March 2004

Monday March 29, 2004
Hi Emma,
Well it really feels as if summer is over now. We turned back the clocks one hour on Sunday night. Yesterday when I walked outside of the Deakin computer labs at 6.30pm, I got quite a shock to see it was getting dark already. As you can probably guess I have been been spending a lot of time doing my assignments. I actually took leave from my work last Friday (26/3/04) and today. I did study a lot in these four days but I didn't achieve as much as I thought I would. Oh well, At least I got something done :-).
It will be Easter soon Em. I'll have to send you some nice Easter presents (at least I'll send them to the old address I have for NaiNai. Hopefully you will get them.) I'll send that Narnia tape I mentioned in this diary ages ago. I'll also send some nice Easter goodies for you to eat :-). I'll take a photo of what I send and put it here in the diary.
I just sent you some happy thoughts just now. Hopefully they will get through :-)
Love you heaps and heaps,
Aaron xxx ooo

Wednesday March 24, 2004
Hi Emma,
I hope you are fine. Things are OK here. On Monday night (22/3/04) I went to the English conversation class as usual. There were some new people from Taiwan who visited that night. One of the ladies (Rebecca) could speak English quite well but the other two (Joey and her aunt) were not so fluent. So I spoke a bit of English with them and also a bit of Chinese. So it was quite fun for me to be able to practise my Chinese. Hopefully it was fun for them too!
On Tuesday night (23/3/04) I had a church study group and on Wednesday night I went to German conversation group. So I have been quite busy. I really need to do my assignments though!
I hope you are fine Miss Em. I really miss you and I try to send you my very best prayers.
Lots and lots of love,
Aaron xxx ooo

Saturday March 20, 2004
Hi Em, Hope you are fine. Well, I have changed my Chinese class from level IV back to level III. I think I did the right thing as level IV was very fast and I just didn't have the time to keep up. This way I can still keep practising my Chinese and then try to do level IV next year. Wish me luck :-).
Lately I have mainly been studying for my computer assignments. One assignment is due in two weeks and the other is the week after that. So I had better not muck around too much, hadn't I!
I saw a movie in town last Thursday night (18/3/04). It was called "Lost in Translation" and starred Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannsen. It was about two people that made friends with each other while staying in Japan. I thought it was a nice story, a bit sad and romantic.
I'll go back to Deakin to work on my assignment some more now, but I think I might finally buy a cheap TV from KMart on the way. My TV hasn't been working for several months now and there is a Chinese movie on SBS tomorrow night that I would really like to watch. It is called "The Emperor's Assassin".
Love you heaps and heaps, Emma. I am still trying to locate you and I am really looking forward to the time when we can meet again.
Lots and lots of love, Aaron xxx ooo

Thursday March 11, 2004
Hello Emma,
I hope you are well. Today I went to the dentist and had some of my old teeth filled. I had an injection which made the whole side of my face numb. It didn't hurt while the dentist was working though it was a bit sore once the injection started wearing off!
Last weekend was quite nice. There was a visitor to our company from PPG in Malaysia. His name is Phoon Soon Liang. I showed him around Melbourne city a bit on Sunday afternoon (7/3/04). The Moomba festival was on by the Yarra river so we had a look at that. Then we walked up to Swanston street and had a look in Myer and Melbourne Central. After that we had a look at Chinatown in Little Bourke Street and finally Lygon Street with all its italian cafes. I think he enjoyed the walk around Melbourne.
Monday (8/3/04) was Labour Day holiday so that was good! I mainly did study that day. I am doing two computing subjects this semester (SCC725 Advanced Software Engineering and SCC764 Project Management for Software Development). They are very interesting courses. The only problem is that I am finding it really difficult to keep up with my Chinese classes. Lao Shi is going through the textbook very quickly this year. My feeling is that I can't do all three subjects at once so I think I might learn Chinese just in my spare time, and then try to start the Chinese classes properly again later this year or in 2005. If I had a brain like ours then I might be OK doing all three, but as it is, my poor old brain is going into overload!
Wishing you all the very best Emma. You are always in my thoughts.
Lots and lots of love,
Aaron xxx ooo

Thursday March 4, 2004
Hi Emma,
Welcome to March. I got back safely from the conference in Launceston on Tuesday night. It was fairly intense but quite nice really. Tasmania is certainly a very beautiful place. I would like to go back there and have a look around. Hopefully one day I'll get to show you around there too!
I only had a couple of hours of free time during the conference. During those couple of hours I caught a bus into Launceston city and took the following photos. I hope you like them !


This is a statue near Launceston Library (Are those dingos? I'm not sure)


This is the central street in Launceston. I though it was quite pretty.







These are some shots of the River Tamar, which runs beside the city. It was very wide.


This was a water bird and her chick by the lake in front of the conference centre. I don't know what type of bird this is. I should find out shouldn't I!

Hope you are well Emma. I think of you all the time and miss you terribly.
Lots and lots of love,
Aaron xxx ooo