Monthly Archive

i didn’t go for classes today cos i’m sick.and guess what?

at 4.22pm, the school sent us an email:

Dear StudentThe storm on Tuesday night caused damage to some 70 buildings on the ANU campus.Damage ranges from relatively minor to extensive.Owing to the damage to our teaching spaces,the University will not conduct lectures, tutorials or laboratory sessions onWednesday 28 February, Thursday 1 March or Friday 2 March.

don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. fell sick because of the tutorial, and yet it’s meant to be cancelled.

that’s like telling the whole world about this at the end of today. i hope my tutorial class was cancelled, cos the tutorial preparation is part of the assessment criteria and i need every point to get a distinction.

but then, no school tomorrow! wheeeee!

i’m forcing myself to drink a half-jug of honey lemon water to ease the damn sore throat i’m having.i must be getting old - couldn’t stand the strong weather in the morning and with the attempt to finish the tutorial last night, i fell sick.

but the kiasu singaporean took all the necessary pills and hopped into bed bundled up by a warm sweater, a thick throw rug and the blanket.

now i’m fine again.

look what i killed last night!

a foreign bug! it looks gross and dangerous, doesn’t it?

i still get the creeps looking at the picture.

the best thing about living alone is you can do anything you want at anytime.and that includes having breakfast food - hot toast and tea, for supper.

cos snacks are almost non-existent due to cost-cutting measures.

but this hot supper is great in this chilly thunderstormy weather.

they’re finally here!it’s a shade of brinjal purple for the frame, the sides are dark brown and dark gray on the outside and bright red on the inside. sounds like a lot of colours eh? but they look fine i guess.

the optometrist and i both agreed heavy red frames (something like this, but in a shade of red) suited me well, but the pair that we both liked best cost like AU$50 more. so there. brinjal purple it shall be.
ha, my eyes are soooo happy to be freed from contact lenses after a week of intense and forceful wear despite the dry weather here. i shall celebrate my glasses by wearing them to school for the next two days!

but damn, my eyes look a lot small thanks to the non hi-index lenses. when i get back to singapore i swear i’ll get them changed.

and guess what again?

i’ll also be celebrating them by squinting at ally for the next couple of hours to do my readings. cos my bro helped me get my textbooks but he couldn’t pass them to me over the weekend, so he scanned the pages for me to do my readings. i realised mac display (or at least on ally) is really not as sharp. the words are blurred. should have stayed in school to use the pcs.

***

my admin head sent me an email to ask me how i was doing. a few simple sentences, but i am touched. cos i don’t think she’s the kind to send emails for correspondence and stuff, and that’s the main reason why i haven’t been contacting her through email ever since i’m here. touched by her efforts and her concern. and the one-year-old friendship we have built up over four years.

ok i admit no one will one to steal my folders, but aren’t these crabs cute?it’s been sometime since i voluntarily asked for stickers, kids i came across used to give me stickers cos they wanted to.

i asked for these from my sister. i don’t know what a capricorn like her is doing with crab stickers, but never mind, i benefit anyway.

i bet i have the cutest folders in class now! maybe they’ll bring me more friends!

i thought by coming all the way here, i can avoid some of the responsibilities and role as a middle-person. nah, it’s not that simple. geographical distance doesn’t mean anything.it still happens, it still irks me, it still hurts.

enthusiastic about school.yeah, yeah i know, the slacker business student who has a reputation for not turning up for morning classes being enthusiastic? you think i’m kidding you eh?

but it’s true. compared to the past i am more enthusiastic - paying attention in lectures, putting more effort in getting my bearings in class.

but i’m wrong.

i tell you, those kids out there are MAD. there’s this online forum which my tutor started in replacement of tutorials and we’re all supposed to participate. he posted a single question for this week, and the forum started sometime this week. there’s already 40 super long discussion threads. some are essay-length.

and they’re posting like it’s some online messaging system!

what’s wrong with these kids? don’t they have a life? do they sit there in front of the computer everyday clicking the refresh button four million times a second to see if they can contribute yet another essay?

old folks like me have trouble reading those zillions of small little words off the screen and i have to cook and do laundry and get groceries and stuff! i can’t catch up with them!

siao one leh, these kids.

someone googled my name and found my blog.i have no idea who that person is but i probably know that someone.

but if you are that mysterious someone can you please identify yourself by sms or something?

I AM DARN SCARED!

right after the previous entry comes one to worship myself.i finally got everything correct.

and for a second i held my breath and pulled out the ethernet cable from ally. another exciting two seconds while i waited for the webpage to load. and the moment of triumph came.

i know i’m a drama queen sometimes, but i can’t help it too.

and now i’m comfortably in my own room using the internet! muahahahahahaha. now it’s possible to log onto msn late at night to talk to everyone! that is, provided i’m not drained from school and that i don’t have morning classes.

but still, this is the best thing that happened to me this week, i think!

welcome me back to the world, people!

i pulled yet another stunt which not many people can achieve.i discovered on thursday, that my school fees are actually twice of what i thought it was.

i was expecting my dad to scream at me for committing such a brainless mistake, but when i called him up to tell him i need another few thousands of dollars, he didn’t even raise his voice. i don’t know or understand why he didn’t, cos if i were him, i’d definitely scream the ears off my head.

by not scolding me, he made me feel worse.

i still feel damn guilty to bringing on a sudden, drastic increase of burden on his shoulders.

it’s been a really long time since i updated and the main reasons are:1) i reset the router in an attempt to set up the wireless. i admit i’m hopeless at computer stuff. i have the passwords and everything, but i just can’t get it to work. not even when i connect it through ethernet.

2) i have been trying to get used to school stuff. the lecturers are darn serious about the readings. and my textbooks are gonna be imported from singapore. i have to zap textbooks and borrow from classmates (hopefully i can find some before the tutorials) to prepare for tutorials.

3) school internet is a pain-in-the-ass. they have surfing quotas (can you believe it?!) and by the time i manage to find a windows pc (so that i can msn), finish school housekeeping stuff on the very, very slow network, reply emails and am finally ready to log on, i can’t stay for long cos i have to rush home to prepare lunch / dinner. i don’t like to eat in school cos i fell in love with my own cooking.

JUST KIDDING.

it’s just weird eating lunch alone everyday. and it’s expensive too.

i realized how much i hate cooking for just myself. cos even when i cooked back at home (only when the parents were out gallivanting in some foreign land), i’d cook for the brother who eats like a horse. now i always overcook. there’s always so much veggies i end up eating at least four servings of veggies a day. and no, i haven’t lost weight yet.

so in an attempt to clear the food in my fridge faster and mostly out of goodwill, i cooked a dish for the adopted family. sharon (lady owner) was saying she felt guilty for me doing that cos i’m supposed to be studying hard and all that, and i went, “nah, i don’t do that kind of thing!”. as if the main reason i’m here is to cook and not study. but anyway she’s been taking really good care of me, giving me huge portions of fruits every now and then and buying everything extra i might need. so i thought it’ll be nice to give in return.

the drought here has subsided, i think. it’s been raining frequently for the past two weeks. with the gray clouds, a bit of blue skies and the beginning of sunset, this was what i saw:

a pretty blend of gray, blue and pink.

you thought i have a good view from my room eh?

just beyond my room, right at the bottom of the hill, they’re building a retirement village. i left singapore thinking it’ll be good to see the construction opposite my room at home all completed by the time i return. then i came here to see this:

beyond the perimeter of skimpy bamboos will be the ugly construction site. i must have an aura for renovation and moving. fortunately they’re in the end-stages of construction, so there’s not too much noise.

lastly, i was dressing for school the other day and i thought of a couple of years ago when i started school. remember my dressing in the first two years?

*shudders

and i do agree i’ve changed a lot since then. dressing, hair, everything.

i was wearing make-up every time i left the house, in a failed attempt to use up my make-up before i leave sg. now i don’t like seeing myself all dressed up and without make-up. so there, i’ve been wearing make-up to school too.

these are photos i took of myself a few weeks before i left sg, it’s kind of a milestone in my own timeline you know? guess i can do some compare-and-contrast thingy a few months down the road or something. or maybe not. where got money and time to shop for new stuff when i’m supposed to be erm, a poor student who studies hard?

but i’ve got new glasses though.

which, due to some screw-up, will only be ready on tuesday. will put up photos of myself in the new glasses! and because they cost a hell lot of money, i’ll be wearing them a lot more often!

oh yeah, i’ve been sleeping real early this week, when my brain isn’t ready to rest yet. so i’ve been dreaming a lot in the night. of family, friends, my old home, people i haven’t seen for ten million years, etc. etc. i guess i really miss home subconsciously, just that i’m currently happy enough not to notice it.

school started yesterday.my first seminar was held in a lecture theatre located in the building for forestry studies. i don’t even want to know why it’s held there. the place was nice and nature-like, but with no air-con or ventilation.

i arrived half an hour ahead of the scheduled time, and as the classmates came in, i was horrified. there was an bangladeshi student who came in early too, and he was waaaaay more horrified than i was. cos more than half of the class were PRC students. he had this look of pure bewilderment for a very long time. then as the rest of the class came in, there were a good mixture of colours.

there were pakistanis, bangladeshis, hong kongers, indonesians, chinese, angmohs, koreans, and i suspect i’m one of the few who solely represents a country.

i met my first singaporean classmate today. this guy who happened to sit next to me asked me if i was singaporean during the break. i swear i didn’t even utter a single word before that. do i look that singaporean or what? but he’s the very quiet kind, damn. cannot yak and rant like i usually do.

the tutorial enrolment system here is worse than STARS, and they have a site (think blackboard) which is so user-unfriendly. at times like this i really love ntu for their system.

the textbooks here cost a bomb too. like three times the cost of that in singapore. think i’ll import them from singa-land. it should still be cheaper than buying them here.

AND MY GLASSES TOO. IT COST A MEGA BOMB. and i settled for standard lenses instead of the hi-index ones i’ve had for a few years cos i’d save AU$60. the hell with it, i’ll just look like a geek with thick lenses. i really, really feel the bloody pain for this.

i scalded my scalp today.

that’s right, you didn’t read wrongly.

i scalded my scalp today.

cos while trying to rinse my hair during my shower, i turned on the hot water tap and forgot to turn on the cold water tap simultaneously. it was so bloody painful i was cursing and swearing at an audible volume. luckily the owner who was clearing the housemate’s room outside the bathroom stepped away for the moment.

then, i broke my glasses.

i wasn’t violent at all, i swear. i just took it off and one of the screws fell out and was nowhere to be found. that’s on top of dropping the glasses from more than a metre’s height and chipping it a week before i left singapore. so it means a new pair of glasses for me, i guess. darn, i don’t think they have cheap eyewear here.

on a cheerier note, the lady owner really takes good care of me. she gave me a whole bowl of watermelon and grapes during dinnertime. i do miss watermelon and i thought i wouldn’t be able to eat any for a long time, since they only sell watermelons in whole or in huge chunks. i was just looking longingly at the watermelons in the supermarket a few days ago, and there it is, a whole bowl of it!

happy chinese new year to all of you out there!!this is the first time i’m away from home for chinese new year and man, i miss the cny mood and reunion dinner and eating all the cny goodies. there’s absolutely zero cny mood here, though i had dinner with the house owner’s family.

luckily for me the extended family didn’t turn up. so it was just me and them. which wasn’t too bad.

their daughters, just a few years younger than me, were friendly and chatty, like most australians. the japanese exchange student living with them is uber cute in expressing herself.

and i realised the very fierce looking male owner is just quiet, that’s all.

it was nice not having to face the wall while having dinner alone, silently. and there was a spread of chinese food and, get this, nian gao!

it wasn’t too bad, after all.

p.s. it’s been warmer these few nights. no more sweaters for the time being!

the school must love mini coopers too.

i found this while exploring the school website and it’s gonna stay up there on the top right hand corner till the next revamp. which almost equates to forever.

their email system is terrible. the layout’s horrifying and it’s pretty antiquated. they should do something about outdated systems.

maybe that’s why they love mini coopers or something? cos it relates to their status as an antique?

my brother was asking me what i’ll busy with, so i told him i have a part-time job.

he went on to ask me what’s the job scope like, pay and working hours.

so i told him i’ll be a dishwasher from 4pm to 10pm every day.

now.

everyone can tell that i’m kidding right??

he believed me.

and for like 15 minutes we were arguing about some visa stuff and the job thingy. before he realised i was kidding him about the dishwashing.

my toes laughed so hard they turned blue black.

went to the school to enrol myself and for once, i appreciate the system in ntu. where we are automatically enrolled, we don’t have to consult course coordinators with timetable issues and everything is done online.during the enrolment i was directed left, right, centre, to different people at different places for different stages. i nearly went mad. and i’m not done with everything yet.

since it was 4pm already i decided to take life easy and do it another day. anyway i’m already enrolled, so i’m kinda safe.

and i had to rush home at 4.30pm, cos

a) it looked like it was gonna rain. rainy days are really cold days over here, i had no sweaters or umbrella. intelligently left my umbrella in sg and haven’t bought one yet.

b) i had to cook dinner. and i was hungry cos i didn’t have lunch. and see, i’m getting better everyday! no more burnt food!

all right, i know you all must be damn bored looking at the food i’m having everyday. but i haven’t been out exploring canberra, cos there’s nothing much to explore here.

oh well, till i find something more interesting then.

yeah something interesting?

i saw this woman in the library, walking around with this palm-sized flower in her hair. i thought that was weird, cos i’m not a flower-in-the-hair person. eeeek.

anyway, i was so distracted by that woman and the urgency to finish up the enrolment stuff and head home, THAT I LEFT MY SHADES BEHIND.

my new shades. which are necessary cos the sun here is really bright and it makes me squint.

how am i gonna face the outside world without a pair of shades???

ok, i shall quit the drama. new shades on the next shopping trip.

internet is indeed amazing.

from a nowt-to-do, i became employed. all thanks to the world wide web. now i’m doing some transcribing and translating work for nie in singapore and it kept me happy for the whole day. money rolling in, things to do in my spare time. what’s there to complain about?

more proof i can cook edible food:

though the spaghetti would have tasted better if it was cooked for longer. but the pre-packaged meatballs are surprisingly good!

and guess what i had for dinner: more meatballs and leftover cabbage soup from yesterday.

there’s more meatballs in the fridge. i might turn into one big meatball by the time i return home.

i’m finally connected to the world, something i gleefully announced to the whole world through emails and smses last night. which would be last evening, sg time.to unexcited people who asked me to relax. you unemotional people will never understand the thrill and pure joy involved in using the internet after one whole week of cold turkey.

thanks to the houseowners, they lent me a bright red cable which i’m using to connect to the router. this is supposed to be a wireless connection, but like the one at home, i just can’t seem to connect without the cables.

but never mind, i’ll use this till the housemate appears. then i’ll ask her stuff about the connection and try to set up.

the lady owner (sharon) approached her husband (henry) for help with my connection yesterday and man, he looks fierce and he mumbles. i’m terrified. but they’ve got this nice jap exchange student living with them, and she seems to get on fine with him. so i guess it’s a case of rama again - looks fierce and mumbles, but is fine and funny.

i’m keeping my fingers crossed.

sharon’s invited me over for cny eve dinner. i accepted, even though i’m damn scared. there’ll be henry’s family around too. gonna meet a lot of new people.

*trembles

am back from groceries shopping. the mall is a 50 min walk from my place, with uphill and downhill slopes. by the time i got there, my legs felt like cramps. sheesh. and man, the wind was so strong and cold my teeth were chattering like crazy. and i thought it’ll be fine to go out without a jacket cos of the sun. by the time i walked to the main road i was freezing. crazy weather here, and i need a lot more sweaters than what i have now, i guess. dang.at least i’ve got a well-stocked fridge, pantry and kitchen now. too well-stocked, maybe. if this kind of grocery shopping carries on, i’ll be busting my tight budget very soon.

i need time to learn eh? how the heck am i supposed to know how much food one person consumes, anyway? besides, the darn supermarkets don’t really sell food in single servings unless we’re talking about microwavable or instant food. bah, no more of that for the time being. and i can’t possible buy a quarter of a cabbage and eat that for say, four meals. it’ll kill me, i’m a person who needs variety in food!

grocery shopping and budgeting is an art in itself.

to think that the only spending i had to budget for in the past was phone bills, shopping, entertainment and socializing. now it’s a whole lot more – broadband bills, rental, multiple phone bills, groceries, miscellaneous items previously provided by home.

i might just die of starvation before i get home.

i’ve just done the ironing, cos all my clothes were vacuum packed and were crumpled beyond recognition. then i realized something. somehow, except for clothes i’m wearing at home, there are only four colours in my wardrobe – white, green, brown and black. somehow! i can’t figure it out too. i almost never wear green in the first place!

it’s definitely not an excuse to look for more clothes here, though they have pretty nice clothes at the malls here. think i gotta live with these four colours for the time being. but damn, i miss the colour-coded wardrobe i had sometime ago.

i’m munching on cherry tomatoes, cos i had a heavy breakfast, skipped lunch, am hungry and it’s too early for dinner. main point is, me! cherry tomatoes! i never got along well with tomatoes, i only liked them in pasta sauce, ketchup and sandwiches. and now, raw cherry tomatoes! still getting used to the taste of tomatoes. told you all i’m gonna be a changed person, didn’t i?

the dinner i cooked: cabbage soup with carrots and tofu, sweet and sour fish.

yeah, the black things on the fish are the chao tar parts. quit smirking.

it’s confirmed.the main reason for my depression over the past few days was due to the cramped, smelly and dark motel room with a serious lack of fresh air.

before i moved in yesterday, i threw up whatever i ate for breakfast again. despite the anti-nausea pills i took.

once i moved in, i was perfectly fine and happy again. and i got hungry. but me the kiasu singaporean decided to play safe and get another round of those anti-nausea pills just in case my theory was wrong.

so i went to the chemist and asked for those pills. apparently i needed a doctor’s prescription. so i got him to recommend substitutes. and he asked, “is this for motion sickness, or food poisoning?”

*embarrassed look: “uh…for….erm homesickness?”

he laughed at me.

but damn, this is one quick recovery without the help of drugs! now i’m happy again, i think. i am just waaaaaaiting for the ex-occupant to call up the internet company and ask for the lost password. waaaaaiting. i have this feeling she won’t get back to me cos she either forgot about this or lost my number.

she invited me upstairs for a while and i saw my housemate’s room. it was a terrible mess!! things and papers were just strewn around in the wardrobes and drawers. the way they rummaged through the mess to find the password was as if they were going through the garbage bin. i’m scared, i can be quite a clean freak, remember?

the housemate’s room has a huge built-in wardrobe all to herself. i have a sorry excuse of a wardrobe, which is actually just space under the staircase. with bare brick walls, the water heater in it, an unused clothes dryer and some other random rubbish.

the housemate’s room is carpeted. mine used to be, but they took out the carpets. now it’s tiled. and shesh, it gets REALLY cold at night (less than 20 degrees celcius on summer nights). so cold that i have to wear my adidas sweater to sleep and in the mornings. but i don’t mind, i like my adidas sweater and i miss wearing it. i’m gonna get myself a pair of bedroom slippers so that i don’t have to tap dance across the room at night.

the housemate’s room has a study nook, which is cosy and comes with more storage space. i have, like one-eighth of her storage space altogether?

the best thing is, she pays the same rent as me.

but i still quite like my room, cos i don’t have to walk one big around when i enter. and i have my own fridge and microwave and stuff in my room, so i can be really lazy and not leave my room at all, even when i’m hungry. and i don’t have to climb the stairs ten million times a day, except to use the bathroom. ha, minimized exercise and easy access to food. no prize for guessing what’s gonna happen to me when i return to singapore. (by the way, i’m back to considering if i should return in june)

pictures of my room:

the whole interior of the house is in pink. pink walls, pink bathroom, pink windowsills, pink kitchen, even the main house where the owner lives in is entirely pink. sheesh. i sure miss my blue bathroom and cream coloured house.

while going through the welcome pack the school gave out at the airport (yes, the school provides this very thoughtful service whereby they pick up new students at the airport and drop us off wherever we’re going), i came across this nice, colourful postcard.

my ally must feel so welcomed.

then i read the smaller words.

dang.

gotta run out to the mall (again, ack!) to get cooking condiments. the genius in me remembered to get meat, fish, veggies (not bad for a carnivore, eh?), fruits, bread, eggs, sauces, even kitchen towels.

but i happily forgot about salt, sugar, pepper, etc. etc.

sigh, too lazy to get to the mall. it’s such a long way off. maybe i’ll try walking there today. hahaha i almost did yesterday and gave up only because i couldn’t really figure out the directions. should have no problems today.

i had another mega breakdown yesterday and got my brother to call me. think he was a little spooked out to hear me crying over the phone. but i reached the limit and couldn’t not tell anyone in the family. i contemplated telling my dad i really, really want to go home. but i know i don’t want to take that option until i’m on the verge of total breakdown.

i cried for almost half of yesterday and made myself pretty sick. there’s just a lot of invisible stress and homesickness involved. i seriously hope i can use the internet by tomorrow or monday. but i now know what’s my limit for being alone. i used to think i have a really flexible ability to be alone for long periods of time, but this has proven that i can last like two or three days being all myself and that’s all.

according to the msian who had been through this before, i’m supposed to remind myself why i am here. i guess a main reason is i’ve always wanted to do a course overseas, just that i didn’t plan to do one alone. and that a year and a half away from my family will really allow me to rethink things, breathe and maybe appreciate them better. because i really like marketing. because i prefer studying to working and not everyone has an opportunity like this.

i’m giving myself a chance to start school before i even decide whether i can take it or not. assuming there are people i will get to know and like in school. maybe if i really, really don’t like it here, i’ll go home for the term break in june. that wouldn’t be so bad then, it’ll only be about 4 months from now. so those whom i’ve invited to visit me in Sydney, hold on to your passports and don’t make your flight bookings yet, if visiting me is the top priority in your trip.

it’s only 11.36am over here and i’ve already spent an hour just sitting on the bed doing absolutely nothing. because there’s nothing to do. nothing to watch on tv, i’ve finished watching the vcds i brought, the dvds i brought are incompatible with ally, and i’ve also finished the book i brought along.

i can’t fall asleep just yet, or i’ll stay awake in the night, which is worse than staying awake in the day. i can’t get out of here cos there’s no bus service in the weekends.

hopefully these two days in the motel room is the worst part of this trip and things get better after these two days. it’s a hell of a character building experience, if you ask me. trying to stay sane despite the crying, trying not to think about home despite the homesickness and having too much time to spare. if i were damn freaking loaded, i’ll be calling and smsing my friends now so i’m not so lonely.

but am i damn freaking loaded?

no, i am not.

i broke down yesterday and bawled big time over the phone. i just had to hear familiar voices over the phone. i was so desperate i began crying when i heard the dial tone. it felt good hearing voices i know well, but not so good when i had to hang up cos i didn’t want to bust the credit on my prepaid card.

two more days to spend in this depressing room before i move in on sunday. i swear i must be crazy to think that i can handle this all alone. actually it’s not so much of homesickness, it’s more of missing my friends. even though we met only once in a while back in singapore, at least i had the internet to communicate. at least there was always something to do, somewhere to go.

it’s so depressing i haven’t been able to eat much too. i really tried, but i threw up dinner the night before and since then, i haven’t eaten a lot of things.

ten more months to home. yeah i know it doesn’t help to countdown this way. perhaps in a few more weeks i’ll forget about this counting down. i’m keeping my fingers crossed.

hopefully by the time term starts, i’ll be happier and making new friends. and connected to the internet.

i was on the way to adjusting to the time difference, even though it’s only 3 hours’ difference, when my dad called at midnight and woke me up from sleep. that means everything went back to singapore time again. so i missed breakfast this morning and had lunch at 4pm (sg time 1pm).

sigh. i just switched the time on my laptop to the local time here. it’s not a good feeling, but then i have to live with it for the next ten months, don’t i?

went to the school today and sheesh, the campus is HUGE! and there’s some really pretty sights too. i got a ride from the motel staff who were heading there and saved myself 3 bucks for the bus ride. when they dropped me off, i had to consult the campus map immediately and even with the map, it took me lots of time to figure out the directions. what’s new? but i managed to find the places i wanted to go, the bus stop and figured out the correct direction of the bus all by myself! that’s some improvement, if you ask me.

came across two singaporeans in the campus and i stopped myself from bounding up excitedly to introduce myself, in case they think i’m crazy or something. but i think i’ll settle in a lot better if i get to know some fellow singaporeans. guess i’ll join the society for singaporean students after all, make some new friends and stop wallowing in misery.

i’m really looking forward to moving in on sunday, cos it’s so depressing staying in the motel room everyday (it’s a hassle getting to the city) alone.

i’ll be connected to the internet either with effect from monday, or wednesday. monday if i get to use the landlord / housemate’s broadband connection, wednesday if i have to wait till i’m properly enrolled and can use the connection in school.

i miss everyone.

my second day in canberra today and it wasn’t too bad after all.

my potential landlord woke me up with a call confirming the viewing session today and she drove from her house to the motel i’m staying at to pick me up, back to her house and after the viewing session, drove me to the neighbourhood mall (neighbourhood relative to australian land size, not singapore’s) after that. and she made green bean barley soup too. nice of her, eh?

the room’s huge and airy and has lots of natural lights too, which is what i like. and there’s a regular-sized fridge, microwave oven and tv in the room for the tenant’s own use. the other tenant has her own! amazing hor?

there’s a 80% chance i’ll rent this place, cos the landlord seems ok, she speaks chinese (haha, what a reason!), nice big room and bills are covered. even though the shared bathroom is on the other level. but me no brat, me can adapt and share! the rent’s steep though, i’ll have to live on a shoestring budget if i rent this place.

went to set up a bank account and explored a little too. took my first bus ride, which wasn’t so bad, if only i had figured out how things work earlier. but there’s always a first time!

and i found where all the humans were. they were spotted in the shopping malls, the bus interchanges, and main city area and on the way home after work taking buses. finally. humans.

for the record, i hate any accent that is not singaporean. the australians i met on the first plane, the motel, etc didn’t have such a strong accent probably they’re used to speaking clearly to passengers and guests from everywhere. on the domestic flight and at the bank, i nearly died trying to concentrate on what the hell they were trying to say. i’d better retune my ears fast or i’m gonna die here.

an update on the injuries i’ve inflicted on myself over the past two days: a bruise on my knee turning a beautiful shade of dark purple, a bump on my head from hitting the bunk bed really hard when i stood up, peeling cuticles and skin coming off my lips, both of which caused by the dry weather and started bleeding.

my lunch for today, which was a lot better than the microwaved food i bought from the motel’s vending machine yesterday.

people have been complaining my blog has too many words, these lazy people demand more pictures instead of words.

therefore, i present to you my final picture of the day:

xiao xiong at work!

it’s me again.

it’s not so fun after all, being alone on the first day.

there’s no signs of human life in the suburbs during the day. the drive from the airport to the motel i’m staying in right now took around 15 minutes, and in these 15 minutes, i only saw ONE pedestrian. yeah, i also saw a mum pushing a pram while i was waiting for the bus in vain. that’s all. not even a kangaroo, despite the kangaroo road signs.

i miss the hustle and bustle of city life.

ok, i know. look on the bright side, right? at least i have my friends with me. real friends with me virtually, not-so-real friends with me physically. such an irony. now let me introduce all of them, cos with the probability of meeting people being so low, i’ll probably blog a lot about these friends of mine.

back row (from left to right) : stitch, xiao pang, xiao xiong

the ones in the front have no names. the snoopy was from an ex-colleague, who only found out on friday 6pm that i’m leaving. she’s so gonna kill me.

and look, i brought something that will remind me of the bed at home. it’s my kid pillow. i don’t think it’s my baby pillow, but it has been with me for many, many years. and for a kid pillow, it’s really, really clean! no saliva stains or weird dirty colours!

and besides these, i have a box of almond cookies, which i shall start eating on the first day of cny. lovingly delivered to the airport by seah-yiyi and kx, who tricked me into telling them my transit location was at brisbane and they managed to stalk my family and i from the moment we stepped in the airport. without any of us even realizing until they popped up just before i entered the departure hall. the surprise had such a great impact i started screaming. that’s a feat you gals have achieved, since i’m not even a screamer!

but i couldn’t talk to them or my family much, cos my family was getting teary and i wanted to flee. it’s not that i’m not sad, it’s just that i don’t cry in front of them. i admit the tears welled up again when i was in the plane mass-messaging friends about my departure as promised, when i next switched on the phone and saw more than 10 messages, when i called home, and now as i’m typing this.

great, my face is now awashed with tears. anyone seen that before? i still miss home and friends. but i know i’ll be fine and remain where i am till i finish the course. for the time being, it sucks not being able to reply messages and to hang out on msn, cos the darn internet kiosk in this motel doesn’t allow msn.

hopefully by the time i put this up i’ll be all right again.

ok, enough of the soppy stuff for today.

let’s be happier! like what the sunflower weiwei bought me is.

i should be proud of myself for having found my way to canberra safely, and that i managed to lug all my luggage around during the transit flight and when disembarking from the domestic flight. the qantas lady last week lied to me. she said i didn’t have to move the luggage myself during the transit. but the qantas lady at the airport yesterday was nice. she let me bring on 5kg of excess luggage at no extra charge. and that’s excluding the carry-on luggage, which was super heavy too.

oh, oh! and i managed a flight conversation! my first ever! the quite nice Australian (who’s younger than me) was amazing. she did a transit at singapore and bought an entire carton of cigarettes for herself, and A LOT of alcohol. she was the one who directed me to the domestic terminal.

the view outside my room: burnt grass, dry trees. while the plane was landing in canberra, all i could see was a sea of brown. all the chao-tar plants dying in this drought.

ok, that’s all for now – my first day is that boring. but i promise i’ll smile and take care of myself. the way i kept forcing myself to eat a few mouthfuls of airplane food even though i seriously had no appetite. cos i’ve made a promise i’ll try to eat regular meals no matter what.

there, an act-brave smile.

i know i’ll survive. right?

5th Feb 5.07pm

i’m in canberra already. the place i’m staying at is small and smells musty, but it’s clean. and there’s air conditioning, so what else can i complain about.

gonna got out and settle banking issues, a map of the place, etc. sheesh, they’re charging me $2 for 20 mins use of internet.

forgive me if you don’t see me around in the next week or so, but that’s highly improbable.

will blog more later.

am bloated from all the good food i’ve had. it was the final dash for local food today, made possible by weiwei’s company to the nus prata place. yeah, she bought me a flower and i was terrified. i’ve always been a person who has no idea what to do with flowers. i mean, they generally look and smell nice, but what do you do with them when they start to wither? it’s such a waste to throw them away.

in less than twenty-four hours’ time i’ll be leaving for ten months. i’ve been keeping the tears away without much trouble, cos my departure has seemed unreal all this while. but today, after saying goodbye to the msian and the llama, i could feel the tears coming while i stood alone in the bus queue.

it finally hit me that i’m really, really leaving.

i think i’m quite a genius for refusing to let anyone know about my flight details. i was on the verge of crying just saying bye to the two of them. imagine the drama that will take place if most of my close friends turn up. i swear it’ll make it hard for me to leave, really.

thank you to all for spending time with me and meeting me (especially since most of you are really busy with final semester stuff or insane work schedules) before i go. for all the company in my crazy quest for local food, for the food sponsorship, for the well wishes, for the hugs, for the cards, for the gifts.

i feel loved, serious.

see you all in november this year. meanwhile, go download skype if you still want to hear my voice. and hang out on msn if you wanna catch up. check your emails for my once-in-a-blue-moon newsletters if you’ve subscribed, lol.