**New Experiences**

WELL! Its been a while since I've posted..

It has been a great week for me..I had a trip down to Great Ocean Road with my family and Bri's family over the weekend..To find out more about it, click on brigette's link..haha..yay, tumpang her blog! It was a good trip, really got closer to everyone who went..

mmm..So Uni's starting on Monday for me..I have a 15 hrs a week..yeap, and I only have 1 hour on mondays and fridays.. bout 4-5 hrs for tues,wed and thurs tho..but the past week has been orientation..altho I spent most of the nights out with my family, i still got to join IH O-week during the daytimes..IH stands for International House by the way, it's where i live in..its been great..I've been meeting lots and lots of ppl from different countries..Sing, HK, US, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Japan, Korea, Philipines, Thailand, China, Aus..and of course Malaysia..!

Orientation week at IH was great..hehe..we played crazy games and stuff..like one of it apparently is an IH tradition..its a three-legged race where the team is supposed to click a block of ice around the whole IH..and along the way, we get bombed with water, flour, oatmeal and mud..so..it all ended up being a BIG mudfight..haha..They also had stuff like bad taste parties (which everyone dresses their worst) and cocktail parties..din attend those tho as i was having dinners wit my family..

Also, they brought us to the Rod Laver Arena the other day..that's wehre the Aussie Open is held every year..tennis? We got to go onto one of the courts, the players' changing room and toilets (which I used, haha!), and also the press conference room.. its was awesome..I even got to see Andy Roddick's locker!..







hmm.. so that was fun.. After that, we had this thing called the Magical Mystery Tour..Well, it wasn't that magical but it was one to rmbr.. Basically, our seniors took the whole IH freshers around the city.. we were running everywhere in a whole bunch.. there were more than hundred of us..on the way were doing chants of IH..one of em goes like this.."IH is hot to go! H-O-T-T-O-G-O! Ahum! Hot to go! *clap clap* Ahum! Hot to go! *clap clap*" It was really crazy..we did stuff like cram into a corner McD's shop and started shouting "We want fries! We want fries!"..so much to tell you guys..

God been really good.. as He is always to all of us..My brother's have been a great blessing and i'm starting to get used to life here..its much more challenging and I guess I haf to learn to stand on my own..esp for what i believe in..His Grace is just amazing..We don't deserve it.. haha.. and guess what? for those of you who knew..I was worried I couldn't play drums for the whole year and i wanted to be able to play music so badly.. well, found out to day that IH actually has a music room with a piano and a set of drums in it!.. haha plus i brought my guitar!!and there were these M'sian dudes that I met that can play instruments well..one guy stays at tropicana 7/1(I stay at 4/1...I KNOW!) and he plays the guitar and piano by hearing..the other dude used to play for a Christian band back home in M'sia..so its been really good.. hehe.. met up with lots of Christians as well..looking forward to my first week of church here..mmm..

I mean there's so much more to tell.. well, i'm enjoying God's blessings here..truly goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life..I miss you guys back home so much..but thank God I'm loving the fun and challenges here too..truly, looking to HIm for strength and grace and goodness.. well, all things!

Finally..

Finally, I'm here. Finally, I've left. Finally, I've let go. Finally, the old has passed, the new has come. Finally, it has begun. Australia has finally descended upon me. Haha, well, okay okay..I know i'm being a little dramatic again.

SO! It's been two days since I've arrived. Erm, staying at a place near(15 minutes walk!) Melb U called International House. Its a pretty cool place, think it'll be very fun to come home to once everyone moves in. Well, guess what? My first dinner was a BBQ, mmm.. Good ol' Aussie BBQ. Well, you know the saying that goes "Melbourne's a second M'sia"? Well, its soo true.. I met two guys who live below me and they're from Sunway D'sara and Mutiara D'sara! That's like 5-10 mins from where I live!! Plus, when i boarded my flight to Melb, the guy sitting behind me was actually my course mate. I mean we nvr talked, but we've seen enuf of each other to know who we were. So awesome.

My first day was a difficult one. Everything was new..Friends, bed, toilet, table, not to mention the water..=_=*(I know)..I mean, it doesn't really hit you until you realize that your on your own. I hardly had any sleep the nite before on the plane, maybe 1 or 2?..I was sick..The weather was HOT!..And I didn't really haf any new friends yet..I wasn't familiar of so many things..I couldn't drive..I didn't know where to buy my things.. To make things worse, I actually left my toiletries in another bad which my parents are bringing over on thurs..So, i had to go somewhere to get the things i needed to shower myself.. BUT WHERE! Having no choice, i asked around for directions and eventually wandered my was dere..Thank God i got what i needed for a bath..(yeah..) Well, it was really stressful up to that point. I did have lunch wit my brother tho, but i was too sleepy to think of anything..hehe..Well, to be honest, i really don't know how ppl over here think..I mean, they could function in a whole different way..Be careful as i am, i naturally didn't want to get too up close and personal with my floormates(ppl living on the same floor as me)..For dinner, my brother brought over a whole regular pizza..They was a lot left..so i was thinking whether i should offer it to the guy living next door or not..(He's a chinese but He's born and bred in Perth)..I actually asked for courage from God and WENT!.. haha..well, turns out to be he's very much into philosophy..You know wat..?We ended up talking about God and philosophy till 11:30pm..I mean..the conversation just began to flow..Many questions i couldn't answer..but God is the one that'll work..not me..Glory to God, cos that just reminded me that i'm not just here to study..That took my mind of missing home and friends and turned my attention to God and what He wants..

Day two - Met a friend (who was also a coursemate!) who wanted to set up a bank account..I needed to get some stuff..like a FAN! It was soooo HOT the day before.. So we and my new friend took a tram down to the city, map in hand and got what we needed.. Ohya, the bank's in Melb Uni..So we walked around the campus as well.. After all that, we headed back to IH. I got my new found FAN and my internet connection both set up.. Met Ben Soon and Ong, Josh, and Gil for a skype sessions.. which was fun!..Chatted wit Eden, Mel, Aaron and Jovy too.. Made me feel so much closer to home.. thanks guys..we should do it more.. Headed down to my my bro's place in Vermont South by train and tram..Took me about 50 mins..and yay!.. waiting at the doorstep was Julia (my tai sou) and Emily (my cute cute CUTE niece!).. All smiles.. she was a bit nervous at first, but we warmed up in no time.. hehe..

Well, all in all..I'm getting more and more used to this place..I'm getting more friends by the day and hopefully I'll find a suitable church real soon too..I still miss home, but like what the Bible says... Forgetting what is behind and looking forward to God's plans for you and me..I still miss home a lot.. But i've got to leave that behind.. Not abandoning everything and everyone, but rather thanking God for everything and everyone.. So, here i am..signing out - still missing home, but looking forward to it all.. Here are some pics: