Back To School Again =(

My two weeks term break had ended last Sunday. This is the list of things I had been doing during term break:

• Took a 45 minutes plane ride to Melbourne and stayed there for 5 nights. Satisifed a lot of food cravings, walked a lot of streets, seen a lot of buildings with nice architectural designs, had awesome breakfasts, took a tram for the first time in my life, seen wild penguins (there were oh-so-cute) and met up with a friend whom I haven't seen in 8 years. No thanks to Tiger Airways, I spent a good 4 hours at Melbourne domestic airport rotting away. Yes, my plane got delayed but I guess I shouldn't be complaining cause my friends' flight (which was scheduled to fly the next morning) was cancelled. Will post the pictures on my blog when I upload them onto my lappie. Very busy at the moment, studying and preparing for presentation. (Woops! Sign of slacking too much during the holidays.)

• Attempted to diet because I found myself putting on way too much weight. It didn't help that I got 1kg heavier after returning from Melbourne. I chose to ate lesser during meal times but ended up snacking more. What is this!?!?!?! Guess my body is too used to me eating too much. Gotta take baby steps to slowly reduce my food intake. To think I used to struggle with the huge portion of food given at cafes and restaurants in Australia. Now, I can finish the entire plate by myself, even though I still struggle at times. There is no way I am going to let the food go to waste when it cost a whooping $14 on average for each meal.

• Attempt to lose more weight and stay healthier by joining gym. Chose fitness first for their equipment, environment and facilities. I also get to go for free classes such as yoga, pilates, zumba etc. I actually prefer the classes over working out on the machines. I make an attempt to go for as many classes as possibe because it's fun, interactive and interesting. To be honest, the classes can be more tiring and taxing than running on the threadmill; I feel that fats all over my body are 'burning'. Hahas. I have to highlight the fact that I'm not being spendrift (or atas). If I were to filter in costs like locker and what nots, I am going to pay more for the school gym than Fitness First. On top of that, the showers in my school is haywire; it either scalds me badly with super hot water, or freezes me with super cold water. Worse thing is the school toilet does not have heater. The moment I remove my clothes, I can see goosebumps on my skin (partially because I have low tolerance for cold). Bathing is a challenge. Few plus points about Fitness First in Australia includes lower subscription fees than if I were to sign up in Singapore, free access to any Fitness First across Australia (just in case I relocate), free trainer for three sessions (though they have stupid terms and conditions) and I can use the Fitness First gyms when I'm back in Singapore. Cool right?

• Stayed over at my friend's hostel (Val @ Fenner hall) and had loads of fun. We made pasta from scratch, from mixing the flour to rolling the dough to shaping the pasta. After that, we cooked it in aglio olio style with mushrooms. Boy, it was hard work! I doubt I will be doing it anytime soon. We also baked banana cake in cupcake style and it turned out really well, despite the fact that we didn't get some proportions and ingredients right. We did not have all the ingredients we needed and happily substituted with whatever we thought was good. The cake mixture didn't look right but the cupcakes turned out well. At least much better than we had expected. Thank goodness I stopped Val from throwing away the cake mixture when she thought it was going to be a 'gone case'. Just for your info, we were cooking/baking/having fun from 1am to almost 5am in the morning. Haha. Thanks Val for hosting me and doing crazy stuff with me at insane times even when you're sick. Please recover soon, it's been almost a week! *hugs*

• I deactivated my FaceBook account for various reasons which I do not wish to elaborate on my blog. I will most probably activate it again when I'm back in Singapore, depending on how well adapted I am to a life without facebook. I may just be tempted to facebook again in the following days/weeks or I may get so used to a life without FaceBook, I may never want to activate it again. Oh well, see how it goes.
  

I guess that's all for now. Gotta go prepare for presentation and study for quiz. Shall update when I think of anything else that I have done during the term break. Shall end this post with a picture of myself, just in case you people miss me. I feel so bhb. Hahas!



This picture was taken on mid-autumn festival when I was at Floraide nightfest (I will try to blog about the nightfest soon). I called my granny's place that night because I knew my extended family will be there for dinner. I was so glad to hear their voices, especially Uncle Cal's (though I never told him that).

I even got skyped with my grandparents at night. My granny saw me for the first time since I arrived in Australia and she commented that I look better when I'm fatter. I've no idea if she's speaking the truth or if she's trying to comfort me but I choose to believe the former. Hahas.

Anyway, just in case you guys are wondering, my friends (John + Janelle) and I came to conclude that the moon in Australia is rounder than it is back home in Singapore. Who says 家乡 的月亮 最圆 ?

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.