Terrible Summer
Posted by: amellie
1 year, 10 months ago
I have excluded myself from blogging activities for awhile… due to Australian Open and many other exciting activities…
Ok, first of all, I hate summer. Living in a country where summer could reach 50 degrees celcius makes me hate this season. Luckily, for almost 3 years, I have not experienced the “real” summer. I usually spend my summer holiday (Dec - Feb) in Jeddah. During these months, winter season takes place in Saudi Arabia. Once I go back to Brisbane, the country is already preparing for autumn. But in this year, I chose to stay in Australia during summer season. It is damn hot. We sweat all the time. Turning the fan on sometimes won’t help. We do have an aircon in the living room, but we try our best not to turn it on very often to save electricity. Malls become a place to escape from severe heat. These places become so crowded. Well, the hottest it could get is only below 35 degrees, but I feel like I am being fried. Everyone feels that the sun in Australia is much more brighter than in other part of the world. I feel that way, too. I’m no scientist, but is that related to ozone depletion? (FYI, skin cancer is soo common here!) Well, at least, my life in the beginning of 2007 seems to run soooo smoothly. I’m grateful for that.
My mobile phone is dying :(. It is actually still working, but sometimes its screen shows nothing. People can still call me, though. It perfectly still rings. But the problem arises when I receive text messages! I can’t see anything on the screen. I have to remove the phone’s battery, put it back to its place, turn it on, and pray that I could send the SMS successfully before the screen turns blank again. It’s so frustrating. Well, the phone itself is quite old already. It’s been with me since the last year of my high school — about 4 years, maybe. And I think my dad bought the second hand mobile from black market — I didn’t ask him about it, but I’m pretty sure that it’s a second hand and it’s from a black market :D. Mobile phones with camera were at that time banned in Saudi Arabia. Anyway, I promise myself not to buy any mobile phone until the next BETTER version of iphone releases. I know that I would have to wait for years, but I don’t care. Coz my almost-dying-phone has all features that I need — calling, texting, taking pics (except mp3 player :D). I don’t have the reason to buy a new one until my phone is completely broken. But it seems like I have to buy a new phone sooner than I expected. Hopefully my phone would not be completely DEAD by the time I graduate hahaha. Coz I prefer to buy electronic stuffs in either Saudi or Indo; much more cheaper than in here. If only I could talk to my mobile phone, I’d ask to wait for another year :P. Pleaaaaaaaaase!!!
On 26 January, Australia celebrates its national day, marking the arrival of the first British settlers in 1788. It is called Australia Day. I went to Soutbank to see some performances with Bertie and Maria. There were so many people. Australian flags were everywhere. Some wore Australian flag as their clothes and some put Aussie flag’s fake tattoo. People screamed “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, Oi, Oi!” A man-made beach, known as Streets Beach, was so packed. Some people had a barbie; some just wandered around the attraction. It was a very hot day that I even went to the cinema (the lobby) just to cool myself down. After enjoying some performances, we went to Malay restaurant Satay Hut to have a dinner.
Mayu’s mom arrived in Brisbane a few days ago. Jenny and I asked her to stay in our apartment (in my & Mayu’s room — to be precise) since she’ll be living here only for 2 weeks. Mayu was so worried that her mom, whom we call ‘Mama’, would troubled me. But honestly, I don’t mind if she stays in my room at all. I don’t sweat the small stuff. I’m quite happy that she’s here. Jenny and I enjoy talking with her. Yesterday we had a very nice conversation about culture, politics, and religion. Mama asked me few things about Islam. She asked me if it ever crossed my mind to try consuming alcohol, since it’s forbidden by Islam. Perhaps, I see alcohol to be in the same degree as cigarette. Although cigarette is not forbidden by Islam, I never want to try it which most men think it is a COOL substance. I’m not even curious about it. FYI, my dad used to be a heavy smoker; we always told him to get out of the house if he wanted to smoke — then he gave up, he quit smoking :D. The exact same thing also applies to alcohol drink. People who drink alcohols within limits do not automatically make them as “bad” people. I don’t care if my friends consume these drinks, as long as they respect my choice. Mama also asked me whether or not it’s important for me to have a boyfriend whose religion is Islam. My answer is YES, without a doubt. For me, religion is a very private matter. It’s my choice to believe in one particular religion, so if my boyfriend asks me to convert to another religion — no matter how weak or strong my relationship with God is — I will definitely say NO. And I don’t want to ask my boyfriend to convert either, “just” because of love. It already became my own commitment to avoid any relationship (other than friendship) with someone whose religion is different with mine. Moreover, Islam (and other religion like Christianity, etc) prohibits Moslem women to marry non-Moslem men. I don’t feel pressured by that rule because I understand the complexity of it. Marriage life is already quite complex and I don’t want to add any more “problems” to it. Some people did succeed bringing 2 different religions into their household. I’m quite impressed of how they could maintain their relationship and handle the family, because –for me– this matter is already too complicated to even think about it!
The last and final match of Australian Open (Federer vs. Gonzalez) is on tonight!! Federer would most likely to be the winner, but I badly want Gonzalez to win… I don’t want Federer to win all the time… he’s too good… give him a break :P.
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hehehe…. memang rasa panas itu lebih meresahkan daripada dingin… :p
btw emang pernah liat aussy open live? gimana sih rasanya nonton pertandingan sekaliber australian open secara live gitu… berapa sih tiketnya?
kalo screen nya blank kemungkinan besar LCD nya yg kena tuh mel, mahal lagi ganti LCD nya, saya kemarin kena 300 ribu
Di Bandung dingin loo.
Hampir tiap siang hujan looo.
Nggak perlu ke mall untuk numpang ngadem loooo.
Glad to hear that you’re doing fine in there
bebek: aus open live? nggak pernah. Live dari TV pernah hahaha. Australian Open kan di Melbourne… Tiketnya gak tau berapa… Kayanya lebih seru ngeliat di tv. Wew, baru aja selese nonton… FEDERER WINS AGAIN. It was one of the best tennis match I’ve ever seen.
bintangjatuh: kyanya gw gak bakal perbaiki LCDnya.. tau sendiri disini apa2 mahal banget. Mendingan langsung beli yg baru. but it seems like i have to wait for another year or two…. kalo itu hp masih sanggup hidup digenggaman tangan gw yang teledor.
ikram: Iya deh, tau deh.. yang tinggal di bandung. Disini gak polusi looooo… ceweknya cakep2 looooooooo… semuanya serba bersih en teratur looooo hahahaha :P.
Ehm…summer is there and winter is here in the USA. It’s extremely cold,it’s around -15 degrees celcius. Anyway you posted a very nice thought. I like your way of thinking, having a clear position but not to be jugdmental to others. BTW…Federer did well, first of all because he is the best. But I appreciate Gonzales. It seems he has to practice more to win.
Have a great day!
emang udah umurnya HP lo itu.. ikhlaskanlah..
he..he..penggemar tennis juga ya? FedEx? welcome to the club then..:-)
Lam kenal yah mel,..
Hmm,..
Napa gak nyoba liburan di Indo ajah? Jogja mungkin? hehehe,.. eh tp lg panas banget jg sih, but at least gak sepanas di sana
Btw,org2 Oz pada anak punk? koq tereak “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, Oi, Oi!”
hehehe,.. kidding
rethar: Gonzalez was GREAT during the semis. But he couldn’t maintain his play/technique against Federer. If he kept playing that way, the chance of winning was quite high. But I absolutely like how he tried his best to fight against the world #1 player. I enjoyed the game so much :). I watched it with my friends… on tv. Full of screaming hehehe.
alay: Iya, *sigh*. Kenapa yah gw begitu cinta ama hp gw ini hahaha… aih, masa gw kemaren chat ama adek gw, hp nyokap baru aja ilang, hp bokap rusak, hp adek gw yg cowo juga rusak… sial banget satu keluarga hp-nya bermasalah semua :P.
alle: Liburan di indo??? Tiket PP tolong dikirimin deh hehehhe. Iya gw belom pernah ke Jogja nih, doain tahun depan. Anak punk? Itu emang sering diteriakin ama org2 aussie… menunjukkan ke”cinta”an mereka thd negara mereka… begitu lah… coba baca ini untuk info lebih lanjut…
oo.. yang ini toh mel..
*berlalu*
Iya deh Mel, Bandung kalah deh. Brrr aduh sori gua menggigil.
*abis mandi, airnya dingiiiin banget*
ayooo.. mumpung pas banget tu yang ngalamin sekeluarga. ikutin langkah gw.. hidup tanpa ponsel!! bwahahahaha!
ngomong2 soal rokok, sejauh penglihatan gw “most men think it is a COOL substance” itu.. begimana yah.. kurang sreg aja.
c ya in the next post!
ikram: Halah, bikin org iri aja :P. Hmm justru bandung itu kota fav gw, krn udaranya lebih sejuk drpd jakarta hehehe…
alay: hidup tanpa ponsel??? hmm bisa sih, kdg gw kemana2 disini tanpa hp… bwat ngirit pulsa hehe. klo mo nelpon tinggal pake telp umum. lagian gak ada yg mo nelpon gw.. *kasian deh*. cuma kalo di indo gw terus terang ga bisa pergi tanpa hp..
men DO think that smoking is a COOL thing…