Pinoy in Fantasyland

Vibration Training

2007-04-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

I'm not really sure what Vibration Training is but it sounds kinda kinky.... :P

Jackson Street

2007-04-02T05:24:00.000-07:00

Mexican food in Wellington is not really popular and I only know of 3 restaurants that serve Mexican Food. The Mexican Cafe (Newtown), The Flying Burrito Brothers (Cuba St) and In the Cactus (Petone). The only one open for lunch is The Mexican Cafe while the rest only opens for dinner. This photo was taken near In the Cactus in Petone. We braved the rain to satisfy our mexican food craving. This street sign looked cool and I wondered if this street was named after Peter Jackson, the director of LOTR & King Kong. I know some streets were named after him but probably not this one.

Sixteen

2007-03-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

I went to the grocery for some food yesterday because I wasn't able to eat lunch due to a meeting. I just brought a $10 note with me and left my wallet in the car thinking that would be enough. So I went in, grabbed a sandwich, a coke and a pack of lollies (candies) and headed straight for the checkout (cashier).
"That would be sixteen please" said the lady at the checkout. I was surprised and thought she must have made a mistake so I said, can you run that again please because that couldn't be sixteen. I was trying to do some mental calculations - $1.10 for the coke, $2.50 for the sandwich and $2.50 for the pack of lollies. That can't be over ten dollars, let alone sixteen.
She ran the items again and said, yes it's sixteen.
I was tired, dizzy from hunger and my patience was running thin. I said that's impossible. She looked at me as though I was a dumb asian refugee (yes, I'm asian!) who cannot understand english. Whenever I get that look, I just snap. I got furious and demanded to see the manager. Turned out she was just at the other counter and overheard me. She was polynesian and had this 'gumamela' like flower on her ear. I always wondered what that was for and it sort of calmed me and I tried to explain the problem.
She then scanned the items one by one, showing me the corresponding amount at the till (cash register). After the last item was scanned, she said "and the total amount is sixteen". Looking at the till, I suddenly realized how stupid I had been, not remembering where I was and had totally forgotten the kiwi accent. They were right all along (and so was I technically) because the total amount was $6.10, or as they say it in the New Zealand accent - six teen.

Want to Have Eclat for Dinner?

2007-03-12T04:44:00.000-07:00

The company I work for often use this caterer for our overtime dinner. Sometimes the food is just so.... exotic, it's over the top. Eclat! I'm not really sure now what 'eclat' means in filipino slang but I think it describes the food that this caterer serves accurately. Sometimes I wished they would just cook something 'normal' and 'edible' like fried chicken and mashed potatoes/rice instead of some fancy dish that I couldn't pronounce nor figure out.
And what's with the 'head' for a logo anyway? Do they double up as hairdressers? Or do they cook human heads as part of their menu?

Overtake, Undertake

2007-02-21T03:02:00.000-08:00

When you pass a vehicle on the outer lane, it's called 'overtake'. But when you pass it on the inner lane, do you then 'undertake'? :P
(Motorists drive on the left side of the road in New Zealand)

This was taken from a truck that I was following in Petone, Wellington.

Puke Hunt

2007-02-20T22:57:00.000-08:00

Let's have a little game. Below is a map of an area somewhere in the middle of the North Island. See how many places you can find that starts with 'Puke'.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Puke Ko in a Ponga Tree

2007-02-20T22:35:00.000-08:00

In New Zealand, Puke ko is a bird. Not the male organ but the little animal that flies. But in this case, this is a flightless bird. It's pronounced as poo-ke ko and actually spelled as pukeko but I have a little problem with the space bar in my keyboard ;) .

Last Christmas, I heard my son sing 'On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... a PUKE KO in a PONGA TREE!!' I almost slapped him in the face. 'Nawalang galang na itong bata na ito! ' (This boy has lost his manners!). As it turned out, it's a Kiwi version of the song we all know.

I have a video of his whole class singing it IN CHURCH but Tricia doesn't want me to post it.

How to Speak Kiwi

2007-02-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

Before anything else, I thought that I should first familiarize you with how Kiwis (people from New Zealand) speak english. I've attached a 'pronounciation guide' so you'll see what I mean. Just click on the image to enlarge it.

Everything is up-side-down in New Zealand. Aside from driving on the 'other side' of the road, their accent is different from what I'm used to. The sound of the letter 'e' becomes an 'i'. And the 'i' sounds like an 'e'. For instance, when they say 'yes' or 'pregnant', it sounds like 'yis' and 'prignant'.

'Fish' becomes 'fesh' and so on. So if you want to buy beer, you go to a store that's similar to a 'Sivin Ilivin' and get a 'sex pack'. Our favorite would be this Real Estate TV show where the host would say something like " ...this house has 3 bidrooms, 2 bathrooms and a BIG DICK (big deck)... And this commercial for a furniture store '...we've got the beast beads (best beds) in Wellington..."

The letter Z (zee) is called 'zed ' here, I think the same as in Australia. When I was working as a Graphic Designer a few years ago, I had a client seated beside me who kept telling me 'no, no... just type zed'. So I kept on typing z, e, d. And he kept insisting that I not type the 'e' and 'd' and instead just type zed. Which I did - z, e, d, zed! :P

Interesting Fact:
* In ilonggo, kiwi` means crooked (or baluktot in tagalog).