wed - tequila night
in the midst of drowning our sorrows, lou and i nearly finished a bottle of tequila between us. inititally, i drew lines on my cardboard drawer (to mark the number of shots we'd consumed) with a marker but the tequila took over... all i can say is, i lost count at #4.

thurs - hangover
i woke up with the worst headache known to mankind. everything hurt. it hurt to think, let alone move. i kept chanting inwardly: don't think. just close your eyes and try to fall sleep. after throwing up twice, i swore never to touch tequila or lemon ever again. okay, at least for a month. as i half-knelt/doubled over the toilet seat, a little voice in my head taunted me, asking if the pain was worth the pleasure. trust me, it SO wasn't.

i actually took an entire day to recover, i know, i'm surprised myself. i lay in bed all day like some sick puppy, not moving or thinking. it was harder than you'd imagine.

fri - efteling theme park (flash, emmi, sarah)
rollercoasters, cotton candy, an unlimited amount of screaming, my clothes getting soaked - yup, my kinda PG fun in the sun.

sat - singel 404 + ribs at that restaurant i don't know the name of (lou & hk girls)
offical good food day. that's all i can say... and that i was wearing a supermini dress. i swear some guys walking past called out "lend her some money". if they were trying to be creative/funny, i think they meant i couldn't afford a longer dress. ahh whatevs.

sun - picnic at a park, canal biking, the trut (alternative gay bar)
i woke up early to make my famous garlic prawn pasta and fruit crepes, lou had a big bag full of goodies. together we set off to do as the dutch do; to lunch in style, drifting along a canal in a cute little boat. along the way, we got distracted by a festival of sorts, it looked so lively and lovely that we promptly got off (the tram) and joined in. sitting in a shade, nibbling strawberries dipped in maple syrup and sipping wine, watching little boats go by - it was the perfect way to spend a sunday...

for the next two hours, we proceeded to get lost trying to find the canal bike-renting place then we almost got ourselves killed, in our failed attempts at steering it. picture this: us on the wrong side of the canal, floating in the path of a MASSIVE canal cruise charging at us (that's a bit of an overstatement), lou laughing his head off at god knows what and me screaming like a raving lunatic. it was singlehandedly the most embarrassing thing to happen this year. people seated at cafes along the canal were watching, and undoubtedly laughing. not to mention, we also got stuck - sideways - in a canal.

p/s: i don't even know how many floating houses we banged into. sorry!

we had famous dutch pancakes at the pancake bakery. sad to say, my mexican tasted more like sweet and sour chicken. blah.

the trut was an eye opener; so many beautiful men, all gay. le sigh. i've never felt so overdressed and ... straight in my life. i'm saying that like it's a bad thing. jesus. i wore my mum's vintage cape with gold trim, it was so so gorgeous, i received compliments from just about everyone *beams* fyi, i've never had to wait in line (so damn long) to enter a bar before and the place is too underground - we almost couldn't didn't find it.

+ the crowd is cute, - the toilets are vile. if i wasn't drunk, i don't think i would've dreamed of stepping into their loos, or touching the toilet seat without disinfecting it first. lou and i managed to befriend the very blond (nick-carter-when-he-was-cute-lookalike/czech) j&j (flicky blond fringe/swede) and 2 random guys on bikes outside the trut, post-closing time. our plan was to continue partying hearty with our newfound strangers but it was a sunday and frankly, amsterdam is dead on a sunday. we had no choice but to bid adieu and cab home.

alas! on our week in amsterdam, we meet some genuinely cool people. where was this social life 6 months ago?

mon - picking up of MVV + laserguns
by the time i picked up my MVV (residence permit), i was informed it would be valid for, all of 2 days. whoopee. the lady gave me a handbook on my MVV, i promptly threw it in the bin on my way out. laser gunning was a blast; i felt like a kid again, screaming my brains out, just because. pity i wasn't feeling well, in fact all the physical activity made me feel worse. it made for great facebook photos though.

tues - day at the beach
i cancelled on flash in lieu of staying at home to recuperate. good call. when he told me he brought champagne, i died a little inside.

wed - packing/mint party
yawn. three little piggies walked all the way home. bonus: watching F (who has 'it's britney bitch' as his ringtone) dancing his ass off onstage and gyrating up to some guy. classic. always fun to witness teachers gone wild.

thurs - spent the day with anne (bakery/westerpark) + bbq
the bakery was adorable, we ordered an assortment of pastries on a tray and sat in the backyard to bask in the sunshine. i've learnt: when the sun comes out, so do the dutch. strawberry cake, brownies, a scone, lemon cake, fresh cream, a bonbon and little chocolate drops. divine.

we walked to westerpark (a recommendation by one of the guys on a bike) and parked our bums on a bridge (i don't know what else to call it) with our feet dangling over a pond. we sat and talked for hours, before moving to a huge padded swing in front of a cafe/restaurant, sipping lemonades. i was so brown from all the sun exposure; though my tanlines promptly stopped mid-thigh, at the hem of my minidress, which was a little weird.

lastly, we went to fullup's bbq. here's what i've discovered, the fundamental difference between asians and europeans is: at an asian bbq, we eat until the food runs out, and there are ALWAYS second, third and fourth helpings, if not more. at a european bbq, people hardly eat at all, in fact talking/drinking seems to take precedence. i was stunned speechless. there i was, stuffing my face with salmon and spicy chicken wings and everyone else had already moved onto dessert.

fri - sex and the city
seasons 1 to 5 never aired in sg, so this is officially my first time watching SATC and i must say, i'm lovin' it.

sat - packing/dinner with lou
i lured lou out with the tempting offer of dinner at one of our fav restaurants - on me. i had the salmon and chips with garlic sauce, while he had turkey noodles in thai-style curry. oh, we had the saddest farewell, both of us walked away with tears in our eyes. i'm gonna miss him so much.

sun - packing
more packing; deciding what stays and what goes. always tough for me, what with my karang-guni tendencies. more SATC. i've decided, i'm a cross between carrie and charlotte. i even had my own mr BIG plus i'm interested in journalism, talk about living parallel lives (mine is still missing the fabulous party invites, lunches/brunches and sextalk with girlfriends + designer shoes) someday...

mon - leaving
i would love to see van gogh + stop by wagamamas to say hello/goodbye to j&j + visit vondelpark (it's all in the vicinity) and maybe make a final trip down to singel 404, if i can find my way there without getting lost. we'll see. their iced coffee is fantastic, def worth getting lost over.