30th November 2005 - Day 58

There was no lessons this morning and no bedsheet to change. Which explains why I only woke up at 1020.

I brought my laptop to lessons because I thought I would not have the time to go and print the tutorial out. But lessons ended early and I got my tutorial printed.

Today, I learnt how to differentiate Activa and Passiva items for accounting purposes. Basically simple stuffs, but not that simple for me as I have been attending german lectures only after the first month. It takes some time to get used to the terms.

The Phonetik lesson today examplified that there are more elegant ways to express the same meaning. And to the point too. With my lousy deutsche Kommunikationsfähigkeit (if there was actually such a word and used correctly here), I need about five sentences to say something while the Lehrerin needs only one.

Someone in class had problem with pronouncing "sagt". It ended up being pronounced as "shit", much to the amusement of an Englander and me.

Ok, it's not so funny. I still can't pronounce "r", as well as "der", "er" and "wer".

After the class ended at 1900, I spent another 1.5 hours fiddling with the printer at the Rechenzentrum. There's a maximum file size that I can send to the printer at a time. And the documents to be printed were extremely big. But luckily it was late, and there were not many people left.

Uedat asked me if he could use sesame oil for braten. I replied yes with roasting in mind. He used it for frying. Now the kitchen's full of sesame oil smell. But he thinks the meat tastes good with it.

So, back to doing my own stuffs.

29th November 2005 - Day 57

I realised that I was not the only one having problems counting money.

I approached Jan today to claim back my money for the Fluressen yesterday. The total amount was 21,48€.

Jan asked me if I had 2€ with me. He then took the 2€ from me and returned me 20,51€. I thought it was quite amusing because he even apologized himself that he didn't have any more small change and that I'll have to absorb the remainder of 0,97€.

Why did he asked for the 2€ earlier then?

Keine Ahnung. But since I had 0,52€ with me, I thought it'll be easier for him to give me back 22€ (or rather 24€).

At that point, he realised that he made the error, and waved his hand in front of his face, showing a dazed look.

I attended yet another lecture in German, and found that I was completely thrown off track. When I asked the Professor giving the lecture, saying that I have difficulty understanding what he said, he told me (something like) this:

"Ahh... No fear, as long as you have the lecture notes and read through it, you should be fine for the oral exams. I was just giving some examples during the lecture."

Hmmm. Now I understood what he said.

I've noticed some very nicely decorated kitchen on other floors here in the hostel through my window. It reminds me that Christmas is coming, even though I don't celebrate it.

So, I shall go gather some facts about Kuching-pura and present it to my Phonetik class tomorrow.

28th November 2005 - Day 56

Today is Monday again.

I went with Nan to find the professor in charge of a certain module for negotiation.

The conclusion is, instead of a written paper in German, I would have a mündliche Prüfung in German. I wonder if that is a good choice or not. Maybe I should have pushed further and asked for one in English.

With that, I just realised that all my modules would be tested orally. What have I gotten myself into? I can't even form simple sentences in German now!

Pathetic.

I have a strong feeling I'll end up using a Mischung of German and English during the exams. But since the exams are in German, they'll probably strike out what I said in English.

3 months left to exams. No improvement in German even after 9 weeks here. Actually, I can't seem to understand German anymore. You should have noticed that from the number of German words used in each entry. It just gets lesser and lesser.

Today is Fluressen Day. Although I wanted to steam rats for them, I was unable to get any rats (live or frozen) at the Asiashops here. I had to make do with chicken.

But to make things easier, I used chicken drumsticks instead of whole chicken. Here is the finished product.

It looks better compared to the last time

Since the other people here on the floor just had to eat and need not prepare anything, all they can say is that the drumstick tastes good. I could tell they were lying, since the cucumber were eaten up faster than the drumsticks. Rats would have tasted so much better.

Looks like the Sex Exhibition in Singapore has gathered international interest. Some of them were asking me about it during dinner. They figured that I should be staring at the poster of naked women in the living room here the whole day. That makes me wonder whether they use the Internet.

After dinner, Stefan brought out his water pipe. I had a try smoking it. It tasted like apple, because Stefan used apple flavoured tobacco. They told me that there were other flavours available as well. I didn't feel anything, maybe because I don't know how to smoke. Hah! I'll probably buy one home! And use it as a display item.

So, I should stop hoping my exams would be in English and start some German revision.

27th November 2005 - Day 55

You know it's time to do some cleaning when you see this:

Spider webs forming

Besides clearing away the spider webs, I also

• Wiped the surfaces of my shelves and table.
• Wiped the windows.
• Cleaned the heater.
• Washed the wash basin.
• Vaccumed the floor.

The tremendous amount of dust (if allowed to accumulate) would probably suffocate me one day while I'm asleep. Or I might house the biggest domesticated spider in Germany. Or hold the title for the highest number of spiders per square metre. Not a good idea.

The whole process took slightly less than 2 hours. Not that my room is that big, but rather because I was doing it slowly.

No more spider webs

There's a place for everything and everything's in place.

Beds should be made after waking up.

I attempted to do some translation for my lecture notes, but ended up watching L'Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment). It's a relatively old film (2002) that focuses on a french ERASMUS student (exchange student from the European Union) doing his exchange in Barcelona. Quite interesting. I wonder why I did not watch it earlier.

It feels good to dedicate a day every week to do whatever you like, even though it's just sorting out your own stuffs. Not too long, not too short. A day every week is enough.

Man, I'm taking things way too easy.

So, I shall do some reading up to get back in momentum.

26th November 2005 - Day 54

I had to wake up early this morning because I was going to visit Strasbourg in France.

A Singaporean, Augustine, who is studying in Mannheim, has kindly offered to be our tour guide and bring Autumn and me around. I've never seen Augustine before. We were to meet on the train to Wissembourg.

My ability to recognise a Singaporean did not fail me. I manage to locate him once we boarded the train. Ok, the fact that it was a two-carriage train, and that he was the only Asian on the train helped.

It was quite a nice trip on the whole. It did give a different feeling compared to being in a german city. It could be largely psychological though. Especially when the two of them prefer France much more to Germany. But, Strasbourg is indeed quite a charming city.

Petite France

The Catherdral at Strasbourg

The same Catherdral but at a different time.

Still early. Not many people yet.

Another Catherdral

I realised that the French to pay more attention to make things more eye-pleasing. For example,

Even the crane needs some decorative lights.

So, I'm tired after such a long day and shall take a rest now.

25th November 2005 - Day 53

As I walked down the famliar route to university this morning, I could see evidence of snow everywhere.

Hey, it's not supposed to be snowing here in the second warmest city in Germany! But since it happened, I presume it must be much colder else where.

Snow. Nice to look at when you're in the right mood. But that's about it.

The weekend is here again. I made a booking at a youth hostel in Dresden this afternoon. I made some calculations and realised that the short trip will set me back by around 200€. That's about 30% of my monthly living expenses here.

Today, I also found out why this particular floormate of mine has a weird attitude towards me. Sometimes, she's friendly and talks quite a bit. Other times, it's difficult for me to even approach her.

She has a twin.

I still haven't figured out which twin is the freundlicher one though. In fact, I don't know which one of the twin is my floormate.

Fact: In Kuching-pura, there is no such thing as twin. Every child is a carefully engineered product so as to fuifill the requirements of the workforce and economy in time to come.

But sometimes, hiccups might occur along the way. This is largely due to a wrong prediction of global trends. The government of Kuching-pura would then attempt to shift the mindsets of its' impressionable citizens to salvage the situation.

Before one falsely concludes that Kuching-kuraks are largely incapable of individual thoughts, it should be noted that Kuching-kuraks exhibiting high level of intelligence are sieved out as early as possible and given necessary aid so that their "unique" form of thinking could be allowed to develop, and hopefully, prove their worth to Kuching-pura in the future.

It would be even better if they could join the ranks of the other policy makers in the country. They can then come up with more innovative and efficient methods to indoctrinate its' not-as-gullible-as-before citizens.

With such an excellent system in place, it makes other countries envious.

So, would you be interested to visit Kuching-pura and possibly spend the rest of your life there?

24th November 2005 - Day 52

In about a month's time, I should be in Dresden for a short holiday.

I just booked a flight from Stuttgart to Dresden on the 21st of December. It wasn't exactly cheap, considering the fact that I could have got the tickets earlier.

I made a fatal flaw in my impromptu planning. It was only discovered after I clicked on the "Confirm" button.

I'm flying back from Dresden early in the morning at 0835. I should have chosen the flight the night before.

This only means that I've to make another decision. To spend the night at the airport or, to stay at a Jugenherberge and leave early at 0600.

No matter how I look at it, both options are equally bad. Übernachten at the airport possibly means that I'll be freezing my ass off, exposing myself to the threats of the environment (as well as shady characters).

Staying at a youth hostel is only bad from the viewpoint of my poor wallet. That's about it I guess. Ok, waking up at 0500 in the morning might be a bit of a risk too. There's always a nagging question - What if I don't manage to get to the airport on time?

There's actually a third possiblity which I'm considering. To change the flight to the previous evening. In that case, it will be a 25€ decision which my wallet would protest against.

I shall now attempt to use the principle of averaging to convince my wallet.

"Look, it's only 25€. It's a small price to pay for a lesson. Or rather, it's a small price to cover up my silly mistake."

"No. You made the lousy decision. So you should take responsibility for it. Simple as that."

"Come on, do you want me to sleep in the airport? It's not very safe for you too. You might never get to see me again if I get pickpocketed. Though you haven't been the best of all my wallets, and you're tearing up at the edges *again*, I'll still be upset if you're gone..."

"Shut up. It's just the documents inside that you care about...your Studentausweis, Bahncard, Semesterticket, Versicherungskarte... Don't think that because you're getting muddle-headed, means that I, your *precious* wallet, is as silly as you are."

"Wah, don't be like that leh. So calculative. 25€ isn't that big an amount. I mean, that's only about nine meals at the Mensa. I just have to save 1€ everyday for a month to cover back that amount."

"Man, you're at it again! You think the priniciple of averaging works everytime?! Why are you behaving like some MLM salespeople? You're just burning your money away. I kept quiet when you wanted to take the plane from Stuttgart. Do you have any idea that you need to pay for your train ticket from Karlsruhe to Stuttgart? That's another 21€ on top of your plane ticket!"

"Damn, you're right...But hey, you're my wallet. Cough out the money!"

"Wah, use imperative form again...Ok lor, you win! Don't come crying to me when you're down and out in March! Eh, I only have 17€ left. How now?"

"Scheiße..."

So, this shows that it's pointless to argue for something that's not even there.

23rd November 2005 - Day 51

I woke up early today so that I could change my bed sheet and pillow case.

Although it can be changed once every 3 weeks with the Hausmeister, I've forgotten about it the last time round. So I had to wait for today. The urgency of the matter cannot be undermined. I've slept on the bedsheet for 50 days already!

Nan passed me his sheets because he missed his timeslot for changing bed sheet yesterday.

The Hausmeister only opens up the laundry room for 15 minutes from 0800 onwards. If I don't reach before 0815, I would have to wait for another 3 weeks. Not to mention the trouble of putting back my sheets and pulling it out again.

Did I mention that another reason that I wanted to change the bed sheet was because there's an unsightly stain on it? It's a brownish splash/blot, if you get what I mean.

I went down to the Studienkollege to get my certificate of participation for the German langauge course in October. To my dismay, I would have to wait until next Tuesday as the office would only be opened then.

It makes me wonder. If an office is only opened for 1 hour every week to students, what could the person sitting inside be so busy with? Then what do they do with the remaining of the office hours?

I was dozing off during lessons. I can't catch what the lecturers are saying. Maybe I haven't had enough REM sleep.

I was late for my Phonetic class because I had to wait for a certain file to print. In the end, I gave up wating and went for lessons. I collected my printings only after lessons.

I found out that another place was selling light bulbs at a price of 1.35€ for two. With one year guarantee too. Though I know where to get cheaper light bulbs, I don't want any more blown light bulbs.

Dinner was rice with Yeo's Chicken Curry which I smuggled into Germany. Funny, I remember it being saltier in the past. Could it be that the salty German food has done irreparable damage to my tastebuds?

According to a reliable source, at a certain Asiamarkt here on Barbarossaplatz, NTUC stuffs are being verkauft. I shall make a trip down (maybe later this week) and see what do they actually sell.

So, I've to go and prepare for my lecture tomorrow, by sleeping early.

22nd November 2005 - Day 50

I was quite dazed during lessons today.

My eyes were wide open. But I just couldn't pay attention. The words that came out of the lecturer's mouth made no sense to me.

The temperature this morning was slightly below zero degrees Celcius. Most of the water puddles I see usually are now frozen. I don't like it. Water on the ground makes it slippery when it freezes. I can't walk as fast as I usually would for fear of slipping and knocking myself unconcious.

Ok, it's not that serious. That's a little irrational.

My Bahncard finally arrived in the mailbox. I think I should make a trip down to kündigen the card soon so that they don't automatically assume my membership next year and charge me for it.

I just bought a new Glühbirne for 1.29€. Lower initial cost but higher running costs - it's only 2.1% efficient. 97.9% of the electricity used is converted to heat to warm up my room. The current one has died on me when I switched it on this morning.

I definitely need the light bulb since the days are getting shorter. The sun sets about 2 minutes earlier than the day before until the Winter Solstice on 21st December, which also marks the start of winter.

Yes, you get to eat Tang Yuan on that day (冬至). If I didn't remember wrongly.

So, I shall do some reading when there's still light.

21st November 2005 - Day 49

This is terrible. I was only awake for 20 minutes this morning. And the usual lunch meeting with Autumn on Mondays was still on.

I was late, but still met up with him for about 40 minutes. After which, I decided to go back to hostel as the weather was not conducive for going anywhere.

Since I was at hostel the whole day, you would have expected me to do some serious work regarding my modules here.

Indeed I was serious, but the pace was much too slow. One extremely simple worked example about probability distribution took me an hour to figure out. Yes, it was really simple, despite the fact that I tend to trivialise things. Ich lüge nicht!

The highlight of the day should be the Flurversammlung. I had yet another opportunity to see how the people here handle administrative stuffs. Some of the things they discussed(I'm a passive participant).

• Whether the kitchen should be repainted. (Yes)
• What colour should it be repainted with. (Light blue)
• When to hold the Flurparty. (Sometime next month)
• How many people can each person invite. (Around 6)
• When should the floor cleaning day be. (On a certain Wednesday when I'm not around)
• How should the teams be organised. (1 team each for the kitchen, common area and toilet)
  
• When should the Fluressen be. (On a certain Monday when most people are around)
• What I will be cooking for the Fluressen. (Steamed rats. Traditional delicacy of Kuching-pura)
• Whether the kitchen should have a TV or not. (No)

The whole affair took 1.5 hours. A bit too long if you ask me. Maybe because the Flursprecherin is new.

I should have realised earlier. Anyone typing the keywords, "Karlsruhe" and "Singapore" on a good blog search engine would chance upon my page sooner or later.

So, maybe the next Singaporean student who might be interested in coming to Karlsruhe would chance upon my blog too. And be utterly disappointed that it doesn't help in anyway.

20th November 2005 - Day 48

Woke up early again this morning. Because some organisation was giving talks at 0930.

After some introduction to what the organisation does, some facts and figures, I was drifting off.

The two representatives brought along Bah Kua from Singapore. But I don't really feel like eating it. Maybe because it's bite sized and vaccum packed.

Lunch was sumptuous. But we had to wait for more than an hour for it. I ordered a Grillteller which had big portions of chicken, pork, beef, bacon, small sausages, salat, and a potato. I was so full after that.

The afternoon was spent in the hostel for people to finish their interview with the above mentioned organisation, since we had to wait for Wayne to settle everything before he could drive us back. The 3 passengers fell asleep on the journey. The trip back was quite smooth. There was not much traffic and we got back in 2.5 hours.

We stopped over at Karlsruhes Burger King for dinner. On the way there, I found a badly crushed-by-the-Straßenbahn handphone. Maybe the person who dropped it didn't even realised that his/her phone was missing.

Got back here and someone from other floors was trying to sell me crepes. How could I be interested when I'm already so full?

So, I'm going to conk out soon. I don't want another wasted Monday!

19th November 2005 - Day 47

According to somebody's plan, we were to meet at 0730 for breakfast in the morning before heading for the Dom.

Jason and I were down in the breakfast room at 0732. Apparently, we were the earliest. Then the people came trickling in. We left for the Dom at 0850.

Entrance for students is 1€. In about 20 minutes, all of us reached the top. And found traces of other Singaporean before us.

It was misty up there. My hands were numb after a while. Bought a postcard of the Dom after World War II from a counter near the top of the Dom. The man selling the postcards climbs the Dom everyday. It's really no sweat for him.

Selling Postcards

After the climb up, we met up with the rest of the people to go for a walk up Siebengebirge in Königswinter. We were quite lucky that the sky cleared up and the weather was relatively good.

But my camera ran out of battery.

After the hike, we were left to wander around in Köln.

Dinner was at a restaurant selling Turkish food. It was a nightmare for the boss when the 25 of us asked to pay the bill separately.

Then we went back to hostel. Then we separated into 2 groups. One group was playing charades, the other went to Taco Loco for a drink.

I make it sound so boring.

So, that was the end of yet another day.

18th November 2005 - Day 46

I woke up this morning and started to pack up for the Köln trip later in the afternoon as I should be meeting Jason at around 1500.

Because I was too engrossed with the packing, I forgot the time and had to walk to the lecture venue.

I sat through the lecture followed by yet another lecture before heading for lunch. I met Alex at the Mensa queue. Wanted to join him, but couldn't find him. Then I walked back to hostel to get the remainder of the stuffs packed in.

As I was taking the bus to Jason's place, I realised that there were white specks on cars and on the ground. Which means that the ambient temperature is around zero degrees Celcius?

I got to Jason's place on time but we had to wait another hour before Wayne arrives from Stuttgart to pick us up. I forgot to bring along my belt, instead of going back to take it, Jason helped me borrowed one from his neighbour.

Wayne came together with Yvonne and soon we're on our way to Köln. As there was a jam (usual Friday evening), the trip took around 4 hours.

We reached at the Jugendherberge Köln-Riehl, met up with some other people, and went for dinner at some Chinese/Mexican/Italian/Thai Imbiss and had fried noodles.

Then we went to the Discoraum back in the Jugendherberge. I finally met up with Yun in Köln after 2 failed attempts in the past 2.5 years. I practically stood at the same spot for 3 hours talking to him!

The party turned out to be a not-so-well-lighted room with lots of people talking and loud music.

So, it wasn't until 0300 before I was in bed.

17th November 2005 - Day 45

Probably the most exciting thing that happened today was using the washing machine to wash my clothes.

Hah! The colours didn't fade. Partly because I only threw in the older clothes which has survived many a wash cycles. So there's not much colour to fade too.

Special tokens are required to use the washing machine. If you're wondering why I did not use the washing machine earlier, it's because I cannot find the tokens. One might have to dig into plant pots in order to find it.

How the tokens look like

Then where did I find the tokens today? I didn't. I bought it from someone else. I saw him did exactly that. Fishing out the tokens from his favourite pot of plant.

What a weird place to keep the tokens!

The wet clothes are in the dryer now and should be ready for wear soon. The washing machine can handle a load of maximum of 5 kg, while the dryer can take in 7. Does that mean that 5 kg of clothes after wash is about 7 kg? At least they were thoughtful enough not to buy dryers of 5 kg maximum capacity.

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be going to Köln. Meeting up with a friend and some/many other Singaporean students in Germany. The appointment with that friend is almost 2.5 years late. Time really flies.

So, I should go and find some other places to go after Köln if there's no tutorials on Monday.

16th November 2005 - Day 44

I can't pronounce "r" in German.

Unlike the English "r" where the tongue rolls backwards, there are 3 methods to pronounce "r" in German (and they are all correct). But I can't seem to get any of the methods correctly.

And the beautiful umlauts seem to evade me when I'm reading out loud. It's some sort of terrible diesease that renders me incapable of pronouncing words with umlauts correctly. Yeah, right.

I recieved a funny letter from the Bürgerbüro, asking me to register with them my previous address in Germany. I must be suffering from some memory loss. I can't seem to remember where else I've lived before in Karlsruhe. The stay with my host family last year shouldn't count. I wasn't even registered with the Stadt!

Doesn't matter if this is just a simple registration process. Just don't make me pay anymore! First it was S$80 for the so genannt Visum at the German Embassy in Singapore. Then when I came here, it was another 60€ for the residence permit in Karlsruhe.

I spent another 8.60€ on lecture notes today. It's the German version of a course that I've been taking in English. I think I'm going to try pestering the professor again for some concession. My 4th week into the new semester and the modules I'm taking are still not confirmed. Wunderbar!

So much for academic independence and freedom. It gets quite tiring when you're on the wrong side, trying to sort things out and getting back on track. Having said that, it must be possible to "exploit" the system. Just that I don't know enough. Yet.

Simon just came and asked me to go for a drink in the basement bar. I would have joined him if I had not showered and changed. He said we can go on Friday, but hey, I should be in Köln by then!

So, since I'm not going anywhere, I'm going to look through some of the German stuffs and try to pronounce "r".

15th November 2005 - Day 43

I thought I could come back and take a nap after my lecture in the morning.

But I checked my email and found that the professor has rejected my request. I didn't have much choice but to attend another lecture in Geman.

Then I attended the same lecture in English (because the German version was way ahead of the one in English and I couldn't catch a thing).

After which, the tutorial of this lecture. It was funny. I was the only student attending the tutorial at this particular timeslot. The tutor (who is a student doing her Masters thesis) just sat beside me and went through the tutorial questions (which I obviously did not prepare). Like personal tuition.

I think I almost drove her crazy because I didn't know much of the Fachwörter. She had to explain to me what the terms are in English. In fact, she even asked me whether I want to listen to the tutorial in English or German! Like watching TV program with dual sound.

After lessons finally ended, I walked to a supermarket to get some stuffs before heading back. While cooking my dinner, I finally had the chance to talk to the mysterious guy in 504. Yup, I have met and talked to everyone on this floor except him. He seems to be cooping himself up as he cannot speak much deutsch.

After my dinner, Stefan came over and asked me to join him, his girlfriend and Caroline to eat some Dampfnudeln. I went later as I was still full, but nothing was left. There, I drank something that taste very similar to Ouzo, just that this one comes from France. I'm sober today, and decided that this doesn't taste nice at all. Like liquorice.

So, it ended up as quite a long day for me.

14th November 2005 - Day 42

I slept at 0530 in the morning. And woke up at 1230. Originally had a lunch appointment with Autumn at 1200. So that didn't happen.

After 6 weeks of reluctance to part with my money, I finally gave in to Techniker Krankenkasse. Surrendering my bank account details to them meant that a sum of 56.62€ will be deducted from my account monthly. In return, they promise that they'll take care of my medical expenses (in the unfortunate event that I should fall sick) by just paying 10€ for a visit to the doctor's.

LASIK for 10€? Possible? Anyone knows?

Leider....LASIK is considered a cosmetic surgery in Germany. Which means that the normal Krankenkasse won't off-set the cost of the operation.

Then I made my way down to the isolated corner of the university to clarify some issues regarding one of my modules here. Hopefully, the professor will make some exceptions. But if he doesn't. Too bad for me and my weekends.

Largely a wasted Monday. Hey, I seem to be wasting all my Mondays away!

So, time for some planning to prevent a wasted Tuesday.

13th November 2005 - Day 41

I was supposed to leave by 0845 this morning. But I decided to sleep in a bit later and leave at 0945.

Everything went on as planned. I managed to pack my breakfast and lunch and caught the bus. By 1007, I was on S41 heading towards Freudenstadt. The trip took 132 minutes according to the Fahrplan.

As the tram train passed through Rastatt, I noticed that the mist today was quite heavy. But it cleared up as it approached the Schwarzwald.

The trip there was quite enjoyable. Gives me the feeling I'm visiting some small towns instead of big cities.

Something interesting about the railway tracks. For part of the trip, only 1 train can pass at any one time (compare with the normal 2 way tracks). I think it's because there was limited space to work with as the train had to pass through narrow tunnels and bridges. Maybe that's why the trains come only once every hour.

You should have realised that I typed "tram train" earlier. This is not a mistake. This is a characteristic of the public transport here in Karlsruhe. The people here haben Stolz (read: haolian) about this concept of operating trams on train tracks. In a way, it's quite cool that I can travel all the way to the Black Forest from the Karlsruhe town centre without changing trains/ trams. Other than that, it's not my business. For more information (and if time allows you to take a longer break from mugging), click here.

Back to the topic. Freudenstadt boasts the largest Marktplatz in Germany. Because some Duke Friedrich I died before his palace could be built on the Marktplatz, hence leaving such a big space for the market square.

The Oberer Marktplatz I

The Oberer Marktplatz II

The Unterer Marktplatz

Some kirche...I think

Besides the superlativ on the Marktplatz, I did not find anything else interesting. The Heimatsmuseum is only opened from 1000 to 1200 on Sundays. Das ist Schade. So in less than 2 hours, I was done with the exploration.

I took the 1402 tram train back. And fell asleep for most of the journey. Wanted to stop by Forbach, but thought it looked....yawn... Maybe next time round. Forbach is covered by my Semester ticket anyway. So it's "free" for me to travel there.

I reached hostel at around 1610. Had a not so tasty pizza for dinner. While I was heating up the pizza, I had a conversation with Stefan and Jörg. It went on something like this.

"Das stimmt! Ich komme eigentlich aus Kuching-pura. Und in Kuching-pura, wusste ich nicht was Strom oder Kartoffeln sind. Ich habe das Glück gehabt, dass ich die Gelengenheit habe, hier in Deutschland zu studieren. Sonst werde ich vielleicht mein ganze Leben nicht wissen, wie nützlich Strom ist, oder wie Kartoffeln schmeckt...Es gibt dort doch keinen Strom und keine Kartoffeln!"

How true is that.

In the next conversation with them, I shall reveal more about the wonderful land that I come from. Yes! The country where cats are worshipped, the people are known as Kuching-Kuraks (no wonder our government needs foreign talents!), and where rats (fried or steamed or soaked in wine) are considered delicacies!

Oh. Did I mention that there we pay 20% of our monthly wages to the CPF (Council for Protection of Felines)? We can use the money to pay for housing, buy investment products (to buy more rats), send our children to institutes of higher education. What's more, we get the money back when we're older. They upping the withdrawal age? No worries! Kuching-Kuraks are living longer anyway. It's a wonderful scheme. Maybe they could learn a bit from us. Politically difficult? Oh well. Not much that I can do.

So, time to shower and prepare for my tutorial questions. If there's one tomorrow.

12th November 2005 - Day 40

Woke up at 1015 this morning.

Decided that a Saturday should not be wasted in this 15 square metres of space. So I managed to get myself out into the sun at 1220.

Initially, I wanted to go to Freudenstadt. But that will take about 1.5 hours to reach. Since the sun sets today at 1649, it would not be a good idea to be groping around in the dark.

I visited Ettlingen instead.

Ettlingen is a small town about 20 minutes (with the S-bahn) south-west of Karlsruhe. Quiet small town. I like it.

I wonder if the flowers are fake

I took a look at the Stadtplan and made my way towards the Schloss/ museum in the town. I should have got down at a earlier stop instead!

Some artwork outside the Schloss

Don't know what building this is

There was some market today selling handicrafts. All things are interesting, but most are useless to me anyway.

Reminds me of frying chestnuts

The boy and his dog

Wie schöne

I spent a bit more time in the Altstadt and slowly walked towards the Bismarckturm. It's somewhere on a hill nearby.

600 metres more before I reach

Finally reached. But nothing impressive.

Obligatory photo for anyone on higher ground to show that they are on higher ground

After that, I made my way back to Karlsruhe. The whole trip to Ettlingen took about 3 hours. The rest of the afternoon was spent at Ettlinger Tor. Despite the similarity in the name, the two places are not that near each other. Ettlinger Tor is the place where there's this huge (in Karlsruhe sense) shopping complex.

I guess I forgot to include an expense in my calculations earlier. I definitely need to buy some winter clothings.

I went to Walmart later and met Nan and Alex who were there to do some shopping. I went back with them in Alex's car.

So, the rest of the evening was spent (or rather wasted) in this 15 square metres.

11th November 2005 - Day 39

The sun appeared again. But the temperature has hit 2 degree Celcius. I'm still enjoying the cool weather here.

The lecturer for one of my modules has finally figured out that I am not a full time student in the University of Karlsruhe. But I'm sure he figured (albeit wrongly) that I'm from China.

I've a bad habit to kick.

After people here asked me where I'm from, I've a strong urge to ask them, "and do you know where that is?".

Oh well, they aren't really familiar with the other side of the World map. Like I didn't know where Finland is.

After lunch, I went to wander in the city. I passed by Europaplatz and decided to go to the Bank and ask them something regarding the Visa card here.

It turns out that they deducted 5€ wrongly from my account. They thought that I was using the card for the 2nd year. Or that I didn't apply for the card at the time I opened the account.

I should expect to see my 5€ appearing in my Konto within 14 days, I was told. Anyway, I am still quite pleased with the customer service of Postbank so far.

I found out that most of the Weihnachtsmarkt will only start in 2 weeks' time. I'll most probably be visiting the ones in Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Rothenberg and maybe Nürnberg. I also forsee that I'll visit the markets and buy nothing.

Wanted to go visit France originally, but now there's some Krawalle in the country. So the plan's postponed indefinitely.

So, I wonder why I'm doing all these things when I haven't even figure out my lecture notes.

10th November 2005 - Day 38

Lesson was at 0800. I managed to reach on time. Not like last week when I was running late.

The weather's turning cold. It's 3 degrees Celcius now. The whole day, there was no sun. Well, at least it's not wet.

The skin in between the knuckles breaks

My skin has been quite dry these few days. I didn't know it was so bad until I happened to clench my fist this morning. The skin just tore up and it felt itchy. Maybe it's too cold to feel the pain.

I got back slightly before 1200. No more lessons for today! I only managed to do part of the tasks that I wrote down yesterday. I didn't realise it would take so long to finish 1 set of lecture notes. Ambitious indeed.

Went to the Mensa for dinner. Met up with Autumn and Nan. The dinner wasn't as filling as the last time. Then Autumn and I went to a supermarket to buy some groceries. I didn't buy anything much, as I already did some shopping on Tuesday.

There's a Brazilian Party here tonight. I don't really like it when there's parties here. It's noisy even at 3 am. And the place is always in a mess the next morning.

So, mind my own business, munch on some biscuit and carry on with reading.

9th November 2005 - Day 37

I got a mail in the mailbox today.

It was from the Hausmeister telling me to pay up my rent by the 10th, which is tomorrow. Since I got my bank acount number and that the bank draft has been cleared, I went down to effect the monthly deduction from my Girokonto.

The Kaution is 330€, and I would only get it back when I leave the hostel. Which means I will have at least 330€ with me when I finally leave this place in March 2006. I heard that they return the principal sum of money with the interest. Well they should. Judging from this fully occupied block alone, they will have 49500€ as deposit. Place this into a Tagesgeldkonto here with a interest rate of 2.4% p.a. for maybe half a year. That's 594€ of easy money.

I attended my first deutsch Phonetik lesson. The class had only 10 people. It's really back to the basics. Some of the things about pronunciation, I didn't even knew existed. But the class was a bit boring though.

I got back and drew up an ambitious plan to start reading my lecture notes. I figure that if I don't start now, I'll probably be stuck in hostel on beautiful weekends. Did I hear that students on SEP can relax and enjoy themselves? That's still true for me so far. And I intend to keep it that way by investing some of my time during weekdays in order to secure the bare minimum grade(ok, maybe a little bit more). Vier gewinnt! I'm quite sure it'll be easy if lessons were in English...

So, too much coffee just now, I'm still wide awake.

8th November 2005 - Day 36

The lecture today was not too bad. At least I could understand what the lecturer's talking about (most of it).

After lecture, I went for lunch and then went grocery shopping. Since there was still a good 3 hours before my next lecture, I went to stroll around in some bookshops.

There's this German grammar book that I wanted to buy. However, I couldn't find the English version of the book. And if I could find it, the book is always not in a tip-top condition. Ok, the price of 24.95€ might have played a deterrent role too.

I saw this book lying on the shelf in the bookshop. I picked it up and was quite disappointed when I saw that the book was a bit tattered at the top corner of the back cover. As I put the book back, a saleslady approached me.

She asked me what I was looking for. I told her about the book and the tattered corner. It was the last copy. And stocks wouldn't come in so fast.

So she made me an offer. To buy the book at 20€.

That made my decision easier. The book is now lying on my table. Maybe I should have bargained a bit more earlier...

At my next lecture, I found out that although the lessons are conducted in English, I might have to take the exams for this module in German as the English exam would only be held in late April.

Complete nonsense.

I think I can't drink any beer.

I get a stomachache everytime after drinking it.

Went for the ERASMUS Stammtisch earlier. Unfortunately, it wasn't as interesting as last week's. So I came back early.

So, it's time to sleep the stomachache away.

7th November 2005 - Day 35

I lazed around the whole day.

Waking up at 0950 meant that I wouldn't be going anywhere far today. Set up a lunch appointment with Autumn at 1250 over MSN.

After lunch, we met Alex, and we went for a cup of coffee. Then Autumn had lessons at 1400 and we left after some time.

I came back, intended to start reading. But it never happened. I ended up looking for TV stations on the internet.

So. the rest of the day was spent in front of the laptop, watching some news program.

6th November 2005 - Day 34

"Ich habe sehr gut geschalfen."

That was my reply to Geoff when he asked.

I woke up today at around 0950. Maybe it was because I woke up early the previous day. I had a late breakfast and played with Kayleigh at the same time. She was amazed why I could guess correctly the numbers she entered in the calculator. Until I explained to her how it was done.

She wanted me to show her again how to make Sterne using Strohhalme. But I don't think she got it. I was quite surprised when she told me that she still has some stars from last year. Though most of them were lost.

Then she went on to practise her handwriting. As her mother read out the numbers and colours in German, she wrote it down in English. That was what was done in school. She knows some words in English, but she still doesn't speak the language. And she doesn't like it that she has to learn English and has a little dread about visiting her Grandmother next weekend in England. But kids learn fast. Maybe the next time when I visit them again, she'll be speaking fluently.

Lunch was meat, potatoes, pasta and beetroot. I think I'm eating too slowly. The kids have to wait for me to finish. It was the same last year.

Shortly after lunch, they brought me to Felsenmeer for the afternoon. I expected to see some form of water body. Instead, I saw this.

Rocks and Boulders at Felsenmeer

It was quite unexpected. No wonder Kayleigh was talking about klettern before we reached. It may look easy to just jump from boulder to boulder. But there were some deep holes in between the boulders. And most of the time, I was worried that my camera or wallet will fall into those holes, never to be retrived again.

It wouldn't be nice to fall into the holes and sprain my ankle or knock my head too. I'm accident- prone.

We only made it up halfway till the wooden bridge. Could have gone further but it would be dark by then. I was already sweating a lot by then.

The wooden bridge

With the usual sign

The view down

There, I took some more photos of the surroundings.

Boulders among trees

Bigger boulders higher up

Geoff and Kayleigh went down by the boulder way. I took the easy way walking down the slope. Soon, we were back down.

Leaving Felsenmeer

I had thought that there shouldn't be a lot of people here. I was wrong. There were lots of kids climbing the boulders. Geoff commented that all the kids are happy doing that and it costs nothing. It's true. I had fun too.

On our way back, Boomer had to be placed right at the back of the minivan because he stinkt. Time flies and 2.5 hours just passed without us noticing.

Then it was Kaffee und Kuchen back in the house. I tried some Liebkuchen and realised that it was just gingerbread.

After that, we played a few rounds of Lotti Karotti and Triominoes. Then Kimberly showed me some of the photos at her ball in her camera. Cornelia told me that they have to get a new computer because the present one doesn't recognize the camera. Which means that they couldn't transfer the photos into the computer. I offered to burn it on a CD for them so that they can view it on their computer.

Then I had a fast dinner as I was running late for the train at 1941. Luckily, Cornelia and Kia sent me to the Bahnhof.

After bidding farewell with them at Gleis 4, I took the train back towards Karlsruhe. It was really a wonderful weekend. I think I'll visit them again before I go back to Singapore. But not too many times. Otherwise I'll be a pest.

The train was slightly late and I almost missed my tram. But I did not and hence got back here slightly after 2200.

So, I'm hungry again. Shall eat something before going for shower.

5th November 2005 - Day 33

Never have I woke up so early here.

I woke up at 0600 this morning so as not to miss the bus and tram to the Hauptbahnhof. Yesterday, I drew up a time schedule to make sure that I will leave on time. Here, I shall replicate it.

0720 Bus 30 leaves
0710 Leave the hostel
0700 All preparation done
0640 Breakfast
0620 Pack lugguage
0605 Wash up
0600 Wake up

I managed to catch the bus and subsequently, the tram, to the Hauptbahnhof. But I was early by 45 minutes. That's how it works when the public transport have a strict schedule to follow. The next bus comes 30 minutes later and I would be late if I took that bus.

It was a quiet train ride, until an Indian lady started talking on her Handy. I suddenly see so much sense in banning the usage of phone on the buses here.

After an hour, I changed train at Mannheim and continued my journey to Riedstadt- Goddelau Bahnhof. When I reached, nobody was there. I was a bit disappointed but worried at the same time because my Gastfamilie might not have read my last email. Anyway, as I was making my way to the Ausgang, I felt the familiarity of the train station. It had not changed a bit.

Right after I made my exit, I saw Cornelia and Kayleigh. I was really happy to see them. Cornelia was telling me how the lousy the weather here for the past few days was. "Du hast die Sonne mitgebracht!", she said. Then it was a ride down the familiar stretch of road to their house.

I took a brief look around. The house didn't change much. Everything is still pretty much the same. But they had the kitchen renoviert and the carpets changed. The computer is now in the Keller instead of the master bedroom. It was amazing. I still can remember where all the switches are located after a year.

I saw the teapot set which I gave them as a present last year on display in the cupboard. The photo which I sent them last year was also in the living room.

The people didn't change. They are sill as nice as they were last year. I really felt lucky that I had them as my host family for the language course in Darmstadt last year.

Nice and cosy fireplace

I then played some board games with Kayleigh, Lia and Luca. It was quite interesting even though it's games for kids.

Of rabbits, carrots and holes

Lunch was quite simple. Chicken sticks, steamed potatoes and baked beans. But it felt good. We continued playing some more games in the afternoon. Then I followed Geoff and Cornelia when they brought Boomer out for a walk. Speaking of Boomer, he doesn't recognise me. Last year, he was so afraid of me when I approached him. He doesn't bark as much too.

Geoff and Cornelia walking Boomer

The neighbours and the big dog that weighs as much as me

After the walk, we went back and had Kaffee und Kuchen. I suddenly forgot that I am now an exchange student at Karlsruhe. I thought I was still having my german language course at Darmstadt! That was how much I enjoyed my time here with Familie Smith last year.

Dinner was pizza. I helped a bit in the cutting of ingredients. It was funny, the girls asked their mother about her previous relationships when she was younger and made fun of her. Of course, I couldn't understand everything.

The top left corner is mine!

I spent the later part of the evening playing Triominoes and watching a bit of TV. Then I had a conversation with Cornelia. She's really patient, speaking slowly and using sentence structures that I know. That helps a lot in my understanding. She said that my emails were sometimes komisch, using the wrong Zeitformen or sentence structures.

Maybe I spoke too much deutsch today. I'm having problem typing this entry in English.

So, I'm going to sleep in this familiar bed. It will be a good night's rest.

4th November 2005 - Day 32

Today, I learnt how to calculate the freezing time for a slice of carrot (and subsequently a sphere of carrot. Doesn't make sense, but that was the assumption).

That was all the tutorial consisted of. A question asking you to do the calculations. And it took 1.5 hours.

I didn't even attempt the question on my own. The tutor went through with us the method she used. Then we were told to calculate the freezing time for a sphere of carrot.

It was the most enjoyable tutorial I ever had. There was more than enough time for me to figure out what was happening, what the symbols meant, and what they were talking about.

Maybe it's too early to say. Or maybe because I'm just taking this module for fun. Yes. I'm overloading myself here again.

But I don't remember having to do only 1 question for 1 tutorial back in NUS. Normally, the tutorials are always filled with many questions within the tight period of 50 minutes. No wonder we need make-up lectures and tutorials.

Of course, I'm forgetting the fact that they start with the very basic things before moving into more complicated stuffs (which probably will give me a terrible headache).

I went to get the Bahncard 50 mit Railplus after lunch. 115€. I think I shall utilize the card more often. Then I won't be so lazy and stay in the hostel on weekends.

First stop. Visit Familie Smith, my host family for the language course in Darmstadt last year. The return train ticket costs 13.30€ with Bahncard 50 und Semester Ticket. Normally, it is about 30€.

I also went to buy something for the visit tomorrow. I got a bottle of Riesling for them after recommendations from the helpful personnel at a certain departmental store.

2004 Riesling Kabinett trocken

I decided to go to visit the Karlsruhe Herbstmess after dinner. It's like a pasar malam lah. Nothing interesting. No Taiwan sausages though. Only german ones.

Not a lot of people

Selling some gingerbread and nuts

Game stall

Stall selling rattan wares

German merry-go-round

Maybe the only interesting thing is the make-shift ATM.

Even the bank has a stall here

The Germans must have been quite amused to see a chinaman taking a picture of the ATM. Doesn't matter where you come from. As long as you look chinese, you come from China! That's a good guess, isn't it?

I found a stall particularly funny.

The soft toys are hanged.

Hanged but happy zebra

I guess I'm just bored.

So, I should start packing now. Don't want to be late for the train tomorrow.