"separate the best among the good students"

xiaoqi just had his 1st test today .. and learned a valuable lesson in life - on listening.

The test was the close-book, non-collaborative (aka cannot-discuss-with-others) kind. It was on statistics, and the test will make up one-third of the final Statistics grade. The remaining two-thirds of the grade will come from the past 2 (open-book-free collaboration) assignments.

As the lecturer put it :" the test is to separate the best among the good students." As the past 2 assignments and the sample test questions the lecturer gave us have been fairly easy (thank goodness for that), xiaoqi brushed his words off as remarks made in passing. With sky high confidence, xiaoqi decided to just spend just an hour to revise the Statistics notes, and spent the rest of his time studying other subjects.

Gosh .. as it turned out, the test was at least one order more difficult than the previous assignments or sample test questions!! Not only was it substantially more difficult, it was also tedious & time-consuming!! xiaoqi could hear his heart pounding so loudly during the test .. something that has not happened since the days of WPPM or briefing to Chairman! Haha .. Thinking back, the test was, indeed, best described as "to separate the best among the good student ..."

A valuable lesson in life - on listening.

A homely weekend

xiaoqi is a homely person. Yes, if there is no reason to go out, xiaoqi would rather spend his time at home, watching DVDs, listening to music, indulge in a bit of computer games, or spend quality time with his bed :P

And home is where I spent my time over the weekend .. and no, I did not get to enjoy any of those creature comforts at home. Instead, I was in the warm company of ... my assignments .. ewww .. Yeps, a barrage of assignments quite aptly sums up my weekend .. Who says student life is fun?

Saturday was spent doing Statistics assignment while Sunday was on a 2000-word report on a water-related infrastructure in Singapore. Haha .. not hard to guess which project I wrote on :)

Haha .. dun feel sad for me? Coz it's not all work and no play :) After school on Friday, I stayed back to catch a movie screened by the school - The Last King of Scotland. The after that, I went to a private party at the hostel's common room organzied by several latin americans in celebration of one of their birthday. There was beer, wine, finger food, loud music, and many hot dancings! And boy can they dance! The rhythmic swaying of the body and hips gyrating to the music. And many thanks to Sofia and Belen for pulling me into the dancefloor, teaching me how to dance, bearing with my awful dancing and making me feel right at home! I left the party around 1am, but several of them stayed on till 5am. How happening!

The following Saturday morning, I also took the chance to join senior Wong on their monthly cycling trip to Den Hagg to check out their open market. It was a lovely 35min ride through some really idyllic scenery that drove all my tiredness away. The market turned out to be a huge wet market selling fishes, sea produce and fruits - and you can find lotsa seagulls flocking around suspiciously on top of the stalls.

A tale of Ben, Jerry & JC

Haven't been updating for a few days now .. hmm, not entirely because I've been busy with school work (it's tough being a student u know!), but also that nothing much has happened. Just the usual stuff like the cold weather (temperature has gone single digit for weeks now) giving me cold feet and numbness to many parts of me (dun worry though, these parts are still functioning well :P), my cooking skills continues to get better (at least in my opinion) and the intense barrage of homework pounding on vulnerable students like us..


Well, not everything is spo bleak & gloomy. Today, I did something that I've wanted to do for a long time - trying Ben & Jerry's ice-cream. I've long heard of the big brand of Ben & Jerry's, and have always wanted to try it. As fate would have it, the outlet at Dempsey was always packed whenever I visit it. BUT ... for the 1st time today, it couldn't hide from me anymore! For I've finally tried Ben & Jerry's ice-cream - the "New York Super Fudge Chunk" flavour! Hee hee .. For the un-initiated, this is chocolate ice-cream with white and dark chocolatey chunks, pecans, walnuts & chocolatey covered almonds :) It cost me about €5 for a 500ml tub.

It tastes good I must say, but after 1 cupful, I still can't quite figure out what is so special about the ice-cream. Do u think otherwise?

10 &11 Nov 07 (Saturday & Sunday, Delft)

Yeah, it's Saturday & Sunday .. the much awaited weekend is finally here!! My plan was to finish up my homework by Saturday and go visit Amsterdam or Rotterdam on Sunday. Guess wat I've been doing over the past 2 days of free time? Stuck at home with the hardest Maths problem I've ever seen.. sigh.. And to make things worse, the solution (I hope) I've painstakingly typed out on Saturday were "corrupted" when I tried to open it on Sunday morning .. arrghh.. tat quite sums up my weekend..

Hmm, let me talk about the birthday dinner for Franto on Saturday. His actual birthday falls on 12 Nov (Monday), and the dinner was an early celebration since a weekday (with lessons till 330pm) hardly brings any mood for celebration. We prepared the sumptuous dinner all by ourselves - 3 grownup men who has done as much cooking in our lives as we have gals asking for our phone numbers. But, hey I think we did a pretty good job! We fried some yellow spiced rice (with eggs & sausages) as our staple, added some salad and crackers to it, boiled some potates and there's our yummylicious dinner! Haha, it was quite a scene having the 3 of us trying to cook, and getting the kitchen really messy! But it was a satisfying meal, with an immense sense of achievement heh!

Sunday was spent mostly mulling (futilely) over the impossible Maths homework, visits by classmates to discuss the Maths homework (realized tat we're all equally clueless really.. haha) and re-typing my Maths homework after my previous work was "corrupted". Well, as my fren said:"practice makes perfect." Dinner on Sunday was a rather no-frills affair - simple fried noodles with ham, sausages and some really spicy chilli sauce!

9 Nov 07 (Friday, Delft)

Another day of lessons at 8.45am day .. ewww.. after some msn-ing with a few frens, a quick breakfast & coffee, I headed straight into the cold morning to make my way to IHE. As I walked to IHE, I cant help but noticed that the trees have mostly gone bald .. a sure sign that Delft is indeed entering the winter soon, if not already in ..

The 1st lesson is on hydraulics, but it was a side-talk tat stole my attention. The lecturer had been caught in a tram-delay from Den Hagg (where he lived), caused by a storm in the region and the super strong wind blowing right into Netherlands. Apparently, the strong wind is so strong that it has caused the sea water level to rise as much as 3m! Scary huh? And the sea level was at its highest since 1950s, and so high tat the Storm Surge barrier built to protect Rotterdam 20 years ago was closed for the 1st time last night in 20 years! Sounds like a scene out of some Hollywood disaster movie, ya? Haha .. but the lecturer (and later an email from the school) assured us tat Delft is no danger so far, so dun worry abt me, k?

Then in the midst of the lecture, it started hailing - rains of tiny little ice cubes! Wow, this is the 1st time in my life tat I've seen hailing! It's amazing how it looked just like rain, just tat they bounced off the ground upon impact!

After the lecturer, I went to buy a spoiler for my bicycle, especially seeing the really wet weather these few days. Got one at €14 .. yeah! Finally can cycle with a peace of mind even when the roads are wet. Then I went for lunch at IHE .. had the sausage with garnish & a French something soup. The food is yummy, and I feel so warm & rejuvenated after the lunch.

After lunch, I headed to the computer lab to try (yes, "try",which means I didnt) to do some Matlab while wating for a 3.30pm appointment with Alice (a fellow Romanian student), Franto & Arman to go buy some ingredients to cook for dinner tomorrow in celebration of Franto's birthday.

After the grocery shopping, Alice, Franto & myself went for some coffee, something I had wanted to do for the longest time.. We went to this cosy little coffeeplace and sat at the outside (they preferred outside) facing the central market (where the ancient church is). I ordered the Irish coffee and an apple pie (4th pix), and goodness, the Irish coffee is really strong in alcohol! I would well get drunk if I drank more than 1 cup & end up falling into a canal! It was really nice to be there enjoying a hot drink (I dun consider it a coffee) in the really cold weather, having a leisure chitchat in the nice decor, watching people walk by ..

Then it was a long walk to home sweet home.. goodness, it was REALLY REALLY cold with the rain come splashing in my face, made so much colder by the freezing wind.. If I have this kind of weather everyday or worse in the coming winter, then there is little doubt whether I will survive or not.. After much numbness in my face and fingers & with exceptional determination, Im finally back home! I whipped up a bowl of warm soup noodles as dinner for myself. It has 8 shrimp wantons, 3 short cutle little sausages, 2 pieces of ham & an egg. Dessert was 2 Royal Gala apples.

8 Nov 07 (Thursday, Delft)

Finally, a day with no 845am lessons .. thank goodness, as I slept at like 2.30am last night after the local pub. Had a really good night's sleep and got up only at 9.30am :P

1045am is another Maths lecture again .. never seems to have an end to this, doesnt it? As usual, it takes Einstein to understand the painfully complex lesson .. and obviously xiaoqi is no Einstein. But I take comfort in the equally lost look so many other sported. Haha ..

After Maths, we break for lunch. I had the spicy chicken drumlets with apple sauce and linden soup. Umm, if only all the lessons are as satisfying & enjoyable as lunch .. Oh, my cashcard was out of money when I try to pay for my lunch. Thankfully the cafe manager allowed me to pay at a later time, and insist that I finished the food before it turned cold .. so kind of him hor? Thanks a million, man!

After lunch was a lecture on hydraulics, and it was quite enjoyable. The lecturer is a Professor from English, so he spoke really clear & comprehensible English, and often punctuated with a light touch of humour!

Today is Thursday, so there is sort of a "pasar malam" going on in the central market. So I went there to take a look, and also to just have a causal walk around. I chanced upon a MacDonald's while walking around, and it's the only one in Delft (I think). The decor is certainly more subdued here compared to SG's, and is less popular too as it is less than half-filled. A typical meal costs around €5 here .. much costlier than SG prices after currency conversion.



As I walked, dark clouds came and it started drizzling! Shucks, I hate the rain, as it would ruin my hairstyle. So I quickly made my way home, seeking shelter under my umbrella, with the cold wind blowing furiously (Netherlands is really flat, so wind is especially strong) & freezing many parts of me. Even the ducks are "ducking" in their feathers under the chill!

In this cold weather, I could really do with some hot soupy dinner. So armed with some ordinary noodles and ordinary shrimp wantons but extraordinary culinery skills, I whipped up a bowl of really delicious shrimp wanton noodles to warmed me from inside. :)

7Nov 07 (Wednesday, Delft)

Another day with 8.45am lesson .. arghhhh .. The 1st lesson was Maths, and even the freshest & clearest mind didnt save us from being totally blown away by its extreme complexity .. I guess this is wat they meant by "speechless".. :X Thank goodness there wun be exams for Maths .. otherwise Delft will be witnessing mass mortality ..

The lesson after Maths was introduction to River Basin .. and in the aftermath of Maths, this lessons seems so much more normal & pleasant .. even though we were given a 2000-word writeup assignment to do. Nope, no complaints at all..

Next item is lunch - dear old lunch. I had the sausage with wedges & apple sauce and a soup (shucks, forgot the name). Hmm, I do realize tat the photo is not really doing justice to it .. it's actually very tasty, especially the sausage. With such sumptuous lunch everyday, really got to watch my waistline!

We continued our intro to River Basin lesson after lunch, and for just a short. It was a very welcomed early day off, as there's still a Maths assignment due on Friday, and I havent get started yet. So I went to the library, hoping to find a book tat could answer my prayer .. and yes, I did! Phew .. haha .. I'm saved! (sorry.. got too excited & forgot to take photos) Then I went to the computer lab to get the assignment typed out. After some 2 hours of pain & sweat, I'm finally done with the assignment! Yeah!

By then, it was 6pm, just in time for me to join a social event - Meet-the-Dutch session - an informal session for us new international students to get to know the Dutch people/culture/etc better. There was about 20 of us, and we took a causal little 10min walk to the venue. We were later joined by around 15 international students from the Technical University Delft. There we were treated to Dutch food - marshed potato with vege, creamy chocolate vanilla for dessert & end with coffee & bisucits. Very lovely of them hor? The only thing tat was missing is the Dutch people. We have 35 international students gathering together for a Meet-the-Dutch session and yet there wasnt a single Dutch person .. strange isnt it? Haha ..



After tat, a few of us headed for a local bar for a drink. Wednesday happens to be THE clubbing day of the week (goodness know why!) and there were tons of people in the tiny pub! By 11pm, there's hardly space to move. The place was quite bright with background music being played (not live, unfortunately) but nobody is dancing. All they did was talking and drinking beer. So un-happening compared to SG's clubbing scene. Oh, there we met our Maths lecturer's daughter, and she looks exactly like her mother! So weird to be pubbing with your lecturer's daughter, isnt it? Ever the non-party guy, I left the place at around 12am.