31 Oct 07 (Wednesday, Delft)

I got up at 7am as usual (it struck me that my time here is too precious to be wasted lazing in bed), and begin my day. Lesson is not due until 10.45am, so I still have a couple of hours of free time. I msn-ed for a while, and by 10am, I'm off to school with my trusted companion - my bicycle :)

I've a lecture today, and it is at the theatre with the wooden ceiling. It has been a long long time since I witnessed a class so attentive! All the students were following the lecturer closely, raising questions spontaneously whenever there is doubt .. amazing .. I wonder whether this is going to be the norm or an anomaly..

After about 2 hrs of lecture, it's my favourite time of the day - lunchtime! I had the chicken with fries & salad today, complete with a cup of coffee. Very nice .. :P At the same time however, I'm seeing my cash set back by another €3 .. now I very kelian, only have €12 in my wallet .. sure hope my funds can come quickly or else I really have to pack bread for lunch ..

As I cycle my way leisurely back to hostel, it struck me how lovely the journey is. Lining the roads and almost everywhere else, there are trees with their leaves having turned all golden.. the unmistakable sign that winter is fast approaching. I was told by seniors that the winter last year wasnt cold at all, while this year, we're already experiencing sub-zero temperature during autumn time. So they predict winter this year will be REALLY cold .. goodness ..

As the wind blows, you'll see the trees swaying in harmony, as the golden leaves falls slowly onto the ground (hope u can see from the photo) .. I guess this is how the word "fall" comes about..

Oh, I think I have not showed how my hostel (known as Mina) looks like. So here she is .. the place that's going to shelter me from wind, rain and sun for the next 18 months.

In the evening, we have a fellow student, Franto coming over to do dinner together. We cooked some meat, rice, potatoes & instant noodles .. and had a really fun time cooking together! After dinner, we spent some time discussing about some Maths problems, and that marks the end of the day.

30 Oct 07 (Tuesday, Delft)

Day 2 of serious lessons .. still a bit apprehensive as it has been more than 8 years since I walked out of my school's gate. The feeling of being a student once again, attending lectures & tutorials, especially having been thru so much in working life feels so weird and certainly needs time to get used to. I could still remember my 1st day of school in NUS vividly .. it was a lab session and that was where I met my 1st classmate who is now one of my very good fren also working in the same organization as me :)

Today's lesson is a workshop on Hydrology - learning to extract hydrological data, managing them, techniques to estimate missing data and appreciating the relationships of these figures and the story they are telling us. Haha .. sorry tat this sounds a bit boring or chim.. the lesson wasnt too hard to follow though, just that the qualitative analysis of the data is very open-ended and I spent some time concocting a couple of points :P

Time passed really fast during lessons. Perhaps it's because we were doing the exercise that made time felt passing faster this morning. Then we break for lunch - had fish & chips with a cup of hot chocolate. Umm .. yummy! When paying for my food, I realized I'm running dangerously low on funds. Sure hope my funds can come soon ... Had lunch with senior Wong (the kind fellow M'sian who has helped me a lot in settling down), Ahmad (another fellow M'sian doing his PhD here) and Paul.

As I cycle on my way home, I took some quick pictures of more views of Delft that I havent blogged before. There's this nice coffeeplace just outside the New Church. Imagine sipping your favourite coffee in the luke-warm sun, chatting with your loved one/frens or simply admiring the vicinity's architecture or watching people walk by.. At a canal nearby, the mandarin ducks are enjoying a lovely feast of bread, courtesy of a little boy and his granny.

Not all is so wholesome at Delft though. There is also this little video rental (I think so. I'm not sure as I did not go in to ask) store carrying a huge array of sex video titles (I saw them thru the door panel. Nope, I did not go in) :)

It rained last night, and even this little town where the folks take so much pride in keeping their environment clean (a fellow IHE student once witnessed a Dutchman chidding a group of tourists over a piece of unwanted bread their kid threw into the canal) could not be spared by the omni-present flotsam! I'm wondering if the flotsam will get washed out or cleaned up by worker .. and this struck me that I have not seen any maintenance chaps working in the canal since I was here. Hmm..

I spent a good part of the afternoon and evening doing some work, afterwhich I had my pre-cooked nasi-goreng again. Very kelian hor .. especially thinking back on how comfortable life is back in SG. Sigh.. these are times when I really miss home .. family, frens, food and warmth .. another 17.5 mths to go .. jia you! gambatei!

29 Oct 07 (Monday, Delft)

Today marks the 1st day of serious lessons. This is not to say that the previous week has been spent making merry & enjoying life, just that the lessons then were conducted in a relaxing and fun way so much so that it didnt feel like proper lessons :)

The 1st class is at 845am .. early huh? It was conducted in a small "lecture theatre", and it feels very scholarly sitting inside there, under the wooden ceiling, facing the blackboard on which so many world water experts has previously taught on it before ..

After a couple of introductry lessons, we break for lunch. I had the beef lasagna, which is the healthier alternative compared to the fried mussels with fries. Yes, I have not forgotten that I've to watch my diet now that I've been consuming lotsa of meat and very little vegetables :P Maybe I'll just take soup & bread tmr to go light ..

The afternoon lesson was "Review of Mathematics", something I once knew so well but has now long forgotten most of them .. hmm, really need to pay close attention in class! Somehow, today seems especially gloomy, not sure whether if it is because today marks the end of our "honeymoon"period in Delft, or that the rain & grey sky makes me miss the people back home..

As I'm running VERY low in €, I'll really need to go on budget now for my meals. So I cycled to Aldi to buy some pre-cooked nasi-goreng to do dinner. I sure hope this and my remaining bread is able to last me until my funds come. Otherwise xiaoqi will go hungry .. so kelian .. sigh..

27 & 28 Oct 07 (Saturday & Sunday, Epe)

Today is the day we travel to Epe (a little countryside resort) for a relaxing weekend before the serious school-term starts.. so thotful of IHE hor. The bus departs at 8am sharp, so I got up at 6.20am to get ready and to cycle to school. My blury eyes will tell u how unearthly the time is ... Took a cup of hot coffee to wake myself up, and ate a couple pieces of chocolate cookies.

The travel bus is rather comfortable. I sat beside Franto, ready to enjoy the 2 hour bus journey taking us northwards to Epe thru many towns, fields (with cows, rams & horses gazing on them) and even a seaside. Spent the time getting to know Franto better ..

After a rather enjoyable 2 hour journey, we've finally reached our destination - Golden Tulip Hotel, Epe, The Netherlands. It is set in the middle of some lush forest, and the falling golden leaves are really overwhelming! I was told that this place is a famous resort among the Dutch for a relaxing family weekend getaway. The charm of this place really lies beyond the resort into its surrounding - there are nature trails thru the forest for a peaceful tranquil walk with your loved one or cycling thru around the area to enjoy the lovely landscape. More of that later.

After checking out the resort and lotsa of photo-taking (we're so touristy!! haha!!), lunch is served. It is typical european style - bread with various types of meat & cheese. Ok, since I'm in Netherlands, I'll do wat the Dutch do and try to enjoy the bread. As expected, I had very little success.. but the soup is rather good though :)

After lunch, we're split into teams of 7s and it's time to do some team-building thru the nature walk. We were given a 45min-walk map and off we go into the dense forest with green, yellow & red leaves swaying gently with the cold wind. We spent some enjoyable time talking, getting to know one another, taking in the scenery that is so vastly different from S'pore & M'sia. The end of this nature walk led us to a halfway stop. Here, we took a rest while enjoying some hot chocolate prepared by IHE staff .. so blissful hor?

After 30min of rest, the team embarked on the 2nd half of the journey - a 1-hour cycling trail. Viewing the scenery thru cycling offers another totally different experience. The ride was quite smooth, although there were several near-misses (the bike is too big for me!!) where I almost fell off the bike when the dirt-track gave way (haha, not from my weight but by the direction of cycling!).

After close to 1 & a half hour (yes, it is supposed to take just one hour, but we got lost most of the time.. same as everyone else! haha ..), we finally found our way back to the hotel and to enjoy a sumptuous dinner, especially after expending some energy earlier on :) Dinner consisted of tomato soup with fresh herbs; Fillet of chicken with rice, vegetables and salad; forrest fruit bavarois with cream for dessert. Woa, the dessert is really good!

After dinner, we were treated to a performance by Dutch Clog Dancers who did some wonderful traditional Dutch dances for us fully decked in their traditional Dutch Lady & Dutch Man wear. They are quite elderly people, but you can still sense lotsa pride in their performace. Amazing!! Sorry tat I've no photos to show, as by this time, my handphone has ran out of battery. I'll try to post some photos after my fellow students send me the photos he took.

After the Dutch Clog Dancers, we played a IHE games tat is somewat similar Civilisations, where every team needs to collect "subjects"cards to earn degrees. This is a fun game, but i find it somewat marred by the unruly behaviour of some students who apparently took it as a matter of life & death! I had my specs pushed off during the game, and later saw the same person putting his arms around a staff's neck to try to get the "subjects" cards he is guarding. Another student then yanked a pile of "subjects" cards off his hands and the staff has had to order the person to return the "subject" cards & play fair. I'm sure the staff will be very disgusted by such primitive behaviour.. tsk tsk ..

After the IHE game (my team did not win as I'm too soft for such a physically demanding game), tats the end of the programme, and it's free & easy. I went to the bar to have a red wine with Franto (who took chocolate milk coz he's Muslim). He left after a while and I joined the student sitting at the adjacent table. Got rather sleepy at around 12am and went back to hotel toom to bathe & grab some much-deserved sleep. Zzz..

28 Oct 07

We got ready by 8am to have breakfast together. After breakfast, we had a get-to-know-one-another session with students with the same specialisation. We paired up and introduced one another to the group.. an interesting way of introducing people within a group. Tat took us to 11am, and it's time to return to Delft. We reached Delft at 1pm, and went to grab some bread with Franto & Arman. Had some halal beef & bread with them for lunch.

26 Oct 07 (Friday, Delft)

Rise and shine .. it's a Friday morning! No class, and with plans to visit Den Hagg shortly. Had some bread and chocolate cookies for breakfast, and sipping a cup of simmering coffee while reading up a bit on Den Hagg on my Lonely Planet.

At around 9am, me and Arman then set off for IHE to park my bike, and walked a short distance to meet a senior, Mr Nasri, who has very kindly offered to bring us to Den Hagg.

We will be going to Den Hagg by tram (Service 1). To do tat, we have to purchase tickets (called Strippen) from the train station tat is just opposite IHE. Got the tickets for €20 (good for making about 4 round trips), and off we go to wait for Tram No. 1 at the tram waiting shelter. It didnt take long for the tram to come, and off we go to Den Hagg!



The seats are pretty clean and comfortable, and the ride rather pleasant. After some 30min, we're at our destination where Arman did some adminstrative matters. The place is jus like out of a korean drama - rows of trees with reddish-yellow leaves lining up on 2 sides of the road leading to infinity. My mediocre camera-phone & phtoography skillks simply do not do justice to the scenery.

After tat, we returned to Delft where we had lunch at IHE. I chose the stewed beef, and the canteen staff gave me more beef. Haha, I must be having a really gluttonous look then! Today, I used the Chipknip for the 1st time and went cash-less. Feel so hassle-free without to deal with coins (some of u will know tat € coins are pretty hard to differentiate as coins of a larger size doesnt necessarily means larger value. U just got to open your eyes real big and look carefully, something I find so counter-intuitive). Oh, and the canteen staff told me tat today is "wonderful friday" and gave me a 50% discount! So my lunch just cost me €1.85. Sure hope we've "wonderful everydays"!

After lunch, I did a bit of emailing in IHE before going to DUWO to get my letterbox keys. The journey was pretty smooth, bringing me to another part of Delft tat I have not been to by bicycle (my 1st time to DUWO was on 17 Oct, and by IHE van).

Then it's back to hostel. After a while, Arman returned and brought back some halal beef. So, it's steak for dinner tonight! After some frying, the beef turned crispy golden and emitting tantalising smell! Using the beef oil, we fried some herrings as well. It didnt taste as wonderful as the beef as the herrings were too sour. Hmm, has been eating quite a lot of beef for the past few days .. time to cut back on meat and take more vegetables.. will bear tat in mind.

Oh, tomorrow, I'll be going to a IHE-organized "exercusion" to Epe, a countryside place to the northern part of Netherlands for 2 days. Yes, the tough study life MSc students here are facing are finally being recognized! I will return to Delft on Sunday afternoon. So this blog will be taking a one-day break too :). Dun miss me, ya?