Bye bye 2011, hello 2012... Marking my one year in Germany!!

Today marks my 1st full year in Germany. Looking back it has been a rather fruitful and interesting year for me. Getting to know all the great freinds in my German class and the different places in Germany that I have visited, Spring/Summer Fests, Canstatter Volksfest, playing DIY lady and also all the recipes that I have not had the chance to try out.. Here's a short picture sum up of my 2011... =)

Some of my great classmates from my German class in Henke Schulungen..

Heidelberg

Tübingen

Bodensee

Düsseldorf

Fireworks @ Blühendes Barock

Mallorca

 Food......

Going 4 months and still having fun....

2 more days and its the 3 month mark for me in Germany.. How time flies... I was still just complaining that the weather is always cold cold freezing freezing.. now its Spring already. Still chilly but there is definitely more sunshine... =)
Still 'struggling' with school but I made quite a few new friends. My class is super international.. We have classmates from so many countries. Spanish, USA, Canadian, Czech, Russia, Turkey, Peru, Ukraine, Taiwan and of course... China.. *winks* Its really interesting when we go out for meals cos there are some many different languages coming from one table.. LOL...
Other than the norm school day routine, I have managed to find some interesting 'close to home' food. There's a Chinese restaurant - Rice Man - in downtown Stuttgart that sells Sichuan Mala-Steamboat.. Was soooo elated and it actually tastes not too bad..  But do take note that the steamboat is on the second level. The shopfront is quite deceptive.. Looks well... not so appetizing.. If I didn't know it, I would never step in.. keke.. Last weekend I also found a great Korean restaurant - Eat Drink Man Woman - @ Schwabstraße a few stops away from Stuttgart by S-Bahn. The BBQ is great but personally, I would give the Kimchi soup a pass the next time.. =D
Today is Mikka's birthday so I decided to try to cook some real German food. Poor Mikka, had to put up with my not East not West cooking.. but he's still alive.. keine panic!! So, for the first time in my life, I attempted the Schweinebraten... and it didn't taste too bad.. keke.. I also made Vanilla & Chocolate pudding for dessert.. Sweet right?.. *winks* Hope that he liked this Birthday dinner...
So much so for now.. will try to update more soon... Ciao!!

After 1 month in Deutschland.....

Okay.. I know I've been too lazy to update my blog but still trying to fit in to the new environment... =P
Have been here for one month and ten days and still trying to get used to the cold.. lol.. Chinese New Year just passed by as a breeze as there is no big celebration here like Singapore. Was soooooooo homesick during those first few days and I would just die for some of the dishes on the reunion table.. You know what I mean.... Maybe next year I will go home for CNY... Still need some of these familiar traditions once in awhile.. *winks*
Mikka's parents are really nice.. For the fact that my Deutsch still sux, we had to trouble them when the building maintainence guy came along to fix the taps when we had our washing machine installed.. Gosh.. Was really surprised at how the parts were corroding.. Should have had these changed long ago... Thankfully they are staying really close by..
Had the chance to meet up with Dawn & Kel when they came down to Stuttgart for a visit. Picked them up from Stuttgart HBF and hung around in town for the day.. Even brought them to Lola's (Towers is actually the name of the place but I call it Lola's.. a joke from last time) in Ludwisburg, my favourite Irish pub so far.. =D Hopefully will be able to meet up with Dawn again, maybe in Bonn before she finishes her work contract.
Also met up with my friend Cindy from the Deutsch class @ Goethe in Singapore. Her husband works in Nürnberg and they go back to Manheim where her in laws are staying once in awhile. So, Mikka & myself took a day trip to Manheim for a visit... =D  All I can say about Manheim is.... its a city of cars & traffic lights.. LOL.. Mikka was going crazy at the amount of times he had to stop on one stretch of the road cos the traffic light intervals was like every 30 - 50 meters.. Maybe its really better to go around that town on bicycles.. keke...
So, what have I been doing for the last month... Hmm... playing maid, cook and carpenter... LOL.. Have been trying out different kinds of recipe and poor Mikka has to eat... can't complain.. heh heh.. I also built up a chest of drawers from scratch... First time in my life.. but it was quite fun.. At first it drove me crazy and I wanted to kick myself for even attempting.. Should have waited for Mikka to finish work and build that up together.. But after awhile, I got it.. LOL..
Will be starting school next Tuesday @ the Henke Schulungen in Stuttgart downtown.. Compulsory Integration course that I have to take... Course will stretch all the way to July.. Hopefully I can catch up cos I'm actually joining another class that has already started....
Ohh.. and my ex company (the head office) offered me a 3 day translation job.. and I have to go to the city of Bielefeld which is (accordong to Mikka) around 300Km away from Stuttgart. After that, I will go to Hannover with them and join Mikka to come home... =D But that means I have to miss school for 2 days.. Think should be no problem.. plus I have to make some money for my monthly train ticket.. keke...

Will update again soon... =D

A New Phase... soon...

I know that I have been neglecting my dear blog for quite awhile but it seems like there are a hundred and one things to do and there is simply not enough time.... So here's a little summary of what has and is going to happen... keke...
Handed in my resignation to the company at the end of last month.. Eversince, it has been looking foward to finally being able to wake up in the morning not having to stress to go to work.. =P At present, I am handing over my stuff to the new girl that they hired to take-over my position. So, I will be officially 'unemployed' by end September. Still have loads to do even after I have stopped work. Have to go to Immgrations - ICA - to pick up my passport, then the Ministry of Foreign Affiars (MFA) to get our wedding certificate stamped and finally to the German Embassy (Deutsche Botschaft) to submit my documents for my visa application at the end of next week. Guess this will drag awhile cos from what I understand, there are still documents to be translated into German for the application but I will not know what they are until I have submitted the initial papers. Did I mention before that I have passed my A1 for my German Language course at Goethe? Results were not fantastic but I didn't do too bad either *winks* Also, I successfully passed my Advance Theory Test for my driving (I have to brag.. I got 100% correct answers.. keke...). The next step will be to complete my remaining 3 lessons and book a Test Date for my driving test itself. Think that's all? Nein... far from that. Have to start packing up my stuff to ship over to my 'new home' in Germany.. Mom has been nagging me to start packing. I made a joke that she can't wait to 'get rid' of me. Lots of stuff to be shipped so that's gonna cost me a bomb.. keke... *wonders if Mikka would subsidize me something.. LOL*
Before I leave my beautiful ASIA to go to EUROPE, my dear friends - Keani & Lucy - decided that we have to go on a trip together so we have arranged to tour Taiwan a little bit from end Oct - early Nov. 10 days in total and we will be eating and shopping to our hearts content.. *HAPPEE* I will go more into this in a separate entry.
Besides my own 'events' there are lots going on around too. Jo is already about 6 months pregnant, which means my little niece would be out to see the world sometime in November. I promised to wait till I can finally see her before I leave.. As for our new venture in the bag business here, things are progressing well and we are growing steadily with a regular base of customers.. This weekend we will have our first ever 'Roadshow' as Adrian calls it at T3. Hopefully the response will be good. So much so for now.. will update again soon.

Prüfungsangst (Exam Stress)

Will be having my Start auf Deutsch - A1 examinations on Saturday.... Super stressed out!!! Haven't had time to do much studying cos of the moving lately.. Hopefully everything will be more or less in place so that I can finally sit down and hit the books. Thank God for nice classmates... Have been borrowing notes and getting hints and tips from all over the place. Feel so bad that I can't join them for study groups. Just hope that everything goes well...