Year of the Kiwi

Hey everyone…. it seems I’ve gotton a bit lazy with posting. oh well.

 

Anyway, life’s been interesting here in the past few weeks. I definitely feel settled in… like I’m living here, and not just traveling around anymore (though that can change on a whim). It’s funny because along with it comes the joys and pains of living. Strangely enough, one of the most enjoyable parts of life is work. It’s not that it’s particularly fun or meaningful work, it’s just NOT substitute teaching, or relief teaching as they call it here. Jeez… Even when I have shitloads to do, I never get a headache or feel like shooting a gangsta’ rapper. I guess part of it is the atmosphere too. The people are nice, have interesting fashion sense, and the women don’t mind cussing up a storm when they’re upset. Sadly, my term finished yesterday because Leo returns on Monday. They were talking about keeping around a little longer to help them with a website project, but they’ve been fickle about that. But in a twist of randomness, a few days ago, the boss’ son asked me to help with a math problem he was having trouble with (he was hanging out because they’re having school holidays at this time). It was some easy ass algebra and I solved it in a few seconds. The boss liked that, so he asked me to stay next week to tutor his son.

 

Shit… there’s a lot of other stuff I have to talk about, but I need to take a shower. I’m going on a roadtrip to Wellington today. That’s an 8 hour+ drive to the bottom tip of the North Island… Im so excited!!!

 

 

Sheep and Dog Shows! Eco-Activities! All for only $22! Why would
anyone pay to look at sheep? ESPECIALLY in New Zealand.

 

 

 

Hey, that looks familiar! Wushuuuu… I found a club just a couple blocks
from where I live and started taking some classes. It’s certainly harder
than I remember. The basic exercises alone were wiping me out.  The
advanced students (not pictured here) are pretty good… They’re mostly
3-4 year students, and their enthusiasm and eagerness reminded me of
the good old days, before the body breaks apart.

 

 

 

Caution; when wet, skidmarks won’t make sense.

 

 

 

One beautiful weekend, I felt like going for a drive, so I headed north hoping to reach
the northern-most part of the country. Turns out the short distance on the map is a
really long drive with NZ’s winding roads and lack of expressways. The weather also
turned cloudy… then rainy. I only got as far as Whangarei. It wasn’t all a waste though.
 

 

 

 

I followed signs to a waterfall…

 

 

 

… and there it was.

 

 

 

Why do pictures of me always include water? I hate water.

 

 

 

 

That’s Springfield, Coke’s buddy. She’s very cat-like. Like, I look at
her and I think… cat. Whereas Marco at home, I think… Marco.

 

 

 

There are only a few poisonous creatures in NZ… one of them
just happened to try crawling into my shoe.

 

 

 

One Tree Hill… one of the many old volcanic cones in Auckland.  That show wasn’t
brought over here, so people don’t get why I find the name funny. The name is a
curiosity anyway because there’s no longer a tree at the summit. It should be
No Tree Hill, or maybe Obelisk Hill or something.

 

 

 

 
Come baaaaaaack!

 

 

 

The All Blacks have had absolutely no competition so far. America…
we didn’t even get out of the pool matches. We lost to Samoa… a team
with 5 game losing streak… When the hell does America lose ANYTHING
to Samoa. I propose we take a handful of average NFL players, teach
them a few new tricks, and come back in 4 years with an unstoppable
force. This is ridiculous!… Samoa… Trounce their asses.

 

 

 

 
Me at work.

 

 

 

That’s Kristie from work. She’ll kill me if she knew
I put this picture online.

 

 

 

 
A wide selection of chocolate bars she bought me to educate
my ignorant American self about New Zealand chocolate.

 

 

 

Forest.

 

 

 

Me in forest.

 

 

 

With so much coastline, I guess one can’t expect beautiful beaches the whole way.
Though I guess grey and desolate is beautiful in its own emo sort of way.

 

 

 

It really doesn’t take much to satisfy that dog.

 

 

 

Damn Chinese tourist… even in the far corner of the earth you can’t
escape them.

 

 

 

There’s no escaping Borders either. Especially for North Koreans.