'Abraham Dolesteeg Stichter St. Ursulaklooster 1412' (Abraham Dole lane, founded by St. Ursula's Convent in 1412)

You get a €50 fine for running a red light in a bike here. Wah.

I was wondering the market looking for a zippable sweater. I looked high and low, but all the clothing stalls seemed only to have stuff for females. I finally found a stall with what I wanted at the back of the market.


This is even worse than Hamburgerstraat, or Vismarkt (Fish market)

I found sliced 'cheddar' in Aldi. Ah, the wonders of globalisation. And after still not being able to find mozzarella and parmesan I understand why this French girl asked someone to bring her cheese from Paris; I'm not a cheese freak, but Jong cheese tastes weird in pasta (for some reason the last time it tasted a bit like Feta - maybe after sitting in the fridge it's become Oud [old] cheese).


Canal

I think my favourite frites place is now the one in the market. I know they're there on Saturdays, but haven't seen them on Wednesdays or Fridays yet. They're good because at only €1.50 (only €0.10-€0.30 more than the stall at the station) you get a kleine (small) serving of Vlaamse Frites (which means you get some skin!) with any sauce you want, and they have more varieties than the station stall. The frites there are also bigger, thicker, fluffier, fresher (they seem to have less preservatives) and more consistent (in frying, battering and texture). Pity about it being only once a week though.


Canal

I found myself observing a group of ducks in motion on Sunday. They swim remarkably fast, and the way they suddenly dive forward, disappearing under the water for about a minute before popping up suddenly is oddly cute.


'Honden Toilet' (Dog toilet)
This sign was planted into an otherwise unassuming piece of soil. Do people actually come clear them out?


Speaking Dutch is a good way to get rid of your phlegm. And the grammar seems somewhat simpler than German (now all the nightmares start coming back) - at least nouns don't have genders.

Singaporeans are sometimes exhorted to be inspired by the multilingualism of most Europeans, who can speak 2 or more languages, but this ignores the fact that Western European languages at least are much less dissimilar than the four official Singaporean languages. For example, "Oh my god! There's an axe in my head" translates as "Åh Gud! Jeg har en økse i hovedet." (Danish), "O, mijn God! Er zit een bijl in mijn hoofd." (Dutch), "Oh mon dieu ! Il y a une hache dans ma tête." (French), "O mein Gott! Es gibt ein axt im meine kopf." (German), "Dio mio! C'e' un' ascia nella mia testa!" (Italian), "Meu Deus! Tenho um machado na cabeca!" (Portugese) and "¡Dios mio! ¡Hay un hacha en mi cabeza!" (Spanish) - even if commonalities cannot be seen between all the examples, they exist between some of them. (Source of examples)



Babi pangang with oyster sauce vegetables
I used babi pangang sauce from a jar for this, and an almost-expired cheap cut of meat (on reflection, I should have bought the schnitzel cut - it'd have tasted much better and was only a bit more thanks to the 50% reduction). I put slightly too much tapioca starch, and a little bit too much oyster sauce in the vegetables (OTOH my mother usually puts too little, so it's a change). And it's disheartening by just how much lettuce shrinks when cooked. Otherwise it was okay.


Pork chop with red wine and mushroom sauce
Unfortunately the drippings I got after grilling the pork chop weren't enough to make the sauce with, lousy cut notwithstanding. Luckily I got some chicken stock, pseudo-butter (margarine) and corn starch (she seemed scandalised when I suggested my tapioca starch would do the job as well) from my housemate, who also suggested I cut in my mushrooms. The oil you see in the sauce wouldn't be there if I'd bothered to clean the pan before making the sauce, but I was lazy.


Quotes:

I want you to work in duos (pairs)

What is typically Dutch? [Student: Herring] *writes 'heroine' on board* [Other student: I think he meant the fish]

Typically Dutch is stealing of bikes. (Stealing bikes is typically Dutch)

She was without light, I was jumping a red light. [Tutor: Welkom!] Then after fining me the woman said 'Have a nice day'... not very nice (Her bike had no)