| FEBRUARY 2001 Verena�s Translation It was Biology lesson and we were given a text by the Biology teacher (a very nice lady) and like nearly every other text, it is in German and of course at that given time (1st February 2001), I don�t understand a word written on the paper and then came Verena�s help. Instead of only trying to explain to me what the idea of the text is about, she took the trouble to translate the whole text during the lesson from German into English for me so that I can follow the lesson. DFB Pokal Semifinal Match between VFB Stuttgart and Schalke 04 7th of February , the day my brother Jae left for Austrialia to further his studies. Beside this another significant event is the last day of Chinese New Year or more famoously known as �Chap Goh Mei� (Fifteenth night). Although those two event were rather significant event, this day 07-02-2001 will always be remembered as the day I stepped into a grand stadium and watch a real live German soccer match of great importance. Maybe it was not as important as league title decider but I think a semifinal match of the German cup where the winner get to enter next year�s UEFA cup, can be considered very important. It is even more important to home fans (including me) because season 2000-2001 was a disaster for VFB Stuttgart, so this could be their only chance to gather any homour this season. (Please note that VFB Stuttgart is still in the running for the UEFA cup title at that time, so they were not any lousy team). Nearly made a grave error before I even leave the house. I nearly wore my blue jersey, luckily due to the low temperature, I decided to wear thicker clothings instead. It would have been a disaster if I had wore my blue jersey because my ticket is for the home fans section and the away team�s colour is blue. I would have look real silly if I was the only home fan in an away colour. (Tips : Before going for any soccer match, make sure you wear the right colours) 7:40 p.m. That was the time when we (the five of us) stepped into the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion Stuttgart , the home of VFB Stuttgart. The stadium was incredible, I don�t only mean the structure but also the great atmosphere. Never had I in my life experience this kind of atmosphere. You could already hear the loud noises, singing and chanting long before you even see the crowds. Seeing a great soccer match on television is already an experience but being in there yourself is even much better. The atmosphere itself is an attraction. Although the home fans outnumbered the away fans, it was the away fans who sang louder. And this was probably one of the factor as to why the Schalke 04 players played exceptionally well that night. 8:30 p.m. The great kick-off after a few minutes of watching both teams doing their warm-up. It was less than 5 minutes that Schalke 04 had taken the lead. The away fans went berserk. Some were using �Flare� (although it is illegal) to celebrate the goal. The atmosphere at that time were even better. The away fans were singing even louder than before. The away team later score two more goals to lead at half time 3-0. It seems like there is no way the home team can turn over the match. Some even prayed that the home team do not let in more goals. It seems that their prayers came true, the home team did play better but it was not enough, the score remain at 3-0 after 90 minutes of action. VFB Stuttgart was knocked out of the cup and Schalke 04 advance to the final. Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole game was the experience of seeing with my own eyes legendary players like Andreas M�ller (Schalke 04) in action. He�s one of my favourite soccer players. Also not forgetting other great players in the game like VFB Stuttgart�s Balakov, Thiam and Schalke 04�s Youri Mulder, Oliver Reck (Goalie) , Ebbe Sand (Top scorer in the league that year), Mpenza and others in action. It was really an eye-opener for me. Lost in Schillerstra�e 10th of February 2001, 4:20 p.m. , while using the computer, I received a phone call from Oliver asking if I want to go over to his house. After saying yes, I asked for directions as I do not know where his house is located. Wrote down all the directions on a piece of paper. The instruction were real short, but I was positive that I will find my way there easily. Everything went on smoothly until I reached Schillerstra�e. Now the only thing left is to find house No.62. After walking for a while I realised that there isn�t any No.62 in this row of houses. I found house No. 58, 59, 60, 61, 63 and 64 but no 62. How could it be??? To avoid cracking my head over this problem, I decided to ask a local, and she sent her son to help me. Of course we couldn�t find no.62 and the lady herself came to help. After a short search, we decided that we will ask other local residents of this area. And the group helping me to find No.62 grew larger. The group about 7-8 people began searching for No.62 as they were also puzzled like me as to why they could not find No.62. The problem was only solved after one lady asked me the name of the family I am going to visit. I said �Berg� and she said �Follow me� And finally I realised that I had made a mistake of the house number, it should be No.52 instead of No.62. The only thing I still don�t understand is to why they have house No. 59, 60, 61 ,63 ,64 but not any No.62. Is No.62 a forbidden number or what??? The Fat Tom Cat Which Slept With Me At 5.00 a.m at the morning (12th of February 2001), I was woken up by some strange sound. It wasn�t any foreign sound, it was a familiar sound. I know that I have heard it before somewhere. To see what it is, I decided to abandon my sleep (temporarily) and opened my eyes. The tom cat of our house �Tasilo� was sleeping on top of me. Purring and making all sort of funny voice at me. Seems like he had succeeded in making me awake but I decided that I am too tired to move and chase him from my bed and went back to sleep with the cat on top of my body. It was only after another extended hour of sleep that I decided to wake up and bring him out of my room. First Day of My German Course at VHS Schw�bisch Gm�nd 12th of February 2001, a historical day for me in Germany. A day when my German course began, the day I had been waiting for such a long time. The prospect of finally having the chance to learn the language to speak to others really brighten up my day although it will mean that I will have a long day every weekdays after my German Course began. Travelled from M�gglingen�s Train Station to Schw�bisch Gm�nd�s train station with the train (of course) and from the train station, I walked all the way to the �Universit�tpark� of the University of Maryland, Schw�bisch Gm�nd. It took me 33 minutes. The class started at 2.00 p.m. People from all over the world attended this course. Unfortunately (or fortunately), nobody from Malaysia or even good English language speaker is in my group. Sat beside a Colombian lady, Isabel who later became one of my best course mate. Everything went on smoothly. Frau Valentina was our teacher that day. (Monday, Thursday & Friday - Frau Valentina , Tuesday & Wednesday - Frau Alexandra) The walk from the place where my German course was held to the train station took about 45 minutes. It was longer as I walked at a slower speed due to tiredness. Although it was a long day but it was a happy day for me. Valentine�s Day at BASF 14th February 2001, Valentine�s Day. While expecting the Germans to celebrate it grandly, it turned out to be a non-affair. I did not see even a single act representing Valentine�s day, not even a flower or gift was exchanged. Although Valentine�s Day on calendar was a special day, but Valentine�s Day 2001 will be remembered as a day when the 11th grade of Rosenstein Gymnasium , Heubach visited the BASF plant as part of their Chemistry lessons� activities. Expecting a big chemical plant, I was given a shock when the plant was bigger than what I had thought. Just to give you an idea, the place had its own shuttle bus to transport workers between this a particular part of the plant to another part of the plant. Although at that time I hardly understand what is the guide was speaking (I had only attended two German lessons at that time) but I do remember a part where we were advised to remove our wallets and watches. I did not really know the reason of that until I went into the place. It was a highly magnetic charged area. And any electronic watches or credit cards will be rendered useless after entering the area. Just to show us how strong the magnetic force was, he threw about 100 nails (3 inches nails) on the ground and instead of falling down flat, the nails were standing up straight. Still touching the ground but standing up straight. So that was my Valentine�s Day spent in Germany. Guggenmusik - Schw�bisch Gm�nd - 17th February 2001 Guggenmusik is a festival where musical groups from the southern region of Germany, Austria and Switzerland gathers in conjunction with the Fasching period in Schw�bisch Gm�nd to play music. The word Guggen from Guggenmusik is a slightly changed version of the German word for �look�. So this Guggenmusik feest is actually a festival where people play music which you have to look! Look at their instruments, costumes and antics. Not only the musical groups dress up in strange and funny clothes, even the public members disguise themselves as witches, bees, pirates and many other persinalities. Arrived at the Marketplatz of Schw�bisch Gm�nd where the event will be held at about 5:15 p.m. It seemed like the place is alread crowded. People in funny clothings were already walking around the place. The most memorable thing from the festival wasn�t the music played but instead a witch who gave me a badge. After giving me the pin, the witch (a lady in disguise) from �Stuifa Hexa� group went on to perform her duties with her other companions. They (the Stuifa witches) were assigned to guard the place to avoid the crowd from going too near to the bands playing. It did not take a while till the crowd multiplied and and the situation in the first three rows became unbearable and I decided to get out of the crowd and find another good place for viewing again. The decision of getting out of the crowd proved to be a wrong move. I never managed to get into the first row again. Kinderfasching - Mackilo Halle - 18th February 2001 Kinderfasching is a children�s version of Fasching. Like the normal Fasching, we have the audience usually dressed up as something and the entertainers. We also have a row of little boys sitting behind trying to act as if they are important which they are definitely not. And the prince and princess of Kinderfasching. Just imagine a big hall with lots of tables lined up and a stage in front with a band playing on the side near the stage. Add a few more little children running around playing with fake but rather loud guns while wearing disguises as cowboys, Red Indians, Bees and other. Add a few more parents and teenagers and lots of food, and you can picture what this Kinderfasching is all about. Beside the dance which my host sister, Eva danced, there were another notable performance. A group of little kid dancing to the tune of a Britney Spear�s song. That wasn�t the interesting fact, the interesting fact was that the leader actually sang to the tune of the song (Sometimes - Britney Spears) in German and I will not comment further about it. Don�t ask me if it is out of tune! Fasching Mood It was 22nd February 2001 that I told my classmates that they should start to speak to me in German and we went to the Internet room for Politics lesson. Out of a sudden, a group of student full of Fasching mood with painted face (the most famous design, a love sign on their cheeks) came in like a train and sang their song and moving about in the room like a train happily and went out shortly after that. One day after the Fasching in class incident, another group came during the last period, Herr Kreisel�s English Lesson and once again with their fasching mood came in a train shape and brought away many people from my class. As the lesson couldn�t go on with nearly half of the class gone, I decided to give an explanation of the Malaysia flag. Black Forest - 24 -25 February 2001 The Messners (Willy & Ursel ) (later my second host parents) , Julia (from USA)(also an exchange student with Rotary Club of Schw�bisch Gm�nd like myself) and I began our journey to the famous Black Forest (located near Freiburg) at about 8:45 a.m. Hans-Peter Richard and his wife Lore were our host during our stay in Black Forest. Had a walk in the Black Forest. Although it is called Black Forest but it was totally white at that time due to the thick snow. The reason Black Forest is called as Black Forest is because the trees are really dense and when you stand under the trees in the forest, it look really dark, hence come the name Black Forest. Made my first snow Angel. Taught by Julia. Snow Angel : A print of Angel on snow How to make a Snow Angel : Stand real straight and fall backwards on the soft snow. (Make sure it is soft) and after landing down real straight, began moving your hands and legs in the snow as if you are a scissors. Stand up again and you can now see a snow Angel. After creating my first snow Angel, I had to pay the price. A great price. I am not too sure what had caused it but my eyes began seeing white as light red. The whole landscape became red in colour instead of the snow white colour that others see. I asked Julia if she is also seeing red like me too. She said no, everything is as white as possible. She said, I must had fell too hard on my head. I had my own theory though, I think it was because of my direct look at the sun at one moment just before my fall. The �Red Landscape� incident lasted for five minutes before we reached a little house to worship Jesus and as the little hut was darker and no longer white, my eyes began to see white as white again. After coming out of the hut, my eyesight became normal again. 8.25 p.m. was Astronomy time. Under the really cold conditions (-8.7�c) (measured by the electronic thermometer) host Hans-Peter brought me outside to look at the stars. Beside admiring the Orion, Big Bear, Big Dog, Cancer and others, I also managed to admire Jupiter and Saturn which were so close to each other that night. The most magnificent object that night was Venus. It was Venus at its brightest. Venus looked near to perfect. It was a good night to observe the skies despite the cold conditions as the skies were real clear that night. Next day, 25th of February 2001, an equally cold day (averaging -5.8�c) like yesterday was a real fun day. The fun part was after taking a short walk host Hans-Peter took out a sledge. Then it was sledging all the way. After a few slides down, everybody decided to go into the house to take a short rest and have some tea but I decided to stay outside a little longer to play with the sledge. So there I was, sliding down all the way alone. Became more skilful after each slide and attempt a further ride each time and finally decided on a all the way down the hill slide. It was seriously exciting as the slide became even faster as you go down due to the momentum and you almost leave the ground (as if you were flying) every ten seconds after going over every bump. Avoided a few big trees on the way with one nearly became a crash as I was only about 5 cm from crashing into the tree due to my controlling skills. The climax was when I saw the stream of water flowing and I knew I had to stop within five seconds (15 metres away) or else I will be all wet and cold. With only 5 metres away from the stream (about 1 seconds away) I was still moving very fast so I thought, �Yes, this is it, I am destined to be soaked all wet� but I decided to do a emergency braking by trying to slow the sledge down by using my leg to stop it. It worked, I was only 20 centimetres away from dropping into the stream. As it was too exciting, I decided to try it again but the second time wasn�t as interesting as the first as I was already better at controlling the sledge. After finishing the second full slide from above to the lower part of the hill, I found myself looking at how much I had to climb up again. The time you needed to slide down from the above is less than a minute but the time and energy you need to climb all the way up again while dragging the sledge wasn�t what I really needed. What I needed is to get into the house as soon as possible as I was seriously thirsty. At one point I actually thought of leaving the sledge below and climb up myself as it was real hard dragging up that sledge especially when you are walking in snow and walking uphill. That�s what I call an �uphill struggle�. Just after a real short rest after the sledge incident, we went out again at 3.30 p.m. to the St. Blasier Church. Interestingly enough is the grave there. Santa Claus�s grave were also there. I wonder if it is really the original Santa Claus buried underneath. Umzug - Fasching - Schw�bisch Gm�nd - 27th February 2001 Finally the Fasching stuff will be over after more than one month of Fasching spirit. Went to the Martkplatz of Schw�bisch Gm�nd to watch the street procession where people in funny clothes walk along in the procession. Bands in colourful costumes. Children giving out sweets in highly decorated cars. Horses were also walking along in the procession. One of the more interesting event was the Devil and Witches. A group of Devils (looking a little like Darth Maul from Star Wars : Episode 1) went around catching people to paint their faces with devilish signs or words. SPM 2000 Results SPM - Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, Malaysia�s national secondary school examinations. Equivalent to O-Levels examinations. One of the most important exams a student has to take before leaving secondary school to college or furthering their studies. After receiving news since yesterday that the results was already out, I was naturally in a �I want to know my results too� state but I did not want to phone back home as I know if I�ve got a good results, my parents will phone me from Malaysia no matter what. So I decided to check my e-mails instead. Hoping to hear a little news about my results, I read a mail from my friend Anantha saying I am the top student but my BM (Bahasa Melayu )(Malaysia�s National Language) slacken. After reading it, I was in a �I want to really know my results now� because I want to see if I am really the top student and how badly I did in my BM. Decided to call home to ask for my results, unfortunately I got a German family instead. Not to be discourage, I tried again and got my family. It seemed that the confusion of the top student award is resolved, I was no longer the top student, although my worst subject was only a 3B. It�s a complication system so I will not comment about it although I do think I should be awarded join top student with Edmund as although he had more �1A�s than me, my worst grade is better than his worst grade. Whatever it is, Edmund deserved it Lost to a better guy in the real thing after coming out top in the Percubaan SPM 2000 (Mock test). It�s a pity that I failed to score a perfect result. Final results : 1A : Bahasa Inggeris (English) , Sejarah (History) , Matematik (Mathematics), Matematik Tambahan (Additional Maths) & Fizik (Physics) 2A : P. Moral (Moral Studies) , Kimia (Chemistry) & Biologi (Biology) 3B : Bahasa Melayu (Malay) , GCE O-Level 1119 English 1A is the best while 9F is the worst. German Equivalent (Malaysian Grade = German Grade) 1A = Note 1 (Sehr Gut) 2A = 1-2 3B = 2 4B = 2- 5C = 2-3 6C = 3+ 7D = 4+ 8E = 4-5 9F = 5+ bis 6 Green Beam of the Unknown 28th of February 2001, 6:30 p.m. ,while on the way home after having our (Ursula Messner, Julia and I) tea break at a friend�s place, we saw a green beam shining brightly over the skies. No one was able to give an explanation of that incident. It was definitely not a spot light from a stadium as it was real green and focused. Couldn�t be a laser display too as there wasn�t any motive and more so ,there wasn�t any festivals around the corner. |