Norway Trip ~Sightseeing~

I had a headache after being told I was stuck in Amsterdam for 14 hours, so apart from Amsterdam pictures, I will upload everything else. That said, I don't like Amsterdam. Now then, during my trip, I went to Sweden for half a day and a daytrip to Denmark. Kristiansand was strategically close to these two countries. But while in Oslo the first time, I went to a place called Vigelands Park, which is a park full of statues of a fat naked man. Rows and rows, monuments after monuments of the statues of naked people. I heard this place was actually a private property of said naked man, which is why all the naked men statues look alike. It's probably the face and built of the owner. Apart from the obvious 'eye candy' it is actually a very nice park. Perhaps in the summer. The Viking Museum! You can't go to Scandinavia without visiting at least one! It was not very big, but it had 3 almost complete viking ships on display.Here's me, eating ice cream out here in the snow. I'm hard core yeah. Came back to Oslo the next week with Farah A to sightsee. We were joined by Karoline and Kari. Went to Munch Museum where the famous painting 'The Scream' is. Apparently, Edvard Munch made several versions of the Scream and only one of them is ever on display at one time. Unfortunately, the one on display when I was there was the one made with crayon on cardboard. I was so offended I didn't even bother taking a picture of it. Hmph. After that we went to the nearby Zoologisk Museum and Biologisk Museum. A werewolf? I was in Sweden for half a day.Blow proudly ye Swedish flags. It was nice and sunny in Oslo yet the moment we entered the Swedish border, it turned foggy. It was fun doing spontaneous sightseeing as 'historical sights (Hysterical Sight)' are marked on the road so you can just stop by and snap photos, just like this stone ship, just laid out in the backyard of a farmer's house. From afar it looked like the stonehenge. Ice patches everywhere. It was such a long and icy trek, but for the sake of being in Sweden I pushed on!!And we stopped by the goodies outlet in Sweden. Like a factory outlet of candy and chocolate. I bought some Swedish chocolate. Yum yum. Next, Hirtshals, Denmark.Costs 20 Danish kroner to climb up the lighthouse. We just had lunch, so I was content with just appreciating the view from down there. Apparently, Denmark does not get snow, but their wind is a killer. Cold and strong, even the trees grew bendy because of the wind. Here I am, freezing at the beach of Denmark, but determined to walk on! I was in Kristiansand most of the time and when I am out, I spend most of my time shopping. But when I am not shopping, I did some sightseeing too. Like, going to the fjord!

FJORD, WE FINALLY MEET!!

And going for nature walks around a frozen lake.

I was so excited when I saw a creek in Sweden, and when I returned to Norway there were creeks EVERYWHERE! Yeah I was so sakai.

I also went to the Dyre Parken (zoo). The Kristiansand zoo is the best! I was petted by a sheep.

And met some old friends.

Orangutang hahaha!!

Of course, can't finish this entry with my favorite place to shop, MONKi!!! I MISS YOU MONKII!

Ta'ra!

Norway Trip ~Initial~

I've been back for approximately one week now, but I've been too occupied with recovering from jet lag and the tons of laundry. I've only started doing my KL-used clothes laundry today! I am not going to seggregate my blog entry into part 1, part 2, part 3 etc, like how most people like to do because I will surely never get past part 1! So I'm going to start with the highlights of my trip, followed by whatever that came to mind. Also, I do not work for Tourism Norway though I wish I do, but I hope my entry would help more tourists go to Norway *ahem*.

First off,

Welcome to Norway in the SPRING!

Yes, I was expecting pretty flower buds too but I was greeted with piles and piles of snow. Temperature was around -7. Yay!

First let me tell you the premise of my trip. I was in Norway for exactly 3 weeks. I arrived from Amsterdam in Oslo, and stayed one night in Hamar at my friend Farah A's study home. Hamar is in the mountains two hours away from Oslo and of course, colder than Oslo. However, the bulk of the trip is spent in Kristiansand, way down south of Norway, which can also be said the most southern tip of Norway, thus the least cold. Of course, least cold being around -5 to -1 for the first week alone. Refer to map below.

I really just went there to escape reality (was in the thick of doing my survey and I fled). I never in my life have thought of ever going so far north for holiday, but I thought why not? I've heard so many nice things about it and I was not disappointed! I worked my ass off at Kinokuniya accumulating funds for a holiday trip to Japan and I ended up on the opposite side of the world instead. The tsunami hit Japan the day I left for Norway. Is it a sign?

Anyway, I was quite tired of the over-rated touristy locations ie China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Venice, London, Amsterdam etc and I longed to go someplace nobody had even thought of going, thus, Norselands! I had a really great host and I am therefore eternally grateful to them! I was a pineapple in Polar bear lands and they went out of their way to make my stay as comfortable and pleasant as possible! Thank you very much my venerable hostess!

In the next post I will talk about the places I went to. The bulk of the pictures are on facebook, as I'll only be talking about the interesting bits here hehehe. Ta'ra!

One of the Locals

The thing about Norwegians is that, they are not used to tourists, especially at this time of the year and especially at this part of the country, which is down south. So whenever I go to shops and make payments as usually the thing to do before leaving shops, they will always, without fail, speak to me in Norwegians.

At first this baffled me a little, but after a while I found that it is not bad to be perceived as a local. So these days whenever they went on in a stream of Norwegians, I would simply say:

"I beg your pardon?"

After which I would be replied with a puzzled gaze, a couple of blinks, followed by a welcomed phrase in English.

Provided the cashier I was dealing with could speak English or was not bashful to speak it. It was quite a curious thing for Norwegians to be shy to speak English. Considering that there are only almost 5 million native Norwegian speakers seeing as Norway has a population of 5 million people, I suppose this is the case. And they are surrounded by Scandinavian countries that had their own unique language and given the proximity of England and Ireland, I'd expect English to come a bit more naturally to them than we South East Asians.

But it was not so. My venerable hostess told me that Norwegians can be bashful to speak English sometimes. Of course, I must not expect to be spoiled with English when I'm here and I realize I should at least learn some basic Norwegian.

Takk, meaning Thanks. Laks, for salmon, Hår for hair and bukser, pants.

I also learned a few phrases. The one Iæm most familiar with is: Jeg har en an i bukser "I have a duck in my pants". And several phrases that says 'I am lost', and 'I am bleeding'.

When I tried saying 'I am lost' which is jeg har gått meg bort, I was replied with, 'you want to buy a boat?'. Aghast, I tried again. With a more confused expression, she asked me the same thing, only more incredulously,: 'you want to buy a boat?' I gave up and finally said what I meant. Apparently, I had mispronounced bort, which sounded like båt (å is pronounced as o).

So can you imagine if I was ever in an emergency and I wanted to say 'I'm bleeding and I am lost' but instead said 'Jeg blør! Og jeg har gått meg båt!', what kind of look would the locals have I wonder?

Adjø. Hvor er toallettet? Takk.

Ah...I am still a long way to mastering Norwegian.

The Time Has Come!

I have chronic laziness to blog lately. But anyway, it is finally time! Time for what?

Time for my Norway holiday WHEEEEE!

My flight is today at 2359 hours. I have another 20 hours 39 minutes! I have to get my pants trimmed first though and get a new memory card for my camera today. I wonder how I'm going to KL Sentral. Or rather, when? The flight to Amsterdam takes 13 hours or so, and another 1 hour 50 minutes to Oslo. I am not good with long flights so I come prepared! Here's my list of preparation

Comic x1

Book x1

Pistacios x3

Cheezel biscuit x1

ipod x1

vaseline x1

eyedrop x1

tootbrush x1

Pirate bunny x1

I think that should be enough? Wheee~ overpacking!

Ta'ra!

CNY Holiday 2

Hello. It's been a while.

Chinese New Year was a busy, socially. I was so busy coping with all the outing invites in addition to those I made myself, that I had to push some plans away and made other people reschedule. I went to Sunway Lagoon as the main event. We went early, almost as soon as it opened and timed the rides so that we could go through all the dry rides first and do the wet rides last hehehe. Was soaked to my underwear by the time we lft Sunway Lagoon. If you haven't been there recently you'll notice that the location of the entrance has changed. I remember how further back the carriage ferris wheel was. It was so far back that the last time I was there, it was closed because there weren't enough people in the park. But now the ferris wheel is right behind the entrance.

There were so many changes there, which was very good. The large space that used to be an arcade has been turned into a haunted house. Good for them, though I don't like haunted houses as a rule. We had the pass for all the parks, but we only went to the theme park and scream park. We went a little crazy with the games there a bit and ended up with 3 Totoro plush toys. Someone practically belly flopped on and over the counter to see what plush toys were available under the counter -_-. Due to her shamelessness we got what we wanted hehehe.

Right after Chinese New Year is my Japanese class's final test and final class at least for me. I don't plan on continuing to the next class for the time being. Believe it or not I got kind of tired of having to go to class every Tuesday and Friday night. It just shows my waning interest, really. So we had a farewell party after the class and the next time I see sensei would be the marathon, hehehe!

The next night, right after a farewell, I had a reunion with my Kino friends. Yes, friends. Some people are colleagues, some people are friends. These are friends. Most of them were ex-Kino staffs. Fun, fun. A few days later I went out with school friends, so I basically went out with all my different groups of friends throughout Chinese New Year and beyond. So exhausting. I'm glad CNY is only once a year.

Right now I'm full speed ahead with my thesis. Stalker mode up 110%! Wish me luck! Ta'ra!

Psychotic Homie

I have recently gained a psychotic new housemate. A great motivation to finish my stupid thesis quickly. I don't care how great this place I'm currently living is. I don't have my own room or my own bed. When the family comes over I have no privacy and gained a mountainload of stress.

In addition my psychotic housemate thinks anything in the house is shared. And if they are personal things she does not share. She asks for them and takes possession of them. I think I may have to start making a personal stash of food and things like I did back when I was living at the hostel. Someone needs to learn that certain things are not for share.

My privacy and peace of mind, for example.

Ta'ra.

Stufff with 3 Fs!

Salmi: It was pride and pure stubborness that got me to resist those damned marshmallows. People (locals and foreigners alike) expect you to understand their needs without having to communicate it and then get offended when you did something they found offensive. Yet when it comes to other people's customs, they think its their right to be critical and ignorance as if theirs is the only one that matters. I thought I should take a page from their book and gave them a taste of their own medicine for a change, really. And turned out they didn't really like it hehehe.

My tickets arrived! Now I have all my tickets from KL-Amsterdam-Oslo-Amsterdam-KL woohoo! Apart from tickets I have been doing all sorts of preparations. Like end-of-winter clothes and souvenirs! Neko Ramen 2 still haven't arrived though O.o. Oh well it's still January!

My sister recently enrolled at MAHSA Uni College and I hated playing driver, and no she's not getting the car yet. I asked her if she's taking this huge (about 30kg) bag of clothes with her to college and she said no. It was her spare.

I'll say, the amount of clothes she took to school should have been the spare. But never mind.

I am finally done with my industry report. FINALLY! But I have nothing new to share about the book industry for my presentation this Friday. Good thing I still have the January duty roster so I'll know who I can disturb for lunch hehehe! Funny how I haven't gone there since I came to pick up my paycheck. I'm on a credit crunch to save for my trip...I'm still new at this saving business but we will see!

Aaargh I need to finish my stupid thesis!

Ta'ra!

Spring Cleaning Report

So last Sunday my friend came over to clean my house while I helped her.

Yep, that's how it turned out. She was awesome, battling those dust monsters with nothing but a broom and sheer determination. I stood on the sides and cheered her on - mask on and everything, of course hehehehe. I didn't expect her to be so overzealous that she cleaned out the entire room and even changed the location of the furnishings. Because of that we didn't get to finish the whole house, so phase 2 will start this Sunday.

I bought a PS3 just before the new year. It's white with 500gb memory. Only in Malaysia can you get a white 500gb PS3. Pimped up PS3 is the way to go around here hehehe.

Kujong is healed. So he got a second chance. Hmph.

Ta'ra!

Spring Cleaning

Lynn: Darurat indeed. Only a whole Snack Plate could satisfy a darurat as opposed to one piece of chicken, right? If I was going to eat something due to darurat, I'd make it worth it. Like moose meat or something exotic like that.

Tomorrow I will have my friend over to help me spring clean the house. I've been inspired lately by the Hoarders program on Astro. They managed to get their house cleared out and cleaned up so beautifully because there is actuallya team of maids who does the cleaning as the junk people haul out the trash. I do agree though that those houses are way too chronic compared to my humble apartment, but I was inspired no less!

My past history confirmed that my spring cleaning always turned out well whenever I have a help over. They are okay too when I do it alone, but with an impartial help, I move along quicker and without delay. My usual help stays in another state so I have to turn to another help who lives well, not in the same state but closer. Tomorrow's victim shall be Kak Farida hehehehe.

To prepare for tomorrow, I decided I'll do some decluttering. So far I have thrown out two huge plastic bags of used shoes, 5 trash bags and a lot more I couldn't remember, and there are still more on the way! I just almost filled up the entire refuse chamber so I thought I'd give it a rest tonight and continue again at 2 pm tomorrow after they have cleared out the 'refuse chamber' and return the empty trash bin hehehehe.

The keyword is wipe down. I want the house to be so clean it smells like chemicals.

Ta'ra!

And I spent 1 hour 45 minutes exercising today.

Ignorance is no longer Funny

During my last class, a classmate offered me green tea flavored marshmallow. Growing used to the picnic mode of my classmates in general, I am far from embarrassed when asking for food. Usually I just poke the person next to me, hold out my hand and grin. They would promptly pass me the food, usually without even looking.

But this marshmallow I had to be wary of. One of the main ingredients in marshmallows is gelatine. And as you may know, the cheapest source of gelatine is always pork fat. Some gelatines are made from a combination of cattle and pork fat or just cattle fat. But that cattle needed to be properly slaughtered before I can consume any part of its body. It had to be halal.

Since this marshmallow was of Japanese origin, I looked through the ingredients list quickly before my classmate handed it to me. Indeed, it contained gelatine. So I apologized and had to refuse. But she couldn't just let the matter rest. She read through the ingredients list again and argued that the other ingredients were plants-based. And that the gelatine might be vegetable gelatine as well. She engaged the opinions (support) of another similarly ignorant person and disucssed it to no avail, after which she offered them to me again. Seriously, did she want me to publicly decline her again loudly?

The marshmallows did its rounds around the classroom while I helped myself to someone else's potato chips (Our 5-minute break time is really like a picnic time and even during the fasting month I hardly bring food to class). I apologized again for refusing (since I am not insensitive even though I was the one offended) and she had them offered those scandalous marshmallows to another Muslim in the class. A Malay guy. I repeated to them twice those marshmallows are not halal, apologized (again) and the guy took to reading the ingredients list first. But damn him! He popped one into his damn mouth!

Now this gave me two problems. The marshmallows were obviously not halal, yet this guy, who was older than me (but obviously none the wiser) ate them, and I didn't. They started questioning me why I wouldn't eat it while he did. I seriously wanted to ask him the same question too, but I was not that insensitive. It would open another can of worms and a discussion regarding how halal meat was prepared already started without my participation. At least sensei was already informed of the process but people kept mistaking Malays for Muslims. One is a race, another a religion, and in case you didn't know, there is a Malay Christian Church in Malaysia. It seems like in the topic of halalness other people were more knowledgable than me, the only Muslim in the class who didn't eat the damned marshmallows!

But damn it! Because of that damned guy eating those damned marshmallows half the class asked me on and on why I can't just eat the marshmallow because the gelatine might be vegetarian or of cow origin.

At the same time, why don't you just offer me roast pork then there? Or offer beef steak to a Hindu? Or a fish to a vegetarian? Or vegetables to a fruitarian!?

This classmate is normally a nice person, but why must you put me on the spot with your ignorance just because I refused your offensive marshmallows? I went through a religious school system from kindergarten till highschool, yet I fully realized that there are people out there with different needs and beliefs than me. Before I came to KL I didn't know about Hindus and cow meat, but once I knew I kept it in mind because Sarawak has a negligible number of Hindus. Yet you, who grew up in this freaking Peninsular with a higher rate of religious diversity and high concentration of Muslim conservatives could not understand why I would refuse something that you thought I suspect might contain pork fat?!

Pissed me off. And this damn guy is going to get it. He will definitely get it for making me look bad in front of the class and sensei. He. Will. Get. IT!

Hmph.

So Long 2010~

And so long to you old friend!

Yes I have finally resigned from my part-time job at Kinokuniya. I've been there for approximately one year, 2 months and a half. I am done. I used to think I would never leave, and could not understand why people would resign from such an awesome place, but now I know. When it's time, it's time. As expected, my leaving was a big blow to my previous unit since I left with another long-term part-timer and the remaining part-timers were very, very new. Will I return? We shall see!!

My last day there was very exciting. I felt gay all day. A little sad, but very much liberated. I was very much surprised that my manager came on her day off specifically to give me a farewell gift. So touched. It was a pack of chocolate biscuits from Marks and Spencer. And my Unit Chiefs, one gave me a Rose Quartz birthstone and the other gift voucher. I did not expect a card, and didn't get one, though if I did, I would be slightly miffed. Since we've been filling in so many cards lately; one congratulatory card to Andrew who was promoted to Unit Chief and two birthday cards to colleagues. And half of the people of my unit have bad taste in gifts so I was quite glad they didn't get me any gift, instead I received individual gifts from people who mattered. My bag was quite heavy when I left for home that day. THANK YOU EVERYONE!

I realized that my leaving had left some repercussions of the thought to a few people and made me wonder since it's the new year if it was the time for people to be leaving and getting new jobs. And it's no wonder that they knew me for most of their employment time there. Whatever it is, I have a feeling that should I decide to return there after my holiday, I will be looking at a whole new crew. Or at least half of it.

Despite my intention to stay home and exercise and drink tea all day, my new year was spent movie marathoning with a couple of Kino friends. Was quite tired, and by the end of the day the only thing I want to do is stare at my Kuja and read porn. But thanks for asking me out!

Last Monday I went to return my uniform. HR made a fuss of the stain on the sleeve which was a work hazzard if I must say so myself! I was forced to duck under an upside down chair lain on a desk and turn sideways to read the labels off the box behind the chair, under another heavy box. That's what you call dedication! Well, at least they didn't see the stitches I did on the apron ehehe. I chatted with a few old friends not from my unit because only the boring 'kongsi gelap' gang were on duty that day. The e-dictionary guy assured me that my casio ex-word e-dic is still on course to arrive on schedule and he will email, sms and give me a call once the test model has arrived! He said if all goes well, they should arrive after CNY. I hope it will arrive before March when my Japanese class friends are going to Korea for holiday where I have already asked in advance that they get me said dictionary.

And of course, it was quite fun being a customer and stand around and chat all day while the others worked hehehe.

As I was saying! Or as I was about to say, new year means new year's resolutions. This year mine is quite simple; To run two 10km marathons and one half-marathon. Done. Sweet and simple. I've already been running in the gym and has increased my stamina explosively. Now I need to take it outside. I was planning to run in the KLCC park once a week just to get a feel of the outdoors. Weekday definitely, and after 4:30 pm. Hopefully I can return by 6pm when rush hour starts. What? You didn't think I would walk there did you!?

I remember going to a sports shop and overhearing or maybe eavesdropping (seriously, I was just right next to them) of these two girls buying 'running' shoes for going out running at the KLCC park. One of them were tomboyish and kept going for the sleek black Nikes which were more for sprinting than heavy duty running/marathoning. And the other kept going for the same type, except pink or white in color. I've thought of using those shoes for running and trying to think up reasons why my current running shoes would not suffice. I mean, those sleeker shoes are obviously made for speed and aerodynamics and such, but they don't give your feet much room for swelling after all the running. And Nikes...man, the bigger the sizes, the longer they get, the narrower they become. For running shoes, I reccomend Adidas. Trust me, I have two pairs. They never let me down. (proud)

I think they bought those shoes, since they were on sale. But I wonder if they are still running with them? Heheheeheh.

I actually planned to go to school today but I just had Detox tea which would increase my bowel movements five-folds so I really can't leave the house today. And my salary comes out today too sighs. Good thing I stocked up on water and toilet paper.

Ta'ra!