Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Cottage Weekend, 29th-30th Sept 2007
i know this is such a long overdue post... but... i've just been lazy and busy!anyway, one of finland's culture is where finnish people go for cottage weekends! it's normally more for in the summer i heard but we went during fall. they drive all the way into some part of finland that is outside of the city area and stay in the cottage for a few days just to relax and enjoy. there's plenty of ground outside these cottages and probably a lake nearby too.
anyway, we went for cottage weekend and took a bus ride of about an hour or two to get there.
me with my big bag... i thought it looks perfectly fine for me because i used it to travel for 3 weeks before i came. but my friends here all enjoy laughing at it because they think it's so huge and disproportionate as compared to my size and height. they always say that i hide a guy inside... haha. and well, wanted a shot of me with my bag!
on the way there...
stopping halfway for toilet, rest, water and food.
finally reached the cottage! too lazy for words so i shall just let the pictures do the work.
we went to the lake....
had games in the afternoon...
the group i was in for the games session.
and at night we had this international dinner where everyone had to prepare a dish from their home country... it was quite amazing... alot of food on the table!! yummy!
then at night there was sauna but i didn't go for it because... it was the first day of the month!!! unfortunately. sighs. but the people seem to have had alot of fun because they would run out of the sauna and jump into the icy cold lake. apparently it's some finnish culture... and it seems so fun that one should try... but i didn't had the chance so well.overall, it wasn't that fun a weekend and a little disappointing i would say. the countryside was nice but i thought the cottage would be much cosier. but still, it was nice to learn and be part of finnish culture! :)
YuAn® spun on 4:45 AM.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
my clique!!! :)
i apologize for the lack of updates... actually i still have alot to write about and post lotsa pictures too but i've just been too lazy and busy recently. i will do them soon... i hope!anyway, i finally kinda have a clique after 1 month plus here!! well.. it's kinda.. more like my gang of people that stay here in Ida which is where i live. we are like the german-mandarin speaking clique. cuz we only either speak german/mandarin and english. haha!
here is part of my clique.. there's still kinda like 2 more people in it... this austrian and another taiwanese guy, but they weren't in this picture. anyway i know these people better... like we hang out more often. still getting to know the little austrian boy. haha.
lewis (taipei, taiwan), dennis (hamburg, germany), alex (cologne, germany), me, kelly (hongkong), vicky (hongkong)i love group shots!! :) and this picture is nice... there's the 2 hongkong girls, one taiwan guy, and the other two are germans.
i'm so glad that my efforts into picking up cantonese from hongkong dramas has not gone down the drain! it's so much easier for me to understand and communicate with the hk girls! and like because the taiwanese don't understand cantonese, the three of us often communicate in cantonese and talk about small jokes and secrets between us. it's alot of fun... to just have stuff you wanna be said between girls! :) and the taiwanese speak their taiwanese too which i understand because i'm hokkien! but they don't really speak that because most of the time they are just comfortable with mandarin. but i must be so ashamed to admit that my hokkien has really worsened by quite a fair bit because a recent attempt trying to exhibit my ability in the dialect ended up with many bits and pieces of cantonese coming out in my sentences. so embarrassing.
anyway i would still say that we are starting to get to know each other more... like at least i'm trying to get to know the austrian guy more... the rest i'm quite shou already... but still, getting more shou la.
that's about it la.. my life is quite routine now... seeing these people everyday... and well, going to school, cooking, buying groceries, playing, talking, laughing... haha. i have exams next week... sighs. i'm so dead. two 100% exams!! i really hope i pass because the prof is known for failing half the class, without closing one eye for exchange students so i'm quite dead because both papers are from the same prof... sighs. I HOPE I PASS!!! PLEASE!!!!
YuAn® spun on 8:05 AM.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Dumpling Dinner + Chicken Rice Dinner
Dumpling Dinner - 25th Sept 2007tuesday was mid autumn festival and my few asian chinese friends and i decided to get together for dinner!! basically we are a clique of taiwan, hongkong and singapore people!! =) no china though. haha.
so we were gonna make... 馄饨面!!! which is called wanton i think? like wanton mee in singapore.. just that it's a little bit different without the char siew and vegetables. it's the more... chinese type of wanton noodles i think.
anyhow, we bought the ingredients we could lay our hands on.. to make our dumplings!!!
the layer of skin needed to wrap it...
mixing, stirring the bowl of minced pork, chopped onions, carrots, mushrooms. it takes alot of force, really.
our pot of soup!!! YUMMY!!! it was really nice... and smells really good.
us learning how to make it from wei-in!!
my virgin wanton!!!
having fun wrapping them.
don't they look fantabulous?
me with the made but uncooked dumplings!
lewis and i.
all ready to eat my bowl of wanton noodles!!!
a sample of it.
for once i get to eat noodles in a bowl with chopsticks and a chinese spoon!!!! and not with western plate, fork and spoon!! i brought the chopsticks and bought the spoon and bowl.
dinner time!! :)
Chicken Rice Dinner - 28th Sept 2007
Apparently, Singapore's Hainanese Chicken Rice (see the irony?) seems to be rather famous and popular among other asians. my taiwanese friends just love chicken rice and have been bugging me to make them since they realized that i bought the prepack over! i must admit that chicken rice is probably one of the best and one of my favourites among all the Singapore food. but... i've never tried making it before.
so we finally found a time when everyone could make it to get together for... a chicken rice feast!!
all the secrets needed to make the wonders for the chicken rice!! my prepacked chicken rice ingredients!! all i had to get was just rice and chicken.
preparing to cook the chicken...
dale reading the instructions on how to cook it...
cooking the chicken!!!
boiling the pot of chicken... oily....
the guys waiting for dinner!!!
look at the poker cards with chinese character... brought by a GERMAN!!! :)
our additional pork bone soup with carrots and onions.
looks good??
cooking the most important part... the RICE!!! following the instructions carefully!!
look at all the oil to make it delicious...
vicky slicing the cucumbers.
alex tasting chinese soup.
yay the chicken!!!
8 of us! :)
our table of our chicken rice feast.
non-singaporeans eating singapore food.
germans eating singapore food. it was their virgin chicken rice! YUMMY!!!
kelly and dale.
lewis, vicky and wei-in.
chicken rice maniac.
only singaporean (as always) at the table of singapore food! and with errr... alot of bones. haha.
dennis and his cucumber eye mask. haha!
the guys doing the dishes!
that was about it for food! it's fun to cook together and eat with so many people!! :) i wished i could get more singapore food here but the asian shops are so limited... and not to mention expensive!!and i'm so sure i'll return back to singapore with my culinary skills improving by leaps and bounds. :)
YuAn® spun on 6:45 PM.