It's been really hard to find cheap internet here, so this is my first update. I've spoken to most people anyways. Everything is backwards here! Fall is spring, everyone drives on the left side of the road, day is night, up is down! Ok maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration. Actually, it's been pretty easy to assimlate here. Other than random slang terms: jandals=sandals (that's even worse than "slippers", kris), a boot= a trunk, wop wops = the boonies. And instead of saying "sweet" they say "sweet as". That's been hard to get used to.
But everyone has been very nice. I've been trying to keep Lord of the Rings jokes to a minimum. I arrived in Auckland on Oct.7. Cafes are everywhere and I've come to really like the flat white coffee, which is basically cream with a little bit of coffee in it. The coffee here is very strong though, so I am wired all day. The hostel I stayed in was huge. Probably around 500 people there. I've never seen so many people in one place. And the elevators were the worst I've ever seen and you weren't allowed to take the stairs for some reason. One didn't even go to my floor, the other two usually went to the wrong floor a couple times before you got to the right one. No one seemed very bothered by it except me...maybe we are spoiled in the U.S. with our fancy elevators that go to the right floor.
I met my roommates who were all very nice. I think I was the only one from the U.S. the whole time I was there, which was a week. I didn't really know what I was doing, so everyday pretty much consisted of coffee, walking around town and seeing sights, and drinking at night. The drinking part was a little too easy to get in to. I think I spent about an hour or two in a tree one night.
It also rains a lot here. Too much, I think. But when it's sunny it's beautiful. NZ is so hilly, and almost every house seems to have an amazing view. Another thing I wasn't really prepared for was that the ozone layer here has a hole in it, so you get burned much quicker than expected. And yet another thing I should have thought about is that this is the 21st century, and everyone has cell phones. Not having one is extremely debilitating.
After seeing the sights in Auckland and spending way more than planned, I decided to do WWOOFing on a farm. Basically you volunteer to work for a farmer and they give you a place to stay and food to eat. It's a pretty good deal. I spent my last week with Sue and Marty McCardle. They lived in Rangiriri in the Waikato region. It's claim to fame is being the home of the Shire from LOTR. It does look like that too: blue skies, nice breeze, green rolling hills, and sheep and cows everywhere. My tasks where mostly to feed chickens, help Sue put up fences for the cows, housework, entertaining the kids, and other odd jobs. It felt good to be a part of a family again.
But now I'm in Napier, on the west cost of NZ. It's a little foggy now, and there is not much to see here. It's pretty though and I think I will walk around and see some sights. Check out pictures on facebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment