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I had a wonderful Easter up north Western Australia. As said previously, I went to Bindoon, which is approximately 90 km north of Perth. My brother drove and was amazingly quite cautious because of the double demerit points and triple fines. There were police all around when we were driving back to Perth. I miss camp and I miss my friends. I really love love them to bits and can't wait to see them this Saturday at J-Life Rocky. It was a time of good fellowship and camaraderie amongst all the people in Perth. The spirit of God was really moving in Orchard Glory Farm Resort (the place which the camp was held). I really thank God for the many wonderful friends such as Rae, Estella, Dorothy, John, Celena,Joe, Aunchisa, Aarksara, Kristine, Xiang, Richard,Russell, Jason, Michelle, Yvonne, Sarah, Chloe, Natania, Kristin, Mariah, Li Ying, Kelvin, Gerald, Gen, Gloria, Alethia, Samantha, Keith, JY, Jian Yang, Isaiah, Keziah, Nick, Angie, Tim and many others....they have really been just amazing:)

Camp started on Friday, 21st of March @ 9.00 am when my brother picked my sister and I from our house. We stopped at McDonalds for breakkie and set out for Bindoon. Around 10.30 am, we reached the place and registered and unloaded. By then, there was an introductory session by our camp commie, Joe (aka Joseph Luo). Then, it was time for lunch. The food was briyani rice and chicken curry with vegetables....yummm..... I really must thank the "aunties" for this- Aunty Alice, Aunty Julie, Aunty Angelina, Aunty Olivia, Aunty Amelia, and Fionna (she refuses to be called aunty although she is married) as they cooked non-stop for 150 people, 4 meals a day. There was a mix of Asian food with Western Food..... Then, we assembled again into our groups and had to come up with a group cheer. My group came in third for that. Instead of prizes we were given a chance to bid for them, which were a mixture of good and bad prizes. Then, there was a session by the camp speaker, Ps Chris Hope from Melbourne. After that, it was time for dinner and following there was another session by Ps Chris and finally, there was night games, where you basically play station games at night with no light and 5 people blindfolded. After that was supper, then we went back to the chalet to watch tv ( Passion of Christ) was on and so were a few other Christian TV programmes. We bathe, ate easter eggs and slept at 1.45 am.

Saturday, 22nd March 2008- My day started at 9.15 am. I decided to give breakfast a miss because I was too tired. When I got changed and all, I saw sandwiches on the dining table in my chalet. I was shocked at first, but then I realised that Alethia went and made breakkie for us. She is so sweet, ain't she? Then, it was time for morning Praise and Worship and then another session with Ps Chris Hope. After that, was lunch, had a quiz but played casino- style and then an all-girls session with Ps. Sally Hope, Chris's wife. We then prepared for our Talentime. Our group had to do an impersonation of a movie character- so we did Captain Jack Sparrow, with Rose and Jack from Titanic. We also had to use Barney, the purple dinosaur for our Talentime. The connection with the theme of the camp Got Love? is that Barney is a lovable creature (remember I Love You, You Love Me?) . Dinner soon came and talentime soon followed after. Ps Chris Hope shared again and supper was serve herein after. We went back to the chalet, had a chit chat with the girls and slept.

Sunday, 23rd March 2008- Like the day before, I was late to get up and therefore, thought I would miss breakkie. But luckily I did not, cos fish porridge was being served. It was good, because it was cold that day. Ps Sally Hope then preached the Easter Sunday message and then it was time for lunch. We had another all-girls session this time with Gen and then went back to our rooms to get changed for water games, where there was five stations and each station had involved water. The first station , was the random game, in which if we got the number sequence wrong each time, we would be sprayed with water. The second station, was passing the rubber band relay thingy, but 9 of us are blindfolded and they pour water on you when the rubber band was passed. 3rd station was the lollies buried in flour, which you have to wet your face and then go and take the sweet without your hands. Elizabeth (me) puked as a result of taking too much flour in. The fourth station was Twister but then we we thrown a bucket of soap water on the mat, making it slippery. The fifth station was tomato captain ball and involved water. Evan, the station master, allowed us to tag along for a ride in the van to go back up the hill. An extra activity was tug-of war in which my group won against my brother's group. We had a chance to throw buckets of water on the Camp Committee but since they had extra tomatoes they then pelted us with it as revenge. We went back to the chalet to bathe and then ate dinner, which was a BBQ. Then, it was time for praise and worship and Powerhouse started. We sang songs of praise until 2.45 am. We then started a massage train and I got a Thai massage from Aarksara. A full body one to be exact. Also, we played games and some people started learning salsa classes from Jian Yang ( who loves Salsa). What camp would not be complete without cam-whoring?
I finally went to bed around 4.35 am.

Monday, 24th March 2008- The last day of camp started at 10.00 am. We had breakkie then morning Devotion and then Praise and Worship. It was time for parting words and testimonies, and more photo taking sessions. Then, the aunties made lasagna and penne for us for lunch. It was D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!! Packed our bags and cleaned our chalets. Then, took a group picture and headed for home. Reached home around 5.45 pm.

That is all for now. Will be blogging more later when I have more pictures. Hope you all had a great Easter and much love to all:) I am on holiday for a week now. I love church. It's the best! Here, you go Keefy, pictures of Australia and my life here for the moment!

Labels: ::Easter Holidays::

The title above pretty much sums it all up. After 5 weeks of toiling, stressing and being on overload due to university studies, my university is giving us a "break", which is supposedly a time where we catch up with our studies and all. It is known as a non- teaching break. My start to this holiday would be tomorrow,21st of March 2008. For your information, I would be traveling around country Western Australia, which coincidentally is tomorrow. To be precise, I would be going up north to Bindoon, which is approximately 90 kms, north of Perth. This is for a church youth camp. Oh yeah, the double demerit points and triple fines for driving offences have been taken in to effect since today (20th March). My older brother would be driving. I would post up some pictures and give you guys an update when I come back on the 24th of March.

Five weeks on, I have finally settled down in Perth and actually find it conducive to study and relax at the same time. I really enjoy university despite the heavy workload. My experience so far here has been good because of the very many relatives that have taken good care of me even when my parents went back to Kuala Lumpur for awhile. My mom's aunty (who is single) is my primary guardian at the moment. I feel also very pampered and in my aunty's words "spoilt rotten" because I hardly do anything except for my frequent afternoon walks, study, take buses and trains to and from university, bathe, eat, do assignments and projects. This makes me feel lazy in the sense that I hardly help around the house compared when I was back in Malaysia. Thanks to my beloved brother who has made the transition all the more easier for my sister and I in adjusting to life in Australia. Which brother actually pays for your lunches without asking for money from you, doesn't complain when you want to go somewhere and to lunch on Sundays without fail after church and ferries you back home although it is in the different direction? My brother lives alone as his university is too far away from our house in Perth. By the description above, undeniably we three (my sister, brother and I) are a close-knit bunch. This is very much so, but we do have our fair share of sibling squabbles.

Our church family here has made me very glad that I made the decision to come to Perth. They have embraced me as one of their kin and really have been a blessing to us newbies, being my sister and I in settling down in Perth. They help in every way possible and unimaginable. Their hospitality and fellowship has been an eye-opener as well as unforgettable. For example, the mother of one of my friends in church actually sends us to church every morning, they even take us to school and university and shopping. My new university mates have been amazingly wonderful, which is meaningful and eventful to me.

As you can see, I look like I am having a blast in Perth. Of course so, but then again I miss my parents back in Kuala Lumpur and I can't wait to see them in a month's time when they come back to Perth. Also, I miss you guys a tonne back home. Nothing can ever replace you guys, you guys are one of a kind despite of the new friends I have made during my short time in Perth. Since I'll be only back in December, I guess I consider Australia as my new home because I spend more time here then I would back in Malaysia. As Thomas in his previous post aptly puts it, please do try and come over to Australia for a visit. A plus about living in Australia, the internet broadband is so so fast like 100 Mbps thus making downloading music files and movies so fast ( that is why they probably have limited bandwidth each month):).

Labels: :: Update from Perth::

don noe if any1 still visits this blog but yea... HELLO! every1... its time for an update... so recently things have settled down alot... i got all my furnitures... still havent make any significant frens yet from my class... its a bit hard lah... but i'm trying... its just gonna take a long time... haih, but now last year we all, well, me, kit, joe, ling, keat n pork specifically, r having lunch everyday... we don even have to ask whether wanna have lunch... over here, i still ask them wanna have lunch?... wat... it should be more like, '"ey, where we gonna makan?"...oh well, u cant have everything...

anyways, n just last thursday n friday i went for a trip with my class n another foundation class... tht class has a number of malaysians in it n i tell u, THEY R DAMN STUPID!... there's one whom i seriously have a feeling thinks he's damn cool n funny... they were dogs over at the lodge tht we stay'd at, n he went, "ey, don play with our dinner lah." ... i was seriously damn, in my heart, "U FREAKING KIDDING ME AH?" i really 'mou yeh gong' lor... i damn cha tou man... then there's one more who smokes like shit n i cant stand his face... don ask me y, he is really the type, see his front hate his back... haih, or maybe i'm just envious of them cos they have frens lah... i think if u all or my skl frens were there with me n 1 of u all said the exact same thing, i prolly wouldnt have laugh'd but follow'd it with something even more stupid... haih... i'm being very judgemental here, 4give me...

so yea, other than tht, well nothing much lah... i've been hanging ard... waiting for some of my skl frens to come visit me... waiting for U ALL to visit me too...- -' haih...

how's every1???... not tht any of u will answer except prolly eli but yea, courtesy... i'm doing ok lah... have been dl-ing movies n music everynite... i tell u all, dl-ing songs here don even need 1 minute... I AM EFFING SERIOUS!... the speed reaches up to 110kb/s... takes only like 30secs to dl a song... movies of course longer lah, prolly overnite like tht... but the point is, internet here damn freaking fast... ahahahaha... i damn happy... anyways, hope all of y'all r fine... catch u all soon... don be a stranger...

My parents has left for home earlier this morning and now I am on my own with my sister. Today, is Labour Day (3rd March) and it is a state public holiday but we don't get it off. Thus, we still have to come like any normal day. I guess it is a standardised university policy because even UWA doesn't get off. You guys probably would not like to drive here especially during holiday weekends because you get double demerit points for that certain period. Also, the fines are triple of what they are on the normal day. That's why I love public transport:) In Australia, that is. Public transport is superbly amazing here, the buses are clean and efficient and regular for that matter and the trains are unlike the commuter trains we find in KL sometimes. The trains are so regular and fast, its easy to get to the city in no time.

As a student, I get student concessions almost anywhere like for movie tickets, public transport and admission tickets. Some days even when there is a special event, we get free public transport for everything that is under Transperth ( the main transport provider). I will being going off for a youth camp during Easter holidays ( March 21st to 24th) organised by church. Thus, I will be going down to Bindoun, on the east of WA during that time. I will be updating you all shortly after I return from camp. I may go down to Sydney in July for the Hillsongs Conference. That is all in the books at the moment. I won't be coming back in July during the winter break as my parents would be back here in Perth. On a random note, water is so scarce here and conservation of water is so important because it hardly rains here. The probability of a rainfall is once every 6 months. It is a rarity here that it rains, and if it does rain, it is such a relief. That's probably the reason why I don't take baths so often although it is sweltering hot. I just turn on the air-conditioning. In Australia, the climate is so screwed up, that I guess it is safe to say that global warming is really affecting this country. When it is cold, it is seriously cold. When it is hot, it is seriously hot. Those two extremities are probably why I am so thankful that Kevin Rudd's government has actually ratified the Kyoto Protocol. Has anyone heard of an evaporative air- conditioner? It is system where it runs on water thus it saves electricity and it is actually quite cooling. Most Australian households use it because its is central and it is cheaper than a conventional air-conditioner.

In a nutshell, the workload is slowly increasing as the weeks past by, but I don't regret anything. Thankfully, there are some good lecturers and tutors that I can get help from if I want to. They even have a discussion board if you want to see them or ask them questions. Assignments due, tutorial presentations, online quizzes are all part of that parcel. I am slowly adjusting to life here and beginning to like it although a part of me still misses home. Oh yeah, I've gotta run now, as I have a law lecture to go to on the Australian Legal System.

PS. Aussie blokes are hot with a capital H ( errr.....not all but some of them, especially the Year 12 blokes in my sister's school and her Phys. Ed teacher is darn hot too:) )

Labels: ::Update from Perth::