Day 4 in Melbourne of Being Less Homesick

No consistency in this entry as I write whatever that goes through my head.

I’ve finally lodged a second application for my somewhat permanent accommodation – and despite looking a little shabbier than the first newly constructed condominium I signed a 1 year lease for but will be cancelling, I think I’d enjoy it just as well despite its lacking in certain facilities – there’s only a coin-operated washing machine (an outrageous $3 per 30-min wash!), some treadmills I can use at another building some 20 mins walk away, among others.

I woke up at 7.30am bright and early today when the alarm of my cellphone rang with the annoying ringtone of “HEI SAN ARR FAI TIT SAN ARR HEI ARR FAI TIT HEI ARRRRRR!!” repeatedly and Ghavin, who for some reason was sleeping next to me on the couch, sorta woke me up and in my midst of extreme sleepiness tried to shut the alarm off before turning off my phone completely to do the job.

I initially wanted to leave earlier, but after a setback of several things which include a sudden stomach ache, I left Ghavin’s place and walked smack into the cold of 5C touching the bridge of my nose, my ears, my lips with its cold, icy fingers. I had on 4 layers of different clothes – a white tee, on top of which is a long-sleeved shirt, a vest, and a jacket. And yes, this is how I go to bed nearly every night lol.

I played Monopoly with Ghavin’s housemates and friends yesterday night – it was the World edition and reportedly cost AUD$60, and that’s because we were all using makeshift credit cards, and we can insert our credit cards into this rectangular machine to transfer money etc. :D Talk about an advancement in board games!

I also was out the entire yesterday from 9am-10pm and it was.. massively tiring – haven’t walked so much in a long time, and in summary for yesterday:

– I made a new friend, Alex, who was incidentally from my college back in Subang too, during our enrollment – it was funny, ‘cause I was looking at him, and he looked at me as if in recognition and, though I don’t remember ever seeing him, I smiled anyway and put my hand up briefly in a way of greeting, and when we were going up to the comp lab, we became friends. And even more stranger twist of fate: if I hadn’t forgotten to bring my offer/confirmation letter, I wouldn’t have went to the International Students Department or whatever it was called to have it re-printed (and it took me about 30-40 mins to queue up and get the letter), then I wouldn’t have met Alex, who in turn wouldn’t eat lunch with me and Ethan at Hungry Jack’s, and we wouldn’t have talked about our accommodation issues, and I wouldn’t have followed Alex and his mum and his cousins and relatives to his accommodation where I got to learn about my new place of residence.

– Chatting with my mum on GTalk was hilarious – “sangat kedekut lah you” was what she wrote when I wanted to save my money for travelling instead for my education.

– I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but I’m sorta used to the cold now, in a numbing sorta way ‘cause my senses must be frozen or something.

I’m actually happier when I walked around the city – I’m still not used to the grid-like roads and have gotten lost plenty of times – but I think my homesickness has lessened considerably, and there are just so many amazingly beautiful things to see!: the beautiful moon on an often-cloudless sky, the flames that go ablaze near the Southbank at 8pm sharp every night, the occasional odd monuments/statues/carvings scattered throughout the city, clusters of Asians and Caucasians walking everywhere, the amazing efficiency of the public transportation system which includes the trams & the trains (not that I’ve tried ‘em yet) as well as the pedestrian-crossing system and there are bicycle lanes, the list goes on.

Notwithstanding the fact that racism is abound – especially among the elder Australians. I’m a minority in my own country, and to think that I’m an even minor minority abroad puts me in apprehension sometimes chatting with the other locals – so far I’ve been talking to mostly Malaysians and even the place I’d be staying at is Malaysian-owned. >____> Ironically, this is what I was trying to avoid, but I guess the comfort of having something familiar to me succeeded in drawing me in.

But earlier before I entered RMIT University to utilise its computer lab, Beth or Beck, an Australian girl with the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen that made me wanna stare into them forever, stopped me and made some small chat with me – apparently she’s from this UN agency working on the Darfur/Sudan refugee problem and was trying to solicit donations – I had to tell her “I’m really sorry that I couldn’t help” and she replied, “Oh, don’t feel bad! I’m not here to make you feel bad” lol. I’d have wanted to help if she didn’t tell me that people normally donate like $30/month. >_____________> And I can’t do a one-off payment either.

I’m hungry now, gonna meet a friend for lunch in the CBD. I’m feeling really happy and great since yesterday night, and I hope it remains that way.