BRONZE for Singapore!

I know I'm late in joining the celebration/discussion, but better late than never -- FTW FTW!

I didn't watch the match, but reading the news that day made me do a little cheer in my chair. Not so secretly, I've always been a little sceptical of the achievements Singapore has made in table tennis, because of the origins of its most well-known members. Because of this, I surprised myself a little when I saw some negative comments on facebook, because I ACTUALLY FELT ANGRY AT THESE PEOPLE (and a little ashamed of old me, but hey, I've learnt to see another perspective!). And I usually only get angry at 1) my things when they don't work the way they're supposed to (that's YOU, computer), and 2) people who don't do the work they're supposed to.

I think Feng Tianwei deserves a lot more respect from the rest of Singapore. Let's not complicate the issue by discussing the government's immigration and citizenship policies. I don't think it's right to deprive someone of the recognition they deserve for their achievements just because you want to take a political stand. Unless, of course, the purpose is to just make a statement, which can be done at other less selfish times, thank you very much.

She wore our flag and fought on our side. I think that's good enough for me.

Besides, I think FTW (of 2008) reminds me of my old pal Clot! Lean and spunky. (I will not pretend to know more about FTW beyond her looks)

(try to imagine Clot holding up a medal in a non-casted arm)

Sorry Feng Tianwei, for the rude behaviour of my fellow Singaporeans. There are still many of us who are celebrating because of you :) 

she really should be happier than this

Happy Swiss National Day!

In 1291, the three cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden formed an alliance which eventually became the Swiss Confederation as it is today (26 cantons), so Switzerland is 721 today!

But just as I think the Beatles were really only formed in 1962 when Ringo Starr joined the others, one could say that it was only in 1815, with the addition of Valais, Neuchatel and Geneva, that Switzerland finally became Switzerland. That still makes it at least 150 years older than Singapore. Wow. It's also baffling to remember that 1815 was four years before Raffles set foot on our little fishing village of an island...

Here are some FUN FACTS about Switzerland! And a few extras thrown in. (I LOVE fun facts 8-))

1. The Swiss Flag is SQUARE.
It occurred to me last week that I'd never seen a Swiss flag in the regular flag dimensions of 3:2, so I googled it. Apparently, the 3:2 is only used on ships. Also, the only other square flag is that of the Vatican City. The Red Cross's flag is colour-inverted and derived from the Swiss flag because its founder was from Switzerland (Geneva!).

2. There are FOUR official languages: French, German, Italian and Romansh.
a) Swiss German, though, is very different from regular German German. From what I understand,, it's more of a spoken difference -- signs, written forms and mass media are in regular German, but they're read out loud and spoken in Swiss German, which can be unrecognisable to speakers of regular German. A bit like how Singlish is unintelligible to other users of the English Language, dun Choo think?

b) There is an invisible line that separates the French side of Switzerland from the German-speaking side. It is called the Rostigraben (rosti-ditch), thus named because rosti is German-Swiss food. It can be a little peculiar on trains sometimes, when between one stop and the next you notice that the ticket inspector suddenly greets everyone in a different language.

Linguistic map of Switzerland

3. The internet suffix (?) for Swiss websites is ".ch", and the currency, Swiss Francs, is abbreviated as "CHF". WHY, you ask? Neither Suisse, Schweiz, Svizzera, nor Svizra starts with "ch"!
Upon careful examination of the coins (or notes), you will notice that the "CH"stands for "Confoederatio Helvetica", apparently the Latin equivalent of "Swiss Confederation". My trusty Guidebook also suggests that this usage conveniently dodges the potentially prickly issues arising from multilingualism. How clever! Oh, and yes, the font Helvetica was created by a Swiss.

I'm going to stop here (for now) because I realise how wordynerdy this is. Some day I will post some of the sillier (but not entirely untrue) things I've heard, like, it is illegal to flush your toilet after 10pm.

As I'm typing this (in the afternoon), there are alphorns being played somewhere in Geneva, and there's a cow-fight (seriously) going on in Plainpalais as part of the Swiss National Day celebrations. Fireworks tonight!

celebratory flag on our rosti dinner

Happy Swiss National Day, everybody!

edit @10:51pm: Fireworks have been going on for more than an hour! If you don't think about how much tax money that is, it's actually pretty nice... From the vantage point of our balcony we can spot at least six fireworks sites around Geneva :) I'm playing NDP theme songs. They go well with fireworks!

A Weekend in Provence

Back in Sec 3, the teachers came up with a compulsory reading list of four books and assigned one to each of us. We were to buy the book (from Kinokuniya), read it for the first assignment (a test of sorts), then pass the book on to someone else for the next assignment. 

Of course, everyone was curious as to how we could all sit for the same test after having read different books. Very typical interrogations of the teacher ensued, and very typical, unsatisfactory, teacherly responses were given. Seeing no purpose in wasting too much time on this seemingly mad scheme, my classmates conspired an efficient way to manage these assignments. We each read our allocated titles faithfully. This was mine:

A Year in Provence

The plan was to read ONE book each and complete all four assignments accurately using the same book. Then, before submission, we wrote someone else's name on the top of the sheet. What a plan! I remember having doubts about this plan, but there was no way we would have had the time to read all four books in the given time span. Sure we loved books, but not so much when we were forced to. Also, most of us were too involved in our after-school activities.

So, long story short, we pulled off the entire operation without detection. I still wonder to this day how we didn't get found out. I can recognise all my students' handwritings, sometimes even their choice of stationery to know who borrowed from whom. Maybe Mr H felt like giving us a break, maybe he was too lazy to handle such a massive case of cheating, or maybe he just trusted us too much. 

But I digress! The point is, I enjoyed the book and felt that one day, I would have to visit Provence. So two weeks ago, we did. Back in March when we went to Montpellier (very near Provence), it was awfully windy and I thought of the dreaded Mistral in the book. 

Mid-July Provence lived up to all my expectations...

Street busker at Aix-en-Provence

Arriving midday on Saturday at Aix-en-Provence, the town was brimming with people - tourists. Summer is typically the height of tourist season everywhere in Europe, so that didn't come as a surprise. (Also, I remembered how the book told of traffic jams both in (tourists) and out (locals) of Provence.) We didn't stay long, but did travel to the seaside for some seafood lovin'.

"afternoon"sun, 8pm

I love long summer days. Now that Summer Solstice has passed and we're headed towards Equinox, I'm already dreading winter :( I'm very much a tropical being.

The next day was the highlight of the trip - farmers' markets and lavender fields!

fruits by the crate

I also love summer fruits - fuzzy peaches, nectarines, melons... sweeeet. Being the over-enthusiastic city-dwellers that we are, we bought three crates of fruit amidst the miscellaneous provencal street snacks and jams etc.

Along the dusty countryside roads, we stopped by a quaint little family-run restaurant for a leisurely lunch (it was excellent).

shaded by the vines overhead

Then, the hunt for lavender fields began! It was a really lovely summer day. I really enjoyed the ride through the French countryside. The skies were impossibly blue and the fields just rolled on and on. Almost everyone fell into a post-lunch coma, but I'm a real sucker for landscapes that make me feel tiny, so I stayed awake.

ready for harvest!

the perched village of Simiane through the windscreen

I leave you with one of my favourite moments of the trip - sitting on the edge of a cliff, swinging my feet and biting into a warm, dribbly, fuzzy peach. The view is not spectacular, but moments of intense happiness tend to sneak up on me just like that.

The Lion, The Bridge and The Ski Slope

Last Friday, I took a 3hr train ride to Lucerne to meet Shumei. Despite having been in Switzerland for the last six months, Lucerne is only the third Swiss city I've been to. With just four hours and an unscaled map, we set off on foot to explore the city. This isn't going to be in any particular order, because I need it to match my title properly :P

The Löwendenkmal

The Lion monument is a memorial for the hundreds of Swiss Guards who died while guarding King Louis XVI and his family at the Tuileries Palace in Paris during the French Revolution. I've seen pictures of this dying Lion many times, but I didn't expect it to be so large, or so poignant. 

We'd gotten a little lost searching for this monument, walking along the wrong stretch of road talking about her plans to do a post-doc (I didn't know there was such a thing!). The moment we stepped into the grounds, though, we fell silent naturally because the place was so tranquil and solemn. Between us and the Lion was a pool of rippling water and low hanging leaves rustling in the breeze. In a way, it actually felt like we were watching a lion die in its cave. We sat down for a bit, but then a tour group soon entered noisily and made the usual tour group noises, which ruined the feel of the place for everyone.

The other Lucerne sight-seeing must, the Chapel Bridge, wasn't particularly exciting, mainly because it burned down in 1993 and what exists today is a mere replica. (I like things in their original state) We didn't even really manage to admire the interior's "paintings" (also replicas), because we were too busy catching up :P 

Of the postcards available though, I liked the one showing the bridge on fire in 1993 best. Not that I like to see things destroyed, but I thought that was the most relevant bit of history for the bridge I visited. 

Kapellbrücke

Lucerne's lake is another clear, shimmering body of water, much like Geneva's.

Lake Lucerne's water fowls (no idea what they are)

I think Thun and Brienz still share the title for Most Amazing Turquoise Colour, though. As we strolled along the lake, Shumei, being the ever-active adventurer, conveyed her wish to ascend Mt Pilatus, kayak on the lake and swim with the swans. And all I could think of to do was to sit down with a picnic basket!

Mt Pilatus and Lake Lucerne

Flowers EVERYWHERE! I love summer :)

We decided to check out the Museum of Transport, since it's supposedly the most visited museum in Switzerland.

Wheels adorning the facade

I wasn't expecting much, but it turned out to house a really impressive collection of transportation. There were trains, vintage cars, various sorts of planes and even an old ship! I wonder how they managed to get everything there. What I really liked was that the museum is very interactive. I tested my stereoscopic vision (9/9!), my ability to multitask while driving (failed miserably), the sensation of paragliding (wheee) and how to fly a helicopter (I flipped us upside down a couple of times :P).

Paragliding kid

Unfortunately, time was tight and I had to rush back to catch my train. (There was a further delay caused by me leaving my lens cap in the helicopter simulator.) After leaving Shumei to explore the Old Town on her own, I ran back to the train station, only to board the wrong train, hence missing my train by half a minute (curses!). After I finally got hold of the train schedule, I realised that the "wrong train" I had boarded earlier was actually the next available train to Geneva. By then, of course, I had missed that one as well, so I ended up returning an hour later than planned, back to a very hungry looking Hubz.

The next time Lucerne beckons, I'm checking out the Old Town. I hope I don't find it in too much of a ruin ;)

Fluffy cakes and dead flies

I'm getting rusty at writing. I started this post with some drivel about how blogging has managed to become simpler and yet more complicated, but realised that it was really just drivel, so now I've got this equally pointless paragraph instead. I should get better at this, right?

I also hope I get the hang of baking someday. Last week, I made a cake from some mix. Given my many failures at baking over the years (a cake that looked like my mum's wooden chopping board, cookies that tasted like flour balls, banana bread that's burnt on the outside and still liquid in the middle...), I thought mix was my best hope for some freshly baked cake.

Frustratingly, my cake turned out too fluffy. It was so fluffy I couldn't cut it properly so it just crumbled apart. D:

Incroyablement Ridiculement aere & moelleux!

Maybe I should have timed the mixer to the exact timings given on the box (I'm not very good at following instructions). Maybe I should have let it cool completely first (I couldn't wait to have cake!). Or maybe it's just supposed to be like that, fluffy but ugly?

-

When we first got here, the Hubs was very pleased that there were no insects anywhere. He repeated many times how great it was that we had moved to an insectless country. When the weather became warmer, we realised that they'd all been hibernating (I wonder where? Underground? How deep?). Overnight, swarms of tiny flies gathered under trees at face level. I went running one day and didn't swerve in time -- one of them buggers died in my eye and I had to go the rest of the way with a bug corpse in my left eye. Then the week after that another one flew right to the back of my throat! @#$%^

Many of these flies must have died similarly horrific deaths, because after three weeks in Singapore, I've noticed that there are far fewer of these swarms around. 

Bugs have also been coming in to our house. I don't mind the live ones that much, as long as they don't touch my food, bite me or fly into my view of the computer/tv, but I would really like to know why they have to all go and die on our window sills. Every week I clean off some buggers and then before I know it, there are more of their little corpses on the window sill. WHY???

Gargamel is equally frustrated.

3 years ago

… was when I last blogged. Reading it now is a bit like discovering a friend’s diary — the events are familiar, yet there’s an ambivalent detachment to the sentiments.

I ought to say that a lot has changed since, seeing how I’m now married, unemployed and living in a different continent altogether. Major life events, but the good things — the important things, have not changed. In fact, I possibly appreciate my friends better than ever and treasure my loved ones even more now. I understand my weaknesses clearer than I have before. I lead a healthier lifestyle. Okay, so that last one also has a lot to do with how I no longer need to spend 60 hours working every week.

So. Hopefully I can keep this up! I really don’t know how I managed to generate some 600+ posts on that old blog…