Life at 71 Morrah St.

In 1992, I moved into a Victorian house (with an outdoor toilet) near Melbourne Uni...71 Morrah St. As you can imagine, going to the toilet in the rain, during winter was almost unbearable! However, despite such inconveniences, I really enjoyed the time spent there, thanks to the interesting and colourful characters of my dear house-mates.

Lena:

• Favourite exclamation..'Ai Tee!'...which doesn't really mean anything in Foo Chow or any other language ( I hope?)
• Dragged me down to the shops and Chinatown to buy knitting wool, glitter glue, ribbons, guava with asam powder during Swat Vac (i.e. study week)...to satisfy her hobby mania
• Cooked fantastic Sarawak-ian lasak, sambal kangkong (made with authentic prawn paste 'smuggled' in from the home-land)
• Masterful at using a butter knife to 'break in' LM bedroom window because we forgot the house keys

Dr. LM Tan (PhD):

• Just because we have the same initials, he legitimised opening my letters, disregarding the 'Ms' instead of 'Mr/Dr'
• Used to walk about while brushing his teeth and thought it was 'fun' knocking on people's bedroom door after midnight...and running away before they open it!
• Tried to teach young children to stuff their noses with cucumber and peanuts via demonstration
• Drove his car up the street to catch the tram...instead of walking (admittedly it was winter and not summer?)
• I was totally convinced that PhD = Permanent Head Damage!

JC:

• We ate mooncakes, drank Chinese tea and lit lanterns on the balcony outside his room during Autumn Festival (pretty remarkable that it took our weight considering the dilapidated state in was in)
• Had his 1st skiing trip to Lake Mountain with Jimmy and me...certainly had much more sports aptitude than me...*sigh*
• Introduced Singlish expressions such as..'Wah piang', 'Wah lau', 'Beh tahan', 'Boh pien'..little did I know that they would eventually be a permanent part of my vocabulary...not to mention my children's!

Adeline:

• An import from NS, Malaysia who nearly burned a hole in the carpet with the new heater, by facing it up-side-down
• Very neat and thorough lady...right down to washing individual cabbage leaves before cooking...enjoyed the yummy Thai green curry she made!
• Was an unwitting case study for functional assessment of ADL (i.e. feeding)...shoulder elevated and abducted, forearm pronated, gross palmar grasp for holding the spoon...minimal trunk flexion

Jeffrey:

• Helpful, caring and friendly giant...cousin of JC...never said 'No' to supper...be it instant noodles, porridge or toasted bread
• Good company for late night mugging and tv
• Hearty laugh and always counted in for having a great time

Bill:

• A professional cook at a Chinese restaurant...all of us would rush home early when it was his turn to make dinner
• Knew what groceries to buy, where to get them and how to choose fresh meat/vegetables
• Allowed use of his car for marketing on Saturdays (not exactly my forte!)