Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2001 03:17:21 +0200

Hi,

After a tumultous week, my Saturday has ended on a high note.

Spent parts of the afternoon preparing food (couscous) for the gathering of double degree students tonight. 90 people had registered.

The menu included greek salad (made by a greek girl, the first time we're having someone from Greece at our sch), catalane baguettes (bread with olive oil and tomatoes, a specialty from Spain), couscous and spinach lasagne (to cater for the vegetarians). For dessert, we had oven-baked apples and chocolate mousse which was heavenly.

Me, Amelie and Jérémie literally digging in

Most of the food had been prepared by a Swiss German and a German guy who are just wonderful cooks. The latter can tell what's inside a dish when he tastes it. He even made mooncakes after he tried them and they weren't that bad except that he had used fresh eggs instead of salted eggs cos' salted eggs is a foreign concept here.

After that,we cleared the tables and there was music and dancing, with Sangria (Spanish fruit punch+red wine) and vodka as drinks. I some sips of the fruit punch. I hate the taste of vodka anyway. It burns!

Music was provided by the German guy. He had fixed up his computer and he was blasting MP3s all night long with speakers and his amplifier. Unfortunately, his 3000F(S$750) amplifier died out and the amplifier of an Austrian was brought along as a replacement but that died out after a few hours as well. We still don't know if they will be able to repair it.

I usually don't go for disco nights at my school or any other university cos' I don't like to come back stinking from the cigarette smoke since pple smoke indoors and esp so during such events. + I don't like the taste of hard liquor and I can't dance for nuts. Try explaining this last point to the guys tonight. They all decided that I had to be on the dance floor tonight. I know the Italians quite well cos' they're always so friendly and they were pushing me onto the dance floor despite my reluctance. Obviously, that only made them more detemined. During a Spanish number, a Spanish guy took me in his arms and guided me. That was interesting. I felt really relaxed and didn't end up stepping on too many feet. Guess it's true when sometimes, u have to let yourself be guided when dancing. Then during a German folksong, this German guy who looks like he just graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts but who shows some real mean moves during techno numbers took my arm and started going round in circles, just like the traditional festivals. We changed sides and we repeated. That was fun. Before I knew it, the others had formed a chain and were dancing around us. The German guy changed moved and kept swirling me round and round, this way and that, I thought I was going to faint. He even arched my back backwards and I screamed. Not that anyone heard me above the deafening music.

Well, it was certainly an exciting and exhilarating evening. (Daddy, I sure spent my time with friends like u advised me to yesterday.) A lot of pple thought that the food was wonderful and one guy congratulated me for the night, though I wasn't even really one of the organisers. I had just helped here and there.

Plus there wasn't much alcohol available so nobody got drunk and sick. Just good, clean fun, and that's the way I like it.

love,

hsieng

Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2001 18:31:54 +0200

Hi,

We visited Claude Monet's house today. His painting Impression Soleil Levant = "Impression Rising Sun" gave the name "Impressionism" to the art movement. One of his most famous paintings is of the water lilies in his garden under a japanese bridge and we saw all that in real life today. Unfortunately, it's not the water lily flowering season but with his whole library of gardening books, he was able to conceive and bring to life a garden with different types of flowers. Each month, a different species of flower blooms and his bedroom window overlooked all that splendour!

Love,