23 March 2000 hrs Stamford Bridge
Chelsea Vs Newcastle FA Cup 1/4 final.
After rushing back from a hectic day of sightseeing(and a london bridge 1 hr rushed tour with kevin chua), me n xz were brought by wenbin n zhenhao n pj n 3 other imperial college frens which i only know their dota nicks to see my first live soccer match!
Initially because we were given goal end tickets, it was a bit off but i guess the atmosphere was good enough. After all, it was the CHAMPIONS Chelsea versus a good team Newcastle as opposed to the match i would have watched if i did not get these tickets(Tottenham vs West Brom). At a discounted price of 25P, we were allocated upper tier tickets at the home end. We entered the stadium just as the kickoff began and were treated to a mini brawl between the fans already. Talk about passion! As the stewards calmed the angry supporters, we rushed to our seats, hoping for no early goal before we arrived.
Alas, just as we found our seats, there was this banter going on about the standing ppl and the sitting ppl who were obscured from the view due to lousier seats at the back. Taunts were exchanged even between fans of the same club as the people behind were unhappy about the inconsiderateness. Since i was not blocked, i juz enjoyed the match from afar(ard 3 storeys from the corner flag) but standing is inevitable in such matches esp when the team comes close to scoring.. every1 high, every1 stand.. got chants of "Sit down if you support Tottenham" and "Stand up if u support Chelsea!". There were also frequent chants of "go fight with each other instead of playing soccer" in an disguised reference to the punches between Dyer and Bowyer(who were from the same New team) and also "fuck off shearer" cos he damn kb wif the ref. It was a whole new experience but i realised that watching a match live, u cannot enjoy the play as u do in live tv, u get to sing the chelsea songs, get high together, boo, cheer, exp the ups n downs of the match but unless u get really near n gd seats, u forget the events in the match even tho' the big tv will replay the goals.. u also miss the good commentary and everything seems to go by in a flash, moreover i spend more time trying to zoom and get good shots.. in the 90 mins i was there, i felt as if i was there only 15 mins. but watching with 40, 000 other people in the crowd and cheeering for the same team is certainly breathtaking. Even the women were crazy, screaming and spewing vulgarities.. the youngsters also just cheered n booed in their chelsea jerseys.
When half time arrived, i decided to go closer down to as far as i was allowed to snap pics. As the 1st chance for Chelsea came in the 2nd half, everyone stood up and oohed an aahed.. at this euphoric moment, i decided to squat next to this guy in the 5th row from the bottom. I was pleaseantly surprised when he asked me to share his seat hence i got a better seat for the 2nd half.. and was closeup with all the action as the pics will tell u. i could see crespo, essien and huth warming up and clapping to the fans. i was also able to zoom closer to the corners tat chel took.. mostly lampard was the one taking.. i was able to snap the mini brawl between the players and the sending off of robbie elliot too. (we did not know who got sent off until back at their house when zh chked soccernet n this shows how impt commentary is, cos live match no replays one_ I can't rem much of the match just tat Chelsea was hanging on their 4th min corner goal from john terry then there was not much chances, one by shaun wright which he skied during a 1 v 1 and then drogba 2 attempts were blocked by given. At the 80th min, i was given a better bonus as a father brought his 4 kids away so i immed went to occupy the 2nd row seat at the corner flag! altho angle a bit lousy but i am so so near, just like les miserables 2nd row seat! Chel managed to hang on til the end and everyone streamed out. The roads are closed on matchday becos there is just too much traffic. those that park near or drove cannot get out early unless u leave early cos once the final whistle is blown, everyone streams out and it takes ages to get back.
In conclusion, the 25 P was really totally worth it.. can see all the players made me feel so surreal like they are some comic figureines on this green board. But i realise the play is different close up as u can see the small little actions used to feign and used to foul.. it is just Different.. it seems a bit more scrappy play but yet still nice to see on tv. but one thing is for sure. the british are realli soccer crazy!
afternoon: super nice museumsuper nice parksuper nice bridges n tour guide
Rovaniemi (Santa Village) 18 March
Deprived of sleep, we groggily checked into the guesthouse which was a really cosy place to stay in.. the whole place cost abt 190 euro per night for all of us.. after unpacking, we took a walk to the city centre but walked the wrong way towards the kemi lake.. we then u-turned n walked to the city centre.. we asked ard for the cheapest rates in all the different safaris.. the main things to do in lapland was snowmobiling, going santa village, reindeer farm, husky farm n watching NORTHERN LIGHTS.. AURORA BOREALIS! We had lunch at Rex buffet since being typical kiasu pple, we wanted free flow and the prices for a typical meal cost 8 euro so we might as well have it buffet style.. after spending 2.5 hrs, we went to lapland safari to decide our packages.. a typical package cost a few hundred euros...so it was pretty painful to part with that money.. it was like half a mth accomo gone.. in the end we settled on the 110 euro snowmobile ride to the reindeer farm where we would haf take reindeer driving test and cross the arctic circle while taking part in a lappi ceremony.. we sat in the sofa and took abt 40 mins to decide, so it was a bit paisei to actually linger there so long.. after finally paying the money, we went outside to take pics wif this cow tied to the tree.. the streets were being prepared n barricaded for this santa race to be held tat evening.. After shopping for souvenirs and postcards, we went home n cooked pasta b4 going out again.. i was so tired from the lack of slp the previous nights cos "forced to slp on sofa" and prject deadline on thurs so i did not join them n napped for an hr plus..
The city looked different at night, and when i reached there was this fire juggling act being held.. the others saw this reindeer racing show also.. i met them at the igloo bar which had nice ice sculptures but was nothing much also.. we snapped pics of the nice bridge and started trekking to the sky hotel which was recommended to us by ivan. Singing songs and listening to mp3 kept our spirits high in the dampening cold as we finally reached the hotel after walking abt 2 km. The hotel lady was SUPER frenly and gave us many websites to see for the northern lights activity.. she even told us to go to her hotel roof to see nice scenery of the city lights and the stars.. this was in spite of us not being guests! we went to the roof and snapped pics while amy n jenny went mad n started singing songs in the cold.. but sadly the northern lights did not appear even tho we waited for an hour plus.. we then went for hot coffee and donut in the lobby before getting a cab to bring us home cos we had to be ready for our long day the next day. We bathed and wrote postcards til abt two.
We had breakfast and were driven to lapland safari from our guesthouse. We were then suited up to their gear (BALACLAVA, mittens, jumpsuit, helmet, snow shoes) b4 being given a short intro.. only those above 15 n wif a driving license could maneuvre the snow mobile which is pretty much like a motor cycle but wif skis on snow.. i was lucky to tactfully avoid having a partner since eliz n jen paired, xz n jenny, juan n amy.. cos solo riding is actually 35 euros more ex.. so i could try all kinds of stunts on the snow mobile.. i only could accelerate up to 65 kmh cos there was a chaperon wif us but it was really exhilarating. The accelerating handle was a bit hard to grip cos normally ur hand is not tat big but still it was realli fun as u could steer the vehicle! We arrived at the lappish reindeer farm and had hot tea there. we then took part in this lappish ceremony where the Sami gal
in traditional costume gave us magic powder to eat and even gave us horns(black marks) so tat we would be reincarnated as reindeer. she only gave the kids marks on the nose so that they can get rid of stress n are given the privilege to be home reindeer and be able to eat n sleep.. apart for the 2 cute kids in the lappy hut, she also painted my nose!! which means i still look young! haha.. we were then paired up and were taught how to go for a reindeer sleigh ride.. the well trained reindeers brought us safely round the enclosure n we were then approved to have passed the course n issued a 5 year valid reindeer driving license! After a spot of tobaggoning, we headed back to our snow mobile.. jen wanted to drive so i became her distraught passenger.. she realli mad one.. fail S course n go so fast over hump.. i felt a bit unbalanced at the back cos i was taking pic as she was driving so fast! she went up to abt 70 kmh when the guide was not looking.. i was so afraid my camera would drop off.. we stopped to take some pics of ice fishing n then headed back to the safari.. This was really the highlight of the trip!! snow mobiling was indeed very fun! in the snowy lands, we had some mini snow ball fights and the cool snow falling on us was very comfortable!
After going home, we prepared for Santa Village visit. To save money, we took a 5.40 euro public bus to the village which was 8 km away. It is the place where all the mail comes in and is chopped wif a special santa stamp! due to lack of time, i could not mail all the postcards there.. we queued up for a picture wif santa and the whole sequence was monopolized by the commercial industry cos no cameras were allowed n one had to pay 5 euro for a foto..
i sneaked a few pics in the santa room as jenny amy n xz bought the foto..we then went souvenir hunting n snapping pics ard the place.. i bought this apron n glove for auntie rosalind which cost 27 euro.. n a couple of small stuff for wb, pj n alvin.. then while me amy n jenny went home cos it was VERY windy n cold, the others stayed for the later bus so as to take a night shot of the santa village. it proved a good decision as the others missed the last bus n had to hitch hike a ride back to home.. so scary! after warming up n eating pasta for dinner, we prepared to head out again to search for the northern lights.. we went to the kemi lake after playing tobaggoning at our place.. the music was a real morale booster as it gave me courage and calmed me in the blistering colds n wintery winds.. we stayed in the lake for til 2 am but it was too cloudy to see any northern lights so we headed home again to warm up n watch a bit of movies before i dozed off on the couch.
After waking up in the morning, they went for bf while i was too lazy to get up n gave it a miss.. we decided to take the earlier train back to tampere cos' there was nothing much left to do in rovaniemi already.. so the others went to the Artikum, the famous musuem in rovaniemi while me n jenn rushed to city centre to find postcards. Unfortunately, the shop was closed on sundays.. as usual , sundays in finland is a real bore..every1 stay at home n slp.. me n jenn went to the coast to snap fotos and scaled the dangerous highway to the artikum to take fotos of the glass exterior.. then we rushed all the way back to the railway station where the others were waiting wif our bags.. it turned out that there were no tix left for tat train so we had to burn 8 hrs in rovaniemi b4 our train back to tampere.. depositing our bags in the guesthouse, we then went out to the city centre to search for lunch.. xz was obsessed wif his northern most mac theorem but we wanted to save money n combine lunch n dinner so it was REX buffet yet again.. this time they stayed from 3 pm to 8 pm while me amy jenn jen went back to artikum to realli visit the musuem.. then we ate at rex from 5 to 8 and went to the railway. the sky was realli cloudless n clear tat night n we were lamenting our misfortune at this scenario of us not being able to stay one more night..
ON our way to the railway, we were pleasantly surprised by the appearance of a green light in the sky!! altho a bit faint, it glowed slowly and seemed to move.. we tried to whistle cos' we were told that whistling when we see the aurora would cause it to dance! it seemed to shift a bit as we were finally lucky to witness this remarkable occurance.. i tot of smsing kj but dun be so jek ar.. haha.. it lasted a mere 5 mins as we saw another green streak as we were nearing the guesthouse.. when we told the lady abt our sights, she asked which side we saw it and ascertained that it most likely the aurora since it came from the northern sky.. at least our money was well validated by the seeing of the aurora! shiok ah..
now we taking the 9 hr train back to tampere.. fotos to come!
Jen's Visit to Helsinki 15/3This is to supplement the diary i wrote for the tampere gals visit to jen's visit to us going to rovaniemi since i am on the train now without any music so i have to use music from the laptop and might as well use the battery to type my diary too.
Let me begin from where i stopped writing..on wed 15/3 me went to kamppi to pick jen up.. her 1st reaction to helsinki was that it is so city like, totally different from tampere which is a student village. We went back to 301, put down our stuff, then went to my Meeting and Negotiations class where we had this lesson on eye contact and how to display the right body language when talking to pple. Ken was not the one teaching tat day so it was quite a waste but then we still had an interesting time. We were lined up in 2 rows and had to converse in our partner in the unfavourable and recommended types of talking.Then after that we played this game called scrupples, a famous american word game where u had to make a person give u the right answer to a question. Eg u are given an answer card with 'yes' and you have 5 question cards. you are then told to choose a person to answer your question. if the person answer yes u can get rid of the card. if not, u can contest the decision wif the other members of the group being the judges OR u have to take another card. As jen said, it was SUPER sian n pretty boring after some time cos it is so primary sch.. anyway after tat we went to alepa and then to home to cook lemon chicken rice which did not really turn out well.
LEMON CHICKEN EXPT
We were told to add 1 tb egg to the chicken but then we beat 3 eggs liao.. so it was more of omelette chicken.. it was then when jen reminded us that the egg was to stick the cornstarch instead!! to make the crispyness.. so we change plan n made sambal chilli chicken.. while we were gone, xz was making his ai xin soup.. giam chai suan chai tang... it had a unique taste but then it was too suan n the tou fu tasted weird too.. after dinner n washing up, we headed to maaritalo to print all the maps for her trip and her notes as she made use of Finland's FREE printing.. we printed notes til 12 midnight as finding good maps was really difficult.. we had to find maps for edinburgh, rovaniemi and london while she had to search for her brussels, amsterdam, paris, geneva n other places.. after tat i brought her on a little tour ard the sch, taking pics at dipoli which is her fave building wif all the rocks n such.. then to the frozen lake where we ventured into the gulf of finland to take pics.. and also the TF tunnel where we mimicked all the paintings.. after tat go home, bathe, slp..
We woke up late the nxt day n missed the 1st 102 as usual.. so we called marika n told her to leave later.. turned out she also forgot to bring her wallet n our suomenlinna trip was delayed much later again. Suomenlinna is a sea fortress which was part of Sweden and Russia and has many cannons and historical value. it is hereby protected as a UNESCO side due to the historical significance.. After lunch at Hes, we took the ferry without paying the fare since "within 80 mins".. becos marika tagged along, she was worried abt the conductor and asked abt the fare but being mervish, we juz took the 10 mins ferry. It was a cold windy place and we followed the blue route but in winter, everything is closed, therefore it was pretty much a waste of time. Amy's self-comforting description was to enjoy the silence of winter.. in short boring la.. nobody at all.. we went to shipyard, the old ruins of castle, the cannons, i went down to the sea to carve my name, then in 2 hrs we headed back to the main island already.
we brought jen to senate square, marketplace, NOT the white church, the church on hilltop while marika had to rush back to meeting. Then we hionged a tram to the olympic tower where we had to waste 2 euros each to go all the way up to see the scenery.. damn dirty at the top, altho' the scenery is good, it was really a bad gimmick(pun intended) to trick tourists into forking out the money.. 1952 olympic stadium.. after tat, it was amazing race again as we rushed home and i had to return my DSP txtbk. within one hr(cos to save on the return bus fare), we had to make dinner(pizza n french toast), bathe, return bk, pack up and head for LAPLAND.. we reached the station juz in time n then went on to meet the tampere pple.
The train ride was SUPER uncomfy as it braked abruptly at certain points of time. The 9 hr train ride was really a torture as we could not get any slp at all.. n then have to keep moving the bag up and down to get stuff.. we arrived in ROVANIEMI at 0700 hrs and checked into guesthouse borealis..
