Some things I did here in NZ

... but not when I'm back home in Malaysia. These are all quite recent, or maybe not so but still...
Anyway, all of them happened here in NZ.

Are you ready? Seriously, are you? ... Enjoy :)

Threw a 'steamboat' surprise birthday dinner for a dear friend of mine. We had so so much food that night, was seriously bloated. Over-bloated, if there's such a thing! Yummy *slurp*

"Come on, cow. Stand still, don't move away so I can take your picture." That's exactly what I said to the cow and it didn't move away! Yeah, I talked to a cow. :) I think cows look very blur. Haha. This photo is my current cellphone wallpaper.

I also took some really pretty pictures with my cellphone, like this one. The sky, at about 730pm, spring time from the backyard. Ah, the beauty of nature, God's creation.

This one too. Blossomed cherry blossoms (Sakura) at Massey University. This photo was my cellphone wallpaper, and will be again somewhere in the near future.. hehe.

Say 'Hello' to Kai, the mouse. He's my brother's pet. Yeah, it's a 'he'. Kai Kai's so cute. He's not like any other ordinary (yucky) mouse. He's special, that's why I talk to him too ;)
Don't worry, we don't just let him run around loose. He has his own 'space ship'-like house.

Went snowboarding for the first time with a great bunch of people, got an ADULT ticket when I could have gotten a YOUTH one. Mistake, mistake. Also, fell on my bum a billion times and had a sore bum for days. It was an awesome experience though. Now, I can cross 'snowboarding' off my list and wait for bungee-jumping. :)

Celebrated my 18th birthday early in the morning (The day after snowboarding)! I was just brushing my teeth when they brought the cake+candles out, hence the look on my face. Thanks so much to you people! :)

Lied (and posed) on the road where I believe cars have gone over and cattle too. Only in New Zealand.

Went to a friend's house close to midnight to give him a birthday surprise (in my pajamas). And I didn't have a seat belt on that night. How risky. Yikes.

9 photos so far...








... and I'm not even close to getting done yet!! Bet you didn't see THAT coming.

Jumped many many times for photos like this at the Wind Farm. Coolness. Credits to couz Kelvin for the photo :)

Never been so happy to eat chiffon/pandan cake. Back in Kuching, you can get it at Mita cake house anytime but sadly, not here :/ Glad to have couz Kel over that weekend. This cake experience was during a Merdeka Day potluck dinner. I even 'ta pao-ed' some of the chiffon cake.

This was taken when I took a short class trip to Japan. NOT. haha.
I got to see pretty flowers blooming, like this Cherry Blossom tree at the Victoria Esplanade. Reminds me of some Asian drama or something.

PPA overload!! This is only ONE evidence of a PPA overload, okay. That's me doing the 'baby unicorn' and Olivia doing the ... scissors pose. =P

If you were wondering why I was dressed as such in the photo before, how about this one! This is Quiz Night@Grace City Church (the church I go to) and the theme was 'Time And Time Again'. We had to dress up as a group from any 20th century decade and somehow my group came as 'school boys & girls' with high socks, shorts and collar-T under sweater. I looked like a soccer player though. Haha. Those in leather jackets and shades are from the '80s I suppose.
It was a great night! I really enjoyed it. It was a competitive night, filled with loads of laughter and some really random (but hard) questions!
"How many squares are there on a roll of (brand name) toilet paper?" LOL

I made dessert! I was never really confident about my cooking/baking but this time it came out all good! There's my apple crumble, bottom right corner of photo (with a white spoon in it). Umm yummy. I have to make some when I get home because I told my mom I would :)

Done! ... Almost.

Put together some white and black clothes to look like a panda for OCF's AGM. My group dressed up as pandas 0.0 and we were all very the cute! Haha. The theme was 'Animals'. Other groups were pigs, wolves and there was a bee too! I actually bought that white shirt for $3.50 at the Salvation Army. It was an interesting story, how I got that shirt. Again, what a night! :)

Last but not least, Yvonne and alpacas! Ah, they're so cute. This was at the Sakura Festival@IPC. They remind me of The Emperor's New Groove. The llama. haha.

Okay. That was the last one, no joke.

WAHHHHH this post is overloaded with photos X.x Someone must be happy.
That's a sneak peak of some things I did here in NZ. I'm in Palmerston North. I know, when NZ pops out, you think kiwi bird and Auckland.

Gotta catch the bus to church tomorrow so I'd better get ready for bed. Cheers and have a goodnight.



xoxovon
The Lord has promised good to me
His words my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

Micro update

Just popping by here to give a little update so that my blog doesn't look so dead or lifeless. Plus, there will be photo(s) this time! :D

The week has gone by fast. Blink, blink; sleep, wake up, eat, shower, class, eat, sleep; rinse and repeat; it's already Thursday and tomorrow's Friday. I have two tests tomorrow which I'm kinda excited about because one is vocabulary and the other is a lecture test. The kiasu that I'm sort of, I'm gonna do my best and obtain top marks if possible.

Besides that, tomorrow is gonna be a historical day as OCF moves in to the new chaplaincy building! Now it's called 'the Centre' aka Waiora. The place is super fine as, bro. It's got much more room than the old one, obviously. Excited :) It's gonna be my... 3rd home? hehe.

Here's how it looks like. The picture is taken from the main bus stop at uni, while I was waiting for my ride.





The following photo is taken at 7.32pm from where I'm staying. Spring is not getting any warmer than winter at all. It's been cold and it even snowed. In spring! Twice! Not in Palmy though but in other parts of North Island. Enjoy the view. :)




A picture says a thousand words.


xoxovon
Goodnight.

Air Mail

I have yet to dedicate a post to the slimmest and trimmest Hippo in the whole wide world. She's none other than Ms Eunice Lau Hee Poh. Haha. Don't worry, that's not her full name.

Anyway, this post is uber late. I just transferred these photos from my (awesome) phone.

I had my 18th birthday away from home and I celebrated with people whom I've known not for long. I've only known them since I came here. Everyone except my own biological brother, of course. However, they made it feel like home away from home. :)

A few weeks after my birthday, I came back from class and I saw a package with Malaysian stamps and my name on it. I wondered from whom that could be? Hmm.



Thank you so much, Neece. You're so pretty! I mean, NICE. :)

There's one sticker which says "SECURITY CHECKED" and that shocked me. Then, I checked the date, it was dated 2007. -.-"

I haven't seen my 'Will' for a while now. No wonder I'm gaining weight. Haha. Oh. By the way, I've been wearing 'em slippers aka flip-flops. But we call 'em jandals here. Sounds so much cooler than Se-lee-per. haha.



After I opened the package that afternoon, a lightbulb appeared above my head and it gave me an idea. Why not have Maggi for lunch? :D

And TADAAH! My first Maggi ever since I came to NZ. KARI yoh!! There's Maggi here, it's just that I didn't bother buying them. Hehe. Imported leh. Neh, Neece can be my importer. Haha.

What's Maggi without an egg? :)

I've saved the other two instant noodles for a rainy day. The 'Banana Peel' jandals aren't slippery at all. (Lame joke attempt).

Thanks to you who wished me by means of technology too, e.g. text message, Facebook...

I've decided to go to bed early tonight and not linger in cyberspace until the wee hours of Sunday morning. Besides, some research shows that getting fat is related to sleeping late. Yikes.


xoxovon
MUMSA Raya open house is tomorrow. I've been picturing Rendang in my head. *drools*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM :)
I'll bake what I baked when I get home. <3

Questionable thought(s)

I tend to say silly things in which I don't think before I say something. In other words, we call it 'talking outta yer ass, bro'. Haha. And I regret it. I remind myself not to talk too much because whatever I say may be nonsensical and at times my words might hurt others' feelings without realizing it myself. Sounds foolish, aye?

Anyway, it's October already! Man, does time fly or what. 3rd October is the Mid-Autumn Festival aka Mooncake aka Lantern Festival. However, it's sort of 'Mid-Spring' Festival in the hemisphere I am in. Haha. It's also my dear Mommy's birthday. :) I hope lil' bro and dad are doing something for her. I like to think that I have more of her genes because I have pretty good teeth :D and her hair doesn't go grey/white yet! There are some though.

I have a few questions to ponder on as this week comes to an end and a new week awaits next week :)

1. What do I need?

2. What am I doing with my life?

I just watched Fireproof and it's actually a pretty good movie. Even better, if you're married. Well, even if you're not married, you can still enjoy it and pick up lessons from the movie. One particular line in the movie struck me like BAM, that's it. It goes something like this: "How can I show love for somebody over and over again when he/she constantly rejects me?" If I was the one rejected in such a way, I'd feel tremendously awful. Extremely terrible. It'd be as if someone stuck their hand into my chest, breaking the ribs and making their way through the intercostal muscles, grabbed my heart and ripping it out of its place. Then, slammed it against the wall and letting it drop to the ground. After that, stomping on it with their feet, shattering the heart to pieces subsequently making the organ that symbolises love, unrecognizable to the human eye. Sounds like a bad exaggeration attempt. Ngaiti lor. How do you think He would feel? And after all the bad things that we've done, He still loves us for who we are. God hates the sin, loves everyone. Although He hates the sin but still loves us, it doesn't mean that we should/can go on doing things that please us and are against Him.

That's just a thought. Sighs, I need sleep now. NZ is currently 5 hours ahead of Malaysia, making it harder for me to catch friends online at the right time.

Remember to be thankful for every day that you get to live and see your family and friends. Do keep in mind those who are having troubled times. Try to be there for them, I know it's not easy. It's always easier said than done. Pray for them if you can. (eg. those affected by the earthquakes).


xoxovon
I thank God for surrounding me with awesome people. :)

Daylight Saving

From 27th September 2009 onwards, New Zealand will be 5 hours ahead of Malaysia. Which means we, here, are going to set our clocks one hour forward. That's one hour less of sleep for us and one hour less to get ready for church. Haha.

According to sources, it starts at 2am on the 4th Sunday of September. I don't know why 2am, I haven't researched on that.

Although it's 12am now, I would like to think that it's already 1am. It's the same anyway, I don't have to wait till 2am to set my clock. I mean, I'll have to wake up an hour earlier than what I used to wake up but it's still the 'same time'. If I usually wake up at 8am on Sundays, then I'll have to wake up at 7am, last week's time, but it's going to be 8am.

:D

I'm having a cold now. At one point I was sure that I was going to have blisters or the skin under my nose peeled due to over-blowing. Fortunately, that has not happened yet. Toilet paper was my best friend today (Sorry, people). It is not fun at all especially when mucous builds up in my nasal cavity. Although the mucous is meant to protect me, it can get annoying as my respiratory passage way gets blocked and I'd have to breathe through my mouth. Hence, my mouth would be open all the time which sort of makes me look like a retard. Ooh, harsh.

I just searched on paracetamol and mucous. I'm going to read on those sometime soon because they sound interesting. It's Biology (and Chemistry)! I love human biology, learning about the human body, how it works and the functions of this and that. There are many long and hard names though, I have to admit. Sacrum and coccyx, who can ever forget those two.

I now have one hour less to sleep.


xoxovon
I sat by the piano and figure out Beautiful Saviour in under 30 minutes or so.
Joy :)

Gratitude

What position am I in to complain when compared to those who are less fortunate than I am?

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, mainly thoughts about life. I start telling myself to complain less and as humans, we tend to complain about things (a lot of things). Even the smallest of the smallest issue such as the (stupid) machine that does not want to work when you want it to work (because you cannot operate it). What an analogy, I know. Anyway, you get my point.

I've been facing quite a number of problems lately, most of them are related to my studies. I think it's safe to say that ALL of them are related to my education. I planned to do Summer School so that I could start 1st Year in Feb 2010 but it doesn't seem likely now. So I have to opt for the Feb-July Foundation Semester and this will allow me to start 1st Year in July 2010 instead. However, more problems emerged as time goes by. Whether it's the paper not being offered, the entrance requirements, the time or just me worrying too much. This is where I let out a big sigh.

Today, someone told me that it might take me more than a year to do 1st Year. I almost cried. Seriously. In my head, I went "WHAT?!". I've told myself (and some other people) that I didn't want to grow old studying, that I want to finish university quickly. Then, at a friend's birthday dinner: "No matter how old you are, you'll still be learning...". That's so true. And some say that when the time comes, you won't even realise it. 3 years will go by just like that. For instance, my brother is already doing his final year. I've been in NZ for almost 3 months and it sure doesn't feel like it although I miss things back home.

Then comes the big question: Shouldn't I be grateful that I am able to have education, from kindergarten all the way to where I am now? Yes, I am thankful for that. Hallelujah. :) Hence, I shall not complain, rather, I should find ways to overcome my current problems. So what if it takes me longer? (Actually, I do care because time is precious and more years means more money spent) I've got the opportunity to attend Uni. I'm blessed. :)

I believe that every time we're faced with challenges, those trials somewhat prepare us for something much bigger in the time to come.

It has been raining all day long and the winds aren't of any help at all. A combination of those two makes the day wet, cold and depressing. Thus, you can tell how my mood has been today. Despite all that, I do try to cheer myself up. Positive thinking helps :) There's always hope and God is hope for the hopeless! Father to the fatherless, Love to the loveless!

Here's a picture of the Sun's ray shining through the Earth's atmosphere, reaching the ground and me. Lighting up the wide and open sky, warming up a cold day of September Spring in Palmerston North. How I long for another day like that after a rainy week. :)

I feel happy when the Sun shines.
Warmth... :)

I'll continue about Gratitude another time. It's getting late.
Just keep in mind to be thankful for every second, minute, hour, day and year of life.
It's life, shit happens. Get up, wipe that dust off and move on. :) And.. things are of course easier said than done. Hehe.
Have a goodnight.

Feeling better and blessed.

xoxovon
Looking forward to OCF AGM. Although I haven't fully recovered from my sickness, I'm not gonna let that stop me from having fun with my brothers and sisters. =D

Spring Raya

I haven't blogged in 2 weeks. That's just intolerable! haha. This goes to show just how 'busy' I've been. By the way, it's SPRING! Winter's over! It's still cold though. Ahh, NZ.

Oh well. As usual, many things or events had occurred during my time here in The Land of the Long White Clouds, New Zealand. Last Saturday, I went to my friend's trial class for Body Combat. It was fun, man! Great workout. 10 tracks, more than an hour of jabbing, punching, elbows, knees, kicks, etc. Moreover, it was free :D I'm not a gym member yet so I can't go to the classes and use the gym anytime I want to. I can only use the courts for badminton and so on..

Raya's coming very very soon aye? I kid you not, I miss Raya cakes and cookies :/ ...but I've already put on weight so I can just forget about them. haha. Otherwise I'll have to purchase to seats on the plane when I fly back :P Last year's Raya is still fresh in my mind. I miss home.

I'm also trying to learn more about God. Slowly, taking small steps everytime and each step that I take will push me forward, into the right direction of course, hopefully. Today's study was about Wisdom and we discussed how wisdom and knowledge are two different things which at often times, we assume it's somehow similar to each other; that both touch on learning. Well, knowledge is basically something that we can obtain by reading, it's simply 'head knowledge'. We can memorise it, use it to answer questions but not know how to apply it in life whereas wisdom is acquired from an external source, e.g. God, experience. Wisdom is seen as something much greater than knowledge, to me. Ahh, I still need time to disect and digest this topic and with wisdom, I shall be able to understand it better :)

Neece sent me something. So sweeeeeeeeeet she caused my diabetes and obesity. Don't know to be happy or sad here. haha. I love my Will. Ngaiti, that totally 'washed my eyes clean clean clear clear' man. LMAO ah. I'm wearing the jandals now (yeah, in the house on carpeted floor), trying to make them stretch, flexible and bigger. :D Thank you so much *hearts*

I'm not posting up any pictures now due to inconvenience of Bluetooth-ing 'em photos from my lovely phone (and laziness). I've got new photos up on my Facebook though. Go check them out. Patience, good stuff takes time to be produced. My camera battery is being charged now because there's Sakura Festival on Saturday and I hope I can snap photos to share with you guys and because I feel like giving my phone a break from taking photos.

Till next time, cheers :)


xoxovon
Emmanuel's gonna fly next week. Jia you!