the agape kids

the children i taught in the home.


juana, maricela, richard


their favourite game


maricela, patricia, juana


jeffry. adorable little 6 year old. look at his hair cut (:

planet new year

Do you want another try?
Rewrite some Lines?
Do you want to spend some time?
If your hands are open like mine
Underneath a setting sun
Your hands are open like a child’s
Like mine

Feeling like the first to have wasted all Gods time
Waking with the birds, they’re falling from the sky

Do you think that I’d forget
About you and I?
Well I know that I was shy
But the time has hardly been unkind
Underneath this gentle light
And by the time that midnight strikes
This time

So under-rehearsed, we never even tried
It’s a delightful curse to have wasted so much time

- Sarah Blasko


was chatting with kien the other day.
he said..
u know u're addicted when u spend 10mins talking about ciggs.
i said..
u know u're addicted when u change out of ur pjs into going out clothes just to walk in the freezing cold night to get a pack when u run out.
he said..
i know what u mean. i walked in the snow.

this is soooo bad. i always thought i had a grip.
now im not so sure anymore.

any day now

How long, how long, how long will we take to come undone?
If you know the answer tell me now and I'll write up a calendar for our count down.
'Cos what if what we see is all, is all we've got?

Say you've kept some fire aside to set light to me some surprising night.
And say you've locked some fire away to set light to me some surprising day.
To me some surprising day, any day now...

How come, how come, how come I'm now on a road holding out my thumb?
If you know my destination please buy me the fastest car and throw me the keys.
'Cos what if what we see is all, is all we've got?

'Cos finger by finger we're losing grasp and
I'm questioning the reason why nothing beautiful does last...

-Missy Higgins


yup
any day now...i'll be leaving.
any day now...i'll be packing my bags.
any day now...i'll be all set to go.
any day now...i'll be ready.
the funny thing is how everything seems so surreal and in a far distance
yet ironically close at hand.
how do i sum up all these emotions?
how do i sort out these thoughts running around my head?
i'm really glad i talked to b through and through about it. push all these silly random ideas outta my mind. damn quarter life crisis. hate questioning decisions i chose myself. hate doubting my gut feelings. oh well.... i should stop blogging with encrypted meanings.


shall talk about my week in lil adelaide. everything's been well and dandy. (:
met up with friends. good time catching up. really sorry we didnt have more time. but meeting up once is enough for me. at least we had that one chance yah? im really pleased with my bumming around time. had a fair share of household chores, catching up with friends, updating this blog, movies, alcohol-induced highs, restaurant dinners, poker and what-nots. cant wait to get to sg though....char is getting the laptop case for me..woots!! all the paypal headache is gone. in exchange i get her ciggs. fair trade, what dya think? heh.
promise to post more pics of peru soon. and actually talk about it...
ok fine. one anecdote now...

so besides visiting the huaycan (the shanty town), i taught kids in a children's home as well. they ranged from 6 to 13 years old. anyway, before i went for my holiday around the country, i decided to spoil them a little. i bought them cute sheets of stickers because i know they absolutely love stickers!!! i allowed the children who completed their worksheets to pick their stickers first. so this little 10 year old girl threw a tantrum and cried because she didnt get to pick the one she was supposedly eyeing. i was so distracted trying to calm her down and pacify her that i didnt keep an eye on my backpack. it was unzipped btw. anyhow, after playing some mind games with that girl, she decided that it wasnt worth making a fuss and was back to being contented (like how every good child should be...haha). i dismissed the class and was packing my belongings when i noticed that my purse was unzipped and all my coins were missing, save a 50centavos.

yupp...et got mugged!!!

i had my suspicions on this 13 yr old boy because earlier he was under the table, where my backpack was. confronted him nicely but he denied it. however being a young little boy, he obviously wasn't a very good liar. i could read from his facial expressions and body language that he took my money. i had no choice but to approach the home matron. the thing is...the money stolen was only 4soles (which is approx. 1AUS) and is practically nothing. but the point here is the principle, they should learn the lesson when they're young and not older when it might be too late to instill values in them. i totally understand that they come from very broken and poor families, which was why i felt so fucking guilty for telling on them and getting them punished.

eventually, two children admitted to taking the money..splitting the loot equally among them. expectedly, they cried out of fear, anger or regret..i dunno. however, i definitely do not hold grudges against them. interestingly though, i had about 50 soles in notes as well and all they took was 4 soles in coins. it makes me wonder....did they not know about notes? were they so poor as to only have used coins in their lives? because i know they do not even get pocket money from their parents.


there you go.

heartstopper

You said I began
This messy state of love affair
And I drink too much and smoke too fast
And this city's cleared my innocence
I heard the trains are running late
And I laugh out loud
My life is a mess
I have gone too far
In my lifelessness
Outside your house
To make a scene
In my head you grabbed me passionately
But the lights are out
And in an hour I walked on home
In the pouring shower
Lost my keys in front of me
My neighbor's smile he's handing me
The blackest coffee you will ever see

And my heart stopped beating

And when it stops
it stops

-Emiliana Torrini

there are things i would definitely miss.
and there are things that i would always miss.
am i making sense?
there's a difference between those two statements btw...

anw im still couldnt be bothered with all the unpacking and packing.
yeah i have yet to unpack from peru. can u believe it?
don't worry. i've done the laundry...
nothing smells.

on another note, if you think i've changed, you're right. the two months in peru made me discover many things about myself: from what fucking annoys me to what kinda guy i would want to fall head over heels in love with to what is really impt in this ever-increasingly maddening life. i may not have seemed to change much to some. but the way i think about certain issues and how i react to certain situations has definitely altered. i figured out what i want. doubted about some decisions. but i think i matured a whole lot during the trip. so much realisation, thinking, analysing. im not sure if all that is good or bad...but time alone away from anything remotely familiar is certainly...life-changing in a way. some days i feel as though i can take on the world and some days i feel like i need plenty of support and back-up. u say im independent but i nvr really knew independence until now.

i've still got tons of pics from peru to post.
and anecdotes to tell.
but i couldnt be bothered again.
im enjoying my bumming life at the mo.
mot pics are up on facebook anw. its way quicker.

bon voyage?

im leaving on 2nd sept for greece. that leaves me one more week in adelaide. time flies by so quickly and i felt i havent properly caught up with my friends yet. oh well, i havent even started packing yet. and i couldnt be bothered to do anything else besides bumming. i dunno whyy. i found the facebook group of TSS recently. yeah it only occured to me to search for one like last week. anw the group is very alive alright..i think we have 100 discussion boards ranging from holiday plans in the ports to sharing of textbooks to discussing things to bring onboard. makes me really fexcited (that means fucking excited) about the whole voyage. i'll be doing alot of last min things this coming week. i can forsee me rushing about again. i've got a whole long list of things that need to be done by this week and so far, i've only ticked off one. ):

btw, ppl can call me or send me stuff when im at sea. cool huh? calls would be damn expensive though. like USD 9.50 per min if u called me so i reckon no one would be calling. BUT BUT BUT it would be really sweet if i received snail mail (: *hint*
it's a pretty complicated process because i've got like 9 addresses....depending on when u want to send me stuff.

Mail must be posted at least two weeks in advance of the first date in port.

All mail should be clearly addressed to:

Ng Eng Tze
MV Oceanic II
{c/o Agent Name}
{Agent Address}
{Agent Telephone No.}

Port One: Piraeus, Greece
Date(s) in Port: 5 September 2007
Agent Name: Donomis Ltd Cruise Services
Agent Address: 73, Akiti Miaoulisti Street,
7th Floor, T.K. 185.37
Piraeus, Greece
Agent Telephone No.: 30.210.4514072

Port Two: Lisbon, Portugal
Date(s) in Port: 13 - 19 September 2007
Agent Name: Mac Andrews, LDA
Agent Address: Cais Das Oficinas – Rocha Conde
D’Obidos 1399 – 038 Lisboa
Portugal
Agent Telephone No.: 351.21.392.50.50


Port Three: Balboa, Panama
Date(s) in Port: 2 – 7 October 2007
Agent Name: Associated SS Agents SA
Agent Address: Mar Center,
BLDG. 798X Williamson Place
La Boca, Balboa
Republic of Panama
Agent Telephone No.: 011.507.211.9450

Port Four: Guayaquil, Ecuador
Date(s) in Port: 11 – 17 October 2007
Agent Name: Remar S.A
(Under regional contract through The Broom Group)
Agent Address: 10 de Agosto 103 y Malecon,
Piso 9
P.O. Box 9322
Guayaquil, Manta
Ecuador
Agent Telephone No.: 593.4.251.1150

Port Five: Papeete, Tahiti
Date(s) in Port: 29 – 30 October 2007
Agent Name: Agence Maritime du Fare Utc
Agent Address: P.O. Box 9-100 98-715 Motu Uta.
Papeete, Tahiti
French Polynesia
Agent Telephone No.: 689.425.564


Port Six: Auckland, New Zealand
Date(s) in Port: 7 – 13 November 2007
Agent Name: McKay Shipping Ltd.
Agent Address: The Shipping Exchange Building
2 Akaroa Street,
P.O. Box 3 Parnell, Auckland
New Zealand
Agent Telephone No.: 649.309.0229

Port Seven: Sydney, Australia
Date(s) in Port: 18 – 24 November 2007
Agent Name: Oceania Maritime Services Pty, Ltd.
Agent Address: PO Box R231
Royal Exchange
Sydney NSW 1225
Australia
Agent Telephone No.: 61.2.8227.3033


Port Eight: Shanghai, China
Date(s) in Port: 7 – 13 December 2007
Agent Name: Penavico Shanghai
Agent Address: 3 / F. No. 13 Zhongshan Road (E.1)
Shanghai, China 200002
Agent Telephone No.: 0086.21.63231350


Ports Nine and Ten: Hong Kong, China
Date(s) in Port: 18, 19 and 23 December 2007
Agent Name: Inchcape Shipping Services (Hong Kong) Ltd
Agent Address: Units 1802-1805, 18/F
No.3 Lockhart Road, Wanchai
Hong Kong, SAR China
Agent Telephone No.: 852.2786.1155


OK so for example, if u wanna send me sth when im in Tahiti, it has to arrive in Tahiti by 14 OCT because it has to arrive TWO WEEKS BEFORE i reach the port on 29-30 oct. get it?
therefore, u cannot send me anything when im in greece or portugal anymore because it would be too late ):
yuppp.

huaycan

huaycan is the name of the shanty-town that i visited. most of you know i lived with a local peruvian family when i was in peru. the lady i lived with has a non-profit organisation called ACAPAN. they help out with this shanty-town by providing the kindergartens with milk for breakfast, as well as holding education seminars or talks about nutrition to the people living there. when i say the ppl are poor, i really mean it. only a small number of homes have electricity and their water supply comes from the old-fashioned wells. most homes are made out of wood.

we visit them every Tuesday to supervise the distribution of milk to the children. sometimes we sing songs with them or just simply spend time with them. one thing though, they are very amazed by the camera and are natural cam-whores hehe (: one really sweet thing about those kids are how generous they are. during breakfast time, they would share their breakfast with us. each kid would bring something for their breakfast to go with their milk. usually just a piece of bread or biscuits. and because we, volunteers, have nothing to eat in our hands, those adorable little ones would give us half of their bread or a biscuit and even half of their mandarins!!! the first time a kid offered me her food, i was so touched. they do not have much yet they are so willing to share. can u believe it? et was touched!!! i felt bad taking their food but then again, we cannot say no. it's not very nice to say no plus the kids are really persistent.



it aint purple hills but purple walls


life is always covered in dust and fog


the lady i stayed with, zoila and look at the little boy's hat. it's called chullo (pronounced as chuyo). some south american hat that many tourists wear. i have one too hehe.


that's how they wash their hands before breakfast. they do not exactly have a piping system or water system. see that smallest boy, he was very malnourished and sick when he was younger. he's almost 5 now.


the dusty road to...




adorable children...


we'll hold hands and never let go

yes. i chopped off my long hair. in peru. u must think who the hell cuts their hair in peru right? well a good salon there costs as much as a lousy salon here. so i was like wtf. if im going to try short hair, might as well so it in peru so at least there's time for it to grow out when i get back to uni. anyway, these two pics were taken on fri night before we hit the pub crawl. that's my hot hot ju-lear btw. so my hair kinda grew out already. it used to be way shorter 2 months back (:

im kinda jetlagged. its 6am now. i woke up at 3am from a 12 hour nap. its mad.

peru I

the two months were eventful right from the start. my flight got delayed for 10 freaking hours in auckland. and they wouldnt let us out. u see, the thing about auckland's airport is that it's bloody small. there's nothing to do there. i finished browsing through all their stores in an hour. it didn't help that all the stores sell very similiar things. the airline gave us a $12 voucher for food. and surprise surprise! they only had three restaurants to choose from...burger king, a coffee place and a wine bar. i was pretty amazed by myself, i could idle away 10 hours like that. i wrote in my journal, read my book, listened to my ipod (thank god!) and luckily, they had a smokers' deck. a newly-opened one too. in fact, that day was the very first day it opened!!!! phew. did i pick the right dates to fly or what?!?!

and of course, because of the 10 hr delay, i missed my connecting flight from buenos aires(argentina) to lima(peru). so the airline put us up in a 5-star hotel in the middle of the city. we got free meals at the hotel as well. so i spent a day in lovely buenos aires. (: i dunno why but the city made me feel like i was in some sorts fairyland.

the airline, aerolineas argentina, is well-known for their delays. on my way home, it was delayed as well. my flight was scheduled to leave at 120am. however, i got to the airport and they said the new timing was 740pm. wtf! that's like 18hours and i would definitely miss my connecting flight from buenos aires to sydney. i reckon their flights from b.a. to syd are, like, only twice a week or something. so they put me on an earlier flight that was leaving at 230am. and...on first class. woots. had champagne. little white chocs.

managed to catch all my flights and got into sydney early in the morning. waited by the carousel. and waited and waited. no luggages in sight. ?? they are in buenos aires apparently!!!! yup lost my luggage. but they are going to fly in on sunday. supposedly, my dear luggages (shopping!) will be couriered to me on monday. right to my doorstep. i thought, well, that's not really a bad thing. at least i dont have to lug all my things with me around sydney or hire a storage locker at the airport. i mean, it's 27 kg of luggage afterall. plus free delivery to my doorstep? sounds alright to me. so i didnt kick u a fuss and spent a good 5 hours in sydney, having a hearty breakfast and good coffee. and of course, shopping.

the way i see it, for all aerolineas shortcomings, everything worked out pretty fine for me. i mean, i got a free stay in buenos aires. i flew first class. delivered baggage/ porter service (hah!). lucky? or maybe i just see things in a different light now?

anyway, there was an earthquake in peru (for those who have yet to find out). it occured a day after i flew off. i think the latest count was around 400 deaths. registered 8 on the richter scale (which is pretty massive). struck a coastal town called ica, south of lima. it's a touristic spot. my friends in Lima felt the tremors for approx 2 minutes. everyone ran out of their homes and there was a bit of a panic. schools closed and people stopped going to work apparently. a prison got destroyed as well and currently the convicts are on the run. (so much for scoffield's tattoos and plans...just wait for an earthquake!!). well, the thing is, i could have still been there if they hadnt bummed me up into first class on the earlier flight? maybe. i can't do all the time difference counting shit. i might have still been able to miss the earthquake entirely. however, lucky again?
really amazing huh?

there are so many stories to tell about my adventure in peru. too many. i'll type one anecdote every post. so this post is about flights, airports and airlines. pictures will be up when my usb cable and dock gets delivered to me on mon along with the rest of my things. IF im not being too lazy that is.