Friday, July 21, 2006

Australia, land of snails.



Ah.. finally in the heart of Sydney. The opera house. The true icon of Australia's biggest city. My third day here today. Well, have been settling in pretty well. Meeting more and more new people. The people on my floor in the hostel are nice folks. Staying the right of my room is a guy from Nottingham in England. On the left is an American girl.

I discovered that a Singaporean named Poshy is staying on my floor as well. Not sure if I spelled that name correctly. But he is a medicine student. Just moved like his entire house to college this afternoon. No kidding.

I dropped by City today to take a look at the sights and sounds. Bloody NSW legislation prevents international students from getting a discount card for transport so we had to pay the full fare for the bus ride.

I am still so used to tapping the EZ-Link card. I subconsciously still take out my wallet before I alight to look for that machine to slap my wallet onto. Then I realized that I am no longer in Singapore. My frantic search came to an end with a resounding sigh of relief.

A few friends and I decided to take a walk around Paddy's market to source out the good deals. There is wet and 'pasar malam' type of markets. Selling the usual stuff, I found out that almost anything can be bought with a bargain.

The food court above Paddy's seems so Singaporean-like. With everything on sale, it looks like a typical Tampines mall food court. I didnt eat anything because I stuffed myself up back in the hostel with the free lunch.

So we ventured around like tourist and stopped by Chinatown to see well, Chinese. Though not really, we found the sign 'Within the four seas all men are brothers'. Not that I am awe by the philosophical signboard, I am more intrigued by the translation of the Chinese words. It read 'si hai yi jia'. And the Australians literally translated every chinese letter into an English word. Amazing.

And to touch more on the Australian's linguistic ability, I walked by a building with a sign stuck on it reading 'POSTGRADE ORIENTATION'. I stopped and looked back and I wondered if I was in Malaysia or Australia. Isn't it supposed to be POSTGRAD? Well, if anyone else agrees with the Australians, let me know. I will bang my head on the wall for my stupidity.

Thereafter the Chinatown visit, we walked around the area surrounding the famous Sydney Opera House. Finally, I get to see it up close. And the famous bridge which is just next to it. Thank God for finally giving us some good weather today. But just as I finished that prayer, the rain arrived.

The freaking stupid thing in Australia is that it gets dark at an amazing time of 5.45pm. After finishing a superb pancakes on the rocks meal( eh anyone coming down to Sydney this is a must try. For more details contact me.), we walked out into pitch darkness. Wah Lau so depressing. I guess the early sunset symbolizes the attitude of the Australian workers here.

My friend wanted to change his enrolment at his civil engineering faculty. He reached at 1.30pm only to be duly informed that the woman in charge will not be back from lunch till 2pm. A quick glance at the sign on the window showed her working hours as 9am-12noon, 2pm to 4pm.

KNNBCCB.

5 Hour work day. I also want!! Amazing how little man hours these Australians work. Good life! I want a job here too! Maciam SAF sia! SAF in Australia will be considered very productive.

Anyway yeah, so try to get use to it lor. Everything here moves at snail pace. No worries is the theme. Even my ATM card takes a week to arrive, unlike Singapore where you are given one on the spot.

This is a retirement town. No Doubt about it. I am just afraid, I cannot get a job in Singapore if I demand a 9-12noon, 2-4pm working hour.

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