Pay Rise

It was more than I thought :(

Good...

You said, don't write it on my blog, so instead, I write about you :p

Happy Easter

We first checked out the farmers market in Matakana on the way to the Goat Island. It's great to see some unique products and feel proud that New Zealand can be so innovative!

Then I went snorkeling for the first time!! Thanks for her patient and instructing me the breathing technic. I had a fantastic time!!!! :D It took me a while to get used to allowing my head into water for a long time and drinking some salty water every now and then :p It was so awesome to swim with big fishes :) However, I did get a bit claustrophobic! Too much water, I think :p

The next day, we went to Whatipu in the Waitakere Region. It's so nice to be out in the nature and go for a bit of bush walk (not so nice to find out I am not so fit :x).

Cheating

I feel like I was cheating today. However, when you aren't in a happy relationship, meeting up with other potentials seem an easy option, especially when they are also interested in you. It's funny that 2 years ago, I was choosing between those three, and 2 year later, I am still choosing them all over again.

Lucky me

I am such a lucky girl today. I started the day with a kiss and I finished the day by winning the door prize! A laptop bag (where is my laptop?!), a portable hard drive (160GB), a mouse and a bottle of wine :D

Today...

I feel like resigning...

Religion

I didn't know that I can talk this much about religion! Who knows maybe next thing you know I'll be talking about politics! Oh wait! I think I am already doing that :o

Thank you for being in my life

The theme tonight was around helpless and hopeless. I learned not only how to hold the hope for others, but also most importantly how to give myself hope and not too hash on myself.

When I look back, I see I have gone through some of the difficulty that I thought I would never concur. I saw no hope, but I hung in there. Now, I am okay, I am better and I see hope again. Things can be different with different persons. Things could change. I know that if I ever have to face some tough time, I'll look back on this and hang in there again. I have done it once and I can do it again! :)

Thank you for being in my life. Thank you for giving me the hope~

Wellington, Not Windy

Once again, I was in Wellington and there was still no wind. I am yet to be convinced that Wellington is a windy city!

It's funny that I felt further away from home than 3 weeks ago when I was overseas. It must be the fact that 我們之間的距離因溝通而拉近，感情比較穩定. I like that, but I don't like being away.

I didn't sleep that well the night before (even with ear plugs), so I accidentally fall into sleep during the morning presentation (I hope no one noticed :x) However, I was pretty on to it in the afternoon and I tried my best to entertain our clients so well that we almost missed our flights :p

It has been a very informative business trip overall. I also got to share my frustration with him and got some survival tips from him.

"Stop under-selling yourself"

Connection

I felt abandoned, I felt cold, I felt empty, I felt that I was once again that little girl who got left behind.

It wasn't a nice feeling, but what scared me more was losing the connection from the incident. My defensive mechanism was triggered and all my warm feelings were sucked out of my heart instantly to protect myself from the future possible disconnection. It really terrified me that feelings can be gone just like that. However, he once again amazed me at how he could quickly reach out for me and bright me back.

Thank you!

TV

After being the cry wolf for one and a half years, I finally bought my TV!! :D No, I am not kidding!!!!

It's such a long precess, but I did it!!! I have paid and will pick it up next week!! The grand ribbon opening was quickly organised with the premiere programmes- Wii and Playstation 3 :D

Be Humble

I have been feeling really frustrated at work. It's not a nice feeling to not be appreciated when others get favoured. I really want to do well, really want to be ahead and reach my potential. I know that I am responsible for my own development, but the management has made it difficult.

It was difficult for me to ask his advice because of my competitiveness, stubbornness and jealousy, but I know it's for my own benefit and I really want to try hard before I give in and move on. I am planning to talk to her and also organising a meeting with my manager to express my dissatisfaction.

Phone, Back!

I am jumping and smiling still as it's a miracle!!! I am now a true believer of networking!! :D :D

I was so in my little happy-phone-land that I missed not one, but TWO buses to Remuera. I somehow just forgot stopping them :) However, I didn't mind at all!

Yeah!!! My phone!!!!!

Lost and Lost :(

I seem to misplace my phone and I have been looking everywhere, but without any luck. It's really annoying the fact that I can't find it. I am upset not because it causes any inconvenient or losing any contacts, but because the fact it's gone, it disappeared and it's impossible to lose it! :@

I tried to make a pact with the angel/devil like last time, but somehow I just couldn't do it. Maybe it's an obsession of the pain, or maybe I am just too fond of memory. Then, I feel guilty that I couldn't let go the moving island.

Lost and Saved

My losing thing tendency has caught up with me after my 7 weeks travelling. First my nail cutter went missing, then my PC died for a week and now my cellphone disappeared!! :(

It's so frustrating that I had no idea where they are (nail cutter and cellphone) or what's wrong with it (PC) :@

This morning my electronic shopping list was:

• 32" LCD TV
• laptop
• cellphone

Fortunately, with my persistence in rescuing my PC, I managed to bring my PC from the grave to live after trying everyday for a week (with my colleagues and my brother's tips). The bonus of having no internet was to sleep early and also got housework done :D

Now I just hope that I will find my cellphone too.

Phew~

He is neither divorced nor with a child :D

Waitangi Day and Chinese New Year Eve

My first day back to NZ was full of actions. First, we went to Waitangi Day Festival early morning, then shopping, preparing for the Chinese New Year Eve dinner. I collected few Chinese "orphans" who were like me without family in Auckland and we had a little celebration at my place. I always tend to prepare more than necessary (I blame my Mum :p) My steam pot was too much that I didn't have space to put some of 火鍋餃、蝦餃、花枝餃 (steam pot dumplings) and everyone was so full that we didn't have 湯圓 (It's not quite my tradition, but as I collected all the Chinese orphans, I also adopted some of their culture :))

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! (Doh! I have to go back to work tomorrow...就當拜年囉！

Home Finally!

It's so nice to get back and enjoy Auckland summer after drifting around the world for 7 weeks. What is most important is feeling grounded again, which mean reconnecting with my house, my kitchen, my pillows, my bed and him.

This trip has been really worthwhile. Apart from reconnecting with family and friends, I saw snapshots of different lifestyles and recognised what's important to me and what makes me happy. When I was away, I got time and space to see and meet a wide range of lifestyles and I got to reflect what I like and what I don't.

I really feel that I am a lucky and loved girl. I have friends all over the world. This trip really prove to me that distance isn't the issue. As long as you want something hard enough, you can always drop everything and jump on the plane to see people who are important in your life. Thank you, Danke schön, Dakujem, Kiitos, 唔該，謝謝

I am now full of energy and looking forwards to making some changes in my life.

Welcome home! Welcome to 2008!

Hong Kong, Melbourne

Hong Kong
I stopped over in Hong Kong for a night before I flew back to the south hemispheres. My bags have increased to almost 20 kg now. It was a bit difficult to carry them around in HK, but hey I deserved it :$, I guess. The hospitality at my friends place has again been incredible. The father took us out for hot pot and also took me to the closest MTR the next day morning at 6:30am!

Summary

• No shopping... bags are too heavy to tempt me to buy more stuff
• Food: Hot Pot、金銀蛋瘦肉粥、蘿蔔糕 (finally after looking for it everywhere, I had it in the airport for breakfast)
  

Melbourne
My first impression of Melbourne wasn't great. Stupid custom, stupid long long queue and silly me carrying all my bags rather than taking the trolley :(. Oh! Exchange currency at airport wasn't great, either!

However, the city eventually changed my mind about it the next day. Melbourne is a really nice city. It's big and better than Auckland in many ways, but most importantly it's still manageable (London was so big that I found it too overwhelming). However, it was too HOT for me! I guess I have been travelling in winter for 6 and a half weeks, so it took me awhile to adjust to summer.

Summary

• The long queue wait at custom almost killed my back
• Strolling around the city all by myself got me really excited as it brought back the backpacking feeling.
• Melbourne is a really neat place with many cute alley ways and shopping is great here too. So many variety :)
• Victoria Market: It's probably one of my favorite places in Melbourne. There were so many cheap fresh fruit, which I know he would so love it. It was so dangerous though as I was surrounded by clothes, bags, shoes etc. I don't know how I managed, but I stayed strong and walk out of them without buying anything! I was so tempted though!
• Walking around Chinatown and many department stores made me so tired that I took not one but TWO naps on the sofa of the mall - Australia on Collins became my favorite napping place in Melbourne.
  
• St. Kilda
• She took me out for bag shopping in the morning and then I met up with him for LCD TV shopping. No Bags and of course, no LCD TV yet. However, I did promise them if I got one back in NZ, I'll have to take a picture. I can't believe that he talked me into buying a LCD TV in the end.
• Botanic Garden, Shrine Of Remembrance
• Jazz Bar: I don't normally like trumpet, but this guy is really good. The band wasn't playing my kind of Jazz music, but I can really appreciate their talent! Thank you for showing me the cultural part of Melbourne.
• Meetings: They both went really well. However, career isn't the only important thing in my life and there are other different considerations need to be taking into account for such major change. I will have to see what comes along in the next 6 months
• Australian Centre for the Moving Image
• Video: Black Sheep, Bavarian Invasion
• Food: Vietnamese food, Fresh fruit from the market (Nectarines, strawberry), not so good Tiro juice, Seafood pizza, Tim Tam cheesecake, Poached eggs on toasts at Degraves, Tia Maria with Coka, lasagna, Juicy dumpling, fried dumpling, dumpling, green tea 麻糬 ice cream, watermelon crash, Japanese food (Prwan rice paper rap, pancake, deep fried soft crab), eggs and becan roll, eel benton box, green tea ice cream

Kaohsiung - Home

Home, Sweet Home!! :) After "detouring" for a month, I finally got to my destination - Kaohsiung. My Dad summarised my 10 days at home as "總統也沒有妳這麼忙!" (Not even the president is as busy as you!). Indeed, I had a very stressful catch-up schedule and I almost had a breakdown during weekend when there were too many social commitments. Wanting to please everyone and utilising all my time with family and friends made me neglected myself and not have enough time for myself sometimes.

All the reunites, catch-ups and conversations can be funnily (and sadly) summarised as

1. Do you have a boyfriend? :x
2. When are you going to marry? :x :x
3. When are you going to have children? :x :x :x

It must be the age thing... :x :x :x :x

Summary

• Family and Friend catch-up. It's sad that I really didn't know how to talk to my grandpa after they had just asked about his health and the exciting politics and elections :( The other grandpa was really in a great mood when I went there. He was dropping a VERY subtle hint of me getting older by telling me a story :x
  
• News (a.k.a soap opera) is not as entertaining as 2 years ago?!
• The heart to heart conversation with Mum went deeper than I was prepared.
  
• Night market! She was so good at bargaining! "$450 的話，就包起來了"
  
• Chat at HSR station. Good on her for going to 泰北. Good on her for quiting her job and have a bit of time-out in her life. Best wishes, my frieads.
  
• Hair strigthen; It took less time than last time, but it was still as painful as last time
• He came to see me with his Mercedes convertible and a suit. We went for a chat and then he joined in. They are so different from everyone else I know. I understand their values and appreciate how honestly they share about their approaches to happiness. He has always been a true friend and looks after me by telling me all the crude reality no one else would have told me. I felt uneasy and heavy though, after our chat because I still want to believe the good in people. The relationships they are involved are way more complicated than I ever experienced. Talking to them tonight and thinking of being back to Taiwan again made me feel really paranoid.
  
• Fortunately, I have done all my shopping in London and Hong Kong. There aren't that many sales at the moment in Taiwan.
• The only day staying at home :)
  
• They drove and showed me around in Kaohsiung and gave me a good rehearsal for the next day
  
• More baby Talks :x
  
• I am surprised at that New Zealand is more conservative than Taiwan in some way.
• Divorce with a child seemed to be the theme for tonight
  
• She came to see me from Taipei!! I ( :o) gave her a river tour and department store tour. Thank you for coming all the way to see me.
  
• My travel expansive has being officially over my over optimistic budget of NZ$5000 due to my new toy - digital camera! Dad loves playing it though. Hopefully he will get himself one soon.
• My best shopping buddy came with me to do more shopping :)
• I had a great talk with my parents about religious, and life in general. They really love me and worry my personality tends to be hash on myself, which I know. "能牽手，也要學會放手" - That must be the biggest parents love!. "我不要當你的父母，我只想當你的朋友"
  
• She is married! :o It was a bit pity that I didn't feel I had a chance to spend some time with her. However, I am glad that they seem able to understand and hold each other well.
• Food: Lots :) (I don't think I can list them all. It would be too crude for some :p)