Auckland Lantern Festival 2015

Hello hellooo.

So last Sunday marked the end of the Auckland Lantern Festival. I know it's a bit late (blame uni :p) but my friend said that technically the correct date of the Lantern Festival's today, so yeah :)

When we arrived, we saw this lion dance team just about to start. Ahh, the nostalgia brings me back to the days in Indonesia where amateur lion dancers would move around performing in front of restaurant windows then a representative would go inside distributing empty red packets on the tables for customers to put their donation in.

I love watching lion dance, or any form of acrobatics/contortion in general. Their agility and coordination never ceases to amaze me.

Princes St, just beside our university campus, was lined up with countless food stalls selling delicacies from all over the world. Two bummer words to say, however: NO EFTPOS.

Also, people everywhere. I had never expected that Auckland could be so crowded. You literally couldn't move on your own - you had to depend on the movement of others to shift you around the place or ya ain't going anywhere. xD

From now onwards, I shall let the photos do the talking :)

ACG NZIC Culture Week 2014

On Thursday we wrapped up our school's three-day Culture Week event. We had daily quizzes (I won the second day's quiz about Asia and got a free drink voucher xD) and LOTS of fun and food! I volunteered for the fashion show (Wednesday last period) and the International Food Day, joining the Malaysian group. It was an amazing week and I experienced cultures that I never imagined I would be able to :') Be forewarned: This is a photo-heavy post. Photos were harvested by myself, from friends and school teachers. Enjoy! :D

That OCD-prone-people-unfriendly "w" though. Mr Meur printed and tried out four different fonts and sizes, only to return to the original one as nothing worked hahaha

The first day of the Culture Week, we had a Maori dance show (due to certain circumstances I ended up watching it twice; sitting in front row seat twice haha) performed by the Kahurangi Dance Group of Hastings. During their dance performance, called Taonga (meaning 'treasure'), they displayed a heartfelt, highly amusing, exciting show. I was in awe as the depicted the Maori culture in front of my eyes. It was hilarious seeing my friends and teachers attempt some moves as well xD

The next day we had storytelling, Japanese students teaching origami, Middle Eastern students doing henna tattoos (I got one with my name in Arabic xD), beautiful Arabic calligraphy, and song challenge. That day, on period 6, we had our international fashion show, and to our surprise -  a LOT more people came than we expected, because it was in period 6, so we'd expected that those who didn't have class would have just gone home, but I wouldn't have had it any other way :') This was one of the most amazing days of my time in ACG so far! I even got to try on a hijab for the first time!

Putra getting into character with his hijab xD

My friend Omayma at the Arabic calligraphy booth. She conjured up beautiful calligraphy of our Arabic names :')

My name in Arabic! On canvas (by Shahd), and on paper (by Omayma). Thita also wrote my name in upside-down Thai 555. Another Middle Eastern student did the henna on my arm - I still have it now, it's gotten darker - love it sooo much xx

The fashion show was especially fun to work in! We had students and teachers modelling for Fiji, Samoa, Malaysia, Indonesia (me lol), Korea, Oman, India, China (me again :P), Japan, Vietnam, Britain and of course, New Zealand! We even had someone walk in a kiwi bird suit! Haha xD

Keep scrolling for more photos of fashion and food! :)

Representing Indonesia with my friend Sela :)

 

 With my beautiful Omani and Fijian friends <3

Rotorua-Wellington Family Trip Winter 2014

Hi all!

It's been two weeks since I came back to school for my second term. I've been so stumped up with schoolwork (the struggles of being in fast-track) that I haven't been able to post here for the past two months :(

My family came to visit nearing the beginning of my winter break. They spent two weeks here while I was still in school, and got to spend one out of three weeks of winter break with me. In that one week, we went to Rotorua and Wellington (to extend my passport but was promptly declined because it was too early to do so :P)

Mt Ruapehu! We didn't go skiing there this time due to lack of time :P

 

The Luge ride at Rotorua! Absolutely loved it! As they said, once is NEVER enough. My brother and I got to get on it twice, first time in the beginner's track, and second in the intermediate track (it started raining then!). The second ride, coupled with the rain, was definitely the more exhilarating experience! <3

Going up after the second ride!

Hobbiton! We got really lucky that it didn't rain during our tour. It started raining after we returned to the starting point. We got to know some tricks they used in the movies, and got some drinks at the Green Dragon Inn.

Skies of Auckland

I've been in Auckland for about four weeks now. Moving towards Week 5 at school, we've had out first two common tests at school - expecting three more next week. The Queen's birthday's on Monday, so we're expected to spend our long weekend studying for the tests O:)

Today at sixth period we had a school-arranged quiz event for under-18-year-olds (whee! :D). We got divided into groups according to our birth months, the dean asked us questions related to movies and New Zealand. My team, Girls on Fire, got third place. The prize for us was a box of assorted Cadbury chocolates ;)  My friend's team, who won first place, got movie tickets! They also had A TON of snacks and drinks laid out for us to munch upon, and later smuggle home. Our not-under-18 friends came along after last class of the day ended (quiz participants weren't considered absent because it's a school-arranged event) and helped us clean out the snacks. Another friend of mine happily bagged all the chips and dips in plastic bags from who-knows-where, and with a half-full bottle of three-litre tropical juice in one hand, walked happily home in jandals.

All in all, life's been just awesome here, although I always find myself falling into the temptations of food like churros and cookies. Things are bloody expensive here, and apparently Kiwis think so too. 

Well let's leave it there for now. Here are some random pictures I took over the weeks since I came here :)

 Sky Tower

 Future university's clock tower

Aotea Square

 

 Town Hall