11 Feb: I Made It Through.

I made it through.
11 days in Delft and 1 week in school (:

Room.
When I first entered my room, thought its really small. But now im starting to wish it could be a little smaller, so there isn’t so much surface area to clean. I just don’t understand why the room gets dusty so quickly. Sigh. I hate cleaning up!

Anyway, my room’s a studio apt, which is really ex, €426 per month!?!?! Anyway, that’s besides the point. Yea, I have a kitchen and a toilet all to myself, which is good, cos I don’t really like sharing places like this, oops. Haha. But the bad thing is that I don’t get to see my neighbours cos the weather is cold and everyone hides at home. Moreover, in my block of flats, there isn’t like a communal space or anything. Yea, so most of the time, im in my cosy little quiet room (:

I kinda like the location of my apt (though its 2km or 20-25min walk from sch!), cos ive got Albert Heijn (supermarket) and the ABN.AMRO Bank just adjacent to my block. And if I cross another few streets, there are more shops and supermkts around, so its really convenient where im living.

My workstation. Haha.

Messiness = Homeliness (:

Food.
Im eating well everybody, don’t worry (:

Vegetables from the supermkt is really ex.
4 tomatoes = SGD 1.50 !!!
1 carrot = SGD 1.00 !!!
Tou gay is the ultimate (they call it “Touge” here, haha sounds classy eh), I didn’t buy, but I think if I didn’t remember wrongly, its like SGD 4.00 per kg?!?! isn’t it only a few cents in Singapore?! I think I needa go to the flea mkt on Sundays, cos I heard its way cheaper there? But it isn’t a strong enough motivation for me to leave my warm little sty, especially when its about 3km away plus its raining and the wind’s really strong. Maybe next week.

Stroopwaffels! A thin layer of caramel btwn 2 slices of waffles. My favourite! But I think im already getting sian of it. And Dutch Spiced Cookies!

Milo was what i brought, Hot Chocolate was what i bought. Milo was running out, so i hoped the same Nestle brand Hot Choc could be a close substitute. But unfortunately, not anywhere near ):

Tasteless cheap fake CocoCrunch ): Couldn't take it, went to buy Frosties to make myself happier for €2.55.

Did I buy the wrong kinda rice?

Erm, I didn’t take pictures of the food I cook (not that I don’t cook ok), maybe next time!

City Centre.
Went there last weekend on a city tour organized by the sch with other exchange students. It was good as we learnt about the history of the town, the canals and the buildings.

And the place is really very pretty! It’s a medieval town with much ancient architecture and I really felt as though I was in the town Harry Potter was living in! I took some pictures but somehow they cannot capture the magical experience you’ll get when you are standing in the town square or walking through the town. So come and experience it for yourself (while im here, that is, haha)!

Anyway, took such lousy pics because I was scared to take out my camera. Quickly took a few shots and kept it. Didn’t want others to know that im a tourist, cos im afraid that they’ll take the chance to rob me or sth. Oh well, maybe im just too paranoid. But i’ll definitely take more and proper ones when Hun comes over. Hurry come!!!

Friends.
The Introduction Day the school organized for us was quite good, cos I got to meet other exchange students. They welcomed us with 2 glasses of beer each! How cool is that! Though I don’t exactly like beer haha. Well, managed to get to know a few nice people, those whom I can chat with when I see them in sch or on the way to sch. But that’s about it, no close friends whom I can hang out with yet, but that’s ok, I know it takes time (:


School.
School started for a wk and its really stressful! 1stly, there is so much work. 2ndly, the lectures are short and the lecturers want to cram so much info within that hour plus, and so they go at train speed. And plus their slang, it isn’t helping ): and 3rdly, whatever they are teaching is kinda cheem to me. I think that just shows how much NUS has taught me. Im glad im here.

Weather.
I don’t like it. Its been cold (below 6 degrees these few days) and I have to put on so many layers before I leave the house, and it takes so long to do that!

Saw snow on Tuesday and Thursday. Yes, for the first time in my life, but I didn’t exactly like it. 1, my toes were frozen. 2, the snow kept slapping on my face and melting on my eyes. 3, the wind kept blowing my hood off. 4, I was in a hurry to get to sch. 5, its very tiring to walk on ice.

From my window.

But I think I dislike rain even more. Cos the winds were so strong even in a drizzle, that my umbrella kept flipping! I had totally no ctrl over it. Now I see why people here hardly use umbrellas. They just walk in the rain with their waterproof jackets.


All in all.
Im ok with living here, but I still prefer Singapore anytime!

People here smoke like it’s the norm, and I really don’t like that.

The streets are not very, but still dirty. And the thing I cant stand the most is that people bring their dogs out to shit everywhere! Even in the shopping centres! I kenna-ed once cos how on earth wld I expect shopping centres to have shit everywhere!

Really don’t like the cold weather, makes the day so dreary ): Singapore’s climate’s still the best (at least for me)! Though humid and hot sometimes, it beats having to dress up daily in thick layers just to step outside.

And bikes here are the main form of transportation. People here cycle since they were 3! And if you need help with taking public transport, they cant really help cos they don’t know either. Their bikes take them everywhere. I haven’t got myself a bike, and I don’t think anytime soon, cos I think its too dangerous for me. Really bad at cycling. Confirm will get into accidents often. Plus its been snowing and raining. So guess I’ll just hafta resort to walking at least 4km a day. We’ll see.

And I miss.
My bolster!

My maid! Well, not exactly her, but the things she does haha. Its really tiring to cook, do housework, laundry and stuff. Arghs.

TV! No tv here, but at least I’ve Friends (not friends, but Friends, haha) here with me. All 10 seasons. They really are my friends who keep me in good company!

Good food! Haven’t eaten sth which I really like since the day I arrive, except for my all-time favourite IndoMie instant Mee Goreng! and its weird that they dont have instant noodles here.

Chinese New Year! At least I’ll be celebrating with my Eindhoven counterparts so it isn’t too bad. But it’ll definitely not be the same as having it at home ):

And everyone at home! At least now ive net access at home, it isn’t as miserable as in the first few days after arrival.

But never mind. Im gonna be home soon. Just 139 more days to go, or hopefully less! ):

01 Feb: The Dutching Begins.

Departure. 31 Feb 07. Wednesday.
It was crazy. An 11:15pm flight.

8:00pm Still packing! Thank God mom was helping me.

8:30pm Dad carried luggage down stairs and the handle broke! Panic. Thankfully grandma has got an extra one to spare. And I think in fact, it’s a blessing in disguise. Cos hers is actually bigger than my original one, so repacking wasn’t too difficult. Plus, the broken one was a hardcase (heavy), with only a little handle by the corner (ie I’ve gotta bend a little low to drag my luggage along); while grandma’s was a softcase (lighter), with a pull-out handle so I could drag it while standing straight. And most thankfully, it broke at home, not at the airport, or in Delft or anywhere else for that matter.

9:00pm Left home, finally.

9:25pm Arrived at Changi Airport. Rushed to check-in. Got a seat far from all my friends. Plus it was a window seat. Usually I would have loved that, but wasn’t too good a time for that then, if you know what I mean ):

9:35pm All’s done. But heart was still unsettled. Maybe it was due to all the rush and anxiety before that. Maybe I was worried about the window seat. Or maybe I just wasn’t prepared to leave. And I didn’t know how to. Especially with all my friends and family with me at the airport.

Tried to keep cool, since there was no turning back.

I think it helped when bunch of church friends tricked those who were coming to send me off but late, by telling them that I’ve already left. The victims were Dorcas, Jeannette, Fuwei and Mell, Kevin and Andrea. Anyone else? Sorry victims! And thanks too, for sth so memorable. Haha. Who was the mastermind by the way?

10:15pm Time to leave. Thanks for the help, for the gifts, for the well wishes, for the prayers, for just coming. I really appreciate all of them. Wanted to give everyone a huge hug, especially those with tears in their eyes, but my Eindhoven counterparts were already waiting for me and so I had to go ): A big THANK YOU to all once again (:

In The Plane. 12.5hrs.
Surprised that the stewardesses did not bother to check if we’ve fastened our seatbelts. Anyway, it was a long flight, but they only served 2 meals. Soggy stuff.

Slept a large part of it, about 7-8hrs? Which was good. But getting to the toilet was a little tricky. Window seat as I’ve mentioned, 2 other guys to my right, both sleeping. Didn’t want to wake them, so was waiting for both to be awake before making my way to the loo. But they kept taking turns to wake up and fall back asleep! But finally, I managed to get to the toilet of cos, just in time. Haha.

The next few hours weren’t too hard to pass with a nice little chat with the guy sitting next to me. He’s also from NUS, flying to NL for the same purpose. Too bad, he was yet another going to Eindhoven. Why? Why is everyone going there?! Why am I going to Delft alone? This is so so unfair.


Arrival. 01 Feb 07. Thursday.
6.25am Thankful that my aunt has arranged for her brother-in-law who’s been living in Amsterdam 7 years to pick me up at the airport. He’s really nice and have helped me a lot – met me 6+ am at Ams Schiphol Airport, carried my bags, bought me train tickets, took the train with me to Delft, bought me b/f, and dinner later.

7.30am Arrived in Delft. But had to wait for DUWO housing office to open to sign contract and get my keys. Had b/f in the meantime.

8.30am Went to housing office, signed contract, but told me to go back at 3pm again to get my keys?! What the. And my uncle had to return to his office, so I took a map, together with my haversack (my uncle brought my luggage along with him to his office), and started walking. Decided to find the way to my apt first. While holding the map, a guy approached me to see if needed help. “NO” I said, rudely, thinking he probably had sth up his sleeves. But felt bad after that – what if he sincerely wanted to help?

Continued walking and a 2nd guy came along to offer help (are Dutch guys really this helpful??). This time, I said “OK” (since he looked quite decent, and was an old Asian man, and I really needed help), but still not letting my guard down. And it turned out to be that he really was sincere about helping me. He walked me all the way to my place even when it was out of his way. Really thank God for him.

Continued exploring the vicinity till…

3.00pm Finally got my keys!

4.00pm Stepped into my room, checked inventory. Immediately after, set my bed and SLEEP! That was much needed after all the walking.

8.30pm Uncle arrived at my place with my big case and we went for dinner at this Chinese/Indonesian/Vietnamese restaurant (he said usually this kinda mix serves lousy food, and it was true, unfortunately) just diagonally across my block. That was expensive – each plate of rice/noodles costs €10?!!?

10.30pm Back in room. Crashed the bed, again.