Getting back into the Groove

I have just started blogging about 6 weeks ago, and I am already lagging!
Just like how my fitness regime has been lagging since Chinese New Year!

I had the standard excuses when I was back home:
1) CNY weather is killing me
2) Gym is in Mid Valley... very crowded during CNY break, very hard to get parking
3) Got friends to visit, food to eat, and money to be made/collected
4) Busy packing and getting ready for the move to Auckland
5) Will start when I reach Auckland

Low and behold... I arrived in Auckland mid March, and I couldn't start my engine. This time, the reasons were more reasonable I reckon:
1) Need to settle in
2) My boxes hasn't arrived and I have no proper sporting attire
3) Cold
4) Need to slowly find a gym that suits my lifestyle
5) No money to join gym

But last week, there was an extremely good deal for a half marathon race that is to be held sometime in August. $22. Of course I signed up for it! $22 is damn cheap compared to the Auckland Half which cost $99.

So now, I have to start my training again. No more excuses. During weeknights, I run in the apartment gym (nothing fancy, but it'll do for now) and on weekdays, I try to wake up early and do an outdoor run. Can only manage 5km in 30 mins for now... but I'll get there.

It feels really good to be sweating and running again. There's a lap pool in the apartment gym, and maybe this weekend, I'll go buy myself swim gears. Don't know when my boxes of stuffs will be arriving yet. And my bicycle... it'll be hand carried by my darling when he comes over next month. Yay!!

It's gonna be winter soon. I now have to figure out winter sport wear. All part and parcel of settling in a new country. Can't wait :)

Til then... BMW North Shore Half Marathon... here i come!!

The jouney continues

Another week down and we now move into April. And is it this weekend that daylight starts?? Man... I've not experienced daylight savings since my uni days; that was so long ago that I need to understand how daylight savings work again! One thing good about this is the time difference with home now is only 4 hours instead of 5. Yay!! This week has been good. Work has started to pour in but I'm not overwhelmed yet. I suppose I've been doing media planning for so long, that no matter where you go, the principles are the same, only the media environment different. New Zealand's media scene is actually not very different from what is back home, or what is happening around the globe. Oh.. we all know that newspaper adspend is on the decline, and more advertisers are moving into online. But what I found distinctively different was the fact that New Zealanders read a whole lot of magazines, and a whole lot of magazines here are actually monitored and audited. And Sky TV, New Zealand's satellite television, is going through similar challenges like Astro back home - challenges with providing more accurate ratings. All these make settling in at work quite easy and smooth as it's nothing majorly new or different. However, what I find a bit harder to settle is going around and making new friends. No doubt, people in the office are friendly, helpful and easy-going, I just find it hard to actually make a connect with them at the moment. I want to eventually be able to hang out and chit-chat instead of just having small talks in the pantry or in the lift. But I'm sure I'll get there somehow.