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.