birthday party..

went for melissa's birthday party earlier on.. together with some YEP mates.. and i just got home.. quite tiring, the journey back home was quite long.. it was at changi, but was thankful that ryan drove me home..

it was fun seeing them.. especially for some whom i have not seen for quite a period of time.. like anna, meiyee, luke.. it was like a mini-YEP gathering.. haha.. hopefully we will still be close even after years.. haha..

was thinking about birthday parties.. i never really had a birthday party before.. only when i was young, when i don't know what's happening in the world.. and i never really had a birthday cake ever since primary school days.. but i'm really glad there are people out there remembering my birthday, giving me surprises occasionally (just like last year's, when kaiwen and aline & co. popped 2 birthday cakes out for me.. haha).. but for most of the time, it was only me and myself on my birthday.. for me it's just another normal day, just that i will be older every year.. and i guess i won't have a celebration on my 21st birthday.. because my birthday will always be in the midst of exam preparation.. oh well.. glad to know that there are people out there who remember me as a friend..

another day..

today was kinda happening.. with good things and bad news.. hmm.. let's talk about the good ones first..

yar.. shujun's back from australia! but leaving tomorrow night.. haha.. went to meet her and rosanne in town after work.. =) i think she's one of the luckier people i've known.. able to study abroad with full support from parents.. sigh.. how i wish i could be like that too.. oh well.. took neoprints (the last time i took was like ages ago..) and went home.. haha.. because i wanted to catch MANHUNT!! haha.. managed to get a necklace for my thai friend too, and i would need the help of tingting to pass it to her during her holiday in thailand.. hehe.. hope that she would like it.. =)

and now the bad one.. keep hearing people getting hospitalised, dying.. and i just got the news today that ryan's (the one in philippines) mum has passed away last month.. it's a sad thing to hear it, especially when it was from his friend, temogen..

he has been very strong.. he was trying very hard to earn and save money for his mum's medical fees.. yet perhaps lady luck wasn't on his side.. he lost his job as a teacher in january, unable to find another job.. only depends on teaching dance to earn maybe a wee bit of allowance.. and he has a family to take care of.. and he was the one who encouraged me to keep on smiling..

i was speechless for a moment.. i wished that i could help him in one way or another, i wished that i could be there in philippines right now.. to be by a dear friend's side, encouraging him.. just like the way he used to encourage me.. but the only thing i could do is.. to send messages to him every now and then.. hoping that he would cheer up..

i guess he won't be seeing this.. but i really hope that he could get over the loss of someone close to him, continue to lead his life as he would, continue to be strong and keep on smiling.. and i know he will, and he can.. =)

at least i know now that he's alright, and found his love.. =) i'm happy for him.. hope that he's smiling right now..

japanese drama..

manz.. i miss watching japanese dramas.. don't u people find japanese guys cute?? haha.. but that's not the main point.. haa.. i'm more of a j-pop person rather than a k-pop one.. so u hardly get to catch me watching those soapy korean dramas.. haha..

anyway, back to the topic.. yar.. i miss watching japanese dramas.. it has really been a long time since i really follow a jap drama all the way.. blame it on the irregular lifestyle i'm leading.. tsktsk.. so i was watching this "Emergency Room 24 Hours" earlier on.. reminds me of the days when i used to go ga-ga over japanese guys.. haha.. but i really enjoy watching jap dramas, especially those related to the medical field.. =) the only time i can continue dreaming about my aspirations.. haha..

yar, don't laugh.. i wanted to be a doctor.. too bad my results are too sucky (partly because i'm the lazy type) and that makes me jealous of the doctors and i can only dream of being one, like those in the dramas.. haha.. sometimes the story plots could be very-the-drama, but i think they just wanted to bring out the sense of hope and love in everyone.. =)

maybe i'll try geting to somewhere near my aspiration, perhaps by being a health-care worker.. but i really don't know what lies in front of me.. it all depends.. i really don't know.. think my future looks bleak.. i just want to go on more expeditions around the world helping the poor.. possible?? hmm...

into another frenzy..

school has yet to start.. CORS bidding has yet to begin.. but we, the life science students are into another round of frenzy..

we have just received an email telling us our allocated modules.. because we were divided into 2 different groups, taking different core modules, so we assumed the groups will remain unchanged until the 3rd year when we start to choose our areas of concentration.. but then.. it didn't turn out that way!! some of the people in my group whom i know got the modules different from me.. biyun got the same modules as me, but kareen and mark got the other modules.. damn.. sucky siah..

luckily i managed to find someone willing to mutual swap with kareen.. if not us the 3 musketeers would be separated.. =P.. but everything's not confirmed yet..

arghh.. i hate the school system.. bleahz

back..

i m back.. =)

4 days spent in malaysia.. 3 days in ipoh and 1 day in penang to be exact..

16 june - reached ipoh early in the morning.. nicole's mum came to fetch us.. had dim sum for breakfast, headed home, slept for a few hours (i was unable to sleep on the bus.. >_<).. woke up and ready for shopping! haha.. went JUSCO, then had dinner with nicole's parents and her aunt.. the ipoh hor fun and stir-fried "tow gay" (bean sprouts).. went back, watched cable tv (yar.. and my free movie for the day.. haha)..

17 june - went up to penang, taking the 8.45am bus.. near 3 hours of the journey, catching some sleep on the bus.. had a look of the lab of the university there, and thank god NUS is much much better.. bought lunch and went to nicole's rented house to put our stuff and watched another movie there.. haa.. sent nicole's friend to the airport, then another shopping spree at Gurney Plaza.. went back to the house, and had a swim there.. then we went to stay over at my auntie's house (nicole's room was small and no air-con.. haha) and had supper and my aunt drove us around the town area.. went back and watched another movie with nicole and my cousin, mingfu.. he's super active manz.. if he were my student i will have another headache dealing him.. haha.. and we slept at 5+ in the morning..

18 june - rushing for the afternoon bus back to ipoh.. overslept.. haha.. then went shopping at PARKSON.. coincidentally the last malaysian idol finalists were having an autograph session and lots of people were there, screaming their heads off.. duh.. i hate huge crowds.. and kids.. haha.. then had steamboat buffet for dinner with my "da gu" (father's sister) and my auntie and cousins and nicole's parents.. then went my da gu's house for a while, then went back home, another free movie and was trying to complete a 1000-pieces jigsaw puzzle with nicole.. ended up falling asleep around 6+ in the morning..

19 june - last day in malaysia.. went to a cave with my 2 cousins (xiang and jie) to walk around, but ended up playing the swing.. haha.. i am a kid myself =P.. yar and my auntie bought a lot of local products for me.. manz.. so i had to make use of the spare bag i've got and the food alone already took up 3/4 of the space.. sheesh.. dinner with my relatives again before me catching my bus home..

quite an enjoyable trip, spending my time shopping and visiting my relatives.. wanna go for another trip down to my "home town".. it will be great to see all my relatives gathering together.. then it will be a very huge gathering.. =)

oh well.. had quite a bit of "achievements" over there.. bought quite a number of things.. and i am nice enough to buy some stuff for my little baby cousins my bro.. and the snacks i brought back should be enough to feed the family for a week.. =P

reasons why i should remain in switzerland..

10 reasons why i should have stayed back in switzerland and not coming back..

1. air-con temperature everyday - it's soooo hot back here!! manz.. will get sweaty all over even with the fan blazing in the living room.. not mentioning getting out of the house.. arghh..

2. the starting salary over there is heard to be about 5000 bucks - manz.. wonder how long i need to slog my life before reaching that..

3. sports car all over the streets - i could be one of the owners if i start working there with that high salary..

4. no gastric pains, no stomach upsets when i was there - kena diarrhoea when i came back.. what a luck..

5. close to nature - mountains, snow, lakes and huge grasslands just a drive away.. that's the kind of life i want.. able to lie on the grass sky-gazing..

6. it's a choco haven!! - chocolates everywhere.. nice chocs i mean..

7. cheap chocs - those liquor kinds are much more cheaper than in singapore.. sheesh..

8. cute guys - i see them more than in singapore.. arghh.. where have all the cute handsome guys went to?!?

9. easier to tour around europe - well.. kinda obvious right.. since switzerland is surrounded by germany, france, italy blah blah blah..

10. cute dogs all over - it's a dog haven there too.. huge, hairy, small, cute.. all sorts of dogs.. and the best thing is, they are sooo disciplined!! no leashes needed!! they can go shopping, onto trams, boats, trains.. manz..

now i want to find a swiss boyfriend..

back from switzerland..

i am back!! haha.. just touched down earlier in the evening.. so far still alright.. didn't feel much of a jet lag right now.. =) yar.. this will be a long story.. haha..

29th may - departed singapore for Zurich in switzerland.. aline, waipeng and ryan came to send me off.. haha.. *thanks pals..* flight was 9.15pm, on swiss air.. a 13-hour flight.. manz.. quite tiring.. given that you were stucked to the same seat for such a long time.. and some of the movies provided by the airplane i have already watched them.. so for most of the time i was listening to oldies on the plane.. haha.. =) realised that the flight attendants on swiss air are quite old.. hmmm...

30th may - reached Zurich at their time 7am.. 6 hrs behind singapore time.. so we had some free time roaming the place ourselves, other than having to have lunch and dinner at the hotel.. tried their mode of transportation, which was the tram.. and their tickets were sooooo ex!! manz.. a one way trip costs 2.40 franc (about SG$3.40) and a 24-hr unlimited ticket costs 7.60 franc.. wow.. super ex siah.. so we went exploring the central area (with the railway station) for a little while before lunch.. and saw lots (really LOTS) of teddy bears all over the place.. haha.. some teddy bear festival thingie.. then back to the hotel for lunch and out to the Lake Zurich to explore further.. up the boat then we realised that we bought the wrong ticket (made me wasted another 7.60 franc) and had to get off the next stop.. oh well.. better than having to spend 1.5 hours on the boat just to tour around Lake Zurich.. haha.. then we walked along the main shopping street again, doing mostly window shopping, cos the things there are generally more expensive.. =( then back to the hotel for dinner, and rested for the night.. haha.. slept like a pig.. need to recover from the horrible sleepless night on the plane.. haha.. by the way the sun over there works from 4.30am to 9.30pm..

31st may - went out to the central area again with helen, my roomie, early in the morning.. realised that the kiosks can be a cheap shopping area too.. hah.. anyway was trying to see if there were anything there were buyable.. haha.. then back to the hotel to get ready for the rehearsal + performance at the ETH, the school where we were performing.. had lunch in the school.. and the canteen was sooo high tech.. even the returning-tray-area was automated!! manz.. anyway the performance wasn't up to our usual standards, partly because it wasn't a proper hall (it was only a foyer area) and the space was quite small.. so we ended up cramping together.. duh.. anyway met some singaporeans who were working in Zurich after the concert.. somehow it felt great seeing fellow countrymen.. haha.. (sounds patriotic huh.. =P) was dead beat at the end of the day..

1st june - went to another city of switzerland, Lucerne.. took a 1.5 hr boat ride to Pilatus, where we took the steepest train ride up to Mount Pilatus.. it was cold up there and saw a bit of snow.. *brrrr* chatted with a german couple up there.. haha.. as usual.. took pictures, "vandalised" and left my mark there.. haha.. our lunch was there as well.. the long-awaited rosti and sausage!! haha.. then we came down by cable car.. went back to Zurich after that.. along the way, there was a traffic jam.. so i was stone-ing looking out of the coach window.. then there happened to be a car with funny guys in there.. haha.. the driver was winking, smiling, blow-kissing.. haha.. as if he never get to see an asian "beauty" before.. whahaa.. too bad i missed it and didn't managed to get a picture.. haha.. after dinner at the hotel, we rushed out again to buy chocs at co-op.. haha.. not the nus co-op.. it's actually COOP (but we are used to pronouce it as co-op.. haha) and it has its own supermarket (like our NTUC), petrol station.. as most of the shops close at 6pm or 8pm, COOP closes at 9pm, so we went chiong-ing to buy chocs there.. =P then we had to pack our luggage cos we would be moving from hotels to hotels after this..

2nd june - went to Mount Titlis.. it was colder than Mount Pilatus, and was covered with snow!! whee~~ i was walking on snow!! took the ice flyer and played snow sledge!!! haha.. manz.. once in a lifetime.. *grinz* and i got burnt by the sun.. =P down the mountain by cable again, and when walking around the central area of lucerne.. where we stayed for the night.. went to climb some towers and visited the church there.. met a singaporean couple there too.. haha.. such a coincidence eh.. then went to this high-class shop called BUCHERER.. where we could collect ROLEX spoon with our voucher.. haha.. anyway bought some chocs from there, and because we could have our 7% tax rebate by spending over 300 franc, 9 of us combined all our stuff and we spent a total of 680+ franc.. and it was all under my name.. haha.. for a while i felt like a rich kid.. haha.. but then i had a hard time doing the calculations after dinner.. oh well.. i can't seem to avoid money matters everywhere i go eh..

3rd june - went to another landmark of Lucerne, the dying lion.. next we went to the capital of switzerland, Berne.. stopping by a rose garden for a rest.. at Berne, we took pics of the main parliament building, the Zytgologgeturum, the wide alley pathway, the house where einstein used to stay, the Bern bears, and the Munster church, where we went climbing up the clock tower.. took us 220+ steps up.. manz.. tiring.. then we went off to another city, Interlaken, where the famous Jungfrau mountain is.. went to visit Trummelbachfalle hidden in the caves.. wow.. magnificent.. the sound of the water was really like thunder.. and filled my water bottle with the clear cool water falling down from the fall.. =P after dinner we had some local delights.. the FONDUE!! we had cheese and chocolate fondue, which was eaten with bread and fruits respectively.. the owner and his partner were really entertaining.. 20 franc for such great food (with refills requested.. haha) and great entertainment.. it was worth it.. =P

4th june - set off to this little town called Zermatt.. this town is unique, that other than bicyles, and the small little four-wheeled vehicles hotels used to transport luggages and people, no other vehicles could be seen.. haha.. fresh pollution-free air.. =P some of my CO mates went up the Matterhorn (another snow-capped mountain) but the entrance + transport fees up the mountain was way too expensive (72 franc, SG$100) so me and helen chose to walk around the town instead.. went to some churches there, and some window-shopping.. =)

5th june - only journey back to Zurich.. it was our last day in switzerland.. on the way back we past by this old town Sion and Montruex, stopping by the castle of Chillon.. had lunch at Zurich, then went to the central area (again) for some last minute shopping.. by the way, most shops close on sundays, so we tried our luck at the underground shopping area beneath the railway station.. managed to buy 2 pairs of earrings.. haha.. and got myself a soft toy dog at the machine that has the metal claws to grab the toys (if you know what i mean).. helen got one too!! what a luck.. haha.. got it at the second try.. haha.. so it's only 2 franc!! haha.. then we tried looking for the catholic church in the town, but we went to 2 other churches instead.. but it was still an eye-opener.. lastly, we went back to ETH to collect our instruments.. but the doors were locked, so we had to wait for quite some time for the security guard to open the door.. meanwhile i went around taking pictures of flowers.. haha.. then we left Zurich for Singapore at their time 10.25pm..

6th june - another 13 hours on the plane, had some white wine to make me more sleepy.. haha.. watched movies to kill time.. anyway the tv on the plane allows passengers to get a view from the cockpit.. interesting eh.. =) anyway we touched down.. and now we are back home..

it was an wonderful and eye-opening experience.. nice weather, slow pace of life.. great to have a big bunch of people travelling together too.. it would be nice to go there again in future.. taking one's own time enjoying every step looking at the different kind of life, instead of rushing from place to place.. kinda feeling a bit nostalgic here.. haha..

end of one journey.. hoping to embark on another..

my dog and helen's dog.. haha

the castle of Chillon..

Matterhorn from my hotel room.. hee

tombstones of climbers who died while conquering Matterhorn..

the only form of transport in zermatt other than bicyles..

choco fondue!!

COOP!!! haha

rainbow across the Trummelbachfalle..

at the top of the Munster church..

isn't it cute?? at the rose garden..

the dying lion of lucerne..

the famous wooden walking bridge of lucerne..

i conquered mount titlis!!