Tag: New Zealand

4/9/10: The start of the Canterbury quakes

In the wee hours of the morning on this date 5 years ago, Canterbury was struck by an earthquake that led to a chain of aftershocks including the devastating 21 February 2011 quake. I have told many people my account of that morning but I thought I’d write it down so that it is archived somewhere forever. You know, in case I forget what it was like – highly doubt I ever will though…I hope. 

5 years ago I lived at a flat which was opposite some train tracks. It was not uncommon to hear rumbling at night as trains passed by in the dead hours of the morning and it annoyed me all the time. This night was just like every other night.

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What to expect: High school in Malaysia vs New Zealand

I should have written this post eons ago – like 2008. That was the year I moved to good old NZ for high school. I am glad that I got to experience that one year of high school. It was so different to schooling life in Malaysia that I was gobsmacked at times.

Before I left Malaysia I was fretting what school in NZ would be like. I had all these questions but there was nobody to answer them. I guess it was because I didn’t know anybody who had been here at the time. I knew one other person who was going to NZ the same time I was and that was it.

It was tough to have all these thoughts and worry about sitting SPM at the same time. Now, people will probably just consult Master Google but in 2008 that wasn’t the case. There was internet but there wasn’t any 3G. You didn’t just Google to find an answer. Ok, going off on a tangent – back to the topic.

Anyway,  I thought I’d get all nostalgic and write about my experience. Hopefully it will help some of you who are looking to come study in NZ .

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