EISTEDFODD GOLD COAST 2014

On August 7th, Jordie went for his 1st piano competition at Eistedfodd Gold Coast. He wasn't really expecting much as I had forewarned him the people playing at this contest are very experienced and good pianists.  Some even come all the way from Brisbane to perform.

However, to our pleasant surprise, he did fantastically well on his 6 Variations on a Swiss song entry by Beethoven. The candidates prior to him were very skilled and expressive, oozing with emo and all.
His piece was more a technical piece, not much emo but consistency was very important.

So, he got 2nd place even though there were many other contestants who played very complicated difficult pieces with gusto and style. I think the judge liked his simplicity and unpretenciousness.
What a nice surprise!

His 2nd entry for Keryn Bailey's "Morning Song' didn't take off as well. Apparently, he felt something gooey sticky on the keyboard while playing and was trying to get rid of it from his finger. Boogers???
Whatever, but  he received very high commendable for this piece and it was a good experience to be exposed to what others his age were doing and how he fared among them.

His Varsity College school band for which he is the keyboardist, also received highly commendable for jazz ensemble pieces. 

One thing I learnt, never get intimidated by complicated pieces delivered. The judge looks out for style, natural delivery and accurate presentation. Next year, he's game to compete again.. go Jordie!!

EISTEDDFOD GOLD COAST

I can't even pronounce or spell the name properly....!

This Welsh-sounding event is an annual music festival and competition for a wide range of young performers in Gold Coast. Up till now, Jordan has been joining the Somerset Music Festival, but this year, he expressed a wish to enter the Eisteddfod in Gold Coast. I think what spurred him on was his exposure to it through the school jazz band that he joined this year. They will be participating in Eisteddfod and his teacher suggested, why not join piano solos if he plays as well?

It has definitely more stiff competition than Somerset, and I expressed my reservations. Jordan very surprisingly told me: " Well, if you don't ever get knocked down, you won't learn how to get up."
Words of wisdom from my 12 year old and I admire his courage.

So, off to the Eisteddfod office in Robina I go, to register my son for his very first entries for Eisteddfod this year. We will practice hard and pray for a good experience..

"SHEN YUN"

Have been on a long break from this blog for a while. Guess I just ran out of writer's fuel for a bit and there didn't really seem like anything inspiring worth writing about in GC and my life so far.. Tales of the expected just seemed really boring, tales of the unexpected infringed too much on the privacy of my life,..so in between, there really wasn't any material worth publishing...

Thought I'd kick off this year with a little review of my recent visit to the Gold Coast Arts Centre which was hosting the event, "Shen Yun". Initially, no thanks to my limited Chinese knowledge, I had presumed the promotional booths for this at the malls were selling services of a fertility clinic!! Because Shen Yun also sounds like pregnancy.. Apparently, it means "Divine Sound" and it is a live dance and musical performance telling of China's 5000 cultural history. At any rate, we wouldn't have paid $100+ for tickets, but a kind client of my hubby's sponsored us for the show, so of course, we didn't pass it up!

The show was very colourful and vibrant, with costumes, dance ribbons, backdrops, props. Started out with 2 MC's who were bi-lingual, introducing the theme of the show. The acts included many types of dances, opera singers, all fully accompanied by a live band. The backdrop, although simple, was very well-designed and digitally executed so that the performers could seemingly fly off into the horizon and then back hop back again to the stage in one seamless effect ala chinese opera in the digital age...

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against chinese culture, but the show was just so blatantly Falungong propaganda! Albeit, performance was good, dancers very skilled, music impeccable, but the propaganda too strong...Falungong is a religious movement in China which has been banned due to its increasing popularity and possible threat to the authority of the Chinese government. Many members were severely persecuted and sent to detention camps for brainwashing. There were outright abuse of human rights in that part of Chinese history, and whoever backed this performance (which is New York-based by the way) must have been a combination of angry locals and provoked foreigners. It's a no-brainer of course, you won't be able to watch this show at all in China! But in many countries elsewhere, it has gone far and wide.

So, on the one hand, you have these beautiful and uplifting displays of Chinese cultural arts and history, their myths and beliefs interwoven with strong and loud stands of the Dafa set of beliefs and displays of cruelty of their persecutors highlighted in red.





To non-Chinese audiences, Shen Yun and its classical dance and songs must have been so refreshingly different and unique, something they've never been exposed to before. Because I have been exposed to these performances, it didn't overwhelm me as much, but nevertheless, I still enjoyed getting connected with chinese culture again and embracing the "pride" of a heritage that is springing forth from many years of rich history.

GOOD MORNING AUSTRALIA- PT.2

Most Aussies probably find telemarketers very annoying. Especially since there are hundreds even thousands of companies out there mining the same area at one point or another, it probably won't be unusual for a person to get up to 5 or 6 calls of this sort in a day especially if they had not delisted their numbers from the directory.

If any of you have ever been guilty of hanging up on a telemarketer abruptly or shouting or swearing at one, you need to think twice before you do that the next time okay? Why? Because nobody enjoys calling or intruding upon your time. We have a job to do and yes, it may appear to be annoying to you, but someone has to call people to get the message out there and to announce services or products. To minimise your pain and ours, here are a few "Thou shalt not's..."

• THOU SHALT NOT pick up then hang up without saying anything, because we will have to call you over and over again because you see,you are not considered completely marketed to as a lead if we hadn't gotten the chance to come into contact with you! 

• THOU SHALT NOT LIE OR HIDE. If you pretend that you are not that person, well, sorry! We will have to contact you again, until we get to speak to you. Anyway, what if you said the person doesnt live here anymore and I actually rang to tell you you had won $1 million dollars?? Big loss!! You'll never know what you just threw out the window...Be brave, acknowledge yourself...and if you pretended you are your parents, we can tell....I've lost count of the times when someone claimed the person I asked for was not them and no such person and when I said I had rang to offer something to them, they came out of hiding and really looked silly saying, "I am not interested." after that. 

• THOU SHALT NOT be rude. Be polite and hear the person out. If you really don't have the time, spell it out firmly but courteously. If the telemarketer is pushy or inconsiderate, then he or she probably deserves to have the call cut short anyway. Swearing and giving verbal abuses only demeans yourself, not us. It shows that you have no other more intelligent way of expressing yourself than four letter words. Demeaning a telemarketer and his/her job isn't going to stop many others from still calling you. There are thousands of companies calling everyday, if you don't want the calls, delist your number. But look, shouting at us isn't going to solve this problem. It only makes your throat hurt, blood pressure go up and another individual demoralised. If you can't cope, just say no thanks and hang up...

• THOU SHALT NOT say not interested on behalf of your parents. Sorry, we'll still have to talk to the parents even if you were given instructions to say not interested. And anyway, your parents may be interested, so give us a chance to talk to them. 

On the whole though, most Aussies are pretty polite, especially the older generation. Nice and friendly bunch, and sometimes wish you luck for the day. As for the rest of the bunch, TTYL! (Talk to you later)

GOOD MORNING, AUSTRALIA! - Pt.1

Have been working at a call centre for 5 months now and it has been a crazy mishmash of experiences for me - of fear, pride, tears, joy, anger, sadness and amusement. When I first took on this job, it was (and still is) with fear and intimidation that I would not quite cut it as as a telemarketer. Everyday, I call different cities across Australia making appointments for conferences.

For obvious sensible reasons, I shall not disclose where I work, but it is very near where I stay. So, I have been very blessed in the sense that I don't even have to drive if I choose not to, it is just 7 minutes brisk walk from door to door.

I could write a book of the many different characters in my workplace. The team I work with consists mostly of ladies in their fifties. But there are also younger girls and mums like myself who struggle to cope with managing a family as well as make it on time to the sometimes unearthly hours of work (i.e. 8am). And because Australia has 3 different timezones, we could be starting really early one week and then starting at normal 9am the next, depending on which cities we call for the week.

During my calls, I come across interesting names, funny, serious people, the very old and the very young, very rich and very poor, very rude and very polite. I get a taste of Australia's different households, how they live, work, eat, think and function as a family. One thing I had found is that Australian life spans are generally much higher than in Asian countries. I have talked to many retirees in their nineties, late eighties and guess what? Some are still working, so it tells me, they are a pretty fit lot... I have talked to quite a number of people who tell me they are dying of cancer, people who tell me they just had a baby, just got engaged, just had a divorce, just got a new house, new immigrants from India, Africa, China, perhaps some illegal ones, doctors, nurses, miners, engineers, accountants, teachers, mango farmers, cattle farmers,.. all walks of life, but with one aim in mind, to invite the right people and hope they show up for my conferences.

On a good day, I get 4-5 people, on a bad day, I get none or just one. It's insane, and a little trivial to feel good about having managed to invite 3 or more people a day after having called like close to 220 people. So, yes it is not the most fantastic job on earth but hey, it helps to pay the bills for now.......If you think it's an easy job to sit there everyday and talk to people, you are so wrong. I admit it can be pleasant to meet nice people on the phone who will tell you their life stories and joke with you but there are also many crappy instances of putting up with horribly rude, drunk and OD'd people who shout at you and insult you.

There were many times in my earlier days of this job that I wanted to just give up and walk away because I felt so lousy about having to annoy people and intrude upon their lives and being screamed at for daring to call them. But I know this is also a season of dealing with my inner self - to learn to take rejection upfront and not take it personally. To learn that a job is still a job at the end of the day and that when you tuck away your headphones and go back home, you DON'T need to carry back that 'f' word spoken to you, or that lousy feeling of walking away with zero bookings for the day... I have found that it helps to segment and clearly and precisely shut the door when you step out of work, otherwise, you could feel crappy the whole time.

But then, there are also the happy triumphant times when I look back at how the grace of God prevailed at a crucial time when I was told I had that week to show results or face losing the job. This is the episode I will always remember and a lesson in faith that God teaches me. Being a newbie at this kind of work, I had very low bookings. However, I marvelled at how I still managed to have people show up for my conferences. That had saved me for the first part of my career as a telemarketer eventhough I had very few bookings.

One day, my manager pulled me aside and told me they wanted to let me go that very week but she stood up for me and insisted I could do it, with proper training. So, I asked if my show rates were good for that particular week, would it be the determining factor to keep me on for coming weeks? She said yes. That very morning of the show rate results, as I walked to work,I prayed really hard for a '5' for showup rates. It seemed impossible, considering my miserable booking figures... and why '5'? Because it is the biblical number for grace and I needed a real clear sign for me that I had His grace for me to stay on..then suddenly, a van shot past me and drove ahead of me..and strangely, it had the word GRACE?? written clearly on the back. Hmm, pretty apt, I thought. Things got more interesting towards the afternoon when my boss came up and shook my hand, telling me I had done very well for that week. I was pleasantly surprised. When the scores were announced, I was one of the highest performers. And guess how many showed up that week for me? 5 people! Awesome, the grace that covers me. That kept me on the job for the next following weeks....stay tuned on this channel for other interesting stories......

ONCE IN A PURPLE MOON

Once upon a purple moon ago, when mooncakes became scarce and super expensive on Gold Coast land, and chinese heritage was seriously in danger of becoming obliterated in the Lim family, we decided let's just celebrate this year's Mid-Autumn Festival in mini-fashion for the evening and get Jordie acquainted with some of his chinese roots before he totally lost it... So off we went on the hunt for mooncake lotus paste plus the mould for it, with the ambitious aim of wanting to make our own home-made ones since they really cost a bomb here. To my dismay, no shops carried those mooncake moulds and the lotus paste was just nowhere to be found in asian shops here. They only had black sesame and red bean- not so divine. Lotus paste which is the filling for mooncake is so tedious to make, I'd rather not bother with it and might even not manage to make a good one anyway. So, yesterday, on the mooncake festival date itself, we went to try to get some mooncakes,... well, most shops were out of stock and the ones left were so expensive, so we just got the teochew types and the mini round ones. After dinner, we told Jordan the origin and legend of the festival. Then, we 'walked the lantern' outside the neighbourhood streets and he had fun, the thrill of 'playing with fire' I guess.... too bad his neighbours were already in bed by then.

We then had some mooncakes, which Jordie found lip-smackingly good and daddy taught him the finer aspects of chinese tea appreciation and preparation.

For once, he enjoyed the tea and wanted 2nd and 3rd helpings so daddy was quite happy because he had now found a tea companion. I never really enjoyed chinese tea myself, coffee's more my thing...

Well anyway, when I quote purple moon, I mean it really IS RARE for us to get traditional in this manner... I mean while in Malaysia, I never really went into this kinda chinese heritage embracing and it was a virtual non-event there. Now, it just felt important to do it, because when I look at Jordan growing up in this land, amongst Aussies and many other internationals, I feel he is slowly losing his identity as a chinese. His hair had been turning brown lately maybe due to the sun or the high chlorine content in the water and he seemed happy about it because he felt he was turning into an 'aussie' boy. So, I feel we needed to teach him to be proud of his background, who he is and where he came from. Of course, speaking the language, behaviour and understanding of lifestyles to blend in well here is just as important, but knowing who he is and being able to live out this diversity in his life will be a definite advantage.... I hope...

ANZAC DAY

Well, I think it's wonderful that the Australians set aside one day every year on Anzac Day to honour and commemorate the fallen and thank those servicemen who are currently deployed to various nations around the world. It is the day when the country commemorates the ANZACs (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey in World War I. This day of remembrance (ANZAC Day) then evolved to include all those who've been involved in other wars and military operations Australia has engaged in since the Great War.

So...apart from chewing on their iconic Anzac biscuits,

Aussies have memorial services in designated places.. Shops, offices, schools and major shopping centres are closed in honor of the day. When K-mart tried to apply for permit to stay open for the day this year, it was lambasted for not being tasteful and insensitive to Australian culture.

None of the wars that Aussies have fought in history have been caused by Australia. But they have always sent troops in aid for the fight of freedom in other countries and sacrificed many in the process.

The Australian Defence Force's commitment to the security of Malaysia is longstanding and we owe them a debt for peace-keeping. It began with Malayan Campaign in World War II, followed shortly after by the Malayan Emergency and Confrontation. Alongside with the British who fought for Malaysia when the Japanese invaded, the Aussies were allies to Malaysia during this time and many perished during the war. Australia's defence relationship with Malaysia dates back to well before Malaysia's independence in 1957, and reflects a common commitment to the security and stability of the region. The relationship is based on practical cooperation including the Malaysia-Australia Joint Defence Program plus an ongoing Australian presence at the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Base at Butterworth. Today, Australia is the only country with forces permanently based in Malaysia and also its major source of external military training.

For a country of small population, I think oz's guard their heritage rather fiercely and proudly. What they have given out and continued to give is wonderful. In fact, I think it is a blessed nation not just in terms of resources but also holding up well in economy not merely because of physical advantages but by the fact that they have also been good custodians of certain values and systems, the environment, senior citizens, wildlife and animals..and reaping what is sown. Of course, I am speaking rhetorically and in general and it does not by any means represent the entire population and culture here, but still..overall, it is a country that does take care of its own people + land pretty well.

Okay, I know taxes are high here, but they do give back in other ways unlike certain places.... I have an 82-year old friend who thinks her peers complain way too much about the government for not doing its job well, because she has been overseas and seen the poverty and lack that people suffer because of an unjust and corrupted government. "You people have it good here and don't even know it.." she often scolds them in her stern motherly way.

But back to Anzac Day, we had a time of tribute and prayer for the soldiers deployed to other nations at church today. It may not be fireworks or huge parades going on, but at the end of the day, it goes back to the basics of appreciation for the value of human life, sacrifices and comradeship. So yes, this is a nation which is far from perfect, but definitely with its heart in the right place.

NEW SLANGS I JUST LEARNT

Today, over a morning tea conversation with some aussie friends, I learnt some interesting oz slangs which totally bowled me over. The oz's have a cute way of putting things that is both straightforward and visual.. My friend kept saying 'spit the dummy' and I was wondering what on earth was that. It means:

To indulge in a sudden display of anger or frustration; to lose one’s temper. The phrase is usually used of an adult, and the implication is that the outburst is childish, like a baby spitting out its dummy (pacifier) in a tantrum and refusing to be pacified.

The other term was 'batching' which apparently means:

To live alone and keep house as a bachelor.

It can also mean accumulation of things, collect heaps of stuff, which usually happens in bachelor pads too, hihi...

SCHOOLIES- DRUNK & OUT OF CONTROL

That's what the Gold Coast News read today about the schoolies in town. It is an annual event around this time in November when the teenagers or 'schoolies' who graduate from Year 12 who are entering college 'initiate' their freedom and independence and adulthood with this teenage ritual sanctioned and funded by the Gold Coast City Council (Oh my God..). Every year, thousands of them descend upon the city and let loose. They come from Gold Coast and other parts of Australia. It's like pools of hormones stirred in a pot together. Havoc, that's the chemical 'X' that comes out of it.

Considering the drunken bad behaviour, teenagers getting smashed, drunk, sex, fights and vandalism and drugs, the police are stationed everywhere in Surfer's Paradise monitoring the situation and they even have chaperone volunteers helping out to keep an eye on the youngsters before they get into serious trouble. But I wonder why it is being declared as part of the Gold Coast City Council's annual calendar event. Is it because they think it generates revenue, publicity.. or just can't make it go away, so might as well sanction it... what?? If anything, it actually makes them spend more money to clean up the mess and hire more people to enforce the laws in the area. Plus it drives away business in most stores downtown. People are afraid of the noise, potential violence and drunken brawls. And my even bigger question is why do the parents allow their kids to be part of this? Is it supposed to represent a cool groovy must-do ritual and 'oh let them have their fun, they worked hard, they're grown up, they can handle it..' Well can they handle THIS??

Or THIS...?

One Gold Coaster wrote: ""close to being out of control" that is taking chances with our kids -> PERIOD. Forget the government for a minute, besides they are concerned about global warming, where are Moms? Fathers? Shame on you "

By the early hours of Monday morning- Day 3 of Schoolies event, 36 schoolies had been arrested -- 31 for alcohol-related offences, two for possessing cannabis, one for unlicensed driving and one for stealing. Another 56 non-schoolies were arrested, largely for drunken behaviour. Meanwhile a 17-year-old man will appear in Southport Magistrates Court this morning after allegedly stealing a woman's handbag, before punching her in the face.

Police allege that an 18-year-old woman was approached by the man at 9.30pm along the esplanade in Surfers Paradise. The man tried to grab the woman's bag, before punching her in the chin.

Most Gold Coasters don't just tolerate this event, they hate it. It is giving Gold Coast a smutty image and bad name, alongside with Super GP, meter maids and other 'cultural' icons. Nothing to be proud of, and yet it still continues year after year. When will the change come? God knows. This city needs to re-evaluate its values and what it wants to be identified with. If it is icons and cultural events like this that rules its image year after year, not even the best spin doctors in town can salvage its reputation as the city that welcomes thrill and fun seekers who may be law-breakers.

Q150 Celebrations at Bischoff Park

Queensland is 150 years old this year and they had a celebration fest at Nerang's Bischoff Park today organised by Gold Coast City Council. Great festive mood everywhere and there were lots of fun stuff for kids & adults as well. Balloons, horses, pets, food, BBQ, fun rides, the works.

Leanne and team also put up a Pamper Zone tent giving free pampering like shoulder & hand massage, manicure, hairblowing & stuff for ladies.

Met Brad Lush, who is the community 'face' for Genesis church and as u can see, he was totally into the mood for that day....

Brad is an active champion for community causes in Nerang and helps organise support and events for various needy groups like the homeless and poor.

Peter Young, councillor for Nerang district was also there to officiate the event. He told me there was a band & cannons going off at 12 noon which I missed, shucks. Karen, his wife, MC'ed for the stage performances dressed in a nice gown. Local talents graced the stage with songs ranging from funky to serious opera stuff that sounded pretty glass-shattering. But one thing I must say, they usually avoid putting anyone who might be too destructive on the ears, so generally quite pleasant voices were singing that day.

Bumped into many Genesis church members at the park including Beryl, with whom we had 'Devonshire tea' + scones at this Heritage house, hosted by a group of volunteers who believed in heritage cause of Queensland.

Jordie had a thoroughblast-...went on the Super Slide twice.. at first chicken about it, but after that, very much thrilled by it... just $1.00 for 2 slides - so cheap!

.. and fresh fairy floss (cotton candy)

....and farm animals petting, combing sheep hair out...I think the animals rather enjoyed the attention.

Jordan also found the early times bicycle whatchamacallit, with huge front wheel rather comical..."but how do you climb on it??"

We had sushi & korma lamb curry rice for lunch at half the normal price of a restaurant's. Food was sold cheap for the masses and most people had a good family time there together. OZ culture is just to have a hair-letting down time, sit on the grass, spread your blankie, sit back, enjoy the music, the food smells and the festive mood. Glad we went... just to get Varsity Lakes out of our hair and into some oz culture & mingling for the day.....

HIJACK PLOT FOR EASTER

End of school term this week, Easter is around the corner. Everywhere I turn, I see eggs, chocolate eggs, bunnies, more eggs, gosh- it's like they are popping up with a vengeance. Major distraction manifesto time for easter ..

I do not get the significance of Good Friday at all over here. I think even in Malaysia & Singapore, this 'egg' disease may have spread in great proportions. The message of the cross has been hijacked by the chocolate confectionary business. Bunnies and eggs have been strategically placed at every corner of supermarkets and are considered must haves over here for Easter. If you didn't buy at least one for your child, you may be labelled a "meano cheapo". Oh well, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, so Jordan gets his easter eggs and his egghunt,.. but not without first understanding the true message of Good Friday & Easter. Jesus needs to take centre stage for this event,

We cannot lose the plot.

I NEVER HEARD ABOUT THESE SERVICES... UNTIL NOW.

I am so amazed at the entrepreneurial skills & innovative job ideas of the Aussies, ..specialising is so very important in this land. You need about 4 people from 4 different companies to repair a bathroom leak. (Honest to God, that's what happened to me) So specific are the skills that you probably will only find it under one heading per entry in the yellow pages. (Joking!) Here are some examples I've observed:

1. NIT-PICKING SERVICES:

Wow! that is a new one for me. Especially since Jordie and I just recovered from lice invasion in our hair, this was a service that really drew my attention.

We specialise in prevention, detection and treatment of nits and head lice in children. No time to sort out those head lice eggs in the hair? Send the kids off to the Nit-picking service centre and u will have the problem out of your hair, literally

2. KITTY-SITTING: Imagining someone sitting on kittens. Taking care of your feline friends when you are away, purrr-fect!!

3. PERSONAL CHEF: This is my fave. What can be more enjoyable than having someone come in to cook for you in the comfort of your own home, they buy the stuff, use your kitchen, serve you first class, then clean-up and go? Table cloth + candlelight & decor thrown in as well. Prices can range anything from A$110-A$250 per person for a 3-4 course meal. Much like catering, except for very small crowd or even a couple/family. Will try this when I get rich....

4. ANIMAL CHIROPRACTOR: Yup, specialising in dogs/cats with athritic or muscle pains and needing physiotherapy or special massage.

5. ARBORIST (OR TREE-CLIMBER): An arborist, arboriculturalist or tree surgeon is a professional in the practice of arboriculture, which is the management and maintenance of ornamental or shade trees. Work can include tree surgery and also care of shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. They are not a forester, or loggers. Those professions may have much in common, but the scope of work is different. Arborists frequently focus on health and safety of individual trees, or wooded landscapes, rather than managing forests or harvesting wood.

6. OSTRICH BABYSITTER

Apparently for this job, u get to sit in a field full of ostrich in a farm and make sure that they didn't peck each other to death or get stolen. Any job where you can sit down, read a book and do absolutely no work is always a plus, but I've heard that these birds' behavior can get a little aggressive.

7. PET FOOD TASTER Obviously the doggies and pussycats can't tell you in English how good the food is or how bad, so, it has to be a human taster for their food, rite? .......Ok, will now start my job application....I probably need a cert or sit for an exam for each of those professions........

PRAISES FOR WOOLWORTHS

I have been pretty forgetful lately, it's a sign of ageing, sigh... I realised I forgot one whole bag of groceries from Woolworths where I regularly shop. And I was pretty mad at myself. I was thinking I probably could just kiss that whole bag goodbye including my favourite double espresso coffee and a Dynamo refill...well over 4 hours later then only I discover the loss...but decided to just phone in anyway to try my luck, see if they saw my bag. I wasn't feeling optimistic about getting anything back. Well, well, what do you know? The customer service manager in charge said they had itemised everything that was left behind and confirmed everything I read out in the receipt! . She said I could come by to pick up the items anytime from the store again (they put them back on shelves) or just get full refund for lost items.

Wonderful! I know most places would do that in this country, especially if it was left at the counter, but in Malaysia, that hardly ever happens. One bag forgotten means one bag lost forever. Honesty is one of the best things I appreciate about this country. That's why toilet rolls are in every cubicle, not central like those in Malaysian public restrooms, and bicycles aren't locked in schools here. I saw kids here entrusting their money with a kind adult who was a stranger to them- because the queue to pay their book money was just too long, so that they could go back to class. But...I don't know if anyone would return a $50 bill if they saw it drop out of your pocket, though. ..my guess is perhaps 50/50.

Sure, there may be some bad eggs around, but on the whole, their upbringing is to respect one another's belongings and courtesy & trust means a great deal to me. so..Woolworths, thanks! you have my praise and oh, I will shop there this Friday, since you are contributing your profits on Friday to bushfire victims.

CHRISTMAS CONCERT@MOVIE WORLD

Well, we never made it into the theme park itself today, but at Karen Young's encouragement "You gotta get yourself out there. It'll be fun! come on!" to go see the christmas show held at the Movie World car park/field area, we decided ya, why not? Just to also experience some of the OZ culture and love for outdoor stage performances.

The Christmas celebration event is held at Movie World for the 2nd time this year, and we didn't know it but it turns out, Karen, Peter Young's wife was the emcee for the event. Movie World is one of the sponsors, and sponsors the venue, stage props and the fireworks display for this event, but the main sponsor is the Gold Coast City Council.

We got sidetracked to the fun & games being held on the same grounds because Jordie was super-interested in these fun rides. He decided against the dangerous looking ones like rock-climbing and super slide and opted for this ride instead - the harnessed bouncer (Intro to scary rides in theme parks 101). He liked it, bouncing up & down ala trampoline style.

They had nice-looking foodstalls too, but we didn't want hotdogs for dinner...

So, we decided to leave earlier because our stomachs voted for dinner over the fireworks, and didn't even get to watch the carols, but hey, at least we pulled ourselves out of the house for another cultural experience....

X'MAS LIGHTS FEVER IN GOLD COAST

Okay, I was partially wrong.... the X'mas lights fever has hit GC although it is not in the malls...

... it is in the homes!

The Gold Coast City Council organizes a competition annually for homes to compete in the xmas light-up.. here's just some of the more outstanding ones, some are prize-winners. Every neighbourhood has their fair share of contestants...They can beat the Orchard Road X'mas lightup if combined in one street..... Nowadays, need to put on my sunshades in the evening when I go out for a stroll with Jordie,,,,,

EPISODE 15: CHRISTMAS MOOD IN GC

CHRISTMAS MOOD is finally kicking in at GC with malls like Pacific Fair, Australia Fair or Robina Shopping Centre adding on decors in their lobbies & centre courts... not quite what I expected of Xmas in western culture.. the mood here is very different, not as blatantly commercialised or super-glam festive as seen in Asian cities like KL, Singapore or HK. It is more subdued, no loud and blinking neon lights a la Orchard Road, definitely no xmas lights competitions among malls, no towering 20-ft tall xmas tree or huge centrecourt display extravaganza of lights or white xmas..

they are just more traditionally inclined, with xmas trees, family reunions, gift packages, pies, turkeys, carolling in various city venues, charity for the poor, christmas concerts, etc.

However, although the mood is more traditional, Jesus is not the main theme,.. sad! He is the reason for this season, and yet Santa Claus has hijacked the event. He is more prominent in malls with his special arm chair - kids get to sit on Santa's lap, whisper in his ear what they want for xmas and get some candies... Him, his elves and reindeers have become the tangible heroes of the season, sigh! Lost the plot, totally lost the plot.... can we get bk into perspective, pretty please?

Well, houses in my neighbourhood light up their gardens pretty nicely with santas, reindeers, angels, blinking lights... I got bitten by the bug and got some fibre optic lights for my garden, and started poking them into the ground in the dark..looks like this..... just wanted to light up our xmas here for this year, since our xmas tree was given away,

so how..nice or not...??

GET THE LINGO, MATE

Takes some getting used to, but slangs over here are among some of the things that help ease you into the culture & everyday life in ozland.... some of them may already be familiar to most, but some are uniquely aussie.

How ya goin'? : Instead of asking "How ya doin'?" or "How are things going?"

Hay? : Like a Canadian's Ay?

No Drama: Not a problem at all

No Worries: Not a problem at all

Piss off : Go away

It's stuffed : it's broken

That's a dodgy little thing: It doesn't really work well

You're cheeky, aren't you? : Cute, sometimes good cute, sometimes acting too cute depends on how it is said.

Whack some on there : Put some on

Heaps: a lot

Straight away : right away

Good on you: Good job

I reckon : I would think so

Aw-righ or Right-o : All Right

I'll ring you: I'll call you

Tucker : food

Dunny, Toilet, Lou : all words for the place where you do your duty, if you ask for the bathroom you may be directed to a room with just a sink and bath.

Lost the plot : no sense of direction, clueless

Macky's :McDonald's

Brekky : Breakfast