A Skink in the Garden

This is what greeted me when i got home today! A Tiliqua rogusa i think. Check out this website... skinks are like lizards with very small legs. http://www.kingsnake.com/oz/lizards/skinks/trugosa.htm

Stewed Pork

... from one of the cans i brought here from East Point NTUC. The lard looks quite scary hor? I ate the lean meat only but was carefully trying to identify what i was eating in vain. Nevertheless, fantastic! Those stories about food in China are giving nightmares! Remember the one Susan told of how oil is recycled?...

Improvisation

One of my improvisations by which i was tickled - Anna's potty turned fruit bowl. The cans of food came from a collection acquired at East Point NTUC during my short 1 week trip back to Singapore.

Global Trend...

This webpage lists quotes from prominent present-day scientists (including nobel-prize winners) who increasingly realise that we've been "barking up the wrong tree" - Evolution is a theory disproved!

http://www.myfortress.org/evolution.html

Evening Walk in the Neighbourhood IV

A big house in our neighbouring suburb. This area is full of indulgent looking houses haha.

Evening Walk in the Neighbourhood III

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As usual, sounding swah kooh, the plants here continue to interest me haha. The lemons shown here are about 3x the volume of those we find in NTUC. Not sure about the taste though.

Evening Walk in the Neighbourhood II

A typical house in this suburban neighbourhood looks like this. Always, there'll be a huge garage and some bay windows. Few houses have walls surrounding the property or fencing (even for very large houses). Most homes have a collection of flowering plants right in front (just like MP's home in Florida).

Evening Walk in the Neighbourhood I

Most dogs and cats are kept indoors here. It's harder to see a cat than a dog since dogs need to be walked.

Happy National Day!

Guess what i saw hanging outside the international students' office? Haha...funny thing is, i only saw it when my Japanese friend asked me: "What flag is this?"

Being away makes you think of not just the shortcomings but also the strenghths of Singapore. Especially family and food hee.

More Than Bits of Bones and Bumps

This is the dog i now share with another 3 team-mates. It's a retired racing greyhound and well, it was euthanised. People were all very professional and i didn't see anyone abusing their dogs in anyway. This is the only pic i will post. BTW, my team-mates call her Melissa. Ha ha

Alien Plants

This one looks reeeeally weird. Probably the flowers of the plant. Like kangaroos, koalas and wombats, many plants in Australia can't be found naturally-occuring in other parts of the world.

Bit of Bones and Bumps

So the plot thickens and i now find myself at the anatomy museum figuring out which bump fits into which depression haha.

What Your Knees Can Tell You...

I came across a really interesting article on the net while studying anatomy. While the Theory of Evolution was proposed as a theory and Darwin himself had doubts about it towards the end of his life, it is now widely accepted as a fact. However, increasingly, well-informed people in the scientific community see serious problems in the theory. Here's an article by an Engineering lecturer at Bristol University (UK) on what your knees can tell you!
http://www.trueorigin.org/knee.asp

Still, More Flowers

These are not wild but planted. Absolutely beautiful! Nope i am not here to do Botany haha.

Majiam Tiong Bahru

Guess what this is? Yep, it's a tai pau! The landlord was very nice and this was waiting for me when i got back from church today. You must be wondering if it tastes like our paus in Singapore...well, yes it does but the way the meat is cut up in the pau is rather different (can't really explain it) but it's the taste that matters and it was wonderful! The night before, i got free bah-kut-teh - also Sedap haha.

Campus

These were taken while on campus. As with most campuses, things are well-spread out. So there really isn't a good spot to take a representative shot of the place.

What Your Knees Can Tell You...

I came across something really interesting recently while studying anatomy. While Evolution was proposed as a theory and even Darwin himself had doubts about his own theory towards the end of his life, it is now accepted by most scientists, as a fact. Increasingly though, many well-informed scientific people are beginning to have their own doubts. Here's an article written by an Engineering lecturer in Bristol University (UK). He tells you that your knees can tell you how impossible the theory of evolution is. Here's the link!

http://www.trueorigin.org/knee.asp

Backyard

This is the rest of the backyard. Pretty big huh? Homes near universities are good properties to invest in if you don't mind renting out a room or two. Property prices in Western Australia has gone up consistently over the last decade. There are many jobs here and living expenses remain lower than places like Sydney or Melbourne. Plus, it's real scenic. This property is probably worth about AUD300,000 ++.

Laundry Day

Friday is laundry day (at the moment at least). Cos i have but one lecture early in the morning. So, i can come back and do the necessary! I will have a grand total of 2 housemates soon - which means we might need to settle who-does-laundry-when type of issues haha.

More 花

I continue to be intrigued by the variety haha. BTW, lectures have started and so has the mugging. Doing Anatomy, Ethics and Stats. Strangely looking forward to anatomy cos it involves dissection, drawing, taking photos and naming...similar to taxonomy in some ways.

Wildflowers

This is one thing i found intriguing since i arrived - the variety of wildflowers even at winter. I stopped on the way home from school to catch this shot. I am thinking of getting some kind of wild flower guide book. Hey! If you were me, you'll be intrigued too! It helps you to appreciate how creative God was when He designed flowers.

Meals

I switched to pasta from rice towards the end of first week for some variation in my menu. In this case, dinner on a Saturday night was cheese and spinach-stuffed raviolli wtih lots of vegetables. Oh, really the pasta sauces here are way better than back home - greater variety, cheaper and tastes better. I also have lots of potatos, rice, chicken, cheese, ham and fruits. As you can see, having a healthier diet compared to back home.

Suburbs

Here's what i mean by 'like what you see in desperate housewives'.








And this is where i stay.

Paperwork

I've been doing paperwork whole week such as insurance, matriculation etc. Oh, this is my room. It's quite cosy. But it gets quite cold here and i put the heater under my desk when i am at work! haha. I was supposed to go for a free dinner at the Uni but i took a nap and got lazy. Instead, i had beef stew (canned type but very healthy - no added msg) with rice! It was wonderful. The rice cooker from mom worked like a dream.

Surprisingly, i've not done laundry even once since i arrived last Friday. I bought some washing powder today and will get down to it by this weekend. Yes, no cause for worry folks! Things don't really stink here.

First Day of School

Monday was nevertheless, a very a uneventful day with many talks and some paperwork. The wonderful thing is that the wireless at my place is now up and i can finally access the net! There was another shopping trip organised by the Uni but i didn't go cos i got everything i need liao. BTW, this is my desk.

Meeting People

On Sunday morning, i went to Uni to meet up with all the new international students. Made some friends, did some banking (a bank opened on Sunday just for this purpose). I have an account now but no atm card yet. Thereafter, we went to Freemantle for some shopping and sightseeing. Saw the prison but didn't go in. I realised that the last time i was there, we only saw the market but did not venture further to see where all the fish and chips restaurants are haha. The seafood looked good. But the scenery was even better.

Room Hunt

First, i just want thank all you folks for sending me off at the airport and all the help and support. REALLY wonderful to have family like you folks.

I touched down at 11.05pm on Friday. A shuttle bus brought me to a backpackers' lodge that happened to be located at the most happening part of town (i wasn't aware when i booked the place - i went for the cheapest!) and boy, was i surprised to see so many people at 2 am in the morning clubbing and puking over people's fences! In any case, i was quite zombified and went to sleep without much difficulty.

A friend Selena picked me up at 9.35am on Saturday and she drove me to my prospective landlord. I moved in immediately although it was 10 mins by bus to Uni (i was hoping for a place nearer) because the housing officer gave me a number of contacts but only this one proved to be useful.

However, the place is very nice and the landlord quite generous and chin chai. So by Saturday morning, i was already settled. Praise God! I don't have a picture of the house at the moment but well, you've watched desperate housewives? This suburb is just as nice.

Here's what i see when i go to uni in the morning. Don't worry about me cos i am nicely settled. I will email you folks my contact details as i have no idea how to set security settings on the blog yet. That's why i sound so vague in every thing i write here haha.