K and I are at Mount Action Centre 5 minutes drive from our guesthouse, watching Filipinos play basketball. We heard about this place from this young UK couple also staying in our guesthouse. They basically work at the guest house too, in exchange for their stay there. The Action Centre is an indoor sports center where there are like 4 huge basketball courts and one hockey rink. People play all kinds of sports here, from basketball to badminton and netball and even tennis. The UK couple had asked us to join them for a game of badminton yesterday when we first met day on our check in day. I was so excited cause they told us they were playing with another German couple who were really good. In this freezing weather, I was so looking forward to a good workout and perspire for once! I haven't had one single bead of perspiration for the past 24 days since I arrived, kinda feels weird. = )
Anyway, we didn't play badminton in the end. Firstly, because K and I had to work at the packhouse. Secondly, the courts were fully booked. Bummer! Yesterday we packed kiwis from 8am to 330pm. So it wasn't that bad. The assembly line didn't go crazy like it did on Friday, but I nearly went crazy. There is this Malaysian Chinese man in his early to mid 40s who is also working at the packhouse. He happen to stand at the line next to me yesterday (which is not the first time already), and for the WHOLE shift, he kept irritating me with his non stop meaningless chatter. I just wanted him to leave me alone cause I want to concentrate on my work, and I had to count the number of kiwi fruits I was throwing away. Plus, I had a scratchy throat (I think it's from the dusty environment in the factory) and was totally not in the mood for chatter. He would just turn around and talk to me, telling me useless stuff like he used to drive a lorry in Malaysia. Then he would ask me if a particular kiwi fruit is okay to pack. One time, the supervisor came over and asked everyone to look out for kiwi fruits that had too much black lines on the skin. Those we need to throw away. Ever since then, that uncle kept turning around and asking me if this kiwi is okay, that kiwi is okay. He even has time to turn around and check MY kiwis. Then if he saw some kiwis I had packed but had lines, he would ask me if I should throw those away instead. Wah Lau!! It was so so irritating I felt like punching him in the face. I explained to him that it was not possible to achieve 100% quality checks, especially if the conveyor belt is churning out so many kiwi fruits at one time! Also, the supervisor said to throw away those kiwis that had TOO MANY lines, not a few lines! So when I ignored him, he asked me to go and ask the supervisor to confirm! I was pissed off at why his belt was churning out so much slower than mine that he had so much free time to keep turning around and talking to me. I ignored him most of the time. Then when he saw K talking to another Malaysian guy, he said to me: “Hmm.. seems like you youngsters have more to talk about. Maybe I am too old.” I faked a smile at him, hoping that would shut him up. Then 1 minute later, he turned around again and told me that he used to tell a lot of jokes when he was in Malaysia. Then he asked me if I can understand Hakka. I shook my head. It was just endless. I had to do something before I really punch him in the face.
So I turned around to the girl at the line behind me, and asked her if she could switch lines with me after tea break. K was behind her, so I told her I wanted to be nearer to K so I could talk to him. She agreed. I couldn't wait for tea break. At 10am, we had our first tea break. I am really beginning to get used to the factory worker life here. Every break is so punctual. 15 minutes, then the alarm will sound and we will all get back to work. Not 1 minute more. So at 1015am, we were all back to work. The stupid uncle made a comment on us switching places, then all was peaceful. At least for me. He started to bother the poor girl. But I think she enjoys it cause she kept entertaining and talking to him. Perfect.
For lunch, K and I had pasta again. The Malaysian Chinese couple that we met (Ah Ming and Adreana) gave us a box of chicken soup, which was totally delicious. It had chicken meat, potatoes, carrots and some vegetables. Haven't had clear Chinese soup for such a long time, so yesterday's soup was a welcome treat for me.
Ah Ming and K has been hitting it off quite well these few days, and K told me Ah Ming used to work as a chef in one of the S11 coffee shops in Jurong. Apparently, he is the chef of the mixed vegetable stall. No wonder their lunch always looks so delicious!! K and I are contemplating asking Ah Ming to cook lunch for us, and we'll pay him. But K says we need to wait until they are more comfortable with us before asking. Really don't feel like having pasta salad and sandwiches everyday for lunch. And we are too lazy to wake up early to cook. For Ah Ming, he said it's just a matter of waking up one hour earlier to cook. He makes it sound so easy!
Since today is our off day, K and I had planned to take a ferry to visit White Island, an active volcano over at Whatakane. They have tours to walk around the crater and stuff like that. But when we drove for about an hour there, the lady at the tourist information center told us the ferry was not leaving dur to bad weather conditions. So we ended up having fish and chips in Whatakane for lunch. After that, we headed to the town center for some shopping. I bought myself a nice pair of beige suede boots. The good quality pair of boots only cost me NZ$50. Super cheap! Sigh, how I wished everything else here is as cheap!
It's basically been raining the whole day now. What a let down! Tomorrow is another day at the packhouse. We will be working for another one more week before we head off to Hamilton for another 2 weeks' of free stay with another 3 families. Then maybe we will come back again to work at the packhouse, if they still want us!
Okay, that's about all for now, I guess there won't be much to blog about once I go back to work next week. Hoping to take some photos of us dressed funny and packing kiwi fruits so I can post on my blog.. = )
K and I are going supermarket shopping again now. We're making baked potatoes and luncheon meat for dinner.. Yum yum.. = )
Anyway, we didn't play badminton in the end. Firstly, because K and I had to work at the packhouse. Secondly, the courts were fully booked. Bummer! Yesterday we packed kiwis from 8am to 330pm. So it wasn't that bad. The assembly line didn't go crazy like it did on Friday, but I nearly went crazy. There is this Malaysian Chinese man in his early to mid 40s who is also working at the packhouse. He happen to stand at the line next to me yesterday (which is not the first time already), and for the WHOLE shift, he kept irritating me with his non stop meaningless chatter. I just wanted him to leave me alone cause I want to concentrate on my work, and I had to count the number of kiwi fruits I was throwing away. Plus, I had a scratchy throat (I think it's from the dusty environment in the factory) and was totally not in the mood for chatter. He would just turn around and talk to me, telling me useless stuff like he used to drive a lorry in Malaysia. Then he would ask me if a particular kiwi fruit is okay to pack. One time, the supervisor came over and asked everyone to look out for kiwi fruits that had too much black lines on the skin. Those we need to throw away. Ever since then, that uncle kept turning around and asking me if this kiwi is okay, that kiwi is okay. He even has time to turn around and check MY kiwis. Then if he saw some kiwis I had packed but had lines, he would ask me if I should throw those away instead. Wah Lau!! It was so so irritating I felt like punching him in the face. I explained to him that it was not possible to achieve 100% quality checks, especially if the conveyor belt is churning out so many kiwi fruits at one time! Also, the supervisor said to throw away those kiwis that had TOO MANY lines, not a few lines! So when I ignored him, he asked me to go and ask the supervisor to confirm! I was pissed off at why his belt was churning out so much slower than mine that he had so much free time to keep turning around and talking to me. I ignored him most of the time. Then when he saw K talking to another Malaysian guy, he said to me: “Hmm.. seems like you youngsters have more to talk about. Maybe I am too old.” I faked a smile at him, hoping that would shut him up. Then 1 minute later, he turned around again and told me that he used to tell a lot of jokes when he was in Malaysia. Then he asked me if I can understand Hakka. I shook my head. It was just endless. I had to do something before I really punch him in the face.
So I turned around to the girl at the line behind me, and asked her if she could switch lines with me after tea break. K was behind her, so I told her I wanted to be nearer to K so I could talk to him. She agreed. I couldn't wait for tea break. At 10am, we had our first tea break. I am really beginning to get used to the factory worker life here. Every break is so punctual. 15 minutes, then the alarm will sound and we will all get back to work. Not 1 minute more. So at 1015am, we were all back to work. The stupid uncle made a comment on us switching places, then all was peaceful. At least for me. He started to bother the poor girl. But I think she enjoys it cause she kept entertaining and talking to him. Perfect.
For lunch, K and I had pasta again. The Malaysian Chinese couple that we met (Ah Ming and Adreana) gave us a box of chicken soup, which was totally delicious. It had chicken meat, potatoes, carrots and some vegetables. Haven't had clear Chinese soup for such a long time, so yesterday's soup was a welcome treat for me.
Ah Ming and K has been hitting it off quite well these few days, and K told me Ah Ming used to work as a chef in one of the S11 coffee shops in Jurong. Apparently, he is the chef of the mixed vegetable stall. No wonder their lunch always looks so delicious!! K and I are contemplating asking Ah Ming to cook lunch for us, and we'll pay him. But K says we need to wait until they are more comfortable with us before asking. Really don't feel like having pasta salad and sandwiches everyday for lunch. And we are too lazy to wake up early to cook. For Ah Ming, he said it's just a matter of waking up one hour earlier to cook. He makes it sound so easy!
Since today is our off day, K and I had planned to take a ferry to visit White Island, an active volcano over at Whatakane. They have tours to walk around the crater and stuff like that. But when we drove for about an hour there, the lady at the tourist information center told us the ferry was not leaving dur to bad weather conditions. So we ended up having fish and chips in Whatakane for lunch. After that, we headed to the town center for some shopping. I bought myself a nice pair of beige suede boots. The good quality pair of boots only cost me NZ$50. Super cheap! Sigh, how I wished everything else here is as cheap!
It's basically been raining the whole day now. What a let down! Tomorrow is another day at the packhouse. We will be working for another one more week before we head off to Hamilton for another 2 weeks' of free stay with another 3 families. Then maybe we will come back again to work at the packhouse, if they still want us!
Okay, that's about all for now, I guess there won't be much to blog about once I go back to work next week. Hoping to take some photos of us dressed funny and packing kiwi fruits so I can post on my blog.. = )
K and I are going supermarket shopping again now. We're making baked potatoes and luncheon meat for dinner.. Yum yum.. = )
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