{SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW.}

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

{Straddie Day 1}

I was thinking of blogging about my Straddie weekend when the pics are uploaded, but i can't wait. Afterall, I have know idea how long Cheryn wants to hog my bikini pics....better just do a verbal description first....

Saturday morning, 1 am
The J5 gals (aka Jace and gang) came over to my hse for an ice cream cake making session. Watched them make cake and made a mess of the house. Still, my house needs a housewarming, so come on over gals!! They made cakes and watched DVD -- Princess Diaries 2, and were amazed at the palace. Shin yee mentioned that i just got out from a palace too. I said "yea, its nice palace, just that i wasn't mine..." They continued watching, I went to bed.

Saturday morning, 7.30am
The moment is finally here!! I packed in the remnants of my sunscreen, tidbits and headed out the house. Heehee, so excited, can go beach liao!! Reached the UQ bus stop and Mek was there! I should have know it!! how could she resist not coming to this free holiday??

Cheryn came next, and pretty soon after, we boarded the bus. We were all tired, but were too busying yakking on the bus to fall asleep. Talked abt everything, from religion (which i tried to enlighten their understanding) to Cheryn's/Mek's drunk experiences. Sounds fun but a little over too.

Reached the port (think it's called Cleveland port) an hour and half later and waited for the ferry. Its those kind of ferries trawling between mainland Malaysia and Penang Island, where u could crive the whole vehicle up. It was cool!! Reminded me of my childhood days where nin and i would get out of the car and walk all around the ferry. So the bus got on the ferry and we clambered out. It was fantastic. The crisp summer/authum breeze, with a slight tinge of sea salt refreshed us as we walked around the deck. The water was utterly beautiful, a crystal clear turquoise hue that danced gently around us. I could get lost in it forever. Even thinking of it now makes me go "aahh".

Had a nice chat facing the ocean on the ferry. Once on Straddie, we were whisked away to the UQ MBRS( Moreton Bay Research Station), where we would be staying in. I was already v excited, and could stop taking pictures. We had free time, whereby we took even more pics!! Heehee, "tou1 pai1" a lot of ppl( cute guys obviously). so we wandered around, and even spotted aboriginal ppl. Had a nice walk on the neighbourhood before heading back to the Station for lunch.

After lunch was a series of seminars (well, u can't expect an entirely sponsored school trip to be free of seminars) of which all of us were fighting to stay awake. I dozed off during the presentation of some shark antibodies, but was clear-headed enough to sit through Steve's presenation. An absolute no-no to be caught dozing by Steve, as he knows us well, and it would be v paiseh. Cheryn tried but failed. Just as well that Steve didn't spot her (or that's what i hope).

After the seminar sessions was another hour of pure drudgery -- Group discussion. We were given a scenario and asked to design a recombinant plant that was supposed to signal the presence of landmines. On and on my chinese (well, she's actually malaysian) tutor went, with her high pitch australian/malaysian accent. I was just stoning and getting irritated all the while. anyway, our group did came up with some ideas, and we presented them.

We had nearly two hours of break time, of which it was a unanimous decision to head back to our bunks and sleep! We were sharing a room with five other malay gals (they're msian too, from college) and they were utterly, terribly, scandalously, unforgivably noisy and rude. It is such a shame that I carry the same passport as them. Terrible. For two bleak hours, they were just chatting in malay, slamming the room door (i was sleeping next to the door), and making a ruckus. all the while when they could see that we were trying to get some sleep. What a bad name for the Biotech industry in malaysia. After seeing this, all the more im sure malaysia has to try harder if it ever wants to establish such an industry. And it could start off by asking their scientists to be more civilised.

Anyway, we "got up" from this "nightmare" (Cheryn calls it nightmare coz she's from a convent in JB, so she's been subjected to all the chattering) and went for dinner. Dinner was good -- lots of barbecue meat, and 4 types of cake!! (Oreo cheese, carrot cake, lemon meringue & custard pie) I haven feasted so much in ages!

We were supposed to go pub that evening. (Going to the pub is in the itinerary, apparently the ang mohs think their students should go there) Turn out the pub closes at 8.30pm. So the next best thing to do to find excitement, is to visit the local cemetery. So a group of us, with Steve, walked to the cemetery and hung around there. It was quite spooky initially, but towards the end, it was actually quite peaceful. Steve was showing us some landmark graves, telling us abit of history. We walked back to the Station soon after. And this concluded the first day on Straddie.

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more coming up, stay tuned....

4:28 PM;