Day 3-08/09/10
Creative Writing and School Tour
Woke up after giving Peixian and the others moral support for their morning exercise in my sleep (im such a lazy ass. hiakhiak). I washed up and headed to breakfast after Peixian came back. We met at the lounge area and headed to the hostel cafeteria. Breakfast was omelette, tomato, crossiant and another omelette combined with an unknown ingredient (but it tasted decent). The hot choco tasted awesome. heheheheheheheh (i honestly typed a whole long chain of heheheheheh. not sure what i was thinking. LOL)
We headed for our first lesson, Creative Writing with Dr Vivienne Glance. Well i was experiencing a whole lot of mixed emotions during the class. Terrified, mind blank, inferiority. Besides the negative emotions, i found the class very interesting, and it brought back my passion for writing (especially after i've given up on it since the unfortunate event of how re-writing a compo for 5 times and still failing it. COMISS was the last time i found joy in writing but thats because its report based. this is CREATIVE WRITING. last time i did that, was my olevels.) It was really a challenge. I am not creative and my English standard is really bad. However, it is so fun that time flew past! It was the fastest 3 hour class everrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I should really let my imagination run wild and not always follow guidelines.
Here's some that i wrote during class. (Please don't laugh at me.)
Exercise 1: First Impression of Perth
After surviving several turbulence that threatened to displace
my heart, just like the hot tea in the cups, I finally touched down. Going away
so far from home for the very first time, adrenaline pumped through my blood; mind
raced through thousands of possibilities that could be awaiting me at this foreign
land. As I clumsily dragged my luggage pass the automated exit door, the chilly
wind breezes towards my face, gently pushing my unkempt hair away from my face. What
welcomed me instantly sent a message to my brain that I am really no longer in
Singapore. High rise buildings were not in sight, smells of cigarettes or
exhaust were not present. Tranquility, was what came to my mind first. As I
scurried towards the trailer, my heart and mind were having the battle of the
century. While my heart was slowly falling in love with this beautiful country,
my mind constantly reminded me that my family and friends are far back at home.
The unfamiliar streets, faces and accents of the natives, it frightened me
slightly. However, I was comforted by the recurring words of my parents. I took
a deep breath and heaved out: “Hello, Perth.”
Exercise 2: Something that happened in the past few days
Distinct cries of his daughter ringed throughout the entire
restaurant, particularly loud in his ears. He turned around to find a seagull
landed near her, eyeing eagerly on the food dropped on the wooden floor near
him. An innocent desire for food to satisfy their hunger instinct had
unintentionally frightened the toddler. Now, all that filled the atmosphere was
tension between the seagull and the father.
He stomped towards the seagull, frustrated, trying to shoo
the culprit of his daughter’s dismay. However, it was all in vain. The seagull
stood firmly to its position, unwillingly to leave that piece of fish that was
within its reach. As the cries of his daughter grew louder and his wife’s
comforts drained out behind the background of the incoming crowd of patrons, he
swiftly picked up that piece of fish and flung it towards the opposite
direction. The seagull was initially taken aback by the sudden disappearance of
its lunch, but quickly regained composure and flew after it. With that, the man
heaved a heavy sigh of relieve as he scurried over to his daughter’s side. His
face was still flushed but his daughter’s regained smile gently evened out the
furrow between his thick eyebrows. The regained genuine laughter made him melt
into the mould of a gentle loving father, a rather great contrast to his great
physique. “There there,” he chuckled, lightly patting the head of the now
cheery toddler.
We did 3 exercises, but i didn't have time to finish that up. So, okay i'll leave it out.
After lessons, it was lunch! While we were eating, one ex-NP student came to talk to us. She was from psychology and currently pursuing psychology in UWA as well. She did mention that her GPA was a 2.7, which kind of made me link back to what i always believed in. Since my sister wasn't exactly a student who excelled in her schooling days, she never gave up and now she's a accountant at a big company (But to me, she's always smarter than me. I'm just better at taking exams and memorizing things than her. that's all. she's the real genius at home, after my parents. okay, wait. so that makes me the dumb one at home. LOL. oh well)
"It isn't the grades that really matter, it is the attitude and desire to get to that final destination. Grades determine which path you take and the amount of time it will take you to go there. But your attitude determines if you will eventually reach it." --Chewlin's random train of thoughts
After lunch, it was the school tour. So UWA has 25000 students, of which 5000 are international students. While talking to the person who brought us around, i mentioned that i was interested in speech therapy (which, i have since then changed and i'm now interested in social work. just fyi. hiakhiak). He then mentioned that UWA is good for speech therapy too (which when i google-d, i couldn't really find any info on it. but oh well. not like i have the money to even go overseas to study T.T)
After which, we went to the marine research study lab. They study about coral reefs, marine neurosciences, marine life behaviours and many more. It was really a huge branch.
We headed to their library next and they have a really extensive range of resources. I like how their library is not all "YOU CANNOT TALK HERE" because in Singapore, most libraries are not group-work friendly. But then I feel bad for occupying seats at cafes and macdonalds is way too unhealthy. hahahaha.
We had some free time to roam around too. So we played captain ball and took some photos. YIPEEE~
Above 2 pictures c/o Brandon :)
The bottom photo has story. Lynette and I were being prompted to sing the Malaysia Zhabor song (which fyi, was stuck in my head for days. thanks lynette. HAHAHA). And then we were like trying so hard to get out of the situation but no we couldnt. So we ended up singing and... its such a embarrassing moment so let's not be reminded of it ever.
For tonight's discussion, it was about telling the group what were our expectations and thoughts on today's class. Well for mine, i mentioned how unexpected it was for me to be selected given how bimbotic i acted during my interview. And how i expect to learn something from each and everyone person, be it academically related or not. Though i must say, im feeling very stressed up and inferiority is creeping up on me. This is bad.
Day 4- 09/09/2014
Rottnest Day 1
Today is the second day of school and we are off to ROTTNEST ISLAND~~~ well, before all of that, we had a little surprise for Nicole. It's her birthday today! We had a little plan for her ytd, keeping her in the dark and all. So we headed down to the lounge at 0645 and quickly decided on what we were going to do: birthday song and a song of her choice. We wrote cards for her and it was so hard to do typography without a template (such a high C. no template/guideline, i die). but i manged a happy birthday typography. hehehe. When she finally came down at 0715, Mr Gabriel tried to be fierce and reprimanded her for being late. But it was all just a joke~ We sang her a happy birthday song and Home (LOL WTS) while she sat there on the coffee table looking still a little dazed. I hope she enjoyed the little surprise! it's kinda sad we can't have any cake for her :(
We then headed for breakfast. Kinda forgot that we weren't supposed to take too much breakfast. Tho the portion was moderate but I think i took a little too much. You'll know why later.
After breakfast, we took our bags and boarded the urban indigenous bus of Rebecca's! Because Cindy was caught in a jam, we had a small chat with Rebecca. We found out tt:
1) She can't sing (or she claim to be unable to do so)
2) She didn't go to university. After her high school, she just decided to stop studying. Then she worked at a cafe for 1 year, saved up and went to America for 5 years where she had her own kind of outdoor experience education (see the world kind. I wish i can do tt too..) while working as a nanny. Then she came back to Australia and had an opportunity to interact with the Aborginal people. She was one of the few white Australian tt were allowed to do so. She then suddenly realised how differentiated and segregated between the Aboriginal people and the white Australians. This was the reason why she started Urban Indigenous, to bring the two group of people together.
3) She didn't start off with this bus. It's bought collaboratively by her 4 work partners. One of them is even the ex-dockers football player!
She also mentioned that at Fremantle, there's this stretch of purple paint which signify the people's joy for the local team (dockers) to enter into the finals! Go FREOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Cindy came and we left for Fremantle port to take Rottnest Express to the island. I swear that i overestimated my capability and underestimated the waves. I was feeling so unwell on the Ferry, burping and all... and I puked twice. After Ms Suri offered me the peppermint balm then i started feeling better. I kept giving her the weak "I'm okay" smile but each time she replied with a gentle "Its okay". Like how my mom always does when im sick. I had so strong an urge to hug her because i missed my mom so badly. Also, i was so embarrassed tt i puked. Even Avril and Lynette who have very serious motion sickness didn't puke. I should sleep on my return trip and prolly grab a bread for breakfast. Greediness (for food) will be the reason why I'm always getting so uncomfortable.
Finally reached Rottnest Island and I couldn't really kick off the motion sickness. couldn't really talk much but friends were really nice and taking care of me. I felt better after we got to the rottnest lodge and i had some sweets. Like 4 of it before i felt completely fine again.
Our first speaker was Dr Ann Bearly. She talked about rottnest. Although im not really into the environment or anything, I felt tt it's rather interesting. I admired her for her passion towards the environment.
After which, we had lunch!!! It was soooooooooooo goooooooooooooooood. Chicken was a little tough though. Tasted as if someone placed it too long in the airfryer. Cheesecake was good!!
Our next speaker was Jim Maher, an Aborginal Elder. He shared with us his story of Aboriginal and the atrocity his people faced. He stopped and choked once. He was really emotional about how his people are mistreated. He didn't only introduced me to the Aborginals, but he taught me that I needed to know who I am, were I'm supposed to be and I needed to be strong. Like them. After the lesson, Lynette went to ask him questions and i tagged along. He mentioned about how he integrated current practices with traditional practices like using the iPad to introduce Aboriginal people to the world. They also use a panel of elders to judge a crime. They also bring in the white and use their technology to help solve crimes, etc.
I noticed that his hat had the bands that were weaved with colours of the aboriginal flag-yellow, black and red.
We cycled around and had a tour by Dr Anne Bearly. She introduced alot of the environment to us. We also saw alot of quokkas!!! They were really naughty tho, dashing out of the road, causing us to jam break and almost flying out of our bike. But they are so cute its forgivable. hohoho. Just fyi, never touch them. You will pass your bacteria to them and it will KILL them. Also, you'll be fined 300AUD if you do so. Just saying.
We also saw a mommy and daddy duck. They were in the waters and between them was a row of duckings. Its so cute I can't even.
Then there are also erosion resulting from undercuts of waves from hundreds and thousands of years. However, be mindful to never go into the caves formed by it, it can easily tumble and crash.
After cycling around, we really see alot of water bodies and its so clear! We also saw foams on the water. These are formed by the wind. Like detergent forming bubbles with vigorous hand movement. These are salty because they compose of salt from the evaporated water probably.
At one of the stop, i was really getting bored and so distracted from everything beside the lecture (im so sorry dr anne.) So like a little kid, i just walked around. Then while everyone was reading the board that talked about the water cycle Dr Anne was introducing them to, no one realised that she walked away towards the bushes behind. Out of curiosity, and feeling really bad that i wasn't listening, I walked towards her and observed what she was doing. She realised that i was there and introduced me to this flower and taught me how to differentiate between the male and female. The male is smaller and have pollen sacs. The female is thinner and have branches. She also mentioned that the female one would fall off and tumble like turbines. Then they will settle somewhere and start growing the new generation (spread seeds). There was also this white flower that she say that it originated from Greece. We will also see it if we go to Athens. It's so amazing how different species can travel from one part of the world to another.
We then went to this place with windmills. They use them to convert wind (kinetic) energy to electricity. This reduces the use of petroleum fuel. They found a way to use gas. While it is good tt we can exploit tt by just plucking a tube in to release the compressed gas and maybe some equipment to ensure that it comes out correctly, it uses fracking(?) to generate more gas to use, it will contaminate the water source near it. So while one issue is solved, another have formed. It's a challenge to balance it out, and which to forsake.
After cycling around, it's so cute to see her going around taking photos. So we asked why she had to do so, because she seem so familiar with the place she must have taken them before. Turns out that she thought she had 2 copies of the photographs and deleted some. So now, she needed to retake some of them. We nicknamed her Supergranny because she is so fit and doesn't seem to pant while all of us are about to die from all the cycling. My butt hurts so badly right now.
We cycled back to the lodging area and we saw a quokka with a joey in its pouch! tho i only managed to catch the backview. I learnt another interesting fact too! That the hind legs are connected by a single bone so they have to hop with 2 legs at the same time. Just like kangaroos! (i forgot who told me this. I think it was Athan)
We headed back for dinner and we got lost. We eventually got our way back. Dinner was seated like some speed dating arrangement by accident. LOL. The carrot cake was so sweet i canawt. (fyi, i really like cakes. pastries and ice cream are my lovers. but fats arent. so sigh. hehehe)
During discussion, Dr Anne gave us some brochures that she wrote and others that she have archived. They were illustrated by Elizabeth. There was a book and it's interesting how they are all drawings and illustrations and never photographs.
A naive Chewlin after getting her bike and totally not aware of the buttache she's gonna get.
HELLO NETTE.C
The part of the journey when i got distracted and went away. I came back and took a photo of this to make up for the guilt of not paying attention. LOL
CINDYYYYYYYYYY.
SHAWN Y U PHOTOBOMB ME. Apparently he didn't know he was in my picture and happily snapped his. LOL. I wait lo.
Yay! my peekture!
The flower Dr Anne was teaching me on how to differentiate the gender
Day 5-10/09/2014
Snorkelling and Gary Cass talk
Woke up for breakfast. We (Peixin, Esther, Peixian and I) toasted our own bread but then we realised tt some of the boys had already started to cook breakfast for the team. yay!
We set off for snorkelling at Parker point and Little Salmon Bay by bike. My butt was hurting so badly from ytd's ride. (it got worse today). We cycled for a really long time before we reached Parker Point. I hate it when we went past railway tracks. Those uneven bumps... And then there were the upslopes and all. Downslopes were really fun tho. Hehehehehehehe. When we reached the place, we headed to the bay and changed into our snorkelling attire (strip and go). We started off seeing sea grasses (really ticklish), some fishes, sponge and algae. Dr Anne explained alot to us (super granny indeed). I keep slipping because of the currents. My initial plan to swim was aborted because all i can see were feet in my face and bubbles and sand kicked by the person infront of me. I eventually gave up and walked on places that we are actually allowed to set foot on. There were alot of others who were shivering but I was still doing fine at this point of time. I even went around asking people if they were okay. All of a sudden,when we were heading back, my mouth started to chatter. It got more and more violent by the second/waves. It was so bad that I started to shiver at one point of time. I went on shore and Mr Gab asked Brandon to give me the aluminium foil that is used to keep a person warm. I was feeling so much better with that. Brandon even wrapped my legs with my towel (he is really a good nurse). While I was recuperating, I felt like a baked potato because the Sun came out and I'm in... Foil. HAHAHAHAHAHAH.
Somehow, im still very happy abt it. LOL.
Headed to the second destination. The road was so cold and bumpy and tiring. Didn't get to snorkel at the second site because I was too cold. My teeth started to chatter the moment I even stepped onto the bay and the wind blew. It went crazy when the waves hit me. I just sat out with Avril, who was having some unknown bad cramps (poor thing). Wrapped myself in 2 towels and I felt so much better at the end of the event.
Cycled back for lunch.
After lunch, we had Gary Cass to give us a lecture/talk. He was a really fun guy and he makes science interesting. He even asked us to inject emotions and drama into science and be EMOTIONAL INTELLECTS. We set off cycling to different places and he gave his talks. We used a pH meter and a Electrical conductivity meter that measures the amount of salt in microseries or miliseries. The limestones that we saw were from shells that were washed ashore, so they compose of calcium carbonate. Because of its composition, they should hve a pH of 8-9. The huge rocks have different formations that are layered. This is caused by 1) differences in sea tides and this the degree of precipitation, 2) some trees grow and suck up the water, leaving calcium carbonate to precipitate out at different rates 3) blue green algae. We also learnt that when the salt content in the soil is low, plants can still grow. Hence it is a alternative way to know if the soil is salty or not, besides tasting it (we can taste >2000 microseries) or using a meter. Another way to measure pH was to use Hcl (forms carbon dioxide this bubbles). Salt can be detected by silver nitrate (give silver chloride precipitation).
We went past this lake that had plants growing along them. It's unusual because the salt content should not allow them to grow. turns out these are halosapia, plants that grow along salt lakes. They like salt and can filter out salt from the water and store them in their vacuoles. We tried to eat them and they were bloody salty.
we went to another shore and we compared the soil between the ones closer to the houses and the ones closer to the sea. The pH should have been the same but the one near the sea was only 7.3. This could have been contamination of the container (by acid), or that the meter not working. Saltiness was 7400 and 700+ms. The one nearer to the sea had more salt. When they wash up, they seep into the soil and gets retained. Water evaporates overtime, leaving salt behind.
He showed us two paintings and by using almost the same words, he described how evolution had worked. Past: toxic gas was oxygen which brought us into the future. Now: toxic gas is carbon dioxide and we are being sent back to the ancient days.
During discussion, we were asked to discuss about our essay questions. Through this, I really saw how different people from each courses think and interpreted questions. It's really funny and interesting at the same time.
Day 6-11/09/14
Back to UWA
Woke up at 430,530 and eventually at 6 to cook breakfast for everyone. I was in charge of eggs and bacon. I needed to bother someone to check if its entirely cooked because i dont eat bacon and have never cooked a bacon in my entire life. (well, now i do)
Had just a cereal bar and half cup of choco milk because i didn't want to puke on the return ferry to Fremantle.
Headed to the ferry for return ride. Waves were alot more calm and I slept. Drooled a little. hiakhiak. We eventually reached and the ride seem alot faster now that I am feeling fine.
Rebecca picked us up from the jetty and we went back to Trinity. We had a little rest, did laundry and headed to co-op. I FOUND BBT FUNKO POP FIGURESSSSSS. If they were slightly cheaper i would buy... Or maybe i'll get it on my last day (which i didn't. im so sad even until today. does anyone wanna buy me a set of it. hahahahahha. I'm gonna go into a collection madness if i start with one. LOL) I want the Sheldon Cooper one! Why don't they have penny.....
Went for lunch and then Rebecca picked us up for Earthwise. But then Peg wasn't in so we waited inside the place. It's a small church that was transformed into this community accessible environment-encouraging shop. They get people to come and donate their unwanted stuffs and sell them to ppl who want them so tt these don't go to waste. The food are from bakery or supermarket. They are nearing their expiry dates so instead of throwing and wasting, they sell it cheaper here. On thursdays, they sell 3 bucks cheap lunches for the lower income groups. They used to be more strict on paperwork to prove but now they aren't so stringent anymore. I saw alot of cool and pretty things and I felt that its really a good thing that this place exists, It reduces the waste as most of these things are nonbiodegradable. There's something similar in Singapore at Simei Care Center. Something old something new shop. People would swap their unwanted foods for something else that someone had given up. It's all in the spirit of recycling and reusing. I think it is a really good approach,especially for baby and kids items. The children outgrow them so quickly that there would be so many left unwanted. Also, i feel that by bringing the children's wanted possessions to these places help educate them to not be wasteful.
Since Peg was still rushing back, Lynn came and introduced us to the place. So we were brought around and she showed us what they were doing. They are making compost. Fertilizers for the plants by recycling the resources that can be biodegraded by live worms and microbes. So they use live worms that eat such things and their poop/castings will be the nutrients for the trees. We will need carbon, nitrogen for these fertilizers to be good so we have to add in manure, grass, leaves and even coffee. Reusing all these ingredients to make it something useful again. I touched a worm and i wondered what will happen if i cut it into 2. will it still grow back? We all know that worms have regenerative properties right. According to them, only the one with the head will regenerate it self (WELL, it makes sense now. how is a tail gonna grow a brain out of nothing. LOL stupid me)
There's this large compost that they made. They are always made in rectangular shapes instead of pyramids to increase the area tt can be used and maximize recycling. If they are freshly made, they would be warm. Bathtubs are used to contain the soil and compost to grow the plants too. However, the bottom are stacked with milk cartons so tt we don't need so much soil and castings. This in turn results in resource wastage reduction. If the biodegradable material added include food scraps, it will be the smaller box. There are the turning kinds too. They will mix the compost well to increase the mixture of resources so that it degrades faster and better.
Lynn finished the tour and then we waited for Peg. While waiting, we were offered bread and juices by the really kind staffs there. Peg came and she talked about the environment, about how they treat waste as resources. Even her shirt was about the environment. We then got our hands dirty (well not me. LOL) by making compost for the mulberry tree. We followed the ADAM rule. A for aliveness (bugs and microbes), D for diversity, A for air and M for Moisture. I was placed in charge of the wheelbarrow which i was really happy about because... IVE NEVER PUSHED A WHEELBARROW BEFORE. ITS SO FUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! The lices/skaters were itching the hell out of me though, not that they were crawling on me but just by looking at them make me feel so itchy (now, thinking abt them make me itch too). The others got realyl dirty and im kinda guilty that i didn't. They piled all the raw materials for the compost. We(They) eventually managed to make a nice compost. YAY!
We had a small discussion with Peg and the quote that i remember the most is: "Never be afraid to stand out and start something. The person who changes things and that matters is not the one who starts it, but the second person who joins the one who started it".
Its heartwarming to see someone being so pro-environment and wanting to conserve our planet. But then again, it felt a little creepy regarding the extent of things that she does what she does. The passion and enthusiasm she speak with, and her efforts, its admirable. its different from what i see and hear in Singapore too. However, it makes me wonder, if what she's doing is enough, or ever going to be enough. Is anything that we are doing now, ever going to be enough?
During discussion, i felt really stress at all the opinions and strong objections. Maybe it is the unfamiliarity of challenging the status quo that scared me. I hated to challenge guidelines and all. But then it set me thinking and a wake up call that I need to start thinking from the humanities side and not just the technical information.
Okay, that's all that i have. hiakhiak. byebye.
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