Nduts reunited

going to pick Ndut in less than 2 hours.

YeeeeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

cant wait :) :D

The Graduate

That's rite partee people. I am the Graduate! oi oi oi!!!

got my results just now. cant wait to meet the vice chancellor. and mom is going to be here in less then 72 hours.

La vita e Bella.

another year

it is 00.52 am AEST.

Happy birthday to me!!

just got back from gold coast, the paradise. glad to be back. enjoyed my time in paradise.

details and heaps of pictures coming soon.

F R E E

ALAS..
no more essays..
no more examssss

for reaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!!!

ye haaaaaaaaaaaa

note to self: thank Fahim for a lovely, adventurous, educational evening. Lov ya Man!!!!!

just dropping by to let you know im did my last exam. hi hi

Photo of the Day!

Si buncit n sushi.

i was goin to post an uglier version of the pict, but the owner forbid me to and offered me this version instead. not the original pose that i wanted, but you get the idea. What i love about the pict and MISS the most is the look on her face when she nailed that sushi. Nothing looks better than success. She said the sushi tastes like sushi - i was like " Da? *&^%$%" ha ha ha.. im sure it was great.

OZ outback

A weekend on the outback was a treat for me from me. After finishing three 2500 words essay, i finally got a chance to escape from reality and went to Gippsland. I went to a farm at Sarsfield - Gippsland about 3 hours drive east of Melbourne. The farm was Majella's family farm and it was freakin gorgeous.

I forgot how big exactly the farm was, but it has its own tennis court, small pool for the kids - Majella's niece n nephews, trampoline, swing, two dams, bush, sheeps, flowers farm, grape farm, barn - for shearing and Jell's 21st party venue, lemon tree, advocado tree, a small experimental yard and a million dollar view.











Since Gippslands is pretty much a tourist destination, Majella and Leo - the Dad, took me around the area, I got to see Raymond Island, Paynesville, Lakes Entrance -favourite destination for fishing and Bairnsdale. We had lunch at Fisherman's Wharf and i ordered a really good Calamari while looking out the window and enjoyed the view of the Lake and Raymond Island - which is just across the water. One silly thing was that, if you want to go to Raymond Island, you need to go on a ferry, a ride that last only about 2 minutes because it was so goddamn close and there is no other alternative. The people living at the island doesnt want to built a bridge between Paynesville and Raymond Island, they enjoyed their ferry ride. Silly but unique.






Lakes Entrance





I went to church also that sunday, and was told that the St. Mary's Church at Bairnsdale had the same mural paintings as the one at the Sistine Chapel. It was OK.



It's comforting to realize the fact that i was out in the country but i was still in touch with technology and modern facilities. The comparison becomes clear when i compared Jell's farm to Simpang bage (which is pretty much my family farm up the mountains in North Sumatra). Everything at gippsland or at Jell's farm was modern. There are still flat screen TV, comfy lazy-boy chairs, modern kitchen utilities and modern bathroom.




While Simpang bage is 'Kampung' (village), literally. It has no modern aspects whatsoever, especially when my grandmother decided not to build rooms which made us had to sleep on the living room on the floor. See the concept of a 'rumah bolon' like the ones my family have at simpang bage is that everyone should sleep on the floor and be together. There's nothing modern about it.

This trip got me thinking and planning on renovating that house in Simpang bage. Seriously, the last time i was there, i had fun, though less comfortability in terms of accomodation, but if we can just give a little effort in making that house more comfortable and more modern, I can guarantee you that most of my family would love to go there and visit. It is indeed not far from lovely tourist attractions such as Lake Toba, Tongging and Brastagi.

The creme de la creme was when Jell made us Lamb Roast for dinner. Yeee haaaa.. my first OZ lamb roast. It was delicious, yummy and it is freakin easy to make. A Glass of red Shiraz perfected my dinner. Leo told me that the 2005 Shiraz was voted 2nd best on a competition (somewhere i cant remember). It was impeccable.




One thing i forgot to mentioned earlier. This getaway gave me a picture of what it would be like if my dad was still around. I would see him spending his days fixing and playing with cars, him doing nothing sunday afternoon, probably us having lunch in a fancy resto. I almost shed tears realizing that i had missed all that. But seeing how Jell and her dad's relationship i kinda get the idea and was amused by it.

In conclusion, I had a great time exploring the outback! Thanks Jell.. it was just what i needed.
Mom has requested that we go there when she's in Melbourne. Cant wait.

Akhirnya...

Max Brenner's Waffle Chocolate and Strawberries (on the side) with Vanilla Tea.


been craving for this the past three weeks.

Girls Day Out

no, this is not another concert.
6/09/08

this is actually the start of the spring racing carnival. No, it's not sack race, or any other independence-type of races, this is a Horse race. Yes, you dress up (with a fascinator and heels - high heels), you gamble, you drink all day long and you scream at your winnings. Thanks to Jell for organizing and getting all of us tickets.

There were 5 of us going: Jell, Jakub,Me, Phillip (Jell's first cousin), and Justin (Jell's tutor at uni - picture not available).


Since Jell is a member of the Flemington Racecourse, she got us tickets to the indoor viewing - level 4 and 5 Grandstand. So basically we are in level 4 looking over finish line, big screen and members area and we got a bar. One interesting scene is that level 5 has the same feature as level 4 PLUS a stage - live performances, a DJ and a dance floor. very very interesting concept i guess the oz just cant enjoy their day without music and dancing and booze.







the official name for this event is Young Members Cup - Decjuba Girls Day Out. it's at Flemington racecourse. this was just one day out of the whole spring racing season, you got derby day and the Melbourne Cup day coming up. I dont think i will be going to either of those, simply because the whole process of getting a dress and a fascinator for each and every occasion is just too much for me - not to mention the high heels. ouch..

My Fascinator..


The Look..

as you might predict, i couldnt hold on to my high heels for long.. so i went from these..


to these..yeay.. barefooting.
ps: new $7.80 socks from IGA supermarket at spencer street. arent they lovely?

I was ready to soak my feet on warm water with sea salt but the night is young. the races ended about 5ish. so me and the guys decided to go for dinner. It's Polish Pizza and Vodka. I wasnt too sure about the place when i first heard it, but man.. you should really give it a try. The joint is called Renix on Ackland St, St.Kilda.

At dinner, Brad & Jo (newly engaged couple) joined us, also Phil's gf -i think- and Lene-Marie (Jakub's gf). so it's all one BIG happy family having dinner. We started with Nachos and Devil wings for entree which took so long to make and there was only 3 wings on the plate (wtf???). we dug in anyway. The Polish pizza was really good, the others are average.

i didnt really know what's so special about this place until Jakub brought us a round of Polish vodka, which was AWESOME. you really should try it, i doesnt have that bitter-weird after taste, simply a masterpiece. Jakub said it's because in the filtering they got some kind of grass in the middle that takes away the bitter-weird taste.

one polish vodka..

two cheery vodka..

three honey vodka...

four more polish vodka..

and you have majella rambling n calling randomly while trying hard to sit straight.

this is the night i tried more vodka than in my entire life, thanks to Jakub.
ps: more pictures of us at the pizza joint are coming soon, i didnt take out my camera at all at Renix, it was just too intense. :P

My first gingerbread

Who ever thought that getting something at the beginning of class would made a difference to your usually-boring-class. Simon got me a gingerbread boy today as a token of appreciation of the bintang - indon beer - i gave him on monday. the class was not as boring.


i didnt expect to get anything back simply because i got an extra beer, since pete didnt show up. it was kinda cute, he gave me the bread with a letter, well sort of a note with quadrants that shows which one i should read first and signpost of which quadrant to go next. i was smiling all through the class. i didnt see it coming. i was going to ask him whether he enjoy the bintang, but didnt really think he would do something about it.

so here's the gingerbread, the blue background is the note..


he wrote in the note,
Dear Gracia,
I am sorry if this is not how you spell your name. if it isnt; you should consider changing it to the above. it's nice. please proceed to quadrant 2.

2) i would like to thank you for the beer. it was a lovely thought and appreciated very much. I had the beer with my dinner last night. i cooked. baked beans toasted-. quadrant 3

3) sandwiches with a side of fries - purchased - it was an international meal of sorts. in honor of the beer i decided to branch out and cook you something. -->

typically aussie: a gingerbread boy. it will look like the ones you buy from coles but it is not. i baked it. wrapped it. everything i did. Enjoy the lecture.

Simon


hahaha.. i cant stop smiling when i read the note. he insisted that he cooked the gingerbread and wrap it himself. with UNIQI packaging details at back. but the best part is that it's 97% fat free.. aouhhh.. how considerate... hiihihih

i greatly appreciate his efforts. it's nice to know that there are still people that appreciate your attention.
Thank you for the gingerbread simon.

even funnier, i almost got jakub cracking out loud during the presentation today, cause the back of the packaging has these written on it:
Q. Why did the computer go to the doctors?
A. It had a virus!

Q. What do you take before a meal?
A. A seat!

Q. Why did the chicken cross the play ground?
A. To get to the other slide!

Q. Why are fish so smart?
A. it's because they live in schools!

Q. What colour is a burp?
A. Burple!

ha ha ha ROFL.
it's been a fun night. now, i gotta go back to my essay.. yikes..

paid off

my results are out. im happy, although for my intl law subject.. i am not so thrilled. im beginning to hate lawyers..

first my prize was not in the amount that was promised and now my grade. HUH.. but i guess the second one was totally my fault? haha.. i refuse to believe so, i work my ass off for that one. HUH. hehehehehe

Jessup Moot Court Winner

Hard work paid off, we won the battle. ladies and gentlemen, i can now proudly pronounce that i have participated in the Jessup Moot Court competition in Monash Uni and WON. yeehaaa...
my international law and policy unit gave me an opportunity to try out for this year's jessup moot competition. the memorial submission will be counted in my second assignment mark and then we had to do the verbal presentation after all exams are over. the result of the verbal will not be accounted into our mark but there are prize money for the winner, ehm.. for me. This all happened in H2.22 Monash Caulfiled Campus, Saturday June 21, 2008.

i would also like to give my appreciation for alamo and mita for their help in making it all happen. Couldnt have done it without their help.

just look at my face, this was taken after my speech, which explains the blur effect from my still-trembling hands, thus i feel the need to take a pic after my speech. i look disoriented dont you think?

Just a little background for those who is not familiar with Moot Court competition, so it is pretty much like a debate but in a court setting, kinda similar to ally mcbeal and boston legal where there are 2 sides, one respondent and one applicant -my team was the applicant, a.k.a The Winner *cheeky mode on* - and we would act as so called lawyer and would have to defend our case pleadings and hope that the ICJ (international court of justice) rule in our favor. as in a debate we also have adjudicator, but in moot it's called judges. I went as first speaker for the applicant. can you believe it? i was never a first speaker, yet i won this one as a first speaker. really need to consider a carrier as first speaker.

below is the judges, andrew from Monash uni and Jadranka from Melbourne uni Law School. pretty scary eh.. but they are really nice (hahahaha i probably wont say this if i had lost).


too bad no one was able to take pictures during the speech, since everyone was pretty much caught up with preparation and rebuttals. but these are some picts i manage to capture on recess.

Let me introduce you to the team. Here are Pete and Jakub (the second speaker) - the Boyz -

and these are the Gals - Majella, G! (First speaker) and Sarah (the third speaker)-

and here's a pict of everybody, the winning team, our lecturer Alice de Jonge (in the red robe) and the respondent (the other team)
cant believe i can actually be happy after spending a saturday at uni, one of the best days of my staying in Melbourne. Even more so, i went all night long and didnt get back till 6am the next morning. so what happened was after the whole thing was over, we all went to tabaret across uni and grab some beers, had dinner at thai safron (my first real meal of the day) and went to jakub's luxurious apartment (in st kilda, looking at the st kilda marina) cause he wanted to drop his car and change clothes and then we all cruise to richmond and went bar-hopping.

Gosh, it was my first experince in a real OZ bar, no asian around, amazing. The first bar was called 'Post Office'. Loaded with tall people which makes me feel like a midget. The place was not too big, rather small i may say. The second one was Public house, still small, lots of broken glasses, no bogans yet. And finally, the last bar, Swan hotel. this is where i can see various socio-economic condition in OZ. the carpet was sticky, a bit smelly, bad acoustics used by the live band. The highlight of my night was when a guy - a drunk guy - asked me to dance. of course i said no, but since we were standing on the dance floor and he was dancing, he brushed my but. im like WTF? and no i didnt brush his but back, i stepped aside and let him slide. dont want to mess with a drunk guy, mainly a bogan.

Just when i thought the night was over, i was wrong. After the swan, Jell asked me to hang out at Damien's place and help him finish his red wine since he's going abroad soon. He got a really nice apartment, spacious and heaps of wine although he doesnt have the view of st kilda marina. Stayed there till 5.30 and went back home. I was going to take the first train home, but Jell wont let me, she was going to pay for the taxi. I didnt let her, we ended up sharing a cab. She said that if they are your friends, a true OZ, they wont let you go back home alone on that train. If they did, they are not your friend.

Some of the boys i hang out with always put forward the "equality" principle when it comes to taking a girl home. They would argue that you wanted emancipation and equal rights therefore you should not expect boys to take you home to your doorsteps. After yesterday, i can say that argument is just mere excuse for their laziness. Nothing to do with equal rights. At least a good friend, a gentlemen, would make sure that you get home safely.

I cant believe how i happy i am, i even dance when i walk. This is a good thing.

Another bliss in the midst of mist

another weird weather in Melbourne, sunny, sunny, foggy, rainy, sunny and chilly.

housing problem solved. agreement achieved. might be getting a new housemate. not moving anywhere till the end. yihaaa...

might stay for a week in a service apartment early december 08.

sweet.

ps: had fun playing basketball today.

Lagi lagi sukses

sekali lagi saya persembahankan hasil dari hobi baru ku hehehehe.. mungkin tidak selezat di restaurant cina pada umum nya tapi boleh lah rasanya buat mahasiswa :D

Yang pertama adalah cah kang kung.



Yang ini adalah Garlic prawn ala udang goreng mentega