Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!

Hehe, even though I'm not Irish, I've been living in Ireland long enough, so while I'm in Dublin at the mo, I'd like to wish all my Irish friends "HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY"!!! :D Unfortunately, while everyone is enjoying the festivities, I'm stuck at my computer working! :( So decided to blog for a few minutes as a treat for being so "hardworking", haha! Right, so back to the grindstone I go! Lalalalalalalala...

Brunei's 23rd National Day Celebration in Berlin (23.2.07)

This is the first national day celebrated by my parents and I in Berlin. The venue was very snazzy, I have to say - the Ritz Carlton, no less! The food was quite well done, and all the Bruneian diplomats' wives made at least one kind of Bruneian dessert - let's see, kuih bom, bingka susu and pandan, kuih lapis, etc.

They are not that many Bruneians living in Berlin itself, the others are in other German cities far from Berlin such as Mannheim, Bonn, etc. Unfortunately, only one was able to attend the celebration - Meela's cousin, Long-Long, who's studying in Bonn (Oi, Long, kenapa inda pakai baju melayu???). The other Bruneians who attended were my friends from Ireland. My goddaughter, Erika, was a bit of handful, in a good way, but she was a hit for everyone who attended. Cuteness always wins, haha!

And finally, some photos taken at the end of the evening. Overall, it was an enjoyable evening. Hopefully, next year, the other Bruneian students will be able to make it to the event. After all, when one is far from home, it's always nice to get together every so often. :) Anyway, even if this is belated:

- HAPPY 23rd NATIONAL DAY -

The Gelato Experience

I scream, you scream, everybody wants ICE CREAM!!! ;D In Berlin, our apartment is so close to the Arkaden Shopping Centre that you can actually SMELL the gelato (Italian ice cream) served by the famous Italian ice cream parlour it houses! Yummy! :9 Here you can the see the variety of flavours you can get - my current favourite is pistazien (i.e. pistachio), but if you're allergic to nuts, stay well clear and just get vanilla (my other favourite!)!

Here are some classical types of ice cream servings you can order... ... but then, since it's an Italian establishment, you can also order pizza and spagetti made from ice cream, fruits, chocolate, etc. The spagetti actually looks like it has real pasta, haha! Man, it makes me want to immediately jump on a plane back to Berlin just to have my pistazien ice cream! :(

Sightseeing in Berlin (Part IV) - Park Sanssouci

On the last day of my friends' visit, we decided to head out to Park Sanssouci. This is actually located in Potsdam, which is the capital of the state of Brandenburg, but since it's not too far from Berlin, why not take the opportunity to visit it, right. Anyway, Photo 1 was taken in the van we were travelling in, with Junaidi who was kind enough to drive us there! Hmmm, he should really be looking at the road! :P
Sansoucci was originally the summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. Photo 2 shows the south facing garden facade, while Photo 3 is of the central bow of the garden facade, which is decorated with carved figures of Atlas and Caryatids.

If you take the route right of the garden facade, you'll come across a stream shown in Photo 4. You can see the so-called Chinese House in the distance. Photo 5 is a close-up of this building.
Photo 6 is just a bit of messing around. Justina's idea. So which shadow is mine, hehe? ;)

Photo 7 is one taken with almost everyone who went on the trip, people missing from the photo are Adek (Auntie Zaiton's son) who's taking the photo, and Junaidi and Danny, who drove us to Park Sansoucci. (Left to right: Justina, Maresa, Auntie Zaiton, Liana, my mum, Erika (in buggy), Christinah, my dad, Long-Long, me, Andy)

So there you have it, the last photo for this series. For those thinking of coming over to visit Berlin (hinting at Liza, Siti, June and Meela!), hope these photos give you something to look forward to!!! :)

Sightseeing in Berlin (Part II) - The Pergamon Museum

The Pergamon Museum - this has got to be, in my opinion, the best museum I've been to thus far. I love it even more than The Louvre Museum in Paris and The Uffizi in Florence (to name a few)! Anyway, this museum is located on what is called the Museum Island (an island on the Spree River) on which at least four other museums may also be found. Photo 1 is of the entrance taken at night (recognise the person on the right? Hehe!).

Since visitors are not allowed to take photos using a flash, the quality of the photos are not as good as we'd like them to be. Therefore, I'm only going to show you the photos of the first amazing piece of history you see in this museum - the Pergamon Altar! It is an original-size reconstruction using parts transported from the original excavation sites - Photos 2-4. Thanks to Long-Long (a.k.a. Nazim) for POSING in the photos! POSER!!!Hahaha! ;P

[to be continued in Part III]

Sightseeing in Berlin (Part I) - The Berlin Wall

So what's the first thing one thinks of when Berlin is mentioned? The Berlin Wall, of course! Luckily, we live in the very heart of Berlin - Potsdamer Platz! Hence, the presence of remnants of the Berlin Wall even next to our local Bahnhof (underground station) - Photo 1.

Another part of the demolished wall which is a must-see is the East Side Gallery. I was told that the artwork on these walls are changed once a year. Justina and I decided to leave our own "artwork" (more like graffiti) on behalf of ourselves and our respective families, hehe - Photos 2-4.

[to be continued in Part II]

Warning!!! Warning!!!

Hehe, just a quick warning message to let you know that the next several blog posts will contain mainly photos - yep, I'm doing a "Meela"! :P Haha, only joking, Meel dear! Anyway, to briefly summarise the contents of the photos, last week, friends of mine (Christinah, Andy, Erika, Justina and Nazim) came over to Berlin for a visit as well as to celebrate Brunei's National Day with us (21.2.07 - 25.2.07). Of course, that meant a bit of sightseeing was required AND I finally managed to get off my lazy "posterior" to go around Berlin (after living there for over 3 months now!). Therefore, photos will be from all the sightseeing as well as the reception for the National Day celebration. Enjoy!!! :)