Footies n Shopaholics!!!

haha... no exciting outdoor adventures this weekend, coz everyone's busy with reports, presentation, etc... (except ME!! yippee!) n we decided to postpone e adelaide trip till e last week! so was in melbourne the whole weekend! but i still enjoyed it all e same!

Australian Football League
went to an AFL match with liling on friday night! it's Australian Rules Football, Melbourne vs Adelaide! SOOOOO FUN!!!! we were totally immersed into e Australian sport culture, screaming n yelling ourselves hoarse for the Melbourne Demons...

okie... maybe i explain some rules of the game first... in Australian Rules Football, there r 11 ppl in a team... 4 poles at each end of a circular field marking out 1 goal post n 2 side posts... they score 6 points if e ball goes into e goal post n only 1 point if it goes into e 2 side posts. They pass the ball either by punching e ball into e air with a fist or by kicking. If e ball is caught in mid-air, e opponents can't tackle the player with e ball n he has a few seconds to aim n kick to someone or e goal. but if e ball touches e ground n someone catches it, he can be tackled so e best is do a quick pass to someone else. If he gets tackled n kena pinned onto e ground, the referee will do a free bounce into e air n both sides can fight for possession.

i find this game much less violent compared to rugby or american football coz there r actually times when they can't be tackled. but then when they do tackle, it's scary, coz they can like grab any part of the body n basically whack e person down. haha!

but oh man! i must say this is really THE national sport in Australia!! the Melbourne Cricket Ground was PACKED!!! with the old, young, males, females... even e lao ah pehs n ah mas were energetic enough to roar with cheers n jeers! amazing! n some of them... e WHOLE family was there to watch... n among e family, they'll be half rooting for melbourne n half rooting for adelaide... n they wear e teams' scarves n beanies which were in e teams' colours... so fun! haha!

haha! liling n i, being our first time there, made some blunders during tt evening! firstly, we waited at the wrong side for e ticketing office to open... it was supposed to open at 5.30 n when it din, we went to ask someone n found tt we can get tickets from e other side!! DIAO... haha! then e next blunder was not knowing wat e game was abt, so we asked this guy next to us how to read e score n many other details abt e game... haha! the biggest blunder tt got e guys around us laffing was asking if the game was over after e 2nd quarter! hahaha!!! can't blame us wat... everyone was like standing up (to go to e loo or get food apparently)...

anyway, when melbourne won (they lost to adelaide last yr n was 2 ranking lower than adelaide), liling n i stood up wif e rest to cheer like mad... haha!!! i haven't cheered like this in a long while... like maybe since R n F 2 yrs ago when we won e presentation... wow!! pretty fun to revive this spirit in me!!

Shopping
I was a mad shopaholic this weekend... just bought n bought n bought... dunno why i haf so many things to buy also... but i was really happeee coz i was buying things for ppl at home, myself! e rest din really buy much souveniers n there i was, hauling all e sweets, nougats, clothes into my huge backpack... i call them my spoils of war... haha! n boy do i haf a BIG bag full every shopping trip!

we basically checked out e Queen Victoria Market one more time, a Camberwell Sunday Market which sells lil knick knacks to raise funds for some rotary club and a stretch of factory outlet stores along Bridge Road!

i also had a chance to get out n haf a lone walk along melbourne city, coz e rest were too tired n wanted to stone in e hostel. so being garang n all set for more adventure, i took e train on my own n walked around e big shopping malls in melbourne city all by myself!! i realized there're so many interesting stuff u can do even when u're alone! in fact, more!!! coz usu when u're with ppl, u'll be busy talking to them n u dun notice stuff around u... so when i was alone, i finally had time to peer out of e window n observe during e train ride... i started spotting weird characters around e streets... stopped to watch this busker play his PIANO in front of a shopping mall (No... i din name my instrument wrongly... it was a wooden, cranky-looking piano in e middle of a walkway with graffiti on it n a smoking old man playing on it!)! interesting huh... din buy anything though so was mainly window shopping!