memories and pictures

Ok, some of you might notice I've been blogging quite often recently. I'm starting a new run (GP). There's not much on this week. So so during the second week. Hallelujah for the third week (easter holiday). Picking up the pace during the fourth week. No time to breath during the fifth week. Stress plus exam loaded for the sixth/final week.

Anyway, I've been browsing through the old pictures. I have a good laugh at those random pictures we took. Some of which I've long forgotten.

Ahem, one extra member who managed to survive three days in 777 Great King St. Rest in peace pancake junior.

Little boy being kidnapped to the Waiheke Island. Note the kidnappers at the background. Looks familiar? The Lee sisters wanted! Possible mastermind - owner of the blue Adidas backpack.

Ron: "Hmm...looks yummy."
So, little brother Ron took the first bite and he was the first to suffer...
The Long Suffering.


The Kura Kura Gang in action. Joss - have you washed your pink scarf yet?

Guess whose Sara Lee birthday cake is this? Clue: Miss Lo Lo

Why is everybody so excited? Cuz an intense competition is taking place. You don't want to know what it is about.

Siapa punya tummy?

Pregnancy is tiring. Need some rest.

Wahaha. Afro night.

Ok ok, just to be fair. I'll sacrifice my image too.

Hah. The good old days.

Wellington Zoo

It is such a lovely day today. I usually spend my Saturday in my room playing games. But today was out of the norm. I decided to move my lazy ass out of the house. I went to SPCA to fill in a volunteer application form. After that, I walked to the zoo wanting to meet the volunteer coordinator but she was out of town. So, I bought myself a ticket and spend 3 hours indulging in my dream world. I would have spend another 3 hours if it was not for the scorching sun.

Here's some of my beloved pictures:

I forgot the name for this monkey but they are really tiny and cute.

Australian pelican. Its bill can hold up to 13 liters of water.

Giraffe

Emu

This is my favourite! Isn't she a cutie? She might look big and scary but she meowed like a kitten.

Meerkat. Reminds me of Madagascar.

Two lioness lazing on The Pride Rock

A pack of hyena feeding on the head of an ox.

Wonder how baboon talks?

Final day for public health run

Yay! *Big clap*. I know this sound vain, but I am so proud of my group. Our 5 weeks group research project has officially ended. The presentation was a success and we received good feedback from the audience. One of the audience even wanted to publish our research project.

Frankly, it is hard to envisage unity in my group at the start. We were from different cliques and each clique was exclusive of the others. We never have one of those 'group bonding' dinners like the others. Still, bonding was something that came in subtlety. By the third week, the boundaries were starting to blur. As we approached the final week of the deadline, we just had to trust each other to finish their part of the work.

There was a gnawing pressure with our presentation because our audience were those from the Ministry of Health, Regional Public Health, community nurses, community elder lies, pediatricians and other *don't play play* staff members of the public health department. The part that I dreaded the most is the questioning session. Most of the audience were 'nice' to us. But we had two that were challenging. And no doubt, they were from the Ministry of Health, typical of the politicians. One of the questions they asked was "...so how would you put your recommendation into the political point of view? " (In other words, how would we convince Ministry of Health to fund our campaign.) One of the girl gave this awesome answer about how ARF is mainly the disease affecting children and that children are the most valuable asset of the country. And we had the most... DUH!!!... response back from the MOH guy, "Children don't vote." Hah, lucky we had the support from the public health people, bashing at the MOH guy. Anyway, I am glad that at least our project were actually taken into consideration by the Regional Public Health, not just one of those that were ended up on the shelves collecting dust.

technicolor

Can't believe I just spend 50 bucks on Parachute Band latest release Technicolor plus their T shirt. I'm usually very parsimonious about music CD when you can rip it easily from friend. But I love what they are doing. I can't sing well, the least I could do is to support those who can to spread the love of God. There's more rock element compare to their previous albums. I think the keyboardist is new. I'm kinda hoping for more piano rift. Anyway, he's HOT!

Here's a few pictures I took with the pancakes and the food.

Having bubble tea at Momo Tea

Dinner at KK, cheaper than rainforest Malaysian restaurant.

Holiday in Wellington

It has been a while. These few days were like holidays in Wellington with the pancakes. Wonderful moments are always short but valuable. Hanging out with the pancakes brings back all the good memories. Canai still wearing his canai clothes and sam still practicing her old habbit...sleeping when she arrived at my flat =). Not to forget all the free rides, sleep over and free food! Above all, I enjoyed talking sense plus nonsense to Sam and listening to canai's weird random encounters that will only happen to canai. We spend most of our time hunting for good food. We didn't take a lot of photo (our photographer Joss is not here). Neither do we shop (shopaholic Joss is not here). Oh, Sam bought me a nice golden belt and thanks guys (including Joss and Shaza) for my super posh paddington jacket! Love it! Discovering great restaurants is our main priority as food lovers. We've experimented with six restaurants. Here's the rating from my point of view.

Wholly Bagels 7.5/10
Abrakebabra 8/10
Momo Tea 8/10
KK 8.5/10
Seoul House 6.5/10
Cha 8/10

Ok, I have done 70% of my homework, I'm ready for you, Chyi!

Now that my 'holiday' has finished, reality seeps in and I'm back to my group research project and exams. It takes a lot for me to get stressed. But in a group with 12 dominant, high achiever kiwis can be intimidating sometimes.

missing lighthouse fellowship

I went to my first Wellington life group meeting today. It reminds me of the good old days in Dunedin. It started at 7.30 and ended up really late, just like how we lingered around for food and fellowship after cell group. It has such a huge resemblance of Lighthouse Fellowship that I was holding back my tears from extreme nostalgia. Especially when the worship leader led the songs with his guitar and a backup guitarist, reminds me so much of the awesome duo---canai and the gn. (Still the awesome duo from Lighthouse Fellowship is irreplacable.) By the way, I think I'll be attending Arise quite frequently now. Their worship team is highly charged with skills and energy. But that's not the reason I choose to go there. It is the message that captured my heart. And their genuine heart. Guess what? Parachute Band is coming to Arise on 22nd of March. How exciting!

Carnival

One thing about Wellingtonians...they sure are festive beings! There's always carnivals and festivals around Wellington. From Chinese New Year parade to Cuba Street Carnivals and now Newton Carnivals which happened to be right under my nose!

That's the street in front of my flat. Picture taken from my lounge.

People mountain people sea

A store selling candles, jewelery, and perfumes...

Interesting necklaces

This is my favourite! I have no idea about the type of music they were playing.
Nonetheless, I stood there for ages, mesmerized by the serenity of the music. Australian aboriginals? American red indians? Africans?

He is an interesting dude that I am stalking 'observing' at the moment.

1. He wear the same black shirt, pants, socks and shoes every day.
2. He talks to himself---most of the time.
3. He walks a lot, every day.
4. His favourite drink is diet coke, he always have a bottle of diet coke while he is walking, every day.

Judging from the Diet coke and the amount of walking he did everyday, I think he is quite fit. But there is something that is not quite right, I wonder what had happened to him and is there something that could be done to solve his underlying problem? Who knows, he might run for NZ marathon one day.

Anyhoo, picture of the day: The XXX Twins
Mary and Kate XXX

I'm loving it

Woohoo!
I am so in love with my blog template right now. Thanks Joss!
Now I feel like blogging everyday, hah.

Two days ago, my friend told me that he did a C section under the supervision of the surgeon. Wao! How cool is that. We are only fourth years and some of us did not even get the chance to do a proper examination on patient. But this brilliant friend of mine delivered a new life to the world with his own hands! Ok, ok, I am a bit envious about all the excitement the surgery students are having now while I am stuck with public health for 5 weeks. Ya, ya, ya, I do understand the importance of public health. It's the root to the general well-being of the population as a whole. And there's never enough money for everything and everybody. We need to understand how the funding in health system works and what are the barriers and difficulties within that. Enough of public health before I bore you guys to death.

There are a few things I've always dreamed of doing. One of them is working in a zoo. Now that the opportunity is just 15 minutes away, I don't know why I keep procrastinating the call to the volunteer coordinator. Maybe it's all those zoonoses rates and epidemiology that I've read in an article recently. However, I will not let the numbers dampen my passion for cute furry mammals. Yes, my love is not unconditional =P. It only applies to FURRY MAMMALS. I have no interest whatsoever in fish(unlike Ben), amphibians(unlike the Gns) and creepy crawly eight or six legged entities. Alright, maybe I'll call next week *finger cross*.

Booooring...

Having a dull, monotonous life seems to have a toll on my blog. Sorry guys, I could not think of anything interesting to put in my blog at the moment. My mind has been saturated with boring statistic, epidemiology, public health, new zealand health policy, ra ra ra. Outside the school, there's definitely a lot more going on in Wellington compare to Dunedin. But being the lazy me, I prefer to stay at home and watch TV. Hence, the lack of inspiration for my blog. Ok, something to look forward to...the pancakes are coming on the 15th! Yay!