replying, from 1324 hours:
zhihao: what problems? are you feeling better? (: anyway, do you have facebook? and RELAX! SYF does not signify the end of the world. anyway, have not been hearing from you. are you sad over the results?
mn: hello! thanks for the advice! how’s life? take care too (:
yijin: granny (: yeah, i guess it’s good to believe in something…thanks! hmm, i should create facebook. but so busy! what sounds like tons of fun? the lab work? hahaha. the travelling was just so-so…i shall elaborate further in the main part of the post!
emily: act of lesbianism! *hugs and kisses back* love you too (: you talk as if i’m a baboon. hahaha. we did not travel by car in the end…what’s on my sister’s blog? haha. and yes, i enjoyed myself tremendously! the weather was a lot warmer than Melbourne’s. *more hugs and kisses*
jermain: hello! i know, no time to go online. and there’s the time difference too. no problem anyway! oh, you got the present! i was wondering if people would forget cos i left them in a rush (my mum was hurrying me like some crazy person–she was there with me). anyway, you’re always like a zombie! read your blog. haha. hope life is good there! a bit hard to email and type all sorts of things when i am, strangely, quite busy. but definitely not feeling stressed (except in sports?). anyway, take care too! study less and don’t be a zombie!
pork chop: porky! haha thanks (: how’s life? i figure you must have had some kind of a birthday bash (again) from candy’s blog although i haven’t watched the video. haha. ms shoeholic! you have been reading too many sophie kinsella’s shopaholic books! i got i-miss-pork syndrome even though there’s pork in the supermarkets. ): anyway, christian studies has almost nothing Christian-ish about it because we only studied Genesis 1-3 and then we moved on to the topic of Who Am I? haha i just finished the essay! it was kind of fun writing it.
huimin: hello mummy! yeah i’ll add you–as soon as i create an account. simply have not enough time. haha, yeah, cool (: but i’m scared of bunsen burner -.- they use matches here, not lighters. and i’ve never touched a match in all my 15 years. yeahhh it’s autumn! but cold /: goes down to 12 at night on certain days.
candy: hello laogong! you’re so random. haha. i hope that will happen to nobody! Australian government has signs on the road that say something like: ‘Tired? Powernap Now.’ looking forward to the anniversary! wheehoo (:
xueling: okay! i see your comment now. what’s this about pet society? anyway, about SYF, it’s not the end of the world. it does not mean that HSCCB is a silver band. what matters most is the effort you put in. the result comes after it. and…there’s always JC for you if you want to join band again. or the alumni one. or any other band. (: there’s never a last note.
matt: thanks!
lesbian?: hello, you’re random! hahaha. daylight saving is when they bring the time forward by one hour–like for example, it is actually 2 pm but with daylight saving, it becomes 3 pm. hmm, i will explain below, so scroll down (: don’t worry about it, i’m super guilty because i have not been replying ): busy busy! i miss you, a thousand times! (: i will try my best to reply soon.
there, whoo. in this holiday, i’ve travelled twice, once across the border to Sydney!
alright, first weekend of holiday, went to Birchip. it all started when my dad was in the OCS Portsea 25 years ago. army stuff, army training. the OCS cadets went to the Lions Club (in Birchip i think) and it was there that my dad met auntie helen and uncle keith! we’ve been keeping in touch with them. that weekend my dad was invited to go to celebrate the Lions Club anniversary and some of the people actually remembered my dad. so scary. 25 years ago! we drove there on Saturday morning (we were late, oops) and stayed there Saturday night, drove home Sunday afternoon.
this is what we did/ saw:
-opening of information centre shelter
-bus tour around Birchip
-went to see Andrew (one of auntie helen and uncle keith’s children–there’s also lockland, nonnie and mark) and Sarah and their kids: Emily (2 years old) and Charlie (5 months old)
-formal dinner (all of us, except my dad maybe, were underdressed): two year 12 girls from the Birchip school, Virginia and Elsie (the school captain), sang some songs and there were speeches.
NEXT DAY
-lunch, talked a lot to other people like we did at the dinner
-went home
auntie helen made pavlova for us. so nice of her! it’s a sweet cake, creamy. we couldn’t finish it so she made us bring it back home. it was so funny.
next weekend, with Good Friday and Easter Sunday and Monday being a public holiday: Sydney!
actually planning to drive there (and sit in the car until we had red backsides like emily said) then uncle kelvin (the person whom we were going to visit, as well as his family) told our parents that they needed to convert their Singapore driving licenses to Australian driving licenses so my dad thought it would be better not to drive. (uncle kelvin is working in the same company as my mum) instead, we took a train.
not very nice. could not sleep; drifted off and came back to reality just as fast. a guy was behind my sister and me; he seemed to have flu and was snoring. god. the lights were off around 9.30-9.40 and everyone slept then. i woke at 3 and never slept after. the trees we passed were black figures against the dark sky. we reached Campbelltown, this place a short distance away from Sydney, around 6. walked to the motel, slept until about 9.
went out, walked around in the city with uncle kelvin, auntie phoebe and their son caleb. went to Sydney Fish Market, ate dim sum and later oysters. saw the Sydney Opera House (it looked different from the one in my memory), the Harbour Bridge. went to The Rocks market, saw lots of cool stuff. then went to a RSL (Returned and Services League) for dinner. uncle kelvin didn’t let us pay at all. so he spent a lot of money. which was really bad because we were eating out of his pocket–sort of. there was buffet and everyone ate quite a lot.
went to the supermarket to get food for next few days. then went home about 11+, slept later…
…until 8. went to the Blue Mountains. stopped at a fruit and plant shop, bought fruits and 5 small plants for uncle kelvin and his family. while waiting for my dad, who went to the toilet, the boss of the shop saw the three of us: my mum, my sis and me. first thing he said: ‘are you three sisters?’ let’s hope it means my mum still looks young and not that my sis and me look old. he was nice and described Blue Mountains as ‘God’s country’. visited the Wentworth Falls, walked the National Pass (one of the paths) in heeled boots (shall show you the boots next time). haha. inappropriate footwear! there were steep steps and uneven rocks. we walked for 4 hours, excluding lunch from 12+ to 4.30. very sore legs for next 2 days. however, sights were extremely rewarding and beautiful. my dad and sis have the pictures and when i get them i will show them, yeah? (:
afterwards went to the Three Sisters on Echo Point–hey, nothing compared to us right? haha. Aboriginal dreamtime legend goes that they were three sisters from the Katoomba tribe who loved three brothers from the Nepean tribe but could not marry them. the brothers took the sisters by force and there was war. a witch doctor from the Katoomba tribe turned the sisters into rocks to protect them and wanted to turn them back when the battle was over but got killed, so they remain in rock form. sounds kind of freaky. credits to http://www.bluemts.com.au/tourist/thingstodo/threeSisters.asp.
bad traffic jam on the way back, stuck there from 6-8. gosh. by the time we reached the motel, it was 9+. ate late dinner, slept around 11+.
Monday: woke around 7.30. uncle kelvin came around 8.30 driving an 8-seater. we picked gail from the company’s office. she’s uncle kelvin’s boss. we nicknamed her the ‘Navgirl’–there was this navigating device called Navman which shows you where to drive to reach your destination–because she was our ‘tour guide’ for the day. we went to Manly Beach (there was this place called Manly; how weird!) and went walking around the area for a bit and seeing a ferry before heading to Palm Beach, where they filmed Home And Away, a TV serial. went to the Palm Beach RSL for lunch. they gave so much that no one was hungry when dinnertime came. halfway through lunch it began raining and continued for the whole day. there were books in the corner near the toilet and we picked some. i found this: Why Men Don’t Listen & Women Can’t Read Maps. super funny. there was this section on gays and lesbians and one heading was ‘How to Make a Gay Rat’ haha.
afterwards went to Bondi (pronounced bon-die) Beach, where they film ‘Bondi Rescue’, a TV show. only my dad, my sis and i went down to the beach and my sis and i did jump shots. then i made my dad do jump shots. we were laughing like mad people. when we got back we were wet, hair looking comical. went to pick one of uncle kelvin’s colleagues, marie. she knew my mum from when we went to Melacca a few years ago with the company. we went ’shopping’ at Harbourside, the shopping centre near Darling Harbour. discovered that caleb doesn’t like shopping as much as me. hooray!
even marie was not hungry, so we ate only a little at a Chinese restaurant called huang2 jin1 sui4 yue4. at first wanted to go to Narita Japanese Bar but it seemed to have close down. then went to find some bar starting with C but it wasn’t there anymore according to one woman working there. so went to the Chinese restaurant. why don’t the English and Chinese names ever match? it makes remembering so difficult.
because we promised to give our brother ice cream if he shut up in the car for half an hour (and he really did–how easy it is to bribe a kid!), we went to Baskin Robbins afterwards. i was horrified at the prices: $4.50 for a single scoop, $6.50 for 2 and $7+ for 3 and did not want to get ice cream at first, then my sis said she would share with me. you know how i am, i hate spending money. not because i’m a miser but because it’s not mine. she chose rocky road flavour while i picked pralines ‘n cream. sent everyone back when done.
woke at 7 am, parents were rushing us like mad people. never liked rushing. dragged luggage to train station like retarded people and were on the train back to Melbourne by 8.30 am. we reached at around 6.45 pm. it was already growing dark. went home, unpacked stuff, did a bit of homework, watched King Arthur, slept around 12.
again, no one was hungry for dinner and everyone but me ate some bread around 9+.
so yesterday was spent getting home. there was this place called Wagga Wagga and another called The Rock. interesting names.
so because my parents want to convert their licenses, we’ll all be going to Geelong tomorrow, one hour away by train. -.- except my sis, who will be working at the Royal Children’s Hospital as part of her CAS thing for IB.
daylight saving: basically it’s when the time is shifted back an hour. take for example summer and autumn. definitely the sun rises earlier and sets later in summer. okay, take for example that the sun rises at 7 and sets at 9 in summer with daylight saving. BUT, when the weather gets colder, the sun would rise later and set earlier. so maybe it would rise at 8 and set at 8 with daylight saving, but without it would rise at 7 and set at 7. so imagine, that in the summer there is daylight saving and in autumn there isn’t, so technically the sun would still rise at 7.
it is a bit confusing but i hope you understand the explanation. i have been typing for so long and it is time to go to sleep, so goodnight!
p.s. it is just horrible to hear how the girls speak: ’so, like, we do this? but, like, i thought it was the other way? uh, was it?’ *laughs ‘okay, i, like, have no idea, so i’ll just, like, leave it?’
ugh.
