let's tail an L plater, shall we?

After having my first driving lesson with a driving instructor last Wednesday, mum decided to take me to Ingleburn on Thursday to learn how to get there and understand the geography of the area and the the possible driving routes I may have to take for my driving test. Yes, I'm talking my driving test at Ingleburn. Why so far? That's because all my friends that have been there for their P test all said it was easy to pass. I pray to God that they're right about this >.<. It took us an hour to get to Ingleburn from our place, when it's supposed to only take about 30 - 34 minutes. It also literally took us 1/2 look for the RTA after getting there ... the shopping district there was definitely a maze and the RTA itself was small. It wasn't like the Whetherill Park RTA or the Fairfield RTA. Oh no, it was the size of a small business shop, stuck between a pub and a shop... How were we suppose to find something that small when we were expecting something big like Fairfield's RTA?!

It wasn't enough to just get there and find the RTA. No, mum wanted more. She made me wait for an L license kid to take their driving test and then tail them just to see the types of route one would take if they were getting tested there. It was embarrassing. Downright embarrassing. Mortifying, even. But I couldn't say no. As outrageous and ridiculous the plan sounded, she was right. I didn't know the area, so it was only fair that I should drive around to see how I might be tested. It still didn't stop me feeling embarrassed though. Also, there were barely any cars around because it was school holidays, so it was extremely obvious that we were following them >.<. Now that I think about it, I also felt bad for the kid because if I were them, I'd freak out if I knew someone was tailing me during my test. Then again, I guess it wasn't so bad since it should be obvious what I was doing, seeing I'm also an L plater too lol. Though, halfway through the test, I really wanted to stop. Unfortunately, if I did, we wouldn't know how to get back. We didn't know our way around there after all. They actually even drove over to Minto for their test route =S. After around 30 minutes later, we got back to Ingleburn (Thank God!). Mum finally decided to go home.

Unfortunately, mum accidentally pointed to the wrong direction and sent me down to M5 highway instead... The maximum speed was 110km/hr and I was only allowed to drive 80km/hr. Seeing how risky it was, mum told me to stop on the side to let her drive instead. Hence, mum drove all the way home. I was grateful for that because after driving for a couple of hours straight can be quite tiring. It wasn't the driving that made me tired, it was the arguments about the directions with mum that made it tiring, and I was also getting cranky and hot from the temperature inside the car. What a day!

sportmanship becomes non-existent when it comes to playing pool

On Friday 8th, July, after our clinical placements were over we had lunch one last time with our facilitator and our nursing friends, at Lindt Cafe, before Paz and I went to Townhall to rendezvous with my friends. My friends already ate before meeting up with us. 

We went to K1 for karaoke and chose to sing for 2 hours, rather than for 3 hours, because we get complimentary drinks if we did. Oddly enough, they weren't as loud as the last time I went karaoke with them, nor as active. But I finally get to listen to Jenifer's voice =) it really did sound like Taylor Swift, but like a younger version or something hahaha =) she sounded great =D. I was also having fun promoting Paz and her talent in singing but as usual, she was all modest and embarrassed about it lol. 

A group photo with just the girls =).

After karaoke, we just loitered around outside the building before finally deciding to go to Market City as our next destination. We walked through Chinatown to look at the street shops and all, but by the time we reached Market City, half of the group decided to go home =/. After bidding our goodbyes and taking a couple of photos, the rest of us went upstairs to the toilets. We then loitered inside the shopping centre before deciding to go have dinner at Chat Thai. Thanh and Sarah left before they could join us for dinner =/ oh wells, there's always next time =). The food at Chat Thai was delicious and the price wasn't too expensive either =). It was pretty crowded and the interior design was quite stylish too. They even played jazz music in the background hahaha =). Tae joined us for dinner because he just got off work and didn't have dinner yet. He also couldn't go home because he had a night shift later that night at another hospital, so he joined us for the rest of our outing. Before I forget, Yibo was HILARIOUS!!! We were talking about eskimos when Yibo said the funniest thing ever hahaha! I had the urge to text Mx the quote HAHAHA!!!

'Do Eskimos live in eskies?' - Yibo W.

After dinner, we went to Galaxy World at Market City. Paz, Tae and I went to ride the bummer cars =D it's been so long since the last time I played. We then played air hockey. Yibo and I had an intense game and let me tell you, wear gloves and protection when you play with Yibo because there were so many times where he hit the puck off table. There were a couple of times where he accidentally hit my hand with the puck as well lol! But it was a good game, he won with 7 to 6. By then, Stanley, Eric and Vicky had to head home.

We went to this place full of pool tables to play pool but all the tables were taken already. Hence, one of the staff members took us their second store. It was pretty funny because he took us there via a dark, barely lit back alley path way of some sort. We were all laughing at our situation, but I was glad that there were 5 of us and just one of him. We finally made it to the second store =D. We played pool for about an hour, girls verses boys, and for all three rounds, the boys won. Yibo practically killed us all with his skills hahaha. Hence, I guess that's why the girls (including myself) began distracting him in hope that he'd lose his winning streak HAHAHA yes, our sportsmanship became non-existent when us females became desperate to win. Near the end, I guess Tae was in the rush because he finally showed his skills and took out as many pools as Yibo did lol! For me, I thought I played better than I thought I would hahaha =) though, I think I need to hit harder next time lol. Many thanks to Yibo for teaching us the proper way of playing the game hahaha =). 

After the game, which only cost us $16 altogether for an hour (talk about cheap! =D), Tae left for his shift and we all went home. On the train ride back to Parramatta, where Yibo's car was packed, Carmen and I had a lot of fun make up names with people's funny last names after I told her about Minhky's joke about telling Danny to call his future daughter's name Holy because his first name was Cao LOL!!! I think I hit it off quite well with Carmen =) I had a lot of fun talking to her =D. Many thanks to Yibo for driving Carmen, Paz and I home =). It was funny because before he started to drive us home, he realised his GPS was out of batteries and he didn't have his phone, and neither Paz and I knew how to get back to our houses from Parramatta LOL! So using my phone, we called Eric to get Harrison's number in order to borrow his GPS. Then we drove to Harrison's house, got the GPS and THEN we were finally able to get home safely =). Since we were pressed on time, with Yibo's time restriction closing in on us, he told us all to wind back our mobiles and watches so if we really did get busted by the police, we could all say that we didn't know because of the time differences hahaha! Thankfully, we didn't get busted by the police =). It was a fun and long day =).

PS. Thanks Jenifer for the photos =).

friendly dinner @ Mimi's

Thanh decided to cook us dinner on Friday, 1st of July, at Mimi's house. While waiting, we helped plate our the table before we went to play Band Hero. Dinner was served around 7PM instead of 5PM. Thanh did a good job cooking all by himself. It wasn't because we didn't help, but more like he didn't let us help lol. He cooked Mexican chili con carne, Vietnamese rice paper rolls and Italian pasta =). They were all delicious. We took this time to catch up with everyone and to see what people were up to these days. 

After dinner, we continued with Band Hero. Unfortunately, Thanh experienced an allergic reaction; his eyes became swollen and red. We assumed it might have been because he washed the prawns and touched his eyes by accident. Wendy, Kelly, Stanley and I accompanied him to Woolworths but they didn't have any antihistamines, allergy remedies and what not that, well the ones that Thanh wanted anyways. Fortunately, Kelly had some at her house so we drove to her house and she got some for Thanh. Within 5 minutes, his eyes looked much better. 

When we got back to Mimi's house, we played a games of Scrambles. We thought Kelly would win because she made a couple of words worth 30 points max, but in the end, Mimi came out as the victor and Kelly actually lost the game LOL! What an expected turn of events. After the game, we all helped clean up and wash the dishes. Eventually, people left. By 11 o'clock, there were only a few of us left. Actually, we only stayed back to watch Mimi's clock strike 11:00 PM and start singing and all hahaha =D. I wouldn't mind having a clock like that! And apparently, it sings a different song every hour too =D !!! Before we all left, we had a discussion on who should finish Thanh's rocky road off and Mimi end up keeping it all for herself lol xD. Many thanks to Kelly for driving me home =). It was a lovely dinner and a nice night to spend time with my friends. Many thanks for Mimi's hospitality and Thanh's cooking as well =).