S@ndm@steR

Rethinking on Birthdays

2010-01-28T00:40:00.001+08:00

Should be celebrated as giving birth day as a tribute and thanks to your mother because they endured the pain and struggled between life and death.
To my mother, in the coming of my birthday, THANK YOU MOM. I owe you and dad a lot. HAPPY GIVING BIRTH DAY. Lots of love, your son.

rambling thoughts

2009-11-24T18:39:00.002+08:00

It's been quite a while since I wrote anything in this blog.
After my exchange program in Sydney, I was caught up with the exchange report, internship report & presentation, final year project, club activities, and catching up with friends and relatives. I've missed writing and I forgot how I used to write. Now, I'm trying to start back after various attempts to blog ( I've got another blog which has been abandoned). Even though I've not yet decided to write about anything, it'll be my freedom to write anything on the blog.
Hopefully I can do weekly or at least fortnightly updates on my blog.

Sydney Aquarium field trip

2009-06-13T00:56:00.000+08:00

Fishing in Australia comments

2009-05-25T08:21:00.001+08:00

Sorry for the delay. I was held up by tests and assignments last 2 weeks..huhu..
struggling to cope with the subjects. :)..no worries...

Fishing in Australia

2009-05-25T08:06:00.000+08:00

Malaysia Hall BBQ

2009-05-03T20:57:00.000+08:00

Actually this event happened quite some time ago during summer.. Now it's winter..
lol..sorry xupdate..working hard to update..
had a lot of fun and food during the bbq..
great time n great friends..

Malaysia Hall BBQ (pics)

2009-05-03T20:39:00.000+08:00

serbuuuu

ramai2 buat2 sibuk

hungry faces...

other hungry faces

food

pn nora and kak nany

lets cook

my car?hehe

UNSW International exchange expo

2009-04-23T18:08:00.000+08:00

expo

UNSW exhannge office staff and an Aussiemate

my table..huhu..xmenarik..

China mainland friends

Korean friend, Ho yeon. the girl is the staff
Firstly, I'm truly sorry that I haven't updated my blog for a very long time.
I kind of caught up with assignments and class and trips, but I really was not in the mood to write. However, I'll try my best after this to keep updating as my exchange is nearly over.
The UNSW Exchange Office organised an expo on doing exchange and for us exchanger, we can set up a booth to promote our own countries and also our universities.
I had a tight schedule that day and I was able to be there for around 30 minutes. Unfortunately there were no one interested to come to Malaysia yet. I should have stayed longer doing promotion. There were quite a number of people there interested in doing exchange. Well, hopefully there will be someone that is interested to come to Malaysia. Other countries have big posters and lots of gifts. The Koreans even sent their staff to do promotions. It was fun being there getting to know a lot of new people.

Bundeena Trip

2009-03-12T14:46:00.000+08:00

This is a trip organised by the Exchange office for the exchangers. It's a nice trip where we went by train and boat to the
Royal national Park at Cronulla. Luckily for us exchangers we're entitled for concession discounts for any services like buses,
train rides, or even cinema.Concession discount is only for Australian citizen student and non full-fee paying students in Aussie.
the discounts offered are half of the normal price.It's very convenient as we can reduce the cost of traveling. The public
transport is quite expensive but their service are great. The bus drivers here are friendly and helpful.
back to the trip, we met at central railway station around 9 am to catch the train together to Cronulla. There were around 60 people
including the exchange office staffs. It took around 1 hour by train to Cronulla.
I met friends from Australia,China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea. On the train I sat with the Chinese girls from China, Judith and Elaine.
Judith is doing International relations and Elaine is doing Urban development. After arriving at cronulla, we were given some time to
buy lunch, I brought my own, bread and canned tuna. Then we board on a boat to get to Bundeena beach. The sea was calm because it's
shielded by many island around that area. The water was bluish-greenish and it was clear, we can see fishes playing in the water.
there's a lot of nice views around that place. After that, we walked to the bushes where there were supposedly aboriginal carvings
at the area but we didn't find them. it's probably we went to the wrong path but the hiking was fun. We walked in a group,
get to know each other and taking lots of pictures together. We also stopped at a beach and some of us went for a swim.
I brought my towel and sunscreen but i forgot my shorts. huhu...I was sure I had put my shorts in my bag. It was a pity because
the water was calm and cool. So I stayed on the beach, resting from the tiring hike. apparently, the sun here is so strong that
you need SPF 30+ to protect your skin and avoid skin cancer. Skin cancer cases in Australia is the highest in the world. I need to
buy a new one. Lucky me the exchange office staff brought some extra for those who forgot to bring theirs.
After having fun at the beach, we all went back. Some of us toured the city of Sydney but I went straight to M.Hall.
Pictures are already uploaded.( the jumping pics)

'O'-week

2009-03-03T09:15:00.000+08:00

'O'-week.
Thats what they call it here for orientation week abd the week after is called week zero.
O-week is where orientation goes on for a week for new students and shop (gerai) are set up along the main road in the Uni.
It's like a fiesta during the O-week where they have a lot of freebies (me likey hehe) to give, do fun stuffs and games.
This is the time where student societies promote their society for people to join. There're a whole lot of societies here
such as the Islamic society,christian soc, jewish soc, chinese soc, malaysia soc, anime soc, sports soc, and others.
One of the best things is that the freebies they give are quite cool like water,water bottles, bags( got 3 of em,hehe)
and one shop that promotes career & employment that is one of the UNSW services gave frisbees.Some also gave free food during their
BBQ. So during O-week I did a lot of surveys of the shops and freebies, well most of the societies requires fees to join and some
of them are expensive but it's for the whole year.The sports soc here are great, they have capoeira, adventure, surfing, skydiving,
but all of them are expensive.huhu..I would love to try skydiving.there are other sports like badminton, tennis, and others, but I wasn't interested.

The exchange office also has orientation for the exchangers for two days. They give talks about the Uni, Aussie history, sports soc,
how to survive here and taveling promotions.There's a lot of trips going on but they were expensive.I thinks it's better to travel
with the guys here at M.hall. There was a trip to the Royal National Park at Cronulla (Bundeena beach), and I decided to join because
it was a good trip and cheap.I'll tell more about the trip later. So back to the O-week, I made some new friends, one is Ralph from
Switzerland, had a nice chat with him and another is Ho Yeon from South Korea. I can't remember other peoples name because there are
a lot of them but mostly it's because we only had short chats. It's kind of hard to go about talking and get into the crowd, mainly
because I'm quite shy, but most of them just mingle with their own crowd, I mean they stick with their country pals which they can
speak easily using their own language. So it feels kind of lonely but I just bear with it because I want to be a little less shy
and also try to break the barrier of language.Otherwise I'd be going back to M.hall or jalan2 around the Uni.
Ralph also notices that there are people that keep themselves to their countrymen only and we agreed that it's a waste doing exchange if you only make friends with your own countrymen. He did a good job making friends
with a lot of people because he likes to talk. During breaks, he would just go and chat with other people and well I learn that from him.
A lot of the exchangers are talkative, not shy and also quite open. There's a lot to learn here.Chayok..hehe..

Coogee beach.22 Feb

2009-03-03T08:48:00.000+08:00

Coogee (kuujii), that's how they pronounce it. I went there with the Mara boys here. Earlier in the morning, new Mara & JPA scholars arrived on two buses. This year is the largest batch that Mara have sent their students here regardless of the recession going on. The Mara scholars had to wait around 8 months after their A level before coming here because their exams finished on June last year, results were out on August but the intake to the Unis in Australia is on July, so the missed the July intake, therefore they can only enroll in the February intake.
So in the evening, we went to Coogee beach. Initially, we were going to go to Bondi (bondai) beach, but when we stopped at coogee to change bus, we saw a lot of crowds. apparently, there was an ironman competition so we decided to take a look.
It was sunny and the beach is beatiful and nice. We went up the hill for more pics and the view from the hill was awesome.
Later that evening we went to play soccer at Centennial park. A funny thing happened where somebody kicked the ball so hard that
it went into the pond . so we had to wait for quite some time for the wind to blow and move the ball near to the bank.
It was funny seeing the guys using various method trying to make waves to push the ball nearer.

new pics

2009-02-24T14:43:00.000+08:00

will update more on coogee beach...having a busy schedule...
new pics are here...

more walks

2009-02-24T13:33:00.000+08:00

Woke up quite early, around 6.After Subuh we went to catch the early bus to his shop.My head was dizzy on the bus because hadn't had
breakfast yet.On the bus, Connor was playing and accidentally hit me in the eye,then feeling guilty, he closed his eyes with his hands
and makes sorry face.haha..comel..After some time at the shop, we sent Connor to the nursery. then Abdul Wasi took me city touring.
Parked the van near Palace Gardens as that was the nearest free parking space at the city.Parking fee at the city is way too expensive.
Walked through the Palace Gardens, very nice place and there a lot of trees, a lot of flying foxes,animals, flowers and has a lot of nice views.It's also near the Opera House which I didn't go yet because of the time limit.

There's a lot of people here and tours also. Abdul Wasi said during lunch there a lot more people mostly office workers having
lunch here and resting here.There's also a few homeless people here sleeping around the garden and the city.
Since the recession, there's more homeless people now.The garden is quite big.
Then we went on through the city to a place,Victoria Plaza. He took me to have breakfast at the Laksa House,a Malaysian restaurant.We had roti canai.
The taste was ok lah. the roti was like a roti bom size but it was thicker.
Then we walked back again to the van.It was like a few kilometers walking..fuuhh..Abdul Wasi sent me home after that.
Rested a bit at home, went to the UNSW masjid for the Jumaat prayer.It was a decent size room.There's a lot of people came to pray.
The Khatib/Imam was a middle eastern man.He gave untexted khutbah in English.After prayer, went to the Exchange office for
inquiries.Turns out I need to register at the exchange office and enroll subjects there.Met the Aussie mates here whereby they're
students volunteering in helping new exchange students to go about UNSW and other important details.I also met the exchange adviser,
Ms Elena sinitsiya, when I told my name, she knew immediately I was from Malaysia.Apparently, it seems that I'm the only
one exchanging from Malaysia to UNSW.After short briefing, went to get my student ID card at FM assist.The queue wasn't long.
It was snappy getting my student ID, just give my student number and snap my picture and walla! I'm officially a UNSW student.
Some happy feeling got into me went I got my student ID.By the way, it was also because of the friendliness of the staff at the exchange
office,the FM assist and most of the workers at the shops here that get me thinking kalau kt M'sia mcmni kan best.
It's quite different compared to M'sia with the little Napoleons around.It's also friendly in M'sia but you to experience it to know the
difference.I went to the mechanical and manufacturing school. met Dr Hasan whose teaching manufacturing operations.
He said it was easy and only fundamental.Hopefully.huhu..Walked back home.then, after Asar, the MARA student's invited to play
soccer at Centennial Park which is just behind the M.Hall.I was reluctant because I was tired walking all day long, but then main jela.
Although tired but it was fun actually but your throat gets drier quick and you don't sweat much (peluh kering cepat kot)
because of the dry air here and its chilly also.Th centennial park is big.theres ponds, fields, big trees, birds, ducks,
tortoises, fishes (don't know the condition of the water. if it's clean,then I can fish senyap2)hehe..
So today I think it's the most walking I've ever done, except when I was hiking at Trans Gopeng-Cameron.

walk

2009-02-24T13:27:00.001+08:00

It's been quite some time I updated my blog.A whole lot of things happened and walkings these few days.
It's been hectic with the enrollment stuff and scheduling my timetable and looking for suitable courses.
This week's gonna be more crazy with the Orientation or O-week they say here,and other bla bla bla..huhu.
Third day, well I've got a roommate now.His name's Ramada(his full name is quite long), he wants to be called Along.A young lad,
doing his degree at UTS and he's in the first year. Apparently, he was already here in Sydney last year doing his diploma for a
year!thas like too short for a diploma. Doing architecture or design, can't remember. A rock kapak/kristal dressing, fine by me,
and he also brought his guitar (boleh la melalak nnt) hehe..
Then went to Randwick town surveying shops that has cheaper prices.food for less, coles and others.which reminds me don't go shopping on an empty stomach.the food section smell too good..huhu..

Juices & milk here are fresh and cheap. Bought quite a lot of stuff t
to stock up and had to go back by bus.This shopping trip is the longest I've ever been because had to look at the ingredient label
aon all items b4 buying.We have to use a list that coontains info on haram emulsifiers. They've got numbers on it and just
see at the labels, but there are some emulsifiers that are plant derivative although it has the same number as the haram ones.
Went to UNSW for the first time for the Exchangers Tea Party but didn't get there. I was lost and I also was mistaken about the meeting place.
I went to International House instead of International square.huhu.dah la jauh dr M.Hall.Uphill walking, downhill, up hill lagi.huhu.around 20 mins gak nk jalan from M.Hall.last2 balik jela.
Around 5pm, Sidi Abdul Wasi came to pick me up as we have made appointments. Took me to his florist shop (the Sunda Florist) with his
trusty van. His family and him are in good health.First, we went to pick up his grandson. Connor Abdul Kareem, 2 yr old kid at the
nursery and Abdul Wasi's wife Siti also went there and met her there. After that we went to the shop, and met Shafa(connor's mum) there.
She's working at an airline company I think. The shop's situated at a good place whereby it's near a train station, Milton point.

A lot of people go in and out of the shop. First time I went in it smelled so nice with the fragrance of fresh flowers.
But they're closing the shop because the owner of the shop is taking back the shop.They actually were being lab rat or just to
test the water.They were used whether it's a good place to sell flowers or not. The owner will also be doing florist shop after they've
move out.The owner was also a classmate of Siti's.How cruel the biz world is where money takes over you.
Had a chat with Shafa about fishing, she also likes to fish and she's done smoe deep sea fishing too other than river and beach fishing.
Hopefully I can go sometime and catch some BIG one so that somebody will get excited and come here..hehe..
But sadly Sydney Harbour is quite polluted.huhu
Then we got to Abdul Wasis' house at castle hill.Nearly an hours drive from the shop.Met the other daughter and son there.
Sofiya's in her last year of high school and Abdullah is at year 14 maybe.He plays rugby at the school.
I gave mum's present to Siti and she liked it.The colour's very nice and suits her she said.Had dinner and spent the night there.

pictures

2009-02-18T08:37:00.000+08:00

still struggling to use this blogspot slide show. huhu..
u can visit my pics here

and here

Second day

2009-02-18T07:16:00.000+08:00

Woke up late coz of the cold weather and missed breakfast.koayteow ladna tuuu..huhu
went to Randwick to open Commonwealth bank account.It has the most ATM machine around here.
The staffs there were friendly but the spoke very fast and luckily I was able to get the gist of it.
No worries mate.haha.thats what the staff that handled my account opening process.
then, we had lunch at the Supreme Indian Cafe which is Halal. The Halal council here is very strict.
U can be sued and shop closed if u place false halal certs.Mr firdaus told a story about somewhere in Sydney where
theres 2 butcher shops.One is halal and another is not. The latters' owner then asked why there's a lot of people
going to the other shop, then he was told because it's halal. Without knowing what's halal, he put up halal cert at
the shop. the funny thing is his shop sells porks, so he was selling 'halal porks'.haha.after a week, complaints were
made and the council took action and confisticated the shop. It's nice to hear that the enforcement here is that strict.

At the cafe, I had rice with 2 meat and 1 veggie curry, regular size. Although it was small, but the rice was very good.
like beras basmathi, long rice.The curry was superb except it was not pedas eventhough it says medium pedas. I's like to try
the max pedas one.hehe..I was very full and had cold water (free)..
later on, met a senior from yesterday, Awe,a Kelantanese from tanah merah, invited us to go to his house.
he brought his satria car and his friend a ford to take us to their home since it's quite far at the Gardeners' road.
u can use M'sian drving license to drive here.

Awe's quite chatty. told some tips to buy things and all other important stuff. He's already graduated from UNSW and currently
waiting for scholarship to continues his studies in masters or PHd.
At his home, Syafiq, another grad from melbourne, welcomed us and he already cooked chicken wing kurma.wow..sedapp.
After prayer, we ate rice and chicken kurma with sambal salak(can't remember), indonesian sambal.it was quite nice.
syafiq's here looking for a job.he did chemical engineering.
then we went back and i went straight to bed because I was very sleepy. 2 kali mkn nasi.huu
woke up and then had dinner pulak..fuhh..nasi ayam. drumstick lg tu..sedaappp..so kenyang gile harini.alhamdulillah.
after maghrib went on9 jap, the internet was slow, so i was forced to played games again.hehe.
nite. Maybe i wont update everday coz when i start writing, jadi karangan pulak.huhu..
gonna sleep...zzzzz...

First day

2009-02-18T06:54:00.000+08:00

The flight to Aussie was fine but the landing was delayed for 15 mins therefore we had to fly around
Sydney.I had stomach aches and angin because I ate bread filled with cream with dates on top.Since the person next
to me is big blocking the path so I was "segan" to go to the toilet and endure till landing time.huhu..So next time I'm not gonna sit next to the window anymore.Better sit next to the aisle.

Fortunately for me, I was on the same flight with some 40+ MARA scholarship students (new student)
going to Malaysia Hall.At the customs I was quite afraid that they'd take the Healin products but since I declared the inspection was
a breeze although they had to open the luggage.The MARA student wore a tag that has Malaysian Students written on
it, looks like a special name tag since only MARA & JPA got them.They didn't have to open their luggage since the
tag gives them like a special pass. Works for Malaysian customs too..huhuu I want one.hehe..no tax

They're going to University of Sydney, I asked Pn Nora (the MARA officer here) who is there to fetch them
so I was lucky to hitch a ride on the bus that is taking them to M.Hall. We all had to pay 13AUD which is way cheaper than taxi that costs 36AUD.
The bus driver was quite bubbly as we got on the bus to M.Hall, he talked about the places there and some
funny stories about Australia & other stuffs. I didn't quite hear some of them asI chat with the seniors that
were there to pick up the MARA students. I had to sit "second class" on the floor at the back of the bus (hehe..like the seniman bujang lapok movie) as the bus was quite full with us and luggages.

Took abbout 15 to 20 mins to get to M.Hall. As we arrived there, we were welcomed by kak Nany (the M.Hall staff), abg Sam (chef)
and other people at the M.Hall.We were briefed about aussie, MARA, M.Hall n other stuffs.After briefing, we were served lontong
and it was great.Then I checked in to my room after registering with kak Nany.The room was big and there're study tables,
wardrobe,toilet,bed.It was a bit dusty as nobody used it for sometime but I'm very grateful that I was able to get to live
here as the rent is waayyyy cheaper than other places. 4AUD per day with electricity which means around 120 per month and we
only need to pay 9AUD for breakfast and dinner. Abg Sams' cooking is good. no need to worry about missing Malaysian food.haha.
One of the cheapest I heard at other houses/apartment is around 170AUD per week excluding electricity!My room's in
front of the mainroad and across the road is the racecourse.I can watch live horseracing events later on.hehe.

Later on, I went to Randwick town with the others to see the shops and buy things.Looking at the prices, I need to control
my spendings.When we landed at the airport, the weather was nice and sunny but when walking to Randwick town, it was raining and it was colddd.
After that the weather is getting colder till today I think. At night is even colder.Silap xbwk baju tebal byk skit.
So I had to bear with double clothing.The weather here is crazy..kejap sunny,kejap hujan..reminds me to bring my umbrella everyday.
There's a lot of basic things u can buy at Randwick town, U just have to know which shop to go.the seniors already given some tips.
Got back to M.Hall, had dinner and prayed at the surau.During dinner, I chat with a PHd student, from USM (TI school), Mr Firdaus.
He knows u Abi.what a small world he said.

During the nite, played games with the guys. bosan xde keje.wanted to write blog but my head was still flying.tapi main game xflying pulak.haha.
Sleeping is quite comfortable although it's cold.brrrrr..

hello...

2009-01-21T20:35:00.000+08:00

hello...nothing to say yet..
This blog is created to update my family and friends on my exchange program to Australia.
Looking forward to go there.
Hope that I'll be updating frequently. :P