2007 resolutions

as the year 2006 approaches the end, let me welcome 2007 with a brand new set of resolutions.... err...erm... been doing these resolution thingi for quite some time, but it seems like the targets are never fully accomplished... but well, you never know how things will turn out eventually, so here goes the list...

academic aspects...
- to persuade prof ana barros to let me go over to germany for my 2nd semester...
- to be in the top 3 in terms of results for the coming exams... (okok, life in europe is not just about studying... change of resolution... as long as i am not in the bottom 3...)

personal aspects...
- to learn to be more independent...
- to make full use of my time in europe and to backpack more countries, hopefully in the relatively less-visited countries... hmmm... romania and bulgaria will be fun, since they are joining the european union on 1st jan 2007... let me visit the new neighbours then... =)
- grow up and be more mature?
- confidence needs to be nurtured further, in terms of both speech-wise as well as behavior-wise...
- to spend more time with friends and family... i mean, to do this during my holidays in singapore... i'm a tourist in singapore...

happy new year!!!!

back to portugal

Miserable day(s) for me….

Firstly, after 3 fulfilling weeks back home, I finally have to pack up and leave for my studies again…. Will be at least another 7 months before my next (long) trip back home in mid-July….

Next, bought lots of foodstuff + the many books that I brought back to study (come on, I need something to help me ease the guilt… hahahaha) + 2 additional books (that will help me understand more stuff I hope) = a whopping 35kg of luggage…!!!

Free allowance (20kg) – my luggage (35kg) = -15kg!! (that’s like 75% over the allowed free luggage limit)…

Staff (manning the counter):” if it’s only 5 or 6kg, I can close one eye… but 15kg?! that’s too much…”

Me:” err… come on, can’t you grant me some concession cos I am studying in Portugal, and thus I need to bring back some books…”

So after a lengthy period of discussion, the airline duty manager decided to grant me that concession… yippee!! I managed to avoid paying the excess-luggage fees… =)

Upon boarding the plane…

Good: the plane was barely filled… that meant lots of seats and space….

Bad (really bad): the plane would be delayed for 30min due to the fact that there were another 3 planes still waiting to land at changi airport…. And my transit time is only 50min at Frankfurt airport!!! But there was nothing that I could do but to hope for the best (maybe the tail-wind will act in my favor….??)

After a torturous 12.5 hours, upon arrival in Frankfurt and with only 20min before my plane to Lisbon, I rushed through the customs and security check (long queue) only to find that my flight to Lisbon had already left… without me…. =(

And the staff at the booking counter said that the next available flight to Lisbon is (note: present tense cos I am still stuck here in Frankfurt) at 1pm… what!??!?! 1pm = 7 hours later!!! Hmmm… what can one do in the airport? Immediately after a 12-hour flight...?!

At the time of writing, I had spent the last 5 hours sitting at one little corner in the airport, absolutely isolated from the world… wanted to make some phone calls to leandro to notify him of my unfortunate circumstances… but it seemed that all connections from the rest of the world were cut off, as I could only make “emergency calls only” from my handphone (problem with singtel connectivity or is it a standard feature nowadays?) and my attempts to message people in Singapore through the internet were futile due to the can’t-be-disable-pop-up-program….

Oh, almost forgotten to mention, getting trapped in the Frankfurt airport and walking around aimlessly helped in filling up your passport… got 3 Frankfurt airport stamps within 2 hours, but along with these stamps come countless of security check… jacket, belt , shoes…everything is “stripped” away… **felt so naked**

How how? Another 90min to go before my flight to Lisbon…. If not for the missed flight, I should have reached aveiro by now…. And the weather is getting colder… and all my clothes are checked in…

Fingers-crossed… the only possible thing that will make me feel worse now is to (a) another delayed flight (b) lost/delayed luggage at the Lisbon airport (c) to find out that my train to aveiro (which takes another 2.5 hours from the Oriente train station in Lisbon) has just left and the next one is 2 hours away….

Me… tired and cold… 35kg of luggage + one laptop bag… alone in some foreign land during winter…. What an experience!!

………..

………..

4 hours later…..

3 hours of plane ride (along with another time zone) + a 10euros taxi ride + 24euro train ticket…. Here I am, sitting inside the alfa train, the Portugal’s equivalent of Germany’s ICE train, making my way to aveiro… kind of excited too cos I have always wanted to ride all the premier high-speed trains of Europe…. =) let me see… Germany’s ICE, France’s TGV, and Portugal’s Alfa… so far for now…

Talking about trains… I love taking trains, as long as I am equipped with the necessary stuff… this time round, though the train condition is excellent, but there is no water or food cos I had rushed from the airport to the train station and upon buying the ticket, realized that I did not have the time to even go to the mini-mart… might as well, cos I must have been lugging around at least 40kg of stuff…. Hahahah… okok, let me tell you the reason why I love taking the train…. Beside the fact that you get to see the country, the long journey is a good time to daydream or to reflect about certain issues…. No one around (besides the conductor) to disturb you… =)

Counting the number of hours spent commuting from Singapore to aveiro….

13 hours to Germany + 7 hours waiting + 3 hours to Portugal + 3 hours to aveiro = a mind-blowing 26 hours!!!!!!!

Starving, exhausted and I am not even sure whether leandro will be free later to come over to the train station to pick me up… haven had the chance to call him…. My Portugal Vodafone line is currently un-useable cos I forgot the security code, the phone at the train station was down…. Sigh….

Alright, guess I should stop complaining about the events over the last 20plus hours… time to sit back, enjoy the evening landscape of Portugal and do some reflection over the next 90min…. **better not fall asleep otherwise I will find myself in Porto… hahahah**

P.P.P.P.P.S: I miss everyone, including my brother who will spend the next 10days in Taiwan, and the other one who chalked up the 1000bucks in phone bills, back in Singapore… =(

food-found-in-singapore-and-nowhere-else-in-europe

okok, after 3 weeks of brain inactivity, it's time to start again... and the first most important thing is.............................................to come up with a list of things to bring back to portugal!!!

- books (important)
- seasoning sauces... dark soy sauce + saseme oil + ultra-hot chilli
- bak gua so that i can have that chinese-new-year feeling too =)
- instant noodles
- can i bring durains onto the plane?! it's my favourite!!
- sour plums... all the different types....

err.... what else huh? any advice??

fulfilling holidays

had a fulfilling holiday, not in terms of presents during the christmas period but more in terms of the gatherings over the last few weeks...

went for a BBQ at junxiang's place on christmas eve... was fun, and it was the first time that i ever had a BBQ along a HDB corridor, luckily no mean neighbours were around to complain about the smoke or noise... bek, jiasheng and their respective girlfriends were there as well... hmmm... it's funny how friends, made during our secondary days, managed to bond after such a long time... well, come to think about it, it had been like...10?? oops, more than 12 years since we got to know each other... amazing... well, the gathering would have been better if there are more of us (from the same class of TMS '94 - '97) but nevertheless, i'm pretty contented...

spent an entire day with my relatives on saturday... turkey treat and things like that... heard that the whole family was there waiting for my appearance since that morning, but pity that some of them left by the time i got there... despite some disappointment (got into an argument with the staff from the Giant supermarket at sembawang over the roasted turkey and logcake), everything was just perfect, just like old times when i was much younger...

as for friends, been on mission to try to meet up with everyone... well, there are just too many of them... hahahaha... but the visit to ntu was great! met up with many of the post-grad friends, and also with my ex-boss... it's nice to see them again, even though it was only 10 weeks ago since i bade farewell to them... the only glitch was that i didn't get to meet the forever-friendly lorraine, who happened to be on-leave for the remaining of the year...

and despite the busy schedules of everyone, i managed to / already arranged to meet up with huaqiang (another secondary school friend), alexie, maybe weiqing too (since i have another 3 nights before leaving), the sjab gang of huisin, peipei and huiniang (tomorrow night) and whoever i forgot to mention...

overall, everything was great in the last couple of weeks... as i re-pack my stuff for the flight on friday, it dawns on me that i do miss my friends and family more than 10 weeks ago when i first left for portugal... maybe it was due to the excitement of going abroad to a whole new country then... but now that everything is settled in portugal, going back to portugal does not seem so fun after all... hahhaha... maybe it's due to the fear of going back to discuss my mobility options for my 2nd semester, and not forgetting, going to face the results of 2-weeks-of-freedom-while-everyone-is-working -their-ass-off.... well, this is, afterall, unavoidable... but hey, i will work hard towards the promise that i made to myself...

japanese food!!

hmmm... this is certainly something i missed terribly...

2 weeks in singapore, one more to go...

it certainly wasn't joy galore in singapore for me these 2 weeks....

firstly, the excessive rain is draining my enthusiasm just as rapidly as it is falling from the sky... coupled that with the dismay of finding out my 13-year-old brother chalked up a **grasp** 1000-bucks phone bill over a period of 50 days!! and it is me who pay for his bills...lastly, was informed by a classmate that our mobility options had been dealt a major blow... apparently all but one of my classmates are denied of the chance of spending our 2nd semester in hamburg, and that we will be spending the entire 2nd year in denmark and the very worst of all, i am not in aveiro now to argue for my case to be transferred to hamburg too...

and no no no, that decision to keep me in aveiro will certainly mess up all my plans, and whatever beautiful visions that i had of my masters education in europe... no good no good...

of course, there were plenty of happy gatherings with my friends too... not to mention that i bought most of whatever-i-think-i-will-need-till-the-next-time-i-am-back...well, almost everything, no thanks to that phone bill...

well, unhappiness aside, took some pics of us having dinner last night.... it's nice, nothing much had changed, except that i had acquired a weird accent and kit had a new haircut... hmmm... then again, i haven't been away for that long... hahaha....

coffee coffee

i've found a new coffee place to go to... yummy coffee, affordable prices and good atmosphere... and the chat with huaqiang was very intriguing, it's been a long time since i had such an engaging conversation... =)

and, who is interested in going to this coffee place with me?? 10 more days, before i call portugal and germany home for the foreseeable 8 months or so...

X'mas wishes

in the event that i do not blog until after Xmas, here are my wishes for friends in aveiro for the Xmas....

fabio: lots of hot austrian, polish and german chicks!!!! and remember to come back for classes...

alexis: may there be lots of hot norwegian chicks... or finnish will do just fine!

leandro: i hope, i hope and i hope that you will win that AUDI car from FORUM AVEIRO... remember my free accommodation for the next 5 years!!!!!!

the rest of them: lots of fun, beer, wine, parties, sex, men, women, money... whatever you guys desire....

as for myself.... hmmm....how about no more 3-digit-bills racked up by my little brother... that 600-plus-bill is sucking up all my budget for my toys.... argh!!

oh, and i hope i will be able to get tickets for the porto-chelsea match in feb 2007...

one of the many advices given by my dad before i left for overseas studies: "don't hang out with the girls from THE-particular-country too much", cos somehow, dad does not really have good impressions of them... probably due to the following reasons:

i) a distant relative divorced the husband cos he was having an affair with one

ii) the many many unfavourable reports on newspapers

and i just found out that my good friend's dad was having an affair... and that the family is facing some messy divorce thingi now...

BUT i am NOT saying that all people from THIS-particular-country are like that... there are black sheep from every country, and i do have many friends who are definitely not in the category as stated in the newspapers...

oh man, why am i writing all these stuff down?? as i chatted with my friend, i was thinking whether to defend the actions of the dad... to love someone else is no sin, but to get involved when one is already married, is... rather unforgivable...

attached but unmarried man ---> bad, but not that bad...

married man ---> why risked breaking up a wonderful family for the sake for someone new??

rain rain, go away....

i bring the rain whenever i go...

weather

oh man, the warm weather in singapore was something that i looked forward to before i left portugal.... but....

GOOD
it's nice not having to wear multiple layers of clothing;
and i get to see some sunlight

BAD
felt sooo warm when i arrived in singapore;
had a slight fever within 3 days of coming back;
can't dress myself up in nice jackets;
not seeing the white stuff (mist or whatever) coming out when i breathe;
and the worst of all, it's raining cats-&-dogs every afternoon whereas in aveiro, it's sunny!!

a love-hate relationship with the singapore weather is developing...!!

last dinner in portugal...

spent 1 hour preparing this... last dinner in portugal for the next 3 weeks...

Estádio do Dragão (Porto vs Assenal)

class dinner...

good food, good wine and a bunch of fun-loving friends...













That's me!!











local PHD students... catarina (right) e diana (left)

sorry people, been busy for the last couple of days... will post up the pics taken at the porto-assenal match soon... and also that of the class dinner... =)

flight details

think i had been spending too much time on my books recently... haven had the time to sit down and write something...

okkkkk... coming back this coming sat... so here are my flight details...

Flight: LH778 (LUFTHASA)
Arrival: 16 55 hrs (9th dec)

hmmm... so far, i have not had any offers from people about picking me up... was supposed to be kelvin, but he had a last-min appointment on that day... either this or he totally forgotten about me coming back, that's why he made another appointment...

so... anyone out there with a car who happens to be without any date or appointment this coming sat evening?? =)

oh, fingers crossed that the following does not happen again (see diagram)... the chinese gal (denise from malaysia) sitting next to me was so affected by the 2 incidents that she totally lost her appetite....

my tickets!!!

bought a ticket for PORTO FC vs ASSENAL FC (CL group stage final match)

porto fc... you have gottan yourself another supporter for this match!!!

i pissed my german teacher off!!

never never overestimate a woman's age... especially if she happens to be your german teacher...

3 weeks back, during a german class, we were learning the german pronunciation of numerical numbers and also how to describe one's age...

"Wie alt bist du?" aka "how old are you?"

so i conveniently came up with a number that is the easiest to pronounce... so i went:" funfundfunfzig Jahre alt!" aka 55 years old... and this happened when the teacher was asking the whole class to guess her age...

well well well... it was, expectedly, 6 years over her actual age...

so from then onwards, she either (a) is humorous and likes to make fun of me about overstating her age, or (b) is a mean and petty old woman who picked on me in every lesson since...

without fail, she will constantly remind me that i overstated her age... with the words :" vincent said i looked like 55 years old..." ringing in my ears at the end of each lesson...

and yesterday, unexpectedly, just when i commented that her sony vaio laptop look so cool, she said:" you said i look 55 years old, but my husband loves me so much that he gave me this computer..." arrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

conclusion: she is just one of the many insecure old women out there and i happened to step on (step on, trampled on, crushed..... whatever is the word) one of her many raw nerves the moment i uttered the number "55"...

out of control?

oh man, had alcohol for the last 3 out of 4 days... i actually look radiant when i drink... hahahah... bloody drunkard!!

had this concoction of beer + white wine + sugar while lunching with anna and leandro earlier... nice...

rediscovering myself

in my 2 months on portugal, i have (re-)discovered something about myself...

(i) i love to cook!! may be due to the influence of my dad... wednesday is usually a short day for me, as such it is a good opportunity for me to try out some recipes... besides i have leandro to double up as a food appraiser....

(ii) i do love red wine after all.... was in the ntu wine appreciation club during my first 2 years of uni life; absolutely love drinking red wine, but i grew out of it after a while... but man! the last one week was great!! lots of portugese red wine... fantastic!

(iii) i am "wild" at heart!!! whoaaa!! i don't even miss home at all.... hahaha...

think the combination of school work + red wine = lethal

been feeling so tired throughout the week... glad that friday is a holiday (independence day)... so... a long weekend for me to catch up on my school work and to polish up my cooking skills...

things to do over this weekend...
i) to unravel the secret behind creating a dish of chicken and pototoes without the use of a oven

ii) to come up with a new recipe... instead of just preparing meat sauce for my pasta, what else can i cook using minced meat??? advice anyone??

iii) materials physics... i had learnt physics from the macroscopic point of view, but to learn everything from the microscopic point of view and to correlate the concepts to the macroscopic properties is killing me...

iv) material chemistry... thought that this module will be easy... but heard from the seniors that for the last 2 years, EMMS students tend to score the worst for this module despite the fact that most students are chemists or materials scientists.... they attribute this to prof ana barros... think she is the equivalent of prof lam (for all those who had taken polymers processing or nanomaterials in NTU, you will understand what i am trying to convey)

v) materials processing / interfaces and microstructure... the easiest of all the tasks... simply studying... memory work....

things not to do over the weekend:
i) not touch my chocolates in the fridge... but i will be going away for 3 weeks... =( FAILED!! (started on it just 3 hours after writing this blog...)

ii) not touch my potato chips in the cupboard... but i will be going away for 3 weeks... =( FAILED!! (same case as above... chocolate + chips...)

iii) not spend excessive time with my bed... but i will be going away for 3 weeks... =( FAILED!! slept till 10am...

iv) not drink any red wine if i were to meet up with any friends for dinner... but i will going away for 3 weeks... =( FAILED!! went for lunch with anna and leandro... beer+ white wine

v) not idle my time away in front of the tv set... but i will going away for 3 weeks... =( FAILED!! spent 5 hours in front of the tv set...

oh, what the heck!!