CNY 2006 in Finland

And so it was CNY in finland.. 1st time in 23 yrs no cny in spore.. anyway before tat earlier in the wk there was this career fair machiam bazaar at nus.. nokia, erikson, ABB all came down and boy did they have lotsa goodies for us.. pens, sweets, brochures, bags... all trying to shore up potential recruits for their companies.. take a look at the stuff kiasu merv went to take.. well the finnish werent tat reserved anyway so just take lor.. there was a CV editing thingie too..

Goodies(notice the branded sweets
from the most unlikely brands. nokia
abb etc)




















k back to cny.. 1stly, thank you weiqin n shuxian for the card.. to make xz sore, my card more ex lei... and even sx write in it lei.. so wat if u got tom yam (TY).. i got sx lor haha.. 2ndly, thx to eva,cai, amy,jen, les, jimmy for the other cny card.. i kinda expected it liao, cos eva asked me 'how come ur address is so short?'.. i wonder whether it is the same card for joo n ali n gord..

Tuan Yuan Fan. No pics.. zm lazy to upload n send to me ... grrr .. but damn nice food.. we really eat until we were bloated.. curry chicken, bak kut teh, baked salmon, stir-fried brocolli with supposedly crab meat. And there was abalone and bak kwa. We even had chinese new year cookies and fresh longans.. and there was ice cream, agar-agar for dessert. we din even get to cook our spring rolls n hainanese chicken rice.. we then proceeded to the downstairs leisure room for ping pong, pool and cards b4 heading back home at 130 am! so late still got bus!! The nxt day we wanted to go ikea but it was close !! IKEA CLOSED ON SUNDAYS! wasted trip!

And so it was back to school.. a lotta assignments due this wk.. n the sch is organising trips too.. st petersburg... rovaniemi.. stockholm.. argh going to burst my budget soon...sports day is tmrw too! we sure do lead a healthy lifestyle.. salad for every lunch and football every mon n fri.. n hopefully wed too..
Communication Network lecture and our dinner on last day on Jan! Luncheon meat/potato/ broc/omelette/carrot n rice.. too much food!

Guild, Asian Food, Kebab, Pool and Futsal

Fri has arrived and it started wif the guild talk. Guild of EE, very alike Engin club. Their 1st presentation was last week but as with engin events, no one turned up. This week was better, there were 4! me n xz making up 2 of them. 4/13 was a gd number. i guess the same taboo remains.. engin boring.. well they have certain activities coming up. the winter day(sports day) and the sauna.. but as wif nus, the no. of gals in EE only 20%.. anyway, after that, our very nice vietnamese tutor Tu Duong then agreed to bring us to hakaniemi, the asian market (helsinki has no chinatown by the way).. it has a lotta asian stuff which we are so so deprived of. tofu, siew mai, a lotta cai xim, kailan, fresh meat, chilli sauces, soup base, canned food, longans (imported 16 euro for 3 kg! which we will contribute to the CNY feast we are having on sg reunion dinner day.) there were many asians at the stall too as it is opened by a malaysian lady.
















he seemed a very nice guy apart from his hs ness.. he treated us to kebab! well i sort of treated him to pool 1st but yar.. pool was in a smoky place like west coast recre like tat.. 8 euro/hr.. we spent 2 hrs there and there was some eye candy in the neighbouring table which our hs tutor was making all sort of remarks so i took this pic for him















After that, he brought us to Kamppi for this great Kebab place and treated us to dinner (9 euros). FYI, kebab was started by the middle eastern pple and i love the decor of the place. It had all these arabian carpets, rugs, lights and the serving was damn huge and so much meat too. Look at the kebab making machine.. he is scraping the meat from the brown stuff there.. there are fries, chicken, rice, tomato, salad wif nice sauce.. and the equipment is all authentic.. presenting EERIKIN PIPPURI KEBAB.( eerikin name of street, pippuri is pepper).

Lovely
Decor!












He then brought us to see this chinese buffet place and then we set off for home. When we reached home at 10 pm, we realised that our mexican fren roberto had emailed us to say that they were playing soccer from 9 to 11 pm.. how cool is that.. soccer at nite.. hence we rushed to otahalli the sports complex to play football.. it was another great game.. there was this guy who looked like zidane and kinda played like him too.. but europeans are really good.. they aint rough but they are physical and they can shoot from anywhere.. its like they have long legs, so they can push the ball past u n run easily.. and their reactions are super fast.. one hr was enuff to make us exhausted considering we were out the whole day..

Some fast facts abt finland.
(1) Pets are allowed in shopping centre. imagine people walking dogs in wisma atria.. but the dogs here are all so cute!
(2) People like to eat wif fork n knife.. even rice.. so u scoop the rice up wif ur nice.. and they like to put jam on their stuff.. so rice + jam will appeal to them.
(3) Education here is free all the way cos the gvt wants to encourage education. So the polytechnics here actually offer bachelors degree and the unis are all straight masters programme which pple normally complete in 6 to 7 yrs.

P.S I am thinking abt internship in finland.. dunno whether this is true but one month can earn 1800 euros for lab work.. but the downside is that it is irrelevant to my course( concerning physics and they are also looking for masters students) but it pays damn well la...

Bang Bang!

Zoo, party and school!

Sat: Korkeasaari Zoo @ temperature -20 degrees (me,xz and aya! at the entrance and the pizza we shared n the metro!)

We went to the zoo because there was a ice sculpture competition going on during the weekend.. but the cold was a huge deterrent.. after eating pizza at this kotl pizza in kamppi, we met kei and took the metro to the zoo and walked in. The zoo was situated on an island. A 3 euro ticket and we were in. It was a pretty bad day to view the animals cos its so cold and we tend to go in to some indoor viewing area like bird cage or amazon area every 10 mins to get warmth. moreover, most of the animals also do not come out in the cold, esp those cats that marika mentioned.. but it was suffice to see the half complete ice sculptures and the other animals. at least we can say we haf been to the zoo! (Sculptors @ work)

After walking ard for 2.5 hrs, we went to this ultra huge mall in itakeskus. There was sale everywhere! Some clothes were pretty affordable too. There was a giant supermarket there too but due to lack of time ( cos shops close at 6 pm on sats and dun even open on sun) we went to eat at hesburger which has the best fries, then went home. Me wif cute baby n family! So we went back home and to our surprise it was really crowded! There was this farewell party for man qi, this china gal living wif her jap bf kuosuka.. she leaving on wed back to china then her frens and his frens were all in our living area. and to our surprise, kei was invited and he jio aya down from above too. at first me n xz a bit apprehensive about joining cos we dun even know our neighbours well. but then the ice was broken when i went to cook noodles then i talked to the couple, and then they invite and all talk talk talk liao.. its so interesting! a mix of 7 japanese, 6 chinese , 2 sg, 2 finns, 1 korean.. its like asia in our living room! and they were very surprised tat sg had 2 languages.. eng n chi.. then the china pple converse in their pu dong hua wif us. i was amazed by the lvl of english and the vast knowledge of languages of the pple there.. all could speak english, their mother tongue, jap or chinese, and finnish , and maybe more.. then their knowledge of history and things ard them also very vast. they talked about this space law thingie, old jap/sg/chinese dramas/history of finland,china,sg, jap songs, and cny etc.

Parties are never without beer or chips. And it is always a hassle to clear up after that. everyone left abt 2 pm and all slept their sunday away... til the match manu pool.. and then mon was back to SCHOOL.. the newest nicest building in TKK.. TUas building wif a lot of glass and nice architecture where i borrowed my HRM book.














Then monday we had our first futsal game after our finnish lesson! damn fun! the system was a bit funny tho' , each team plays for abt 10 mins, then whoever sub in must be keeper 1st, guess its fair this way but still when no one wanna sub out, the keeper will be frustated and the pple waiting too. there were 2 gals playing too. and they can realli kick the ball and play and control. i was impressed wif the shot power too cos i tot gal cannot kick hard one.. but the standard was pretty high as futsal is more of one touch passing and coordination rather than individual skill..

Then the homework piles in. Essay on Leadership in global Organisation due soon. Digital Control also due.. for the first time in 2 mths, we hafta begin studying! Play on hold! no more snowball fights! not that there were any!

NRJ Awards 2006

Firstly, let me comment on the cold. ITS FREEZING NOW! -22 degrees celsius. Even walking to my school which is 5 mins walk away (abt 1 km) is torturous. And it is kind of a paradox since inside the building there is heating facilities, so its either u are cold or u are hot. Anyway while walking about Helsinki city centre today, we could only tahan about 10 mins of walking around before we ran into some bldg to get warmth. It is terrible, you lose feeling of your fingers, ears and toes.. i think i have to get some new gloves and maybe earmuffs.. i heard that up north in oulu, where kqy n wl are, and where i was initially supposed to go, it is -30 degrees. Anyway, the sporean peeps have taken a trip to Estonia, Tallin which is a ferry ride away.. but me n xz din go because of NRJ radio awards 2006! and also cos it is so cold now, still go walkwalk for wat. (http://www.nrjradioawards.com/nra2006_en_final.html)

NRJ awards.. We went to Kamppi, which is the Helsinki city centre, did not really explore much due to lack of time, and also the COLD. We tried to find the senate square but we horland and we found this nice skating rink. then we went back to the station and took a train to Pasila where the areena was located.




Look
at
Me!







Then we had to brave the cold to get from the Pasila station to the Hartwall Areena which is the home of some helsinki ice hockey team. The place sits 11000 pple and is really massive. Actually the main crowd of people were young pubescent gals who were rooting for their idols.. Darin (swedish singer wif a hit called 'Step up'), the finnish idols(yes, finland also got and they received much more applause than craig david who suffered the fate of having his thank-you speech interrupted by the appearance of these idols) and some other nordic bands.



Finnish idols




















Ever wonder what happens during commercial breaks? These 2 jokers throw darts at each other stomachs, set each other on fire, use a huge elastic band to twang on the other person's barebody etc.

Craig David and Amy Diamond

She is only 13 and released a single already!

Westlife, t.a.t.u, darren hayes from savage garden all graced the event. as u can see, we got pretty good standing seats cos we are like 2 metres from the stage only. Up close! i was surprised that the nordic bands could play such catchy music.. it made up for the disappointment of shakira not being there.. she pang sei last minute.. i emailed the publicist to kaobei but she referred me to her record company grrr.. too bad green day, madonna n robbie williams couldnt come. (they were nominated) imagine boulevard of broken dreams LIVE! i got snippets of videos of the other bands performances. but they amt to abt half a GB!

The Pretty Hostess of the show
Amy johnson or smth lidat

That being said, it was a pity the awards lasted so short a time, only 1.5 hrs.. but for 49 euro to see n exp the place, it shd be worth it.. we found a way to save money on transport too by doing the by left way cos if you want to travel to helsinki normally will cost u S$7.20 by bus for a journey like clementi to jurong! damn ex lor.. also found out that printing paper in my school is free.. at night can go back n print wads of stuff..

To supplement this entry, check out http://xnz-2006.blogspot.com/2006/01/finnish-winter.html . i haf been trying to yousendit the videos but it has been uploading for an hour and still cannot!

1st Day of School

It snowed overnight!

16th January marks my 1st lesson in HUT. As Finns are particular about punctuality, we arrived there 10 mins before class started. It was Finnish 1A (Suomi), and the class was already full. The lesson was like primary school lidat, teacher says a word, vowel or consonant, and you repeat after tr.. after 1.5 hrs of such stuff, we went to buy the course material ... 10E for the finnish notes!! So expensive.. in spore i think the 50 pages would cost only like 3 dollars? and that is only for one module, i wonder how much more the others would cost.. i would be taking 6 other modules here (AS-74.2112 Digital Control , Kie-98.7011 Finnish 1A, S-38.2188 Computer Networks, S-72.3320 Advanced Digital Communication , T-61.3010 Digital Signal Processing and Filtering , TU-53.1100 Basics of Work Psychology and Leadership) . We then went for lunch b4 me and xz went to Tapiola to purchase the NRJ awards tickets for this thurs.. although the prices a bit steep.. 49E but its a once in a lifetime chance to see shakira, westlife, TATU and hopefully green day... its the 1st time in 7 years tat the nordic awards are held in finland.. tats y must see.. anyway kaizhao saw oasis in concert lor.. i finally saw snow for the 1st time today.. as i mentioned before, it has been relatively warm so far.. normally i wear 2 layers then add one more outer coat.. and only at nite then wear beanie n gloves due to wind chill but today it snowed over night.. everything is white! so i wore my thermal wear for the 1st time!

Communicating with other people here is pretty hard.. i have to speak real slowly and my slang has not developed yet, therefore i m forced to repeat myself most of the time.. i think maybe i mumble too much heh.. but even in msn with the pple, i have to use proper english, no 'la's leis.. and must spell out everything.. so bothersome..

Update on prev days: went the welcome sauna where u r supp 2 heat up until 80 deg then jump into the freaking cold ice water.. we juz sat in a corner and had our own singapore gathering plus a few other exchg students like marika, aya and kei.. this dutch gal came to 'pick me up' as ivan put it.. yar but more or less must get used to the drinking culture since beer is the cheapest drink here.. half of wat a coke costs which is abt 1.40E.. n they haf lotsa parties over here.. i went to open my bank acct the nxt day at nordea bank.. shop for groceries then went back apartment for zm to cook... weekends are normally parties on sat then sun is spent hangover at home.. we watched soccer on sat on pplive.. then i completed desperate hsewives season1 on sun.. no shops are open on sun!! its like family day... we went to leppavaara only to find no shops so i ate the famous kebab.. Stadin Ateris.. a must-try in finland but so ex tat u try only once.. 7.45 euro.. its a huge portion.. think me, wj and another person can share
after tat went to check out ivan's apartment for the 1st time.. his lift very cool.. its like a [ and there isnt any door and u have to open the door when u reach the lvl... yar tats abt all.. we juz went to the sports hall to see if we could play futsal but we couldnt as the hall was used for some fair.. so we went to the coast n found the sea had already frozen and there was this guy walking on it!.. kk now watching new police story again.. update another time

Frozen lake

My home

Our meals!

Toilet

My room and xz's room(Best part abt my room is tat it has its own FRIDGE and its own Toilet!)
Kitchen: Well stocked by other pple staying in the same room. Too bad i dunno how to cook if not i can use his oyster sauce, soy sauce and all kinds of different sauces.
Common living room where no one uses.. Only when people cook then they eat then they come out... Sadly very little interaction between the people here.. All cooped up in their own rooms.. Maybe cos the sch network of movies, drama serials and other stuff here is extensive.. Damn shuang can stay home n juz keep watching ..

Update! DAy 1 n 2

Farewell.. Thanks guys !
OK i shall not procastinate any more.. Upon arrival at airport i bade farewell to King how, then xz and heikki, my shuai tutor who plays floorball (and more importantly has a CAR with a damn nice GPS system) came to meet me, so i was lucky enough to sit in a comfy 20 min car ride to my hostel unlike the rest who had to lug their luggage by bus and across the slippery roads. I kid u not, u better have boots cos' even with my columbia boots which are same as zhengmin's, i still found it hard to walk around.. its seriously like ice skating.. They try to sprinkle gravel n sand on the roads but there are still places overlooked. Anyway, i went to my room, unpacked, and went to shop for stuff. There is a nearby supermarket(Alepa and K mart) 5 mins away but everything is really expensive here. There are a total of 9 of us from NUS(to my surprise), me, xz, zm, kaijun, jinfu, dai da, ivan, Wu zhe, and yang kai.. so we were like dominant during the orientation..The tutor even commented we could form a soccer team.. which we intend to here..
Mac meal at Paris airport (E2.90 for egg mcmuffin, cocoa (a choice of coffee,tea or cc) and orange)

HesBurger Meal (E5.15)

The rest having dinner(me, jf, daniel and zm)

I stay in an area called Otaniemi which is near the school area. Ivan and zhengmin stay in leppavaara which is a 15 min bus ride away.. They are the fabulous cooks of the gang, without them i will eat bread everyday.. Anyway after unpacking, i went to the mall at zhengmin's place.. As i said expenses are high. i got my phone line, +358 509 305 175.. (call for emergency only) for 18 euros, and then walked to bus stop to go to Leppavaara.
i bought a lan cable(E5.40)[yes i brought a phone cable instd of lan cable], bought groceries like bread and cornflakes, had dinner at Hesburger(E5.15), then we went to zhengmin's apartment where he shared wif his spanish roommate Danielle who is a cock.
I sampled a bit of zm's cooking, pasta wif sausage(1st meal) and then we headed back to our place... did i mention transport is damn expensive.. E2.20 for abt 7 bus stops away to zm house , and 2.20 back.. that is practically 8 sing dollars for a trip to n fro. I went back to sleep off my jet lag.. My hostel and heikki, oli and me(my tutors or pple responsible for me and four others)

The next day, i did all my admin stuff. Went to pay my rent (192 + 200 euros), settled the housing stuff, then went to the main building to enrol in the school. We met our tutors there wif another Estonian and Spaniard who juz came too. So after settling the computer accounts, we went to this canteen within campus to have lunch.. This lunch is the most hwa meal in finland.. student price 2 euro.. (too bad only got lunch).. other foodstuffs elsewhere are exorbitant. Nice heikki then fetched us to the neighbouring town to do our travel pass(40 euros for a mth to alleviate the travel costs). I found out many interesting things abt finland.. they have this wife carrying competition where u are supposed to carry ur wife or a woman accross a lake.. Icehockey, skiiing is quite popular here too.. the road signs here are in finnish and swedish.. Some facts now.. It is 6 hours before Sg time, so it is kinda hard to catch me online.. and i apologise for not being able to chat cos i m either in xz room(which is 3 rooms away) or i am cooking( or trying to cook or trying to learn)... the euro is twice of the sg dollar, and there is only daylight from 8 am to 4 pm.. it is supposed to be very cold right now but somehow it isnt as cold as expected.. i m not supposed to see any greenery here.. but i can!! The 1st day was cold but once the sun is out, it is not tat unbearable. IT is really hard walking when it rains which it did on the 1st day and it is only cold due to the wind chills.. i haven seen any snow yet ... but the weather seems to be topsy turvy, it is supposed to get colder but it is getting warmer.. perhaps global warming?? we then went back for dinner and tried cooking our 1st meal! which is rice wif tomato ketchup and sausage and lettuce wif ikanbilis sauce brought from sg.. see xz blog for how to cook( http://xnz-2006.blogspot.com/2006/01/settling-in.html).. we then headed for the exchange students sauna welcome party...

Doesn't look cold right? Can see green lei...!!