Journey to the (North) East… Of Europe (V)

u know what, the wait for the st petersberg entry is rather futile. let's just move on. :)

Days 8-9: Riga, Latvijas Republika (Latvia)

7-8 May 2008

Couch-surfing and a truly Latvian Experience

by carol

So after spending some 16 hours on the bus all the way from St. Petersberg - and being held up 3 hours at the Russian border in the dead of the night and one poor random guy being interrogated on behalf of the rest of us who were sound asleep on the bus - we pulled into a bus bay near the Riga market. Boy, were we glad to get off that bus. These overnight buses are no joke man....

Since we were relatively unprepared for most of the trip as it was organised for us, we had no idea what Latvia was about, except that it was a baltic state. Yocksong the STB man did all the research and even got us our place to stay through couch-surfing (what is that? read more to find out!), so we planned to follow him cosely.

After exchanging our remaining Russian Ruble for the Latvian Lat (not a very creative name, but it was a surprisingly strong currency - even stronger than the pound at that time), and refusing to deposit our big backpacks in the lockers at the market, we set off - on foot.

The sun was still rather low in the sky as we headed south into the historical old city. We had about 2-3 hours to kill before it was time to meet our Latvian hosts for lunch. The old city was very pretty, with many narrow alleys and cobbled streets - and extremely peaceful, with the exception of the ocassional tour group. But what I remember most about that morning was trudging around the place with that huge backpack. David and I took turns, but it got heavier as time passed. I dunno how those people on the amazing race do it!

There are 2 prominent meeting points in Riga (oh it's a very small city by the way. you can literally walk around in a day) - the Freedom Monument and the Laima Clock nearby. A little about Latvia: it has a very troubled past, being ruled and occupied by many nations. It declared independence in 1918, after being part of the Russian Empire for some 200 years. The Germans and then Soviet Army later occupied it again, and oppressing the people greatly and depleting the population of Latvians. Independence was finally declared again in 1991. Today, only 60% of the population are Latvian. The older Latvians still speak Russian, as much as they hate them. Anyway, we met our host, Agnesse and her husband/boyfriend at the Freedom Monument, and they brought us to the University of Latvia (one of 2 unis in the country) cafeteria for lunch. It was supposed to be cheaper to eat in the cafeteria but it was still quite expensive to us... :( It was traditional Latvian food but didn't make much of an impression of me, but i remember there was a huge variety of salad and jelly for dessert. We chatted a bit to our hosts and found them to be extremely nice people who spoke rather good english. They gave us directions to their place, and then we parted as they had to go back to work.

Yocksong wanted us to walk to their place, claiming it wasn't very far; but we protested vehemently, and so we ended up taking the tram a few stops down the main road. We proceeded to look for their apartment and it was a nightmare of a search. The address led us to a very very rundown block of flats, off the main-road, and all the way to the last block. The stairway was very dark and musty and really really scary. Still, we braced ourselves and ventured to knock on the door, hoping that Agnesse's brother would open the door. Alas, no one answered, leaving us to wonder if we had gotten the right place at all. As we milled around the dodgey place, thinking and praying hard, we saw some people go in and out of the apartments, some giving us weird looks but no one really offering any help. We tried to stop one or two to ask if they knew 'where Agnesse lives', but of course, why should they know? After a long while, we got quite desperate, so yocksong ventured into one of the shops along the road and tried to borrow a phone to call Agnesse at work. Thank God he managed to get through to her and she said she would get hold of her brother. So we had to wait again. Some time later, a young chap walked by and we asked him again, if he knew where Agnesse lives, and this time, a positive reply! :)

Gratefully, we followed him back up that dodgey flight of stairs (think of singapore in the 60s or something) and into their apartment. It was rather basic, but sufficiently homely. Oh i forgot to mention the weather. For some strange reason, while it was super hot up north in Russia, it was freezing when we got to Riga. It was inexplicable - it was May and the flowers were blooming, but temperatures just dipped, so we were tired, cold and miserable. That was when the next bomb was dropped on us. Agnesse's brother told us that the hot water supply in the house was spoilt, and they haven't been showering at home because it was too cold. However, the last time we took a shower was probably 2 days ago in St Petersberg (since the hostel there was terrible too) we didn't have much of a choice, so we decided to quickly shower while we could, while it was still day. Obviously, i showered with minumum water, and at the end wondered if it was effective at all. Still, it felt good to at least have a roof over our head in a country I know nothing about, and no one.

This couch-surfing thing is very interesting though. It is really based on trust. You meet a complete stranger, let him into your house and then expect him to be a good person. Soon after Agnesse's brother showed us in, he left us all alone in the house. Agnesse wasn't going to be back till late that night, and she had invited us to join her at a party at some warehouse. We were so tired, and not interested in the party, but yocksong obliged on our behalf. So off we trooped again, on foot this time (it's a lot easier to walk without the bags), to complete our tour of the city (we spent a lot of time at the free Latvian Museum of Occupation, which was very educational and fascinating). Dinner was a simple affair and we had Georgian food, which is generally somehow very popular in the former Soviet bloc. Yocksong went off to meet Agnesse; David and I wandered around the place somemore, thinking we could see Riga by night.... But we didn't get very far - only to the train station, where there was a 'shopping mall'. Reminded me a lot of bukit panjang plaza before it was renovated (i.e. pathetic). Still, we amused ourselves in the supermarket before we decided to head back because we were so tired by then. We spent the rest of the time chatting with Agnesse's brother.

It was a wednesday (definitely weekday) night, but Agnesse was volunteering at this party thing, and her boyfriend picked them up about midnight. When they got back, they still had energy to talk to us (david and I were leaving the next morning anyway) about their lives and what they do. I guess they characterised Latvians for us - very resilient, determined, passionate, zesty and full of life. They were building up their country almost from scratch after all the years of opression. Yet, they do barely form the majority in their own country. Their parents speak russian but this generation does not hold that much contempt for the Russians - they would rather move ahead, and watch their country win the next ice-hockey world championships (yes, with a population of slightly over 2million, and coming out from war after war, they have produced a sporting team of world standard. how about singapore?). it was very very good talking to them, but we had to give in to our tiredness too soon.

It was time to couch-surf. literally. Agnesse had also informed us during lunch that their inflatable matress was spoilt... and all that was left was the couch that could have its back flattened out to form a bed. 3 of us slept on the couch that night. Because we slept vertically instead of horizontally, there was lots of space between us. I think i had a swimming float for a pillow. But i also think we all slept so soundly that we didn't move at all.

The next morning, david and I had to leave early for the airport. Yocksong was staying for another day. We had kinda finished the whole city the day before and there wasnt really much to see, but Agnesse had taken the day off to bring YS around (how fortunate!). From the pictures, it looked like they had a lot of fun! But David and I were really happy to be going home to copenhagen. This trip had been one of the longest we've been on, and it's only fun being a tourist for so long. Yet, the couch-surfing experience made it one of the most interesting experiences we've had throughout the exchange. It's a great way to get to know the locals and their culture, and get free accomodation! www.couchsurfing.com

The next morning, our hosts offered us breakfast. But we were too paiseh to take any, except for a hot tea. We felt quite bad for staying only 1 night and wanting to leave their country so soon without talking to them much. (it's not their fault, we just had enough of travelling for the moment!) Agnesse even gave me chocolates to bring along and then sent us off. We went around a bit more that morning, to try to finish spending all our Lats (we hardly spent anything in Latvia!) bought some souvenirs and some famous Laima chocolates and sweets at the airport and still had change out the remaining Lats into kroners/euros.

For once we were not running for our flight. And it was a nice feeling of familiarity and home to be back in Copenhagen. We had come round in a circle: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Moscow, St Petersberg, Riga, Copenhagen. The countries we visited weren't backward or dirty, but those places just weren't home. Also, we had brought our Danish textbooks all around, but hardly touched them. Now we had to sit for our Danish exams the next day....

prayer meeting

i don't like it when i get called to play the piano for prayer meeting, cos then the whole world thinks i only go to prayer meeting cos it's my turn to play when i was already going anyway. pffft.

An introduction to the Inner Mongolian Grasslands

chocolate fondue + water

was craving for chocolate but there was almost none in the fridge except for a packet of expired chocolate fondue chocolate. so i decided to make some chocolate "fondue" for myself, but since i couldn't find the chocolate fondue set, i decided to improvise...

put the chocolate (solid) into a bowl and boiled half a pot of water. when the water was boiling i placed the bowl into the pot and let it melt.

then, david called. so i talked to him and happily forgot to keep an eye on the stove....

what resulted was....... ferociously boiling water spilling into the chocolate bowl and mixing into the chocolate. it looked gross i tell you. but how can anyone waste good chocolate?

and there was another problem. how was i gonna to get the bowl out of the pot?! ans: with much difficulty. (c.f. JJ Williams)

so anyway, FINALLY, i'm sitting here eating my half diluted chocolate 'fondue' which is actually just melted chocolate. with cut up apples. fuji apples, my favourite.

and the chocolate still tastes as good.... ahhhhh :)

six and decreasing

i just realised
that i have only
6 more weeks left in singapore

tomorrow i have my last exam ever

6 more YFs left, 6 more friday dinners, 7 more sunday services depending on what time i leave.

oh man, there's so much to do and too little time!

Passion Week - a lighter side

rev quek was so funny today. we had our quizzes marked and he realised that one of the questions could be misinterpreted, so he said 'ok both answers are correct - passion week what'...

:|

ok i think i was the only one who found that funny (as usual)

but, maybe it's time i start finding some passion from somewhere, about my work at least! in about 2 weeks i won't have the chance to anymore!

Knowing the end from the beginning...

Apologies for the rather emo nature of this post, haha. it's the last week of school now, and i mean, LAST, for the rest of my life. I can't really decide how to feel: a bit of excitement, a bit of nostalgia, some regret, and plenty of anxiety. Not sure if i'm overplaying the significance of this last week but I don't really want it to slip by (like all the other 15*7 weeks) and not take a moment to think about it all. 

lately i've been really worried, for the first time, and arguably too belatedly, about my faltering GPA. i have no idea why it is that only at the end of it all then i start to notice how close i am to attainment of an academic accolade. kinda regret that i didn't put in sufficient effort in the past semesters that i might now have to live with that narrow miss for the rest of my life. but it's too late for regrets now, and it's never time to worry, because why should i, if God already knows the outcome, and He knows that it's best for me? at the end of the day, i guess i've to ask myself if this pursuit for academic pride, glory, or to say that i've fulfilled my vocation and did the best i could to glorify His name (because i know i could have have a lot better?)  

I believe that all things will work out for good. good does not mean I will get what i want, but I will have what i need. sufficient for me - the way He meant it to be. Truly, i've already experienced more mercies than i deserve on this academic journey - can i still doubt its availability? Shall i not rather rest in the peace of the knowledge that the One who knows the end from the beginning will bring whatever He deems fit to pass? all these are but head knowledge - so difficult to translate to heart knowledge... herein lies the test, and the challenge. Give me grace, and greater faith. 

1. All the way my Savior leads me,
   What have I to ask beside?
   Can I doubt His tender mercy,
   Who through life has been my Guide?
   Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
   Here by faith in Him to dwell!
   For I know, whate’er befall me,
   Jesus doeth all things well;
   For I know, whate’er befall me,
   Jesus doeth all things well.
2. All the way my Savior leads me,
   Cheers each winding path I tread,
   Gives me grace for every trial,
   Feeds me with the living Bread.
   Though my weary steps may falter
   And my soul athirst may be,
   Gushing from the Rock before me,
   Lo! A spring of joy I see;
   Gushing from the Rock before me,
   Lo! A spring of joy I see.

tour of singapore: National Orchid Garden (with a very cool model!)

19 March 2009

We were supposed to go to botanic gardens for a surprise picnic to celebrate Karen's 18th birthday. Sharon and I wanted to bring joel and chloe, who wanted to bring shermin, which then made it necessary for aunty carrie to come along, who also brought sean and sheryl, who then called sayuri. and ah ma decided to come along too. 

we finally arrived at botanic gardens, after a long-drawn process of trying to get karen out of the house first before we could pack everything. It was a long long walk to the amphiteatre, where we were supposed to lay in ambush. This is the first time i'm visiting the gardens again after a good 5-6 years, and it really does look slightly different. It was ah ma's first time there too, and along the walk, she commented (in hokkien), 'what's there to see here? all grass and trees...' 

until...

we went by the national orchid garden and it seemed that we were still quite early. I offered to go in with Ah ma, since it was free for students during the school holidays. it costs $5 for adults, so mummy stayed out and handled the kids. 

in we went, it was quite big, and surprisingly, it was a very pleasant and colourful experience. there really was a large variety of orchids and some other plants too, and i think my grandmother really loves flowers. i tried to make her pose for pictures and it was personal satisfaction when i got one with a smiling face, haha. 

a bit about the place: It is located in the western end of the botanic gardens, and is about maybe 6-7 acres. There are over 1000 species and 2000 hybrids in the collection, and the landscaping is very well-done. there was also a section for VIP orchids, where special breeds were presented to visiting dignitaries and an 'orchidarium', which housed the more exotic species i believe. 

here are some pictures:

at the entrance... i really wanted a picture of the 2 of us and the background by my arms weren't long enough...

so i got a random schoolboy to help us, but he did a terrible job... the above is edited, and still quite bad. heh. so i gave up and decided to be the photographer from hence on...

touching the petals and telling me about how the orchid is one of the hardiest flowers around, and what some of the other plants in the garden were for... 

i made her go into this huge birdcage thingy... part of the rather interesting landscaping.

plus, there was a big photo sign, which means, 'TAKE YOUR TOURISTY PICTURE HERE'. so we did.

presenting... the national flower of singapore... vanda miss jochaim...!

inside the orchidarium, there were interesting breeds... 

this was like 5 mins after mum called to tell us to get out of there cos karen was coming... we were trying to find the exit, and saw this mirror. some quick thinking resulted in this, but we were kinda still moving so it's blur... wasted :|  she was very amused indeed.

my ah ma is so cute, half way through, she whipped out her handphone from her handbag and told me to take a picture of her and the flowers, but i didn't know how to read the chinese words so i couldnt figure out how to activate the camera, so i used my phone instead. just put the photos onto her phone just now, it's proudly sitting on both her's and my ah gong's phone desktops! :)

i wonder when this liking for purple started. aunty carrie likes purple too, so does sharon.

anyway, bottom line is, it was a very fruitful day, i came out very happy, and it's been a long time since a buck has gone such a long way... :) 

i <3>

some of the other photos from that day are here: 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=96649&id=692471387

SUPER-marketing!

i love going to supermarkets! maybe cos i love buying food - or just food in general. 

i think this was developed back in an ulu town called Sandusky in Ohio, USA, where the huge wal-mart and meijers offered a lot more than our daily necessity - bying junk food (betty crocker's brownie mix, ben and jerry's for $2.45 a tub, etc) brought much comfort, and so did our shopping trips which usually only happened at midnight when we were all free and the mall was empty. i never really thought about how unsafe it was to be out so late at night, how naive. Thank God for His unfailing protection though i didn't even think to ask for it.   

on exchange, this supermarket obsession turned to a hunt for the best bargains for the staples. Having supermakets near our home was one of the main criteria, and we landed in a place with about 4 supermarkets within walking distance. I distinctly remember the layouts of the aldi downstairs, the netto near church and the føtex opposite school. I think we went to the supermarket almost every day, it was kinda kua1 zhang1 we would always buy rice, eggs, ham, sausages, corn flakes, sugar and milk. those were more or less what we ate everyday.  

went with the parents 2 sundays ago to NTUC and i quite enjoyed it. actually, i think going to NTUC was one of the "second" things (after the first things) i did after coming back to singapore. haha, i know, so auntie. 

anyway i was craving a bratwurst just now, so i trooped downstairs to giant and came back with quite a lot of things. oops. bought mustard too, which we never have at home. my mum scolded me for being extravagant but i don't do this all the time....... 

A normal day which will soon cease to be

this was written on thurs on my handphone, and i just never found the time to put it up, so here it is (warning: boring post ahead, unless your name is sharon or debbie :p)

Yesterday was a rather normal school day. As usual, i couldn't wake up, despite the fact that class was at 12. Rushed to school, as usual, bursting through the door something like 10 mins late. Luyi, chian and I took longer than was given for break, having had to check out one of the first successful bazaars in the concourse. Alas, the queue for Ramley Burger was too long n not only did I not get the burger in the end, I was late, for the 2nd time that day. What a disaster!

Met debbie at 315, in a valiant attempt to keep to our weekly wed meet-up after we stopped taking at least 1 class together abt a yr and a half ago. She was attacking the international fair, and I would soon find out her intentions...

We checked out the photo booth. "Flaunt it", it was called; for me it will probably be one of the last times i get to flaunt my student status for special student deals. We made plans to return today to get a resume photo taken. I say "plans", because that's what we always do initially, with noble resolves to stick to them, but we both knew that things change all the time, as we would later see...

I then found out about the free international buffet / potluck - the requirement was to visit 4 booths to get 4 stickers to be eligible... Now we know why debbie was attempting a quiz on vietnam when i found her... She already had 2 stickers, so we needed 2 more. (we rationalised tt we could share e stickers, or the food.) She simply brought me to e same 2 booths to do e exact same things she did, and then we shamelessly went for the food. Yes I guess it's true that we would only do such cheapo things together... :) the corner we chose to hide our faces while we ate turned out to be not much of a corner, and we were spotted by asilah, joan, eugene, weeleng and yangwei. Owells.

Headed to the gym(!), for the 2nd time this year and probably the 5th time in the lasy 4 years. Earlier this semester i decided that i should make use of what remaining short time I have left in SMU to fully utilise the "state-of-the-art" facilities. Alas! One doesn't turn from an absolute gym-hater to a gym freak overnight, and I only lasted 25 mins on the cardio machine. The TV shows were boring and no matter how fast I tried to go my heart refused to beat faster to my "target" heartrate of 180. Guess my mind told my legs tt I was too unfit and so it didn't go too fast. Nonetheless, i was sufficiently tired and bored watching channel 5 I decided to call it a day, or half hour, depending on how u look at it. Was looking forward to a shower in the nice showers but found that I had forgotten my toiletries! To think i spent way too long packing them in the morning, resulting in my being late for class! Sigh! Figured that i was going home anyway, i didn't really need to shower... Haha. I mean, since when have I showered after smelly hockey trainings, or muddy frisbee training for that matter?

Met sharon @ raffles city and she gave me a ride back on her shiny black vespa. It's only my 2nd time pillioning behind her and I was quite scared (the 1st isn't even counted cos it was within cck!). Going up the circular ramp of the carpark was bad enough, but being overtaken by another motorbike while already being in between 2 cars was too much of a close shave for me. When that guy went by he was literally 3 cm away! and then, while still on the BKE, the inevitable occurred - it started to rain. Sharon rode into the shoulder where many other bikers were busy putting on raincoats, and guess what - she changed out of her moccasins into slippers. Shoes, we love our shoes way too much... Haha. We didn't bother with the raincoat (there's only 1 anyway)because we were almost home and the rain wasn't tt heavy anyway. But still, it was funny.

Much later that night, at like 345am, while I was still having my strat meeting online (which started at 930pm btw), i got a notification tt debbie had posted a video of me on facebook. memories of tt fateful drive into boston where our faithful car broke down and we had to abandon it. What on earth was she doing awake at 4am?!? She came on msn and we knew there and then that meeting today at 11am was impossible.

The time now is 2pm, and i'm standing in line for the photo thing, and waiting for debbie to turn up.

This is the story of our lives, for now.

Journey to the (North) East… Of Europe (IV)

Days 3-5: Москва́ (Moscow) , Россия (Russia) Part II

2-4 May 2008 

by David Ho

Goodbye Moscow… Hello St.Petersberg

I walked hurriedly under the mid-day sun, breaking out into a jog every now and then as the wave of panic and paranoia got closer to overwhelming me. As I approached the entrance of the bazaar I readied my 10 ruble entrance fee, a fee which was non-existent for the previous 2 days. At the gate I promptly handed over the money as I strode through the entrance, barely pausing to receive my “entrance pass”, all the while cursing this supposedly communist gate keeper for his opportunistic, capitalist hypocrisy. As I walked further into the bazaar my mind hardly registered the familiar rows of dolls and soviet memorabilia, I was focused on one thing and one thing only- finding Carol. She had missed our meeting time some 45 minutes earlier and the concern that I initially felt had quickly slipped to worry with each one that passed. The fact that she was supposed to be with Yock Song, our unofficial tour guide who “always keeps the time”, further exacerbated my fears that something had gone horribly wrong…

The day’s events were turning out to be a sharp contrast to the placidity of the previous 18 hours. Nothing much had happened, after we left the Kremlin we walked around the city. We took a look at the famous Bolshoi Theatre and tried in vain to find tickets for a cheap opera/ballet/show. After having dinner (at KFC) we headed back to the hotel and that was about it…

I headed deeper and deeper into the bazaar in my desperate search. Panic had started to gnaw its way into my heart, causing it to beat faster as I despaired over how large the bazaar was; there were whole sections that we had left unexplored. Just then I bumped into another of our (Taiwanese) travelling mates, and I asked him if he had seen Carol and Yock Song. He said he had, about a half hour ago, and that they said they were heading back then. With no news to allay my fears and no plan besides frantically tearing through the whole bazaar, I decided to head back to the hotel to touch base with Debbie and the others who were waiting. My mind was quite a blank on my walk back, the only thing I can remember thinking was how hot it was, how sticky I had become and how we were supposed to be heading to St.Petersberg that night. Supposed to be- if I could find Carol… Without over dramatizing, it would suffice to say that morbid thoughts had started to creep in. In that frame of mind, there was no way I could have guessed what would happen just 20 meters from the hotel. From about those 20 meters away, I saw someone round the last corner that would lead me to the hotel entrance. She was wearing her black jacket, faded blue jeans and green shoes. With a concerned look on her face, she hurried towards me as I did the same, and we shared a moment of relief. Carol quickly apologized that both she and Yock Song had forgotten the time, as well as causing me so much worry. I was just so relieved!

The 5 (or was it 6) of us did the usual thing of depositing our bags and the train station and did more shopping and eating at Arbatskaja. Carol and I managed to find “moo moo”, the restaurant that served reasonably priced local food, while the rest ate at a Georgian restaurant. From there Carol and I split from the rest to try and visit more places. We landed up at a spot where, slightly less than 200 years ago, a Frenchman by the name of Napoleon was stood up by the Russians. Poklonnaya Hill. Napoleon’s Grande Armée  had overrun the city and he had expected to receive the keys to the kremlin, which was the symbol for surrender. The Russians never surrendered. The victory park is dedicated to the wars that Russia has fought, but has a particular emphasis on the Napoleonic war and the Second World War. In the far western side of the park, the huge museum you see in our photos is the Museum Panorama “Battle Borodino”. The Battle of Borodino took place just a few days before Napoleon took Moscow, and was a particularly bloody and indecisive battle, after which Napoleon had remarked: “Of the fifty battles I have fought, the most terrible was that before Moscow. The French showed themselves to be worthy victors, and the Russians can rightly call themselves invincible”. I could go on and on about the park, the obelisk, the always awesomely cool St.George slaying the dragon, or the blood-red-lit-by-night-fountains, but the pictures will suffice. We tried visiting the museum but were too late, and so we left the park in our efforts to cram one more attraction into our schedule.

Read what Wikipedia has to say about our final attraction in Moscow: “The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts is the largest museum of European art in Moscow, located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The museum's name is misleading, as it has nothing to do with the famous Russian poet. After the Russian capital was moved to Moscow in 1918, the Soviet government decided to transfer thousands of works from St Petersburg's Hermitage Museum to the new capital. These paintings formed a nucleus of the Pushkin museum's collections of Western art. But the most important paintings were added later from the State Museum of New Western Art. These comprised Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artwork, including top works by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, Dufrénoy and Matisse. In 1937, Pushkin's name was appended to the museum, because the Soviet Union marked the centenary of the poet's death that year.” – Doesn’t it sound awesome and cultured? We never found it… After strolling through a park with some interesting sculptures, we made our way to the train station.

It was finally time to say goodbye Moscow, and hello to St.Petersberg!

From Moscow Magic!