It's Time I Should Let You Know.

Hey, how's life? Mine's pretty alright, though a bit mundane lately. I have been staying home a whole day each day (almost!), and that has been all. I'm still here in Singapore, haven't found a place to move to yet and been doing nothing much really other than carrying out familial duties, and during my free times, reading books or going online. And once in a while when I thought I'd have enough of this routine, I'd make efforts to catch up with the family and friends over lunch, dinner or just coffee - a bit unproductive I know. Fortunately though, I haven’t been
totally 'caught up' in the country as how I may have been with my day-to-day routine. I mean, I still made small trips outside Singapore a few times recently and that is despite being in a ‘less travel-friendly situation’ these days (will tell you more about it later) and those trips have so far been the key energizers that have kept me going.

Just to add on to the above a bit: I was in Penang, Malaysia, with my family in December 2009 where I visited a friend in a nearby state, Kedah, and attended her sister’s wedding at their resort hotel in one of the towns there. I also took the opportunity to go up north to Seberang Perai (Seberang Perai's a part of Penang but on the peninsula’s mainland) after the wedding to check out Butterworth before I travelled west to Penang, the island, to tour around a little. All was good, and I enjoyed myself a lot on the trip. And then in January this year I visited my parents-in-law in Nagoya, Japan, and hung around at their place for a while before I flew over to Seoul, Korea for a short holiday.

Well, travelling in those places was a lot of fun for me for sure but it wasn't without sheer hard work this time for I was travelling with my child who was at that time only about 4 months old! Yeah, I have now become a mother! I know I didn't write about becoming a mother at all on the blog, and so thousands of apologies for that. I just thought of keeping the news to myself for some time and not share about it with my readers until later or at least until I am ready to do so. But well here it is finally. And just in case you might want to know, my baby's a girl, she was born on 27th July last year at a public hospital in Singapore, and her name’s Hazuki.

Well, now that I have a child, life has been quite different for me. I stay home to look after my baby and every now and then make efforts to be out and about with her. It is a loss of a life outside the home you can say and I pretty much agree with you. Caring for the baby has been but full of challenges and sometimes things just seem so daunting. But lately, "things" have become more of a routine for me and so caring for Hazuki has become somewhat easier. Also, I am carrying her less these days, which is good, but I also go everywhere she goes now and really, really slowly (she’s not only started to crawl but also frequently pull herself upright and grab just about any objects nearby that she sees along the way), though this can be quite tiring and physically demanding on me, seeing Hazuki grow and do new things from time to time is nevertheless fulfilling.

So yeah. I am still here in Singapore and that's pretty much because I haven't found a place to move to yet. I have been doing nothing much really other than carrying out familial duties, and during my free times I'd read books or go online. Living in Singapore may be the same for me to some extent but life has changed tremendously now that I have a child - I am kept occupied with my new duties as a mother and my priorities have pretty much differ; a bit mundane though sometimes. Speaking of priorities however, Hazuki’s awake and crying now, and so I must go. But hey, I have plans to keep you all posted, so do stay tuned alright!

The weekends.

Hey all. How’s life? I’m good, but just a little bored here. The school holiday’s on and I’ve got a whole lot of time to myself now (I don’t even know how else to kill time before school reopens next year!). Nothing much has been going on for me as you could perhaps have guessed. Attended a talk on Muslim sects last Friday night (if you consider Friday a part of the weekend, that is), and that was all. The talk was good though - well-delivered and very interesting. But this weekend, nothing’s on (my schedule) yet.

The other day, Kylie Minogue, the renowned Aussie pop singer, was in the city-state. She was here for her concert tour, KylieX2008, and I had wanted to go and see her perform. But 2 months back (or so) when I checked out the sale of tickets online, I had found that the S$100 tickets were already sold out, and what was left was just the S$350 (??) or more expensive ones. Didn’t want to pay S$350 for just a concert ticket as I think it’s not worth it, rather spend the money elsewhere or on something better, so had to give KylieX2008 a miss!

On a slightly different update however, whilst shopping in Metro department store with Kenji for his additional work shirt and pants the other day, I saw a really huge stuffed toy dog for sale. Nothing tragic happened actually, I just thought of buying the stuffed toy dog for Hasan. My siblings’ home has been burgled recently, and Hasan’s been all traumatized since then, and so I thought I should buy Hasan the stuffed toy dog but not too sure how bringing it home and giving it to him or sending it to him via post will all work, because it’s just too huge. I told mom that my siblings probably needed a dog (a real one!!) as an anti-burglary move. But I don’t know how far my suggestion’s been accepted by ‘the other people’, really. Negative probably, that is why a stuffed toy dog would do. :)

Anyhow back to the weekend updates, I don’t know what I’ll be doing this weekend but perhaps I’ll just stay home and spend my time watching House DvD with Kenji and/or clean the apartment. Weather here hasn’t been too good for anything outdoors too anyway - been raining like crazy with lightning and thunderstorms for an hour or two, or just too hot and humid I could really drench in my own sweat! So yeah, perhaps I’ll just stay home this weekend. So how about you - anything up this Saturday and Sunday??

What’s happening in June?

Still have a few more Japan posts to go (refer to posts in ‘Places’). But I guess I will stop here for a bit because I am quite tired writing about my Japan trip by now. So in this post, I shall talk about something else, something perhaps to do with the oncoming months. So read on...

I am now pretty much jobless. Schools are now closed due to the ‘June holiday’, and so, for the next 3 weeks at least, I will be staying home, doing nothing much, really. This also means no income for me till about mid-July and that is only if schools decided to call me for work right away when new semester starts. Mid-July is a long way I know, and so I guess I will have to be careful in the way I spend my money for the next few weeks, at least. Speaking of money though, there have already been places offering me to teach on a long-term basis when semester starts, which is certainly good news to me, but I am also offered a job from mum and dad who have recently expressed their interest in employing me next month (their company will be short-handed beginning that time). From the way mum spoke to me about it though, it seemed that mum and dad really wanted me to work for them this time but I don’t know yet. Will see how things go. At the moment though I am just happy receiving a number of job offers from a variety of workplaces.

Just to add a bit to the above news however, mum and dad owns an oil-tools company, which has by now been running for about 13 years already. The company is short-handed beginning July because their two workers, my two siblings, will be leaving the company for good - they are moving to Perth during that time (which leaves me with the only one 'fit' to work for the parents). So I now have quite a bit of an offer to choose from and honestly, I’m torn - as much as I like working for my folks, I guess I prefer working for outsiders. Familial requests, as practiced by my family, ought to be prioritized, I know, but I have replied to one of the schools already regarding my interest in taking up their offer (and that was way before my parents' proposal). So I guess I will have to keep my options open nevertheless and will think things through though I know it is wrong to not keep to my promise to the school. I'm sure sometime before school starts though, I will let both parties know of my decision whatever it may be.

On family news however, Murni’s getting married. So home's going to be quite chaotic soon with all the preparation and stuff. Murni’s wedding will take place sometime late June and things are looking good so far. Similar to the days nearing my wedding, I think there will be heaps of airport ‘visits’ too this time as Murni’s future husband and his family (who will be attending the wedding) are neither locals nor residing in Singapore. Murni told me that her boyfriend and his family will be arriving separately in about a week prior to the wedding. Kenji and I, on the other hand, have our own airport pickup schedule to do as we plan to collect Keiko-san and Miho-san from the airport sometime that same week. Keiko-san and Miho-san who will be arriving from Japan are also attendees of the wedding. Around that time too, the family will be expecting Nunun's return from Perth. Hence I guess the week prior to the wedding will involve a whole lot of airport trips by the family apart from the last few wedding preparations to be done.

Lastly, this month also marks the beginning of yet another increase in my flat rental fee. The flat owner, whom we have been renting from for the past 2 years, has recently requested for a S$200 additional fee to the flat rental cost. Not in so much power to oppose though, we agreed to it and so from June onwards, Kenji and I will be paying her S$1.3k monthly, which sucks big time. The rental fee, which in mid 2006 was S$850, has now almost doubled. The good news though is that, S$1.3k per month for a 5-room flat is after all not too bad as it is far below the market price. Also, the owner has agreed to vacate the store room, the only room she is using, as per request, so it is all good. Kenji and I can finally have all parts of the flat to ourselves despite the downside of having to fork out more money just for the rent!

So anyway, having said all these, I guess I have more or less updated you with things and events that are coming up in June for me. So I better end this post here. Will keep you all posted, so do stay tuned.

Been working, using a mobile and talking to Kenji.

(21.01.08)
Soon I will be off to Orchard for some shopping. But before I do that I guess I’d just squeeze a bit of my time to fill you in on what I have been up to recently. So here goes:

For the past few weeks, I have been working. I have been back working as a relief teacher at a public primary school I used to teach at about 7 years ago. So far the subjects I have been asked to teach include English language, Mathematics, Social Studies, Physical Education, Music and Health Education, and I tell you, it really felt good to be back teaching children. Unlike in 2006 when I was teaching all levels Geography on a long term basis at a neighborhood secondary school though, this time I am only teaching on a daily basis, hence I could be working today but not the next (as it depends on whether the school needs me, really) thus my job is rather irregular and my monthly wage varies. Then again the daily relief seems to suit well with Kenji’s odd work schedule so I am just happy with it.

Speaking of daily relief teaching reminds me of yet another set of news I would like to include here: I am finally using a mobile phone!! Yeah, I can’t believe it, after some two good peaceful years of no pointless money-wasting and preposterous mobile habit, I am back to using a mobile phone! Well, blame it on the daily basis relief teaching that I am doing now, it kind of pushes me to have one. Bugger! So since the first teaching assignment this year, unfortunately (or fortunately for most sick people) I have been contact-able via mobile phone.

On other news, Kenji and I have been talking about some plans we have in mind for the year. There were many things that we talked about, some of which were concerning work, living abroad, and moving out of the flat, but basically it’s about where we go, what we do and who we see this year. Despite talking about the plans, there aren't many things about them that we can do at this time actually because many things are still unsettled. For one, Kenji’s management is having a big change soon, so Kenji and I will have to wait until things at his workplace get more organized before we can really find out where our plans fit.

Lastly, we're having a visitor at our place sometime next week. Our friend from uni, Joel, is coming to Singapore! He is scheduled to be here beginning the end of the month. Throughout his one-week stay in the country, he will be putting up at our flat. This reminds me, I have to prepare his room real soon. But I also got news from another uni friend, Abby, saying that she is coming to Singapore as well. Her being here seems only for a short while but one that coincides with that of Joel’s. And for that, I was thinking, we can all perhaps meet up some day (since we all know each other) but I don’t know yet. Will see how things go. In the meantime I am just keeping my fingers crossed. I hope that things will all go well and that I will get to see Abby despite the relief teaching and (maybe) getting all preoccupied with Joel's presence.

So that's it. Nothing much to digest, really. Anyway, I must go. Will be off to Orchard soon for some shopping. But will try to keep you posted when back so do stay tuned.

Wrapping-up Year 2007.

Hi guys, it may be a bit too soon for me to write about the end of the year now, I know. But I really thought of doing this early. So unfortunately I will still go on with the idea and so this post will contain nothing much really - other than a concluding view of my Year 2007 - and I'm sorry about that.

As I was typing this down, I managed to take a quick look at the 2007 calendar that I have right in front of me on my table now. The table calendar was posted to me by the Town Council in what seemed to me like a long time ago. On the calendar though, I found out that today is December 4th 2007. And as I glanced to the last day of the month, I noticed that there is still a bit more of time that we all have before 'that day' arrives.

Well, 'that day' is not like some big days to me. 'that day' is just 31st of December, a day that will come and go just like any other ordinary days. And I have been through many 31st December in my life. But it is just that this time it is the anticipation of a brand new year that makes me yearn for 'that day'.

As I counted the boxes of days on the calendar, I found out that there will be 27 more days before we will all bid farewell to year 2007 and say hello to year 2008. Like I have said, I have been looking forward to this - the emerging of a new year and turning history of this year - but honestly I am scared to see and think what’s in store for me in year 2008 or the year after, for that matter.

Year 2007 for me has been quite all right all through though to some extent it felt like it was whirlwind to me. Maybe it was not really (whirlwind), maybe I was just exaggerating here a little bit. But at a glance, it really seems like it. And I certainly feel like I have been traumatized by many events that took place along the way in year 2007.

In just this year, many people I once knew have died. Within just five months into year 2007, I kept receiving news of dead/dying relatives and acquaintance in Singapore. Both young and old, sick and healthy, these individuals just die. Some died out of sickness, whilst others died out of mishaps like accidents. It was freaky no doubt. And for a while I wondered why lives seem so vulnerable and continuously at stake when safety and refuge have always been the top priority in modern Singapore.

But I knew all these are inevitable. Birth and death are fate and no one can run away from fate. Then again I cannot deny the insecurity and fear I felt. I was fearful of losing anyone else I know after the traumatizing first five months. And I was scared too of making plans for my own future as some of those who have died, as I said, are young and healthy people.

But I know there will be more of such news as I age. So I am just taking those sad news as the initial stages of my life as an adult. But certainly I am glad that news of dead/dying relatives or acquaintance have stopped for a while for now. So at least my year 2007 can come to a rather peaceful end as compared to how it started. Or so I hope.

Well, year 2007 wasn't all about sad stories for me though. On a happy note however, my year 2007 was spent mostly in my native soil, the island city of Singapore, and so I am just glad for that.

On another happy note however, Kenji and I successfully did a couple of regional trips, most of which were places we had never been to. So we kicked the year's trips off with a 10-day stay in Japan in January and ended it with another 10-day journey but in Bali in the month of October. And in between those two, we checked out the island of Bintan on 2 separate short stays. So all was good and we enjoyed our trips very much. Certainly hoping for more to come in the near future though.

Alrighty, I guess I have now come to the end of the post and so I think it's time I share with you my end-of-year prayers. So here goes: firstly, I would like to thank God for giving me a good 2007. Despite the "whirlwind", which was a series of bad things that probably ever happened to me, I am thankful that it has its limit and that everything was manageable on my part.

For year 2008 though, I pray that God would be so kind as to give Kenji and me good health, lots of wealth, plenty of happiness, and long, long longevity to all whom we love, including ourselves! And to all of you reading this, have a happy new year! May your 2008 be filled with great stuff and wonderful people always, take care!

Now in Sanur.

Hi all, I am now in Sanur. I’ve moved (from Oberoi in Seminyak) to this area last Saturday afternoon and have been in the area ever since. I am doing great and hope you all are too. In case you're wondering, Sanur’s been a good place to me thus far.


Yeah, Sanur's been alright. It's just that it's quite different from the other two towns I have lived in since my arrival in Bali. The other two towns (Kuta and Seminyak, that is) were very trendy and therefore really nice to stay in. But Sanur is quite the opposite - it is filled with a huge sense of outdatedness and has too many elderly visitors living in it. So it wasn't quite as fun. And living in Sanur in the beginning had taken me quite a while to get all adapted to it in fact. But things turned out pretty alright and I am well adapted to my surroundings now so please do not worry for me.

Right now though I am in an Internet café (see pic) trying to write out this post. The Internet cafe's quite a small place actually - it has only about 7 computers in total and located in one corner of an Aussie pub. But the café’s nicely air-conditioned and not at all crowded, plus, it has an open sea view, so I am practically enjoying myself blogging and stuff from this café given all the comfort and excellence it has to provide me with. But the café's close proximity to the water (it is only about 50m outside the shore) makes me feel less comfortable to enjoy myself 'that' much as I know that such coastal developments should be frowned upon than supported as they are most likely ‘contributors’ to possible environmental impacts in the future.

Anyway, just to let you know, I haven't done anything much in Sanur yet actually despite being here for 5 days already. I have been spending my days outside the area road-tripping Bali's inner regions. So in the past few days I spent my time visiting temples, observing rice fields, climbing volcanoes (via van) and checking out the island's art culture. Those activities were done mainly during day time so at night I just stayed in for dinner and watched a bit of TV - boring, I know.

Alrighty. I guess I have updated enough and so must go. Mosquitoes underneath this computer table are starting to itch my legs, anyway. So bye for now. Once again I would like you to know that I am doing great in Sanur. So please do not worry for me.

In Bali - what am I thinking?

Hi guys, I am now in Bali, Seminyak to be exact. I know you're probably wondering what the hell am I doing in Bali at this time of the year now that Eid is still going on back at home and Syawal is only on its 11th day.

Well, I am here in Bali to get some job done like counting the number of local gigolos and their foreign female victims. Also I am seeing some doctors involved in the autopsy of the dead from the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings. NOT! Haha. How I wish! But yeah, doing some things close to that.

Anyhow here's just to let you know that I have moved from Kuta to Seminyak this morning. And planning to be here for a bit before moving to the east coast of the island. Alrighty I guess I must go. My computer indicates that I have been online for about 36mins now, so I better give others a chance to get online. So till then. Bye!

A shoutout to mum and asyraf, my two readers at home: We got the 2-bedroom villa so we got ourselves a very big pool. You must come here someday, yeah?

Eid yesterday

Hope all’s well there. Yesterday was Eid in Singapore. So yesterday was a day of celebration for us Muslims in the country. I celebrated the day doing the utmost usual thing I would do on this day, which is to be out the entire time. Eid '07 for me was kick-started with the family at the Ba‘alwie Mosque for Eid prayer, and then it was followed by plentiful house visits and an endless consumption of the Eid cuisine. Despite the usual things I normally get down to on Eid, I found yesterday simply as unique and special as it had always been each year, and I am really glad for that. Today, Eid celebration continues for most Muslim families in Singapore, and mine is no different. But with the weather a bit rainy yesterday, I could only hope that today, the weather would be better so that we can all have a smooth journey on the road as we make our visits to relatives’ homes. Anyhow am quite running out of time now to get ready for another whole day of the Eid celebration. So I guess I better keep this post short. So until then, please take care. On my part however, I will try to update this blog as much as I can despite the busy festive season.

Since the surgery...

Not many things have taken place since my wisdom teeth surgery. Perhaps except for a week-long of recovery, staying in touch with the country’s birthday celebration and being all distressed over the inconvenience caused by the lift upgrading downstairs. Read on...

A fortnight ago, I was on a surgery to get all my wisdom teeth removed. Now though I have pretty much recovered from the minor op and am back to normal (almost), perhaps except for some stitches that are still present in my mouth that are scheduled to be removed and the surgery sites reviewed tomorrow. I am certainly hoping that all will turn out well and pain-free, and I really can’t wait for a total recovery now that I have slowly gained back my ability to talk, smile and laugh, or more importantly, to eat just about any food just like before.

Other than going through a week of recovery, which wasn't painful at all, I have been at mum and dad's more often than I normally would, seeking 'refuge'. Mum and dad's seems quieter though without Hasan around on the weekends. Hasan is still doing the National Service but in Alaska now so home has been quite stagnant without his return home on Friday nights and then back to camp on Sunday nights. Hasan is scheduled to be back at the end of August, and emails from him shows that he is doing pretty well there.

Somewhere along last week too saw Singapore turning 42. Haven’t been in the country all these while (minus last year) when the nation celebrated its birthday, I thought the fireworks display last Friday and Saturday nights at Marina Bay were something new and have made the country's National Day celebration far much larger than before. Speaking of fireworks however reminds me of Kenji who, on Friday night was stuck in a traffic congestion caused by the display, called me up to ask if the fireworks were a part of the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival :)

At home however, construction for the Lift Upgrading Program is still going on. Noise, dust and other inconvenience have been the major 'thing' that we have been getting from the construction works. Just the other day, we had our electricity supply interrupted. We were lucky the interruption lasted less than 2 hours, and so it wasn't that bad. Also, we were informed of the electricity interruption a couple of days beforehand, so we were quite prepared for it actually. But I think frequent interruption in the future can be quite annoying. Anyway we shall see how things go. At this moment though things are still endurable.

So there they are, my update for you. With that, I shall say goodbye for now as I plan to head to Carousel in RP after this for dinner with Kenji. Well, for those who knew it, this is my payback time. I am just so glad that the surgery and recovery period is over. So to Carousel, RP, I shall get even. Ciao.

Updating you via reply mail to a friend

Out of shortage of time and energy, I decided to copy-and-paste a reply mail I wrote to a former flatmate in Tassie. Here's what it sounds like. Though this mail was written a couple of days ago, it should nevertheless update you with things I have been doing recently. So here it goes,

hi kotaro, yes, we have arrived in japan. we have been in japan for 6 days by now. so how have you been? kenji and i are now at an internet cafe in nagano city. a huge sigh of relief for the both of us, we could finally get to use the internet since our arrival in japan. in the past few days, kenji had been very busy and i was just following him around as he settled some admin stuff like extension of driving license, opening of bank account and completed some exams. the past few days too kenji had been trying to get your contact number, but i guess he couldnt get it because we didnt come across any internet cafes and because of that too, i am not sure if the schedule allows us to make some plans to osaka to see you. so do you think kenji and i will get to see you sometime in the coming days?? i really hope so though i dont know how we could achieve that. my time in japan has been really great, thanks for asking. i wish you were around to see me enjoy this trip though. everyday there are new things for me to see, try out and understand. and everyday i am meeting new people. the weather here could be so cold at times but most of the time, really nice - i am enjoying it, no doubt. food is all excellent, i am so well fed. hakuba in nagano-ken is beautiful, and i just feel it insufficient capturing the beautiful winter landscapes on pictures. ahh, many, many more...so time seems to be going really fast, esp. in countryside hakuba. kenji and i will be leaving nagano-ken for nagoya tomorrow. hmmm, not sure what else to say. feels like there are so many things to talk about. never mind. will probably call you now that kenji has got your number. so i will end my mail here, i guess. got to catch a bus back to hakuba to be on time for dinner. talk to you later. take care heaps.

miss you,
marinah

Thru The Voice of a Returnee

How time flies. It is now into the 10th month of 2006. With just another 3 months to go, we will all be looking at the end of the year once again!

As for me, I just felt like I have only recently seen fireworks displayed at the Tasman Bridge. But actually it took place about 9 months ago, when the end of the year was celebrated with much glory.

Bitterness in me nevertheless. 2005 was quite an interesting year to me. I remember 2005 as times when I could hardly afford to accept the fact that I would have to journey on to the next year because "next year" means leaving Hobart to continue with life's journey. So it was just hard for me to leave 2005.

But as many of you know, I successfully journeyed on. I left 2005, left Hobart and almost completed 2006 in Singapore. Even then I still have dreams on living my life in Tassie, a place where I once called home, still do and where my heart continues to be.

So yes, life has forced me to move on. I was dragged back to Singapore by my boyfriend (now husband), who soon got himself a job when I was still wrestling with the Singapore VS. (Tassie + uni +plenty) other values I picked up and lived by while I was staying abroad.

For a while, I became quite mentally sick and even had suicidal thoughts as I wasn't coping well at all as a returnee. Family and fellow Singaporeans (everyone basically) were infuriating me to the core, I thought.

The culture, values, mindset and even accent of Singapore & Singaporeans were annoyingly irritating to me. Food, on the other hand, was very, very awful as they all tasted entirely of chemicals. Thus 'everything' was just bad, bad, bad to me.

But because boyfriend and I had plans to get hitched sometime in mid 2006, I endured 'everything' and tried my very best to 'live' in this different but very small world.

So my boyfriend and I did get married in mid-2006 but that was just after about 4 months of proposal. It was crazy - the craziest thing ever I have heard of for a 'normal' wedding couple to be doing.

The wedding came and went by very soon nevertheless. Things went well. We enjoyed our wedding very, very much. Of course it would have been different if it weren't for our beloved friends (including my cuz Anita) who flew in (or rode/drove in for our Malaysian friends) at their very own expense.

The Royal Plaza team, which we engaged with for the Saturday event, as well as the boys-in-black for Sunday's Lunch did their parts very, very well. My husband and I were very satisfied with Royal Plaza's hospitality and quality of service that we decided to stay for another night before flying to the Maldives for a week of fun times.

So everything was good, but what was even better was that we DID NOT have a single wedding/honeymoon debt to clear, so we were practically enjoying our newly-married life the whole time we were back.

Life, for me after that, continued on as per normal. However the status of being somebody's wife has changed a couple of things in me nevertheless. One thing for sure, I am missing the times I could depend on dad's finances :(

Looking at all the books that I bought when I was at uni that I have at home now, I thought it was just crazy how I made dad pay for all of them as they should have costed him thousands of dollars in total. Sadly, it is only now that I start to wonder about the 'real' values of money.

So it seems like marriage is the beginning of many 'real' things in life. Hopefully I get to go through marriage life with heaps of mental and emotional strength. Together, my partner and I shall make this happen. Together. Yes, me and my new partner in crime.

Yours,
MaRiNAh

The Post From Singapore

Hope this post finds you all well.

You might have probably guessed this by now but let me just announce it through my blog: I am back in Singapore.

I left Hobart for good in the early morning of January the 16th and arrived in Singapore on the same day later that evening. Now, I am in Singapore, doing well and I hope that everyone is too...

Since my return, I have been more or less preoccupied with settling down and adapting back to life here in this small, humid and slightly overcrowded country. So life since then has been filled with lots and lots of baths and showers, drinking water, great consumption of facial tissues and blotters, continuous search for air, personal space and peacefulness but most certainly, I have been interacting with fellow locals A LOT and inevitably getting back into the culture of rudeness, fast-paced, consumerism and complaints, and (to a large extent, unfortunately) narrow-mindedness of this entire American-wannabe society - oh, how very exciting!

Anyhow, with regards to friends who were concern over my car crash which took place a week before I left Hobart, well I thank you very much for your concern but well, I am OK - I thank God for that. I survived the crash without any injuries and without injuring anyone but I did damage the car a bit on the front fender with a smashed headlight and dented front bumper and bonnet. And for a while too, I was a bit traumatized over the incident such that images of the crash kept playing on my mind, and driving down the same slope that evening terrified me. But friends, thank you once again for your concern, I am alright now.

That same week after the crash then left me very busy with many things to sort out: flight plans, redirecting of letters, settling bills, terminating major accounts, and of course setting my home back to how it almost was when I first came in 4 years ago! I handed my Sandy Bay home down to my dearest flatmate who will be doing his final year at uni this year, and a new tenant will be taking over my room beginning this week. I hope things are going well back there and I hope too that I had left my apartment clean and empty just the way it should be, after a whole week of rush even though I had started work weeks before my departure.

Now that I am back, I have been doing nothing much but going out all the time, supposedly "enjoying" the hot and humid weather of Singapore. I have also been keeping in touch with friends and acquaintances in Hobart via snail mails and phone calls, and sending ugly postcards of Singapore to those i adore. Apart from that, i have also been job hunting, but started only about three weeks after my arrival, and have been doing so until today but with much distraction in between, coming mainly from family and friend-visitors from overseas.

With this blog update, i would very much love to take this opportunity to thank Joel, who is in Hobart right now, for his kindness in helping me successfully ship all of my 26 boxes to Singapore. Joel, without your help, i will probably have to fly back there and get all my boxes transported here manually J So thank you very much once again for your help and kindness.

To all friends in Spore, since i am back and am not quite having any official commitment for the meantime, I would really love to catch up with you guys whenever you're free. But because i do not keep a mobile, i would appreciate it if you could leave me a message through Friendster and i hope to contact you from there.

Lastly, I hope to enjoy the rest of my stay in Singapore as much as i did the entire time i was abroad. With that, i wish everyone well, and hope to hear from you all soon.

Already Missing The Freedom To Think,
M A R I N A H

Still Here!

This is a badly written 'Brief Update', not something i would probably send as mass mail or even publish as a blog post because it's quite incomprehensive. Truth is, i can't be bothered to think in a more academic way anymore. My brain's tired by now. Besides i have, since the last day of exams, 'retired' from academic writing. Hell yeah. So some parts of this message will not make much sense. Pardon me if so. Anyhow below is my update message to all. Try to understand it even if you can't :)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hey everyone, it is summer in Hobart. And i am super-tanned, getting more and more tanned as days go by in actual fact. Probably the envy of some white girls who desire the current tanned look. But far from mine because i know i can go very far with regards to sun-tanning super naturally.

Summer here hasn't been much different to the other days of the year except for a longer day and a shorter night, and a far, far stronger sun. But last night, the weather was a bit strange. Stranger in fact, as the other days (of the year, i mean - reason why 'summer...hasn't been much different') were strange enough... Last night at about 9pm, there was lightning and thunderstorms after a brief but strong wind, then followed by hail. It freaked me out a bit. But i did enjoy the sound of hail stones hitting the window pane - something unusual. But then when everything was over, the TV channels at home stopped broadcasting programs, so that was bad. And slightly freaky too. Lucky for me i had a rented dvd of Moulin Rouge to watch. So that wasn't so bad after all.

Life in Hobart has been good, always and forever will i'm pretty sure. I'm still here, enjoying life to the max. I haven't been doing much since exams actually but definitely been doing more than i would when uni was on. Firstly there was the unending Eid celebrations right after exams, with an almost ending Briyani feast (now, that is! - thank God for that because i can't take in that much of Briyani within a very short period of time!!) Other than Eid (that should be over by now), I have been catching up over lunch/coffee with both local and non-local friends and teachers. So that's good. I have also been going to the beaches pretty often, driving my boyfriend to his favorite surf spots most of the time.

Couple of weeks ago, i started taking an interest in the final days of Nguyen before his execution - Kenji thinks i'm such an 'auntie' for caring for all these unnecessary social issues suddenly lately. Well truth is, i get attracted to any news reports that have the word 'Singapore' in it. And lately The Mercury, the local newspaper that hardly reports on Singapore, has been condemning Singapore over the number of heads they've executed. So that drew me more into such social issues + roused a great desire in me to reply to those articles, of course. And other than being such an auntie, I have also been making regular visits to the Hobart city centre. Yes, shopping, window-shopping, coffee-ing, collecting brochures for some trips, shopping and more shopping.

So now that i'm just hanging around, you might be thinking, "what the hell?..." Well, i am by right waiting for the Grad Ceremony that is supposedly to be taking place sometime next week. Mum and dad have just confirmed with me that they're coming to Hobart - sorry Mar, i could have told you earlier if they had planned things sooner. You see, my parents (my entire family in fact) are the 'last minute' sort. So i didn't know anything about them coming to Hobart until just recently. Luckily they could get air tix in this peak season. But they still couldn't get seats for return. Ha...

So mum and dad and Asyraf will be here beginning this weekend. I have planned some trips for all of us. One of which i would really like to go and haven't been to is the Bruny Island charters where we are told we can see seals and all from a boat trip. Anita (my cousin) went for that one when she was here to visit me, and said it was good, so i'd like to try it too. I just hope dad's gonna be a bit adventurous about things here.These coming weeks seem to promise me a whole lot of fun and excitement, something different and something i am definitely looking forward to. Having said that, do check my blog photo albums out often as i'll update them from time to time. In the meantime, take care. Hope to hear from you all soon.


Luv from Marinah

Briefly Updating You

3 months have passed by for the year 2005, i'm left with probably about 9 months more to go before i finally graduate and leave Tassie for good (if God permits). I will miss Tassie heaps...and definitely all the people, places, opportunities and experiences that i came across in this "another" life. Thanks to my dad who has been working so hard to give me this "another" life to venture on. I love you, dad. Just in case all of you might want to know what i have done and been doing this year, well, let me just tell you...it's a big load of fun stuff that i never thought i would ever get to do!

Early this year, I was in Shanghai, CHINA for 5 weeks with the university for a Chinese Language, Society and Culture program. We studied at the University of Shanghai Science and Technology and stayed at the "hotel" offered by the university which was located in the uni compound. The uni itself was in the city centre, and surprisingly the city was relatively a safe place to hang out either alone or in groups. I found that Shanghai was really interesting, and so was surviving with the rest of the team i was with - all17 white Aussies i was stuck with the whole time i was there! But we got on really well - i'm still hanging out with some of them here in Hobart. We would meet up for dinner or coffee sometimes. One particular person i'm hanging out with really often is Lucy because we play hockey together.

Studies this semester are as per normal. I'm doing Environmental Geomorphology where we investigate landslides, river erosion, flooding, coastal erosion, and impact of tsunamis in Tasmania. It's all hands-on so it's a lot of fun going to these sites, measuring slopes and collecting sediments for further laboratory work. Besides Env Geomo, i also do Sustainable Cities, Political Ideologies and Business-Govt Relations.

At the moment, I'm still helping out the university Japanese Society with organizing/carrying out activities. We've just got ourselves an email account for the Society and i'm behind all announcements and answering of queries. So that's a whole lot of fun if you know what i'm talking about. And if you ever come to Uni Tas main campus, you could see pics of me and 3boys pasted everywhere around the campus representingthe Japanese Society. I find it rather ridiculous though!

Hockey has been the latest new thing ever to happen in my life in Tassie. I've got training every Wed and match every Mon - that can be a bit exhausting because we've got a game each week, and it pressurizes us all to do well every time. Whilst games can be so tough and competitive, training is the total opposite...can be a bit dodgy sometimes. Nevertheless the uni team is affiliated to a local club where rules and all are official. That's the best part of it all. We have a proper coach, manager, and all the other people taking care of our well-being, so that's awesome. Last Mon we had a game. It was uni VS Prince of Wales. Well, the sad thing was we lost 4-1. But the good thing was, i scored the only goal for uni. It made me feel good after playing a shitty game the first half...Haha. Guess i'm beginning to talk crap. Anyhow, for those who think this message sounds familiar, well, it's just a 'copy and paste' thing from my recent email. To all, i miss you heaps. Take care!!


Read on,
mARinAH

PS. Any hockey tips? I'd be happy to learn some from you. Tks.