A Smoky New Year's Day

On New Year's Day we invited Maggie and Kai Mun over for dinner. Dinner was almost served when I took out my chicken from the oven and Wk was quickly stir-frying the round beans. And then all of a sudden the smoke alarm went off! We thought it was due to all the heavy cooking eventhough really, there was no smoke to begin with. 

Wk tried to turn it off but for unknown reason it couldn't be stopped. After beeping for a good 5-10 minutes, suddenly there's an automated announcement asking us to evacuate the apartment! And it wasn't just announcing in our apartment, it was annouuncing even in the walkway and we guessed it was announcing in other apartments too! At that point everyone panicked. If a smoke alarm is triggered, sometimes it automatically calls the fire brigade and they will come once they get the news. And even if there is no fire, they will charge depending on whose apartment the alarm was triggered! 

While Wk was trying hard (but in vain) to dismantle the alarm to turn it off, we were busy looking for numbers to call through the apartment manual eventhough we know on New Years Day, it is highly unlikely for us to get anyone. Called, no one picked up. At the same time, the freaking alarm was beeping, the automated announcement was announcing, everyone was frantic.

And then suddenly after about 10 minutes the announcement and the alarm stopped. We waited for a while but nothing happened. And then Maggie said "What if it's another person's apartment?" which could possibly explain why we couldn't turn it off in the first place because smoke alarm comes with a button for you to turn off when you need to. But we couldn't understand how could our alarm have went off when it's another apartment that's triggered their alarm. We were so confused but there was nothing we could do so then we proceeded to have our dinner which was already cold by then lol.

Until today, we still couldn't figure out what happened. One thing we were glad for sure, the fire brigade didn't come or else the dinner would have cost a fortune! If it actually WAS another apartment who triggered it... damn we must have looked freaking silly panicking and running around trying to turn it off hahaah. What a day to start our new year.

My brother taught me how to make 烧肉 (Siu Yok) or Roasted Pork Belly so I decided to try making it. It was pretty good except the crackling wasn't good enough. Which was why I asked Wk to try 'torching' it lol! Torching didn't solve the problem, the heat comes out too strong that it charred the skin very quickly. I kinda figured why the crackling wasn't as good so I shall try making this again.

Oh I almost forgot. On New Year's Day, it was 38 degrees. 38 freaking degrees! The temperature went lower at night. And the next day, it went up to 40!!!!!! I couldn't even sleep properly for that 2 days.

It's my first time going through this in Melbourne and I swear it's not fun at all. Seriously thank goodness the temperature has dropped now. I will never ever complain about the cold again. Ever! It's so much better to be cold than hot! And the heat here is crazy. It's hot, the wind is hot, with fan you're only circulating hot air within the apartment, and the air is sooooo dry that it dries your skin out like crazy.

And you know what I saw on the 40 degrees day? A man sunbathing in the park!

%^$!@&%$!!! Seriously??! At 40 degrees?! I couldn't even stand it inside the apartment and that man was out under the sun without clothes. The sun can do so much of damage to the skin, it was like watching a person committing suicide.

Home in Kensington

If I don't skip school, I'm not Ee Von. Hahah. 

Yes currently at home because I skipped class today. Today I feel like talking about our (Wk and I) apartment. To make it fair, it's HIS apartment because obviously I can't afford to pay any rent now since I'm studying and I don't have a job in hand. I think it's only right to clarify that he pays for everything from rent to household. For that, no words can describe how grateful I am to have him.

We moved to this place about a week after I touched down. It's a little away from the city, 15 minutes train ride. Obviously it isn't as convenient as when we used to live in the city but the cost cannot be compromised at all. It's too much and not worth it - about AUD 2.4-2.7K for a 2 bedroom apartment. 

And besides we both know ourselves too well that we're not the type of people who can live with others easily. Not to say we're not easy going and difficult to please, but it's certainly not easy to find people who you can click with in an instant when it comes to cleanliness, taste (homewares and furnitures) and money issues. If we were to live in city, it's impossible to afford anything without having housemates. Trust me, the amount of stories I've heard from friends who live with others is enough to put my guards up when it comes to searching for housemates.

Sorry, I digressed. So about 4-5 months upon moving in, the apartment was then fully furnished.

The dining area went from this

to this

At the beginning we had to use the moving boxes as our dining table.

The living area went from this

to this

The bedroom went from this

to this

Did anyone notice how boring the colour scheme is? Hahahah no prize for guessing whose idea it's from. Apart from the red couch, everything's kept very black and white-ish. Actually they're not black, they're dark brown/timber finishes. So when we were deciding on the couch colour, I (kinda) insisted on red because there HAS to be at least one colour in the apartment. At least an accent. 

I am definitely glad to call this place home. I miss my home in Malaysia a lot but at least knowing I'm safe and warm, and the apartment is pretty good for a start, I'm thankful. Its an unfurnished 2 bed with built in robes + 2 bathroom apartment with an ensuite. Big living area, dining area and a good kitchen size (there's never 'too big' for a kitchen =P) which comes with a dishwasher and an oven. There's also a spacious balcony, which we 'decorated' with a barbecue pit. Hahah. I say decorate because we haven't been using it much. It's cold and I certainly won't like the idea of standing outdoors barbecueing. I don't understand how people do it in the winter.

All of the furnitures are from IKEA except for our room's bedside chair, which Wk bought from an online store that sells replica designer furnitures. Everything's from IKEA because that is the only place we could afford. But it was quite fun assembling everything :)

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Everything else has been alright. Still waiting for answers regarding our PR application. School has been ok. I definitely am on track and with my experience and qualification, I hate to sound like a bragger but I think I'm over-qualified so it's been pretty boring honestly hence, today decided to stay in and do something productive like cleaning the apartment. 

I hope everyone's doing fine.

Till next time.