Movie Alone - Stardust

Realised I did not update my blog yesterday? Well, for the month of October, I will not be able to update my blog daily. Now, is rushing assignments time. Who actually said that studying in Aussie will be very relaxing? So not true! I have a 15 page assignment due on 12th, another 15 page assignment due on 26th, a presentation on 24th and an essay question on nuclear power due on 29th. Not only that, in between, I have submissions for my laboratory datasheets and reports. I am going crazy...

But still, one should always take time to relax and have a break to prevent oneself from really going crazy. That's why I decided to go and catch a movie, all by myself. This was the first time I watched a movie all by myself. Back in Singapore, I was always able to find someone to watch movies with me, no matter how unpopular the film might be. Things are different now. I learnt to do lots of things alone. I just hope that I won't get so used to being alone that I forgot how to go out in groups. Haha... Besides feeling a tad (ok, a very big tad) lonely before and after the show, it was otherwise quite alright. Anyway, I don't like to talk during movies so it doesn't really make any difference whether I was alone or with a very big group of friends.

The movie I watched was 'Stardust' by Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro and Sienna Miller. Magical... If you liked Chronicles of Narnia, you should like this one too. I loved it! I had always like to watch movies with magical themes. But then again, I don't think it's showing in Singapore anytime soon. I went GV's website and there's totally no mention of this movie at all. Haven't check Cathay's website though...

7月8日- 机场（15）

外婆家到场的所有人。

跟阿嫲家比是很少人但是已经很给我面子了，因为他们都很怕人太多的场合。前排穿粉红色衣的是我的外婆，最右边穿粉蓝色衣的是五姨，其他人在之前已经介绍过了。二姨得照顾小孩，不方便来。三姨和四姨怕控制不住自己的情绪所以不敢来送机。哈哈。。。

其实我那么爱往外跑可能是因为习惯。从小我的姑姑、阿姨们便时常带我出去玩，特别是四姨和五姨，可能是因为我乖巧又可爱吧！

7月8日- 机场（14）

三姑丈公，三姑婆，妈妈和我。

我们是从三姑婆那里得知这间大学的事。在我到澳洲之前给了我们很多建议与忠告，当我到澳洲后还是很关心我的一切，一直告诉我有事就去找她的侄儿。

中秋节快乐！

往常的中秋节都是和好友或家人一起庆祝的。今年一个人在外国，没有和熟悉的人一起庆祝，感到很奇怪。室友和她们的大学同学约好一起庆祝，把我也请了过去。还好我决定跟她们一起，不然一定会很寂寞。

这是我在中国城（唐人街）买的月饼，是属于香港荣华的，不便宜喔，一盒要30多元。原本是想买澳洲制的月饼，但是只有五仁月饼而我不喜欢。

不错吧，竟然还有专属纸袋。我上个星期六才买，竟然打九折，还送灯笼呢。还好没有太早买。

右边的是我的荣华白莲蓉月饼，左边的是其他人买的马来西亚pandan月饼。这里也有卖猪仔月饼喔，不过没有猪笼。

因为风太大，不能点灯笼所以只好用电灯代替。

没想到还能喝中国茶。我们当中有一位中国人而他竟然还把茶具带来澳洲。今晚的中国茶就是他泡的，还蛮有水准的。

澳洲的月亮。骗人的，外国的月亮并没有比家乡的圆。。。

Aussie's moon (in natural light mode)

Same moon (using flash)

Same moon but using night mode. Conclusion, the night mode in my camera really cannot make it. Who said that the night mode for Fujifilm is great? Felt so cheated...

Thank You People!!!

Last Saturday, a group of my close friends went to my house to celebrate mid-autumn festival with my mum and I (through msn video call). The guys even bought durian mooncakes from Marriott! The gals had given my mum a box of mooncakes a few weeks ago, just before Ivy left for Taiwan. Thanks for the mooncakes! If not, I think my family would not have any mooncakes to eat at home because these few years, I was the one who always buy mooncakes.

And thanks for video calling with me for a straight 3 hours plus even though some of you were almost falling asleep. Actually I was kind of in a dazed state since it was almost 3am here but I couldn't make myself end the call. It was fun even though I was complaining throughout that no one was listening or talking to me. I guess the speaker volume was really too soft and they were too immersed in their own conversations.

Thanks Esther for coming even though you were in 'rushing assignment and not getting enough sleep' mode.

Thanks guys (AA, GCW and LSB)! Even though one of you tried to claim money from me for the mooncakes and another arrived intoxicated, I was nevertheless touched.

Thanks Yiling for coming even though it's quite inconvenient and I know you were really exhausted.

Thanks Cerina and Alan for coming that previous time and I know you would have joined in this time if you were free.

Thank Ivy for the previous time too and I know you will certainly have joined in if you are not in Taiwan now. I'm so sorry that I couldn't talk with you longer that previous time. And if you are reading this, how come you are not updating your blog?

Last but not least, thanks Sindy for organising these events even though it's not your forte but hey, practice makes perfect. You just need to endure another ten months and I'll be back to take over the organising again. Maybe by that time you would have start enjoying organising. Haha... I know you made a lot of effort to make this gathering a better one than last time and it's quite tiring to ensure there's no 冷场 and no one feels left out or anything. I really appreciated it!

ps. just realised that this entry felt a bit like those 得奖感言where there's alot of thanks to many many people. Haha...

Home Alone

我的室友们这两天不在家，到了黄金海岸玩，所以我这两天得自己解决三餐。这是我第一天的晚餐，自己煮的喔。

右边那碟红色的东西是罐头鱼来的，只需弄热。


我的第一个荷包蛋，还真是难看。。。


熏肉（bacon），最怕炸食物了，不过还好没有被油喷到。其实有些部分看起来并不是很熟，但是我怕煮焦所以不敢煮太久。我只能趁室友们不在的时候吃这类食物因为她们觉得不健康，但我就是爱吃这类不健康的食物嘛。


原本是想煮粥的，后来发现放太少水了就决定试看看会不会变成饭。这样看起来还似乎不错吧，其实煮出来有点太湿了。

这次就当是为了我明年独居的热身吧，其实还蛮好玩的。不过如果天天做应该就不会那么好玩了吧。。。

Outing with New Friends （2）

After the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, we drove to glasshouse mountains. It was quite a long drive and the road signs were not very obvious but luckily, we still managed to find our way there. The view was really magnificient but we did not stay for long as we had planned a very long itinery for the day.

风景真的很美不过我们只待一下子因为还要赶到下一站。


Next stop, strawberry field. All these are rows and rows of strawberries.

下一站，草莓园。


We get to pick our own strawberries but the patch for self-picking was not very good. Most of the strawberries were not ripe enough so we did not pick a lot. By the way, those strawberries were not free. The strawberries that we picked were weighed and each 100gram costed $1.

在这可以自己采草莓不过多数的草莓都没熟。草莓可不是免费的，每一百克$1。


Big Pineapple, supposingly another tourist attraction but not much to see. The entry was free but the tour around the fields was not.

直接翻译-大黄梨。旅游书上有介绍不过没什么东西看。入门是免费的但是如果要参观果园就得还钱。


There really is a very big pineapple on the site.

还真的有个大黄梨呢。


Pineapple fields

黄梨园

Sunshine Beach, around 2 hours drive from Brisbane... All the places I mentioned in this entry is in Sunshine state.

“阳光沙滩”，从布里斯本需要两个小时的车程。

The waves were very high and the wind was really strong. From the beaches in Singapore, you can see the nearby islands. Here, you can't see anything beyond the sea. Scary...

我终于见识到什么叫‘大风大浪’和‘一望无际’，有点可怕。。。

The people living here gets to see the very beautiful seaview everyday. So lucky!

住这里的居民每天可看到美丽的海景，真幸福！

Another Parcel

Singpost should really give me a VIP pass or something. I'm generating so much avenue for them that my heart is starting to ache. I asked my mum to send me a textbook which is super heavy and the postage costed more than my big box of clothes sent previously!

新加坡邮局真的从我身上赚了很多钱，应该要他们给我一张贵宾卡。哈哈。。。我妈帮我寄了一本很重的课业书，邮费比上一次那一大箱子的衣服还贵！


A photo of the condition of the box. By the way, it is not necessary to buy Singpost's box. You can just use any box which is plain and has no wordings on it. Even if the box is not plain, you still use it and wrap brown paper around the box.

其实不需要买邮局的盒子。用自己的盒子也行，只要盒子是空白的，就算盒子是上有字，只需用纸包着就可以了。


This book is really crucial and can be considered as a 'bible' for one of the modules I'm taking. Guess what? This book actually cost AUD$123 for a new one and around between AUD$80 to AUD$100 for a second-hand. My brother helped me buy it from his campus at only S$35! It's still much cheaper even if you add in the postage cost and I am going to sell it off before I leave.

这本书可重要了，能不能及格就靠它了。我和大学同学喜欢把这本书称为‘约翰’。在澳洲，一本新的值123澳元而一本二手的也要80到100澳元。我弟弟从南大买二手的才35新元，就算加邮费下去也还是便宜的。回来之前会在这把书卖掉，这样才不会亏本嘛。


Just for fun... Don't know why my mum mailed this over for me too.

我妈竟然把收据也寄来。。。

Outing with New Friends （1）

Went to new places together with my new friends from university who are also Singaporeans and five years my junior. I know I have tons of assignments to hand in but I think I better take a break before I go crazy. Haha... One of them rented a car and we split the cost of the car rental. First place we went to was Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Although the name stated Koala but they do have other Australian animals too.

今天和大学的新朋友一起租车出外游玩。新朋友同样是新加坡人而且还小我五岁。第一站是到一个树熊能保护区。虽说是树熊却也能看到其他澳洲代表动物。

They are lots of Kangaroos in the sanctuary but I had just visited Singapore zoo before I came over so I was not that interested in them. Furthermore, they do not look very friendly and there was no care taker nearby. I did not dare to take photos with them even though my friends all did.

澳洲代表动物当然少不了袋鼠，但是我到澳洲之前刚去了新加坡动物园，那里也有袋鼠。朋友都有和袋鼠合照但我不敢，因为它们看起来不是很友善而且没有管理员在附近。我怕被攻击。。。

Emu... Don't look very friendly too...

The main attraction - Koala Bears. They were all sleeping on the trees except for one which was 'on duty' to take photos with visitors. I took a photo with a Koala Bear but that photo was in my friend's camera so I had to wait till she sent it to me.

这里的主角-树熊。所有的树熊都在睡觉除了一只负责和游客合照的以外。我有跟树熊合照但是照片在朋友的相机里。

Wombats, very big creatures.

好寂寞

好寂寞- 光良、范玮琪

我愿用真心交换你
偶尔分到你一点关心
就算你不能完全属于我
我也愿意照顾自己

有时爱就是那么奇妙
怎么也想不到想不到
我竟如此的为你执迷
也想不到我只要一刻不见你
就无法呼吸

看窗外霓虹灯在闪耀
情人在街道上拥抱，
我的夜只能依靠不停想你
才会有心跳

好寂寞，
每当想起你的时候
好像痛要将我吞没
却不能对你说
好寂寞，
我会试着自己挣脱
就怕你会放不下我
曾说过
要让你自由就该学着放手

73天没有KTV！每一天脑海里一直浮现这首歌。好多东西要做又不知道从何开始。我快疯了。。。

7月8日- 机场（13）

Joey, Eunice, Ah Mah and ME

Ah Mah, My always laughing cousin - Joey (do you know that a baby kangaroo is also known as joey?) and ME.

终于轮到我们陈家的一家之主上场了。我是故意把阿嫲放在最后的，大人物总是压轴出场的嘛。哈哈。。。当我决定来澳洲时，阿嫲的心情应该是非常复杂的，即兴奋又担心。她总是认为女生没必要念那么多书，担心我会嫁不出去。而且我是出了名的不会烹饪、不爱做家务、脾气又坏，她当然担心啦。出国之前，她每次见到我都会把我带到一旁，然后嘱咐（唸）一大堆。现在阿嫲应该是特别忙吧，要担心我过的如何，吃的饱吗，又要担心我那人在中国的表妹适应吗，有吃饱吗？对了，我阿嫲最怕就是我们吃不饱，挨饿。还好，除了担心以外阿嫲也很兴奋，因为她现在能向她的牌友炫耀说她的孙女正在外国念大学。阿嫲还很前卫喔，会用msn webcalling和我交谈。

Miss Me?

I just realised that I had not updated my blog for the past two days. Miss me? Reached home too late on both Friday and Saturday so I did not go online and update my blog. I'm so used to updating my blog at night that I can't bring myself to update in the mornings when I'm free.

Friday, I went over to my friends' house to attempt an online test together. There was no time limit to the test and we decided to do it together so that we can consult one another. We can do three attempts each and the highest score will be the one taken into account. We started doing at around 2.30pm and end at 12.30am! We did not finish all three attempts but I was too tired to complete my third one. Luckily my friends' house was only five minutes away from mine and they kindly walked me back as it was quite late and the area was not very well-lited.

Saturday, I went for movies with that same group of friends and reached home past midnight again. Watched Ratatouille, a very funny animation which can get a bit disgusting at times when they showed the whole colony of rats together. That was my third movie here, goes to show that I really can't break my movie habit. Next movie on the list will be Stardust. After the movie, I took a bus home with my friends. Luckily there's a bus from the city back to my house which operates on weekend nights so there's no need to take cab. In Singapore, the night-rider bus costed at least $3 each trip but the bus that I took needed no extra fee. It was included in the daily ticket that I bought during the day.

两天没写了，想我吗？这两天太迟到家所以来不及写。而且太习惯夜晚写了，所以即使白天有空也没写。

星期五，我到朋友家一起做一个网上测验，到了凌晨12点多才回家。那测验没有时间限制所以我们就约好一起做，反正校方也没说不能一切讨论。还好朋友家很靠近，而且她们还陪我走回去。

星期六，我和同一群朋友一起去看戏。这已经是我在这里的第三部戏了，看来我是改不掉看戏的习惯了。看完戏已经是11点多了，还好有一辆巴士从市区到我家而且午夜过后还是有车，不需要搭的士。在新加坡，这类巴士一趟最少3元但在这里反而便宜，只须出示我较早前买的日程车票就行了。

7月8日- 机场（12）

My Ah Lian cousin and ME. The two of us are as different as black from white. My Ah Mah always like to say that it'll be perfect if the two of us can average out a bit. The most distinctive difference between us is that she had a very long romance history whereas I had none. Come to think of it, we are actually quite similar in that both of us can't settle down, yet. I do realise that I'm not young anymore and I'll try to settle down when I go back. Even though my cousin and I are very different, we are close. We might not see each other often but we'll still try to catch up once in a while.

我的‘阿莲’堂妹和我真的是天差地别，阿嫲总爱说如果我们俩能平衡一点就好。我们之间最明显的差别在于她的罗曼史丰富得惊人而我的却是一片空白。不过想一想就会发现我们都还不能静下来。我知道自己不小了，也是时候成家立业了，就等我回来时再努力吧。我和堂妹虽然很不同，也不常见面但却蛮亲的。

7月8日- 机场（11）

My two Dragon cousins, Marcus and James. These two are of the same age and had always been really close to each other since young. Anyway, these two jokers were not around when I was going into the transit area. They were actually at Starbucks buying coffee! What the..? So 'bo sim' right? Then again, I wouldn't have known if another cousin did not tell me. Due to the confusion that day, even if my mum was not around, I think I would not have noticed it. Haha...

我的堂弟和表弟尽然在我进闸门时跑去买咖啡！真是没诚意。。。不过说真的，那天的情况那么乱，即使我妈不在，我都可能不会发现。哈哈。。。

7月8日- 机场（10）

My very dark and also very skinny cousin, Edmund, ME and uncle Ching, who belong with my 姑姑who got her own entry a few weeks back. I have no idea why but this family did not take a whole family photo with me. They have a daughter who's going to turn up at another entry because she actually joined in another photo. This uncle of mine looks almost exactly the same as he did when I first saw him at least 14 years ago. He did not age much and so is my aunt. I wonder if they have some kind of competition going on to see who can stay young longer. Haha... Edmund is 12 years younger than me and so has the same chinese zodiac sign as me. Both of us are cute little doggies. In the Tan family, those with the same chinese zodiac always like to join forces when playing cards (gambling to be exact :b) and it always worked.

Edmund,我和小姑丈。这家人还蛮奇怪的，都是分开和我拍照。最佩服小姑丈的一点是他从以前到现在似乎没什么变。他和小姑姑俩人似乎是在比赛看谁最能保持青春。哈哈。。。Edmund小我一轮，一样属狗。我们堂兄弟姐妹在新年玩牌时，如果同个生肖的联手的话，赢得几率会比较大。特别是我们属狗的，因为在一起就会‘旺旺’！哈哈。。。


I think I forgot to upload this photo previously. The uncle who always like to disturb us and make us laugh. It's always lively with him around but I think he's going to have a very boring month. The light of his life, his darling daughter, Adeline, is flying off tonight to China for a month.

大姑丈是出了名的疼女儿。今晚，他的宝贝女儿要到中国交流一个月，他应该会非常舍不得吧。

My Parcel is Here!

Finally, after more than 6 weeks of waiting, my 2nd half of belongings had arrived. I don't know why but Australia Post seemed to like delivering parcels early in the morning on Mondays. This parcel arrived at 7.30am this morning and of course, I was still asleep. It seemed fine except for a few dents here and there but what can you expect from a parcel that had travelled for so long? I'm just glad that it had arrived.

等了超过6个星期，我的行李终于到了。澳洲的邮差似乎很早开工，早上7.30来送包裹时，我还在睡觉呢。箱子是没有刚寄时那么美，不过在海上漂了那么久还能保持这个样子已经不错了。


A glimpse of what's inside... Not bad right? Everything's still neat and tidy. I had expected to see a total mess what I opened it. I'm not sure whether to praise the handling or my mum's packing but I think most likely it's the latter. Anyone shocked by the amount of 'female stuff' inside? Finally my hippos are reunited. One came by plane and the other by ship. Haha...

箱子一打开，里面的东西都还整整齐齐的，我还以为会是一片凌乱。我想应该是我妈整理的好吧。我的河马玩偶终于可以团圆了，还好小蓝和小黄能在中秋节之前在一起。哈哈。。。

Curry Chicken

We had curry chicken for dinner tonight and it's a different type from the one who had previously. This one was more authentic and had a 'familiar' taste but of course it did not taste like the ones our mums made.

今天的晚餐是咖喱鸡不过味道和上次煮的不一样。这次的比较像我们在新加坡吃的，但是肯定和自己妈妈煮的不一样。

This is the canned curry sauce we bought from the supermarket, costed $2.90. At least it's much cheaper than the one my friend ate yesterday at the 'Little Singapore' restaurant and the best thing is, it tasted almost the same.

这就是我们用来煮咖喱鸡的罐头浆料-$2.90。 比起昨天我朋友在餐馆吃的便宜多了，而且味道差不多。

Sunny Bank

Today, I went to a new suburb with my housemates and found paradise in Aussie. It's like a little Taiwan/Hong Kong/Singapore. If I miss the food back in Singapore and feel like lifting the weight of my wallet, I will know where to go. That's right, the food here is very very expensive but I still went right ahead and spent it. Haha...

今天到了一个新的小镇，是好像个小亚洲，汇集了台湾，香港和新加坡的食品。想念新加坡的美食又觉得手头宽松的话，倒是可以来这里解一解乡愁。没错，这里的食物还蛮贵的！


Market Square Shopping Centre, where all the food is.


I had my lunch here, a plate of 'salty fish with chicken cubes fried rice' which costed me $8.50.

我在这吃了一盘‘咸鱼鸡粒炒饭’，花了$8.50.


The Sweet Dessert Shop, where I had my first soya beancurd in Aussie.

圆圆糖水舖，在这里吃了我两个月以来的第一碗豆花。


Soya Beancurd with mini glutinous balls. The glutinous balls tasted like pearls and I was a bit dissappointed. Initially wanted to order beancurd with soya milk but the shop ran out of soya milk. Sigh... $3.50 for this bowl.

小汤圆豆花。小汤圆吃起来像珍珠（泡泡茶的那种），有点失望。我还以为会像冬至吃的那种汤圆。原本想点豆浆豆花但是卖完了。$3.50.

Little Singapore - the restaurant with all the Singapore specialties. They had chicken rice, char kway teow, hokkien mee, nasi lemak, hor fun and so on. However, I don't think it's run by a true Singaporean. Which Singaporean will write their signboard in traditional Chinese？

新马餐馆，售卖很多新加坡食物，有鸡饭，炒果条，福建面，椰浆饭，河粉等。不过，我觉得这间餐馆可能不是新加坡人开的。多数新加坡人应该不会用繁体字来写招牌吧。

The food we ordered, there's laksa, curry chicken with rice, seafood hor fun and tauhu goreng.

我们所点的食物。

My Laksa which cost me $9.80. Siao right? I really have no idea why I ordered this since I don't really like Laksa in the first place. In the end, I can't finish it. Must be due to the fact that almost every table had an order of this. A friend once told me that if you want to eat the best food by a restaurant, just order whatever is eaten by most diners in that restaurant.

一碗＄９．８０的Ｌａｋｓａ。其实我也并不是很喜欢吃Ｌａｋｓａ，不知道为什么会点，结果没吃完。应该是因为很多其他食客都有点吧。曾经有朋友告诉我，想知道一间餐馆有什么是最好吃的就只要看一看什么是最多人吃的。


For the benefit of my KTV buddies, there's KTV here! I didn't check out the price so I have no idea how much a KTV session cost. Don't think there'll be a chance for me to sing here anyway.

Surprise Mail

I got a postcard from my ex-colleague, Wendy. I really didn't expect my colleagues to send me mail as I know all of them must be very busy with work. Goes to show that I am constantly still in their mind. Haha... Really glad that we are not the type of colleagues who loses touch the minute we quit. We went through a lot together while at work and of course there were happy times and stress times. Will never forget the time when the two of us were so stressed that we started cracking crappy jokes. And will not forget the times spent at This Fashion trying clothes till they close! I miss you girls! I'll be putting some of your photos on my blog someday. Right now, I'm still only halfway through my relatives' photos. Hehe...

收到前同事的明信片，真的很意外，从来没有想过会收到她（或她们）寄来的信。她们应该是很忙吧，因为除了我，还有一位同事刚辞职。我不会忘记一起渡过的那些时光，好想念你们！有一天，我也会把你们的照片放上网的。

Thanks Wendy!!!