What? No freshly-made omelette on my sub here?!?!

subway-breakfast-ad

One of things I realize I am going to miss hugely in Australia is the freshly made omelette subway breakfast that could have started a beautiful morning for me. Just recently I decided to have breakfast at Subway coz I couldn’t be bothered with making my own breakfast when I was too exhausted from moving. I love how the cheese would melt on my omelette and perfectly warm up my fresh bread. It keeps the bread tender and soft and simply smells define even when the bread is not toasted; it is the also perfect combination with a bit of salads as I could not stand cold food in the morning. What more could you ask for a hot breakfast? But oh, am I disappointed or what? When we ordered cheese and egg omelette on sub my happiness and excitement was soon bashed into abyss as I saw the staff took out premade omelettes from the fridge and reheat them in a microwave.

Premade omelettes… Are you kidding me?! What happened to the proud “Eat Fresh” slogan at Subway, surely you would expect the message you deliver doesn’t imply only to salads, but also breads (fine, it is always fresh) and other foods on menu where you do your best wherever possible, right? No, I had to endure a barely warm omelette/sub (it was already cold half way through) with unmelted cheese. The texture was also awful and somewhat made me feel like eating plastic. And the sauce, my goodness the sauce!! They do not even have Lime & Coriander which makes me real sad… I mean, c’mon Australia! I’d expect you to have the same ingredients as we do in NZ, or even more advanced in a way to provide a more interesting menu.

Anyway, there’s one thing for sure at the moment, I am never going to return to Subway for breakfast in Australia unless they make some progress with how they serve their omelettes. Full stop.

New experiences in Brisbane

This is the 3rd week that I started my student life in Brisbane and here are some interesting things I have experienced so far…

1. Wild lives everywhere, not just in the bushes but also in residential areas!! Turkeys would stroll in your garden and crows annoy you with creepy cries or even wake you up as early as 4 o’clock in the MORNING!!! Though I am getting used to it now, where I think my body simply tells me to get over it and switched on its self-defense mechanism to ensure I have enough sleep that better prepare me for my studies, how nice.
   

   Brisbane city by night, looking from Kangaroo Point Cliffs. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. Evening walks across bridges on BNE river in the CBD area presents a magnificent view: huge numbers of bats with wings spreading almost 1M long flying everywhere in the sky. At times they fly very close to the bridge as if they were accompanying you while crossing the bridge. Oh, and they like to stalk at your window at night fall. Why would I know this? Because you can hear their wings flapping just outside when it is time to go to bed, and I don’t think any birds would stay as late as 11pm at night…
3. Summer heat is a killer here, but absolutely great on your laundry day. I feel that my clothing and towels were “baked” dry with extreme evaporation where I myself may also melt one day. However I must blissfully admit the humidity isn’t as terrifying as I expected it to be, where the climate can also be very nice and pleasant~
4. While the heat may be unbearable at times, the torrential rain certainly brought me down to my knees… Yesterday it was pouring buckets of water from the sky and I returned home within 3 minutes of heading to uni to change my poor soaking flats into waterproof boots! BOOTS in summer!!! Can you imagine? And apparently this attire is rather common here in the hot stormy season.
   

   Mocha

5. Excellent coffee (and I only drink mocha, which is more expensive) here cost an arm and a leg for students who have to live on their savings – AU$5.00, where a mediocre mocha costs $3.70… I definitely need to explore the local coffee shops a bit more to find the best merchandise that suit my needs! Hmmmm….
6. As a vegetarian on budget you really need to be careful with what you can buy. Even though the fresh products here are locally grown and tax free, they are still very expensive if you are trying to stay healthy. I only buy what’s on special and tend to hunt for something that’s less than AU$3.00 per kg. It’s not easy, but you do get your prize if you persist. I once bought a bag of seedless dark grapes for only $1.50 per kg from Coles, which is a REAL BARGAIN!!! They were fresh and super sweet and I absolutely LOVE them.
7. Oh, but I am more cautious with the supermarket brand toasts. They are a bit dry to start with and so easily moulded. Not very impressive. So I ended up buying a more expensive brand which comes with the option of half a loaf ; this may cost me more but at least I know I won’t be wasting food which is something I extremely hate to do.

This is pretty much what I had to report so far. I am sure I will encounter other interesting occurrences as I explore BNE a bit more in my own free time; and I shall share how I come across them hopefully not too far in the future.

Orientation, Day 2

Oh my word!!! What a fun day?! It was nothing compared with what we have yesterday (despite how useful it could be). It’s mostly group exercises and discussions which really got me stimulated. The activities were also designed to help us integrate with a nice pace as well as know each better in a fun way. All of a sudden the environment felt really welcoming and supportive, and I am encouraged as well as being more hopeful again. I know it is a quick shift, but everything is starting to look promising and less intimidating as the day went along.  Seriously, I really need to learn to believe in myself and appreciate how far I have come! Something that I should have always keep in my mind.

Orientation, Day 1

Alright… I nearly had a nervous breakdown before the full-week orientation. I mean, ever since Jan I have had a lot of emails from the course coordinators and other lecturers about the program. There were so much information which really overwhelmed me, especially the readings that we are “required” to complete before the orientation (not even for the lectures) and I started having doubts if I can really switch on my studying mode and become a student again. It’s been about 5 years since my completed my last studies, and my biggest concern was if I am as good as everyone else and also if I could keep up with the progress and have a balanced life while trying to adjust the new environment. I had minor panic attacks on Sunday night and on Monday morning I was really reluctant to leave home as I was just too anxious with what’s really happening. I even have discouraging thoughts of running away and conflicted myself regarding why on earth did I apply for the program (and after all the hard work of getting there). Nevertheless, I dragged myself to the train on Monday morning with a rapidly beating heart and a stomach that may have contained thousands of butterflies…

Sure, the first morning we started with small introductions about ourselves and then dove straight into guidelines and policies of clinical work, followed by a panel discussion and mock role play of what we might expect during the internship. Oh my, so many information crammed in and surely was I glad that I did the reading as requested. However, it didn’t feel as bad as I firstly anticipated since most of us are in the same boat, and there were also a couple of people who headed back to studying after doing a bit of work too, so I wasn’t the only one feeling it’s tough getting back to studying again, YAY!!!! The afternoon was a tour around the clinic and how certain equipments work. Important to know, but not very exciting coz I am not really a tech-wiz and oh yeah, I simply DO NOT want to mess things up!!!

By the end of the day we are pretty much shattered and info-overload. I am starting to fear how are we going to survive the orientation week and how badly will we struggle when the actual lectures do start!!! Despite of the concerns, I am less stressed of what’s coming as I just realized I am simply setting the bars too high for myself as a freshman… Let’s see what awaits for us tomorrow!!

Happy Valentine’s Day… really?

Alright… I started this blog on a Valentine’s Day not to sulk about not having a boyfriend or a lover. The fact is that I DO have a BOYFRIEND and currently flatting with him. It was nice of him that he took time off work today so that we could spend time together, but more importantly, since we have hired the car for the week, we might as well make use the most of it. This was what he suggested and I was delighted with the idea.

I was expecting we could go out and explore the country (yes, I just got here, so would be nice to have a look around right?!). However the plan was interrupted as we need to inspect a rental property as the current landlord recently sold this place so we need find another place soon. This afternoon inspection means we have limited time to wander round, and despite of getting up at 7:30 this morning, finished breakie before 9am where I also did the dishes; my lovely man decided that he would like to do the laundry instead of going out… And during the washing he went back to play his video games. I was like, what the heck?! If you want to do the laundry you should have done so as soon as you got up in order to save time!!!! I even asked you if you want to do the laundry yesterday and you said no, it would wait. Fine, but now it is really disrupting our schedules and it looks like we are not going anywhere today now except for a home inspection and doing grocery shopping…

This was an upsetting morning for me but I kept quiet and did a bit of reading regarding my studies instead. Though too annoyed to concentrate, so I decided start a blog on Word Press to find a place to unleash my anger and disappointment. I was really quiet in my room and though he did came in and check on my a few times, I remained distant and unresponsive towards him. It’s not worth it to pick a fight with him, I mean after all, he is the one paying the rent, buying the groceries and helping finance my studies as well as the moving over to live with him in another country. But if only he could be a bit more romantic and sharpen up on important dates, he would be absolutely perfect!!! But no, we do not live in the perfect, cannot meet the perfect people and so we should learn to live what we have got and appreciate them while we can…

My ice started to break when he wanders off and cook us lunch. Sure, he didn’t realize what’s going on inside me and even  played Transformers III while eating to pass time. We did not finish the video as the time was nearly up, and the day goes along to the plain and unstimulating rental inspection as well as grocery shopping. The dim-looking place wasn’t a good hunt despite its handy location, however the agent told us if we wanted the place we will have to start paying rent on the day it is available despite if we our current contract does not end before then. Oh bummer!! Paying double rent and not living there for the first 2~3 weeks? I don’t think so…

It was when we came back he got back to do the dishes and while I was packing stuff away, he suddenly said “Tonight won’t be the night to eat out coz nice restaurants will definitely have the Valentine surcharge”.

“Oh? So do we go out tomorrow night then?” Surprised, and yet starting to feel acknowledged.

“No, not tomorrow, Saturday evening will do.” Ah yes… he has to work early on Saturday morning, so needs to go to bed early on Friday.

“That’s fine. But I was surprised it only came across to you about Valentine dinner!” I mean, c’mon~ This morning while having breakfast the morning programs and shows all mentioned VALENTINE’S DAY!!! Titanium from NZ also covered Jason Mraz’s .

“I know, that was my belated move today,” and there was a cheeky chuckle from my down-to-earth man. Alright, I forgive him!!

Happy Valentine’s Day, Jimmy.