i find that i’m not too good with blogs these days.. used to be a whole lot more hardworking .. but i find it can be quite a chore these days..

i wonder if its because of the multitude of chaotic thoughts in my mind.. or because i have got so much unused – unspent energy everyday .. i sometimes feel like the 2 yr old .. at the end of the day.. i just don’t know what i want…

well on a happier note .. i will be going back to singapore sooooooon … for 2 months .. i am of cos looking forward to the food, the family and the friends of cos! and most of all .. i am so excited about the upcoming weddings (hong’s, mark’s) and the birth of teresa’s baby

this year has been an interesting one.. something i never thought i’d be able to pass… well hald a year of doing nothing… i think i’ve come back to the unspent energy i was talking about . i must admit that .. i have had many emotions i never thought i would have..

one of which is the clucky feeling …

1. i dreamt i was on a marooned island , and telling people not to get off the boat and onto the island.. we were saved and everything was ok

2. i dreamt i was standing with Kervin  in a high building overlooking the ECP and the entire shenton way area… and saw 3 large explosions in the distance .. we tried running down the tall building..but ended up changing our minds and ended up watching a movie..

how strange..

Patrick Swayze aka Johnny from Dirty Dancing has passed on .. to somewhere where hopefully he’ll be able to dance and act to his heart’s content… He fought the good fight against Pancreatic cancer for the past 2 years..but he’s at peace now…condolences to his wife and family.

When i was in Primary 5, my friend Lingli and I were crazy over him.. and we watched Dirty Dancing so many times… Perhaps what i loved about the show was the fact that this naive girl Baby, through her innocence and idealism was able to touch the heart of this bad boy…

I am just so sad that yet another childhood hero has passed on… first it was Michael Jackson.. now… another..

but.. Life is such…

May they rest in peace…. with love and fond memories

Basel is a multicultural city and houses many many many English speaking people like myself. However, the main lingua franca in this place is actually Swiss German , otherwise known as Schweizer-deutsch. The people here speak an amalgamation of the official languages of Switzerland.

Schweizer-Deutsch is very different from Hoch-Deutsch, other wise known to the world as the German Language. In the German speaking Cantons, it is recommended that someone speak at least Hoch Deutsch, but English will get you around to a certain extent.

The most helpful phrase which was taught to be by a fellow foreigner was

” Sprachen Sie Englisch?”

Prior to being able to say this phrase? When i launched into a full question in English, i was met with quizzical stares or  a flat affect…however, as soon as i learnt that phrase, 10 to 1, i was acknowledged with a smile, and was sometimes told ” a little” , or ” nein” ..

What this then meant was a a game of guessing or hand gestures. Sometimes, i even turned to a fellow shopper to ask them if they could be kind enough to translate.

After 4 months of learning deutsch intensively, i can now get by understanding 50-60%  of a conversation .. but only having a 30-40% ability to explain what i want. I have been told that this is ok, and expected.

I have also been forewarned that since Hoch- deutsch is NOT the first language of many Swiss people, but rather a learned language form the ages of 5-6, i can expect that at some point i will have to learn some Schweizer-deutsch. I have also been fore-warned that Basler Schweizer-Deutsch/dialect is different from Bern dialect and even very different from the Zürich dialect.

I guess the easiest way for me to understand it is- like Singlish , Schweizer-deutsch has evolved and has become the language of the locals. It can be understood, but patience would be a virtue in this equation.

So till then .. a quick read on this

http://www.eldrid.ch/swgerman.htm

its coming to the tail end of summer.. and on the 22nd Sept, it will officially be der Herbst which is Autumn in Deutsch.

I am learning German, so occasionally i will throw in a few words or sentences to practice.. so don’t mind me..

We are living in Basel, and thus far, i have been here for 5 months and 1 week to the day We are looking forward to living here for a while and till then, we will be calling this Home

Watch out for upcoming updates