Remember the batch of silver beet that I've grown previously?
Oh well.. there are ready for harvest and I have eaten them. They taste really delicious especially when cooked with soup. :) Yummy.

I find growing vegetables very rewarding. Clayton often "diaoz" me when I tell him about vegetable gardening. Hahahaa.. But its true what, its really rewarding; "you eat what you sow".

Look at this succulent leaf of silver beet.. Mama mia..

Wonderful Work Experience

Yesterday marks the end of my wonderful work experience at Russel falls.

I am totally overwhelmed by the Lord's goodness. I was offered a casual work right after my last paper, given the choice to work for 6 days so that I will have enough time to make preparation for Leo and June's visitation. The job was really interesting and I enjoyed the process of nurturing the salmon eggs. The people were superb and very friendly and most importantly of all, funny.. Hahahaa. And I considered myself paid very well for the job. Infact, it is even higher than what I get during my work experience in Shellfish culture 2 yrs ago. (Disclaimer: Not that shellfish culture is bad or anything. I enjoyed that work experience very much too)

To introduce the gang..

Mike, the hatchery manager

(This big guy is from Canada, Vancouver island)

Neil, the recirculation man aka the supervisor
Beth (Left) and Wendy (right)
These are two lovely ladies working along side with me. They make the job really interesting and funny. It would have been very dull without them.

Elaine, my favourite among the lot. She is very knowledgable and kind. She has this aura around her that makes you feel peaceful.

Introducing the egg sorting machine.

One side spilts out bad eggs

A closer look at the bad eggs

And the other side spilts out good eggs

A closer look at the good eggs; you'll notice that there two eggs without eyes are known as blanks. They are basically unfertilized eggs and hence should be removed.

This sums up my work experience for the month. I think I might work for them next year.. Perhaps in their new hatchery which is half an hour drive away from my place.

Day 1

As promised, here's my update on my first day of work at the salmon hatchery

Woke up at 5.45am

Step out of my bed at 6.05 am

Left house at 6.30am

The drive was freakish..
My stupid GPS went cranky again and brought me the long way round.. Haiz..

(Lesson learnt: Never trust a machine)

I drove all the way to New Norfolk and was hoping that I could make my way to Mt Field from there. I went around New Norfolk twice and saw two elderly ladies taking their morning walk .

So I pull over and started asking them for directions.

Called the hatchery manager to inform him that I will be late for my first day of work.

(Tolerable la.. No directions mah)

To cut the long story short..

It took me 2 hours to reach Mt Fields instead of 1.5 hours drive.

And the GPS doesn't recognize Mt Field when you key in this, instead they recognize it was National Park. .. What the Tut!!

Anyway.. .. I reached the hatchery and met up with Mike, the hatchery manager whom is from Canada and had only joined the company last year.

He showed me around and introduced me to the gang.

To my surprise.. there were ladies in the farm.
And infact, all my work partners were ladies. Hahaha.

And guess what's our job??

Picking Eggs!!!!! : )))))))))))))))

Yes.. We were putting the fertilized eyed eggs (eyed because they have developed eyes)

into an egg sorting machine.

The sorting machine will then sort the eggs into "GOOD" and "BAD" eggs by passing the eggs through an infra red sensor. If the infra red passes through the eggs, they will get sorted to one side; which constitutes the "GOOD" eggs... If the light beam fail to pass through properly, the egg get sorted out on to the other side (which are known as the "BAD" eggs obviously..)

So what makes the sorter sort them this way???

The good eggs are clear and beautiful and the light could passed through them easily.

On the other hand, the bad eggs are BAD.. Duh!!! .... and they are opaque or translucent, hence blocking the infra ray from passing through.

Our job is to pick out eggs which has been wrongly sorted. Yes.. The machine isn't fool prove..

We had to pick up eggs individually using a pincer and my poor butt hurts cause they didn't have a chair and I had to sit on a make-shift drum container..

Nevertheless, the job was amazing.. Both the good and bad eggs were beautiful..

The good eggs were shinning and clear and has little eyes in them which wriggles around every now and then.

The bad eggs has this marbling effect between orange and white..

I think the BIG GUY that created all these are amazing..

No wonder of us look amazing too ;)

The only draw back I had was that I have chosen to return home everyday; which takes me 1.5 hours drive. And I had to drive during the night which I am not exactly very keen of..

Oh Lord.. I need yr protection and journey mercies.. :)

To be positive... I only have 5 more of such drive and I saved $200 from staying at the backpackers. :) And.. I get to see Steph and my housemate...

AND... I am paid for this work experience.. WooHoo..

AHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..

I am done with my last paper..

though I reckon I didn't go well with it;

considering that I did not finish quite a number of the questions

and didn't answer most of them well.

ANyway.. .. It's over and I will be going for one week of work experience at a salmon hatchery.

Mt Field... Here I come.....

I promise I will be taking lots of pictures.. Hopefully, it wouldn't take long for me to upload them.

Mid-Year Crisis

One more day and I'll be done with my mid-year crisis.
I am still doubtful on whether I heard correctly from God regarding the decision to study this year. I guess it is only fair to me that I have a second thought about it, considering the hardship I've been put through this year. Nevertheless, I am reminded of God's faithfulness and that He will see me through it all. There!!! See!! I am at the end of tunnel 1 liao mah..
I believe my future will be different because of these 4 modules that I have gone through for the past 4 months. Just like KPE, you move from one part of Singapore to another in an express manner. Similarly, this course will escalate my future work prospect. Believe it or not!!
Anyway, it seems that people around me are in the "heart-ache" stage these few days. This stirs my thought of entering into a relationship. So what is it that caused people to feel the ache? Is it because they love the person so much that they are not willing to let them go? Or is it because they have love them to an extent greater than they cherish themselves? I wonder?
Or is it my self-defence mechanism at work? Maybe I have protected myself "too well"? Each time I receive a hurt; just like a callus formed on a piece of skin, I thickened my defences against others. I've learnt to cherish myself as much as I cherish others. Is this wrong? The bible speaks about "Love thy neighbours as you love yourself" How can you love your neighbours well enough when you can't even love yourself? To sum this: I love you because Christ that is in me compels me to. And please don't expect me to love you more than Christ do.

Fish from God

We decided to stop over at the Fish n' Chips shop

for a quick lunch after our grocery shopping at Woolies..

Steph and I felt that the portion of chips given tend to be little overwhelming for Asian appetite, so we decided to order 2 sets of fish and 1 medium chips this time round;

instead of the usual 2 set meals.

While being in the queue, I saw the waiter serving this chinese aunty, whom I believe was either from Singapore or Malaysia (from the ascent). She was demanding for some tabasco sauce and a variety of other sauces in a rather commanding tone. Then I was pretty sure she was from Singapore liao.. Our authoritative voices and demanding attitude,

of which nationality could match.

We were told to take a seat while the food will be served to us shortly.

Steph surprised me with a gourmet magazine that I was eyeing for.. . Oooo. Thanks Girl... I was so tempted by the cover dish la.."Beef and dumplings".

As I was flipping through the magazines and salivating over the pages *literally.

The waiter came with 2 plates of ........................"SEAFOOD platter".

I looked at it with amazement, paused, and then told him reluctantly that it was not ours.

He walked away and this time round, I was telling that Steph that if we would have kept quiet and take a bite out of any of the crumbled prawns, crumbled scallops, fresh oyster, seafood sushi roll, crumbled calamari rings, crumbled fish, fresh prawn, smoked salmon, chips OR salad, the whole plate will be ours.. *Grin.

Then Steph said "And the waiter will need to pay" and we both nodded.

The waiter returned again with the 2 plates of seafood platter and said

"The chef made a mistake with the order, these are yours. Enjoy"

Both of us looked at each other in amazement and looked at the waiter and smiled.."Thanks"

Steph and I felt really blessed.. We were happy snapping photos away, when the waiter came and asked us whether we know how to speak in chinese? And I replied.

会啊！

and he replied "你们有福了. 这一盘是二十五块".

On top of that, we were served the plate of medium sized chips that we ordered.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.. Weeeeeeeee....

Steph and I had a hard time finishing all the food.

We would be a glutten to even start on the extra plate of chips.

We had to "Ta pau" the chips back la..

Yoke Chye and Linda came to visit us and bought lots of goodies and those gifts behind left from Eric and Serena. Thanks guys.. Luv Ya..: )

The most amazing thing was ..... Linda was actually carrying a snow man head which they made from the snow on Mt Wellington. Wa lau eh.. Steph and I couldn't stop laughing... It was super hilarious. Ta Da....

Yoke chye was so nice la.. He bought a packet of gourmet dark chocolate from the chocolate factory.. Wa Liew... Stress therapy pills..

I can't imagine myself being in the midst of exams.. It doesn't feel like one la.. Wahahaa..

What a day..