Coldplay Is Awesome

Just came back from Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto concert. It was so cool! 

Have you seen my Willy?

Got my first car in NZ! It's Will VS, a product of Toyota but you can't find any sign of the brand untill you lift the bonnet up. That makes it so cool and mysterious. It is a 1.5L hatch, still running smoothly despite being second hand. So who's keen for a joy ride now?   

Excuse

Another unexpected aftershock hit Christchurch again. Apparently if it's more than 5.0 the school has to evacuate all students from vulnerable buildings. Fair enough.

Yea weekend starts now! 

Update

Wow, it's been such a long time since I write a blog post properly. Life has been relatively busier but ain't too bad. Now I understand why so many friends of mine are slowly abandoning their blogs. There's always not enough time to sit down and compose something decent on the blog. Not to mention the existence of social networking to take over the job of story-sharing. I'll try to stick with this conventional method to keep my friends and family of what I've been up to.

Where to begin? Schooling has been going well so far. Fingers crossed. Next big thing to happen would be job application. Therefore my current task is to write impressive cv and cover letters. Hopefully there are some job vacancies left for me. I would have rant about the frustration of international students being treated like second class and below but I shall not be whinny anymore unless I could do something about it. Wanna know about the weather? Well it's a common topic to talk about around here especially among strangers. All you need to know it's getting colder. Not looking forward to winter for sure.

Last week my whole house was treated with scabies medication because Ah Hui was the suspected culprit. So we had been doing massive laundry(including bed sheets and soft toys) and lotion applying. Fortunately none of us has any symptoms. Oh Ah Hui has started calling me 'uncle Mui How'. That's really sweet and cute. Can't wait for my own nephew/niece to call me that. To both of my sisters, gambate!

 Flew to Invercagil (tip of south island) in this small jet plane to pick up a patient. It was great fun.

 Spent my Easter weekend in Auckland. Went to Davenport for the first time. A very nice and posh place. Would love to have brunch again there overlooking the awesome scenery. 

 Can't stop eating these sinful food. Well I need to prepare my body for the winter *ahem excuses*

Beer Festival

Christchurch may have been scarred by the earthquake, but she never stop trying to bring back its vibrance. Just couple of weeks ago, Busker Festival was a huge success with great turn ups. Today another public event was held in Hagley Park attracting hundreds of Canterbrians enjoyed a good sunny day out.

The event was known as Great Kiwi Beer Festival.

On arrival we saw the queue was shockingly long. Lots of people were lining up ranging from small kids to frail senior citizens. Of course youngsters were the main crowd of the day. There were approximately 30 brewery outlets and equivalents numbers of food stalls in the whole venue. A main stage was set up at the corner with live bands performing throughout the whole event.

Here comes the embarassing part. I just realized I have really poor alcohol tolerance. The effect kicked in as soon as I had my probably third or fourth drink. Like my head was getting lighter, the noise around me was getting softer, as if i was gonna float anytime soon. On the other hand, Jane was still well composed until she had couple more drinks.

Nevertheless it was fun!

The Entrance. Got a sweet deal from TreatMe.



First drink. Still sober.

The crowd

Great Saturday!

Busker Festival

This festival happens once every year in Christchurch. Before the earthquake, it used to be held at Cathedral Square. As you might already know, the square is an utter rubble at the moment and hence the festival shifts to Hagley Park instead.

Nevertheless, it was a well organized public event for the people in Christchurch. Jane and I visited the festival last Saturday and we did enjoyed our time there except the scorching sun above us. Great humour, crazy stunts and ice creams, what a terrific way to spend the weekend!

A Month in North Island

Back in Christchurch after spending a month in North Island. It was supposed to be a formal attachment for the curriculum but i felt like i was on vacation most of the time. Maybe that's why i didn' realize time had passed me through so quickly.

GP attachment in Cambridge was enjoyable. All the staffs were very friendly and made me feel very comfortable working there. The town was lovely. Lots of small cafes along the main street with local business outlets. Perfect place for retirement if you want to escape the hustle and bustle of cities.

Almost every weekend Swarna and I would plan for short excursion to places around Hamilton, unless we were too worn out and wanting a sleep in. Road trips are always fun and I'm really glad that we've covered so many places.

Cambridge Medical Centre, a big practice in this small town. It has its own lab and radiology.

Sushi in Cambridge. It was freaking cheap, the whole set cost less than $10. Yummy...

Home of L&P, Paeroa. We purposely bought a bottle and posed in front of this landmark.


My socialite host for the past one month. Always busy talking on the phone or messaging people. And she is a closeted alcoholic, haha!





Hot water beach. Like its name suggested, if you go there at the right time and find the right spot, you could dig a hole at the beach and hot water would gush out from beneath. Not exactly understand how it works, but it did happened when we were there. We spent almost 4 hours dipping our body inside this natural hot spa. Great fun!


Thank you so much for your warmest hospitality, Swarna.

Brief Update

Just realized that i only have one post for the whole November. Time to put another one up before December sets in.

Currently I'm up in north island doing general practice attachment at this small town called Cambridge (not sure if it's related to the one in UK). Anyway, it's a nice place between Hamilton and Rotorua. Been there once while i was on my way to Rotorua few weeks ago.

Can't wait for the christmas holiday! Counting down...

Another Snow Day

What's the best thing to do when there is snow? Of course it's to stay home and stay warm. Christchurch was hit by another polar blast yesterday bringing snow to this ruined city. Though it isn't as heavy as the previous one, i still get the opportunity to make another snow man at my front yard. Such fun!

Mid Winter Santa Claus

A mystery parcel was sent to my doorstep few weeks ago when i was chatting with the sender at night. It was a pleasant surprise! She sent me 2 packs of dark chocolate tim tam and 2 hand warmers. Thank you so much, Swarna! Really appreciate that!

Suddenly it reminded me of one chinese idiom, ‘千里送鹅毛，礼轻情意重’

Let It Snow

It's such rare opportunity to see snow in Christchurch. And it's beautiful.

The snow started falling yesterday late afternoon, but it melted once it touched the ground. It got heavier towards the dawn and accumulated almost a few inches thick on the ground over the night.

This morning i was supposed to attend a clinic in the hospital. But the snow blast was really terrifying. So i decided to stay back, so as my working flatmates. Holiday for all!

We snowballed, we built snowman, we took lots of pictures, what a great Monday!

Built my first snow man

Mid July, Mid Winter

Winter in Christchurch is always uneventful. There is no snow yet the weather is chilling. The most we could get here is early morning frost which often make my sinus ache for awhile. But the good thing is sun will still rise and shine brighthly for most of the days. Wish i could dip myself in a hotpool now and enjoy the sun outdoor.

It's July, stress is definitely creeping up and hopefully i won't freak out anytime soon.

Visitor from Belfast, Lixian, who got me an Ireland keychain (hinting someone who used to live in Belfast...haha)

FaceTime

A new technolgy that bring me closer to my family. Totally enjoyed our past few conversations. *just trying to justify my purpose of buying this phone, haha*

Tap Tap

I have been so addicted to Tap Tap Revenge lately. Guess it reminded me so much of O2 Jam which i used to play endlessly during early college time. If i'm not mistaken, i downloaded a few gigs worth of songs in my playlist. Felt like some kind of aspiring musician when i played the game. Awh... miss playing piano and flute...

Anyway, Tap Tap is awesome. The first tap tap sonng given to me was Gaga's Alejandro. Like to play with pop songs. Such fun!

New Toy

Slick!

My latest toy, radio clock! Have been looking for a descent radio clock for quite some time. Finally i met this beautiful creature. Love its modern metallic design with adjustable blue digital screen. What's so great about this clock is that it has projector on the side, which mean at night if i would like to check the time, all i have to do is just looking up to the ceiling. No more rolling over or straining the sleepy eyes. Isn't it brilliant?

Extra Pocket Money

It feels like i have been having holiday for ages due to the earthquake. In fact, i just came back from a road trip around the top of south island. Thanks to the ang pao worth 300 bucks from our caring government, haha!

More pictures update soon.

Survival Tips

The picture above is demostrating a method to protect yourself during earthquake. It is called the triangle of life. Instead of hiding beneath a big surface, you should lean against some strong furnitures so that you won't be squashed or deep buried within the rubble when the whole building collapses.

I saw this picture from a forwarded email from sin mei quite some time ago. However, during the recent earthquake, i was trying to cover my head underneath a study table in library. What a silly move! But never mind, almost everybody there was doing the same thing and nobody got hurt.

Earthquake!

Another big and devastating earthquake had hit Christchurch again. It lasted less than a minute but it felt like forever.

Just to let the people that i love that i'm alright. The telecommunication has been restored recently. Really appreciate all the warm regards and heart-touching texts. I feel loved.

Anyway, power and water supply were back to normal. My house seems fine. Not sure what will happen next, so i'll just stay put and play by ear.

Compare to others, i'm really fortunate. Hope the sufferers will get through this disaster soon.

Ignite The Light

I had my birthing suite night shift few days ago. My mind kept thinking about Katy Perry's Firework music video clip when i was in the labour room. Instead of singing 'you just gotta ignite...the light...and let it shines...', my whole night was about 'yea..push...yes...you are doing great...keep pushing...'

The next morning when i went back home to rest, i was dreaming another shift in birthing suite...gosh, that's so tiring.

Hedgehog In The Pool!

Yesterday morning before i went to school, i saw a creature wiggling its way in the middle of my house swimming pool. To my astonishment, it was a hedgehog! (first time seeing a wild hedghog, scared scared...) It wasn't dead but it was struggling to get out of the pool.

I quickly grabbed my phone and snapped a picture of it. A few seconds later, it curled into a ball and seemed to be drowning. Oh no... I should have save the poor creature first instead of taking its picture. *guilt kicking in* Without wasting more time, i put down my phone and used a scoop to lift it out of the water.

It seemed lifeless after i put it down at the side of the pool. I ain't going to do CPR on it, no way! So i used a rod to poke and prod it for a few times. Phew... it started to have some body movement, i could see some breathing effort, not sure about pulse, GSC was probably at the lower end, responded well to my poking, haha!

I saved a life!

(better put more chlorin in the pool this weekend before i dunk myself in)