New flatmate

Soundtrack: Erasure - A little respect


So we've got a new flatmate. He's Norwegian, and his name is Ronny (same as my brother) and he is from Stavanger (same as my brother!). A bit spooky. *L* He seems really nice, but compared to Joe I must say that this guy is ultra shy. I was not allowed to take a clear shot of him, so the microwave was kind of a compromise.. hehe. (w0w, looking at this picture I realise that our microwave needs a serious cleaning.....) A bit early to say, but it seems like it's gonna be smooth sailing living with this guy. :) Which is nice. I can get some studying done now.

Tonite I went to see Geeta and we went to Midnight espresso for a chat and some chowder, and then we met up with Joe. Was nice to just sit there and chat about this and that, and now I'm nervous that tomorrow I'm gonna be super tired, cause It's already 1:15am and I have a class at 8:30... Ah well. I'll do my best to stay awake tomorrow. :)

Now I really have to go to sleep, or I'm gonna be in trouble. Later everyone!

D

Man... I am one emotionally disturbed girl these days. It might be some serious PMS (which it is, cause I'm stuck on my Product Market Structure, PMS for short in Marketing), but I'm like a human rollercoaster. Joe has moved out, and already I miss him like hell. And he's been trying to "brainwash"me to say that I'm in love with Justin and Manuel. I really like Manuel, he is a nice guy. But that's that. I want to be his friend, but I don't want more than that. I'm still hung up on Wes..

so to let off some steam, I decided to go for a run. Asking for some sort of sign. And the funniest thing happened. I decided to go up the dreaded Aurora Terrace, ALL THE WAY. So I did. And what did I see at the top of Aurora Terrace? Yea, a SIGN all right.. *L* As I was all panting and happy that I was reaching the top, there was a huge house which said: WESLEY. And I went up Wesley road to Salamanca before jogging home down Salamanca and the Terrace.

I have got to meet this guy again.

Apart from this, I had a good weekend. On Saturday I went to see a play called "Mum's Choir" with Manuel. It was good as. :) Then we met up with Joe and Pat went to see a history of violence at reading, which sucked, so bad that it was good for a laugh...

Last two days I've been working at the Interislander, doing surveys onboard. Exhausting!!!

...

Release me from this longing,
teach me how to live alone.
Why is it so hard to feel complete
and safe, on my own?

If solitude is a habit,
something that can be learned,
then teach me how to practise it
so I no longer will burn.

The perfect night?

Soundtrack: Chopin - Music of the night

My night: Chopin on the stereo, Rosé Shiraz wine, M&Ms and a gruelling hard chapter of marketing that has to be finished and understood by tomorrow. No mercy. Hard cold math is blended with a soothing surrounding to appear more inviting.
It isn't really working.

Lucky that I've got wish-m&ms.. *L*

Joe! Don't leave!

I'm beginning to settle in quite nicely. Our flat is still small and the rules are still too strict, but I like my flatmates and I can forsee a good year. There is actually a HUGE benefit to having Joe as a flatmate; he brings home tonnes of cute guys! I love that! I hope that he will stay here. He has got an interview tomorrow with unicomm, he might be moving there to fill a position as an RA. I'm so used to him now. don't want him to move. :'(

Yesterday he brought home a total of 4 guys, and we all were just chilling in the kitchen, drinking beer. They asked me to come out, but for once I managed to say no. I had studying in mind, but ended up with a pirated version of Pride & Prejudice and a good night's sleep.

Today I've even jogged! Feel so good.. I have kinda worked out my shedule, so things are settling down and I'm getting into the rythm of life. No trip to Northland, but I reckon I'd do good to study some instead. Or allow myself to be dragged out on Saturday by Joe. :) We'll see.

Fat Freddy's Drop in the park

Soundtrack: Fat Freddy's Drop - Live in Waitangi Park 2006




Oh My God. Words cannot describe...
I am in love with the band. The way the trombone-player shook his ass in his fancy white pants and yellow/pink jacket with a sunscreen anno 1988... *LOL* He rocked my socks! The cute as singer witht the Amazing voice... The mood, all the ppl not being able to stand still...

It was truly amazing.

Another blissful day in the park. I am soooo in love. These guys are local! I didn't know, they come from Lyall bay!!

All the while I was standing right in front of the stage, music pumping through me, I was thinking that if this was the last thing I heard in my life, it wouldn't be so bad. L. O. V. E -love

St Patricks day

Whoop Whoop. Another excellent excuse to go partying, and I grabbed it. I kinda crashed Joe's party-crashing... Or rather: I was a co-crasher. It worked out pretty well. Come to think of it, I've been out every single week-end since I arrived here. Hm. We started out with a whole bunch of ppl, but when we came to cuba, everything kinda dissolved... Some guys wanted to go to Bodega, and I was just like: Bodega!? That's a bogan place! They ended up trying it out anyway, and soon realised that I was right. *sigh* Listen to the locals. (newbies)..

In any case it was a good night. And a cheap night. :) Ended up with Sophie and Duncan from the hostel last year, which was a bit weird since I really don't know them. But now that we don't live together, every last year hostel-mate is a friend. Weird eh?
Anyway, the sweetest thing was that Joe called to check up on me. Awww... :) He was concerned that I was alone. He is a really nice guy. Hope he isn't going to Cumberland house.

So now I'm trying hard to sober up before the concert that starts at 1, Fat Freddy's Drop!!! YEEE!

life

Soundtrack: Sinead O Connor - Nothing compares

I used to like having a crush too, Luke. Nowadays it just makes me feel down. Reminds me of how complicated the whole world is and how my network is soo full of holes right now. I'm probably not going to see this guy again. He is a friend of a friend of Anette's, and I'm not that close with her yet, and everything is just complicated. And I think my Northland trip is going down the drain cause ppl don't wanna drive anyway... Which means it might be a month or more till I even go partying with Anette again and so on and so forth. He'll disappear out of my head, and I'll be back to my old boring predictable self again.

One thing I want to keep up: Going to Sandwiches every wednesday.

Hung up

No Feli, Honey cola is not my new love. Actually, it's this guy that I'm hung up on now. Can u believe it? THIS GUY. He's not my type, I've spoken to him a total amount of ONE time, (ok, it was more than just five minutes, more like an hour or a bit more.. but STILL), and yet I can't get him out of my head! It's ridiculous!!!! I've met him ONCE!! I hardly know his name!

I'm becoming totally irrational. Joe is making me freak out about being single, with all his talk of dating and chicks and one night stands and blablablablabla...

someone help me..

Phoenix Honey Cola

Soundtrack: The Black Seeds - Sit there

See it?
Drink it!
Think it.
Smell it.
Feel it.
Love it.
Live it.

This ladies and gentlemen is my life between here and the 24th of April. This is the essence of my very existence between now and then. Hours will be spent on it, and everything about it. It will be on my lips, whether literally or figuratively for 6 whole weeks. Prepare to be nagged to death about it. So: don't bother learning the name of it, u will know it sooner than u wish or hope for anyway.

In any case

Soundtrack: Craig Armstrong - Wake up in New York

This here is our flat. Residents: Tina, Joanne and Joseph. It's quite an ok place, if it wasn't for the circumstances and the scary as kitchen... It gives us electric shocks all over the place. Having an electrician to look at it on Monda, and hopefully he will sort it out. My room is nice, and I've got a view over Thorndon and I can see the hills and so on. I was fearing a view of another building, so I'm quite satisfied in a way.

I'm seeing more and more of Anette, and the other Anette and the ppl. Probably I'll hang out more with the Scandinavian crowd this year. They are all quite nice, I just don't know them that well since I spent most of my time with other ppl last year. I had them all down for kinda shallow ppl that were a bit alouf, but now that I know them a bit better I realise that I was very wrong about that. It's nice to be wrong every once in a while. And another thing: I'm going to Northland in 2 weeks! Yai! I'll get to go on a boat cruise and all! It's with the Norwegian Association, and I'm trying to get Jo and Trong a place too. Will take loads of pics when I go. :) Lots to look forward to. Fat Freddy's drop next saturday, trip to Northland... Assignments and hand-ins.. Jobsearching... ;) Just tryin to keep the spirit up.

Thank you my dearies for all the support. :) *Muakz*

more complaining

I'm not settling in as I thought I would... It's so strange, all last trimester I was jogging past here and looking forward to moving in, and now I just wish I was somewhere else. Anywhere else... There is no oven, and the three of us are so different in the way we eat that trying to have a joint food budget is not really working out. Jo is away half the time and I'm stuck here with someone that I don't know and really can't figure out. I feel like I'm starting all over again... I just wanna be settled.

On top of that I hate the feeling of being controlled all the time. There is so little freedom here. Jo is lucky that she's got somewhere else to go if she wants to.

SALMONELLA DUB in the park, March 5

It was G-R-E-A-T GREAT! The weather was nice as, warm and sunny. I wasn't sick from going out on Saturday night. It was LOUD AS. There were tonnes of ppl dancing on the grass, in the end I couldn't help myself and surrended to them. It was bliss. I LOVE Salmonella Dub, and I hereby promise that in the future nothing will stop me from going to concerts with them. Price, exams, handins..... NOTHING! I'm sold.

Singapore

So yea, I went to Singapore as well after I finished my stay in Malaysia. That was like a continuation of my extreme shopping in Malaysia.. I stayed with Felicia, my friend from the first trimester here in NZ. One night was also spent with my friend Regina, who was here on the same program as Feli. Singapore was totally awesome. I didn't know much about any Asian countries before I left, so I wasn't sure what to expect. What I had in store was some really hardcore sightseeing and shopping. ^_^

We went to some clubs the night i arrived, and I must say, clubs in Singapore are much more elaborate than clubs here. They go all the way, offering the full clubbing experience. I was a bit too tired from my bussing all day, so it was a short night. I went to the Changi Chapel and Museum, which was the thing that I requested was put on the itinerary before I came. It was good and interesting. I know now that we were lucky to be occupied by Germans during WW2 and not by Japanese...

Then we went to see Regina dance. It was sooo good!!!! I loved it! There was 9 pieces, she danced in 4 of them. I felt like a regular pirate, stealing shots of her and the dances when she was performing. I got some good shots of the bollywood dance, and I filmed the last piece. Hmmm this is a public blog... maybe I shouldn't admit it openly. Anyway, it was good as.
I went to Sentosa Island with Regina, in spite of the fact that she had a really sore throat and could not talk much. Poor thing. I enjoyed Sentosa, but it was a tad too touristy for me. Not in that sence, I know that a lot of places in town are touristy, but it's not made entirely for tourists. Like Chinatown, which is a huge tourist magnet, I loved it there. BUT: My subject is tourism, and for that I like to see all sides of a place. ^_^ Chinatown was good for shopping. And eating!

there was so much that I did that It's hard to remember all the things that I did there...

UPS:

Going to the Geylang district with Feli and her dad, and eating a fresh Durian. It was actually really good. At the same time I felt that I got to see the private and hidden part of Singapore, the place where Singaporeans go and tourists stay away from. Feli said that the district would be destroyed by hordes of tourists. She is absolutely right.

Regi's dance. And meeting the families. I went to stay with Regi's family for a day, and it was nice. She lives in an apartment just oposite IKEA.. It was a nice place with a shared swimming pool and the lot. :)

Shopping like mad.. getting a new handphone that I like more and more each day.. :D I guess Feli had to rest up after taking me shopping all the places.. Bugis village, Chinatown, the IT mall, Little India, several shopping centres..

DOWNS:

Feli's mum got sick when I came back from Malaysia, and I did not get to talk to her very much. I also felt really sorry for her, and there was nothing that I could do, or nothing that I knew of that I could do to make her feel better. Feli sais that she felt bad because she did not get to take me out to dinner. I don't really think that she should feel bad when it is something that is completely uncontrollable. Thank goodness that she is all fine again now.

Missing out on seeing a Chinese temple. They are so beautiful, from the pictures that I've seen and I drove past quite a few of them.

Realising just exactly how much money I spent.. *LOL* The good thing was that I had allocated enough funds for it.

The good thing about most of the downs is that I can make up for them next year. :)

that's all I can come up with.

Malaysia

Malaysia was the start of my wild shopping spree, and it was good to catch up with Jo again! I arrived in KL after a day with lot's of melting and freezing.. I arrived in Singapore at abt 6:30 am and was picked up by Feli and her mum. Spent half a day with Feli and then took the bus to Malaysia. Jo lives in one of the suburbs, about 30 minutes from KL, depending on the traffic. Malaysia was a huuuge difference from home. I felt the cultureshock when I arrived there, I'm soo not used to be a minority, but whenever we had lunch or dinner in her town, I was. Strange feeling, but also a good feeling in a way. We spent loads of time eating and shopping, her parents are the sweetest parents on earth, as they took us wherever we wanted to go, basically. We all went to Melaka, which was one of the more touristy cities there. I liked it a lot. We went to the old portugese fort, we went ard town shopping for a while and then Jo's parents took us to a Baba-house. That is a restaurant that cooks food that has it's roots in both Malay and Chinese cooking. It was sooo nice! Best food ever. We went to the night-market where I bought loads of stuff, and returned home late as. :)

Jo took me to Batu Caves, which is one of the Hindu sacret places in M'sia. It was coool. (But not cold at all! We completely melted!!) There was a Huuge gold statue there at the entrance of the cave, and the steps were steep as. About 280 steps, so dixon street times 2. After going into the caves we went ard the stalls, bought bindi and some other stuff. Then we headed to KLCC for some shopping (of course). ^_^ I got to see a lion dance one of the days, which was cool cause I've never seen one before. They were good, and now that I've seen one, I'm supposed to have good luck for the rest of the year. Whee!

I had durian for the first time in my life, and thought it wasn't as bad as the rumours that I've heard. The smell isn't that intense, and it tasted ok. And I didn't feel that my fingers smelled either after I had washed them, but definitely, my breath did smell like durian! hehe. Other than that Jo's parents took us to a wide variety of local restaurants, and I have tried so many things that I really can't remember the name of... food is probably very important to the Malaysian society. :)

3 things that freaked me out:

- Traffic!! I've never experienced it worse. everyone drives like maniacs, and we saw some motorcyclist get squashed between two cars on the motorway, just in front of our eyes when we were trying to get a cab. YIKES. Memorable was also Jo's mum's highspeed carchase after a guy hit her side-mirror on the road to a shop.

-Squat-down-toilets! Ok, really it's silly. It's just that I'm not used to them, have never seen any in my whole life, but they were a fright when I really had to go.

-Spiders! We saw some nastily big ones at the butterfly park. Man...


3 things that I L-O-V-E loved:

-Shopping! Never before have I ever been in such a heaven for shopping. Shoes! My favourite thing to shop were really cheap there, I bought 3 pairs. Shawls. Yum.

-Seeing and interacting with a culture completely different from what I'm used to. Awesome. The many different costumes, the many different kinds of ppl, the strange rules and all that.

-FOOD. All the yummy food that I tried. My gosh.

Malaysia was definitely one of the best holidays I've ever had in my entire life, that inspite of the fact that my stomach was kinda upset some of the time. It didn't hinder me too much though, have seen a lot, and spent heeps too much money. Ah well. It was worth it.

Singapore I'll do tomorrow, I have to do my readings!!

Amsterdam

When I was travelling to Malaysia and Singapore, my airplane was delayed out from Oslo because of snow on the runway, and as a result of that I had to stay a whole day in Amsterdam! At first I felt like it was the end of the world, but after a while I realised that it wasn't all bad. I wanted to stay in Amsterdam for a day on my way back next summer, but the ticket I bought wouldn't allow a stay that exeeded 24 hours. So, having this in mind, I spent the day in Amsterdam, walking around and taking some photos. What really struck me was that it seemed that everything that isn't allowed at home was allowed in Holland. Prostitution, magic mushrooms, cannabis.. even death aid is legal there. I expected the red light district to actually be a district, but it wasn't. everywhere there was red lights and prostitutes posing, which to me was a new and very strange sight. well, at least I got somehting out of my delay. Now I don't have to do the hardcore sightseeing when I return there in December, I can go to the places that I didn't have the time to go to when I was there now. All in all, I liked Amsterdams. The canals were beautiful, so was the architecture. And so many bikes!!!! If u click on the picture u can see them all in more detail.