Well, its been a long time since I wrote I know.
From Rotorua I moved to Palmerston Nort wic is famous for being ome to NZ’s largest uni ie
Tere isn’t muc else going on in Palmy (as locals call it). So it would ave been quite a boring stop if not for te fact tat I got on alrigt wit my CS osts. It was a student ome and my cief ostess was a Singaporean girl. Se was busy2 as a bee, being off at uni (I tink se’s a tutor tere) and martial arts classes and te like, I ardly saw er. Anoter Singaporean girl living tere I spent more time wit. Se was good fun too. Se is studying to get into Massey’s vet scool, wic is apparently a well regarded one worldwide. Te wannabe vet student and I got on pretty well and we’re pretty cummy now. We met up over te weekend in Wellington (officially se came over to buy a raincoat, but I tink it was to escape te dreariness of Palmy. In my Lonely Planet it says tat a visiting Jon Cleese commented, ‘If you ever do want to kill yourself, but lack te courage, I tink a visit to Palmerston Nort will do te trick’. Giggle… Te city exacted revenge by naming a rubbis dump after im).
Te tutor, wannabe vet and I went for a Saturday market (like a pasar tani). Met te tutors parents tere too and got invited to te makan2 at teir ouse te next day. Tey’ve migrated to NZ cos uncle found Singapore too muc ustle and bustle. Aunty made a very nice meal including a lontong-like dis. Rempa all made from scratc k, don’t play2, got candlenut all inside ok.. Yum.
One memorable movie I watced in Palmy was a documentary about a Frencman wo walked on tightrope between te US Twin Towers, called ‘Man On Wire’. Online on a movie review website, out of 180-odd reviews not one of tem was a bad one. I’d love to watc it again cost e one I saw adn’t any subtitles! So I couldn’t understand te Frenc bits.
After Palmy I moved to te ome of a friend of a friend in Porirua. Malaysian lady married to a Kiwi. Tey ad 4 lovely kiddos (all so polite and well-beaved) and I ad lotsa fun messing about wit te younger 2. We played on te swing and trampoline in teir garden. Tey also ad a little conservatory-like ting outside were I spent some time on my own reading and falling asleep. It was warm tere so I just loved it. In te ouse tey ad a working fireplace and some nigts te ubby would put some logs on. Tey said my room was extra cold so tere was a eater in it wic I made full use of. I am SO not made for cold weater. Wen I go ome I will park te Koolmobile in te sun and go and sit in it wen its proper ot and enjoy te sauna-like effects.
I was so spoilt in teir ouse as wifey cooked many yum tings including a cheesecake and a cocoate cake. On te weekend te ubby made roast cicken and vege. Tey ad a bread maker wic I was quite amazed wit. Almost everyday tey’d cuck in te ingredients just before going to bed. And in te morning taa-daa, te loaf was ready and warm. Tink my grandparents need one at ome. I got to meet te wifeys lady friends, anoter Malaysian, an Indonesian and a Singaporean. We went one day to te mosque in Kilbirnie wic is in Wellington (we were supposed to clear out and rearrange a big cupboard tere). Funnily tis mosque ad no sign. But I know it is te Q for te Federation of Islamic Associations New Zealand (FIANZ), cos I did see tat sign tere. I was super overjoyed went e Indo aunty made tempe! O ow I love tempe. Se told me se made it erself and its easy. Apparently se just soaks te beans, ten put on te ragi ie yeast wic se brought from Indo, you press it down wit something I tink, leave it on te windowsill for a day or two and ey presto, you get tempe. Well tat sounded easy to e. Till I tried to make it in Wellington. More on tat later toug.
Tat time I went to te Kilbirnie mosque it was a weekday and it was quiet as. Te next time I went it was a Sunday and it was packed wit people. Tere are a lot of Somalis in Kilbirnie I was told and tats because NZ ad given lots of tem asylum. So on tat day Somali rice was being sold so I got some. It was a little like briyani rice but not so berempa. Was a bit surprised at tat. And tere was fried cicken and some veg in te form of wat looked like dall/cutney to me. I sat in on one class wic was about repentance. And ten I sat in anoter wic was about Islamic parenting. Bot were pretty entertaining, mostly tanks to te facilitators. In between a lady mosque-goer wo is a doctor introduced a lady wo was wit a company providing emergency services for te elderly or infirmed. Anoter mosque-goer was a client and gave tem te tumbs-up. Wat tey do is provide te client wit a tag wic tey can press anytime in case of emergency and ten elp would be on te way. Tey also would come visit periodically to see if tey were alrigt. Nice to see te mosque being used for promoting suc practical matters.
Wifey is actually pretty brainy wen it comes to arts and crafts and se makes er own little treasures. Er camera was bust so using mine I took pics of er stuff. Now se can sow ‘em to oter people not least to our mutual friend back in Malaysia wo as been bugging er for it. I do like er stuff. Especially er bags. And er buttons! Se makes all sorts of jewelry. Se even ade me a ring wit beads, se said to tank me for taking te pics (but se didn’t ave to you know). As per my request I asked er for a green one so I can wear it wen I go for any Iris do’s. Se also makes te cains to old glasses, tudungs and anak tudungs, bookmarks… se’s real clever.
