Sick?

Forgot that I actually have a block seminar today.. yea Saturday at 10am. Although I set alarm at 8.30am, I thought that was just my own plan to wake up and do my presentation. So I woke up at 8 plus when Susanne (Annette's sister) told me that my alarm was ringing, woke up again i think at 10 plus when Susanne asked me why her discman can't work. I didnt know what was wrong, but later I dreamt that she didnt put in batteries. In the end I woke up at 1pm. Great! When the seminar was from 10-2pm and full attendance was required in order to pass the course. Rushed down to ask Annette what I should do next.


Ok back from the hospital.. Annette told me to say I got a bad headache today, had fever last night and felt like puking but the fever is gone now. Haha.. That's advice from a doctor telling you how to fake an MC. Wasn't that hard to fake since I always have swollen eyes, and I just needed to speak very softly and look very sian to look sick haha.. I am dead sick with a terrible headache. Anyway, my blood pressure was low too so it helped.


But then again, I am seriously glad that I missed the class. The module is "Morphological Analysis" which includes certain phonology topics and is taught in English. But the worst thing is that the teacher teaching the linguistic module with respect to English cannot pronounce words in English properly. I suspect she comes from Spain or something like that. I was in class yesterday doing an exercise she assigned us to do and I heard her say "These are some words in friends. Comment the data." Initially I was thinking what "Friends" and actually thinking that it could be in the TV series "Friends". Then I realised that she meant "French". OMG.. And I thought her usual "change" = ziange and "which" = wich were bad enough. I seriously think that the German students in the class can speak better English than her. But that's not the end of her bad English. We had to learn this term "Conversion" meaning that there are some English words that are used both as a Noun and a Verb. She spelled it as Convertion! Then thought about it for awhile and changed it to Conversion. Don't get me wrong I wasn't ranting or venting my frustrations again. I'm merely bewildered that they let someone who is not very good at a certain language teach the class, especially if Phonology is included. By the way, phonology is the study of the distribution and patterning of speech sounds in a language and of the tacit rules governing pronunciation. Oh well..


Went to the farewell party for the Summer University 2 days ago and saw Frau Herrmann. Ziming asked me to ask her if I see her about the contact list she promised to send to us last year. Then I realised everything is still stuck with Mister ... ! No prize for guessing it right because the answer is blatantly obvious. Frau Herrmann said she sent the whole stack of books (which includes the contact list and sort of a keepsake for the program and I saw from my friend's book that they even had a transcript from the University) to Mr Ow. So Stuttgarters, should we ask Mr Inefficient Ow for the books?

Salzburg!

Initially wanted to travel to Salzburg with my mum's Eurail pass. First class with 2 free days left. But, the Germans have this weird culture. They don't send a letter to you if your name is not on the letter box. That means, even if the address is correct, they won't drop it into the box that's right in front of them. OK.. I find this extremely dumb but still have to accept their different culture. SO.. I didn't receive my first class tickets so I had to take the slow trains and leave the next morning. Then the pig in me made me wake up late the next morning and we missed the train we wanted to catch. But then again.. look at who was I travelling with and you'll understand why we missed the train and had to take the later one but longer hours. However that wasn't half as bad as the return trip. We read the Fahrplanauskunft (Travel information) wrongly and took the later train but ALOT longer too. 7.07 hours! OMG..

Ya.. the Darth Vader who sleeps with his mouth open facing upwards.

View from somewhere near the hostel.. The sky was purple and orange! The camera and photo don't do justice to the amazing view. :(

A speedometer that even tells you how fast you walk. Haha.. 4km/hr for me!

At the Schloss Hellbrunn and Die Wasserspiele (Hellbrunn Castle and The Trick Fountain)
...
got SOOooo drenched at the trick fountain because I was standing in the way of the water most of the time..


View of the big big world from Untersberg. Feel like I'm looking at a picture from some textbook.


See those mountains at the back? Can you imagine dancing and singing "The hills are alive...." there?

Hey guys..



Can reach me at:

Hilschenz, Landhausstr. 86a

70190 Stuttgart

Germany

Came across this sonnet by Shakespear during English Lit class.


Straight forward and honest. No lies or euphemisn. Enjoy.


My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing like the Sun.

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.


But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go:

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she, belied with false compare.

Baden Baden and Karlsruhe


Baden Baden, a not-many-things-to-see place has got the Caracella Spa which I think looks very very inviting and appealing. Might go next time if there's time.

First casino I entered!
Blur but nonetheless still proof that I'm officially of age to enter. Despite my young girl appearance heh..




Oh yes.. I was on the U bahn with Ziming after his work. He was wearing a shirt and pants hmm maybe that made him look much more mature than me since I was wearing i think shorts? Can't remember. Anyway, there was a lady sitting in front of us directly in front of me. Just before she alighted, she talked to me.


Lady: Entschuldigung, verstehen Sie Deutsch? (We were speaking in Mandarin before that because I was complaing about the Germans again haha.)

Me: Ja.

Lady: Wie alt sind Sie?

Me: 21

Lady (smiling in an amused way): Ich habe gedacht, Sie 14 oder 15 sind. (In my own words, I can't remember her exact words)


In English:

Lady: Excuse me, do you understand German?

Me: Ya.

Lady: How old are you?

Me: 21

Lady: I thought you were 14 or 15.


The lady seriously looked like she was bursting with curiosity to know how old I was. haha..

Ok back to Baden Baden.



2 men playing chess with huge chess pieces



White Spargel is not very surprising, but this is Spargel made of white chocolate!






Lunch that's valued for money! With a large bowl of strawberries underneath the ice-cream! All these for less than 20 EUR!



I'm quite tall right.. Can reach the top of the entrance of the city gate..


The Roemische Badruinen. Ziming secretly took a picture of this through the glass windows from the top. The stones look a bit greenish.


Another big teddy! The Titisee one went missing we have a Baden Baden one to replace it. No no.. I still prefer the first one. No change of heart haha


Karlsruhe:

Saw Siwei and his appetising Swedish Meatballs on his blog last time. We decided to give it a try making it too. Ziming with the pan.




Here is the Siweicancook cooking. We also have the Siwei Planet and Siweipedia.


Ta da! The end product!

Then it's breakfast time! We made croissants with the ready-made dough. Me pretending to fold the dough. Ok.. I'm not very good at pretending, but my hands were dirty or maybe clean.

The guys at work, putting cheese and ham into the croissants



See we have skill right.. Just look at that golden brown and the cheese that half oozed out in the oven..



We basically spent the whole day lazing about and slacking. 2 pigs sleeping in the Schlosspark.

Siwei, asleep, with a strawberry on top on his mouth.

To end, I really wonder what Dennis is doing in Karlsruhe

More of Shu's Travels


Next stop: Wien (Vienna)

Got to Wien on a cold and dreary day. Dull grey sky, strong freezing winds. The weather was a lot worse here than in Interlaken when it snowed. We were freezing cold.


Here's a picture of me asking for directions and leading everyone to the right place with the skill and ease of a professional haha..


Looks like a normal dull-grey-sky day right.. Don't be deceived by the picture. It was drizzling and so cold that I didn't feel like moving.


Opps! The evidence..

See.. Buildings of these sort everywhere! Feels like back in some olden times heh..




Oh no.. In the palace I forgot the name..In front of horse carriages




Lunch in Wien! Best meal since Stuttgart. Things in Switzerland all cost a lot of money. Internet access in almost all hostels I've been to requires a (not very large) fee for an incrediblly ridiculous short amount of usage time. Something like 5 Fr for 2 minutes or 2 Fr for 5 minutes I can't really remember



Streets of Wien.


Next was Salzburg.. But I could only bring my mum and her friend there and stay for a night before I had to leave for Stuttgart to diligently attend my 200 EUR German classes.


View from the window in my the Guesthouse I stayed in Salzburg



Muenchen: At the Hofbraeuhaus, me and mum with beers!




Last stop was at Titisee: We took the slower trains from Stuttgart to Titisee. Had to change a few trains and one of the train would bypass Donaueschingen, where the Donau River flows through. I was looking for the river for what reason I myself don't know too. Then the lady beside us pointed the river out to me when the train passed by it. I was too excited (don't ask me why) that I misunderstood and thought she meant that it was already our stop. I panicked and hurried my mum and her friend off the train. HAHA.. I alighted at the wrong stop, just one stop before the intended destination and guess what? It was a nice and peaceful Sunday morning and trains to the next stop (3 minutes away) comes every 2 hours. Initially I read the departure schedule wrongly and thought the next one would arrive in 1 hour's time. We decided to wait since we might come to a junction if we took a risk and walk to the next stop. Oh forgot to mention that we had another connection from the next stop waiting for us. When the next hour came and still no sight of the train, we decided to try walking. Lo and behold! We came to a junction. Too bad.. walk back to where we came from. Back at the the wrong stop, a German guy passed by and asked what time (we were the only ones at the station) the next train will arrive. He decided to walk when he knew the time. We followed him and he chatted enthusiastically to me on the way. He doesn't really speak English and my mum don't speak any German.


A picture of the wrong station



Schwarzwald Eis (Black forest ice-cream)



Big teddy is not outside the same shop. Instead a small and unfriendly looking teddy took it's place:(

Ate at the same shop I went with Siwei, Tipin and Yizhen again. The shop with the humongous platter of food.

Black Forest cake with beer again



Hexe (Pork knuckles) served with a knife poked through it. Felt like I was in a precarious position heh

Update for the past two weeks


My mum arrived in Frankfurt on 25.05.07. My initial plan was to go down to Frankfurt to pick her up from the airport. But as you guys know, the lousy Blockseminars that I had to take had a change in lecture timings, so I couldn't make it. Thankfully, Faith was nice enough to go down to Frankfurt to fetch my mum before going down to meet Jeremy. Thanks Faith I owe you one! Anyway, I rushed down to Frankfurt straight after lessons. Anxious and excited I anticipated seeing my mum. After the long torturous journey I finally arrived at the hostel where I told her beforehand to wait for me. She had asked me to tell the receptionist my name and go up to the room first but I didn't get that message so I waited like a goon do at the lobby for almost one whole hour (I was early and I thought she was late) before I sent her a sms telling her that I was at the lobby. Heh.. Shuxian can not only be on time but also early at times too.


At the beginning I sort of regretted planning my mum and her friend to stay in Frankfurt for 1 day after I realised that there isn't much to see in Frankfurt. But now I'm glad that I made that mistake. My mum didn't feel well after the long flight especially after the terrible ordeal of rushing from Terminal 1 to 4 in London Heathrow Airport and I was also afraid that they don't know the train system and will lose their way even before I get to them. She and her friend spent the entire afternoon sleeping in the hostel. Note to everyone: Don't take BA and especially don't transit in London. What's one word to describe their ordeal? Horrendous.


Went back to Stuttgart early the next morning and packed my bag for the trip. Mum and friend then walked along Koenigstrasse and Stadtmitte. I, very unfortunately, had to go to school for the dreaded Blockseminar. Pictures of fresh strawberries and cherries and tomatoes they bought at the flea market. (Tse Siang, miss your fresh tomatoes from Lugwigsburg? heh..)







After lecture we travelled to Zuerich.In front of Zuerich See.






That was when I taught my mum how to Schwarzfahren. heh heh..


Next destination: Interlaken!


Really.. Interlaken is a MUST go. We were (un)lucky enough to get snow while we were there! The snow wasn't that heavy but it was heavy enough for them to close the Jungfrau Railway. Thankfully it was open the next day so we could go up to the top. Total journey cost 135 Fr and that's a 25% with the Eurail pass. What was (un)lucky was that Stuttgart was Super warm on Saturday so we didn't think of bringing all the warm clothings. The drastic change in the weather was unexpected. Here's the mountain with a layer of fog.



Snow!!







Clear, blue water in the Lake



3 sets of footprints in the snow at Grindelwald.



The Jungfraubahn