A Journey of Faith

The holiday's over. Back to my hole, burying nose deep in books for the upcoming semester exam. Said goodbye to Shawn at Gatwick airport. Didn't like it, though I probably have to get used to saying it for the next two years.

That aside, iPhone had me at scrolling! I'm so getting one!

Watch the keynote address by Steve Job at MacWorld. The guy's a cool salesman.

28th Dec 06

What would a bunch of Malaysians who enjoy good food immensely do on a lazy holiday? Set up an experimental duck feast.



An experimental food it was, but turned out really good. Fabulous job, Mr Lim. ;) Hmm... why are most guys better at cooking than girls?

27th Dec 06

Went to London for the crazy sales and to meet Joyce. Hordes of people. I was suffocating and my head was throbbing. Never again will I venture into London for any sales. Apart from that, I had a really good time with the gang from OSS. As quoted from Joyce, it was really a blessing that all of us could gather in UK after we went our separate ways 2 years ago.



20th Dec 06

Hidden away in small town Didcot, this view has been dominating my life for the past few days. I've been such a good girl I deserve some rewards. :p



My reward from last evening: Home-cooked dinner prepared by Shawn which includes honey roasted pork, omelette, hot and spicy lentil soup and golden roasted potatoes. Yummylicious! Again, I'm put to shame by the fact that he cooks better than I do.

16th - 17th Dec 06

Touched down London Gatwick airport in the afternoon. Was immensely happy to see Shawn waiting at the arrival gate, grinning from cheek to cheek :) Spent the next two hours journeying back to Didcot (Shawn's new nest) in Oxfordshire. It's a very small and quiet town, but convenient since near to his work place.

Went to London the next day, meeting Chuan.

Two months passed by so quickly. I've been constantly chased by datelines. Now I know why Farul said German schools are hard. However, despite the crazy schedule (me having 1 year to complete compulsory courses which a normal Masters student takes 2 years to finish), I feel so much more fulfilled than when I was in Malaysia. Am I making any sense?

Anyway, a few quick updates:

• I managed to change my mobility to Aachen - Edinburgh. So I'm no more going to Trento but Edinburgh next year. Thanks to Sheryl (another fellow student from Malaysia offered this scholarship. That makes the three of us from Malaysia this year) for agreeing to exchange mobility with me. In a way, we're both pursuing what we like.


• I'll be going to spend three weeks of Christmas holiday in UK. Yippeee... back to darling's arms. Unfortunately, I'll have to bring a 1,200 pages Computer Graphics text book along and a laptop (on loan from Fraunhofer Institute) to start and finish coding in 2 weeks time. :S


• My German is good enough for reading (still struggling to catch up with German conversations). Was able to buy a birthday card with few sentences of German scribbling. :D

Ensuing are photos taken over the last two months.

Bonner Münster, Römisch-Katholisch church at city centre and the University of Bonn






Rheinaue Leisure Park





Thanksgiving Dinner at church





Chinese Spring Festival dinner with dumplings!







Christmas-shopping in Köln

These are pictures from my trip with the church down River Rhine about two weeks ago. It was misty albeit five in the evening. The journey took about two hours, to and fro, from Bad Godesberg to Unkel. Wonderful breeze and beautiful sceneries along the way.

It was a short trip for one of the longest rivers in Europe, stretching from Switzerland, to Germany and France, and finally to Netherlands. I'll definitely find time to cover the other sections of the river. =)





The following week, the church had an African Worship day. Pretty cool. My first time worshipping in African language. And a week later, I had fun worshipping in German when I visited the church's young adult bible study group. Ulrike made scrumptious potato soup (or Kartoffeln Suppe in German. My German is getting better.. hehehe) and we sang away to Hillsong's "Jetz ist die Zeit" (translated: Now is the Time).

Just came back from Oktoberfest in Munich. It was great though I'm now dead tired. I stayed up till 4am in the morning the day we departed to Munich via tour bus at 11pm from Köln. I had thought of catching up on sleep on the bus but I should have known better. The bus was full of Germans and they almost partied all the way till the next morning. It was kinda fun though; the loud singing, bottles of beers clinking...

We reached Munich at 8am the next day.

At one of the train stops. We were going into the city, to the festival. That's Anu in the middle and that's Salys on the right.

Getting to the location of the festival was easy. Just follow the crowds.

Welcome to Oktoberfest

Some of the crazy games at the festival

Mystery house, I think

One of the 14 beer tents at the festival. Look at the thirsty mob waiting to get into the tent. It wasn't even 9am.

Dort kann man, wenn man muß (translation: There can man, when man must) - the toilet.

Another beer tent

And another

Plenty of cute souvenir shops. I bought a miniature beer glass at €3.

Inside one of the beer tents.

Waiters and waitresses rushing for orders of beers. They normally serve 1 mas (mas is equivalent to litre) for each person.

It was too early for beer. We returned to the festival later in the evening. The rest of the day was spent sight-seeing the city.

At the Hauptbanhnof (main station) of Munich

River coursing from the Nymphenburg Palace

Loved the river

Beautiful and large garden of the Nymphenburg Palace

The court house of Munich

Rainbow fountain at city centre.

The archway into shopping area

Statues of lions everywhere in Munich! I presume they're to commemorate Henry the Lion who founded Munich.

The famous sky-scraping cathedral in Munich. It's called Frauenkirche.

At the lake garden of Olympia Park

Back to the festival...

I felt dizzy from watching this alone...

We didn't get into any beer tents. There were all packed and we probably needed to order a mas of beer each or suffer stares. I just tried some weißbier (white beer) bought by Jothir from a counter outside the tent. Bavarian beer is heavenly. Loved it.

Learnt a pickup line at the festival as well. Two drunks came at Salys and I and asked, "Alles klar?" I just walked past. Then there was this guy who tapped me from behind and blew a party trumpet at me. Crazy people around.

I like this picture of Salys.. hehe

Adil said, "Hast du mich lieb (do you love me)?" and said Jothir, "Ich liebe dich (I love you)". Btw, it's cookie.

I got one too, for Shawn =)

The next morning at Köln Hauptbanhnof, waiting for train back to Bonn