[05/94] Back in Melbourne...

I'm finally back in icy cold Melbourne. Arrived at an unearthly hour of 4am on SATURDAY. Hung around the airport till 6am before boarding a cab (no taxi surcharge after 6am) to my cozy apartment. Was quite pleased to be back in my nice apartment. I did miss some parts of my solitary life in Melbourne while I was back in S'pore in the company of my beloved family & friends. Nonetheless, it was hard being away from home once again. I miss MyHubby so much. =(

I unpacked bits of my luggage then proceeded to give my apartment a good clean. It wasn't too dusty cos all the windows were closed so no dust or dirt could get in. Went to bed after that to catch up on sleep. As I laid myself on my comfy albeit semi-foreign bed, I felt the full impact of leaving home for the 2nd time. My apartment was so silent it was deafening. I missed the patter of footsteps at home, missed the sound of Sis's voice, missed the banter of Dad & Mom, missed the laughter of MyHubby. At that poignant moment, I was overwhelmed by sadness. I don't know how long it was before I succumbed to sheer exhaustion & finally shut my eyes.

I awoke. It was noon. Dropped Michelle an SMS to inform her that I'm back in Melb & also to see if she was available for lunch. It so happened that she was already finishing her lunch in town. So I decided to trudge down to Safeway for my much-needed grocery shopping. My fridge was as empty as the silence of my apartment. Got myself tower bread, margarine, honey ham, eggs, milk & chicken wings. Whatever was necessary to see me through my hungry moments.

Got down to settling my school fees, electricity bill & telephone bill. Decided to go for repose round 2. Awoke just in time for a friend's (Br) birthday party. There were 14 of us in all, of whom only 2 were familiar to me (Br & Jy). So I basically got to meet many new people. What a treat on my 1st day back in Melb. & the coolest thing was, one of them is my ex-colleague's younger sister. Will wonders never cease? Anyway, we'd thai cuisine for dinner & then adjourned to Br's place for drinks. Drank quite a fair bit & got back to my apartment pretty flushed, with a mild headache.

Took a nice warm shower, then headed to Michelle's apartment a floor below mine. I was very happy to see her. It felt so good to finally see a familiar face in a foreign land. I was overwhelmed by a warm sense of familiarity & closeness. There's nothing like having a buddy close by. At that point in time, I was really thankful to have formed friendships that could see me through tougher times like these. We spent quite some time chatting & catching up. Everything felt so nice & cozy & I immediately felt much better. I felt less alone. Bit by bit, the fact that I was physically in Melbourne started to sink in. & by the time I left Mich's apartment, I knew I was alright again & that I was prepared to face the challenges of the new semester ahead.

It's amazing how the many friends I've made in Melbourne (including the 14 new people I've met over dinner) cannot compare to the one S'pore friend I've known since long time ago. I guess friendships do grow with time. & I'm just glad I've got sufficient of these age-old friendships to be proud of. All of u know who u are... Thank u for being my friend (sounds like primary school essay but what the heck, this comes from the heart!).

SUNDAY was adventure day for Mich & I. We spent all day shopping in town & we bought so much stuff! Clearly we were overambitious & ended up with more bags than we could handle. But we survived all the same. Why? Cos we're survivors! Ok ok, I can HEAR MT cringing at the cornyness. Let's see, just what did we get between us? 3 pairs of boots, vacuum cleaner, 3 big bottles of juices, 18 rolls of toilet paper, shampoo & conditioner, solo drink, a set of 4 cappuccino glasses, sandwich maker, couple of tubes of toothpaste & some other I-can't-remember-what items. *appalled at self* We finally got back to our apartments after much huffing & puffing. Freshened up a bit & then headed to Lygon Street for yummy dinner @ Cafe Trevi.

Got home only to be greeted by an overwhelming MSN chat. There was JY, Kn, MT, JA+HerBoy, MyHubby & of course, Mich & me. Chatting with 7 people at one go is a real feat! But man, it was real fun! Hee hee! Finally knocked out at 2+ in the morning. Woah!

TODAY is the 1st day of a brand new semester. Nothing else needs be said. Bleah!

In other news, I Love MyHubby! So Very Much! *hugs & kisses*