frutti.gummi

Just feels so nice to shop here. Groceries are a lot cheaper than Trento especially the fruits and vegetables. I finally managed to buy seedless grapes here and chinese pears! There are also a lot more variety of candies, chocolates, chips as well as drinks. In the few supermakets that I've been, I've only seen soft drinks sold in bottle form. I'm looking for them in can form so that I can limit the amount I drink. Surprisingly, pasta and pasta sauce is very limited. Even fewer variety than what I can get in KL. No wonder there are so many food joints selling pasta. People here don't cook them at home I guess. Retail stores here are a much bigger too and with more well known brands like Mango, Zara, H&M, etc. After being in Trento, I don't find that clothes here are that expensive anymore. There are plenty of home decor stores and a variety of dollar stores that I scoured for cheap kitchen utencils and stuff for the bathroom. I found quite a few handicraft stores too selling beads, ribbons, paper, etc. Kinda reminds me of the times I made presents for family and friends. Oh, I did manage to go to IKEA in Heerlen, Netherlands. It's an hour away by bus from town. I bought a few things including a reading lamp. Some of the stuff are really cheap and I shouldn't have bought the kitchen utensils earlier in the other shops in town. Oh well, now I know where to go for cheap stuff.

The student residence I live in is in the suburb of Haaren, 5km from Aachen town. It's the only place available with a single room with attached kicthen and bathroom. My room is quite spacious and the furniture seems new. It's on the second floor so not much of a view from the window. I expected a blanket and pillow to be provided like in Bonn or Trento but these aren't provided here. I'm so glad I found a really cheap blanket at the discount store around the corner. I had to use it for a night without cover since my shipped luggage only arrived the next day. When the house master told me that I'm getting a new bed since the previous bed was broken, I really thought it's going to be a new bed. However, it turned out to be just another bed taken from another room. The bed is too soft. I wonder if there's any way to make it harder. Add a mattress pad? The room is also dimly lit; not suitable for doing anything productive like reading or cooking. There are plenty of power points so I guess they are for additional lamps. Gonna find out how to get to IKEA to buy some lamps and other stuff. The small fridge does not have a freezer compartment like the one in Bonn so I won't be able to enjoy the convenience of frozen food.

Besides being far, it's also expensive. I was thinking of looking for something cheaper and closer to town but now I got quite comfortable with my room. Even though I have not unpack most of my stuff, I just don't feel like moving again. The main street is just around the corner so everything is near by; supermarket, pharmacy, bank, bakery, diners, and cafes. Just one bus stop away, about 5+ minutes walk, there are bigger supermarkets and a McD that opens 24 hours a day! Hehe. So, I quite like it here. Once the internet is activated in a week's time, I should be home often.

It was pretty warm in Trento when I boarded the train. Spring seemed to have been skipped and staright to summer. When I sleep, at first I didn't need to use the blanket provided. As the train was going through Switzerland, I could feel the temperature was dropping. After the train passed the German border for a while, I started to feel cold and got up to cover myself with the blanket. When I woke up in the morning and head outside my compartment, I was greeted with a white scene. Snow everywhere! And it was still snowing heavily. It only lasted for a short while towns had lesser and lesser snow as the train head towards Cologne. I saw Bonn also had some snow and it was already melting. When I switched train to Aachen, I was looking forward to see some snow and I was glad that there were still snow when I arrived. :D I like the sunny and cold weather here although the wind makes it a lot colder and it's quite breezy here.

Spent my last weekend in Italy in Turin, host of the 2006 Winter Olympics. The current attraction is the Chocolate Festival that is held every year. When someone mention chocolates, I would think of Swiss or Belgian so I was surprised to find out that chocolate candy was invented in Turin and the Swiss came to Turin to learn the trade. The most famous chocolate sweet is called "gianduiotto", made of a coca-hazelnut paste and dates back to the 19th century. It taste like Nutella and of course, Nutella is also from a nearby town. The festival is held in one of tbe many big squares. Local retailers set up booths selling a variety of chocolates, cakes and drinks. Most of the retailers are just selling the normal forms of chocolates while I was expecting to see some special stuff. Anyway, besides the festival, Turin is pleasant town with wide streets, big piazzas, and great food. Try the calzone and pizza. It also seems like the cafe culture is popular here too. The Egyptian museum here is home to what is regarded as one of the largest collections of Egyptian antiquities outside of Egypt. It is really worth to visit especially when you don't know when you can go to Cairo. Hehe.

Living in Italy has been a truly remarkable experience; the culture, the people, and the lansdcape. Italians are very close to their family. Out of town students go home almost every weekend even when they have to take 3+ hours train ride. During the week, they would also call home almost every day. There also aren't many big stores like hypermarkets and department stores here because Italians encourage entrepreneurship. So there are lots of little stores everywhere. A lot of buildings in the town area consists of shops on the ground floor and apartments above. In Naples, I've seen shops selling fresh fish on the ground floor and there are people living above! I wonder how the residents can stand the stench. The banks are also different here. One cannot just walk into a bank. At the door entrance, an employee will have to buzz the bullet proof glass door open for you to walk in. Some banks even have double doors where once you entered the first door and it is closed, then you can press the bell to get the second door opened. The type of transactions the bank perform is quite surprising too. My friend actually bought his ticket for a football match from the bank. I'm glad I managed to travel around a bit here and see the country. Each region is quite distinct from another. When I move to Germany next week, I'm really going to miss the gelato, the pizza, and the mountain view.

Sometimes people add extra ingredients to instant noodles make it more like a proper meal. An egg, a few strips of vegetables, some meat, etc. Well, the same can be done with the ready made stuffed pastas that I mentioned earlier. I've added broccoli and strips of fried spam to the mushroom stuffed pasta. I'm just using what I have in my kitchen at the time. If it were to be a true Italian pasta, then sweet peas and speck would be used instead. I'm sure the Italians will scorn at me for using such ingredients. Maybe that's one of the reason how fusion food comes about; lack of ingredients. Haha.

Stuffed pasta: Tortellini and Ravioli. These ready-made stuffed pastas available from the yogurt, cheese, etc section in the supermarket is the closest counterpart to asian instant noodles. In a way, they are quite similar to dumplings or wantons. The stuffing include mushroom, spinach, cheese and prosciutto (uncooked dried cured ham). They take about 2-3 minutes to cook in boiling salted water. After the pasta is cook, drain the water and just coat well with olive oil and top with grated cheese. It taste a lot better when coated with the mixture of melted butter, olive oil and cheese but that means having an extra pan to wash. Hehe. Buon Appetito!

I've finally finished my project for the last exam. When I showed my work to the prof, he was satisfied with it and said that's all. I'm going to get my grade for it tomorrow morning. So, all that's left now is my thesis. This is the toughest part. I don't know what I want to do. I realised that I have lost interest in this field. I'm no longer curious about how things work, how things can be made better, or what is missing. I don't even have motivation unless wanting to graduate soon is counted as one. Since it's pretty much impossible for me to propose anything, I'm just looking for something easy, interesting and can be finished by the end of the year. I hope I'll find one soon after I start putting some effort to look for it.

I've only skied 1-2 times before and after I got home from skiing last night, I realised that the last time I went skiing was in the winter of 99/00. And it's 2008 now! How did time go by so quickly? Anyway, the view up there is just magnificent. We took a cable car up to the 'base' where there are restaurant, playground, a small slope for true beginners, plenty of space for sunbathing (bring your own chair) and ski lifts to the ski tracks. I started with the small slope and I felt that I was going very fast and ended up quite far away from the automatic ramp and takes people back up the slope. Then it was a challenge for me to ski/trudge back there since the ground is pretty much flat.

When I finally got back up the slope, I met my friend who somehow managed to convince me to try the blue track (beginner). At first it seems doable and I was fine. As I was skiing down and at one point, a section of the path was not visible because the slope is steep. I got scared and fell. Took some time to get up and continue skiing down as there is no other option. This time, I felt that I was going too fast and wouldn't be able to stop and then hit the trees at the end. I got scared and fell again and slided the rest of the way down. Hahaha! Took the chair lift back up and I just stuck to skiing in the little baby slope, learning how to turn.

By the end of the day, I got better at moving in flat surfaces and uphill. I got a gist of turning but still wasn't able to do consecutive turning. AlsoI think got better at controlling my speed when skiing down. We had a great time and hopefully I get to go back again before I move to Germany. Both my upper arms are so sore this morning!

From Skiing in the Dolomites

Haven't been feeling too well lately. Although I can still go about with my daily life, I feel like I needed more energy to perform them. I think I'm going to fall sick soon since it's been almost a year since I was ill. Feeling half sick is worse than being sick itself coz I can't take medication or sleep for long. Not having internet at home also means that I have to come to school to check my emails and get my dose of entertainment. I tried to download some videos to watch at home but wasn't able to because someone else had already downloaded a huge file from those megaupload, rapidshare, etc sites. (same IP since everyone have to use proxy). Sigh! I finally went to the library to borrow a book to read instead. Anyway, I showed my project to the professor and he suggested a few enchancements which are quite simple to implement. I should be able to finish them tonight and showed it to him again tomorrow. Next, I have to start planning how to move back to Germany end of the month.

I quite enjoyed this vacation even though it's a little tiring. The best part is the view of the ocean. Been about 5 months since I last laid eyes on a sea and I really miss sitting by the sea. The weather was also excellent being in the 60s and super sunny. I've been told that the southern part of Italy is very different but I never expected it to be such a huge difference. Naples is a big and very densely populated city. The city streets are dirty, with litter everywhere and plenty of dog shit on the sidewalk. It's also the first time I've seen stray dogs and cats on the streets. Above the streets, laundry are hung out from many windows and balconies. Pretty much every inch of the walls are filled with graffiti, even on the ground! People cross the streets whenever they want and young adults zip through the tiny streets in their vespa scooters without wearing helmet. Cars are double/triple parked on the the side, even at bus stops. While we were there, we were told that they found an old WWII bomb while digging for the subway line and everyone in the area had to be evacuated. We spent the day wandering around other parts of the city and since it was a Sunday, almost everything is closed including pizzerias.


The Pompei exavation site is very interesting. I had expected to see just bits of ruins here and there but surprisingly, the entire layout of the city is intact. We spent about 3 hours covering three quarters of the city. The audio guide we rented gave very good commentaries on the buildings. Most of the time, blocks of walls (numbered) lined the streets. These are usually shops or houses. One of the most facinating spot is the brothel. The drawings of various sexual positions are still visible on the walls and some graffiti can be seen in the walls of the rooms.

I've finally finished all the exams that required studying of the course materials. :D Only one exam left and I just need to complete the project for it. Somehow halfway though this semester I have lost the motivation to do well in exams. I guess I went back to working mode where I just need to know enough to understand the topic and where to find the details when I need to use it. But in order to well in exams, one need to know the stuff really well. I don't quite like the grades that I'm getting but I know I deserve them coz I didn't take the exams seriously. Ah well..it's over and I'm so glad I don't have to take anymore classes and exams. After I complete this project, it's just gonna be the thesis left. I can't wait to finish grad school. It starts to feel like it's taking too long. Anyway, I'm off to Naples!

I've been having trouble sleeping early since the beginning of this year. I could only fall asleep past 3am. Even on the days which I had to wake up super early, I still wasn't able to sleep early at night. Maybe it's because I took 1-2 hours nap in between. Anyway, waking up at around 11 would normally mean skipping breakfast and just have lunch at noon. Yesterday, I had a light breakfast and wasn't hungry until almost 4pm. So I decided to make one meal, slightly bigger portion, for both lunch and dinner. I did the same today and it works out pretty well since I snack when I study for exams. Having to cook twice a day, I'm running out of ideas of what to cook anymore. Also, I didn't want to stock up food since I'll be going on vacation this weekend for 5 days. Still, I'd like to return to my normal bedtime.

I've finally submitted my project for the exam next week. I know I could have done a better job if I'd started working on it earlier. I didn't really have other stuff to work on since Christmas but yet I didn't start on this project. For at least two weeks, from Christmas till after New Years, I have been watching a lot of asian dramas; maybe close to 10 shows and each with episodes ranging from 10-20. I thought I had time because I was only planning to do a simple project. But didn't expect that it was difficult to fit so much information into limited number of pages and also spent a lot of time trying to type formulas with weird characters.

Towards the end of this semester, I just don't feel like studying anymore. I couldn't really be bothered and just managed to make myself do the minimum to pass the exams. While I got pretty good grades at the beginning of the semester, I barely passed the last exam. It's not so bad for the classes that takes the average of the exams. For the next few exams, I'm just hoping to pass them. Eventhough I'd like to get higher marks, I just couldn't make myself to take them more seriously. I'd rather watch more dramas, go out, travel, and sleep.

Stumbled upon this song and quite like the tune.

When I went groceries shopping a few days ago, I came across thin sliced beef. I don’t remember seeing them before in any of the supermarkets in Trento. I could probably get it by asking the butcher but I don’t what it’s called in Italian. Anyway, I was immediately reminded of Kobe beef and how much I miss Japanese food. So, I bought the beef and that night, I was excited thinking what I should do with it and decided on sukiyaki. Haven't been cooking anything nice this week and am finally in the mood to make this for lunch today. So glad it turned out well especially the sauce, although the beef is not so nice. (maybe I'm expecting too much, it ain't no Kobe beef to start with)

Sukiyaki sauce
2 tbs soy sauce
1 1/2 tbs chicken stock (to replace sake)
3 ts sugar
2 tbs water (according to taste)

Was trying to make a creamy sauce with this but I ended up using too little cream because I was afraid of the result having a strong cream taste. I guess people would normally use bacon instead of spam but I only had spam at the time so I made thin strips and fried it till crispy. Later, I found this combination on a restaurant's menu in google. Bucatini pasta with mushrooms, bacon, prosciutto, peas and tossed in olive oil, butter and garlic. Sounds delicious. I think I'll give it a try next time.

The next day after coming home from Munich, I woke up and saw snow everywhere. It's such a pleasant surprise to start the new year off. It snowed a bit in Munich and on the train ride home, the winter scenary was very beautiful. Mountains and plains all covered in snow. But as the train head closer to Italy, the snow got lesser and eventually no snow in Trento. So I didn't expect it to snow here yet. But it did snow for the past 3 days and we've got 3-4 inches. Went out to have some fun in the park. Although the snow is kinda hard, like a mix between snow and ice, we managed to make snow angels and build a weird looking snowman. Snowballs could be made very easily but it's as hard as ice so we couldn't have snowball fights. Hopefully the next snow would be better.

The celebration there is very different from what I have experienced. As we walked along the shopping street heading towards the square at 11pm, there were already tons of people on the street loaded with all sorts of fireworks. Some shot up high the sky, some are on the ground and some are body level. It kinda remains me of CNY. We had to look out for the fireworks because sometimes people throw them at you or kicked it to you or it was misfired. It became more intense as we reached the square. The square was surrounded by people and people in the frontline were the ones who usually lit the fireworks. Standing in between the crowd was not safe either. Sometimes there were small fireworks who explode on the ground. So when we felt something hit our leg, we quickly kicked it away. There were also fireworks that backfired. One firework actually shot past my ear! It was a little painful but luckily my hair did not caught fire.

We were surrounded by fireworks everywhere. When I looked up, I can see all sorts of fireworks all around me. I'd never been so close to a firework display before. Although they were totally random, somehow they seem to blend well together. At first I thought the fireworks were the small simple ones but some of the ones I saw were actually similar to the ones in major fireworks display. When midnight arrived, there was no countdown; just plenty of fireworks being shot up in the sky and people wishing Happy New Year or Buon Anno or Gutes Neues Jahr! The fireworks only toned down after 2am.

As the crowed slowly dispersed, I saw tons of broken glasses, bottles and used fireworks on the ground. Although quite a number of the crowd had alcohol in their hands, there were no fights or arguments. I was surprised I didn't see any police or ambulance on standby either. This is one of the best New Year's celebration I've had. :D