evesamuelsson

Beautiful, Bellisimo, BALIsimo,

Completely wonderful. Maybe because both of us thought that Bali would be a bit overated, which was proven the complete opposite. We have had an amazing trip, which is difficult to put in words. We will most definitely go back…

Friday was a bit stressful when we arrived in storm and chaos, but everything worked out fine as soon as we got to our hotel. They called us a taxi and we went to “Ultimo”, a brilliant Italian restaurant with beautiful setting, delicious food and really cheap prices. We went crazy when we saw the pricelist and ordered away. Ended up really full but VERY pleased and headed out to “Hu-u” for a drink and some really nice music.

Saturday morning we took the vespa we were provided with (free) from the hotel and went into Seminyak in the morning. Saturday consisted of: a wonderful breakfast by the sea, sun, bathing (or more falling around in the water, due to the powerful sea), and an hour of lovely massage in a spa.

Almost more pleasant than the massage was the view of nico on the massage bed in the tiniest underwear and a little skinny Balinese guy jumping on his back like a monkey. Oh dio.


 

 








Our cool vespa. Filling up the tank (using absolute vodka bottles) with the help of this lovely lady
 
  
 

We also met up with Gitta, a girl from Bali that knew people at Nicos work. She was really nice and it was cool meeting a local to get the good tips and advice. She was so cute and friendly and hooked us up with her friend to give us a guided tour the following day....
 


 




 

The Spa

 

"Hu-u" bar





"Ku De Ta"

And so we did! And what a day we had. The guy picked us up in his minivan and guided us around the island for the entire day. We went to the monkey forest, Ubud market, the volcano, the rice terrace, a stoneage hindu temple and coffee plantation and coffee tasting. In the coffee place we saw the Luwak cat and coffee, the worlds most expensive coffee (the cat eats the coffee bean and the shit is used to make the coffee). Nico also tried to make coffee, luckily he didnt burn it.  

Anyways, the day was amazing and our driveer was really nice and funny and told us everything about Bali worth to know.

Being back in Seminyak in the later hours we went a second night to “Ku De Ta” a really cool lounge with beds facing the sea and enjoyed the view of the waves while sipping delicious cocktails.  

Sunday adventure. Started the day with a lovely breakfast again. Fresh berries!!

 

 





 

 



Rice Terrace







Having lunch by the Volcano









 



 

   



Say hi to Nico - the munk







Unfortunately we were not able to go surfing due to the waves and our time limit. But all the delicious food, beautiful beach, nice people, cool shopping, lovely bars, and all the delicious FRUIT you can imagine….We were in heaven for 4 days!!

if we come back to europe a bit changed.. dont blame us.

we are living in a nest of seriously weird birds..trust me;

1)  we live next door to a british old (around 60 years) santaclause, living with his "boyfriend", an old skinny australian man with mustache..

these guys are very talkative and creepy, and if u accidentally meet them in the hallway you are sure to be stuck there to listen to their histories about life,death and food.. not very interesting.

to add to the awkwardness they have given me a nickname; “everlasting love”.

to add even MORE to the weirdness they occasionally fight inside their room... when you hear and old man yelling to another old man; "dont hit me in the head you bloody bastard" it is time to look yourself inside your room til the storm is over.

2) occasionally when you open the door you find 3 phillipin guys dancing vals or tango..together.. randomly!

this implies that we sometimes hear classical music in the late hours, with the repeating guidelines 1,2,3..1,2,3...

 apparently they are dance teachers that cannot legally work in singapore..guess thats why they feel like transforming our livingroom to their private dance studio. 

3) another phillipine guy introduced himself in the kitchen the other day. i have already met this guy ans spoken to him many times. but apparently not! he told me not to be afraid or confused if i see him around alot or in different outfits; he apparently shared room with his twin brother which is a complete(!!!) copy.

4) as I stated before you frequently hear puking sounds from the corridor. especially from an old chinese businessman that seems to be highly unable to talk.

5) and the other day the old gay couple accused me of stealing their cucumber(!!??) First of all; we keep our cucumber in OUR fridge. Second of all; if I would steal something, would I honestly steal a cucumber from them?

Anyways, tomorrow we leave the nut house and spend the weekend in BALI!! =)

Starfruit
(quite common, but completely new for Nico)

Outside; yellow, around 10 cm long, star

Inside; Light yellow fruit meet, seeds in the middle. When you cut the fruit the pieces looks like stars

Taste; A bit bitter, special taste.  

Consistency;A bit crispy, quite watery. Almost like a cucumber.

Nico’s judgment: 2/10 stars “Not my cup of tea” 

Eve’s judgment: 5/10 stars “I like it. Its something different.  However, the look of the fruit is better than the taste. Beautiful on a fruit plate”

(Note! I just hope you notice Nico’s very open and positive attitude towards fruit!!)

She- buys oats, make porridge, keeping it simple

He- HAS to HAVE the quality ham for breakfast. And not any ham..CHAMPAGNE ham!! Golden boy..

I wonder; Where is the equality?

Pictures from Saturday. A very chilled Saturday that started with some shopping malls, beer on the beach and dinner.

Later at night we went to the highest al fresco bar in the world; 1 altitude. The view up there is amazing. It is a big terrace with 360 degree view, 282 meters above sea level, officially the highest point on Singapore. However, we were not amazed by the choice of music and interior.

So we decided to move on and went clubbing with Nico’s Italian coworker Tommaso in Le Noir.

Indian Gooseberry (indiskt krusbär)

Outside; light green, looking like an huge gooseberry. size of a pingpong ball. 

Inside; very light green, almost white fruit meet. A seed in the middle. More similar to a plum.

Taste; Unable to describe the level of bitterness. Lemon * 15859. The most sour thing on earth!!

Consistency; Again like a gooseberry. Stiff. Like a immature plum.

Nico’s judgment: 0/10 stars “Not even commentable. The shittiest. really,really bad. indian sucks!” 

Eve’s judgment: 0/10 stars “Or minus points. The most bitter thing i have ever eaten. Can not think of one good reason of having a fruit like this. If you dont wanna kill someones ability to taste.”

Oh dio

What a nightmare. I just had my first hair salon experience in Singapore, and what a mission it was.
When I first came to the salon for my appointment they sat me in the chair and all of the sudden a war started. The entire staff were involved in a crises concerning that I have to pay more than what we decided when I booked the appointment. The guy in the reception screwed it up; Too bad for Evelina!! 

After carefully explaining that I wanted highlights in my hair and not a yellow color she started mixing the chemicals. But since they all seemed pissed off already, I thought it was best to be quiet and pray to god. It is not very appreciated to have opinions in this country, since they see everything as an assault.

Before I knew it I had three ladies around my head, brushes, color and aluminum everywhere!! After a mishmash of hands on my head I finally looked like the biggest radio satellite in Singapore.

Then came the time for cutting. Of course I got the hair stylist that did not know a word in English. She just waved her arms and spoke in blurry chinese while I tried to gesture how I wanted my hair.

Getting closer to the finish line I finally felt like we found some good collaboration and understanding. But what happens?

The lady brings out the wax and hairspray, as if they were her sharpest weapons and starts firing. My hair went from newly washed and fresh to a stone hard, stiff condition.

Even though I was laughing and crying on the inside I just gave the lady a smile, paid the increased price and went home to wash my hair.

Anita,my private hairdresser, I miss you!!   

This week’s look-a-like is not about me, but about Nico. 

We constantly hear from people that Nico looks like different nationalities. Very often it is a new nationality and often very fun and surprising.

The latest comment about his nationality: “You are Singaporean right?”

People think he is Mexican, Brazilian, Asian, Moroccan.. But never ever Italian..   This time I found it was innovative!! He is like a kinder egg my guy; many surprises in one man!

To make our tuesday night more excited we decided to take a quick trip to sentosa.

We took a tour in the tiger tower which is a 110 meter high tower spinning 360 degrees to see singapore from above.

It was really beautiful to see all the lights from the city under and around us.
We also walked passed the merlion- a famous singaporean statue which is a mixture between a fish and a lion.

Hey hey hey

Now it is monday again and time to schedule the coming week. A lot of school, assignments and groupworks are on the schedule, which is not the most exciting. But life cannot always be holiday, shopping and sunshine, although I wish that was the case…

This weekend we have spent two full days on the beach in Sentosa, a kind of island belonging to Singapore. Two full days in the sun.. I understand the concern.. “Is she now dating a piece of barbecue coal, a gingerbread man, a Seal copy?”

Don’t worry. Heavy use of the highest sun protection that they offered in Mustafa; sun factor 70 + saved Nico from burning up in flames. He is still in one piece, happy, alive and a bit tanned.

More worrying at the beach however were all the Indians walking along the beach fully dressed with timberland boots and heavy jumpers with cameras in their hands and one mission; taking pictures of girls in bikini.

Disgusting..  Tip of the day; Ladies put some clothes on if you are going to sentosa beach. Better to be white as a mozzarella than end up in the indian web community.  

End of sad topic.. Continue with the weekend story…

The Saturday evening was really cozy and pleasant and started with a dinner in Brotzeit, a german bar and restaurant belonging to Nico’s internship company. The staff was very nice, the service was great, the food was delicious and the beer was big, tasty and bubbly, a real mood booster. To add the pleasure of the visit, I was so proud seeing the art work of my darling hanging on the walls. He had designed the poster for the Brotzeit chain’s October fest which will be held in the restaurants in October.

Completely full and happy (and a big promise to come back soon) we continued to the New Asia Bar; the best bar for an amazing view. Great music, brilliant location and a lot of Scandinavians.. Although we found some ugly fishes also here. This time it was old, fat,bold and creepy men buying their Asian entertainment for the night. It was not the most relaxing and pleasant view to see these old grandfathers trying to sway their hips and look sexy with their escorts to the beat of beyonce.

somebody ate a bit too much german food? ;)












Well oh well. We live in a wacko world. This gave us yet another reason of being thankful for our reality. So we just smiled, cheered and enjoyed the night!

Outside; Big, yellow and green, shape of a very very thick cucumber

Inside; Pink/Orange fruitmeat with black big seeds. The seeds look like black pepper

Taste; Sweet. Not so strong taste. Pretty smooth.   

Consistency; Very soft and simple. Like a honey dew melon.

Nico’s judgment: 4/10 stars “Simply dont like it. Too similar to melon maybe. Dont like melon”   

Eve’s judgment: 7/10 stars “Not the best fruit in y life. Of course much better than papaya in Sweden. But a good breakfast choice. Slightly similar to mango.”

Friday, 10 September is a public holiday in Singapore Calendar. The holiday is to celebrate the Muslim and Malay Hari Raya Aidilfitri Holiday. In Malay it means "Celebration Day of Fasting" and is the muslim holiday that works as the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.

Okey. That sounds like random crap. But it also meant that everybody was off work and school, including me and my partner.
We had a full friday to enjoy, which was the easiest task of the week.

After taking a long breakfast we headed to downtown for some shopping. For me it was time to increase my weekend and evening wardrobe, and for Nico we had to work on the "respectable office man appearance".

Luckily we found a brilliant tailor and negotiated for awesome fabrics and "italian design" which hopefully will result in 3 pairs of new trousers for mr. Cosmai. 

Dinner was enjoyed in sushi-tei where they serve the best tuna sashimi in the entire world. The prices are really good and the fish is of the best quality i have ever eaten... at least in sushi (dont want to make comparison to the ones me and my family fish ourselves, which is ofcourse superb)


 







After dinner we took a walk along the riverwalk to be dazzled from the incredible views. We ended up in Clarke Quay where another festivity was displayed, the chinese mid- autumn festival. This is a time for chinese family reunions and food and is similar to the western thanksgiving. And of course the chinese population goes all in.. Weird colourful animals, lamps and figures everywhere. And sooo much food and mooncakes..








  
In the middle of the chaos we sat down in our new favourite bar; Le Noir, to enjoy a glass of wine and admiring the poeple around us.  

Yesterday my professor came up to me in the break and asked me if Marie from Roxette was my aunt.
He had been thinking about this since the first lecture he told me..

Honestly??


 

Evelina?                                                                       Marie?


Do I really look like Marie Fredriksson?
Dont know if I should laugh or cry..

What a trip. We have just had some wonderful days in Tioman, an island in Malaysia.

The trip started in a lovely way with us, me and Nico, having a private chauffeur driving us from Singapore to Malaysia on Sunday morning. We were the only one that signed up for the trip at the travel agency, which resulted in us having a minivan for own use and a nice driver. In Malaysia we took to ferry for 1,5 hours and arrived to the paradise island.

Unfortunately we did not have the best weather. The sun was absent most of the time, but the air was still warm, and somehow (don’t even ask me how) Nico burnt his face and arms really bad despite the clouds.

We lived in a small wooden cabin just 10 meters from the sea and our two full days were spent on the beach, in nature and in bars, just relaxing and walking around in a beautiful surrounding.


On Monday we took a boat to “Coral Island”, a little island with only nature to offer, to snorkel around the amazing coral reefs. Nico, who is usually not the biggest fan of sea, swimming in deep water or snorkeling, but on a snorkel mask and dived into the blue. The fishes we saw were amazing, and I would not even know how to explain them. All the different shapes, colors and patterns you can imagine, and I was very excited to see the cute (and delicious) cuttlefishes.

When we faced a HUGE blue fish by an arm length distance, Nico had enough of his brave macho sea experience, and I continued snorkeling around the water. 

When we came back from the snorkeling we found a bunch of monkeys having a tantrum outside our hotel. Between 5-8 monkeys with babies were playing around fighting and playing, and I was so astonished I just giggled from excitement. Due to their energy level and quick movements we did not catch any nice pictures though, which was a real pity!

But our dear monkey friends were not the only animals we saw on the island. The freaky lizards where present on many locations, and some of them were so big they looked like small alligators.

In the evenings we enjoyed delicious barbeque on the beach. The menu was completely up to date as we ate the village people’s catches from the day including squid, mackerel and prawns. It was really cool sitting with the feet in the sand, watching the sunset and eating delicious food, smelling the fire from the barbecue.. What a great trip! 















         

Due to the weekday he was a bit more relaxed though, and came to school in a Hawaiian shirt. He looked so funny that I had to take a picture of him. (this of course made him really proud)

The lecture itself was a bit tiring, especially since we went out to a club yesterday with Nicos workmates and did not sleep very much last night.

After school I met up with Nico for some hours of shopping malls and a nice sushi dinner. After that we continued the Saturday to Marina Bay, where “Ben & Jerry”- the favorite ice cream company had a big event and advertising festival. They were introducing 12 new flavors of ice cream that is still not on the market, and had gathered live band playing while people were walking around trying different delicacies.. lovely!!

After enjoying two new cinnamon and walnut ice-creams we headed for a glass of Prosecco in an Italian bar/ restaurant next to the water. Sweet ending.

Now we’re back home for some good 5 hours of sleep before heading to Malaysia.. Tomorrow at 6 we leave with the bus. wiie.

Good night.

Just been a really good girl and swedish citizen.
Just came back from the swedish ambassady where I left my vote for the swedish election.
Now, time for some friday pleasure...






Pictures from the Tanjong Beach club website. Taken on the crayfishparty.

I have a very big issue and question that I want to investigate. What is it that makes everybody here in Singapore puke, or kind of coughing hairballs all day long?

First I thought it was just a coincidence that all of the people I met seemed to have something stuck in their throat and making vomiting noises. Like if there was an epidemic or flu or something.

Now, Im not so sure anymore. There has to be something else. People in our flat, in school, in the underground, on buses… the list can be made very long of people that seem to have digesting or eating problems. They are behaving like cats that are trying to spit out hairballs.

I wonder why. Is there a clinical linkage between eating the same food every day and vomiting? Can it be the fact that they eat the same thing all day long, everyday? The fact that they eat rice and noodles for lunch and dinner, but ALSO breakfast!?

Or is it all the spicy food that is the villain in this case? The garlic that they eat in everything?

Trust me, I am a fan of garlic. Even though I don’t love the smell when it is rooted in somebody’s mouth, I love garlic in food. But there is a limit. Garlic for breakfast is not my cup of tea.

If anyone thinks they have the solution to this problem, PLEASE let me know. At least I could try to cure the people in our house, since I am getting fed up by hearing people puke and make disgusting noises all day and night long.

Please someone, give me an answer before me and Nico starts puking like the rest..

Thai jackfruit

Outside; Green, huge fruit with dots.

Inside; When you open the jackfruit you see the bulbs of yellow fruitmeat. The bulbs are a kind of fleshy layer around the seeds, which are round and dark like chesnuts.

Taste; Really, really sweet. Tasting like candy  

Consistency; Very different from any other fruit. Chewy, slippery, like rubber or chewing gum.

Nico’s judgment: 2,5/10 stars “This is really shitty. If I knew how it was to eat a snake, I would say it’s the same thing”   

Eve’s judgment: 3/10 stars “Not good at all. So disappointed. It looks tasty, but its false advertisement. Although it might be good in a smoothie”