In Melbourne- Day 1

Yes I am now overseas again. Typing from a 24-hour MacDonalds. Tomorrow my course on Water Sensitive Cities begins. But today I arrived in Melbourne.

On the 7 & 1/2 hour flight to get here, I at first tried to sleep. Anyway the flight commenced around 12.30am, and it made sense to catch my winks. But I could not go to sleep. Maybe it had to do with the events at home earlier that evening- Luixing had a fall and had a bruise on his face. So somehow my consciousness stubbornly refused to rest. So I read a magazine, ate a potato salad. After the meal, I tried watching a movie, with the intention to tire myself out. And it worked. So I slept for a bit. By the time I woke up, the air stewardess was handing out warm hand towels so that we could freshen up to greet the morning. It was quite an agreeable flight- I had lots of space to stretch out my legs being seated next to the exit. Even being next to the bassinets did not dampen my time on the plan- if anything it reminded me of my children which I sorely missed. So some bawling, some crying from the babies were, in a strange kind of way, quite welcome.

After getting through customs and out of the airport, I hopped onto a cab to take me to Mannix College where I would be putting up. The taxi fare came up to over AUD$90! for a half an hour trip. Whew. Lucky for me this fare would be claimed from the office.

My accommodation was actually quite nice- a bedroom with a small living area attached. Sorry no photos (did not bring it to MacDonalds). I brought photos of wife and kids, which I then propped up to display on one of the shelves in the room. The room had two heaters. I brought the spare one and plugged it in as well, to prepare myself for lower temperatures at night.

Lunch at the school hall (from 12pm onwards) was some squares of spaghetti (what do you call these) dunked in a generous proportion of tomato sauce. I added some salad and two hard boiled eggs. I wanted to eat more since this meal was to last me until dinner time which was 6pm.

Tried calling from the school's public phone, but it was not working. Internet was also problematic, as the password provided by the course organisers did not work. I went out, took a bus to the nearest train station, half-thinking that I would then take the train into the city. Along the way, it started to rain.

Arrived at Huntingdale Station, and made a phone call to Xiaoying's handphone. We spoke for a while, but I had to hang up because they were busy trying to get a taxi from church to back home. I was to call again in about 20 minutes. After I hung up, Xiaoying messaged me. It said that Chunchun burst out in tears after I hung up. I was heart-broken. I called again at a phone booth at Huntingdale Station, feeling very sad and bad that her papa was not around.

After this, I took the train to Melbourne Central, which is like Orchard Road in a way: it has shops, offices and it is where locals go to to hang out.

I didn't stay long. I walked around from 2 plus to about 4pm. Remembering it would get dark from 5pm onwards, I then took the train from Flinders Street station back to Huntingdale. From Huntingdale, I took the bus back to Mannix College. Spotted a MacDonalds along the way, and thought I could go there to get onto the internet.

But first dinner. Dinner was rice with curry chicken and potatoes at Mannix College. The dining hall cook said to me, "Oh it's a bit spicy.." Fantastic! I gulped everything down, thanking God that there was curry in Melbourne. And I was wondering when would I get to eat rice again, when I was wondering around Melbourne Central.

After dinner, I went back to room, munched on an apple (taupau-ed from dinning hall)- not crunchy- while watching TV. I tried reading some background materials for the course, but found myself drifting to sleep (subject was too demanding- it had been a long day). After a while, I took a shower, watched some TV again, then packed up laptop in backpack to go to MacDonalds for skype-ing.

At MacDonalds, I ordered an orange juice (I did the same when I was at Orlando Macs) and sat down. Skyped a while, and then Xiaoying, concerned for my safety, asked that we end and then quickly get back to Mannix dorm.