EingeNel In Action

It’s been over a week since we’ve arrived in Wellington and so far, so good… I just want to share with you some “firsts” that I have experienced over the past week. Excuse the picture quality though, I tried to make it clearer thru Photoshop but with all my phone’s complexity, its camera really suck, big time! I promise to post pictures with decent quality once we get a nice camera.

Our First Eviction

Before we left the Philippines, Ronnel booked a 3-night 4-day stay in Hotel Ibis (Thanks, Maybank Credit Card!) as we were hoping that I would be able to find an apartment within three days. Sadly, apartment hunting is not that easy in an unfamiliar place. Good thing there was the Internet to rely on to look for vacancies but we were still unable to find one before our check out time… so, we thought we could just extend our stay in Hotel Ibis. But no! The hotel was fully booked and we had to find another place to stay ASAP! We were given an extra night (of course with full charge!) though. So, the night before our “eviction”, we roamed the city looking for a new hotel to move into. We tried other hotels (too expensive), hostels (fully booked), ventured into some motels (but was scared so we chickened out) and finally, we found one near an apartment we pre-booked. It was a little scary though since this hotel was situated in an area where there were a lot of strip clubs (much to my dismay and Ronnel’s glee). There was an adult store a few blocks away and there were a lot of posters about Strip Contests. There was even a big ad on a strip joint’s wall recruiting “fresh new ladies”. What do you mean by that?

My First Real Spa Experience

Ok, so we’re now in Comfort Hotel and I had a lot of time to spare since I found an apartment already (see below). Ronnel was at work and I don’t wanna spend money outside anymore so I’d rather stay in the hotel. The hotel had this Bath Spa Room and I was curious to try it. With the rush of our departure from the Philippines, we didn’t have time to go to a spa plus my back was aching from the heavy bags we lifted from the airport. Anyway, I didn’t know what to expect since I never tried a private spa before. I thought it was a steam room so I exercised a bit in my room to initiate the sweating. When I opened the private spa room, I was surprised to see this big deep tub. Ok, so that was the Spa. At first, I didn’t know how to operate it. The Kohler knobs were so confusing. When I eventually learned (by trial and error) how things worked, I went into the tub. Whoa! It was a heavenly experience. It’s hard to describe but the knobs were doing something to the water which massages the body’s pressure points (back, shoulders, legs and feet). I could have easily fallen asleep and drowned in the water which was knee-deep (standing up). The sweet smell of peony flowers permeated into the air, mixing with the low buzz of the massaging knobs. Needless to say, this Spa experience was the best ever (and no cost too!).

My First Near-Death Experience (don’t let the title fool you)

So after the spa, I met Ronnel for lunch. He had to go back to work and I, again, have lots of time to spare, before I meet him after work. I logged on to the Internet for a while, checked my mail and chatted with a few friends. After that, I walked around the city and decided to visit the National Library. My heart stopped beating the moment I stepped in the library. There were gazillion of books to read! Ok, so this is what heaven’s like for a bookworm like me. I went into the best seller section and saw that all the books there were brand new. All the Dan Brown stuff was categorized as old stuff already. There were four floors in the library. The ground floor was for the best sellers, romances, adventure and other “just came in” books. There was a separate section for children and young adults. On the second floor was a coffee shop where yes, you can read while drinking coffee. The third floor had books used in school and research. The fourth, I guess, had news clippings and other artefacts. I picked a book from the best seller section entitled “How to Kill a Husband and other household tips”. I went to the far end of the library where there were comfortable seats and you could tuck your feet under. I spent my whole afternoon reading the book and I found it really funny. It was really insightful. Husbands should read them too! I couldn’t force mine though.

My First Number Two (Due to the graphic description in this entry, reader discretion is advised).

One of the biggest challenges every Filipino faces in a foreign country is how to do Number Two without a tabo. For those who are not familiar with the wonders of the tabo, let me explain what it is. Well, I searched the Internet for the direct translation of the tabo and found none, I think the closest word would be “dipping pail”. It’s basically this small pail with a handle that one uses to get water out of a big pail. I believe most Asian countries have the equivalent of this. I’ve seen some used in Korean and Japanese dramas. We didn’t have one in Malaysia but we didn’t need it there because they had the bidet. Ok, so now let’s go back to my dilemma. The long flight from the Philippines to Wellington made my tummy a little queasy and I just knew I had to do Number Two in the hotel. I’m betting Ronnel had to go as well from the look upon his face. When we were in our room in Hotel Ibis, the first thing that I did was to check out the toilet. Of course there was no tabo, but that’s ok since I found a cup that could be a stand in for the real tabo. Anyway, while we are in the subject of this toilet stuff, I might as well share to you something I have learned from watching Oprah. Apparently, you can know how healthy (or unhealthy) you are just by looking at your stool. Someone at work said that as Business Analysts, we check out what comes out of the rear end. Funny, but honestly, I personally do that. I bet you do that too, it’s just that it’s not a thing that we often discuss with others, right? I mean, how weird would that sound? Imagine me asking you, “So what’s the shape of yours this morning?” Hahaha. Anyway, you can have a first health check by checking the shape of your stool. A normal stool is S-shaped since the passage way to the anus is curved so excretions pooled from the large intestine passes through the curves which should be malleable enough to acquire an S-shape. Well, for quite some time, I’ve had marble-type ones and that’s an indication of constipation. But I’ve noticed that recently, I’ve had no problems going to the loo in the mornings anymore. Maybe because we have fruits for breakfast everyday for the past week or so. Anyway, that’s one of the things I love most about NZ. Fruits and veggies are so accessible and affordable too. I remember my friends calling me a goat back at work coz I had salad every lunchtime. Back in the Philippines and Malaysia, I had some difficulties finding a variety of fresh veggies to put on my salad but here, I won’t have to face that problem anymore. Yay!

Our First NZ Home… for eight months

As I’ve said, apartment hunting isn’t fun when you don’t have all the time in the world (and money too). So, I just checked the two apartments (they call them “flats” here) which are within our budget. The first one was as small as our hotel room (and our hotel room was reeeeally small). It was so small that you only had to take a step and you’re in the kitchen and another, you’re out the door. I believe the sink in the kitchen was the same one used in airplane washrooms. If I were to fry something in the kitchen, I think the oil would splatter across the bed. It was that small. But because we had a tight budget, I was about to consider it if there was nowhere else to stay. I checked out another flat and I thought it was lovely. It was a long walk though from our office but I think we needed the exercise anyway. It was still tiny (our budget was tiny too), but it perfectly fit a newlywed couple (we’re practically newlyweds coz everything is new to us here). There were a lot of other couples interested to rent the place and we crossed our fingers that we’d be chosen. I said a silent prayer, hoping that everything will fall into place (as it always did). And it did. The agent instantly liked me (who won’t?) and wanted to meet Ronnel as well. She talked to the owner if we could move in sooner as we had to leave the hotel in a few days. We met the owner on a Saturday morning when he was still in a hurry to clean the flat. We felt sorry for rushing him out of his place but he said it worked out the best for both sides. He said, we were the perfect tenants. And he was God’s gift to us. In these days where our finances were running low and our salaries are yet to be given (on the fortnight), we had to tighten our belts and save as much as we could. I was practically drooling every time I dropped by a mall. Our landlord, David, was going to Korea for eight months and he needed people to look after his place. It couldn’t be a better match. He left all his things and food (yay!) for us to consume. When I opened his fridge and cupboard, I felt we were kindred spirits. His cupboard had all the exact same things that I had (when in was in Malaysia/Phils). There was Basil, Oregano, different kinds of cheeses, sauces etcetera. There was even ice cream (although I couldn’t imagine anyone enjoying ice cream in this cool climate). So I cooked for our first “baon” (packed lunch) to work and used what was in the kitchen. It was the yummiest meal we had ever since we arrived in NZ! (It was free and of course, since I cooked it.)

Our First Day at Work

Ronnel started work a week before I did. He liked his first day of work. He had tons of stuff to read and a lot of people to meet. He made his first office friend that day. I think his name was Paul (of course there were too many Pauls in his office). Apparently, Paul has stayed in the Philippines for quite some time so they had a lot to talk about. My first day of work was eventful as well. I met my new colleagues and they were really friendly. It was a little bit of culture shock since they were just too “happy”. Their voices were in a different octave than mine and I had a bit of hard time keeping up the energy. And I thought I had enough energy! First thing in the morning, you would hear people greet everybody across the room with a hearty “G’morning” and “It’s a wonderful morning, isn’t it?” I think it is an unwritten rule here to always greet anybody and everybody you see with a “How are ya?” and you have to reply “I’m doing great, and ya?” As how I was in BPI and Standard Chartered on my first days of work, I keep to myself here. I am still adjusting and I have lots of things to absorb. I just smile a lot (my face hurts from smiling) and keep my eyes on my monitor. As I gain more confidence and be familiar with my work and the people around me, I know I will loosen up. Who knows, one day, I’ll be the one shouting; “It’s a beautiful morning, isn’t it?”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 31st, 2006 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Our NZ Adventure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.