Finally, Rachel can spend another weekend with me. =) Time never fails to speed by whenever she is around. On Saturday afternoon, we met up for another round of Dim Sum cum Yum cha at House of Peking. We ordered different food this time and the bill was cheaper than the previous round. We had the standard xiao long baos,beef balls and guoties. And we also tried 2 new varieties of dim sum, which were water chestnut and radish cakes. It was my first time eating water chestnut cakes and they are really sweet, albeit the weird rubber like consistency. The bill was about $10 cheaper than the previous time, because we ordered less in order to prevent wastage.
After the fulfilling lunch, we headed to Woolsworth to purchase my weekly list of groceries. Bought a box containing really chunky chicken fillets for the first time. It is cheaper than the sliced chicken that I usually buy. And the difference in prices does not not occur without a reason. The visible fats of the chicken fillets were not trimmed off, unlike the chicken slices. So, we, the customers pay for those extra labour. The total shopping bill came up to $30.80, which was still reasonable in my opinion.
Rachel and Haan had bought a really cute monkey plushie for Aili's 20th birthday. And Rachel had even made a box to put the present in with Aili's name written all over it. And despite her insistence that the box looked ugly, I felt that it was very thoughtful of her to put in such sincere effort to make a handmade gift. While waiting for the 226 bus to bring us to International House, both of us saw a really beautiful rainbow in the sky. And it was becoming more and more obvious as the sky turned into darker ade of hue. Luckily, I had a camera with me and took several shots of the ethereal bridge in the sky. Seeing the rainbow seems to give me a shimmer of hope, for some unexplainable reason. Hopefully, it is a subtle sign from heaven above, hinting to me that I will pass all my examinations.
226 brought us to a bus stop which is really close to International House (IH), which is one of the halls in UoN. This is the 2nd hall which I have been too, the first being Barahineban Hall. Aili used to stay in the IH last year, with Melissa and Eva. And till this day, she still goes back to IH every now and then to have sleepovers at Eva's place. The trio were very friendly,jovial and humorous as usual, and it was really great interacting with them. The 5 of us shared 3 medium pizzas from Dominos for dinner, namely Pepperoni, Hawaiian and Meat Lovers. Aili's face practically lit up when she received the monkey plushie. And I got to find out that she was given the nickname "Monkey'' by her friends due to her hyperactive nature. The three musketeers, Aili, Eva and Melissa get really crazy when they get together, and cannot stop cracking nonsensical jokes and behaving excitedly. But they also made sure that they included Rachel and I in their activities too. Being able to be yourself without unnecessary inhibitions is such a liberating feeling.
Rachel and I left their place at around 8+ pm after bidding goodbye. Eva and Melissa have pulled out from the Tasmania,Adelaide and Melbourne trip due to financial constraints. So, they will be staying in Newcastle during the 3 weeks holidays instead. Really wish to meet up with them for at least one more time between 27/6 and 2/7. The subsequent months of 2008 will be very hectic, all thanks to the Industrial Attachment which lasts a whopping 22 weeks. And perhaps, during the last few weeks of the year, I can make a trip to KL to visit them. Travelling is indeed addictive, once I start exploring new places, I want to see more and more. The distance from IH to my place is shorter than expected, provided that you know the shortcut. I passed through a new street, named Turana Parade in North Lambton. It is actually located on the left to Lester Parade. I hereby arrive at a conclusion, there are many streets in each Newcastle suburb.
For Sunday lunch, Rachel prepared Thai rice noodles with frozen vegetables, chicken and mushoom. Malaysia Satay sauce was the flavouring for our lunch. In addition, I cooked a fried cheese egg for both us. Rachel and I had blueberry cheesecake and chocolate Weight Watchers ice-cream for dessert, respectively. After that, we headed to her house in Ayrfield Close, despite the intermittent showers. I had decided to go her house for a stayover again, because this would probably be the last chance for me to do so. Chris prepared a sumptuous dinner of cheese pasta and apple crumble with cinnamon for all of us. For the first time, I saw the family pet dog, who is really friendly. Her name is Ellie and she enjoys licking our feet. In addition to her affectionate nature, she is also really mischievous, for she tried to take away my woollen socks! Luckily, I was alert enough and put them on my lap during dinner.
Rachel introduced me to her Japanese friend, Haruka, who had recently shifted in. She is an exchange student from an university in Osaka and majors in English. According to Haruka, almost all the girls in Japan wear make up on a daily basis. No wonder she sported a really unique hairstyle, and she had learnt how to do it from a magazine. I have never read magazines which teach you how to style your hair. Her accent is really interesting, and yet not too hard to understand. Haruka will be following Rachel back to KL on the 26th June for 10 days. And she might just pop over to Singapore for a visit. She was really thrilled when Rachel told her that I am a Singaporean. And, I felt the same way too, for I will be more than willing to bring international friends around my clean and green country. We exchanged MSN addresses too. Last but not least, Haruka sprung an unexpected and pleasant surprise of me by giving me a really cute purple Hello Kitty mechanical pencil from Japan. It is indeed an eye opener to be given the opportunity to interact with nationalities from all over the world.
Rachel offered me a salty egg dumpling, which she had learnt to make from her auntie while in Sydney, for morning tea. I can't remember when was the last time that I craved for dumplings. Nevertheless, it tasted rather nice although I did not like the egg yolk. And just moments ago, she came up with a plate of Indo mee for me. I then told her, if she cooks for me everyday, I can abandon my mission of losing weight. :P
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