Lost in translation

ski pics alas!

posted by eMzie @ 6:55 AM 0 comments

Restless weekend

Finally went swimming here, and it felt really good to be in the water again after so long. And its quite timely cos I’ve been thinking quite abit lately, and its perfect to be in the water. I spent $4 for a 30min swim though…the most expensive swim in my life.

Hah. Anyway, I’ve been really restless the entire weekend and did nothing really productive. I took a walk in the neighbourhood park on sat morning, and it was really nice. Cos the sun was actually shining, and there were grandparents with their grandchildren, a lot of people walking their dogs, rollerblading, cycling, dating and I was just taking a leisurely walk and observing them before I found a nice bench and started to read my book. Tuesdays with morrie. I think it’s the perfect book for the park.

On a lighter note, we lost 1 hour today due to daylight savings! Haha. Its so weird we just added 1 more hour to the original time cos its spring..and I think they gain 1 hour in Autumn. I did nothing all day but sleep, watch videos online and we cooked lasagna together with Barbara, who is a really really good cook. I really must learn something from her..haha. she’s amazing. I can’t take too many days of doing nothing though..and getting very restless and think too much! Raaa. :) 

posted by eMzie @ 4:02 PM 0 comments

Zakopane

Heh. By now you would have already heard about the highlight of our weekend ski trip to Zakopane, a town at the foot of the beautiful Tatra mountains. That is, that our dear Jace injured her knee muscle and is now in a cast. But at the end of the day, im just glad that despite that she still did enjoy the trip cos she got to ski and enjoy the scenery at Kluszkowce. That’s the spirit my dear fren. And it’d be something we can laugh over at the end of our stay here. Heh. For now, u have to stay in ur room and try not to move.

The skiing trip left us all with quite a lot of injuries I must say..haha. Elayne also cant walk now and is in a knee cast. The sole survivors who completed the ski journey were Val, Serene and I. Im left with numerous blue blacks, and a slightly twisted knee and an aching body. Haha. I think its quite funny la.. we are all like injured soldiers. But, we all had so much fun.

When we arrived, we were just thrown with our ski gear and up the gondola (the chair lift) which brought up to the top of the slope. We were damn garang and just ramming ourselves everywhere..haha. falling in the snow every few steps. And we didn’t know the slopes we started with were quite steep cos we don’t know. Goes to show that what you don’t know wont hurt. J It was all fun, until all the injuries start surfacing.

The 2nd day I managed to ski properly without falling.. so mission accomplished. On the 3rd day we went trekking in the national park, its amazing. And I really loved trekkin in a snowy forest, its so beautiful. But really really hard to walk.. but the weather is cool and its just a totally refreshing feeling. And the tatra mountains were really nice too.. and what I saw was only 1/5 of the range cos the other 4/5 is in Slovakia.




trekking in the snow

the first snow man i saw since i came!

trekking in the sunset


ski-jumping slope. super duper steep...

The survivors


The tatra mountains









Ski-ing photos are with our dear elayne..so that’s for later. ;) for now, enough of skiing and back to Warsaw.

posted by eMzie @ 9:53 AM 0 comments

Zakopane (9-11 Mar 07)

Zakopane, one of the most popular ski resorts in Poland. Its the first time that im skiing on real snow so i was really excited to go. Heres the 4 of us ... packed and all ready to go.


Our hostel is situated at the foot of the mountain. Here are some pictures of the view ourside our hostel.

Well, as beginners on the ski slope we were definitely brave and too much of a HERO to try those steep slopes. After skiing for a few hours, something really unfortunate happened. I fell off the slope- did a little somersault with a cross over my legs and finally ended flat on the snow. The pain was intense and i cant even move an inch off the ski slope. Someone from the rescue team has to come and fetch me down the slope using some a motorbike looking vehicle. Although such accidents happened but i never regret going to Zakopane, at least i get to try skiing! Peter (polish coordinator) brought me to the hospital in the town and they did some xray scans on me. Before the scans, they wanted me to strip off my trousers if not they are going to cut it! There were no changing rooms or curtains in the examination rooms.... so you can imagine how embarassed i was! There were no form of communications from me to the doctors and nurses- (i think they refuse to speak english to me) so I do not have a clear idea of what exactly happened to my knees but anyhow i feel much better after the cast.

My Cast!

Our "First Class" Seats... (my buddy and Elayne)

Ok... enough of me talking about all these loser incidents. Actually its really fun to ski and i thought i was quite ok as a beginner. Well, i did took some very "seh" pictures.. but its all in Elayne's camera... So ELAYNE.. come on send me some pics! So keep watching this space and i will show you some pics of me skiing.

Yet another experience in Poland!

posted by jotting down memories @ 10:39 AM 3 comments

a glimpse of our daily meals..

Whipping up a delicious meal...wahahhaah




emzie's desk

posted by eMzie @ 4:37 PM 3 comments

Auschwitz

posted by eMzie @ 9:14 AM 0 comments

Krakow Pics

posted by eMzie @ 9:11 AM 0 comments

Krakow Trip

We spent the weekend at Krakow with some 100 other exchange students. Krakow was the old capital of Poland, and one of the very few places which was not badly destroyed during WWII cos the Germans were living there.

Everyone had been telling me how nice Krakow is.. I was kinda skeptical cos Europe was full of old towns, cathedrals and castles. How nice can this town be.. But I was wrong. I really like Krakow.  But I like it not because of its castles or cathedrals, though they were nice. What I really liked was the town square, Rynek Glowny, Europe’s biggest medieval town square. I loved the atmosphere there, its winter but the place was bustling with people and buskers playing good music. It’s very big, and a cathedral, cloth hall and other beautiful landmarks mark each corner of the square. In the middle of it is a statue, and there are children running around, playing with pigeons. You can feel the joy and liveliness in the atmosphere.

And the clubs are great there too..they play good music at least (compared to Warsaw). And after clubbing at like 3am you find lots of pple on the streets!! Everyone is still happy and eating their kebabs and pizzas on the streets, groups of youngsters singing and heading home. I really like the place.. :) and the weather is nicer too, not that cold compared to Warsaw. That’s why pple can hang out at 3am eating kebabs on the street..

On the last day, we visited Auschwitz, the Nazis concentration camp, where over 1 million Jews lost their lives. I had already heard a lot the gloominess and sadness of the place, and was looking forward to going there to really see history for myself. (Am really bitter and disappointed that I didn’t get to visit birkenau, the 2nd part of aushwitz, but let’s not talk about that) And it was cool, cos we visited Kaziemierz, the jewish village in Krakow in the morning before going to Auschwitz, so it made it more meaningful.

How shall I describe the place? I didn’t feel like death was in the air, but I really felt the sadness of the place. It’s like.. deadly quiet and people were all very respectful. Its not like a museum or memorial hall, that you usually go to.. it was a camp. And we walked from block to block, visiting each like it was some ‘monument’ But the fact is, this place was once full of people, people who …. I cant describe it. Tragic fate? I don’t think it quite adequately describes them.

And as I walked around, I cant help but imagine how this place was like and the captives felt threading on the same ground as I was threading on. Walking towards the Death Block, Block 11, where the shooting ground was, and where the standing cells were at, the gas chambers. There were rooms filled with hair, shoes, luggages, spectacles, clothes.. When you see them, its really natural to just look at them like a pile of objects..but the fact is, each pair of spectacles, each pair of shoes represent a person. It really is very sad.

The Jews had arrived at this place, thinking they were going to work in Eastern Europe, so they had brought along their valued possessions, and probably lots of hope and anticipation. Who knows? The german soldiers then carried out selection and do you think they really carefully select? Some had their fates straight to the extermination camp, and as the name suggests they died there in the gas chambers as anonymous pple. Other abled men had to “Work”, and were sent to the concentration camp. I can’t imagine.. And I still can’t even after visiting the place. How can anyone in the world be so cruel?

I’ve visited the memorial museum of the Rape of Nanking when I was much younger.. I wasn’t old enuff to think at that time it hink..i can vaguely remember the place. Some vivid images of the women being tortured. They weren’t just raped la..they were mutilated. Last year, I watched ‘Shooting Dogs’, a documentary about the genocide of the toosies (issit spelt like that) in Rwanda. I can’t imagine… It’s just so scary how ugly the human soul and heart can be. How can it be? Then I thought, maybe the time and era in the past was very different during the war or like it’s a totally different social standard and environment that shaped people to be like that. Maybe they were shaped by society to be that way or whatever.. but then, what about Abu Ghraib? Where the US soldiers tortured Iraqi POWs. That’s recent. Ummm.. Perhaps its what war makes of a person. All your values, morals would be warped.

posted by eMzie @ 9:04 AM 3 comments

Krakow trip (2-4 mar 07)

Arbeit Macht Freiheit= Work Makes Liberty

Watch towers for the Nazis Soldiers

Outside the camp

posted by jotting down memories @ 7:20 AM 0 comments