Yeesh's ideal day in Wien

After getting rid of the bad mood that plagued the earlier half of my day. I spent the next half doing exactly what i've been wanting to do for ages. This is exactly how i want to spend my days next week.

First, i went to Mariahilferstraße (something like the Austrian version of Singapore's Orchard Road) to get myself Mitch Albom's new book - "For One More Day". Do u guys have any idea how difficult it was to find this book in English? I tried 4 bookstores! They translate just about everything. They even translated Hugh Grant's latest movie - "Music and Lyrics"! For God's sake, Huge Grant without his blardy cute English accent is NOT Huge Grant!

Next, i planted myself in a cafe that gives you a good view of all the crazy shoppers on Mariahilferstraße and burnt 2 hours just reading my new found treasure with Cafe Latte and Sacher Torte. Yes, i ate again 4 hours after the huge pizza. =)

I was all ready to go home and continue reading when the crazy little voice in me told me to walk in the opposite direction from home and go to the park 10 mins away from my place. Glad that i have a crazy little voice. I'm sure i will be back there again next week.

So nice right? I'm gonna sit under this tree in summer to finish my book if i haven't finished it by then. If i have, i'm gonna get myself Mitch Albom's "Five People You Meet in Heaven" or "Tuesdays with Morrie". I am determined to be caught reading under this tree. =)

Just a random doggy. He/She was staring at me with the camera so i took a photo lorh... The flash kinda scared it. Lol~

I'm glad i saw this lamp post in bright daylight cos the last one i saw that looked like this kinda scared me. The last one i saw was on the way back from Donauturm and Jeff was super amused that i found this kinda scary. #@#$&^(*

Again, something i was glad to be seeing in bright daylight. I have no clue why there was this small graveyard at the park. In bright daylight, the place looked a little sad - surrounded by a small fence, tucked behind some trees with nothing more than a small mud path leading to it.

Well, something happier - The next few pictures are for the flowers fanatics or 花痴 like my mummy. Flowers galore! I can't wait to see them again later in the year in full bloom.

Cherry blossoms! Ah Siew 阿姨, who said you had to go to Japan for them? Lol~ Ok, fine. You don't get whole streets of them here but hey, it's still nice k?

And of cos, you are most welcomed to pick them up from the ground and smell them. They smell really nice.

I'm really happy once again. And once again, it doesn't feel so bad to be alone in a foreign land. =)

P.S.: You guys noticed that i now have more pics yea? Bought a new camera yesterday. Now i am one happy tourist snapping at almost everything. Hope this makes my blog non-boring enough for someone. -grinz-

When your internet does't allow you to call back to Singapore

Was supposed to go out today with Evie but when i couldn't call back to Singapore because of my lousy internet connection, my mood totally switched and so i canceled on her. After chatting a little while on MSN with Jill, i went out to get myself some comfort food (a Döner Sandwich) but found my favourite store (Kale Kebap) closed for the weekend (-wails-) and thus, i got myself a pizza instead.
Looks huge yea? But well, i almost finished the whole pizza by myself. Hey, i was in a bad mood and needed comfort food k? Dunch care what you guys might say. I can die of fatness for all i care. Now that i am settled down and happy with food here, i eat loads. Sometimes i go up to 4 meals a day, not including breakfast (I don't wake up in time for breakfast).

I'm glad to have gone out for the pizza cos the day just suddenly appears so much better when you see bright cheery white flowers on your way out.

I'm glad to have a teeny weeny field outside my window. So what if it's puny? At least i get tonnes of nice white flowers.

After that, i attempted one last time to call home and this time i got through! Yay!!! Finally something good to push me to go out for a walk.

Shimone's Easter Presents

Hello my dear Shimone PIE,

yes, i called you a PIE. And no... i don't care even if you insist that you are not a pie. =P If you like it better, you can be Princess Shimone PIE. You can be a Princess but too bad, i insist that you are a PIE!!! =)

Anyway, here are the presents i bought for you in Innsbruck long long ago. I just got my camera today so i only managed to take photos of them today. Here you go!

Here's a scarecrow bunny. I feel that during Easter, everyone should get themselves a bunny and since i couldn't get any chocolates one (they will be melted by the time i get to Singapore) or one painted on an egg (cracked by the time i get back), so i got you a scarecrow one. I have no clue what it will be useful for but here's an idea. You can ask your daddy if there is a Sylvanian Family Farm and if there is, you can stick this scarecrow at the farm! (Uncle Winston, how do u like my idea? - grin-)

And here's the other one. It's just a clown pen for you to use at home when you are doing your homework or when you go out and want to draw while waiting for your dinner. It has nothing to do with Easter but the clown was just staring at me with such cute eyes when i got into the shop that i HAD to buy them. =)

Hope you like these 2 presents. Tomorrow i will be going to the Easter Market at Schönbrunn (an imperial palace) so you might get more Easter presents if they are not all candies/chocolates/eggs. HAPPY EASTER HOLIDAYS!!!!

Heuriger

Once again, i "steal" photos off Mindy's blog so that i can write something in my own blog. Grrr... This is so sianz... I am going to get my camera tmr! I must have one!

Anyway, went out for a heuriger yesterday at this place called Vienna Classic with a bunch of new friends. Chiori(Jeff's girlfriend) organised it and so Jeff and Kiki just asked me along.

If i am not wrong, Viennese usually drink the wine together with sparkling water. You can of course taste the wine as it is but the waitresses will always serve water together with the wine so that those who wanna mix can do so.

Together with this wine, you can usually get traditional Austrian food at a counter as well. You order what you want and then your food is weighed. Some of this Austrian food however, may not go very well with your palate. For example, yesterday Shini ordered some potatoes with this black looking thingy. We had no idea what it was and were pretty okay with eating it till, unfortunately, Jeff kindly told us that we were eating Black Pudding or erms... Sheep's blood. It actually tasted pretty okay but erms... after u know what it is, how can you even stomach it!?!?
I took something much safer, just roasted pork with a salad of potatoes and beetroot and these funny beans that the guy over the counter asked me to try. Lol~ I'm kinda glad that no one knows what the beans were and so i didn't have to suffer a fate like that of Shini's.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun yesterday cos there were just so many of us from like all over Asia and so many different Asian languages were flying across the table. The locals however, must have thought that we were all Chinese and that we all understood one another in whatever dialect or language we used. Lol~ I counted 6 languages, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, English and German. The common language we used for communication was English, which a lot of people especially my friends from Europe find weird.

And here are the people who went for the heuriger and the countries they are from.
Chiori [the one with the yellow hairband] (Japan), Shini (Korea), Vishnu (Sg), Kokonau (Japan, Chiori's sister), Jennifer (Korea), Fish (Sg), Ivy (China), Connie (HK), Mindy (Sg), Brian [in black, in front of me] (HK), Jeff (Taiwan), Me, Kiki (China).

Multi national yea? Tell me about it. This is what i like most about being an exchange student in Vienna. You get to meet people all over the world and finally, you know a lot more about things outside of the small island I stayed in.

Fun Learning German

I am having so much problem with German and so Yvonne decided that she should show me fun ways of learning German.

What better way than to recommend me a German band? This song is really nice. Check it out!

Update

Okay... i haven't blogged in about a week yea? I know that if i don't blog again soon, i will get a few emails soon. So here's what i've been up to over the past week.

Monday (12/3)

The usual, the girls and i went to Kaiko, where they have weekly parties for students. Some Italian guy tried to hit on Evie (my Greek friend) and his Italian friend, Antonio, apologized to Yvonne (my Dutch friend) for kissing another girl at the club the week before. (He's expressed interest in Yvonne)

Yvonne, Evie, Taina (my Finnish friend) and I have thus, come to the conclusion that men from the south of Europe are very interesting creatures to observe especially at a club. Antonio is one of the best examples here. =) We are trying to see how many girls he flirts with in one single night.

Thursday (15/3)

The girls came over to my dorm for a drink and a girls talk. Spoke about many things and we enjoyed ourselves so much i think we are gonna have another one of those girls night this week. Taina finally ended her practical at AKH (the university hospital) and was badly needed to talk to us abt how she was bullied by the nurses in the hospital cos she didn't know enough medical terms in German. Evie had a super bad day at the lab and will have to clock 12 hours in the lab tomorrow just cos her supervisor told her to. As for me, i've had a bad German class. The people in my class already speak good enough German and i swear that they are there just to show off.

It was on this day that i realise that you can mix coke with red wine and it actually tastes quite good. We finished about 1 litre of red wine and i must say that is quite a lot of wine to drink!

Friday (16/3)

We went to an exchange students' party at this Palais that was commissioned by Kaiser Franz Joseph I (he's the kaiser i blogged abt previously). [Yes, if you are wondering, exchange students do about nothing but party all week. On Monday there's Kaiko, Tuesday there's Down Under, Wednesday there's SOHO night, Thursdays and Fridays are usually free but once in a while you get parties like the ESN party or the welcome party at Johann Strauss ( a party boat). ] And for my aunts who might be reading this, no worries, i don't go to all of them. The only regular one is Kaiko cos it's 5 mins walk from my dorm.

I met a Taiwanese guy, Jeff at this party and it was really nice talking to him. It's not everyday that you get a non Singaporean who is strong in both english and chinese. (He was in Scotland for high school, at Edinburgh for college and is now here at WU-Wien for exchange.) It is also not everyday that you can tell a person your chinese name and he knows how it is written. =)

Anw, the party was bad and so we left early. =P

Saturday (17/3)

We went to the Donauturm, a tower that gives u a great view of Vienna for coffee. The weather wasn't very good so it was oh well, not that crowded but the iced coffee was good and after a night of partying, you kinda just wanna sit and have a lazy afternoon. And since i went with the 3 other girls from NTU, i managed to get photos from their blogs!!! What oh what will i do without them?

(L to R) Cheryl, Me, Alex, Anesia, Mindy, Mandy and lastly Jeff. Vien sacrificed to take the pic for us. (sidenote, Mandy and Jeff are both from Taiwan)

The Donauturm - It's 252m in total and guess wad? U can bungee jump off this tower in summer!!!

View from the observatory deck. The deck was super windy. You didn't even really have to walk. Just stand there and wait for the wind to push u. ) Can see this from the girls' photo. I wasn't in it cos i went to the other side to look at the view.
Food, glorious food!

8 shows the ice kaffee i had. The girls personally thought i was mad to have ice cream in winter. 7 shows Kaiserschmarren, a favorite sweet with Kaiser Franz Joseph I, it's a really nice dish esp if u like pancakes but the serving is huge. And lastly, 9 shows u strudel with vanilla sauce.

And we eventually left at around 8pm, after having sat there for like 4 hours. It was really good.

Sunday (18/3)

Sunday was a great day. The sun was out and so, Evie, Chris and I went to Donauinsel. It's along the Donau (duh!) and it's kinda like Singapore's ECP for the locals. It was nice to see kids out playing and to walk along the river. The trees filled with cherry blossoms also helped cheer us up and the smell of the cherry blossoms was great!

The 3 of us eventually settled down in a Greek restaurant cos it seems like the only decent one around and had our coffees and lunch. The other 2 weren't too happy about being in a Greek restaurant for obvious reasons but i was happy with it. Lol~ First time i heard Greek music. =P

Anyway, just before we left, my 2 darling Greek friends asked why a Greek restaurant in Austria and they found out that the boss is Greek and has been in Vienna for over 30 years. He's even from the same hometown as Evie is and he also offered Chris a job at the restaurant while he was in Vienna. We found out that the 3 Greek restaurants on the side of the Donau we were on all belongs to him and it seems that they are popular with the locals during summer. The boss then went on to offer us some Metaxa. I must say it was really strong but it was nice, sweet and it really did help to clear my throat probs.

A 7-star Metaxa in its traditional bottle.

It was nice to experience Greek culture even in Vienna. =) Glad i chose Vienna. Its so international you meet people from just about every country.

Alrightey, this is again another long post so now i shall go off and do my shopping. Till next time!
Tschüss!

After 3 weeks in Austria, i now realise that Singaporeans have much in common with Austrians.

For one, when we are overseas, we receive funny comments. Okay... guys, now prep yourselves for a good laugh at human stupidity.

For Austrians:

1) "Ohhh... you come from Austria! How nice! You have kangaroos!" - from Monika, my Polish friend who attended lessons under an Austrian teacher.

2) "You guys stay in the Alps... Do u actually have a fridge?" - from Gustav, my buddy, who heard it from a friend who is in the States now

3) "Since u guys stay in the Alps, do you have to walk like an hour odd before you get to school?" - from Gustav again.

4) "Ohh... so you are from Austria, where is that?" My friend's answer: "That's in central europe." Reply? "Oh... i see. And where's Europe?" - from Hiro, who got that from a state trooper in the States. (Lol~ This one doesn't really show how small Austria is. It instead shows how some Americans are in their own world.)

5) "From Austria? Cool~ Sound of Music!!!" (Sound of Music is about the most irritating comment Austrians get about their country. Lol~ After that comes Mozart, then Arnold Schwarzenegger. Gustav has come to realise that even though he has not watched the movie at all, he should have the dvd at home. It's the best device for hooking up with a foreign chick. Wahahahh...)

6) "Ohhh... you are from Austria! Can you say 'Hasta la vista, baby!" like Arnold Schwarzenegger? " - From Gustav. He got this request from a friend when on exchange in Denmark.

And for Singaporeans:
Some of these are comments I heard and some are from Facebook, a group called "We might be small but we are not in China."

1) "Oh... so do you guys hate the Japanese?" - From a Bosnian doctor i met on Saturday.

2) My favorite quote [after telling someone the dimensions of Singapore]:
"What?! My family owns more land than that!" - From FB

3) 'LOL. The best part is when they really do ask: "Are you sure?" (when u tell them Singapore is not in China) It's like no, I only lived there for 10 years. I've also had people ask what part of Japan it's in.' - From FB

4) "The best was when someone asked me if Singapore was in Poland or Greenland. =_=" - From FB

5) "Ohhh.... No wonder you guys are doing so well now. You guys were under British rule." - From the Bosnian doctor again.

6) "I once told someone that Singapore just broke off from China and just floated all the way down here over a period of hundred years. and she believed me. hurrah for ignorance." - From FB.

Okay... that's all from me now. Will post more of these jokes when i hear about them ok? Tschüss!

How the EU and the US do not get along

A week plus ago, i had this Greek friend who was arguing with this exchange student from the States about which was better. Life in U.S or life in Europe. Well, they obviously did not agree.

I however, had no idea how great an issue this disagreement was till i saw this when reading Breakfast Europe (an online newspaper) : "'I am quite optimistic that America will join the bandwagon after 2008 because we will have a new president,' said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, head of the German Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research."

Hahahah... Looks like i'm not the only one here who dislikes Bush. =) Nice to know that you are not alone esp in a place so far away from home.

Mein Hafen

Okay... and so i haven't blogged in a while. Well, here's what i've been up to over the weekend.

Went to Innsbruck and Salzburg. Had so so so so so much fun that i am going back again in April. My friends think i am mad cos the place is so small and cannot even be considered a proper city. But it was oh so nice... I can so sit half a day in the park and watch little kids play. Okok... enough of silly rantings. You guys wanna see photos right? =P

Day One

We had to change into some funny clothes provided for us before we get into the mines. Anyway, this photo shows the lovely people who toured Salzburg together with me. (from L to R) Alex, her bf Vien, Me, Anesia, Cheryl and Mindy. Hiro, our host was the photographer.

We started our tour of Salzburg in the salt mines cos it was raining outside. Sianz...

Anyway, salt is what makes Salzburg the rich city it is. They were one of the earliest salt producers in the world. And here you see the slides in the mines. It's the highlight of the tour... it was so fun sliding down one of those.

And of cos, as with all countries with a long history, you get to see weird mummies. This is a mine worker who got trapped and died in there. Because of the salt, his body was actually very well preserved until some other smart workers exposed his body to external conditions for money.

After the mines, we visited this fortress built to protect Salzburg from the external threats. Other people were always trying to attack them to get the salt.

As mentioned, weather on the first day was not very pleasant. Look at how strong the winds were! I was actually struggling to walk. And look at poor Vien behind me. Lol~

But of cos, going through the winds were all worthwhile. Look at the view from the viewing gallery! You can see like the whole of Salzburg old town from here. Lol... You also get to see the Sound of Music castle. Hiro told me that when his brother working in Singapore gets married in May, the wedding celebrations are going to be held at this Sound of Music castle. Arghhhh... i am so jealous!

Day 2

Day 2 started with a trip to visit the park with the pavilion from Sound of Music. For those of you who are not familiar with Sound of Music, i'm talking about the pavilion where the captain /Maria sang "Something Good" and where the eldest daughter sang "16 going on 17" with her boyfriend.

Remember now?

Well, our initial agenda was just to look at the pavilion and take a walk around the park. But we totally strayed from our agenda when we saw this all around the park. Guys, it's SPRING!!! Wahahhaa... the girls went gaga over the flowers and while we were all busy taking photos of the flowers, the 2 guys went to the carpark to look at cars. Lol! how typically guy. =P

Oh... we also found this playground in the park. At first we were all a bit shy to go play together with all the kids but after a while, we were all like having so much fun there. I think we stayed like an hour at the playground. There was this mini flying fox thingy at the park and we all played with it. Something funny happened to Mindy when she got on it. The 2 guys pushed her so hard that she went from one end to the other and swung one big round and fell onto the ground. Wahahhaha... Too bad we didn't get any photos of that.

But Anesia got some good shots of the kid in Hiro. Look at Hiro on the swing. He is oh so good with the swing. Lol~

Look at him jump off the swing! And he still said that his "professional days are over". I think they are far from being over. He has such a big kid in him. Wahahahh~

Before we went for lunch at the old town, we stopped by the lake and took some photos of the Sound of Music Castle. Again, for those of you who are not familiar with Sound of Music, it's the house that the Von Trapp family stayed in. This lake is also the lake where they filmed the scene of the kids in the boat that capsized. Super pretty yea? And oh... some of you would have noticed by now that Day 2 had great weather. =)

Lastly, we ended our trip in Salzburg with a nice cup of coffee at Cafe Stein. Cafe Stein has this open air platform where you can get a marvellous view of Salzburg. It was so nice having coffee there. Too bad it was a bit cold. My earl grey tea got cold so fast i didn't really get to enjoy sipping it slowly. =P

And of cos, how can you said you've visited Salzburg when you do not see anything Mozart? Here you see Mozart's birthplace. It's nothing special really. Just another house along the road when we went to get the cars. Lol~ Btw, Salzburgers are so proud of Mozart that they have this chocolate sweet named after him. We had coffee in the cafe that invented these Mozart Kugels in Day One and Hiro tried to explain to me what those sweets are and a joke started. Well, kugels mean balls in German and so... if you were to translate Mozart Kugels to English, it would actually be erms... Mozart Balls. Lol~ The bunch of us had such a good laugh about it.

Anyway, i really enjoyed myself over the weekend even though something lousy happened to my camera. All the photos u guys see here are from Hiro and Anesia. But oh well, i still had fun and so shall not talk about the camera thingy. Will go back to Salzburg in April. This time around i will take more photos to compensate for my lousy loss.

Okay... shall end here now. This has been a historically long post. For those of you who read my other blog, u would have realised by now, this is my longest post EVER. =P

Tschuss!