Enticing Deutch Odyssey

Indeed..Im wrapping up a chapter...

'Time flies', this is a term which is cery commonly used in daily life.. However, i never knew the true meaning of it till recently..

Good times and bad times i have gone through throughout my stay here in Germany seemed just like yesterday...

From Malaysia to Germany, from knowing close to nothing in German, from knowing close to no one in Germany, from being fearful and worrisome to venture out of a comfort zone....

It has been close to 8 and a half months now...

Though i must admit, there were times where i dreaded to be back where i knew i was very much welcomed, a place called home, i am thankful to my family and handful of buddies for bringing me back on track, lifting my spirits and not letting it sway away..

For one thing, external support is important.. In a land far away from home, most of the times, you yourself would be your own support and motivation.. If you fall, you have got to get up fast for not many will drop by and lend a helping hand..Stay lying on the ground, is as good as digging your own grave...

Perhaps some may ponder, through the connotation of my conversation, how do i really feel in Germany? Or am i showing signs of 'fatigue'? or was i close to giving up?

I ponder these questions myself too...Only after a string of events which happened lately did i find out much which i didnt know, or much that i took for granted..

All exchange years are unique in their own ways.... Participants of exchange programs learn and change on their own pace, through their respective exposures, comparisons on who has learnt more cant be made, as it is all in all something very different...

Ask me what i have learnt, theres no definite answer to it... For in my humble opinion, exercising what we exchange students have learnt, or just me, what i have learnt would be something very abstract, whereby only actions can tell....

Ask me if i have changed, it is almost definite yes, i have.. Ask me if its for the better or worse, i would not be able to tell, nor would it be for people to judge...Being caught in between cultures of the east and west is not uncommon, it took time to assimilate myself to the western culture; likewise, it would take time for me to assimilate back to a typical eastern Malaysian culture. However, my senses tell me that im still very much me.

Ask me what i have experienced, alot...When opinions clashed... When conflicts arised... Consequences i had to bear with when i wasnt 'street wise' enough.. the list goes on....and most importantly, i have experienced 'easier said than done'...

It perplexes me how long it took to break the ice...Perhaps, i should put it this way, it perplexes me how long i took to feel comfortable enough to go all out and out...Very often, what happens or revolves around oneself or in this case, myself, i realised resembles a mirror, a guidance to oneself, to the situation...Though it took me some time to understand what the mirror was reflecting and indeed even longer to act upon it, im nevertheless glad that i have though the great delay...

There are things whereby when effort is put in, anticipated results are guaranteed... There are however things that dont show results even when a Herculean of effort has been made... I tried hard to blend in, i was dissapointed when there were no signs of improvement..Only lately did i realise, these are one of those things which are out of my control..Overzealousness is a bad habit i learnt to kick off... Time would take its toll, things would come naturally...

Like i said, all exchange years are unique.. Not many can comprehend how life is during an exchange year.. Few out of the exchange program can comprehend how life is, and not many exchange students can understand each others experience.. It is afterall, like i mentioned, unique...

A great deal of 8 and a half months is in the past whereby laughter and tears were reminisced... A duration of 2 months still remains... Treasuring the remaining days, may it be good or bad, would be what i'll be reminding myself to do...

At the end of my exchange, im convinced i would eventually realise there isnt any rights or wrongs in my exchange year.. It was just somewhat different...

Till i wrap up this chapter, Chongshen.

WHY?

Imagine, put a dot in the middle of a piece of paper. Than draw an arrow of similar length each to its right and left. At the end of the arrows, put down dots once more.. ALright, the right and left dot would respectively represent the nearest happening in Germany and in Netherlands.. AAND!Uve got it right! I LIVED IN THE MIDDLE DOT, which would be in the middle of nowhere!!

-Nearest train station 20 minutes away by car

-Very seldom do buses stop by my place or go frm my place to the nearest 'town'

Nevertheless, i had loads of fun! Within this 2 weeks, there were lotsa activities held in Osnabrück (this was the city where most of the midstay participants stayed except 3, and i was one of them!) I had to take a 90 minute train ride to get to these activities while others took not more than a 20 minute bus ride. My guest family was really nice and funny too..

But anw, was worth it!

I watched a football match too.. A piece of advice next time if you intend to go to germany for a football match.. Either you wear a jacket with a hood or you get the highest spot in the stadium where theres no crowd behind you. Otherwise, your hair will be moisturised with delicate german beer... =) These ppl toss beer cups when their team scores a goal, concedes a goal..etc.. wierd...

Oh here are some interesting facts..

-When i was in Osnabrück, after parties, ppl go home taking the bus at 3am..Cool huh?

- Did you know that it was actually against the law to wash your car at home? Ppl are supposed to bring their cars to these petrol kiosks to go for autocleaning..

-Theoratically, its also not allowed to duplicate keys without going through a list of agencies (like your insurance companies etc etc)..

So, this is all from me for now.. Pictures will follow.. =)

Ive got a question... A serious question....

A quiz would be..Quizzical right?

WHat would a test be?

=)

Anw... Heres a cool video clip, a flash animation.. Rather funny.. CHeck it out...

For a start, after my summer holidays, i went to a midstay camp before i went for a midstay. A midstay is where an exchange student goes to another family in another part of germany for 2 weeks.. SO this is what im doing now...

The midstay camp was GREAT! PPl of all different nationalities.. Brasiliens, Columbians, Argentinians, Aus, Thai, Malaysians, Guetamala, Jpn... BUT, one languange.. German! Was wonderful catching up with friends ive previously known, all in german mind u, even with the australians...During the camp, we attended seminars with the theme, europe, it was very informatve.. Eg, how many countries are there actually in the EU? Does anyone here know how the flag of LAtvia looks like? Or do u peeps know that theres a country called LAtvia anw? etc etc.. well, these were the questions.. There was a quiz which consisted lotsa aspects of europe, geographically, its language.. Imagine this.. THere are almost 12 oe 13 newspaper articles, and we have to read them, or scan them through to determine what language or where does the paper come from.. Russian, Swedish, Hollandish, Finnish etc etc...13! One more, we had to determine where the authors of books came from... Flags of countries... Who is who, this activity where we were given pics and had to determine who tehy were...Oh yea, car plates.. Abbreviations for european countries.. They can kill man...Freaking hard....The european map, we did it with the puzzle... MAtching country and its capital...Nevertheless, with everyone contributing, my group won! IT was no doubt informative, and great fun...

Anw, here are some pictures, enjoy.. =)

Did you ppl actually know that theres such a place called "Dewan Malaysia" in London, ONLY and i mean ONLY for Msians to Lodge.. Cool huh? And its ReAllY cheap, compared to other hostels.. only 11.75 GBP per night, which is a GreAT bargain.. The catch is, we gotta come back before 11 at night.. >.< face="times new roman" color="#009900">CURFEWS".. Oh did i mention, i suck in malay now..Juggling up german and Malay words together.. SOMEHOW, i find similarites in them.. =)

Its all for now.. I will come back with posts frm Italy, Belgium and pictures.. But gimmie time.. =)

Alright! For the Berlin Finals.. I was in Berlin! (Doesnt sound spectecular does it? BUT! hear me out!!)

So on Sunday, i was in Berlin, was there relatively early.. So my cousin and i decided to head for the Stadium itself, hoping to stumble upon something (im not particular sure what we were hoping for.. but we just went there anw)

We were there at 7am.. The gates to the stadium was closed.. The vicinity of the Olympia Stadion was fenced up.. Didnt manage to get close to the magnificent edifice.

But, ANW, i could say ive been to the stadium before.. haha.. or can i?

In the afternoon, walked around, shopped for jerseys.. (Apparently, that day, im not too sure was it just that day or everyday of the World Cup duration..) Ppl were buying jerseys, shoes, balls as if they didnt cost, cards swipping, cashing machines going KACHING.. Money money money... The queues to the cashier itself were like MILES long, ppl were waiting outside of shops for it to open.. AND theres no such thing as, Petaling Street goods, all of the goods are REAL goods.. MAN! These ppl can really spend! Anw, i have not bought any YET.. Take note of the YET.. Still cant make up my mind which jersies to buy.. Btw, can anyone here tell me how much does a nike and adidas jersey cost in Malaysia? So that i can compare.. Thanks.. :)

In the afternoon, went for chinese food.. I have craved for chinese food for A LOONG TIME ever since coming here.. *PS: SHu fei, if you're reading this, we went to the Yang Zi Jiang restaurant at Zoologicher Garten.* It tasted great! It was owned by a hongky.. And during my meal. a bunch of 9 asians came into the hotel.. After moments of observation, my cousin and i concluded that they were most prob msians or singaporeans.. WHY??

1. Upon sitting down, they wanted to order Char Kuey Tiao.

2. Their English was pure manglish.. (They didnt speak good english at all in my opinion, but they spoke all the way.. why? i do not know..)

3. This reason, the most IMPORTANT factor that led to our conclusion.. They included this phrase in their conversation...

' DONT PRAY PRAY'

Sounds familiar?? Haha.. They MUST be msians or singaporeans..

After lunch, headed to walk around again.. And on the way back to the train station, we stumbled upon a small crowd (one which gradually grew) in front of a hotel, police vans were lined along the street in front of the hotel.. I asked some guy whats up and he told me the Italien team stayed here.. So, my cousin and i thought we stumbled upon luck and waited there.. Everytime, it seemed that they were coming out, fifa officials on phones, walking in and out, cars moving here and there, lotsa things happened, but they DIDNT come out.. I was fuming hot inside as ive already waited for 2 hours!! 2 hours!!!! At last, we left.. Later we found out, 10 minutes after we left, they came out.. >.<

Headed for the fan mile after that...The fan mile is situated right in front of the Brandenburger Tür in Berlin.. Earlier in the morning at 9 (its exact opening time), we saw crowds already crowding the enterance.. Hence, we didnt bare much hopes of getting to go in.. But, fortunately we did.. Must give credit to the organising comittee..The security was great, planning etc.. Normally, at this kinda functions, we meet ppl easily, strike up conversations easily, but since my german wasnt good enough.. sigh.. i still managed to hook on to a few peeps.. haha.. Ei, in german man! Considering i was supporting France and they were supporting Italy, it was hard enough to hook on.. :) Blah blah blah.. watched the game there.. The atmosphere was great.. After france lost.. (SIGH,......) headed back to central Berlin. As my cousin and i will be departing early in the morning, we didnt bother checking into a hotel.. So, we roamed the streets of Berlin and settled down at the lobby of West Grandsitn Berlin for a drink. There was where the MAGIC happened!

While talking to my cousin, a girl, an american black, interupted us.. She asked us whether the French team was already there.. I said i dont think so and i asked her as well, why should they be there (It didnt occur straight to me that i had so much luck with me...) She replied 'Coz this is where the French team is staying!'

Early in the morning, headed home... :) Upon reaching home, i went to bed immediately, at 12 noon (10th July), when i woke up it was 4am(11th July), not because i had enough of sleep, was coz i was hungry.. Cooked myself a maggi mee!!! haha.. YEAP, i brought it over here as souvenirs for my host family for them to try, but at that moment, i figured out What the heck! :)