Tours

Hey hey.. the lack of updates is because i am now touring part of NZ. lovely country, just came back and i will be going up to auckland tmr morning. SO exciting. Ha ha anyway i will update once i am back. Loads of stuff. see you

Right versus wrong

I was watching Accidental Spy yesterday. (yes yes i should have been studying but give me a break)

In one scene, Jackie Chan was talking to a priest (or rabbi I am not sure which) and Jackie asks something.
Jackie - "If someone awaits your rescue, but saving her means others may die. Would you still do it?"
Priest- "If you do not rescue her, she will certainly die, correct?" (to which Jackie's silence is taken as yes)
Priest- "All i have to say is, even if the person is Hitler, you have to go. The aftermath, Leave that to God to take care"

This very interesting outlook kinda jolts me into reality. Sometimes we are called to make a value judgement, that is to do something wrong, with the result to make a lesser wrong in the future. Vis a vis, if we were to asked to to do something right with the result of a greater wrong in the future, would we still do it?

I like the priests response. Do what is right, let God handle the aftermath. In essence, as christians, we are called to do what is right no matter what the consequence. Because in the long run, God is there to take care. Besides, in the long run, we are all dead.

Joseph did what was right, he was thrown into slavery and then jail. Jeremiah was equally charged for speaking the word of God. Jesus was persecuted for doing what God called him to do. Stephen was stoned to death because he spoke the truth. Sometimes doing that which is right will not benefit us in this time. Our rewards are treasures in heaven.

So what gives? SHould we do what is right regardless of the consequences? Honestly, i don't know. I don't even know if in such a situation i would know what is right or wrong. There may be no grey area, but the line between white and black is certainly approaching gray.

Last sat i went to the Christchurch Gondola.
Let the photos do the talking

Majulah SIngapura

After reading rachel blog about singapore, i realise there are many things that i think that S'pore really boleh.

1. Cheap transport. Well for short journeys Spore is cheaper then here. Long journeys, here is cheaper. That is because the max you can spend in one day, not one trip, is $3. (if you get the card) No matter how far you travel is $1.50. Within 2 hours, transfers are free. Pay $3 and the whole day becomes free (here). SIngapore, no ride costs more then $1.90 i think. And singapore buses tend to be more frequent.

2. Food. One lunch is at least $4. And you dun get a lot like in singapore, where $4 can buy you a good lunch. Here that means a sandwich. If you are lucky.

3. The Sun. I kinda miss the bright sun.

4. Internet. I ma a student and i pay for 4c a mb. How sad is that. They never heard of unlimited data flow.

5. Cheap sms and Hp bill. Wha piang, sms is 20c here, calls to mobile is 49c a minute. Free incoming la, but calling to a mobile is very ex.

6. No drunks. Ppl who party here really party. Their beer economy is probably large enough to fund our budget.

Yup. But there are things i think NZ does better.

1. Freedom. Honestly, singapore government is too restrictive. They attempt to control every aspect of life. the manufacturing mindset of control has now spilled over to the way governments run the country.

2. I still think there should be seperation of State and Govt. The MRT and upgrading projects should be under the state; PAP should not allocate who gets thems on the basis of the votes. That is abuse of Governmental powers into State Owned Enterprise.

3. Education here means to study what you like. Education in singapore is to learn what the governments want. Sadly, that is not correct. Education is for the person. Not the country. That is a spillover effect.

HA ha i am grateful for what the country has given, just less grateful for the machinery that has brought us to the place where we are at the price we pay. Well, you cannot please everyone.

brief lives

Hellos fellos.

Update you guys over the last week.

Firstly,

Monday was a cold dark day. This was taken at 9 am,



this was at 11 am.



The dark area you see is the fog. Foggy foggy. Was so foggy you’d have difficulty seeing very far. And it was wet. And cold.

oh and now is secret admirers week. which is like angel and mortal, but the people are more bold. Like this (at the carpark)



Another one says "XXX you look so tasty." this was hung beside the main road.

Thus, Monday was that excitingly cold. Other then that, the week was pretty warm actually. Cept for the mornings and nights. Yeah went for lessons, still feel lost but I know I will catch up. I hope. Did not do very much, just basically went to school. I should think I better start looking around the place and not end up coming here and going back without nice pictures.

The other interesting thing i learnt was that Ilam village (a hall like PGP) residents had their cars stolen. Horrors of horrors. Thieves were breaking into their rooms and cars and taking everything not marked down.

Anyway last night, we had out Uni hall ball, well in Singapore would be called bash. Except people come early at five in suits (yes everyone was in a suit except yours truly). And the other difference is that people are drunk before the bash. We went in a bus and the guys were shouting at one another. Horrid. When we got to the place. Me and my flat mates, all here for the food (it was free) and we went to the buffet area. Man, the food was good though. Ha ha I ate a lot.

We then went out back to the dancing area. Which was essentially a huge dancing room with tables and a bar. The queue infront of the bar was pretty long; everyone wanted to get wasted. Drinks are cheap here actually, I ordered a vodka lime was only $4.70. cheap.

We waited for the bus ride back. The three of us had originally planned to eat and run. However the bouncers at the door refused our exit. They wanted our money. Those conniving thieves. So we had to wait till midnight for the stupid bus to come. and the bus was now filled with drunk people swearing at one another.

Then I came back, did laundry. For those who stay in halls, you learn that to do laundry, the best times are those weird hours because no one else is using the dryer or the washing machine. Well, sometimes they do. They just leave their clothes in the dryer till the next day. And some people do laundry like once a month. The amount of clothes they actually put into the machine, whoa. Talk about most efficient use of resources. They must put off laundry until the very very very last piece of underwear, shorts and t-shirt is left.

Last night, I looked out at 1am, and I saw this



COLD. I was out in shorts and t-shirt to take this picture. I lasted 10 seconds. Had to run back in. brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Ha ha btw, I made a drink last night, and wanted it cold, so instead of going to the kitchen, I opened my window. My own fridge. Muahahaha.

Yup yup. And today I played tourist.

I went around Christchurch today. Yup this guy, Meng whom I met on the plane took me around. Nice guy eh. A bit more about him. He is a well, hmm ok slightly older guy who lives with three other guys. They share a well, house. Pretty common here I think. He has a son in NZ too, a person who does car alarms and sound system and probably knows a lot about modifying cars.

As I was saying we went around Christchurch today. I realize it is a big and beautiful city. Well, here is the distinction. Canterbury is like the province and Christchurch is the city. And Ilam, where I stay is the suburb of Christchurch.

Went to this place called cashmere hill and saw this castle (actually is restaurant) called Sign of the Takahe.



Then went up the hill and took some really cool scenery pictures. The buildings in the back is Christchurch, at the really end is the ocean.



Then went further up, to another place called sign of the kiwi



and over the cliff I saw



We drove down the hill, headed towards lyttelton port (one of the main ones here in south island)

.

These are the oceanic pictures:







Now at sumner, a town beside the Pacific Ocean. People surfing out there in the cold biting wind.

Here is a small cave,



This is my friend meng and his car.



Yup yup I must say NZ has beautiful scenery. Oh and I finally saw sheep! And not those smothered in gravy or wrapped in a tortilla skin. Real life sheep. Yup for the first time in a while I must say.

Then I came back, went to countdown (a Carrefour here. 24/7. very very big.) bought food for next week. Will be cooking something tmr night. Ha ha some sausage thing.

Yup yup must take more pictures. Will do that. Ok time to sleep now

Come all ye faithful

I attended service last Sunday at the Christchurch Cathedral. Was so different, so somber, so ritualistic.

The songs we sang were well and truly hymns. So serious. I think if we tried playing one way most of the congregation will be on their way very fast. Service was prompt and people tended to keep to times, which is well, commendable. I think it is a good habit to get into, keeping time.

Anyway then after that, I went for the tour of the cathedral. Apparently Christchurch is the oldest city in New Zealand. That is, it is the first place in which a cathedral was built. Basically, the definition of a city was simply one in which a cathedral was built. So the cathedral here was the first to be built, and thus CHC was the earliest city to be founded. To be more technical is to wade through constitutions and history, of which unless there are marginal benefits that outweigh marginal costs, spending time there would not be a Pareto efficient outcome.

So anyway to more jovial stuff. I watched white chicks today, u should too!! So funny!!! Ha ha.

Now time to study. Sigh. Econometrics. Argh. Ok will update more, once I can update my pictures. Muahahahah. Visited a beautiful shop yesterday, but I need some more research before I can post.
Okie here it is