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Monday, June 9, 2008

Melbourne Blues

Hi everyone!

you know how it is that everyone comes back from holidays feeling refreshed and happy and wanting to never come back home again?

Well I just came back from melbourne and it was a horrific vacation...

A series of distressing and unhappy incidents happened that made it so and I have come to appreciate the fine familiarity of home and being amongst my own countrymen as well as being in a country that welcomes people of all kinds & all races.

In the beginning, I had heard so much about Melb from Australian Chinese friends who are currently working here and from my cousin who has migrated there. This piqued my curiosity about the city that was voted one of the most livable cities in the world, and egged on by the travel bug in me, I decided to go there for 11 days right after filming LOVE BLOSSOMS...

Now the 1st wave of unpleasant events was awaiting to happen whilst I was extremely excited about my 1st trip to Australia. Though I have always been terribly afraid of the cold and it was winter, ranging from 4'C to 14'c, in Melb, these did nothing to put out my growing fire and thirst to see the metropolitan city and start my exploration.

!st of all, I took the Quantas airline and being Australian owned, naturally many Australians take it and the crew on board were Austalian Caucasians too. Meals were served promtly and I was pleasantly surprised (since I am quite the glutton) that they kept stuffing us with hi-carbo food thru-out the 5 hr flight on transit at Sydney airport. Then I realised it was because we all have to 'store' reserves (think: camel) of hi energy burning food so that we'd function in the wintry city better. So i ate and ate. However, I had a distinct feeling that this steward and stewardess didnt take to me(i was about the only non-caucasian there). They weren't rude or anything, jus, unfriendly and non smiling.

I was seated at the emergency exit area and this being my 1st time on board that airline, I started daydreaming about Melb the moment I placed my butt on the seat. This particular air stewardess came over and flashed a 'smile' at me and said i had to place my hand luggage in the storage area above the seat. I complied, thinking it could be differences in airlines' modus operandi that other airlines allow passengers to put hand luggage beneath the seats, to which she gave a prompt no before i even finished my query to whether could do that.

To my surprise, as I stood up to place the luggage on the overhead storage area, she walked past the other red-haired lady in the same row on the other side, without giving her the 'reminder' she gave me, even though the passenger very obviously had her bag down beside her feet on the floor.

I told myself, dun be too sensitive, she could've missed out on that other lady during her round of checks before take-off...

However, she came back again not long after, getting the my attention and that of the 2 gentlemen seated in front. She'd like to make sure we understood the list of safety instructions for the emergency exit they'd placed on our seat. The blur me was like, oops, must read ah? She gave me a dirty look, raised her tone a few decibels higher (as if announcing to the entire cabin) and said,'oh, she hasn't even read it!! (looks at the men in front n smiles) I'll be back later then.'

My ears turned beetroot at her sarcastic undertones, which brought a few glances from the passengers from the middle row, and I quickly buried my face into the few lines of safety instructions, wanting to finish it quickly lest I hinder her from her other important duties again. =(

Humiliating, u think?
There's more to come man...

(to be continued)

16 comments:

dorcas said...

oh no! that sounds quite bad.. hmm, shd feedback to the airline about their attitude problem.. anyway, since you're back, take care! :D & i agree with you that home is still the best place to be:)

{[JUŜTĦĚLYNN]} said...

hmph.i guess people tend to like other people of the same race?or like some singaporeans, they prefer yellows to whites. everyone deserves some respect no matter what.how could they treat you like that?aiyoh.futhermore.you're eelynkok!not that they know though..but i guess, like my sis said, even if others dislike you, we should still smile and continue being friendly to them.then, you'll probably earn some respect from 'em:D but, hey! smile okie? dont let other's attitudes spoil your day or holiday:) cause God's love you!

My Beloved Parents... said...

Hmm... Where you come from uh? You from where pop out de uh? You got join any competition or nt? Even though im felicia's fan, but i still want to give you compliment, i hope you can get award hor. Jiayou, hope to see you act again. Tag me ok. looking forward uh. all the best, eelyn.

James Lau said...

ai yo yo , that why , i don't like goto "ang mo" country , "ang mo" always look down asia people , here price high , alots of fine right, but this is the best place for us to stay, ha ha ha.

James Lau said...

yi , byw , can you please upload some of your tour nice photo for us to view, thanks.

Li Li said...

hey! glad you're back! welcome home! i heard aussie dun like s'porean chinese. not sure if it's true, well, share with us more of your experience there! thks :)

REGINE! (: said...

Cheer up girl. <33

Stickin said...

Aiyoooo, reading ur bad experience saddens me, not that racism doesn't happen here, just that it was initiated by someone whose profession is informally a "front line ambassador" for their country! Tell us more! :(

^^TeReNcE^^ said...

have a nice weekend! :)

cereal said...

Hi Eelyn, you look so pretty in 心花朵朵开.

Watched yesterday nite's episode, and realise the makeup suits you really well. Of course, you are pretty too. ^^

Excuse me, but can you reveal what's the makeup brand that you use in this show?

Sorry if the qstn i asked sounds rude.

Eelyn, 郭蕙雯 said...

Hi everyone!
been busy preparing for my new show, so have yet to upload pics here, thanks for your patience as I juggle between sorting out the travel pics and doing my homework! :D

Hey CX, i was using Clinique's 2 way cake then..

Cheers!

dorcas said...

haha, all the best for your filming of the new show :)
you look really nice in the promo photos :)
ganbatte!
& take care too! :D
*huggs*

James Lau said...

wow , can't wait to see your tour photo and your new show ! |:)

^^TeReNcE^^ said...

A nice movie to recommend - "10 Promises to My Dog" :)

jqchc said...

...No matter who you are, always remember that good things are not to be kept selfishly, express it in whatever ways...Let others know your feelings, your emotions, your opinions...No one is perfect in this world but we can mould ourself to become better!Cheers & God Bless........

twiddledeb said...

Hey Eelyn. I understand what you've been through. I once travelled by Quantas and had a similar bad experience, though in my situation with another passenger. So happened that I was sitting on my usual aisle seat, minding my own business when this European passenger who was loading his handluggage into the storage compartment lost hold of his luggage and it promptly landed right on top of my head which definitely hurt. Anyone would have expressed more sincerity in their apologies, (I would have definitely profusely apologised) but this man just passively mumbled a sorry that was almost inaudible and continued on, that I might not even be sure I heard it right. On top of other factors such as sub-par service and crammed seats with no footrest, I decided never to fly by Quantas again and have switched to SIA/Emirates ever since.
I'm a Singaporean currently studying in Melbourne and though I would have to say that I've had rare instances of borderline racism, generally it is quite a livable city. This could be due to the large number of Asian students who swarm here to pursue their studies, though I don't see why it's bad we're contributing greatly to their economy.I heard of worst cases of racism in other parts of OZ (Sydney, etc). The local Australians here seem quite tolerant of International students, some even friendly especially if I take the initiative to talk to them. I know that I would not want to live here in the long term though, just get my degree and move elsewhere.
I would suggest traveling to places such as Vancouver which has very friendly locals on a whole and take such bad incidences with a pinch of salt. Those bigoted people aren't worth anytime of your day.