Life when we're not being nomadic

So. This is probaby one of the weirdest photo to start an entry with. But if it interests me enough to make me whip out my trusty T10 to sneakily capture a shot... then it is worth your attention. =P

Life on exchange definitely isn't totally about flying around or training around.. the bulk of our time is spent in Warsaw, Poland. And there's this quaint charm of this place.. that cannot fail to melt the hearts of those of us on exchange here.
The people are as warm as the weather is cold... (and the weather is really sub-zero) - I proceed to demonstrate.



Picture 1 is of the area around our residence... 2, 3 and 4, in which ever order you prefer, are snapshots of the path leading to our school on a terribly snowy day. =) Pretty whiteness.


This - is a snowflake caught on twin's jacket. See? It's almost perfect looking... Like those snow flakes illustrators draw on book covers for children's stories.. or on christmas cards.. You hav a second to try to keep it forever. After that.. it melts into shapelessness.

On such a cold day, people are still willing to queue... for ages. These are recommended by Rafal - who knows his food. So what might they be queuing for...
There we are. =) THE giant kebab for 6zl.

And then, there are nice surprises that arrive with a symbolism that one only understands later. But of cuz everybody else understood cept for the silly girl below who was adamantly in denial. Nvm, she's now in bliss. But just to recap... these r just a few photos of our trip to Poczta - the post office to collect twin's parcel. I made her a video... haha whether it'll get shown here... hm pretty much up to her.



Guess pictures speak for themselves. e sender would be happy to see that his efforts paid off. =)


Okay. This requires explanation. We only did this once. And hopefully that was the last time. =P hmm it all started cuz we went to a particular polish restaurant that's all things good cept for all e cigarette smoke.. so here's us - airing the clothes - with the aid of an air vent in the kitchen. Like I said.. it's not often we do this...

The other source of cigarette smoke on clothes isn't a frequent occurence... So on that one rare instance - we have a few photos...


Me, twin & Adriana (Mexican girl! - I love her eyelashes!)


Emily and Elayne chilling with their drinks.


Elena! =)


Twin & I sharing a drink.

So there wasn't that many shots cuz then the dancing began... the music's great! But sher's tolerance for beer is almost nilch... Aft 2 hours.. the puking began.. and home beckons.


Well, here's a before-party shot anyway... Where twin looked half awake cuz she did just wake up moments ago...

Our other favourite (Read: necessary & enjoyable) activity is shopping - for groceries. We do that every other day. When it's a major marketing trip... our destination would be Carrefour in Arkardia... after school.


Here's twin sniffing around for good cheese @ promo prices.



Half a month of groceries~ Just look at the bags... and remember it's just 2 of us... carrying all these back home.


Well of cuz... we do a lot of .. er.. ok some amount of studying as well... We are... afterall.. first and foremost.. Students.. Grin but one should never neglect having fun.
So yeah, that's e bandit tee. Love it!


And then.. of course it's important to keep in touch with those at home..
Those are postcards from Berlin... we just thought it'd be cheaper to post them in Poland.


So that's what we did. See the writing and the stamps? Ach.. we didn't realize we didn't pay for priority mail.. So as I'm typing.. it's probably still under some pile of mail somewhere.. maybe in the ocean.. Hopefully they make it across. =)

I did mention that hospitality is as warm as the weather is cold. See our happy faces as our dinner awaits us at the table. Ola (the girl on the extreme right of the picture) is the hostess for the night. Belarusian dinner beckons!

Looks at the food... And that's cucumbers on the table. It takes quite different from the cucumbers back home. hmm As for what the dish is called... I have no idea.. I kind of forgot. But no matter, Ola says we'll cook it together one day and she'll teach us! =) Yay.

4 of us playing w e cam's self-timer before dinner. Adriana, Elena, twin & I.

Twin & I do wander around somewhat too. Given that we live almost along e Orchard road equivalent in Singapore, shopping malls are everywhere. We have at least 4 or 5 malls within walking distance... and the train station 10 minutes or so away... and 2 metro stops within stone's throw. Life's pretty good where we are - central.

So we pose in front of the futuristic architecture that's distinctive in this shopping mall.. which is named... er. heh I forgot again =P

Palac Kultury. From this point on, the pictures look like postcards.. partially cuz of the color of the blue blue cloudy sky... =) I don't think the Polish like this building much.. it's a gift from the Russians... Guess people don't like being constantly reminded of a Soviet past.

I did say it looks like postcards. The people in the picture are just about small enough to help make the image picturesque.

What did I tell you? Even the gentleman in the foreground left looks set to be placed back in time and fit in perfectly...

Polish are predominantly Roman Catholics... I'm not sure if all the churches captured are Catholic churches... but I just wanted to show you the number of churches there are within vicinity of each other.

Churches! Nope... havent' gone into any yet..

The last place I'd want to show you before random shots are placed... is Ogrod Saski - the park nearest to our apartment.

Yep. Just me. Twin had other more interesting things to do. =P

The pond in the park. I can't wait to see this place in spring... Isn't it quaint?

This is the statue of Medycyna (still in the park) - and the only reason I took her was cuz she was holding a snake. Grin mummy, she doesn't fear snakes either =P

This... is a church - that I photographed cuz it looks like a mosque. Heh the things of interest to me... hmm

I shall end with this: sunrise from our flat.

Daylight saving to take place on 25th Mar! At 12.59am... the next hour is 2am... not 1am! =) Transfering night into day... then we'd be just 6 hours behind Singapore.

I wonder who ensures everybody switches time. It's a Sunday. So if we don't switch... everybody will be late for class on Monday? hmmm

Okayz Krakow next! Hope it's fun!