Aussie expressions

For any foreigner in Australia, you will encounter many expressions and words that are uniquely used here or more commonly used here. These could be colloquial or just proper English words that we just don't use (in Singapore). Forget the usually touristy words like 'throw the shrimp on the barbi, mate'; these are the ones that WILL be used in an office:

'Knock knock' - who ever uses 'knock knock' except for "knock knock jokes"? This is used to get the attention of your colleague when go to another cubicle to look for him/her and they are too engrossed in their work to notice you.

Argy bargy - heated discussion, usually over a subject of controversy.

Flesh-out - to put meat on. Means to add substantial content (meat) to existing documents, reports, etc that are still in the 'skeleton' stage.

Flat-out - adjective describing someone fully loaded with work. Imagine someone lying on the floor 'flat out' arms outstretched, due to exhaustion from writing reports. Yeah, you get the idea.

Doco - Document or documentation. Could also refer to documentaries in the context of television.

Matthew's haircut

Matthew's hair is starting to look like a porcupine, so we decided to bring him to the barber.
His hair is a very good example of defying gravity. It just doesn't lie flat on his head, especially the center part. When it was finally his turn on the barber's chair, he started to wail! As if I was sending him to army at the tender young age. Nothing was able to distract his attention from the barber's clipper. After 5 mins of struggle, we knew it was not going to work, so went back

So, I decided to give it a snip, more than a snip actually. I actually had a bit of phobia from the last cut, because it was quite badly done as it was not even at certain parts (it was my first time afterall). However this time, I learnt from the 'Junior League' in Singapore, where they showed children program in front of the kid, while cutting their hair. I brought my laptop into the toilet and played his favourite DVD while I clip away slowly. It was so much better this time. He was 'entertained' and I was much calmer because he wasn't fussing that much.

The only hairstyle I can do is crew cut. So in the end, he looked like a junior recruit ready for BMT! We also saved $11.50 as a result.

First Day of Summer!

Today is the first day of summer. We drove to the bay for a day trip. After an hour drive south down the Mornington Peninsula, Matthew could not take it anymore, so we stopped by Frankston for a pit stop. We went to the nearby pier to take a look. Frankston was the suburb that I stayed at when I was studying at Monash. The pier has changed alot since the last time we went there.

Matthew was like a bird struggling to get out when we reached the beach. He simply LOVES sand. He just ran straight to the beach when we arrived. Lots of powerboats, sails and jetskis in the bay. The Bay is actually quite large and you can't see the opposite shore so it looks more like the sea. Water is very clear and there were a few people in the water. Tempting to go in, but we weren't prepared for water today.


We left for the Red Hill craft market after we convinced Matthew to move on. It was about to close when we reached there, so we will go back there next month. (It only opens on the 1st Saturday of every month).

We headed south further for about 10mins to Arthur Seat. This is a mountain ridge or hill at 300m with a great view of the Bay and Peninsula. Went for a walk around the park. It was quite nice also because it wasn't as crowded as we expected. Lots of BBQ pits and people grilling away. Seems that there were more flies in some areas more than others, and as expected, they would be attracted to cooking. We came across a group of BBQ'ers vigorously defending against flies - 2 x cooks frantically flipping the chickie wings + 3 x fly defenders encircling the pit, with arms waving in a systemic defensive arc-like motion. At least they'll have the appetite to eat when its ready.

After the walk, we headed back to the carpark ate some ice cream to cool us down. It was quite warm, mainly due to the sun, even though the temperature was only 22C. Quite nice actually.

Self soothing

Whenever Matthew hurts himself, he will come running to me and says, "Mummy sayang". I will have to kiss the spot that was hurt to make him feel better. There was this time when we were riding in the car, and he remembered hurting his leg when we went barbeque the other day, and as usual, he asked me to 'sayang' him. However, I was sitting in front and cannot reach him, so I asked him to 'sayang' himself, and guess what, he lifted up his leg and kissed the spot that was hurt!

From then on, he developed his own self soothing technique and if he sees me busy, he will 'help' himself first before running to me. We haven't got a chance to take any picture of him doing that. Watch out for this space and we will upload it whenever we get the chance.

St Kilda beach

Sunny day (20C) at St Kilda Beach. Antarctic winds were quite a chill, and that made it very cold. You'll see Matthew donning his jacket in the last few photos.

It's the flies season!

Today is the hottest day since we came. Lowest of 20C and max of 37C! I have already anticipated that and have shut all the drapes, windows and doors in the house. Cannot let the hot air come into the house otherwise it is going to feel like an oven. It is so far so good. When the temperature rise, that means the flies are out!

The flies here can be super irritating! They will hover around you like blood sucker and when you are outside, you are practically waving your hand all the time. Matthew cried the first time when he was disturbed by the flies. Haha! Now he knows them as 'stupid flies'.

I think this summer is going to be very hot. It's not even December yet, and we are hitting over 30C temperature. I cannot imagine what it is going to be like when summer comes. Thank God Matthew and me will be going back to Singapore in January, where it is cooler during that time of the year.

School hunting

We went to a visit a private school last Saturday morning. It is an all boys school, starting from Pre-prep (K1) all the way to Yr 12(JC2). The school only take in 1240 students, so there is limited space. We sat through the presentation given by the Headmaster and then went on to tour the Junior school section.

I like the idea of a single sex school, and the fact that it starts from Pre-prep, means that you will be attached to that school for most of your student life (provided you don't get kicked out or dropped out). However, the main concern is the cost of the fees. It starts from $10,000 all the way to $18,000 for Year 12! It is almost equivalent to paying for a university education. We just cannot afford that kind of money for so many years. We do hear people say that it's better to put kids in private school from Yr 7 onwards, so we might do that.

The most ridiculous thing is that parents are actually enrolling their kids even before they were born. As soon as you know the gender of your baby, you better go and enrol him into a private school, else the waiting list is going to be long. The problem with the selection is that it is not based on academic results, but based on the date you lodged your application. So the earlier you apply, the higher is your chance.

I never thought that I will have to worry about 'school hunting' so early. Matthew is not even 2 years old yet! I think we will 'shop' around some more and enrol him into a good school soon.