Happy 2008 to all

Dear SG,

I haven’t been writing because I’ve been sick a lot. Sick enough to be hospitalize just before my birthday and right after we’ve moved into our new place. But to all families and friends, we are all fine now so no worries. Andrew has been taking really good care of me and he has officially taken over all the household chores and has actually lost some unwanted weight. hee.... There’s a lot I would like to update, pictures and videos etc but our broadband access is being delayed due to the holiday season. I hope to put those up soon.

The New Year is coming and each year brings more learning experiences for everyone. A friend said that he/she is not expecting a good 2008. Just remember that we always have a choice in life, choose to have a happy and fulfilling life. If we want it badly enough, it can happen because we’ve make it happen. Be positive, be kind, nasty people are all around but we shouldn’t let them spoilt our day. Stay close to those that are sincere and kind, they are a reminder why it’s still worth it. Happy 2008.

with love from NZ,
Joan

Auspicious day to move (in)

Dear SG,

Our new home is ready for us, not that we’ve painted the walls, or clean it or even wash anything in there yet. It’s ready simply because it had to be ready regardless of the condition it’s in. We didn’t have much time left before our 2 darling dogs arrived from Singapore on the 15 th of Nov!

We’ve bought the necessary furniture to make the place homey and Andrew has arranged for it to be delivered this weekend. We are still short of the doggies’ patio door but so long as that’s done before the 15 th of Nov, we are still on target. Saying all that, we nearly forgot to check for a good date to move our stuffs in.

Now, if you are not familiar with what I’m saying, you might wonder why it’s necessary for us to choose a good day to move in. In this case, a good day is not determined by the weather; rather, it’s determined by the suitability of the date with regards to the birth dates of the owners.

It’s important to choose an auspicious day to move in, every house energizes their owners differently, and choosing a good day to move into a new home ensures a smooth beginning.
Andrew found a website where we get free online information for suitable dates using our date of birth. Please note that I get no advertising fees for putting their URL here.
http://www.geomancy.net/

Here are our results:



We are not going to fix a date to move in “officially” but you can be sure there are going to be lots of “movement” during these dates. Hee….

With love from NZ,

J

PS. In contrast, I bet the kiwis will just choose a nice sunny day to move in. Oh well, a little rain won’t hurt, water signify cash flowing in. We’ll just have to be positive regardless of the weather condition. ;)

Differences in our home in SG and NZ

Dear SG,

Let's compare the difference in our home in Singapore and in New Zealand.

SG - 3 bedrooms - HDB Apartment
NZ - 3 bedrooms - Terrace house

SG - 2 bathrooms (toilet and shower)
NZ - 3 bathrooms (1 toilet, and 2 bath and toilet)

SG - 93 square meter floor area
NZ - 185 square meter floor area

SG - current interest rate 2.6% mortgage
NZ - current interest rate 8.8% mortgagee (gasp!)

SG - loan period 25 years
NZ - loan period 30 years

SG - 99 leasehold apartment
NZ - freehold land

SG - living room in the front of the house
NZ - kitchen in the front of the house

SG - Single level
NZ - Double storey

SG - Pay a monthly charge for parking in a HDB carpark
NZ - A garage and a whole row of parking lots outside, free.

SG - Walk to wet market, hawker center and town center
NZ - Walk to supermarket, Wendy's, KFC, MacDonald and town center (we are fast food junkies)

SG - Walk to MRT
NZ - Walk to bus terminal (possible but it will take around 15 mins of walk)

SG - Connects to underground TV cable
NZ - Connects to TV Antenna and satellite dish

SG - Concrete wall throughout
NZ - Plaster wall internally and on the front and back, brick between 2 houses.

SG - Ceramic floor throughout
NZ - Capet floor throughout and ceramic flooring in kitchen and bathrooms

SG - Air Conditional system
NZ - Electric heater and gas heater

SG - External cupboards
NZ - Built in wardrobe (no need to buy cupboards!)

SG - one dog registration per HDB apartment
NZ - no limit but don't go overboard (yipee!)

SG - no cats allowed in HDB apartment (not strictly enforce but legally no)
NZ - no limit but don't go overboard

SG - main entrance is the front door
NZ - we found that most family enter via the garage door instead, front door are only for visitors

SG - letter box under locks and keys
NZ - open letter box

with love from NZ,
J

We own a piece of New Zealand

Dear SG,

It's official, we now own a piece of New Zealand. It's not really big, just 297 square meter. A pretty small section of land by New Zealand Standard.


In case you are wondering, it's a land with a terrace house sitting on it. It's our new home to be, it's where our dogs will be send to when they arrive in Auckland. We are finally settling down. We actually bought furniture and dish clothes!!!


I'm still in a daze, what have we got ourselves into?!? Our mortgage is for 30 years, our mortgage interest rate is 8.8%, we can only have air for breakfast, water for lunch and the leftover for dinner! Forget about personal spa pool, forget about luxury boats, forget about handsome personal gym instructor, forget about anything. The bank owns us now.

The house in the middle, yes... it's pink.... or a kind of dull pink.... vehicle not included.

with love from NZ,

J & A

Happy and sad, part of life

Dear SG,

It's wonderful to be alive but life itself isn't always a bed of roses. Within the space of one hour, I experienced sadness and happiness from 2 different incidents.

Just last night, I sent off a Singaporean family who is leaving Auckland because the husband has been transferred to Macau to work on their company's new project. When they are departing, my heart aches because we won't know when we'll see them again.

After they left, I went upstairs to check my email and saw a reply from Mitchville Kennels. My heart immediately lighten with anticipation because Mitchville has been hired to get KiKi and ZoZo over to Auckland by mid of Nov. It seems that everything is going as plan and we'll be reunited with our dogs by the evening of November 15th.

To Casey, Shan Shan and their children, all the best in a new environment. Make the best of the opportunity and may you find new friends as wonderful as yourself. The 2 kids here will miss their friends and us adults will definitely miss you guys.

The children's first sleepover, they had the time of their life fooling around all nights long. Ann's idea was to let the children have a sleepover so that Casey and Shan Shan can pack in peace. It works, because the kids nearly tore down Ann's house with their screaming and running. Being the last chance they will have playing together, we kind of just let them be.

Brought back heaps of memories of my sleepover at my cousins' or friends'. hee...

Life can be so bitter sweet.

with love from NZ,

J

Depressing start of the week in NZ

Dear SG,

It has been a pretty depressing start of the week here in NZ. I was told that the whole nation is affected whenever something happen to the ruby scene and this time i really felt the effect of it.

Andrew and I woke up early on Sunday to catch the All Black in a match against France in the Ruby World Cup. Expectation was high because the All Black has been on a winning streak. Sadly, they lost that game. Even I was depress. Monday was all blues for everyone at work. Sian ah....

with love from NZ,
J

Living in 2 worlds

Dear SG,

I'm constantly amaze by the fact that I get to live in 2 worlds and often gets to enjoy the best of both.

Only last evening, I was stuck to the TV throughout the whole rugby league game rooting for the Warriors. It was exciting watching the game and the feeling is exactly the same as when Singapore played against Malaysia, only here, it's the New Zealand against Australia. Both SG and NZ are smaller when compared to their neighbours and both needs to be reminded to keep their goal in mind and to fight till the end. Time and time again they might have lost, but they are certainly getting closer and closer to their dream. DON'T GIVE UP, NEVER EVER!


This morning, I was downloading songs sample sent to me by my friend in SG via email. They are songs from Royston Tan’s latest film 881 about 2 girls wanting to be the best getai singers in Singapore. I so love the songs and I am definately interested to see the flim because of the songs. Thank you for keeping me in the loop. I'm also glad that part of SG history will be preserved in this film. SG needs more production like these, I hope more people will support them.



with love from NZ,

J

Dab-ber-you, Dab-ber-you, Dab-ber-you

Dear SG,

We singaporean loves to "cut short" our words or sentences. I remembered a funny joke on how SG-ian speaks in the most "efficient" way. Instead of saying "Have you had your dinner?", we say "eat already?". Instead of "We've ran out of stock.", we say "No stock!". Instead of "Please repeat what you've said", we say "Again?" or "huh?". Wah lau, if any of you have that long joke about our "effective english", please send it to me again, i really miss that joke.

Now, back to my blog of the day. We always think singaporean very smart hor, can cut a long sentences until so short. But then hor, kiwi smarter leh, they manage to outdo us with one word that I bet we won't have thought of. Instead of cutting a long sentences short, they manage to cut a long letter short!!!

Compare an ad on the radio.

In SG, "Visit our website at Dab-ber-you, Dab-ber-you, Dab-ber-you, dot something dot COM dot SG",

In NZ, "Visit our website at Dab Dab Dab dot something dot CO dot NZ!!!"

The whole website can be easily announced over the air !!! Even their dot "CO.NZ" has one letter lesser than our dot "COM.SG".

Interesting right? (aka "Isn't it interesting?")

with love from NZ,
J

Libraries

Dear SG,

Another thing I miss in SG is your library... You know how much I love going to the libraries. I wish I could just spend my time in a cosy chair and read non-stop. (This and computer game playing explained the reason for my myopia)

There's libraries here too and they are pretty well equipped. The subject range is pretty wide but the size isn't quite as big as our average library. Then again, the libraries here do exchange their selection around so it's possible to see something new each time. Also, the libraries here are manage by different Counties, I was told the library manage by Auckland City is much bigger.

I haven't had the pleasure of visiting that one, the libraries I frequent all belongs to the Manukau Town Council. If I need to borrow books from that library, I WILL need to apply for a different library card, one that is for the Auckland City Council's library. SG is easier, one card from the National Library Board if you are not a citizen or PR, or simply just with our Identity Card.

Another cute differences between the libraries here in NZ and in SG is the book drop. Both countries offer book drops which are wonderful for folks like me who could never return my library books during operating hours. But in SG, we are only allow to drop the books back in one at a time. The scanner automatically checks in the book so that we qualify for another book if we so desire. There is no scanner in NZ, we'll just squeeze as many books as the slit would allow and drop the whole lot in. The books will fall into a bin and gets scanned in manually the next day.

Now, you might think that NZ's a little behind us when it comes to automation of books returned. SG used to operate like this but we are now fully automated. NZ is also automated when it comes to checking out of books but it's not a priority for them to scan in returned books. This is because there is almost no limited to the amount of books one can borrow from the NZ library. The last time I borrowed books in SG, the limit was 4 books per person. Sigh... oh well, nothing is perfect in the world.

with love from NZ,
J

Spot the differences:

In NZ, you need different library card to borrow books from libraries operated by different town council

In SG, you will only need one card (identity card) if you are a citizen and PR or a library card if you are not.

In NZ, we can returned books to any libraries so long as the books that belongs to a certain council are returned to the libraries in their district

In SG, the libraries are owned by the same board and we can return the books to any library's' book drop.

In NZ, there is almost no limits to the amount of books we can borrow. We can borrowed up to 19 books if necessary

In SG, the limit is 4 books per person but we can pay a small subscription fee to extend that.

In NZ, the duration we get to keep a book is 30 days. When our books are overdue, an automated phone call will be made from their system with a pre-recorded voice message reminding us to return any overdue library books. The overdue fine will not start immediately, we noticed that we do get an extra day or 2 allowance to return the books before they start fining us.

In SG, the duration is 21 days. If we forget to return, all that's automated is the overdue fee which will increase intelligently by itself every day.

Birthday treats! My treat or your treat?

Dear SG,

You know how during your birthday on Aug the 9th, you set up this big party called "National Day Parade" at the Marina Bay and invited heaps of people to celebrate your birthday? Birthdays are certainly a big thing for everyone and that got me comparing the differences of having a birthday in SG and in NZ.

In SG, whenever there's a birthday, we'll have gatherings of families and friends, getting together to celebrate the once a year event in the honor of the birthday person. Usually it's a lunch or dinner celebration, where we'll find a nice spot of place to sit down and catch up with one another. Preferably, a place where we get to enjoy some delightful cuisine as well. Usually the birthday person will get a free treat, cost bore and shared by everyone.

I've been working in an office environment in SG for around 9 years. From my personal experiences, everyone will contribute a token sum of money to get the birthday person a gift or a birthday cake. (unless that person is really unpopular which is pretty rare... I hope) Sometimes, the person with a birthday will bring in some tasty snacks or treats to show their appreciation afterwards but it's not expected and it's optional.

So far, I've been working in NZ for the past 3 months, the culture here is certainly different. If it's your birthday, it's a culture expectation for you to bring in some cakes or food as a treat for everyone in the office. Isn't it interesting? And it seems that most folks will apply for annual leave if their birthday falls on a working day. They will bring the cakes in a day before and share it with everyone, then they will go on leave on the actual day.

My birthday is still a few months away but I will be ready for it now. I wonder if the folks in my office is adventurous enough to try a new type of cake, our Pandan Cake! haa.... or Kueh Lapis? Some parents in Victor's school was so curious about the Pandan Cake that Ann put into his lunchbox. They asked him why is our cake green!!! haa.... But they don't seems very eager to try it though. hee... Gosh, they don't know what they are missing.

Here are the 2 cakes you won't find in New Zealand. Photos from Bengawan Solo Cake Shop in Singapore. Boy do I miss these yummy cakes....

Pandan Chiffon aka Pandan Cake

(I bet everyone will also wonder why there is a hole in this cake! kekeke...)
Read more about this cake @Wikipedia

Kueh Lapis aka Thousand layer cake (千层糕)

(And why this cake has so many lines? *grin*)

I'm so ashamed I've taken these cakes for granted when I was living in SG. Dear SG, I will never take any food in Singapore for granted again! I Promise!

with love from NZ,
J

P.S. I've only had 3 months of working experiences here and only in one NZ company, I may have assumed too much, please pardon me if I am wrong. :)

Lunar eclipse on 28 Aug 07

Dear SG,

You missed the Lunar eclipse last evening because of cloudy skies, I read it on http://www.channelnewsasia.com/

I'm so sorry you've missed it, it was an interesting phenomenon. The moon was really bright and high in the NZ sky last night (9pm NZ time). As it moved into the Earth's shadow, more stars were visible and the stars shines brighter. By the time it was completely in the shadow, it was reddish in colour because of the reflection of light from the Earth's atmosphere.

This is the first time I make plans to watch a Lunar eclipse, we bought Pizza so that we can fill our stomach and enjoy the phenomenon at the same time. However, our Pizza was delayed because the staffs had forgotten to add Bacon to half of our BBQ Chicken and Bacon Pizza. To compensate us, they gave the "damage" goods to us for free and bake us another pizza. We had to watch the start of the Lunar eclipse in front of the Pizza store.

By the time we got home and was enjoying our pizza in the yard, the moon was nearly gone. The sky had turn cloudy and the wind was picking up. I was so cold from the wind I had to put on ski wear! hee.... (not that I've ever went skiing before but you get the idea)

It then started to rain a little when the moon had been completely in the shadow for a while. It was too cold and windy for me to stay out in the yard, thus we gave up the idea of watching the rest of the eclipse and went back to our bedroom.

Dearest SG, no matter where we are, I'm glad we are sharing the same sky, the only difference is that we are watching it from a different angle.

with love from NZ,

J

Slower tempo in NZ?

Dear SG,



Everyone is saying that Singapore moves at a really fast pace. We walk faster, talk faster, and eat faster. Life just pass by in a flash. But if Singaporean are fast, why couldn't we catch a housefly?



My 5 year old kiwi nephew here could hit a fly since the age of 3. The only problem is his height, he can only go as high as he can reach. So why is the houseflies in NZ slower? Or are they really slower?

Joseph told me that it's probably because of the scent they used in the house just for summer time. The scent makes insects like bees and flies disorientated and dizzy (I didn't know insects will have fainting spells too). This cause their reflex to be slow down. Interesting...







Oh well, try to relax a bit more in SG, life is too short. Cherish each moment so that we may look back with no regrets.

with love from NZ,
J

Need MC or not?

Dear SG,

I'm not feeling well today and so I'm staying home to rest. The good thing about NZ is that there is a certain degree of trust in the system. So long as we don't abuse it, we are allow to take sick leave without a Medical Certificate (MC). Since I should be resting instead of blogging, I will end my post for now.

May everyone be bless with good health and hearty laugh.

with love from NZ,
J

Car trouble...

Dear SG,

When we got back from Singapore, our first major problem was the cars. Both our cars won't start. They've been left out in the cold winter for too long without any loving touch from us. We've only been away for 2 weeks or so... I guess we should have hire a car-sitter to watch after our cars for us. A professional car-sitter to start the cars each day, "walk" them, "feed" them nutritional fuel, "groom" them, and "play" with them. Sigh... how will we know our cars will give us the silent treatment when we are back?

Just a few minutes ago, Andrew was replying an email to reserve a car lot for a meeting with a financial consultant. The email request was for Andrew to give the details of his car so that they can identify it and won't tow it away for packing in the reserved lot for their customers. Andrew type down the make and the model, then suddenly turn around and asked me, "What's the car plate of our Nissan???!!!" In SG, cars are a luxury item. We would have never forget any tiny details related to our expensive and precious car. Yet in NZ, our attitude to our cars did a 180 degree changed because they are so affordable here.

Just in case we don't remember the details again, our cars are
19 something year, Dark Green Honda with a round and long backside - BTT803
2000 something year, Silver Nissan with no backside - DYS627

Just don't ask me about the year and the model, I don't remember... *embarrassed*

with love from NZ,
J

Happy Birthday Singapore

Dear SG,

It’s been a while since my last blog. We’ve actually went back to Singapore to celebrate the Singapore’s National Day and came back again soon after. When we got back home, almost everyone asked us this question, “Now that you have some experiences living in Auckland, which do you prefer? Singapore or New Zealand?”

We always replied, “Having lived in Singapore for most of our life, New Zealand is certainly a refreshing change. But we still love Singapore. Singapore is like our “parent” and New Zealand is like our “parent-in-laws”. You can’t help but have strong feeling for both places.

David helped us recorded the National Day Parade on a disk. We brought it back so that the 2 nephews here will be able to see the grand celebration held in Singapore every year. Happy national day Singapore.

With love from NZ,
j

My car is iced!!!

Dear SG,

You won't believe it! It's 8am in the morning now and I went outside to drive my car back into the driveway in front of the house. We park it off street because we could only park 2 cars in the driveway and the garage is full. Now that Andrew's off to work, I have a space in front of the garage. When I reach the car, I saw a thin sheet of ice on all the window panes! I checked the temperature from the internet and it's 6 degree!!!! OMG!!!

The ice is so dry I can't just wipe it off, i had to get a pail of water to melt it! It looks like a sunny day today so I'm hoping temperature should go back to 2 digits very soon.... I really really hope so. Looks like winter has finally come, I better prepare a pail of water every morning when I need to drive to work. brrr......

It sure is interesting here but at this moment, I sure miss sunny Singapore.

with love from NZ,
J

SG here we come!

Dear SG,

Andrew and I are planning a trip back to our sunny island Singapore! This is so exciting. We should be coming back at the end of July. Andrew has a list of all the foods he would like to get a taste of before we go off again. It's going to be a trip back to see all the people we miss, the food we miss and also, our dearest dogs. I hope we get the national day parade tickets because we intend to stay long enough to go watch it!

with love from NZ,
j

Join a syndicate and win some money!

Dear SG,

Would you like to join a syndicate in New Zealand? It's perfectly legal here! kekeke...

Oh well, the word "syndicate" here don't exactly share the same meaning as the "Syndicates" in SG. In SG, we often use this word "Syndicates" to implies **a loose affiliation of gangsters in charge of organized criminal activities.

In New Zealand, a syndicate commonly means ##a group of people making a joint effort to win money betting sports. It's usually use in Horse Racing where group of people contribute financially to own a racing horse. The cost of raising young thoroughbred yearlings is estimated to be $7.5k per year and the training fee can cost an estimate of $20k per annum. When this horse wins a race, everyone with an interest in it share the prize money.

I couldn't really get over this word when I first learn what its commonly understood here. We have come to associate that word negatively and it certainly wasn't an appealing word.

We went to our first horse racing event in Ellerslie Racecourse last year 2006 on the 30th of December. It was open to the public for free and we bet on a few races. Sadly, we didn't had any beginner's luck. For us, the race wasn't about winning the bet but about seeing those beautiful horses ran. It's a beautiful sight to behold.

Racing beautifully towards the finishing line.

The horses trotting off after a race. Everyone's in a relax mood, we could choose to laze on the grass patch next to the race course or sits at the spectator viewing area where we get a bird eye view of the whole race course.

with love from NZ,
J

** from wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
## from www.mlbbaseballfreepicks.com/glossary.shtml

Just a "Hi!"

Dear SG,

I realize I haven't blog for nearly a month. I'm sorry, we have been busy with some personal projects. On top of that, June is the beginning of Winter month and I got so cold that I'm always hungry... Yup, you guessed it. I put on some weight and I am too ashamed to blog. :p

Just a quick hi to say I haven't forget my beloved SG.

with love from NZ,
J

SMS me or TEXT me

Dear SG,

Before I came to NZ, I was an avid SMS-er. I sms when I was walking, I sms when I was watching the tv, I sms even when I was in the toilet. My thumb goes into cold turkey mode if I didn't sms for a day. I clock up an average of 500 sms-es per month! I sms to send jokes, pictures, or just chat throughout the day with a couple of friends. SMS was my communication power tool.

And then I land in NZ and I had to learn how to talk all over again. Talking with real people I mean. There's no one to text here except for my darling husband and I can only do that when he goes to work. Oh... did you notice that I've automatically use the word "TEXT" instead of "SMS"? Now that's one differences I am going to highlight today. Kiwis don't use the word "SMS", they knows what it is but it's seldom used. Instead, they said, "We'll text you" which is the same as "We'll sms you". Younger kiwis text a lot too, but matured kiwis prefer to call and talk instead. Since Andrew and I belong to the young and reckless, we prefer to text each other, it is also way cheaper than calling. kekeke....

with love from NZ,
J

PS. I need to rush off now else I would have added the "Spot the differences". You won't believe how much the mobile bill here cost. Ciao!

Turning 5 Yrs Old

Dear SG,

Do you still remember the day we turn 5? Oh well, turning 5 isn’t that special in Singapore but it sure is different here. The 5^th birthday is the day a child goes to a Primary School and starts their first term in Year Zero. Year Zero is like an adaptation period before they are prompted to Year 1 and they will stay in that Primary school until Year 6. My nephew, Eugene just turns 5 a few days ago. He spends his birthday in Kindergarten and the following day in Baverstock Oaks School. He could have spent his birthday as his first day of school in Baverstock but he prefers to have it at Kindy where all his friends are.

Eugene and his birthday cake. Poor boy was running a slight fever that day.

The next day: 1st day of school with his fresh new school uniform.

To help Eugene familiarize with his classroom and teacher, he went for a school visit last friday and spent 2 hours in the classroom attending a lesson. From now on, he will spend a full day in school from 9am to 3pm. :) I think I prefer to go to school when I am only 7 years old. hee...

with love from NZ,
J

Spot the differences:

NZ children goes to Primary school as soon as they turn 5 years old.

SG children goes to Primary school in January on the year when they will turn 7 years old.

A Kiwi classroom will have only one or two students who just started school. It makes it easier for the teacher to handle the new kids.

A Merlion classroom will be filled with terrify students who are all starting school for the first time. I wonder how the teachers handle it.

NZ students have a full day in school

SG students either has a morning session, afternoon session or for some schools a full day.

Age	New Zealand	Singapore
5	Year 0 (Primary)	Kindy
6	Year 1 (Primary)	Kindy
7	Year 2 (Primary)	Primary 1
8	Year 3 (Primary)	Primary 2
9	Year 4 (Primary)	Primary 3
10	Year 5 (Primary)	Primary 4
11	Year 6 (Primary)	Primary 5
12	Year 7 (Intermediate)	Primary 6
13	Year 8 (Intermediate)	Secondary 1
14	Year 9 (Secondary/high school/colleges)	Secondary 2
15	Year 10 (Secondary/high school/colleges)	Secondary 3
16	Year 11 (Secondary/high school/colleges)	Secondary 4
17	Year 12 (Secondary/high school/colleges)	Junior College Year 1
18	Year 13 (Secondary/high school/colleges)	Junior College Year 2

The kiwi kids might finish Year 13 around 17 or 18 years of age. This will depend on the school's cut off date for starting Year 1. In Eugene’s case, all children born before May have been prompted to Year 1. Since he just started, he will stay in Year 0 for a while.

ANZAC Day Vs Total Defence Day

Dear SG,

Today is ANZAC day in New Zealand. It’s a public holiday that commemorates all New Zealanders killed in war and also honours returned servicemen and women. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. This same day back in 1915, New Zealand and Australian soldiers landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. It was the first time New Zealander felt they have a role as a distinct nation fighting in the name of the British Empire. 2721 New Zealanders were killed, almost one in four of those who served on Gallipoli. That was in the First World War. Their bodies were not bought home. It’s very sad especially for the families.

http://www.dva.gov.au/images/commem/2_Turkey.jpg
A picture of the Anzac Commemorative Site build at Gallipoli in conjunction with the New Zealand government and with the approval of the Turkish government.

On this public holiday, businesses or trade not under the exempted categories are not allowed to operate until 1pm. (some examples are the banks, barbers, shopping malls etc. Most will just take the whole day off if they can’t open until 1pm)

Learning about New Zealand’s ANZAC Day prompts me to compare SG’s young history as a nation. We too have a special day dedicated to our war history. In 1942 15th February, British surrendered Singapore to the Japanese. That was the beginning of the Japanese Occupation of Singapore in War World Two. 15th of February not only marks the Fall of Singapore and commemorates those who died, but is also designated as Total Defence Day, a day to remind all Singaporeans of the need to be self-reliant in the defence of our country.

http://www.cofepow.org.uk/images/photo_surrender2.jpg
The Unconditional Surrender of Singapore
Lt. Gen. A E Percival sitting opposite Gen. Tomoyki Yamashita

However, Total Defence Day is NOT a public holiday in Singapore. :P It is however a significant day and a memorial service is held at the War Memorial Park to remember the victims of the war.

Singaporean works too hard, maybe we should make 15th of February a public holiday too, that way we can slow down little, take time to remember the past and appreciate the present.

With love from NZ,
J

Spot the differences:

ANZAC day is a public holiday… at least until 1pm for some.

Total Defence Day is not a public holiday.

Businesses are not allowed to operate on ANZAC day unless they belong to the exempted categories. It is an offence to open and trade during any time the law restricts trading, and the owner or occupier of the shop may be prosecuted and be liable for a fine of up to NZ$1,000.

SG businesses remain open any public holidays so long as it makes money senses and they can profit. However, most administrative offices will close so that their staffs can go shopping and contribute positively to the economy.

Some things are the same:

Both New Zealand and Singapore were part of the British Colonies.

I got email!

Dear SG,

Today is a public holiday in New Zealand. It's called the ANZAC day. I wasn't very motivated to find out about this special day until I received an email from Victor and I had to reply him. (hee...) Here is what Victor wrote:

From: Victor Chua
Subject: Have a good ANZAC day

>Hello Aunty Joan.
>I remenber today is ANZAC day.
>ANZAC day is a special holiday.
>Have a good ANZAC day.
>By Victor.

Isn't this sweet? :D

Victor is turning 7 years old this year and he loves writing. To encourage him to write lots, I've created an email account for him on Feb 24 and started a blog for him too. He didn't like to blog much, but he checks his email everyday. Sometimes when he wants to tell his parent something but they are not home, he email them instead! kekeke...

This email account gave us a chance to send him links leading to educational websites while keeping track on his writing abilities when he replies. Ann is considering a children's creative writing class for Victor. Instead of whining about the additional class he might have to attend, Victor is actually very pleased with the idea. All we have to do now is to keep a lookout for such a class.

I am really proud of him, he attends additional Chinese class and Maths class which he's pretty ok with, and swimming class which he likes. And now he wants Creative writing class! He sure is a busy busy boy.

Check out victor's blog below:
http://victor-chua.blogspot.com/

Because of his email to me, I now have to find out what exactly is ANZAC day so that I can reply his email and tell him why ANZAC day is so special. He loves information and the best thing about him is that he remembers them! This makes him a joy to teach.

Check out my next blog on ANZAC day.

with love from NZ,
J

Hail to the weather

Picture from thefreedictionary.com

Hail: define by thefreedictionary.com as Precipitation in the form of spherical or irregular pellets of ice larger than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) in diameter.

Dear SG,

I wish I can say I’ve finally see snow but nah… not in Auckland. Here we get hail instead. Tiny cute little round ice pieces that falls from the sky. The first time I’ve seen it was around October I think. I thought it’s strange to see so many white petals falling on the floor, I assume the wind and the rain was causing the wild flowers to loose their petals. Andrew didn't believe me when I told him it's raining petals outside. He went out to investigate and found out that my white petals were actually tiny pieces of ice! We were pretty fascinated. (Mountain tortoises) hee...

The 2nd time I’ve see it was last Thursday 12th of April, the temperature was around 12 degree Celsius. It’s fortunate that the hails are pretty mild here. The ice is so tiny that it melts easily in our hands. (M&M does better than that even though they are only slightly bigger) I was too cold to go out of the house and take a photo of the hail. But I found one picture from the internet that best describe what I’ve seen here.

Picture from franklin.thefuntimesguide.com

The white spots are the hails and there isn't a lot of them, that's pretty much the same with what I've seen here. They melt pretty quickly and all that's left are just puddles of water.

we miss warm and sunny SG.

with love,
J

Spot the difference:

No hailing in SG, the only thing we hail is a cab.

In NZ, we had to call a cab, we can't really hail a cab from the road. The only hailing are from the sky. :)

Strike One! Strike two! Strike THREE!!!

Dear strike-less SG,

I heard about the SG wage increase for Prime Minister, ministers and top civil servants. Sigh... I should have chosen politics when I had the chance. *grin*

Oh well, back to the news from NZ. For the next 2 days starting from tomorrow, medical laboratory workers will go on strike. Blood transfusions, blood testing and tissue sampling services for public and private hospitals are all affected. The union is seeking a couple of improvement for their laboratory workers in terms of wages, flexibility in working hours etc,

This is the 3rd strike since I came to NZ. The 1st was on Nov 2006 and it was a 7 days strike from the same union!!! That strike caused a backlog when nearly 1000 elective surgeries were put off in Auckland.

The 2nd strike was from the Service and Food Worker Unions. They took to the street to highlight their low wages and unjust treatment from the hospitals. Although they only clean the place or prepared the food but they are certainly more considerate. Their strike only lasted 90 minutes because they wanted to make their problems known but they didn't want the patients to be affected.

It says "Healthy Pay for Healthy Hospitals". Service staffs are indeed an important part of any industry, never take them for granted.

Taking their strike to the streets.
Both pictures are from the Service and Food Worker Unions website.

Anyway, for now, the affected hospitals put up notices in the newspaper, radios and TV to remind everyone that the labs are on strike, and hospital services will be limited. The public is also reminded to see their family doctors first if it is not an emergency. Life goes on for the rest of us, I hope everyone gets what they want and no one gets hurt.

with love from NZ,
J

Spot the differences:

Auckland has 3 strikes since I arrived 6 months ago. That's an average of 1 strike every 2 months!!

The last strike in SG is ..... I really don't know when!!! But there was a famous strike called the 'Great STC Strike' ("Singapore Traction Company") that lasted 146 days and that was in 1956! The whole country's transport system was affected. For the last 30 years while I've gotten conceived, born, grew up and got hitched in SG, I've not heard of any strike.

Sticky mouse trap

Dear SG,

Living in newer neighborhood estate in Singapore means that I am not used to having mice problem in the house. In fact, I was told that only lower floor flats in very old estate has such a problem.

While NZ don't have house lizard, they do have mice. Especially when the weather turns colder, they will start to appear in the house instead of staying in the garden. Yesterday night when I was on the phone with my mom, I saw a mouse running across the hall. This morning, Joseph saw 2 of them in the same place and decided to set up a mouse trap.

Ship rat. Similar to the one we seen. They are actually pretty adorable but they do smell quite badly. This picture is taken from http://www.taiko.org.nz/Taikotuku.html

They place 3 sticky mouse trap on the floor along the wall just before they go to bed. Andrew and I got thirsty so we went back to the kitchen to get a drink. When we switch on the lights, we saw one mouse stuck to the mouse trap. To cut the long story short, Andrew painstakingly got the mouse freed from the super glue trap. It limped away into the garden but that's definitely better than staving to death or dying in a slow agonizing way. 3 cheers to Andrew for being kind and patience enough to free the mouse while I plaster myself to his side wincing at the pain the poor mouse had to go through.

This is exactly how the mouse looks like when it was caught, sticky trap and all. This picture is taken from http://salvoarts.com/melrose/AprilShow.shtml

The 2nd mouse is still at large, I pray it won't get caught in the same way. Sigh, I rather have the house lizard any time even though they too make my hair stand.


with love from NZ,
J

NZ Adult minimum wage increase

Dear SG,

New Zealand is indeed a state that gives lots of benefits to the lower-income group. While some will says Singapore favor the rich and powerful, New Zealand take cares of it's poorer citizen. In my opinion, it's debatable if they both went into the extreme. I think a balance will be nicer. A bit of NZ, a bit of SG, right in the middle path, everyone benefits in the way they needed most.

But the world is not perfect, so never mind, we'll just do the best we can, ya? :)

Today is April the 1st, April fool's day, and this is not April Fool's joke.The adult minimum wage increases from $10.25 an hour to $11.25 starting from today. That's $450 a week for a 40-hour week. The minimum youth rate for 16 and 17-year-olds goes up to $9.00 an hour from $8.20. The Government had also delivered on its promise of a minimum of four weeks annual leave.

They (NZ Government) intends to raise the adult minimum wage to $12 an hour by the end of 2008.

Interest rates has just went up. Saving accounts gets around 7%, term deposit can be as high as 9%. *Slurp* But if we want to borrow money, the mortgage rate is around 8%. *Sob*

So there you have it, all the important statistics to a Singaporean.

Happy April Fool's Day! (I'm not kidding about those numbers!)

with love from NZ,
J

Chilli cost $20 per kg

Dear SG,

We went to Avondale Flea Market today. It's like a combination of our wet market and Pasar Malam but on a Sunday morning. Andrew even saw someone eating Curry Puff but he couldn't find which stall it came from. Gosh how he misses Singapore's Curry Puff.

Our most interesting find today is the cost of spicy chilli. It cost $20 per kg!!! Singaporean are well known for eating spicy food, almost all our meals comes with some form of chilli sauce. The hotter the better, as spicy as we can take it. So how do Singaporean survive in Auckland where chilli cost $20 per kg??!?!

Well, fortunately for us, chilli has arrive in Auckland. Many years ago, immigration relax their selection to encourage flow of migrants into NZ. A big influx of migrant from Asia, China and India means that there are now more Aucklanders who likes spicy stuff. Chilli got cheaper. More people are planting them in their garden. More variety are coming up too. There are now choices!!!! The price of chilli can range from a dollar per kg, to our favorite that cost $20 a kg.

Enough said. We chose instead to go for the next best buy for today. We bought a chilli plant that only cost us $5 bucks. This gem will produce many $20 per kg chilli for us for the rest of its meaningful life.

Andrew and Ann deciding on a spot for the chilli plant. One of the chilli plant (another variety) at the other end of the garden was recently killed by Victor's soccer ball.

Joseph taking our precious plant out from the carrier.

Andrew starts digging.

Ann place the plant carefully into the hole. The hole fits perfectly! Good job Andrew!

Our new chilli plant! This picture was taken after Joseph water it.

Can you recognize this type of chilli? It's Zi Dian Jiao! The legendary "Point-at-sky" chilli! Super hot and spicy!

Before we bought the chilli plant, Andrew thought that the chilli has turn bad because they are all black. But according to Ann, they are suppose to turn black just before they turn red! Isn't this interesting? I hope they turn red soon.

with love from NZ,
J

PS. I did help out with the planting! I took pictures, give some suggestions and pat the chilli plant down. But I had to be careful not to dirty my hands because I was still holding on to my camera back then!


Spot the differences:

In SG, chilli are fairly cheap.

In NZ, certain variety can cost up to $20/kg!

In SG, we don't bother to plant our own chilli

In NZ, we plant almost anything that we would like to eat.

Daylight saving ends last saturday (correction)

Dear SG,

I am sorry, I got the details mixed up as usual. When daylight saving ends, we are suppose to change the time from 3am to 2am. Not 2am to 3am as posted in my last blog. By the way, I forgot to mention how important it is to keep all the operating manual of high tech gadgets just so that we can change the time in it twice every year. I realized I have forgotten how to change the time in my Casio digital watch. There are so many buttons to press, how can I be expected to remember the combination that will allow me to set the time one hour ahead? Maybe I should get 2 watches instead. One which I can use during daylight saving and one that is set without daylight saving.

Let's say I'm back in Singapore:

"Uncle, I would like to buy a digital watch, can you help me set it to 12pm instead?" Joan asked.

Then Uncle says, "Huh? Gal ah! Now is 11am leh! How come you wanna set it to one hour late huh? You siao ah?"

Then I say, "No lar, Uncle. You see, I go New Zealand there got daylight saving. Every year on the first Sunday of October, everyone has to set their watches forward by one hour. Then can have more time to enjoy the sun. So I buy another watch already set to the daylight saving timing lor. Save trouble no need to remember how to set the time on my watch."

Then the Uncle says, "Wah! You think you set the time late you can live longer is it? You want you go and bluff other watch seller, don't waste my time here!!!"

hee....

with love from NZ,
J

Daylight saving ends last saturday

Dear Sunny SG,

Last Saturday at 2am, the whole NZ were told to adjust the clock one hour later to 3am. The official Daylight saving has ended. Summer is over, Autumn is here.

During Daylight saving, NZ's 9pm will feel like SG's 7pm. NZ's 430am will look like SG's 6am. We are constantly bathe in bright sunlight and the Days will refuse to end. Nights comes only for a brief moment, just enough for the body to turn down our power and closes for a rest. It gives the feeling that there are extra hours to do heaps of stuffs like playing, going to the park and social visits. I love it!

Previously, I simply couldn't understand why there is Daylight Saving. SG has a consistent amount of daylight throughout the year. We pretty much have summer all year round, it's either a wet summer or dry summer. Now that Daylight Saving is over, I miss having those extra daylight to live life as I choose. I heard that in winter, nights will be long.... I am not looking forward to it.

with love from NZ,
J

PS. Please note that NZ is now faster than SG by 4 hours.


Spot the difference:

NZ has dramatic differences in the amount of daylight it has during different period of the year.

SG has a consistent amount of daylight throughout the year. Ok, Ok, sometimes during the year the sun does raise slightly earlier but not by much lar!

NZ has Daylight Saving and the clock is adjusted an hour earlier to enjoy the full benefit of the sun.

SG doesn't. And this SG-porean doesn't even know what is Daylight Saving until now.

We got our NZ PR today!

Dear SG,

Great news! Mr Postman just delivered our Singapore Passport back to us today. In it, our brand new New Zealand PR permit! Yipee!

Our next target is getting our driving license converted. Because Singapore driving license has no expiry date, there was some problem when we were filling out the forms to convert our license. Right now we need to take a theory test follow by a practical test. And if we pass, they will take a photo on the spot for our new driving license. I must remember to do my hair and dress up for the practical driving test.

Why did we wait so long to convert our driving license? We couldn't go for our driving theory test before as we are not prepared for it. By the time we study their road code, we sent our passport to immigration and could not sit for the test without our passport. That's one of the excuses. Another is because I need to drive more often to practice. I didn't drive much in Singapore and I am really rusty.

Right now we are just glad all these paper work are settled! Don't worry, we are not giving up on Singapore. We still love SG and every kinda food found within our tiny country island. We might be physically here but our tummy is always dreaming of our homeland.

with love from NZ,
J

NS reservist!!!

Dear SG,

Andrew received an email saying he needs to go back for his reservist!!! hee... Anyway, he won't be doing reservist because he's working oversea now. All we need to do is to email them back with the documents stating his employment oversea and his work permit, however, our passport is still with Immigration of New Zealand!

Guess we might have to write in and request our passport back if they are not ready to issue us the residency permit yet. I really miss my passport. We can't take our driving license conversion test without our passport. I can't take up any courses without my passport. I felt lost without any proof of my identity. I never knew how much our Identity card (NRIC) and our passport meant to us until now.

with love from NZ,
J

Spot the differences:

Singaporean males has to enlist in the army when they reach 18 years of age

Kiwis males can choose to enlist, join the work force, or do anything they wanted to.

All Singaporean and PR has Identity cards which states their name, address, blood type and race

Kiwis uses passports or in some case, a letter from bank or government department addressed to the person. So far I've applied for library card with the letters, and with no identification to see the dentist, and only uses the passport for opening bank account.

No Chinatown in Auckland???!!!

Dear SG,

There isn't a Chinatown in Auckland! Not an official one that is. I saw the news yesterday where the interviewer was asking a person on the street, "Do you know where Chinatown is?" The person looked confused; she said she has no idea.

It seems that this was an old issue in Auckland. The government wanted to set up a place and called it Chinatown but a lot of people were against it. Surprisingly, many of those that are against the ideas are Chinese. I guess the association of Chinatown with crimes and gangsters are too strong. Everyone would prefer the current state where Chinese grocery shops and restaurants are available everywhere throughout Auckland instead of being concentrated in a street within the city.

The news reported that 1 out of 5 Aucklander are from Asia. Amazing eh? I didn't know about that.

With love from NZ,

J

Spot the difference:

Singapore's Chinatown has an official place on the map and even a MRT station named after it. Really makes it easy to find the place eh?

Auckland's Chinatown, no such place but Chinese restaurants and grocery shop are available in many parts of the town and suburbs. No worries! But some stuff are pretty expensive.


Andrew just bought a cream for mosquito bites (Mopiko) from a Chinese grocery store. It cost over $7 bucks!!!

The same cream in SG cost around 2 dollars. Gasp!

The story about the bunny

Dear SG,

David told me a really funny thing lately. Seems that Winnie has read my blog some time ago and she's wondering if my intention to go NZ is just to be fascinated by spiders and stuffs. David told her "no no no.. That’s not all... she even asked me how to catch rabbit and if they bite...”!!!!

Wahahaa..... Ya, ya... I know I often present this innocent fascination and wonder that befits a 10 year old but hey, my body is getting older but not my innocence. kekeke.... I still watch cartoons and Disney Channel with my nephews you know?

Anyway, I will explain the story about the rabbit. A lost lopped-ear bunny was found hoping around the lawn in the front of the house when Andrew and I were having our dinner. Andrew threw some carrots to him but he totally ignored us. Not sure what to do, we went back to our dinner and pray that the bunny knows how to go home. (We saw a few owners here that would just let their cats and dogs out to wander around then let them in again when they come home)

Just when we are about to finish dinner, my sister-in-law had a shock! The bunny managed to go through some unknown opening in the fencing and hopped right into the back yard. We found it hiding at the corner of the fence but none of us knows how to handle it. Yes, I know I’ve battle dogs before and had the scars to prove it. But I am still afraid to handle a cute little bunny. So we go onto Google and search for “How to catch a rabbit?” That’s when I notice David was online and since he had rabbits as pets before, he’s the best person to ask.

To cut a long story short, I only manage to stroke the bunny but it was too afraid for me to catch. It hopped away and came back into the yard again in the middle of the night when we are all asleep. The next morning I continue to give it some fresh water and a stick of carrot and radish. He finished his breakfast and ran off again. By noon, we got a lost bunny notice in the letter box but the bunny never came back. I called the owner and was glad to hear that they had found their pet half an hour earlier. It was hiding in one of the newly build houses and a group of students got him.

We are just happy to know that the bunny is back safely with his owner. The End. :)

With love from NZ,
J

Road kills

Dear SG,

It’s pretty common to find road kills here in New Zealand. With the wilderness surrounding the land, it’s only natural that creatures of the land wouldn’t have known how to cross a road properly. It’s really sad to see carcasses of birds and animals lying on the road being trampled by all the passing vehicles. It’s worst when I am the one doing the driving and there is no way for me to avoid running over the bodies without endangering my passengers and the other cars.

Till date, we have witnessed a pet dog being hit by a car; many birds flatten on the road; possums and rabbits with crashed bodies, and stains on the roads that could only be made from the reminds of unknown animals knock down by a moving vehicle.

Only once, it was safe enough to stop the car and move the body of a rabbit from the road. The whole body was intact but it’s bleeding from the mouth and it was already dead. We suspect it was hit not too long ago. Andrew moved it to the grass patch before other vehicle comes along and crashes the body.

Now, whenever I see a road kill on the road, I chant a little prayer for them. It may not help them much but it's all that I can do.

with love from NZ,
J

Spot the differences:
In Singapore, the road are always clear of any rubbish because our hardworking road cleaners will regularly sweep the road with a broom or drive a big truck that sweeps and suck up all the trash.

In Auckland, the road get washed naturally by the rain, swept by the strong wind and dried by the sun. Us, Singaporean should really stop taking our cleaning crews for granted.

In Singapore there is no road kill. We do get the occasional pets that was run over by a car but it's pretty rare to see their bodies still on the road the next day.

In Auckland it's common to see road kills. A driver may try to avoid the animal but they can only do so when they will not endanger themselves or the others on the road.

No House Lizard Roomies in Auckland!

Dear SG,

Photo from http://www.pbase.com/ykloke/image/65521985

Now, for those who has strange fear of something so small and harmless (like my husband), it's a relieve to find out that there is no house lizard in New Zealand. What is a "house lizard"???!!!

Above is the picture I found from the internet that show the most common lizard found in homes around Singapore. They are really small and harmless, they eats flies and insects so they are actually quite useful.

True, they are a little bit creepy, they does make our hair stands when they crawl over us by mistake or accidentally falls on our head. They are cold blooded and they stick to our favorite wall or painting. But hey, they are like a pet which doesn't need us to bring them out for walks, feed them and bathe them. How cool can that be!

with love from NZ,

J

Spot the differences:
In Singapore, it's quite common to find these house pets... erm... I mean house lizards.

In Auckland, no such roomies.

Spider webs...

Dear SG,

I finally found my camera! I guess I was so worried that I might lose it so I put it away in a tight and safe place. It's so safe I don't even remember where I put it!!! :p

Anyway, below are the pictures I took of the spider webs. It's all out in the yard. Surprisingly, there isn't much inside the house. (Thank goodness)

This is one of the prettiest one. That black dot is the owner itself. kekeke.... Look at that muscle!

Below are their handiwork...

Luckily they left the tomatoes alone. These are planted a month after we came. Already they are bearing fruits.

with love from NZ,

J

PS. the little boy across the street sometimes came out in his spiderman PJ, if I can get a picture of that I will post it up. That will complete my series of Spider related posts. "Spiders!!!, Spider webs... and SPIDERMAN!" hee....

Spiders!!!

Dear SG,

It's summer in Auckland... ok ok, correction... summer's nearly over in Auckland. One thing I notice about here is that during summer time, there's plenty of spiders to go around. We don't usually see that in Singapore except in really dark places or corners. The spiders here are really active, I could clean away the beautiful web in the morning and 2 days later, it's back again in its formal glory. (or, even prettier than before!) It's like the spiders are mocking at us for the useless effort.

Some comparison:
Number 1:
- Spider webs in Auckland are very very very very sticky..... insects get stuck in the web pretty often.

- Singapore spiders should put more glue into their web.

Number 2:
- Kiwi Spiders are very hardworking. They rebuilt their web very quickly, probably becuase they only have couple of months to feed themselves before they go into hiding again.

- SG Spiders are out all year round, i guess that's why they can afford to take their time?

Number 3:
- Kiwi spiders are like rugby players, they are mostly big and strong (and scary)... :p

- SG spiders are like ladies' man, only good for scaring girls. (they are too small to frighten big, strong guys.)
PS. I have to write this sentence because I have a very impressionable little boy beside me right now watching every sentences I am typing.... :p


I wish I can take a photo of the spider web i've seen here, but at this moment, i couldn't find my camera. :p I'm not too sure if I could take a really good shot of the web, it's pretty tricky because the webs are really fine. Hopefully I could get one and post it up there next time.

with love,
J

Cars, compare and contrast

Remember, it's my own personal opinion and they are not backed by any statistic or proofs. :)

New Zealand	Singapore
High percentage of adults owns at least one car	Usually one family to one car
So long as it can run safely, it can go on the road	Cars are only allow on the road for up to 20 years max
Small cars (below 2000cc) are not as common	Big cars (above 3000cc) are not as common
More Automatic cars	More Manual cars
Car’s suspension are pretty abused, lots more uneven ground	Car’s suspension are in better condition because all the roads are so even
It’s ok to mount kerb when needed to	SG kerb are pretty high
Most cars has some dents or scratches on them	No dent or scratches unless owner are careless or not deserving.
A car is a necessity	A car is a luxury
Head in parking	Reverse parking

Cars

In Singapore, cars are a luxury and are often treated like precious babies. It could be because cars are really expensive to own in our tiny island. In some case, car owners can go into the extreme at the way they handle and care for their cars. Below is an aggregated description of extreme car ownership.

Extreme Singaporean car:
Cars are cleaned up, filled up, polished up and regularly tuned. Owners will make effort to park in the safest car lot, doesn't matter if the lot is really far away from where they want to go.

There will be no eating or drinking in the car, no smoking and definitely no pets. Cars have to be parked exactly in the center of the parking space and straight! No crooked parking to embarrass the precious car. If the owner mounts a kerb, they are abusing the poor car. To compensate, they have to send the car back to the mechanic immediately for wheels alignment. It’s a disgrace to have scratches or dents in a car. Owners and passengers should always open the car door carefully to avoid hitting the car parked next to them.

If one could afford, they should dress up their car with beautiful sports rim and body kit, it won’t hurt to have the best surround sound stereo in the car, or the latest GPS and LCD screen to complete that luxury.

Hee….

Enough with poking fun at my country men. The next post is a list of comparison I made of SG and NZ. They are all in my own personal opinion and are not backed by any statistic or proofs. :)

Photos from our first few months

Dear SG,

Below is the link to some photos I took during our first few months in Auckland.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2098636578

Enjoy!

With love from NZ,

A & J

What we have been doing since...

Time line:

3th Oct 2006 - depart from singapore

4th Oct 2006 - arrive in auckland

5th Oct 2006 – Open a bank account in Auckland (to start earning interest! They require an IRD number because the interest earn is taxable)

16th Oct 2006 - fax a copy of our passport to IRD (Inland Revenue) because our copy of the birth certificate in our application was not clear enough.

24th Oct 2006 - Got our IRD Number for future tax purpose

6th Nov 2006 – Andrew got a job offer with Auckland District Health Board

8th Nov 2006 – Send in application for Singapore Police Certificates (Had to get a bank draft for SG$100, and go to the local police station to get a set of 10 finger prints for this application)

9th Nov 2006 - Do medical checkup for work permit (we had to see a doctor, get a chest x-ray, and do a blood test. And all these is only valid for 3 months)

14th Nov 2006 – Singapore Police sent a letter saying we need a documentary proof to establish a need for a police clearance. But the letter only reaches us on 21st Nov.

16th Nov 2006 – Apply online for Expression of Interest (to get pick from the selection pool for an invitation to apply for PR, our chances increase greatly once Andrew has a job offer)

21st Nov 2006 – Department of Labour send us a letter to support our application for Singapore Police certificate. Luckily we can fax it back instead of mailing.

28th Nov 2006 – Got a letter that says we are selected for consideration for PR but need to wait while they verify some information in our applications.

5th Dec 2006 – Finally got the invitation to start applying for PR, unfortunately, we also just found out that we need Taiwan’s police clearance for Andrew. He was in Taiwan for over a year during national service.

5th Dec 2006 – Singapore Police posted our Police clearance over

12th Dec 2006 – Send in our work permit application after Singapore Police Certification came through into our hands

13th Dec 2006 – Get letter from Auckland District Health Board to state the urgency for Andrew’s work permit

22nd Dec 2006 – Andrew got his work permit

22nd Dec 2006 – Taiwan has Andrew’s police clearance ready but it will take around 2 weeks to reach us

20th Dec 2006 – was sent a reminder to renew visitor visa (Singapore passport has a vistor visa valid for only 3 months) but fortunately, we can skip that because we have already apply for work permit

3rd Jan 2007 – Andrew’s first day at work in Auckland City Hospital

10th Jan 2007 - Send full set of materials to support our PR application. (Even had to prove our marriage is real by providing evidence like joint bank account, wedding photos etc. Marriage certificate is not enough as a proof!!!)

12th Jan 2007 – Joan got her work permit base on spouse's work permit

26th Jan 2007 - Immigration wants Andrew's Australia Police Clearance because they thought he did his degree there. Had to get SIM to write a letter to prove that he did his degree via distance study in Singapore.

9th Feb 2007 - Letter arrive from SIM to prove that Andrew did a distance study with them.

14th Feb 2007 – Got a valentine letter from immigration to send in our passport. Our application status is now "Approval in Principle". That’s because we still have one more criteria to meet, Andrew has to remain in employment for 3 months.

19th Feb 2007 – Send in our passports to immigration for Residence Permit :) Now we wait for it to come back to us…

To SG, with love from NZ

Dear SG,

Andrew and I flew off from singapore on Oct 3th 2006. We received a warm welcome on New Zealand soil by Andrew's sister and her family. We intend for this trip to be our honeymoon, but unlike the many honeymoon that singaporean likes to take, we plan this trip to be a really long one. We came to Auckland to start a new adventure, a new life. Marriage life itself is already a big challenge but a new environment can either make or break us. So far, it seems to bring us closer together. I guess it's a good thing after all, what more can we expect from a honeymoon, right? :D

with love from NZ Auckland,
Andrew and Joan


PS. we are told that Auckland just had an earthquake, 4.5 on the richter scale at around 9pm. Funny to say, both of us didn't feel any thing. Anyway, there was no damage to the city. Thank goodness.