Tuesday, May 26, 2009
First trip to Stockholm... 楽しかったの！
So we finally found the time and strength to drive up to Stockholm over the weekend. =) It was Ascension Day on Thursday and jw was off on Friday, so we had a good long weekend to spend travelling to and fro and having fun times in Stockholm.
Along the way, we stopped by to take pictures of the yellow flowers. I still don't know what flowers they are, but there were a whole bunch of them beside the road. Jw says they only bloom for a very very short period, so in the blink of an eye they might be gone. Well, definitely must take pics then! =p
Stockholm was like a dandelion town, well at least, we think they are dandelions. Not only do we see a whole lot of them in parks, every day when we walk around town, there will be dandelions floating around in the air too. Lots and lots of them. 高飞的蒲公英！
We stayed in Nordic Sea Hotel and that was where the Absolut Icebar was located. Cool huh? =) Yeah I was looking forward to the visit. Though it wasn't as big as I thought it would be, it was still a good experience for all of us. And it was definitely great to meet up with Johannes, Fredrik and Marcus there. All my Jap coursemates whom I've known over the span of the past nine months. Way cool! It was also nice to finally introduce jw to them, whom they all love cos' he's really a good sport and nice chap. =) We treated them to drinks and I guess it wasn't quite the norm here from their reaction? But well, it's just our way of saying Hi and welcoming friends. =)
Although the entrance fee was a teeny expensive, 190sek for non guests without online booking and 150sek for hotel guests, it was still worth it for a first time experience. It's one of those things I feel that you should do at least once in your life. Even if you don't go back again, at least it's Been There Done That. =)
We hung out at Chaplin after we decided to escape from the cold at Icebar. Hee. It was good old fun just talking and listening to people singing karaoke. I think it's really nice to make friends from different parts of the world, because there's just so much differences in our cultures, beliefs and traditions and it's nice to learn more about the world. Sure hope we will keep in touch even though I might not be able to continue with my Jap classes next term. 
Here's the new blue top that jw bought for me. Along with one of my favourite skirts from S'pore. Hee. My friends all said they couldn't tell I was preggie if they had not known, and well, I wasn't too upset by that. Hee. But now that 3 months have past, I guess it's gonna be obvious pretty soon. I hope so too.
This was our lunch for the second day. Food bought from the roadside stalls. The Oriental noodles were nice, with real huang mian (aka yellow noodles) that you seldom see here. The Italian garlic mushrooms were oishii too, I seldom ate so many mushrooms at one go. Hee. The Spanish rice was ok, but kind of gelat so we didn't finish it.
One of my aims of coming to Stockholm was to look for Jap restaurants. I so wish Karlskrona had one. Sob. Anyway, we found this Jap restaurant near our hotel which was run by Chinese people. So well, it wasn't that authentic but good enough. We ate yakiniku don and jw had a whole plate of 15 sashimis which I was tempted to eat but didn't. Boo Hoo.
The next day, we went with Johannes to this ramen shop called Kimama. They said it was the only ramen shop you can find in Stockholm. Luckily they told us about it, if not we would never have chanced upon it. And guess what, we walked a good 1hour from Tivoli all the way to Kimama. Haha. I guess it was pretty good exercise for me and jw and bb.
After dinner, we went to Gamla Stan to meet a few others for a chill out session. Well, I had juice for the whole of tonight because I felt bad for drinking the Absolut Summer yesterday. Well well. Juice is boring but it was still very nice to chat with the rest, oh and we got to know a new friend named Kaori! She's a Japanese who's working in Stockholm now. It's fun to meet Asians here. =)
This is Thomas-san who is very good in Japanese. I can never quite grasp what he says in class. Haha. He's quite mature for a 20-year-old guy and it was fun talking to him and all the others. All nice people!
I wore a top that I bought from Tokyo on the third day. Oh my favourite hat was bought from there too. Hee. Jw said I looked abit like Japanese. Haha. Pseudo Japanese maybe. =)
And woooo, I finally got the chance to eat sushi!! OISHII!! This was mama-sushi that Johannes told me about, specially meant for preggie gals like me. Hee. It was fresh and really good, probably also cos' I haven eaten sushi for soooo long. Hehe.
Jw and the black & white monkeys at Skansen. We chose to go to the zoo instead of the other museums or palaces. Haha. Guess moving and alive things interest us more. Luckily we had the same interests. Keke.
This little black bear cub just looked so cuddly and adorable.
We not only saw mooses in Skansen, we also saw one when we were driving back, right beside the road. Woho. First time. So the signs that always say beware of moose crossing are for real. Jw said a moose can weigh 450kg and can easily crush a human being. Scary.
We took pictures with the tamren too. Hee. Reindeer. Didn't get to try out reindeer meat in the city in the end though we heard that it was one of the best things to eat here. Hmmm. Hopefully we will get a chance to next time.
Taking a short stroll at Gamla Stan before meeting Rieko Sensei for dinner. Gamla Stan reminds me alot of Montmarte in Paris, and jw said some angles also reminded him of Brussels in Belgium. Well. Whatever it is, they are all our sweet moments spent together.
We ate the Schnitzel at Stockholm's allegedly oldest restaurant, Zum Franziskaner. It was expensive but yummy. Luckily two of us shared one portion cos' it was sooooo huge! I loved the peppery baked potatoes that came with it. Delicious!
The cute viking statue outside one of the shops. Hee.
That's dear Rieko sensei! She is sooooo kawaii and nice! So happy to see her in person finally! She really makes a very very nice teacher. =) and friend. Glad she was happy to meet us too. To quote her words, she has 'never met a guy in sweden as nice as jw'. Wahaha. Yeah he was really gentlemenly to us at Bamboo City, getting fruits and sushi for us, and also taking the initiative to foot the bill, to top up our tea etc. But well, I think quite a handful of Singaporean guys are lidat? Maybe it's just different culture. She was so amazed and kept saying we are a very nice couple. Hee. That's good to hear too. And I like it when my friends love my hubby. They always do though, no doubts bout it. He's such a charmer. Wahaha.
All in all, we had a great trip to Stockholm. I told jw that we were suey but heng in some ways. Meaning unlucky but yet lucky. Why?1) We damaged our car window barely 10 mins after setting off. It was spoilt and couldn't be wind up for the whole 6 hours trip, and we were stuck with the cold wind, esp poor me. Lucky thing is the hotel people helped us to fix it before we checked out, and oh, it rained abit on our way back but not on our way to Stockholm. Lucky RIGHT?
2) I dropped my pendant on the third day. It was a diamond studded pendant, one of my only two nice pendants, that jw bought for me years ago. Somehow the chain got stuck to my bracelet unknowingly and it was till jw saw the chain hanging loose when we were in a convenient store that I realised it, but well, the pendant was already gone. BOO HOO. Amazing thing was the next day we walked back to town again, and I remembered bout the pendant and told jw I was going back to the shop to look for it. He was full of disbelief. Haha. But guess what, just 5 seconds stepping into the shop, I saw my pendant lying there staring at me, as if waiting for me to pick it up. Lucky, right?
3) Lastly, we were at the casino on the third night when someone won the Caribbean Stud jackpot of 4.8million sek. Just like that. A young swedish guy. He was there 10 mins before us, and he got a royal flush hand and there he was, 4.8million richer. WOW. We never did bump into a jackpot before, not at Caribbean, and it was the talk of the night for everyone at the tables. It did occur to us, well, why not us? Haha. But just a flashing thought. Some things are just meant to be, and others not. We lost at the casino on the end, but we had such a fun time and looking at each other, we already have the most priceless treasure in the world. At least, that's what I think. Haha. So I don't crave for anything else now. Well, except for a healthy BB to be born into the world. Hee. Till the next update. Mata!!
サーマは幸せな女子です
~Summer~ 8:40 PM
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
New clothes for shuang shuang...
So, I was kinda bored today.
Decided to open jw's bag that was brought back by his colleague yesterday, thinking of unpacking his laptop and all the dirty clothes. Woooooo, and then I realised all the new clothes that he bought for me from Goteburg were inside too. Woohoo!!~ I love ya dear!!
It's kind of amazing how he can choose clothes that always fit me (well, at least most of the time). Keke. Even though he bought different sizes tops and different sizes pants, somehow in the end I still could wear each and every one of them. Keke. Well, thanks to the drawstrings too. =p
Remember the green and blue pretty dress I wore for my ROM? He bought that for me too. From Hawaii or Japan, forgot which. I was so amazed when I saw it, even more astounded when it fitted me after trying it on. =) Yeah yeah. Good good good. It would be awful if he spent $$ buying clothes for me but in the end they don't fit or I find them ugly and not wear them. Wahaha.
So, as I said, I was bored so I tried on all the clothes. Keke. I had dresses, pants, a pair of shorts and a few tops. He's extravagant huh? Haha. Yeah. On me, and baby I guess. He bought some H&M Mama clothes for me, an Esprit dress, some not-mama clothes but bigger-than-my-usual-size pants and shirts. Waha. I love them all. I think I can still wear them even after birth next time, so it won't be a waste.
Check out my new clothes then! Oh, I learnt today how to make jpeg pics into a gif image. Haha. Finally. =)
So looking forward to our Stockholm trip on Thursday. Bet it will be a smashing weekend. Woohoo!! Till more updates!! Tata!!
每盏灯都像许愿的蜡烛，每一天都值得庆祝！
~Summer~ 3:35 AM
Monday, May 18, 2009
So, the cat has finally been let out of the bag. *meows*
Well, good things should be shared and it's a happy happy occasion for me and jw. Why? Cos our xiao wei wei or xiao shuang shuang is finally on the way. =p Yeah yeah. Guess it's bout time. Jw is turning 30 in two weeks, so this probably will be the best birthday present I can ever give him. A complete family. =)
So now, it's kind of an exciting period for us. Reading up on baby books, finding out what to eat what not to eat, listening to advice from parents, talking to friends about baby tips etc. Well, deep down, I still feel so very very much like a kid. Yeah yeah. Jw says so too. Wahaha. So goodness knows how well I can be as a mum in less than 7 months' time. Wahaha. But well, I am definitely looking forward to it. =p It's such a unique feeling knowing that you are preggie. Two lives entwined in one body.
So far, our baby has been really good. Never gave me any morning sickness, never made me feel that nausea feeling, never made me lose appetite, never caused me discomfort, never made me unable to sleep at nights, never gave me any trouble when I went to take the comprehensive exams for my MBA. OH, and never make me put on weight. YET. It's almost like I'm indifferent than before. But well. It makes me anxious sometimes, wanna knock knock on the door and ask, "Hello BB, are you there?" But well, I think I should count my blessings that I didn't have any sickness much. Still ate as much as I did before. Jw was quite amazed by my good appetite. Keke.
So very soon, I will join the mummy gang here. I know there are still tonnes of things that I need to learn, but well, one step at a time. Keke. Now I am just eagerly awaiting for the ultrasound and scan in mid June, because that will the first time I will see the baby and hear his or her heartbeat. =) I think I will be very very touched. Well, so you can be sure I will post more stuff about us and BB from now onwards. Keke. Whatever it is, we just hope he or she can be born safely, healthily and happily into this exciting world. We love you!!
~Summer~ 3:22 AM
Friday, May 08, 2009
Yeah it's been pretty long since I learnt any new songs on my piano. But hey hey, I just did couple of weeks ago. Haha. It's a super simple score of Zuo Bian, by Rainie Yang. Jw and I quite like this song, the lyrics are pretty meaningful and sad too. Well, so before I forget how to play it next time, I wanted to keep it as a memory.Jw wants me to learn Canon D next, you know, the Pachelbel song. He said I should learn some classical music instead of all pop Mandarin songs. Well. Don't know if I am up to it, those scores are always too hard and way beyond what I can comprehend for my super amateurish standard. But well, since he said so, probably I will try. Instead of two weeks I took to learn Zuo Bian, it might jolly well take me two months or even more to learn Canon D. Wahaha. We'll see.
Tata. Music rox!~ I love the piano!! =)
*Remember to off the background music if you wanna listen to the piano playing. Wahaha. Don't laugh at my playing okieee, I tried my best! Keke. =)
~Summer~ 9:18 PM
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
I've been sleeping so much recently that it amazes me. Maybe I am making up for my owl night life last time in Singapore. I remember how my friends used to chide me for sleeping so late and so little. I could go to bed at 4am and wake to go to work at 7plus just when the sun rose. And though I had teaching on Sat early mornings, many of my fridays were spent out with friends till wee hours and somehow, I would still drag my feet to work after that. A super unhealthy lifestyle, I would say. Haha. So, after coming to Sweden, I ditched the habit of sleeping on average 5-6 hours everyday. And now it's back to a healthy 8 hours a day, or sometimes even 10hours. Which is alot, I feel. Nearly half the day spent on sleeping.
Anyway, I have been putting off alot of work these two weeks. Lost my motivation to work on my thesis, which is normal, BUT even my jap! Aiyohhh. Whyzz. I dunno. Just felt like putting everything aside. Whenever I tried to do work, I would end up on the bed in my dreams or end up playing games on Facebook. Wahaha. The only thing me and jw did was to send out surveys and did some interviews. But I admit I could have, and should have done more. After all, we need to hand up half of the thesis this weekend! HALF! And all I have now is the title page. Wahaha. I so need to put my brain together pretty soon. But goodness knows even how or where to start, I'm just so clueless.
But well, everyone procrastinates, right? Wahaha. It's such a hard habit to get rid of. I keep reminding myself that the thesis is the last hurdle for me and jw, and if I do it well, we will both pass the mba course, and that to me is a miracle! But if we fail, we forsake all our efforts for the past 9 months. So I can't let that happen. Easy said, right?I played the piano for a few hours just now. I watched the movie 21 on the comp. I searched for piano scores online. I played Spot the Difference. I took a longgg bath, been long since I used the tub. I took out my jap textbook but it's still here, unopened. I am so unprepared for my lesson tmr, for the first time. Haha. I love jap! And I still love it! I just need to get over this fatigue, somehow. Keke.
So dear is not around to cheer for me tonight. I shall cheer for myself. Waha. Shuang Shuang jia you jia you jia you!!!
~Summer~ 5:18 AM