NORDLINGEN (17.02.08 – 24.02.08)

1. Butcher 2. The "Daniel" 3. Me on top of it with the romantic road of Nordlingen behind me 4. me and stefanie 5. Duck rice in a chinese restaurant 5. Self cooked mee goreng in the hotel with ba kwa and milo

Thomas Grube came and pick me up in his car from Holzminden to head down to Nordlingen which is about 4 hours drive. Got so tired and fell asleep in the car as the journey was really long and as this was the first time we met, we didn’t talk very much.

Nordlingen is even a smaller city compared to Holzminden. The town has a interesting story. It is one of the 2 towns left that is built around a wall. The circumference of the town is 30km. This is how small the town is. Long time ago, there was a meteorites that fell and created a crater on the ground. This is where Nordlingen is built and surrounding it, there are 5 gates and a really high building which is known as a “Daniel” in the middle of the town. Every night from 10pm-12am, there will be a watchman shouting something from the building. It was said that last time one of the gate was purposely left open by a traitor to allow the enemies to enter and thus this history continues till today that the watchman is shouting to alert the others from the gates. I went up to the Daniel for 2€ which is 365 stairs to climb before you reaches the top. When you go up to the tower, you will be able to see the crater and the wall built around Nordlingen. It’s a nice view!

This place is really bad as there is no internet connection in the room. To use the internet in hotel, it is chargable at 4€ for half hour. So I usually takes break to go online or stay back during lunch and have instant noodles to chat with Matthew on skype.

Training for the whole week was based on lectures on the basic principles of making emulsion. The trainees are from France (Romian), UK (Jill), Argentina (Mariano), Germany (Thomas, Benjamin, Stephanie) and Austria (Gerhard) and I am the only one from Asia Pacific. They are friendly and nice. Next week will be practical session in Braunshweig.

Learnt an interesting thing in Nordlingen… usually we clap our hand when someone finished presenting or talking, in here, they use their knuckles to knock the tables. The first time all of them did it, I was stunned. But after that I just follow. As I’m the only one that hasn’t been to Germany, so I have no idea of such culture.

Most of the nights, went out dinner with Jill, Mariano, Stephanie and Gerhard. Usually had dinner till late and never really study. Next week will be the test!!! Praying that I will score well. STRESS! Haha…

Two weeks have past… but it really seems to be slow. Missing everyone and everything back in Singapore. 3 more weeks to go!!!