Transitions (M205 IMU convo mag)

Hehe, no this is not about the mag. Just wanted to put down some thoughts about starting at uni. It's different here. I expected clinical school, but like I keep explaining to those who I talked to on MSN, it's like a midway between theory and clinical. We have lectures, tutorials, and a few scheduled sessions at the wards. A bit disappointing, but I guess a year of revision can't hurt. After all today I learnt a lot from the nursery session I had this morning. Like how I must eat breakfast before going to wards. And sleep well. So that I don't go plop on the floor like I did, and cause a scene. Hehe. Well, I did learn a lot about premature babies, and it was very interesting. So at least there's a consolation. Anyways, I'm super tired. Gonna zzz soon. Sorry this is so short, it was obligatory, I wasn't really in the mood. Some other time? Ciao

New places: Sydney and Adelaide

SYDNEY CITY

No explanation needed right?

UNSW Campus, MY BUILDING.

Hehe.








Left:
Gigantic chess board at Hyde Park,
a retreat in the city.
Wanted to snap the guy's legs to
show how big the pieces were.

Below left: St Mary's Cathedral opposite Hyde
Park

Below right: Close up of the entrance













































Queen Victoria Building. Amazing stained glass.

Built 1898, restored 1986.

ADELAIDE

Glenelg - I really liked this place. Beach, sand, sun, Wendy's ice cream and extremely cold water. Oh, and great fish and chips. Which we ate on the lawn, under the shade. Mmm.





Lunch with Manda and Eve on Rundle Street.

More pizza.





Below: Beerenberg Strawberry Farm, too bad for
the horrible weather.
Below times 2: Like the sign says. Small German town.





































Gigantic lolly.. who can finish?

Below: In German Arms Hotel with random guy named
Mark.



















Right: with a kangaroo. So many of them just sitting under trees.




Gargantuan pelican.













Wallaby, smaller than a kangaroo and extremely shy. This one has a joey in her pouch, if you can spot the two little legs sticking out.


This is it for now. It took ages to load these pics and I don't want it to disappear or I'll scream.
More pics of the northern lights at Adelaide North Terrace to come.
And more about Sydney.
Tata.

Escapades

I feel like a stubborn teen. These few days shouldn't just come and go, just because I don't want them to. I want to whine and kick up a fuss, insisting that I don't have to go to 'school'. Not yet. But on the other hand, I shouldn't be the one complaining. After all, my break lasted so much longer than all the others. Even the friends in Seremban have started before me. And here I am in Adelaide, blogging about not wanting it to be over.

Let's just get to the holiday report. We've tried to cram as much into the week I'm here, and still there's more to see. Adelaide may be boring, but a week is not enough. I liked Glenelg, the beach with the superb fish and chips (supposedly Adelaide's finest). The shopfronts along the street were charming and swarming with people (i was beginning to wonder why people here didn't have to work on a Thursday). One Wendy's icecream, one pizza from Mamma Carmella, mmmm. And the weather! Hot sun bearing down, and freezing cold water in contrast.

Friday was spent at the 'now famous' Rundle Mall, an open concept mall. Which basically means you're walking along a street with shops on both sides and no cars. Sort of like Kuching's India Street. Excepting the 'aquas'. Lunch with Eve and Manda was great, we shared a pizza (again!). I was really glad we got to catch up like that. Hopefully in the next 2 days I'm here we can get together at least one more time. When I was talking to Manda, she brought up how big my Ryan is getting. And I've been meaning to blog about this for ages. I feel a bit remorseful, because I know that the next time I go home, he wouldn't want to hold my hand when we go out. He wouldn't want me to come along everywhere he goes. It's sad, because I wish children didn't have to grow up so fast. And I hope I'm wrong come December.

Walking along Rundle Mall by myself later wasn't as fun as when I was walking around Sydney though. Must have been because all there was to do was shop. Nothing much in terms of sights. Fish joined me later for dinner, which we had at Silk Road, a Chinese Restaurant. The food was delicious, but so not worth 20 Aussie. This is why, dear people in Malaysia, you have got it so good. Eating out costs a bomb here. Sigh. Looks like I'm gonna have to spend more time in my kitchen.

Bing Lee and Gee, thanks for a great time on Saturday morning, when we went to eat Vietnamese beef noodles. It were really yummy, and worth the 15 minute ride in sweltering heat in Gee's car which has no functioning airconditioning. Haha. I also managed to take away a Vietnamese roll with combination PORK, which I had for lunch at Westfields Marion Shopping Centre, where the whole IMU M205/M105 gang went for the afternoon. I had Mcd's icecream, which was much better than Malaysian one, and we walked around for a while. The girls were shopping for clothes, but I was different. Haha. I was in K-mart looking for household items that I knew I could've bought in Sydney. To my credit, I didn't buy anything. Me and the bored guys decided to watch 10,000 BC which reminded me of Apocalypto. Which wasn't a very good thing. And we were all unanimous on that. That night was spent at Christine's place, eating steamboat and chatting with the IMU seniors. The food was good, but my one regret? Not taking a group pic.

Sunday is church day. I followed the rest to Paradise Community Church, where I realised that the one Sunday on which I didn't go to church (in Sydney), I really missed it. The speaker was from Uganda, and it made me think of the brothers and sisters in ECF from Africa, and how much they're seeing happen in their land. It's just awesome. We rushed off to take the bus to Hahndorf, a German village in the suburbs, but because we were waiting for certain unnamed people to get there, we missed the bus. Don't worry, I'm not blaming anyone. So we headed off to.. Mcd for lunch. Bacon and frozen coke : not available in Malaysia. And so good. Hanhdorf was very far, but the scenery along the way was spectacular. When we reached the famous Beerenberg Strawberry Farm, we were disappointed to find we couldn't go and pick strawberries because it was too hot. Gah. But at least the shop was still open so we all got strawberry jam and strawberries and icecream. The shops in Hahndorf are so small and quaint I was so delighted. We walked in and out oohing and aahing at the cute chocolates, sweets, souvenirs and the such.
But that's when disaster struck! My camera dropped and now it can't be turned on. Looks like all my gadgets have perfect timing. My pda also decided to malfunction when I was in Sydney. And all in the land of expensive service charges. We did however go to German Arms Hotel to sit and chat, because like all shops here in Aussie, everything closes at 5. We were ambushed (!) by a drunk man who wanted to take pictures with us. Haha, nah, he was harmless but quite obviously wasted. Pictures to come. Especially of the German Trio. No, it's not a band, it's a platter of German sausages, 3 different ones all of which were delicious. There was sauerkraut served with it but none of us liked it.

Now for Monday! I'm gonna spoil the surprise and tell you this was the highlight of my trip so far. Cleland Wildlife Park. Kangaroos and wallabies, emus and potoroos. Just walking about among them, feeding them and taking lots of pictures. Which actually speak more than a thousand words (sorry for the cliche), so wait for the upload of those pictures. That night we splurged on Hog's Breath Cafe's steak, which was super tasty (with cheese sauce and curly fries that could match A&W's). It wasn't quite enough cause we decided to be Malaysian and be "kiamsiap" a bit.

Anyway, today's Monday, and I need to go to Rundle to get my camera fixed (we used Yeap's yesterday). Blah.

Virgin voyage

Hi, and welcome everyone to my 2nd (or 3rd) attempt at writing a blog (and maintaining it). Forgive the cheesy starting line, it's just because I've been asked by many people to resuscitate my blog. And seeing as I'm now starting a whole new chapter of my life, what better time than now?

The last few days have been ones of strange surroundings, different experiences, fresh starts. I know it's always daunting to move out of your comfort zone, but it was made easier for me by my aunt and uncle in Sydney, who I really thank God for. They helped my transition in any way that they could, making the long drive from their house to my apartment daily without complaint. Putting me up in their home with no qualms. Taking me to buy my necessities, and not rolling their eyes each time I failed to make a decision there and then (hey, you know me..).

So if anyone's wondering how I'm coping, I would say I'm enjoying this ride. Despite the cleaning, unpacking and the shopping (for household items, not clothes), it's been interesting. Somewhere later on, I'll post pictures I took while walking around Sydney CBD (Central Business District) by myself, fully exploiting the freedom I had in travelling alone. Trust me, walking alone is not as boring as it may seem. I wanted to post them now but my pictures have not been moved to my hard disk yet.

That's because I'm in Adelaide! Yes, a little early for a holiday, but.. Let me go through the whole story for the millionth time. When we called UNSW for our starting date, we were told it was on the 3rd of March. Which was 3 days ago, if you've checked the date and realised. But about 2 weeks before we were due to fly off on the 28th February, we received a timetable saying our IMU students' meeting with the professor was on 17th March! Imagine my horror, having to leave 2 weeks early. Cat and Ee Leen changed their flights but I stubbornly refused. I had more at stake than a flight booking. I had 3. Haha. I still had to fly to KL, and my dad was supposed to accompany me. As an added bonus, my mum was going on a cruise to Phuket which just happened to make port the morning before I left. Which meant she could see me off at the airport as well. Seeing as I'm such a family-oriented person, I preferred not changing my flight. So instead, I booked a week's holiday to visit the gang at Adelaide. Yeah, of course you're thinking I came here for one person. It was my main reason I'll have to admit. But there were many people here I wanted to meet. 2 Lodge friends, 2 PM10 friends, and an abundance of IMU friends. I just arrived yesterday afternoon and immediately was brought on a bus ride in the opposite direction of the city. Excepting the heat, it would have been quite funny. Adelaide is experiencing the most distressing heat wave. Even I was complaining.

It was also quite good to meet the IMU gang last night as they were frantically taking notes and listening to Chris and Rahul give them pointers for their upcoming mock OSCE. Although it scared me a bit because what little knowledge I had during EOS 5 was all a blur to me. I guess that's the downside of having such a long break. But hey, I'm gonna take whatever I can get.

*Oh and by the way, the title refers to my 'migration' to sydney, this new blog and also the flight to adelaide, which was on Virgin Blue airlines. :)