Rampant Delinquency

Another of my colleague has resigned. Her daughter had fallen into the wrong crowd & she had decided to move down south to Waikiki. It isn't that far to drive, just slightly over 50 km but she managed to find a job locally. Although she didn't share what exactly went wrong, it must be pretty bad to warrant such a drastic move. Uprooting herself from her established community, finding a new job, new school for the daughter, finding a new place to stay. Just thinking about the logistics part of it gives me a headache.

A lot of people say they want to migrate for their kids. I think this is 1 trade off to consider. We hear so many accounts of people turning violent in the ED under the influence of meth. Then, there're always stories in the newspaper about young people attacking or even killing their parents becoz they refused to give them money for drugs. A lot of break ins are also due to addicts trying to get money to feed their addiction.

In fact, my next door neighbour is 1. I didn't know initially. I only know there're always screaming, shouting & slamming of doors coming from next door. Turned out that J's colleague's daughter is the 1 living next door. She's only in her early 20s, with a 4 year old daughter. Apparently, this problem with drugs started a long time ago. She'll turn verbally abusive when her younger brother (who's still a student) who lives with her in this rental house has no money to give her. Then, she'll turn on her mother who visits the granddaughter regularly. When she goes into a rampage, she'll even call her 4 year old daughter names like f*cking bitch.

To me, this is the biggest con on raising a kid here. Of course, there are many who turn out good. But the chances of them turning out bad is undeniably higher than that in Sg. The biggest pro is the flexibility & options in education. I believe that we're able to succeed is becoz of the way we were conditioned when we were in Sg. Children brought up here will not have the same mindset. Whether or not studying here is less stressful depends in large on the parents I guess. Will you push your kid to score as close to 100% as possible? Make them learn the subjects in advance in preparation for the following year? We can't force fate to turn in our favour. Good or bad, the only thing we can do is simply to try our best.

Day Trip To New Norcia

Last Sunday, we took the 1.5 hour drive to this little monastic town called New Norcia. It wasn't exactly a planned trip. Neither was it exactly impromptu. It was on my itinerary for our upcoming farm stay & camping trip. The idea of visiting it as a day trip came to me on Friday while at work. The forecast for Sat was possible storm with a max of 34°c so I chose Sunday which was supposed to be clear & a max of 26°c. I woke up as I usually do on my day off, at 6 am. So I baked 2 sourdough baguette before we set off.

The church.

I laid out the pet hammock to protect my car seats & off we went. The dogs were excited & I had to tie their leash to the head rest on opposing ends. Basil tends to step all over Ton Ton who's half his size & we didn't want them attempting to climb over the hammock onto the front seats. The cruise control was the best thing on such long country roads. There were hardly any cars. I took my foot off the pedal & let cruise control take over.

I don't know why but this type of scenery appeals to me so.

1st thing I did when we got there was to go into their visitor centre to get a copy of their walking track map. We didn't take their guided tour as we had dogs with us. The round trip took about an hour & we headed to the hotel to get lunch. I ordered their famous Abbey Ale for hubs & took a sip for taste.

Small, but a 2 km walk.

After lunch, we took the drive home. Dogs & human slept the entire journey home, save for the driver (me). But even I was out for 3 hours when we got home. We need more road trips!

The dogs concussed in the lobby of the hotel as we had lunch.

The Food Lover's Soul

It took us an hour to get to Langford. The heat was scorching even with the car air conditioning blasting away. It had already hit the maximum temperature prediction of 36°c by the time we left at 1 pm. As we had lost time searching for the missing ring, we went straight to Ah Beng's Kopithiam for lunch. I greedily gulped down 2 large mouthfuls of my drink when it arrived. It was the 1st time I've seen such a combination: rose syrup with chinchao. 

The cold rose syrup chinchao & ice coffee gave us some relief from the heat.

The food is actually not bad. The flavours are not Singaporean. So perhaps Malaysian? I tried some of hub's Ah Beng Special Fried Rice. It's basically seafood fried rice with prawn paste pork & prawn crackers. We helped ourselves to the condiments & their chicken rice chilli (they call it sambal chilli though) is good (as in spicy enough). I was contemplating between the Black Bean Noodles & Ah Beng Special Noodles. Black bean won. The bowl it came in was gigantic. Perhaps twice the size of my head. I can't comment on the serving size coz I'm pretty sure I would have been able to finish it if I hadn't been watching my weight (& hence shrunken stomach). I opted to add beef brisket for $4 more. Otherwise, it would have just came with a thin slice of tau gua & half a hard boiled egg. Unique flavours but would be really good with a kick of sambal chilli. (They only have chicken rice chilli, normal chilli sauce (Maggi type) & chilli oil. The chilli oil is more fragrant than spicy.)

Hub's Ah Beng Special Fried Rice.

King Black Bean Noodles with Beef Brisket

With a full tummy, we took the short drive to Spencer Village. We went into the oriental homeware store & immediately, I found what I was looking for. I wanted to try my hands at making kombucha & it is best left fermenting in a glass container. The acids formed will interact with metal & only certain kinds of plastics are allowed. When I told my yoga teacher of my plans for the day, she laughed & said my house is like a science lab. (This is becoz I was given a batch of sourdough by my colleague on Friday which I have to stir daily & feed once weekly to keep it alive.) So yay! Now I'm just awaiting for my kombucha culture to arrive.

Finally found the glass jar I was looking for.

Hubs decided that he wanted to make claypot rice & so we got 1. I practically had to force him to get the 1 that is of better quality. Now, you don't want to spend $10 less & have it cause you grieve later. D&J recently caused quite a stir at 1 of the gatherings by bringing in home made tau huay. A lot of people asked for the magic ingredient (lactone) & I took it a step further by getting the container & scoop. Well, we were already there at the shop anyway. Might as well.

Joining in the tau huay craze.

I eventually got to shower following the discovery of the lost ring. Then, it was over to D&J's place where we couldn't wait to land our hands on the Buah Keluak dish. We were given some to take home too. A great way to end a great day.

We got to eat & da bao.

1 Ring To Rule Them All

Like TL said, this is a blog worthy, 不可思议的 incident. Even though it transpired yesterday, I still find it really unbelievable & amazing. 

Due to the nature of our work, we only wear our wedding ring over the weekend. For me, I fear I'll lose it if I have to put it on & take it off on a daily basis. Bacteria is a big fan of jewellery which is a big no no for nurses. Besides, who wants to bring home the bugs that are hidden in the crevices? Yes, we wash our hands with antimicrobial soap & perform hand rubs. But there is no such thing as sterile hands. For hubs, he has to deal with heavy metal parts & the scratches the ring will sustain will be terrible.

Late morning yesterday, when we were about to leave for Langford, he realised that he couldn't find his ring. He turned the house upside down but he just couldn't find it. He began to retrace his steps for the previous weekend. He remembered still wearing it when he was changing engine oil for his Integra. He remembered coming in to wash his hands & the ring which he promptly put back on. But he remembered that he was no longer wearing it when he washed my car next. He even went to the garage to search since he washed the car in the back lane. Nope, nothing.

It was getting late. He finally decided to call off the search & we left for Langford at 1 pm. There is this oriental homeware store in Spencer Village that I wanted to go. I've been searching for a glass jar that's at least 5L. I tell you, it was close to impossible. All the "ang moh" chains (Big W, Reject Shop, supermarket) only carry plastic jars. The Reject Shop has a glass dispensing jar but the tap is metal. That homeware store was my last chance before I seriously contemplate using glass vase from Bunnings. Hubs wanted to try the food at Ah Beng's Kopithiam which is just nearby. So that was exactly what we did.

On the drive home, D&J invited us over for dinner which we promptly agreed. Becoz, we're the super gluttons as they had posted on FB that they were making Buah Keluak for dinner. The search continued when we got home. I was about to take a shower, in fact I had already stripped when hubs called out to me. So I wrapped myself in my towel & went out to the garage. The garage door was open & he was outside. That's when the amazing discovery was made. The ring was sitting on the manhole on the other side of the garage door. 

Hubs got desperate & decided to open the garage door to search the ground. When he saw it on the manhole, it came back to him that he had removed the ring & set it down on the manhole before washing my car with the intention to retrieve it once he was done. Obviously, he forgot all about it. That means, the ring had been sitting there since last Sunday where I had driven over it many times throughout the week. It had been there for 6 days. It is a miracle that we even managed to get it back. 

Miraculous, isn't it? 

Out Of The Obese Range

2 weeks break, back injury, eating as I wish saw me put on 1 kg post holiday period. I was actually surprised that I didn't put on more considering the amount I ate. What really surprised me more is that I've already lost the 1 kg I put on plus 1, at the end of the 1st week back to work. That puts my BMI at exactly 25.0. But as we all know, from an Asian descend, anything 23.0 & above is considered overweight. I need to lose another 5 kg before I hit a BMI of 22.9. But like I mentioned before, the weight is not as important to me as the body fat percentage.

I took both charts off the S Health app from my phone. I'm not sure if Asians have a different range. But I'm working towards fitness level in terms of fat percentage, which means between 21.0 to 24.9%. As of today, I finally dropped to 31.6% which means I'm out of the obese range. At my heaviest many years ago, I had a body fat percentage of 39.9%. It is shocking that almost 40% of my body is made up of fats. Now that I'm older, I must really begin to take care of my health. 

I've been to the gym twice this week. But I haven't been able to do much as I fear injuring my back further. Instead of jogging, I used the eliptical machine. My stamina definitely have gone down tremendously. So I got to work my way up again. My plan is to continue to work on my arms & put more time into yoga. Progress at 3 months, muscle gain of 2.4%, fat loss of 5.3% & weight loss of 6.9 kg.

The Grass Is NOT Greener Over Here

Recently, I keep coming across posts from people wanting to migrate to Australia saying how the grass is greener here compared to Sg. Now, I feel that I must debuff this misconception. Contrary to popular belief, the reserve holds true. Since we're in summer, let me start with summer. With the temperatures consistently in the high 30s to low 40s, coupled with low or even no rainfall (it didn't rain for a few months last summer) the grass here turns brown. Autumn rains & weather brings some life back to the grass but before it can prosper, winter comes around. With water restriction in winter, you're not allowed to use your reticulation. Not too much of an issue since it's a rainy season. But, the low temperatures put the grass into hibernation mode. Turns yellow again. By late spring, when the grass is finally grass once more, you guess it. It's summer already. So no. Myth debunked. Grass is green all year round in Sg compared to perhaps half a year in Oz. Lame jokes aside, I understand where they're coming from. I was once in their position, looking at Oz through rose tinted glasses. More to convince myself that Sg is an absolutely horrible place to live in & to justify the move to Oz. In the end, I've come to realise that it all fell away, severely lacking in substantiality.

I complained about how cars are unaffordable in Sg. It is true. The latest $9k drop in COE see the Suzuki Swift drop to $85k. It is selling for $17k here. But the other thing that is true is that the public transport in Sg is really superior. If I were to take the public transport to work here, it'll take me 2.5 hours 1 way, excluding waiting time.

I complained also about how we don't actually own our HDB flat (since it's on a 99 year lease) even after paying high prices for it. It's true. But I didn't see the policies needed to be taken out (home & contents insurance), the possibility that at anytime, a bush fire can wipe out your home, the fact that you can't even change a tap by yourself (you need a qualified, licensed plumber) because you'll void the insurance or warranty for your house. Or if you're renting, the grief that's dished out to you if you're unlucky, like in my previous rental place.

Yes, the education system here is less stressful (I'm gonna have to take everybody's words for it since I don't have a kid). There're more opportunities & choices. But it is also true that there are many who choose to bum around at home, waiting for Centrelink to dole out payments instead of going out to be gainfully employed. It is most definitely true that drugs are a rampant problem here. While we can teach our kids the right thing, they are ultimately their own person & will make their own decision. Sometimes, despite our best intentions, they turn bad. The culture here makes it worse. Is it a better place to raise a kid here? Only if they don't turn bad.

The job market is really bad right now. My colleague has gone back to Sg for good becoz her husband has been laid off & haven't been able to find a job for a while. My manager's husband is out of work as well & she's so stressed trying to make ends meet. Another colleague's husband has been out of job for more than half a year. I can't even count the number of people I know who has been laid off due to the economical downturn. In the hospitals, the management have frozen staff recruitment. There is no doubt there're more job opportunities in Sg. But of course, then, we hiam the hours are long & pay is low.

Just as mentioned in my older post, there's no greener grass here, there or anywhere. There is no such thing as perfect or best of both worlds. To want the good, we must be prepared to take the bad. In the end, all that truly matters is the quantity & quality of time I get to spend with my family directly becoz of the move to Oz. It is the ability to create valuable memories that otherwise won't have come to pass. We need to be thankful becoz we are raised in Sg & therefore, improved our chances for migration. We need to move for the right reasons. We need to move with the right mindset. But I suppose, either way, you'll come to this realisation just as I did.

Sacroilliac Joint Inflammation

Becoz my back was rapidly getting worse by the day, I decided to inform my yoga teacher before she can work out a yoga plan for me. Yes, every week before our session, she'll draw up the yoga poses that we'll be doing. It's personalised just for me, based on my flexibility & how ready my body is for the next more advanced poses. She really is very knowledgeable & told me that it sounded like I had sacroilliac joint inflammation. I went online & read up on it. True enough, the symptoms of SIJ inflammation are exactly as I experienced it. Pain in the lower back that radiates down the glutes to the hamstring upon bending or should I say attempting to bend since I can't bend over at all.

I have a tube of Voltaren gel at home that I started using twice daily with hot pack application since Tuesday. It didn't help much which was within expectations as this isn't some simple muscle strain. On Wednesday evening, I went to the chemist to get Voltaren tablets. By Thursday afternoon, it was much better, though I still couldn't bend over. But at least, it was a 50% improvement.

Came Friday morning. I had severe indigestion which woke me up in the middle of the night. I felt nauseated & decided to have some hot tea while reading my latest loans from the library. I couldn't put the book down & after 3 cups of tea, I finally finished reading it. I went back to bed with Ton Ton tailing behind me. That was 6 am. At 7 am, I was awaken by retching sounds. Having had Tonz his entire life, I knew that he'll need several retches before vomitting. It was a reflex, I didn't even think. I just lept out of bed but he had already vomited partially digested dinner on the bed.

Immediately, I knew I had injured my SIJ even further. The pain was horrible but I had to change the bedsheet & mattress protector. Thank goodness we bought the water proof mattress protector so the vomit didn't penetrate through. He went on to vomit in the living room & we had to throw out the cheapo carpet that we used to prevent the roller desk chair from scratching the floor. Looks like I wasn't the only 1 with indigestion that night/morning.

Thanks ah Tonz. Not only was any improvements to my back negated, I went 2 steps back on top of it. I decided to up my oral Voltaren to 50 mg which I took morning & afternoon. After the noon dose, it started to feel much better. I went for my yoga class as scheduled. But I hate taking medications as they have side effects & they take a toll on your liver. I didn't take anything when I fractured my toe after a fall which I must say is excrutiating. So I decided to stop after 2 days of Voltaren which I took for the anti-inflammatory properties. Now I'm trying to crack my brain how to incorporate tumeric which is a natural anti-inflammatory into my diet.

There goes my plan to return to the gym on Tuesday, the 1st day of work for 2016. We'll see how it goes then.