TRANSFERRING TO AUSTRALIA.

although i have been ranting a lot, the whole transferring process can actually be done easily. the main reason to why i have been stressing a lot is finding a house - i recommend those who are going for the first time to not stay outside unless you are willing to fly over way earlier. then again, thank god that my string of bad luck is now gone, so everything is actually now done! for those who have been asking me a lot regarding my transfer, i guess i owe you guys a clear step-by-step description of the process.

lo &&& behold,

here is Yew Chong's Guide to Transferring to Australia WTF™:

e-Certificate of Enrollment (eCOE)

assuming that you have already submit your acceptance form, the most important thing to wait for the college/university to send you your eCOE. without this piece of document, you cannot apply for your visa online. the college/university will send you the soft copy within three working days (for Monash).

as for my case, mine didn't come at all. i was so desprate until i actually e-mailed Monash Clayton to inform them about it but Kenny told me that uni was closed. so then i e-mailed Monash Sunway's Mr. Chen who actually e-mailed god-knows-who for my eCOE. so yeah, i got my eCOE right after that. then a week or so later, this woman from Clayton gave me a call to ask for my e-mail address because apparently there is something wrong with my e-mail; turned out, they mistaken the dash on my e-mail address as an underscore, so yeah, that explained my missing eCOE.

on another note, if you are looking for the fastest delivery company to deliver your documents, you might want to try DHL which can deliver your documents in just 2 - 3 days when others need at least a week. then again, i paid a whopping MYR220 for their service wtf.

Visa application

unlike transferring to the United States of America, you can actually apply for your visa online. the process is really easy - just a list of questionaires for you to answer. after answering all the questions ie. filling up the form, you'd have to pay AUD540 for three years of Temporary Student Visa.

as for my case, i filled up one of the many questions wrongly. that question which asks "Are you holding an Australian visa right now?" or something along the line which i actually do since i just went to Perth three months back. i, however, answered NO because i thought the visa lapsed already since i changed my passport last month. the truth is actually, your visa remains even if you change your passport FML. so yeah, i was so worried that they might reject me for lying wtf but turned out, it doesn't matter *jumps around happily//

back to the story,

after paying, they will give you a list of clinics for you to choose to go for your medical check-up. select your choice &&& make sure you print out the Referral Letter because you will need it when you go for your medical check-up.

Medical Check-up

for medical check-up, you need to bring a your passport, the referral letter &&& your spectacles, if you do own one.

oh, if you are wondering, no fasting is needed because we are only taking urine-test &&& X-ray. then again, you are to drink lots of water for the urine-test to avoid microscopic hematuria because if you have it, you have to retake your urine-test. &&& feel free to correct me if the presence of blood in urine due to lack of water is not counted as hematuria.

by the way, i chose Life Care Diagnostic as the clinic to do my medical check-up. this clinic can actually provide you with the results within an hour - the one hour count starts the moment you enter the clinic. it is highly recommended for those who are doing it last minute. it is located at Wisma Zurich, next to Stamford College which is next to PJ Hilton.

Visa grant

i am assuming that all the listed clinics will send the medical report straight to the Australian immigration, so yeah, once you are done with your medical check-up, your visa will be grant the day itself. they will inform you via e-mail, so do check your e-mail very often.

Looking for a house

this is not something easy to do because the Australians are pretty different in a way. before deciding to rent the house to you, the agents need you to inspect the house first &&& they will not take "it's alright" or "i will get my friend to inspect it for me" as an answer. so yeah, if you one of those who decide to look for house using Real Estate, be prepared to face this situation. so what you can actually do is either to fly there earlier to look for houses or fly late, taking the risk of renting expensive dodgy house.

that is why it is highly unrecommended for those who are going for the first time to stay outside.

in my case however, i actually gave up in begging those agents to rent the house to me. the worse thing is that they hardly even reply my e-mail wtf fucking retarded businessmen. so yeah, i gave up &&& the three of us actually decided to fly as early as 3rd of February just to find a house. we booked our tickets already &&& a day before paying, i headed over to Gumtree, a website where house owners post the advertisements themselves instead of using agents. i found a perfect house &&& instantly e-mailed the house owner. he replied me the next morning &&& heck, i called my family's tour agent (she is the one doing our flight booking) to ask her to collect the air fare few days later. so yeah, in that few days, i managed to convince the house owner to lease the house to us! so yeah, we three are no longer flying on the 3rd now *jumps around naked//

so yeah, after getting a house, you need to pay bond equivalent to a month's rent (varies with owners as some might request for more). this bond works as a deposit to make sure that you take care of the house because the owner will use this money to repair whatever damage you do. &&& bear in mind that Australians count monthly rent using the formula of:

week rent/7 days * 365 days(1 year)/12 months = monthly rent

so although your weekly rent may be AUD150, your monthly rent is definitely more than AUD600. just like in my case, my weekly rent is AUD400 for the whole house (to be divided by three), my monthly rent is AUD1738.

also, you are to be aware that there are some houses that come unfurnished. like the house that i am leasing, it is unfurnished, so we have to buy our own mattress, table, cupboard, plates, etc when we are there. there are second-hand furniture available though, so yeah. or you can get new ones which you can as second-hand goods next time. then again, it is obviously better to get a furnished house to save all the trouble and money.

Preparing to fly

easiest among the rest because all you need to do now is to go shopping &&& hang out as much as possible haha wtf.

i think i still need to go one round of shopping to get a few more tops (the long-sleeved woolen top i want from AX is @ 60% zomg), a watch, a messenger &&& maybe another long pants/jeans. after that plus a little more of authentic Malaysian food, i am done!

the end of Yew Chong's Guide to Transferring to Australia WTF™.

see, actually transferring is something really easy! so do not be afraid to transfer wtf who am i kidding. &&& come to think of it, i finally have my own trademark *tears of joy//

NEW YEAR'S EVE.

in previous NYEs, we usually have our very own countdown session in a selected friend's house; in 2006 it was in my house, in 2007 it was in Jun Loong's while in 2008 it was in Kenny's. last year (which was yesterday HAHA) however, we opted for something different - we headed down to Desa Park City to join the crowd. thanks Lyndy for coming up with the awesome plan!

anyway,

the day started with me waking up to a Bad Face Day (BFD) wtf my eyebags are seriously getting more prominent from day to day. after lunch, i headed to Tesco to get some snacks for the night's picnic session before heading over to Baskin Robbins to get some discounted ice-cream - what is NYE without Baskin Robbins right? after dropping the snacks at Ainsley's (he was the selected driver of the day), i headed back home to decompose ie. rot wtf. less than an hour after i reached home, Lyndy &&& Pei Fun came over to pick me up to Baskin Robbins again haha. so yeah, the three of us headed over there for the girls to get some ice-cream before stopping by Jeth for tea-time. after that, Lyndy dropped me back home, just in time for me to catch KBS Entertainment News.

sidetrack: Brown Eyed Girls - Abracadra's saucy hip dance is the dance of the year in KPop world!

i had dinner with my family nomnomnom then Calvin came over to pick me up to Ainsley's. after that, we headed over to SS2 to pick Mah Hon Meng up before going to Desa Park City to meet up with the rest: Lyndy, Audrey, Joanne, Shi Ni, Darren. to our surprise, that place was filled with people haha i was expecting a smaller crowd! it was also pretty happening - they had live bands, carnivals, etc. not too bad for a private park.

before twelve, all we did was just hanging out playing chor tai tee, snacking &&& talking. after twelve, after watching the long fireworks, we started playing Pop Pop (the children's firecracker haha all credits to Mah Hon Meng for bringing them). it was seriously a messy Pop Pop game wtf i was covered with sawdust thanks to the boy named Ainsley haha. we continued hanging out in the park though, to avoid traffic congestion before heading to William's @ Taman Mayang for a mamak session.

reached home at around 4.00am. who would've thought that picnicking in a park can turn out to be this fun? although it was just a simple chill out session but no doubt, it was a great way to end 2009 &&& to usher in 2010. i'd prefer to do it this way than going to club where communication is minimal.

if you may ask, what is my new year's resolutions, i will not be making any because i never achieve any of them before other than 2009's resolution of working hard to admit myself into Monash Clayton. then again, i am hoping that everything goes well for me this year because i believe that it is going to be a challenging year for me - my first time being out of comfort zone.

before ending this, some cheesy jokes that we came up with yesterday on the way back home wtf:

1. Whose house has the most gun? Answer: Garry Gan.
2. Whose house has a dragon? Answer: Jun Loong (龙).
3. Whose house has the most cock? Answer: Ainsley Ng KOK Ooi (his younger brother has a KOK in his name too).

everyone please show the "wtf so lame" face haha.

HAPPY NEW YEAR again to those who are reading.

2009.

eleven months, summarised in 24 pictures.

looking through the thousands of photos taken this year, i realise that this year had been nothing but like a rollercoaster ride - filled with ups &&& downs, twists &&& turns but remained exciting at the same time. if given the chance to go through 2009 all over again, i would definitely do it with perhaps a little bit of changes.

2009 is actually ending in a very good way for me! everything seems to be getting better for me especially the regarding the transferring issue; everything is done, so all i have to do now is just have to wait until the departure morning. in addition to the happiness, i just got back from an awesome night out with Sheng Ming &&& Vincent. &&& as for NYE's plan, i guess i will just go with the flow - plans anyone?

moving on,

i know for sure that 2010 will bring in a whole new level of experience for me. it will be my first time ever leaving my family for a place so foreign. i am feeling excited yet intimidated at the same time. then again, regardless of what 2010 will bring for you, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

LEARNING TO BREATHE.

i think i need to learn to stop worrying about so many things. this whole transferring-to-Australia thing is seriously driving me nuts, no joke. although i settled everything on the Monash side already, i still have the visa &&& the house to worry about. i accidentally filled up this part of the visa application questionaire wrongly because i misinterpreted it! i e-mailed the officials already so all i can do now is just to wait patiently for their reply sigh. the house, on the other hand, our landlord hasn't send me the completed contract yet - it has been a week already! i am seriously worried sick that he would change his mind because if he really does, we are seriously d for doomed arghhh *pulls hair//

to add salt to the wound, i stupidly look through the pictures taken from my worst night in 2009 wtf. after that, again, i stupidly hopped over to this stupid boy's blog which reading it (actually looking through it wtf who actually reads his blog) made feel extra @%#$#. now that my mood sudah terjejas, even the slightest thing irritates me FML.

this string to bad luck has to go! 2009 cannot end in such a miserable way for me nor 2010 can start in such a miserable way wtf.

on another note, if you are wondering why the long silence in my maroon blog, the answer is: my life is back to being monotonous. i can actually still blog if you really want to know what i eat in mamak everynight or how long i spend waiting for all my YouTube videos to be loaded or how many laps i swim everytime or how miserable my first jogging session is or how many times i went over to the immigration office in Shah Alam in just one week or how random i was to travel all the way down to SS2 for Kayu or how many times i watched Invicible Youth this week wtf.

okay i am already feeling bored typing out my boring life wtf.

ps. for instant updates on my life if you are interested (please be interested wtf), follow me on my Twitter which i update very oftenly.

BEGGAR'S CHICKEN @ BANTING.

beggar's chicken is undoubtedly a famous Chinese cuisine. originated from Hangzhou, the legend says that it was this beggar who stole a chicken invented this cuisine. apparently he hid the dead chicken in mud for quite some time before placing the chicken into fire as he was lack of cooking utensil. little did he know, the chicken that he cooked was so delicious that he started selling to the villagers. this only one of the many versions - we all know that usually the Chinese legends have many different versions. then again, from what i know, all the versions of this beggar's chicken legend eventually converge to the idea the hero marinating the chicken with mud.

&&& umm i am pretty sure the beggar's chicken nowadays is not marinated with mud... i hope wtf.

legends aside, on Tuesday, nine of us headed down to Banting to have a taste of this chicken that got everyone talking. Jun Loong's friend, Hui who stays in Banting recommended us this place called Viking Seafood Restaurant. apparently it is one of two the more famous restaurants serving beggar's chicken, correct me if i am wrong. also, apparently the other shop opens based on the old owner's mood wtf.

in the restaurant, we ordered two packs of beggar's chicken, fried kangkung, fried scallop, fried mantis prawn, steamed lala, steamed fish &&& oyster omelette to go with the rice. pictures in accordance to the order of the list,

nomnomnom the beggar's chicken was undoubtedly tasty. to me &&& the rest, we think that it tastes a bit like bah kut teh just that this is the chicken version. tender chicken meat, very flavourful with herbs. then again, we actually expected more since everyone is talking about it. still, i would highly recommended this place if you are a first-timer. on the other hand, the rest of the other dishes were so-so to me especially the fried kangkung, fried mantis prawn &&& steamed lala. the fried scallop was really awesome, no lies or exaggeration - it was in fact my favourite dish of the night; thinking about it right now makes me starve *salivates//. &&& oh, the steamed fish was really fresh yumms. a pretty satisfying dinner, overall.

oh, before i forget, Sheng Ming &&& i actually went into the kitchen to see how do they actually cook the chicken. from what i have heard, the chicken is supposed to be cooked in stove made of stones with fire burning on logs. however, this restaurant stopped using the traditional way, replacing the stone stove with sophisticated stoves. very disappointing to me who was very much interested in seeing the stone stove.

anyway, the bill came up to RM220.60 for the nine of us, inclusive of drinks (Chinese tea &&& four coconuts). splited, it is around RM25 per person after rounding up. pretty okayly priced i must say - we had a total of six side dishes aside from the two packs of beggar's chicken.

a second visit to this restaurant? i will consider since it is a tad bit far; if it's nearer, i will definitely pay a second visit to this restaurant without any second thought. &&& nahhh, my return will not be specially for beggar's chicken but instead, it will be for the fried scallop nomnomnom.

if you are interested, this restaurant is pretty easy to go actually: just follow the Banting signboard from Kesas Highway, then you just have to go all the way straight heading to Kuala Langat. you will pass by a ginormous flyover &&& are to see UDIM on the way. then when you finally reach to a T-junction (you will only encounter one), you turn left heading to Permatang Pasir. you will then see signboard to this restaurant. the whole journey (from the Kesas Highway junction to Banting)will take approximately 45 minutes.

suggestions of where to stop next? i am thinking of Jalan Alor nomnomnom.