Photos+update

Sorry for the major delays... i just had my presentation and a 3000 words essay yesterday....And as usual have been working 20 hours a week..so was really struggling trying to keep up this week. Phew..luckily that its all over for now...i ve only one 55% assignment left which is due next friday and my exams to prepare for which is on the 3rd, 4th and 6th Nov and will only be working on monday and sat next week...hmm i guess its not that bad huh ^.^

ANyways here's a few photos that was taken last week..most probably you guys have seen them anyway but oh well...

Keli 21st Day 1 (17th Oct 2008)

Venue: Mt Albert Valentine Restaurant
Time: 7.30

The place that we choose to celebrate was a western buffet restaurant called Valentine. I remember going to Valentine about 5-6 years ago as they used to have one in Dunedin my old cities. But it was closed down and i havent been to one since..Well the food was really good i would say..but the atmosphere was alitte errr disappointing as we expected western restaurant to be alittle more classy? OK enuf said...

Bday girl+me+bernard (the non-couple)

Bday girl+guys

2nd shot

Make a wishhh...make a wish...btw it says 'a' so u only have one

The pretty cake courtesy of me+rae sher

Group photos

Group photos shot 2

Okok Group photos last shot..promise ^.^

After dinner, we went back to our place for a little drinking session...and the party continues.

Family photos....m so red :( not because m shy ok its the alcohol)

Keli spotting the camera in between games :p

Me+raesher

Group photos with OCF

It was 12 pm when the party ended..at least for me :( i had work at 7 in the morning so i had to zz early...Keli and the rest of them went clubbing till like 4 i think...man so wish i could join them. Well the past 2-3 years ve never been fond of clubbing. Maybe m becoming anti-social or maybe its m getting old for it hahaha...but anyway this was one of the rare day that i actually really wanted to go..hmmm maybe it was the alcohol getting to me.. I didnt end up sleeping till like it was 1.30 when they left the apartment..so only end up having like 4 hours of zzzz :(

Keli 21st Day 2 (18th Oct 2008)

After work i was just chilling at home and went for lunch with sheena and the rest at la porchetta an italian restaurant..we then met up with keli at easyway for a drink and cont our day playing...........POOL and BOWLING. Well didnt plan to play bowling but not many ppl were interested in playing pool..how sad..i wasnt really good at bowling anyway so i end up being the spectator hehe

Vanessa from US.. (i think she made that one lol)

Keli and her m gonna bowl pose

Mini group photos

Me sneaking a turn wahaha...notice the street shoes? hehe

hmm no comment

While they were busy bowling..me and bennie who was the only two spectator sneak away for a game of hoops ^.^

Group photos...The new trend in posing...with the eyes close ^.^

Reaching out

Eventhough only 4 hours of sleep the last night...i end up going bk almost 12....NOOOO this was sooo unplanned for..i have work again the next day at 7 and therefore would have to wake up at 5.30-6..arghhhh

Day 3- Stardome (19th Oct 2008)

Situated in Auckland's One Tree Hill Domain the Auckland Observatory and Planetarium better known as Stardome, is New Zealand's leading astronomical attraction....Well thinking i only had like 10 hours sleep in two nights i was planning for a quiet night after work..But while chilling at home after work..Sheena txted to see if i would like to join them to go stardome..well they already had tickets but one of them couldnt make it so i was the replacement..hahaha i am know as the 'star friend' cause they all thinks i love stars alot..which i actually do..well even if i dont..i do now LOL

Sheena posing with a big ball

The master of posing Mr. Kelvin Chan from Kuching...Kelvin watches like ALL the american top models eps since season 4 and is the master of posing... ^.^

Vanessa carrying earth

Me me me...pointing to Klang ^.^

Bennie with Saturn

The Sun

hmm no idea wats this..the milky way? Black hole?solar system?

Vanessa in space

Kelvin in Space

The night sky at One tree Hill. Notice the really bright star? Thats the planet venus the closest planet to earth..If u see through the telescope you can actually see the planet. ^.^ And also can be seen is the constellation scorpio... The next brightest star above venus is the heart of scorpio..Its actually red in color.Damm cool no?

Venus and Scorpio with the lines in case you cant see it

Bennie+matt matt...aww so sweet ^.^

Last Day of OCF meeting (24th Oct 2008)

It was the last meeting for the year for OCF and also was a celebration for all those who are graduating+ leaving next year (who are mostly my age group). Even though its only been a short while knowing most of them..i really kinda felt sad that i didnt have the chance to know them more..well i guess i just have to get to know the younger generations of OCF ^.^ I feel so old :p

Sheena+kelvin

The girls group performing..song written by Sheena..NICE!

The leavers for 2008

People busy writing hmm wat should i call it..thank you card? well basically you just write whatever you want to the people that you care especially those going away.

OCF Annual Group photo for 2008

Group photo Shot 2: Theme: Look Shock

Well we ended our day having supper at STICK..well not sure what its call but people go there to eat sticks aka satay so thats what m gonna call it now ^.^

Random Shot...Left to Right: Ben (ex president), Samantha, Francine

End up going home at almost 1 despite only having 5 hours of sleep due to my assignment..Sigh work tmr at 8 am again wats new..

Well i guess that sums up my event for the last whole week. Due to my exams coming up in just one week time..i will not be updating as much....if anyone cares to know ^.^ ciao

Delays

Due to fact that i am really stressing out trying to keep up with my studies+work i wont have much time updating my blog..hopefully after my two assignments due on friday, ll have some time to upload some pics. ^.^

Waiwera

Waiwera, is a beach settlement about 50 km from Auckland which is highly popular for their spa/thermal spring.

Wednesday afternoon...after lunch we gather at City lodge, my work place at 1p.m. However, other than our manager, we still dont freaking know where we are going to ^.^

Robin from korea and Ina from brazil

Joel (hmm acually dont know where she;s from..maybe aus? Jason (NZ) and Jon from korea

My boss/manager Samuel from Switzerland/Italy

Me+sis in the van..After about ten mins, the 10 of us began our journey.. We were finally told that we are heading to Waiwera woohoo..well i havent been there but its quite a popular tourist destination/weekend getaway for aucklanders and ppl from around the area.
After about 30 mins drive, we finally arrived. Hmm still wondering what we are going to do here.I freaking hope its not like training camp or motivational lectures...ll DIE if it is...
The famous Waiwera thermal spa...apparently its a hot medicinal spring and many ppl comes here to take the 'cure'..
Arrived and chilling at YMCA Waiwera..oh did i mention city lodge belongs to YMCA? Anyway, we were told that today we were going to have a TEAM BONDING session.YMCA Waiwera had organized 'fun' activities for the day for our team bonding session to improved our teamwork and to get to know each other better outside our workplace.

First Event- Tracking

Our first activity of the day: Tracking....See that tall hill back there it might look short but its damm tall ok...and we are supposed to track up to the PEAK!!! &^%^%$ i cant remember the last time i did any exercise.

Me posing for my last pic just incase i dont make it back...

A closer look at the hill we're tracking.

Last briefing b4 we start.

Me+Sam

The last stretch up...

YESSSSSS after 30 mins of tracking i Cant believe i actually made it to the top...halfway through, i thought i would really die...Man I am so god damm unfit and my stamina is unbelievable..i think a 60 year old would beat me up here..sigh!Seriously need to start going to the gym...
Group photo....well done guys...i was actually the last one up..but thats because i was too busy taking photos for you guys ok.. ^.^

Orienteering

Ahem for those of you who dont know wat it is..Orienteering is "a competitive sport, originating in Sweden, that tests the skills of map reading and cross-country running, in which competitors race through an unknown area to find various checkpoints by using only a compass and topographical map, the winner being the finisher with the lowest elapsed time."

Well in our case we were given a map, which has little crosses on it which marks a checkpoint.

Well hidden among the bushes and trees was this, our checkpoint. We were divided into team of 5 and each team were given a map and a paper and upon finding the checkpoint we were to clip it with the red thingy and also copy the word/phrase on it. There was a total of 8 checkpoint and whoever finish it the fastest wins..BTw after completing all checkpoints, we were to and rearrange the words that we collected into one long phrase..
Halfway into the game, we still have time to take pics..hehe ^.^ btw it might seems easy to you but pls hor..the checkpoint is not sticking so openly on the ground..its hidden inside the bushes or behind trees like the ones on the right of the pic so its not easy to find at all...

The WINNING TEAM

Wahahaha...even while posing for the camera throughout the game..we manage to finish it first..phew it was super tiring..but i really enjoyed it. See all the happy faces... ^.^

" The artist is nothing without gift. But the gift is nothing without Work"

That was the phrase that we got at the end...

Scenary from the top of the hill...damm beautiful ya?

Group photos

Scenaries shot 2

Posing with the scenary ^.^
Random Shot 2 on the way back..it took us 2 hours in total to and back


After arriving back at YMCA, we were given 10 mins rest..b4 proceding to our next activities.

First mental challenge

The aim was to get the bottle out without anyone stepping into the red line which cant really be seen here.We were given 4 ropes and the ropes cannot touch the ground as each time the rope touch it will be taken away.Time limit: 20 mins..we failed miserably :(

2nd challenge

Hmm m getting quite lazy to explain every single activities :p Everyone thinking hard O.O

Me giving instructions? hehe

Robin carrying catheryn

Andrea our supervisor from brazil carrying robin

Andrea with Robin+ME rawrrr

Look at him go lol..There was about 5-6 activities that we did all togehter which are divided into mental and physical activities. But the camera was low on bat so we couldnt take anymore photos...but after about 3 hours, we finally completed everything. I was soooo physically drained..

Our manager then prepare a feast for us which is...........................................BBQ!!yay

Me helping out in the kitchen ^.^

Making garlic breads

Food

Preparing the food

Me+robin and samuel.

Yummy!!!

While waiting for the food..i hastily took some pics b4 the battery totally go flat..

The tide just came in...it was all dry b4 this. I want,i want a house by the lake/sea :)

The view is sooo nice, no? I think i would like to come here some time during the weekend just to relax and probably will try the spa the next time hehe

The YMCA ground

Samuel was our chef for the day..As mentioned, samuel is from the Italy part of Switzerland so he used italian herbs for every single thing lol..but seriously it taste damm good lor ^.^ Note to self: use italian herbs for any dish and barbeque it and it will taste good hehe

Hungry ppl enjoying the food

Us in the kitchen packing up

After about 8 hours of fun+tiring activities, we were finally heading back to auckland. I was already feeling sad ^.^ I had such a great time...hehe i guess this team bonding thing actually works huh lol I think everyone of us enjoyed it alot..

Definitely one of the best time i had since coming over to auckland..and to top it all off, i get paid NZD 13 dollar an hour for doing this....WAHHAAHAA BEAT THAT! ^.^

Peace out!