Behind the Scenes

Heehee I'm so excited to post about this, Idk why.

This is a story about a whiny boy.

On Good Friday, CH realised that his gf's (Yanni) birthday was coming. It's today btw, which explains why I couldn't post this earlier because we wanted to film a SARPARAISSSSSSSEEEEE!! :D

We went to some part of Slussen (I forgot the name again...) because the view would have been the best backdrop Stockholm has to offer.

So what went down was that Chunhan sang 'Happy Birthday' to Yanni. Nigel recorded it and I provided emotional support. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IMPORTANT EMOTIONAL SUPPORT WAS.

CH had this planned awhile back, but we realised that Good Friday was his last chance to film it because he was going to leave for a trip after that. And we had planned to film before going to Hillsongs but time passed too fast and we knew that to film it we'd be late.

So when we were leaving the hostel to catch Hillsongs' Good Friday service, we didn't bring the guitar. And here was the flow of the conversation. Btw this was edited because CH WAS BEING PICKY...AGAIN...

CH: Eh we never bring out the guitarrrrrr?

M: Oh you wanted to film?

CH: No I don't want. We never bring the guitarrrrr?

N: Ok we go back and take

CH: Nooooooo. I don't wanttttt

(This went on for a bit more. But we went back to grab the guitar)

CH: Why you bring out the guitarrrr?

       You're carrying the guitar ah.

M: Ok

CH: Really ah?

M: No. You've got no bags, you carry the guitar.

CH: WHY

On the way out

CH: Why you bring out the guitarrrr???

            Why you make me carry the guitarrrr???

                Why do we have to film thissss??

NG scene
CH: Happy Birthday to you...
        FREAK KEY WRONG

Anyway, we got that done. And CH is eternally grateful for my emotional support in making him do this video so that he's got something for Yanni on her birthday. "HAHAH hehe thanksss frienddddd"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YANNI!

Idk what Nigel was doing for a good 3 minutes on the train...

Then we proceedeth to Hillsongs for their Good Friday service. It was held in a traditional church called Clara Kyrka. It was quite cool to see a traditional church all spruced up for an overcrowded Christian pop-rock concert.

As you can see, this place was a fire hazard... 

Luckily we came late and we were near the door...

Imagine if the rubbish-chute-turned-incinerator was here...

Jokes aside, music was really nice, even the Swedish songs that we were unfamiliar with. It was interesting :)

INSTANT MEE SUPPAAZZZ. HAPPY BELATED GOOD FRIDAY/EASTER WEEKEND

Burning down da house

This is a story of how we almost burned the student hostel, Lappis.

It's Good Friday this week and on Thursday we wanted to bless the residents of the hostel. Our plan was to barbeque sausages and to give them out. The intention behind it was good and it was quite well-received. More interesting way of Flag Day.

After that, when we were cleaning up, we forgot to douse the charcoal with water and leehe dumped it directly into the waste disposal.

10 min later, when ch and maisie were grabbing a beer, we saw that the chute was SMOKING. LOL..

Hahaha so after that. Some guy went to the beer shop we were in and told the owner. Next thing we know he comes out armed with a fire extinguisher as though he's been trained and prepared for this shizz. Hahaha. K I shouldn't laugh but it's only funny because nothingg serious had happened which we are all thankful for.

We almost turned the rubbish chute into an incinerator.  Heh

Chunhan is complaining about how I blog so regularly and about things he considers as a violation of privacy. THEN DON'T READ MY BLOG LAH. Someday a few years from now, when you read my blog again,  you'll be thankful that I'm such a detailed and steadfast blogger friend.

Ditching my public transport pass to cycle around like a true Swede.

Now that it's spring, the roads aren't as wet and icy which makes it perfect for cycling!! :D

Bought myself a season bike pass that allows me to rent bikes at certain stands around Stockholm. I just have to tap my card and the bike is mine for up to 3 hours. Don't have to worry about locking it and it getting stolen because I just have to dump it at one of the supporting stands.

I'll really miss this cold and slightly dry weather, which allows me to cycle without ending up drenched in sweat. In an attempt to save money and keep fit, I pretty much cycle to school all the time, even when it rained one time. It was quite a refreshing and interesting experience, wind and rain hitting against my face. Conditions for a cold, I know, blame it on the compulsory class scheduled during bad weather :P.

SY/XBz got a bike, and CH got a bike pass as well. Now it's Nigel left, and we shall teach him how to cycle someday.

So XBz, CH and I ditched Nigel on Thursday to cycle around Hagaparken, a nice big park near our place.

We fed a duck, goose and swan our remnants of applepaj crumbs hehe. All I have to say is that these birds are incredibly conditional friends who lack patience. The swan couldn't wait for me to finish eating, too bad no applepaj for you. Shame on you, patience is a virtue.

This is CH attempting to feed the swan his WRAPPER. He is very environmentally-friendly, don't be mistaken. Subsequently, he threw his wrapper onto the bank of the lake without even attempting to find a dustbin, good job friend.

After which we skipped stones, and nearly killed the birds. We also threw stones in, and the birds thought they were food and had a look of disappointment as it sank.

We then cycled around Hagaparken and to Lappis. The slopes were no joke, at one point I gave up. When we reached a series of flights of staircases it was like "You kiddin' me?". I just died because the bike was nearly my weight and even with the ramps provided on the steps I still died.

On Friday, I decided to cycle to Slussen to meet the other to walk around because CH & Nigel had friends who came over to Stockholm. Thing is, I got lost and this is what I had found (pun pun pun)

It's called Riddarholmen, and it has an almost unobstructed view of the sun as it sets :)

I think cycling will be one of the things I'll miss a lot after exchange (;

Amsterdam - Windmills!

While Amsterdam is really messy and smelly with the weed and smoke at every street, the outskirts are about the nicest places I've been to. 

And how can you miss the windmills when in Holland?

So I headed to a place called Zaanse Schans to catch the windmills :)

Cheese factory

My lunch - bread, milk and Dutch strawberries. Dutch strawberries were actually sweet! It was the first time I didn't have to add sugar or honey to them. Just pop the whole thing in your mouth and spit out the leaves heh.

Really antique cashier which they still use

Dutch art is really one of the prettiest art forms I've seen around. Yeah, partly because it's blue and white, a very pretty colour combi.

Had this for dinner, it was pretty solid stuff. Though I would think that going to Burger Bar and ordering fries with Jopee sauce would have been had the same satisfaction.

You see the little yellow sign in the background? That was the hostel that I had stayed in, 'Shelter'. The foreground is a typical 'window' in the Red Light District (hence the red lamps). My hostel was right in the middle of the RLD. To get back to my hostel I would have to walk past a few windows, and further up the street were a few coffeeshops that sold weed. 'Thai Massage' might even have extra service Idk.

BUT the hostel was a really lovely place to stay in. It was really clean and safe, and the staff were very helpful too! On the last night, they had an 'Open Mic' session and some Dutch snacks like stroopwaffles. People were singing and telling jokes. I met a 'missionary backpacker', and he basically backpacks around the world to bring a Christian influence. I don't remember what he does exactly in detail, but he looked like he was in his late 40s, and had been doing this for a really really long time.

Also managed to play the piano for the first time on that night, and jammed a little with the hotel staff, singing christian songs that we all knew... Pretty cool stuff, and it was completely unexpected from a city of so much vice.

I want this painted in my house. And for it to be the spirit in my home.

And this too.

On the day I left I went to a market nearby to grab food for my long journey back. I think anything from a market tastes good haha. Should have discovered this sooner. But I did enjoy strawberries and croissants and chicken at decent prices anyway.

:)

Amsterdam - Pass It On

This was the place I was looking forward too the mostest in Europe, Keukenhof!

Having been there, I would say that this place definitely deserves its title as the garden of Europe. I was there in end March, which was not the best time to be there (because not everything has bloomed) but I was still pretty much in awe in the 4-5 hours of being there. There was still beauty at every turn. I really wonder how it would be like now or in a couple of weeks when everything is blooming.

When I went back, I shared this place with a room mate from Hong Kong and showed her the photos. She kept saying 'OMG OMG OMG' 'This is good, really really good'. A part of me tried to hide my laughter at her response, because she hadn't even been there. Someday if I have the chance for a Euro tour in spring, I would come back to this place, because it is really beautiful.

Couldn't enter the tulip fields, and this was the closest I could get.

A gardener was throwing away a tulip right in front of me, and I gasped quite loudly hahaha. After which, he gave me the tulip when I asked for it.

A maze

Having had a taste of spring in its fullness - flowers blooming, birds singing, I really had to agree with the lyrics of 'Pass It On'

What a wonderous time is spring,
When all the tress are budding
The birds begin to sing, the flowers start their blooming;
That's how it is with God's love,
Once you've experienced it.
You want to sing, it's fresh like spring,
You want to pass it on. 

I really liked running around this place on my own, though it was quite troublesome to keep having people help me to take photos of me. Many of them were really nice, and some put in a lot of effort to help me get good shots I almost laughed when they kept moving around. But I guess the greatest bummer of going alone was that it would have been really really wonderful to have shared memories of this place with a good companion.

Ending off the day with really good Thai food. It even puts to shame many of the Thai restaurants in Singapore! It's called Waree's Thai Food, and it's along Jordan, where I had stayed.