Lost In Translation

Ah, the internet's finally up and running. I think Optus has a lot of explaining to do. Firstly, their customer services sucks. There's always a 'delay', and the average length of time they put me on hold because their lines are busy goes to about 10-15 minutes. So what I have to do is to usually put the phone on speakers and let the baroque music play in the background till I hear somebody pick it up on the other side. This way, I wouldn't have to wait by the phone all the time. The day the modem's supposed to arrive got mixed up 3 times, and the day it arrived (yesterday) wasn't even on the right day scheduled with me. It was firstly scheduled to be earlier than supposedly, then delayed, then earlier again but not as early as it was the first time. Optus needs to do something about their management of customers. They should hire me. I bet I can do better. And get paid at that too...

But the funny thing is that we discovered the internet speed of the plan that I received upon installation yesterday (thanks to none other than Isaac, again) was faster than the one I ordered as well. I don't know if this is a good thing. The plan that I ordered was supposed to be on a 512k speed, whereas today, we discovered that we're running at 1.5megs speed. That's good, I know. According to Aaron's calculations, I can download an mp3 song faster than the length of the song if played at the same time. I just hope we're not paying extra for it...

So anyways, life in the city is turning out quite interesting. The new apartment is fantastic. It turned out to be bigger than I thought it was as we were able to fit in the furnitures we had in our previous living room and kitchen in one living room here. Sure, it can be quite a cram, but still quite comfortably livable. The only thing is the bathroom, it has so little storage space, it's so packed, seeing that my parents and I all have to share this one place.

The downside of it though is that our washing machine couldn't fit in the space of the cabinet prepared for it here, so the doors have to be left open, and that there's no space in it for the dryer as well unless we install brackets for it to be hung on top of the washing machine. Besides those things, all seems to be simply awesome. I'm living closer to my church, uni, and girlfriend now, which makes life so much simpler. And everything we need, let it be groceries, shopping centres, movies, etc, are just a walking distance from my apartment! Talk about some exercise I'll be getting.
P/s: Interesting fact I found out. It appears that the apartment I'm currently living in right now was partially designed by a team which my architect friend Sue Lee was in! Cool stuff!

Anyway, the Chinese New Year has just begun a few days ago, and the family has been pretty busy running about at that. On the eve itself, we had a (traditional?) 'reunion' dinner at my new place with Esther and the Su's, followed by a session of Kill Bill Vol.2. Talk about traditions. More details on that night here. Following that was a dinner organised by the church which in my opinion, was quite a blast. The best dinner by church thus far (in terms of food, at least. other aspects are arguably good as well). Unfortunately I regretfully forgot to bring my camera along that night, so I don't have any pics to show. :(

But the highlight of my Chinese New Year thus far has to be the walk at Southbank, I think. It was quite fascinating to me because I've never really spent Chinese New Year here in Melbourne before, and being the first time spending it here this year, I discovered that there're many activities organised here. One being the many stalls set up along the Yarra River, just outside the Crown complex. As me and Esther we walking along the stalls just 2 days ago, we discovered some really interesting things there.

Firstly, Ashley's family and marketing hooligans, setting up a stall selling some really delicious mee siam and laksa which we had for dinner that night.

We also later stumbled upon the ACCF posse, squatting by the side of the stalls like the true Asians we are, eating the same thing we had as well. The food was really good.

The whole atmosphere was simply amazing. I felt so much at home, being surrounded by so many Asians or even Aussies who're into the festivities as well there. It was like being in a pasar malam, except that it was much cleaner and they had outdoor karaoke sessions there as well...
It was a beautiful cool night, perfect for a walk for the both of us, exploring the many stores, offering the many delicacies I so miss like taufu fa, ba kwa's and even massages. The colours splashed everywhere by the laterns lit and fire licking up the woks of Chinese dishes prepared all around were mesmerising. 'Home' wasn't too far away after all...

What a night.

Anyways, as a conclusion thus far, life in the city has offered many things to do. A life that can be kept busy and content, even without an internet connection, dare I say. The convenience of it all is the key aspect of it, I guess. A 10-minute walk to Esther's place, church, as well as Chinatown, 5 minutes to JB Hi-Fi or Rose Garden, and 15 minutes to uni. Almost everything I need at a stone's throw.

Oh, and it saved me so much time and effort on preparing for Valentine's Day as well. But that's a story to tell for another time.

*Yawn. Goodnight, folks.