Wednesday, January 31, 2007

have been meeting really weird people around here lately.

just yesterday, yingwei and i were heading over to the mall which is about 5 minutes' walk from our house when we were sorta 'hit' on by a random dude.

we were just walking along, minding our own business when suddenly yingwei got a faceful of water sprinkles from an overhead tree. so she was busy rubbing it off her face when this guy came from behind and commented that it happened to him too. he fell into step with us and starting chatting. it was all ok and he left halfway to go to the bank.

didn't pay much heed to it. just chalked it up to the ozzie's friendly nature and all.

we stopped at the traffic light waiting to cross and the same dude reappears and starts chatting us up again. it was all very innocent and light. about where we were from, what we're doing here, where he was from, what he works as. incidentally, he works at a TIM TAM factory. so, we shall hereby dubbed him Mr. Tim Tam. he looked to be about in the his 30's. unshaven, head closely shaved though, casually dressed, friendly, approachable, gave information freely, (especially about his weight, dunno why), seemed to be in good spirits, mentioned he could get by with just a couple of hours of sleep a night. *wah...this is how we assess mental status in crazy patients*

so, Mr. Tim Tam was being all conversationaly and friendly and we didn't think much of it. UNTIL he asked whether we had boyfriends. again, we thought it was a casual question, so i mentioned yingwei was attached. and he further probed to see if her other half was in australia. to which she replied no. then...walk, walk, walk, walk. and he asked.

'are you girls free friday night?'

O.o

i came up with the really clever, albeit nerdy excuse that we would be studying since medicine is like the toughest profession in the world.

phew...potential hazard averted.

but...

'do you girls have phones? wanna gimme your numbers so i can call you when you're free?'

urhhh...

again...supergracie to the rescue. told him we HAD a phone. but it was a landline and it was connected yet. said that we had just arrived and haven't gotten a handphone. to which he started telling about getting a prepaid number and then instantly we'll have phones.

dodged that bullet.

and he went on.

'how about i give YOU my number. then you can call me when you're free.'

talk about hardball.

so eventually, he gave us his number and asked our names. i was already in the store trying to get something righted. so yingwei very cleverly said that she was jane and that i was lily. jolly good show. luckily, we didn't bump into him again. thank God for very big malls.

case closed.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

yesterday was Australia Day. which is equivalent to our Merdeka Day back home and the whole bunch of us went to Southbank, aka the happening place to be during Australia Day to get some well deserved fun.


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that's soo yi and me

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had dinner of fish and chips on the grass. as you all can see, i'm super tanned. no thanks to the really hot hot sun here.

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su-ann, me, ying wei and soo yi

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FIREWORKS! really nice ones. but the gunpowder smell clung to us the rest of the night.

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su-ann and i in front of the SunCorp Piazza where they had free concerts for Australia Day

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they had street salsa dancing here. tried my legs at it. was completely hopeless.

so...we spent the evening watching the fireworks and emersing ourselves in the culture and flea market and merriment. later on we went to watch 'Miss Potter' in the IMAX cinema where tickets only cost 5.70 for students. cute show.

there were random people coming up to us and saying 'happy aussie day!' and we'd be like..'oh..happy aussie day' and when they'd pass i'd go....MERDEKA! hahaha...a bit of malaysian lameness.

and yes, yin, there were plenty of hot guys going around without their shirts on. but they were all high schoolers. the older ones were too drunk to even stand up straight.

sadly, it's only this fun and happening on friday nights. i'm here in soo yi's place again tonight, which is a saturday night and the place is silent. absolutely silent. i am SO not used to this.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

i miss home.

so much.

sigh...

ok...so quick updates.

we've got a house. quite a nice one. managed to get it furnished by the first week so we've all got beds to sleep in and cupboards to put our clothes in. a fridge to put our food in. a washing maching to wash our clothes with. so i guess we're pretty much set for the year. only thing that's not up yet is the internet and the tv. internet will be up in about 2 weeks. which really sucks cos even in malaysia it's like 3 days or so. and then the tv, we're trying to scout around to see if we can get any cheap ones.

so here i am in the medical library of the Royal Brisbane Women's Hospital checking my very long list of emails and updating myself on what's been happening in Malaysia while i'm here.

have been pretty down in the dumps lately as you all can tell. have been feeling homesick and all. read through my mental health textbook and i've got a few of the symptoms that suggest depression. i even had a panic attack the other day. of course i didn't know it was a panic attack till i read about it yesterday.

daddy's a bit worried that i might become depressed so he's been asking me to go have some fun. but there's nothing much that is fun to do around here. i mean, there's this really huge shopping complex near my house, but there's only so many times i can go there and then TRY not to spend money since it's so scarce. although, the shopping's pretty good and there's sale on now and everything's so cheap. and then, everything closes by 5. so the evening's are pretty much dead unless we have the tv and the internet. and we have neither. so...go figure.

mummy's been really great. calling everyday to see if i'm ok. bucking me up and encouraging me all the way through. i think right now, she's the only one that's keeping me sane. all in all, she's being a real brick. wish she were here with me. wish all my family members were here with me.

getting around isn't as easy as i thought it was either. travelling to the hospital is easy enough since i have to just hop onto one bus and in 15-20 minutes, i'm there. getting to the city and to places of interest is a bit more difficult. unless you have a car. with a car, we can go anywhere within minutes. places are literally quite close. but with public transport, well, a 15 min car ride can turn into a 45 minute one.

but i shouldn't be one to gripe. i have friends with me. i have a roof over my head. all that's left to do is study hard, do my best and try to make the most out of life here. that's what people have been telling me. right now, i'm thinking...talk is cheap and easier said than done. but i appreciate the support. and i need to buck up and tell myself to suck it up.

the grace lau i thought i was is definitely tougher than this. i can't believe i'm this wuss.

Monday, January 15, 2007

well...today was a pretty fruitful day.

started off with me taking the bus from southbank, to RBH. first time alone on the bus. phew...big accomplishment. hahaha..yeah..got there and waited for the rest to come and all together-gether we went to see this lady who was supposed to be in charge of us. waited for 2 whole hours.

i was getting more and more stressed by the minute. seriously and when she finally go to us, she was apologetic and really nice. and she gave me the greatest news. i will be posted in RBH for the WHOLE YEAR!! yeah! i was so afraid 'cause i was hearing horror stories from seniors about being thrown everywhere for all the different rotations. that would seriously be very painful to the pocket. but PRAISE THE LORD! it's all in the same hospital for us.

and then...it got better. we managed to look at 3 houses today and even got the keys to go inspect them ourselves. yay! was quite happy with 2 of them and wanted to send in applications for them.

but before we could submit our applications, we needed to get a bank statement. that means, opening a bank account. so that we did. but the transaction would only be recorded by tomorrow, so means i'll still have to wait till tomorrow. oh well...i should be thankful we found something. now i hope we get it. really..i hope we get it. everyone, PLEASE PLEASE pray that we get the 2 houses.

then we went to sarah's house, which is really nice. reminded me a lot of my ayi mee's house in germany. modern townhouse. sigh...wish we could get that...but as i told my mum, beggars can't be choosers.

it would make a really funny story about how we went from one house to another, peeking into windows to see if it was any good. but i'm just so tired right now. i have slept a total of 15 hours in the last 3 nights. so..it's high time to get some sleep

Sunday, January 14, 2007

greetings and salutations from the one, the only, soo yi's apartment! went to church this morning. was really good. although i was super emotional and was crying throughout worship. that's the thing about me. when i get upset or stressed out about anything, i feel closest to God. so everytime He ministers to me, i break down. so...that's what i did again. shucks...

after church, we (zk, su-ann, dex, and i) went for lunch in chinatown with some of our seniors. had dim sum.

was feeling so homesick one of the seniors took a look at me and said..

'you're looking very depressed. are you ok?
wow...i need to learn how to maintain a poker face.

so we had dim sum and it seemed fairly familiar with all the asian faces around. but there was of course the ang moh, who came to eat as well and you know what? they drink wine and beer with dim sum. seriously. we drink tea, they have alcohol. hahaha..and there were these really pretty chinese mainland girls on the next table, so all the guys were sneaking covert glances across. boys will be boys.

and yes, yin, there are a lot of leng chais here. just haven't gotten the nerve or the mood to chat one up.

eveything's on sale now, since it's nearing the end of summer. but i'd rather watch out for better bargains later on and concentrate on looking for a place to live.

soo yi's been really kind in letting me bunk in with her. whereas the rest have to like stay in motel and pay about 38aud a night. or something like that.

house hunting isn't easy work. on saturday, we walked all the way from kedron, which is a suburb up north to herston, which was nearer the central area. i think it was about a 20km or so walk. and the weather here is super hot now. scorching. and i got burnt. already. 2 days and i'm burnt. hahahaha....so we went to herston to inspect a place which turned out to be a huge disappointment. 2 bedroom and it's the size of my gazebo back home. and that's like 170aud a month. it's crazy i know. sigh...but oh well..

went to caleb's place for dinner. ahko was there even though caleb's in malaysia. met his housemates. koreans, taiwanese, french mates. wow. hies place seems nice, a bit old thought since it's about 30 years old. had a typical aussie bbq although none of us were australian! it really seems like ahko has truly enjoyed herself here. i'm sure this won't be her last visit. she was practically the life of the party during the bbq seeing as they threw it in honour of her leaving today. i suddenly see my ahko in a whole new light.

mum's feeling a bit panicky at home also i guess since she got the kan brothers to call me and make fun of me not finding a house. but thanks for the link boys. managed to find about 4 places which would do really nicely. so, all i need to do now is call them tomorrow and arrange for an inspection. hopefully tomorrow as well. please, please pray for all of us here.

and yes, lyn. i'll learn to grow up. seems like i'm the only one missing home, other than sarah who had the same problem as me. su-ann misses her hamster. of all things..

anyway, lyn, soo yi's coming back in february. be nice and your birthay present may fly with her.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

so here i am...in the land of sun, sea, sand, surf and STUDS. hahaha...that's according to my sister, LB. speaking of which, i'm really missing home. SO HOMESICK. i guess this is what happens when you leave home for the first time. away from loved ones, away from the comforts of home, away from the familiarity of routine life. in actually crying. like a freaking baby.

sigh...

i dunno how i'm going to survive the next 2 years. i always thought that i'd be tough. that 2 years was nothing, if but a breeze. and that i was gonna stay longer to work, etc, etc, etc. but right now, i'm not so sure anymore. i find myself thinking more and more about home and how much more i prefer it there. not just because it's comfortable and familiar, but because it's IN me. it kinda defines who i am today. i miss home.

sigh...

i think maybe, part of the reason why i'm feeling this way, is because i'm growing up. and honestly, i don't know if i'm ready for it. making my own decisions, being away from home, leading my own life. i don't know if i'm ready. you're probably thinking, 'wait a minute, you're almost 23. it's high time you get outta the house and experience life and all that it can give.' i know. i used to think that too.

sigh...

it's time to grow up, grace.

*but i still don't want to.