Busy Bee

Now that Eric had gone back to the uni. I'm now left with stuff that were left half done and needs me to finish up. That's so not new, consider I had to keep an eye all the time and pick up the things lazy people just gracefully left behind. *Roll eyes*

There are 3 main things that are on my plate now.

1. Leaking grout in the downstairs bathroom. This was annoying as the person who lay the tiles (probably some doggy trades people), used Concrete instead of Grout. And this makes taking out the joining groove difficult. I had already blunt a grout removing blade from my electric multifunction tool. There is also the difficulty of having the new grout to join onto the old grout/concrete. *bleah!*
2. Wall paper in the other house. That whole place is literally all wrapped up from floor to ceiling with wall paper. It will be a messy job trying to take it down. Not to mention there are various other things wrong with the place. *sighs*
3. Painting the fence. Something I won't mind doing and will give this moldy place a good fresh paint of same look. (well, it's the same colour) 

Hope this will occupy  me for a while and get things moving. Hated it that the kitchen renovations are still half done, with the kitchen still in a mess and things overflowing to the other rooms/corridor due to the dust n dirt. Now that he is back in uni, I really wonder when it will be done. =S

On another note, I had a bit of catch up with my ex-colleague D yesterday. Initially wanted to ask her when my ex-boss is going to be back from his holiday (a friend wanted to see a doctor, so I recommend him, since there are no others I knew), but instead, I got the news that she had quit! Ha. 

She said things had gotten from bad to worse since I had left last year. She was over worked, under paid (I don't think he had given her a good pay to begin with) and this year, he did not deliver what he had promised on the pay rise. (Even dragging me down by saying that I was over paid *rolled eyes*)

She also mention that his Greed had not change a bit since I left, but seems to have grown a whole lot BIGGER! He now charges a whopping $247 for his initial consultation!! (Why? Cause there are a highly likely chance that the patients will not return due to the high fees, so he 'make up' on the loss by charging astronomical sum in the first visit. Through the years, I had observed new patient turn over rate for him was so high and retention rate so low... as low as only 1 in 10 will actually complete the treatment cycle. However, new patients will still continues to come, because of his self-declared Reputation as the 'guru' in the area, PLUS he had the $$$ to splash around to make his reputation big with media advertising and connections)

Talking about splashing $$, I was told he had bought 3 pieces of land in Bali to 'invest' and build houses. So his patients are his cash cows, feeding his extravagant lifestyle. Demand and supply you'd say. Well, Canberra had it's unique community of people. High earners, career minded women who wanted to give birth later n later, not to mention the IVF clinics that are making lots of money too. 

I am sad that people who genuinely needed his help, people who had to give up their income just to see him, were treated as 2nd-class patients.

Sigh...

On the other hand, I am happy that D is happy and enjoying her work as a Chinese medicine doctor in a busy clinic in Sydney. Her health is much better now and she is also doing part time Honours at her uni too!

*yay! great ending for her*

Oh yes, before I end off, I had FINALLY manage to call through to the HR personal of the clinic I had interest of working at weeks ago. This is ridiculous!

What made me more mad was that she actually gave me the SUPER LAME EXCUSE of:

'Oh, we are having trouble with our email system for a few weeks. I had replied to your email, but I think the system is having trouble to keeping track... blah  blah blah...' 

Seriously, people lying with their EYES wide open. For goodness sake, does a quick reply via text, phone call voice mail etc also cannot? I  had sent in like 2 emails and 2 voice mails and 4 calls to your clinic  (all in the span of the last 3 weeks) to try to reach you. And you give me this excuse?! Even tried to MIA with being sick.

Anyhow, I had no desire to be working there anymore, BUT I do appreciate that you can let me know SOONER, so I don't have to keep waiting FOR TIME IS PRECIOUS!

Inconsiderate.

kcan

Bush dance

YeeeeeHaaa!

It was the bush dance night for our church last night. It was a way people can come and gather and have fun together, plus inviting their friends to church events.

We did invite Eric's sis n aunt, but sadly they did not make it. Non the less, so many people turned up! 'About 200 people turned up!' , I heard from today's church service.
We had lots of food, live band music and of course many children n adults dressed up in their cowboy n dance girl attire.
Eric n I made a big pot of pumpkin soup n home-made Bready bread. (White n whole meal) With the multicultural mix of people at church, we had lots of food from fried rice-es ( few families cooked them), stews, chicken wings, pasta bake, salads, pies, steam buns, fried dumplings, sushi, soups (we are the only one making soup), curries, pizzas, chilli pot (!!), (take a deep breathe), and desserts such as cakes, ice cream puffs, wan-wan biscuits, more chocolate cakes, ice creams!
Haha, we had so much food left overs despite record number of people attending.

Just in case you are wondering why I can list out the food there yesterday.... Well, I was standing at the food table the whole night, organizing and arranging the various yummy food when people arrive to the event. It's a bring-a-dish event. Some Chinese brought their home cook chicken,  which consist of chicken wings with lots (and I mean LOTS!) of dried chili n Sichuan pepper. Oh my gosh, I was SO afraid that the kiddies there may mistaken them as red capsicum and put it in their plates. And by the end of the day when I get to queue up for my food, there were hardly any chicken wings left but a whole pot of dried chillies. Haha. I must say, the flavor was very yummy. But maybe not for a family event like yesterday where there were so many children around.

I hope the church will sent us the photos taken that day in the coming week. Will update you all with photos when I get them.

Eric is going back to uni tomorrow. Here comes another semester.

Kcan

Old house

Eric and I had been busy with the renovations at home for the last two weeks. It seems to be going no where as time is just not enough! When we fixed a tap, the other decides to leaks. Then the other one, and another one. Grrrr!

Anyhow, to add to our frustration, we now are in possess of another old house that is in need of renovation. Yes, an old house. It was their first home in Australia, and it is in great need of a love n facelift.  Hopefully, in due time, when we are finish with the renovations here in this big hell house, we can start moving to the other place and start living and doing the renovation there at the same time. 

Yay! Can't wait to be able to live away from the in-laws. 

So today's the day where I set foot into the place. They always talked about it but I had not been here before. It is not too far from where we are now. Basically they did not move out of the suburb. The house looks old from the outside. Large fenced off yard in the front and a small garden in the back. Entering from the front door, you can sense the age of the house, through the yellowed walls papers, faded carpets, hanging lights, old rugged door with old style handles....

Oh my, the whole house is filled with wall papered walls! Imagine the work needed to get rid of them and paint the walls. >_<

And the kitchen is in a great need of a change of face. 

And the old dirty curtains. I wonder how can you live with dirty curtains with dust n all on it? I even saw spiderweb on one of them, guess they did not move the curtains at all.

There are lots of things to be done. But glad that at least this will be a much better place to stay than a house with junk n endless work to do. (Aka: doing things for people who are incapable due to laziness)

Thank you for the blessings that comes so unexpectedly. 

Kcan

Waiting game

It had been almost 3 weeks since I had first sent in my expression of interest for a job ad on the TCM newsletter. I had gone twice to meet up with the clinic to check out the space and see how I can work there... Possibly.

Well you see, while Eric n I are still stuck in this space, trying to clean up the junk n all. It would be a good idea to take a break n work outside this space. Even if it is just few days a week. So Eric encourage me to sent in my expression of interest to the ad. But working at a clinic can be tricky, as they would not like you to live n work too close to them, so as to snatch business from them. Therefore from the start, I let them know that I am working at my own clinic and am seeing patients. The clinic I was interested in is at the infamous Kingscross, well far away from where I am staying. So that is ok. 

Last week Wednesday, Eric n I took a train ride into the city so that i can meet up with the HR person of the clinic. The meet up went quite well and the person showed me the clinic space ( which is tiny!) and what sort of things are included in the 60-40 split. Well, basically I had to provide everything that I use in treatment, from needles, heat lamp, herbs, machines.... They only gave you the room n help you with the admin n advertising side.

They need someone urgently, as there are no one doing the Wednesday shift while the other days are just half filled. 

So I told the person I may need a day or two to decide and if yes, I should be able to work in two weeks.... Which is next Monday!

So... What happened now. 

I am just annoyed and pissed that the person had not replied my email which I sent last Friday. Tried calling the number she gave me on the name card she gave me, no one picked up. I left a voice mail. Then still no reply on Wednesday ( yesterday). So I called again. This time, the phone call just go straight into voice mail. (Meaning that the mobile  is switched off or they just reject my call)

So I called up the clinic and to my surprise, the HR person had been away for the whole week. So the person on the phone wanted me to email the HR instead with regards to all matters. 

And so I did, another email and still no reply.

Seriously, I am done waiting. She is the worst person to be doing HR job, considering the people I had correspondence with before they recommended me to contact her, had have speedy responses. If you really need someone to work there, at least response! 

Don't expect me to start work on Monday. 

Bleah.

Kcan

DIY renovations

Dad n mum came for a short surprised visit last week. They only bought the tickets 1 day prior! But sadly, the weather had been storming non-stop while they were here. Even our trip to the Blue mountains, only allows us to see a fog filled views. 

We manage to catch a glimps of scenery, but we had to be quick, as the heavy fog draws like a curtain, closing in quickly.

Anyhow, the rain finally stopped the day they flew back to Perth. Oh how I love the sunshine! For the whole of this week, I had been doing lots of laundry washing and making full use of the beautiful sunshine. 

And as our visitors had gone, Eric n I started on our DIY projects around the house. 

1: There is the kitchen window frame that had been chewed up by the termites. Thus we need to replace the beams and frame. A huge project, that is still undergoing. Currently day 4!

This was how the kitchen window had been looking like since I've moved in early in the year. Pest control done, killed all the ants. Now just need to patch it up.

Eric started by measuring the plaster board to patch up the gaps. 

Doing all the measuring up. Created lots of dust. I got quite pissed off on the first day as he did not cover the things around the kitchen and dust flies all over. Guys... *roll eyes*

The first plaster board is up! Yay!

At the end of day 1, all the 3 plaster board are up. And finally, the kitchen wall is sealed.

Day 2:

We added the joint compound to join the plaster board together. Kinda like a cement. Had to apply many layers. Lots of waiting time. Realised that the beams behind the walls are not straight! So some places are budging out more than others. So had to put more compound to level it.

Eric's artwork is on the right, while I did the left side. Hehe. Who's one is nicer?

We had to leave it overnight to dry.

Day 3:

Me applying another layer to seal it. Looking good.

Today, we redo the sillicon grout at the wall. Nice n white. It was black with mold before.

We had to stop here as we will be having guest staying over the weekend. Next step for us will be to add a final coating layer, sand it down, then out the frame up, and finally paint it!

Will update more as we go.

Kcan

Invisible

Today while out at Westfield shopping, I witness a very saddening event. So much so that I felt disgusted at the lack of humane compassion in our society.

Eric n I were bursting to find a toilet before starting our shopping at Aldi. As I enter the female toilet, I saw a young Indian lady sitting right next to the hand washing basin, On The FLOOR. Yes, you are right, on the dirty toilet floor. And in her arms, is a small baby, nursing on her breast. 

As I was bursting to get to the toilet, I took a quick glance at her direction and quickly rush into a cubicle. While reliving myself ( sorry for the imagery), I wondered in my mind, what she was doing? How long has she been sitting on the floor for? Does she needs help? Does she knows that there are parenting rooms to safely breast feed in a hygienic environment? 

As I came out of my cubicle, I saw many women, glancing/ staring at her direction, before exiting the toilet. Why did no one approach her? 

I approached her. And with very simple English, I asked if she knows there are a very comfortable parenting room just around the corner. ( yes, I did washed my hands)

Waving her over and showing her the parenting room sign on the wall ( basically a baby sign), I ushered her into the parenting room, that is just 2 doors down the hallway. To tell the truth, I had never been into one before and I had always wanted to find out what is in there. There in the parenting room, welcoming us is a big comfortable sofa. Along the walls are two microwaves (for heating up baby milk/food) and nappy change tables. Gesturing her to take a sit here on the sofa instead, I said "comfortable". 

"Ok, yes, ok" was her replied. Confirming my suspicion that she could be a new migrant and not know much English. The baby gave me a big smile that melts my heart. I left them to continue the baby's meal time. However, I feel sorry that women in our society had failed to care for her. How could a women (many already with or past the age of having children) just turn a blind eye to a fellow woman, sitting in the middle of the toilet floor, breast feeding her baby! This is so degrading.

While waiting for Eric to come out of the toilet, I saw the woman carrying her son out to meet with her husband. She pointed to him the parenting room sign on the wall. I hope they will not have such experience again.

Kcan