‘Diahz90′ Carpe Diem

Believe it or not, this is already my 60th post since i first wrote an entry here.. some people asked me to move to other bloggers like xanga, blogspot or vox.. well, i did sign up to blogspot before but i was too lazy to build a template.. =P and somehow i kinda like this bcos it’s my first blog that i’ve really written something regularly..

Anyways, this is gonna be my last post.. It said that I had no more space left.. i have no choice but to move.. =P

http://www.dlautan.blogspot.com/

and I’m also gonna move from germany to the netherlands today !

This picture of a giant easter egg was taken when i was in Berlin Hauptbahnhof.. Years ago, I used to celebrate easter and got a painted egg ever year.. Easter day, as i read, was the most joyous holiday in the Christian calendar.. Even for non christians, it represented a new beginning, a time of rebirth and the magic of spring.. Yesterday, in Düsseldorf, I saw people in painted face on the street holding a basket filled with decorated eggs.. everybody seemed to be so ready for this day..

I was told before that the origin of easter egg was subject to debate.. It was Mary Magdalene who held a plain egg in her hand while she met Tiberius Caesar August and told him that Christ was risen.. Caesar laughed and said that for Christ to rise from the death was just as likely as that egg turning red while she held it.. The egg, however, did turn to bright red before he finished speaking..

In germany, almost all shops were closed on good friday.. we tried to shop some groceries yesterday but everything’s sold out.. it was only in the netherlands where all activities ran as normal so we went to Vaals (a town in south-eastern netherlands) this afternoon to buy some food.. at the same time, we went to Labyrint, a tourism place well known with borders to Germany and Belgium..

Germany - Netherlands - Belgium Flags at the border of the three countries 

There were heaps of new things within the past few days.. oh before i forget, it felt utterly good to meet my cousin whom i haven’t seen for ages… a berliner u might say? he’s been in germany for almost 7 years… anyways, the trip thus far has been really good.. a two-day stop at copenhagen was a good choice of warming up.. had a gathering and dinner right after i arrived… which was ended with cool card tricks by an NUS law student.. i never thought i would see something like that live, it was amazing.. those hands were damn fast.. =P

If compared to copenhagen, i loved it more in berlin… both were big.. but copenhagen gave off this impression that the city was real chaotic.. or maybe it’s due to the conveniece to have my cousin who speaks deutsch (and i never thought he could speak deutsch that well).. i felt almost like a handicap i never knew most people didn’t speak english in germany.. anyhow, both of us are now in aachen.. we’ve also been to cologne, saw the rhein river and this big-ass cathedral, DOM, second biggest in the world and the biggest in europe, we went to maastricht in the netherlands today it’s very close to aachen..  the next trips before heading to eindhoven would be dusseldorf, bonn, dortmund, etc.. let’s see where the wind will bring us to.. too much of planning isn’t that exciting if u know what i mean.. =P

In my very diminutive mind, i’m still thinking as usual.. =P things turn out to be smoother when we think it would be so.. i was almost lost on my way to copenhagen bcos the train lady told me the wrong gate (what a bitch).. but being a paranoid, speaking english and pretty good at interpreting a little bit of danish helped me so much.. the feeling of not knowing what will happen next kinda excites me recently.. nike says just do it so we better just do it.. =P i was reminded of when i decided to leave USM or to do my internship in bintan without a single clue of what will happen next.. though for the latter one, things turned out to be not that great.. still, i did learn from each of them.. another thing was, somehow i was reminded about my friends back then in junior high school.. the time when we had such healthy and good laughters.. nothing seemed to matter.. friends brought a lot of funny things and ridiculousness.. friendships were as easy and beautiful as that u could read from the books, if u know what i mean.. btw, that topic aside.. i wasn’t one who travelled often before.. i mean, i spent most of my holidays in my hometown when i was younger.. my dad.. a doctor he is.. as far as i know he’s never really taken leave only for vacations or sth like that.. in a tick life could just throw u to the other side, that’s my point.. so just dream the dream.. and one last thing, at times, ignorance is no longer bliss..

I’ll just post a few of the pictures I took lately.. maybe I’ll post more next time.. =)

The Little Mermaid Statue situated at the Copenhagen Harbour..

The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany

Dom Cathedral in Cologne, Germany

Sēo Mǣs (Maas) in Maastricht, Netherlands

The Lautans.. =P

My 21^st
turned out to be good.. initially, I thought there’d be no celebrations at all
bcos as far as I remembered, I never talked abt birth dates since I came to
danmark.. was so mentally prepared to blow a candle of a small piece of cake in
my room.. all alone.. apparently, my Korean friends and i did talk abt it once
and they remembered (Aha! no wonder they always say they like me.. haha… ok ok..
wait, don’t throw up.. I love them too indeed!).. and this german friend of
mine, andreas, who said he always knew everything turned out knowing abt my
bday too..  cool.. yea sometimes, we’re well
treated by others and we need to realize that… right? =P

I met
a girl from china a few days before my birthday.. she’s so excited to see
somebody who had the same color as hers, and came running to stop me at the
campus entrance.. before I knew it, we’ve exchanged msn address and planned to
meet up on the weekend, which by accident, fell on my birthday.. I was also kinda
mentally prepared to spend my birthday only with her =P.. in the end though,
andreas and her joined us for the birthday dinner…

We
went downtown in the afternoon and I had pasta that I’ve been craving for
recently in one of the restaurants.. =P

My
birthday dinner (thanks to the koreans) =P 

Andreas
said he wanted to give me something with danmark theme but ended up buying the
german chocolate too.. The bookmark was from Lee Dae Jun, the Korean guy.. The
others were from the Korean girls Jeong, Jihyun and Julie..

And
this year, I’ll give credits to the ppl who always remember to send me
presents/cards on my birthday even though they’re far far away..

As
always, first present (still, with price tag on it, that bitch always forgot
this stuff =P) came from Ohio.. thank u.. (she’s not gonna read this anyway)..

This one
was so sweet bcos it came from a friend whom I’ve known since I was born..
also, it came with indo spices (which I think, were bought in the netherlands..
haha).. I can cook INDONESIAN FRIED RICE now!! happy birthday to u.. I’m so looking
fwd to seeing u soon.. =P

Actually
I received a handbag with key from brother last year but they said I had to
receive something with a key on my 21^st too.. So this card had made
it perfect..  happy birthday to u too..
see u at the end of the year.. =)

Brother
bought me a tote, I’ve seen the picture.. anyhow, he’s always the best.. =P and
thanks for all the wishes (whether it be smses, emails, calls, testi and yea..
whatever.. =P) 

To everybody whose birthday is around the corner..
Tillykke
med fødsetsdagen!! (Happy Birthday) 

My 21^st
was perfect…

Party was awesome as always, food was
good as always and the company from all walks of life was cool as always too..
=P

People party very often here and the
sequence of it is pretty similar.. always start with a dinner.. followed by
wines, beers, cigarettes/waterpipes/shisha and chit chatting.. then it’s time
for those who don’t cook to clean up.. and head to the bar afterwards.. In the
bar, we’ll meet many people from the Syddansk Universitet who stay in other
dorms.. apparently they do the same thing too.. it’s kind of a habit I
suppose.. sometimes we even have it more than once in a week..

Anyhow, I was just thinking, if we had
this habit in nus, life would probably be much more beautiful and
maybe I’d love to stay in the dorm on weekends too.. but still, it’s not that
one is better over another.. it depends, which one u can afford to do often,
that’s all.. too much of studying and partying are both equally tiring if u
know what I mean.. =P

The party with Erasmus students(Erasmus
is a kind of exchange program in Europe)

The always cheerful persons, Csaba
and Izolda..

I love this.. look at the rainbow..
=P

This was entertaining..
Guy 1: “I’m very hungry.. I want to
eat something..”
Guy 2: “What?? Why are u angry??”
Guy 1: “Nothing, I’m just hungry and
I want to eat something..”
Guy 2: “But why… why are u
angry..?”
They repeated it until guy 2 figured
it out eventually..
Guy 2: “Oh god.. I thought u said u
were very angry and u wanted to hit something..”
*Laughed my head off*

Copenhagen, Germany, Netherlands om mindre end 2 uger…
meaning..
Copenhagen, Germany, Netherlands in less than 2 weeks!! =P

There are special lanes for bicycles..
everybody seems to have a bike.. so I was telling myself “I want one too”.. but
new bikes that fit me were too expensive.. it didn’t make any sense at all.. come
on, SGD1,000-2,000 for a bike?.. well, it’s partly my fault too, the cheaper ones
were too high.. my feet couldn’t reach the earth.. that was very unsafe I
didn’t want to risk myself.. =P

After putting too much thought on bike,
I felt stupid.. the more I thought abt it, the more chickened out I got.. so I
decided not to give a damn.. it shouldn’t be too hard to make practices
beforehand.. heck care with it, I went with my german friend to the police bike
auction.. that was where ppl bid for used bikes.. we both didn’t speak Danish,
only god-knows-how we managed to get one.. price wise? not bad.. was the bike too
high? yes.. with gears? yes.. hand brake? No, footbrake..

As far as I remember, there’s this
special technique of riding a bike.. either the left or right pedal must be at
the upper side so it’s easier to make a start.. i have to make sure it’s at
that position whenever I make a brake otherwise I get real panicked when the
light’s green.. =P life is hard..

One month’s passed.. I’m used to it now..
well, i did fall once.. ok, twice.. but at least I didn’t give up.. (was actually
thinking of selling it or giving it to somebody else..).. well, that’s it.. nothing seems to be easy
when u’re new in a place.. i think the least problematic was when I went to singapore.. I mean transportation is very accessible, easy to understand, with reasonable
fee.. most things are available.. the downside is maybe it’d be hard to adapt
to new things, that country makes us too comfortable..

And.. tadaaaa.. this is the bike..

looks old to u? in my defense, most
of the bikes here look almost like this.. so it’s not that I got an old-fashioned
bike =P.. it’s a Raleigh ok.. it’s like fendi in the world of bag.. oh no.. more to skoda in the world
of car.. haha.. ok, enough..

I’m currently learning how to make sushi for the upcoming party.. they don’t look pretty enough i know.. but give me a break, this is still my first try.. =P

 Another dormitory in Odense, Rasmus Rask Kollegiet..

My mind keeps playing this song lately..

…

We may
never find our reason to shine

But here
and now this is our time

And I may
never find the meaning of life

But for
this moment I am fine

…

I am excited.. easter break is one month
away.. which means, it’s time to trip a bit =P the plan is to meet a friend in Copenhagen and stay for a
day or two.. and then head to berlin to meet my cousin.. what a good timing, he’s
also been planning to visit some of his friends in other cities in germany, I’ll tag
along for sure.. =P lastly is the netherlands..yep, that’s the scrap
of the plan.. don’t get jealous ppl =P

We had a party a few days back in
Teknisk.. I have zilch picture of the party since I wasn’t in the mood at all
of taking pictures.. but well, it was fun to be at.. we had foods like the
Estonian cakes, the Hungarian dishes, Polish food and some wines, head to the
bar later at night.. and there’s this party in rasmus called 100-hour party..
the idea is to be partying non-stop for 100 hours (u may leave for classes!).. it
was for party animals only.. but i heard nobody had really been staying for the
whole party without sleeping..

 
What are the differences between adults
and children?

Children leave after making many
promises, adults leave without words and keep praying for others’ happiness..
Children don’t say sorry when they’re at
fault, adults say sorry even if they’re not at fault..
Children keep pushing about their
feelings, adults don’t..

Quoted from a movie =P

Lunar New Year

On our way to Poland Tuesday Cafe

On our way to City Centre.. it was snowing..

In one of the bars i can’t recall the name though..

Exactly one month in denmark.. nothing
important this time (yea ritee.. as if previous entries were all so important =P).. just
the things that happened lately and made me think a little bit.. =P

Towards the end of last year, I was dying
to come here.. why? was very much in need of sth new, just sick of all the
complexity.. tried to figure things out and tidy them up but.. each day passed,
they seemed to be knottier.. I was scared that things might get uglier.. that’s
why I love being here.. perhaps I’m this person who always escapes but I like
the fact that I’m one.. it’s just hard to get my mind straight and get myself
back to the track if I have to face the same things that drive me mad every now
and then..

I never hated changes.. I just thought
that there were things which would be better left unchanged.. then again, maybe I was
just scared of stepping out of my comfort zone.. they might be the things that
drove me crazy at one point but at the same time they made me comprehend how
many choices I had to get them dealt with.. I felt empathy easily but then I
was taught only to feel it when I really needed to.. so don’t blame me for that,
the environment taught me so..

Ugly things do happen no matter how
good things look, who doesn’t have problems anyway? but try to take a glance at
the brighter side, I have this choice to make the best out of it.. I will stop
when bumping into the limit by the way.. no complaints doesn’t mean that life’s
great all the time.. being a great complainer doesn’t make u so miserable u’ll
day badly tomorrow either..

I may not be as happy a person as u
think I am even if I don’t complain.. or I can be happier than u think I am
even if I complain.. but one thing for sure, I definitely know when and why
should I be gratified.. I recognize the length that I’ve gone through and it’s
not that things come to my life for nothing, I do pay for them.. I don’t deny
there are these things that are out of my hand, those are heaven-sent.. to make
it very clear though, I don’t need somebody to teach me when to be grateful or
tell me how lucky I actually am, that just pisses me off..

"When are you going to blog? You haven’t done it for quite some time eh?"
"Are u already good at cooking?"

First thing first, blame friendster.. I never know there’s such thing as exceeding the limit of photo uploading for this month which turned me down right away.. why do I not switch to other bloggers? Not sure, just don’t feel like doing it.. and give me a break ppl, I’m here for a month and I’m good at cooking already? =P

Well, I’ve been learning a little bit of languages lately; korean, spanish, hungarian, swedish (which I’ll forget in no time).. but when I’m back, please don’t ask me abt Danish.. That language is beautiful but it’s so goddamn hard to learn.. I can’t possibly say those words with my mouth, seriously.. I can’t even say "shake ur ass" (pardon our language) properly.. it’s sth like "Ryste.. orrr…" (well, I don’t know the correct spelling..).. but apparently it’s way easier to say it in Swedish.. =P

Out of nowhere, I was asked how hard did I think it took to build a strong friendship.. I didn’t really think abt it bfore, it dawned on me that I wasn’t that good in that area.. extremely hard perhaps? to be frank, I’m not even sure now abt what to do.. the time to build doesn’t seem comparable to that to destroy… it takes forever to build, only a second to destroy.. and ppl are better at the latter one..

Anyways, life’s doing well.. It’s just this recent unfriendly weather, snowing and raining at times.. There was also a good celebration of Lunar New Year.. I admit that it didn’t feel real enough without the red packets, decorations and gathering with family.. I’m glad however, I could at least had a decent dinner on lunar new year’s eve.. =)

This may be too late but I really wanna wish everybody a happy Chinese new year and a prosperous year ahead.. and please be good.. =P

Pictures on next entries ok ;P

Time sure flies.. I think, it’d be
perfect if this city is more vibrant.. I begin to miss the crowd of
orchard and those hugemongous lecture theatres in nus.. and what is up? I’ve
got my allergy back.. I couldn’t believe I drank milk in this weather.. I couldn’t
believe I consumed dairy products.. what was I thinking??

So, it’s my turn to cook for the
Koreans.. the plan was very simple; I was gonna cook Indonesian Fried Rice..
maybe I’d add some sausages, omellete, bacon (which defeated the whole purpose
of the word ‘Indonesian’ =P) and some stuffs like cucumber or tomatoes, just to
make it fancier.. everything went as my plan which was good.. I bought some
veggies and cooked it with egg and bacon too.. the dinner was at 6.30pm I
started to prepare everything at 5.. (beginners have to do things earlier cos
it takes some time =P) surprisingly, they loved it.. (to be frank, I was quite
surprised with my own skill too.. =P).. perfect..

We’ve tried some bars, clubs and
churches (abit off from topic i know but churches are beautiful here) in
Odense.. and I was brought to this place called Optimism where ppl smoke waterpipe..
the interior design of Optimism looked chaotic but artistic somehow.. and the
bars? pretty normal; alcohol, music, couches, pool tables, foosball, jackpot
machines.. and I played foosball in one of the bars.. the guy partnered with me
said if I practiced regularly in the University, he assured me I’d be darn good
(and broke) at it bcos I got on a good start.. =P we went for bowling too.. I
think it’s been quite some time since I last played but it’s all fun.. lastly,
the clubs.. well.. there’s this club (one of the hottest in town) called Retro..
it looked like Zouk, with much bigger space but less crowded, coupled with a lounge
at the underground level..

That pretty much sums up my
activities recently.. first classes attended, project chosen.. my god feeling
tells me I’m gonna be busy for school very soon.. o well, but so far so good I
suppose.. =P

Here i have some pictures of the notes and coins of danish kroner, not my money though.. =P