Photos: Lin in Linz!

On the second last day in Bonn, we all went for a drive to Linz am Rhein (hehe, love the name of this village - can you guess why? ;p). By the way, this should not be mistaken for Linz in Austria! Before reaching Linz, we passed by the remains of the Ludendorff Bridge (a.k.a. Bridge of Remagen), which was of significance during World War II. The bridge was taken over by the Allied Forces since it was of strategic advantage, but several days after its capture, the bridge collapsed!

Anyway, Linz is really pretty, though I can't imagine living there - it's too small! XD I don't mind small cities, but small villages and towns are a bit too much for me to handle, haha! Anyway, my favourite part of Linz were the two armours of different sizes! The small one is sooo cute, hehe! Right, that's it about my trip! Now I should really get back to packing and whatnot! Bis spaeter!

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Photos: Break in Bonn!

We stayed in Bonn for two nights, but I didn't take many photos. Bonn's smaller than I expected, not in a bad way. Since it was the capital of Germany before Berlin, I just expected something larger and more industrial. Instead, Bonn reminds me more of a university city, like Cambridge and even Dublin - hence, I love it! And what's more, it is served by a brilliant public transport service, which was really lacking in Dublin, hehe! The size of the city is just right, I think and very green! I got a chance to see the University of Bonn in some detail, thanks to long2! I love the university, it reminds me so much of Trinity College Dublin, it's making me miss it a lot! Along the river, we came across a sundial which had the names of major cities on it and Dublin was there, so I reminisced yet again! Our stay in Bonn was both fun and tiring. Why tiring? Because we had to move hotels. The first night we stayed at the Dorint Hotel, up on a hill somewhere and near a forest! It was far from the city centre but so very relaxing, despite the "altmodisch" environment! The second night we stayed in the Maritim Hotel, fancier but extremely hectic as there was a huge UN convention being hosted there. So much security and thousands of people around! Along with Si long, I met up with Maarten and Nadine, so happy! Well, a little sad as well, since it's become obvious that my German has deteriorated! Ich muss wiederholen!!! I'll hit the books once I'm back in Brunei! Anyway, it was great seeing them again, will try my best to keep in touch with them! Nadine and I are online tandem partners. She'll help me with German and I'll help her with English, hehe! Well, onto my last post about my short holiday! xxx

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Photos: Second day in Frankfurt!

Just arrived back in Berlin several hours ago! Arrived home to the new manga I ordered from Amazon and we also went to Al-Reda for an early dinner (yummy!). Anyway, back to the original topic, here are some photos taken on the second day in Frankfurt. My mum, Auntie Zaiton, her son and I went for a walk. None of us did any research as to what was there to visit, but fortunately, there were quite a number of interesting sights along the route we took! Started from the hotel we were staying in (The Westin Grand - very niceee!), walked towards the river, there was a cool looking church across from where we were walking - not sure which church it is. Strolled along the river till we got to a huge pedestrian bridge going over it. Didn't go over it, though. Decided to go back towards the hotel, using a different route. On the way, we came across Roemer (the city hall), the Archaeological Garden (on Domhuegel) and finally, the famous Frankfurt Cathedral (a.k.a. St Bartholomeus' Cathedral). Unfortunately, part of the cathedral was under renovation so I only got a photo of the top section! :( Anyway, I like Frankfurt, but I'm a bit of a city girl. It feels a bit different from Berlin, more huge modern buildings, more cosmopolitan... but I still like Berlin a lot, haha! Well, that's it about Berlin.

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Weekly Goals: Week 22 [2008]

Okay, I think I did better at achieving my goals this week, but not as good as I wanted! My fitness schedule went totally down the drain due to strained lower back muscles and trip to Frankfurt and Bonn, hehe. ;p Anyway, my goals for Week 22 are:

Fitness:

• Friday: 30 mins cross-trainer, 30 mins treadmill, 8-10 mins rowing machine [X]
• Saturday: Fatburner & Body Shape classes [X]

Miscellaneous:

• Blog: post about trip to Frankfurt & Bonn; birthday post for Debbie
  
• Art: finish fanart for "His Dark Materials" [X]; finish Aesthestic Tribute fanarts for Dec 2007 and Mar/Apr 2008 [X]
• Website: update TG Group member pages; prepare documents/source files for Jen & Christophe; update ari-rin.com [X]; update deviantART site [X]; design haslin.net [X]; post Stella's & Dermot's wedding photos on the wedding site [X]; post details for Aesthetic Tribute May/June 2008 [X]
• Mail: website stuff to Jen & Christophe
• Domestic chores: tidy & clean bedroom [X]; pack away unused items
  
• Reading list: Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" (fantasy) [X]; documents on Health, Safety & Environment (factual) [X]

Das ist alles! Bis spaeter! ;D

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Photos: A little trip to Ruedesheim am Rhein

We decided to drive to the riverside town of Ruedesheim am Rhein this morning. But before that, we enjoyed the delights of Sunday brunch in the hotel we're staying in! I ate a lot, so there goes my diet, haha! ;p But it was worth it! And tonight will be sushi! Anyway, back to the original story, we set off to Ruedesheim, a quaint little town, though not so quaint today since it was hosting some motorcycle convention hosted by Harley-Davidson, haha!

Anyway, we parked beside the river and went for a walk towards Market Square, where the St Jacob's Catholic Parish Church is located. The architecture of the church is quite suited for the town. There were too many touristic souvenir shops for my liking, but ah well...

After the walk, we drove up to see the Niederwalddenkmal, which is located on a hill overlooking the town. It is a statue of Germania, which was built to commemorate the unification of Germany in 1871. One can get a wonderful view of the town and the Rhein River.

It really is a beautiful monument to behold. Unfortunately, some visitors who weren't very good at reading their own language ruined the beauty of it all. If you look closely on the second step in the second photo, there are the words "NICHT BESTEIGEN" carved into the monument, which means "DO NOT CLIMB". Even someone like me who only knows "nur ein bisschen Deutsch" could tell what it means. These lovely kids obviously took it literally, they weren't climbing after all, they were ONLY sitting. Well, dearies, how do you think you got to sit there in the first place?! Argggggh!!! And what's more, the adults who were with them ALLOWED them to do it! I remember when I and the SAT members (see two posts before) were told off (and almost reported to the Polizei!) for signing on the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery. There were NO signs telling us that we weren't allowed to do so, and lots... millions of signatures and graffiti already on it. It was an honest mistake on our part! But this... this obvious act of not following the rules irritates the hell out of me. I mean, it looked like the monument was currently being restored and they SIT on it! In Berlin, you get told off for doing something like what these kids are doing! Oh, a possibility may be that they don't speak German... Oh wait, what's that I hear... ohhh, they're speaking German! Grrrr! [takes a deep breath] Okay, I'd better stop ranting now, or else I'll ruin my mood for sushi tonight! So ja ne, minna-san!

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Photos: First day in Frankfurt!

Yayyy, I have interweb access in the hotel room in Frankfurt, and damn fast connection too! XD Anyway, felt like blogging so instead of doing a huge post about this trip, I'll do so in sections, so here's a recap of today's events!

We left Berlin at 9.30 am, though Dad said we were meant to leave at 9 am sharp. I actually was ready on the dot (though it caused me to forget to bring my camera! Hence, photos taken on this trip will not be of great quality since I'm using Dad's 2 Megapixel camera phone!) but the parents were dragging their feet! :p The drive from Berlin to Frankfurt took almost 8 hours! O.O It's not meant to take THAT long! [sigh] We had to make an important stop as well as an important detour... well, important in my parents' eyes, anyway, haha! Let me explain...

First important stop was in the form of... well, what is something Bruneians always think of... that's right, FOOD! XD My parents, especially my dear mother, are in love with this pastry called "Apfeltasche", literally translated as "apple bag", I think! They kind of look like little triangular bags, hehe. Extremely yummy when fresh! Anyway, Mum kept going on and on about it, even went on to say that the ones you get on the way to Austria were even better! I bet you she'd drive to Austria not to see the place but to get these pastries, haha! XD Hehe, doesn't my mum look so happy with her Apfeltasche!

Okay, that next important detour has to do with... what else, FOOD! Seriously! When we met the Bruneian students in Germany a few years back, it was in Mannheim, where my parents discovered a Turkish restaurant called Istanbul (unique name, isn't it... NOT!). They love the place sooo much, they would take a 2-hour detour from their destination just to go there! Not joking! So when they knew that it wasn't too far from Frankfurt by car, they decided once again to make that detour, arrggggh! However, they were a little disappointed this time, it seems the food was no longer as good as before. Ah well, I think that'll stop their little detouring habit, hehe! ;p

Well, not much else happened today. Oh wait, two things worth mentioning, but I might not mention one of them in this post because it's far too disgusting! Thinking about it just makes me want to gag! Anyway, the other thing was that the extra bed (for me!) that was meant to be placed in the living room of my parents' suite - reservations thought the daughter (i.e. yours truly) happened to be less than a year old, hehe. You can imagine the bed they set up for us, haha! XD Anyway, that's it for today's adventure! Will update again hopefully tomorrow! Gute Nacht!

Please note: Learning German has definitely caused problems in my English grammar! I've changed three errors so far, of which I will not mention in order to save me from the embarrassment, haha!

Second note: I just made AND fixed a grammatical error in my first memo! XD The situation's far worse than I thought!!!

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Special Report: The Süper Awesome Team!

We break this regular stream of blog posts to bring you a special report. On 13th April 2008, a group of 5 Bruneian students from London and Kent arrived in the German capital of Berlin. But little did they know that their contact with German soil was going to have certain strange consequences - the appearance of extraordinary abilities, a phenomenon never seen before until I, dr.rin, came upon this group.

I had secretly tailed this group from day one, my research skills working overtime. However, one of them had developed extrasensory perceptive capabilities and was able to detect my presence, catching me on camera. Fortunately, these students were good people, and when I explained to them regarding this phenomenon, they requested my help in determining how "süper awesome" (this term was coined by the leader of the group, "Mr Süper Awesome") their abilities were. And so, during the five days they were in Berlin, I followed their every action, taking notes of any changes that was out of the ordinary. I will now report my findings.

ALI (a.k.a. MR SÜPER AWESOME)

Location: Kent

Süper Awesome Abilities: multiple personalities, süper awesome hair, power of invisibility, süper awesome karaoke voice (but not as süper awesome as mine!), extraordinary blogging skills

multiple personalities - emo Ali, metro Ali and football hooligan Ali

power of invisibility

extraordinary blogging skills

ADIB (a.k.a. DEADLY DIBSTER)

Location: Kent

Süper Awesome Abilities: flying ability, super strength, perfect imitating skills, shape shifting (e.g. into a lion), master of disguise, ability to go through walls

flying ability

super strength

perfect imitating skills


shape shifting


master of disguise


ability to go through walls

RABZ (a.k.a. FLYING RASCAL)

Location: Kent

Süper Awesome Abilities: flying ability, super contagious wackiness, super sympathetic emotions (even to non-living beings!), animal pacification, master of surprise, power of invisibility

flying ability

super contagious wackiness

super sympathetic emotions

animal pacification

master of surprise

power of invisibility

IMAH (a.k.a. Z-SQUARED)

Location: London

Süper Awesome Abilities: flying ability, extrasensory perception (ESP), extraordinary sense of balance, shape shifting (e.g. into a lion), master of surprise

flying ability

extrasensory perception (ESP)

extraordinary sense of balance

shape shifting

HUDA (a.k.a. MISS GREAT-HAIR-DAY or MISS GHD)

Location: London

Süper Awesome Abilities: flying ability, super strength, super hair-styling skills, super fast metabolic rate (i.e. able to eat a lot with no change to weight!)

flying ability

super strength

super hair-styling skills

super fast metabolic rate

The above detailed the various abilities developed by the students. I also discovered that coffee and Giotto chocolate enhanced their süper awesome abilities 100-fold!

There were also a few instances where these superbeings were in grave danger. Once, three of them were trapped in a transdimensional time loop and found themselves attacked by the same gigantic poisonous spider at the same instance.

Ali also was in a fix. The süper awesome abilities became unstable and caused pyschological changes in his friends and even I was affected - Ali was suddenly attacked, but fortunately, being so süper awesome, he was able to deflect the attacks and reverse the psychological changes and power instability.

It was finally concluded that their süper awesome abilities were permanent and as a result, the group decided to use their powers to battle evil and uphold the peace. They call themselves:

THE SÜPER AWESOME TEAM!!!

My parents and I decided to be a support crew for these brave individuals and even Batman showed his support by hugging Deadly Dibster!

The journey of this group's self-discovery was long and tiresome. Fortunately, they were able to get several periods of respite and pursued their original objective of enjoying Berlin! Go Go Go Süper Awesome Team!!!