This was the first rainfall I saw from the office. It is like a green roof here - and remember, you are looking down on Orchard Road, the main shopping street!

The living room, seen from the kitchen. It's a very open design, as you see, and it's quite comfortable. I'm sitting there on the sofa most of the time when I'm working, because the telephone is right behind it.

The kitchen, next to my room, which you see in behind. I haven`t cooked here before, and I guess I won't the whole time. Food courts are just too good and cheap.

This is my room, on the day I arrived. Hard to believe, but true: It is really tidy today. I was motivated my Christoph, who first cleaned half the flat when he arrived to make himself comfortable. Good use for those muscles! (just kidding!)

If you get bored by my pictures, give me a hint! This is close to my condo. Drive LEFT in Singapore! Trees and plants everywhere. Although this is a quite wrecked part of the neighbourhood and everything is in a bad condition, the people are very friendly and it has it's own spirit here, beside the main streets.

I was walking around in my neighbourhood, and as you see, it is not all shopping malls and condos!

it is raining. Again. And again.
Hm, that adds a tropical flavour to Singapore. A flavour I did not ask for... but who cares.
The thunderstorms here are really impressing, and I have not seen so many lightnings in such a short time.
The last days were pretty lame, mainly because I was pretty lame. Not being in office means to be at home most of the day when the weather is bad (which it was the whole week more or less), not seing anybody. Well, I´m bored, but maybe that`s gonna change as I am invited to my first party today! Well, I have no idea what to expect as I know only one person there who also is just a guest. I don´t care - I´ll just see what happens.

My new flatmate Christoph is a nice guy. He has exactly the body that I would like to have and possibly will never achieve. I HATE HIM for that :-) I will prepare to blindfold Tine when she arrives here to prevent anything to "happen".

;-)

So... well... just hang on and wait for the weather to get better and my life to be less LAME. I`ll do the same.

Wooohoooo!
I got into the internet from my flat!!!
That´s some sort of success. I spied on Elena, my flatmate, to see why she gets into the net and I don´t. Now what - she had a special software. Today I searched the Singnet homepage (the local ISP), and whoa, there it was. Installed it, didn't open. So I just set up another user on WinXP (who cares, I will reinstall the system as soon as possible anyway), and it WORKS! So maybe that new modem was worth the money at last !?!
Of course the computer is working at snail-speed now, but when the system is fresh I guess I will be able to work normal again on friday or saturday.
Much more important, I will be able to blog on the days I'm not in the office! (yes, these days exist!)
Bye bye to you all, enjoy the day!

Botanic garden - It may sound stupid, but this place was pure heaven for me. The better picture of it is blurred, unfortunateley. I have to come back here when the sun is shining.

Botanic garden - the colours of the bamboo (is it bamboo???) are great. Like a living rainbow.

Botanic garden - this is from the area where they have all the plants that grow in a very dry ground.

I can't believe how green this city is. In fact, there are two really big streets crossing here, but to me it felt nearly like walking in the park. NEARLY.

The entrance to Palais Renaissance, you can meet me here nearly every day. My luck, 7-11 is just in the next building and Starbucks is over the street. Crossing Orchard Road without traffic lights is comparable to russian roulette when you try it the first time. But it mainly is all about timing. Face the fear! Last week I made it to cross the street before some (I guess) Singaporeans. That made me really proud ;-)

Orchard Road. There are 12.000 cabs in Singapore, but sometimes you have to wait awfully long to get one. At every mall there is a "Taxi Q" to line up and wait. Cabs are quite cheap here, so really everybody uses them.

I´ve been to the botanic gardens today!
Of course the sun disappeared in the moment I left the office and when I was finally there (about 1km from the office) the rain started. But who cares! I had a really good time, although the pictures would have been more impressive in the sun. I´ll add one or two here anyway. Entry is free to the botanic gardens and it really is a huge area. There is a rainforest part, a stone garden, two little lakes, and a whole lot of different trees.

Except that I have no big news today... office still looks the same, just some cable works and painting today, and the sun always sets at 7:15 pm. That drives me crazy! Y'know, I really love being outside in summer when it is still bright at 10 pm?!? I miss that a lot. Darkness sucks. Especially for people like me who tend to be awake a lot in the night. I just want to seeeeee something!

Well, complaining won't help here. :-)

Good monday! Started with an earthquake-like storm that woke me up at 4pm. Great!
I was in office at about 9 just to find out that the desk I normally work at now was occupied by Robin Johansson. So now I invaded the office of the Lufthansa Technical Training boss, who is on golf vacation (or on a business trip, I heard different stories) and hopefully won't be back until the reconstruction is finished. Today they only did some cable work, nothing exciting.
On Sunday I met with the team at Olaf Knuth's place to watch F1, that was cool. Sharon picked me up and the whole crew was very relaxed and friendly. The local beer, "Tiger", isn't so bad at all! :-)
I had a meeting with Johannes and Robin today concerning my project and we set some things straight, so that I have a clear idea of what I am to do in the next two weeks. To be honest, It will not take ONE week, so maybe Johannes will figure out something to keep me busy... I'm quite sure he has some work left for me.
Of course, again, the computer issue: Linux is running fine, and the only reason not to install it is EXCEL and WORD, these f***ing important programs which are essentials for the work here and in university. I found an external harddisk in this office which is empty, so I have something to do a backup with, but I have not WinXP CD and no Office CD here. Maybe Markus, my flatmate, will help me out, but he is in India at the moment and won't be back until thursday. So I will stick to that ugly solution by now.
How did you like the pictures I added today?
Maybe I´ll go to sentosa island on wednesday, then I would finally be able to provide you with the incredibly important BEACH pics!
Just come back and have a look!

So, how about "Markenrechte" in Asia??? This stuff tastes exactly like the original, costs 1,30 SGD, "our" RedBull costs 2,50 SGD hier, that is 1,25 EUR! I think it was this cheap in Germany back in 1998.

hey, let's talk business!

I have this picture as wallpaper in the moment - I really like it, the colors are really bright. Maybe I'll sell it to Lufthansa and make a fortune. Maybe not. We'll see! ;-)

Just a nice view to show you how green Singapore is!