O-week is O-ver :(

Well O-week (orientation week) was definitely like reliving frosh week all over...except funner, more exciting and just plain better. I’m kind of sad that it’s over, but I'm looking forward to starting school tomorrow to compare Monash engineering to UW engineering. I know…I'm such a geek.

I am living in "Farrer Hall", which is basically the party hall of residence. It’s been quite fun but I haven’t really got much sleep this past week...maybe that’s why I'm sniffling and getting over a cold. Don’t worry mummy, I'm eating fruit and vitamins.

The theme song of the week was Madonna's "Time goes by...so slowly"... we had a whole set of actions developed and any time it played we were required to act out the song. When we didn’t know the actions we did some "interpretive dance"...which means just waving your hands around and looking artsy.

Monday in the daytime was what they legally call a "Scavenger Hunt" but really it was a pubcrawl around the city, where you are assigned in groups (Mine was the "Pink Panthers") and you get to take random photos. We took a fierce one on the hood of a car, looking quite Panthery and other ones included satisfying terms like:

-Men in Suits
-Very Old
-Very Tall
-Very Wet
-Green
-Unappealing, etc.

We came in third place, and it was the first day I really got to see the city. We then had pizzas by the Yarra River, which I’m sure I'll be seeing a lot more of. That evening was another event but I skipped it for fear that it would mess up my sleeping schedule...little did I know, you cant escape o-week...




5 am that night/morning and I heard doors banging outside my room, pots and pans slamming and the PA system running amok. I was trying to sleep through it but after the incessant annoyance I decided to come out of my room and find out what the disturbance was about. Upon leaving my room, I was forced to go to the common room in my night clothes. I walked in wearing my PJ’s (and Japanese robe i acquired for 5 bucks in HK) to see the tired angry faces of other o-weekers. We were all told to start walking outside, to a destination unbeknownst to us. 40 minutes later, after a treacherous walk up Blackburn road, i saw the golden arches. They made us WALK to Maccer's (Read: Mc Donald’s, Pronounce: Mack-as) and not only that, we had to BUY our own food. I was livid, but after the long walk the hotcakes tasted heavenly.

That day we took it easy and went Chadstone mall, the greatest mall i've ever been in. After 2 trips there, i still haven’t seen the first floor. It is sooo huge and sooo wonderful i feel like being a mallrat there. That night we went bowling which was quite fun - however my score was quite embarrassing at 65.

Wednesday was beach day...we went to a nice beach in a suburb outside Melbourne called Mornington...it really just felt like i was at a lake in Ontario. I was a bit disappointed and it was really overcast. That night we had a crazy beach party…fun fun fun.



On Thursday, after i was asked to join the Sri Lankan Student society, Jen and I decided to venture into public transport and take a bus to a beach in St. Kilda. We ended up at another beach called Ellewood. It was such a pretty stretch of beach...it was so wonderful to relax there and get darker and darker. I thought i would stop tanning at a point but i haven’t reached it yet and i don’t know if there is one. Thursday night we went out to the ONLY local pub around, The Nott, for the second time. It’s basically like the Bomber...actually I think it is Bomber in disguise. (Note to non-Waterloosers: Bomber = The Bombshelter = Wednesday night fun at UW).








On Saturday I went to watch my first footy game! Aussie Rules Football is so unlike any sport I’ve ever witnessed in my life. The field is oval, they bounce the ball like a basketball (every 15 steps), they punch it like a volleyball (they cant throw) and they kick it like a soccer ball. There are 3 types of scoring, one is the Super Goal worth 9 points when the ball is kicked into the big goal post from behind the 50 yard line, the other is just a 6 pointer kicked into the big goal post and the last is the 1 pointer kicked into the 2 small goal posts. It was quite interesting and very fun...Geelong Cats versus Carlton...Geelong won. I need to get me a footy jersey or scarf!





Next post...Australian Fashion! I know you’ve all been waiting….lol.

Asfa

Inna Lillahi Wa Ina illayhi Rajioon

I wish i had siezed the time i could have instead of letting life get in the way. May she be blessed with one of the highest places in Jannah and may her family be given strength and courage during this hard time, Ameen.

Missing My Family :(

I miss my family! Even though things are so busy this o-week (orientation week) I'm still missing home :( Its mostly at those times when i'm alone in my room having some downtime, like when i'm listlessly reading a book, eating dood and cereal or doing my makeup. Its these times particularly when i have fleeting thoughts of what i would be doing if i were at home. I'd probably be at Appa's house eating magic bullet berry shakes and singing songs with Jahaan and Amaan, or at home watching Sa Re Ga Ma Pa with mummy and pops...or going to the computer room and bothering Salami Sandwich...yes being so far away is definitely hard on the heart!

Koalas, Kangaroos and Tassy Devils, Oh My!

Today we went to Healesville Sanctuary and saw various Australian wildlife including wombats, kookaburras(which didn’t laugh...), reptiles, birds of prey, platypus's, dingoes, roos, pelicans, Tasmanian devils and of course koalas. I guess i never really realized how dangerous marsupials can be! I always thought of koalas as being cuddly "bears", but i soon realized that even uttering the word "bear" near a koala is a huge faux pas! I was hoping to hold a koala but apparently that is not allowed in the state of Victoria so i'll have to find a sedated one in a Queensland zoo. Contrary to popular belief, the Tasmanian Devil does not look like the cartoon character we have all grown to love, seen playing basket ball below.


Rather, it looks like a little ferocious black bear with sharp teeth and has a blood curdling scream...we were hooped.
The REAL Tassy Devil!

Some sort of big black territorial eagle

A teeny croc

A beautiful white pelican

A very bad picture of a platypus - they are nocturnal and my camera doesnt work well under those conditions! They are actually a lot smaller than i thought they were - a full grown female is only about 1.5 feet i think.

Red Kangaroos...FYI baby roos are called Joeys

The best part! Koalas...how cute :)

A big spider we saw in the bush. His name is Scary Hairy.

Oh ya, and i finally found out why there are two flushes on the toilet...its all making sense to me now!

Last night we got to take a bus to St.Kilda - which is "a beach side suburbe with a funky attitude, great cafes, and impressive sweets". We pulled up in front of a tiny door which said "Red Scooter" above it. But i went in to find a huge funky space all done up in red and tiger print (yes, i was in heaven). It was really surprising but apparantly there are a lot of places like this in Melbourne, little cafes and restaurants that are in random allys that end up being the funkyest little hidden places. Inside, there were waiters serving us our choice of drink, prawns, calamari, fish and chips. Then we sat down to have a yummy 3 course meal, listening to old love songs by celine dion, bryan mknight, keith sweat, and marvin gaye. Some pictures below...

Welcome to Melbun

Well today was my first day and I feel like i'm in frosh week all over again! Got in late last night and after a nice lady took us grocery shopping I got to my teeny little room and crashed. The room is very "V1 Style"...for those of you who dont know what i'm talking about its a miniscule space with concrete walls, a bed, desk, chair and not enough closet space. Very much a rip off for $610/month :S. And i only have ONE PILLOW! But i am determined to live like a minimalist this next 4 months...I think i can i think i can i think i can. well, i might go grab another pillow--there is only so much a girl can take. I dont even think the bed is a "single" bed...i think its like a kid size bed. All the sizes here seem a little f'dup...the paper is just a bit bigger, the the doors are a bit taller...its just odd! The flushes are SO WEIRD!!

Just finished lining all my drawers with magazine ads and hoping to find a kmart for essentials tomorrow. I met a lot of people today...swedish, finnish, south african, and of course americans. After a day of orientation that felt so-very-first-year, we went to the Victoria night market in town. It took about an hour using train/bus but it was huge - all kinds of food and trinkets. I ate indian food for the first time in a while, and there was greek bellydancing music playing everywhere. Melbourne actually has the third largest greek population in the world. I didnt buy anymore trinkets except for a shell necklace i plan on making my "Australia Necklace"...u know the type. 5 bucks, cant really go wrong - but no more shopping untill i get to the streets of Melbourne which are supposed to be a shopping heaven! Considering getting a tat...any suggestions on designs?

We met a bloke who somehow got meshed into the exchange student crowd but he became quite a good tourguide and taught us proper Australian City Pronounciation, as detailed below.

Australian City Pronounciation

1) Never pronounce Melbourne as "Mel BORN". It should be said "Mel-BUN"
2) Canberra is not pronounced "Can-Burra", it is pronounced "Can-Bra"
3) Cairns is pronounced "Kanes" with more emphasis on the "an" than the "e".

Well its 2 am here and really time to sleep. Pictures coming soon!

How YOU goin?

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

I'm in a much better mood today. The weather turned out to be beautiful yesterday so we went to South Bank again and spent the whole day tanning – I am now as dark as I was coming back from Cancun/Hawaii and only after 4 hours of tanning. The sun is just something different here – it’s piercing. I'm assuming the ozone hole is right above me. I used SPF 30 for the first time in my life – not a pretty sight. We found out there were shark attacks in knee deep water both the day before and the day after we were in Gold Coast...maybe its a good idea we didnt stay...

South Bank in the daytime


I'm picking up more Aussie slang as the days go by… “grouse lippy” means “nice lipstick”. “How ya goin?” replaces the “What’s up”…but I still don’t know how to reply because I keep saying “Good, how YOU goin? as in “Good, how YOU doin?” (Joey style). People kind of look at me funny when I do that so I gotta start sounding more authentic if I'm going to be here for another 5 months. Oh ya, the lettuce here is quite bitter, you cant get a regular double double, and they call ketchup tomato sauce…so what do they call actual tomato sauce?? No idear! The toilet flushes are quite weird here – they consist of two buttons that need to be simultaneously pushed – I think…at least that’s what I'm doing! A lot of the light switches work the opposite way…that’s how I know I'm really “down under”. Today we went to see the botanical gardens in the middle of Brissy on Roma Street and also check out the Museum of Brisbane (MoB) in City Hall. It was quite interesting but really we only went in there to beat the outside heat, which was probably around 35oC. Then it was a trek to the airport and trying to talk my way out of paying over-limit luggage allowances. I cannot believe my luggage is ALREADY overweight, 1 week into my trip. Well, on to the next phase, Melbourne here I come!

The Brisbane River at dusk

Oz - the first encounter

Sunday, February 12, 2006

I'm Here!

Well, currently on the top bunk of my Hostel room in Brisbane…not too impressed yet with the hostelling life…we had a 3 share room yesterday and we were hoping to stay in Sufer’s Paradise tonight, however upon arrival we realized that it was just rainy and yucky ….so instead of the long day at the beach getting tanned that I had envisioned in my mind for the past four months, the day was a bust. We ended up coming back to Brisbane and I must admit that on a Sunday night there ain’t really much to do here. We got a six share room but just shared among the 3 of us which is pretty good. Its not that I'm unsociable it’s just that I’d rather not share my room with random people…theft is huge in places like this. I'm really not enjoying living out of my suitcase either…all in all this gypsy life aint for me – I need to have my own room where I can put all my products in an organized and color coded fashion.

The shopping has been great – I'm about to start embracing Aussie fashion but don’t worry I wont come back looking like a surfer. Billabong and Roxy aren’t really my thing – yet. I learned that a police station is called a “Police Beat” here…and there are Ibis’s walking around…in plural is that Ibi?? I guess Australians are as used to them as we are to squirrels wandering around. Yesterday night we went to South Bank, which is the man made beach in the middle of downtown Brisbane. It was pretty nice, but it just felt like I was in Toronto or something. It still hasn’t registered that I'm on the opposite side of the world…I really feel like I'm at summer camp or something. Except the shopping is much better and the accents are nicer. Well now my laptop is about to die….i’ll be posting this soon.

Dont worry, they're fake.

Welcome to Surfer's Paradise! Too bad we couldnt surf :(

I love walking in the sand! Especially when it is -25oC in Calgary.

Still a beautiful view in rainy weather...

Hello Missykopywatchie...

Friday, February 10, 2006 12:16:55 PM

Hong Kong was definitely something of a peculiar contrast that I absolutely loved. We drove into the city to find huge New York type billboards in English, with the only Asian pop playing at my request on the TV in my hotel room. Everywhere around me was the combination of an almost derelict building held together with bamboo right next to a glass sky rise with impeccable architecture. The buildings were so tall and close together that people could probably jump from one building to another-bamboo scaffolding and all. Everyone is surprisingly happy, so much so that the local MTV had absolutely no angry/girlpower/breakup songs. I'm still not used to what the locals call “smelly tofu” as it induces my so very Canadian appetite to turn over on itself but I would still gladly walk the streets to voices of “Hello missykopywatchy”. i thought they were speaking cantonese until i realized they were proclaiming that they could copy any watch i wanted. We went to the back ally of a back ally for some shady purse deals, which was an experience on its own. I would have taken a picture but if someone saw they might have had my head for dinner with fishballs.

With that said, this is really my type of city. For the first time in my life I felt tall or next to average, until I came across 2 foreigners that were "North American size" and reality hit. The shopping was absolutely amazing…and people aren’t afraid to be unconformists. Where as in North America you see everyone in the current Paris-induced style and anything eccentric is just considered weird, this is the only city I’ve seen where you can dress as funky as you want and you can express your personal style. Everything around is colorful and happy and bright, and there is room for every type of personality. You see unique clothes at every corner in small little boutiques and shoes almost line the streets. They actually have a whole block full of running shoe stores...i think it was called Running Shoe Street. The Cosmetics industry is the largest industry as everyone strives to be the beautiful color of rice paper with rosy cheeks and pink lips. Asian men are well dressed, while the women are all petite, beautiful, and stylish. All you see are Mercedes, Toyotas, and Ferraris. Unlike Asians in Canada, not one Honda Civic in sight! However intersections dont work the same...if a car sees a pedestrian in front of it, it first speeds up and then honks when you're about to be hit...you learn pretty quickly to dodge the vehicles and do quick distance perception calculations.

Boutique Shopping

Stanley Market - Great trinkets, not very great food

All in all it was an amazing trip. We got to see Victoria Peak and eat at a swanky restaurant on the peak, and we saw Repulse Bay which is probably the most space I saw in HK that wasnt occupied by cars, concrete or people.

Repulse Bay

Times Square in Causeway Bay was awesome shopping but i wouldnt advise that anyone try the questionable "minced meat sandwhich" in the allies of Stanley Market....i speak from experience. Shady side street food mixed with winding roads and the stench of smelly tofu is no tourist's day in the park. Well, on to Brissy!