Emo No More

Sorry about the previous post :p it was my therapy to have a typo-diarrhea in order to feel better.

I'm sure my sis, Kellie knows this well because whenever life screws with me she's always there to listen to the worst of my ramblings. And then, there comes the "everything-will-be-fine-hug". You can't find a better sister in the world!

And Umama, haha no wonder we're BBFs! We take turns to emo, lol! You were feeling down last week and just today I got bitten by the emo-bug!

Thanks to Umama, XiangYan and Jason for cheering me up! I feel loads better already! You guys are the best! :))

Probably going out to a pub nearby for dinner and a beer later!

Hehe, I played with another doggie outside my school again. It was whining while waiting for its owner to be done with the ATM or bankomat as they call it around here.

Karen's Theory of Equivalence

Happiness = love= friends = food = cute furry animals

Feeling a little Low... But what can you do? C'est la vie

Hello, hello, hello to whoever out there who's listening.

I'm feeling a little sad today; mostly I'm disappointed with myself.

I sat for my last paper today, and hung around school until it was about one in the afternoon. I was feeling good about the paper until I saw my grade. I got a C. It was a pass grade but it hurts to know that I didn't do well even after studying hard for it. Someone told me that trying your best is enough, so why does it still hurt so much? My two friends got A for this paper. I'm not sour over their better results. It's just that I can't join in their jokes and laughter when I'm still hurting. I'll try to get over this.

But please allow me sometime to wallow in my self-pity. I'm allowed to feel sad. I'm only human. Okay, time to go cry in the toilette, it's my special get-well therapy. Don't wanna alarm my house mates.

In times like this, I'm glad that there's someone out there who willing to comfort me. Thank you for your kind sms! It made me feel a lot better :))

Crazy, crazy, crazy

Hey!

Life's been really crazy recently. Planning for trips and stuff. Barely having a moment's rest, but I'm really not complaining. The end of my time in Europe is drawing close, so I can totally understand when JC says that he wants to make most of his time here.

I can't believe that in forty days or so, I'll have to bid goodbye to everything that I've come to love here. My new friends, my apartment, my housemates, my feelings, the satisfaction of fulfilling my wanderlust. There would be a goodbye, but not a final one because one day I'll be back.


Enjoy the video, it's a reflection of my mood... mellow... reflective...sad...but thankful nonetheless...

I'm really lagging with the updates on my travels but you can just check out the pictures on your own. All you need is a facebook account :P

Tomorrow's the day where we do our last exam in Kladno. It's the Anesthesia and Resuscitation paper. Gawd... it is one of my private nightmares where I curl up in bed hoping that the paper would be over... painlessly if possible. Might it be too much to ask? Anyway, I hope that I would be able to pass it. Just one more paper and then it's freedom and an orgy of major traveling plans!

We're probably going out for dinner tonight. To a pub nearby maybe? I think I'm starting to like drinking... oh no... bless my poor liver!

Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera

I just read the abridged version of the book yesterday :)) because I was excited about going to watch it at the theatre :D

Had watermelon yesterday again! This fruit is a miracle cure for "heaty-ness" and sore throats! Yum! We also watched Shrek and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs! It was a day of rest and relaxation... My sore throat is gone at last! Can't believe I had KFC while nursing a sore throat ><

(original title: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialization in "Le Gaulois" from September 23, 1909 to January 8, 1910. Initially, the story sold very poorly upon publication in book form and was even out of print several times during the twentieth century, despite the success of its various film and stage adaptations. The most notable of these were the 1925 film depiction and Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical. The Phantom of the Opera musical is now the longest running Broadway show in history, and one of the most lucrative entertainment enterprises of all time.

The Prince's Wisdom

"On ne voit bien qu'avec le cœur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux."

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."

"C'est le temps que tu as perdu pour ta rose qui fait ta rose si importante."

"It is the time you have spent with your rose that makes your rose so important."

My Prince & I

Last night just before bedtime, I read a famous novella by Antione Saint-Exupéry: The Little Prince.

It seems that I had chanced upon this book many years before this night. However, I vaguely remember reading it in Chinese. It had been quite a painful read for me in my childhood as I could not understand the underlying messages hidden in the author's words.

Now, it seems that I have forgotten how to be a child, and have been striving, with blind effort towards what one would call a "sensible" adulthood. Have we all forgotten our inner child? When was the last time you truly laughed? And I don't mean the false laughter at a bad joke, or the polite laughter to assure someone that you're truly enjoying his company... I ask you sincerely, when was the last time when you truly laughed? When did you last feel as free as a bird? When was the last time when you felt that you didn't have a care in the world? :))

The truth is, I can't remember. Perhaps, I have forgotten the truly important things in life, and I am now overly and unnecessarily "concerned with matters of consequence", as the author would remark.

I will now try to find my inner child :))

We met up with JC's old friend, Xiu Li at the Keukenhof Tulip Garden. I was both excited and nervous to meet someone new. For some reason, we arrived an hour early at the garden! >< We sat in the tourist information center and chatted to pass time.


After an hour of waiting, we finally met up with XiuLi, her mom, and XiuLi's dutch friend, Robin.
It turns out that Robin was a girl that we were admiring in the tourist info centre. She had long blonde hair, beautiful eyes and a sweet disposition :))
XiuLi and her mom seemed to really love flowers! There was flowers in every corner of the garden! It was a cheerful explosion of colours and smells! The air was filled with the sweet scent of flowers and a slightly woody damp scent of rain.

The six of us soon grew hungry and had lunch at the cafeteria in the garden.

We stayed for a little longer after lunch before returning to the central. I was still a little heady from the dazzling array of tulips!

Afternoon tea was XiuLi's mom's treat! We ate in a mall in the Schiphol Airport. XiuLi and her mom are really really nice folks: XiuLi's very easy-going and has a contagious laughter, and her mom is just perfectly motherly!

We then parted ways. Robin headed home while XiuLi and her mom went back to their hotel to rest.


The three of us ventured a bike-paddling tour in the canals of Amsterdam! I was horrendous at navigation and caused quite a few "accidents" in the canal! People we met in the canals were roaring with laughter at our "excellent" boating aptitude >< lll
Dinner was pancakes at Sara's Pancake Place! Yum! JC's got a sweet-tooth! You would be amazed by the speed that he wolfs down the pancakes! I swear, the pancakes disappeared right before my eyes!
Can you guess where we are?

After dinner, we sought entertainment in Amsterdam's famous Red Light District.

Ahaha... I shall leave the rest up to your imagination! Good night!

Amsterdam Day 2

I was chomping on stale bread in the hotel lobby while deciding our itinerary for the day.

After breakfast, we left our hotel and took the free shuttle bus to Schiphol Airport. We spend more than an hour there trying to navigate our way towards Amsterdam Central Station using the most affordable way possible! It was crazy because there were tons our people heading to the Central to celebrate Queen's Day. Almost everyone was decked out in neon orange: some wore orange hats, some had orange shirts and some girls had neon orange falsies glued on their eyelids! It was outrageous funny how everyone was in the mood for some fun! There was even a random guy dressed in a frilly prink tu-tu!


Of course, we had to attire ourselves appropriately for the occasion! :D

Because even the dogs and cats were all dressed up to party!

We decided to visit a Cheese and Clog making farm in Volendam by taking a bus there.
Here's what the farm looks like. Pretty cute huh?

Of course, there are pretty milkmaids aplenty on the farm!


Oh! Yes, let me introduce you to our guide.
Dutch people have an amazing sense of humor! Our guide cracks me up with all his little stories! I loved the one about the clog that was carved with a naked mermaid!

It was simply too hard to resist lunching in the farm! We were told that they only serve "cold" lunches...
Here's the spread for three! Omg, the quality and the sheer quantity of the food took my breath away! The Dutch really know about hospitality!
After lunch, we made our way out of the farm to admire Volendam in its natural glory! This has been one of my favorite places so far! I love it despite the bone-chilling winds what threatened to make away with our new orange hats!

Beautiful isn't it! I would love to have a house here :))
Even the animals graze happily :))

When in Netherlands, one does not forget about its famous windmills!

Hours later, we returned to Amsterdam Central to spend the rest of our evening. Celebrations were getting rather wild in the streets!
The young, the old, and even our four-legged friends were decked out in neon orange and ready to party! People were setting up stalls everywhere on the streets, selling anything you could imagine: clothes, toys, painting, musical instruments, food, cakes, cannabis laced energy drinks, etc.

People were dancing, they were singing, they were puking their guts out, and they were also peeing on the streets! It was a drunken frenzy of celebrations, and it was a blast!

I was quite sorry to leave the Centraal but we had to return to our hotel for a good night's rest! We were going to see the tulips the very next day!

Amsterdam Day 1

Ah gosh... I'm finally blogging about Amsterdam! Yes, this entry is way overdue!


I had an excellent flight with Wizzair towards Amsterdam. There was no severe headaches, and no one to kick the back of my chair. I even had enough time to read the travel guide that Kellie bought for me as a present for my 22nd birthday :))

Here, we're in Eindhoven Airport. You can't see me because I'm the one working the camera. Perhaps if you look closely enough, you'll see my open notebook - it's my travel diary! I write in it whenever I have time to spare; then, I was writing while waiting for our bus to bring us to Central Amsterdam.

It was a 2 hour bus ride! The journey was peaceful and comfortable. Naturally yours truly fell into a deep slumber. I can sleep anywhere, anytime, as tested by JC and JY.

[Last night I feel asleep on the couch while waiting for JC to emerge from the bathroom so that we could complete our homework together. As I snoozed, the pair tried all ways and means to wake me up: they sang, they jiggled, and they danced! But I didn't even stir... :p]

2 hours later, we alighted beside a canal with an amazing view! The streets were thronging with tourists, and bright orange balloons and other decorations filled the place with a festive mood! You could just sense the tingle of fun and mischief in the air! Everyone in Amsterdam was preparing themselves for Queen's Day!


We walked to Anne Frank Huis - also known as the house of Anne Frank. However, we did not enter the place as the admission fees were exorbitant! Thus, we took a little stroll along the canals...

And we found a nice little joint that sold crispy golden fries!

Although the fries were better than your average McDonald's fare, fries in Belgium were way better in comparison. After our quick snack, we headed for Albert Heijn, a supermarket, for some groceries. Everything was really expensive! So we settled for some water, cake and bread.

Public transport in Amsterdam is insane! I wonder how the locals manage to navigate through the many means of public transport. The various modes of public transport are run by different company, so you'll have to get the correct tickets in order to hop on board. Insane! We took more than an hour to get to our hotel from Amsterdam Central >< but the arduous journey was well worthwhile because our hotel was fabulous! I love Hotel Schiphol A4~

Guess what we had for dinner? Yup, it's KFC! Kentucky fried chicken is finger-licking good in Amsterdam! The taste is just slightly below that of Prague's in terms to "deliciousness" :p

After dinner, we took a long soak in the bathtub together. Relax, we weren't naked. LOL. We were just soaking our poor, tired feet together! And that was how I spent my first day in Amsterdam :D

New Hair+ New Bronzer

I cut my hair really short in case you haven't noticed! I went for something really crazy as usual... why play it so safe when you only get to live once?

We went out after lessons for a little shopping and I bought my first pot of bronzer from Rossman, the Czech equivalent of Singapore's Watsons :))

I experimented with it the moment I reached home! Haha... I am really make-up crazy. It was quite dark already as the sun was about to set. Thus, I couldn't really see the effect of the Bronzer :P Will try again under natural light!

Meeting a New Friend and a Visit to the Museum

"Entropa is a sculpture created by Czech artist David Černý under commission for the Czech Republic to mark the occasion of its presidency of the Council of the European Union. The sculpture was supposed to have been created jointly by 27 artists and artist groups from all member countries of the EU; but in a hoax, Černý and his three assistants created the satirical and controversial work depicting pointed stereotypes of European nations and fake artist profiles complete with invented descriptions of their supposed contributions."

This slightly over-priced musuem of contemporary art, Centre of Contemporary Art DOX in Prague-Holešovice, is probably one of the museums that I enjoyed most!

It was pretty relaxing to look at a piece of artwork and then to try to get under the artist's skin to figure out what the hell he was thinking when creating. The creator of Entropa was probably somewhat of a jokester (like myself) who was probably not thinking too much of the consequences when he designed the Entropa. On one hand, I admire his guts for his fearlessness of controversy; on the other, I wonder at his lack of common-sense. Ah... oh well... perhaps this piece reminds me too much about my own situation when I provoke others without any ill intention.

Seems like life is full of misinterpretations and misunderstandings. Ah... I do sound very melancholic when my heart is heavy... Don't worry too much about me... I'll be alright. After all, wounds heal, and the best medicine is time. But I'm glad that I cleared things up with you guys... you know who you are... now I'm able to be genuinely happy again. I'm a straightforward kind of person, I don't like lying, I don't like hiding things. So I'm just so glad that it's over and I can breathe again. Thanks for thrashing things out with me although it was a very emotionally painful situation... I was quite traumatized but I'll be alright. I'll give life my best shot at it!

Finally met up with XiangYan for the second time! It was our first official introduction to each other! :)) Meeting a new friend makes me really really happy! I think it made me forget about all my troubles. I love the feeling of being able to open up and connect to someone! Friendship is incredible! :)) This meeting was an unexpected one because we invited Ricky to visit the museum with us and he told us that he would be bringing along a friend... guess who that was? XiangYan! Haha... life has its nice surprises! Oh no... I just realized that I forgot to give Ricky and XiangYan the souvenirs that I bought for them in Amsterdam...

Last night, after dinner at our apartment, XiangYan shared something really close to his heart with us. He told us about some of his painful experiences with friendships and I could totally relate to that. It was such a heart-wrenching story of betrayal and misunderstandings. Human beings are such complex creatures. Why can't we put all our willful pride aside and speak only the truth?

I think the meeting healed me a lot. Thank you fate for this chance encounter. Perhaps God wants me to learn something from this meeting...

Baby Fever!

http://www.makemebabies.com/

Spent the morning on the above webby making babies! Haha... So here's the result after nine months... I mean nine minutes :D

A big thanks to Judia who wrote me an email about this babymakingmachine >< love it!

London Day 3 and 4

Postboxes in London are bright red in color! Very charming indeed!

Fooling around in a park that extends to the famous Hyde Park that we did not have time to visit. "I can be as stubborn as Foxy too when he goes for his walks!"

Yes, we visited the famous Harrods. Prices were sky-high there, and it seems that this is the place that only employs beautiful people. All the sales staff were gorgeous! Eye-candy galore!

Fantabulously exhausted after another grueling day in London! We fell asleep while watching a Harry Potter movie... did not even realize JC taking this photo.

On the fourth day of our trip, I requested a visit to the Museum of London :)
We had fun in the museum while trying on the exhibits! Yes, we were allowed to do so! There was a sign that encouraged visitors to try them on :D
Spring is beautiful! Okay that's all for London. Glad that I'm finally done with blogging. Up next will be about my trip to Amsterdam; city of pot, spacecakes and prostitutes!