Be Happy

Intro

Zeng.

Loves Singapore and Gippsland, Vic, Australia.
Am experiencing the four seasons of the year for this first time in my life.
Got the chance to wear winter clothes for the first time too...
Got the chance to switch on the heater in the day and at night to keep warm...
Got the chance to get extremely dry skin and understand that we can never get the best of both worlds...
Got to see places where there's more cows than people, more trees than buildings, more love than scams...
Sometimes misses hot and humid and unpredictably rainy weather...
Constantly misses the love for me from the little red dot...

PROFILE

Learning in an instituition called university...
To be precise, the place is called Monash University
To be more exact, it's called Monash University, Gippsland campus
To be very clear, I'm studying in Monash University, Gippsland campus, undertaking BA (Psych and Humans)
To paint the most descriptive picture, my main interest is in education.
But I'm learning about psychology, sociology (mostly under Aussie context) and History-politcs for now.
Social justice issues, politics, education, environmental issues, social realities and things like that intrigues me...

For additional information, I'm not doing that well most of the time.
But don't you dare judge!
There's ups and downs and you never know how high up I can get...
I don't know too but we'll find out...

It's a constant struggle but,
It's never too old to learn.
Never too poor to school.
Never too stupid to think.

Sweet Talks

Archives

February 21, 2008

A few firsts... 7:25 PM

My train ticket

Sitting at the train station... This is what I see...

Sitting on the train... This is what I see...

There have been many firsts these few days... On Tuesday, it was extremely hot in Churchill (it’s the small town I live in. Compare to Jurong...) and I heard the fire brigade in the afternoon. Then Ivy (one of my housemates) screamed that there were ants in the shower. I was in a panic and didn’t take photos. Anyway, I went to take a look (she called me cos I had insecticide not that I’m brave enough to handle insects...) and saw that the black ants were coming in from the roof. And they seemed to have a destination... Lucky they hadn’t made their way out of the shower. They were very neat like all other ants and Ivy decided that better spray as much pesticide on them as possible and many died. But others scattered off. We called the caretaker and he told us to call later cos somewhere in the sch there was a fire... Wow. So happening! So in the end, we left the shower alone for the rest of the day. My cousin Winnie said that it’s probably cos the weather was too hot tat the ants entered the house. I feel a little sorry for the ants cos they came in based on animal instincts but didn’t survive... If I see them again like tat will I still spray the insecticide? I will... cos I’m an evolutionised and contemporary human being who needs living space to be free of pests... Quite contradicting but yeah...

Then today, Ivy and I went to Melbourne city. Though my plane landed in Melbourne’s airport, the place that I go to is called Gippsland. And this place is located to the east of Melbourne city. Gippsland is a countryside. And Churchill is a small part of Gippsland. It’s 3hr drive away from the airport. The drive is at the average of 100-120km/h (of course I’m not the driver or else it’ll be a 24hr drive. Ok maybe 12hr) I love the countryside that I live in now but I had to go city (haha... like some kampong girl venturing out of the village) to get some stuff that cannot be found in this town. First was a printer. I depend on the printer very much so I had to have one. Second was a guitar. I couldn’t bring the one I had in Singapore over, so had to get a new one. It’s not very ex but not cheap either (I saw one at Peninsula Plaza for $30... Mine is the cheapest I see in the shop and it’s AUD$99/-). Ivy had to wake me up at 6am. Poor Ivy... knocked on my locked door for like 5min before I jumped up. And then had to shower and rush out of the house to the bus-stop for the 6.50am bus. The schedule here is very punctual. And the bus comes hourly (very village feel... ). So if missed one then have to wait for ONE HOUR!!! We ran out of the house and was so out of breath! It was so cold in the morning... like 12deg? I dunno... very cold la. Then we took the bus and reached the train station. WOW!!! My first time on a TRAIN not an MRT! Haha.. I was so excited that I was instantly awake! We bought the tickets and waited. The sceneries on the bus is really so interesting for me! Cows, horses, grass, trees, houses... And there are shelves on top of the seats for baggage! Haha... so unlike MRT. The ride was 2hr and I was very awake for abt ½hr. Then I slept unglamorously in front of so many angmohs... *sigh* I woke up just in time to see a few more stations before reaching the city!

The clothes here are so much cheaper than Singapore’s! It’s much nicer and had much more variety too! To think that I went shopping for so much clothes before I came cos I tot it’ll be ex here and I will buy to not buy anymore when I come... Get what I mean? Haha... so in the end, I ended up getting a pair of red shoes for AUD$19.95. The sizes here are so big! Fahpotilarmah will only get baby shoes if she comes! Haha... The city was colder but it started to get hot in the afternoon and I had to take off my sweater and even sweated while walking back to the train station. It’s such a big place I really dunno what I’d do without Ivy. She’s a return student so she’s great at this. Knows the best deals and all... Thank you so much Ivy! So in the end, we took 2 trains and a bus to reach home. Well, the changing of trains also quite funny. Have to exit the station, buy new tickets at the counter, then enter back into the train station. It’s so unlike Singapore la. Not like got ezlink juz tap tap tap and can get where we want. I mean, I still think that Singapore’s transport system can be improved on much more but if you’re here you’d just want to get a car. So much parking lots for you here and roads so long you can speed all you want (provided you don’t get caught or knock into a kangaroo...). Well, so why aren’t I getting a car? Cos my overly-worried mother will be going temple everyday and I don’t dare to drive here. Haha... will get lost la. Not get lost in another street and can turn back eh... I may end up in another state ah! And the people here drive quite fast. The police had a talk with international students that day and told us that the average number of car accidents that an Australian meets every ten years is 3. It’s like so inevitable... So will just stay in Churchill like a country bumpkin and not venture out so often la.

Whoa... super long entry! Haha... i’m still so long-winded ah... Good day! Hehe... :D

Luv,
Me

p/s: I also witnessed the first rain in Gippsland on 20th Feb (Wed) at 12.37pm (Aust. Time) :D