Stress!

My current situation...

Photo taken last year...

STRESS!!!

I am supposed to start studying for my exams which are just one and a half week away. But then, I end up still trying to finish two of my assignments. One due tomorrow (15%) and one due in one week time (5%). The 15% assignment is really giving me headache. It's a group project and non of us in the group knows how to do that. HOW HOW?!

I haven't even started my revision on my exams although this week is supposed to be my study break. I wonder how this semester is going to end up with. I have 4 papers to sit for. And I know nothing about each papers. I have less than 1 week to study everything. I just hope this semester won't be a disaster for me.

Till then... I'll try to update my blog whenever I have my time. Wish me luck, guys! I need all that.

Dinner Few Days Back

Trying to get away from assignment, I decided to cook a simple meal. My housemates all went out for dinner and I was thinking... "Hmm...It's time for cooking experiment."

Two dishes for one person.

I know it's a bit too much for a person's dinner. But, I just couldn't estimate! :P I cooked Satay Chicken (instant sauce bought from the supermarket) and Ikan Bilis with Onions.

Satay Chicken.

It looks delicious but actually it's not as good as I think. Maybe I didn't use more time to marinate the chicken. That's why it turned out to be not that good. Somemore, it's just instant sauce which has nothing to boast about.

Ikan Bilis with Onions, my mama's invention.

This simple dish is one of my mama's invention. I don't know if anyone out there has made this before, but for sure, my mama did. It's just a very good combination I would say. When ikan bilis, onions, dark soya sauce and sugar are mixed together, the aroma and the taste are just simply marvellous.

The cooking receipe:
1) Pour a spoonful of oil into the pan and heat it.
2) When the oil is hot enough, add in onions and fry for 1 minute.
3) Add in ikan bilis and fry until it's golden brown (duration depends on the amount of ikan bilis or at your own preference).
4) Add in a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, a tablespoon of sugar and a tablespoon of dark soy sauce (all at your own preference).
5) Fry and stir for about 1 and a half minutes.
6) Serve it while hot!

P/s: Do not fry the ikan bilis for too long after sugar and dark soy sauce are added. You might spoil the dish if you do so!

Try it if you are an ikan bilis' lover. Even if you are not, give it a shoot. I'm sure you will like this. :)

ISS Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2006

I was elected as the International Student Service (ISS) Sports Secretary for the year 2007.

AGM at Hackett Cafe.

So, I had to attend the International Student Service Annual General Meeting 2006.

Introduce some of the ISS committee for 2007.

I never expect I can hold a position in one of the club in the university.

Full ISS committee for 2007.

Some more, this is not a club. It is sort of a service or representative for all the international student here in The University of Western Australia (UWA).

International Centre Director, Dr. Bruce Macintosh Apple Mackintosh and I.

For me, this position (Sports Secretary) is a challenge.

Left to right: Matthew Chuk (Guild President '06), Tan Su yen (ISS Director '07),
Dr. Bruce Mackintosh (International Centre Director) and
Shirley Chan (ISS Director '06).

My job is to organise at least two sports events per semester for all the international students.

Kiss la, kiss la. :P

I don't know if I can really handle this or not since I'm in my final year (HOPEFULLY no "accident") next year.

Pizza, curry puff, popiah, sushi and etc. for dinner after the meeting.

What I can say is, I'll definitely try my best for that.

Part of the 2006 and 2007 ISS committee.

I have already thought of the activities that I'm planning to organise next year.

Committee of Multicultural Week 2006.

First, I plan to organise bungee jump for the students to try this heart throbbing activity. Bungee jump sounds scary at first, but, if you never try, you will never know. (I never try bungee jump before).

Adrian (Sports Secretary 2006) and I.

The second activity which pop up in my mind is go-karting. I think most of the students will like this.

I would like to get more feedback from the students on what activities they would like to do in Perth here. I hope I can do a survey on that as soon as my exams end.

I'm not that short! I bent a bit when I took that photo!

That's just my plan. Can carry out the plan or not, it's still a question mark. I really hope my plan works.

It's crazily fun in the AGM!

Anyway, I would like to thanks everyone for the support. If not you all, I won't be able to become the ISS Sports Secretary 2007.

Thanks a lot, everyone! =)

Post Multicultural Week

After a successful Multicultural Week, the chairman, Su Yen, decided to reward the committee by throwing a BBQ "party" at Kings Park last Saturday.

This is what Australians do during the weekends.

Arrived there at 12p.m., the park was already packed with people.

Family BBQ.

Some of the committee were there when I arrived. They have found a pretty good spot for BBQ.

Some of the food.

After setting up the pit, I was assigned to BBQ all the meat under the HOT sun!

Chicken wings for sale.

There's good and bad to be the one who barbequed the food. The good one is being the first person who can eat the food while the bad one is to stay under the hot, scorching sun.

Photo first, food later.

Photo session begun after someone take over my place as the barbeque-er.

Pose!

Oh yea, I am not the only one who barbequed all the meat. Danny, Leon and Adrian were helping too.

Everyone enjoys themselves with their own activities.

Chatting, photos session and barbeque-ing are some of the activities.

Too hot lah.

Some of them even jumped down into the pond to cool themselves off. Believe it or not? :P

Heads of each department.

Logistic department.

Appear in every photos certainly not a very good idea. It's very tiring. Look at Adrian! He's YAWNING! Got so tired meh? Haha!

Events Department? (I wonder if I it's correct)

Promotion Department? (I'm not sure about this too)

Full Part of the committee.

Some of the committee were not able to make it for the BBQ. That's the T-shirt designed specially for the Multicultural Week 2006. These shirts are for sale but with different colour, the dark blue. It costed Aud$12 per piece. Anyone interested? Look at the design, you might become Spider Man leh.

Photos of the day...

STOP! Don't move!

April asked everyone not to move so that I can take a "natural" photo of them.

"I want to join them, too!"

Some of them joined in for another "natural" photo.

Banner of Multicultural Week 2006. "Spinning the cultural web of the world".

Is there anymore celebration for the successful Multicultural Week? Cause I want more food! :P

P/s Sorry guys, it'll take some time for me to update my blog this month. I have tons of assignments to finish up within the next one week and I have to prepare my exams which are around the corner. I'll update once I'm free. :)

Happy Birthday, Darren!

Couple days ago, it was Darren's birthday. So, Chris and I planned for a dinner with Darren at one of the restaurants at South Perth with Annabelle.

Evening view at South Perth.

When we reached the restaurant, we were shocked to see a long queue, waiting to get their seats. Everyone's stomach was shouting for food, so we decided to head straight to Durty Nelly's, an Irish pub.

Steak night on Wednesdays.

One of the reasons why we have chosen Durty Nelly's is because of the offer on Wednesdays night. Aud$13.90 for their T-Bone Steak.

Yea, "Dirty" Nelly's

Everything is self-serviced here although it's a pub+restaurant.

Wines.

There were special offer on some of the drinks but we ordered nothing. Chris had to drive, birthday boy had a test to study, Annabelle the only girl and me underage not good at drinking. Those were the reasons why we didn't order any drinks.

The Irish's environment?

Don't be fooled by the photo with all the Caucasians. Actually there were numbers of student or Asians visited this pub. Simply because its half price T-Bone Steak.

That was actually my second time there. The first time, I was there with Chris but I forgot to bring my camera along. So, no photos were taken.

Darren and Annabelle while waiting for the food to be served.

When I asked both of them to post for a photo, they thought I was asking them to let me take a photo of the art on the wall (the photo on top of their heads).

Finally...

The steak was served after 25 minutes of waiting.

Medium rare T-Bone Steak.

I ordered a serve of medium rare T-Bone Steak which was just right for my taste. The steak was tender and juicy.

It was served with chips and salad as advertised.

HP sauce and Heinz tomato ketchup.

Instead of chilli sauce which is normally available in most of the restaurant, they replace it with HP Sauce. I don't really know how to describe the taste of the sauce. But, it goes right with the steak.

T-Bone.

It took us not long to finish the T-Bone Steak because we were just too hungry I guess.


After dinner, we went for bubble tea before the night ended.


Happy Birthday, Darren! =)

ISS Sports Secretary

This year, I'm running for Sports Secretary position in the International Student Service (ISS) of The University of Western Australia (UWA). The reason I want to involve in ISS is because next year will be my final year in the university. If I didn't try it, I would not be able to have this chance again in my life after I graduate.

Click on the photo for larger view. (Original monkeys photo from www.algonet.se)

I, here, urge my UWA's readers to come down to Guild on Monday 16th of October from 12 to 2p.m. and VOTE for LAW KOK WEI! Bring along your friends to give me support. I promise to organise more challenging and interesting sports activities in 2007!

Remember! Monday 16 of October from 12 to 2p.m. at Guild! VOTE for LAW KOK WEI! Thanks in advance! =)

Spring Feast

Spring Feast is one of the biggest event organised by the International Student Service. It's also one of the events for the Multicultural Week.

UWA's Spring Feast 2006.

It's an few hours one day event anyway. There, you'll get to enjoy various kinds of food, performances and games. It's basically just like the "Pasar Malam" (night market) that we have in Malaysia.

Guild kitchen.

The stalls are set up by the students themselves. Some stalls even set up by the real restaurants' owners. As low as Aud$20 + Aud$30 (deposit), a student can register for a stall. Two long tables, cleaning utilities and a kitchen are provided. Profits earned are all kept in the pocket of the stall holders.

A block of cheese and bacon.

Stall holders have to order some of their ingredients, such as meats and cheese, from the guild kitchen.

Professional wok.

You can use the utilities in the guild kitchen but of course, permission is required.

Team work!

Setting up a stall or business is not easy at all. Team work is crucial in order to run the business as smooth as possible. The day before the Spring Feast, the stall holders can arrange their time to use the guild kitchen. They can start to prepare the food and store it in the kitchen's fridge.

Before the Spring Feast officially starts...

In order to make this year Spring Feast more successful than last year, a group of students were recruited (which include me). The students planned and organised everything. Incredible, don't you think so?

Some of the pre-occupied stalls.

Just hours before the event started, students with white International Student Service shirts could be seen carrying tables, chairs, helping to set up stalls and guiding the stall holders to their respective stalls.

Stalls beside the performance stage.

Everything was already set up before 5:30p.m. Stage and P.A. system were set up by the professionals though.

At about 7 p.m.

Crowd started to fill up the space at about 7 p.m.

About 7:30p.m.

More people seemed to come later in the night.

Look at the crowd!

"People mountain people sea"! (translation in Mandarin means full of people.)

Main crowd.

Can you count how many people were there?

Take a photo before going back to work.

I was craving for food with Leon at that time. We only got about 30 minutes to do so.

Satay, satay!

This stall was the most popular among the others. It was opened by a real restaurant owner.

The queue was so long!

I don't know if the food was tasty or not cause I didn't bother to squeeze into the long queue. Aud$3 for 5 sticks of satay if I'm not wrong. They did have some other food besides satay.

Japanese satay?

This stall had something like satay. Just that, it's kinda different. I just don't know how to describe.

Laksa stall holders!

Too bad I forgot to take a photo of the laksa. I did bought a bowl of it for about Aud$3 and it just tasted great. This stall was owned by friends of Chris. He was just a helper there.

Cool Creation.

This stall even had their very own signboard. You can see how serious they are in their business.

Smile is the best way to attract customer.

I think they did something like chendol or ABC.

Jono trying to act stupid cute.

Jono was trying to move so that I couldn't take a photo of him, but too bad...

From left: Leon, Henry and Jay Chowson

You can meet many friends in this kind of event. Even though they study in other universities, they'll still try to come.

Jono and I.

Jono and I were trying to act funny in the large crowd.

Tong tong qiang!

There were many performances that night. The lion dance was one of the most interesting.

Lion dance in the crowd.

I seriously think that the lion dance here is much more better than those back in Miri. They are more energetic and more serious.

The lion dance and chinese wushu team.

The team even had girls performing the lion dance. Some of the people just couldn't believe women can lift up the heavy lion's head. The team even performed the chinese wushu after the lion dance. The performace was just simply marvellous.

Yo yo, check it out! Yo!

This was a local group if I got it right.

Any lucky winners?

There was a lucky draw that night. Lucky draw tickets could be bought at Aud$1 per draw. All the money collected will go to charity. The prizes include cash voucher for shoes, tickets to Margaret River and other places and the first prize, a digital camera.

Everything ended at about 11p.m. All the committee had to stay behind for cleaning as usual.

Photo with the guys' committee.

After cleaning up, photo sessions continued.

Same shoes different colour.

I randomly spotted Leon and Adrian had the same shoes.

Jason, me and Shirley (International Student Service's director)

The committee had a group photo after that. But my camera was missing in action. I hope I can get the photos from the other committee.

Walking back home.

Spring Feast 2006 was indeed very successful. This comes from all the hardwork dedicated by the committee. Everyone enjoys it. Hopefully Spring Feast 2007 will be more successful.

Good job, guys! =)