Scientific Calculator

I had my first practical/laboratory session today. Not knowing what to expect, I went to school with only my pencil case and lecture notes. When I arrived for lab session, this was what the tutor said.

Tutor: : Anyone of you brought a scientific calculator?

A girl raised up her hand.

Tutor: Cool! The rest of you might want to calculate manually with the calculator in your handphones.

Rest of Us: !!!!!

After the experiment was carried out, we were given formulaes and calculations. Without the convenience of a calculator, I had to do some mental arithmetic (not the best thing to do early in the morning) and before jotting down every single step. Halfway through, I got stuck when I saw this √2306, √5906 & √12706. The calculator on my handphone did not have this function and there was no way I could calculate the square root of some random numbers without the aid of a scientific calculator.

I started to dig for my iPod touch and it took me quite some time to get connected to the school's network. I quickly searched for a free scientific calculator software. Guess what? Before I could finish calculating the answer for my first step, this message popped up "You have reached the limits for the trial version. Please click to download the full version."

-.-"

Gosh. I started frantically looking for another free software and after the 5th download, I managed to submit my answers. So much for using the calculator on handphones.

Sunday Grocery Shopping

I always jokingly tell my friends that my parents send me to Australia in order to prepare/train me to be a full time home maker. Haha. And the thing is, there's some truth to it. I spend most of my weekday evenings shopping for groceries and cooking dinner (which includes cleaning up the kitchen). I spend most of my weekends (so far) doing shopping for household items and/or groceries.

For the 2nd weekend, I've been shopping at Belconnen Market. Ironically, it's something I enjoy doing. At the request of my mum, I took quite a few pictures of Belconnen Market. Shall let the pictures do the talking.







After Belconnen Market, we went to the Asian Supermarket. Going there makes me feel as though I'm shopping in some supermarket in Singapore. So homely! I can't resist the temptation to get loads of condiments and sauces.

Look at the trolley before we went to the Asian Supermarket.

Look at the trolley after we left the Asian supermarket!

Look at our loot!

From Belconnen Market, it takes approximately 20 minutes to walk back without holding/carrying items. However, with a fully loaded trolley, it took us a good 40 minutes to get back to University Gardens while brisk walking. Thankfully, I've got the help of Issac, Wen Jen and Evan to help me out. Otherwise, it'll take me ages to get up and down the slopes before

Interesting Conversation we had on the way back.

Issac: So difficult to push back!
Me: Where there's a will, there's a way.
Evan: When there are wheels (referring to the trolley), there's a way.

-.-"


Halfway through, Wen Jen suddenly blurted "Luckily we didn't have to push trolleys in army!"

Hahas ... that explains how tough it was getting the trolley loaded with groceries back to UG. For a moment, I was proud that I managed to do so all by myself the previous weekend. Hehs.

What Meat Do You Fancy?

Fancy some exotic meat? Of the above, I have tried venison, crocodile, emu, venison and kangaroo (in dried pieces, not the steak). I will never eat rabbits, wallaby, possum and goat. I doubt I will wanna kangaroo, crocodile and veal ('cause I feel sad for those poor calves) again. I dislike the sausages as they smell really odd to me, so does the lamb and pork. I'll most likely stick to chicken, seafood and maybe beef (as beef is the only meat that my room mate eats). Oh, and loads of vegetables!

Ox tongue. Something I used to like but after look at it in the raw form, I high doubt I will want to eat it again. Hahs.

Apparently, the supermarkets here advocate the consumption of Kangaroo meat. It says "Good for you, good for the environment". I'm not sure how true is that but I think they look too cute to be food!

I Will Survive

No matter how tough things get going, I tell myself that I will overcome the difficulties no matter how overwhelming the odds are. That's because things will only change for the better. The heartaches, the physical pain, the cold, the hunger, the loneliness, the home sickness, the stress, the heavy workload, the feeling of being so lost in a new environment with no one I can turn to; they are not going to beat me because I will beat them in the end. Slow and steady, bit by bit.

I will Survive. Definately.

Gold Creek Part 2 - Cockington Green

Cockington Green is a garden with lots of beautifully crafted miniature buildings and landscape. Some of these structures are icons or landmarks of a certain village, country or city. Though the tickets were a little pricey, I felt that the money was worth the trip. It was an eye opener for us.

However, I doubt I'll be returning to Cockington Green anytime soon. It's like if you were to visit Jurong Bird Park this year, you probably won't return again next year unless you've got a passion for birds. Similarly, I won't return to Cockington Green unless I've got a strong interest in handcrafted miniature buildings and landscape.

I could not help but upload this picture. I can't restrain my laughter each time I see this picture. With the help of her bag, Peixin's butt does look like an emu's butt. Hahs.

This was me waiting for the bus at the bus stop. Yes, the pole represents a bus stop. The buses here don't work the same way as they do in Singapore. Buses come at an hourly interval on weekend evenings. Even though it was a 20 minutes wait for the bus, it felt like eternal because the weather was really cold, especially when the wind blew. My hands were so numbed from the cold, I had difficulties taking the bus ticket out from my wallet.

And within a short period of time, the sky turned to this dark (from the above picture) while we were waiting for the bus.

Gold Creek Part 1 - Ginninderra Village & Federation Square

My neighbours (Felicia & Peixin) and I decided to visit a few tourist attractions in Canberra before school officially starts. On a cold freezing Saturday morning, we made our way to the oh-so-far bus stop just to catch a bus to Gold Creek.

We visited three places in Gold Creek, namely Ginninderra Village, Federation Square and Cockington Green. In this post, I shall upload pictures of us at Ginninderra Village and Federation Square.




We did the very 'ang mor ladies' thing by having a nice long afternoon tea. The tea and cupcakes were really nice! Hahas. This is something we rarely do in Singapore because we're just way too caught up in a fast paced society. Guess that's a trade off for being in a less-than-interesting city.




Along the way, this Cocker Spaniel and I spotted each other. He was tugging at the end of his leash towards me with his tail wagging vigorously, while I hastened my footsteps upon seeing him. Benji and I were love at first sight. Haha. I guessed Benji must have smelled Sugar and Posh's scent on my clothes, that's why he was so ecstatic. And I was over the moon to see a dog that wants so much to be with me; I just miss my dogs so much. So much, I smile sweetly to myself each time I see a dog, any dog.

Benji has really nice thick coat. A full coat. Something my beagles can never have in Singapore because they will shed their inner coat (fur) in order to survive the heat in a tropical country. If I am ever going to stay in Australia for good, I'm going to import my dog/s over, as long as I buy a car and rent a house which allows pets. This, I promise my dogs.




Anyway, I'll post the pictures of us at Cockington Green when I'm free to do a collage. I'm not doing collage because I enjoy doing it. Neither do I have way too much time on hand. I'm doing it because blogger has a cap on how much picture/data we can upload, thus by doing a collage I'm maximising the data space given.

Take care till then!

New Vocabulary: Philtrium

I was reading my textbook when I came across a word which I was unsure of. Thus, I decided to use the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary to search for the meaning of that word.

On the homepage of the website, I saw this page which says Top 10: Words for things you didn't know have names and the first word saw was Philtrium and the following is the explanation.

#1: Philtrum

Definition:

philtrum : the vertical groove on the median line of the upper lip

Example Sentence:

His chiseled features even included a well-defined philtrum.

Origin:

In Greek, the primary meaning of philtrum is "love potion" – which suggests that seductive powers were attributed to this facial feature.

I thought it was quite interesting since I have always known that part of the face as

人中 (rén zhōng) without knowing what the english term. Now I finally know it as philtrium and I'll probably remember it for life.

唯一的要求

The night before I left Singapore for Australia, my father and I were frantically trying to pack my luggages so that we (my mum, 2nd sister and I) won't be late for the plane. As we were packing, my father said he doesn't ask for much (from me) except for the following

"快快乐乐上学去，平平安安回家来。"