Sunday Saver

Hari official jalan2 kat sini wud be on Sunday.. sebab hari lain Ihsan ada kelas.. and also sebab Sunday, all trains,trams and buses nyer ticket murah. Here, semua integrated.. you can buy one ticket to be used on all the public transportations regardless berapa kali turun naik pun for that particular day.. daily ticket wud cost $6.10 (lebih kurang rm18).

Sunday ada special price, they called it Sunday Saver. Ticket can be purchased for $2.50 only. So, until ada transportation sendiri.. our family outing would be on Sunday only lah.

Last Sunday we went to Ikea . Tak habis2 dengan Ikea.. kat Malaysia pun hujung minggu pegi situ..kat sini pun nak pegi situ jugak ..From my observation, SEMUA barang is more expensive than Ikea Malaysia. So kalau nak shopping barang2 Ikea.. shopping kat Mesia je.. same quality, but way cheaper. Having said that ..he..he.. aku beli jugak some stuffs kat situ .. yang mana perlu untuk rumah baru lah..like botol2 kaca nak letak bunga cengkih..lawang ,kulit kayu manis... tempat letak sudu garfu... So beraturla kat cashier.. dah bayar tu, nak bungkus barang..aik..mana plastic bag...? Then i just realized they don't provide plastic bag for the customer. Australian have this environmental safe campaign, where less usage of plastic is good. So everywhere you go for shopping, you have to bring your own shopping bag.. or you can purchace their environmental safe green bag for only 79 cent. Kat rumah dah banyak dah green bag tu..asyik2 lupa jer nak bawak shopping bag... Ok back to my Ikea story.. tengok around ada orang bawak plastic bag..hmm.. rupa2 nya kena purchase the plastic bag.So..beratur balik lah semata-mata to purcase a 10 cent plastic bag :)..
Moral is : beli jer kat Ikea Malaysia.. plastic bag bersepah..siap boleh ambik lebih bawak balik buat plastik sampah lagi ..:P

Steak anyone?

My mum used to say that a woman will eventually be good in cooking regardless how little experience you have in the kitchen prior to marriage. And I think she is right.

I started out with almost zero cooking experience. Building up my skill along the way after I got married. But being a working mother and our habit of eating out somehow limited my skill to certain simple recipe only (real reason malas sebenarnye..he…he…). So, since now I am not working and eating out is not an option anymore due to to mahal giler satu meal (average nasik would be $6) .. I have to venture into more dangerous zone of cooking..he.he..

Yesterday adalah percubaan pertama to cook a western meal. My steak ended in a not as disastrous as I expected it would be. If minus the 'fire alarm went off incident' (due to excessive heat generated from the oven when I open its door), then the whole thing went pretty smoothly. Here’s how my dish looks like.

Though not a chef level yet (don’t think will reach that level anytime soon..), but I think Ihsan and my kids will not choke on a tasteless meal ever :)

Home sweet Home

This is our first week in our new house in Preston... full address would be : 3/6 Birdwood Street, 3073 Reservoir, Victoria. The house is a 2 bedrooms villa unit with it's own car garage. No car yet, only Ihsan's bicycle and Taufiq's stroller parked inside. (Oh.. Ihsan now cycled to University, good way to safe money and keep fit :) ..) My house is the one with yellow staircase.

Like any typical Australian house, it is fully carpeted. The venetian blind and day curtain are pre installed. All the furniture is second hand stuffs. If you read my previous post, we bought the furniture from someone at a very cheap price. The whole living room cost us just $95 . 2 white dining chair : $ 5 each. White table : $10. White drawer cabinet $ 5. White 1-seat sofa : $10. Coffee table : $5 . Green 1-seat sofa : $20. 2 blue table lamps: $5 . TV rack with drawer : $5. TV bought at 'cash converters' for just $25. Notice all the 'white' stuff? The idea was to furnish the house with white theme, but i guess a little bit green and blue wouldn't hurt.. eh there's also black and brown... oh well.. just scrap the whole white theme thing then...

Both bedrooms have build in wardrobe. The main bedroom is for our own use. The second one is for visitors. Take note, this is an open invitation to all of you .. he..he..

Ahh.. the kitchen.. my favourite part of the house..mainly because i spent most of the time there..
The fridge is also second hand stuff bought from a Vietnamese student for $100. I spent whole morning 'samak' and scrubbing the whole fridge.

Here, we don't have to pay for the water bill. It is all included in the monthly rent. So you can shower as many times as you want.. but err.. with the weather as cold as now... hmm..hardly 2 times per day.

Lastly, the backyard. Amirah's favourite place. It's a gated backyard, so it's quite safe for Amirah to play around while i was busy in the kitchen cooking. She also likes to help with the laundry. She would pass me the clothes to be hanged on the rail. Such a dear.

I guess the house is almost complete now. I can say, it's a home away from home.

Broadband at home

Internet is now available.. takdelah kebosanan kat rumah .. can chat and update blog anytime i want.. of course after preparing breakfast, mandikan taufiq & amirah, kemas rumah, basuh baju (mind you ..old fashion way okay.. takde machine basuh lagi..), sidai baju,preparing lunch, basuh dishes...in between that kena layan Amirah and Taufiq... .. fuh.. being a housewife is alot harder than expected. Maybe sebab baru lagi kot..lama2 nanti okay lah tu...

Ada Internet ni pun kena berebut ngan Mirah...she also wants to play games online...rolie olie polie lah... disney site lah..barbie lah... now both of them are sleeping, which give me a little bit time to myself... but i guess not for long .. dah dengar dah suara Taufiq... :P

laters...

Greetings from Melbourne

As promised.Enjoy.

Baru sampai kat airport.Bnyk barang!

Dekat lake apa ntah ..near to Malaysian Hall

Jln2 kat Chapel Street

Posing2 depan Flinders Street Station. Tgh2 city.

Sunday Market at Camberwell

Posing maut dari Taufiq

Port Melbourne, Beacon Cove.

Happy birthday Amirah!

Happy birthday to my dear darling Amirah. She is 4 years old today. But kalau naik tram, she is still 3 years old lah..he.he.. 4 years old and above dah kena bayar.. mak bapak nak berjimat sikit :P

Alhamdulillah.. dah dapat rumah dah. rezeki kitorang senang dapat rumah. We're gonna move in to our new house in Preston. It's a 2 bedrooms villa unit. The rent is 180 dollar per week. If convert to RM.. pergh ..mahal giler. Agreement is to be signed today. Maybe by 15th kitorang pindah kot. Dah beli dah few barang2 rumah like bed, pillows, chairs and book racks. Ada minah saleh nak moving back to Sweeden so she is selling all the furniture in her house at a VERY cheap rate. Second hand stuffs but still in good condition. Apa lagi.. borong ler...

Been to few places around city of Melbourne. Sementara Ihsan belum start kelas lagi ni.. lebih baik jalan2 dulu.. so far kitorang dah round2 Melbourne University (jengok2 tempat IHsan nak belajar nanti), pekan Footscray and Brunswick. Central Business District atau pun kat sini diorang shortform jadik CBD jer, tak habis jalan lagi.. baru tengok2 kedai dari luar jer. Semalam pegi Port Melbourne, Beacon Cove..lotsa seagull flying around (remember 'mine..mine..mine.. ' bird in Finding Nemo movie?) kinda celebrate birthday Amirah awal sehari.. just the 4 of us.
Bought her a cake, fish and chips and latte..konon ler celebrate bday mirah, but i think the parents yang dok perabih makan semua tu.. ada banyak gambar..tapi nak post gambar tak terpost2 lagi... maybe lepas ni kot... ni pun type cepat2 sementara Taufiq tido...till then...

V*ctoria

If you look at the date of my last post, that is how long I am without internet connection. It’s insane! Ni pun pinjam orang punya account kejap.

Okay.. I’m broadcasting from the city of V*ctoria.. baru 4 hari sampai sini. The flight from KL was on the 4th of February 2006 – 9.30 pm. Amirah and Taufiq masuk plane jer terus tidur. We reached Melbourne airport at 6.30 am. (minus the 3 hours and you get 3.30 am Malaysian time). I think we brought too much stuff. Altogether.. 3 trolleys and a stroller. Camner nak tolak nih… Ihsan took 2, and I took another one .. Amirah being such a dear tolak stroller adik dia all the way. Cute sangat.. considering the stroller is higher than her..:P
No hassle with the customs and quarantine sections.. spices and curry powder all lepas except for the cinnamon ..something to do with tree bark … I pun tak faham apa dia dok explain..it’s okay .. it’s just a packet… then ambik cab and straight ahead to Malaysian Hall Melbourne. Checked in and sambung tidur… jet lag aaa…

We are currently staying here (m’sian hall) until Ihsan can find us a decent place to live in. House hunting proved to be quite a challenge here. Rumah kosong within our budget laku macam pisang goreng .. so siapa cepat dia dapat.

Still adjusting to the weather. Unpredictable.Morning would be as cool as 14 C, afternoon as hot as 35 C .. then petang sejuk balik … mat saleh sini selamber jer pakai spaghetti tengah sejuk2 tu..i pun konon2 orang Melbourne lah walking around without a coat … padahal sejuk giler … shivering .. ambik gambar nak senyum pun terketar-ketar J ..

Taufiq and Amirah macam happy jer kat sini. Tho amirah not fully understand where Melbourne is and how far is Melbourne from home. “mama, mirah tinggal berus gigi kat rumah..besok kita pegi ambik ye..” he..he.. ye lah tu …

Dah 3 hari kitorang dok bangun kol 9 … body dok follow time malaysia lagi.But today dah ada improvement. I woke up at 7 am… harap besok dah tak yah qada’ Subuh dah ..*wink*

So.. that’s all for now. Will write more after we got our own internet account. Pictures to be posted soon. Until then.