After a long long time, Jamie finally agreed to play Pokemon Go with me!! <3 I know he's not a big fan of Pokemon even in his childhood days, that's why it meant a lot to me. I look forward to our Pokemon walk tonight =D I love how sky is still bright after 7pm here in Switzerland. It makes the day seem longer and much more productive. Anyway, recently, Mr Mime showed up twice at our place! And I managed to catch one of them =) Hope that James can get this region exclusive pokemon too before he leaves Europe. I loved the Mr Mime which helps with Ash's mom in the Pokemon Tv series ^^ I'm 60% through with the chicken cross stitch now. Looking forward to completing it before the month ends so that I can work on other sewing projects. Time really flies when I'm having fun... 5 more weeks till Singapore T_T I hope James will find a job back in SG soon! Alright, back to the chicken. Till then~ |
0 Comments
Last Friday, Ally, Fabian, James and myself headed to Morsbach, Germany for Fabian's new book release, Veränderung. Fabian was so excited that he got to drive the rented Mercedes (seems like we got a free upgrade from a BMW!). It was rather crazy driving on the German autobahn; we hit a record of 230++ km/h. In Singapore, we would be in prison by now, but on the German highways, there's no such thing as a speed limit. Stayed at Alex's (Fabian's brother) place. We had very lovely, very German breakfasts at Fab's foster mom's place over the weekend. Lots of cheese, sausages, bread and all sorts of spreads. His family was very warm and welcoming. I'm not used to having long conversations at the dining table; breakfast there was almost 3 hrs long! Unfortunately, I could only grasp bits and pieces of the conversation as my German is still schlecht. After breakfast, we roamed around town for a bit before heading to start filling up the 500 balloons for release. Wore my Metamorphose Happy Balloons to suit the happy occasion =) Am glad that the event went smoothly. It was breathtaking watching all those balloons rise high in the sky. So colourful and bright, they looked like skittles in the sky! The night was pretty much a street party. There was food, dancing, games, booze and more booze. It's like a school funfair, just town scale. Saw some Germans dressed in the traditional Dirndl. They look really nice on busty ladies. Fabian's foster mom was really nice and provided us with the coupons to buy food. There was a fireworks show which lasted for like a good 10 to 15 minutes. It was really an unforgettable day and I'm happy that Fabian enjoyed himself lots as well. He's now the talk of the town! I wish I could read his book, but I'll have to level up my German first.
For the record, here's the page for his book if anyone's keen: https://www.facebook.com/Literaturgesellschaft.ch/?fref=ts It has been close to a month now that I've been in Switzerland. I'm rather sad that I have only a month and a half more to go here and I'll have to return to Singapore... I like our housemates a lot; the BBQs, sheesha sessions and roadtrips are fun =) I have not been biking as much as I want to, partially because the seat feels too high for me. Nonetheless, it's the season of the sunflowers now and I cycled past one of those fields. Sunflowers are one of my favourite flowers, second only to morning glories. There are fields of corn everywhere and many apple farms around where I live. Our house is not particularly close to any big supermarkets and it can be quite a pain getting groceries without a car. Transportation in Switzerland is really expensive too... On the bright side, we have cows, goats, alpaca and even a couple of peacocks living behind us. I love how the house cats can have the space to explore outdoors, instead of being cooped up in an apartment. Talking about house cats, we've got 2 here (they belong to Ally) - Alfie and Amy. Here's a photo of Alfie
Have not been updating for quite some time due to the multitude to things happening in my life~ I'm now in Switzerland! Wheee~ Took 3 months of unpaid leave to be with the boy prior to our wedding. I miss Haru lots, but I have new kitty companions Alfie & Amy here (belongs to our housemate Ally). Anyway, so in July, James & I travelled to Japan and visited Osaka, Hokkaido and Tokyo (once again). I absolutely love Hokkaido! Probably even more if Jamie didnt have his tummy aches which lasted for a full 10 days T_T On this trip, I kept a keen eye out for Lolita shops (many thanks to Karmen & Bunny for shopping tips! ) Here's a lil break down of our Japan trip. osakaWe only stayed a couple of days in Osaka; lost day 1 as we arrived at night. The main highlights in Osaka for us were pretty much Universal Studios & Nara (deer) park. I loved the Harry Potter Quidditch ride best at Universal Studios; it was worth the long winding wait. Nara deer park was an eye opener! Never before have I seen so many deer roaming freely and unafraid of humans approaching them. In fact, they bowed before getting food (some rice cracker looking thing that you can buy from the vendors at the park) from us. James even played deer Pokey with them. Some of the deer nipped at our clothes, but they did not get any more aggressive than that. There's Closet child and Kerashop in Osaka for lolita shopping. I personally felt that the Closet child in Osaka was better than the ones in Tokyo. Was so happy to find BTSSB Bambi de la foret secrete JSK I dress at CC at a good price. Bought a lot of stuff there, including a biscuit dress from ETC which James loved very much. The staff at Kerashop was also amazingly helpful and friendly =) It really made my day. hokkaido
Day 7 - Drove past the patchwork no michi road towards Shikisai no Oka flower farm in Biei. Patchwork no michi road is really scenic, consisting patches of farm land. It was the ideal spot for Jamie to finally put his drone to great use =) Shikisai no Oka is a lovely flower farm, though I must say it is very commercialised. There's a little section where Alpacas are kept. We fed the lovely creatures. My favourites were Dahlia (a black alpaca with the loveliest big dark eyes and a gentle smile) and Sonnet (a derpy-looking alpaca with a funny underbite). Headed to Aoi no Ike 青い池 (blue pond) thereafter. It's unique blue colour is due to the natural minerals dissolved within. I love the reflections in the pond when the water is still. Day 8 - Left our accomodation at Asahikawa early and made our way down to Furano to avoid the tourist crowd. Below is a rather handy map of the attractions of Asahikawa, Biei and Furano, courtesy of http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6832.html We made it to Farm Tomita at 9am, but it had then started drizzling. Nonetheless, the rain didn't dampen our moods. Had wonderful melon ice cream and Lavender ice cream there. For someone who doesn't like the smell of lavender, I found the lavender ice cream refreshingly good! There was a dried flower shop which had wonderful flower arrangement displays, and a funny centrepiece of green sheep in the middle of the shop. Had my first taste of melon pan with melon fillings and it was just like everything I've imagined it to be.
Day 9 - A rather relaxing day. Went to the Furano cheese factory and made our very own mascarpone cheese, following by jam-making at Kyohsai Jam Garden. There's an Anpanman speciality store at the Jam garden, but I'm not a big fan of the character. Drove up to Rokugou Viewing platform for more flowers, poppies and scenic views. Day 10 - So we began our long drive towards Noboribetsu. On our way we stopped by Ecorin village. On one side, there's a farm, where there were llamas and alpacas. We even watched a sheep-herding dog show. According to Jamie, apparently there are such shows in New Zealand too~ Following that, we headed to Murakami farm and I had my first experience milking a cow. I've been wanting to try that for a long while now, but has been consistently missed my chance in New Zealand and Taiwan. Here's one off the bucket list! The cow we milked was very gentle and patient with us. We got to feed and pet the calves as well. One of the baby calves tried sucking my finger.. Thereafter we made our own butter simply but shaking full fat milk vigorously in a bottle to separate the fatty solids (butter) from the milk. After Murakami Farm, we continued our drive till we arrived at Ryotei Hanayura ryokan in Noboribetsu. The town mascot, believe it or not, is a weapon-wielding demon. I wasn't exactly sure to feel welcomed or not by the gigantic statue of the beast at the entrance of this town. I guess it could have to do with the thermal activities in the area? Anyway, Ryotei Hanayura was really a highlight of the trip. I thought it would be a nice treat for the boy and it proved to be an excellent choice. Splurged a little more on this ryokan and had us booked into a room with our private hot spring. But that was not the best part. The kaiseki was to die for! More than 10 courses of scrumptious food, including snow crabs. After our meal, the futon staff came in and set up our futons for the night's rest. I liked how they provided yukatas for us to play the part as well. Breakfast the next day was another awesome meal. I felt amazingly spoilt. osakaOn day 11, we flew from Hokkaido to Tokyo. Stayed at Shinjuku for the first few days and it was basically a shopping expedition. Was so glad the boy was accommodating and went on the lolita shopping hunt with me. Visited two other Closet Child shops in Tokyo and bought more dresses. Under James' insistence, I got the Metamorphose Happy Balloon dress. Was rather unsure of this purchase as it didn't really seem to be my style... The boy also bought me an early birthday present - Metamorphose Day Dreaming Goldfish and a biscuit bag from Axes Femme to go along with my ETC biscuit dress =) Thank you for being so accepting of my hobbies and not finding them weird! XD As it seems, I've found myself a new fashion consultant.
Thereafter, we moved to Akihabara and James bought a whole lot of new camera filters while I bought a new DD body and a DD-H09 from Volks. So so glad that my girls can now have a body. I'd really need to be extra careful this time to prevent it from staining... Visited a boys love cafe and there were a couple of eye-candies there <3 One of them even works as a model in Singapore on an occasional basis! Unfortunately, I couldn't read the manga provided by the cafe as they were in Japanese but I was really happy to see Koisuru no Boukun mangas there! We also visited Akiba Fukurou owl cafe where there were many different breeds of owls. An early reservation has to be made for this owl cafe. We had to be really quiet and contrary to my idea of a cafe, no food/drinks are served in the cafe. It was nice that the owls took turns to rest (as indicated by the pink stickers on the wall) so that they wouldn't be manhandled throughout the day. My favourite was a derpy baby tree owl that did funny winking actions and threw its head back once in a while. I'd love to visit them again on our next Japan trip. We also went to Asakusa for a photoshoot at Nana Iro Tokyo. I was dressed up as a courtesan while James was dressed as a Samurai. The headdress was surprisingly heavy, and to think that people in the past used their real hair. It's a wonder they didn't have aching necks. I guess these photos will be part of wedding shoot? We chanced upon Escape Hunt Experience Tokyo in Asakusa as well; possibly the only escape room in English in Tokyo. Conquered the Runaway Bride room (which they claim to be the hardest room) with 10 minutes to spare. I must say, the escape rooms in Singapore are a lot tougher!
On the last day in Japan, we visited Marui Annex. Regretted not going there earlier. There are heaps of lolita shops there. Bought some stuff to match the Balloon dress from Metamorphose and a BTSSB Marie Antoinette - Splendid portrait of Beauty Queen skirt. Overall I had a fun trip and I think I'd love to return to Hokkaido in another season and try out a different set of activities =) Looking forward to our next Japan trip, hopefully with J & WX =) |
Arion's COLOURFUL LIFE
|