Today

Movies.  That is literally what we did all day.  We watched movies and are still watching movies.  Tomorrow we leave at 6:30 in the morning so we can fly back to Penang.  That is all we did today, nothing interesting.

Les Miserables

Today we went to the mall and were going to look around.  First we went and ate at Chillies and I rank that meal 2nd out of all the meals we have had on this trip.  One reason was it reminded me so much of home and the corn on the cob was amazing.  It would be a regular portion at home but to me it was enough for an elephant.  I ate like a fourth of the chicken, a fork full of mashed potatoes, all the corn, and a slice of bread the size of my palm.  Afterwards I was feeling sick because I ate so much.  Then I kind of really wanted some Starbucks so me and my sister begged my dad until he caved.  Then I asked if I could just go back to the apartment but then realized that might cause a domino affect.  Of course it did and my brother and sister wanted to go home too.  My dad was kind of mad but while they were gone they picked up a few movies.  First of all he got season 2 of Revenge and I was excited about that.  Then I saw they got Les Miserables and had to watch it.  It was pretty good.  It was a lot of singing but it was still good.  Oh yeah I forgot to mention that we think they were pirated movies.  Still we got some good movies then we parted ways.

Lightning

Yesterday we literally sat around watching a movie or blogging.  Later in the afternoon the loudest lightning storm hit.  For maybe 10 minutes we watched the lightning because it was coming down in strikes and the thunder afterwards sounded like you were in a room that echoed a lot while playing the drums as loud as possible.  My dad got his camera and was trying to take pictures of the lightning and got a few.  Across the street workers were working on an apartment complex and the lightning hit while they were up there but they stayed up there until it really started to lightning.  One guy stayed up there but I think he got down pretty soon afterwards.  Then it started pouring down a lot of rain.  After that we ate and Indian dinner and parted ways.

Monkeys, and Falcons, and Toilets Oh My!

Ok so I was too tired to blog yesterday so I am going to do it this morning.  Yesterday we woke up and went on another tour around the city with the same guy and he kept my ipad safe over night so we got it back.  For the beginning of the tour it was only me, my sister, and my dad.  We went to see the national museum and national monument of Malaysia.  Next we went to the palace that was being converted into a museum and it reminded me a lot of my grandma.  After that we were going to go to the orchid park and bird park.  We went to the bird park and it said it was the largest covered bird aviary in the world.  They had lots of cool birds including a Southern Cassowary, Black Swan, and Indian Blue Peafowl.  We also saw an ostrich that was at least 7 feet tall.  We got really hot and started to move a little faster so we would not disintegrate.  We decided to have a small lunch so we would not be starving later.  I had ice lemon tea and we got a fruit plate to share.  If you do not like the way a zoo smells then I suggest not eating papaya.  The other fruits were good though.  After that we decided we did not want to go to the orchid park.  So we went and picked up my brother and mom to go feed the monkeys and falcons.  We were also going to go see fire flys in a boat while going down a river.  We also brought toilet paper with us because sometimes they just do not have toilet paper.  I can't remember  if I told you guys about the holes in the ground or not but sometimes thats all they have.  So we first went and fed the monkeys which was pretty cool.  When the guy handed my dad the bag about 4 were on his shoulders or hanging on his arms.  Then when my sister got this bean thing one leaped of his shoulder and just sat down on hers.  They were like pets.  It was just lounging there with its arm draped over her head.  They would snatch the bag away from you if you were not careful.  I did not really want a monkey on my shoulder but my sister handed me one of the bean things and I handed it to a monkey sitting in front of me who was acting like a real person.  At one point a baby monkey was trying to get on my sisters shoulder but it was falling so my sister caught it and handed it the bean thing.  When we were leaving a monkey hopped up on the car and just sat there but it finally got off.  The next place we went to was to go feed the falcons.  We got in a boat and drove down a river and the guy tossed chicken skin in the water and the falcons would fly in and snatch it up.  They did not even touch the water.  It was not the best thing we did.  Then we went and ate and went back to that place so we could see the fire flys.  We went on a boat with no lights in the dark down a river with alligators and a stream that could sweep you away during a lightning storm.  Then when we went and saw the fire flys it was like blinking lights in the trees.  After that we went back and were looking at some fish with these other people and found out they were from Oregon.  I feel like every single person we meet from the United States they are form Oregon.  After that we went home and went to bed.

Kuala Lumpur Day 3 and 4

Ok so on day 3 we decided to go to the aquarium and a place where you dye silk.  We went to the taxi stand but every single place we called said they were not sending a taxi.  My dad got pretty mad with all the companies.  Then we called somebody and they got somebody for us at 2 pm.  We went and ate at a restaurant and headed back to the apartment.  A little while later they came and were confused a little but we hired a guy for 3 days to take us around Kuala Lumpur.   So that day we went to the aquarium and we have seen way better.  The thing was that we have already seen the majority of that stuff in the wild.  Anyway after that we went to a place to dye silk and I was not that happy with mine but everybody else said it looked good.  Then we went home.  I finished math for 7 grade and so all I have left is about 80 lessons.  69 lessons in History and about 12 lessons in literature then I will be done with school until August.  Since I do about 10 lessons a day I will be finished pretty soon.  The next day we woke up early and headed to see some temples waterfalls and monkeys.  It went by fast so I will just hit the big details.  We went to a temple and walked up 277 stairs and tried to avoid getting hit by flying monkeys for no reason.  My mom got pick pocketed.  My sister was pooped on by a bird a lady put on her to take a picture.  My dad held a snake.  We did not go to the bathroom all day because all they had were this toilets that were basically a hole in the ground.  My sister peed on her foot while trying to use one of these toilets.  My brother was charged by a monkey.  A monkey tried to take my dads flash off his camera.  I forgot my Ipad in the taxi so my dad called and he said we could pick it up when we get back in his car tomorrow.  Oh and the waterfall was not that great because they have made concrete stuff surround it like a dam and made it a swimming pool.  New Zealand was way prettier.  I really miss New Zealand.

Kuala Lumpur Day 2

Today we woke up and did school for a while then walked to the mall.  We found a place to eat but we all split up.  Then of course my brother bought something then me, my mom, and brother went back to the apartment.  We had to let the driver in so she could get something then we separated and went to do more school.  Then I read a little then went into the kitchen and did more school with my siblings.  Then made some noodles and sat here and started blogging.  Right now my sister is playing music and my brother is being stupid and dancing.  I can't even look at him.  He is acting like a dying walrus.  Help me.  He just said "I danced til I can't dance no more."  With a really southern accent.

Kuala Lumpur Day 1

I really do not like internet sometimes.  I made this on pages then posted it on my blog.  So today we flew to Kuala Lumpur for a few days and we are staying at my moms friends house.  When we were flying I was really stressed out and I wasn't sure why.  Then towards the end of the flight I found out.  It got pretty rough while we were descending because it was about to rain but it was hot and windy so I was glad I was not on the next flight.  Then we took a car to my moms friends house and there house is by far the nicest we have been on this trip.  My mom and dad went to the store on foot because it was pretty close.  So us, as in the kids, decided to watch a movie.  We ended up watching August Rush.  It was a really good movie. During the beginning my parents walked in and looked like they took a shower in there clothes.  While they were walking back it started pouring buckets of rain.  While they dried off we ate linner and watched the rest of the movie.  When that movie was over we watched The Odd Life of Timothy Green.  Also a very good movie.  Then we all went to bed.

Dumb Catchup

Ok so for the past few days we have not had internet.  So we got to a hotel on Wednesday and it did not have internet and it was late at night the first day.  In the morning we woke up and went to eat at the Fat Dog and it was really good.  Then we went to the post office and picked up a box so we could ship some stuff back.  When we had that sorted we laid around enjoying the day off.  I only got a few hours of sleep that night.  In the morning we woke up around 7 and got ready to take Fat Amy back to Jucy.    And no, I did not spell that wrong.  When we arrived  we hurried and put are/our bags into the shuttle and headed to the airport.  We got there around 12 and you could not check in until 2:45.  So me and my dad fixed the overweight bag problem and went to eat after the others got back.  Then we waited to check in.  When we did we headed to security and waited the 3 hours until the plane left.  Then we left New Zealand and headed to Melbourne.  I am writing this now so we are still at the Melbourne airport.  At 3:30 in the morning we will leave for Malaysia.  So for 2 days the schedule is get here at 12 take off at 6 get to Melbourne at 8 (4 hour flight but there is a 2 hour time change) wait for 6 hours.  Take off at 3:30 take a 8 hour flight to Malaysia.  Land.  Have 4 hours to go through customs and stuff.  Take off again for a hour flight to Pe Nang.  Check into hotel and rest.  That is what tonight and the beginning of tomorrow will be like.  Now there will be a 13 hour time difference.  It will be harder to communicate with you guys back home. When we got there everybody basically took a nap.  When I woke up it was like 9:30 at night and my parents got here with the food.  It turns out the car broke down and they had to take a cab back.  Anyway I was basically sleep eating.  When I woke up the next morning it was 7:18 a.m..  I looked out my window and got excited because I saw a squirrel.  In New Zealand there were like no animals and then you get here and they have tigers and snakes.  Later we found out that the “squirrel” was really a monkey.  Yes we can see monkeys from are/our room.  The day went on and we just kind of hung out enjoying not having to be on time at a certain place.  Then I went and watched a movie because there was nothing else to do.  During the movie I started playing Wipeout on my Ipad.  Then my sister burst into the room demanding to play.  In the next few minutes I ended up with bruises and it felt like a broken nose.  Then we got some food for dinner ate and went to bed.  I was waken up this morning by my dad at 7:30 and he said you could hang meat in my room because it was so cold.  I got up did some school which took forever because the internet is slow and read a book for school.  Then my mother and brother bribed me into going swimming.  I went and swam for a good couple of hours.  Then we went to the little store in the parking deck.  Then later in the day we went to the night market and ate and went to look around.  We found lots of illegal stuff going on in there.  Some stuff were pirated movies and knockoffs.  For example for about 19 dollars you could get a pair of beats.  They were not very good knockoffs either.  You could tell the difference in real and fake beats.  Then they had Louis Veton purses for about 8 dollars.  When we got home we were all sweating and tired.  In the morning we were picked up by a nice person who would be the guide for the day.  The first stop was the butterfly farm.  It was pretty coo.  If you can remember from one of my previous blogs my sister is afraid of insects.  When we got in there there were thousands of insects flying around or crawling on the floor.  When one of the people who worked there picked up a horned stick bug my sister lost it.  She started crying and wanted out of there.  During this whole time there was a butterfly on her hat and she didn't know.  I knew how she felt with the fear and all because of whale watching.  I felt bad for her but my brother was laughing and my mom was telling us to ignore her and my dad was trying to calm her down.  Then she got better.  Then she started again when a butterfly landed on the bill of her hat and was crawling toward her face.  My dad got it off and I kind of yelled at my mom and took my sister to the exit.  She was still crying when we got out of there.  Then in the building there was a museum so we went to that.  Then I thought she cried at a butterfly farm.  The next stop was this coffe and tea place and we bought plenty of that.  Then we went and got money and headed to this fruit farm.  I didn't know you could make nutmeg juice.  It was pretty good.  Then we headed to this temple that I do not know the name of and there was this HUGE sculpture of this lady.  I also found out that I am year of the dragon.  My statue compared to my siblings and parents made theres look like a toy a 2 year old would play with.  Then when we got done looking at that we went to the snake temple.  Snakes go in and out on their own.  They are pit vipers which are poisonous snakes.  They are not defanged but the incense in the building kept them calm like smoke with bees.  While we were there we got to hold a boa constrictor.  I was kind of freaking out because it wrapped its tale around my arm.  After that we went to the store and headed home.  In the morning we woke up and tried doing school.  At one point people decided to do some renovations upstairs.  My mom was really getting annoyed so she took us to the pool.  While we were there we met a 9 year old girl and her mom from South Africa who were basically doing the same thing we were.  They have been gone 9 months already.  Then when we got home my mom pulled back the back of my swimsuit and gasped.  My sister laughed and took a picture and showed me.  Where my swimsuit was my skin was paper white.  Where it wasn't was the colore of a apple.  It is a good thing I have my dads skin because when we get sunburnt it turns into a tan.  It doesn't hurt that bad.  Also when I saw this I said it might hurt a little later and my sister said that was the understatement of the year.  Later we ordered some food and started to watch tv because there was nothing else to do.  Then my favorite show was about to come on but my brother, sister, and mother wanted to watch this other show where you could see animals eating other animals.  My dad wanted to watch the other show with me.  Then I made the argument that you could see that show just by looking out the window.  They won so I got super made and said Beyonce is coming for them.  Then I went in my room and started playing the ukelele.  Then I started writing this blog.  

Birthday

So today was my birthday but I still feel 12.  It did not really feel like my birthday today either.  I woke up did 10 lessons of school and did random stuff the rest of the day.  Then we went and ate with the guy who runs the volleyball teams and it was really fun.  Him and his wife were really nice and the food was really good.  He let us keep are/our jerseys from the team and I was really glad so I could remember it forever.  He also gave us pins that say New Zealand volleyball.  They also talk about how Australia claims everything that is really theirs.  For example Keith Urban is actually a kiwi.  Then we came home and started packing because we head for the Auckland airport tomorrow.  It will take a while to get there.  We will arrive on Friday and depart at some time and head to Malaysia.  It has been stressful packing because my dad thinks all the bags are going to be overweight but I can easily tell because well, I don't know why.  That is all that really happened today unless you count getting a Coke .

Soreness

Today I woke up around 10 so I guess I was a little exhausted.  When I tried to sit up I just couldn't.  I guess taking your anger out on a volleyball gives you a shoulder and ab workout.  When I went downstairs my family minus my sister was talking about weight watchers so I asked what was going on and they said we are starting weight watchers.  I get only 19 points a day but they felt bad because everybody else gets over 23 points so they added 2 activity points.  They said I didn't need to lose much weight.  I have gotten skinnier over the past few months and volleyball and basketball helped.  Today I almost didn't eat the points because I was not that hungry.  Anyway after that I did 10 lessons of school then watched a movie.  I watched Trouble With the Curve.  It was a pretty good movie.  Then I did some more lessons and watched another movie because I feel drained today.  Do not expect videos tomorrow because I have not worked on 1.  My birthday is tomorrow so I hope I am not scratching of my skin getting scars from the sandfly bites.  Thats all that really happened today.

Day 2 of the Volleyball Tournament

Ok I am going to keep this short.  I woke up got ready for volleyball and left for Nelson.  We picked up the German girl and were on are/our way again.  When we arrived we started warming up for the game and we lost because the team was not playing so well.  I went in for a few minutes but they took me out.  I was angry at the other team and my team so when I did not go back in I got pretty angry.  After we lost we had a 20 minute break so I decided to let off some steam.  After 20 minutes of hitting the ball down at the floor and it bouncing back at me my hand was red and stinging.  People were looking at me like I was crazy because when it hit the wall it made a pretty loud sound.  They put me on a little more the next game but we lost that game too.  Then we had to change out of the borrowed jersey and go ref.  The guy who basically runs the volleyball gave me and my sister shirts which was really nice.  Then we went home after dropping somebody else off.  I forgot to mention this the other day but the coach said I was the shortest middle player in the country.  Thankfully this is not the biggest country with only about 4 million people total.

Real Volleyball Tournament

Ok so today we woke up at 8:30 and got ready and headed to Nelson.  In the car were my grandparents, uncle, mom, dad, brother, sister, and a lot of bags.  Today my grandparents and uncle left to go home and we sent them with some of the stuff we did not need.  They packed the night before and they have more then just 3 bags.  It looks like 3 bags on the outside but really on the inside we have big bags down to little bags in there original suitcases.  The good thing is they are not overweight either.  So we went to Nelson for day one of the first real volleyball tournament.  We only had 3 games today but we are in the top bracket.  The first game was against a pretty decent team and they beat us.  They won the first 2 then we won one and then they won the last one so it was best 3 out of 5.  The second game was really easy but the team came back in the third set and almost beat us.  During the game it made me pretty mad that the team we were playing was ahead of us because they were supposed to be pretty easy.  So when it came my time to serve I just hit them as hard as I could and that cooled me down a bit.  Also when I served it kept going to the same person so I guess I was spot serving without even knowing it.  We won that game.  Then we had a break and I was starving because I had only eaten two apples which is not that smart when you are about to play a sport.  They did not really have a concession stand but they were selling hamburgers, apples, and candy.  Not a very big variety.  So I made my sister split a hamburger and we bought a bag of apples.  Before this my grandparents left so we said goodbye and my sister and grandma cried a little.  Anyway after we got all that we went outside with two of the players.  One was the nice German girl and the other was a Kiwi. That is what New Zealanders are called.  We shared the bag of apples with the rest of are team because there were a lot.  Then we went and took score for another team and got ready for the next game.  It is not very smart to play two games take a break and try to play another.  You just are too zapped of energy and don't want to get up.  The team that we played were the best in the bracket.  They looked like they could be in college.  We lost.  Then we took the German girl home and headed back to are/our  base camp.  We ate dinner and basically laid around until it we were tired.

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Ok so the reason I have not been blogging is because we either did not have internet or because my eyes are messed up.  You will find out why my eyes are messed up later.  Ok so I can't really remember much so I'm not sure if this get's all the days I missed.  So I think Friday my time we went into Motueka   to do some random stuff.  So we drove around we stopped at this place that the German girl said was really good for fruit ice cream so we went in and we got to pick what kind we wanted ours to be.  I picked raspberry and strawberry and it was some of the best ice cream I have ever eaten.  Then we went back to are/our house.  In the evening when it was LOW TIDE we went and got pippys and found some more stuff.  The next day we had volleyball so we kind of did are/our own thing until we had to leave.  I'm soo confused.  Ok so before that on Thursday we played some in a volleyball tournament.  Before we picked up two German girls who we talked to and all of that and they were nice.  Don't worry I'm not that attached.  You know what I'm talking about person who I talked too.  So I'm just going to skip to the day we leave and head to Kaikoura.  So we woke up and got packed and ready to head to Kiakoura.  We left around 1.  We planned to go whale watching and swimming with seals.  And yes I said swimming with seals not dolphins.  Just before we got into town my mom looked over and saw seals on some rocks by the sea.  So we pulled over and we all took pictures and stuff like that.  They sounded like dogs and they were pretty cute.  So when we pulled into are/our motel it had a giant lobster on the front.  I don't mean a 2d lobster I mean a 3d lobster.  The rooms were pretty nice and we went to eat at The Green Dolphin and it was really good.  There chicken here is so much better then at home.  The chicken here is free ranged and not processed.  There are a lot of KFC's here too.  Anyway when we got back I took a shower and put on a sea sickness patch so it would kick in when we went whale watching and seal swimming.  When we woke up we went to the whale watching place and they said that we were not booked at all but they said that we could go at 3:30.  The sea sickness patches cause dizziness and dry mouth and that is not a very fun combination.  So we went swimming with seals and it was amazing.  You got really up close and they fly out of the water and dive beneath you.  I got good video.  So I'm going to go a little off topic for a second.  I am going to start a youtube channel so I can put videos of what we done up for you guys to see.  I may put a direct link on my blog so you can watch it on the same page.  I hope to have it up by my birthday, March 12.  Ok so back to the seals.  It was really fun and one even brushed me while swimming by.  When we had to go back I was sad because that was one of the best things I have done.  After that the day pretty much went downhill.  The only upside was for my birthday I got this attachment for my camera so I can actually see what I am videoing.  That is the only bad thing about the GoPro camera.  So when we got to the whale watching thing I was already stressed out about how rough it might be and all of that.  Then they asked us if we were ok with sea sickness.  Immediately I freaked out and told my mom I couldn't do it.  The lady also said the captain would not let my grandma on if she took her cane because it was supposed to get a little rough.  Well that freaked me out even more.  And then they said there was a chance that we could run into a storm.  At that point I was on the edge and if you poked me I would fall of the edge.  So we got on the boat and headed out to sea.  They talked about how if you get sea sick that you could use the barf bags that were proven to work because people from all over the world have used one just like it.  Then they said all they could do for you was give you some sympathy.  Now I was on the absolute edge.  Then I started to get a little wavy so I flipped out and wish I passed out.  I didn't but when I told my sister she pointed to the barf bag and said I could use that.  Falling and falling and falling. Then BAM!  I lost it completely and broke down and cried for like 10 minutes. I finally calmed down and at that point it got rougher and they started looking for whales.  We saw three whales surface and dive into the great deep.  That one picture everybody wants of a whale tale was taken several hundred times.  I was so excited to see land when we got back.  We drove home that night.  In the morning we were all a little rough.  My eyes are messed up because of the patch.  They will focus then get blurry.  Then my eyes will dilate then go back to normal.  It makes everything hard to read and do stuff.    I can't really remember what we we did that day but I'm sure we did something.  Finally today we woke up and went kayaking and paddle boarding around the bay.  It was really fun and my brother freaked out and would not paddle or open his eyes because he was scared.  When we were done with that we went back to the house and showered.  Then I went up to my room to do some school and practice my ukelele.  I learned Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Happy Birthday song, and a weird version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  That's all I can remember and I think some is out of order but of well.  My grandparents leave tomorrow and it's kind of sad because that is like the only other people I have seen then my own family.

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Ok so this would be called Catch Up but I am tired of saying that.  So we went on another trip to Christ Church.  We woke up really early and left so we could get to the train on time.  When we got there I was getting stressed out because there were a lot of people getting on and of busses and trains and I also felt like we were in the way.  I finally followed my dad outside because he was feeling the same way.  The train ride took forever but it was fun.  When we got there we just wanted to get to the hotel so the cab I got in took us the way that had more stop lights.  When we got to this one area we had to sit for like 20 minutes because of traffic.  We found out that the Chinese New Year was going on and it was the lantern festival.  There was also this meadow and it was filled with dandelions and you know I just don't like dandelions sometimes.  You won't get what I am trying to say.  It is an inside joke.  Anyway when we got to the hotel there was a mix up and somebody took one of are two rooms.  You have to remember that my grandparents are here.  So we just went to are/our room for a minute.  Then people got hungry so some went to eat and the others stayed home.  I was in the other group.  While they were gone I had a horrible shower because the little pump that was soap for your hair and body was empty and I did not realize that until I was in the shower.  When they got back they gave me my food and it was literally meat and some chips.  I was starving so I just went ahead and ate it.  When we woke up again at another early time we called a cab and headed back to the train station.  We rode back to Greymouth  to are/our favorite motel.  I am not sure if I have said this but I have not seen a single hotel here.  They are all motels and they are pretty nice.  So we got there and chilled out for a few minutes.  We tried different methods to cure the itchiness of the sandfly bites.  My dad got a cigar and basically burnt himself while my mom and I got clear nail polish and covered the bites.  They both worked but the cigar helped more.  We also found out there was a Gypsy Fair going on and people with big busses with balconies and bedrooms were driving down the road.  Then me, my dad, my mom, and grandma, and grandpa went to go see the pancake rocks and blow holes.  This was cool.  The pancake rocks looked like stacks of pancakes and the blow holes were holes in rocks that connected to the Tasman Sea in this little gulf type things and when big waves would come it would shoot water through the blow holes like steam.  Then we went back to the motel.  We woke up again and started for home.  When we got back to town me and my sister were dropped off at volleyball because it was starting right then and my sister had to go barefoot because she did not have shoes.  It was fun because we got to pick teams and just play against each other.  Then we went home and ate dinner and all went to are/our rooms so we could get some rest.