2009
- Thursday, December 31, 2009 -
sorry friends, i know i haven't uploaded the pictures for christmas day. i will do it soon (i hope). anyways this post is to get in time for the last post of 2009 (singapore time) and kinda summary of my year 2009.
in simple terms: 2009, a year of NEW EXPERIENCES.
why new experiences?
1. went to KOREA for summer exchange. cannot believe the tonnes of shopping stuff i bought and the amount that i've spent on clothes and facial stuff.
2. travelled EUROPE, not all of them though. and though the places that i planned to go to before leaving singapore, I DID NOT GO! my goodness, end up i went to countries that i didn't plan to go at all e.g. london, barcelona, budapest AND CANADA! i have NEVER imagined myself in CANADA!
3. went to lectures in a foreign language. it's my first and LAST (i'll make that happen) experience. NEVER will i want to do my courses in a foreign language ANYMORE. everyday convo still ok, so living in a germany is still fine. haha.
4. first time leaving home for sooooooo long.
5. first time realising that boyfriend and family are sooooo important to me. I always thought I can live alone without missing them too much cos has always been so independent with everything. 2009 proved me wrong.
6. FIRST time seeing snow!!! (: (: (:
7. FIRST time building a snowman!! (: (: (:
8. Almost could SKI for the first time in 2009 but got postponed so will make that a first thing in 2010!! (:
9. first time lving with a dog in the same household for more than 1 day. people who know me should know i am scared of anything that is not human. but cos i'm staying with my friend in canada and she has a dog, i live with the dog for the past few days.
10. and a first time feeling the sadness when an animal dies. i know this is sad but 2009 ended for me and the Keller family in a sad way.
Their dog, Georgia, had to be put to sleep just now because she is old (10 years old) and was diagnosed with diabetes. she couldn't control her urine and she puked in the house few times. she also shivered alot yesterday. they discovered her diabetes a bit late and she did not respond to the treatment today. she was all weak and it was a tough decision for the family to decide to put her in a animal emergency hospital or to put her to sleep. and finally, it was decided to put her to sleep. everyone in the family was really sad. for me, i am not a fan of dogs, but after living with her for the past 1 week or so, i felt so sad to hear that she has to be put to sleep. this morning, Georgia was walking around the house and she laid in front of me. she looked sad and tired, i had the urge to pat her but i didn't quite dare to. and the next thing i know, i will never get to see her again. ): i will remember you, Georgia.
Didn't quite managed to get her front view.
Anyways friends, i wish you a HAPPY 2010!! May the new year be a better one for you and me (: Await my return!! (:
< 1:09 PM >
Christmas with the Keller Family! Part 1--Christmas Eve
- Saturday, December 26, 2009 -
Side track a bit from my trips. I'm in Canada for Christmas break and I flew with my Canadian friend, Justine and is staying with her. For Christmas, we spent it at her Grandparents' place. On Christmas eve, about 3pm, we drove to her grandparents'. It was a 2.5hrs drive and we were greeted by her really warm and welcoming grandparents and aunts and uncles. And here's my Christmas eve with them!
Christmas is just wonderful with the Keller family. This is the first time that I really feel the Christmasy feeling in the air! Everything is soooo different.
#1 Christmas decorations. I just love Christmas decorations. They are soooo pretty~~
Guardian Angel doll
Candles on the dinner table
Christmas TREE!!
Presents under the Christmas tree. They are REAL ok~
#2 Christmas eve dinner
Appetizer--Biscuits with cheese. OMG they tasted wonderful. sooo delicious.
Soup with bread in there
Main dish-- Chicken chilli
Dessert
#3 Carolling. After dinner, the Keller family started Christmas carolling! And they could harmonize. It's sooo good. I will upload the video soon (: Oh and guess what, they had a grand piano.
Preparing for the carols. Rather picking which carols to sing.
Heh heh, I don't have many chances to come so close to a grand piano though. so hee hee. Need to act act a bit. hahahas.
Others sat around and chit chat and enjoy the carols.
#4 Christmas stockings!
And soon, it was 12am on 25th December and it's time to take the stockings out and wait for Santa to fill them up with gifts!
Hees, Christmas stocking with snowman!!
Christmas stockings for EVERYONE!
Justine wrote the labels for the stockings so that Santa know what to give to who.
Justine's, Kaitlyn's (Justine's sister) and my stockings were already prepared before Santa arrives. haha. We had a different Santa. haha.
#5 Santa!
And...here comes the Santa!!!! (after all the adults went to bed)
She's Justine's cousin, Rachel. That bag was really filled with gifts for the stockings.
And she starts to fill up the stockings.
Look at the filled up stocking!!!! They are SOOOOO FULL!!
Look at that! Fully filled stockings! If I'm not wrong, this reindeer stockings belongs to Grandpa.
They are simple gifts like socks, hand cream, magazines etc. But for Grandpa, there was this huge box of Toblerone and loads of sweets in there. Guess he has sweet tooth like me too! hees.
I love this new experience for Christmas!! Stay tuned to the post on Christmas day. (It's still Christmas day while I'm blogging this)
< 3:34 AM >
Day 56-59 [26.11.2009-29.11.2009] Budapest trip
- Sunday, December 20, 2009 -
This trip was quite a special one since that was the first time I was travelling with only Singaporeans. haha. Travelling with Singaporeans was really quite different. Our focus was on FOOD! haha. Most of my money for this trip was spent on food. It's worth it. (: We only took a walking tour and took photos along the way. But quite an interesting tour. For a start, we had a super ZEN hostel room. There was even a dalai lama picture on the wall but I didn't upload the picture here. mayb Facebook (:
Our room. A 6 bed dorm. ZEN and clean!
Our first stop was the Central Market Hall where they sell dried goods, food and vegetables and of cos souvenirs! See the dried stuff they selling together with some dolls.
Their wooden fork and spoon set.
Hungarian speciality--Langos. Taste like you tiao but a flat one. Spread with sour cream and cheese and we added salami to it.
After exploring around, we went to have buffet at SGD$23. It was GOOD! Below is the pastries that I took. Pretty pastries make me happy!
This is their yellow line metro. It's the first metro in the whole Europe (I think).
After the long day, we went into a supermarket and saw this! Mars milk! But guess what, it just tasted like normal chocolate milk.
A brief intro about Budapest. It's in Hungary, in eastern Europe and it was actually formed from two towns/cities--Buda and Pest. And they are now joined by the Chain Bridge.
On the second day, we explored both the Buda and Pest side a bit. First we went to this Cave Church. It's a church in the cave.
View of Cave Church from outside.
In the Cave Church.
Sunset view on Buda side. That was about 4+pm.
Night view of Budapest! (: I think that's the Parliament house.
And guess what, we bought goose liver to cook! REAL GOOSE LIVER~ we only paid like 2+ SGD per person and got to eat DAMN GOOD goose liver.VERY VERY NICE! But sinful, look at the oil on the pan. we didn't add any oil.
On the third day, we went on the walking tour.
I forgot about the meaning of this statue. But people say that when you rub the knees with both hands and make a wish, your wish will come true~
Tree of love locks! This is where couple but a lock and write their names on the lock and throw the key into the waters connecting Buda and Pest. If they break up one day, they would have to get a locksmith to open the lock. haha.
Multi-angle relationship. Complicated *shakes head*
Heh heh, this is clever cos if they break up, they don't have to get a locksmith.
Put up by chinese couple? Or do they have the same meaning in Hungarian as well? I don't know~
There's a small story behind why I took a photo of this lion statue. This is one of the 4 lions on the 4 corners of the Chain Bridge. According to the owner of the hostel, the designer of the Chain Bridge was very confident of his design and believed that there'd be no flaws in this Chain Bridge. And if ever someone finds a flaw, he would jump down from that bridge. And one day, a small kid pointed out that lions are supposed to have tongues but why doesn't this lion statue has tongue. The designer admitted that it was a flaw but didn't jump from the bridge.
Entering the Buda side and in the castle district. That's the castle!
View of the Parliament house from the top of the castle district.
The last communist structure in Budapest. What does it look like? Think straight! :p
Anyway that semi circle thingy on top actually symbolises a turban worn by the communist leader in the past. And that's our tour guide!
This statue used to be rumoured that students who touched it will do very well in their studies and since don't know when, it had a different saying. It is said that whoever touches the balls of the horse will do very well in their sex life. And the tour guide demonstrated and asked who else wanted to touch it. Everyone was feeling awkward and laughed. Then he promised that if there's no improvement after they have touched it, he will return the money they paid him. So this man climbed and his wife was helping him take photos.
Our last stop of the tour was the Fisherman's Bastion. I don't know what exactly it is but it's sooo pretty! I loved it alot. Below are the pictures from Fisherman's Bastion.
And just before leaving Budapest, Serene and I took the wrong direction tram and ended up at the Nyugati train station. This train station is built by the Eifel company. The same company which built Eifel Tower.
Since there already, so took some photos of it. haha. (:
< 10:48 PM >
Didn't quite managed to get her front view.
Candles on the dinner table
Christmas TREE!!
Presents under the Christmas tree. They are REAL ok~
Appetizer--Biscuits with cheese. OMG they tasted wonderful. sooo delicious.
Soup with bread in there
Main dish-- Chicken chilli
Dessert
Preparing for the carols. Rather picking which carols to sing.
Heh heh, I don't have many chances to come so close to a grand piano though. so hee hee. Need to act act a bit. hahahas.
Others sat around and chit chat and enjoy the carols.
Hees, Christmas stocking with snowman!!
Christmas stockings for EVERYONE!
Justine wrote the labels for the stockings so that Santa know what to give to who.
Justine's, Kaitlyn's (Justine's sister) and my stockings were already prepared before Santa arrives. haha. We had a different Santa. haha.
She's Justine's cousin, Rachel. That bag was really filled with gifts for the stockings.
And she starts to fill up the stockings.
Look at the filled up stocking!!!! They are SOOOOO FULL!!
Look at that! Fully filled stockings! If I'm not wrong, this reindeer stockings belongs to Grandpa.
They are simple gifts like socks, hand cream, magazines etc. But for Grandpa, there was this huge box of Toblerone and loads of sweets in there. Guess he has sweet tooth like me too! hees.
Our room. A 6 bed dorm. ZEN and clean!
Our first stop was the Central Market Hall where they sell dried goods, food and vegetables and of cos souvenirs! See the dried stuff they selling together with some dolls.
Their wooden fork and spoon set.
Hungarian speciality--Langos. Taste like you tiao but a flat one. Spread with sour cream and cheese and we added salami to it.
This is their yellow line metro. It's the first metro in the whole Europe (I think).
After the long day, we went into a supermarket and saw this! Mars milk! But guess what, it just tasted like normal chocolate milk.
View of Cave Church from outside.
In the Cave Church.
Sunset view on Buda side. That was about 4+pm.
Night view of Budapest! (: I think that's the Parliament house.
And guess what, we bought goose liver to cook! REAL GOOSE LIVER~ we only paid like 2+ SGD per person and got to eat DAMN GOOD goose liver.VERY VERY NICE! But sinful, look at the oil on the pan. we didn't add any oil.
I forgot about the meaning of this statue. But people say that when you rub the knees with both hands and make a wish, your wish will come true~
Tree of love locks! This is where couple but a lock and write their names on the lock and throw the key into the waters connecting Buda and Pest. If they break up one day, they would have to get a locksmith to open the lock. haha.
Multi-angle relationship. Complicated *shakes head*
Heh heh, this is clever cos if they break up, they don't have to get a locksmith.
Put up by chinese couple? Or do they have the same meaning in Hungarian as well? I don't know~
There's a small story behind why I took a photo of this lion statue. This is one of the 4 lions on the 4 corners of the Chain Bridge. According to the owner of the hostel, the designer of the Chain Bridge was very confident of his design and believed that there'd be no flaws in this Chain Bridge. And if ever someone finds a flaw, he would jump down from that bridge. And one day, a small kid pointed out that lions are supposed to have tongues but why doesn't this lion statue has tongue. The designer admitted that it was a flaw but didn't jump from the bridge.
Entering the Buda side and in the castle district. That's the castle!
View of the Parliament house from the top of the castle district.
The last communist structure in Budapest. What does it look like? Think straight! :p
This statue used to be rumoured that students who touched it will do very well in their studies and since don't know when, it had a different saying. It is said that whoever touches the balls of the horse will do very well in their sex life. And the tour guide demonstrated and asked who else wanted to touch it. Everyone was feeling awkward and laughed. Then he promised that if there's no improvement after they have touched it, he will return the money they paid him. So this man climbed and his wife was helping him take photos. 
Since there already, so took some photos of it. haha. (: