Till the dance floor again..

Just chilling at Viki´s (as on my left pic) house while she´s studying (yeah so called you know :p ) Thought it would be nice to blog as I have 2 more boring hours to kill. Yesterday was again party - at this big festival in St.Gallen :) But hey, it wasn´t the regular night I had. It was definitely 10 times better!
There were bunch of us but the ´fighters´ were just the few crazy us - Me, Viki(German), Zdenek(Czech), Cileia ( half Swiss & brazilian ) & Michel (Swiss). Completely wild!! We obviously stood out in the crowd ( if you think I am wild, what should I call them :p ) I mean they are just great people. We had the best latin dancing couples - seductively grooving on to the beat of Latin music. I have not been dancing this wild ever since I came. Really..just look at us ( or them ..hehe ) Viki & Michel, Cileia & Zdenek. By the way, Viki is very good in taking ORDER. Feel free to order her if you need anything yah *wink*

My university & Friends' Convo

My friends recent convocation reminded me of last year when I graduated. It wasn't the most special moment of my life - I wasn't extraordinary excited nor anxious, it only felt like one of those days you finished school and ok..you proceed to next chapter of life. But strangely this year meant something more. Probably because I missed it and didn't know how it felt. sigh..
Besides the fact that many more of my friends graduated this year, it was also my university's ( University Malaya ) 100th anniversary. I think I really missed a big one. I hope I will be back next year. I should be..but err..nobody knows what comes next though :p anyway thanks Eric & Little piggy for sending me the pics.

Street Parade - PARTY again! :)

Last weekend, 13th August 2005 was known as the peak of summer, most talk-about and happening day in Zurich, or probably even in Switzerland. It was Street Parade 2005 ( for the 14th year ) with approx. 700,000 party people and revellers ( less than a million people last year though ) jam-packing Zurich and its lake for a blow-out party. ( as seen at my last pic, the lake was simply awesome! ). We had a parade of deco and colourful trucks (there were 32 altogether ) equipped with loud techno music crowded by streams of people dressed as bizarre and as creative as they could :p ( less clothes the better of course :p ). It was amazing. It was completely lively, joyful and multi-racially promoted festival ( sadly, it was also an event to excessive drugs ).
Well, the pictures below definitely paint 100 words better. :) Spiderman was there too :) Next pic - Me and my friends, Zdenek, Kai & Angela

Atmosphere of bizarre people on my right pic.
Tell you what, the moment I touched down Switzerland, almost every Swiss I knew was already swamping me with excitements of the parade and how I should not miss it for Switzerland’s sake. Well, true enough, it then became the ‘thing’ I most look forward to and I even developed some thoughts how I will party till I might collapse on the streets or so. :p But nah…apparently it was just the reverse. On the day itself, I had to leave when I didn’t want to, and I had to stop dancing when I felt I was put off. To me, the Swiss are typically too decent and obedient. Things that foreigners fancy they don’t and things that we do they don’t. Well of course there isn’t anything bad but at times, it was very difficult to get close or bonded with them especially times when they don’t want to act or look silly and foolishly. I can somehow comprehend as if I had been in Malaysia, I might slightly ‘jaga reputasi’ as well.

However, I enjoyed myself still but for sure I had to say this again - it could have been better! I could just imagine how crazy and more meaningful it would be if my party friends back home had also joined me.

Cooking for Dummies :p

I want to thank Viki. I got here because of you. I got here also because of my boss (Mr Rainer Rohr ). But I realised I got here also because I hung on to my dream. I didn’t give up, neither did I give in. I risk it and I now discover a new person in myself. ( not entirely new though but still kinda different :p )

Me being with Viki last Thursday was one of my funniest moment since I came to Switzerland. We decided to cook something together. I wasn’t any good and so was Viki. ( I supposed so.hehe *wink* ) Lucky I brought Zdenek along, otherwise I wouldn’t know how and what we would survive with :p Cooking here is so fun. It opened me up to how many different and unique ways to cook one simple dish. For instance, to cook rice, Viki put a bag of rice ( the uncooked rice in a plastic bag ) into a pot of water. I was really stunned and amused at the same time. I told her noo…wrong way but Viki wasn’t at all convinced. It turned out she was right though. Hehe..what a world of Westernized huh !! We then prepared food. Zdenek cut the mushroom, then cook the meat, Viki cook the rice, then cut the mushroom , I made the salad then cook the mushroom. We were all swapping assignments and ended up doing whichever was convenient and comfortable. At one point, Viki and I were both laughing so hysterically at how I had one whole tomato into the salad bowl and Viki offered me a ‘tray’ looked exactly as a dog food plate which I had to serve our rice. It was such a bloody good laugh that we just couldn’t stop for minutes. Really, even had tears and stomach cramps and all. It was a good one :) Well, just imagine what you get with a German, Czech and Malaysian with no expert in cooking, in the kitchen !? This was what you get :)

More MORE Fireworks please!!

Another night for fireworks. The one in Basel wasn't enough for me. I needed MORE! Very difficult to please eh? :p So, I went to Luzern for what known to be much bigger, more romantic and fascinating. Hehe..yeah..It was indeed TRUE !!

2 trainees had the most honorable privilege to be with me :) I had Mathias ( from Germany ) & Zdenek ( from Czech ). We were not only falling in love with the city and fireworks but among ourselves. There are something really special about them ( like people who appreciate people & know how to enjoy life ) and just that, I am sure you guys will enlighten and fun-filled me with parties and crazy adventures huh?! :) Released from Lake , simultaneously from 3 boats and can you imagine how huge this was when one itself was already so beautiful !! I took more great movies than pictures :)
Thanks for the shots, Zdenek ( from Czech ). Was it Becherovka?? ai..cant remember.I only recall it was hard to recall..hehe. Hey Zdenek, you reminded me so much of Radek, the slight face resemblance, but close to 100% similar crappiness and the 'drink..drink..drink more' enthusiasm. :) love the dancing stool too :)

My Chinese Fried Rice..Not bad you know :)

Do you know how it feels like to cook dinner for some friends? Funny question huh..but noo.. I never knew until last Thursday. I invited some friends of mine over for Chinese food, I made salad, black noodles and my best-cooked Chinese Fried Rice ( hehe..self-claimed expert)!! You should see me doing for the first time in Switzerland though ( with electronic stove & frying pans, without auto rice cooker and Malaysian ingredients ), it tasted HORRIBLE! I only got the modified-into-Swiss-style-of-cooking recipe after 3 very encouraging times. I didn’t want to give up because I knew I wanted to offer and share something special that most people will enjoy. I dont know how to describe to you but the night was really special to me. Deep down myself, I was smiling ear to ear knowing how much they love the food ( in fact, it wasn’t enough ) and these people who dont know each other got bonded and were easily dancing after that. I love this kind of moments. People who close to me know I love to party, but what I really love most about it, is feeling the moments when everyone get so attached, so real and so playful, allowing themselves to laugh, be free and open.

Back then in Hong Kong ( me with Sharon ), I can still recall we were also inviting people ( whom we knew ) to clubs and these bunch of people whom were simply stranger to each other grouped together and party like hell after a round of introduction, conversations and music. Like I said, if you are younger, I dont know if we were plain innocent and playful that we dont feel much gap and barriers especially when having fun. I would simply not trade anything for my youth days ( which still is :p ) and these friends I met ( also my party friends back home..hehe..yeah..my faithful clubbing friends now became close friends of mine :)
There you go..the Japanese photo-taking pose. Peace !!! (Swiss find this Japanese pose very amusing, hence imitating it). So, Malaysians, dont ever do that yah..*wink* from left Dimitri,Graham,Stefan & Martin (my neighbour)
They insisted chopsticks for rice although I told them NOOOO...it should be spoon..!! Haha..okok..so I had to entertain them as well. Can you imagine eating fried rice on a plate with chopsticks??!! Yeah..only with foreigners yah. :p

Swiss Merdeka Day - my only public holiday :(

Besides fireworks, Swiss National Day is nowhere close to Merdeka Day ( Malaysian National Day ). If you think Malaysian are not patriotic, wait till you see the Swiss. They have no glue to their national anthem, no eagerness to countdown, no wish to hang their flags, and no thoughts to greet Happy Birthday Switzerland or Happy National Day or what-so-ever. I was only informed the most Swiss thing to do is probably attend farmer’s brunch or gather at a politician talk then enjoy some firewood and fireworks. However, it is not unusual to witness ‘malapetaka’ when righteous rage and cynicism between politicians and minority of citizens arise on this day.

On the 31st ( the eve of National Day ) , I headed to Basel ( 2 hours from Winterthur ) to catch the official fireworks display ( sadly, it was the only big one on the eve, the rest on the actual day, strange huh?! ). Although we missed our train back home and had to folk EXTRA fat money to go home, it was all worth. The colourful fireworks was released at Rhein River and I was on the bridge, so close that I could feel the ashes and particles scattered round my face. Really..my friends felt as well. It was so good – lasted exactly 30 mins ( although pretty long, I expected more :p ). Well, to describe precisely, it was a 3D effect, if you know what I mean.

Well, ok before the eve, I did something appear to be more in National Day celebration mood i.e. my typical dance-drink-and-meet-people party !! I met up with my favourite St.Gallen circle of friends and guess what, little piggy and tall eric, it is a SMALL world !! Your friend, Luca is coincidently my friend’s roommate. We just bumped ( abit of a long story ) into each other and we couldn’t believe how amazing to find each other this way. Aah…really it makes me believe more everyday that things happen for a reason. It felt as though you were reading chapters that led one event to another. Then it’s either a peak or a downfall – you don’t know where it takes you. ( little piggy - sounds familiar huh ? :p )

Before party, I done something considerably known as a Swiss pastime. I went swimming at the Swiss famous river, sounds cool huh?! Yeah you think so too right? But noooo…I had nightmare – I was half-drowning and frantically giving up when my friend ( yea..I know you are reading my blog :p ) refused to let me go :( My fair swimming techniques was clearly not good enough to survive the solid 20mins-byfoot-journey stream – I was terrible - struck me again how much a city gal I am even after all the hardcore adventures around Switzerland. sigh*

Basel fireworks on Swiss National Day

Tanzschiff BOAT PARTY !!

Aaaahh..havent been blogging quite a while. I’m more engaged and focused into my job right now..alas huh..hehe. yeah.. I am advancing and my work is definitely much more interesting now. Therefore, I’m a good gal now - not stealing much time for personal work. :)

Ok..back to my life. The past 2 weeks ( which I haven’t been updating ) was simply filled with fun..fun and FUN!! I was rather occupied all the time, even on weekdays ( always somethings to do no matter how much I say I have to rest ). On the 23rd and 24th , I had one of my wildest dream came true ( not so wild, but I dreamt long for it ) i.e. a party on boat with party people and a vast view of ocean to savor.

I love to go aboard. I applied for StarCruise once but failed quite badly ( not even shortlisted :( ). But with this Tanzschiff party on the Lake of Konstanz, you can imagine how excited I was. I had bundle of joy and wonderful memories. The most beautiful moment was a superb view of sun set and moon rise. Yup.. I saw both !! It was outrageously gorgeous. I could not photograph the moon rise as I had such a lousy camera..damn!! Nevertheless I already had the frame of its its boundless blueness and vast horizon in my mind. so cool...:)
I made a number of really good friends too( German trainees and more Swiss people ) , then I met my TN Manager who realised my traineeship ( I sorta have 2 Local Committees – too much AIESEC jargon, so I wont go deep ). I met my TN Manager ( as pic - Cileia (left) and Viktoria is my TN Manager) for the first time after 2 months and when we met, we felt as we knew each time long time. We were damn excited to see each other, really – as we were reviewing our self-finished products. You know, like I was a product of her 2 months ICX hard work and she was my granter to a perfect AIESEC European traineeship. Then I also met a Chinese gal from Taipei, was happy I could speak Mandarin with her. No matter where we go, Chinese companion is certainly undeniable incomparable. :)
After dinner, we had something most Asian AIESECers look forward to i.e. the AIESEC dances !!! It revived so much of my good old AIESEC days, this was really different though. You are now in Europe, and people don’t tend to care how you dance or what you dance. We just enjoy music and drink !! They had many German sing-a-long music which all we did was forming circle that grew bigger and bigger, hopping, singing and lalala…for 30 mins. And guess what, AIESEC UMers, they played the Tunak Tunak square dance. Haha.. it was so funny - not a single move was right ( except for the part you swing both hands up the air ) This is truly the power of AIESEC. Combined with diversity and internationalism , the party was very special that at some point, it is very AIESECy , then with some moments and people you knew, you realised it this is so not AIESECy...hehe :)

The RhineFall ( if not mistaken - largest or second largest waterfall in Europe ). We visited Steim am Rhein (many Japanese tourists) and this waterfall after the 2 day Tanzschiff Party. I really love the waterfall as we were standing on a rock right above and the center of the waterfall.