All Blacks vs Ireland in New Plymouth

Last weekend, The boys and I took a 5 hour drive up to New Plymouth to visit Tristin & Kirsten and to attend the rugby match between The All Blacks and Ireland. Since we were up in farm country, we stopped in at bottle-o to get a 12 pack of 440ml 8% Kentucky Bourbon & Cola. The first can was good but every can after tasted like diesel. It was great to see Tristin and Kirten again before they head off to London for their OE. They prepared us a huge leg of ham for dinner which we demolished throughout the night. A quick overview of the binge drinking night goes as follow; drinks > ham (dinner) > drinks > ham (post match) > drinks > ham (post clubbing).

The game was average we had had crap standing tickets but the most entertaining part of the night was walking home at 3:30am. We all had been drinking for the last 8 hours but meatloaf decided to chase after Ham (This is my mate's name, not a coincident that he had also been eating ham all night). It was raining, cold and very wet; basically a disaster waiting to happen and it did. Meatloaf's leg fell into drain as it was missing the grill, he almost broke his leg. Anyway, he managed to get a great big nugget on his shin and was in pain all weekend. Gutted!

Only 9 weeks before I depart off the shores of New Zealand again.

a bientot

Sam

Pregame - 4.9 MB

At the game1 - 6.7 MB

At the game2 - 7.6 MB

Postgame - 11.5 MB

The boys admiring the guttering

Game Time









Idiot

Sleepover

au revoir mon ami, au revoir

Home Sweet Home

Settling back in NZ lifestyle has been somewhat good and bad. The good being a job; working with a great group of friends makes the whole 9-5 days so much more enjoyable, visiting friends and family that I has neglected for 2 years and living in this beautiful city. The bad side of it is that I am getting way too comfortable in my surrounding. Everything is just too familiar here; I know where to go for a drink or a meal and where to keep away from. It’s a pretty good life.

I have also recently spent a week in Brisbane visiting friends, relaxing, wining and dining while engaging in minimal activities. What an amazing week it has been. This trip has given me more determination to move back overseas to continue my travels.

Currently, my plan is to move to Montreal, Canada in August 2010. My 12 month working holiday visa has been approved and I am counting down the days before I depart.

So far, my itinerary looks something like this:

August 17, Fly from Wellington to San Francisco
August 20-22, Drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles
August 26, Fly from Los Angeles to Las Vegas
August 31, Fly from Las Vegas to Montreal

The last 5 months have obviously flown by fast. I managed to enrol in night classes for French which I probably only attended 50% of the time, spent a day at the races (horses), watched the semi-finals of the A-league football match between Wellington Phoenix & Perth Glory from the corporate box, had dinner at my bosses whilst getting very hammered on Canadian Club, went to another race day, watched another football match involving Wellington Phoenix, celebrated my dad's 55th birthday and that’s all I can remember as I have the memory of a goldfish.

12 weeks to go!

Sam

Waikanae Bach

Wellington Phoenix

Meatloaf at the Races

Go No. 4

Happy New Year!

Why is my life so busy? I really don't have a clue. I don't even have time to write this stupid blog that only 2 people read (Mum & Dad). Mais en fait, I recently received a message from an anonymous reader and he/she writes:
'Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!'

That warm message made my day, so I guess its now time to get a book publishing deal. I will call it something lame like all autobiography. Maybe something like 'A boy and his laptop' or even 'The Soh: Born in Singapore, grew up in New Zealand and wants to speak French. A story of someone that probably wants to be a dog'.Back to the story, I arrived back in Wellington on Sunday evening, Monday was spent doing the rounds and meeting people for coffees, lunch and dinners. Tuesday, I was back at work at First NZ Capital. They have always been good to me and I am grateful to be back at work after a 5 month holiday. 2 weeks flew by since it was the Christmas and New Years period. Dinners, drinking and catching up everynight.

Now the schedule gets even more busy. 4 days in Napier for New Years, 6 days in Fiji for a wedding, 4 days in Auckland to see people. Lets briefly talk about New Years.
New Years, beach house in Waimarama, Napier with 28 degree weather. Sipping Gin & Tonic on the 2nd floor balcony a stone throw to the beach and a spit to the swimming pool. This was the good life! Then came New Years Eve, hhhhmmmmm 5 naked males making a whirlpool at 1am under the influence of alcohol. My mate Mike is a tall lanky guy so he decided to surprise Grant with a leap frog. For those that are over 8 years old, a leap frog is when one person infront leans over and another person runs from behind and jumps over the leaned over person while stabilising with their palms on the back of the person. So there goes Mike trying to leap frog Grant with no warning and butt naked. Where this equation goes wrong is that this was a frontal leap frog in the dark. So poor ole Grant managed to get teabagged in the face. Again for those that don't know this, a teabag is when the scrotum of Person 1 slaps the face of Person 2 with enough force to make a nice sounding clap. Beers, beers, beers!

Saturday morning 5am, wake up, drive 30mins to Napier airport, fly 1 hour to Auckland, wait 3 hours, fly another 3 hours to Nadi (Fiji), spent 2 hours catching bus and boat. 6pm, at long last I am finally at the resort on Mana Island. I was in Fiji for the wedding of Chris and Cher. I was surrounded by coconut trees, the sound of the ocean and vodka pineapple slushys. It was a daily routine for the 11am Vodka Slushy followed by a swim, sun, snorkling, sun, swim, sun and dinner. The wedding ceremony was beautiful; soft sand, clear sea and a sunset to tie the knot. What a fantastic place to be. Weddings instantly make you a happier person to see the joy on everyone's face. Bula!

Auckland, lots of catching up, lots of drinking so lets just skip this.

Tonight, I went to get Petrol in my mums 1.5 litre Honda Jazz Sport, it was late and I was just minding my own business and suddenly the Asian guy next me starts talking.

Guy: Honda Jazz, very nice cars.
Me: Thanks, its my mums and its nice.
Guy: What is the Sport version like to drive? We have the 1.3 litre version and we like it a lot.
Me: (I look over at his car and it is a Brand New Merecedes CL55 AMG! My Honda cost $24,000NZD, his Mercedes cost $200,000NZD) That is not a Honda Jazz.
Guy: (Laughs) I actually just bought 5 of these for my company and they are really good for deliveries, the seats fold down and it can fit 18 boxes (uses his fingers to draw imaginary boxes in the air)
Me: Really? I might have to look into it one day
Guy: (Opens my back door and starts showing me how to fold the seats down) See, it folds down flat.
Me: (Puzzled and surprised) Oh right, cheers, well I have to pay now, have a good night.
Very funny night, a bit weird but I guess Wellington is full of Weirdos anyway.
Below are a lot of dumb videos, its amazing how much shit dribbles out of my mouth.
Vid - 5.2 MB

Naked Chefs

Naked Chefs Golfing

Family Dinner









Why do I hang out with retards?

Brilliant!

Beautiful Wedding

Fiji Sunset

Tick Tock Tick Tock

The last 4 week has been hectic. My last 2 weeks in France involved a lot of partying and travelling to say my goodbyes. We visited the historic village of Larzac where sheeps are bred to make the famous Roquefort blue cheese. We also made time to visit Marseille, Lyon and Barcelona. The people of Barcelona really do know how to party. Even though they start late, they are still going strong at 6am in the morning. The clubs were also amazing; some even compare the club scence to Ibiza. After arriving back in London, we made a boys trip to Prague. Those that have been to Prague will know how cheap everything is and how beautiful the girls are. After Prague, I spent 4 days up in Guisborough to visit McLaren and Walker. I first meet them in Brisbane for New Years 07, then I joined them in Newcastle for New Years 08.

Back home in London now and trying to pack before I depart the shores of England on 8th December. This experience has been amazing. Living in France has given me a first hand view of how the French enjoy life. Living in London gives you thick skin since you have to put up with havoc lifestyle.

The job market in NZ is still pretty slow so I'm still trying to decide whether to move to Australia or try to find a job in NZ. Either way, I'm just going to play it by ear. Not much to say, missing everyone lots and see you all very soon.

Sam

Montpellier Friends








I love Shisha









Larzac







Ice Bar Barcelona








Pouring our own pints








Church of Bones

Time to Face Reality

Salut! Time is nearly up in this beautiful Country. I have meet some great people and lived life like the French. It is going to be hard stepping back into the lifestyle of working 9-5's.

The language is still very difficult. There is so much to learn and you have to be saying the same word over and over again until your pronunciation is perfect. Unlike English, if you were to miss out a simple two letter word in French, you will be saying something completely different. Studying is hard for me not because I'm useless but mainly because it's not a criteria. We get given homework but if it does not get done, the teachers are not going to mind because we are the ones paying for this. Maybe I need to look into studying French at a University on my return.

Dans 2 semaine, je vais retourne a Londres et apres je depart a Nouvelle Zelande. Je manque Nouvelle Zelande beaucoup.
In 2 weeks, I will be returning to London and after, I will leave for New Zealand, I miss New Zealand a lot.

Last week, we went out for dinner with my Norwegian classmate and his family, bowling, ice-skating and I also visited the aquarium. Activites are unlimited here in Montpellier. It's a shame the weather is too cold for kayaking. I have yet to play golf either but there are about 4 golf courses within 20mins of the city. Still drinking way too much and sitting at a cafe for way too long; ce la vie.
This week saw the release of Michael Jackson's 'This is it!' movie. As a result, 3000 people gathered in place de la comedie to watch dancers pay hommage to MJ with the dance from Thriller. I was unable to squeeze in anywhere so all I could do is take a picture of the crowd.

Alors, ce week-end je ne sais pas quoi faire, peut-etre je vais aller a marseille pour visitie mon ami Stephane mais le train est tres cher.
So, this weekend I don't know what to do, maybe I will go to Marseille to visit my friend Stephane but the trains are very expensive.

Anyway, I'm tired from the French overload and drinking.

See you all soon

Bowling - 5.2 MB
Iceskating 1 - 4.2 MB
Iceskating 2 - 1.9 MB
Iceskating 3 - 3.7 MB
Storm - 4.1 MB
Aquarium 1 - 3.4 MB
Aquarium 2 - 4.2 MB
Aquarium 3 - 2.4 MB

Sam




Bowling with friends and family








American, French, Dutch. They all speak brilliant French







Jellyfish, this was awesome










In Antarctica









Penguins Chilling








Normal Monday Night








Naked Friend








3000 People

Random Trip to Avignon

coucou! As I stated in my last post, I was going to the train station and buying a ticket somewhere in France. The toss up was between Avignon and Perpignan. Due to all the hype about Avignon, we decided to go there. To our surprise, the journey by train was only 1hr. Avignon is known to be one of most historical places in the world. The Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) is one of the many UNESCO World Heritage Site. You will learn a lot of interesting information by simply googling. Another main attraction is Pont Saint-Benezet which is also known as Bridge of Avignon, it was built around 1185. The thing that is unique about this bridge is that it is only half a brige. Due to the constant flooding, the bridge would collapse and get rebuilt over and over again until someone said 'Thats is, no more'.

So while I was checking my email tonight, someone added me to their MSN so I thought 'maybe it could be my long lost brother'. But ofcourse it was someone trying to sell me XXX websites. So as I started saying random stuff, a lightbulb went off in my head. It was an autobot; not a real person. I thought I was wasting their time but infact, they took away 3 minutes of my life. I got school'd. My only excuse is that I just had 6 beers and was about to head out. Ah well, maybe someone will scam me on faecesbook.
Weekend is coming up so I need to find another city to visit. Back to studying.

tchao!

Avignon Garden - 4.5 MB
Frigo - 7.2 MB

Sam




Pont d'Avignon








Palais des Papes








I Love my Life








Can't remember the name








Owned!

Seulement six semaine à aller

Salut! Well I have been here for 4 weeks now. Life in the slow lane is still amazing but the French language is still hard. I have not made many trips as I am letting the stress from school get to me. So right now, my weekend bag is packed and after class tomorrow (Friday) at approxmiately 1pm, I will be going to the train station, buying a ticket and travelling somewhere in France. Dramas will unfold!

Anyway, I can't quite remember what I have done for the last 4 weeks other than going out everynight. Infact, We go to the same cafe everyday and everynight and they all know us now. Special treatment goes hand in hand and free drinks are a bonus. I even asked for a
t-shirt and they have arranged one for me; I feel special. I also attended another rugby game last weekend because it Was Montpellier vs Toulouse. Ex-All Blacks Byron Kelleher plays for Toulouse and he had a brilliant game. Unfortunately Montpellier got spanked! The score was 0 - 24 within the first 15 mins. Final score Montpellier 12 - Toulouse 30.

I have also met a lot of frenchies in my residence and they all get up to no good. There is also a rugby nut here (whom I went to the last rugby game with) that hangs an All Blacks flag out his window. He is fully french and when we partied in his room, it was just posters of obviously All Blacks! It is actually quite hard to study in this residence as the courtyard is in the centre and all the rooms look down on it so they are constantly talking to me or bringing down beers. The funny thing is when I do need help with my French, I would shout out 'aide, aide, aide' which in english means 'help, help, help'. Someone or even a group would sit with me and explain further. I was sitting in the study room tonight and the security guard sat with me for 2 hours and helped me out with my French homework. He didn't speak English and my French is poor but it must be improving since he managed to get his point across. What I have noticed is that if you are genuinely wanting to improve your French, help comes from all directions.

Its late and it rained today for the first time in 30 days. No just light rain but monsoon style with thunder and constant power cuts. Rain so heavy that we were making paper boats and setting them free on the roads. Fun times. No interesting photos yet but they will come.

Salut!
Sam




Peaceful town Sete

Montpellier est une belle ville

I have finally made it to France. Not just anywhere; the South! I am studying and living in Montpellier which is in the languedoc-roussillon region. My day consist of 3 hours of French lessons, 5 hours sitting in a cafe and the rest wining, dining and letting loose. Due to the fact that my peers and I have so much free time, we basically do anything we want; go for bike rides, beaches, shopping. Anything and everything under the sun. Even when we don't feel like going out, we would still meet every night, sit outside at bars and people watch all throughout the evening.

Taking a break from work and living in France has probably been the best thing I have done in my life. I experienced an epiphany, things slowed down and allowed me to enjoy the life the way it should be. Yes, I should be saving for a house at my age but when I owned one 3 years ago, I was sad and miserable. Do I really want to jump back on that bandwagon?

Anyway, the French course is hard, it is taught completely in French. Although my French is slowly improving, I am not progressing as fast as I initially thought. Maybe I need to spend less time in cafes and more time at home studying. The first week has been very eventful with 32 degree heat. A group of us went on a 6 hour bike tour and laid at the beach. On Sunday, I went to watch might Montpellier vs Toulon in the French Top 14 (It's Frances version of our Super 14). Rugby fans should know by now that the coach of Toulon is the one and only Tana Umaga who recently signed Jonny Wilkinson. Unfortunaly Sonny Bill Williams did not turn out for Toulon due to surgery on his leg but Jonny Wilkinson played a brilliant game. The match was intense with Toulon leading with a 15 point margin but Montpellier came back fighting and scored a try at 79:53sec. Final score Montpellier 21 - Toulon 20. Montpellier did not win the game, Toulon lost the game. Montpellier missed 5 penalties; they need to invest in someone that can kick an oval ball.

I also made a mistake of getting a haircut here. Trying to explain that I wanted the sides faded short and textured on top is like telling your dog to pour you a pint. Check out the epic fail video. It is uncommon to find someone that actually spoke a bit of English. Retailers would help you out as much as possible but will not know a single word; it's great. For all those that have this idea that living in France will allow you to immerse and pick up the language quicker, WRONG! They don't even want to speak to you. What is the point of having a conversation with someone when all you can say is 'I am from New Zealand, when I get up 8 o'clock, I shower and brush my teeth' or 'I am going for lunch, do you want to join me?' When you do meet a local, all they wants to do is speak English. So what I have been doing instead is hanging out with students that are learning French and we would try to speak completely in French. If someone doesn’t know a word, someone in the group will be able to correct them. Shopping and eating out are also great ways to learn. You tend to move away from text book French and converse using shorthand. Well its 9pm and time for coffee number 7

a bientôt mes amis

Room in Montpellier - 11.1 MB
Bad Haircut - 5.3 MB

Sam




One of many la plage








Montpellier vs Toulon

Italy Excursion

After an early morning flight from Edinburgh, we were greeted by Eileen and Noel in Pisa. The plans for the next 7 days in Italy were Pisa > Cinque Terre > Venice > Rome. Pisa is small and there is really not much happening in the city. The only attraction is obviously the leaning tower of Pisa. When we got there, all you could see were tourist doing stupid poses as if they were pushing it over. It was funny because EVERYONE was doing it so I decide to unbutton my shirt and started posing like Zoolander making sure there’s a little Asian guy in the background of other peoples photo. But it came to our time to look like dorks and away we went to devise a plan to make it look good; it wasn't. 3hrs later, we were back on the train heading to Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre translates to 'The 5 Terraces'. 5 terraces, 5 towns, 5 locations. Each town had their own unique touch; some are known for their restaurants others for the beach. We stayed in Vernazza which was known for its nightlife and partying we did. You can access each town by catching a train which cost €1.40 else you could take nice mountain treks around and through the hills. We only managed to hike between 3 terraces as Cinque Terre was all about leisure.
The walk still took us 3 hrs. Diet of fresh seafood, pizza, pasta washed down with Italian beers and wine. The 3 nights flew by without notice. Cinque Terre is very well known to the Italians and it has yet to be discovered by tourist. You can have fun without hearing loud geezers. Next stop, Venice.

Now what more can I say about Venice. The word 'Venice' is amazing on its own. It is beautiful and romantic but with not much to offer. Don't get me wrong, it's a great place but theres really not much there. All the shops are the same; they all sell venetian masks and silly glass things. Venice is not complete with a ride on the gondola's. I was sceptical at first but after seeing Venice from sea level really gave you a sense of freedom and pleasure. It was 8pm and there were 7 of us in the group, everyone was fluffing around not knowing where to eat or what to buy. While Noel and I dragged our feet, we came across a stall that sold cocktail. While we were watching the cocktail getting made, I started to give the bartender a bit of crap saying stuff like 'It better not be water, I'm watching you', all the regulars started to give him shit as well and the drinking began. Drinks were on the house because the bartenders were all hammered; no one cared, it was as if only friends drank at this little 3m x 2m stall. When the cocktail stall closed, we walked 5mins to the next stall (it was a chain) and kept drinking. The night was blurry and the next morning was even worst. What a night to remember (or not). 2 nights down and off we went to Rome.

Everyone knows Rome, even if you haven't been there, you know that the Sistine Chapel is there along with St Peter's Basilica, Colosseum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain. There was a lot to cover in 2 days. I don't think I need to go into the details but every landmark was astonishing. A picture tells a thousand words. After 5 nights of pizza and pasta, I ate kebabs for lunch and dinner for 2 days. It was good to get some meat in me. The weather in Italy was around 35 degrees; a bit too hot for my liking. The Sistine Chapel has a no talking, keep moving, no photos policy but on this occasion they allowed it. It was madness; Flashes going off everywhere! Back home in London now where I will spend 1 weeks packing and relaxing before I fly out to Montpellier to start my French lessons. Let's hope I can cope.

Cinque Terre - 5.7 MB
Drunk Venice - 5.5 MB
St Peters - 3.3 MB

Sam

Stupid Pose

Vernazza Beach








During our Trek











Venice







Rialto Bridge at night








Calm.......








The Party Beings








Spanish Steps








Trevi Fountain








Pantheon








Creation of Adam








Outside St Peters Basilica








Mighty Colosseum