Beautifully Scenic

In French, it's called Genève; in German, Genf; and in Italian, Ginevra. But watever it is called, I was in Geneva yesterday and it is beautiful. It's so much different from Basel and so much more scenic. There is much more things to see and each of them so impressive. What u are seeing in the photo is the Jet d'Eau, which is the symbol of Geneva (the logo in their tourist brochure is based on it).

The train ride to Geneva was also enjoyable, the industrial landscape of Basel and it's surrounding area gradually evolving into the beautiful and scenic view of farmland, vineyards, rivers, lakes and mountains as the train travelled via Bern and Lausanne towards Geneva.

After a week of hectic and pressurising work, it's very relaxing and de-stressing to travel along such a beautiful trail and to arrive at such a nice place. We covered all three places (Palais des Nations, Red Cross Museum and Jet d'Eau) as planned, and then some (Museum of Ceramics and Glass and Parc La Grange). There are much more places to explore, and I definitely will be back.

A Day At Work....

Hmmm... now, let's see....

>> Conc. my crude pdt by vacuum when rotovap was enough, thus wasting at least 30 mins.

>>Cos of the time wasted on vacuum, there was not enough time to run my crude pdt thru the column, thus wasting that 1 hr b4 knock-off (hey, I am more than willing to work OT, but it's Keiichi who said run the column tmrw. He's not working in the lab today, and Sarah always leaves by 4pm, so no other ppl in lab = no lab work - "For the safety" Keiichi would say).

>>Since I am running the column tmrw, the next step of the experiment is being delayed by a day.

So in conclusion, bad time management. Yes, I am lousy. I suck. Damm.....

(Oh yah, anyway, I went to France over the weekend. There's nothing much there. Very quiet. Though I ate my first ever Kabap, and it's very satisfying. Took some picture, and you can view them on my flickr album.)

From Here I Jumped

This happened on Tuesday. Melvyn and I had yet to get our keys and the rest left the house and locking the both of us inside the apartment. As we were already late for the handing over of our previous apartment to the caretaker, we have no choice but to jump.....

Triple Point

This is a backdated entry. I was suppose to put this up on Sunday, the same day I visited the triple point. Yes, it is that long pointed thing in the photo - at least that's wat I call it. It denotes the point where the borders of Switzerland, France and Germany meets.

人浮于事，三岔路口，该何去何从？

For more inspirational photos like this (or just simply photos). Please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/wuliangzi

I Haved Moved!

I received an email from the relocation company yesterday confirming that I can move out of my aprt with immediate effect and be liable for only 2 weeks of rent. This is on top of the previous piece of good news that I didn't incur any penalty for giving less than a mth notice for canceling the lease of the aprt.

So now Melvyn (my housemate) and I had moved down one level to stay with WK, Sikai, and Erhan. I rather like this arrangement. Not only will this bring down the rent each of us have to pay, having more ppl staying in the same aprt will be more interesting (Basel at night can be very boring).

Took the whole day today shifting my stuff in batches downstair to the aprt. I thot it's better this way since I had unpack quite a few of my stuff and by moving things down in batches, I am least likely to miss anything. Melvyn hasn't start shifting anything yet. Well, maybe he's the last min kinda guy.....

In between the moving, Sikai, WK and I cross the border to Germany and did some shopping. Bought a lot of stuff there, but I wonder how much cheaper are the things there compare to Basel. Took a tram home after that. Fast and smooth. Kept the ticket as a momento. My first tram ride.

Ard dinner time I finally finished moving my stuff down to the aprt. Now I had officially moved in. There are only the food stuff left on the aprt on top, but that can wait till tmrw.

The rest had got their work permit, but I had yet to receive mine. I wonder is there anything wrong? Sent an email to HR to enquire about it, but most likely they will sit on it before anything happens. That's the company's HR efficiency.

Things To Do If I Wanna....

If I wanna feel depressed: Read some blogs (and I been reading them everyday, it's lucky one of them has not been updated for months), or watch a movie like Harry Potter (please dun remind me of those younger days gone by.... wait, I dun have such a younger days.... now I am so depressed....)

If I wanna feel I am a lousy person: Do some insensitive things, such as forgetting to inform my good fren I safely arrived in Basel (even though he told me so jus b4 I left... forgotten that as well), and then ask him to do me a favour in my first email to him here (yes, I know u do support, and u dislike to be treated like that, it's really tactless and I am really sorry). There are of cos things worse than this, but seriously, let's not go there (It's not relevant now anyway). But the bottomline is, I will always be left to apologise and ask for forgiveness. Then the lingering regret, and the guilt, and the endless reminder of not repeating the same mistake again until such a time I repeat that exactly same mistake and the cycle begins again. Damm.

Frens, true frens, are very important to me. The older u get, the less of them u are left with. Better start treating them nicer. If I want ppl to treat me well, I better treat them well 1st. So if I want them to show care and concern, it better starts with myself. That also applies to... well, almost everything.

If I wanna feel simply lousy: Work in the lab. Murphy's Law in full strength. Mistakes lies await, especially jus when I thot things are smooth sailing....

If I wanna feel clueless and disorganised: Work in the lab. Wun know where to begin, where to go next, where to end. Start reactions that never complete on time. Start another reaction w/o really getting control of the flow of the previous one. Haiz.....

Another day of work tmrw. Another day in the lab. Another day of chaos. I shall work towards the day I leave the lab at the end of the day with satisfaction.

MS, TLC, HPLC and NMR. All 4 in 10 mins. The power and beauty of automation. Will it be enuff to save me?

Down By The River

Took a different path to work today. Instead of walking along Klybeckstrasse (strasse = street), I walked along the footpath beside the river.

Being a footpath means there is no traffic light to cross and I can walk straight from my place to work. Very convienent. The view is also more interesting: swans and ducks on the river Rhine, paddling against the strong current of the river, and the old classic buildings (as seen on so many TV shows featuring old world Europe) on the other side of the river. As it gets nearer to my workplace, the view got more industrial, but still, its nicer to walk along this stretch than along the quiet street lined with closed shophouses along both sides.

Went for a run along the river after work. This time I headed in the other direction, away from my workplace. The view was better. There were more old buildings (including a big catheral) on the other side, and there were a lot of people relaxing along the sidewalk, after a day of hard work. For those who seen it on TV the scene of people relaxing under a bright evening sun along the river or in the park, do not be mistaken and think it is warm. No, it's cool, even cold. I was feeling cold when I started my run. Broke my first sweat after 10 mins of running. It was only after 20mins of running that I started to feel warm. Ran for 40 min on a comfy pace. The weather here is so cool and conducive for running that I didn't feel tired and beaten until I reached my apartment. Most likely ran a longer dist than wat I did in S'pore with the same pace.

Started lab work today. Got my first product minutes after I started the reaction. Skills were so rusty, hands so stiff that Keiichi have to keep telling me the correct methods. To be fair, a lot of things in this lab are done differently from the labs in uni. Asked a lot of simple - even stupid - qns today, about things I should have known. Felt like an idiot, which is not that bad actually, cos sometimes this is the way to really learn something. But overall, things went well.

Went thru one cycle of expt today. Keiichi expect me to perform 3 cycles per day when I am fully trained. From the way things are going today, I think I can make it. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

The Things About Basel

Basel is cold. There is one morning where the temp is 9 deg, and I can see vapour forming when I breath out. There is one night when it is 5 deg. My toes are always cold. For those who cannot visualize, go to a supermarket and walk down the frozen meat dept and you will get a feel of how cold it is. But there is the sun during the day providing much need warmth, so the weather is actually quite good.

Basel is quiet. Unlike the hustle and bustle in Singapore, Basel has this quiet little town feel (it actually is a little town). It's Sunday today and most shops in the city centre is closed. Weekdays and Saturdays, most shop closed b4 7pm. People are sparsely populated and the traffic is light. Peopl drives slowly (and they always stop for u to cross). There is no loud entertainment or roadshow. It is a good place to find some peace, and if u dunno better, u will find it hard to imagine this is where two of the pharmaceutical giants are based.

I'm sure Basel have it's share of problem but I find it a really nice place, even though I had only been here for slightly less than a week. In fact, the 2nd day here I had already decided that this is a good place to work and stay. I will wanna go on about the things about Basel, but I shall keep it for later when I get to know the place a bit better. Also, most importantly, dinner is waiting, and it shall not wait any longer. So I will stop here and continue next time.

I Got What I Wanted And Jus When I Thot It's Something New

I actually wanted to write this post on my 1st day of work (which is 2 days ago), but I had been busy and occupied. So now I will jus write an extended version which includes some of the things that happened in the past few days.

Ok, so I reported to work on Wednesday. The disease area I will be working on is oncology (i.e. cancer research, for those uninitiated) which is good cos that's one of the disease area I wanted to work on (the other being neuroscience). My supervisor, Keiichi, is a Japanese, so it's very interesting: I came all the way to Switzerland to work under a Japanese sup. He's the only Japanese in the campus, so I am kinda lucky I guess. I am also "lucky" his lab is doing the toughest work (or so he said), so it's gonna be challenging. The lab have two associates (known as lab tech in s'pore): Mike is a German, while Sarah is from another part of Switzerland. Mike speaks better English, while Sarah's English is understandable, so I am lucky, so other fellow trainees have associates in their lab that dun speak English at all.

Keiichi told me that initially another lab head, Andrea (who is a smart-looking lady who speak fluent English) wanted me to be in her lab, but since she had nothing much going on in her lab the unit head (I think) decided I shall be in Keiichi's lab. That made me felt so wanted. When I stepped into Keiichi's lab, I somehow I figured out why: I saw some old "friends" like vacuum lines and combi flash column system. Then when Keiichi showed me the target molecule, I saw an old "friend" that I had not met in a long time. Now I know why....

I had not started any lab work yet. Been reading the journals given to me and did a little bit of discussion with Keiichi. Will be starting the reaction next week. Got my badge (i.e. staff card) today, so will need to start clocking hours next week too. The impression I got from Keiichi during our first meeting is that I will be working OT, which is quite OK since I am here for the experience and to learn.

Crossed the border today and didn't a bit of shopping in Germany with my housemate Melvyn. The German border is within walking distance from where I work. Things in Germany are much cheaper than in Switzerland, some of them even cheaper than in Singapore. The custom is also very lack, there is virtually no custom check and we jus simply walk through the border to Germany and back. So now I can say I had been to Germany, hehe. Maybe if I got time next week, I will cross the Swiss-France border and go to France. Maybe I will do it tmrw. See how.

OK, I had spent too much time writing this entry, so I will stop here. Update next time. Bye.

Finally Basel

So after talking about it, thinking about it for so long, after going thru several minor hiccups, and after a last minute frenzy packing, a hurried farewell, and a 16 hour flight journey (including a 2 hour stop-over at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok which looks like it's a work-in-progress and has a warehouse feel), I am finally in Basel, about to start my year long attachment training.

Basel is cold (cool actually). Wet, drizzling and lined with classic old buildings, its street looks jus like those of any European city in autumn you see on TV. Maybe it's b'cos I watched too much TV, somehow I dun feel out of place.

Got a nice fully-furnished apartment (it have internet and phone! Kitchenware too!) that's not far from where I am going to work. But the rent is very very high. Most likely my housemates and I will be moving to live with the rest of the guys (who are living one floor below us) so that we can lower the rent each of us has to pay. The gals will then take over this apartment we are staying at the moment so that we all will stay in the same building, one floor on top and below. This will be the ideal arrangement, but we'll have to meet with the housing ppl tmrw and see whether it will work out.

Yes, I am reporting for work tmrw. I dunno who my boss is going to be. No idea wat I am gonna do. But I do know that I am having jet lag now, and am very tired. So I shall stop here, go for a shower, then go to bed. Blog next time. Bye