Phuket trip

As usual, photos are uploaded at http://picasaweb.google.com/esdilays11/PhuketTrip

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

About Cairns~...

Okee...now an update about my Cairns trip (which happened about.....2 - 3 weeks ago?)

Alrighty...

191107 (1st day) - WOKE UP LATE. Haha... I only had 10 minutes to wash up before the taxi came. Lucky thing i packed my stuff the night before. Still, i managed to get myself into the taxi on time. Hurhur~.. thanks alicia~... for waking me up 10 minutes before the taxi came.

Anyway, virginblue seats sux. Take Jetstar next time. Well, reached Cairns early in the morning at 10 plus. It takes about 2 and a 1/2 hour from Brisbane to get to Cairns. Weather was NO GOOD. Drizzling and cloudy. Prayed desperately for good weather. Cabbed to our motel (hehheh... upgraded from our Sunshine coast trip - Youth hostel to motel = ) ) At least we get our OWN BATHROOM. No need to SHARE. Walked to Cairns central, had lunch there.. Shopped a little and walked to the pier. Familiarize ourselves with the pier, since most of our activities start at the pier.

201107 - Woke up at 4.45AM to get ready for our first activity. TULLY RIVER WHITE WATER RAFTING!! Pick up was at 6.30am. It takes about 1 1/2 hours drive to get to Mount Tully. Tully River is a grade 4 river... But to me - not much kick. = P My thighs and arms are burnt though, and my limbs are peeling now. Only after 3 weeks?! Think my skin turnover is sloowwwww....

211107 - Alicia and Yan xia went for bungee.. i didn't. Not because i'm scared, but because i've already done it before in New Zealand. Therefore, i had 3 hours of free time. Went for shopping at Cairns central. Well, Cairns is really a 'dead' city. All the 'happening' activities happen outside of Cairns. Make sure you are occupied with activities and maybe set just 1 day for shopping. If not, you'll get bored.

Had dinner at the pier. View was good. See the pics.

221107 - Great Barrier Reef! ARghh... the ferry ride was baddd.... made me and alicia seasick. The waters was so choppy! Then, we decided to stay up in the sundeck... definitely felt much better. Well, the reefs are dying. Better go see them soon.. before they're gone. The waters are beautiful.. the marine life are damn cool.. Parrot fishes, dory fishes... It's the first time i'm snorkeling... took lots of advice from Alicia, so i managed to pick up snorkeling quite fast. Thanks babe. = )

231107 - Fitzroy Island! The water was soooo BEAUTIFUL! Was so tired after 2 days of activities.. so i didn't join them for kayaking.... Was relaxing on the island.

241107 - Home bound. But before that... heard some bad news. Glad that everything was alright.

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Home sweet home~~

Home is the best.

Had mummy's specialties. Pork ribs and char siew.... And my FAV carrots, oysters and black pepper soup. YUMS~. I even snatched kare's bowl of soup... so i had 2 bowls of my fav soup. Hehheh~.. Love mummy lots...

Mummy not feeling well... due to the haze... Poor thing. She took lots of effort to clean up my room too... Love you mummy!! *hugz*

Kare was late to fetch me. Supper and breakfast on him. *hmpf*

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

I'm Backkkkk from Cairns...

I'm back... safely.

Pictures are uploaded at http://picasaweb.google.com/esdilays11

Enjoy...

I need my beauty sleep.

Have to wash clothes tomorrow morning. Have to go church by 9.30am. Have to go grocery shopping after lunch.

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

WAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

So good to hear mummy and daddy's voice!

Anyway, just finished my exams... like FINALLY! Quote from Alicia -'The wait is agonising!' I totally agree!!!!

Oh well, it's over and i don't want to talk about it. Hopefully i'll pass everything with average results. Uni life is tough!

It's PLAY TIME!!

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

A little update..

3 papers down. 1 more to go.

I simply can't wait to go back home. I have never left home for such a long time before. Hopefully i won't be SO homesick the next time i come back. Ok.. It's not like i have a choice. I cannot be SO homesick the next time. Because i'll be staying for at least 10 months in Brisbane before i get to go back to Singapore again = (

I miss my mummy's nagging, papa's 'lao1 dao1ness', gu jie calling my 'sweeeettt, you know what happened??', kor's stupid actics, like bringing Xiaoming and mudpie to the living room to watch tv with us.... -_-''' (I bet Kor miss Xiaoming's smell!!!) Hahaha~....

Of cuz... how can i not miss MY KARE.... I so NEED MY KARE'S HUGZ..... and of cuz, his heavy arm around my shoulders.... and not forgetting his never ending nonsense.

Oh well, i'll probably miss Brisbane too. God has blessed me with a great house, friendly neighbours (They may be shifting out!! -they gave us cake after Ramadan! -so sweet right??), good owners and many good friends. I'll miss going to CCCB every sunday for service. I'll miss Pastor Steve and Keiyeng (and her grouchiness).. Haha..

I'll miss my turkeys!!... and the little duckies and gooses at UQ lake. Hopefully i can get to see and feed them before i go back to Singapore... I'll also miss the serenity and slow pace life here...

But still.. I CAN'T WAIT TO GO HOMEEEE....

About my Cairns trip, everything is booked! Accommodation, activities and flight. We're gonna be occupied with activities the whole trip. See pa? We girls learnt from our Sunshine Coast trip that we must plan. = ) Well, hopefully the weather complies... I stopped buying snacks in order to save up for the trip.. and also to buy back stuff to bring home... Hopefully, it's enough to get me through....

Gu jie~ The photos are SO DARK. Why never use flash??? Weird... But it looks like you guys had alot of fun.. especially the last day i think, during the BBQ dinner. = ) I miss the chendol at Malacca!! Haiz...

Okee... gonna bathe now... Just cooked lunch, washed up and vacuumed and cleaned my room.

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Counting Down...

21 more days to go...

2 more papers to go...

I'm trying to hang in there...

Be patient, everybody.

Patience is a virtue...

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Drowning

Drowning in my pile of notes.

We have 3 things in common - Lots of papers, clipped fringe to keep it away from bothering us and our sad, stressed faces.

Doesn't mean i only post the holiday pics means we're enjoying ourselves. We're also mugging like crazy.....

This is evidence.

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Funny Mummy

Mummy was funny juz now. When she saw me in my pjs, she asked me if i just came home from town. I was like....'HELLO'?? Come back from town? I'm mugging my head off!!! wake up, study, breakfast, then study, lunch, then study, bathe, dinner, back to studying again. WHERE GOT TIME TO GO OUT? I've been trying to stuff as much information in my poor neurons for the past........4 weeks?

How i wish i could get everything over and down with like...soon. But at the same time, i wish i have more time to study. It's contradicting. But i really wanna go home! Told my family they don't have to fetch me from the airport. Kare would be coming to pick me up and will be MY DRIVER for the night and maybe till dawn. Lol. Of cuz, i'll be heading home first to hug my parents, see my kor and aunt and smell my room before heading out for my much missed hawker food! I wanna eat

• Fishball noodles
• Geylang (Rochor) dou hua
• Mian Xian
• Roti Prata
• Teh Tarik
• Kallang Ice cream
• Laksa
• CHICKEN RICE
• Beef noodles
• Sweet and sour pork
• Hor Fun
• Mango ice
• Ben and jerry's ice cream

Hmm...Maybe i should head home for dinner with my family first. I should skip airplane food. Save my stomach for MUCH BETTER food. HAHAha....

Damn..i'm getting hungry.

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Bedroom View

Lately, i've been staring out at my bedroom window more often.

Why, you may ask. Maybe it's due to exam stress... or maybe, you just can't see this ......

in singapore. I'm GOING HOME SOON! Can't wait.

Overslept today. I dreamt that i was back in singapore. Was jumping in my Toa Payoh bedroom when i saw alicia. Then i realised that i had overslept and I'M STILL IN BRISBANE! .....-_-'''

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

My Apologies

Sorry ppl....

If you realised i havent been replying to any emails, THAT'S BECUZ I"M REALLY BZ.

Sorry. My apologies. Exams are round the corner. Jacaranda trees are blooming so fast!

Sorry....

Will be MIA for awhile...

Till then... Tata...

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Baptism

Should i or should i not?

I know God will give me a sign..

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Jacaranda trees blooming = Exams coming

I look terrible!! Muz be due to insufficient zzz....

Jacaranda tree

Beautiful isn't it?

Instead of cherry blossoms in Japan, it's jacaranda in Brisbane

In brisbane, when the jacaranda tree blooms in spring, it's not a good sign for university students. Because this means that the end of semester exams are approaching.

*SCREAMS*

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Next up

• Hand up my load of assignments
• Study for exams
• Cairns
• SINGAPORE!!!!

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Sunshine Coast

As you can see from the pictures, Sunshine Coast is BEAUTIFUL! The water is clear, the sand is so fine, the air is so fresh.... What more can you ask for? Well yes, KILL ALL SANDFLIES! ARGH! I'm bitten alive by sandflies! Now all my 4 limbs are itching like crazy! Been applying Dettol cream every 15 minutes. Somebody please just chop off my 4 limbs!

Well, it took us 8 hrs to get to Sunshine Coast. Yup, you read it right. 8 hrs. What happened was that we set off on a saturday and nobody wants to work on weekends! Australians!!! Anyway, took a bus to Toowong train station to catch the Caboolture train. That journey alone took us 1 1/2 hours. And once we reached Caboolture station, we realised that the train to take us to Nambour (Sunshine Coast) doesn't come till 1 1/2 hrs later. Therefore, we were stranded at Caboolture station for 1 1/2 hrs. There's only about 4 trains per day that goes to Sunshine Coast on a weekend. By the time the Nambour train came, it was already 1.30pm and the weather was not cooperative! It started drizzling!.... -_-'''

Well, by the time we reached Nambour station, it was 3.30pm and we have not reached our hostel yet! Someone was suppose to pick us up and somehow, she did not pick up the phone! It was raining and the wind was so chilly! We were once again, stranded at the train station. Decided to take the bus on our own to get to the hostel and guess what! Took the wrong bus. Instead, we had a 2 1/2 hr tour of the beaches in Sunshine Coast. Lucky it was raining, there's nothing you can do when it rains, so it was not a total loss... = ) But it was tiring.. the travelling kills.

Well, thank God that when we reached Sunshine Plaza in Maroochydore, Anika was there to pick us up. She manages the hostel. It was 5 plus when we reached the hostel. We stayed at the YHA (Youth Hostel Association) Backpackers Hostel. Well, before we set off, Yan Xia warned us that it was shared accommodation kind of thing. I was kind of prepared for it. We were lucky that we 3 girls had a room by ourselves. Phew!! It's all shared, kitchen, toilets (of cuz 1 for girls, 1 for guys), tv lounge and dinner table. Met all kinds of people there. Most of them are strawberry pluckers and most of them are Japanese. It's the strawberry season now (spring), that's why there are lots of job openings for strawberry pluckers. Next will be mangoes, oranges, avocados etcetc. Well, most of them are working and travelling at the same time. Something like nomads... they go where the fruit seasons go...Met Molly, a taiwanese gal. She's cool. Her english is so damn power-ful! Plus her chinese is YI JI PANG! That's cuz she studied in England for erm...(maybe 10 years? Can't remember?) before she came to Australia to obtain an OZ citizenship. She's travelling and working at the same time. Like i said, she goes where the fruit seasons goes.

Anyway, the hostel was an EXPERIENCE. If u get what i mean. You are only allowed a 4 minute shower, since OZ still having drought. There's a timer, so 4 minutes means 4 minutes. But HAHA! Ei Leen is smart. She cheats. Lol. She knows how to get 8 minutes showers. Hahahaha...= ) Hmm.. what else. OH YA. The bed. It sinks in the middle. Haiz. Now that i'm used to hard beds, soft beds make my back ache. *sigh* I'm getting old.

The beaches! Ooo... they're so beautiful! Blue sky, clear waters, white, really fine sand. What more can you ask for.... = ) The weather wasn't good when we went to Cotton Tree Beach. It was cloudy and there was big gusty winds! Just because we're in bikinis doesn't mean it's hot! IT'S freaking cold laaa.... If you notice, we're the only crazy ones in bikinis and other people are dressed in jackets. Lol.... = D Had yummy fish and chips! Mymy, their servings are huge! The seafood was really fresh though. But after one meal of fish and chips, we couldn't stand to see/eat another meal of fish and chips. Maybe because it's very oily. But it was gooddd.. *yums

The second beach we went on the third day was even more pretty! It's exactly like those postcards you buy at the souvenir shops. Enjoyed the second beach even more! = ) Very crowded though. Maybe because it's the school holidays. There were quite a number of hot girls there. I mean hot girls. Not women. Because the hot girls look like they're 14 -17 years old. Man, why are their bodies so goodd? Anyway, spotted ah mas suntanning too. Haiyoh. Saw their skin.... it's really damaged, yet they seem to enjoy themselves so much when they're actually cooking their skin off.

Went to Ginger factory.. Haiyo.. Just to get to this place took us 1hr bus ride. And it's buried deep in Yandina Industrial Estate! Can you imagine?! 3 girls dressed in beach clothes going to an industrial estate. What a sight. Oh well, the ginger ice cream was not bad. Surprisingly. O.O Had ginger chocolate and ginger cookie dough, which tasted the best. Think Mummy would love it. I'm not sure if i've been to Ginger factory before, but it looks familiar. Somehow. Think i took a picture there before.... Pa? We went to the ginger factory before righttt?? I remember the train.. but vaguely. We proceeded to the macadamia nut factory just opposite Ginger factory.

And thennn, we realised that we're stranded yet again. Simply because there is no bus stop to wait for a bus! You must be thinking how in the world did we get there in the first place. Well, the bus driver was nice enough to drop us near the ginger factory and we walked for about 3 minutes to the ginger factory. And nowww, we have no idea how to take a bus back to the hostel. Well well, we seek help at the information area, troubled the poor guy because he had closed for the day. But he was very very kind to help us poor girls. He told us to just wait outside this house and hail for the bus when it comes. So, we just stood outside this person's house and waited for the bus for about 45 minutes. Seriously. There is no bus stop pole/sign. It's just a random person's house. How interesting. But thank God we made it home. Hurhur... What an experience. = )

Well, on the last day, did some last minute shopping before heading back home. Took us 5hrs to get home even though we took the express train. Haiz.. So glad to be home. = ) I miss the 'not sharing' toilets, kitchens and living room. Hurhur... = )

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

I'm back!!

Finally...i'm back... Felt that i've been away for such a long time! Miss my brisbane home....

Loaded up the pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/esdilays11 already... Will blog soon...

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Juz 1 more night

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Qing1 Fan4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need to scream. Sorry. Something gross happened just now and i just have to tell/write to someone/something.

You will never guess what happened. You would have thought seeing naked guys in school on sunday was weird and gross. But luckily, only alicia saw. Apparently, they still had a piece of cloth to cover themselves, thoough according to alicia, it was still not enough to cover their buttlines.

But hey! Today's event was even more gross and disgusting!!!! Yan xia, alicia and i were walking our usual route to school when there was this middle-aged, bald fat angmoh walking towards us. Alicia was already walking on the side of the road because of the fallen tree on the pavement. Yan xia was walking about 3m behind me on the pavement. I thought i hao3 xin1 shift to the left of the pavement for the ang moh to pass and wah lao!!! HE FLASHED AT US LEH!!!!! HE WAS DRESSED IN POLO TSHIRT AND SHORTS BUT THEN I HAVE NO IDEA HOW COME HIS PENIS IS HANGING OUT!!!!!!!! AND IT WAS ERECTED SOMEMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS SOOOOOOO GROOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean.. he just casually lifted his shirt up and i have no idea why he did that! He was just walking towards us and i moved to the left so that he can have space to walk and wah lao!!!! he was like 2m in front of me and he lifted his shirt up to show us his jewels!!! WAH LAO. Can see the details lo!!!!! IT'S LIKE ERECTED LA. It's pink... no hair.. Can you imagine!? Even though it happened for like only 2 seconds, because he was so close to me, i could SEE the details. WAH LAO. DAMN TRAUMATISING!!!!! I was like....... so shocked.......ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S SO DISGUSTING! THIS IS WORSE THAN THE TURKISH BATH EXPERIENCE!!!!!!! SO GROSS. SO ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KARE!!!! I NEED YOUR COMFORT!!!

ARgh...gross..

Think i gonna take a nap.. Falling sick. It's the usual preholiday syndrome again. Sore throat, runny nose... Sianz... Pa!! It's happening again!! WHY?? Why do i always get sick when holidays are approaching?! So wrong leh...

*Sigh*

I miss my kare..

xoxo Ei Leenxoxo

Intoxicated

• Spaghetti
• Tom Yum DongFen
• Banana
• Milk
• Rice
• BeeHoon
• Pear Soup
• Macaroni

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Loaded the mini party pics...

Loaded the mini party pics...

http://picasaweb.google.com/esdilays11/AfterMidSemExam

Alicia says this is my ugliest moment. (Ugly meh? Just came back from school)

Went to the lake again to feed the birds.... Shared 1/4 of my lunch...

Clowny....

Iguana... Bread on YX's shoeee...

Ducky!

*yums! Can't really see the portion of the spaghetti here but it's huge! We were flooded by the spaghetti...

Look at the depth! Mountain of spaghetti....

Prepared lovingly by miss ng yan xia

Finally....

Phew.... Finally... I get to be freeeeeeeeee.... My gawd.. Been so stress for 2 weeks....

So..what happened for the past 2 weeks?

Hmm... Assignments, reports and exam. Exam just ended this morning. Thought i would be relieved after the test. But then, the test was so difficult that i felt even more stress after finishing the paper. Subject was Human Endocrinology and freak! It's only a MCQ test but then it was like..... damn tough. I have to confess. I ini-mini-myni-mor for a few questions. Sorry pa... but the options were really difficult! Argh... I think i will pass...but maybe not that well........

I still have 2 more assignments to hand up on thursday and friday and a practical test on wednesday. *Big sigh* But hey! I'm going up to sunshine coast with Yan Xia and Alicia next weekend! For 4 days 3 nights... Leaving on saturday morning and coming back on tuesday. = )

Anyway, i got to destress by cooking lunch and dinner and playing an hour of tennis. Alicia went for a swim at the school swimming pool and guess how much is the entrance fee! It's $4.50! Same price as my tennis court. Of cuz, the cost was shared by simon and me. Had a post exam mini 'party' at the balcony. Invited guests include the moon, stars and mosquitoes. Haha... It's spring!! Flies and insects are all around the house. Just killed 2 cockroaches the other day. Anyway, the mini party. I bought the mudshake vodka and alicia and yx got the bacardi freezers. Mudshake vodka is actually vodka with chocoloate milkshake. DAMN nice! Can't really taste the vodka though.... but the drink was still quite nice. And we ate chocolate/cookies and cream ice cream cake, i think. I don't really know. It was so dark... But it was a good destressing activity. = )

Oh well, damn tired already... Feel so drained... It's only 1 exam paper! I wonder when my exams come in nov, i have no idea how i'm gonna cope. I'm going to have like 4 papers! .....Arghhhh.... I wanna go Athens too... Kare.... Bring me there lehhh... I wanna go holiday too!!!....

I'm gonna K.O. already..... tomorrow have to go grocery shopping!...

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

RiverFest Updates...

Ok... I have 10 mins to blog down everything before going for my first class at 11am.

Well, after a stressful week, the weekend was finally here and YAY! A free day! Free from studying and finishing up assignments and lab reports. Gawd... it was killing me... my hippocampus volume muz be straining against my skull, wanting to expand. Lol.. Ok.. that's too scientific..

Anyway, stayed up late on friday to about 2.30 am? Juz to 'pia' my lab report, so that i need not do much on sunday. And bu zhi bu jue, saturday arrived and we went OUT! Finally. To chinatown to get some mooncakes... There're a few varieties, like from Guangzhou, Hongkong, Taiwan, Vietnam and Macau. Hong Kong ones are the most expensive... The plain nian rong ones are only from Guangzhou. Since i can't eat nuts, the girls sacrificed for me.. Sorry. Should have juz gotten the Wing Wah Hongkong mooncakes. But.. Oh well... I don't wanna go back to Chinatown juz to get more mooncakes...

Then we decided to have jap food for lunch! It was GOOD! Price is very reasonable compared to other food i have ever eaten in Brisbane. It's like $5.60 for a big bowl of katsudon, teriyaki chicken don and etcetc. It was worth it. Ate till damn full. Wanted to go get my havanias from City Beach.. But..... they have limited varieties... not much for me to choose from.. So, no shou woh... But bought a can of tennis balls for $8. Considered quite cheap, since it's the 4 balls per can from Slazenger. Cheaper than school anyways....

And so, proceeded on to Southbank for the fireworks.. ARGH! It's like so damn croweded! But still, i managed to eat my cold rock ice cream again... Hehheh~.. Couldn't resist. = ) Found a patch of grass to sit and waited for the fireworks. It's beautiful. Finally get to see a few new types of fireworks, since i missed the one at Ekka and singapore's national day parade.. Love the heart.... specially for my kare...= ) Hope he appreciates it...

After 20 mins of fireworks, went for dinner at Pancake Cafe.. Where they specialise in... Duh.. pancakes.. = ) Had chocolate jewels... which is chocolate pancakes! Yums! And added banana to it... Since it's been 3 months since i ate any bananas..... Lol.. Bananas are REALLY expensive here! Gu jie, this one really got to complain! It's like $7 per kg of bananas lehhhhh..... You tell me expensive anot??

Anyway, had my favourite hot cocoa with marshmallow!!! Hehehe.. Really treated myself on saturday to heaps of fun! Managed to catch the last bus home! Squeezed like mad! And guess what! Since the bus was like jam packed with people, especially angmohs who are taller than me.. I'm like... the perfect height at their armpits!! So when they hold those ring rails on the bus, ARGH! Their armpits were like..directly over my face, head and hair! .. like gross! Can smell REALLY REALLY BAD BOs! ARGH! Was like... damn gross........ Bathed like crazy when i came back...

Anyways, got to go for class now! Enjoy the photos.. Sorry ar.. the not very nice photos were taken using the fast mode. The very nice photos were taken using the slow mode to catch the spreading of the fireworks... = )

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

RiverFest

Uploaded the RiverFest photos @ http://picasaweb.google.com/esdilays11

will blog when i have the time.. Enjoy..= )

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Saturday had been fun~!

Clockwise: Pear soup, black pepper beef with capsicum, baked salmon, mixed veg, fried rice, bai zan ji, bai zan ji sauce

Liting, YX, Jason, Aaron, Yinyin, Ming Yan, Yinghua

No, it's not my bday.... (his socks has been there since.... eons ago)

So happy over the banana choco chip muffins...

Potluck + Gloomy weather

Feel like i'm back in London again. It's cloudy, drizzling (not raining) consistently. It's been like this for the past few days. Very gloomy and sad weather. And BIG CHILLY GUSTS OF WIND!!!!!! Plus my clothes can't dry! Have to hang them up on my room and switch on the heater. My room then became a sauna.

Oh well, had potluck last saturday. Turned out quite successful. Had 2 different groups of friends - Jason (Used to be Roy's friend - but became ours later), he brought along 2 hostel friends, Aaron from China and Yinyin from M'sia. And of cuz our seniors- Liting, Yinghua and Simon and Mingyan. It was all homecooked food.

Simon & Mingyan - fried rice, mixed vege (how did they get xia mi(shrimps)?!?!) and baked salmon

Liting & Yinghua - Bai Zan Ji (White broiled chicken) with a very very yummy dark soy sauce with chilli padi!

Us (without Roy, obviously)- pear & chicken soup, black pepper beef with capsicum and choc chip muffins!

Food was good!!!! The international students loved the food cuz it was home cooked and reminded them of home. Apparently, hostel food is catered and it sucks. Lol. Heard from them they have to queue early to get food, if not, all you get are scraps and the rotten fruits. Poor thing.

Went house hopping after potluck! We went to our seniors' house then proceeded to union college where the hostel is. The hostel is a very conducive place to study. Looks like a cabin to me though. Like those train cabins? Yup, exactly like that. By the way, the toilets/bathrooms are shared! Yes. Unisex toilets. Plus the bathroom door is like frosted glass and the door is not high enough to cover the shower room. So if a tall angmoh (actually no need to be tall, just be above 1.75cm) walks pass, good luck to you. Yin yin says that it's better to bathe in the last room where it's next to the wall and have to hang your towel over the door, if not you'll give a free show. Thank God i dun stay in the hostel.

Oh well, they say the people there can be very noisy at times. When i went there to visit, some people gathered into this guy's room to watch movie, there was angmoh drinking alcohol/red wine (heard that they drink every night). It's normal. And when it's the public holiday like last wednesday, people were already making alot of noise at 7am. Usually, they party when the weekends come, they dun start on friday nights, they start partying on thursday nights. That's uni life right?

Hurhur, not for me. I'm a good student. I revise my work everyday. I'm becoming such a nerd. I dun do this in when i was in poly. What's happening to me?! I visit the library at least 3 times a week. Well, today i have already visited the library twice. And it's not the middle of the week yet! However! I'm gonna have my mid term test coming up in 1 1/2 weeks time. And after that - i'm free to go for the RiverFestival! Wheee! Heard that the fireworks are gonna be long - like 1/2 an hour! Aussie people are very rich. No worries about that. The festival last for 10 days from 31 Aug to 9 Sept. Wonder if the fireworks are gonna be that long every night......????

K... i have to go study now....

OH! This is the first time i cooked porridge! Looks not bad right?!!? So proud of it. Plus it tasted like mummy's porridge. It's chicken porridge by the way. = ) Hehehheh... It tasted good too.. *Yums. Mummy will be proud of me too... Haha.....= D

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Helen (China student but speaks good english) and Serene (singaporean - working here i think)

Debra (fellow singaporean), Mark (another one- from malaysia), Simon, Moi, Alicia

Mark (church friend - studying at QUT)

Pilgrim's Progress

Well, i'm halfway through the week --- Yay! Am going for tennis later in school after lunch --- Yay! Finally i get to destress. Hurhur. Well, the weather is changing. It's been drizzling yesterday - which means spring is coming! My church friends informed us that usually when the seasons change, it usually rains. Like winter to spring, it rains. But when spring is here, it kind of stops. And then when spring changes to summer, it rains again. And the cycle goes on. Oh well, the day is getting longer, Mr Sun is setting at 6pm now, 1hour later than it used to be. But it's getting windier. The winds here are chilly! So when you're in the shade, it gets really cold, but when you are in the sun, it's still alright.

Went for a fund raising musical called Pilgrim's Progress on sunday night. They're trying to raise funds for building a new church. So, Mark (a singaporean but whole family shifted here) was our designated driver to get us to Holland park - which was a 15 minutes drive away from our house. It was a very good musical. The songs and lyrics were all written by the directors themselves. I could see how much effort, sweat and tears went into the play. The directors were really young! Like 20 plus? 2 girls and 1 guy. Some of the actresses were really pretty - heard they're mainly from Vietnam and Hong Kong - cuz the interpreter was speaking cantonese (which was really weird to hear cantonese spoken at such an event). Anyway, the musical is based on a book about a man's walk in Christ. It's a really old story but the directors added some modern influence into the story like incorporating Paris Hilton-lookalike as Vain-Confidence etcetc. Really cute. I was very impressed by the musical as the actors and actresses sang really well and really talented, plus they're so young! They can't be more than 21 years old.

Oh well, by the time Mark sent Alicia and I home, it was already 1050pm. Too late to talk to pa and mummy, plus gu jie has to go home. Missed Kor's 'birthday celebration'. Hopefully, he received the card i sent him. Don't know if it made it across the ocean.

By the way, i didn't know that my house looked soooooo good from outside. When Mark sent we girls home, the living room light was on and the house looked like a small cozy cottage! Mark and Simon was awed by the house. Hehheh~! I was so proud of our house from that day on. Maybe because we spent sunday afternoon cleaning up the whole house. Thanx Alicia! = )

Yesterday was a public holiday! It's called People's day. Spent the morning rolling around in bed and i studied like crazy. I have no idea why. Exams are not even here yet! I don't usually do this when i'm in singapore. Reading lecture notes the night before and revising the notes after lecture in the night. I don't do all this when i was in poly! Well, i think it's because i have nothing to do at home. The only thing to do is - study. Oh no! I'm turning into a serious nerd. Well, after studying for half a day, we went out and treated ourselves with Domino's pizza at Taringa! Yums! Came back and Alicia baked banana muffins for us and we went out to the balcony and gaze at stars again. But.... it was quite a cloudy night, ended up sitting and chatting and analysing how many friends we have made over the past few weeks. Let's just say that we can count using our fingers. Science students are introverts - we can't help it. = )

Ooo! Had practical on tuesday on ticks, lice and fleas! ARGH! It was damn gross! There was live and dead lice, ticks and fleas. We were suppose to view them under microscope and see their body structure. The dead ones were ok.....but some ticks were bloated up with blood and it was big, fat and red! Gross. The live lice were damn gross too... gave me goosebumps. Thinking of them crawling up my body..... Argh! But it was a really interesting practical. Now i know how to differentiate them as body, head lice or cat, dog flea or chicken, cattle, kangaroo or wallaby ticks.

Gonna have potluck with the seniors this saturday. Hopefully it's still on. They're probably coming to our house - maybe can take some photos then. = ) I'm gonna zzz now and cook lunch later. Just had 1 lecture at 8am and the 9am lecture was cancelled.

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Tired weekend - and it's not even sunday yet!

Well, those pics that i took of the parrots are actually taken at my balcony! = ) Cool right?

I didn't know those loud chirpings at 4-5pm every late afternoon are made by the beautiful parrots. These parrots are the ones singaporean uncles usually keep as pets, i think. They're so beautiful! When they fly above your head, you can actually see that their underwings are bright red in colour. Very cool. Anyway, these parrots usually feed at our place about 4 - 5pm everyday, eating the leaves of the trees at the park.

It's spring - therefore, i think it's the mating season. There were some uncensored actions of the parrots that i did not snap. Haha... But the way the males try to attract the females are very cute. Hopefully i can video it someday. = )

Well, we girls did something extraordinary yesterday night. Hurhur. We decided camp outside the balcony at 12am to gaze at stars. We made a 12am appointment, made hot chocolate - heated up some muffins and sat in the balcony to gaze at stars. Before long, our necks were damn tired and we decided to lay some blankets/bedsheets on the balcony floor and lie there. But before we did all that, we brushed our teeth and brought out our huggables - pillows, soft toys and bolster to hug and lie down on the bedsheets. It was such a beautiful sight! Saw a few (damn fast) shooting stars! Not enough time to make a wish though, it was over in a few miliseconds. All of us nearly fell asleep about 40 minutes later, until we decided to head back to our comfy beds. = ) But the experience was worth it. It's such a beautiful sight to bellow.

Just got back from Ekka! about 2 hours ago. The other 2 girls are already asleep. We were simply exhausted. Didn't manage to catch the fireworks which is about to start right about..... now... Told Simon to video it for me.

Well, just in case you're wondering what the heck is Ekka! - it's another name for the Royal Queensland Show. It's kind of like a funfair/exhibition thing. Photos are uploaded at http://picasaweb.google.com/esdilays11 . It's a yearly festival held at the exhibition hall at Victoria Park just before spring comes. There are lots of things to do there - goes on for about 9 days. There's different activities going on everyday. Kare! You should be here with me! You'll want to play the games and win some soft toys for me. You promised me, remember? I know i know, we'll go to the LV funfairs right? Anyway, i know you'll go crazy over the novelty store that sells scary Halloween masks.

Entrance fee is a hefty $16 for concession - no food/drinks/games/rides coupons provided. But it was very very fun! Very exciting atmosphere. = ) It's exactly like those funfairs you usually see in movies and western TV shows. There are lots of games to play to win prizes (soft toys), roller coaster rides, exhilarating rides like megadrop, spinning around rides. Oooo! I took one with Simon, cuz yan xia wasn't feeling well (due to the scorching sun which gave her a headache and gave me a slight sunburn and headache), alicia was too tired after all the walking and playing games. It was damn fun. Screamed till my jaw joints and throat hurts. My legs felt like jelly and i was walking in a zigzag manner for awhile before regaining balance. It's been a long while since my last 'funfair' ride. So i was disoriented for awhile. Haha....

What else is there... Hmmm.. International food village, where they sell different cultural food - german, italian, japanese. Oo! And i ate strawberries in a cone with ice cream! Very yummy! But very expensive as well. They stuff real strawberries in the ice cream cone topped with 2 scoops of vanilla and strawberry ice cream and added whipped cream and strawberries on top. Simply deliciously good. They also have dog pavilion where owners enter their dogs for different kind of contests. I have no idea how they judge the dogs, but they were damn cute! Spent a long while there chatting with owners and patting dogs, hemming and hawing over them. I miss Ranger and Benji! Sighz. There are also book sales. Bought sidney sheldon books to keep myself entertained. It's like $5 per book. Relatively cheap. Have been missing story books to read at night before i sleep. UQ libraries at St lucia don't have story books. Their story book library is at Gatton campus - which is like...... far away. No way am i spending 30 minutes to get there just to borrow story books. And i still have to return it after 2 weeks. Crazy.

Saw dairy cows, goats, bulls, sheep and horses. The farmers were exhibiting them - showing their breeds and displaying their talents. Bought loads of chocolates for myself. It's interesting how they sell them. It's called a showbag - which is simply a plastic bag that contains $18 worth of different varieties of chocolates and selling them for $10 - $15. There are different brands like Cadbury, Wonka, Nestle, M&Ms, Smarties and home brands like Darrell Lea. Very interesting.

They even have showbags for stationery and schoolbags. Ohh! And I saw Happy Tree Friends soft toys!!! I wanted to get the yellow rabbit - it was selling about $7.50 for the medium sized ones. But i thought it was kind of a waste of money since i have xiaoming and mudpie with me.
But still! It's something you can't get in singapore. Oh well, I'm already back home - can't get it anymore.

Anyway, i'm like so damn tired now. Ekka! is like damn big. It consist of a stadium, an exhibition hall and a damn big park. My legs are like cramping and my eyes are damn tired. Oh well, gonna sleep now. There's gonna be a fund raising play tomorrow night for the church. This weekend is like.... packed! Lucky thing i studied on friday.

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Spot the parrots game - there's about 15 of them....

Polka dot duck eating cooked/sundried barley....

Feeding the birdies at the lake with expired bread.... = D

My love for tennis...

Hehheh... Had a great day yesterday! Cuz i get to play tennis! Like finally! And i got to feed the birds in school! So fun!

Oh well, plucked up alot of courage to approach this guy who was carrying a tennis bag to Ecology of disease lecture. Well, it's such a small world. He was from Np and studied biotech. Played with him at UQ tennis centre at 2pm! I know, i know. It's not as hot as it seems to be. Cuz the winds were quite strong and chilly. I'm not sunburn or anything. I had a good workout. = )

Fed the birdies at the lake in UQ. So fun....! But it was quite scary at first when they started to flew, swam, waddled and walked towards and around me. But it was so fun! Haha... Lifted up my spirits!

Bought a baby blue UQ sweater today. I always think that school sweaters are a very cool thing! I have no idea why.

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

Third week is just starting...

It's been another week.... I feel like i've been here long enough and it's time to go back home....
But... it's only the end of second week and the third week is just about to start. Just thinking about the loonnnnggg school term makes me sad... I miss home so much. Now i know what it feels like to be home sick. I'm not a very patriotic person, but somehow, i miss Singapore. Now i know how people really feel when they say 'Singapore is my home'. I still feel pretty foreign in Brisbane. Like, i don't belong here at all. The house still doesn't feel like home. It only feels like a place for me to stay and study for the next 4 months.


Anyways, Yan xia was asking me about my calcium intake about 2 days ago. Because i'm kind of lactose intolerant, she was wondering where i'm getting my calcium from. I was.... speechless. I did not think of that at all. I only know that if i drink milk - i'll go straight to toilet 2 hours later. Well, that got me thinking and the next day, i went to get multi-vitamin and mineral pills. Lol. At least now i'm taking some calcium, iron and vitamins. I was actually thinking of getting those chewable vitamin C pills as well. But since i got the multi-vitamins, it's more than enough. I think. Plus, i'm eating fruits everyday. = ) But the fruits here are really expensive. It cost 3x as much as singapore. Apples are like $4 per kg on average. So if there's discounted prices of fruits like $3 per kg in supermarts, we girls normally buy more and stock up. Cuz the discounted prices usually last about 2 days.

I know, our behaviours very auntie-like, but we have no choice. Fridge is very very well stocked. We have almost everything from chinese herbs to biscuits to different types of meat, vege, noodles to canned soups. And miso paste for soups and even salted fish! Haaaa....

Plussss, we invested in getting a weighing scale and muffin tray for our baking needs! Haha... Yan xia and i couldn't take it anymore. We have to bake. Gotta ask mummy for choc chip recipe later. Hehheh.. = )


Oh well, assignments are piling up. Gonna have my first practical this week. Wonder how it will go...

And somehow, the weather is getting weird... It's getting colder again. It was 6 degrees last night and somehow, we girls just have to choose last night to go out to the balcony and watch stars and have hot chocolate. By the time we settled down with our hot chocolate, it was lukewarm and cold the next minute. Yan xia did not join us - cuz it's just too damn cold. So Alicia and i wore quite thick clothes and braved the cold. It was alright after a while. The stars are really beautiful. Our backyard is very very dark, therefore the stars were dazzling and the moon was very bright. God's work is really amazing. Wish Kare was here. I know he would loveeeee to see that.


Kor's birthday is coming up. Sigh.. I'll miss the birthday dinner. Oh well, hopefully i can get 1 when i get back. Hurhur...= )


I'm gonna continue on my assignment now. Lots of literature reviews to do...

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

We got out of jail!

Wheeee! We finally get to go out! Ok. I do need to get out of the house to go school. But we finally manged to go out. Out as in watch movie, have delicious junk food. Haha... For the past 3 weeks, we girls have been very good girls. Go school, come home straight away, cook our daily nutritious meals, wash clothes, study and revise like crazy. We were stuck in the circumference of the house. Well, if you do see Alicia's clothes, she literally mean 'out of the jailhouse'. Lol. JK, girl. = ) But it does really make sense. Don't you think? Haha...

Well, we decided to watch Harry Potter at South Bank - supposedly a very happening place. But from what i see, if that is happening, Singapore's orchard road must be overpopulated. Anyway, we had fried food - fish and chips never tasted so good. OH! The fries are soggy! Damn nice. Haha... Well, it's such a good change from what we usually cook at home. Rice with soup, maybe 1 dish... Very healthy. We girls have decided to go out every last weekend of the month to treat ourselves to good junk food - like Domino's pizza! Oh gawd... it tasted so good! Even though our hands were freezing when we ate it on the streets of Taringa. Anyway, does it look like i have lost weight in the photos? I think so leh.... my jeans and t shirts are quite loose.... I dunno...

Anyway, it was so nice to be out once in a while. The movie ticket cost about $5 for full time students during weekdays- which is actually quite reasonable. Plus it's free seating - unlike Singapore. = ) Movie was good. The funniest thing is, the cinema looks like a GV cinema in Singapore. And just for a moment after the movie ended, Alicia and I thought we were back in Singapore GV theatre. Lol. We forgotten all about Brisbane and UQ. Haha.... Almost asked her - you going home by MRT? Lol.

Anyway, assignments seem to be piling up and argh! We have to work in groups of 5! That means we have to work with someone we don't actually know. Haiz. Die.

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo

South Bank 5 Cinema Complex

Cold rock ice cream!
Choose it, Mix it, Smash it!

1st week of school...

Well, friday finally came. My timetable is quite slack actually. I come home early on mondays and fridays. And on Wednesdays and Thursdays, i have a 4 hour lunch break in between which i'll be coming home to rest and cook lunch. Only tuesdays i have to pack my lunch. But for wednesday, thursday and friday, school starts at 8am. I'm still majoring in 2 fields of study - microbiology and biomedical science. The thing is, i found out there's a degree in biomedical science and somehow, Alicia said we can actually change our degree next semester from bachelor of science to bachelor of biomedical science. Not sure about that- will try to find out more.

Anyway, school wasn't that bad. I didn't have to crank up my old rusty brain much. Just needed some recalling of facts. Most of the lectures are things i have studied before in year 2 and yr 3 in poly. So it's alright for me. I have no idea why the lab coat here is sooooo expensive. 3x the cost in Singapore. I dunno why the idea of bringing my lab coat and goggles to brisbane did not pop up in my mind at all. And now, i have to pay (or rather pa have to pay) for the consequence for being forgetful. Hurhur. The lab coat cost $33 aussie dollars... That's like $40 sing! Wah.... I got mine in Ngee ann for like $10? I can buy 4 back at home. The lab coat really cost a bomb....Plus there's like no UQ embroidered at the pocket or something. Just a plain white coat. But of cuz, the material is quite thick compared to my ngee ann one. = ) But it's like.....still damn expensive. Scary.

Oh ya. Always always remember to return your library books on time in UQ. Yan Xia got an expensive crash course on that. She borrowed a book without checking the due date (or rather due time), since the book was only allowed to be borrowed for 2 hrs. So she happily brought it home and received an email from the library late at night saying she has to return the book. And when she returned it the next day and wanted to borrow another book, she can't. She then realised she has a $20 fine! $20 aussie! For a book which is less than 24hrs due. Can you imagine how much the library earns by the amount of fines the students in UQ pay?! Now you know why the libraries in UQ are soooo nice and soooo many spare computers for the students to use. Plus i found out that there is 1 whole level of MAC computers in the science block for the students to use! MAC leh....Apple leh...not cheeaaaapp.....

Hmm.... Practicals are not fun at all. I feel like i'm in secondary school doing practicals. The 1st practical i attended was like for students who had never seen a pipette before and was actually teaching us how to use one. So we were like showing the teacher how we pipette water into the tube. And i see the year 2 uni students figuring out how to use the micropipettes. I'm like wondering why they have NOT seen or USE one before! They're already year 2s! Don't they have practicals in year 1 or during high school??? I dunno man... it's really weird. Well, like what Alicia said, we poly students are really well prepared for practical work. I love poly... really taught me alot... and taught me relevant stuff. Really glad that papa and mummy sent me to poly. Or more like i chose to go poly.... and pa and mummy just paid for it. Hurhur. But i'm really glad that i went poly. Now i dun have to struggle with doing poster or final year project, literature reviews, journals to read, final year reports... Cuz i've done them before and gone through much pain doing it (alone)... now it's like.... nothing. I can handle it. = ) *i hope.

Anyway, heard that NP guys team are champions again. What's new? The girls lost. Badly. Very badly in my opinion. Lucky i've graduated. I' proudly say that i'm in the 2005 and 2006 team. Lol. Oh well, the girls are not taking the sport or the competition seriously. That's my opinion. But what difference does that make? It's none of my business now. And i've stopped playing tennis since it's like so damn expensive to play in UQ. International students are auto-UQsports member. It's about $60 per year for domestic students. But we still have to pay for the facilities we use. Like the tennis courts, swimming pool and even the running track. Can you imagine?! To run on the running track, you have to pay for it. Crazy. I rather just run around my neighbourhood since it's like so hilly. Everyday walking up and down hills is tedious enough. My legs are quite muscular now. Lol. My calf muscles are quite strong. Haha.... But my arms are going to be flabby if i don't tone them with exercises soon. Hurhur... Haven't started the jogging plan yet. Cuz we think it's enough exercise walking to and fro from our house to Toowong once a week with groceries. It's about 45 mins walk to Toowong and another 45 mins back. Anyway, it's $9.50 for courts before 5pm and $14.50 for courts after 5pm. Now i won't complain the courts in Kallang are expensive. Lol.

Well, tomorrow i'm going West bank to check out the wet market there. Heard food is cheaper over there. Have to take a ferry across the brisbane river. And i've to wake up at 7am tomorrow to meet yan xia's seniors at 8am at the ferry terminal. It's crazy... It's like damn early to wake up on a saturday morning.

Adios... have to sleep soon. Cuz i have to wake up early tomorrow....

xoxo Ei Leen xoxo