Tears welled up in our eyes....

as he waved us goodbye....Words couldn't possibly express how much we miss him already. Artem boarded his 26 hour flight back to Toronto, Canada early this morning. This time; it was a one-way ticket. Its been so many fun-filled months, memorable years and unforgettable experiences. My days in Sydney wouldn't have been the same without him. It's extremely hard for me to write this "good-bye" post without holding back tears. I'm not the type to be emotional about good-byes...especially not in public; e.g my-blog :P ; but I felt this significant part of my life deserves a mention.Very few people have succeeded in leaving a solid imprint in my life...some with scars and others with cherished memories. Artem has left me both. I know most of us wished we've done more together while he spent his many months here in Sydney. It's amazing how we've created such a strong bond with our "Guai-lou"(White-boy; as us Malaysian's would nick-name him) despite having no similarities in terms of culture, background, hobbies or field of study. He's a big pain when he mocks our "Malaysian" accent, picks at small grammatical details and makes us feel 2nd best to his electronic devices but we love him none-the-less. Thanks Artem for teaching me so much about myself, for your 'conducive' criticism on my cooking, for showing you cared in your very "abstract' manners (LOL) and the new cOOL-aSs! knife set for my birthday ;)We just HAD to throw him a party before he left. It was at our place...we had all his favourite food; it was a strange buffet combo..but *shrug* he likes strange things...*laughs* The party wasn't too difficult...the Russian kids were happy with bottles of vodka + lots of cheese and us Malaysians had a good time with delicious fish curry by Pinky and yummy precious mangosteens from the market. I didn't have much free time that week to set up a 'major' spread of food..but with everyone's help with shopping, cooking and planning..everything got done in less than a day.

• Grilled chicken stuff with herbed cheese wrapped in prosciutto.
• Cheese fondue fountain (with melted Gruyere and white wine)...I turned it into a chocolate irish cream fondue after discovering my fountain wasn't hot enough to keep the cheese yummy and warm.
• Mini chicken + mushroom pies
• Mangosteens - He's crazy about mangosteens! Too bad they are extremely expensive here in Sydney. They are rare in Canada as well. Us Malaysians take our local tropical fruit for granted sometimes.
• Curry fish
• Spicy Dhall
• Basmati rice
• Mexican grilled chicken wings
• Nachos covered in mince, guacamole, sour cream and cheese.
• Roasted potato salad with grilled ham/chicken slices.
• Konyaku jelly with Lychees
• Strawberry layer sponge with mascarpone and raspberry jam
• Boysenberry cheesecake

*The girls (Amrit and Pinky) got me my favourite cupcake stands and triple tier serving platters as a belated birthday gift...*sigh* so sweet... I was gasping in disbelief as I ripped the gift wrappers apart.

From what I've heard from everyone at the party, the food was marvelous. I had no idea; I didn't get a chance to eat much. *laughs* I was too busy fixing up the fountains and had too much to drink too early in the night. The alcohol on an empty stomach was a bad idea. It got me a little too happy too quickly. But apparently, I wasn't the only person looking like an idiot that night ;) Hahaha. ----------->

Bon voyage Artem! We bid him goodbye and good luck in his days ahead.
Dasvi da-niye Artyom.....ya tebia lublu :)
catch ya on MSN soon :P
*sigh*...the beauty of modern day technology Hehe.