One more year before the teen is removed

Heya!
Yups...That's right! I'm officially nineteen today. I have a full year before the teen is removed. It doesn't mean that I won't act like a teenager anymore. Haha...who knows how old my mind actually is. = p hehe...I received an sms from my family wishing me a happy birthday. I had tears in my eyes. I really miss them. My first birthday away from them. I don't really know what being home sick feels like, but I know what missing family feels like. I am really blessed to have my cousin and his fiancee here. We are going to have dinner in Sofia today. Its an Italian restaurant. He said that they have delicious Tiramisu cake. Yummy! Hehe...

Update on what I've been doing.
I attended class on Monday. It was quite sudden. I went to my institute to pay the course fees. Then, one of the teachers there told me to attend class after sorting out my fees. The official uniform is all black. I was wearing a white and black top, jeans with beige flatties. Haha...I just went on with the class. I got all my books already. I got 10 text books, 10 work books and 1 learning guide. I did the work book with my other 4 classmates. The other students would be coming next week. A few of the teachers commented on my clothes. Haha...At night, I went to my cousin's friend's house for Australia Day BBQ. Eat so much man! We also played Wii and play station 3. Since its the Australian Open season, we played tennis. Hehe...its my first time playing...I am not good at it.

Tuesday is Australia Day. Its like our Malaysian Hari Merdeka. I stayed home that day. No shops are open. Maybe a few would be. The major ones. Yups...Then I went to class again on Wednesday. We also did work book today. We can't start with any practical until we have a full class. I finished 2 work books already. My teacher said we can do our exam. By the way, our exam is computerised. But we have to do our exams in the classroom. Its quite fun. The computer will mark your answers and give your results straight away. Hehe...the thing I like about this is you can't fail. If you do, you just have to keep doing the exam until you pass. Cool right? Haha...so no one is a failure.

Yups. So, my classes are from 9am till 4pm. We have a long break for lunch and 15minutes break for the morning and afternoon session. My classes are from Monday till Wednesday. That gives me 4 days to study and hopefully work.

I guess that's all for now. I'm going to relax today. I went shopping for black clothes and shoes yesterday. I went all the way to the city and then to Doncaster shopping centre. Didn't get anything. Expensive...haha...I'll find it soon. Cheap and good. ^^ Take care all! God bless! = )

Welcomed to Aveda Institute

Heya!
I had my enrolment yesterday. It postponed from Thursday to Friday. It started at 9am. It is like a mini orientation for hairdressing students. We have international students as well as the local students. They showed us a video to introduce Aveda to us, (Aveda is a company, like Kimarie. They have salons http://www.aveda.com/ and institutes. http://www.avedainstitutes.com/)introduced the teachers to us, told us the rules and regulations, code of conduct, uniform (Is black of course. Full black. Shirt black, pants black and shoes black. Aiyo...I have to go shopping for black pants. All I have is jeans!) and had a mini tour. We toured the important places on campus like the Bookshop, Cafeteria, Student Lounge, International Students Office, Salon on Elgar, Cafe on Elgar(Internet Cafe), Student Services and finally, the Aveda Institute. Aveda institute is the institute in charge of the Hairdressing course on Elgar Campus. Confusing right? Its an institute in an institute. Haha...Yeah! I took a few photos of the classroom that I am going to be studying in for the first few months. We have 3 stages. The alpha (mostly theory and basic learning), The beta (practical work in Salon on Elgar) and The Gamma (The last part in our course where we actually work in a salon in E5 and do design).

Here is what you will see from the entrance of my classroom. The TV on the right will show if your guests (a.k.a. clients) are here already or not and what service are you supposed to perform. Its because the guests will be waiting downstairs and our classroom is upstairs. There's a rest area at the back for discussion and all that. You can also see a work station on the left of the photo. There are 16 work stations in this classroom. Each of the work stations has a equipment drawer where we can store our equipments and put a special combination on the lock to lock up the drawers.

Here is left side from the entrance. It is the basin area. The backwash is a little different than the salons I go to in Malaysia. You can't stand behind the basin to wash the guest's hair because it is blocked. I wonder...does that mean that I have to stand at the side and stretch my hands to wash the guest's hair? Oh well...I'll soon find out. There's a chemical wash basin at the side of the basins too. Hmm...what else? Oh. We get our hair colour, perming solution and all that from a dispensary outside. Like when you go to a clinic and you need to get medicine from the nurse at the dispensary. Its like that. There are also lockers allocated for us downstairs. It is like the movies I watch on a high school scene. We are not allowed to bring bags upstairs, so we have to carry our equipment to our classes upstairs. Its gonna be troublesome.

Here is the left side of the classroom. This is where we had theory classes. There are computers for our use and a star board with mini speakers. It is supposed to be an interactive board. I have no idea what is that. Supposed to be a high tech thingy. Hehe...

Yups...I was so....(speechless) erm...if the Kimarie students see this...they will know the feeling. I'm very blessed to have these facilities. Its like a dream class. Who could ask for more? Yeah...Thank God.

We had a short break before the explained the fees for this year. After that, we filled the enrolment forms. I have to do the payment another day because I didn't know the amount yesterday. I have to go back again to get my student ID and stuff like that. Hehe...

I guess that's all. Sorry I couldn't take more photos. Will take more soon! Take care and God bless!

Orientation Day at Box Hill Institute

Heya! Today was the last day of orientation for me.

What did I do?

Day 1
I woke up at 7am to get ready. Made myself a yummy egg sandwich. (Mummy's recipe) It was raining heavily. So, instead of taking the 7.57am bus, I waited for the next bus, hoping that the rain will stop. Unfortunately, it didn't. So, I went out anyway. When I'm about to reach the bus stop, the bus just passed me. I missed it. It came early. Its usually a few minutes late. So I had to wait in the rain for the next bus at 8.36am. What a way to start my first day of orientation. Haha...Cold and wet. Brr...
I met with the other international students coming in for the January intake and teachers in charge of the orientation. I met a few friends from China, Japan, Korea, Philippines, India, Singapore, Cambodia, Pakistan, Kenya and Papua New Guinea.

We had a talk on:
Your personal safety by a police officer,
Student Support by a teacher from Box Hill Institute,
Your Overseas Health Cover by the representatives from Medibank,
Fire safety by the reps. from Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board and
Travelling on public transport by reps from Metro trains.

We also had morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. Eat so much man.

At the end of the day, we had a tour of the 3 campuses in Box Hill. The Whitehorse campus, Nelson campus and Elgar campus(Where I am going to study. It is the furthest from the bus station too.)
I did my groceries for the week and met up with Wen Xian at the train station. She is sleeping over at my place. We had dinner and did some catching up. Its been so long since we met each other. Then after that we headed back. We went to refresh ourselves, chatted for awhile and went to bed early. She was jet lagged while I....didn't know what to do. So I slept. It was very early to me. 11pm. Haha...

Day 2
It didn't rain today. But it was still cold. I wonder am I really in the middle of summer? I don't feel it. Wen Xian and I got up early to get on the bus. I made croissants with tuna, tomato slices, cucumber and lettuce as our breakfast. I got to the Whitehorse Town hall on time while Wen Xian went ahead to the train station in Box Hill Centro. She is going to meet her other friends. I'm so glad that I get to meet a friend from Malaysia. I miss my friends.
Back to orientation,
we are joined by another 100 international students today. We had a warm welcome by the mayor of Whitehorse. I don't really know what his job is, but it seems that mayors are chosen from the Whitehorse community and they have a new mayor every year in December.

Today we have heavier topics. We had talks on:
Government rules and regulations by DIAC staff,
Your Tax Obligation by ATO staff,
Workplace Rights and Responsibilities by a representatives from Workplace Ombudsman,
Box Hill Institute Policy and Student Agreements by the International Student Support Staff,
Your rights as tenant and consumer by Consumer Affairs, Victoria,
Seeking Legal support by Eastern Community Legal Care and
Code of Conduct and Classroom Observances by International Student Support staff.

Get what I mean by heavy? hehe...The only topic that got me confused is the Tax Obligation topic. Thank God my cousin is an accountant. All I need to do is to ask help from him.

We had BIG burgers for lunch and a heavy portion of salads. Lots of vege. Of course we also had morning and afternoon tea. So syok! Hehe...

Day 3 (Final Day)
Today's orientation is brought forward to 8.45am. It is normally at 9am. The venue to meet is at Elgar Campus. Way further than Whitehorse Town hall. Have to rush a bit so, I only had cereal for breakfast. Simple and fast.

We have workshops today. I attended the
Citing, referencing and note taking workshop as well as the finding part time work workshop.
I got really good tips from those workshops. All I need now is to put them into practise.

After that, I went for a Beach Program sponsored by Box Hill Institute which I signed up for on the 2nd day of orientation. The program is held in Chelsea Longbeach. 28 of us, including 3 teachers went for the program. We rented a bus. We arrived there at 12.30pm. It was a beautiful beach. White, soft and fine sand; seagulls floating on the water surface or hanging around the people having a picnic at the beach; vast clear blue sky and cold sea water reflecting the beautiful blue sky. You can see your feet in the water. The water is shallow and the surface of the floor is like waves. It gets shallow then a little deeper and so on as you walk forwards. After taking photos and trying to take in this wonderful beach, we settled in the Life Saving Club of Chelsea Longbeach. We were introduced to 10 life savers of this club. They are really friendly young people. We had an ice breaker to get to know each other. Then, we headed to the beach! They taught us the dangers on the beach and in the sea like animal danger, people danger and environment danger. We were also told that the safest place to swim is the area between the red and yellow flags. They also taught us what is a rip and how to avoid it. A rip is like a calm area in between the waves that will pull you in towards the sea. To save yourself from it, you have to swim towards the waves at the sides, so that the waves will bring you back towards shore.After that, the fun begins! We strapped ourselves to a life jacket and went into the water. It is very cold. But, I got used to it after awhile. Excitement can make you forget about the cold. The life jacket keeps you warm too. Then, we all leaned back, relying on the life jacket, linked our arms together and put our feet's up in the middle of the circle. Then the life savers told us that this is a way to gather all the people if a ship is going to sink and we abandoned the ship in a life jacket or other circumstances.

Next, we boogied down to the water with the Aussie Boogie board. It is like a small surf board where we can paddle in the water and do tricks. I tried doing the tumble where you have to hold the board by gripping it hard with your hands and feet, overturn yourself and come back up. We also tried another type of boogie board. This one had a fin and it is more stable. It also doesn't have a string tied to one of your wrist like the first one(So, you better not lose your board). I had so much fun! At first, I keep falling off it or slipping at the sides, but I finally got a hang of it. I remember trying to shuffle on the board and fall over. I tasted the sea water. So salty man! But it is way different type of salty compared to the sea water in Malaysia. Maybe it is the special Malaysian blend? hehe...Yeah...I had a hard time getting back up my board because I was on the deeper side of the water. We also had a life saving lesson where we have to save our friend with a life saving float. Its fun to be the one being rescued. You get to be pulled to shore in a comfy float. haha... Yeah...Then we washed up, had a group photo and headed home. I really like the live saving club members. They are so passionate, fun, patient and considerate people. No wonder they took on the job of saving people.

Hehe...I guess that's all for now. I am having my enrolment tomorrow morning. This is a process to make me an official Box Hill Institute student. Its gonna be fun! Hehe...take care all! God bless! =)

Excitement outburst!

Heya!
Sorry for the late update. I don't really know what to write. haha...After returning back to Melbourne, I've been bumming around. Watching Korean Drama on Youtube, reading mangas and learning to cook. So far I cooked for myself for 6 days! Hehe...my cousin complimented on my spaghetti and 'wa tan hor' with chicken meat. I was so happy!

I also found out that the buses near my cousin's house does not operate on Sundays. That means I can't go to church unless my cousin is around. Last Sunday, my cousin was still in Malaysia. I was alone. I couldn't contact Raymond too (He was my CG leader in Taman Sea CG) So, I asked my friend what to do. He told me that City Harvest Church air their celebrations online. Here's the website http://www.cityharvest.tv/edefault.htm I was overjoyed! City Harvest Church also air their praise and worship time! Now I have a solution if I can't make it to church in the future. It still doesn't beat going there personally and meeting with God's people though.

Oh ya! I visited the Box Hill Public Library last Thursday. I signed up as a member there too. They have books on Hairdressing. I was so happy! I went through some of them and found some good ones. I borrowed 3 books back. They are written by experienced hairdressers in London. I have 3 weeks with them. hopefully I can finish reading them by then. I found one book that is really useful. Great Hair by Nick Arrojo. Its not only for Hairdressers but for anyone with hair. Haha...He gives solutions to problems that we usually face, tells you how to choose the best hairstyle to suit you, gives lots of tips and shows you hair styles you can achieve at home. He is a very witty, honest and down-to-earth person. It shows in his writing. Its like he is talking to you in person through his book.

My institute's orientation day is coming! Its from this coming Monday till Wednesday. It is held at the Box Hill Town Hall from 9am till 4pm. That means I have to wake up at 7am n catch a bus at 7.57am. So early. If i'm not wrong, its gonna be cold at that time too. brr...hehe...I am really excited! I wanna get back to studying soon. I don't want my brain cells to die. hahaha...

That's all for now! Oh ya! Check out Jessica Mauboy. I like her songs. hehe...Take care and God bless!

Special delivery

Heya!
Just wanna take this chance to wish all of you and your family a

Blessed Christmas!

Christmas is not only a day that we celebrate because of the presents and the food. (Although the food is yummy and gathering with our family is a wonderful event.) Its about celebrating the birth of Jesus. It is because of the birth of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross that we are saved from sin and death. I am thankful for this day because of that. The presents and food are bonuses to the grace that God gave mankind.

Sorry for the late wishes. I'm not at my cousin's house now. I'm on a short holiday before my class starts. Take care ya! God bless! =)

A day in the city

Heya!

Sorry for the late update. I was so engrossed with downloading movies last night. My cousin taught me how to download movies through torrent. The download speed is very fast. Can finish downloading a movie in an hour.

Yups. I went to the city on Friday. I took a bus to Box Hill and then a train to Flinders Station.

After that we went to the Carlton Gardens. Uncle William likes taking photos. So, we just pose for him. I love the trees there. There's one that looks like a giant umbrella. Well, its more of the bottom of a puffy dress. Hehe...We went to the Melbourne Museum Cafe for lunch after that. Since I am a student, my admission into the museum was free.They basically have all the things that a normal museum has. A few galleries that attracted me was the wild, mind&body and the Aboriginal Cultural Centre.

The Wild Gallery had sculptured animals categorized as extinct, vulnerable and etc. They even have a computer that shows you a close up photo of the animal and the profile of the animal. Its really cool. All touch screen.Some of the animals were so adorable and unfortunately, some are extinct. For example, a few species of Wallaby's found in Australia itself is extinct. Its sad to see that the future generation would not have the chance to see these unique creatures.

Gorgeous Butterflies!

This is how they experimented with the different sounds that can be made by a hand bell by changing the thickness of the bronze used, diameter and height of the hand bell.

When I entered the Mind & Body section, I was greeted by a few sculptures of the human body. They have all ages and gender. They were all bare. "Its good education" says my aunt. They also have a very detailed video on how a baby is created. From the sexual intercourse till the baby's birth. Its very detailed. Yups. Good experience. I think. I haven't seen that in our Malaysian Museum.

This is a tapestry made by a community for the museum. It uses 300over colours and takes 6 people to finish one tapestry. Its very precise and beautiful.

At the Aboriginal Cultural Centre, there were photos and stories of the pioneers. I really admire their art. They are colourful and it has meaning in them. They use them to tell stories in the past.

The last place I visited in the city was the Queen Victoria Market. This market is huge. It is hard to make a choice since there are so many stalls offering you good prices. I went to the fruit section. I had trouble finding a cheap and good quality rock melon. I finally bought one that only cost me $3. That is about RM1O. Besides that, this is a big rock melon. So worth it. We bought mangoes, avocados and bananas too.Haha...We carried all these back home from the tram to the train. (Thank God they were all delicious. Sweet too. If it is not, then all the effort, choosing and carrying these fruits will be wasted).

My cousin fetched us from the train station and brought us to Chadstone. I heard that the Chadstone Mall is the largest in Melbourne. My cousin wanted me to see the high end brands section. This is where you can find Coach, Tiffany and Co., Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Jimmy Choo, Swarovski and etc. People were lining up to go in. Its so extravagant. Yeah....Wow.

Oh ya, today I met Raymond. My CG leader who went to Melbourne to work. He invited me to join a bbq gathering at one of his church member's, Tim's, house. I wanted to meet and get to know more people so, I went. There were many people there. They were jamming with the musical instruments they brought, eating, chatting, playing games and just enjoying each other's company. I felt out of place for awhile. Most of them are Asians, born and raised in Australia. Their Aussie slang is hard for me to understand. Need a lot of brain power. But, they were very friendly to me. Oh ya, I learnt 'Killer Uno' from them. Its the same as the Uno game I played in Malaysia, but it has challenging rules. Very fun.

So I guess that's it for now. I will be staying at home for the next few days. Time to catch up on my manga's. Take care and God bless!

I became a lost sheep

Heya!

Yesterday I went to Box Hill. My campus, Elgar, is in Box Hill. My aunt dropped me here to get my bank statement. I needed my bank statement to get my new phone. Wakaka...That's right! I get a new phone by signing a 2 years contract with the mobile company. I never used a Sony Ericsson phone before, but, I'll get used to it soon. Here's a few photos of my mobile. I love the camera. I decided to get a good camera phone because I don't have a camera now.

Yeah...After that, me and my aunt went to Salvos. Its shop opened by Salvation Army. The sale of the items there goes to the needy. The price is quite low, if you don't mind used products or if you are lucky, you can find an item that is not used before.

Next, we went to a dumpling shop. My goodness! The dumpling is almost as big as my palm. 3 dumplings, that was my lunch. They gave us 15 dumplings. My aunt ate a few and we brought back the rest. So after that, my aunt let me go explore on my own because she wanted to go home and rest. Hehe...That's when the fun begins. I wanted to see the route to Elgar Campus(That's the place i'm studying) I took a bus to Eltham and went off near my campus. My campus is really big. It has 9 buildings and there's one new building coming up. The receptionist said it should b ready soon. She also said that the new building is most probably where the hairdressing classes are. I was overjoyed. I really hope that was so. The hairdressing classes now is in a building far from the main road and its on the 4th floor. For me, it means that there will be less people that will come in to be our models since it is so far away. The new building is near to the tram stop, along the main road and a walking distance to the shopping complex(Box Hill Centro). Yups...I got some information to get ready for my orientation day. There was a map in there to show me the different routes to Elgar campus. I decided to walk up the slope to Box Hill Centro.(The place to catch the bus or train back to my cousin's house)

While I was at it, I saw a tram. Haha...I haven't been on it since I arrived. So I hopped in the next one. It leads me straight to Box Hill Centro. This tram is real fast. I jerked forward as soon as it moved. Charlene said she saw a few girls fly forward when the tram made an emergency stop. So, I have to hold on tight. Yups...I went back to the shelter of Box Hill Centro. It was raining that time. Its super cold. Hehe...My child like mind took over. I wanted to take a train to Nunawading Station and then a bus that MIGHT lead to my cousin's house instead on a bus that directly goes to my cousin's house from Box Hill Centro. That's what I did.

The train ride was so fun. I sit through 3 train sops before I reach my destination. When I arrived to the Nunawading station, I wanted to get off the train. So, I treated it like taking an LRT and stood in front of the door, waiting for it to open. But, It doesn't. None of the people in my hub was getting out at this stop. The hub beside me has people getting out. I was standing there with a panicked face. I thought to myself..."So unfair! Why they can come out and I can't? Let me out! Help me? Anyone sitting here?" Sadly, no one came to my rescue. I didn't ask for help because I was shy. So, I had no choice but to stop at the next one and take another train back to Nunawading. The next one is Mitcham. A person went out and I followed. I know why the door didn't open. I have to press a button so that the door opens. 'Energy Saving'. Adui....

I went to the bus that was supposed to take me back. I talked to the bus driver whether he goes the way to my home. He doesn't know where it was, but he said he was going that way. I was thinking, if he doesn't get me there, the most also I can come back to the Nunawading Station and ask my cousin to fetch me home as there might not have buses in that area after 6pm. So, I went along. I talked to the bus driver at traffic light stops. He was very friendly. I ended up to be the last passenger and I still couldn't find my way back. The bus driver was truly God sent. He stopped his bus at a bus stop and went over to a Petrol Kiosk to get directions. He even dropped me at a place where another bus was waiting that will bring me back home. I was very grateful. I hopped up and down when I was walking back to my doorstep. Haha...then I learned that the buses don't go one round and go back to the original destination. That means that I won't get to go back to the Nunawading Station if I continued the whole bus ride. Haha...Thank God!

Yups...I guess that's all for now. I'm staying home today. Gonna add songs to my phone. Won't get lost that way. Maybe lost in thought. Yups...But, I learned a good lesson ans I recognise my way home now.

Take care!