Autumn

"You'll sit alone forever
If you wait for the right time" - Jim Adkins

The world that is Sydney.

" I found god, on the corner of first and Amistad" - The Fray

Sydney is simply, Mantap!

Here is gone

"Get up, get out, get away from these liars
'Cause they don't get your soul or your fire
Take my hand, knot your fingers through mine
And we'll walk from this dark room for the last time" Gary Lightbody

Home

I wish to be back this December. Someone please find me Tickets.

The search for inspiration continues

" its a bitter sweet, symphony this life. Trying to make ends meet, you're a slave to the money and then you die" - Richard Ashcroft

I'm sorry to my sis's who always comes here only to be dissapointed to see that I don't update much. I truely have lost the touch to take photos here. While its easy to take pictures of other sorts, its just not what this blog is meant for. Designed to uniquely capture the importance of light in our daily lives and to show how oblivious we are to these kind of unique environment that is set upon us everyday only because we are all individually too busy with our stresses,jobs,assigments,emotions and demons to even notice it.
Maybe part of the reason that I have lost my touch here is because I feel as If I live a fast pace life and in that, everything just pass me without notice. Unlike home, I live a more relaxed life and see it pass me slowly. Maybe thats why.


Another note to my sister's, yes I am well, doing allright and funilly gaining abit weight back. Go and check my cupboard and all you can see is it being crammed with indo mee and maggie :) and the fridge being fill with Jam,Cheese and Bread. I'm alive still and thats whats important.

Soon I shall me one of the few remaining Bruneians here left in Melbourne whose not going back home. It's hard enough being the only Brunei guy on my campus,and now this? How will I survive I wonder.

I on the other hand have been too far away from the water and hopefully during summer next month,I will be able to travel across Melbourne to check out the scene and sound of the other states. Hitting the beaches with the surf board will be a nice idea.yea yeaaa

With best regards, From Melbourne Victoria, Australia.
Safarul Izwan.

A long overdue post?

"Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say. Chained to all the places that he never wished to stay. Bound with all the weight of all the words he tried to say and as faced the sun he cast no shadow" - Liam Gallagher

Often I ask my self what significant does this blog have on to others , it's just a blog about how I picture life as I go through it. When I got back in Brunei several weeks ago for my holiday, friends come up to me telling me how he or she looks forward to going here checking if I have updated or not. I guess it does bear some significance to others.

"Life as I go through it"

It's funny how I can be away from home for several months and come back to the same old looking place yet when I was away from Melbourne for 3 weeks, a lot has changed it. As exaggerating as it may sound, it's a true fact that shows how the pace of life can change so dramatically here and how home will always be home.

Having extreme difficulty to update often because the sun sets at 8pm here.


A memorable quote from one of my Singaporean friend to me '' Hey Safarul, what are you doing there all alone and being anti - social, come join us. Your currency is the same with us so we should be friends'' hahaha

Love Thy Neighbour

"I'm just trying to find, a better part of me. I'm more than just a bird, more than just a plane, more than some pretty face beside a train. It's not easy, to be me'' - John Ondrasik
Why the hell does home doesn't feel right when hes not present across the house. Haha I be dammed,home doesn't feel complete without ''the neighbor.'' By the way neighbor, your car is badly treated to rot on the grass at the side of you're house...
Coming back to Brunei for me has been quite sad because majority of my good friends have left overseas to continue their studies. Some are in Scotland, Wales and in the UK. This place is nothing more then just fragments of memories left by me, you and everyone.
Adakah aku kana halau dari ITB masa hari atu pasal pakai seluar pendek...
3 more days to go till I fly back.

Anthony
Arif
Francessca
Sharleen
Kyle
Teo
The MS's girls and the guy .
The neighbor
and the rest of my good friends and family.

Where it all started

''I use to rule the world, see it rise as I gave the word'' - Chris Martin
wow, no matter how long I've been away from my beach, it still looks and feels the same.
Hmm will be returning to the land down under next week, how shall I spend my remaining days left I wonder.
''I arrived last week monday and I'm leaving next week and so right now I'm in between of things right now''

Return of the prodigal son

Pictures from the Royal Melbourne Show on my last few hours in Melbourne before I left for my 3 weeks M.I.A. I go balik kampong!

''Balik kampong ooohhh ohhh Balik Kampong'' was all that I hummed to when I was doing my last exam paper. My Malaysian friend ask'd me '' walauu you also know that song to?'' and I replied back ''Of course man, come lets sing this song today on our last day in Melb before we leave for our hols'' hahhaa

Why does Brunei feels like a Sauna when I got back? Ahh don't care, I'm BACK!

Selamat Hari Raya to the Internationals and Domestics.
and to the people who spoiled my homecoming surprise by telling others that I was back, No maaf zahir and batin for you my friend ahhaha

Sound sound saja kalau open house, Orang Melbourne ada turun atu hahaha

Nothing else matters

''Life is ours, we live our way'' - James Hetfield
''As the days go on and the places fade away
to dirt and to dust, it all fades away'' - Funeral for a friend

So far, so good the life here in Melbourne. Might as well take the opportunity here to say thank you to all my friends and family who wished me happy birthday last week. Thanks guys for the wish, was so happy to see my face book being bombarded by your messages!

I miss my old life, gotta do something about that thoe.

Sick

I am extremely sick and was running a slight high fever last night. Shivering in warm temperatures and sore throat since Tuesday. Pray for my well being.

Target Update

Well due to alot of special request from my friends to do an update, next target update will be on the 14 of September. Looking forward to do the update now that all my assignments are done and dusted. Selamat berpuasa to every one of my friends back in Brunei.




Safarul Izwan

Itu Kamu

First and foremost, sorry for the long and overdue post. Just got my internet back after exceeding my 10gig account quota.So my friends,especially my sis's, would be asking hows my life here so far. So far its been still kind to me but assignments are a major pain in the ass. Support here are fantastic and made so many friends that its getting very hard for me to remember their names. One thing I'm really greatful is that everywhere I go, there will always be a friend waiting around the corner. I find it quite amazing how easy it is for me to make friends with Chinese students by just simply swearing in Chinese with them. Chibai, Tiaw ni = friends ahhahaha
Everytime someone ask me where I come from, I would always hesitate to tell them where I come from because...., well here are the normal replies I get from them when I do decide to tell them where I'm from:
1) where's Brunei?
2)oh Brunei, that small dot on Borneo
3) ohhh that cute actor/singer guy whose in Taiwan is from Brunei
4)Oh you're from Burma...
5) Ohh you're from that rich nation with a rich king.
Number 5 is the worst reply I can get because I'm afraid of their perception of all Bruneian being rich and loaded that I might actually increase my chance of being mugged here but thankfully that hasn't happened.
Another problem for me is that alot of people thinks that I'm Indonesian and the Indonesian students/community would start talking to me in their dialect which sometimes I don't get but I do feel honoured to be thought of as an Indonesian. I remember one girl came up to me and ask ''Are you Indonesian?'' and just for kicks, I replied ''Yes I am'' and she said back ''Ohh ok gue Indonesian juga'' and I would straight away give up to avoid further complication by saying ''Ok I lied...'' hahaha
The most memorable quote from my friend to me came from my good Singaporean friend who was mad at me for leaving his BBQ early. He told me ''Chibai go and leave early, you watch out tomorrow during football, I will slide you with both my feet and dick.'' ahahaha I will forever remember him for saying that.
These pictures here were taken from Amalina Harun's apartment during the RTB hari raya special scene taken in Melbourne.

This is home - Swtichfoot

''walk on'' - Bono

''its a beautiful day, don't let it get away'' - Bono.






During my stay here, I've written a piece about how's my life here what I'm going through for my teacher back home in Smsa. With the help of a very good friend of mine in Kuala belait, I have managed to write a decent piece on my life here. A big thank you to my editor and I hope you enjoy reading my article.

My Story

So here I am in Melbourne Victoria, million miles away from loved ones & the place I call home. I arrived in the wintery weather in June, my first time studying abroad, in fact, my first time being outside of Asia. I am currently majoring in Business Management & Commerce at the University of Monash & coming here was a huge stepping stone for me to take. Why I decided on Australia you might wonder but before I get into details about that, let me briefly tell you about myself.

All my schooling years, from kindergarten to secondary level has been in St. John's school which I'm glad to say I'm proud of for many things I have achieved there, all the good friends I have made and most importantly, its the place where I found you... For my 'O' Levels, I sat for 7 subjects and obtained all credits. From there, I took a step further and sat for my 'A' Levels in SMSA KB. The units I took there were Econs, Geo & Business Managements and was relieved to know that I had obtained satisfactory results, 3 'A' Levels. With those results, I took yet another step further and applied to one of the most prestigious university, Monash and was happy to know I had been accepted. Truth be told, I'm not like some people who are born smart from birth, I'm neither gifted nor brilliant. Sure, I'm saying all this but who's perfect. I'm just an average guy with average thinking ability and capacity, but I try my hardest in everything I do in order to succeed and get through with life. As stated earlier regarding my 'O' Level results, most people would already be praising me, telling me how smart I am, well, 7 'O' Levels - 2 B3's & 5 C6's, which to me is considered as 'cukup-cukup makan' or borderline results but nonetheless, I'm still proud of myself. Same scenario with my 'A' Levels (1 C, 2 Ds) and despite that, I am again, still proud of myself for obtaining those results as I see my glass of milk or Teh Tarik as half full and not half empty. I have always thought of myself as lucky and obtaining such results, I guess I really can consider myself a very lucky person. I used to be somewhat lost as a student and never really knew what I wanted to do in life. One day, little did I know, things would change when I took a quick trip to Mrs. Imelda's office. I would very much describe the conversation as a few slaps in the face and yes, it hit me hard, made me wake up and realise that I needed to stop running back to my comfort zone, rather, to immerse myself in a totally new environment and conquer it. Leaving all things that I'm so familiar with like my friends, family, home and car wasn’t an easy decision but I had to do it because there isn't really a good time for anything and if it wasn't now, then when? Personally, I felt I needed a change in environment and life. Like people say, change can either be a good or bad thing depending on how you handle and how you let yourself adapt to the change.

So back to the question on why Australia. I chose to study here because I wanted to end up at the sunnier side of the world, simple as that. No research whatsoever on universities were done by me, instead my education agent, B Lau, did all the work for me in order for me to get into one of the good universities here and thankfully things went well for me here. This was far more than what I wanted or expected and to be in sunnier, more beautiful environment, I felt everything else just quickly fell into place. My other option was to study abroad in the UK, however, that itself comes with initial challenges such as preparing an extensive explanatory essay on what I want to do with my course and I didn’t want to do such essay. Don’t get me wrong, living life is already hard enough for me but writing an essay on what I wanted to do with my life? Dear god no. Plus if I were to ever go to the UK, it would be because of three things and one of them is to be in a country close to Oman, second would be to see my favourite band Oasis and last would be to support and watch my favourite team play in the premier league, Liverpool Football Club and then maybe for education.

The point I'm writing this is to let others know what I have done, had gone through with big sacrifices I’ve made here and there before I left for Melbourne and what achievements I have made here so far. One very strong reason for me wanting to study overseas is that I see this as an opportunity for me to be in a new country and start a new chapter in my life. I also see this as a chance for me to be my own man, create my own destiny and search for greater things for me. My wish is to return home a different and better man after I graduate. But like they say, life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're going to get. So for now, that is my hope and my desire.

I won’t go into too much detail on how the life is in Melbourne because that is for you to find out yourself. I never had the chance to know what Melbourne was like before I chose to study here nor did I want to. I took a chance in something I believe in and stuck with it. That is what life is all about, taking chances in something you believe in. Do your own thing, be like Frank Sinatra. It’s more worthwhile because at the end of the day, you did it your way. I have this motto whereby I choose to live and die by my own sword and not of others. Who we are now was shaped by our past, who we will be in the future will be shape by the decisions and actions we make now. As Liam Gallagher once said ‘’Tomorrow never knows what it doesn't know too soon’’.

What I will say about my life here so far is that Melbourne has been both beautiful and kind towards me. But no matter how great life will be here for me, I will always miss home and everything that comes with it. As I would say ‘’you can take the boy out of KB but you can never take KB out of the boy.’’

I will end this with my personal favourite quote from James Hetfield of Metallica, "Forever trusting who we are and nothing else matters". See ya on the sunnier side of the world!

From Down Under,

Safarul Izwan

A special message to my good friend Odelia who is spending her birthday away from home, Happy birthday Odelia. Hope you have a great day on your birthday : 0 )

Attention

Target Update : 5th August 2008

Meant to live

Sundown at my residence area,'' We want more than this world's got to offer, We want more than the wars of our fathers.'' - Switchfoot.

maybe tomorrow

Meet Papaki, the house pet.What I have achieved so far here in Melbourne,
1. Cook rice, nuggets and eggs...
2. Wash my clothes...
3. ... i want to go home...
''I can't find inspiration here''



''I've been down and
I'm wondering why
These little black clouds
Keep walking around
With me
With me'' - Stereophonics.

Old pictures before I left

Thanks Sharleen and Francesca for being the model that day. Sorry I forgot to post these pictures earlier.See either one you people real soon k. Hope all is well at home

''if you don't have no money,get your broke ass home '' - Ludacriss

Life in Melbourne so far

''let me go home'' - Michael Bubble.

Life in Melbourne so far have been great yet its full of challenges everyday. From waking up early morning fighting the cold winter weather to stay awake to learning what else I can do with rice. Every day its walking walking here there every frigging where in Melbourne.How I wish life could be as simple like this ''free hugs.''Melbourne City is a very beautiful place wheres theres alot of things to offer . Nice people and always interesting things going on the streets like live local bands mostly. But I still miss home.







Spent the day with good friends walking from one end of the world to the docklands.


''Cause I need more time just to make things right so don't go away'' - Oasis

Brothers from another mother.

RDI JIS TOURNAMENT 2008
My last tournament with them.

Life in Australia

Yeah its been awhile now since I last update. Sorry guys.
Arrived in Australia A few weeks ago and got my bag sniffed by the immigration security dogs.

The weather in Australia is terrible. Winter plus often out of the blue drizzle rain accompanied by strong winds are never a good combination.

Now I know how it feels like to live in an ice box, I kid you not.
The locations of the pictures I took vary from St.Kilda , Melbourne City and Caulfield.
What do I have to say about Melbourne Victoria? its a beautiful city and full of interesting things to see and do. The only thing that i'm not so use to are the beggars that keep begging for change or cigg's . Oh well what to do.This last picture is for my sis who wants so much to see my room. Yes room for improvement in it so give me time to make it home. I swear the bed it self is way comfortable then the one I have in my room in Brunei.







A big thanks to Pengiran Suffian who let me and my brother in law stay in his place and take us around the city.
Thank you too to the other Bruneians who are also studying in Melbourne and took the time to go out with me and help me settle in here. This goes out to Mamit, kak lina and ayun, Daus 1 and 2, Keem, suryati, asri, faridah and the new frens from all around the world that I met during Monash Orientation


A special thanks to Khui and Veenah who made alot of effort for me to make my stay here better. Thanks Friends.


Not forgetting the friends I left back at home. I definitely miss you guys, I miss familiarity, I miss the comfort of driving my car , I miss family and I miss good cheap food.


Safarul Izwan

Message from down under.

(Picture courtesy of Deviant art, 2008)

I'm still alive and I'm well.

Struggling to make a new post due to a few reasons
1) The internet is down in my house and everyone here, 11 of them, are going crazy without it.
2) Still got things to do here and there that may take up alot of my time here.
3) The sometimes beautiful/awful and unpredictable rainy cold weather here.
4) Looking for that perfect shot.




To all my friends and brothers from another mother, I miss you guys.
To my sisters, I need money and good food to survive here.. and yes I miss you all too as well as the brother's in law and their children.
Parents are doing their umrah so I wish them safe journey and I hope they pray for my well being and success in finding money here.

Anyone else who I forgot, take care and have a great day oi oi oi mate.

Will post pictures in the near future.


Signing off from Melbourne Victoria.
Safarul Izwan

Thank you

What do I want in life?
To be all that I want to be and to be surrounded by good company, friends and family.


Thank You everyone for their wishes and farewell's. I will return back again.



Safarul Izwan

Poets of our time, Musicians.

''There's four and twenty million doors, on life endless corridors.'' - Oasis

Absent

''Spend all your time waiting, for that second chance. For a break that would make it ok''
Sarah Mclachlan - Angel
Haven't been updating for awhile now and thats probably because been busy spending my time with football practice and with this and that.

It's June already and old faces will come back here as well as leaving.

I wonder how are you doing nowadays..

Anyways I want to thank a few friends who helped me made this post's pictures possible.

Izzah Jo.
Hisham.
Anisah.
Nabil.
Nurul.

Thanks guys for your help and cooperation. Hope I didn't let you guys down with the outcome of the pictures.


'' Counting down the days till it hits zero and then i'm off''