Church
Friday, 27 July 2007
Attended a church dinner with Jessica and Sharon. It was located just 5min walk away from campus. A dinner had been organised to welcome the international students at Monash Uni. The 3 of us, we attended it largely becuz dinner was provided and we were too lazy to prepare our own dinner for that night.
Sharon is actually doing her Masters while Jessica and I are still doing our Bachelor degrees. But somehow, we still managed to click with Sharon. I think it's becuz she's only a few yrs our senior. Normally pple doing their masters would be in their late 20s or early 30s, after they've gone out to work. But Sharon continued with her Masters a few months after she graduated from her Bachelor. Crazy I think. Shd have taken a few yrs off, to gain some working experience.
The other reason for attending was so that I could interact with the Australian locals. Tables of 6 were set in the main hall and each table was seated with one from the church. They were so hospitable. I'm sure everyone felt well taken care of. We had great conversations too. They explained abt the ordinary lifestyle in the suburbs and also gave us suggestions on places of attractions. We, the students, also shared with them some of our lifestlyes back in Singapore.
I ate so much that night. Think I had 2 dinners in 1 night. It was a great night! Besides being able to interact with the Australians, I got to know a few Singaporean friends better. I'll even be joining them for their grocery shoppin this coming Sun.
Even though I'm studying in Aus, it doesn't feel like a western place becuz Monash uni is largely populated with asians! Scanning across the lecture theatre, I pick up significantly more asian faces than Caucasians. I'm sure the whites in sch feel a certain extent of resentment towards us asians. We do not belong here and yet, here we are, snatching away their uni places. To make things worse, although they are locals, they are not the majority race in sch. That must really hurt and really make them feel so vulnerable. Maybe not all of them feel so, but if I was in their shoes, I would feel that I was suffering from some injustice.
So fulll, stomach bloated. Feeling sleepy too. But managed to stay up till 3.30am with the help of tea. Had to finish up some of my hw becuz I would be staying over at my aunt's place over the wkend and I'm sure I won't be able to get much done there.
--Talking to myself--
20:15
