Lollies!! It's really cool the way they make it...
Somewhere in the city...
Harbor Town
Still Harbor Town
A view from midway up King's Park. Nice eh
In memory of the men who died for Australia in the war.
Well, I'm too lazy to upload the rest here. This site is lagging!
Cheers
Carmen
Orientation started yesterday without a bang. It was seminar after seminar all day and frankly, I almost fell asleep halfway through... It was just SO boring. And the australian accent is pretty much monotonous... They drone on and on about stuff and use all sorts of weird lingo.. Ugh. My poor mind had to struggle to understand... I think I need to take that workshop on how to speak Australian English... We wasted time by writing messages on paper and passing it between the four of us. Was trying to convince the rest to go for ice skating without much success... But Janet easily convinced the rest to ice skate with a simple sentence: "Transportation is provided." Damn, wth. Anyway, lunch was Subway sandwiches which were nice though cold. Had a bottle of Apple juice to wash it down as well. Then it was back to the lecture theatre for the next seminar which turned out to be some kinda workshop on self motivation on studying and I don't know what other stuff.
We made our great escape after that seminar and returned to the Student Village where Sheena and Ka Hang picked up their faulty lamps. Next was the walk to Kardinya where they got a refund for the lamps and we wandered around buying other junk. Got a call from Joven and found out that we were to meet at Carpark 6 for the ice skating. Shu Hui in a grand show of screwing up, led us to some fish and chips place instead of Chicken Treats. And we didnt realized it till I turned to look out of the window next to Shu Hui and pointed out Chicken Treats across the road. Major blunder. Scoff down our fish and chips and dumped a whole lot of fries into a plastic bag before we hurried back to the student village in a record breaking 10minutes. Nearly died on the trip back.
Hurriedly changed jackets and dumped the fries in the fridge before I was off again. The transport was actually cars owned by the volunteers. Stood around while they did headcount and organized the loading of passengers and we were finally off! The ride took a while... Like 30 minutes or so before we reached the ice skating rink. The place was frigging packed! Shuffled around to get skates and finally we stepped on the ice. The initial steps were awkward...been a long time since I last skated but quickly got the hang of it and started moving around the rink. Tried to teach Shu Hui but the dunce simply cannot understand simple logic such as lowering your body to keep your center of gravity low. Let Ka Hang teach Shu Hui while I helped Sheena around the rink. Pretty much ditched them once Sheena could move on her own unaided and I went around on my own. Spotted some new friends clinging onto the sides of the rink for dear life and offered a hand. Sucessfully managed to teach one of them how to skate in just two rounds. WHEEE! I'm good, ain't I. We stopped soon enough and simply sat at the benches when it got too cold. Stoned and chatted there before we decided to leave. Another friend kindly volunteered to drive us back to the village while the rest went for Mackles or however you spell that. Seriously, is it that hard to pronounce Mcdonalds?! Well, our night out ended then and I conveniently fell sick LOL. Was drifting in and out of consciousness all night as my body temperature changed from hot to cold. The body aches didn't help one bit. Finally drifted off to sleep for about 2 hours around 7am and woke up at 0930 and decided that getting out of the bed for a scavanger hunt would be suicidal. Texted Shu Hui that I really can't make it and drifted into unconsciousness soon after. Fever is a major pain in the ass. But was really touched that they hurried back and skipped the barbie to cook me porridge. I'm fortunated to have caring friends even though Shu Hui spent the whole of lunch snapping at me and calling me stupid for ice skating the night before. But, I deserved it. Oh well.
Firstly, I can only vaguely recall what happened yesterday. Shu Hui and I brought Sheena and Ka Hang to Kardinya's where they shopped like crazy for necessities. Unfortunately, Shu Hui and I fell prey to more unnecessary stuff...
Oh well. We 'needed' it. Sorta.
Oh yea. Now I remember. My flatmates, well the females at least were watching porn yesterday night. We were so bored with the limited television programmes that we decided to watch a DVD. Apparently there used to be a separate DVD player which wasn't there. So we decided to try the inbuilt one in the TV. Took a while for one of my flatmates to figure out how to get it to open and she found a dvd in the slot labelled 'Desires'. For the sake of fun, we decided to play it. Watched like 10 minutes worth of horror film trailers before we started speculating about the actual contents of the dvd. One of my flatmates suggested that perhaps its porn and all the horror trailers were just there to mislead the viewer. She was right. After another 10 minutes, we reached a menu page with the titled of the film 'Erotic Desires' imposed on a scantily clad woman. I don't know whatever possessed us to click on play. And yea. It was porn. I ran away after the first 2 minutes and leaving the 3 women laughing away in the lounge. They came to find me after 15 minutes or so of giggling and suggested watching Saw. That we did, in the dark where two of my flatmates freaked out and we gave up on Saw I to watch Gossip Girl instead. I think I got one of them hooked to the series... Oops... Went to bed at 0111 literally zombiefied...
Today... Sheena and Ka Hang had an appointment with Bob and Shu Hui and I agreed to bring them around. Had trouble getting out of bed...was so damn tired and running a slight fever as well. I blame the changes in temperature. They brought me a sandwich for breakfast. Ham and cheese in white bread. Pretty good.
Hang around the library where we read some random books and discovered that our student cards do not work and had to make a new one. That we did and left back to the hostel for Sheena to change rooms and to grab the essential documents for setting up their bank accounts. Sheena's lucky to get a room in flat 11. Though I'm not too sure about her flatmates. Went back to campus for them to set up bank accounts and for Sheena's appointment with a professor in the chemistry department. Our growling stomachs led us to the nearest 'canteen' where we bought a large serving of wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. Ate a quarter each and decided we were still hungry and bought this combo set meal at $5 that came with a dish and a choice of rice or noodles. We picked the fried rice and some honey chicken. Fried rice was oily and basically bland but the chicken was good. Next stop, library where they made their student cards.
Then it was a bus ride to Kardinya's. To maximise our efficiency, we splited up into pairs. Shu Hui and I to get fruits while Sheena and Ka Hang went to K-mart to get table lamps. Met up after that to walk back together with a trolley and we rattled all the way back to the hostel. Where Ka Hang and I returned to our flats for a shower while Shu Hui and Sheena started preparing for dinner.
Our menue for today: Chicken Hor Fun!
My first time making this and I trial and error-ed my way through. Pour a little too much sesame oil to the chicken, splash a generous amount of Hua Tiao Jiu to the meat and a huge dollop of oyster sauce. Now that I think aobut it, I forgot about the sugar LOL. Oh well. The result was pretty good nonetheless. The pack of Hor Fun was so huge that we spilt it to fry three times with some light soy sauce. Next was cooking the marinated chicken, fish cakes and mushrooms while scalding the KaiLan. Talk about multi-tasking. Good thing I had a reliable assistant in the form of Ka Hang. Made some gravy which turned out to be too little... Awww... But it was nice. Edible for a first time. We even had a side of broccoli stir fried with oyster sauce. Rounded it off with a cup of Lipton tea overloaded with sugar and some strawberries. We have to get more of those... 10 strawberries at $2.95 is pretty affordable considering that they are fresh.
The final product:
It even has garnishing!
Well, the sugar's getting to me and there's still orientation tomorrow...
Cheers
Carmen
Garden City. Another hangout in Perth. This was where we went to for Harry Potter. Some new friends that we made drove us down to Garbo where we window shopped before watching HP. HP was a disappointment though. Not as good as the book. Then again, all novel adaptations to the silver screen basically sucks and Harry Potter was no exception.
Anyway, hung out with some really interesting people who really made us feel right at home although it was awkward initially. 'Lunch' was basically chips and soda which we munched on during the movie. Got a ride back to the student village too where I sat around with Shu Hui for a grand total of 5 minutes where we stared at the idiot box before deciding that it was getting way too boring. Was on my way back to my flat when I noticed the all too familiar white mini van and gave Shu Hui a call. Sheena and Ka Hang have finally arrived at Student Village. It was either really good timing on my part or simply a coincidence that I just so happened to spot the vehicle on my way back. Helped to lug their luggage to the administration building where they checked in before helping them once more to their flats. It's really unfortunate that they were given rooms that are so far apart and tiny too. As compared to mine and Shu Hui's rooms, theirs were really like a prison cell... It was a lot narrower... Perhaps its because they have a double room so technically, they are sharing with 5 other people. Still its really small. Oh well... gotta count my lucky stars that I got a room in a flat which is much more spacious and I have cool flatmates.
Anyway, dinner was pasta. Which we whipped up quickly with four sets of hands. Frankly, it was too sour for my liking. Never did like tomato paste. But its healthly nonetheless and I was really hungry. Oh well. Lots of nutrients and minerals. Walked them back to their flats where Sheena decided to stay over with Ka Hang for the night. I really wonder if they are ever gonna adjust...
Rotted in the flat with my flatmates where we gaped at obese people dancing on the reality show: Dance your ass off. Very degrading if you ask me.
Well, I'm too lazy to upload the pictures and I just realized I can't remember what happened at all yesterday. Oh well, whatever LOL.
Cheers
Carmen
Spend most of Sunday doing laundry. It was then that I realized just how spoilt I really am... We took awhile to figure out how to use the washing machine and the dryer... At least we have clean clothes now lol...
Cook some pathetic chunky beef stew from a can for lunch with kailan and apples for dessert. Shu Hui's flatmate, John gave us a bowl of his beef soup. It was OMFG.
Clear soup with beef bits, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and parsely. Perfecto. A taste of home. Sorta. John's from China. A nice guy really.
Went to play basketball with some of his friends in the evening. Finally a chance to exercise... It was pretty refreshing to run around in the cold.
Went back for dinner of more kailan, sausauges and some canned curry that Punitha brought over. Ate up the last of the apples too.. I need more apples...
Okay, finally caught up to the present. More pictures on Facebook!
Cheers
Carmen
Totally forgot to blog about Fremantle... Oh well, better late than never right?
Anyway, went with Juhanans who's Shu Hui's flatmate. He nicely brought us along and showed us around. Took a public bus there. Our first bus ride! Sorta the same as SG's busses with the tap card.
Our first stop at Fremantle was a Japanese store. 
Bought some rice flavouring... and we found something interesting...
Pocky for men! Yes, that's right. Now guys won't have to hide in a close room to induldge in their pocky cravings.
We stepped right out of the store and saw something fascinating. A limo! Not as sleek as I would like, but nonetheless real cool...
Went to Freo Market next. Here's an interior view...
An exterior view. Nice architecture right.
Lunch at Kailis. Beat this Fish & Chips!
Too lazy to blog more about Fremantle lol...
More pictures at my Facebook account titled Murdoch.
Cheers
Carmen
Nothing much happened today.
Had a meeting with Bob at 11am and we decided to meet up at 10.30am to make a slow walk there. Unfortunately, we ended up procrastinating in my room for a good 15mins before we finally left. Strangely enough, the trip from the hostel to the Biological Science block took around 7mins. Cool eh. This means we don't have to wake up at ungodly hours to get to class on time...
Well, meeting with Bob took a couple of minutes before we left to wander around. Stopped to chat with some new friends we made who were currently volunteering outside Murdoch Internation Office. Cool people with really lame jokes. I swear it got even colder...
The sun's blazing in the afternoon and the weather's pretty bearable with just a jacket. Headed back to the hostel to cook lunch around 2pm. 
This is lunch. Curry from a cube with potatoes with skins on, onions and chicken thighs. Had a piping cup of good ol' Lipton tea too. Just what we needed to warm us right up.
Strangely, chicken thighs here are way cheaper than chicken breasts... The curry was diluted though... edible but could be nicer...
Went back to my room where I rotted for hours doing stuff that I cant remember at all.
Next up, dinner.
Omelette, sliced mushrooms in butter sauce from a can, stir fried broccoli with chicken and a serving of rice. Pretty good meal. The omelette was tasteless and a tad too dry... I need soy sauce...
Then it was back to my room where I rotted once more...