Break-away season

The scortching summer has finally cooled down a bit. It’s about time. The coolness and humidity in the air were mixed with melancholy. It is the break-up season. My good friend N broke away from a long distance, my ex broke away from the girl who made me his ex, both my good friends broke away from each other. And I broke away from the person I spent the most time with in the past 7 months. Sad? Yes. But life is a bitch and sometimes doing the right thing means pain.

And what else do we learn after reading the excerpts from “He’s just not That into you”? We deserve someone who is madly in love with us.

Summer of '06

(dated July 21-22, 2006)

As the usual Friday gig, we packed up by 6pm and hit the road but this time we weren’t that lucky trying to find an accommodation. Managed to find 2 single beds in Rurberg, not ideal but close enough. 2 rounds of shots and a joint later, we found ourselves sitting on the bench of someone’s boat dock looking over the peaceful Rutsee and later jumping in for a night swim. It was one of those tranquil summer nights. A mid-summer night’s dream—warm summer breeze, 3 good friends, and a starry sky. Wondering where we are all going to be next summer.

"Get the rock out of my shoe!!"

That being said, how did L end up in the hospital for 5 hours on the “last weekend”? For one, he smoked too much. For two, he talked too much...After hitting the hiking trail for 3 hours, we found ourselves going nowhere. Out of sudden, the chatty L went silent. Within 5 minutes, his face was all swollen with rashes everywhere. A glass of milk, a tea-spoon of some alcoholic shit later, we arrived at the hospital (Eupen, Belgium). From there, the rest was history. And several lessons were learned: i) belgium prescription does not work in german apoteke; ii) don't ever get fried while hiking cuz you never know if you were allergic from the weed or the bug; iii) knowing how to drive a stick is important!!

rock skipping, my partyfass, linus: a summer evening in koln

(dated July 14, 2006)

Another Friday night in Koln! This time we hit the local scene of Linus’ Talent show, a local singing contest that has been running for 10-15 years. The coolest thing about this show is the audience. If they love the contestant, they cheered them on. If not, they turn their backs around, boo, sometimes even throw tomatoes to the performer. Of course, the host Linus is something, a mid-50-year-old entertainer with pink jumpsuit.

I had so much fun standing on my partyfass (5L keg). Was carrying it around the town for the entire night (even to the club) as I intended to use it as my stool for Robbie’s concert. Couldn’t believe that I left it at MickyDee’s though. So choked.

Rock skipping at the Rhein with the boys with Dom glowing in the dark..it was a beautiful summer picture.

More photos on Flickr!

Juanes en Bonn!

(dated July 12, 2006)
Been wanting to go to his concert for 3 years now. Was first captivated by the song “ Fotographia” during my road trip to Mexico with Paco and N in the summer of 2003. Remembering going to every single store in Cancun trying to find his CD. Finally got to see him in live, and surprisingly in Bonn. Was totally going nuts and shaking my hips along with all his songs! Volverte a ver!!

Great show, great music, but for sure that he’s not a latino hip shaker (as my colleague described) since he really cannot dance!!

Felt really blessed to be in such a great city where so many things are going on! Guess what! Going to Robbie’s concert on August 8. Was a sold out show but I actually managed to buy his ticket via eBay.de (was switching the screens between Leo and eBay for hours trying to figure out all the german auction vocabs ☺

More photos on Flickr.

Das Ente auf WM!

My tribute to the World Cup!

(dated July 9, 2006)
The world cup finally came to an end. Sadly that Deutschland did not make it. Oh well, so the song now goes "54, 74, 90, 2010" (-54 + 74 +1090 = 2010) Germans are sure good at math! Was never a soccer fan, but after experiencing the soccer fever here, I certainly got into it as well. But Now that the WM is over, will have to find something else to keep me entertained at night! Que mal!

Another WM-deutschland weekend!

(Ladies watch out, the tail is 18 m long!!)-a hilarious plate in the back of a hugarian truck

(dated June 30-July 2, 2006)

Missed the quarter final of Germany vs. Argentina because of my dear friend F who was awaiting us in Reggensburg. Will always remember why we missed the most important penalty shootout of WM 2006 but at least we caught the penalty shootout on the german radio station on the road (at least we knew how to count in german). Participated in some crazy local bachelor party by the Rheine. Must say that shaving legs for guys is not easy and takes a lot courage! Wonderful Swabian cusine from F's mama, crazy cuban bar, historical tour at Reichpatateigelande, lunch at Kaisersburg, and beautiful german countryside--another very WM, deutschland adventurous weekend.

More photos on Flickr.

Germany vs. Sweden (2:0)

(dated June 24, 2006)
partied with local koln crowds celebrating the german win!!

I will never be the same again!

(dated June 23-24, 2006)

It was definitely the craziest weekend and it just got started. As promised, we took my friend I to Amsterdam to have her first j in her life. 6 hours in Amsterdam (12:45am-6:30am), we accomplished the following missions:

1. Scored 5 cakes and 3 joints within the last 15 minutes: no BS! (of course we later on found out that Maastricht is only 45 minutes away :)
2. Fulfilled my friend I’s first fantasy (however, still need to work on her 2nd fatansy, don't event try to guess what it is)
3. Got kicked out of a parking garage at 5 am because we were passed out in the car
4. Wondered in the red light district for 3 hours in trio (1 hungarian male + 1 german female + 1 asian-canadian female)
5. Attempted to crash at the train station but all the good spots were occupied by the bums and backpackers

Lines of the weekend:
“how did it start? I am not feeling anything??” (by I)
“I will never be the same again!” (by L)
“ Look, 3 o’clock!” (by I)

What? Kyrgyzstan?

(dated June 16, 2006)
Was sitting there having my usual breakfast in the morning at the hotel. Then this asian-looking walked in and started talking to me. Judging the way she dressed and talked, I thought she must have been a Korean or Japanese. I was so wrong when she started telling me about her nation: Kyrgyzstan. She’s here for her daughter’s wedding, who is going to be married to a German this week and the Kyrgyz wedding will take place in Bishkek next week. “I can show you the headwear that my daughter is going to wear upstairs if you have a minute.” Of course, I thought. The triangular headwear represents Tien-Shan (Heaven Mountain) and the black strip underneath symbolizes Kyrgyzstan, the country lies in the foothills of Tien-Shan.

A consultant in cultural and educational issues for her country, she works with international organizations on a regular basis and is well-traveled. Will always remember what she told me when we parted, “ Europe is great but I still love my country better. There is nowhere like Kyrgyzstan, the beauty of the nature. Always remember your root.”

Found myself researching everything about this fascinating country last night for hours after my encounter with Imara (means Moon in Kyrgyz). On the way to the Great Silk Road, Kyrgyz people have been around for thousands of years. However, they did not settle from their nomadic lifestyle until about a hundred years ago. 75% of the 5 million Kyrgyz people are Muslim and 20% are Russian orthodox due to the strong influence its powerful neighbour. Kyrgyzstan only declared independence from Russia in 1991.

Such a beautiful and unexploited country, going to be on my exotic-country-to-visit list. “No whistles and bells, just friendly faces and some mighty big mountains.”