Enjoying Life....

Last day on Holy Island...

muoy — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:15:00 GMT

Claire, Laura and I went to the Green Tara meditation this morning at 6am. I ended up waking up by myself at 5am since it was bright out, but I was still exhausted because I had a hard time falling asleep again. The meditation was really cool...mostly Tibetan prayers and they used bells, drums, and cymbals during the meditation. I don't know what the Green Tara deity is for, but in the evenings, we do one called Chenrezi and that's for compassion. Since I'm not buddhist, I can't really explain all the meanings. I hadn't expected so much Buddhism influence since the website said people of all religious beliefs are welcomed, but it was still cool to experience it and see what they do. I really love listening to the prayers...the Tibetan words sound so powerful and soothing at the same time. After the meditation, I went back to sleep and skipped the 7:30am meditation...really bad since it was my last day there!

I actually had an adventure planned today to get back to the Isle of Arran...almost added a canoe to my transportation list. Fen was going to take his canoe over before lunch and I was planning on going with him since our ferry wasn't until after lunch. I wanted to spend a few extra hours on the island to explore before the big ferry took us back to the mainland. Well, didn't go as planned. Once Claire and Laura heard I was doing the canoe, they couldn't stop laughing because they knew I would have to paddle and get wet. I've never done canoeing before, so I had no idea what to expect...but the way they kept laughing, I was beginning to wonder what I got myself into...I just thought Fen would be the one to paddle! :) As they were walking me to the canoe ready to send me off...Claire is like mother hen all worried and telling Fen he needs to take good care of me. It was really windy today and the waters were really choppy, so Claire was really concerned for me...another red flag. We lugged my bags all the way down to the shore and then we went through discussions of whether we can take all my bags...then I found out most of my stuff might get wet...and so we were going to leave one bag with Claire and Laura. After a lot of back and forth with me already in my life jacket (since I can't swim!) and wearing Fen's waterproof boots...I finally decided not to go. I was worried about getting my backpack and smaller suitcase wet, which has my camera and laptop...and the big suitcase needed to stay since that was heavier. I'm so glad I decided not to go with Fen! As we watched him paddle away, he really seemed like he was struggling in the choppy water. It took him a good while to get over, so I'm sure I would not have had fun doing it! Claire also said that was a good way to get him to fall out of love with me quickly...because it would've been hard to coordinate the paddling and we would've been arguing with each other. The joke that Laura and Claire have is that Fen has a crush on me since he's always around me...but I just think he's being friendly. I joke with Claire that the ex-monk is her boyfriend and he's been off the Island for a few days...but we saw him as we got to Arran and when they said good-bye, ex-monk kissed her on the lips!!! How scandalous!!! :) One of the other girls here is also dating an ex-monk...and this ex-monk was telling us that even if a guy has never had a girlfriend...if he becomes a monk, he's guaranteed to get a girlfriend once he gets out So for you single guys out there...go become a monk! Seems like that's the "in" thing these days!

We had a couple of hours to kill on Arran before the big ferry...so we just walked around for a bit. Laura is camping on Arran for the next two days...so Claire and I parted ways with her. It was sad to leave everyone today...and even sadder to leave Holy Island. During our slow walk meditation today...I was walking outside and enjoyed the view one last time...and just stopped to take it all in. I'll miss it very much!

So after two ferries, a bus, and a train (shorter commute this time)...I made it to my hotel in Glasgow. I'm staying at the Marriott and it's great to be in a nice hotel again. The bed is comfy and no more sharing bathrooms and showers! I can be spoiled for the next 5 nights and maybe I'll sleep better! :) It's been an exhausting day...so I'm off to bed early since I am going to Edinburgh tomorrow!

Adapting to Changes...

muoy — Fri, 11 May 2012 08:48:00 GMT

This is actually last night's blog...slacked off on uploading it yesterday since I went to bed early...heheh

This silent thing definitely isn't working for me. I was doing so well until around 11am. Fen, one of the volunteers here, distracted me and started speaking to me. I couldn't resist talking since it was about rice. Last night, Fen talked about taking his canoe to the Island of Arran and I told him if he did, he needed to go find me a Chinese restaurant and bring me back rice and tofu w/ vegetables. So this morning's discussion was around whether he was still going and he asked if I was serious about it. I looked at him and said "what part of my expression and what I am saying makes you think I am joking?"....hehehe. I was totally serious!!

He told me I should ask the chef to make me some white rice, but I was shy about it...I had already asked him yesterday to boil me some eggs for today...so I didn't want to seem difficult. Fen ended up talking to the chef about it because at lunch time, the chef had some white rice and two boiled eggs for me!!! I was the happiest girl in that moment...heheh! I hugged the chef and thanked him...man, the rice with the eggs was so yummy! I felt so special to have my own meal especially prepared for me...haha!

I will actually be able to have my rice and meat one day early...yippee! The weather is expected to be bad on Sunday, so the ferry probably won't run...I have to either leave tomorrow or leave on Monday night. Since my hotel and tours are already booked, I am leaving tomorrow and will just spend an extra day in Glasgow. I had to make the most of today since it was my last full day and took my DSLR out again to take more pictures. As I was walking, I realized I wasn't even dodging the poopie as much anymore...I've gotten to the point where looking at the beauty around me was more important than stepping on some poo. I can't believe I just said that...what's happening to me?!

The meditation seems to be getting easier...the time doesn't seem as long anymore. And I've found that I'm getting better at being focused and not getting as distracted. There was a French camera crew there today to film what goes on here and during the 5pm meditation, they were in the room with us. They cameramen brought the camera and pointed in the direction of me, Laura, and Claire...this is after the meditation started. Laura got up and left...I looked over and it's pointing towards me and I'm like..."I look like crap since I didn't have time to go to my room after taking pics and had to run here when they ran the gong...what are they doing??!?!" and "my nose is all runny since it was so cold out...so the French people will see my runny snot". That was horrible...but then I accepted it and closed my eyes...and I had a wonderful meditation. I feel like I've come a long way when I can zone out a camera crew!

I'm keeping this short today since I've got to get up at 5:30am for this other type of meditation called Green Tara. I hear it's really beautiful and I needed to experience it at least once before I leave...so I'll drag my butt out of bed for this. I actually told Claire and Laura I was backing out, but they wouldn't let me...so I'm committed now.

Finally...a breakthrough....

muoy — Thu, 10 May 2012 21:35:00 GMT

3:35PM

I had a hard time falling asleep again last night. I think my body is not meant to sit idle for so many hours in a day and all that stored up energy keeps me up late at night. When my alarm went off at 6:45am, I reset it to 8:15 which is breakfast time...but after laying in bed for 15 minutes, I forced myself to get up. No sense in coming all the way here to slack off on the meditation...I have to make the most of this experience!

Each day, we have 6 meditation sessions that last about 30-40 minutes each. I honestly never knew meditation could be so grueling, but when you sit in one position for so long...you start to feel all sorts of body pain. My legs and feet get numb and fall asleep...the back hurts, the shoulders and neck gets stiff. After the first session, as I was getting up...my right leg didn't work and I actually fell forward...luckily Laura was there to catch me! :) I had been so determined to keep the posture the whole time that I didn't reposition my legs and my leg decided to punish me by trying to have me fall flat on my face.

I'm 0 for 3 right now with keeping quiet during silent time. If I can't even stay silent until 1:30pm every day, I can only imagine what I would've done if I had signed up for 21 one silent retreat in the Himalayas. Stop laughing. :) It's actually harder than it seems to stay silent...sometimes there are things you just want to say at that moment. This morning, Claire came into my room in the morning and said she was skipping a session because of a headache, so we chatted. Then I ran into Laura and she didn't realize it was already time for the next meditation...so I had to tell her. So we all broke silent time...we'll see how tomorrow goes...

I'm really craving meat and rice today. I was telling Laura and Claire about my favorite Cuban dish...vaca frita and now I can't get it out of my mind! Laura is a vegan...so she probably didn't really care much. I also told them I actually thought about bringing some beef jerky to the island, but thought better of it...lol. They definitely would've kicked me out of the program! Claire and I are already making plans for Sunday when we get to the Island of Arran to go get us some meat. I seriously need some protein...meat that is I saw someone had some boiled eggs yesterday, so I need to see if maybe they can boil me a few eggs. I befriended a girl started her refuge here this past Saturday and she's working in the kitchen...so I've got my connection and will need to see what she can do for me! :)

I had my personal interview with Lama Rinchen today and it was such a wonderful talk. I really admire and respect her...she's so wise and experienced. I have a lot more clarity of my purpose for why I came here and it brought out emotions in me that I didn't even realize were still there. This was a very personal experience, so I won't share the details on the blog. But I do want to share some advice that she gave during our sessions because this will be beneficial for everyone. I spoke about our emotions of pain, hurt, etc in my previous post and Lama Rinchen teaches us to recognize those emotions, but then "let them go". I didn't quite understand how to "let them go"...so she clarified for me and it makes more sense now. It's really that the emotion will go away on it's own. Take for example, someone makes you angry. Don't focus on the person who made you angry (I know I often do that and then it makes me more upset). Instead, focus on your emotion of anger and recognize it...and it'll eventually dissipate because there is nothing to feed that angry emotion...you aren't giving focus to the cause for your anger anymore.

She also talks about living in the moment. These meditation practices are meant to bring more calm to the mind and to also be able to accept and live in the moment. So if your mind is running wild like mine usually does during meditation, then allow it to and accept the moment for what it is. Don't get involved with your thoughts...your mind will eventually get bored and move on to something else. Also, don't have any expectations because expectations only brings disappointments. That is so true about expectations...and it's something I've been working on and something that I'll need to continue to work on.

I told Lama Rinchen about my "no thought" experience last night...and how I wasn't sure if that's what I should experience. She confirmed that was good...at that moment...I had no wants or desires. After our talk, she told me I had a good mind for meditation and that I need to continue it...that was great to hear since there have been times during this retreat where I was losing motivation with my lack of focus.

There were a couple of things that she mentioned during our talk that was interesting...the first was that in Tibetan Buddhism, the age of 36 is a difficult year...and she said I just proved it. Right before I turned 36...I was definitely struggling with some things and it was a roller coaster for awhile. It's only been recently that I've been able to move past some of those struggles. I hope this retreat and the experiences from here will help me as I move through the new challenges in my life.

The other thing is that each person only has a certain number of breaths...after that you die. So if you can learn to slow down your breathing, you can live longer...though she made a joke that with karma, you could get hit by a bus, so then the number of breaths don't matter. I told her I work out and take really quick breaths...that means I am going to die sooner. Maybe this is my excuse for no longer working out? :)

8:11PM

I had my most pleasant meditation so far since I've been here...it was at our 5pm session. That sense of clarity after my talk with Lama Rinchen really must have helped me...because as I sat there, I actually enjoyed the meditation. There was a sense of calm and there was no discomfort with my body and I actually experience a few moments of "no thoughts". For the first time, I wasn't wondering how much longer we had or fidgeting with my legs...I just sat there and enjoyed the moment and the 40 minutes actually flew by. When it was over, I had the most wonderful feeling of calm and peace...I couldn't believe it...I'd finally gotten there after the hours of pain and suffering...haha..well, it wasn't that bad, but you get my point! One of the other girls who took refuge here on Saturday also had her first pleasant experience as well...and she couldn't believe how quickly we got there. I said considering we meditate 6 times a day...it's like we've been meditating a month now if we were to do it once a day!

The 7pm one was so-so...but Lama Rinchen says there will be good days and bad days...so I'm happy to have gotten to experience this tonight!

My mind wants to do it's own thing...

muoy — Wed, 9 May 2012 22:03:00 GMT

Wednesday, 8:47AM

I got off to a rough start this morning...I broke silent time within the first 5 minutes of waking up (but I had a good excuse) and the 7:30am meditation didn't go so well. As I was coming back to my room from the bathroom this morning (we have communal bathrooms and showers), I saw one of the volunteers who was a housekeeper here and asked her if the laundry was next to my room. Last night, all I could hear was some thumping sound as I was trying to sleep and it sounded like a washer when it's on the spin cycle. She told me it was the pump for the shower and it shouldn't be on late at night...so she'd speak with the other volunteers to make sure it doesn't happen again. After I spoke to her, I realized I just broke silent time! Doh!

I got up extra early this morning at 6am so I had time to eat a pre-breakfast before meditation and have time to stretch. I was all pumped up and ready to go...took an Aleve for my old lady stiff body, ate my pre-breakfast and got to the Peace Hall early to stretch. I also put on the pain ointment the instructor left out. I was feeling really great...listening to the Tibetan prayers as the meditation sesson started and loving it. Then next thing you know...BAM! The girl next to me starts sneezing and blowing her nose...and it wasn't just once or twice...like every few minutes! I was so distracted and I kept thinking "she is going to get me sick", "why is she even here", "I need to move before the next session so I don't get sick", "where the heck did she come from, I've never even see her before", "am I the only one that is distracted here?"...and on and on. Once I was distracted, that was it...I couldn't regain my focus...even if I tried, I couldn't have kept the focus because she was blowing her nose most of the time. I tried focusing on sounds...but then my mind is like "where are the birds this morning...I don't hear them"...then "oh, there they are...but wait, they're gone again". A few times, I became conscious of my posture and I realized I was leaning towards Laura, who was on the other side of me. My body definitely did not want to be near the sick girl and was leaning away on its own! The 45 minutes felt like an eternity.

After the session ended, Claire and I looked at each other and from the expression on her face, I knew she was thinking the same thing I was about sick girl...but we couldn't talk about it. We laughed since we knew what the other was thinking and as we walked out, I wrapped the scarf around my mouth and said "I was worried she was going to get me sick!"...I already broke silent time once this morning...so another little cheat is ok, right? :)

Let's see how the 9:30am meditation goes...two 30 minute meditation sessions and a 15 minute slow walking. And then another meditation at 11:30am.

Wednesday 2:26PM

I laid down for about 10 minutes before the 9:30am meditation and it felt so good I actually considered skipping the session since the 7:30am one was so distracting with sick girl and I was feeling a bit discouraged. But when I heard them ring the gong, I dragged myself out of bed and rushed to the Peace Hall...and made sure sick girl was not sitting next to me or I was going to move. Luckily, she moved further to the back of the room and was sitting in a chair. I needed to regain my focus and keeping my eyes open during the meditation was just not working. Everytime someone shifted or moved, I could see it out of the corner of my eye and it would distract me...and it hasn't worked for me the last 1.5 days. So the next 3 sessions, I closed my eyes and what a big difference that makes! I could hear the noises of people moving and the birds...but my mind was so much calmer and focused...I felt much more relaxed at the end of each session and I was able to keep my posture the majority of the time because I wasn't as aware of the pain on my body. I think going forward, it'll have to be eyes closed for me even though we aren't suppose to do that.

During our slow walk, I noticed two of the volunteers hugging and getting cozy with each other...I thought that was cute until the girl got upset, threw her hands down and then walked away. The guy went inside the building and the girl walked back over to where I was, but she was visibly upset and crying. It just made me realize that even on such a serene and peaceful place where people come to get away from their distracted life and find peace, there are certain things like emotions of pain, hurt or fear that you can't avoid. Our instructor teaches us to accept these emotions...to not fight it...and then you'll be able to deal with it...but more on that after my personal interview with her!

Lunch was great today...there was mushroom risotto, steamed broccoli, and garden salad. I was so happy to have risotto...this is the closest I'm going to get to my rice! :) And the steamed broccoli was awesome since I love broccoli! I loaded up my plate with those and some salad...thinking I would go back for seconds. But I felt full pretty quickly...so I went for dessert instead which was chocolate pear flan (more like a brownie) with some creamy milk sweet sauce. That was pretty yummy as well even though I am not a big chocolate fan. I swiped a banana to bring to my room in case dinner soup is a bust again.

1:30pm finally rolled around and we could talk again. Sick girl was definitely a topic of discussion I had with Claire and Laura...and how she may end up making 20 people sick since we are all in an enclosed room as she's spreading her germ around. And the topic of impure thoughts came up again. Because Laura put the seed in my head last night that it was my turn to have impure thoughts, I couldn't get away from it. We have to let our mind run with our thoughts and not interfere...so I couldn't even stop the thoughts...I told them they are both bad for contaminating my pure thoughts with such impurities! :) Claire again had more impure thoughts and it was from a steamy book she was reading this morning. I think are all in trouble with these impure thoughts, especially Claire since she's got a little crush on one of the guys here who is an ex-monk.

8:18PM

We had a break before the 5pm meditation...I went walking along the coast again since the sun was out. I feel so lucky to be able to enjoy the beauty of this remote island...just to be able to soak in the view and be away from the world. I'll be sad when I have to leave, but it's definitely a place I would want to come back to visit.

During the 7pm meditation, I think I finally achieved a state of no thought, but only for a few minutes. I don't know for sure though since I'm not sure what the experience is suppose to be like...I have my personal interview with Lama Rinchen tomorrow and I have so many questions for her...but as I was observing my mind tonight...the random thoughts that would run through my head was silent. I was talking to another monk today and was asking him some questions. He told me I definitely need to speak with Lama Rinchen since she's so much more experienced...I think he said she's done 3 or 4 long term retreats (each 3-4 years long) and she is the leader of the 4-year women's retreat that is currently on the other side of the island. I'm in awe of how someone is able to come to a decision to seclude themselves from the world for that long and to take that path. I don't think I could ever do that, but who knows...by the end of this retreat...it might not seem like a bad idea...esp. if you can live on this island!

I feel like today was a good day...I had a rough start, but I managed to turn it around and look forward to seeing what the other days will offer!

Photos: Scotland - Holy Island

muoy — Wed, 9 May 2012 05:25:00 GMT

Acceptance...and lots of it...

muoy — Tue, 8 May 2012 21:16:00 GMT

I had a hard time falling asleep last night...I think it was because I was drinking green tea all day and at night...so I was pretty wired from the caffeine. Whenever I can't sleep, I stress over how tired I'll be the next day if I don't fall asleep soon and that usually makes it worst and keeps me awake longer. After tossing and turning for a bit, I remembered what we learned in session earlier that day...during our meditation, they taught us that it's ok if we have thoughts going through our head...just accept it and let it be. Instead of being critical, give our mind the space to do what it needs to do...so I figured why not accept that I can't fall asleep instead of getting anxious over it. Guess what happened when I accepted it? I felt so much calmer and at ease...and I actually fell asleep shortly after that.

Isn't that such a simple concept to apply to our daily lives? If there's something that is making us anxious or agitated...how much easier would it be to accept the problem instead of fighting it? It's definitely something I have to keep in mind to do going forward. I hope you guys reading this will try it too...as you will see in my later paragraphs, I had to do alot of acceptance today and I feel really good about it.

I did well in this morning's 7:30am meditation...I was able to keep my posture for most of the 45 minutes. I think I had fewer thoughts running through my head and I was repeating different affirmations in my head so I wouldn't get too distracted. But during the next 3 morning meditation sessions that were 30 minutes each, I started getting fidgety again...my back was hurting, my legs kept falling asleep, and I was getting distracted everytime I saw someone move out of the corner of my eye. I was constantly switching between the cross legged and kneeling position so I could get comfortable. I noticed Laura nodding off again and apparently Claire did as well, but I didn't see Claire since she was on the other side of Laura. I'm happy to report that neither one of them fell flat on their face....yet! :) During our Q&A session, I told the instructor that I am having a hard time focusing as the day goes on...and she said that if I have alot of energy, I will be fidgety. Well, now that all makes sense...I'm a bundle of energy! :) She told me I needed to focus more on slowing my breathing down and also look down...whereas some people were falling asleep, so she told them they needed to look up. I never knew meditation could be so grueling and painful...I really feel like I could use a good massage. The instructor had some pain medication ointment that she uses and she put it out to share with everyone...good to know I am not the only one in pain!

We had silent time today until 1:30am from the time we woke up. I don't know if it's considered cheating, but Claire, Laura and I might have cheated using gestures. :) Only a few times though...because we needed to coordinate our day for our afternoon break. I used my hands to show walking to Claire so she knew I wanted to go hike up the peak and we would sign up for our personal interviews with the instructor tomorrow. During lunch though, we were really awful...giggling and laughing because we were trying to coordinate the time to meet back up for the hike and kept going back and forth since we didn't know what the other was saying. Laura was making a motion for breaking an egg...or so we thought. Finally Claire look at the watch of the lady next to us and motioned that we had 3 minutes of silence left. When they finally rang the gong (which is breaking egg motion) that silence was over...we were all like "thank goodness!". I hope they don't kick us out for being distractful during silent time! :)

After lunch, we (Claire, Laura, new girl Jemma, and me) all went hiking up to Mullach Mor, which is the highest point on the island. Initially during the hike, I was busy trying to dodge the poopie and they are all walking along like it's nothing. I finally asked them about it and they said they are use to it...goat, horse, sheep poopie...it didn't bother them one bit. They had no problem stepping into the poopie and about 30 minutes in, I had to accept that I was going to be stepping in poopie too. There was just too many to avoid...there was little poo, big poo, piles of poo...you just couldn't avoid them. I tried only to step in the little poo though since those were harder to avoid. So again, my acceptance came in handy as I stepped into some poo but I also accepted I will not be taking my sneakers home with me...hehe... :)

Laura thought she knew the way up the mountain, but we somehow got off track and we ended up hiking through some bushes and parts of it was pretty steep. After about 1 hr 45 min, we finally made it up to the top. It was such a beautiful view...even as we were walking up, the view was incredible. There are no words can describe how beautiful it is and I took some pictures, but that won't do it any justice. To be able to stand on the highest peak and look all around the island was so amazing. It felt so calm and serene...I would have to say this is on the top of my list of favorite places now! As we were heading back around the other side of the mountain, we came across a Healing Spring. Jemma took a drink and then Claire and Laura did as well. I wasn't sure about it since it didn't meet the EU drinking water quality standard, but figured might as well do it since when else am I going to come across a healing spring. Hopefully none of us will get sick...Laura said she drank it before and she's still around. :) We also came across some trees that had yellow flowers and the flowers smelled like coconut...that was the weirdest thing. I'll need to see what the name of it is.

By the time we got back, we had missed our 5pm meditation...definitely not off to a good start on the second day. I heard they actually meditated for a whole hour. We had a 7pm meditation and thank goodness it wasn't a whole hour like it was suppose to be. As I am typing this. Laura is on the phone saying we still have 5 more days and talking about all the sessions she's missed...now I don't feel so bad for missing just one session so far!

I'm definitely challenging myself with the food today. For lunch, we had butternut tomato sauce pasta, tomato and oregano salad, a regular salad, and carrot salad. And dessert was rhubard crumble with ginger cream. For those who know me, you know I don't really eat salads or anything with tomato sauce...so I'm sure you are laughing at this menu. I'm happy to report though that I ate it...and went for a second serving of the tomato sauce pasta...probably because my stomach was growling during meditation and I was hungry. And the rhubard crumble was interesting...I've never had rhubard before and it's tart! I made a face to show Claire that it was too sour for me and she just laughed since we were still doing silent time and couldn't talk. I only ate the crumble part...I left the rhubard in my bowl. Dinner was a little more challenging...we had carrot lentil cardamom soup. I can deal with the carrot and lentil...but I absolutely hate the flavor of cardamom. I couldn't even eat the soup...so I had some leftover carrot salad and two slices of bread with peanut butter and jelly. I suspect I will probably get hungry tonight. I guess part of this experience to be more open and accepting of things...so here I am accepting that I can't have rice and meat for another 5 days and being open to eating foods that I don't normally eat!

I feel like an old woman after meditating most of the day...I think it's time to take some Aleve and call it a night!

P.S. After I posted this, Laura said she had impure thoughts during today's meditation session...they both think it will be my turn to have impure thoughts tomorrow...lol...we are so bad!

The journey begins...with planes, trains, automobiles and more!

muoy — Mon, 7 May 2012 22:02:00 GMT

Yesterday was such a long day...probably because I barely slept for 34 hours. This was definitely the most complicated commute I've ever done while traveling. Starting from car to the airport --> 3 plane rides --> bus #1 --> train --> ferry #1 --> bus #2 --> ferry #2...I finally made it to the Holy Island...yay! Considering all that, I actually felt pretty relaxed and stress-free the whole time...I managed to hit all my connections and didn't miss the last ferry out. That was my biggest worry and if I missed it, I would've had to spend the night on the Island of Arran. I was telling someone about my commute to get here and he said part of the experience is the journey…so I feel pretty good because my journey has gone well so far!

I must have packed more than what people normally pack for the retreats...as I was getting ready to get onto ferry #2, the guy who was loading the bags looked at my bags in shock and asked if I was planning on staying for a month and as I was getting off the ferry, someone else asked the same thing! :) It was a small ferry that could only carry 10 people at a time to the island...so I guess my bags took up more room than the others...oops...haha. I had to explain to everyone on the ferry that I came from the US and that I was planning on staying longer in Glasgow plus I wanted extra space in my bag to take stuff home. Good excuse, right? It’s NOT because I am high maintenance, which I know some of you may be thinking! :)

Everyone seems really nice. I bonded right away with two of other retreat guests, Claire and Laura. Claire is 41 and Laura is 27. It's interesting how Claire, Laura and I bonded...because during dinner last night, we discovered that we all quit our jobs in April and ended up at the retreat. What a big coincidence, right? I told them fate brought us together and there must be a reason for this. Or this is where the crazy people go when they quit their jobs...hehe. Well, maybe not crazy...how about courageous since that took a lot of courage!!! :)

I brought my running shoes and workout clothes thinking I could run and exercise while I was here, but that won't be happening. The island is very small and since there are wild animals that also live here, there is poopie everywhere. I'd have to be dodging those as I run and next thing you know, I might sprain an ankle or something trying to dodge one at the last minute. Worst, I might fall over trying to miss one of the poopie and land on the other poopies! There is a way to hike up to highest point on the island, so I'll need to try before I leave. It's a bit rainy and dreary today...I'll probably just lounge around in between the meditation sessions. Yesterday was sunny for a bit and I actually had a chance to walk along the coast and take some pictures with my DSLR. I saw the Eriskay ponies and Soay sheeps. Oh my gosh...the sheeps were the cutest little things. There were 4 little babies with the mama and papa...one cute little family!!! Oh...and I also saw a guy going to the loo....lol...awkward! No pictures of him going to the loo, but I do have pictures of the sheeps.

Our first meditation session was last night, but Lama Rinchen (our instructor) was not here...so there wasn't any instruction on what to do and her temporary replacement just led us through a Tibetan chant of prayers. We had some sheets to follow along but some of prayers were missing from the sheets, so Claire and I were both a little lost. I eventually just closed my eyes and listened to the chants and it was actually really soothing to listen to. We've had a lot of silent meditation since I've been here...and just had our first session with Lama Rinchen since she arrived this morning. She went through the instructions for postures and how to meditate...so it was nice to get some guidance. This style of meditation is definitely different though...we have to keep our eyes open and look down to the ground...it’s suppose to help us focus on our posture. I'm finding it a bit difficult because my eyes gets in a daze from looking so long and I think it makes me more drowsy...either that or I'm still jetlag! :) Poor Laura said she fell forward during our 2:30pm sitting session when she fell asleep. ..and we had a good laugh over it. But then in our 5pm sitting session, when her head fell down…I thought she fell asleep again and it was so hard to suppress my laughter. They would’ve thought the American girl was crazy if I had burst out laughing. And Claire said she kept nodding off as well and that her mind would race with thoughts and some of them were impure thoughts…LOL. I haven’t been able to keep my thoughts away for long either…but all mine are pure! :) And I get very fidgety because I can’t sit in one position too long…our 5pm session was about 45 minutes long!

We did introductions today and I'm the only one crazy enough to travel this far for a meditation retreat, but then again, when have I ever been like anyone else? I march to the beat of my own drum..haha! Most people are from Scotland and England. I love all their accents, though it takes a lot of concentration to understand some of them. One of the ladies was really sweet and came to give me a hug for traveling all this way. And most people just wanted to find out how I found out about this place....all thanks to Google! I met a sweet little old lady this morning during breakfast and she told me she thought about leaving today because she felt out of place...I told her if anyone is out of place, it's me...I'm the only one from the US and I'm the only Asian (and the only non-caucasian)...but it's ok because I can blend in with anyone! :)

For the rest of the time that we are here, we have silence from the time we wake up until 1:30pm. I bet some of you are thinking there's no way I can stay quiet for that long since I'm a chatterbox, but anything is possible…plus it’ll be easy because there’s no one to talk to! :) It's meant to help our mind settle down. The first meditation starts at 7:30am...thank goodness I'm in a different time zone because I had a hard time waking up early for work when I was in Boston...so I would've struggled waking up for this meditation. Since I'm getting over jetlag, I can accommodate my body to wake up early…hopefully!

I know some of you are dying to know how I am doing without the rice and meat...so far so good! But it's only the second day...lol. They normally serve soup for dinner, so last night we had leek and potato soup. Breakfast is the usual with porridge, cereal, fruit, etc. Lunch is more of the normal meal. I was hoping to lose weight on the vegetarian diet...but with cream, potatoes, bread, etc...I might end up putting on more weight since those probably aren't all that healthy. I think the only exercise I might get is when we have clean-up duty. We had to sign up to help with cleanup after meals, so Laura, Claire and I signed up for two dinner shifts together…we avoided the lunch shifts because Laura said we would need to sweep! We are so lazy…lol.

Okie dokie...that's all the updates for now from Scotland. There's only one internet plug here in the library...so it's a bit challenging to connect to the outside world...but maybe that's the point since I'm doing my "escape" from the real world...I did promise some of you guys I would update you...so I had to keep my promise! :)

Flying home today!

muoy — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:12:00 GMT

I'm flying back to the states in a few hours...so really looking forward to going home!!! I'm suppose to return to Australia on June 18...but that's a big "suppose"...if I am not able to get a business class ticket, I will most likely not come back to oz. I've done 3 roundtrip flights in premium economy and it's not very comfortable. Especially considering it takes me almost 30 hours of travel door to door...and my back has been bothering me recently...probably from flying so much! I don't think I can make another trip out here unless I can be comfortable in business class. I've got one body and I have to take care of it...can't put a price on it!!!

I was able to squeeze in a massage today to help relieve the tension in my back. Feels pretty good at the moment!! I wasn't able to see Louie since he was booked today, but I got this other girl who also did a fantastic job! Just have to finish packing everything up (I am taking everything with me in case I don't return) and then I am off to the airport! See some of you guys back in the states!!!

Photos: Hanging at Melbourne Bars

muoy — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:35:00 GMT

Bar Hopping with Kingsley and his friends

Bar hopping and good fried rice.....

muoy — Sun, 16 May 2010 19:54:00 GMT

I think I have personal record for the number of bars I went to in one week and I don't even drink! :) 6 bars...5 of them in one day!!! Happy hour on Tuesday with IBM and the CEO of my company (she was in Melbourne for a couple of days), happy hour on Friday with co-workers, and I went out on Friday night with Kingsley and some of his friends on Friday night. Kingsley and his friends decided to do some bar hopping and had planned to hit 10 bars that night. Each bar was strategically planned out based on location...and I joined them at the second bar since it was right behind my apartment. I was only able to make it through 4 bars before I bailed...I'm such an old woman!! I was already pretty tired from the long week and my feet was hurting from all the walking...I had on my high heeled boots, so not comfortable for walking around the city. It was alot of fun though...good to meet his friends. I found out today they didn't even make it to all 10 bars! :)

Saturday was a pretty mellow day. I went to return the movie I rented and got another movie to watch. The movie store is next to the Queen Victoria Market, so I did a little bit of shopping at the market before heading back home. I also went by the Chinese grocery store to pick up some Chinese sausage to make fried rice. I had a craving for fried rice after hearing my coworker talked about it and that's all I've eaten for the last 3 meals after I cooked it. It was sooooo good...I never brag about my food cause it never tastes good, but I have to admit...I did a pretty good job this time!! :P I guess you can't really go wrong with the Chinese sausages..they make anything tastes good!!

I also went to get a massage on Saturday. I went back to Louie, who gave me the massage last week. He is fantastic...really focused on getting my back loosened up and he recommended I try "cupping" to help keep the tension out longer. Cupping is used to help with circulation and removing toxins. The process involves burning a piece of paper in a cup and then placing the cup over an area of the body. It creates a vacuum and draws the skin underneath the cup. Sounds like it would hurt, but when he tried it on my shoulders...it didn't hurt at all. I could feel the pressure but no pain...my shoulders felt so relaxed afterwards!!! I think I will have to try it on my whole back next time...the only downside is that I have two round bruise-looking marks on my back now from where the cups were placed...so I can't be showing anyone my back until my skin returns to normal! :)

I went to Williamstown today (Sunday) with Kingsley...it's a suburb that is about 30 minutes from where I'm at. Williamstown is a historic port...lots of historic buildings. Seemed a bit quiet when we first got there...we walked along the waterfront and there were very few people out...maybe because it was a little chilly today as well. It felt like we were in a ghost town until we walked into town and there were more restaurants/shops. It didn't take long to walk through the whole town though...it was really small!!! Not one of my favorite places, but something to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Nice relaxing weekend....

muoy — Mon, 10 May 2010 22:11:00 GMT

I had a great and relaxing weekend!!! I forced myself to only respond to work emails this weekend instead of actually doing work...and I'm glad I did because I feel so much better and less stressed (at least for now).

I didn't really have any plans going into the weekend...but I made some spontaneous plans with Jess and Kingsley and filled my weekend with some fun activities. I went to a dance class with Jess on Saturday for a couple of hours and then went to the botanical gardens with Kingsley in the afternoon. I went running around the gardens last weekend, but this was the first time actually visiting inside. It was so peaceful in some areas of the gardens...esp the areas where it felt like you were in a rainforest. I can totally see myself hanging out there...just laying on a blanket and enjoying the peacefulness while listening to the sounds of nature. Maybe I'll try to do that before I leave assuming the weather doesn't get too cold.

After the botanical gardens, Kingsley and I grabbed dinner and then went around looking for a video rental place. I needed something to watch since the TV shows here are terrible. I only have a few channels that aren't sports or news...and there's really nothing good on those few channels. The shows are so bad that I actually watched the Disney channel for awhile...how sad is that?!??!? Apparently, video rentals here aren't as readily available as the US...we had a hard time finding a place and when we finally found one, the selection wasn't the greatest. We ended up renting The Lovely Bones and came back to my place to watch it. I also rented two older movies (Keeping the Faith and Proof) to watch later in the week.

On Sunday, I went to the Camberwell Sunday Market. Not sure if you remember from one of my previous posts, but I went there for swing dancing one Sunday. This place is like a flea market...it's got some second-hand stuff, vintage items, and some new items as well. I got there around 10am and walked around for a bit on my own while I waited for Kingsley to join me at 11am. There seemed to be some good deals out there, but I didn't want to have to rummage through the piles of stuff...so I only got a few things that initially caught my eye. I was able to negotiate and bargain...so I'm pretty happy with the things I got. :) There were tons of people there...seems like the place to be on a Sunday morning!!

Kingsley and I grabbed lunch and walked around Camberwell Junction after the market closed. I was suppose to go rock climbing with Jess in the afternoon, but she called me and suggested we go to a Hot Springs place instead because the weather was so nice. So Kingsley and I had to go on a hunt for a swimming suit for me...first stop, Target - no swimsuits. Second stop...La Figure - YIKES...these swimsuits were like $150!!! Third Stop - Active Wear - These were still crazy expensive (some still over $100), but I managed to find some on clearance for $30. They weren't the greatest, but I wasn't going to pay over $100 for any swimsuit!!!

Jess picked me up from Camberwell and we drove an hour outside of Melbourne to Peninsula Hot Springs (in Mornington Peninsula). The hot springs were amazing!!! It was my first time bathing in a hot spring and it was so relaxing!! My back muscles felt so good after sitting the in the spring for awhile. We tried a few different areas and even went to one that was 40-42 degrees C (which I think is like 104 - 107 degrees F)....crazy HOT!!! I could only stay in it for a few minutes before I had to get out. We hung out at the springs for a couple of hours and then drove back to Melbourne. We were both starving, so we got some BBQ roast pork with LOTS of rice and came back to my place to eat and watch a movie (Keeping the Faith). I'm so glad Jess is a big rice eater like me...makes eating out so much easier and we both just PIGGED out! :) I ate so much that I was still full this morning when I woke up!!!

Photos: John Mayer and Botanical Gardens

muoy — Sun, 9 May 2010 21:31:00 GMT

Stress, Massages, Rock Climbing, and John Mayer

muoy — Fri, 7 May 2010 20:34:00 GMT

I've been back in oz for almost 2 weeks now and things have been extremely busy (and extremely stressful) with work. Alot of things are happening that are out of my control and unfortunately they affect me and put alot strain and stress on me. Anyways, sorry for not writing in my blog for so long...haven't written partly because I've been so busy and also I wasn't sure if anyone was still reading the blog since I was back in the US for so long. :) Apparently, I still have two loyal readers left...thanks for checking on me to make sure everything is ok. So for Robert and Maureen...this blog is for you and even if you are the only two reading...that means something! :) (If my other friends still are reading this too, thanks as well!!)

I received some news this week that I wasn't too thrilled about. Our project is delayed, which means I have to return to oz one last time in June for about 4 weeks. This was suppose to be my last trip back and I was to leave on May 20 back to the US...which now I'm not even sure I will be able to do. I'm doing my best to make sure I at least get home on May 20....so cross your fingers for me! I miss home!!! I like being in oz, but I've put my life on hold since end of Jan...I'm ready to get back to my life. I'm not looking forward to the trip back to oz in June.

Despite being so busy with work, I was able to have a bit of fun this past weekend. I went rock climbing with my friend Kingsley at an indoor rock climbing place. This place is so cool...the wall is 17.5 meters (about 57.5 feet) high and it was hard work getting up the wall!! I've only been rock climbing once which was about 5 years ago in Atlanta and the wall was much shorter. Kingsley and I didn't know better and we went up the section of the wall that was pretty hard. Somehow, I miraculously made it all the way up the wall even though I had to stop at times to figure out where I was going. It wore me out...I didn't think I'd be able to do anymore!!! My arms were so tired (and I know you are suppose to use your legs, but I had a hard time doing that) but I was happy I didn't give up. When I came down from the wall and looked at it, I was shocked that there were barely any rocks there...no wonder it was so hard!!! For the second one, I went up the easy ones that the kids use...haha. We did about 5 climbs total...what a great workout and it was tons of fun!!!

Kingsley and I also went to a John Mayer concert on Monday. Funny how I have to come all the way to Australia to go to my first real concert and an American artist at that! I really enjoyed it...I also liked the opening act. Orianthi opened up for him and she's the girl who sings the "According to you" song...I love that song! That was a great bonus!!

My back has been hurting and it's been really tight since I got back to oz...flying in premium economy back and forth does not help! I've gotten two massages to help me alleviate the pain and I love the massages here!!! I tell them I have knots in my back and they actually do focus on getting rid of my knots!!! My co-worker recommended someone that I went to today and that was one of the best massages I've ever had...wish I could find someone in the Atlanta that is that good!!

I've found my new favorite food...Eskimo Snowballs!!! It's "soft creamy vanilla flavored marshmallow snowballs choc coated and covered with flakes of coconut". I guess little kids like them, but they are so good I don't know why more adults don't eat them!!! :) It's so yummy that I've eaten 2.5 bags already in one week...and I have 2.5 more bags left. My coworker Trina bought me two bags on Wed and my other coworker Lina got me two more bags today. Lina bought some so I could bring them home to eat over the weekend....that was so thoughtful of her!! The Aussies really are nice people!! I probably should slow down on eating so much of the snowballs or I'll put on weight again...hahah.

Well, that's it for now. It's Friday night and I'm relaxing since it's been an exhausting week!!! I went shopping earlier after I got the massage and I'm too lazy to go do anything now....need some zzzzzz's.

First Footy Match and Phillip Island

muoy — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 20:58:00 GMT

I went to my first footy match (Australian Football) on Friday night with my co-worker (Kim) and her family. My new friend Jess (from dance class) also came along and we had such a blast! I'm not big into sports...at least US sports...so I wasn't really sure if I would like this. I figured I would go anyways since there are men playing in short shorts and I could enjoy looking at the good-looking athletic men if I got bored...hehehe...

The two teams that were playing were the Geelong Cats and Essendon Bombers...the first game of the season! We were rooting for the Geelong Cats since that is Kim's team and it was such an exciting game!!! Kim was explaining the rules to me as the game was played and since I could follow along and understand the game, I really got into it...cheering and getting excited as if it was really my own team! :) The Essendons were winning at one point by quite a few goals, but in the 4th quarter, the Geelong Cats kicked their butt!!! They ended up winning by 35 points...it was so much fun!

I realized after the game that I actually understood Aussie football more than American football and I've lived in the US for 29 years! How sad is that?!??! :) American football is too hard for me to understand...the game just keeps stopping and starting because of fouls, etc...so I can never keep up with what is going on. With footy, the game just keeps going with very few stops. I would definitely go back to watch another game and I might also try to go watch a rugby game before I leave here.

On Saturday, Kingsley and I rented a car and drove down to Phillip Island. The island is about 1.5 hours from Melbourne and it's known for the Penguin Parade. This is suppose to be the home of the largest "Little Penguin" colony in the world. Every night after sunset, the little penguins swim ashore and march across the beach to the sand dune burrows. People can sit on the bleachers and watch them as they come out from the sea and waddle their way across the beach. It sounds so strange, but it happens every night.

Phillip Island is also known for other natural wildlife attraction and a chocolate museum/factory. Our first stop was the chocolate factory...I'm ashamed to say that I bought some more chocolate even though I have tons already at home. Everything looked so good so I couldn't resist! I got the white chocolate with macadamia and it was soooooooooo delicious...probably the best I've had yet! Yes, I'm sure I will come home a few lbs heavier!

Next on our list was the Churchhill Island Heritage Farm. We bought a 3 park pass to this farm, the Koala Conservation Centre, and the Penguin Parade. We didn't find this farm very exciting...I guess it's more of a historical place so you can see how the settlers lived and their farming practices. We didn't stay long and then went to the Koala Conservation Centre. I was hoping to see more koalas up close and personal like I did when I was in Sydney, but it was a bit disappointing. The koalas were up so high on the trees and most of them were sleeping...so it was hard to see them and you couldn't really take good pics of them. The only good thing about this place was they had a big stuffed koala that I took a picture with. :)

We went and grab some dinner at a nearby Fish and Chips place..yet another disappointment. The food wasn't good...too greasy and the fries seemed really dry...and the oil they used seemed too old or something because of the coloring on the food. I was beginning to wonder why people were making such a big hype about Phillip Island since everything had been mediocre (except the chocolate)....I didn't have high hopes for the Penguin Parade.

We got to the Penguin Parade area and made our way to the bleachers to wait for the penguins. Since we got there early to get good seats, we waited about 45 minutes before the first penguins came out. Oh my gosh!! They were soooooo cute! These penguins were so tiny and they swim ashore in groups and then all waddle together across the beach. Some groups would just hang out on the shore for a little while and run back into the waves and then back out again before they crossed the beach. It's so interesting that they do this every night...it's almost like a performance. I wish we could've taken some pictures or videos, but we weren't allowed to. This definitely made the trip worth it. As we were walking back out, you could see the little penguins up close walking around the sand dune burrows and other were just hanging out, as if they'd found their spot for the night. it was just too adorable!! :)

Well, this will be my last blog for a few weeks. I'm leaving to go back to the US for a couple weeks on April 1 and won't be back in Melbourne again until April 19 or so. I can't wait to go home and sleep in my own bed!!

Photos: Phillip Island

muoy — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 20:48:00 GMT

Mountains, Koalas, and Roos....

muoy — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:49:00 GMT

The weather has been great all weekend in Sydney. There’s been consistent sunny weather, not like Melbourne where the weather changes drastically from cold to hot to rainy...all one day.

On Saturday, I hung out with Viv, her husband Andrew and their cute little daughter Natalie. They took me to Wentworth Falls and the Blue Mountains, which is about an hour drive from where they live. Wentworth Falls has a great view of the mountains and there’s a small fall there, though there’s not much there except for the view. It would be a great place to go hiking...too bad we didn’t have time and Viv is 8 months pregnant, so can’t really do too much! :) She was a trooper and walked down part of the path to the falls with us and then stopped to rest while we went to the first lookout point.

We drove to the Blue Mountains next to look at the Three Sisters. The Three Sisters are big rock formations from soft sandstone that eroded over time. You can actually walk out to the first rock and Andrew said that people also do some rock climbing there. After seeing the Three Sisters, I’d definitely be scared to do any rock climbing for fear that the rocks would fall...it looked kinda fragile with all the erosion. There is a legend about the Three Sisters and I'll steal this snippet from the Blue Mountain website.

The Legend
The Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that three sisters, 'Meehni', 'Wimlah' and Gunnedoo' lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe.
These beautiful young ladies had fallen in love with three brothers from the Nepean tribe, yet tribal law forbade them to marry. The brothers were not happy to accept this law and so decided to use force to capture the three sisters causing a major tribal battle.
As the lives of the three sisters were seriously in danger, a witchdoctor from the Katoomba tribe took it upon himself to turn the three sisters into stone to protect them from any harm. While he had intended to reverse the spell when the battle was over, the witchdoctor himself was killed. As only he could reverse the spell to return the ladies to their former beauty, the sisters remain in their magnificent rock formation as a reminder of this battle for generations to come.

We stopped by the village for lunch. The village was quiet (there wasn’t a lot of tourists) and was very laid back. It’s definitely the place to go if you want to relax and get away from the city. There were lots of little shops around and we stopped by the lolly store and got some goodies to eat. I got some more chocolate (as if the ones I got the weekend before wasn’t enough). I’ve found that I really like the chocolate covered macadamias and this lolly store had some that were a mix of dark, brown and white chocolate. I love white chocolate, so I had to get some to try and it was so good I couldn't stop eating it. I can feel the pounds start to pile on.....

After lunch, we went to the Katoomba Scenic World, which is also located in the Blue Mountains. The two famous attractions here are the Katoomba Scenic Railway and the Katoomba Scenic Skyway. We rode the railway down part of the mountain and the railway went down a pretty steep incline. It was a pretty cool ride because it was so steep!! The railway was originally built for coal-mining, but they eventually converted it for tourists. When we got down the mountain, we walked around and read up on the coal mining and then took the skyway back up. The skyway is basically a big cable car that can accommodate alot of people and it's just the one cablecar that goes up and down.

Since I flew out on Sunday, we went to the Featherworld Wildlife Park which was only 30 minutes away. I think this was the best part of my trip!!! I finally got to see the koalas up close and personal. They are sooooooooooo adorable and all they do is sleep. Some of the folks in Melbourne told me it's because the koalas get high on the gum leaves...but I don't know if that's really true or not! :) The park had a place where you can pet the koalas and it was so much fun to touch them...their fur is so soft!! I really wanted to pick one up to cuddle with since they were so cute!!! :) I need to find a way to pack a few into my suitcase...hehehe..

I also got to pet some kangaroos...they were just wandering all around certain areas of the park waiting for people to feed them and pet them. I had no idea they were so friendly!! And it was so cool that I saw a white roo!!! Didn't know albino roos existed! And another favorite part of the trip...one of the wombats rolled over on his belly when I went to pet him. Just like a doggie!!! It was so adorable!!

Photos: Sydney (and Koalas!!!)

muoy — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:55:00 GMT

Love Sydney!!

muoy — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:16:00 GMT

I'm staying with family friends in the suburb of Sydney (Liverpool) and Kevin (the eldest son) took me to the city today. We took the train this morning and it took about 45 min to get to the city. Wow...I think I like Sydney more than Melbourne! There is so much more to see and I think the city is much more beautiful than Melbourne!! When we arrived at the Circular Quay Station, I was able to see the two places that people told me to go visit...the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. The complete view of these two places with the water and the skyline was amazing!! I was so excited and wanted to capture this view with my camera...and wouldn't you know it...my camera battery was dead!!! I had connected it to my laptop the other day and forgot to turn it off...completely drained the battery and I didn't even realize it till this morning. I had to go pick up a disposable camera...and then remembered I could take some pics with my phone. So the pictures won't be great...but I'll upload the pics from my phone when I get back to Melbourne.

We walked around the Sydney Opera House and the architecture of this building is so unique...I absolutely love it! The design is very modern and the roof is shaped like shells that are grouped together...hard to explain unless you see a picture of it. The design for this building came from a Danish architect named Utzon. He won the design competition for this opera house and beat over 200 architects from 32 countries. He worked and help supervised the project and eventually resigned over disagreements with the client. What a shame since this turned out to be so magnificent!

We also walked around the Harbour for a bit and then took the ferry to Manly Beach. The 30 minute ferry ride was so relaxing...I stood on the side of the ferry and enjoyed the nice breeze while looking at the view of the city. Manly Beach normally has alot of tourists and locals, but I didn't see too many people there...probably because it was a Friday. The weather was perfect for being on the beach...shame I didn't have my swimsuit with me...the waves looked like it was alot of fun. There was a section where people could rent surf boards and I saw a group of small children trying to learn how to surf. Pretty funny sight to watch all the kids get knocked back every time the waves came.

After walking around Manly Beach, we took the ferry back to the Harbour and went to visit The Rocks. This is a historic area of Sydney and alot of the original buildings were made of sandstone. It was a very poor area and was once inhabited by the British convicts and then later on was dominated by gangs. The area was pretty rough back then!!! There were alot of souvenirs and craft shops...while we were there, I saw them setting up some stalls...there's apparently a market there on the weekends.

We took another ferry to Darling Harbour and just walked around the shops. Some of the attractions there included the IMAX theater and the Sydney aquarium. We didn't stay in this area too long since we needed to get back for dinner with the family. We took the train back and the rest of Kevin's family was at his parent's house when we got there. It was great catching up with everyone since I haven't seen them since 1981 (except Kevin and his father when they visited Atlanta back in 1998). My family and Kevin's family were really close friends...lived together in Cambodia until both families fled to Thailand to the refugee camps. My family only stayed in the refugee camp for about 1.5 years since we got sponsored to the US...their family was there for 4 years before they were sponsored to Australia. From what they told me, my father had asked Kevin's father to go to the US as well, but he chose to apply to Paris and Australia instead. Wonder what it would've been like had our two families grown up together...apparently, Viv (the youngest daughter) and I were best friends when our families were still together in Asia. Viv is a year older than me...they were telling me a story of how Viv and I were playing one day and she fell while I was chasing her...injured her nose and she still has the scar. Viv joked that I scarred her for life...oops!! :)

They've got a couple of pictures of the families from when we were in the refugee camps...I'll post them when I get back to Melbourne.

Heading to Sydney for the Weekend!!!

muoy — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:50:00 GMT

At airport right now waiting on my flight to Sydney. This has been a long and tiring week...I'm glad I am taking Friday off for this short trip. I have a conference call in the morning and after that, I don't plan on doing anymore working until I get back on Sunday night! I need this break!

The airport security in Melbourne is so relaxed compared to the US. I went in to check my bags in for my flight and the agent didn't even ask for my ID. I just handed her my boarding card that I got from the kiosk and she processed my bag and off I went. I remember even in the US before 9/11, they would ask for ID when checking you in at the airports...just to confirm you are who you are. As for the security line, seemed like they only asked if I had aerosols...they didn't really seem to care about the liquids. And it was nice not to have to take my shoes off, though I still has to take my laptop out.

They are more strict when it comes to ensuring your bags are within the weight limit though. The carry-on can't be more than 10kg...though they haven't always consistently weighed my bags. The few times they weighed my bag when I traveled btw ATL - MEL, I had to shuffle some things around to get under the weight limit when I was in Oz in order to carry onto the plane.

Since my flight is delayed, I went to the food court area and there's an Asian place that looked and smelled really good. When I got up to the cashier, she told me they were out of rice. How can you be an Asian restaurant and run out of rice? Isn't that a staple item??!?! For those who know me really well, you know I gotta have my rice! :) I ended up ordering some chicken nuggets from this place called Oporto (fast food chicken place) and it was pretty nasty. Greasy, overfried, and the chili sauce I got was terrible. Now I'm really missing my rice since I don't feel satisfied...hopefully I'll be able to get alot this weekend in Sydney!!

On my own again....

muoy — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:30:00 GMT

This last week has been tons of fun with having my friends in town. I miss them already!! Jennifer and Onyeka left on Friday morning back to the US and Meredith left on Sunday morning. It was nice having friends to do stuff with around Melbourne. I went out with them every night after work and mostly ate alot! :)

From the tour that we had last Sunday, we met two guys from New Zealand (Simon and Kingsley). Kingsley relocated to Melbourne for work and Simon just came to visit...they are cousins. Simon's birthday was on Tuesday and it was also his last night in town, so we took him out for a celebratory dinner and then went to a bar afterwards to get him his birthday shot. We went to a place called the Carlton House inside the CBD and it was a really nice to place to hang out...but unfortunately, the drinks were not very good. We left after a short while and walked around the CBD looking for other bars, but seemed like everything was closed early! I guess that's expected on a Tuesday night?

On Wednesday, the girls and I went to check out Eureka Tower. It's the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. The top of the tower is cover in gold and there is a red stripe down the side of the building. My Aussie friend Michael told me a story about the Eureka tower that apparently very few people know (he says like maybe 5% of Melbournians know this). The Eureka Tower is named after the Eureka Stockade during the Victoria Gold Rush in the 1800s. I guess there were alot of lives lost during that time...so the gold crown represents the gold rush and the red stripe represents the bloodshed during that time. I thought this was an interesting fact and was surprised that the brochure from the Eureka Tower didn't speak about this.

Thursday was Onyeka and Jennifer's last night...so we all went out for a nice dinner with Kingsley. Kingsley took us to Lygon Street, which is where the Italian district is. We walked on a street where there were tons of Italian restaurants and we got bombarded with offers to get us to eat at the restaurants after turning the corner and hitting the first restaurant. Wow...these people really know how to PRESSURE you. The first restaurant was offering us free wine/beer, appetizers, and for me since I don't drink...free desserts. The guy kept telling us how his price is lower than everyone else's and kept pressuring us to go in. We were tempted, but kept walking and each restaurant we went to after on the same side of the street had same thing...they would come up to us and offer us discounts, free drinks, free entrees, etc. It was insane being bombarded by the desperate restaurant people. After awhile, we didn't even stop to talk to them.

We then crossed over to the other side of the street and it was a completely different atmosphere. No one pressuring us...we actually felt so unloved! :) The restaurants on this side of the street was more crowded, so I guess they didn't need to pressure people to go in. We learned later from our waiter that the restaurants that were pressuring us are higher priced and nicer...so they have to try to lure people in with free offers. Pretty crazy stuff! They should just lower their prices! The food we had at the restaurant we went to wasn't the greatest...wonder if we should've gone with the restaurants with free offers?!?

On Friday, Meredith and I just grabbed a quick dinner and I got some stuff to make banana nut cake to make over the weekend. (I had some bananas that were getting too ripe, so my coworker sent me a recipe to make some banana cake. I made some tonight and added in some nuts...my first time baking a banana nut cake...it actually turned out really well!!!) Anyways, back to my story. After we got back, we went to meet up with my Aussie friend Michael with some of his friends at a bar on the riverfront. We stayed there for a little bit and then they went to another bar called Madame Brussels. Apparently, Madame Brussels is one of the hot spots to go to since it was on the list of places that some girl gave to my friends as places to go check out. It was nice, but crowded...had a rooftop bar. Meredith and I didn't stay long since we were both tired, so we just walked out to the rooftop and then decided to leave. I know...we are old and lame... :)

Our Saturday was pretty mellow. We went to Victoria market to pick up some last minute souvenirs and ended up spending a few hours there. I ate my first Melbourne bratwurst from the Victoria market. It was pretty tasty!! The place we went to was packed, so I guessed everyone else thought so too! We ended up meeting Kingsley and Michael for dinner at Bimbos (the pizza place I mentioned before in my previous post) for Meredith's last night out. That was alot of dinners this week to celebrate everyone's last night and Simon's birthday! :)

Meredith left pretty early on Sunday morning and I slept in till about 9am. Since I had the day to myself, I went to the Camberwell Sunday Market (flea market) and met up with my friend Han for some swing dancing. The Swing Patrol group has an event there sometimes on Sundays. It was my first time back to swing dancing since I got back to Melbourne...it was tons of fun, though there were only a few songs for the social dance. The Swing Patrol does these events where they offer free lessons, do a performance and have a few songs for social dancing to try to recruit new members. It's really cool that they do that...I wish the Atlanta scene did something similar! The weather was absolutely perfect for the dancing! Han and I went and grabbed lunch afterwards and by the time I got home, it was already 3pm. I spent the rest of the day working...what a shame since it was so nice outside!

Today was just the usual day of work. Lots of meetings (same for the rest of the week). After work, I went to my pole class...the new term started today and we learned and practice some of the moves we learned previously. This class always kicks my butt...so at least I know I am getting a good workout. I'm sure I'll have some bruises tomorrow from trying some of the moves. I start the beginning spin pole class tomorrow...very excited since I hear it's so much fun you never want to go back to static pole again!!

Well, that's the update for this week! Sorry if my posts aren't very frequent...but I gotta try and have fun when I am not working!! :)