My New Housemate

Ladies and Gents,

This is Celestyn Wong, my new housemate, who I rescued bedraggled from Brussels International Airport on February 2nd 2007. I have, in consideration for 500g of Bak Kwa, housed her in my room while she waited for her contract to begin, fed her(and have continued to feed her with assorted snacks,biscuits and pretzels), dragged her luggage around the length and breadth of Leuven and done whatever I could to ease her arrival into Leuven as much as possible, given the terrible state of administration provided to international students.

She is from SMU. And has a boyfriend. There. End of discussion.Me with Celest and Laura, from Italy.

Xmas and New Year Travels

Just got back from an exhausting return journey from Prague.

I had the most awesome, eye-opening, liver and lung abusing trip ever with Pav, Sarah and Pav's flatmate from Hong Kong(Steven), covering Krakow-Zakophane-Budapest-Bratislava-Vienna-Wachau Valley-Cesky Krumlov-Prague. I am now broke in Belgium because of it but it was worth every penny. I guess that my exams in January will help me save some money because I can't leave town till 31st Jan.

I will blog about this trip, chronologically, as soon as Stevie sends me his DVD of pics. And oh yes, because of 5 of the world's most dangerous Kiwis when drunk(which is most of the time) and a certain drunken-half-crazed Aussie bar owner from Munich, I have now a new name - MACHINE.

sure sounds more intimidating than Bob, right?

Anyway this trip has also taught me many lessons, which I will share with my readers:
#Lesson 1 (learned in Zakophane, Poland)
Kiwi girls can drink anybody under the table and worship strange wooden statutes when half drunk

My Update (again!)

Yes friends, I am lazy.

I stay online all the time, yet I do not blog.

I should update, correct?

This I will do, in due course, of my various travails in more boring and less exotic parts of Europe, because, for once, I have to STAY in Belgium until at least the Christmas period due to the following 3, I think very valid reasons.

1. Precarious finances exacerbated by Excessive Spending. Exhibit 1 of Excessive Spending - Irish Bookmark of a sheep wearing a shamrock top hat and scarf, with books I lugged back from the Emerald Isle because good books in English are as easy to find in Belgium as err... ok it's hard ok?
2. A sudden realisation that I am doing far too many modules for my own good, but alas mandated by my University - hence I Need To Study for ALL 6 of my modules. Exhibit 2 of a Need To Study - An overcrowded bookshelf
3. Cold weather. I know, not as cold as 'ICE ON MY WINDSCREEN' St Louis or Sunny from 11am to 3pm Sweden but I cycle to school on my Red Riding Bike and the wind chill kills me, seriously. I can't imagine being on 'holiday' and stomping around in cold grey weather with a backpack. I'd rather plot in Belgium on how to make Penang Laksa from salmon and beehoon and ponderabout the what to do with my 8 boxes of now terribly useless belacan "Belacan with chicory? Belacan with aparagus?Belecan marinated with beef?"Anyway, Exhibit 3 - Room view, now a riot of red and a depressing, typical-Belgian-weather grey.

Updates to follow.

My Birthday Posts

On a whim, I tried to cook Chicken Curry(the real thing hor, not a mix) and Samosas. My Italian neighbours volunteered to help but it took a while to explain that he should grind the ginger, shallots and garlic to a paste (without a pestle and mortar, mind you) and even longer to placate him that it could be done, no sweat.

Me: (In Sicilian accented Singlish) : "Si Si it can be done! No no there is no other way! Trust me!" Giancarlo in Sicilian accented English: "You are crazy! But for you (makes Sicilian hand gesture which I presume to mean "No problem") ")

Eh I've been schooled in the ways of Italian handgesturing, don't play play hor.

Anyway, it was a blast and numerous dishy Spainish, Italians and Singaporeans attended sampling a devlishly hot curry(which I had to water down when during sampling, even I found it a tad hot) and samosas which my Belgian housemates identified later as the not so exotic dish of loempia. Special shout out to Yixuan who I think it the ultimate Iron Chef and whom-I-am-in-awe-of in the kitchen.

Yixuan/Iron Chef

Curry, pre-watering down with about 500g of curry powder to feed 15

Awful awful plonk from Spain. Lucky I didn't buy the Bulgarian version, even though it was cheaper.

Everybody!

Meet the 3 people dumb enough to move into an unfinished house. 2 Italians and a equally intelligent Singaporean

My Just Desserts from Giancarlo

Dutch guys and Mario from Madrid

Left to Right: Sara/Monica and Ladies and Gents, Lucia the Linguist, all from Spain, Far Right: Happy from Singapore

Thankfully I resisted the urge to indulge in the Belgian Birthday tradition of getting very drunk and wasted but instead chose the tradition of 3 kisses on the cheek of the Belgian women in my house. SWEEEEEEET. I also found out, slightly painfully, that the Italians and Spanish pull ears for every year of your birth thought they choose different sides to pull my ears. Ouch.

My Updated Posts

I realise that being an intensely lazy person, I am maintaining a blog with entries that are several weeks late. So, to make up for this, this combined entry will bring my viewing public up to speed on what on earth happened to me in the interim. Still this is not as fully updated as I would like it to be...because... I live too happening a life! Hurhur

First

1. Amsterdam

Following the aborted attempt to get to Amsterdam by bus, I decided to haul my butt to Amsterdam for the weekend to visit Alfian by train, which gave me a worry-free journey up to the City of Canels/Weed/Bicycles. Nick was up there as well, travelling with Paul and Dawn who were accompanied by a veritable horde of Bucerius Law students. Group tickets = 18 Bucerius students!

The Canals


The Bicycles

My eternal gratitude to Alfian for hosting me (on his floor), showing us around Amsterdam's numerous sights, sounds and 'sweet' smells. This being a rather unorthodox holiday, I somehow wound up taking part in an Anti-Bush rally (in Dutch sadly), attending a house party or 2 and navigating Amsterdam on bicycle at night WITHOUT A MAP, which resulted in a sore posterior and aching legs. However, I did manage to act like a tourist, getting into the Van Gogh museum, ambling down the meat-shop that is the Red-Light District (one too many times because I got lost), the startlingly sad Anne Frank House and the Heineken Experience before chugging back to Leuven on Sunday night.




Da Pao please?

"Beek Met Bushhhhh"

As an aside, I thought cycling around in Belgium would train me well but riding around Amsterdam ate my bicycle in Belgium for breakfast. First, compared to Amsterdam, my bicycle is terribly insecure. 1 lock only, sure kena stolen in Amsterdam. A typical 'secure' bicycle has 2 chains which weigh as much as the damn bicycle itself securing both the front and rear wheel combined with a complicated locking mechanism (well, to me at least).

2. Opening of School

Now, I was curious about the Orientation Days here in Leuven. Turns out it is tradition that the professor amble out of the University Hall (no, a stone building, quite unlike the palace on the hill in a certain university) to the St Peter's church in procession, complete in full ceremonial dress and even with heralds to err... herald the arrival of the professors for an opening Mass. I saw film crews, so I figured it was a Big Deal and promptly squeezed inside to sit through a Mass in Dutch but thankfully a sermon in English. I found the passage selected by the speaker (I could not see who it was, got blocked by a massive pillar) meaningful as to the importance of education, the salt of the Earth although the context in the bible was the teaching of the disciples by Jesus.

Salt and Light

13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.





The Rector at the head of the procession. Coincidentally the name of a rocking bar I was partying at later.











Heralds!


















The Orientation Days were predictable events although my housemates were exercising the typically Italian style of 'making friends' -nudge nudge wink wink- with full gusto in the huddle that was opening week. Events of note included numerous partying at the pubs in the Oude Market(a sqaure littered with cafes/pubs/dance club/restaurants), watching Walk the Line on a freezing night in the Oude Market and taking part in a massive Euro-techno party in the said Oude Market.

Birthday Post up next!

My Moving In

My Moving In

Taking in the morning train into Leuven from Rotterdam, I rushed back to my overheated monastry room, checked out and took the World's Most Expensive Taxi ride to my new house, where I was to stay with 15 other people.

Now, when I viewed the place, it was under construction. They had just installed the cooker and the stove and the cheerful Belgian temp at the housing agency assured me that all would be in order by the time I moved in on the 15th.

When I came into the room, I discovered this.

The problem was, NOTHING WAS READY WHEN I MOVED IN.
The problems were

1. No hot water the first night
2. No internet for the first 5 days
3. Wonky electricity - EVEN TILL NOW
4. A wonky oven and cooker hob - EVEN TILL NOW
5. NO TELLY
6. NO FOOSEBALL TABLE
7. NO MICROWAVE OVEN
8. NO CHAIRS and TABLE
   
9. NO TOILET PAPER!! (even though they promised that in the contract)
10. A front door with a darn fancy system which was not installed yet and caused me to be locked IN the house on a Sunday night.
    
11. A malfunctioning room door - my stuff not secure
12. A mattress I had to retrieve from the garage. I chose the one that was least likely to disgust me, afterwhich i vacuumed it, inspected it for stains(thankfully nothing), scrubbed it a bit and bought a slip for it.

Rather bare, don't you think?
Somehow, I survived without all this for a few days (or until now, as the story with the missing toilet paper and the wonky electricity goes) due to an immediate friendship with the only 2 other people dumb enough to move into an uncompleted house - Marco and Giancarlo from Sicily.

That night, after the hard labour of cleaning and eating from a small coffee table, I toasted my Italian house-mates, the Polish builder Jan and his Lithaunian assistant Raimond in all the langauges present at the table on Italian coffee and bootleg Chivas Regal.

To my new home!

Up next, My Amsterdam Trip

My Pictures 1

Bruges, on initial approach from the station, Church of Our Lady, Venice of the North?, Michelangelo's Madonna and Child in the Church of Our Lady(it's REAL), A Sunny Day in Bruges, the stadhuis or Burg or Belfort(I get confused ok?) rising from the Burg, the Markt or square, Chocolate as an aphrodisiac, Chocolate Story because chocolate is Belgian and all over Bruges, A busy Markt on a Sunday, teeming with tourists! Ok pictures are repeated cos I am a newbie blogger. Sue me.

The War Memorial outside the train station in Leuven, The Town Hall which I pass by everyday on the way to class everyday, Law School, an old building which is WAY better than BTC, on the outside, anyway. A lovely Leuven summer day, Hedgerows of blackberries, the fields outside the monastery, Bemused cows, Monastery, Cornfield near said Monastery and the Train Station.

My saviour and Me (She wants nothing to do with me), The tallest building in the Nederlands?, The City Hall with my darkened face a product of my lousy camera, not Yixian’s photography, the Port and the Erasmus (Swan Bridge) especially the sunset, Sights on the way to Kinderdijk, The Windmills of Kinderdikj and Various Old Dutch men and women.