Laughter, the best medicine

A funny anecdote:

Overheard today at Coles Melbourne Central when I was doing my shopping:
A Coles employee telling a shopper at the fruit aisle wondering which pears to pick:

"Have you tried the fruits at Queen Victoria Market? They're bigger and cheaper."

I wonder what the boss thinks if he were to walk past.

Heartstrings

From Rolf Lovland, Secret Garden:

We have invisible heartstrings between us.Our hearts are woven into these fine and sensitive threads that tie us together. These strings can only be seen with our hearts. But sometimes we step on these strings because we are not careful enough and that causes strong pain.

A new chapter (?) in my working life

It's now official - I've lost my Saturday job. It's a battle of the giants - Chemist Warehouse vs. Priceline Pharmacy, and Chemist Warehouse won. Which means, as of February 15th, 2009, all staff at Priceline Sunshine will be unemployed. A. broke the news on Friday morning as I was on the tram to work.

How do I feel, at this very moment? My emotions are very mixed - relief that I don't have to deal with those bloody druggies anymore ever ever(!!), sadness that I've lost my major income. (Basically a day there is equivalent to 2 days at my full time job)

But God reminded me to be grateful, because:
On that very morning I received the call that Priceline Sunshine is now kaput Chris (the boss at my full time) came in and said how pleased he was with the way I'd been managing his business - with ordering, stock control, customers..and that if I couldn't find any other jobs and wanted to increase my hours all I needed to do was just ask. He would always fit in something. For Chris to come in is usually about complaints, or to ask staff to implement things that he needed done. And then he explained that was why he hardly comes in to my particular store, as he had no need to. For me, that was a huge encouragement. To know that at least, there is still a job waiting for me, at the very least...that my boss would still keep aside something for me and not leave me out in the dark - for that, I am grateful.

And this morning, when I broke the news to one of my Saturday regulars to tell her I would be leaving soon, I was touched to see her cry. It meant a lot to see that, at the very least, I must have meant something more to my customers than being just their dispensing chemist.

And that is one of the reasons why I love my current full time job: because my customers don't stay customers - you form heartstrings.

Why I love Footscray

Footscray...whenever this suburb in Melbourne comes up in conversations it is usually.."the suburb where you see junkies everywhere, the siren of ambulance almost every day or the grotesque view of a druggie OD-ing on the street"....where loud yells of "Du Ma" are heard, Vietnamese and Africans everywhere...to the point where you wouldn't believe it is in Melbourne. Nowadays, it goes more by the name "Footscary"


To emphasise my point, here's a picture of a typical day in Footscray (btw, my bf was the only white guy there)

But I'm in love with Footscray, for all its junkies and drugs. For starters it was the place where my career as a pharmacist took off, where the first two years of my working life was spent. Whenever I step off the train at Footscray station it feels as if I'm transported back to Brunei, which I still call as home. The old footpaths, the painted walls, the tiles..the pavement..and above all..the people...remind me of my birthtown, Kuala Belait. You've never seen so many Asians concentrated at any one place in Melbourne, nor hear so many conversations spoken that are not English. The pushing and shoving to get service first at the vege market, the dirty floors, the bargaining for already ridiculously cheap meats...I learnt quickly that there's no need to exercise good manners or queue in line when you're at Footscray, otherwise you'll end up still being there when everyone's finished off for the day. And people aren't going to thank you for letting them go first. Footscray truly brings out the "Asian" in me, from the cheap thrill of securing good bargain meat/fish, to enjoying a huge bowl of Vietnamese rice noodles for only $6.50. And 1kg oranges for only 99 cents! You can't even find oranges that cheap in Brunei!

Anyways, we went this weekend for the Chinese/Vietnamese Lunar New Year Festival, to experience the hubdub during CNY (Chinese New Year) that I sorely miss in Brunei.

Here's a snapshot:

I tool Paul to eat this popular Vietnamese delicacy - a boiled duck egg with a half formed chick inside. Apparently the Vietnamese eat this like Chinese people drink tea. You're supposed to chip off the top bit of the eggshell (and not peel the whole shell off so the juices are still contained in the egg), mix it with Vietnamese mint leaves, sprinkle a bit of salt, and you eat all the insides of the chick (the eyes,beak and half-formed body) together with the yolk. Tasty, huh?

So, duck egg, anyone?