Aussie story 7 – Coffee, tea or…..

"Hi, would you like to have coffee, tea or juice?” With a professional (PR) smile, I started to waitress for the first time in my life.

Nah- hold on, don’t call the immigration office because I was not doing that for money illegally. It is a ministry event that CBC holds once a month. As its name “street café” suggests, the event aims at outreaching people in Chinatown by inviting them to stop by and chat with the talkers about the gospel over a free coffee. A live band will be set up to provide light and relaxing music in the background. What a creative and fun idea!

During the sermon, Pastor Turner pointed out the blessing that CBC received being a multi-cultural church at the heart of the city, that it would be easier to reach different people from various nationalities. It's true as there were people coming in from Aussie, China, Korea and even Turkey throughout the afternoon - glad that our group is combined of locals, Chinese, Koreans, Canadian and Indonesians, I was also excited to greet the Turk with the only Turkish word I could recall (i.e. Merhaba => hello)!

It rained heavily on the day so instead of setting the tables outside, the cafe was arranged indoor. Eventually about 20 people had come and some of them showed interest in joining the coming Bible study group.

It was a totally new and interesting experience for me in supporting the ministry as well as serving as waitress (it took me a while to remember what people need, e.g. how many spoons of sugar, white or dark coffee, with or without mike, etc. ^_^" ). Feels good to share the energy with the group. 

Aussie story 5 - From alienation to a united community

I was so surprised to learn that, after taking my seat in the church, the speech for the Sunday service was "from alienation to a community of togetherness".

Two weeks had past since I first landed here. In the first week, I observed that the white students and Asian students are very separate. It is not common to see a mixed group of people coming from different cultural backgrounds. It is understandable that people love to stay with their own kind of people for easier communication.

It would go too far to call it discrimination as most of the people are fine. They are just indifferent. Most people are willing to answer if you ask them questions but they may not be eager to develop the conversation further nor knowing who they're talking to.

Having said that, alienation does exist and I personally experienced it in the second week. In the four courses I take, there are only very few Asian students - less than 5% I guess. One day, I went to the lecture room and took a seat by the side of a row. The girl next to me put a strange look. She talked with her friend in the next seat, then they moved away and sit somewhere else. I was a bit shocked by their behaviour because University students are supposed to be more liberal-minded.

Was it a coincidence that Pastor S. Turner picked this topic for the week? It was the second time that I joined the service in Central Baptist church and I just realized that the topics for the Chinese session and English session are different. It was striking to me when he mentioned, "....(non-Australian citizens may feel) like an alien in a foreign land" - he was speaking my mind in exact wordings!

The speech was based on Ephesus 2:11-22 about the union in Christ. I remember someone had told me no matter where you go, you could always find home in God's place. It is so real and the comfort is truly felt! I attended the international student fellowship two days ago and it was great to meet other overseas students. We feel alike in some ways, which makes me happy because I am not the only alien on this planet, ha ha.

After the Sunday service, someone handed out a form for newbies. I picked one and filled in my contacts. As soon as I finished writing, someone nearby has immediately come and talked to me (so efficient!), and introduced me to other folks from the young adult fellowship. As a habit, the group usually go together for lunch after the worship, and coffee break afterwards just to rest and relax. I joined them and had an enjoyable time throughout the whole afternoon! Lovely.

Apart from church, God has also given me a new friend in class. On Monday, I prayed that I could make new friends in school. Interestingly, I really acquainted with someone in a 200-people lecture the next day. During the break, a white girl in the next row asked me about stuff on laptop purchase (as I used laptop in class to jot notes). I felt a bit strange why a white person would chat with me. It turns out that she's also an overseas student (from Spain) and knows nobody here (no wonder!). The good thing is, she had also worked before!!

Thanks God for giving me comfort and answering my prayer. :)

 

Aussie story 4 - OMG, it's flooding!

Probably it's part of the orientation game to get lost in the neighbourhood and to deal with unexpected events in an unfamiliar household.

Today, I woke up early and put my clothes into the washing machine for laundry. Then I happily went back to my bedroom and started planning the route for sight-seeing in the afternoon. The peace was broken when water suddenly permeated into the room. I opened the door and geeeeeeeeees, the corridor (paved with carpet) was flooded with water flowing out from the laundry room!

Ekkkk. I made a stupid mistake to block the water from draining. Well but then, how should I deal with this crisis first? I've never used carpet before nor lived in a house with carpet - how? how? how? Put some newspapers to absorb the water but the carpet was too wet to be dried. Can't hold it up to dry as it's covered in one piece for the whole floor. Need towels - but there's no towel in the house! Put my bath towel and a couple of small towels on the floor, it took less than 10 seconds to get wet. Need more... I put on my running shoes and headed to the closest mall in the district (25-30 mins on feet). While I was searching for towel, I suddenly came across an extension lead - cool, perhaps I can try using the hair-dryer!

It had been more than an hour after the flood when I returned home. The corridor was still wet. Keep absorbing water with towel but it just didn't go away. Need wind. But the design of the house does not provide convenient ventilation to the passage between rooms, and there's no fan in the house .... Opened the main door and side door to let more wind come into the house.

In a Greek myth, Prometheus stole the fire from Zeus and gave it to mankind. As punishment, he was chained up and an eagle would come and eat his liver. Since he was immortal, the next day his body restored, but then he would suffer the punishment again and bear the pain repeatedly every day.

I have become one of the Titans in Olympus and was punished for my fault. Spent the whole afternoon hair-drying the carpet continually, once every 15 mins for a couple of hours. It was hard as the affected area is big. No matter how focused I tried to dry a specific area, and as it became a bit dryer on the surface, the efforts actually did not help much because it was still wet inside.

Eventually I gave up the rescue action and decided to let it dry naturally.
 

Aussie story 3 – Torch night and smelly morning

In one of the following nights after I had moved in, a sudden blackout took place in Marsfield around 8:00 pm. The whole district fell into complete darkness and the supply was not restored until the next morning.

There was nothing much you could do without light apart from going to sleep. Landlord decided to drive somewhere and hang out with her friends, i.e., her usual mahjong group. She left me with a big torch to put on the light. Instead of candles, I set the torch in the bathroom and had my most romantic shower ever (thanks God there was back-up power to heat the water) in semi-darkness.

Siu-B might be afraid or lonely, probably nosy combined. It sneaked into my room and walked around my desk. Sometimes it just stood still. I was wondering if it wanted to leave its own smell in my area.....

In the next morning, I was struck with a bad smell when I woke up. My room was filled with a strange smell, hmmmm - something like what you'd have for leaving a stack of unattended wet clothes after a long time. But my clothes were dry. I smelled them one by one and found nothing wrong about it. Strange.

My next inspection area was the floor carpet. I smelled it and it seemed to be fine until I got to the point near my desk! The smell was strong there! Oh-no, did Siu-B really pee in dark without my knowing?! Quickly used the air freshener to spray the carpet and the room. The smell seemed to be diluted a bit but it didn't go away.

However, when I went out the house, I found a pile of garbage bins sitting along the street. I guess they are to be collected once a week by the trucks. Was it the cause of the bad smell instead? Or was it Siu-B? I was puzzled for the rest of the day.

When I came home, the smell had spreaded further down the street to the corner of the road. By then I could confirm that the garbage had pleaded guilty, not Siu-B.

New situations seem to happen every day.
 

Aussie story 2 - Finding the way

Thanks God I found my new apartment quickly on the second day upon arrival and moved in last Sat. The process was pretty smooth - In my first school day, I started to check the notice board in the campus about room renting. Just when I was looking at the board, a HK girl came and she posted a new advertisement on the board. I asked her to show me the room and I like it right away. So here I am, sharing an apartment with other 2 HK girls (my landlord). It’s close to the campus and takes about 15-20 mins by walking.

Usually I won’t leave the house after 5:30pm because it will be very dark after sunset - need to carry a torch even to take only a few steps out to trash the rubbish. On the first day I moved in, I dropped off the bus in a wrong place in the evening after returning from a nearby shopping centre. Eventually I found the road where my apartment is located, and walked up and down the hills in dark.

There are street lamps but the light is dim. As I walked on I started to feel scared. It was virtually completely dark and the area was in dead silence if no car passed by. Worse was that I could not see the number on the houses nor recognize my flat. I was filled with a strong sense of unsafety when the road was not looking like what it should be anymore. Just at that moment someone’s driving back and parking the car in front of a house. It was a mid-aged housewife. I asked her about the direction and she kindly offered me a lift and drove me back to my place. Perhaps God had sent her to help me.

The up side though, the sky is clear here. I can see stars above the roof at night. :)
 

Aussie story 1 - G'Day, Kangaroo Republic!

Nine hours is not too bad for a long haul flight. As usual, I did not manage to sleep on the plane. It made me even more tired to wait in a long queue to go through the customs and security check.

Australia applies strict rules on what passengers bring. Despite I declared that I had not brought in any Chinese herbs nor Chinese food, I was asked to open my lugguage for checking. There was a girl in another line who had brought in a bag of dried beef and pork slices from Aji Ichiban (優之良品), she tried to eat as many as possible on site after being caught...... Probably there are too many Chinese in Sydney and the customs office pays particular attention to Chinese passengers. They also hand out leaflets to list out what are being banned, of which include herbs and wood /plant oriented medicine, dried animal food, etc.

When I walked out from the airport, I was captivated by the sight of a clear blue sky - what has been long missed in HK! It's winter now and it's cold in the morning and at night. However, the sunshine is strong during the day and it can keep you warm and comfy most of the time.

I was greeted by my aunt and Mrs Chan upon arrival. My aunt is my father's elder sister, while Mr Chan is my father's lifelong friend and his family has migrated to Australia since I was 12 years old. Macartney, Mr Chan's son, picked us up and drove us to Chinatown.

My orientation took place at Chinatown inside the city. After having lunch in one of the Chinese restaurants (kind of Hong Kong's chai-chang-tang), the ladies took me to buy a SIM card, a calling card and travel pass for bus rides. Things are so so expensive especially when the exchange rate stands high. Interestingly, my aunt managed to bargain a better exchange rate at HSBC, it's the first time I learned that exchange rate can be negotiated with international banks like that! :D

They showed me the streets around Chinatown and some of the major train stations, etc. Unfortunately I was too tired to remember all the new information and details. Having a welcome dinner with Mr Chan's family, my aunt and I returned to her home. That's my first Aussie day - super tired.

 

Egypt: Overview of the trip

May 5: Group tour - Depart from Hong Kong.
May 6: Group tour - Cairo & Giza pyramids
May 7: Group tour - Aswan, Abu Simbel (Nile cruise)
May 8: Group tour - Aswan: Kom Ombo, Edfu temple (Nile cruise)
May 9: Group tour - Luxor: Valley of Kings, Hatshepsutel temple, Memnon colossi, Karnak, Luxor temple (Nile cruise)
May 10: Group tour - Hurghada: Red Sea
May 11: Group tour - Cairo: Egyptian museum & Khan El Khalili market
May 12: Group tour - Alexandria
May 13: Stay behind alone - Dahshur pyramids and Egyptian musuem
May 14: Stay behind alone - City tour in Cairo
May 15: Transit stay in Dubai. Depart at midnight.


 

Egypt 1: The pyramid adventures

Magical spells, treasure hunts and mysterious legends are so often associated with the pyramids that sparkle unlimited imaginations in adventure stories and movies. Yes me too - I felt like being Indiana Jones when climbing into the pyramid!

Upon arrival in Cairo on the first day, the group immediately set off to the famous Giza Plateau. The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the largest of its kind in the world (140m tall) and has been widely covered by the media. Next to it lies the pyramid of his son, Khafre (second largest one - see pic). Khafre's pyramid retains part of its original limestone casing on the top of the construction. I have never realized that the original surface of a pyramid should be white and smooth. Pic - Red Pyramid (right)

Ok, so I took my first pyramid adventure in Khafre's (I could have picked Khufu's if I am free from acrophobia...) There are two entrances to go in, one opens about 11m up the face of the pyramid while another opens at the base. The latter is mostly used by tourists today.

Met another individual traveler, Shi Ling, at the Red Pyramid and we joined each other for dinner that night. She comes from Taiwan and had been back-packing in Egypt for almost a month.

The oldest form of pyramid - The Step Pyramid of King Djoser. It is also the first stone architecture in the world. Prior to this, buildings were constructed by wood, reeds and mudbrick.

Bent Pyramid (Sneferu) seems to be an experiment of early building of pyramids. It began with a slope of 60 degrees but it would bear a high risk of collapse, so further layers were added and the angle was changed at an less severe degree.

 

Egypt 3: Mummies and Osiris