One Week in October Lasts a Lifetime

Hokay. So. Here's my blog on why you all wish you were in New Zealand with me.

Oct 24. Arrive in Aukland after 12 hours on a plane. Didn't feel so long. Customs takes a while, but my friend Jack stays with me while they work out stuff with my visa. Jack and I share a cab ride to BASE. I shower and get a chicken sandwich at Nandos, feeling better. Get invited to a Christian concert later that evening, doubtful that I will go. Check into room, am very aware that a lot of boys live in my room- there is that unmistakable stench of man. Hope that there is at least one other girl, but no one was there so I just choose a bottom bunk and leave.
Have trouble with my new NZ sim card... turns out i got totally gyped out of $8 when I bought the card. Oh well, I have a NZ number.
Walk with Jack along the north coast of Aukland, find a mini golf place and play a round for $10. Head back to hostel, meet most of my roommates, and they are all very cool. They invite me to walk to the supermarket with them to help buy food for a "roommate dinner". i'm feeling very welcomed upon our first introduction! We get the makings for salad and pesto pasta and cook in the kitchen. Meet many more people, like Lauren, a 30 year old guy from Colorado that can talk bay area sports with me, and Vyuwi, an englishman with South African roots, who thinks I'm from Ireland, and two boys from the states that are taking a gap year before college. We all eat dinner together. Lauren takes a picture of the salad I've made for the group, says it's "a very American salad". what, because I like vegetables? that doesn't sound American at all, really, but whatever, I think it made him feel a little homesick, it was cute.
We go to a liquor store around the corner because it's FREAKING EXPENSIVE to drink out. Gaz (a Welshman) knows some guys from Manchester, and they all want to go to this bar Cassette 9 down the street, because they're playing Manchester House music. So we pregame. And then we go to the bar. They served drinks in little teapots! We have a great time dancing. I'm not a fan of House music, but this wasn't so bad. I leave before everyone else and am in bed before 2 am because i've been up for like 2 days straight and i'm freaking exhausted. sleep like a rock. metamorphic, if you must know.

Yeah, that was my FIRST day.

Oct 25. Went on the Coast to Coast Walkway with Freddy, one of my German roommates. Started at Albert Park, went through Aukland University, across Domain Park, up to Mount Eden. There was more to the walk, but it had already been like 4 hours and we were fucking starving. We had connected with a bunch of German girls- 5 to be exact, but none of them were with the others!- and only one of them had a map among the 7 of us, so we followed her up to Mount Eden from Domain. Mt Eden was SWEET, because it's a volcanic crater. NZ has a lot of those, but this was the first I got to see so it made me happy. Freddy asked me "So, since you like geology, let's say that this volcano started to erupt. What would you do?" I told him "I'd fucking run the other way."
Marae-Sophie (the German with the map) ended up sticking with me and Freddy as we went to find food. Ended up at a Subway, which made me sad, because you can totally find those in the states, so it didn't seem very authentically Kiwi to me. But there were no other viable (cheap) options in the area as we came down the volcano. Then I noticed that "lamb" was one of the sandwich options. I asked the sandwich guy about it, and he told me it came with a mint dressing. I was sold. It was absolutely delicious, I've been trying to get Jackie and Lisa to go back to Subway with me ever since, but it hasn't come to fruition yet. Anyway, I got two cookies with my meal, so it was absolutely excellent. We took the bus back to Queen street, where our hostels were. Went with Marae-Sophie to her hostel, which had a hot tub ON THE ROOF. Said i would think about coming back that evening after dinner to do some hot tubbing wtih her.
Went back to BASE, hooked up with Hannah (Scottish) and David (a German) and walked to get gourmet pizza. It was... like... the strangest and most amazing pizza I've ever had.... One was pepperoni with spicy pesto, the other was like a chef's salad ON A PIZZA. there were PICKLES on the damn pizza. We ate it all.
I also connect with Vyuwi again, and he invites me to come to South Africa with him for the Soccer World Cup next year. I say okay, and he says okay. And I'm going, wait, really? And he's going, yes! Turns out he has family nearby the tournament, so we would have a place to stay...! "But it would only be a few nights," says Vyuwi, "Because I have young cousins. And I like to drink. A lot." So... I might be going to the World Cup next year!
Meet some Kiwis in the lounge. One of them is doing push ups and I look over and go, wtf? He says he's training for the Olympics.
-oh, what's your sport?
-Hopscotch. What's yours?
-Extreme vocal percussion.
-right, I'll believe it when I see it
-Bshkshbshkshpfkpfkbmbmbmchhhhhhhhh
And a minute later they're all asking me to teach them how to beatbox. It was hilarious. they gave me a free can of whiskey coke, which seems to be the preferred cheap drink of choice in Aukland.

Oct 25. Woke up to a rainy day. Jackie and Lisa were coming into Aukland to pick me up IN OUR OWN CAR, but I got some time to play. A bunch of us went to a park and played soccer and Spud! It started to rain, so we ducked into a market across the street. Turns out it was a holiday, so there wasn't too too much open, but we made do. I bought a new necklace because I thought I had lost the ONLY one I brought (and for those of you know know just how cool my necklace and earring collection is, I deserve mad props for only bringing a pair of stud earrings and one necklace.) It's this Maori symbol for new beginnings and spiritual growth (a spiral), and I thought it was very appropriate. I could get it in greenstone (jade), bone, or wood, and I liked the wood best, though I will get some greenstone eventually, since it's like the pride stone of NZ. We get lunch and I try this AMAZING tomato relish that just changes how I will eat sandwiches for the rest of my life. They use it all over NZ, apparently is really cheap and not fancy, like ketchup, but so much better- it has like cinnamon or something in it. It was wonderful.
Walk back to BASE in the rain, get my stuff, and wait for Jackie and Lisa to show up. Meet 3 Israeli boys and feel sad that I don't have more time to get to know everyone in the hostel because they're all so cool.
Finally J/L and I meet up and they're such a sight for sore eyes. They're the only people who know what my hair looked like back home, and they like the brunette look on me :) I mean, it does look good. I get all my stuff in the trunk and we set off for Watakere for our first wwoof farm. They've both been there for a week and were telling me how great it is, so i'm getting very excited even though I really enjoyed BASE and want to go back. I'm very impressed by Lisa's command of driving on the left side of the road and J/L assure me I will be driving in the next few days. I'm slightly terrified but can't worry about that yet.
We start driving through the freaking rain forest and I'm going where the hell are we? When we wind around and see the sign for a fire station and a "Tip no Rubbish" sign, we know it's time to turn onto a road that rivals Maxwelton and Echo Lane for steepness. It is very steep. And our car is very old. We have to back into a parking spot because there are too many cars parked at the house. We come inside and I'm met by smiles and inquiries of who I am and how do you like New Zealand and meeting all the new people. I get good vibes immediately and know I'm going to be well taken care of.
Sleeping happens in bunk beds- there are 8 in the basement of the house, in 2 rooms, 4 each. We separate into a girls and boys bunk. Apparently J/L had to share the room with Nick (who pays rent) the week before, because there were 4 Sweedish girls taking up an entire room before. But now that they're gone we can split up into "Americans" and "Kiwis". The beds are not the most comfortable... in fact, they're kind of uncomfortable. But there are many pillows on each bunk so I have some extra padding under me, but I swear I had bruises up my left thigh from the bed.
Meet Germans #2, Simon and Mattias, who are leaving the next morning. they are nice, but I don't get to know them much, since they are leaving. We hope to meet up with Simon in Dunedin, since he will be studying there.
I know that I'm going to LOVE Tutira, their 9-yr-old son. He's kind of amazing for a little boy. Very smart, very cheeky. Absolutely adorable. We have good times.
I love Sherab.
I love this house.
Holy crap I can't believe I'm in New Zealand.

Oct 26. Start wwoofing. It's great. See post below for more completeness.
The big hoohah of the day is I start to drive on the *wrong* side of the road. We drop off Lisa to do a bush walk on her own, and I get behind the wheel to attempt to drive into Henderson, a 30 minute drive, to find some internet, since there is none at our house in Bethels.
So. I begin to drive.
Dear God.
I thought I was going to die.
Here's the thing about New Zealand roads: They suck. Imagine CA-1 going north. And it's like that the ENTIRE TIME. Oh, and Kiwis like to drive REALLY FAST, so it's all intimidating while you're trying to make a left turn and they're riding on your ass. Jackie and I got insanely lost because signage is not so good in the Bethels area, so we went like 20 minutes out of our way and I had to turn around on some driveway and it was just terrifyingly awful. The turn signal and the windshield wipers are on opposite sides of the steering wheel, so you try to signal and you get a cleaner windshield and you go "Dammit!" And I had to think REALLY HARD about which side to drive on... just try to keep in the center of the lane, and do everything ass backwards, and you'll be fine... I definitely had a hard time staying in my line. You just have to be a beginning driver all over again, retrain yourself, because all of your default reactions are just wrong (cue windshield wiper) and the freaking rearview mirror is on the other side of the wheel (and you can't see it from the passenger seat! so annoying!) and it's just so much to think about at once. Argh. But we didn't die, and we haven't died yet. We're aiming to keep it that way.
We finally get to Henderson, use internet, check out the mall, go to pick up Lisa, it starts to rain, we get lost several more times, finally find the place but Lisa isn't there, so Jackie and I find a great climbing tree and talk about life until Lisa shows up. Go back to Sherab's, meet Germans #3, this really sweet couple Johannes and Adelina who say they're just going to wwoof with Sherab for a few nights. They have a "Camper Wan" (van) that they want to build a bed in back of so they can sleep in the van and not pay for accommodation everywhere. We're happy to add more workers to our queue.

Oct 27-30. We work in Sherab's amazing garden, doing all sorts of great stuff. Mostly weeding, but that's the bulk of ANY wwoof place we'll find. Before planting anything you have to remove all the weeds. And Sherab is quite picky. And a perfectionist. So she expects it to be ALL gone. So it's tedious but not back breaking. We do lots of preparation for Friday, which is the "day to plant" or something on the Kiwi calendar. So that's when we plant the pumpkins! I LOVE PLANTING PUMPKINS. J/L and I plan on coming back to Sherab's in a few months so we can harvest the pumpkins we planted, and make pumpkin pie! We're so pumped.

We become fast friends with Germans #3. We make plans to all meet up in Nelson for New Year's. We all go into town together one of the days, all buy chocolate (toblerone! Cadbury's!), and I got this awesome mocha with marshmellows at the bottom. But not just any marshmellows. Strawberry marshmellows. It was incredible. We try to do laundry in town but it's crazy expensive so we say we're not paying for laundry after this time. We'll handwash. Most Kiwis don't seem to own driers, they all hang their things to dry. So we just washed in town and were able to hang stuff at Sherab's. ABOVE the dinner table! I have pictures of it, I hope to put them up sometime, it was like the bat cave or something.

J/L and I have to work out the pricing for the car etc. Jackie's constructed this crazy system about how to pay each other that I pretty much keep out of, and just have them let me know how much I owe. I pay for our ferry ticket from Wellington to Picton, which is pretty pricy for 3 people with a car. But we work it all out and I pay back the girls in several installments. Or I just pay for big purchases, like at the Warehouse, which is the Kiwi version of Target. It's a wonderful place.

Yadda yadda yadda.

Halloween. We are STOKED for Halloween, which is on a Saturday. We have to work in the morning, but then it leaves all day to prepare. Jackie's been asking me about going out in costume since I bought my plane ticket, so we've been preparing for this night mentally for a while.

Turns out Sherab, the former gypsy, has a whole chest full of costumes she's acquired over the years, and says we can have at it. We have Tutira take pictures of us trying everything on, those photos are really hilarious. Eventually we all decide on variations of a gypsy- Jackie in jeans and a green velvet top, me in a skirt/shirt duo, Lisa in this wonderful Xena-like getup that is just amazing. Pictures are on my flickr photostream :)

We drive into Aukland for the night, figuring if we can't find a place to crash we can always sleep in the car. We park at Citygroove, the hostel where J/L stayed, and I meet some of their friends from their stay (a lot of people actually pay weekly fees at backpackers while they work in the city). I'm eager to see my friends at BASE, so we don't stay long before making our way across the city to see my friends. I reunite with everyone and I'm so glad that they're all happy to see me- it was just reassuring that I did make good friends in such a short time. We went to Globe Bar which was right next to the hostel. We saw zombies in the street. It was awesome. Not everyone was dressed up, apparently Halloween is just gaining some momentum in Australia and New Zealand. So a lot of Kiwis are saying they have to train themselves to get used to trick or treating with little dressed up kids. Yeah, America's taking over the world one commercial holiday at a time! We have a great time at Globe, and find beds to stay in at BASE, so we don't have to sleep in the car!

Nov 1. We all wake up at different times, but Jackie and I connect first, and meet up with my friend Julia really randomly and go for breakfast at Starbucks. They don't do prepaid cards, but they will do frequent buyer cards, so I get on that. If I buy 8 more cups of coffee I'll get my 10th free! woo! We catch up with Julia, and she reminds us she's moving to Wellington within the next week, and she hopes we will come visit. We assure her that we have a ferry ticket for December 9th, and Jackie wants to spend her birthday in Wellington, so we will definitely be there to see her wonderful flat. She's very excited, as are we. We still haven't heard from Lisa by 9:30, so we windowshop around Queen street. Jackie looks for a copy of "How I Met Your Mother" because she hasn't seen any recent episodes and is going through withdrawal, but we don't find any.

At some point I said goodbye to people at BASE, but I think that actually happened before breakfast. I don't know, it was over a month ago...

We don't hear from Lisa by 10:00, so we part ways with Julia, promising to keep in touch, and we walk back to City Groove, hoping Lisa is there. She is not. We hang out with people, talk about the previous evening, get offered beer and cigarettes, I accept the first, Jackie accepts the second, and we chill until Lisa finally calls us after 11:00 saying "Fuck it's so fucking bright! I totally forgot sunglasses ow my eyes I'll be right there..."

We make it back to Sherab's, and I try to nap, but I can't, so I do a few hours of work weeding (naturally). It's quiet for most of it, though I got to chat with the Germans a little more, as they were curious about our evening, and I got to ask questions about their lives and their plans for travel in NZ. But I worked alone for a little while and got to ruminate on how amazing my life has been in just one week....

And then November ensues... for a future blog!