My ordinary life (1)…

My life in Adelaide have its excitement, and mundane moments. Have moved once since i'm here from my city west apartment which i stayed 2 mths with killing high rental fees to Marleston.  The city west apartment is a good one to live in, new and clean and best of all, it’s within the CBD which means i’m in the city center, can walk to anywhere without having to take the bus. Even better, as all the bus pass through the CBD, i can catch any bus i want and also easier for me to watch any events held in the CBD especially during night time because i can walk.

 

Something good which i like and hate of my bedroom was that it face the east. Haha, the early sun shine shine directly at me especially during summer, by 7am my head kena the intense laser beam of sunlight waking me up like an alarm but disturbing my sleep, haha.








During my stay here, for the 1st few weeks, i have been sleeping on my jacket instead of a proper pillow, till i finally cant tahan, and bought myself a comfy pillow, haha.





  
My lines of postcard or cards that i bought or picked up for free or received just in 2 mths. One thing surprising me was u can get free postcards at many locations in Adelaide for free, though it may not be the best post cards, but certainly some of them looked cool and pretty and also some comes v good messages!!!





Haha, however, i cant afford it with my “ngam ngam hor” allowance, haha. Continue living in the city west apartment means i have to continue being conservative in my spending, no $ for eating out, no excessive spending, no travel.

2mths later i moved into western suburb called Marleston which is a house instead of an apartment. It’s much cheaper and affordable though a bit old and not very well taken care of, haha. Still, it’s good enuf for me, got my own room still which is not too big nor too small.

 

This house have a big front yard and backyard though sadly no gardens, haha. Hate it every time the grass in the front yard grew long, have to wait for the owner to call people to come over and lawn,  otherwise, all our shoes will become wet while crossing through after rain. THough, the backyard did have few trees, and one of them is a fruit tree, not sure is peach or nectarine!!



The kitchen not so bad lar, haha.



My room… in the earlier days. This time, there’s only one window which somehow does not allowed enough sun light into which a bit of annoying, the room felt like a grey blue room during autumn and winter. Siting in there will influence your mood become blue, haha.



My room again in the later days, …..As i mentioned before, winter is freezing cold, too cold till i cant sleep properly for few nites as the temperatures drops during midnight, owez waking up the next day yawning and not enuf sleep,  hence bought myself a wool quilt during winter which really make a HUGE difference. Even bought myself a pair of thick wool socks, haha. Spring is the best time for weather :) I miss spring and autumn, haha.
 

Once in a lifetime musician: Konstantin Shamray!!!

30th April 2009, Elder Hall, Adelaide: Never thought i would have a chance to witness such a talented pianist here. He is just amazing yet humble person. This rare opportunity was arranged by the Elder hall, which is the uni organization that arranged all the concerts, recitals,…etc every semester!!! Compared to UM, UM can put aside lar, hahahha. There are showcase and musical session almost every Friday for view performed either by the students or other groups, and there are also night concerts with various renown musicians visiting Australia.  Bought this ticket at a reasonable price for a student pass, otherwise to watch him performing live in a concert, the price can easily go up to 40$ at least for the cheapest!!! Surprisingly, many who attend the recital are old couples or old man, wondered why!!! Perhaps not many people in Adelaide appreciate classical anymore as much as those elderly do. TOO BAD for them!!!! Or not many knew about it.

For your info, Konstantin is from Russia and has been the recipient of several Foundation awards. Performed in many concert halls in Moscow and other cities in Russia and also in Italy, Germany, Holland, Austria, Crezh Republic and the US. Recently, he has won 1st prize and 8 special prize in the 2008 Sydney International Piano competition. Can u imagine dat? haha, that’s what make him so good!!!




Indeed, seeing him perform live is like seeing Beethoven to me or Rachmaninov perform live. His hands are so fast that u felt like you are seeing an octopus playing with many tentacles. The only drawback is the grand piano is not as good as he is, the grand piano is an old one.  In fact, the recital is meant for collecting fund to buy a new grand piano for Elder hall.






He practiced his play as if he is working for a job, even more hours for a performance!!! Imagine just playing the piano with the same piece over and over again to perfect it!!! That’s how much time and passion one such as him put into his career.

Oooo, i wish i noe how to play piano like him!!! i love the look of the grand piano!!! Wish i own one in the future, hahahha. But i guessed i’ll hv to learn how to play piano first, what i’ve learned before during the last 2 months in K2J all hilang dy. Sigh!!! Being aiming to buy a casio C-100 keyboard, but ………, sigh!!!! :(







My colleague who can play piano very well was so touched by his performance that she shed a few tears claiming that he is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!! Imagine that, haha.  Guessed his age!!!!! Looked mature and good looking rite??? Some more, tall lagi!!! He is just 24!!!!!!








This were the pieces his played and he added a few extra after he got high!!! haha. Everyone gave him a loud long applaud after his finished. I wished to shout “bravo” like what i saw in the Nodame series, but no one did that, maybe everyone was too shy or that is not the culture here yet.

Got his signature off him, haha, very happy!!!








(^.^)

Hallet cove again in late winter!!! 25th July 2009

Winter days in Adelaide are usually cold and gloomy and grey. Temperatures can range from 3-20 degrees. Rainfall is the highest during winter, almost everyday is a rainy day, however, the rainfall here is very much different from Malaysia as the clouds cry whenever they like to, and the funny part is they cry for a while, sometimes they weep only sometimes burst into tears very suddenly then stop. But nothing like our Malaysia tropical storm, rains for hours like pouring water from above or for days continuously. The weather is worse if it’s windy. The wind kills!!! You felt each gust of wind penetrate your skin and chill your bone!!! You get very little sun shine and the day gets dark early. So winter days are Soooooooooooo sien, hid in the room, most of the time u felt like hiding under the warm Quilt and zzzz away. Your hands are freezing even by just holding the mouse, and your legs are numb even if u wore thick woolen socks. Basically, if i’m an animal, i would go hibernate, lol.

Yet 25th July was a bright sunny day, just felt like being activated by the sunshine. Just cant resist the temptation to go out somewhere and get some vitamin D, haha. The weather and temperature is just nice!!! So, i invited my 2 housemates to come along with me to my favourite spot in Adelaide – Hallet Cove, hehe, i even asked them to jog. They too felt like getting active, but not in the mood for jogging, so we ended up strolling along the cool breeze under the lovely sunshine!!! Trust me, you’ll LOVE the sun so much during the winter!!!
       

Flowers, flowers everywhere as it’s getting a bit hotter towards the end of winter. Some flowers were already in bloom. The lovely flowers make everywhere, anywhere a beautiful sight!!! Saw this sakura like trees, not sure it’s real sakura or the almond tree blossom which looks very identical to me.








As i mentioned above, winter get the most rain throughout the whole year, thus when there’s more sunshine, everywhere is in lush greeennnnnnnnnnnnn!!! Very pretty!!!


Hallet cove just looked so different with the green landscape!!! With yellow tiny flowers everywhere in full bloom!!! My last visit during December was all dry arid colours. Totally different!!!


Blue blue clear sky……, you’ll only get these during spring and summer mostly. It’s so peaceful to the eyes!!! Capture this photo with the little aeroplane, haha. Here you’ll see planes and sailing boat on a nice day!!!
Sook Xia, u’ll love this place since you like to see air planes take off. Even better off Glenelg, wahaha.






This time, we went down to the rocky beach. It’s such a nice place!!! This beach holds some funny geographical formation, ridges and rocks that have geographical significance.



Walk up the hill again in hallet cove, which looks really greennnnn!!! Everywhere is green now!!! Love it!!!
 
 

These tiny little yellow flowers looks very pretty when there are in scattered around in a big patch of green green grass.


Beautiful sunset during winter!!! What a nice way to end the day!!! I’ll come back again :)