I Saw Mr. Santa Claus...

Santa stuck in someone's chimney...

Mega Adidas Shopping

My colleague forwarded me an email on Adidas warehouse sale. From the looks of the brochure, it seems to be a good bargain. AUD 3 for socks, AUD 5 for shirts, AUD 20 for jackets, AUD40 for shoes, and so on. Not bad...

So, hubby and I decided to have a look.

The sales started at about 9 am. And we reached there about 10 am. And GOSH, cars are parked till the end of the road. Some are even parked on the grass areas!!

It was held at Adidas headquarters office. They kinda transformed their basement carpark into a super big lelong market.

As we walked towards the Adidas building, we saw many people, who're done with their shopping and walking back to their cars, with boxes and boxes and bags and bags of Adidas items! It really got us excited!! I want to get a new jacket!! I could buy my brother some shirts!!

This was really an eye-opener for us. Really, really an eye opener... I never really had experienced kiasuness until this very day...

Ta-da! Their office basement carpark transformed into a lelong market. No racks or tables to display their items. Just boxes and boxes of stuff. You have to really dig into the boxes to find stuff.


Planning to shop alot and need a trolley? Use a cardboard box instead!! When we got in, the Adidas staff greeted us and directed us here to grab our "shopping trolley".


This is an example of a "shopping trolley" filled with items. As you can see, they're no different from the any box laid on the floor. There're many times when we're browsing around some boxes, and then someone behind came over and said "Excuse me, those are mine". Oppss... sorry :P


Clothes. Jackets. Sweaters. Pants. Shorts. Etc. Bermacam-macam pun ada. BUT... mostly in XL or XXL sizes. And the designs are kinda same. Though it's cheap, it's not really something I'll be interested in. Besides, I can't fit any of them. Still, I wonder why their "shopping trolleys" are so full. Oh, I saw a few shoppers getting 3 or 4 of the SAME item. Big family? Early Christmas shopping? (@_@)''''


SHOES!! Well, at least the shoes are nice. They even have the Stella McCartney range! Woo hoo... But, too bad, they have only size US 7 and above.


The cashier counters... people buying in bulk. Huge, big bulk!



Oh ya, in case you're wondering. Yes, we did get something...

*ahem*

Two pair of socks for me, and a water bottle for him. I think we spent less than AUD 10. And we're the only one came out without a bag or a box.

Interesting Experience in Melb: A Not So Ang-Mo Life

All my life, I have not visited any countries except for Malaysia (home-country), Singapore (how modern Malaysia would look like in Lego world) and Thailand (somewhat like a non-Malay/Chinese/Indian-speaking Malaysia).

Basically, I have never gone out of Malaysia, or her lovely influences.

Melbourne, Australia...

When hubby told me that we're going there, I pictured us staying in a foreign land filled with western influences and surrounded by fair-skins, blond hairs and blue eyes. I pictured an ang-mo life in Melbourne...

It's been 2-3 months now since we first arrived. And to my surprise, life here is not as ang-mo as I thought.

I pictured myself eating corn flakes, milk, sunny-side-up eggs for breakfasts.
I drink Milo for breakfast. The Milo here is A LOT tastier!! More chocolatie and not so sweet!! And yes, I can finished up a 1.25 kg Milo in 3 weeks! Ok ok, I'm denying the fact. I actaully finished it in 2 weeks.

I pictured myself eating sandwiches and pasta for lunches.
People here seldom go out for lunches. Usually, some would pack their own lunches. And some would just eat whatever they can find in the pantry. My office pantry has frozen expired bread (yes, FROZEN & EXPIRED since July), peanut butter and fruits. So, they'll make peanut-butter-banana-sandwiches (@_@)... I usually cook more the night before and pack some for my lunch the next day. It's usually chinese food - rice, stir-fry vege and meat.

I pictured myself preparing whole chicken to be roasted for dinner.
Well, this is kinda true. My kitchen is equipped with an oven. And I just looooove experimenting new dishes with it (n_n)/ I've tried making roast chicken, baked fish, baked potatoes + pumpkins + vege, etc etc etc, and the latest, TANDOORI chicken!

I pictured myself surrounded by blond-hairs and blue-eyes.
There's soooooooo many Indians & Asians around. Sometimes, I don't think I'm in Australia.

I pictured myself to be shorter than average girls.
*ahem* I am taller than I thought :P Ya man, I'm proud of my height.

I pictured a world with less shopping malls and less people in the malls
Till I found Chadstone and Southland. Super big, mega-mall. Packed with billiooooons of people. OK, billions is a bit exaggerating. But there's so much people!

I pictured myself having a hard time finding Asian food and ingredients
In the area where I'm living, there's about 2-3 Thai restaurants, 1 Malaysian restaurant, 4-5 Korean/Japanese, and somewhat a few more Asian restaurants... and then there's 3-4 Asian grocery shops (opened by Chinese and Koreans), 1 Indian grocery shop, and 2-3 Asian mini-markets. If you're looking for authentic Asian stuff (like, the classic blue-red china plastic bag, paper tang lung, penyapu lidi, bright pink laundary basin with a classic flower print at the bottom, etc.), you can find them here.

Oh ya... speaking of Asian grocery items, I took some pictures of some interesting items I found :)


Is mooncake festival coming???


Lotsa lotsa mooncakes in so many flavours.


I found A1 Bah-Kut-Teh!


Lotsa Asian sauces and spices. Lotsa Lee Kum Kee stuff too...


Traditional, classic penyapu :)



I wished I took more photos. But people in the shop were looking at me as though I just came out of prison. Haha...

Interesting Things Found in Melb: Super Cili Pedas Sampai Mati

On the Friday of my first week of working, I decided to join 2 of my colleagues for lunch. I thought it'll be nice to take some initiatives to bond with them.

They bought me to a Mexican restaurant call Mexicali Rose. But it's not the great yummy food that awed us the most. And, no, not the colourful interior of the restaurant.

It was the SPECIAL chili sauce they're selling...

Super duper HOT & SPICY chili sauce...

So HOT, they called it the "Death Sauce".

Don't believe me?

*ahem*


There's a few level of "deaths", i.e.: Original, After Death, Sudden Death, Mega Death, Death Rain, Ultra Death, etc.


Pure Death. I heard this one is the latest addition.


Closer look. I no like scary skull face (=,=)


Ingredients... super chilies and their seeds. No wonder it's so hot.



Oh ya, they even have a website.

For more information, visit www.deathsauce.com.au

In case you're wondering... no, I didn't purchase any of them... and no, I didn't bother to try to taste either :P

Interesting Experience in Melb: Talking like Them

After some time, I began to realise, Aussies have their own slang too.

This is how they usually talk:

AAA: How is it going, mate?
BBB: Not too bad, not too bad. Yourself?
AAA: Not too bad myself.
BBB: Where you're heading to?
AAA: Aiiii am going to the Maccas (pronounce: Mec-kes). Feel like getting myself ayyeeee burger.
BBB: Beautiful!
AAA: Ye, ye. They have fantastic burgers. Would you like to join me?
BBB: Nah. Aiii'll skip. You go ahead and enjoy.
AAA: No worries.
BBB: Alrighty. Cheers.
AAA: Cheers.

Let me try to translate that into Malaysian.

AAA: Wei... Hoo mou? (English: How are you?)
BBB: Hoooo. Sek joh mei? (English: Good. Eat already?)
AAA: Wanna go Mac-Dee eat burger. You want?
BBB: Dunwan lar.
AAA: Ok lar. Bai-bai.
BBB: Bai-bai.

Note to those trying to speak like them:

• When starting a conversation, always ask how's the person's day is.


• When replying a "How are you" question, always say "Not too bad" TWICE. Followed by a question back to the other person, e.g.: "Yourself?"


• Use adjectives like "beautiful", "lovely" or "wonderful".


• Drag the "a" longer. E.g.: "It's a lovely day." >> "It's ayyyyeee lovely day."


• When giving respond or agreeing, say "ye" AT LEAST twice.


• When giving compliments, say things like "You're a star!".


• To say "alright", say "alrighty".


• To say "no problem", say "no worries".


• End the conversation with "Cheers" or "No worries".

Me? To them, I speak like an American. All thanks to their biggest import to Malaysia - Entertainment.

TV dramas. Movies. Reality shows. Music.

Love them or hate them, they teach us Eng-rish.

Interesting Experience in Melb: Toll

Joyfully after we picked our car (see: Jazzy Red Batmobile), we drove it back to our friends' place.

We're still unfamiliar with the roads, locations and directions in Melbourne. And we do not have a GPS. Thus, we printed out a map from GoogleMap on the route back.

The route seems simple. Until we got a biiiiit lost around CBD.

Never mind, we remembered the tram route back home. So, all we need to do is to find Flinders Station.

But little did we know, there's no right turn along the road at Flinders Station. So, we went on. And then, we reached a junction where you can make a right turn.

We thought, "Yay! We found our way back!".

HOWEVER... there's CUTE little sign next to the lane that states "TOLL".

uh-oh... we think we're heading towards the toll lane. We better U-turn.

Then... we drove passed an arch with fancy electronic devices on it. I think that's the toll system.

And we have not purchase a toll pass.

...
...
...

Suddenly, I appreciate Malaysia's toll system, where you can pay cash to a human operator.

...
...
...

Nevertheless, guess I have to go to a Post office and register my car and pay for the toll.

Interesting Experience in Melb: Fingernails

Back in Malaysia, I used to cut my finger nails during the weekend. It's one of those habit you pick up during primary/secondary school days.

At that time, every Monday morning, during the assembly, after the "angkat, turun tangan"... and also the "sedia, baris sedia, senang diri"... and also the repetitive singing of the national anthem and the school song because we sang as softly as the butterflies... and also the "baca ikhrar"... and also the spot checks: shoe checking to make sure it's white, badge and name tag checking to make sure we're wearing school badges and name tags, socks checking to make sure our socks is not too high up, too low, or rolled down, hair checking to make sure it's not too long, not too short, tidy and neat, etc etc etc... and fingernails checking!

At that time, we have to raise our hands with our palms facing down, and the perfects will check our fingernails to make sure that they're short, neat and clean. If they're not, your name will be in the discipline book, you'll have to give your "reason" to the discipline teacher (duh, I lazy/forgot to cut it during the weekend), and a nice hit on the palm from the discipline teacher's rotan.

And thus, the habit of cutting nails during weekend.

Yes, I'm a female. And yes, I would to exhibit feminine qualities. But I prefer my nails to be short and clean.

Anyway... it's been 2-3 weeks since I last cut my fingernails in Melbourne. Why? Because, it's really NOT growing.

*GASP* What's wrong with me?

I did a Google search and found out that, the reason why fingernails are not growing well is due to malnutrition.

*ahem* The amount of food I take is DOUBLE the amount I usually take in Malaysia. I take my main meals (rice, vege, meat) in big portion, then I take fruits (banana, orange, apple), then I take desserts (chocolateeesssssss). And I'm having malnutrition?

You must be kidding?

Last night, I asked my hubby on his nails. And his fingernails are growing slower than usual as well!!

So, therefore, I conclude... Cold weather makes the fingernails grow slower.

(=,=)""

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!!

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

Interesting Things Found in Melb: Letter from a "Prophet"

My friend whom we're currently staying with received a very interesting mail today. So interesting, it got me stunned for a while. Gosh, there is such thing here??

It's a letter from Peter Popoff, a self-claimed "prophet", who is "praying for you". And of course, if you want your prayers to be answered, you need to exhibit faith by *ahem* give money...

Here's some of the content of the letter. Click on the image to view a larger image.


The cover letter.


Hmmm... What is this?? I think it's the "Aaron's rod". What to do with it? Read the step-by-step instructions below.


Instruction #1... interesting...


Instruction #2


Instruction #3



Interesting eh?

Interesting Things Found in Melb: Malaysia Packet Food

We went to the supermarket to do some grocery shopping. And look what we found!

I found Mammee!! Hmm... the Mammee monster does look a bit different from the one we have in Malaysia. This one kinda fluffy and with more furs. Must be because of the cold weather here.


We found Maggi Mee too. There's oriental flavor, beef flavor, chicken, etc.

Interesting Things Found While Packing: 2007 Snort Calendar

This is yet another interesting treasure we found while packing. Really wish we could bring this over.

It's 2007 Snort Calendar. Got it when I attended SANS in Brisbane back in 2007.

Interesting Things Found While Packing: A Notebook Notebook

9 more days to go and we're gradually emptying our abode. Some we pack to bring along to Australia. Some we keep. Some we give away. Some we donate. Some we throw/recycle. And some, we just do not know what to do with it...


Messy, messy, messy...



And one of the very interesting items we found is a "Notebook Notebook" !!!

What is a Notebook Notebook?? This is how it looks like (n_n)/


From the top view... hmm, Dell notebook....


Bottom view...


*Deng deng* Opening the notebook...


*Ta-Da* A notebook with LCD screen and keyboard! It's a Latitude!


Wait a minute... there is something "in" this notebook...


(@_@) It's a NOTEBOOK... that looks like a notebook!!