For my stint here in NZ, apparently, "hard life lar" isn't heard from me at all. In fact, I think those around me are abit disturbed by my "why so cold" comments all the time.
Can't blame me though, it gets dark earlier and earlier each day. And no, it's currently supposed to be autumn, but with temperatures that went below 0 deg today, I can officially declare it winter already.
Like WG, I think I need a bed that can flip me to the floor each day to get me up. It's no wonder animals hibernate during the winter. And as much as I would like to believe that I'm evolving away from being an ape, I think I'm becoming more and more of a sloth due to my 2 lunches and 2 dinners + snacks + hibernation routine.
Very soon, as I've been telling all my friend around me, I can build a snowman in my room.
And I'm going to cancel my overnight outfield hiking trip in Abel Tasman to juz a day trip.
Punggol/Changi Village/Lucky Plaza Nasi Lemak, 鱼片米粉 from Plaza Singapura/Compass Point/Harbourfront, Newton Circus/Chomp Chomp BBQ Stingray, any decent Hokkien Mee/char kway teow, Katong Laksa, Kent Ridge Boneless Duck Rice, City Satay, cheap $1 bubble tea with the QQ pearls, Yong Tau Foo from (forgot what's the name of the place), Serangoon Gardens Hainanese Chicken Rice, Mee Siam from any simple hawker centre, beef noodles outside my house along Kovan, Sri Lankan Chilli Crab from Jumbo Seafood Restaurant, Black Pepper from "No signboard" restaurant, kway chap from Toa Payoh/Mcpherson, Frog's Leg Porridge along geylang or anywhere else, Bandung drink from Bedok Corner/Simpang Bedok, Shark's Fin Soup from any Chinese Restaurant, 点心 from 鼎泰丰, Rojak, Roti Prata, Roti John, Teh Tarik, Herbal Chicken Soup, Chee Cheong Fan, 四川酸辣汤, Riverside Indonesian Restaurant BBQ squid, Muah Chee, Old Chang Kee Sambal Fish Balls and of course, my fav: tutu kueh with coconut filling.
Anyone kind enough to send any of the above over would be my bestest friend (till I finish the food). Looks like I have another 2 more mths before I can use the hungrygowhere website again.
Feeling awesome that I got part of coding theory figured out (finally!). The pace here is just right and indeed it has helped in my acquiring of knowledge. :) Of course, we all know that since coding theory is actually a subset of Information Theory, I still got a long way to go. But at least now, I have a clearer understanding of where I'm heading.
The amount of paperwork not relating to studies is amazingly overwhelming.
I didn't expect this much of administrative stuff even when I'm leaving in less than 2 mths time.
But then again, most are pretty self-inflicted.
Really, if not for the hefty cost of air tickets, I think I would have returned to Singapore over 1 weekend and have all the nonsense work settled once and for all before catching a return flight the next day.
Thank goodness I have cleared most of my assignments on hand.
Managed to grab tix from the Ticketek outlet in UCSA yesterday! Can't wait till 21 June!
Don't think I will ever attempt to do such stuff in the middle of my exams if I'm in Singapore. *shudders*
Thank goodness for the S/Us. ----------------------------
Packed my room a bit before I start my PDP (Personal Development Plan) which I really dread to do. Hope that this new outlook of my room will somehow induce some enthusiasm in doing this PDP. I never like Management Course in NUS and I doubt if I ever will. Despite so, it is always interesting as I always get to relate it to some of my experiences in my life (read: hell).
And this weekend, I decided to be a vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv good boy to do my homework which is long overdue.
Despite being more than 5000 miles from Singapore(or so, from my KrisFlyer Miles), there have been so many emails that are flooding my inbox each day. Even as I'm working on assignments, shopping for groceries, having fun at different places each weekend, I still gotta plan/prepare for upcoming grand events coming up in June/July and possibly even pushing into August.
1. England vs All Blacks rugby game is going to be held in Christchurch and I'm getting the tickets tomorrow at Ticketex for the live match with a few other friends together with K. Though it's in the middle of my exams, I think Rugby games are more impt in this case, ain't it? :) Hope it's not sold out!
2. Going down to city this weekend (time permitting if i can get my Personal Development Plan assignment for my Leadership course out by Sunday) to know more of the North Island and purchase interislander tickets thru the I-Site (cheaper if I'm getting it earlier). And hopefully, I can churn on dates by then other than knowing the fact that I'm leaving Christchurch for Abel Tasman National Park right after my exams on 25th June.
3. FYP projects to be chosen from the list given on the ECE website. yet to really decide which one. For most of them, the description is of little help with lots of technical jargon within. Maybe I shall seek help from the Electrical Engin Professors here. Due end of this mth.
4. Planning for second part of the trip in Aussie and from the looks of it, I might not have much time to travel the entire East Coast as I initially set out to do (see pt 6). So I guess I would just be touring Sydney, Cairns, Brisbane and Gold Coast. Afterall, I'm enough of freezing my ass in NZ that I can give Hobart, Canberra and Melbourne a miss.
5. Unless my colleagues are assisitng me with i-Care events this upcoming semester, I don' think that I would be able to handle all of the admin stuff in planning. And it's worse when planning cannot be done face to face but via internet (which is not v reliable in my opinion). Thus, chances are, I would be MIA from the program this sem.
6. With the academic calender (and timetable) from NTU yet to be out, I have to be on the lookout that I can't stay too long away from Singapore as they usually start their classes 1 week ahead of NUS. And erm for those who don't quite understand what I'm writing, let me sum this in 3 words: I'm on SUSEP.
7. There is this 1 last other agenda that I shall not reveal. But it's gotta do with promoting exchange to NUS in UC. It's still in the early planning stage, but from the looks of the 6 pts above, I don't think I might wanna add an extra burden to myself.
8. Be back to celebrate National Day. Afterall, I love Singapore. RIGHT. *gargles mouth with Oral B and spits out*
And there u have it. My hard life that is summed up in 8 pts.
That was the banner which was displayed proudly by the UC (Uni of Canterbury) Climbing Club in front of the library. Ever since Clubs' Day, they have been stating that they do climb up the Central Library (which is about 12 storeys high) and today, while on my way to the Law LT (for my Data Comms Lecture), I finally saw the scaling of climbers on the Central Library Walls.
To be frank, I was awed. If only they had displayed this during Clubs' Day earlier this year, I would certainly have joined in.
How many of us can actually proclaim that "I have climbed the University's Central Library Building which is like 12 storeys high?" I thought it was a cool club and NUS could also do something similar to entice novice students like me during matriculation fair each year. CK tried to get me to climb earlier this year at the Uni's Rock Wall but again, I didn't feel that it was enticing as it was though it was really a good idea to try out.
Could almost imagine myself hanging 25 metres above ground with only a rope and my hands and feet supporting me. Sounds kinda cool. heh.
Kinda suicidal too.
Lawrence invited me for Chinese dinner on Saturday. It was good to have Chinese food not cooked by me once in a while. And eh, before you can say "so ZG's cooking is lau ya", don't misunderstand. I think it's good to taste others' cooking once in a while, just like why some of us prefer to eat out in Singapore after some time. So, in exchange for the 'free' meals, I played the familiar Chinese Song of Emil Chow and Xie Ting Feng's song on the piano. Of course there were those who didn't hear this song before, but for the majority, it was well appreciated. ;)
Then I managed to chat with this NZ dude who could speak Chinese! WOW! This is the first time that I actually have a Westerner speaking Chinese to me. For most of the times, I only see them on TV! His Chinese vocab was superb alright. I could speak to him just like how I speak to any of my friends in Singapore. He knew English (of course!) but for the entire night, he was trying to convey everything to me in Mandarin and his interest in the Chinese Culture and Asia. Though I had a bit of difficulty understanding him cos his pronounciation might not be that accurate, it was very good considering that he had only a few years of learning. Comparing it with my English (which I used for my entire life), my Math professor here is still correcting the grammar in the certain parts of the mathematical proof. And there is this 14 year old girl who just arrived from Japan and was whisked to our function after more than 14 hrs of flight from Tokyo. But ah wells, we sure had fun!
After that dinner, I returned to my flat at almost 9pm and decided that it was too late for my presence at the Cultural Extravaganza at UCSA building. Ah wells, I stayed at home to catch Indiana Jones. :)
On Monday, caught up with the group at Riccarton Mac-Cafe for celebration of Caesey's birthday! :) Really had a pleasant surprise when I met Heather and the rest whom I have not seen since Feb turned up. Met new people again and a girl from Chze Republic (donno if the spelling's right). Of course, we exchange contacts. :)
And had this hilarious convo with Heather across the table since I sat at the other end of the table. Ended up the whole table knew I went to the Casino. HAHAHA!
Then met new friends from Heather's side. She tried to introduce me to them and 1 of them said "I think I saw him before". A: Oh, erm is it? Can't be... cos this is the first time we met. H: Perhaps both of u met in the Casino? The entire table broke into laughter and it was pretty hilarious.
Would have agreed to head down to the Casino at 7am tml morning if not for the fact that I have a stats lab at 9am tml. SHEESH. Maybe I might learn more abt soccer if I went to the Casino with Eyral instead. But ah wells...
Struggled to get out of my snug and warm bed this morning afternoon to have dinner at Paul and Catherine's place. Stacee and Anja went along as well and we chatted abt our holiday experiences and showed our photos. Good time to catch up considering that most of us would be busy by mid June and some of us would be outta the country by early July.
Guess we would meet again in June. A final get together. I'm sure going to miss this man. ~sigh~
Michael texted me while I was shopping for Chinese groceries at Sunson. Drove down to Domino's to steal a bargain of 4.90 pizza. Not bad. Saved myself the hassle of cooking. HA! Okay, better get studying. So dead meat. Test on Thursday and only finished first set of lecture notes.
"No Air" from American Idol, dinner with Russell's grp and today's events
Just caught this on American Idol. Nice duet. ------------------------------------ The cultural extravaganze is on next Saturday and gotta brush up on my piano skills if I'm ever going to be on the stage in UCSA theatre to present my pieces. Heh. Donno. A bit self-conflicting to do so. Maybe might just bring some food for the event instead. Afterall, Pak N Save has lots of offer all the time. ------------------------------------ Went out to the city along Colombo Street on Friday and guess what.
Some stupid bird flew above me and dropped me presents 'showered me with blessings'. Worse. It was on my head, hair and jacket. Darn sick. Cleaned the jacket with soap and thank goodness I had another inner jacket in the inner layer else I would have become snowman. Michael also kenna a bit.
Caught a good bargain at the Warehouse Stationery. HP PDA cost only 150 NZD! I couldn't believe it. Ever since I came to NZ, everything cost more than Singapore so for the very first time, it really feels like a bargain here. Michael and I got a bit suspicious and went to check out the prices in the Central Library first before realising that they are selling the same model at 400 NZD elsewhere in Christchurch. Immediately, we headed back and grabbed that last HP PDA. (thank goodness it was still available) Had my light lunch at Toyota showroom's waiting room cos' Michael sent his car for servicing and I had the opportunity to grab some free muffins and hot beverages while catching up on the day's papers. Ahhhh.... Life....
Headed back to my flat thereafter to do extensive cleaning of my jacket and washing my hair almost 5 times with conditioner + shampoo. Darn gross man. Those darn birds. You wont believe how much cleaning I have done on the Jacket. Rushed to the dryer at 4.40pm to grab my clothes from the dryer though it has another 10 min in there.
No choice lar. Promised Lawrence to be at ISS by 5pm so was sorta rushing. I reached 5pm on the dot after doubling up from 2 steps/ second to 4 steps /second. And it was really really cold having to walk so fast with the cold wind blowing right in your face. Caught up with the other peeps there at ISS over warm drinks and had a little chat with Matt before Lawrence drove us to Russell's place for dinner at Port Hills.
It was laziness on my part that didn't wanna bring out the camera to take pictures. (should kick myself for that) Holly, some furry doggy, was darn cute man! She just kept running around my feet with that woollen sweater. It was even cuter when she slept on Beth's laps. Cuddled her a few times there. Had dinner at their place. Wonderful spread man! It was always good to have home cooked dinner! Helped myself to loads of food! :) YUMS! had a long chat with the New Zealanders thereafter and talked alot on travelling while they asked me on Singapore. :) From what I have gathered so far, Singapore seems to have a really good reputation with words like "clean, green, nice, advanced, high-tech" associated with it. The word which really stood out to me was "transit". Apparently, Singapore seems to be a very good gateway to destinations further down North in the World, with Singapore Airlines having a really darn high class reputation. Even Matt who flew from Paris to Singapore felt that it was so much better than Air France. For once, I felt like I was proud being a Singaporean. yes, for once. Played pictionary and our grp came in 2nd. HA!
Finally had a chat with Russell (been wanting to chat with him since Feb) abt Operation Friendship and he was shocked when I told him that I was from Paul and Catherine's group. His eyes was filled with delight when I told him on the activities we have done over the past few months. Couldn't thank him more than enough for this dinner and for hosting this event. He even thanked Lawrence for bringing me that night so that we could meet up! Really, I donno who is the VIP here man. He made me feel like one despite me trying to make him feel that way.
Eyal sent me back that night. His car had ice formed on the windscreen just by parking there for 3 hrs. That night, the double-glzed windows started to form ice outside too. No wonder SQ says that even though his windows can open and close, he's still not that happy. I can see now why this is so.
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Heard that it rained till 1130am today since last night. Woke up to get some work done (since I have a test next week. see? studying hard hor!). Michael texted me and I joined him and M for dinner at some Jap Bristo Cafe. Had hot drinks at Coffee Culture thereafter cos' Michael wanted to show how popular he was there. HAHA! Had a good chat with everyone there.
And now here I am watching American Idol when I reached home. It was a really cold night. Basically it kept raining the entire day. Oh ya, having lunch with Paul and Catherine tomorrow (they sent an sms today)and they want to see the pictures of my holiday in Southland. Gosh. Wait till they see that every other photo has my parents pic in it. HEH.
And that reminds me. Still gotta give Michael the dates where I will be in Wellington by tomorrow. Been thinking of joining a Contiki tour since 2-3 years back. Heard that it's really fun bunch of people so gotta experience it myself! ;) Plus, I dont have to plan so extensively if I join the tour. HEH. A bit more ex though.
Stopping for a brief lunch break at Te Anau, we went on to the town of excitement - Queenstown. 169km away from Te Anau, we took almost 3-4 hours to arrive in the city of Queenstown. Wanted to chill out at the minus 5 bar there, but apparently, my parents thought that anyone would be mad to "chill" in such a cold weather as it already is. Camped out at Millennium Hotel there for 2 nights.
View along the coast in the morning at Queenstown.
Boy, food prices sure is vvv steep here. Our first Chinese dinner cost us 65 NZD per person. The crayfish cost us almost a hundred bucks.
Took the gondolas up to the top and the sights were pretty awesome. Top of the World! This is the picture found on most postcards in Queenstown. Bungee! Wasn't as high as another I'm going to show you. But it's pretty scary enough.
Wanted to paraglide down from the top but apparently they weren't operating that day. Perhaps due to weather conditions. It was super windy there! I took the luge twice! Went on the advanced track too! Better than the Sentosa track! Fast and furious!
Headed to Kelvin Heights and went for the Deer Heights Park (if i didn't remember the name wrongly). Literally fed the goats with my own hands and visited loads of LOTR filming sites! The good thing is: It's a spot away from the urban Queenstown about 15 min drive from there and it's not so touristy! See the animals close to my car? had to drive darn slow lest we injure any.
From Queenstown, it was another 271km to Aoraki (the Maori name for Mt Cook). En route, we stopped by some cheese place and winery and of course, this: The first Bungee in the world! And the best thing is: you are plunging into this kinda scenary:
Got quite a few good video clips on the scenic view and people bungee. But apparently, my hair is going to turn grey by the time I complete uploading it. The smallest is like 12 MB.
Stopped by some fruits stall as well and we got the freshest fruits ever. Couldn't find strawberries though. Decided to snap some photos while my parents went to grab those fruits. The trees of autumn.
Arrived at Mt Cook and checked into Hermitage motel. Their hotel rates are like 800++ per night?!?!?! But wells, their motels aren't cheap either. Set us back at 225 bucks but comes with free breakfast and $10 voucher for use for any meal. The breakfast was scrumptious! For once, I had such a super duper heavy breakfast! WOOHOO!
Evening scenary of Aoraki from my motel.
Went trekking 1.5 hr into the glacier route. An another 1 hr outta there. Love the walks here in NZ. They are really worth the effort! The little building behind is the Hermitage Hotel. See how far it is from where I am? That is the only main hotel there with the others being just a tiny little place of accomodation. had to walk through the rickety bridge too!
From there, we went to the Salmon farm where we had the freshest sashimi available.
Of course, despite the cold, I still had this sinful thought of eating ice cream. ;p Orange chocolate chip and chocolate flavoured ice cream! YUMS!
Day to day we go in cycles, trying to work life through. And sometimes it feels like times get tough, but you just keep pushing through. Well, it's a life story, from page to page we journey. In the story of life, it unfolds a little everyday as we are headed on our way.
For the weak and strong, even the slightest chant, life goes on....
It's a life story.
