There's this amazingly gigantic flock of crows in the fields at my workplace, BMW Plant Leipzig. Wonder what attracts them, the shiny reflection from the car screens? Quite freaky when they perch all along the building and suddenly take off in a horde like in this photo. This is only about 5-10% of the whole legion, cos I had to take out my phone and start up the camera and even took a few photos before I was satisfied. Reminds me of the crows in Resident Evil 3! Oh dear oh dear... =P
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
r a n d o m
There's this amazingly gigantic flock of crows in the fields at my workplace, BMW Plant Leipzig. Wonder what attracts them, the shiny reflection from the car screens? Quite freaky when they perch all along the building and suddenly take off in a horde like in this photo. This is only about 5-10% of the whole legion, cos I had to take out my phone and start up the camera and even took a few photos before I was satisfied. Reminds me of the crows in Resident Evil 3! Oh dear oh dear... =P
Monday, January 28, 2008
w o c h e n e n d e
Then went to the Asian grocery shops in city centre with Soon and Carsten on Sat morn. Then we cooked Laksa, Ma Po Toufu and stir-fried oyster sauce vege... No laksa leaves though haha.. Still managed to gravy that tastes like laksa, thankfully... Then invited my apartment mates for the singaporean lunch. From the right: Alex (not in the picture, dunno why haha), Carsten, Soon, me, Barbara (kinda blocked, she's not a apartment mate though, just Agneska's friend who was over for the weekend), Agneska and Conni. My other apartment mates, Anja and her boyfriend Axel were in Muenchen, and Daniel was still sleeping when I knocked on his door at about 2pm to invite him to lunch. Weekends are really sleep-in days here... =P
Then went to Tom's place for dinner. Tom is Soon's and Raymond's (the other 2 Singaporeans in Leipzig) friend. Had great fried rice which was supposed to be kinda spicy but of course it hardly tasted so to us Singaporeans hee.. =P And Raymond also made herbal chicken soup.. Mmmm.. Tom's apartment mate, Robert, and his family (from Brazil) joined us for dinner too. Had such a good laugh after dinner over some wines, love conversations with these guys.. They're in English of course..
Went to church on Sunday, then met Soon for museum visiting. Went to the Forum Museum, free entry! Muahaha.. The entrance is deceivingly tiny, didn't even go through the 3rd floor cos we were too hungry by then haha.. Had a salad and coffee at some cafe near Augustusplatz, and low and behold! In comes Raymond.. haha.. He didn't join us at the museums cos he's rushing his presentation, but happened to pop into his favourite cafe for a quick coffee.
The weather was so depressing -- gloomy and windy with a perpetual drizzle -- that we decided not to visit the monument that day. Another time, I guess. Soon's going back to Sg at the end of this week already though. Then we went to the Bach Museum. Tiny little thing beside Thomaskirche (St Thomas' church). The photo above is the church with a statue of Johann Sebastian Bach in front. The famous boys' choir sings here, apparently. Wanna go listen to them someday hee..
And this is his grave, right at the altar haha..
This is what weekends should be about! =D
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
o r g e l m u s i k
Monday, January 14, 2008
s u n d a y
This is a close-up of the pond you see in the park above.. See that white bits there? That's ice haha... Only the top layer though, so still can't iceskate..
r o o m
My apartment-mate actually checked his handphone after he reached the train station haha.. Oh well, but he was really nice to wait for me still. This is my writing table, with pentty of photos on the wall and lots of stuff on Malaysia. =P He's currently in KL while I rent his room. The room is super big lah! Was sooo pleasantly surprised when I first saw my room..
Sunday, January 13, 2008
t o u c h d o w n
So when I approached the staff, one of them only told me to just take any connecting train, and when I asked about how to claim the costs incurred from the new ticket etc, she seemed irritated and brushed me off with a 'go collect your luggage, then if you have more questions, you can ask the man in the luggage collection area.' It didn't seem like I was getting anywhere with these staff, so I went down to the luggage collection. There was no such 'man' there, so while waiting for my luggage, I went to enquire at the only counter there, the lost luggage counter. He said that I could wait for the staff to come down and pass by that area or go to the Qantas counter outside after collecting my luggage. So after collecting my luggage, it was past the time I was supposed to board my train. Went to the Qantas counter, but there were no staff there, though there a few other passengers like me queueing up there already. Nobody came after a long time, so we left and I went to the information counter of Frankfurt Airport. They tried calling whatever Qantas numbers they have, but there was no answer. So they suggested that I buy a train ticket for the next connection then try calling those numbers again or email Qantas with my receipts.
And the train station is not even at Terminal 2 even. So had to take a shuttle bus there. And had no help with my luggage at all. Bought my ticket at the DB counter, went to platform, but realised that the next train was not going to Leipzig after all. Checked my ticket, and realised that the ticket the staff at DB gave me was for the 08:11 train, although I bought the ticket at 08:18. =S Amazing right.. So went all the way back and got it changed, and the next direct train was 2h later. Was feeling really horrid by then already. Then I saw this chinese guy coming up from the train station platforms, who looks rather familiar. Wasn't sure at first, so hesitated for a while, before following him and shouting out his name. Ended up he's really SW! Haha.. My first day in Germany is his last day, and we actually met by chance at the train station.
Was good to meet someone familiar! Felt so much better after telling him my story and he helped me SMS my apartment-mate who was going to fetch me from the train station in Leipzig, but we didn't receive a reply by the time we had to part ways, so he actually passed me his SIM card! And even gave me his sandwich and apple and banana and a few slices of mandarin orange! To eat as lunch on my train trip.. ;) That's the paper bag of all that, that I placed on the seat beside me.
That's the view out of the window.. Had 3h worth of it! Saw some horses grazing even!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
d e p a r t u r e
Monday, January 07, 2008
new year's eve
My ribeye steak.. Succulent.. Though I asked for medium, it's one of the reddest steaks I've ever eaten I think haha...
S's cod fish... Crispy on the outside, soft and juicy inside.. Wonderful.. There was also citrus sorbet before this, didn't take a photo though..
S slurping up his mudcake... the 6-course came with a wine too (choice of white or red, we got white to go with the fish), u can just see the glass in the photo.. ;) we couldn't finish the dessert cos we were so full after so much haha..
Then went to East Coast Park, found a spot on a breakwater and watched the fireworks.. =D Could see a bit of the ones at VivoCity even.. Then lots of the high ones at Esplanade.. Plenty of flares and honking of ship horns along the horizon too... Beautiful.. Esp when spent with a special someone heez... ;) Savouring the moment while it lasts...
v i s a
Was supposed to fly on Sunday but the german embassy in Singapore said they still could not contact the authorities in Leipzig who're supposed to approve my Visa before they can issue it on the Singapore side. And I have to collect it personally in Singapore, so no use flying there 1st either. So I had to change my flight to Friday, thankfully it's free to change flight dates before departure for Qantas =) Phew phew...
However, my train ticket was bought at an offer price, so it's non-refundable nor can I change the date of travel. Can't believe that I was initially praying so hard that they will not strike (strikes for this week by the german rail was impending) so I will not be stranded at the train station, but now I'm praying that they will strike, so I can get a refund or change of date... But just got news from a friend's friend in Leipzig that they're not striking this week after all... Sigh.. So seems like I'll have to forfeit my ticket.. argh.. there goes 80 plus Singapore Dollars... Now I'm wondering whether I should buy my ticket only when I reach, but it could be twice as expensive and run the risk of tickets being sold out.. Heard from a friend that it might be cheaper to buy them last minute, though he's not sure whether it's for the german rail too.
Almost broke down in tears on Friday when I learnt about my Visa stuff... Learnt my lesson that gotta bug and bug them earlier in future.. If there's ever 'in future'... At least my boss is ok with me starting my internship a few days later... Keep feeling this tension in my chest.. Gotta try to let go and look on the bright side that I can spend a bit more time in Singapore with my loved ones and friends..