Post-Vesak Day

 After market, I’ve went to Adelaide’s temple for prayers in conjunction with Vesak Day. I suppose this is the Australian spelling of Wesak Day. Its structure looks wonderful as you can see. It even seems like an imperial palace. The temple is located quite far and it is so inconvenient to go there. Lucky thing I had Eric and Shu Yi as companions. Everybody else seemed so tied up with their studies that they did not want to go. I almost catch a cold for travelling there as it was raining throughout the journey. I’ve never seen so heavy and long rain in Adelaide before.

I managed to Skype with my family and my relatives came over to “their” house. I’m glad that my cousin, Wei Li got the JPA scholarship to study her A-levels as well as the 6-years medicine degree in Poland. Like wow! Congrats to her!

I ended my night by watching Digimon Tamers with Jeffrey. It really brings back memories, but the beginning part of the series is a bit boring. Hope it gets more interesting soon so that it is worth my time watching it. After all, getting to spend time with him is worth the time.

My Most Productive Day in Adelaide So Far

What a tiring and shocking day for rushing my Communications and Information Systems in Business 2500 words report. I managed to finish it right ON the due time of 5pm. I am pretty worried as I never get to check through one-fifth of it, and I did not do the Introduction and Conclusion of the report. I’m just glad that I successfully submitted right on time, but I’m not too sure whether it’s considered on time since I submitted at 5:00:10pm.

Jeffrey cooked half of the dinner and it’s his second time. The food was great and I really hope I can be like him soon. Night turned out fun for me as I get to play Kingdom Hearts, but it wasn’t too good for Eric and Su Ling who each wanted to be alone for that night. I hope they are okay now.

I have one last assignment to go for this semester which is Quantitative Methods report. I hope all goes well for this one, unlike the one above. After that, I can prepare for my final exam which is in 3 weeks time. Yeah, time does pass swiftly.

Roxas-Motivated Diary

After playing Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, I have been inspired to change my blogging concept to a short and simple diary, like what Roxas usually do.

Today, my Communications and Information Systems in Business tutor, Ms Kathy Darzanos complemented someone in front of the whole class about being the best presenter who showed great confidence and connection with the audience. Although she didn’t mention the person’s name, I am very pleased with myself because she personally told me the same thing a week before that. I felt acknowledged by the fact that at least I’m not fully being discriminated by the locals here.

Tonight’s Aikido was one of the best as we applied the skills we learned so far and had a good practice on break-falls. After that, Vernon brought me to Pancake House along with our Aikido partner, Sam. This is the first time I’ve been here despite staying right above it for 3 months plus. I really loved the Dutch Chocolate Fudge pancake topped with vanilla ice-cream.

Immersing Deeper into South Australia

As you can see, this is my second post on the tranquil city of Adelaide. But it wasn’t all that calm as there was a mild earthquake here with a magnitude of 3.2 on last Thursday night. Oh, and at this very moment is the first time I see such heavy rain here.

Well, I shall begin with my second analysis on the lifestyle here which would be slightly different from the first one, after getting to understand more in the past 2 months. Time really flies! Before I head on crapping about philosophy, just have a look at some of the things I have been through the past few weeks.

The girls (Su Ling, Sylvia Wong, Christabel Tan, Goh Zi Ling, Winnie Wu) in one of my new friend aka senior, Zi Ling’s 21st birthday party

Home-made lamb chop by my housemate, Chin Keat (eaten by him, me, Gan Soon Keat, Sylvia and Danny Tan)

Photo of me at the park along Torrence River, taken by Danny who is one of the professional photographer who came along

Crazy things I did with my friends during my 2-week mid-semester break:

One of my cycling partners, Victor Lam (we cycled for a distance of 30km to Henley Beach just for Fish N Chips)

The other cycling partner, Lim Shu Yi, who is the organiser of this insanely tiring and fun trip

One of the many horses along the cycling track by Torrence River

First thing people do when they reach the beach (now you may guess the location of the first photo of this post)

It’s me and them along the almost deserted beach

Cakes and apple strudel (the overrated must-eats) at Hahndorf, a German village in South Australia

Me with red-leaves maple trees of Hahndorf

German platter at Hahndorf Inn, the most famous dish in the most popular restaurant in village (everything was fine except for the pork leg which was so damn fattening until I felt like puking on every bite of it)

Shu Yi, Lam Yee Teng and Victor who went along the once-in-a-lifetime trip (as I will never go there again)

The whole gang of us who include Shu Yi, Khoo Sin Kuan, Cheong Wei-In, Victor, Yee Teng and me going for the trip

The 3D movie that I watched in Norwood cinema costing me AUD22, equivalent to 11 student-priced movies in Malaysia

Speaking of this movie, I really like Sam Worthington’s acting. He has the heroic attribute and his acting potential really brought him up to his success now. I found that it is fate I get to watch all his movies in cinema not knowing that he was the main actor before entering the screens. First one was Terminator Salvation where I watched with Boon Kuang. Second one was Avatar where I viewed it with Cassandra, Wen Han, Lai Yenn, Jon, Sam, Aunt Jeannette and Aunt Kay. Third one is this with my new close buddy, Vernon Foo, Chan Wai Meng, Bob Ooi and his friends. All his movies were really worth watching and had impacts which blast into my memories. Moreover, he is an Australian, and I hope I can meet him in person one day!

The best concert in town which I have missed, I guess you all should know who is she (tips: she’s an Alejandro who dances in the dark, then she telephones you to give you a bad romance, lastly she uses her teeth to eat your heart like a monster; I hope after you found out the answer, you don’t get too happy until you could die because it would just leave me speechless)

Okay, now the part for those who have the intention to come over to study:

Studying over here, specifically in Adelaide or even University of South Australia, gives you the greatest opportunity to be exposed to the widest variety of cultures. It is not only the Aussies you would be expecting to mix with, but with all other nationals. You will have to learn not only the Australian accent, but also learn how to understand every single person’s unique accent. For me, I have a Pakistani lecturer and a Nigerian tutor for Management Accountant, a Spanish lecturer for Communications and Information Systems in Business (known as BIS back in Taylor’s), and a Korean tutor for Financial Accountant 2. These were only the lecturers. How about my course mates? They do come from all places. Depending on how outgoing you are, you will be interacting with all kinds of people. It really feels like this is an international city. In my case so far, I have friends from Venezuela and Vietnam known through Aikido classes, from Turkey through random conversation in the library, from China in tutorial classes, etc. It is really a blessing to have this kind of exposure as you would not get it easily if you stay back in Malaysia. This exposure would give you an edge in your future like employment, for instance.

I think what I said in the first post would scare some of you off when I mentioned the vast difference between study life here and Malaysia. Actually, if one sticks to that mindset, that person is described as having ethnocentrism. This means that we tend to believe that our culture is always right and others are always wrong when they differ from ours. I’m sure you have learnt that from Communications, just like me. We should always be open to new cultures and adapt to their teaching style. So what if they expect us to be more of an independent undergraduate? No spoon-feeding is something we should not hesitate to learn, because it really becomes helpful when we come out to work in the near future.

Another major difference is that local students here tend to speak up often in tutorials. They don’t just sit down and let the tutor talk throughout the class, and this is what the tutors expect from their students. International students who are new here would normally freak out when they listen to how properly put the grammar and elaboration of the locals here when they voice their opinions. This is another chance for us to improve ourselves. If you can learn and follow their attitude of being daring to speak up, it will definitely boost your communication and interpersonal skills which sets you above your other competitors in workplace next time.

I’m sure most of you who are reading this are studying in an institution very near to your home, and you hadn’t get the chance to live outside your home. So coming here would seriously provide you with much learning experience about life and independence. Living independently also tests your Emotional Intelligence, being street-wise, discipline and determination in whatever you are doing. You will learn a lot about life like handling relationship problems and study problems more independently, making new friends, spending and financial controlling, time management, taking care of yourself such as cooking and buying groceries, etc. This is because living without your parents means you are out of their control and you have the freedom to do whatever you like. And then, self-control and mind consciousness play a very important role so that you don’t do anything ignorant or harmful to yourself. This would really then test whether you are easily being influenced by the friends or people or environment around you or not. It will also make you aware of the importance of time management like how much time you need to spend in studying, controlling your entertainment time, using time efficiently in doing housework, etc.

All in all, I guess studying here is a two-edged sword. You will need to be wise in what to follow and what not to follow. You need to be aware to always step out of your comfort zone if it means improving your self-development. If you can do it, life over here would obviously change you into a better person. But the opposite does happen if you fail to realise what is good and bad; fail to resist the temptation of harmful doings; or fail to step out of your comfort zone like constantly hanging out with your Malaysian friends only or just sitting down quietly in tutorials without voicing out your opinions unlike the Aussies.

I apologise for having too formal English when typing the post, now that I realised it’s no different than a Communications textbook. I hope it did not bore you or drowse you to sleep. That’s all for now. Oh, if you still do not know who is that performer in the concert, it is Lady GaGa. For those who love her, please feel free to visit http://www.safm.com.au/radio-gaga which is an online radio channel that plays only her songs 24-7.

Truth of Studying in UniSA, Adelaide

This is the reality of what it’s like studying in University of South Australia at Adelaide, a story told based on my objectivity without any marketing essence. I bet some of my friends who are planning to come here to study would like to know about this, especially Poh Li Jhuin who requested it.

The moment this post is uploaded will be when I just get my internet connection at home, and you all can start popping me up with questions.

Firstly, I would like to start off with the education style here which is immensely different from Malaysia’s. Today was my first day of tutorials. Classes really didn’t work out for me and I got so disappointed that for one second, I felt like I want to go back to Taylor’s to study.

The main reason was because in Malaysia, teachers teach us to answer and score the exam questions while here, they just teach us to understand and learn on our own. In other words, the information given by Malaysian tutors are sufficient to get High Distinction, but Australian tutors will only assist us in passing the subject. The extra effort and extraordinariness in getting the High Distinction here very much depend on ourselves.

In simple terms, I need to spend more time reading and studying on my own if I want to get the HDs compared to in Malaysia. This sucks! Now I know why I could still afford to give tuition to my lovely high-school students especially Cassandra Leow, Leou Phooi Kuan and Lim Yee Lyn; have time to check the KLSE and identify investment opportunities; have enough brain juice to think of business ideas in order to improve my website; have free time to play my PS2 games such as Naruto, Persona, Final Fantasy and Dynasty Warriors series; have affordability to watch the night and weekend TVB series in Wah Lai Toi, Astro; have the capability to go online to chat and play Facebook games such as Farmville, Friends For Sale and Happy Aquarium; and yet still score straight HDs for the semester. Things are different NOW!

I can now foresee the possibilities which might happen to me in Adelaide. If I insist in obtaining the HDs, I would have to really spend a lot of time and effort in my studies. This means finding a balance between working part-time, working on my business plan, and studying would seriously put me in a hell-like circumstance.

The good thing about this kind of education style is that we would not be spoon-fed, and this is what the real working world would look like. It is probably better to start early learning how to learn independently, rather than realising and adapting to it after graduation. Well, this just means HDs here are much more valuable than in Malaysia.

People here also have different lifestyle and culture which explains why they are complacent and easily satisfied with passing grades. They are very much into drinking, clubbing and gambling. Hence, it is very common to find them ending up in pubs, clubs, bars, casinos and finally in the police station. The last location is because they tend to start fights when they are drunk and cause trouble. As foreigners, walking on streets at night especially weekends are dangerous and strongly not advisable. Many of us students would get influenced by this culture and adopt the playful attribute of the locals, but I dare say I will not!

Coming over to Adelaide means getting out of our comfort zone because we are living without our family and leaving home. This is a really different life experience as everything must be done almost independently although there might be a few friends accompanying us. Things learnt would be cooking, cleaning, where to get cheap groceries and home equipment, what to cook for every meal, etc. These are enough to keep ourselves busy besides just studying.

Another big thing that we have to prepare for is starting almost a new life. Coming over to Adelaide means leaving most of your friends and things would not be similar to the old life anymore. When you begin a new life, limited friends would mean you need to tolerate a lot despite conflicts and hatred. This would take a while until you get to expand your network and know more people. If this happens quickly, you would then only be able to know which people suits your style and who to become good buddies with.

  Free tram ride within the city

Adelaide which is well-known as the 20-minutes city has a very well connected public transport system. Travelling around the city is convenient; one can take free tram and bus rides within the city which stops frequently, or walk from one place to another very safely.

Food is quite of a problem as it is expensive outside. One must be expected to cook at home as an average single person serving outside would cost easily AUD 7 – 10. Not only is the price not right, the taste of Chinese food don’t really taste right either. They are not as delicious as the Malaysian Chinese food and one would probably get better food by cooking at home.

Entertainment here is slightly different from Malaysia. If one is not into the bars and clubs, they would be seeking outdated released movies in the cinemas, or shopping at streets which are known as shopping malls here. There are no tall shopping complexes here like Sunway Pyramid, Mid Valley and 1 Utama; just pathetic un-air-conditioned streets as malls. However, the weather here is mostly nice and pleasing. That’s why they don’t need the air-conditioning and can just use the strong soothing breezes as its substitute.

 

Adelaide is one city which has many festivals and events. The above pictures are examples of what they have. I can’t remember what is it called but it’s just colourful artwork with light projected on buildings producing beautiful paintings on its walls. People here are so amazed with it but I find it nothing much extraordinary (lame would be too harsh). Another amazing event I went together with my housemates is the Pyrotechnics which had fireworks and fire shows in a supposed-to-be horserace stadium. This only happens once in 5 years, so just count this out if you are intending to come here soon.

Seriously, almost everything here is expensive even without converting to Ringgits. One thing I find it unreasonable is the Internet and printing service. Internet usage is not unlimited like Streamyx in Malaysia. It counts according to how much data one uploads and downloads. If exceeded the data limit of the month, one needs to upgrade to a higher data package and pay more. The worst thing is even the Wi-Fi in the UnSA and its computers have an Internet quota, just like printing services. Printing here also sucks, people say that the university is providing sufficient printing quota, but there’s no easily accessible photocopying service here. Photocopying in university is even more expensive than printing out from the computers. This means we cannot photocopy friends’ notes like what we do in Taylor’s, probably because they are very strict in copyrights issues.

Overall, we can have two viewpoints about Adelaide if you are like me. Pessimistically, coming here is like asking for trouble because we pay money to torture ourselves and put ourselves in a suffering state. Optimistically, in midst of suffering, we are actually learning how to survive independently and exposing ourselves to the international culture and the spoonfeeding-less reality.

I don’t personally encourage anybody to come to Adelaide just because I need company here, neither will I give up and go back to Malaysia because life is much easier there. Since I’m already here, I will make the best out of this place. I shall take this studying difficulty here as a challenge to test my true self capability!

The gang I began with in Adelaide

Sick Chinese New Year

I am unable to blog about what I wanted to post, the one about all my friends and families. I didn’t have the time because I am sick.

It has always been a tradition that I will get sick on almost every Chinese New Year. But this year was bad since I am going to depart to Adelaide during the New Year.

Now, I decided to change plan about blogging about you all. I’ll have all the time to write when I’m in Adelaide. I will update it on my Facebook.

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR :)

Something Worth Bragging About For A Second

This is just a short update about myself before I start my longest ever post in this blog.

First, take a look at this: http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/147702?tid=1

This is my first time having a photograph of myself / along with my family in the newspaper. For once, I feel proud and glad of myself. This is an honourable moment for a scholarship offered by the Malaysian Australian Colombo Plan Commemoration (MACC).

These are some photos of the event at the Residence of the Australian High Commissioner:

H E Penny Williams – the Australian High Commissioner giving her speech

Receiving the award from the Aussie and Puan Sri Datin Seri Dr Susan Cheah

Scholars of the MACC Scholarship along with the Endeavour Awards

 Scholars of the MACC Scholarship with the EXCO Member of Sunway Group

For a while, I thought that it was feeling great that everybody starts congratulating me once they saw the news article. But after a second, it wasn’t really something worth being overjoyed about. By receiving that RM50,000 scholarship which is only 1 out of 2 years of my tuition fees in Australia, I will need to spend another RM150,000 to RM200,000 there. Besides the once-in-a-lifetime experience that I would get over there, I am just being ignorant to accept that ungenerous offer.

To make things worse, I think I am the only one who applied for that scholarship in Taylor’s and that is why I got it. If they are only giving out one offer (original plan was to offer to the top scorer of each of the 3 courses in Taylor’s), why can’t they give me just 2 years of tuition fees waiver for my studies in University of South Australia? I don’t suppose I am too demanding for the results I worked so hard for, am I?

Anyways, my longest ever post will be published the night before I leave Malaysia. It’s going to be about you guys!

A Family Phuket Trip

So this was my 4th overseas holiday trip – to Phuket Island of Thailand. I’ve went there for 4 days and 3 nights. The photo above is the calm, peaceful, serene and tranquil section of the beach. Well, that’s my first stop once I reached there since it’s just next to the hotel that I was staying.

What you are seeing down there is a tree trunk which looks like a deer. I wondered if it has been shaped by mankind or formed naturally with the amazing power of God.

View of the hotel from my room’s balcony

From the here onwards, I’ll let the photos explain the activities I did over there.

Visited one of the deserted Buddhist temple

Elephant ride, a new experience for me

I don’t really fancy this. This is because of the cruelty that they were treating against those poor elephants. They have sharp crescent-shaped blades used to hit the elephants when they did not follow their orders. How unfortunate it is if you are born as an animal controlled by mankind, don’t you think so?

Thailand’s Dancing Competition for 2010, seen at the Central Festival Shopping Mall stage (standard not as good as Astro Battleground in Malaysia, but their performances are more professional-based)

I was amused by this scene where the dancers are dressed so colourfully. It doesn’t even seem like people on first glance.

 

Besides these, we also visited the cashew nut and birds’ nest factory and sales units on the first full day. These two food are the local’s famous manufacturing products. It sure was surprising seeing cashew nut fruit being able to product juice for healthy drinking, besides just the edible nuts itself.

Sunday lunch at a Thai restaurant in the “jungle”

Go-kart racing on the way to Patong Beach

At Jungceylon, a huge shopping mall near the Patong Beach

The popular Patong Beach during sunset, not a single speck on the Tsunami event 5 years ago

    A high-class outdoor shopping village next to my hotel

In case you are visiting Phuket, this is a list of restaurants I went which I think their food are all delicious:

• Kin Dee Thai Restaurant
• Khon Thai Restaurant
• Siam Deli Hotel Cafeteria
• Bill Bentley Western Restaurant
• Khondee Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Well, it sure was difficult to find food there ‘cause they are all scattered around the map, except for those along the Patong Beach which would be similar to Petaling Street.

Finally at the Phuket International Airport

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 

 

Penetrating into the Cruel Reality

I guess people who will realise how difficult and cruel is the real society when they start to look for jobs. The word “pity” does not exist in their dictionary, and you will need to sacrifice in order to secure a position no matter how talented and skilful you are.

I have finally get to experience this by seeking internship vacancies in banks lately. Now, I am able to stop wondering why some of my peers are so realistic and mature in their career prospects. It is undoubtedly difficult to find a relevant internship position especially for one who is applying so late. All I can find are those located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, which I would never sacrifice the traffic jam stress to get to there for an internship.

Furthermore, companies normally recruit on a first-come-first-serve basis with reasonable qualifications, and their preferences would very unlikely be first-year undergraduates. These factors absolutely put me at a disadvantage, all because I thought I was going to Australia next year and I won’t be able to intern now.

However, networking plays an important role here. If one is able to know the right people, it would be so much easier to secure the relevant post. Conversely, one who is unknown will have to take the long road. This is the lesson that I have learnt and I will make the world know who is Chin Wynn very soon!

The Last Will Not Last Long

Exams are finally over, and this signifies the end of my first year in degree.

2012 is indeed a really great movie. It was really worth my extra RM8 for buying a couple seat just to watch it in a fully packed theatre. I can’t believe so many people were watching it even on a weekday right after my Law paper. Some of the scenes were really touching and some were so destructive that my heart stopped beating for few times.

The lesson learnt from this movie suits my title. The disaster that happened in 2012 would not last forever. It just cleans up the Earth and there would be a new world after that. So much for what I thought as the end of the world.

Similarly, the end of exams is not something we should be dwelling upon because there would still be plenty more after that.

I was also so bothered with people leaving to University of South Australia to study, or even myself. It’s as if I can’t see my friends ever again. But the last will not last long! It would just be a temporary separation and we’ll definitely meet again during holidays. So why are we lamenting about it?

And finally, I also wonder how long my study decision will last. Will I change my mind again and go to University of South Australia at Adelaide next year? Who knows?

Though I don’t believe that humans will still be able to live in Earth after the 2012 event if it really happens. The weather and environment would not be suitable for them to live anymore. Well, there would always still be hope, somewhere in this dimension. After all, the only matter that keeps us going is hope!