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Claudia's
Visit
by
Melissa Seow
20th November 2007
In its bid to
get to know us better, Sime Darby made a
visit to Melbourne – the city with the
majority of its Australian scholars – in the
form of Ms Claudia Cadena, Group Manager of
Talent and Performance. Arriving in
Melbourne on the 20th of November
2007 to a warm welcome by the executive
committee, she checked into Rydges on
Swanston and proceeded to lunch in the city.
After a few
hours rest, we brought Claudia to Max
Brenner for dinner. Her sweet tooth was
definitely satisfied! Chor and I then took
her to Southbank for a stroll along the
Yarra and a tour of the Crown complex. After
watching Crown’s signature fire show on the
banks of the Yarra, we made our way to Café
Notturno on Lygon Street for an informal
chat session with some of the scholars.
The chat
session provided an open, casual setting for
the scholars to voice their issues and any
queries. About 12 scholars came to discuss
matters and to catch up. Claudia was
incredibly informative; providing thorough
answers to our questions as well as updating
us on the current events in Sime Darby. The
evening ended with everyone feeling happy
and contented.
The following
day, Chor and I brought Claudia to the
University of Melbourne for a tour. Although
it was raining cats and dogs, she managed to
visit the Engineering and Commerce
buildings, the Bailieu Library, computer
labs and Union House. We then had lunch at
Union House for a taste of the typical
student life – in the form of food. Claudia
was hugely impressed by the University’s
conducive learning environment and its
facilities.
After lunch,
we went window shopping at Melbourne
Central, before escorting her back to the
hotel for a well-deserved rest. We later met
in the lobby at 6.15pm, ready to roll for
the first ASDS Annual Dinner at Sawasdee
Thai Restaurant in Chinatown.
Twenty of the
24 Melbourne scholars attended the dinner,
which was graciously sponsored by Sime
Darby. The rest, unfortunately, were still
battling with examinations. It was a truly
refreshing experience as scholars took the
opportunity to further bond with Claudia as
well as with each other. During the dinner,
I gave a short speech and presented Claudia
with an Australian clock as a token of our
appreciation. The dinner then wrapped up
with a photo session and we bade farewell to
Claudia, who was to fly back home the next
afternoon.
Claudia’s
visit was a commendable effort by Sime Darby
as it helped establish a stronger channel of
communication between the scholars and the
company. We hope that this initiative will
become a permanent feature of Sime Darby’s
scholar development program in the years to
come.
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Paintball!
by Chor Weng Lai
16th September 2007
Here’s a riddle for you - what do you
get when you put pellets, a high-powered gas marker, and
a bunch of not-quite-angst-ridden ASDS together?
Any ideas?
Paintball, that’s what!
So it was on
a typical winter’s day (read: windy and overcast) in
September (the 16th, to be precise) that 10
of us gathered at the newly-opened World Series
Paintball in Oakleigh’s Hamilton St at 12.30.
After some
delays partly due to the not-very-efficient staff, we
were issued our battle armour…sweat-soaked helmets and
slightly-greasy garments resembling the offspring of a
pair of dungarees and a long-sleeved T-shirt. And for
“small” sums of money, optional equipment such as a
chest protector, gloves, and so on.
Finally,
after much running through the rules, fuss over
defective lockers, and general hanging-around, we
actually got to do what we came (and paid $50) to do –
shoot people without criminal consequence. Being a small
group of ten however, we were bunched with another small
group for a 8-on-8 paint fest.
The action
was far from fast or frantic at first. “Cautious”
probably best described the mood – the overriding tactic
was to avoid getting shot. But as time ticked on,
patience wearing thin, and nobody really doing much, a
few brave souls emerged – to much inaccurate gunfire.
Eventually
however, we all got the hang of our weapons and started
firing them with gay abandon. It was a most peculiar
feeling – like being immersed in a real-life game of
Counter-Strike. 200 paintballs don’t last very long
unfortunately; some of us having to buy refills, others
(such as myself) resorting to pellet-rationing and the
frankly quite illegal tactic of picking un-burst pellets
off the ground.
There were
five fields in which to play a variety of scenarios –
cops and robbers (robbers to steal treasure, cops to
stop them); assassination (where one player is the
“VIP”, one team of “bodyguards” and the other a team of
assassins); capture-the-flag; and the standard
team-based combat.
Capture-the-flag proved to be the most intense, with
both sides engaging in a “Cold War” scenario of sorts,
before a brave/suicidal fellow dashed out to grab the
flag. From that point on it was trench warfare, with
both sides taking pot-shots at each other while trying
to bring the flag to base.
It was an enjoyable trip, with time
passing quickly. In my opinion, it unfortunately wasn’t
as social as July’s potluck gathering, due to the 10 of
us being split up. Maybe with more of us next time it’ll
be better (hint hint – come on everybody!).
But some 2000+ paintballs, and six or seven hours later,
the 10 heroes and heroines of this story emerged from
the fields of battle to a drizzling sky; tired, hungry,
smelly (might have just been me), and not quite
battle-scarred.
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YSD
Scholar's Potluck Gathering
by Kelvin Chong
28th July 2007
When any ASDS member is
told about a club gathering, three things come into
mind:- first week of uni term, BBQ and College Square.
It’s a tradition for the club to have a gathering at the
start of each university term, a BBQ one typically, held
in a place known as College Square. However, BBQs are
quite commonplace in Australia, and most of us members
have had a couple of such experiences. Furthermore, it’s
winter and not many warmed up to the idea of having an
outdoor BBQ. So everyone agreed to have something
different this time. It shall be a potluck gathering in
Amir, Farhan & Muaz’s cosy apartment unit at the
Parkville Commonwealth Games Village.
‘Potluck gathering’ can
perhaps be considered a misnomer in this instance, as
many of us ended up just bringing ourselves. The roast
lamb, roast pumpkin & potatoes, dim sims and mushroom
soup were readily whipped up by a few cheerful chaps,
while the charcoal chicken, chips and drinks were bought
from outside. The roast lamb, which was prepared by
Hafiidz with a touch of skill and lots of love, proved
an instant hit. His secret recipe for chicken or lamb
marinade never fails. Not that Thanksgiving Day was
coming soon, but roast turkey was supposed to be in the
menu. Unfortunately, turkey was not in season, and we
had to have lamb instead. Nonetheless, everyone enjoyed
the juicy and tender roast lamb. The mouthwatering roast
pumpkin and potatoes were crowd winners as well.
The hosts, as gracious as
ever, allowed all members full access to their
entertainment facilities. There was Play Station 2
(PS2), pool, foosball and card games to entice the
crowd. However, nothing tops good ol’ chit chat. There
were 17 scholars who turned up; 15 regulars and 2 new
faces. The 2 new scholars were warmly welcomed to the
ASDS family. Some of us were talking about how we almost
got lost on our way here. Indeed, this was the first
time coming here for some of us, and it is a fair bit of
walking to do from the closest tram stop or train
station. But armed with a map and accompanied by a group
of friends, everyone made it here eventually. It was
good exercise in winter. However, considering the
delicious menu for that day, whatever benefits gained
from that exercise were quickly lost at lunchtime.
Everyone had a good time
catching up with each other, and a sense of muhibbah and
camaraderie among club members was prevalent. By 6pm,
everyone had left, save for a few guys who were still
hooked on PS2.
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ASDS Movie
Night
by Kelvin Chong
5th May 2007
One of the
most anticipated blockbusters of the year,
Spiderman 3 has just been released. To catch
Spidey in action, our club has organized a
Movie Nite to watch this movie on its third
day of release. Spiderman 3 was also being
screened at the IMAX Theatre in the Carlton
Gardens. To make this activity even more
special, we decided to watch Spiderman 3 on
this extra large screen.
 A $5 discount
off movie tickets was offered to all ASDS
members. However, not a very huge number of
members turned up as it was deep into the
semester, and many were tangled in a thick
web of assignments and projects, while the
rest had other plans that night. The movie
started at 9pm. However, the ones who could
make it had already started queuing up from
as early as 8pm, since it was free-seating.
The crowd on Saturday night was huge.
Our
anticipation paid off, and we managed to get
a good seat at the back, without having to
strain our necks. Everyone got excited when
the lights dimmed, indicating that the movie
was about to start. The opening scene was
quite spectacular, with Mary Jane, Peter
Parker’s love interest singing on Broadway.
Action was to follow, and unlike the
prequels, Spiderman faced three adversaries
this time; Sandman, Green Goblin Jr and an
alien symbiote, which corrupted his
personality. The third adversary was
arguably the most damaging to Peter Parker,
since it aused his relationship with Mary
Jane to be strained.
The action in
the movie was thrilling, and one of the
girls in our club screamed each time it came
to a very tense moment. She rode on a
rollercoaster of emotions, as if she had
immersed herself fully into the movie and
had become one of its characters. However,
all the girls were drooling at the charming
good looks of James Franco, who played Green
Goblin Jr, and were left heartbroken when he
met a tragic end.
The movie ran
for 2 hours and 20 minutes, and when it
finally ended, everyone agreed that it was
good, and did indeed live up to the
expectations of the prequels, which enjoyed
enormous success. The girls left the cinema
with a take home assignment:- check out
James Franco on Google.
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Meet the Aussies AFL
Match
by Kelvin Chong
21st April 2007,
Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) |
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As
part of an initiative to get
international students to know the
culture, way of life and favourite
sports of the local Australians a
little better, the Melbourne
University Overseas Student Service
(MUOSS) was organizing a Meet the
Aussies AFL Match Viewing, and free
tickets was given out to anyone
interested to watch the match. The
Australian Football League (AFL)
match between Collingwood and Port
Adelaide was to be played on a
Saturday in the Melbourne Cricket
Ground (MCG). After finding out the
members who were interested, ASDS
applied for 8 tickets to watch the
match, and made this our club’s
first outing for the year.
It
was raining that day, but the match
started at 2:10pm without any delay.
The stadium wasn’t packed to the
brim, and we managed to get a good
view of the players and the field
from our seats. Collingwood made an
explosive start to the match,
scoring the first kick in the second
minute. Collingwood seemed to be the
more aggressive side, pushing
forward all the way. However, Port
Adelaide defended well, and although
did not look very sharp, still
managed to match Collingwood point
for point. The points margin between
both sides was kept to a minimum.
Watching an AFL match live was very
different from watching it on the
television. The atmosphere in the
stadium was very lively, with lots
of cheering from the predominantly
Aussie crowd. Australian rules
football is one of the most followed
sports in Australia, and unlike
rugby, points are typically
collected by kicking the oval-shaped
ball through the poles on one end of
the field, not by touchdowns.
Kicking the ball through the middle
poles earns a team 6 points, while
kicking the ball through the side
poles earns a team 1 point. The
match was exciting, with lots of
quick passes, brutal tackling, neat
marking and beautiful kicks. Being
Melbourne residents like the
majority of the crowd, we found
ourselves supporting Collingwood,
and cheered each time they scored.
By
the end of the third quarter of the
match, although Collingwood seemed
to be the better team, both teams
were tied at 66 points. However, in
the final quarter, there was sudden
dip in form by the Collingwood team,
and there were thrown into disarray
as kick by kick was scored by Port
Adelaide, which was growing in
confidence. It was a dismal quarter
for Collingwood. They never
recovered from the slump, and never
did score a single point. When the
final horn blared, it was 84-66 to
the visitors.
This
was our first time watching an AFL
match live, and ‘mate, AFL sure is
entertaining’ was the confession
from a bunch of soccer-crazy fans. |
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MUOSS Night
Market
by Kelvin Chong
24th March 2007,
Melbourne University Concrete Lawns |
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As a
newly established club, we were
finding ways to raise funds. We saw
a window of opportunity when the
Melbourne University Overseas
Student Service (MUOSS) announced
that it was going to organize a
night market on the 24th
of March, 2007. 24 clubs and
societies would be setting up a
stall in the university’s Concrete
Lawns to sell food to outside
visitors, and our club is one of
them.
The
food to be sold by our club that
night included Thai Royal Red Curry,
Thai Green Curry, Kransky sausages,
pizzas, chicken kebabs, fried
chicken wings, Yong Tau Foo and ros
bandung. All food came from three
sponsors, save for the Yong Tau Foo
and ros bandung, which were prepared
by a few enthusiastic girls in our
club, who experimented with recipes
found in Google with great success.
The
night market began with some
cultural dance performances and some
speeches. While the dances were
going on, a few boys in our club
went down to the city to pick up the
food from our sponsors, while the
rest were busy decorating our food
stall. After what seemed to be a
fine, sunny afternoon, it began to
rain all of a sudden. Due to the
heavy rain and some unforeseen
delays, we only began to sell food
at 7pm, about an hour late.
A
duty roster has been prepared. Some
club members were preparing or
heating up the food, some were
serving the food, some were
collecting the cash, while the rest
were doing some ‘direct selling’ to
curious passerbys. It was a busy
night, as visitors came in droves.
It was quite hilarious watching the
‘marketing executives’ on duty
‘lelong’ at the top of their voices
ala ‘pasar malam’ style to draw the
crowd to our food stall.
Satisfaction brewed, as the till
began to fill. All members on duty
were soaking up the atmosphere while
soaking up the rain. Everyone was
clearly enjoying themselves, and not
even the pouring rain could dampen
our lively spirits.
The
delicious aroma of the Thai Royal
Red Curry filled the air, drawing
many visitors who were keen to have
something hot on a wet day. This
dish, together with the fried
chicken wings and ros bandung,
proved to be the bestsellers for the
night. The thick, savoury gravy of
the Yong Tau Foo also drew many
friends of ours, who knew what we
were selling by word of mouth, to
check out this Malaysian specialty.
At
about 9:30pm, we began to slash down
prices of food sold as the night
market was fast drawing to a close.
There was a last minute scramble to
buy up the food on display as people
came to take advantage of the
massive discounts on our set deals.
At 10pm, we closed our food stall,
and cleaned up the mess. There were
still some unsold leftovers, which
we brought to an apartment at
Lincoln Place to celebrate the
successful running of the food sale.
The
organizing of the night market was a
good experience for all
participating members in terms of
event planning and sales. It was our
first interaction as a newly set up,
non university-affiliated club with
other university-affiliated clubs.
Everyone had fun that night, while
raising funds for the club at the
same time. |
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Scholar Mentor Scheme by Kelvin Chong
3rd
- 24th March
2007
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The
Scholar Mentor Scheme (SMS) was
launched in the beginning of week 2
of semester one, and finished at the
end of week 4. There are a total of
4 new SD scholars who are beginning
their studies in Australia during
semester one of 2007. To assist the
new scholars with their transition
to life Down Under, each junior
scholar was paired up with a senior
scholar. The senior scholar would
act as a mentor, and during the
three weeks of the SMS, arrange for
a meet up with the new scholar once
each week to discuss any issues the
scholar may have and give advice. It
can be university, studies, housing,
work or relationship issues. The
idea is for the mentor to help the
new scholar adapt to life Down
Under.
The
mentor is responsible for arranging
a meeting time convenient to both
mentor and scholar each week. The
meeting may take place in between
classes, during lunch breaks, in the
form of a stroll in the park, or
anything. Of the four new scholars,
three are studying commerce, one is
studying electrical engineering.
Whenever possible, each junior
scholar is matched up with a senior
scholar who is doing the same
course.
The
junior scholars have benefited a lot
from the SMS, and the greatest
benefit was the assistance received
from their mentors in studies. A few
junior scholars received useful
advice on doing assignments from
their mentors, and performed well in
their assignments. A junior scholar
found that his mentor was such a
good teacher in the subject he was
doing, and found as a result that he
could understand the subject content
very clearly, and could teach his
fellow classmates who were
scratching their heads. Praises for
his mentor was forthcoming in the
club’s Yahoo Groups forum. This is
networking and knowledge transfer at
its best. |
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Scholars BBQ
Gathering by Kelvin Chong
3rd March
2007, College Square Lygon Street
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The ASDS family is getting larger. 4 new additions & still counting. In the first week of term, we threw a BBQ gathering in the ‘old place’ to welcome the newbies. There was full attendance from all Melbourne ASDSers, and the weather did not disappoint. Who could resist the delicious whiffs of chicken & sausages coming out from the College Square BBQ pits?
As early as 5pm, a few enthusiastic faces were seen at the College Square Entrance. True to ‘Malaysian timing’, more and more scholars came as the evening progressed. The last ASDSer to come made his or her appearance at close to 9pm. Where there is a will, there is a way…. Laughs….
That night, the aroma of chicken wings, sausages, wedges and chicken wings pervaded the autumn air. There was rose syrup, salad and chips to go with the main course. There were some variations in the salad recipe. Coleslaw dressing was used in place of salad dressing, due to the grocery shopping done by a guy. There could be some truth to the saying “leave grocery shopping to the ladies” after all. Nevertheless, the experiment turned out quite well, and the salad-coleslaw dressing combination did not turn out that bad after all.
Conversations revolving around the topic of “What you did last summer” filled the air. There were a few senior scholars who did an internship during the three-month long summer vacation, and were excited to share their experiences to the equally excited junior scholars. Indeed, a few scholars would be graduating at the end of this year, and are beginning to feel that happy days are fast coming to an end. Nothing is more fun than student life.
Everyone mixed and mingled, and it did not take long for all four junior scholars to get acquainted with everyone. The club banner, which was painstakingly prepared by Effy, was unveiled for the first time. A group photo with the club banner served as a fitting finale for the wonderful evening. |
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