Pre-Christmas Activities

Up Clause and Personal

It has been a very busy week for us and that means more pictures and stories for you, my blog readers… For starters, last Saturday, Ronnel and I went to the movies. Yup, it is a very very rare occasion for us to go to the movies. Imagine, we were in Malaysia for two whole years and we only went to the movies four times! It’s not that we don’t want to watch movies, in fact, it’s the opposite. We watch movies everyday… at home! Well, thanks to our favourite torrent sites, we get to watch the latest movies at no cost at all, except for the internet connection of course. But of course, watching movies at the movie house offers a different experience so there we were, at Courtney Place’s Reading Cinema, enjoying Tim Allen’s new Santa Clause movie. The movie was really good but maybe we’re biased because we both love Tim Allen, all the way back to his Home Improvement days. Anyway, we thought that Reading Cinema was called that way because there were subtitles or it’s a movie house for the deaf and thanks to Paul, we learned that it wasn’t that, they just called it Reading Cinema, as a brand.

Part-ay!

On Tuesday, BNZ Technology (this is the IT Division of BNZ, just like ISI for BPI and Scope for Standard Chartered) held its Christmas party at the Boatshed-- a multi function hall near the lake. As it was my first official NZ party, I didn’t know what to expect. It was supposed to be a summer theme but the weather wasn’t cooperating so it was hard to wear a sun dress or short shorts. However, since there was an award for the best dressed, some braved the cold weather and wore summer outfits. Our team went to the $2 shop to buy some beach balls and inflatable tubes but it was so funny coz they were for kids and couldn’t really fit our waists. (Ok, I know Wilson and the guys at Scope are already thinking, “Haha, it’s not small, you’re just fat, Einge.” My retort is, “Sorry guys, I’m not fat here, just curvy. And, I know you guys miss teasing me.)

We Gotta Wiiiiiiiii

I guess you would have known by now just by looking at our avatars in YM that we got a Nintendo Wii! Well, it’s actually my Christmas present for Ronnel, knowing that he’s crazy about these game consoles. (He gave me a new battery for my phone and it's a little pricey coz we had to have it shipped from Australia. They dont have it here in NZ. Good thing, he still had some credit left in his Maybank credit card.) Anyway, Ronnel was thinking of getting either the xbox 360 or the Wii and I went for the Wii coz it’s really a different gaming experience. It’s like you’re really bowling or playing tennis and stuff. Ok, for those who have no idea what I am talking about, check this out : http://www.wii.com . Anyway, we pre-ordered the Wii from a local gaming shop, EB Games, as it was scheduled for launch on midnight of December 6. So on Thursday, at around 11 pm, Ronnel and I were at the shop together with other game freaks, queuing to be the first ones in the whole of New Zealand to have the Wii. We had our first Wii game on a Friday night and it was really fun. It’s the first time (ever!) that I beat Ronnel in sports, bowling even! I am very bad at any kind of sports, despite my sporty look. My friends told me that at first glance, they thought I was very athletic but they immediately changed their minds when they saw me play in whatever sports they asked me to. I honestly don’t know why. It’s not that I do it on purpose. I try my very best, I put my whole body and mind into the task, but I still find my face flat on the floor. My P.E. in the university was volleyball, bowling, aikido and cheering (not cheer dancing, but the one where you have to shout and cheer for the team). That was in that order because on my first semester, I wanted to check if my bad luck from high school would carry over to the university. Well, it did. I nearly flunk volleyball because I always miss my serves, I look far away, thinking I hit the ball, when in fact it was just on my foot. I was able to up my score because there was an option to write a thesis about it. I aced the thesis and flunked the practical. In bowling, I had a passing mark but only because my prof took pity on me and gave me a mark for effort. On the third sem, I veered away from balls so I took Aikido. It was still a disappointment. I couldn’t fall correctly and all the energy I could get from my opponent was used against me instead of the other way around. Again, thanks to the thesis requirement, I passed. So for the last semester, I made sure I wasn’t going to involve myself in any kind of activity that requires me to move, thus, I went for cheering. All I had to do there was attend my university team’s games against other schools and cheer for my team. I had a high score in that class. Yay!

Ok, so back to the Wii. Since this wasn’t really sports per se, it wouldn’t be a surprise if I was good at it. Imagine? My score in bowling was 144 points! I remember back in our Scope bowling team, I barely got a 60 and I cried in the washroom because I was ashamed of myself, thinking I pulled my team down and it was all because of me that we didn’t win or something. Of course, my friends told me that it was just a fun game and it didn’t matter if we won or not but I felt bad just the same, and as you all know, I am a cry baby. I cry in the movies, I cry when I read a book, heck, I even cry on those touching TV commercials. Oops. I’m talking about myself again and not the Wii. Anyway, the Wii is a great game. You can create your own character, called the “Mii” and just like an Avatar, make it look exactly like you. Thanks to Nintendo for coming out with this. Because of Nintendo, I have regained my confidence in sports.. hahahaa

Saturday Shopping Stravaganza
Have I told you I met another Filipino friend in BNZ? Well, my boss introduced me to Ate Jojo as they were under the same team years before. Ate Jojo and her family have been in NZ for more than 18 years and they were practically Kiwis. Ronnel and I had lunch with her and a friend of hers last Thursday. It was a filling lunch, from food and stories. We learned a lot as they gave us tips on driving, buying a house and a lot of other things to watch out for in Wellington. She asked me if I wanted to go visit a Filipino store on Saturday. How could I refuse? (Shopaholic mii, remember?) So on a Saturday afternoon, Ate Jojo picked me up from our place. Ronnel was left at home as he was playing with his Wii, I guess he couldn’t accept the fact that he lost to me in bowling. (enter my devil laugh….mwahahaha!) Ate Jojo brought her mom along as we drove to a well known Filipino shop somewhere there (I am geographically challenged). I bought boy bawangs, nagaraya and other Filipino stuff. After that, we dropped by Pak n Save. I guess it was the NZ counterpart for the hypermarts like SM and Carrefoure. But the really cool thing in Pak n Save is that you get to pack your own stuff. I mean you have to bring bags to save on plastic bags, I suppose. I didn’t bring bags so I had to buy from them. I got too caught up in shopping that I didn’t realize I almost filled my cart! In total, I filled 2 bags plus 2 boxes. I knew Ronnel would eat me alive if he saw how many I bought (and how much I spent!) so I sent him an SMS, warning him that I bought enough stuff to last the whole year (well, it was December.. hehehe). We stopped by Johnsonville mini-mall (all malls here are mini-malls for me, waaaah) to have a late lunch and they drove me home. When Ronnel saw how much I bought, he just joked about it. Hmm… I was actually expecting to be reprimanded and I had all these arguments on my defence. I mean, he had to carry about four bags and two small boxes of grocery (Ate Jo even had to help us) and he didn’t scold me or anything? And then I realized why… it was the Wii! He was playing all day and he was in a good mood. I think he mastered bowling already and was ready to take me on anytime. Told ya, the Wii gives a whole new meaning to gaming.

Watch out for my next entry as we will be holding our own team Christmas party. I'll be introducing my new Kiwi friends to the magic of the Filipino Magic Mic!