her eyes were made of sequins

strangers in our very own city.

2010-10-31T02:06:00.006+08:00

Finally got down to working on the new post. I've been kept pretty busy at work the past weeks and when I reach home, I can't find the motivation to do anything but sleep. Anyways, please support our new collection!

October #2

My favorites would be the creme chiffon maxi, spots on the line babydoll maxi and paperbag skirt. Love how many in this collection are actually quite simple, but each has little unique twists to it. For example, pleats on a simple LBD or dots on a classic babydoll cut.

I'm quite proud of myself. Besides getting the collection done up today, I also collaged my personal photos and did some housekeeping on my Mackie and Patrick (that's my iPhone fyi). My desktop is so neat now I can't stop staring at it. Plus, I've a new wallpaper! I finally took down the one with the handsome couple and apples on it. It was so pretty I couldn't bear to for months.

Danbo the robot. SO CUTE RIGHT?

The other day, Zhu, WY and I decided to go out. Ben stood Zhu and I up, so the 3 of us met instead to discuss our business plans. Hehe. And of course we went to have good food!

When I first came back from Germany this year, I was crestfallen to hear that Wasabi Tei at FEP was no longer there! Or rather, there was a different chef and the food quality wasn't as good anymore :( But the other day, Jo told me about Chikuwatei at Mohd Sultan Rd. Apparently, Chef Peter had opened a new restaurant after leaving Wasabi Tei! Thank goodness it hasn't disappeared off the face of the earth. The food was so good. And it is still very good at Chikuwatei, except that the prices have risen by a few dollars for some dishes. Yikes. But I guess, that's the price to pay for a happier chef and a bigger, comfier space. The "nazi chef" is no longer grumpy, frumpy uncle, to our great surprise. He actually smiled and said thank you when we left.

OTD: Bib necklace from London, Black bangle from Diva, Oversized ruched detail black top from MMTP, grey panel bandage skirt from MMTP, Black polkadot-bow pumps from BKK.

After lunch, we walked to the Supreme Court as there was an Open House that weekend. It was going to no longer be the Supreme Court, but the National Art Gallery after that. I don't think I would ever have had a chance to visit the place (unless I happened to be part of some syndicate that got caught and...) otherwise.

The experience reminded me (and Zhu) of Europe/exchange. We were busy snapping photos, admiring the architecture and wondering who, when what took place in the rooms and spaces that were now crowded with curious, sweaty, Singaporeans. We were tourists at home.

Other food adventures I had in the past month(s):

Daikokuya at Raffles City. Had the steamed mentai Gyoza and Nidaime Tonkotsu Miso Ramen. The place is known for its ramen, if I'm not wrong. It was not bad, but I couldn't finish my food. The noodles got a bit too filling.

This wasn't really a food adventure, but it was nevertheless "Fried Rice Paradise", which is food in its title! WY and I got free tickets to watch the Gala Night for Fried Rice Paradise by Dick Lee. It was below our expectations. Set was quite good but the acting, choreography and singing were so-so only. I kinda miss the VJ TSD times, where we had to watch productions more often. Going for such plays/musicals make me miss theatre and I don't think I'd ever have the chance to go back to it.

Our retail space at KissJane is up and running! We're not supposed to blast it out yet, but I can't just keep mum about it cos' WY and I are both very excited! This CityLink rack space of ours looks extremely great (especially when you compare it to some other always-on-sale, lousy organisation, conniving&unethical, similar concept store that we've had a space at before). We are going to try to put up more exclusive stuffs there, i.e. apparels not found online and at Vainpot. So, keep a lookout for it yeah!

So on Opening day, WY and I went to take a look. Business seemed really good! We wanted to wait for Tricia, so we had dinner at this salad place opposite KissJane. It's called Mesculuns or Mescluns or something of the sort. The salads are really good. I've tried it twice already, and I think creating your own salad is better than theirs! The ingredients are fresh and tasty.

I've been going on and on, I didn't even realise it's 3am. This entry shall thus come to an abrupt end. Nights world!

change of scenery :)

2010-09-22T16:10:00.001+08:00

i've shifted to:
MOMOTEAPOTS.BLOGSPOT.COM

so baby please open your eyes and catch my disease

2010-08-14T18:04:00.005+08:00

i'm at the shop today. had slight diarrhea and fever -.-" i always always fall sick after eating durian but i can never resist it. oh well, serve me right. photoshoot tomorrow with Claraaaaaa. it's a pretty huge collection, and WY and i are superrrrr excited! FWAAHHHH (weird sound that should sound like excitement and a monster)

anyways we're having a private sale some time in September! Trish and us at VAINPOT. we're gonna move our whole house here for sale. at least that's what WY says...YAY YAY YAY for the sale!!! fwaaahhhh!!!!!!

of food...and more food.

2010-08-09T16:50:00.002+08:00

i'm so sad the long weekend is coming to an end :( i've crazy cramps and i've been whining since i got to the shop. rarh. why can't it just be painless? i must have been an annoying boy in my previous life who laughed at girls for being whiny and stupid, that's why i suffer every month worse than other girls who live their lives without cramps!!! wehhhhh.

i've got like 2 months' worth of photos in my camera and i finally got round to uploading them. so pic spam!

from Father's Day celebration! I remember taking photos of my parents but....they're missing?! we went to Kuishinbo weekend lunch buffet. Honestly? I find Kuishinbo a litttttle overrated. Food was so-so, but quite a variety. Sashimi was good BUT coincidentally I had a bad stomach that night -.-" Wide range of desserts but they were nothing much to rave about.

Tried out the new Honeymoon Desserts at Vivocity after work one day. It sucksss and it's expensive! We tried Mango Sago and Black Sesame Paste with Beancurd. The Mango Sago tasted pretty syrup-ey and sweet. Black Sesame Paste was supposed to be hot but it was...hot-cold? Cos' of the beancurd I think. And it's just kinda a weird mix. We also bought the durian pie/pancake. More cream than anything else. Ang Mo Kio Hub's durian pancake is way better and half the price.

met up with Weining finally! I was obviously mad tired from work, I look like crap -.-" We had dinner at Kim Gary's. So tired and hungry I forgot about snapping photos haha. Just realised the number of common friends we have after the outing. Anyway I decided that much of the Kim Gary noodle menu resembles instant noodle so I refused to try any. Had the curry pasta instead, which was not bad!

Random workdesk photo.

Random outfit of the day. I dug out this skirt from the pit of my wardrobe. I wore it a lot before I went to Germany and kinda forgot about it. I STILL FREAKIN' LOVE ITTTT!!! Sucker for vintage look. Would anyone still want a skirt like this from MMTP? Heh thinking of getting it manufactured again.

this is a damn hilarious photo from some time back in June or July I think. TBS was closed at 6plus on a Saturday, as I mentioned in my previous post, so we went down to take photo evidence of the unexplained closure and the SUP guys provided us with the watches HAHAHA.

why I hate The Blogshop

2010-07-13T22:34:00.008+08:00

Guess what? Today The Blogshop didn't even let WY collect tags so we can tag the clothes we want to top up tomorrow. Well I suppose EVERYONE is getting the SAME treatment. Or wait, perhaps not. Perhaps just that they decided: Oh. Need not do favours for MMTP anymore. I'll do it for everyonoe else but them. And we'll show them just that, in their face!

You know, I was just thinking about the way they have been treating us, which is crap, in case you were wondering. And how they've apparently been telling tales about us. Initially, I guess I was pretty mad, upset and indignant about it. I mean, the salesgirls there hate us because of some falsities SOMEONE has been feeding them (oh hmmm, I wonder who though...). And I just kept thinking, this is so unfair. We are normal and nice people, WY and I (though whenever I bitch about them it may seem otherwise but understand our plight!). Ask suppliers or friends or acquaintances, they'd know that we're really friendly and okay people. And we stay that way until someone ruffles our feathers of course. When it comes to MMTP's reputation, you tell me, how do I not get riled up and crazy?! And I keep wondering what we did to deserve their meanness, their salesgirls turning their backs against us and them making things so difficult for us. We haven't asked or done anything that a usual client wouldn't. We were courteous, friendly even, responsible until it seemed like someone was picking on us. Even when we weren't happy about something with The Blogshop (which was quite a fair bit of issues I think), we didn't kick up a very big fuss or complain about it until we felt it was overboard. For example, you tell me if I'm being unreasonable, The Blogshop's opening hours used to be 12-10pm or 12-9pm (they've "revised it" since then because "after a few months' observation at our Haji Lane outlet, we have decided that due to a small number of customers during the time period of 12pm-1pm and from 8pm-10pm on weekdays, we are adjusting our working hours on weekdays to 1pm-8pm"), but then people told us that they saw sometimes the shop would be closed earlier than that. Sometimes as early as 7.45pm. And one time we were tending Vainpot, we wanted to go over and withdraw something from our rack, but saw that The Blogshop was closed at 6.20PM on a SATURDAY. Naturally, as a client, I'd be angry right?? No explanation for why it was closed so early! So we emailed Clarence about it:

we BCC-ed some other vendors we knew to inform them as well. I know it may seem like a "bitchy" thing for us to do, but I thought vendors deserved a right to know. This is rent they are paying. 1 hour plus of closure is money. Rent and potential sales. And look at the shitty short excuse, oh sorrrry I mean EXPLANATION, he gave. Anyway, with a shop as big as The Blogshop, should all the aircon units broke down or even if they did, I don't think it'd be that stuffy or hot. WELL, I believe at least not as hot as Vainpot when the aircon was down. And we didn't see a service man come. But apparently, Clarence said he fixed it himself. So I guess now I know who to look for if our aircon is spoilt. By the way, we didn't receive any mass email informing us about this sudden uninformed closure, so I'm assuming some vendors are still in the dark about this.

So as I was saying, I felt very indignant because I don't feel we're such bad people that we deserve this kind of treatment, especially not when we're the clients. We have been portrayed to seem like the evil pair when we unlike others, didn't do anything to hurt anyone. Our conscience is clear, clear as crystal can?! But now after I've thought through it, I decided these people are not worth my emotions at all. Their low and, in my opinion, despicable ways are not worth me getting worked up over. I write this entry not even feeling as pissed anymore. It's kinda sickening they have taken up 2 entries of my blog but it's worth it if it'll make other blogshops reconsider when they want to rent a rack from The Blogshop. I'll write more when I have the time. I'm so tired from work and I'm still prepping photos for the next collection. It's such a huge collection I don't think I can ever finish -.-"

it was a business trip

2010-07-10T18:01:00.003+08:00

hello world. it felt like such a looong week at work. i actually brought work back to do but i haven't started on it. i should really do it tonight before the pre-collection frenzy begins tomorrow. last weekend WY and i went to bkk for a sourcing trip! i hope the new collection doesn't disappoint hehe. i likey likey all the slouchy shirts i tiaoooo u.

anyways, it was one crazy trip but kinda fun! haha MUST HAVE NEXT TRIP WITH TRISHIEPOOTPOOT. anyway it was supposed to be a business trip right. i think WY ended up having way more loot than me -.- no fair.

pre-flight!

as you can tell...by the end of the trip, we went crazy cos' we were toooooo tired. look like CRAPXzXxsS as well hahahaha

i want to go for facial. any recommendations?

why i don't sleep at night

2010-06-28T20:27:00.003+08:00

wahahahahaa black face. Bought like a few packs of these Active black masks after Tricia's recommendation. LOL and I just sent her this photo. Hope she saw it on her iPhone and got a shock.

Haven't had time to update since I started my internship. Last week almost everyday after work I had something on. So by the time I reach home, I just crash. I think I must be really stressed out handling everything recently. I've been sleep talking. It's so horrible, cos' I believe that's why I feel so drained in the morning. What with all the nonsensical dreams and trashing about in bed. Though the one who prolly suffers the most is WY and not me because he has to face my "wrath" at night if we have sleepovers. Apparently last week, I went to bed before he did, and when he was about to sleep, I suddenly opened my eyes damn wide and stared at him. HAHA I imagine it's as scary as the face up there. Anyway the funny thing was, I actually said "SO?!" And I've realised my secret abusive tendencies as well cos when he tried to cover me with blanket, I flung the blanket away and whacked him (accidentally). I don't remember any of this at all but wasn't surprised when he told me about it the next day cos' I remember dreaming that he didn't want me anymore haha. And that's just one incident of many. Any sleep therapists out there?

Okay I need to start replying emails now cos WY's out.

Rant..Part 1.

2010-06-13T22:01:00.004+08:00

It was a good Sunday at VAINPOT. Aircon was good, sales was not bad, and I found a new game on Facebook!!! I'm now newly obsessed with building My Empire hohoho. But it's sickening cos' I've to add neighbours and I don't know who plays My Empire as well, so please do me a favour and add meeeeee if you do!

But of course, what better way to top off my good day by being upsetted by The Blogshop again. Those who follow my twitter would know that some time back I was pretty unhappy with TBS. I will not begin to bore with the details of every bad experience I've had with them, but just needed to rant about today because it's been 2+ hours since I've gotten home from the Haji Lane and my blood's still boiling.

So as you all would know, MMTP has 2 racks with them - Fareast Plaza (FEP) and Haji Lane. At the beginning, before we signed the contract for FEP, one of our concerns was the topping up of stocks there. Having a rack at Haji and then another at FEP, we thought it'd be tiring and troublesome for us to have to top up separately and make trips to both Orchard and Haji. So, according to both WY's and my memory (which MAY fail us like how Clarence's has - that, I'll explain further on), Clarence from TBS persuaded us to take on the FEP rack by agreeing he'll be able to transport for us the stocks to FEP from Haji. Simply put, weekly, we top up at Haji for BOTH Haji and FEP, and he'll bring down our stocks for FEP later on. Furthermore, FEP does not have the labelling machine, which prints out the barcode/prices for each item. So it's kinda stupid, but we have to bring our things FROM HOME to Haji Lane to TAG/BARCODE/LABEL, and then LUG IT OVER to FEP to be DISPLAYED.

BUT anyway today, WY asked him when our stocks will be brought over to FEP. Surprise surprise. First, Clarence says something like,"Oh your stocks are there? I didn't know you have stocks there." Yes have been there about a week. "Can you bring it down yourself to FEP?" No. It's too troublesome because we don't drive nowadays and we always tag at Haji Lane because FEP DOESN'T HAVE A LABELLING MACHINE, so it's really silly if we have to bring it to Haji, and then bring it over again ourselves to FEP. And then he goes on to tell us how early on when he used to transport our clothes over to FEP, it was merely a favour done "out of goodwill". So of course we argue it was what he had agreed to previously, and he says "I don't remember" saying that (please x-ref back to when I mentioned how my memory might fail me).

Like...WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? "I don't REMEMBER"???!?!?!?!!?

And he proceeds to send us a SMS that we received shortly after leaving Haji:
"Sorry matt, I've been doing it as a favor for you, so don't keep using everything I've been helping you with as my obligation to serve you. I won't be transporting your stuff for you any further so please make arrangements to remove them from tbs haji and bring them over to tbs fep yourselves, like everyone else. I won't be doing any more favors for you, so do stick to your wed and sun topup days. It won't be long till the end of your contracts anyway. Thanks"

Seriously? Now that he doesn't give two hoots about us, what we deemed to be an agreement has now become a favour we were supposed to be grateful for. Oh dear oh dear, what ingrates we are. Gosh, I kinda for that moment forgot that we are actually clients of TBS.

I cannot finish ranting, really. There are so many other things I could, and SHOULD say about them, but it'll have to wait. War is still going on at the moment over YET ANOTHER issue and if it doesn't come to a good close, this blog shall hear from me again. I've not been so mad in YEARS. Anyway, everything I've said is from my memory, whether trustworthy or not is up to you to decide, because as you all should know by now, our memory DO fail us from time to time (needless to say, especially when it matters most). I'm just ranting, like everyone does thanks to Web 2.0. Anyhow, it's all our fault la huh. For being too trusting and naive. Oh yes and of course for taking Clarence's "goodwill" forgranted. We ought to be shot.

and so it begins.

2010-06-12T17:06:00.008+08:00

Our official opening was last Saturday. Time somehow passes so quickly when you're not studying. So anyway, it was the eve of my birthday as well, and WY had a surprise planned for me..which wasn't really super surprising because he was being so silly-ly obvious about it haha. My friends were hiding in the fitting room and behind the clothes as I came up the stairs into Vainpot but it was really funny because I spotted feet! THANK YOU friends for coming down :)

apparently this was taken while everyone was waiting for my grand arrival HAHA

came in wearing my spag top and shorts...cui!

changed into this maxi dress from VAINPOT...and then received a sms from Tricia that she's wearing the same maxi!!! so i'd to rush over to TBS to withdraw the polka dot shift dress instead hahaha super kuku.

And then it was busy busy busy day! Grand opening was such an experience., I've never seen such a crowd in the shop before and people didn't stop streaming in for hours. Happy much really, save for the terrible airconditioning, which needs fixing cos' it's impossibly warm on hot days and only cool on rainy days!

this photo is mad love. credits to Isk..who's the one in the reflection.

GUESS WHO DID THE SIGNS??? Ahemahem, nice right.

friends, family and crowd!!!

i can't believe this is our ONLY group photo that day.

the snacks that no one took..oops.

& lastly, the best friend who came despite a broken leg!

Super exhausted by evening and the place was quite a mess by then. Ended up leaving only about 10plus because we'd to do accounts, but it was so worth it! Never thought we'd have this "dream come true" so soon, and for that really have to thank TRICIA ONGGGGGGG :)) THANK YOU you crazy girl, and your dad especially for alllll the hard work he's put in for us! We can do it!!! Expansion plans, especially for Mikal and Matt hor! hahahaha.

This will be my last week working at Vainpot because I'll be starting my internship on the 21st. Phew. It's really been quite a bit of new going-ons for me since I've been back from exchange. Been presented a few opportunities here and there, all of which I really have to be grateful for. Thank you big guy up there looking out for me :)

vainpot - you, admit it!

2010-05-25T18:33:00.004+08:00

have ignored this space for too long! anyway many much new happening things in my life right now. as most of you might already know, WY and I are finally opening a shop!!!!!!! freaking exciting can?! it's a collaboration between Tricia's VAINGLORIOUSYOU and our MOMOTEAPOTS, thus the name VAINPOT. Kudos to Tricia for the ingenious name haha. Have spent the last 2 weeks fussing about the store, giving it a total extreme makeover!

finally done painting. cream looked surprisingly yummy with the royal purple carpet!

worked till 5.30am packing the shop, cleaning, vaccuuming and tagging.

thank you sharon for the flowers!! :) on the first day of business!

us three

they came to visit before kayan went back to HK!

another one of our residents here teehee. if you all get to visit Vainpot, she's not a little toy. she's Tricia's new love, TINTIN :D and that little bear is our present for her! it's her boyfriend now

This coming Saturday (5th June) is our opening. What a way to celebrate my birthday in advance right? Heh. Please do drop by! There'll be music, food...and SHOPPING! More details later on, so add us on facebook to find out more.

It's been 2 long weeks. Seemed quite some time back when Trish and us first decided so spontaneously to get this shop going, or how we even became friends in the first place. And then it was a mad mad rush to finish the painting, multiple trips to IKEA to furnish the shop, loooong nights settling the accounts, falling terribly sick, in between rushing out our online posts, handling the racks..and finally a breather. I can't believe it's already been a week since we started business! Now for the grand opening :)

and when i woke, i thought i still had your hand in mine

2010-05-02T17:01:00.006+08:00

YES hell is over. Have occupied my post-exam days with momoteapots. We've just launched here here here, go see! Kept a few items, including the Stripey Midi Dress, Garden Floral Waisted Dress and Crossback Ruched Bust Top for myself (teeheechuckleguilty).

So anyway...I mentioned there was no anniversary celebration, but someone keeps pressing me to post a more updated version of 200410. Eventually, instead of me preparing the picnic, boyf "surprised" me at night with his picnic basket...and the car to bring us to Marina Barrage! See, the original plan was for me to bring HIM and we were going to take the train and in the afternoon. Phototaking at night is horrible as you will see later.

chocolate cake which we never got to try and i never saw again...must have disappeared in my fridge. picnic basket contains: imitation soggy oily seaweed shaker fries, favourite calbee hot&spicy chips, strawberry green tea, yakult, random chocolate cake, and a purple heart swelled up with loooove.

am very sad, mom made me shift the bed back to its original position and i didn't even take a photo of its short-lived residence next to the window! anyway, grouchy sleepy me before heading out and sipping on yucky bubble tea that comes in the picnic basket.

i have to say this, LOOK!!! Look how sharp my photo of WY is and his of mine. WY you suck >(

Rest of the days during study+exam week were spent on study dates, occasionally shopping at our suppliers' for some kind of relief and...hoping Bangkok would quit being so chaotic! I had no exciting plan for the summer break except for Bangkok. Rawrgghghghsaad. Now, only a semi-confirmed Special Term, which is not much to look forward to at all. Sigh. K-Box anyone?

some time last week: lunch break from mugging before heading to haji lane to stock in!

Facebook is evil. It has firstly, got me obsessed over harvesting my plants and petting my sheep and chicken in Country story. And secondly, splashed all over my news feed are photos of dear friends in Europe now on exchange and the weather looks gloriously sunny! I'm so envious of V and D going to support a Bayern Muenchen soccer match..that got into Champion's League (so I heard)! Finally had time to skype with them, and the juicy news/gossip I've missed out on!!! I feel so detached, and yesterday after calling Eri and having a long chat with V, I really yearned to be back in Europe. I so miss the snow, cooking/chillout nights, going to Stammtisch and dissing the DJ and hating the lights, walking home alone at night and taking in the quiet beauty of Studentenstadt. Most of all, long to be there with my friends. They always said that exchange would be like a dream in retrospect and that is so true.

i am a lady in Spain

2010-04-27T01:27:00.002+08:00

am currently hooked on this song because i heard it again on isk's tumblr. yes it's ingrid michaelson again. she's awe-mazing really.

I am a lady in Spain
I'll sing a haunting refrain
I am a lady from Mars
And I can unscrew the stars
I can be anything that I see
I can be anything that I, anything that I see

I am in love with a boy
Manufactured to destroy
So I shall unravel my love
Like an old red woolen glove

I can do anything I want to
I can do anything I want, anything my heart tells me to do
Tells me to do
Tells me to do

my mind's so tired, but i'm terribly awake because WY went down to buy me coffee. the power of coffeeshop coffee! okay back to preparing for tomorrow's paper, bye

2010-04-20T11:55:00.001+08:00

no anniversary plans afterall because someone decided to spoil his own surprise again!

muggggg.

oh no! last week of the sem

2010-04-18T15:36:00.006+08:00

So we went for Hanabi japanese buffet on Friday after our mugging date at FEP right? Here are the photos! But first, pre-buffet photos.

check out my awfully cute icons! haha i learnt to do it few weeks back from Tammy (Ohsofickle)'s blog. found a teapot for my MMTP folder, but it's red. i want a blue one!

matching Macs - Pro V.S ...non pro? And my culture industries notes.

a trip to FEP wouldn't be complete without a visit to our rack at The Blogshop of course. itchy fingers us have to go there and obsessively rearrange our racks. the new stocks were brought down that day as well so here are some goodies that you all can expect after my exams (if we still have stocks left at home)! please pardon my retarded face.

and then..it rained. Such a horrible weather! It was damp and humid. Imagine all this wetness and being hugged by hot air. I felt so sticky and annoyed by all the rain. Definitely not a day for a maxi dress, but lucky I wore a belt. Traffic was terrible as well. We waited for 171 about half an hour, and it was terribly squeezy at peak hour. Felt so relieved to finally reach Hanabi!

WY deciding from the wideeee selection of food

from l to r: Sashimi Moriawase (hamachi, tai, maguro, sake, tako), salmon&salmon skin handroll + spider handroll, unagi sushi, (in background) pork belly with kimchi

i like WY's doc marts! feel like getting a pair too, but think i won't wear it out as often. sigh. anyway i should have bought at portobello market in London when it was much cheaper.

Chawanmushi, cheese fishcake, agedashi tofu are must-trys too! Totally got back our money's worth from the amount of sashimi we ordered. We reached Hanabi at 6pm while his family came at about 7plus, and we sat there till 8.30pm. I tell you, I think my food's still not digested up till now! Had tummyache from indigestion! WY and I were both sleeping that night in sweat and discomfort. I know I know, serve us right for gorging ourselves. We went back to his place after that and ate more can you believe it. His brother bought Durian Oreo Cake from Goodwood Park Hotel. Super yummy!!!

no candles for the boy who hates blowing candles and birthday cake celebrations

Anyway WY and I tried the circle line yesterday. It was the opening and surprisingly very crowded and fastttttt. Paya Lebar to Bishan - 13 minutes! They should have a line which links Tampines to YCK. Sometimes I do think how far apart you stay matters in a relationship. And I bought two new clothes from my suppliers yesterday. Wish I'd stop feeling so tempted to steal these clothes from our collections for myself, but I guess like what WY says, if I don't wear the clothes then why sell it!

Okay, I've just organised all my Culture Industries notes in a file, and it's unbelievably heavy. The horror of reading that whole stack! Need to go out and study everyday next week. The weather's too unbearable, and home's an oven.

photobooth madness

2010-04-16T15:41:00.003+08:00

WY and I are at Old Town White Coffee (FEP) trying to study. We're going to have a pre-birthday celebration for him at Hanabi later with his family. Eggciting much! Haven't had Jap buffet in a while now. (I really should shut up about my love for food. Makes me seem like such a pig. )

Am officially done with this semester's classes. Although next week's supposed to be reading week, think I won't be reading much because I still have an assignment to hand in on WY's birthday. This is sucky news. I shall aim to finish it on Monday so I have time to plan his birthday and our 3rd year outing and still have time to mug as well. I hate the way I keep complaining about how busy I've been since I came back from Germany. And the weather is making me highly irritable these days! I sweat in my sleep and wake up at least 5 times a night for unknown reasons. I believe I am secretly very stressed out. "Secretly" because it doesn't seem to show. Or maybe it does! From the weight I've been putting on because of my constant feasting, and the black pouches under my eyes.

So. Photobooth relieves stress!

this is very funny. WY looks like he has a dimple on his right cheek, but it is in fact..........a giant pimple.

okay back to mugging. Bye.

mirror mirror on the wall

2010-04-13T18:24:00.004+08:00

credits: Nadiac

I think I've a thing for apples these days. I really like this photo too.

poison apple?

2010-04-12T21:11:00.008+08:00

Have just sent 450D for repair. When it's done, I should bring it out more often and learn to use the damn camera to take bee-oo-tee-foo photos! This week is the "last" week of school. 3 more weeks till school's out for real, can't wait. Plans for the hols are 102% unconfirmed and I've nothing forward to look forward to except Jap buffet with Zhu and Bev. Next week's WY's birthday and our 3 years anniversary. Exams always fall during such bad timing. bleah.

Cannot stop staring at my current wallpaper.

food..again?!

2010-04-06T10:18:00.010+08:00

like my new layout? haha. i remember when i used to have diary-x, one of my favourite things to do is to make diary templates. Zhu and i even used to have a site where we posted our designs and people would grab and comment on them. aye, i miss diary-x. it's so much more personal and versatile. plus, that was when i first started writing. was so devastated when diary-x crashed. oh well. anyway i've lost my touch with these html thingums. don't know how they work anymore!

just launched a new post on momoteapots. this collection was with Dingxuan, the crazy crazy girl. it was a super long photoshoot for WY and i, cos' we started at 9am, went for lunch break and then met Dingxuan at 1plus to continue. but nevertheless, it was a fun one!

yay going for Nanxiang lunch!!! and decided to camwhore on the way

i suspect this cat is pregnant

crab roe xiao long bao! i'd stick to the normal ones instead. cheaper and taste about the same.

sour and spicy soup la mian - do not order! it's not spicy...at all. in fact it's very bland!

golden fried rice...so-so. the whole meal was so-so only! disappointing :(

we are such pigs, we went to MoF for dessert after lunch.

favouritest matcha icecream with redbean and dumplings

fried yam + sweet potato with soft serve ice cream

emo momo

back at the photoshoot...i think i look ultra fat and dumpy here!

WY hard at work tagging our clothes for the racks

bought bubble tea for us, and ended up knocking it over. i know, i'm such a klutz! and instead, Dingxuan had to clean up for me hahahahah

in the evening we had dinner at WY's place cos' they had prayers earlier in the day so there was a lot of good food! :)

i love soup i love soup i love soup! chicken wings were damn yummy as well

i realised... blogspot makes my photos look so awful! they look so good on iPhoto. i should be diligent, and upload them to flickr next time round. maybe i should collage them then it wouldn't be as troublesome.

it's soon going to be the last week of school. how time flies the days after Munich. i haven't had time to reply Valentines' messages, and i feel extremely guilty about it. i hope once i'm done with the cursed exams, i'll be able to sit down and have a good skype chat with her/dilara/eri. sometimes it feels so surreal, like exchange never happened. at times, they'll tag me in some of their photos, and it'd feel like i've never really been there before, or perhaps i did, but only in one of my dreams. i vaguely remember the snow, the dancing, the quiet historicum library which looks out on the school's backyard, but it all seems so far away now. sigh, i miss Europe.

food porn

2010-03-20T15:58:00.007+08:00

i realised one of my favourite things to do on this blog is to talk about food. i love eating and learning about new good food places, so please recommend me if you know of any. of course jap and chinese food are my favourite, but i try almost everything else. sometimes i think i'm a rubbish bin. i believe i eat the most at WY's place, and it's kinda embarrassing.

so anyways, this is going to be another food post.

second time eating at Munchie Monkeys though i've been in NUS 3 years. we had the soft shell crab pasta, one of the Valentine's Day set (though Vday was long over), which was pretty worth the money, plus it was really good! on the contrary, the vienna pizza was okay only.

because WY is studying at the bukit timah campus, i go there quite often now to look for him or study there. at least all the benches there are in air-conditioned locations! in KRC, the only place with aircon to study is the library, and Central Library is always so packed. and there's Island Creamery near BTC, in SERENE center! Teh Tarik and Reverse-O tastes heavenly i tell you! We tried nutella flavour the last time..but it was so-so. Reverse-O ftw.

and just few days ago, WY's parents treated us to dinner at Pu Tien. the food was unlike usual chinese restaurants, very interesting and yummy. especially love the desserts and the fried honey yam cubes.

i wish i had time to update more meaningful posts than just pure narration of what happened on my certain boring days. i think i've lost the flair to write, if it is something you could lose. either that, or i'm just like one of those people i heard on 93.8 live that day. it was something i heard in the morning and i was just telling it to Jien on msn.

so they said, there are some people, in fact a great number of us, who do not leverage on our strengths in accomplishing things in our lives for such reasons as low self worth and lack of confidence. as a result, we admit our weaknesses and by doing that, we're actually kinda hoping it'll mask the fact that we're too lazy or too afraid to use our strengths, for fear if we use it, we'll fail ourselves and people who have expectations of us and our strengths. and when i heard that, i was like,"shit, this sounds so freaking familiar." and i could imagine myself faced with some challenging task with my first instinct saying,"oh i'm not good/smart/diligent enough to do that." and which explains why, i'm not very good with accepting compliments.

sigh, and the guy on 93.8 live also said, these people will then lead very unfulfilling lives. so all these excuses i've gotta get rid of and do something!!! wake up wake up wake up.

when life gives you lemons, demand watermelons.

2010-03-19T23:12:00.007+08:00

i have been failing miserably on my exercise regime. only exercised TWICE in the past month. ich bin ein Schweinchen. i feel so unhealthy really! plus these days i've been so busy, i always need to take a quick nap when i reach home around evening time. and i take my nap AFTER dinner, not giving my lousy tummy any time to digest, and wake up feeling horrible and fatty, not to mention the indigestion ache that comes with it. bleagh.

we had another photoshoot yesterday. we're trying out a new model! don't ask me why. it was just a decision we came to very suddenly but after many months of talking about it. okay the last sentence was very ironic. oh well. i (and i bet WY + everyone else too) am so sick of seeing my face on MMTP. self worth issues ok?! (note to: gee ern) haha. anyway our new model's Clara, whom we met at Fashion in the Sky. her mom and aunt bought clothes from us at the FITS bazaar, which was how we got to know her. anyway Clara's super pretty!! hope response for this MMTP post is good!

it's time to redye my hair. the other day during Research for Comm Management lecture, we were given an assignment, where we had to go out and observe some people. and my group mate john said, "I observe...everyone with spectacles have black rimmed frames. and girls have make up. and girls with dyed hair in the room have their black roots growing out!" and i looked at him in horror because i suddenly felt so self conscious of my two-toned ah lian hair!!! hahaha i need a DIY dye recommendation!

i miss my black hair!! and i've definitely put on weight since i've been back.

my future seems terribly uncertain, and my heart's just scattered all over the place.

busy bee

2010-03-13T20:53:00.008+08:00

hello world,

it's busy busy busy busy busy week(s). i think since i've been back, that's all i've been saying. i think that's life of a Singaporean. i gotta stop whining about being so busy and embrace my mad hatter's life!

i need to finish an essay by Tuesday, but i am hoping to finish it by tomorrow so i can spend Monday refining it and doing my projects. the module is Culture Industries, and i've decided to write on chick lit. but i'm so smart, i threw away my chick lit readings from my course in Germany so now i've no materials. plus there's not much substantial literature on chick lit, because it hasn't been as explored as topics like reality TV or Star wars as a cultural product for example. i'm going crazy cos' i can't find an angle to write on. i'm directionless, a situation i always find myself in.

just posted a new collection on momoteapots and emails are trickling in very slowly because i've just changed the mailing list system to Bravenet (recommended by SK! thanks!). previously, Gmail banned like 6 of our accounts, because our mass email to our mailing listees were regarded as SPAM. as a result, about 100-200 emails per account bounced back?! and top it all off with a bitter rotten cherry, all those accounts got disabled by Gmail. RARRRHHH. i had to re-setup my gmail mailing accounts, and then re-add alllllll my subscribers to the Bravenet system. and because Bravenet has this "double opt-in" policy, we have to wait for subscribers to confirm their email before they can receive our mails :( so...i suspect we only managed to reach out to about 200+ people with the news on our update this evening. am very sad but have no choice.

last week we were at Fashion in the Sky, an event organised by pretty amazing people :) It was a fashion show + bazaar to showcase local designers and blogshops! it was very awesome! check out the photos of our booth and our models! heh. Jien and Liming came to visit us and i met a few friends there as well. the heat that day was awful baking hot! i was in such a bad mood initially, plus i fell down carrying the luggage to the rooftop (big fat bruise still on my knee) then WY and I decided to brave the heat to walk to Plaza Sing and get...BUBBLE TEA! we've discovered a new flavour that's yumsome i tell you (thanks to momogoh). try Strawberry Green Tea!

the pretty Serena, Becky, Qian Li (from L-R) in our Alexander Wang Maxi, Sylvia's mod asymmetrical, tube jumper + matt sequin blazer! :)

it was super crowded!

becky! this picture just doesn't do her justice cos my camera was kinda malfunctioning!!

Qian Li :)

felt so proud of MMTP watching them walk round the pool with our designs :)

am Skype-ing with WY now. he's at his grandma's house while i'm lying down on my bed looking pretty crappy and his little cousin said,"she looks like she's sick!" hahaha. he's going to kill me for putting the next photo, because he looks like mr. chubbyfats there.

Skype is the most awesome software ever.

okayyy chick lit calls, bye!

NO wait! i need to share with you all this video of one of the most awesome musicals ever. been hooked on it since Siying facebook-ed about her just watching it in London. am missing much the Europe days :( i wish i watched more musicals when i was in London though.

see the gloves on my lap? after i entered the theatre, i realised one side was missing. and when we went out to look for it again it was gone. can't believe i took a photo of the moment it went missing. hahaha

you're why i am.

2010-03-01T23:27:00.004+08:00

thank you you loverboy ♥ for every little thing that you do, that i may not know because i'm silly and too stubborn to realise.

serene ftw!

2010-02-25T21:58:00.005+08:00

HAH i have to mark this moment. serene has just exercised! :O half an hour okay, not bad! 2xlength of park connector, plus very little crunches and sit ups, plus climbing up 9 levels home! always feel quite good when i finally get my ass down to exercising, but that's always the furthest i get. i can never bring myself do it regularly. sooo, i shall write it here for all of you to be witnesses. and the next time you see me you can ask me whether i've kept up with my "exercise regime". Lol. i always feel so sucky when people assume i'm a very sporty person (credits to the naturally tanned skin), when in fact i am anything but. the only exercise i really get is from shopping at my supplier's because i kinda walk for an extended length of time each week. haha i knowwww i sound so pathetic. i remember this one time when i was at WY's house, we decided to go running together. we didn't know how long we were out jogging, but it was very tiring because there many bumps and upslopes in his estate (yes i'm being very defensive). so when we came home, his mom actually asked us,"oh, did you all forget to take something?" hahaha so i reckon we were out for barely 5 minutes. SIGH. it's so hard to be healthy and maintain your weight when your boyf is always bringing you out for good food! before Germany, i think the both of us were very chubby. people kept telling us so :( eat, sit, shopping, eat, sleep = hobby.

so on the topic of food (my favourite), went for dim sum near my grandma's place before CNY with my parents! (jo if you're reading this, i'm waiting for you to be back to go for supper!) it's the (i think) famous dim sum at Geylang.

when i was taking a photo of this, my mom said "tourist ah?" haha

fried chicken wing and fried yam fritters are super yums!

and also, i finally tried the raved xiao long bao from nan xiang! xiao long baos ftw (i don't know why is "ftw" so popular these days). i think i've never tried xiao long bao with so much soup! but i think the soup at Imperial Treasure is tastier :) really wanted to try their giant xiao long bao though, but we weren't sure how to eat it. i heard on the radio that you only drink the soup cos' you're not supposed to eat the skin and meat. why?! hmmm food for thought, literally.

ordered a 2person lunch set which included zha jiang mian, 2 types of paus, xiao long bao, fried rice, drunken chicken. quite worth it!

okay enough about food. need to do media monitoring. sigh.

year of Tiger - rawrrr.

2010-02-17T13:57:00.005+08:00

happy chinese new year everyone :) today's the fourth day of new year, and most people are back to work/school 'cept for NUS students, cos' it's recess week for us (evil evil evil plot!!!). i bet everyone says the same thing for CNY, that they eat so much they must have put on a lot a lot of weight. and i'm no exception! seriously. the amount i've eaten is absolutely obscene. and it's very sad because i didn't feast much on the CNY goodies. this year, places i visit have like dinner/lunch provided, so i eat full meals! on chu yi (first day), i had 5 meals! FIVEEEE. not including the goodies.

anyway the weather was so warm and humid this year. visiting was a little tiring cos' i was sweating so much. oh and this year was a little different, cos' i think i visited more friends than relatives. went to Cheryl's and Zhu's place on chu er. had a good time catching up on old times :) Zhu finally returned me my autograph book from SEC 4! reading it after 6 years is simply hilarious. sighhh how time flies. it's already the third CNY with WY. lost a bit of money gambling with his cousins this year haha.

playing around with Zhu's holga flash/filter. i like this photo!

my favourite hall neighbours :) missing Yvonne though!

at WY's grandma's place

all the girls/women at his grandma's place. i felt like a giant!

so visiting is about over. gotta start mugging for the midterm tests and slog for the projects. sad sad much. am hoping to go Bangkok this May/June!!! if i get to go, then i'll have something to look forward to end of this semester!

oh happy days!

2010-02-09T12:37:00.007+08:00

just did a new banner for momoteapots website and i think it's pretty dandy :) i changed it again because WY and prolly 1000 other people think the previous one was fugly. sigh. now i've to change the last chance post as well. aye that will have to wait.

i've 1001 deadlines this week and 1001 projects. damn NUS, arranged recess week to be during Chinese New Year, so everything feels like such a mad rush. i was so excited about CNY and now, i haven't got time to feel excited because of the endless work. i'm not catching up, it's scary. and i feel tired throughout the day. lethargic's a better word.

also, i really want to upload some Europe photos but i'm a priss. i can't do so without first organising and then editing all of them first! yup procrastinator number 1 - that is yours truly.

anyway happy bits of life that has happened in the last 2 weeks:

♥ One of our suppliers, Sharon, gave me a box of cadbury chocolates when I first visited her after Germany. mom keeps saying that they (suppliers) should do so because we're bringing them a lot of business, but i still find it really nice of her, and shall not think it's just part of the business transaction.

♥ The Blogshop at FEP opened for business! and business has been kinda great for MMTP! :) and i realised i really kinda like being a salesgirl. hah.

up to 70% sale! our rack's on the right :)

obsessive MMTP owners who just had to organise the apparels by color.

♥ i've got a new room! spent the few weeks i've been back shopping with mom and dad for new furniture and trying hard to convince them to let me shift the bed next to the window. it was super disgusting trying to remove the old platform bed i tell you. the wood was damp and rotting when we (okay brother and dad not me, i was busy "yucking" and taking photos) knocked it out that day! and it was impossible to fit it into the lift, so to dispose of it, we had to go down 9 levels by the stairs. will take a photo of my new room later on! it's super conducive for sleeping and erm maybe working now!

YUCK RIGHT?!

♥ CNY GOODIES! oh gosh, any weight loss in Europe is now officially put back on!!! the other day i was at WY's house, i had such a hard time resisting the almond cookies and pineapple tarts. i'm not a fan of ba kua (barbequed pork?) but omg, i'm a sucker for almond cookies and pineapple tarts.

♥ finally satisfied my craving for sashimi! last wednesday, WY brought me to Sakuraya Sashimi House at Village Center. apparently it's quite popular for its very fresh sashimi :) you gotta go to the counter choose the sashimi yourself. a little expensive, but it's worth the money! cos' we had like 18 medium slices and it was about 18 bucks. i mean the last time we found cheap and good sashimi, it was at Wasabi Tei (which is now no more :(). everywhere else, it's expensive and not as good. so, i recommend Sakuraya!

i was in the midst of showing a very contented face. now it looks contrived -.- oh and see the lady behind, she's German! i got a little excited cos i heard her speaking german with her friend. haha

california maki and una don (which wasn't so nice. nothing beats the one at Wasabi Tei!!)

okay enough for now i suppose! now...project :(

sugar rush

2010-01-28T22:56:00.005+08:00

phew, everything's been such a mad rush this week since i've been back. yes! for those of you who haven't seen me (and the drastic change in my looks which i'll explain later) in school or wherever yet, I'M BACK!!! i've been constantly on the move the past 4 days, with school starting and catching up with friends, and then checking out the racks, photoshoot and now busy editing the photos to prepare for our new post! really hope to post it up by tomorrow.

anyway on me being back, i came back quite unexpectedly (especially for my parents). they asked me few weeks ago when i'd be back actually, to which i replied "end of the month". but, they didn't ask me exactly when! and so when they called up WY and asked him if i was going to be back on 31st, WY thought i lied to them so as to surprise them. so i did. they were kinda mad at me for not contacting them at all the days before i came back (because i was in Spain actually) but i guess the surprise really offset their anger! hehe it was kinda funny my mom didn't recognise me even when i was right at the doorstep.

today i went to Zamzam with Zhu and Bev to "drink" our favourite curry, shared stories on our exchange, gossiped a little and exchanged gifts. it feels like nothing much has changed, yet quietly i think we're a little more grown up and..i don't know, just a little different. in a good way of course. 5 months ain't so long, but it could do so much. After the very late lunch, we went for Ah Chew's dessert! Mango sago tasted too coconuty today, and the aloe vera strawberry wasn't very worth its price i thought. somehow food standards have dropped! Like, Jien and i met up to go for Sushitei in the evening and salmon sashimi tasted mushy. Hmmm.

mutton murtabak, meehoon-mee goreng and chicken briyani

mango sago with pomelo

posing with my car. hahaha joking. wanted to take a photo with MMTP's new manufactured piece

jien says i've acquired Germans' sense of humour, i.e. not funny. so don't mind me, i'm still trying to tune back. anyway i'm supposed to explain my hair. i love the hairstyle, cos the Aunty always does a good job with it, BUT she cheated me on the hair color. initially i chose this dark reddish brown, and she said (in chinese),"Aiyo girl, this one I tell you, not obvious one, cannot see. Must stand under sunlight then can see!" blahblahblah and i ended up choosing the lighter color being convinced that this was one lousy dye that shows up darker than it seems to be. and when it turned out this BRIGHT red i was very upset, and she said,"Aiyah nevermind, you wash a few more times it'll become brown already!"

"Must wash how many times?!?!"

"About one week can already!"

Sigh. i was soooo upset that i bought Revlon's dark brown dye to try and cover it up, but as you can see in the photos above......the dye sucks! Now I've gotta apply eyeliner to school everyday, so i don't look like an "ah lian" with shocking red hair. at least if i've some appropriate make up on, it looks like this IS the look i'm trying to achieve. hahaha i'm just trying to comfort myself. well, at least one person thinks it's cool.

i had MMTP photoshoot on Tuesday night with the best friend. it was damn fun! i mean a lot of the photos were quite rubbish...but as i was reviewing it today and yesterday, i couldn't stop laughing. shall share our totally ridiculous photos here.

the height difference always amuses me.

me: "oh look, tummy!"

kim: "WOW!"

me: "wth?"

kim: (as she says) *in the midst of rearranging her expression

mad rush

2010-01-19T21:15:00.003+08:00

within one day i have to:

exmatriculate (as the Germans call it)

get my transcript done

close my bank account

cancel my insurance

unregister myself with the immigration office

hand in my lecture notes and have a mini-test

grab some more stuff from the supermarket

prepare for farewell dinner

and maybe go out at night if i'm not already dead tired from all the above

SIGH.

sleep-deprived.

2010-01-18T11:52:00.004+08:00

i'm tempted to update about christmas and new year's, but i really have to leave it till at least Wednesday or when i'm back in Singapore. so a picture a post will have to suffice for now.

i've been having really really bad sleep for what, a month now? if i don't get up at weird timings, i'd be rolling around in bed and be semi conscious for probably half my sleep time. say today, i slept at 9pm with an alarm for 6am because i've an exam later, but i woke up in panic at 1am because of sudden depressing thoughts that i have no time and no ability to accomplish the things i have to by the end of this MID WEEK (not even a whole week). i don't even know if i was dreaming or what. sigh it got me extremely awake, so i did some itinerary planning with Siying for Barcelona and have been msn-ing since Jien got to work.

i still have 4 more lectures for my exam later. i should be freaking out. it's in German, but it's the oral examination that really scares me. scheiße :(

sisters separated at the ends of the earth

2010-01-17T07:21:00.002+08:00

it's not "goodbye". it's "till we meet again".

poison and wine

2010-01-16T21:15:00.000+08:00

I'm on a roll I tell you! I spent whole of last night editing my new layout for blogspot, and WY suggested this morning that I should revamp MMTP too, so I woke up this morning at 11am, and have been on it since then! it's finally sort of done. what do you think of our new layout? I got new brushes today and was messing around with the colors and I think the results look quite good. Muahaha.

and this song is my new ear candy.

i should go shopping now but I've my exam on Monday. technically i only have 4-5 days left in Munich. starting to feel pangs of nostalgia when i'm not even gone yet.

tick tock tick tock

2010-01-11T05:50:00.000+08:00

yesterday i went to Olydisco with D and V. V only agreed to go because it's supposedly "serene's last party in München" which makes me veryhonouredthankyou. we stayed till 4plus, but the songs yesterday were boring, so every time our favourite songs played we went crazy, like you see in the photos below.

don't know what song but apparently i was EXTREMELY happy, which explains why you can probably see cavities in my very big mouth here.

i know you want me hahaha which they say is my song. and i know that because i'm obviously saying "uno" here lol

we met earlier today for apple strudel at this cafe near our school. it's a pity i didn't know of this place earlier because the ambience is great and it serves yummy apple strudel. anyway we chatted for a very long time, after which V and I went to macs for dinner. now that i'm home and going through the photos from today and yesterday, i can't help thinking how much i'll miss them when i go back. i was just telling Siying, i could have came here and met many international people and be friends with them, but the chances they are friends whom i'll still really talk to even wayyyyy after exchange would prolly be quite slim. so i've been really really lucky.

sigh, my countdown timer has started. and i feel a little more anxious each day. on one hand, i really can't wait to start my semester in NUS (which btw starts actually officially tomorrow) because i'm Ms. Motivated 2010, plus resume MMTP online business and start on our grand plans. on the other, leaving Munich and friends - place and people i honestly don't know when i could ever meet again! mixed feelings make me kind of nervous about departure day. my room is a total mess now, because i've been lazy since christmas and new year's travelling. and i think i'll be leaving it this way till packing day. see no point in being neat now. but because it's so dirty and messy, it makes me kinda depressed everytime i come home. yeah yeah i'm contradicting myself.

anyhow, very excited i managed to squeeze in one last trip with Siying!!!!!!!!!!! i'd have been crazy sad if i didn't get to go to Barcelona before i go back. just gotta figure how i'm going to manage weight limit with the new load of shopping from Spain. Haha!

we've got our love to pay the bills

2010-01-11T05:34:00.000+08:00

this reminds me of what WY and i sometimes or rather more recently talked about haha

oh lets get rich and buy our parents homes in the South of France
let's get rich and give everybody nice sweaters
and teach them how to dance
let's get rich and build our house on a mountain
making everybody look like ants
from way up there you and I, you and I, you and I

i love ingrid michaelson, especially during GA episodes <3>(if you all haven't watched one of my favourite episodes in GA - Cristina's wedding in Season 3 -GO WATCH IT! i think i've watched it...okay impossible to count-number of times. in that episode towards the end, ingrid michaelson's keep breathing plays and my heart really really aches for Cristina so i always end up tearing)

white magic

2010-01-09T22:43:00.001+08:00

my delights about winter

the cold
the snow the snow the snow
in the day - when i step out of my hostel, it's as if i've entered a whole new world altogether, carpeted with white lush
and i like walking on it in the mornings, take the longer route to the station just so i could leave my footsteps in the snow where no one else has yet
i love it when i see that overnight, people have made drawings on snow on other's cars
and this may sound damn silly, but when no one (or only when WY) is looking, i really love trying to catch snow flakes on my tongue
the satisfaction of stepping into the very very hot shower after being out for hours
i love knitted scarves and berets and because i could only wear them here and not in sunny summer Sg

and the not-so-delightful

the cold
snow flurries, which is really just annoying rain trying to be snow in your face
stepping into the very very cold bathroom before the water's turned on
stepping out of my very very hot shower into the room with lousy heating
having to put on 4 layers of clothing, and then take them off again. and you just can't do shopping properly without feeling exhausted from all the taking off and putting on

i think i'll still really miss winter, and exchange.

in a blink, i'll be home again.

2010-01-05T04:52:00.000+08:00

i'm going to be back in a few weeks' time. saying that time flies is not a cliché i realised. i can't bring myself to sum up the months i've been here. and i don't know where i could find the words anyway. there are always pictures for them, but it'll never be enough.

suddenly

2009-12-04T04:42:00.000+08:00

I feel so confused now. Application for internship here has been very very disappointing, and now I think I should rush back to NUS to do my 2nd semester afterall, because I've a new plan of actually doing Honours and some other plan to help that along, which I will elaborate more once I've decided what's my next step. You see now, I can take leave of absence for maybe 2-3 weeks (subject to approval) and then I can go back for Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day and WY's birthday and continue with MMTP and so on....it is kinda tempting but I just feel like I'm supposed to do more here! I mean I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to work overseas again, and I've always always always wanted to do so. Plus, when will I be able to come back to Europe again?? Confused much :( And I have to decide really soon, since LOA form has to be handed in asap, and I need to discuss with allllll my lecturers to work something out with the exams and I'm already kinda late so what if I don't get approval?! SIGH. I hate being so last minute.

on a happier note: Mom & Dad are coming tomorrow! I'm very excited to see them :) And then we're going to Vienna! Wheeeeee :D And just 5 more days till WY comes <3

exorbitant Zurich

2009-11-24T00:30:00.001+08:00

31 Oct 2009

Took a train down to Zurich, armed with Bratwurst baguettes and chocolate milk and of course Knoppers (which are like Hanuta, which is chocolate waffle biscuits, just that Knoppers have milk in between layers). 4 hours ride seemed so long, and I kept worrying that someone will come up to me and say hey that's my seat. The thing with these trains are you have to pay 2 euros to reserve a seat, or sometimes you find yourself standing 3 hours of the journey during peak hours. Not gonna pay that 2 euros unless it's a night train. My first memory of Zurich is this fat purple fairy in the central station that Cindy told me to meet Jo under. Too bad I don't have a picture of it! it's really fat and it's a fairy so it's floating with a wand or something above your head. And then, Zurich outside the central station is...not very impressive. It reminds me of Frankfurt really. Buildings, trams, grey.

The first day really passed with Jo and I doing nothing while waiting for Cindy to return. We however, had MARCHE. because we NEEDED to eat something Swiss, but everything else was too expensive. Who'd think that Marche here is cheaper than lousy Asian fried noodles (basically fried beehoon I could conjure up myself with little effort hah!) We had Rosti, for 7 francs, which is about SGD10 I suppose. Which is also probably 4 bucks more than what it is in Singapore! It's just potatoes seriously. and they served us cold ones. Eugh.

Rosti topped with loads of sour cream and some cream cheesy cake

at night we went to a club where they were having "Brit Night" so they played obviously brit music where I only knew Oasis and The Beatles -.- We merely paid entrance fee to watch people dress Brit and dance weird...or maybe it's a Brit style. It looks more like dramatic wayang/sadako dance moves. Hmmm. So this sums up our first day which as you can tell...very uneventful.

1 Nov 2009

the next day we brought Cindy for her FIRST MEAL OUT in Zurich, at this restaurant where she recommended. Can you catch the irony of that sentence? Anyway it was called Crazy Cow, and it is, as all restaurants in Zurich are, very expensive. Perhaps double that of Germany. And so we had a really delicious meat dish with the smoothest mashed potato I've ever tried, fish fingers which were ultra crispy and soft on the inside paired with potato cubes. I tell you the food was definitely worth the money! The only questionable thing we had was the Milkshake with alcohol. Hmmmm.

the three of us with our 20+ Francs per person meal

as I've mentioned, the questionable Milkshake.

they served the other table fries/wedges in mini shopping trolleys! how cute!

not Toblerone (which btw I didn't know, comes from Switzerland) but TOBLERTWO!

After the pocket draining meal, we went to the very touristy, popular chocolate outlets at the Hauptbahnhof Straße - Sprüngli & Merkur. And Sprüngli is actually famous for their Macarons! Of course being tourists, we're suckers for such stuff. We bought a box of assorted flavours. 15 pieces! Champagne, Raspberry, Chocolate, etc.

yummy Macarons!

their freshly made chocolate which is really much better than the packet ones. no wonder people always buy from places like Godiva.

since all the shops close at around 6pm, we went home early and made Cheese Fondue! It's very Swiss apparently. But thanks to Jo, we added a little too much white wine and it tasted VERY BAD. After dinner we went to a Halloween house party next door. We dressed up as goth chics. At least that's what we were supposed to be. Thing with monolid eyes, you gotta pile inches high of eyeliner/eyeshadow before it's even really visible, so don't need to mention trying to achieve gothic eyes. quite a failure. Jo is kawaiigal88 by the way, since she didn't have any black clothes. haha

best Radler ever - Rotehaus! Jo brought it from Konstanz!

the hosts decorated the house really well! look at the cut out bat. looks very effort!

2 Nov 2009

Last day for Jo. We cooked Chicken curry. We got the paste from an Asia supermarket near Cin's place. I got myself so many other instant mixes there as well! We actually even bought tang yuan (i.e. Glutinous rice dumpling) with Peanut filling. Anyway the curry ended up tasting like the Thai kind, it was more sweet than spicy or anything else I think.

i look like i haven't slept in years

After sending Jo off, Cin and I decided to go climb up the Top of Zurich!

i love this red tree near Cin's place! it's so artificially red, right? but it's not artificial. happy tree :)

just in case you needed proof..hehe. okay..we didn't really climb up. we took a train, and it was a 15 minutes walk. BUT we climbed down back to the city (photos below) and it was like ONE & HALF HOUR because we somehow lost our way

if it weren't so foggy in this photo, you could see the snow capped alps

climbing down through the "forest". somehow reminds you of Twilight right?!

and by the time we reached the city it was almost evening, so it was turning dark and we wanted to see more sights. so pardon the photos which seems a little grey and dim.

Limmat river

on a stone bench

Frau Münster, which we didn't get to visit (inside) because it was closed by the time we reached there! :( Anyway it's the first church built before 874.

and that's about it on Zurich.

i want your love and i want your revenge.

2009-11-22T03:32:00.000+08:00

okay i'm shamelessly addicted to this song/video. it's so hot! i mean i was no lady gaga fan, though her songs are so overplayed that i'm forced to somehow like them, but THIS, is wow. check out the costumes, it's crazzzz-eeee. my favourite's the polar bear fur coat. haha. and the shoes/set/costume/everything in 3:05! AND omg, those glasses in the first scene, are razor blade sunglasses my friend. anyway i thought it's nice to finally see her face naked and so upclose, plus i think this song is more meaningful that it may seem.

enough about Lady Gaga. i have...Zurich photos to upload. hopefully i'll do that tomorrow with a post. i finally went to Messestadt Ost's fleamarket today, and it's i think as big as Olympia Park's one. But the food here is cheaper, and somehow the goods seem cheaper as well?? i bought quite some stuff. in fact, i really wanted to go to the fleamarket because i broke my plate the other day while i was clearing some glass bottles. imagine how depressed i was. plus it was a plate i picked up at the "give away" section at my block's lobby. Okay it's not a "give away" section, but people always leave stuff they don't want there. i left my 2 bags, which were in very very bad condition after the months of relentless dumping, there as well. So anyway, nothing comes free in this world. you will break/spoil/tear them in the end. i'm digressing. hmm i bought 2 plates for 1 euro, a denim jacket for 2 euros, a vintage-looking black bag, and a cashmere pullover both for 4 euros each. shopping queen, seriously! and i found persimmon! so eri and i bought some. i don't know why i was so excited to see it.

so after the fleamarket, we went to search for the asian supermarkets and Rosenheimer Platz. took two wrong turns, so we really walked for quite a while. turns out that the area has 3 asia marts and i bought something from each, which explains the very delicious mee soto i had today with CHILLI PADI and beansprouts. i've finally satisfied my craving for chilli. i bought beansprouts only because it goes good with mee soto. normally, i hate the taste of beansprouts that are not cooked long enough and i had to pluck it for half an hour. bleagh. plus, it is apparently asian vegetable, so i just had to get it. haha.

can't believe it. we spent 6 hours shopping today! my back's hurting from all that walking and my very heavy loot. teehee. BIG PLANS FOR THE NEXT FEW WEEKS! and a presentation on Chick Lit - Lipstick Jungle. i'm totally not cut out for lit anymore. my brain can't do that analysis thingy like i used to. sigh.

anyway just one last thing - MMTP update: there's this H&M inspired dress we just manufactured with our pretty pretty label! and it's already up at Best of Blogshops in Fareast Plaza. material's better than it seems on this sample piece (i quote WY because i haven't gotten my piece yet)! :) i hope the other manufactured designs arrive before WY comes here, so i can ask him to bring it all over for me! wooots new dresses!

and let me please show you our signboard for MMTP in BOB. haha i love it, but you can tell me if you don't. okay now that i look at it again, looks kinda punk....no?! rawrr.

my little munich life

2009-11-10T05:38:00.000+08:00

i haven't been able to sleep much at all these past few nights, so i'm abstaining from coffee. or caffeine in general. cos' there's this packet of Teh Tarik tempting me in my cupboard and i have to refrain, strongly refrain myself from making a cup.

my parents are leaving for europe in 2 weeks! i feel so excited for them, though i hope they'll able to take travelling in the weather. but i can't wait to see them :) not to mention the goodies i'm thinking of asking them to help me bring over. i'm making a list, but i'm not sure what else to include. any ideas, please comment!

and then in about 29 days time, WY's coming over! :D and then we can carry out our grand travel plans. grand and exorbitant plans. but anyhow, i can't wait. i keep playing the (imaginary) scene in my mind of the moment when we finally meet. it's damn drama i know! haha.

so lessons have started since 3 weeks back. i've dropped two classes since i've begun, because it is just so difficult in german. i haven't dropped all the german classes though. i'm currently taking Political Communication, Digital Media Business, Media Economy and Editorial management in Publishing in german. And some business lectures in English, which NUS has till now, refuse to approve so i'm getting really really worried. so here's the news: i've decided i'll stay here till i finish my sem in Feb/Mar, which means leave of absence and late graduation. i really hope i can get an internship here or somewhere in Europe, so people if you have any advice for me please let me know. i don't know with my level of german if it's actually possible, but i'm going to try. i really have to get my ass moving if i want to work after my semester here. sigh i'm such a procrastinator. even my dad says so!

meanwhile, MOMOTEAPOTS has a third rack at BEST OF BLOGSHOPS in Fareast Plaza. please tell your friends about it okay! i'm shamelessly advertising, but WY's been doing so much for the shop back in Singapore and i just feel like i should try to do something from miles away as much as i can. haha weak attempt, but better than none. SO if you haven't already done so, please become a fan on our facebook page :D i love you all! our latest manufactured design with our label (which i absolutely love! it's so pretty!) is up at Best of Blogshops too :) i will post picture(s) of it if i manage to get hold of them.

okay signing off. tomorrow's groceries day. eri and i just love the supermarket. haha.

frankfurt am Main (part 2)

2009-11-10T04:53:00.000+08:00

October 4, 2009

On a Sunday in Europe, there's not much to do, but there's always museums to go to! and in Germany, they have special offers sometimes on Sundays at the museums. Because we couldn't agree on a museum, D and I went to the Deutsche Film Museum and the others went to another (I can't remember which). And we really loved the film museum! it's really cool, all these ancient thingamajigs!

ok you can't really see it, but this is some mirror magic - can you see the red figure carrying something? this used to be considered a form of "film"! imagine that! so innovative and much work!

i feel so inept for not knowing the names of all these gadgets/instruments. but look! pretty!

"slide shows"

movie tricks teehee :)

i'm in those 70s films!

costume - making of Frankenstein!

stage set

then we also visited the Museum of Communications; they said it was "my" museum since i'm studying comms. haha.

we thought it was kinda funny that they specifically had no bratwurst and brotchen allowed

a funny postcard from the museum shop

communicating sheep

so there was this exhibition on that was about Food and Communication. it's really interesting how they connect the two.

see what happens when you always watch TV during meals?

food for thought haha no pun intended

history of the Mensa/canteen

there was also another exhibition on best ads/campaigns/designs. and it was so freaking awesome! these designers are inspirational. more on facebook!

and we caught a vintage car sale! there are tons more photo but i'm too lazy to upload them here, you can see them allll on facebook!

and i tried the famous Frankfurter Apfelwein (apple wine), which was...okay only! but i stole the cup. oh not really steal. i paid 1 euro deposite for it okay!

frankfurt am Main (part 1)

2009-11-03T17:31:00.000+08:00

i've just came back from Zürich yesterday! I thought it was just like Frankfurt...as in you get the same feel in both places. Nothing very remarkable. Few moments which makes you go *gasp*. So that being said, i'll update about Zürich next time. I went to Frankfurt am Main (pronounced like "mine") last month after my language prep course and an update is in order!

October 3, 2009

the group (L to R, top to bottom): Alizee, Valentine, Duygu, Dilara, and yours truly. We bought a 5 person ticket (which works like the region ticket i mentioned in the Regensburg entry but only for the weekend) for 34 or 37 euros. But because we intended to stay a night, we bought 2 tickets. so it was about 15 euros per person for a 5 hour ride.

it was so cold and i should have worn a mantel :( this is before the European central bank. Frankfurt is the largest financial center in Europe. which explains the big euro sign!

we thought the poster of that old man was funny, but this picture's kinda small.

so we stayed in Frankfurt Hostel, of which i have no photos. but i would recommend to go there on a Saturday because they have PASTA night. which means we saved on dinner and had free pasta that day! the room wasn't the cleanest i've had (duh), and we didn't bathe because there was always someone inside. but just for one night, it was okay! plus it's really just across the street from the Hauptbahnhof. anyway our first impression of Frankfurt was, this place is a ghost town! it was so quiet and there were hardly anyone on the streets! then we realised, we cleverly chose to come on a public holiday (germany's national day). but we walked to the city center, and were rewarded with a beautiful sight of the Römerberg! plus, it was rather crowded there!

paparazzi photo with my favourite munich girls

st. bartholomew's cathedral - i took away the bottom part because it was under construction.

inside the cathedral

and finally...river Main! i think it's really the most/only beautiful part of Frankfurt.

view of Main at night

our meal in frankfurt. the cheapest available, 1 euro cheeseburger!

and that pretty much sums up our first day in Frankfurt. i need to go to the supermarket now! i feel so lazy cos' it's kinda far and it's rainy and everything. oh yes it's rainy. i don't like it because i've no umbrella. plus, it's fall, so it means that red/yellow leaves are floating everywhere. and when there's rain, they force these leaves to fall flat on their faces to the floor and stick there in a squishy mess. it's not a grand sight, and not the best to walk on.

Regensburg

2009-10-28T03:05:00.000+08:00

September 30, 2009

there is this special region ticket in Germany, which costs 28 Euros and it is valid for up to 5 people. for example, whether you are travelling in a pair, or in a group of 5, it's still 28 euros! and it is valid from 12am to the next day 3am if i am not wrong :) perfect for day trips around Bavaria! so with that ticket, some of us went to Regensburg, which lies on the northern most part of the Danube river! i liked it. it was a nice small town, beautiful in its little corners i find. We set off at about 9am from Munich and left Regensburg at 6pm.

Regensburg Dom St. Peter (St. Peter Cathedral)

my current wallpaper! graffiti by the Danube river

look at the birds on the window sills! they belong to the crafts shop below. awful cute :D

town center

really a queer sight.

credits to wiki for this picturesque panaromic evening view!

the roses are really big and pretty there!

inside the st. emmeram's church

rococo architecture again

the St. Emmeram's castle which we didn't pay to go in but sneakily took a shot

i like this photo

autumn's coming!

stopped for a cup of lousy hot chocolate :( (oh i must tell you all! the hot chocolate in macdonald's in Munich is damn nice! half the price of normal hot chocolate around, but doubly good!) i love that biscuit! if anyone knows where i can get it let me know.

yup and that's about it for Regensburg! will update more next time because i've 8am lessons tomorrow :)

p.s.: i keep snacking on the imitation Mark and Spencer biscuits - Schoko Butterkeks. it's so sinful at this time of the night :( but i have to buy 20 boxes home when i go back to Singapore!

castles of fairytales

2009-10-28T01:23:00.000+08:00

okay guilty as charged. i really don't update often enough! i've been on two day trips and a few excursions since i've been in Munich and i realised i haven't blogged about them :( i'll do them in different entries. so first, i should talk about the legendary Neuschwanstein Schloss!

September 6, 2009

it is said to be the INSPIRATION for Sleeping Beauty's castle, and i can now understand why! it's really beautiful. and according to King Ludwig II (who commissioned the castle) : It is my intention to rebuild the old castle ruin at Hohenschwangau near the Pollat Gorge in the authentic style of the old German knights' castles... the location is the most beautiful one could find, holy and unapproachable, a worthy temple for the divine friend who has brought salvation and true blessing to the world. and some history on the King, which is really interesting: Neuschwanstein was near completion when, in 1886, the King was declared insane by a State Commission under Dr. Von Gudden and arrested at the palace. The King could hardly control himself as he asked von Gudden, "How can you declare me insane? You have not yet examined me!" Taken to Castle Berg, he was found on June 13, 1886, in shallow water in Lake Sternberg, drowned, along with von Gudden, the psychiatrist who certified him. The exact circumstances of his and von Gudden's deaths remain unexplained. It is generally thought that Ludwig's deposition was brought about by the Wittelsbachs in response to his extravagance with the dynasty's private funds in projects such as Neuschwanstein. (source - Wiki)

on the 3 hour journey towards Neuschwanstein

walking up the hill to the castle. the path was paved with horse dung and it was so smelly! look at the horses, they are HUGE.

*gasp* first peekaboo view of the castle!

okay this is the famous POSTCARD view from the MARIENBRUCKE (marien bridge) and look look look! what's wrong with this photo?? it's freaking under construction!!! $%$#$%^*#*!

this was the view i was supposed to get! anyway, it's so beautiful in winter isn't it?! really fairytale like. sigh.

on the bridge

i know i know, i blocked the castle and i look funny

they didn't allow photography inside the castle. but the interior's equally breathtaking. there's a throne room, singer's hall, gem-crusted chandeliers, golden swan taps...but too bad Ludwig II died before he could enjoy it all. Like he apparently didn't get to watch a performance in the Singer's Hall. After the trip to the castle, we were brought to a church near the Alps - Wieskirche. It's the most beautiful church I've ever seen! Not that Singapore churches are much of a view to mention. But it's my favourite European church so far! It became so "famous" because some time in the 1700s, tears were seen on a figurine (according to Wiki, it is: a dilapidated wooden figure of the Scourged Saviour), and a chapel was built to house it. People prayed there and claimed to be cured of miraculous diseases.

humble exterior

there was a service going on and the whole atmosphere just gave me goosebumps. not creepy goosebumps, but the kind that you get when you're placed in a sacred place and you can just feel all that faith and presence.

rococo architecture. i like :)

meadow! and the alps (i think)

valentine and cris

pears grow in bottles.

2009-10-01T16:37:00.000+08:00

okay long time since i last updated! :( been busy with school and getting used to life here in Munich. i don't even know where to begin! i've done so much within the past month here, and it's just impossible to narrate them. but of course, i'll try!

first day of school, we had a city tour around the Munich. it was more like a bus tour, so we only got to alight at 2 places, namely Nymphenburg Schloss (schloss = castle) and BMW welt (welt = world). it was only a 5minute stopover at each sight, so very little photos. i'll probably visit them again some time later though!

BMW WELT (sorry for the bad picture, i obviously forgot to crop and straighten)

inside BMW Welt

Nymphenburg Schloss - The favourite SUMMER residence for rulers of Bavaria. this means there's also one (or more) for winter, spring, autumn, breakfast, lunch, making babies....you get the idea!

apparently we only got to see the REAR view of the castle, and it's already so picturesque.

how many people would be able to say, hey let's take a walk in my backyard, and get this kind of view?!

then my preparation course begun. we had to do this orientation thing for class the 2nd day after school. and it rained, so no one wanted to complete it. but Valentine and I decided to ATTEMPT. so one of the questions on our worksheet, was to find out what's the name of this art installation along Leopoldstrasse (which is the street our lessons were on).

no prizes for guessing the name though. he's called "The Walking Man"

and within the first week of school, we had a HOUSE PARTY! organised by someone else in the course. and the japanese in my area decided to make sushi. can you imagine how excited i was? i mean it was only tuna and tamago sushi, but still....SUSHI!!! i'm so deprived of japanese food :( i miss wasabi tei and sushi tei. damn.

mariko hard at work.

on the train to the party. eri (left) and naomi (right) trying to do the finger thing i taught them to. go try i bet you'll have a hard time too. haha

sorry i don't have any pictures of the party. it wasn't very interesting, because we just sat, chat, (barely) mingled and went home. what was exciting though, was FLEA MARKET at Olympiazentrum! i love flea markets here, because they are HUGE. if you're thinking of the Thieves' Market in Singapore, it's probably 20 times bigger. plus the items here are wayyyy better. think of all the vintage coffee machines, old postcards from loves of yesteryears, rustic chandeliers...plus all the cheap finds i got! i forgot to take a picture of them, but i got a houndstooth messenger bag for just ONE euro, and a pretty vintage belt for 3 euros. It belonged to the dear old woman who was selling it. And also, at the end of the day, i wanted to buy a door mat for my room, so I asked this lady how much one cost. She looked at me and pondered for a while, and she said "Ich schenke dir!" (I'll give it to you!). I guess it's because she was closing up for the day, but it was still so sweet of her! I was so shocked I said "WIRKLICH?! (really?!)" and she asked for a kiss on the cheek in return. and we walked for three hours plus even though it was really cold.

Olympiapark - where Bonjovi, Snoopdogg, etc. left their mark, literally!

beautiful weather&view of olympiapark

most people drove there and sat in their cars while waiting for people to come visit their stall

the super long thuringerwurst!

&a random photo from the Aldi the supermarket of a wine with a pear in it! someone told me they tie these bottles to the fruits/seeds/buds even before they grow, so they can harvest it like that! amazing!

okay that's all the updates for now, because Eri's coming over to cook, and i'm going out soon after for Pubcrawl!

Life in Bulgaria

2009-08-24T16:57:00.000+08:00

sashkoo's parents

by the Danube river

lovely spread of food

hello world, I am now sitting in the Romania airport while we are wait for Leonard, the guy we're couch surfing with, to pick us up. It's 12pm local time and he's only coming at 4. so I shall make use of the 4 hours to update before I am banished to non-internet life again! We are such internet junkies, really.

We've been in Ruse, Bulgaria for the past 2 days, where Jo's friends (Martin and Sashkoo) hosted us, and surprisingly, it was really really great. We walked around the small city of Ruse the first day, took little photos of sights but more of the crazy Bulgarian partying that we experienced for the first time that night. Being hosted by locals is in many ways better than just walking around unguided, sometimes aimlessly, and frantically snapping photos of places we could only imagine the beautiful history behind. The pub was so alive with people of all ages dancing and clapping to the happy tune of Bulgarian music. It didn't matter if you didn't know anyone, cos' once you join their travelling circle of dance, you're one of them. It seemed we'd walked into a scene from a movie like Dirty Dancing, minus any sleaze. When asked if Singapore had a traditional dance as well, only the Singapore workout came to mind.

My favourite bit of Bulgaria memories (how fast they've turned into memories), was picnic by the Danube River with authentic and yummilicious local food. We drove into a "forest" and in less than 2 minutes, emerged to a beautiful almost sunset view. B-r-e-a-t-h-t-a-k-i-n-g. Friends barbequed food for us, and prepared salad - tomatoes + cucumber + thebestcheeseiveeverhad. The food was all very fresh and tasty, because they grow it themselves! Like, Sashkoo actually grows grapes, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other herbs in his backyard! And he has a mini mart next to his home. I'd always imagined how such homes would be like. Away from the city buzz, grapes growing above our heads to keep out the summer sun. It felt like a real real home. Though we couldn't related to the Bulgarian music they played, it was fun watching them sing and move to it. But when My Humps played, the three of us got so excited that we could sing along to it. The bulgarians were pretty amused by us getting high.

[edit]After the very uncomfortable few days in Romania, we REALLY miss the home-feel of Bulgaria. Next stop, Berlin[/edit]

out of a postcard.

2009-08-17T08:10:00.000+08:00

Istanbul was an eye-opener. I think more for the Turks than for us three. Every 50m we walked, people would stare (like it's not rude at all) at us like some exhibits or call out "konnichiwa! anyonghasaeyo! ni hao! japan? KOREA? CHINA?" or even worse, make crude noises. We spent most of our Liras on food, and the only sights we really saw were the Galata Tower and the Blue Mosque.

(view overseeing the Blue Mosque)

(view from Galata Tower, which oversees the whole of Istanbul!)

(Galata Tower)

(I love this photo of the Blue Mosque)

(Inside the Blue Mosque)

My favourite part of Istanbul was walking by the Galata bridge. The view is simply breathtaking. I wouldn't even say it's a picture out of a postcard, but more like imagining a scene out of a storybook (for example Aladdin).

And on the bridge, we did shisha (Cappuccino flavoured). Cindy's and my virgin attempt. It wasn't fantastic, or rather I don't understand why people do it all the time. Anyway I think Cindy's smoke looks pretty here. I look terrible smoking shisha, cos' according to Jo I've a smoker face. So, no pictures of that.

We've had a lot of meat in Turkey. Beef and lamb mostly, because chicken is not as common. Their desserts or Turkish delight, are extremely sweet. Yoghurt is a very popular drink, but it's very different from our idea of yoghurt (think: marigold yoghurt). It's salty and quite sour. I am hoping the greek yoghurt is more to my liking. Anyway we tried to neutralize the taste by pouring it over our salad. Haha no wonder the Turks find us really queer.

(awesome kebab and koefte/meatballs)

(some pasta pastry thing for breakfast)

(iskender, and other meat dishes. the dish on the top left is a dessert with pine seeds in it. i like!)

(as you can see, bread is a staple at every meal. it came with all the meat dishes we ordered)

(chocolate+banana mousse = heavenly, rice pudding, pecan pie)

Oh, I forgot to add that we actually guiltily spent our money on shopping as well. We found a MANGO OUTLET in Taksim Square! Jeans for 6,90 lira (approx. 5SGD), tops for 4,90 lira....too good to be missed.

(Turkish icecream, check out the cones)

(us and our buys :))

Today (2nd day of Turkey), we tried the traditional turkish bath, which basically involved a woman bathing you. Not worth my 35 liras. PLUS, in the changing room, when were already done changing, Jo suddenly realised that people on the 2nd floor could look down into our changing room and catch us in the reflection of the mirror! WTF no wonder the guy gave us that changing room. Quite traumatizing, really.

okay and this is me, tired, slitty eyed, with 3 heavy bags, on the way to our flight out to Bodrum, where the ferry awaits us. that's where we are now! It's 3am, and our ferry is at 830am. How adventurous we are.

i've left on a jet plane.

2009-08-15T07:35:00.000+08:00

So here I am in Munich finally, albeit only for a few hours today. It’s feels very unreal, like a dream. Here I am sitting alone outside of their airport (yet still within the airport), which doesn’t really look like an airport but a commercial centre with occasional sprouts of people having packed lunch at the tables like what I’m doing. I’m typing with one hand and holding Cheryl’s farewell cupcake for me in the other. It tastes sinfully delicious. The colorful biscuits remind me of home, and mama shops! (pardon the narcissistic shots. give a girl 8 hours of transit time, what is there to do but camwhore)

And as I say this, a group of girls have settled at a sandy area beside me, about to play volleyball. I didn’t even realize it’s supposed to be a beach volleyball setting. Construction, I thought. This is so strange! A “beach” just outside of the airport above the shops screaming signs of SALE.

MacSexy isn’t gonna last until my next flight out to Turkey at 6pm, and the wireless connection here is not free anyway, so I’ll have tons of time to kill probably reading Essays in Love. When I was transiting at Dubai earlier, it surprised me how short the four hours felt. Maybe walking around alone in huge busy Dubai airport was such a different experience. Feelings of fear and anticipation of what awaits me at my final destination as I strolled through crowds and other transit passengers sleeping on the ground ever few metres I walk. I’ve kind of lost track of time. It feels like noon here, and when I called my parents earlier, I actually asked my mom why she was with my dad at this time of the day. It’s actually 8pm in Singapore already.

My shoulders and back are now suffering the strain from my 2 weeks’worth of travelling stuff. Oh, and I managed to lift the 33kg luggage off the conveyor belt very efficiently earlier, very surprisingly. All this lifting and carrying is definitely toning me up I tell you. Anyways, I am loving the weather now. It’s about 19 degrees Celsius, so it feels rather cooling, though it was sunny earlier. Goodbye humidity and oily face! So now, Turkey (and Cin and Jo) awaits me! :D till then.

the last race

2009-08-13T16:58:00.000+08:00

okay just hours away to leaving for the airport. i'm in my dining room with random things i need to bring on the trip scattered all over the table. see: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES book, masks, all sorts of cables, maggi mee, tissue, yadayadayada. it's a mess. the luggage looked like it was about to burst when i was first done packing it. and then i thought, oh nonono, i couldn't possibly lift that thing. and right, it was BARELY moveable. i think i strained my back dragging it to the weighing scale at home, the unreliable one. and it read 33kg. which actually means it's 38 kg or something. that's 8kg overweight. so....i repacked my luggage. from scratch! i think i secretly enjoy vacuum packing, watching bulky winter clothes become so compact. it's like some achievement! yes, so i re-vaccuum packed all of the ziplock bags! took out some food and the water boiler and the shampoo. heavy stuff. thing is, despite all that "elimination"...the luggage still look like it's bloated. let's just hope it doesn't burst when some airport person throws it around. but i guess that's unlikely cos' it's probably too heavy to be thrown around anyway. i'd upload photos of the mess at home, but blogger's being weird.

i can't say i'm excited just yet, cos i'm still plagued by my inner worrywarts. it's as if i'm waiting for the moment i'm at the airport to say, "SHIT I FORGOT XX." and then,"SEE, I knew i left something important out." oh well, lets just hope it's not the euros, passport, wallet, laptop....okay the list could just go on and on.

it's odd. i can't even begin to imagine how it would be like when i'm there. or rather, how it'd be like not being here, where everything's so familiar to me, and in a way, i'm familiar to everyone. anyhow, i'm looking forward with a bag of jitters in my heart.

countdown: 3 days

2009-08-11T12:23:00.000+08:00

okay. countfreakingdown! THREE more days......AHHHHHH!!!!!

I've stopped updating my to-do list cos if by now I've still this list of to-dos infront of me, I think I might just freak out and die. I mean, yesterday I was just panicking. It's only a few days to go, and then in the midst of packing (or rather squeezing) I realised my luggage can't fit my six months' worth of homely belongings. SO I had to buy a new luggage which is 32" tall/wide/big! And now this 32" bag looks huge beside the old one. I wonder if tiny me (stop laughing) could handle this fat heavy loaded luggage. I'm moving half a year of home to Germany and then I've to move it back again. Hmmm.

Meanwhile MOMOTEAPOTS is feeling very adventurous. WY and I have decided to rent TWO RACKS, hear this... TWO. In less than two weeks we made two crazy decisions! One in Fareast Plaza and one in Haji Lane where we'll be displaying our clothes. When we decided to sign on the Haji Lane rack, I felt a little sad, cos' I just wish this came earlier or later whichever, so I could be more involved with MMTP. We've quite some plans to improve MMTP but ARGH once again, we can't carry them out till when I'm back. This guy Clarence was telling us how he's studying Law and Econs not for a job, but he's really studying to apply on his passion, i.e. building businesses, and I thought, wow. Wonder if I could say that.

Okay now I've to transfer my stuff into the new luggage. Be back later!

less than a month away

2009-07-18T22:19:00.000+08:00

~~♥ wire money over for the language prep. course (1 Aug '09)~~

~~♥ find accommodation for the period during the prep. course~~

~~♥ settle air tickets with jo & zzzindy~~

~~♥ health/travel insurance~~

♥ collect visa must get by 1st week of August

♥ confirm accommodation (during semester) with the Studentenwerk in early July shit i can't figure out who I'm supposed to contact!

~~♥ plan eastern europe travel route for late August~~

~~♥ find out about taking loan~~

♥ take many many passport photos

It seems as if I've had quite some stuff done, but thing is actually I'm not even half done because I've ten thousand more things to add to this never ending list!

♥ send NUS the translated version of my acceptance letter for the OSP loan

♥ print tickets

1. SIN-MUC

2. MUC-IST

♥ apply for International Student Card (for discounts!)

♥ prepare a packing list

♥ go down to FASS office to hand in supporting documents for SEP grant

♥ wire over money for accommodation during the lang prep course

hello? stress much. It's less than a month away. I can't feel the excitement anymore/yet because there's just too much to settle. Even discussing travel plans with Cindy and Jo can be such a headache sometimes, what with the unexpected out-of-stock tickets and figuring out how many ports there are in Bodrum. Plus, I'm spending a little more time on Momoteapots now, hoping to try and earn some last minute cash to ease my financial situation during exchange.

I just got our manufactured dresses from Catherine after such a long wait. I've a thing for low back dresses and the chiffon colors are so pretty! but sad; it'll be a long long while before we can manufacture with her again. The quality of her clothes are so much better than our previous manufacturers.

so now I've gotta finish the photos for this post and hopefully go down for supper with WY when he comes cos I haven't eaten anything proper the whole day. Instant noodles, oranges, Haribo and cups of iced milo KOSONG. I've found the perfect formula for the tastiest milo kosong ever. In a bid to be healthy (haha), no more milk or sugar for me, just loads of milo powder.

incomplete

2009-06-27T11:35:00.001+08:00

it must seem confusing i've another blog here, but i wanted to do this to specifically log my exchange+travel! [edit] and also about Momoteapots/random fashion ramblings [/edit] not that it has begun, but i thought now's a good time to start writing things down.

so other than my place at LMU, nothing is confirmed. here's a list of things i still have to do:

♥ wire money over for the language prep. course (1 Aug '09)

♥ find accommodation for the period during the prep. course

♥ settle air tickets with jo & zzzindy

♥ health/travel insurance

♥ collect visa

♥ confirm accommodation (during semester) with the Studentenwerk in early July

♥ plan eastern europe travel route for late August

♥ find out about taking loan

♥ take many many passport photos

it's so unsettling because everything is not confirmed, and not to mention very expensive. i've been contemplating whether or not to take on the prep. course because it's 400 freaking euros! and they're charging 360 euros for a month's accommodation. that sums up to quite a lot for just a month! but as WY says, i could always earn that 760 euros again, and i guess the benefits of learning the language there itself is in a way priceless. and to comfort myself, the fees include a city tour, german film, concentration camp visit, and an excursion to the Alps! i'm gonna try to source for an cheaper alternative for accommodation, which is proving difficult at the moment, because it's hard to make a deal with the landlords without being there myself. not to mention, hours of trying to comprehend german on every site is giving me a headache.

but but but, i'm excited nonetheless!!!! going to Europe, is a dream i never expected to live. at least not so soon. but it is soon, it's less than 2 months :))) all these frenzy now, makes me feel good in an odd way.