Food, Friends and Gifts

(Re)Discover Auckland Zoo

It's been years since I last visited Auckland Zoo. I know Shirley's never been.
Today, we discovered Auckland Zoo together, with a bunch of friends. We didn't see any Kiwis or Meerkats. But the rest was pretty cool.

2 months

The Law of KFC

Have you ever eaten somewhere and say that you will never eat there again? And then to find yourself eating there a few months down the line, and to regret your doing afterwards and remember why you've said you will never eat there in the first place?

To me, that place is KFC.
And so I declare "the Law of KFC" as a sequence of events.

1. One learns an action is stupid and deems to never repeat the action again
2. One repeats the action, ignoring the experience.
3. One regrets in realization how stupid it was to repeat the action.
4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3.
   

Sigh... I never learn.

House cleaning project - Roof

Back in September, I tried to start my own house cleaning project - as it turns out, it's much better and easier to leave it to the professionals.

Before

After

Taipei 101

You know you are a tourist if you told people that you went to Taipei 101 (Is it still the tallest building in the world?!) when you were in Taipei and took cheesy photos. But really, other than tourists, we didn't see many locals there.

The mall is filled with stores of luxury goods, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Co., Prada, Gucci. You name it, it's there. My cousin joked to me, of the 4 shop floors, the higher the floor, the more expensive it gets!

Cheesy photos

Nostalgia

Almost 20 years ago since I set foot in New Zealand. Going through some old photos (as you would on a Saturday morning), I found a picture of the first friend I've met, Kosuke, in front our school, Glendowie College.

Kosuke is Japanese. When I started out at school in 1990, Glendowie College had 3 Asians in the entire school - 2 Malaysian sisters and Kosuke. Not knowing any English at the time, Kosuke and I communicated by creative sign language and me writing down words in Chinese and him trying to interpret it using Japanese Kanji. We didn't always get it right, but most of the times, it was close enough.

Kosuke left New Zealand after 4th Form. We did lose touch for a number of years, but through the magic of facebook, we found each other again last year - in the U.S., happily married and expecting a baby girl.

People often asked me, "How did you get through the first few years not knowing English?", "Were you depressed?". I don't know, actually. But I have no recollection of being miserable through the early years. Must be because of my family and friends, like Kosuke, that made the tough times appear easy.

古亭 to 台大

Two places that are close to my heart during my earlier years in Taiwan are 古亭國小 (Gu Ting Elementary School) and 台大 (National Taiwan University).

The former is where I spent 6 years of my younger life prior to coming to New Zealand, and the latter, not for the reason that I was educated there (I am probably not good enough to get in, anyway), is where our family spent every Sunday morning playing sports, followed by McDonald's breakfast across the road. Memories~

On our trip back this October, we took the MRT, then walked from 古亭 to 台大.
The 7-Eleven is still there, and the route is still the same as I last walked it 20 years ago...

Outside 古亭國小 (Gu Ting Elementary School)

台大 (National Taiwan University)

阿宗!! Ay-Chung!!

Think Taiwan, think night markets and food! Well, to us, 阿宗麵線 (Ay-Chung vermicelli), was one of the best! Took us a while to find it in 西門町 (Xi-Meng-Ting), but it was well worth it!

There are no seats so people either stand or crouch and eat in the crowd outside the shop! For NT$55 (less than NZ$2.50).. 滑潤的麵線，配上香香QQ的大腸及柴魚、筍絲等材料，熬製而成的阿宗麵線 吃的時候，再添上香菜或九層塔，淋上一點阿宗調製的辣醬!!!! Ohhhh baby!!!!

Someone went for seconds later that night!

ガンダム!!!

I can't help it. It is a disease that every time I travel to Asia, I am addicted to toy stores. Bless Shirley for allowing me to chase my man child dream - a little bit at a time :)

Sneak Preview

October 12, just a little over 24 hours after we travelled half way around the world from Auckland to Taipei, we embarked on a 8 am to 9 pm wedding photo shoot marathon.

The wedding photo shoot business in Taiwan has got to be second to none. It is an experience that we will never forget. And thank got the rain kept away!

Here is just a sneak preview!

Web album has been uploaded at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenkec/sets/72157622513646935/

1 = Paper

Today, Shirley and I celebrate our first anniversary as a married couple, for which, the traditional gift is paper. As usual, Google is the source of all my knowledge and ideas. There were ideas such as books, coupons, stationery, etc.

In the end, I made a bookmark and placed a somewhat gross message in the newspaper.

The original

After work, we treated ourselves with lobster and oysters for dinner. Yumm....


Time flies. It's been a wonderful year for us as a married couple. Here's to many more years of happiness to come!

Old times

Found a couple of mock up screens I did of old versions of our product back in 2005. In Chinese!

Floating and Splashing!

My company, Hansen Technologies, had an annual function themed "Spring Splash Out!" at the Floating Pavilion in the Auckland Viaduct last night.

Here are just a few snapshots.