Is it May already? Then this post is really late. ha. Better late than never.
Looking back, there are some things that I now think I should have blogged about but didn't. I don't think I can write full stories for each of them now. Instead, I'll just quickly note them down and write short summaries.
Computer Science conferences
Two New Zealand conferences both took place in Auckland coincidentally last year. (They are both in other cities in 2010.) So I got to attend even though I wasn't presenting. The first conference was interesting because it was a student conference that was less formal and had a few social activities. Most people there were studying PhD degrees or already got one. I met two Malaysian PhD students there. One had five children! They were interested in seeing the casino so I led them there one evening. Ha. The dinner was on a harbour cruise one night. The route was similar to the TYA ball that took place many years ago. But this time, intellectual discussions replaced the loud music.
The second conference presented some interesting ideas I had never imagined. Also, my classmate presented his paper there and got asked questions that they hadn't thoroughly considered. It was kind of awkward but he survived. He also won the best student paper. Probably very few papers qualified for it, though. :P
Ski trip
I went skiing for the first time but we didn't really ski much. It was a three-day trip with Andy and Alice. We stayed at Ohakune, which takes six hours or so to drive there from Auckland. On the mountain, it took a long time to get all the gears for skiing, and the open hours were short. I found it difficult to move around on a slope on the snow. When I took a step up, I might slide down half a step. It was like walking in the sand. No, it was worse. It was cold and the gear was heavy. It was very tiring. We didn't have much control over skiing either. One of my companions knocked down a kid when sliding down the slope slowly but uncontrollably. Overall, I felt cold, tired and very slow on the snow. The plus side was we rarely have the chance to play with snow. Will I ski again? Yes, I'm wiling to try it again. Part of me wants to do it again so I can make up my mind that it really isn't for me. Ha. Or maybe I'll try snowboarding next time. Of course, it's also possible it'll be better next time. Then it'll be something fun to do in the winter. I'm bored with the winters in Auckland. Sigh.
Coromandel trip
Alice's family invited me to join them for their family trip to Coromandel. It was unexpected, but it happened. I really thank them for the invitation. I got to try a few things that I wanted to do but never had much chance to do. It was a 4-day trip. I joined Alice, Andy and the rest of Alice's family and the eight of us stayed in a bach in Coromandel. There was no cellphone signal there. That indicated how remote it was.
I went fishing for the first time. Beginners luck? I caught the biggest fish out of five men in our group. Andy caught the most fish, three. I went kayaking for the first time. Although I stayed close to the shore, it was still quite fun. I'm glad I stayed close to the shore. When Alice's brothers-in-law kayaked far away to fish, they saw sharks in the water! They came back safely but it was a big scare.
Other than those activities, we spent most time in the bach. I saw that mums really do a lot of work to take care of the family. Alice's sister tended her infant child. Alice's mum made sure we all had nice food and a clean place to stay in. In a way, I guess a downside of staying in a bach is that there's no service and you have to take care of everything yourself. It may feel too much like home for people who want to feel "away from home" on a holiday. OK, I guess homes aren't usually next to the beach and have spectacular sea views.
Oh, and we played cards a lot. A LOT.
Christmas celebrations
I followed friends to Ponsonby to see the light decorations on Franklin Rd. We also went to see the Telecom Christmas tree. It was similar to the tree last year but I found last year's tree was slightly better because it didn't have the light sticking out which was distracting. By the way, there were phone booths for you to call Santa. But Santa never picked up our call.
We went to Christmas in the Park. Well, just the last half hour of Christmas in the Park because we were just there for the fireworks.
Lastly, my family drove around the neighbourhood to see the light decorations on the houses in our suburb. There were two houses that had elaborate decoration for many years. This time, they again decorated their frontyards to be pretty and festive. We also found a few other houses put up many lights this year. We thought maybe they were influenced by the two houses and decided to start decorating.
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