Olympic Torch in Canberra 24th April 08

OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY IN CANBERRA






















The olympic torch relay was held in Australia in Canberra on 24th April 2008. It was a rare ocassion and we decided that it was worth it to brave the cold (it was 2 degree celcius the morning) in the early morning and held for the opening ceremony.

The event also coincided with the one week hot air balloons festival and organisers decided to hold the opening ceremony and the launch of hot air balloons at the same venue....outside the old parliament house.



It was 5.30am when we woke up the kids and it wasn't until 5.55am before we managed to drive out of our house. The morning fireworks was supposed to go off at 6.00am and naturally, we missed the morning fireworks since we depart late.


The entire venue was starting to be filled by 6.15am. Throngs of people...especially Chinese wearing shirts in red and waving red flags were filling up the ground. Such spectacular display of nationalism with thousands of Chinese waving flags was a sight to behold. One can't help but feel that it was a orchestrated event as there were simply too many people wearing red and waving the red flags (PS - it was subsequently reported in the newspaper that the Chinese embassy had a major role in mobilising the crowd at the venue). Many of these people who came were not staying in Canberra. You could see bus loads of visitors (mainly Chinese) arriving at the venue with their luggages in tow.

When the pro-Tibet demonstrators arrived at the scene, they were over-whelmed by the floor of Chinese supporters and had to retreat. There were some skirmishes between the 2 groups but the pro-tibet demonstrators were far and few and gave up their cause very quickly.



The other highlight of the event was the launching of hot air balloons. This is one of the major attraction and event in Canberra during the hot air balloon week. Many hot air balloon vendors, corporations were busy launching their balloons. There were corporate sponsored hot air balloons, commercial hot air balloon vendors and balloons with shapes (kookaburra hot air balloon and star shape balloon).


In spite of the early morning and cold, we felt that it was all worth it. When we came home, we were all tired and hungary. We wolfed down one whole loaf of bread with ham and egg along with hot aromatic long white coffee.


What an experience!

Misadventure - At the Car Park

For those drivers or owners of vehicles, I am sure most of you would have experienced in one way or another......locking your keys in the car. Well......I never thought this would happen to me.....but it did!

It was one of those "unlucky" days (happens on a Thursday), as U would call it that "THE" incident happen to me. I was shopping downtown at Civic area and as usual I would push the trolley of groceries to my car. As I opened only the boot of my car, I had left the bunch of keys in the boot of my car (for convenience) as I unloaded my groceries into the car. After transferring all the groceries from the trolley into the car, I did the most automatic response....close the boot of the car. Imemdiately I realise my deadly mistake!

The 2nd deadly mistake I made was to pay at the ticketing machine before wheeling the trolley to my car. How am I going to get out of the underground car park with an expired ticket even if I managed to retrieve my spare car key from home?

First things first, I had to sos my husband to help me to retrieve my spare car key from my house. Fortunately, I had my handphone with me and I could call him for help.

He had to drive from his office back home, pick up the spare key and then drive to the civic shopping centre's car park to pass me the keys. Next was the wait. I had to wait patiently for my husband to turn up. The wait seemed an externity....minutes were like hours and each car that drove past the gantry raised hopes only to be dashed when it was my husband's car.

Finally, after waiting for a good 35 minutes, my husband turned up with the keys. He then drove off and returned to his office.

Next, I had to solve the expired car park ticket. I went to the machine and explained to the person at the other end of the intercom what had happened. After some clarifications and explanations, the lady at the other end of the intercom understood what had happened and decided to let me go without having to pay additional penalty of 60 cents. I had parked for 1 hr 5 mins and had already paid the 1 hr limit. This meant that I had exceeded by 5 minutes which would have cost an additonal 60 cents. Given the miniscule amount, the lady probably made the decision that it was not worth her effort to make me pay for the penalty....I would assume it would mean more work for her. So, she suggested I drive straight to the barrier and buzz the intercom and she will open the barrier for me. You can imagine the relief when I was told of it.

With the heavy load off my mind, I headed back to my car and drove towards the barrier. When I buzz the intercom, I was shocked to hear another voice at the end of the intercom. This person was not the same lady that I had spoke to....and when I explained to her my situation, she suggested I drive back and pay the penalty! I argued with her for a good 5-10 minutes and held up a queue of cars behind me before she gave in and let me off by lifting the barrier.

What a relief!

What's the morale of the story?

1) Lesson number 1 - Do not put your car keys in the car boot! Put in your pocket or handbags

2) Lesson number 2 - (only those with car keys that give U option to only open your car boot). Open all car doors instead of opening the car boot

3) Lesson number 3 - Do not pay at the ticket machine prior to U emptying the grociers in your trolley. Do so only after U have emptied your trolley.

4) Lesson number 4 - Do take down the name of the person at the other end of the intercom.....U never know if its the same person when U are at the barrier

5) Lesson number 5 - Know and insist on your rights. Do not give up easily especially when U know that U can create more havoc if do not give in.

Winter Delight in Canberra

FROM THE LENS OF RAY
















Okay, I have been told that my blog narrates only the negative aspect of living in Canberra. “Surely, there must be something good or positive about Canberra!”

Yes, I totally agree with that statement. I guess I was overwhelmed by a couple of negative episodes/events for the last few days that I had to blog it out of my system…..hence all the negative blogs.

Now that I have got “IT” out of my system, I will re-focus on the positive aspects…what’s its like to experience winter in Canberra.

Unlike other major cities in Australia, Canberrans living here experience definite seasonal changes. The shedding of flowers and leaves leaving only bare branches and tree trunks lining the streets of Canberra are common phenomena throughout winter. What was UNCOMMON was the blossoming of cherry blossoms during winter at the Bower’s Park. One of our friends introduced us to the place one fine Saturday morning and it was a sight not to behold! Imagine you would have to pay thousands of dollars to go to Japan to see the cherry blossom …..and U get to see this in Canberra….PLUS the bonus of it being situated next to a lake.






Naturally, the friend (who is a professional photographer taking family portraits) who introduced us to the place was already eyeing the place and wanted to take pictures of my husband and his sons under the cherry blossom. It was for a collection/series that he is under-taking on “Father & Son” theme.






The boys were simply blown away when they saw the place. The flowers (pink and white) were just blossoming and emitted strong fragrance smell that was better than perfumes. The cherry blossoming against the bright blue sky is just the perfect picture of photography buffs.


Just a couple of metres away was the Lake Burley Griffin with plenty of acquatic animals …such as swans, pelicans, mandarin ducks etc frolicking in the waters.



The Canberra Model Yacht Club had also made this a meeting point for all fanatic fans who own model yachts. They would launch their model yachts into the lake and use their remote controls to maneuver their model yachts around the lake.











Winter Cheers From Canberra

Fireworks

8th June 08 (Sunday)

It was a long weekend. Queen's birthday was on 9th June 08 (Mon) and Canberrans were allowed to purchase fireworks to let off from their homes during the long weekend.

This was the first time that our family had the opportunity to buy fireworks and let it off from our house courtyard. We were very excited. The fireworks had to be purchased from authorised shops selling them and they had to take down identification before they could sell it to their customers.

We headed for the fireworks shop in Fyshwick and there were limited varieties of fireworks. They came in 10 different types of packages...with limited names such as Package A, B C...etc. Prices started from $25 to $100 per package. Being an amateur, we chose the mid-range and paid $55 for our package.

Smack in the midst of winter, the day was shorter and by 5.45pm, it was already pitch dark. By 6.30pm, the children were already asking impatiently if we could set off the fireworks....which we (my husband and myself) agreed to.....as we were also very excited.

It was indeed a very thrilling and exciting evening for the children. They enjoyed themselves thoroughly....an experience that U would not get back in Singapore.

I read from the newspaper the very next day that the authorities may consider banning fireworks next year. At least I am very happy....for now....that we get to experience it.

Here's a video of one of the fireworks let off from my house courtyard.

At School

Today I made an important discovery.....my son is being ostracised by his classmates. Being in a grammar girls school, there are naturally fewer boys than girls....to be precise....there are only 6 boys inclusive of him.

Today was the last day of the term 2 for school and the school had an exhibition to display the childrent's project (a transport city) to the parents. I noticed the problem when I saw that the boys in his class were taking photos and they excluded my son. Also, I noted that the boys in his project group were telling everyone what they had made..the buildings, the various transport...and my son was only relegated to making figurines for the transport city.

Upon questioning my son, I realised that he was being isolated. According to him, his classmates (the boys) think his ideas and suggestions were strange and would often call him names....like "dummy", "clumsy","bumsy", "fatty".

My heart sank when I heard that! All along I had thought he was enjoying school and liked going to school. Little did I expect strong discrimination from his classmates. I suspect.................this may be related to racial discrimination.

As a parent, I had to encourage him and help him cope with the situation. We talked to him to understand the entire problem and then encouraged him to look for new friends; friends that would care and be kind to him instead of friends that call him names.

I am very upset with this ugly side of racial discrimination but I am also glad that my son is coping well. Being a happy-go-luck person, he was not discouraged nor unhappy. I hope this lesosn will help him to grow to be even stronger and equip him with necessary skills to face this ugly world.

A concerned parent

The Banking Experience

Here's another episode of my encounter with the local bank here....again the same old usual complaint about the level of customer service.

I had gone to the bank (a local national bank....listed on the Australian stock exchange) to apply for bank guarantee 2 weeks ago. After explaining to the personal banker about my background and my need, I had the confidence from the personal banker that there should not be any issue with my application for the bank guarantee. It would also cost approximately $300+ half yearly. The assurance and the lower cost for issuance of bank guarantee were the main reasons why I had decided to use this bank instead of using other banks. However, the bank needed 2 weeks to process the application and should be able to get the bank guarantee out by Friday. So, I had to inform my vendor accordingly about the delay.

On Monday of 2nd week, I called the same personal banker to enquire about my bank guarantee and was unable to reach the banker. I called again on Tuesday and managed to speak to the person....only to be told that she will check on the status and revert. Wednesday passed and still no news from the same personal banker. On Thursday, I called the personal banker again and she said she will revert in the afternoon. Again,....silence...and no news from her. I had to call in the evening after 5pm and was told by the operator that "I'm sorry,...there's nothing I can do" (this is a very typical response U get in Australia......which I need some getting used to).

The silence was broken only at 8.30pm from the personal banker who called and broke the bad news! My credit rating was very poor due to lack of credit history with the bank and I had to pay $600+ for half-yearly to secure the bank guarantee. The personal banker then claimed that she would not be in office on Friday and will get her bank manager to help me out with my case.

(This is really a chicken and egg problem.....how can I accumulate credit history and credibility if we have just arrived in this alien country? This is despite the pledge of full sum as fixed term deposit with the bank as security for the bank guarantee.)

Of course, I called the bank manager the very next morning when the branch opens to lodge my case. After a few calls, the bank manager finally called back and I had to explain my story to her. Several hours later, the bank manager called back and told me a totally different story. She said my application was rejected......not that I had to pay more! Imagine the shock that I had. She was also very unapologetic and said matter-of-fact that I would never be able to get a bank guarantee approved with the bank. She was even more unsympathetic and her only offer was to waive the bank charges for bank cheque which costs $8.

(Talk about customer service ......the same attitude also comes from the top too....its is no wonder the subordinates emulate same characteristics! Level of inconsistency between what the manager and the subordinate ........is also appalling and shocking! Now I understand why they say bankers lie!)

Upon demand from me, she reluctantly agreed to give me the phone number of their customer service to lodge my complaints. I had also insisted that I wanted for the telephone number of her manager...ie regional manager. Naturally, she was unwilling to do so....only acceded to my request to have the regional manager call me instead within the same day to help me with my bank guarantee. At 4.15pm (just before end of business day), I received a call from her that her regional manager will not be able to call me back until next week Tuesday!

Sigh...........help! A fustrated customer

The Shopping Experience

When someone mentioned that the customer service level in Australia was appalling...I couldn't believe it until I encountered it myself.

On the first week of arriving, we need to subscribe to the local mobile network so that we can use mobile for local usage. We queued at the Vodafone shop so that we could subscribe. We were at the shop slightly before 4.30pm. After waiting for 15 minutes...as there were one other customer ahead of us in the queue, we told that by the sales representative that they cannot process our application as it was already 4.45pm and they are closed at 5.00pm. They needed more than 30 minutes to process my application for a new line so....they chose to send me away and asked me to come back another day!

Talk about being hungry for business....competitiveness.......customer service....these words are not in the vocabulary of the sales representative......and not suprising that such similar attitudes could be/are exhibited elsewhere in Australia.

The Beginning

Finally, I managed to get down to organising and creating a blog for myself. Had always thought I should blog to share my personal experience living in Australia.....been thinking about it for days....months.....and finally the inertia is over.



The feelings prior to the move to Canberra Australia was initially exciting. I get to experience the 4 seasons.....summer, autumn, winter and spring. There were lots to things to do prior to the move but we eventually managed to get it all through.....not without some minor hiccups here and there.