My 1st week in Berwick (almost...)

This is my 5th day in Berwick. It's been very cold at an average of 10*C, regardless of day or night. However, 1st impression is that I like it here.

I live in the Flats, with 4 housemates. They're all from the same campus as I do, which is back in Sunway. I only knew one of them before, so it's like meeting new people in a way. They're Yi Fon (a.k.a. Evan), Vway Huan, Sabrina and Gabriena. That makes it 2 guys and 3 women in the house. ;P

Of course, each of us have our own rooms, which is large enough to fit in a bed, a multi-purpose table, a telephone, and a whiteboard. Of course, it can get very cold anytime, so I can never wear a single layer of clothes. That is a no-no in winter.

What I have done in the 1st 5 days is quite hard to recall almost everything. On the 1st day, my cousin and his future wife came to my residential, bringing some groceries unexpectedly, especially the kuey tiaw goreng he cooked himself. That was my lunch and dinner as he cooked a lot. And so, the 1st 2 days are quite dull before orientation (other than playing cards [Monopoly, UNO] in the middle of the night).

Come orientation day, my mom moved out of the residential to live in the hotel somewhere in Melbourne city, so me and my housemates went for orientation held at Clayton campus. Of course, I met a lot of new people, which is interesting. USA, China, France, UK, Malaysia, etc... It's 1World.

After the 1st day of orientation ended, Yi Fon, Vway Huan, Sabrina and I went to Chadstone shopping centre to do our groceries shopping. Of course, it's a 10-15 minute bus ride from Clayton campus. So, we planned to cook that day. Me and Sabrina are to cook fried rice, while Yi Fon will make salad (btw, I don't eat salad, haha).

We arrived home at 8pm and after laying back for a while, we started cooking. I cooked the rice and Sabrina does the rest (with me as helping hand). I also cut the vegetables to be used for both fried rice and salad. Vway Huan said that she doesn't really know how to cook, but she helps with the preparations as well. Yi Fon made the salad based on one of Jamie Oliver's recipe. And so, fried rice was cooked with some vegetables and egg and it tasted quite nice, not to mention I was hungry at the time. And soon after, the salad was ready to be served as well. And so, we ate and after we're done, we washed the dishes and utensils. After that, we decided to play cards again, but this time around we have extra 'kaki' (as in extra player in the form of Sabrina).

The next day (Wednesday), Yi Fon, Vway Huan and I went to the Fountain Gate shopping centre to do more grocery shopping. Sabrina was away that day to Dandenong to spend the night with her friend, so it was just the 3 of us in the house (Gabriena if I'm not mistaken was at her boyfriend's family house at the time). After shopping, I went to my mom's hotel on Southern Cross for the night. We had dinner at Little India in Crowne Plaza. It's so nice in this cold weather.

Yesterday, I went to my 2nd day of orientation as we have to register for the Australian ID card for Monash. I went straight to Clayton from Southern Cross by train. I can tell you that I like their public transport system here. It's very efficient, with few blips. You only have to buy a ticket and you can ride the train, bus and tram. It depends on what type of ticket you buy. It's a bit complicating to explain about the ticket system here, but if you try buying the Metcard yourself, it's quite easy to understand practically.

After my orientation for the day ended, me and my mom met at Clayton station, so that we can go visit my cousins' (Medic students) house on Clayton Road. At first, we were at a loss with the directions as we asked many people around us for directions. All the people we asked are unsure. And so, we came across a clinic and asked for directions. True enough to my instincts, I knew we went in the wrong direction. So we turned back. 20 minutes later, it was already nightfall and we managed to find my cousins' house. We were greeted by one of their housemates (Safuan is the name). At that time, my cousins weren't home yet. 1 went to play futsal and the other was on his way back. And so, Haris (one of my 2 cousins in the house) came home and was pleasantly surprised to see us. And so we talked until my other cousin (Azlan) got back home from futsal. I also got to meet the rest of the household (the other 2 housemates were Hashrul and Beh). So, me and my mom and my 2 cousins along with Hash went for dinner at Sarawan. After that, my mom went back to the station to get back to her hotel. And so, me and my cousins bid her farewell at the station.

I stayed at my cousins' house for the night since they got PS3, LOL. But of course, while waiting for Hash to be back so that we can play FIFA2010, I surfed the Internet on my cousin's desktop cum TV cum PS3 (I call it a multi-purpose TV). At around 11pm last night, Hash was back and we went to his big room downstairs to play PS3. 1st I teamed up with my cousin (Azlan) and we used America (Mexican club) against Hash and my other cousin (Haris), who used Arsenal (a.k.a. Gunners). They won the 1st match 3-2. But after that, we thrashed them 3-0, using the same team. ;P Next match, me and Hash teamed up and we used Arsenal. My 2 cousins used America. 1st they got thrashed 4-1, and we switched teams so that it's a more level playing field. Me and Hash lost 2-1 after that. LOL. And after that, it was time for sleep, although me and Haris are still wide awake. He was watching his TV series on his laptop, while I played his PS3 (Game: Split Second, a brutal racing car game). By 2am, both of us went to sleep. I slept in my cousin's room as his bed was double, fit for the both of us.

I woke up at around 6.30am as it was too cold to continue sleeping anyway. And so, after doing the necessary prayers, I continued playing that game. ;P At around 8.15am, I decided to go back to Berwick Residential, just to check on my room. I arrived at around 9.07am, but along the way, I ran into both Tsi Yin and Cynthia on the train, who are also living in Berwick residential, just 2 blocks away, so it's quite near. After I got home, I washed my face and have breakfast (cereal + milk). Standard saving breakfast procedure.

At around 11.30am, I'm going to go back to my cousins' house to follow them do our Friday prayers nearby at a mosque. And so, that is the end of my 5 day diary of life in Berwick (not to mention other places as well). I'll update further soon.

P/S We seriously need to revamp our public transport, or we will lag far behind other economies in the world and become stagnant.