when all else fails

when all else fails, i still have my morning walks to school! my walk to school takes from 20minutes to 30minutes. depending on the traffic light and also my mood of the day.


this is the entrance of my apartment. i usually leave this entrance at about 1030am for class at 11am.

ah.. this is 189 hobson street. stanford apartments from the oppsite curb

the first thing i will pass is the radio station

then the police station. practically nothing happens there at all.

then i will pass by this statue.

then this

then this quadrangle. it has a market place (pa sa ma lang) every friday. sell really good donuts

then this skeezy bar with totally bad color combinations

then walk through this street. usually walk on the right side (auckland public library) rather than the left sides (full of dustbins)

and then up this terrible slope to albert park, this park is badly lited in the night. its dogey. argh

and there you see my campus on the right!

today there was a fire alarm practise. hmmm.. so i sat out in the sun munching on donuts and watching everyone else waiting around for the building to be burnt down. it didnt happen though.

ok next week i will have an excursion around my campus with lots of pictures of my lecturers, lecture halls, labs, canteens.. and every thing else in the campus tt i frequent.


creating memories.

all set to leave tml morning


tamarrr

i will be out

I will be out of hobson on sat!! which means that if you try to get me i will not be in. I will be in only when i am in. So try catching me when i am in then! :)

Things to pack for road trip 01: to hamilton and waitomo
1. one pair jeans
2. one pair track pants
3. one sleeping shirt
4. 2 t shirts
5. one sweater
6. one jumper
7. toiletries
8. camera
9. food plus chips
10. socks
11. scarf
12. hp charger and hp :)

37% of psychology student hear voices. and they hear it most during examination period. too bad these voices dun tell them the questions nor the answers.

I dun hear voices.

lastly, remember i will be out on sat and will not be in!

tamarrrr

today is good food day

Menu for dinner- fish and chips with some really nice tar tar sauce. there were 4 different type of fish. there was even a whole flounder. :)

Came back, tried to study, ended up on msn and crapping. studied for a while, has visitors in our living room, then went out for dessert with Rach and Renyu.

We have officially formed the talk rot club. President is Yeo Renyu. Pls contact him if you want to sign up. You will get your money worth of crap.

Menu for dessert- hot fudge cake. mmmm... really good two slices of just-right-sweetness chocolate cake with rich vanilla ice cream, with hot fudge and cream.
- snowball. hot crispy skin on the outside with vanilla ice cream on the inside with cream and strawberry syrup.

we are going to have a pancake breakfast next wed. going waitomo in the weekend. :) going stardome tml. :)

i have been doing crunches every night and every morning. wahaha.. hopefully it helps fix my pregnancy.

tamarrrr

going back to my readings

fun fact 01
my lecturers are going on industrial revolt again. this time, they will lecture for half a lecture then leave fashionably.

fun fact 02
have been eating alot of onions. my greatest fear is that i fart each step i take.

fun fact 03
made jelly last night. recipe here:
1. open up the packet
2. pour into a bowl and add water
3. freeze it
screwed up here:
1. freezed too long, becomes ice kachiang
2. rachel and renyu put ice kachiang into microwave
3. becomes more jelly like again

boring fact 01
watched 'the piano' hmm... saw this woman's finger being chooped off by the husband.
sorry.. this is not boring fact but horror fact 01

boring fact 02
i eat pies and museli bars so often. it becomes an automaticity


tamarrr

3 weeks=21days

It has been 3 weeks already exactly. I have been so acquainted with the vicinity around me, my flat mates, my school, the food, not having my dogs, family and friends around me. except for one thing.

it gets quite boring here sometimes. relaxation is good to a certain extent, after that it becomes boring and restless. :) but i will just treasure the leisure life style here, cos it wont be like this for long.

have you ever felt that waiting is sometimes a most unfuriating thing. it gives you a knot in you stomach, esp when the someone, something you waiting for is really important. waiting means that you are out of control. waiting usually comes with a friend called restlessness.

May my wait be worthwhile. (: [waiting .... ]

this weekend will be full of non activites! haha.. nothing much to do. probably finish up my assignment though its due 2 months from now. am i crazy??? wahaha..

next highlight: monday- watch monster-in-law
wednesday- orientation stardome

my strength, my song forever
tamarr

our very own home movie system

I watched batman cartoon just now. In aaron room. We do not have a dvd player. so we have to create our own home movie system at 189 hobson street. it was quite comfortable.

the only flaw: aaron has a teddy bear. hmmm.. its not even a soft toy cos its like so flat. its almost like a piece of cloth is a shape of the bear. haha.. a dirty one!!! :) Hope he does not reads this.

besides that, its all right. our home movie system rawks. got special speaker still.

I just finished my first week of school. It has been greatly enjoyable. Have started with work already too. I seem to have alot of time, so i study more than i do in singapore. But i enjoy it heaps!!!!

should i buy the denim jacket that i fell in love with?



thanks for shuyi and tracy for the package to me. My room mates were staring with envy. its good to recieve things from you all. Hope you all recieve the things i sent to!! I am awaiting the photos from crave.

smears heap heap heap of strawbeery flavored body butter


tamarrrrrr

Lancinating pain

Pain is good for you. Did you know that??

Pain tells you that something is wrong. Pain prevents you from doing something that will further hurt you. So now, i will no longer complain when i feel pain.

** WHOLE PERSON CARE: It is as important to know the person who has the disease as to know the disease that the person has. (William Osler)

I really hope that in future i can practise psychology. Its not only fulfilling to me but it can help improve the quality of the life of people. God may this be part of your plan for me k? xie xie le!
hmmm.. and there is someone that is going to give me "--", who is that person?

pinning, wishing, yearning, longing (soter)

my wish list:
1. go black water rafting?
2. go for an all blacks match
3. greater greater experience, in any form
4. going for a nice film
5. watching dance performance
6. still thinking
7. still considering
8. still pending
9. still seaching
10. dont know yet la

anyway, why does things always come in '10'? hmmm... or rather why do i have to list 10 things?

To you who is reading this:
May everything beautiful come by your way. :)


something that i did not forget: i did not forget to take vitamins daily every since i got here. I consider this very commendable.

tamarrrrr

10 things i love about my life now

1. walking to school daily- spending time along with myself and my maker
2. being in my room listening to music and doing my own work
3. talk cock sing song with my flat mates
4. not eating potatoes for every meal
5. meeting new people who are wonderful, and even those that are not wonderful
6. recieveing calls and making calls to the people in singapore
7. shopping: yes. window shopping: nah
8. bathing and smearing my body with body butter
9. hugs from jared! (:
10. SNUGGLING in my bed and thinking about my day

in celebrations

To celebrate the strike= no school

1. had a crazy dinner: spagetti with sausages, capsicum, potatoes, the sweetest carrots ever, sauce with double mushroom. plus DIET coke

2. went to the gym: tried out all the gadgets

3. went to the movies: the four of us in the flat went to watch fantastic 4. It was on a mega screen. twice the size of singapore cinema. it was really cool! ~ tuesday is movie day cos its cheapest.

4. mug late

to a dear friend: remember morris? death ends a life not a relationship. :) dun be afraid. you are very much loved by all of us. there is a time for everything in life. flowers bloom. trees wither. snow falls. new green buds. but everyday, the sun still rises. rises for you. :) and also for i.

my pyjama craze in new zealand

*secret snigger*



blue one: its a men small size. it looks really strange at the ** area when i wear it. but love the texture and design. rachael thought i was mad to buy it. so did the sales woman.

purple: it is striped. with some patterns at the bottom. cute cartoon

cows: its cows on green background. very cute right!!!

back to campus

It was really great being back at campus today. It was really quite fun going around. The lecture is quite interesting and not too tough. ok.. you have to read what i am going to write next, cos it never will happen in singapore.

My lecturer, on the first day of lecture flashed a transparency which said: there will be no classes this wed as the lecturers will be going on strike in order to get a pay raise. and yes, you read it correctly, and no, i am not joking. anyway, its good news for me, no class on wed!

First time packing lunch to school in my life. (at least as far as i can remember) feels like back to primary school. then queueing up at the microwave to heat up food during lunch break. hmmm.. I just packed tml lunch.

Menu: sandwich- butter, cheese and ham. museli bar. considering one fruit. orange?

oh! the museli bar is berry choco and the brand is mother earth.

yawns...

tamarr

rang e toto?

today i went to rangitoto island! its a volcano island. climbed all the way up to the submit. it was scenic. it was a good climb. i could wear a t shirt to climb and not feel cold. the highlight was when we crawled in the lava caves. and yes! i mean crawled. it was pitch dark inside. and i bumped my head two times. one on each side. :) really an experience to crawl about in a cave.

rachel and i at the entrance of the lava cave

on top of the world

shopping done:
1. pyjamas pants. hmmm.. i bought mens' pants. dun ask me why. looks strange but i like it.
2. more body butter. on sales. only $5
3. mirror - rachel and i went hunting for a stupid mirror. we were squatting at one corner. cos we wanted to find one with a white frame. the rest were pink. stupid scene. opening up boxes frantically..
4. colored papers

you remember me mentioning that the batt was sick ( for my camera), i tried chargin the batt every night, but it never worked. until yesterday! before my trip to the volcano island. Give thanks for small things like this. :)

going off to help rachel cook dinner now. menu: chicken and mashed potato.


tamarrrr

friends=saints that God sends

Yum char was yummy. Ate for 3 hours. there was this really cool dessert puff. really sweet, puffy and airy. i hope i can learn to make it. the food was great! the company was fantastic. thanks jeremy, gali, deww, felix, kevin, and my flat mates for making the time great. We will always remember 'ccf' wont we? even 30 years down the road. if i see anyone set up a 'ccf' store, it must be one of us.

ccf= ching cong fun= chee chong fun

hope: how are things? i wish i can be at crave.
friends: how is work and school stuff?
family: grandma:hope your skin gets better

God: you have made things easy for me, didnt you. :)

flat mates: stop being silly and reading my blog when we do almost the same things! wahaha
myself: doors open. doors close.

tamarrr

three things

i did not want to journal anything today. however, i am amazed at God's providence in my life. For some of my friends that are not christian but reading this: I tell you! God is really good to me. He answers my every prayer and meets my every need. Slowly but surely. I hope that one day you will understand. :) cos you are my friend, and you mean alot to me.

1. I managed to switch my tutorial time to a perfect timing. No hassle involved. Went to the in charge, she did it for me. I just sat there and shake leg. oh, and say 'thank you' when she is done.

2. I brought over 2 texts from singapore. there is another psychology module which i didnt get the text for cos they said it would be announced on a later date. and when i saw the textbook that we are to use online, i had to read it again. cos its the same as my another module which i am taking! how often do you take 2 modules with the same text??!! I am really amazed. not only did i save at 80NZ, I only had to study one text for 2 modules.

3. I was studying the book of romans. and then the hope store was selling a connect journal- devotional book. guess which book it was on? Right on! Romans!! haha..

everything is too much of a coincidence ya.

in your time. thank you God! :0)

at the feet of your throne, awed

tamarrrr


i saw this rainbow yesterday. covenant of your love to me.

this was in the museum. its appropiate for this journal is it not?

p.s. to this special person: i heard about your stumble during a race. stumblng and falling is nothing. standing up and finishing it is the most impt. *our central t-shirt* miss you!

Albert has just offered to do my blog skin for me! :) yahoo!! thanks dear.

Orientation 03
It got worse. It was so boring. They gave us a tour around the university that we all have already went to.... There is really nothing else i can say about it. except that, there was free hotdog, which was slightly burnt, but nevertheless, hot and nice!

Today is freezer hunting day and 'buying stuff to feed a legion of soldiers' day. For the very first time, we rented a car for NZ45 so that we can transport the freezer and all the food.

1. freezer hunting.
We went to warehouse, cash converters, bond bond, someother place which i forgot the name and Mr rental. and we ended up getting the freezer from the first stop. sigh.. all the hassle. Its great! cos, firstly they priced it wrongly so we got it for 20 dollars cheaper. secondly, its a perfect size. :) thank God.

2. finding food to feed a legion
This was the maddest, craziest, catastrophic grocery shopping. The shevles were super high up. You need a ladder, maybe 2 to climb to the top. I keep picturing all the things toppling down on me... The store is called pac and save. its true. it is really cheap and then you gotta pack all your stuff into like used cartons that are lying all around. cos they dun have plastic bags for you! So we bought like 4 NTUC size like trolley worth of things, paid NZ320 for it, then packed them into cartons (which we had to scurry for it), and lugged them to the car, lugged them into the lift, lugged them out and lugged them into the apartment, compartmentalized and store them. It is crazy! but fun.... :)

pictures of the day and my sack.

oh! one more thing. the walls are super thin and hollow. i think it does not take any effort at all to drill a hole between our rooms. i am living in between two rooms. we came out with a secret code!! 2 knocks-good night. 3 knocks- good morning. and in the weekends, we text, cos its free texting. so anyone who knocks will get a penalty!


this is the kithen cabinet :) its stuffed. rachel did it.

all our food to feed army.

my puny desk, which i just un-cluttered

my cosy bed with 2 duvets and the one person wardrobe. :)

did you enjoy the short tour around me place.
pop by again soon

my table and room is in a mess

I really need to clear up and organize my room abit more. everything is everywhere. and tell you one secret. so must put it in tinies fon, dont tell people k. i always forget to make my bed in the morning. shhhhhh....

:) more pictures for you to see! anyway, my camera needs some healing done. battery is sick. have to cremate it le and get a new life. 5th aunt!! thanks for sending it to me!! :) what would i do without my family. they are the best!! ok this is no secret so i will do it in big font. MY FAMILY IS THE BEST!

enjoy the pictures

our very very first cooked meal in our kitchen cum living room cum tv room cum store room. preetiee!

we have our very own visitor lounge in our living room. the red sofa is the icon. puay cher came over one night! she was from my secondary school. wat a small world to meet her in auckland.

haha... the wind was so so super strong today!! it was mean! nearly blew me off my feet 5 times. And.. i really did count! this was outside the museum.

the one on the most left is my new jap fren i mentioned called Atsushi and also one of the maori people performing in the museum.

dont just stay at my door, come in and see photos

welcome here today. hope this meets you with a glad heart. One prayer answered le. My module has been mapped to a level 4000 module in NUS (which is a super big one) so its a blessing in disguise! :) wonderful!!

for now, you can take a seat and look at some photos. i will be uploading more tml. went to the museum today. it was great. hmmm.. ok much much better and more interesting than Singapore's one. Mom! i will bring you there when you get here.



Gali (Singaporean who i going to yum char with) and Jared (pastor's son wearing a suit he refused to take out)



Rachel (flat mate=domestic manager=goodest friend in auckland) and I!


wishing you were here with me,


tamarrrrrr

orientation day 01

Today is another day. I had to jump out of my sack (which consists of 2 pillows, one cushions full of pictures, 2 duvets and 1 fleece rug- color theme is yellow and brown) at 7am. Its really bad weather. Wind, rain no no sun! wore thermals but was still freezing. its the first day of orientaion. I met people from germany, thailand, america, norway (and i spoke to her in norsk) and a really interesting jap guy.

The jap guy is called A-tsu-shi. He very mild. with a very dishevelled look. But fun to talk with. He is quite bad at engligh though. so it makes it fun but inconvenient to communicate. hmmm.. wiill take a picture of him soon and upload it! Orientation was BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG!

Dont ask me what went on. cos i DUN REMEMBER A SINGLE THING! oh.. except that we had to do a student worksheet about driving in new zealand. almost killed myself.

Highlight of the day: discover a really yummy chocolate. its called a chocolate fish. yummy chocolate with pinkie marshmellow inside. reallly good. it could possibly be my best choco friend in nz! :)

Learnings: Kiwis dun say 'how are you doing' but, 'how is it going'. their favourite expression. 'sweet as' and 'choice' :) and aucklanders are called jafa= just another frigging aucklander. haha.. they are not really well liked by the rest of the nz peoople. people from the south are called the mainlanders, because they think that the south is the mainland. ok! thats the end of the interesting things that happened today.

Thanksgiving: all my classes are in city campus so dun need to travel. kwawado gave us a lift after school. it was so cold. if i were to stand out there 1 min more, my toes would probably disappear.

Prayer point: that i can settle down quickly and that i can get to switch a morning 8am class to another day. Pray that TWO of my modules can be mapped back to the singapore one. 'O Lord pls help me in this!'

Looking forward to: tml!!! going shopping with rachel for 'secret stuff'' hah.. girl stuffs and also friday!!! going yum char with some hope brothers here but they were from singapore. sat: school is bringing us to some volcano island. but if it rains (which is almost 100% confirm chop chop plus money return gaurantee), its cancelled. de....


I miss home. miss my doggies. Niki got depression not? Lily! must go visit my dogs k. miss jui guey from serangoon garden. and miss you- the person that is reading my secret journal.

thanks for dropping by at my door step today.

visit again soon.


taammmarrrr


i tried for a stupid half an hour to upload image onto blog. but failed... any kind soul want to offer to do my blog for me? like add tag board and make it look preetie??? someone kind enough>?

oh my gosh!

you wont believe it!! but do you know that with a calling card. it only cost 4.8 cents a minute to call back to singapore. so i can yak for 10 min and it costs 48cents! and!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i get free incoming call even from international calls!!! gosh!~ its mad right. how cheap it gets when you get the right stuffs.

buzz me in auckland @ +64 21 0628481 Apt 3K, Stanford Apts, 189 Hobson Street, Auckland Central

tamarrrr

auckland week 01

You are at my door step. And right now, this door leads you to my life in new zealand. :) It has been a week already..... so many thoughts and emotions running thru not too sure how i can journal it down. and also! not too sure what to journal down *secrets should remain secrets right?*

180 hobson street is like a condominium. You need those kind of cards to get in. The place is quite modern looking. but its super tiny. my room! can fit only one single bed. one small desk. and a small cupboard. and mind you.. this cupboard is real small. you can just fit one person in standing up. heaps of clothes are being squashed into it now. I should take a picture of it soon.

There is this living area with kitchen tv sofa, beanbag and clothes dryer in one small square. its sounds quite bad does it not? but its actually quite cosy la. easy to clean and also warmer.

Flat mates: Rachel (domestic manager), Aaron (IT manager), I (public relations), Renyu (rubbish collector and everything else). hmmm... i will need a secret column to gossip about these people. :)

Happenings: so so many things. both good and bad. both funny and sad. I shall just list them out.
GooD Row- People in the church like rachel, steph, gali, jeremy, kevin, carlos, sarah, angela.. etc. my room. my flatmates. my parents who call me. my sister. and when i recieve emails from people back home. and oh!!! talking on msn!!!
Not too good row- private and confidential. (ask me personally thru msn)
Funny Row- i played keyboard here in one week more than i play in a year in hope singapore.
sad row- miss home! miss my dogs. miss the people back in hope singapore.

Learnings: taking bus to my campus. cooking, washing, using the washing machine and dryer. clearing up my own mess.

Buyings: PYJAMAS!!! (green cow ones and purple stripe ones), Postcards (which you will all take turn to recieve), Prepaid calling cards. and alot alot of other things to make my stay comfortable and not like a refugee. i have stopped living out of my suitcase. :)


tamarrrrrrrr