Adelaide =)

I know, i know. I haven’t updated in a long, LOOONNGGG time. I’m sorry  =(

*blows the cobwebs off my blog page*

Oh btw i’ve just “discovered” terbalik smiley faces!

For example,   (:  instead of :)

Isn’t that cute??!

I’m guessing your face right now is like this:    -_______________-  ‘’’

Hey, small things make me happy  =)

So anyway, here is the much awaited update on Life in Adelaide! 

Brace yourselves, this may be long  (if you know me, you should know how i tend to ramble and go off topic. If you don’t know me, you stalker! Stop reading my blog! Hahaha)

This reminds me, I promised my mother that I’d give her my blog’s address on her birthday (17^th of March)  because she desperately wants it.

I know, i still can’t get my head around the fact that soon my mum will be reading the stuff that I write, but hey – a promise is a promise right? 

*Mum, I know you’re reading this, so Hi!  =D  My only condition in giving you my blog address is that you don’t leave any comments, AND don’t say to me “I read on your blog the other day that...” Oh, and you can only read it once a month haha *

Also, i actually used colored font in this post, but that got cancelled, and i'm too tired to do it all AGAIN, so yeah... not much colour this time. Sorry!

Back to the subject – update time! =)

*Btw Charlene if you’re reading this, STOP! Coz the stuff I say here will be uncannily similar to the stuff in the letter that i WILL be sending to you! *

ANYWAY

Adelaide. Is. So. Cool! Literally and figuratively!

Not in the beginning lah. When I first came, it was SOOOO HOTTT. 

Summer can be like that sometimes i guess  =D There was a day when the temperature went up to 40 degrees! I blame the sun here for making me darker . Someone even thought I was a Malay, or a Nyonya person  -___-

Not that I have anything against those people. It’s just, you know, i’m NOT.

Nowadays though, it’s really breezy and cold because it’s basically autumn. With golden (sounds much better than brown huh)  leaves falling from the trees and all that.  

The downside is that it’s SO HARD to get up early in the morning, like for my 8 am or 9 am lectures -- especially when i’m cocooned in my cosy, warm bed!

I’ve lost count of the number of times my teeth have randomly started chattering really badly, and they only do this when i’m EXTREMELY cold! I used to blast my aircon 24/7 at 16 degrees in Subang, and i was totally fine!  It’s extremely embarrassing when this happens btw.

Hot Australian Guy (HAG) : Hello, my name is Hot Australian Guy. And you are?

Me:  Brrrrrrrrr!

HAG:  Er... gosh, look at the time, seeya!

or

Person X:  So, what do you think about the Neighbour Principle proposed by Lord Atkins?

Me: Wha—whaa—what the he—he—heck?

Not that I say what the heck in real life, but you know – these are just examples =)

So yeah. The weather is a really important subject here! In Malaysia we only talk about the weather when we have nothing better to say, and it’s usually really boring but HERE, it’s like... a BIG DEAL. And it’s contagious! If it rains, I get totally excited and I even mention it on Facebook!

Right.

Oh and let me just say how much i LOVE the wind here. It’s  super-duper strong, and you can feel it literally PUSHING you along. It’s fantastic! The only problem is I have to be really careful when I wear skirts, or i’d end up doing a Marilyn Monroe  =/

The University of Adelaide’s campus is beautiful =) 

     

The lake near campus =)

There are ducks and swans on the lake. Proper DUCKS and SWANS!!!

When I first got here and my cousin gave me a tour, I thought I’d NEVER be able to get all the buildings straight. They’re beautiful old buildings and that’s great, but the problem is they tend to look the same!


This, combined with my infamously bad sense of direction... well. Let’s just leave it at that.

I haven’t gotten too lost so far though! “Too lost” being the key words, haha

Uni... hmm. There’s so much to say about it. Classes have been great. I’ve had Law classes, and International Studies classes too, and I’ve decided to drop International Studies – at least for now.

It’s been really stressful overloading all my double degree classes, and i’m only in my first year!  So yeah, i’ve decided to postpone that for now  =)

For Law, i have 3 subjects – Foundations of Law (pretty boring so far), Torts (which i really like!) and Contracts (which i THOUGHT would be boring, but isn’t!)  Lectures are cool – they’re really held in halls and lecture theatres that are SO uni-like!

Lecturers here are cool too, but it’s weird coz they expect us to address them by their first names and that’s a real culture shock for me!

We also have seminars (like... tutorials) for each subject, and so far that’s going really well too! I must say, i REALLY like my seminar group for Foundations. The people (about 6 of us) are really nice and friendly, and we all get along well!

We were asked to draw up our group’s Constitution, and in it one of the punishments for being absent with no valid reason (so lawyer-like) is a $2 fine so we can have a meal at the end of the year =)

Also, as you can see from the new title of my blog, over here I was told Suet is the fat of animals taken from the liver, and is used in Christmas pudding.

Yep, Christmas pudding.

I’m so famous, I even have my own mix, which i stumbled across while grocery shopping! =)

There I am, right next to Queen's Vanilla Extract! =D

So anyway, I’ve met so many different people over here! There are, obviously, Malaysians. Tons of Malaysians doing law btw, most of them smart JPA people! =)  They’re a fun bunch to hang around – if I can find pics of them  i’ll try to put it up =)

I’ve also met people from Hong Kong, Macau, Sri Lanka, China, Singapore, Australia (duh) and... i can’t think of the other countries but there’re loads more! It’s been pretty interesting, haha...  Especially at OCF (overseas Christian fellowship) which is a really fun club to be a part of  =)

Speaking of clubs, I’ve joined the UN here! UN -- for those of you who are somewhat less informed then the rest of us (in other words, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN) -- stands for the United Nations. I’ve always wanted to join!


Anyway I went for a MUN (mini UN) meeting on Wednesday, and it was the COOLEST thing EVER! It was like a real life UN conference!

I couldn’t follow ALL the lingo they used (Point of personal privilege? Point  of procedural enquiry? Moderated caucus?)  but it was seriously SOOOO COOL!

I’m so glad i decided to be a member during Orientation week, and i’m really looking forward to next week’s continued debate (on the Taiwan-US-China arms crisis). I may be representing Malaysia along with Yun Wei (another smart JPA guy haha) if we get around to researching the topic properly  =)

On another note, some of you guys have expressed shock over the prices of movie tickets over here – a whopping $17! Which is like... RM 50, give or take a few ringgit.

Students get it cheaper at around $10 (with a free drink or popcorn), but STILL. That’s RM30! Haha... The other day a bunch of us went to watch Valentines Day (which I liked, btw)  and it was a good experience.

We had ice cream at Gelatissimo too, and it was really yummyyy! I had lemon, and peppermint chocolate =)  Lemon flavoured ice cream! This is one of the reasons why i LOVE Adelaide so far hahaha

That brings me to food. Hmm.  I don’t eat out as much as I did during my Subang days, mainly coz it’s pretty expensive – at the food court a plate of mee hoon can cost you $8 [RM 24!!! Yes i’ve been trained by my parents to convert the price of everything].


The sushi here is really good though – Gee (another JPA friend... i’m just surrounded by them aren’t I? Haha) brought me and Hueh Ching  (my sister’s classmate in St Davids! The world is TINY!)  to this sushi place called Maki Maki.

The. Sushi. There. Is. To. Die. For.

Especially the smoked salmon with cream cheese one. I’m salivating all over the keyboard now just thinking about it!

Okay i’m not lah. That would be... you know, disgusting. But that just shows how good the sushi was!

I buy a lot of groceries here. The supermarket I go to, Coles, is like my FAVOURITE place to hang out! Hahaha... yess i hang out at supermarkets =)  I went through a period when I first arrived in Adelaide where I went to Coles everyday for a WEEK! Is that an obsession or what? =)   

I’ve cooked a few dishes with my cousin (usually on the weekends), and there’s been no accidental fires yet! *touch wood haha*  In fact, our food  (if we do say so ourselves) is GOOD! =)  We’re just, you know, NATURALS  =D  (i can imagine my mother sniggering haha)

Steamboat! =)

Posing proudly with our food, hahaha

Sadly these look better than they taste, hahaha

So yeah. The food here’s okay lah. NOTHING compared to Malaysian food though – I miss char kuey teow and nasi  lemak and roti canai and curry laksa and... yeah. Pretty much everything, haha. 

OHHH there’s this great bread place in Central Market though, called Nanna (weird names mean good food! Haha)  and their bread is also to die for! Haha... especially eaten fresh. They have curry buns, coconut swirls, sambal ikan bilis buns (SAMBAL IKAN BILIS BUNS!), pork floss buns... you name it, they have it, haha... And the prices are so reasonable!

Central Market is cool. It’s kinda connected to Coles, and Chinatown. You can get all kinds of fruits there! Australian fruits are great. Grapes, watermelon, peaches, apples... especially the grapes! They burst in your mouth!

Look! Durian! They have durians here!

Chinatown is pretty cool too, with loads of Chinese food shops and stuff. That was a stupid sentence – it’s Chinatown, of course there’s a lot of Chinese shops. Sorry!

I just realized, i could’ve just backspaced the stupid sentence and saved myself the risk of looking stupid.

Yeah.

Anyway the other my cousin and I went to Cafe Kowloon in Chinatown to yumcha (Jun kiat’s favourite word! Haha)  because it was a public holiday, and their dim sum was really good! Better than many shops in Malaysia, haha... and they had Mango pudding that was... indescribable =)

Enough about food. It’s making me hungry, haha...  I’ll talk about something boring like... transport.

Transport. Yes. They have free trams (trams are the babies of buses and LRTs – you know, like a hybrid mixture) and buses all around the city here, plus you don’t have to wait too long!

Tram rides can be pretty interesting – especially if there’re drunk  (technically i should say “drunken”, but malas lah) people on board! Let me explain about drunk people and their connection to trams:


Drinking, as far as I can tell, is Australia’s national pastime. Really. Like... at uni, to get people to go to events, they put in BIG, BOLD letter, FREE ALCOHOL!  The people here talk about getting drunk and clubbing like it’s an everyday thing. And to them it’s “uncool” not to drink.

Well, i’m destined to *cough cough* remain uncool then – I have neither the ability (allergies!) nor the inclination (who wants to puke and get hungover?) to drink.

But seriously, the pubs and bars here are usually PACKED at night! And these drunk people, thankfully, do not drive so they take the tram. They’re usually harmless – they just come up to you and ask for money.

Happy drunks are the funny ones.

On Monday (the public holiday) I went to Glenelg beach with my cousin (it was amazing btw, super strong wind, super cold, super cool surfers haha)  and on the way back, the tram was filled with lots of really drunk well dressed people back from the Horse Races.

There was this party of 4, a husband, wife, daughter and son-in-law who were right next to us. They were talking really loudly and swaying here and there, and the son-in-law pulled out his phone halfway through to answer a call. His wallet dropped out of his pocket, and landed at my feet. I picked it up gave it back to him, and saw it was FULL of money – like seriously, $100 bills. And then...

~~~~~~~~

The mom:  *starting to stroke my hair* Darling, are you the one who rescued his wallet?

Me:  Er... yes?  *stroking continues, despite me shrinking away slightly*

The mom: Well, aren’t you just gorgeous? Thank you so much for saving him, he’s too drunk!  *enthusiastic stroking continues, while my cousin sniggers in the background*

Son-in-law:   Hey, at least i’m not the one randomly stroking a stranger’s head.

The mom:  Pay no attention to him. He’s been drinking all day!

                            

Daughter (as in the wife of the son-in-law):  * interrupting*  Yeah, he’s a really bad influence!

The mom:  And besides, we’re not strangers anymore, look we’re practically friends now! Aren’t we, darling?  *smiles happily at me while continuing the hair-stroking*

Tram jerks, and mother loses her balance and falls on an unfortunate girl on the nearby seat.

~~~~~

So yeah. Harmless drunk people are entertaining =)

My cousin is great btw. She’s really funny, and she doesn’t make me clean my room, so that’s a plus! I have to clean it anyway though, coz sometimes when I skype with my family they say “ooohh let us see your room” and try to catch me when it’s messy. She’s brought me to so many places! The highlight being IKEA of all places, haha... but only because i LOVE ikea =) 

This was at her birthday party recently =)

Oh and kangaroos! Can’t leave them out of this post, haha... Jerina and I (she’s my friend from Penang) and  some of the other Malaysians went along for this trip to Victor Harbour organised by the International Student Centre, and there was this wildlife park where we got to feed kangaroos! 

You may not know this, but kangaroos SLOBBER. Their salivary glands work overtime! That’s the only explanation for the amount of kangaroo-saliva i had all over my palm, haha... they lick the food off your hand, so you can just imagine.

They ARE really cute though! We were told, “you can pet them, but don’t try to hug them. They don’t like it – it’s nothing personal. If you see someone trying to hug a kangaroo, RUN AWAY!”   =)  Apparently the last time someone tried that, he got punched -- and kangaroo punches are no joke =P

We also got to eat the famous Fish and Chips there! Definitely more chips than fish though, haha... 

look at tiny piece of fish! Haha... really yummty though =)

and we were stalked by hungry, vicious seagulls! It reminded me of the horror movie “Birds” trailer which i accidentally saw when i was young. SCARY. 

They made a ring around our group and kept advancing slowly! To kacau one of the guys who was eating with us, Jerina and I kept tossing chips near him (well actually... i did the tossing, coz Jerina’s not that mean hahaha), and whenever I did this the seagulls would fight VERY AGRESSIVELY for the chip and the guy kept screaming (very femininely) each time =)

Come on, we all like to have fun sometimes  don’t we =)

Oh, and Jerina introduced me to a very special treat called – Toffee apples!

Toffee apples are basically apples on sticks that have a hard layer of candy over it. Trust me when I say that toffee apples are the most difficult things to eat. I’ve never struggled so much with any type of food in my life, really!

It took me AGES to get to this stage:

I was SO PROUD when i finally managed to break through the toffee to the apple. And it was really really good! Being the toffee apple eating expert that I undoubtedly am now, I will have absolutely NO TROUBLE eating one again. And again =)

So... my eyeballs hurt, and my fingers are getting sore. If you’ve made it this far, I am IMPRESSED  =)

Some random pictures --

The screen of one of the shopping malls - near Target i think. Really cute pictures!

One of the famous Rundle Mall pigs!

She reminds me of the Bird Woman in Mary Poppins!

This is from the festival Northern Lights of Adelaide, where they project designs onto buildings -- VERY VERY COOL =)

I like this place! It's full of strange performances. Lots of already drunk or getting drunk people there though, haha

This was when my cousin and I went to Glenelg beach (super super SUPER strong wind, it was AMAZING!) and the evil seagulls were out in full force. A scary but beautiful sight =)

These guys are so cool! The waves were massive and wild, and they were just so... cool! The surfers too! haha

This was taken dyuring our scholarship "ceremony" where we got free sushi! =D

So anyway there are loads more pictures, but i'm to malas to post them here lah -- Facebook is much more convenient  =)

The End (for now)

PS. I miss my family =(

P.P.S. If you haven't watched Glee yet, GO WATCH IT!!! It's a GREAT show, i have all the music videos playing on repeat on my laptop! =)