Burned Out

Trying to get as many hours at work is great until they give you 50+ and the air con breaks down. It was 29 degrees C (yeah, I am having to figure out this Celsius thing...I am not in Fahrenheit land anymore...but for those of you that are...it was 84.2 F) in the shop today. I feel like I am literally in a sweat shop!

Good news is, is that I have tomorrow off...bad news is, the whole store goes on sale on thursday and I get to work the first 5 days of it! Gotta love being the newby!

But other than feeling over worked all is good here in New Zealand. I am getting into a routine. I get to move away from the creeper that is my landlord in a week or so...and Niki is coming back soon! I have been spending my days off attempting to learn german and have been practicing with all the german travelers that have been coming into Rip Curl. I actually met some really cool men from Ecuador today and got a chance to rap out with them in spanish! They were so impressed with my espanol that one of them bought a $600 wetsuit! That was pretty awesome....

What else? Ahhh...My newest obsession/ future travel plans are revolving around Australia! I having been hearing heaps about how Australia is a better place to make some money and am currently looking into getting a visa and heading to OZ for a while...but that is only an idea...tell you if that actually happens...

well, that's alls I really have to update you on! Except that I might actually be going BOWLING with some work mates this week....pretty excited to kick some bootie and show them some true American bowling skills!

Until Next time...Sweet As, Mates...Sweet As!

awkward moments

define my life. Gotta love when you and your flatmate are talking crap on the guy that owns the house that you live in...saying he's crazy and that he might have some mental issues...

and then....

he walks downstairs.

DOH!

maybe I won't even last another week in the place...my landlord might kill me in my sleep :/

as promised...

some pictures of what's up in N-ZED!

THE HOUSE!

my bed--with tons of shiz on it!

my really yummy pile of snotty tissues (this was before I fashioned a trash can)

The living room

The front door

my closet---nice to finally hang some stuff up and not look like I have slept in my clothes

ahh...after laundry day...looks like my bag exploded!

The kitchen

Looking down at the front door again :)

NOW FOR RIPPY!!

This is what you see from the entrance

Upstairs board/hardware section

Upstairs back stock

Upstairs office (Lucas, you would have a fit! IT IS SO MESSY AND UNORGANIZED!)

Shop sign on Queen Street!

Hope you enjoyed! I am going to try and get some of the employees next :)

Until next time...SWEET AS, MATES!

settling in...

The last two weeks of my life have been quite possibly the most emotionally draining days that I have ever experienced.

Where do I begin?


New Years Eve in Auckland was exciting and fun and definitely an amazing experience to be one of the first in the world to get to see the new year! Tons of us from the hostel (a bit intoxicated) walked our way to "the domain" (a park in auckland) to watch the fireworks go off above the sky tower. I must say that the fireworks display, though grand, was nothing like a firework show at home for the forth of july. It was more like a mini show...like the ones they do after the padres win a game (do they still do that? or did they ever do that? did I make that up?).

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Fireworks :)

New Years day was a waste. Unable to move from our horrible hangovers we sat around void of normal human function trying to rehydrate what we had lost the night before.


After wasting a day we decided that we needed to get away from Auckland. We had been sitting in the same hostel for about a week waiting for employers to call me back and give me work details. Oh, did I mention that I got a job?? I will get into that later...


So...in hopes of having some holiday time away (I guess having holiday time while you are on holiday is a bit of an oxymoron!?!) we headed southwest to Raglan. Not sure if I have mentioned Raglan before, but it is a small (and when I say small...I mean SMALL...one main street about the length of a football field...if that!) quaint surf town filled with bohemian people that for some reason don't like wearing shoes (pretty much everyone walks around barefoot!). The plan was to sit on the beach and relax, maybe rent some surfboards and try our hand in surfing some New Zealand waves! Unfortunately mother nature had a different plan....rain and wind....tons of wind!!


Because it was a holiday weekend there were heaps of people in Raglan making it difficult for us to find accommodations. Luckily there was a campsite close by that had some available sites...unlucky that sleeping in a cold, damp, wind shaken tent all night gave me a horrible cold/mild case of what I think might have been bronchitis or pneumonia.


Our third day there we we finally found a backpacker hostel that had a dorm bed for the two of us! This magical place
( I say that because it wasn't our tent) had a lovely sauna and jacuzzi that made the crappy weather conditions not so bad!
So we sat around, jacuzzied, and watched plant earth sipping tea as we watched the trees blow violently in every direction
outside.


The next day it was time to head back to Auckland. We had one minor detour in Hamilton to get Snow White (that's our
car's name) some new front tires...or tyres as they spell it here. Ah, I forgot to mention that as we were leaving Auckland
for Raglan, maybe just 10 minutes from leaving, we got a MAJOR flat tire on the motorway. Our front tire literally exploded!
It was kind of funny, in an ironic way, because everything that could go wrong with our car was...and this was just the
cherry on top! The best part was that we had SO MUCH stuff in our trunk (because we had been living in our car) and had to
pull all of it out on the side of the freeway to get to the spare tire...


Anywho, Snow White got a new set of tires and her fan belt fixed and was running good as new! While we were waiting to
get the tired changed I got a phone call about a resume that I had put in at Rip Curl...the regional manager, Dion, rang me
and said that he wanted me to get into the shop ASAP and start working...


and I did. I started that Thursday. And can I say that working in NZ is WAY different than working in the states...


For the past week I have been trying to get hours and trying to get answers. I am in limbo and going crazy! The economy
here is bad just like at home and finding work is difficult, and when you do find it, getting hours is almost impossible.


I moved into a new flat in the suburb of Ponsonby. The area is really cute and kind of funky/artsy. I found my new favorite
restaurant called "Murder Burger" (murderburger.co.nz). Yes, it is all burgers, but the girl behind the counter makes me a
special veggie sandwich when I come in. And I must say, being away I have been craving a proper veggie sandwich and
have been hard up to find one until now!


The house I live in is a piece of crap and the people that I live with are unusual to say the least! The guy that owns the house
is Kiwi and does not have the time of day for me and gives me evil vibes when I am around him. I am "subletting" the room
from a danish girl that I met, and I think that it bugs him that I am living there and she isn't...who knows? There is a cool
guy from Chile, Jamie, that is nice. He speaks english to me and I reply in espanol. We are helping each other out with our
native languages. I haven't seen him since I moved in...Not sure if he even lives here anymore to tell you the truth!


Niki left for the south island on monday for a few weeks. I would be lying if I said that missing him wasn't the hardest thing
at the moment. You get used to traveling and being with someone 24/7 and it feels like part of me is missing now. I guess this
will really be a time for me to gain some more independence and learn about myself. I have been feeling stuck here the past
few days and was wanting to come home, but had the realization today that this is all happening for a reason! I just have
to take this as a life lesson and gain some kind of insight from it!


So I guess that I am living here in NZ for a while! Working away, trying to make it and try to find myself. Thanks to everyone
that has been helping through this hard time, I really appreciate it and love you guys! Thank God for skype!


Now that I have more time on my hands I can keep up with this blog!
Hopefully there will be more GOOD news to come!
Until next time....SWEET AS, MATES!


P.S.
My new address for the next month is 25/6 Collingwood Rd., Ponsonby, Auckland, 1011 New Zealand. Since I have been
sending you postcards, how about you send me one, aye? Getting mail excites me...and its the small things that count ;)


P.S.S. I will take some pics of Rippy (that's what the employees at Rip Curl call the brand) and the house and
get those up tomorrow :)