New Zealand 2 U | ~ Bringing Out the Best of the Land Down Under ~

I Do Not Rike.

2011-08-21T12:21:00.001+12:00

Many people enjoy the delicious flavours of Indian cuisine, but hate how it spontaneously forces them to break into a Bollywood song and dance routine. Enjoy a taste of India without the embarrassing performances with today’s Groupon: $12 for any two curries with rice and any two parathas at Jas Parathas in the CBD ($33 Value). -Grouponnz.co.nz

Dear Groupon NZ, what the fuck is so embarrassing about India's Bollywood dance? You are selling your deal at the expense of other people's rich culture! And you know what? What I find more embarrassing is the drunken antics that your own people find humorous! Find that offensive? Well, reflect back on your initial statement about Bollywood dances being 'embarrassing'!

Lousy website with lousy deals!

/endrant

Internal Struggle.

2011-08-17T20:14:00.002+12:00

Internal struggle need not be the crazily complicated plots you see on Hong Kong dramas. It can be an internal conflict within a normal chaborkia like me.

When in NZ...

Me: OMFG it is so cold nao get me outta here I dun wanna live here anymoreee. KL so good always so warm sob sob sit down on toilet bowl also won't kena shock.

When chucked back to KL...

Me: OMFG so hot I cannot breathe I want to go back to NZ!!!!!!!!! I don't care I can live without char kuey teow or G yoke fun!!!!!!!!!!

When brought back into NZ again...

Me: OMFG Auckland Y U NO SNOW! Nemai lah if it's cold I dun care if I freeze my butt off I just want to see SNOW (because I just come out from kampung). And OMFG Auckland Y U NOTHING TO EAT WTF gimme back my char kuey teow. Or normal G yoke fun also can.

... 2 days later, it snowed...

Me: OMFG it's so cold imma dying Auckland Y U SO COLD!!!!!! GET ME BACK TO KL (even if it means having a faggot as a PM)

- and the vicious cycle continues -

From Meat To Fish.

2011-08-06T20:23:00.000+12:00

We have decided to ditch meat as a main course and switch to a mostly fish diet for health reasons.

For one thing, meat does not taste good here. The chickens here ooze meat like Arnold Schwarzzz-whatever oozes muscles when he's on steroids - not cool. Give me back my kampung chicken who roams freely please. THAT is real chicken folks. And free range chicken? Marketing hype. I don't buy it because my tongue tells me they're all the same. They are all so packed with meat it's impossible they're not on steroids. Arnie would be proud.

Also I hate plastic-packaged chicken in those cold refrigerators. I so miss going to the pasar with my mom, even if I have to put up with waking up early and walk in that dirty stinky place. Even in India the Indians got it right. Freshly slaughtered and straight to your stomach. That's how meat should be (although it was a horrifying experience for me to wash a chicken carcass that was still warm when I was in India omg).

After switching to fish for nearly a week, our digestive system feels way calmer and better. Hope this continues...

Life Y U SO susah!

2011-07-18T00:17:00.002+12:00

Y SO susah study so hard when you can open a pan mee stall?

All you need to know is hao to boil ikan bilis soup, cook the pork sauce and knead the dough into perfection. No need to bother 'A' grade whatnot and difficult lecturers (Lecturers as in the person not lectures as in the lessons because I am smart and can handle them wahahahhaha rub it in I must). Y SO susah lah. Some fella selling pan mee at a hawker center mah also drive a Mercedes?

HAHAHAHAHA kidding lah. We'd probably kena chop into pieces like the pork by our parents if we gave up our studies to sell pan mee.

Ever heard of the saying "Kids are always dying to grow up while adults are always trying to retrieve their lost childhood?" Indeed, young kids love to do grown up stuff like wearing mom's high heels or putting on mom's lipstick and all that as though they can't wait any longer to become all grown up. But when they do grow up eventually, they do childish stuff to grasp whatever remnants they have of their childhood in vain. Children Y U SO rush!!! Slow down lah.

I really rike this picture. Sums up the saying really well because the two Kambings in their early twenties find themselves playing with dough not to chase their childhood, but to make a perfect bowl of pan mee!

If only life was as easy as kneading Play-Doh, just like the good old days when I was 10 years old! I get to play with 'Play-Doh' and not think about the yucky stuff that adults fret about all day.

But alas, making pan mee is not the same as Play-Doh. With Play-Doh, you didn't need to consider how much of eggs and flour and salt and water to put into the mixture, but with pan mee, you do.

Really, making pan mee is just like juggling real life. Making pan mee is NEVER easy. You need the correct amount of this and that to knead that perfect little dough. Similarly, you need the right amount of everything perfectly so that you can strike an ideal balance in life, which is never easy.

How I wish I didn't have to make any difficult decisions at this stage of life. Stay? Leave? Work where? Work how? Work for whom? Work WHERE?!!!!

But I have got to tell myself regardless of how difficult decision-making is, everything is going to eventually fall into place and turn out alright, just like this bowl of pan mee, where all the ingredients mesh together to form heaven-in-a-bowl. Prospects in life will turn out as bright as the carrots in this bowl of noodles! Just imagine if I stood there fretting over how much salt should I put into the soup - if I stood there and hesitated forever, I wouldn't reap any outcome and missed the chance to eat perfectly cooked noodles. Similarly, if I don't make a choice fast, I'm going to let prospective opportunities fly past me.

So it's time to put that dash of salt in life and keep going! Life is never in measurable terms, that's what makes it just a tad more interesting than this bowl of pan mee.

Gosh I'm making metaphors of life out of food. Wtf!

The Puppy-Sitting Chronicles.

2011-07-12T20:01:00.002+12:00

Haro folks,

I just finished my first semester of 2011 and I am glad to say I crawled out from the crutches of evil university examinations, alive and standing!

My next challenge came in the form of...

Cuteness maximus 100x

Why in the world did I end up with a puppy? Well, the Kambing decided to go low budget so we decided not to travel this semester break. So we have free time to devote to this French Tahitian puppy as his owner is away for a getaway!

Say hi to Gino, the glossy black Cocker Spaniel.

Don't be fooled by that pair of piercing puppy-dog (PUN in literal form HAHAHAHA) eyes. Beneath that beautiful brown glare is a puppy so omfg energetic, we barely made it out alive from my friend's house after the whole puppysitting ordeal is over.

He goes up and down the three floors of the house with you; follows you into the toilet, where you will need to engage in a round of wrestling with the pup to get him out so you can do your business in peace. Baking a cake in the kitchen? He stays ever loyal, albeit running up and down the hall about 100 times.

And did you notice the three pieces of cartoon-like hair standing on his head? Well, I have no idea how it came about... The hair became so after a tedious round of shampooing, showering and blow-drying. I can't help but laugh everytime I see his hair!

You raise me up, when my ears dip into the milk *Sing*

One of the many mischief that Gino does - he tries to kidnap OUR cake. (Actually I lied, I bribed him 100 pieces of cake to actually let the Kambing get this shot lol)

And I swear this puppy (or perhaps all dogs) love human attention like nobody's business. I suffered severe allergic reactions to this fella so we ended up putting him outside of our room at night while we slept, and I swore I heard this puppy treading vengefully around the entire house when we were sleeping, tirelessly putting in effort to try and get his human's attention (yes HIS human. I have a feeling I was being owned by the dog that few days lol).

And when I woke up and have the very tip of my toes touch the carpet, I can hear frantic running from downstairs and scratching at the door in less than 3 seconds. Gino is here to say 'good morning' to me.

That was it. My heart melted completely. I popped some anti-histamines, and slept with puppy for the remaining nights. He is one cheeky dude... He was at the end of the bed when we fell asleep at night but when the first rays of the morning shine through the window we find ourselves having a furry (and smelly) bolster in our arms. Wtf! The Kambing swore Gino woke him up at exactly 8.11am every morning by trying to lick his face (while he fought off lol he can't stand puppy breath) to get his breakfast fix.

Finally, came the last day of puppysitting Gino and we showered him with so much attention he could have gotten diabetes if love was sugar hehe. It was the very first time he was away from his humans, and as we were locking the doors and leaving his whining broke my heart... :(

Goodbye Gino. It has been nice having you as a bolster for 4 days. <3

Let the Kambings Come Home to a Tanah Air yang BERSIH.

2011-07-09T17:44:00.002+12:00

The Bersih 2.0 rally is unraveling before our eyes as I type this; modern Malaysian history is the making, fueled by the wonders of Web 2.0. Al Jazeera is watching; BBC is watching; and the Malaysian communities from all over the world have taken the initiative to show their support. Amazing.

Knowing the dirty tactics of the current administration, sadly I do not believe the gathering of Bersih warriors will bring about real change to the old ways of the scoundrels who have been leeching off the rakyat's hard work for so long. Too much is at stake here. Why give up living a life of luxury at the expense of the citizens' hard work simply because of a rally? These people have proved time and again they will stoop to almost verminous standards just to get what they want, even when lives are at stake. You can argue that I am a pessimist, but we shall see what happens when 2.00pm strikes, and what happens beyond.

The only outcome that I can be sure of about this rally is that the Malaysian people have gathered in the spirit of unity (fuck stupid PR campaigns like 1Malaysia that are all talk and no action); and that the rakyat have once braved against all oppressive obstacles in their way to fight for their rights; and that the efforts of these brave people have left resounding impacts in the hearts of the rakyat.

The optimistic side of me is praying. Please, let this rally make a change. Malaysians who have sought opportunities overseas left not because they do not love the land, because they understand the interests of the people will never be fulfilled in the hands of the current administration; because they will never succeed in a land that denies equal opportunities for all the races that were supposedly living together in harmony. Please, to the very least, create a shrewd of hope for the morale of the people who have nearly lost all hope.

To quote a fellow Malaysian's comment that I came across in the Internet,

"Please let us vote with our rights, and not with our feet (walking away from the country)".

Being an overseas Malaysian student means that I have the potential to be a part of the brain drain of Malaysia. The Kambings are wrought with indecision at this moment of our lives. To go home to Malaysia or to stay in New Zealand, the land that has fostered me with their excellent education for two years? Two years abroad have taught me that the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side (but I suppose clean and green NZ is a different story hehe) and that home is where the heart is. And I think my heart belongs to the land of nasi lemak, with all the bad cholesterols that comes along (geddit! hahahaha).

Please, let the Kambings, and thousands of other Malaysian students who have left the country, have the option of coming home.

From the bottom of my heart, I wish all the Bersih warriors well.

Bersih warriors, MARCH FORWARD!

Dear Ma,

2011-07-08T13:20:00.001+12:00

Would you like to come visit me again?

Academic Work...

2011-06-05T22:48:00.000+12:00

Academic work is just like constipation. When you have no inspiration, no matter how hard you push, nothing comes out.

Similarly, academic work can also be like diarrhea. When inspiration suddenly strikes, it will be near impossible to stop the flow.

Geddit HAHAHAHA sorry I know it's gross but I am so feeling this right nao.

On a sinister note, the Kambing just came home with some McDonald's for supper and some wry news. Someone flung a cup of water at him while he was cycling past and screamed some nonsensical stuff at his face.

Racist much? I admit, when I wrote the two posts earlier back, I was pretty angry, but now I have sort of resigned to fate... If that's what I'm going to face when studying in a foreign country, I pretty much gotta suck it up, right?

NO OF COURSE NOT WTF. I am paying a shitload of money which might eventually end up as some drunk and unemployed assholes welfare money and I have to put up with shit like this?!

Anyway, the above does not represent the entire population. So chill out, peeps.

Just another day...

New Zealand Abalone.

2011-05-31T23:25:00.002+12:00

Haro.

If you are a Malaysian Chinese and you are reading this, I am sure you guys are all familiar with that RM200 tin can of abalone that we eat once a year. During Chinese New Year. Remember anot? Geddit anot? It's supposed to look like 元宝 a and you eat it to HUAT AH!

Look familiar to you anot! That's after the poor Kambing removed all the gory guts and stuff... Poor guy spoke gibberish to me after the disgusting ordeal...

When you tell any ah dog ah miao that you are living in New Zealand everyone will get excited and pull up all sorts of questions like 'OMG you got fresh fish to eat anot!' or 'OMG you got eat NZ abalone anot!' and the classic 'OMG is the country full of sheep?'

We can has two of them! That's nearly RM400 liao... Hehe...

Well, first things first, FISH and SEAFOOD is NOT cheap even if this country mass produces them. In fact, WE, the Kambings, get the raw deal because believe it or not, ALL the good quality produce has been exported to countries like Malaysia and they're getting a hefty RM30 for a slab of 'New Zealand' beef or lamb (while I get the okay-ish quality NZ prime beef for like NZD8?).

Something that I believe a lot of Malaysians never had a chance to see. That's because we eat abalone either in dried form or from the tin can.

HAHAHAHA you suckers. (I'm kidding)

Initially me and the Kambing were quite pissed off that all the fresh produce are so bloody expensive. It wasn't till very later that we realise we're doing it wrong. D:

The real, authentic Kiwi way, is to go CATCH your own produce.

囧囧囧

Pan-fried with oil to try the authentic taste of this famous morsel...

During our first year here we only had a chance to travel at the very end of the year before we went home. And after visiting the endless beaches and nature reserves that we noticed there were signs located near the shore that stated stuff like...

- How many fish you can catch per person per day
- How many oysters (!) can you take home per day / per person
- How many mussels (!!) can you take home per day / per person
- How many abalone (!!!) can you take home per day / per person

Done.

So yup, we realised it too late and was left confused during our earlier time in NZ about the crazy prices for all the produce.

The Kambing putting finishing touches to our meal.

You want fish? Go catch it. Plenty of FISH in the NZ sea.
Haih sometimes I think we Malaysians are too stuck in our air-conditioned concrete jungle to be truly in tune with nature like how the Kiwis are...

If you were wondering, we got the trevally fish and abalone from our neighbor because we babysitted his puppy. Teeheehee.

I Came to New Zealand for This...

2011-05-23T21:20:00.001+12:00

But unfortunately, due to educational obligations, I'm stuck in Auckland at my cozy little home for now...

I Do Not Understand ze Resentment.

2011-05-18T23:18:00.003+12:00

Back in Bolehland, I know there are a lot of people who are absolutely horrified to be associated with 支那人 in any way possible. They sever all possible ties with them and the 'Made in 支那' joke is pretty prevalent in OUR society.

But throw the kambings into Kiwi Land, and suddenly you are surrounded by hoards and hoards of them (long-time immigrants who struck their pot of gold here), and all of a sudden, thrown into the same category not by our own people, BUT the angmohs. Lumped together under the umbrella title, Asian, just like 2 bunches of Play-Doh kneaded together (but we're different. I hear you protest).

Time to rethink our orientations, my dear Malaysians?

The Clunk of Beer Bottles.

2011-04-29T14:24:00.000+12:00

To gain true understanding of a foreign culture, one can...

Observe the noise produced when the rubbish truck comes and collect the rubbish.

The rubbish truck was just outside a moment ago. When the mechanical arm picked up the community rubbish bin and proceeded to dump, I heard a long and seemingly endless clunk of beer bottles streaming their way into the truck.

Good insight to a culture, eh? The main waste is not squishy or smelly by-products of last night's dinner or typical househould waste, but bottles and bottles of beer? Amazing.

Sure, one doesn't need to be involved in 'high culture' to be considered a culture. But to define yourselves with it? Worst of all, the people are unabashed that 'drinking' is THE defining factor of their society, that is just unbelievable to me. Much like an idiot roaring 'Malaysia Boleh' while waving the stupid flag in a show of identity. All show no substance lah okay.

Yes I'm ranting about the fantastic Kiwi culture. I tried to keep this blog balanced right from the start, but the longer I stayed here the harder I found it was to do so.

Say hi to the real emotions from the Kambings.

And I Thought I Said Good Riddance to Racism When I Left Malaysia...

2011-04-18T13:51:00.002+12:00

I've been blissfully happy in the universe I call 'real life' when I was hurtled back to the virtual world that is blogging due to some unpleasant circumstances.

Yesterday I was out in the supermarket minding my own business when I overheard a woman in front of me saying to her partner:

"These people are usually the only child in the family, they always like to do what they please."

Of course it's a no-brainer whom she's targeting at. She's assuming I'm an Asian, the umbrella term for all the yellow-skinned folks 'from China'. Apparently putting my orange juice into the shopping trolley offended the woman somehow.

Hello woman, have you never looked at a world map before? I'm so sorry you're stuck in this tiny island full of sheep (it's unfortunate really), but there are plenty of other people in this world, you know? The world doesn't just revolve around your 4 million population and 100 billion sheep population. Just because you happen to see me shopping with my 'China' mother doesn't naturalize the fact that I'm an 'only-child brat' from China. Would you appreciate being written off as a 'fucking Brit' or something similar just because you're white? Of course not - you'd be god damn offended because you have this Kiwi pride going on - same goes with the rest of the people in this world.

Even if I AM from China, that doesn't give you the right to say "only-childs that like to do as they please". If it weren't for the Chinese population you have in New Zealand, you wouldn't have so many fried food from the takeaway shops to stuff your stupid faces with.

This just goes to show how most of the New Zealand population treat the Asian population. Such racial slurs haven't been the first. Ask anyone who got by a day in New Zealand without having to deal with random folks screaming 'you stupid Asians' when the drunken Kiwi drivers go past in their rusty old cars. Mild cases of ignorance is fine - I shrug it off; but this case touched a nerve. I tried to give this woman a little sarcastic smile but she didn't dare look me in the eyes because I assume that she believed I was incompetent in English at first but was proved the contrary when I spoke to the cashier. Sadly for her, I AM perfectly capable of communicating in English and understood perfectly what she said. Also, knowing English is just a skill most people of the world conveniently picked up - there is no birthright stating that every person in the world HAS to know it. And knowing English definitely doesn't make you superior in any way!

The most ironic thing about this is...

Not long ago, I read an article written by a Kiwi doing a university exchange program in the United States. He wrote how he was asked by the Americans whether the Kiwis lived on trees, whether they have safe drinkable water, whether they have television and other stupid degrading stuff like that. He wrote about how this was a culture shock for him and how offended he felt that the people there had a disregard about the New Zealand culture. Excuse moi, what culture again? Do you call getting drunk and laid on weekends a 'culture'? How very refining indeed.

Well, I just want to tell this Kiwi dude - that's exactly how I feel when I'm in YOUR country. You all think you're so high and mighty up there and have this disregard about the rest of the world. Where is this consideration that each person is unique in their own way? Been in my shoes now? Great. Time to start respecting the foreigners in your country a little more?

End rant. Sorry can't stay long I need to enjoy the brief time I have with my visiting family babaaaaaai.

Too Lazy...

2011-03-13T00:39:00.001+13:00

... To blog. For the past 3 months you see dust gather on New Zealand 2 U.

The Kambings were shipped back to Malaysia for the summer holidays (thanks Pa). And we've been savoring every single second we have back at Bolehland. This trip back home nourished my heart and soul with the gift of love from family friends and a new bundle of joy in my family. Suddenly, the Internet seemed like a trivial place to be spending time in. Facebook soon became my constant haunt as I eagerly anticipated the pictures of my recent outings with friends. Such a feeling I have not had in a while. And it's especially during times like these that you figure out who are the people that are really worthy and care for you. <3

Right now, the Kambings are back in New Zealand for the new semester and I'm blogging from my new house. Good riddance to the idiots I lived with last semester. The house hunt was tiring because the Kambings have green thumbs and say NO to driving (no really, because we're so damn poor we cannot afford to feed a car - buy car easy feed car hard). So we walked to visit house after house after house, with the intermittent blessing of kind friends borrowing their cars to us.

So many things happened over the summer holidays. Don't even know where to start jotting down.

Went to Taiwan. Visited the International Flora Expo. Met my best friend whom I only get to see on an annual basis (if I'm lucky).

Had mind-blowing amounts of noms both in Taiwan and Kuala Lumpur. Taiwan noms are good quality. No MSG added at all.

Had a chance to shoot a relative's wedding under the wing of a sifu-grade wedding photographer. Enriching experience indeed.

January. My family's bundle of joy arrived. You are late darling, aunty wait until neck long liao.

Back to beautiful (but empty) New Zealand with the company of the Kambing and my dearest friend of a decade. Grew up alongside each other. <3

Meanwhile terrible things have also happened during the short period of 3 months. First was the Christchurch earthquake of which I first heard of when camping in the middle of the forest. Messages flooded in asking about our well-being and my heart swelled at the love shown from the people who cared. You know who you are. Here's a love for you. <3

And now there is the Japan quake. Horrible, and to add insult to injury, the fear-mongering over the Internet about the end of the world is NOT funny at all. To those who are speculating baseless shit about the end of the world (2012), really, shut the ficken up. Either make an educated guess or stuff it. Not only you are not helping out with the critical situation that Japan is facing, you are littering the Internet with bollocks and causing unwanted panic out there.

K lah my mojo run out liao time to sleep. Good night!

Reminiscing The Last Few Days in Kiwi Land 2010.

2010-12-27T22:31:00.006+13:00

Ohai guys I am back in Bolehland. Sorry I didn't announce because I wanna produce some lulz by creating shocked expressions. Are you one of them? Teeheehee.

17th November - The Final Showdown, The Chance Encounter and the Fish and Chips Birdman.

Part 1 - The Birdman

I finished my final exam on the 15th of November. The 2 days of waiting for the flight was soooo long. Demanded the Kambing to bring me to the beach for a quick getaway before going back to good old concrete jungle Kuala Lumpur.

We walked to our usual fish and chips shop, bought lots of nom and headed over to the beach. Fish and chips are good noms, but as you eat and eat, the oiliness would eventually get on your nerves and you'd feel disgusted max. But it's bad to waste the big pile of NZD12 food... So when we reached the beach and sat under the shade, the Kambing playfully threw some shredded up chips at some birds.

A flock of them came (!).

Amused, he started to tear up more chips and threw at the birds. The birds lunged at the food, as though they haven't eaten in years (!!). They even started fighting with each other!

I thought the typical Kiwi diet is bad, I didn't know the Kiwi bird's diet is even worse. Wtf is a bird doing eating fish and chips? Don't you have some bird pride?!

Sor zai.

It got so out of hand, eventually small birds, big birds, pukekos, swallows and seagulls engulfed the Kambing.

HAHAHA Birdman.

Unfortunately, I couldn't capture the grand view of the Kambing being engulfed by big and small birds alike because I was wading through the sea without a camera. :(

Part 2 - The Final Showdown

Santa came to my doorstep because I have been a good girl. I have been refraining from complaining excessively in Facebook or whatever means of social networking possible.

Why leh? Because I have two assholes for housemates that are the worse type you can imagine.
Some classics:
- I boil dried seafood porridge, they sprayed air freshener over my food.
- My house fridge and microwave is smeared with chocolate and cheese, like a 10 year old's revenge.
- My naise housie helped them wash their dishes 101x and they still don't get the point. (WASH YOUR OWN FUCKING DISHES)

The last straw came when they left the shower basin clogged up with dirty water. I demanded them NICELY to clean up their own shit, only to have them counter me:

"The shower had some gooey hair stuck to the drain hole the other day, it was so gross, I had to take it out for you."

I said it wasn't mine, and me and the good housie have been cleaning it for the past semester, but she butted in and said,

"No it's not my hair, it's all your black hair."

Wah that immediately sent my blood boiling. For your info, I have been cleaning YOUR stupid fake blonde hair from the drain hole for the past semester, and for your dumb blonde head's info, YOU HAVE A DARK-HAIRED SISTER. Am I the only one with dark hair nao? NO SHIT! Apparently blondes don't shed hair during showers? I wanted to tackle her and pull out her fake blonde hair, one by one... Wtf...

As it was the last day in the hostel, I gulped in all that shit and tahan, with the insane urge of leaving a dead sotong somewhere to stink up the house (since they're so deathly afraid of my dried scallop and oyster porridge) or to summon a swarm of cockroaches to eat their underwear or something. URGH!

/endrant

Part 3 - The Chance Encounter

After the death match (dramatic lol) with my dumb housemates, I heard something magical coming from next door. Neh, all Chinese households should know, the sound that happens in the evening, the 'tiok tiok tiok' sound. The indicator that a Chinese family is chopping garlic / condiments and are preparing a meal! I squared my shoulders and went into the house to introduce myself. Made friends and lots of real authentic Chinese food. Managed to give away my leftover condiments (ie. cooking wine, sauces and spices) to my new friends. My nom is in good hands nao. :D

Note to self: North China folks have dumplings as their staple. Nothing else! D:

18th November - The Day That Came Waaaaaaaaay Too Slow.

Kelam-kabut. It was mayhem as I had too much fun with my new friends last night and didn't get to pack my stuff. Don't even have the luxury of a good night's sleep. Couldn't sleep after my 1am shower as my hair dryer is tucked into my storage box.

Woke up especially early to see a friend that came all the way to campus to bid me goodbye. She is the sweetest girl I have ever known. Heart of gold. <3

Flight was quite comfortable compared to our flight TO NZ. I still remember both of us were grumpy and haggard rather than excited upon arriving in a foreign land. Glad we got a ride with a steady pilot.

8.30pm. In typical Malaysian parent style, the Kambing's family commented on whether we put on weight upon our arrival. I can immediately feel the humidity in the Malaysian air. Goodbye cool clean DRY NZ air. I'll miss you and never forget how you dried off my 10 year struggle with acne. Went to the toilet to pull off my leggings - imagine the HEAT.

19th November - I Can Has Curly Hair.

I can has Japanese perm. I went for a gyaru-ish perm as that is the only type I could do with my length. I had the option of either rebonding (yawn) or this wild mane of hair. Being the chaborkia that I am, I went for the latter. Regrets sunk in later as I realised curls are very very much more high maintenance than straight hair wtf.

20th November - UNIQLO Fever At Last.

Went to Pavilion to see awesomesauce Christmas deco and to visit the wildly popular Uniqlo. The irony, really. Christmas is not exciting at all in NZ as the entire country is closed for the holidays. To think Christmas is not highly significant to the Malaysian culture but the craze is amazing.

I finally can has UNIQLO!

21st November - Family Nom Noms

Went to Kampachi for real kick-ass Japanese food. Which reminds me how NZ totally sucks balls when it comes to eating. Imagine a country with such an abundance of natural sea resources and the people there are irked by seafood or eat canned or frozen food as their staple. Shame! All seafood are frozen or processed. Haih wtf. Fresh my foot lah.

Finally get to meet my TARC kakis. It has been tooooo long!

And beyond...

It has been fun to be home with friends and family! So much fun that I forgot to blog till 2 days after Christmas omg! Please remember to take a number and bring the Kambing out. K? Babai.

答应自己。。。

2010-11-06T00:29:00.000+13:00

来到纽西兰求学是要为自己增值，不是来背死书拿文凭。
那种读书方式令我觉得真的受够了。。。害到我不背书预备考试会变得没信心。。。
不过坦白说上课都明白啊～怎么还那么害怕不把课题背起来就应付不到？

这次，我告诉自己不能再跌入＂背多分＂这种False Sense of Security了。。。

"There is no right or wrong answer, it depends on how coherently you argue your reasons. You need to demonstrate your understanding."

这是我问老师怎样答考题才＂对＂时，他给我的答案。
重点不是在对错；不是在写得出老师要的＂标准答案＂，而是真正展示你对课题的理解。这已经是我第二个学期了，我正在很努力的接受这种读书方式，突破对＂背多分＂的依赖。

马来西亚的小朋友们。。。国外的教学方式真的真的很不同。。。如果要留学，一定要好好克服自己的心理哦～

Too Easy to Complain, Too Hard to Understand.

2010-11-01T21:48:00.000+13:00

We always complain about things. We always complain about the weather, the Internet too slow, traffic jam lah, weather lah, or the girl beside you ugly or something. In fact, being a purely-bred Bolehlander, I rike complaining also (Sorry loh). Sit there complain until sun rise and do nothing. If that rings your chyme, well congrats, you must be from Malaysia. Join the club. XD

Today was assignment due day. Of all the days in a 365-day year, the entire printer network in my uni chose to die today. FeveryoneL. Not mine though, mine juuuuuuust came out and I got it printed and delivered on time. *Proud. Kembang until chest inflate 2 cups* Sigh those poor souls. :(

So as usual, everyone complain loh, why uni computer so damn cha, why so lauyah, why choose to die today, whyyyyy.

Later in the evening, I needed to hand in something again. Unsurprisingly, the printer is still dead. Great FML now. Fortunately some friends had access to another lab and the Computer Technician was kind enough to offer to print my stuff for me. Me, a total stranger. *Tear up* We made friends nao and is good. :D

Usually if there is any fakap in my school lab, usually this guy gets the flak.

I had the chance to chit-chat with him as he went through a meticulous process of changing the access of the printers to enable printing my stuff through his own system. I casually mentioned that it was generous of the uni to introduce Adobe CS5 into all the school PCs.

"Generous? We have been fighting and pressuring the school to invest in this software

for the students for an entire year!"

(PS: Adobe is trying to kill the Aussies / Kiwis because I found out Adobe (Australasia region) charges over nine thousandddddd for their licence wtf.)

...

*Double tear up*

Imagine lah, printer kaput, open mouth -insert swear word- and that's it. You just cursed somebody. Or their Ma or Grandma.

But on hindsight, if you learnt that the very person you curse is actually working very hard behind the scenes to bring you the best possible services...

How you feel laaaaaah.

I shall think twice about complaining from now on.

Maybe with the exception of weather, traffic jams, slow Internet (OMG NOOO), or maybe the guy beside me with stinky feet. Or maybe the Bolehland gahmen. Or stop complaining about the 100 storey Mega Tower. HAHAHAHA dream lah.

Kthxbai. *Imagines shoes being thrown at me*

The Story of the 枇杷膏 Fruit.

2010-10-30T20:26:00.004+13:00

Hai guys, I just came back from nom with the Kambing. Just now as we were walking back home, an elderly Pakistani uncle called out to the Kambing and tossed him a yellow fruit.

He prompted the Kambing to "Eat it. It is good fruit. You from China, right (NO)? China has plenty also. The people here don't know how to eat this good thing."

Well naturally, if any stranger throws you food and demands you to eat it, you'd assume them to be an evil witch with a big wart on the nose which says "Stay away at all costs! I'm gonna kidnap you and make stew".

But coming to NZ for nearly a year, we've sorta switched off that alarm bell. *Sheepish* See lah KL people so jahat, we don't even smile to the person next to us anymore, how sad is that? :(

Anyway, the Pakistani uncle demonstrated peeling the fruit and gave the Kambing instructions on how to nom it. Peel into half, chuck away the seeds, then eat the flesh.

I couldn't read the Kambing's face to tell whether it tasted good or bad. Or poisonous, even. I asked the uncle what fruit is it and he said something like 'Logart' in his thick Pakistani accent. After making a bit of small talk, we bade the uncle goodbye and continued walking back to campus.

After we're out of earshot, the Kambing gave me a little to chew on. It was pretty tasty and I told him to turn back and get a bagful from the uncle. But he said "There's a similar tree in campus. I'll bring you go eat."

Lao eh. Since when did he become caveman so good in recognizing trees? I didn't really believe him but he told me he saw some angmoh crowding around a similar tree and eating off it too, so k loh.

We located the tree in our campus and plucked a few. We sat on the grass and started to nom nom the peculiar Logart fruit. We nom'd and surrounded the tree like bees, picking the yellowest and ripest fruits we can get our hands on.

But it wasn't enough to satisfy our curiosity. We went home and Google'd for the fruit name. Keyword was "Logart". No relevant fruity results found. T__T I was damn frustrated wei, when I wanna know something, I wanna KNOW it right nao! 'Tis the age where Google never fails.

Just then, the Kambing had a stroke of brilliance. "Google 'yellow fruit tree'!" And guess what? We found it.

It wasn't Logart. It was Loquat. /facepalm

According to Aunty Wikipedia,

Loquat syrup is used in Chinese medicine for soothing the throat like a cough drop. The leaves, combined with other ingredients and known as pipa gao (枇杷膏; pinyin: pípágāo; literally "loquat paste"), it acts as a demulcent and an expectorant, as well as to soothe the digestive and respiratory systems. Loquats can also be used to make light wine.

...

...

...

HAHAHAHAHA.

The Sun.

2010-10-27T23:49:00.000+13:00

Ohai.

Four seasons have run it's course and now it's nearly summer.

The gloomy days of autumn and winter are over, and I see plenty of people frolicking in the sun. All of them were sun-ready, wearing bikini tops, summer styles and sunglasses.

I saw all this from the safety of a building's shade. Unlike them, I don't like the sun.

Lolwut?

(very surprising meh)

I still remember the first time I sat down with my new Kiwi friends, and they deliberately chose places with maximum sunshine. I was dying and shriveling up from within but they seemed unperturbed. Apparently all my Kiwi mates enjoy the sun. Heck, it's an understatement! They WORSHIP the sun. They stretched out their arms and legs and pulled off bra straps and exposed themselves to ~~deadly~~ UV rays ~~that will age your skin like how it does dried prunes.~~

I still remember the fake smile plastered on my face, trying to cope with the sun-rays while the girls around me were dying to lap it all up. I was the noob then, you see, desperate to make new friends. Ah, the sacrifices teenagers do for the sake of their social life.

One of the girl's noticed my discomfort, and asked me: "Don't you enjoy the sun?"

Being the nais littl girl that I am, I answered her honestly. Albeit stupidly because I have been trying to maintain my composure. Well, NO wtf. I hate the sun why the eff aren't you guys sitting in the shade?! K sorry I only said no I omitted the first part. I'm nais, remember?

And the girls all looked at me as though I was an alien.

Hellooooooo from where I came from, we don't have the novelty that is four seasons a year. The only temperature setting in my country is hot, hotter, or hottest. Or hot until wanna die.

Somemore leh, the Kambing has this 'hot weather temper' that is the root of all our relationship problems wtf. I don't wanna go into details, but that was the first ever time he walked 10 feet away from me wtf coz angry because the weather is hot. Lolwut?

I for one am glad to have my heat back, thank you very much. I wanna ban leng leng and be a vain girl during winter also cannot. Wrapped up like bacon and asparagus you accessorize also uselss lah no one will see you. HAHAHA bacon and asparagus. I am as skinny as an asparagus. T__T

So yeah, just by looking out at the window from the comfortable shade, looking at all the Europeans / whites enjoying their tanning, it's really amusing how different cultures take nature's basic element so differently.

K off to enjoy the sun (I rike contradicting myself). Bai.

Sign that New Zealand is Awesome...

2010-10-21T00:25:00.000+13:00

Ohai. I've been staring at my nails.

They've never been this long and shiny, like srsly.

And for the first time ever, they are not breaking or tearing off from the sides!

I've always tried to grow my nails in Bolehland but they always end up brittle and I am forced to cut it away because it looks damn ugly...

So yup, come New Zealand and you can has long strong beautiful nails.

Who needs French manicures nao when you can has New Zealand milk?

Protein = naise nails.

Kthxbai.

Sheepland and Bolehland in Win / Fail Categories.

2010-10-16T00:08:00.001+13:00

WIN
Quality of Life = New Zealand
Quality of Lifestyle = Kuala Lumpur

FAIL
Quality of Life = Kuala Lumpur
Quality of Lifestyle = New Zealand

Says it all.

So, which one do you want leh?
You want a stop-and-smell-the-roses Kiwi lifestyle,
or you want a 'somewhere to go to every weekend' / 'have never-ending entertainment at the expense of never-ending traffic jams and shitty living conditions' Boleh lifestyle?

I dunno lah, really...
I might long for my metropolitan lifestyle but at the same time I find myself enjoying life in the simplest and purest forms here...

Say, for example, not having to listen to the peculiar 一日五次 occurrence that happens in Bolehland. I enjoy my share of peace and quiet, you see.

Whatcha think?

Northland Adventure Stop 1 - Puhoi

2010-10-08T22:35:00.003+13:00

Driving up north in New Zealand is fairly easy. Grab a map and you're good to go (no you did not read this contradictory piece of evidence). Malaysia is one of the few nations who drive on the wrong side of the road, which is the left side. The Teochew people call this 'kalang bo siang'. The right side is the right side in the US, which would be the wrong side in New Zealand. So for Malaysians, doing the wrong thing is the right thing. Which is already second nature to us. As for those who are right all along, perhaps it's time to do it wrongly.

Erm, geddit then okay lah, dun get then forgeddit.

In order to tour the entire Northland, you only need to follow the course of State Highway 1 and make your stops in accordance to the signs along the road. Don't worry, the signs not so sinkalan like Bolehland signs, which can make a perfectly happy date turn sour because of incorrect traffic information. *Cough nudge cough Kambing No.2*

Our first stop was Puhoi, a small little historical village.

Farmer's Market is a weekend occurrence in certain parts of New Zealand.

We were extremely fortunate to stumble upon their Farmer's Market on that Sunday afternoon.

Farmer's Market is where the people of the community setup small stalls and sell whatever trinkets / vegetables / fruits they can offer.

And I noticed that New Zealand produces a lot of soap. Various kinds of soap. I wonder how and I wonder why. Perhaps a way to generate more income with all that goat's milk.

I rike this picture so you shall see it. Kthxbai.

K lah actually I have a lot of pictures but sadly due to my stupid campus accommodation Internet, I can has no pictures to post for you. And I'm refraining very hard from ranting about the bullshit I have to endure in this shitty accommodation. That, I'll leave for another post. If I ever can. Because unlike my previous blog, I am trying to be a nice girl here. I cannot complain about orang kotor yang sedang bertinggal dengan saya and about how mereka tak cuci tandas dan dapur dan menyebabkan semut makan semua breakfast saya, menjadikan saya lapar kerana food supply telah dimakan oleh semut. At least, till I get my ass out of here. *Angel halo above my head*

These are all taken by the great Kambing No.2. Which explains why he is absent in the pictures. Sorry to Aunty and Uncle because I know you all wanna see his face. T__T

Lost and Found in Hokianga.

2010-10-04T00:53:00.001+13:00

Ohai there. I feel so damn lucky to be ~~alive~~ back home and blogging because we just narrowly escaped from a bunch of blood-hungry cannibals. We got lost during our road trip, you see.

...

Hahaha if you believe me hor means you haven't been reading this blog long enough. Just kidding lah.

The Kambings and our Korean travel buddy just got back from a 6 day excursion to Northland, New Zealand. Northland means the entire top part of New Zealand where the sheeps and cows ~~and cannibals~~ are.

The places beyond the Auckland dot are known as Up North, or Northland. During the first few days of our road trip, we covered the entire East Northland, headed all the way to Cape Reinga, which was the tip of New Zealand, and then made our way down South of Northland, and that was where our nightmare began...

On the fourth day of our adventure (Wednesday, 29th September), the three of us departed from Paihia, Bay of Islands, to head to Cape Reinga. It was a looooooooooong drive up, as well as a loooooooong drive back down from. See the map. Over the four days, we covered pretty much of all the more touristy spots located at East Northland. We weren't running on any specific travel plans, so when it was late afternoon, we decided to settle down at a nearest town in West Northland and make our way back down slowly. Like traveling in a 'U' shape to cover all the places in Northland lah.

First stop was Kaitaia, which looked so deserted it was scary. Fine lah nemai. We drove and stopped at several of the towns along the way, but I tell you, the West was nothing like the East. The East was a thriving place full of tourist-ready facilities and lots of hustle-bustle you would expect from thriving little places. But noooooo, West Northland was not like that at all. It was just a remote area with the roads caressing the curves of the surrounding forests and farmlands. With small towns scattered loosely around the area. With lots and lots of sheep and cows. And possums. And freaky blue birds called pukeko that I heard eat baby lambs. With endless rolling green hills.

It was turning dark and we were pretty nervous then. I pointed my GPS to the nearest town we saw on the map, called Opononi, and the GPS navigated us to drive endlessly on roads like Kohu Kohu and and all that weren't specified on the map. It was another looooooooong drive. By the time we reached yet another intersection, the sky had already turned totally dark.

What to do? We continued to drive loh, got a fully-functioning GPS and several maps at hand, nothing can go wrong mah, right anot?

Well...

What we didn't know was, in order to reach Opononi, we had to pass through a coastline eating it's way into the mainland, which looked something like this. Which means the roads are shaped around it rather than the straight motorways that we've grown accustomed to traveling during the past few days.

Look again at the big map. We totally didn't notice that a tiny little coastline was creeping into Northland like that. Which explained the crazily positioned roads that we couldn't make out properly in the dark. Which explained why we weren't going in a straight line like we usually did. Which explained why we weren't making much progress as we drove on and on in the endless roads. Which explained why the three of us had panic attacks as we drove continuously and seemed like we headed nowhere...

So apparently, the GPS was right all along, but it was so dark and deserted that it appeared we were going nowhere when we were actually covering the grounds necessary to get to the shoreline opposite.

Our hope came when we stumbled upon a small little town that had human activity! We approached the people only to stir up a fuss where everyone gathered around and tried to help in any way they can. Truth to be told, we were extremely nervous at the attention we were getting, and we were quite shaken up after driving so long and not seeing any humans in sight. And as I said, a remote little town in the middle of nowhere... Scary one leh.

But it didn't take long for the warmth of the village people to soften our anxiety. They were so friendly and helpful. When I was a bit hysterical about wanting to make a phone call to my family, a lovely Maori girl took us into a hill that was the only place that had network coverage in the entire town.

Oh didn't I mention? There. Was. No. Network. Coverage. As. We. Drove. We were fully dependent on the GPS, but my phone died a sudden death because it's attempt of trying to get network coverage drained the battery when it could have lasted us till we reached the other end of the coast safely. FML. The only place that had a tiny bit of coverage was a wharf by the sea that I heard, had plenty of mussels and oysters that the villagers loved catching by the day. It would have sound pretty exciting if it weren't for that fact that we were already scared shitless by the traumatic drive in the dark roads.

After I made my 100 million dollar phone call to my parents, telling them a white lie stating that I was safe in a motel and was ready to sleep (didn't have time to explain, especially with the kind Kiwi girl waiting outside the car!), we made our way back to the pub. We got to talk with the locals and understood more about their lifestyle there. Simple and tightly-knit community of friends that loved the remoteness and simplicity the place offered.

We were quite anxious as we didn't have a place to stay for the night. This was when Charlie, owner of the pub, and Jan, his kind wife approached us and said the magic words.

"If you don't mind, you can stay with us if you like."

That melted our hearts, but at the same time, raised alarming bells in my head. But the warmth of the community in the pub were just infectious, and after the three of us agreed to their offer, we drove behind the elderly couple to go back to their home for the night.

The drive back to their home was just as long and windy. It was dark and we were pretty surprised at the confidence of their sense of direction. It was quite a bumpy ride as the road conditions weren't as smooth as the ones in motorways. It came to a point where the couple's truck passed a shallow river (!). We were driving a god damn rented Nissan Latio! How. T__T Omaigod. Not only that, we had to honk away cows and horses that were blocking the road. And beware of chickens crossing the road (pun).

Finally, after another seemingly endless drive, we reached their house. A quaint little cottage shaped like a Maori marae (Maori place of worship). When I stepped out of the car, my Korean buddy nudged me to look up and I gasped. My fear and worries momentarily forgotten. I didn't even have time to bother the dog that was licking my jeans.

The sky was dotted with millions and millions of stars. They are not scattered loosely, but packed tightly and looked as though they were overlapping each other, as though the sky didn't have enough room for all of them.

Even amidst all the horror that we went through earlier on... It was such a beautiful sight. You can never get this type of view in the city. Never. The view that we had made random star gazing sessions in the city look like a total joke. A sky jam packed with stars... An infinite sky actually not having enough space to accommodate the number of stars that night. Imagine that.

We stepped into their little cottage, and was thoroughly surprised to see the antiquity of it. It was by no means a fancy modern home.

It was this warm little thing, with urban decay, cobwebs, dirt, stuff scattered around.

Old wooden furniture. Beautiful antique ornaments lying all around the house. This absurd combination just blended perfectly. It was so nice and homey in there.

Fresh kahawai (something like Malaysian tenggiri fish), pan fried and sashimi style, fresh raw mussels, salad and bread. All done by Charlie and Jan. Loved all the food till I bit into something weird in the mussel... :S

The hospitality of the couple warmed our hearts just as how the food warmed our stomachs. We said we weren't hungry but they still cooked up a storm for us. The fish and mussels were freshly caught from the ocean right beside their house. The meal was delicious as the couple shared their stories over the dining table. Apparently, we're not the first ones to get lost in Hokianga. There were several other tourists lost in that area and they too were fortunate enough to receive the kind hospitality given by the couple.

It was 1 am by the time we finished our meal. To round it all up, Charlie presented us with this golden blend of goodness.

Manuka honey. Straight from his hive box. Untarnished by any form of chemicals or additives that we city people have been fed with throughout our entire artificial-ish lives. He even filled up 3 jars of honey for us to take home. Kind Charlie... T__T When I asked him where were the Manuka trees, he pointed right outside. Just next to his house. D:

So apparently, not only he rears his own food, he knows how to catch stuff from the ocean, and also get Manuka honey. All by himself.

We packed everything up and rested in the bed they provided us. The hospitality... The warm food and bed... The kindness of these strangers... It was more than we could ask for. It was 2am then.

They said they usually wake up at 6am, but will let us sleep in as we were the guests. Out of courtesy, we woke up at 7am and got ready to leave. It was windy and we were pretty disappointed that we couldn't have explored the land more.

As you can see, the house is right beside the mountains and by the sea. Note the sea just beyond the trees in this pic! Wind was so strong, wish we had a chance to walk along the beach...

That's where he caught the fish and mussels that we ate yesterday. What a lifestyle! And imagine city people are eating food out of plastic packaging. Eeeeew. Contrary to popular ~~Western~~ belief, food does not come in plastic packages. And yes they have bones and yucky (edible) guts sticking out from the flesh. It's just that the kind people in Pak and Save / Tesco / Carrefour removed them for the sake of your sanity.

From being panic-stricken to being rescued by a small town of warm people to being treated warmly by total strangers, it was quite an experience for all of us.

I will never forget the moment I handed them this Polaroid shot. It's a really small gesture, but Charlie and Jan were so touched, they just walked towards us without a word and hugged us all tightly. As it was a working day, we couldn't intrude their time further. It was goodbye time.

It was really fortunate to have met Charlie and Jan. They made us feel secretly glad that we were lost in Hokianga so that we could have been found by these lovely people.

And we shall see them again sometime in the future...
... When the sky isn't dark and we have a fully-charged GPS intact.

Featuring Kambing No.2's Face NOT Behind the Camera.

2010-09-21T01:26:00.002+12:00

Haro aunty and uncle.

You have a very leng zai son. Leng zai until I cannot stop looking at him.
That's why I post his picture so late,
Because I do not want to share with other girls.
HAHAHAHA just kidding lah.

This is the best pic of him I can get at the moment.
He's behind the camera all the time, that's why you don't see him in the blog.
Too busy capturing beautiful images for your viewing pleasure mah.

More pics when I get out of this shitty house and get myself a decent connection. Babai!

Daisy Flowers...

2010-09-15T00:30:00.004+12:00

To the unassuming eye, it's a mess of white specks all over my campus nao.

But look closer...

They're all white specks of cute daisy flowers!

Careful not to tread on these beautiful lovers.

Daisy says Hello!

I dunno about you, but it's wonderful to look out the window and see them during class,

And walk along the campus grounds and see them peeking out from the field near your feet.

Perhaps this is an indication I am a kampung chabor, never see flower before?

HAHAHAHA no lah. Malaysia no spring mah. Forever summer leh.

My lovely Maori told me when daisies start sprouting all over the grass, Spring is about to arrive. Good riddance to you, Winter! It has been tooooo long!

Think this is a lonely daisy? Think again.

Look closely, there is an entire army full of daisies behind this fella.

I always can't help but pluck some and put it in my hair, only to have it blown away by the horribly strong New Zealand wind.

FML.

And this is how daisy bid good night to the world.

I hope you guys rike the daisies. Because hor, I intentionally took my camera downstairs and squat behind my apartment to snap these. In full view of other students oh no HAHAHAHA jamban pose ala New Zealand.

Good night!

Exhilirating August Rant.

2010-09-02T16:36:00.002+12:00

Haro! Here I am sitting in my computer lab updating you all on my current situation. For the past month I am mostly stuck at home without the Internet. And it's too cold and wet to walk to the Kambing's home to tumpang his paid connection, so I just put up with the crap the residence put us through. Not without throwing a lot of tantrums at the poor Kambing of course. Sorry honey I cook you naise food k?

But actually I do always update in 140 words, so kindly follow me on Twitter right nao!

Anyway, come August, I was going all out in getting my assignments done on time. All of my assignment were supposed to be due last week but alas, shit happened and two of my lecturers postponed the classes, hence postponing the deadline as well. To the exact same week my dad arrives. FML

Written in big red ink, the words 'Papa is coming to NZ' on 22nd's box shines upon me every time I look at my calendar planner.

Papa coming to NZ, me falling sick, assignments due all at the same time.

Nice combo eh? *Grins*

The day of my dad's arrival was the day I fell sick. In the name of not ruining my dad's holiday mood, I only told him I got a sore throat when in fact I felt so sore I couldn't climb out of bed. And when I did, I refused to eat or drink anything.

Every time I swallowed, I felt like dying. The throat pain was so bad. T__T The Kambing had to force-feed me because I refused to eat or drink anything. Luckily, after his careful nursing I was well enough to get out of bed and pick up my dad at the airport with a half-beat body, but with 100% happiness sustaining me.

I made the Kambing promise not to mention this to my dad coz I wanted him to fully enjoy the time he was here, but I had to kick the Kambing several times under the table when he asked me stuff like 'Eat medicine already or not? Got fever or not?' in front of my Papa. Eh you are giving our game away lorh hor.

Btw to Papa if he reads this, sorry lah I lied. I just wanted to make sure you enjoy your stay here! And you did, right? So no angry with me ok?

Anyway, I shall not besmirch our travel / makan photos by putting them in this rant post, I'll put them up in another entry. But only after I finish writing the next rant post, which shall be titled 'The awesome healthcare service in New Zealand (sarcasm)'.WHEN THE INTERNET BEHAVES. Knowing myself, it'll be TL;DR so I'm splitting my rants into two. Okay babai I go do assignment nao.

Shit and Sheep.

2010-08-14T21:19:00.005+12:00

I am currently writing a paper about English accents and doing some research about it when I stumbled across this Youtube video of a girl trying to explain New Zealand accent. In a sarcastically humorous manner. Just the way the Chaborkia rikes it. +10 for her e-boobs.

This was when I recalled this old conversation I had with my ex-housemate a while back.

Chaborkia: I've been here for months and I haven't seen a single sheep in here!
Housie: *Wtf wanna punch me expression on face* Why did you curse at me?
Chaborkia: What has sheep got to do with cursing?
Housie: You did it again, you just said shit in my face.
Chaborkia: No, not shit, you know, 'Shii-p', the furry things with four legs that we eat.
Housie: Oh, you mean to say 'shepe'?! HAHAHAHA OMG.

-___-

Apparently, my Malaysian tongue read 'sheep' a bit too sharply like how 'shit's 'shii-' sounded, while the Kiwis pronounce it more of a 'shape', replacing the 'a' with an 'e'.

Geddit anot?

No get it nemai lah. HAHAHAHA personally both of us ROFL'd over it for a long time. She always teased me at every possible chance after the conversation till she moved to a nicer (and cheaper) house outside. I wanna move out also. T__T

And finally, please do not have misgivings about Kiwi English, it's not as sarcastic as the girl is trying to imply. Aiyah, come here then you know lah. Definitely different from Australian English that has been immortalized by good ol' (and gone) Steve Irwin. LOL. K lah I shall stop sheeping around nao.

Spring!

2010-08-03T23:59:00.000+12:00

The arrival of spring is marked by the fact that I no longer need to dread walking out of my room when night falls. During winter, it was always dreadful to walk out of my warm room (heater-induced warmth) to do stuff such as going to the toilet or getting myself a cup of water. Or to even cook myself a meal. Or to step out of the shower.

Not too bad what, right? Just bear with the cold a bit loh.

No you are wrong.

Just imagine lah, if you eat something bad and kena laosai, it's not just laosai only ok, you need to pull off your warm clothing to get down to business. How can?! FML x 2 leh.

I am so relieved that winter is (somewhat) over. New Zealand is no fun during winter, it rains too much and is too cold to go and hang out in beaches. And you always need to bundle yourself up in ugly winter clothing that covers you up like a ninja to keep warm, which I absolutely despise. Eh Bolehlanders, stop complaining about the heat lah, you get eternal summer and you don't have to worry about being cold. Sitting down on a warm toilet seat is a life enjoyment ok.

As a tropical creature from Bolehland, I only know what 34 degrees Celsius feels like, and when faced with the notion of packing for winter, I have absolutely no idea what to do. Sei loh sei loh, later very cold how?! So I packed the ugliest but warmest possible 'winter' clothing, and totally forgot about 'autumn' and 'spring', which are considerably much warmer but still not warm enough yet not too cold. Very abstract right? Come here then you know.

So now I either wear jackets that are too thin they don't keep me warm, or wear jackets too thick that make me perspire under them. And make me look like an idiot beside the locals who are wearing cardigans or wool knits that keep you moderately warm. I need those toooooooo! Shopping *cough* *cough*

Lesson: Please remember to pack for 'autumn' and 'summer' ok. It's not just hot or cold, it can be somewhat cold and not very hot.

春天到了！不过还没过新年... o.O

Oh No It's a Trap!

2010-08-01T22:56:00.000+12:00

I've fallen victim of indulging in too much micro-blogging ala Tweeting and forgetting about my actual blog.

-__-

No lah I didn't forget, but what to blog about the mundane start of my second semester? You tell me lah.

Tell you how I'm juggling with 2 subjects with clashing timetables and forever in a dilemma on which one to attend? Both are equally interesting and I respect both lecturers equally, but nao every single week I am forced to abandon either one's class to attend the other. Make sense?! HOW?!

Tell you that I have an awesome lecturer that goes down on his knees to inspect what color is the carpet in order to prove a point in my Theory class?

Tell you that one of my lecturer is so boring he / she could be a reincarnation of the scholarly Aristotle himself. So philosophical, so atas, atas until 1001 years later, poor youngsters like me are reading his philosophical nonsense in order to learn philosophy. And virtues. VIRTUES. HAHAHAH virtues geddit anot?!

Nevermind lah I've been active on Twitter. Follow me ok. :D

That is all babai.

My Dear Shandong Friend...

2010-07-23T23:58:00.001+12:00

... Is held responsible for making me go "炎委慷你怎么了" with perfect Shandong accent with the curly tongue at the end rather than going "炎委慷你zomok" like how a typical Malaysian ah moi should.

Kambing No. 1 - Bridging cultural barriers since 2010.

Excursion to Waiheke Island, Auckland.

2010-07-19T01:27:00.003+12:00

Haro. On the eve of my birthday, the Kambings and gang left Auckland city by ferry...

For an excursion to Waiheke Island, just a 40 minute ferry ride away. Fastest and easiest getaway you can get from town.

NZD32 for Return Ticket. *Wallet bleeeeeeeeds*

I've always wondered how Auckland city looks like when we're viewing it on the other side. We're always facing the sea. Nao I got my wish.

Jet set and off we go~

Our ferry was the Jet Raider. No Tomb Raider with big boobs k.

And here we are in Waiheke Island. It's a pretty straightforward place, you can't possibly get lost or abandoned here.

We woke up at 6 am just to catch a train to the city to the ferry station. All of us went there with empty stomachs.

It was a bad choice, because one thing about ALL tourist destinations is that all food and basic necessity prices are rocketed up sky high. Not to mention the horrible choice of restaurants you have. It's either the good old takeaway restaurants that serve you meals starting from NZD5, or cafes serving food for NZD18 and above.

I just had shitty takeaway food, but my spirits was still high.

Walah!

There are a mind-boggling amount of beaches here. Make a turn around a corner and yet another picturesque beach appears before your eyes.

Our Korean friend offered to take this but as you can see, exposure fail.

I boh song with the result, so I snatched the camera and accidentally took this. HAHAHAHA. Poor Korean guy.

We ran into a couple of hiccups, but no big deal. All well-trained automotive engineers of the future courtesy of New Zealand education.

Part of the fun of Waiheke Island is going through the scenic drive route.

Note to prospective New Zealand visitors: There is NOTHING but sheep here. And lots of shit.

Moar sheep.

One more to prove my point.

It is bloody frustrating to see your food hop past you in large quantities and you still need to pay for it in a supermarket.

Waiheke Island is seriously all about the breathtaking views. You'll find yourself stopping again and again to check out the scenery and to snap photos.

Violet the sheep turning her back on me. Probably because I have wolf ears and a tail sticking out when I look at her with my hungry eyes.

But eh, I'm not that scary what. Peanut is smiling at me. She is tied up because she cannot stop nom nom on the new grass patch.

Destination: Stony Batter Historic Reserve. 1.3 km walk.

Please do not hesitate to feast your eyes on the Kambing's photography.

He followed the sheep down the big hill just to catch this shot.

Fences to keep your food intact.

I hugged a sheep and I riked it. You can stick your fingers into the wool and see your hand disappear.

I felt like queen of the universe at the vast nothingness.

Top of the world.

Look at the amazing color of the skies~

'Unity' with nature. I shall elaborate no further.

The highlight of Stony Batter was this World War II underground military thingie. But it was so boring I could have fell asleep on top of the sheep wandering at the entrance of this Military Fort.

Military bases are supposed to give you a creepy aura when you're nearby. But I guess no one died in Waiheke Island because it's so darn far away from the rest of the world? XD

After spending like 2 hours or so in the underground base, we were expecting to see cannons and big guns at the end of our journey, but end up seeing more sheep.

HAHAHAHAHA. Posey me.

After this relatively unexciting but good experience, we went to see more of Waiheke's beauty.

We were standing at this jetty when a pup ran all the way from up the hill to come down and sniff the feet of two tourists. I ran and chased the pup to return it to the owner but it was so hyper it refused to climb into my arms. Haih I think I smell of sheep.

Visiting as much beaches as possible before the day ends.

I really wish there is a camera that captures 360 degrees of view to emphasize how beautiful New Zealand is.

And rounded up the beautiful day with a perfect view of sunset before we boarded the ferry back home.

And nao you know why my 21st birthday was spent at home eating porridge with my Kambing. We've had enough of fun for now thank you very muchie. ;)

If you rike the pictures please don't be lazy and leave a comment, is 1 am nao. Babai!

The Story of The Big Head Prawn and Her Gazart.

2010-07-17T00:56:00.004+12:00

Disclaimer: Severely laced with awesome Bolehland Manglish. Proceed if you dare.

I sorta regret letting the Kambing shift my bed and study table, because I suspect the fengshui no ngam me nao.

After I change mai bed position, I have been seeing a lot of gazart run here run there. My new housemates moved in while I was halfway through my pai guat soup, so I left my soup bowl on my table and went out to talk with them. When I went back into my room, I noticed a big fat gazart hovering near my soup. No choice loh, I poured it away. Together with 2 pieces of succulent pork ribs. I long long time no eat pork ribs ok. Too kiam to buy them. FML

I have always known my apartment got gazart problem, and I dismissed it because the gazart here are smaller than a 5 sen coin, so I don't normally bother.

But just as I progress and grow ~~and age wtf~~, gazarts do as well. They're now a healthy 50 sen size. I attribute their rapid growth to my awesome cooking skills. FML

~ ~ ~

The next day, I set out to do 3 academic procedures, and wound up doing none of them because everything didn't go as planned. Something turned up, someone wasn't there when they are supposed to and all that crap. Grrrr. Nemai loh I rub it off as a bad hair day.

~ ~ ~

Today, I set out to do the 3 procedures again. Paying for my school fees was supposed to be easy breezy, pay and you're all done. But due to my supreme forgetfulness, I forgot to take note of the exact figure. Okay loh, I big head prawn I admit lah.

But nemai, just a figure mah. Very easy to find the figure, flip through any of the brochures lying around campus can find. But nooooooooo, somehow the brochures within reach do not print international student fees, so I have to go through the anxiety of asking the poor receptionist to check the website and tell me the figure. Then website got hiccup! Too slow can't login. Impossible to get into the system. Can't check. D:

FML max. I blame not myself, but the excessively large amounts of gazart getting in the way of my good fengshui.

But in the end all done lah. Thank God.

Okay since I got all 3 of my academic procedures done, I called it a day and went back home. It started to rain heavily just as I stepped into the warmth of my house. Wheeeeeee something finally went right today. I was home before the sky had a chance to drench on the poor Chaborkia.

But nooooooooooo.

When I was minding my own business at home, a call from an unknown number came in.

'Hello, this is XXX, you dropped your wallet. Please come and pick it up.'

Sorry ma pa gege saosao please do not make an angry international call just to lecture me on being careless I know you will. *Closes ears*

I haven't even registered the fact that I was supremely lucky to lose my wallet in New Zealand, where chances of getting back my wallet is +100%. The only thing in my mind was...

FML I need to walk through the heavy rain! When I thought I was all done for the day!

Haih. See lah so big head prawn.

On another note, you cannot blame me also lah. Is very cold nao and I'm wrapped so thickly with winter apparel that I can't even feel my own body. Not even your boobs when you bump into a tiang. Terrible leh? Somemore the fingers are forever numb because they're the most vulnerable to the cold. Something slip you also dunno.

That's a bit of culture shock for you. Tiny little insignificant thing that we usually take for granted. Malaysia no good meh? Wear summer clothes ~~can show cleavage~~ 1 layer enough and you have supreme feel and control ~~over your boobs~~ of your body because you're not wrapped in hundreds of layers of clothing.

Let me tell you one story in regards to this lah. One cold winter night, I was holding several plastic bags together with my sausage doggy bag, impossible 1 of the bags will slip and drop without my notice right? Imagine 3 or 4 plastic bags bunched together. If one fell out I sure know wan. But nooooooo, it just slipped quietly through my numb fingers and I never even knew.

Moral of the story is, somewhere in Auckland, there are sausages with my name on it. /endstory

Please forgive me for my eccentric writing, I have no idea where the stream of rojakness come from.
Kthxbai.

UPDATE: Right after publishing this post, I found a gazart scurrying across my laptop. Haih. The cosmos must be out of balance or something.

Revelations of a 21 Year Old Kambing.

2010-07-15T00:27:00.003+12:00

Ohai, is mai birthday today. Pa called and asked me to buy myself something nice. I told him every single expenditure here is already a gift itself and I won't be spending any extras on myself. So...

He did suggest getting myself a good meal. But in NZ, there is no such thing as good meal or no good meal. The taste sure not as awesome as Malaysian food. That aside, all meals start from NZD10. No such thing as RM3.50 hot bowl of noodles or cheap hawker food. Which could have made the best birthday present ever now. T__T My dad subtly suggested that if I went to India for my education, I wouldn't have to fret about paying in New Zealand dollars. I would have been eating 5 (diarrhea-inducing) servings of Panipuri for lunch and paying for them in Rupees. Nice try Pa, but no thanks.

The only equivalent to 'cheap' food here is takeaways. Tiny little shops usually owned by Pacific Islanders or Mainland Chinese people. Takeaway shops usually sell sinfully unhealthy food. I cannot imagine EVERYTHING on the menu is fried. Fries, chips, potato fritters, fried chicken, fried hot dogs, deep fried meat, deep fried sausages, zzzzzzz. Shops like to claim they fry stuff in canola oil in a vain attempt in making their food look healthy. A truly blatant attempt at insulting human intelligence. To their credit though, *most* stalls do not reuse oil like the unethical idiots back in Malaysia, so that's a... Plus? Hmmm. Haih.

That's a sad fact that I'll have to live with for now... Either pay NZD5 for a very lousy unhealthy food... Or eat out at restaurants that have menus with prices starting from NZD10 and above.

Eh why suddenly talk about food. This post should be all about me and my special day.

Which I spent at home. Already went for a day trip last day, which consisted of me meeting some of my Kambing buddies... Blog post about yesterday's trip up soon!

Ohai there human. Got nom nom?

I realise with a pang that true beauty really comes with a price. Development always come in the way and destroys Mother Nature's beauty. Even man-made marvels such as the Pudu Jail was not spared... Hundreds of years of fine art demolished in the blink of an eye.

I never truly felt that Kuala Lumpur was a real 'city' till I came to the painfully mundane Auckland. Shops close at 5 pm just like what people said. Geng hor? Even Carrefour and Tesco open till midnight at peak times. Kuala Lumpur is in no way 'beautiful'. True, it has all the characteristics of a city full of life. But zoom in to the finer details like the poor air quality, the crazy amount of people congregating in town and the insane traffic conditions there, and that makes me wonder why do I even moan about New Zealand being boring when it has the quintessential beauty of Mother Nature to offer.

True, they're pretty far back compared to city from a developing country such as Malaysia, but who is complaining? The skies here turn into a palette mixture full of rich colors when day comes and night falls. I always stare at it in awe. Breathtaking landscapes so beautiful our cameras don't do it justice... Fresh air that everyone always take for granted.

But that said, I do miss my good old city. Sigh. I want both can? That's being human - We're always dissatisfied with our current situations. Lost something, gained another, then you miss the thing that was lost. When you finally gain it back, you long for the other thing again.

Okay sorry to bore you with my train of thoughts. So how did I spend my 21st?

I spent today trying to complete some academic procedures but end up doing nothing because both my lecturers were busy FML. Tried to run some errands but shop was closed. FML again.

My birthday meals consist of eating white porridge and Hup Seng biscuits with the Kambing. Already burnt a hole in our wallets for yesterday's day trip in Waiheke Island so we're keeping it cool today. All of my friends have already left to go back to their respective countries - They're mostly exchange students here for only 1 semester. I'm bummed that they are not here to celebrate with me in person but ever so touched that everyone dropped me greetings in Facebook. Thanks!

It's also the first birthday that I spent properly with the Kambing. First two years of our relationship, he was working as an intern, I didn't expect much; Third year, I was in India; Right now, we're in Kiwi Land together! Got a very lovely present from him too. Thank you Kambing. I love you long long time!

So... That's me spilling out my feelings on the first day of being 21 years old. Happy Birthday Chaborkia. :D

The Urge to Drop 'Asian' and 'Chinese' From My Identity.

2010-07-12T01:26:00.001+12:00

No, I'm not trying to become a 'white' or something, don't worry lah I am not out of my mind. I still have coarse black Chinese hair and deep brown eyes.

So why the urge?
Firstly, it's because I'm pretty darn sick of explaining that I'm a Malaysian Chinese.

I am NOT a freaking migrant from China that shifted to Malaysia,
I am one of the main races of multicultural Malaysia!
I am from my OWN country, never from China. Perhaps true to my ancestors 100 of years ago, but not anymore. Generations of Chinese have lived and called Malaysia home back when it was still Tanah Melayu.
I am rightfully a Malaysian with Chinese ethnicity, just as my Malay and Indian counterparts do.
They are Malaysian but of different ethnicities. Very hard to faham meh?!
If New Zealand has a bicultural society, what makes it so hard to understand that Malaysia is multicultural?

And secondly, I had several horrible experiences with some Mainland Chinese. NOT ALL. NOT ALL. NOT ALL. If you flame me for generalizing the entire China you are a blind freak because I repeated myself THRICE and in capital letters.

Impression is like a piece of paper,
Once it's tainted with a drop of ink,
The stain will be there forever.
People will only delve into the stain while the rest of the pure white paper is ignored.

I reached my boiling point and sat down to write this post because of this little incident...
I witnessed a Mainland Chinese GIRL spitting on the floor right outside a cinema without batting an eyelash.
This is just one of the many examples that I've witnessed from the Mainland Chinese after arriving in New Zealand. There is a very large Mainland Chinese population in Auckland for your info.
There were 12 of us standing right in front of her as she smoked and spit within 10 second intervals. Just imagine 'Kua'... 'Pui!' every 3 breaths you take. And when we walked past her I was horrified to find a POOL of phlegm on the floor. And when it was flooded, she turned to the stairwell to continue spitting.

Fuck you China girl. You sia sui not only yourself, but the whole Chinese population.

Do you know how these tiny little acts from insignificant people are the building blocks of the lousy impression that Asians give?!
The entire population is not to be blamed, but a handful of people like these is enough to do supreme damage.

In the eyes of a Caucasian, the ASIAN girl's act was mortifying.
In the eyes of a Caucasian, they can only tell she's ASIAN.
They're not like us, born and bred in Asia and diligent enough to differentiate amongst the different types of Asians. We have Hongkees, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Laos, Thai, Malays, Indians, Japanese, Singaporeans and so on.
Yes we are Asian, but are Caucasians aware that Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and China Chinese are different?
No! They only regard you as an Asian. Regardless of whether you're Singaporean, Malaysian or whatever.

This is held true because I've experienced this myself.
My German friend kept on saying that 'But you're an Asian' when we touched the topic of culture,
But the fact is, would I call my German a European? Would I call a French girl or UK guy 'European' or 'Caucasian' in plain conversation?
'Ohai European!'
?!?!?!?!?!?!?
I am a Malaysian k. Asian is just too darn general.

Let's just face it, Malaysia, Singapore and the other Asian countries are small.
Nobody gives a damn about our ancestry and to mentally slot you into the appropriate heritage.
I admit lah.
But which country makes up the majority of the Asian population?
And whose actions will contribute the most to the entire Asian population's reputation?
The majority of course.
The People's Republic of China.
Mainland Chinese.
THEY are the people that determines that fate of the other Chinese diaspora. THEY represent the ASIAN population the most simply because of their sheer population size.

Do you see how it affects us all nao?! Bearing the identity 'Asian' and 'Chinese'?

To the 害群之马 (The Bad Horse Among the Herd) Mainland Chinese,
Please keep your shit to yourself,
You are tainting the image of the other races who share the 'Asian' heritage with your shitty antics.

But of course, I need to stress that not all Chinese are like that and blah blah blah.
You get the deal lah.

So to the sickening few bad horses from Mainland China,

Please fuck off and balik tongsan.

Disclaimer: I hate being nice always in NZ2U. It was never my style. I was blatantly honest in my old blog but I can't bear to do it when so many people that are near and dear to me are actually reading my old site. Say hi to the angry Kambing. Please forgive me if you do not like this post. Kthxbai.

Went Fishing, That's Why the Hiatus. Not.

2010-07-10T22:33:00.004+12:00

Because I went fishing for sashimi in the seas of Clevedon, New Zealand.

Lo and behold...

Ate so much sashimi that it will turn any religious Sushi King / Sakae Sushi fans into jealous zombies...

I has a box full of four types of raw goodness while you are all eating 3 tiny little slices in a sushi bar.

Some fishes are so exotic that I don't even know their names.

I do know Mr Oyster though. And I know he's good friends with hot pepper sauce.

Giving you an explicitly close view of an explicit-looking New Zealand oyster. Gooey and juicy. I had a dozen of them. Wanna be in my shoes nao? Who said New Zealand no good?!

...
...
...
...
...
...

...
...
...
...
...
...

Okay lah I stop bragging here because moments after having all that raw seafood, I ran to the toilet...

And all hell broke loose. I tried to fall asleep 3 times only to have my ass roar with fiery rage. I was struck with an uncontrollable need to be acquainted with the toilet. Not once, not twice but several times! Ohai Mr Toilet. We meet again. And again. And it's me again.

It was not painful but you just needed to GO and let it all off. My housemate was about to do HER business but I chased the poor girl out.

Okay nao you can proceed to LOL and say 'dai sei' in the face of the two Kambings.

It was nice to have those seafood. I wouldn't do it again though. It's winter and I can't imagine having diarrhea in the middle of a 5 degrees Celsius night. My butt might just wither in the cold and fall off.

Okaaaaay too much info good night.

Ohai Mr Vostro.

2010-07-09T20:41:00.000+12:00

Ohai Mr Vostro.

You've been a very bad boy. A very, very bad boy.

Please do not do this to me again or I'll campak you to the tong sampah. I will not pay freaking New Zealand Dollars to have you fixed next time round. So please behave till I graduate k? We've made it through the intense heat in India, please be nice and stay good. Is very cold nao and you should not burn out this time.

Mommy sayang you long long time. Be good lah.

Happy Father's Day to my Pa, Daddy-to-Be and Uncle Bobby~

2010-06-21T00:21:00.005+12:00

To my dearest Pa,

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be here is made possible through all your hardwork and dedication.
Thank you,
And I love you.

♥

To my dear daddy-to-be back home,

Congratulations on embracing fatherhood.
I am so happy for you~
~~Can you please buy me flight ticket back home to see my niece / nephew?~~

♥

To Uncle Bobby,

Your son is doing great in his studies and is working hard,
Don't worry about him.

Happy Father's Day to all the daddies out there. ♥

After Exam Giddiness.

2010-06-19T23:10:00.003+12:00

Ohai. I am (somewhat) done for my first ever semester here. Just one more lousy report to finish and I'm a free Kambing out of the ranch.

But in true uni student tradition, last exam of the semester calls for...

Going out for fun! With a European and a China boy from Shandong. Too bad our Canadian classmate had more exams and another Swedish girl was too tired to come along due to ~~crazy World Cup fans~~ lack of sleep.

Best way to introduce Malaysian culture to foreigners? Food ~~because we are good at nothing else~~. We had beef rendang, char kuey teow and nasi lemak for nom noms. This is when China boy and I taught the German how to appreciate the beauty of pork lard in dishes... (Yes there is LARD in those char kuey teow omg heaven)

... And how to master the delicate art of chopsticks.

This fella so action, when we first put the chopstick in his hands he kept saying 'Do Not Want!'. However throughout the meal he managed to actually put food in his mouth and picked up peanuts from the nasi lemak! When we told him it was fine to use the spoon he still held onto the chopsticks. LOL.

The day of our last exam was a beautiful day. It was technically winter, but it was like a warm summer's day. The German suggested going to the beach and we did. Such is the life of New Zealand - you do not hit town to go to shopping malls or the nearest mamak or even Starbucks for excursions, because there are an abundance of beaches and parks not more than an hour away from you. You'd be crazy to sit in overcrowded mamak stalls and sucking in second-hand smoke. Not that they are any mamak stalls here though. *Dramatic pause* Sob.

Beautiful street, bald trees and blue blue sky! Too bad I was halfway through taking off my coat and untied my waist belt so I look fat here. -__-

If you ever come to New Zealand to study and cannot afford a car, expect to do lots and lots of walking. But with lovely weather, fresh air, clean streets and good company, who cares about walking long distances. :) ~~No it's a lie I miss my car give me my car back I hate walking.~~ China boy's feet was so sore he took off his shoes. Which, in New Zealand, is a pretty common sight. Yes, it's common to see Kiwis walking barefoot especially in summer. Don't ask me why because it's second nature to them and when prompted for an answer, they dunno how to answer me.

The German boy being low-context (inside joke), expressing his hunger in an explicit manner by looking into the mobile pizza oven.

China boy saw me camwhoring and said it wouldn't work, but it did and I rike this shot very much.

A long long walk and many 'we're nearly there!' later, we finally reached the beach.

It was low tide so it was slightly muddy and broken seashells were scattered across the shores.

China boy and German guy were overjoyed when they reached the beach, and proceeded to explore the shores.

China boy impersonating a pigeon and looking for nom nom.

Upon finishing my ice cream, I took off my boots and ran towards the shore. German guy and China boy waved frantically from afar, asking me to slow down...

Too late.

Worse of all, when I stood up and tried to walk elsewhere, I slipped a few times more wtf. The area surrounding me was all slippery. So basically, I was stuck. In the middle of a muddy shore. With lots of seashell scratching into my feet's flesh. And I'm too bloody chicken to walk back to the sand. AND I think I saw a bloody leech FML. But nemai lah, life's good.

So I camwhored.

Vanity over my sanity. LOL it was really painful though.

As I was stuck in the mud, the boys fought their way to a cliff and...

The German tried to fly.

And... Er... He tried to impersonate some ancient Chinese warrior.

We wanted to go to another place to wait for sunset, so it was time to go. The boys waited at least 5 minutes for me to put on my socks. No I'm not retarded, but I happened to be wearing my extra low cut jeans that day, making it impossible for me to bend over. FML

The boys doing some Intercultural Communication.

I was pretty tired by then. I cannot stress how much walking you'll need to do in New Zealand if you do not own a car. But when I saw this lovely sight, my tiredness melted away...

Beautiful. And Pt Chevalier beach is not even an A-listed beach. But good enough for your random getaways.

The ancient Chinese warrior throwing a fireball...

The German guy trying to be Ironman.

The German guy said I was too small so I needed two hands FML.

This looks like some sort of Korean love triangle drama poster lol. The gay love the straight guy, the guy love another girl and the girl thought he in love with her. Wtf. (Disclaimer: The German is straight. I'm just talking crap)

And to round up the perfect day, a lovely night sky greeted us as we made our way back to campus.

It's not everyday you get a combination of a Malaysian, a Deutsch and a Shandong guy to go out together yo.

Things Bolehlanders Take For Granted.

2010-06-14T17:50:00.002+12:00

Hi Bolehlanders,

You all complain about the heat, and here I am complaining about the cold. Did you know the simple things that are usually taken for granted back home means SO much to the poor Kambings?

Here's the list...

Sitting down on the forever warm and comfy toilet seat.
Not having surprise buttsecks by the ice cold water from the tap.
Not having surprise buttsecks by the burning HOT water from the tap. (It takes time to become warm and because I ben dan I always burn myself FML)
Climbing into a warm bed at night.
Climbing out into warm air in the morning.
Stepping on the cool wooden parquet floor (Sorry lah if your room floor is marble lol)
Not having to worry about exiting the shower room and feeling cold.
Not having to sit down on a cold toilet seat and to lift your shirt up to -insert action-.
Not having to worry about midnight pangsai session because the toilet seat is still warm anyway.
Not having to worry about changing into ice-cold clothing every single time you wanna change clothes. (Believe me, your eyes POP open the time your bra / underwear comes in contact with your skin)
Not having to bite your nails off because your heater is guzzling all your power supply. (But you all are paying for aircon hahahaha fair lah)
Not scaring Kambing No.2 away because I accidentally touch him with my ice-cold finger / toes.

And nao I proceed to gush about how awesome Malaysian heat is.

...

I think better not lah.

Later kena beaten up by Bolehlanders. I know you all very HOT nao. Kekeke.

The surprising thing is, I can actually compile a whole new list to contradict the above.

Example?

Bathing in hot water even though you had the shower on 'min / cold' because the hot weather cooks up the water in your tangki.
Putting on clothes and having them all soaked in your sweat the next minute you exit your room.
Sweating when you are in the toilet doing your -insert action-.
Waking up and being drenched in sweat because it is too hot. (LOL)
Hating the inventor of the bra and underwear because it is too hot to wear anything restrictive in Malaysia.

And so on.

Humans are always never fully satisfied. When they are hot, they complain, when they are cold, they also complain. How lah?

PS: It is cold nao. Haro Winter. :D

Once you Kill a Cow, You've Gotta Make a Burger.

2010-06-11T01:52:00.008+12:00

You can bring a Malaysian to Kiwiland,

But you can never take the Boleh factor out of the girl.

K lah I'm talking nonsense. Too much Lady Gaga. At least beef burgers are tasty wtf.

Today my matey's family came up to our house for a surprise visit and I was totally caught off-guard. I didn't know how to address people properly here! I've already been pretty unnerved by the fact that the Kiwis are calling lecturers with Doctorate or Professor titles by their first names (ie. Ohai there Bob!).

Not knowing how to properly greet someone else's parents in New Zealand, I hastily greeted them with a handshake and called them 'Aunty' and 'Uncle', as any typical Malaysian youngster would when they see their elders.

Apparently they do not do it this way, and both 'Aunty', 'Uncle' and my mate felt that it was very amusing.

Haih why lah culture shock always catches you in your most unexpected ~~pants~~ times (ie. wearing the funky-colored one that mommy bought for you in India).

Lesson? Learn to call the Kiwis by their first names regardless of age and status.

PS: Sorry lah Ma and Pa your teachings simply do not work here. =(

Rotorua Part 3 - No Disneyland, just Agroventures.

2010-06-09T00:36:00.001+12:00

If you come to New Zealand to look for fancy theme parks like Disneyland or Universal Studios, sorry lah you've come to the wrong place.

They do not have stuff like that to offer you. First, they got lots of kambing but not much moolah. And second, they can't risk cutting down their precious trees. Or maybe if they open a Disneyland they will end up so poor that they'll need to hire sheep labour. HAHAHAHA.

However, if you ever come to Rotorua, you must never miss coming to Agroventures. It's a farm (with sheep and cows) with a twist. Here is where you'll get to play stuff like Freefall Xtreme, Shweeb, Rotorua Bungy and Swoop, all under the same roof!!! Which, technically speaking, is New Zealand's sky with the big ozone hole.

Usually all bloggers will greet you with a nice grand entrance of a theme park or a tourist destination with their camwhore face. But for Agroventures case, there are no big flashy signs and all that.

Just rolling green farm lands and more sheep.

And upon entering the main building of Agroventures, you'll need to make a choice. You want to bungee; jump ala you jump I jump; drift macam rempit on a boat; fly or do the human monorail thing.

So naturally, I jumped.

That's me dunno how many meters up the air screaming my guts out.

...
...
...
...
...
...

You believe me meh.

I only have enough e-boobs to do this.

Shweeb. So-called human monorail. There is a trek that resembles a milder version of roller coaster treks and you have to cycle through it. I thought this was supposed to be for noobs so I went for it.

Mana tau... Those treks that I thought were for kindergarten kids were pretty scary. Not very steep to the human eye, but when you're in the vehicle + some gravity, it was pretty shit scary.

But still the cowardly me riked it.
I wanna do it again, 3 rounds is just too short! T__T
You can team up with your mates too!
A disgruntled Kambing told me after the ride that he heard me screaming but didn't 'feel' me cycling.
FML I'm a lousy teammate lol.

The next thing I did was the the Agrojet.

We were introducing ourselves to the driver when I let slip that the Kambing enjoys fast cars and drifting.
And to my horror, the driver was like 'Oh really?',
And my heart sank into the murky water.
Oh noes why lah I go and tell him. He's gonna go faster omaigooooooooood.

I'm pretty sure the magic words coming out from me 'Oh we love fast cars' were like music to the driver's ears. I can feel it from his driving semangat because I can feel my guts drifting inside me too.

Drifting through the waters as though it were a drifting trek on land.

No you won't get wet. Really lah.

And the usually expressionless Kambing No.2 broke out into a huge grin after the ride. If that round of drifting made him smile, it must have been one hell of a good ride ~~for a car drifter's standards~~.

Me feeling happy after the ride.

After we've done our rides, we went upstairs to see our travel mates doing the Freefall Xtreme.
And yes, again I have no guts to do it. I need to cling on something to feel safe, you see.

But let me assure you it was good fun. Even if you were not doing it, it's interesting to see people's face being distorted by the giant fan blowing you up.

After amusing ourselves seeing our mates do the Freefall Xtreme, we went on to see the others who did....

The Swoop. Where you can do it with 3 friends and swing with them from high high up.

See how humans are so small compared to the universe? Lol. The building below is where you do the Freefall Xtreme.

As you can see, New Zealand is not for the faint-hearted.
The Kiwis and other travel mates from all over the world were very enthusiastic about activities like the Swoop and Bungy.
But definitely not us. Let's just say we come from totally different geographical locations with different ideas of fun. ;)

After finishing our activities, we were pretty tired and fell asleep in the van.
We were surprised when we woke up to find that our tour guide had brought us to another location.
He was scratching his head while pouring over the map, looking for a hot pool location in the middle of nowhere (!).

So we trekked through the omfg cold forest during the evening to look for this little heaven.
But unfortunately we had to turn back as it was getting dark and we didn't make any progress.

The whole lot of them went out on a second round to look for the hot pools, but it was at 10pm or so. We opted to sleep-in instead. I couldn't imagine stripping my clothes off in 6 degrees weather in the dark just to soak in a hot pool. Hehe.

But hang on, I slap my own mouth nia. Because in the end, I did it.

Part 4 up later!

Boring Night Time...

2010-06-08T01:10:00.002+12:00

When assignments drive you mad...

Go shoot a tree... with your short pants during WINTER season... GOOD TRY!!!

Ohai My Dear Bro and Sis-in-Law.

2010-06-02T21:47:00.000+12:00

CONGRATULATIONS!

♥

I've heard about the good news.

You are now entitled to your own adorable little ~~notti monster~~ baby.

Please remember to teach them not to bite or pull people's hair, liddis.

Pain one loh.

And Happy Birthday to my dearest SIL,

This must be the best birthday ever for you!

♥

PS: Don't forget to teach my niece / nephew how to pronounce 'ah gu' ok.

FmyLife is...

2010-05-28T17:57:00.001+12:00

When a German guy LOL in your face when you do a currency conversion from Euro to Malaysian Ringgit.

1 Euro = 4 Malaysian Ringgit. Fail.
1 NZD = 2.5 Malaysian Ringgit. Fail max.
And the NZD is supposedly a currency generated from their humongous sheep population.
We got hai-crass malls like Pavilion / KLCC selling Burberry, Prada, Louis Vuitton and all that, so what?
People sell milk and sirloin steaks also richer than you lah.

See lah liddat also can, Malaysia Boleh or not you tell me?!
Eat Subway also need to think twice,
Buy cheap-lak Simple / Loreal / Maybelline / Neutrogena (yes Guardian pharmacy kind of stuff) skincare all exact same price, except that it's just in a different currency. Which is higher. FAIL FAIL FAIL.

Gimme back my RM3.50 chicken rice please. I don't want to go eat Subway with a German anymore. T_T

Haih FML.

Trivia Time!

2010-05-24T00:46:00.001+12:00

Question: What happens when you come across a Pacific Islander, an Asian, a European and a Middle Eastern person?

Hint: No, you won't get German sausages or German beer... Neither a hot Maori / Asian / Middle Eastern chick.

...

You get...

Answer: Blacked out.

HAHAHAHA you geddit anot? Don't get it nemai. Inside joke. Cheers to my friends from all over the globe. :D

Today in Intercultural Communication 101...

2010-05-20T01:28:00.002+12:00

I met my first Persian friend.
Had an omfg awesome Persian meal.
Learnt that some Persians are awesome and not as anal as some you-know-who bastards back home.
Learnt that Persian music is omfg similar to Bollywood, but is actually not the same thing.
Heard a Persian speak in their native tongue.
Heard a German attempt to speak Persian language, and failing epic style.
Tried to teach each other how to say 'I Love You' in our native languages.
Learnt that German keyboards are not QWERTY but QWERTZ instead and failing, for the first time in my life, to touch type.
Learnt that Germans actually do worship the lol factor.
Learnt that Germans frequent pr0n and lolcat sites.
Introduced a German to the beauty of 4chan.org.
Learnt that Germans shower in the mornings (I'd love to see him try in Malaysia).
Found that C&C: Red Alert 3 had a German version, with a hot chick speaking in German (!) with Russian accent omg lol.
Found that not all Germans are holy saints and some do use 'fan ban' stuff like we do.
Realise the beauty of communicating freely with 'lah', making life so much easier.
Realise that I still struggle a bit when I'm forced to not use 'lah'.
Realise that I still succeeded in getting the message across without 'lah'.
Realise that Germans eat nothing but cereal / yogurt / bread for breakfast.
Learnt that variety of breakfast = change of jam flavor (yawn).
Tried to convince a German to try Nasi Lemak for breakfast if he visits Kuala Lumpur.
Debating with a German whether it's reasonable to have Nasi Lemak / Pan Mee as breakfast.
Showed a Persian and a German pictures of Malaysian food, and realise that they have better tongues than Kiwis (oh joy FINALLY).
Cooked a half-boiled egg for a Persian and German and had them dip toast in the egg. And hoping and praying they really rike it and did not lie to me how omfg awesome it was.
Found that Germans don't like chicken feet. And think you're crazy to even try and eat it.
Learnt that 'busen' means boobs in German.
Learnt that Germans don't all drive BMW (Some drive Korean cars and watch Korean TV omg fail lol).
Tried to convince my friend to come to Malaysia and go on a makan-makan trip starting at 4 am in the morning.
Got threatened by a German that he'll report me to the police if I continue to stalk him through the window lol.
Found that Germans like to grow mint beside their windows while the Chinese like to grow spring onions?
And got teased by a German for mispronouncing 'umlaut' wrongly FML.

It's a nice change, not having to know someone's 'culture' just by looking downstairs during weekend nights. Some of them hor, you don't even need to approach them, because the noise and merry-making will always approach your reluctant ears.

All in all, fantastic experience to meet my new friends. All over a great meal, and I still can has some in my fridge so I don't have to cook tomorrow omg GMH finally.

But hor, I has a sad. The semester is coming to an end. Mexicans, Swedish, Canadians, Germans, Singaporeans, Koreans, whatever homo sapiens all gonna fly home jor sob sob sob. And it's another vicious cycle of going through goodbye > lonely awkward stage > meeting new friend > settling down with new friend > waving goodbye to new friend. I DO NOT RIKE THIS FML.

Imma gonna go mad at the thought of going through this process with the crazy amount of exchange students in this school. *Faints*

Rotorua Part 2 - Multitude of Emotions Amidst Rotten Eggs.

2010-05-15T17:44:00.002+12:00

Why hello there.
You rike my curls, yes?

I just remembered something when I sifted through my previous post.

Rotten eggs.
It reminded me of one cold, hungry night in Rotorua...

We drove down to Rotorua on Friday evening,
And after several mishaps involving several Mexicans stuck in traffic,
We set off later than what was scheduled.

But then hor nemai lah, all is well.
We drove on and on heading towards Rotorua, with only 27km left...

Until the tire went flat. It literally crumbled into pieces.
Our driver felt something was wrong and immediately stopped at the emergency lane.

To the Kambing's horror, there are no street lights along the countryside highways!
The journey to Rotorua is very de sangkala,
To drive through the countryside is like driving through a highway cutting across all of New Zealand's farms...
Not like Auckland so brightly lit (somewhat) as per our panoramic picture above.
And certainly not like Kuala Lumpur, where there are (dirty) public toilets littered all along the highways and (unhygienic) nasi lemak served by some weird kampung people.

So yeah, no street lamps, my left right and center also full of farms with shadows of cows,
Coming back to haunt me for eating them perhaps.

Luckily the bf's expertise and several of the boys car knowledge can be put to good use,
The tire was finally replaced,
And we are up and running in no time.

Reached our hostel at about 11pm - 12am?
Which meant that we were 1 - 2 hours behind schedule,
My 4pm dinner digest jor.

The Malaysian Kambings were hungry.
We cried in our hearts at the realization that mamak stalls and 24/7 restaurants were the most beautiful creations of mankind.
Or rather, a Malaysian characteristic. (My friend says that Bolehlanders are forever hungry wtf)

After we checked in the hostel,
Off the kaki botols went in search of late-night fun,
And the hungry Kambings went on their lone journey to find food in Rotorua town.

"I visited New Zealand but it was closed".
This stereotypical statements seems to be the absolute dire truth right now.
As we walked through the town, EVERYTHING was closed.
All the shops were closed except for the pubs and bars littered all over the streets.

I was just having a case of itchy mouth wanting something to bite but the other poor Kambing is hungry after huffing and puffing his energy on the tire.
Poor guy.
We walked around Rotorua in circles but there was no life in sight other than the partying noises from the pubs.
We continued walking to no avail and...
It was the final straw for him.
He walked into a pub, talked to a kaki botol and demanded him for somewhere that serves FOOD.

They talked for a few minutes and there was a radiant smile on the Kambing's face.
He held my hand and we started running across the streets (lol like Korean drama like that)...
And we finally see the big, holy, golden M.

Good old McDonalds 24/7 to the rescue!
However, the trend here is they serve drive-thru and walk-in orders,
But you're not allowed to dine-in.

Haih k loh at least there's something to eat lah.
And plop we sat on a bench outside,
Enjoying the 8 degrees cold air.

...

...

...

A strong gust of wind blew past me,
And that's when I caught the infamous Rotorua rotten egg smell.

Rotorua Part 1 - Te Puia, Maori Culture + Geothermal Experience

2010-05-13T15:42:00.002+12:00

I was furiously editing pictures so that I could show Rotorua to my mom...

And when I finally showed all the pictures to her in Flickr, she ask me why NZ so empty wan.Wtf.

This is Part 1 of my chronicles in Rotorua.

Day 1, we went to Te Puia, a Maori Culture and Geothermal Park.

This awesome Maori face carving says 'Ohai' to you.

The mandatory visit to the Maori Marae, a sacred place to the Maori tribes.

Visitors to New Zealand are usually given a big welcome inside.

Looks like this on the outside...

And like this on the inside.

For each and every pillar inside the building, they all tell a story.
No two Maraes are alike.
This is because Maraes of different places have different tribes of Maori, who share different history and background.

(Fish-eye poison!!!)

All the guests are treated to a spectacular Maori cultural performance...

The Maori are more inclined towards masculinity, and their performances are usually laced with aggressiveness. It was later explained that the ancient people used this form of aggression to ward off the enemies. It is their heritage.

Even this 'love song' has slight war elements in it.
I could have kicked myself. I went on stage with the other female audiences to do a dance (touristy gimmick I know) but I handed my camera to a friend with the wrong settings FML haih.

See lah...

To once again emphasize the aggressive elements in their performance.
PS: Does it look like a combo of O_O + :P ?
Geddit mah? Dun get it then nemai lah.

And now...
Showcasing... Maori carvings littered all over Te Puia.

Trying to mimic the carving but failed miserably.

Lol but after visiting India and breathing-in (LITERALLY!) their beautiful art, I think this one mama dei only leh.

Maori fashion lol.

Finally, the highlight of our trip...
The omgwtf Rotorua stench.

Urgh~

Rotorua is an interesting place. You can see little bits of smoke coming out from nowhere from the ground.

Smokin' town. LOL don't think very hot hor. Is bloody cold in Rotorua. If Auckland is 18 degrees, minus 2 - 3 degrees and you'll get Rotorua's temperature.

And let's proceed with more smokin' hot pictures to bore you.

See what I mean about smoke erupting out of nowhere in Rotorua?

And you have little craters filled with hot, boiling water that is billowing smoke 24/7.

Butting in something cute but totally irrelevant to annoy you.

Before I came to Rotorua, I was already bombarded with people talking about the infamous Rotorua stench (rotten egg but not unpleasant, just enough to annoy your nose). And I finally experienced it. *Waves lame flag of victory*

On another note... I heard that Rotorua mud has fantastic beauty properties. Being the vain girl that I was, I promptly popped into the tourist market (it's a trap!) and bought myself a mud mask.

Only to see this...

Haih FML. Note to self: Bring long-handled spoon and heat-proof container the next time I visit Rotorua.

See something?

See it nao?! It's bubbling Rotorua mud yo.
All thanks to the geothermal activity going on right underneath this part of New Zealand.
According to the tour guide, the mud is roughly 90 degrees.
If you look closely at 3 of the pictures, ALL of them have hot mud splattering out of the little volcano.

Kambing No.2's catch of the day - Kiwi bird. The tour guide told us that this was made the national bird because the people here want the lifestyle of the Kiwi:

Sleep throughout the day, night time wake up to scavenge for food (beer?), then go back to sleep.
LOL.

And to round up the tour of Te Puia, we had Hangi Lunch. It's something like Beggar's Chicken.
Wrap up all your food in foil (traditionally tree bark or something), stick it into some piping hot mud / earth, and let it cook.

Thanks to the many wonderful flavours of Malaysia, us Bolehlanders have a very refined tongue. Fish and chips simply wouldn't satiate our hunt for good food.

The Kambings approves this cooking method. Fantastic 火侯 (No English word for this haih), but for the seasoning, fail to the max. They basically just stick chicken, corn, cabbage, potato and some root vegetables into some hot Rotoruan mud and let it cook.

If I had it my way I put dong guai, gei zi, yuk juk and some other Chinese herbs to taste loh. Sure very de tasty. *Homesick* I wants beggar chicken please?

Kthxbai. Part 2 next!

Culture Shock is...

2010-05-10T20:19:00.001+12:00

... When you burst out laughing in front of your Kiwi friend when she said that she is having diarrhea.

Hello, New Zealand is like one of the cleanest countries on Earth okay? I wonder what caused the food poisoning. But apparently, it was not caused by dirty food. It was until she told me that she caught a certain 'Stomach Bug' that got my brain whirring.

Burning with curiosity as to why a person can manage to fall sick in a country with high standards of hygiene, I did a casual check on Google and found this.

Norovirus, kononnya the Stomach Bug / Flu. It's a package of fever / vomiting / diarrhea and it's highly contagious. It is especially contagious during summer / autumn. Omaigod! Not life-threatening, but it's enough to make your life miserable for 1 or 2 days. Truly FML if you kena it.

I feel so foolish at laughing at her when she told me about it lol. But then again, every place also got their weird bug or disease lah. Like Malaysia got this stupid dengue fever. No kena before you are not considered a Bolehlander.

So boys and girls, this is WHAT I call real culture shock. Dun pray pray ok.

来自远方的母亲节祝福~

2010-05-09T20:49:00.001+12:00

Haro 我们亲爱的母亲，

在此诚心地祝福俩位Kambing妈母亲节快乐。

人在远方不过心永远都想着你们的（尤其是自己煮饭的时候哈哈）。

因为角度和技术上的问题，

没办法好好把花拍摄到在心里面...

捉到那个角度的话，恐怕我们摄影师的屁股坐在玫瑰花的刺上了。

Love you.

♥

Chaborkia's Short Hiatus.

2010-05-07T16:02:00.002+12:00

I brb k. Will post Rotorua pics after this bout of assignments. Bai.

Awesome Rotorua Teaser.

2010-05-02T22:04:00.001+12:00

Tease you first.

Taken in Skyline Skyrides Cheat Tourist Shop in Rotorua

HAHAHA totally not relevent leh? Sorry lah I love those sunglasses so much but I can't afford it.
It's so funny...
I spent like a Supreme Queen of the Universe in India,
But I end up a poor student in New Zealand.
Every single thing x 2.5 omggggggggggggg.
Eat one miserable NZD3.80 meat pie also need to think twice (RM9.5!).
If I eat out, the cheapest option is fish-and-chips (NZD6 or so).
It's cheap lah, but honestly, no thank you, I don't want to die early.
The amount of grease that comes with your fish-and-chips will make your typical greasy mamak fried noodle look healthy.

No Rotorua pictures yet, so tired after the 3 day trip. And I still smell like volcanic sulphur.
Do wait for the other Kambing's awesome presentation of Rotorua in fish-eye mode. ;)

Western Springs Park, Point Chevalier.

2010-04-26T09:00:00.002+12:00

We went exploring near our backyard again. This was 2 weeks back I think? Kambing No.2 was too lazy to post these up himself. I don't want it lying around in Flickr so here it is.

It was a short 5 minutes drive and we arrived at Western Springs Park, full of hungry birds. But prob is, they don't look malnourished. Why lah still so hungry wan?!

So good hor I go feed them. If I had it my way, I'd be feeding ON them nom nom nom roasted geese.

Greedy pigs. It nearly bit my fingers off FML.

Fish-eye + New Zealand beauty = Win!

Only the talented Kambing No.2 can manage to make the mundane tree-beside-the-pool look so cool.

Breath-taking skies exclusive to New Zealand. All hail to the failed HDR shoot. We look so creepy here.

And yes, you can proceed to gloat about your exciting weekend in KLCC / Pavilion / Sungei Wang / The Curve while all we can do is go feed birds in a park. FML I wanna go shopping. T_T

Babai.

The Kambing Goes Horse-Riding.

2010-04-24T22:34:00.005+12:00

Haro guys, the Kambing and I just went on a Horse-Riding + Muriwai Beach trip and it was awesome! Please look at this post for the Muriwai Beach photos, they are simply amazing. Mine are so blah, perhaps I'll post it sometime later.

Haih no DSLR is liddat loh, but good thing is I can has LX3 while I am horse-riding and he can't lug his DSLR on a horse. That means I can has photos on top of a horse omg! Tee hee hee. *Comforts myself for not owning a DSLR* T_T

Haro NZ2U reader. It's me the mata sepet awesomeness.

This is excitement in it's purest form. I was mortified before I got on the horse. What if I slipped and fell? What if I'm so clumsy that I become a laughing stock?

But fortunately, it ain't rocket science. ;) Any silly chaborkia can do it. *Grins*

I saw the horse flicking it's tail, then spread it's legs... And...

The poor clueless Kambing finally realize what is happening right below him lol.

He told me that my horse took a dump but I was on top and I held my breath when I knew omg. T_T

And off we go! Take note the steep cliff beside me FML.

We went through a lot of beautiful scenery... I told the Kambing, if it's a Malaysian horse trek hor, they'll probably bring you go one circle in a mud trek then charge you RM200 for it.

It's NZD50 well spent (Lunch + Transport + Beach + Horse-Riding). :D

满地金。我还以为我从印度回来，从此以后都不会在嗅到这个味道。。。不过。。。

The breath-taking view. I thought these rolling green hills are a part of beautiful scenery that is forever out of reach, only admired when you're passing by in a car. I never dreamt that I would be on a horse and riding through these beautiful views...

But oh wait, look at the picture above this one. That's a zoom-in of the above view. Gold everywhere! Cow gold, sheep gold, horse gold, whatever gold also got lah.

Let me remind you that I am deathly afraid of heights. But I survived omgwtf. It was horrible to bounce on top of the horse as it goes downhill though. You'll need to play around with your balance, lean back a little and you'll be fine.

I rike this. Perspective view on TOP of a horse omaigoooood I still can't believe I went horse-riding loool.

Angel the Horse is eyeing at the Kambing. Oh noes I has competition.

I can has camwhore with Angel the Horse. This fella tried to run 180 km/h when I was on her and you bet I got the shock of mai life. I clung on for dear life... The prospect of dropping on top of droppings (pun, geddit then good, tak faham suan liao) is simply too horrible.

I just realised that the horse has double eyelids FML. LOL.

And thank you Angel for delivering me safely back to the ranch - After attempting to go 180 km/h with me on top for 5 freaking times!

I went back home, did my laundry, then proceeded to sit down and blog...

And my butt hurts so much when I plopped down on my chair FML.

Note to self: Wear pants with better grip and thicker padding next time hehe.

Don't forget to click here for awesome Muriwai Beach photos by the talented Kambing No.2. :)

USU Trip to Muriwai Beach

2010-04-24T21:01:00.005+12:00

Hi there, just came back from a fantastic road trip. Let me show you some nice photos of Muriwai Beach...

Kambing No.1 welcomes you!

The waves are strong and large here, it is dangerous...
But, who cares?! The Kiwis love adrenaline-fueled adventures...

Strong waves creeping behind Kambing No.1...

Beauty that can be found nowhere in this planet...

FISHING!!!

Lastly, a photo for Kambing No.1...
To tell her she is not a mata sepet!!!
THIS IS NICE LOH!!!

Kambing No.1 says: But I think I look ghostly here...?

Asian Supermarkets - Saviour to the Malaysian Kambings.

2010-04-23T20:55:00.001+12:00

Being Chinese AND Malaysian, food and makan-makan makes up a big part of our lives.

I've had family and friends who kept going on and on with their 'what-to-bring' to NZ suggestions, but sorry folks, I never brought anything labeled 'food', even if I enthusiastically said I will. Hard to be human lah, later I reject your idea you hate me. So I just say yes loh. :( But anyway, there's this Declare and Dispose rule in New Zealand anyway, you're not supposed to bring any food items to the country. Read it here.

My motto is, "Live with the Romans, eat like the Romans do." Kiwis, I mean.

But to my delight (and surprise), Auckland has a very large population of Asians, and there are Asian supermarkets situated in every town. You won't feel deprived at all. Stuff from Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand - you name it, and you'll almost always can find it here. EXCEPT FOR MAGGI KARI. Why the eff they never bring it in? Are curry flavoured Maggis a bio-hazard or something?! All sorts of Chinese condiments are found here, black soy sauce, oyster sauce, cooking wine, fermented tofu, gong yee zai (anchovies), Chinese herbal soup material... You name it, they've got it. EXCEPT FOR MAGGI KARI x2. Thank god for Asian supermarkets. Oh ya and they sell frozen rabbits too. :D Rabbit steak anyone?

Sorry mom and dad, you're stuck in India with no soy sauce. And no pork. HAHAHA.

If you're coming here to study, please don't be a baby and bring Malaysian Milo or something, it's ridiculous, and frankly, the Milo here tastes a gazillion times better. And who needs Milo when you have plenty of milk supply here? But on another note... Try mixing Milo powder into fresh NZ milk... Heavenly I tell you.

New Zealand, Truly Egalitarian.

2010-04-21T18:34:00.004+12:00

When I just arrived here, I was somewhat taken aback when lecturers greet me with a casual "Hey, how ya doing?". In fact, everyone greets you this way, regardless of their status or age.

Back home, it's the solemn nod or the faint smile when you meet lecturers or seniors. Or a solemn 'Hello Miss -insert surname-'. I still acknowledge people that way after reaching here. Old habits die hard. It's simply because we consider it the 'polite' way of addressing someone else. I call them by their titles. Doctor X, Sir Y, Miss Z, etc. Definitely no first name going on!

But as time passed by, I noticed that students here call their lecturers by their first name. Omaigod. Let's say I am an effing world-class genius and I have Professor Tan Ya Hui printed on my name card. in Malaysia, you are to call me Professor Tan. In New Zealand, you call me Ya Hui, like I'm some sort of normal human being. Wtf?! But I am more 1337 than joo. Nooooooo!

I still can't bring myself to call a lecturer with a 'Doctor' suffix by their first name, AND dropping the suffix altogether. It's simply mind-appalling.

Apparently not in New Zealand though.

I was in Intercultural Communication class today and we were talking about the position of power in different cultures. I told the lecturer, back in Malaysia, if you are Dr John Smith, I greet you by calling you 'Dr Smith'. Not 'ohai there John!'. (Malaysians: I bet you cannot imagine calling someone of Datuk / Dato / Tan Sri status by their first name, do you? Siao meh?! Polis say cannot)

After hearing this, my lecturer decreed that from now on, all of us shall call her Dr -insert her surname- for the rest of the semester.

LOL guai lou also 暗爽 seriously lulzy. Teheehee. But honestly, if people put a god damn lot of effort into gaining the title, there is nothing wrong to acknowledge it, right?! Apparently, it might be extremely important to us, but definitely not important to the Kiwis to harp on about their fancy little title.

Remember to chill lah and just relax when you reach New Zealand. In Kiwi Land, every cow, sheep, chao ah kao or smelly ah miao are all created equal. REMEMBER. If not you will cause a lot of people to go into shock.

BECAUSE

I once called a salesperson 'sir' out of politeness and his eyes grew as big as the moon and he stared at me like an alien hehe.
I once asked a Hongkee who is a permanent resident in NZ about this matter. I asked him do you address people by going hey Mr Lee / Mrs Tan etc. And he stared at me like an alien again.

REMEMBER LAH KTHXBAI~

Weird Conversations...

2010-04-17T18:16:00.000+12:00

As heard in a department store...

A: Hey have you tried this Australian spring water...?
B: No, I don't touch anything Australian. *pulls a face*

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What's in your Backyard?

2010-04-12T20:57:00.001+12:00

As in all my NZ2U posts, I always attach a weather report picture for your pleasure. *Cough*

Here's me in full mata sepet glory - because the sun is very de strong.
And there's my hair fluttering all around - because the wind is very de strong also.

I might look at ease with the weather in the picture, but fact is, I'm not.
Lesson for the day is, don't action like me wear singlet out now that it's April, it can turn VERY cold abruptly. I learnt my lesson after freezing my butt off on several occasions.

First time leh, I thought, alah go to the beach, won't be so cold one lah, and I went out in beach wear.
Second time leh, I thought, alah go barbeque, sure very kao hot one, wear singlet again.
Third time leh, I woke up to a glorious sunshine, and totally forgot it's autumn and never took any jacket out.
I was wrong on all three occasions FML.
It's goodbye short pants and summer wear for now.

So remember kids, layer your clothing! You can always take it off when you feel hot. Don't be like me action wear one layer singlet. Susah nia.

*And above photo is cheat one coz I took it during summer shhhhh*

Now that I've gotten that clear, let's move on to the next topic at hand.

In Malaysia, I think the only treasure you'll find in your backyard is 'Dilarang Membuang Sampah, Denda RM500' and a mound of trash right below the sign. HAHAHAHA.

The back of my residential area, however, is a small stretch of beautiful forest reserve. No sampah-sarap included.

When I was back home, I think we need to drive at least 40 minutes up Hulu Langat for a quick natural getaway. Now it's right behind mai homeee~

This little creek is like a gateway to my university and the outside world. As you can see, most of the houses are surrounded by thick greenery. Plenty of people come here to jog and to take their dogs for a dump. They pick it up after the dog's done though, see lah you shame anot you unethical Malaysian dog owners?!

The greens in New Zealand are simply amazing... I reckon they rike the weather here too.

A river stretches along the creek, and it's like, right behind the houses of the people who live alongside the creek. Serenity indeed. If it's me living there I think the ducks will mysteriously disappear one by one...

They taste much better than roasted chicken. Duck feet is much more crunchy too nom noms. Don't ask.

So what have you discovered in your backyard today? :D

My Greatest Achievement in New Zealand...

2010-04-08T00:52:00.001+12:00

... Is to take a bath so hot that it managed to make the entire ceiling of the bathroom drip with moisture.

In fact, I nearly forgot about it until a water droplet hit me on the back and I shrieked like a banshee FML.

Daddy should be proud. -__-

Our First Trip to a New Zealand Beach - Piha Beach.

2010-04-05T22:43:00.004+12:00

Happy Easter guys! Yesterday marked the official end of spring and the start of autumn. New Zealand practices Daylight Saving so right now it's only 4 hours difference with Malaysia as opposed to the usual 5 hours. We're having a 2 weeks Easter holiday yo. :D

I are not riking the holidays so far. Wanna go Sunday pasar pagi then rain. Today go beach also rain FML. New Zealand rain cacat somemore. The weather forecast did say it might rain. But based on our 2 months of experiencing NZ rain, we were like, alah not like KL rain cats and dog that type also, because rain here is like a light cottony feel when it sprinkles on your skin, and it is not strong enough to drench you like Malaysian rain.. So yeah, we totally underestimated it this time.

The kambing and I went on a beach excursion with a couple of friends today. I am gonna be a very lousy blogger and leave you with no directions to the place. I wasn't doing the driving and I am clueless to New Zealand roads (apart from the annoying sharp turns you need to do when you reach junctions).

Before I sneeze bits of my brain out, let me share the experience with all of you.

I'll admit, this picture does not do the beauty of this beach justice. I am sitting in my cozy hostel right now and being mad at the world because I caught cold under the rain. When we stay indoors no rain, go out only rain FML.

It took a long drive up a very hilly terrain with lots of ups and downs and very sharp turns. The roads are very narrow somemore. If you think Cameron Highlands / Genting Highlands road is dangerous, try this. But honestly lah, people drive nice car up, I think if you attempt to do a Proton there's bound to be a hold-up in traffic because Potong break down jor lol.

I am feeling ecstatic after finally reaching the beach. As we were fighting our way through the mountainous roads, I caught a glimpse of the beach and went totally speechless! It was so beautiful that I momentarily forgotten that I was having a cold and feeling miserable. Haih, the bloody sky just needed to effing ease itself on us today. -__-

I was suffering from supreme FMLism today. I brought my camera out without the battery. WITHOUT THE BATTERY. I could have just kicked myself when I found out. And DSLRs don't cope well with salt and water, so the very limited amount of pictures for you guys.

Impending doom! Look at those waves! I ran helter-skelter away after taking this shot for fear of wetting my pants. Ooops that sounded wrong. :P On a side note, look at my feet! Imagine how clear is the water!

The beach is located at the Tasman Sea coast to the north of Manukau Harbour, amidst the Waikatere Ranges. If that made any sense. Thank you Wikipedia and so sorry no directions. If you don't already know, I am hopeless with maps and I still can't tell East West North South.

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Kidding lah LOL.

A Kiwi Attempts to Talk Like That Lah.

2010-03-30T22:49:00.001+13:00

Today we were having presentations in my Intercultural Communication class. Each and everyone of us had to introduce a country's culture to the entire class. After going through some countries that are of no interest to myself, I perked up when it was one of my Kiwi classmate's turn to introduce...

Singapore. Sillypore to Bolehlanders. Ohai there neighbor. *Squints at the world map*

She proceeded to introduce Singapore and it's amazing economical achievements. Yadda yadda... And so it got to the point where she had a Powerpoint slide titled 'Singlish'. I was stunned! Kudos to her for digging out that piece of info about Singapore. Got formal definition of Singlish somemore! "A mixture of English blended with some Mandarin, Malay and Hokkien". OMG LOL!

And when she went on to the next Powerpoint slide, I lol'd in the Lecture Hall, much to the irritation of the rest of the class.

I cannot help it lah, you know or not?!

The next slide was to introduce 'lah'. A Kiwi, introducing the 'lah', to a class with a Malaysian sitting in it. I totally wasn't expecting that! I was expecting the presentation to be some mundane recitation of Sillypore's high achievements and cleanliness. Lah is so near and dear to us Malaysians / Singaporeans leh. And imagine something liddat being explained by an angmoh, funny anot?!

Just one thing, though.

I should have added something to her, and it should go something like...

"Eh friend, you know Sillypore not only know how to lah but also very de kiasu?"

Disclaimer: If any Singaporean reads this, please note that everything is written in the name of good humour. You know lah, neighbor mah. No offense lah!

Ma, We Got Rice to Eat Lah.

2010-03-23T17:24:00.001+13:00

I am here to make an official announcement to the Kambing moms.

We can has RICE!

Both the Kambing moms have been asking this question many times.

你们那边有没有饭吃？(You got rice to eat anot?!)

If you're a Malaysian, read that out loud for the LOLZ. If you tak faham then suan liao. (If you don't understand then for geddit)

The answer is, Yes Ma, we got rice to eat. Don't worry lah. Got bowl and chopstick somemore hehe.

Popped the Question.

2010-03-15T23:19:00.001+13:00

Ever since I've started my classes, my parents have been prompting me whether I'm okay with my studies at every opportunity they could. My dad's main concern was that I couldn't understand what the lecturers are talking about, and the lingering fear of me not being able to catch up academically.

It's okay, Pa. They do not speak in Hindi or Gujarati here, I'm doing just fine.

What I wasn't okay, however, was the method of teaching. Everyone is required to speak up during class and if you have an opinion or agree / disagree, shoot it at the lecturer. They revel in the Q&A sessions and totally do not hesitate to ask questions or voice opinions.

I give you the idea of a typical day in TARC lah. Lecturer ask everyone a question, and there are 2 scenarios:

Only the ones with 'Smart' stamped across their foreheads stand up and answer.
Silence. Then the lecturer proceeds to answer the question him / herself FtheirL.

It's not that we're stupid. No we aren't. We're just so god darn obsessed with not making a fool of ourselves that we simply do not answer or draw attention to ourselves. We always doubt our answers. If we do not have solid evidence that it's correct, we simply shut up.

So I've been as quiet as a mouse for the first week in class, utterly terrified by the thought of speaking up in front of everyone. Everyone made a good introduction of themselves, I'm actually ashamed to say that when it was my turn, I was so nervous I could only utter out 'I'm a Malaysian and I come from a multi-cultural society,' Oh FML why didn't I further elaborate my Malaysian awesomesauce stories. They are anytime cooler than you all wa ka lu kong ah. LOL. Kidding.

So that's the bit of culture shock I've experienced in the classroom. I'm gradually adjusting myself, paying attention not to make a fool of myself but also make good use of my newfound voice in class to participate in discussions. Compromise sikit lah okay.

But I end up with another question. What am I achieving through all this talks and discussions? How lah to pass the exams just by talking? End of the day I mah only need to memorize key terms and churn it out as it is in exams? So easy only mah. Talk so much for what? Why am I talking in class and fighting with the lecturer over a silly point that might even not be relevant in the end afterall?

See lah Bolehland, you totally screwed your rakyat's mind up. Exam exam exam. 1 kid score 20 or 30 perfect A's in SPM or STPM and their faces will be plastered all over the papers. So lame! If I was blessed with perfect photographic memory, I wouldn't have problems scoring. And not to mention my lack of interest over Hang Tuah or how and why was Melaka named Melaka.

Today I finally had the opportunity to voice my concern to the Program Supervisor. Lovely woman.

Rather than focusing on examinations, we're encouraged to participate in intellectual discussions that allows everyone to share information with each other and hopefully gain more knowledge in the process. Not memorize class handouts for exams omg no. That might be the idea of learning to us, but it doesn't apply to New Zealand. And I dunno how true is it for other countries. But definitely not Kiwi Land.

What we Malaysians fail to realise that education is more than just passing examiniations. We are in university to LEARN, not just to pass examinaitions. And if you learnt well, you'll naturally go through examinations just fine. Really?

I still had my doubts - everybody worked so hard in college or uni just to get good grades to show the 'result' of their hard work. So what about New Zealand? If I only talk and discuss, then what about the examinations? What do I get in the end? I don't know what am I achieving in the end, honestly.

The answer was pretty simple. In the end, you learned well in the process.

Problem is, the tiny voice inside my head is pretty restless with the thought that I won't be memorizing perfect sequences of sentences to prepare for the examinations ahead.

Damn I really need to kill that mentality and learn to embrace New Zealand's learning culture. I'm here to LEARN, afterall. :)

Oh dear yet another long-winded rambling from Kambing No. 1. Kambing No. 2, post some kick-ass pictures already!

I Freezed / Cooked My Butt Off.

2010-03-10T23:46:00.002+13:00

Somewhere around 5 am in the morning, I tossed and turned in bed, and was about to enter the deeper stages of sleep, when there's this bleep sound coming out of nowhere. I stood there wondering what it was, and vaguely remembered about fire alarms in my dreamy state. I went to my friend's room next door, hesitant to knock because I was worried it was only my room ringing and not hers.

Several seconds later, she burst out of the room, looking harassed and sleepy.

"Fire alarm."

Oh great. And I took action immediately, taking a jacket (MOST FREAKING IMPORTANT) and dumped my essentials into a bag and went downstairs. As expected, it was a drill. So common in western countries. So common that all my elders who've been abroad for their studies warned me about it. That's where I thought, "You try lah sound the fire alarm in KL, see got any Malaysian will come and bother or not, lol."

The whole building's worth of residents came out in pajamas and different states of slumber.

If I had the mind to bring my camera, that would have probably be the most photogenic moments of my tertiary education.

While giggling with my roomie about the funny state we were in, I heard bouts of laughter.

I was wearing my cozy bear pajamas and the bear was in danger of being seen in public eyes. I quickly zipped up my jacket. But what couldn't escape other people's eyes were my fluffy cartoon slippers.

Dear God, what did I do to deserve this. -__- They're warm okay. Even if they look funny / childish.

Fortunately I wasn't the only one in funky clothing. In fact, if I had to choose between wearing kiddy bear pajamas and get my butt frozen, I'd take the first gladly. So whatever. I'm glad I had the mind to take a jacket, else I would have just shown the fire control officer the finger and dashed off to my room for warmth. I guess the chance of freezing to death outside is anytime greater than being shocked by false alarms?

The fire control officer was very strict with us though. He was utterly disappointed that it took us so long to come down and none of the supposed 'leaders' report to him. He said that he didn't want to make the dreaded call to mummy / daddy if something happened and send a body back. But if necessary, he'll be forced to make the call. And if he must, he can arrange for international deliveries as well.

If you don't geddit then forget it.

And on the very same day, I had no choice but to sit with my girlfriends on a table under the sun during lunch. Warao eh I was practically cooked under the sun but the other girls seem to revere in it! And they started talking about getting a tan and getting brown and I went even more -__- . What differences hor... We strive so much to be fair but they love their tanned skin so much.

All part of meeting new cultures, aye?

Ciao!

Wood Rose~

2010-03-08T22:09:00.001+13:00

The first time I saw it, I immediately fell in love with it.

No not the silly guy beside me. It's the thing I'm holding.

Who would have thought something that grows like that...

Flowers so beautifully?

I don't think the name of this plant is Wood Rose, as a quick Google Search pulled up some pictures that differ a lot from what I captured. Anyone can tell me that name of this?

I've been telling my mom about these beauties for a while but I've never gotten around to posting it. I hope she loves it... Something out of the ordinary old flimsy roses, don't you think?

Sauce To Whack Your Appetite

2010-03-08T12:46:00.010+13:00

THE APPETIZER - 500g homemade sandwich. Feeling hungry now?

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Nah... just kidding, what I wanted to show you guys is the weather of the Kiwi's land..

These were taken in Mt. Roskill, Auckland when we were struggling to walk for few kilometers just to find a banana leaf rice shop (read the previous post and see the pictures). The blue blue sky is real!!! Imagine how clear is the sky that you can actually see the moon at noon... Feels like coming now? That's the appetizer!!

The Weather.

2010-03-07T23:36:00.000+13:00

... If you were too lazy to read the previous post about Auckland's weather,

These two pictures should sum it up.

Not color corrected to show you the glaring sun that had me squinting my already non-existent eyes. And to show off my pale pale Chinese skin.

Oh wow, there's wind so camwhore first!

It's windy now, when the wind hits your skin it's soooooo cold. Yet the summer sun is in it's full glory. Not hot not cold. So hard to determine how to dress for the day lah.

I went out with a singlet today but the wind was so strong I went home and changed after grocery shopping. I'm glad I did. Autumn's really creeping in.

I think I circled the entire suburbs today just to look for this restaurant. And mind you the suburbs here are BIG. We walked on and on... I think if we added up all the walking we did today, we already finished rounding half of MRR2.

So here am I resting my ass as I write this, and signing off to bed.

Good night!

And Happy Belated Valentines Day too, to the cheat one Kambing No. 2. Look at his fingers omg.

A Message For Kambing No.1

2010-03-07T20:08:00.002+13:00

For who doesn't know who is Kambing No. 1, this is the lovely Kambing who just touched down New Zealand on 14th February 2010. Just wanted to send her a belated greeting...

Happy Valentine's Day :)

The Chaborkia's Dormitory Out-view

2010-03-06T08:14:00.004+13:00

This is the Building 310 a.k.a. Residential Village Accomodation Department in Unitec Mt. Albert Auckland. Looks nice, aye?

The workers and staffs here are friendly, helpful and warm. They used to smile always and chat with you like their friends, it is something different compare with Boleh country which part of them in that country will show you the "You Got Germs" faces.

This is a perfect place to stay if the rental and electricity are cheaper.

Trying to Rasuah My Mom during the Summer (Weather Info!).

2010-03-04T23:38:00.003+13:00

... Just to tease my mother who loves flowers.

引诱下我妈妈，骗她过来煮饭给我吃。LOL

I was on the phone with my lovely mom when I was taking a walk with my friends. Right from the start of the street till the end, squealing to her when I see beautiful greens and flowers growing along the suburb's gardens. I know she loves all these.

I wonder whether India got such beautiful flowers or not. The only colorful flowers I saw were withered up and dying... LOL...

Just to butt in about the current weather condition...

I touched down New Zealand during the summer month of February. Since they're located in the western hemisphere, the four seasons are turned upside down here. Come March, and I reckon we'll be welcoming in autumn.

So how does summer in New Zealand feel like?

I have been wearing my typical summer wear in Kuala Lumpur here. Halter tops, singlets, thin cotton t-shirts, you name it. However, how you dress really depends on how's the weather on that day. CHECK THE WEATHER FORECAST before you leave home.

New Zealand's summer is always more or less 25 Degrees Celsius, making it pleasantly cool when you're outdoors. However, you cannot underestimate the blaring hot sun. It's the most polluted country in terms of UV rays, so sunblock for your skin and a pair of shades for your eyes is a must.

Another thing not to be underestimated is New Zealand's wind.

It can be VERY cold when the wind is very strong.

Right now, the weather's starting to turn cold, with raging winds when I wake up. The winds can actually blow you off course! My new Wellington friend (Wellington is known as Windy Wellington, do the math) was highly amused and astounded to see me wrapped up in a thick jacket, jeans, and boots on a full-blown summer's day. It might be summer but when the strong gust of wind beats again your skin, it can be very cold depending on the strength of the wind.

That's me though, I have zero cold tolerance. Kambing No. 2 and his friends seem to fare fine with the wind. *Shrugs* And the locals can wear bare-back dresses when the wind is blaring! OMG.

I live fine with my singlet on non-windy days but ALWAYS keep a hoodie jacket with me. You really can't tell when will strong winds strike, unless of course, it has been blowing for the whole night.

I've observed the dressing patterns of the locals and international students, some fare really well while some are wrapped snugly in jackets during strong winds in summer, so you figure out your own body's tolerance and pack whatever you deem necessary.

Get the idea of summer in NZ now? Hope that helped. I really hate general information from general websites, I always prefer a personal touch.

Glad I'm here during the summer because I'll suffer less cultural shock.

A Kambing's FML Moments.

2010-02-28T23:22:00.002+13:00

Today is definitely not Kambing No. 2's day. Must have eaten too many lamb sausages. *Glares at him for attempting to eat sausages for breakfast AND lunch today*

I always like to say this to him: "Why you so 'chou lou' (rough) one?!" And you see, we woman are not naggy, even if that's the case, we're usually right. We always get the point right. Right?!

The Kambing ate his dinner ravenously because I threw away his sausages during lunch. He wound up biting himself when he chewed with gusto and bled quite a lot. Typical humans get away with a painful little ulcer, but noooooooo, he managed to get himself bleeding. I TOLD you you're very rough, don't believe me lah.

FHL

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We were taking a walk and New Zealand streets are usually adorned with beautiful greens. Some of them are lethal too. I got out of the way when I saw some deadly-looking cactus sticking out from the shrubs. I thought the Kambing would take the lead but nooooooooo,

He walked into the cactus.

The entire thing would have been comical but when you see several cactus needles embedded deeply in your Kambing's skin, it ain't funny no more. In fact, I tried pulling it out but one of them ran so deep I pulled halfway and was stunned that it was still attached. It caused the Kambing more anguish. He wailed in pain and shooed me away. Eh damnit very hard to navigate needle thorns amidst your hairy leg okay?!

FHL

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I went back home, lounged a bit with my roommate, watched a movie and retired into my room only to receive a call from the poor wounded and defeated Kambing.

Guess what? He called to tell me he can't walk me back after my class / his gym. He sprained his ankle after his sandals gave way and he fell down. And he sprained his ankle while trying to play football with sandals (!) leh. See what I say about woman being right. Your mother didn't ask you to wear appropriate shoes at appropriate times for nothing one. See lah.

FHL

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All these injuries in a day. Poor kambing seriously must consider eating less kambing. It's a kambing's revenge yo. Bless him.

Like This and Like That.

2010-02-26T13:37:00.003+13:00

New Zealand, big and empty?

A few days back, I attended a class and the lecturer had each and everyone of us stand up and talk about our culture. Being in New Zealand, naturally there were plenty of locals standing up to talk about their lovely country and culture.

What stood out to me was how most Kiwis are so outspoken about things. They can go and and on without a script and seemed quite comfortable talking in front of a class.

If you were to do an introduction of yourself in TAR College back in Kuala Lumpur, everyone will probably be jittery and had not much to say about themselves. And probably have the class laugh nervously at your little spoof, which makes you even more nervous.

Wish I could talk fluently like they did.

It's surprising how we get along great with each other in a casual social setting but get jittery even though you know practically everyone in the class, back in Malaysia?

What a contrast in the social differences, aye? (I wish to use 'lah' but I'll need to Kiwi-fy my English for now)

And in that very lecture, I debunked an age-old myth.

"New Zealand is a ghost town..."

"... Hardly any people there, forever so empty!"

Does that ring a bell, Malaysians? Typical comments about Kiwi Land, right Just like how every diplomatic statement about Malaysia has 'warm and sunny people' in it. YEAH REALLY. That's most probably because everyone's hot and sweaty every time you approach them, and because it's LITERALLY sunny every single day there!

Fickle humans, generalize so easily, forever intimidated by things unknown to them.

Kiwis down south are astounded to find that there are no beaches within easy reach in Auckland. To some South Islanders, beaches can be as close as a 10 to 20 minute drive. Hiking the mountains right behind their homes are second nature to them.
Kiwis, particularly Aucklanders, prefer to be out sailing in the weekends rather than hanging out in malls, so much different to us Malaysians who hang out in shopping malls every weekends and holidays. Pretty much explains why there are practically no one around, right?
It's a sight to behold during weekends. You get to see cars dragging boats of all sizes heading towards somewhere unknown to this Bolehlander, who has yet to explore so much of New Zealand.

Different people do enjoy different things. Even though Auckland is a big and vibrant city, New Zealanders still hold their natural heritage true and close to their hearts.

I personally am suffering from withdrawal pangs from my Sungei Wang, Lot 10, Mid Valley Megamall, KLCC, and the vibrant city lifestyle that KL has to offer. And hawker centers, mamak food, just hanging out amidst the crowd. Can be very irritating, but when you've withdrawed yourself from that irritating aspect in your life, you find yourself missing it? LOL. Even the annoying roar of mat rempits can make my heart soar and feel at home now.

Writing this only worsens my pangs. I miss spending in Ringgit Malaysia. Not to mention, Indian rupees. I can buy whatever I like in ABUNDANCE in India and not break a sweat.

I want my mall and currency back please. *Fights nail and tooth*.

And I probably would take this statement back when I am able to travel to somewhere that can take my breath away...

Really sucks not having a car here.

Dizzy Picture to Make You Dizzy.

2010-02-23T23:05:00.002+13:00

Ohai.

I now know why I was never able to find a satisfying picture of my campus when I was still skeptical about choosing here. In fact, I had a panic strike when I finally found some Youtube videos of this place. It looked like Ghost Town with nobody around! I was expecting something of splendid grandeur, a castle with turrets like Hogwarts perhaps. *Yes I'm dreaming*

But luckily it's very much to the contrary. That's just how New Zealand is. Everyone enjoys this sort of wide open landscape and lifestyle. It's a green wonderland. If you look from the outside, you'll never suspect there are thousands of students inside that stretch of forest.

I love this picture, do you? Believe me, this picture shows just a VERY small part of my campus. Doesn't even account to 0.2%.

Bed's beckoning. Night!

Flying to New Zealand - A Picture Guide to Auckland International Airport.

2010-02-22T22:49:00.000+13:00

This may seem belated after Kambing No. 2's posts but I'm determined to jot everything down before I forgot about it. And of course, to provide some information for you all who are traveling here.

Here's some pictures of Auckland International Airport.

One of the least busy airports in the world.

Bore you with repetition first. Always say I come to boring-land.

My parents were back from India for the Chinese New Year as well as to send me off to my doom. I enjoyed the week with them tremendously, but was always on the verge of tears at the lack of time spent with them. It was only one week away from my departure, and I don't get to see them everyday. I'm eternally glad that I've made a choice to spend time in India - life-changing, definitely.

Downside is, it's the first day of class today and I feel like an effing freshie. I ought to have known the Communication Process Model and all that shit but I forgot every single thing taught in Diploma after that 3 month long excursion to India. *curses*

The only picture that wasn't overexposed due to the scorching sun. Perfect blue skies anyone? *Dances along the clouds*

I'm effing frustrated. I was expecting the multi-million dollar aerial shot of New Zealand, the famous little island surrounded by beautiful blue seas and lush greenery all captured in film, but I failed.

We landed in the glory of the harsh afternoon sun, hence all pics are overexposed and the skies look murky. FML

Hello New Zealand!

Babai Bolehland.

Definitely wasn't a pleasure sitting on the plane. I mean, the crew was nice and all that, but I really hate the cramped spaces and awkward seating position. Barely slept for that 9 hours.

This is the national welcome that the Kiwis use to greet foreigners.

Nah I'm kidding. They take biosecurity threats very seriously, anything that taints their eco system will make you the country's enemy. By that, I mean all:

1. Fresh food items,
2. Seashell or turtle shell items,
3. Wood and any of the sorts,
4. Corals,
5. Fungi,
6. The dirt under your shoes. Yes they scour your boots if you declare that you've been hiking in a natural reserve or something.
7. Etc. Any food or natural items lah hor.

I didn't bother to bring any type of food items at all. If I survived India, I can do this.

This is the REAL greeting by the Kiwis. Beautiful Maorian architecture. Just like how we're proud of Malaysia's multi-cultural society, the Kiwis are proud of their bi-cultural status as well.

And if the above weren't tree-hugging enough, I was greeted by this upon my arrival.

Sniffer beagles smelling your bags to make sure you don't sneak anything that is not allowed in New Zealand.

And that's it! Nothing special about this quaint little airport, I think I lost a few shots of the exterior of the airport but you're not missing anything, it's mainly a wide stretch of carpark and blue skies and green fields. Just like what you expected. :P

Good night peeps! I wanna call my mom. *Sucks thumb*

Auckland Bus Tour

2010-02-20T10:15:00.008+13:00

We finally took part in a bus trip after a few days of jet lag...
It was just a moderate rated bus trip but it is cheap(NZ$15 x 2.4 = RMdo the math).
the trip's duration is about 5 hours, 3 of them are sitting in the bus driving thru some city hotspots.
and for the rest of the 2 hours, we had visited 2 mountains and a seaside with a 'fush & chups' as our lunch...

City Centre

The busiest and crowded area in Auckland or maybe the entire land of New Zealand. Kambing no.1 said their sense of fashion is much higher class than Bolehland... which I agreed with her for the first time...

Mt. Eden

This is a dead volcano and become a very very nice recreation area, is very windy up there, imagine that the wind can actually blow you away if you are light enough.

A snapshot in City Centre

Just want to show you how passionate they are towards sailing... Sea activities are always get involved by the kiwis.

Another view of the Mt. Eden with the Auckland City Background

Mt. ??? (sorry, i forget the name already)

This place was a military base built by Kiwis back into the Japanese invasion era...

First Peek of My Residential Area~

2010-02-18T00:53:00.010+13:00

After spending several days out hunting for our survival stuff,
We've finally settled down and currently enjoying a much cleaner and habitable hostel.
Before class starts, I'd like to show you our hostel...

Hall and Kitchen

Is a spacious and well designed hall multi-purpose hall, but the facilities and quality are still not worth for the rental we're paying for.

Kitchen and the Walkway to our Rooms

You know what, we are lacking certain furniture...

For your information, the hostel's carpet is a bit old and stained actually, thanks to the ex-inconsiderate users... I believe Asians don't believe in carpets in general?

The Emergency Call Station

Is brilliant to have separated toilet and the shower room, it saves space and increase the "workload", but you know what? There's no effing drain hole for water to flow out on the floor! So how lah to clean the toilet bowl you tell me? The kambing no. 1, Chaborkia had to wring dry her mop several times just to get rid of the water pooling inside the toilet after a vigorous round of washing.

The Shower Room

Drainage hole check, but still a bit clogged. Other than that water pressure's good, pretty much clean.

My Room

Wanted to show you my roommates' room but is against the rules and regulation, unless the roommates' girl friend insists to put it into the blog (Yes! is you, you are the one!)

For the parents, no worries about the living environment - The thinz will grow fatter, and the for fatz, they definitely will maintain or rise to a whole new record :P

For the friends, New Zealand is a highly recommended choice for a holiday break for those who prefer somewhere with slower paces, friendly, clean, and rich in culture...

So stay tuned, more interesting pictures to show you next time round. :)

Imma in New Zealand, counting sheep for teh Gong Hei Fatt Choi.

2010-02-15T00:21:00.006+13:00

On the night of the 13th of February 2010, right on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year, I boarded a plane heading towards Auckland, New Zealand, leaving all my family and friends behind in pursuit of a better future.

Welcome to Auckland International Airport

A gruelling 9 hour flight later, on 12 pm Auckland time, 14th of February (Valentines Day + Nin Chor Yat), I touched down on New Zealand, the place most commonly written off as boring and empty. And with a sheep population that overwhelms the humans.

To my dismay, as the van strolled along the roads leading to my institute from the airport, the description above seemed pretty accurate - this place was like an abandoned piece of land neglected by the human race. Rows and rows of oversized houses, all with big lawns and lots of rolling green grass fields everywhere, and not a human activity in sight.

Or was it a KL girl, so used to the hustle bustle and dense population of a city, suffering from a sudden culture shock?

"Shit, what have I gotten myself into?!" I thought to myself as the rolling greens seem to be press down on me, threatening never to end. But that's just the pessimistic side of me thinking through instinct, not through sense. There's so much I have yet to explore of this place.

Just today, I walked to the supermarket with a couple of friends. Distances that would probably render you toast if you attempted to walk several kilometers under Malaysia's endless summer heat.

Looking further ahead as much as a walking pedestrian could see, there's Auckland city. So much more than just the greens and beauty and sheep so commonly preached by everyone.

This blog is dedicated to bringing everyone a taste of the land not usually explored, the path not usually taken, as I attempt to highlight New Zealand's beauty, and hopefully in the process, make people forget that this place ain't all sheep and no fun.

Can't determine when I'll get my own broadband, hopefully I can put up more decent pictures soon.

Stay tuned!