Final Day in Thalheim

It is my last day at work in Thalheim. Again I am shrouded with a sense of confusion.. Part of me is happy to go home, yet another half of me is feeling sad at the same time..

Malaysia has always been home for me, and always will be. I have live close to 29 years of my life in Malaysia, and nothing and no other place on earth would change the fact that Malaysia is my homeland.. Malaysia would be perfect if only it has the weather just like what Germany has, and little less circus in the political scene..

Exposure of life in Germany have somehow changed my perception towards life... It is very much different when you're on a holiday, touring over Europe; compared to the fact that you have to learn to adapt and live life in a foreign land. The second deployment to Germany translates to the fact that I have been adapting and living life here for close to 5 months.. One of the best and also the worst 5 months of life.. Best for many, many reasons; worst because I don't really enjoy the food here... :D

In a nutshell, I guess my emotional state of feeling a little sad is just for the fact that I would be leaving behind a country rich with heritage and history. A country which was almost completely destroyed back during the World War 2, somehow managing to turn the leaf around and be one of the greatest powerhouse of technological advancement.

Sad because I would be leaving behind colleagues who have been great mentors, good friends and also the pillar of my knowledge on my quest of learning as much as I can in this new field. I feel even worse knowing the fact that uncertainties are clouding over the future of many, many friends here who I am leaving behind.. The current global economic crisis is just being a bitch in life, unwanted, and certainly not appreciated..

I pray for the best of everyone here.. We will grow together, and we will definitely make it through the bad times.. Things are not looking great as well in Malaysia, knowing the fact that manufacturing industry in Malaysis have hit rock bottom in recent months.. Everyone is in the same boat, and I know how it feels.... Uncertainties... :/

To those German colleagues who have been reading my blog (I know my mentor Steve does), I would just like to shout out another big THANK YOU to everyone, for making me feel welcomed, making me feel belong, and making me feel as one. :)

And to all friends, families and loved ones in Malaysia, I will be back... Also, keep an eye for another update of my adventure in Amsterdam... Till then, take care, and I will cling on to whatever feelings, good ones hopefully, for the rest of the hours remaining in Germany.... It is 1.15pm here, I have 45 more minutes to go before I bid farewell to Line 5 and 6... I shall leave with only good memories with me.. ;)

The Returning Adventure - Prague Part 2

Gosh more than a week worth of delay. I think my writing mood is slowly dwindling away... Anyway, just a continuation of some photos of my Prague visit..

St. Vitus Church.... Located within the Prague church area.. Awesomely huge mega structure, it is impossible to get a good shot of the whole building.. And to top up, my beloved SLR is not with me for this trip... :(

St. Vitus Church in the background...
Another shot beside the St. Vitus church..

Intricate paintings by the church..

There's a Toy Museum nearby as well.. We did not visit it though...

More awesome churches around....

The biggest guy from Malaysia, Parthipan, a funny-looking man playing dress-up and me. Parthipan is BIGGER than most of the Europeans that we know at work... :D

Great view of the old Prague area nearby the Castle..

Another shot with the areal view below the Castle area...

This was the spot where the two earlier shots were taken earlier...

L-R: Chu, Parthipan, Sharonjit and me... Hanging out with the Twin Towers from Malaysia (Tiben & Sky) really makes me feel short and stunted... :(

L-R: Yu, Parthipan, Hee, Sharonjit, Chu and me..

You can see the famous Dancing House of Prague behind me.... :)

The Dancing House... Very unique indeed.... :)

Prague is a city full of monuments... I don't even remember it's names..... :/

More monument!! :D

There's also a lot of statues around in Prague... Check out the roof of this building... :)

You could see another landmark behind of me.. The Charles' Bridge... You can also see the Prague Castle in the background.... Sweet!! :)
The Charles Bridge Museum... Just before I embarked on my journey along the historical bridge itself...

One of the 30 statues on Charles Bridge..

The statue of John of Nepomuk.. On March 30 1393, apparently he was thrown into river Vitava from this bridge... See the two golden spots... Most people who walks along this bridge would rub their hands to it.... Apparently one has to make a wish while doing that... And it will come true... :)

Beautiful creatures of the river below...

Another landmark of Prague... The astronomical clock....

The visit would not have been complete without stopping by Hard Rock Cafe... :)
The beginning of our bar-hopping session later on that night.... The guy on the left is our bar-hopping guide from the US, and the one on my left is a German from Leipzig, Carsten..

The bar-hopping group, from everywhere.. Italy, England, German, Canada... :)

Parthiban, me and some girls from Manchester...

Us chilling around in the last snows around....

That's all the updates from Prague... I will proceed with some updates of my visit to Amsterdam soon.... Take care!!!

The Returning Adventure - Prague

We have been deployed back to Germany since 5th of February 2009. I would say all in all I have been spending much of my time in my apartment. That's the best way of coping with -10ºC temperatures for almost a month of our second stay in Leipzig.

Anyway, we went off for our first trip to Prague on 21st of February 2009, and spent our weekend there. Prague is located somewhere about 202 kms away from Leipzig, and located in the Czech Republic. We took the train, experienced IC train this time, and it was fast.

The eagle has landed on the sewerage cover!! Gosh I am so fascinated with Europe's sewerage covers. :)

We bought the city tram ticket which was good to use for 24 hours. Only cost us around 100Kč, around €3.80. In this shot, we have just hopped down our first stop, which is nearby the famous Prague Castle. It has been around since the 9th century, dated as far as 870 B.C. Check out the snow over the hills above me and the gates built up all the way t the top of the hill.

The first stop I had wanted to drop by since the last visit. Church of Our Lady in Mala Strana. It houses the Infant Jesus of Prague. I have been aware about the Infant Jesus since my first trip to Germany. Mom had told me that one of our family friend, Aunty Joyce was so excited knowing that I had planned for Prague during the first trip. She did mention about the miracles of Infant Jesus, and I have been reading up since then. I guess my prayers to see the Infant Jesus have been answered with the second return.

Me with Infant Jesus. He wears the white robe this time around. The Infant Jesus' robes gets changed every now and then according to religious holidays. I said some little prayers for those dearest to me, not forgetting Aunty Joyce and her family too.. :)

Inside of the Church of Our Lady.

The Prague Castle behind me. It's so huge and it was impossible for me to get a good shot of the mega structures while being inside of it. I hate the fact that I did not bring along my SLR this time around..... :(

The palace guards marching in for a shift change.

Me with a palace guard. He would not respond to anything at all. Gosh what a life!! :D

I guess I will have to cut short on my Prague trip posting for now. I will continue with it when I have more time soon. But it will be within this week. :)

Have fun and take care!

Random Memories of First Stint

OK this is it. I am wrapping up the first stint in this post. It's should have done and dusted a long time ago but I kept delaying it. :)

The 14 people whom I can trust most in Germany. We are the chosen ones!! First batch of MEs for Q-Cells Malaysia.. This shot was taken on the day our boss announced that we would return again in February. And this was supposed to be our last day in AG plant. :D

Unforgettable night! We all made it happen! Looking forward for our second round of get-together. :)

The drinking has not even started and we already got a couple of kung-fu kids that night.. Gosh! :D

Guilty pleasures... :P

Yours truly had a little drink too many.. :)

And the very next morning, we were up early and raring to go once again!

Behind me was the largest monument in Europe, which is located in Leipzig itself. It is the Monument to the Battle of the Nations, also known as "Völkerschlachtdenkmal" locally. It was erected in 1913, symbolic to the the 100 years anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig between the Germans and the French, where Napoleon was defeated.

A better shot of the monument without me in it. The ducks... They're adorable! :)

Tracking backwards, we were also lucky to have the chance to attend the annual Christmas party organised by our company, in Wolfen.

Me with the man who made it happen. Our founding father, our CEO, the company's #1. :)

Chu and me.. We got him a little high that night. I think I missed out a lot more photos from my collection.. Hmmm..

Our A Shift Christmas party, which was held a few days after that. It was somewhere in Leipzig, in this fancy restaurant with some nice medivial setting.. Ratskeller der Stadt Leipzig.


They had their own, uhm, troop of musician and also a master of ceremony for the night. Unfortunately we coudn't unserstand a single thing what he said. But it's ok... It was fun alright..

Us with our German colleagues. The guy in red, sitting in the middle, he is Marco. Marco was the first person I was attached to when we first came to Germany. Nice person and a good mentor.

Peter, the Line 5 boss for A Shift, looking jolly in the funky Christmas hat.. :)

Germans are not as big as we would have thought they would be. But Peter, he is larger than life! With a big heart off course.. :P

Lee and me with the ladies. The one in the middle is Andrea, the lady boss of Line 5, A Shift.

The guy in the middle is my personal mentor, Steve. He is the boss for Line 6's A Shift. Gosh I wouldn't have made it for my assignments if it was not for his help. Very nice guy indeed, and we both love the Foo Fighters! :)

Lingam and me. Full belly and feeling jolly..

I guess that was it. The first visit to Germany. I will stop here now, and I will continue with the second chapter soon. :)

Take care!