Weekly Top 10 (23 Feb - 1 Mar 2009)

1. Karnival. Guess there is quite a bit to say about Karnival so it might take up a few items this week. My favourite thing about Karnival, I think, was the atmosphere. The entire city seemed to be part of the celebration, in their own way. It wasn't just the people who were out to get drunk. It was also kids of all ages that were dressed up and looking excited. Also the elderly in wheelchairs and stuff were dressed up to some extent, even it's just a scarf or hat. In almost any part of the city there was some Karnival thing going on, or a costumed person running around. It was great! I definitely recommend it for the experience.

2. Karnival. My next favourite thing about Karnival is the free candy!! I came back with a rucksack full of chocolate and sweets, curtesy of the parade. I got quite into the candy grabbing. Apparently the people on the floats and in the parade have to pay for the costs of being in the parade themselves, including the costs of the candy and chocolate they give away. I would have thought they could easily get companies to sponsor some of the products for distribution, but... Anyway, definitely recommend Karnival for the free candy also. The only problem for me, was that that most people around me were taller than me. So my chances of being the one to catch the candy were really significantly less than the rest. At one point, I was standing behind a really, REALLY tall teenage boy. Man, I had no chance.

3. Karnival. The other thing I liked was that no one seemed to get overly drunk. Of course, people were drunk. And slurry in speech and stumbling in gait and whatever. But it was all in good spirits. I didn't see any inorderly behaviour or drunken brawls or anything. I wonder if I was just in the lucky part of down and didn't see the worst of it. But considering people were drinking as soon as they hit the streets which was about 10 or 11 in the morning for some, and carried on drinking throught the day, it wasn't bad behaviour actually. But I suppose people might not actually have been drinking continuously, or as much as they would within the same amount of time if they were, for example, sat in a pub.

4. Karnival. My favourite costume, I think is the person dressed up as a sheep. Looked kinda like Shaun. Also, the little Penguin girl. Oh, and the bumble bee - I liked that one.

5. My boxes arrived!! Well, 6 of 9 have arrived. But this means, like the last time, they are just delivering them in batches. But at least it means they have arrived in the country and have reached Steinhagen. And luckily, the box with my stamps is one of those to arrive! The box with King, Kaiser, Tsar which is a book I was reading before I left and decided to ship because I couldn't carry that many books with me, has not arrived. Now I have the task of combining my original stamp collection, with my new collection, plus the collection I inherited from O. That will keep me busy for a while, that's for sure! I really like stamping (Ok, I know that's not a real word, but it's a word for me). I suppose I can see why people think stamp collecting is a boring hobby and is something for kids or old boring people. But it's not. Or at least, I don't think it is. I have great fun discovering new stamps. And the stamps often tell a story about a country's history, personalities, geography and even society sometimes. Sometimes, it gives you an idea of what a country regards as being important.

6. I went to watch a women's football match on Wednesday. This was an international friendly between Germany (who are the current world champions) and China. It was a thing organised by the language school so a bunch of us from class went together. There is a Chinese guy in our class so he was naturally cheering for the Chinese team. The rest of us couldn't really decide and cheered for both in turn. It was a nice evening. I wouldn't say the football was great. It ended in a 1-1 draw and really the women's international football standard is nowhere near the mens. I think even the men's juniour team plays better. Plus, all the players look like men. All. Even the Chinese team. All.

It was nice to spend time with my classmates, although conversation was generally limited to the number of German words we knew, except with a few individual with whom I can speak Malay or English.

7. My weight has been consistently between 49.0 and 50.5 kgs. It does not rise above and it does not fall below. Regardless of how much I stuff my face, or how long I go in between meals. I had not been under 50kgs in 10 years. And now all of a sudden I seem to have no problem staying at this weight without any effort whatsoever. It has been along time since I had been below 50kgs, or at 50kgs. I never thought I would be at this weight again, and without trying at that.

8. I miss home. Something happened which made me really miss home the last two days. Well, not really that anything happened. I think it's just a collection of little things. A phone call here, an email there. One particular email saying one thing in particular reminded me very vividly of the last few weeks before I left KL.

One thing I miss the most (aside from the food- haha!) is being able to just talk freely. This might not be a problem everyone faces because people are different and I suppose some people have no problems talking to people they have just met without reservation. I am not one of those people. I tend to be very reserved in conversation with people I do not know well. Even with people I know well, I sometimes hold back. But so, here, other than with Oliver, everyone is a person I don't know well. And plus, the added factor that with someone people the only common language we have is German. The lack of conversation is getting to me. Which probably also explains why I am writing so much these days. I have to find an outlet for my thoughts.

And of course, I do miss the food!!

9. I am bored. Or rather, my mind is bored. I need to find something to work my mind otherwise it might slowly turn to mush. This not working thing has it's benefits, and for the most part I do enjoy it. But the down side of it is that I hardly use my brain anymore. Learning a language is interesting and keeps me occupied for half a day, but it hardly uses my brain like I used to. It's difficult in a certain way, but it is not cerebrally challenging.

10. I don't know what it is about guys and video games. Of course, I know girls do play video games as well, but I can't think of a single girl who has really got as caught up in counterstrike or Grand Theft Auto or whatever crap they are playing nowadays. And I can't think of a single girl who can sit for hours and hours on end, just playing some game. Is in an inate male ability? I don't get it. I say this because we had a friend over this weekend. And the weekend ended up being a weekend of the boys on the couch playing video games. Seriously??