sold by the family

剛才去了我的堂姐家，跟我的堂姐Sylvia 談起來才知道原來我的親戚們都在守著我的愛情生活．我真不知道應該笑，哭，說謝謝，或搖頭發怒．我的堂姐結婚那時她丈夫的爸爸跟我推銷過他的小兒子(Justin 的弟弟)．今天才發現原來我的二叔也試過介紹人給我(但我完全不知道)．我的三叔一家都經常問後我的愛情生活．我的反應？我是完全不知道這一回事．我的心想：1. 我覺得我被賣豬仔．2. 如果我的親戚那麼緊張我，那麼為甚麼我從來沒跟他們所欣賞的男生談過話？3. 為甚麼他們不跟我說？親戚家人真是令我笑，他們的心太好了，可惜他們的選擇卻不太合我的心意．我是不是太挑剔了呢？有可能．但是我相信我得先認識一個人才能跟他做朋友才能知道到底有沒有感情．我為甚麼用中文寫這篇字？不知道，就是因為如此．對不起如果我的中文寫得非常差，請多多包容！

it is finished

I completed my ATP (my final prac for my primary teaching course) yesterday! The last week was quite stressful for me as I knew what mark I was going to get for my prac and I knew I wasn't satisfied with the result, and when I did receive the mark I just kept thinking what I could have done to make my prac even better... but oh well my prac has already been evaluated. The past few weeks have really made me think about my future, my career, whether to stay in Australia or not, my fears and expectations, etc. (well as much as my brain could handle with the average of 3-4 hours sleep I was getting every night) I'm looking forward to the two week holiday I have (before I go back to uni to finish up my last unit for the course) to just relax, clean up my room, unpack my books from its boxes, and catch up with friends and family. My sister was really thoughtful and sweet & bought me hyacinths to congratulate me on finishing my prac...

I watched my first AFL (Aussie Rules football) Grand Final on TV (a 42" Plasma TV) at Bryce's house today . Perth's West Coast Eagles were playing Sydney Swans so it was quite a patriotic affair. It was a very awesome and intense game sadly the east coast team won the championship by four points. We ended up having to wind down with some ice-cream in Fremantle....

my hyacinths + waiting to go get ice-cream

ian and kylie preparing lunch + row of beverages consumed

banjo bryce gav + a pensive adrian

happy mid-autumn festival

Just want to wish everyone a very happy mid-autumn festival 中秋節快樂! It is strange celebrating a festival that is not seasonally correct here in Australia... people call it 'moon festival' here... but somehow it doesn't have the same ring to it. And I must say I do miss being able to play with lanterns and candles during the festival... I have been eating quite a bit of mooncake. I miss Wing Wah and Maxim's mooncakes - supposingly they do sell them in Perth but cost about AUD$15 per mooncake according to mom, so I had to resort to Malaysian ones this year (around AUD$6)... I did however have the most delicious tasting homemade mooncakes I had ever had (dad agrees too!) from my uncle who came over from Melbourne for a brief visit during the week. Sarah and I were thinking of 'bo lap' with the mooncake tins we have, but without Moses it just wouldn't be as fun. Had dinner with the relos on Thursday night and us cousins grilled mom about the myths and legends behind mid-autumn festival... mom was loving being the storyteller and it was great hearing all the stories again...

Other bits of Hong Kong news: Disneyland opened it's new theme park in Hong Kong this week... and congratulations to Linnet and Cliff, and Lettie and Joey!

One more week of my ATP teaching prac!!! really really looking forward to the mid-semester break and just being able to sleep in!

Had the Young Adults Social Night at The Claremont last weekend. It was a quite a funny event as we shared the floor with 2 other functions - a pirate party where everyone was decked out with bandanas, eye patches, satin shirts, swords, etc; and a uni football club function...

shell jemma and jess + bryce and kim

ann jess sharon + samn and aaron

dave and bryce + some guy james jordan

the boys relaxing + jess sharon

serg adrian + aaron and anne

partying with the pirates + jemma sarah serg

adam + simon reflecting on the night

spring is in the air

This is one of my favourite 唐詩 poems.

《春曉》

孟浩然

春眠不覺曉，
處處聞啼鳥。
夜來風雨聲，
花落知多少。

Spring is definitely in the air! Lots of changes have been happening recently. There are a few pidgeons cooing away outside my window everyday, drives me nuts. The students at school are starting to get really rowdy, especially on a rainy day! (The other teachers reckon it happens every beginning of spring... they think it's the hormones!) The freesias in the front garden are blossoming fragrantly. The petrol prices increasing, so much so that when there is a slightly cheaper petrol station people are willing to queue up for an hour to fill up (ie: my sister Sarah). South Street seems to be having more and more roadworks...

Just finished my 4th week of ATP (my final teaching prac) and here are a few things I've learnt:

- be very careful of the songs you play to your students (ie: Students really got into Richard Marx's song 'Hazard' which we did for a listening task and decided to play it on repeat while they were doing a writing task - unbearable!)
- a whistle is a very effective tool for teaching.
- I'm not very cluey with the rules and regulations of any sport.
- I need more sleep.

Here are a few pictures from Jess Raines' 21st birthday party (a night I actually was not doing lesson plans!)

the boys in a line + kate karina aimee

stevie and adam signing the guest book

ann and aimee + nahum jojo peter ramzie seth

brendan jason jono + ramzie and erin

matty and serg + at the bar

jess r preparing to cut her cake + aaron and kate

the girls + ann and jess m

jess l + shenanigans