Someone dear said this to me recently…

“Love shouldn’t be always about pleasing someone. If you have to keep watching what you say, watching what you do and remembering to do this and that, then maybe it isn’t love that you have. Sure you can hope that the other person will change, you can pray that things will get better after you get married but the fact is that they dont’t. Things usually go downhill after you get married! Imagine having to please that someone for the rest of your life! Doesn’t seem that easy anymore does it?”

Somehow, logically speaking, it does make sense. Love should be about loving someone for who they are, not how we wish them to be. Love shouldn’t revolve around expectations, love shouldn’t be measured by the number of sweet things you do for one another.

Love should be simply, sweet, pure and innocent.

Then again, it is hard not to expect anything isn’t it? Afterall, love has been commercialised, right? Valentines Day, birthdays, anniversaries, christmases. We all do expect some sort of present don’t we? I mean who wouldn’t want to be showered with ‘gifts of love’, ‘thoughts of kindness’ and ‘materials of extravagence’? It is a vicious cycle then, as I see it. Love is.

If only life could be more simple when it came to love. x+y=x+y. If only…

signing off for now.
p.s. watch out for my next post… many many beautiful flowers from Holland! trust me, you’ll love them!

Ok. I know this is looong over due. Pics and blog posts from the other 2 places I visited during my one week break.

 

In this post, I’m going to bring you to Poland - Krakow. Not too sure about you but I didn’t hear of the place until Zhenyuan told me about it. It’s supposed to be made famous by the Spielberg movie, Schindler’s List. I haven’t caught it yet so I’m not too sure what it’s about but roughly, from Zhenyuan, it’s about a man, Schindler, and how he changes into someone who ’saves’ the Jews from someone who initially exploited them. (I’ll let you know more when I finally catch it… it’s a 3 hr movie!)

Anyway, back to the main point. Tourists who visit Krakow usually visit the Jewish District - Kazimierz, Wawel Castle, Auswich and the Wieliczka Salt Mines. What can I say, we were no different. =)

Our trip started off with us visiting the castle and the Jewish Quarters on day 1. However, the weather was really bad. It drizzled slightly, the sky was foggy and the winds were very chilly. We packed for spring so when we arrived, we were shocked. (Yes… we did not bring enough clothes!)

 

This is the second castle we visited after the one in Prague. (In my opinion, I think the one in Prague was a lot more beautiful!) Here are some photos of taken inside of the castle walls. We DID NOT go inside the State rooms, the Royal Private Apartments, the Oriental Art section or the Dragon’s Den. Why? Because it’d have cost us an arm and leg to visit all of them! (Also, we came to the conclusion that we weren’t musuem fanatics. So the ‘I’s’ have it!)

Did I mention that on our way to the castle, we passed by a church called St Peters and Paul with statues of the 12 apostles surrounding it. Picture that!

Dropped by a Bagel Shop in the afternoon which was located in the Kazimierz District. Fact : Did you know that bagels originated from Poland? Well, that’s what the flyer said! “Poland - Birthplace of the bagel’ I think it must have been true because the bagels tasted really delicious! Look at the pic!

On the following day, Zhenyuan decided to go to Auswich. We decided to give it a miss because of a few reasons. First was because it was rather expensive,(the irony is that we ended up shopping!) second was because both Zhiyi and I weren’t interested. So much for being interested in history. =)

As I said, we ended up going shopping! Walked to the Jewish Quarters in the snow, one hand holding the umbrella the other holding a map. (If I recall, we got lost. Yes, I’ve got a certain thing for getting lost.) The thoughts of how fun it’d be playing and strolling in the snow, when I was much younger, evaporated with that afternoon. Not only did it snow even heavier, the winds that came with it almost blew the umbrella away! We were so demoralised by the weather that we decided to take a cab! (We didn’t manage to get one. Thank you Murphy!)

Ended up walking all the way across the city to the indoor shopping centre. I think we covered at least 4-5km in the snow! Imagine that!

On our last day, we went to the Salt Mines. Everything inside is made of salt - all the walls, steps, sculptures, everything! (If I’m not mistaken, our tour guide told us that Krakow is the way it is today because of its salt exports.)

Here are a couple of pictures of the inside. Fancy that!

 

Oh yes. Before I sign off, I need to mention specially the hostel that we stayed in! It’s called ‘Mama’s Hostel’ and located along Bracka Street. I must say that it has to be the best hostel I’ve stayed in so far! The staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful, they bothered to sit down and chat with you at night when they were off duty and they often went the extra mile just to make sure you get what you want! (well almost…)

The people who stayed there were also very fun to hang out with. Almost every night, the Spainards would ask us out to party, at 1am, and they’d stay out partying till daybreak the next day!

Hope you enjoyed Krakow from this little post! Till my next post then. Have fun, work/study hard and miss me! Will be back in store with more posts soon!

My parents are in town! By that I mean that they’re here in Eindhoven with me! Yes! They’re here just to visit me! Can’t help but say how lucky I am to have such cool parents! (and also the fact that they can squeeze out that bit of moo-lah to visit me! I didnt forget you bro…)

Went to Kreukenhof to see the flower show. It was a 2 hour journey there. Can’t really say that it was well worth it because after all that hype, it was really just like that. I don’t mean to say that the flowers weren’t nice. They were really beautiful! The colour combinations and the floral arrangments are really unique (to me at least).

On our way there, we passed row after row of tulips. Red, violet, blue, yellow… every colour possible less black. I haven’t uploaded the photos into my laptop yet so you’ll just have to use your imagination.

Picture a garden the size of 10 football fields, with every colour of tulip imaginable. The paths are lined with trees to give you that tunnelling effect when you stroll through them and they even have a greenhouse with all sorts of unique floral arrangements! See it?

Well… I will post those pics soon so do pop by again soon!

If you’re going to hang up your costume then I guess nothing I say will turn things around… take care on your journey…

I had the oppotunity to watch ‘Back to the future’ by Steven Spielberg. Something from the film struck me really hard. The feeling hit me when Marty McFly, played by Micheal J. Fox, said this,

“What if I send it in and they don’t like it? What if they say I’m no good? What if they say “Get out of here, kid. You got no future.”? I mean, I just don’t think I can take that kind of rejection. Jesus, I’m starting to sound like my old man!”

It made me think of all the ‘what ifs’ I’ve been asking myself these few days. My mind has been a huge swirl. Confusion perhaps. Uncertainty about the future. About a thousand ‘what ifs’ have been flashing through my head the past few days I’ve decided to just shut it out.

Thing is, I guess, you will never know the outcome unless you give it a shot. You will never know if you will look back in regret. You will never know if you’ll ever get another shot at it. You’ll just really never know… perhaps until it’s too late. As McFly says later,

“If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything.”

Perhaps the only choice we have is to set our hearts to our decision and never look back. Perhaps thats the only way I can think of right now.

Just caught the show ‘Pursuit of Happyness’ starring Will Smith.

You may or may not have watched the show because it was shown in cinemas last year(2006). The story revolves around the life of Chris Gardner, a person who literally took life by it’s horns and challenged it head on.

Chris Gardner started off as a struggling salesman desperately attempting to make ends meet selling a ‘mobile bone density sensor system’ (something like a more advanced x-ray machine). After he bumps into a young, hotshot broker who seems to have made it, he starts questioning life. The show then goes on to show how he fights each challenge, with his son (his wife left him because she no longer believed in him), from homelessness and penniless to putting up with an obnoxious superior.

This show left a huge impression on me because of what Chris Gardner said. It is the kind of feeling you get after going through a series of motivational/inspiring talks. It is this kind of feeling that makes you feel indestructible and unstoppable. It is this very feeling that is responsible for many successful people in the world!

‘You got a dream, you gotta protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they wanna tell you that you can’t do it. You want something? Go get it. Period.’

That was what he said. It sure left a huge impression on me. Especially the part about us having the ability to dream and to actually achieve it! If you set your mind and heart to it, don’t let fear or the words of others bring you down. Period.

I hope you’ll get a chance to catch the movie because I’m sure glad I did! (Kudos to Zhenyuan for it!)

Till next time.
p.s. i know some of you are waiting for more posts on my hols! will write it soon!