So...I realized the other day that my flight from Delhi to Tel Aviv was on March 1st instead of Feb. 1st like I thought. It wouldn't be a huge problem except that I told Sumi I would be in Israel Feb.1 so that's when she bought her ticket. It's official. I am an idiot. But I will get it all sorted out and everything will be good again (for a price of course). Anyways, the last couple weeks have been kind of frustrating. I wasn't called back for any jobs. So I have just been spending my days lazing around the house. I can't really remember things that happened because it all has been blended together. It's good in a way though because it has allowed me to get excited about traveling again.
Christmas here has been somewhat disappointing. The only way you really know it's Christmas is because Starbucks is selling gingerbread lattes and you see an occasional Santa somewhere. No one decorates anything, there are hardly any Christmas trees, and it's warm. But don't think that that means they don't want you to spend a lot of money on Christmas presents. Oh yes, that tradition is going strong here. But it was nice to spend Christmas with friends. Jota and I went to Kristal and Zepe's flat to have dinner with Kristal's family. Her mom made dinner which was really good. Then Kristal's dad proposed to her mom after 20 something years of being together. So sweet. I wish I knew what everyone was saying, although I am picking up a good amount of Portuguese.
For New years we are going to go to a music festival: Canaan downs. It should be a lot of fun; it's a 3 day festival in Takaka (top of the south island) where you camp out and celebrate the new year. Also, I will meet up with Marina again, which I am happy about.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
As I was moving out of Around the World backpackers I walked past this one house that smelled pretty bad. I asked T.K. if he knew who lived in that house and he looked at me dead serious and said his mom. I was just like uhhhhmmmm this is going to be awkward. But he insisted I tell him what I was going to say. So I told him it smelled like someone had died. Brett was there and he laughed but I still don't know if T.K. was joking or not.
So I thought I would have a job by the end of the week...but here I am, still unemployed. The problem is mostly with me though. I need to just go out there and give my resume to everyone. Someone has gotta bite. I almost applied to Burger King. That was a dark moment. But I decided against it. My best prospects right now are Sullivan's Irish pub and the Cathedral square cafe which is a little strange because it's in the actual cathedral. I don't think God wants us to go to church and drink coffee at the same time. But maybe I'm wrong.
My flat is really nice. It's in the "suburbs" of Christchurch, like a 15 min. walk out of the city center. I have a cherry tree and a grapefruit tree and an orange tree and a lime tree. So if all else fails I will pick fruit and sell it on the side of the road. I also have a cat named Cuddles that comes around a lot. I pretend she is mine. I also have two Chinese flatmates who are learning English. Right now they are having an Asian party so I better go.
So I thought I would have a job by the end of the week...but here I am, still unemployed. The problem is mostly with me though. I need to just go out there and give my resume to everyone. Someone has gotta bite. I almost applied to Burger King. That was a dark moment. But I decided against it. My best prospects right now are Sullivan's Irish pub and the Cathedral square cafe which is a little strange because it's in the actual cathedral. I don't think God wants us to go to church and drink coffee at the same time. But maybe I'm wrong.
My flat is really nice. It's in the "suburbs" of Christchurch, like a 15 min. walk out of the city center. I have a cherry tree and a grapefruit tree and an orange tree and a lime tree. So if all else fails I will pick fruit and sell it on the side of the road. I also have a cat named Cuddles that comes around a lot. I pretend she is mine. I also have two Chinese flatmates who are learning English. Right now they are having an Asian party so I better go.
Friday, December 5, 2008
So I've decided to stay in NZ for another two months. It's just my luck that the Thai people picked now to protest their government and of all places to take over, they take over the airport. And then India goes crazy too. Well it just wasn't meant to be...at least not right now.
So I've decided to settle in Christchurch. I was supposed to meet Jamey up in the north island, but I missed my flight...again. It wasn't completely my fault though, because I was getting a ride and I couldn't really tell them to speed up. Especially because if we did speed up, the car would have overheated. About every 100 km or so the Brazilians would have to pull over to put water in the car.
So I stayed at a hostel called the Stonehurst for a couple nights in Christchurch. It was there that I met the most disgusting person I have ever met in my life. He was a Polish man who could have easily been as young as 27 or as old as 37. He ate too much, smoked too much, and he had revolting facial hair. He was racist and sexist. He was also an alcoholic; he was drunk pretty much all day every day. One night at two in the morning he comes in and he turned on the light. Now normally, I'm not a person to reprimand strangers, especially when they are drunk because that is pretty useless. But when you disturb Kelly Gekas's sleep you don't know what you are messing with. So I told him no, and turned the light off. Then he turned it on again. Then I turned it off and told him that he wasn't the only person in the room (there were two other people sleeping) and he needs to respect that. So he started grumbling and cursing off in the corner. He kept saying "fuck you" among other things. He also said something about throwing me out the window. That was kind of funny actually. He ended up apologizing later, although it didn't seem very genuine. Maybe because he was drunk again.
So I moved to another hostel down the street, called "around the world" backpackers. It is probably the most dirty place I have seen so far. It's a very strange place. About 5 boys live there, different walks of life. I hardly ever see actual backpackers there. The youngest is Seamus, a 15 year old who was apparently dropped off by his dad two weeks ago. There's three other boys, Alex who does the dishes, T.K. who I'm not really sure what he does, and Brett. There are about 10 physical fights between the four of them a day. They have no plans on moving anytime soon.
Then there is Tony, a 40 year old somewhat washed up man. He has a ton of emotional baggage, and for some reason he tells me everything. It makes me somewhat uncomfortable because I don't really know what to say. He claims he wants to help people, but he seems to be stuck at the same time. I think he will be okay though, because he is going to school get a chef's certificate and from the way he cooks in that dirty nasty kitchen, I know he's talented.
A taxi driver got stabbed a block away last night. It's really strange because it's New Zealand...it's supposed to be safe right?
I am moving in to a flat on Monday, and I think I will have a job by the end of the week, so everything is going well.
So I've decided to settle in Christchurch. I was supposed to meet Jamey up in the north island, but I missed my flight...again. It wasn't completely my fault though, because I was getting a ride and I couldn't really tell them to speed up. Especially because if we did speed up, the car would have overheated. About every 100 km or so the Brazilians would have to pull over to put water in the car.
So I stayed at a hostel called the Stonehurst for a couple nights in Christchurch. It was there that I met the most disgusting person I have ever met in my life. He was a Polish man who could have easily been as young as 27 or as old as 37. He ate too much, smoked too much, and he had revolting facial hair. He was racist and sexist. He was also an alcoholic; he was drunk pretty much all day every day. One night at two in the morning he comes in and he turned on the light. Now normally, I'm not a person to reprimand strangers, especially when they are drunk because that is pretty useless. But when you disturb Kelly Gekas's sleep you don't know what you are messing with. So I told him no, and turned the light off. Then he turned it on again. Then I turned it off and told him that he wasn't the only person in the room (there were two other people sleeping) and he needs to respect that. So he started grumbling and cursing off in the corner. He kept saying "fuck you" among other things. He also said something about throwing me out the window. That was kind of funny actually. He ended up apologizing later, although it didn't seem very genuine. Maybe because he was drunk again.
So I moved to another hostel down the street, called "around the world" backpackers. It is probably the most dirty place I have seen so far. It's a very strange place. About 5 boys live there, different walks of life. I hardly ever see actual backpackers there. The youngest is Seamus, a 15 year old who was apparently dropped off by his dad two weeks ago. There's three other boys, Alex who does the dishes, T.K. who I'm not really sure what he does, and Brett. There are about 10 physical fights between the four of them a day. They have no plans on moving anytime soon.
Then there is Tony, a 40 year old somewhat washed up man. He has a ton of emotional baggage, and for some reason he tells me everything. It makes me somewhat uncomfortable because I don't really know what to say. He claims he wants to help people, but he seems to be stuck at the same time. I think he will be okay though, because he is going to school get a chef's certificate and from the way he cooks in that dirty nasty kitchen, I know he's talented.
A taxi driver got stabbed a block away last night. It's really strange because it's New Zealand...it's supposed to be safe right?
I am moving in to a flat on Monday, and I think I will have a job by the end of the week, so everything is going well.
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