Blackout!

I was just typing that previous post when BZZZZZZWLPPPP

Everything flickered on and off for a few seconds, then darkness engulfed the entire neighbourhood.



Luckily my chicken wings roasting in the oven were done just in time, so we were able to sit down and have a romantic dinner by candlelight (and torchlight) :P



The blackout lasted a good 40 minutes!

Eddie and I wanted to check out the neighbouring suburbs after dinner to see if they were affected as well, but as soon as we got into the car and reversed out of the porch, the lights came back on.

Oh wells, t'was fun while it lasted.

Scent-sational flowers

I bought an ample bottle of essential oil from Jurlique a while ago but hadn't been using it as much as I'd thought I would, so I thought it'd be a good idea to use it as some sort of natural air freshener in the house.

Since I haven't got any potpourri, I thought of dabbing the oil onto cotton balls and placing them around the house. But then, it'd be weird to have random balls of cotton lying around in random corners, no?

So I took out my stash of scrap paper and Voilà!



Dem boring ole' cotton balls...



... are now 110% more attractive and presentable! :)

One for the toilet...



One for the laundry area...



... And the other three blu-tacked around the bathroom/living room.

When the scent wears off, I'll only need to dab a few more drops or replace the cotton ball, and they'll be good as new. Easy-peasy!

Of the moment

Waiting for my apple tea cake to cool down



... and getting hungry as the smell of apple and cinnamon sugar wafts around the house.

Mellow kitteh lounging in the corridor..



It's been a lovely weekend spent doing absolutely nothing.

I could so get used to long weekends.
Another one coming up, YAY :D

Pick-me-up

I was back at work today and saw this on my desk.

The DOS (Director of Studies) had printed this off from one of the feedback surveys the students did last week.

I don't know who wrote it, but it sure made me smile all day :)

Nevermind the atrocious English, it doesn't mean I'm a bad teacher okay... It just means I've still got a loootta work to do!

For loss of words

This is my friend, Sue.



Sue and I had only known each other for less than a year, but she was one of the most beautiful people I've had the privelege of knowing.

I knew Sue from the CELTA course last year. Sue was always positive and full of life. She always had a smile and a hug for everyone. She always had a witty word of humour tucked under her sleeve, and was always so giving and readily available to anyone who needed a little extra boost. She loved people, she loved the little things in life, and more than anything, she always made sure she had a little love for herself too, and would spoil herself and indulge in happy things once in a while.



Sue and I lived about 5 minutes away from each other. We took the train together after school and she would drop me home from the train station. If one of us had driven to school we would car-pool home. I loved those times because she was one of the very few people I could talk to about anything under the sun. One day we had this crazy idea to drive to school and beat peak hour traffic by leaving home early. We ended up being stuck in traffic for almost two hours! We were late for class, of course, but it didn't matter, because we had had the most wonderful conversation in the car.

After the course ended, Sue went on a much-anticipated holiday to England and came back refreshed and ready to look for a new job and to start a new phase in life.

A few weeks ago, I saw her at Toowong Village, but she was too far away for me to call out to and I didnt bother running after her. I had been meaning to pop over her place to say Hi but I kept procrastinating. Saying that I never had time would be a lie, because I never really made time to.

If you're wondering why this is all written in the past tense, it is because Sue passed away last night from cancer.

It hit me this morning and it hit me hard. For once, my procrastination has resulted in something I am always going to regret, and I just hate myself so much at the moment. I've taken the morning off work because I do not want to take any of my personal emo-ness into work, and especially not into the classroom.

My deepest condolences go out to her family during this difficult time. If this woman whom I have only known for only a short period of time has already touched me so deeply, I cannot imagine what they must be going through.



Rest in peace, dear Sue... you will be fondly remembered .

Trivia time!

· Camel's milk does not curdle.
· There are one million ants to every human in the world.
· Frogs cannot swallow with their eyes open.
· Teeth are the only parts of the human body that can't repair themselves.
· A quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet.
· The tongue is the fastest healing part of the body.
· Strawberries contain more vitamin C than oranges.
· A one-day weather forcast requires about ten billion math calculations.
· The bird that lays the largest egg in relation to its own size is the Kiwi.
· The average person spends two years on the phone in his/her lifetime.
· August has the highest percentage of births.
· Google is a number (1 followed by 100 zeros)
· The mechanical shark in the movie "Jaws" was nicknamed Bruce.
· Fish can get seasick.
· Rats can swim for a kilometre without resting. They can also tread water for three days straight.
· Babies have taste buds all over the insides of their mouths, not just on their tongues.
· One of the best ways to clean pewter is to rub with cabbage leaves.
· Iceberg lettuce, until the 1920s, was called "crisphead".
· About 10kg of milk is needed to make 1kg of cheese.
· The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows.
· The main purpose of growing rice in flooded paddocks is to drown the weeds surrounding the seedlings.
· People do not get sick from cold weather; it's from being indoors a lot more.
· Guiness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most stolen from public libraries.
· On average, a four-year-old child asks 437 questions a day.
· The bullfrog is the only animal that never sleeps.
· Every year, the Moon moves a further 3.82cm from the Earth.
· The Eiffel Tower has 1792 steps.
· If you attempterd to count the stars in a galaxy at a rate of one every second it would take around 3000 years to count them all.
· Just 20 seconds worths of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon.
· Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump.
· Animals that lay eggs don't have belly buttons.
· Slugs have four noses.

Useless WTF facts brought to you by *Libra* pads!

No, this is not an advertorial.

And yes, I'm having my period.. obviously.

Weekend BBQ/retreat @ Choi's

Random photos from work

Let's start with...



My favourite flowers- Gerberas! :D

People have been distributing them free on street corners to promote the recently-started renovation of the Wintergarden mall... and everyone in the staffroom (who got one) has put them into a big vase on Michael's desk (which is just next to mine), where they've brightened up the staffroom for days with their pretty colours :)

INTERNATIONAL DAY today. A couple of photos a student has kindly just emailed me..



With Edgar from Korea (right), Jamie (left) and Rex (below) from Taiwan!

Had wanted to wear a kebaya but I didn't bring mine from Malaysia.. wanted to borrow one from [ Izzy ] but hadn't had time to drop by her place so in the end I just wore my old cheongsam.



We had the most awesome breakfast in class this morning. I currently have a lot of Korean students in my class and they're all amaaazing cooks! I can't rmbr the names of all the dishes and I forgot to bring my camera, so I'm still waiting for another student to send me photos.

More food back in the staffroom...

Tea + my colleague Bella's super duper yummy homebaked FRUITCAKE. I've never been a huge fan of cake but OMG this one's to die for. I was already bursting at the seams but I just couldnt. stop. EATING.



Containers in the background: Roti canai & chicken curry- my contribution to breakfast! I brought kangaroo sausages too since I thought the students should try something Aussie, being in Australia... By the end of the day, I came home with both containers empty :)

Other noteworthy goodies I've stuffed my greedy self with today: Brazilian beijinho (little balls of condensed milk cooked with butter and coconut shreds.. SO GOOD), French crêpe, Aussie lamingtons, Korean rice milk (sounds weird but was actually pretty nice!) and Taiwanese dried tofu strips, etc. One of my sweetest students from Hungary actually made lángos for me (cos I'd told her how much I loved it from the West-end market), but she couldn't find me during lunch hour so I missed out :(((

It was one of my Korean students' last day today, and she gave me a little teddy in a hanbok to say Thank You :')



Postcard of steam train & sakura was from another Taiwanese student, who brought in a few different postcards to share with the class during his presentation this afternoon.

These little gifts always mean so much to me.. just knowing that they came with such sincerity from people who had brought them here from a land far far away. I put them all on my pinboard at work so that I'd never forget how many wonderful countries and cultures there are out there in the world still, waiting to be explored.

Other photos!

Sweets from Saudi Arabia...



I'm not obsessed with candy either but I just love these creamy chewy ones!! Syokness. Pity they can't be bought here.

Okay this one was obviously not taken at work lah hehe. Beautiful paper fan given by an older Japanese student.

This lovely Japanese lady couldn't speak much English and she didn't leave with much either since she was only in Australia for a week... but she really touched me with her ambition and drive! People like her really inspire me. When you're young at heart, age is nothing but a number, really.

Do I have the best job in the world or what? :)

. . . . .

QSC football match tomorrow! It's 1am now and I can't sleep cos I took a nap in the afternoon.. urgh.

Hen in the rain

When I was a student, there were days when I would wake up feeling down and emo and depressed for no apparent reason. I'd be quiet and sullen in class, keep to myself and answer questions only when I have to, or I'd simply skip class and sit by the lake or walk around the city until I feel better.

I still get days like that.

Only that now, skipping class is not really an option.

Rather, I'd (have to) plaster a big smile on my face, muster up every ounce of enthusiasm left in my system and try to brighten up the days of students feeling down and emo and depressed instead.

It just drains you and leaves you so very, very exhausted.

Cold feet no more

Cakiepoo bought this for me from Japan.

Now tell me if these aren't the cutest socks you've ever seen!!

Sunday in the park

My poor rollerblades finally got to see daylight again after having been buried in the garage for lightyears.

Happy Easter guys :)

To be or not to be... Malaysian

Watch.

Two weeks ago, a girlfriend asked if I could help out another mutual friend of ours, who was working on a media project. She was looking to interview a Malaysian working full-time in Australia on why s/he had migrated and had decided to stay on and work/live overseas.

I politely declined with the excuse that I was terrible in front of cameras, as the interview would have to be filmed. More than that, I was actually afraid I might say the wrong thing under the pressure of the camera because I am pretty straightfoward with my strong opinions and am exquisitely talented at making tactless, insensitive comments based on said opinions which may offend the masses and possibly caused me to be stoned to death by an angry mob the next time I get off the plane when I go back to Malaysia for a holiday.

[ Princess Aud ] however has expressed my sentiments to the T so pls go read her post kthx.

Australia is my home for now.