Anything but Ordinary

HOWDY MATE!

It has been awhile… Christmas and New Year day was CRAP for me….so I shan’t tok about it…
Finally I’m in Australia… during this time, I’ve been trying convince myself that I’m really looking forward to this trip, now that I am here, I am really seeing myself adapting well to the Australian way of life. Actually, it isn’t really hard for me to adjust to, compared to my 5 other frenz and the main credits has to go to my parents and my elder sister. It is actually her decision to study in Australia 10 yrs ago that really paved the way for me to know more about this country, and how to adjust myself to the pace of the way of life here.
The “miss home” feeling hasn’t really kicked on me yet, and I certainly do not want it to come now or for the next 2 yrs. I know it sounds pretty heartless but I had to do what I had to do, and to not let them down, I know that I must do what I’ve promised them to do --- study hard and make them proud.

The goodbye scene in the airport was really heart-wrenching for me. Though I managed to shut my tears out, my thoughts ran wild….all I could think of that night was that, I gotta say goodbye to everyone, gotta tell my grandparents to really take good care of themselves for these 2 yrs, gotta tell my grandfather I’m really gonna miss his hainanese chicken rice, gotta tell my parents, though they’ll be joining me and I’ll get to see them soon for awhile, I’m still gonna miss their naggings a lot, gotta tell my cousins to study hard and not make us so worried about them all the time, and finally, gotta tell my frenz, don’t forget me….
So many things were in my mind, but time was short, in the end, the only things I did was waving goodbye and giving them a big smile….

The plane trip was pretty tiring, but fun… the swap-seats plan didn’t managed to work out so I had to sit separate from my frenz. When I move over to my seating, I realised I’m into something really out-of-my-comfort-zone. The night before, I’ve been thinking for very long what kind of a person would sit beside me I can’t swap seats, would it be a guy or girl? Old man or a young woman? Fortunately for me, it’s a young Irish loving couple on a 2-month holiday in Brisbane and the first wonderful thing they did for me, was to lend me a pen to fill out my arrival form. We did not have much of a conversation initially and that’s really got to do with my isolated Singaporean attitude. None will rebuke me when I say that as Singaporeans, we generally do not strike a conversation with anyone unless we need their help because it’s just not part of our culture to say hi and introduce ourselves to someone sitting beside us. A little knock into my sense and the next thing i know, we’re about to take a photo together with my digital camera with the help of the air steward.
The rest of the journey was pretty enriching as we began to chat and the thing about Irish English is that they’re really fast and really takes a master to know how to break the words out and understand them. As much as I’m confident of my ability(learn thru listening to John Dykes in ESPN), I still need to say,” sorry I dun quite understand” to them for a couple of times….it IS embarrassing.....

After declaring my food(pineapple tarts) and contacted our UQ guy, we proceeded to our designated driver who would drive us to our temporary motel for FREE, courtesy of the university. The motel is pretty cosy, looks like a small cottage with a very nice signboard, has wireless internet service within the premises too, just that it is, PREPAID… means I gotta buy internet time to use… anyhow, after staying in this place for the 5th day, I seem reluctant to move out already!


We managed to find a really nice place on our 3rd day here, with the help of the UQ accommodation advisor… a place for 6 isn’t really hard to find cos there’s only the limited choices we have(in our case, just 2 choices). One was really far away from where we currently stay, another is just 3 or maybe 4 bus-stops away from both school and our motel… so we EASILY choose to go to the nearer one first. It took abit of our breath just climbing the slopes, but after we see the place, we realise that this might just be the BETTER choice! (without seeing the other one yet!)
Let me explain….it is within walking distance to school, has a bus-stop nearby that leads to both the city and the Toowong village (self-sufficient shopping town), has a ferry terminal in the park just down the slopes, most of all, the place is fully furnished and all u need to do is move in, activate the fixed telephone line, get an internet connection and you’re ready to RUMBLE….(utilities bill all included in the rent)


After we settled our accommodation issue, we decided to check out the universal travel ticket here in Brisbane. Gandalf said in LOTR,” One Ring To Rule Them All” and here I say, “One Ticket to Travel Them All!!! Wahahahahh”
Alright, scold me crazy, but this is just so convenient! Just need to purchase a daily ticket of 2 zones, and we can travel thru all 3 different transports(train/bus/ferry) till the last service of the day from city to St Lucia! So!! We went abit of sightseeing in the city and also along the river....









Today is Australia Day, a significant day for the Australians and also everyone who’s in Australia right now. But for us, we’re just snoozing on our beds the whole day and enjoying our Stars Wars marathon while munching on some snacks and cup noodles…

Lastly, I finally received my 1st letter in Australia…YEAH!!! but then....now i got another name i can call myself...and it's Shiou Pang(Xiao Pang in hanyu pinyin)...... haiz....sadz.... why not Pang Shiou??(Pang Shao in hanyu pinyin meaning master Pang..)

Alright MATE…gotta Go…..AUSTRALIA DAY~ YEEE HAH!!!

posted by Stoner @ 7:13 pm