Mussels mussels mussels

I'm eating mussels everyday. All the time. New Zealand greenlip mussels (Perna canaliculus) are so damn bloody cheap. Check out the pic of it here. NZ$2.25 a kilo for live ones still in their shells at Pak n' Save. Can you believe it? Not me. I wash them, put them in a pot with a little bit of water at the bottom, put a lid on it and steam for about 5 min. Sedap oi.. the flesh is lembut sebab fresh. Masak lah mussel ala apa pun. Nasi goreng mussel, mussel tom yam, mussel dengan sambal, mussel asam pedas, mussel dalam instant noodles, baked mussel, mussel steamed plain...macam2 lah. I pick up 12 biji and it costs me less than NZ$2. And no picking picking picking for the nice big shells cos semua uniform size. No way you can sell anything undersized here, they are very strict about that. Semua harvest laut ada quota and legal size limit for collecting. Tak boleh suka2 hati ambik berapa banyak sesuka hati or ambik yang kecik2. There's even a TV series on this. You can see lah the camera crew will follow what is equivalent to our Jabatan Laut people approach fishermen to check what they catch. Recreational fishermen also, yang tangkap untuk makan sendiri pun kena pantau. Bawak keluar lah pembaris2 besar diorang and ukur2 the panjang ikan as well as kira2 how many they've caught. Semua kena repot. Kat NZ nie they seriously love their seafood and they want to be able to enjoy it forever.

The rain

Raining down now. It's not been usual for me to see such a heavy rain. Oh but when I was in Rotorua, it rained for 3 days straight. I couldn't believe it. As I told my host, I must have arrived in the monsoon season! We had a laugh and it allowed me to explain to them what kind of weather Malaysia has. Bella has been good. I've learnt how to get her to bring back the toy when we play 'fetch' and that is to bribe her with a yummy treat. Hope I'm not spoiling her.

A girl comes over to walk Bella daily. Thank goodness for Bella. She sometimes sits down in a lump while I'm in front of the PC and just looks at me with a muka sedih. Like, "nape tak layan i...". I've got some pics of her muka sedih and I should put them up later. So Bella is very excited when this girl comes over. I went with this girl one time to walk Bella, nak belajar sikit lah from her how to walk a dog properly. What I did notice was she always made Bella stop and sit before lintas jalan, even if there was no traffic. Puppies are like small children and you have to teach them like so. This girl always knew she wanted to work with dogs since she was a kid. So after high school she went to uni and got a certificate in dog handling. She's working part-time with Guide Dogs now and is looking for permanent work. You see, its not automatic that you need to go to university and get a degree here. People can quite often choose not to go to school till a lot later in their age (when we would probably say, why go at all, its not like you'll have any more years in you left to make a reasonable income out of what you study). Or not go at all.

Actually speaking of that, I saw a few kolej komuniti websites advertising short courses for the public. Very cheap too, like RM5 a class. Elok lah tu. In fact there was a kursus on how to make loh mai kai, a chinese sticky rice with chicken (and sometimes a little pork in the non-halal places) dish which is really yum. Anyway it would be nice to learn how to make it. Kalau ada kursus buat dhall I memang would like to go. Or vadai! I actually don't know how to make a Malaysian vegetarian dish for hosts which is a shame, as a dhall would have done quite nicely. Hope there are people that do end up taking these opportunities for self-enhancement, else bazir je usaha kerajaan.

When I was in Mt Maunganui I had such a lovely time. My host's wife didn't work so she got to spend time with me which was awesome. And their kids! Oh my god I love them. They were so beautiful and friendly children. The little girl was really 'spirited' as her mum said. And the boy was so loving and caring. When I arrived I was given a drawing he had made at school for me. See his parents had told him they'd be expecting a guest and he kept asking when the 'customer' would be arriving. Funny! His parents don't actually know why he decided I was a customer of some sort. His name was Te Manewha (say 'teh ma-ne-faa') and he was named after his ancestor of the same name, who was a great Maori warrior. In fact, this little boy is the only living person known to have that name and he was to make a special visit to Te Papa museum in Wellington for a special exhibition they are planning. His daddy had to go do the whole asking orang2 tua for permission to use such a strong Maori name, which is their custom.

Home alone

Well I am home alone in Botany now. Dropped my friends who I'm housesitting for at the airport. Nasib jalan to airport and back was just one straight line. Else sesat aku. It's kinda lonely. I only have the cat and puppy for company. Bella is so yucky cos she wants to show you love by licking. And because she's still a baby and is losing her baby teeth (one dropped out today) her mouth is so busuk. Rasa nak gosok gigi dia jer. Kasi makan breath mint ke. She gave me grief today. I took her for a walk this morning and let her off her leash just to see if she'd behave and stay when I said so. She bloody bolted. I couldn't catch her. Dia pergi kejar a big dog that passed us earlier. Nasib the 2 ladies walking the big doggie were so nice and understanding. In fact they caught Bella eventually, not me. Malu aku. No way I'm letting her off the leash on walks anymore.

Why are my titles so boring? (Monday, 21 Feb 2011)

I quit the IHC fundraising job. Just wasn't feeling it. Plus you get paid per sign-up and not per hour, which is sucky if you're only making a signup or two or none a day. So now I'm gonna travel more I think. Funny but I was just starting to get more friends in Auckland. Couchsurfers I mean. I went for the Auckland CS weekly meetup at the Buffalo Bar & Grill at the Viaduct for the 2nd time and I had a good time again. Was one of the last to leave as usual. I had a job for Austins Catering in Auckland Uni at the Fale Pasifika which is their Centre for Polynesian Studies I believe. Just a small canapes do for 250 people from 3.30 to 7.30pm. Well it was supposed to be. I think they had a conference or something, saw many American delegates so the event was maybe a chitchat/meetup and network sort of event afterwards. Only 30 people showed up. I bet they were all like 'I've had enough of the rest of you guys at this conference, I'm gonna explore Auckland' and decided not to show up. Good for them. The canapes I was in charge of was cashew nut crusted scallops with a sweet and sour sauce and coriander on top. They presented it as one scallop each on a chinese soup spoon, if thats what you call them. Sedap oi. Since there weren't that many people, me and the other staff wolfed the food down. YUM. Perks of the job man.. A funny thing was one of the girls had to follow me around with a big bowl for the empty spoons as I tried my best to gracefully float around the room and offer my dish to the guests without speaking almost.

Another funny thing is that I'm teaching my friends partner Malay since she and my friend are gonna visit Malaysia for his bro's wedding. It's funny cos I'm more used to teaching English to Malays. Never imagined I would be a cikgu bahasa one day. I'm housesitting their place while they're away. There's Molly the cat to feed but mostly the job is babysitting Bella, their 4-month old Border Collie pup. She is still a baby and very excitable and idiotic still. Like she doesn't know to follow instructions like 'sit' or 'stay' yet. Is chewing everything to bits. Eating Molly's food. And weeing on the carpet. Boring betul dia nie, she won't even play properly. You say 'fetch' and throw her something to return to you. But she won't. She'll chase after it all excited then she'll just sit down and chew it. Terpaksalah aku jalan pi sana ambik balik the toy to throw again. Anyway I'm sure we'll manage.

My friends daughter is so cute and a real chatterbox. Miss Chatterbox. Their apple tree is HEAVING with fruit. Terkejut aku. The branches are so heavy they are bending down and menyembah bumi. We think they're Braeburn apples ie green cooking apples. So I said to Miss Chatterbox let's sell them! And I lied and said at home I always sold produce from my Nenek and Grandpa's garden. Like their limau purut and limau purut leaves. Which I've always thought of doing, now that is true. And maybe I will too when I go home since I am pokai now and won't have a job. Anyway she was so excited and we said we'd set up stall at the corner of our street near the busy road the next morning (a Sunday). Well she went to sleep early that night. And she told my friends partner she would wake me up tomorrow cos Natasha is always sleeping and doesn't wake up early. Hah! Even she knows! At 7.30am my door is opened loudly and she's saying 'we've got to make our signs!'. We haven't collected the apples ya at this stage. Or decided what kind of table or chairs we need. No, she's just fussed about the sign. And how much we should be charging. So I get up and get her paper and her colour pens. We (read, I) wash a weed collector bag and the wheelbarrow, and collect the apples. And so at 8.30am we set up stall on the footpath.

Takpelah she made up for it by being the most charming saleslady. She dressed up so pretty in a frilly top and skirt and accessorised with a hairband and necklaces. And waved and smiled at all the cars passing with an apple in hand. We were lucky the street leads up to a nearby church (called Elim) so there were plenty of people driving and walking past. We decided on 10 apples for $1 (her daddy's idea). They were little apples anyway. We sold $4 worth! Hebat kan, aku pun excited. We gave 2 apples free for every dollar just as a little bonus for customers. By 10am she's tired and hungry so we close shop and wheel it home. Sayang betol cos her daddy ie my friend drove past us coming home on the way to send his partners daughter to school. Would have been nice if he could have seen our little 'shop'. Later in the afternoon just for play we open our kedai again in front of the house. I think its good just to get kids out of the house and away from tv/computer. And guess what, we made $2! The nice neighbours showed a little support by sending their kids over to buy a dollars worth. Bella was sitting outside with us and the son of my friends partner (he's 12 i think) came out to play with her later. Miss chatterbox had her little scooter and went up and down the footpath plus with her big crayons she was drawing on the pavement too. My friend and his partner made a fab barbecue dinner with salads and we ate outside. Then we had an icecream on the way to the nearby beach (Mellon's Bay) where Bella got to socialise with other little doggies. So all in all it was a very good day indeed.

Wednesday (09/02/2011)

Well I officially am finished with Greenpeace. I couldn't meet the targets for signing up people for 3 weeks in a row. I am disappointed. But to look on the bright side of things I'm glad I had that experience. I learnt so much about their operations and their campaigns. In fact on my last day there I got to do listen in on a sharing session on one of the latest actions which was GP boarding a Fronterra vessel which was bringing in PKE (palm kernel expellant). Fronterra is the biggest milk producer in NZ and they are importing a 3rd of the world's PKE which comes primarily from Indonesia and Malaysia. And in these countries gazillion year-old rainforests are being cut down and levelled so that there is land to set up even more palm oil plantations.

Anyway tomorrow I start a fundraising job for another charity called the IHC. IHC = Intellectually Handicapped Community. It's a street position this time and not door-to-door which means I have to stand in a crowded area like on a busy shopping street and accost strangers walking past. Wish me luck.

Wednesday (26/01/11)

Today I finished work quite unhappy. It was a hot day and I'd been pounding on the doors of Grey Lynn. I like this area really. The houses aren't too grand but they're mostly done up with little personal creative touches. I remember seeing old ladies boots that had been painted in bright colours and floral designs and had plants in them.

I hadn't a sign up the whole day. But there was one house. The wife said to come back in an hour. So I did. The husband said no, then chased me down the street to tell me to come back in 20 min. So I did. On my 3rd try the wife answers the door to say sorry but they can't sign up after all. So frustrating! It gets so depressing getting so many rejections.

But my signup yesterday... she was special. She thanked me over and over and kept telling me how excited she was to finally become a member of Greenpeace. She'd been wanting to do it for years. That almost had me in tears and really made me feel good. Like all my effort hadn't been a waste. I asked her nicely if she'd have her photo taken with me and she obliged though she hates having her photo taken (her friends were around and said it was true). We're playing Bingo Bonanza in the office for the prize of a Greenpeace tshirt and a pic with one of your signups was one item to tick off. Double success! I must remember to send her our pic.

Thursday (20/01/2011)

Gosh, gotta get used to typing 2011 now.

I dropped my camera, had to send it for repairs. Luckily is still under warranty, they're saying I will not have to pay for parts but workmanship. Will make a little noise because they never called me up to keep me updated on the progress of my camera, just went ahead and did whatever. Bit shocked about that, kalau kat Malaysia sure aku dah mengamuk over the phone (kat New Zealand pun buat macam nie? ceh...). Tasha laser jugak to the guy I was speaking to but he countered that by saying the repair men in Palmerston North wanted to charge for parts but luckily for me they (Lacklands Limited) told them not to. Whatever lah, see how it goes...

So I decided to work for Greenpeace (GP from now on). Have actually been planning to do that since I was in Malaysia. No GP in Malaysia (Thai Indo and Phil ada tapi), but I wish there was. Anyway the job is as a door-to-door fundraiser. I don't know if you know but GP does NOT accept any money from governments or corporations. Their funding comes solely from individuals. Can you imagine that? I was really amazed by that fact. By doing so they can remain 100% independent and not in anyone's pocket as they say. So they can go after any and every issue (which they do) and their loyalty can remain absolutely to protecting the environment and not anyone else.

I had an interview at the end of last year, then went out for observation, which is shadowing some experienced fundraisers, on Jan 11 (Tues). Then that Friday (Jan 14) I went for a whole day training at their office, where Simon ran the whole thing. Loved that. I like my colleagues too. Learnt so much about GP campaigns here in New Zealand and around the world (GP exists in 40 countries).

Got to go now, have to get ready and off to walk to work (25 min from where I'm staying). So much walking on the job too so my legs are killing me! But I need it lah, the bedonkedonk (that's a another term for derriere says my cousin) is expanding and I need to get it in control. Later...