we left on the 26th of October for frankfurt. 11 hours and 50 minutes on a plane. i originally had three seats to myself, then meagan came over to take the window seat. then, halfway through my sleep, the stupid airstewardess came AGAIN to ask if a man could take the seat inbetween us because his krisflyer spoilt, when kenneth had three whole seats to himself. she came at the beginning of the flight to ask if another guy could take my aisle seat. so i only slept like four hours on that flight cause that one seat was too cramped up. think i watched two movies but i can't remember what they were. but i missed SQ flights. haven't taken them in 3 or 4 years. they had so many movies, even the old ones, like all three twilight movies and toy story.
we reached frankfurt airport just in time to watch the sunrise while waiting for our connecting flight to berlin. ate a pretzel and i discovered that their pretzels and our pretzels are totally different. their pretzels are closer to biscuits like the ones they give on planes, rather than bread. the flight was only one and a half hours or so, so it wasn't that bad.
we reached berlin on 27th October, and headed straight to the hotel. we had a little mix up with the hotels cause aunty kwan and linda thought we were supposed to be at another hotel. but it was the right one so we drove back and it was the largest boutique hotel in berlin and it was like four stars. it was way more than that i think. meagan and i got the suite and the biggest room in the team cause kenneth and lukas's suite wasn't as big as ours. but it was a really long walk from our room to the lift. meagan'd count the steps everytime. but on the plus side, our room was really close to the spa that the hotel had provided and the jacuzzi and sauna bit was free so kenneth went to the jacuzzi almost everyday. i'm sure it wasn't because it was a naked jacuzzi though. meagan and i only went twice and i have seen stuff that have scarred my memory forever.
the pool was underground, which was super cool. we had to go through the subway everyday to walk there. it was a nice pool too. we had two more free days before the meet started so we did nothing much. just rested in the hotel and ate our meals and went for swims. we went out a little on the 28th though. we took the s-bahn to alexanderplatz and the u-bahn to ku'damm, berlin's shopping district, but we didn't really have time to walk around much so we headed back. but we ate like two hot dogs. the sausages there are so good. i eat like five for breakfast everyday. we went grocery shopping too. they sold 1.5 litre bottles of water for about 19 cents in euro i think. and you can recycle the bottles in this machine and it'll pay you 25 cents for every bottle. so you kinda earn money which is super cool.
the meet was on the 30th and 31st. i did around the same time for my 100 as in singapore, but the 50 and 200 were horrendous. but i saw thomas's parents and they were really nice. they bought me two packs of haribo and really nice chocolates. and stupid me forgot to ask them what they wanted from singapore before i left so i felt so embarrassed. the finals were quite exciting. cause there were a few close fights and the crowds were super enthusiastic, unlike singapore ones.
we didn't get to celebrate halloween but we went out before the finals on the 31st, and we went to visit the ritter sport museum where we bought loads of chocolate before we went to see the brandenburger tor and the charlie checkpoint. it was really fun. we met these two guys who were dressed like soldiers and we wanted to take a picture with them. then after that, they started saying thank you in different languages and aunty kwan taught them kanasai. so they started going round saying that and playing around. really funny. after we left, we met this guy who had a circular bike so we asked if he could let us cycle all the way to the charlie checkpoint and we went crazy on that bike. we waved to random people who waved back and took pictures of us. i'm in the pictures of random people's photo albums now. hahah. we high fived random people and we were shouting different stuff like we're from china or malaysia! and just basically laughing like maniacs really loudly. aunty kwan took a video of the whole thing, but i don't know if it'll be up on fb or not. lol. so we took pictures then headed back to watch the finals.
we left for moscow the next day. i ended up talking to a german guy who worked in the ministry of defence while we were boarding the plane. lol. we had to wake up at 6.30 to catch the bus to the airport. meagan and i were trying to open bottles of ice lemon tea on the bus but we couldn't so the US team coach laughed and told us to pass it over. then HE couldn't open it too. but he knocked it a few times and it magically opened! cheat. we flew to munich for our connecting flight to moscow. it was really tight, when we reached munich, we only had 45 minutes to our next flight, so we rushed out of the plane like mad people, only to find two people waiting to take us to our next flight and the us team already waiting. laughable. we got to moscow at around four thirty-ish so we thought we could still make it to the pool. but we got stuck on the bus for like more than 2 hours so we just went straight for dinner and slept early.
our meet started the next day on the 2nd of november and the 3rd. we got owned by the russians, but surprisingly, i did better than berlin, even without any proper warm down from my flights and all. made friends with some of the americans. they were just a club who came to experience. traded a shirt with a girl called kristine. she was vietnamese but moved to america i guess. they had this fourteen year old boy who is MASSIVE on their team, whom we thought was at least 18. yeah, so we talked and traded shirts and they were all pretty nice.
we went out for a little while on the fourth before our flight, and went to the red square. it was closed off for an event though so we could only walk around it. meagan and i were trying to get the officers and people in uniforms to wave back at us cause they all looked so fierce and all that, so we'd smile and wave like retards. only some smiled back but none of them did wave back. mission failed. we walked around in an underground shopping mall for awhile but didn't see much so in the end we just headed back to prepare for our flight to stockholm.
we had a little overweight problem at the airport because of the chocolates we bought in berlin. but we cleared that up and reached stockholm at night. meagan and i took the magazine from the airplane cause it had this huge ass sexy picture of ryan reynolds on the cover page. hahah. oh wait, i think i left mine with kenneth. -.- it was about an hour ride on the bus to the hotel, and stockholm was really nice. we met bill there though, who was with the spanish team. we had a free day the next day so i went out to H&M after our morning swim and got two tshirts. then i went back to the free wifi they had at the hotel.
the meet was on the 6th and 7th and the pool was really nice. they had blocks that were the same model as beijing's. i think i died there because i felt so tired in the water. my times weren't that good, better than berlin but slower than moscow. kenneth and i traded a few shirts. i got spain, france and sweden. i wanted brazil, but there weren't any girls there and i didn't trade in berlin, sadly. they had really nice shirts. saw a few stars there. surprisingly, alain bernard didn't make it into the finals of the 100 free and only got 7th for 50 free. kenneth, lukas and i went to play on this ginormous water slide they had at the pool and i saw steffan deibler on the slide. amusing for such a grown up guy to still do stuff like that. they even had an outdoor pool which had a whirlpool in it. it made your face numb but your body warm. hahah. oh. and the kids at sweden are so creative. they tied strings around their pens and books and anything they want people to sign and just hang it down from the stands so people can sign it. genius.
kenneth, lukas, aunty kwan and i went out for awhile after the heats on the 7th and walked around for awhile while meagan stayed back at the hotel to rest for her 200 fly finals. it was really cold out. i could walk to the pool which is just next door to the hotel and my face would go numb so it made me sound weird talking so imagine how cold i was walking around. we even went to the pier where it was FREEZING. and i'm a person who doesn't feel cold easily. kenneth was feeling nice that day, so he carried my bag for me. (: we went straight back to the pool to watch the finals where aunty kwan just randomly started talking to an australian swimmer and even found out his salary. like who on earth finds out about people's salaries just from their first conversation?! she and lukas are like super social people. they just randomly chat up anybody and bam, they become like lifelong friends. lukas talked to people like matt abood and thiago. but kenneth and i just traded stuff then headed back to the hotel where we watched the EMAs and played taitee.
we went out the next day before we were due at the airport and went to old town. i had 5 pancakes, 2 sausages, 2 bacon and 2 meatballs. the meatballs are awesome. and the maple syrup for the pancakes are just...words cannot describe. i pour so much over it it's like soup. it was really cold that day. it was about -8 in the morning, but it went up to about 0 to 1 in the afternoon so you can imagine how cold we were being out for about 4 hours or so. i bought a few tshirts. i got one that said i heart swedish boys. hahah. we took loads and loads of pictures and did loads of funny stuff. but mainly we were just trying to keep warm even when we couldn't even feel our fingers and faces anymore.
we left the hotel at 4 for the airport and took a flight back to frankfurt before heading back to singapore. full flight on the way back so i could only stay in one seat. i watched inception and despicable me. got mindblown by inception. it was a good movie, if a little deep. was the last part actually a dream? we reached the airport at 5.30 or so. so 7 flights, 2 weeks, 1 helluva fun trip later, i'm back. i'm sad to be back actually. not much for me here. i could've stayed in europe forever and ever. maybe one day. now, it's time to post my 399 pictures. of course, i'm not posting everything. just most of it.
we started at changi ariport:
group photos! introducing the team: jia jiaolian, linda, meagan, me, kenneth and lukas.
just us swimmers. and there you see my new glasses. (:
we stop for a break from flying in frankfurt:
buying pretzels from a shop. i bought a sausage croissant as well and it was fantastic.
a self-taken shot at the boarding gate while we waited for our plane to be ready. they had free hot chocolate! you can see the machine right behind. they served all kinds of coffee too.
the sunrise in frankfurt.
a few pictures with it because we just couldn't resist. could anyone? stupid question. look at those colours!
still waiting for the plane. for only four hours of sleep i'm looking pretty cheerful.
in the minibus that came to pick us up to take us to the hotel.
meagan and i camwhoring in the window of the bus while the adults are busy checking different hotels to see if it was the right one. :D
hahah. jia jiaolian made me do this!
and this, dear friends, is where you should stay in berlin. andel's. best hotel i've ever stayed in for any meet.
the reception of hotel andel's.
another group shot in the reception hall.
how room 239, the suite, looks like.
the sitting area of the suite.
the beds.
the toilet.
just found this lamp so cool. hahah. the whole table just lights up!
the closet/fridge/safe.
the view outside the hotel. i love the colours of the leaves.
on the way to the grocery store to buy stuff.
the carpark of the grocery store.
looking at the chocolate selection. hahah. everyone needs chocolate.
walking back from the grocery store.
distributing our goods in the lift lobby before walking the 160-168 steps to our suite.
hahah. just found this amusing. the smaller white pillow was super comfy. but i hugged both the small white one and the black one to sleep. my own pillow got abandoned.
on the way to the pool before we realised we could actually go through the subway.
the pool's hall of fame, the list of people who set world records in this pool.
the pool.
being the subject of the adults' amusement. first me, in my suit, with my boots on.
then me in my suit, boots, and beanie standing.
then finally, me in my suit, boots, beanie sitting down. the japanese team were so amused by us taking so many pictures. like we were there for fun instead of to compete. but hey, we can have fun at meets. (:
stretching with meagan.
ah. the infamous, unconscious butt picture that linda, jia jiaolian and aunty kwan took of me....
that led to THIS butt picture when i found out. lol.
preparing for the swim down.
doing my thing in the pool.
i should totally frame this up. you never EVER get a picture of me doing backstroke because i don't do backstroke. ever. so this is a rarity.
sculling.
and then it's time for picture taking!
lukas, meagan, me and kenneth. i look like a little girl. :/
i was trying to get my hair dry asap before i went out so i did the towel turban. lol.
lol.
damn, we look good. hahah.
the long long corridor to the lift. we just started out from our room. that's not the whole thing. you still have to turn right, the left then walk down another long corridor.
group shot at the pool on day two. it rhymes!
walking back through the subway after practice.
that's the s-bahn station we were at.
group photo in front of the station.
on the s-bahn across the road from the hotel. i think the other one was a different line. meagan's face is epic.
group shot in front of the s-bahn tram.
me, aunty kwan and meagan at alexanderplatz.
a guy selling hot dogs. i think that's so cool. we bought hot dogs from him when we came back later on.
another group shot at alexanderplatz.
in the u-bahn.
that's the station we had to get off at to get to ku'damm. long ride.
hahah. you can tell how bored we were. guess whose shoes are whose!
group shot on the train!
off the train.
entrance of the u-bahn.
picture in front of it.
some random fountain.
whacky pictures in front of the random fountain.
me chasing this ginormous flock of birds. yeah i get amused doing that. you should see kenneth in stockholm.
me, in front of random building under construction. but you have to admit it still looks kinda nice.
this cute golden retriever i saw at the mall. they allow dogs EVERYWHERE in europe. in malls, in hotels, on the trains, in dining places. and they're all completely obedient. this one was guarding that bag.
us eating hotdogs in ku'damm. we got another on in alexanderplatz.
at the grocery store again recycling the bottles we finished. on like the first day of the meet, i drank 5 litres straight in the morning. from the time i woke up till lunch at 12. lol.
it's fun to put the bottles in and earn money yknow.
a look at how it works. the rollers roll the bottle around to see if it isn't too damaged and to find the barcode to show that it's recyclable. if it is, it's scanned and then it'll slide in. if not, you have to take it out.
how the machine looks like.
38 bottles for 9.50 euros. hahah.
this is what we do to kill time.
taitee.
getting ready for my race. 50 i think.
peter marshall.
think that's a church.
ta dah! the ritter sport chocolate museum!
happy to be there. me being the kid, museum being the candy store.
in front of a building, not sure what it is.
inside the chocolate museum. that's the part where they create the chocolates you want. but it takes half an hour so i didn't do it. ): but one day.
tower of chocolate!
look at the chocolates! omg. that's just the first shelf.
walking to the brandenburger tor.
the leaves that fell from the trees. never walked in them like that before.
another group shot.
the really long, tree walkway to the tor. no leaves though. would've been nicer if there were.
horse carriage! we wanted to sit in one.
the brandenburger tor from far away.
jump shots! kenneth's pose in the second picture is so starfish like. hahah.
park bench shot!
never knew there was a madame tussauds in berlin.
have i mentioned how gigantic the dogs in europe are? i saw a dog in stockholm that was up to my waist.
the tor.
that's nike. god/goddess of victory i think. i can't remember if it was a he or she. looks more she though.
me in front of the gate.
swimmers' group shot!
the uniform guys who made us laugh so hard our abs hurt.
this was the guy who gave us the discount. 1 euro per person instead of 2. he was highfiving all of us, saying kanasai.
this was the guy who started doing all the funny kanasai things.
another group shot before we left for charlie checkpoint.
if i'm not wrong, that's the building where the nazis had their meetings and stuff.
the infamous bike that made us all go loco. seats seven including the driver, so meagan got the seat in the centre.
me, already on the bike.
that's the driver.
me and the driver.
cycled past this. nice huh.
i think that's the war memorial.
spotted this kid all dressed up for halloween. i've never celebrated halloween before. ):
the snow slide! we cycled past it. wanted to go back to it but didn't have time. :/
random statue.
museum. the guys were looking at us. they waved back!
meagan and i on the bike.
at the berlin wall.
information about it.
the driver pushing the bike up the hill.
all of us on the bike.
hot air balloon.
a picture with the bike.
hahah. mine and meagan's cunning plan. she'll pretend to stand there for a picture while in actual fact, i'll be taking the picture of the cute guy standing behind. hahah. well, it's kind of an unglam shot of him. but it was the only clear one i got. cause he was moving around on his bike.
the charlie checkpoint.
some nazi guy.
the charlie checkpoint museum.
alexander dale oen.
paul biedermann.
some swiss guy that i thought was kinda cute. he looked like torres when he didn't smile! but his team and coach made us laugh before the picture. and apparently, he went to yog. and i didn't notice him there.
then we moved on to moscow:
the sunset outside the airport.
meagan and i waiting for the bus.
at the hotel, holiday inn, waiting for our rooms.
this is how room 1708 looked like. thank god for mtv, which was the uk version. saved our lives. listened to alot of the wanted's heart vacancy and mike posner's cooler than me and plan b and will.i.am. it was the only english channel. same for berlin and stockholm. well, there were other channels there. just that there wasn't alot of nice shows playing all the time.
the toilet. i swear i have too many pictures of toilets.
getting ready for my 100. the only good lane i ever got. lane 5. won the heat.
me in the white cap.
darian townsend.
the pool. we thought that was all the spectators there was.
until i looked up. wished singapore was like that.
the fallen traffic light.
i liked the poster they had.
arkady vyatchanin. he was our "ye ren" this meet. cause he always owned everyone in the 200 back because of his underwater.
the americans that we talked to. in the top row: kenneth, julia, meagan, lukas, andrew. in the bottom row: celina, me, kristine, byron. i swam with both celina and kristine.
nick silverthorn, the 14 year old who's just monstrously huge. i couldn't believe he was 14 when i heard.
byron.
julia.
kristine.
nine lanes in the final cause they pulled julia smit out of the wrong event.
gulliver koch. the swedish guy i thought was cute. hahah. somehow, they all look cuter when they don't smile for pictures.
the long long escalator down to the metro.
beware, the ghost dog! it's just a stray that went on the escalator with us.
the stray roaming in the metro. it was still there when we came back from the red square. so i gave it what was left of my pancake.
group shot in the metro.
the theatre, where all the performances are held.
me in front of the theatre.
karl marx.
i think this is a theatre too.
the huge chanel billboard with the hot model.
behind the red square.
group shot!
clock tower.
st. basil's church.
that's actually the roof of an underground shopping mall.
kenneth, meagan and me on the steps.
lukas, me, kenneth and meagan.
how the roof looks like from underneath.
heehee.
russian pancake!
us and the tour guide outside the hotel.
so we flew on over to stockholm the next day:
and i met bill at the hotel! thought i saw wrongly at first, and it was just a guy who looked like him, then i said, bill, really quietly and he turned around. hahah. i'm always scared of calling people i recognise in a foreign countries cause it might not be them.
how room 5031 looks like. our rooms get smaller and smaller. but the bed was nice and bouncy. although it was only one bed with two blankets.
another toilet picture.
the park next to the hotel, we have to walk past it walking down the slope to the pool every morning. it's really nice in the sunrise. the house like stuff down there are for people who wish to have a garden but don't have the space to. they rent it and plant their own stuff to sate their gardening needs.
walking down to the pool.
that's an outdoor pool. guess they drained it for winter.
slush! i slide down it every morning. even steffan deibler does it. funny.
the name of the pool.
the pool.
you have to admit, they're nice pictures. they treat their national swimmers like heroes. in berlin too.
the 2008 beijing blocks. it makes it hard to climb up though cause you have to climb over the wedge.
how the whole thing looks like.
swimmers' group shot.
and a few others.
a few with bill.
walking back up the stairs to the slope after training.
the view of our hotel from the pool.
the entrance of the park.
look at all the candy in the supermarket! they have everything there. candy, dvds, books, and all. you can recycle bottles there too. the cashier's really cool. they only take notes so you have to put the coins into this metal box.
just liked the trees. the second one's opposite our hotel.
in ahlens looking around and i saw this woman with her dog. see, you can bring them anywhere and everywhere.
getting ready for the 100.
aschwin wildeboer. spanish backstroker.
the little place where they sprayed water to form ice. it's not really smooth so you can't really iceskate though.
kenneth and lukas had a mock snow fight.
lukas, me and kenneth at the ice place when we went out after the heats.
christmas tree!
taken by aunty kwan from across the road. we're at the door.
waiting to cross.
walking around.
the place we went to. not too sure where this was though.
random old building i think.
picture of us again.
that's the view from the marina.
me sitting on the little wall where people stick posters.
hahah. aunty kwan was so surprised to see me like that. i was cold! i couldn't feel my face and my mouth anymore. sounded funny when i talked.
hahah. i spotted these guys across the road when we were heading back to the pool. and then they stopped to take a picture with us before walking into the mall like nobody's business. kingkong, donkey and the mask.
thiago pereira. met him on the way to the pool. he's friendly.
randall bal. at the dining area.
group shot on the "ice".
walked along here to get to old town. must've gone into all the souvenir shops they had.
hahah. random lion statue. we were waiting for everyone to get out of the shop.
the gate thingum you have to go through to get into old town.
nice building.
it had a nice background of buildings.
that's a bit of old town and a bit of other old buildings.
the gate thing.
looks pretty huh.
liked the water effect.
and we have reached old town! it's a really nice place.
giant moose!
in a small alley.
tunnel. it's kinda short so it made me look really tall at the end.
my classmates would go crazy at all the giant stuffed animals here.
ben & jerry's! i didn't have an ice cream challenge. ): it was too cold. but it's the best time to eat ice cream! it won't ever melt.
that's a church. they have really nice churches in europe. unlike ours.
we stood there looking like beggars cause there was hot air coming out from the top of the doorway and we were trying to warm our hands. hahah.
not too sure who this guy is.
heading to the royal palace.
quick picture while crossing the street, we were headed the other direction so i was walking backwards while jiaolian was taking the picture.
the pier.
looks really nice huh.
hahah. playing around with the life buoy.
i can never do cool scenic shots. i just look like a retard.
i like this picture. (:
making the multi-armed creature. muahahah. actually we look like an oversized insect. it was me, megan, jiaolian and kenneth.
it made my legs look long. hahah. the only time you'll ever see long legs on me.
jiaolian made us pose like this, kenneth was chasing and i was running away. lol.
waiting while aunty kwan was asking directions to the palace.
another church i think.
finally, the palace.
queen! my crown's slightly crooked though.
hahah. i like this picture. we're still at the palace.
back at the hotel. doesn't the reflection of the building look nice?
and that's all that i'm posting. took me a week to finish this, and it involved deleting my old pictures. oh well. i couldn't NOT post this up. seeya. one day, i'll go back. and when i do, there'll be more pictures.
I hear your heart cry for love
Then you act like there's no room
Room for me, or anyone
'Don't Disturb' is all I see
Close the door, turn the key
On everything that we could be
If loneliness would move out
I'd fill the vacancy
In your heart, in you heart, in your heart.
"CHERYL!<3 left a message at."
10:38 PM
10:38 PM
not for the faint-hearted.