Week 9

So, week 9…

Well, nothing much happened this week. Had my Business Finance mid sem test..13 MCQs…wooohoo…easy..COS I STUDIED! Yeah..it was good:)

Oh, this week was Alex’s birthday. We celebrated on that Sunday…It was a surprise..as usual..haha…we love planning for surprises…Sam said she wanted a surprise for her 21st birthday too…then Bryan said..ok..we’ll give you a surprise by not celebrating! hahaa! Oh anyway, we had dimsum at the sharks fin house…good stuff…we ate till we could stand…ahh…i wanna go back again..once my pay slip arrives…haha…so after that, we gave him another surprise…when i went to get my mooncake..the others bought him a cake..the guys were standing outside of course..yeah..and i pretended that i bought tons of mooncakes..then we realised that we didn’t have a candle! So, we kinda lured alex to big W to do some “grocery” shopping while sam and bryan went to hunt for candles…that’s when i bought my fan…poor birthday boy had to carry…so, after that, we surprised him with the cake outside the state library…he didn’t see that coming..

Week 10

This week—>Sam’s 21st birthday!:)

Val and I went for Sam’s Cosdo’s sports day…we stupidly wore our FBTs..and freezed! The weather wasn’t that great..when we reached Albert park, it started to rain..on and off..Our team (Red Rooster) was 2nd runner up:)  We played captains ball, frisbee, soccer…and some other mini games..oh…and we had bbq for lunch..didn’t know vegetables could be bbq-ed..

At night, we went for Mexican @ Toorak! Since it was her 21st birthday, we added some spice by blindfolding her all the way there..from her tram stop to the restaurant..haha..Val wrote “I am 21 today” (or something along those lines…haha! Everyone on the tram was kinda looking at us..haha! Oh, we also bought a cake from Brunetti’s..can’t remember the name..but it looked like chocolate balls piled up nicely like a tower..DELICIOUS! We could get her a huge cake in a shape of a key, so we bought her a key-shaped card instead..pretty…anyway, we were so hungry that we ordered nachos on top of our main course..the nachos kinda filled us up..so by the time our main course came, we were stuffed! But the food was great! I ordered some wrap with prawn..YUMMMMMM~

Week 11 & 12

VACATION WEEK!

Well, the first week wasn’t much of a vacation..had proj meetings plus i worked 3 full days..But on that Sunday, i went for a mini “road-trip” with some of the newmanians..Alvin, Saraj, Stella, Luwa (our driver) to Anglesea:) the beach was B-EAU-TI-FUL! We took heaps HEAPS of pictures..no kidding…lots of funny pictures too..haha!

On Tuesday, i went to Merel’s place..we cooked dinner:) Pad Thai (Pre-mix of course)..we had pancake and ice cream for dessert…UMMM~UMMM…

Wednesday, Cheryl and I went to Sovereign Hill:) We walked to Southern Cross to catch the v/line train..1 1/2 hr train ride..haha..and i fell asleep half way..Sovereign Hill was good stuff..mining..old houses..puffy dresses..delicious steak and mushroom pie..and not forgetting GOLD..I also bought a WANTED poster with my name printed on it..i figured i needed something cool to hang in my room..

Thursday, I went to watch WICKED! OOOOOOOOooooo…the best musical ever!!! (I’ve only watched 2..haha) What’s beyond fabulous? That would be the word…

Went to Kor kor’s place on Friday..baked the whole day..i really mean the whole day…I made scones and apple crumble cake..Funny thing was that he didn’t have an electric mixer nor any measuring scale..so the ingredients i added were all agar agar..but it turned out quite tasty actually:) But i came home with aching arms..

Sat- Singapore Day!

Day of queuing for food..the long queues reminds me of Singapore..ahaha..There was chicken rice, chicken wings, laska, mee siam, kaya toast, hokkien mee, char kuey tiao…etc. Ahh..Nostalgia..Oh..there were heaps of freebies too! (Kaya..maggie mee..charles and keith vouher..etc)

After that, we went to val’s and sam’s place for BBQ..SHIOK-A-DUK! It was nice seeing everyone again..i think there were like 20 over people?

Sunday…hmm…went to visit uncle chiok and aunty carol..she just gave birth to a baby girl-Janelle? So was so cute!!!!!! and small too…as usual little Joel was hyper-active..haha!

So, that was most of it..

I’m not gonna upload my pictures cos i’m kinda rationing my internet quota..

Anyway, it’s lunch time..cya!

Time sure flies..My mid semster’s next week! So, i’m gonna make this chop chop (it’s only 1 paper though …  but i’ve got TON’s of assignments)

Week 7

Val’s Birthday this week! Regina, Sam, Alex and I kinda gave her a surprise at 12 midnight. We popped over  with cupcakes and muffins! That day, we also planned a surprise dinner for her. We went to Seoul at lil bourke street. Not bad:) Sam baked brownies! Delicious!

On Sat, I went to DFO, Essendon! We went at about 10ish? Luwa kindly drove us there, then left with saraj at abt 12.30 (she had to attend a b-day party), and then came back again at 4.30ish.  Stella and i happily conquered the DFO from 10 till 5.30ish! Ooo…and i spent abt a hundred? Had a hard time controlling myself. That was a good de-stress but blister-causing therapy session. Funny thing was that after dinner, they came to my room for a fashion parade..or more like luwa’s fashion parade..cos we were too tired after that. Haha!

Sunday, we had our 2nd Salsa lesson.  Shake ur  bon bon’s…

Week 8

This week, we had the student council dinner, plus there was a turn @ the junior common room after that. A turn’s like an after party..The council dinner was so draggy! It started at 6.30 and it only ended at abt 9ish. But anyway, i got to meet new people:) So, after that, i went to the turn, the theme was “what scares u on Swanston”. Stella and i were too lazy to dress up so we wore all black..pretending to be burglars..and saraj went in her PJ’s! Haha! And the music played wasn’t that great..so, saraj and i went back to our rooms an hr after that… and i studied through the night with ear-plugs in my ears.

So, it’s gonna be the last salsa lesson before the showcase next week :S

-Nat-

I’ve been pretty busy lately … work, school and EXERCISING! Haha!

Yes, i just started working. For those who have been for any of the Supply Chain Asia Forums, you probably would have met Darryl Judd. Yup, he offered me an internship at Logistics Recruitment (now known as Logistics Executive) It’s basically somewhat like a recruitment agency, finding suitable candidates for suitable jobs. I work on Tuesdays, before school, and Wednesdays, Thursdays after school. Well, i haven’t been doing much at work. For the first day, I learned how to answer phone calls and diverting them to other people. That was because they were trying to get the computer fixed for me, getting me an account..etc. On the second day, i helped Matthew, the manager from Sydney, to look for suitable candidates in the database. On the third day, i was taught how to add new resumes into the database. Not much, but it was definitely interesting:) Oh … the Melbourne office is pretty small. There’s Sandy, Peter, Vicki (the manager, who is on long leave), Rosie (who is on maternity leave) and Angela (another intern). I would say the people there are really nice and easy going. So, it makes work more fun aye.

So, other than work, there’s school uni. (haha, i’m not used to this). Assignment have been piling up and this week, i’ve got 3 assignments due, CONSECUTIVELY! But anyway, I’m almost done with all of them. I shan’t talk about school, i’ll be boring you.

Exercise! HUGE topic. For starters, i’ve gained 2 KGs ever since i got here. It must be the college desserts! Seesh … but I find it really hard to pass them. Anyway, i’ve been jogging at princess park, Mondays and Saturdays. Hopefully, i’ll be able to squeeze in Wednesday mornings. Oh, over dinner today, PK was educating Stella and I on how to loose fat. Haha! So, he was saying that it’s good to exercise in the morning before breakfast because when we’re sleeping, our carbo gets “digested” so, in the morning, there’s little carbo and more fat to burn! Well, something along those lines. Haha … Also, i’ve came up with a diet plan!

1. Milo- 2 cups/week (I use to have them like 2 times a day. Who can resist a hot drink call?)
2. Dessert- 3 times/week
3. 1/2 portion of fries (We get fish and chips every Friday)
4. Jog 2 times a week, 2 rounds round princess park (Stella says it’s 3.2k/round)
5. Snacks= FRUITS!

That’s all i have on my list. Any suggestions? … anyone

Week 5, I met up with Huiying and Jean for dinner .. ahhh .. familiar faces … we had the best ice cream ever! Ooo…Fredo’s roche … ahhh … nothing can beat that!

Kor kor also invited me over for dinner He cooked baked pasta … yes … guys nowadays CAN cook! And i bought ready made apple crumble … not bad at all..

Other than that, college tutorials and hockey training starts this week as well…

Week 6, i attended the college council dinner on Wednesday. It started with pre-drinks at 6 (don’t worry, i drank 3 cups of orange juice instead to champaign and wine) and then , we had dinner at 7, which was Thai pumpkin soup, steak (the best one ever tasted so far at college) mash potato and tomatoes. Dessert was something like berry crumble? something like that. Delicious! Oh, we had a platter of cheese after that as well. I was placed on the BEST table ever! No parents, No adults! Seriously, the best table! Yeah, it was a fun/funny night.

-Nat

Aw man, I’m really not getting the hang of blogging … but hey, i’m doing this for the sack of my lovely friends! So … be honored!

Week 2- 21-27 Jul 08

I moved in with kor kor after mom left. Stay there for about a week? His place was hmm … actually alright … not as messy as i thought a 3-men apartment would be like. Wooo … they were highly equipped with entertainment! I was referring to X-box and Wii! There was one night his friends and i played for merely 1/2 hr, and my arms ached the whole week! Apart from that, I had to sleep on kor kor’s bed frame while he slept on his “> than 6 inches” mattress. How gentlemanly can my brother get? But, apart from the sleeping, he was rather hmm … nice. I had free home cooked food! Oh, by the way, i think the world’s starting to change. Guys SURE can cook. Haha! I was trying to be nice and so I tried cooking potato salad one night, and guess what, i screwed it up! Haha! Well, it was edible, but in terms of presentation, eek! The potatoes were too mashed up … so it looked pretty disgusting. But, it was saved by sour cream

Week 2 was also my orientation week. So, i practically had to take 1/2 train rides everyday plus 10 mins tram ride. And when i say orientation, i don’t mean bonding games. I mean Talks, Talks, Talks and more Talks. Oh and plus getting all the administrative stuff done. The “boring-est” kind of orientation ever. But anyhow, that was when i met all my other Singapore Kakis.

College orientation was far way better. It was a sweet 1/2 day program. Oh! I must say this! After lunch, we went for a “le pak” session. We went to brunettes (can’t remember how it’s spelt) Oh MY! it was HEAVEN! There were shelves of cakes! Oooo…but because of lunch, I was already stuffed, so, i settle down with an Italian hot chocolate (imagine melted chocolate with nothing else … that was how think it was!)

That was also the day i moved into college, with the help of kor kor.

My room was alright … imagine a Nun’s room … yes … my room looks like that. My room’s in the dome, just on top of the dining area. So, whenever people go for breakfast, the cling cling klong klong of the utensils would wake me up. Although my room doesn’t have a sink, it’s next to the toilet. At the dome, it’s 3 to 1 toilet. So, it ain’s as bad as the other rooms outside the dome where it’s 8 to a toilet. Phew~ According to my “neighbour”, my room was used by visiting priests. Hmm … don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. But it’s so spacious that i think i can do a kart wheel across the room.

That Sunday, I went to St. Kilda’s beach with the Singapore Kakis. Nice scenery! Plus, it’s really a good place to chill. As usual, we took lots of pictures Oh, and after that, we walked down towards the shops … and there again … PLENTY of cake shops! Ooooo… but we had churros with dark chocolate dips in the end. It definitely tasted batter than the ones in Singapore.

Week 3 - 28 Jul- 3 Aug 08

First week of Uni. We were all studious and so we decided to attend all lectures and tutorials … at least i did. Haha! So, i’ll be taking Business Finance, Organisational Behaviour, Managing Projects and Events & Introduction to Econometrics. I plan to major in Management and Finance … i hope.

Wed was College Trivia night. Not surprised, it was held at a pub. The theme for Dome was Sports/Olympics … there were other themes like hospital, country, gangsters …etc. I went as a baseball athlete. Had to borrow Val’s hockey shirt. Overall, I think my theme was the most normal looking one. Everyone else looked pretty funny. Haha! So, we had trivias all night. I also got to see most of them get wasted. Funny experience.

That friday, we had the commencement dinner. It’s a black tie dinner whereby everyone has to wear really formal. Plus we also had to wear our academic gowns. Yes..it’s Harry-Potter-ish. After the dinner, Kathryn (the only Singaporean at college other than me) and i went for the after party. Gosh … we went to 3 pubs! But we definitely had fun. I think the Night Cat was the best (Kat would strongly agree with me) …there was a live band and the music was way better than the rest.

Oh, on the 3rd, we celebrated Pam’s 19th birthday (one of the Singapore Kakis)! We went to some Greek restaurant. Nice food! I had the some thing like a kabab … they have a special greek name for that … Oh, Anthony and Jae kindly baked cheese cake It was a crazy-ily cold night.

Week 4 - 4- 10 Aug 08

This week, hmm … other than struggling to understand what is going on at Econometrics Lectures and Tutorials, and racking my brains for nights, trying to begin doing OB assignment (you know, it’s been months since i did assignments), it has been a brain-juice draining week. But apart from that, I went to watch the live screening of NDP at Melb Central yesterday. It wasn’t that good … or rather, it was quite boring. The satellite thingy kept getting interrupted plus the performances weren’t that fantastic. Hmm … well it could be because i caught a glimpse of the Olympics the night before (If you know OB, it’s the contrast effect!)

Today, i went for a Thai lunch with my Orientation grp. The Thai restaurant at Lygon was good! I mean delicious! Ahh..at this rate i’m talking about food … i think i’ll be double my size. But in the attempt to not let that happen, i’ve been jogging with val ( Hey, not joking k, we jogged 4 k yesterday! I’m pretty proud of myself)

Come to think of it, it’s been a crazy 3 weeks! But it was fun though.

Alright, i’ve gotta go start OB-ing again.

Signing off~

Melissa & Charlene – I’m really glad that we’re still in touch after all these years. The talking bear’s adorable and I really liked the message. It’s Charlene’s voice right? Yeah … it should be. I will definitely find a special place for him when I move into the college.

Gavin and Aaron – Aw man, I’ll really miss the Ma Las we had together. G, thanks for the one tree hill CDs. Tell me when the next season comes out! Aaron, I’m not sorry for mistaking you’re voice for Gen’s. Haha! You know … I still can’t believe the both of you came. I was really surprised, in a good way. Too bad Gen couldn’t make it. But it’s alright, I know you’re pretty extremely busy with work. Hey babe … Slow Down, you just started working! Gek, have fun in Tekong! I’m sure you’re enjoying it.

SiHui, Nix, Jo, Rach, Chris – To the bunch of really crazy, lame, and … did I say lame (?) friends, I’ll miss hanging with ALL of you. I mean the 5 of you, not 3 or 2. You know what, it’s really funny cos it has been a really long time since the 6 of us actually met up. It has always been either Me SiHui, Jo, Chris and Me, Rach, Nix. And I’m really happy that the 5 of you could come send me off.

Amy & ShiQi – Hey babes, thanks for the photo frame and the “letter papers”. Can’t remember the proper name for that. We should really take more pictures and discard the ugly old ones. Haha! Actually, just discard the picture of me daydreaming. I guess I’m suppose to write snail letters to you since your addresses are written on the envelopes. Don’t worry, I will … only since the letter papers are so cute. But I think you’ve gotta wait a pretty long time. It’ll be worth it. No worries.

Davina – Aye Sexay, 4 words, I WILL MISS YOU! :C Looking forward to ur MEGA Holiday:) Melbourne–>NewZealand Shall start saving $

Gabriel – I miss you already…

Just to fill you’ll in a lil,

Week 1 in Melbourne

Melbourne’s great! Great city … not so good shopping … except … when there’s a sale! Haha. It’s even better when you’re travelling with your mom She pays for everything

Well, we were staying at Somerset on Elizabeth. For 9 days, we were treated like VIPS! (Some powerful connections my mom has aye) 1019 was the room. We were practically in the heart of the city. Beautiful, and not forgetting COLD! We ate home cooked meals most of the time … Mom cooked of course … not bad … we even had shabu shabu!

Oh! We gave Kor kor Joel a surprise by popping at his place..haha..what a surprise that was … His place was N-I-C-E … but messy … you know … Boys …

We also visited my uni. Victorian-fied’s the word. It goes the same for my college. It’s pretty cool. The dining area’s like a “harry-potter” environment. You hardly see anything like that in Singapore.

Alright…signing off~

Natasha