Auckland City

Auckland city isn't very huge. it's roughly the size of Melbourne city. I don't think i've walked all the roads yet, but i think i've seen enough. I headed to the city today to collect my student ID from the city campus. and to sign up for Student Job Search. =)

standing at the pits of the valley

One very distinctive feature of the city is it's terrain. It's really HiLLy! i actually find it really cool coz I keep imagining myself zorbing through the roads in the city, over all the traffic! haha, could be fun. :)

yup, lots of uphill...but the park's beautiful though...

And I think I don't have to worry so much about putting on weight now. Because the road to uni from the train station goes through a valley in the center of the city. and when i reach the very top of the other side, i have to surpass Albert Park, which is also a park atop a hill! yea, more uphill climbing.

Anyway, i didn't take many pictures of the uni coz i was extremely hungry at that time. I couldnt wait to get done with my stuff and find a place to eat. And so when i finally got my student card, bought my concession train tickets, signed up for Student Job Search, i almost ran across Albert Park, to this quaint little Japanese restaurant I spotted on my way up called Roll Black Sushi or something. Can't really remember. They serve fantastic sushi! and free green tea too! :)

D, the one on the far right 2nd row has pineapple, avocado and cream cheese...yummmm...

and so we ran...

i ran today! Sher Mayne and her friends Shavin and Ivan took me to Mission Bay in the city to run. We started at about 5.50 pm and it was already dark. We ran 6 km in the cold 14 degree temperature. I think i run better in cold conditions. :)

before the run. we were trying to put on a running pose, but i think shermayne and i look like we're doing the luau dance or something...

after the run, showing some muscle

Auckland: Day #1-3

So I'm here in Kiwiland. Yes, I arrived safe and sound, sorry for not blogging about it. I was more excited about talking to people on Skype on my first night, that before I knew it, it was 4 in the morning Auckland time. and i had been awake for exactly 24 hours. =)

Anyway, i'm loving it here. Everything's given me reason to love this place..

1. The Apartment

My place rocks. like for real. It's brand spankin' new. Nobody has lived here before so everything is 100% virgin. And its really modern. The kitchen has all these modern hi-tech stuff like those flat stoves? u know those electrical ones, without fire? yea, it's a gazillion times cleaner and less dangerous. And it comes complete with microwave oven, baking oven, fridge, everything la. Sherymayne's parents are kind enough to supply some stuff like cooking oil, rice, sauce, salt, sugar, meehoon, and lots of stuff. There are also enough plates, bowls, cutleries, everything. The sink has that grinder thing which just grinds away all the bits and pieces of food from the plates. I've seen this in Heroes, where Claire sticks her fingers into it and comes out all bloody and crooked. so yea, i'm quite afraid of it actually. But it's soooo cool! But the best part is, my kitchen has a dish washing machine!!! like omg, am i spoilt or am i spoilt!

My room has a double bed. I dont even sleep on a double bed at home! and i have one of those sliding door closets which i've always wanted! Man i LOVE my room. of course, those and a small study table and that pretty much sums up my room, but i still love it! =)

Even my bathroom is worth shouting about because the shower is strong! I love strong showers. And its got this electrical metal towel rack which you can switch on to keep the towel warm and toasty. cool huh? So you'd better come visit me!

p.s.: sorry photos later, I haven't taken any of the apartment, strangely. haha...

2. The place

My apartment. Below are office blocks, above each one is a 2 bedroom apartment.

I live right next to a huge ass shopping centre called Sylvia Park. For those who knows Harbourtown in Perth, yea it looks something like that. But not the factory outlet prices la. Its on mega sale now though. Every shop has a sale. And there are 3 or 4 outdoor equipment shops in it! At home i can only find like 2. and that also so far away. Pak'nSave is a huge supermarket right next to the shopping centre and it's cheap coz they don't give plastic bags. so Joey, i'm afraid the bag you got me has been turned into my shopping bag. =)

Sylvia Park Shopping Center

i live 5 km away form my campus, which is not the main campus. main campus is in the city. ive thought of running there on days i feel like i want to save a little cash. there's also a nice big mountain nearby which Shermayne's dad says i can run up. Cool, can't wait to do that.

To get to the city and to campus, there's a train station which is right behind Sylvia Park. So i simply cut across the mall, board the train to get to the city. very convenient =)

3. The weather

Weather here isn't harshly cold, but it annoys me that it rains, like the whole day. People here don't seem to mind it though, they simply walk in the small pitter-patter and puddles don't seem to faze them. Today is actually the first time i see bright sunshine since i got here. I hope there'll be more sunny days, coz it makes Auckland so much more like how i imagined it to be. I can walk around fine with a long sleeve shirt and a jacket outside. So it's really not that bad. and my sinus has surprisingly not acted up. =)

Sitting on the toilet bowl appears to be quite an eye openner especially in the mornings or in the middle of the nights. So yea, I so get you now, Mellyboo.

4. The company
Ben spotting a beard
Ben who came to pick me from the airport and entertained me for dinner on the first day has been very welcoming. Now, Sher Mayne is the girl i live with, and I have her to thank for a lot of things. Her parents are extremely nice and generous. Which reminds me, I better pay her rent soon. Her parents own the place i live in, and Sher Mayne stays with me simply because its much nearer to our campus than her own home in the suburbs. Below our apartment is an office space which her parents work in. So yea, it's a pretty cool living arrangement.
Sher Mayne was fast on the court! All smiles after the victory
Today I met up with Sher Mayne's netball team and I met some pretty cool people. Netball here is played indoors and men play it too. It's pretty interesting, perhaps because Sher Mayne's team came out champs at today's league.The trophy which strangely doesn't have a netball on it
There are a lot of other people I've yet to meet up with. I will soon enough I guess. :)

5. The Lifestyle
I cooked dinner today together with Sher Mayne. We made fried rice, with chicken and carrots and cabbage. Then with the drumstick bones Sher Mayne made chicken soup. And I fried beans omelet. Not too shabby =)

Havent started running yet, will start tomorrow I guess. =)

So yea, that's Auckland in the past 3 days. It's been interesting, I feel like i'm on homestay coz SherMayne's parents take such good care of me. I miss Dennis quite a bit and i now that I'm away I feel like I want to talk to my family more. But it's been great!

Love it. :)

sawadeekap from Bangkok

hey! yup am currently in Bangkok International Airport. took me awhile to find a network i could connect to but finally i did!

It was almost funny how i sat down at a spot, take out my laptop, connect to one of the many unsecured networks and fail to surf the internet. then i get up and go find another spot and do the same thing again. i think i did it about 4-5 times...until i gave up, sent dennis and my mum a text saying i cant find an internet connection. i made my way to the boarding gates, tried my luck one last time and voila! im connected to MSN!

Anyway, i've got a 3 hour transit here. i managed to get my parents on MSN, dennis and some friends too. nothing like staying connected from a foreign country i tell you. Feels pretty good. :)

I had a rather large entourage come to see me off at KLIA just now. Am very very touched indeed. Eventhough i kinda made some of them come. ahaha...owell, here are some photos.




yupyup...i'm off to auckland. will upload more photos soon. see ya!

The Ultimate Race

Dennis looking sleepy

Dennis and i took part in a race on Sunday. He was my teammate for The Ultimate Race - a shopping mall race a la The Amazing Race held in 1 Utama organized by Maybank2u.com. When we signed up (which was on Tuesday) there was only one other form in the folder. So I kinda thought it would be an easy win because, get this, first prize was RM10,000 and there were 10 consolation prizes, RM1,000 each. So I figured, if another 8 more teams joined, we would still be able to bag RM1,000. I asked Jon and Sarah to sign up to since they were there on Tuesday as well.

me attempting to look "ferocious", failing obviously. the crowd waiting for race to begin.

Come Sunday morning, 1 Utama was swarmed with youngsters in trainers and sporty gear all drenched with spirit and adrenaline rush. It was a bit of a disappointment for me, but I should've seen it coming with such attractive prizes. There were 140 odd teams. No kidding!

Dennis' number on which i doodled. :) The first clue.

Race was delayed due to lots of queueing and waiting for marshalls to get ready. we were all given t shirts and numbers to be worn during the race. i really didn't know what to expect of the race. but i bumped into a lot of people that I knew - Hooi Lian and Li Yi was one of them! haha...

One of the challenges was to climb at Camp 5! woohoo~!

Race finally kicked off at 11.45 am when it was supposed to start at 10.45 am. And boy did we run! we ran across the entire new wing of 1 utama, up and down emergency staircases. I honestly have not run so hard before. And Dennis could run! For most parts of the race i was clearly out of breath. It didn't help that i was in jeans and Crocs sandals. And an underwired bra. I know, pretty dumb move for a person who's a season racer. But I guess i kinda unerestimated the race. My bad.

Another challenge was to look for the diving center. I never knew they had a diving center! and a pool!

Needless to say we both worked up quite a sweat and quite an apetite by the end of the race too. But we came in a tad too late. the 11th team finished half an hour before us, or so we were told. So no cash prize for us.

But it was exremely fun! I never had so much fun racing before, seriously. Perhaps i was racing with my boyfriend, and perhaps he was a super teammate! Or perhaps it's coz it wasn't under the hot sun for a change. But i had a blast!:)

when "coupla weeks more" turns into "coupla days more"

ok...i feel it now. the urgency to get everything i could possibly bring over in my 30 kg weight limit, that would ensure my survival in Kiwiland, to buy anything that would help me save my cost of living because it's 2.5 times cheaper here, to get all things sorted out over there from who's picking me up, to where i'm gonna live, and last but not least, the urgency to meet up, spend time with and cherish the people i'd be leaving behind.

it's not supposed to sound that sad. i am, without a doubt, thrilled and psyched to be embarking on this new chapter of my life. i have been waiting for this for a pretty long time, and it's all happening sooner than it seemed. but a nagging thought rests in the pits of my mind, a restless knowing that things aren't going to be the same right now. we promise to keep in touch, and we hug and bid our goodbyes with hopes that time would accelerate till the time we meet again, just so we can preserve whatever ties and relationship we have fostered. but how often does that happen?

i've started packing a few days ago. i need a bigger bag. my things are bursting out of the one i have now and it ain't because i'm a heavy traveller. i'd like to think i am actually able to live off the bare necessities. but the winter stuff just takes up too much space.

i've 4 days left before i fly off. i think i've managed to meet up with all the people who see me on a pretty regular basis, those who would actually feel my absence in their lives (che wah...hehe...). There are others whom i failed to squeeze them in, but they should be fine without me, since we don't meet up that often anyway.

Shirlyn's coming home! I miss that woman so much, i don't know if 2 days are enough for us to catch up!

And then there's Dennis. I'll miss the boy so much. If at any point in time i find myself curled up in my room on a cold cold day in Auckland willing time to just fast forward to December, my guess is it would be because of him.

And there's my family. It aches me to know that they've paid so much and I'm the one who's going to have all the fun. For them i'd wish to accelerate time to the year 2010. Convocation. I look forward to be able to repay my brother and my parents for this degree more than anything else in the world.

All these emotions are being mixed and blended in the depths of my stomach.

I think I feel an anxiety attack comin...