Many things have happened since my last entry. Geez don't even know where to start and how to update you guys. It's hard when you don't have internet yet. Let's see if this is the easy way out...

Monday 24th Jan
First day of work. Fresh and excited. Am very surprised and pleased to see so many new graduates recuited this year. Some have already started in December and have come to join us in the graduate induction this morning. Over the years, BlueScope Steel (BSS) has recruited cadets and apprentices, but not many graduates. This year, the grad recruitment soared as high as 40, the biggest they ever had since 1994. Went through a info-loading 3 hour session. Seriously, my tiny brain can only take that much info. What I CAN remember is safety - Number one priority - otherwise KABOOM. Yeah don't play play...ppl get burnt, fall off the stairs, slipped into the furnace, engulfed by hot 2300 degrees lava-like steel-in-the-making, knocked by the forklift... I'm not joking...these accidents did happen.

Tuesday 25th Jan
My boss gave me some manuals to read. Have to learn how to use and program using Citech Software which my department uses for control and automation of machines. Apparently very easy to learn but I'm so dumb I haven't figured it out till now. I totally blame it on myself due to lack of concentration, which was due to lack of sleep, which in turn was due to watching the Australian Open tennis till late at night. Geez not my fault lah, the quarterfinal games went into 5 sets and neither player could wrap it up early in the game!

Wednesday 26th Jan
Public Holiday! Yippee! Loads of ppl flocked the Wollongong Harbour and the beach. There were events, activites, aquathlon, food stalls, souvenirs, sand castle making competition, etc. Went down in the evening to enjoy the jazz orchestra, watch fire-twirling men before finally the fireworks. I kept my expectations low so as not to get disappointed...you know, we just saw Melbourne's spectacular New Year's Day blast in the sky. But boy, was I wrong! The fireworks in Gong was just as awesome, if not better...at least they had music to accompany it...and the engineers timed the display and sound of the firworks to the music. How cool is that!

Thursday 27th Jan
Back to work. My typical day starts 7.30am - 4pm. Had another departmental induction for 3 hours, had a site tour of the machines under our supervision, and continued reading manuals. I was getting really bored. I just don't like reading.

Friday 28th Jan
Had a plant tour this morning. This tour is the tour visitors to the Port Kembla Steelworks would experience as well. So if you are going to visit Gong, don't miss this tour. Saw all those huge machines at work, witnessed a Mt Edna-like volcanoe in action, hot strips of steel being rolled and cooled down, and how these old equipment can still cause problems during production. There are actually many of these big equipment as old as 30-50 years old. Man, if anything goes wrong, it's really costly to repair coz the parts for them are not even available now. And the weather was just extremely killer-hot today.

My boss waited for me to finish the tour. We then headed to the city for lunch to meet a female colleague before she goes into labour. Looks like I'll be the only female now in the department. I requested to have half day off today. Went to sign the lease at 4pm and was told I was too late to connect electricity to my unit. I was really annoyed because I specifically called the day before and asked about this issue. I feel like strangling the receptionist who misinformed me. I am as of now till Monday morning without electricity, and without my furniture. Too much frustration today to really type it all down. Bottomline, got off work at 2pm, sign lease at 4pm, took a cab to move my luggage to the unit, heaving up my super heavy luggage up 2 flight of stairs, took another cab to the pet shop to buy urgent essentials, and took another cab home ( Hah, I can call it home now). The time clocked was 7pm.

But I was really happy today despite almost everything going wrong. Chloe is allowed to reside in my unit. I was having problems here as Body Corporate Wollongong strictly do not allow pets. I was on the verge of sneaking her in. And I did just that on Friday morning when she arrived. I did feel guilty coz if I got found out, I'll be in deep trouble, I think. So I tried to bring this matter subtlely to the agent as I was about to put the pen to the paper. And she went 'Hey what I don't know won't hurt you!'. And I beamed from cheek to cheek. =)

Thank God I have new-found friends who are just so willing to help me. Every morning I get a ride to work and back. Yesterday I bunked over at a friend's place who's still in the serviced apartment I was previously in...pity me mar, no electricity. Some have offered to take me fridge-shopping.

I really need a car.

Already one week in Gong...

Collected my uniform for work from the store today. Nothing really to shout about, considering they're baggy, long sleeve and uncomfortable. Typical cotton drill trousers and electrician shirt. It's all for safety and protection...just in case I get a shock. haha. And the safety boots...hai no need to talk.

Went to the RTA today, NSW's version of VicRoads. Just found out that I need to find my old driving license. I renewed it early 2004 as stated on my current license so it doesn't tell them that I've been driving prior to that. Not that I do anyway. But just that I'll have to start all over again as a P-plater! Damn. I'll see if I can find my old license or get some form of proof from the Malaysian authorities... flashbacks of how slow they process or write letters really annoy me.

Also trying to finish up all the food in the fridge. There's still plenty of fish left in the freezer, our catch from the fishing trip last Saturday. Don't really know how I'm going to finish all that by Sunday as I will be moving out from the serviced apartment to another nearby hotel for extended stay. The apartment will only be available next Friday....Thankfully the extra nights are still being paid for. Thank you Lord for a new place to stay.

Wollongong

To those who are still blur where gong is, yes it's short for Wollongong...duh! It's 80km south of Sydney, about one hour's drive thereabouts. Arrived here last Wednesday morning. Bumped into Jas's colleague in the airport. What a coincidence. I get to use the internet in his office to make some vital appointments for house inspection.

Gong is situated along the coast. The beach is really beautiful and people flock here in the evenings and mostly in the weekends for the sea, sand, yachting, hang gliding, fish&chips, etc. I must say it's more crowded than St Kilda Beach, only because the city of Gong is only a stone's throw away from the beach. I even had to queue an hour for the fish&chips...but it was most definitely worth the wait, besides the point that the service is really slow... sorry lah, I'm comparing with how fast I used to work at Plush serving sushi and coffee 100 times faster than these people are taking the fish orders.

On Saturday, Jas's good friend from Sydney came down for a night's stay with his family. We went deep sea fishing...I was so looking forward to it...being my 3rd time fishing. It was my most unfortunate outing as I succumbed to sea motion sickness and threw up 5 times. I've never felt so miserable in my life...it was worse than my food poisoning encounter 3 years ago. I wasn't the only one though. Simon, another friend who has also relocated to Gong, had the same problem. Luckily I managed to fish for the first hour or so. As soon as you drop the line, the line tags and you pull up fish after fish. So much fun! Dinner that night was of course, FISH.

The next day we went to Nan Tien Temple, the biggest temple in the southern hemisphere. I never knew you could find such an attraction in a city as small as Gong. Will post pictures of the temple later...can't upload the photos...am currently in a public library.

Thankfully after a week's search, I finally found a nice cozy quiet unit. Am moving in next Friday. It's really close to the city itself, with Woolworths ( Safeway is called Woolies here), train station, the main shopping mall and Asian grocery store all within walking distance. I can't wait to slowly decorate the place and make myself feel more like I'm back in Melb. Goodbye Melbourne... Hello Wollongong!

Countdown...

20 hours before my furniture will be packed and shipped...
39 hours before I will be departing Melbourne for Wollongong...

and still counting...

it's amazing how much stuff I've accumulated
5 years in Melbourne
all my uni notes
all kept nicely and untouched on the shelves
they have new owners now
who will be grateful to have them

as i take down all the photos stuck on the wall
i recall all the happy & sad moments
friends i've made
enemies i've forgiven
OCF camps i've gone
people i've blessed
opportunities i've missed
handmade gifts i've received

thank you Lord for my life

The Perfect Gift

4.0 mega pixels
2" colour LCD monitor
3x optical lens
3.6x digital zoom
3x optical zoom
slim & small

i am
overjoyed grateful delighted ecstatic way-over-the-moon

thank you
thank you
thank you
you know who you are
and thank you
bb

Tis the Christmas Season!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I know, I know...this entry is way way overdue. But hey, you won't be complaining soon coz the pictures are worth waiting for!

Christmas started with a bang with a sumptious dinner on Christmas eve. 15 honourable guests arrived, dressed in their best, some came with traditional red or green tops, and another with a Santa's hat.

Entre was served as the host's bid to fill everyone's stomachs so that she can have all the turkey to herself. Wrong move! You'll know why later.



The roasted bird was ready by 8pm, together with 5 different varieties of salad, prepared by the chef himself. It was a meal that will be remembered for long...we almost devoured an 8kg turkey...almost...and another 1kg of stuffing...and that only just fit into the oven.





David Chang arrived late, with nothing done to his supposedly roast pork dish. The meat was not marinated, the potatoes were not peeled, and the oven space was occupied by the bird! But in the end, voila! Great job, David!



And not forgetting the home-made apple strudel complimentay of JK.



The aftermath...




Soon it was time to sing Happy Birthday to Lim Wu...



The guys had their chances on him...



But the girls did not lay a single finger on the man...except the special one...



And it was customary for the bday man to whack down a shot of Tia Maria...to show his man-ness...



But cheekily at the corner of the table, someone else decided to go high...and was soon laughing tipsily...



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Christmas finally arrived the next day...church service was short and sweet today...with the congretation waving glolights during worship. It was so pretty. I told Ted Fabs today that I will be leaving for the land of gong, as well as the church. He said he would like to pray for me on the stage next week, and I was like, no thank you! I prefered it to be done in private. It also struck me that I don't think Ted actually knows my name. It's difficult to remember, for one. And I think he only remembers me as the irratating and hungry girl who kept bugging him for food during a dinner at his place.

Soon we were off to the Chia's place for lunch. We were stressing out in the car what to buy for the potluck lunch as all the KFCs were closed. It turned out that we didn't really need any more dishes. Ben's mum cooked up a storm, with the addition of the previous night's leftovers..and yup, you guessed it right, roast turkey! Everyone who were at my place the night before did not touch a single piece of the turkey. Even the thought of it scares us now. We shall refer it as "chicken" for now.



One of the aunties who were there brought home-made yee sang, a traditional Chinese dish where everyone participates in mixing them together for prosperity...the higher you pull your chopsticks the better luck and "fatt" you get. I haven't had that for a while now...missing CNY for 3 years in a row. Boy, I so so miss it!





With heavy-loaded stomachs, everyone adjourned to the living room...and eventually, Jan, April, Felix and I were fast asleep! I woke up to the sound of Ben and Jason yelling and laughing next door...and soon, all of us were playing dai di and president&scumbags all lumped into one. Soon, it was dinnertime...and yes, it was roast "chicken" again.

When it was almost dark, we hopped into 3 cars and drove down to the Boulevard in Ivanhoe, where houses put up their best display of lights. I wonder if they have a competition against one another. Well, 1 km of lighted houses was enough to wear us out for the night, parting ways on one of the best and beautiful Christmas Day celebrations I ever had. Enjoy the pictures!























Come Boxing Day! Yeah! Shopping.....April can really shop! LimWu defended her expenditure (which was very supportive in a girl's point of view!), and allowed her to freely walk the stores of Highpoint till it closed and we had to be chased out from the surf shop... and april was still scurrying to find a size 9 jeans amidst the pile of clothes. =)

This was my shopping list:
1) a pair of beach shorts
2) a set of bikini
3) a queen-sized quilt

And i could only manage to buy the bottom half of the bikini set becoz the sizes have run out. How bizarre still to me that a two piece triangular cloth tied together with two strings could cost $35! That's a ripoff! I gave myself a pat on the back for getting it at $20, which i still think is expensive. Oh well, I hear the gong beaches are pretty nice.

We treated ourselves to a good dinner, a concoction of Jason's...using the leftover of the "chicken" from the eve dinner. We refused to relate it to turkey meat, because enough is enough! 8kg turkey for christmas eve dinner, turkey again at the chia's place, turkey sandwich from C.Keasberry, u get the drill. Dinner was shreded "chicken" wantan noodles. Not bad. And while he was preparing it, he was also making "chicken" porridge for lunch the next day. No wonder turkey meat is only eaten once a year.

And how sinful it was, starting from this night, that Jason, LimWu, April and me had many many dai di, bridge, cluedo, and DVD nights...where we played by night and slept by day.

Saturday Night Fever!

Munching my triangular cheese Shapes, I was watching Jet Li's The Mask on DVD. The television is not working since the antenna is broken. Oh well, this show dubbed in English will just have to do. Was fiddling with the setups, hoping to switch it back to Cantonese when my mobile rang.

Gie: Hello, teng ar. Are you in the city yet?
Me : City? Why would I be in the city?
Gie: You mean, you're at home?
Me : Yah, why? Am I supposed to be in the city?
Gie: Have you forgotten? Saturday Night Fever is tonight!
Me : Oh no! Arghhhhhhhh!
Gie: It's in half an hour's time. You better get Jason to fetch you there.

My hair was in a mess, I haven't showered, I'm still in my pyjamas, Dinner is uncooked on the kitchen table, everything was just not right.

I was allowed into the theatre 5 minutes after the musical started.

Usher: Watch your step.
Me : Thanks.
Usher: Here we are. Your seat is #26.
Me : Urm, where exactly is it? I can't see an empty seat.
Usher: It's right in the middle. You just have to walk past everyone.
Me : Right in the middle? Oh dear!

And there I went, walking over and saying sorry to more than a dozen people.

But I enjoyed myself in the end. It was certainly worth the rush, the dancing was just awesome. The disco has returned.



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On another happier note, New Year's eve was well spent with friends. The picnic was along the Yarra river. Ben was thoughtful enough to choose a spot under the street lighting so that we could continue playing chor dai di and president+scumbag right through the night. Both fireworks were just awesome! The best I've ever seen in Melbourne.

Stay tune for pictures of my Christmas and birthday bash...