the sports park, despite someone from the hotel could've fetched us with the van.Played tennis, basketball, tennis, badminton. I really like playing tennis. Really really like it. Wanna continue playing tennis when I get back to Malaysia.REally have a good time playing tennis.My classmates were surprised the way how I held my pingpong bat. They call it ' The CHinese way'...they tried playing pingpong the way I held ma bat...hehe....

In the afternoon, went swimming in the pool, and in the sea...ahh......the sea is so beautiful!!! Clear dark blue in colour blending together with the cloudless clear blue sky....the scenery was beautiful to make up for the scorching sun....I'm bound to be brown --again. Gotta de-tan soon.

Had our biology session by the sea and rocks. Looked for living stuff under the sea and by the rocks...crabs, reefs, corals....interesting biology session. This is what I call interesting learning session. Not which thick biology books where we used to highlight almost every single line in Malaysia.

Continuing our journey, we proceeded to the Apollo Temple.Don't ask me bout the history coz I have no idea, check it up in the internet. I can show u the pics, but not tell the history.All I can say that it's a huge ruin. With other smaller ruins around.Gigantic.

At night, candle light dinner in the hotel by the sea. Wonderful. This is what holiday is. Relaxing, chitchatting with friends, sea, waves, wind.... hmmmmm....Life is great......... =)

South Turkey - Day 1

2005-09-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

17th Sept05, Saturday -- Day to leave for South Turkey. After so many discussions over terrorism and our flight Onur Air, it was finally the day. Our flight was delayed, surprise surprise.... Juz some history over Onur Air y it caused anxiousness to most parents. Onur Air was vorbidden to land in Germany, France and Holland in May.Apperantly it was considered a dangerous airline, without meeting the safety measures.But well, the ban was lifted and most importantly, it was never vorbidden in Switzerland.

In the plane, heard the 'perfect' song : If Tomorrow Never Comes by Ronan Keating.Great. Perfect for soothing our souls in a plane which was once vorbidden in 3 European countires. If Tomorrow Never Comes....

It took us about 2 and a half hours to reach Antalya airport.We clapped hard when we arrived safely in the airport.It was worth a celebration coz 'we survived Onur Air' !The minute we stepped out the plane, it was so damn hot! Just like Malaysian weather, not to mention it was also really humid too.At the imigration counter, the officer looked at me as if I was some criminal or some refugee trying to smuggle into Turkey together with a bunch of Swiss, coz my passport was the only Malaysian passport within 24 Swiss passports.He asked my for my name, family name. I gave him the privilledge of saving time by even spelling out my whole name.Luckily, everything went on fine....hehe...

No surprise that the guys rushed to the duty free shop to buy vodkas, spirits, etc.It was so cheap compared to Switzerland.Took the bus to Side, which is about 60km from Antalya.Along the highway, the scenery was just different from Switzerland and Malaysia. It seemed more empty and dry.

Finally reached our hotel, Altinkum Hotel.3 of us to a bungalow.Patrizia, Debbie and I had the best bungalow.1 queen size bed, 1 normal bed, sofa, cushion, it was really spacious compared to the other rooms.hee hee....

Our hotel was really just by the sea.Really beautiful.....had our dinner by the sea...the sound of the waves were good enough to make up for the terrible music aired through the speakers.Food was not bad, was expecting some typical Turkish food though...but apperently with German tourists, they dont like change. Therfore had the typical European stuff...salad, chicken...nothing to foreign to me....

Some guy from the community invited us to a Russian Ballet at night in the Side Amphitheatre. We were like,'wow, how cool is that coz normally we have to pay quite a sum to watch a really good Russian Ballet'.The Side Amphitheatre was quite beautiful, old, looked like some Greesisch ruins...but in all, quite beautiful, something we wont be able to find in Switzerland or Malaysia.

We were really in for a surprise. The ballet sucked.I was really surprised coz usually Russian ballet is the best in the world! & this 1 really sucked. The dancers werent in time with the music, they were just dancing to their own tempo, the music would just suddenly cut off at the end...in short, terrible.

Then it was an intermission, although it wasn't mentioned, we assumed it was an intermission. All of us finally left during the intermission coz we were really bored and it was really a waste of our time. Seeing that the guy who invited us to this ballet performance had left, we left too.Can't blame us for being rude....

Went back to our bungalows...sat around...chit chatted...tomorrow would be a good day.... =)

Cantonese Lives!

2005-09-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

9th September 05, Friday -- School ended early for ,my class coz we didnt have english after lunch. As for me, as I have choir and piano, well, I had to stay back. After that, went to Zurich to buy stuff for my Turkey trip this Saturday. On this day was also the day for the AFS party for the new exchange students and the old exchange student in the region Baden, Aarau and Wohlen. Frankly, I didnt exactly want to go at all. but then I thought, what the heck, what have I gotta lose? I went

I planned all the timing so perfectly. The train arrived in Aarau at 7.00pm.Perfect! Looking around, eh, where are all the ppl? I checked again.Man, I was at the wrong station! I was supposed to go to Baden! Damn! I was already 1 hour late when I reached Baden station. No 1 was there--obviously. So I called Selina. She told me to get a taxi to her place. I was like' no way, I dont have any money left', which was true coz I was only left with Fr5. Even if I had the money, I wouldnt wanna spend it on the taxi where god knows how much will that cost me. I then decided since everything's so wrong, I'm going home. She was like 'Nein, nein, das ist nicht gut! Du musst hier kommen' (no, that's not good.U must come). In the end, I took the bus to her place and some1 was there 2 pick me up.

The party was at Selina's house. Got to meet the new exchange students who arrived 1 week ago. Met these 2 gals from Hong Kong. THey were like' WOW! Finally can talk cantonese here to someone who understands!' I got to meet new ppl, liason persons from Baden,etc. It was cool. THe party turned out to be better than I thought.The 2 gals were like asking me tons of stuff and I ws more than happy to share my experiences and advices.Anw, I told them that it doesnt mean what happened to me will happen to them.Everyone has different outlook at stuff and different experiences. I totally understood how they felt when they said they were really happy that I could speak cantonese with them. When u r in a foreign place where ppl do not speak your language, or rather speak a language which seems so alien to u, u will really feel the thrill when u meet some1 who can speak the same language as u.Trust me on that. It was just the same with Sharmin and I when we met up for the 1st time in Zurich and we met a Indonesian CHinese who spoke Bahasa with us.We were estatic!

It really reminds me of my beginning here in Switzerland. I had old exchange student I could talk to and I had to find out everything but asking and hits and error.Know what I mean? All the questions the gals asked me were once questions I asked others b4. It really is a cycle.By the time we realise that the time has passed, we have to go home, which frankly, i donno if I'm looking 4ward or not. =) maybe half half lah...it's 50/50

Anw, turned out really well, got to meet the Americans, south Americans and 1 italian gal. Sometimes life is so ironic. When u expect to have a great time, u dont.WHen u dont expect to have a great time, u end up having a memorable time. Man, I gotta learn not to put high hopes on stuff now.Saves me the heart breaks and heart aches.

Hmmm....

2005-09-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since I've updated my blog.....juz some updates, sch's been pretty busy, as usual, planning stuff for my trip in Autumn hols(Vienna and Paris -- really,really wanna go lah) and other stuff...nothing much.....

Still playing tennis, which is a good thing coz we will be playing much tennis in Turkey, took up badminton in school, and I'm in the choir too. A pity that I'll be going home in January coz I wont be able to participate in the choir concert. =(

Went to V's birthday party, interesting, had a movie marathon. 3 movies in a row-- Shrek2, A walk to remember(the 1 show which can make me cry, despite me watching more than twice) and Bridget JOnes 2.It's funny how tipsy ppl act and talk.Makes ppl laugh.

Yesterday went to this summer fest in the Neun Kanti with friends from sch. Sona Fe....but I said it like 'sauna fest' & it really sounded really funny! anw, as usual, ppl hanging out, beers, dances, bands......what makes an outing good is the company.I had fun! But the high light of my evening was I guess receiving a candle from some anonymus person.They had this stall where ppl can send presents anonymously to other ppl.Flowers, candles, drinks....It was really a surprise! I asked the person who was it from but there was no answer.The answer was 'Nein, ich weiss nicht'

Finally found out who gave me that.It was from Anja and Sofie! What made me so happy is not becoz of the candle, but of the thought.My hostsis was so sweet to give me that! Oh ya, she also bought me a Swissgerman - german dictionary last week! How sweet of her! =) Ma hostsisters are really sweet & nice lah....last time, Laura also bought me a bag since both of them had 1, she gave me another.=)

REally, I have a great hostfamily.Cant ask for a better one. I like the fact that they think of each other and how they look out for me.Love them.=)

Einstein Tag

2005-08-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

15th August , Monday -- Had to wake up sooooooo early to catch the train to Aarau to meet up with my class. Y? It was Einstein day and the whole school had to go to Bern to the Einstein Exhibition in the Bern Musuem. AKSA, Alte Kantonschule Aarau is so proud that Einstein used to study here--my current sch. As we were students of AKSA too, the musuem officially invited the whole sch for this exhibition! I wasnt looking 4ward to it coz 1) I've been there b4 with Mami and Anja 2)I hafta pay 4 da train despite I haf da GA!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

About 1000 students arrived in Bern, where the weather was so bloody cold coz it was raining! Rain here and rain in Msia are totally different.Rain here is so cold n it gets even worse when the wind comes! Ur teeth can clatter, literally.

Tried out the physics stuff in the Erlebnis park, optic illusion, etc....went in the musuem for da exibition too. It was interesting.Really.I'm not being sacarstic.It really was. Malaysian musuems should learn the Swiss way of musuem-ing....hahhaa....how 2 organize interesting exibitions coz the students enjoyed themselves.

At about 3 something, our whole class went to a restaurant for a drink as it was raining.Our class teacher belanja-ed us --again!!!! She's mega sweet lah, I tell u!!!! Eating out and drinks here in Switzerland is not cheap. I wonder if the teachers here are really well paid or it's just that she likes our class so much, coz this is not the 1st time she belanja us stuff. Sometimes, she bakes cakes and bread(mega fein) for the whole class! not to mention bought us ice-cream too!!! SHe's so sweet!

After out drinks, it was free time. I wanted actually to go home at first coz 1) I was having a headache 2) the weather was just so SCHEISSE!!! However, a couple of my classmates decided to go to the bundeshaus, which is the official parliament house in Bern or rather Switz for a tour. Well, since it was free and it seemed interesting to haf a look and since I was in Bern, I decided to go along too. Emptied our pockets, just like at the airport. No cameras, no hp, no keys, no nothing .......

Our guide spoke in Bern Deutsch, and I understood!!! YOO HOO!!! I'm so proud of myself.!!!! hahaha(perasannya.....) anw, she gave us a tour of the bundeshaus, etc. It was cool, not to mention really beautiful too. Went to both the parliament halls, sat in those thick leather chairs,etc. It was a good experience.=)

1 hour passed by so quickly. We ended up walking around the Altstadt, despite the rain. Surprisingly, I had fun with my classmates! N I thought that this day wouldnt be fun¨=P We did stuff which may seem childish...hehe.....but when u r in a group, u wouldn't mind. THese are the stuff where u gotta do it in a group and not alone.....alone...too pai seh lah......hahahahha

Walked to the Barengraben too, but there were no bears. Of course lah, raining mah....if I am a bear, I would also prefer to sleep than to come out in the rain.! =p

Took group pics, walked around again, waited under the huge clock(which btw I've seen it 3 times liao) together with other tourists. Japanese tourists are so easy to spot. Huge chunky cameras haning on their necks, round hats, bermudas, catching every scene that can,....it's so stereotyped.......even my friends haf stereotyped the Japs--Phototakers. Bcoz of that, they think that all Asians r too.....someitmes me oso paiseh to use my cam in front of them...ahahahah =P

Anw, turned out to be a fun outing with my classmates! Really enjoyed myself. I really did, despite the headache. Looking 4ward to out Turkey class trip in September! =)

Alles in Ordnung

Zurich Street Parade

2005-08-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

13th August 2005, Saturday -- On Saturday was in sayang's house coz I slept over at her place. In the afternoon, walked around Solothurn, despite the fact that all the shops are closed by 5pm! Aiyaya.....Unlike Malaysia, u can hardly find a shop which is open on Saturday nites and on Sundays!!

Took the train to Zurich coz it's PARTY TIME!!!! It's the Zurich Street Parade!!! Well, heard tons of negative comments on that Street Parade, but well, as we will only be in Switzerland for 1 year, we thought we should check it out! On the train itself we could see many ppl already 'dressed up' for the street parade. To us, it may be wierd, but to them, we might seem wierd to them coz we werent dressed up like them. Also in the train we could hear many languages spoken.French, English(which is NOT common in the German part. Ppl actually turn to look at u when u speak English!!!Literally turn their head and look at u even u are at the back!), German, SwissGerman(duh!)...yeah....tons of ppl from Germany, France, Holland purposely come to Zurich for this Street Parade.

Let's say that it really was an eye opener for us.It really was.U can nvr see something like that in Msia,not to say that I would like to go.The whole Zurich Bahnhoff was transformed into a huge disco! Tons of Bikini cladded gals, walking around, tons of wired dressed ppl, Tarzan and family, flowers and the bees, ppl from the future....these r one of the few I'm naming of what I saw. This street parade is mostly for u know, the techno fans, music freaks that kind of ppl.Or rather Punks.

Ladies wearing thongs, as in thongs, not flipflop thongs, where u can literally see their asses hanging off that little piece of string and a pathetic looking piece of transparent cloth covering their asses.I mean, y waste the effort of covering ur ass when all u cover it is with practically transparent cloth?!

Guys walking around in their boxers, 1 was walking around with his pants half way around this thighs and u can see his underwear. The most eye-catching costume for me was the gal in the fish net.Whao! She just wore that over her bod. Could see both her boobs, including nipples and a nipple ring!!!! Talk about nude art!!!!

If there's anything more interesting than guy fight, it's cat fight--girl fight. We were stading by the road, and dunno what happen, these 2 gals starting fighting. Name calling. Scratching. Hair pulling....hahaha...interesting

Tons of ppl were smoking pot, in specific, Marijuana.Could see and smell everywhere. Tons of ppl were pissed too. Pissed as in drunk. Interesting leh?

Well, we didnt stay THAT long coz we had to catch the last train and also the party was SCHEISSE!!!ahahahah..!!!! =P Went to another fest in Kriegstetten.Much better. Ate kebab 2am in the morning! cost me Fr8 for that kebab!!

Anyway, it was a good experience. An eye opener.

Haze

2005-08-12T14:39:00.000-07:00

Heard about the terrible haze back home in Malaysia from a good friend from CHS. Heard it was so bad that schools had to be closed down. TO all Friends and Family: Plz do take good care of your own health!!

It guess it's true. That it is THAT bad. Why? Coz it even came out in the Swiss papers!!! Not only 1 Swiss paper, but other Swiss papers too.REally! Had pictures of Malaysians wearing the mask to defend the haze. Descriptions in Deutsch. I guess I'm lucky. Lucky the fact that I'm now in Switzerland. Really clean air.NO haze. Everything's pure and natural. Wow, suddenly realised that the ammount of $$$$$$ my dad paid for my exchange year includes also a guarantee haze-free environment. Healthy.....

Anyway, gtg now. English lessons. Wrote this blog in sch, after my friends showed me the artical printed in the Swiss papers about the haze. Guess sometimes what the Chinese sayings are true. U can get bad news from afar, but good news stay at home......

Chao

No Wonder The World Think We Live in Trees

2005-08-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

10th August 2005, Wednesday -- After a 5 week long summer hols, it's back to school.Not to say that I don't look forward to it, but still I would appreciate it if I had longer hols.Really. 5 weeks is just not enough! 6 more weeks to autumn hols! Turkey, here I come!

Yeah, geography lessons! Finally learning about south east Asia!!! Our teacher distributed travel books on Thailand and Indonesia, but no Malaysia.Haih. Learnt about their culture and stuff. I was so proud when finally the teacher distributed an South-East Asian book with the Petronas Towers as the cover. I felt so proud at that moment coz finally, people will get to know more about Malaysia. My Beloved Country. The Swiss know about Malaysia and Petronas Towers coz Petronas sponsors the Swiss F1 Team - Sauber Petronas. Btw, that's the only thing the Swiss recognize. Not even KL Tower.

Finally, stuff and culture of Malaysia. Unfortunately, my proudness quickly turned to embarrassment and not really anger, but yeah, a bit of anger. Why? Here's the story.

Flipped open the book. The most eye-catching picture of that page was the 'Kleiderordnung', which is the dress code in Malaysia. All dress codes like baju kurung with tudung, or any clothing which covered the whole body except for the face and hands and feet were given a huge TICK, and all the dress codes revealing the hair and arms were given a huge CROSS!!!!!!!! My classmates were astonished by what the Malaysian culture is!!! I mean, according to the pictures, ladies were not allowed to where normal Tshirts with sleeves!!! Mind you, its not sleeve-LESS, it's short sleeve!!! & that was considered WROnG!!!

Next, there was a text regarding the dos and donts in Malaysia. Boy.......I was angered by what it stated. Apparently Barbie dolls or dolls in general are banned in Malaysia, coz it's considered 'mengungkit nafsu'. Yeah Rite. And other stuff too. The next text was an interview with our ex-PM -- Mahathir. According to him, we are a democratic country. As usual, students here express what they think and will say it -loud. When they read all these texts, they laughed and said so-called democratic coz it really doesnt seem democratic --at all.

Obviously they have been mislead by the author, by everything. Being THE patriotic Malaysian, I of course spoke up to say the truth. Yeah, we do have some extremists with the dress code, but that doesnt mean that all Malaysians are. Of course they are some open ones too. I spoke and spoke, what the Malaysian culture is, most importantly that we are NOT that reservetive and KOLOT minded. I too added that it is more of the religion than culture. As Malaysia is an Islamic country, the religion too does play a role in influencing the culture.

However, come to think about it, how did the author get the idea that Malaysia is such a reserved and KOLOT country? Did the Malaysians really display such extremism till the extend that the world actually believe that we are that reserved and so 'undemocratic'? Come to think about it, we may be at fault too, not we, but maybe SOME extremists.

Really, we do claim that we are a democratic country. However, sometimes how democratic are we? Not to mention there was even once a case in Malaysia where a Chinese couple were fined --for just having hold hands in the park!!!! U call this democratic?? I wonder what would happen to them if they had kissed. More fines? Prison?

Anyway, at least I cleared things up--hopefully. Yeah rite, for feeling so proud that the Petronas towers were on the front cover. The inside was just the opposite. No wonder the outside world doesnt know much of Malaysia, or rather thinks that Malaysia is SUCH a country. Given a choice, I would prefer them not knowing Malaysia than thinking negative of Malaysia. After all, Malaysia is my homeland. The place I grew up in. My family and friends. Everyone. This might sound lame and so not me -- I love my country.

No wonder the world think that we live in trees.

Locarno -- Tessin

2005-08-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

My last week of summer hols were spent in Locarno, Tessin. The Italian part of Switzerland. Lets just say that I had a pretty good time there.Really hols where didnt do any studying...hehe =P

From St. Moritz, we drove directly to Locarno on the 30th July. As papi and Anja say, 'Die Auto ist deine Schlafsmittel.'(The car is your 'lullaby') Yeah, I slept the whole way till Locarno.The same when we went to St. Moritz. Cant blame me. Was trained back home in Malaysia. The 2 hour journey back to Ipoh. What can I do than sleep?

Locarno, another touristish part of Switzerland. Tons of Italians. Feels just like in another country. Leopard prints could be seen all over the arey. Why? It's the 58th International Locarno film Fest! That's their logo.

For the whole week, spent my days watching beach volleyball, sunbathing(its a Swiss thing, will nver find me doing that back home in Msia, wanna get skin cancer ah? ) , swimming, tennis (damn cha), mini golf(Love it!), going around Locarno and Ascona, 'wanderning' at Gambarogno. If there are better looking guys than Swiss guys, they are the tanned Italian guys. Man, they're hot! So are the beach volleyball players too...hahah =P

1st AUgust. The Swiss National Day. 714 years old. On this day, watched fireworks at night in Ascona. Rained a bit. Pretty surprised that there wasnt any big celebration here, unlike Malaysia where every1 would gather in Stadium merdeka for concerts or parades to celebrate the country's independence. Somehow, I actually missed Msia's atmosphere of these kind of celebration where for once, Malaysians put down their differences and gather all together for the memorable day.

The weather was great when we were in Tessin, except for Tuesday where it rained the whole day! At night, we went to the Film Fest , watched a documentary of Maria Bethania, some Brazilian Samba singer -- in the freaking cold rain and wind! On Wednesday, that was the official opening of the 58th International Film Festival. It was an open air cinema with a mega screen. could seat 6000 people for 1 film. A good new experience. The film we watched was The Rising - The ballad of Mangal Pandey. It was good. The same main actor as Lagaan -- Amir Khan. Same plot, based on history though. Indians fighting for their rights and independence, how the British mistreat the Indians then & stuff. Was entertaining.

The remaining days, visited the small villages in Tessin, was at the authentic 007 Golden Eye Bungy jump too. About 220m high. An extreme sport not suitable for ppl like mami, who has hight phobia. Fr255 just for 1 jump. Would I do that? personally, if it was free or a christmas gift from some1, I might. If i gotta pay just for that 1 jump, definitely not. But, boy, that is really high!!!

Watched Dimitri theatre. Not bad, Kinda funny, had some pretty funny scnens which made me laugh like mad. However, sometimes different humour appeal to different people. sometimes, dunno what some ppl can laugh so hard although I find it not funny at all. As someone once told me, sometimes they have no choice but to ' Pei xiao' ! hahaahahahah !=P

Wow, 5 weeks gone liao. Gotta prepare for school. Nah-ah. My friends came over for a sleepover on Sunday, and followed me to school on Monday. I was the only 1 who had to go to school! Geramnya!! I went to school while they explored Aarau. A good day though. =)

Alles in Ordnung.

Wandern

2005-07-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

27th July 2005, Wednesday -- Wandern day. Wandern in german means trekking. Where? In the mountains. Kept telling myelf it's one in a lifetime oppurtunity to do that. Really. It really was.

Started off at 10pm where we took the ski cable car up to Corvatsch (2707m). From there, it was all the way walking and walking. It was real trekking in the mountains where the correct footwear is required. Luckily, mami had an extra pair of trekking shoes. If I had worn my Nike, lao zao kaput liao. really. Cant trek with normal sport shoes coz its tooo stoney.

Walked and walked and walked. Along the way, saw the Biancograt, Piz Bernina, Roseg Glacier. I also found out that many Swiss themselves have yet to see all these sceney coz they dont wanna take the 'trouble' to walk all the way where we were. Amazed by those breathtaking views, it definitely was worth the walk or trek. Really. How close can 1 get to the mountains and glaciers?

REached the Coaz hütte(2610m) at 1pm. Phew. finally. Had soup. gotta have some energy to continue our journey. Started being touristish - again. Cant blame this gal coz seriously the views were spectacular!!!!

Continued our rocky journey back down. Just as 'easy' as the begining. but frankly, it was easier than the bike marathon.Walked and walked -- till the glaciers! It was warm and yet the lake was filled with mini ice bergs and ice cold water. I was so darn thirsty I wanted to drink from the glacier lake!

Our stop was the hut before the forest. It seemed so near and yet so far...if u know what i mean. At 5pm, phew, finally reached our destination! Woohoo! Luckily coaches were available. Thus, saved us energy or the trouble from walking for another 2 hours. yeah, as if I was looking forward to do more walking...hahahha =p

Took the horse coach back to Pontresina. Hans sent us back home. What an accomplishment. Haahhaha...did so much cycling and trekking since we arrived. Sun: Cycyling to Pontresina(14km). Mon:Bike marathon from Maloja till Zuoz(42km). Tues: Trekking at Muottas Muragl (8km). Wed: Trekking(20km). No wonder my toes are decorated with new stuff. blisters. yeah. 2 on each feet.

No wonder the Swiss are super fit ppl with long life span. they love doing sports. My host family are also no exception.esp Mami and Papi.St Moritz is also not only an ideal destination for winter sports like skiing, and snow boarding, but also ideal for sport lovers in the summer. Cycling, trekking, golf,etc.

Gotta go now. chao!

Bike Marathon

2005-07-29T02:45:00.000-07:00

25th July 2005, MOnday -- Bike marathon day. After a scrumptious breakfast, time for our bike marathon. Rented my bike from Samaden and then proceeded to Maloja.

'Papi,wie lang unser Fahrradmarathon ist?' (Papi, how long is our bike marathon?)
'42 km'

Yeah. I cycled together with my host family, 42km from Maloja to Zuoz!!! It is just not only on flat road. It was really up and down. esp the beginning. We went for the mountain biking way. Man, that was really tough! We couldnt cycle anymore. Had to get down and pushed our way up the MOUNTAIN!!! I finally know what mountain biking is. REally.

All I was looking forward to was going down. However, the way down was also as steep as the begining. After my accident during sports day, my new motto is : slow, but safe. My arms were sore from all the brekking. Cycled and cycled. Went through Pontresina, St Moritz, Sils, Silvaplana, etc, and finally arrived in Zuoz at 5.30. Woohoo! NO accidents! =P

Papi asked whether that was my longest bike marathon in my whole life. Till that day, the answer is yes. Dunno is I may have another oppurtunity like that. However, it was worth it. got to see spectecular mountain views, all the 5 lake views, everything!

St Moritz is one of my favourite kantons in Switzerland. Really breath taking. Winter view, summer view. Both unique in their own way. Love it.

St Moritz Summer Hols

2005-07-29T02:33:00.000-07:00

23 July 2005, Saturday -- Gees, just after 1 day of rest and then it's my journey to St Moritz wth my host family, except for Laura, coz she went to south France. I was so tired I slept in the car all the way to Chur, the Haupstadt of Kanton Graubünden.

From Chur to St Moritz is about an hour and 30 minutes drive. The way up is more 'curvy' compared to the way up to Genting, or maybe even more than Cameron Highlands. There were tons of cars, all on their way to their sumer hols like us in St Moritz.

St Moritz is one of the world's most famous winter and summer destinations.As papi once said, only in winter and summer St Moritz is alive. This place is filled with expensive and posh shops, catered for the ppl who can afford to pay more and a few hundred francs for that thin, small piece of cloth, where some ppl may call it fashion.Haha.

Watched FRIENDS in GERMAN! Haha. Funny.Yeah. Out for dinner. Guten Nacht.

Bye Bye London

2005-07-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

21st July, Thursday -- Woke up really early, packed our stuff, time to say bye bye to London. took the train to Stansed Airport and our plane left at 11.55. Local time.

Reached Basel. Ahhh...home at last. Home Sweet Home. Home is where my bed lies....heheh....ws so damm tired from all the walking.

on the way home, heard that there was another bombing in the tube. MAn, we were lucky to be back home.... Lucky....and I told my parents back home that terrorists usually dont bomb the same place twice. Guess I was wrong...... Great to be back home safe and sound =)

London - Day 3

2005-07-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

20th July, Wednesday -- Woke up early again, to get cheap tickets for the musical,Fame. This time, we managed to get them for £11, with restricted view.Nevermind to us.....we didnt really need good seats....

After purchasing them, my sisters and us went our separate ways. They went to Oxford Street to do shopping while Yueh Chien and I went to Madame Tussauds.With the tube, it's so easy to get around in London. We went to Baker Street to Madam Tussauds. Man, there was a looooooong que! That was for group waiting. As there were only both of us, we qued at another counter. While we were waiting, we were approached by this couple to ask us whether we would like to join them in a group coz if there were 10 ppl , it would be cheaper. Turned out, they were all Malaysians too! From Ampang! Well, of course good for them, good for us too coz getting into Madame Tussauds was not cheap either.

Whoa! There were tons of people in Madame Tussuads. The wax figures were so real! Esp the eyes!!!! Although some werent as good as others.Again, touristy time! *Click click* hahahah =P

THere was a passage where it was a ghost house with real life 'monsters'. THese monsters can sense fear, and will continue to chase u....eg, there was this lady which screamed in fear and the 'monster' followed her along the way....hahaahaha

After MAdame Tussauds, met up with my sisters, went to Tate Modern, Millenium Bridge.Next, I went to meet up with an old friend of mine, Hoon Wei! WOo hoo!! Went to Selfridge at Bond Street to meet up with him. It was great seeing him, a long time liao didnt see him. Went to Starbucks, sat down and chatted.Good old days =)

At 7, was back at Leicester Square. On the way, I heard 1 chinese guy saying' yao meng sing ah'. Guess who was it? It was LEE FROM BLUE!!!! Man! All the English girls were crowding all over him and I couldnt take a picture WITH him!!! DAMN!!!!!!! That's the biggest regret....=( Well, at least I took 2 pics OF him....haih...but that's not good enough as taking WITH him....GRRRR......

Watched Fame at 7.30. It was another great musical. Enjoyed it a lot. REally. I can really just sit down and watch musicals all day long. All week long! ---If I have the $$$ lah.....not cheap leh.....but if i do have, I really can....ahhhh.....musicals....

Went back to the hotel, packed and slept coz we had to leave early the next day....ZZZZZzzzzzz

Eastbourne - London

2005-07-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

19th July, Tuesday -- Had typical english breakfast. I was really full!checked out, went to the shopping street-again, but this time, didnt buy anything. really bohlui.Just window shopping.Also went to the pier, along the English Gardens. But as it was too windy, we didnt go up Seven Sisters. The rocks.

The afternoon was spent in the train back to London. In the hotel, we realised y there were so many gates along Leicester Square. Johnny Depp was there for the premier screening of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!!! GRRR!!!!!! Had an early dinner, back at the same Chinese place and then went to Tower Bridge. Actually Tower Bridge is much more beautiful than London Bridge. London Bridge is actually nothing spectecular.

Good night...ZZZZZZzzzzzz

Eastbourne

2005-07-22T13:42:00.000-07:00

18th July, Monday -- Took an early train to Eastbourne, the southeast part of England. The coast. The seaside.It wasnt a long train ride from London.About an hour and 45 min or so...

The day was really windy.Coz it was by the sea. Windy....seagulls could be heard...walked really, really, really loong to find our guest house at Royal Parade Road. ON the way, met Laura's teacher from her school when she was in England. He said : ' Good Luck looking for that guest house.IT's a long way down.' See?

Our guest house was really comfortable and homely. Each room had a theme of itself. Ours was Regency, while ny sister's were Red. IT was cool.went out to the shopping mall in Eastbourne in the afternoon. Man, there were sales everywhere!!!! It was so much cheaper than Switzerland. Frankly, I think even with the conversion, food is cheaper than Switzerland. Really. Clothes too.Haih...boh lui ah...$$$$

In the evening, went to Victoria Drive to visit Laura's host family when she was an exchange student there. The girls are mega cute! Joanna(10) , Stephie(7@8) and esp Lizzie (5)!! They were really active and were always on the move. Their cute antics made us laugh like mad.Kids! The greatest comidians on Earth! =) spent about an hour and 30 minutes there and then left for dinner.

At night, my sisters went to bed early, but Yueh Chien and I went to the pebbly beach to chit chat while watching the stars.Ahhhh.....It was a starry night. Cold starry night. Cold and windy starry night.

London - Day 2

2005-07-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

17th July, Sunday -- Woke up really early to get to Leicester Square to get cheap musical tickets. Guess what, the cheapest we could find was £36 for Lion King! Anyway, since we were there, I mean, it isnt an everyday thing that I can watch musicals like that (unlike my sisters where they have seen tons), we purchased the tickets.Hor bao chün long...ahahaha

With the tickets securedly in the purse, we proceeded to Trafalgar Square. Climbed up the lions(wasnt an easy task,haha!!!)to take photos. Yueh Chien and I were really touristy, if u know what i mean. Carrying our cameras, taking almost every picture of anything which looked 'foreign'to us...hahha...so touristish....I didnt care coz I paid to be touristish! IT's my Right!!! hahahaa!

After Trafalgar Square, was on the way the see changing of the guards, saw a parade.really formal..dunno some kind of mourning or what lah... the ppl in uniform looked solemn, but the tourists, nah-ah....all with their cameras..flashes flashing away. Went through St. James Park to get to Buckingham Palace. Man, there were tons of ppl everywhere outside the palace grounds!! I mean everyday they'll be tourists crowding outside Buckingham palace, I wonder how the Queen and the Queen's family feel comfortable with more the a 1000 tourists crowding outside their home, clicking away with their cameras...*Click*.....

Standing under the scorching sun till 12, had our sandwiches in Hyde Park. It was lucky for us that the weather was great. Hot, but at least it wasnt too cold or raining. =)Just great for outing!

'Do you believe in God?'
'God is the greatest'
' God is your only life insurance!'
'Believe in God and U'll go to heaven'
'U r meaningless and worthless if u dont believe in God'

Those where the contreversial topics we heard at Speakers Corner.It was better than reality TV! REally! On-lookers 'argued' or rather had 'loud discussions' with those ppl standing on small ladders voicing out their minds....hehe...it was really entertaining =P One guy told us that he comes every week to listen to them speak. Just for the entertainment... hehehe...ppl argued with the concept of God. I wonder if we had a Speakers Corner in Msian, lao zao they will be put in jail-without trial!!! Hahahahaha....they'll be counted as extremists @ terrorists!!! hahaha =P

I was really, really looking 4ward to the next programme.The Lion King Musical at Lyceum Theatre.IT started at 3pm.Oh my god! The starting already took my breath away!The songs, the music, the costumes, the props were simply marvelous!!!! REally there are no words to describe it except for watching it. Seriously. I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF THE MUSICAL! EVERY SINGLE SECOND!!! IT definitely was worth the ticket. The story was exactly like the Disney cartoon, all the lines were same too! The props and costumes were definitely a thumbs up. No. Not a thumbs up. More than a thumb's up.IT was TERRIFIC!

After Lion King, went to Big Ben, Westminster Abby, Parliament House again. THis time, without my sisters. Touristy time starts!! *Click*

At night, went to Leicester Square again for dinner. This time had Pizza Buffet for £5.99. No wonder the Swiss are so much more in shape and fitter compared to the English. They are no buffets here in Switzerland! NO offence to any English ppl....

Went to bed as every1 was alreaday tired from the day's walk. Guten nacht.

Back From London Safe & Sound

2005-07-22T13:30:00.000-07:00

16th July, Saturday -- Our journey was off to a 'good' start. Why? The baby airport in Basel had a blackout or rather breakdown at the check in counter. Therefore, everything was delayed.The place where the luggages were supposed to be sent to the airplane wasnt working coz of the breakdown. The whole front of the check in desk was packed with luggage! Boarded the plane at 15.10, was delayed about 40 minutes or more, had an hour and half hour ride to London Stansted Airport.

Woohoo! Finally in the land of my mother tongue! English! By the time we found our hotel, bathed, it was already 21.45. All the way to England for Chinese! an All - u - can -eat buffet for £4.95. Those food are really for guai lou lah, ppl like us can differenciate between good Chinese cuisine and that kind.....hehe =P anw, it's the price that matters....

Saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Eye by night. Beautiful. I dunno y but being in England somehow reminds me of Malaysia. REally! If u have been to Switzerland where the culture is rather different from England, U can really feel that Msia is more or less like England. Btw, saw tons & tons of Asian, esp Chinese everywhere from the tube to Leicester Square, to everywhere!

Walked through Piccidally Street, CHina Town, Soho at night. Some drunk guy came up to us and started quacking like a duck! BLeh.... Drunk people sometimes are my entertaintment. Sometimes it can be irritating too.

Geneva

2005-07-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

Me in Geneva by the most famous fountain. Jet D'eau

Skiing In Diavolleza

2005-07-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

Skiing in Diavolleza,St Moritz

My Swiss Family

2005-07-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

My Swiss family and I in St. Moritz for Easter. Left to right : Papi(Thomas Huber), Mami (Ursula Huber), Laura, Me & Anja

Winterthur Party

2005-07-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

Vanja from St. Gallen, Me & sayang Sharmin!

Landes Musuem, Zürich

2005-07-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

Last day of Sprachkurs-1st April-Friday-Landes Museum Zürich-Exchange students around the world.

Maria & I

2005-07-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

Maria from Ecuador. Friend from school.

My Birthday!

2005-07-14T13:20:00.000-07:00

1st April. My 18th birthday in Switzerland.Papi, Benny, Nadja, Anja, Laura, Me & Mami at my birthday dinner in Zürich

Bern

2005-07-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

Me in Bern.Skipped school ---again...hahhaha =P Behind me is Bern Münster. Some kind of Gothic style cathedral

Exchange Students 2

2005-07-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

Me & the Brazilians. Flavio, Taina and Laura in the party in Zürich

Snow View

2005-07-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

The view from my bedroom window when I just arrived on the 4th March 2005....amazing huh?

Exchange Students 3

2005-07-13T20:06:00.000-07:00

Exchange students around the world.Brazil, NZ, Columbia, Panama Malaysia.Orientation camp in Barau

Exchange Students

2005-07-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

Rui(Japan), Me, Courtney (Australia) & Victoria (New Zealand) in a party in Zürich...

2005-07-13T12:53:00.000-07:00

Mami and I in Luzern by the famous bridge.Some Brücke. Skipped school to come here...hehe =P

Lugano

2005-07-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

11th July, Monday-2nd week of my summer hols.So schnell eine woche hat schon vorbei. Damn. I hate it when they say that 'time flies when u r having fun'. Y does it have to pass so fast?

Our main form of transport.Train to Lugano. Woke up, not even at the break of dawn to catch the train. Ppl who know me know that I can sleep. I'm a good sleeper.Long sleeper.Thus I slept in the train during the 3 hour journey from Zurich to Lugano to make up for the lack of sleep I had the nighte b4.Missed all the spectecular scenery though on the way to Tessin. What was I suppose to do? Sit up for the first 2 hours just to wait for the mountain? I need my sleep ppl! =P

Reached Lugano. Lugano is in Tessin.Tessin is the south part of Switzerland. The Italian part. I find it quite interesting here in der Schweiz.So small, yet so many languages can be heard throughtout the country.Most of the Swiss speak Swiss German & high german of course. But in the west Schweiz,eg Lausanne & Geneva, every1 speaks French. Being there made me feel like I was in France.Not a word of German of Swiss German could be heard. Even if there was, they would have come from the mouths of ppl from the other side of Switzerland.

Tessin is another part of Switzerland where every1 speaks Italian.No kidding.Coz Tessin is so close to Italy, Italians come to Tessin to shop.Hang out..It seemed that I was in another country-again.Couldnt understand a word, except for Grazia and Chao.Same feeling I had being in West Schweiz.

12th July, Tuesday- 1st stop.Fox Town. A paradise for shoppers.Or rather branded goods shoppers.They 'claimed' that stuff there are cheaper than normal.Yeah, maybe some stores like Reebok, Adidas, Tom Tailors.Got a Nike bag.I was desparate.Needed a bigger, but not too big bag!(Haih gals.When it comes to shopping,can hear tons of excuses=P)Esprit. Got another bag & T there. Not bad a price--comparatively.

Next stop.Lugano.Another shopping paradise.My friend decided to go back coz she wanted to swim,while I wanted to continue stying in Lugano.In the end, we went our separate ways.Hung around in Manor for some time.Found some pretty good stuff.MAn, sales here memang sales lah.Unlike Msia,the 50% off stuff are either A)XL @ L B)too ugly or too wierd a colour.ME, a sucker for shopping of course did have some good purchases.

At 19.00, said our goodbyes to the ppl in the vacation house.THis time, I din sleep in the train.Din wanna miss the scenery from the train. Saw Gotthard.Saw a church built by a cliff 3 times--different angles--above, same, under.Unbelievable.Tessin is a place where the houses are built by the mountain.The only higher building u can see is the church.Tessin is Mega Schön!

Reached home feeling tired, yet satisfied.I can officially say that I've been to all 4 major parts of Switzerland. The German(duh, it's the main part), the French, the Roman & the Italian.

Guten Nacht.

Lausanne & Geneva

2005-07-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

Wow...such a looooong time never blog liao....sorry guys...sometimes too lazy to update my blog lah....haha =P

anws...on wed was da last day of sch! Yooohoo!! a great last day of sch! Our maths teacher 'belanja-ed' us every one of us ice creams! Not the cone type, but we actually went to a restaurant during sch hour for those expensive ice-creams in beautiful glass cups! Costs Fr9.50 each! After that, coz all of us were still having out ice-cream...our teachers for the next 2 periods told us that class was cancelled & sch officially ended! Earlier!YAY!

On Thursday, went to the Maien Zug Vorabend,a kind of huge fest only in Aarau, Friday-Maien Zug....Sat nite...had a New Zealand & Malaysian feast at Virginia's place..hmmm...Msian curry memang BEST! Sharmin, U ARE DEFINITELY A GREAT COOK! remember to give me da recipe, ok sayang? nite, went to Solothurn coz there was a fest....here in switz alwys have fests in summer...it was fun though...met Francesco and his friends there....cute! =P

Monday, went to Lausanne, met up with Yueh Chien, went to Olympic musuem. It was cool.Of course all about olympic stuff lah....but it was good enough 4 us...then had dinner...eating outside here alwys makes me 'sam tung'...u know y lah...then went to this jazz/choir/folkmusic concert.They were students from England, Oxfordshire or something....it was good...4 something that's free...it was good..hehe

Tues, went to Geneva. Yueh Chien is definitely a really good tour guide. Follow me, sure get lost one.....hahahaa...we got a map of Geneva from the tourists counter & embarked on our journey in Geneva. Saw some monument....4got the name...of course not to forget Jet D'eau....English Gardens....Basilica Notre Dame...St Pierre Cathedral...The reformation wall by Jean Calvin....we also went to the United Nations Office...but unfortunately, it was closed..=( Arrived there a lil too late....Japanese tourists are sooooooo cute! All wore the typpish round hat...with huge cameras hanging around their necks...they even climbed up the gates to take pictures from outside! SO CUte!! HAHAHAa

AT nite, went to the Cathedral in Lausanne as there was a music fest too. For me, counldnt understand a word of French...except merci buku of something like that.....bon jour....

In short, to me, all the sights and sceneries in der schweiz ist MEGA SCHÖN!!!!! MEga BEAUTIFUL!!!! every where you turn is a one hell of a beautiful sight. WIrklich! Seriously!!!! Beautiful........ahhhhhh=)

Markt , Auction , Par-tay!

2005-06-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

11th June, Saturday - Gotta wake up so bloody early coz it was my turn to go to da markt(market) in Aarau to sell cakes & zopftes. Nico & I went 2 da markt together & then managed to meet up with Patrizia & Tobias.

Every 2 weeks, our class takes turn to sell cakes & zopftes( big loaf of plaited bread, mostly eaten on Sundays) to raise funds for our trip to South Turkey. Today's Nico's,Tobias's, Patrizia's & my turn to sell them in the markt. We placed the cakes & zopfts on the tables. I think that it's such a good idea to do this coz I mean, we get $$$ ! Ok, furthermore, it's a good class project where every1 puts in effort to bake cakes & zopftes( ok, not all the students bake,it's da mothers who do da baking,hehe)

We had 20 zopftes all together, 4 cakes ( where 2 of them were baked by me! ok, not me, but Mami baked them, but I did help her=P) & 'Lieb Kuchen ( a kind of sticky cake). Each zopft was Fr8, n each piece of cake was Fr2.It's actually cheaper than our contender, class 2A, which btw, their stall was just next to us!!!!!!

It was my 1st time selling cakes & zopftes,in Switzerland,in Deutsch!!!! It definitely was a great experience! We greeted the passer-bys, even they didnt' buy anything & they greeted us back. Every1 was so courtues(4got how 2 spell lah) & polite! Guess what, the 20 zopftes were sold out by 9.30am! HOw good is that! Most people who bought cakes & the zopftes just told us to keep the change & wished us to have fun for our trip! How cool is that! If it were in Msia, I guess people would have bargained 4 da lowest price & required 4 da exact change, nothing less. But the ppl here are sooo nice! One lady even just gave us Fr3, without buying anything! Our English teacher came & bought cakes & zopftes from our stall too. Another classmate's mother came & bought a zopfte too. Guess what, she baked the zopftes yesterday for her son to bring them to the markt, & today she bought back her own zopfte! How cool is that!!!?!!!

By 10, there were only 7 pieces of cakes left. It was really good business coz everything were almost sold out( except 4 da 7 pieces of cakes lah), & despite competition from 2A.Hehe...ALl together, it was such a great experience.Selling stuff is an experience, but it's even more interesting when I am facing a whole new crowd where I'm required to to speak Deutsch! HEHe!!! Definitely an unforgettable experience. =D

In the afternoon, I followed Mami & her sister to an auction in Zofingen coz my host aunt wanted to buy a painting, which once belonged to their grandmother. Unfortunately, she died without a will or something like that & her kids all gave them 2 da auction house!!!! Mami had bought a cupboard in the morning with the price of Fr2200, but the estimated value of the cupboard is about Fr11000! I think..... We had to wait 4 a very long time till aunt's paiting's turn.B4 that, Mami bought another paiting for Fr400. It was a good buy coz it was really nice.

IT's interesting in an auction coz like for different art works from the same painted can have so different values. THe 1st painting may be sold for more than Fr5000, but the next, only for Fr300!! THere was another painting(mami's fave) was sold for Fr 35000!!Finally, it was host aunt's painting's turn. IT started off with Fr3000, she raised her number. Well, apperently not only she liked the paiting, others shared the same thought too, coz the price went up to Fr5200! Eventually, she went home empty handed.=(

As for me, I took the train to Zurich coz there was another party as the old exchange students would be leaving soon in July. Frankly, I didn't really want to go. I went just to meet up with some friends. I would've rather joined my friends from school to go to a club in Zurich. THe whole thing was so disorganised!!! WE went all the way to Winterthur Seen, but actually we were supposed to go to Winterthur. We waited for 20min for the next train & went back 2 Winterthur. In the end, we ended up arriving in Winterthur at about 10pm!!I met up with the Msian gals(of course) & Juka(Japan), her 2 swiss friends, Taina, Laura,(both from Brazil), the Aussies, New Zealanders,the Chinese form CHina, Indonesians, ppl from Chile, Panama,etc. THere were lots of ppl, but the party sucked!!! I just hunged around till 11 something & then took the train back 2 Zurich to meet up with my friends. Wasted my Fr5 for that lousy party!!!

Met up with Andy & Sara as the others had gone to a club Klotten. They stayed back 2 wait for me! I feel sooo guilty. Sorry guys...we ended up going 2 McD coz it wasnt worth it to pay & stay for a short while in the club. By 1.11am, we took the last train back 2 Aarau togather with my other friends who came back from Klotten.When Andy & I got to Aarau to catch the night bus back home, the STUPID bus left earlier when it was supposed to leave at 1.45!!! IT left at 1.42!!!! SHAISEH!!!!!!! & that was our LAST bus home!!!!! WE were stuck in Aarau!!!!

We actually thought of sleeping in the train station for da night, but that's too cold 4 us.Plus, I wanna go home coz I was sooooooo tired!!!!To take a taxi would cost more than Fr60 to get home!!! Jonathan & Ozan , coincidently cycled by,& they were surprised to see us there at the bus stop. GRrr...y din I ask them could we put up a nite at their place??!! Well, left with my last option, I called Mami -- 2.15 in the morning!!! Guess what, after 1 ring, my hp shut off coz there was no more battery!! Luckily Andy was with me & we used his hp. Phew! In the end, Papi came all the way to pick us up (from my house to Aarau, it's a 30 min drive)-- which was about 2.45 in the morning! I feel sooooooo terrible to wake them up middle of the nite...x/ Well, if not bcoz of the STUPID BUS which left earlier, all of there wouldn't happened!!!!!Papi sent Andy home & then we went home. By the time, i went to bed, it was well, really late....I was dead tired.....ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz

Weekends, Party, Horse Race

2005-06-01T21:37:00.000-07:00

28th May, Saturday -- The weather was so hot! 30 degrees!! Anw, the afternoon was pretty hot & in the evening, I joined Andy & Isa on the train to Aarau to attend a party of a friend. Then together with Sibylle & Barbara, we walked to the woods to meet up with Antoine & Micheal( birthday boy). We hung around the woods for a while & then decided to go 2 Micheal's house in the end. We hung around, chit chatted etc. I really like the people from 2A. They are really, really nice! Love ya guys! =) At about 12am, we left for Erlinsbach coz they were having an outdoor fest. There was Plush, a swiss band, & of course, tons of beer. Met Tobias there too.It was a fun experience & at about 1 something only did Isa & I take the last night bus home. Tired, but fun!

29th May,Saturday -- As the weather was really good, I went cycling with my hostfamily from Reinach till Oberkulm, which was about 16km all together. It's good training for me coz for sports day, I gotta cycle 30km. Anw, I enjoy cycling more than walking. So, it was fun all together.In the afternoon, Papi, Anja & I went to watch the horse race in Aarau. Horse races are only held twice in Spring & twice in Autumn. It was a rather huge event. About 6000 spectators turned up for da event. Boy it was really,really hot! In Msia I would have used an umbrella liao, but not here. Coz it'll be really wierd coz every1 here LOVES the sun! We placed bets, or rather we chose the horses & Papi paid for the bets.=) Unfortunately for me, all the horses I chose lost & even 1 got disqualified at the tramping event! Haih. Papi & Anja did win some money. There was 1 race where the jockey fell down! Luckily, he wasnt hurt, or at least it seemed that he wasn't hurt.

We left at about 5 & Benny & Nadja came for dinner. It was a good experience. Learnt on the different kinds of riding & bets. Hahaha!

Lausanne

2005-05-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

21st May 2005, Saturday -- I was so bloody tired when I had to wake up early coz I had to meet my friends at da station coz we were going to Lausanne! YAY! The French part fo Switz. Why was I so tired? Coz I got home really, really late as I went to this party/ CD promo/ German Rap gig with Dimitri in Aarau. Luckily he was there to accompany me, or else I wouldn't have gone as it wasn't the usual crowd I'm used to, know what I mean?Usual, Usual.

Anw, met my friends & my friend's friend at the station & we embarked on our journey to Lausanne, which was about 2hours ride by train. I LOVE MY GA!! This is da reason why. I get to travel around the whole Switz without paying a single cent coz my host family bought me da GA!! Trains, buses, trams, even boats! With da GA, I save tons coz travelling costs in Switz is quite expensive.

Time passes by fast when we travel with friends.By 11am, we reached Lausanne. It was raining!!!! We waited till da rain to stop & then hit da Bahnhofstrasse! Shopping! 1st stop: Doo Dah. I spotted these pair of Kyoto Nike shoes which fitted me good & the price wsa also really good! Original price Fr89, but the selling price at that time was Fr 19! The shoes were practically calling out my name, but why da hell didn't I buy it??!!!! I'm so geram & gek hei!!!!

Anw, we hit da shops 1st coz stores closes at 4pm on Saturdays. We also went to the Cathedral, but as there was a wedding ceremony, we couldn't go in. We also went to Luna Park, a theme park with lotsa roller coasters!! We went on different rides & boy they were more ci gek & longer than the ones in Genting! IT was so cool!360 degress turning & stuff! IT was so much fun!

As I was in Lausanne, of course I couldn't not visit Yueh Chien, the only Msian gal in the French area. My friends went back but I stayed back to meet up with her. Missed her soooo much!!! We finally met at 7.40 & it was good seeing her & finally some1 to speak Chinese with! We went to the Cathedral, where it was high & we could see da whole of Lausanne, & then we went to Lausanne See ( in german, see means lake).

As the weather was really wonderful, there was a fest by the See. There was a band playing Latino music & people were dancing to it. I just love Latin music & Latin dances!! I wanna learn & I also just love watching people dance! It's really wonderful!

Yueh Chien & I had a lot of catching up to do. We hung around Lausanne See, then Morges See till about 12 only did we take da train back to her place at Pampigny.I put up a night at her place & we didn't sleep till really late coz we were chit-chatting & stuff.

The next day, we woke up really late & pretty soon I had to take da train back home. From Pampigny, gota change trains in Apples, then from Apples changed trains & to Morges. From Morges, changed trains to Lausanne, from Lausanne to Bern, from Bern to Aarau, from Aarau back to Reinach, home sweet home. =)

Lausanne is a really beautiful place. It's not flat. It's always going up & down. It's a city by the hill.It feels like its in France coz every1 speaks French. I like the sound of the French language. I find it to be really posh & elegant. I really had a good time with Yueh Chien & my friends that weekend. Friday was great( party / CD promo); Saturday & Sunday in Lausanne. WHat a wonderful weekend! =)

Kantiball

2005-05-15T00:07:00.000-07:00

7th May 2005, Saturday -- I love playing billiard / pool now !!! Not really sure about the difference though coz I haven't read the books Papi lent me...ooppss... I didn't know that we had a billiard table in the garage! When I watched the billiard finals together with Papi, he asked whether I wanted to play billiard. Of course I said 'yeah' but then there wasn't a billiard table, that's what I thought till he cleard the 'big table' in the garage which was actually a billiard table! WoO HoO !! It was really fun playing pool/ billiard with Papi & Anja.

In the afternoon, followed Mami & Anja to watch Benny's tennis competition. Benny's a really good tennis player. Soon, I gotta learn tennis coz everyone in my family plays & loves tennis!

Today's another special day. Why? It's the Kantiball! It's something like a prom, just a slight difference only.At 5, Laura helped me set my hair. I say I liked the way she set it! =) hahaha!! Unlike last year(where it was soooo last minute), I actually took the time to decide on what hair style I wanted(or at least Laura took the time...=P )

It was fun having 2 elder sisters helping me with the clothes, hair, makeup & stuff.Laura took care of my hair while Anja took care of my makeup. Syok huh?=P By 7.30, Laura & I were ready. Anja didn't go to the Kantiball. Papi & Mami picked up Andrea & then we headed down together to Aarau.

Darn, the weather was soooo cold as it was raining! & I wasn't wearing any stockings, just only stilletos!!! It was so darn cold!!! Mind you, I was also wearing a dress!!! Cold!!! Grrrr... When we arrived, Carol arrived too.We had to wait for Cindy to come & only then we went into the lobby.

The Kantiball was held at the Culture & Congress House in Aarau. It was organised by the students of Alte & Neue Kantonschule Aarau, but it was practically a ball for everyone, including people not from the Kantonschule Aarau. The lobby was filled with dressed up gals & tuxedo guys. Everyone looked their best on that day.We went into the 1st hall & the lights were dim, the kind of romantic atmosphere...hahaha=) There were long tables & not round tables like we had in last year's prom. There wasn'a a buffet dinner, only light food like cakes & sandwiches. Of course lah, what do you expect when the ticket is Fr20?! We had to pay extra for drinks.& when we split the bill, it ammounted to Fr 12.50 for me! & guess what, all I had was a coke!!!!!!

I met my classmates & I say, everyone really looked good that night. REally good. Guys & girls.I joined Laura, Cindy & Carol to take a photo coz there was a professional photographer there. Laura said that we MUST take one coz last year , she missed it.After all, it's a 'one in a livetime oppurtunity' ! hahahahah =P

We chatted, laughed, hung around...it was fun! There was a live band, & of course there was dancing! It was fun dancing! I danced with one of my classmates & as he had learnt the salsa once (for 1 day, according to him) he taught me how to salsa! Dunno the steps right or not, but hey, it's all about the fun rite? They were some students who really did they salsa really well. I wish I could dance like that! hahaha!I dunno about other people, but I really enjoy seeing other people dance.

There was also lucky draws. As the Kantiball is a rather huge affair, the organisers managed to get really good sponsorships. For example, Kantonale bank,which is one of Switzerland's comercial bank, Swarovski, etc. As I said, really good ones. The lucky draw gifts included Swarovski merchandise, & the grand prize was a trip to London which costs Fr 2500! See, what I mean, not Durex merchandise for lucky draw gifts! GOsh!Come on, not everyone can use that! (No offense to the people in the CHS prom committee).

We danced to the music practically all nite long. I loved it the best when my favourite song was played: Too Good To Be True!! I LOVE THAT SONG SOOO MUCH!!!! I finally left at 2am together with Laura & we went to Carol's house for the night coz we misssed the last night bus home. By the time I went to bed, it was about 3.20am.

I really enjoyed myself at the Kantiball. No regrets going. I think that I would have regretted NOT going. It gave me the chance to know my classmates better & meet other people too.For example, I didn't expect that one of my classmates would come up to me & he asked how was I & was I enjoying the ball & stuff coz we didn't talk in class once! It gave me the oppurtunity to get to know them better. But for me, the only regret was that I didn't take ANY photos with my classmates coz I didn't carry my camera wherever I went! When I wanted to take with them, my camera was not with me!!!! GRRRRR !!! Geramnya!!

Differences between My School In Switzerland & Malaysia

2005-05-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

1. NO UNIFORMS!!!!!!

2. NO perfects!!!

3. Lighter & easier time table (maybe for me lah)

4. Toilets are soooooooooooo darn clean!

5. Twice a week we have sports class,on Tuesdays & Fridays. Every Friday is swimming lessons.

6. We have different lunch breaks from other classes, depending on our time table.

7. We walk to our classes for every subject.

8. There are always 'pause' or short breaks for every 45 minutes.

9. People here are very sporty.They often join a club for sports.

10. Class trips & school trips are much more interesting. For example in Autumn, our school has this thing called special week where we have to choose a project. For me, I've chosen to go to Venice Hopefully I get a place in that project * fingers crossed, toes too*Apart from that, my class is also organizing a class trip to South Turkey (maybe coz the cost is a bit expensive) or maybe Monacco. Not sure yet. But if we were to go 2 Turkey, we would be having a Bake Sale every Saturday in the market in June to reduce the cost.

11. For some subjects, half the class joins up with half another class.

12. Everythings's in GERMAN!!!! except for English lah

13. The science labs are so high tech. We do have lifts in the new building --the Aquarium. My classmates try to delay the teacher from coming up by pressing all the buttons in the lift & they try to keep it from going down. How smart! Hahaaha!! Sometimes having lifts may not be a good thing for teachers ! Hahaha

14. Their school rules are just 1 piece of A4 paper, unlike us, a BOOK! My host sis & mum & classmates can't believe the kind of school rules we had in Malaysia. Seriously.Sometimes some of the rules are just plain DUMB!!

15. Teachers here have this in front of their names : Dr XXXXXX

16. Cool dance clubs in school like Salsa, Hip Hop, etc

17. Maths & Science are more complicated

18. My school here is a mixture of high school & college. Coz ppl here finish sch at 16. This sch is from age 17 till 20. So, that makes me in the 2nd class.

19. There are less than 25 students a class. Perhaps lesser than 23.

20. The long holidays are in summer, where we get 2 months of holidays. After that, we move up a grade. We only have 2 weeks of holidays for Christmas!!!! Thats sucks! Well, i guess we do have our hols in summer...

21. Every student is required to choose either music or arts. MUST

22. Our sports complex is away from our sch. We gotta take the bus which is a 5 minute ride to the 'Telli'--sports complex.

23. Girls wear makeup to sch everyday, no sch rules wat.....

24. Students are allowed to smoke in the school grounds, but of course not in the classrooms & toilets lah....

25. Students have lunches or meals on the school grass/ garden / park on the ground.

26. 6 is the best for exams & 1 is da worst.

27. There are always 'small' exams, not like us 3 times a year.

28. There's no 'Bangun, selaaamat sejaaaahteraa ciiiikguuuu'...hahaha know the looooong tone? =)

29. There are not only projectors, but also TVs & CD players & also laptops for the students in the class.

30. Most of all, all students get 30 free hours a semester,for my level,we are allowed to have 30 hours of absencey WITHOUT any reason.=D hahahhaah.....if a student doesnt feel like going 2 school that day, or for certain class, he or she is allowed 2 play trauncy-up to 30 hours! of course if there is more, there's no harsh punishment oso...bt maybe perhaps gotta do some social work or something like that...

Now I ask u, isnt it different from the schools in Malaysia? =P

1st Day Of School

2005-04-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today, after a 3- week- long holiday, I've finally started school. Frankly, I was really scared to start school.Why? 1, I don't know anyone there, 2,I only can understand not much Deutsch, 3, it's a totally whole NEW PLACE & PEOPLE!!!! That's why!

Mami & I went to the office at 10.15 to meet Herr(it means Mr) Buechler. Walking to the office, I could actually 'hear' my heart beating! That was how nervous I was!1 girl from my class, 2B came down to meet me & brought me to my class.My 1st class was economics. I went in the class & the students in the class were pretty nice. Some came up to me & introduced themselves & I also did go up to the other people in my class & introduced myself.

At 10.30, the economics teacher came in. Of course, as the new student, I had to make a presentation. Luckily for me, I asked Mami to draft out a short speech in Deutsch for me to memorize...hahaha...Thanks for the tip Sharmin! Well, I made my speech in Deutsch, sat down, & the class started. I couldn't understand at all!! Ok lah, only a little bit, with the help of one of my classmates. He was really nice to help me understand what the teacher was talking & teaching about.

At 11.15, the bell rang.Well, in this school, or maybe all the schools here in Switzerland, it wasn't the loud ring we have back in M'sia. It was more like erm....a more melodious & mellow ring through the speaker. For us, it was time for lunch/ break.

I had my meal with my classmates at the 'aquarium'.They all call it the aquarium coz the architecture of this building really does look like an aquarium. Made of lots of glass. Really modern. I wouldn't know that it was a school if no 1 told me.

After lunch, it was time for me & another couple of classmates for History. Well, I understood a bit coz today's topic was Monarchy & Republic, stuff we learnt in form4, but still the spelling was a bit different, & I counldn't understand everything the teacher said. But luckily, a classmate helped me too.But as the econs class, I sat there copying stuff I didn't understand...hahah....

Next class, Geography, something I never had at form 4 & 5. Today, we learnt about the Russian landscape & stuff. The classrooms here are really cool! I don't mean to sound so 'jakun', but seriously, the classrooms here are much better than the ones in M'sia! Not to mention the toilets are much, much cleaner too.The blackboards well, u could push it up & down, & also flip it... When it was time to use da projector, all the teacher had to do was press the button on the remote control & all the blinds outside the window would cover the windows. Next, we watched a video in class.How? U know some rich people's houses have those kinda home cinema set? Yeah, we had that in our classroom, or maybe all the classroomS. We watched a video on people living in Russia on THAT!

Meanwhile, all of us got the plan for the special week in Autumn. It is all the projects which are planned for us & we have to choose which project we want to join.It is a MUST as this is a school activity. We don't have ANY choice.Well, let me see what do they have....Hmm...things like trips to Venice for Art & Culture; Trips to London for Theatre week; Music & Culture in Hamburg; Trips to Spain, France, around Aarau (which I wouldn't want lah coz I can go there anytime I want, it's my school wat....), Tango week in Zurich where the participants go to a dance club; surfing, beachvolley ball in France;Horse riding; Of course there are workshops like ' Chemistry is Fun' ! Gees, do you think that I'll join that?! Oh by the way mum & dad, U'll soon get a phone call from me or maybe an email on this special week coz u need to pay...hehe...& of course I gotta discuss with u lah.... =)

The last class was Biology. Again, didn't understand anything. All I knew that she was talking about the heart, coz there were words like 'diastol' n stuff, the lungs,etc...

By 5.30, it was time to go home. I took the train together with 3 other classmates of mine. Hmm...today was not such a bad day. School turned out better than I thought. I know it takes time to make friends & stuff, but sometimes I can't help but remember the good times I had with all my friends back home...=) My classmates were pretty nice, & so were the teachers ( bt i think bcoz I'm new lah....). Anyway, my school time table is pretty good. Like 4 tmr, arts haven't started yet, so my 1st lesson would be sports at 12.15. Thursdays are the best coz I start school at 2pm & end at 5! Yay!

Oh by the way, did I mention that my school, Alte Kantonschule Aarau, is about 200 years old & it really look like an old castle. My Mami's parents went there,my Mami went there, Anja went there....Oh ya, EINSTEIN also went there too! WOW.

Zurich & Slumber Party

2005-04-17T21:28:00.000-07:00

16th April 2005, Saturday -- Mami & Papi went to Zurich early for a theatre show. As I didn't have to reach Zurich by 8pm, I didn't hitch a ride with them, or rather 'dap shun fong che'. At 6.30, I left the house & it was raining--again! It was so damn bloody cold! I had to run to the train station or else I would've missed my train. Yeah, typical me, rushing at the last minute...=P

Well, at least I managed to get on the train! I reached Zurich at 8 & Sharmin was already waiting for me. Apparently, we took the same train from Aarau, but I didn't see her. We waited for the other people at the meeting point. Soon, we met Izra, Taina, Laura,Flavio, Rui, Courtney, Victoria, Christine, etc. It was really great meeting them again! =)

We chatted & well, I was the only one who haven't started school. So yeah, I couldn't tell them any thing about school, but I could tell them what fun I had since my Deutschkurs ended. =) We chatted till about 8.45 & then the old AFSers brought us to this 'cool' place near the train station. It wasn't really a disco, it was more like a big 2 storey place. The first floor was kinda like a hangout place while the other storey was the dance floor. It was the same like the disco dance floor. Dark & with all the disco lights. Most of us brought along beers & alchohol & stuff. It was undeniably a party & practically about 50 percent of the ppl there were smoking. Old AFSers & newbies too.

We hung around the 1st floor 1st, then we hit the dance floor. It was fun dancing to the music--at first. There were a lot of Brazilian & Mexican & Spanish music. At 1st it was pretty cool, but then they kinda kept repeating the music & we were kinda expecting internation music like Lose my Breath & stuff... Some of us were kinda dissapointed with the music selection. However, we still did have a good time dancing to the music. I learnt to samba! Tainan & Laura taught me how, but gotta practise lah.

Off & on we would go up to rest for a while. Boy, some people were already drunk & tipsy. Hehe.. one guy was really wiped out really early. He even vomitted on the floor & then just layed dead drunk on the couch fast asleep. I guess he was the only one who was THAT drunk. My dear friend, ********* , was also already tipsy...hehe..... =PThere were a lot of people at that party. Mostly exchange students around the world who are in Switzerland. The old one & newbies like us.

By 11.30, we planned to leave & Sharmin called her host parents to let them know that she would be bunking at my place for the night. Izra & Sharmin both followed me home for the nite. We took the train from Zurich to Aarau, & then we took the night bus back to Reinach. The place where the bus stopped, I had no idea how to walk home from there! I had no clue how to walk home from there as there was not much lights! I couldn't recognise any of the buildings!

Lucikly in the bus, I recognised the street sign, so all 3 of us , walked all the way back, in the freaking cold & rain. I could barely feel my thighs & feet! We actually reached Reinach at 1.20am, but then we took the looooong way home coz I didn't recognise the place we got down from. In the end, we reached home at about 1.50am. I would rather walk with my friends at night here than walking like that in KL, coz here is safer than KL & I guess you can't argue with that. However, it was a fun experience though. How often do I get to walk at night, with my 2 buddies, back from a party in Zurich, in the rain & cold?! Pretty memorable huh? =P

We finally reached home, change into clean & dry clothes & then went down to the kitchen for supper. As we ate, we chit-chatted & had a good time laughing & joking. By 3.15 am, we were finally in bed & slept till 12.30 the next Sunday morning. =) Of course lah, slept at 3 something in the morning, we need our rest....

17th April 2005. Sunday -- Woke up at 12.30 midday. By the time we were all washed up & went down for lunch, it was already 1pm. I introduced my Mami & Anja to Izra & Sharmin. Papi wasn't home as he went for golf. During lunch, we chatted of our whole memorable experience last night. It was indeed memorable for all 3 of us. Can't argue with that! =) As we ate, we joked, laughed,etc. After lunch, Sharmin helped me sign up for this handphone thingy so that I can have send 20 messages to wherever I want around the world for free. Yay! At least I get to save some money on HP credit. What fun would it be without having a photo session! We looked at photos I uploaded into the computer & we also took photos too. Meanwhile, Mami passed me a mail I received from home! It was a Birthday card for me from all my good friends back in Malaysia! Thanks u guys! To Siu Yean for the letter, & to everyone who signed the card! Thank you guys so, so much! You guys just made my day even better!!! =) Thanks!!!

We watched 'Never been Kissed' . Micheal Vartan is soooo cute! No wonder Izra likes him so much... =P After the movie, I switched to the music channel where there were dance songs like J.Lo, & 50 Cents. All of us agreed that they should've played this kind of music too at the party & not only repeating those Spanish, Mexican & Brazilian music. Not to say that the music wasn't nice, coz they were nice, but still they could've made a better mixture of dance music. Therefore, to make up for the dance music we didn't have at the party, we got up & started dancing while the music in the TV was on! What fun we had!

Before Izra left, again we took photos in the garden. Boy, the wind was definitely the chill factor. It was cold....grrr..... But well, we still hung around the garden taking photos anyway! =)

At 6.45, Mami sent Izra to the train station & we had a group hug b4 she left. As Sharmin would take the 7.45 train, we went home & had rhusti for dinner. At 7.45, Mami sent Sharmin to the train station. After that, Mami drove to the place where we got down from the bus. It was actually so close to home, & as I didn't know, we took the loong way home! Well anyway, at least I knew how to get home safe & sound! Ahhh...it was definitely a fun time we had together. Truely fun & memorable. Looking forward to our next meeting, sayangs!! =)

Meeting Sharmin

2005-04-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

8th April, Friday -- Yay! I finally got to meet Sharmin! I took the train to Zurich, & that stupid train was delayed for 10 minutes ! I had to wait in the freakin' cold for extra 10 minutes! What the hell!! It was so cold coz it was raining --again!

Anyway, at 5.40 I met up with Sharmin with her host mum & sisters. Christine was there too. As Christine had to leave at 6, we had a group picture. The lady whom Sharmin asked to help us take the pictures turned out to be from Indonesia. Yay! Finally met someone who speaks Malay too! Sharmin & I started conversing in Malay too. Kami tak mahu lupa Bahasa Melayu. Tak boleh lupa akal.Hehe... =P

As Sharmin's host mum had to take Delia (younger sis) to a birthday party, Aliza (elder sis) took us to this cozy, little coffee shop for a warm drink. According to her, this shop is one of the oldest coffee places in Zurich. & for every season, they have different decorations. The shop looks really sweet with all the flowers.

As it was 6 something liao, most shops were closed. Unlike Malaysia, it would be bustling with activities, as it was also a Friday. We walked first to a chocolate shop. There, I met some Asians who looked like Chinese. Then I heard them speaking Cantonese. I think they were from Hong Kong. For the 1st time since I've arrived, I finally get to hear some Cantonese (spoken from others, not me). Next, we hit H&M. Hung around there for quite a long time, till about 8. That was the only shop where we could go & wasn't closed.

Finally at 8 something, we had dinner. At where? The cheapest place you can get a meal. Ya! Correct. Mac Donalds. Again. It doesn't really matter where we ate, it's the company that counts, rite?

We took the same train back together. It was a great time hanging out with Sharmin & her host sis. In the train we chatted, we laughed. It was fun. I'd be looking forward to meeting her soon in Solothurn! =)

Day Trip To Bern

2005-04-12T17:17:00.000-07:00

7th April, Thurday --Gosh, the weather was not at all good. It was raining, a little. Despite the rain, it didn't dampen my spirits to go to Bern together with Anja & Mami. Anja goes to Bern everyday for school, or rather college. The whole journey there takes her 2 hours to go, & another 2 to come home. Wow.

When we reached Bern, we went to have lunch. Chinese lunch ! WOO HOO ! I finally have a chance to show my ability in using the chopsticks. Yeah, as if it was something mystifying. Hah. Anyway, turned out that they had curry on the menu! Double Woo hoo! However, it wasn't spicy at all. I thought that it was more sweet than spicy.

After lunch, we went of Anja to her college, & then Mami & I started our tour in the ' Alt Stadt' , old city. However, it hasn't stopped raining since we got there. We went through the shops & of course H & M. Gosh I love that shop! We also went to the Parliament Building as there were new water fountains newly installed. There were 26 water jets installed which represents the 26 cantons in Switzerland. The stones on the floor were stones gotten from Graubunden. To me, the water fountains were pretty cool. However, it seemed to fascinate the little kids more. After all, I'm not a kid now, am I ? =P

Mami & I visited a music shop, clothings boutique, book shops, etc. Of course we couldn't miss going to Munster-Turm Bern. It's a huge Christian church. The architecture was stunning, especially the ceilings & windows. Stunning. We went up 256 steps (i think) till we reached the 1st stop. We were officially 46m above ground. The view from up there was nice.
Bern is actually a pretty old city, not as 'happening' as Zurich though. HOwever, it was still nice, in a different way. From the top, I could see the river surrounding the land. Again, we continued another 90 steps up & thus we were officially 64m above ground.

When we came down, we went for a drink. Of course lah, after a climb like that, we need a drink, what else? We then continued our Bern trip by going to GLOBUS, & other shops too. We wanted to go to the place where they kept the bears, but as we were running out of time, we didn't go.

At 5.30, we met up with Anja at the station & Anja & I took the train down to Zurich while Mami met up with a friend for dinner. Every Thursday, Laura would meet up with her friends in Zurich & Anja& I were invited to join them. Among them all, I've already met Carol, Cindy & Simon. As Carol & Cindy are Laura's best friends, I've met them before during a sleepover at our place. As for Simon, Carol's bf, I met him in St. Moritz snow-kiting.

For once, Papi's so-called ' 4 outdoor girls' were out that night & Papi, the ' only out-door-guy' has to have dinner by himself. Hehe.That day was a nice day. Why?
1: Mami bought me a book, Angela's Ashes & a picture book on Bern.

2 : I bought myself a blaser from H&M & a top from Sisley.

3 : I received 2 mails ! One from home-home Mummy & Chonghui! & another from sweet Izra. It's a very nice feeling recieving mails from friends & family. Muach more meaningful than e-mails. Not that I'm saying e-mail or not goo d lah, but there's a huge difference. Thanks guys ! =) Really made my day too!

4. I recieved a phone call from ol' pal Sharmin! It was great hearing from her. We chatted for quite some time as we haven't met since the AFS Orientation Camp in Barau. As she would be coming to Zurich on Friday, I would be going too, to meet her of course! Miss all of them very much....

Ahh....what a day....! =)

20 Things I' ve Learnt About Der Schweiz

2005-04-06T06:25:00.000-07:00

I've already been in Switzerland for like 1 month now, & boy, time really flies ! I won't start school till 25th April, so till then I am kinda free -- technically speaking. But of course that doesn't mean that I don't work on my German lah.

Today, I just thought of writing what I thought about the way people lived in Switzerland, the weather, I guess anything I can think of, I'll write. I guess it is pretty interesting to know how their lifestyle & culture is. What I write now is entirely based on what I have seen & known throughout my stay here for the 1st month & it may change in the future. Till then, please do take note that what I write is all based in general & doesn't represent the WHOLE culture of Swiss people here, coz there are exceptions too. I may repeat some stuff that I've written in my old blog, so I hope you guys don't mind. But if you do, you can just close this window & wait for some time till I update my blog again. =P. Here are 20 things I thought about :

1. People here smoke a lot. I don't know whether the cigarettes here are cheap or what, they just smoke. Sometimes I wonder issit the cold weather makes them wanna smoke to keep warm, but my friend just told me it's a lousy excuse to smoke. People smoke everywhere & anywhere.

2. Bread is like rice we have back home. People here take bread everyday. Throughout my 4 week Deustch lessons in Zurich, I've had bread / sandwich every single day. Not that I don't like it(btw, the sandwich here is really tasty), but u know.....hehe... No wonder I always look forward to having dinner =) Besides that, some bread can be really hard. Once, my friend brought her sandwich to Deustchkurs & she threw it to another friend to show her how hard it was. There was actually a sound when you knock the bread. & when the friend threw it back, the bread hit a girl & it actually hurts!

3. Cheese, joghurt & chocolates. The Swiss Meal. As I enjoy eating joghurt & chocolates -- alot, I've got no complaints ! In fact I like how my family take their meals. Everyday there's salad, something which I've grown to love . Not with mayonaise though (coz I'll never eat salad with mayonaise everyday coz that is just TOO SINFUL ! ), but with vineger, olive oil, & some other stuff. It's really tasty & not to mention healthy too.

4. So far, I've tried 3 typical Swiss meals. However, it doesn't include fondue coz I haven't tried it yet. I've tried 'raclett' , a typical Swiss meal where you melt special raclett cheese on a hot plate & pour it on potatoes, corn & pickles. As I like cheese, I enjoyed it too. Next it 'rhusti' (dunno how to spell it, sounds like that lah) . It's grated potatoes (one of my favourite food) & you pour sauce on it. It's really good. I also loved it. Ah ha, here is one which I can say is familiar to me coz I do take this at home. Here, it's Bar Herr Muesli (again, I don't know the spelling, the food here are just entirely based on how it sounds, except for 'raclett' . That is the correct spelling) It's muesli, with milk, bananas, apples, raisins, joghurt, raspberries, other berries, kiwis. It's really,really good. The name of this muesli is named after this Swiss doctor, Bar Herr who invented this healthy meal. & they have it for either breakfast or dinner. It's really filling.

5. The weather here is soooooooo nice. For someone like me who prefers to stay in the shades, it's like THE perfect weather. Actually not too hot, not too cold. I just need a cardigan / coat when I go out. That's all. It's nice also to walk in the afternoon, at night. I can't imagine myself walking under the hot sun 3pm back home in Malaysia. That is just sick! People here LOVE the sun. They can just sit under the sun, basking in the warmth of it in the afternoon, listening to music or reading a book. Not me. I'm staying in the shades. I've enough of sun for the like, erm past 17 years, & I 'll be having it in the future. So for the time being, I don't need more.

6. People here are more 'enviromental friendly' compared to people in Malaysia, except for the smoking part lah. Like for instance, when people here go for grocery shopping, they would usually bring their own basket or bag to put the stuff they bought in it. This way, they cut down on the use of plastic bags. As for biodegradable stuff like apple skins & stuff, those are used in the garden as fertilisers. Oh ya, I almost forgot to mention that there's a 'smell of spring' here --smell of animal manure used in the meadows for planting stuff after the winter. Organic fertiliser, but Mami said the word 'fertiliser' is too clean a word to describe for the ' manure fertiliser'. Apart from that, people also wouldn't, not wouldn't but not often lah, use plastic bags if they bought small items & sometimes not even small items. Once I went shopping, the lady in front of me bought a couple of tops, & she didn't want a plastic bag as the was still space in her other shopping bags. Do you think that you can see that back in Malaysia?

7. Trains are play a really important role here & it's THE most important transport in Switzerland.They are very efficient too. Trains leave right on the dot, unless there's some technical errors, but that doesn't happen often. Once, I was on my way to Zurich as usual for my Deustchkurs. However on the way, the train stopped. The operator announced something in Deustch & I didn't understand what was it. I asked one of the passengers & she told me that an accident happen. Apparently, someone tried to cross the railway & the whole train had to stop. In the end, all passengers of that train had to leave the train & board another train to Zurich. We just had to go to another platform, & a few minutes later, another train came (for our sake, passengers to Zurich)& we took that train to Zurich. How efficient is that? We didn't even have to wait for 10 minutes.

8. A continuation to the train accident story above. It was actually suicide. Apparently, it is very common thing to happen here & very common too to commite suicide by jumping on to rail ways--that's what the people here told me. According to survey, suicides in Switz, I dunno is the 2nd or something highest in the world(told by a friend of mine, dunno true or not) .It is thought to be the 'fastest & efficient ' way to die, coz it's a sure thing. +/ I mean, if wanna die, dun ' lui gai fong' lah. Just becoz they wanna die then cause so many disruptions. It causes phychological scars for the train driver & people who saw the person die, people in charge have to clean up the scene & remove the body coz it ' zho zhu tiu lou' , trains gotta change way, passengers gotta change plans because of delay. In here, one train delay of less than 10 minutes can cause someone to miss his other train & that person gotta wait for another half an hour to catch the next train. Every timetable is timed in such passengers can switch from this train to another to get to their destination. The time interval between is about 5-8 minutes. Not all, but mostly.

9. People can be ironic, of course not only here lah, but everywhere lah. But I've got 1 example, so it's here lor =P It's about smoking. One of my friend's host dad works as an enviromental officer or something like that to promote enviromental stuff like ' recycle' or 'no smoking' . However, his wife & 16 year old daughter smokes. See what I mean?

10. Smoking marijuana is kinda common, if I wanna use that word. In fact, we thought that it was legal coz people smoke it around, even in the train! The truth is that it is NOT legal, but the laws are yet to be enforced.

11. People here are sporty. Almost everyone plays a sport. Golf(Papi's favourite sport), tennis(everyone in my host family), swimming, etc.

12. Music. Almost everyone has to learn music. In fact, all kids till 16 have at least 20 minutes of music lessons in a week, regardless whether it's the violin or piano. The 20 minute lesson is fully sponsored by the Swiss government. Therefore, practically almost every kid knows music here.

13. Pedestrain crossings. Drivers here are more courteus. They actually slow down & stop to let people cross the road. NOT speed up & not let people cross, unlike some country.....=P Of course there are some exceptions lah. Once when Papi overtook this car coz it was moving as fast as a turtle, the driver started honking like a maniac & showed the 3rd finger. Like I said in the beginning, there are always exceptions.

14. The 3 kisses. It is common to give people ' the 3 kisses' on their cheek, reagardless guy or girl. It's left, right, left. It's not totally kiss, but you place your cheek on the other person's cheek & make something like a kissing sound. If it's less formal, it's just 1. It depends. Like when my sisters introduce her friends to me, we also do the '3 kisses'. We also do it among friends, especially when we say hello, goodbye or both.

15. People here wear shoes in the house. Coz it's cold. Nothing special about it.

16. Almost everyone here can ski. As I said b4, it is THE Swiss sport. They learn in when they are still young which is easier to do so.

17. The scenery here is as beautiful as it is on postcards & books. No lies about it. Just beautiful & breathtaking. Especially the mountain view.

18. Zurich is like the ' fake capital of Switzerland' as the people here put it. Almost everything happening happens in Zurich, not Bern. Bern is 'slow' according to some people here. There is also like a 'feud' between people from Zurich & people from Bern. Haha. I wonder that means. Zurich actually has no skyscrapers. In my opinion, Kuala Lumpur looks more cosmopoliton compared to Zurich. Zurich is more of like old big & long buildings, not to mention short too. It's a different scene from Kuala Lumpur.

19. Most shops are closed on Sundays & earlier on Saturdays. No point making shopping plans with friends coz the shops are closed. Na dah. Closed.

20. The school system here is different. Students finish public school at age 16. From then on , they can choose whether to continue studying, take a year off to travel, do an apprenticeship(like what Laura,my sis is doing) or work. If the student wants to continue studying, his or her grades must meet the criteria of the ' Alte Kantonschule ' . The Kantonschule is a mixture of high school & college coz the students there are usually from 16 till 20. That is the school which I will be going to on the 25th. Like what Laura is doing is an apprenticeship. She works 4 days a week & goes to school for 1 day. What she studies has to do with what her job is. Therefore, students get hands-on practise on what they study. One thing here is for sure. Students here are definitely NOT the 'paper chase' students. It's not like after finishing school at 16, they MUST continue studying. Like one of the camp leaders I met, he told me that some of his friends took a year off to travel a bit & to think what they really want, & then came back after 1 year & continued their studies. End result, they enjoyed studying more than those who weren't sure what they wanted but continued studying anyway. I'm not saying that everyone must take a vacation off to know what they want in life, but wouldn't it be better to just calm down & think about what they want & need?

Ok lah, 20 things liao. Actually, the list can go on, but I'm tired liao & maybe some of u guys are also tired oso. So time to go now. Come back again to check out how my trip went in Bern as I will be going to Bern tomorrow. Till then, tschuss!

Girls' Nite Out !

2005-04-04T16:07:00.000-07:00

We acted as if we wouldn't be seeing each other ever again on Friday. Yeah right. On Saturday, we met up at Zurich for a night out. Well, apparently some people decided they couldn't come coz they had dinner plans with their family, so it ended up as an all girls group.

I met up with Christine at 6.30 & then with Laura, Taina(both from Brazil) & Izra at 7 something. We decided to go to Mc Donalds coz in Switzerland, McD is THE cheapest meal you can find anywhere. You can at least get a small fish burger, fries & a drink for Fr 8.90. If you wanna eat in a restaurant, it's at least Fr 15 for a plate of pasta or something like that. Food here is expensive. Dollar to dollar, not so, but if we convert, it is.

After dinner, we decided to go hang out at this club/bistro where Laura said that it was a pretty cool place to hang out. We followed her as she was the only one who knew the place. Ended up, we were at the wrong spot & there was no club! We had to walk again & finally, we reached the place. That day, as there was a 'special concert', we had to pay Fr 25 to get in. We didn't want to spend $$$ on something we didn't know that whether we'll enjoy it, so we left.

We wanted to go to a Brazilian bar coz the Brazilians guys we met at the train station showed us the flyers that there would be a 'capoeira' performance there. As we didn't remember where the place was, we gave up searching for it & just continued walking the streets of Zurich.

We walked & walked & walked. As we walked, suddenly we started dancing & singing on the streets! We laughed, sang & walked as if we were drunk, & it wasn't even 8.30 yet, nor did we had alcohol! Of course there wasn't anyone on the streets lah, or else we wouldn't have sang & danced! Haha. It was seriouly funny. We passed by many clubs, but we couldn't get in. Well, not me though coz I'm legally 18, but the others couldn't get in.The ones where we could enter were the ones for old people. As they said, the ones we can enter, we don't want to ; the ones we can't enter, we want too. Hehe. Finally, we came to this Mexican/ Cuban bar & restaurant.

The whole place was really cool! There was Cuban, Mexican music & it was really nice. The decor was really interesting & cool too. Pretty soon, Laura & Taina were moving to the music. Boy, the Latinos can really shake & dance. It's truely in their blood. I told Taina that she MUST teach me to Samba. It was really fun watching her dance. Really!

We had tacos ( duh, what else? It's a Mexican bar...) & other drinks too. It was good to taste tropical drinks, something different from the everyday tea/ coffee. As the bartender was from Portugal, he could speak Portugese with Taina & Laura. I think it's really cool & 'mesra' when you get to meet someone from your homeland, or at least speak your mother tongue. So far, I haven't met any Malaysians yet, as in Malaysians apart from my German class lah. I started speaking to my Malaysian friend in Mandarin coz I didn't want to 'forget' it. OH MY GOD! I suddenly realised that I sounded like a ' Guai Loh' speaking Chinese!!! What the hell is wrong?!?! Seriously, I wasn't use to the the way I spoke when I spoke to her. It sounded really, really wierd!! Well, & to make things a little better, she sounded a bit like me too. =P

It's hard not to move around listening to Mexican or Cuban music. Taina & Laura were just moving along with the music & they are good. I really wanna learn to SAMBA! We chit-chatted, laughed, had fun, joked.....It was really a ' Girls' Night Out' ! We even made a pact to meet at least once a month. A Girl's Night Out. We thought that it's good to have not too many people coz it wouldn't be as personal, you know what I mean?

Before we left the bar, we decided to take a group picture outside. When we started to get into a group, the people who walked pass us suddenly turned back & joined us in the picture! I guess the people here are really open & I can't imagine people in Malaysia doing that. 'Chian da' is the word if it was in Malaysia.

The whole Swiss group suddenly were in our picture & one of them offered to take a photo for us --together with the 'unknown strangers' . After taking the pic, he suddenly ran off with Tiana's camera!! But I think we all knew that he was going to do that, coz he ran away after speaking to his firends in German.Well, he did came back & returned the camera. Before that,Taina was like ' 250 francs gone!!' But luckily, the guy did came back. After the photo session, the youngsters were like ' yeah, have fun in Switz & stuff! ' & 'say hello to your host parents' & stuff. It was funny(in a wierd way) seeing that we don't even know them.

We got back to the train station & all of us started laughing coz Laura & Taina started imitating the different kinds of laugh her host sister's friend had. It was seriously, seriously funny!!!! I laughed till tears came to my eyes & my stomach ached!! & I was not the only one laughing like that!All of us were! People at the train station stared at us, but we didn't care coz it was so, so terribly funny!!!

The fun outing ended with hugs & kisses & best wishes from one to the other among us. This is one unforgetable, memorable night in for me. I'm definitely looking forward to spending my time & getting to know them with this bunch of friends! =) My dear queridas!

1st April - My Birthday

2005-04-02T02:38:00.000-08:00

1st April. Meine Gerburstag--which means my birthday in Deustch. As usual, I had to wake up early at 7am to catch the train at 8.16am. This time, I was carrying more stuff than usual. Mami baked me a chocolate cake,with real chocolate inside the cake, for me to bring it to Deustchkurs to share with my friends.

I got to the language house & I was greeted with hugs & birthday wishes from my friends. Nothing beats a good birthday than being remembered by them. Cat, gave me a pair of earrings, which I loved & Courtney too bought me a big pastry dessert. It was the thought that counts, right? I was really glad . =)

As yesterday was the last day of Deutschkurs ( for most of us), everyone was like really relaxed & got to class later than usual. In class, all of my classmates sang 'Happy Birthday' to me in both English & Deustch! It was a good change from the usual !Hehe... Not to say that English is boring lah, but it was funny! =P This time, we didn't do any grammar work (which is really hard) & insteadwe learnt how to play 'Jessen', a Swiss card game which is almost the same as UNO.

At 12, we had a pause & we had cake,the one I brought along to share with my friends in class. Everyone said it was really tasty & I of course agreed. The chocolate cake Mami baked WAS indeed 'sehr gut' --really good. Hmm. After enjoying the cake, all 3 classes went to the Swiss National Museum nearby our language school.

It's called Landesmuseum, Zurich. It looks as if it used to be a fortress/castle, but in truth, it was meant to be built like that to preserve the European/Swiss achitecture. The museum was 100 years old & it looked grand. Before entering it, we had a photo session & then sat in the sun eating our home-brought lunch. Finishing our lunch, we entered the huge museum.

The topic of this time's exhibition was about European history & culture. Mostly about Christianity & the Catholic religion. There were tons of really, really old stuff like wooden chests which were like few centuries old! There were also tons of statues of Jesus, Mary, & other Saints too. It was really interesting to read stuff about European culture. There were also stuff like old time guns, costumes, hand-painted stoves, steet armours, etc.

The whole musuem was SO HUGE! We can literally get lost in it. One of my friends even joked that what if we were to get locked up in the museum in a terrrible, stormy night with no one around, it would be like being in a haunted castle coz there were lots of statues & paintings, some really haunting paintings, if you know what I mean. The only letdown of this trip to the museum was that we had to rush through everything. We didn't have sufficient time to read & see all the other stuff in the other building! There simply wasn't enough time. To finish seeing & reading all the stuff in there, I think that we really need the whole day to finish them all.

At 2.30pm, we walked back to the language school & then packed up to prepare to leave. Soon, everyone was hugging each other & saying our 'last goodbyes'. Yeah, as if Switzerland is SOOO big. Our teacher,Karin gave us chocolates& gave me extra as I was the 'sao sing lui'. I felt kinda 'pai seh' coz I didn't give here anything. Ooppss.

Usually, our class ends at 3.40pm, but today, it ended at 2.50pm. As it was the last day, a couple of us went to have a drink in the train station. I had green tea which cost me more than RM12! Just for that ONE stupid satchet from I think Sri Lanka or some other place! Actually stuff here isn't that expensive, if it's dollar to dollar. But it's not if we convert it to Malaysian Ringgit.

We hung around the cafe till about 4.30 & then it was really time to say our goodbyes. Again, we hugged each other & then it was officially 'san band'. As I had to meet Mami at 5.30, I walked around the shopping streets of Zurich--again. As it was my birthday, I do deserve some presents afterall, don't I ? =P I went shopping for clothes (duh,what else?) at the clothing shops.For me,I would rather spend my $$ on clothes, accessories, shoes instead of food coz sometimes, these shops really do have really,really cool bargains. Woohoo. Shopping time is GREAT! Hahahaha=)

At 5.30, I met Mami at the meeting point in the train station. The first stop was Swisscom coz my friend in class told me that as it was my 18th birthday, I would have extra 18 francs call value as a bonus! How cool is that?! Unfortunately however, my Swiss number was registered under Mami's name, so, I didn't have that extra 18 francs bonus, & this kind of special bonus are only for people under age of 25.

Mami & I walked around the old part of Zurich & it was a good walk as the weather was wonderful. Not too hot & not too cold. We walked till about 7pm & then we took the tram to Engimatt Hotel, where it belongs to Papi's brother.

Papi, Anja, Laura, Benny, Nadya( Benny's gf) soon reached here in Zurich. Papi's brother also came too. It was a scrumptious dinner & I was really full. All of us were. Soon it was present time! My favourite part of the day too! =P

I got a picture book & map of Switzerland from both my sisters. Papi & Mami gave me a bagpack & diary, 2 things which are important for me to start school with. As for Benny, he told me that he & Nadja would give me my present the next day. Well, it's the thought that counts, right? As I always say, nothing beats a great birthday celebration than being remembered by family & friends, isn't?

I love all the presents that I received for my birthday & I just love my birthday! It was really an unforgetable & memorable day. My 18th birthday in Switzerland. Unforgetable. =) Oopss, gotta go now coz I gotta meet my friends in Zurich soon. It's our night's out before we start getting buzy with school & stuff. Till then, tschuss! =)

St. Moritz--Day 4 & 5

2005-03-30T23:30:00.000-08:00

I woke up at 10.00 in the morning on Sunday morning & went to greet Mami. She asked me what was the time & I said 10. Oopps! I forgot that on that day, all clocks had to be changed so that it would be 1 hour faster. That is what we call summer time. In August, the time would be changed to 1 hour slower. Techinically speaking, I woke up at 11.00am.Summer time.

As the weather was not looking good, we decided not to ski & therefore returned all the rented ski stuff. After a scrumptious easter 'brunch' , we went out to have a walk around St. Moritz. That place was full of posh shops, like Prada, Gucci, Emilio Pucci, Bucherer, Cartier etc. Most of the shops along the streets there were really pricey stuff, & I really mean pricey. For example, the jacket for babies that I saw on the window display cost about few hundred francs! Just for that little piece of cloth! Other stuff like pullovers cost up to 500 francs--just for one !!!! Anja let me know another tip which was if the merchandise on the window display has no price tags on it, it meant that those stuff are really, really expensive.

We bought some pastries & then took a bus to visit Mami's good friend in another village near St. Moritz. Her two 3-year-old twin sons are soo cute! Anyway, we hung around there till 4.30 & then we went back. I then went out with my sisters for a drink. It was nice having a warm drink in a cold weather. For dinner, Mami cooked chicken curry! Woohoo! I miss curry. Although it wasn't spicy at all & didn't really taste like the curry back home, but it was good --for me. At least it was curry.....

On Monday, we went to watch Laura's friends snow-kite on the frozen lake. It was pretty cool. The lake was really frozen & people could walk, cycle & snow -kite on it. At 12, we took the bus back to the apartment as we had to prepare to go home. Mami cleaned up the place & by 3pm, we were in the train, on the way back home. All of us were tired. So was I. However, it was a great experience & I enjoyed myself throughly!

It was my BEST Easter holiday EVER--so far.Now, I'm looking forward to spring break, summer break in Tessin & of course the next winter! =)

St. Moritz--Day 3

2005-03-30T23:00:00.000-08:00

The weather on Saturday was much colder than on Friday. It was in fact snowing on the slopes. This time, we went to Corviglia to ski & watch a snow-board competition. We took 2 trains up to the mountains & it was snowing up there. The fog was pretty thick too. Could barely see people half a meter in front of me.

The snow board/ free ski competition started down the slopes & we sat in the snow & watched. It was pretty cool. The participants did stunts with their snow boards or skiis. Some did 360,570 degress somersaults When there was a break, we went back up the slopes to ski. Walking in the snow, up the slope, wearing the ski boots truely was a good exercise coz it was NOT easy! Especially with the snow getting into my eyes. > <

The slopes here at Corviglia was harder for me as I couldn't ski straight--or else I might end up way down some place I don't know. Therefore, I had to learn how to turn left & right with my skis. Papi taught me how to ski left & right, but I kept falling down while doing that. I had to learn how to put the weight of my body on the correct leg when I want to turn & I had not mastered the skill yet. After all, it was my 2nd ski. There will be more chances for me to practise skiing in winter. So, what's the rush?=)

During dinner, we had Italian cuisine at home as Papi had to go home coz he had to work the next day. At night, we watched the German made version of Parent Trap---Charlie & Louise. Same story line. Different language & actors. That's all.

St. Moritz--Day 2

2005-03-30T22:41:00.000-08:00

We went skiing on Friday(Good Friday) in Diavolezza,which means Devil's Valley, a skiing area not too far from St. Moritz. Before we went there, I had to rent my ski boots, skis & sticks or whatever coz I don't know what those 2 sticks for skiing are called. Ski business is a big business here, especially at the skiing areas. Tourists from Germany, Italy,etc come all the way here to ski as Engadin is like THE place for skiing.

We drove to Diavolezza & boy there were a lot of people there. We changed into our ski boots & brought along our skis to the skiing area. Wearning the ski boots, it reminded me of my roller blades back at home. The only difference is that instead of 4 wheels in the sole, the sole of the ski boots are flat. Papi, Anja & Laura took the cable car up to the high slopes & skied/ snow -boarded from there, while Mami accompanied me at the beginner's slope. What to do, my 1st time skiing mah...Luckily, I was not the only 'older' person skiing at the beginner's slope coz most of them were little 5,6 year old kids. There were other adults , learning & falling too. There was a lady called Alana from Czechoslavia (dunno the spelling) who started at the beginner's slope too coz she didn't ski after a knee injury. She was pretty nice & I was gald I was not the only 'old' one learning how to ski.

Skiing is THE SPORT for the Swiss. It's like football is to Brazil & skiing is to Switzerland. Most kids learn how to ski when they are young. Therefore it's harder for people like me to start skiing now. Oh, by the way, did I mention that the guys at the skiing area are hot? =P

First, I had to learn how to 'walk' on the slopes with my skis on coz I don't know why, I kept going backwards! What the hell was wrong?!Anyway, after a few tries & a few tips from Mami, I was getting better & we decided to use the 'pony lift' to go higher up on the slopes & ski down from there. Woo....the feeling was great! I was going fast down the slopes & it was speeding down---fast! I too had to of course learn how to stop lah. I mean if I learn how to go, must learn how to stop too! Learning to stop wasn't too hard, but learning how to turn left & right was not an easy task. As they say, falling down is always part of the learning process. So, I fell down---so that I could learn!Yeah right. Falling down was for sure lah...of course mah..1st time skiing, what do you expect.... Although I had bruises on my ankles & knees, it was all worth it, for me at least.

At about 2, we had a break as Papi, Laura & Anja had completed their whole ski journey from the top of the moutains till the end. As the others needed a rest, Papi & I boarded the cable car up to the high mountains which were more than 3000m above sea level. Soon, we were at the closest place we could go to see Piz Palu & Piz Bernina & some other ' Pizs' before our eyes.

The view was SPECTECULAR! I was marvelled by the sight of the snow-covered mountains standing tall before my eyes. Papi said that we could actually walk even nearer, on the glacier, but as the glacier was all covered with snow, it was not safe to do so. There were a lot of skiers too high up at the place we were in. The ski journey way down would take a looong time & when they get started, there's no turning back---literally. According to Papi, there are only 4 places in Switzerland where people are able to have tea/ coffee 3000m above sea level, & Diavolezza is one of those places.

We got back to the slopes again for the last 2 skis. The last 2 skis were great! I didn't fall & had a smooth ski all the way down. Super! We went back to the apartment in the evening & had a rest from all the ski hype. We played cards, watched Titanic in German on TV...haha...got to see 'some scenes' which were censored by the censorship board in Malaysia....=P People here are pretty open . Therefore, it's quite common to have the so-called '18 SX scenes' on national TV.

At night, we went out for an early easter dinner in an Italian restaurant. The atmosphere was good. I thought that only Chinese restaurants would be that noisy, but apparently this restaurant too was AS noisy too. Anyway, that didn't bother me much coz I'm used to it. But Mami said that it was too noisy.

Friday was a really GOOD Friday for me. I enjoyed it a lot & had a great time skiing at the slopes. Anyway, what better way to learn about Swiss culture than indulging myself in the famous sport itself? =)

St. Moritz--Day 1

2005-03-29T18:10:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo! Easter holiday started on Thursday! No German lessons! In the morning, Mami took me to UBS bank to open a bank account. I guess the guy in charge was new coz frankly, he wasn't really fast. I didn't have time to change bank in my traveller's cheque into my bank account coz we had to catch a train to St. Moritz. Yeap. That's the place my family & I went for the Easter weekend.

We took the train from Reinach to Aarau, switched trains from Aarau to Chur, & then switched another train to St Moritz. The whole journey took us about 5 hours to reach St. Moritz. Along the way, the view was simply great, especially with all the mountains covered in snow. The train passed through tunnels, vioduct , which was a high train rail above the water. Trains here are really an inportant transport. It's so efficient & convininet for people here to travel.

Arriving at St. Moritz, Mami did some grocery shopping at COOP as all shops would be closed on Friday( Good Friday). After that, we went up to the family's apartment, as they would call it in German, Ferienwohnung, which means vacation apartment. We watched some TV & had dinner soon.

After dinner, Anja invited me to come along with her to meet some of her friends. We went to a pub first where I met some of her friends & ex-collegue. We had a drink there first.At the pub, it was a good place for me to practise my use of German coz some one her friends couldn't speak English! As he didn't speak much English, I had to wreck my brain to converse in Deutsch. It was funny how this friend of my sister described the weather of St. Moritz . This was what he said: St Moritz has 11 months of cold & 1 month of winter.Later, we proceeded to a dance club, Vivai. When we went there, I was surprised that there weren't much people there coz a lot of them had gone to another newly-opened club called Diamond. As my host sister used to work in this hotel, where Vivai also belongs to it, I managed to get in without paying.

Most of these people here are party people. From the way they dress, act, & especially dance, it's obvious that they are frequent patrons of this club. These people can really dance, shaking their bon-bons at the dance floor, & of course not to forget the smoke. It's really common here to smoke. It's like everyone smokes here. Anyway, the club was pretty good & we danced to the music. Compared to the people at the club, I wasn't such a good dancer. To be better, I guess I gotta go 'clubbing' more often! =P Just kidding!

Change of Mind

2005-03-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

Today, my friend & I for a shop. So, during our 1 hour lunch, we went to H&M, a pretty good shopping paradise for shoppers. Lukily for me, I still had some cash with me, so another good reason to purchase stuff. =) Typical me.

I really liked the blazers & long jackets. Too bad it was too expensive. Couldn't afford it. Anyway, that didn't dampen my 'shopping spirit' coz I manged to find a couple of really cool stuff too. I got these pair of really nice dangling earrings which doesn't cost too much. I'm not going to mention the price coz some people might think it is. But in my opinion, I wouldn't get that kind of earings back home with that kind of price. So, to me at least, it's worth it.

Next up was da skirts & thick jackets. Oh my god, they were like sooo nice & affordable! From that time on, I've changed my mind about shopping here, coz if there is a really good sale, things here are way more cheaper than back home. For example, my friend got this really nice , red jacket for less than Fr 3! In fact we thought that it was Fr 5 (which btw was cheap enough), but when she paid at the cashier, it was actually Fr 2.45 !!! How can you get this kind of price back home???!!!

I tried on this coulderoy skirt & a thick jacket which is really practical for this kind of cold weather & immediately fell in love with both of them. Checking out the price, I was even more convinced to purchase those 2 items. Why? Read on.

Well, guess how much those 2 items cost me. * drumroll* LESS THAN 20 FRANCS !! To be exact, it was Fr 16.40 !!! Can you imagine that? Even with the exchange rate, it is still cheaper here! That jacket I bought was just Fr 15! Even if I mutiply by 3.4 , it is just RM 50!! Even in Malaysia or even in CHINA I wouldn't have gotten such a nice jacket for such a good price.

I'm really satisfied with my purchase for the day. Really. Another lessons learnt : Not eveything here in Switzerland is expensive.Even for clothes, shoes & accessories. Hmm...next buy..should I get another pair of shoes? =) Well, I guess before I can do more 'shopping' , I really gotta open a bank account soon. Literally a Swiss bank account.

Till then, I'll be enjoying my puchases. Viva shopping ! =) Well & of course studying & learning new things lah...coz that's da reason I'm here. But any how, that doesn't mean I shouldn't enjoy rite ? =P

Sunday Outing

2005-03-21T21:37:00.000-08:00

Sunday, the day I love & hate. Love--it's still a weekend. Hate-- It's begining of another week.

After lunch, which by the way wasnt much different from breakfast coz it was bread & cheese again, we went to Mami's father's house here in Reinach too. It was a big house & Mami had to clear the house A.S.A.P coz they would want to sell the house as no one was staying there anymore. Grandfather was also a doctor, same as Mami.

There was a lot of art in this house. In my opinion, this family travels a lot, reads a lot & has really good taste. Mami chose the art she liked & put them in the car. According to Mami, some of the pictures were very expensive. One of them cost Fr 7500 which was bought by her father 20 years ago. Imagine how much does the art cost now?! My sisters took a lot of books that they needed from the shelves. There were a lot of travel books coz Mami's parents travelled a lot. Laura was glad that she manage to get a few books on Paris, coz she would be going there in April. How cool is that? I'm hoping that I get to travel around not only in Switzerland , but also to other countries around coz it's cheaper compared to traveling straight from Malaysia. Like what Anja said, she went to Europark in Germany & it was really cool & fun. How much did that cost? Fr 50 ! WOW ! See how tempting is that?? =)

We waited for Benny to come & collect the garden chair.It was nice to see the place Mami grew up in & where Benny, Anja & Laura spent their childhood time in.After hanging around for sometime, we proceeded to Lucern to the ' Verkehshaus ' also known as the Transportation museum. We went on this train & it was about the history bout how trains & tunnels started in Switzerland. At 5, we went to the Imex theatre. It was a documentry about tigers. Overall, the trip to the museum was good. Learnt some things bout trains & tunnels & stuff.

Anyway, for dinner, we had rice! Woohoo! 2nd meal of rice here. I had a lot of rice. Something which I would never take alot back home. Right mum & dad?=P

I think I will put on weight over here coz I eat cheese EVERYDAY! It's unevitable ! I've already cut down on chocolate now. This is becoz for the first week of arrival here, I've had a stick of chocolate everyday! These are the sinful food which I never took back home. Not to say never, but rarely took. Not to mention thick chunks of butter on bread coz the butter is so hard to spread! & of course mayonaise. See what I mean? All the sinful food! Luckily I have that 'privillege' of walking home everyday, so I hope that's enough of exercise I need to burn all the calories. Hehe.....

Well, at least I'm not the only one here eating all these sinful food. Some of the students here bring chocolate bars to class everyday for lunch. Anyway, I don't really care much coz it's a one in a life time oppurtunity to try new things here & I only have 1 year to do so. If I do put on weight, who cares?!I can always go on a diet. How often does oppurtunity knocks on my door & give me a chance to experience a real, typical Swiss life?

Conclusion : Be daring to try new things (which btw actually means food) & if worse comes to worse, there's always a place called a gym, isn't ? =)

Weekend

2005-03-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo! It's finally weekend! I love the weekend coz 1)I get can get up late 2) It was my first real weekend with my family.

Saturday morning, Mami got me this bike so that I can cycle to the train station in future. Anja, Laura & I travelled to Migros & went to get some clothes. Actually, the clothes here are not as expensive, provided I dont convert to RM. I've learnt 1 thing during my stay here. If I want to buy stuff, MUSTN'T CONVERT! Or else I really don't have to buy anything. Seriously.

I bought to tops as I didn't bring a lot. I brought more pants & skirts than tops. What a mistake...or not. I get to buy extra tops ! =) Btw, mum & dad at home, if you are reading this, dont worry coz I'm not a spendthrift. But for your information, I've used up more than half the cash I brought along with me. It was neccesary. =) Hehe......

For lunch, the sun was shining, & meanwhile it was also cooling. we had lunch in the garden & it was nice. I cant imagine doing that back home coz it's too hot! I wouldn't want drops of sweat dripping into the food. Yucks! Anyway, my whole family was just enjoying the warmth & had a good time basking in the sun. However, I told them that I didn't miss the sun coz I've enough of that for ,like erm..17 years? I wouldn't mind having more snow or cold=)

After lunch, Laura helped me to do my hair. She helped me to make my hair wavy. Maybe I was a little 'bored' with my long straight hair that I wanted a change. So, Laura used some strong gel & helped me blow my hair. The end result was pretty good & I liked it. Hmm...maybe some other time when I have the time, I'll make my hair wavy again=)

In the evening, I played badminton & volleyball with Anja. It was ages since i've played badminton, but still it was still a good game with her. We had bread & stuff for dinner. It's kind of a 'family tradition' that if we have a warm meal at lunch, it'll be bread at night & vice-versa. For me, so far so good coz I'm not that kind of petty person who would mind much about food.

Laura's friends came at 8 & I chatted with them too. One of them, Andrea goes to the school in Aarau, the school which I would be going to. I asked her questions about the school as I was really curious how was the school like. I'm pretty looking forward to start school, but in the same time, I'm scared too. Imagine that you don't know anyone there & their main language is German---or French!

Anyway, we spent the rest of the night watching 'The Prince & Me' by Julia Stiles. It was a good show, & also good time spent with my sisters & her friends.

Orientation Camp

2005-03-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

11th March 2005---as usual, there was German lessons...& after German lessons, all 10 of us from the Zurich language school had to catch a train to Langnau & then a bus to Barau for the AFS orientation camp.

In camp, met people from different countries, e.g Australia, New Zealand, Columbia, Japan, Thailand, Panama, etc. Well, though some people were from the same language school as I am, I think that it was pretty amazing to see people from different backgrounds, different cultures & different countries gather in a place.

As we arrived at about 6 something, we unpacked our stuff & pretty soon it was dinner. After dinner, we had this session regarding what was the impression we had of Switzerland. This is what I think :

1. The scenery here is really, really beautiful (well at least for winter that is. I dont know about spring & summer but my mummy that it's as beautiful as well)

2. People here really smoke A LOT, & I really mean A LOT!! In the trains, train stations, restaurants, etc. There was once I went out with my host family for lunch at this restaurant, we were the only table without smoking!

3. Things here are expensive, especially if I convert from Malaysian ringgit to Swiss Francs. Really expensive.

4. Everything here is mostly expensive, except for CHOCOLATE! WOO HOO! Can you believe that with 5 Francs, I can get a whole big bar of chocolate. Even with the conversion, it's still cheap! In Malaysia, I guess it would be at least RM 15 & above for that kind of Swiss chocolate. Furthermore, if we had RM 2 in Malaysia, would we be able to get a BAR of chocolate? I don't thik so. Not even BUATAN MALAYSIA chocolate. =P

5. Trains are really efficient & punctual. I guess I won't be able to see that back home. Once after my German class, as usual, I took the train home. While waiting for the train to leave at 4.04pm( & when I mean 4.04,it's 4.04. NOT 4.05), I saw a lady miss her train by just 1 KISS. She kissed her mother goodbye & because of that, she counldnt enter the train coz it was 4.04. Wow.

6. The dogs & cats here are so FAT & BIG!! SO CUTE! I guess my Tabby at home is able to compete with the cats here. They are huge! So is my cat back home =)

7. People here eat A LOT OF CHEESE & BREAD. The bread here is much harder than the bread we have back home. Some of my friends even joked that breakfast is the time for hand, teeth & jaws exercise. Haha...

Well, to make this short, the camp was OK. I wouldn't say that it's terrble, but it was a bit boring. I certainly would've prefered staying at home with my host family & spend my first official weekend with them. So did other AFSers too. We were given too much free time & frankly, it can be a bit boring.

12th March--Saturday--Anyway, the highlights of the camp was when we played in the snow in the afternoon . It was really fun! We played catch in the snow which was more than 15 cm thick! After the games in the snow, my socks & shoes were soaking wet! Well, I had a good time in that segment.

At night was also great. It snowed as we walked up the hill & I could feel the fresh snow sometimes getting into my mouth. We had to go up the hill coz the Japanese student performed a 'Fire Dance'. It was really good. I wonder how long he took to the that stunt.

13th March--Sunday--Time to go home. Most of us, were feeling 'homesick'.Not the real home, home sick, but host family home sick. I was excited as my mami & sisters would be picking me up at Lucern & get to sight see around there. We had to roll the dice to decide what job we were stuck to. Luckily, I didnt get the job in the toilet or bathroom. It was in the kitchen. A couple of us had to help make sandwich,which btw wasnt too bad coz we got to make our own sandwich of our liking. By 1.40pm, all of us were on the bus on the way to Lucern.

By 3 something, we reached Lucern & my host family,except for Papi (coz he went to Italy for golf) were already waiting for me. Mami, Laura, Anja & I walked around the streets of Lucern. The weather was really nice. Warm, & yet cooling. We went to Starbucks(coz it was my host sister's favourite) for tea. Man, stuff here really IS EXPENSIVE. Let me explain how. Well, take my hot chocolate for instance, Fr 5.70. After converting, it's like RM20 for that stupid SMALL cup of HOT CHOCOLATE! mind you, not COFFEE, but chocolate. But lucky for me anyway, I didnt have to pay=)

Things are pretty different here in Switzerland. Sunday is really are rest day for all of them & not many shops are open on Sunday. Even the big chain stores like Migros is closed. Unlike Malysia, the weekend is the day for shopping!

Anyway, at night, we had a pretty cosy night & I watched a movie at home with my sisters. For me, it was a good weekend. =)

German Lessons

2005-03-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

Today was my 1st German lesson in Zurich. To get there, I have to take a train from Reinach to Aarau, & then take another train from Aarau to Zurich. The train from Reinach leaves at 8.14 sharp...unlike Malaysian time. The Swiss trains are very, very, very puncutal.It leaves right on the dot. My Swiss mummy, Anja & I took the train from Reinach to Aarau , then Anja had to take another train to Bern, which is a 2 hour journey from Reinach to school. My Swiss mummy accompanied me to the train station in Zurich coz this was my 1st time there. Swiss mummy bought me a Gaya ticket, kinda like a ticket for unlimited train rides around Switzerland. No need to worry bought buying the correct ticket liao....

All AFS students who lived around Zurich had to meet at the meeting point in the train station. It was kinda amazing to see people from different countries, different backgrounds, different cultures gather toghether in a place. Seeing my other 2 "orang Malysia", we all suddenly felt so patriotic that we spoke Malay! We really wouldn't have done that if we were in Malaysia.... hahaha... Maybe it could be also that everyone was speaking German & we didn't understand a word..so we also started speaking in Malay. Wah, patriotiknya....hehehe =P

We went to the language house...or some place & we were asked to write down everything we knew about German so that it would enable the people there to put us in the classes with a same level. In my class, there are 3 Malaysians, 1 Thai, 3 New Zealanders, 1 Brazilian, 2 Australians. We had German lessons from 10 till 12, then there was a 15 minute break, then we continued after that. At 1 was our lunch time,& all of us went to the cafeteria to have our home brought sandwhiches. At 2, we continued our lessons & pretty soon there was another short break. Our teacher is very nice & the classes aren't as boring as I thought it would be. Hopefully, I can understand at least some German in a months time.

Class ended at 3.30pm, & I met up with Laura, my other host sis, at the train station. She brought me to this shopping street just next to the train station. After that she showed me the old part of Zurich. It's simply beautiful. As it was too cold for me ,we went to have coffee in one of the cafes. I had a good time chatting with Laura.By 5.30pm, we took the train home.

It's my 1st day of "school" & as all teachers around the world are the same, we had homework. So I gotta go do my homework! Tata!

Snow Man!

2005-03-05T12:04:00.000-08:00

I woke up today & it was snowing! Woo hoo! I woke up rather late & had a rather late breakfast. Benny ( my elder gost brother who moved out) came for lunch. Swiss mummy baked pie for lunch. After lunch, Swiss mummy suggested that we go out & make a snow man! What a great idea! The "jakun" person that I am (coz it`s my first time making a snow man), I didnt know how to start off. Benny & Anja started making snow balls & we had a snow ball fight! Pretty soon, the snow man was done. We used a carrot as a nose & stones as it`s eyes & mouth. It was fun making it.

After making the snow man, we went in & watched tennis. My whole foster family are tennis fans so I watched along with them too. It was an international tennis tournament where it was Switzerland Vs. Netherlands. As I had a headache, I went for a nap.

In the evening, I followed Papi to a church in Lanzburg where Mami would be performing in an orchestra. The concert started at 8 pm sharp. The concert was really good & I really enjoyed myself. It was a huge choir with soprano, tenor & bass who was a chinese guy. We were the only 2 Asians there. Anyway, the orchestra & choir was as good as listening to a good CD!

By 10 somthing, the concert ended & we went home. I then had a meal with Mami & then I went to sleep. Guten nach!=)

Departure & Arrival

2005-03-04T19:34:00.000-08:00

Well, on 3rd March, I was still feeling pretty normal--till lunch. That was the time where I felt there were butterflies in my stomach. Why? It`s obviously that I`m scared.That`s why. I would be lying if I told you that I`m not scared. Firstly, I`ve gotta start all over again over at Switzerland. Secondly, I`ve gotta start there using German! NOT an easy task you know....

Anyway, on my way to KLIA, I received phonecalls, sms-s from all my good friends wishing me good luck. That time, only Rahayu was the only sure person who could come to send me off. Others called to say that they couldn`t come & wished me good luck. I was really glad to receive all their sms-s & phone calls. One all the way from Australia! Thanks ! Hope you are also having fun there too!

While pushing the trolley, my good friends appeared!! Gees thanks guys! I really appreciate it =) & to think that they called b4 hand saying that they were busy....hehe...Anyway, there was photo session & stuff....pretty soon it was time to leave. I was soon crying while hugging my mum, dad, bro, sis & all my good friends who came. I`ll miss all of you....

After taking the aerotrain in, all 7 of us hung around the seats waiting to board the plane. By 12:15, all of us boarded the plane.However the plane didn`t take off till 1 something due to some minor technical problems. Soon, the plane took off & we were on our way to Zurich.

We had so-called "light" supper( to me, it was quite filling coz there was lagsana, potato salad, cake, juice) shortly after we boarded the plane. While eating, I watched Ladder 49, checked the flight time ,etc. By 3am, I was pretty tired & tried to get some sleep. It was rahter hard trying to sleep in a sitting position. However, after a few "tries", I managed to fall asleep. Well, at least some sleep.

The 12 hour journey was looong. I slept, watched TV, listened to music, had breakfast, chatted with my friends who were with me together on this trip..... Finally at 1 sumthing (Malaysian time) / 6.35am ( Swiss time) , we reached safely at the Zurich International Airport safe & sound. I finally got to meet my host mother or my Swiss mummy & Anja, my host sis. They came to pick me up & then I followed them to my new home in Reinach.

Along the way, I could see that there was snow covering the earth. Swiss mummy said that it`s very unusal this year as there shoudn`t have snow in March. After an hours drive, we finally reached Reinach in the canton of Aargau. I got down of the car, & me for the first time seeing snow, was feeling ridiculously excited touching the snow! What a " jakun I am. Hehe=)

We went into the house & Anja gave me a grand tour of it. It`s a double storey bunglow, more like a farm house, but it`s not a farm. It`s really cozy & it`s big! I do not have to share a room with any of my sis as I am given my own room.The scenery just outside my windows are simply lovely. Just imagine a hill slope all covered with snow, with bare trees standing tall, & along the slopes, there are cozy houses on them....really, it`s really, really scenic.

Next, I had breakfast with Swiss Mummy & Anja. We chatted & I got to know more about them. Mummy is a violinist & plays in the orchestra. While I`m sitting here typing all these stuff, she rehersing with the orchestra in the church. Anja goes to school in Bern, which is a 2 hour ride by train from where we live.

After breakfast, we sent Anja to the train station while Swiss Mummy & I went to Migros (sumthing like Jusco or Carrefour over at Malaysia) to buy some groceries as older brother, Benny, would be coming for lunch tommorow. After shopping for groceries, we went to an community office to register myself. Some procedures foreigners gotta do here.

After completing all these tasks, we went home where I sorted out & unpacked my luggage. For lunch, Swiss Mummy & I had scrambled eggs & salad. We chatted while eating. After that, we had to go through some AFS stuff & some rules. In my opinion, Swiss Mummy seems like a very sweet & gentle lady. After unpacking my stuff, I was pretty tired & had a nap.

Well, at 6 something, Swiss Mummy had to go for her orchestra rehersal as the concert would be tommorow & Sunday. As for me, I`m waiting for dinner to start at 8. While waiting, what better way to spend time than posting my blog? =) I got to meet my host daddy, or Popi. He`s tall. He`s a doctor who works in a hospital in Baden.

Anyway, I`ve written a lot, & there`s more to come. I will be starting my German lessons in Zurich next Monday till 1st April. By 25th April, I would have to attend school in Aarau, which is a 30 minute journey by train. Next Friday would be the orientation where I would get to meet poeple from different countries.

Feel free to write to me. To my family, this is da house add : Holenweg 19, 5734 Reinach, Switzerland. All of you, do take care ya?!=)

Farewell Par-Tay!

2005-03-01T01:03:00.000-08:00

It's par-tay time! February 26th was "the day" I got to spend some time with all my pals...

Looking at the cloudy sky, I hoped it wouldn't rain as my pals would be coming over....well, if it did rain, there wouldn't be a problem too coz the tables were under the shed.

Soon, my pals started pouring in one by one. We started our dinner rather late at 7.30 pm.While having dinner, people were chatting among one another.

After dinner, it was photo time! Precious moments like this must be remembered forever! & I mean it....FOREVER!!! =) I was really happy that my pals turned up...some even for a short while..but hey, at least they did turn up!

During my par-tay, my good friend called----all the way from Newcastle, England! Wow! Thanks for calling! It was so nice of her to call me... =)

The photo session lasted all along the time. Different sides of the interior were used as "props" for all da pictures. Even the badminton pole outside at the badminton court! HAHA =P How can a photo come out nice posing with a badminton pole?! Haha! Nuo Geng's BMW was used for our photo session too! Rich guy.... Apart from Nuo Geng's BMW, the most welcomed car was ------ (drumrolls.....)---- Jun Wei's car! All of us wanted to take pictues with his car's number plate! Well, actually I don't know why, but suddenly everyone was like wanting to take pictures with Jun Wei & his car, especially the number plate! Who started the craze of taking pictures of that number plate? I also dunno...if anyone knows....can you plz tell me who & why? =P Anyway, it was really a fun time.I enjoyed the photo session. Hehe.... =)

Soon, it was time for my "guest of honour" to come out. He had to be carried out by my sister! Who was that? It was my lovely cat!! I juz loooooooooove him sooooooooo much!!!! =) Everyone said that he's sooo fat. ..Hehe.......From my point of view on him, being fat = being cute & loveable....don't you guys agree? Haha.....I love him just the way he looks....the way he walks...the way he purrs......=P

Anyway, the party lasted till mid-night & my last guest left at 1.30am. She's such a sweetie=) Therefore, the farewell officially ended.

Last but not least, I would like to sincerely thank all of my friends who attended my farewell & thank you very much for all the gifts that I have received. I truely cherish the friendship that we have bonded among one another for all the years. In time to come, I sincerely hope that we can still remain as close as we are now. Some people might claim that friends come & go, that one can never have a friend for life....but I'm sure that we, all of us, can prove those people wrong. In some cases, friendships do last for life! =)

Souvenirs

2005-02-24T22:37:00.000-08:00

After finally "meeting" my foster family(through their profile), I had to get them souvenirs. Plain basic manners. I took the LRT down to Central Market because mum had afternoon news.

Arriving at Central Market, I went through the batik printed scarfs, parios, sarongs, pewter,etc. I wanted to "survey " the prices of all the potential gifts that I would be buying for my foster family coz shopping in Central Market can cost quite a lot (also depends what I buy lah). The whole journey through Central Market was really short & brief, coz almost all the shops there sell the same things. No wonder I just spent less than 20 minutes going through everything! This included me going in to every shop and stall!

Feeling quite bored already, I went to Popular. I picked up the novel I used to love reading last time-- Sweet Valley Senior. It has been a looooooong time since I've read one of those books. Why? Dad barred me from reading them. He claimed that I should read some literature. Shakespear & stuff.. not some cheesy love novels. Anyway, since I've stopped reading them for a looong time, there's no harm reading one, isn't?

Soon, mum came & met up with me & we went for lunch. After lunch, we went to Popular then went back to Central Market. 1st stop, we went to Royal Selangor. We went through all the pewter merchandise , BOY , it's quite costly! Finally, both of us decided on the pewter vase with orchid engravings at the bottom. For that vase, it cost me RM 95 ! & the RM 95 doesn't even include the engraving fee, which is 30 cents per alphabet!

Next stop, I saw some Nyonya sarongs. I think it is a typical Malaysian clothing. Therefore I got 2 of them for my host sisters. Then, we went to another store where batik printed scarfs were sold. The guy in that shop offered pretty reasonable prices for the scarfs and batiks. In the end, I bought 3 extra batik printed scarfs, 7 extra batik printed hankercheives (if that is the correct spelling) , dunno how many postcards, 1 batik printed table cloth. All these stuff cost me more than RM 125 ! I started to think mum was right about the budget. I had to prepare RM 400 for souvenirs alone.

I had to buy keychains as they are small & easy to carry. Not to mention rather exquisite to give them to others as gifts. I got another pewter letter opener , just in case I need to give it to somebody else. $$$ again. I also got bookmarks, etc.

Finally after getting all the stuff I needed, mum & I went home for dinner. This trip down to Central Market was rather fun. I enjoyed bargaining prices with the shopekeepers. Haha=P
Of course mah...If I buy so many things from that person, he should give me a discount! Not to mention, I am also "kagi nang"--- a Malaysian too! If they wanna raise the prices, do that on the tourists! If wanna "zam", "zam" them lah...not me! Hahaha ! Anyway, the guy who sold me those batik merchandise gave me a reasonable discount, but I think he could've given more... Hehe=P...I just can't wait to meet my new family in Switzerland !!!!

My Foster Family

2005-02-23T14:28:00.000-08:00

After soooo many days of waiting, I finally have gotten my Swiss foster family's details. After calling Gaya, I went up to the AFS office and got my profile on my foster family in Switzerland. Flipping through the pages, there were a few photos of them. The first photo is a shot of their house---my future house which I would be staying in Reinach, Switzerland. Their home is a double-storey bunglow covered in snow(well coz it's winter now there).It looked really pretty.I can't wait to go there and have my fun with snow!

The 2nd photo is my future foster mum---Huber Ursula, next is my future foster father---Huber Thomas, 4th is my future elder foster sister---Huber Anja, 5th is another sis---Laura. For the last photo, I have no idea who they are as there was no description on the photo or on the other pages.I guess they might be my foster uncle or aunt....I dunno..... I can't wait to meet my new family! =)

Reading their details, my eldest foster sis is 3 years elder than I am, while the 2nd foster sis is 1 year older than I am. For all my life I have been "dai ga jie", now I guess it's time for me to learn how to live with 2 elder sisters while I switch from "dai ga jie" to "siu mui mui"...haha

Looking at the German word, artz, I had no idea what was my foster dad's profession. With the help of the German-English dictionary, I found out what was it. My foster dad's a doctor! Checking another German word, arztin, which also means doctor for a female, my foster mum's also a doctor! Isn't that interesting?

According to what they wrote, they did host another student from Bolivia for 11 months too. I am so grateful and thankful that they will be hosting my stay for they next 11 months. =) If it were not for them to volunteer, I would never have a chance to go there. Therefore, I would really like to express my gratitude to all foster families around the world who have made it possible for students to travel abroad for the student exchange programme.

There is a lot to learn about. From different lifestyles, culture, weather, etc...I know I would have a great time over there. Of course I would have some difficulties at first, but I know I can make it. After all, how often am I given such oppurtunities?

As how Eminem sang to the song "Lose Yourself"---
~The moment you own it you better never let it go, oh
You only get one shot,
do not miss your chance to blow cuz opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo~

With that said, I gotta go prepare now! Gosh, I gotta get the sovenirs for them! A.S.A.P!

Great Truths About Life

2005-02-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

I received an e-mail by a friend one day. Reading the e-mail, I realised that this is one piece of witty e-mail that I would really like to share with all my dear friends...

GREAT TRUTHS THAT LITTLE CHILDREN HAVE LEARNED:

1) No matter how hard you try, you can't baptize cats.
2) When your Mom is mad at your Dad, don't let her brush your hair.
3) If your sister hits you, don't hit her back. They always catch the second person.
4) Never ask your 3-year old brother to hold a tomato.
5) You can't trust dogs to watch your food.
6) Don't sneeze when someone is cutting your hair.
7) Never hold a Dust-Buster and a cat at the same time.
8) You can't hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk.
9) Don't wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts.
10) The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.

GREAT TRUTHS THAT ADULTS HAVE LEARNED:

1) Raising teenagers is like nailing jelly to a tree.
2) Wrinkles don't hurt.
3) Families are like fudge...mostly sweet, with a few nuts.
4) Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
5) Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside.
6) Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fibre, not the toy.

GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT GROWING OLD

1) Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
2) Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.
3) When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
4) You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
5) It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.
6) Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
7) Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.

THE FOUR STAGES OF LIFE:

1) You believe in Santa Claus.
2) You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3) You are Santa Claus.
4) You look like Santa Claus.

SUCCESS:

At age 4 success is . . . not peeing in your pants.
At age 12 success is . having friends.
At age 17 success is . . . having a drivers license.
At age 35 success is . . . having money.
At age 50 success is . . having money.
At age 70 success is . . . having a drivers license.
At age 75 success is . . . having friends.
At age 80 success is . . . not peeing in your pants.

Always remember to forget the troubles that pass your way; BUT NEVER forget the blessings that come each day.

Have a wonderful day with many *smiles*
Take the time to live!!!
Life is too short. Dance naked=P

Pre-departure Thougths

2005-01-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

Hmm.....just found out that I would be leavning for Switzerland on the 3rd of March ,Thursday. It'll be a direct flight at 11.45pm from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Zurich International Airport in Switzerland. I wonder how will my trip be. Will it be fun? Will it be a tough ride? I don't know.

Time passes by in a blink of an eye.....whether you are having fun or not. But to me, it does pass by really fast....if one is not careful.....he or she may regret for not fully utilizing the time he or she once possessed........Just for example, it has already been almost 2 months since I've completed my secondary studies. However, it still does seems as if I had just started high school yesterday.Now, I'm still "digesting" the fact that I'm almost a half adult and I can drive soon!

It will be exactly 36 days before I leave for Switzerland. 36 days is not too long from now. Soon, it'll be my turn to leave, and yet here I am, pondering what should I prepare before I leave. Whether it should be the preparation of my cultural presentation, or the quantity of sovenirs I should be buying, or the clothes I have to bring....I have no idea. Ok...it's not that I've no idea...but still... I'm stuck in square 1 where I'm not doing any preparations --- yet.