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!