Feeling bad...

At least I can still cry, which is not too bad.

I will hold on.

Look back, then forward – New Year Resolution 2009

I can’t imagine that it’s been that long since I blogged (as if I do blog all the time). So where should I start? Maybe from the beginning of the year, which I always do when I write my New Year resolution.

Time gathers its pace as I’m getting old. It flew, now it evaporates. It feels like I just made up my mind to study in Australia yesterday.

Now that I’m back to Hong Kong for my summer vacation, I get tongue-tied whenever I’m asked to share some exciting experience I’ve had in Melbourne. Not only am I not articulate or observant or even insightful, I haven’t got any real excitement as others might have imagined. There was no travelling around or glamorous social life or dramatic romance or drastic cultural shock (what came after my Scotland experience is just a minor modification of the first one). I was just having a modest, ordinary student life which was filled with library visits, literature search, assignments, all-nighters, part-time jobs, etc. In case you don’t know, I’m not doing my first degree with a bunch of early-20s party animals who live like there’s no tomorrow but my second taught Masters degree which grants me the qualification of a practicing educational psychologist with a handful of mature students who have different commitments like work and family. The extremely changeable, chilly weather is my biggest misery.

If I have to say something about Melbourne:

1. Most people are friendly and polite. They respect you as a human being. It’s also one of the places where strangers smile to you and you feel safe to smile back.
2. I love the sky, grass, trees, flowers, gardens, birds…. and the kaleidoscopic colors they produce.
3. I love the veggie and fruit. They taste as good as, or sometimes even better than, those in Japan.
4. The public transport network and the tea suck.

Melbourne springtime: the season of cherry blossoms :)

So, that’s my life as an international student in Melbourne—it’s harsh and there’s still another year to go, but I’m trying to savour every moment I’ve spent there. Anyway, I try to convince myself that these two years is the waiting period in which I have to better equip myself and reflect on my past and new experience. My time will come, I believe. The worst—which is not that bad in fact—would be being back to square one and to teach again.

As for this year, my New Year resolution is simple: get the registrations in both Melbourne and Hong Kong...and stop gaining weight.