The grass is always greener…

Reflections on Melbourne

Well I’m back in Beijing! Actually I’ve been back for a month now but I’ve neglected this blog for months! Sorry blog, I’ve been busy with GRE, catching up with friends in Melbourne and working now in Beijing.

It almost feels weird writing entries again. Its like talking to a long lost friend and I don’t know where to begin.

Well upon reflect the month I had in Melbourne was great. After completing my GRE test the rest of the stay there was the most fun I’ve had there in years. I caught up with almost everyone I wanted to see and managed to explore the city a bit, something which I haven’t done since my early years there. I grew to appreciate the place more now and made my leaving that much harder.

I also managed to squeeze in a trip to Sydney visiting Steve and Sandy, two pals I haven’t see in ages (well Steve anyways). Sydney was awesome! Big thanks to Steve for letting me crash at his place and it was great to finally meet their respective partners. We had a lot of great food and drinks (mmmm German beer). Leaving Sydney was quite sad as I said farewell to 2 great texas holdem downloadenpoker freewarepoker kostenlos im internetpoker spiel downloadwww euro poker netpoker texas holden gratiscasino spiel pokerpoker regeln einfachpoker flash game,holdem poker game,poker gametexas holdem erkl?rungpoker the gameparty poker spielregelnonline poker deutscheuro poker gratistexas holdem poker setonline games kostenlos pokeronline poker bonus ohne einzahlungvc poker bonustexas holdem freewarebest poker gamepoker jetzt spielenonline poker dsfpoker dot netpoker spiel kostenlos downloadentexas holdem poker rulesholdem poker rulesonline poker kein downloadinternet spielestrategia pokerbonus senza deposito pokertornei di pokerpoker carte gratisscarica giochi pokertexas holdem poker downloadomaha h lstrp pokerpoker milanogiocare poker on linegioco poker scaricabilehollywood pokerpoker il giocostrip poker gratisgioca a poker onlinepoker texana onlineкомпютри втора употребаgiochi 7 card studpoker texas holdem onlinepoker alla texanatavoli da gioco pokertornei di poker gratisholdem poker italia,holdem poker,texas holdem poker regole friends and it hit me that I would be leaving Australia soon for quite a while. I wasn’t ready

to feel so emotional about it as I’ve been planning this for ages and having moved around as a kid I didn’t think I would feel so attached.

Looking back though, Melbourne is the place I have the most attachments. All my friends are there. My mum will mostly be spending time in Australia and I’ve grown to love the city. Moving to Beijing for now isn’t a drastic change but it will take some time to adapt. My mandarin is still subpar in terms of reading and writing and, as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve lost touch with a lot of the culture. I feel like a bit like the ethnically mixed child who’s not totally accepted by either side. As they say: Adapt or perish.

Luckily, with the internet (recently FACEBOOK) its so easy keeping in touch with friends. I look forward to hearing all the stories in Melbourne and I can’t wait to go back for a visit when I have time. Bye Bye Melbourne for now. SEE YA SOON!

19 YEARS ON…A REUNION!

Wedding present

The cartoon mold thing FINALLY ARRIVED!!! I’m giving it to my cousin and husband as a post-wedding thing now. It turned out ok…they sorta captured the likeness…although Lutao’s face is a bit round and my cousin doesn’t quite look like her. But its not an uglified version like the caricature at least hehe.

here’s the pics…

Post wedding report

Well it was my cousin You You’s big day yesterday and boy was it stressful! The day started at 6am when I woke up and I didn’t have time to eat breakfast cause i realised my suit pants were a bit creased so I rushed to my uncle’s place to iron it.

Digital IMAX = It’s a NIIIICE! :D

So it was my first IMAX experience in a while and this was the first one I’ve been to that had a digital projector. I had a few trepidations about the experience as I feared the film would be edited down in running time and the screen ratio altered to fit the format.

I was wrong on both counts. The presentation I saw of Spider-man 3 was simply stunning. Not only was the picture quality flawless, the sound and huge screen really pulled me into the film.

I really hope they open up some digital cinemas in Melbourne cause it really does enhance the overall movie-going experience. It also gives the consumer an added incentive to actually goto the cinemas rather than watching DVD/HDDVD/BLURAY on their large widescreen TVs.

I really can’t go back to analogue now that I’ve seen digital cinema…

FILM REVIEW - SPIDER-MAN 3

The Big Apple in Beijing

Well I’ve been meaning to take a pic of this and here it is: The marketing power of Apple.

Right at the centre of Zhongguancun shopping area: A HUGE-ASS IPOD BANNER!

Now if only there was a proper Apple store…

0.3Megapixel GOODNESS + an impulsive purchase

Well since I will be walking around with my Motorola E680i (with a 0.3Megapixel camera) and I can’t be bothered carrying a proper camera, I have decided that most of the photography will be delivered to you in low resolution. This is a way to challenge me in my photography skills and its use under strict limitations.

Anyways, today had me walking around looking for proper shoelaces to replace the ones that broke off my new Nikes during spinning class (!!!). I found a cheap pair in the local Carrefour (3.90RMB) and continued to walk around the shopping area in Zhongguancun.

While inside the Zhongguancun plaza, I was compelled to get a cap to match my non-black clothes. So I walked into Kangol which specializes in hats and snatched up a brown& white kangol cap. Now I have to say it was an impulsive buy but I thought it would look good with all the brown coloured clothes I bought recently.

As I continued on my solo shopping trip, I saw a little fashion parade sponsored by ODBO (hehe don’t u love that name). Most of the models were quite attractive. Unfortunately, my new attempt at photography with a 0.3MP camera didn’t go very well. I have to work out figuring out the settings of this thing…but enjoy the pics anyways…

Still, my adventures were not over. I saw that a CROCS store was open and went inside thinking of ideas for wedding presents for my cousin and her fiancee. I thought I might get them a matching pair of crocs since its relatively new in China and not many people have them yet.

These are the ones I was looking at…

What do you guys think?

All you can say is…oops…

As I stepped out of the gym I could see a throng of people standing around something. I saw cardboard boxes and various things on the road and also noticed the police and immediately knew it could only be one thing…traffic accident. It turned out that a car had crashed into another causing a 4 car pile up. Somehow a guy on a “3 wheel” a bike with a carriage carrying goods also got involved and the guy riding it was on the ground.

Im assuming that the guy is insisting to lie on the road for insurance payment or something. Or he might be seriously hurt…but the ambulance hadn’t arrived at that time.

And, as always in China, a huge crowd of people is standing around watching the scene as if it was entertainment.

SPARTAN TRAINING DAY #4

Well being the weekend I’m excused for being only HALF a spartan hehe. I woke up quite late (10:30am) so that ruled out the plan of a morning workout. Instead had a small breaky and a HUGE lunch to prepare for the workout ahead (exercise ball & body pump). However, when I got the gym I wasn’t feeling my best. It felt like I was low on glucose levels. This was strange due to my previously mentioned HUGE LUNCH.

I did the exercise ball class and found it quite tiring so I decided to skip the body pump class and do my own workout. It was not to be! Ye Cui, the body pump instructor came looking for me and physically forced me to join the class! Only 2 people showed and you need 3 to start a class. I told her I wasn’t feeling up for it but she wouldn’t take no for an answer and literally dragged me kicking and screaming to the class (she’s a feisty girl!).

Despite my efforts, I did not perform very well during body pump and afterwards had to go eat some biscuits to up my glucose level. I don’t really understand what happened. Is my diet suddenly lacking so much carbs/glucose that I can’t even do half of my normal workouts?!? Or is it the increased intensity of my recent days of spartan training?

Either way…I have much to learn…