It was a long Monday after the break. Had lessons straight through 12.30 to 5.30. Then rushed home cos today me and Jeremy are whipping up some home-cooked Chinese cuisine for our 2nd flat dinner. We made Hainanese Chicken Rice, sweet & sour fish, mixed vegetables and seafood soup. Was quite a bit of work but all good fun. My first time cooking Chicken rice though not as tasty a those in Hawker centres back in Singapore, it was okay for a first attempt...ha ha! Found out that our dear flatmates never heard or had fishballs before. So today was a new experience for them...ha ha! Never knew fishballs were such Asian things and they are real expensive to but here. You get like 10 for about $2 plus. But all of them loved it. I told them those fishballs that can actually bounce are the better ones...ha ha! Something weird happen too, me and Jeremy bought a pack of seafood soup base meant for the soup but when we started to cook, it was nowhere in sight! We searched high and low for it and even rummaged through the dustbins *oops!* but was never found. Lucky we saved some chicken stock and added some other condiments to make it as tasty as ever. Better than we expected. Guess what, after dinner, we found it sitting comfortably on the shelf. Weird we never saw it... kinda impossible! One of those unexplainable things. Anyway, had a good dinner together before all of use cleaned up and made the kitchen "brand new" again....ha ha! As usual, some pics to share!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
1:34 AM
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Sunday again today....ha ha! Yeah.... today's sermon was on Proverbs 30: 24-28. About the ants, the coneys, the locusts and the lizard. Pastor Benny ho gave the sermon. He gave in a really comical way but one filled with wisdom from God. That is his sermon to us today too. Wisdom comes from God and only God. From these 4 little animals God created, we can learn something from them.
After church today had a combine cell lunch. It is something we have for every last week of the month. Had Pizza hut today. And Geraldine wants me to tell you guys that the DOUBLE BACON CHEESEBURGER from Pizza Hut ROCKZ!!! Just for you info... it's a flovour for the pizza NOT a burger K...ha ha! Was really good though. Today was Ben's birthday too so we had an impromptu surprise party for him...ha ha! He was a happy man. Had a really good fellowship today. Tml starts week 5 of school. Wish me luck! Cheers!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
1:39 AM
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Well, if you guys read Weijie's blog, you should know that I was at his house yesterday. Met up for an Indian dinner yesterday at Northbridge. I told them anything but Chinese. I'm adventourous and wanna try new stuff. Had too much Chinese food since I'm here...ha ha! Since I'm in Ozzieland, gonna try all those stuff not available in Singapore. Though Indian food not exactly to me but I love Indian food anyway...ha ha! We had beef brayani, tandoori chicken, nann, chapati and vegetable curry. It was good, at least he curry is hot and I gotta give credit to that. Last night Weijie's sis suggested to watch a horror shoe so we watched one called "The Shining"! I thought it was really good, though the story moves very slowly, least the story is really intriging and thrilling. NOt just some scary show you scare yourself with. Finished watching that today over lunch. It was a mini series and had three episodes. Woke up late today and cooked lunch with Weijie. Whipped up a carbonara pasta meal with lots of brocoli, carrots and some hot dogs...ha ha! Then caught a bus back to my Studenvt Village, amazingly, the bus trip was quite short.
Had cell gathering at Arthur's place tonight, really cool. Was supposed to have BBQ but there was too little people so we had fish and chips instead. Thank God we did not BBQ cos it rained in the evening.... really thank God for that! Besides Fish and Chips, we had a huge bowl of fresh salad from Tracy, balacava (a Greek pastry desert with nut stuffings) by Geraldine and Rum slice from Sara.... yum yum yum! After dinner we played a game of Cranium and Taboo. Taboo was really really fun. It's a game where you gotta describe something that's on the card you pick without using certain words listed in the cards. Wow... really fun and we all just can't stop laughing....ha ha ha! Well, I'll leave you guys at that! This is Joel signing off!!!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
2:46 AM
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OK OK.... Not I wanna say but is like went Fremantle for Fish and Chips yesterday. So is another food episode again...ha ha!Yesterday was cell outing and all of us drove down to Fremantle. For those who don't know, Fremantle is a Harbour town.... like a port. A really cool place by the waters. Classic! And they sell like seafood and fish and chips everywhere. The seafoods good, the ambience good too. Went to this place called Kaili's Kitchen. Wow... the seafood they have on display are amazing. All looks very appetizing. I had one called seafood delight. A piece of fish, two squid rings, two prawns, two scallop and tons of fries. I mean tons of fries. This is the first time I eat Fish and chips till wanna burst. All the fries were thick and huge and covers the whole plate. In the end we had so much leftover of fries that we consolidated and brought it back. The wind was really strong that night, probably was the sea breeze. Took a walk along the water along the wooden wharves after dinner. Though cold, the night was crisp and fresh.... really good atmosphere. We trotted to Baskin Robbins to get some ice cream. But i didn't get any cos thought it's enought for that night. Well, guys enjoy the pics. How nice it is, all in the pictures. Pictures says a thousand words. You be the judge!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
1:10 AM
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Sunday was fun!!! Had a really good service today in church. Ther sermon that day was to turn away from our sinful habits and to be free and holy. The speaker was really good and comical too. But don't really remember his name. After that, we all went to have lunch at some Asian hawker food court where they finally have some decent Malay food. The best I tasted in Perth... was good man. But the prata was really expensive, like apiece fro $3.50, a big piece though. Then, we all had soya bean milk, tasted like it was back in Singapore. That night, went to play Captain's Ball with Mary-Ann and Geraldine. It was a whole big group of youths from church. Wow... they are really fun people. The guys ended playing rugby instead. And I mean REAL RUGBY, not touch rugby... a little rough but all in good fun. On top of that, it was really great playing in the cool winter evening.... not too cold and never humid...ha ha! That was the first time I went to Weijie's Uni too, UWA, we played at the field behind the library. Saw UWA upclose for the very first time. Very different from Murdoch Uni though. There, is like a real Uni Uni, all with the Roman pillars and the british architecture. The architecture gives out a sense of romance and beauty. No wonder Weijie says couples go there for their wedding photoshoot. However, I still like Murdoch with the open spaces and tranquil surroundings. That, you don't get in Singapore at all.
That night, at about 9, all of us went down to Baskin Robins to have ice cream. Baskin Robins is like the Australian version of Swensens. But with much much more flavour. Think I had one called Jamaco roast almond( I think), good good. Really lives up to it's name. And the night is still not done yet, all of us went back and played Mahjong and Bridge till like 5 am....ha ha! Crazy liao everyone, cos this week is break so there's no school. Well, is just one of those crazy nights...ha ha! Now... still have 1 more essay to go. And oh, before I go, on Sunday I learnt somehting new. It seems that in Australia, they slang for mosquitoes is "mozzies"...interesting! Cos when we played Rugby till about 6.30pm, all the mosquitoes start coming out. They are really huge though. Oh well, you guys take care! Cheers!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
2:15 AM
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Another study week has gone by.... it seems that I only update my blog during the weekend periods huh. Ha ha... well, nothing special happen during the week anyway. But this week is non-teaching week... no lessons.... WOOOHHHOOOO!!!!! But no exactly a holiday also, gonna do my assignments and catch up on all the readings I gotta do. No lessons means a good break too before more work comes...ha ha! Got 2 essays to write though and it's not an easy task after 2 years and 4 months of National Service. Been a long time since I wrote a scholarly essay but I'm gonna give my best shot anyway! Yeah.... oh my buddy jeremy just got a 4-wheel drive Suzuki...how cool is that. We thinking of driving somewhere to check out the Australian countryside, hopefully we'll get to do it during the break....ha ha!
Yesterday went to another FCC Cell, to have a look. Thanks Geraldine for the invitation. Had a really good time sharing and praying for each other. Feel more bonded with them too. Now gotta choose between 2 cells sia, a difficult choice but I'm gonna pray about it. And yeah... thanks Sarah for your 'roasted' red bean soup....ha ha!
Anyway, today went to have the dim sum buffet already.....ha ha! Wah... quite true right, I write about food everytime. But you guys don't get it wrong lah. I eat like normal food during the weekdays and save my stomach for the weekends...ha ha! My 3rd time there in 5 weeks. No choice lah, $11, the cheaper food you'll be able to get in a restaurant. Brought Joey, Lydia, Raine and Mei Si there. Cos they are dieing to have some dim sum. The transport system here is terrible, took us a long time to get there but at last I figured out how to get there from my school. Well, it's worth the while for the buffet lah...ha ha! At the same time, met Weijie there too with his friends. We ended up shopping around this shopping centre called Carousel before heading back home.
Tonight, cooked dinner for Jeremy, Lydia and Mei Si. Lucky they were around to taste some of my cooking....ha ha! We did steak today with baked potatoes and corn. Jeremy went out to get some vanilla ice cream and strawberries for dessert too. SWEET! Had a good dinner today... yeah! Yeah... tml gonna have church again. Looking forward to the worship and fellowship again! Have a good Sunday guys and gals!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
1:14 AM
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Alright people.... yesterday I went to my friend Layton's house to stay over night. And his mum brought us to eat the best dinner I ever had (in terms of food) so far in Perth. Sadly i did not have my camera with me but just let me describe as explicitly to you as possible. I'm sure you'll drool at the end of this.
Last night we went to this chinese restaurant called GRAND PALACE in Perth City, just over seeing the bell tower. The restaurant stands by itself. Though it is a Chinese restaurant, it's exterior is of an European style. Really classic. Once you step in, you can see the zen design of wooden flooring but post-modern circular lamp shades. The table tops are furnished with the classiest tableware. Besides the usual bowls and plates, there's a wine glass and the napkin is held by a silver ring. Once you sit in your black leather chair, the manager of the restaurant will come and place the napkin on your lap. Right behind youat the foregroup, you'll see a really gorgeous bar complete with bar stools made for the 21st century. Turn your head a little and see the huge racks of wine and champagne. Classy huh. Let's get on to the food shall we?
There's 4 of us, my friend, his mom, his himestay and me. First came our soup, I ordered Hot & Sour soup, it was really good. The soup here comes in individual serving so you can pick what you want.
Then, comes the main course. PEKING DUCK!!! Apparently his mum ordered a duck earlier in the day. The waitress pulled out a trolley with the deliciously roasted duck on the top. They cut and served us. Peking Duck comes with 2 dishes. First, is the standard crispy duck skin wrapped in the "spring roll" skin. Next, the meat of the duck was diced up and served again in iceberg lettuce. Really cute, they have the meat cook again with some veg and put in a lettuce leaf that forms the edible bowl. Sweet!
Next we had sizzling chicken and sizzling King Prawns. And they are really sizzling. The waitress comes out with the bowl of chicken and prawns, accompanied with a hot plate. Then, she'll pour all the ingredients in the hot plate and it will sizzle in front of your eyes. The chicken's great and the prawns all fat and juicy.
Then comes the boiled beef cooked in chilli oil. My first time tasting it and is really good. Must learn how to make sia. Was tasting and trying to make out how it's made. Asked Auntie and she gave me some pointers....gonna try....ha ha!
After all that, lastly comes the dessert. Another special, sweet potato in pan cake, fried till crispy. But, totally not oily at all. Crisp at the right place and is kinda like a pastry feel too. Served like a French dessert on a classy rectangular porcelin plate. Two pieces of pancake, one scoop of ice cream and whipped cream. Absolutely marvellous!!!!
Wow.... one good satisfying meal for the week....ha ha!
DDDDDDDRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
1:49 AM
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Been a week before I update my blog. Should update it more often sia. Today I'm gonna tell you guys my first impromptu birthday party for one of my flatmates. Tuesday the 9th of August (same day as Singapore's National Day), it was Mark's birthday. We had sort of like a celebration for him. Carol made a chocolate cake for him with jelly beans complete with candles. Then all the girls in our flat decided to have a fashion show for him. They all suddenly become so hyped up and dressed up for the fashion show. Really funny also lah...ha ha! Then they made the guys do it too. I just put the scooby doo blow up on my head.... nothing to wear lei....ha ha! But it was fun lah.....really bonded us altogether.....ha ha!
Also, that night Carol cooked a Singaporean meal for us. Got laksa, green bean soup and fried rice. Not bad sia.... so long never eat Laksa really miss it sia! Ban Mien and everything....ha ha!
Anyway, tonight finally got to watch the National Day parade with the Singapore Link. Had a pot luck session too. Wah... so much food huh. Think really blessed lah....ha ha!!! More food coming your way!!!!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
1:16 AM
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It's Sunday today and I finally got to go to Faith Community Church. Lucky me, got to know so many people even before I went to the church for Sunday Service. Yeah... so wasn't so bad after all. Not a total stranger and don't feel weird there. Good thing that many of the people from Murdoch U also worships there. Got to meet some of my ACJC schoolmates whom I never had the chance to meet when I was there....ha ha! Went for the 11pm service. Started with a really good session of worship. All the songs we sang, most of them I know and they style of worship is quite similar back home so I had a great time worshipping. This was followed by some short announcements and welcoming new comers, well I stood up and they all clapped warmly for me before handing me an envelope with some stuff inside. There's like a magnet with their church imprint and some other information brochure I think. Next, we had a really good sermon by Pastor Benny Ho. He preached on the Holy Communion today and how we should approach it. His preaching is really clear and amusing at times. It ended with a time for response before we had holy communion. The sanctuary is more of a comtemporary kind with just a simple stage so the holy communion is being passed around. We had to like peel a small piece of bread as it was passed around by the stewards. Other than that, not much difference.
In all, I find the church to be one that is qite similar back home. The style of worship and the order of worship are all very similar. Also, there's like a younger congregation and the cell group's really good too. It can just be the church for me.
After church, the whole bunch of us drove in several cars down to this place called CHIN'S NOODLE HOUSE to have lunch. You would have known from the name is a chinese restaurant. We had fried rice, vegetables, beef, lamb, chicken and tofu. Quite a bit of food and not really expensive too. It is kind like a restaurant place and each of us paid about $9 for it only. Had a good chinese meal and of course, the company's great. As usual, got some pics for you guys. Just look at the clouds, the weather is really nicer here today. Neither too hot nor too cold. A real good balance, like having air conditioning all over the place.....ha ha! And the clouds, though they sure look like it is out of some nicely crafted movie scene, they are real, ALL REAL! Will never get that in Singapore though! God's creation is really beautiful! Cheers mates!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
1:04 AM
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Hey people! Today went to meet up with Weijie for some Dim Sum lunch. Did I add that it is buffet? Probably the best and cheapest buffet Dim Sum in Western Australia. Lucky I went running in the morning before the lunch....ha ha! Wanna say thanks to Jonathan for giving me a lift down to the place. You're the best man! The public transport here is terrible. Sometimes, there just isn't bus to take you to where you wanna go. Either that or you might have to change a few buses. The bus stops here usually have only 1 or 2 buses going bus.
Anyway, had a really good lunch with Weijie and we ate till we almost exploded! Just joking but was really full. After that, we decided to take a 15 min walk under the hot and scorching afternoon sun to a shopping centre called Carousel. It's only 1 storey and if you ask me how big is it, my friend came up with the perfect expression. I quote "imagine Takashimaya flatten out" Yeah... imagine Taka is flatten to 1 storey.... huge. Down here, we have lots of space so every store is like the size of Expo....ha ha! We did some grocery shopping and stuff. One of the stores we came across was really cool. Remember the stop I told you guys about that makes lollies on the spot? Well, we found another store that makes your soft toy on the spot!!! And I DO really mean ON THE SPOT. Just check out the pictures.
Firstly, you go in and choose the soft toy you want. Like Monkey, zebra, teddy bear etc.
Second, the stuff there will then put the soft toy stuffings into the one you just chosen. They actually have like 3 machines there spinning stuffings! How cool is that....ha ha! As if they were like cotton candy.
Lastly, there is a Dressing Room where you can choose different costumes to dress up your soft toy in.
Then, you walk out of the store being a proud owner of a freshly made soft toy.
Yeah, in the evening we went to jog around Weijie's Estate again (not wanting to feel guilty of our sumptous lunch). Yep, then watched some La Bi Xiao Xing before Wendi gave me a lift back home. Yup guys, lots of pics to share with all of you! =)
JOEL living for ETERNITY
1:13 AM
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Today I went for FCC's Cell group. One of my friend i met in Singapore, Jonathan brought me there. And guess what.... the first time I went to the cell, they decide to have a big pot luck which they call pot bless. Meaning you're supposed to bless others with your pot luck....ha ha! I thought they have this every week but they said this is like the first time they're doing it. WOW..... I came just at the right time. Such good timing. Had really heaps of stuff to eat. Went to Hazel's house. She cooked chicken curry for us.... really nice. I'm just waiting for that sia. On top of that, there's pasta, vege, fishballs, seafood tofu, cauliflower with cheese, some fried Indian stuff, nuggets etc. For dessert we had green bean soup, jelly and lemon cake. Wow.... Really got alot of food right!!! I really eat till I wanna explode. After that, we played some games. Wacko, really funny, cos the space was quite small and the wacko could only like turn circles and move around a bit. Then played some number games. Simple games but really fun and funny too...ha ha! Think is because of all the people that were there. Then, had a good time of worship in the end. Something similar like what we always did back in Singapore. So it was really cool. This Sunday be going FCC to join in their worship. Very excited. But no photos from the cell lah. Didn't have the chance to take any...ha ha! But some pics anyway, of my school and stuff. Enjoy!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
2:23 AM
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Wow…. Late night again today! Had no lessons but was stuck in the video editing suite with my partner doing our first video assignment. Quite fun actually. Gotta look through quite a few clips and managed to put them together to make some sense out of it. Did some studying in the afternoon, though was really tired. In the evening, went to my friend’s Layton’s house. He was in the same primary school and secondary school with me. On top of that, we were in the same army camp for 2 years! So it’s really cool to have him around. His mum cooks some really nice home cook food. Enjoyed the meal. We had like soy sauce chicken with mushrooms, long beans with fish cake and fried egg. Haven’t eaten these kinds of dishes for sometime. Really nice of them. After that played some Xbox at his house before going to do some grocery shopping. For the people that don’t know, Thursday nights are late night shopping in the suburbs. Meaning shops in the suburbs will stay open to 9pm and those in the City have late nights on Fridays. For the rest of the days (including weekends), every shop (except for some eateries) closes at 5. Can you believe that!
Anyway, tonight went to the Tavern in my Uni. Kinda like a club/pub place in the Uni. Every Thursday nights is like a Theme night. Today’s theme was “WHAT YOU WANNA BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?” I didn’t really dress up cos didn’t have anything to wear. But some did. Got doctors, surgeons, police, nurses,fireman, angels and so on. The funniest one was a guy he dressed up as a tree with like branches and leaves sticking out of him. Then another guy was a lumberjack or woodcutter. He had like a saw with him. Both of them together was really funny. Had quite a fun night. The drinks here are really cheap compared to Singapore. Caught up with quite a few of my friends. So I’m tired now. Got some more pics for you people. Taken when I was in the city last week. And DEL, if you’re reading this, one of the pic shows the shop that actually makes lollipops on the spot! How cool is that! Enjoy guys and gals!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
1:56 AM
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It's been a while since I last updated my blog. Been really busy with lotsa readings to do. But no worries. I have come to sum up for you guys the highlights for last weekend. Last Saturday went for this really cool crusie in Swan River. A river just by the city. had lots of fun, took lots of nice photos. Is organsied by a church called Zion. They had a skit and some really awful karaoke contest....ha ha! But enjoyed the cruise lah, met some Japanese friends too. They're the first bunch of Japanese I met so far in Perth....ha ha! The scenery and weather was really nice on that day. Should have taken more pictures....ha ha!
That night, me and my friend Ian went jogging like late at night. Say about 10.45. Really cold, I had to wear a windbreaker too. Jogged round his estate and found out that after running for about half an hour, you start to warm up and by the end of the run, your body starts to emit "smoke" under the cool temperatures....ha ha!
Sunday evening had a really nice Austrian dinner with my flatmates. Lizi, one of the girls here really sweet. She's from Austria and offered to cook us a traditional Austrian meal. we had like egg plant, potatoes, rice, some chicken stew and also a kind of chicken with cheese on it. SWEET!!! Really tasty and all the dishes come with Austrian names we can't even pronounce...ha ha!
The pass few days were lots of reading and reading and reading. got tons of readings to do and have to complete Jurassic Park. Lucky it is an interesting book sia. The pass few nights been really cold. Some of the coldest nights since I got here. Yesterday had a courtyard party at the Student Village. Bad thing it was raining but think ours had like most of our people going. had BBQ sausages, chicken, chips, bread and stuff. Normal stuff but I thought it was quite tasty. Especially the hot dogs. Think I'm gonna go and get some myself....hee hee! The hots dogs here are different from Singapore ones.
Well, that's all for now. Really late, tml morning still have video editing assignments to do...ha ha! Cheers!
JOEL living for ETERNITY
12:55 AM
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Good Day!
JOEL in OZZZ
"Someday Someday, I will be the one Babe!"
lBonnie lGermaine lGina lHuimin lHuiyu lIanz lJacob lJialing lKanghui lLouisa lLydia lSarah lShallene lSonglee lTeresa lTiffany lYanchang lHana
