Interesting Experience in Melb: Lunch Hour

One Australian culture that we find hard to adapt is their lunch time. Since I'm still unemployed, it's not applicable to me... yet.

Our friends in Melbourne did warn us about the lunch culture here. We did listen, but I think we took it very lightly.

So, about 3-4 weeks ago, hubby started his first day at work here in Melbourne. He came back home with a tired and exhausting face that screams "FEED ME!".

"Darling," he said, "people here do NOT eat lunch!!".

Well, technically, they DO eat something for lunch. Majority of the people here do not go out and have lunch. They usually pack their lunch from home. They'll have their lunch (usually fruits, salads, sandwiches or light snack bars) at the convenience of their workstation.

OH GOSH... How one normal human being be fed with such LITTLE food. Those to me are just appetizer.

Back in Malaysia, we usually step out of our office, walk to somewhere and have our lunch. Back in HL days, we'll have our yummy claypot chicken rice and soup. YUMS!

Anyway, hubby and I are still adapting to the culture here. What we usually do, is that I'll cook extra for tonight's dinner and pack some for his lunch the next day.

This is his lunch set for today. Made fully with lotsa love!


Rice with cute cherry tomatoes, boiled broccoli, baked chicken and ABC chilli sauce sambal asli (a yummy chilli sauce from Indonesia).


Side view...



Ahhhh~ so much LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE in one lunch box (n_n)/

I'm just so proud of myself!!

Indian Food

We had Indian food on Sunday night for dinner in Melbourne CBD. It was niceeee... Kinda different from those mamak food in Malaysia. My friends mentioned that it's really authentic Indian food from India.


Our set meals = chicken curry, massala tikka chicken, naan and long grain rice.


Yum yum chicken curry and massala tikka chicken


Each meal comes with lassi... unsweetened lassi. I don't quite like the sourish milk taste. But it's apparently good when you eat spicy food. It's to neutralize the acid of the spicy food.


Naan is nice! It's not so thick and more crunchy.


My bowl of looooooooooong grain rice. The rice is really, really loooong. It's as long as two normal rice. Like bihun chopped into mini pieces...


See how loooooooooooong is the rice @_@

Home-Cooked Western Style

Since I'm soooooooooooooo free (yes, still jobless), I've been trying my hands on new variety of food. My friends' unit is equipped with oven, so I tried roasting some meat (n_n)/


Baked pork loin chop with pumpkin and potatoes. YUM! I love the pumpkins. It really tastes nice and sweet.


Baked chicken breast meat with potatoes and bok-choy. Hmmm... kinda dry... I think I should lower down the temperature.

iPhone 3G S

I want Apple iPhone 3G S !!

Click here for iPhone official website.

It's cool!

Interviews and Trains

My friends' house is very, very, very far from the city. It's about 20 minutes walk to the train station and 1 hour of train ride.

I had an interview yesterday again. It turned out good. Well, at least I think I did well, I hope. There is this trick question that they asked that I found very interesting...

Interviewer: Let's play a game. In this game, we will test on how you gather and assess requirements from customer.
Me: OK... (heart beat increased 20%... stress, stress, stress)
Interviewer: Let's pretend that I'm your client and you're to gather requirements from me.
Me: OK... (Mind thinking hard about past user requirement experiences... portal... knowledge library... electronic forms... business processes... workflow... )
Interviewer: I want a cup...
Me: @_@''''' (What cup???? This requirement gathering??)
Interviewer: Yes, I want a cup...
Me: (Lotsa images of cup flashing into my mind... What he need a cup for? Cup = water/tea/coffee = drink?)
Me: Do you want something to drink?
Interviewer: Good response!!
Me: @_@''''
Interviewer: No, I don't want a drink...
Me: @_@'''' (A cup is use for drinking, rite???)
Me: Then, why you need a cup for?
Interviewer: I need the cup to stop the door...
Me: @_@'''' Can't we use the door stopper to do that?
Interviewer: Ahhh!! You responded correctly!!
Me: @_@''''
Interviewer: Clients usually do not know what they need. They thought that they needed a cup, but instead what they really need is a door stopper.
Me: (RELIEVED!)
Interviewer: Usually, the responses I get from people is that whether I want coffee or tea, or a big or a small cup. You responded correctly...
Me: Oh thank God!

Anyway, the interview went well. But I'm still not sure whether they would want to offer me a job. It seems that this month is the end of financial year, and usually companies would want to wait to the next month to reassess the headcount.

Sigh... I really hate this wait and idle state I'm in.

Anyway, I went home with a good state of mind. I try to keep myself optimistic and positive at all time. And keeping singing songs of praise to God...

Lord, you heard me, right? Please help me and guide me at all times...


Photos taken on the way back from the interview.

It was just noon. And I don't want to go back so early. I don't want to waste my train ticket to the city. So I decided to take a stroll in a shopping mall.


I found Borders!! I really love to read. I really wished that I brought along some books to read. I wanted sooooooo much to buy a book or two. But books here cost about AU$27++ (which is about RM80!!!)... Sigh, I miss reading...


Flinders Street train station...


Flinders Street train station...


My train is here!


On the way baaccccck.... Bye bye city!

Interesting Things Found in Melb: Electric Blanket

Yes, this is the BEST thing on earth! The greatest invention of mankind! A miracle from God!

Thank God for Electric Blankets!!!

It's now officially winter in Australia and the temperature is dropping day by day. At night, it can go down to 6 Celsius. According to my friend, it may go down to 0 Celsius! Brrr...

It's very difficult to sleep with such cold weather. I do not like the feeling of going to bed. The bed and blanket felt so cold. Oh ya, I dislike going to the washroom during winter time... *ahem* Think of sitting on ice-block...

Anyway, so we went to K-Mart and got ourselves electric blankets!! It was on sale, so it's 20% off the normal price.

Ok, this is how an electric blanket works:
- We bought Queen size electric blanket.
- What we need to do is that we place the blanket on top of our mattress. Like those mattress protective sheets.
- Then, we cover the electric blanket and mattress with the bed sheet.
- There's 2 controllers and 2 power plug (don't worry, it's safe!). One on the left (hers) and one on the right (his).
- Plug in the power and switch it on.
- Adjust the temperature to your likings.
- Since there's 2 controllers, I can decide on my temperature and he can decide on his (n_n)/ This is the best feature !!
- You can also set the timer, so it'll off automatically by itself.
- So, about 15 minutes before you sleep, turn it on to warm up your bed. And when you tug yourself to sleep in a warm and cozy bed!


Our newly bought electric blankets! Say bye-bye to cold beds!




One of the 2 controllers

When Troubles Come

I'm getting pretty depressed these days. I really miss home. And I really do not know what on earth am I doing here?

Many people tell me that I'll have a wooooonnndeeerfuuuul life here. A life full with cotton candies, red roses, cute little bunnies, castles in the sky, bla bla bla.

But it's not true... Life here is tough. And it is tougher than life back in Malaysia, considering that we have to totally uproot ourselves from our comfort zone and move with almost nothing (except for clothes and basic toiletries), and start alllllll over again from zero.

I can't helping asking God for His direction.

But my main prayer is that, even though it's tough here, our walk with God will grow stronger. And our relationship as husband and wife will bond deeper.

Please pray with us and for us...

Just want to share with you a song I kept singing, to remind myself that God is still in control and He'll see me through, no matter what..


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When troubles come I trust in You
For I know You will lead me through
And I know You are faithful till the end
And when the storm are drawig near
When I'm with You
I don't have to fear
You're my shepherd on whom I can depend

Through the day
Through the night
I know You're always by my side
Lord You are always here with me
There is no changing God in Thee
You are the same yesterday
and today and forevermore

Here on Your promises I stand
You hold my future in Your hand
My solid Rock
Almighty God I worship You

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