The rest of my hols...

This is definitely one of the evils of procrastination...I now have too much to write about, and not much time nor space to do that. Let's see if my summarising skills are as good as before=D

Visit to Sara's

Grimma is a very pretty little town on the outskirts of Leipzig. This is where Sara lives...it is quite amazing. Her dad is a pastor who has to take care of the Landkreis or a few churches in that area. Almost like a mayor, just in the pastor-sense. I like her family, even if I didn't speak much at times, I just like to take in the entire family atmosphere=) Sara has two younger sisters, both very pretty, named Leonore and Tabea (Light of something and something to do with a lion.) Her mom is a housewife, an awfully talented one. She is v v creative, and does everything right. Imagine self-sewn wrist guards and egg warmers. She even makes her own velvet. *wow*

On the first or second day that I was there, the mom made a dessert, self-invented. It is just quark with pineapple syrup, mixed with starch, sprinkled with kiwis and sesame seeds. It tasted great with the kiwi and sesame, but it is not what you can have an entire bowlful of, cuz there was too much starch in it. You could almost feel the tense atmosphere in the family, as the mom asked me how it was. I didn't know how to describe it, so i just said, "Erm, interesting." They burst out in laughter, and from then on, anything that was awkward to describe was 'Interessant'. =D

I was at Weimar for a day, it is all about Goethe, Schiller, Goethe's many women friends and his mistress-turned-wife, Christina someone I think. Apparently dear Goethe transplanted a Gingko tree from one of his visits in the orient (?) to Weimar, so there is currently this über old Gingko tree in Weimar. The Gingko leaf has thus become the symbol of Weimar too. It was unfortunately very very chilly on that day when I was there. So that day was one of more shivers than anything else.

I was at Dresden as well, and met up with Sam and Claudia. It was great, I love Dresden! It used to be the capital city (and still is) of Saxony, so all the treasures that the dukes and archdukes received were stored in the Green Vault (Grünes Gewölbe). It is quite impressive, the variety and preciousness of all those treasures.

Leipzig was our next stop, where Sara and I visited. Bach was the big thing there. The Bach museum was so full of notes from jap tourists (many newly-wedded couples go there for their honeymoons), and gave us such a great overview of Bach's works, that the both of us nearly resolved to get all of Bach's collections, only to find out that that would be near impossible. We visited the Stasi Musuem in "der Runden Ecke" as well, where they showed us the bunks in which political prisoners used to be kept, as well as the entire inner conflict in the pple and society...especially within the hearts of those who had been working in Stasi. Frankly speaking, they couldn't help it that they were in such an organisation, and that was the power of the state then. If I were in their place, would I have the courage to say that, hey, I don't want anything to do with this org, and refuse to cooperate, while risking the futures of my family and friends? It is easy to say yes now, but I don't know what would happen when the crunch comes. Wasn't it Charlotte Brönte who wrote in 'Jane Eyre', "Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation...if at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?" She must had been a v strong woman.

We went to the zoo together too, where there was this very interesting fish, I shall call it pinocchio. It was just wee..=) Let the photos say it then. Will load them the next time, have to go for dinner now=(

Right, the chronicles of travels in Cambridge and Oxford would have to wait till next time then! =p

ting =)

*zhen you satisfied?*

back at konstanz!

I love Singapore. It was so difficult for me to leave, but once I set on the train ride back to Konstanz, I realise that Konstanz made leaving Singapore not so painful. I will def miss the three Fs: Food, Friends and Family (in absolutely no order of importance, I swear =)) and all those afternoons lunching out with friends. Sam brought me to this wonderful indian restaurant in Little India, Raj, and for the first time I had really really good and relatively cheap indian food! We shopped for clothes and other stuff at Mustafa's (that place is a maze!) and the little shops along the streets.

Seriously, I think Chinatown and Little India beat Orchard anytime. The wares are much cheaper, and much more unique to Singapore. Other than the sole purpose of eating sushi, I won't go over to Orchard.

It was quite a good feeling to see friends on the buses and to meet up with them all over, chat and all=) It is as though I've kinda set up another home=) Went to the English Bookshop the other day, and Frau Cook seemed genuinely glad to see me. That was kinda special, because she is usually rather reserved. I guess absence does make the heart grow fonder. We chatted about many things, like the caricatures issue, den Verstand des Menschen, usw. It seemed like quite an ok length of time, not like the last time when we chatted for almost an hour. My legs were dying then.

Zk and Yijin came for a visit. They arrived at 1.20 am in the morning=p Good thing about living in an ulu village: The bus services still go there in the dead of the night! Amazing. Was glad to have them here, we even got to explore parts of the Uni that I have never ever been to before! And as usual, having guests= good excuse to stuff oneself silly. We cooked Singaporean Chicken Curry, and Sara came over too for dinner. The two of them made quite a good impression on Sara=) But the curry and the veg i cooked were not salty enough I think...=P It was just ok for me, my tastebuds 'purified' by several weeks of my mom's healthy cooking=)

Frankly I was v happy that they came to visit! Wouldn't have known what to do otherwise...for although there are friends here to meet up with, it is just different having tong2 xiang1 ren2 over. And it was nice having pple to do all the veg chopping and grocery carrying too=D

Going to Leipzig, Dresden to visit Sara, and then to UK, London and Oxbridge. Take a look at my mom's dream uni for me=)

ting*

Home sweet home=)

I have been home for almost a week! =D And what a heavenly week it was.

First surprise: I actually met Wenjie on my flight back home. Talk about getting a taste of Singapore before even reaching home.

I must admit that I had quite a strange feeling as I touched down home. As I got out of the plane, not even out of the air-conditioned comfort of the airport, the first thing that struck me was, how warm it was! (ok that is probably something that every animal that comes from a wintry land experiences when plunged into summer's warmth). Second thing was, I no longer have to look up so much when I talk to others. (nope sadly I haven't grown taller.) Third thing, the multilingual singapore again!=) Had to figure how to express a lot of things to my dad in hakka, ended up speaking to him in half mandarin, half hakka instead. I love hakka. It is just so...right. A tongue from your childhood.

As my pa drove down the expressways, into the neighbourhoods and all, I thought I was looking at my home with foreign eyes. Truly, Singapore seemed so 'fremd', as in, so orderly! Must have been gotten used to all that little bits of mess in Konstanz, especially with the Karneval going on and the strike of Verdi (the street-cleaners, they have been on strike in many parts of Germany, so you see streets strewn with rubbish in the city, as well as terminally full rubbish bins). The Karneval or Fasching, or Fasnacht as it is called in various parts of Germany, is a time when the normally quiet, let's-keep-to-ourselves germans would come out in droves, dress themselves up (as chickens, witches, clowns, devils, fish, bears, tigers, you name it they have it, but haven't seen an amoeba though) and celebrate. They march through the streets dispensing sweets to passers-by, and play typical karneval music. It is really fun to see them all, with self-made masks and costumes. The kids look especially sweet with their tiger, bear costumes=) You see, they look like a bundle of fur with a face peeping out from nowhere.

Here are a few pictures of the Karneval=)








Oh, and let's go back a few weeks, just after my exams ended. We went out quite a lot to party, and I took the opportunity to take a few pics of my friends. Here they are!=D

From left to right, Girls then Guys:
Johanna, Ingrid, Sara (behind) and Marlene
Constantin, Simon (face half covered), Johannes, Ivo.



And at the Karneval: Isabella, Stefan, Thomas, oh-dear-i-forgot-his-name, and Rebecca



OK fast forward to Singapore again. Went out with the Choir pple=) Shopped for Jiayan's pressie with HC and ZW, and we were at Suntec with ZW said that he wanted some Ben and Jerry's icecream. So we walked around Suntec, going high and low, detouring, looking thru exhibits until we finally got to the ice-cream shop. And guess what ZW said when we got there? "I don't know if I want ice-cream anymore." I couldn't help it; I gave him an incredulous look and just laughed.

We got Jiayan a great-looking necklace, HC chose it, his taste is really improving! =) Guess the guys got great 'tutorials' from "URBAN". Met up with Shaun, Becky, then went to Jiayan's chalet...it was great to see and hear them all once again, I must say. I miss singing in a choir too. The part about being a component of something big, making music together. Sigh.

Went to MPS last night with my brother. Was funny in that everyone thought that he was my bf, gosh, can't you all see the resemblance? I am just the female version of him. They all thought that he was from some JC too (that's great flattery to my bro i think=)) Nice to mix around with the crew again, Alex, Cheng Cheng, Enghwa, Derrick, Rene, KH (back from Saudi Arabia), all the familiar faces. Too bad I can't stay for the elections=p It would be highly interesting I think.

Right, really should get started on my hausarbeit now. BLEAH. I think I would have concentrated much better on it if I had stayed in Germany. Then again, life would be half as interesting. =)

ting

klausurs and some updates=D

Am sitting in the library right now, having absolutely no interest in the notes in front of me whatsoever. *Now when you have spent almost the last 4 hours staring at 4 pages of slides, you would have the same feeling too...*

My understanding of things, the entire process of relearning things is sooo slow! Can't believe it.

Went a-walking on Sunday, to smell the fishy smell of the lake (no it doesn't smell salty, just fishy, since the water level has descended so much that it is exposing some of the lake's bed, so I see dried water plants and millions of tiny mussels, which crack like twigs when you walk on them...they are already long dead and deserted, those shells.) Tried walking on ice, and gauging my estimation of thin ice...(not very good, fell into sloshy shallow puddles at times, but v fun=)) see people walking their dogs and all...

Was ice-skating with Sara, Johanna and Claudia last Sat...and the latest news is that Claudia and Lars are together. =) I realised that I wouldn't have known if I hadn't gone ice-skating with them, had a teeny suspicion, but didn't dare to ask. Turns out that I wasn't the last to find out! (haha, a tiny bit of improvement from the clueless me in sec sch and jc)

Last wed was the international classroom cooking thingy. It was really 'all in a day's work' for me then. I had a french dictation, a Personel and Organisation probeklausur, AND the cooking thing right after my probeklausur. *stress* But it went on fine...hope the pple don't get food poisoning from my wantons=) But was glad that so many of my friends came...Sara came, of course, my steady friend=) and she learnt how to make wantons, at TOP SPEED. I see why she wanted to be a cook at first=)

My referat last thurs (the very next day) went on well=) I could understand everything in the discussion after that. Prof Freitag even said that it was one of the most difficult texts in the sem, and that the additional stuff I brought in into the discussion were helpful to the understanding of the text *ting beams*. I was really glad that my classmates could understand me...thanks to sara again for vetting my script! One of them, a really taciturn girl, even told me that it was a good prep=D *yay*

OK have to go on for my lecture now. It is dear Herr Seibel again! (The lecturer who promised all of us a very cute fluffy spongebob pen that lights up when you write with it if we get the last qn of the klausur right and do quite well of course=)) Right, gtg!

*muah* ting

Touching Home Base for a while...

Just realised that something rather interesting is happening in Singapore, all the debate on being an open society and now the oppo party (not that there is AN oppo party in Sing, but one of them, go find out for yourself which one) is proposing to remove GRCs, fixed racial proportion in HDB flats, even the institution of presidency...their arguments are rather, erm, interesting. Do go to read them to see if they hold water (is there even such an expression??) @ www.straitstimes.com.

Nonetheless, one issue really does address the next. I am glad that the opposition has decided to speak up this time, even printing a manifesto (tried to get it online but they haven't posted it up yet, must be rather interesting to see what they have in mind). Because the fact that they are speaking up and being heard does answer this question: Are we an open society? What is the def of an open society? My dictionary (in my comp, duh, not the one in my brain=)) says that an open society is "a society characterized by a flexible structure, freedom of belief, and wide dissemination of information." (Oxford American dictionary) Looking at this definition, I would say dear Singapore is quite an open society, especially when it comes to the part on a flexible structure...my German boss once said that Singapore is the country who gave meritocracy its name and a good reputation. However, there are limits to the extent of openness any country can develop to, and we probably haven't really reached the prime yet. Then again, there isn't such a thing as a 'prime' or perfection in development of a country, esp in terms of its policies. Many democratic institutions and republics have this way changing/introducing policies bit by bit, step by step to see if it steps on anybody's toes, and if not, continue with it, a little by a little. This concept is called 'Incrementalism'. (BTW i like the German word for it: Durchwursteln, supposed to mean muddling your way through, but it sounds a hell lot like 'sausaging your way through' in German, haha!! Couldn't help laughing silently as my prof used the word)

As for the question of abolishing the institution of presidency since the legislative system is supposed to be a check on the government anyway, I think that is quite a weird argument. In my opinion, the legislation is an institution that upholds the LAW, i.e. rules that are codified in a set legal docs, but WHO is gonna make sure that the rules that are made are in the interests of the pple and not just of the ruling elites? The judges themselves do NOT have the right to make amendments to these laws, or even ADD laws. This is exactly, let me repeat, precisely the function of the president. This is also precisely why countries like Germany still have a president to act as a final control. Of course, most of the time the president doesn't HAVE to reject laws, since they are mostly controlled/amended through the many rewritings and then 3 readings in parliament, or in the case of Germany, mostly decided by the special committees. As for the idea of publishing it all online and letting the people vet them...Who is going to be a constant control then? Is every citizen supposed to log in and read it everyday? Man i rarely even read the news everyday, and you are telling me to vet incoming laws everyday as part of my duty as a citizen? If everyone is such a good citizen, it would be truly a democratic utopia...YET again, do bear in mind that 4 million good citizens have 4 million different very good ideas and viewpoints. Therefore a democracy wouldn't be a democracy then, because it is the 'blurness' of the average citizen that allows the ministers (pple WE voted in) to do their jobs!

It is understandable that they would want to attack the GRCs concept, because of the possibility of gerrymandering. And I would like to repeat, I do like that the oppo is speaking up now and given more space to speak too. The proposal to help the poor people is admittedly very appealing too. However, why not try "sausaging your way through" too? Focus on one thing at a time, proposing such big changes to a structure that took decades to develop and stabilise wouldn't work. Perhaps one thing to consider is to propose bigger working space and flexibility for social workers, to allow them greater freedom in designing the help schemes to the poor, instead of putting them all under one scheme that may be really help them, since diff people have v diff cases.

Maybe that is why an esteemed opp leader gained so much respect, even though he is in oppo. He acts as an 'idea factory', proposing little things that may/may not be accepted by govt, and turns up in another version later on, thus improving the pples' lives in his own way.

Shui3 luo4 shi2 chu1. A drop of water takes a grain of sand away, until an entire rock is dissolved. Big changes can thus be effected, a little at a time.

*Then again, it is easy for me to just think aloud here, instead of really doing things. It must be really hard to be oppo.*
What do you think?

Random thoughts=)

According to my mom, I just turned 20 yesterday according to the chinese calendar. Eek. Why deprive me of my last few days of being a teenager? =D But truly i miss the mian4 xian4 and the egg in it that mom usually cooks for the birthday boy/girl. I guess I could cook it myself, but it is different, cuz the dish would have been like a present from mom to me.

The Austrian trip reminded me of how lucky i am to have friends at your side. They really make up for my lack of good short-term memory=D But their companionship, just being there for you to share your comments with, to have fun with, to laugh with...is simply precious.

I just fixed a new TV in my room=) Got the TV from Marianne, Angelika's sister, and lugged it home from Nürnberg. Sometimes I really wonder what it is that I have done to deserve such friends. So now I feel as though I have transversed 50 years...from the era of receiving news from the papers and the radio to that of cable TV. Hmm...the joys of living in a small village. When i first switched on the TV, it only showed ONE channel, from Austria. (!!) After pressing some random buttons I realised that I could set channels (Eureka!) For a moment I felt like my dad, the handyman at home. =D

I still haven't truly begun on my work despite having been home for the last two days. Terrible huh.

Am currently reading this book called "The Road Less Travelled" by M Scott Peck. He is good. Would like to quote something from his book: "Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the making of action in spite of fear, the moving out against the resistance engendered by fear into the unknown and into the future." Thus love is about courage too, for any attempt to love includes the risk of being rejected, let down, or abandoned. If one is determined not to risk pain, then he must also do without many things...all that make life alive, meaningful, significant.

"A full life will be full of pain."

He also said sth that makes some sense. The constant reminder of death guides us to make the best use of our time and live life to the fullest. "When we shy away from death, the ever-changing nature of things, we inevitably shy away from life."

=D Just some reflections in the spirit of the new year.

Back @ Konstanz!

I just went for a trip to Nuremberg, Salzburg, Vienna and Bratislava. It was wonderful! Great companions, Sam, Zhen and Azman, which made it a great trip despite all the rain and the snow=)

Here are some pics!

Dumpy the little snowman


The three gals


More pics...





And my fav gramma in Germany, Angelika=D She let me ride a horse on Christmas day, a really wonderful surprise!=D