Sunday, March 26, 2006
No "Do you want to Upsize that?"
I had MacDonald's today. I had my mind set on KFC... but it was closed by the time I got there so I had to go over to Mac's -.-;
Anyway, when I put in my order, the counter crew asked me if I want a small set. (They go by small, medium and large here). I said yeah. After that, I realised that I was not offered an upsize!! Not even a "Would you like a medium meal?" They just asked if I wanted the smallest set!! Amazing! I thought it was ingrained in every Mac staff to ask you to buy the biggest meal.
I had booked my hostel in Melbourne and also my trip to Melbourne. Apparently I have out in the 1st of May as my departure date from Adelaide. That's not what I want! Thankfully, they write back and sid that they did not have a trip on the 1st of May. I then write back to them that I will put in another request for the 1st of April. Now I have to wait for the reply again. Hmm.
I think I will get the confirmation for that before I book the day trips.
2 more weeks in Australia and I will be back in Singapore ^^. Back to the rat race as well as back to my internet and Final Fantasy!!
The nurses here keep psychoing me to come and work here... goodness, you'd think that they were short of nurses like there's no tomorrow!
7 Adorations
I had MacDonald's today. I had my mind set on KFC... but it was closed by the time I got there so I had to go over to Mac's -.-;
Anyway, when I put in my order, the counter crew asked me if I want a small set. (They go by small, medium and large here). I said yeah. After that, I realised that I was not offered an upsize!! Not even a "Would you like a medium meal?" They just asked if I wanted the smallest set!! Amazing! I thought it was ingrained in every Mac staff to ask you to buy the biggest meal.
I had booked my hostel in Melbourne and also my trip to Melbourne. Apparently I have out in the 1st of May as my departure date from Adelaide. That's not what I want! Thankfully, they write back and sid that they did not have a trip on the 1st of May. I then write back to them that I will put in another request for the 1st of April. Now I have to wait for the reply again. Hmm.
I think I will get the confirmation for that before I book the day trips.
2 more weeks in Australia and I will be back in Singapore ^^. Back to the rat race as well as back to my internet and Final Fantasy!!
The nurses here keep psychoing me to come and work here... goodness, you'd think that they were short of nurses like there's no tomorrow!
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Hmm. Amazing Stuff.
Amazing Fact 1) I first heard my neighbour snoring at about 1700hrs yesterday. As I was leaving at 0800hrs today. He was still snoring away. Talk about a good sleep.
Amazing Fact 2) The walls are not just thin enough for me to hear my next door neighbour. I could hear someone wretching in the toilet about 15 meters away. Good acoustics.
Amazing Fact 3) It doesn't matter if you can't be understood in English. It's still cool to curse in English. WTF! WTF!
I guess we learn new things everyday.. no?
0 Adorations
Amazing Fact 1) I first heard my neighbour snoring at about 1700hrs yesterday. As I was leaving at 0800hrs today. He was still snoring away. Talk about a good sleep.
Amazing Fact 2) The walls are not just thin enough for me to hear my next door neighbour. I could hear someone wretching in the toilet about 15 meters away. Good acoustics.
Amazing Fact 3) It doesn't matter if you can't be understood in English. It's still cool to curse in English. WTF! WTF!
I guess we learn new things everyday.. no?
Monday, March 20, 2006
Busy Busy!!
So I've been mildly busy this week. I went to the Opera Burlesque at the Fringe festival. Basically it was 3 classically trained ladies singing a number of songs not all of which are classical. Some were classical renditions of pop or heavy metal pieces and most were songs with suggestions of sex. Basically songs that probably wouldn't be performed in Singapore, and the only people I've heard performing similar stuff in Singapore were Leigh MacDonald and George Chan. Bless their hearts.
Saturday, I was brought to a number of placesby the Nurse Consultant in the unit I was in. Went to Hahndorf (yeah!!!), Gorge Wildlife Park (Hug a Koala!!), Melda's Choclate factory (Need I say more??), The Toy Factory (makes wooden toys). After that, we went to his house (NICE!!) to pick up his wife and children and go to a Chinese Dinner treat by one of the patients.
That dinner was THE BEST I've had in Adelaide so far. Yum factor (in Adelaide) is 10 / 10.
What a wonderful saturday.
Now, what did I do for Sunday?? I played a few hours of Final Fantasy IV Advance. Watched 26 episodes of Bleach. Cool chillout day.
That's all for now.
0 Adorations
So I've been mildly busy this week. I went to the Opera Burlesque at the Fringe festival. Basically it was 3 classically trained ladies singing a number of songs not all of which are classical. Some were classical renditions of pop or heavy metal pieces and most were songs with suggestions of sex. Basically songs that probably wouldn't be performed in Singapore, and the only people I've heard performing similar stuff in Singapore were Leigh MacDonald and George Chan. Bless their hearts.
Saturday, I was brought to a number of placesby the Nurse Consultant in the unit I was in. Went to Hahndorf (yeah!!!), Gorge Wildlife Park (Hug a Koala!!), Melda's Choclate factory (Need I say more??), The Toy Factory (makes wooden toys). After that, we went to his house (NICE!!) to pick up his wife and children and go to a Chinese Dinner treat by one of the patients.
That dinner was THE BEST I've had in Adelaide so far. Yum factor (in Adelaide) is 10 / 10.
What a wonderful saturday.
Now, what did I do for Sunday?? I played a few hours of Final Fantasy IV Advance. Watched 26 episodes of Bleach. Cool chillout day.
That's all for now.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Pretty in Pink
This just kinda made my day today. So I've been wearing a pink shirt and a pair of pink pants. yes, I know, very very pink. Like Pink Panther. Anyways, on my way to Aztech Internet Cafe in Chinatown, Adelaide, someone stopped me by saying :"Excuse me Ma'am, You look Pretty in Pink"
Heheh. I know that was just because I was in the whole pink getup and all that, but it's still kinda fun.
Anyway, yesterday (Monday) was a Public Holiday here in Adelaide. It was Adelaide Cup and Volunteers Day. Adelaide Cup is when they have this huge Horse Racing event. One of the nurses (Jacqui) at the Hyperbaric Medicine Unit here in RAH brought me out to Mt Lofty Summit where you can see a great view of Adelaide. Positively beautiful right there.
Subsequently, we went to the Mt Lofty Botanical Gardens. Mind you, the botanical gardens is serious business. It has rather steep trails and it is more of a trekking type of walk rather then a stroll in the garden. It was quite fun though and you get to see many types of plants and trees... and of course lots of Eucalyptus trees. Did not see any Koalas though.
Dinner was at this place in Norwood, called Danny's Bistro. It was supposed to serve Thai food and I ordered Chicken Satay, Green Curry and Jasmine Rice. Well, the chicken satay is really different from what we have in Singapore. It had bigger pieces of meat and it had no fats stuck in between the meat pieces.
The Green Curry was rated as "hot", but it was alright even for me. That wasn't too bad.
Today is another day in the HMU. Had lectures all day and the lectures were really edicational. Learnt alot of things that I would otherwise not have realised. It's all good.
TTFN (Tata for now)
3 Adorations
This just kinda made my day today. So I've been wearing a pink shirt and a pair of pink pants. yes, I know, very very pink. Like Pink Panther. Anyways, on my way to Aztech Internet Cafe in Chinatown, Adelaide, someone stopped me by saying :"Excuse me Ma'am, You look Pretty in Pink"
Heheh. I know that was just because I was in the whole pink getup and all that, but it's still kinda fun.
Anyway, yesterday (Monday) was a Public Holiday here in Adelaide. It was Adelaide Cup and Volunteers Day. Adelaide Cup is when they have this huge Horse Racing event. One of the nurses (Jacqui) at the Hyperbaric Medicine Unit here in RAH brought me out to Mt Lofty Summit where you can see a great view of Adelaide. Positively beautiful right there.
Subsequently, we went to the Mt Lofty Botanical Gardens. Mind you, the botanical gardens is serious business. It has rather steep trails and it is more of a trekking type of walk rather then a stroll in the garden. It was quite fun though and you get to see many types of plants and trees... and of course lots of Eucalyptus trees. Did not see any Koalas though.
Dinner was at this place in Norwood, called Danny's Bistro. It was supposed to serve Thai food and I ordered Chicken Satay, Green Curry and Jasmine Rice. Well, the chicken satay is really different from what we have in Singapore. It had bigger pieces of meat and it had no fats stuck in between the meat pieces.
The Green Curry was rated as "hot", but it was alright even for me. That wasn't too bad.
Today is another day in the HMU. Had lectures all day and the lectures were really edicational. Learnt alot of things that I would otherwise not have realised. It's all good.
TTFN (Tata for now)
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Nothing like Own Cooked Food
Well, I got around to cooking my own food, finally. My very first meal whipped up in Adelaide is......... BOMBAY TOAST!!! Well, the rest of you will know of it as French Toast, but I first learnt it as Bombay Toast in the Home Econs Textbook.
That was yesterday, then I decided to cook some rice last night so that I can have friend rice to day. I thought I'd be really clever and use the pot to boil the rice instead of the rice cooker.... well, the rice turned oout all right but I had to wash the darn pot for about 20 mins!! That was a seriously bad idea.
Went all the way down North Terrace yesterday and someone from the unit I was attached to drove me out to Windy Point and Glenelg Bay later in the night. North Terrace is great for architecture and statues and memorials. Took quite a number of photos there, but not sure if they'll turn out ok. Will have to wait till I am back in Singapore to upload them.
Wanted to stay in today, but decided to go down to Old Noarlunga. Took a train down to Noarlunga Centre, the place was like deserted. Some scary stuff man. Anyway managed to figure out what bus to take, and I ended up doing a round trip on the bus instead of getting off at Old Noarlunga. It's a huge suburban area and I thought it'd be nice to see everything else on the bus instead.
After the bus ride, I caught the train back to Adelaide City. Total transportation fees for the trip = AUD$7. An Adelaide Metro ticket is AUD$3.50 but you can get on any other Adelaide Metro transportation within 2 hours of validating that ticket. So, I only bought 2 tickets for 3 rides.
Got back to hostel and cooked myself that fried rice. Turned out to be like salted fish fried rice without the salted fish ^^. Fish sauce really does wonders.
Today it rained in Adelaide. I had to walk in the drizzle to get to this internet cafe. I kinda enjoyed it though.
Till next time. Ciao!
3 Adorations
Well, I got around to cooking my own food, finally. My very first meal whipped up in Adelaide is......... BOMBAY TOAST!!! Well, the rest of you will know of it as French Toast, but I first learnt it as Bombay Toast in the Home Econs Textbook.
That was yesterday, then I decided to cook some rice last night so that I can have friend rice to day. I thought I'd be really clever and use the pot to boil the rice instead of the rice cooker.... well, the rice turned oout all right but I had to wash the darn pot for about 20 mins!! That was a seriously bad idea.
Went all the way down North Terrace yesterday and someone from the unit I was attached to drove me out to Windy Point and Glenelg Bay later in the night. North Terrace is great for architecture and statues and memorials. Took quite a number of photos there, but not sure if they'll turn out ok. Will have to wait till I am back in Singapore to upload them.
Wanted to stay in today, but decided to go down to Old Noarlunga. Took a train down to Noarlunga Centre, the place was like deserted. Some scary stuff man. Anyway managed to figure out what bus to take, and I ended up doing a round trip on the bus instead of getting off at Old Noarlunga. It's a huge suburban area and I thought it'd be nice to see everything else on the bus instead.
After the bus ride, I caught the train back to Adelaide City. Total transportation fees for the trip = AUD$7. An Adelaide Metro ticket is AUD$3.50 but you can get on any other Adelaide Metro transportation within 2 hours of validating that ticket. So, I only bought 2 tickets for 3 rides.
Got back to hostel and cooked myself that fried rice. Turned out to be like salted fish fried rice without the salted fish ^^. Fish sauce really does wonders.
Today it rained in Adelaide. I had to walk in the drizzle to get to this internet cafe. I kinda enjoyed it though.
Till next time. Ciao!
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Jet Lagged All Week
Adelaide is only a 2 and a half hour time difference from singapore but I have been feeling jet lagged all week. Constantly sleepy. Actually, when I put some thought into it, I think it's the extreme low humidity that's making my eyes extremely dry and tired all the time. It's kind hard to wake up in the morning but I'm getting it. I suppose by the time I need to leave Adelaide I should be able to wake up at 0645hrs. Hahahahaha!!
First things first, let's talk about stuff that is close to every true blue Singaporeans' heart. FOOD. My first meal in Adelaide was MacDonald's. After that it was KFC and some other random crap. In general, I'm not too fond of the food here. I had some Hokkien Nookdles from a shop called Noodle Box here. It's supposed to be this chain noodle store that's rather popular I think. Well, let's just say that the Hokkien Noodles tasted more like Teochew Soy Sauce noodles. It also looked suspiciously Vietnamese in style. It had a tonne of vegetables in it. The noodles cost me about AUD10 per box.
Average price for food around here is about 6-10 bucks, it seems. So if you want to eat on the cheap, you have got to cook your way. The hostel provides kitchen facilities, but you got to have your own utensils.
The internet at the hostel is $4/hr, but it doesn;t allow the usage of cookies, which means that I cannot update my blog there. So I have to walk all the way (well, 3/4 of the way) across Adelaide City to get to Chinatown and use the internet here. In between there are a couple of internet cafes but they look kinda dodgy.. and I figured might as well let Chinese earn the money huh? I've also discovered that I don't seem to hit a word limit here while posting, as can be evidenced by my last post. I used to always have to break my longer posts up into parts, but it seems that I now can post long grandmother stories all in the same post.
I had Hainan Chicken Rice for dinner. First proper meal since I've been here, my mum would say. Unless you count KFC and MacDonald's. I'd just say that I miss Chicken Rice in Singapore. Man, Singapore really has some wicked food offerings. Oh and the Chicken rice cos me about AUD6.80 and a can of coke at AUD2. Pfft.
Anyway, I've got to plan what to do for the coming Public Holiday on Monday! I think I will go down to Glenelg Bay on Sunday. Adelaide Festival of Arts, Adelaide Fringe Festival and WOMADelaide will ALL be going on, so it's kinda crazy in town with all the performances in Rundle Mall and Botanic Gardens at the moment. Botanic Gardens is just next to where I stay.. but WOMADelaide is pretty expensive so I probably will give it a miss.
Well, till the next time I shell out $5 for internet.
3 Adorations
Adelaide is only a 2 and a half hour time difference from singapore but I have been feeling jet lagged all week. Constantly sleepy. Actually, when I put some thought into it, I think it's the extreme low humidity that's making my eyes extremely dry and tired all the time. It's kind hard to wake up in the morning but I'm getting it. I suppose by the time I need to leave Adelaide I should be able to wake up at 0645hrs. Hahahahaha!!
First things first, let's talk about stuff that is close to every true blue Singaporeans' heart. FOOD. My first meal in Adelaide was MacDonald's. After that it was KFC and some other random crap. In general, I'm not too fond of the food here. I had some Hokkien Nookdles from a shop called Noodle Box here. It's supposed to be this chain noodle store that's rather popular I think. Well, let's just say that the Hokkien Noodles tasted more like Teochew Soy Sauce noodles. It also looked suspiciously Vietnamese in style. It had a tonne of vegetables in it. The noodles cost me about AUD10 per box.
Average price for food around here is about 6-10 bucks, it seems. So if you want to eat on the cheap, you have got to cook your way. The hostel provides kitchen facilities, but you got to have your own utensils.
The internet at the hostel is $4/hr, but it doesn;t allow the usage of cookies, which means that I cannot update my blog there. So I have to walk all the way (well, 3/4 of the way) across Adelaide City to get to Chinatown and use the internet here. In between there are a couple of internet cafes but they look kinda dodgy.. and I figured might as well let Chinese earn the money huh? I've also discovered that I don't seem to hit a word limit here while posting, as can be evidenced by my last post. I used to always have to break my longer posts up into parts, but it seems that I now can post long grandmother stories all in the same post.
I had Hainan Chicken Rice for dinner. First proper meal since I've been here, my mum would say. Unless you count KFC and MacDonald's. I'd just say that I miss Chicken Rice in Singapore. Man, Singapore really has some wicked food offerings. Oh and the Chicken rice cos me about AUD6.80 and a can of coke at AUD2. Pfft.
Anyway, I've got to plan what to do for the coming Public Holiday on Monday! I think I will go down to Glenelg Bay on Sunday. Adelaide Festival of Arts, Adelaide Fringe Festival and WOMADelaide will ALL be going on, so it's kinda crazy in town with all the performances in Rundle Mall and Botanic Gardens at the moment. Botanic Gardens is just next to where I stay.. but WOMADelaide is pretty expensive so I probably will give it a miss.
Well, till the next time I shell out $5 for internet.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Down in Adelaide
All right, I've arrived in Adelaide and am now posting from an LAN shop. Took the 2245hrs Qantas flight from Changi, had a stopover at Darwin at 0450ish Darwin time (0320ish Singapore Time). I think I can actually recognise the transit area from the last time I was here in 2001.
Got into Adelaide at about 1050 Adelaide time. Adelaide is at GMT + 10.5 hrs. We had to wait for the quarantine peopl eto come onto the plane because there was a sick person on the plane and you guys all know about Australia and their quarantine rules.
After we were cleared to leave the plane, I waited about 30-40 mins to get clear customs (passport part). They asked questions like "Have you read all the questions?"
"Did you understand the questions?"
Apparently one of the customs officer wasn't too pleased with one of the Taiwanese visitor as she wasn't acting too polite to her and was in fact rather rude. However, that could probably be attributed to the fact that the Taiwanese visitor got into queue for OZ/NZ passports only.
Then it was off to clear the customs for luggage. The customs guy (looked Indian) asked me if I had any food and acted incredulous when I confirmed that I had none.
"No Nasi Lemak or Bah Kut Teh?" he asked.
"No lah, wait kena catch" I replied.
Funny guy. ^^
Anyways, caught a cab to the Hospital Residential Wing. AUD 21.20 for the ride, thank goodness this ride is reimbursed by Ah Gong. The room is small, with a dressing table/window ledge, bed and wardrobe. I have not figured out if they have any ventilation system in the room. Maybe it's just spoilt. AUD 17.60 / night. I guess you can;t for that much after all
Toilet facilites are coed. There's a kitchen available and I have not found the laundry yet.
Was too sleepy so I went to sleep. woke up at about 1700hrs local time and rushed to find food. Remember that shops here close early!! Ate some MacDonald's as that was about the only stuff I could find. Then I continued gallivanting.. until I found CHINATOWN... where restaurants are still open and you don't have to worry about no dinner. Heh. Good ole Chinatown. What a life saver. I'm full for today, though I went into a grocery to buy some snacks for supper tonight.
On a side note, on my way to the Airport last night, I discovered that I had forgotten to harvest my plants in FFXI. I had attempted to wait for a full moon and ended up forgetting about it totally. That's 2.7 Million Gil gone down the drain. I never had 2.7 Million Gil you know. That's so sad. Could have gotten a new piece of important equipment with that. 1 month of gardening gone down the drain.
I'm at a LAN shop and I don't think they have FFXI. That's even sadder.
Bye now.
6 Adorations
All right, I've arrived in Adelaide and am now posting from an LAN shop. Took the 2245hrs Qantas flight from Changi, had a stopover at Darwin at 0450ish Darwin time (0320ish Singapore Time). I think I can actually recognise the transit area from the last time I was here in 2001.
Got into Adelaide at about 1050 Adelaide time. Adelaide is at GMT + 10.5 hrs. We had to wait for the quarantine peopl eto come onto the plane because there was a sick person on the plane and you guys all know about Australia and their quarantine rules.
After we were cleared to leave the plane, I waited about 30-40 mins to get clear customs (passport part). They asked questions like "Have you read all the questions?"
"Did you understand the questions?"
Apparently one of the customs officer wasn't too pleased with one of the Taiwanese visitor as she wasn't acting too polite to her and was in fact rather rude. However, that could probably be attributed to the fact that the Taiwanese visitor got into queue for OZ/NZ passports only.
Then it was off to clear the customs for luggage. The customs guy (looked Indian) asked me if I had any food and acted incredulous when I confirmed that I had none.
"No Nasi Lemak or Bah Kut Teh?" he asked.
"No lah, wait kena catch" I replied.
Funny guy. ^^
Anyways, caught a cab to the Hospital Residential Wing. AUD 21.20 for the ride, thank goodness this ride is reimbursed by Ah Gong. The room is small, with a dressing table/window ledge, bed and wardrobe. I have not figured out if they have any ventilation system in the room. Maybe it's just spoilt. AUD 17.60 / night. I guess you can;t for that much after all
Toilet facilites are coed. There's a kitchen available and I have not found the laundry yet.
Was too sleepy so I went to sleep. woke up at about 1700hrs local time and rushed to find food. Remember that shops here close early!! Ate some MacDonald's as that was about the only stuff I could find. Then I continued gallivanting.. until I found CHINATOWN... where restaurants are still open and you don't have to worry about no dinner. Heh. Good ole Chinatown. What a life saver. I'm full for today, though I went into a grocery to buy some snacks for supper tonight.
On a side note, on my way to the Airport last night, I discovered that I had forgotten to harvest my plants in FFXI. I had attempted to wait for a full moon and ended up forgetting about it totally. That's 2.7 Million Gil gone down the drain. I never had 2.7 Million Gil you know. That's so sad. Could have gotten a new piece of important equipment with that. 1 month of gardening gone down the drain.
I'm at a LAN shop and I don't think they have FFXI. That's even sadder.
Bye now.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Are You Kidding Me....
Have you ever had the impression that you are tasked to wash down a bungalow... and when you ask for tools, you are given 2 toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste to do the job?
Ah yeah. That's what I'm almost gonna go through at work, albeit no so dramatic. Let's just say that manning is not so optimal ok. I shan't even begin to discuss the logic behind the manpower distribution as I guess that there must be some logic to it. Somwhere. Someone had. I hope.
Hope always exists. We can always hope for good news 3 months down the road. When we are 3/4 dead.
3 Adorations
Have you ever had the impression that you are tasked to wash down a bungalow... and when you ask for tools, you are given 2 toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste to do the job?
Ah yeah. That's what I'm almost gonna go through at work, albeit no so dramatic. Let's just say that manning is not so optimal ok. I shan't even begin to discuss the logic behind the manpower distribution as I guess that there must be some logic to it. Somwhere. Someone had. I hope.
Hope always exists. We can always hope for good news 3 months down the road. When we are 3/4 dead.
