Going home

The little boy in the grreen cap is Max! My kid whom I've been seeing the entire of this semester and half of last semester! I regret not giving him a big hug before leaving though!

This semester has been so incredibly different from the last that it almost seems as if I've been here for more than a year. And I bet next semester's gonna be a hell lot more different again! I'm a little afraid when I think about the potential differences and changes I have to go through again, such as moving out of hostel into our own (rented) apartment, which literally entails living independantly on your own, cooking and cleaning your own toilet, vaccumming the house, doing the laundry and getting groceries from swakoo supermarkets without mummy to drive you around,

I realised I'm really spoilt with what we have in Singapore. Our safe and secure neighbourhood which allows me to accidentally leave handphones in taxis and STILL get them back (unlike our SUPER FRIENDLY neighbours across the causeway), how we have bus stops walking distances away and buses which arrive at 5 minute intervals or less and not HALF AN HOUR APART. Train stations that are walkable (city hall to bugis to raffles) and not across the freaking river.

But a few things I absolutely love here is their regard for human rights and welfare. THe poster they currently have up on the buses (I'll take a shot the next time I get on one) goes somethign like this:

In 2009 837,449 passengers commuted using Queesland Transport services,
We hope you've enjoyed our service.
Please thank our drivers with a smile =)

It was really really sweet and thoughtful of the government to do something like that. Perhaps to us they're inefficient or lazy (which the aussies themselves often admit to) , but think about it, when we all turn 60 and you look in comparison at the 2 groups of people again, who has more savings? us. Who's retired? them. Who's enjoying themselves and feeling more content? THEM. I don't think it's fair to say they're slack, it's they're policies which make them knock off at 5pm and not do over-time!

A lecture a couple of weeks back on Organisational Psychology really put things into perspective. Look it up and give it a quick read, I hadn't heard of it much till I actually had the lecture. It's basically all the common sense we never really put into common use. Such as worker's satisfaction and such for the sake of the company. It's something I think we really lack. A good demonstration of organisational psyc is with companies like Apple and Google. why do they do so well and why do their employers stay? Because they're damn happy to. They even get laundry done for them sometimes!

When I go back I want a bicycle, Chiochio, bring me go buy from IMM ok? And I shall cycle home from there. (Therefore it's your job to make sure I don't get lost)

Random, heh.

I spent 1.5 hours driving to buy BRANDS chicken essence from chinatown, which is about 25 minutes drive away from hostel (not including jam) so... I got lost as usual, and it was freaking hot la. But the people here are SO helpful!! I stopped at pizza hut to ask for help, and the cook let me come into the kitchen as the delivery guy explained the route to me. haha.. then I got lost again and this time this awesome Irish uncle got me to follow his very nice BMW sports car to where I needed to go. They're just so trusting and helpful here. My dad's now extremely cynical when it comes to helping and I doubt he'd ever help anyone again because he got screwed over by this asshole of a motorcyclist last year who accused him of causing him to crash. And my dad helped him to the hospital la.

Insurance paid the freaking retard $20, 000 and my dad had to fork out another $800 and 3 month driving suspension. Now he drives something else... he drives my mum up the wall and I think she's about to crash.

I haven't posted in ages! Sorry to say but, today's post is gonna be an angsty grumpy cranky one.

wait for it...





RRRAAWWWWRRRRHGHGGAAAAAAHHHHHHUUUUBLEEHHHHH!!


Doesn't really deliver the effect I'd like, but that's the best I can give on black and white.

I haven't touched the computer in ages, I think when I go home I'll die, just a heads up, I won't have internet when I get home cos my sister's moved it to her new home. I no longer have a phoneline (I Think) and will probably be using my sister's old old line.

ahahhhhhhh!!!I donwan move house. We got an apartment you know? so exciting, feels as new as a HDB flat, which, trust me, is rare here in St Lucia because they exploit us students by making us pay sky high prices for sloppy places.

I take pitcher show you all next time.

WAh LAOOOO I REALLY WANT TO EXPLODE!!!!!

Motivation!

I've found my motivation and drive to complete my course! I hadn't realised that I had even lost it until rediscovering it on Wednesday during my tutorial with a relief tutor. This semester hasn't been the greatest academics wise (well, I've only had 2 semesteres up date so I guess I can't really do much of a comparison can I). And I was on the brink of giving up and not giving a damn about studying so hard. However Dr Libby, the tutor who took over on Wednesday reminded me once again what I was doing in this course.

I love how most of the speech path tutors here interject their seminars and lectures with little anecdotes about their clinical experience and how they've spent years and years dealing with children/adults/funny peeper. It's a very subtle yet pretty much stark reminder of what life as a speech path is really going to be like. The proffessionalism that's required of you, the mannerisms and responsibility entrusted unto you. It's not just about mugging and getting information, it's a hell lot of people skills and human interaction. THAT's why I chose this course, because I'll get to interact and 'man-handle' clients. haha, ok wrong term la..

Yay... It's nice to have drive. hopefully this zeal and passion will last over the past 6.5 weeks, and then it's home! Wah lao my mudder dun care me already, she's sooo busy with work that she never calls me anymore unless I call her to call me back, then it's a quick 5 minute conversation at most where she tells me a client is here before I can even finish my verbal diarrhoea. They sold the old house already never even tell me la, wah laoooo.. Later I go back got new cat in the house also dunno ah

Had such a hilarious weekend with paul around last week, haha, I drove so much that I think I covered the equivalent distance of going across Singapore 6 times in just over 4 days. The airport itself is abuot 50km away, Gold Coast is 65km away, and the car kept overheating. It was damn stressful though when smoke started coming out of the car, but freaking hilarious now that I think about it. haha...

Dust and more

My nose is peeling like an orange and I'm coughing up phlegm like how a persian coughs up furballs, and I'm wheezing like a chain smoker after climbing just 4 flights of stairs. All thanks to the stupid stupid dust storms over the weekend. But it's all much better now, I'm glad I didn't get a chest infection like how a number of people here did, gosh they sound like hell. It's as if I storm's perpetually brewing in their chest or something and they can cough up enough phlegm to drown the whole college.


Basically the dust storm hit once on Friday, and again on Saturday. Looks like a sepia-fied picture right? Wrong.. it's ALL DUST. I didn't realise how well the camera captured the dust until I compared it to a picture I took this morning on a clear day. It's amazing!Colour difference so cool right? Thank God I wasn't hanging my laundry out that time! See I hang my clothes! My mudder will be so proud of me. muahhaha.Once again, the dusty dusty brissy. poooi. damn gross. You can literally taste the dust. It moved from the desert up north, down to Brisbane, NSW, Sydey and back up again to us the day after.

On another random note, it's amazing how the sunsets make the muddy river look so awesome. Ain't it gorgeous?
It was awesome seeing and feeling the rugby crowd during one of the games I was there working at. I think my sentence damn jialat. Anyways, ya, it was a game between the Broncos, one of the favourite teams. All I can say is that Australians truly live up to their beer drinking traditional image!

Shinedown!

Have you ever had the luck to come across the song which you always wanted to find out the title and artist of but never got the chance to? (badly constructed sentence) I just had the wonderful fortune of discovering Shinedown, and found that a couple of their songs were songs which I were always trying to find and download but was never able to. It's like striking 4D man... Hahah




There was a little worm crawling over my anatomy practical worksheet that day, it was a really tiny fella, pretty cute. He's now unfortunately deceased because I 'accidentally' squished him after exploiting him in this short video. He was freaking puny la, like a moving comma.

Ok I'm off to see my kid at the kindy!! :D

One hellova week

It's been a craaazy week, and will continue to be for the next couple of days at least. It's amazing how much life changes when you're placed in an environment so different from what you're used to. Life as a foriegn student (yes I'm gonna talk about THAT again) is just so different from that of a local irregardless of where you are.

I managed to find a super part-time casual job! It's basically back to F&B, doing casual events as and when they come (which seems to be pretty frequent with football/rugby/ping pong/whatever ball season that's in right now) After spending more than half a year from hardcore F&B work, I must say that yesterday was the LONGEST 2 hours I've ever spent. I swear my little toe is officially dead. It was exciting, getting to work in a foreign country, because it didn't really feel like a foreign country at all. Firstly, serving ang mohs are the easiest by far. I must say that Aussies are an awesome chilled group of people, unlike us fussy, perpetually complain-y Signaporean customers. Aussies are pretty casual most of the time, and even back in singapore, I really enjoyed serving them amongst all the different foreigners. (french were a pain in the ass most times)

Secondly, all the other waitstaff were foreigners, much like singapore. Only difference was that these people were from Brazil, Africa and and not the sterotypical asian countries we assume. It was pretty interesting listening to their conversation. Finding work for them can be pretty tough, and most of them are cleaners in places such as hostels and such. (We're so used to seeing old ah-mas and ah-peks cleaning our schools and toilets, seeing people who aren't way past their retirement age was something different). Don't you think we have sucky human rights/welfare policies/principles? Many cultures frown upon making someone be at your beck and call 24/7 (maids) and being only paid $250 a month, even more would look on us with disapproval for making an old person do physically demanding tasks for only slightly more than that amount. One thing I must agree with our principal back at St Hilda's, don't think of our school cleaners as cleaners, look at them and think that they are someone's grandma or grandpa.

How did my complain-y whin-y post get turned into one about Welfare? aiyoo..

One thing awesome here is the emphasis they place on worker's welfare and rights. We all need to have a COMPULSARY half hour break, we all have insurance covering any injury, we get paid a whoooping $18/hr.

But one thing I still cannot tahan here is the shitty obscure public transport system. As much as they paid, I ended up taking a cab home for $15 cos the bloody buses/trains/ferries/cable car/helicopters/jets stopped functioning around midnight. Wah lao eh can die la, it's annoying when you're actually pretty near, but just have no way to get there.

(I want to buy a scooter!)

Tadah!!

I've discovered the wonders of Mozilla Firefox! IT makes my day because... I can now upload pictures once again! I'm just gonna spam pictures right now man. My back feels like a brick wall jsut smashed into it, which is essentially what I did yesterday when I fell splat on my back while accidentally doing a handstand. (I'd intended to do a half one, but the inertia of my heavy legs pulled my right up. oh crap.)


So.. pictures from random spaces and places. Sorry I didn't get to meet up a tonne of people during the July break, (sorry Jerome! I promise I'm gonna try out your guitar at the end of the year!) :D

Movieworld trip we made 2 days before my final exam last semester, I uploaded the wrong photo, it was suppoesd to be the one where we were 'sleeping' The person photographing this is the hugest irony in the world, he used to be from commandos and parachuted practically every week, yet he was scared out of his wits to go on the Batwing, (which is kinda like a reverse bungee only way less scarier)This shot is from the day the Malaysians put half of IH in the toilet bowl shitting and puking nasi lemak. This french guy was manning the French stall (naturally) and he was really sporting to allow me to draw a moustache on for him with the calligraphy paint, hahaha!

Strawberry season's in! Guess how much this whole bag costs? (It's about 1kg, I swear) Freakin' $5 la. Amazing eh? Too bad I don't like 'store-bellies'

We went for the EKKA, which essentially is a HUGE exhibition of practically everything, and I mean EVERYTHING (from farm animals to made-in-china-goods) held every year for a week. Wah lao the aussies even have a whole public holiday just for it la, so spoilt. Haha.. Anyways, check out the huge ass bananas man, you can see the weight at the side, its 37kg.

And you think that's big? Check this pumpkin out, it's 155kg~ Ooo Punpkin Patch babies!!

Furballs!!!! Hehheh...I know they kinda look like aliens, but they're just chicks huddling under the table lamp cos they wer freezing. Dammn cute la!!squishable... STOP THINKING ABOUT NUGGETS YOU HORRIBLE PEOPLE!

Baby coow!!! (hamburgerrrrr)

And lambchops!! Uhh wait I mean wittle wamb!! Now everyone go Awwwwwww.....

Ee why the font liddat one. This fella was damn cute la, he was like a 2 year old randomly coming up to people and unafraid of strangers. and his fur was SOOO soft!! (like a baby's bottom, heh heh)

Wah haven't blog so long.. Damn shiok la. (See, I'll never lose my Singaporean accent, not in a million years)