Shrine of Remembrance the shrine in memory of all soldiers who fought in all the wars with Australia. the shrine was quite impressive and memorable as each object has specific meanings. nothing emotional personally for me, but learned a few interesting pieces of Australian history.

Royal Botanical Garden an informal visit to the Royal Botanical Garden. the vegetation is so different here, there were only a few species that i knew from Plants class. the garden was really nice place for picnic and even weddings!!

Melbourne Aquarium was by far the most disappointing sight-seeing spot. i remember i used to get excited to visit aquariums, but this made me realized that all aquariums are essentially the same. bleeh and this was not fun at all. i can't even remember one interesting animal that i saw. oof, it definitely did not worth my $17!

International Pillow Fight Day - Mar 22 was definitely one of my favorite event that has happened thus far. my friend sent me a facebook event invitation on the day of the pillow fight day and i couldn't believe it. people around the world are actually going to have pillow fights in public! that night, joyce and i desperately looked for cheap pillows. we were shocked to see all the ones at Melbourne Central was $10 and up! luckily, i bumped into my Buddy and she told us to go to Big Worth (the Australian Walmart) for cheap pillows! at first we felt silly carrying pillows and walking around the city, but as we walked closer and closer to Federation Square, we began to see pillows everywhere. there were security guards around Federation Square who generously directed the pillow fighters. traffic was blocked for this special event. whistle was sounded at 7pm and i was being hit left and right and on my head. feverishly i pillowed people around me while laughing the whole time. photographers and journalists were trying hard not to get hit. it was an intense pillow fight. soon the whole ground was filled with feather and foam. the fight went on for about 15 minutes. it was great.




Brisbane/Fraser Island deserves its own post. update on that in a few days.

Aussie internet does suck! There's a limit on however much you download and if you go over, then you are capped until next billing month. i already pay $40/month for internet here. ridiculous!

<3 my new roommie. my last roommie stayed for about 2 days and then left, because she hated melbourne and transferred to another college in australia. this new roommie is also an aussie, but grew up in Russia, so she has a russian accent, but russian accent/aussie accent...they're all just another lingo to me. my new roommie reminds me so much of lena from sisterhood of traveling pants. cute little girl who paints!

projects are definitely piling up. now that i'm beginning to understand what i have to do. for my urban planning&design class, my group has had so many changes in group members. we had 4, but then 1 dropped out. yesterday, 1 joined in and today he dropped out. we are back to 3 people. me and two honkies. i hope things will go smoothly.

made a new friend, sakura. i love her name already!! she's in two of my classes and in one of my project group! today i found out that she knows this guy that i was helping flyering last weekend. it was very random, but i must say...its a small world!

last small group, we listened to a sermon by T.D. Jakes. i was inspired by his message. FINISH IT! God is the finisher of our lives, if God began your life, he will finish it and it will be completed. so in the same way, we should finish what we started. refer to Luke 4:28 :) ways of finishing what you started: 1) finish in phases and celebrate at the completion of each phase. surround yourself with people who would support your completion. 2) finish your course only. each person has a different course and you can't try to finish other people's courses. but sometimes the closer you get to the finish line, the harder the course gets....but FINISH IT. 3) see more than you can finish. sometimes you may have the abilities, but only do what God wants you to do. so FINISH IT!

week 2 Melbourne

1it's almost 1am here and i should probably go to sleep, but since when do i actually sleep when i am supposed to?

another interesting story of my life.
one week before my site engineering class i found out that my class is having a biking trip. i went through the trouble of borrowing a bike from a new friend in Melbourne, but the REAL problem was i can't ride a bike! i tried practicing on the sidewalk and i fell about 20 feet from my village's entrance. blood started gushing out. i limped back to my apartment knowing that i have no first aid kit. i knocked on my neighbor's door for the first time to borrow some bandages. made a hike to 7-11 to get some anti-septic cream and more bandages. at this point, i was so out of it. and it was 2 hours before i have to meet my class at the park for the biking trip. i called my professor and confessed to him that i cannot ride a bike. to my relief, he said that he will assign me to do something else...like hiking. i said thanks!

i took the train to get to the park. i saw a lot of people with their bikes on the train, i figured they were in my class. and they were! so i just ended up following them to the park. luckily, there were 3 guys who didn't bring a bike that day! so i ended up hiking with them. they knew how to ride, but were lazy to bring their bikes. haha. we hiked for 1.5 hours then walked to the nearest train station to go home. the next day, i asked the people who biked....they biked for 3 hours! oh my!!! i would NOT be able to handle that!!

my knee is slowly healing, but who knows how long my scar is going to last. i have a big bruise on my other leg. great!


so onward with other updates.

this semester i'm taking 4 subjects. Advanced Urban Planning & Design. Shaping A Metropolis. Site Engineering. Australia Now. Even though classes started last week, i'm still not sure how classes are going to be like yet. Australia Now is just my fun class where i learn about Australian cultures/sports/history. Site Engineering, i imagine it like my construction class? Shaping a Metropolis is like i learn about urban cityscape. Adv Urban Planning & Design is my studio, we have one project for the semester and that is it! Classes here depend on the LMS blackboards A LOT! i'm not really used to checking every night for updates for classes!

CCF in Melbourne. Cantonese Christian fellowship. a room about 30 canto people fellowshipping. as usual, there was this canto awkward-ness...its the asian culture where we are not really out-going and very introvert-ish. we sang worship songs in chinese! i could barely read the characters...let alone singing and understanding the meaning of it. and the very typical....the songs were slow and people want to sing even slower. we played games for the remaining time, but i just sat there! haha. i made a new friend. unfortunately, i can't go to CCF anymore, cuz my class changed its time which is at the exact time as CCF. boo.

small group with CCCV aka eric and josh's sg on wednesday night. we talked about love/marriage/divorce. we got to some interesting discussions. i really enjoyed them. :) i will definitely try to stick with this small group! but i'm afraid that i might have to do group projects at that time. =\

FIND OUT WHAT'S OPEN! so since joyce and i got to Melbourne and since we realized how pricey everything here is, we have been looking for some cash or casual jobs. Eric, the guy from CCCV, offered us a job as his advertisers for his website. whatsopen.com.au joyce and i had to stand in street corners with stacks of flyers and just bombard people with flyers as they cross for 1.5 hours shifts. 3 times a day for 3 days. $15/hour. easy cash, but it was harder than it sounds. rejections were like stabs in my heart! :( and it was even sadder when i saw flyers on the ground! but we will get our hard-earn cash soon! :) oh the website is pretty cool, it's a search engine and it tells you what is open late at night or 24 hours and where it is in australia. it's pretty handy. except for our night shifts...most people were on their way to go out and didnt have any pockets or they wanted to know RIGHT there what is open, but we didnt have internet access for them. we realized that asians are A LOT more accepting when it comes to flyers. i think it's cuz they think there's something FREE and asians are cheap...so they want free stuff! not to racist, but most white people reject us, but they are usually friendly about it. is it cuz they dont want to hold it in their hands? or they are just trying to environmental friendly? haha.


Moomba festival. this weekend was Melbourne's annual Moomba Festival. it's a waterfest with carnival things all along the Yarra River. since joyce and i have been flyering, we did not get to go until tonight. we purely went for the fireworks and it wasn't pretty. hm yeah. it was worth a seeing though.

the last two days of orientation (thurs and fri) were basically tents of clubs to sign up for at the uni. being the proud canto that i am....i signed up for HK student association. did i mention that we have to pay membership fees? yeah, that's never heard of at Rutgers. Anyways, signing up for the HK student association cost me 12 bucks, but i got a free aloe drink and a free make up cream (eye serum). there are lots of clubs, but every single one costs money! :( there is a CCF here...which actually stands for Cantonese Christian Fellowship. i really want to check this group out, cuz the girl that i met was really nice. unfortunately, my timetable conflicts with the meeting time! :( at least the christian clubs did not make me pay just to sign up for things. phew!

during the orientation, a lot of clubs have been hosting bbq. BBQ here literally means 2 people grilling sausages or burgers and a table of bread and ketchup. oh, aussies dont use hotdog buns or hamburger buns, so they use slices of bread to eat their sausages and burgers! i miss having hot dog buns!! anyways, they dont even have soda or lettuce. we were lucky if they served us onions (and if the burger is actually cooked)! and a lot of them are not vegetarian friendly! poor kruti, she's vegetarian. we always line up together and she ends up eating only the bread! but yeah, bbq in america is definitely different! a lot more food - for sure!

i've succumbed to the student union -- "the cult on uni," as we like to call it. basically, if you are a member of student union you get a lot of discounts or free stuff. BUT we have to pay a fee for that. $17/month! as a member, i got to chill in the members' only lounge in the union house, access to free printing...?, discounts on books and such...free bbq? yeah. it's rather exclusive. i hated it before i joined, cuz as a member of student union...you get to get food first! WHAT! its kinda ridiculous, but for the sake of 'getting the most out of studying abroad,' i joined. so i enjoyed a free meal on friday, which was....BBQ again - the australian kind.

since i have gotten here in melbourne, i've picked up the habit of napping! well, i nap a lot at home too! but i find it hard to even stay awake for one day without a nap! it's really bad, because classes are actually starting this week and i won't have time to nap!! ;(

friday night was my first clubbing experience. little did i know that i had to pay to enter. ha, what was i thinking? could anything in the world be FREE? yeah, right! anyways, i hit up F4 with 5 other girls (all american students studying abroad). since it was my first time, i didnt quite know what to expect, but i guess all clubbing consists of music, dance, and drinks. that night i also had my first alcoholic drink in australia. (dont worry, the legal age here is 18!) and no, i didnt pass out. anyways, we girls chilled and danced for like a good 2 hours. my feet were already killing me 30 mins in! i am never going to a club with heels! we missed the last tram back home, so we had to walk back home. the club was not far from where i live, but after 2 hours of dancing with heels...it was a painful journey! nonetheless, it was a very fun experience. :)

o, did i mention that i gambled as well? at the crown casino. it's one of the most famous casino in melbourne. apparently, melbourne is known for gambling! (again, legal age of gambling here is 18) and i only tried the slot machine...yeah, didn't win anything.

saturday, joyce and i met up with one of her hs friends. she has a car!! o, i miss having my own car and just drive to wherever and whenever!! so she took us to this richer area to window shop and eat brunch! yeah, shopping here in melbourne isn't so good! compare to america, everything is a little expensive and they sell a lot of the same stuff as america...i mean style or whatever. so i'm definitely not going to do a lot of shopping here. besides, i dont have room in my suitcases to bring them back. and i need to save up for traveling.

sunday. joyce and i were picked up by Josh. this guy from CCCV, he lives 2 mins from us, but he had to be at church super early! ;( (so, weather.com said it was going to be 80 degrees, so i dressed light...like a summer dress and did not bring any jacket, cuz i didnt want to hold it if its going to be hot! and it turned out to be KINDA CHILLY TODAY! what the heck? i bring my jacket out all the other days and i never wear it! ugh) anyways, we met another girl who goes to melbourne uni. we went to asian gourmet for lunch! so apparently all the people that i've become friends with at the church are graduated, working, either married for 1 or 2 years, or about to get engaged! wah. i felt like a baby hanging out with them! but they are still really nice and act goofy! the young couples are so cute!! they are very comfortable to be around with! there's a girl whom graduated couple years ago, married, and is actually recording her own cd! we went to visit her house today and she has a whole studio set up in her house!! i havent heard her stuff yet, but i know it's on myspace! clara rhoden. if anyone is curious!

2nd sunday service. at orientation there was a booth called PlanetShakers City Church. i heard about them from last sunday, because we sang some of their songs at worship. so PlanetShakers is a band and it has a church as well (imagine Hillsong). so joyce and i signed up for more info on friday at orientation. since then, they've been calling us CRAZY about sunday services!!! it seemed a little bit like harassing, but i think they are just trying to be friendly :) we were supposed to meet at Hungry Jack's (an Australian version of Burger King...similar logo) in the city at 4:30pm for their 5pm service. BUT joyce and i got lost on the tram so we ended up getting there quite late. o MAN! when i first walked into the service...i felt like i was at urbana06! WHAT THE HECK!!! it was a HUGE church! 6 or 7 people up there singing with a band in the back with TWO keyboards! everyone at the bottom with their hands raised. it was just WOW!! but at the same time...i was slightly freaked out when the worship lady yelled "HEAL HEAL HEAL..." in a prayerful way..but powerful! everyone was really excited and enthusiastic about worshiping God. and...i felt like an outsider. sitting through the service was not so bad. the speaker was very entertaining. He spoke about how God does not see what we see but He sees what's inside and he went on about other things too. (can't remember at the moment) i'm not sure if i could attend this type of church regularly! it seems a bit too much, but i wouldn't mind attending this once in awhile. i just really admire the fire that all the people have for God there. it was really encouraging and it was a good reminder that i, too, should have that passion for God! BE EXCITED FOR GOD!

there was a welcome dinner after the service in the city. a bunch of malaysian students welcomed joyce and i. some of them have been in Melbourne for a year or two. some just got to melbourne. they are all international students. they are really friendly and too many of them! i couldn't keep track of their names (and i'm usually really good with names and faces)!!! there were at least 20 of them walking with us together to the city. when we got to the little japanese restaurant, we filled up the entire 2nd floor like 40-50 people! of course, joyce and i were not the only new people! ive never really met malaysian people...at least not in large quantity like this! oh, some of them are Singaporeans! so at first, it was a little hard to understand their english :( they invited us to their Urban Life, which i'm guessing is like Small Group, on Tuesday. yeah, why not? give everything a try, right? we will see how it goes.

classes officially begins tomorrow for me. FINALLY a goodbye to my LONG LONG winter break. good night, loves!

I have finally arrived to Melbourne, Australia after 9 long hours of flight to Sydney next to an old lady which I did not talk to the whole flight. Once I got to Sydney, I had to quickly collect my two massive suitcases and rushed to Quantas's connecting flight counter. The Quantas lady told me that I could take an earlier flight, so I said okay. But then I realized that I had requested an airport pickup from the School at 1pm and if I take an earlier flight, I would land 2 hours earlier.

Once i got to Melbourne Airport, I really did not know what to do! only to wait for my luggages at the carousel. and WHY is Melbourne Airport like America's?? They charge you $4 for one trolley! Unfortunately, I only had $50Aus and none of the stores or services could give me change! I felt really helpless, cause I did not see anyone at the airport who are supposed to pick me up and I am left with two luggages that I could not possibly handle by myself. oh yeah, I had no phone either. the pay phones would not accept my $50Aus! :(

then i spotted an asian boy talking to an Australian lady. he seemed like a student, so I walked over and luckily, the lady is the pick up person! phew!! but i was STILL without trolley!!! eek. that asian boy was kind enough to give me $4 for a trolley, he turns out to be from HK too. haha. we waited for some more kids and then we were dropped off at RMIT village.

Right when I stepped out of the van, i heard "CINDYYYY!!!!" phew. it was joyce and kruti!!! it was a pure coincidence that they saw me, but i'm glad that they did! otherwise i would have to carry my luggages all by myself again!!!

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so far. [basics]

i've explored Melbourne pretty good. i know my way around - sorta. i live 5 mins walking distance from the school. 10 mins from a open-air market which sells vegetables, fruits, and others. about 20 mins from the city area. there are trams, bus, and trains.

the weather was terrible on the first day! rainy and cloudy! but since then, it has been chilly in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, and then chilly at night. i can really get used to this weather.

i share a room with another girl, she's australian, first year at RMIT University, studying architecture. she sleeps VERY early like 10pm. yeah, that means i have to be very quiet at night. :(

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so far [things i did]

walked around the "downtown" of Melbourne. (apparently, australians dont say down town...so now i dont even know how to describe "going to town") Melbourne is very diverse, but at the same time i hear way too much cantonese on the street...it reminds me of Hong Kong. wandered into Chinatown, and some parts look JUST LIKE HK!

went to the Melbourne Zoo. disappointed that i didnt see any female kangaroos! the males dont have pouches! :( but i finally got to see what wombats look like!! yeah.

orientation. there are actually A LOT of students from America. i met several rutgers kids that i have NEVER seen in my life. the system at Uni is VERY CONFUSING! i've never been so lost about registering for classes! first, i had to learn all the new terms that they use. Faculty = major, Subjects = classes. So i am in faculty of environment! the website online does not make things easier, in fact, their websites are not very user-friendly to me!! there are so many links! Melbourne Uni doesnt have the times all set up months ahead, but TWO weeks before school start! Each subjects are divided into Lectures, Classes, Tutorials, or Studios. Most subjects have Lectures and Tutorials. Lectures is just professors talking and tutorials are the equivalent to recitations (discussion based). anyways, just registering for classes was one big hassle! in fact, the first week of school...everyone ONLY attends the lectures. i didnt even know that!

the campus itself is small, i can navigate myself without a map! ;) my classes will mostly be in several buildings! so no worries. (instead of you're welcome, aussies say 'no worries') Since this is a Uni in the city, there is barely any grass patches! O, and each faculty has its own student center!

i've made several freshmen friends, because ultimately orientation is for freshmen. but i'm sad that i wont actually get to take classes with them! so i will see them less when classes start!

like i said before, melbourne is really diverse! almost everyone is either from another country or have been to MANY MANY countries. that is really eye-opening, because back at home....most people don't travel outside of the US.

church. last saturday, mike sent us a website of all the churches in Victoria, Australia and we found a church called Chinese Christian Church of Victoria. it's an asian church with an english congregation. we checked out their website, but it was last updated in May 2007! so we were iffy about this, but we called the contact person anyways. a guy picked up and gave us the information for church! he was nice and offered to pick us up from the train station. next morning, we were late!! eek. but eric (the contact person) waited for us at the train station. it turns out he was actually on the worship team and he was SORTA in a rush! eek.

but overall, the church is very much like CCCS. (even the name is JUST like it) the english congregation consists of about 50-60 people. half of them is youth which sit on the LEFT side of the service and older people (mostly young professionals) sit on the right side. the worship team is all young people like my age too! lol. this couldn't get any more similar. free lunch for new comers! it was good, but the young professionals usually go out to eat for lunch. they asked us if we wanted to go...and someone mentioned, 'let's go to asian gourmet!" me and joyce bursted out in laughter! dont we always go to noodle gourmet after church? lol.

we ended up going to a different restaurant, but the people who there were very nice and friendly. they are all slightly older and they all work but they were willing to show us around. we went to their small group meeting last night. this small group meeting was actually going to the Night Market at Victoria Market! Here is where Eric insisted that i should try kangaroo burgers! i only managed to take a bite of his burger! but night market was very crowded! lots of people. lots of little business that sell little things and little food stands that serve all kinds of food! you name a country...they probably have that cuisine!!

this has been a very messy update. its very not like me, cuz i like everything in order! but this will do for now!

pictures update -> go to my facebook. thanks.

Six Days

six days until i depart this continent for six months. a messy mix of emotions comes into my head, hence, my lukewarm reply to everyone who asks me, "ARE YOU EXCITED?" truthfully, i don't feel ready to leave this comfortable place - home. this past year or so, new jersey has grown on me - new jersey is not just a place where i happen to live nor a crappy state. new jersey is my home where countless warm and fuzzy memories are stored, lots of friendships established, where my identity is found. i suppose my studio project helped, too. =P yeah, so....leaving home - a large part of me screams out, "what was i thinking when? AHH!" another small part of me says, "yay, i can go finally go out and prove to myself that i can survive on my own."

i know from past experiences that i don't do well with changes and leaving what's dear to me. i might seem really carefree and happy 24/7, but deep down inside i worry way too much. i worry about meeting my new roommate, getting around, finding myself in australia, finding a fellowship, finding the right group of friends, etc... my biggest fear is that it will be just like last time - homesick. being homesick sucks. i really really really want to be able to adjust quickly and make new and happy memories in australia. well, who knows? maybe this is my second chance from God. perhaps God is REALLY telling me that I need to get out of my comfort zone and live boldly for Him. there is no going-back home every weekend this time. well, if that is the case, then i want to do it WELL for HIM.

a new beginning

after looking through some old posts on xanga - i had xanga since the beginning of high school, i realized that i needed a change. i know a lot of people switch to different web journal at the end of high school or college as a mark of a new beginning. i can't quite say right now is of any particular new beginning in my life - i'm still a college kid bumming over the hot summer and angrily waiting for school to creep up again ever so quickly, i just realized that xanga carried too much of my past and i want to start with a clean slate.

this summer, being my second summer after start college, i know i've grown and changed.

God tested me greatly in my first semester in college. i felt lost and stranded in the city of taxi and little greenery. my shy self did not open up to the new surroundings or the new people and i hated that place. i dreaded the walks from one end of the island to the other carrying a canvas that is twice my size and a backpack full of art supplies. sometimes, i had to do the same in the rain. my excuse for leaving was what could i possibly make a career out of art? i surrendered my hope to become a graphic designer and ran back home.

back at home, i saw familiar faces and i relied on them for comfort. i knew God did not bring me back if it wasn't in His big plan, but i can't admit that i never regret leaving the city that everyone dreams to live in nor wonder what i could have become if i had stayed in the city. i kept telling myself, i met some of the greatest people here and that would never happen if i had stayed and God still has a plan for me. over and over again.

being so close to home has a lot of advantages like never have to collect quarters to do laundry or the never ending supply of food from home. however, it discourages me to become independent even though i live away from home. everything just seems too easy.

because of that, i still don't really know how to cook or deal with many many real life situations. that's the desire behind going away for several months and truly be on my own. studying abroad to another hemisphere should push me beyond my bounds.

and maybe it's that kind of feeling that i want to start a new journal. to dive into the unknowns and discover the mysteries within me.