I ♥ Paris ♥ Paris ♥ Paris ♥ Paris ♥ Paris ♥ Paris ♥ Paris ♥ Paris …
for its beautiful buildings, for its romantic old feel …. but i hate it for its exhorbitant prices( it is scaringly high… even scared william. One plate of pasta cost like 34 sgd to 40 sgd?? one coffee cost about 8 sgd?!? )
I am supposed to write a more detailed blog post about my trip in paris but i am too tired now, so i would just write a overview post on paris 
Some things i discovered about the land of love when i was there for 3 days :
1) Paris has the nicest bakeries around. They are all located in the neighbourhood
such colorful bread and macarons!! 
makes me happy to even photograph this scene.
2) Paris has the nicest buildings around, even for their apartments and flats.
Really antique feel and makes you feel good just walking on streets.
the garden outside louvre
3) Paris has the most expensive street food, restaurant food.
we had this on the first night and it cost us about 100 sgd
this cup of coffee cost us about 10 sgd!! GASPS~!
4) Foie gras is sold in supermarkets in paris ( sorry no pictures)
5) Paris has the most famous shopping street with the biggest LV store. the Champs Elysees.
beautiful LV sign
6) Paris has the largest historical muesum , Louvre. Omg. it is so big that it took me just half a day to tour one part of the whole place.. seriously to examine each and every historical artefact, it would really take at least one week.
i also saw the famous mona-lisa like 2 bodyguards were around this painting and also, it was framed in a glass. So overly protected!
7) Paris has quite a rundown metro station.
it was quite confusing and it had many lines. I had to walk around to find the exact line because all the lines is under one station.. like 5 lines in one stop.. and the walk from one line to another line.. is like quite far. and the metro looks really run down and terribly vandalised.
a subway on wheels??!?! kind of funny.
Paris is seriously overpriced for everything.. especially its tourist spots. However, the louvre muesum, i managed to get in for free under the benefit that i was staying in EU for long. So as long as you have a EU visa, you can get in for free!! it is such a wonder! ( if not pay like 5 euros? )
nothing to do with facts, but here are some things i did while i was in paris :
1) i visited the river seine ( which was shown in a few movies, i cant remember which, but i saw it in a old movie)
2) i visited the garden(apparently named Jardin du Carrousel) that was shown in the korean drama, lovers in paris. unfortunately, it is now under construction and the park looks kind of cui.
overpriced for this. We didnt take it
3) I went to the effiel tower at night and there were some light shows going on!! i must add another point , PARIS IS FILLED WITH STREET VENDORS trying to sell you those touristy charms of the tower!! and there are those who tries to sell you roses… by pushing it into your hands.. it was kind of scary!
me at the top of the tower.. had to pay like 5 euros to get in
me at the bottom of the tower
paris at night is it nice?
4) I ate foie gras for the first time!! can you believe it?!?!? LOL i thought i will never eat this in my life.. i also tried escargots..
foiegras with pasta. It was surprisingly good.
5) i visited the famous Notre dame. it is beautiful.
6) I tried iceskating for the first time in life in PARIS!! omg.. outdoor ice skating in front of the beautiful hotel de ville!
seriously can anyone kindly give me some tips on iceskating?!?! i failed terribly at it.. i just cannot balance at all.. and the moment i let go, i fall.
the place where i iceskated.
overall, it was still a great trip!! i enjoyed it very much because it was my first trip in europe with will! i did many FIRST TIMEs and i am really happy! i shall go into more details in the next blog post!
it just cant keep snowing. Before i came, will told me snow is rare in holland…
picture taken in my own home ( my neighbourhood covered in white snow)
and yeah right, ever since i came, dec was filled with snow, more snow and snow storm. everyone from singapore will of course love the idea of snow but honestly , as much as i love seeing snow, i dont really like to be walking out covered in snow. Firstly, it is damn hell cold (minus something degree) and my coat would be covered in snow and eventually water, my boots get wet and the most funny thing is i slip.
more interestingly, the whole holland becomes handicapped when snow arrives. trains stop working, airplanes stop flying and the whole holland breaks down. can you imagine?!?!? it became very real when me and will had to go paris and the train was not working till the last day!! ( all the trains before that were cancelled!). luckily and phew, for both of us, the train decided to push its butt and move on the day we were supposed to go to paris.
this week, there is the snow storm. cant do much but to stay at home and rot.
as much as i like snow, i think it is kind of enough. stop this freaking cold weather!!
that is me today covered in snow.
delft in snow
i think i am kinda late but well, who cares. my 2010 resolutions are as follows:
1) Be a better woman for will, for my home and friends and family
2) Relearn japanese and take on dutch! ( come on, at least a few sentences right??)
3) Graduate by June ( I HAVE TO DO THIS)
4) Cook better food for will and be more acceptive of his flaws
5) Train my kitten and provide her more love
6) Call my family and friends at least once a week
7) stop being lazy and go out more often
Always be updated of my friends’ recent happenings
9) Find a job
i dont want to be so ambitious now but i hope i can acheive all these by 2010 so when i look back in 2011, i will smile to myself and say, yes joelle, you did it!
yes. i am happy with my life right now. i cant feel more blessed than i am right now. before i came, i was filled with insecurities about how things would turn out, how the future looked like for both of us and how uncertain life looked. But i thought to myself, hey, life is all about risk taking, so might as well risk it and try this out.
it turned out even better than i expected. when i first came, i was filled with doubts because both of us were so different. Sometimes we quarreled because of stupid things like his views on a certain country and my views on that particular country, and on things which i felt important and were less important to him. Different cultures have shaped us in who we are now together but have yet again molded us stronger as one. Gradually, both of us took a step back and now, finally i am able to appreciate things more from his viewpoint and he is able to accept more of this flawed me.
i am thankful for meeting him because throughout these 4 months, he has been giving me constant support emotionally and financially, albeit he also being a flawed man, has made mistakes too. i mean, he has given me much more than what i can expect from just a normal boyfriend. i know that he has given me much more than what any others can give, including my parents and sisters.
because of me, he have to travel 4 hours everyone through and fro while he actually had the option of moving nearer to his workplace. He thought it would be better to stay at our current spot which is near to my school because i would indeed travel less(only 1/2 hour). Every morning, he would wake up at 5.30 or 6 to get to work by 9 and reach home at 7.30 pm( more than 12 hours out) and i get to sleep more.
and he took me to other countries in europe, italy and paris because i wanted to explore and yes, he paid for everything. paris was crazily expensive but he took me out to restaurants everyday because he wanted me to enjoy.
because i said i felt like drinking milk tea and eating sushi, he went out in that freezing cold of like minus 1 degree to get it for me. Same like when i said i wanted to eat mac icecream, he also went out to buy it for me.
when i dont feel like cooking, he would buy groceries and come back to cook after a tiring day of work and both of us would eat at 9. no complains from him either.
after every quarrel, he will scribble something really sweet and nice and ask for forgiveness on the whiteboard placed on the fridge before he leaves for work in the morning.
i would think to myself like, i am not the most beautiful girl on earth and i dont wear makeup at home and i don pretentiously act demure in front of him and sometimes i get very rude and crude( not something girls SHOULD do) and i have this weird funny singaporean accent( lol, even he can understand my singlish now) that is not very accepted by europeans i guess, but still, i get such a great guy. i mean, how many guys in the world can really accept a girl for who she really is, when she get rids of her makeup and mask? there are just days that i dont feel like putting on my makeup or doing my hair or dressing up nicely. i am sure everyone has a different side when they are at home and yet, he can accept such a crude and hmm, flawed me.
Even though i get mad because of his insensitivity at times and complain to my friends on how much i want to leave holland and go back to sg, he always make me forget and forgive his mistakes after a while.
he is not perfect but i know he love me like what a perfect man will do.
i am really very thankful and very happy today and i feel at ease with the decision i made a year ago.
i just wanted to blog it out to express that i feel very blessed and happy to have him in my life.
i love you, baby
i hope he reads this.
i want to blog but damn it, i am sick again. feeling very sick. it all started during the trip to paris. both me and will contracted the flu bug and in our hotel room, both of us started coughing, sneezing. In rome, i had a even harder time because of my runny nose( i had to carry like a huge roll of toilet paper just to keep my nose from running) and will was coughing out phlegm. after one bloody week, i am still coughing
man, why am i so weak and always so sick. sucks.
♥ feifei ♥
♥ helen ♥
♥ shiying ♥
♥ sispig ♥
♥ ting ♥