Week 36 – When am I going home?

There’s no answer to the question above. Many of my friends have been asking me this question (which kinds of irritates me) but I know I don’t deserve to feel irritated because they are just being concerned about my life and future.

To be honest, I am quite certain that my decision to remain in New Zealand seems like an escape of reality, like what I’ve done for the past few months after I achieved my goal of leading a stress-free life. I know this dream will be ending some day but I just want to prolong it a little longer. The economy is really doing very poorly right now due to the outbreak of the corona virus and the unemployment is a real problem. As long as I don’t return, unemployment doesn’t seem to be my problem; yet.

I’ve spent the past 5 days in Auckland and I think I’ve completed most of the things that I want to do – including eating the legendary bluff oysters and attempting to earn the free $20 from the casino (which I failed miserably). I’m currently staying in a very comfortable, clean and big sharehouse but.. there’s always a catch. The location ain’t convenient e.g. I spend at least 1.5 hours going to town and the nearest supermarket is at least 20 mins walk away. The people in my house are friendly and nice but we’re all on different stages of our New Zealand stint. Most of them just started and they are more concentrated on collecting their visa extension payslips and saving money while I’m.. just spending off every single cent in my bank account. I spent the entire day today at home – to complete my blog post on my family trip and.. to transform my 1kg worth of onions to caramalized onions.

Okay that’s enough for the massive long introduction and let me throwback to what I’ve done since last Monday.

Firstly, the mornings of Tuesday through Thursday greeted me with muscle ache. The Mt. Taranakai climb resulted in massive aches in my legs – my thighs to my shins. It was like a predictable ache and I was prepared for it but it still hurts when I had to move around. On hindsight, I think that I’ve improved as previously my muscles used to ache for one week/ Oh wells.

On Tuesday, we departed New Plymouth and drove up to Matamata for Hobbiton. Hobbiton wasn’t planned but we ended up there anyway as it seems like a must-visit destination whenever anyone is in North Island. I regretted not watching the Hobbit before visiting the place as I would probably have felt more for it. At $84, it was rather pricey but I was pretty impressed at how well maintained the place was. The attention to details was amazing and I hope that this attraction can continue to thrive and serve as a pilgrimage for all Lord of the Rings fans. The following day, it was back to city life; Auckland. There was no escaping anymore and we were finally greeted with the 3-4 lane expressways and.. traffic.

I spend Wednesday lazing around in the house. On Thursday, we went on a mini road trip and visited Hunua Falls, Puhoi Valley (the birthplace of my favourite chocolate milk) and then Devonport. On Friday, I went to walk-in for a printing company but I was rejected because of my short visa duration. I knew it was difficult to find a job but after this walk-in, I gave up looking for jobs. It was followed by a visit to the newest mall in town, Newmarket Westfield. I had several shopping agenda and I also had the chance to meet someone from work back from my cherry packhouse. It was a good closure to my working holiday as she asked me questions that made me reflect upon my journey here. After that, I took a bus to the main CBD area (where the sky tower was) and roamed the streets which didn’t really make me feel too comfortable about city life. Went to the casino to get the free $20 credit for new members. I was kind of unlucky and I didn’t win anything at all but my friends manage to walk out with $50 each. We proceeded to ‘Oyster and Chop’ to feast on the bluff oysters. I got cheated by the price which stated $2/oyster but apparently bluff oyster was more premium so it is $3. Anyway, the oysters are really different from the usual type. The meat is firmer and larger plus their special sauce enhances the taste and freshness of the oysters. I ate 8 of it that day.. perhaps thats all the quota of bluff oysters I am allowed to eat? After oysters, we had this really premium ice cream experience at Giapo, before slowly making our 1.5hours journey home by public transport.

On Saturday, I was happy to be invited out by my housemates. First, we went to the Farmer’s market where they were a lot of cheap and fresh produce! Then, we went to the Asian mart where I bought my favourite taiwan 3:15 milk tea. Next up, we had this damn legit dim sum!! I haven’t tasted legit dim sum in a really long while and gosh it was so delicious. I hope to be able to go back again next week or something. After going home for a short while, a friend back from three months ago, asked if I wanted to go to an outlet more. I agreed and came home with a dress and a new pair of shoes I didn’t need. #life

On Sunday, I went out with a dear friend of mine from South Island. Well, I did come to North Island to ‘accompany’ her but she had to work anyway. I had the spiciest meal(s) in my entire new zealand stay. I ate spicy korean friend chicken for lunch and hate mala xiang guo for dinner. I spent half of today in the toilet, emptying my bowels like a detox. It was a predictable stomachache so.. all was good.

And today is Monday; me and my laptop, typing a weekly post, like I did for the past 36 weeks with absolutely no idea if anyone is bothering to read through this but myself in n years time. I am planning to go on a solo trip in two days time (well it’s super on impulse) and I just hope that the weather is decent. Hopefully I will get more insights about life in this loner trip and perhaps I’ll dream of a glorious plan to save the world from all the misfortunes and unhappiness.

#dreambigorgohome