State of Equilibrium

I was sorting out some thoughts when this quote started forming at the back of my head.

"It's amazing how the mechanics of life work where a state of equilibrium is always maintained by gaining some and losing some. There’s never too much or too little of something; it’s a fair bit of everything."

Being Thankful

Last Sunday, I made a life changing decision I never thought I would. It was an untimely decision; I made at a time when I was rushing for deadlines, struggling with labs and mugging for tests/quizzes. It couldn't have been worse. I never thought I could tide over this phase easily. I was all alone in a foreign land.

It was through these series of events that I started to notice people's concerns for me and I learnt to appreciate their acts of love and kindness. My friends and family from Singapore were constantly skyping with me to give me the moral support that I need. My friends in Canberra were physically here for me, making sure that I was coping fine. Even though the odds are overwhelming, I know that I am able to survive through it an emerge as a stronger person because of the ample love and support I get from the people around me. How blessed can I be?

I never used to feel or think in this way. And this statement "Everything happens for a reason" was crap to me.

When met with obstacles in life, I used to question "Why put me through all these shit in life? What did I do to deserve these?" Previously, I used to believe in the Christian faith but at my lowest point in my life, I had doubts. I lost faith. I started to ask "What do you mean by everything happens for a reason? You mean these things happen so that I can suffer in pain?"

Instead of putting in effort to get things back on track, I spent a great deal of time mulling, crying, grumbling, complaining and swearing. In short, I was feeling helpless and angry, all because I chose to be that way. I rarely reflected on what I had done to contribute to that outcome, I always took the easier way out by putting the blame on others. When people around me started to show acts of love and concern, I was oblivious to them, all because I chose to focus on the problems and how much they have screwed my life. Kind words always fell on deaf ears.

Nonetheless, all these changed in recent years, especially after I came to Canberra. I started to mellow down and began searching for directions in life; to know what I was looking for and where I was heading to. I am more thankful than ever, for what I have and with that, I learn how to appreciate the better in life. Though I am still nowhere near perfect but I am no longer the disgruntled little kid I used to be. I guess being away from home and my loved ones has taught me how to see things from another aspect. I may have taken them for granted in the past and this is something I hope will never happen again.

Now, I constantly remind myself to be thankful for whatever I have and I truly do feel that way. I am thankful for receiving a fine education, being well brought up, having food on the table, enjoying the companion of others, basking in love, making good friends, being missed dearly, gaining more knowledge, learning new things, being well received and everything else which I have that made me who I am today.
As I look at the bigger picture and now, everything seems to make sense. If I haven't been through tougher times, I probably would not have learnt how to appreciate the good times now, and I definately will not have gained 'enlightenment' and see things from a different (positive) perspective.

I may not have the best of everything but I am making the best out of everything I have and all that was given to me.

I am starting to love life, I really do.

Me being happy and thankful for all that I have. Anyway that's our (my roomie + me) standard dinner. I always try to make it a point to have 3 dishes and 1 soup but at times it proves to be a little challenging, especially when it comes to cooking soup because the stove they provided is an induction stove that takes forever to heat the pot of soup up (not to mention boiling it).

人情味

"最美的不是咖啡的香味，不是食物的美味，不是空气中迷漫着的气味，更不是恋爱的滋味，而是在人间散发着浓浓的人情味。"

This quote started forming at the back of my mind s I saw how an international student tried to negotiate with the lady boss of a restaurant, on behalf of a student association. If only people could be more compassionate, this world will be much better a place to live it. Don't you agree?

Sakura Trees

In winter, one tends to feel melancholy when everything fades into a shade of white, grey and/or black. Even the colour of clothes sold here compliments the season. All plants either are botak or withered. Sometimes, walking down the pathways can get a little depressing. Thus, I was really happy to see flowers blooming.


I spotted two cherry blossom/Sakura trees while walking from School of Psychology to Union Court (the center of ANU where most people gather at, due to the eateries, cafes and shops) and it really made my day. I didn't know they were Sakura trees until I saw the flowers (then again, maybe I'm wrong. They could just be another tree with Sakura look alike flowers. Thus correct me if I got the trees wrong). They really made my day.



Looks like Spring is nearing.

Pore Strips

I highly doubt I will be visited the beauty salon for a facial in Canberra, mainly because it is difficult to explain to them the condition and sensitivity of my skin [I have atopic eczema with extremely sensitive skin]. I definately would not want to pay AUD100 to be a guinea pig and try if the facial may have any adverse reaction on my skin.

Thus, for the next few months, I will be relying on some DIY and/or organic products. I was getting tired of squeezing my own blackhead and when I found this video, I was ecstatic. No more biore pore pack; I forgot to bring from Singapore and can't seem to find them in Canberra.

I shall try them this weekend, after I've purchased the required ingredients and update you guys on how well it works.

Lunch In School

To save my poor little tummy from hunger, I made myself lunch by preparing the food the night before just so that I didn't have to wake up early to cook. Since the weather gets really cold in winter, I decided that it didn't make much sense to bring food like fried rice or spaghetti bolognese. Imagine eating them cold, like fresh out of the fridge. [Yes, the temperature here is that low, the water I drink from my bottle is cold even though I filled it with hot water.] How disgusting can it taste right!

Thus, I decided to make salad. However, you can't prepare vegetable salad beforehand without compromising on it's quality and taste. If you were to add salad dressing to the vegetables the night before, the vegetable will turn out soft and soggy instead of fresh and crunchy. After much considerations, I decided to make seafood pasta. It's a no brainer dish that can fill my hungry tummy. It's easy to pack into a lunchbox and can be prepared beforehand without losing its quality.

I happily cooked my pasta, add in the right ingredients, pack it nicely into a lunchbox and store it in the fridge. The next morning, in a rush to get to school (as usual), I opened the fridge and swiftly grabbed the first lunch box I see.

During lunch time, I merrily took out my lunch box [Previously I used to skip lunch because eating in school was way too expensive.], only to realise that I took the wrong lunch box. The one I took was filled with leftover butter rice from the day before. Great. So now I have butter rice with no ingredients -.-''

All that hardwork and excitement for nothing. Since I still had classes for the rest of the day, it simply doesn't make sense for me to keep the butter rice in my bag and bring it back to hostel (which is a good 30 minutes bus ride away). Firstly, I've been keeping the container of rice in my bag and walking around with that 'excess weight' for the whole morning. Secondly, I'm starving. Thirdly, the butter rice is probably not going to make it till night. Why would I want to spend so much effort just to bring spoilt butter rice from hostel to school and back to hostel?

So, I decided to get some food to go with my rice. After much deliberation, I went for a big fat sausage that cost me AUD 2.70. Smells good, tasted awesome and goes extremely well with my butter rice!

Singapore's National Day 2010

The bunch of Singaporeans who I usually hang out with. I'm so lucky and blessed to have them around. They make my life easier when it gets tough. We were advised to wear red and white but with our coat/sweater on, it's hard to tell what colours we are wearing. I was not wearing red because I brought 0 red clothes over. Most of my clothes are either black or white. Monochrome. The only other colour that I have is denim because I brought quite a few pairs of jeans.

Since National Day falls on a Monday this year (and it definately isn't a public holiday in Australia or Canberra), we, a bunch of Singaporeans who are studying in Canberra decided to celebrate it a day earlier with a potluck session.

As usual, I made baked rice because my group of friends love it. Not that I'm complaining. I sure am happy that my baked rice is a hit but I'm just a little sick of making it because it no longer is a challenge. I've made chicken gourmet sausages with broccoli baked rice, ham and sausages baked rice and seafood baked rice. Moreover, baked rice gives me sore and achy shoulders. It's a rather simple recipe but it's a long process which requires quite a bit of hard work. It doesn't help that the furniture and fixtures in Australia (such as the kitchen counter) is catered for Westerners, thus it will be a strained in my muscles for a petite Asian like me, especially when I spend too much time in the kitchen. Yes, I'm still having sore shoulders and strained neck after a good two days.

My legendary baked rice!

At times, I even have to tip toe while standing at the kitchen counter, just so that I can toss my food well or stir fry the food proportionately. Fried rice is another dish that requires a great deal of effort. Zzz. At times while cooking, I will start wondering what if my mum or Mel (my sis) are staying here with me in Canberra? How are they going to cook (given the fact that they are shorter than I am)? If I buy a stool for them to stand on, will they be tall enough to cook comfortably? Hahahahahas. Oh well ...

Helping to heat up the fried beehoon.

Another reason why I was reluctant to make baked rice was that, I'm dying to try out new recipes; recipes which my mum & sis sent to me and recipes which I've been surfing for the past few days.

Anyway, back to the main topic, I had great fun at the mini potluck session yesterday. It was nice to meet up fellow Singaporeans, even if it means to just sit around, chit chat and slack, taking a break away from books, notes and household chores. Best of all, the food I had yesterday made me feel at home. From fried bee hoon to baked rice to green curry to tang yuan to tau suan. Yums! I could barely resist the fried bee hoon; it tasted and made me felt so good that I continued eating despite feeling bloated. Hahs. That was how much I missed food from Singapore.

Very awesome fried beehoon cooked by Valerie, with the help of the Fenner Boys. Did I mention she was a fantastic cook? I'm so lucky to have a friend like her. Nice and sweet with good culinary skills!

The green curry went very well with the fried beehoon! Courtesy of Valerie and Fenner boys!

My friends were so patriotic that he downloaded past years' and this year's national day song and started blasting on his iPod with 4 speakers in the function room. The music was so loud (and probably annoying) that some random person from outside the function room slammed our door shut. Hahs.

My friends started commenting on how the national day songs remind them of home, how much they miss home and how much they wish they were in Singapore etc. For some odd reasons, I don't feel the same way. I sure miss the people, furries and the food but I don't feel homesick at all. Not that I am totally in love with the life here but I don't exactly dislike it enough to be homesick. Hmms ... I guess this must have disappointed many people back home in Singapore, who are reading my blog. Oh well, just think of it this way. I'm adapting well to my life in Canberra. Does that sound better?

I'm not a great fan of red bean or tau sar but I still ate a lot of red bean tang yuan because it tasted fantastic and I love it. Plus, it really makes me feel like I'm back in Singapore, eating from some hongkong cafe.

Anyway, there will be a gathering organised by ANU's Singapore Student's Association to celebrate National Day tonight at Haydon-Alleen Tank. Heard that there will be free food (probably Singapore/Asian style), a mini trivia (games with regards to Singapore. We were told to go read up our social studies textbook -.-'') and screening of the National Day Parade from 6.30pm to 11.00pm. The best part of the games is the goodie bags. They actually shipped 10 real goodie bags that were meant to be given out at National Day Parade, all the way from Singapore to Canberra. I thought that was amazing.

However, I will most likely give it a skip as I've got loads of readings to complete with pressing deadlines to meet. Plus, the event ends a tad too late for me. Sorry Jason, if you happen to read this.

Nonetheless, I'll most probably be catching the National Day Parade on live telecast via NDP 2010 Offcial Website. I guess that's what the most of us intend to do. By the way, this year's theme is Live Our Dreams, Fly Our Flag.

Fire!

This picture was captured when the fire alarm went off due to some prank.

I was enjoying my beauty sleep last night (or rather this morning) when I heard my roomie calling for my name. I finally woke up after she called me for the nth time. Being half awake, I heard her voice in the foreground with some sound in the background. I thought it was my really fantastic alarm clock (the SGD100+ alarm clock that never fail to wake me up) was ringing, until my roomie blurted "It's the fire alarm!"

Too groggy to bother about any image or speech manners, I went "What the Fuck!" and I seriously meant it. I can't stop grumbling about how would anyone smoke at 5.30am in the morning (Note: The past two times when the fire alarm went off, it was the 'good job' of some jokers who decided to smoke in the hostel room.) I was extremely reluctant to get out of my bed and evacuate, especially when I just went to bed at 4am.

Imagine wearing only cotton pyjamas with bedroom slippers, standing out in the cold at 2 degrees celsius with the wind blowing crazily for a good 20minutes. I bet you can NEVER imagine how it feels if you've stayed in Singapore most of your life without venturing out of the tropics.

It was so cold, my fingers were literally numbed, my joints felt rigid, my teeth were chattering, my knees were shaking, my nose and ears painful from the cold. That was how cold I (or rather all of us who were evacuated) felt.

Just when I was cursing the guy/girl who set the fire alarm off (I thought it was a prank), the fireman came to speak to us. This was what he said "This morning is a typical case of heater catching fire. By placing the blanket over the heater, it catches fire easily, so please becareful when using the heater!"

Apparently, one of my neighbours had this small electric heater in between the two beds. One of them accidentally kicked his blanket (while asleep) and it covered the heater, causing his blanket to catch a fire and that set off the fire alarm.

Though I was annoyed by the fact that I had to wake up at some unearthly time to evacuate in the cold, I was thankful for the fire alarm. Imagine what would have happened to my neighbour if the fire alarm didn't ring. Both he and his room mate would have been roasted pigs, and the rest of us would be some roasted half-done steak.

He was in a state of shock when he found out that his blanket had caught fire and felt extremely guilty about having the hall residents standing in cold. He was apologetic for the entire incident. (His room mate was a huge contrast, smiling away throughout the whole episode without even trying to act as though he was apologetic.) I bet it must have been a horrifying experience for him. It could have happened to me. I'm just thankful that he's safe and unhurt.

In my opinion, even though the electric heater heats up easily and is convenient to use, it can be really dangerous; it catches fire extremely easily when there is no ventilation for the heater (Eg. Covering it with a piece of cloth).

Just in case you are wondering about the heater which my roomie and I purchased, you can rest assure about it because we bought an oil heater which I think is relatively safe. Moreover, the heater we got is quite tall in height, thus we will have to master some kung fu skills before we can 'aim' to cover the heater with our blankets during bed time.

Oh, did I mention anything about skipping lecture the next morning? Hahas. I couldn't get back to sleep after I got back to the room; I felt like a piece of frozen pork being thawed.

In the end, I

1. went to update my status on facebook, visited my neighbour (the one whose blanket caught fire)

2. checked out how he was doing, lent him my room mate's sleeping bag (with his blanket gone, he had nothing else to keep him warm)

3. sneezed non-stop and had to open a new box of tissue

4. sms-ed my sweet neighbour(he lives directly opposite me and we get to see each other everytime we leave our doors opened), Isaac. He told me to just skip lecture if I still continue to sneeze. Afterall, I won't be able to concentrate in class when I'm feeling sleep deprived. (With his encouragement, I mustered enough courage to skip lecture. Haha!)

By the time I dozed off, my alarm went off at 7.50am. When I tried to wake up, my head was spinning and my nose was busy (read: sneeze). How to attend, concentrate and stay awake during lecture in such a state? Plus, I only had that one hour lecture for the entire day. How not to resist the temptation to skip school?

*Woops*

Maybe, I'm just trying to justify and reduce my guilt for skipping lecture.

But ... I really was down with a flu for a good 2-3 days. So ... yeaps! I had a good reason for missing lessons, Right?

Direct Factory Outlet

In a desperate attempt to search for matching/suitable shoes for a ball, my friend (Felicia) and I decided to head down to Direct Factory Outlet after school to shop. I was expecting a warehouse like place selling loads of cheap clothes (like the typical warehouse sale in Singapore) but to my surprise, I saw this large shopping mall!

DFO is like a mall consisting of many small shops selling a wide variety of products, ranging from clothes to shoes to furniture to kitchen utensils to accessories/fashion jewellery to eyewear to stationery supplies. Some of the brands they carry include Roxy, Cotton on (some stuff are really cheap), Supre, Oakleys, Nine West and Diva. Think IMM.

The good thing about it is most of the products at discounted rates and thus we started shopping merrily, something we rarely do in Canberra City (Civic) because the things in Civic are generally more expensive, and the range of products isn't that fantastic.

We shopped from dawn till dusk. Haha. I was kidding. Even though we went there in bright daylight and left when the sky darkens, we were there for only 3 hours. The sky in Canberra starts turning dark at 5pm. I've no idea whether it's an Australia thing or whether it was due to the fact that the days are shorter in winter. Hmms.

We shopped from 3pm to 6pm because the shops at DFO closes at 6pm punctually. I bought quite a number of clothes because I brought very few to Australia. As a result of my father's insistence that 'there's no way I can wear summer clothes in winter', I brought 0 shorts, 2 t-shirt and loads of jeans + coat + sweater. What my father didn't know was the fact that there's heater in my hostel, lecture theatres and tutorial rooms. Thus, the room will be too hot for me to wear my coat and/or sweater and I will literally prespire. Luckily my mum and sister left behind 2 t-shirts (which they have worn to Australia) for me. Otherwise, I will have to cook and do household chores in sweater/coat.

At DFO, I found a nice pair of shorts from Cotton On for AUD 5.00 and from now on, I shall wear that instead of jeans to do household chores and cooking.



Somehow the clothes or rather the fashion sense here seems to date back to 10 years ago. It's so difficult to shop for suitable clothes here. These were the rare times when I miss Takashimaya, Ion, Far East and even neighbourhood malls like Lot 1. I couldn't even find the Hugo perfume that I usually use. Oh, and you know what? There's no Starbucks in Canberra (Read the following link for more info about why isn't there Starbucks in Australia's capital.) I miss my Caramel Macchiato!

Sometimes, I wish I was studying in Sydney or Melbourne instead.