An Avo A Day Keeps the Rat At Bay

I just had the loveliest experience in Mangawhai. Let me quickly back up to the arrival at the Avocado farm.

I woke up at 6am, the cheapo that I am decided that I would walk my luggage (all 80 pounds) down to the train station- a 30 minute walk. My arms felt like jello and couldn't be moved for the next 12 hours...which was okay because I was on a bus that long, getting to Auckland. I then had the worst evening I have ever had in New Zealand. The receptionist was on some drunk, and wouldn't stop singing..some how we found our room. I shared a hostel with 11 other drunkies, who decided to shake my bed, poke me, try to rate how attractive I was, and demoralized women with their talk that lasted the whole night, minus 2 hours. I woke up to a lost water bottle, and vomit in the bathrooms.

I took another bus for 2 hours the next day to sit in the sun and wait 5 hours for my host to arrive. I had a wonderful 2 weeks filled with making stepping stones, shearing lamas, rescuing chicks, picking, eating and selling avos, making compost, toilet holders out of shells, weeding, planting, and so much more. I learned how to make the best hummus, salad dressing, bread, and strawberry ice cream! I really enjoyed singing songs with my host dad, listening to Ronan, the 5 year old, tell me stories, and eating Anne's lovely meals. I went to the Auckland Steiner faire with the family, 2 parties, I used a composting toilet, an outdoor shower, and would travel on the back of the Ute.

It was all wonderful, minus one thing. There was a huge rat, the size of a kitten, that would visit each night, in the rafters above my head. I would hear it scamper about. What if it fell?! Well I would cover my head and tell Frank, yes I named it, to go away. And he usually did. On the last night, Vanya, my host dad, told me he would rat poisoning in the rafters and that it might come down on my bed. Well I wasn't having that so I was set up on the coach that night.

I am so thankful for that family. They were all wonderful to me. They even helped me out during my Peace Corps interview. I learned so much from them.

I made my way to Auckland again, this time with a grumpy bus driver. So far my new hostel has treated me well. A London guy helped me with my luggage and the receptionist seems sober. Tomorrow I leave for Gisborn for the winery. Hopefully it will be a good experience. I cant imagine otherwise.

Farewell Windy Welly

Victoria students are given a "study break" for a week. This means that those of us who can afford it, or parents who can afford it, go on an adventure. The night before everyone left, my crew decided to dance the night away. We went to 2 bars, one that had some good old American music from a cover band, and boogie wonderland, the 70s dance bar, complete with light up floors and disco balls.

The real highlight from this night was before we even headed into town. A few of my friends and I made our way down the street to meet up with some friends. We were sitting on a coach, sipping some drinks when suddenly, Andrea and I heard a distant scream. The scream was getting louder. Suddenly our friend Meghan burst through the door screaming (which ended up being cheering). She made her way to the middle of the room and pelvic thrusted 3 times, and then ran to the kitchen to get a drink. Andrea immediately grabbed my arm, "Tell me I don't do that when I am black out.." The best part of the moment was that only Andrea and I seemed to notice what had occurred. Everyone else was either too drunk or used to Meghan screaming through out the house. I am pretty sure I cried, that's how hard I was laughing.

SO everyone went on a adventure and I...read a lot. I finished the 7 books in less than a week. 4 of the books were over 500 pages. I wasn't too sad with not leaving. I am staying in NZ another month longer than most people. My adventures were not about to end quite yet. It was nice to do nothing but read, and I also finished some paperwork for applying to the peace corps. I also discovered 2 new bakery/cafes with my friend, Lena. We had a pleasant time soaking up the sun and conversation during these dates.

Halloween came and it was an event. I had the idea of a Clue Crew, so 5 of my friends and I made out way through Wellington as Ms. Scarlett, Ms. Peacock, Mrs.White, Mr.Green, Prof Plumb, and yours truly, Col.Mustard. It was a blast. I would have been fine if I just stuck to my one bottle of wine, but I helped my friends with their drinks, making me a bit physical. I was either very loving, giving out hugs, tears because I didn't want friendships to end, or violent, as I used my prop, the rope, on some Clue Crew members..They took it away from me. I made it to one bar. It was great! And then I had that one drink- the one that changes everything. I stumbled to the bathroom, knocking my thumb into something, and took a break with the toilet. I reminded myself why I shouldn't ever drink too much, I just get sick. With the help of Mrs. White, and Ms. Scarlett, and a pitiful goodbye to the rest of the Clue Crew, I made my way home. The next morning I discovered a severely bruised thumb, but otherwise in one piece. I later found out that almost everyone was as drunk or worse than me during the rest of the night. Another friend of mine had fell down some stairs walking IN to town, danced for 5 hours, slept for 2 hours, and then realized he broke his foot.

The rest of the week I completed some finals (here most finals are worth 50% of your grade, and typically are only 3 questions to complete), played Frisbee out in the sunshine and said goodbye to some friends. One of my favorite friends, Courtney, left to travel before heading home in a week. To say goodbye, we had Hells pizza for lunch, played Frisbee in the afternoon, had some beers in front of Parliament, and then had a nice little potluck with our closest and finest! It was a mighty and appropriate farewell.

On Friday was the bonfire festival, AKA Guy Fawkes Day (V for Vendetta anyone?). Its a British holiday celebrating the failed overthrow of the government. To this day, the 5th of November mini figures of Guy Fawkes, or a more recent political figure, will be thrown into a fire. A few friends and I ran down to the harbour to see the firework display. The show went along with music, that sounding like something the Fleckstones would create. The show was only 15 minutes, but that is all that was needed. I saw a great variety of fireworks, with at least 4 that I have never seen before! It was a really good finish to the end of semester. That day I took my last final of my undergraduate degree. I wont lie, when I found myself back in my studio after the test, I danced around for a good 5 minutes to celebrate.

On the way home, my night was made when I passed by an elderly man, zooming down a road on his bike, with a yellow cape, singing at the top of his lungs some thing about Valentines Day. Moments like those make me want to spear my fist into the air and cheer...which I did.

I woke up to Saturday morning to what i thought was a hurricane. The one downfall to having an amazing view is that whenever it storms, i feel as though i am inside of the storm. I opened my eyes and saw the wind mightily pushing the rain and hail against my window. I couldn't see any view at all, even the airplane red alert tower on Mt.Victoria.

The hurricane storm eased and I made my way to the harbor. I spent some time at the art market and also Te Papa . The museum had a really nice Photo exhibit from one of New Zealand's finest, Brian Blake. If I ever had to pick another career, I would want to be a photo journalist! Travelling the world, capturing history, and bringing knowledge to others in the form of photographs.

That night, I had some tea and chocolate with my Wai-te-ata lady friends, Lena, Eugenia, Brita, Julie, Anais and Hollin. We watched Lord of the Rings 2 to celebrate our New Zealand time, and for the final approval of the Hobbit being filmed again in New Zealand. I said my goodbyes and gave Lena some of the Lippe favorite recipes.

The long awaited Bike-Winery Tour of part of the famous Marlborough area took place on Monday. I woke up at 6am and made my way over to Stafford to meet Andrea and her sister, Allison. I was surprised to find Courtney's old roommate, Evan, and his partner Penny making their way to the same ferry. Andrea, her sister and I made the walk over to the Ferry and waited another hour before actually leaving. I discovered that I get a bit nauseous on boats. The upset stomach could have been from the horrible films shown, Miley Cyrus' The Last Song, and, wait for it, High School Musical 3. The seats beside me each had a bountiful amount of barf bags but I had none. After 3 hours, we finally landed in Picton and I made it without vomiting.

As we waited for the ramp to drop, I could not help but feel like a refuge being released. I told this to Andrea, but she said she felt more like part of the Oceanic 815 "survivors". She wins.

We then jumped on a bus that took us to Blenheim; about a 30 minute drive. We were dropped off at the I-site and shortly after were picked up from our winery guide, Nigel. He set us up with bikes, helmets, water, packs, maps, and a route of his favorite wineries.

We made it to 4 wineries in 4 hours. We had about 8 different tastings for each winery. I loved all of them, even my father tainted Merlot. One winery, only 2 years old (but the owner has been involved in Montana wine for years and years- so not really new to the game), gave us some of their home-made olive oil AND some local feta cheese. It was THAT good. Where can you go wrong with olive old, cheese and wine? The Canadian couple that we met, also enjoyed the add ons. They were taking a world tour and were some of the most friendly people I have ever met. Gotta love Canadians.

I must say that biking and doing a wine tour was maybe a genius idea.

I also must admit that I used every technique Jill and Zach taught me and faked my way through each tour (specific hand holding for reds and whites, smelling, holding it in your mouth, looking at the 'legs'..). I owe them. I thought of them about 67% of the time of the tour.

I arrived home and was reminded of the cleaning still yet to be completed before leaving on Friday morning for WWOOFing. This kept me inside the next day and a half. I thought it would be appropriate to farewell Wellington with one last visit to Enigma. I invited the remaining friends. We shared coffee and our favorite cakes... I did the sentimental thing and got the very first thing I ever got at Enigma, carrot cake with yogurt and creme, and a coffee.

After Enigma, a few of us took a nice long walk through the harbor of our favorite small capitol city. Sam and I also stopped at the city art gallery, another free museum! I love Wellington. Its the perfect size city. Small enough to feel like a person who belongs, with a bunch of stuff to do for all ages, many festivals and activities to keep you occupied, a place that has a bunch of political activities to keep you up to date and informed, plus a really good location in case you want to travel to other parts of the country.

That last night, I said goodbye to friends at a party on Landcross. It was nice to say goodbye, but I didn't stay too long. My friend Sam let me crash at her place (she lives a floor underneath me) because my room was already check-out, and me kicked-out.

I will miss the harbour, the friendly atmosphere, the bountiful vegetarian options, the Malaysian food, the free activities, blanket man outside of the library, who has the Rasputin looking bouncer, Enigma and its cakes, the way the water is clean, and the air sweet, how white collar folks actually use their lunch breaks to go running or visiting with friends, the way that classes and and ages seem to mix together better than in the States, the music players on the streets, the many bakeries, and parks available. I picked well.

Friday morning, equipped with 4 peanut butter and grapefruit marmalade sandwiches, I made the 11 hours journey to Auckland. This is the beginning of my last month in Kiwiland. I will be WWOOFing in Mangawhai, at an avocado farm, and then going to Gisburn to a winery. Wish me luck! Hopefully I wont get any sun poisoning:)

Lacking funds but still having fun

After making a delicious home made pumpkin pie with my lovely German friend, Lena, she reminded me of the international farewell party on Tuesday. The next day I continued to remind all of my other international friends. It was pretty easy since the party was giving away free food. A whole crew of us made our way over. There were pretty lame games, trivia, and passport covers given as prizes (everyone got free t-shirts though-Whoop). The caterers did not anticipate our apetites, so there was a lacking in food. My friends and I made up for that I consumed a great amount of the free wine and beer. This was a good pre-game for a few of us who in a short hour would be the ultimate frizbee team 'the samuri pizza cats' cheerleaders.

I wont lie. Andrea and I went all out. We had planned out outfits, including the accesories. The week previous we "had" to go to a pizza place for lunch in order to get mini pizza boxes as our samuri sheilds. We were feeling pretty good when we jumped into a van full of frizbee players. They were pretty excited to have their own cheering squad. While the team warmed up, so did some of the cheerers. We found the locker room and pumped each other up with crazy poses and acting like cats...again, we were feeling pretty good.

During the game, some of my fellow cheerleaders were not as enthusiastic. It may have been their first time cheering or maybe they were not used to my loud voice. The team appreciated my efforts. I even got a little trophy! (some of the other cheerers were a bit jelous). Our team won and we were all excited on the ride home. The excitement may have made our driver, drive a bit quicker going around all the ups and downs and bends in the road. I thought that maybe I was just drunk, and that was why I wanted to vomit---but another frizbee member asked the driver to slow down so he wouldnt barf. Half the van quickly agreed. Maybe it was becuase I was a great cheerer, or maybe the driver knew I was feeling ill, but they drove me right to my door! I think the rough ride home made me drunk becuase I got out of the van and started walking the wrong direction to my door. I was thankful to creep inside my sleeping bag that night (yes I have been sleeping in my sleeping bag the last 4 months).

So the next day was Wednesday, Enigma day! Andrea and I skipped watching Othello in Philo and made our way over early. I had already seen the movie and it is one of my least favorite Shakespere plays. We sort of went crazy at Enigma and ordered nachos and a tofu burger and fries, plus a milkshake and coffee-we did share this. It was all delicious. I made my way home and then met up with Lena. I got a bit too cocky and got ANOTHER cup of coffee. Mind you, this is now 2:30. Bad call. I had a lovely time with Lena and we even bumped into some of the ultimate frizbee team and some other friends and had a good chat. However, that night, I didnt fall asleep till 4:30 am. My bad. I forgot how too much caffine affects me!

The next day I went over to Lena's and joined in a 9 person potlocke. Potlockes are extra good when there are people from around the world cooking their favorite recipies from home! I hadn't been fed that well since...well since enigma but excluding that, in 2 months!

On Friday I joined some of the ultimate frizbee friends and went to a farm house (the farm house belonged to the family that I stayed with in Christchurch) about 2 hours away. On the way, we stopped at a grocery store and my friend Brian and I found our way to the playground. Playgrounds are much more fun in New Zealand than in the USA. They are a bit more dangerous but in New Zealand, people dont normally sue one another like they do in the USA. Thus--> really cool playgrounds. A flying fox for not only children but adults was present, as well as two hamster wheels.

We finally got to a location in the middle of nowhere to walk 30 minutes to the farm house. For some reason, Andrea and I were leading the way even though we had no idea where we were going and we had to pass through streams and random muddy paths. Andrea split a bottle of whiskey meant for the 3 events in our future. I of course ate way too much and was not drunk at all. Andrea found the side affects of whiskey to be a bit angry. She happened to fall hardcore into the mud. She was so angry. I fell shortly after because I couldn't stop laughing. Andrea immediately got up but again, still unable to breath from the laughter, didn't stand for another few minutes. This falling and angry Andrea happened about 3 more times before we finally arrived to the farm house.

The night was eventful. I tried smoking a cigarette and finished one for the first time. It was difficult as I choked the whole thing down. I am glad my body still rejects cigarettes for the most part. The crew played a kiwi version of circle of death and flip cup. Some how I dominated which got me pretty hyped up. An Irish man couldn't stand the female superiority and a may have gone on a feminist tirade. Some pushing may have developed.

The night was beginning to turn into a shit show; two people were passing out, waking up, making out a bit, then passing out again. One person peed their pants twice. I decided to go to bed early. I went downstairs and slept underneath the window sill. I saw so many stars that night. We were surrounded my mountains, a river and the bush. The door of the barn kept swinging open. I eventually just let it stay open and a nice breeze would drift in.

It took a while for people to function the next day and we didn't actually get home until 5:30. I had a bit of a rough time as we drove through the mountains. I don't know how kiwis are not carsick every day. I had about 3 hours to recover and shower before I was due for a birthday party down the street.

The birthday party was fun. I got to chat with many of my pals and eat a lizard looking birthday cake. I was really excited to give my birthday card to my friend, Corey. I literally spent at least 2 hours on it. I recreated a Hogwarts acceptance letter, sorted my friend into a house and provided reasons for the specific house, and then copy and pasted her face into a Hermione Granger body. It was ugly as sin but hilarious. She loved it.

The next morning, I woke up and made my way to the farmers market. I gave myself a treat and got half a pumpkin for a dollar. I came home and spent 3 hours making a delicious pumpkin and veggie soup. While I chopped pumpkin, Erin from back home distracted me and gave me the low down on WI life. After adding copious amounts of salt, the soup was delicious going down. After I finished the second heaping bowl, I stood up for a glass of water. I made a quick detour to the toilette and vomited. My body continued to reject the soup for the next 2 hours. Some of the pumpkin must have been bad. To entertain myself while I barfed, I watched the last episodes of Dexter. I wasn't prepared for the sad events which occurred. I hadn't cried that hard since I last watched the last Lord of the Rings. A bit of a rough night I would say, eh?

The next week was the last week of classes before finals. I had one Asian Religion final. The rest of the week Andrea and I devoted some time to finish up our Global Leadership Certificates. We had 2 more speaker events to attend.

The first was a panel discussion on ASEM (ASian and Europe Meeting). I was surprised that I was one out of 6 students in attendance. The rest of the small audience was filled with ambassadors around the world, including John Key, the last Prime Minister of New Zealand. That was interesting. I was glad I was able to be present at a function that the heads of State attend. I was able to glimpse into that world a bit.

The next event was not nearly as interesting. This time, Andrea and I were the youngest in attendance. The event was a book release. The book was about the battle of Crete in WW2 and the involvement of New Zealand. It was a short history lesson. The speaker portion wasn't so bad. What I disliked was the snooty atmosphere of the event. There was really nice appetizers, wine and juice served. Elder folks looked at us wondering why we were there. At one point I offered some appetizers to the man next to me, thinking he would keep passing the tray, but he just took some food and acting like I was there to serve him, a caterer, like I didn't belong. Even though Andrea wanted to leave about 6 times, I was glad that we stayed and mixed up the audience a bit.

Andrea and I decided we wanted a scary movie night. We rented the Shining and the Birds. After 3 different tries at buses, and a really helpful bus driver, we finally made our way to Newtown, where our Canadian friend Jessie lived. We had a wonderful time eating popcorn, cuddling on a couch, shrieking, and eating coconut chocolate covered ice creams.

The next day I woke up at 7:30 am and was WIDE awake. I caught up on some emails and paperwork and waited for some friends to wake up. I spent the afternoon with my friends Courtney and Sam in the botanic gardens. We climbed this tree where you could lay on the top of it. I was able to see a great view of Wellington, along with an elder men's croquette game! We walked around for a couple hours and then had a little ladies night filled with rice, beans, and chocolate. We watched Ice Age two...not as good as the first one.

The next day I went to the farmers market with the ladies. I treated myself to a grapefruit--I felt safe with that choice--I have yet to vomit. On the way home, we stopped at a french bakery, run by Chinese women. I bought a croissant filled with custard. Amazing. However, I have been reading 'the face on your plate' and couldn't help thinking that if I was vegan, I couldn't eat this. I am tempted to take the plunge, but that would make the peacecorps a bit more difficult. Who knows what I would live off of...

Tonight I am meeting up with Lena for dinner. Veggies, tortillas and maybe wine and a movie are in order.

Check and Check that off my list

The past two weeks I have been busy. I was able to get some school work done, future goals sorted out a wee bit and check some things off the "Things to do in New Zealand" list.

First up was getting my tattoo. Andrea and I made our way to the tattoo parlor after our philosophy class. We went to the same place Claire got hers done, but we had the other artist, Al. Andrea wanted to go first, which was fine with me. I talked with her and tried to distract her while she got hers done. I jumped on the table after her, trying to hide how nervous I was. Ive been told numerous times that the rip is the most painful place for a tattoo. Andrea was sat too far away so we didn't chat- but that turned out to be okay. I closed my eyes and just relaxed in my happy place. I think the heavy hip hop blaring and the stench of BO distracted me enough from the pain. So to explain my tattoo, the phrase is from a really good youth work reading I had in social work. It shows me that I can learn from anyone, stranger, enemy, child, homeless man, etc. The circle represent community, everyone has a part or role in this journey. And the font is based on the Waldorf font;reinforcing community. CHECK

That evening, the last minute I decided to go out with my German, French and Spanish friends to a bar called the MaltHouse. The bar was celebrating Oktoberfest! It was actually a really good time. We all just sat around and chatted, ordering large Deutchland Beers, and watching the bartenders in classic outfits, straight out of the Sound of Music. I left at 1:30, before everyone else. I decided that I had a really good night and didn't want to drag it out and not have the night be as wonderful as it was.

The next day, I went to the craft fair near the harbor with Hollin, Andrea, Courtney, Sam and Amanda. There was a sweet bluegrass band playing outside, that I enjoyed while the ladies shopped. I decided I wanted some caffeine and a baked good so we made our way to enigma. The caffeine really made a difference! I was ready to roll after that.

We all were supposed to find our Clue Costumes, but i got lost in a second hand book store. I was there at least an hour and could have stayed longer. I narrowed down my ridiculous pile of books to 2 small Harry Potter books, Quidditch through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (4$ all together!), AND I also bought Harry Potter and the PHILOSOPHERS stone and the prisoner of azkaban...I decided I wanted two British versions for home. They have better covers then the American, anyway.

I met up with my friend Max, and him, Sam and I walked around Cuba St for the next 3 hours looking for costumes. It was a really nice day and local musicians were out and about all day! It was really nice listening to them and rummaging through random indie stores. I made it to about 4 o'clock- the other two went off to grab some food and I made my way home, exhausted.

The next week I pushed about all of my school work aside and focused my attention on applying to the Peace corps. The process was rather long, and many emails were exchanged with my Dad, trying to figure out how much in debt I was with my student loans. Now its the waiting game to see if they are interested. I will fill my waiting time with applying to Americorps, and trying to figure out where in the North Island I am going to WWOOF when classes finish.

I took a nice little break on Wednesday from the Peace corps paperwork. I stopped by the Union bar and met with some of my friends and the ultimate Frisbee team. I met two cool as Kiwis, Liz and Mike. The bar wasn't prepared for en entire Ultimate Frisbee team to show up on a Wednesday so beer went quick. I then nursed a new drink. Ginger ale + whiskey. Is amazingness a word? It should be after that drink.

I was feeling pretty good and walked 4 minutes down a hill to my German and French friends, Lena and Anais. Lena allowed me to help her make this great German dish and Anais made french apple pies! My contribution was red wine, and doing the dishes. It was incredible. We decided that we are all going to make pumpkin pie- which is scheduled for tonight. I just bought half a pumpkin so it better happen!

I then returned to the bar and met up with Andrea, Liz, and Mike. We all went out to this bar called Lotus. It had some techno music and sweet drinks with limited amounts of alcohol. Liz got a bit ahead of herself so around 12:30, I found her a cab outside, and as heavy amount of rain poured upon me, I decided it wasn't worth going back into the bar so I made my way home. Right when I hit my pillow case, I discovered that I was finally drunk. I hate it when that happens. I downed my nalgene and hoped for the best.

Thursday was a shitshow. I was that non-motivated hungover. I somehow did nothing until 9pm, when I started my two research papers. To give me some credit, I had an awesome outline for one of my papers, and I had gotten 2 books from the Library for the other paper. It was a long night, but around 2am I gave myself a break and said sleep was more important. I woke up at 8am, skipped two classes and finished my papers. I took a nice lunch of Hell's Pizza with Andrea and Courtney. We ate our meals at the union bar and talked with our friend Brian, who always seems to be drinking there. I returned home, finished my bibliographies and then printed out my papers at the library. As I was dropping off my papers, I had to share a elevator with my philosophy professor (the class i had skipped that day- and yes, he did notice. I always sit in the front row).

That night, I had dinner at this dessert place classed Strawberry Fair. I had a Delicious half cooked chocolate cake, with ice cream, cream, and white and dark chocolate drizzled on the bottom. I then made my way to the Embassy theater and caught a showing of fight club. It was a freaking great night.

The next day I did nothing but read, drink tea, watch Dexter and nap in the sunlight of my room. I went to a concert around 5pm. The 8pm show was sold out so I went for the all ages show. The opening band was called the Kids of 88. I was pumped at the name, as I myself am a kid from 88. They were not BAD, but I felt like I was in middle school, lyrics awful, stage presents a joke, and the lead singer re-messing his hair 4 times a song. The main act was Naked and Famous- a New Zealand band. In short, they rocked. I even ran into an employee of Enigma who was jamming out. I would suggest listening to "All of This" and " Young Blood". I was really glad I went. It was a small venue, smelling to sweat of the band members, and feeling the pulse of the music. Going to see a live New Zealand band, CHECK!

Last night I opted out of going out. I had already spent a bunch of money this week, and I was tired from the late nighters. So I bought a bar of chocolate, and read some Harry Potter. I woke up at 7:30am, saw the sunrise and then went to the farmers market. That place always makes me in the best calm/happy mood. I told myself that due to the limited money I have left that I couldn't buy anymore avocados, grapefruit or kiwifruits. So I was just going to get apples and bananas. Well, since I am making pumpkin pie, I got half the pumpkin, and then the pumpkin was by the eggs, and the eggs were by the onions. So I cheated and had a really nice breakfast. I will do better next week.

Action is Character

This past weekend, I went WWOOFing. I travelled to Harmony Farms once again and met some new friends: a Swedish couple, a Canadian, a Frenchman, and a couple from the States/Canada. Hollin WWOOFed alongside me. I am really glad she had a good first experience with WWOOFing. We started planning where we each want to go WWOOFing the month before we return home. We were able to turn compost, cook, start a potato patch, prune olive trees and make mulch, and we created a recreational area for WWOOFers (which meant taking out 8 trees).

It was really nice being outside again, especially after being on the road so recently with the road trip. My favorite part of the weekend was learning about different wild weeds and flowers. We ate a weed salad with almost every meal! I enjoyed it more than romaine lettus! I also really enjoyed going through Otaki. We took a mini car tour through the trees, the river, the ocean (which had WILD WINDS that spit ocean foam around in the air!) and waterfalls.

I came home and enjoyed having another room mate for 2 days. Lyra, the Canadian, stayed with me while she explored Wellington. She is from Winnipeg, and shared her love of folk music with me. She told me stories about small local bars that play music every night and hosts many a music festival...sounds like my kind of place! We took a trip to the Embassy theater (where the LOTR was premiered) and saw Inception. I sat right behind where Sean Astin sat! Ahh. It was a really neat theater. May be one of my favorite places in Wellington!

That day, I also went on a field trip with my Asian Religions class. We went to a Buddhist meditation temple. We were able to sit and talk with a monk for 40 minutes! The place was made mostly of wood and had flowers around the temple. It was peaceful and serene. One could not deny this. It was really interesting listening to the monk (who came from Canada and wanted to become an engineer at one point in his life). I was surprised to find the Monk so warm, kind, and FUNNY. He had a wonderful laugh. He was the type of person who really valued what you had to say. I felt more like an equal towards this man. It was a really neat experience.

The rest of the week is pretty busy. I have a lot of paperwork to fill out regarding options for when I return to Wisco. That is where the "Action is Character" fits in. I am in the in between place where I am calm but want to be proud of what I accomplish with myself. Maybe its because my philosophy class has hit the Death portion of the trimester. If I died tomorrow, I would want to be satisfied with what I have done. Doesn't it feel good to like yourself? I also will be inking myself yet again on Friday. I am a bit nervous. I don't want to cry but I know this particular ink job is going to be a painful one (Hey Zach, no worries. This tat is another hidden one). Andrea and a few others also want to hit the town and find our costumes for Halloween. We are going as the Clue Crew. I love the group creativity projects! Go Teamwork!

Let me introduce myself

I just had the most fabulous evening and I decided I had to share. I just finished a dinner( I must point out that dinner consisted of a re-used jam jar filled with New Zealand Riesling, a radish and butter sandwich on whole grain bread, a sweet and sour grapefruit and an avocado that I dusted with salt- All were eaten with zero utensils), alone, eating slowly, sitting cross-legged, barefooted, listening to a whole album straight through and watching through my large window Wellington become lit with lights.

I thought to myself that I never had time for this back home. I was always rushing, doing a thousand things and trying to be there for 20 people. My me time, was when I slept, or when I drove to one of the 100 places I needed to drive to. I couldn't relax and just enjoy myself, fore even when I planned me time, a few hours later I would make up for it. I couldn't remember the last time I spent the whole afternoon reading and watching the sky. This is what I came to New Zealand for. To let me have my ME time. To let myself remember what it was like to let me be me.

I started making a list of things that were most definitely ME. It was fun! And I think most of you would agree with my life. If I met a new person tomorrow, this list would give them a sense of who I AM.

-I love wine, especially Riesling (Merlot can stay in my fathers cabinet)
- I love to dance (and not grinding the whole time!). I may get wild and look like I am intoxicated, but I am not.
-I prefer salty foods over sweet
-I prefer tea (the juicer the better) over coffee. Coffee after 2:00pm is dangerous. More than 1 cup and I will be awake the entire evening. Once I drank NyQuil in order to sleep, as it was 7am.
-Pictionary is my board game of choice
-I would pick a local small pub over a crowded large bar any day.
-My pet peeve is not being a team player.
-I could sit and read novels all day
-Must two people talk all day? I enjoy the silence 2 friends may share together.
-Everything in moderation! If you cant have fun being sober too, then do you fear reality?
-I love being barefooted and in jeans. BUT, I also love socks!
-Screw nail polish
-Take me to see an independent movie at a small theater, or a band playing at a tiny pub, and I am yours.
-My children will go to a Waldorf school
-We can learn from everyone, especially our enemies.
- I don't believe in violence, except on a pitch.
-I love showing affection to my friends
-I WILL eat with my hands. Silverware optional
-Let me sing...I realize I don't know the lyrics well.
-I enjoy cooking WITH people.
-I have no control with it comes to chips, potatoes, fries and sour patches. Eat until empty.
-Be sensitive when criticising Harry Potter or Lost.
-I cross my fingers when I don't want to forget a point. This way, the thought is on my fingers, but I may still ACTIVELY listen to you, and not just wait for my turn to speak.
-I like to ask you questions, and yes, I am interested in what you have to say, but do not forget to ask me questions too. Everyone likes to share.
-If I talk to you, and seem interested in what you have to say, I probably am interested. This does not mean that I want to sleep with you. I just like to understand and get to know people.
-My fingers can withstand the cold and ice longer than most people.
-I love baths.
-Life is shades of grey to me...unless it regards attractiveness. Then its black and white.

I could go on, but I made my point to myself. Its good that I am taking care of myself. Its good that I made time for ME. This list is important. I need to remember many of these things, especially when I am working within Social Work. It can be a depressing job where I can easily lose myself. This list is important so I can find myself quicker.

Flatmate for a week

This past week I had a flatmate! Claire's partner in crime while she was here in New Zealand was Jules. Claire wanted us to meet so Jules came and stayed with me.

The first night I took him to Enigma, my favorite cafe! We shared some carrot cake and drank some coffee. That night, we made blueberry American pancakes. I tried to make them really fluffy and thought I was doing well. Then I made him try it out and he made better pancakes then me! The next day, I came home after class and he had made me dutch pancakes! It was a lovely surprise.

Courtney asked Jules if he wanted to play an ultimate frizbee game with her league so he was able to run around that day too! He told me he played poorly but Courtney told me otherwise.

That night we watched Harry Potter. We made a drinking game out of it. He was Ron, I was Harry, my friend Max was Hermione and my friend Sam was Dobby. We each had to drink when our character did something specific. For example, whenever Harry spoke to snakes, I had to drink. We had a bunch of other rules that applied to all of us. Some were when Hagrid cried, when ever someone mentioned the Wesley's were poor, when the full name 'Harry Potter' was spoken, etc. It was a fun night.

Friday we made our way to the Film Archive. We were able to see a really interesting movie about the Springbox and the All Blacks in the 70s. The film was called Try Revolution. There was a game in NZ and people began to protest South Africa due to their racially separated team. I was excited to see that after the movie, when the lights came up, almost the whole theater was filled with white collar business folk on their lunch break! I dont know how many people back in the states would use their lunch break to see a documentary. I loved it!

That afternoon, Jules and I went to a park and began filming an amature Parkour video. It was hilarious and we had a good time. on our way home, we picked up some items so we could create Butterbeer. It was amazing. Jules skyped Claire for a hour or so while I drank a bit on a tree trunk with Andrea and Courtney. We spent some time listening to a cover band in the local Uni pub too. I loved the fact that I knew every song they played. Gotta love a good cover band!

That night we took along our butter beer and went to a party. I drank and ate too many sweet things. Because of that, I didnt have the stomach to go out dancing. Or maybe I was already danced out from the party? We came home and watch the Lion King instead. I forgot how much that movie STILL ROCKS.

The next day, we went to a art fair by the bay. It was neat but I was glad I had no reason to buy anything. I did manage to find the Waldorf Education Table! I was really excited and talked to two teachers about the similarities, and hardships that NZ faced within Waldorf Education. Jules spent a bit of time there, looking over information. We had a nice little discussion about education that night.

The rest of the afternoon, Andrea and Courtney joined us for more Parkour video making. We had a lot of fun running around and thinking of different scenes for the video. That night, the girls came over and we looked at some of our videos and made a magnificent dinner for us all. We ended up watching Almost Famous too.

The next morning we all woke up and went to the farmers market, my favorite place in Wellington. The rest of the day it rained. I started reading a book, and Jules finished his own book. He played some tunes on his guitar and showed me a bunch of bands that I had not heard of before! I have a list going now...I was able to show him some of my own favorite bands too. That night we made a good dinner, had some delicious fruit for dessert and watch the 6th Harry Potter Movie!

The next day, we woke up, had some breakfast and then made our way to the train station. It was so nice having a flat mate for a week! I really liked just hanging out listening to music, chatting about unimportant or important issues, and taking someone along to explore outside or hang with friends! I had a really nice time with him.