Images of Graz
Friday, March 11, 2005
Mid - Week 3 (Wednesday)
Today is Wednesday and its 11.17pm on my lappie’s clock. I am sipping hot tea and sitting on my bed typing, because my dear Natasha wants to know what is happening in my life. So this blog is dedicated to her.
I was bored today and feeling a slight tinge of culture shock, in terms of finding Graz boring and sick of Graz. I was not exactly thinking of home, but slightly missing the company of friends and family back in Singapore. But oh well!
Okay this week, we are studying this topic called “International Human Resources”, taught by this professor from Marymount University. He is this little fat thing, who I feel pity for, coz somehow he keeps on demeaning himself, and putting himself down. And he is quite hilarious and shocking to me – in the first class, he broke out in an Italian song, coz one of the girls in class is called Sollei, so the name gave him inspiration to start that song. He had a loud booming voice, and he sang for a good three minutes. Tut tut, a good start I must say.
I just came back from a nice nice dinner, with lots and lots of red and white wine. It’s a nice party of four girls – two Norway girls (Stije & Astrid), one Mexican (Marcella), and of course I. Marcella made an amazing dish, with dough mixed with half a bottle of white wine. Inside the dough are tomatoes, cheese, minced pork, garlic and onions. And when baked the dough is a nice crispy pastry. We finished a bottle of red wine.
For dessert, we melted dark chocolate and milk chocolate, mixed with milk. Then we had vanilla ice-cream and bananas topped with the chocolate sauce. This was an incredible concoction by Astrid. And yes, with white wine.
It was amazing atmosphere, with Latin music playing in the background, and only candles providing light in the very cozy kitchen. Glorious food, lovely conversation, enjoyable company. Paradise I guess.
You can imagine how incredibly sleepy and full I was by the time I was done with dessert. Together with the dim lighting and spell of the liquor, I was lying on Stije’s bed while they were clearing the dishes. Marcella, of all times, must take a pix of me dozing away!
My culture shock blues was wiped clean from my troubled mind. All I can think now is to read my Human Resource notes, and get to bed, and be on time for class tomorrow.
I will not be late again. Nitey Night!
Paupau
1154pm
I was bored today and feeling a slight tinge of culture shock, in terms of finding Graz boring and sick of Graz. I was not exactly thinking of home, but slightly missing the company of friends and family back in Singapore. But oh well!
Okay this week, we are studying this topic called “International Human Resources”, taught by this professor from Marymount University. He is this little fat thing, who I feel pity for, coz somehow he keeps on demeaning himself, and putting himself down. And he is quite hilarious and shocking to me – in the first class, he broke out in an Italian song, coz one of the girls in class is called Sollei, so the name gave him inspiration to start that song. He had a loud booming voice, and he sang for a good three minutes. Tut tut, a good start I must say.
I just came back from a nice nice dinner, with lots and lots of red and white wine. It’s a nice party of four girls – two Norway girls (Stije & Astrid), one Mexican (Marcella), and of course I. Marcella made an amazing dish, with dough mixed with half a bottle of white wine. Inside the dough are tomatoes, cheese, minced pork, garlic and onions. And when baked the dough is a nice crispy pastry. We finished a bottle of red wine.
For dessert, we melted dark chocolate and milk chocolate, mixed with milk. Then we had vanilla ice-cream and bananas topped with the chocolate sauce. This was an incredible concoction by Astrid. And yes, with white wine.
It was amazing atmosphere, with Latin music playing in the background, and only candles providing light in the very cozy kitchen. Glorious food, lovely conversation, enjoyable company. Paradise I guess.
You can imagine how incredibly sleepy and full I was by the time I was done with dessert. Together with the dim lighting and spell of the liquor, I was lying on Stije’s bed while they were clearing the dishes. Marcella, of all times, must take a pix of me dozing away!
My culture shock blues was wiped clean from my troubled mind. All I can think now is to read my Human Resource notes, and get to bed, and be on time for class tomorrow.
I will not be late again. Nitey Night!
Paupau
1154pm
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Beginning to Week 3 in FH
it is so hard to get around in only german. my austrian line is screwed up, and my research thingy is not getting anywhere, i am supposed to settle my YEP stuff, and my damn laptop cant get hooked on to the wireless, and i dun like the course this week. and i refuse to get anything done unless my lappie works.
so i am sorry to pris: i cant find the receipts. cant remember if i passed them to xz already, and can u tell sl i will send to her the report. i cant seem to reply the mails on this damn computer - and my lappie cant connect to the net. and shit, everything is in godamn german. so i actualli erased two important workfiles from my thumbdrive. and yes its unretrievable now. and i want to add stuff to my blog, like pix and commentary forum kinda thing. and i dun noe how to do it.
sorry ruoling dear, i noe u r trying to get me. and for easter me and angeline are planning to go to bulgaria to visit our dear frens-who are here on exchange wif us, but they r goin back home. and hungary too. is maya goin back to bosnia, can we visit her too? and we are good to travel from 16th mar to 3rd apr. antz im coming over 4th apr - right after omy easter trip.
im going slovenia this weekend wif exchange frens. update this soon. gotcha run.
paupau
grrrh. okie im going slovenia
so i am sorry to pris: i cant find the receipts. cant remember if i passed them to xz already, and can u tell sl i will send to her the report. i cant seem to reply the mails on this damn computer - and my lappie cant connect to the net. and shit, everything is in godamn german. so i actualli erased two important workfiles from my thumbdrive. and yes its unretrievable now. and i want to add stuff to my blog, like pix and commentary forum kinda thing. and i dun noe how to do it.
sorry ruoling dear, i noe u r trying to get me. and for easter me and angeline are planning to go to bulgaria to visit our dear frens-who are here on exchange wif us, but they r goin back home. and hungary too. is maya goin back to bosnia, can we visit her too? and we are good to travel from 16th mar to 3rd apr. antz im coming over 4th apr - right after omy easter trip.
im going slovenia this weekend wif exchange frens. update this soon. gotcha run.
paupau
grrrh. okie im going slovenia
Last day of Week 2 (Sunday)
I went to the flea market with my motherly landlady – Renate. (Pronounced as rer-na-ta). I came back at 430am yesterday. I will not tell you what I did (think tongue ring) – only that I went to this place called Music House, where they played Rage against the Machine and other metal music the whole night. Anyway, I managed to drag myself outta bed at 930am, and by 1030am, we were dressed and ready to go!
The flea market is a bit like our Sungei Road, selling second hand stuff, and you get some things at a real bargain. Renate got two new orange candles for 1€. Nothing fantastic - only that it reminds me of what older folks do on Sunday, like my dear daddy. Plus it was really nice to see people and activity on the seventh day of the week, coz all shops are closed on Sundays. Talk about lazy people.
I met Helga, the Hungarian girl at 130pm to do shopping for today’s cooking! Okay, fast forward to after we have bought all the groceries →→→ I swear Helga is an amazing cook. She like made magic! She created a turkey ham pizza out of dough and milk and yeast…. and vanilla and strawberry pudding with kiwi and berry fruits, breadsticks and milk. I was totally spellbound. I was watching with my mouth open most of the time, and I just couldn’t help but feel inspired to make my own pizza someday. Don’t You Laugh. Just Wait. I Will Show You.
I hope.
We had a nice little gathering of about 6 people, with Hungarian wine, rose wine, sparkling wine with pizza, with our fresh-from-the-oven-made-from-scratch pizza. Life is good.
I can’t wait till next Sunday.
The flea market is a bit like our Sungei Road, selling second hand stuff, and you get some things at a real bargain. Renate got two new orange candles for 1€. Nothing fantastic - only that it reminds me of what older folks do on Sunday, like my dear daddy. Plus it was really nice to see people and activity on the seventh day of the week, coz all shops are closed on Sundays. Talk about lazy people.
I met Helga, the Hungarian girl at 130pm to do shopping for today’s cooking! Okay, fast forward to after we have bought all the groceries →→→ I swear Helga is an amazing cook. She like made magic! She created a turkey ham pizza out of dough and milk and yeast…. and vanilla and strawberry pudding with kiwi and berry fruits, breadsticks and milk. I was totally spellbound. I was watching with my mouth open most of the time, and I just couldn’t help but feel inspired to make my own pizza someday. Don’t You Laugh. Just Wait. I Will Show You.
I hope.
We had a nice little gathering of about 6 people, with Hungarian wine, rose wine, sparkling wine with pizza, with our fresh-from-the-oven-made-from-scratch pizza. Life is good.
I can’t wait till next Sunday.
Week 2? (Friday)
Oh my gosh! It is week 2.
I am starting to like Graz. Partly it is because the professor. teaching Japanese Management in our University in Austria (How strange is that right?) said really nice things about our presentation! I mean I was so happy. I still am so over the moon. He was a former Wall Street securities analyst and worked in Citibank in mergers and acquisitions. And he gave me his name card. I will see if I can get him to lecture in our university as a visiting professor or arrange for tie-ups for student exchange to the University in Japan he is working in! Plus he is giving the whole class of about 50 kids a treat on drinks! We are gona go for rounds of drinks today! Friday! This is the pre-pre-party. The pre-party will be at some exchange students place, and we will be at Six in the City for the party. Sweet.
I am starting to like Graz. Partly it is because the professor. teaching Japanese Management in our University in Austria (How strange is that right?) said really nice things about our presentation! I mean I was so happy. I still am so over the moon. He was a former Wall Street securities analyst and worked in Citibank in mergers and acquisitions. And he gave me his name card. I will see if I can get him to lecture in our university as a visiting professor or arrange for tie-ups for student exchange to the University in Japan he is working in! Plus he is giving the whole class of about 50 kids a treat on drinks! We are gona go for rounds of drinks today! Friday! This is the pre-pre-party. The pre-party will be at some exchange students place, and we will be at Six in the City for the party. Sweet.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
End of Week 1/ Feb 2005
Yes, I did write about mundane stuff in the past blogs.
But isn’t life all about what you do everyday? Here’s more.
Yeah, think through the mundane stuff, and maybe we too can find the answer.
HOT & COLD
The cold of the wind against the blush of my cheeks
The cold of the water against the pulse in my fingers
The cold of the feeling from German-bred Matthias
The indifference that I feel towards the ones closest to me
The warmth of the radiator against the coolness of my clothes
The warmth of my landlady in the apricot strudel she bakes
The heat that I get from the cigarettes that I consume
The high that I get from the beer that I drink
The sheer eagerness from the under aged Croatian jazz musician
The pulsating contagious passion in Memo (my Mexican friend)
The head throb I get from the cold of the wind against the warmth of my cheeks, the intensity of the hug, shuddering through the bones in my skin, right through the veins in my head.
IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS IN AUSTRIA
The fat & joy that I gain from chocolates and cheese
The annoyance with shops closed on Sundays.
The contentment I feel with the Bulgarian girls around
The ineptness I have in a foreign land.
The fascination with Graz’s snow-capped mountains
The loss of control in unfamiliar territory.
The deep slumber I experience every night in winter.
The fakeness in the Canadians.
The thrill at my research allowance
The pent up annoyance with the internet and the silly Fujitsu.
The strange looks from the Austrians
A slight euphoria in finding myself.
Pau pau
But isn’t life all about what you do everyday? Here’s more.
Yeah, think through the mundane stuff, and maybe we too can find the answer.
HOT & COLD
The cold of the wind against the blush of my cheeks
The cold of the water against the pulse in my fingers
The cold of the feeling from German-bred Matthias
The indifference that I feel towards the ones closest to me
The warmth of the radiator against the coolness of my clothes
The warmth of my landlady in the apricot strudel she bakes
The heat that I get from the cigarettes that I consume
The high that I get from the beer that I drink
The sheer eagerness from the under aged Croatian jazz musician
The pulsating contagious passion in Memo (my Mexican friend)
The head throb I get from the cold of the wind against the warmth of my cheeks, the intensity of the hug, shuddering through the bones in my skin, right through the veins in my head.
IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS IN AUSTRIA
The fat & joy that I gain from chocolates and cheese
The annoyance with shops closed on Sundays.
The contentment I feel with the Bulgarian girls around
The ineptness I have in a foreign land.
The fascination with Graz’s snow-capped mountains
The loss of control in unfamiliar territory.
The deep slumber I experience every night in winter.
The fakeness in the Canadians.
The thrill at my research allowance
The pent up annoyance with the internet and the silly Fujitsu.
The strange looks from the Austrians
A slight euphoria in finding myself.
Pau pau