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..

3 more weeks to the end

29th of May (late Autumn)

2 more days mark the end of autumn for 2009.

the countless memories that made up this season.

Memories of unfamilarity, loneliness, stress, anger, conflicts.

I recalled my begining in Hobart:

• 
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  The smell of the freshly painted
  house

  
  

  
  

  
  

  The empty house

  
  

  
  

  
  

  The surprise from the barking
  dog

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Three nights of not having our own power
  source

  
  

  
  

  
  

  3 nights of bathing using tubs and boiled
  water from the electric kettle.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Two weeks of sleeping in the kitchen

  
  

  (we had no beds then and the kitchen was
  the only place that had been cleaned up)

  
  

  
  

  
  

  One week of dinning on the
  floor

  
  

  (we had no tables
  then)

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Two weeks of not having internet

  
  

  (I can hear more youth screaming as
  a result of this reason as c.f to all the others added up
  together)

  
  

All the hassle of furnishing up the house, finding new housemates, settling Stephanie down, soon got me into the greatest nightmare I ever faced.

I was doing a course that was totally new to me; all the new theories, new terminology, new concepts, new style of studying. I was unable to cope with my revision, my assignments submission. Everything was piling up on top of me and I could hardly breathe.
I am sure most of you would have noticed or heard me complain, murmur, or grumble about the overwhelming load of stress that I was facing.

YET.... God was kind, gracious and merciful towards me.

I am surviving it and this is my last 3 weeks to the end of Semester. I told Steph that I will scream out loud on the last day of my paper, which is on the 16th of June.

Argghhhh.. (ok..I will save this powerless scream till that day)

The next couple of weeks are indeed another set of nightmares.

2 assignments each worth 50% and 40% due on the 12th, one worth 40% due on the 15th and one law exam on the 16th.

The momentum is building up; the scream.

Oh Lord.. Your love is good enough for me

Your love is sweeter than the world's sweetest honey, higher than the mountain's lofty peaks, deeper than the deepest ocean valley. Your love is good enough for me.

STRESS

So many things had happen during the past week.

My housemate had decided to move out.

I'm looking frantically for a new housemate

we had an arguement on whether she is liable to pay for the rent till the new tenant comes in.

My assignments are piling up like pancakes.

My exams are in a few weeks time

The amount of dandruff on my pillow are increasing each day.

My hair is dropping.

I am stressed..

Oh Lord..

I am fading..........

I really really need a break.......

Oh Lord. Grant me Your peace..

Upsetting Updates

I try my best not to post upsetting things on my blog, cuz it might just affect my readers. But if I don't do it, I have nothing else to blog about my life, cause things has not been doing well for me. However, things aren't that bad really. I try to be optimistic ok?

1. Last monday morning, the rubbish truck came to collect the rubbish (duh) as usual. This time round, they did something different (woah). They dented the driver's door of my car. I tried to open up the poor door, but to no avail. I have to access the driver's seat via the passenger's side, in order to send my car for repair. It took away half a day of my precious time which I don't even have enough in the first place. Haiz...

Bright side (as in being optimistic): I bought a new car; oh well..... 2nd hand actually. It's a Nissan Pulser, automatic with cruise control and engine immobilizer.. (I try to take photo as soon as I can ok?)

2. Steph and I were in the room today. We could hear the wind blowing furiously as my heart pounded in fear that my hot house will topple. Behold, I heard a loud crashing sound coming from the external. To my horror, I saw my hot house and all the seedlings that I have put much effort into growing for the past few months, laying flat on the floor. It was already in darkness during that time and I had to picked up the pots individually, scoop the soils into the pots, plant them individually back into the soil, while being on my "four". The poor fragile seedling had to suffered the fright, the cold and the handling. I am not even sure whether they will survive.
To top that, I couldn't retrieve some of the sweet pea seeds that Clay gave me.

Now for some bright side: It was like an outfield experience. I had go on my "four", bite my torchlight, while using my spare hands to scoop up the soil and to plant the seedlings individually. Quite enjoyable actually (hahaha) thought quite tiring.

PLUS.... I believe those seedlings that survive this ordeal will be stronger plants next time..

"大难不死，必有后福" mah..

Care Bears....

After a hot and comfortable shower, I was about to turn in to bed.

When

Steph insisted that I have to hug her Good Luck Bear (the green bear) to sleep.

To complicate things further....

Steph have to tugged 2 of her care bears to sleep, under the comfort of our doona.

I've just discovered that Funshine bear (the yellow bear) is a male bear and .....

........

........ what do you call the other one ??.....

Oh yah.. Cheer Bear.. (the pink bear) is a female beast... .(Opps)

http://www.planetcarebears.com/contentid-1.html

Guess where I found Good luck bear in the morning??

Wor hohohoho... ... Under the bed!!

I have no idea how it ended down there though..

Cute or Not?

Steph and I were walking pass the library where we discovered these 2 cute dogs..

"So cute!!!!!".. Aren't they lovely and sweet together??? Ohhhhh.. I was whipping out my camera to give them a shot of stardom in my blog.

So you thought............................................

(Scroll down)

Both the dogs came charging at us sia..... ....

The beagle still looks ok la.... BUT..... the "other" look like a dog-from-hell, with its tail errecting in a threatening position... Goodness...

Too bad la.. You can't get us...and serve you right for looking ugly in the photo. :P

Woof!

Salamanca outing

Alright.. alright.. I know I am not supposed to step out of the house during this "Swine flu" period... BUT.... Yoke Chye and Linda (from Launceston) were visiting and had participated in one of the exhibits. SO... I can't possibly not "show face" right..??? Considering that I stay like 5 minutes drive away from Salamanca nia.

"What?!!!" You mean I shouldn't turn up...!!!?? Oh......Come on... I thought you guys were better friends than me.. :P

Linda's lecturer came up with this concept of building a temporary/low-budget house for young couples. The total cost for building a house like this would cost $5K. I thought it was a pretty cool concept and could have been explored as an option for overseas students.

The main issue would be sanitary problem as there are no direct waste disposal pipelines for such a system, however, I am sure something will be worked out someway or another.

The Castle


Ooo.. I thought both the little boy and girl were pretty cool with their flute.
(Photo dedicated to Leonard Liu).

Potential Risks

We were asked to draft out a table of potential risks in our lives, as part of the assignment for the module on Risk Management.

So I came out with something this simple....

.And guess what??

The lecturer loves it !!

Before you guys start to question about the standard of work produced in my MBA course, this is assessment is not even worth 1% la..

Anyway, this really set me thinking about the future. What am I am going to do after the end of this year? Should I 1) return back to Singapore, 2) find a job in Australia, 3) continue with my MBA??

As for my current decision, I've decided to make some changes to my plans. I have decided that I shall stop at the Graduate diploma level at the end of this year, find a job and than return to complete my masters after a few years of work. Hopefully, this transitory phase will spur me to do better in this course. Everything is still unconfirmed as of now... "Prayer in Progress".

I'm sure God cares enough to tell me which step to take... Right Daddy?

You'll never walk alone

Brrrrrrrr... It seems like winter visited early this year.

I've always wanted something that will bloom and grow during the cool weather.

We acquired some flowering bulbs during our first visit to Salamanca market earlier this year.

Its a pity that I did not copy down the name of the plant..

But anyway, it gave us full of surprises and infact taught me something through

its flowering pattern.

One bud was about to bloom in advance of the other.

Nevertheless, it remains unopened till the other was ready.

I imagined one whispering to the other

"Don't worry.. Take your time..

I will wait for you...."

I thank God for all my loved ones and friends, who have been ever so supportive and encouraging despite my last few weeks of "wilderness" experience.

I know that the road ahead of me is still long and windy,

but I will press in, plough on and dig under.

To the Special One out there...

Thanks for your encouragement,

support and help with my assignments...

It's a joy chatting with you each time and I cherish every bit of them.

Autumn

Room Revamp

We simply can't wait till June.. Can't we?
Steph and I took one day off during Easter Break to revamp our rooms.

I shifted my table to her room and she shifted her bed over to mine.

Basically, we are having a common study room and bed room now..

In this manner, we can save on heating cost.. :) How cool is that!!!

Steph doing work on her table...... (or is it surfing net??)

We are having 3 beds in our room. One for myself, one for Steph and one for our guest. :)

At last, At last, our landlord fixed up the fireplace

(well... at least from the way we see it) Thanks Nick!

We will need to see how it stands against the next rainstorm.. :)

Going Green

In spite of all that is going on..... I insists of staying true to myself..

Apart from the 3 platys (fish) that I am keeping, I am also involved with some gardening.

It's really self-gratifying seeing your plants grow each day.

For the veges, I present to you Wom Bok, Silver beet and Spinach.

The Silver beet are growing pretty fast and I am looking forward to having my first bite

on them. Yum... And the spinach too..

hahahaa..

Did I mention that I have a fruit tree in my house??? Oh well, it was an apple tree previously..

But this time round, I am having a lemon tree. I have already made full use of the lemons..

Lemonade, Lemon barely, Lemon for the baked fish and Lemon for the Tom Yam I had for lunch..

As usual, my carnivorous plant remains with me.. Out of the whole lot, the Venus fly trap remains the longest, most faithful of them all. It has been with me for the past 2 years, ever since my 2nd month in Tasmania..

I think the variety name is called "Big Trap"..

Tat's all for going green now.. ....

Karen

Thanks for being such an awesome,

wonderfully-made, whacky, fun-loving, caring, sweet, beautiful, lovely,

gracious, kind, cool

Sista

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

Hope

Assignments are pilling up day by day and the Easter break seems foreign to me.

Gone are the days when I look forward to such an occasion.

Yet.............

Hope for the future

Hope for the nation

Hope for the generation

Hope for the weak

Hope for the poor

Hope for the hungry

Hope for the defeated

Hope for life

Hope for better things

He is the Hope-Giver.

JESUS

My Room

Despite the scorpion issue and the leaking fire place, my room is actually quite pleasant.

To put it in words:

Cosy-looking

Spacious

Classy

Thematic

Clean

Fantastic View

and for now (messy)

I am having thoughts of converting it into a "sleeping" room

since Steph sleeps over in my room so often anyway

And perhaps, shift my study desk and all to her room.

In this manner, we can save up on heating cost,

since we don't need really the heater on while sleeping.

Hmmm.. If it ever works out, it will be a part of our June Holiday plan to do the shifting !!!!

Exciting!!!

Oh.. Did I mentioned that the owner of the house lied to me that he has fixed the chimney/fire place problem?? I totally believed him till the rain came in yesterday.. #%@#%#$

And guess what when I spoke to him about it. He say that if I am interested to fix the problem, I am required to pay for it on my own. I THINK THIS GUY IS TAKING US FOR GRANTED!!!

Suddenly, all the law principles that I've learnt came into good use.

Duty of Care

Standard of Care

Torts law

Civil liability Act

Basically, I brought up what ever I could use to insist on it. I have spoken to the agent about it and she agrees that it is the owner's responsibility to fix it. Please pray that the Lord will vindicate me..

The Promise

The days seem harder than before.

I looked around for a sign of God's promise.

Am I suppose to be here at this point of time?

It has been a long time since my heart yearns for home. Never had I felt so home sick before. I didn't want to tell her, cause it will only make her worse.

I have to be strong.

As I gazed through the window after the great storm.

Behold, the rainbow was there; two of them to be exact, one over-arching the other.

My heart begin to praise God and thank Him for His promises.

The Faithful One........