Never grow old

I had a dream
Strange it may seem
It was my perfect day

I opened my eyes
I realized
This is my perfect day

Birds in the sky
They look so high
This is my perfect day

I feel the breeze
I feel at ease
It is my perfect day

Forever young
I hope you'll stay
Forever young
- Cranberries

These pictures were taken en route to the Wildlife Park Peter and Paul near our school. Lessons ended at 12pm so we decided to go for a little excursion with Vee and Nadda.

At a beautiful location on the rich panorama hilltop above the city centre is the Wildlife Park Peter and Paul, which is well known for its ibex breeding. You'll also meet red deer, sikahirsch, fallow deer, chamois, ibex, marmots, wild boars, lynxes and wild cats.

Like real! I only remember seeing 3 boars, many deers and 1 obese chicken! The 'wild' animals (they were in cages...) were so sluggish, I think its the weather. Spring is here...flowers have started to bloom and the temperature has been rising- on sunday it was 17 degrees celcius!

(There are 2 boars in the left picture)

After resting at home for a while, we went out for dinner with Bingkai's buddy, Christine and her 2 friends, Philip and Julia. They brought us to this place famous for fondues and man was it good! The ambience was traditionally Swiss, the food was exceptional, the service was really good and last but not least the company was nice! Although it cost us quite a bit, we thought that it was really worth it! We had meat fondue (otherwise known as steamboat in Singapore)!

I feel like I have been very sociable this week already. Tomorrow I am going to stay at home and rest...zzzzz....

Not that different

It just occurred to me that I have yet to post anything about the University of St. Gallen- I shall do that soon when I have collected enough good shots! Here are some photos:

(Clockwise from top left):

1. The entrance to the school bookshop (Its in a different house outside the school)

2. Inside the bookshop

3 & 4: The canteen (also known as the Mensa)

I had a good day at school today. Had a project meeting after the morning class- our professor for this module made it mandatory for every group to have one asian so we were all split up last week. I was quite worried at first because I couldnt really remember the faces and names of my group members (they all look...the same...unless they have some distinctive feature), but that was put to rest when everybody huddled in their groups and it was easier to spot the only group with no asian....yea thats gotta be me...

My group turned out to be really nice! Within 5 minutes and much fast german later, our group had split into 2: each to tackle 1 project out of the 2 we were supposed to hand up. This is such a typical SMU thing to do...think of marketing 101...right? (Ok i shouldn't have pulled that memory out because thinking of MY marketing project makes me cringe)

My sub-group is made up of a Swiss guy (Philip) and a Colombian girl (Laura)! Cultural and language differences aside, students will always be students and the things we joke about...are really predictable. Heh. Had some fun laughing about Philip with Laura: No es guapo! Es muy tonto!

What are the chances of opening a handbag and finding a packet of shredded cheese, a packet of cheese slices, a packet of rice vermicelli (mee fen) among a file and pencil case? Simply had to take a photo of these in my handbag. Actually this happens quite often because we tend to forget to bring our shopping bags out. The last time i think i had 4 sausages in my bag.

I found the 'Heidi' brand of yoghurt really cute...I didn't know she was from Switzerland! Last but not least- Chestnut yoghurt! Its a winter special apparently. I'm going to wake up my idea and stop thinking about wanton mee. Dairy products here are great! (Mummy I know what you are thinking haha) In fact, I should embrace everything here while I can!

For the next few months- My family, My country, My friends.

But before I wake up my idea, I have to show you this really tasty thing i made on Saturday- noodles (mi fen) with chicken-sausages-potatoes-carrots-onions-tomatoes-corn soup. It was the first time I felt I had a satifying meal here!

My housemates have been very good...Mac cleaned the oven (YESSSS my prayers have been answered- no more smoke!) and washed the toilet; Bingkai has been very busy planning our trips and coordinating with many people scattered over Europe...What have i done?

Providing moral support and cooking. Okay fine...i destroyed Bingkai's chicken wings and the remaining half packet of frozen fries because I refused to submerge them in oil...By the way, do oranges turn red when they are bad? Today when i first poked the knife into an orange, red juice flowed out...okay..not good...but after consulting the guys we decided that food should not be wasted and I ate 1/3 of the semi red-fleshed orange...it smelt ok. I hope my 2 loyal warriors each ate 1/3 too...

Other news

What made yesterday's trip to Basel even better is below:

On our way back to the railway station to catch the train back to St. Gallen, we chanced upon Ah Chau Trading AG- its the biggest Asian grocery shop we have seen so far in Switzerland. They sold frozen DIM SUM, a wide variety of instant noodles, kuehs, you tiao, hum jing bang and sweet chilli sauce! Yahoo! We bought a BIG bottle of thai sweet chilli sauce and the guys bought a whole semester's worth of instant noodles...

We also stopped by a C&A outlet in Basel (Its a retail outlet that has sales perpetually). On the left you can see Maccann glowing with utmost happiness (He looks like he has reached the accounting heaven). That's because he managed to buy 2 pairs of cargo pants at @ 9 CHF each. By the way it was HIS suggestion to take a photo of the 18 CHF shown on the cash register, not mine...the things i'm willing to do for my friends...sigh

I have to explain a little about this. When we first arrived, BK had been in Europe for 2 weeks already and had lost weight. So BK managed to get a pair of jeans at 9 CHF from C&A since the size he wears is not common among Europeans. (Read: His size used to be common among Europeans but not anymore) So coming back to Maccann, the main point I'm driving at is that we were all really happy that he lost weight until he said....

"Luyi just continue to cook the way you cook and I will be slim when I get back to Singapore...!!! YAY!"

......what the hell.....luckily BK was smart enough to keep quiet (not sure if he was there) if not I would have burnt those pants man!!!

Maccann was kidding of course haha. DID YOU SEE what i cooked for dinner on 21 feb? The roasted chicken was great! I mean I have days when I'm off-form but most of the time it turns out pretty good...i think?! Haha...

Anyway this is how my room looks like after the clean up that day- pushed my desk nearer to the window to be nearer to the power socket and i moved my clothes rack as well! Even better news- I managed to find suitable flowers!

P.s. I just realised that we have an English channel at home- CNN! Good stuff...

Basel- The cultural capital of Switzerland

On friday, we went to Basel- a 2hr train ride from St Gallen.

Situated on the banks of the Rhine at the point where the Swiss, French and German borders converge, Basel is a unique and fascinating city full of charm. A city where everything runs to clockwork- yet with a multicultural character to which it owes its emphatically cosmopolitan and innovative reputation.

We were lucky enough to get our own cabin on this train!

The Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe. The Rhine and the Danube formed most of the northern inland frontier of the Roman Empire, and since those days the Rhine has been a vital navigable waterway, carrying trade and goods deep inland. It has also served as a defensive feature, and been the basis for regional and international borders. The many castles and prehistoric fortifications along the Rhine testify to its importance as a waterway. River traffic could be stopped at these locations, usually for the purpose of collecting tolls, by the state controlling that portion of the river. - Wikipedia.org

I've got to say that Basel is my favourite canton in Switzerland so far- ranking even higher than Zurich and Luzern! The tagline used for all the brochures was "culture unlimited" and very rightly so! Every single building is an architectural masterpiece- those within the city's Old Town were especially stunning. Coupled with the countless fountains and open air art, it was really a treat for the senses (BK also commented that the air here was fresher, I second that).

Basel is also a paradise for museum buffs- we did not enter any of them though. Firstly because we are not museum buffs plus the current exhibitions were not very appealing, and the entrance fees are exorbitant for poor students like us! Furthermore, what we could see outside the museums was more than enough!

Clockwise from top left:

2. The City Hall in the centre of town: a striking red sandstone building with a prominent tower and colourful murals.

3. Munster: the cathedral that dominates the Basel skyline with its red sandstone facade, colourful roof and twin spires. This former episcopal seat was built in the Romanesque and Gothic styles between 1019 and 1500. (its the same as the twin buildings you see in the distance in picture #1)

Lots of sausages, bread, cheese and preserved vegetables in the marketplace!

Clockwise from top left:

2. Burghers of Calais: Rodin welcomes you at the entrance to Switzerland's most important art collection (Kunstmuseum) with his sculpture.

4. Hammering Man: the 13.5m tall giant standing on Aeschenplatz is Basel's hardest working resident, made by American artist Borofsky.

The journey back was not so smooth though, it was so crowded that the 3 of us had to split up to get seats. We had to transit at Zurich but the train was delayed so we missed the immediate connecting train back to St Gallen and had to wait for the next one. We reached home at 10 plus pm! Luckily we had some toblerone - fruit and nut (BET YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS KIND YET...haha) to keep us alive till we got home because we didn't have dinner!

Basel is a really lovely city-i think the people who live and work here are so lucky!

Luyi at home

School started proper this week- its quite similar to SMU. Everyone is really on the ball, fretting over project mates, which group assignment to do...the list goes on.

I felt really down on tuesday: the weather was shitty and I refused to get out of bed, because I knew that once i got up the whole routine would begin...looking into the fridge and eating the same thing again..ie..my yoghurt..I have already tried all the different flavours by the way. For some reason I was craving the chee cheong fun with tonnes of chilli near Holy Family at Katong and Wanton mee with tonnes of chilli!!!

At about 11am, Mac and BK barged into my room and demanded that I get up if not I would not be allowed to sleep that night...SO i decided to make some changes. I figured that i was mired in such malaise because i had been eating unsatisfactory food and living in a room with a silly configuration (For example, the table was too far from the ONLY socket in my BIG room, so the charging of my laptop was always getting interrupted when i accidentally touched the wires and my clothes rack was blocking a really nice framed picture)

1. Cleaned my room inside out and moved the furniture around- including stripping the bedsheets
2. Cleaned the kitchen
3. Washed the toilet

I felt so much better after that! So after resting that day, the next day I went out hoping to get some good food and a nice potted plant to beautify my room and cheer myself up. I could only find potted fresh plants..but its no good here. The 2 stalks of roses that I had put in the living room had completely dried up despite the fact that they were in a vase, with water! So I didnt buy any...I did buy some food though. More yogurt and different bread.

Clockwise from top left:

1. Canned ravioli: to be honest i haven't eaten a lot of this- I find it..quite revolting. Revolting Ravioli. However the guys have bought a lot of this to stock up for their 'rainy days' (rainy days = days when I don't cook)

2. This so called english toast is really bad as well. On the 1st day its ok, but it becomes hard as a rock subsequently, so much so that we seriously think it can be used as a weapon if its thrown at someone.

3. The new bread which i bought for myself. Its way better, its multi-grained and softer. Although its more expensive and the guys are not sharing this with me, I think its necessary expenditure. I think all these little things add up and make me easily irritable.

4. French toast. The only thing that the 'english toast' is good for. Why? Because french toast is best made with stale bread...


Today's dinner
I was a bit disappointed because it was rainy and I was really looking forward to some chicken-potatoes-carrot soup...alas the 'chicken parts' bought back by the guys was 4 big chicken thighs (?) that couldnt even fit into the soup pot. So the only way was to roast them using some black pepper paste as the marinate sauce.

Clockwise from top left:

1. The oven. I really don't like the oven. Its as loud as a generator and its SO smoky, I don't why! Sometimes I get so worried thinking what in the world is happening to the food that I squat in front of the oven trying to see what's going on. I rather do that than to open the oven because when i do so, the whole kitchen is engulfed in smoke and all my clothes smell of whatever is inside the oven. Then I'll have to open the kitchen window to let the smoke get out and i have to cook in the cold until the silly oven has done its job with the food.

2. So anyway I roasted the 4 huge chicken pieces and did what Jamie Oliver would do..put some carrots, potatoes and onions in as well...

3. The final product was really good and yummy! All that smoke-fighting was worth it I guess! It would have cost us a bomb if we had ordered this outside!

4. Olive rice- Mum your olives are running out! (They are very precious to me because it makes the rice so tasty naturally!)

Konstanz, Germany

Konstanz is situated on Lake Constance (Der Bodensee in German). The Rhine river, which starts in the Swiss Alps, passes through Lake Constance and leaves it again, considerably larger, by flowing under a bridge connecting the two parts of the city. North of the river lies the larger part of the city with residential areas, industrial estates, and the University of Konstanz; while south of the river is the old town which houses the administrative centre and shopping facilities in addition to the Hochschule or the University of Applied Sciences. To the south, the old town borders onto the Swiss town of Kreuzlingen. - Wikipedia.org

So on Saturday, 10 of us took the train to Konstanz. What was supposed to be a 1 hour plus journey took longer than that due to a few glitches like getting off at the wrong stations and miscommunication or rather the lack of it...but anyway...it was nice. Konstanz is so alive compared to St Gallen.

This dog is HUGE.

Lake Constance. The photos don't really do it justice...Its a really big lake, almost like a sea.

F4? Hmmm....

Snowboarding @ Lenzerheide

Returned home at about 6 plus in the evening..it was a great day! Everybody at home ie BK, Mac and I are like half limping/rolling around the house like retirees/lumps of rice because our bodies are all whacked up....100x how we felt after the toboggan thing at Mount Pilatus. Plus its getting really cold in St Gallen....;(

This is the city/town of Chur. We went to Lenzerheide which is in Chur, a popular place for snowboarding. Maccann's buddy- Ben, fetched us at about 830am in the morning and drove us there....about a 1.25h journey by car...

BK and I were seriously squashed at the backseat because Ben's snowboard took up almost 1/2 of the space. I sat between BK and the snowboard the trip there- unknown to everyone else I was actually thinking of a few things...for one, I was actually preparing my speech to Ben to pull up because I really needed to get out of the car to stretch my leg...and thoughts about Ben having to switch his direction and send me to the hospital because I had deep vein thrombosis or something...yup you get the picture...on the return trip I refused to sit in the middle...BUT I am not complaining ok, it was really really nice of Mac's buddy to bring us snowboarding today and I am really grateful for the lift there and for his help. If you had been there to see all that he did...

Ben is the coolest guy I have ever met in my life so far...all 1.93m of him...

1. He is really handsome and tall

2. He is very very amiable, helpful and sincere

3. He is a pro at snowboarding

4. He can drive up to 140kph with 6 gears....(actually everyone here can and does la...)

I can't really explain how cool he is, you have to meet him to understand why I say he's so cool. Unfortunately for me...he's only 20 years old, I am barely above his shoulder and I don't think I share half of his passion for snowboarding...HAHA. Crap I hope he doesn't read this, he's going to think I'm a psycho Asian girl.

Maccann: Shit, Ben is so handsome. He is like the man I always wanted to be...he's so damn nice and he has everything- brains, physique...

(Not everyday that you hear a confession like this from a Singaporea* guy....good things must share! [Quoting Carol here])

Well ok, actually most of the Swiss people we have met here are really nice...but Ben is still the best so far...haha

Ben's car and me. Totally acting like it's mine...

Its amazing. Children here as young as 3 years old or even younger can ski SO WELL. Some of them can only say "Da Da" but they CAN ski.

Us looking energetic at the beginning...

Clockwise from top left:

1. Me, I think this is the spot where BK and I both reckoned was where beginners just cannot make it anymore. You're just stuck there. Once you stand up your snowboard just moves such that you either crash into the 'elevator' on the right or into this sitting area where friendly families with young children hang out on the left. So what do you do then? Just sit and wait for Ben to come and drag you back to the center of course...(that's #1 of the 54724894318467364 things that Ben had to do...)

2. See, this is the area where friendly families with young children sit on the left and BK has just crashed into it. Look harder, see the person kneeling next to BK? Yup thats Ben...(that's #2 of the 54724894318467364 things that Ben had to do...)

3. Still #2 of the 54724894318467364 things that Ben had to do...

4. Mac and Ben...#3 of the 54724894318467364 things that Ben had to do...Mac actually 'chased' this lady down the slope...not on purpose of course. He found himself tailgating this lady so he said 'ENTSCHULDIGUNG!' (which means sorry/excuse me) a few times and the lady moved out of his path...but somehow he kept following her path and had to sacrifice himself and fall to save her day...haha

I was taking the photos since my olympus was the last soldier standing...heh..therefore there are no photos of me grabbing onto Ben for support just like Mac above and falling over like BK above..but trust me...it happened a lot! We felt quite bad for Ben really...but its ok because Ben is strong and mighty and cool...Took some videos as well but to protect our reputations they have not been uploaded...

You know I find this photo above really really funny. At first glance it looks really nice with the brown backdrop and a sprinkling of snow on them. (Reminds me of the icing sugar on Mummy's chocolate cake). In addition, the people captured add a lot of colour to the picture. Then you start to notice this mound with 2 holes- terrible! Its like some monster emerging from the ground to eat the children around...

Ok so school starts proper tomorrow at 815am till evening. Gotta go!

Valentine's Day

Maccann: Yesterday (Valentine's day) was my gf and my 45th month together...
Bingkai: Yesterday was my gf and my ____ anniversary...
Me: Oh....yesterday....was just another day for me...haha....;)

So this was how we spent Vday...My really nice thai girlfriends invited me over to their place for a singles night....with chocolate and cheese fondue! And an extremely extremely wonderful thai dinner before that of course! We relented in the end and allowed maccann and bingkai to come along haha. I think the food we had at their place is the closest we will ever have to our mothers' cooking. There was so much Thai flavour and they put so much effort into preparing the food, we were so touched! Presentation, taste and everything was superb. Period.

Clockwise from top left:

1. A rose each from BK and mac- taken from the Alhambra bar we were at the night before. A stalk of rose here costs 4.80 CHF.

2. At Vee & Puay's home

3. Puay diligently stirring the cheese while Vee was happily dipping her bread into the never ending cheese

4. Melted chocolate from Ikea. 0.40 CHF a bar. Good stuff.

The above was the thai food we had at Vee & Puay's house. Sorry Mac and BK- this is food nirvana, never gonna attain that level...heh

The top 2 photos were taken at Alhambra. The place where the get together for exchange students was held and drinks were sponsored by the school. Don't know about the rest but I had a good time. Too bad for you if you can't use your 5 senses and limbs to take care of yourself.

*I don't know why JR likes to stick his tongue out when he takes pictures. I should ask him.

The bottom 2 photos of the collage above were taken at the fondue night organised by the school also. The 2 ladies are Puay & Vee from Thailand- they are great babes and provide much needed yin balance.

Its really foggy today....grr

My classmates from my German language course. My teacher Frau Franziska Schumann is the lady standing really straight with her hand on her right thigh. She's a really good teacher! I was taking the photo...

*Goodbyetorussiawithlovehugsandkisses

Clockwise from top left:

1 & 2: A very stocked up small kitchen. Gosh looking at chocolates just makes me want to puke now. Cheese and chocolates are spilling out of my ears..

3. Bk and mac are really into wrestling. For me back in SG, when i watch TV at odd times and wrestling is showing, its like an immediate signal to flip channels. But both of them are so fascinated by it that over here i just had to check it out...its...interesting...girls fighting...

4. These are the slippers that i potter around the house in. So red and yummy right? haha. 5 CHF.

Luzern- the gateway to Central Switzerland

On Saturday, we went to Luzern- approx. 2h away from Zurich by train. We enjoyed ourselves so very much! It's by far one of the best 'excursions' I have ever had...I wish all my family and friends could come here and experience it too!

The highlight of the trip definitely has to be going to Mount Pilatus or Pilatus Kulm- "A uniquely impressive panaroma of 73 Alpine summits and countless lakes awaits you, some 2132 metres or ~7000 ft above sea level". So, first we took the aerial cableway up to about 1416m/4649 ft (Frakmuntegg)...

At Frakmuntegg is Switzerland's longest Toboggan run apparently, so we HAD to try it! The Toboggan is the wooden thing you see below. You just sit on it with the curved surface on the ground and it picks up speed really really fast! We were really under-dressed compared to everyone else but we went for it anyway!

The areas with steep slopes and iced surfaces were the best needless to say! While going down, you really dont know what is hitting you man, ice or snow or water or whatever..its just so fast! There were some sections where we had funny 'incidents'. The first round, Bingkai didn't join us. Maccann was all the way in front. I was in the middle and Jr at the back.

So at the beginning, we went down this pretty steep slope and Mac banged into the pole holding the sign 'Langsam' (which means 'Slow' in German) so I came along a while later and I started laughing at him until I realised that I was going to slam into the pole as well. I managed to avoid the collision by going under the flag haha but I wasn't so lucky later because I had my own accident when I slammed into another pole really hard. The blue black is MASSIVE. (Mummy don't be worried everything is under control, but I can assure you its the biggest blueblack you have ever seen..bigger than anything any of us ever had..but you know i like blueblacks..haha). After that Jr overtook me and caught up with Mac and at one point both of them were side by side...it was so funny but luckily they gradually managed to get some distance between them!

After that, we continued our journey on the cable car up to the summit of Mount Pilatus. Its stunning really. There are actually many myths and legends associated with the mountain, some got to with dragons and what not. But the gist is that in the middle ages, the bleak crevices were believed to be the haunt of a well-meaning dragon and spirits. It was said that the restless ghost of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate had found its final resting place in former Lake Pilatus.

Anyone who comes to Switzerland should make Luzern one of his/her stop! Its definitely worth it! In fact, we could have done so much more on the mountain but we did not have enough time.

The city area is also really interesting, with many quaint old buildings and lovely architecture. However, we were just too cold to really appreciate the castles and all. So we just took a short walk, had dinner and took the train back!

Anyway. MUMMY look what I found! I bought a pair for you- it cost 13 CHF. They have it in like 4 sizes. This is the second smallest.

Today we are all staying home after all the work we put our bodies through yesterday. We were supposed to go to Jr's place for lunch but I told the guys to go ahead and we all ended up staying at home. I think Mac and Bingkai are really amazed at my laziness. Ok back to German homework for now! Tata!