Archive for the ‘international students’ Category

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what a week!


2006
12.09

Posted in australia, general, international students, politics, uni | No Comments »

i thought i have reversed my biological clock…. apparently not.

terje has left for good. i hope he wasnt stranded in Bangkok. i promise that one of these days, i will make my way to Norway or Denmark. Been wanting to backpack around Europe, but $$ and time continue to serve as limitation.

ben visited melbourne and we did a proper catch up. i didnt know many about him prior but really glad to finally get to know him more. will definitely pester his cooking once im in sydney. watch out. p.s. those italian ladies are definitely worth the Soco…. Fed Square Christmas Carol is now officially in my agenda.

and i also attended the MLTAV’s AGM where a formal farewell was organised for me. They gave me a crumpler bag, home for my ferarri…and its BLACK in colour!! i am extremely touched! Thank you everyone especially to Kerry for knowing exactly my taste:

crumpler black

i’m sad to admit that the remainders of the week is dedicated to me breaking my promise. i did not have the heart to continually ‘ignore’ the constant updates from Adrian about Ballarat. Yes, its the dreadful NUS Conference.

Last minute, we made our way through the boring night to Ballarat, only to find ourselves in an unbelievable mess. you can get more details from adrian’s recent post but there are few things that i have to highlight:

  • NLS’ (formerly NOLS) bitches do really live up exceeding the expectations. The crocodile-tears 2006 NUS President accessorised by the Welfare officer snub, have delivered the ultimatum: we control the NUS National Exec in 2007. Adrian aptly concluded that never in my experience in student politics, a group of losers can be so cocky. i can only say… BRING IT ON!
  • The same cocky group put a price tag of $35k on NLC to rat on the deal. I don’t know where to begin to express my astonishment. The fact that a price tag is put on us or the actual figure itself. We replied that not even $200k can buy us over. Shame!
  • It is clear from the way they have shown their ’superiority in numbers’ that there is only one agenda in which they exist in the political spectrum of NUS. That is to engage in a concerted effort in ceasing the existence of the NLC. This is a shared view among the NLS’ elites. So if you are in NLS caucus, think twice of the alleged discussion you have with regards to ‘working’ with the NLC. Unfortunately, little they know that NLC can only grow from strength to strength. Its relevance as an organisation cannot be wound back in a broader context. Don’t get me wrong. I respect numbers. But i will lose that respect at a greater rate than giving credit to because i believe in the process as much as i believe in the final outcome. they have shown that they have failed in every levels miserably
  • after 15 years in the role, Student Unity had to admit defeat to a relatively-new Matthew Chuck from WA, a candidate from the Indies, for the Gen Sec. While NLS will continue to put the blame on the NLC, little they remember that the split within its own caucus and overly confidence on their own numbers are the primary reasons to the 40 vote loss. The only real lesson for them to take away is they can no longer take for granted the support of NLC all these years.
  • for unity members, i sympathise truly. miscommunication might be a major shortfall in relationships between unity-nlc this year, but you have to take them in stride and promise to work better. the same goes with nlc caucus members
  • for the left-block slate, nlc has taken the leap of faith. you can only achieve something greater.
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Free Public Transport for Students*?


2006
11.22

Posted in australia, international students | 1 Comment »

The recent policy of the Vic Liberal Party on Free Public Transport for Students* are misleading. There are no disclaimers and star (similar to that of a commercial advertisement) next to the word ’students’ in TV advert and its own website. If you look closely on its policy which can be found here there are exceptions to the word ’students’:

Masters, PhD, postgraduate and overseas full-fee (emphasis added) paying students would not be eligible for free public transport in Victoria. Students in a tertiary course of less than ten weeks’ duration are also ineligible.

In this post, I won’t dwell on the ineligibility of masters, PhD, postgraduate or part time students (even though i am one of them) but instead on the continuous discrimination that overseas full-fee paying students have to cope in both Victoria and NSW (even though the NSW anti-discrimination board has ruled that the NSW State Govt clearly discriminates against international students).

I have studied in 4 countries (Indonesia, Singapore, Australia and USA) and in three of those countries they have policies that students are students regardless of their place of residence. In fact, if you are an Australian student traveling in Indonesia, flashing your Australian student card (or any other countries’ student card) would instantly qualify you for any student discounts that students are typically entitled for. I have also heard that many countries around the world are the same.

Only in two states in Australia the policy of the State Govt differs. And there are no logical reasons for this:

Myth 1: International Students are not paying tax.

The argument that international are not paying Australian tax is as old as time. First, whether you are paying tax or not are determined not by the effective tax rate you are paying but by the taxation system in Australia. Fair enough, the effective tax rate for most (not all) international students will be 0% due to the tax refund as they will probably earn below the minimum tax threshold and as such will receive tax refund when the tax return is finally lodged. But so does ordinary australian residences who earn below the threshold or might have other tax credits that offset their taxes payables to the extent that their effective tax rate is zero.

So the only argument that the govt can make is whether international students are tax payers or not? And surprise surprise…international students are residence of Australia for taxation purposes! (source: Australian Taxation Office).

The premise of a tax-payer is not whether you pay above 0% effective tax rate but rather whether you will be taxable by the govt on any income earned. Clearly, international students in Australia are tax payers!

Myth 2: International students are rich and they do not need free transport.

A bit of digression here, the Vic lib govt is no longer advocating for concession but free transport for students which international students are not eligible for. So not only that international students dont get concession when their australian mates do, but international students will still be not eligible for concession (let alone free transport) when their australian mates will be eligible for FREE transport.

Anyway, labeling International students as rich and do not need free transport contain two logical fallacies:

1. You are assuming that all of international students are rich. This argument is self-defeating because you cannot argue that all international students are poor. This point is thus moot in itself. In fact, the majority of international students come from families who earn average income back in their home countries. Loans from banks, families, and decades long of savings are the one financing the students. Majority of international students in Australia are from Asian countries and in these countries, education is valued disproportionately. In fact, they are the utmost priorities for most parents. You can say so about other countries, but trust me, a measure of family status back home is by what their children do and do not. Parents live for their children – a significant contrast to most western families where to some extent, children are responsible for themselves when they are coming of age.

2. Rich people do not need free transport.

Perhaps generally yes. But the point is, if senior citizen whether you are rich or not are entitled for concession, why cant this be applied for international students as well when their counterparts are eligible?

Myth 3: If transport concession is given to international students, Australian taxpayers will be subsidising this.

Again, the argument contains many logical fallacies.

1. Public transportation is public goods. You cannot exempt international students for example to use Victorian roads, Victorian parks, and many others.

2. So the only way is to make it private. And the govt already has except it still is responsible for creating and maintaining the ‘discriminatory’ policy that exists currently. If it were to be abolished i see no reason why private firm will not make a concession applicable to ALL students. Can you imagine Village Cinema, Hoyts, Dendi’s, Nova, or many other local cinemas, theaters, and museums saying to international students: Sorry.. you are a student but you are an international student, so you are not eligible for concession price. I cannot begin to imagine the adverse reaction!

The crux of the matter

The real ball thus lies on the govt’s purposeful intent (whoever it is, Labor or Liberal) to continually pursue this discriminatory policy! The basis of this is simply the fact that international students are not eligible voters.

I dont really buy the argument on itself. I strongly believe that if enough pressures are applied to both governments, whether you are a voter or not will not be as relevant as it is now. International student movement has to be smarter in its approach and actually walk the talk.

What can be done?

1. Inform home countries media on this issue.

2. Call for home governments to retaliate against this by also implementing similar policy but only for Australian students who come from Victoria or New South Wales (well that would be fun, wouldnt it? I can imagine the grin on myself when an Australian student from Vic in Singapore was told by ticket inspector: I’m sorry, you are a student, but you are an australian studying in a victorian university).

3. Distribute flyers in the education exhibition showcase by any victorian/nsw universities back home. Make sure that the staff from the govt and universities realise this so they can relay their feedback first hand (btw, universities support the international student movement in championing this cause).

4. Set up ‘fighting fund’ and buy advertising spot in local media next to victorian/nsw university ads alerting the student about the issue and the high transport cost that they will face.

any more suggestions?

btw, current and future student leaders… forget about writing petition and sending postcards… they are repeatedly ‘ignored’. If they dont want to listen to your plight…. force them to listen by shaping the external environment of the debate rather than secretly hoping that they will change their minds one day.

2 comments

just the beginning


2005
12.09

Posted in current affairs, international students, politics, uni | 2 Comments »

at 5 pm today, the Senate has passed the dreadful VSU bill despite Howard conceding earlier that the bill will only be voted upon next year. Senator Fielding (the sell out Senator) has sold out all students and was not even present in the chamber when the bill was voted upon. the bill was passed with 29-27 and Senator Joyce remained opposed to the bill without amendment. The 4 amendments that were offered by the Oposition and Senator Joyce were not even debated.

is this the end of student union? i doubt it would be. instead, this is the start of long concerted campaign towards regaining back the lost grounds due to complacency in student movement in the past years.

international students will be heavily affected. not only they have to now pay the compulsory and unregulated fee on student services that were imposed by the Government through University based on ESOS Amendment that has been passed earlier, they also have to pay the Union fee on top of that if they want to enjoy the Union services.

let’s be clear. the Government’s ideologically driven agenda to end Student Unionism has been countered by NLC in its campaign to let them know that VSU hurt international students – a major export for Australia. they think that the band-aid solution by introducing the amendment to the ESOS Act will fix it.

its just so sad… but its true.

5 comments

UNBELIEVABLE – Cash Cow Theory Proven Beyond Doubt


2005
09.28

Posted in australia, current affairs, international students | 5 Comments »

Dr Nelson’s push for Voluntary Student Unionism has taken another dramatic and unbelievable turn with the recent introduction of ESOS Act amendment bill 2005. What strikes me the most about the amendment is this clause:

(2) A registered provider does not breach its obligations under this Act or any other Act relating to education by charging overseas students, or intending overseas students, an amount as part of the student’s tuition fee, if the amount is for any action the provider is required to undertake because of this Act or the national code.
Note: The heading to section 18 is replaced by the heading “Payments to registered providers”.

What it’s saying is basically the Government intends to allow the university to charge international students for services required by the Act to be provided to the international students.

The debate around the media has been tied to the local students’ plight to have compulsory union fees which international students pay as well. This debate centers on the idea why international students can pay for those services but local students dont. Obviously while this is discriminatory, the debate misses one crucial fact: International Students have been paying extra for those services!!

The naivety and stupidity of the Government is highlighted by this comment in The Australian:

A spokesman for Dr Nelson said the existing Education Services for Overseas Students Act had always obligated universities to offer these services to full-fee-paying international students.

“These technical changes continue that requirement,” he said.

“Is the Labor Party now seriously suggesting that Australian students and taxpayers should subsidise the services that universities are required to provide to international full-fee paying students?”

Whoever this spokesman is obviously does not understand his own argument. Obviously the most straightforward comparison that any Tom, Dick and Harry can easily do is by looking at the tuition fees charged by universities to international students and their full fee paying local counterparts (these full fee paying students are NOT subsidised by Australian taxpayers, thats why its called FULL FEE). I did a small comparison table on this:

fee comparison

As you can see, there already exists fee differential between the two categories of students. One can only assume that the difference between the two is because of the extra requirements and services that the Universities should/must provide to the overseas students because of the extra duty of care that the universities undertake in recruting overseas student instead of local student.

For this very reason, the legislation that allows universities to charge a SEPARATE fee for those services is naive, stupid and unnecessary because the market place has already sorted that out in the first place – the universities have already built-in those costs into their fee schedules. To legislate for another charge means that it is essentially double charging!!!

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Not again….


2005
02.24

Posted in international students | No Comments »

I was reading The Age’s article about the increase in full fee paying places at Victorian Universities. There was a link to a forum where many online readers actually participated.

One posted the following in the forum (which makes my blood semi boils):

It is a disgrace the way the quality of tertiary education has been eroded in the last 20 odd years.
Back in the good old days of free tertiary education when I did my first degree, (1985) I used to complain about paying student union fees (about $300 at the time). Since then, I have seen the introduction of HECS and have completed 2 postgraduate degrees, a diploma and a Masters degree. I currently owe around $5000 in HECS. Had I not got a HECS placement for the Masters degree it would have cost me around $28,000 in up front fees – money I just dont have. There were four Aussies in my Masters course and the rest were international students (about 18) One of my lecturers implied that the course had been ‘dumbed down’ because of all the international students and their lack of English skills. I have never in my life gotten straight HD’s but I did all the way through this Masters degree.
I personally have nothing agaist International students, but the fact that courses are being dumbed down for them and full-fee paying students (who have the money, but not necessarily the brains) is disgraceful.
And even after all that education, I am sitting here at work earning $24/hour which is roughly 50k per annum – not fantastic money in the grand scheme of things, particularly after all that education.
My American partner left College over there with over $80,000 USD in student loans. She had to pay almost the equivalent of a house loan before she could even get started in life. At the age of 44 and she was finally in a position to buy her first home. Australia is heading down the same track at a rapid rate.
And look how ‘dumbed down’ the US has become!! That says it all.
I will be encouraging my children to do a trade.

Australia don’t become America !

But the forum is now closed for comment, which is ashame, because the article was just posted today… so the only way i could vent my anger and frustration is through this blog: (here is my reply to the post)

Dear Australia don’t become America,

I noted with strong concern your rather limited view on the way Australian education industry work in this country. In particular, your rather naive perspective on the internationalisation of Australian education.

First of all, the notion that a particular couse has been ‘dumbed down’ to accommodate the needs of international students is just completely baseless. And second of all, the generalisation of international students’ lack of english ability is quite unreasonable. While i do not have hard statistics that i can present to you, the positive correlation between an increase of international student in a particular course with the increase of HD marks that people receive in that course is definitely an outrageous accusation, if not crazy at all! English while it is a medium by which a course is delivered to the course participants, bear little relationship at all with the academic ability of each prospective student. While arguments could be raised about the comparison between level of communication and participation and to some extent understanding of students from NESB from those native speakers, one could not conclude that the academic ability of a person is ‘limited’ by which language you speak.

And even if we assume that English is important in the teaching and learning environment (and i dont doubt it, as it is the only medium), what the education provider should do is ensure that the students who will be admitted to the courses would have enough and reasonable commands of the english language as such that the particular students will be able to participate ‘actively’ in the learning environment, instead of the ‘dumbing down’ of courses as you have conveniently or your naive lecturer has suggested.

Without a doubt, there are always bad apples in a basket. The same way with education providers. Lured by the millions $$ that can be raised through international students, these scrupulous and milking education providers have ‘lowered’ the english language requirements in order to admit those students (who might have the academic ability) that do not meet the english language requirements to the course. Some providers have performed their duty of care by introducing many english language courses specific to certain courses, and in some instance, they are built into the overall course structure a particular student take. Your easy take in blaming international students as a result of the reduction in the ‘quality of teaching’ clearly violates the basic notion that it is the Australian government who has continuously reduced funding available to these public universities – leaving the universities with no choice but attract other sources of income, one of which are international students.

Many international students who are in Australia come from an english speaking background. The benefits of international students coming into a country far outweighs the sorts of ‘accusations’ you have made. Take America for example, as a country that you thought has been ‘dumbed down’ as a result of taking more international students. You will realise that the American government and universities are heavily recruiting people from other countries to come and study in their country, not only because of the money, but because these people realise that their country doesnt live in isolation. Globalisation has rendered geographical boundaries irrelevant. Unless they get the best brains from all over the world, their research output (which is by the by, one of the important factor in how universities are ranked) will be stagnant.

While it is true that many international students who come to Australia are from developing worlds and emerging market, your labelling of international student in general is quite ‘pitiful’. Many scholars come to Australia from various other countries than those who ‘lack the english ability’. And even, for argument sake, i do agree with you that ALL of these students ‘lack the english ability’, the rare opportunity for fellow Australians to learn about their culture is just priceless. Furthermore, politically, these students will be able to return to their home country with a more positive and favourable view on Australia as a country – the kind of view that your government hopes to gain by spending billions of dollars in propaganda (and many other Western nations) in all these developing worlds. So you can see, Australia as a country and its population, can only benefit.

I hope you will have a greater understanding of the complexity involved in this situation. As i have pointed out, your baseless conclusion in finding international students as a scape goat is not a solution at all. Instead, it provokes the fundamental basis of multiculturalism that this country is founded upon. You can do one thing though – vote out Liberal next time if you believe strongly in government’s investment in education. Democrats are strong supporter of education. (i wont comment about Labour – coz they are the one who introduced HECS).

*UPDATE: As Adrian correctly pointed out in the comment, the Greens is also the forefront champion of free education for all, including for international students… remember that good-old-Colombo plan and the benefits its still paying back to the Australian advantage in dealing with SE-Asian political dynamics..

Sincerely Yours,

You-dumbed-down-Australia!

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the new world order


2005
02.22

Posted in amusing, current affairs, entertainment, international students, life in general, politics | No Comments »

i keep wondering about the world we live in everytime my browser opens up different news sites. while many people (especially those single, unmarried, childless couples) said many times: ‘why would i bring another human being in such an unjust world’.

so i made a point earlier today (after some reflection on whats going on campus) the stuffs i found really interesting:

Orientation

Who says that university’s orientation is about orientating new students to the campus life and all those bullsh^& interactions among students, creating the so-called ‘vibrant campus life’ stated misleadingly on those glossy papers and prospectus to new students.

Welcome to the legitimised gathering of students’ consumerism – a parasite living and breading on our campus right from the first day new students learn about their universities. i am appalled by the number of stands offering ‘free stuffs and show bags’. you know what, im not hypocritical. i was after all once a new student who was tempted by those marketing gimmicks.

But today, as i looked around, everything is just sooo different. Call it marketing, call it whatever you like… it is not only corporate organisations giving all these free stuffs, in fact, all the student services of the university position themselves as marketing unit to attract the biggest number of people at any given point of time to their stands. obviously, the message gets fitted somehow, somewhere along those shoutings of free stuffs.

im sure lots of students want those show bags. but guess where they end up?? in the garbage bin about 5 metres from the stands which distributes it. not a single stand, not even the enviromental groups’ stands, actually bother to go over to the garbage bin and sort out all those plastic disposals.

but obviously it doesnt matter. its not the case of what information you gave to students, what matters most is, which show bags has the most interesting colours and free stuffs that students will pick up. after all, those students will carry them around the campus and i bet the manager of the student service will smile a lot when s/he sees that students carrying bags from his/her department. little s/he wonders where most of them end up… yea… in the tram, train, and the station.. but i guess s/he will never see it… cos s/he will be driving to uni!! oh well….

Paris Hilton

Did you know that Paris Hilton is like second in line to the Presidency of the United States? I bet you dont….

Alright… i made it up.. but thats only after i reorganise my thoughts…. i seriously thought otherwise before…;.

You would have heard by now that Paris Hilton’s mobile phone was hacked, and her address books ended up online….(i wonder whether my number is in there… i bet Milsy is..)….

but i guess i would never find out? why? because Hilton got protection from the Secret Service… yes… the Secret Service….the one who protects the First Family of the US?? I’m not joking…….my source (unfortunately) is CNN, and the >article mentioned that as soon as the new site providing the address comes online, the Secret Service will be in action to take it down…..

No… all of you Democrats-faithful.. dont get too excited… Bush is not having an affair like Clinton did (even though im sure he would like some new blood :P )….can we just agree to disagree with my statement: ‘infidelity is not this president’s agenda (unlike the previous one)’….

I still dont understand though why Hilton would get the SS’s protection. it puzzled me.

Howard lies again?

So today the ‘unexpected’ announcement (and lie) came again. Howard announced an increase of 50% of Australian troops’ presence in Iraq. Everybody seems surprise… Helloooooo??? This is the guy who keeps getting away from lying to the electorates… Dont act as if you are surprised?? He is afterall has the strong-mandate from the Australian public to keep lying…..(majority of senate is his chip to get away with anything really)….. From the introduction of GST, tampa and children overboard affairs, the interest rate and economic credibility.. and now the australian troops…… oh oh my… i will continue to admire his lying skills…..i bet you, lying will soon be listed under Migration’s Occupation On Demand List of DIMIA (with no kidding, 100 points, and 200 points if you got job offer from Howard’s press secretary).

Hmmm…. anyway.. i feel much better already…. bitching is definitely my favourite part time (which soon could turn into a job)….

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??


2005
01.05

Posted in international students, politics | No Comments »

this is the pledge you have to make to be an australian citizen:

From this time forward, under God*,
I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its people,
whose Democratic beliefs I share,
whose rights and liberties I respect,
and whose laws I will uphold and obey.

I wonder if i would ever make that pledge.

But for now, here is my bickering:

Fact 1: I have applied for postgraduate courses and am intending to lodge an application for permanent residency.

Fact 2: Fed govt has introduced the Higher Education ‘reform’ which ‘denies’ permanent resident of Australia (apart from those who are holding humanitarian visa or whom were eligible pre-2005) to be supported by the govt in HECS-HELP (formerly HECS) or FEE-HELP (formerly PELS) from 1st january 2005.

Fact 3: Australia has an aging population and will have difficulties in providing social security benefits for the future especially with the current condition where the birth rate is at its lowest

Fact 4: Australia is a developed and can be considered as a ‘new’ economy which requires highly educated and skilled workforce.

———-

Conclusion 1:

Given the low birth rate and the aging population, the government can introduce policies which:

-encourage women to bear children and.or
-diversify its migration policies.

The government has done both:

-child tax credit
-’open’ migration policies especially for overseas students (even though some could argue that this policy has been more restrictive now)

*******

Now hear out my arguments:

Argument:

Given that Australia has opened up to more skilled migrants to becoming Australian permanent residency, it is in the Australian best interest to provide these people with the necessary skills and knowledge to adapt and face the environment that the new economy demands. This should be done knowing fully that most of these migrants (majority) comes from developing countries or of lower economic status than Australia.

Why in the hell than the Fed Govt ‘denies’ the opportunity for these migrants to achieve their potential by providing ANY HELP (read: there are two kinds of help in the past – 1. Commonwealth supported place or 2. deferred fee arrangement).

I’m done and tired of having this argument.

I made my points very clear in last year posting:

Point 1: Education (while some argue its a private goods), has social benefits and characteristics of social goods. To this extent, the government should provide support and assistance.

Point 2: Education is NOT AN EXPENSE. It is AN INVESTMENT. It will yield return! A more skilled workforce has a strong correlation with a more robust economy!

I rest my case.

ps. if you beg to differ, please comment. i want to ‘hear’ you out.

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slow blog week


2004
10.19

Posted in international students, politics, uni | No Comments »

it has been a week since i last posted on this blog….. it has been a slow blog week.

as usual, the last two weeks of uni have been putting huge constraints on my time. my biological clock is still messed up. so no exciting developments so far…

so today i learned that NSW is finally giving transport concession to international students… it has been an interesting journey, esp to me, a victorian. surely the deal wasnt exactly in the form that we were expecting.. but its a move in the right direction….

basically the NSW govt is signing a deal with the three big uni (unsw, usyd and uts) so that the uni could provide the so-called transport concession stickers to internaitonal students too. other unis have yet to join the rank, but i guess the pressure will force them to sign too. apparently, the deal is for the next 6 years.

this is surely good news to even us, victorians. it will create pressures to both the victorian governments and universities to somehow ‘match’ at the very least the proposed offerrings at NSW.

i wonder what is the main motivation behind such a sudden change of position by the nsw govt… im sure that its not because of the current legal suit that nlc and capa have jointly submitted to the tribunal and is currently still on proceedings….. it must be about $$$$$

i cannot help but remember the news i have read for the past weeks.. about australia becoming the third expensive countries for overseas students in the world in terms of living expenses…. and also the projected decline of overseas students coming to australia….. with a 1/3 of overseas students in australia located in nsw, it is a slow death if the govt is not succumbing the market pressure to create a more competitive environment for nsw uni to compete on…..further, the decrease in federal fundings to public uni have left the uni with no choice but increase the intakes of full fee paying students….

so my analysis is.. this recent change is not based on compassionate ground… instead its the outcome of market forces….forcing the govt to make corrections in its policies to level up…. but you know what… when the govt is ready to announce the decision (the deal is expected to sign on tuesday by minister of transport), i bet they are going to announce that they are doing it on compassionate grounds, to end discriminations, to level nsw with other states in australia (except vic)……same old bullshits….

but hey, its working.. its a good news for international students movement in general…. and yes, you wont be able to receive it until next year…. but it is a good change…..a change that will send a tectonic impact on victoria…..

the thing is.. Mr Brack… the ball is now in your court… would you match up????

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pics from ac


2004
07.22

Posted in international students, nlc | No Comments »

you can access the latest picture collections from the annual conference from the gallery……click gallery on the link located at the right of this page…

 

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it is FINALLY over !!


2004
07.17

Posted in international students, nlc | No Comments »

just touched down about 30 minutes ago from Brisbane. finally its over. for those of you who have been annoyed because there is no update for the past three weeks… my sincere apologies… i was away for international student conference…. and i had very limited email access during those times….
 
i will update you guys more about wat has happened (when im in the mood..:P )… in the mean time.. i have to start working on my industrial project for my final semester… tomm im meeting my project manager.. and @ nite, will be watching Farenheit 9/11 with Sharon, Craig, Adrian and crew…..
 
just so u know that im back!!!