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On Day 4 of our trip, we left Queenstown without having spent much time sightseeing. Oh well.
above: The part of Queenstown near our apartment, with Lake Wakatipu (shaped like a lightning bolt) in the backdrop.
First things first, we reluctantly drove to the Queenstown Council to pay our parking fine. (directions courtesy of the printer and internet at Pounamu!) Then we left for Wanaka via Crown's Pass - another one of those challenging mountain passes. Before long, we encountered road works and were forced to manoeuvre gingerly past a tractor on the extremely narrow road. It was terrifying cos the car was but a few inches from the precipice and there were no metal barriers bordering the roads. One wrong move and we'd be hurtling off the cliff. Could see that my mum was breaking out in cold sweat but thankfully we scraped past. From then on, there was minimal roadworks and the view got increasingly magnificent as we ascended!
The following are snapshots along Crown's Pass:
left: the road that almost made our hearts stop.
above: a particular spot along Crown's Pass which I have to say is one of the most spectacular landscapes I'd ever witnessed.
The 2-hour drive from Queenstown culminated in the peaceful, laidback town of Wanaka. I immediately fell in love with it for its slow pace of live, à la Interlaken in Switzerland. Autumn brought along orange, brown and green at the foots of mountains and alongside roads such that everywhere resembled an oil painting.
We checked into Wanaka Edge Suites which had a family room which was well-equiped but paled in comparison to Pounamu. Lesson learnt: always save the best for last!
left: town of Wanaka
right: Wanaka Edge Suites
left: the living area
right: view from the balcony
Puzzle World was first on our list of attractions - an intriguing visit I must say. It was much like our Science centre, except that its principal focus was on optical illusions. If I recall correctly, the entrance fee to Puzzling World and the man-made maze was 12 NZD.
left: doing some stretching?
left and above: the human-sized maze which left us totally befuddled. No choice: had to resort to using the emergency exit. Haha.
right: Dad egging on his counterpart from Roman times.
left: =D
right: bizarre toilet bowl
After attempting the maze for about 45 minutes, we started our tour of Puzzling World proper, the main focus of which, is optical illusions! The holograms were pretty intriguing. Pity that cameras, unlike our eyes, aren't able to process such images as 3D.
The most facinating exhibit for me was the Ames Room, which alters the viewer's perception of height. Will not spoil the surprise by describing it, go visit it yourself :) For the really curious ones, here's a link to a vid of this exhibit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PDyMOspPWY
Another rivetting room was the Tilted House, which throws visitors completely off balance, literally. This is home to gravity-defying illusions. Hold on tight!
left: Dad attempting one of the many puzzles in the puzzle corner.
right: even the ceiling resembles a kaleidoscope.
left: she's just an illusion, bro!
right: the Hall of Following Faces, pretty neat stuff!
above: the Ames Room, quite a genius of a concept!
left: the Matrix Reloaded yet again (in the Tilted House)
right: time to prove our physics teachers wrong - water flows uphill!
After the mind-boggling experience, we headed down to the lake front for a few photos before adjourning for a late lunch (1545h!!) at Speights Ale House. Dad and Mum ordered a Sirloin Steak (26 NZD) expecting tender, juicy steak but were sorely disappointed. Bro had pork chop (26.50 NZD) which was more like pork belly meat with bone. Only I was satisfied (extremely, in fact) with my order of a pot of mussels (21 NZD). These mussels from Stewart Island were the largest I'd ever seen! We learnt after that that this place was actually more renowned for its beers, which according to the bro was top stuff.
left: row of restaurants and shops in the town centre.
right: at Speights Ale House, overlooking mountains.
left: the pride and joy of the restau
right: the mussels I still crave for till this day!
above: Lake Wanaka by day
above: Lake Wanaka at dusk.
above: supermarket where we got our huge bag of fresh, lovely button mushrooms and lettuce over which we drizzled balsamic vinegar (yumm). Oh yeah, and definitely a whole lotta golden kiwi! This stuff is really cheap and so oozing with sweetness so please eat your fill in NZ.
above: one of the quiet streets come night-time.
On a side note, this was the day where we found out that Dad had thrown away our bag of slippers thinking it was a bag of rubbish. The look on his face when he realized his rare mistake was unforgettably hilarious. =D
Milford Sound has always been touted as a must-see for visitors to NZ as it is known to be one of the world's most accessible fiords.
There were two options to get to Milford from Queenstown and back: take a tour or drive there on your own. The tour would appear the simpler choice as driving to and fro would take a good 10 hours! But the cost would set us back more than 200 NZD per person! So after some weighing of economies and because my bro's friend claimed it was quite an easy drive, we decided on the latter.
Our day started at 6 am, when it was still pitch black and the roads covered with a film of ice. Eacck scary road conditions to drive in. Expectedly, we got lost for about 15 minutes (we factored time in for this) before we approached someone at a petrol kiosk who set us on our way.
When we eventually hit the highway, we realized that the drive would be anything but easy. The roads made sharp turns around the mountains and were not lit at all. Had to rely on only the headlights of the car. Before long, we noticed that there were 3 cars tailgating us but the road didn't have an overtaking lane, just one lane for traffic in each direction. We felt very bad holding up the others so my bro increased his speed to the highest he could deal with but it was still too slow for them and they continued pressuring us (although they graciously didn't horn). Finally, my bro just drifted the car slightly to the left to allow them to pass and all three did, by cutting into the lane for oncoming traffic despite the yellow line drawn on the road.
3 seconds later, a siren erupted out of no where and a police car with its lights flashing chased after the three cars at breakneck speed. We were shell-shocked! I mean it was so sudden and at 6 plus in the morning, who'd expect this!
Little did we foresee that the policecar would be waiting for us a few km from where the incident happened. The burly policeman flagged us down and asked for our IDs and car rental papers. We didn't realize we had gotten into trouble until he started reprimanding us in a very curt and snide manner about our 'inconsiderate driving that caused others to do silly things that could've resulted in an accident'. Of course, we tried to explain that we didn't dare go fast cos of the road conditions and cos we were unfamiliar with the roads, which he then rebutted with '90% of these people have never been to Milford either but they weren't as inconsiderate'. Gosh, what a slap in the face man! He said he'd been observing us for awhile and noted that we didn't turn into any of the rest stops along the way so the others could pass but those rest stops weren't clearly demarcated, as in there wasn't any path leading into them and they looked like bushes at the edge of the cliffs so we didn't dare turn in lest we plunge down. Argh, and we got ourselves another fine, this time 150 NZD and a lot of distress. The day had barely started!
Even the policeman said that the drive to Milford is one of the most treacherous routes in NZ. But the one thing we learnt from him was that for one lane roads, to let others overtake, you should signal left and move as much as you can to the side but only on straight roads (so you can see oncoming traffic).
After that, my bro wanted to turn back cos he felt we'd be compromising on safety if we were to continue our 4h journey at such a high speed on these mountain roads. But in the end, we decided to just complete what we started. The stress eased considerably as the sun rose and provided us with more light and heat that thawed the ice on the roads.
Now for some of the gorgeous landscape that helped evaporate the morning's tension!
left: sunrise in the horizons
right: one of the many sheep-dotting-hill scenes we saw
left: a public toilet in the wilderness, which was basically a hole in the ground. It's not a pretty sight if you do catch a glimpse of what's below but interestingly, there wasn't any odour! Speaking of the toilets in NZ, they've got to be the best upkept ones I've seen probably due to low population density.
right: plants covered in a layer of frost cos the temperatures dipped quite drastically as we descended the South Island.
above: fields of plants coated in white and low-lying clouds encircling the mountains
above: one of the many abrupt turns along the way.
Other than that, we passed by countless creeks and rivers, a few rushed, others trickled and some were all but dried up. Yet each was given a name which was displayed on a small yellow sign beside it. Monkey Creek was a crystal clear creek with rounded pebbles on its sides and bed. No sign of monkeys anywhere near though =D.
left: Mitre Peak Cruises, the company we selected for the Milford Sound Cruise. A ticket with them costs 68 NZD per person for a 2h cruise. There're about 5 cruise companies at the terminal so take your pick!
left: this lake not far from the cruise centre was so still it was literally a mirror.
right: cruising through the Sound.
right: enjoying the tomato soup (with added ingredients haha!) on board
left: Gohs with grins
right: All drenched as the captain of the boat sailed it really close to one of the waterfalls hoho.
left: Jack and Rose? Haha
right: The Homer Tunnel, a one way tunnel leading to and from Milford. If you're really down on your luck, you could be left waiting for 15 minutes for the lights to change in your favour.
right: the long journey took a toll on us, especially our stomachs, which we promptly fed with dabao-ed fish and chips and burgers from the town centre.
Undeniably, the fiords were a sight to behold but after awhile, the scenery seemed to repeat itself. According to the captain, rainy days would be the best time to visit the Sound cos there'd be many more streams of water rushing down holes in the cliffs. The day we went however, the sun was out in full force and we were at times blinded by the glare. I think we didn't even get to see Mitre Peak, the highlight of the tour because of that or because we couldn't decipher the captain's very thick accent. Haha.
Anyway I've gotta say kudos to the bro man, it must have been incredibly challenging and trying driving on those roads and maintaining a constant concentration level especially cos in Singapore journeys rarely exceed an hour.
To sum it up, Milford Sound didn't quite live up to my expectations, which probably isn't fair cos I would have been more impressed if the guidebooks didn't make it out to be some sort of paradise on earth. Still, I thought it wasn't worth the travel time and a better idea would be to stay at one of the B&Bs near Milford for a night so there won't be a need to rush to avoid driving in the dark, especially when the days are short!
Bro and I awoke at about 6 to a beautiful sunrise that put a glowing blue backdrop behind the mountains. He was so mesmerized that he grabbed his camera and went out into the freezing cold in shorts and a long sleeved shirt. But before long, he dashed back into the house in looking more like he was in spasms than shivers. Quite a funny sight. Hahaha.
left: Bro is the (shivering) figure beside the bench.
The temperature was so low that morning that glaze formed on car windows. From our apartment, we watched other travellers trying various methods of gettting rid of it and concluded that shovelling off the ice with a slipper was really a lot less effective than pouring hot water down the windscreen. =p
Incidentally, it was Mother's Day that day and amazingly, it was Dad who reminded us. Haha usually dates like these conveniently slip his mind. So we tried to fashion an impromptu surprise for Mum - carving out the words 'Happy Mother's Day' on the windscreen of our car and preparing a very stuffed sandwich for her breakfast. Unfortunately, it took many less than subtle gestures for her to see the message as she initially thought we merely wanted show her the layer of ice. Haha.
left: a nice, hearty breakfast without distractions like the papers or the TV.
right: to Mother, with love.
After breakfast, we took a short walk to the Church of the Good Shepherd, housed in a small brick cottage of sorts and then departed on our 4h drive to Queenstown - NZ's adventure capital.
Lindis Pass and Crossing led us past fields of cows and sheep and emerald blue rivers and glacial lakes. Many a time, we couldn't resist stopping for photo opportunities. Lake Pukaki was especially spectacular due to its vastness. What made the experience all the more pleasant was that there was never a need to jostle with fellow tourists for viewing spots - there were none. Just Us and Mother Nature. :)
The next town we passed was Twizel, where we paused for to answer nature's call =D and where we bought a much-too-sweet fruit and cider cake and a pretty good boysenberry smoothie to sustain us till the much awaited lunch time.
At the midpoint of our drive was Cromwell, a.k.a. the town of fruits! Vineyards provided ample opportunities for winetasting (almost one every few hundred metres).
left: Bro gnawing on the pride and joy of Cromwell
right: rows and rows of fruit trees in countless orchards - bare at this time though. The summer months of Dec - Jan is a good time to visit.
above: one of the many fruit stores selling fruit at low prices.
Next up, Kawarau Bridge, site of the world's first commercial bungee jump! It's possible to enter and from a viewing deck, you can catch all the action up close. A tour group of backpacking youths lined the viewing platform, screaming encouragement to their friends who were getting ready to take the plunge. Being the scaredy cat that I am, even watching those daredevils putting on their harness at the edge of the bridge threatened to reduce my legs to jelly. For the less faint-hearted, a jump will cost slightly over 100 NZD.
above: the Roaring Meg hydroelectric power station.
Before hitting Queenstown proper, we decided to follow the advice of the guidebook and make a slight detour to Arrowtown, which it describes as one of the prettiest towns in NZ. It was hard to disagree, especially with the colours of autumn standing out against the azure sky.
We had lunch on the go as we explored the small town, which had much more activity than the previous ones we'd so far visited. Chinese tourists for one came in coachloads! The locals too, were out but the pace of life was still quite leisurely. Oh, take careful note where you park as we were slapped with a 40 NZD fine for parking in the lot meant for coaches. Haha. And it was only the second day!
Macetown, just a few km from Arrowtown, was another place I wanted to visit but after circling Arrowtown several times in vain, we gave up the search and continued on to Queenstown, where there were actually enough cars on the road to constitute traffic!
Our accomodation, Pounamu Apartments looked pretty classy from the outside but when we opened the door, our mouths literally dropped! From the narrow doorway, we saw full length glass windows that enframed Lake Wakatipu with their white metal edges. The view was gorgeous! In the hallway, we spotted a computer with internet access, a printer, a washing machine and a dryer! The bedrooms came with ensuite bathrooms and plasma TVs and there was another one in the living room and an electric fireplace beside it! Whoa, it totally took my breath away! There was a distinct designer feel to the whole apartment which was barely a year old. And to think it cost only 240 NZD per night considering that a minimalist bunk in a backpackers in Europe would already set you back 40 SGD. Here, I've a website to recommend for last minute accomodation options: www.wotif.com. It knocks off a substantial amount off the original price.
Presenting, the best place I've ever stayed in:
At night, we went to the city centre to do a bit of sightseeing but didn't find anything particularly interesting. Most of the shops catered to the booking of adventure sports and were already closed anyway.
Another point I wanna add: the city centres NZ have a very different parking system to ours. Theirs do not require drivers to pay for parking spots but each group of parking lots have a specified duration for which drivers are allowed to park (5 min, 10 min etc), which gave us quite a headache as all of the longer duration parking lots were already taken. We asked this local how the parking was regulated and he said that there was a sensor under the lot which the parking attendant can use, with a device to track the amount of time the car has been there.
Dinner was a home made meal of some NZ staples like potatoes, button mushrooms and my favourite beef (it's delicious) in the comfort of the nice apartment. I revere this life! Haha.
Just one day after my last paper of the third academic year (whoo hoo!), the family was to embark on a hard-to-come-by getaway together to one of our common dream destinations, New Zealand! So as you can imagine, my concentration level was at rock bottom, with images of cows and sheep (no thanks to a certain milk advert) creeping into my mind with increasing frequency.
But of course, the time had to arrive! Our flight to Christchurch was to depart from the new state of the art terminal, which was quiet peaceful as passenger traffic was still minimal. Dad didn't really appreciate the abstract carpet design though cos he found it too dazzling haha. On a side note, after much research, the airline that offers the cheapest flight to NZ at this time is... SIA! Haha surprising isn't it?
left: really glad that the family could travel together again cos we hadn't done that in quite a while!
right: dawn breaking
After the 10h-long flight, we were a bit fatigued but thanks to the meals onboard, we had very full stomachs =p. At the Christchurch Airport, we collected our rental car, a Ford Falcon (3 lit. i think) which looked quite seh so loved it! It cost about 110 NZD per day including insurance.
left: the drivers who couldn't wait to get behind the wheel.
It was autumn at that time so the temperature in the day was about 10+ degrees. Upon exiting the airport, the crisp air in our faces provided immediate rejuvenation. A sweet release from the sweltering heat in our sunny island.
Following one of the many good maps provided at the airport, we took the 1 down towards Timaru. Enroute, we stopped at a biweekly farmer's market where vendors hawked their ware from the boots of their vans and trucks! Most sold fresh produce like potatoes, honey, pumpkins and others barbecued steak patties that tantalized even our very full bellies. This was the first time I'd travelled around via driving and I was already loving the freedom that came with it. Spot something interesting. Stop for as long/as short as you wish. Back on the road. :)
right: this man sells manure too!
left: photo-taking break on a very silent expressway.
right: filling their lungs with fresh countryside air!
The next town we came across was Fairlie, a quiet little place where the only hint of human existence was a small restaurant and souvenir shop. From a vantage point near the restaurant, we looked down upon a flock of sheep grazing on green pastures. Bordering the green were the blues, browns and whites of the sky, clouds and nearby mountains half-draping on their cloak of white. The pungent smell from the sheep was too much for Dad to bear so he took cover back in the car. Haha.
above: postcard-perfect Fairlie
To get to Tekapo, we had to cross Burke's Pass, which cuts through the Southern Alps, known as the backbone of the South Island as it literally runs through the middle of the island. For most of the 42 km or so that was Burke's Pass, my eyes hardly took a break from feasting on the splendid mountain range.
Before we knew it, we reached Tekapo - a small town that houses the spectacular gem of Lake Tekapo. Its allure was obvious from the numerous B&Bs and lodges that line the lake. We stayed at Lake Tekapo Scenic Resort, which cost 210 NZD per night for a family unit that afforded a resplendent view of the lake from the living room. After depositing our car and belongings, we took a short walk to the town centre, which was basically just a row of small cafés and a supermarket. In one of the bakeries, we found piping hot ham and egg pies and buttered scones which we gobbled down as we strolled to the edge of the lake and engaged in manic photo-taking. Haha. Unfortunately, none of the photos managed to translate the beauty as we saw it.
left: Mum and her mismatched socks haha!
right: Bro - an apprentice at Shaolin Si.
right: one of the bedrooms in the apartment.
We initially planned to visit Mt John's Observatory from where we would be able to see Mt Cook, NZ's tallest peak and the training ground of Sir Edmund Hillary before he scaled Everest! Alas, by the time we reached the gates of the observatory, it was 2 minutes before closure (5 pm). Quel Dommage!
So we decided to check out a hot spring spa in the vicinity instead. It didn't look very appealing cos the pool of the outdoor hot springs seemed to have sides made of a blue plastic-like material. At least if they'd lined it with artificial rocks, it would've seemed more authentic.
The sun set by 5:30pm. It was one of the prettiest coucher de soleils I'd ever seen. After admiring nature's work for a good moment, there was little to do but to head to the supermarket to get groceries for dinner and breakfast the next day. :)
I'm seriously gonna miss the place I've called home for the past 5 months beaucoup.
Vraiment beaucoup.
The beautiful melody of the french language,
the picture-perfect surroundings,
having a base to explore the ever-intriguing continent of Europe,
grocery-shopping at Géant (yep, it's our therapeutic weekly or bi-weekly activity hehe),
speaking with the neighbours in the kitchen every evening,
criticising the food at the RUs (restaurants universitaires) and rejoicing when it's the day for mussels and fries or salmon,
taking the tram from les taillées to l'hôpital where you get lost in the beauty of the river Isère and the mountains before you,
watching a fashion show when I go to school everyday,
seeing squirrels and birds in the bare-branched trees outside my window...
I'll miss all these and so much more, of the little day-to-day activities, too trivial to describe.
As I have told many of my friends, enrolling in this SEP is one of the best decisions I've made in my life and one of which I'll be speaking about to my kids and grandkids (if I ever have any) =)
Cela est exactement Le Goût de La Vie.
The sky was still dark when I awoke. I peered out of my window bleary-eyed as I always did in the morning. At 6 am, no one appeared to be up yet so it was peacefully quiet. I just had to open my window and let the icy cold air sweep into my room and take a moment to appreciate one of the last few mornings I'd have in Grenoble. It had obviously snowed the night before, the heaviest I'd seen during the time I was there as evident from the snow covered cars and bushes outside my window. Ahh. I hate to say goodbye.
above: view from my Condillac window before the crack of dawn.
Heard Kev's familiar cough and whistling in the corridors (wa really wanna make so much noise when everyone's sleeping HAHA) so I hurriedly got dressed i.e. piled on the long johns, woollen sweater, scarf, 2 gloves and my astronaut jacket.
As Kev and I walked towards the tram stop we saw that everywhere was covered in a thin coat of white. Condillac never snowed this much! What an awesome start to the day! :):)
We took the tram to Gières where take the Transière bus to the slopes of Chamrousse (shorhng-whose)! Whoot! Anyway it was snowing heavily when we reached Gières. Call me easily amused but it was the first time I'd seen snow pouring down at such a rate and to say I was ecstatic wouldn't be too strong a word. Haha.
The bus was almost full of passengers, all armed with their skis and snowboards and there we met up with Guillaume who too was dressed the part. En route, the snow appeared to increase in intensity and as we moved along, the fir trees in the woods that we passed seemed to get even more saddled with the weight of the snow. Fields, houses and cars were almost concealed in the thick cloak of snow. That whole expanse of white was just breathtaking.
The good news didn't last though. Before long, the snow-laden roads halted traffic and our bus stalled several times. Snow-shovelling vehicles had to come to the rescue and snow-chains had to be attached to the bus' wheels. It was a task getting those chains on and a few passengers, Guillaume included, graciously volunteered to brave the weather to help the driver. After umpteen tries, the snow chains finally managed to do their job and we were back on our way! Eventually we reached Chamrousse an hour late but it was quite an experience.
Upon stepping out of the bus and feeling the lashing of the snow and wind on our faces, we knew we were in for a rough ride. The heavy snowing had evolved into a full-fledged tempest that resulted in us having to half-close our eyes to prevent the snow from gaining entry. Just unzipping my haversack to retrieve my wallet caused snow to collect inside! To make things worse, the snow was so thick it was shin deep so even walking was tough. But even then, the place was beautiful to look at.
Guillaume quickly ushered us into the central building to seek respite and to rent our ski equipment. There were about 8 ski rental shops which rented skis from about 19€ which was really reasonable. We chose one and proceeded to try on our ski boots. Wow those things were a nightmare to put on - think rollerblades but much heavier and harder with less room to manoeveur. Merci Guillaume for helping me with them! Anw as a safety precaution, the skis have to be tailored to match your body weight so that when you fall, they'll detach from your boots and you won't risk breaking your legs from an awkward fall.
After getting our batons and skis, we made our way out into the ski grounds. Walking in those boots felt like walking on very heavy stilts and I didn't realized I was that equilibrium-challenged till that day especially when I was walking on the then knee-deep snow. Kept falling down which was really embarrassing. Haha and it didn't help that the skis weighed a ton.
Then it was up to coach Guillaume to teach us the basics of skis - how to put on the skis, the posture to adopt, how to brake and how to climb a gentle slope with the skis on. He makes an excellent teacher la! Very patient.
We then took the ski lift cos Guillaume thought there would be gentle slopes for beginners when we got off, like in the other ski stations he's been to. The ride up was unforgettable. The icy wind was blowing at over a 100kph. With the ski lift in motion, this was amplified. The wind and heavy snow lashing mercilessly against our bare faces caused us to writhe in agony. I must have teared from the pain and both Kevin and I couldn't even speak in response to Guillaume's concerned 'are you ok's. We were totally ill-prepared for skiing! No beanie and no ski masks. Had to try my best to wrap my scarf around my face but my fingers were so numb that i couldn't hold the scarf in place. Finally about 10 min on the lift we reached the top. Visibility was nearly null cos of the storm and the worst thing was I didn't know how to get off the ski lift (ski down a gentle slope away from the lifts). I tried to walk to the sides but was too slow so got hit by the next ski lift. It didn't really hurt cos I fell on snow but it was quite embarrassing cos they had to stop the lifts to pull me up.
Kevin also looked to be in bad shape. He kept telling us he was gonna faint and that he was very cold. He's always struck me as Mr Toughguy and seeing him admit that he couldn't take it was very scary. We couldn't see past 2 metres cos everywhere beyond that was white - couldn't even differentiate the sky from the ground. Poor Kevin's head was also covered in snow. Looking back, it was freaking hilarious cos so much snow collected on his spiked up hair that his head ressembled a christmas tree. Guillaume skiied away to seek help from the ranger and moments later, we were led to his warm hut to thaw. We felt a whole load better there but Guillaume got reprimanded for taking us up here in these conditions. He felt really bad but it wasn't his fault la cos he didn't know too. Slowly, Kevin's hair began to drip with a messy substance (hairgel and water) Haha.
We headed down via the skilift (they made an exception cos usually u have to ski down) while Guillaume skied down and according to him, the storm was so bad he had a couple of bad falls on slopes he usually eased down. At the foot of the station, Kevin decided he'd had enough and went to have coffee in one of the cafés. I really wanted to learn to ski and I probably wouldn't have another chance again so Guillaume and I went out again but this time we confined ourselves to the beginner's area. He taught me the two methods of braking - the first being the chasse-neige, where u turn yr knees slightly towards each other such that your skis make an inverted V-shape and the second was by swerving to the side abruptly. The latter stops you when you're going at a fast speed as if you were to do the former, your knees might break.
Wow manually walking up a slope with the heavy skis is intense! It's scary going down a slope albeit a gentle one when u can't stop yourself! So after much screaming and knocking straight into Guillaume (luckily I didn't injure him. Merci!!), I managed to learn a bit of the basics.
Next we tried the tire-fesses (literally: pulling yr bottom haha). This is a pulley system that transports you to higher ground. You grab onto a rope with a knot at the end which you place between your legs. You then travel up the slope in a standing position with your skis still on the ground. It sure looked easy cos many kids were using it effortlessly. But it wasn't! The klutzy me sat on the knot so lost balance when the ski lift started to pick up speed. Fell flat after moving barely a few metres. Haha super throw face. So many kids somemore. Guillaume convinced me to try it a second time. This time I managed to reach the halfway point but my skis started twisting to one side n I fell again. Haha quite funny la.
above: snow-covered trees en route to Chamrousse
left: the ranger's hut and the dreaded ski lift haha
right: pro skier
left: my feeble attempt (look super unpro haha)
right: a car totally covered in snow
By that time I was quite tired of falling so I watched Guillaume ski. He's super pro la... Swooshing here and there. Haiya wonder how long I'll need to be able to ski properly. After about 2h after we left Kev, we returned to the café for coffee and crepes.
right: tryin to do the sophisticated-European-drinking coffee thing.
I have to admit, the storm was quite terrifying and we shouldn't have attempted to ski at all, but it was quite an experience wasn't it? At least it's fodder for talk and the learning the basics from Guillaume was thoroughly enjoyable! Absolumment pas de regrets! :)
Had the last of my 4 exams yesterday. It had to end with a bang I suppose, except that this was more like a shot that nearly killed Lynn and I.
This particular one was on geology, so for the two soon-to-be chemists, who recognize carbon in the form of chains rather than as one of the types of deposits in deltas, even studying it was a nightmare. It didn't help that the lecturer's voice, in his soothing french accent, lulled us to slumberland more often than not.
Anyway, the exam questions were completely different from what we had anticipated! They really test your understanding of the subject by having all questions application-based. I daresay without exaggerating that there was 90 percent of which I had no clue about even though I had studied the material. The technical terms in french were an even bigger obstacle to comprehending the questions - was perhaps barking up the wrong tree for many of the questions. There weren't any questions on memorizing definitions, explaining the formation of a certain geological entity, unlike how NUS likes it, but more of interpretation and explanation of real-life scenarios.
The good news is that the exam counts for only 50% of the grade and the lecturer, during the exam, very kindly walked over to me to ask if there was anything I didn't understand. I said yes, quite a bit. And then he said something like: we'll see about the grades, don't worry too much.
Of course, I'd rather pass the exam based on my own merit and not due to the kindness of the prof but without the latter's help, things look bleak.
On a much more positive note, it's skiing at Chamrousse tomorrow and home on the 19th!
