valentine's?
Seeing Serena being so homesick was abit unsettling, made me think of whether I would feel the same way somewhere in the future. I hope not to that extent which would be hell while I’ll have my studies and everything at the same time.
Before I begin, let me go back abit. Orientation wasn’t great fun, but it wasn’t a great bore – probably because I wasn’t paying much attention. Got to know Sharon who’s the other girl coming with me to Gippsland (well we had actually met in KL but I’d forgotten our meeting until we were queuing up on Monday). In fact, we’re even living in the same house! X3 What luck/coincidence/fate/whatever you call it. On both mornings I drank hot chocolate which was a welcome start to the slightly chilly morning and something to help me swallow the apple I was eating on my way to the gathering point for the orientation.
On Tuesday the most memorable event was having Mr Harry who’s the Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor (MUST they have such long & difficult-to-pronounce titles?!) of the Gippsland campus to treat us to drinks and tell us about the campus. Crapped about how he’d wrestle koalas for fun (here’s the cue to roll your eyes) and might even cook for us (here’s where your eyes pop out in surprise) and also the things to appreciate in the wild around it – mostly bushwalking, fishing, biking, and hiking.. which I might actually consider. I’m a city person at heart since I lived most of my life in it but this would be something new and unconventional, which is right up my alley. Hopefully when classes start I’ll be able to sort my time out well enough to have enough time to do this too X3
Onward.
Woke up to 2 valentine’s.. one from el, another from oji! =D El’s was as usual, unconventional. Well at least the conversation after the Valentine’s greeting was. XD さすがはね～
Had a quick photo session before the day’s events.
YK, Adam and I explored the campus abit more after the morning series of talks & quizzes were over; went down to the IT faculty where most of YK & Jon’s lectures will be held. Unfortunately they were under construction so there wasn’t anything much to look at. Liked this poster which asked “Do you suffer from coding dysfunction?” It wasn’t on purpose that I thought about my coursemates in KL, but…. >_____>
Met faifai and jinn jinn! XDXDXD So took the chance to talk to faifai who reported that they apparently have no place to stay for the moment so they’re bunking in with a friend of theirs for the orientation week. Poor them, hope they don’t end up under a jamban or jambatan XP faifai was joking about how he wouldn’t want to live with females (reason #1: his girlfriend will slit his throat. Reason #2: if the girls end up to be ‘pork chops’…. You get the idea. )
Went down to town for dim sum at the same place auntie Ming took me to on Saturday (Dragon Boat Palace) so hahaha it was nice to be there again with a different bunch of people. The most interesting event was to see Jon eat chicken feet as he had never done so before… Ate a whole of dim sum, and you can count on it that we attacked the favourites like har kau and siu mai… and I got to eat char siew pau which I didn’t get to the last time; however, I still missed eating the egg tart. XP I mean, I usually tend to eat these when I go for dim sum anyway.
“Where are the joints?!” – Jonathan, 2007
The unplanned part of the trip began after lunch. We were mindlessly wandering through town, walked past McDonalds, Hungry Jack’s, Myers, David Jones, a lot of surfwear brands, some X-rated shops with quite casual signs (which would mean you might actually miss it/enter it by accident if you don’t read the signs properly) and somehow or the other we ended up at the Flinder’s Street station.
Went opposite to the Federation Square and further on to the river under Princes’ Bridge where we lepaked, true to the Malaysian style.
Liked to take pictures of the lake, the people, the scenery… it was just touristy to do so, and nice! I know I’m not the full-fledged photographer but still it’s just nice to think that “Wow, I was there and this was how I remembered it to be!”
We found some stuff that shouldn’t be in the river though.. like jellyfish, a wheelbarrow…. And even odder;
*drumroll*
…
a shopping cart?!
@____________@
If someone can tell me which mall it came from it’d be amazing.
Also saw a pair of black swans that were really pretty!
Not to forget the ever-hungry sparrows and gulls…
And especially the photogenic-poser gull. It has skill to look good in the few shots I took! XD
Originally I had intended to walk around to see if there were any interesting shops to buy stuff at but I guess we were walking abit too quickly for that. Oh well, maybe next time. I was also hoping to find the DFO shops fai mentioned as his friend Mel bought a pair of Adidas @ $60 which is a big deal!
After meeting up with Ching (who’s Wendy’s neighbour) we headed down to the Queen Victoria night market... Basically the night market is pretty much like a much cleaner & more expensive version of a pasar malam. They sell all sorts of stuff there (albeit highly priced), like summer tube dresses, little witches that screech and kick their legs in the air when you clap, caricatures, belts, jewellery, shirts with catchy taglines and for some reason ironing boards with images of nude sculptures on them… They like to iron over the balls or burn them over or what? Oh right, I forgot to mention the Suzuki’s. Not the motorbike, but the SUV. Don’t ask me why they sell vehicles at a night market >_>
Had dinner there, which consisted of a mix of pasta (one half tomato-based, one half cream-based) and some African food which consisted of something that tasted abit like dal, minced lamb and briyani rice. The best part about dinner was the jazz band(“the mondela” unless I read it wrongly) that was performing right in front of our table (well, almost) which consisted of the pianist, 2 drummers/percussionists, and a singer who tap dances. So while the singer wasn’t singing she’s tapdancing away and it was amazing how she clicked her heels in time to the music and gave it more rhythm and life! (No she’s not going to be transported to Oz or wherever >___>) And her voice was just soulful… it truly set the Valentine’s mood in the air! She didn’t entirely sing lovey-dovey songs though, it was a good mix of slow and fast jazz which made it a good listen & easy on the ears as we strolled around the stalls.
Once we finished touring the stalls we thought it’d be a good time to head back. I got held back as I saw someone from my college days! He used to be in my specialist math tuition and I used to think he was abit of a sissy XP not my fault! It’s probably just the way he talks.
Wasn’t until after he left that I realized I’d forgotten what his name was or how to spell it… I suppose if I look it up in the yearbook I’ll find it. (!! I thought I’d remember his name @____@ I bet he’d kill me if he’s reading this)
As we were making our way to the train station to head back… YK spotted… camels! What the heck, they’re definitely in the wrong climate! @____@ But still, an oddity is an opportunity for more photos!
The walk to the Flagstaff station was really nice because the evening was cool without being cold, and at night back at Clayton we could actually see the stars in the night sky! How romantic it must be for those celebrating Valentine’s out there to see the night sky X3 Just my opinion. I know I know nothing about constellations and stuff but it’s still quite a sight.
I can only wish everyone who celebrates Valentine’s feel like a star, bright and shining, when they’re with their Valentines. ^__^
