Hi guys,

I haven’t been able to keep my web log updated due to some Internet connection problems. It is a long story but fortunately, I’ll get it back soon . I have many things to tell you, so continue reading:

A week or 2 ago I requested the Transperth company to automatically deduct 20 dollar from my bank account when my electronic bus card falls below a certain threshold. I filled in a form and submitted it to the Gifts and News agency on campus. The agency would send it to the right address. Then one day when I travelled by bus using the smartrider, I saw an amount of 200 dollars on my smartrider card! I checked my bank account and indeed, 200 dollars were withdrawn. I called the company and asked them what has happened. They checked my form and they said I have filled in 200 dollars! :S When they sent me a copy of my form, the number of 200 was indeed jotted down. But, you could see that the second zero was different than the first zero, which was not my hand writing. The company told me that I was not the first case that is complaining about such thing and it seems that this has happened many more times when students submitted the form to the agency on campus. I assume that the owner of the shop might have something to do with this. I just can’t believe that they don’t seem to be trustworthy! Why would they do such a thing? To annoy students? It’s really ridiculous what has happened. But at the same time, it’s not smart of the public transport company not to create space to the form for writing down in letters the amount of money, apart from numbers. This way, unauthorised people can’t screw up your form. After lots of efforts, I managed to get my money back. I am glad that everything worked out just fine for me, but I need to talk about this issue with the head of the school, so this won’t happen to other students.

Last weekend I was on a trip together with my professor, his children, and a colleague of mine (who came over and spent his holidays here). We went to Serpentine National Park, which was very nice! We saw some trees being burnt down due to natural circumstances (the heat). When we had a BBQ, a kangaroo came to us and wanted to have some food from us! That was the first time that I saw a wild animal in Aussie! Of course I took a picture! I could touch the kangaroo, it didn’t seem to be afraid of me. Later on, we saw a smaller one, that one was pretty timid. But I was really happy to have seen one, after having spent 4 weeks in Aussie  We also saw ‘kakketoes’ (I think). That is a type of bird. We went for a swim and I met many little fishes :P I put my legs into the water and some time later, some of them were cleaning my skin! Haha, it is similar to a dr. Fish treatment but this one was for free! If I have a chance, I’d like to go back and have a beauty treatment, arranged by these fishes :P Very relaxing and tickling! After that, we did something that is called ‘geocoaching’. Other people bury something somewhere in the country and you get only the coordinates to find the spot and the treasure. We were very close but unfortunately, we couldn’t find the exact spot… In the evening, we ate dinner at a Malaysian restaurant. Very delicious. I ordered fried noodles with chicken, shrimps, etc. The chicken pieces weren’t that nice though, but I gave one piece to my colleague :P He said I could also get something from his plate and before he could say ‘but don’t take my shrimps’, I took one shrimp :P Haha, that was really funny! He was really disapproving, so I took one bite and gave the rest back to him! :P I like to tease people :P
And during this wonderful day, I got to drink 1 ½ bottle of beer! I think if I start to drink it more frequently, I might get used to the taste and in fact start to like it. But not good for the shape of your belly! All in all, a memorable day for the rest of my life! :D

I also got the opportunity to go out since my arrival! I went out together with my colleague and we had a good time in a pub where there was a live band and a dance floor . We took a stroll in the city centre and I have to say that it’s really cosy at night! Many people enjoying themselves, music, bars being lit, I really liked it .

Before I end my story, I have to tell you that I found a scary visitor at my place! When my housemates went to their parents, I was home alone. I was cooking, until I saw something crawling over the floor, from the kitchen to the corridor. I didn’t know whether I saw it correctly, so I took a closer look at the corridor. And yes, it happens to be a huge cockroach! :S!!!! Like 6 cm or something tall! I killed it with a repellent spray.. that was quite cruel I later realized, as I saw it dying… :S Like it was more and more paralysed… until it didn’t move anymore. Well, didn’t know what else to do :P…

That’s it for today! See you next time!