chapter 1 : the beginning.

Image by waitscm via Flickr

after much deliberation, i have decided to write about the stuffs i have done in june. i am walking into the path i am not actually supposed to take. i know it. i have so much to say, and either two things tend to happen. first, i would at times not be able to phrase my words the way i actually want it to, and when what i wrote can’t really express the feelings i feel inside, i will get pissed. or secondly, i would tend to start to write to much, like what i am doing now with writing this useless intro, which if i eventually do not have enough time to finish it up, i would be rushing the writing, through which the final result would suck, and then i will also get pissed. so why am i writing this? just say that i have a certain affection to being pissed.

this (i foresee) would be the first of many writings on the travel i did in june, which was supposed to be my big break from learning german here in zurich. two girls, cee and dee (not their real name), visited me in zurich last month. i knew cee from my secondary school in singapore, we were classmates, and she sat right in front of me for 2 years. the bullies, like me, would know that there is no better person to bully than the person that is sitting right in front of your face, what an amazing 2 years it must have been for her. i knew dee from the hostel i stayed in during my first 2 years in singapore, and then we were in the same scholars’ committee during our junior colleges years. cee, however, only stayed 10 days here, and with here we did the swiss part of our travel. and, when she then flew back home, dee and i went on the west europe part of the journey.

i did have some goals during this trip, and they are:

• beer. guys, i am really serious about this beer bottle collecting hobby that i just recently took up. this, i saw, as the best opportunity to actually add into my collection which is now hanging on my wall. it is really starting to look pretty now, and i have got loads of bottle that i have not gotten the chance to take a pic or write about. i’ll hope i am gonna do that soon enough.
• postcards. i have sent some postcards from the places i have visited. those of you who receive them, you better consider yourself lucky guys. haha. joking. but i did send like 2-3 postcards from each place. to those people like me, who feels jealous and angry when you are not included in a shoutout or an acknowledgement note, it is not my fault dudes, i have tried to look for your address, it is either i can’t find it easily (i did look at some people’s facebook profile, you can see mine if you are a friend, downside of upholding privacy) or you do not merit one.
• maps. this is a goal that i started by accident. i started collecting free maps from the cities i have visited. they really are very useful to get to know a new place. i enjoyed marking on the map, exactly the route that i have walked, just in case that i come back to the place in the future, i will now to take an alternate route. and it is a good tool to refresh your memory of the place, especially with the help of additional notes i have written on them.
• internet. this must be the hardest goal/rule of all. i banned myself from the internet for 17 days. and mind you, for an addict like me, who turns on his computer as the first thing he does when he wakes up, it was quite demanding. i admit, at the end of the trip, i was having some withdrawal symptoms, like being very irritable and anxious. and i know if i continue on until those things disappear, i can actually be free of the internet. but apparently i love to be addicted.

portal.

portal

hey guys. i have not been writing in quite a while. you all must be really missing me. aww. it’s alright, i am still here. i have been away, well not really away, i have been in front of my laptop the whole time but just was not in the mood to write. but, i have not been writing, cos i was deeply contemplating about the options that i must undertake to reach my goal of learning at eth. i have applied to eth, in the middle of last month, and i got a bad answer. i need to actually do an entrance exam to actually get in, well actually i knew that i would need to do an entrance exam, but i though it would only be for german, as in the language, but now i need to do math, chemistry, physics, and biology as well, and obviously in german. having to learn all of them again is one thing, but having to learn them in a new language that i am still currently learning is a hell of another thing. therefore i have been looking for courses that would assist me in preparing for this entrance exam, but it is not looking good, in the worst case i would only be able to enroll next year, which was actually the original plan after all. it just seems at this point that not just doing the entrance exam but even going to eth in fall, with my currently stuttering german, is just very ambitious.

life is otherwise good though. i have been doing quite much now that i think about it. last week was the easter long weekend. i worked again at isabel’s garden, picking out the weeds (the real one, just if you are wondering), and was rewarded with an awesome grilled fish. then i went with denise and andres on a day trip to titlis, which is the mountaintop of engelberg. i have actually been there during my last year’s trip with vjc, but it was still fun.

my mood was also pretty good as my sports teams are playing well these days. boston swept the knicks in the first playoff series this season, and played really well the last two games. the coming series against the miami heat will be certainly epic. watching them play just gives me a burning desire to play basketball again. i have been training my outside shot, and i would say it is not bad right now. then, liverpool is also playing really well. winning by big margins in the last few games. just can’t imagine what would actually happen if king kenny would have been the coach since the beginning of the season. just can’t wait for the next one to come.

i bought myself a bike yesterday morning. i bought it in this bike market that is organised like once a two month or so. people could really get good second hand bikes with crazy prices in this place. i got myself a decent mountain bike, which is actually difficult to find considering my size. and tomorrow i would be buying a helmet and some other accesories. just can’t wait to get it out and about, maybe next week when i have 5 days free.

i met a an interesting guy here. he’s like the opposite of me. he is born and raised here in zurich, and is just a few years younger than me. his mom is swiss, but his father is indonesian. and he can speak indonesian, just as well as i am speaking german. awesome. it is quite funny actually.

oh yeah, i had just finished playing portal yesterday. awesome. the most anticipated game of the year just did not disappoint. much longer and more action than the first one. and hence the title as a tribute.

i have been watching the ‘kids react’ series on youtube by thefinebros. and i just lay this out straight to you guys, lia marie johnson is the most beautiful girl on youtube, hands down. i am quite sad that i must put princesstard back to second place. then today i was watching the britain’s got talent 2011 highlight. and i saw this kid ‘ronan’. he is the most stylish+cute kid on youtube now, even his lost tooth just added to that. and guess what, he can sing micahel buble style. it’s just great, a must share. enjoy.

the european effect.

Image via Wikipedia

—–WARNING:EXTREME VULGARITIES—–

——–nice people should go away!————-

———don’t say i didn’t warn you!————-

shit man. i think i am getting europeanised a bit too quickly. i mean, i conscientiously picked the tables near the window at the cafeteria today during my german course break, so that i could be sitting under the sun. bollocks! i have been standing under the same hot bloody sun for the past 20 years and i have been hating it everyday of my life, and now i am actually liking it?! i was actually fair skinned when i was younger and it was the sun’s fault that i actually got darker by the day (and of course the person who introduced basketball to me, if i would have been playing music or an indoor sport, it might not have happened). frak.

i actually have a theory you know. like the xkcd cartoon that i think i saw a while back, where the people each has a hole right in the middle of their chest, i really think it is true. people are always unsatisfied with what they are and what they have. also, people always seek to be special among their peers, just like being special would mean that their life actually has a meaning. that is why the people in the cold countries like the sun and the heat, while the people in tropical countries dread for snow. also, why the women in tropical asia wanna be ‘white’ by putting all those dangerous beauty cremes and the caucasian women from the west like to get darker by tanning. also why the asian guys are falling for caucasian girls, and the caucasian guys for the asian girls. isn’t it obvious enough?

hmm. thinking about it, i guess i am quite lucky to experience the best of both worlds.

there is also another phenomena i just realised about myself. as you might have guessed, the first few words that i am so eager to learn in german are the swear words, and so now i have a whole new set of ammunition to get myself in trouble. and guess what dudes, i am now swearing in different languages depending on how angry i am.

stage 1 : left my keys when i am out of the door -> german

scheisse fick arschloch sauhund fettsack

stage 2 : left my keys when i am halfway down the stairs -> english

fuck bloody bollocks motherfucking prostitute

stage 3 : left my keys when i am already on the ground floor -> hokkien

kan ni na bu chao chee by lan jiao bin

stage 4 : alarm rings -> indonesian

tai babi ngentotsama anjing punya memek bau kencing

i think i am the only one who finds this interesting, you guys are so not cool man. fuck, i am getting lazy to post again. i have been doing so many things since the time a level results came out, so many good stories, but i am so lazy. i also got 4 more very interesting bottles of beer that i have written about, but i am so lazy. shit. okay, tell you what, if you guys want me to write about them, you need to tell me to do so in the comment below, and you must also write a really good swear word that you know. if i get 10 comments, then i’ll write. i promise!

life goes on.

for those who were sad today because your results suck or you think you could do better, let me say this for you: FUCK YOU A LEVEL!

of course i am in no position to say the same things that you say or think, because i actually did pretty well, and doing so would only make me a show-off and simply an arrogant bastard. but i just want to say this, if i do learn anything from my interaction with the people around me in my short time here in zurich, these things don’t really matter, at least not that much. many people i met here didn’t even go to university or have a degree, and when i say ‘many’, i am not exaggerating. they go straight to working life or take the (really) many alternative ways, such as apprenticeship, to get into the career that they want. meeting and getting to know these people, and seeing how they are still happy with their job and life really made me think about all this fuss. and i honestly became less anxious about my results this morning, seeing that i could actually sleep deeply last night. this is due to the knowledge that the future could still be bright no matter what.

this, however, did not made me less ecstatic when i heard my results through a phone call to my civics tutor this morning. i was happy and stunned. the kind of feeling that you expect something, but once you got it, you can’t believe that you do and how it could possibly have happened. and i have decided to write what could possibly a very long post that would deter any potential readers about ‘why?’. this is intended for my reflection. and if you read it and find it useful, fine. but don’t look at me as if i impose anything on you guys. this is because i was tagged on a certain post on a certain social networking site, that talks about life after A level results, especially for those who did not do well. i mean, i appreciate the noble gesture and everything. but, did i ask for it? i don’t want to sound rude, but actively giving advice to others, when they don’t ask for it, is just bordering intrusion of privacy and you can sound very arrogant. and i don’t want to be that. so here it goes:

my second year in vjc was total utter madness. sorry for being so selfish, but it really was. i always tell people that i did not study or learn anything in my first 6 months of my j2 life, and although it is a huge exaggeration, i really did not have any ‘meaningful’ learning or studying spells in this period of time. all the things i read or see just would not register, like there’s a blockage in my brain’s long term memory system. but i have only myself to blame. i did not have any end-of-year break the year before as i was busy training as the captain of my basketball team, and once the year started, it got anything other than less hectic. long trainings almost every day of the week, missing classes for matches, and the eventual grief of not getting into the finals were hard to digest. i just stopped doing homework, making notes, or even listening to what the teachers are saying in class. about the homework, you could ask my maths teacher, the boxes next to my name were the only ones without any tick on them. well, not really, i had a partner-in-crime in my class with the initial jr. we were soon on the blacklist and did not need to hand in anymore homework, as he wouldn’t mark them anyway. i always told my friends, ‘my math teacher loved me so much that i did not need to do homework’. and there were more. i was chosen to be the executive committee for the youth sports conference which was hosted by vjc. then i was chosen to go on the switzerland science immersion trip with my school. and i spent the remaining of my june holiday in jakarta. and this is where it got exciting.

it was at this point that i realised, that the time was against me. the ‘common test 2′ was waiting for me once i got back from the june holidays. and there were just too much stuffs that i needed to catch up on. and the problem was with the test itself. the ct2 exam only tested part of the syllabus, most importantly, the topics that i have stopped paying attention to. and i can’t learn only parts of the syllabus, my brain just doesn’t work that way. i guess only when you learn everything together and not in chunks, then will you see the subtle connections and linkages between the topics that improves your understanding and memory. and my method of studying only works if it is done in order. if you are familiar with how i study, you would know that i write books of notes, just by simply writing all my printed notes all over again. many have said that it is ‘a waste of time’ and asked me ‘are you crazy?’, but it works, and i have proved it, twice! and so i was there, trying to learn only the topics tested on the ct2 exam, but it just didn’t work. i ended up taking the foresighted path and preparing and writing all my notes for the eventual prelims and A level exam.

ct2 eventually came and passed by. and i was just utterly unprepared for that exam, i just fucked it up. i could not remember formulas (also forgot that some of them are actually on the formula list), could not understand questions, and were slow like a snail. then came the result, at that point i still did not expect that i could do so badly. i got a fucking 19/100 for maths, which was 3rd worst in a cohort of 750 students. i also failed chemistry with 34%. barely passed physics and gp. and i got D for econs. so, USEED was the best made-up word i could make with all those letters. by then i could already sense the smirk on my math teacher’s face, with a big bold sign saying ‘i told ya so!’. that was, hands down, the lowest point of my academic life.

i did so badly that i was told to meet one of the senior staff at my school. that conversation is still so vivid in my head. skipping all the bullshit, she actually had a report on me written by all my subject teachers. and she was so surprised that all of them practically said the same thing. it goes something like, ‘this is not the level that aldo is usually working at, he has the potential to be a great student’. it may sound very cliche to you, but for me, at that moment, it just dawned upon me, that my teachers had so much trust and belief in me. i mean, shouldn’t they be disappointed. if i am in their position, i certainly would, or maybe that just mean i would make a bad teacher. but really. i am on the opinion that scholars aren’t really close to the teachers at school, for a reason i don’t know. but, exactly at this moment, i became very close to my teachers. talking and chatting extensively and telling them about my problems in a no-holds-barred manner. especially my chem teacher mrs y and my econs teacher mr l.

there was also another turning point. at that point i was still so confused about managing my time and studies with so much on my plate. such that i found it difficult to get started again. then came a lesson by mr l. for your information, he is sometimes rather temperamental if things don’t go his way in class, and that was just one of those days. as usual, some of my classmates were too dazzled by his out-of-the-world question to answer or the answer was just insufficient according to his standards. then he started blabbering about how that was unacceptable for a h2 student and that some of us may need to drop if we continue this way. it wasn’t directed to me, as i was not that bad at econs. but i started thinking, ‘eh, aldo, what the fuck are you doing with 4 h2? do you even fucking need it? no right? just drop and spend more time learning the other subjects.’ and i was like, ‘yes man, this is the answer i needed’. exactly on that day i told my civics tutor and mr l that i was gonna drop econs to h1. and it worked wonder for me. in retrospect, i didn’t know why i took 4 h2 in the first place, well, everyone in my school did that. but that’s a bad system, some of us just get trapped in the notion of not wanting to drop that eventually we did badly all across the subjects. luckily i broke out of that spell.

and of course my friends. vh people for always enthusiastically trying to answer the weird questions i found. my classmates for being there for me, the only people who saw the frustrated and angry me. meishan for all the reminders, jr for being a partner-in-crime this time to get good results, rj for the touching letter, and mel for being scolded together with me. my seniors who always told me that i could still do it.

then started the 3-4 months of studying marathon. going to all the classes, finally doing my homeworks, doing extra works on the sides, staying late at school to study with friends and enjoy the school’s dinner service, staying at the hostel’s study room till the security guard throw me out, early morning weekends, numerous visits to starbucks etc. but the most important thing is how i changed my attitude. before, i was rather arrogant with a slight tinge of pride, i must admit, i was always thinking that i would know more and better. but i left all that aside with my shitty results, realising that it is a bad attitude to have when you are learning. i wanted, instead, to become a sponge. absorb everything all around me. not afraid to ask questions, not afraid to ask for explanation. i don’t care if they look at me as if i am an idiot, cos i am already one with that kind of result.

time flew by until it was the prelims exam. i wasn’t 100% ready for that, as some of my schoolmates would recall me being scolded before the physics paper as i was still reading my notes even when many are already inside the hall, and i did not even realise i was being scolded. but i was certainly more prepared and confident for these papers, and the results showed just that. i got AAADD. with Ds for maths and gp. with that i jumped the ladder for maths, from being 3rd bottom to be exactly in the middle of my cohort. and i was so happy.

but, there was no time for complacency. i went through another round of the same routine all over again before the actual A level exam, until i think i was ready. and it was the only time in my 2 years that i actually am confident at answering the questions that came up, without second or third doubting myself. and i did only stop my routine after the very last paper that i sat on.

at the end i received a straight As for my actual A level, as i got to know yesterday morning. i studied hard to get my As in physics, chemistry and economics and for that i am happy. but i worked especially extraordinarily hard for math, and getting that A could not made me happier. getting an A for gp was a really sweet bonus.

these are the two things that i learned:

1. you can work hard to get there, no matter how much time left do you have. the less time you have, it just means you need to work harder. but also work smart. knowing what works for you and what not. and don’t overstretch yourself, i always treat myself with an episode of movie series after i study, and every weekend there will be a wahchee dinner and stayover at julian’s. so enjoy working hard.
2. help the people around you to help you. it can be anything. from asking them questions when you are unsure or confused, cos you’re friends aren’t psychic and they do not know what you want if your mouth is shut. or even by appreciating the support that they give.

i can only be here because of everyone around me. people say that they want to live their own life. me? i would like to think that i live my life for all the beautiful and awesome people around me, and i do so by not letting them down when they think i can achieve something. that’s what made me feel special, knowing that people do care about me. i can’t say how much i would want to share this moment by being there where many of my friends are. but life goes on and i’ll see you another time…

names.

what a name.

hey folks.

i don’t know whether it is out of stupidity or ignorance, that people give names that just sounds totally wrong and inappropriate in another language. i mean look at the picture on your right that i took while walking home. i mean, who in their right state of mind would name a moving company ‘transex’. and this is not the only example, even russel peters made the case when telling jokes about the typical indian names: hardik, sakdeep, and ramindeep. no offense here, as these names could just as well be fabricated. but come on, this is the 21st century, globalisation is omnipresent, and we don’t live in isolated villages where foreign languages do not matter. my take is that people should think twice, just google the name before you decide and make sure there is no bad connotations related to it. instead, of course, if the main reason is to attract attention, i give full marks for that.

last weekend was quite packed for me. starting at friday night, it was isabel’s birthday. she is my dad’s childhood friend, but he refers to her as ‘quasi-sister’. (smart no?) she has 2 daughters, angelita and johanna, which are both older than me and are like older sisters. i was the assistant-chef for the day, helping matthias (johanna’s boyfriend). we made safran risotto with some beef. and the next time i am supposed to be doing it by myself. hopefully i’ll get it right. then we had dinner and talked afterwards, accompanied by good wine.

on saturday night i went out with some new people i met earlier in the week, we watched a movie. and of all movies available, we watched ‘drive angry’, which sits at 45% in rotten tomatoes. although i pity nicolas cage for playing in that movie, i must admit that the actions and explosions in 3d kept me awake during that late night show. let’s just say it is a softer version of machete. it is a wonder that the girls were the ones who chose that movie. then we wanted to find a place to get a drink, but it was rather hard, as most of the ‘lokal’ are either full or closed. (are you f-ing kidding me? closed on a saturday night?) but eventually we found a place.

and sunday was a long day. my dad wanted to visit his aunt in basel who has just celebrated her 92nd birthday. (man, it is 1/3 longer than i wish to live) and for that we bought a day ticket that allowed us to board any train in switzerland for that day. so, instead of just going to basel which is only an hour journey one-way, we made a ‘tour de suisse’. we went through the st. gotthard tunnel to wallis and then back up through bern to basel. we made some stops in small villages for sightseeing and drinks. brig was especially and sursprisingly beautiful, with old buildings that looked like castles albeit it being in the middle of nowhere. the visit to aunt alice was rather short as she gets tired easily at her age, but it was nice, she is still so enthusiastic. and we were only back in zurich at 8 in the evening, exactly twelve hours after we left.

frak, this post is longer than i intended it to be.

prost!

getting busy.

hey guys. this is actually the first time i am writing from windows live writer. and i actually think it is a good program coming out of microsoft. it could be useful if you are offline and still wanna write some posts and it basically syncs with all your blogs once you plug back the cable, or of course connect to a wireless connection.

i haven’t posted anything since the last time i shaved my beard, and since it has grown back to a bush, it means it has been quite a while.

let’s see what has changed:

• i have become a big fan of kassem g. i am of the opinion that “california on” and “going deep” are the two most hilarious shits on youtube. (no disrespect to raywilliamjohnson)
• i think princesstard is the most beautiful girl on youtube.
• on the last drinking outing with my dad, the glass of beer tasted sweet for me.
• and it is getting colder again in zurich when it seemed that the spring was actually coming.

none of those things above are actually important. what’s crucial is that i have got more things to do here. apparently i have gone out of the post-exam-lazy-to-do-anything phase, and i have been actively looking for alternatives to spend my time more meaningfully.

first up, exactly one week ago on this day, i went out to a “german conversation group gathering” which was organised by people on the “english forum switzerland”. it is a free and easy gathering in a bar in central zurich where members of the group, who are mostly foreigners, can meet up and brush up their german communication skills. there is a swiss who is like the founding member of the group and he helps out when the rest are stuck or made some mistakes. it was so fun that last week i stayed there for more than 4 hours just talking to people.

also, last thursday i went to play basketball here for the very first time. i also found the group on the internet. it is actually a basketball club, but this is the recreational wing of it, so people can just come and play pick up basketball games. it was nice to be able to play again after quite some time. it was kinda different though, besides the fact that i am not that huge compared to the guys there, the different climate was also hard to my body. the air is so cold and dry, it made my lungs feel like it had shrunk. or maybe i just wasn’t fit enough. i was so excited to play again tomorrow that i actually bought a new ball and socks. awesome. also, andres and julio from my language class will be joining me tomorrow. naise.

actually i am quite proud that i could pulled those things off. i am actually, despite common beliefs, quite shy when i am in front of new people. and i don’t actively seek out people. also being in a foreign country where i do not yet speak the local language well, it required a slight tinge of courage out of me to actually pushed myself forward to do it. but it ended quite well (i guess). i just hope that it could be a routine for me now. although i wish i could play basketball more often.

cheers to alcohol!