Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

 I was cleaning my desk awhile ago when I saw three printed postcards of me holding a koala! I wondered who to give them to; and suddenly I had this awesome idea of sending them to my siblings since the three of them live in three different places! I don't think they will be so pleased to receive a postcard which supports my ever inflating vanity though! But the mere thought that my siblings will be somewhat irked to see my face on a postcard makes me smile from ear to ear. 

The postcard photo was taken when my friends and I went to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane. It's one of the best places to visit if you ever want to see koalas in flesh and blood. In fact, I have never seen koalas in the wild despite the road signs which tell people to beware of koalas crossing! In some areas they even built a tiny hanging bridge solely for koalas to cross. But watching them cross must be a fairy tale!

I paid 20 dollars for my photo to be taken and I must say it was all worth it because hugging the koala made me feel fuzzy and warm in the inside. 20 dollars is pricey for a photo; but the profits will go to building a better sanctuary for these poor sleepy creatures, so it's definitely a win! 

Other animals were also in the sanctuary. There is this area where people can enter and interact with kangaroos! I got the chance to feed them on my hands! Although I must say it was very ticklish! I would have enjoyed the feeding experience a lot better if I didn't get tickled. I wanted to hug the kangaroos but they apparently did not like me. I would love to think it was because of my hat and not because I looked scary. 

I remember I really enjoyed my time at the sanctuary. I am longing to visit more places like this in Brisbane. I'm just waiting for my friends to invite me to go with them. I'm definitely in! 

Lucky 7!

I went mad shopping for books today! I told myself I will only buy one book, but I ended up walking out with one bag! I spent more than an hour choosing which books to buy and luckily 6 books caught my heart. They are mostly history books which are written in a different fashion. I never learned history when I was growing up due to two reasons: (1) I hated simple narration of facts and (2) my teachers never told the story in an interesting way. Because of these, I appear oblivious to the world. But I am aim to cope with this ignorance by looking at history in a difference lens! I was specifically very euphoric to find a book written by Tom Standage. I had a chat with the bookstore personnel and was very happy she also likes him. She told me there is another book he authored which is due to arrive next week and that she would give me a ring when it's available. So in reality, I have/will have 7 new books. Lucky 7! I can't tell you how happy I am to see these books on my table. I badly needed to buy these because I realized some nights I find myself staring at the wall before I retire to bed. I mean, only crazy people stares blankly at the wall, right? Then it occurred to me that the reason why I was staring at the wall was because I had no book to read. These 7 books should be enough to keep me sane in the coming months. 

Cakes for Australia Day

Mango passionfruit cheesecake from The Cheesecake Shop.

Happy Australia Day!

I dashed to the nearest cake shop a couple of minutes ago, hoping to buy a piece of cake which could hopefully inspire me to continue writing my report. As the clouds were grey and could apparently rain any minute, I had the excuse to walk with my UV proof umbrella. And that simple fact got me smiling while walking as no one in Australia normally walks with an umbrella when it's not raining!

I baked this some months ago for a friend.

Upon reaching the cake shop, I headed to the corner where quarter slices of cakes were displayed. I was looking for my favorite passion fruit cheesecake; but it was unfortunately unavailable so I had to make do with a chocolate cake topped with fresh strawberries (a cake which I normally bake for a friend's birthday when I don't have much time). When the cake attendant came, I asked him if they happen to have a passion fruit cheese cake which was not on display. Unfortunately, there wasn't so he suggested I take the mango passionfruit one which he reckons is also delicious. I was surprised he gave me a generous discount and I didn't even ask for it! It must be the Australia Day spirit. I walked off jubilant and paid the nice cake attendant with a beautiful smile.

Transylvanian food and fire dancing

Yesterday morning I woke up with a bad headache which I presumed was more of sinus-related than anything else. The night before that I went out with my friends from the lab and did some sort of "club hopping."  We went to Prohibition and Cloudland. It was honestly my first time to go to the clubs in Brisbane and I must say I would definitely rather go to pubs due to several reasons which I refuse to elaborate. But one main reason is that I'd rather enjoy an intimate conversation with my closest friends while sipping a pint of refreshingly bitter beer than go dancing in the club with skimpy clothes to a music I do not like. Or maybe the music in those two clubs were just not good? However, I must say the bathrooms were very impressive and I quite like the furniture. 

Dejected over the events on the Friday night (not to mention I was too sober because I don't think they even put alcohol in our cocktails), I was determined to have a more worthwhile Saturday night! True enough I really had a blast last night. First, my girl friends and I went to the Night Food Market at Boundary St., West End. I tried the Transylvanian cheese pie with the cabbage roll. I found the cheese pie surprisingly delicious. The cabbage roll was also very tasty (although I would prefer it a bit sour). Afterwards, we headed to a park where the "hippies" gathered around to celebrate the full moon through fire dances. I really enjoyed watching the performers toss and turn their fire paraphernalia. I would love to imagine doing fire dancing myself; but because I'm very clumsy, I don't think I will ever learn to do fire dancing without burning myself entirely. We sat for an hour gazing at the fire dancers! I was mesmerized and I really enjoyed it! I will likely come back some time in the next full moon and be another hippie-wanna-be who adores playing with fire. 

Before the sky started crying, my friend and I went to a pub which I completely forgot where because I'm very good with directions! It was a very quaint pub with no more than twenty seats. I would really love to go back there as they were serving the kinds of beer you hardly see in other pubs. They just sell those from small breweries. I'm still in search for my favorite beer. And so far, my two candidates are Sea Bass from this pub I'm talking about and Young Henry's which I got at the Lefty's pub near Petrie Terrace, Brisbane. After having a nice conversation with my friend, we ended the night with a truly satisfied stomach and liver! After she left me at the bus stop, however, one stranger was trying to pick me up. I was more irritated than scared actually. Luckily I was not drunk and I knew I could still run if I had to. The bus came on time to save me! In the end, it was a beautiful night.  I also had the chance to once again enjoy the full moon when I was crossing my favorite bridge in Brisbane!

Saturdate with friends

I have been living in foreign countries for more than four years now, and I must say it's one of the best experiences in life. The initial move was daunting as I knew I was traversing unfamiliar grounds where I would encounter people from different cultures with different languages. But being surrounded with people who are different from me is a very pleasurable learning experience because these people compel me see the world through a different vantage point. I really enjoy meeting new friends and actually forming a tight bond within our close circle. But I like to keep my circle of friends somewhat small because a big one is definitely doomed to collapse. Luckily, I have already met a number of friends whom I think will stick with me through thick or thin. When living in a foreign country, the best way to survive is to have really good friends whom you can laugh, cry and eat with!

I really enjoy trying all sorts of dishes. When I was living in Belgium, I would normally spend almost every Fridays nights having dinner with friends. Food makes jokes a lot funnier for some reasons. 

Moving here, I spend my Friday almost in the same manner. And maybe even better because I go out a lot on the weekends too! 

Yesterday, I went to my friends' place and spent more than an hour playing in the pool all by myself. I was having fun a lot until I realized I was the only person in the pool and the people who saw me smiling on my own probably thought I was crazy. After realizing how weird it was I was smiling on my own, I tried to keep the smiles to myself so they would not think I was losing it.  

It was getting dark so I went inside my friends' flat where we spent the rest of the night chatting and laughing. They cooked a lot! And they were all very delicious. They cooked Chinese food (because they are Chinese). Even though China and my country of origin  are not in very good terms, I cannot bring myself to fully hate China because I have Chinese blood myself. Doing so would be tantamount to hating my own ancestors.  Anyway, I really love my friends--whatever are their nationalities!

I really enjoyed my Saturday. Meanwhile, I gotta run again as I need to meet my girls in the city today. Life is good when you have awesome friends.

Holidays

I got back to my flat yesterday and since then I have been tidying up my nook, cooking, daydreaming and planning for the weeks ahead.  I really love holidays! But I can honestly only enjoy 4-5 weeks of holidays. The first and second weeks are vibrant and colorful. The lack-of-purpose-in-life feeling begins to kick in come the end of the third week. On the fourth week, boredom crawls through every inch of my skin. On the fifth week, I start thinking about ways to kill boredom. On the sixth week until who knows when, I start running aimlessly on a limbo and start imagining what life would be like if I lived in hell instead. Taking long holidays isn't as gratifying as short ones because money does not grow on trees. But maybe if I could grow a money tree in my backyard, it would have been a different story. I would definitely wander around the world through land, sea and sky!