Clubbing

When it comes to clubbing, I am the (introvert) fuzziest person in the entire planet. It satisfies me most when the club has the nice environment (good decorations, clean or not doesn't matter because the club is full of junks or smokers anyway), good drink, (preferably with relatively fair price, mostly not), good music (not house, not techno, not disco), good companions (those who dance, those who laugh, those who think they are sexy :-). Sometimes it doesn't matter how the other factors are, when you have great companions, they will surpass all!.

I really like the feelings being in the dark place, full of crowds, dancing along the music while holding a little sexy glass in my hand.

Having searching the list of 'good' clubs in the back of my head, I have to say it's like finding an oasis in the desert! I remembered sometimes I felt really bored. Sometimes I cursed myself for paying for the huge entrance fee for not dancing. Sometimes I wanted call an end but felt bad for leaving boring companions.

The best clubbing of all as far as I remembered was the parties at IC from AIESEC and when I put the iPod on and dance in my own apartment!

Eating crisis

Eating is a crucial ritual from where I came from. Wherever we are, it is a must to have a proper meal. Sandwiches, pannini, pizzas, hot dogs are not considered proper meals. They are only snacks. Proper meals are those with rice, with pasta, or with noodles. The taste must be delicious. If it's not, it is wise to find other alternatives to fulfill these criteria. Then we can end the ritual of the day.

For the past 12 months that I am here, I spent the major time searching recipes online, checking out supermarkets (both local & Asian) near and far, and experimenting new recipes in my own kitchen.

Now it became routine. I know exactly which shelfs I'm going to. Freezers for seafood. Discounted prices meat. Rice and pasta. Chilly, mushrooms and veggies. Oil and instant noodles. Cola.

In Asian shop, soy sauce, oyster sauce, grass noodle, some Asian veggies, coconut milk, some instant pastes. I try experiment new tastes like gimchi, wasabi, Korean's bbq sauce.

And where to skip, Cheese, yoghurt, and milk. Frozen pizza and lasagna. I'm just not a big fan.

And what happened now?
I'm sooooo bored of my routines. Friends who visited me here all say I look skinny (or even skinnier). I can't remember how I got through the last winter with Asian food. I really need some changes or I will die of boredom.

I recently experimented mixing Quark + yoghurt + fruit for my past time dessert. I cooked very creamy Cabonara pasta (but it didn't taste right!). I ate instant lasagna (next probably pizza). I searched recipes for cupcakes and brownies.

I don't know..I feel that I'm just guessing how the tastes should be. But I have never made it right. So, I'm still bored with food I'm used to cook and frustrated with what to do with my foreign recipes..!

A wish list

1. A RayBan sun glasses with gold rims

2. L'eau Cheap & Chic by Moschino

3. A Heidi Klum's fringe from Project Runway season 4

4. A 4-room apartment in Basel, or

5. Any kind of apartment in New York while having a life of nothingness but sipping Starbucks coffee, visiting museums, and enrolling some design class at Parsons or learning the art of Pâtisserie at Le Cordon Bleu


Oh, I love these....I sound so superficial and materialistic!

Just to promote...

I came across to one website to learn new languages recently. It's very systematic, very fun and very dynamic. And most importantly it's FREE.

You will be both student and teacher at the same time. Each time you can select the topics you want to learn (yourself, environment, job, opinions on different issues etc.). You will learn new vocabularies, listen to a short conversation, practice chatting with the native speaker (that's why sometimes you have to be a teacher), write a short paragraph and get it corrected by "a teacher" and then get yourself tested at the end.

I like it very much. It purely depends on your efforts in learning. The more you practice, the better you become. I'm still a German beginner with very limited vocabularies, but so far I have learned some phrases that I've never heard before from the class when I chatted with my "teachers".

And the best part I really like is that people in this community are also committed to learn and give help.

Check it out: http://www.busuu.com/

Hang in there

After the strikingly sunny period,

here comes August,

here comes the rain,

here comes the chilling breeze,

here comes the heater activated,

what?! it is just the last month of summer! Hang in there boy, let me enjoy a bit more sun, don't let me Fall...

Angry

Some series of nasty incidents happened in my peaceful life recently.

I know I look exotic. Especially with this really long black hair, tan skin complexion, slim, and south-east Asian look. I look inviting because of this smile and these big eyes that look at you.

But really? Did I smile to you? Did I really look at you? Did I really tell you to come close to me?

It's almost 40C outside. Can't I wear this kind of clothes like your local girls do? What makes me look different from them? Do you ONLY expect me to wear long sleeve clothes and put on scarf around my head so that I look more like a respectable Asian lady?

I know people here are not so exposed to other types of Asian 'chics'. Especially those with brains. Those who go to university. Those who get employed because of her higher skill levels. Those who have a boyfriend for the sake of being together, but not for money.

I know I can't change the attitudes of people. Because this is just a little town. Because this is what they know. Because of these ladies they are exposed to.

But in everyone's heart, you know that every single individual is different!

All I ever ask is respect me. And please leave me alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heisser Sommer

I kinda completed the circle of seasons in Switzerland. I came in Fall, I survived Winter, I went through Spring, I am now hot and spicy in Summer.

It is really hot! I woke up one day with a dream that I walked in a street in Bangkok. The heat is unbearable. But I think I am ok. I like summer. The sun is bright and people look more lively. Summer is definitely full of life!

There are two things I do in Lugano this summer - I work and I study German. This routine works quite well. I have 100% focus. It's like a switch. I wake up in the morning, switching on a language student mode, walk off the class in the afternoon, switching on an officer mode. I come home with a bag of food and drinks. I cook, I watch one or two American series, I do homework and then I sleep. I quite like it as there're no worries left in my head so much. For the past ten months, life was so uncontrollable. Too many assignments, too little time, too much desire for a social life, too much temptations for exploring the country, too many worries, too much these and those. But now it's so stable....for almost a week now.

But I know just a while, I will get bored, and look for some unpredictable pattern of life again!

Not only I who like summer, probably Italians too. My colleague, Pierluigi, said he wasn't going to see me this Monday because he is taking a holiday for the whole August. The PR agency in Milan sent me an email detailing that office will be closed for a week and the two officers I'm dealing with will be on a holiday approx. 3 weeks each. These urged me to google to find out why.

August is extremely hot in Italy. It could reach up to 40C. (I can imagine girls walking around in bikini.) Most shops are closed and so it is the low season for hotels. One of the important celebrations is Ferragosto (Assumption Day) on 15th August.

Talking about all the shops closed, we experienced that in Rome on the X'Mas day last year. It was really horrible for tourists. We couldn't buy small food or drinks as the supermarkets were all closed. We had to walk from the Vatican to the city center as the subway does not work anymore. We could only eat out at expensive restaurants (tourists' traps) and didn't quite enjoy atmosphere so much (no people, lively shops to see, esp. nothing to shop for me!).

I don't know yet how it is like in Lugano. Even though it is influenced so much by Italian culture, it is still part of Switzerland. I still wanna survive throughout August...hehe..