Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Ooh. Long time no post. Hah.
I found out every morning and evening free German newspapers are given out at every tram stop. Yay so usually I go out in the evening with my dad for a stroll and 'shun bian' take one. :) Keeps me in touch with the Swiss World. Well the thing is, I can't read. But at least I can recognise names and look at pictures. Soon enough, hopefully, I'll be able to read.
Yesterday I had my culture training so that I won't get much of a culture shock here in Switzerland. Well the one I went for with my sis were for kids because we are in the 'kid' age group. Thus everything was kind of childish. Our trainer started teaching us how to sing this Swiss-German nursery song and we were like... huh?? Anyway he was quite out of tune so we couldn't really be bothered to sing and pretended we were tone-deaf too. Then we changed the topic and asked him to tell us about the Swiss political system. HAHA! At least we learnt about the geography and history of Switzerland - it's really amazing Switzerland's been out of war (staying neutral) since 1815 after the empire Napolean built collapsed!! :O We were made to draw out the 26 different cantons in Switzerland on a piece of paper. Might seem boring but it was rather educational. Then the capitals of each canton. Which canton speaks what language. Climate and weather throughout Switzerland. Of course we learnt a bit of Swiss-German (not supposed to but oh well who cares). Personally I think High German sounds much nicer than Swiss-German. I can't really pronounce the 'r's in German. It seems like you're about to spit out your phelgm when you say it. And lots of German words have 'r's and 'ch's. Sigh.
My trainer's a Morrocan Swiss, and he speaks 8 languages?!! *faints* Okay I shall aspire to that. ;) My parents had a German lady as their trainer, who studied linguistics in university and can also speak 8 languages. :O
Right now I've learnt lots of new vocab in German. And I've gotta remember what's male, female and neutral. TSK. And now I've got my French mixed up too! D: Idk which is which! Sigh. My grammar, oh no... I tried ordering food in German in the restaurant and supermarket. Hehehe. It worked. So-so. But after a few lines I just stare at them blankly. Switch back to English. HAHA. Bleh.
I found a clay court tennis club near my house! Wheehee! Should go sign up soon. :) CLAY COURT! I've never played in clay court before. It was always hard court. ;) The parks here are super big and really nice. Playgrounds are dotted all over the place. I love the swings. Reminds me of the 5-year-old me 10 years ago. :D
I miss durian. :'( And mangosteens perhaps. That's about the only food I miss I guess. I miss school too. MGS<333I've been looking at the NDP music videos. Haha. I just remembered the time in P5 when my class was chosen to lead the school in the dance. :) I still remember the moves of the chorus! :D Reach out for the skies! :D
Swiss National Day - 1st August! Yay! Looking forward to the beautiful fireworks by the river! The Confederation of Helvetica becomes 718 years old! :O Compared to Singapore turning 44 this year... :P
The Enchanting Twilight
Labels: Culture training, National day, parks
Monday, 20 July 2009
Whooo! The whole of Sunday I spent most of my time in our car, with my dad driving past golden fields of corn and vineyards! Haha. We were heading towards the south of Switzerland to witness the cyclists of the Tour de France (a really large-scale cycling competition) as they were passing by into Switzerland. So from Basel at the north, we drove down to the French-speaking region, stopping to drive around the Swiss capital Bern and the centre-ville of Fribourg. Hah, lots of French signboards, but to my horror I couldn't understand all of them!! I thought by now I should be able to. D: I think my French really worsened over these months with almost no French exposure in Basel. HELP.
Thus we drove down all the way to Bulle, a small French-speaking town, and we waited for the cyclists to come cycling down the main road. First, lots of police cars with the sign 'Gendamerie' (I could understand that!) came down first. Followed by police motorcycles. Announcing something in French which I evidently couldn't catch. Then suddenly the first few cyclists came speeding down the road which was sloped downhill. As fast as the motorcycles, omg! At least my sis caught one picture of them. Hahaha. Then a few minutes later, the whole peleton of cyclists came rushing down. Quite scary actually. Like a stampede. Followed by a fleet of cars carrying water bottles, spare bicycles and tyres etc. There was a group of Swiss-French boys (about 10 years old) who were really really crazy over the cyclists. They screamed and shouted and jumped up and down when the cyclists passed by. Just my luck to stand so near them; I think I was deaf for a moment. Haha.
Our car really needed a wash. And here in Switzerland you hardly see any car wash centres. So happened we caught sight of one in Bulle, and my dad sent me to ask the lady in the shop if the car wash was open. Okay my mum tags along as I try to phrase what I want to say. Then I ask. Then she replies in a string of French. (Scary okay!) And I CAUGHT IT! HAHAHA! YAY! Then I began translating to my mum. And my mum told me to ask another question, how much does it cost. So I did. Repitition no.2. This time I didn't catch everything. D: My mum scolded me. Since my mum learnt French before long ago, she said you know I bet she said this and that, and I had to argue no, the lady said sth else! Sigh. So, car wash closed, no car wash.
Another incident. We drove up into the mountains and stopped by at a little village for tea. My dad wanted the 'potage du jour', and he thought it was some potato soup. Well, it wasn't, of course. Potato is pomme de terre, not potage. So my mum asked me, what's potage? I didn't know! Result: scolded. My vocab's so limited, so lousy. Bleh. D: My mum was like, "Come on lah, buck up! You can't go on like this! Why is your French so bad? After 3 years?!" Sigh. I was trying to recall what I learnt in the Restaurant/Food chapter in sec 1 and 2. We learnt Soupe du jour, didn't we? They didn't write Potage, so I didn't know. Okay blame me for not checking out synonyms... Sigh. Potage = soupe.
We went to see Lausanne, Vevey and Neuchatel, the larger Swiss-French towns on our way back to Basel. Lausanne and Vevey were towns along the Lac de Leman, a really beautiful lake. The sun rays glistened on the ripples so beautifully, and there were a few yachts bobbing up and down. And the ducks! Omg, so so cute! Paddling in the water. Haha. Had to reserve some restaurant in Neuchatel. And the stupid waiter kept saying je ne comprend pas! I felt like boxing him up, omg. I'm already trying to speak in French!! I guess I was too soft. :P Too bad, found out that restaurant was an Italian one, so we didn't eat there in the end. I stay away from Italian food whenever I can. Fattening + allergic (I think). Heh.
Doing my best to keep French with me. :P The free French papers were all gone in Fribourg when I arrived. Oh wells. Unfortunately there aren't any free French papers here in Basel.
The Enchanting Twilight
Labels: Swiss-French region, Tour de France
Monday, 13 July 2009
1st German lesson on Sat: YAY! I was so excited. :D Learning a new language is always so fun. :) But well, it was a family lesson, which meant my parents and sister are my classmates! :D D: Don't know if it's good or bad... Haha. 1st up, my dad, who doesn't take notes at all and just stares at the teacher, hardly getting anything (I know from the look in his eyes). 2nd, my mum, who's a crazy note-taker and pronounces every word really loudly (but wrongly) and quite attentive. 3rd, my sister, who takes quick notes in the textbook and looks on with keen eyes, every word that comes out of her mouth is nearly accurate, thus the teacher says 'Genau! (translated: right!)' to her a lot. 4th, me, the person who asks a lot of questions (until my mum actually finds me a bit irritating) taking neat notes in a huge notebook, linking the differences and similarities of German, English and French together. (This actually makes learning European languages a lot easier.)
Then we went to Lorrach, Germany, for another grocery-shopping trip, and of course spent quite a bit of euros over there. Small town, quite quiet and peaceful, lovely scenery... :)
Sunday: We got free passes to the Giacometti exhibition at Fondation Beyeler, Basel's famous museum! :D Took a look at the unique skinny bronze sculptures Alberto G. made, and Giovanno G.'s (AG's father) cool post-impressionist paintings and portraits. The museum grounds were really beautiful, corn fields by the side and a tranquil pond just outside. The paths and museum walls were made of red bricks, and it looked really beautiful in a cool summer setting. ;)
We returned home and after dinner, my sis and I decided to be hardworking students and took out our German books to revise and complete our homework. :D Our parents, not wanting to lose out, followed us to the dining table. The revision didn't go that well, because we spent about 20mins on the 1st page as my parents had pronunciation difficulties and my dad just kept forgetting what each line meant. IT'S JUST GREETINGS and he can't remember which is which. Tell him, he says oh okay, and doesn't even write the translation down!! D: Then he'll ask me again. OH NO. My mum, on the other hand, took lots of notes but can't seem to pronounce the 'z' and 'ch'... Sigh. It seems like my parents aren't doing a good job in setting a good example for their daughters. Well my sis and I had a great time laughing at them. I know we're horrible.
Eg. Austria is Osterreich in German, and my mum accidentally pronounced it as Ostrich. FUNNY OMG. No is Nein in German, and my dad keeps saying Nay. NO LOGIC GOSH... My dad doesn't seem to know that conjugation exists, and we learnt the conjugation of the verb 'to be' (Etre in French, Sein in German) in which he forgot.
You know my best study partner has to be my sister. We can correct each other, trusting that the other is right. And no stupid funny incidents happen. We both completed all our homework, 4 activities. :D My mum only managed to finish 1 and she was so drained. My dad was already too exhausted and drained to do any activity, so he chucked his book away. Sigh I hope we get to somewhere.
Hopefully I learn German well. No, in fact, I MUST. Sorry French, I'm leaving you in 2nd position for now.
The Enchanting Twilight
Labels: German, Germany, Giacometti
Sunday, 5 July 2009
Okay... my exercise isn't really called exercise. -.- Bleh... I walk round and round the huge balcony outside my house.
Anyway this post isn't about exercising. It's about whether I made the right decision about my subject combination or not. I chose Physics and Chemistry for Grades 9 and 10 in the end, which means dropping Biology. Right or wrong? That's because I really don't know what I want to do in the future, so this combi is making my paths as wide as possible. The school said, take P and C in Grades 9 and 10, if you think you really want to do Medicine in uni, then take B in Grade 11 for IB. That's the only option since British universities accept students who have done all 3 sciences at any point from Grade 9 to 12. HOW FRUSTRATING.
First, I don't think I'll do Medicine. 2nd, I don't need to go to a uni in UK. 3rd, I love Biology. :'( But I dropped it. Okay. Nvm. I guess I'll never do Biology then. It'll be too big a jump in Grade 11. It's also super risky, because if not I'll be taking B (a subject I left for quite long) as an IB subject. Sigh.
I really hope I don't regret not taking Biology. I'm just doing this to keep my options as open as possible.
Anyway, that was Friday. The weekend was really quite interesting for me! :D
Saturday: Hopped over the border across to France. Went to Illzach, Mulhouse in the Alsace region to shop around in Carrefour and buy groceries too. It was a half hour drive to Mulhouse with the handy navigator. :) We reached at about 2pm, had a sandwich lunch (which I disliked) and walked around the shopping mall for about 2hrs. 4pm: a light snack because my mum kept insisting I was hungry even though I wasn't at all! (How can she know whether I'm hungry or not?? -.-) Then began our 4hr-grocery shopping in Carrefour. I think the French would've noticed that we're one of the craziest Asian families ever. We emerged from Carrefour at 8pm with a whole load of food and crockery. OMG. NEarly 170 euros! *faints* My mum said that was the most expensive grocery bill ever!! Indeed we are insane. Well I did get a bit of French practice there. Like ordering food. Oh and I was reading the blurbs of French romance novels. HAHA! I COULD UNDERSTAND! OMG! I was so glad! :D But I didn't buy any French book; I figured I'll just leave it aside in the end. It'd be much too difficult. Then we returned and had dinner at 10pm. How late.
Sunday: Drove to Zurich with the helpful navigator again. :) Acted like tourists with a Basel car. Hahaha. Went up the Grossmunsterplatz tower to enjoy the beautiful view of Lake Zurich and the packed city view. CHF 1 for going up the tower. -.- The white swans and brown ducks looked just so adorable paddling in the canal! And the water was crystal clear; I could see the rocks on the passage bed! :P We walked down Bahnhofstrasse (the Zurich Orchard Road) and looked through all the glass windows of the shops. Well, they were all closed since it was Sunday. So many watch shops! :O And all the big brands like Prada, LV, EZ etc. OH I didn't see Gucci. Haha. Zurich is so different from Basel. It's such a bustling city with people walking up and down the streets (fast-paced) even on Sunday. In Basel people seem more relaxed. And the tram/train lines in Zurich criss-cross in all directions; it seems a bit scary... :)
Well it was a good experience overall. Maybe I should hop over to Germany in time to come. And visiting Bern, the capital of Switzerland, would be fun too. :D
The Enchanting Twilight
Labels: Mulhouse, Subjects, Zurich
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Haha, yay, down to blogging at last! :P Reached Basel, my new apartment with a wonderfully BIG balcony, and yes got used to having German surrounding me. Everything is in German, sometimes there're French or Italian, making me an illiterate person here. D: And there are hardly any Asians over here; that's why my family gets stares and even shouts of 'ni hao' or 'konichiwa' from friendly passers-by. Haha. They can't tell the difference between a Chinese or a Japanese or a Korean. Well, same for us Asians, we can't tell who's French, Swiss or German...
Into summer now, all the flowers are in bloom and bees are buzzing away... So when my family and I have an al-fresco dinner, bees come, instead of houseflies in Singapore. I think houseflies are better though; you don't need to worry about them stinging you... :P The Swiss apples here are so so SWEET!!! :D So I eat about 2 a day. Haha. (Double protection from the doctor.) Hmm, and the milk is so fresh and nice. 2.5% fat though. And that's low-fat milk I buy. -.- Sigh. Biscuits and bread smell really good. OH and the ice-creams taste like heaven! All ice-creams have brands... like BIG BRANDS eg Movenpick so it's super expensive and super fat and super yummy. OH NO. If I go on eating like this, I'm gonna put on so much weight. D:
So sad, my lovely daisies from Sarah, Annette and Marian all died today. Lived for 1 week. I threw the stalks away, but I kept the petals. :) They're currently under my heavy suitcase cos I'm pressing them. A plastic bag full of (still bright) yellow daisy petals. Didn't/Haven't shown my parents cos they'll just scold me for being dumb. BUT THESE FLOWER PETALS HAVE SENTIMENTAL VALUES! Hahaha. :)
I can't wait for school to start, seriously. I can't wait to start learning German for real in school. If I go on doing housework and cooking every day, I'll be bored to death. Now I've at least ruled out one possibility of an occupation for myself- to be a housewife. Never!! HAHA! ;)
Every day it's getting hotter and hotter... as we're approaching the peak of summer... Cost of living here is so much more expensive than in Singapore... But well, for better things, you have to sacrifice something. :(
The Enchanting Twilight
Labels: flowers, food, Switzerland
