Time Flies

Hey all,

Sorry for the super belated update! I suppose I'll start with the most major news of all: I'm moving back home early. I'll basically be back in San Diego by May. Shocker, right? I feel the same way. I would love to stay here because I love New Zealand, but the sad fact is that it is extremely expensive. Basically I've been working my butt off to pay rent, electricity, internet, etc. I haven't been doing much traveling, which was my main goal in coming here. So I figured if I'm not able to save any money AND I'm not traveling, what's the point? It really is so unfortunate that it didn't work out the way I had hoped, but I've decided that my last few weeks here will be spent traveling all over NZ.

I had a really nice night on Friday. I went out to dinner with Tess, Ed, and Mark. We went to an Italian restaurant called Gina's (Kari: remember going there??). The food and wine were great! And it was really nice getting to hang out with Mark! I never see him! (By the way Mark, if you read this.. I'm so excited for the fresh beef we'll be grilling!) After dinner we headed to a bar for a couple drinks. I think my new favorite is gin and tonic. It's not sweet and you can't taste the alcohol!

Anyway, the traveling began yesterday. We (me, Ed, and a couple friends) went to a city called Waitomo for a tour of the glow worm caves. You may be asking yourself, "What are glow worms??" And that's an awesome question. They are the most amazing, yet at the same time slightly disgusting, creature I have come across... and they only exist in NZ. We actually had two tours in two different caves and got a bit of an overview of them. The caves we were in were about 55m (180ft) underground. Glow worms live in dark, damp areas (usually in and around caves). And if you haven't already guessed, they GLOW! They almost look like stars when you look at the cave walls. Like I said, they're amazing, but disgusting at the same time because the thing that glows is their feces. Yes, feces. Glowing feces. Apparently when their excrement is exposed to oxygen it glows! That's called bioluminescence.

I wish this were my picture, but it's not because we weren't allowed to take photos in the main hub.

Anyway, as if glowing feces is not interesting enough, the glow worms release strands that hang down from their bodies and act as spider webs. The strands can be anywhere from a few centimeters to one meter long! They use the "fishing lines" to catch insects to eat. When they feel a vibration in one of their strands, they know that something got caught and they reel it in.. a process which takes 45 minutes!

The life span of the glow worm is about 11 months. The majority of that time is spent in the larva stage, which is when they glow. Eventually, the glow worm turns into a flying insect that looks like a giant mosquito. When they are "born" as an insect, they're born without a digestive tract or MOUTH!! Basically, they can't eat once they become insects. So naturally they reproduce quickly and then die a few days later from lack of food consumption. The female glow worm will lay about 100-200 eggs in clusters of 10-20. The reason for the clusters is that the first few glow worms to hatch will eat the other eggs to survive before releasing their fishing lines!! So interesting, right?

This was the best shot I could get of the strands with the guide shining a light on them (it was pitch black otherwise). You can actually see the glow worm in this picture too.. it's the long brown (horizontal) thing in the middle-ish of the picture.

Okay, enough about glow worms (for now). After our tours, we headed about an hour and half out of Waitomo to see the Marokopa Falls. I thought Kare Kare was amazing, but this waterfall was at least 10 times bigger! It was soooo beautiful that I actually gasped when I walked around the bend and saw it. 

After this, we went to this place nearby that was supposed to have a natural bridge. We didn't really understand what that meant, but we checked it out anyway. It ended up being a cave that had collapsed in on itself leaving the outer edge intact. The bridge was inaccessible though as it was about 200ft up. It was like being in an outdoor cave because we were still able to see the sky on either side of the bridge, but it was so dark underneath it. As we were leaving and it was getting darker and darker, we noticed that there were glow worms on the cave walls!! The darker it got, the more we saw and it was amazing to see them from a few inches away! Our friend Manuel brought along his DSLR so we did experiments trying to capture the light of the glow worms. After about 45 minutes to an hour of taking low ISO, high exposure photos, we got a GREAT shot (10 minute exposure!!!). I'll have to get that picture from him and put it up here. My camera unfortunately isn't that great, but I did get a better shot of the strands and the glow worm itself. 

So cool, huh?

Here are some random pictures from the trip:

NZ is very green.

Stopped by a farm and called an ostrich over for a photograph (not kidding.. I actually whistled and it came over from a couple hundred feet away).

It was a very friendly ostrich. I ended up feeding it some dry grass (hay?). It actually reached out and took it from me! Exciting! =)

Some funny art at Gina's.

I really like the top one!

Well, I hope you all enjoyed my update! We'll be traveling around the South Island within a week so I'll be sure to update more frequently.

xoxo

Driving on the LEFT Side of the Road

This weekend, Ed and I rented a car and drove out to a few places for a much-needed vacation. Unfortunately, a couple weeks ago, Ed lost his wallet... including his driver's license. That meant that I had to do all the driving. DUN DUN DUN!!!

Side note: you don't need a NZ driver's license at ALL. You just have to have A license from ANY country. Crazy, huh? Anyway, before going to the rental company, I googled "driving rules in NZ" and it came up with this article: Driving in New Zealand. Boy do I love Wikipedia and all of its little facets!! Thanks to that article I learned some very important differences:

1. Turning left (which is like us turning right in the States) is never permitted at a red light, unless otherwise stated. Complete opposite of what I'm used to where unless it's stated, you can turn on red! 

2. There are no colo(u)r-coded curbs! There are lines on the side of the road that tell you what you can and cannot do. For example, a dashed yellow line means no parking at anytime, but loading/unloading is okay.

3. A solid white line can mean many things, sadly. A: it can be the divider between traffic. But B: it can also be the divider between LANES going in the same direction! So how do you know what it means? Is it a lane divider or is a traffic divider?? 

4. I'm going to explain this one in terms of American driving to help you understand. If you are turning left into a parking lot, for example, and somebody is turning right into it on the other side of the road, they have the right of way. In NZ, it's the opposite!! The person turning left has the right of way and the person turning right has to sit there and wait until you turn in! Now just change all the rights to lefts and all the lefts to rights and it'll make sense in NZ driving.

There are more, but you get the gist.

Anyway, I was ridiculously nervous. I kept getting hot flashes walking over to the rental company. The car we got is called the "metro" car. It was a steal at $35/day, but it was also the smallest car I've ever driven! It was a 4-seater with no boot (trunk). It looked like a toy car. 

I got in (also on the other side of the car) and looked down and started freaking out because I thought the brake and accelerator were also switched. Luckily they weren't and I was just seeing things. Anyway, I took a break to compose myself. I was ready, though my palms were ridiculously sweaty. I started the car and began driving. I immediately caught myself driving on the wrong side, but we were in a parking lot so it was okay. I go to turn out of the parking lot (or carpark as they say here in NZ) and put the "turn signal" on,  but the turn signal did not come on. Instead, the windshield wipers were on! I was so confused! It took me a while to figure out that the turn signal was on the right side of the steering wheel, not the left. 

It was seriously like opposite day for me. A note about the turn signal: down indicates a right turn and up indicates a left turn! I felt like I was in a twilight zone. I soon got used to it, but I had to concentrate really, REALLY hard. My first and only mistake came when I was turning into a parking lot that was empty. There were two lanes to go into the parking lot, one to go and one to come out, separated by a few feet (curb/sidewalk in between). I was waiting to turn right into the lot (left if you're thinking in terms of American driving) and there was somebody about to turn left into it. If you refer back to rule 4 above, I had the right of way. The guy came to a complete stop and I was super confused at first. Then I remembered, so I turned in the lot but went into the WRONG lane!! I went in through the exit lane! Luckily nobody was coming out, but I was still freaking out. 

After a while, I got the hang of driving. I drove two days in a row and by the end of the second day, driving on the left side of the road became natural to me. I didn't have to think about which lane to turn into and where to be. It was awesome! I'm super proud of myself, and you should be too because it was no easy feat!

Now, you may be wondering where we went with our toy car.... only to the two most beautiful places I've ever seen!! The first place we went was Awhitu (pronounced ah-fee-too..it's a Maori word). Some of you may already have heard of this place because I've been there before (when I was studying abroad). It's on a peninsula so at some spots, you can look and see water on three sides of you! It's where Tess lives. It's about an hour and a half away from Auckland, yet it's still considered Auckland. Weird. Anyway, Tess was having her birthday party there so we went a little early to help out and hang out. 

Her party was in the park. I got eaten alive by the damn mosquitoes. Seriously, NZ mosquitoes love me. The last time I was bitten by a mosquito was the last time I was in NZ. I actually realized that I'm allergic to mosquito bites. I haven't scratched them at all, or touched them really other than to apply anti-itch cream, but they've swelled up to the size of baseballs!! They're hard too! I just don't understand. I look like I have a disease.  I remembered today that I brought some generic Zyrtec with me so I took one and the bites are getting less red and a little less itchy, but still soooo uncomfortable. =(

Other than the mosquito bites, Tess's party was lovely! Her friends are really nice! Some of them that I met a few years ago were there so that was really cool to get to see them. Her family is awesome too.. I love them! It was Tess's 21st birthday by the way. 21sts in NZ are sooooo different from 21sts in the States. The legal drinking age here is 18, so a 21st is not all about buying alcohol and having a massive party with your friends. It's more of a coming of age party where you celebrate with a nice get-together with family and close friends. Also, one thing that I think is really nice about these parties is that people give speeches. Her mom, dad, sister, aunt, and BFF gave speeches about her. I have them recorded and will probably upload them to YouTube at some point.

I forgot to talk about the stars! There is absolutely no light pollution in Awhitu. While we were at the park, we looked up and saw a sky fulllllll of stars. I'm talking FULL.. there was not a single empty space. You could even see the space dust/clouds in the Milky Way! I've never seen so many stars in my life. Also, the interesting thing is that since I'm in the southern hemisphere, there are different constellations that I've never seen before! It's so amazing! I tried to capture it with my camera, but had no luck. I really need a DSLR. =/

The next day (yesterday), Ed and I drove out to Karekare. Thank goodness for Facebook stalking, otherwise I would have never found out about this place! =) It's about 45-60 minutes away from the Auckland and it's sooooo beautiful! There's a WATERFALL there!!! Yes, a waterfall! It was the first time I had ever seen one so I was amazed. It was sooooo gorgeous! There was also a beach a 20 minute walk from the waterfall so we went there as well. We saw a sea lion up close and personal! It was just casually chilling on the beach enjoying the sunlight. 

I could go on forever, but I won't. I'll just add some pictures now. Enjoy! (Tip: click on the pictures to see them bigger. They look so much better that way!)

Toy car.

First time driving on the other side of the road. I was a little nervous.

Chicken-flavo(u)red chips. They actually taste like grilled chicken breast!

Drinking in the car as a passenger is (kind of) legal.

Church in the middle of nowhere.

Awhitu is beautiful!

View from Tess's house.

<3 flowers!

Taking a break from making the thing below.

Didn't we do a great job?!

Happy birthday Tessie! I love you!

I don't know how I did that, but I did and I think it looks awesome! =) Yay for 2-minute hairstyles!

Karekare falls!

Waterfall!!

So pretty!!

Karekare beach. Crazy waves.

Cute sea lion.

Me with the sea lion.

I've noticed that I progressively add more photos in each blog. Sorry!! There are just too many good ones to choose from!

JP: Wish you were here to see all this stuff with me! I miss you and I love you!

Xoxo,

Christina

Life in Auckland

Hi everyone!

I never really know where to start when I start writing these. I'm probably the worst blogger ever, but I'm glad to be documenting some of my life here. It'll help me remember the little things, which is always nice.

Anyway, I've been working a lot.. a lot, a lot. It's super tiring and really not that rewarding, but I can't complain. It's a job and if you're not making money, you're spending it, so I'm thankful for it in that respect. If anybody in Auckland (or anybody who knows people in Auckland) has any sort of connection to somebody who can perhaps give me a better (slash better paying) job, let me know PLEASE! I will love you forever. And I will cook for you on occasion, which is probably better than my everlasting love because I am a damn good cook. =)

Omg.. I haven't written about my lovely Norwegian friends yet! While I was staying at Grafton, three girls from Norway came to stay as well. They're studying nursing at the Uni of Auckland. I love them! They're so sweet and wonderful. I had a shopping day with them sometime last week. We ventured to Newmarket (an area of Auckland) and found some cute clothes at a few shops. On Friday, I had them over for a house-warming dinner. I made whole wheat spaghetti with a beef pasta sauce, garlic bread, and served Tim-Tams (Chewy Chocolate Fudge flavor) as a dessert haha. Not the greatest dinner party, but I was severely lacking kitchen equipment and had worked that day so I didn't have much time. It was a lot of fun! We started making a song on Garage Band (a la the songs made by Jenny/Kari/Scott/me) called BBDHD (Bye Bye Dragon, Hello Dolphin). Don't ask. I wouldn't even be able to tell you because I don't really know myself haha. It's super catchy, but we're not done with it yet.

I had the day off today after working 4 days in a row (the last two I worked 10-11 hours each day)! It was a nice break. I went to visit Tess at her work in Parnell (another area of Auckland). It was the cutest/girliest fabric shop ever and I loved it! (See pictures below.) She was nice enough to drive me to Grafton (thanks Tessie!) where I had a meditation class later. On the way I ran into David, the old Englishman I love and wish I could adopt as my grandpa. He's leaving back to NY tomorrow. So sad! But I finally got a picture with him!!! YAY! He gave me like 5 kisses, which I thought was super cute! I'll miss my gramps. =/

Afterwards, I went to a cafe called Verona, where I went last week (?) with Tess and her friend. At night they have live jazz bands! I can't remember if I already wrote about it, but I'm too lazy to check. When we went, we ordered this dessert.. 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream with a side shot of espresso and a side shot of amaretto. It was DELICIOUS! (Again, see picture below.) Anyway, today I went alone and had a chicken and mushroom fillo wrap and a mocha. Mmm.. I loveeee the coffee here.

After that, I headed up to Grafton Hall to meet up with the Norwegian girls: Line (pronounced Lina), Silje (pronounced Celia, but with a twist), and Ingrid (you can pronounce that). We went to our free meditation class and it was great! It was super relaxing! For you San Diego folks, I looked it up and they actually have the same meditation classes for free in North Park! You should go! http://www.freemeditationsandiego.com

It's officially not Valentine's Day anymore here, but it's Valentine's Day in America so HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!! And a special shout-out to JP.. I love youuuuuuuuu!! I hope you have a wonderful day! I miss you so stinking much!

Also, here's a more precise version of my address:

148 Quay St.
Apartment 2D
Auckland CBD, 1010
New Zealand

I still haven't taken pictures of my apartment because I haven't completely settled in and I have nothing up on the walls. It might take some time, so bear with me.

And here are the (many) pictures:

Mmm.. ice cream, espresso, and amaretto!

Ingrid, Silje, and Line! <3

One view from my bedroom window. (I have huge 10ft tall windows.)

Later in the day.

Pasta w/meat sauce, garlic bread and a lovely glass of wine.

Fabric and Pretty Things by Trelise Cooper.

So cute!

I love girly things!

Tess, hard at work.

Tess and her sister Minna, love these girls!

Beautiful chandelier!

Lit up.

An oldddd Singer sewing machine.

I like how the name is written.

Cute little trinkets.

David, my gramps!! I love this guy! Isn't he the cutest old man ever?!

Wow.. that took a hell of a long time to write. I hope you all got through it okay.. all 10 of you hahah. 

Until next time,

Christina

A Lovely Summer Day in Auckland

Hellooooo everybody! Hope you're all doing well! It's been a while since my last update so I thought I'd write another.

Ed and I have been working at the restaurant for about a week and a half now. Finding a job job (real job) is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Since  I'll be here for so long, I would really like to not work at a restaurant.. though I have been meeting a lot of people that way.

APARTMENT UPDATE: We finally found an apartment! We applied for it on Friday and got approved today! We're going into the office tomorrow to sign the paperwork and get the keys, so we'll be moved in by tomorrow night. Yippee! It's right by the harbor.. unfortunately there's no beach around, but at least we get to see the water. We don't have a view since we're on the other side of the building, but it's a great location. Right now, we live 40 minutes (walking) from work. Our new place is less than a 5 minute walk.  I'll take pictures once we're all settled. And Tess, I'm totally serious about you doing some paintings for my room! =) I love your work!

Here's the google map of our new apartment: (the address is 148 Quay St, Apartment 2D, Auckland, NZ)

Click on me to see the map!

Today was a nice day for me. I had the day off from work so I ran some errands and then stopped by St. Patrick's (the church Ed and I go to) to get some pictures. They really don't do it justice because it's so beautiful, but at least you can get an idea of what it looks like. I like that the doors are always wide open.. it's really inviting. Afterwards, I stopped by a cafe and got a delicious mocha! The coffee here is so much better than Starbucks! After that I went to get a haircut. I got 50% because I was a new client, but it was still about $50! Haircuts are expensive here! I'm still trying to grow my hair out so I didn't cut too much off, but I got some layers added.

On the way back, I saw this sign for a meditation center. They offer free meditation classes! I really want to do it! It sounds really good. They teach you to breathe properly, to relax and concentrate, and to clear your mind. I could really use those things! Hopefully my sleep will improve and I won't be so stressed all the time. Anybody in Auckland want to join me?? http://www.meditationauckland.co.nz/

Anyway, here are the pictures:

One side of the church.

The inside. I love the wood ceiling! It's massive on the inside!

One of the manyyyy stained glass windows. So beautiful!

Another stained glass window.

One side of the inside.

Part of the front of the church.

Another side with the Sky Tower in the background.

Pretty window.

To JP: I love you and miss you and can't wait to see you in April! xoxo