Santa Claus is coming to ...

Happy Christmas! :-)

Christmas is ... Around the Corner!

Cant believe that it's only 4 days before Christmas! Yesterday I went to the Christmas Market in Paddington with Margaretha and Clemens.
It was held near the Uniting Church.
They sold all kinds of stuff, like chopping boards (!!) ...
Baby clothes ...

Painted wooden tiles ...
Designer clothes ...
and feathery masks.
Well, this reminds me of the Christmas markets in Europe. The atmosphere here is far less intense. You could hardly find any traces of Christmas in the market, except for the words printed on the banner at the entrance. Oh I start to miss the warm wine and all the little Christmas ornaments at the Christmas market in Germany...

First Day of Work

Officially, this is my first day of work. As you can imagine, I am terribly tired now. I could not even walk right after my work!! But still, I think it's interesting. Um, it's interesting in the sense that I am doing something very very different from what I did before.



Sometimes when I take the minibus in Hong Kong, I wonder if the driver is a doctoral degree holder (!!). You know what I mean? I just think it's such a funny thing to do to try something off the normal track.


Ok, let's see how it goes later on. I am becoming handicapped and cannot type anymore...

One Month 'Anniversary'

Er, right, it's been a month already. How quick! It seems that I have done nothing at all and then it's a month! :p

Let me tell you guys what was that dream I mentioned yesterday. Hehe, it just sounds so stupid but I've been dreaming of getting a nap on a piece of grassland in a sunny afternoon. Yesterday when I got off the bus, it was suddenly so sunny, and, I was suddenly so sleepy (!!). Immediately I hurried to Hyde Park and took a nap there. :-) Simply fantastic!

And, today I read a book titled "Oscar et la dame rose" (um, I read the Chinese version). It talks about a ten-year-old boy who is going to die very soon. So, he wrote a letter to God everyday for the twelve days prior to his death. And each day he "grows up" by ten years. In that way he finished a 110-year-old journey within 12 days. I was especially impressed when in one entry he wrote that we should always look at this world as if it's the first time we see it. I like this idea very much, really. It's not easy but it's certainly wonderful! :-)

Random Recap

Long time no see! Well, as a picture paints a thousand words, so, here we go! (What a good reason for writing nothing at all!)

Sunset as seen from my place.
Australian style BBQ. Sausages!!!
The kids are feeding the ducks. How lovely!
The Oyster Man.
Bondi Beach? Bonte Beach? Coogee Beach?
Paddy's Market. They have funny tees ;-)

And...I have one of my stupid dreams accomplished today and I am so happy for that! Hehehe...

Chinese Gene

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昨晚在床上輾轉反側，忽然很想寫篇中文網誌，奈何當時已是夜深，加上今天要早起，所以沒有馬上行動，忍耐了好久才等到今天（真誇張！）。能夠在全韓文的視窗加入中文輸入法，我覺得自己為中國人做了點事囉，卡卡卡...（當然還是靠韓國同房的幫忙才成事）

那麼，究竟我有些甚麼想寫呢？其實又沒有甚麼（！）。平常我自己也用中文寫日記，只是都是用口語，間中夾雜圖畫和英文單詞，不倫不類，所以令我想認真寫點東西，以免日後連倉頡也忘記怎樣用。

來了這裏三個星期，有人問我是否適應。悉尼是個大城市，對於我這種在鬧市中長大的孩子，自然不會覺得很難適應。唔，只是有些地方還不很習慣就是。

第一，就是沒有相熟的朋友。有時想看電影，不知找誰才好；想看話劇，又不知找誰才好；想去大魚大肉，又不知找誰才好；想去打球遠足，又不知找誰才好。

第二，就是交通。在這裏，我只會乘火車和巴士，偏偏卻又兩者都靠不住。可以走路的話，我都不乘車，但，很累囉！每次要出遠門，都像個惡夢，巴士可以一個小時才來，火車也可以修理鐵路，總之每次也要神經緊張似的，得好好留意路面情況才行。

第三，就是物價。澳元高企，相信大家也很清楚。我拿著像美金的澳元，總是食之無味（！）。知道嗎？有次我看到一串魚蛋售四元－－四澳元呀！我真後悔為何沒有在香港吃十桶八桶魚蛋才來！

也沒有甚麼了。有些人告訴我，這裏很悶啊，沒有電腦是不成的。我不以為然（雖然現在我也幾乎天天用電腦）。我昨天上了圖書館，借了四本書。結果呢，拜巴士誤點所賜，我讀了半本書（註：就是《孩子你慢慢來》），今天也就看完其中兩本書了。我家附近的圖畫館，像個亂葬崗。

我向管理員詢問某本書擺放在哪裏，她的回答令我驚歎萬分。她說，應該是這個編號了，可是，你還是要逐個書架去找，因為那本書未必放在那個位置的。她的回應差點沒讓我反白眼，然而，她說話時的態度很誠懇，而且就我的觀察所得，她說的也是事實，我也就很心平氣和地說聲謝謝，然後自行進行書架掃瞄行動。這有甚麼好處呢？就是當你終於找到想找的書時，會覺得很快樂。在平常生活中能得到這點點的快樂，那不是很好嗎？卡卡卡...

My New Place on Pitt St.

The living room. A bit messy but acceptable. That lamp in the middle of the room makes it quite cozy at night.

The kitchen. Looks good, right?

The balcony. Good that they have a balcony, where I can eat my ice-cream outside (!!). The view is not especially spectacular though.

Wardrobe. Um, if you have been a faithful reader, I guess you can tell which section is mine?

Bedroom. Four people in a room, as you can see. That bed with yellow blanket is mine. This is the biggest 4-share room I saw so far.

And I realized that I haven't taken a picture of him for a long time...

Ah, I didn't take photos of the bathroom! But who wants to see that anyway?!

Count Your Blessings

Yo, it's me again! I think this is a great day for me, so I can't help but count my blessings of the day.

1. I got up before the check-out time (!). The check-out time is 11am. Haha, is this counted as a blessing? Or is it just due to the fact that I am a pretty displined person? Hahaha...

2. I got full refund from the hostel. Since I move out one day earlier, I should not get that much money from them. But they are so generous to give me back the full refund, which made me so excited. Kaka...

3. Louis and Fiman came to help me take my baggages when I moved into my new apartment, which is just several blocks away from my hostel. That helped a lot for sure, otherwise I would be crawling like a dog (or a crab?) on the street.

4. I went to a cafe near Bondi Junction this afternoon. I was supposed to get there by 3pm but I only managed to jump on the bus at 2:30pm! And I was told that it takes more than 1.5 hours to get to Bondi Junction! Ah! But I must not be late because I was going there for a job interview! (again!) In the end, I arrived the place at 2:50pm! Amazing!

5. After the interview, I sat on the bench and waited for the bus. A truck stopped and the man inside asked me to jump on his car! I felt so strange because this didn't happen before. So I just rejected him. Then he kept shouting, "George! George!" Hahhahahaa....then I realized he was the boss of the cafe I just went some minutes ago! How come my memory is so poor????? Then he gave me a lift to the train station. He is so kind indeed.
6. When I got back to the apartment, I learnt from my roommate that a German girl is going to move into our room tomorrow! I'm so happy about that because I'll have chance to practise my terrible German! Hehe...

Move again!

Finally I've found a place to stay! This is an apartment in the city center. I'm so glad that I get this settled. It is actually slightly difficult than what I imagined but anyway it is fixed now. :-)


I am living with 5 Koreans and 2 Indians. And I'm using Korean Windows on the computer now! Before moving into this place, I was a bit worried. But somehow I think I've come to learn to take it easy. As somebody once said, " Worrying about something that might not happen is like paying interest for the sum of money you never borrow."

Um, let me post some photos here later on so that you know what type of refugee camp I am staying at...;)

How sweet!

"I'm going to swimming lesson. I miss you. Can you come and have dinner and do drawing with me?" ~James.z

David Beckham in Sydney

I've been living below the poverty line for quite some time and it gets even worse this week. Earlier this week I failed to withdraw money from the bank and the problem cannot be solved until Thursday. So I have to spend really carefully, making sure that I could survive on my $40 before the Salvation Day.

Remember I mentioned the job in a cafe? In the end I didn't work there. But indeed it is very boring/tiring looking for jobs all the time. Yesterday morning I went to an interview and in the evening I got the job. Guess what job is that? S-A-L-E-S! Can you imagine? As you know I am defintely not that kind of person. Apparently my acting is improving, isn't it? ;)

Today when I was wandering on the street, I saw the agency of a local Chinese newspaper. Thinking that I might have a better chance working there, I just walked in and asked if they have any casual positions. And you know what that lady at the reception said??? "How can we hire you? You don't even speak Chinese!" I simply couldn't understand why her attitude is so bad. Anywayz...just thought it's funny that she said I don't speak Chinese...

OK, last but not least, DAVID BECKHAM! Hehehe....I am not a fans of him for sure, but when I knew that he is nearby, I couldn't help but join the crowd! It was about 11:30am on the 6th floor of a department store. Yet there were flocks of people and I could hardly breathe. Luckily it lasted for less than half an hour and very quickly I was able to escape. It just makes me so excited to see someone familiar. Hahahaha...

Church Touring

Well, sometimes it's really hard to choose what to write about because too many things happen and I barely have the time to write them all. I myself keep a hand-written diary everyday and occasionally I also take photos. And this blog is the third place where I can record some of my encounters. How good it is if I can automatically synchronize the three! Um, or the four (including things that flash through my mind).

Ok, back to the topic. Yesterday I went to the morning service in that Chinese church. Er, I have never been this annoyed in a Sunday service. The kids and toddlers sitting behind me were making all sorts of noise throughout the 1.5-hour sermon and the teens sitting in front of me were chatting all the time!!! Aaahhhhhhhhhhh, can you imagine how annoyed I was???

So, as you can guess, I simply could not concentrate and I had no idea of what the speaker was talking about. And I was just wondering why they do not separate the kids. Um, this reminds me of what I saw in the fellowship on Friday: The church is recruiting helpers for the year 2008 and not even one person sign up for the Children Sunday School...er, maybe this is the reason why?!

In the evening I went to church AGAIN! Megan invited me to her church which is located pretty far away from the city. I think it's a good idea to take a look and see how the Australian style is like. The church is cosy and beautiful. There were only less than 30 persons in the evening service so it was pretty spacious. I was slightly surprised to find that I was the only Chinese attending the service and that made me feel a bit strange. (Well, not VERY strange as I could not see myself...:p)

What impressed me most is that someone requested to sing the hymn again after the service was over. I think that is a very warm thing to do but I have never seen anyone does this before in any of the church services (not even in fellowship I suppose).

Nationality Crisis

Frankly I am not surprised at all. Today when I bought a kebab for lunch, the Turkish guy at the stall asked:

"Where do you come from?"
"Hong Kong."
"So you are a Chinese?"
"Yes."
"You don't look like a Chinese..."
"I know."
"How do you know?"
"Because many people said that already..."

Haha, my response sounds so 'cool', but in fact I was answering in a friendly way! Kakaka..

Job Hunting VS Partner Searching

Well, I've been spending my week looking for flats, jobs and food. :p Actually I should be able to make decision this week, but since the available choices are not the best, maybe I'll just continue with this searching process for one more week.

Yesterday I got a job in a cafe but I really hesitate if I should go for that. Sometimes I just think this job hunting thing is like searching for a partner. Do you just go out with a guy you don't really like, just because you want to "kill time"? Giving a false hope to the other party that you might be interested to develop into a long term relationship is another unethical thing to do...

This comparison may sound bad but it's pretty like the situation now. :p Yea, of course these two are not completely the same so I'll see...

Basking in the Sun

Hiya, can't believe that I come back so quickly! (Or it's just within your expectation? haha...)

Now I'm staying in a 4-share room and my roomies are very nice. They are Donna from the UK, Jade from Canada and Megan from Australia. You see I write full name here as I'm pretty sure I'll forget that later on if I don't put it this way.

Today, Donna, Jade, Kenneth (from Denmark) and I go to Coogee (not Gucci...) Beach. I lay under the sun from 11AM to 3PM. So you can imagine how tan I am now! I should share some pictures here but I can't do it right now. Maybe I'll do so some time later.

Jade is also a Working Holiday Maker but apparently she is much more relaxed than me and she enjoys her time so much here. Today when I mentioned Tax File Number to her, she didn't seem to know about it. And I was thinking, " Ah...maybe we Hong Kong people tend to worry too much ahead and make too many plans for the future...things will take care of themselves when the time comes..."

And as James said, "Don't worry, accidents happen." :)

Second Shelter

I'm moving to the City today. It's a crowded area like a combination of HK Central and Mongkok. So it should not be difficult for me to adapt I guess (um, I hope). Anyway I'll just stay for a week and then move again. So it's gonna be alright.

I'll be updating this blog less frequent (!) so you don't have to come daily (!!!). Hahaha...

Lesson of Patience

Well, I think it means something when I have been in a group called Patience for two consecutive years.

This is my first Sunday here, and of course, it is also Church Day. Couldn't believe that I actually woke up at 6 sth, took a bath and got to the bus stop by 8AM! But still I was late for the 9AM session! (Okie, surely I'll get used to that later on...)


Trains in Sydney seem to operate randomly (:p) during the weekends. That brought me some troubles but it's okay (again!). At least I learn to be more alert to the environment and try not to be just living in my own world. Haha...

On the train, I met a Korean girl who is also a Working Holiday Maker. Guess what she's working! She paints nails! (and is going to do it permanently!) Ah, Korea is really a kingdom for beauty industry...

Didn't take pictures of the church. Anyway it's just a Chinese church. I went there with Kai Hings this time. They are really nice to go there with me. :) Guess whom I saw in that church! I saw Carmen on the stage and she was leading the worship session prior to the sermon. It's funny. It's really funny...

Sculpture by the Sea

Today I went to Bondi Beach with Julian and Albert. The exhibition "Sculpture by the Sea" is shown now.

I like this one. When the kids play on the swing, the wings of the plane will move. Little kids always want to fly and this is a way to make their dreams come true.

Lemon tree, pretty funny exhibit too.

Peas on Earth. Wow =)

Color it Properly, Alice!

James likes drawing a lot. Then he draws the picture and tells me to color it properly.

I think it's too boring just to do the coloring, so I try the reverse in this picture.

I drew the picture and told him to color it. I hope you can tell this is Buzz Lightyear in the picture.

What a good time to practise my drawing! Haha...

Lazybone

It was a bit gloomy this morning and that affected my mood as well. But then in the afternoon the sun comes out! Hurray! Everyone loves the sun!

I'm not going to share many photos as I didn't really go anywhere today. Now I understand why people living far away from the city centre are reluctant to leave their sweet homes. I only took a stroll around the house (for 7 times? kaka...) and took the kid to school (!). Did I say I'm staying with 2 kids now? They are James and Emily, aged 7 and 5.

This is James in the park.

His school looks pretty neat...

Children playing sports under the sun at 3PM.

Beautiful drawings on the playground...much more creative than those in our primary schools!

Um...tomorrow I'm going to Bondi Beach! So happy!

Kissing the Flies

It surprised me that there are so many flies in Australia! I thought they only gather in the rural area but in fact they are EVERYWHERE! This morning I saw several black spots on the back of a woman who wore a white T-shirt. I thought those are pattern but when I walked closer I found that they are all FLIES! Yikes...

Today I went to Central. Yes, Central in Sydney. You see, confused backpacker in the middle of the central area.

Hayhay's got a street! How nice! =)

I wanted to share this yesterday but then I forgot...Good ad, isnt it?

You know, I wanna send a postcard to you. But in order to save the earth, I'm going to do it in an electronic way. ;)