My Package Has Arrived!

Monday, 31 May 2010

I am a very happy Bunny today!! The long-awaited package that hubby sent all the way from Brunei has finally arrived. I am GLAD that it had passed the quarantine check across the border. The box contains my winter jackets and sweaters that I bought from UK and Japan. Hubby also slipped in one of mum's thick jackets, which she forgot to bring earlier. The surprise item that hubby said he'd sent was some Cerealic Biscuits. It's realllly good!!! I'm really surprised that this was let go at the security borders. I was actually talking about it the other day with him, but I didn't expect that he would send it over to me. That i thought was really sweet and surprising!! It was later after talking to hubby that he also sent some dried preserved fruit chips, which unfortunately didn't get through. I guess that is okay because i don't really have any craving for that. I really have to thank Hubby, that really meant alot to me!!

Now we know that it takes about 5 working days to deliver a package from Brunei to Brisbane. Hope he will send me more stuffs in the future!! :)

Nursery Room Project

Monday, 31 May 2010

I talked to hubby today, he suggested that we start thinking about having a nursery for our baby back home in Brunei. That would involve refurbishing one of our guest rooms into a nursery. We both decided to choose a colourful concept. Research shows that colours are good for baby's brain development. Hubby was immediately thinking of painting some animal pictures and i was immediately thinking of Safari. I found this picture (see below) over the internet and i thought it would be neat and fun having this concept. Hubby is giving it a head start before i will join him when i'm back in Brunei. He will start paiting the background and leave the animals to the last that we will do together. I want to paint a rabbit!! I want to also paint an elephant and a giraffe and a cub and a monkey and parrot!!! I want to paint all the animals!! Yes, i'm really excited!! Can't wait to see the finishing, i hope it would turn out to be something as close as the picture below!!!

T-shirt Collection

Sunday, 30 May 2010

T-shirts collection has been one of our hobbies since we were back in the University. The t-shirt collection that we must have when we went to any country is Hard Rock Cafe's t-shirt. There is this one particular design that we like the most, the one which has the embroidery of a guitar on the front and of course with the country's name below it.

Today, I bought a special collection gift for hubby. I actually got one for myself and one for our unborn baby as well. It's not a Hard Rock Cafe's t-shirt, but a Queensland Rugby supporter's t-shirt and a cap. Regardless, this would definitely go into our wardrobe collections. You wouldn't believe it if i told you how many t-shirts we've had collected in our wardrobe that we bought that we never wear, ever!! Some people call that crazy, some call it passion, others call it interest, for us, we call it satifaction!! Some of our friends share similar hobby like us, it is not too late if you wanted to start a collection hobby, like us. It need not necessarily be t-shirt, some of our friends collect car models, even aeroplane models, you should start making your own collection, i'm sure you'd love it!!

Baby Bump

Sunday, 30 May 2010

I am now entering fifth month of my pregnancy. My baby bump is now slightly visible. I went to see a doctor at the University last Friday, a very nice lady. She said my bump size is normal. I didn't have my scan yet, she had to refer me to the big hospital for a scan. But for now, its time for me to get busy shopping for some maternity clothes to bring back to Brunei. I think there isn't that many choices available on maternity clothings in Brunei. I bought some really nice clothings today from the Westfield Garden City and the Chermside. My current favourite shop is Pumpkin Patch. Not only there are selling some nice maternity clothings, they are also selling nice baby stuffs as well. Below are just some of the clothes that I bought today.

         

    

Beef Spagetthi

Sunday, 30 May 2010

I was craving for some beef spagetthi. I always cook them back home for hubby's dinner or lunch. I ended up making some myself just now. I used some ground beef and ready-made spagetthi sauce. It was a quick and easy dish to make. I took only about 20 minutes to make this dish. Bon appetite!

Lunch at Gazebo

Thursday, 27 May 2010

My first trimester is over, my second is well under way, and for some reason, i'm feeling a bit energetic, i've probably got my energy back. This is a good time to hang out with friends. I want to live it up before the baby arrives about 17 weeks from now.

One of our couple neighbours, Annie and Hubby invited us over for a lunch at the gazebo last Sunday. Thanks a lot Annie, all the best with your  PhD presentation in June! The main dish for the lunch was Ayam Penyet. Soup noodle (Soto) was also served. Delicious!! Annie's friend, i'm not sure what her name is, also brought some beautifully decorated cup cakes, which she got from the South Bank. My tummy was happily accepting all the foods, i guess that's a good sign!! Maybe my baby loved it!! I loved it!! I'm sure Hubby would have loved it too!!

Enjoy the photos that i took that day!

        

   

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Ice Cream Party Cake

Tuesday, 25 May 2010

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a friend's surprise birthday party. She served us a very nice ice cream cake. I've been craving to have the exact same ice-cream since the day after that event. It's been a while that i was looking for the ice-cream, I finally found it!! Take a look at the photo below, yummy isn't it?!! This whole cake costs around AUD$11. But i tell you it is all worth it!!

Kaya Spread & Fresh Coconut Milk

Sunday, 23 May 2010

Check out the stuffs that we bought from The Asian Food Shop yesterday. We got ourselves some coconut so that my mom can make some Beef Rendang.. Nyum nyum!!. She actually did make some yesterday, but one ingredient was missing, fried coconut or in Malay we call it 'Kerisik'. We also got ourselves some kaya spread for our morning breakfast. We didn't buy much from there mainly because we got most of our groceries from Woolworth. We were being selective on what we bought because we didn't want to waste food, last but not least, in our shopping list was a can of corned beef. We actually stocked some canned corned beef from Brunei but they were all history especially when Hubby was here. That is one of his favourites. Good thing is that we can find all of these stuffs here.. Easily available!!

Gift for Hubby

Sunday, 23 May 2010

It has been a while since the last i went shopping. I've been buzy working long hours at the lab, come home to rest and sleep, work again the next day, come home to rest and sleep again, that is how my days have been for the past 3 weeks. I guess it is time for me to go out for shopping. Today, my parents and i went to get some groceries from The Spice Mart (Asian foods shop) at the Chermside area. Mum bought some spices as usual and I bought some snacks as a gift for Hubby.. Onion Rings!! Just kidding.. that is just for me, its one of my favourite snacks. Read on to find out what my gift is for my lovely Hubby!!!

After we were done at the spice shop, we went out on a shopping quest to get something for Hubby. We finally landed at the Westfield Shopping Complex at Chermside. Along the way, i bought for myself some thicker sleep wear since winter is coming up pretty soon. After a long search, i finally found a special gift suitable for Hubby, which is in commomeration with FIFA World Cup 2010. Its a bit expensive, but I think its a nice gift as a memory. Hope he loves it! He can wear this at the cinema, since both of us are movies junky. Or better yet, he can wear it while watching the FIFA World Cup matches including the final match. If my calculation is right Hubby will be here for the final 6 matches!! Yeay!!

Saturday Market

Saturday, 22 May 2010

This morning, mum and i went to the Saturday open-air market, which is selling varieties of food & other stuffs just near our apartment. Few months ago, my morning sickness made me hesitant to go out in the open-air because at that time i was very uncomfortable with all the smell. My morning sickness has been gone since 3 weeks ago and I feel much better and ready to go out and explore the market. Today was actually my first time that I really shop around the market. I was so surprised with some of the prices - cheap. Most of the vegetables are much cheaper than those in big supermarket. We bought various types of vegetables and fruits.

Mum got herself some fuji apples. Very sweet!

Winter is coming very soon. I bought some new thicker socks for mum and dad.

   

We also bought some red & white onions, cucumber, sweet tomatoes, lemon grass and others..

 

Woven jackets on sale as well.

Mum got herself a cup of original Australian coffee. She loves it!

A man performing some peculiar instruments - maybe some authentic local instrument!! Lovely music, love it!!

 

  

Some other stuffs also sold there..

Baby Moves

Saturday, 22 May 2010

This photo is just a decoration, boy or girl, haven't  had my scan yet, even if i had, i wouldn't tell... let it be  surprise.. hehe

I am currently just over half way in my pregnancy, actually coming to my 5th month now. I've been feeling my baby's tiny-bitsy movements since a couple of days ago. It's pretty exciting!!! At first I thought it was my keys tapping on my tummy, but it is becoming obvious when i'm just sitting down or standing still, relaxing. The baby has been really active that i can feel his/her movement every now and then.

I have actually been checking at some infos about what to expect at different stages in pregnancy from the baby centre website (http://www.babycenter.com.au/). I read about this article and I thought its something worth sharing - "Feeling those first, tiny sensations inside is such an exciting landmark in your pregnancy. If this is your first pregnancy, it may take you a while to realise that those gentle fluttering sensations in your belly are your baby's movements. When you get these feelings, it's known as quickening. You will probably start to be aware of something when you're about 18 to 20 weeks pregnant (Gillieson et al 1984), although it can be later. If you've had a baby before, you'll know the tell-tale signs. You'll probably start to notice your baby moving around between 15 and 18 weeks (Gillieson et al 1984)."

Postage from Brunei

Friday, 21 May 2010

The weather is getting cold here and before it's getting worse, Hubby decided to send me a package from Brunei containing my sweaters and jackets that i already have from studying in the UK about 6 years ago. Not that i don't have any thick clothes here, i do, but only a few and not as thick. Oh yeah, mum also takes this opportunity to also send one of her jackets over as well. Hubby said that there is something else in the package, which he said should be a surprise, i cannot wait to see what it is. Yeay!! I love surprises!!

Hubby is actually coming here sometime first week of July, i told him not to worry about the weather here that he should just bring my thick clothes when he comes here. But he was worried July is still a long way ahead and that he's worried i might get a cold flu so he insisted to send the package, and he did. Thanks dear!! It would be interesting to find out how long it would take to reach Brisbane by speed post. Hubby is working today so he dispatched it from BSP Post Office. I will make another post on the day when the package has arrived here in Brisbane just to record the timing for future delivery.

World Cup 2010 Sticker Book

Thursday, 20 May 2010

Finally, after four years of waiting, World Cup is going to start on the 6th of June 2010. Host country this year is South Africa. Apart from watching the football matches, I'm also excited about getting the World Cup 2010 sticker book. I am not in Brunei to start the collection, unfortunately. But hubby suprised me last night when he bought a copy of the World Cup Sticker Book. Yeay! Oh yeah, if you are also collecting these, we can exchange our stickers.

Workstation Window View

Wednesday, 19 May 2010

Most of my time in the lab is spent on waiting - waiting for sample testing results, waiting for machines to warm-up, waiting for samples to cool off, waiting for supervisors to check on my finidings and plenty of other stuffs! Sometimes, if I'm bored, I'll get a quick glance out of my desk's window. I'm just lucky that my workstation has a window view. Well.. it's not the best view in the world, at least there is something going on, some building construction in progress just next to my building. That could be our new building which will be completed in 2012. It will be interesting to see the progress as i will still be here that year to see the new building.

Lab Work Procedure

Wednesday, 19 May 2010

The whole week this week, i made an effort to start the day at work early. Simply because I got a lot of catching up to do, particularly brushing up on my lab techniques. Last week, one of my experiments didn't work out as expected because of wrong techniques, kinda frustrating. But to be on the positive side of things, i did learn something from my mistakes. Sometimes i had to come back late to finish off some stuffs but it was worthed because I manage to do some of the experiments on my own now.

This is what is keeping me up late in the office. Basically what I'm doing is to check the quality of tissues that I have extracted from some animal models. It's quite an easy technique which anybody can master. But whats frustrating is that this thing took 1hr or more time to complete. Even preparation might take more than 1hr or more.  Again on the positive side of it, it teaches me to be patience.

Let me bring you through some parts of my work that I did today.

The gray box above is the power pack that will supply electricity to the sample gel basin which will then charge the gel. The subject tissue extractions is loaded onto the gel, which is the one in blue colour. The test requires me to let the sample on the basin run for about 1hr at 60v.

After one hour, I then took out the gel with the tissue extractions into a dark room, put it onto this machine, which basically emits light, leave it for a while so that the gel will absorbs some of the lights. All I need to do then was to turn the light off and you will see the photo below.

Special type of camera will then be used to get image of this. Just like the one above but in black and white. What I was hoping to see was the double bright band in the photo below, which signifies that that the tissue quality is reasonably good. Success!!

Instant Noodle

Tuesday, 18 May 2010

I didn't feel like eating rice tonight for dinner so Mum made me some instant fried noodles. We still got plenty of these noodles stock from Brunei. It is nice to have it fried with eggs and onions. It is ridiculous on how much there sold here. In Brisbane, one pack, which contains 5 packets costs around AUD$2.70, which is around B$3.50. In Brunei each pack costs only around BND$1 to $1.50. It is a very good idea to bring some from Brunei, if you are planning to stay here longer.

Ripening Despite Cold Weather

Monday, 17th May 2010

The weather here in Brisbane is getting really cold for the past few days, perhaps at least for a week now. Today alone, the sun only come out for a couple of minutes. I've even started to wear jacket inside the house just to keep myself warm. It was since then that we didn't use the airconditioner. I'm expecting to see a drop in our electricity bill for this month, hopefully. Maybe i guess winter is coming pretty soon.

Despite the cold weather our plants seemed to be growing well. More bushier and definitely more fruits especially our Kalamansi. I know, it sounds funny to me too!! Probably because i'm not used to calling it that, lets just call it what we famously call it in Brunei "Limau Kesturi". As you can see from the photo below, some can even be seen have ripen, you can tell from the colour - yellow means ripe. The tomatoes also show some great progress, as you can see in the picture, it is starting to turn red! Yeay!! I'm still thinking of what best to use it for, maybe it be best used for making tomato sauce together with fried chicken. That is actually my mum's specialty "Ayam Masak Merah". Yumyum!! 

Lunch Box

Sunday, 15 May 2010

Unlike other PhD students whom only had to work like once every month or so, i had to work Monday to Friday at my medical research centre, QIMR from morning till late afternoon. I didn't usually have time to go back home for lunch. So my mum always prepared for me some pre-packed foods before i left for work.

My typical lunch pack includes fried chicken, beef, fish fingers with some chillie sauce as well as some broccollis and cauliflower. That is not all, she would also prepare some fruits, usually watermelons but sometimes bananas. Thanks, mummy! The good thing is there's a microwave in the cafeteria where i work, which comes handy to make the food warm. I know a healthy diet is important especially for me and my growing baby. To supplement this, i'm also currently taking some multivitamins for baby's healthy growth.

Birthday Surprise!!

Thursday, 13 May 2010

One of our Bruneian friends is celebrating her birthday today, Aizah. Her aunt, Reny, organized the surprise party for her. We all gathered at her house right before she came back from Uni. And when she comes, we gave her the surprise of her life!! Hehe! It was a fun night with loads of yummy foods. Mummy made some ayam masak merah.. yummy!