Arielle got new shoes

hi everyone... here i want to show off my new pair of shoes that daddy got for me... see my poses... ehhehe... i look cool and rugged at the same time right?
it was getting really cold and the shoes brought from home wasn't warm enough... so mommy said to daddy must buy liao, before the weather gets even colder.






SEE ... i'm walking with them!!

On the Water here

it's really different from back home. both taps (one in the bathroom and in the kitchen) have hot & cold water and the water here is safe for drinking without having to boil it first.

however, when we first arrived, i thought it tasted really funny. not sure if it's because of me being so used to drinking RO water, the water here has a salty and stale taste. on the first week going to church and meeting our new korean friends (Yooni & Soo), they have mentioned something about 'tears from the stone' regarding the water here, and that even if we boil them, the certain ingredient in the water still remains. so we decided to buy a special bottled water for babies for Arielle.

it's called Lucka and it's about euro3.20 for 6 bottles of 1.5L.

just last week i found yellow coloured sediments when i dispense the water from our electric water flask. when i opened it i found a lot of these things submerged in the water we take to drink everyday as well as for making baby's milk. of course, i took out the plug and stopped using the flask. however, because the tap's hot water wasn't hot enough to make hot drinks/baby's milk, i started to use a small pot to boil the water whenever we needed it. after a few boils, the base of the pot became yellowish as well.




there's also the case where when the water dries up, there's a kind of water stain on it. one of the pics below is from our shower cubicle, as you can see the marks of the water when it's dried up. it's like as if there's a mixture of soap and water dried up and then you have the stains.





don't know what to make of it currently, our korean friends don't take from the tap, they buy and consume bottled waters only. so far for us, we didn't get any stomach upset from it and everything's fine except on the yellow sediments upon boiling.

Vienna with Chih Wei

last week CW came for a visit and we fetched him from the vienna airport which is about 30-45mins away, like the distance from kajang to klia. it was a cold and windy night, and as usual either being CW or being msian, he's late for half an hour.

'the plane was late la', he said...

but was ok coz baby was asleep for 20mins in the car. on reaching home, he sapu ayl's maggee mee curry stock. good thing his appetite's not like ayl's... hehehe...

anyway, it was our first time to drive around bratislava town and vienna the next day, and even with the gps (ayl finally is a proud owner of a Garmin)... we got a bit lost, overshot for 30mins.

so we reached vienna and the first spot we went to is to Stephensplatz again, the only place we know as of now. it was really cold and it was windy, think it was 11degs or at most 15degs. was a good thing we made trip back home from church to get arielle's hat before we headed out. otherwise, she would've caught the cold. then we pau her like bak chang. regret i didn't get my gloves as well, my fingers were close to numb and had to push the pram so can't keep it warm in the pockets like what everyone else is doing.

on sundays, all shops are closed except for the restaurants and the souvenir shops. because we had to walk around, it was too cold for me so we went hunting for a scarf... which made all the difference!!

this time our trip took us inside the infamous cathedral, spent quite some time there looking around the marvelous art the whole building embodies. made us pondered about those who have dedicated their life into creating this; the house of God. nearly every tiny detail were skillfully created.




great example is the stairway, just that alone would take years to complete. the design of this stairway is the same as the building's exterior.

walking around, we also started to discuss about the controversies of having idols and altars and then what we know as Protestants according to the Bible.






heading out, we were greeted with a fellow wearing a traditional costume; there were quite a few of them walking around outside the cathedral but they didn't quite catch our interest until one actually approached us. he was talking to us about a concert and trying to sell us tickets to it. honestly, if it wasn't for CW, we'd have walked away and not take up anymore of his time... and if it wasn't for CW, i wouldn't have gotten the chance to watch the concert. :) i've always wanted to go for the petronas philharmonik back in kl but never got the chance to. so when CW insisted that we are to go, i was overjoyed and excited!! i'm actually really going to see an orchestra concert here in vienna! it's another dream come true! God is so good!!








then of course you're wondering how to go with a baby lah... well, let's just say we made do and all went well. though we were a bit disappointed when we entered the hall, it was small unlike how we had imagined it to be. but the music and performance (ballet and singing) was fantastic!! when/if you go to vienna, you must must go for the concert! it's a compulsory!!



*more pics of our trip in ayl's account, facebook*

Ordering Pizza

the other day we got back quite late from kai-kai around town and then decided to order a delivery instead of cooking; thought it'd be faster. ayl called up a few pizza places that we got from a book called Easy Bratislava and we managed to get someone on the line after a lot of tries. it was a public holiday and there was some sort of festival going on that was why maybe they're really busy.

anyway, after ordering, aylwin asked for how much it was and then how long it would take to arrive at our place. the answer...2 HOURS!! crap! and to think that it'd be faster to order a delivery!! we didn't cancel the order tho, after so much difficulty trying to get them on the phone and all, plus we were curious!

so we had some tuna sandwiches while waiting for the pizza. when it came, it was worth the wait. :) here's why.







ayl put the fan and the laptop to compare the size of the pizza... ahhaha...
it was really really good and it smelt great! a lot of cheese and the crust was thin but it wasn't like thin until lembik that kind. i had 1 and half, and it was enough. ayl crazy had 3 and then he suffered ... hahaha...

we ate it for 2 days since we only got out pizza near 10pm that night and after the sandwiches we were already full. will surely order it again, but of course, 2hours ahead in time and prolly with more ppl to share it with!

Arielle learning to walk

it started last week when she suddenly stood up and took her first step and then bump fell unto her butt. we've also been encouraging her to walk on her own by holding her hands and walking with her.

will put up more videos of her doing that but in the meantime, here's one of her walking on her own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIVw9u2A9cQ

and some of the funny things she does at home when the papa's not around. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQJmQzaA8BQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9lY45vPGSI










besides that, i made a few dishes on my own for dinner which i think is worthy of showing off... ahaha!!






was looking through leona's blog and didn't know what else to cook so i adapted leona's recipe for tomato koay teow (thanks leona!!) and used whatever i had in the fridge. the other 2 is chicken cashew nut and sweet & sour pork with pork rib sauce.

First trip to Vienna

we made our first trip to Vienna on Saturday, by train. it's only an hour's (or for some 45mins) drive away from here. Vienna is also known to be cheaper for shopping than in Bratislava, so we went there with the thought of getting a gps for the car.
unfortunately, the only place we know is the city centre which is also the hottest spot for tourist, so rationally the prices there will be much higher. we walked one part of the town, but only found ONE shop selling electronics. we didn't get it tho, thought we better ask our korean friends where would be the best place to buy it.



Vienna is beautiful! the most magnificent building in the city center is St. Stephen's Cathedral; the architecture of the building is out of this world! the building is so big, one pic couldn't fit. but it was bloomin hot, and there were so many ppl. i think it was 32deg and we were walking under the hot sun; which the angmohs luurrve so much to be under. oh man...



there are a lot of things to see there other than the buildings. one of the main attractions also were street performers, well i'm not sure what else to call them. ahhaa... if you're like me, first time there and sakai, you would definitely like to take pics with them. they're 'still' performers, so most of them either stand/sit on a box until you throw them some money in their hat and they move and you can take pictures with them. otherwise they just stand still; a bit kesian right but also a bit amazing how they can stand so still and not move. what happens if they got itchy somewhere? :P~




as we walk along the paved streets we also see some really nice statues/fountains. there was one with angels which was coated with gold paint... really nice. suddenly both of us were in awe that we're actually here in Europe and sight-seeing in Vienna! we're so thankful to God that He has made all these possible, His favour and His love is indeed beyond our imagination. never in our minds have we thought we would be able to do this as a family.



stepping into Austria, signs, posts, everything is in German; which is really good because it is a bit more familiar compared to Slovak. both of us did a beginner's course in German back in uni so at least a little bit of understanding here.
we went into a boutique called H&M and omgosh the stuff there is cheap! i think you girls will go ga-ga there coz the clothes/accessories are nice and cheap. e.g. a pair of khaki shorts is only 9.90 (earning and paying in euro of course), jeans 39.90. bleh! oh no!! *must control*

just for info's sake, here's my opinion of the fastest way to Vienna city centre from where we are at Kramare, Bratislava.






bus no#32 to HLAVNA STACNIKA -> train ride for 1 hour directly to WIEN (Vienna); it's like our Msian commuter train but faster so it stops at all the stations in between -> get off at SUEDBAHNHOF, which is already Vienna -> go down one floor to buy the ticket for the underground train -> take U3 SIMMERING station -> get down at STEPHENSPLATZ and you're at the city centre!! yay!!

since it's so near, we'll prolly make vienna our shopping place, coz that's what the ppl we know here do!!

more pics here -> http://www.new.facebook.com/editphoto.php?aid=56498&#/album.php?aid=56498&id=695437994&page=3

4th week at Bratislava

i guess since i'm a siu lai-lai now (yeah right!), i have more time to start a blog... thanks to dave & peich for the suggestion.

well, since arriving here and getting our cargo on the 2nd week, things have pretty much settled in. most of my free time here is spent looking at pics in facebook, and the stuff that ppl do everyday back home in msia - and we're missing all the good food back home. so please guys, esp. Lu Chin John aka Lu Chin Suey for putting up all the pics of food you're having, and not only that, focused and closed up shots!! dun like you la...

i went shopping for groceries just now, and for those i've emailed/talked to; all the stuff here are either in slovak/czech/german, so buying things are really difficult. most of the time just guessing from the picture. just to show you what i mean, i've taken a few pics with my phone (sony ericson K5501), BUT i realized that since we got here i can't seem to find the CD to install the driver into our PC. so, i can't download them into the PC... does anyone know if there's a way i can get them from the web? please help.

as per current, ayl is at work, baby just woke up. i've to start cooking in a few mins. we're still waiting to get a car so that we can drive around, which will be a challenge as it's a left hand drive here. the delay's due to ayl's international license - waiting for HR msia office to send it. the car will be a toyota, and a manual... hahaha! so he has to focus on driving on the left with the gear on the right, focus on the road coz it's a different side now, and focus on which road to take! super! to add to that, we don't know the roads here at all and here's the best part, everythings' in slovak! super super!! pls kesian him and pray for him ya. ppl here drive really really fast, no joke.

oh, and for arielle's fans out there, there will be more pics coming your way - and yeah, stories about her and maybe a bit about how she's driving me crazy bit by bit everyday with her pranks and stuff. hai~ i guess most of ya'll just waiting for this right? yes, she's definitely more popular than the 2 of us.