Day One, 2nd January 2006

So I woke up at around 5.40 this morning. Showered and stuff. The luggage were TERRIBLY heavy. It took three of us, Daddy, Mummy and I, to get each luggage up into the car. My biggest and third Aunts were there to send me off. Had breakfast at Kopitiam before we departed. It was drama-mania at the departure hall as usual. Checked in and boarded the plane smoothly.

The flight was supposed to be 5 hours long but it only lasted for about 4 hours and 20 minutes or so. I slept for about one hour upon departure. The entertainment system was DOWN. Damn! I so wanted to watch Deuce Bigalow and some other comedy movies! But it wasn’t too bad after all ‘cos I managed to read a little off the biography of some Great British Ballerina. Damn, I envy her.Australians sat beside me. They were friendly, really. We didn’t really chat but we greeted each other and smiled and joked and so on. So unlike Singaporeans. Singaporeans wouldn’t even LOOK at you if they were sitting beside you! Okok, I AM a Singaporean but…I don’t wanna be deemed as unfriendly. I had pasta for lunch on the plane with white wine. Mummy poured my white wine into the tea cup can! She said “No chance lar, later you get caught.” Immediately I thought to myself: What if I can’t get rid of my Singlish? I hope I can… One of the air stewards even greeted us “Happy New Year” in Chinese(Xin Nian Kuai Le)

We landed safely and retrieved our luggage. Everything was so familiar. The same walk way, same escalator, same belts, same DOG even. Memories flooded my mind instantly. When we got out, we were fetched from the airport to Mummy’s rented apartment/hotel by some…I don’t know what you call them but they drive student to and from the airport and they are also taking care of four overseas students. Mummy’s apartment/hotel is called GoodEarth Hotel. The room’s a tad too tiny but was satisfactory because they had sofas, coffee table, kitchen and so on. Just a little bit bigger than the usual hotel rooms.

It took Mummy and I a looong time to unpack our stuffs and settle them down at the right places. When we were finally done, we went down to the Swan River for a stroll. Oh, wait, we reserved seats at the hotel’s restaurant for dinner too. Swan River was lovely. The weather was…not cold enough for you to put a jacket on but not warm at all. Just cooling and dry. I doubt I’d sweat a lot if I were to jog along the river(IF I have the motivation).

We ordered a plate of pasta for dinner. It was chicken breast meat with traditional tomato sauce and parmesan cheese. What surprised me was the way they prepared the chicken breast meat. It didn’t feel dry at all! Splendid. Dessert was ice cream with a thin layer of chocolate coating with an additional strawberry. It was terribly terribly sweet. Terrible sweet in a way that all your senses just indulge in the taste/sight/texture/smell of it. Sorry, no sound. We bought a packet of chocolate milk and heated it up for supper in the room too.

Day one just ended like that. We had a good rest with Garfield and Teddy but I got waken up by the terrible sound of alarm at 6am sharp. *pulls long face*

Day Two, 3rd January 2006

After showering, Mummy and I headed down to the hotel’s restaurant for breakfast. Mummy only signed for the continental buffet where we were not allowed to touch the cook food but the bread/yoghurt/juices and so on only. I only had a slice of bread with butter and honey spread on it.

After breakfast, the guy that picked me up from the airport was already waiting for us in the lobby. I swear he was super early. Along the way, he showed me the bus stops, telling me which buses to take. The ride was about 15-20 minutes long before we reached Canning College.

Canning College is H-U-G-E. We went into the International Students’ Office (ISO) first to get some application forms filled. I was seriously tired so I dosed off at some moments. Tony de Gruchy thought I looked terribly tired and asked if I wanted to skip a day’s lesson. Thank God I didn’t, I tell ya, I would have been more lost in Accounting lesson.

I missed my first round of Computing lessons due to the filling up of forms so some lady brought us to the bank in Curtin University ‘cos she thought the bank might be open and that we could open an account today. Unfortunately, the bank was closed. It was a long way from Canning College to the bank in Curtin University but it was still a reasonable walking distance for diet-ers like me.

I joined the second round of Computing class at 11am. I was introduced to all my Bridging Course mates but I only remembered some; Sharon, Yuki (I THINK that’s the way you spell her name) and Sarah. Since most of them are from Hong Kong and have Christian names, I introduced myself as Rynetta. Mummy had no problems pronouncing my name! Yay!

Computing…wasn’t boring nor fun. Actually quite fun. We were thought how to use Microsoft Words fully and when we finished our so-called “exercises”, we could surf the net. Friendster was not allowed to be accessed and so was wholivesnearyou after a while. I bet the technician didn’t expect me to surf wholivesnearyou. He blocked my tagboard and rating section too. Sadness. Can’t blame him/her, though, it’s for the safety of the school’s computers.

Had half an hour of lunch break. Mummy bought me a sandwich from SubWay. I REALLY don’t know why Mummy added in cucumber. There were cabbage, chicken, cucumber and cheese. Sweet. She got me a bottle of Apple Juice too. I so love Mummy. I don’t know what’s gonna happen to me after I start staying in homestay. >_<

Accounting lesson started and I couldn’t understand ANYTHING. Apparently, the Bridging Course had been on for about 10 weeks or so, so I missed out on a lot (although they said they’re starting all over again today). I couldn’t understand what the lecturer was talking about so after the lesson, I asked the lecturer if I could bring the textbook home till the next lesson (on Friday) so that I can revise. He agreed, thank God. For your extra information, the textbooks are lent to students because they are too expensive too be bought. Of course, we have to return them at the end of the lesson unless there’re exceptions (like me).

When school ended, Mummy and I made our way to the humongous bus stop and took a bus down to the hotel ‘cos she did a little grocery shopping while I was having lessons. After placing our things down, we took a bus down to the city. It was only a few stops away. Convenient. Also, for free. =D

We did a more thorough grocery shopping at WoolWorths. Got all our stuffs and took another bus back to the hotel again.

After unpacking all the groceries, Mummy cooked rice. When the rice was cooked, Mummy added in the marinated chicken she got earlier at WoolWorths. It smelled so darn good and I was so darn hungry. When it was ready, I gobbled the whole dinner down in just minutes. Haven’t had rice for three full days. I’m damn pathetic. =\

I’ve just settled down again and am reading the Accounting text. REALLY REALLY tough. I think the bridging course will let me decide on what course I’ll wanna take in UWA next year. If Economy’s harder, I’d taking Accounting. If Accounting’s harder, I’d take Economy. If both are as hard, I’d take Marketing. Deal!

No pictures yet because I’m still quite busy at the moment, trying to familiarize with the school compound and trying to get the grocery shopping done in the city. I love Perth. I do. X)

Signing off~RYNETTA