i’m just taking a break..

i so can’t believe this..i was in the middle of completing my assignment when i decided to make a new entry..there’s not much that i wanted to say but i was just..so feel like writing..

my fellow mara-tesl-friends and i were planning to go to rotorua this coming easter break and i’ve already browsed around the net looking for the activities that i might want to try..and i had horse riding, archering and boat riding in mind..however, i think everybody is eager to try zorb or swoop and may be bungee..so i realised that i might be doing all those activities on my own..huhu..it couldn’t be more exciting unless you have a friend to do the same activity and share the excitement with..i so want my c-11 right now~!! i would drag them to accompany me to do horse riding if they are with me..

i was im-ming with fana just now and she reminded me to book the accommodation, bus ticket and tell jonathan that we are going to rotorua this easter break to be sure that there will be no clashes of plan..thank you fana..do you know that it’s hard to do things without a more experienced person you could easily refer to..?har~how i wish you’re here..

and..hu~i was craving of briyani from mughlai..and ice cream too..with crunchy wafer cone..and may be some chocolate syrup on it..yummy..hu~

what’s wrong with my english..?

did i tell you that i don’t have any class on monday..?so now you know..it feels so good that i finally don’t have to think about the ways to cut out my monday blues..and seriously, i think i am more prepared to start my class tomorrow, eventhough the class starts at 0800..

i was about to browse my assignment sheets (LING 211 & ALIN 201) when i have this urge to post an entry..owh, just so you know, i haven’t got my previous assignment yet but i have another assignment to be submitted..that’s how studies go if you’re to become a linguists..so do i want to be a linguists..?em..i think i’d better make it as a secret i’ll never tell..haha..

anyway, i was in my linguistics class last week and we were learning about lexical semantics..i won’t bore you with the details that i myself found it hard to digest..i want to tell you what i think about NZ’s accent..owh, the title for the lecture the other day was, ‘Lexical semantics: beer with me, I’m from New Zealand’..that was not a typo people..i know it should be ‘bear’ but ‘beer’ is how the NZer pronounce ‘bear’..

so do you get what i’m trying to convey right now..?what i mean is, i’m studying english language in a country that uses english language as its first language but i think i don’t receive what i should be getting..it’s like learning bahasa melayu from teachers who speak bahasa melayu kelantan, or bahasa melayu kedah..i don’t mean to make kelantanese dialects or kedah’s dialects to sound either silly or poor here..that was just my analogy to not getting the chance to learn standard english language..

here are some other examples..i was in EDUC 112 last year when i heard the lecturer said “geese what will happen to the child if they couldn’t find any resources to help their resilience”..i was puzzled and turned to my friend and checked if she heard the same word and whether or not the lecturer seriously mean “geese”..at the end of the class, we found out that the lecturer actually said “guess”..so i learned something that day..new zealander have their weird accent too..but i just couldn’t figure out the pattern of their accent..so there was this time when my friends and i have to meet one of our coordinators to discuss about our program..one of us asked about honourship program to check if it’s automatically included in our program and he said “yeast“..luckily that was a private meeting so we got to ask him to repeat what he said and he got us on that point and he explained to us, new zealander’s pronunciation of ‘a’ does not have much differences from their pronunciation of ‘e’..and ‘i’ sometimes replaces ‘e’..har~i wish this blog has phonetic symbols..it’s easier for you to really understand if i mean ‘e’ as the letter or ‘e’ as the pronunciation..

so..that’s what i mean when i said i think i don’t learn standard english here..

but there have been countless debate ever since to determine ‘standard english’..the americans claim that their english is standard english and the english too claim that their english is standard english since they own the name of ‘english’..and english users have been struggling to maintain their spelling to in their essays keep the words as consistent american english or british english..

and one thing about this debate that enables me to feel reliefed is that, new zealander just couldn’t be bothered with what english you are using as long as they understand you..they just don’t care if you mix british english spelling and american english spelling in your essay..haha..

take a look at this:

pear

peer

appear

uphere

hoho..my lecturer wore a tshirt with those words last week..he’s cool..haha..

swimming with friends..=)

ok i’m sorry for not posting the pictures of my house and my room..i was simply too busy to take pictures and upload them here..i’ll try to make it tomorrow..

i was so into the mood of writing about the experience that i’ve undergone since i arrived in wellington 3 weeks ago..but the absence of internet hinder me from pouring everything..i don’t like to keep a draft in wordpad because i’m not patient enough to wait as i write to immediately publish it..

em..i’m writing about my subjects this trimester in this entry..so let me start withe the subjects then..i’m taking 1 linguistics paper (LING 211), 1 teaching paper (TEAP 232) and 1 specific clas that combines teaching and linguistics ALIN 201)..but my favourite is linguistics..i adore my lecturer so much because he has been in this field for his entire life that made the words that come out from his mouth are either too heavy or too funny..he’s very good with words..owh..of course he’s English..i saw him this afternoon driving up to karori after work..now i know what car he drives..

i was on my way to the nearest bus station to go to kilbirnie for swimming when sha and i saw our lecturer..we wonder how his life could have been like after working hours..hoho..

there are so many discoveries that i’ve leaned in linguistics class and they are briliantly interesting..i’ll share what i’ve learned when i have time to write..but trust me..you wouldn’t be wasting your time reading linguistics related entry..haha..

hu~i’m totally exhausted..tired..my arms felt so heavy..i need to get some rest for now..

p/s: imagine how pathetic the internet suppliers in wellington can be..i’ve even submitted my 1st linguistics assignment for this trimester and yet, i was not connected with the internet at that time..

i’ve arrived..safe and sound..

alhamdulillah..that i finally settled everything that everyone (who has just moved into a new house) should settle..and for the record, this has been the most independent moment in my life (technically).. 🙂

how do i start..har~i arrived in wellington on february 26 with my friend shufaiha..and this year, she’s my new housemate..we’ve have decided that she, che and me are going to flat out together and we’ve chosen a house that we thought was nearby campus..

we have no idea how’s the house looks like..we just have a vague idea on how it looks from anette email as we asked for her help to check out for this house while we were in malaysia..and based on her description, we should get this house..as we were running out of options..in desperation, we chose this house..

shufaiha and i have started to worry about this house when we had quite a long journey past the university area..we thought the house should not be so far from the university..but it seemed like the journey was long enough and we just have to swallow the truth that the house was not as near as we expected it to be..huhu..

we kept complaining and whining about the house that night and kept feeling regretful for not being patient enough..but at the end of the day when we were simply tired of complaining, we found this house was not as bad..

all my belongings were still in storage and they could only come the next day..luckily i brought along my blanket but that night was chilled enough that blanket alone cannot keep me warm..i woke up the next day and all that i could do was to burst in so much tears..imagining how life could be even harder thinking that we have to build up everything from scratch..we have to buy the furnitures and set up the internet on our own..the things that we have to do were not so much but the processes that we have to undergone was at times, unbearable..

we went to the warehouse near the airport one day..all of us..me che and shufaiha..hoping that we could buy our furnitures that day..so we browsed around the warehouse and picked up some furnitures and at that moment we were confident that there should be no problem regarding the delivery service..but we were wrong as the delivery charge was very expensive..but alhamdulillah..He didn’t turn us down..He showed us another better place to shop for furnitures and the delivery service was also way cheaper..but i still couldn’t get myself a bed so for two weeks, we slept at the living room..luckily we have big and plenty of cushions to sleep on..however, i managed to get my bed last week.. 🙂

and the internet..gosh another long story but let me just cut it short..i have to terminate the previous supplier i used because i couldn’t get the signal from my house and i have to find another provider and that it just so happened that this provider was so slow in keeping up with its customer..but anyways..i’m connected to internet eventually..thanks to shahrul who helped us to set up the internet..yes..the provider don’t set up the connection..we have to do it on our own..

i’ll post some pictures of my house in the next entry..and to my fellow c-11..i really2 miss you guys..and don’t worry about me..i’m doing fine right now..to ariff shah and amir fikrie..i’m so sorry that i could only read your offline messages and unable to IM because i don’t want to get stuck for hours at the computing service at uni..and bi..thank you for your messages and of course..the invalueable support..i’m back people~~! 🙂