tirsdag 15. desember 2009

My first day with really hot weather - Can I handle 38 degrees?

Obviously not. I was dizzy from the heat. However, it could have been worse (I could have fainted?).

But see the chart! The temperature drops 20 degree within 24 hours! I think I will have more problems adjusting to different temperature through the same day - then adjusting to just heat.

I wish for a better body thermostat for christmas!

søndag 13. desember 2009

A nice and windy sunday trip to Torquay

95 km south-west from Melbourne, lies the city of Torquay - a sleepy surfer and beach town. Good place to go for surfing lessons or sky diving.
(I don't think I'll ever sky dive - but I started to think that I might try surfing lessons next time!)

A friend (a Singaporian friend of a Norwegian friend actually) was going there with her husband who had booked surf lessons - and they asked me to come since I have never been there before. It was very nice of them having me tag along - I really like to travel by car and I really like the ocean:D

So while he was surfing - we went for a fish & chip take-away lunch by the beach side and then sat by the beach in a sun tent (which threatened to escape with the heavy wind).


So, this sunday as well goes into the bunch of nice Melbourne sundays:)
I wish the week had at least two of them.

lørdag 12. desember 2009

Part III: Best of the Independent Games Festival 2009

The second exhibition at the ACMI I went to was the "Best of the Independent Games Festival 2009" exhibition displaying lots of games from independent game developers to try. I tried all of them. Some of the games were impressingly fun and cute. I have attached pictures and links for the two I liked the best here:


You can try a demo here for free.

Part II: Screen World Exhibition


Since it was close by, I went to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) to check out their exhibitions.
The first exhibition I went to was the Screen World Exhibition which displayed lots of different aspects of the screen world from the internet, Australian movies, and movie techniques such as time delays and use of colors.

I loved the absolutely beautiful short movie Faulty Fandangle by Anthony Lucas (picture above). And I had great fun at the shadow play display where one could make shadow rabbits or monsters and somehow the big screen showing added some extra features (Like fangs) and noises (bird, monster and other noises).... Super fun - but I had to let other children play as well:/


My artsy and interactive saturday - Part I


After two weeks here, I thought I should see some of Melbourne's well-known sights. So I went to Flinders Train Station



and Federation square where a American street performer was entertaining the crowds.







fredag 11. desember 2009

Christmas party at work


I attended a christmas party with the Adolescent center here. It was fun - included good food, nice people and drinks.

My name was typically drawn up from a hat and I participated in a green quiz raffle where my buzz sound was a environmental shower (I think). I managed to understand some of the questions (sometimes quickly spoken English doesn't compute for me) - and got the third prize (of three) amongst this lovely green hand puppet which I love! I also got organic super nice white chocolate, toilet paper, tea, oregano, and lots of other neat stuff.

And my secret Kris Kringle was a big pink box which said MY THINGS. I like that too!

onsdag 9. desember 2009

Hurrah! I found a place to stay!


After several inspections, I finally found a place to stay! The apartment hotel I have been staying at is a bit expensive and I'm moving out the 22nd of December.

I have been to quite a few inspections and have been looking for a place with a flatmate (was a tad too expensive to stay alone). So I have very quickly visited quite a couple of places in Brunswick, North Melbourne, Carlton and North Carlton, the CBD, and the Southbank. I have seen small boxed studio apartments, one bedders, cosy town houses, apartments in the centre of the city with a fabulous view from the 20th floor and one apartment in which the facilities included a large gym and an outdoor swimming pool and tennis court! I have met nice and fun people, people that were a tad strange and a girl wearing a bunny pyjamas when meeting me. Apparently, it seems like there exists a strange correlation between strangeness of people and niceness of apartments. For instance, the really large and quite cheap apartment which included the outdoor swimming pool - came with the bunny pyjamas girl and she didn't have any furniture and stored all her stuff on the floor all around the apartment. That probably works for her - but not for me.

So, in the end I am going to share an apartment with a nice dane at 8. Dorcas Street which also has a hotel (which website includes some of the attractions around the area) in the Southbank area of Melbourne. I have my very own bedroom with an attached nice private bathroom which includes a tub(HURRAAAAAH), and share the rest of the apartment. There is a balcony with table, chairs and a BBQ-grill. Unfortunately no outdoor swimming pool - but I can manage with the tub and small gym facilities. It's reasonably priced, everything's furnitured and with the tram it will take me approx. 25-30 min to work, 5-10 min to the city and 10-15 min to the beach. It's also very close to the Royal Botanic Gardens which has outdoor cinema: Moonlight Cinema from December to March! They are showing lots of nice movies - so I better find some moviefriends soon!

mandag 7. desember 2009

Working and 70's wall paper

Gardiner på jobb
Seemingly from all my posts, I haven't mentioned work - but I am really here in Melbourne to actually do some research for my PhD.-thesis.

I will be situated at the Centre of Adolescent Health (CAH), which an iniative of the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) here in Melbourne and also linked with Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI) and Melbourne University. I'll try to write more about what kind of research I'll do here some other time!

So last week - in between the jet lagging and sightseeing - I met up with my work place here. I have my own office (because the girl I am sharing with apparently never is there) at the third floor at quirky, but kind of cute old town house with flowerish curtains (see picture above this entry) and 70's wall paper (under this text). At some evenings the house is used by adolescent support groups - and downstairs there is a drum set which I intend to use if I get frustrated with my data analysis.


søndag 6. desember 2009

Lazing at St.Kildas a sunday afternoon



Melbourne is a perfect city for sundays!

After the Art and Design Market, I went to St.Kilda for the Esplanade Marked, walked the St.Kilda Pier, but didn't see the penguins which supposedly lives there, read a book by the beach for an hour and stumbled upon Luna Park - an amusement park which dates back to 1912. Quite the perfect sunday:)





The inhabitants of the Pier

1912 Amusement Park - Guess it'll be a bit scary when it's dark!

The lovely beach at St.Kildas

The long long pier

Do I really need ugly, but cute rabbit-cat or a an owl doll with a beard?


On a dazing sunday I went to an Art and Design Market at the QV which is quite near where I am currently staying. They had a lot of cute, quirky, cool stuff - and I really wanted to buy everything. However - I couldn't choose and some of the things were a bit expensive also. Do I really need a kind of ugly, but cute rabbit-cat or owl dolls for 100 AUD (520 NOK)?

(More pictures on catrabbit's flickr site)

tirsdag 1. desember 2009

Strolling around Melbourne in a jet lag



So, seemingly I am sleeping a lot these first couple of days in Melbourne, but tried to see some of the city when I am awake.

Went just for a random walk and ended up at the Carlton Gardens and also had a look at the Royal Exhibition Building and Melbourne Museum, and I am definetly going to the there and catch a 3D-show! Unfortunately the museum was not open when I was there....




(Not sure what the colorful cube is - some part of the museum I think...... )

My lagging jet lag and the Aussie curly sinks



I thought I was super lucky and had managed to escape the dreaded Jet Lag.

When in Singapore I managed to wake-up-rise-and-shine and basically jump out of bed the three first days - then suddenly I just couldn't wake up anymore and was back to a strange daily rythm which didn't match either Singapore or Norwegian time. After coming to Melbourne - it got even worse. I must therefore admit I have spent most of the first couple of days here in sleep! So every night at 2 AM I have been tearing out my hair and counting sheeps, wombats, marks on the wall and everything just to be able to fall asleep! I am hoping it is getting better now - as I have just started working or I will be that awful tired yawning Norwegian PhD-student!

Also I find the sinks here too curly:


Do they look like that in Norway? Isn't it a bit unrational to make the sink that way?

mandag 30. november 2009

Getting aussier with a bank account and a phone number with a cunning new phone


I got a aussie bank account in Commonwealth Bank and a ten numbered aussie phone number at Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Mobiles! I also bought a brand new phone to match the new number. For once I bough a pretty phone - and I am a bit terrified that it is just a eye candy and doesn't work at all.

It's called Samsung Star and you can see the picture here. What do you think?

It's quite a cunning phone with a section in the manual telling about "Make Fake Call"
I can apparently "simulate fake incoming calls when you want to get out of meetings or unwanted conversations" which only cost you 25Cents. You can also make it appear as if you are talking on the phone by playing back a recorded voice. For 25 Cents you can also lock numbers which you are afraid to call when you are drunk. lol:)

søndag 29. november 2009

Sunday sightseeing in Melbourne


Took the Free City Tram for one hour to get a nice overlook over the city!

And then I walked up and down all the streets going here and there (Bourke Street, Russel Street, Collins Street, Lonsdale Street, Swanston street and some other ones).

I almost blew away - so had to go in at the end!

lørdag 28. november 2009

My home for the next month

After two nights staying at a hotel with a swimming pool near the Melbourne Zoo, I move all my stuff closer to the city center to my new home for the next month. It is quite okay - except the kind of dirty looking walls, and some other details. I have put up some drawings and stuff on the walls. I have also hung up all my dresses here and there - so now it looks a bit better. Oh, and my bed can be put inside a closet!!

Here are the pictures from the website:


I have one small balcony and one suicide french balcony with no fence in front. Here is the view taken from the balcony door which I dared to open:


I like the rooftop view!

onsdag 25. november 2009

Nightflying Singapore-Melbourne with Airbus 380


I sat on the upper deck of the worlds greatest passenger plane and I ran down the stairs twice just because I was able to:)

Again, the movies was good, the food was very super, but this time the trip itself was very bumpy - and I didn't manage to sleep with two very joyful passengers next to me enjoying free drinks and comedies all night through! Gruff!

Food list and some pictures from Singapore for Mum:)

During my Singapore visit I enjoyed:

- Bulgogi and Kim Chi at a small Korean shop next to my hotel at Tajong Pagah

- Sushi at Sakae sushi at Bugis Junction (Note to Mariann: I tried the rainbow maki and not the dragon roll:)

- Dim Sun at VivoCity Foodcourt with my own good ncompany and my three good friends: Shanghai Soup Dumplings, Siu Mei, and a third type of dumpling I am sorry I do not remember the name of.

- The earlier mentioned Ceral Prawns and Black Pepper Crab with veggies with dear Vadi at Jumbo Seafood - Thanks for the treat:)

- Maxwell foodcourt with dear cousin Cheryl and carrot cake, sticky rice inside leaf, pao with barbeque pork, fried gyoza (japanese dumplings) and a bit soya bean desert and avocado smoothie.

- Hainese chicken rice and chinese green good vegetables at the Foodcourt on top of the Amara at Tajong Pagar.

- And then at last sliced beef and chili, sweet and sour fish (1 S$ only), some other very good fish, and a really nice veggie dish at the Crystal Jade Restaurant at Changi Airport with Vadi followed be a marshmellow lattè before heading off to Melbourne.



mandag 23. november 2009

Discovering a secret room at SAM Q8


A neverending well of books - Art piece at the Singapore Museum of Art [SAM] which I found after walking around and around City Hall for 30 minutes. The rest of the museum was dedicated Philipino and Mexican art.

After wandering through the SAM - I went to the SAM 8Q - a contemporary art center with young artists displaying their work a lot which I enjoyed.

My favorite was a room called the Submarine Room - and there were a lot of letter templates displayed. For instance letter templates for friends, for ones loved ones and even for when committing suicide - cause it is important to say it in a letter. I thought the templates were nice - but then I realized that you could walk into the closet amongst the clothes!



At first I didn't think it was a part of the exbibition - so I felt rather rude to just walk into the closet. But inside there was a small white hall and thereafter a smaller hall with all the walls filled with written papers.
And going through this doorway I step out of a small closet into a small room with a couch, a desk, a chair, type writer and some closets and a small television which showed a movie with marching soldiers from the World War II... A bit strange to hear the sound of the marching when going through the closet.


Even if I now thought it was a part of the art piece - I still felt like trespassing. In one of the closets there was a skeleton inside!! Think I would have yelled if anyone had come in - or if they had had some kind of suprising sounds! Then I walked back into the closet and back to the main exhibition again.


Recommendable for those who go to Singapore (now that I ruined the fun of discovering the secret room) :)

søndag 22. november 2009

Black Pepper Crab with Jumbo Apron!


In the left front of the picture you can see my favorite cereal prawns , tofu with spinage and lots of different types of mushrooms on the plate to the right. and the last dish are tasteful kay lahn(?) vegetables. In front of the cereal prawns sits Vadi. We are at Jumbo Seafood at Clarke Quay and waiting for the pepper crab to arrive on the table before digging in!

lørdag 21. november 2009

Arriving Singapore hotel

Here is my hotel room view - which during night time looked a bit like a picture from a science fiction novel with scary ajointed huge buildings:

My hotel bathroom which is nicer than my own bathroom in the Oslo apartment:

The hotel swimming pool where I swam twice and sun bathed a little bit every day (of course with sun screen) when it did not rain or the wind threatened to blow me out of the window:



I enjoyed my stay a lot! The next time though I think I would like to stay with friends or family! Nice to have them closer:)

fredag 20. november 2009

Oslo-London-Singapore with matching beige couple and lots of movies



The two hour ride to Heathrow was a bit exhausting with a boy and his girlfriend yapping all the time with her annoying voice sitting next to me. So when I found my seat on the plane from London to Singapore I was very glad when I'm sitting next to a quiet and thin Singapore couple. They were even a bit cute with their matching outfits with both wearing beige cord pants and National Geographic London t-shirts in light green and light brown (like the couple in the picture). I feed them chewing gum, we smile and during the trip we have share the common polite phrases "thankssorryexcusemewelcomesorrythanksbyebyethanks" and nothing more - they are my dream co-passengers.

In fear of sounding like a commercial; I really must say that I absolutely love Singapore Airlines. I love that the food is nice, the seats are spacious and that there are tons of movies and series to watch! During the 13 hour flight I eat smoked salmon with potato salad, stir-fried pork in garlic sauce with vegetables and rice, cheese and crackers, and cheesecake, peanuts, apples, grapes, chocolate. I sleep a bit and when I wake up I get vegetable quiche, miniature chicken sausages, beans in tomato sauce, and fruit and bread rolls. And all the food is really good:) During the flight I watch:

- "The Ugly Truth" which was a pretty awful American romantic comedy with all the gruesome stereotypes of males and females

- "Julie & Julia" which I actually enjoyed even though I really don't like Meryl Streep and dramas like these.

- "Land of the Lost" with that absolutely awful Will Ferrell, so I had to turn it off after 20 minutes

- Two episodes of the psychotherapist TV-series "In Treatment" which I thought would be absolutely boring, but actually found quite entertaining and interesting.

- A third of the Japanese movie "Death Note/Desu nôto" based on a manga series I have read the two first books of and a third of "The Time Traveller’s Wife" which I also have read the book the movie is based on. Since I already had read the books the movies seemed a bit boring when knowing what would happen.

- and I also saw half of the Japanese Anime movie "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time/Toki o kakeru shôjo" which I fell asleep in and really want to see the second part of later some time!


All in all, a quite entertaining ride and I even managed to sleep!


torsdag 19. november 2009

Bye bye Norway and all my family and friends <3


Well I am soon off to the big downunder world from Oslo to Melbourne. After a four day-stopover in Singapore, I will work in Melbourne until medio-June! I am a very sad to leave my dear friends and family, and a bit scared and a bit happy about my Australian adventure!

I will post pictures and tell you about my trip here!