We just got back from a week of exploring our soon-to-be home.. Singapore!
Here’s what I’ve learnt after 7 days:
1. It takes approx 4.5 minutes to become sweaty after leaving the hotel
2. I can’t understand Singlish..!
3. Air-con is my bestest friend ever
4. You’ll get in trouble if you take your durian on the MRT.. consider yourself warned
5. Riding your bike through a pedestrian tunnel will be a $1000 fine thank you very much
6. Rain doesn’t always mean a reprieve in the heat, in fact it mostly just makes everything more humid
7. I’ve missed thunder! The storms here are unreal
8. Don’t walk around in the sun without an umbrella.. it’s bitey, and almost everyone else will think you’re crazy (done and done) (and no, bitey isn’t a real word.. but neither is burn-y, and they’re my two best words to describe the heat.. sorry)
9. I can’t navigate ION Orchard to save my life.. I got lost in there every time I went in.. great shopping mind you!
10. Everyone comes out at night, making for a super lively atmosphere
11. Unlike Europe, Taxi’s are a totally viable transport option
12. In some ways, the lifestyle reminds me of Brisbane
13. I can totally see myself living here (luckily)!
Bring it on!
We really didn’t end up taking many photos, so apologies for them not being too exciting!
The good news is, we’re moving! To Singapore! In July! :D
The bad news is, that means we have to leave our beloved Germany :( Which really is sad because Germany has been good to us, and we love it (and it’s people) quite dearly. Same goes for Switzerland. We’ve made some wonderful friends here that will be extremely hard to say goodbye to.
But it’s time for us to start a new adventure.. in warm, humid, closer-to-home, Singapore. As you can imagine, we have stacks to get done before we leave, and because of this (and almost one year exactly to the day that I made my first sale) I will be closing my shop tomorrow for good. It’s been great fun, and I want to thank everyone who’s supported me over the past year.. I know Singapore will hold new opportunities, and I can’t wait to get started :)
I’ll still be posting on the blog from time to time, so don’t forget to check back!
Unfortunately, like my friend Aude in the Netherlands, we’re being inundated with our yearly pollen quota… Once I get past the thought of eventually having to clean it all off, I actually find it kind of pretty..
We were lucky enough to spend our Easter long weekend in beautiful Italy, with great friends, and almost perfect weather :)
We were based at an amazing Agriturismo B&B in Levanto, and spent our days hiking the Cinque Terre (or at least the part of it that wasn’t closed), wandering around Genoa in the rain, and unintentionally getting up close and personal with a bunch of other tourists on a bus in Portofino..! Ahh Italy :)
My good friend Christine and I just spent the most amazing girls weekend in London.. we didn’t see one single cloud the entire time! There was plenty of shopping, walking, theatre-ing, cocktail-ing, and eating fabulous food.. aahh summer is on the way!
Happy Sunday! I’ve been busy today, broadening my screen printing abilities with pillow cases.. I love spots! I’m really happy with how they turned out, so I might attempt some other patterns and colours now :)
Last night we got to witness something pretty special. Normally on this night every year we’d head down the road to the Fasnachts Feuer (which we love), but this year we decided to mix it up and take a trip to a small Swiss town called Liestal to watch their fire parade.
Now, I’m not sure what the laws are like in other countries, but in Australia I’m pretty sure all events involving fire alone would be banned in a hundred different ways, let alone when they also include thousands of excited people pushing out onto a small street and a thick layer of confetti lying all over the ground.. but here in Switzerland, it’s all good! In fact, it’s an old tradition that involves a bunch of firefighters pushing or carrying huge burning carts and lanterns through the streets of Liestal, burning the faces off the spectators. Ok that last bit isn’t really true, but it felt like it! Aaannddd there wasn’t a barrier in sight.. take that Australia!
But really, it couldn’t have been more special, and thrilling, and hot. Oh so hot.. the photos and videos just don’t do it justice. As the carts went past, we were literally pushing people backwards to get away from the heat, but still had huge smiles on our faces because it was just so incredibly fantastic! I think we probably ingested our yearly dose of ash and dust, and I managed to pour beer all over myself (as a safety measure, of course).. but hey, so worth it.
The video may be a little bit bumpy in parts – that’s when it got hot! It really doesn’t do it justice.. best to just go there yourselves :)
I’m trying to use the video function on my camera more, and clearly have a long way to go, but I did manage to catch this the other day at Fasnacht. It’s only quick, but really sums up the day pretty well..
Well it’s Fasnacht (Carnival) time here again, and this year we got to share it with my sister Evelyn, and her friend Kristy.
I’m happy to report that there were no abductions this year, only a lot of confetti assaults (mostly because Evelyn wanted to take photos of all the characters, and as payment for said photo, she then got herself, and us pummeled with confetti), and I had a hair-tie stolen when it was yanked out of my hair from behind by a masked witch, who then ran off with it and left me looking like I just got out of bed!
bowkey.. bokee.. bokehh.. can anyone tell me how exactly it’s pronounced?? It doesn’t really matter… except for when I get into an extremely intelligent conversation with some totally amazing photographer person, and embarrass myself by telling them that I think those little fuzzy light spot things in the background of photos are really tops.
So, anyway I came across this tutorial for creating custom bokeh and figured it would be fun to try..! I had a bit of trouble with the first lens cover I tried to create, but with a few tweaks, it was peachy! The only problem I had was that I ran out of lights in our apartment to take photos of :(
Still, it was tons of fun, and can’t wait to try some different shapes :)
The good news is, we’re moving! To Singapore! In July! :D
