Routine

...fighting it, while looking for it at the same time...

It's been now almost 2 months that I've been here, and I guess I'm sort of developing the pattern in everyday things and slowly but surely settling into the comfortable lifestyle:

Breakfast: cereal, sometimes in addition a boiled (in a kettle) egg. I have assortments of cereals and few fruit and yogurt types available so the nuber of combinations keeps variety (sort of) present.

Work: It's 2nd week of teaching now. I have 4 classes, two for each subject that I'm teaching. Each class has between 20 and 23 students; this is the same as the case used to be at the Melbourne. The main difference is that with the groups of students I have been assigned, I run lectures, tutes as well as labs. Another difference is that I'll have to put in some extra effort to get the students to appreciate different mode of learning - after all, as my job title implies, I'm suppose to provide a different classroom experience.

Swim: I am getting better and better by the day. Paying attention to the technique by keeping in mind all the lessons I picked up from reading swimming articles, is paying dividends. As the end result, I can ‘feel’ myself being ‘pulled’ through the water by ‘holding’ onto it for increasingly long periods.

Dinner: with David/Shan/Ed. We end up at Auntie’s place on most nights. It is the restaurant in the stretch of restaurants that is located 5 min walk beyond the Hawker centre. The restaurant has a similar menu and prices as a Hawker place, plus a friendly customer service with a smile – an old little Auntie that likes us – CRM truly goes a long way. [Auntie/Uncle == Madam/Sir].
On nights that we’re not at Auntie’s place for dinner then we provide Shan with an opportunity to further practice his already excellent culinary abilities – you are welcome Bhai!

After dinner it’s either the bed time, or meet down here in the lobby area of the building for a drink (beer/cider/whisky...wather/tea) while browsing the net and talking cock (BS).

Cleaning: on most weekends I do some cleaning. I finally figured out what my sister was talking about when mentioning those machine cycles – clothes come out clean and somewhat nice smelling (maybe I should put in more softener) – thanks Yogic.
(Cheers) Suzanne, an IF fellow, left us her things, that got accumulated in the appartment during her one year stay, once she moved back home to States few weeks ago. Guess who picked up majority, if not all, of the cleaning stuff – once a cleaner, always a cleaner :)
Ideally I’d be swinging that mop around once a week, as the apartment gets rather dusty even though it is on the 8th floor. It must be due to the near by motorway and the fact that I keep all windows open all the time…

In a way it seems like the two months have gone by very quickly, but on the other hand acclimatising to lifestyle here felt rather effortless, mainly thanks to David, Shan and number of guys at work, so in a way I feel like I've been here for a long time. This reminds me of a comment from the (local) colleague, who joined the School few weeks after me: "Thought you’ve been here for at least two years."