Vorsicht Knut!!

Three weeks I bought a cup from Ikea with the logo above and I did not know the meaning of Knut. Vorsicht meant 'Causion' and I assumed that Knut meant something was falling; like the prices at Ikea's post-Christmas sale. Recently, a colleague from Sweden joined me for a 2-day training programme and saw my cup. He explained that Knut is a Swedish practice after Christmas. It involved taking your Christmas tree and throwing it out of your window. Now, why would anyone want to do that? (keep in mind that there is no such thing as fake trees like the ones we have in Spore). Actually, it does make alot of sense. After Christmas, your 'live' tree would start drying up and the leaves would certainly mess up your floor. Any attempt to pack the tree would result in branches breaking off. Thus, the best solution is to open the nearest window and toss the tree out. That way, less cleaning up to do. The fallen leaves and misteltoes would disintegrate into the ground and on the Monday after New Year, the cleaners would come by and pick up what's remaining of the tree.

That evening, my boss took me and Friedrich, my Swedish colleague, out for dinner and Apfelwein in Frankfurt. While walking to the restaurant, low and behold, we saw a Christmas tree lying on the sidewalk, its top stuck beneath a parked car. I found out then that this practice is also carried out in many parts of Europe. The moral of the story is: its safer walking on the main road than on the sidewalk after Christmas! Btw, Apfelwein is actually Apple wine; the drink of the people of my region, Hessen. If you ever come to Frankfurt, do try some.

The King's Castles

Neuschwanstein in Autumn

On Sunday morning, Yucheng and myself hoped onto a train and travelled 2 hrs down south of Munich towards the Bavarian Alps. A journey to visit the most beautiful (so-called) castle in Germany. Schloss Neuschwanstein. Build by the mad King Ludwig II, (it was his hobby), this magnificient structure at the foot of the Alps was the inspiration for Cinderella's castle in Disney Land. However, this structure was never completed as the project was abandoned after the death of the King in 1886. Nonetheless, it was breathe-taking. Despite our tight schedules, we managed to squeeze an inside tour of Neuschwantein and Schloss Hohenschwangau; the original home of the King and it was from here that we watched the construction of Neuschwanstein. The interior of Neuschwanstein was dedicated to the works of King Ludwig's close friend and famous opera composer Richard Wagner. Though it was a tough walk up and a sprint down to catch the bus back, it was worth it.



The journey to Fuessen; the village below the castles

Hohenschwangau in the background

The entrance to Neuschwanstein

White Munich

My last weekend was spent visiting some friends in Munich and although it was my second time in Munich, there was still lots to see and do. I really appreciate Yucheng for accomodating me and going out of his way to make my stay really wonderful. Thanks dude. Thanks Yi Bin, Kelvin and Deen for taking time off their busy studying schedule to hang out with me too. Munich was beautiful, covered in snow, making it almost feel like Christmas skipped 11 months. We really enjoyed our Saturday out in the snow; failed at making snow men, harmless snow ball fights and rolling down slopes. If only we had sleighs. Yeah, this was apart from visiting Residenze (Duke's home), the Deutsches Museum and shopping.







The view from Peterskirche (St. Peter's Church). In the background stands Frauenkirche with her two majestic bell towers visible from all over Munich city. By the way, I almost got frost bites up there!






The Deutsches Museum is the a must-see for any visitor to Munich, especially the technical dudes. It was my boss Dr Scherf who urged me to visit this place and it was definitely worth while. Live-size displays and planes, engines, machinery and many models to view. It will take a week to cover every single display but you will definitely be bewildered by these engineering mavels and there's so much to learn. If you only have 2 hours, you cannot miss the mining section which consists of 400m of tunnels dug beneath the museum to replicate actual mines with machinery inside. Awesome!

We met up with Gerri and her boyfriend who came down from London to visit me and ski! Well, they did much more skiing than hanging out with me haha. Here, we had drinks and supper at Augustinerbrau keller, a typical Bavarian beer hall. Lots of shouting going on in the background.

Jazz @ Heinrichs

Monika, Matthias & Max

Last friday, I was invited back to the Heinrichs for dinner. The Heinrichs were the host-family that I stayed with the first time I was in Germany and being back after almost 2 years was a wonderful experience. Max grew up alot since the last I saw him, especially his hair which I am told has not been cut since the last time I was there. He's still as hyper and cute as before. The house looked the same, nice and cozy, and Maotsi the cat has put on alot of weight.

We had a lovely Raclette dinner which is a Swiss grill speciality. It consists of a hot plate on top which you can cook pototoes or meat and below the grill, slots for which you put your personal tiny pan to cook. On this pan, you can put any serving you desire or available for you such as salami, salmon, corn, mushrooms, onions, etc. You must then top it up with a slice of goat cheese or salted cheese. Once its done, the cheese melts on top giving a lovely golden brown pizza-looking dish and you scrape in on your plate to eat. The term raclette derives from the French "racler", meaning "to scrape".

After all the 'catching up' was done over dinner, it was time for our favourite pass-time, Jazz! Mathias was on his double bass, Monika on the piano (although her instrument is the trumpet) and me on the bongos, playing a couple of jazz standards for old times sake. It was definite fun and from now onwards I have become their resident percussionist; jam sessions every Wed night with the full band. They even wanted me to sing for their jazz choral which they play for but that I will put on hold for the time being. The Heinrichs home at Koelnerstrasse will probably be my 'home' away from home.

Bei Opel?

my office - Opel headquaters in Ruesselsheim

Its true that this is where I intern, but I do not work directly under Opel. Currently I'm working for General Motors Powertrain and as you probably know, GM owns like 15 car brands including Opel, Saab & Chevrolet. I would like to tell you in detail what I do at work and what I see, but for non-car enthusiasts, you probably scroll faster than usuall. Btw, after signing a stack-load of secrecy documents and by-passing the numerous security gates just to get to my table every morning, I rather not say too much.

In short, I run engine simulations on the computer with actual data to determine the best powertrain combinations, fuel efficiencies, emissions and drive cycles of cars. haha. Don't be confused by the word powertrain; I do not work with trains. Trivia: A powertrain in a car is all the components that make the car move which includes the engine (duh!), the clutch, the transmissions, final drive and the wheels. The cool part of the job is that I get to see the test benches where they actually test these cars, the production lines and once in a while my collegues will sneak us into the workshop to take peeks at the new concept cars which are yet to be released!

But the part of work I look forward to most is lunch! My mum says I don't eat enough in Germany.. but she hasn't seen the Opel cafeteria. 3 course meals with a salad and desset buffet is probably the only meal I can afford to eat each day. Which is probably good coz it's really ex to eat out and I pay intern prices at Opel anyway. So why not stuff myself eh? haha.

i'm an alien, i'm a legal alien..

It's been almost 2 weeks since I came to Darmstadt and things are going great. The first week was tough; running around the city, visiting various different offices, banks and meeting insurance agents, but I'm glad to say all this admin rubbish is finally settled! After suffering the first week in a temporary flat, I'm now in my new room in a different flat with 3 other guys (sharder!). This morning the painters came in to give my room a fresh coat of paint and according to my flat mates, this has never happened before. Oh well, I count myself lucky. Check out my bare, white room. I cant stand undecorated rooms! OK.. gimme about 2 weeks and I will get my room in order.

I'm currently sharing a flat with 3 other guys; a french guy Gregory, a german dude Sebastian and a bulgarian chap Pulmen. Greg tries his best to speak English to me although his german is much better and Pulmen cant speak English at all. So basically, when we all are together, its all German! 4 different accents of German! It is certainly improving my rusty german to some extent, I hope. However, its hasn't been much interacting with these guys as I'm out most of the time and they're all busy with exams. At least I'm getting to know Greg quite a bit while we cook our dinners. Yeah, Greg is a pretty good cook, and a healthy eater too so I'm picking up a couple of pointers from him.

My next post will be about work and I've got tonnes of stuff to write about but I dunno if I can... You see, I work in a high-security area and everything I see and do must be kept within. You never know what Google can bring up if I start to blog about it. Nonetheless, I will write within my limits... chao!

It has begun... (due to popular requests)

As I grudgingly type the first words of my exchange blog, I have come to realise the importance of family and friends back home.. So here I sit in front of my laptop, remembering my experiences in Germany... I dedicate this blog to my family and all my wonderful friends back home in Singapore. You know I am missing you all right now. Let me start by thanking all the people who showed up at the airport to send me off. It was really very heartwarming.. Thank you!! (special thanks to Greg & Dwi for taking these photos). A big thank you to the Via Christus choir peeps that came.. although I regret not taking any photos with you guys. (Teresa.. I used to hate popiahs.. but I think those were the best I've ever eaten. I'm a fan now!) And a big thank you to the MM Altos.. who by the way tried their best to embarass me at the airport and even in front of my parents. You all succeeded! Thanks Aaron for coming down and giving me a copy of ya debut album! Sounds good man! Thank you everyone for all the wonderful gifts and cards. Enjoy the photos!

my family

The CSS bunch