Week 12 | BBQ by the lake, Green screen experience & housemate's birthday

18 May 2015
The discovery of disposable picnic grill

Just the other day, I was invited by Sarah for a picnic by the lake. This is again, my first time doing something new. I've never had a BBQ by the lake. Maybe it's because in Malaysia, we don't have nice lakes or maybe it's because the sun is always blazing there and nobody wants to be BBQ-ed by the weather or it's just a hassle to set up a BBQ. Ah Europe, where you can enjoy eating on the grass (without having to fear the possibilities of being bitten by a snake, like Australia lol). This invention is genius. I'm so amazed by this, seriously. Omg, I feel so jakun now. 

Alcohol, cheese, tomato salad, eggplants, bell pepper, and some grill-ready meat. That is all we need. 

Photo credit from Sarah (on IG)



There were five of us that evening. Me, Sarah, Luca, Kari and her husband, Jakob. We started our bbq at 7.30pm but we had a problem with the griller because it wasn't enough to cook all of our meat. So, Sarah had to cycle to the nearest mini-mart to buy another griller. Emergency situation much. Lol. But yeah, we finally finished grilling and eating around 10pm (and yes, it only gets dark by this hour). I would like to take this opportunity to thank the super chef, Jakob for superior grilling and fanning performance. 

A lovely silhouette picture of Sarah with the lake

An undiscovered view. Only possible because we did not leave early. I guess the griller malfunction is a blessing in disguise. 

Ah, the gift of innovation
Yes, no kidding. I am so amazed by it, I had to run to the mini-mart the next day to search for it and then take this picture. Now, you know, don't need to thank me for educating others that it is possible to BBQ without that much hassle! No more messy clean-ups. Just chuck them away once you're done with it.
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20 May 2015
Playing with Green Screen

You can't possible know, how much trouble we had to go through for booking this studio room for filming. First of all, being a foreign exchange student puts you in the "special condition" category. Before any students can use the studio, they have to go through a security instruction session which the normal students will take during their first or second semester. Our group have 4 international students and 1 local student. So, right, only 4 of us need the instructions... but no, we can't attend them because the technician said we need a local student to babysit us even for the security instruction session. Which is kind of stupid. It's not like we don't understand English. I don't know.

Okay, I'm blabbering. Long story short. Appointment. Can't make it without a German student. Kicked out once. Tried to book again. Sarina (the local student from our group) has a very hectic schedule. Studio was fully booked for a long period of time. The only option was tomorrow during the Hochschule Sport's Day (when we were discussing about it on 19th May), 1st of June (I'm not in Germany), 1st of July (Sarah is not in Germany). Yes, everything clashes. The technician saying that he cannot promise because of train strikes. May or may not use the studio on 20th. Finally, the day has come. We made it.

Even when I tried to shortened it, it seemed like a long story. All of that for only a 4-hours session in the studio. It was kind of our fault too for not making the appointment earlier and also some miscommunication happened. Shit happened.

Tidying up the set before filming
Helena as the subject for setting up the lighting. I have to say, she is a very photogenic girl. 


And we think being a subject for filming is easy. All you have to do it stand in front and pose. For me, it isn't easy. My body was in awkward positions, I didn't know how to move, sit or even stand. I was being unnatural all the time I think. Also, the lighting, it's just blinding. Imagine staring at the camera while three or more bright lights just blasted at yer face for 2 hours straight. I'm practically half-blind during the session. 

Setting up lights again. And this is me with my funny outfit, a dress, black tights, and white socks.
I'm a trendsetter okay. 


And here are some funny shots during our experiments with the green screen. I don't know anymore. LOL. But it's kind of fun and kind of a work out too. Damn, I'm getting so lembik these days. I need to get back in track with strength training. And yet, I always say I need to do something but I ended up not taking any actions about it. Typical.

Emo... Nein.

Celebrating Raimi's Birthday

Actually that day, many things were happening. One of it was this. Celebrating one of my housemate's birthday. This is so weird for me. LOL.

Honestly, I'm not really close to all of them. I'm only more talkative with Sevda and I only talk to her more in the house. Raimi was a new guy who moved in after me. It was his birthday soon so he demanded/invited/suggested us to make a birthday party for him. I used so many verbs in the last sentence because the way he asked us is very strange. I'm not sure how I can explain this. LOL. I think it is also an effort from him to make us socialize with each other. He and Ghee always says that "We're a family here". Frankly, this is not what I call a family. HAH. I don't know what to say everytime I hear that. If I deny it, I would sound rude. So, I just ignored it.

Some how, we ended up preparing the kitchen for the birthday celebration. Ghee bought the ingredients and decorations. Sevda and me did the decorations and made tiramisu cake. It worked out. Surprisingly, Raimi was so shocked by the effort we made, and he looked like he was about to bawl out. Interesting situation.

Sevda serenading us with her guitar and her voice, Raimi was so happy he couldn't sit still, Ghee was just mesmerized by Sevda's amazing singing skills. Hahahaha

Time to blow the cake


The tiramisu did not look very pleasant but luckily it tasted very nice. I also learnt something interesting. It is always a must to look a person in the eye when you say "cheers" and proceed to clink your wine glass with the others. Else, you would seem really rude. I didn't know this until yesterday. Every time I make a "cheers", I would just look at the glasses so that I don't accidently pour it over someone and I didn't want to clink too hard on things. They are made of very fragile material you know, don't want to ruin a perfectly good glassware.


I will be away for awhile because I'm flying to London tonight! 10 days of hearing British English. I'm gonna swoon everywhere there. Hahaha. I've also heard that there are many crazy people there. Let's see how much of that is true. Will be back with a lot of pictures and more blabber of travel tales from Joey coming soon! Ciao for now

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