Oysho

In Rome (at the beginning of April), I found Oysho. There's a certain charm and subtle personality to Oysho that aligns well with my frequency. And yes I splurged on sleepwear but every cent spent was well worth it :)

I fell even moreso in love when they played Out of tune by Real Estate (how is it possible a store plays Real Estate and then my play my favourite of theirs??)

And then I discovered this song: Above your head by Anoraak. It might as well be the song that will play when I'm on the plane back home 8 months down the track.

Galaxies

One night while in the process of falling into sleep, I think I was in the phase where I was almost already there, but you know sometimes when you suddenly twitch, your body jerks and your eyes are suddenly open like you didn't even fall asleep? In that moment when I opened my eyes, there were stars and galaxies exploding everywhere in the dark and in that moment it was all I could see.

Home Sweet Home

It's strange to think that now I would call Fellergut, Bern - Home. Home seems to be a relative thing. When I'm in Switzerland, Australia is home. If I were on the moon, Earth is home. Coming back from Rome I called Fellergut home. It was a strange kind of feeling walking back to the room you can call your own. I had tidied up my room before I left for the trip so I came back to an unusually spotless space just like moving into a new room - but it was comfortable. It was nice to know that in such space I could have my own time once again and I celebrated with dim lights, Nocturne, Morning Image, and a new dress I bought - a solo party.

Prior to my leave, my dorm mate requested if she could borrow my room while I was away since her parents wanted to visit and I agreed to it (hence the clean room). She left me a chocolate bunny when I said yes and I thought that was already so sweet of her to! When I entered my room the above photo was what I found on my table. It was truly a wonderful surprise (how could you not be in the mood for a solo party?) and I couldn't stop grinning for a while. It was really like a welcome home.

Groceries

It's been two months since I've been here in Bern. It's a strange feeling. It feels like so much has been condensed into a short space of time, like six months have been squished into one. Really, my sense of time has been distorted, I can understand why perceptions of space and time is relative, and not just in the scientific sense. Enough time has passed by, that now there are things to reminisce about. Like in the early days of settling down here: buying my first lot of groceries (below). During that week I also taught one of my Polish friend the word 'groceries'. I've never seen anyone get excited over such word before.

Migros & Denner are probably the equivalent to the woolies and food for less in Australia but pretty much I am living off budget range brands no-frills style. So it's not significantly more expensive here but definitely the rustic bread is cheaper than sandwich bread and the rest you just to have to shop around. There isn't really super cheap fruit or veggies though - it's pretty much like living in Sydney in the city. The top compartment of the fridge is mine, as you can see it was pretty packed.

In those days, this was my ultimate quick fix for lunch or dinner. Bread and some vegan patty with salad. Easy Meal.

Vegan penne and meatballs!

Nocturne

I can't remember how but during my trip to Rome during the nights I started to listen to Wild Nothing again and actually listened to the full album Nocturne. Almost every night I stayed up until 5 am, during the quiet hours, when everyone else was fast asleep and I would head my way into my internal world. I immersed myself into the sounds of Wild Nothing. I became nocturne. My sleeping patterns are screwed up to the point of no return - the waking and sleeping hours are long gone lost, I cannot tell the difference between breakfast, lunch and dinner, and get confused between what is today and what is tomorrow. This, I know, will screw up my system and it already has messed up with the way I function in day to day life but there is something about the late night hours I am addicted to. It's not that I'm not tired, nor it is insomnia; it's like some kind of drug. That hour at 4 am, where you no longer know if it is late or early, where the birds starts to sing, where it is neither the end of the day nor the beginning, people are neither here or there, everything feels surreal. Maybe I'm drawn to the grey areas: the moments that are hard to define, the feelings that are not one way or another... I guess I just don't really like having things set in stone, black and white, there's always a space in between and I've always been in that space. In that sense, people may sometimes see me as lost, confused, frazzled, passive, and a push-over perhaps - but it's never as it seems. It's something else. Something I can't really explain.

I never felt that a whole album could define so many feelings I feel so completely. It's not only the melodies that pulled me in but the words. I read in an interview that Jack Tatum, singer and songwriter, never put too much thoughts into the words but rather more into creating 'the mood' of the song, which I think is the magic to his words - they are moulded by a stream of subconscious rather than being something contrived. I like when things come naturally that way - you feel your way through things by the energy and mood around you. There is truly a nocturnal mood throughout the whole album which really brought the night to life for me. I always felt like I could really be sucked into the atmosphere of the night.

Typography & Switzerland

The thing I love about living in Switzerland are the amazing retro signs you find around the city because there are so many old towns and buildings. Bern is listed as a UNESCO heritage site so heading into the city is definitely not sky scraper style but instead you go back in time to a medieval setting. I'm not quite sure actually how old the buildings are but it's absolutely amazing to see how much of the past is retained here. I'm hoping, when I'm able to find some time again to explore the city more, I will be able to start a typography project where I capture all the vernacular type I find and fuel the inner graphic designer nerd within us :P

Solothurn 16.02

As part of orientation week for exchange students we had a day trip to Solothurn. Only a 30-40 minute train ride from the Bern Hauptbahnhof will get you to this small and quaint town. So far, I have to say that this is my favourite town in Switzerland, of course I have yet to discover more but what I really liked was its size, the colourful buildings and windows, small shops and the fresh farmers markets. Everything seemed so magical. I think I'm also starting to become more familiar with my 20mm 2.8 Lens.

We actually had loads of free time, around 3 hours? But we were so tired that we actually had a nap session in the dining area. It must've been a funny sight - a bunch of exchange students sitting in sofas in a circle napping. I wish I could've explored the city in more detail but truly my energy levels weren't up for it. I will definitely visit again and go wild at the markets :)

There are many department stores in Switzerland which have a buffet style dining area at the top level. The variety of food is absolutely amazing and the way everything is set up is really beautiful! Prices are decent for Swiss standards but still hurts the student's wallet (particularly if you pile up). I ended up just getting this small plate of roasted potatoes, vegetables, white asparagus, semolina balls I think? and some absolutely amazing garlicky tomato beans thing. It ended up being 8.50 CHF, small but I suppose it was a hearty meal.

Brunch 19.02

Yoghurt was never really friendly to my stomach, when I became vegan I wasn't so much a fan of soy yoghurt either. Here in Switzerland, thankfully I have found soymilk but not only that - they also have soy yoghurt here too! So I gave it a shot and my my, it is amazing. I have the option of 3 flavours, plain, fruit & muesli and mango. I've only tried the latter two but it's delicious and makes a good snack - especially when I'm feeling a little lazy. There's a tutti frutti kind of taste to it but I like it.

 

I also have a habit of premaking some food to eat over the next days. It's common that I make a lentil/bean ratatouille type thing. I had a bunch of leftover vegetables that needed to be cooked so this was perfect. It's easy to make, warm it up and put it on toast. Voila you have breakfast... well more like brunch. 

   

Recently discovered these 'breakfast' bars that are chocolate covered. I don't usually eat these in Sydney but they are really nice here! So chewy but probably not so healthy. They're not vegan because of the milk powder in the chocolate but it's really tough avoiding the milk in the chocolate here.

Bern I

A walk through the city and beyond

Day 2

Treated myself to hearty meals on my first morning & arvo in my new home. Truly enjoying the freedom to cook pretty much whenever & whatever, and making use of that oven :)

Roasted Tomatoes, Kidney beans, Sauteed Mushrooms and Toast

Roasted Potatoes, Salad with croutons, Oranges

Some interesting chemical reaction happened with the garlic, lemon and baking tin

Plane Food 01.02

Food on board with Emirates :) with the veg options of course.

Vegetarian: Chickpeas, mash, peas, salad, & brownie.

Vegan Breakfast/Lunch (can't remember) sandwich bread with this really nice lentil/mushroom/capsicum thing, mysterious white thing (which I later find at the Swiss supermarket) and Fruit Salad.

Vegan: Curry with rice noodles, bean salad, & crumble thing.

This was Christine's lunch option which was pretty much veg! Lebanese style breakfast.

Schwarzenburg Guggisberg

Again another day I forgot to bring my camera. We went on a class trip to Schwarzenburg/Guggisberg to visit a museum on Vreneli from Guggisberg. My lack of German unfortunately couldn't quite clarify whether the story was a Swiss folk tale or based on a true story - it was definitely a classic folk song though. In any case the museum had a set up of her room, the kitchen and bunch of historical facts. It was truly cold I could feel my feet freezing up. The views were absolutely amazing in this small village and we were all given some apple tart and a hot drink :) I have also discovered that there is a lack of 'Mocha' here; it is either hot chocolate or coffee, never both together. Hot chocolate was actually just a cup of foamed up milk and a sachet of chocolate powder, but I can't complain since the apple cake was delightful (and we didn't even have to pay a cent!). I can also confirm that I really can't drink milk - I could only get through half of the cup before I started feeling a little queasy.

Photo by Lena Kilchitskaya 

Highlight of the day would probably be the snowball fight we had there after initiated by of course the playful Setareh who smooshed a whole bunch of snow all over me. Of course we decided on a truce then formed an alliance to attack the others. Can't remember what went on here but it certainly looked really suss. It was hilarious and without fail Saki went on her laugh attacks. The snow was also being difficult and fluffy, as you can see my snow ball is failing here. Also, dear Bambi I may have lost one glove :( but just know that they got to touch Swiss snow ;) and with evidence.

The space in between

awake & sleep / making sense & nonsense

On the plane to Dubai 5:37 am 01 February 2013
My mind wanders in dream state contemplating a universal language, something about pictures, something about colours, perhaps with a little structure and a question of how do I make meaning. And then sometimes, my mind creates some strange poetry as I enter dream state:

"What colours must I rearrange in order to create a constellation"

Gurten

On the third day of our German Integration intensive course, after class we took a small trip to Gurten - I would call it a mountain but according to Swiss standards it's only a hill. Whatever it is, we took a tram ride then a cable car ride up to the top of the hill (all covered by the libero-bern billette: ticket for unlimited travel on all forms of transport in Bern which costs 57 CHF for a month). Silly me didn't bring my camera... or gloves... not bringing the camera was fine since I got to immerse myself into the atmosphere and played around with snow but the no gloves was truly awful... my hands were so cold and frozen, thank goodness my friend let me borrow her gloves :') (Thanks Setareh!!!) without those babies I think my hands would've fallen off climbing up the tower! After battling the long winding never ending spiral staircase against the wind, snow and icy hand rails we managed to reach the top and even though I felt like collapsing it was truly worth it!

From the top we had 360 degree view of the whole city. Only thing was that it was a really snowy day so we could only see fog. Photos above for our achievement :)

Hamlet makes a mark on the tower!

I also discovered that I reeeeaaaaally suck at snowball fights and that I throw like a girl. My buddies were really patient though and put up with my amateur-ness & excitement for snow :P As you can see I was really happy and made my first snow angel :3 (Thanks Setareh for taking the photos!!)

Snowflakes

As a kid I had this blue snowflake stamp pen. It's seems so obvious and logical but I came to a revelation the other day that snowflakes are real and really do exist. I always thought they were rare and only exist in extremely special conditions but stamping loads of snow flake falling was no exaggerated imagination. Every speck of white that falls from the sky is a snow flake! It only happens to be that when they land, they either shatter into pieces of ice or melt away. They are tiny but that day when it snowed my coat managed to catch so many! It was all over me and on my hair. For me it was truly a special moment and was like something out of a romantic movie - only minus the romance. It might have been a temporal moment but I think I have come to appreciate the fact that it is these temporary things that makes them have their worth.