A New Me

Hello again!

2008-10-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

WoooHooo... this blogging thing seems so foreign to me after not touching it for AGES.. I can almost see a layer of (virtual) dust on my blog..haha.. yah right. Well well, since I am back in Singapore, I did consider changing my blog's name to singaporebabe but on 2nd thought, I decided not to cos it sounds so sleazy and I don't want to end up being one of the "infamous blogger babes" in singapore (think falling snow...). Sooo yup! I shall remain the sydney babe, also in memory of the beautiful times I had in Sydney- a place where I miss soooo much!! Really miss the bush-walking amongst true blue bushes, travelling with strange but fun ang-mos, jogging with fresh air in my lungs, empty spaces without a singe soul, grocery shopping for huge-dog-food-like cereals/mueslis and super cheap fruits (compared to spore), cooking exotic food like jamie oliver, cleaning our mossy toilet.. basically my free and independent life there.

Had a time of my life once again in Darwin, Alice Springs and Melbourne before returning to Spore. This time round I went backpacking alone and met lotsa friends from all over the world. It really made me step out of my comfort zone and I still cant believe I did all the craziest things with the crazy ang-mos.. e.g. jumping down water falls, partying at clubs, hugging and smooching just to say 'goodbye'... haha. A tour guide actually said that I am the noisest asian he ever met! I went for exciting camping trips across deserts in Darwin and Alice Springs, imagine sleeping under a million stars with many of them shooting across so frequently (till I ran out of wishes to wish for), trekking for hours across rocky moutainous ranges to be rewarded with breathtaking views and water falls to cool ourselves down.. these are moments which I will never forget man..

Well, now that I am back in Spore, I feel like a city-girl all over again! It has been almost 3 months since I started working at KK Dept of Child Development as an Occupational Therapist. I work with children with special needs such as autism, attention deficit disorders, global developmental delay and many others such as behavioural issues, etc. Work has been busy and challenging but the good thing is I look forward to it everyday! People say I am a workaholic but I think that is because I love my job! To begin with, I love playing with children and with such a supportive working environment and lovely collegues- really, what more can I ask for? I am really thankful for this great learning and working opportunity! I will be shifting to SengKang in Dec to start off another clinic there. The purpose of the Seng Kang clinic is to bring our services within the community and there will be more of these clinics built in other residential areas.

Before shifting to Seng Kang, I will be flying back to Sydney to attend my graduation with my family! I am sooo looking forward to the trip as I can't wait to share the wonderful places that I have visited with my family and to have a good rest from my busy working life in Spore. I have uploaded the Tasmania posts that I TRIED finishing in Aust.. some of them have to captions as I have long forgotten what those places are.. haha. Anyways, a picture speaks a thousands words right??

Alrighty, gonna end off here. Will TRY to update more regularly! Till then, everyone take care and keep smiling okie!! :)

Nope, this blog is not dead!

2008-05-31T16:53:00.001-07:00

Hellloooo! I am back after being MIA for so so long! Well, I did make the effort to upload the tons of Tasmania photos but just did not have the time to sit down and type in the entries- so I am forgiven eh?? Haha.. The Tassy trip was superb and I really miss that beautiful place. Now, I am looking forward to the next trip all of my lifetime- Darwin, Alice Springs and Melbourne for whole 3 weeks!! Will be going on camping trips in Darwin and Alice Springs then catching up with my friends and cousins in Melbourne. Ahhh.. just can't wait man! BUT BUT I got to complete my dreadful assignments before I play.. siggHHH. That's why I have been really busy and have no time to blog! As usual, I have soooo much to blog about. The latest thing is meeting up with my Jiu Jiu who flew over to Sydney for work. I had a really good meal and a nice time catching up with him :)

Well, here's a preview of the exciting part (days when I am not a mugger) of my life here:

Kayaking at Central Coast with Zhen!

Our high-tea surprise party for our birthday girl- Zhen!! Yup, we had the party at our balcony..

Cool right??

And my birthday karaoke outing which I enjoyed very much- even had my favourite home-baked carrot cake!
Not forgetting the multiple food parties with had and each even had a theme- korean, spanish wraps...Yum yum...

I can't believe that I will be back in almost a month's time.. I really don't wish to return to a mundane working life.. Sigghh.. Well, I better appreciate what's left of my time here and have lotsa fun!! I AM and WILL finish those toopid assignments and then have the time of life in June! Alrighty, I guess the next time that I will officially update this blog is when I am back in Spore.. cos I will be spending the rest of my time here playing!! So I will see everyone back in Spore okie!! :)

Under down-under

2008-03-28T22:45:00.000-07:00

And so our Super 6 days Tour began...

23/3/08: Port Arthur, Taman Peninsula, Richmond and Mount Wellington

John, our tour guide for the next 6 days, picked us up from our hostel and we headed down to Port Arthur Historic Site. As we all know, Australia used to house convicts from the UK and some were sent to Tasmania to be servants of the wealthy people there. Port Arthur is a prison for servants who committed crimes or disobeyed their masters. It was chosen as a prison as the area was surronded by deep waters and steep cliffs which made it very difficult for the prisoners to abscond. After 2 huge bush fires, what is left of Port Arthur now are parts of the building structures filled with sad stories. The remains of Port Arthur stood majestically on the highlands with the clear blue sky and green endless range of mountains as the back drop. I have learnt alot about the history of Tasmania and their prison system after the visit to Port Arthur.

This is the church which the "higher authorities" of the prison attended. Wanted to take a good shot but there were so many people standing around and I had no time to wait for them to move away!
These are pictures I took of Taman Peninsula and the views of the Southern Ocean, on the way back from Port Arthur. The cliffs and arch formations were beautiful! I am always amazed with how the combination of weather elements and the vulnerability of the earth can create such beautiful formations!
On the way back to Hobart, we passed by Richmond, one of the first and oldest town in Tasmania. The oldest catholic church and bridge are found there. Many of these structures were built by convicts and what is so amazinng is that the structures are so strong, lasting and intricately designed. This shows how highly skilled they were and don't forgot they did not have the tools and equipments we have today! Unfortunately, these skills have lost their value to emphasis on techonology and efficiency in today's society.

Remember our failed trip up to Mount Wellington?? Fret not! Our super nice tour guide brought us up to Mount Wellington (was not on the itinerary!) because we reached Hobart early and had some time to drive up the mountain! So nice right?? Both Wanz and I were so happy to be up there to breathe the fresh air and admire the breathtaking view of Hobart. Luck was on our side as it was sunny when we were up there and had a great view of the city!

24/3/08: Ross and Freycinet National Park

We finally left Hobart on our second day of the tour! We headed to the east side of Tasmania and our first destination is the historic rustic town of Ross. It is a town similar to Richmond and it also has a bridge built by convict labourers. John stopped by to pick up lunch- he is always dropping us off at these small towns for morning tea then he will zoom off somewhere to get lunch and pick us up again. I am always looking foward to what he is going to get for lunch! Haha...

After spending the entire morning on the van, we finally reached Freycinet National Park and I was all-so-already to do some trekking because I was really getting restless! We did the Wineglass Bay Walk which John said was easy but we ended up walking for 5 hours! John is just so unpredictable and even 'siao' at times.. he can do the craziest things like climbing up high and steep rocks, jumping in the ocean for a swim...he seem to have more fun than us sometimes.. haha.

Here is a picture of the beautiful Wineglass Bay...

With Kim from Korea and Matchiko from Japan- super nice people from our tour! Both of them have been living in Australia fore quite some time on their own.. working then travelling and experiencing life outside their own countries.. how cool is that??

We walked down to the bay and had lunch on the rocks with the beautiful view of the bay in sight. Lunch was ham and egg sandwich with some sultanna puff pastry for dessert.. Good food and good view.. what more can you ask for?
Introducing Angelo- a retired pilot from Canada who has been travelling around Australia. He and John make a good combination as both of them do the craziest things together!! He loves bird so when he found this dead penguin, he wanted to put it in his bag and bring it home! He is one happy man who loves to cook and indulge in good food. He is always whipping up delicious gourmet food while we eat our intsant food at the hostels.. haha. He did offer to cook for us but we pai seh lah.. he even has wine with his italian food! We were quite sad when he left the tour because he felt that Cradle mountain will be too cold for him.. we did miss him the next few days of the tour :)
On top of the world!!! This picture is like those kind you find in brochures and advertisments for tours.. haha.. pretty models leh...

John, being the crazy guy he is, decided to bring us up to some lighthouse which is not on the itinerary. Because the road up was rather steep, he had to detach the trailer which contained all our luggages and left it at some carpark then drive up. It was worth the drive as the view up there was really good too!!

25/03/08: St Helens, Bay of Fires, St Columba Falls and Launceston

After the tiring but fulfilling trekking yesterday, we were rewarded with beautiful views of beaches today!! As we travelled up the east coast of Tasmania, we stopped by the Bay of Fires and many other beaches. It is called Bay of Fires because the Aborigines used to burn blubber to create heat at night as it gets really cold at night during winter.

Us with Angelo, Kim, Katherine and Dorothy (Hongkong girls who are studying at Monash University)

Here is our tour group fooling around once again! Angelo took Matchiko's bag and started making funny poses.. haha.. and John just finished his dip in the sea with his red hot undies.. WooHoo

This is the first of the many series of 'jump shots' that we took throughout the trip! We became really good high jumpers after that.. haha.

On our way to St Columba's Falls, we stopped by a cheese factory for some cheese tasting! When we got off the van, we were welcomed by a strong foul smell of cow dung!! There goes our appetite for cheese man...I fell in love with the vintage cheese (cheese which is left to ferment for more than a year, just like wine, the longer the cheese is fermented, the more tasty it becomes!) but did not buy any cos it was so ex! When I returned to Sydney, I went to Woolies to look for vintage cheese and bought some to eat with my water crackers! yum yum...

We headed down to St Columba Falls where we had a nice picnic with a wide variety of food! There was so much food that we could not finish and John threw all of them away as it was the company's policy not to keep the leftovers..heart pain ah.. so wasteful!!

Took a photo with Kim as it was her last day on the tour!

We reached Launceston quite early and had the time to visit the Cataract Gorge. I was amazed at how such a beautiful natural formation can be found within a city itself.

26/03/08: The Chocolate Factory and Cradle Mountains

Under down-under

2008-03-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

In about 3 hours time, I will be flying under down-under... TASMANIA!!! I literally shed blood and sweat to complete my assignments and now I get to taste my sweeeetttt fruits of labour! Yup, will be back next saturday to a fresh pile of assignments waiting for me to chiong again... sighhh.. I soooo don't wanna return to Sydney!! Its alright, I must really take this opportunity to have fun and relax so that I will be re-charged to fight more wars ahead! Haha...drama...

Alrighty..Tassie, here I commeeeEEE!!!

Summer Break back Home

2008-03-06T02:31:00.000-08:00

Chiobu is back from Newcastle!! Haha. I had a good time working and playing hard there, will blog about it soon (ok, my definition of 'soon'= a few weeks later? months?). I know I should blog more often but like Wanz said, somehow you just lose the momentum to blog...there are just so many things to blog about that you give up altogether! Besides, I am too busy living my life to blog about it! Tsk tsk...excuses excuses ah.. chun... lazy just say lazy lah..

Okie, enough of crapping! After returning from Newcastle, I went for the Madi Gra Parade, the internationally known Lesbian and Gay Festival in Sydney. It was indeed an eye-OPENING experience! Especially for "se" people like me.. muahaha. Anyone would be amazed at how open the Australians are.. governmental and religious organisations, schools, people from all walks of life were all together at one place fighting for the rights of homosexuals! It was a good celebration of true equality and acceptance of people who are just like you and me :)

Uni has just began! Although I only have to go school on Mon, Tues and Wed, the workload this sem is rather heavy as we have many many many (did i say many?) assignments to do and they are like thousand words kind lor..I hope I have the time to travel during my long weekends! Anyway, I have busy piah-ing for a 3000 words evidence-based pratice assignment which is due 3 weeks later but I need to hand it soon cos I am flying off to Tasmania with Wanz during our Easter break! I really dread doing the assignment cos it is just so difficult and the Tasmania trip is my only motivation to BREATHE now.. seriously...

Well, like what I promised before, I would update photos of my summer holidays spent in Singapore! Here they are:

20-26th Dec 07: Family Trip to Xiamen

This trip was very meaningful to me as we returned as a family to our grandfather's hometown in China. It was literally "searching for our roots"! Met up with wonderful distant relatives whom I have never met before. But their hospitality and generousity are just so overwhelming that it made me felt like we have known each other for ages. I really want to thank the for making this trip such an unforgettable experience :)

Here are some snapshots and moments that I will not forget...

Meeting my Mum's relatives (My grandmother's younger brother!)

My father's relatives whom we live with at the village for a few days :)

Paying respects at my great grandmother's tombstone and praying at the many temples that we visited...

Visiting the schools that my grandfather helped to build... I never knew that my grandfather was such a noble man till I visited his hometown and understood how much he has contributed to the place where he will always belong to...There is just so much to learn from him, his humility, his determination, his kindness, his selflessness, his willingness to give and not asking for anything in return.. Although he does not speak much to his grandchildren, I know he loves us from the way he used to look at us so dearly with a subtle smile on his face. Indeed, his life story is like a life-long lesson to me. I am just so proud to be his granddaughter :)

The never-ending line of good food (think fresh house-farmed poultry and veg from the soil outside ur house!) that we totally indulged in! Our relatives nearly fed us 5-6 times a day- breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper. Not forgetting the 3-eggs-in-a-bowl scary experience whenever we visit relatives at their place.. its their way of welcoming us you see.. Felt like a mother hen after that.. haha.

The amazing, spectacular NDP-standard fireworks display that we lighted off right outside our house! Explosives are super duper fun to play with man!

...the breathtaking view I wake up to every morning...

..and of course, wonderful time spent as a family.. people whom I miss every minute when I am away from home :)

2nd-25th Jan 08: Temp Work!

Worked as a shipping assistant for about a month just to spend my time more productively (those who know me knows that I have an itchy butt- cant slack at home the whole day, need to move around and do something!). Well, it was a good learning experience and my colleauges were wonderful and fun to hang out with! One of them invited me to her wedding dinner when I return to Spore- so exciting! My first friend's wedding! Haha.

Gathering with Friends!

Had a nice time catching up with my OT classmates! It so felt like the old-poly-days again... Mac Trekking with Char! Thanks babe for the wonderful company :)
The yummy JB trip with Pam, Rx, Waiyin and Char.. indulged in to-die-for-fish head curry, chocolate ice-kachang, uncle's yummy-made-from-scratch laksa and many other goodies!

JC class gathering- wonderful babes and hunks whom I have not met have ages! There were loads to catch up on!
More OT gatherings!
My favourite si-da-mei-nu gatherings.. simply love these babes to bits!!! We can just sit at one place and talk for hours and hours.. time always pass so fast when I am with them... starting to miss them already!

More Family Gatherings!

Had plenty of gatherings with my family when yiyi was back..the usual popiah parties.. new year party...and also the below!

My cute little baby cousin, Emma's, one-year-old birthday!
Papa's birthday celebration :)

Although I had to give my NZ trip a miss during the summer break, I had good time catching up with my family and friends in Spore too! What is most important is that the hand surgery which I had in Spore is successful and the sensation on my right hand has returned... (only left with an ugly surgical scar which I am okie with lah...quite cool mah)

I wana say a big THANK YOU to people around me whom have shown lots of concern and supported me through this rather traumatising phase of my life...
Thank you for being there for me :)

The feeling of sand, water, coins slipping through the fingers of my right hand...

...did it feel so good before?

Thank you very very much :)

2008-02-09T04:40:00.000-08:00

Back from Adelaide! In the midst of transferring my photos to the laptop, I accidentally deleted some of them and I am so upset now...cos the photos that I lost are the more meaningful ones like the ones taken on CNY eve with Uncle, Yiyi, Dennis and Mei Jia. Arghhh... angry! :(

Now I can only seek comfort in the few photos that I have left.. I had a great time in Adelaide! It wasn't really a sightseeing kind of trip but I had a good time catching up with my relatives. I really want to thank them for not only accomodating me but pampering me with sooooo much good food! They have made me feel so welcome and at home.. I know they read my blog so,

Uncle, YiYi, Dennis and Mei Jia: Thank you very much once again! I will definitely miss you all and the peaches!! :)

Here are some photos that we took when they sent me off at the airport..was quite sad when I said goodbye to them.. now I really dread saying goodbyes at airports..cos its not a nice feeling to leave your loved ones.. Well, will update the photos and stories when I return from Newcastle. Now I gotta return to packing for my trip to Newcastle and eat more of the peaches (freshly grown from their house's peach tree!) that Uncle gave me!

Back in Sydney!

2008-02-04T00:45:00.000-08:00

I am back in Sydney and have been home alone the past few days cos Elain is in Melbourne spending CNY with her Aunt, Zhen and Sil are in Tasmania and poor Wan Ru is at some ulu, far far away town for her placement. Well, I will not be home alone anymore! Flying off to Adelaide tomorrow to spend CNY with my Aunt and her family! Will return on Sat then travel to Newcastle on Sun for my 3-weeks placement at a Mental Health hospital there. So I am gonna be busy busy the next few weeks! I wanted to blog about my summer holiday in Spore, looks like I gotta push my plans back and blog about it later!

I went into a baking frenzy on Sunday when I was home alone..haha. I spent the entire day baking tons of cookies for my aunt and my housemates. It was tiring but I really enjoyed it cos baking is just so therapeutic! Anyways, what's CNY without sinful goodies?? Here are my fruits of labour!

Swedish Thumbprint Cookie
Raisin-Walnut-Oatmeal Cookie

Return to my domesticated-self when I am back in Sydney. Can just spend the entire day grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning the house, washing clothes...I like it though! Got sense of achievement after that..haha. Gotta say bye bye to my spore princess life.. sobs...

Alrighty, will be flying to Adelaide in a few hours time. Will update soon! Here's wishing everyone XIN NIAN KUAI LE!!! :)

Guilt

2008-01-05T19:28:00.000-08:00

A moment of folly, a slip of the tongue...

...a lifetime of regrets...

Sorry...truly... I am sorry

More more updates! Post-exam fun!

2007-12-31T09:50:00.000-08:00

18th Nov 07- Badde Manors Cafe and Glebe Street Market

More photos which I was too lazy to upload the past month or so. After my exams, I had a few days free to play before I return to Singapore. On 17th Nov, I went to Manly beach and on 18th, Zhen and I had another sumptous breakfast at Badde Manors and we visited the annual Glebe Street Market. Here are the photos!

Our FAV breakfast place! a.k.a Bad Manners..

Muesli, Fruit and Yoghurt- Comes with a cute pint of milk for the muesli.. Zhen and I were very fascinated with the cute pint and colourful yoghurt and fruits! They tasted really healthy and yummy!

Here's the muesli! Boy, do I LOVE muesli!

Mediterrainean (did I spell this correctly? hee) Breakfast- consisted of fried eggs, grill haoumi cheese, brinjal, olives, pickles, focaccia bread. Not as nice as the vegeterian breakfast that we tried previously.

Us and our breakfast!

Then we strolled along Street where rows of stalls were set up...
Zhen zhen entertaining herself with the hat.. haha.

Popiah for $5?? Daylight robbery again! It was a group of chinese students who were selling it... Hmm.. next time I can consider selling ice kachang or something at like $5 too?? Since Aussies like to try new stuff and ice kachang can keep them cool during summer. Then I can earn big Aussie bucks!! Muahaha. This person was quite cool...he was looking at a person's side view and cutting the paper accordingly and he did it really well and accurate...he did not need to re-do again!

Us and Glebe.. before Zhen flew off for NZ...

17th Nov 07- Manly Beach

On a bright Saturday morning, I woke up at 6am and headed down to Manly beach all by myself! My friends wanted to go shopping but I preferred the outdoors and nature. I am in Australia afterall! I can do all the shopping that I want when I am back in Singapore. It was a fantastic 'me' day...enjoyed the sun, breeze, sand...observing what the Australians do on the beach (nude-tanning!!)...did the 10km trek from Manly beach to Spit bridge too! It did not even feel like 10km because the scenary was breathtaking...there was a gradual change in what I saw.. from the beach to sails on the sea to bush walking through a desert-like-place then a forest and many other smaller, but cosier beaches...Okie, shall let the photos do the talking!

Here's a shot of the ferry that I took to Manly beach- it departed from Circular Quay so I had a magnificant day and night view (when taking the ferry back) of the habour bridge and opera house.

Me, myself and I on the ferry!

Above are shots of the Manly Sunday markets- they are slightly different from the markets that I went previously as they sold alot of nice 'artsy' stuff. Spoke to a mother of an autistic boy who could paint very well and she was selling his art pieces at the market. They are from Malaysia and they actually heard of the Autistic Resource Centre that I was attached to in Penang! What a coincidence! When I told her that I am currently studying OT, she told me that OT has helped her son alot and that made me beamed with pride :)

This is the famous Manly beach- but there are not many MANLY men around!! What a disappointment for chiobu! Anyway, I wasn't dressed in my best (full-full-full bikini wear- think only Daph and YJ know this code..haha) to flirt with them. No wonder Australia has one of the world's highest skin cancer prevalence...there were many bodies baking under the super-duper hot and piercing sun (you know that kind which you feel can penetrate through and kill your skin cells straightaway??). Some were nude somemore! Ouch! Imagine hot sizzling, cracklling hair, hot milk and fried birdies.. Okie, this is getting too much... heh heh. Clever me forgot to bring or apply sunblock and ended up a roasted piggy at the end of the day...sigh.

A group of really young girls posing for photos- I can't even pose like them! Boy, do they grow up fast...was still wearing arena swimming costume at their age...

This father was happily burying his son who seemed very happy to be buried as well...His son was in there for quite sometime...Look! The father even had time to make a sandcastle around him...it was such a nice fatherly-sonly moment.. Awwww

Two cute old man sun tanning! How cool is that! Can you imagine two of our taxi divers basking under a sun like that? They must be thinking- siao ah le!!

After sitting around the beach for quite sometime with my delicious booze drink and lunch, I started my 10km trek with a good full stomach! Me looking all so fresh before the trekking! Below are some shots which I captured on the way...enjoy :)

Yup! This marks the end of a wonderful day at Manly beach...After typing this post, I am all looking forward to returning to Sydney for more trekking, bushwalking and exploration!! :)

OTTP Seminar

2007-12-30T19:38:00.000-08:00

15th Nov 07- OTTP Seminar

Remember the project that I mentioned in some previous posts? Well, we had our final seminar where the organisations that various groups worked with came to see our presentation on what we have achieved the past few months. Our group ZAACK (Zhenzhen, Amber, Adrian, Chun Yi, Kerrie) completed an interactive educational package for elderly refugees. We also trialled the activities that we created with two groups of elderly refugees (this was the fun part of the project!). Although the seminar was not as formal as NYP's FYP, some groups were very creative in capturing the audience attention which allowed them to understand their projects better. I am quite impressed with their creativity, something which I felt, we Singaporean students lack. Here are some photos of the seminar:

ZAACK in action
Us and the nice poster that Kerrie made

Us with our lecturers

Joan, Wan Ru and I with our lecturer's guide dog- he is really guai!!

The Singaporean OT students with our lecturers

Our version of 'XI'...

'NU'...

'AI'...

'LE'!

Elain, Zhen, me and Amber

Post Exams Celebration!

2007-12-30T09:39:00.000-08:00

15th Nov 07- Montezuma's and Andrea's House Stayover

After our exams and the seminar, Zhen and I celebrated at a Mexican restaurant with Amber. We went to Paramatta, hoping to find good food and boy were we lucky! Montezuma's is really unique as it serves authentic mexican food and has a really nice ambiance. The menu was gigantic and the fonts were so complicated and difficult to read. What is worse is when you put 3 indecisive ppl togther and it took us nearly half an hour to choose to 2 dishes! I think the waitress was quite amazed by us.. haha. Had a really fun time with Amber as we talked about our love life (not like I have got much to share now..anyway I prefer to listen to the juicy bits than share.. haha).

After the cosy dinner, Zhen and I headed for Andrea's house for our stayover. The next day, we invited Joan and Vivien over to our place for steamboat and stayover. It was our very last gathering before everyone splits up during the summer break.

Us at Paramatta!

The Mexican name of the dish is really complicated.. this is ****** something. Anyways, it is chicken coated with chocolate, tomato and coconut.. sounds disgusting right?? But it tasted oh-so-great!! Did not know such a weird combi would turn out so good! The choco and tomato were both mild and not overpowering so they blended pretty well and gave the juicy chicken a mellow sweet taste. The coconut gave the crunch and the spanish rice was similar to our malay yellow rice- found it rather hard and tasteless though.

This is some prawn dish served with spanish rice and the hot wraps (inside the tissue)! The piping hot wrap tasted really good with the prawn coated with cheesy-tomato sauce. The juicy prawns were nicely complemented with the tasty sauce which has the right blend of saltiness and sweetness.

Love the cosy woody feel of the restaurant! The colourful decos made the place so bright and cheery! =)

Zhen and I took turns to take photos with Amber who made such a great host and brought us around Paramatta. She is one sweet girl whom we love to bits!! =)

Us at Andrea's big big bungalow! She lives at the north part of Sydney where the 'better off' Australians live so the house there were definitely much nicer than what we have at Berala! The surrondings seemed so much more serene and tranquail too. Anyways, we watched DVDs throughout the night..hmm.. actually I think we slept through the night with the movie playing on the screen...haha. Here's a shot that we took when we just woke up all fresh and awake!

Above is the bread and butter pudding which I baked for the steamboat party. It was one of my rare successful baking attempts. We ate it with really superb ice cream which we bought at a really good deal! We were all so so so stuffed that night- felt like I was 9 months pregnant man. This marks the end of our Post Exams Celebration! =)

More Updates!

2007-12-30T08:41:00.000-08:00

11th Nov 2007- Walk Against Warming and Una's at Darlinghurst

More Aussie happenings which are really out dated... haha. In the midst of our exams, Zhen and I decided to try out something that can never be done in Singapore- Strikes and protests!!! We took part in Walk Against Warming, a demostration against climate change which had to be done before the elections. Each state would have a demostration in the city on the same day. Sounds cool eh?? How could we miss that!

Before we head for the demostration, we had to fill our stomachs with good brekkie of course. We headed for Una's, a German cafe famous for its big portion of delicious german food! Despite its good reviews, we were very disappointed by the quality of its food and service. I don't think we would ever go back there again..sigh.

Once again, we had to take the food-and-us-shot!

The Big breakfast was not as BIG as expected. It was salty and the saussage was dry and skinny (think straight okie)...Boohooo.. how disappointing!

This is the Chicken Schwitzel (I hope I got the spelling correct). It is a popular German kind of sandwich. This tasted pretty normal, just like a chicken sandwich.

And then the exciting and fun part comes!! Nope, we did not go for it prepared, they had ready-made posters to spare us!

Hearing the speeches before the walk...

And the walk begins!

Zhen and I looking all excited...it is our virgin experience mah..
Ohh.. Aussies really dare to make BOLD political statements..

How cool is that??

Families, people of all ages joined in the walk!
Okie, this is a random shot of Wan Ru's creative "chicken drumstick".. haha. She was craving for it so she decided to put the mince meat on the broccolli and baked it... well, it did fulfilled her craving! It was quite hilarious lah.. haha.

29th Sept 07- Tulip Festival at Bowral

2007-12-02T20:01:00.000-08:00

These are my long overdue photos! Went to the Southern Highlands which is a 3 hour train ride away and visited a town called Bowral where they had the Tulip Festival. It was a simple yet beautiful town which took pride in their annual Tulip Festival. Some houses even open their gardens to let visitors admire their gardens! Silly us forgot that it would be colder up in the highlands so we each wore a thin jacket and ended up freezing in the cold up there! Nevertheless, it was a good day away from our work and the three of us really had good soild fun entertaining ourselves throughout the day! haha.

On our way to Bowral...as usual, the kia-su me plans our route for the day!

The simple rustic town of Bowral

The entire town unites and puts in the effort to present the best of Bowral! They even decorate the dustbin with tulip prints... haha.
The tulips were everywhere!! Never saw soooo many flowers at the same place before!

The natural beauties posing with the beautiful nature

Basking in the sun because it was so so cold and windy!

The church and schools organised fairs and sold lotsa hand-made crafts and local produce. The kids enjoyed the face painting!

Our lunch at Elephant Boy Cafe which had a nice cosy ambience and good food! Their pies had huge juicy chucks of meat in them and the vege soup was sweet and refreshing.

Stopped by a famous pastry shop there and had our dessert! I had my favourite pecan pie which was the best I ever tasted! It was not too sweet like the other pecan pies that I have tried before, the pecans were huge and nicely roasted, pastry was thin and of the right texture- Ohhh.. it was heavenly! Elain had her 'ji pu sai' (one piece of shit) which was made of caramel I think. We found it really funny and cute! It just needed some flies around...haha. All in all, we were very happy with our sweet indulgence!

Then we popped by Bradmann Oval which is a landmark of Bowral as the famous Australian baseballer came from Bowral. We were so overwhelmed by the huge patch of clean green grass that we went ga-ga and started to take photos of our shadows and in funny positions. This is what happens when we Singaporeans are deprived of such huge open space..we simply go wild!!! muhahaha.

Bye Bye NZ, Hello Spore and Hand Surgery

2007-11-25T20:51:00.000-08:00

I know I have been missing for a long long time...but guess what?? I am BACK again!!! For the past month, I have been busy with exams and after exams, I was busy with playing and preparing for my trip back to Spore. And when I am back here, I was busy with my hand surgery and now I have finally settled at home and am recovering well =)

Okie, some of you may be wondering why do I need to do a hand surgery? Well, its a long long story... I had a clinical attachment at an Autism Resource Centre in Penang in May and was bitten on the wrist by my client. Why did she bite me? Well, its not because I am meaty and juicy but because she was angry with me for not allowing her to do something dangerous. Being autistic, she had difficulty expressing her anger in a socially appropriate manner so she bit me on my right wrist instead. After the incident, I experienced constant numbness and loss of sensation of my first 3 fingers and palm area. Her bite compressed my nerve and the doctor said that it would take a few months for the sensation to return. However, the recovery process was slow and another doctor in Sydney advised me to return to Spore for a surgery to release the compression on the nerve asap as any delay would compromise on my chances of full recovery which means that there is a possibility that the numbness would be permanent if I do not do anything about it soon.

I struggled with making the decision to return to Spore as it meant that I had to give up my travel plans to New Zealand and Melbourne (I have already purchased the air tixs!!). My family finally convinced me that my hand is more important than 'play'...haha. Of course I know it is! But I was living in denial lah...was really reluctant to give up the trip of my lifetime in NZ!! Sigh. Well, I have been telling myself that at least I have somewhere to go for my honeymoon in the future...hahaha.

On hindsight, I am glad to be back home celebrating christmas and new year with my family and friends. At least they would be there to support me after my surgery and all. All I am praying now is for my sensation to return and that irritating numbness to go away.

I want to have my right hand back...

I want to know how it feels like to feel the world with it again.

Photo Updates!

2007-11-08T01:40:00.000-08:00

13th Oct- Surry Hills Festival, Paddington Market

Zhen, Sil, Wan Ru and I went to the Surry Hills Festival and Paddington market on a nice Saturday morning! Paddington market is a church which transforms into a market place over the weekends and it sells manyy arty farty stuff which are pretty but expensive!! Well, here are the photos!

These are the yummy Harry's pies we had for lunch! I had the beef pie with mashed peas on the top...never knew that mashed peas tasted so so good! It was definitely worth the $4 as there were huge chunks of beef with thick brown sauce oozing out of the pie...mmmmm...mama-mia!

My beef pie with mashed peas!
Sil's chicken pie with mashed potatoes and tomato sauce!

The pies and us! (I know I look horrendous here and that is because I 'sacrificed' and volunteered to be the photographer okie...)

22nd Oct- Fish Market with Zhen

Zhen and I went to the main campus at Glebe to settle our vaccination and all for our clinical placement. We decided to drop by the fish market again to have our fish feast!! This marks the beginning of our binge eating sprees as the two of us LOVE good food and do not mind splurging on them. So we started reading this food blog on Sydney's good food and hunting down the stuff that they recommend. I will post more photos on more of our piggy experiences later! haha.

This is our grilled seafood platter with fresh salad! There were prawns, sotong, baby octopus, swordfish and the greens of course!

Looking really hungry....

Us with our grilled platter!
At the park outside University of Sydney...Nice purple flowers- spring is here!

23rd Oct- Pediatrics Seminar at Westmead Hospital

We attended a Peds seminar at Westmead hospital. We were totally impressed by the quality of the presentations and how advance their peds OT is! They really do provide a wide range of comprehensive OT services. It would be nice to have a clinical placement here because there is so much to learn! I wonder why we did not take a photo of ourselves, here are just some shots of the hospital and delicious cupcakes that we had. Btw, did I mention that their refreshments and lunch were really really good?? In Spore, we are usually served beehoon, fishballs, etc. but in an ang mo country, they serve wraps, sandwiches, cheese with water crackers, nuts, dried fruits, cakes, raw veges with dips....NICE!! Basically, the kind of food that I love lah... haha. So it became a buffet outing for us too...muhaha.

27th Oct- PDCN AGM and Breakfast with Zhen

Zhen and I volunteered to help out at the PDCN AGM again. We started the day early with a good brekkie at a cafe named Badde Manors (sounds like Bad Manners eh? haha. But the service there is actually quite bad!) along Glebe Street. We took quite a long time to decide on which cafe to invest our money in and decided on this as it has the largest crowd. Boy did we not regret out choice! The brekkie was ooooooommmppphhh!! (Dunno what kind of expression is that but I have ran out of ideas lah)

The Macchiato- we decided to be adventurous and ordered some kind of exotic-never-heard-before coffee. When it was served, we was shocked to see a super mini cup that was half filled! I could finish in a mouth lor! But it was quite pretty lah...so we started taking photos of it. Tried a sip and nearly puke cos it was super bitter- i think its something like espresso. No wonder when we told the waitress that we wanted to share this, she gave us THE look. Nevertheless, we finished it up in many many many and did I say many? sips...No more adventure for me next time.. will stick to plain old latter, mocha or cappucino...

Eggs Florentine- Poached eggs on English muffin and a bed of steamed spinach, topped with double cheese sauce, served with chad potatoes. I loved the creamy double cheese sauce! Never knew that cheese could taste so goood with eggs and spinach!

The BIG Vegan Breakfast- Roasted pumpkins, grilled tomatoes and mushroom, spinach, baked beans, avocado with bread. This was the highlight of the day! Definitely my favourite cos it has all my favourite food! Each was done with the correct amount of flavour and texture...it was simply heavenly.. ahhh... really enjoyed each mouth of it... I will definitely return for this again!!

Us and the food! We could not stop photo-whoring with the food and the waitresses were so amused with us. Anyway, we really had a slow leisurely brekkie as we enjoyed our food and talked for about 2 hours.. haha. Now we know why Aussies like to have a good big brekkie with their friends during the weekends! We wanna try other stuff on the menu as well so I guess we will be back pretty soon! After the AGM, we went to the Glebe market where I bought 2 summer dresses and a top for a good bargain of $35! Not bad sia...Hopefully I will have the guts to wear the summer dresses though.. haha. As you can see, the good brekkie and shopping made me really happy that day! =)

The Si Da Mei Nu

2007-10-23T23:18:00.000-07:00

I miss you babes...and our silly times, of course....

Grey's Anatomy Season 3

2007-10-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

In between my mugging sessions, I have been religiously watching Grey's and am finally done with it! I am now moving on to One Litre of Tears which can really make you cry one litre of tears...have been watching it with a roll of toilet roll beside me (facial tissue is too expensive here). Anyway, here is Burke's marriage vow that made me teared as well... it was sooooo orrhhhh and heartwarming... aahhhh....

To my future husband: Please read the below to me next time alright?

"Chunyi, I could promise to hold you, and to cherish you. I could promise to be there in sickness and in health. I could say till death do us part. But I won’t. Those vows are for optimistic couples, the ones full of hope. And I do not stand here on my wedding day, optimistic or full of hope. I am not optimistic. I am not hopeful. I am sure. I am steady. And I know. I am a heart man. I take them apart. I put them back together. I hold them in my hands. I … am a heart man. So this, I am sure, you are my partner, my lover, my very best friend. My heart beats for you. And on this day, the day of our wedding, I promise you this. I promise you to lay my heart in the palm of your hands. I promise you … me."

Home

2007-10-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

It's time to go home...it's time...

for one more day

2007-10-03T06:49:00.000-07:00

Just read finish Mitch Albom's latest book, For One More Day.

A simple yet rich story.

Simple story of a guy who spent one day with his mother who is a ghost.

Rich in teachings of love and appreciation.

Here are some of my favourite quotes from the book:

"The backside of a mountain is a fight against human nature. You have to care as much about yourself on the way down as you did on the way up."

"You can find something truly important in an ordinary minute."

"Secrets...they'll tear you apart." How true. Sometimes ignorance is really bliss.

On My Own

2007-09-30T04:54:00.001-07:00

27 Sept 07- Centennial Park

Decided to take a break from mugging and went to town to explore the Surry hills area and Centennial Park. It is Sydney city's biggest park! Here's snippets of my mini-adventure:

On my way to the park, I walked past rows of houses that has the the 'English' kind of feel...

Then I saw the Sydney Football Stadium! Think it must be flooding with people whenever there is game going on...
I also discovered Fox Studios!! They had those movie sets like the fake commonwealth bank and clock tower... there was a huge shopping center there with pubs, cafes and a cinema...

Then I finally reached the beautiful Centennial Park which really reminded me of Hydes Park in London..with its big ponds.. and large empty green grass patch.. I like the park's quiet and peaceful atmosphere..gives me a sense of serenity and tranquaility...I sat by the pond, basked under the sun and indugled in my sandwich and a book...what a great way to spend a nice sunny afternoon! Here are some shots of the park:

Me, my book and I by the pond!

Mid-Autumn Festival at Sydney!

2007-09-29T18:34:00.000-07:00

25th Sept 07- Celebration at Viv's place

Our second round of celebration was at Vivien's place. They kindly organised a mini-gathering and invited health sciences students from Singapore! It is ironic how we don't bother about such festivals when we are in Singapore but when we are far away from home, we make the effort to gather and celebrate these traditional chinese festivals. I guess when you are away from your comfort zone, you seek a sense of belonging and familiarity from such festivals. It also gives you the opportunity to bond and celebrate your roots with people from the same background and culture as you. I am really thankful and appreciative for the generousity of those who organised the gathering! Great job babes! =)

Oh ya! The highlight of the night was Elain meeting her childhood friend in Sydney after like 20 years?? How small can this world get man! He is here on holidays with his brother who is the boyfriend of Wendy (a PT studying here). Fate has brought them together on this festive night... Orhhh... =)

Here are some snapshots of the beautiful night...

Warmly-lit lanterns hung over laundry lines- creative eh!

Kept us warm throughout the cold night =)

What's mid-autumn festival without the mooncakes? Yum yum!

The host cutting the highlight of the night- 'bing pi' mooncakes which were really good! Had all sort of exotic flavours like green tea with macademia nut, etc. There were other yummy food like the barley dessert with beancurd skin and gingko that we cooked, fried shanghai nian-gao, almond biscuits, lao po bing and a variety of tea to sip with the food..

The lanterns and I! Does it look like I am at Chinese Garden or something? haha.

As usual, the OTs are always stationed near the food table..muahaha

Wantan and I with our lanterns

Presenting the lantern babes!

Do we look like chang-e flying to the moon??

If we do, I think no one would want us to fly back to earth..muahaha

Mid-Autumn Festival at Sydney!

2007-09-29T06:33:00.000-07:00

23rd Sept 07- Celebration at Cabramatta

Remember the chinese town which I blogged about previously? Well, we went there to join in their Mid-autumn Festival Carnival! It was such a huge thing that roads were blocked off at the main centre of Cabramatta and even saw Asians at our place heading down there on an early Sunday morning. Our main agenda of the day is to fulfill our DIM SUM craving! Amber recommended a resturant there which sells good and affordable dim sum. On our way to the restaurant, guess what we saw??

Real soild FIRE CRACKERS!!! At close proximity somemore..It was my first time witnessing fire crackers man! Singapore banns it cos its suppose to be dangerous and the only time we see it is during chinese new year with many police and barriers around it like it is some atomic bomb.. haha. It was really loud and smokey!! Nearly choked me to death and burst my ear drums so I took a photo and ran behind to catch my breath... talking about a typical 'kia-si' Singaporean...
There's the lion dance performance before the fire cracker!

Here's the DIM SUM- siew mai and some vege dumpling. Of course it was not as fantastic as those I ate in Hong Kong and Singapore but considering how deprived we have been and that we are in an ang-mo country, it was good enough to satisfy us! There was not much variety either- guess our next dim sum hunt will be at the city's chinatown! I realized how much I missed sitting around a round table at a resturant, sipping hot chinese tea, eating and talking...that's what I like about the chinese culture- all you need is a round table with good food to keep families bonded =)

Here's 2 hungry ghost at work...concentrating on their siew-mais really well...

Wantan and Zhen with their catch-of-the-day!

Joan and Sil looking pretty!

Zhen and me with the delicious chee cheong fan and carrot cake with sweet sauce!
Having a serious discussion about what mooncake to buy for the party at Vivien's place on Tuesday night...Sil trying to attract attention again... haha
Group shot before we joined in the massive crowd at the carnival!
The atmosphere was great! Balloons everywhere, people squeezing their way through the crowd, smell of delicious and familiar food drifting in the air....
They even had dragon dance performance! The poor dragon had no where to go and kept travelling up and down, squeezing in between the carnival crowd...perhaps the young boys with the dragon were feeling lost.. haha

We found chinese dessert too! But it wasn't the authentic kind, I think its the vietnamese version or something....
Guess how much is the ba-kwa? $2.50 a piece! Daylight robbery ah!!

Went to a chinese temple to pray...wanted to do a familiar sunday family thing...
since it was a sunday too! =)

Indulged in yummy vietnamese dessert- choice of 8 types of ingredients with coconut milk. The coconut milk was good and not too sweet...like the red beans which reminded me of ice-kachang!

The funfair where many people won big gigantic soft toys!

The pedophile in me (according to me brother) started to take photos of little kids on the traditional pasa-malam rides which were really old...Nevertheless they seemed to be enjoying themselves! Check out the ride above which require someone to get it started by turning it manually first... how cool is that?? haha.

Its the HOLS!

2007-09-28T06:27:00.000-07:00

21st Sept 07- Chalk-the-Walk at Prymount Bridge

Friday marked the start of our 1 week semester break! So we headed down to town to check out the Chalk-the-walk competition at Prymont Bridge. The participants of the competition are artists who use chalk to draw interesting murals on the floor of the bridge. Unfortunately, it rained the previous night so the they had to re-draw their designs again! Some were really well-drawn and meaningful...here are the artists and their works in action!

After admiring their master pieces, we headed down to Oxford street- the happening clubbing area of Sydney! I have no idea why we went there in the day..hahaha. Cos there was nothing much to see other than a few gay men walking around intimately... we sort of suspect that it is the 'gay street' of Sydney as well. Anyway, we failed our mission of searching for potential Aussie clubbing men cos we chose to go at the wrong time of the day. Such a waste for Wantan who dressed up so girly and nicely for the outing today!! (At least her good friends were there to admire the good effort put in- she walked for half a day in a pair of pumps and painful blisters! See lah... the price of vanity...muhaha)

Presenting the MEI-NU of the day...at the empty Oxford street!!!

Front Pose
Side Pose

I think we were so bored at Oxford that we started taking photos with a bed of flowers that we walked past...Presenting the FLOWER BABES (trying hard to be oh-so demure and sweet)! Wantan and Zhen trying to take a shot that require endurance and flexibility and the ability to look happy even when in discomfort....

Did not manage to find Aussie clubbing men but I found Aussie boys!!! haha.. Yup, that's me the Aussie boys and my coles bag with celery...Notice Sil behind in some funny position? Dunno what she is trying to do also.. stretching? hahaha

Bored with Oxford Street, we walked to King Cross, the red-light district of Sydney instead. Saw a lot of shops like above.. walked into one and realized how 'open' they are when it comes to selling the 'tools' for the 'activity'... they can be very creative too! haha...

Yup, that marks the end of our outing... next up is photos of our mid-autumn celebration! =)

Meeting with STARTTS

2007-09-18T05:19:00.000-07:00

17 Sept 07- STARTTS and Cabramatta

Remember the module which I shared about some entries ago? The one where we are suppose to initiate an OT-based service? Well, we had meeting with the organisation, STARTTS, again. STARTTS is a service for refugees in NSW and we are creating an educational package for the elderly refugees there. So we have been going down to STARTTS to gather feedback from them about the package that we have created so far. Have been interested in refugees here because we don't have such a group in Singapore and I feel trauma rehabilitation is an area where Occuptional therapists can potentially venture into.

Anyway, here are some photos taken with my group members! They brought us to Cabramatta after the meeting- its community are mainly Asians so it has a very Asian-feel to the town! When we stepped out of the car, it felt like we were at Chinatown. There were many vietnamese and chinese eateries around...ok! Let's the photos do the talking!

My group in school- Adrain, Kerrie, Zhen, Amber and me!

Guess what?? Amber let me drive her Land Rover to STARTTS!! Haha.. my first time driving overseas! A gigantic 4WD somemore...it was quite scary but fun! The roads are pretty similar to Singapore's except that there are many more roundabouts. The Land Rover is a really powerful car.. can accelerate very fast with just a gentle push on the accelerator!

Us trying to be funny at the entrance of STARTTS!
At the 'heartland' of Cabramatta...so chinese right??

They even have such sculptures all over...Zhen and I are both double 'gus'- born in the year of ox and our zodiac sign is tauras!
Snacking on Red Lea chicken and fries!

Us trying to look piggish with the piggy sculpture! (Opps.. I think its only me)

The shops there all look so HDB-like! Gives us a homely feeling =)

We found ba chang!!

...and durians!!

...and stacks of mooncakes!!

...and pandan-flavoured waffles!! Can you believe it??

Here's a cup of fruit shake...blend of 5 fruits...

can't remember what fruits we chose but it was quite good!

We attended the mooncake festival celebrations at Cabramatta on Sunday with Wanru, Sil and Joan. We ate dim sum on that day too! Will upload the photos soon! =)

Physical Disability Council of NSW

2007-09-18T04:55:00.000-07:00

15 Sept 07- Strategic Planning Meeting

My apologies for the lack of updates again! Have been really busy with school work. I am having my break week now which my housemates and I termed as 'homework week' and our house has turned to a 'homework camp' hahaha. Alot of work to do ah..trying to finish up soon then can go out and play over the weekends! I am planning for a day trip to a tulip festival at the southern highlands of Sydney...really need a break from all the mugging before school starts again!

Well, here are some photos which I took the last few weeks. Our lecturer asked for some volunteers to help out at the Physical Disability Council of NSW's strategic planning meeting. She wanted to give us the opportunity to sit in an organisation's strategic planning meeting where persons with physical disability come together to decide on the vision and mission of the council with the aid of a professional strategic planner. Zhen and I grabbed the opportunity! Was interested in learning about strategic planning as well as the physcial disability scene here.

Sooo.. on a sunny saturday morning, we went down to Glebe point road where the council is...

Zhen and I at the entrance of the pretty council house

The fabulous morning tea and lunch which we 'da bao' for dinner!

We bought a cup of Gloria Jeans Irish Creme coffee to go with our muffins and sandwich.. yumyum! nice heart-shape eh...

Our first cup of Gloria Jeans since we arrived!

Our auntie instincts brought us to paddy's market once again and we bought a 'duo bu' caixin which stucked out of my shopping bag and kept tickling my armpit... Zhen was so amused with it and so she decided to take a photo of me while we were waiting for the train.. haha

TA-DAH! The carriage of the train we sat on was totally empty! It was so rare ok. So 'sua-ku' us decided to photowhore in the train...nobody around so we buay pai seh to do stoopid things like that.. haha. Quite amazing huh.. an empty carriage can make us so 'HIGH'... ermm.. okie.. sounds wrong again.... hahaha

Okie, I know you must be thinking the photos you just saw are not very relevant to the meeting that I shared at the beginning of the entry. Well, did not take photos during the meeting so these are snippets of our mini-outing after the meeting. The meeting was an eye-opener for me- really inspired by the members of the council who are very passionate about advocating for the needs of persons with physical disability in NSW. Zhen and I were in charge of buying and setting up the food and all..had a very fun time buying all the expensive and super delicious sandwich, muffin and sushi!! Felt so rich when wer bought them in bulk.. each muffin is like $2.80?? So the cheapo us, gladly 'da bao' the leftovers and indulge in them for dinner!!

Well, we did not earn the good food that easily alright.. the price of it is that we have to share our reflections about the meeting during lecture!! Argghh.. don't like to do public speaking here.. will somehow do stoopid things then start to ramble in singlish.. with all the 'lahs' and 'lors' and make everyone laugh.. I must learn to present professionally man..

Sil's Birthday!

2007-09-18T01:43:00.000-07:00

10 Sept 07- Birthday Feast

Once again, we have a 3-days series birthday celebration for our next special housemate- Sil! Elain cooked mee sua for her on Friday morning, we surprised her with delicious choco molten cake when we were up at the blue mountains and the finale was the 'high class' western feast!!!

We bought good quality beefsteak (it was on quicksale... muhaha) from Woolies and red wine from the bottleshop. I followed a beef steak receipe which I found online- had an exciting time cooking the steak! Haha...it was challenging but fun!

*Dddrrrrrr...(drum roll)* *Piang!! (cymbal clash)* Presenting the feast!! Juicy, tender steak with spaghetti and brocolli; sweet and creamy pumpkin soup and red wine to top up the meal!

A close up shot of the steak!

The chefs of the day!
Chefs getting really HIGH on alcohol....and they sleep in the same room somemore.. oh no!

14 Sept 07- Appreciation Feast

To thank us for the birthday celebration, Sil cooked up a storm on Friday too!

Yummy jap style chicken chop with rice, crispy cabbage salad, corn and hot piping miso soup! I really liked the refreshing salad and the crispy-on-the-outside-tender-on-the-inside chicken chop!

Joan was invited for the yummy dinner and she stayed over for the night too! We continued the take-photo-with-guest-before-dinner tradition but this time round it was a really formal one... haha.. trying to be funny but cannot make it lah.

This is worse...trying to be cute...but turned out.. ahemm...

Yup, that marks the end of the series of birthday celebration. Really glad that the birthday girl enjoyed herself on her special day! Thanks for the wonderful dinner Sil! =)

Blue Mountains Trip- 7-9 Sept 07

2007-09-16T05:43:00.000-07:00

Day 3- Bushwalk to Wentworth Falls

On the third day, we checked out early and met our tour leader who led us through the forest and cliffs to Wentworth Falls.

A shot at the hostel on our last day. Central Blue Backpackers is quite a nice and cheap place to stay. The rooms and toilets are relatively clean. We played monopoly there! I was the banker and player who kept having to pay people money lah- was super suay throughout the game, anything that could go wrong went wrong for me. Luckily it was only a game.. haha.

So we began our fantastic walk to Wentworth falls...the view was so much better than the first day cos the weather was fine and clear. We managed to have a clear view of Jamisson Valley, trekked down to have picnic at Wentworth falls, walked under some waterfalls, climbed up again along Valley of Waters. Took many beautiful pictures along the way and I was panting throughout cos the scenery simply took my breath away...hahaha. Get it?? Ok, not very funny...enough crapping.. enjoy the photos! =)

The wonderful bushwalk marked the end of our physical training trip. Think our muscles all hypertrophied after all the walking and climbing. But it was all worth it!! The views were really good and we get to lose weight too...speaking like a true bimbo.. muahaha.

I think I will return someday to explore other more exciting bushwalk trails..I aspire to be a true blue bushwalker now...haha.

Blue Mountains Trip- 7-9 Sept 07

2007-09-16T05:22:00.001-07:00

Day 2- Jenolen Caves

We joined a day tour to the Jenolen Caves! It is one of the world's most spectacular limestone caves. It is well-preserved cos the explorers who discovered the caves understood the damaging effects humans can have on nature and emphasised the importance of protecting the caves.

Here's us on tour bus- all fresh and cheery after the good night rest!

The caves were simply breathtaking- it was like geography come alive for me! Saw the magnificant stalacites and stalagmites, recalled how limestone caves and formation are formed...saw beautiful pure crystals which were not polluted by impurities in the rainwater. The wonders of mother nature never fail to amaze me with its abilities to form such beautiful sights... I could not capture the sights on camera...you really have to be there to witness and feel its wonders =)

Blue Mountains Trip- 7-9 Sept 07

2007-09-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

Day 1- The Three Sisters, Giant Stairway, Leura Forest & Cascades, Leura Village

Took a 2 hour train ride down to the bluem mountains. Sil, the birthday girl, eating her mee sua which was cooked by Elain! She 'da bao' to eat on the train ride there. Zhen, the extra, behind her.

We checked into our hostel and began exploring the touristy areas. On our way to see the famous 3 sisters-we came across...... THE BLUE MOUNTAINS CHOCOLATE COMPANY!!! Read on the internet that they have the best hot chocolate in the world! It was really cold up in the mountains so were happy to discover the shop and practically ran towards it.

I couldn't decide between the hot choco or the ice cream (looks delicious too!). Eventually I chose to share a cup of hot choco with Zhen while the rest of them bought ice-cream (look at tan wan ru- her gigantic scoop of ice-cream and her greedy face). Boy did I not regret my choice! The hot choco was..... AHHH (with an exclaimation !)- orgasmic!!! One gulp and you really feel like you are floating to heaven... I am NOT exaggerating ok.. it was the best cup of hot choco I had in my life! Until now, I can still remember that rich choco taste and the thick liquid flowing down my throat...it was simply a moment of pure bliss- felt like I was falling in love... Ok, I think you all get my point huh.

Wan Tan and I with the gigantic koala bear- he looks miserable with us..hmmm..maybe he feels violated?

Happy with the goodies in our tummy, we trotted down to echo point to look at the 3 sisters. It was a cloudy and rainy day so the 3 sisters were covered by the clouds. We were quite disappointed with the view, especially when it began to rain!

The rain stopped and we were presented with a beautiful rainbow- can you see it (only smart people can)?

Then we began our adventure to Leura cascades along the Prince Henry Cliff Walk... All fresh and excited at the start of the walk, not knowing what awaits behind! Muahaha.

Brave Elain managed to overcome her phobia of steep stairs when descending the giant stairway. She was perspiring profusely cos of the physical and psychological stress! Well done babe- so proud of you!

We were so adventurous that we simply walked into the forest without any map, compass, etc- just armed with our lunchbox and waterbottle- and we walked and walked and walked in the cold, wet forest....trusting our instincts and sense of direction....hoping that no animal is eyeing on our juicy meat...no rapist either...ok, getting abit too drama.. Then we finally saw- Leura forest!! Walked further and saw the pretty Leura cascades too...

Because we descended the giant stairway, we had to climb up a long stretch of steps along the Leura cascades back to the highland. It was a long and strenous climb but we did it!!! Look at our silly 'YES!' faces- all brightly lit with 'sense of achievement'..haha. What's the moral of the story? Don't descend any long flight of stairs aimlessly cos you have to ascend elsewhere again! Anyway, it was all worth it cos now we have tone and sexy booties- can make people nose-bleed one ok.

After we finally reached civilisation, I realized that I badly needed the toilet. Not wanting to water the 'already wet' bushes, I practically 'chiong' across the road and knock on a high class resturant door to request to use the toilet. Seeing us all wet and unglam, the waiter took pity on us and allowed us to use the super nice toilet (it has nice-smelling hand lotion too!). Joan and Wan Tan outside the toilet- look at their 'relieved' faces! haha.

We walked to Leura village- it was like a quaint English town with shops which sell all sorts if arty farty stuff. I realized that I forgot to take a photo of it, think I was busy chomping my avocado sandwich cos my stomach was growling after the long walk. Have to fulfill my physiological needs first. But managed to take a shot of this:

Seat for bored husband-Zhen really looked bored. Wonder what was I thinking at that point of time- bored husband = sir stamford raffles? Sigh.

Long-awaited Updates!

2007-09-11T03:01:00.000-07:00

I am back from the fabulous blue mountains trip! It was really a good getaway from the mundane school life- great company and breathtaking scenary.. ahhh... Have not transferred my photos so I will update about it and Sil's birthday celebration later on. Below are the 'earlier' updates which I promised in the previous post!

31st Aug 07- 'Outing' with Project Group

I have this module which require us to propose an OT-based service to an organisation and this is my group! We had our first official meeting with the organisation at Fairfield. There's Amber and Adrian, Kerrie is missing as she had to rush off to attend a party. They are a really fun bunch to work with- always cracking jokes and teaching us the Aussie slang.. haha.

Anyway, Amber drove us there in her 4WD Land Rover- cool right?? Zhen and I was so fascinated with it lor.. so we decided to just sit at the front seat and take a photo..haha. I was like to tempted to try driving it ah...

So here we are- entertaining ourselves! Look Ma, I am driving a 4WD!! haha.. cheap thrill man.

After that, nice Amber dropped us off at Farfield town centre where Zhen and I went to do more grocery shopping- really auntified man.

2nd Sept 07- Elain's Birthday Celebration!!

Here's the wonderful steamboat spread that we surprised her with when she just returned from church! A good steamboat meal is all that is required to make us all contented- we talked and laughed over the steamboat for like 3 hours!

We also surprised her when she came out of the bathroom- with her mum and brother on Skype and a birthday cake! We sang Happy Birthday to her till she cried.. and the rest of us started to cry too! I was holding the cake and was so scared that the cake would become salty with my tears lor. It was really a heartwarming moment for all of us =)

The next day, Vivienne came over to have dinner with us! We celebrated Elain's birthday again cos we had to eat the cake which we were too full to eat the previous night (after the steamboat feast!).

The happy birthday girl with the cake that was from her mother- when I was in Singapore, her brother passed me money from her mum to buy her a cake in Sydney on her birthday. Her mother is soooo sweet right? Actually thought of such a nice surprise for her =)

Here's the mega-2kg caramel mudcake! We were all so excited to indulge in the branded cake lor but was super disappointed with it. It tasted like 'Hua-kuey'- you know the brown-sugar cake which we always use during prayer session? Yeah.. it tasted like that except that it is harder. Nevertheless, the hungry ghosts manage to gobble up the entire Hua-kuey!!

Look what we found on the kitchen table on Tuesday morning! The birthday girl surprised us with small gifts and a note to thank us for the birthday celebrations. What a sweet gesture! Glad that you enjoyed your birthday dear... especially when you are away from home.. it got to be a memorable one!! =)

Here's my pecans from Elain! Muahaha.. Can indulge in one whole packet- happiness!

I am back!

2007-09-04T05:25:00.000-07:00

My deepest apologies for disappearing for such a long time. The past few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster for me. Flew back to Singapore to attend my grandmother's funeral and then returned to Sydney a week later. Have been really busy with school work after I returned; hence the lack of updates. There are many events which I want to blog about like my short but intense trip back to Singapore, Elain's 2-consecutive-days birthday celebrations, etc. but I still don't have blogging inspiration yet...maybe I 'rested' for too long...haha. No worries mate! I am sure I will have the inspiration soon (after the blue mountains trip this weekend?)!

I would really like to thank my friends who have been concern about me after reading my entry about my grandma. Sorry for not replying to your emails! Don't worry about me alright? I have been coping well! =)

Ok, here's a sneak preview of a rare photo that I took after I returned...

TA-DAH! Its me in my moo-ti-ful PJs and a gigantic CAULIFLOWER! Bought it at Paddy's for only a dollar- can you believe it?? Super worth it right.. and its as big as my head (can't believe I am comparing my head to a cauliflower)! Yup, really proud of my good buy.

Alrighty, will upload more photos as soon as I get them from my housemates- havent been using my camera you see. Till then, pls take care everyone! =)

To My Ah Ma

2007-08-18T23:49:00.000-07:00

18-08-07

The sky in Sydney is pouring for you.

Like me, its sorry for not being there when you left.

Rest in peace ah ma.

You will be missed.

Me, myself and I at Sydney Fish Market- 16 Aug 07

2007-08-17T06:45:00.000-07:00

People have given me feedback that they enjoying reading my blog, especially the bimbotic photo-whoring entry. So to cater to popular demand, here's another bimbotic post for my dearest loyal readers:

School ended early on Thursday and I had to go to town for my weekly accupuncture session. Since I had plenty of time to spare, I headed to Sydney Fish Market to splurge on some brain food (not there I need it)- FISSSH!!! Had really good sashimi there the last time so wana satisfy my craving again.

Here's what I bought- Grilled blue-eyed cod fish from Nicholas's and fresssh sashimi from Christie's! I brought green tea in a thermos flask from home to complete my nutritious and healthy meal, smart right??

I was all ready to tuck in but the toopid seagulls kept disturbing me, they were eyeing on my juicy fish and no way am I gonna share it with them!! I was sooo irritated that I decided to scare them by banging my thermos against the table and somehow it slipped my mind that the table is metallic! So there was a loud 'BANG!' and almost everyone sitting around me turned and looked at me. They must be wondering what is this crazy girl doing- first keep taking photos of herself and then now start to bang the table?! ChioBu ah.. you never fail to get THE attention (from both the seagulls and people) leh..

Because there was only me, the codfish and the sashimi...I mean we were the only highlights of the day, I could only permutate the photos among the 3 of us. So here they are:

The Cod Fish

The Cod Fish and I

The Sashimi

The Sashimi and I- looking really happy =)

Really enjoyed this quality 'ME' day... enjoyed entertaining myself.. Muhaha

Canberra- 11 August 07

2007-08-17T05:17:00.000-07:00

Here are the photos of our day trip to Canberra! Basically we spent most of our time on the bus sleeping cos its 3 hours away from Sydney- never slept so much in the day since I arrived in Sydney! haha... Canberra is the most BORING capital I have ever been to. Always thought that capitals should be buzzing with activities and people but the entire place is like a ghost town! Rumour has it that they couldn't decide if Melbourne or Sydney should be the capital so they just build a city randomly between the two, named it Canberra and made it the capital..haha. I was so amused by the story lor.. Nevertheless, we had some fun entertaining ourselves and I really enjoyed the bus trip cos of the nice country side views and really bright stars at night =)

Australia National Museum

Zhen- My roomie!

Wan Ru and Elain- We were trying to show that we are freezing but ended up looking like.. *ahem*.. lesbians..

Sil- My housework partner!

Do we look like Felicia Chins without the yakult bottle?

I think you can tell that I was bored...was actually fascinated with Wan Ru's perky butt!! hahaha

The Parliament House

Cool right?? We can actually go in and sit! Haven't even been to Singapore's parliament house lor. That's where the Prime minister, John Howard, sits!

The War Memorial

The 5 of us- A nice finale shot before we left Canberra =)

We will be going to the Blue Mountains for 3 days 2 nights with Joan 3 weeks later, gonna trek and explore caves- I am so looking forward to it!! Ahhhh...

Happy Birthday Singapore!

2007-08-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

Celebrated our national day at the PT's place along Georges Ave. They invited the Sporean friends that they knew. It was a potluck party and everyone was suppose to bring a Sporean dish!

Here's the food table! There were many good food- beehoon, nasi goreng, burmese pork ribs (my fav!), chicken wings (Vivien's specialty), tang yuan, roti prata, brownie, egg tart and many many more!

Here's what we contributed: A fusion of beehoon and tang hoon! Thanks to the PTs who mistook the tanghoon for beehoon..and gave us the wrong packet to fry.. haha. Wan Ru was the main chef of the creation (Her Mum passed her the secret receipe)! It was one of the most popular dish in the party leh.. dun play play..

Then some of us crowd around the laptop to watch the live telecast of NDP. As it was too crowded at the living room, we decided to crowd around the food table instead and do wat we are best at- EATING! haha

Here's the OT gang, happily guarding the food table and talking crap... haha

A photo with Lina and Vivien (both PTs)! Made friends with Lina who have been studying here for like 3 years? But she is still sooo sporean, with her singlish and all...haha. She was really friendly and shared alot of travelling tips with us!

Overall, it was a nice and cosy celebration. First time seeing so many sporeans gathered at the same place ever since we arrived here. Everyone was so RED and happy! Talking..crapping.. making noise.. eating...haha

But I still miss my family's national day celebration at home!! Mummy, I wanna eat the popiah vege!!

Rocking Pancakes!

2007-08-10T06:07:00.000-07:00

5/8/07- Paddy's Market at Flemington, Pancakes on the Rocks, Botanical Gardens

Gotta make use of every weekend here to explore parts of Sydney and of course, EATTTT good food! The main part of the itenary is eating the ROCKING pancakes at the ROCKS!

Stopped by for some morning shopping at Flemington's on a nice and bright sunday morning. Bought cheap shower foam from here! (Toiletries here are like damn ex lah, limited variety too)

Then we trottted down excitedly to the Rocks and found our beloved restaurant! Well, the queue was long but that did not dampen the spirits of the hungry ghosts. We did what we do best when we wanna entertain ourselves- take photos! We also kept staring through the glass windows and look at what the people inside were eating- must survey what's popular and good mah.

Here's the leader of the hungry ghost pack- she wana chomp down the signboard as well!! This pic reminded us of Zhen Ru...look like right?? haha...we even tried to bluff Elain (who was at the toilet when we took the photo) that we met Zhen Ru..haha.

Here's the menu with pictures that can make you drool a bucket! The dessert section looks really good and we were so tempted to skip the mains. After much discussion, we finally decided to share 3 mains and 2 desserts (BEWARE: ensure that tissue is nearby in case of drooling):

This is the Mexicana Crepe! The filling was really tasty but found the crepe to be slightly soggy and oily.

Next came the Potato Au Gratin (layman term: potato pancake). This was good! Like the grilled pineapple and banana which came with it.

And the Tandoori Pizza with chutney, yoghurt, cashew nuts- nice, exoctic Indian taste!

Here's my fav of the day! Black Forest pancakes- devilish chocolatey pancakes with rich chucks of real cherrys and a scoop of chocolate ice-cream! - Yummylicious!

This one is really pretty too- Strawberry and cream! But the strawberry syrup was a tad too sweet for my liking. Loved the strawberries though!

Now you see it......

......now you don't! Yup, the hungry ghosts gobbled down the pancakes and our plates were all like this: spotless clean- we did not even spare the sauce and syrups!

The happy and very fulfilled not-so-hungry-anymore-ghosts! Although the price was slightly steep, it was overall a good meal which we feel we should indulge in every now and then. We are gona scrimp and save to have a good meal once a month. Think next month we will have dim sum at Chinatown!

Since the weather was nice and sunny, we stopped by circular quay to take some photos again...

Check this funny donkey out! Apparently there is a man on all fours inside the donkey suit..hahaha. Imagine positioning like that for hours just to earn money!! Chronic backpain ah..

Went to walk walk at botanical gardens cos we were really full..the gardens in the city was really pretty! Saw families and friends having picnic on grass patches again- they even have nice traditional picnic baskets! Wana picnic there with my sarong next time...

Alright, as you can see, the main highlight of the trip to town was the pancakes which ROCKED me! hahaha.. Went to Canberra on Sat, will try to upload the photos soon! Take care everyone =)

P/S: Shu Han, if you are reading this, thank you for your lovely card!! It was a really nice and sweet surprise! Appreciated that someone was thinking about us in Singapore.. thank you dear! =)

To My Xiao Di

2007-08-07T04:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the pic of you- Caught eating a Mac-chicken burger in a chinese resturant. Haha.

Bro ah, Mum told me that you did not do too well for your exams. Don't wanna be a naggy sis BUT must seriously start studying consistently ok..just afraid that you might not get promoted to J2. JC is not like secondary school, must be disciplined and do your tutorials if not it will be difficult to catch up when you have to mug for your exams later on. Try to balance your time well between training, music, play and school work ok? Don't let Mummy and Papa worry! You can do it!

Heard from Jie Jie that you are going for a overseas CIP trip in Dec. Wow...shocking leh.. did not know that you will want to go for such trip! haha.. I was shocked in a good way ok! I am sure it will be a very meaningful experience for you. Go with an open-mind and allow yourself to immerse in a different culture alright! Glad that you chose to spend your hols this way =)

See..I so nice, dedicated one precious post to you ok! So you better start studying hard!!

My 2nd Home- Library

2007-08-07T03:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is a redundant and really bimbotic post. Had a super long 5 hours break so I decided to go to the library (there is really nothing else to do in this campus!) and do some 'reading'. Here's what I did eventually:

1) Read 1 paragraph
2) Really POWER-ful nap for about one and a half hours (drooled slightly- manageable with a piece of tissue)
3) Read 1 sentence
4) Took out highlighter (hoping that I can focus better with it)
5) Itchy hand took the handphone beside me, admired the photos in my phone
6) Itchy hand switched phone to camera mode, turned phone around...
7) ...and started photo-whoring!!!

Yup, and of all things...I photo-whored with my highlighter.. haha.

Shall name this photo- My highlighter and I.

Can you tell how bored I was?? haha...No motivation to start piah-ing yet leh..although there are tons of projects and assignments waiting for me. The library is really a conducive place to sleep... dunno why but I can sleep really well there...haha.

Okie, will update about our weekend outing soooooon!

Bondi Babes

2007-08-02T05:02:00.000-07:00

Bondi Beach- 29th July 2007

On a bright and cheery Sunday morning, we took the train down to Bondi Junction and walked to the Bondi beach. Saw my Aussie 'ang ku kueh'- miss driving it though! After about half an hour walk, we finally see the horizon...and caught a glimpse of the beach!

We walked further in and was presented with this breathtaking coastline...

We went to the Bondi market to jalan jalan where some of us bought cheap 2nd hand books then we finally got on the beach to take photos! Saw some surfers.. manage to catch one with a girl.. chey...the rest not very hunky or good looking one leh...

Had a super nice and healthy picnic lunch by the beach! Followed the ang mo's style, just sat on the grass and chill out... Finally had my avocados!! Yum yum!

After lunch, we began our 2km coastal walk to Coogee beach.. along the way we saw many interesting things! Like teenagers mountain biking on the rocks, kids climbing trees/playing with ants in the grass, elderly playing lawn bowling, fishermen and their boats.. Hmm... these are what the Australians do during their weekends I guess...

Ohh.. they also have like swimming pools by the beach and anyone can swim there! How cool is that right? Imagine swimming by the sea... Ahhh... will go back to swim one day man! Maybe in summer...will just freeze to death now.. haha

Alrighty, presenting to you.. the BONDI BABES!!! WOoooWooo (suppose to be wolf whistle)

...and their attempt to surf on the sand! Hmm.. we are more like BONDI BIMBOS huh...Muhaha

A Parcel of Surprises!

2007-08-01T05:32:00.000-07:00

Wanted to blog about this a long time ago.. remember I said that I will be receiving a parcel from my mum? Well, here it is!! Was very excited about its arrival. Luckily Elain was around to help me carry the box up from the post office.. Thanks babe!

Yup, Mum sent by speedpost so I received it about 5days after she sent it. When I saw my mum and sis's handwriting on the paper, it suddenly gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. They felt near yet far... then I realized that I really do miss them very much =)

The box felt like it was going to burst! They must have stuffed many things inside and they really did! Cut open and felt like I was cutting something furry......it was my teddy bear!! Opps, I accidentally cut away some of its fur at the butt area...haha. Glad that mum packed it in cos i have been hugging it to sleep everynight.. feels good to be able to hug something =)

It was really a parcel of goodies- 2 sets of thermal wear, microwaveable lunchbox, bedroom slippers, facial wash... etc.. and a new jacket which mum bought! She said the jacket can tahan below zero degree cos its made of down. Mum also put in a sarong and another i-dunno-wat-is-that-furry-thingy. She said they are surprises for me.. indeed I was surprise by those funny items! haha

Here it is Mummy! The new jacket! Really like the nice shade of orange. Since it is reversible, I decided to try wearing both sides. Housemates said that I look like a popcorn when I wear the white side...they preferred the orange, me too! Wore it when we went to bondi beach.. it was so good that I felt really hot.. haha. Wore it cos the weather forecast said it would be windy mah.. and wanted to show mum that I am wearing it!

The sarong came in useful eventually- it was our picnic mat! We had picnic at bondi beach.. will update about the outing soon!

Mummy and Jie Jie, thank you very much for the parcel! Felt like it was xmas and opening a present! haha.. The stuff inside are really useful..Xie xie ni! Really miss you all too =)

Mummy: Don't be too stress at work ok? Must take care of yourself. Take some time off to watch dvds or go chinatown to eat your fish porridge. You can always call me or come online to chat too! =)

My First Jog

2007-07-26T03:51:00.000-07:00

Had no lessons today and the weather was surprisingly warm so I decided to go for a jog! So I geared up with track pants (my first time jogging in track pants!) and a T-shirt and my new nike watch that my sis gave to me as a farewell gift (Thanks jie jie, have been wearing it everyday- I am finally on time for lessons! haha). I jogged around my area cos I wanted to explore and learn about the surrondings better. I found a really big golf course near our place (thought of my dad), a soccer field (thought of my bro), baseball field (I ran one round around it to get a feel of a baseball game like in the movies.. haha) and many small parks with playgrounds!

Jogging in Aussie feels very different from Spore...You never perspire and somehow you never seem to get tired! After half an hour, I felt like I have not worked out at all so I continued running and admiring the clear blue sky. Saw some interesting houses, one with a 'shen tai' in front.. must be a chinese family. As spring is arriving, the flowers have started to bloom so I saw many different flowers as well! Roses, the christmas flowers and even the 'liu shu' that we always buy during chinese new year.

Although I did not perspire and the jog did not feel like a workout, it was very refreshing! Very different from jogging around Butterfly Ave (I still miss Butterfly Ave and our hyde park!), nice scenary and freesssshhh air!

Alrighty, my photos will be up soon! Stop procrastinating Chiobu!

Photo Updates!

2007-07-25T05:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, here it is finally! What I have been doing the past few weeks:

20 July 07- University of Sydney (Main Campus at Redfern), Glebe Point, & Blackwattle Bay

The campus is really BIG. Very different from out tiny cumberland campus at Lidcombe. It is made up of old traditional buildings as well as newer buildings. It was quite messy as many of the buildings are undergoing renovation. They have like 3 sports centres and even an indoor heated pool! Sighh.. our cumberland campus's sports centre is pathetic lor.. the gym so expensive somemore ($15o for a semester). They also have this shopping area with cafes- we gave in to our cravings and bought nice donuts from donut king! Was shiok cos the weather was cold and the donuts were HOT! There is a graffati tunnel at the campus where students can just freely spray paint on the walls- how cool is that! (Found one done by sporean students..haha) The old buildings were very majestic, reminded me of Cambridge at London. Visited a musem there as well but the exhibits were not as good as those in London. The buildings and musem reminded me the times spent in London with my mum... really enjoyed myself then.. Oh no! starting to miss my mum already!

As Glebe was very near the main campus, we decided to explore that area. It was a nice quaint place with old traditional houses. Found a flower supermarket and it was selling pretty pretty flowers! Sadly, most shops were close because the school semester has not started yet.

We walked further from Glebe to Blackwattle Bay where we admired the spectacular view of ANZEC Bridge and Sydney city itself. The photo that I took with Wan Ru is rather obscene.. can see my long johns! ahh.. haha. Anyway, we sat by the river and ate our grapes and apples, then we continued our long walk to Townhall station.

My first cooking experience in Sydney (I think in my life too)! The 5 of us take turns to cook everynight and I am the star chef (we even have names) for Fridays! Decided to use the leftover ingredients to cook tom yam soup with chinese cabbage and steam egg with mince meat. I can cook tom yam soup leh.. not bad sia...its easy! Just cut open the packet of instant paste, pour into boiling water and stir! haha. Ehh... but did some 'gong fu' one k.. like when to put in the ingredients. The fun part was the steam eggs! Due to lack of cooking utensils, I had to figure how to steam 2 bowls of it. So I steamed one traditionally in the pot while I put the other in the rice cooker. The rice cooker one refused to get steamed after an hour lor! So I was desperate and put it in the microwave instead. It became very 'holey', like a disfigured face.. haha. The traditionally steamed one was much better but still have some pimples (Mum said that I stir too hard). Not bad leh.. I trial and error with the seasoning and all and it did not turn out too bad! Cooking is fun man.. will try out more exotic dishes next time!

21st July 07- Shopping at DFO

On a bright Sat morning, we decided to go shopping! DFO is not duty free outlet but direct factory outlet ok.. just learnt that.. haha. Anyway, as usual, I did not purchase anything cos I am 'giam' (ya, everyone knows that already) and the stuff were not cheap lor. After shopping at Hong Kong, I just cant bear to buy anything there. I did take note of the potential shops that I would go to in case I need something.. etc. Btw, I shouldnt say that I am 'giam', I am thrifty ok!

22nd July- Aroma Festival at The Rocks

Aroma festival is an annual event held at The Rocks. "Coffee, tea, spices and all things nice..." Yup, that's what they sell! There were rows of stalls they sold gourmet coffee and tea for $1 and all things nice include chocos, noughats, cupcakes, cookies, rocky road, doughnuts and many other food-to-die-for! The atmosphere was great! There was jazz, middle eastern music playing in the back ground...the smell of gourmet coffee drifted in the air as almost everyone was holding a cup of coffee. It was the first time I see so many Australians together at the same place! The rocks and circular quay area were flooded with herds of people...queuing up for coffee, pushing prams with children, lovers holding hands and sharing their strawberry choco, some gobbling down and fighting over super-thick-till-u-choke hot chocolate..Oops! that's us! Yeah... we tried that and it was superb!

We also queued up for the gourmet coffee which was a tad disappointing! My cupaccino did not have the body and was slightly too milky. Zhen's machiatto was good though! Anyway, the cute italian men serving us the coffee were good enough for me...haha. Tried the chai latte too and it was nniicceee! The chai was simply heavenly and the tinge of organic soy milk was just right! Wanted to purchase a packet but it was overly priced...sighh. Oh! I also saw the turkish baklava that jie told me about! We also tried many free samples...that's us! Pure breed Sporeans! haha

Haha.. like this photo man! All things nice... including me right??

And gues what?? On the way to Chinatown to see my Doc Wei, I came across George Motel!! Daph, YJ, remember this place? We stayed here like 3 years ago.. it was a good deal cos it was cheap and had good facilities! Not bad sia.. we chose a very good location too!

Anyway, we went home after that looking forward to our long awaited good steamboat dinner. We prepared an excellent array of dishes BUT later found out that the toopid stove that we bought from Burwood was not working!! AArrgghhh... it was deppressing I tell u, after all the hopes and images of a hot and steamy boat! But that did not stop us! Using a little creativity, we shifted our chairs beside the real stove in the kitchen and had a real stove steamboat! We just throw all the dishes into the pot and boil.. not bad eh.. despite the extreme hunger, blood could still travel up to our brains. We were really like hungry ghosts lor.. ate like 4 bowl.. super shiok!!

Alrighty, this weekend is filled with activities again! Yup, it still feels like holidays to me (despite the tons of projects and assignments waiting for me)! We are going to the war place, Flemington market again, to grab our $2-for-a-box-of-apples deals! Must be fully geared up with our big bags and full stomach man. On Sun, we are heading for Bondi and Coogee beach, gona have a picnic there! WooHooo.. looking forward to beach hopping...and checking out the hot sufer dudes! *wink* Muahaha

School Life in Aussie

2007-07-24T05:25:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks felt like a holiday, can't believe that school has started!! Remember I said that the campus was really empty when we had the study prep program? It looked entirely different on the first day of school! There were many students at the campus and most of them are Australians! Expected a good mix of international students so I was surprised to see so many 'ang mos'! haha.. It was like watching a fashion show...everyone was dressed nicely even though it was winter! and I was all wrapped up like a dumpling, carrying a bagpack with a thermos flask and a water bottle in the side pockets.. haha.

During lunch time, it was even more crowded... felt like I was in the movie 'Bring it on', with all the blondes hanging around in big groups, some were basking in the sun, some couples lovey doveying in the corner.. haha. What's missing is just the cheerleaders practising on the grass patch.. haha.

Andrea introduced us to her Asian friends whom she usually hangs out with. Asians are the minority group so they usually hang out together. Its quite sad to know that they do not really mix with the Australians, except during group discussions in class. Most of the Asians are from Hong Kong, one is from Korea.

I really like the lectures here, the lecturers are very engaging and funny! The students are also not afraid to answer random questions thrown at them. The lecturers enjoy sharing their experiences with us so they have alot of stories and it doesnt feel like a lecture at all! They focus on the relevance of the content instead of the content itself so they always link the theory back to their local context which I feel is good. They are also not afraid to speak their mind about the things that they teach. Will be attending my first tutorial tomorrow.. quite excited about it!

Anyway, I watched Harry Potter today! Preferred the previous ones as they are more light-hearted and the characters were small and cute! Guess I am not a true Potter fan huh. On Sunday, we went to the Aroma Festival and it was fun! Will upload my photos soon!

Have lessons tomorrow and a four hr break in between.. Arrghh... Shall just stone and try to blend into the 'blonde' culture.. haha.

New PJs

2007-07-18T06:49:00.000-07:00

Haha..couldn't wait to show off my new PJs that i bought from Coles! Cute right the cow prints?? The shirt says 'Moo-tiful!'... really feel like a cow when wearing the pants... hopefully it will give me more milk or something.. hahaha

Anyway, it has been freezing cold here. Weather reports stated that the temperature will be below 15 degrees until Sunday. Ahhh... Thankfully my mum has sent me a parcel with thermal wear, a down jacket and many other goodies! haha... The package should keep me warm physically and at heart too.. thanks mummy! =)

Okie doks, will update more photos another day ba. Just excited about my moomoo pjs..haha

Updates!

2007-07-16T05:59:00.000-07:00

City Tour- 11 July 07

The scenary was not as breathtaking as what I saw 3 yrs ago when I backpacked with YJ and Daph. It was rainy and the weather was dark and gloomy. Nevertheless, we had a good time walking around the city, exploring nurses' walk, chinatown, the rocks, etc. These places brought back memories of our backpackin trip, especially when I see ppl climbing the sydney habour bridge! Miss my babes very much! Anyway, the 5 of us bought identical gloves but each of us has a different animal- mine is a frog! We also packed lunch to eat-on-the-go as well as save money =)

First day of Study Prep Program- 12 July 07

Began our early morning walk at 8.15am! Took about half an hr of fast-walking to reach school. Luckily we had Elain and her long legs to help us set the pace..was almost panting when we reached school! haha. I enjoyed the walk to school cos its cool and I like the serenity of our neighbourhood! Visited the PT's place as well, they have a landed house with a garden! Our campus is spacious and rather empty. Hopefully it will be buzzing with ppl when school starts!

Library Tour and Meeting Andrea- 13 July 07

Its friday the 13th! WooHoo.. luckily nothing happened..haha. Had our library tour and saw this room which is equipped with assistive technology for the physically disabled to access the library facilities as well..how cool is that? Hopefully all national libraries in Spore will have something like this in the future. We met up with Andrea and had dinner at Strathfield..ate super nice Korean food (Wanru was the bim-bim-bap mixer..haha)! Think it was our best meal since we arrived in Sydney! It was nice to meet up with her cousin and cousins' friends- was good cultural exchange! There is this Iran lady who came here to work all by herself...wonder why did she choose to leave Iran and migrate to Aust..hmm...

Flemington Market- 14th July 07

It was a AUNTIE day! Started the day by cleaning the house... never put in so much effort in cleaning a toilt before man! Scrubbed till the floor, sink, toilet bowl was sparking clean, hair-less and fur-less (zhen's sweater has been balding)! My mother would be so proud of me! haha. AFter our first major cleaning, we went to flemington market to buy a week's supply of groceries! It was about to close when we reached there so the entire place was like WAR. The stall vendors started to slash their prices and the customers reacted very quickly, just grab the freshest, pay and go. Was kinda disorientated as usual and was not 'auntie' enought to grab some gd buys! We bought like 10kg of apples for $2, 10kg of grapes for $5, 10kg of potatoes for $3..super cheap rite?? Bought many other stuff too! So we have been having fruits feast at home everyday and the grapes never seem to decrease in amount! haha.

ALrighty, will upload the photos of the sydney fish market, darling habour and paddy's market which we visited on Sunday soon! =)

Gotta wake up early to brew my chinese medicine tmr morning.. sighh.. tell ya more next time!

Shopping at Rhodes!!!

2007-07-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the delay! Too lazy to update..dead tired everytime we return to the apartment, settle down, cook dinner and all. Well, the past few days were rather fruitful. Went to Ikea on Tues to shop for the much needed quilts to brave the cold nights. Yesterday we went to the city and today we went to school for the first day of the study prep program. Here are the photos!

Ikea Shopping!

Looking at cheap $1 pails (we wanna use as dustbins) at BILO. We have officially become aunties man! Everywhere we go we will look out for the cheapest deal..haha. We discovered that BILO sells the cheapest Tim Tams, only $1.35! Talking about grocery shopping, I was buying pears at this small shop at Berela where I stay just now... I happily took my time to pick and choose my pears and ended up getting scolded by the shop keeper! He said I am taking such a long time and that I was damaging his pears..Sigh. Have to stop my auntie habits here, its a different culture. Observed another australian, he really just picked his fruits and go, he did not even choose! I think I will just stand at the side to look at the fruits and target those that I want then walk there and go straight for them in the future! haha

Elain and I fooling around with the really big brinjal! The veges here are extra large lor.. look at the 'dua-boo' leek!! Can make bowls of po-piah veges with that! And the carrots are those that bugs bunny eat! Am I easily amused? hmmm....

We finally went to Ikea after the grocery shopping and presenting the Ikea girrrrls...

Had a great lunch at Ikea. Decided to indulge in salmon cos it looks so irresistable!! We had 5 meatballs each too.. was really full after that and I was radiating internal heat...haha.

The 4 shopaholics who were ready to 'chiong' home to beautify their territory! Zhen was the winner, she only bought a pillow! Hmmm..does the photo remind you of the Robinsons' advert? "The sale worth waiting for..." haha

My new bed! New quilt and bedsheets! Love it man! So colourful...makes my day and makes me smile =) Most importantly, it keeps me really warm at night. So mummy, don't worry ok? =)

Alrighty! It's time to dive into my colourful sheets...will upload the rest of the photos another day! Take care everyone!

I am here!!!

2007-07-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

So proud of myself! Finally set up a blog to update everyone about my life in Sydney! Anyone miss me back in Sunny Spore?? haha... Must appreciate the weather in Spore man. I have to gear up with clothes everytime I go out, sleep, eat...except bathe lah. Even the house is freezing cold! Miss those days when I can just wear slippers and shorts everywhere and anywhere..haha. The Aussies say this winter is one of the coldest ever...and the rain-est! Can u imagine... cold, wet, hungry and lonely...poor me....haha. No lah, the last description is to dramatise it. Not lonely but always hungry! Think I should just stay in the kitchen, keep getting caught finding for food over there. Have been snacking on nuts and nuts...hopefully I will not turn nuts!

Fresh as veges in Sydney airport! All excited to brave the new world with my 50kg worth of baran barang. Luck was on my side, brought in all my food and illegal dvds without even getting checked! Now I can really open a mama shop here...haha.

Our new home! To our horror, there isn't any lift!! My poor friends had to carry 269kg up 4 storeys. I just stood aside and gave them moral support cos of my numb fingers. But they did it! And they were rewarded with a bowl of delicious beef noodles (see below) which we ate just right below our place!

Zhen and I chose the one with the tilam on the floor...haha cos its cosy and spacious! Wan Ru and Elain chose the doubledecker and Sil has the single bedroom.

The rest of the apartment- very spacious. Has a laundry room, nice ang mo kitchen with a counter, empty living room with a shakey coffee table, dining area, a huge huge balcony...

Then we explored our surrondings...the street that we live on, the nearest railway station, the shops- they have a dvd rental shop!! 3 movies for $8, think I download better..haha. It is like a ghost town, with empty streets and closed shops...the only shops open are the mini asian supermarkets. No more heartland malls!

We walked to the nearest mall at Auburn. It was an hour walk under the rain and when we see the mall we were super happy! haha... Finally found woolies and coles and BIG W! Bought food to cook for dinner, wanted to buy quilts but they were so ex! The apples were cheap though, bought like 8 big ones for $1.5 only...felt so xing fu after that...haha.

4 of us cooked 2 dishes while Sil cleaned the house. Menu for dinner: Nice ABC soup and fresh brocoli with oyster sauce. Simple but cosy meal after a long day =)

Alrighty! Will update more of my sydney happenings again! Meanwhile, don't miss chiobu k?