ugh.. updating this blog is really.....

I'm always procrastinating, and it's sometimes a drag to type everything down :(

but I gotta update frequently for my own sake. Let's face it, I have a memory span of a goldfish. I know imma regret if I don't keep track of what I did here :(

Oh well..

So the day right after Paris trip was horrible.

Not in a horrible, everything-bad-happened-to-me way, but a horrible i-am-so-tired-i-can-fall-asleep-while-walking way.

So I don't really remember doing anything special on that day, just explaining to people how was the trip.

Tuesday was supposed to be our sports day, but then the weather was shit. It rained the whole day, non-stop. We had dancing, instead, salsa dancing again :) Yes, I do really enjoy salsa dancing. I was the male again this time, cause in this school, or perhaps in my year, we seem to be in shortage of male students. This time we all danced in a circle, and changing partners constantly. We made almost a full round, with everybody dancing with every other people. It was fun, seriously, and you know what makes it better? People actually complimenting on my dancing, saying I was better than the guys. After dancing we played some really weird sports, like using a tennis racquette and hitting a ball into a handball goal, baseball but instead of bats, gloves and baseball, we used our feet and a volleyball to kick on. The only game that we played which was normal was badminton. After school, Martina had a small birthday party at her house, so I went there around 7pm, but when I reached Escholzmatt trainstation, I realized I had no idea where her house is. I spent 30 minutes waiting at the trainstation because I couldn't reach anyone and ask for directions. Megi then returned my call and met me outside the train station and walked me to Martina's house.

And here comes the story of the stupid bus driver.

The railway was under maintanence, so I had to take the bus from Schüpfheim back to Hasle. I got on the bus, and there was only 2 other passengers, a guy and a lady with a tram. The guy was obviously drunk, and he asked the bus driver if he could go all the way to Wolhusen without stopping. I don't know what the bus driver replied, though. When the bus was about to reach the stop in Hasle, I pressed the "Stop Request" button in the bus. But the bus driver DID NOT stop at all. So I walked up and asked him why didn't he stop. He just said "Hasle ist schon vorbei" which means we've already passed by Hasle. He said I didn't press the button, but I said I did. The guy was just standing there and snickering. He kept pointing his head and gesturing the "crazy" sign, but referring to whom, I don't know. I just felt like punching his face. I went back to my seat, my face obviously furious, and the guy just kept snickering. When we're about to reach the next village, the lady, who I think is a foreigner, was frantically pressing the button to stop. When the bus driver didn't stop, she kept shouting "Bitte" which means please. She was shouting non-stop, and finally when the bus stopped, the bus driver mumbled "Learn some German". Again, the guy was just snickering. It was drizzling outside, and cold. I had no choice but to call my host-dad to come pick me up cause I don't know how to walk back from this village. Seriously, ma de.

Nothing to update for the rest of the week, just that the weather is shit and all.

On Friday night, I went to Shu Chien's house to overnight, because we're going to EUROPA PARK the next day. Met up with Shu Jie in the Zurich train station, and Shu Jie bumped into Zheng Yu, an oldie from China. We chat a little bit and then he had to go and then we went to Migros and then we met up with Pei San and then we took the train to Otelfingen which was where Shu Chien is staying. Again, thank heavens for Gleis7 so I don't need to pay any train ticket. We kinda just talked and gossip and Shu Chien and I were kinda fangirl-ing over Hunger Games a little bit. We slept at 2am, and had to wake up at 5am the next day. Nice job. Eventually, we did wake up, but we were late, but we didn't miss the train either. We met the others at the Carpark near Zurich train station and then we were on our way to EUROPA PARK. Yeah well Europa Park is pretty much like Universal Studios, just that I have no idea what their mascot is, and the rides were seperated into different countries, instead of different movies. We only had time to go on 5 rides - 4 roller coasters and 1 water rafting ride. The supposed to be scariest ride was a disappointment. KC and I were sitting with 2 other German boys, and we made conversation with them as we reached the end of the ride. The ride was a bit boring. KC and I could talk after the first fall, and all we said were "Weih, not cigek leh". Reached home around 10pm and had to rush to Anja's house to overnight cause I've volunteered for the Tour de Suisse thingy, which was a bike tour around Switzerland. I volunteeered to work, not to cycle.

I was dead tired when I reached home. Freshened myself up then my host-mom fetched me to Schüpfheim to meet up with Anja and Megi. There was a festival in Sörenburg, the place where we had to work for Tour de Suisse, and we were partying till almost 1am. Holymama I didn't know how I survived it. Didn't drink alcohol, just Ice Tea, but that bottle of Ice Tea cost me 5fr. But my physical state couldn't afford to drink alcohol, which was cheaper. I was practically dead when we finally went back to Anja's house to rest.

8am and I woke up for the Tour de Suisse. It was 17th June, just so you know, which was Father's Day as well. We met up with the other volunteers at 10.30am and had another meal, which was oh-my-god delicious. Then we went to work. We had to sell drinks and beers and sandwiches. It wasn't really hard work, but I was tired from the 2 days earlier. There were a hell lot of free gifts given out.

Around 5.30pm or so, the last bike finally came in, and we were allowed to go home after most of the people had gone. I reached home around 8pm and I was so tired, I had no appetite for dinner at all. Dead, on my bed. And there was school on the next day. Nice.

Okay so here are the photos from Paris. Being a lifeless fool and snapping photos of every random things I see, I have more than 800 photos from the trip, and that was already "controlling myself". These are the few that really means something or photos that I like.

Get ready...

On the way to Paris in the train

Paris Gare de Lyon

Gateway to the City Of Love

Outside view of Gare de Lyon. THIS IS JUST THE TRAINSTATION OMG

At the hotel lobby. Why is there a traffic cone, KEIN AHNUNG.

Ain't this a beauty?

If I were rich, I'd buy this whole shop for my mom *and myself*

Some random street. This is how I reach 200 photos a day

First night, somewhere near the Notre Dame

The group. Yeah we're all there is.

Some random street with restaurants.

I don't know what this is called. Is it a palace?

Group photo w/o Cora

THIS IS THE LIBRARY I WAS TALKING ABOUT. And this is just the half of it.

Macaroons in Europe are so much more expensive than Malaysia.

A Music Academy, I think. How prestige can you get?

Rue de EXPENSIVE SHOPS

I don't know if this is Vandalism, or just pure brilliant.

Bokeh-ing

Indian cuisine for dinner, with the boss of the restaurant and the musicians.

Part of the Louvre

Inside the Louvre

We've taken a photo WITH Mona Lisa.. Life : Half completed.

Lourve.

Taken from a window in the Museum.

From left: Paul, Victor, Anja, Alicia, ME, Cora, Gabriel, Julie, Simon

Add caption

I like this :)

Thank you Australian tourist for taking this photo for us.

I LOVE THIS but screw you, traffic light. You ruined the whole view.

I guess this is kinda every girl's dream shop? Look at the people taking photos in front of the entrance.

I have no idea where and what is this. I'm so sorry.

AND THIS POST MARKS MY 40TH POST IN THIS WONDERFUL BLOG.

*A-hem* why are you rolling your eyes?

Paris

Okay this is kinda overdue. I've been really busy lately. Better late than never, eh?

I am currently in school and I have 2 hours of break. People always have Monday blues but not me. Monday is the best school day because I don't really have much classes. Best time to update I guess.
To be honest, I don't really know the places I've been in Paris. But here goes...

On Wednesday 6th June, my host-mom fetched me to school in her car because I had to bring my luggage with me to school. I had to borrow my Joel's luggage because my hand luggage was too small, and my big luggage was, well, have you seen it? It could fit a 12 year old kid.

So on that day, Julie and I were counting down almost every minute in school. When the last period before lunch break ended, which was Psychology, we both cheered and went to Migros to buy our lunch and then we met up with the others at the Bahnhof. When we reached Basel, we were supposed to meet up with Julie's boyfriend, Simon, but then of all days and of all trains, his train broke down and couldn't make it in time to Basel. Julie managed to exchange the her and Simon's ticket to a later train (thank god there was another train) and Anja, Alicia, Gabriel and I went on the scheduled train to Paris and meet up with Cora, the French teacher in Paris. The train ride was 3 hours, and did you know how fast the train was going? I'll surprise you later with photos.

We arrived there and then we took the bus to the hotel. The hotel isn't too shabby. It's cheap, small, difficult to take a shower, but they kept everything very, very clean. We walked around the hotel because it was almost 9pm when we reached the hotel. Nothing much on the first day. At 10pm or so we finally met up with Julie and Simon. We walked almost to the Notre Dame and drank a bit there.

The next day, the weather was horrible. It was raining, and sunny, and cloudy, and suddenly raining again. I saw a bookshop, with Jules Verne's books at the window. I don't know if the cover is the original, but it sure looked pretty antique to me. But we were rushing to another place so I couldn't stop and take a look closer or to take a photo of it. We had Japanese food for lunch (funny, ain't it?) and the Japanese restaurant was opened by Vietnamese people. The waitress, who was in her mid 30s I think, stared at me since the first step I took in the restaurant. When she took our orders, Cora told her where we were from, and once she heard that I was from Malaysia, she immediately changed into Mandarin, and then asked if I could speak Cantonese, then changed into Cantonese. Since that moment, she comes to me everytime when we wanted something. Then another waiter came out to serve our meal, the waitress told him that I was 'Ji Gei Yan' (direct translate : own people). The waiter THEN said 'Kaki lang'. Oh my god..I was wondering if anyone there knew Hakka or anything. It reminds me of my aunt and Boon and Qiang. The food was nice, it has been so long since I ate Japanese food.

After that, we visited the oldest library in Paris I think. The library is REALLY a library. There were thousands of books, and yes I do mean THOUSANDS. People could actually come here and study cause the atmosphere is all "study study study". Can you imagine, my friends and I, studying there for SPM? Awww that would be AWESOME. We also sneeked a peek at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Paris. Cora requested permission from the reception and a lady actually gave us a small tour around the lobby. This is a kisiao place. Why? They decorate the walls with Swarovski crystals. And again, I'm dead serious. There were gold, too, but I don't know if it's real gold or not. The lady was explaning everything in French, which I obviously don't understand. Did I mention the weather was like shit? Plans changed and we went into a shopping mall. For sure I didn't buy anything, because everything was so expensive there. We had a small picnic afterwards when the weather got better. I honestly don't remember what happened, I need to look through my photos at home. We had an Indian dinner, which, was weird again, cause we're in Paris eating Indian Cuisine. It was an wonderful dinner, nevertheless. The waiter arranged a dinner for us which includes appetizers, tandoori chicken, banana leaf rice and currys. And it only cost 12Euro per person. There was live Indian music as well, and Anja, Alicia, Gabriel and I went out and "attempted" to Bollywood dance.

3rd day in Paris. We had breakfast in the lobby. Julie and Simon were in charge of the pool money and were "Chiefs" for the day. Which means they had to go and buy breakfast from the nearby backery for us. We visited the Louvre. We met up with some people: Cora's friend, Diana, and her 2 sons, Paul and Victor. They are language freaks. They can speak German, Swiss German, English, French, and Romanian. All fluently. The first thing we did in Lourve was to see Mona Lisa. I took a picture WITH Mona Lisa. My life is now partially complete. It's amazing how the people could preserve the works hundreds of years ago, even the Egyption carvings and mummies and coffins. It's out of this world. Our lunch was a small picnic outside the Louvre, and was ended by the shitty weather again. We had crépes and ice-cream as well afterwards. We went to take a boat trip around Paris, stopping at the Eiffle Tower. There, we seperated from Diana, Paul and Victor and went towards the tower. I didn't get to go up, cause the line was kisiao long, even the line for climbing the stairs were long. There was a live screening of the Euro Cup not far away from the tower, and people could just have a picnic while watch the match there. We had dinner somewhere near the Arc de Triomphe. The street is known for selling expensive stuffs and expensive restaurants. Nevertheless we managed to find a dinner where it's less than 15Euro. Not the best dinner, but it was already 10pm and I was starving. What it tasted like, it didn't matter. Took a cab back to the hotel and it was the end of the day.

4th day in Paris. Gabriel and I were in charge of buying breakfast today. We went to the church, where the Da Vinci Code thing happened. I didn't watch the movie nor read the book, so I had no idea. But I gotta say, the church is breath-taking. There was a choir singing when we went in, and I could feel the chills going through my spines. The carvings, the painting on the ceilings, everything was just... unbelievable. After that we had some free time so we went window shopping a bit, well, I went window shopping. We had lunch in a typical French cuisine restaurant, which was about 10Euro per person. After that we had free time again. I wanted to go search for the Jules Verne shop, which according to Cora, it wasn't far from where we were. Gabriel and I went searching for it (Well actually I told the group I needed to search something for my host-sis, which was real as well) but we ended up getting lost. We were in I don't know where, and we had to be back in the hotel soon cause we were going for a show later that night. At the end, we gave up asking for directions and just take a taxi back. If I remembered correctly, it was 22Euro. We set out for the show at 6pm, but it turned out that the show doesn't begin till 9pm. We went to another church, which was located on a very very high hill. Climbing there was difficult, but the view is really worth it. You could see the whole paris. It's almost like I'm on top of the Eiffle Tower. The show was, well, I didn't understand a single word of it, and I fell asleep halfway through. If you know me well, I enjoy these theater show. But I was too tired to even keep my eyes open. I started off with resting my eyes, which then turned out into a nap. I woke up just in time for the can-can finale. Oh by the way I saw the Moulin Rouge as well. Oh my god. Make that part of my to-do list before I die. "Watch the Moulin Rouge". I don't know what's in there, or what kind of show is it there, but it seemed cool. Forgive me if the shows there are.... *A-hem* well I hope you know what I mean. After being back in the hotel, Anja, Alicia, Gabriel and I went out for 2nd round. Julie had a headache so she and Simon went to bed. We were back in the hotel at around 2am or so.

Last day in Paris. A better breakfast with more varieties to eat. After that we just kinda went strolling a bit and then we're off the the train station. The train we took had to change somewhere in France, so this ride took longer than the one we took here. When we reached Basel, we had only 7 minutes to run from one end to the other for the train back to Luzern. Being in the bad fitness condition and not having a GA, I missed the train while the others were already on the train back to Luzern. I ended up waiting for 1 hour in the trainstation for the next train, which was after 7pm, which made me wasted my money on buying the train ticket, cause I can travel for free after 7pm everyday. I reached home around 9pm, and was completely dead tired.

It took me almost 3 weeks to get this up. I was too busy to really update this blog. Read this while I update what's happened for the past 2 weeks.

AND THIS POST MARKS MY FOURTH MONTH IN SWITZERLAND :D

I know I shouldn't be doing this, but...

SEVEN MORE MONTHS TO GO :D

I have just encountered the dumbest, stupidest, ****ing bus driver ever.

details up soon. I needa sleep. Oh, and Paris too.

Well we did something cool on Sunday, me, Julia, Joel and my host dad. But I think it's inappropriate to post it up so...

Today's sport was.. running... sprinting... stretching... AND BASKETBALL!!!!!!!! Something I feel comfortable in. It's been so long since I've played basketball, and I forgot how much I enjoy it, and I also forgot how badly I suck.

I have one advantage, though. I'm tall. My classmates were complaining. In a good, joking way, though. They were all like "Sie ist asiatisch aber sie ist grösser als uns."which means "She's Asian but she's taller than us." Well, yeah, I'm one of the tallest girl in class, and the only pure Asian. There are 2 Indian girls in my class, but they were born here. I'm glad that Chee Cheng and Wei Kei taught me almost everything I need to know about basketball. At least this time I didn't make a fool out of myself during sports. Have I mentioned that I have the worst fitness in class? And I'm not being modest? I'm seriously the worst sports student in class? And that motivated me to go jogging on Saturday, although I couldn't jog far and consistently. I ended up walking more than I jog. But at least I did some work out, eh?

I also realized that I'm more immune to the cold temperature here. Apparently it is colder in the house sometimes compared to outside. Initially I thought that I'm used to the weather and temperature here. Then I realized the layer of fat I have is now probably 5 times thicker than I had back home. Meh.

Anyways, I'm going Paris tomorrow with the school. I'm a bit worried, though. The itinerary is all in French and I couldn't understand a single word, and my host family doesn't know French well either. But from what I see, I don't see "The Eiffle Tower" and "Musée du Louvre" and "Arc de Triomphe". Are we seriously not gonna visit these places? I'm only interested to go to these 3 places. Shit.

Fingers crossed that everything goes well. I was expecting a lot few weeks ago, but now I'm keeping my expectations low. As the AFS volunteers taught us : "Expect nothing." (Well, actually they said "expect the unexpected" most of the time, but they did say "expect nothing" once or twice)

Au Revoir :)

God, it's June already.

I hadn't realize that I haven't been updating lately.. I don't even know if I'm busy or lazy. I can't seem to remember what I do everyday after school..

Well, last week was special.

Friday night, I took the 9pm train to Luzern to meet up with Pei San and Jun Khee. God bless the Gleis 7 train card that I don't need to pay any train tickets after 7pm. We sat by the lake and just talked, but then it was getting colder and colder, so we all came back to my house with the 2nd last train and slept for 3 hours, before taking the first train to Zurich.

Why are we going to Zurich? Because Vincent, who is another Malaysian but exchanging in Austria, has come to visit Switzerland.

Well we reached there at 8am, and waited till 10.30 for the Asian Shop to open, and meet up with the other Malaysians. We went to Coop and bought some food and drinks, and went to the park in Zurich for a small picnic. KC joined later, around 12.30pm or so. We just sat there, took photos, talked, laughed and just...relaxed. People were wearing bikinis and swimming trunks in the park, sun bathing. After the small picnic we went to "the top of Zurich", the place where Herr Glanzmann took us when we were with the Deutschkurs trip. Then we went a bit of shopping, and then Shu Chien, Shu Jie and I bought dinner from Migros take away, while the guys bought Chinese Take Away. I've been eating the same Chinese food whenever I'm here in Zurich with them, and it's not really cheap, so I guess this time I should take a break from Chinese food and eat something else instead. We then went searching for an ATM Machine for Shu Chien, but her card was having problems, so we took the tram back to the train station. I missed my train, and I had to wait for an hour in the train station. So instead of waiting alone, I traveled to Bern with Pei San, Jun Khee and Vincent (BECAUSE I HAVE GLEIS 7) and from Bern I took the train to Entlebuch and wait about 15 minutes in Entlebuch for the train to Hasle. I still arrive at the same time if I were to wait an hour in Zurich, but I guess this is better cause we can hang out a little bit more. Oh and have I told you how proud is it to know so many language? We were in the train, and then there were a few girls from Hong Kong I think. They were speaking Cantonese, and then Vincent was like "They are from Hong Kong" in Mandarin and loud enough for them to hear us. They gave us a kind of dirty look, and then I started using Malay to converse. And you know what? Our German is now better than our Malay by A LOT. Pei San spoke it in the German grammar way, and I tend to mix in some German while conversing, which I don't even notice. Sigh..

Group photo at the park

Sunday was nothing much, I guess. Just stayed home, and rest, cause Saturday was really, really tiring. I read my Hunger Games book and I'm about 2/3 finished. Monday was normal as well, and I played tennis with the family for a while in Entlebuch. Although I've just played once, which was during Games Carnival, but I'm playing much better that day compared to GC.

Tuesday in school for PE, we went swimming in the Swimming Pool in Schuepfheim. Well, we had 2 hours of PE so the first hour we went jogging. I'm so ashamed of my fitness. I can't even jog for 10 minutes straight, and I'm the slowest in the class. We jogged in one direction for 10 minutes, then turn back and jog till we reach our starting point. I was the first one to turn back, and the last one to arrive at the starting point. Shit. Swimming was better, though. I'm so glad I took *part of* the lifesaving course back in Cempaka, so I actually know how to swim properly. Herr Portmann, our PE teacher, observed everyone's swimming at first and then later pointed out to me that I can swim well already, so when he's teaching the class how to swim, I can go to the other side and swim by myself and at my own pace. My stamina tends to be better when I'm swimming instead of when I'm jogging.

Wednesday, we had school till lunchtime, then we went to Luzern for the class visit to Eichhof Brewery. It was for Chemistry, cause I think we're now learning Carbon Compounds, and we're gonna reach alcohol learning soon I guess. I don't really know what's going on in class. The tour of the brewery was leaded by a guide, of course, but she was speaking in Swiss German, through the *I don't know what's it called* thingy that teachers always use in class to amplify their voice. Well I think that thing is a waste of money. I don't understand why the teachers in SMKBBSP like to use it that much. It muffles up the voice and although it's louder, you don't understand a single word the teacher said. And when the teachers get angry, they always tend to forget that they're using that thing-a-magic and screaming through the mic. *sigh*.

Apparently, all of us have to wear this safety vest, which says "visitor" on the back.

Guy 1 : Do you know why beer goes through your system so fast?
Guy 2 : Because it does not have to stop to change color.

I just made that joke up, those 2 didn't really say that. Well, maybe they did, they were in another room.

Oh well the end of the tour was to sit down and taste some of their beer. They taught us how to taste the beer, but I am clueless of what the lady said. They passed out beers, and there was a small bucket for you to dispose of the beer if you don't like it.

We were also provided with bread, fresh bread. After 2 types of beer, we were provided with SAUSAGES. WITH FREE TUBE OF MUSTARD FOR EVERYONE. Wow, and we paid 15fr for this visit. Free meal. It was all you can eat Sausage. They gave out 2 per person, but then later they came around with a tray full of sausages and asked who wants more. The bread was also "free flow". We tried 3 different types of beer, I think.

 And each of us got a goody bag. A Eichhof beer bag, with 8 different types of bottles of beers inside. LOOK!


The 3rd bottle from the right, I drank it while we were in Luzern Park. We stayed there after the visit to relax a bit, but I was actually staying so I could wait till it's after 7pm so I don't need to buy a ticket. Oh and I can pop open a beer bottle with my teeth :) And I can't drink a whole bottle of beer. I get really dizzy easily, and when I do, I just stare into a blank space and craving for sleep.

In the park