It has been an absolutely fantastic experience this 4.5 months of my life spent studying at the university of canterbury in christchurch new zealand.

I will miss the friends I have met there, who have come from all over the world.

Parting is sweet sorrow as Shakespeare wrote in Romeo and Juliet but nevertheless it has to happen, for me.

Singapore is home and home is Singapore.

To all my friends and family who have followed my journey over this 4.5 months, I thank you for your precious time in reading this blog, your comments have been invaluable. I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

And as I told many of you, this blog served to provide a glimpse of my life and to keep my family and friends updated about my whereabouts and wellbeing during this period of my life away from you, away from home, away from Singapore. With my return to Singapore, I can be contacted quite easily.

Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, guys and girls, I will leave this blog for those who still want to read past entries and for those who will chance upon it in future. I will probably drop by occasionally to reminisce.

But beyond that, this will be my last post. I will not be updating it any more.

THANKS for the memories

7th July 2007

Sister's commencement ceremony - the reason why I came back to Singapore so early.
There was a thunderstorm early in the morning. There was more rain in the morning than in all my time in New Zealand. And I heard thunder for the first time in months.
I am not sure if I should describe the feeling and emotion as therapeutic but it was actually kind of nice to hear it.

Went for the ceremony and met some friends there by chance. K and C had both found jobs in banks and were starting work within the month at stanchart and ocbc I think. Also met yaning my boss in EMCC who has relinquished her position as she wants to work part time.

Everyone I met over the past few days has commented on how long and thick my hair is and advised me to get a hair cut. This I will surely do, on monday.

When I first landed, I really felt the humidity. I never really felt completely dry but it's getting better now as I've been back a couple of days already. Showered about 3 times a day for the past few days but intending to cut down to 1 or 2 soon.

In the 48 hours since I've been back, I've also tasted my mum's cooking as well as had chicken rice, dumpling (shui3 jiao3), shao1 rou4, ngoh hiang, sweet and sour pork, ma pou tofu, yam basket, yeo's green tea, HL milk, digestive biscuits, milo, ang ku kueh, barley, ice lemon tea, 9 layer cake, lotus paste bun, etc.

I am also in the midst of giving out the souvenirs and chocolates to family and friends so just be patient guys!

6th July 2007
Woke up at 9am, checked email and received a reminder email to submit fyp project list. I found out that I had selected only 9 projects and I needed to have a minimum of 10 projects before I could submit the list. Oops. And so I did the necessary.

Went to school in the afternoon. There was a predeparture briefing for departing SEP students. Talked for 5 minutes about my own experience. Met Faith and Yiling there! Amazing, happy to see them. Yiling's SEP album is really beautiful. She must have put in lots of effort. Heard that Suhui is touring south east asia with xiaoqiang. Met Simin who is going to University of Canterbury on 7th July. Answered all her questions and gave her as much advice as I could. Elaine the IRO officer was telling us about a possible competition for SEP photographs in September during international exchange day; Faith, Yiling and I expressed our desire to win the top 3 prizes. :)

And then it was time to go home. But not before meeting YK by chance in the PC cluster where he was doing some graduation gift for a friend of a friend.

That evening, I went to AMK hub to get a replacement SIM card for the one I had lost 3 months back while touring the north island. It was really big and new and had a huge number of shops, ranging from fish and co to sushi places, to zone x, to cathay cinemas, etc. Spent some time watching people play time crisis 4, initial d 4, etc. Realised that I have not stepped into an arcade for almost half a year.

5th July 2007

The morning of departure saw me rising at 9 am to finish packing. I gave away lots of stuff which I did not need, like tissue paper, squeeze bottles, survival blanket, engineering paper, graph paper, posters, biscuits, soup, etc to Eli and Meat who were the only 2 students remaining on my level.

Thanks to JieYing for giving me a ride around to settle stuff like checking in my lugguage at the airport, lunch, buying souvenirs and closing my bank account. Reaching the airport at 2.30pm for 2.35pm flight was a little worrying but at least I got a good workout running to the departure gate and clearing customs in 5 minutes, something I've never tried before.

Then it was a 2hr 45 min flight to Sydney where I was informed by my sis to buy krispy kreme donuts and darrell lea chocolates. Try as I might, I could not find the krispy kreme outlet and so I asked the salesgirl. She told me the outlet is outside the departure lounge which was confirmed by my sis when I got home.

Boarded the flight from Sydney to Singapore at about half past 5 Australian time. Met the 2nd irishman in 2 days. Prior to this trip, I had never encountered any irishmen. J had just finished his 3 month travel of australia and had to go back to ireland. He was quite sad that his travel visa was finished as he thoroughly enjoyed his time in australia. We were fortunate that there were only 2 of us because this meant that we had a middle seat empty which meant more space to put our stuff and move around. The flight proved to be a turbulent affair and I could not get much shut eye for the 7 hour flight.

Eventually we landed at Changi Airport at 11:40pm and I was glad to be home, after 4.5 months away in Christchurch New Zealand. Got home at about 12.30am and only went to bed at about 3am Singapore time as I checked my email, do the bedsheets, shower and read the Straits Times.

2-4 July 2007

3 days of snowboarding was expensive but it was thoroughly enjoyable. I do not know when I will have a chance to do it again so it was with my enthusiasm and relish that I woke up at about 6am every morning during my last days in New Zealand, and eagerly checked the metservice and mount hutt websites for updates. The decision to go depended on whether the mountain was open at 6+ in the morning. Fortunately, my last 3 days were a "Go" even though the snow base was not good.

There's not much else you can do on the 1hr 45 minute ride from christchurch to mount hutt. And when the bus is full, you either sleep or talk to the people seated to your left and right. This I did on my trips and I met I from Ireland who at 17 years of age had already tried ecstasy and weed, etc. He was looking forward to going to amsterdam for his 18th birthday. I was to find out later that he did skating and surfing so he picked up snowboarding really quickly, easily and without falling too many times.

People I met on the snowboarding trips included Clinton (17 years of snowboarding), Kate (who did Summit 6 quite a few times), Peter (who goes on alternate days or when there's powder), Lisa and Daniel (korean students who kept urging me to try highway 72 and broadway with them, which I declined since I was still falling on the magic carpet).

I loved every minute of my experience on Mt Hutt, except for the falling over and chaffing of the legs part, but still that was an experience in itself.

Snowboarding on Mt Hutt, and snowing

Snowing 1
Snowing 2
Snowing 3
Snowing 4
Snowing 5

Finally managed to get some snowboarding action in on my 4th attempt at getting up Mt Hutt. And it snowed for 1.5 hours which made the slopes slightly better than when we first arrived, since powder is better to ski/snowboard on. Fell many times and it is extremely tiring, but I just kept going since Singapore will never have snow and mountains.

The past few days.....

It's been 3 frustrating days since friday till today, where the weather has prevented us from going to Mt Hutt to learn snowboarding or skiing. Going to try again tomorrow to get on the mountains to learn before I go back to Singapore since the chance of trying it is close to 0(unless snowcity is considered in the equation).

Been on msn messenger the past few days and chatting with some friends. Many of them have arrived back in Singapore from their exchange programmes, ranging from France to HongKong, etc. I'll be back myself in 4 days time. Feeling ambivalent since I'm sad to leave beautiful NZ but happy to go home as well, after having spent 5 fruitful months here in Christchurch. If any incoming SEP students are reading this, I wish you all the best and have a tremendously enjoyable time just like my batch did.

Last night, we all managed to sing karaoke for the first and last time in christchurch at this place called Ancestral. It's a really popular place with asians. Reminds me of kbox and partyworld back in Singapore.

This morning, went to upper riccarton methodist church for possibly the last time because I am leaving NZ on thursday. I have been switching between this church and Arise, which most of my fellow R&R hallmates attend.

Went to the recreation centre to do cardio conditioning on the treadmill and chanced upon the biggest sporting event in malaysian students calendar called "unity" games. It's a 4 day event and this year the event is being held at UC. Stayed and watched a bit of the basketball games; the cmsa team is supposedly very strong and have not lost in 9 years; at least that was what I was told. Left after an hour of watching to go find food (in the end it was a simple choice of muesli bars since it was already in my room).

On another note, going over to uni hall for dinner with hongkai, binjuan and veron cos they are heading to queenstown, wanaka, milford sound, etc and I'm sure they will have loads of fun. Hopefully they see some falling snow (We've been hoping for it since we arrived and even discussed it in our get-togethers before arriving in NZ half a year ago).

Mt Hutt Trip Cancelled

Rain cloud at 6 am
Rain cloud at 5 am
Rain cloud at 4 am
Rain cloud at 3 am
Rain cloud at 2 am

Absolutely gutted that Mt Hutt has been closed for the day due to rain. Should have expected it since the weather has been decent for the past week. It was bound to happen, on the day we wanted to go up. (Forecast was for snow on the mountains when I went to bed at midnight).

12am: Went to bed around midnight after preparing all the necessary warm clothing for the expected ski/snowboarding trip
6am: Stirred from sleep, didn't want to get out of bed though
6:09am: Hongkai smsed asking if it was still a Go because it was raining in Christchurch. Told him to carry on preparing since I did not get any call.
6:23am: Received a call from SnowFun's Andy saying Mt Hutt has closed for the day due to rain.

Therefore, I am going for an early breakfast at 7:30am. Let's see who is up early like me. Maybe other potential skiiers/snowboarders? Or those having exams at 9:30am. Had I known the trip was going to be cancelled I would have gone to town last night. There's like 4 people left on my level, out of 11 of us. I can hear my echo down the corridor at times. Weird, interesting and eerie at the same time.

At least now I can send some postcards which I promised my friends a couple of days back.

Exams Over, Holidays Begin

Yup, finally the exams are over. Hope I clear all of them. Especially Systems which I stayed up till 2.30 am to study for it and woke up at 6.30am on the day of the exam just to try and revise more in the hope of passing it. That must have been the least amount I ever slept on this exchange programme, since usually I get my 7 hours of sleep daily. But that's all inconsequential now since it's over. I still remember the day before the paper, the whole lab(civil suite) was filled with people studying systems. Suddenly the professor appeared and everyone swarmed around him asking him questions and hoping for some hints which he refused to divulge. There must have been like 40 of us surrounding the poor guy who was sitting at the table.

The past few days have seen the hall population dwindle to less than half the original number since many of the hostelites have gone home, some as early as last saturday!

Probably spend the last few days catching up with the new-found friends over a meal and bidding farewell to them. It's been good times really.

Plans for the remaining few days are probably to head into the mountains to learn skiiing/snowboarding although it's really really expensive. And hoping for some falling snow man. (Note to those in Christchurch: If you see snow, call me or wake me up at any time and with any method!) I hope it snows when we are on the mountains.

And also of note, Binjuan has flown down from auckland to spend time with us here in christchurch. We'll definitely have loads of fun.

Exam Schedule

21 June(thursday) - ENCI 383 Environmental Engineering 2 - 2.30pm
23 June(saturday) - ENCI 415 Pavement Engineering - 2.30pm
27 June(wednesday)- ENCI 429 Structural Systems - 9.30am
28 June(thursday) - Maor 107 Maori Heritage - 2.30pm

Nikau Palm Gully Tramping

Stopping to take in the views and for everyone to catch up and drink some water

Nikau Palms(think oil palms) in the background.
Left to right : Paul, Dee, Pam, Brian (I think these are their names)
Near the end of the tramp, waiting for the rest to catch up.
Closed/Private Property. We needed a permit to tramp there.

Early Sunday morning, I woke up to catch the 7:33am Metrostar to Merivale Mall so that I could meet the christchurch trampers at the papanui road shell station. We were going on an easy tramp in Akaroa. The weather on friday and saturday was absolutely miserable, cloudy, overcast, intermittent drizzle the entire day. It was supposed to be foggy and overcast on sunday morning, and gradually turning fine as the day progressed. At least that was what the weather forecast was and it was true to its word, thankfully. On the way, I actually felt a little carsick even though I didn't eat anything for breakfast. The last time I felt this way was as a kid on the way up genting highlands. Luckily, we arrived soon enough.

And so a group of about 15 of us, adults, teenagers, kids spent the day on this easy walk. The terrain was almost entirely flat with maybe about 200metres of bushwhacking/stream crossing/boulder crossing.

The view was nice and spent some time talking with Pam, Samantha and Paul along the journey. Found out that Manuka is actually considered a kind of tea tree; Samantha was born in Singapore; Paul was thinking of stopping over in Singapore for a short while; Brian was actually in Singapore in 1976!

6 weird things

1. I cannot wake up late, I wake up naturally by 9am, although I feel tired throughout the day.
2. I eat before I sleep, every night. chocolate or muesli bar.
3. I live out of my suitcase. Clean/washed clothes are thrown into my lugguage. Dirty clothes are thrown into the laundry basket.
4. I must watch tv or use the internet, every night.
5. I have not worn all the clothes I brought from Singapore.
6. I don't use more than 30 sms/month even though I have txt2000.

Weekend Trip to the West Coast of South Island - Pakihi Walk, Hokitika Beach, Pancake Rocks

Pakihi Walk - View of the Southern Alps
Veron and Hongkai taking a rest and photos
Sunset at Hokitika Beach, opposite Birdsong BBH
Punakaiki Pancake Rocks; waves crashing on the rugged west coast
My shadow with very long legs
Proof that I was there
Departure from Greymouth back to Christchurch

And so after the Franz Josef Glacier walk, we drove about 16km north of Franz Josef township to take in the views of the southern alps. After that, we drove to Hokitika to stay the night at Birdsong BBH. Kerry the lady owner was very hospitable and helpful. And the amazing thing about the hostel was that after 730pm, the 2 owners go home, which means we backpackers are the only ones there. There was no tv but there was a really nice fire place so Hongkai, Veron, Risa(Hongkai's flatmate), Chris (Risa's friend) and I sat near the modern fireplace and played a game of "spoons", which could get violent at times. Risa and Chris had climbed the Fox Glacier that day and they were going to climb Mt Tarua the next day. It was a cold night so I used 2 hot water bottles which kept me sufficiently comfortable for the night, as long as I was under the blanket.

Monday morning, we ate bread with tuna and drank milk for breakfast. Once again, there was frost on the car so we had to use the thermistor and melt the frost. Then we set off for the pancake rocks in punakaiki, 1hr 10 minutes drive north of Hokitika. As it was not high tide, the effect created by the blowholes was not stunning. Apparently, the best time to visit the pancake rocks that day was at 7.30pm, when the high tide conincided with a south west swell, but it would have been too dark and late for us to visit then.

And so we went to eat Subway for lunch (our first meal on arrival was also Subway). Then we boarded the tranzalpine back to Christchurch - journey time was from 1.45pm to 6pm. We were lucky the weather was excellent. It had been raining the past week before our trip but in the end it was fine when we were there.

Weekend Trip to the West Coast of South Island - Franz Josef Glacier

Walking to the Franz Josef Glacier

Before the climb

During the climb
Hongkai
Veron
The rest of our group
View from the glacier
Regaining their sense of balance
Veron crossing the stream and Hong kai watching
At the end of a successful climb

Early on sunday morning, we arrived at the Glacier guides centre at 8.45am to collect our equipment and gear up for the half day walk we were about to embark on. Enjoyable walk, not too technical or difficult; 3 hours valley walk and 1.5 hours on the glacier itself.

Weekend Trip to the West Coast of South Island

View from the TranzAlpine train 1
View from the TranzAlpine train 2
View from the TranzAlpine train 3
Veron and Hongkai at Arthurs Pass
Me at Arthurs Pass

We arrived at the train station early saturday morning at 7.40 am for the 8.15 am tranzalpine ride that would take us to the west coast. All was well and easy. During the ride, we were allowed to go to the viewing platform. Suffice to say, the view was stunning but the windchill was also too cold such that I lasted the shortest time of 30 minutes before heading back into the carriage for some warmth. Upon our arrival at Greymouth at 12.45pm, we had subway for lunch before spending the rest of the afternoon driving down to Franz Josef township to spend the night. Had indian food for dinner at some touristy cafe but the food was good. Also bought some bread, chocolate and milk for the next day's breakfast.

Visit to the International Antarctic Centre

Outside the International Antarctic Centre
Outside the Antarctic Storm Chamber (which simulated 60knots/h winds)
Penguin Feeding Time
Search and Rescue team on the Hagglund

Stepping on the brakes in a stationary Hagglund
Antarctic Centre Shop
Antarctic Centre Shop
More souvenirs
Welcome to Antarctica

Last Day of School in University of Canterbury

Gateway Antarctica office.

The Antarctica course I took had 2 X 8am lectures every week.

Glad to have completed it. Hongkai and I at the Maori Department Signboard
Performing a sort of "completion" haka to signal the end of MAOR 107.
Our usual seats in maori tutorials.
Hongkai and I at the Engineering Department
Engineering Road-first time I actually saw it.
Veron, our kind photographer for today
Nicole and I at the Mix Cafe in UCSA building.
She's the UC Singapore Club secretary.