olympimania!

beijing welcomes you!

well olympic fever is well and truly here! i was at an art exhibition yesterday and was surprised (why?) by the amount of art featuring the olympic 'babies' (known in Chinese as the Fuwa 福娃）- Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini. Their names go together to mean 'Beijing welcomes you' (北京欢迎你）

Fuwa thangkas (usually thangkas are religious paintings)

Fuwa paper cuts
The one that cracks me up the most is 'Yingying' (the orange one). I always get confused about which ones his eyes are: the big ones or the small ones? it's like one of those optical illusion things. From one angle, you think his eyes are the small ones on top and then from the other side they're the big ones in the middle of his face. Hours of fun!

Any votes on your favourite Olympic mascots (current or otherwise?)

princesses, paintings and playing

mafan 麻烦！

one online chinese dictionary defines 'mafan' 麻烦 as 'trouble/troublesome' but let me tell you that doesn't even begin to describe what 'mafan' means in daily life here. 

this is what 麻烦 means to me:

the hose in the shower broke on thursday - the rubber bit on the inside had busted so there was water spraying everywhere. it wasn't too big a deal as i had another hose that i wasn't using so my flatmate's boyfriend kindly helped us replace it. 

on friday, that hose busted too. so i went out to buy a new one. again the flatmate's boyfriend kindly fixed it.

on saturday morning, my flatmate was having her shower and guess what? yes. we had 3 busted hoses in as many days. 

today, my flatmate's boyfriend is fixing it once again, even as i type. let's see how long this one lasts...

while i'm on the subject of water disasters. over here we get large bottles of water delivered (can't drink tap water here). we usually get two delivered at a time. last monday the delivery man dropped one just outside our door and there was water all over our stairwell. after that, i asked my friend who was visiting to help us put one of the bottles onto the dispenser. there is a bit of a trick to it as ours is not like normal dispensers and also my poor friend was feeling a bit nervous after having seen the  delivery man drop the other one in the stairwell so he ended up dropping it too. it smashed on the ground and we ended up with 5 gallons of water all over our dining room. as we mopped up the water, waves of bad memories from the Great Apartment Flood of 2006 came flooding back to me (sorry about the pun). 

so i don't know why we seem to have been plagued with water worries this last week but it's 麻烦的很 (very mafan)! that's my gripe for this week.

what's in a name?

i've been thinking about bit about names recently as i'm trying to get a T name for myself. it's harder than  you would think! More about this later...

the exact meaning and origins of the name 'Melinda' are hard to pinpoint (from the extensive research i've done...ok, just a few websites). some sites say greek origin, others say english, some say latin. quite a few sites say that it has no real meaning but is just a mixture of 'mel' and 'linda' or maybe a variation on 'melanie' or 'melissa'. although i did find one site that said in greek it means 'one who is gentle'. 

i like that last definition cause it sort of fits in with my chinese name： 梅淑缘(mei2 shu1 yuan2). in order to let people know what characters each chinese word is, you have to put it in context so i've gotten used to rattling off  “梅花的梅， 淑女的淑， 缘分的缘” ('mei2' as in the plum flower, 'shu1' as in beautiful and refined lady, 'yuan2' as in destiny/fate which brings people together). and whenever i write my name, locals marvel and say 'wow you write chinese characters really well'. i laugh and say 'they are about the only three characters i CAN write!' 

this was the name given to me at birth and i've always loved the sound and meaning of it. and since i started studying chinese, i have been amused by the closeness of the (supposed) meanings of 'melinda' and 淑 (shu1 = refined/feminine). if you've seen me down a bowl of noodles, you'll know that these definitions don't quite describe me fully!

getting a T name is another story though. i've had 2 names suggested to me: 'mei toc mtso' (meaning flower and sea) and 'gar ma tso' (star and sea) but later discovered that with both names i have other (foreign) friends who have already taken these names. so the search continues...

any thoughts on names and their meanings? how do you feel about your name? any T speakers out there who would like to suggest a new name for me?

numbers

either i misread the news reports last night or the death toll from the earthquake has risen significantly over night. today's news reports 10,000 deaths, and rising. that's devastating. let's continue to ask for mercy, healing and peace for those who have been affected.

tulips and earthquakes

while i was strolling around a park with a couple of good friends this afternoon admiring the tulip festival, an earthquake rocked a neighbouring province. apparently some people in our city did feel the tremors but i was completely oblivious. 

500 people have reportedly been killed and 10,000 injured. it truly is an interesting time to be living in this part of the world. please do remember the victims and their families at this time. 

click on this link to view some photos from our outing today:

2008 may tulips

by the way, my back is much better now - thanks to ibuprofen, lots of rest and intercession by some good friends. from now on i promise to be good to my back!

my favourite things

we had couple of days off last week for the Labour Day holiday. actually, officially you only get one day (thursday, may 1) off but the authorities arrange it so you have a few days off in a row so we had thursday and friday off but had to make up for the friday class on sunday. since it's against my principles to work on sundays i didn't do the make up class.

anyway, i had a lovely time visiting some friends in the countryside from thursday till saturday. it was heavenly: getting up (relatively) late, having a slow coffee and breakfast (homemade cinnamon bun on friday morning and maple syrup-y scone on saturday morning (not scones as in devonshire tea scones, i think they are what americans call scones, or rather 'scones' rhyming with cones, which is more like a big flat thing)). i spent time doing some of my favourite things: reading, playing with children and watching a movie. i did also do one of my not-so-favourite things ie. playing a game - and surprisingly i actually enjoyed it! it's a game called 'ticket to ride' where you have to build train routes across north america. 

THANKS so much to christa, todd, owen, beth, anna, sarah, nevin, matthew and kara for a wonderfully relaxing time.

here are some photos from the weekend:

2008 may holiday

today i'm at home with bad lower back pain. it's feeling better now than it did when i first woke up. either the panadol is kicking in or the tiger balm patch is working. if it's the latter, then it's worth it smelling like an old chinese lady.

sunbaking on the balcony

here i am. it's sunday afternoon and i'm sitting on my balcony blogging! it's been a while between posts as blogger seems to be on again and off again but thanks to pauline, i found out today that it is currently on again. so i thought i should check in while i can.

it's an absolutely GORGEOUS spring day today. blue sky, a few soft cotton wool clouds sparsely spread out. my balcony gets lovely afternoon sun and i'm sitting here in a t-shirt in my comfy chair with the windows open. i can't believe it snowed just a week ago!!! 

Last Monday morning after the snow

This afternoon

The ladies who congregate outside my stairwell door even have their own umbrella

The view from my balcony

i'm so grateful for wireless internet - otherwise i'd be stuck at my desk doing this. the other thing (person) i'm thankful for is julie my flatmate. when i lived in this apartment on my own, this (enclosed) balcony wasn't much more than a place to hang laundry and store old boxes. oh yes, and jonah the german shepherd lived in here as well but let's not get into that story. today, there are pot plants with flowers and little seedlings of vegie plants on the way - all thanks to julie. it really is SO pleasant here.

well, i have nothing insightful or interesting to say really. i just wanted to check in, in case there are still people out there who look me up on here once in a while. 

on the street where i live

i've been playing with Google Earth recently and thought it would be fun to share a snapshot of where i will be living back in the middle kingdom. As you can see I've marked where my flat is as well as the uni that i'll be studying at. From the back windows of my apartment, you get a gorgeous view of the 'North mountain', which you can also see in this image. Head towards the left in this image on the main road (that my housing estate and university are on) and you'll get to the centre of town which  is about 15 minutes away by bus or taxi. 

 

A closer view:

Just a week till I get back there. i can't wait!

slideshow

OK I'm slowly working things out on this mac. Now blogspot seems to have all the features that I'm used to. I'm not sure whether I will still maintain this blog when i return to the Middle Kingdom but for now, here are some more photos, added to my picasa account (most of them are the same as the Facebook ones) but here in a slideshow:

It's rainy in Singapore today and thankfully a little cooler. One week to go till I return to the Middle Kingdom. I can't wait!!!!

aussie girl in singapore!

It's been a long time since my last post (it seems that most of my posts start this way). So much has happened since - here i am in a different country and on my way back to the place that will be my home again at least for the next couple of years. I'm not even sure if people are still reading this blog cause I know that many have checked it from time to time and found it un-updated.

Well, apart from feeling hot and sticky most of the time, I'm learning a lot here in the land of the Merlion and am meeting fabulous people who have amazing stories. It's also been great catching up with friends. To check out some photos go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18669&l=7b23d&id=746706761

The other new development for me is that I have been converted to a mac! It feels a bit like I've joined this club cause everytime I tell another mac user that I've just changed from PC to Mac, they let out a celebratory 'yes!' and then kindly offer to help me out if i have any problems getting used to it. If you ever have self-esteem issues and feel that you want to be included in any sort of club, get a mac!

I AM still getting used to this new machine and new system. There are lots of things I'm enjoying but also other things that I find frustrating. This being the first time I'm doing a post, I'm having trouble posting photos that are in my iphotos library and can't figure out how to do hyperlinks. Maybe this is a blogspot and mac discrepancy??? Anyone able to help? Please let me know if you have any tips.

5 things Grace loves about Sydney

As I said in the last post, it was great having my cousin Grace here for a visit over Christmas and New Years. Here is her guest post on The 5 things she loves about Sydney:

"(1) Yummy food for travellers of any budget is a characteristic of Sydney . The fresh seafood is a delightfully key ingredient from the shops at the Sydney Fish Market, the food courts in Chinatown (or anywhere for that matter) , the fancy Yum Cha restaurants, sushi restaurants, and the fish and chips shops by any Sydney beach.

(2) King Street, Newtown is quite a sight for the senses. Pate on toast at Cafe Latte, art house movies at DENDY cinema, fancy tea at T2, decadent mud cakes, steak pies from the 24 hour bakery, tango-ing at the Toucan Tango, baklava at the Lebanese sweet shop, interesting shops to scour through, get lost at the enormous Gould's bookstore. So many things to do in Newtown, so little time.

(3) An aerial view of Sydney Harbour welcomes the traveller to Sydney. This is best enjoyed after the the aerial view of the Hawkesbury River just north of Sydney. Whether it is the view from an airplane, from various vantage points around the city, or from the ferries, the Harbour never ceases to delight her adoring fans. The iconic Opera House and the Harbour Bridge (affectionately nicknamed "The Coat Hanger") are the accessories that make the Harbour that extra bit unique from other harbours.

(4) Pristine white sand between your toes, the smell of the Pacific Ocean salt, the ocean wind blowing through your hair, and even the seagulls flying a little too close for comfort add to the wonder of walking along Sydney beaches. Manly is a favorite. I once met a fisherman who had travelled an hour by car just to fish at Manly beach. He wore a shirt and tie under his woollen sweater and came complete with gum boots and fishing overalls. Serious!

(5) Shopping in Sydney is a must-do. Everything from shoes to clothes, hats, groceries, books, stationery, kitchenware, linen, flowers, art, knick knacks ... the list goes on. While shopping in the city, keep an eye on the old-style buildings especially in older parts of the city that add to the shopping experience.

So if you do come by Sydney, don't just enjoy the prawn on the barbie (barbecue stove), get out there and enjoy these 5 things that I love about Sydney."

Thanks Grace! The 5 Things I Love about Sydney will be coming soon ~ aussie girl

summer 2007 photos

I've just uploaded a new photo album with pictures from Christmas and New Years festivities, including our family trip away. It was lovely to spend some time with my cousin Grace who was visiting from Brisbane.

summer 2007

many of these photos are grace's. thank you!

new years eve - sydney style!

The NYE tradition in Sydney is that you turn up at a vantage point during the day to secure a good spot with a view of harbour bridge which is the centrepiece of the fireworks displays. You bring a picnic and a blanket, maybe some foldable chairs and you camp out till the first set of fireworks are launched at 9pm. This is the kid-friendly session with the midnight session to follow.

This is how I spent new year's eve, with my sister Melissa, friend Natalie and cousin Grace.

We didn't stay out there all the way till midnight though. After the 9pm fireworks we adjourned to a party at our friends Matt and Elaine's place where we engaged in a Singstar battle (a playstation karaoke game). I think the highlights for me were 'Heaven is a place on earth' and 'Ice Ice Baby'. If I remember correctly, for 'Simply the Best' and 'Uptown Girl' our team achieved the highest honour of 'Totally Singstar'. Our hosts Matt and Elaine said they'd never seen anyone get that before!

Contrast this to new year's eve 2006. Winter in Xining!

• Instead of the comfortable 25 degrees celsius we had here (it's not a hot summer), the temperature was way below zero.
• Rather than being outdoors, we were all cosy in a friend's well-heated apartment.
• For entertainment, Singstar was replaced by Empires (too hard to describe) and we listened to the couples in our group tell stories of how they got together.
• And instead of a massive spectacular fireworks display across the city, we set off our own fireworks in the courtyard of my friends' housing compound.
• I remember standing out there in the courtyard watching the fireworks wearing about 5 layers on top, complete with scarf, gloves and boots. As you can tell from this year's pictures, I was wearing just a bit less than that!

Despite the differences, both NYEs were nice in their own way. Both definitely full of happy and warm memories.

Happy New Year everyone!