A Legend of China Man

We move in early 2 days, first day moving in is busy tidying the room. 3 rooms at upstair, downstair is salon own by our owner, behind the shop is kitchen and toilet. Our room is the biggest among others.

Next door is empty suitable for single renting $90 per week. Opposite our room is staying Father and son. They are from China, get to know from owner, father and son studying the same school, Power! I am impress of his father, It's never too old to studying. Finished introducing them, now i got to start describe the place i stay.

First day of moving in, i can't stand the kitchen and toilet.. It is extremely dirty and smelly. A smell of spoilt food in microwave, the fridge is disgusting to us. We spent the whole day to clean the house. Im not offensive China people, the true is "They Don't Have Moral of Hygienic"

One day i was cooking dinner, the floor is a bit wet and u guess what the china man doing? He is using USED TISSUE to clean the floor. I was stunt and look at what he doing. Okay, Im fine because he is a thrifty, but isn't it very dirty? You're spreading the dirt all over the floor instead of cleaning? I just simply can't understand.

Auckland Museum

Okay, moving on now..

After confirming with the $160/week room, we took a bus to Mount Albert to pay her the 2 weeks deposit. Just going there and coming costs $3.20 each 1 way. So.. just to go pay her money, we spent $12.80 on transport. For that distance, in Singapore, it would be $1 each I guess.

Anyway, nobody works on weekends. So we didn't expect any replies to the CV that we sent out. Even on Friday, they would probably be drinking for the second part of the day. This weekend, since we're free, we decide to visit the Auckland Museum. http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/ It's rather near the City Centre, but on top of a bloody hill which makes walking there a real hassle. We got off the bus at Auckland University and thought we take afew shots of the... signboard. Kind of like a "been here" kind of thing.

We cut across the campus and up the damned hill. And it started raining. What luck. Melbourne barely had any rain for years but Auckland just gets all the shit during winter! We walked up the hill, with frozen face and hands and reached the place.

Well, when u get to the entrance, they will hold out their hands and say $10 for 2. Donation? Just bloody say entrance fee mate. The visit to the museum is quite enriching. It's actually called the War Museum, but it really is like a Science Centre/Maori Culture/War Memorial all in one.

Ground Floor - Maori/ Pakeha Culture & History
First Floor - More like children Science Centre
Second Floor - War Memorial

Well, for me, I think there's nothing interesting really. You start with the Maori history and culture on the ground floor, with all the Maori weapons, warships and way of life which is rather interesting. Then as you go up the stairs, you are greeted with snakes-in-jars, stuffed elephant?!, stuffed birds, kiwis, insects and kids play area. What the f*** is that? Thats a weird feeling to say the least; then from that Science Centre, you go up to the War Memorial with all the dead inscribed on walls. There was this one wall which was empty, and it says

"Let these panels never be filled".

Another interesting quote is when the soldiers returned from the war, the commander said,

"When you return, you do not return as heroes, the heroes lie in France".

At the second floor, we saw a Japanese art piece called the "Nest of Many Bowls". Kawaii~!!!

Akira Yagi, b.1955

Yagi has made an acutely detailed, precisely fitted group of covered bowls. First fired supported in a bed of silica sand, the glaze layer was added in a later firing once the procelain had matured.

Another one is a map of Malaysia during the World War. I can't believe it! I saw the name of my hometown appear in Auckland Museum.

Anyway, by the time we finish, it's still raining. It never stopped actually. Anyway, there's a shuttle bus to the city-$3 each. The guy at the information counter told us to take the cab which should cost around $6 to the city. So we stupidly believed him. We got on the cab, he made a U-turn and it's already $4! The meter goes faster than my hearbeat. Bloody hell, I think we should make a U turn and screw that guy. By the time we got to City, it costs us $14. Not a very long distance actually.

Well that sums up our visit to the museum.. Stay tuned.

House Hunting

This is the 3rd day we've arrived at the City of Sails. We have to start searching for a room to stay, to share with other housemates an free internet to use. The rent at Surf 'n' Snow amounts to roughly $378 per week, without internet. We have to get something cheaper, else we'll be living on the streets in no time. Anyway, its good that beore we came here, a friend of ours - Amber told us there is a Free Chinese Newspapers with all sorts of classifieds in it, housing, jobs etc. Here is the website: http://www.mpages.co.nz/ It was through this papers that we found our rooms. Not having a car in this kind of country is tough, the public transport is nowhere near Singapore's standards. We have to take bus to view the houses. Everytime you board, its bloody NZD$1.60 minimum.

Anyway, we spend 1 whole day just viewing 4 rooms. The first one was very clean and nice, but too far. Second one was nearer, but junk. And dirty. The third one is along the main road, beside train station, near asian supermarket. Very convienient, albeit alittle dirty. The fouth one is the nicest, clean and neat with a nice and cosy room, though not near any supermarket.

Anyway, we chose the fourth one. Told him we will pay the deposit over the weekend which he didn't like. Well, my draft haven't cleared the bank yet, what can I do?

After thinking it through overnight, I think the 3rd one feels..safer. Alot of chinese there. NZ people can be quite racist towards chinese. We chose this one in the end! Its in Mount Albert. $160 per week is our rent, inclusive of water, electricity, gas and internet. Bloody slow internet too. The rent here goes by weeks, because there's 52 weeks in a year. So the monthly rent (By Singapore Standards) is ($160 x 52)/12 = NZD$693. Not that cheap eh? Considering we're 30 minutes from the City Centre.

Interesting Stuff in Auckland City

Woke up in the early morning, got nothing to eat, all we have is a cup of "Watties" that we bought yesterday. So we go near by supermarket called "Foodtown" to shop for groceries. Oh yeah.. something i missed out of my last blog is when we arrived at the surf and snow kitchen, its full of people, man! guess wat they cook? They cook thing that u never expect. Baked cake, oven grilled chicken, sushi rolls, pasta with mussels.... and we had only a cup of hot instant noodle.

Okay... continues my today blog.. after came back from foodtown is already lunch time. The most delicious food we can cook and eat is "pasta with meat" poor thing is the meat is uncooked. uhm... recook again. They don't use the stove with fire, electricity stove got no power, that's why the pork can't be cook properly.

After our brunch, we have many things to do, we went to open bank account. Walk here walk there don't know which bank to go for, at the end we went for the bank with themost branches in the city. Auckland Savings Bank a.k.a Commonwealth Bank in Australia. We almost go into Australia New Zeland bank, but seems like no customer in all their branches. Later we found out that they are having serious financial problem.. heng arh...After Go into ASB I saw a woman came in and withdraw money, her dress is cool man! Check it out.. When you lost your way, you can use her dress to find out where is North, South, East, West.

We started our quest to search for free internet. So we thought Burger King will have some wireless as we always use in Singapore. Nothing is free not in the land of the Kiwi. Internet here cost NZD3 for an hour. We decided to use 15min which is NZD 1 for setting our internet banking. Time is Precious, 15 mins is soooo fast. But i found out that library internet for surfing local website is free, do check out their keyboard, the letters are HUGE!

After settle everything we walk around the city, found a lot of funny signboard, as you translate to Hokkien "Sai" - Shit, "ka" - Leg, it's mean Shit Leg? i was wondering they have Sai Kang?? HAHAHA...