More Mahjong and Good Food

We basically lazed around at home again today, with the rain continuing into its 3rd day today. Ah Ming fried luncheon meat with eggs this morning. So i had banana cake and luncheon meat with bread for breakfast today. Ah Ming had to submit his application for working holiday visa so the 2 of them went out this afternoon. While K and I drove around for a car shop that could renew our car's Warrant of Fitness. We stopped at the first one, and realized that the Warrant of Fitness was not due until the end of July. Apparently, i had gotten the date wrong and set alarm for the wrong day.. hehe.. So we decided to head home.

On the way, K wanted to check out this "Atomic Events Center" place, so we went there and got a guided tour of the center's facilities by one of the ladies working there. This place has an indoor skate park, netall court, basketball court, rooms for watcing movies and even a small cafe. It's basically a place run mainly on government funding, by volunteers, for youth to hang out and participate in the many activities that the center organizes. K was very inspired by the success of this "Atomic Events Center", cause this is precisely what RAAD ! (which K started few years back) was about, but RAAD! never took off.

Anyway, we reached home around 4pm. Ah Ming and A weren't back yet. So we decided to start watching a DVD and make some food to munch on. K had the cold pasta and sausages, and i had oven baked hash browns, cheezels and caramel coated pop corn. Super unhealthy, i know! = P

Just finished 3 rounds of mahjong with K, Ah Ming and A. We had dinner at home again today (not that i am complaining!). Ah Ming made chicken herbal soup, which was so sweet and delicious i was literally lifting up the entire bowl to finish every drop of the soup. He also stir fried vegetables in a different style this time, with anchovies and wolf berries. And last but not least, pan fried chye poh omelette, requested by yours truly. = ) And as usual, i wrote all the recipes down in my little blue notebook.. Ah Ming is so nice, he always asked us what we want to eat. So i kinda get to choose one dish every time lah.. Sometimes i choose, sometimes i don't. Don't want to choose every time lah, not so nice.. it's not as if he's my personal chef or something right?!

After dinner, we had green and golden kiwi fruits and bananas for dessert. Then about 2 hours later, we had piping hot steamed kacang puteh as a snack while playing mahjong. I never ever imagined i would be able to enjoy kacang puteh (of all things) in New Zealand. So that was a really nice treat for me! = )

I think we all ate too much tonight. In fact, i was so full i had difficulty breathing. So the boys made tea for us to digest.

The weather forecast predicted rain again tomorrow, so Ah Ming and K sat down and planned for tomorrow's activities just now. Not sure what they have in mind, but definitely looking forward to it! = )

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29 June: The Wet Spell Continues

Monday morning, and the rain continues... Never seen such a long lived rain before.. K woke up at 6am, saw that it was still raining, and went back to bed. I smiled, knowing that everyone won't be going to work today..

I woke up around 1030 today, and made french toast for breakfast for K and myself. Ah Ming and Adreana had scones. We lazed around a bit, then K and I drove out to search for a pharmacy to get my pregnancy supplements and have lunch. Ah Ming's sister had made some chicken porridge for them, so they had that for lunch.

We bought one box of supplements containing 100 pills that will last me for 3 months. Then we went to this bakery with award winning pies for lunch. I had chicken while K had minced pie. It was not very nice. We also ordered bacon and vege soup, which tasted horrible. All in all, not enjoyable.

After lunch, K and I headed to Video Ezy and rented another 9 DVDs to last us for the week. = ) We headed home, and left again about 30 mins later to play golf and baseball with Michael and a few other China men who also worked at the vine yards. We paid $18 and got ourselves 100 golf balls and 35 baseballs. We took turns hitting the golf balls at the driving range. I didn't like it cause i think i don't know how to hold the club properly and it gave me abrasions on my left palm. Plus, i can't hit the ball properly. As for baseball, needless to say, i can't hit the ball at all, keep getting Strike Outs.. Ah Ming wasn't too bad though. I think he's the only one who can hit the ball high.

We headed to the cinema after that, to check out the timing for Transformers 2. We ended up buying tickets for the 7pm show, and headed to the supermarket to buy snacks for the movie.
Then we headed home for dinner.

Dinner was again made by chef Ah Ming. This time, we had my favourite ABC soup, which i asked for.. = ) Potatoes, carrots, onions and fish slices.. Adreana and I helped with the preparations and cutting, while Ah Ming cooked. I have been writing down all the recipes and learning from Ah Ming how to cook for the past few days. So hopefully i can cook by myself here and back in Singapore. We also had Ma You chicken, and K cooked up his remaining lamb meat with butter chicken sauce. We had a quick dinner, and left the house around 630pm for the movies. Because the cinema was free seating, we had planned to reach early to get good seats. But when we reached the cinema, everyone was still waiting to get inside the theatre. Nonetheless, we got pretty good seats.

Transformers 2 is on average, a pretty lousy show. Too complicated and messy. It's like the directors are trying too hard with all the bombing, firing and mass destruction. And after the female lead got voted last year as FHM's sexiest woman, she is being cast in this movie as a full grown woman who is oozing sex appeal.. I didn't like that. Kinda losing the essence of what Transformers is all about.

The movie lasted for 2.5 hours. We headed home around 930pm, had green bean soup that Ah Ming prepared, bathed, and played one round of mahjong. Adreana had checked the weather forecast, which predicted more rain the next day, so most probably no work again.

We had wanted to continue, but i think everyone wanted to sleep earlier, just in case they had to work and wake up at 6am the next day. So we all turned in at 1230am. I have just finished my Jodi Picoult book, and will start on another book soon. K keep making fun of how big my tummy looked for a 10cm baby.. Sickening.. I am beginning to lose sight of my feet bit by bit.. I wonder when i will totally not be able to see my feet.. haha.. = )

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28 June: Chocolate & Honey

It started to rain today. The 4 of us lazed around in the house for a bit, uncertain where to go or what to do in this mood-dampening weather.. We ended up visiting the Silky Oats Chocolate Factory / Museum, one of the so called "Tourist Attractions" in Hastings.

Before that, the guys decided to make a pit stop to check out this place called U Drive, where you can play Paintball and drive around a circuit in your own car and do all the drifting you want. The chocolate factory / museum was quite pathetic. The so called "factory" was just a small bakery kinda set up, and their museum was a self guided tour of the 3000 years of history of chocolate. For a fee of $8 per person. Which was why we ended up eating (again) at their cafe. We were surprised to see a small crowd at the cafe, and began to realize that's where all the cars were coming for. At first when we reached the factory, we saw a lot of cars parked outside, and had thought the factory / museum must be quite a popular place. Turns out it's the cafe that's popular. Haha..

Between the 4 of us, we ordered a slice of deliciously sinful chocolate cake, a slice of cheesecake, one banana muffin, one cheese scone, one hot and one cold cuppa chocolate and one cappuccino. Before we left, the cafe waitress gave everyone complimentary chocolate truffles. It was overall quite a nice treat. = )

We headed to the honey factory next, and learnt about the bees and honey. K and I watched a video on bees. There were even real honey combs with bees buzzing about for us to observe, and microscopes with slides of bee specimens etc for us to see.. I felt like i was on a school excursion. = ) I never knew that bees had 5 eyes: 2 big compound eyes at the sides, and 3 small eyes on top of their heads. And i now know how to differentiate between a worker bee, a queen bee and a drone bee (the male who mates with the queen). = )

We headed home after the honey factory visit, after running out of places to visit, and just too bumped out over the never ending rain.

Ah Ming made dinner for us, and it was both nutritious and delicious. We had stir fried brocolli and carrots with my fave golden mushrooms. The sauce was so nice it tasted like those coffee shop stir fry dishes.. Then there was steamed fish with chye poh (malaysian style), and lamb stew (which i skipped). I loved the steamed fish. My dinner was so delicious i finished up my whole plate of steamed rice. I just felt so homely you know, 4 of us sitting down and eating dinner like that.. It was very nice = )

After dinner, we all helped to wash up, and then started a game of mahjong. Adreana seems to be hooked on mahjong already now.. haha.. but i am not complaining.. I was the sole winner for today's game = )

The rain continued throughout the night, and according to the weather forecast, will continue into the next day. So most probably there will be no work tomorrow. I think i am the only one who will be truly happy, cause at least i won't be so bored at home! = )

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27 June: Mourning Over Michael

I still can't believe Michael Jackson is dead. It's still quite a shock to me. K and the rest went to work today at the vineyards, so i am alone at home again..

I woke up late as usual, around 11am, had my breakfast, then sat down and started to do some internet research on my blood test results. Basically find out what the heck all those medical terms meant, and what vitamins / minerals i am deficient in.

For lunch, i cooked fish porridge for the first time. Ah Ming and A had recommended that i put ginger to bring out the flavor in the porridge. I did, and it tasted delicious. Never knew how adding one simple ingredient can make so much difference. But i also had my fishball and fish cake thrown in so.. = )

I had the TV switched on while eating my porridge, and Michael Jackson was on. In fact, it was a whole hour of Michael's MTVs. I just sat there, and danced to some of the MTVs (that was my exercise for the day), but i knew all the songs that were playing on TV. I smiled when Thriller came on, and reminisced the time when K and I did the same dance at our wedding 3 years agoo.. I also surfed the internet for news on Michael's death. I think everything just culminated, and i started to cry. I was sad that the world has lost such a talented man, a man who was troubled and bankrupt, but yet so beautiful and talented at the same time. I literally grew up listening to his songs, and even chose to dance to his song on my wedding. So there is a part of me that will definitely miss him.

Not long after the hour long MTVs ended, K came back. He asked me to research what there is to do in Hastings so we could drive out and get some sun while it's still bright. Turned out there isn't much to do, so we ended up licking ice cream at Rush Monroes, one of the recommended places to visit in Hastings because of the nice garden that the ice cream cafe was located in. I shared a banana and chocolate nut ice cream cone with K and we chatted about our timeline, when we neeed to go back to Singapore, my pregnancy etc. We stood up to leave around 515pm, and realized that we had been locked in. The employees there had been dumb enough not to check if there were any other customers around before locking up. I went around the counter, which had its shutters closed, and started banging on the shutters. Fortunately for us, there was one lady still hanging around, so we managed to get out. K was prepared to call the police otherwise.. = )

It had turned dark when we left, so we decided to head back. I made fish porridge again for dinner cause K felt like having it. But i didn't eat much cause i was a bit sick of it having had the same thing for lunch a few hours earlier. Tomorrow is supposed to be an off day, so we will be hanging out with Ah Ming and Adreana.. Still haven't decided what to do yet..

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My Baby..

K and I went for my first ultrasound scan yesterday morning. Our appointment was supposed to be at 9am, but we were still having breakfast at home at 830am. In addition, the nurse had asked me to drink 1 litre of water one hour before to fill up my bladder, but i was still sleeping at 8am... haha..

Anyway, we managed to reach the radiology center 5 minutes before 9am. There were about 5 people already waiting in line by the time we got there. We waited for about 20 minutes before my name was called and we were led into the ultrasound room.. K went inside with me. My ultrasound technician was a lady called Gaye. Gaye asked me to lower my pants and lie on the bed. She then put on some gel like and very cold cream on my tummy and started the scan. Gaye asked if i wanted to see the scan. I nodded and she switched on the TV in front of me and started to roll the metal rod device all over my tummy.

And there it was on the TV screen, my baby.. During the procedure, Gaye took measurements of my baby's head, stomach, legs, hands etc. We also saw its 5 little fingers, and its little heart pumping.. K and I watched in awe as our baby's full form appeared on the TV screen. It was only 10cm, but definitely alive and kicking inside my stomach. It was so miraculous that i started to cry halfway through the scan. Gaye looked at me and smiled, while K held my hand, smiled and asked me to stop crying.. I think i made him tear a bit too.. = )

Gaye complained jokingly that my baby is a "jumpy" one, cause it was so difficult to capture a still shot of my baby. It was rolling and moving around so much, lying on its back at one time, then rolling to its side at another.. = )

The scan was over in about 15 minutes. Gaye confirmed that my baby is 14 weeks old, and my delivery due date to be on 21 Dec 2009. Everything is normal, but Gaye said it is too early to get a more detailed analysis of the baby's anatomy. She recommended that we do another scan into the 20-22nd week of my pregnancy, when the baby is more fully formed.

We left the clinic about 940am, paid $190 and got a CD with all the scan images. Here are some photos of my baby from the scan.. Isn't it just so so adorable??!

Baby lying with its two hands to its face

Baby's spine

Baby lying on its back with his hands raised slightly. You can see its 5 fingers..

Baby's tiny head, which measured only about 2cm..

K and I went grocery shopping at the only Asian supermarket in Hastings after we left the clinic. I finally got my fish balls, which i had been craving for for the longest time. We also bought bee hoon ( i intend to fry bee hoon next week), luncheon meat, fish cake and thai sweet chilli sauce. Then we headed home, made lunch, finished up 2 DVDs, and took a 2 hour nap. Lunch was baked Salmon, crumbed fish, sausages and the fried vermecelli that Ah Ming had cooked in the morning and left for us.

Initially, we had planned to visit this honey factory, but by the time we woke up from our nap, it was already 5pm and getting dark. So instead, we headed out for dinner at Macdonald's, and went grocery shopping again at Pak N Save. Before that, we visited the clinic to collect the results / report on my blood test and ultrasound scan. I had been craving for Macdonald's, cause yseterday while surfing the net, i accidentally clicked on something, and the Singapore Macdonald's webpage popped up with all these delicious looking burgers, nuggets and french fries that made me drool... I didn't have my favourite cheeseburgers though.. After watching "Fast Food Nation", i don't think i will ever have beef burgers again. So we had 2 filet-o-fish meals with fries and fanta orange, which was delicious. I wanted to take away one more large fries cause the one we had was too little, but K refused to let me buy.

We reached the motel around 8plus, and K suggested to go into the games room to play table soccer before going back to our room. We played table soccer, which K won, and then table hockey, a game that is quite common in the arcades, where there is a table that emits static and wind, and a small disc. The objective is to slide the disc into the opposite goal. I used to love playing that at the arcade. K said i am so fierce (cause i keep attacking him) that he gave up playing with me after a while. It was fun.. = )

Ah Ming and A were already home when we opened the door. Ah Ming had cooked lamb chop, hash brown and mushroom soup for dinner. And as usual, A did not finish her dinner. In fact, i think she barely touched it. Sometimes, i get so frustrated cause this girl has a boyfriend who is a such a good cook and always cook nice food for her, but she always don't eat much. If i am her, i will devour everything.. haha.. Anyway, i kinda finish her hash browns for her, and K had her leftover lamb chops. So everyone was happy. = )

The 4 of us played one round of mahjong after dinner, and Ah Ming won. We all went to bed after, cause they have to work the next day. There goes one day of the weekend! = (

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House Moving

Right now, i am munching on chicken biscuits and drinking chocolate milk. Made mee sua soup again for lunch. I had lunch much earlier today at 12pm, compared to the past few days when lunch was 3-4pm. Super hungry today, cause i didn't eat much for dinner yesterday, and breakfast this morning was crappy. Honey coated cornflakes and Milo. For some reason, i couldn't find Honey Stars in the supermarket, so i bought this Nestle's honey coated cornflakes, which sucked.

I was supposed to wake up at 8am this morning so i could pack up and check out of the room by 10am, and move to the unit upstairs. But i couldn't get myself off the bed, so woke up at 9am instead, rushed through breakfast, packed up the last few bits, and started carrying box after box of our stuff upstairs.

When i went up, the landlords were there with a few other people, moving the furniture, and tidying up the place. They were replacing the single beds with double beds, and giving us a couple of sofas in the living room. It took a long time before everything was done. I climbed about 5-6 times up and down before everything was moved into our new unit upstairs. Apparently, there was something wrong with the balcony door, and two men came up to fix it. First of all, they wore their shoes and stepped all over the carpet. Then all the drilling left so much dust and wooden bits on the carpet. So i had to vacuum the whole place just now. I also vacuumed the sofas and wiped the furniture clean cause they looked really dusty.

At least now it looks better. Here are some photos of our new 2 bedroom unit.

Kitchen and bar counter

Common toilet with shower

Our bedroom

Living room

The heaters are finally turned on now that it's 430pm. The heaters in the motel only turns on at certain hours. From 430pm - 12 midnight. Then from 6am for another few hours. I have been quite cold the entire freaking day, cause we only have one pathetic portable electric heater, which wasn't enough at all to heat up the living room, much less the whole house. And the house hasn't been occupied before we moved in, which means it hasn't been heated up for god knows how long now.

I am going to try and bake some Nachos with cheese, baked beans and cornbeef. And of course salsa dip to top it off.. I've been having this craving for Nachos lately. Hopefully it will turn out well. = )

Tomorrow, K will be taking a day off to accompany me for the ultrasound scan. I am so excited to see my baby for the first time! Wonder how it will look like. Will post the scan results up soon!

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24 June: Home Alone Part 2

I stayed at the motel the whole day again. Went online, searched for more stuff on pregnancy exercises, and did some static exercises while watching the TV. K says i have to strengthen my legs to carry the impending weight of the baby when my tummy gets bigger. Then strengthen my arms so i can carry the baby when it is born.

For lunch, i cooked chicken porridge, it was not too bad. = ) My backache came back again, perhaps due to long periods of sitting on the bar counter chair without support. I got so bored lazing around that i was actually looking forward to going to the supermarket with K when he comes back from work. We were running out of ingredients for cooking so i wanted to stock up. K came back at 6pm, right after i watched the comedy "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "The Simpsons". He was totally exhausted from work, and extremely hungry. He told me he didn't feel like going out. I was so disappointed cause that was kinda like my highlight of the day - to go out. So anyway, K cooked instant noodles and sausages for his dinner. I didn't cook anything for myself cause i wasn't hungry. Besides, i had wanted spaghetti but needed to buy ingredients before i could cook it.

So i waited for K to finish his dinner, rest a while, before we headed to the supermarket. As usual, being him, K insisted we go to Pak N Save cause they are the cheapest. I keep telling him that Pak N Save always don't have the things i want. And true enough, when we reached there, i couldn't even get the first thing on my shopping list. Bananas. They had run out. No cucumbers either, which i needed to make K's cold pasta lunch for work tomorrow. So in the end, we bought less than 50% of the things on my grocery list and left. I had a fight with K over the prices of the things i bought. He was upset that i bought the whole tin of Milo instead of the refills which were cheaper by 20%, and upset that i did not buy the cheapest brand of pasta but the mid range one which was $1 more. Me on the other hand, was just desperate to go out and have some retail therapy, so i didn't notice the Milo refills, and i did not want the cheapest brand for everything. K thinks i do not bother to be price efficient. I think he's a miser. = (

We did not talk the whole journey back and even in the motel. He logged onto the internet while i made my dinner - cold pasta salad. I had totally lost the mood to make spaghetti by then, so i
figured might as well kill two birds with one stone, and prepare my dinner and K's lunch together.

We had gotten the key to the room upstairs before we left for the supermarket. Our landlord, Janine had been kind enough to let us start moving some stuff upstairs tonight. We chatted, and when we told her i was pregnant, she shrieked and gave me a big hug. Her reaction is my favourite one so far. I guess being so far from home, i was sad that i couldn't share the news with loved ones and see their expressions and hug them instantly. After our first hug, Janine told me she's pregnant too, and we both shrieked and hugged again. She had just gone for her first scan today, so we're about the same timing. It was all so girly i loved it! = )

My plan was for K to help move some of the heavy stuff upstairs while i cook so as not to waste time. Especially since we had planned on watching another DVD and he had to get up early ford work the next day. But he just sat on the chair and glued to his laptop. For some reason, i was angry with him. I know he is very exhausted from work and just want to rest, but i felt miserable too staying at home the whole day with a hurting backache. And there is so much things to do. But i didn't tell him. Ah Ming came over then, and chatted with K about the day's work. I sacarstically commented how he still looked so energetic and fresh, while K looks half dead.

After Ah Ming left, I had a few bites of my dinner (no appetite), then started to move the stuff upstairs myself, still pissed off with K who was still checking his email. I didn't want to move the things too late cause it might disturb the other residents, but tired K just wanted to rest.

I managed to move 70% of our stuff upstairs, and then went to shower. I heard K move the biggest bag we had upstairs during my shower. By then it was 10pm. We still didn't talk much, but i told him i didn't want to watch the DVD anymore cause i was tired. We called B to wish him Happy Birthday, then went to sleep..

Until now, i still don't know what went wrong between us today. Maybe i am just having mood swings, or going crazy from boredom. I am also not looking forward to waking up earlier tomorrow to move the remaining 30% of our stuff upstairs by myself...

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23 June: Home Alone

This morning, i heard K woke up at 6am and prepared to go to work. I smiled to myself secretly, glad that i could still laze in bed for another 4 more hours. I am beginning to feel like the traditional wife already, staying at home and tidying the house and cooking while the husband goes and earn money. Haha.. = )

I woke up around 11am to someone knocking on my door. It was Edwin, the landlord, here to collect my trash and old towels, and give me some fresh towels, and a new trash bag. I was embarrassed that he had to see me in my pyjamas and worse still, know that i was still not awake at 11am.

I made myself some french toast for breakfast, which turned out quite bad, cause most of them were slightly burnt. So different from what K makes! I think i didn't put enough oil in the frying pan. = ) Breakfast was so heavy i couldn't have lunch until about 4pm. I basically spent the whole day online, researching on pregnancy. What are the exercises i should do, the food i should eat etc. I also attended some online classes to learn more about pregnancy. Then i researched on the hospital prices / fees in Singapore, and also the parenthood rebates and incentives that the government was giving. It was all very intensive. I also called and made my ultrasound scan appointment this Friday morning. They didn't do evenings and weekends, and i want very much for K to be there when we see the baby for the first time, so i guess K won't be able to work on Friday.

I also delivered the good news to several people today. First, i called my grandmother. She didn't seem to understand what i was saying at first, cause there was no reply. But when i asked her again, she told me she knew. I asked if she was happy, and she replied yes. = ) Then i told my sister on MSN. All the questions came out. When i was coming home, what kind of food i should avoid etc etc. It was all really delightful for me.. = )

Then i text my mom and dad, who congratulated me and asked me to take care. I told my dad he needed to get well soon so he can carry my baby when it is born.. Hopefully this will give him the push he needs to recover from his 2 year stroke. I did not tell my in-laws cause i had wanted K to tell them himself. K came home at 530pm, and we drove off to the clinic for my blood test before they close at 6pm. We reached there at 545pm, had 3 tubes of my blood taken for $75, and left the clinic slightly past 6pm. We headed to the video rental store next to exchange a DVD that was faulty. Yesterday, K and I had rented 9 DVDs at $1 each for a week. Super cheap! 2 of them were about pregnancy. "Juno" and "Knocked Up". We've watched "Juno" already, and it's super damn good. The art direction and script writing is really fantastic work. So good that they don't need any big shot actors to sell the film at all.

We reached the motel around 630pm and text Ah Ming to come over. We were supposed to cook noodles / porridge and finish up the tempura / deep fried stuff from our leftover Jap dinner on Sunday. But this naughty Ah Ming replied and asked us not to cook anything cause he was frying noodles. So we just heated up the Jap stuff in the oven. About 30 mins later, they arrived with a big pot of fried maggi noodles with fish cake, cabbage, egg, and some other stuff. It was not too bad although i would have preferred bee hoon.. haha..

We chatted over dinner about the accomodation, work at the vineyards, and my pregnancy. Adreana didn't seem keen on getting the motel for $400 mainly because it was upstairs and she would have to climb up and down everyday. But she changed her mind when we went up to view the unit after dinner. The room was much much bigger, had a living room, and the 2 bedrooms were opposite rather than beside each other so there was privacy. Also, the stairs weren't much of a climb, and there was another staircase leading to the carpark so we didn't have to walk one big round. The other thing was, the unit would be booked for 2 days on 1 and 2 Aug, so we would have to move out to other rooms for 2 days and move in again after. But we didn't mind. So it was set. We will move in this Thursday / Friday. And since i wasn't working, i would be moving the stuff bit by bit in the daytime.

Ah Ming and A left around 9pm, and K and I showered and started on our 2nd DVD "Men on Fire" starring Denzel Washington, Marc Anthony and Dakota Fanning. Marc is such a lousy actor i think he should just stick to singing. Fanning can act 10 times better than him! = )

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22 June 2009: Our 9th (and the Best!) Anniversary

Exactly 9 years ago, K asked me to be his girfriend. And 3 years ago on the same date, i became his wife = )

Today, K and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary of being together as a couple, and 3rd Anniversary as husband and wife.

Our "celebration" started late as we lazed around and woke up only around 11plus. We skipped breakfast, dilly dallied a bit, then left the house eventually around lunch time. Our first stop was to look for brunch. K had researched on the web and found this nice cafe in Napier called "Clive Garden Cafe". It had some good reviews so we decided to give it a try. Before that, we stopped over at the information center and took some brochures on things to do in Napier.

The website mentioned that the cafe overlooked the garden, but when we got there, it overlooked the road instead, with the garden still a distance away beyond the road. Food was delicious though, and we got 2 free cups of coffee when we presented a coupon in one of the tourist brochures we took earlier. We had nachos (which wasn't too good), mushroom pancake and chicken kebab with rice (both were good). I also ordered a banana smoothie, which i didn't like so K finished it instead. We went through the brochures, read some magazines and eventually left the cafe around 2pm.

We didn't stay in Napier after lunch and do the things that the brochures recommended, mainly because our highlight of the day was to visit the doctor's. So after lunch, we headed back to Hastings in search of a hospital.

There are 2 hospitals and a couple of clinics in Hastings. The first hospital we visited couldn't help cause we didn't have an appointment. We were lucky with the second one cause we had a doctor called Jane who agreed to attend to us. I couldn't really get used to the whole process, cause whenever i told the receptionist /nurses that i wasn't a resident, the first reply i get is that i have to pay. It was like, if i am not a resident here, it's really difficult to get a doctor. Then they will start asking questions like if i was gonna have the baby here, whether i have medical insurance. K and I had to keep repeating that we were willing to pay, that we are going back to Singapore soon, and that we just want to know the baby is fine while we are still here. It was quite exhausting (at least for me!).

Anyway, at the second hospital, doctor Jane had me lie down on a bed and lift up my shirt while she switch on this device with a metal rod and rolled the rod all over my tummy. The device emitted strange buzzing noises. I came to realize later that it was scanning for my baby's heartbeat. Jane took such a long time rolling the metal rod and listening for the heartbeat that i began to worry if i was even pregnant. I asked her a few times if there was anything and she just shook her head with a puzzled look. After 30 seconds later, the device emitted a different sound, and Jane told me that was my baby's heartbeat. It was so beating so fast! When i heard the heart beat, i turned and looked at K, who smiled at me, and i wanted to cry.. = )

Jane asked me when my last menses was after the scanning, and calculated that i should be 15 weeks pregnant with my due date being 13 Dec this year. She also recommended that we got ourselves a midwife to arrange for ultra sound scans and run some blood tests. We left the hospital shortly after with a list of midwives from Jane for us to call.

K and I decided to go pay a visit to one, but nobody was in the office / house when we went there. So we headed back to the motel to call using the land line cause it's cheaper. I also text a few other midwives with hand phone numbers. No luck. Either they didn't reply, or they were all fully booked up until next year.

So eventually, K and I decided to go to a clinic and consult a GP instead. We went to the clinic in the city center (recommendation by the nurse in the first hospital) and waited for 20 mins before we were attended to by a Doctor Jeff Green. As usual, the receptionist asked us the same questions, whether we know we had to pay etc etc.. K and I went for a walk during the wait, and along the way, we went into an information center. I kinda confronted him on how he felt, cause
i was actually disappointed that he wasn't more emotional when he heard the baby's heart beat and had confirmation that i was pregnant. He was more like expression-less. To me, he seems much more excited when he sees a nice looking sports car on the roads. I told him how i felt, disappointed and all. I wanted him to show more emotions, emotions that he is so happy and so excited. He explained to me that when he is really truly happy, it is inside him, and he don't show. Besides, he had been absolutely sure all along that i was pregnant. He also told me that he had waited so long for this that he is definitely happy, and that he cried when he first "knew" i was pregnant. I kept asking him when he cried, but he refused to tell me and asked me to stop cause he want to cry again now.. For a while, we just stood there side by side and let our eyes water a bit with happiness.. = )

Then we walked back to the clinic to wait for our turn. I felt so strange sitting in the waiting room which was full of their locals - both whites and the Maori people. Somehow, i could feel them looking at us, the only Asians who stuck out like a sore thumb. Doctor Green didn't go much for us except issue 2 referral letters - one for my ultrasound, and one for my blood tests. Both results will be sent back to him. We had to call and make the appointments ourselves. Those 2 pieces of paper cost us $60. Not long after the visit, we got calls from the midwives., and realized we could have gotten the same letters for $35. But it was too late..

K and I left the clinic around 630pm and went to the supermarket to buy more groceries. Then we drove around in search of our celebratory dinner. I had wanted Japanese, but we couldn't find any. So we ended up having Thai food again (same as last month's anniversary).

The restaurant, "Thai Oaks", advertised on the tourist maps, and claimed to be authentic. So we decided to give it a try. The owners were a caucasian and thai couple. I had pineapple fried rice,
K had curry with rice, and we shared an appetizer. It was so so, not the best i've had, but i love the cutlery though. Very exquisite. I also loved the way they shaped K's white rice into a cute little heart shape! = )

The pathetic 5 piece "Combination" appetizer that cost us more than $10

We reached the motel around 9pm, and Ming came over to discuss with us regarding the accomodation. We told our current landlord about the $350 serviced apartments, and managed to get her to lower her price from $500 to $400 a week for their 2 bedroom unit. I personally preferred the one we are staying at now, cause firstly, we won't have to move our stuff too much cause it's just upstairs from our current unit, and secondly, they change towels everyday, and bedsheets every week. Ming seemed cool about it, so we decided to take a look at the 2 bedroom unit when he and Adreana comes over tomorrow.

Today marks a significant milestone for me, and definitely the best anniversary i've had so far. I'm sure there will be better ones to come!

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21 June: Good food and Great company

Last night, I dreamed my grandmother died. I woke up telling K about it, and ended up crying. Just called her and relieved she is fine.

We met up with Ah Ming and A today. Our plan was to drive to Palmerston North and visit the weekend Asian market for some fried you tiao and soya bean milk. Before that, we went apartment viewing again in the morning. We met another property agent Richard, a rich young chap who races in Porches and family is in the property development business. We saw 2 apartments, both of which were built by Richard's family business. But they too were not furnished. So we will have to pay extra to rent furniture. The second one we saw was lovely. 3 bedrooms, wooden floor panelling and huge. After viewing, we went to pump petrol and came across a row of serviced apartments that was advertising. We decided to go in and take a look. A guy named John took us into one of the units, and we fell in love with it and thought we will most probably get this one for the next month or so. The apartment was like the lodge we are at staying at now, except that it has 2 bedrooms and much cheaper at $35o per month. Where we are staying now was charging $500 for a 2 bedroom unit. The thing was, we had to pay one month's rent in advance, and they didn't really "service" the apartment. Towels and sheets will not be changed.. Strange why they call themselves "serviced apartments" though!

Anyway, we didn't decide there and then. Rather, we thought we would sit on it for a few more day and think it through. After all the viewing, we finally started our 2 hours to Palmerston North for some Fried You Tiao and Bean curd soup at the Asian weekend market.

But when we reached there, we went into a small Asian supermarket and asked the shop lady, who said there weren't any Asian markets on Sundays.

So anyway, we left the supermarket and proceeded for some delicious dim sum at this restaurant called "China Town". Initially we were still dubious as to whether the dim sum would be authentic / nice. But when we walked it and saw that the restaurant was almost full house, we took a table and sat. And never regretted it. The dim sum was 10 times better than the one we had at Sky City in Auckland. And the wait staff just keep coming out from the kitchen presenting trays after trays of delicious looking dim sum. Yummy.. I had my BBQ pork buns, chee cheong fun, porridge, BBQ pork pastry, pan fried carrot cake and deep fried calamari which was so good we bought another serving as take away to snack on. Here's a snapshot of what we had.

Before we left the restaurant, we spoke to the lady boss, who also said she didn't know of any Asia weekend markets around. Looks like we have been given wrong information by Ah Ming's friends!

After our delicious lunch, we drove around Palmerston North city center a bit, went to the information center to get some brochures, and then ended up in a shopping center. I bought a scarf, a singlet and 2 night gowns from Cotton on Body, which was having a sale. Then we walked around a bit more, and ended our shopping with some delicious Gelato ice cream. Ah Ming, being the overall mini golf winner, got his double scoop Gelato ice cream treat from us. = )

We headed too the bowling center after that, and booked ourselves 3 bowling games. I won the second game and got myself a dinner treat. Ming won the last game and got himself the next dinner treat. We did not bet on anything for the first game. Everyone kinda got bored after the first 2 games, so during the last game, we also played pool.

By the time we left the bowling center, it was close to 7pm. Because i was having the dinner treat, i got to choose the food so we ended up having Japanese at this Fujiyama restaurant, which looked dubious at first (cause it was not owned by a Japanese, prices were quite cheap, and there weren't many customers). But it turned out to be above average quality! = ) We ordered too much and had to pack some for take away. I had my salmon teriyaki, and this time the teriyaki sauce tasted normal without the sour plum taste. K had this set meal, which consisted of tempura, sushi, teriyaki chicken, potato salad, miso soup and chawamushi. Which i thought was totally delicious and a great deal at only $16.

We drove back to Hastings around 9pm after our dinner. By the time we reached home, it was 11pm already. Everyone was so tired that we fell asleep in the car, while poor K drove us home. K is already snoring in bed now, exhausted after the 4 hour drive today.. Poor baby..

Tomorrow is our 9th Anniversary. And K and I are going to visit the doctor's to confirm if i am pregnant. I am having mixed feelings inside me now, excited and worried at the same time.. A complete blur of emotions.. = )

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20 June: Sports Day!

K and I had planned to laze around in our motel today, since we are both not working.

But as usual, K's natural alarm clock woke him at before 9am, and he was already watching videos on his laptop when our handphone rang. It was Ming and Adreana. Apparently, it had rained this morning, so work at the vineyard was cancelled. They were supposed to do pruning work at another vineyard cause the one we worked at yesterday had no work over the weekend.

And so 1.5 hours later, Ah Ming and A came over to our place, and we drove over to Napier to spend the rest of the day.

Our plan was to have Asian for lunch, but when we drove to the restaurant that Ah Ming and A recommended, it was closed. So we had KFC (which was next door) for lunch instead. We ordered a big feast meal of hot and spicy chicken, 1.5 litre Pepsi, coleslaw, buns and whipped potato to share. We chatted, Ming spilled Pepsi all over the table, and i enjoyed the piping hot buns. I loved how the buns here are so hot and soft, unlike those in Singapore, which are usually cold and hard.

After lunch, we decided to play a round of 18 hole mini golf. One game cost us $8 each, and that took us 2 hours to complete. We had agreed that the overall winner will get a free ice cream treat from the 3 losers. Ming won with the least number of hits and a hole-in-one. I was the overall loser, all because of one stupid hole, which took me 19 hits to get the damn ball in. There is this slope on the green, and the stupid ball just keeps rolling downhill.. = (









After our mini golf game, we went back to Hastings for a quick dinner at this place called Noodle Canteen, which had franchises all over New Zealand. K and I had curry laksa, which was horrible.

We were supposed to have an apartment viewing appointment at 6pm, so we kind rushed through our dinner which started at 530pm. We drove to the place, met the agent Jim, and viewed the 2 bedroom apartment. There was one other Caucasian guy in the apartment talking to Jim. We didnt really like the apartment, cause firstly there was no furnishing, and secondly, the neighbourhood didn't look too inviting. The Caucasian guy eventually took the apartment and everyone was happy. Jim told us he had another unit across that has 3 bedroom and fully furnished, but he had to arrange another day for us to view. We agreed.

After the viewing, we went back to change clothes. Michael and a few china men had organized a badminton session and Ah Ming had invited us along. We were supposed to play table tennis and basketball as well. I was totally looking forward to that. = ) We drove about 20 minutes and reached a school building where the badminton courts were.

First, we went to the table tennis place. It was very crowded. Michael kinda waved us along and assumed that me and Adreana were playing table tennis. Then he went to check out the badminton courts. Like he has a pre conceived notion that girls can't play badminton. I told Ah Ming i wanted to play badminton so we followed Michael to the courts.

There were 4 courts in total, but all were fully occupied. There were so many people there that i got all hyped up. Haven't seen such a sight for a long long time.. = )

We each paid $5 to play. Rackets and shuttlecocks were provided. And they were of much better quality than the ones we had in Auckland. There was a rotating timetable, where each court will change players every 15 mins. So after 15 mins, a buzz will sound, and the next group of people will play. K and I played with Ah Ming and A, while Michael played with 3 other China men. They were quite good, and i was secretly hoping to play with them, but didn't have the chance to. Until the last 5 minutes where the person in charge gave us extra 5 mins. Michael asked me and Ah Ming to play a game with him and another china boy. Although it was short, it was good. K, Ah Ming and I then played a bit of basketball while the in charge cleared up the courts and keep the nets and poles etc. I actually perspired, but it was a very good work out.. A said i looked much more radiant and energetic when i exercise. = ) I definitely want to play again! Unfortunately, they only have the games every Saturday. Can't wait!

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19 June: First and last day @ the Vineyard!

I woke up at 430am today and couldn't get back to sleep, for fear that i will over sleep and be late for my first day at work.. About an hour later at 545am, i got off bed, brushed my teeth and prepared breakfast. I can't even remember when was the last time i woke up at such an unearthly hour! = )

K woke up shortly after and we both got ready. We were going to use our car to drive Ah Ming and 2 other China men staying at our motel lodge to the vineyard. According to Adreana, we will be working for THE biggest vineyard in the whole of New Zealand. Cool!

We finally (and very reluctantly) stepped out of our room into the freezing cold at 630am. When i checked the temperature reader in our car, it said 0 degrees!! Still can't believe i went to work when the moon was still visible and in such freezing cold weather!

The drive to the vineyard took about 40 mins. When we reached there, the sun was not even out yet. We headed to the office and spoke to one of the employees there, then started working at the vineyards.

This is the vineyard at 720am. The sun wasn't even out yet, and we could still see the moon.

The vineyards were organized into blocks / plots of land with alphabets. The 5 of us were supposed to finish blocks U, V and W by 430pm today. Basically, we were given big plastic bags and a pair of plier scissors, and were supposed to cut off the plastic sheets that were wrapped around the roots of each grape vine plant.

There was plenty of bending and walking involved as we passed by rows and rows of grape vines. I did about 10 rows for the entire day. One row had about 50-100 grape vines. It was fun at first, but got really tiring for me after a while. I actually perspire a bit cause of the hot sun, and my lower back was hurting like crazy. By 330pm, i couldn't even walk properly without my back hurting me. K had to force me to sit in the car and rest, cause i felt a bit embarrassed to rest while every else was working hard. But i had no choice. It was too painful. I couldn't even get in and out of the car without hurting my back!

One of the many rows of grape vines that we worked on. You can see the green plastic sheets we had to cut off.

We had lunch around 12pm. Lunch was the cold pasta salad that i had prepared the day before. I ate in the car with K, while Ah Ming and the 2 china boys lay plastic bags on the grass and had their meals there. There was no way i could sit on the grass and get up without pain.. = )


This is the view from the block of grape vines we were working from. Gorgeous isn't it?

And that's K and me taking a break and snapping pictures.. I had to wear the UV hat that Ruby, June and Jasmine bought me, otherwise i think i will get skin cancer!


Oh, and this, is the portable toilet that we had to use to relieve ourselves. We had to drive like a few minutes to get there. For the entire day from 730am-430pm, i only went to the toilet once. I simply couldn't bring myself to use it. It had no toilet roll, no flush, and no water to wash hands. I could see all the urine and faeces in the toilet bowl, and they only had a hand sanitizer which was empty. My god..


This is a picture of the view we got at another block of vineyards we worked on. It was the last block, and i was resting in the car. There were so many cows that were so close to the car. The only thing that separated us was a pathetic wired electric fence. With my bright red jacket, i was so afraid one of them would come charging towards me!

Anyway, it was really interesting to observe the cows. I've always thought they do nothing but eat grass the whole day, but during my observation, i saw them "interact" with each other, and trying to mate even! There was this particularly horny male who kept hopping onto another female, but kana rejected.. haha.. so funny. Then i think i saw either the father or boyfriend of the female chase one male away when the male tried to tackle the female. Quite hilarious..


By the time we knocked off and got back to the motel, it was around 6plus. K and I went to the supermarket to buy ingredients for baked potato. We had invited Ah Ming and Adreana over for dinner. They hung out at Ah Ming's sister room while we cooked. The stupid oven in our room didn't work too well, so the baked potato turned out yellowish instead of the light brown and cripsy texture it was supposed to be. Anyway, it still tasted delicious! = )

There would be no work over the weekend, so both K and I were relieved. Even K is having a back ache now! For me, today would be my last day of work. K doesn't want me to work and worsen my backache. Plus, he is very sure that i am pregnant. So i get to laze in bed for the next few weeks!! = )

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18 June: Bye bye Gisborne, Hello Hastings

We left Gisborne this morning, after a late breakfast (our last 2 muffins!) around 1030am. Again, both Ross and Robyne had left for work. I had said my goodbye to Ross the night before, but K and I will be saying goodbye to Robyne in town later where she works.

After packing and loading everything into the car, which we are both getting really sick of already, we drove to town, met Robyne, passed her the house keys and said our goodbyes. Then it was off to Hastings to meet up with Ah Ming, Adreana and look for some work!

The ride to Hastings took about 2.5 hours. Poor K must be so sick of driving on all the stupid windy roads already. I feel so guilty not learning to drive and having a license so i can take turns driving with him.. = (

We had lunch on the way in Wairoa town. We drove past this bakery that has "Baker of the Year" on it's shop front, so decided to give that a try. I never looked back. I had chicken pie and home made vege and ham soup. The shop was adorned with so many awards for all kinds of pies, bread and pizzas that i was amazed. The chicken pie was quite good, but not as good as my favourite ones from York Hotel back home.. = )

We hit the roads again after lunch and arrived at Hastings around 3pm. Then our search for accomodation began. Initially, we had planned to stay together with Ah Ming and Adreana, cause they rented a room in a 3 bedroom apartment. But when we text them before arriving in Hastings, they asked us to look for our own accomodation first because the extra room in their current apartment was too small for a couple.

So K and Iand drove around and went in to several backpackers, lodges and motels to enquire. All of them were either too expensive, dodgy or totally cannot make it. We hunted for about 1.5 hours until 430pm, and still no suitable accomodation. By then, i was getting a bit restless and irritated. K had promised we would look for a place to stay that is like Seagulls Guest house in Mt Mauganui where we had stayed: Clean, warm, big kitchen, bathroom inside the bedroom, and reasonably priced. But after 1.5 hours of searching, no luck. We did see one motel that we liked a lot, but they were willing to give us cheapest $80 a night for one week's stay. Seagulls was $35 per night.

Eventually, we got recommendation from one of the lodge owners to visit another lodge called "Atrium Motor Lodge" nearby. Which we did. The lady at the counter showed us the room, which i fell in love with almost instantly. It was warm, cosy and very homely. And it comes with a TV and small little kitchen. All in one. The lady wanted to charge us $630 for a week. Then bargained down to 10% off. We managed to get ourselves the room for $300 in the end. We told her our story, that her price was above our budget, that we were looking for work and would stay more than a month if we get a job. The lady told us it was her birthday, and also told us she had a Malaysian guy staying who helps people look for work in Hastings. Maybe because it was her birthday and she wanted to do something good and help us, that's how we managed to get the good bargain. = )

After checking into our "new home", the lady introduced us to the Malaysian man, Michael. Michael stayed 3 rooms beside us. When we introduced ourselves as Singaporeans, Michael immediately asked if we knew Ah Ming. What a small world!! Apparently, Michael is the boyfriend of Ah Ming's sister, who also lives there. We got ourselves jobs at the vineyard and were to start the following day.

30 mins later, Ah Ming and Adreana arrived and we all laughed over the whole coincidence. How of all places, we chose to stay at the same lodge as Michael. Few days ago, Adreana added me on her Facebook and as i was browsing through her profile, i realized that we both had the exact same birthdate, only she's 4 years younger. So when we met again, we laughed over that as well.. I think the 4 of us are going to be great friends... = )

Dinner was microwaved leftover Hawaiian pizza. K and I tried to sleep early, cause work at the vineyard will start at 730am tomorrow, and we have to leave the lodge at 630am. I am so NOT looking forward to it. Actually, the plan was for K to work while i stayed home, but there was some miscommunication, and Michael had told the "boss" that both K and I would be working. So in order not to cause inconvenience to Michael, i agreed to work for one day tomorrow. And according to Adreana, work will be cutting plastic bags at the bottom of the grape vines, so there will be a lot of bending and squatting. That will definitely NOT help with my already painful lower back. Still can't believe i have to get up at 6am tomorrow!! Sigh.. I miss my beach house!!

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17 June: Sight-seeing in Gisborne

K and I woke up around 1030am to much warmer temperatures. We had muffins and toast for breakfast. By the time we woke up, Robyne and Ross had both gone for work. It was just us and Bella the cat.

After breakfast around 11plus, we drove out and headed to the information site to plan our day. Our plan was to do a scenic drive for the rest of daylight (which was only 4 hours) and visit the Gray's Hill lookout and Rere Falls. We bought Hawaiian Pizza as takeaway, drove to Gray’s Hill lookout, and had our pizza there. We got lost for a bit, and by the time we got to the lookout point, the pizza was no longer piping hot.. still warm though, but just not hot.. The view from on top of the hill was not too bad though = )

After our pizza and coke lunch (super unhealthy), we headed to the our next stop: the 100m high Rere Falls. On the way there, we got caught in a minor traffic jam, because of cows crossing the already narrow winding road. It was so funny i couldn't stop giggling and taking photos of the cows, which were just taking their own sweet time to cross the road and grazing on the grass on the cliffs on both sides of the road. There were SO many of them! And they were also shitting all over on the roads.. It was very interesting having these animals so close up to us.. = )

We managed to arrive at Rere Falls without getting lost, and I was mesmerized at just how beautiful the waterfalls looked and just the peace and silence of the whole place. All we could hear was the sound of the water falling.. Doesn't it look gorgeous??!

After spending like the longest time admiring the water falls, taking photos, and K running as close to the back of the waterfall as he can, we left and headed to the nearby Rere Rock Slide, where people can actually bring a water slide of some sort and slide down the fast running stream. It seemed like so much fun for no cost, but wrong timing cause no one would do that in winter time. K and I hid behind a small cliff to block off the wind and i used my swiss army knife to trim his hair. He had to squat down for a long time cause i was too slow. We decided to leave after less than 5 mins of hair cutting.. = ) And headed to the supermarket to buy ingredients for dinner.

We arrived home around 5plus, and started cooking porridge and vegetables for dinner. We were going to sit down and have dinner with our hosts, but they already prepared dinner so in the end we shared the vegetables. We had wanted to stir fry bak choy again since K did it very well, but the supermarket did not carry bak choy. So we bought silver beet instead. And the result didn't turn out too well cause the stems took so bloody long to cook we threw all the stems away. I enjoyed my porridge with mushroom and carrot though. = )

During our dinner chat, Robyne and Ross shared with us their travel stories to Europe and England, and the history of their beautiful house, which appaently is 100 years old!! K and I couldn't belive the kitchen floor we were standing on was more than a century old.. They also told us their earth quakes were quite common in Gisborne, and the most recent big quake happened 2 years ago in 2007. and that damaged most of the houses in the neighbourhood, including theirs. It was a really interesting chat. But K did most of the talking. I actually feel quite glad that K is there with me, cause most of the time, the questions that our hosts asked about Singapore, i don't really know how to answer. Like how big is Singapore, what is the population, things about its history etc.. It's pretty embarrassing how little i know (or bother to learn) about my own country.. = P

After dinner, Ross showed K his shed and his motorbike collection, while Robyne and I continued with our chat into the living room. I went to take my shower when K came into the living room, and then used the internet.

That night, i went to bed slightly warmer, cause we brought our own little heater into the bedroom.

Here are some photos of the house we stayed in. The most beautiful house we've stayed in so far, according to K. He's so in love with the house that he says he wants to buy it if he can.. Me on the other hand, isn't too excited about the big house due to the risk of earthquakes, and the challenging task of keeping such a big house warm during winter.. = )

The beautiful house in its full external glory

The kitchen with the 100 year old wood flooring

Bella

The bathroom which is bigger than my HDB bedroom in Singapore. Loved the way they did up the bath tub!

Our bedroom with pure white sheets and furry blanket

Me playing with beautiful Bella

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16 June: To Gisborne – First to see the light!

Neil cooked breakfast for K and I again this morning. It was the same bacon and eggs sunny side up. But this time, I added one piping hot raspberry and white chocolate muffin to my plate.. = )

We had breakfast together, chatted a bit, then K and I started packing up and loading our stuff into the car. We were “checking out” of the beach house (albeit very reluctantly) today, and going to the next host family in Gisborne. Neil gave us directions on a piece of paper, and a few small towns that we can consider stopping over for breaks. It was going to be a long 6 hour drive there. Initially, I told K it would be better if we stay one night at a town that’s in between our journey, but he didn’t want to and preferred to drive all the way to Gisborne.

We finally said our goodbyes, hugged and left the house around 930am. About an hour later, I realized I still had the keys to the beach house with me. Fortunately, we will be passing Glenis’ workplace and their home on the way to Gisborne, so eventually we dropped the keys with her colleague. Along the way, we also passed by this bookshop that we had visited before at Mount Mauganui, where they had a section of books selling for 50 cents. We had bought 6 books and had not even finished reading them since, but we popped into the shop and bought another 6 more that day… = )

It was a long long drive and we both read a book during the drive. K listened to the “Angels & Demons” audio tape, while I read Jodi Picoult’s “The Pact” until I got giddy reading on the winding roads.. We stopped over and parked by a beach and had lunch in the car; lunch being the free chicken wrap, vege quiche and muffins we got previously. All cold. Damn stupid pigeons must have seen or smelled the food cause a whole lot of them began to hover above and circle around our car. One super daring one even landed on the bonnet!

Our 6 hour journey continued after lunch.. More windy roads and nature.. We saw at least 6 full rainbows, one of which was the most solid rainbow I’ve seen so far (see photo below). All the colors were so clear and obvious, and the full arch of the rainbow was just so mesmerizing.. I feel so happy looking at these rainbows.. Once, we drove into a rainbow, our first time, and we just went from no rain to rain when we passed the rainbow. It was so cool! = )



We finally reached Gisborne around 530pm. By then it had grown dark. I text my hosts Robyne and Ross to inform them we had arrived, then K and I went to look for dinner. We ended up having Subway (1 foot long tuna melt) after arguing for a while. Cause I had craving for pizza or burger king, but it was too expensive.. = (

By the time we found the house, it was close to 615pm. But the skies looked like 9pm in Singapore. We drove around in circles for a while looking for the house number, but eventually found it. Cause the house number was hidden by overgrown bushes. It was a HUGE house, and really old but with a lot of character. K said it looked like a witch doctor’s house at first sight. = )
Robyne and Ross were really friendly, we chatted a bit, and Robyne showed us to our bedroom, which was big. And their bathroom is bigger than our bedroom back home. They have a really pretty cat called Bella. What a suitable name, I thought. I played with the super friendly Bella a bit and got my trousers all furry after that. She is one horny cat I think. Keeps jumping up on people’s legs, rubbing herself against people and things, and rolling over to be scratched. = )

Anyways, K went to bed early and I showered and used the internet until about 1030pm before going to bed. We had asked Robyne and Ross what time the sun rises in Gisborne, because it is the first place in the world to see sun rise, and I had thought about watching the sun rise. Ross said 7am, which wasn’t too bad cause I had been expecting a 5am sun rise. Nonetheless, we couldn’t get ourselves off the bed the next day to save ourselves, much less watch sun rise.. haha..

Our bedroom had one big heater in the shape of a 40 inch plasma TV, but it was pretty much useless. K had to switch bed sides with cause I simply couldn’t sleep with such cold temperatures. It helped a bit, but I still didn’t sleep well. I couldn’t wait for the sun to rise the next day and give me warmth..

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15 June: Our First Truly New Zealand Experience

I woke up this morning, to the smell of toast, bacon and eggs sunny side up. Neil had cooked breakfast for K and I. Kinda like reciprocal since we cooked dinner last night. I didn't really like it though, but i think K loved it. It's more his kind of breakfast. I gave him my egg yolk and the fatty part of the bacon. = )

After breakfast, we left and drove off to visit all the famous beaches and bays in Whitianga. Today must have been the most exercise we have ever had since we arrived here more than one month ago. We did more than 2 hours of walking (2 way) in the forest / jungle to reach the bays and beaches. Most of the walks were on dirt tracks / walking tracks in the middle of the forest, and were full of uphill climbs and steps. So it was definitely not an easy walk for us. That was when we realized just how out of shape we were, cause we were panting and exhausted half the time.

But i was happy.. Really happy. All the difficult climbs and walks were worth it, cause of the beautiful scenery we saw along the way. It was really the most New Zealand thing we have done so far. K said New Zealand has nothing to offer except nature. And we haven't been connecting with nature too much since we came here. Cause it's either too cold, or it's raining most of the time. But today's weather was beautiful. And every time we stopped walking, our destination is always a beautiful, beautiful sight. It's either a very peaceful bay, where we just sit on the rocks and hear the sea, or a calm beach with lots of seashells, or huge waves crashing, or just an amazing view.

This beach is so full of seashells everywhere we walked we would accidentally break one

Me sitting on a tree trunk on the seashell beach

The big waves that i so love to watch = )

One of the views we got on top of some cliff / hill after a long walk

Me just sitting on the rocks and admiring the gorgeous view.. = )

For lunch, we stopped over at a little cafe at Cook's Beach. We had smoked salmon burger and nachos with hot peach tea. K and I sat there for quite long, enjoying the food and reading the free magazines there. We both read an article in National Geographic about world food shortage. It's quite worrying cause our world population is really growing too fast to feed. It's really a vicious cycle. We need more meat to feed the growing population. Which means we need more corn / grain to feed the animals to get more meat. But corn and grains are also used to produce ethanol / corn oil etc, which we also need as fuel. And beccause we need to grow more corn / grains, the farmers need more land space to grow crops. So forests are burned down to make space for growing crops. And this causes environmental pollution problems... So it's either we all die of world hunger, or world pollution. I was shocked at the number of people in the world who are dying of starvation every day, and i feel so blessed i have food to eat everyday.

We finally decided to leave the cafe around 3pm, and guess what? The cafe was closing, so the owner gave us all her unsold muffins and food! We took home 6 raspberry and white chocolate muffins, one vegetable quiche, and a chicken wrap. I was delighted at the thought of having muffins for breakfast tomorrow, cause i had been craving for it, but K refused to buy cause it was quite expensive. Haha.. looks like it's fated!

We went to 4 locations in total: Shakespeare Cliff, Stingray Bay, Gemstone Bay and Cathedral Cove. My favourite is Cathedral Cove, cause it's the most beautiful, and the waves were much bigger. It'ss basically a beach with a huge cove that connects with the beach.. We walked into the cove and K ducked into the beach before i could say anything. I hesitated for a long time, cause the waves were coming in fast and furious into the cove, and i had to literally run fast to get to the beach before the next waves crashed in. I shouted for K to come back, then we run together. And it was worth it, cause the beach beside the cove was beautiful too. We saw a few people kayaking. Here are some photos of the cove and beach.. I will try and post the You Tube video with K commenting in the background.. = )

Us inside the cove with the sea at the back..
Me safely on the beach after running from the cove..

The dash back from the beach into the cove was another challenge for me. I nearly got the waves crashing into me as i run into the cove that i screamed so loudly as i ran. And i was so embarrassed, cause when i entered the cove screaming, there was a group of people there taking pictures.. K just stood there and laughed at me..

We headed back to the car after the cove, and drove off to our last destination for today: the Hot Water Beach. This is a beach that is said to contain hot water from molten lava deep underneath the earth that had escaped through cracks in the ground. One would have to wait for low tide to dig holes in the beach and find the hot water. Low tide was supposed to be at 520pm. We reached the beach around 5pm, and was there until about 6pm, but the tide never went low. There were many people there trying to dig, but everytime they digged, the waves came and filled the hole with cold sea water again. Either that, or the spot they dug did not have the hot water. Only certain spots on the beach had hot water. So irritating. K and I also brought along a spade we borrowed from Neil and Glenis, and we too dugged.. It was fun. We managed to get the hot water for a bit, after digging a few normal holes with cold sea water, and it was really really hot, like boiling water.. So can't stay inside for too long. Anyway, we only dip our feet inside the water. There was this couple who wanted to go entirely inside the hole they dugged, cause they were dressed in their swimming costumes. Crazy people! It was so windy and cold!! = ) Anyway, the couple did manage to find a hot water spot and they dug really deep for like 5 minutes. Then a huge wave came and covered the hole with sea water. They gave up after that.

The huge wave also sent me screaming again cause i didn't run fast enough and most of my legs wet. We all got cheated cause the tide never went low. The only happy people were the surfers.. haha.. We left around 6pm and headed home to prepare dinner.

K digging hard for our hot water hole..

Me "pretending" to dig.. = P

On the way home, Neil texted us and asked if we were lost cause it was time to prepare dinner.. haha.. it was funny. Neil and Glenis had agreed to purchase the ingredients while we cooked. K and I made the same dishes for dinner as we did the first night: Stir fried vegetables, omelette and chicken porridge. And again, both Neil and Glenis were super impressed they kept complimenting us, and they even asked us for the recipe.. I think K couldn't sleep that night cause his head got too big with praises.. = ) I had ice cream again for dessert, this time with muffin.. It was yummy..

We went to bed early tonight. I finished my first book "Joy Luck Club" and passed it to Glenis. K and I had wanted to finish watching the remaining 2 DVDs, but he was too tired. We had to wake up early the next day to "check out" so in the end, i decided to go to bed too.. Tomorrow will be another long long day, cause it's gonna take 6 hours to get to our next host family in Gisborne!!

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14 June: The Day We Lazed in Bed

We woke up late today, and K made French Toast for brunch.. i helped him of course, but he did most of the frying.. This time it turned out much better than the previous one..



And while I was walking around the house and admiring the view, i saw a beautiful full rainbow. That just made my day completely.. = ) Video clip to be posted again soon...

And some photos of the inside of the beach house..

Kitchen

Our bedroom

Another view of the kitchen and dining area. Our bedroom is just behind the fridge

Dining table where we had our meals

The living room

After brunch, we watched another DVD "Longest Yard", another comedy starring Adam Sandler. We got nothing else to go anyway, cause the car is stuck and we cannot drive out. We did go out and I tried to push the car while K accelerated. But the heavy car didn't even move. It rained again in the morning, so the mud did not dry at all. So eventually, we decided to just lie in bed and wait for Neil and Glenis to arrive. We also decided to send them a text message to inform and apologize to them that we had damaged their lawn. They eventually came around 230pm and laughed at our car getting stuck. We felt so bad and worried, but apparently they told us this has happened many times before. Neil had to ask his neighbour for help. His neighbour drove his tractor over and pulled our car out of the mud / mess. It was quite a sight.. = )

Since our car is out now, K and I drove out after a long chat with Neil and Glenis. We went to explore the town, and had a nice peaceful walk along the Marina on a long wooden plank right in the middle of where all the yatches and big boats were parked. We also saw a lot of expensive looking beach houses and apartments, and many ducks swimming at the bay.. It was really interesting looking at the names of the yatches. My favourite was one called "Nauti-Buoy". How creative right!!

After the walk, we headed to the supermarket again, this time to buy ingredients for dinner. We were going to cook Spaghetti (chicken) Bolagnaise (cause i have craving) and baked crumbed fish fillet for dinner, and for Neil and Glenis too.. This is the result, which was again delicious. Neil and Glenis kept complimenting us for the wonderful dinner:





Dinner was followed by more chatting, and Neil served ice-cream on a cone. It was Hokey Pokey flavor. First time i tried it, and i loved it! I never knew something so vanilla flavor looking can taste so good.. = )

While watching TV and chatting, i noticed Glenis kept looking at my stomach. There was once she asked me if i was okay, cause i think i sniffed a little, and maybe i looked sick. So i told her i am just so stuffed and rubbed my stomach. For some reason, i guess to stop her from looking at my stomach, i told her that i might be pregnant and therefore the big tummy. She then started to comment, as if she now completely understands, that yes, my tummy does seem big, and i am very round around my tummy area, not like i am full from a meal at all, but more like i am pregnant.. She sounded so excited at the possibility that I might be. It was nice. = )

K and I had our showers and headed to bed after that. We had a long day planned for tomorrow, upon Neil and Glenis' recommendations!

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13 June: To the Beach House!

Today is one of the earliest i have woken up since i moved into Tony and Donna's home. Cause we are "checking out" today and moving to our next host family's beach house in Whitianga. K and I had our breakfast. I had my hot Milo, tuna with toast and the delicious banana cake that was for dessert last night.

We packed up our luggage, K loaded them into the car, and then we said our goodbyes to each other. Before that, we took some pictures with Tony, Donna, Abi and their noisy dog Molly. = )




And some pictures of the cinema room we slept in for the past 10 days, as well as the house..

Living area

The drum set in our bedroom

The projector screen right beside our mattress

Sofas facing the projector screen beside our mattress

Drawers and window opposite our mattress

It was about 4 hours drive to the beach house. Our new hosts Neil and Glenis will only arrive the next day, so we had to pop over to Glenis' sister's house to pick up the keys. When we arrived, her sister, Janet was kind enough to take us to the beach house, and then show us around the house. The beach house was lovely. It had 2 storeys, with beds and bathrooms on both stories, and the kitchen and living room on the top floor, which came with a balcony / deck overlooking the beach. Our bedroom was on the top floor just beside the kitchen.

When Janet left, K and I unloaded and unpacked, and then headed out to buy groceries to cook dinner. K was gonna stir fry vegetables and fry omelette while i cooked chicken porridge ( i had craving for porridge). We also rented 5 DVDs for $10 and met Janet's daughter, Alison, who was working at the video rental shop. When we reached home, K drove the car down the slope in front of the house, and parked outside the garage on the bottom floor. He reversed into the lawn, cause he wanted to drive out head first the next morning. But because it had been raining, and it was dark, we did not see that the lawn was muddy. Our car got stuck in the mud right n the middle of the lawn and refused to move. K reved the engine and accelerated, but the wheels just kept spinning in the mud without moving. And the grass on the lawn was damaged by our wheels. We were in deep shit (or mud). But there was nothing we could do, so we decided to wait until our host come the next day and hope that the mud will dry up tomorrow.

So we went into the house, and got to work chopping ingredients and cooking up dinner. This is the result, and it was super delicious, the oyster sauce stir-fried vegetables that K cooked tasted so much like my mother's cooking!! = )

Chef Keson at work

My minced chicken porridge

Pan fried omelette with carrots, prawns, mushrooms, some minced chicken and spring onions

Stir fried bak choy with mushrooms, carrots, prawns and lots of oyster sauce!

Our dinner

We watched one DVD "John Tucker Must Die" (some stupid comedy starring Desparate Housewives Gabrielle's lawn mower boyfriend) while having our delicious dinner. After that, we washed up the dishes, bathed, and watched "Die Hard 4" in bed before going to sleep. Didn't know "Die Hard" was such a good show.. Will go back and download Die Hard 1, 2 and 3.. = )

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My New Zealand Zit..

Yes, my day is so dull that this is the title of my blog entry. And Yes, i have a huge pimple on my left cheek.. Sigh...

K was supposed to go to work on the farm again this morning, while i lied in bed.. But when i woke up after half an hour, he was back in the house cause he couldn't find Tony. I suppose there's no work in the farm on Fridays / weekends.. Anyway, it started to rain soon after. The rain lasted the entire freaking day.

I had one slice of tuna and one slice of peanut butter sandwich for breakfast with my hot milo, then started to prepare pasta salad together with K for our lunch. We asked Tony and Donna if they wanted some, and Tony said yes.. he seems to like the pasta salad = ) Donna didn't like anything with tuna, i later realized..

We left the house around 12pm, and it was still raining. The plan was to go back to the library to read. I wanted to come home around 5pm to help Donna make burgers for dinner tonight. = )

And so, we spent the entire day at the library reading. K read more of Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs, and I read 9 chapters of "The Last Juror" by John Grisham. Really hate that now i am stuck halfway through the story, and i can't borrow the book cause i am not a resident in the area.

We took a lunch break at 3pm and headed to the food court downstairs to have our pasta. I saw an Asian stall selling fish ball noodles and was so tempted, but one bowl cost $7.50 Daylight robbery man!! And the photo really just showed noodles with fishballs and nothing else. Not even some minced meat like the Singapore ones!! Terrible.

K and I left the library at 4pm, went to the car and packed up the boot so we could have some space to put our luggage tomorrow when we left. We got into a slight peak hour jam and by the time we reached home it was 530pm. But Donna was not home yet. She arrived home about 15 mins later with Abi (her eldest son's girlfriend), and we got to work. I helped to cut the lettuce, capsicum and tomatoes, sliced the burger buns, then put the ingredients and sauce on them. Donna fried the meat patties and eggs sunny side up, and toasted the french fries.

By the time we were done with each of the 6 burgers, i didn't know how to eat them cause they were so huge!! Both mine and K's eggs leaked the minute we sinked our teeth into the burger. By the time i was done with my burger i was stuffed to the neck. Donna asked everyone if we wanted her home baked banana cake. I was so tempted but cannot eat anymore. Will probably have it for breakfast tomorrow cause it looks damn good. The family has the habit of having "tea" after dinner, which usually comprises of a hot drink and cakes / cookies. And they do that even after they have dessert.. So interesting.. but i still can't get used to it so usually me and k skipped "tea"..

The family is in the living room now, watching 2 dvds that Donna rented today: "Revolutionary Road" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", both of which we have watched. I've just packed up some of our clothes, so at least tomorrow won't have to pack too much stuff and waste time. K and I intend to leave around 9am so at least we can have lunch at Whitianga area before we head to the beach house. Wonder how the house will be like.. Never stayed in a beach house before leh!! = )

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More Videos & Photos

Here are some photos and a video of us at the light house at Manukau Heads few days ago, and at the Botanic Gardens yesterday..

Manukau Heads:

• This is a You Tube video of K commenting on the beautiful scenery we saw on the hill where the light house is. Total calm and silence, low clouds covering the top of the hills, sparkling waters. Almost make the place look mysterious.. I've included here a photo of me after admiring the gorgeous view behind..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XNKmROzRLM

• 
  

• That's me before we began the uphill climb to the light house. Didn't upload any of these on Facebook cause my outfit looks totally mismatched.. Didn't really bother much that day..
  
  
  

• Some random photos of us and me at the light house, and the many cows we saw grazing on the grass below. This photo actually is a shot of them all walking together from one side of the field to another..
  

• Just a picture of more cows before we left the light house. These cows were just staring at us as we walked past, like they were so curious.. Makes me wonder if they ever get so bored staying there like that? = )
  

Botanic Gardens:

• That's me with perhaps the only alive looking flowers at the entrance of the gardens.
  
  
  
  
• That's me trying to do an impersonation of the statue at the entrance of the gardens.. There were probably people looking at me from the cafe behind. Not like i care.. = P
  
  
  
• Me with some of the numerous ducks that were running around freely in the gardens.
  
  
  
  
• These were taken at the rose gardens.. we took photos of the few roses that were actually in full bloom and still alive. I love this light yellow one cause we don't have these in Singapore. It actually looks very yellow, but the real thing is like beige / pastel yellow..

• These photos shows some of the interesting structures we saw in the gardens.. this huge steel dog in the middle of the park, and some structure that spells "HE HE HE HA". I wonder what's so funny? = )
  

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I am getting bored!!

K went to the flower farm to work again this morning, cause i couldn't bring myself to get up from bed. = P

I finally woke up at 1030am, had milo, toast and tuna spread for breakfast, then started to prepare the pasta salad for lunch. I had to first boil water, then cook the pasta in the hot water cause there was no fire in the stove. My intention was to cook the pasta yesterday night but because of the family argument, i could not.

This family that i am living with is practicing what they call "Alternative Lifestyle". Basically, they don't use normal electricity, but solar powered energy. So they only switch on the heater at night, make the fire and cook only at night, and wash and dry their clothes in the morning. This morning, i was putting the dishes into the dish washer, but Donna said we had to hand wash them cause there hasn't been much sun these days, and they were running out of electricity.

Anyway, by the time i finished with the pasta salad, it was close to noon. But K and Tony were not home yet, so i decided to switch on my laptop. Not more than 15 minutes later, K came back and kept hurrying me to get ready to leave. We hurriedly gobbled down our pasta and left. I offered Tony some and he said it was very nice. That made my day. = )

Our plans for today was to visit the Auckland Botanic Gardens. Which we didn't know where it was. So we turned a few rounds before we had to ask someone to find it. We brought along our tidbits and started exploring the gardens. It was quite pathetic, obviously since it's winter now, and few plants can survive the cold weather. We got bored after walking for a bit, so we sat on a bench in the rose gardens and started snacking on Double Decker brand chicken crackers.

At about 330pm, we left and drove around the area to check out what the place had to offer. We ended up aabou huge Westfield mall, shopping and looking for a cafe to sit down, have a hot drink and do some reading. In the end, we found a public library in the mall, and spent about 2 hours reading at the library. I finished an entire 10th Anniversary Calvin and Hobbes comic book, while K got started on a Lee Kuan Yew memoir.

After all the reading, we got hungry, and decided to order Domino's pizza online (to get special offer at $7.90 for a large pizza). We spent the next 20 minutes looking for the Domino's pizza outlet to pick up our pizza. Then drove back to the Westfield carpark and had our dinner there. So there we were, 2 pigs eating a large BBQ beef pizza and gulping down Coca-cola by the bottle.. My god, we are so going to get fat.. = )

After dinner, we headed to the supermarket again to get bread for breakfast tomorrow, which had run out today.

We got home around 930pm, bathed and now in bed. I just called my sister and grandma on the phone. I asked my grandma what she as eating for dinner, and she asked me if i wanted to come and eat as well. Haha.. I don't even know if she is aware I am not in Singapore. Oh well, i guess i should be happy that at least she is still healthy and good, although she might not remember things too well..

K and I still don't know what to do tomorrow, our last day here. Kinda looking forward to moving to beach house at Whitianga over the weekend. Really getting a bit bored here!! Tomorrow is casual friday, and Donna will be making burgers for dinner.. Looking forward to that! Gosh, i am so pathetic that i actually just look forward to eating everyday!! = )

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10 June 2009: Our Eating Spree!!

I woke up sneezing in the middle of the night, and knew this was not good. In the morning, I woke up with a blocked nose, which lasted for the entire day. I must have gotten the flu bug from Donna...

Today's weather is one of the warmest since i arrived. 16 degrees Celcius. How nice and warm! That alone made me feel much better. K and I woke up about 11am today, had milo/ coffee and toast (with cheese and ham) for breakfast and headed out for some sightseeing. I added some skim milk to my milo today, and it tasted so much better.

Yesterday, Donna made mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables and pork sausages for dinner. She told me the pork was from one of the pigs they used to had. They killed the pig cause it was injured or sick or something. I couldn't bring myself to eat the sausage, so i requested for chicken patty instead. She said she was glad i am honest with her. = ) I must start to write down all the recipes from Donna. She made her own gravy for the mashed potatoes, and it was delicious. For dessert, we had baked fruit pie and ice cream again, and it was delicious too! Halfway thru dinner, Neil, my host for next week at Whitianga called me. He and his wife had to attend a funeral over the weekend, so he had made arrangements for us to pick up the key to his beach house at their sister's place. He spent a whole lot of time trying to tell me how to orientate myself around the house. Very long winded this guy. So i had to hint to him that i was having dinner and would be fine so don't have to worry. Then we hung up. When we were getting ready to sleep at night, Tony came into our room and played this song on his "Pink Floyd" CD for K. Apparently, he and K had discussed about music while working in the flower shed that morning. I must say the song that was played was very nice. The main instrument used was the guitar. K said the guitarist is a genius.. = ) Apparently, the family is quite into guitars and bands. They even have the PS2 game "Guitar Hero", and their youngest son Danny plays the guitar in school..

Did i mention that the room we are sleeping in is actually the family's cinema room? The whole room is basically set up like a theatre, with a huge projector screen, big sofas, surround sound woofers and speakers and dim lighting. The entire room is also painted black. There's even a entire drum set behind the sofas. Our bed is just 2 single mattresses joined together in the middle of the cinema room. Cool eh?

After breakfast today, K and I drove to a outdoor basketball court nearby and shoot some hoops. It was the only free basketball court K could find. He had bought a basketball for $6 and had been looking forward to using it. The court is quite pathetic. Very small, about half a full court only. We had some fun running around and increasing our heart beat a little. I am so lacking stamina now after not exercising for so damn long!

Today was basically a eating spree for K and I. After playing basketball, we drove to Manukau Heads to see the lighthouse. It was a pathetic lighthouse. We had to climb uphill and steps to get to the lighthouse. But it was good exercise. And the view up there was amazing. Complete calm and silence. It was hard to believe that many ships and boats have been wrecked in the once turbulent seas below (and hence the erection of the lighthouse). We could see the ocean, hills, and lots of cows grazing on the grass below. K recorded the whole scenery on video. Will upload when i have some time. After admiring the scenery, we left Manukau Heads. K made me do a little drive from the light house to the entrance of the lighthouse. My first driving experience here. My first task was to reverse, then i had to go on the gravel road, which was pretty much straight except for a few minor bends and potholes. It was quite fun. = )

Next up was lunch. We headed to Pukakohe for my Japanese food. I had been having craving for the Udon there since the last time i had it. The soup is just so yummy. We reached the restaurant around 3pm, and was told the kitchen is closed until 5pm. So we could only had sushi. I had sushi, while K went to buy the Sub of the Day at Subway: Spicy Italian. I was soo soo disappointed. After lunch, we went to the Asian supermarket there, and bought some snacks: Hello Panda biscuits, Double Decker chicken crackers, and Wang Wang Wan Zhai small egg bun cookies. = ) I had the egg bun cookies as a snack afterwards, while K had his strawberry Hello Panda cookies.

We drove to Pokeno next, enroute to Port Waikato. The Port was supposedly famous and appeared in the travel brochure as one of the things to do in NZ. So we decided to go there and take a look. At Pokeno, we had their famous huge ass scoop ice cream. I had 2 different kinds of chocolate ice cream. Initially, K said he didn't want any, but he later gave in and ordered 2 scoops for himself: Mint chocolate and some almond flavor. And so we sat there for about 20 mins eating ice cream until we got even colder. During that time, i think we saw more than 15 ice-cream cones being sold. Such good business!! Wonder how much they make a day.

After ice-cream, we headed to see the supposedly famous Port Waikato. Our plans were to buy their famous fish and chips and see the sunset at their Sunset Beach while having the meal. But by the time we reached the Port at 5pm, the sun was already setting. And the fish and chips shop had closed. And we couldn't find Sunset Beach. We found a beach, but it was like under renovation, and the sun was blocked by hills. So i don't think that's the one. Anyway, we ended up parking along another beach, and just sat there at the bench and stared into the sea.. = )

We headed back to Pukakohe after that, and I had my Udon. Looks like it was all fated.. haha.. We ordered tempura udon soup, and chicken don with egg. I finished my udon soup and then asked for more. The guy was a bit relunctant at first, but he relented. I think i had too much
, cause now i don't feel like having udon anymore.. = P

After dinner, K and I were both so stuffed that we did a brisk walk up and down the streets. All the shops were closed, so we literally walk up and down. That increased my heartbeat a little, and i felt so shiok. We headed next to the super market to get ingredients for next day's lunch. I was supposed to make pasta salad for lunch while K work on the farm in the morning.

The drive back home was super long. For some reason, there was a super thick fog on the roads, and we could hardly see 10 metres in front of us, despite putting our head lights on high beam. K said this was the worst fog he had driven in. There were times when we completely cannot see anything at all, and I was so worried that we will drive down a cliff on the winding small roads!

We reached home around 9pm, and realized that the family was in an arguement. Father, mother and youngest son. I didn't realize at first, so i said "Hello" when i entered the house. But only Donna responded. K quickly nudge me to the bedroom, and we stayed inside the room for the next 30 minutes until all was quiet outside. Then i crept out to have my shower.

I popped a flu tablet and panadol before going to bed. Hopefully i will feel much better!!

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Another day in the farm house..

Here I am, sitting in the living room still in my pyjamas, and blogging.. I haven't had lunch yet. been here since morning 1030am.. It's 2pm now.

K is working in the flower farms with Tony again. He told Tony i won't be working cause i am having backaches and i might be pregnant. So i get to laze around at home. They came back from lunch at 12pm just now, and i made egg mayo sandwich for K.

We have agreed that we will continue to stay in the farm until this weekend, cause for some reason, K actually enjoys working on the flower farm. He says it's much better than working at the kiwi packhouse. Sigh.. don't understand this man. Besides, he says we only have to work 1-2 more days, since they don't work on Friday and during the weekends. Plus, i had a much better sleep yesterday. For some reason. Maybe because of the breakdown and letting all my emotions out was a huge release. K also slept better last night, cause he put some clothes under his neck and that kinda supported his neck so he didn't have a stiff neck this morning.

It started to rain this morning, and K and Tony stayed in the house instead of go out to the farms. At first, i was worried about K walking to the farm by himself, mainly because the climb up the hill was very deserted, so if anything happen to him, nobody will know. Plus, i was worried about the bull and the cow chasing him. Yesterday, after work at the farm house, Tony only drove us to the flower shed, and asked us to walk back to the house cause he had some more work to finish at the shed. So we had to walk downhill back to the house, past the electric fence, and then we were face to face with the bull and cow. They were both smack right in the middle of the lane we had to pass to get to the house. So we had no choice. K walked in front and held my hand. The stupid cow again followed us, and a few times, she chased us from behind, and K had to use his hands to like block her away. I was SOOO scared.. And the worst thing is i cannot run. So i just close my eyes and walked really really fast.

That's why when K told me he will help out at the farm today, i was worried the cow will hurt him when he walk past. The bull seemed okay though, luckily, cause the horns will definitely hurt K if he chases him.

Anyway, the rain stopped for a bit, and so K headed out to the farm. Tony had driven to the town center to run some errands. About 30 mins after K left, it started to drizzle again. I began to get worried that K will fall sick working in the rain. And it will be so cold for him! But when he got back for lunch, he seemed fine and happy.. Sometimes i wished i can be more like him. But i always seem to be so pessimistic and complaining..

Hai.. This trip is supposed to make me happier. But it seems that i still cannot escape from all the problems back home. My parents, problems with the bills and car etc.. And my 2 tenants are still giving problems. They simply cannot get along with each other. One is always bringing girlfriend home, the other is not happy about paying the utilities for the girlfriend, and cleaning up the hair she left.. Then one is unhappy that the other is always so rude and aggressive to him. Aiyah, a lot of problems.

K's mom had to go down to our house to meet them for a discussion, and the whole thing lasted until 1am in the morning. On a work day. Really feel so bad to trouble K's mother for all these petty little things. Really regret renting out 2 rooms now. I rather not have the rental and kick them both out of the house now. But K's mom is worried the two of them might do funny things to the house if we kick them out. What the fuck did i get myself into?!

Is it really SO damn difficult for people to just give us a fucking break from their lives and leave us alone for once?? I mean, we only left home for one month, and there are so many problems haunting us already. WHY??

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My first breakdown..

I broke down just now.. while having a discussion with K.

It's my first one, and i guess everything just accumulated and i just exploded.. At that moment, all i wanted was to go home.. But i am feeling okay now..

This morning, K and I went to the farm to help Tony. When we first arrived, Tony had mentioned to K that he had intended to hire some paid help on the farm, but since the 2 of us had arrived, he figured we could help out instead. At first, i was not too happy with that. Cause that is not in accordance with the rules of the Global Freeloaders community. The purpose of the Global Freeloaders network is to host people for free. The host is not supposed to ask the guest to work for them in exchange for accommodation. Then again, K mentioned that the host is also not obliged to provide meals for his guests as well. Just provide accommodation. We had a few meals at Tony and Donna's place since we arrived. So I guess we had to work to "repay" them for our meals.

Yesterday's dinner went well. K and I made 6 packets of hot and spicy instant korean noodles, and fried butter chicken with potato cubes. The noodles didn't taste as nice as the last time we did it at Linda's place, but the chicken was delicious. And the family liked it. At least that was what they said.

Last night, the stupid Jack Russell came into my bedroom and peed on the carpet. I was so pissed. I think the dog doesn't like me, cause i don't like her either. I largely just ignore it, cause it always barks a lot. And sometimes, i call her a stupid dog.. haha. After last night's peeing incident, i got even more pissed off at the dog. Feel like kicking it now everytime i see her.

Anyway, K and I did about 4-5 hours of work at the flower farm today.. It was easy work (brainless).. but physically tiring. We were asked to pick some nice looking stems of leaves ("Globets" or something) by cutting them with a sharp plier scissors. First of all, the walk to the farm was exhausting cause it was uphill. We had to climb over some electric string fencing that were used to keep out the animals, and over a metal fence that could not be opened. We also had to walk pass a big cow and a bull grazing on the grass, and the stupid cow followed so closely behind me i got scared and didn't even dare to turn around to look back. I just kept walking as fast as i could, frightened to run in case the cow chased after me.

And then there was the picking. We had to spot the nice ones, pick them, and then using our bare hands, strip off the leaves from the bottom of the stems so we could hold each stem in our hand. And some of the stems were so thick it was difficult to cut. And we had to pull out all the stubborn weeds with our bare hands too. And i was silly enough to wear my beige suede boots to work. So now they are all dirty. After the first round of picking, we went to the shed and helped Tony bunch up the stems with rubber bands. My hands are now all sore and dry from all the picking, pulling and bunching.

Around 12pm, we headed back to the house for lunch. At least, Tony said that. But when we reached home, there was no food. Tony just had a plain sandwich. I didn't want to eat bread agaain for lunch cause i had it for breakfast, so K and I drove out to the town center and had Subway. And we had the cheapest one. Tuna. Cause it was the Subway of the Day. Our sub was cut into 3. We had 2 and K said to leave one portion for dinner. We then went to the supermarket to buy ham and cheese for tomorrow's breakfast cause i can't take toast with butter anymore..

The work continued after lunch. This time, Tony drove us on his big motorbike to another garden where the leaves were not as perfect for picking. K and I sat inside the same container where we put the flowers and were pulled along behind the motorcyle as we rode from garden to garden. As we rode past the bushes, i was hit by some leaves and branches. K stretched out his hand to protect me. I learnt to avoid them the next time round.. At the not so perfect garden, we started picking.. After about 1 hour, Tony asked us to pick out the bad ones instead, and cut them off. Now that was the challenging task cause a lot of bad ones are bended and at the bottom of the bushes, so i had to bend a lot to cut them off. And along the way, both K and I were pricked by some wild thorns cause we didn't wear gloves. And also because Tony had told us there were no thorns on the leaves. Sure enough, there weren't. The torns came from somewhere else among the bushes. Not from the leaves we were picking.

At about 3pm, the sky started to turn cloudy, and it got really windy. I was cold, and my back was aching, and i wanted to go back. But we had to wait for Tony. He finally came about 4pm. We went back to the house. And K and I had our dinner. For me, it was the leftover subway, cookies and potato chips. That was at 5pm.

After dinner, we watched a bit of boring TV. Then K and i went into the bedroom and had our discussion. I told him i couldn't stand it anymore. I asked him why we are still living like that and suffering, when he is already so sure i am pregnant. He said before that if i was pregnant, we could spend all the money here and then go home. I broke down and cried. Because my back was aching, my dinner sucked.. My hands were sore, the bedroom was cold, and i was going to have another restless night cause i won't be able to sleep well in the cold and super soft (with no support) bed.

K started searching for paid accomodation elsewhere. We will most probably move out of this farm within the next few days. I am definitely not going to work on the farm anymore. And i told K we will not have any meals at the house anymore, in case Tony wants us to work to "repay" him for the meals.

I really hope this feeling inside me will fade away soon. There is only so much good food or good accomodation that I can get with my money, but i cannot change the weather. And i cannot get my favourite Singapore food here.

My stomach seems to be getting bigger, not sure if it's because i am getting fatter from eating bread and potatoes, or i am pregnant.. Still no symptoms yet though...

ARGGGHHHHH!!!!!

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T cube: Tales of a Tired Traveller

I am so tired...

Tired of not having the hot and sunny Singapore weather and instead, having to tolerate the cold every single day and night. It just gets colder everyday..

Tired of not having my favourite food easily accessible to me within a drive away and instead, having to eat bread and sandwiches every day, or lousy Asian food.

Tired of not being to sleep well at night either because it's too freakin cold, there's no heater in my bedroom, or because of a very uncomfortable bed..

Tired of my whole body aching from working at the kiwi pack house or at the flower farms..

Tired of always having to hurriedly get dressed immediately after i get out from the shower, lest i freeze to death in the cold..

Tired of always being in a huddling position, so much so that i no longer know how to sit or stand straight.

Tired of wearing so many layers of clothes and having to feel all the weight on my small shoulders.. And the uncomfortable feeling of wearing long johns under my pants..

Tired of not knowing whether i am pregnant or not..

Tired of not knowing where to go or what to do, or whether we will have enough money to do it..

Tired of arguing with K because of all the above..

I want to go home..

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It's WAR TIME !!

Today is the day that K has been waiting for. The Air Soft war games! Tony had invited K to participate in the game when we first arrived, so today's the day.

We woke up at 830am today, and K made milo for me. Somehow, the milo i made myself never tasted any good, so i asked him to make one for me.. And it was good! K refuses to tell me what he put inside that i didn't.. Bummer..

At about 930am, we headed to the war game center with Danny, Kurt and Abi (Donna's 2 sons and son's girfriend). We drove there cause it was quite a distance and difficult to walk there through all the hills and slopes. Kurt and Danny were both all dressed in full green soldier uniform with their rifle guns. It was quite exciting to see.

Not long after we reached the center, more and more people came. There were more than 10 cars parked outside, and about 25 people. 80% of them were dressed in serious soldier uniform. Some even had helmets and smeared camouflage on their faces and arms!! These guys are really serious about their war games!

There was the usual preparation where the guys prepared their guns, which looked so real. I just walked around snapping pictures of these funny looking men! Check out my Facebook for more photos ! = )

Then Tony divided the men into 2 teams, did the briefing, and off they went. Donna, me and Abi stayed behind in the center and prepared lunch - Beef burgers. I helped Donna cut the lettuce while she cut the tomatoes, while Abi grilled some sausages. Then I helped to wrap the burger buns into paper napkins and put them in boxes. We were all given paper lunch coupons to collect our lunch. It was $5 for a beef burger (with cheese, lettuce and sliced tomatoes) and a can of soft drink. And of course, K and I had ours for free. = ) Around 11am, we were finished, so Donna drove me and Abi to Waiku town center to return her DVD while Abi got Kurt a subway. After that, we bought ourselves real fruit ice-cream. This time, i tried mango flavor but it came out all vanila ice cream with no mango flavor at all.. sickening.. I regretted not sticking to banana flavor instead.. = (

The guys started to all stream back around 1230pm, and the center was crowded with people and noise again. I asked K how the game went, as i had watched it from on top of the hill at the center, and it looked quite boring. He concurred. There weren't many opportunities to shoot, unlike in paintball. Cause the field was just too big and sparse, and most of the time, he was just walking around and looking for people to shoot. Throughout the 2 hours, he only got shot twice, and shot 6 people. haha.. We met a Malaysian Chinese and chatted with him over lunch. Apparently, he had driven 100km to come here to play, cause according to him, the war games that Tony ran was pretty good. And apparently, this Malaysian guy was part of an Air Soft club. Interesting..

The game continued after lunch. It's 330pm now, and the guys are still playing. I helped Donna clear up the place after lunch, and then headed back to the house to chill and blog.. = )

Once K gets back, we need to head out again to buy some more butter chicken sauce, then make our instant noodles and butter chicken dinner for the family. Hopefully they will like it!! = )

Tomorrow is the day we start work on the farm. Tony had said to K that he needed some general help on the farm, so we are going to do some farm work tomorrow!

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Dim Sum Dollies !

K and I drove up to Auckland's Sky City for Dim Sum buffet yesterday. We skipped lunch to save our stomach for the buffet. = )

On the way there, K decided to stop over at the Otara weekend markets to see if he
could get himself a cheap hoodie at one of the shops. He's finally beginning to feel the cold now!! As we shopped around, we came across a chinese bakery with a really long queue. So we popped in and saw that there were lots of delicious looking breads and cakes and muffins going for dirt cheap. I saw some familiar buns sold in packs of 6.. that felt so nostalgic!! K popped into one shop and saw this hoodie that was selling at $15, but it was those slip on types, and he couldn't even get his head in the L size, so we forgot about it. Figured we would be better off getting him the hoodies with the front zippers instead. haha.. that was quite funny!!

We reached Ming Court for the dim sum around 1230pm as per our reservation. It was sit down buffet with only the dessert section on display along the sides of the restaurant. The wait staff would push trolleys of dim sum out and then you pick and choose. We had Chee Cheong Fun, BBQ pork buns, Siew Mai, Har Kow, fishballs, spring rolls, the usual Dim Sum stuff. There was also fried noodles and rice etc. But i would only give my whole gastronomic experience a 6 out of 10. Well, i guess after tasting the authentic Dim Sum in Hong Kong, this one was lousy! To give it some credit, i must say the BBQ pork buns were not bad, and their fruits were really sweet. They also had some nice chocolate cake and red bean sesame balls for dessert.

After lunch, we headed into the casino and K tried his luck at Big Small. He played for about 30 minutes while i watched a netball game on the projector screen. Netball is such a big thing here in New Zealand. It's like the national sport second to Rugby! When we were in Auckland, there is this netball center that seems to be crowded with girls of all ages every evening, despite the freezing weather.. and the number of cars parked outside was just overwhelming!

Anyway, after 30 minutes of gambling, we went back with no winnings nor losses. Complete waste of time. We went shopping around Sky City after that, and bought a shoe stain and water repellent from No. 1 shoes.

We headed to the Asian supermarket to stock up on groceries next. We were planning to cook instant noodles and chicken with potatoes again, this time for our current host family. The supermarket was recommended by Donna (our hostess), and it was huge. Much bigger than all the others we have been to. And guess what? K found the exact same old town white coffee he drinks in Singapore at the supermarket. And i found 3 in 1 milo fuze!! Can u believe it? I thought 3 in 1 milo was non existent in NZ! And no surprise, the milo was imported from Singapore. But I didn't buy it cause i still had one whole tin of milo left to finish.

After the supermarket, we went to Sylvia Park and had dinner there. Chinese mixed dishes in one microwave box for $6. That settled dinner for 2 of us. Cheap eh! Then we went to Warehouse to get a DVD for Tony. "Journey to the center of the earth" starring Brendon Fraser. Apparently, the movie has 3D effects and the DVD came with 4 pairs of 3D glasses. Cool.. We headed to Pak and Save next for more grocery shopping. Bought chicken drumsticks,soft drinks and potatoes.

By the time we reached home, it was around 8pm. It was really dark, but luckily K had already familiarized himself with the roads so we didn't get lost at all. We watched the movie "Valkyrie" (starring Tom Cruise) with the rest of the family in the living room, then headed to bed around 11pm, with K all excited about the Air Soft war games the next day!! = )

Videos from our trip!!

Here are some video clips of our trip in New Zealand, all uploaded on You Tube. Enjoy!!


Our 4 Wheel Drive Adventure:

• This is Ah Ming and Adreana going through their first obstacle by driving down a steep slope and into a deep water hole. We went first so we could video taped them!! The whole car got so dirty afterwards!
  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JADH8alOekA

• This is K and me in our car going down a 4 metres slope. It was like a roller coaster ride and I was actually screaming! We filmed Ming and Adreana afterwards
  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nko1XJ7VFt0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kTJ22Y3Qys

Our Horse Riding Experience:

• This is me trying to get onto the horse at Linda's farm.. K was filming and laughing at me the whole damn time.. haha.. it's really not easy to ride a horse you know!! = )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2AYuUSQ7D4

Playful Dexter:

• This is Dexter being his usual playful self. Here, he is playing with Sherrif's legs, biting on them until he got bored and moved on to play with the plastic bag and pencil instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqcaGBPKZww

The Most Beautiful Sun Set:

• This is the view we got on top of the hill that Tony took us on a walk to. We saw BOTH the moon and the sun at the same time. And even Australia in the distance. Isn't it cool? That's K doing the commentary.. =)
  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRLZsMzJe8Q

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4th June 09: My 3rd Farm Stay!!

K and I are at our 3rd farm house now with Tony and Donna. We arrived yesterday after getting a bit lost again on the small roads. This one is also a flower farm, but much bigger at 30 acres.

On the way here, K and I had KFC for lunch. We ordered the hot and spicy 3 piece meal, but the chicken was neither hot or spicy. Their whipped potato also tasted also tasted weird. Only the coleslaw and Pepsi were normal. We also stopped over at a tourist center and I had the most delicious real banana ice cream. One scoop of that is about the same price as 2 scoops of local Tip Top ice cream, but I think it's worth it, cause the fruit is real fruit, and the wafer cone they used is of much better quality.
= )

We arrived at the farm house at around 5pm. The sun had started to set and it was getting cold. Tony greeted us when we arrived. But we didn't get to go into the house, cause when we arrived, Donna was having an argument with her youngest son Danny. Apparently, Danny had skipped school and went to his friend's house that day. So Tony took us for a walk around his farm, and up a hill to see the gorgeous sunset. I was not really in the mood for the uphill walk, but the sunset was kinda worth it.

During the walk, Tony kinda gave us some “warning” that Donna might be a little emotional, cause her dad passed away 5 weeks ago, she was having problems with Danny, and she also just quit smoking recently. So he told us not to get surprised if she cries suddenly for no reason.

Tony also brought us to see his battlefield center. Apparently, they operate like a paint ball center, where people will come and play once every 2 weekends. K is now so excited about it, cause he will get to play this weekend. Their battlefield is actually quite impressive cause they have plenty of land, and they own it, so they actually do a pretty good job setting it up with all the props. And the guns they use are so real! They even have army trucks and really “real” looking soldier uniforms. Tony even plays war music of planes flying etc on hi stereo when the game is played. So cool!

Anyway, Donna made dinner yesterday. We had beef stew with bread and mixed vegetables. That was quite nice. At least I prefer beef over lamb. But dessert was delicious. Donna baked pear and blackberry pie. And we had that with chocolate ice cream. So yummy.. So yesterday, I totally satisfied my craving for ice cream.. = )

After dinner, we watched a bit of TV. Then K and I had our showers, then used the internet in our room. At least this house has wireless internet. The last flower farm we stayed at, there was no internet. And no TV even! = ) K and I slept around 10pm yesterday. We both didn’t sleep well, cause it was so damn cold. And no heater in the bedroom. How come all the farms got no heaters in the bedrooms!! For this family that we’re staying with now, they are doing this “alternative living” thing so they are trying to save electricity and power. So they don’t use heaters except in the living room at night. When I crawled into bed, my mattress was super cold. I used to always complain to K about him and his always warm body. Cause in Singapore, he would perspire immediately after he showers. But here, I am grateful for his always warm body.. Haha = )

This morning, K woke up at 630am to go to Auckland with Tony to deliver some flowers to the airport for export. I refused to wake up so he went with Tony while I slept. I dragged myself out of bed into the cold around 10am, made myself breakfast and just sat there in the living room. Had toast, milo, biscuits and a banana. Nobody was at home except for their black cat Buster, and their Jack Russell Molly. Buster is a really nice cat. Yesterday night, he just jumped onto my lap and sat there while I watched TV and stroked him. But this Molly is so noisy, always barking and barking for no reason.

Donna came home not long after, and I helped her bring some groceries into the war game / battlefield center and cleaned up the area for tomorrow’s paintball game. We both realized we are allergic to dust, so Donna said she will let Tony do the sweeping. = ) Donna says she usually makes hamburgers for the players and she also brought plenty of canned Coke and Sprite drinks. When we reached the house, K and Tony were both back from Auckland.

K and I left not long after and headed to Pukakohe for lunch. We had the most delicious tempura udon at a Japanese café. We also had teriyaki chicken don, but the teriyaki sauce had a strange sour plum taste in it so I didn’t really enjoyed it. Well, at least, the shop owners are real Japanese people, not some China people trying to cook Japanese food!

We shopped around a bit after lunch, then headed to the black beach near where we are staying. We saw some people paragliding, and this lady riding her horse along the beach. It was beautiful. But I couldn’t really enjoy it all cause I was too cold. Really frustrated cause I really don’t know how else to keep myself warm! And recently, I am having problems with my freezing head and ears. Looks like I have to wear a silly looking warm winter hat from now onwards!

Upon reaching home, I helped Donna make dinner. She was making chicken hamburgers with fries. I helped cut the burger buns into half, put the vegetables and sauce, and served. It was great fun. First time making burgers myself! For dessert, we had the same pie and ice cream again. And now I am soo soo full. = ) The family is watching Ninja Heroes on TV now while K and I surfed the net. K is planning to go to Auckland tomorrow for Tim Sum buffet. But he’s so worried about our finances now cause we looked at our bank balances yesterday and realized we have spent way too much for our first month. I told him if I am really pregnant, then we can spend all the money and go home, so no need to worry.. Haha.. = P

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2 June 09: My 2nd Farm Stay!!

K and I checked out from Seagulls Guest house 2 days ago, and headed to our host family's house in Glen Murray, close to Hamilton. The house is supposed to be on a 15 acres flower farm, and I was quite excited about staying there.

We cleared our room at around 10am, and then stayed on to use the kitchen to make brunch.. We had the leftover penne pasta that Ah Ming prepared the day before, leftover clear chicken soup, and K made lotsa Bombay toast for the 2 of us. Delicious!!

We left after having our brunch at around 11plus and headed to Hamilton to take a look see. Hamilton is a town of a pretty decent size. We shopped a bit at the New Save Asian supermarket. I bought my Wang Zhai egg bun cookies, and rice crackers, and K bought his white coffee which had run out. We also bought some oyster sauce and dark soya sauce. That was about all we did in Hamilton cause we didn't have much time there, and we wanted to reach the farm before the sun set.

We got a little lost on all the gravel roads leading to the farm, and I got all giddy from all the turns and the bends in the small roads. But eventually, we arrived at the house around 430pm and met Linda, our host. Linda's house is like a little cottage. Very quaint with old furniture. She had 2 cats, 1 really adorable kitten called Dexter (which I totally adore!), and 2 dogs, a grey hound named Sheriff, and a really fat Jack Russell called Tia.





Linda have 2 adopted daughters Abi and Samara, both about 16-17 years old. At first, when Linda introduced them as her daughters, I was a bit puzzled cause she was white, and her daughters were black. We realized later that she adopts a lot of children, and does a lot of volunteer work. It seems that the people here does a lot of adoption. So far, almost all the host families we stayed with have adopted children from poor countries. But only Linda's adopted children stays with her. The rest just sends money to their so called “adopted” children.

Anyway, Abi and Samara are both home schooled by Linda. And you will be surprised just how well rounded they are. They not only learn the academic subjects like Math and English, they also can play the piano, knit very well, and horse ride. I am sure among others too, just that I didn’t stay long enough to observe more.

As usual, all of our stays are eye opening experiences for us. Linda uses a really ancient wood fired stove cum oven to cook. First I have ever seen. There is even a chimney attached to it, and they have to constantly put in wood in order for the fire inside to burn. That was kinda like the heater for the kitchen. And they even make their own bread and jams.

Linda made dinner that night. Lamb stew with baked potato and mixed pea and corn. I didn't really enjoy it though cause I have never been a big fan of lamb. But I think K liked it. After dinner, we played a board game called “Settlers” where the aim of the game was to build settlements and build roads etc to win. The game took so long that I got sleepy. It finally ended around 10pm when Linda won the game. After that, I had my bath. It was the COLDEST bath I have ever had in my life. Cause the hot water didn't really work. And it was freezing cold at night. I was literally shivering all over when I got out from the bath. And I wanted to cry. Then I went to my bedroom. There was no heater the first night we were there. But we had plenty of thick blankets to cover us up, and Linda had given us both hot water bottles to keep ourselves warm under the blankets. But still, we were cold. Especially my head and ears. It was quite bad. Seems like all the farms we have stayed at have no heaters in their rooms. But this one was the worse. Our bedroom was like a refrigerator.

On the second night, Linda moved the kitchen heater to our room. It helped a bit but still cold. K and I made dinner on the second night. Cooked butter chicken and potatoes, and made hot and spicy Korean instant noodles. It was delicious. Linda and Abi enjoyed it as well, but not Samara. The noodles were too spicy for her. After dinner, we played board games again. This time it was Cluedo. And again, Linda won. = )

Our second day on the farm was also pretty eventful. In the morning, I had toast with cheese and butter with my Milo. Then went to the farm to help Linda pick some pussy willows from the trees. Never knew pussy willows looked like that! The only time I see pussy willows is during Chinese New Year at people's houses and they also look so “nice” with all the ornaments hung on them. And so we picked the pussy willows, then brought them to the shed where we helped pluck out the leaves and Linda trimmed them to the length she wanted. K and I also helped her bunch up some flags (a type of long leaves for flower arrangements) for her to sell in the flower market. It was quite fun.

After all the work, we tried horse riding on their 2 horses in the paddock. Abi and Samara rode on the horses first, and it seemed so easy with the horses just running freely in the field. Then it was K and my turn. The last time I rode on a horse was when I was 6 years old, and it was in a zoo. I went first ,while K video taped the whole thing. I had difficulty getting onto the horse, and K was laughing at me the whole time. Abi guided my horse around the field. The horse was just trotting along, but I felt as if I would fall off anytime! Haha.. it was fun. And as usual, K tried to be hero. He didn't want to wear a helmet despite my urging him to, and he wanted the horse to run. But of course, the minute he got on the horse and the animal started walking, he took back his words about letting the horse run instead of trot.. = )



After the horse riding, K and I headed out for lunch at a cafe owned by Linda's friend.. We had hot chocolate, yummy nachos, smoked chicken with “cus cus” (no idea what that is) and potato and leek soup. The sun was really warm so we sat on the deck facing the creek and the limestone hills. It was beautiful. = )

We left on the 4th June afternoon, after K had a game of basketball with the girls. Overall, it was another interesting stay at the farm. I definitely won't miss the cold bedroom, but I will especially miss Dexter the kitten. He is just so cute, and so playful. And it was obvious he was the family's baby Here are some pictures and videos of him playing..

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1st June 2009: Our first public holiday in NZ

Today is the Queen’s birthday and a public holiday in NZ. It also happens to be our off day. We had planned a day out with Ah Ming and Adreana to Rotorua. Initially, the plan was to go to a Polynesian thermal hot spa and soak in the water for the whole day. But we ended up going to an off-road activity center instead.

For breakfast this morning, K had wanted to make Bombay toast. But as usual, we dilly dallied and ended up running late to meet up with the other couple. So K made toast with melted cheese and sugar instead. According to K, the sugar was supposed to caramelized on top of the cheese, but it didn’t. Still, it was nice. = )

We drove over to Ah Ming and Adreana’s motel, picked them up, and headed off to Rotorua around 12pm. Despite knowing that we had eaten breakfast, Ah Ming packed some penne pasta into a lunch box for us. They even wrapped a spoon in a piece of tissue for us to use! The penne pasta was my lunch. There was sausage, onions, fried luncheon meat and plenty of tomato sauce. As usual, it was yummy. Nothing less to expect from a chef!! = ) The rest of them skipped lunch and munched on tidbits instead.

We saw the off-road thingy at the information site that we stopped over at in the town center. Which was a good thing cause I had a great deal of fun today. We booked ourselves 02 Suzuki 4-wheel drives, and drove into a bush safari jungle full of unexpected obstacles. Throughout the 1 hour drive, we had a guide with us talking through the walkie. It was great fun and I think K enjoyed himself cause he always wanted to drive a 4-wheel drive car and do off roads. The whole ride was bumpy but fun. We drove into huge water holes that submerged half of the car, drove down extremely steep slopes that made me scream like I was on a roller coaster ride, drove into a dark cave, and also drove a short distance along a small slope with our car tilted at about 40 degrees. Halfway through the drive, the guide asked us to stop and took pictures for us. = ) Here are some of the photos we took.. And videos.. more on Facebook!!

Us before we set off for the safari drive!

One of the obstacles we had to do: Drive the car at a 40 degrees angle

After our off-road adventure, we went to explore the other activities in the center. We watched some people go-kart and drift, and another group doing clay bird shooting. After that, we headed off and passed by another tourist attraction and decided to go in and take a look. This one had bungy jumping, sky dive simulation, etc. We also saw some interesting animals there. 3 really adorable and fat ponies, and plenty of ostriches! Ah Ming and Adreana fed the ostriches potato chips to lure them to come nearer to the fence, and we took the opportunity snap some really close up photos of the big birds..





We headed off for dinner after that. We had made dinner reservations at Valentine’s earlier in the day. Valentine’s is a restaurant serving western style buffet meals. I didn’t really like the spread though. Thought it was pretty expensive for the kind of food they served. We chatted over dinner for the next 2 hours until about 8pm, then headed home.

Overall, it was a fun day, given that we haven't really done much "playing" for the past 2 weeks stuck at the pack house!!

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31 May 2009: Our Last Day @ The Pack house!

Today was the last day of work for K and I at the pack house. As usual, we woke up at 630am in the morning and started to get ready for work. For the last 3 years since I started working, I have ever been to work on time. But the 2 weeks at the pack house I have not only on time for work, but early. The stupid assembly line start on the dot at 8am, so if we are a few minutes late the whole box will be over flowing with kiwi fruits.. So no choice..

The day before, a group of 14 year old boys checked into the guest house we were staying. There were 14 of them in total. Apparently, they were all hockey players and had came to Mt. Maunganui for a hockey competition. The whole guest house suddenly became a nightmare overnight, with the boys making so much noise and running around the house. Plus, they left their room doors open and when I walk past, I could see the mess in the rooms. They even place their hockey jerseys on the floor in the main entrance area to dry! The UK couple who was working at the guest house for their free stay had to work like crazy for that one night. Poor things!

When K and I woke up this morning to make breakfast, I got a shock when I walked to the communal kitchen and saw all the hockey boys already there eating their breakfast. They had with them a middle aged lady who was cooking their breakfast for them. The whole kitchen was like a war zone. Imagine breakfast for 14 growing and hungry teenage boys! Anyways, K took our bread and spread to the living room to avoid the kitchen. He had wanted to skip coffee and Milo. But I had to drink my morning Milo, so I braved myself and went into the kitchen to make our morning beverages in the midst of all the people and the mess. = )

At the pack house, I took the usual line beside K, handling all the jumbo size kiwis while k handled the mini ones. After about an hour of packing, the boss himself came over to me and asked if I could go over to do pre-grading. I hesitated, still recovering from the horrible first experience I had with the pre-grading few days ago. When he sensed my hesitation, he begged me. He was like: “Please, please??” I had no choice. And a little embarrassed that the boss had to beg me.. Haha.. K teased me and said I am in high demand. I don’t understand why the boss didn’t ask anyone else cause there were some other packers who had done pre-grading before. K said maybe did a very good job the last time. Which is ridiculous cause there’s no way to measure whether one can be doing a good job at pre-grading. I think it’s because no one else wanted to do it, and maybe I have a face that seems like I am easier to “bully”, so the boss asked me instead.. haha.. = )

So I spent the rest of the day doing pre-grading with a China lady as my partner. As usual, the experience was totally lousy. Despite the additional 50cents per hour, I will do anything to avoid looking at thousands of kiwis rolling past me and having to pick out and throw away the bad ones. Plus, the smell of squashed kiwis is horrible. I was like 1 or 2 hours into the job when I started to feel like vomiting. My head was dizzy from looking at all the rolling kiwis, and I was nauseous from the smell of the squashed kiwis. Fortunately, our shift ended early today at 1pm. I wasn’t sure I could have survived the whole day’s shift from 8am to 6pm doing pre-grading!!

Because work ended early at 1pm, there was no lunch break today, so we had our lunch after work in the pack house canteen. Ah Ming prepared fried bee hoon for lunch. That made my day totally. Especially after the horrible pre-grading experience. Plus, I was just telling K the night before that I was craving for fried bee hoon. Maybe Ah Ming is psychic! = ) There was fish cake, crab meat balls and fried egg in the bee hoon. Totally delicious. It seemed like ages since I last had fried bee hoon!

K and I left the pack house after lunch, and headed to Tauranga town center to walk around. We bought 6 books at 50 cents each at this book store we spotted. Super cheap right!! We also bought 2 international calling cards so now we can call back home at a much cheaper rate.

We headed to the supermarket in the evening to buy groceries for dinner, then headed home to make dinner. We had our first attempt in making clear chicken soup, based on the recipe Ah Ming gave us. We put the chicken bones and the ingredients into a big pot and left it there to boil for about 2 hours, while we went back to our room to watch Ice Age 2. To cut the long story short, the soup tasted like onion soup in water. Nothing at all like the chicken soup Ah Ming made for us! It was very disappointing. Up till now, we still don’t know what went wrong!! K also pan fried chicken meat in spicy butter sauce. That turned out not too bad though. = )

In the midst of preparing dinner and waiting for the soup to boil, we also went into the living room to watch TV. Since we checked in, we have never used the living room much. It’s also being occupied by the UK couple and their couple friend. So when we saw the living room empty, we quickly went in to sit on the couch and enjoy the fireplace. “Joey” was on TV so we watched that and had a good laugh. Not long after “Joey” ended, “Princess Diaries” came on. The UK couple and their couple friend came into the living room then. And one of the couple friend (the guy), took the remote and switched channels without even asking if we were watching. I thought that was extremely rude, cause it was pretty obvious we were watching the TV when they first walked in. I got so pissed I walked out of the living room immediately when he switched channels. K seemed fine with the whole episode, but I kept complaining about how rude the guy was. K says I need to take it easy. Sometimes, I think so too.. Don’t know why I get so affected by the trivial things in life. Oh well, hopefully my stay here will see me change for the better!

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