Another Day in Class

The first class was a little slow as the Professor was just trying to get to know the students and get acquainted with our lacking level of engagement. The real “first class” was the second class, where we were asked to bring in recent stories and discuss the definition of Read more…

Ocean Tiong

I was flying to Vancouver for the VSP in late May when I was seated next to a very kind stranger – Ocean. He is an expert application developer from Victoria (the capital of B.C.) and the proud owner of rolia.net. Rolia is a website connecting the Asian minority community Read more…

Two Asian Men

If where I live in the eastern end of East Berlin is the deep east, Westphalia is the deep west of Germany. It is in fact, so far west, that although the mainstream culture and foods are generally the same as in the east, a lot of the special events Read more…

Wuppertal, Germany

The valley of the River Wupper, that’s what its name means. The little town is very narrow and stretches along both banks of the river. Once an industrial and mining powerhouse it is now a quiet town of less than half a million people. There are plenty of neo-classical buildings Read more…

Soviet Apartment

Being a student in Berlin is tough, they say it’s “poor and sexy” but the prices have been going up and getting a reasonable apartment to rent isn’t easy. Luckily for me the students’ union had just the place for me, it is a little far in a former Soviet Read more…

Oktoberfest

Some readers may be surprised to find out that a large portion of Oktoberfest (or Wiesn as the people of Munich call it) actually occurs before October, with all but three days in September. Open from 8am till past midnight every single day of the week, there’s no shortage of Read more…

Battle of Wills

Let me paint you a picture, a dark yet vivid one, of what war is like. Close your eyes and imagine a smoke filled sky, a helicopter buzzes above you and its rotor blades let sunlight through to your face intermittently. You can feel the glow of the sun through Read more…

27 to 57

27 it feels like heaven, you’re still young but not so dumb. Having been in and out of several jobs in different insurance companies, you’ve managed to get promoted every time you jumped ship. In fact, you just jumped right into a new job that you thought would finally be Read more…

Nazi Museum Munich

Its full name is the Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism, but it was too long to fit into a title to attract your attention. One can explore the history of national socialism through its well curated an brings you through a journey in history. The exhibition Read more…