Madrid Day 2-8th June 2008

I managed to tune myself to wake up early at 8.30 a.m for breakfast and headed out to explore the city. The first item on my itinerary is the Sunday FLEA market. It is one of my favourite places in Madrid honestly. What else but shopping for GIRLS right? There were all sorts of items on sale from shawls, bags, clothes etc

Plaza mayor on the way...

My Summer outfit @ Plaza Mayor

Where all the artists gather... @ Plaza mayor

The Flea Market...

People are friendly, smiling and saying “Hola” to you whenever you pass by. However, the weather wasn’t that friendly. It started to get gloomy and I was so afraid that the tears of the sky would start flowing… Initially I was in my t-shirt and shorts but after I finished the flea market, I headed back to the hostel to change into jeans and coat… What an irony.. Wearing the same outfit that I had on during winter when Summer is knocking on the door… ? hahahaha.. Anyway, back to the flea market… It was huge and I actually spent about 2 hours whizzing my way through the crowd… Have you ever heard the song by Jolin Tsai “马德里不思议”? If you remember the scene where she skipped past the flea market lined up with blooming flowers, road-side stalls etc, YES that’s the one! It’s AWESOME!

Music by the streets...


More Music..
Nice Hooks on sale.... Compared to those S-Hooks sold in Singapore! :(

After changing into my “winter-outfit”, I headed to the MADRID PALACE! I guess my luck is just taking a toll on me… My hostel is just a 10-minute walk from the Madrid Palace and when I was halfway through, there was the SUN… OUT AND BRIGHT! However, it was still a bit windy so my scarf and coat was put to good use… I love the well-decorated gardens just outside the Palace. There were people sitting around, just relaxing, admiring the sceneries etc…

The Beautiful Flowers....

I hesitated as to whether I should enter the Palace but eventually, I still went in. I wanted to take a good look of it inside. ‘Regret’ is not the word I’d use to describe my post-visit state of emotion..Instead, I would think DISAPPOINTMENT fits better. It is just like any other Palaces that I've visited but the only thing that sets it apart is its white walls which made it looked astonishing..

The only picture of the interior of the Madrid Palace

Knight outfits for CHILDREN

Unlike in my past travels, I practically skipped all museums because they are time-consuming and I don't get much out of them when I don't understand their language. No Prado Museum for me. :) Instead, I headed to the world's 2nd richest soccer club's homeground, the SANTIAGO BERNABEU - Home to Real Madrid FC. It's not as well-furnished as Old Trafford or Emirates Stadium, I'd say it's the equivalent of Stamford Bridge on a larger scale. I was hesitant about paying to go inside the stadium so I just took a walk outside the Stadium and visited the mega store. Football clubs in UK have their Mega Store catered to only their own merchandises but that's not the case with Spain. For e.g. Real Madrid is sponsored by Adidas so you can actually find other merchandise of FC sponsored by Adidas like Spain National Team, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC etc. It's so hilarious. Who would go to Real Madrid and buy a Chelsea jersey?!?! Likewise, it was the same case when I went to Barcelona FC @ Camp Nou. They had Arsenal and ManU jerseys and some other merchandises on sale.

Metro Stop attributed to the Stadium..

Only Raul has the privilege of having his name printed on a ball.... WHY?! Prince of Madrid..

Beckham used to be on the poster I bet. :)

Think back to the time when Barcelona played ManU during the Champions League Semi-finals and ManU fans going over to Barcelona's Mega Store to buy ManU products?!

After the visit, I got a bit tired and decide to head to my next destination-La Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas del Espíritu Santo.



You must be wondering where on earth is this place?! Well, it's where BULLFIGHTING takes place!! Before I tell you more about Bullfighting, let your imagination run at this moment and give yourself a picture and idea of what you think bullfighting is about? I can tell you I had one of the biggest shock of my life when I catch my virgin bullfight show in Madrid.

The bullfighting ground...

Basically, what happened was that a really handsome young Spanish guy walked past me at the moment when I was preparing to take this shot. That explains this Candid shot. :)

Now we shall begin~~Bullfighting is as popular as Soccer in Spain. Large crowds gather to watch the game and each game lasts about 2 hours or so. However, there's a winning probability of 0.5 for each team in a soccer game whereas in a bullfight, the BULL never WINS. It always loses and ends up DEAD. It's extremely Cruel!

I didn't know the rules of the game at all and this Spanish lady who sat beside me was actually very nice and started to explain to me how Bullfighting works. There's are 3 steps that lead to the death of the poor BULL...

Before the cruelty begins....

First, they will attempt to arouse the bull with a pink cloth to test the bull's courage, strength and general ability to fight. The crowd and president serve as the judge. Waving a white cloth indicates that they recognise the bull's fighting ability while a green ones signals the replacement of the bull. The Picadores, fighters on horseback will come next to challenge the bull and stab its neck. The whole idea is to weaken the bull's neck muscles to weaken his fighting ability. The second challengers, the Banderilleros will have to stab brightly coloured barbed sticks into the bull's back and there are 3 sets of those sticks. By then, the bull will be bleeding quite a bit and it gets more aggressive somehow.

The final challenger is named as the Matadore in English but I remember vividly, the lady naming it the Toledo (most probably the Spanish coined term). He's the one that ends the bull's time on earth with a Knife. He waves the red cape (cloth) and has to make the bull pass his body as close as possible. The manner and fashion going about it is 4 turns in one direction and the 5th turn in the opposite. Occasionally, the bull doesn't die with one stab by the Toledo. Then, the other bullfighters will come in and stab the bull till he drops to the ground and lowers its head. How cruel that can be right?!

Each bullfighting session witnesses the death of at least 6 bulls. What can be done to stop this form of animal abuse? Bullfighting is their culture. Is the preservation of human's culture more important or is it the protection of the animals that should come first? I heard from some locals that in Portugal where bullfighting is also a form of entertainment, the bulls do not die. Maybe that is a better balance between preservation of culture and the humane treatment of animals? I do not know. What about you?! What do you think?!

By the time the show ended, I was a bit exhausted but I headed for some local snacks and more shopping on the night streets of Madrid... Not to forget, headed to HRC for some merchandise stocking once again. Come to my place and you'll see what I've collected from HRC.Beautiful shot-glasses and shirts. I should have bought more shot-glasses!! hahaha.....

Puerta del Sol @ night...

Madrid Day 1-7th June 2008

Exactly a month after I am back. I guess I owe my blog my JUNE TRIP. :) Here it goes......

The day I left Stockholm, the place I called HOME for the past 5 months. It was a trying day for me.. Last night, I had to clean up the room before I left so basically I didn’t sleep the whole night since I had a flight to catch at 7 a.m. Before I left the previous night, I went around to say goodbye to my dear neighbours, people who had form an integral part of my memory for the past 5 months. Some of them were shocked at my departure because everyone seems to be staying till the end of the lease, 15th June. Anyway, my roomie stayed up with me till I left at 3.30 a.m. The departure atmosphere was filled with sadness and though we weren’t that close in the beginning months of our stay, somehow we developed a bond after 4 months. It may be late but “better be late than never”.

As I walked to the City-terminanen to catch the airport shuttle bus, I walked really sloowww. I wanted to have a good look at this beautiful city for the 2nd last time. ☹ Anyway, my flight involved quite a bit of transit since I had to fly to Frankfurt first then to Madrid.

Along the way, when I flew from Stockholm to Madrid, I caught sight of this bridge that connects Copenhagen and Stockholm from the plane. It's amazing. My cousin had told me about it but I didn't see it when I went to Copenhagen. Perhaps it's because I flew back then. It goes beneath the waters and if you see from the top, the bridge looks as if it has disappeared.


By the time I arrived in Madrid, it was already 6p.m. However, the night never comes until 10-11 p.m in Europe during Summer. So I headed straight to my hostel to dump my bags before I headed out to explore the city. Initially, I wanted to watch the Flamengo show but I backed out due to 2 main reasons. 1. I couldn’t find the place. 2. It was too expensive. Instead, I headed for some food-Mcdonalds!

Metro in Madrid. Very much like Singapore I'd say.

Just the streets

Along the way, I came across this Children competition. I forgot whether was it art-related or music-related. But anyway, you see supportive parents, cheering for their kids etc. NICE !

One of the best Ice-creams in Europe.Made in MADRID>>>

Plaza de la Villa-Notice the flowers.. You will see more of them later I assure you. :)

The CUTE road signs of Madrid...

The beautiful streets.. Main Shopping District... Calle del Arenal down to Puerta del Sol

The key architecture that helps you to identify Puerta del Sol

One of my favourite architectures in Madrid. Cibeles square with -Palacio de Comunicaciones-Alcala Gate.Madrid. I thought it resembles a bit of the Brandenburg gate in Berlin....
The Back view

Then, I proceeded to this beautiful park in Madrid called the Retiro Park. The receptionist at the hostel recommended it. Honestly, it was a HUGE one and it was BEAUTIFUL! Along the way, I caught sight of many beautiful architectures and buildings but I couldn’t identify all of them though I had a map with me. Inside the park, you see different groups of Spanish. There were families in the park, teenagers and youths basking MUSIC, individuals sitting by the lake to admire the sunset, couples strolling by the beautiful monuments or sitting by the river, friends chit-chatting away etc. Not to forget, police officers staying guard to prevent any drunkards trying to be funny… Amazing! As I stood by the lake, I caught sight of yet another beautiful sunset…. ☺ Headed for some downtown shopping with the sky darkening before I headed back for some good sleep!

Retiro Park !

Kids playing at the playground...

Look at all these amazing flowers !

Street performers. I couldn't understand a single bit. They spoke Spanish. NO ENGLISH!

The beautiful sunset..... The sun is just right behind the trees... At its horizon....

Sun and Moon appearing in the same sky ! Architectures...

Those were the days.....

I vividly remember complaining to family members and friends that they often have mundane blogs and the usual answer was that, "Singapore is boring so there's nothing much for me to blog about."

Come to think of it now, as I reflect upon my life in Singapore, I had no choice but to concur with what they had said back then. It's like people see me all the time and they are able to track what I am doing so there's no need for me to tell them what's happening in my life. We are in each other's circle of life and we are always a call or a sms away....

Something struck me today. I met up with a UNI friend, Wai and she asked me about my SEP. Apparently, I'd forgotten to give her my blog address when I was in Stockholm. During dinner, memories flooded back. A sense of satisfaction, the feel of nature and beauty surrounds me whenever I think or speak of my SEP experience or look at the photos.

I remember everyday when I woke up in Stockholm and switched on my computer, there were a few websites and messengers that I log on as a routine. Email.Adium.Skype.Blog. But so much has changed nowadays. I no longer blog as often as I used to, I stay offline on adium, I can't even be bothered to log on to Skype though most of my friends are still on and I blog almost ZERO.

Seeing my friend all excited and anticipated for her SEP, I feel happy for her! Though Stockholm is not her destination, I strongly believe she will enjoy her SEP as much as I do. '

I still live in memory of Europe....

I stand on the right side of the escalator all the time.
I look right before I look left when I cross the road.
The weather forecast on my Macbook still lists the Stockholm weather.
I cycle all the time.
I eat with a fork and knife or spoon.
I feel comfortable and confident of conversing in English nowadays as I have a better grasp of the language.
I can do presentations and speeches on an impromptu basis unlike in the past when I usually have to prepare myself a bit before the actual presentation.

Habits take time to be cultivated and of course they fade away when new habits come in.

Sometimes, I can't help but take a look back at those days................ :)

The CCAs days...

I stayed back in school this afternoon to observe the CCAs being held in school..

1. Volleyball
2. Harmonica
3. Concert Band
4. NCC
5. Hockey
6. NPCC
7. NCDCC

Watching all of these activities just bring back memories..Tons of them.....

I vividly remember playing Volleyball when I was in Ngee Ann. Initially, my friends and I kept whining about Ngee Ann having "Sports & Wellness" classes because that meant we had to take our Napfa test too. But now that I think of it, I am glad I went through it otherwise I would never have come across this beautiful sport, Volleyball. I badly miss playing the game when I was watching them. I bet now I've completely forgotten how to dig, set and spike. Anyone in for Volleyball? Let's play it some time.

I remember I was telling my friends in Stockholm that I lead an unhealthy lifestyle. None of my friends play sports that often. When I need company for MOVIES.KTV.MAHJONG, I can find a list in my phone book. However, when I needed someone to play sports, I can scroll through the whole list and yet not find any decent one. Here it goes:

The Chicken-and-Egg Problem: Do your interests determine the kind of friends you have or Does the kind of friends you have shape your interests?

Harmonica & Concert Band: I am never a MUSIC person in the sense I have never picked up any musical instrument decently. Somehow, I always give up on learning how to play musical instruments. I guess being able to play the recorder is the only achievement I've in the Music Aspect. When I see people in sync with music and instruments, a sense of dissatisfaction with MYSELF just arises.......... Why didn't I make the effort to pick up at least one musical instrument since I love singing and music so much??

NCC: I guess it's the MOST MACHO CCA that every boy in secondary school thinks. If you are in NCC, you are a MAN and not a BOY. Is that really so?

The NCC boys were doing their arm drills today, learning how to hold the rifles properly and do some drills. It was damn hilarious. They took turns to be demonstrators under the guide of their student-instructor and you see all kinds of nonsense. Boys who didn't listen to commands and simply followed the order of the drills assuming that the instructor would do it systematically. Boys who as timer, timed the file of 3 men according to his own timing which no others were able to follow because it was way too fast. Boys who put on a tough front that they had understood and remembered the steps when in actual fact, their knowledge was only half-full.

These are normal behaviours and reactions to life. I was quite amused by them in fact. Not to forget, I was VERY IMPRESSED by them! They were the 2nd last CCA group that I watched. So when I was making my way to the school gate to HOME SWEET HOME, I walked past them. Their student instructor actually shouted the command for them to salute me with their rifles. Obviously, I was quite DUMB to not know it so I just said "BYE" and the instructor told me they were Saluting me. Honestly, I was overjoyed and touched but I didn't know how to respond at that very minute. I simply said "THANK YOU!" They were still struggling how to do the drill properly 10 minutes ago. But they did it in an UNIFORMED and IMPRESSIVE manner that very occasion.

I can only say: The NCC boys never fail me. They always impress. I hope they continue to do so in their life. :)

Move with the flow of life~~ To look back or not?............

Back to the old days.....

How long ago was it when you had to wake up at 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning, pull yourself really hard to school, attend the flag-raising, get back to your class and find it trying to stay awake and pay attention to the teacher mumbling in class??

For me, it was a lengthy 6 years ago until today, 16 July 2008 when I once again re-live the feeling of being a participant in the classroom setting... However, this time round, my role was switched. Instead of being the active.interactive.noise polluting agent among the class, I stood right in front of the class, trying to control the bunch of students.

How did it feel? I was in a Secondary 3 Normal Academic class and the students were rowdy, unmotivated to study, appearing sleepy and sloppy blah blah...I remember back in those days when I was a student, everyone in class was more or less motivated to study except for a few handful ones (I probably was one of them too wahaha) so the challenge the teacher had to face was make sure they understood the contents and aim for an A.

But it was completely different for the class I was handling. Being able to capture their attention was the key challenge to me. Without them even listening to you, what makes you think that they will be able to figure out what you taught? A lot of my friends think I am not cut out to be a teacher with my "ah-lianish" appearance, behaviour and even candid language but I think likewise. Perhaps I will not be the typical teacher who's always elegant, professional, intimidating etc. but I definitely have my own ways of handling kids.

I had a difficult time trying to control those bunch of kids but I was once a rebellious child, someone who had difficulties focusing in class, dozing off half of the time and chit-chatting away for the other half except for Mathematics, taking breaks in between classes, attempting to challenge the teacher's authority (Erm hmm, of course for CHINESE lessons!) etc.. I know where to come from to tackle all these behaviour now well but not perfectly of course.

To round it up, it was a pleasant experience for me to be back as a participant in the classroom setting.. I miss Secondary School days where S.I.D.Y crack all kinds of jokes and splattered sarcasm all over the prefects who were one-year our juniors, my favourite last row and third seat from the door in the Physics lab where Mr Illysad couldn't spot me sleeping for a double period for Physics, the 2 contrasting personalities that sat beside me, LW & TL who always never fail to brighten up my day (LW with JM on their hand gestures and language while TL and me engage in conversations non-stop), Mdm Yeo's Kite-Flying mathematics class etc...Not to forget, I miss how I can fit into that petitie size 25 skirt of mine..... hehehe.... :)

Do you miss them like I do?

"Time waits for no man............"

Potluck 2008

Well, I am glad to say that the event was a huge success! It kicked off at 8 p.m instead of 6p.m so while waiting for the rest, we played Indian Poker. I would say it is a game that is purely dependent on your luck! There were many of us and some couldn't really take alcohol so we decided to bend the rules a bit and make the 3 players with the smallest cards to share the forfeit. It seems reasonable otherwise we will end up with a bunch of drunkards even before the dinner has begun...

The most funniest thing is while we were waiting for the rest to arrive, those who had already arrived simply couldn't resist the temptation to snack on those food that had already arrived... hahaha... It was hilarious.. We gathered around the table and started commenting on who was bringing what and our hands just went out of control to reach the food. hahahaa...

The after activity is nothing new.. KTV.... As usual, it's the same bunch of us that's contributing to the noise pollution but some others who weren't really in for SINGING still joined us... It's endearing to see that but I feel the pain for their pockets since it wasn't that cheap... Looks like we will need to think of a new after gathering activity soon..... :)

Friends help in me adjusting back to my life in Singapore.. The fun and laughter that they bring to my life... It's definitely a different kind of potluck with them than with my friends in Stockholm...

Back to my LIFE... My BIKE got stolen... DAMN those BANGLAS!!! That's definitely one thing I hate about my COUNTRY... Why are there so many Banglas??? If I were in Stockholm, nothing like this will happen I guess.... Or maybe not... I don't know.. I am irked by them....... Now I know why JJ lashes out at them every single morning while at work...

How long will I take to stop missing Europe?? --> LT.....

Awaken from the Europa Dream

What's life like after I am back in Singapore?
From the unupdated blog, a lot is said even without me physically pen-ing it down.
Yeah...
Missing the weather in Europe.the lifestyle.the people.the culture
Everything that happened in the past 6 months seemed like a dream to me.
I am back to reality like what a lot of my family members and friends said.
I am trying to adapt to this seemingly familiar yet distanced lifestyle of mine in Singapore.
Well, my June trip is due for more updating...
I would love to pen down my thoughts and whatever that happened there...

"If life is like a book, I would love to put my bookmark at the page where the Europe dream lies."