Rest of NZ photos

I am too lazy to post up my NZ pictures.. :P

You can view them from facebook account at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=129936&id=744774146&l=805d590487


Something to excite me.. I am finally going back to Singapore in 5 days time.. :) Yipee! SO... What I am going to do during the next 5 days would be to:

1) Packed my luggage
2) Buy whatever things I am asked to buy. i.e. Mum's cherries.
3) Clean up my room
4) Clean up the garden
5) Show Joanne's family around Hobart for 2 days

Steph, Cheryl and I visited Salamanca today and guess who we saw.....


Edmund Chen, Xiangyun and their two children.

Steph and I saw this goodlooking man buying sausages from one of the stores and we were like hinting Cheryl about it. Suddenly, both of us wonder why the guy look so much like Edmund Chen. Behold, Xiangyun turned around and we were like shouting "Confirm". For a moment, our view seems starstruck.. The son turned around and looked straight into our eyes. I think he overheard our conversation.
Cheryl was so funny.. She exclaimed aloud that this is her first time seeing celebs.. Hahhaa.

Anyway, Steph and I bought 1 custard donut each and a large tub of leatherwood honey for Da gu.. We continue to walk around the market; hoping for a 2nd chance to be star-struck again. Hahhaa. The next minute, we saw Edmund and his son again. After 10minutes, we saw Xiangyun telling his son that she needs to find the toilet. Hahhaa. I looked at Cheryl and told her that this is her chance of helping a celeb by showing her the way to the toilet. Hahahaa.

That's all for now.. :)

1st Day at ChristChurch

I find it really hard to blog without a specific theme. I.e. Usually such post end up being very random and uninteresting. On top of that, I no longer feel free to blog about what I feel nowadays; constraint is the word.
Perhaps I should just shut down this blog or privatise it. ..


Alright.. pardon me for the unchronological posting..

New Zealand Botanic Garden

Cosmos

Cornflower

Giant Rose Sculpture

Roses taken at the rose garden. Some of the rose hybrids were even older than us.

Mama duck with her 2 ducklings.. ...

Little duckling....

I thought this library was pretty interesting... :)

We had our brekky at one of the finest breakfast restaurant in Christchurch.

Upon reaching it, we realized that the price was abit too high for our budget trip.

Steph, Me and Lester

June and Joanne

My berri-licious smoothie..

Large,white, soft and fluffy pancakes that we ordered to share.

Yes. it was a budget breakfast at a fine restaurant. "*Bo Bian" Students mah..

*Bo bian= Hokkien word for not having a choice.

That's all for now.. Will post more soon.

Work Experience at Tassal new hatchery (Part 4)

Remember my previous post on the work experience at Russell Falls http://jonpohgene.blogspot.com/2009/06/wonderful-work-experience.html

Oh well .. if you do.. then you probably remember those eggs that I have worked with.

Oh well.. I was really happy to find out that they have grown into such amazing juvenile salmon.

Photos of the juvenile fish

Taaa.. Hope you find them interesting just like I do. :)

Work Experience at Tassal's new hatchery (Part 3)

Sorry guys. I have decided to delete part of post of what might seems confidential.. But seriously, most of it are common textbook knowledge or patented products by manufacturers and thus should not pose too much of a threat. Hope you will still enjoy it. :)

Work Experience at Tassal's new hatchery (Part 2)

Here's a picture of the microparticulate pellet feed used for feeding the salmon frys during their first feeding period. It is pretty much like powder food if you would like to put it that way. The salmon fry uses their chemo-senses to detect the pellets and will be required to start feeding within a certain period of time after they have exhaust their yolk sac supply. Any fish that fails to do so within that window period will enter into the "point of no-return" and will eventually die off.

More pictures...............

Work Experience at Tassal's new hatchery (Part 1)

Thought I should post something on my work experience at Tassal's new hatchery at Ranelagh.

Firstly, I am very grateful to be given this job at such a short notice to the company. Once again, Tassal has been really gracious and kind enough to offer me a work experience at their new hatchery for a proposed short period of time (had to get ready for my NZ trip).

I have decided to post various parts of my work experience in a series of posts.

The salmon frys are kept in drawer-like compartments that allow them to be kept in high density over a given surface area; pretty much like our HDB in Singapore. :P

Some facts:

Do you know that it takes approximately 3 months for the salmon fry to hatch from its egg (This is greatly dependent on the temperature of the water; thus the age of the eggs are measured in degree days. And a salmon fry is able to take pellet food immediately and does not require weaning from live food (rotifers, daphinas). This allows farmers to grow them much easier; saving the hassle of having to culture other microplankton food.

Anemones Again

I found out that anemones can be nice as floating flower deco..

Pretty isn't it.!!!

It became a dining table deco for us. Occasionally I replace it with other kinds of flowers.

Enjoying a good meal with fancy table settings really bring up the whole atmosphere. Wootz

Birds

Steph wanted to me to draw up some birds drawings for her Biology project.. And since, I was having my holiday (yeah.. Exams are over!!!) I decided to give it a try..

Presenting to you a pair of Blue Fairy Wren..

Welcoming the lady..

Mr Narcistic......

Pied Currawong

Bronze Wing Pigeon

The Gang (not drawn according to scale).

A piece of good news to share. I have been offered work experience by Tassal. :) Will be working for the next couple of weeks before I hit NZ and Brissie..

The end!

Woosh..!! The exams are finally over..!!!!Score 1.. I didn't finish all the papers on time.. Major penalty.. !! Haiz..... Nevertheless, it was a major relief for all the exams to be over.

I spent this morning looking at one of the potential house that I have been eyeing to lease for next year. One Chinese Word "Zheng"... The architecture was absolutely gorgeous... the interior design and layout were fantastic. Each room comes with it own private bathroom. How cool can that get.. !! Its walking distance to the Uni.. The house is fully re-furbished.

The only drawbacks are:
1) There are 6 rooms in the house.. which means we will need to find 6 people; not mentioning 6 people that you can get along with.. (Faintz)
2) The rent is rather costly.. (though reasonable considering what you get).

Major dilemma..


Something random:

Yoke Chye sent me the drawing that I drew on his tablet a few weeks ago. :) Hahaha.. Not too bad for free hand drawing isn't it!! :p

Exams

In a spark of an eye......

I will soon be OVER with you.

You have brought me pain, and sad times.

Yet..... I cherish you for the things you have taught me.

You made up a portion of my life; filled it with colours.

(Red, Black and white)

Got me excited and told me to start it all over again.

Sometimes I wonder....

What's the meaning of all these?

I feel like running..

Far... .Away....

This time round I am settled...

Determined for it to be over.. (at least for the next couple of years)

Thanks for giving a chance to prove

my understanding..........................

Soon I'm over..

Over with you

Tulip Festiv

My housemates, one of their friends and I made our way to Launceston last Friday to join the Singapore Students Association on their voyage to the Wynyard Tulip Festival...

We reached Launceston at approximately 7.15pm (Left Hobart at 4.30pm).

We went straight to 'Prickly Cactus' a Mexican restaurant that serves fantastic food.. (It's seriously good). It was great having Yoke Chye, Linda, Er Li and Nic with us.. Thanks guys for making the effort to have dinner with us. * Make us feel like superstar la. hahahaa.. (Superstar from Hobart. -.-")

We spent our night at Yoke Chye and Linda's place.. Once again.. They were really great host... I shan't put in details what they do for us.. just incase you guys expect them to do the same for everyone else.. hahahaa. :P

Also many thanks to the Virly and her housemates for availing their house to allow my housemates and her friend for 2 nights.. You guys are awesome and have demonstrated the passion and spirit of International students in Launnie. (I always sense the diff between the two; do you?)

Early next morning, we left for the tulip trip at Wynyard..

Photo courtesy of Yoke Chye:

(Steph and myself)

We had approximately 120 people for the trip; 2 bus load and 2 car that is.

Photo taken by Er Li using mui camera.

(Joanne and I doing the matrix thingy)

"Totem" of Wynyard -.-"








Muhahaa. I like this photo very much..
Er li took this photo and told me.. "Hei Ma Wang Zhi".. Thanks ah...




Tulip Farm



Photo courtesy of Yoke Chye:
Once again.. a very nice photo of us from Hobart..



We attended the farmer's market in the morning > proceed to the tulip farm > made our way back to the festival market > proceed to the park for BBQ dinner > made our way back to the festival place for fireworks.

Photos courtesy of Yoke Chye..

By this time, you should have guessed that Yoke Chye is a professional photographer. His camera 'machiam' some freaking cannon like that.. . .Seriously.. hahahaa

Well done Yoke Chye!! On organizing such a wonderful trip.. You have indeed risen the flag of SSA... : )

On a side note.. I will be having my first paper tomorrow..

followed by a series of exam papers till the 26th of October.

Than I am done.. :) SO exciting..
I am hoping to work for Tassal after my exams.. But have not

received any replies from them yet. Anyway, I have prayed and

will be happy to do some other meaningful stuff if God so decide that

I shall have a proper break after my exams. :D

Mooncake appreciation

Our OCF connect group held a mooncake appreciation session (instead of mid-autumn festival cause its Spring over here in the Southern hemisphere) cum "pot-bless" (cause we believe in the blessings of God instead of pure luck) at my place last Saturday.

Steph and I made "Cheng Tng" and "Snowskin mooncakes" for our guests.
Thanks to Karen for bringing the mooncake premix.

The guests were blown away by the mooncakes and "Cheng Tng" and we had a wonderful time fellowshipping with one another.

Presenting to you the "Awesome OCF connect group"

tata... God bless

The girl and her pansy

This post is dedicated to my favourite cousin (sorry to the rest; you are not too far behind). :)

Thank you for the fun times we had as a kid. Remember "Crystal Palace", "Defenders"? Hahaha.. All our skills and tactics were designed against your *evil "ahem", who was so conveniently deemed as the villain of our story. Hahahaa.
Remember how you always hide in the wardrobe and cry whenever you feel upset; twice in Da gu's wardrobe and once in Ah ma's wardrobe.



How quickly time flies!!! It was fun having you around during my choir trip to Perth. Its amazing how well you mixed along with the guys and blended in with us within a short time. Fancy this shy little girl!!!!

I think of all my trips, the US trip with your family was one of the most enjoyable one. What a privilege!!! Remember how we collected the pansy along the streets outside Disney, Anaheim and pressed them between the Daily Bread booklet to make flower pressed??? Oh well.. This flower had triggered my memories of our US trip whenever I see them. So.... in honour of you. I hereby dedicate this photo to you:



It was grown from a seed... :)

Hope you will like it!

Amazing Girl

Even a 2-year old girl knows how to sing praises to the Lord..

Good company

The "Ups and Downs" of each individual lives; also known as the "Valley and Peak" seasons are indeed a typical pattern of what everyone in this world goes through. In order to reach a mountain peak, one would be required to go through a season of valley period. This valley can be deep or shallow and has no correlation with the height of the upcoming peak that you are going through. You might undergo a deep valley period (signify the duration and intensity of dryness and difficulties in life) and yet faces a short-lived season of peak experiences (signify the duration and intensity of an abundance and blessful life). The vice-versa could happen.
Metamorphically, this makes good sense as no one is guaranteed with a high mountan peak after going through a deep valley.

I like the peak times, yet I understand that without the valley period, I will never get to fully appreciate the Lord's goodness to me. It is during times like this that I realize that I was never alone and that He was walking through the valley with me. It may be hard, but I have good company.


1 more month to the end of my last paper. The exam timetable was announced today. My last paper falls on the 26th of October. I am hoping to arrange for work at the salmon farm again; this time round at the new hatchery. :)
My statistic test results came out yesterday. Despite of the fact that I thought I was going to fail, the Lord performed a miracle. Seriously.. I was "tikaming' the answers of those questions that I am unsure of without even looking at the choices during the last 5 minutes. I just prayed and asked the Lord to direct me in choosing the right answers. I got a distinction for it.

*Disclaimer: Not meant for children or ignorant adults who think they might do well without putting in their own share of effort. I practised for 1 week ok!!!! Despite of the fact that I still couldn't solve the questions during the test. :p

Excitez

It's good to be doing something which you enjoy doing. This week has been a pretty fulfilling week or should I say purposeful. Steph and I will be singing for the Overseas Christian Fellowship (OCF) service during Friday (Next time when I mention OCF, you get what i mean ah). On top of that, our worship coordinator, Sarah, wrote and requested for us to fill in as vocals for this sunday's service. I was abit reluctant at first as Stephy has quite a number of assignments to handle this week. Eventually, we decided to grasp hold of the opportunity to serve God this sunday.



Nevertheless, I can't help but to complain about how hectic this week is going to be (Though all in the name of Fun). OFC will be holding the International Students Services (ISS) this weekend and the venue is at Grace church (which is the church that Steph and I attend basically). It is their way of saying thanks and showing their appreciation to local churches in Hobart for their continual support to OCF. I am involved in a mini skit (acting as a shop keeper in a Korean shop) which is pretty much pre-recorded into a video. The recording will be conducted this Saturday morning. On top of that, we will be holding a moon cake appreciation session at our place this Saturday for our bible study group. This means I will need to make the snowskin mooncakes on Saturday afternoon; do grocery shopping for next week and be involved with the video recording all on the same day!!! The pastors has invited quite a number of us from OCF to their place for dinner this Sunday evening. I am so looking forward to it as I have been told that their house is literally next to the beach. We will be having a BBQ~~ Aussie style I suppose. Oh gosh.. I better get my assignment which is due for next week done by this week.

Oh yah.. Stephy's phone broke down and now she is "phoneless". I went to the Nokia care shop today and was told that her phone is not under warranty in Australia and that it will probably cost her more to repair the phone than for her to get a new cheap one. Haiz..

Oh yah.. Did I mentioned? I won a one-year supply of Free Original Tim-Tam biscuits..
Though my favourite are still the Pepperridge Farm biscuits.... Alright.. If you guys are interested in Tim-Tam's... YOU NEED TO EAT "Tim Tam Double Coat".. Its the nicest, most velvety, thick chocolate biscuits that I've eaten. (Possibly the highest in calories too.. Haiz.. You need to pay a price for it u know??!) SIN... ... stands for "Start Indulging now" which basically relates to indulgence... SO you better dun indulge too much.. It's sinful for your body.. Hahahaa..
Oh crap!!! What am I talking about?? But basically.... If I open a cafe, I will create a signature chocolate dessert which I will name it as SIN.. Get it??? Alright.. .. something to disclose about myself again... I have the vision of opening a Cafe since at the age of 20.. Seriously.... it was one of the vision which I believe God has given to me during my journey to church during weekdays. Remember the coffeeshop that is located diagonally to Calvary??? Oh well.. I always notice the insignificant crowd in the coffeeshop and felt that something could be done to it.. Perhaps, have my cafe setup there or what....I even thought of a name for it.... "CCC" Calvary Cafe Corner. (The shop is located in a corner mah!!)

Alright.. enough of my disclosure.. :P Back to my assignments..

And It Blooms

Dear Karen,

Thanks for bringing all the gifts and prezzies during the trip! It has been a wonderful time having you girls around. I would imagine myself spending my semester break mugging under assignments and test revisions if not for you gals. Thanks for giving me a meaningful... semester break! Thanks for all the wonderful fun and laughter.. !!!

As promised, here's the photo of the tulip that has bloomed.

Regards
Jonathan

Loving Spring

Spring is full of surprises and you could do nothing but to love it.

I discovered that I have hanged my clothes in running colours sub-consciously after washing them. From Black > Grey > White and in shades of green.

Somehow, I have inevitably fallen in love with tones of black, grey and white.

Its my new colour scheme and had kept me rather warm during winter.

Go figure!

1 more month to the finals and I will be officially liberated from studying.....!!!?

Is that so?... I seriously hope so.. Unless the Holy Spirit prompts me otherwise.

Hmmmmmmmm..

As winter passes

I finally found the chance to blog again after such a long hiatus.

The past few weeks had been a nightmare to me; with 7 assignments/tests in 2 weeks.

To provide you with a break down of what I had after Karen and her friends left:

IELTS test Saturday

Statistics test and International marketing on Friday

Strategic management assignment worth 40% on Monday

Organizational behaviour test on Tuesday

International marketing assignment presentation, Organisational behaviour assignment AND International Marketing assignment on Friday.

Thank God!! Its over!!! I am now left with 6 assignments/tests for the rest of the semester and 3 exams and I will be done with my studies.

GOOD NEWS!! God has been really good to me.. I have scored an IELTS overall score of 8 out of 9 points. The fact lies not in the good results, but the very fact that God has given me such good results despite the little preparation.

(I had the IELTS test the next day after Karen and friends left) Glory To God!!

Back to my garden; it has been in some feisty actions recently.

The tulip that was due to bloom in October was already budding during Karen's visit.

We had planted the tulip deliberately for Karen and was hopping that it will bloom during her visit. You could see that the tulip was trying its best to bloom in time for Karen's visit. During the last two days of Karen's visit, a slight tinge of pink was revealed under the developing petals.

Though Karen did not managed to see it bloom on time.. I am proud of its achievement..

Alright.. Karen... Here's the dedication to you..

The tulip with the anemones

The anemones. :)
I will like to dedicate this flowers to my "Da gu".

I am starting to love the anemones.. They are so beautifully elaborated; each petal and anther.
I hope to plant more of them next year. More colours this time round perhaps. :)