i passed!

Remember like ages ago, I blogged about failing my driving exams.... today after many months, I finally passed!!! Woo hoo!! Can go on road trip!!! Yaaay!! And drive legally to church!!! It's really good timing, coz winter is here, and when I work really late, it's freezing cold, and I prefer to be inside a car than cycle home. It has been a struggle... a traumatic experience actually. It affected me so much that I don't even talk about it. Defense mechanism.... like when someone is upset, they build a wall, that was I felt. I didn't wanna talk about it, just in case I start getting all emotional and cry everytime I failed. This exam felt beyond my control, and it was something I had a hard time grasping. But praise God, I've learnt to let go of myself.

Sent my car to the garage also, and got the batteries and wipers changed. Other parts of the car is in good condition. So the car is ready for me to drive!!! Gonna go to the Gemeentehuis (townhall) to give my photo and passport on Monday, and in a week's time, I can collect my license!! With a Dutch license, I can basically drive anywhere.... Sweden.... America.... Singapore (at least I looked up these places, coz these are the places I plan to go within the next 10 years.

Anyway, this was my 5th try.... and after the 4th try, you're kinda labelled "Special" and sent to the state exam. It starts off with a nice chat with the examiner, and they ask you what was wrong the previous times etc. And when you are ready, you get into the car and drive. He was very nice, because he said as long as I don't repeatedly do the same mistake, or make dangerous moves, I will pass. It was a pretty smooth drive... only one small part I drove 80km/hour... and he told me to slow down and ask me what the speed limit was... and I told him "Oh, 70km/hour" He just smiled and said "good" guess he was happy that at least I knew. Hahah! At the end of the ride, he commented in Dutch "blessed ride"... not sure what he meant by that, but it was good I guess. Guess he felt blessed that he survived the drive...hahah! Then after he told me I passed, I was sooo happy I hugged him! Hahahah!

In the red circle at the bottom of the form it says "voldoende"= sufficient = pass!!!!!!

One of the best birthdays ever!

The week of my birthday was the best ever!!! The only thing lacking was having my family with me! My previosu post, I was being emo about lotsa stuff including the fact that I couldn't see my bf on my birthday. But much to my delight, Sam came over and pampered me the whole week!!! I get to eat the yummy kiam-chai-ak-teng (salted vegetable duck soup).... and many other yummy stuff! Was pleasantly surprised that Sam could cook so well! What makes it so special is that he doesn't like cooking, but yet he still cooks for me. Thanks hunny! Luv you much much!

On the day of my birthday itself, we played laser quest, which is something like paint-ball (they should rename it PAIN-ball), but with no pain. Then in the evening, had a few friends over for steamboat. My non-Asian friends unfortunately doesn't know how to eat steamboat... poor Sam had to do all the work.

My friends: (L-R) Andrei, Andrei's wife Ana, Me, Maria, Susan, Rick, Venecia, Vincent

Twister time!! Susan was good!!!

Sam was even better.... hmm... what kinda awkward position is this???

Pick up the cardboard box game. The idea of the game is to pick up the box with your mouth. Only your feet can be on the ground. Knees, elbows and hands not allowed to touch the floor. I think this game must have been created by Asians... hahah! Thanks to our squatting down toilets, and ketuk ketampi we had to do when we were kids, we can easily squat down with our feets flat on the ground.

Susan with her pulling pants up secret tip.

Maria practising qigong...

Piece of cake...

Just found out I had a competitor...who has the same position as me!

All in all a great birthday!!!

Emo

I'm being emo. I guess everytime around this time of the month, when hormones go a bit haywire... I get a bit emo. I submitted my paper 3 times oredi, to 3 different journals. They all say the same thing. Your work is good BUT not good enough. The experiments they are asking is really not easy to do. These people don't understand how difficult it is to do something that is not a norm for zebrafish research... it'll be easy if I work with cell cultures or mouse models. But no choice ler, either I trash my journal into a crappy journal or just try to do the experiment. There goes another month or so (if I'm lucky) of my precious PhD time. Then, next I week I might not be able to see Sam. Sighz. All I wanted for my birthday was to be with him, but he can't come over. I can't go over because I just went over a few weeks ago... and I can't keep taking leave on Friday, because that's work discussion day with my supervisor. It's like when my mum says that we are eating Hokkien Mee for dinner, and then she changed her mind. The thought of Hokkien Mee just keeps running through my brain, and I can't do anything else. Never give me hope unless there really is hope of 99% of becoming a reality. I'd rather be surprised than disappointed. I'm just so frustrated, upset, sad, disappointed... and to top it off, my butt still hurts!! Like I said... I'm being emo.... aaarrrggghhh!!! Off to sleep.... tomorrow another day of writing and writing and writing.... better work than let my thoughts wander....

Is this love?

I used to be cynical about relationships. I always wonder how people can stay together for 50 years, and still carry the sparks with them. I always wonder how is it that when two people see each other everyday, they still have so many things to talk about. Don't they get bored after awhile? Now I realize, that being in a relationship with a special someone is "addictive".... the more you see the person, the more you want to see the person. The more you talk to the person, the more you realize things about the person you've never realized before, and it's fascinating, and you want to talk more to the person. The more you hold the person close, the closer you want to hold the person in your arms. It's never enough. I guess that's what a whole lifetime with a person is for, to share with each other ourselves, because a day, a week, a month or a year is never enough to be with the person. Is this love? If it is, I'm "addicted"...

Vincent's wedding

6th September - Vincent's wedding, and the first time I step foot into Belgium! Exciting!!! So, four of us, Anke, Paula, Andrei and I went on a road-trip to Belgium! It's also the first time I've brought my car on such a long trip. Anke drove of course, since I haven't passed my driving license exams. Weather was BEE-OOO-TI-FUL! It took us 2 hours 15 minutes to arrive at the church... following Lisa (Dana's navigator). We did pretty well, considering we only took one wrong turn. Vincent and Ade came in a cute little vintage car... hmmm... I think I would like that too for my wedding, instead of the normal "big car". Ade was somehow just as I imagined her to be. She looked lovely! Her wedding gown was very simple, and she didn't even have a train or veil! No bridesmaids or flower girls either! I guess weddings are done differently in Belgium. We sat at the back, coz we're pretty insignificant. Just colleagues. So couldn't take good photos or videos either, especially with my digital camera. Sam would have been able to take better photos with his camera. The whole ceremony was conducted in Belgian, so it was quite hard for me to follow. It started with Ade's sister (I think), reading a chapter from The Little Prince. I'm not entirely sure how that fits into "marriage" sense, but I think it was about companionship. Then, the Pastor said something, mother said something, Vincent's brother sang a song, Vincent's dad sang a song, aunt said someting, sister said something... it felt like everyone one in the family went forward to say something. Anyway, the the bride and groom went up to the altar place thingy (I don't know what the exact term is for the place where the Chatholic Priest usually stands), and they said their "I do". I thought I would hear some self-written vows, since Vincent even designed their wedding rings. But it was just the typical vows. And then they exchanged candles, which I'm not sure what it symbolizes. According to Paula, it's a Belgian thing, because Dutch weddings don't do that. The ceremony ended with a prayer for the couple, everyone saying the Lord's prayer (first time I say it in Belgian/Dutch!), a communion, and Vincent's brother singing another song (he can really sing!). We were invited to the the wedding reception after that. I was all ready to catch the bouquet, but apparently there's no such thing. Sighz. The first church wedding I attend, and I don't even get to have the excitement of bouquet catching! All in all, it was really nice wedding. A lovely couple. Congratulations, and may your marriage blossom and your love grow day by day! - can't seem to upload photos- aaarrgggh!! so, u'll just have to use your imagination.

Happiness..

Sam came over to Europe yesterday! Super happy. Finally can see each other more often. =) I've had enough of living on opposite sides of the world. But I didn't regret starting it. We've learned more about each other this 1.5 years, than we did for the last 7 years.

Wadlopen

On the weekend of 9th and 10th August, I went with ING (nope, not the bank, but rather International Neighbour Group) to the very north of The Netherlands. We drove for 2 hours in a minibus, to a place called Groningen, where to stopped to have lunch and had a guided city tour. I ended up taking loads of photos while half paying attention to what the tour guide was saying. I have short attention span, unless it's really interesting.

University of Groningen:


























Carpet of grass???




















Nope, it's actually moss covered water! Yucks! This is the other side of the water, where there is a bit of water flow:




















The first Dutch woman Doctor, and the first woman who entered university. She has a "don't mess with me" look:

























At the Grote Markt church:


























So much effort to get this photo with a normal digital camera. Had to almost touch the bee to get such clarity. But pretty proud of myself.




















Old meets new:




















Another pretty flower. Think I'm influenced by Sam....

























The best attraction I find in Groningen. So cute!! It's a dental clinic.