A Mathemagician's Journey

I love where I work....

2010-08-05T21:12:00.000-07:00

Hello Buzz...

Five Stages (Part Deux)

2010-03-02T20:59:00.001-08:00

... until September 1st rolled around and I found myself signing up for classes. The internship went really well. I was doing some really interesting research and while I wasn't able to produce usable results, I was able to help shed light on the complexity of the problem. We were having a meeting at the beginning of August to discuss the progress of the project and one of my co-workers suggested that we take a different approach to a solution. To which my supervisor replied, "we would but Elyse is only here until August." To which I replied "well, that doesn't have to be true." And just like that my internship was extended through November, with the catch that I had to be enrolled in a graduate program. So like I said it's September 1st and I'm about to go to classes. Well, not exactly. The whole denial stage reared it's ugly head again and so I spent my first week of classes at home in New Jersey enjoying my friends and family. But after that I started up with classes. And thus I entered the stage of
Depression. Whenever I feel like I don't have a plan I get stressed and depressed. Going into September I had no clue what was going to happen after November. Oh and because I like to go big or go home, I packed myself up and moved to Pasadena so that I wouldn't have to suffer the horrible pain that is rush hour traffic. I would go to classes on Mondays, work the rest of the week and come home to my barely furnished (but fabulous nonetheless) apartment where I would commence on doing homework. This was not fun, even for a gal like me who loves math, this was too much math. What made it worse was that word was seeping through the work grape vine that there wasn't enough funding to keep me on the project past November. So I tried my best to stay positive (failing at that most of the time) and kept busy at work. Things looked bleak as the end of my internship neared. I started pulling out all of the stops, I sent my resume to anyone who I had come into contact with while at JPL. I emailed professors. In my head if I didn't have a job then I couldn't justify living in Pasadena or doing the doctoral program. I needed that outside motivation of a career to help keep me focused at school. Without a job in math I knew I would lose interest in my classes and become unmotivated...I have been in school for the vast majority of my life. Going to classes, taking notes, doing homework-it's like breathing to me. Without focus I would have just been on auto pilot.

About two weeks before the end of the internship, I found out that I had to make a presentation about my work. Usually the presentations are done over lunch and they just involve people that helped you with the project. One of the bigger supervisors (in hierarchy not girth) got wind of the work I was doing and asked me to present to his staff meeting. This was a big deal. It gave me a chance not only to show the work I had been doing but also to introduce myself to other people at JPL who might be able to find me a place. I was giving my presentation the last week I was at JPL. Although I was amped about presenting, I was still disappointed and worried since it didn't appear that a transition into JPL was in my cards. The day before the presentation I got a meeting request from a supervisor in another department. She met with me and told me she had an opening doing cost modeling. I told her I was interested and she said she would get back to me. The next day I presented. The presentation went smoothly and at the end of the presentation the head supervisor asked my supervisor what was going to happen to me. My supervisor announced that I had gotten the job in the other department! Hoooray! Woot! Woot! I have a job. A job at JPL! It will last longer than 3 months! Whoo hoooo!

The next day I met with my new(now current) supervisor. She gave me a more detailed job description and then she asked me the golden question: "Do you want to work full time or academic part time?" drum roll please....

Acceptance I took the job as an academic part time employee. That's right. I accepted the fact that I am still in school and probably (hopefully) will be in school for another couple of years. Why oh why did I not take the full time offer after all the angst and stages of grieving? because the job isn't math-y enough (and I like to torture myself). I like what I'm doing but the supervisor was honest from the get go that the models won't involve any difficult math. The modeling part is interesting, but I was worried that if I take the job full time that my resume would read like I want to work in the financial sector and I don't (fyi my list of jobs I don't want in a very particular order: teacher, financial anything, retail worker, summer conference housing supervisor). With academic part time I still get benefits and a secure job and I have the freedom to keep going to school.

So here it is March and I am in my second semester as PhD school (as I call it). The next big hurdle is the quals which I take in June (or maybe May, they haven't posted the date yet). Most of my time is being spent studying for the exam. If I pass, I'll keep going with the program (and I'll keep encouraging Seth's friends to call me Dr. Fosse). If I don't, then maybe it is time to pack those pencils away and call it a school day ( I would still encourage Seth's friends to call me Dr. Fosse). But don't worry, I'm sure I'll fret and moan the entire way, regardless of the decision I make.

5 stages (part one)

2010-02-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

Just as there are five stages of grief there were five stages to me be being in a PhD program:
1. Denial: I never planned on getting a PhD. I consistently put the kibosh on any plans that would lead me to go for this. Sure I wanted my Master's but that was it. Nothing more. My goal since graduating UMass was to take some time off and travel then get my Master's in math and then find myself a cubicle where I could sit and do math all day.

Why would I want a PhD? It would pigeonhole me into being a teacher and I do not want to teach. I would need to pass the qualifying exams (quals for short). This exam is 6 hours long and draws questions from 6 different math subjects. It's not easy. It's offered once a year and you get 2 chances to pass. Rumors abound that only 50% pass the first time and even less than that continue through to the second year after failing the first time. To know me is to know that I don't like failure...at all. Even if I passed the quals the first go round I would still have at least four more years of schooling, which means I would be 30 (30!) before I graduate (30!). School had been the main priority of my life. I was done. I wanted to shift the focus. I wanted a math a job.

2. Anger: But there was no math job to be found. I put out resumes, attended career fairs, bought 2 suits, and nothing. I enlisted the help of my professors who gave my resumes directly to people within major companies so as to ensure that I made it past the sea that is the human resources resume database. Still nothing. I had no clue what I was going to do. It wasn't just a matter of finding a job, it was a matter of if I didn't find a job I would have to move back east, which to me at that point was admitting failure. I had no car, no job prospects and I was frustrated. I had no control over what was happening. I tried to stay up beat and positive but I failed on a daily basis and usually dwindled into a grumpier snippier version of myself. My mood was comparable to how I would imagine I would act if I had to try to give up caffeine.

3.Bargaining: As I mentioned in a previous post, I got a phone call one day from a guy at JPL. He flat out offered me a job, but there was a catch. The thing was (and still is) that JPL is on a hiring freeze. The only way they could offer me the job was under the Space Grant Internship program. Not only was this internship just 10 weeks long, but I had to be enrolled in school to be eligible. I told the guy that I was sorry but I was graduating and not continuing onto another degree. That next Monday after class my professor (who is also the dean of the math program) asked how my job search was going. I told him what happened at JPL and he looked at me and said "just enroll in the PhD program." He told me he could waive the fees for now and that since I was already here it would just be a change of degree form that could be processed in a couple of days. I wouldn't have to take any classes until the fall so my summer would be free to pursue the internship and hopefully secure a full time position before school started up. I decided to do it. I would enroll in the program, take the internship and work my butt off to show JPL that they needed me there full-time. So as my family and I celebrated my Master's degree I was technically enrolled in the PhD program but believe me, I would have been the first one to tell you that I wasn't going through with it...

The Rise of Buster

2010-01-23T20:57:00.000-08:00

I shall ignore the fact that I haven't posted since July and renew my goal of posting something mind-blowingly riveting once a week. The best place to begin is to introduce you all to my new car Buster!

Buster is a 2009 Scion XB. Esther died about 6 weeks before I was graduating with my Master's. I was living in Claremont, which is about 30 miles east of LA. I know that doesn't sound far but with the crappy public transportation system in California no car for 6 weeks was terrible. I was holding off on getting a car because I had no clue what I was doing after graduation. I had put resumes out to lots of places and I was getting no feedback. On top of not having found a job I was faced with finding a new place to live and the sudden realization that my Cali adventures were looming to a close. So I did what any self respecting grad student would do, I went to bars and hung with my friends.

One particular Thursday night we all went out and decided that Long Island Iced Teas would be the drink of the night. Well, actually we decided that after starting off with a pitcher of beer. Needless to say when I woke up the next morning I had negative motivation. As I laid in bed (which also counted as my couch since I lived in a studio apartment) catching up on my tivo my phone rang. On the other line of that phone call was an employee at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). They were working on a research project that they thought I would be interested in. I said I was. They said I would start Monday. Well, ok fine not exactly. I did get offered the job right on the spot but my start date was a point of contention due to some technicalities but I'm saving that for another post (I can't divulge all of my information now otherwise it'll be years before I post again).

The moral of the story is that I got an internship at JPL. Yep, not a job but an internship and on the heels of the internship offer I called up my good friend Briana and told her it was time. She picked me up the next day and we went car shopping. Car shopping was an entirely new world to me which is why Briana came along (by my last count she has facilitated the purchases of 4 new cars in the past 2 years). I had originally wanted the scion xd, it's smaller and looks more like a hatchback, but when we test drove it I felt that it was too small. The trunk was so small I couldn't even lay my beach chair flat and the thought of how many trips it would take to move all of my belongings with the xd really turned me off.

I didn't want to even look at the xb. I thought it was too big but Briana insisted I test drive it and (although it pains me to type this) she was right. Buster was big, but not too big. I could visualize all of my belongings cramming there way throughout Buster's roomy interior. I envisioned trips to Vegas where two people and a cooler could fit in the backseat. I played with the automatic windows and locks, reveling in the fact that I didn't have to re-learn the arm-outstretched-behind-the-back-backseat-window-rolldown. The air conditioner actually pumped out cold air within seconds--on low! My ipod hooked directly into the stereo so I could control all my music from my steering wheel buttons. It has a camry engine. I was sold.

Then began all of the paperwork and there was a lot of paperwork. I financed the car so I had to talk to there financing department who weren't entirely convinced that I had a job since I didn't have a paystub. But luckily every time I said I worked at JPL Briana chimed in that JPL was a part of NASA. Eventually we wowed them with saying JPL and NASA enough times that my financing was approved.

After about 4 hours on the lot I drive off with my first new car. When I got Buster he had 40 miles on him. Nine months later he's about to break 12,000. He's survived 3 trips to San Diego, 2 to Vegas, countless runs to Target, and bunches of trips to Claremont. I love my car and I love the fact that it was my gift to myself. Buster was the first big purchase of many purchases over the past couple of months but I'm saving those stories for later. For now, enjoy the pictures of me and Buster!

The Fall of Esther

2009-07-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

Oh so long ago, March 2009 to be exact, my good friends from Middlesex Erin and Jessie came out to the Inland Empire to visit. We did many things, we went to the San Diego Zoo, Las Vegas, Drag Queen Bingo, but the most significant event we experienced together was the death of my very first car, Esther.

The oh so fatefull event began the night before when we were driving home from LA. There was a loud bump noise and from then on Esther's engine sounded like it was popping corn. Not much sooner after that the oil light came on. Not thinking much of it we filled Esther up with more oil the next day and headed out to the Griffith Observatory. She didn't sound too good going up the hill to the main parking lot but we got there and walked around and took some pictures:

Then it was time to get back into Esther. The popcorn noise was loud, I mean people were looking at the car loud. We got her down the mountain and pulled into the first gas station we saw. The mechanics face said it all, Esther was not driving off of this lot.

To make sure everyone understands the occasion let me give a brief history of this Saturn SL2. Bought in 1998 by Meryl and Harold Fosse(i.e. Mom and Dad), Esther served Meryl well for her long commute from NJ to the Bronx. Esther was the car that I took my driving test in and once Meryl decided to purchase another Saturn, Esther became mine. She survived a road trip across the country with my parents and all of my stuff. She made it to 198,000 miles. She was an awesome car.

Saying good bye to my car.

I am so thankful that these two were here!

The very nice tow truck guy. He towed us the 30-odd miles back to Claremont AND put up with us playing name that tune. Thank you AAA.

Good bye Esther!

I wound up having to sell Esther for $200.00. It was a sad day indeed. This car had a lot of memories for me and my family. It will be missed.

How am I getting around now you may ask? The answer is worthy of an entirely different blog post and I swear it won't take me 6 months to post it!

The Diploma Came in the Mail Today

2009-06-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

Swine Flu

2009-04-29T23:18:00.000-07:00

I swear this conversation actually happened:
Me: (to person leaving the office) Feel better. Hope you don't catch the swine flu.
Other Person: I think it's called Mexican flu now.
Me: I think that's only in Israel because they don't want the Jewish population to think they can't get the flu just because they don't eat/raise pigs.
Other Person: Well, I still call it Mexican flu. I just feel bad for the pigs getting the blame.
Me: What about the Mexicans?
(Silence)

Passover

2009-04-13T21:21:00.001-07:00

Ok I have to admit it...it was pretty cool to be at a Passover Seder and talk about how I saw the sun rise on Mount Sinai.

The Last Egypt Blog

2009-03-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

I know I know I took forever but that's what happens when school starts up, my time on the computer is spent coding and wikapedia-ing, not blogging. But here goes:

So I think where I left off we had been to the Valley of the Kings. The next day we went and saw the Karnak Temple which is bigger than Luxor temple, but also was way more crowded. The only interesting thing that happened was that Cabby thought it would be a good idea to try to get a pencil rubbing of a hieroglyphic. Out of nowhere comes a ministry of tourism officer who tells her no. She obliges, but he follows us around for the rest of time, just to make sure. After leaving the temple we hopped back onto a plane to Cairo. Once back in Cairo, Cabby, Jessica, and I wondered the streets and found some local markets where we stocked up on some fruits and sweets before we left in the morning. I think that was my favorite night out of the whole trip, we weren't in a huge group snapping pictures. In fact the locals were asking to take pictures with us!

The next day we began our very long trek to Mount Sinai. An added bonus is that Mount Sinai is actually on the continent of Asia. So I went to Africa and Asia in two weeks, not bad. Once we got to the lovely hotel we were staying at we all kind of crashed. We were beginning our hike up Mount Sinai at 2am so we all had dinner and tried to take naps. Unfortunately whatever I had for dinner didn't agree with me and I was up at 2am running to the bathroom and debating whether I should do the hike or not. Well for one thing I still hadn't ridden a camel and for another my motto is go big or go home so I threw some puke bags in my pocket, swallowed some Amodium and got on the bus to begin the longest day, ever. We got to the base of the mountain and we got paired off with our camels. Because I wasn't feeling very well and because the camel wranglers were yelling at us there are no pictures of us on the camels. But I can tell you that for me it was amazing. I fit better on a camel than I think I do a horse and my camel fit my personality. We booked it to the front of the line and then we slowed down and blocked the trail so that no one could pass. I had no control and I thought it was hilarious.

I just have this picture in my head of how it looked: Camels lined up walking up the mountain, people hiking up with flashlights that were really needed because the moon was so bright, and dry mountainous regions as far as the eye can see. You can't forget the amazing stars either. We were on the camels for about an hour and something about the outdoors and the new experience made my sickness disappear for the time being.

After being let off by the camels we waited for a group to catch up to begin the ascent of the rest of the mount. The rest of the hike consisted of 750 steps. But they weren't really steps, they were more like rock slabs balanced on one another. It took a good long time to get up them but once we did we hunkered down to wait for the sunrise.

And this is the part that most people tell me to leave out: it wasn't all that worth it. The sunrise was great I admit but I could have seen the same thing on the beach on the east coast. The one thing that I thought was cool were the random groups of people who were praying and chanting. I guess what I mean to say is for a pilgramage it's awesome, for a hike...not so much.

After the sun rose and we filled our cameras with many a pictures we begun our hike down. It took forever. About 2 and half hours to be exact. And the Professor was none to happy to see our leader when we got down because we were a half hour late. Without any rest we headed into the monastery of St. Katherine, which is at the base of Mount Sinai. Honestly I was so tired I don't remember much about it.

At about mid-afternoon we piled back on the bus and began our final trek to the Red Sea. The final place we visited was the monastery of St. Paul at the Red Sea. It was a fun monastery and it was within those divine walls that a declaration was passed. A monk was showing us around and at this point we were all kind of tired and loopy so we were joking around with the good-natured monk. After the tour we sat and had tea with him. He came up to me and asked me my name. I told him and he told me that I was funny. Funny! That's practically from the mouth of God that I Elyse Lynn Fosse is hilariously funny! Clearly this was my pilgramage.

After saying good bye to the monk with the fantastic sense of humor we plopped ourselves down at the resort we were staying. I laid on the beach at the Red Sea for an entire day, I even enjoyed a pizza and beer there. Then at 2am we begun our trek into Cairo and our flights home.

It was an amazing two weeks and I think this blogs shows just how much we did. I was glad to come home and not have to worry about drinking the water or accidently dipping my toothbrush in the faucet but I truly enjoyed Egypt. The people I met were welcoming and the educational vacation was interesting.

Now it's back to homework and job searching, but more on that later.

Valley of the Kings

2009-03-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

Today we went across the Nile to the otherside of Luxor where the tombs are. Our first stop was the Valley of the Kings. So far they've uncovered about 50 tombs and it is believed that hundreds still remain. Admittance into the Valley grants means I could go into any 3 tombs of my choice. These tombs, like everything else in Egypt, are amazing. Everywhere I looked was covered in vibrant heiroglyphics, either carved directly into the walls or painted on, depending on if the king died before the tomb was actually finished or not. By this time on the trip I was actually able to recognize some of the symbols and understand at least part of the story that the artwork told. The amount of detail was amazing to see.

The main rule of the valley is that no photography at all is allowed. One reason is because they want you to buy there postcards. Another reason is that if too many people forget to turn their flashes off the artwork will be damaged. Luckily this is a CGU group so we don't follow the rules. We were walking along one of the tombs and one of my group members took a picture, no flash, very subtle. That is until another one of my group member gasped and shouted his name! The security guard grabbed his camera which meant my group member followed. The fine for taking a picture is 1000 Egyptian pounds which converts to about 200 US dollars. Luckily our tour guide bargained it down to 100 Egyptian pounds. As we were leaving the other group member that had outed the picture taker told said picture taker that they wished he had had to pay the full fine because "He was destroying the thing that I loved." I think the heat had gotten to her but it had been a week without decent tv at this point so any source of drama was pounced on.

After the valley we headed over to a nobleman's tomb. The nobleman's tomb was not as big as the kings, we had to climb down steps and crawl into the room, but the pictures were still vibrant and descriptive. The best was the Dr. Gabra was sitting in there with us practically lying down pointing out all of the artwork and it's historical significance. The nobleman's tomb showed a story of feasts while the workers tomb that we saw next showed a story of farmwork. The story of the feast and farmwork would also carry over into Karnak Temple, which we saw the next day.

After the tombs we headed to Hatshepsut Temple. Hatshepsut was the only female pharaoh and if you thought family scandal begin with English royalty, you are mistaken. Hatshepsut took the crown of pharaoh because the eldest son was too young to rule yet. He grew up and went off to school and when he came back, he wanted the throne. She said no and continue to rule until she was finally forced out of power. To demonstrate his power over his mother, Thutmose III wiped out any statue or heiroglyphic that bared her name. Thus the temple is full of bodies with no faces. The majority of people on the trip are Women Studies majors and they did not take too kindly to this slight. Cabby especially decided it was time to step on her soap box and use that might Texas accent to explain to anybody who would listen how messed up it was. And don't worry, she's still not over it. I am going over her house this week to watch a documentary about Hatshepsut and her accomplishments. Woot. Woot.

One of the most interesting things about this day was our interacting with our tour guide Islam. He made some rather bold comments throughout the day. For one he couldn't understand why anyone would be interested in Hatshepsut. She didn't do anything. And by not doing anything I mean she didn't go to war. Thus she must have been a loser. The straw that semi broke this camel's back was when he started talking about the Jews who lived in Egypt during WWII. He claimed they were losers for leaving once Germany had occupied Egypt. Now at first I was hot mad, but then he tried to explain himself and I realised two things, 1) he has no clue how fierce the word loser is when referring to a whole religion/culture, 2) he has no clue about Judaism at all. When we started the conversation he thought that the Jewish religion believe in a Holy Trinity. Right then I realized that this man was just talking out of his so I don't have to bother with taking him seriously. But actually when I listened to what he was saying, what I think he was trying to convey was the if the Jewish community had stayed in Egypt during WWII and recognized themselves as Egyptians, then the country would have protected them and then Egypt's economy actually lost a lot since they left. This piggy backed onto his idea that Israel is not needed since all Egyptian Jews are Egyptian first. After a long day in the sun I just chalked up our disagreement to a deluded version of Egyptian pride.

Luxor

2009-02-25T22:01:00.001-08:00

We woke up bright and early the next morning and took a 1 hour flight to Luxor. Our first stop was the Luxor Temple. The pictures I took do not do the temple justice. Everything was just so large scale, yet again I was in awe of the detail. After spending about an hour at the temple we headed over to the Luxor Museum. This was by far the most modern of the museums we visited. Our tour guide for Luxor, Islam, was taking us through the museum and begin very detailed. Unfortunately, we had all been up since 4am so our interest in the subject matter was outweighed by our interest to get to the hotel.

This hotel was more like a resort and Luxor overall felt geared towards European tourists. After a nap Cabby and I joined a group of others and we took a carriage ride through downtown Luxor. Islam told us we were going to stop at a bazaar so I was getting excited to stretch my bargaining muscle yet again. Before we went to the bazaar we went through a local market on the carriage, which made me very uncomfortable. Shopkeepers were sitting on the ground waiting for customers and here we are, the white American tourists, riding through on our horse and carriages taking pictures of them as we sit elevated above them. My tourist guilt overwhelmed me. To me there are different ways travel and the most enjoyable ways are the ones where you incorporate yourself into the culture. This carriage ride was one of the ways that I despise to travel, as if you are going through a cultural zoo and are just stopping to snap pictures of the "exotic" locals.

Once my guilt subsided we arrived at the other bazaar. Cabby and I immediately went off in search of a bag for her to pack more of her stuff in. We stopped at one place and the man took us inside to bargain with Cabby. After she had gotten her bag the shopkeeper asked if I wanted anything. I told him no, that I didn't have a lot of money with him. He took this as a sign that I wanted to bargain and then started asking me to name a price for a bag. I told him no again. Then he turned to Cabby and asked her to leave. She didn't of course, and I know that the reason why he wanted her to leave was so that he could offer me the same bag he just sold her at a lower price. At this point Cabby and I start leave the store. After Cabby leaves the doorway, he blocks it with his body and says he doesn't believe me that I have no money. Well my patience was gone. The only way to get by him was to skirt around and step on his merchandise, which I did. Cabby asked me if I was ok and I said yeah but the Jersey in me was starting to come out so I should give the bargaining a rest.

After the carriage ride back, we had dinner in a room that looked like it was right out the Luxor hotel in Vegas. Then it was time to crash before another long day the next day.

Monastaries of Wadi Al-Natrun

2009-02-13T16:33:00.000-08:00

We started off the day at the Monastery of St. Marcarius where a true miracle happened. We were waiting for the monk to take us around on a tour when Cabby discovered that her camera battery was dead. She turned it off and waited until the monk got there. Then she turned it on and noticed that she had almost half battery life left! About an hour later my watch just stopped working so we rubbed the blessed camera on top of the watch and the watch started working again! It's the miracle of St. Marcarius!

This was the first monastery I had ever been too and I was amazed at how serene the compound was. It was a bright sunny day and just walking around the structure had a calming effect on us all. Every monastery has a keep which is where the monks go if they are under attack. At this particular monastery the keep is closed to the public but our good friend Dr. Gabra sweet talked the monks into letting us in! The keep is set up so that the monks could have everything they needed for months if they needed to stay there for safety. There are three different levels to this keep and each level is dedicated to a different saint, with an altar for the monks to prayer and have service at.

After wandering around the keep for a bit we had the honor of meeting the oldest monk in the monastery, Father John. Father John started out with a group of monks that lived in caves in the desert during the 1960s. After some time, the elder of his group was asked by the elder of the St. Marcarius monks to move into the monastery. They decided it was their path to move in. At that time 6 monks resided in the monastery. Today, the monastery has over 130 monks and has the distinction of having a waiting list to get in. Imagine men in the U.S. putting themselves on waiting lists to become monks. St. Marcarius also has the distinction of never having to close its doors since its inception, which was in the first century A.D.

The next monastery was located in the town of Wadi Al Natrun. As we were driving the monastery we picked up some monks who were walking there and of course Dr. Gabra knew them. I bought wine at this monastery and it was not the best. When you swirled it around it left a brown residue on the glass and tasted like a bad port. The unique thing about this monastery resides in its church. It has been discovered that the artwork was created in layers. Instead of destroying the oldest artwork to create new works, the artists created a layer of plaster over the oldest work and painted on that. Thus there are three layers of artwork from various time periods. The base layer, which would be the oldest, has been found to date back to the 8th century. Again I was impressed by the thoughtfulness of the artists. They covered up the artwork without destroying it, thus preserving it for the future.

We also got to wander about the library of recovered manuscripts. The monk who was in charge of the project showed us some of the manuscripts that had been preserved. We got see preserved papyrus leaf manuscripts and he explained the process and detail that go into preserving such things. At one point he passed around a newly bound preserved manuscript which one of my cohort dropped. There was a gasp as we all stared at the manuscript on the ground. Then all I heard was Cabby from across the room in her Texas drawl saying "I knew somebody was gonna drop that." Luckily the manuscript was fine and we escaped without damaging anymore of Egyptian history.

The final highlight of the day was getting to meet the bishop of the monastery. Dr. Gabra was trying to set up a meeting with the Pope of the Coptic Church but sadly he wasn't free on the days that we would be around. Instead the bishop of the monastery met with us and we took pictures with him.

This day emphasized the point of the trip from Dr. Gabra's eyes. By having us at these monasteries taking pictures with these monks, they are able to show that there is an interest in their work and thus they can continue to get funding for the restoration of manuscripts.

We left the monasteries and then went back to the hotel to pack because the next day we were taking a flight to Luxor!

Alexandria

2009-02-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

We took a three hour bus ride to Alexadria where our first stop was the some Greek ruins. The ruins looked like they were from a Greek theater and I'll be honest, if I wanted to see some Greek ruins I would have gone to Greece.

The next stop was another citadel. This citadel sits right on the Mediterranean and looks like a castle. Walking around and inside it was like being inside a really awesome playground. There are all these different rooms that look out onto the sea, which were once used to look out for impending enemies but are now used for perfectly posed tourist pictures. We just hung out at the citadel for about an hour enjoying the sun and the view.

Afterwards we were supposed to go downtown for lunch but there were some demonstrations going on concerning the bombings of Gaza. To avoid any problems we went to a place that sat right across from the beach and had an amazing meal of fish. I asked what kind of fish it was and they told me it was sea bass. Turns out no matter what kind of fish it is they will just tell you it is sea bass. Apparently they don't differentiate between different kinds of fish. Hence I have no idea what kind of fish it was but I do know that this was the first time that I got a fish presented to me with it's head still on. Awesome.

Since Egypt is a predominantly Muslim nation, the call to prayers are broadcast via loudspeakers throughout the town. Since we were eating lunch around noon we got to see the men lining up on carpets on the sidewalks to pray and we heard the call to prayer over the loudspeaker. Once the call to prayer was done we started to hear a new voice over a loudspeaker. It was louder and it was repeating something over and over. Being that we had been diverted due to protests some of us were wondering what the person was saying and were getting a little anxious. We asked Dr. Gabra what the person was saying. He stood up, went to the window listened for a few seconds, then smiled and said "He wants to sell you 10 tomatoes for 5 pounds."

After lunch we headed over the library of Alexandria. Spoken like a true grad student I will admit, this library was amazing!! It was built in 2002 and through the help of international funds the library is working on digitizing it's whole collection in both Arab and English. The inside not only has kiosks for studying and free computer usage, but sprinkled throughout it also has exhibitions of art, as well as ancient manuscripts. The coolest think though is that they working on digitizing Napoleon's "Description L'Egypt." It is a huge multi-volume work of descriptions of Egypt, with hand drawn pictures and Napleon's take on Egypt. It is a big deal and it's now available online in French, soon to be posted in English and Arabic as well. The best part, it's free. One can just login online and see one of the most comprehensive case studies of Egypt. Like I said, amazing.

After the library we hopped back on the bus for the long ride back to Cairo. I would have loved to stay a few more days in Alexandria. The coast is beautiful, a lot of people said it reminded them of San Francisco. There was much left to explore in the library and I would have loved to eat some more sea bass. But alas, back to C-town we went.

Islamic Cairo

2009-02-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

In the morning we met with a professor whose doctoral dissertation at Harvard was about the first mosque we visited. That mosque dates back to the 9th century and is centered in an area of Cairo that is well known in Egyptian folk lore. The mosque is built on bedrock which not only has helped preserve the mosque throughout numerous earthquakes, it also emphasizes the well thought plan the 9th century architect had when building it. When I walked inside the first thing I was struck with was the intensity of the light shining through the windows. The light hit the other side of the wall at such an angle that the words of the Koran that were inscribed onto the wall were highlighted. This too was not a mistake but a well thought out plan as was the fact that no matter where you started standing if you moved so as to have two windows in the center of your eyesight when you look left and right you will be guided directly to where the prayers occurred. Also this mosque didn't have any pillars which actually means that the sultan who built it did not want to damage any churches or synagogues by taking their pillars which I think is a thoughtful gesture. Sadly though because the mosque did not look like the other mosques around it never caught on as THE place to worship.

The next mosque we went to was the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan. This mosque served also as a school and the professor had us sit down in one of the "classrooms" as he talked about the architecture and history of the mosque. The mosque dated back to the 12th century and was built by the Sultan Hassan who was 13 when he ascended the throne. In a room adjacent to the main courtyard is a crypt where the Sultan wanted to be buried. Unfortunately for him he was a bit of an ego maniac and not well liked so his death was not an accident and his body was most definitely not put into the crypt. While we were at the mosque we met the Iman of the mosque who took us into the crypt and sang us the call to prayer. The acoustics in the room were awesome and the Iman's tenor voice rang through the room giving me chills. Even without understanding the words I could tell that he was singing with conviction and with all of his heart. It was one of the most special moments on the trip.

After a lunch of hummus and falafel we were let loose in a local bazaar. This bazaar went on for at least 10 blocks in every direction and as much as it's said to be local it is very much a touristy place, but very fun nonetheless. My roommate and I started walking through and we were getting a lot of attention. First off she's 6' and blond haired so she stuck out. Furthermore she kept on saying out loud how much she liked something and then we would get bombarded with shopkeepers who wanted to bargain with her. I finally just blurted out to her that she had to keep her likes and dislikes to herself so we could keep walking. Thankfully, she's got a sense of humor. My first purchase of the day was a hookah which was one thing I was determined to by while in Egypt. After that I really wanted to buy some scarves. I found a shopkeeper whose scarves I liked and he had me go into his store. Cathy was a little further up ahead of me so I yelled her name, got her attention, then went into the store. The shopkeeper started showing me different scarves and showing me how fire proof they were by holding a lighter to them but I was distracted because Cathy still hadn't come into the store. The guy is starting to bargain and I tell him that I can't bargain until I find my friend. Just then she walks past the door so I yell out "Cathy" and the shopkeeper who is trying to be helpful so that I will be his stuff starts yelling too, except he's saying "Cabby." Eventually she hears us and comes in and I bargain and I have a blast doing it. Seriously though I am really good at bargaining, it brings out the competitive nature in me and I seem to get good deals. So we left the bazaar with a hookah, 3 scarves, and a new nickname for Cathy.

After the bazaar a bunch of us walked down to the Nile river and hopped on a boat for a little night time cruise. That's right. I took a party boat down the Nile. Would you expect anything less?

The Pyramids!

2009-01-31T22:22:00.001-08:00

After a good night's sleep we awoke on Christmas Day and drove through empty streets to the pyramids of Giza. There are 9 pyramids in Giza and we were able to see three of them. Only 300 people are allowed inside the pyramids each day in order to preserve the insides and protect it from humidity and human interaction. Sadly when we arrived at 10am all of the tickets for that day had already been sold so no inside of the pyramid for me but the outside was well worth it. Pictures and words can barely explain the vastness of these pyramids. One block was about the height of me! I was truly in awe of the amount of time and engineering that had to have gone into these pyramids. And what I find most amazing is all of it was just to send the pharaoh off into the afterlife. That's a lot of preparation.

The only thing that I found trying while being at the pyramids was that it is a definite tourist trap. People will walk along side you and put things on you are try to get you take something from them and then start demanding money. I found it to be a disconcerting situation at times. I was standing with my arms folded and a man came up and put postcards on top of my folded arms. I just kept on saying no thank you and shaking my head until he finally got the hint and took his stuff.

After the pyramids we went straight to the Sphinx. I would find out through the trip that the object of the sphinx is present in a lot of other temples but what makes this one special is it's size. I would also like to point out that I find it messed up that the Pizza Hut on 22 closed and yet you can go to one right across the street from the Sphinx. Thank you globalization.

We went to lunch at this amazing place where I got to indulge in hummus, falafel, chicken liver, and beer. It was one of my favorite meals of the trip. A day where you see the pyramids, a sphinx, have some falafel, and a beer with your professor is a good day in my book

But alas the day was not over. After lunch we headed over to the Egyptian Museum where we got a tour from the recently retired director of the Museum, who just so happens to be Dr. Gabra's good old friend. The Museum is huge and it took about four hours to walk through. We saw the only piece of heiroglyphics that has the word Israel inscribed. I got to see mummies and some of the gold from inside King Tut's tomb. The director also told some interesting stories about how some of the pieces actually got into the museum, i.e. people stole the stuff from the original sights and the museum had to work with the robbers as well as other countries to negotiate it's return to Egypt.

I hope by now you can get the gist that our days were jam packed with activities so that by the time we got back to the hotel all we did was relax for a bit and go to sleep. Sadly, I didn't experience much of any nightlife while in Egypt but the days more than made up for it.

Old Cairo and Christmas Eve

2009-01-27T08:39:00.000-08:00

The next day of our visit we started with the Coptic Museum which is housed within the walls of the old Babylonian fortress in Old Cairo. Dr. Gabra used to be the curator of this museum so we were lucky enough to have him take us through and point out pieces of interest. He also gave us insight as to why certain things were placed in certain places, from the eye of the curator. The museum incorporated recovered stairs and church ceilings to be its own. The courtyards contained columns and capitals from demolished monasteries. Everywhere you looked no matter where you were in the museum you would see artifacts.

After lunch, we went to Old Cairo. Here there are five churches, a synagogue, and a mosque that were all contained within Babylonian fortress walls back in the day. One of the churches didn't even have a foundation, it just simply rested atop the walls of the old fortress. Another of the churches is what's known as the cave church. It is believed that the holy family visited the cave church which makes the small church a special place for many Christians. After visiting the cave church we evened things out a bit by visiting the oldest synagogue in Cairo.

The whole afternoon we were within the old fortress walls. Lining these walls now are merchants and Ministry of Tourism police, all with something to say to the tourists. The most popular phrase seems to be "Aloha, Yankee Doodle, Welcome to Alaska," followed up in a close second by "Bama Obama, want to buy? Only a dollar." On the way back to the hotel I saw a poster that was had President Bush with a construction hat on and next to him was Hitler also with a construction hat and a swastika. Now I couldn't read the Arabic printed on the poster but I pretty much got the gist that certain people in Cairo were glad that the inauguration was soon.

That night we got invited to a Christmas Eve service. We piled into taxis (which are really like Mini Coopers but without the style and paint and power) and arrived at the church a little late. The place was packed and most of the teenagers were just chilling outside in the street talking the their friends while the service inside was broadcast from loud speakers attached to the church. We make our ways in and the Bishop who was welcoming everyone stops to invite us all down to the front row. We are all just trying to sit down quickly so some of us(me) didn't notice until a little later that the room was divided with men on one side and women on the other. Guess who was on the wrong side? No one seemed to care until there was some room on the women's side. As soon as some women got up to leave the man sitting next to me pointed and told me to go. So I did. I sat down at the first available chair I saw and wouldn't you know it that sucker was broken. The front left leg was leaning like it was gonna snap at any minute. I'm leaning on the pew grabbing my roomie Cathy and telling her that I'm gonna fall. What's worst is that I am in the line of sight of the video camera if I do fall everyone will see. Luckily they were about to start communion which was our cue to leave. Back we went to the hotel to rest up for another busy day in Cairo.

Once we got back to the hotel Cathy wanted to get some chocolate cake ordered to the room. This is kind of how that went: "Yes, I'd like two pieces of chocolate cake."(pause)"Chocolate cake."(pause)"Two. Well not two whole cakes just two pieces so that two people can eat. Ok." She hangs up and tells me that he kept on saying English cake and then said he was no good on the phone and is coming up the room. A little more of the same happens when he's up in the room and when he finally comes back with our chocolate cake...there isn't a speck of chocolate on the thing. Instead we got pound cake with cherries cut up inside. That was our one and only foray into room service in Egypt.

Egypt!

2009-01-25T10:30:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile but now I have something to blog about! Over my last winter break ever I went on a school sponsored trip to Egypt. The trip was 14 days all around Egypt and the focus of the trip was Coptic (Egyptian Christian) Art. The professor who took us, Dr. Gabra, is Egyptian and the man to go to when studying Coptic Art. But before starting the trip I had to get there. I took a 10.5 hours overnight flight from JFK to Cairo airport. I got in at 10a, our first group thing was at 2:30p, and I was suffering a 7 hour time difference so jet lag sucked. I met my roommate Cathy while we were waiting for the JFK flight. She is from Texas and she enjoys a sarcastic sense of humor so we got along great.

At 2:30 we went to the Coptic Institute where modern Coptic art is being produced. We got to see the art and meet the artists. The art is very detailed. It involves layers, first starting with a sketch, then using gold leaf and other colors the icon is finished. Each color has a significance. For example, gold leaf represents eternity, blue is heaven, brown is rust. The artists also showed us their portfolios where they had more paintings but also wall mosaics. These mosaics are massive and the amount of time, energy, and detail that must have gone into them left me in awe.

After the art institute we went to St. Mark's Church. The day was January 5 and Egyptian Christmas eve was to be the next day so we got to see all of the preparations being done. The church was massive and as with any church the stained glass windows and ornate designs of woodwork were beautiful. What sets most Egyptian churches apart from US churches is that the saint namesake probably visited Egypt whereas the US cannot claim that. In fact proof does exist that St. Mark walked in Alexandria.

After seeing the church we ended the day so that everyone could get ready for dinner and those of us who were still jet lagged could try to sleep some more. Getting back to the hotel involved a lot of traffic, partly because this is Cairo and partly because the French President was in town to conduct peace talks concerning the Gaza strip. There were demonstrations being held outside of certain buildings. There were some in the group making stupid comments like "Did anyone buy terrorism insurance?" but to be honest I felt safe the entire time I was in Egypt. We had a hired gun with us the whole time and the Ministry of Tourism Police worked well with our driver and gunman to ensure that we avoided places where demonstrations were taking place. Tourism is a big economic market for Egypt. The last thing they want is for tourists to get injured.

Once we got back to the hotel we watched some tv. The only English speaking station was Al-Jazeera and they were reporting non-stop on the situation in Gaza. Now I don't know how the conflict was portrayed in US news but Al-Jazeera was in my opinion decidedly pro-Palestine. They would consistently show pictures of injured or dead children and their grieving parents. Mention of Hamas was in my opinion kept to a minimum. It is always interesting to see news reported from different countries. The US has their own spin on things and since I grew up on that spin I assume it to be the truth and then when I leave the country I am reminded that it is not truth and every situation succumbs to human bias.

One rule in Egypt for us is that we must not drink the water, not even to brush our teeth. The first day, Cathy and I went to the local store to buy some bottled water and found out quickly that we had no clue what we were doing. We grabbed four bottles and Cathy said she would pay for them all since both of us had big bills from the exchange place. She paid and then this guy comes in and holds his hands out as if for me to give him my bottles of water. I don't and then he asks if I want a bag and I say it's ok and then he tries to charge me again for my water. Keep in my mind I know no Arabic and his English is broken. The other shopkeeper gets involved and tries to explain to the other guy that Cathy already paid and then the cashier gets involved and we think he's saying that Cathy owes him another 50 pounds which is ridiculous since we only paid 12 to begin with but he is actually telling us how much change he gave us. In the end we were able to leave the store without being accused of stealing and without giving more money but it just goes to show you that it takes 5 people and 5 minutes to buy 4 bottles of water. (How's that for a word problem?)

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Went to Math Camp and Didn't Even Get a Free T-Shirt

2008-07-14T15:04:00.002-07:00

I know you all have been on the edge of your seats this entire summer waiting for me to blog about math camp. Well wait no more!

Math Camp was broken up into two weeks. The first week I was at Rennsellar Polytechnic Institute in NY and the second I was at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in MA. The first week basically tries to prepare the grad students for the second week. We divided into groups and worked on either previously solved problems or problems that needed further work. The problem I worked on dealt with diffusion through the lens of the eye. We had data provided to us and we used what we learned about the chemistry and biology of the lens to create a model that would describe the data.

There were seven of us in our group which is quite large and for three days we sat in a windowless, clockless room and worked on this problem. Over those three days I learned a lot: what Bessel functions are, in England you call an eraser a board rubber, group work is incredibly tiring, and I'm still bossy.

On the last day we presented our findings, packed up and left for Worcester. We had the weekend free though so I took a side trip to Amherst and hung out with some friends there which was great as always.

At Worcester the grad students were no longer in control. These problems were "live" problems, meaning no one had solved them. Since they were live they were pretty difficult so the groups consisted of 3-4 professors and some grad students. The students role was to the grunt work like taking notes and typing them up. It was actually pretty interesting to sit in the back and watch these profs up at the board yelling at each and writing over each other to prove their points. It showed how no one's write 100% of the time.

The group I was in was working on a problem dealing with air bubbles in LCD screens. It dealt with fluid dynamics, which I know nothing about. Luckily, a professor from my university was at the camp and knew my shortcomings so every so often he would come over and get me up to speed about what the professors were yelling about. By the end of the week we had a decent amount accomplished that we were able to present to Corning.

Math camp was fun but it was tiring. After it was all done I stayed in Boston for a few days and caught up with some college friends. Those stories are way more interesting than math camp and will be relayed in the coming days.

The life and times of a nomad

2008-06-05T19:25:00.004-07:00

I survived my first year in grad school and I did quite well if I do say so myself. Not only are my grades good but I found a nice group of friends, have an ok work study job, AND I have a season pass to Disneyland. I'm gonna pat myself on the back for that one. One of my final papers was posted by my prof on their website check it out at www.math.hmc.edu/~levy/181_web/181_finalprojects_2008.html.

The only thing I lack right now is a place to live. My lease was up at the house and my land lady was getting more passive aggressive by the day so I decided it was time to pack up all of my things and move into my own studio apartment. The only problem is that this brand new studio apartment does not become mine until August. Whoops. But have no fear, a moocher always has a plan.

Right now I am in Ohio spending some quality time with the ladies, who I haven't seen since Thanksgiving. I am enjoying taking up space on their couch, baking cookies, and playing guitar hero until my hand cramps. Sadly the fun will end this weekend when I venture to NY for (drum roll please) Math Camp! That's right. Just when you thought I had reached my pinnacle of geekdom I have managed to surpass it by signing up for a graduate math camp. The first three days I and other aspiring mathemagicians will work on problems presented to us by the faculty of RPI. After those three days we will travel to Worcester where new problems will be presented. This time the problems are from industry and the work groups are comprised of scientists, professors, and lowly grad students such as myself. We will work on our problem for five days and present our findings to the industry rep so as they can take it back and do what they please with it. Not only am I getting to do math for two weeks in the summer and working some networking opportunities, I am doing this all on their dime. The whole trip: travel, food, lodging is payed for. It's a math moochers paradise.

After the camp is over I am staying a couple of days in Boston to catch up with some college friends. Then it's back to LA where I will be doing a cycle of couch surfing that will have me alternating where I lay my head from B-digs apt/air mattress, to Susie the mom of the kid I tutor's couch. All the while working and getting a tan.

Barring Briana realizing that I mooch a little too much off of her, this couch surfing rotation should get me through to August where I will finally have my first apartment of my own. Now tell me that's not skill.

Favorite Airport Ever

2008-06-02T05:12:00.003-07:00

Charlotte NC Airport has rocking chairs, free wireless, and customers proudly "reading" Playboy magazines while waiting for their flights.

really?

2008-04-18T02:04:00.002-07:00

Next night, same road, same time, same freaking cat!

Am I in a Truman Show-like world? Trust me, I can take it. I am pretty convinced the world revolves around me to begin with so if you all just admit that you are characters in a reality tv show with me as the star I would believe it. I swear. All I want is the truth. I can handle the truth.

Goodnight.

Although you probably already knew I was going to go to bed at this hour didn't you? Is it scripted? I want answers!

Roadkill Etiquette

2008-04-17T00:25:00.002-07:00

It's finals time here at CGU and as I was leaving the library tonight and driving home, someone's house cat ran into the middle of the street. I gasped and slammed on my brakes and luckily I didn't hit the cat. But my mind started to wander as I continued driving and the question arose, what would I have done if I had actually hit the cat? I mean clearly I would have felt bad, but what is the etiquette? It was midnight, do you knock on doors to let people know what happened and try to find the owner? Do you just move the cat to the sidewalk so it doesn't keep getting run over? or do you just drive away and feel bad for awhile?

These are things that go through my mind after a marathon library session....

And Another Thing About Vegas

2008-04-09T17:05:00.002-07:00

One night we were in the casino Paris and there was a Cabaret singer performing so we sat down and watched. The woman had an awesome voice but her voice wasn't the main focal point of the event. To the right of us were three men that were Papa Fosse's age. The table to the next of them were three girls who were 21 at the oldest. The guys were talking to them and then all of the girls got up to go to the bathroom. When they returned they saw that the three men had bought them glasses of champagne with strawberries in them. Cute or weird? I can't tell. If it were a tequila shot I would go straight for the weird button. But champagne and a strawberry falls into the Shirley Temple-esque category and I construe it as three guys being nostalgic and treating these girls they way they would their grandkids. So I say cute. The girls didn't think so though because they downed the drinks and bounced as soon as they could.

Next up came the cute couple who made everyone else jealous. A song came on and suddenly on the dance floor is this petite blond woman who is in her fifties and her gorgeous fifty-something husband/boyfriend. They started dancing and it was legit dancing. I felt like I was watching a pilot for My Momma Can Dance. They were really good, he was twirling her and throwing her up in the air and they did it all with smiles on their faces. I couldn't help it though. All I could think was that soon the singer was going to drop her voice a couple of octaves and recommend Cyalis to the gentlemen in the back.

Ok, back to homework.

Spring break Part Deux

2008-04-05T19:12:00.002-07:00

After the fun in Medieval Times was had the only way to really top it was to drive 3 hours northeast and go to my long awaited Xanadu....Vegas!! Originally the trip was going to be four of us but slowly that whittled down to me and Elise. We stayed at the Luxor, the one that looks like a pyramid. It was a pretty nice hotel. My favorite part was that the parking structure was in the shape of an Egyptian Sphynx and our hotel room had a perfect view of the Sphynx's ass.

Clearly the after a few minutes in the room we made our first batch of mixed drinks, put them in keg cups, filled up my nalgene with the rest, and filled my backpack full of beer. This was a drinking night, NOT a gambling night. Elise and I just walked through all of the casinos that are on that side of the strip: New York New York, Excalibur, MGM Grand, and I think there was another one in there but lets be honest, I had no clue where I was at any point in time...I just followed Elise (I am my mother's daughter). We walked around and at one point Elise commented that she wasn't really feeling the alcohol. I agreed. But then we came upon this computer screen in the middle of the floor. It was touch sensitive and was displaying a fish bowl. So when you stepped on the screen there was a ripple effect in the water and the fishies would swim away. Well Elise and I proceeded to dance around on the screen singing "Singing in the Rain." It goes without saying that it was a good thing we didn't place bets on us being sober.

We wound up going to a night club that night also. We were going to go to Studio 54 but there was a long line and I just refuse to stand in lines anywhere outside of NY. So we went to Taboo. The dj was awesome the people were alright. My favorite part of the night was when Elise and I were standing on the side finishing up our drinks and this guy just goes right next to Elise and puts his arm around her. She just looks at him with this "are you kidding me?" face. I chose to verbalize by just looking at him and saying "Really? Really?! No." Classic.

The next couple of days were more the same thing with some slot playing involved. We were both doing pretty good on slots, but on Monday we decided to try our luck at the tables. We started the day off at the $10 min tables in Bally's where we learned how to play roulette and blackjack. Blackjack is my new favorite game. I would throw $40 down to play and an hour later I would leave the table with over $100. It was sweet. What I really like about blackjack is that everyone is betting against the dealer so that people try to help you decided whether to hit or not. If you hit and you shouldn't have you might mess up somebody else's hand. Case in point: I was at this table and the guy to the left of me was being real friendly and helping me out remembering what to do if the dealer is showing a four and all that jazz. He kept on saying that I didn't have to take his advice if I didn't want to, it was my money. Well on one hand I decided to not take his advice and I hit. I busted and the card that busted me would have given the guy to the left of me a really good hand. He proceeded to get pissed off. He wouldn't let it go. He just kept on mumbling to himself about me not taking his advice. The dealer and everyone else at the table were getting uneasy. They could tell this guy was upset and they didn't really know how I was going to react, was I going to fly off the handle? Leave the table? No no no. The guy asked me why I didn't listen to him and I said "It's how I roll." Everyone at the table started laughing which pissed this guy off even more. At this point he started muttering to himself "It's how she rolls, It's how she rolls." The dealer just looks at the two of us and asked if we were married. I laughed and promptly cashed out my winnings and left the table.

All in all it was a great four days. Outside of Blackjack, the Price is Right slot machine at Planet Hollywood was very nice to me. Beginner's luck certainly rang true for me and Elise, we both left with more money than we came with. Enough money, in fact, that we made back what the trip cost and then some. I can't wait to go back!

The rest of my week was just spent hanging out and then on Friday I went to Disneyland for the whole day. It was awesome. A bunch more of my friends got season passes which is great. We also bought these buzz lightyear guns that are just awesome. My one friend did a rolling jump out of the store just to shoot us. Hilarious.

Now it's back to the school grind which really isn't that bad. The weather is still beautiful, I spent Easter Sunday on the beach. As far as summer plans go, they aren't really hashed out yet. All I really know for sure is I am moving at the end of May. I don't where I'm moving to, but that stuff just figures itself out, right? If all else fails, watch out I might be coming to a couch near you...

Birthday and Spring Break Festivities (Part 1)

2008-03-20T19:08:00.003-07:00

As some of you may know the word birthday doesn't properly describe the amount of times I force people to go out and celebrate my birth. It used to be that birthmonth was a better description of my celebration but as I get older I have scaled back my celebration to a birthfortnight. The beauty of the birthfortnight is that it still encompasses St. Patrick's Day AND since I refuse to leave academia I still get a spring break that usually falls within the birthfortnight also. Being that I was in a new town planning the birthfortnight was a little tricky. I didn't know the lay of the land and I don't really party as much as I used to (because of grad school NOT maturity OR old age) so I was stumped for a bit on what to do. But then good ole kismet kicked in.

A couple of my friends and I were driving back from Disneyland (where I know have a season pass to) and we passed a billboard about Medieval Times. I thought the only MT was in Jersey but I was mistaken. Through I simple conversation I had find out that all of my Claremont friends had never been to MT. Now lets be clear, I had to go to MT two times on class trips and both times were horrendous. I hate the food and anytime a I had spend an entire day with my entire class was usually a recipe for disaster. But being a good Jersey girl I realized I had to suck it up, do my duty, and introduce these graduate students to the wondrous cheesiness that is Medieval Times!

The one detail that I didn't know about Medieval Times but that made it even better was there was beer:

The beer made the roast chicken taste better. Ha! Who am I kidding? I traded my chicken for an extra spare rib. Anyway, we were cheering for the Yellow Knight and it was fantastic. We were screaming, hooting, and hollering any chance we could get. It also turns out that my friends paid a little extra to get the birthday package. This package was high class. Not only did I get a group picture of all of us, I also got an official program, AND a dvd copy of the knight's festivities. (hahaha get it?). But wait that's not all! I also got a birthday shout out by the king himself! That's right, after they welcomed north shore high school, and wished johnny a happy thirteenth birthday, there was a shout out for a happy 25th birthday for Lyza Fosse!

Aside: Lyza wasn't actually a mispronunciation of my name. There is another friend of mine named Elise and it's been hard to distinguish between the two of us. It got to the point that we were being addressed as PhD Elise and Masters Elyse. I wasn't really cool with that. Then we were all at this part and this guy kept on calling me Lyza. No kidding it was at least the third time I had met him and everytime he's been all "Hey Lyza" and I've been all "umm it's Elyse." But Meryl has always taught me you correct somebody three times and after that it's just not worth it. So my friends caught wind that this guy was calling me Lyza and the name stuck. A new nickname. Great.

This time at Medieval Times was by far the best the experience I've had there. Don't fret though, the next part of the birthday festivities was even better...Vegas!!(Coming soon).

Why I love So Cal

2008-02-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

It's February 9th, sunny and 76 degrees. 'Nuff said.

2007-12-24T13:19:00.000-08:00

The American Gladiators taping was a lot of fun. We got to see Hulk Hogan stare lovingly into the giant screen as old wrestling clips of himself were shown. We got to see Layla Ali tell a contestant that they should do more pull-ups so that they don't lose so badly next time. Oh and we got to see the new gladiators.

The competition we saw was hang tough. That's the one where the contestant tries to make it across the rings before the Gladiator catches them and makes them fall. If you remember the American Gladiators from the early nineties, picture all the times they fell onto pads and replace the pads with water. The action was pretty cool but I have to say that the thing I enjoyed the most were the contestants responses to the questions they were being asked. A sampling is:
"I just tried to keep her legs as far apart as possible."
"I just wanted to avoid the wetness"
"Once her legs wrapped around me I knew I had to take a dive."

Dirty minds!

Anyway, my first semester of grad school is done. I am pretty sure that I got two B's. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but this semester was the most challenging one I have ever gone through. I spoke with the dean of the math department before I left and he helped put it all in perspective. He said that the two classes I took were among the hardest that they offered and that I struggled not because I took time off but because the classes are genuinely difficult. I am just glad that I finished and am focusing on next semester.

For now I am home in Jersey enjoying family and friends. See you in the new year!

Three Does Not Equal Four

2007-11-27T22:54:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving my friends from the now defunct UPS Store came out for a visit. The week was full of excitement.

First was the trip to Universal Studios. I feel like I need to put this trip into a little bit of context. Technically, it wasn't my first time at Universal Studios. The first time I was around 7 or 8 and my family was in Orlando FL. We met up with my Aunt Janet, Uncle Mark, and two cousins to experience the amazing newly opened Universal Studios. We go on the ET ride which was fun and then my mom suggested the Murder She Wrote tour. Being a seven year old I never really watched the show but I do remember that every Sunday when I went in to kiss my mom good night good ole Angela Lansbury was solving some mystery on screen. Anyway, I don't remember much about the ride until the end. Everyone was getting up to leave but the doors wouldn't open. Turns out the computers in the brand new park were still a little glitchy and one of the glitch's was that when the computers froze or shut down the doors would remained closed and locked. Great. A comedian from the audience seized his chance to make his big break and have a captive audience fall in love with him...that is until he realized that there were children in the room and his schtick probably wouldn't be appropriate. We eventually did get out, only to find that the computer glitch had shut down the whole park. Well my Aunt Janet found that unacceptable and found some manager and gave them a piece of her mind. It must have been a pretty upset piece since we were escorted out the back way. We left to the sounds of the Jetsons theme song playing and my Aunt yelling to the song to shut up.

So again, technically this wasn't my first time at Universal. The first thing we do is go to the Fear Factor live show. Well we go to the show but Charlie, Michele's husband decides to be a contestant on the show. We not only get to see Charlie in spandex but we also get to see him eat something disgusting, pull flags out of eel-infested waters, AND get shocked! To top it all off, he won the contest! This time at Universal instead of being escorted out, we got escorted to the front of every line! I got to go on all of the rides I wanted and we got an awesome picture of the us all screaming on a ride. I feel like my journey with Universal Studios has come full circle.

The next night me and Steph went to an Anaheim Ducks game. I have issues. Their chants are ridiculous and they are too nice. Let's start with the chants. Let's Go Ducks has three syllables and yet the crowd tried to fit it into the Let's Go Rangers chant. Three doesn't equal four! Chanting "Let's Go Duh-ucks" does not create an extra syllable it just makes it sound like everyone forgot who they were cheering for in the middle of the chant. Take an example from the Mets or Jets, they know they are a syllable short and thus can't use that chant. Instead they made up their own. How about "Do it Ducks?" or you can still use the Ranger chant but instead speed it up. Instead of "Let's Go Rangers" in the same amount of time say "Let's Go Ducks Let's Go Ducks." This is the method I prefer and the chant I used at the game.

Onto the niceness. The Ducks were playing the Sharks and there were some Shark fans by us who were being pretty obnoxious. At one point one of them fell into the seat in front of him. Instead of the Ducks fans getting mad and chanting "Throw him Out" they helped him up and a little while later took his picture for him. Are you kidding me?! To make matters worse, the refs made a bad call. Instead of the typical "A**hole" chant that I know I love I was stuck with "You suck Ref." Lame.
I know what you're thinking, this niceness is that thing called good sportsmanship but like the man in the parking lot said after the Ducks win, "This is hockey not figure skating."

Steph and Michele came and went and then I went on to spend Thanksgiving with my friends Rachel and Keri, who I lived with for a year when I moved back to MA after New Zealand. Thanksgiving was great and relaxing, a perfect break before the final leg of the semester. I have one more week and then I am done with my first semester. Lots of things need to get done by the time I leave for home: finals, projects, holiday parties, Disneyland, Yosemite, American Gladiator live taping....

An Oldy But Goodie

2007-10-27T20:41:00.000-07:00

I am getting ready to go out to a Halloween party and I can't help thinking back to my last Halloween at UMass. I can't remember whose been told this story but I htink its pretty funny I think it deserves to be posted. So here it goes...

It was my senior year at UMass and I was Mary Catherine Gallagher from SNL (think hands in armpits and superstar) for Halloween. My friend Calen called me up and invited me to a Halloween party out on a farm. So I hopped in the car with my knee highs, plaid skirt, yellow polo shirt, red vest and black rimmed glasses. There was a lot of people at this party and a couple of kegs had already been picked when me and my friends went on the last haunted hay ride of the night. It had been raining for a couple of hours so I ran back to the car to get my jacket. By the time I got to the tractor my friends were up at the front so I just hopped onto the back.

We started moving and right away you can just feel that this tractor is just full, almost too full. We start plodding away into the dark muddy trail. We can hear chainsaws in the distance but we really don't see much of anything.

We start heading up this hill and the tractor stalls. Well I'm the last person on the tractor so as we stop I fall off, heals over my head, skirt up in the air, into the muddy trail. As I am trying to get up, the tractor starts rolling backwards toward me, so yet a again I fall backwards into the mud. Everyone was yelling at the driver, Molly, to stop so she did, and then she started going forward again. This is a multi-acre farm, it's dark and muddy, the last thing I need is to be left in the middle of it. Eventually Molly catches on to what is going and stops and I hop back on.

Thankfully, the only thing that was hurt was my ego, but we still had to get through the rest of the hayride. There was a 40-something man sitting next to me who reeked like a distillery. He puts his arm around me and says in a gruff MA accent "I'm not trying to hit on ya hun, we just can't have you falling off again."

We get done with the ride and I meet back up with my friends and like good friends they handed me a beer and then just laughed at me. I was a pretty sad sight. There was mud caked all over me, and it wasn't like we were leaving any time soon. It also turns out that the players of the haunted hayride were drunk and thought that the rides were over so we never actually did get haunted.

Whenever Melissa, Paul, or Calen introduce me to new people this is the story that is told about me and I'm ok with that. In the words of the 40-something man that sat next to me, "It could have been worse, it could have been cow shit."

Happy Halloween!

Yoga, Fires, and Friends, Oh My!

2007-10-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

So Yoga is...interesting. I've gone to two classes so far and I am kind of on the fence about it. It's a lot of breathing and stretching which I knew it would be and I like. What I didn't realize is that there is a lot of chanting. And like any religion or spiritual tenet, there are some things I just don't agree with. My teacher likes to talk about using the law of attraction. For those who don't know there is a self-help book that's been out on the shelves for awhile called "The Secret." I haven't read it but I do know that it deals with the idea of the law attraction. Basically the gist from what I understand is that if you emit positive "attractive" thoughts the things you would like to happen will happen. So if I want to get my masters all I have to do is think about it and imagine the process and poof the diploma will appear, no late night studying or stressing needed. I'm sure there' more to it then my summary but I don't care, it ain't for me. So when I am relaxing during yoga and my instructor starts talking about the laws of attraction I have to bite my tongue to keep from arguing about it. Despite the law of attraction I do enjoy the yoga. I go on Wednesdays and it is a nice way to kind of break the stress of the week up.

I am sure by now everyone has heard about the fires that are ravaging the Southern California area. Luckily the fires are not very close to me. I can smell the fires in the air and there was ash on my car today but other than that I haven't been affected. From talking to other people it turns out that these have been the worst fires in awhile. The conditions are prime for them too, we haven't had substantial rain since I moved here and there has been no humidity, great for my hair, bad for fire season.

It's taken a little while but I have finally started meeting some people. I met some through a flag football get-together. We have since decided that football is overrated and happy hour is way better. Classes are keeping me pretty busy since its about mid-semester and it's nice to be able to get away and just hang with some peeps.

This weekend should prove interesting. I am going to a Halloween Party hosted by one of my co-workers and on Sunday I just might make my first trip to Disneyland which I am wicked excited about. In between all of that fun I am going to find the time to finish up my homework assignments that are due on Monday. The fabulous life of a grad student.

Math By Day, Sushi By Night

2007-09-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

I am in the full swing of things with classes right now and boy are they challenging. One class is particularly rough and is keeping me busy. For the first assignment I worked continuously on it for ten days just to hand something in. Because of the time consuming nature of the homework I was a little anxious about this week since I would have not only this classes homework due but also the other class's hw.

Surprisingly though, it was all pretty manageable. The one problem I had was that I had to remember how to code in Matlab. And by remember I mean learn because even though I thought I had learned Matlab before I definetly hadn't. The coding I was doing was terrible. I kept on getting these infinite loops which freeze my computer and make me very upset. I was trudging away at all of this in the lounge on campus when I talked to my friend Briana. She lives about an hour away from me and she had the great idea of going to get sushi. I told her I just wanted to work on the program for a little while longer and then I would head out. I was getting pretty frustrated when suddenly I heard the magical voices of two males disputing the null hypothesis of a statistical inference. If they knew what a null hypothesis was then they probably knew a little about Matlab too. So I turned around and explained to them my problem and asked if they could help. One of them said that they knew the code and could email it to me. Sweet! I am getting homework and help and meeting more people on campus. Now that's multitasking.

I packed up my belongings and headed out to Fusion Sushi in Manhattan Beach and ate until my stomach hurt. And since Briana is a happy enabler of my need for material items we then went to ikea where I bought a really sweet chair. Then I decided that I needed a flat screen tv. Off we went to Circuit City. There was a really good one on sale but of course the Circuit City we were at was out of stock. Have no fear, Briana is on a mission. We hop in the car, find the nearest Circuit City, and buy me a new tv 2 minutes before closing. Now that's shopping.

And Another Week Down

2007-09-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

This week was the first full week for me, I went to class and worked 20 hours. Since I have both of my classes on Monday I basically spend the rest of the week doing the homework. I am putting a lot of effort into this first homework because I want to make sure my proofs are right. This homework is kind of like my first impression on the professor. He's heard me talk about math experience and now it's time for me to show it. I know, I know, it's just one homework assignment, but this is me and this is how I roll.

My job is pretty great. For fifteen hours of the week I just get to mess around a computer looking for articles and burning picture cds whenever anybody asks. The other five I do filing and apparently I am really good at it. The other intern went up to the boss and mentioned how fast I was. Who knew that was something I could put on my resume? Really fast filer.

The only downside to the job is that I have to dress up. By dress up I mean no jeans, no plaid shorts, no t-shirts. I have come a long way from 365 in '05*.

Tomorrow I am going to the LA County Fair again. This time I am going to try fried coke (the soda not the controlled substance; no Hollywood nose bleeds for me thanks). OH and I signed up for Yoga classes. The first one is next Wednesday...I will let you know how that goes...let's just say I'll be taking bean-o to circumvent my fears.

*365 in '05 was a dream of mine for my senior year of college. I hated to doing laundry throughout my undergrad. You never knew who was peeing or puking in the machines the night before. It got to the point that I would go an entire semester without doing laundry. If I ran out of something, like socks, I would just buy more. I also have a love of free t-shirts. Part of the reason I became an RA was because I knew that I would get lots of free t-shirts. I volunteered because each new project usually meant a free t-shirt. Let me break the math down for you:

Hatred of Laundry + Love of Free T-Shirts = 365 in '05,

an idea that I would wear a different t-shirt everyday for the entire year of 2005. The stipulation was that these t-shirts had to be free or bought at a salvation army. I did manage to acquire about 100 t-shirts but then a lack of closet space and a love for certain t-shirts caused me to stop the campaign.

Things I love right now

2007-09-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

Private Schools:
They apologized for making me wait five minutes to see a financial aid officer AND they gave me a cookie while I waited. Then I actually met with the woman and she knew my name and pointed me into the direction of where I could find a job on campus. Poof! Two days later I am employed.

I work for the Office of Communications and primary job is to search the web for stories that mention CGU or any of our professors. I also upkeep their photo database and provide the photos for the brochures and things that are made for the campus. I also get to help proof read the university magazine and apparently I might have to write for it too (yikes). The people are ok. They are a little stand-offish right now but I think what it is is that they are just low key people who don't talk a lot, boy are they in for a surprise with me. Everyone working there is a student which means they are really flexible around class schedules, always a bonus.

BBQs at Private Schools:
Yeah the burgers were burnt and the cookies were a little stale, but there was beer! and wine! As much of it that you wanted to drink for free! I also got to meet some more people on campus. Everyone seems really nice and a lot of people are in the same boat that I am in, just adjusting to moving here and trying to find our respective niches. It's always good to have a few more people know your name.

My Landlady:
She hasn't rented her house out before and you can tell. She's trying to find that line between hovering mother and responsible landlady. I didn't come home one night and she told me the next day that she decided not to worry unless I didn't come home for three days in a row. I told her I appreciate her worry and her restraint on panicking. All I can picture now is me out and about and she frantically calling Jersey saying I am lost. Oy.

She also is on every health kick published on the internet. She bought this jug of Aloe Juice. I thought it was something that you pour down clogged drains but apparently you drink it to encourage something or other in your body. I watched her drink it and let me tell you, it did not look appetizing. It looked like she just too her first tequila shot of the night. A day later she sent me an email about the bad effects of sodium benzoate which is in the lovely diet soda that I drink constantly. Fortunately, sodium benzoate is also in that aloe juice so she had a reason to throw the jug out without drinking the whole nasty substance.

TiVo:
I've always loved tivo but now I have one of my very own.

Beaches:
They are everywhere! I got to make my own work schedule and it just so happens that I get off of work by noon on Fridays. Thus Friday is my beach day. I got to the beach, sleep, tan, read, do anything I want. It's pretty glorious. The great weather everyday isn't bad either, I try to spend a couple of hours outside everyday. There's this great walking trail right by the house that I've been using that's pretty good. I don't mind exercising, as long as I am getting a tan to boot.

Oh and I guess classes:
My classes seem pretty interesting. They are def going to be challenging but I think(hope) I can do it. The profs seem really accessible so I just need to utilize them. I am taking two classes, both are stats and one has to do with using stats to predict the functions of certain molecules in the body based on their molecular composition. It sounds pretty interesting.

I guess you can say I am settling in quite nicely.

It's my turn

2007-09-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

Meryl and Harold are back on the east coast and not sweating nearly as much as they were this past week. They picked me up at the airport on Tuesday and since then it's been a whirlwind. I will let them fill everyone in on our sightseeing adventures.

The first thing we did was go to the house where I am renting a room. I found the room for rent online and agreed to rent it sight unseen. Needless to say I was pretty anxious about finally seeing it. The move has been pretty effortless on my part so I was waiting for the downside, such as I mistakenly rented a room in a crack den and my room would be a cardboard box. Luckily this was not the case. The house is beautiful, a typical California ranch, and my room is pretty awesome. I knew it was fully furnished, one of its major selling points, but what I didn't know was that my landlady was nice enough to supply me with pillows, sheets, and a comforter,...and a tv....and satelitte connection...and a dvd player....and a walk in closet. Whoo hoo!! I was relieved.

The people I am sharing the house with are pretty cool. One is a junior and the other is a senior at undergrad. Then there's my landlady and the two dogs. It's pretty cozy. I only share a bathroom with one other person which is really nice. All in all, as of right now, I really lucked out.

My parents met my landlady, Kim, and they really liked her. When my mom got up from the couch she did her typical "Oy". Later that night Kim knocked on my door and asked me some random question then she hesitated and asked "are you Jewish?" I replied my usual way where i say it's kind of complicated and that my mom is Jewish but I was baptised and confirmed Christian but we basically still celebrate everything. She then told me that she is Jewish and that maybe that would make my mom feel better about leaving me here. ha! so cute.

I've been to orientation and have already picked classes. I am taking two classes and they are both on Monday and since this past Monday was labor day I don't have classes until next Monday, pretty sweet. Now the question is what to do with my time? I have thought about walking around with a sandwich board around my neck that reads "From New Jersey, need friends." but I decided that that is pretty tacky and ranks up there with the time my parents walked around a store up at UMass and shouted "This is our daughter, will you be her friend?" Instead I will bide my time looking for a job AND laying on the beach. We are in the middle of a heat wave right now...It hasn't been under 100 degrees since I got here so I am either in air conditioning or driving to the coast, where it is at least 20 degrees cooler, no lie.

I am still trying to work out the internet kinks at the house so my access is spotty at best but that should be figured out by the end of this week. Miss me lots!

Meryl & Harold Road Trip - What stays in Vegas

2007-08-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well, some of you may have noticed it has been a couple of days (nights) since our last blog. We busted our horns driving 13 hours on Thursday so we only had a 5 hour drive on Friday to reach LAS VEGAS. And after checking in to the Excelsior (don't do it), we found there is a $13.95 charge to connect to the secure internet. Being extremely cheap, I decide you would just have to wait to read about our further adventures.

After checking in, Meryl's stomach started acting up. We decide to try a buffet in the hotel for dinner. It turned out the only thing Meryl was able to eat was Apple Pie and Vanilla Ice Cream, go figure. $15.99 for dessert (notice a pattern). We walked around the casino for a bit and decided it was like being in Disney World on Steroids.

Saturday morning Meryl is reading this Entertainment Magizine and sees that Earth, Wind & Fire are playing at the Hilton that night. She then recalls her former coworker, Darryl, was supposed to go with them as their road manager. So she finds his phone number and when he answers asked him where he was. "Vegas," he replied. "Me too," she says. Turns out he could have gotten us front row seats BUT I had already purchased 2 tickets for Penn & Teller for that night.

So what the heck, we'll meet up with him after the show. The Penn & Teller show is at the Rio, so we decide to go there for dinner so we can pick up our tickets 1 hour before the show starts at 9:00. Meryl's stomach still beibg a bit squeamish, we go to the All American Cafe at the Rio for a $9.95 Burger. While we are waiting, we go through the casino and they have a show in the middle of it. Blaring music male dancers with no shirts, female dancers in skimpy costumes, and Mardi Gras floats moving along tracks from the ceiling.

Penn & Teller put on a great show. A lot of laughs, magic tricks, and some pointed observations. And they take pictures with any and all as the audience leaves. We then go over to the Hilton and meet up with Darryl around 11:30. All the shows have ended so we go to a Deli/Diner for some desserts. Next thing we know its 1:30 am. Those of you who know Meryl know this is way past her bed time.

As we are heading up to our room, one of the guards mentions to us that Sunday morning check out at 11:00am is a mad house. And leads to a huge amount of traffic on I15 headind south to California. So with this in mind we get up aand check out by 8:00am. We get on the road, and there is some traffic but we are traveling across the Mojave at the 75MPH speed limit, which is sweet. We made it to our next and last Holiday Inn in Corona California. And here we shall stay for the rest of the week.

Oh, and by now you should have figured out that what stays in Vegas is your money. We played a couple of slots. Quarters, Nickels, and even Penny. And I won. I even have a pay-out ticket to prove that I, Harold the cheap, won 4 cents on a penny slot.

Road Trip - We're Not In Kansas Anymore

2007-08-23T20:43:00.000-07:00

So, last night we checked into a HOLIDAY INN across the road from Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. Who knew it was not in Kansas but in Missouri. Anyway, Meryl and I decided we would add a couple of hours and miles to today's drive. We figured we would drive through Denver and head on down to Grand Junction Colorado.

So we hit the rode at 7AM and headed west on I70. It was 15-20 minutes we were in Kansas, and began our big trek. Seven(7) hours later we were crossing into Colorado. Kansas you may have heard is flat. That does not tell you the truth. The eastern end of the state has some rolling hills, but by the time you are mid-way you realize the only time you are climbing any type of grade, it is for an over pass. I mean it was flat!

And another thing, it seems in the middle of these farms and cattle ranchs, at every cross roads about every 10-15 miles, there is an Adult Book store. And in the field behind each of these stores there is a billboard with a Bible quote about the evils of porn. As we were driving past one of these stores, the truck driver in front of us nearly ran off the road as he read they give a special discount to truckers with a certain type of license.

Anyway, we finally crossed over into Colorado. which is just as flat as Kansas on its eastern border. it then became rolling hills, which is what it was as we drove into Denver. Meryl was driving at that point. We had decided to switch every 2 hours, which was working pretty good. Then Meryl decided to drive through Denver. I think the 75 MPH Speed Limit had something to do with this.

WELL, the western side of Denver is right into the Rocky Mountains. She did pretty godd until we came to a down grade that had warnings for the trucker to put it into their lowest gear, that the grade was 7%, and winding. And we are in a rain storm at this point. About midway down I heard Meryl saying "oh, S**t!" As if answering her prayer an exit appeared and we were off the hill. At the traffic light at the bottom of the exit she asked me which way to turn, and I replied "I don't know. I've never been here before." Lucky, my door was locked because Ithink she would have left me there if she could have.

We changed positions and I took over the driving for the rest of the trip. All I can was is that I70 from Denver to Grand Junction is possibly the most beautiful road I have driven on. The roadway hugs the sides of canyons formed by a creek, then the Eagle River and then the Colorado. Denver is known as the Mile High City at 5,340 feet above sea level. The roadway climbed to 11,300 feet where we went through a tunnel and then began decending a 6% downgrade, without the rain this time. Beautiful.

Meryl & Harold Take a Road Trip - Part Deux

2007-08-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

Ok sooo to set the record striaight I read the stupid map...I gave Harold the name and exit to get off ONCE. Those of you that know Harold well , know that if yiou tell hi something more than once he tends to get a little testy...so I thought I was done and did go into my world.

Heres day two: We got up very early to get a jump on the day.I went to go take a shower and there was no hot water. To say the least I was not very happy and.............upon checking out voiced my concern about the lack of hot water. Moral those who complain necley don't get chrged for the night. ( Harold was vwerrrrry happy about that)

Our mission was to get to Kansas City. We left columbus around 7am ( Oh almost forgot I only had a 1/2 cup of coffee)

This part are for my two favorite ladies in Dayton Ohio. Harold said that we wouldn't be near Dayton. Guess what he was WRONG this morning we drove past Dayton. He feels very bad we would have loved to have dinner with you two. Hope all is well and that you love being home.

On with the story: Harold started driving, so,, around 10 I started whining coffee (thank goodness we needed to get gas so we stopped and again I was very Happy. I then took over driving we drove from Ohio thru West Virgina (speed Limit 75 miles an hour Yippeee, Indiana, Illionois, Missouri ONLY PROBLEM IS THE STATES KEPT CHANGING SPEED LIMITS. BUT THEY DIDN'T GET ME, I PAID ATTENTION!!! I got to drive on Route 66 how cool is that, then over the Mississippi River. It was really pretty uneventful. We are really having a good time and I can't believe we are getting the opportunity to drive cross country. We haven't even tried to drive off leaving one of us at the rest stop. So I think all in all we are getting along pretty good.

We arrived in Kansas. the hotel is right across the street from The Kansas City Chiefs football Stadium.We will be hitting the road again in the morning. I think Colorado is the next stop....but I have to check with my tour director.

Meryl,

Meryl & Harold Take a Road Trip - In the Beginning

2007-08-21T16:26:00.000-07:00

So, many of you know Elyse is enrolled in Grad School in California. Why you ask? Because she did not enough money to return to New Zealand, and California was as far away from us that she can go, without leaving the continental U.S. So I volunteered to drive her car, with all her worldly goods out to California, rather than having her make the drive by herself. But Meryl would not let me go by myself, She was afraid I would just buy a couple of bucket of KFC and drive straight through, as if. Anyway that is how Meryl and I came to be driving across the country, together, , , for a week, , , so we can be at the airport in Ontario CA when Eylse lands.

So today, August 21st, we left Middlesex at 7:00 AM. The middle of August is called the "Dog Days" because it is Hot and Humid. Except it was 58 degrees this morning and raining. As we drove through the mountains in Pennsylvania the clouds were so low we were above the rain and it was falling up!

So I am driving the first leg of the trip, and Meryl is so proud og herself because she has finally figured out how to read a road map. True it was a AAA Road Trip Map but she was reading it. And she knew what highway we were on, and which one we were looking for, and even knew the exit number. real good right. Except she took a side triop to "Meryl's World." You that place where the bunny rabbits all sit at the side of the road sign to you as you go by. So that is where Meryl was when I asked "What was the exit number again." She start fumbling with the papers and turns and points out the side window and says "That one."

Meryl of course denies this version of the events and will have her chance to tell her side of the story later. More to follow. - Harold

It's been awhile

2007-06-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

I had all the intentions of writing these amazing blog posts about my vacation and work and moving.....but I am a Fosse and procrastination and lack of internet got to me. Hence a really condensed version follows:

I took two weeks off in April and I tried to make the most of it. Amanda and I took a trip to Niagara Falls. It was amazing. The falls were beautiful and the area itself is like a jersey boardwalk that threw up over five city blocks. Casinos, unhealthy food, ferris wheels, Ripley's Believe it or Not, screaming kids with soft serve. I was in heaven.

After the Niagara trip I drove to Jersey and then flew to Cali to hang with Briana for a couple of days. I had found out that I got accepted to Claremont Graduate School about a week before and the Dean of the school was able to meet with me during my stay wth Briana. So basically I got off of the plane, went to B's, borrowed her nice clothes and then she drove me to Claremont. She also sat in on the meeting with the Dean and I thank my lucky stars she was there. I was asking all the academic questions and I was getting wicked excited about the program and I completely forgot to ask the other important questions like housing. But luckily B-diggs was there to throw on her former supervisor cape and save the day. After the meeting I knew I was going to go to Claremont. The area is very cute and collegiate, like a mini Northampton. With the meeting over with me and B enjoyed my next three days by going on a much deserved shopping spree.

After Cali I stayed in Jersey for the rest of my break and caught up with friends and family. Cinqo de Mayo occurred. Jenna graduated. It was good times.

AND I walked in the MS Walk with the UPS Store clan. We were called the Fighting Fitzgerald's and it was a fun time. It had everything a walk should have...hair transplants, lost 12 year olds, irate mothers, and cookies.

The last month has been a whirlwind of graduations and trumpets. The international trumpet guild decided to hold their annual conference at Umass this year. Two days after graduation 1000 trumpeters descended upon the campus. Because I was finishing my year long job and starting my summer job I got hit with a double whammy. Not only did I have to help register all of these horn blowers I had to house them too. I don't mind my job and I like the details of it, but I do mind how sometimes we lose perspective and start to think that our job is the most important in the world. It's not like anyone will ever not be able to go the conference or not be housed. I mean no one is ever going to have to sleep outside of the dorm because of a mistake. Everyone gets housed and registered whether or not we have an aneurysm. Therefore I prefer to not have one whereas sometimes my bosses like to put on that song and dance. But hey it's just a summer job and after August 17th it will all be memories.

So until August 17th my life is a string of work days, usually 15 in a row and then one or 2 off. Yes it sucks and is tiring but I have dollar signs in my eyes.

So there it is, the past couple of months of my life condensed like Campbells tomato soup.

AND I almost forgot the best thing...I bought my ONE WAY plane ticket to Cali a couple of days ago. I will be moving on August 28th. I don't have an apartment yet but that will fall into place. It always does.

Yes this is a work rant

2007-03-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

I am going to admit right off that in the grand scheme of the universe my job isn't that bad. I sit, I answer phones, I work on the computer and I get paid. There are worse jobs...like cleaning out a sewer or working retail BUT this job does have it's moments.

There are conferences that come to the University and part of my job is to print name badges for each person. In order to do that I need the perforated name badge paper. My boss ordered the paper and a week later it was delivered. I signed for it and put it on the side of my desk. I week after all of this my boss asked me where the box of paper was and I looked at the side of my desk and the box was no longer then. The rest of my day went like this:

Person: "What are you looking for?"

Me: "A box."

Person: "What was in the box?"

Me: "Paper."

Person: "You lost a box of paper?"

Me: "Yeah, I can't find a box full of paper." (in my head at this point I am repeating the words "go away" as fast as I can)

The next day went a little like this:

Person: "Did you ever find that box of paper?"

Me: "Nope"

For two days my conversations for eight hours revolved around a box of friggin paper. It turns out that the person who cleans the office mistook the box of paper for recycling and dontated $130 worth of name badge paper to the Head Start program at the local school. So we ordered more and that box never came. Here we are now two weeks later and we just found out that the box was delivered and has been sitting downstairs. I don't know if the absurdity of this story translates very well but MY LIFE HAS REVOLVED AROUND A BOX OF PERFORATED PAPER FOR MORE THAN TWO WEEKS.

I think the thing that scares me the most about this story is that my boss became obsesessed about this box of paper. Everday I would get asked if I signed for the box of paper and everyday she would ponder for at least five minutes about where it could have gone. A new person has started at the office and the first thing he was told about was this box of paper and how it got donated and how we are waiting for the second box of paper. It's paper. Yes, it's colored and perforated so it's semi-special in the pecking order of paper but it's still just a sliver of tree that has been refined and dyed. And it has ruled my work life and now is worthy of a blog posting. A true sign that I should not work here much longer (another sign is that I flat out told my boss that if I was staying in the area for another year I would be looking for a different job right now).

Luckily it's spring and when it's May I will be switching back to Summer Conference Housing...still not my dream job but at least I get to rock plaid shorts and a maroon shirt AND there are no name badges. I am clearly movin on up.

Snow Day

2007-02-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

True sign that I am becoming a grown up: There is a snow day at the University but I still had to go to work. Sadness.

Thank you Wikipedia

2007-02-05T10:13:00.000-08:00

Friends...our debate is solved. Read this exerpt from Wikipedia and rest assured that in the end we were ALL right.

"For many years, Big Bird was the only character on the show who saw him (he only came along when Big Bird was alone). The main adult characters teased Big Bird when he said he had seen the Snuffleupagus, because they didn't believe there was such an animal, often despite evidence to the contrary (such as an oversized teddy bear that Snuffy had left behind or segments in which Snuffy interacted with other characters, such as a street scene where Snuffy was seen playing London Bridge with some of the neighborhood kids). This was modeled in part on the imaginary friends some young children have.

By the late-1970s, the storylines had the adult characters becoming increasingly frustrated with Big Bird using Snuffleupagus as a scapegoat whenever something went wrong while they were out of the room. In one episode, newspapers on Sesame Street carried the front page headline, "Snuffy's got to go!"

Revelation

This running gag ended with the November 18, 1985 episode of Sesame Street, which was also episode 2096 and the 17th season premiere, when the adults finally met Snuffy. Big Bird is sick and tired of not having the grown-ups believing him when he tells them about Snuffy. So he decides to arrange for them to come to his nest when he yells the signaling word, "Food". When Big Bird calls out the word, Snuffy runs off to tell his mother about it, so once again the grown-ups just miss him. Gordon tells Big Bird he needs someone to help him keep Snuffy in his nest and Elmo offers to be the one. So when Snuffy returns, Elmo holds on to his snuffle so he can't go, Big Bird yells, "Food", and one by one the adults come and see Snuffy for the first time ever. After Snuffy introduces himself, Big Bird does an "I told you so" routine, prompting the adults to apologize profusely.

The Children's Television Workshop decided on this storyline largely after high-profile (and sometimes, graphic) stories on pedophilia and sexual abuse of children on shows such as 60 Minutes and 20/20. Concerns were raised that the running Snuffleupagus gag, where the adults refused to believe in Snuffleupagus despite Big Bird telling them about it and despite the fact that Snuffy had already been revealed to other Muppets, children, and even a few celebrity guest stars, could make children fear that they would similarly not be believed and therefore make them reluctant to tell an adult if they have been sexually abused."

So there you have it.

Imaginary Friend

2007-02-01T13:35:00.000-08:00

After I got back from dinner last night I mindlessly turned on the tv and started flipping channels. "Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird" caught my attention. This is the movie where the bird social worker thinks it's in Big Birds best interest to go live with a bird family- the Dodos who live in Illinois. Big Bird dislikes it there and decideds to walk home (he/she also decides that it should only take three hours since it took two hours to fly there). While Big Bird starts walking home the Sesame Street crew divide up into groups and travel different routes to see if they can find Big Bird. The point of this post is not to talk about how great this movie is or about the cameos in it that you only get when you are older, but rather the point is to discuss a very important question that hit me while watching a scene in the move: is Snuffalupagus Big Bird's imaginary friend?

I'll admit. The thought never crossed my mind that Snuffalupagus was imaginary until someone informed me about it very matter-of-factly about a year ago. They told me in such confidence that I didn't dare think that I was right. Now, though, I am not so sure. As I was watching the movie I texted a very important question to some friends: If Snuffalupagus was Big Bird's imaginary friend then how come he couldn't follow Big Bird to Illinois? Some of the responses I got were:

"I'm peeing"

"Thought Snuffy was real"

"R u sober?"

"He wasn't imaginary and the bird was advised that he/she was on a one bird mission."

"Imaginary friends...unlike invisible friends need two forms of id to cross state lines and Oscoar was always hiding the dmv shit because he was difficult...obviously"

Through these comments I re-affirmed my original childhood assumption that Snuffy was real and that everyone could see him. Then I thought about a little to long and fell into another trap. If everyone could see Snuffy then when a letter from Big Bird came why didn't anyone tell Snuffy? Instead he overheard the letter through a wall. If I sent a letter to everyone on the block I know someone would holler to my best friend to let them know about it. Also, if I remember correctly, Snuffy wasn't divided up into one of the groups to go find Big Bird. Now that could be just because he already decided to go visit Big Bird (he wrote Big Bird a post card which a mailman delivered...which is proof towards the idea that Snuffy is real). So is Snuffy real or not?

Some light was shed onto the subject by a friend's girlfriend who said that snuffy was imaginary in the beginning but eventually the character changed so that everyone could see him. So a child psychologist is to blame for the confusion. Someone at some point thought it was unhealthy for Big Bird to have an imaginary best friend and changed him to so that everyone could see him. This is the theory that lets me sleep at night and I am sticking to it.

The "Mall" thing

2007-01-23T11:15:00.000-08:00

To Whom It May Concern,

Recently I was driving around in my automobile trying to get to the Edison train station. There is no way to do this without having to pass by the so-called Middlesex “Mall”. I put mall in quotations because I truly believe that we are kidding ourselves and doing a great injustice to the mall industry by labeling the set of stores on Stelton Road a mall.

One obvious reason why this “mall” isn’t really a mall is that you don’t have to go inside to access any stores. People go to malls not just to shop in the stores they see from the outside but also to explore the smaller stores inside. There’s no excitement when one enters the Middlesex “Mall.” No merry-go-round, no random Irish store, nothing. One already knows what stores are in the “Mall” without having to go inside. Where’s the excitement in that? Even the dirt mall deserves the mall designation more than the Middlesex “Mall.” There’s always excitement there.

Thinking of this persuasion leads one to believe that the Middlesex “Mall” could just be re-classified as a strip mall but problems still exist. The electric sign, for example. The sign stands proudly over Stelton Road, supposedly letting consumers know that this is the place to shop. Well, see, the thing is…the sign is NEVER fully lit. I have lived in Middlesex for 13 years now and I have yet to see that sign glowing brightly with all of the letters lit up. I am sure I am not the only one who giggled with their friends when we drove by and saw “SEX ALL” lighting up the night sky. When the sign says “MID MLL” why bother to even light it? Therefore, if we let the “mall” be re-designated a strip mall the sign would still have every right to burn brightly and wrongly for eternity.

Furthermore, why does this “mall” have to tarnish the name of Middlesex Borough? I get it that it’s named for Middlesex County but still I can’t help but think that our little 3.5 mile2 town does not need the added burden of trying to explain away this “mall.” Our mascot is the frigging blue jay for goodness sake. Rename it the Stelton Strip Mall. There’s alliteration and 3 more letters that can be lit or not lit, depending on how the sign lighting gods feel. Or if Middlesex must be in the name why not Promenade instead of Mall? It worked for Bridgewater.

People living in New Jersey can name at least three malls that are within a half hour of them. I don’t know one person within a half hour driving radius of the Middlesex “Mall” that would actually count it as one of their three. Just try to compare the Middlesex “Mall” to a real mall like Menlo Park. It’s like comparing a White Castle cheeseburger to a three-course meal. They just aren’t of the same caliber.

As a New Jerseyian I am proud of our malls and for that reason I take the mall designation very seriously. We must join together and do what we can to eliminate such false idols that mar the image of our malls. No more “SEX ALL”!!

Thanksgiving

2006-11-25T10:18:00.000-08:00

Since people in NZ don't really care about the colonists and the native americans breaking bread (or raping and pillaging) it's been over a year since I celebrated a good carbohydrate filled thanksgiving. And this thanksgiving lived up to all of the hype that I built up. I got home wednesday and did the local bar hop which is always fun and interesting. Then I got to go into NYC and see the parade on 37th!! I was in an office building which was even better. I had to go in by myself which kind of sucked but since I am a social butterfly I made friends quickly and enjoyed the parade. The breakfast club was fun as usual (I heart luigi) and tonight I am going to see some family and Umass peeps. It was a good trip home, but have no fear I will be invading msex again soon!! Christmas I will be home for a week and more ruckus will be created. Below are the parade pics. Enjoy!!

The Parade!!

His head is gonna fall off!!

Gobble Gobble

Snoopy

I can't imagine walking in that thing the whole parade.

Pretty

Big Bird

Weebles Wobble but they don't fall down!

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends float

Scooby Doo and his big butt.

Rhino

Energiser Bunny

Hess Float

Harlem Globetrotters

SuperGroverrr!

Hairspray float

Mr. Potatoe Head (His nose was walking around in front of him!)

Cheerleaders!

The Polar Express float

All the floats and balloons have past...now just waiting for Santa.

You better not shout. You better not cry...

Santa!! Now there are only 25 shopping days until Xmas. Whoo hoo!

Now Everyone Run for the Train!!

Aaaaaaaahhh!!!

2006-11-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

My boss has been on vacation for the past week and a half so I have had the office to myself with not a lot to do. It was inevitable that I would drive myself crazy.

The job is good. We just finished our busy season. At one point I was working thirteen hour days. Now I can barely find enough work to last me two hours. I don't deal with transitions like this very well. It's like working out and then being all energized afterwards but with nothing to do. I don't enjoy. To keep me busy I have been looking into grad school again. Good, but bad idea.

It's a good idea because I do need to get my but in gear and get things in order for next September. I will NOT be in the amherst area. It will ruin it all for me. I want to leave here with the good memories I have. I don't want to leave clapping and doing the dance of joy that I am out of the valley. I want to miss it.

Ok, anyway, yeah researching grad schools is a great idea, except I get all hopped up and stressed out. What if I don't get in? What if I don't get funding? eek what if no one likes me? For reals though I just think I secretly liked to get this worked up about things. Otherwise I just wouldn't get this worked up ya know.

I did get into UC San Diego and it is still my first choice, but funding is wicked hard to find. They don't offer funding to masters students within the math department so I have to look outside of the department. Translation...I have no clue what I am doing. I looked into their residence life program to see if they have any graduate positions and they don't. I feel like I am walking through a wicked dark tunnel with no flashlight and I don't like it. I finally resorted to emailing some poor math grad student who posted their email address and asked them for help.

Part of this is just me being lazy and just wanting someone else to figure everything out for me. Another part is me probably not really wanting to move on. It would be nice to not change zip codes every year. BUT no one is twisting my arm and making me do this. If someone even mentioned me not going to grad school I would become all indignant. I do want to go to grad school that's for sure.

I just need to calm down and remember the NZ attitude. Everything will work out and in the grand scheme of things life is going well for me. I live for free with good friends. I have a car. I have friends (note the priorities hahaha jk). I have some moolah. and I am damn good looking. It could be worse...I could be thinking about bungee jumping again (Oy). Seriously never again with the bungee.

The plans for the rest of my life (well for at least September)

2006-08-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile. I have spent much of my time catching up with old friends and keeping in touch with the ones I made in NZ.

Sometimes it feels like I never left. Because I traveled by myself there's no one around to remind me of the things I did. No one turns to me and says "Remember that time that you took your bra off and we won a $50 beer tab? that was awesome." It's not a bad thing, it's just something that is different from all of my other travels. I have a picture of me on the Franz Josef glacier as my wallpaper on my desktop at work. That picture grounds me. Whenever I forgot about my awesome trip I get to look at that picture and a smile automatically shows on my face. Franz Josef was by far my favorite day. I felt so calm and I felt a real sense of accomplishment and adventure when I was on that glacier.

I graduated from UMass over a year ago now (eek). I never could have guessed where my life would wind up. I am back on campus and I will be here for the year. I got a job with conference services for the whole year and I somehow put my friends under a spell so that they would want me to live with them for the whole year. I am a very lucky girl.

Things are changing lots. Friends are moving away and some are choosing to move out of touch and I guess in a way I am making those choices too. I miss NZ everyday and everyday I am extremely glad that I went.

Back Home

2006-04-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

I have been back in Jersey for a week now. After I left New Zealand I went to Fiji for a week which was great. I didn't leave the main island but I did go into town lots. Let's face it though, mostly I just laid out by the pool and enjoyed the sunshine and the heat. I was still staying at a hostel but I booked a room for myself which was a nice little treat for the end of my trip. It was cool because most of the people there were either beginning their trips or ending it so everyone just sat around and shared stories or asked questions. I also tried kava which is a ground up root mixed with water. It tastes like bad medicine but it makes your tongue numb and if you drink enough of it you will drool with knowing it. Any amount of kava results in a great night's sleep. A good time was had. When I got off of the plane in NY, not only were my mom, dad, and bro there but Aunt Lynn and my cousins J and Jenna were waiting for me too! It was a great surprise. Many hugs were given and I even got some Queens bagels to take home (whoopee!). Being home is good. I have just spent the week catching up with people and enjoying the fact that I am not living out of a backpack anymore. So what's next? For the time being I am just hanging in Jerz enjoying being home and catching up with everyone. At the end of May I am moving back to UMass. I got my summer job back and I get to live with my friends and just chill back at college. Not a bad deal. I got accepted to the math grad program at UC San Diego, but I am going to defer for a year. I am not ready to move to the west coast yet. Essentially (that one's for you Ed) I have no idea what I am doing from Sept 2006 to Sept 2007. I'm not worrying about it though because it will all work out. Who knows? Maybe I'll just pack my bags again and travel some more (with my imaginary money). The blog will stay up but I don't think I will add much until I travel again. If I haven't seen you yet we must get together because I have missed everyone and I want to know what's going on in everyone's lives. That is all I have to say (for now). The end.

Goodbye NZ

2006-03-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

Before I say goodbye to NZ let me back up and fill you in on what I have done for the past week. St Patrick's Day was pretty fun. It was no NY with a parade but I did drink lots and sing Irish songs and just hang out with a good group of people that I met on my East Cape trip. When Sunday rolled around I hopped on the bus and headed to Auckland. The plan was to only spend the night in Auckland and the next day head further north to the Bay of Islands. Well the bus to the Bay of Islands was full so I was stuck in Auckland for a day. And I had a pretty bad cold. Combine these two things and I was one cranky girl. To add to the crankiness I checked my flight info and found out that my flight to LA from Fiji had been canceled and I had been booked onto one for the day before. This is all fine and good except for the fact that I still wasn't leaving LA to go to NY until the 2nd which meant one night in LA. Let me tell you, I don't want a night in LA. I want to be home in my bed. Finally today I was able to straighten everything out so it's all good now. I will be in NY at 1230am on Sunday, April 2.

Anyway, I sulked my way through my day in Auckland and hopped to the Bay of Islands the next day. When we got to the Bay we drove another half hour to Nafu springs. These were natural mineral baths. Basically it's a mud pit full of bubbly hot water that comes from underground naturally and you spread the mud all over you as an exfoliant. Since the earth's crust is so thin in the north island these natural springs are abundant...but these were the only ones that were free. The only downside is that the springs give off a strong sulfur smell which in turn sticks to your swim suit, even after washing. So for the rest of this trip, including fiji, my swim suit is going to smell like rotten eggs. I think I will live, I may not make many friends but I will survive.

The only other thing I did in the Bay of Islands was take a day trip to Cape Reinga. The cape is the northwestern corner of NZ and it is where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet. The bus left at 7:15am and we headed north. We drove along 90 mile beach which is a beach but also a highway. It's not really 90 miles and if you want to know how they thought it was 90 miles I'll explain in person. It was pretty cool to drive along the beach. Once we got down the beach enough to make sure we could get off before tide came in we hopped off and waded in the water. The driver showed us how to pick shellfish and we had a nice little snack of raw shellfish on the beach. We hopped back on the bus and got off of the beach via a stream.

Halfway up the stream we stopped to look at some really high sand dunes. When I say really high I mean 80 meters (about 240ft) and when I say stopped to look at I mean we walked up the dune and used a boogie board to ride back down. It was a pretty cool ride and sand got everywhere. It was a good way to spend an hour. Afterwards we hopped back on the bus and headed to a beach for lunch. We hung out again and then finally made our way to the Cape.

The Maori's believe the cape is the departure point for spirits to head home so usually there are some families grieving. It is a very spiritual place. You can actually see where the two bodies of water meet. The tasman sea is very green and the pacific ocean is very blue so when they mix it's a pretty cool site.

Seeing the Cape was very important to me. It marked the end of my trip in NZ. It was the last thing that wanted to do. I have spent much time in the Tasman Sea and much time in the Pacific Ocean since being here and I finally saw them both meet. It meant a lot.

Now I am back in Auckland and I am staying at Ana's place again. That's where I stayed for Big Day Out. Today is Friday and I fly to Fiji on Sunday. Tomorrow, I am going to see The Living End play one more time. One of Ana's flatmate's sisters is going and she said she would give me a ride. So I am going to spend my last full day in NZ seeing my favorite band play again. Not a bad gig.

The plan for Fiji is to work on my tan so everyone is jealous when they see me for the first time. The rumor is that internet in Fiji is pretty expensive so most likely this is my last blog until I am home. I can't really process this trip yet, that's what I hope Fiji is for.

I am looking foward to seeing familiar faces and hearing familiar voices and just being around everyone again. I can't wait to not live out of a backpack or sleep in bunk beds. I am sad that this trip in NZ is over but I am thankful for the time I had here and I can't wait to be in Jerz.

Here are some pics:

A car on 90 mile beach that didn't make it out before the tide came in. It's been there for two months and all of the damage done is due to the Tasman Sea.

The bus takin a break on the beach/highway

The dunes and us boarding down them

The streamwe drove through to get to the dunes and off of the beach

The Tasman Sea

The Pacific Ocean

Where they meet. The white water is the different waves from the two bodies of water meeting

The final thing I wanted to see can now be crossed off

See you soon!!

What a week it has been

2006-03-15T21:23:00.000-08:00

I left Taupo on Monday to begin my trip around the East Cape. The East Cape is probably one of the most beautiful spots that I have seen in NZ. The bus was nice because instead of being 35 of us there were only 20 so we were all able to just relax and get to know each other. The first night we stopped in Gisborne which is the surfing capital of NZ. Unfortuanetly the weather was crap so no surfing was done, just lots of wine drinking. I was sitting at the table eating dinner when I turn around and see my friend Andrew. I hadn't seen Andrew since my first week in Auckland but we had kept in touch via text messages. It was great to see him since we were able to catch up on all of our experiences over the past six months. It definetly felt to me with seeing Andrew that I had gone full circle on this trip which was nice.

From Gisborn we went to a farm in Rangituka. We stayed at the farm overnight and had a blast. I rode a horse for the first time. His name was War Lord and he was fantastic. We rode on the beach and up in the hills for about two hours before dinner. It was so relaxing and I had a smile on my face the whole time thinking how great it was that I was finally riding a horse. Les, the horse guy, told me that me and War Lord fit each other and it was totally true. I felt completely comfortable on him even when he started to gallop. The only awkward part was getting on the horse. I am not very graceful when it comes to stepping up onto high things. It was a sad sight that involved me basically leaning over the horse and then Al, the kiwi bus driver, pushing my butt onto the saddle. Not graceful I admit but it got the job done. After the horseback ride we sat around a fire on the farm and just chilled out. It was really relaxing. We were at the easternmost point of NZ which means that we saw the sun rise first in the hemisphere. Well we would have saw it first if it wasn't foggy, but we were the first to know that the weather was going to be crap all day in the southern hemisphere.

The next day we went to possibly my most favorite place. It was a home stay in Te Kaha. This guy Paul O'Brien is half Maori and half Irish and he opened up his home to us to enjoy. It was beautiful. The house is set right on the shore and there is a hot tub that sit right on the beach so you can fish and watch the sun set all from the hot tub. I swam in the Pacific and then warmed up in the hot tub until after sunset. Then ate a delicious meal that Paul's mom made for us. It was so good. Al, the bus driver, went out fishing and caught snappers which we had for breakfast. It turns out that I love fish. I woke up and had my coffee (instant, boo) down by the beach and then had some fish. It was a perfect end to my east cape trip.

I am back in Taupo to celebrate St. Patty's day tomorrow. Then I am off to Auckland for a day and then off to my last stop on this trip, the Bay of Islands. It should be good. This trip is almost over but I am not processing any of it right now. I am just enjoying the moments and I figure I will think about it all when I am in Fiji. Here are pics from this past week. Happy St. Patty's Day!!

My horse War Lord

The lovely beach that I swam at.

Another view of the beach

The view of the hot tub from the top part of the backyard

Sunset from a hot tub. Sweet as.

The Kiwi crew in the backyard.

What I did on my birthday

2006-03-10T21:31:00.000-08:00

On my birthday I woke up at 5am and by 7am I was walking up a mountain. Seriously. I was doing the Tongariro Crossing. It's considered on of the best day walks in New Zealand. The walk takes you through a valley between mountains and then up the side and into a crater. On top of the crater it is possible to see mount doom, real name mount nagarua(maybe), and also it's supposed to give some great views of the whole park and area. And when NZer's say day walk they mean day walk. The walk took me 7 hours and at points I was on all fours climbing up rocks.

The first part of the walk takes about an hour and is a slight incline. This slight incline leads to the devil's staircase. Let me tell you it's not called the devil's staircase for nothing. It's just a piles of stacked rocks going up the side of mountain. It's windy and very steep at points. I took my time and many breaks and after an hour I was finally off the staircase. I must admit that most of the time that I was on the staircase I was thinking to myself that I sure know how to pick a crappy brithday present for myself.

After the staircase I found myself inside of crater. It was completely flat which was a nice change. It took about a half hour to walk across the crater and I was able to catch my breath and talk to the two girls that I had walkedup the staircase with. By the time we made it across the crater a cloud had settled in on top of the next incline. The next incline was the ridge of the red crater. It was basically up hill for a half hour but the really difficult part was that now that the cloud was sitting on the hill the wind was really strong and it was really cold. The ground was frozen and the two girls I was with decided to turn around. So I walked up the ridge by myself. I was kind of nervous because I couldn't see very far in front of me and the wind does push you around. It's not like the ridge is very wide either. If two people walked side by side up it, one would eventually fall. But I made sure that I could see people in front of me and behind me so that if anything happened someone would see. I also had my cell phone and an emergency number....just in case.

After about a half hour I made it up the ridge and to the top of the red crater. This is where I was supposed to be able to see all of these great views. Unfortunately the cloud was still sitting there so all I could see was cloud and I was cold so I kept walking.

Walking down the other side of the crater was fun. It's all gravelly so the fastest and funnest way to get down is to just dig your heels in let yourself slide down. As I was doing this I could see the cloud moving so every now and then I could get a good view. Luckily I was able to take some pictures but I couldn't see Mount Doom.

Once I got down the crater I was in the spot called Emerald lakes. The entire Tongariro Park is a volcanic area and the lakes inside of the park are all emerald colored or deep blue because of the sulfur and acid that rises up from the ground. I had lunch at emerald lakes but then decided I was cold so I kept walking.

The rest of the walk was downhill. There were points where you could take a break and enjoy the view but I was freezing so I kept walking. The last hour of the walk was inside of a beach forest. There were waterfalls and other good things but it was the last hour of a 7 hour walk so I was more interested in finishing than enjoying the scenery.

Surprisingly my legs don't hurt too much. I am ridiculously tired still but other than that I am fine. This walk has taught me many things for me: I don't like 7 hour hikes (they are way too long) and hiking on your birthday no matter what your age will make you feel old by the end of it(my knees were killing me). I am very proud of myself for doing the Crossing. It was the last thing that I wanted to do in New Zealand and to be honest I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it. We all know that me and exercise aren't friends but I enjoyed the challenge of the Crossing. Bearing that in mind I will never do anything again that uses the words devil and staircase in the same sentence to describe it.

After the hike I met up with a girl that I had met on my bus. We went out for a drink, which turned into a couple since it was my birthday. It was a good time. We met up with another girl and we just sat around talking. I laughed a lot and then we went to the dance club I busted out all of my corny moves (the lawnmower, the sprinkler) and had a good time. All in all it was def a memorable birthday and I guess if I couldn't spend it with my friends and family then I might as well have climbed a mountain to pass the time.

I leave Taupo in a couple of days to venture onto the east cape of NZ. I will be passing through Napier again and seeing some great beaches. There are no more adventures for this trip, just relaxing and seeing the sites. Here are the pics from the crossing. Enjoy!

A view of one of the mountains when I started the walk

Just a small part of the devil's staircase. It's blurry but you can make out the zig zag that is the path.

This is supposed to be the picturesque spot with the views but instead there was cloud, but this was the highest point and I just climbed up to it on my 23rd birthday so I wanted a picture. The people around sang happy birthday to me and I even got a cookie. Good times with strangers.

Emerald Lakes through the cloud

One of the pics I took as I was sliding down the crater and as the cloud opened for a bit.

Emerald lakes as the clouds opened a bit

I don't know if I will ever be eye level with clouds again. Depsite the lack of a view the fact that I was walking through clouds is pretty amazing to me.

Unfortunately the wind caused my camera to think that it's brand new batteries were dead so that's it for the crossing pics. It was a good day. Oh and one more thing:

I LOVE PIMENTO LOAF!

Goodbye South Island

2006-03-06T17:34:00.000-08:00

After I left Christchurch I headed to Kaikoura. I was only in Kaikoura for a day but it is a beautiful little spot. I was able to go whale watching in Kaikoura which was an experience. The said that there was a strong motion sickness warning so I took one of my magic pills and figured that would be the end of it. Oh no. While the boat is moving you have to seat inside and all of the doors are closed, which means no air movement. Heading out to where the whales were meant that we had to break over some waves. So for twenty minutes it felt like you were on a roller coaster. We spotted the first whale. It was a sperm whale and it was a pretty amazing site. We were no more than 50 meters from this massive whale. When it surfaces it only shows about 1/3 of its body but the money shot is when it gets ready to dive again. That's when their tale flips out into the air. I was standing there feeling the motion of the ocean and not feeling good about it when the whale went for its dive. I was speechless. I got a huge smile on my face and decided that this trip was worth it. Then we all had to get back into our seats so we could go see if we could find another whale. Another 20 minutes of the ocean and I wasn't feeling great and people around me were getting sick and I was thinking again that it wasn't worth it. Then we got out and saw another whale that yet again made it all worth it.

At this point we had been on the water for about an hour and a half. They had said that usually they see about two whales per trip. So I was thinking that we were going to head back to land. Instead they said that there was a dusky dolphin sighting around here and that we were going to check it out. For another half hour we traveled around and I sat there having a serious debate with myself. I was feeling ill but I had taken the medicine so the illness I was feeling was probably not physical but mental. So I just sat there and put my head down and took a nap for a bit. When I woke up I felt much better and the boat was surrounded by 100 or so dusky dolphins. I went out onto the deck and the crew members played "What a Wonderful World" over the loudspeaker as we all took in the magic of seeing 100plus dolphins swimming around and jumping in their natural habitat. It was a really great experience that brought a huge smile to my face. All in all despite the motion sickness it was worth it. It was a nice way to end my trip to the South Island.

Yesterday I took the ferry and today I am back in Wellington. I am staying at Ed's house and took today to meet up with the cleaner's from Base and hang out at Eat. While I was at Base I ran into some of the people I had cleaned with and we caught up on each other's travels. It was really good. Unfortunately my stay in Wellington is really short. I leave tomorrow for Taupo. I have already been to Taupo but the reason for going this time is that there is a day walk there that is considered one of the Great Walks of NZ. It is called the Tongariro Crossing. It takes between 6-8 hours and the terrain can be quite steep at times but the benefit is that the environments you cross over are amazing. You go from flatland to walking inside a giant crater to getting a view of some lakes and seeing the Mountain that was Mount Doom in Lord of the Rings. A lot of travelers have done this walk and have raved about it so I am excited to finally do it. I will be doing it with another girl a met so it's a bonus that I won't be doing it alone.

So the next blog will be after the Crossing. The Crossing is the last big thing that I have planned for NZ. After that I am just cruising with the bus. Here are some pics to keep you going.

A place we stopped at between Christchurch and Kaikoura.

The wizard!

A whale surfacing

The money shot

One of the many Dusky Dolphins jumping (I feel he was just jumping for me)

The Kaikoura mountain range

All of these pictures make me feel like a very luck girl for having the chance to travel to New Zealand and take them. It's starting to hit that I will be leaving this beautiful country in less than a month. I am excited to see everyone but I am starting to get a little sad that this experience is winding down. But I will not think about it all yet. That's what Fiji is for. For now I will enjoy the rest of my time here and soak up as much of this beautiful scenery as I can. Peace out.

Christchurch

2006-03-02T14:12:00.000-08:00

I made it to Christchurch and I think it is my favorite city in NZ. It's the most populated city in the South Island and it is full of characters. The main gathering place in the city is Cathedral Square. There is (of course) a cathedral but there are also vendors and street acts all around. It was a fairly nice day out yesterday so I hung out in the square...and I met the Wizard. The Wizard is mentioned in my lonely planet tour book and he is def a celebrity here. Everyday at around 1pm he blows a horn and stands up on a green ladder in the square and starts a speech. He wears a black robe and a black wizard hat. The speech I heard yesterday from him was quite entertaining.

According to him, religion is just a form of baby farming. Also women are the cause of all of the worlds problems. As he puts it women are a pain in the ass but we can't help it because it's just in our nature. Also before priests were in control men were hunters and gatherers. After the priests were in control men had to become farmers and interested in agriculture. And the women domesticated these men, hence animal husbandry. Also motherhood is the cause of all war since if every mother has more than two babies they need more space and the only way to get that space is to go to war with their neighbors for their land.

Also the Greeks invented "motherbloody nature!" which according to the wizard is a worse thing than gods. So essentially, gods were invented by priests, nature was invented by greek businessmen, therefore everything is bull designed by rulers.

According to the wizard he is the official wizard of NZ. Apparently he has a piece of paper from the Prime Minister saying it. And if you have a piece of paper saying something it must be true. The wizard then went on to explain how he was going to turn the Earth upside down. Essentially he wants to turn all of the maps south side at the top. It was pretty interesting.

The wizard is about 70years old and he is quite an interesting guy. Whats great is he takes himself completely seriously so when he talks he conveys his ideas with great conviction. It really does captivate you.

Tomorrow I am going to a rugby game. For 20 bucks I get two free beers at a bar, a ticket to the game and a return bus. Not a bad deal. The next day I am leaving Christchurch for Kaikoura which is my last stop in the South Island. It's sad to think that this trip is almost over but I will be glad to get out of the South Island. It's getting cold here. The north should still be warm though since it is farther away from antartica. After Kaikoura it's back up to Wellington for a couple of days and then I start to slowly make my way back up to Auckland to fly out.

But for the rest of this afternoon I am going back to Cathedral Square and I am going to listen to the wizard again. Peace out

No Penguins

2006-02-26T22:42:00.000-08:00

Before I explain why I didn't see any penguins check out my favorite picture from the bungy:

That's the view from the cable car about five minutes before I jumped.

Ok back to the penguins. After Dunedin I got back on the bus and headed to Curio Bay. On the way to Curio Bay we stopped at a beach and walked around. We turned this corner and all of a sudden there were sea lions no less than 20ft from us just chillin on the beach. Our driver told us that there was no worries as long as we didn't get between the lions and the water. Also if they started moving around or roaring at us we should really move away since they can run faster than us any day of the week. Here's one pic from that excursion (no zoom was used either, this was how close I was to them):
I was really amazed at how calm everything was. I would never had imagined that I would be able to get this close to wildlife outside of a zoo. And that's part of the beauty of New Zealand. They respect their animals and they want to protect them and they understand how to cohabitate with them without either side being caged in.

After we got back on the bus we drove for a little bit until there was a traffic jam,

hahah it was bound to happen in NZ. We had to share the road with the sheep and slowly make our way through them. It definetly put a smile on my face.

After the sheep fiasco we made it to Curio Bay. Curio Bay is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It's on the bottom of the South Island which means that it's close to Antartica. That means that despite the fact that Curio Bay is a beach it is freezing! Swimming in the bay were Hector's dolphins, the smallest in world. If you braved the cold water you could go in and they would swim around you. I didn't go in because I was on a mission to see the Yellow-Eyed Penguins which had a colony about a five minute walk from where we were.

The thing with nature is that it is not on a very strict time schedule. I got to Curio Bay at 5 and was told that the penguins could come ashore anytime between now and dusk, which is around 9. So I decided to just hang out at the colony and wait. The only problem was that a Southerly was coming in. A Southerly is like a Noreaster for us. There was wind, hail, and rain to be expected. So here I was standing in the mist of the rain, freezing waiting for the penguins when a rainbow appeared and I decided to take a picture of it:

When I was done taking the picture, my camera crapped out. The cold and damp conditions made it just shut off and refused to turn back on. So I sat there in the cold thinking if it was worth it to wait out here for possibly another 2 hours to see penguins that I would have no hope of capturing in a picture. The idea of a hot shower won and in I went so no penguins. I figured that I would probably see them at Milford Sound which is where I was going the next day.

Milford Sound is not actually a sound but rather a fjord. The difference is that a fjord is carved out by a glacier and that a sound is carved out by an eroding river bed. Anyway Milford Sound is located in the fjordland national park which is a huge park in which nature is untouched. Milford Sound is the most accesible fjord and the most touristy. I was staying here for two nights at the local(and only) hostel which operated on a generator that turned off every night at 11p and didn't turn back on until 6am. I was pretty much as far away from civilization as i ever have been. The first day at Milford I took a cruise around the sound. To see all of these cliffs rising out of the water and tower over you and to see all of the waterfalls is a very humbling experience. It made me feel very small in the grand scheme of things and I was in awe of how nature by itself can create such phenominal things. During the cruise some bottlenose dolphins swam around the boat and were doing jumps and flips. I also saw more seals, but the penguins were no where to be seen. it was still a great cruise. Here are some of the pics.

The next day I went back onto the Milford Sound but from a different angle. I tried kayaking for the first time. The weather was just as beautiful as the day before and the whole experience was really relaxing. We kayaked for about two hours and then went ashore in the sound and had lunch. The wind was picking up so our guide had us hold our kayaks next to each other and we put up a sail and sailed our back to where we started. Then we just kayaked around some more and enjoyed the beautiful day. Milford Sound gets about 8 meters of rain a year so the fact that I had two beautiful days in a row is pretty lucky. Also the more rain it gets the more waterfalls sprout out so next time I am in NZ I will def come back and hope that it's raining so I can see more waterfalls.

Retelling this to everyone I realize that I have done a lot in a week. I guess that's why I feel so tired. This is the kind of pace I am going to have for the rest of this trip. I am back in Queenstown right now for a day and then I am heading to Christchurch. I think I am going to stop there for four days. There is a really good rugby game that is being played on March 4th. I want to go to it so I am going to try and get a ticket.

I hope everyone had a good week and enjoys the pics!

After the bungy

2006-02-19T19:54:00.000-08:00

Since my last post I have hopped back onto the bus and made my way to Dunedin. The bus ticket I am using right now is the one that I bought off of a girl for $200 less than what it was selling for. We ran into some problems with the transfer of the ticket though so for the next week I am Natalie Roper (which is fine because it makes me think of Threes Company). Anyway, on the way to Dunedin we stopped at a place called Tunnel Beach. Basically in the 1800s this guy owned the land. The beach was and still is surrounded by sandstone cliffs, making acces to the beach impossible. So the guy carved a 10m tunnel through the sandstone to get to the beach. He then gave the beach to his daughter for her birthday so she would have her own private beach (Daddy'll do it). The beach is now public and even though there is a tunnel it is still pretty hard to get to. It's a 20 minute walk downhill to get to the beach and then to get back up the hill it takes about another 40 minutes. Crazy.

After the tunnel beach walk our driver took us to Baldwin St. Baldwin St is in the guiness book of world records for being the worlds steepest street. It didn't look that steep but I didn't try to walk up it since I had just walked uphill for the past 40 minutes. After Baldwin St. I went to the Cadbury factory and took a tour. I enjoyed free chocolate and I got to see all of the cadbury chocolates that we don't get in the US. I had no idea that they made more than the eggs that I get at Easter. It turns out they make loads of chocolate but they only sell certain types where there is no competition. So since in the US we already have Mars bars we don't Cadbury's Moro's (which I think are better).

Yesterday I went to the Speights beer brewery for a tour. Speights is THE beer in the south and it was cool to get a tour and some free samples. They are very proud of their beer here. The great thing is that both the Speights brewery and the Cadbury factory are only a five minute walk from my hostel.

Dunedin is the third largest city in NZ and it contains the University of Otago, which is the largest Uni in NZ. It's got some really cool architecture and things like that. I'll post pics soon.

Tomorrow is the day my family has been waiting for. I will be seeing penguins. And if the weather is nice I will be able to swim with some dolphins. I am heading to a place called Curio Bay. It's population is 11 people (no lie). After Curio Bay I am heading to Invercargill which is as close as I am going to get to Antartica and the southernmost point that I am travelling to. By the end of the week I will be in Milford Sound. Milford Sound is actually a fjiord and is supposedly something that you have to see when in NZ. My plans are to stay there for a couple of days and kayak the sound. Then it's back to Queenstown.

I don't think I will have cheap internet access until I get back into Queenstown about a week from now so yet again this is goodbye. But don't worry I will have tons of pictures to share!

Thanks for all the comments about the bungy jump. They all made me smile and made me realize that I can't wait to come home and see everyone!

Molly's Right!

2006-02-17T18:21:00.000-08:00

When I was in Auckland for the Big Day Out I bought a ticket for the Nevis Bungy jump in Queenstown. I bought it in Auckland because I knew that if I waited until I was in Queenstown to buy it I would chicken out. Up until about a month ago the Nevis Bungy Jump in Queenstown was the tallest bungy jump in the world at 134m(440ft). It was created by the guy who created the whole idea of bungy jumping AJ Hacket. In fact bungy jumping was created in Queenstown so what better place to do it. And since my motto is go big or go home I had to do the biggest.

So to get to the place where I jumped we had to hop in a car and drive 45 minutes into the mountains. You actually jump from a cable car that is suspended between two cliffs and you get to the cable car via a gondola. I was so nervous last night that I had to have a few drinks which turned into a lot of drinks because it turns out that everytime we told the bar tender that my Kiwi bus driver has big boobs we would get free beer until the keg runs out. I booked the jump for 8am because I wanted to get it over with. Anyone who has waited in line with me for a roller coaster knows how anxious I can get so I didn't want to spend a whole day worrying about the jump. By 9:30 I was harnessed in and in the cable car. Let me tell you, 134m is HIGH. We were suspended over a river that was so clear you could see the rocks at the bottom. I knew no one in the cable car with me but that didn't stop me from freaking everyone out. I started mumbling to myself how stupid this is and asking myself why I was doing it and then I turned to the other people and asked them if they realized how stupid we were all being right now. I was about to chicken out when the bungy guy chose to tell me that there were no refunds. So I was jumping.

I was third to go and the first girl. They have you sit down and they start strapping you ankles together and hooking everything up(oy I am getting anxious just writing this down!). They asked me if I had ever done this before and I laughed and said no and I will never do it again. Everyone was looking at me and I could tell by their faces that I must have had a very worried look on my face. Then I stood up and hobbled(because my ankles were now connected to bungy cord) over to the edge. Some choice expletives escaped my mouth and then I made the mistake of looking down. I stopped dead in my tracks and said there's no way I can do this it is too guy. Luckily the guy told me to just look straight ahead which helped. I hobbled to the edge and started bugging out because I wanted to hold onto something as I jumped. I had a shoulder harness on and asked the guy if it was ok if I held onto it for dear life as I fell. It was all a go and then the countdown from five began. The thing is at this point, even if I didn't jump I would have been pushed. They don't mess around. So as they said one I jumped. Albeit I didn't jump gracefully with my arms out. I jumped with my arms gripping my harness like they grip the shoulder pads of my backpack and my legs never fully unbent. It looked like I fell sitting.

Yes I did scream and it was loud. The freefall lasts for about 8 seconds and you actually bungy twice since the nevis is so high. You rebound back up about 40 m after the intial 134m drop and then you fall the 40m again (the first bungy was only 43m fyi). By the end of the 8 seconds my scream of fear had turned into a "whoo hoo!" scream. The fun wasn't yet over. Because the Nevis is so high they can't lower you down. Instead after you jump you have to be raised back up to the cable car. So here I am hanging upside down. There is a cord that you can pull so your legs are released and you get pulled up in a sort of sitting up position. But my hands were firmly glued to my harness so I just hung there spinning around repeating to myself "pull me up pull me up pull me up." At this point I had to keep my eyes closed because all of the spinning around was not helping my stomach. Finally I was pulled back up the 134m upside down and deposited back onto the cable car. I immediately went over to the trash bucket and thought I was going to throw up. The fact that the cable car swings after every jump wasn't helping things either so they put me onto the gondola and I arrived safely onto land where I watched my dvd and finally felt relieved that I had did it and that it was all over.

I will never bungy again. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I loved but will never ever do again. I got my free t-shirt and I splurged on a cute sweatshirt and that's it. 8 seconds of freefall is a loooong time.

On a completely different note, before I left Wanaka I went to this place called Puzzle World. It is full of optical illusions but the best part is that the cafe had all of these mind games that we could do. So I sat there with my cup of coffee and played all of these great games. It reminded me of going to Northhampton and playing in the toy store there. Good times.

ps...I bungy jumped!!! Who would have thought I would ever do that? No worries. The rest of this trip will be spent with my feet planted on the ground (until I fly to Fiji).

Wanaka update and random pics

2006-02-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

There really isn't much to do in Wanaka besides sit by the lake and enjoy the view. I did a walk around the lake which was nice. Another thing that I have done is go to the local movie theater. It is called cinema paradiso and is great. There are no movie seats, just couches and they back cookies that you can buy at intermission. That's right. Each movie has an intermission where you can chug on some free water or buy a beer. Me I just stick with the cookies. They are delicious.

There is another girl that got off of the Kiwi bus and is leaving tomorrow. Her name is Beatrice. We were talking in the kitchen today when one of the receptionists walks in and asks if either of us wants to work for accomodation today since they are understaffed. I said sure but that I had to finish my coffee first. Before she left the reception just asked my name and I told her. Then i turned to Beatrice and said that it wouldn't be the first time I worked for accomodation, I had done it in Wellington at Base Backpackers. Beatrice's eyes lit up and she said "So you're the Elyse!" I was a little confused. She explained that she had worked for accomodation at Base right after I left and that everyone had kept on asking her if she knew me. Apparently they talked about me and told her my plans and everything. And every time she met someone knew they asked if she knew elyse. Hahah it even turns out that when we were in Franz Josef someone asked if she knew me! In Germany there is a drinking song that has the chorus "Who the F* is Alice?" Beatrice is German and as she was relaying to me how popular I was she ended by singing the chorus of the song. We both laughed a lot and then I thanked her for giving my ego a huge boost. We then started talking about the people back in Wellington and it turns out my window war guy is still in Wellington and still closing the window every night.

I leave Wanaka tomorrow and head for Queenstown. Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world so use your imaginations to figure out what I am going to there! (Hint: I haven't done it before). After Queenstown I will see penguins and take lots of pictures I swear. Here are just some pics from the last couple of months. Peace out!

My Christmas Card for next year.

Ed and Kirstee

The view from my tent at the first camp site that I stayed at for a night.

My tent at my campsite in Napier where I stayed for two weeks

The beach in Napier where I soaked up the sun

Mike from the tent pegs story

The first Mainfreight truck that gave me a free ride to Auckland for the Big Day Out

Me feeling very excited and wicked cool that I am going to ride in the front of a truck

A glacier in a rainforest

2006-02-12T18:28:00.000-08:00

Before I could walk on the glacier I had to get to it. On the way from Greymouth to the Franz Josef glacier there is a place called Cape Foulwind. After about a 20 minute walk around the cape not only did I find a sign letting me know that I am never really that far from home but I also found a fur seal colony. This is just one of the pics I took but it gives you an idea. The seals just chill on these rocks that are surrounded by beach and the Tasman Sea.

After we saw the seals just chillin by the sea we (the bus) got jealous and decided to chill out on a little alcove beach for a bit. It was pretty nice and basically epitomizes my trip, I walk and I sit on beaches.

Once we were on our way past the fur seal colony we stopped for a night at Lake Mahinipua. There is nothing at this lake besides a pub with an 80 year old named Les who loves the Kiwi bus and for the past 20 years has let them stay there and cook them a bbq. Every night is a different theme for the bar. Our theme was guys in drag girls in trash bags. Needless to say the whole point of the night was to take advantage of the great drink deals (I got a free pitcher for doing the dishes after the bbq). It was pretty fun. I met these three girls while there and we had a good time. Belinda, the girl that has low cost written all over her, did the glacier hike with me.

Still not to the glacier yet. Before we got to Franz Josef we stopped at a place called the Bushman's Center. It's basically a place dedicated to honoring the hunters of NZ. NZ has no native mammals. All mammals that are here currently, like deer, were introduced by the English settlers in the 1800s. Deer are actually a pest in NZ since they eat the natural vegetation and destroy the balance. So it became legal in the 70s to openly hunt deer. After awhile the bushman realized that there was money in deer meat and decided to start deer farms. Now instead of killing the deer they just had to capture them. Before net guns were invented they captured the deer by chasing them with a helicopter and having the passenger in the helicopter jump out of the copter and onto the deer. It sounds a little barbaric but it was also really braveto jump out of a copter. Anyway at the center they have a wild boar. He was pretty tame but his teeth are wicked sharp.

Now onto the glacier. I was very nervous about doing a glacier hike. The full day hike takes 8 hours with about 6 hours of ice time. The extent of me actually walking for 8 hours straight is nil so I was a little worried if I could do it. But the motto for this trip is go big or go home so I signed up for the full day hike. It was completely worth it. The interesting thing about the franz josef glacier is that it is one of only three glaciers in the world that is situated in a rain forest. Fox glacier is another one, which is only 26km from franz and the last one is somewhere in South America so this hike was very unique. Franz Josef is also moving at its fastest rate in 10 years. So basically I walked on this moving thing and I paid for my guides to carve out steps so we could climb up it. When I get home I can explain better how a glacier winds up in a rain forest. The gist is that since the Southern Alps are on the west coast of NZ they cause the clouds to have to move over them to get into the middle of NZ. For clouds to get higher they have to dump rain, hence the rain forest. When the get even higher the rain turns to snow and this snow gets compacted into the valley causing the glacier to be created and sustained for thousands and thousands of years. So basically you look to one side and there is this huge block of ice and when you look to the other side there is this huge beautiful rain forest. This oddity made it possible for me to hike a glacier in shorts. When we were starting out it was hot and by the time we made it to the highest we were going to go, which turned out to be around 450 meters, it was cold and windy. And by the time we started to walk back down the glacier the wind had turned warm again. It was definetely a surreal experience.

Once we were on the glacier our guide took us to these narrow crevices. We all climbed in and shimmied along and then climbed back out. It was amazing to realize that I was completely surrounded by ice. And when I say these crevices were narrow I mean that we had to turn sideways to get through them.

I have lost a little weight since I have been in NZ. Because of this, my pants started to droop as we were walking along. At one point my shorts, which at first ended at my knees, were now ending at mid shin. I didn't have time to stop and fix them so I just kept going. Well to get out of one of the crevices you had to basically stradle the hole and take a big step up with your right leg. I did it and heard a rip. Yep that's right. I tore a hole in the crotch of my pants while on a glacier. No it wasn't breezy. Luckily no one noticed since we were all too busy worrying about falling on the ice and subsequently down

deep crevices. Walking on the glacier was definetly on of my top experiences while in NZ. Theres so much more to write about it but I think it will be conveyed better when I am at home and explain it in person.

I am now in Lake Wanaka. I am going to spend a

few nights here since there are some walks around the lake that I want to do. Also I am planning on letting my legs rehab from the climbing of the glacier for a couple of days and just enjoy the lake by way of the beach. Since I found a place that can post pics I will post some pics from the past couple of months too. So enjoy the glacier pics and look foward to some random pics. I miss you all!!

Nelson and beyond

2006-02-06T21:11:00.000-08:00

The only thing semi productive that I did in Nelson was to call Tania. Tania is the sister of one of the truck drivers that I got a ride with. He gave me her number before I left him. When I called I just asked Tania if she had any suggestions of what I should go see. She wound up picking me up and showing me some beaches that I wouldn't be able to see without a car. I then went back to her house and had a bbq with her and her family. I am consistently amazed at the friendliness of Kiwis. I am also amazed at how I didn't hesitate to call Tania. Back home I would have never called. It's just too random and awkward and she would have been suspicious of why I was calling. But traveling on my own I am looking for any chance to meet more people. And even though I am traveling alone, I never really am alone. There are always people around and it's just whether I choose to talk to them or not.

Anyway, the next day I hopped on the Kiwi bus. The first stop was the Abel Tasman National Park. I laid on the golden sand beach and watched the speed boats and kayekers. I have been on a lot of beaches lately and for good reason. The farthest point between land and beack in NZ is 130km. Since I have been traveling around the coasts I am always within walking distance of a beach. After Abel Tasman we stopped for the night in Westport. Since I have the time I stayed an extra night there. There isn't too much to do in Westport but I did walk to where the Buller Gorge River meets the Tasman Sea. It was a pretty great view. There were beach and mountains all in one view.

Mountains. The thing about mountains is that the bus has to drive up and over or around them. That means the trip is full of windy roads. That views are amazing but my stomach isn't impressed. It feels like a prolonged roller coaster (minus my screaming). I thought I had finally outgrew my motion sickness but I think I got it for life. I might actually have to break down and buy motion sickness pills. I do not want to be the girl who threw up on the bus.

Today I got back on the bus and left Westport. We did a walk on Cape Foulwind which has a natural fur seal colony. So at around 10 this morning I got to see seals in there natural habitat. Pretty cool. (Man I have the life). And if you are wondering where the pics are, the comps I am using lately can't upload them so it looks like you'll have to wait a bit.

The south island mentality is kind of like the mentality of the south of the US. Everything is a little slower and the towns are a lot smaller. Mullets are in abundance and their accents are different from the North Island. NZ has 4 million people total. Of that only 1 million live in the south so things are really spread out.

I hopped off the bus again to stay a night in Greymouth. It's basically the last stop before I hit the boonies of the South Island. The next stop is Lake Manipua, which has an 80 year old ex pro rugby player and that's about it. The kiwi bus riders are the only people that visit it. After a night there I am heading to the Franz Josef Glacier. That's right, within three days I will be walking on a glacier! I am very excited because I can basically guarantee that walking on a glacier will be a once in a lifetime experience. After Franz Josef I head to lake Wanaka. There are some walks that I want to do there so I am planning on spending a couple of days. After Wanaka is Queenstown. I am pretty sure that I won't have internet access until Wanaka or Queenstown. (Don't worry mom I am pretty sure my phone will have reception).

So this is good bye for a week or so, this time not self imposed but location imposed. Feel free to comment amongst yourselves while I am gone!!

And another thing about the wine tour...

2006-02-03T12:46:00.000-08:00

New Zealand doesn't believe in screens for their windows or doors. It is perfectly normal for birds to be walking and flying around shops and such. Well at one of the wineries we were about to leave and I felt something in my hair. My hair is down past my shoulders now and I am still getting used to it so I thought it was just a bug. I could feel my hair moving around around a lot so I put my arm up and shook my hair...no lie...out flew a bird! It was a small bird but a bird nonetheless and me being in a wine induced mood just started saying a "a bird just flew out of my hair," in a high pitched voice. It was pretty funny and I can't believe I forgot about it last time I wrote.

I leave Nelson tomorrow. The hostel I stayed in was real nice. It had free breakfast and coffee (instant but I'm learning to love it). It also had a pool, sauna, and hot tub. It's like club med for backpackers. I talked to a lot of different people too. It's nice that I have been traveling for four months because now I can share my stories with the other travelers. Before when I first started out I listened a lot and I was jealous of the stories that I didn't have yetm but now I think I have some pretty good ones that I love to share.

Tomorrow I go back on the Kiwi bus. The first stop is a place called Westport. I know nothing about it except that it is an old mining town. I am going to stay there for a couple of days and check it out.

This weekend is Waitangi weekend. The Waitangi treaty basically was the treaty that had the indigienous people, the Maoris, sign over the land to the British. The treaty is much desputed because the treaty that was sign by the Maori was written in there native language, Maori. But when the treaty was translated to English some key words changed and gave the Brits more control (total control). The way the Maoris are portrayed to the tourists and the way that the Kiwis I have met think of the Maoris are completely different. There is an underlying racism that most non Maori kiwis have of the Maoris. I would love to write more but my time is up and the space bar is acting funny, mainly its running off on its own. Peace out

Finally in the South Island!!

2006-01-31T15:42:00.000-08:00

I took the ferry over to the south island last thursday. The boat looked like a cruise ship and it would have been nice to walk around and see all of it but the body of water that we were crossing, the Cook Strait, was a little rough that day so to keep my motion sickness in check I had to find a nice comfy chair and sleep the three hour voyage away.

When I got to Blenheim I found out that all the vineyard work was taken. So instead of grape picking I went on a wine tour. It was a really good deal. It was a really good deal. A van picked me up from my hostel and then me and two other people visited four wineries. I didn't get to see how the wine was made but I did get to taste lots of wine. I know you are supposed to taste the wine and then spit it out, but come on, I had a driver and everything was already paid for. We spent a half hour at each winery and tasted at least 4 wines from each one. The two other people on the tour were from Turkey and England. They used to work on a boat and shared some crazy stories and we all started getting tipsy on the wine.

At one winery we finished the tasting a little early. Right next to the winery was a local distillery so we went over there and they gave us free shots. It was great. I just walked around and pointed to a bottle and then they gave me a shot glass filled with it. I trield their zambuca and had made a comment that it tasted more like Jagermeister than other zambucas. The driver, George, looked at me and laughed. He said that all of a sudden I had an opinion. I laughed too because he was right. At each wine tasting someone would ask me what I thought and I always didn't really have an opinion. I know nothing about wines and this was the first time that I was tasting most varieties. But shots and hard alcohol I know plenty about so I def had opinions then.

The tour last 3 hours and I was dropped off at my hostel at 5. I just chilled out enjoying my typsy ness when Jacky, a girl I share a room with, invited me to come along with her while she got her haircut. So went to another room where Camillo cut Jacky's hair. Camillo shared the room with Oscar. While Camillo was cutting Jacky's hair Oscar and I realized that we had both went to Big Day Out and we started to share our stories and talk about the bands we say. After the haircut we all went out for drinks. Camillo understands English but he doesn't talk it so Oscar was the translator for the night. So I spent the night drinking and hanging out with some very interesting people.

Besides this one fun filled day I haven't done much of anything in Blenheim. I leave tomorrow to go to Nelson. One of the truck drivers that I got a ride with has family in Nelson so hopefully I will meet up with them tomorrow and they will show me around town. I think my plans to travel with my friend Victoria have fallen through so most likely within a week I will be back on the Kiwi bus and onto more adventures.

Random questions: Who was in the super bowl and who won? Who won Survivor Guatamala? I know I can use the internet to answer these questions but i don't want to waste the time.

Big Day Out among other things

2006-01-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

Big Day Out was amazing!! I took a bus from the house I was staying at and got to the concert about 11 am. I didn't leave until 11pm. There were soo many bands. The way it was set up is a lot like ozzfest or warped tour. There were five stages plus a tent set up that had djs spinning club music. There was also this thing called a silent disco. It was a dance floor set up with headphones and you could just dance around to the music in your headphones. I didn't try it but it looked really weird to see all of these people bopping around with no music around. The Living End came on at 1pm so I went and hung out on the floor until they came on. They were great and I def want to see them again. The crowd was really good too. I was on the floor for the bands that I saw and it got pretty crowded but nobody was being stupid. If someone fell someone else helped them up. It was really good.

Some of the weird things to me about the big day out was that the water was free. It was great that it was free because it was really hot especially since I was jumping up and down on the floor for most bands. Hahha i hope no one was worried that because I was going to this concert without knowing anyone I wouldn't participate. I def did. Another cool thing about the concert was that they had free carnival rides and a free water slide. I was just amazed at how once you got inside the festival things weren't overpriced and there were free things to do. I did buy a Big Day Out t-shirt and a compilation cd of the bands that played to remember the concert. It was well worth the money and the trip back up to Auckland.

I ran into the Scottish girls while at the Big Day Out. We hung out for a bit and I decided that I wouldn't head down to Wellington with them. They were going to take their time going down and I just didn't feel like hopping in a car the next day. I had already checked with the girl, Ana, whose house I was crashing at and she said it was no problem if I hung around for a couple more days. I told Ana how much I appreciated her letting me stay at her house for free without even knowing me and she said not to worry, that it was the Kiwi way. The hospitality and niceness of strangers that I have seen in the past couple of weeks has amazed me and I really hope I take some of their ideals back home with me. I called the truck driver who gave me a ride up to Auckland and he hooked me up with a ride to Wellington. So on Monday I hopped back on the trucks and caught a free ride back down to Wellington.

Now I am in Wellington and am crashing at Ed's apt. I got to Wellington yesterday and am leaving tomorrow for the south island. In Wellington I have just been catching up with the people I met here, I went to Eat and hung out there for a bit and then me and Ed and his friend Vivan went to the bar and Vivan attempted to explain cricket to me. I understand most of it but the games are so long, some last days, that I don't think I could ever get into it. I have gotten into rugby though and I going to try and go see a game while I am in the south island. I am catching the ferry across to the south island in the morning. The ferry looks like a cruise ship and even has a movie theater on board. It should be a fun ride if the weather is good. Once I get to the south island I am heading straight to a town called Blenheim to try and get some work in a vineyard for a week just to get some more cash.

I had a bit of a scare this morning. I broke out my lonely planet book and called the hostels in Blenheim to book a weeks accomodation. They were all booked up. I panicked for about five minutes about what I was going to do since I had already bought the bus ticket to Blenheim and I didn't want to lose that money. So I went to the info office in Wellington and they helped me by calling around to some other hostels that aren't in the lonely planet and within ten minutes I had a bed booked. As they say here, it was sweet as.

That's as far as my plans go for now. I might travel around with Victoria but if our plans are too different then I will just hop on the Kiwi bus and travel around that way. I'll figure that stuff out while I am in Blenheim.

My pics are taking too long to upload so they will have to wait for another time. As for my grad school apps, they are all in and I am just waiting on word if I got in or not. I don't think I will know until I get back home which is fine with me.

3 weeks, 7 books and a box of wine later...

2006-01-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

I am back from my self imposed blogger exile and I have much to write about. I'll start where I left off...

My Kiwi Christmas was good. I spent Christmas Eve just hanging out at the hostel and saying goodbye to the cleaning team. One of the workers, Sybil actually gave me a card and a necklace as a good bye present. It was very nice of her and completely caught me by surprise. Another thing that caught me by surprise was a package sent to me from my friends from home. It had lots of stuff in it but the most important thing it had was Mike & Ikes. They don't have them here and I was definetly craving them so I am forever grateful to Michele, Steph, Breanne, and Erin for filling the hole in my soul that can only be filled by Mike & Ikes.

Ok so Christmas day I spent at Kirstee's house. Kirstee is Ed's girlfriend and Ed and I worked together at Eat. The day was good. I ate and drank lots and then just chilled out. It definetly never really felt like Christmas. The weather was just too good and there was no 24 hour marathon of A Christmas Story.

The day after Christmas Ed, Kirstee, and me drove to a camp site four hours away from Wellington. I can't remember the name of it but it was someone's farm. We could see the beach from where our tents were set up. It was awesome. I do have pics but this computer is being tempermental so I can't put them up right now. The next day Ed and Kirstee dropped me off in Napier at the Westshore holiday park. I went from rolling hills and full view of a beach to setting up my tent in front of the billboard for Westshore Holiday Park. It was an interesting transition.

Westshore did have a kitchen but it didn't have pots and pans available for use. So for my time being at Westshore I survived off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It wasn't bad though since all I did was lay on the beach and read. The thing that made Westshore great for me was the people. Some of the people live there permanently in caravans. When they saw I was on my own they made sure that I knew that they were looking out for me which made me feel very comfortable.

One of the guys, Mike, is 65 and had told me that if I needed anything in town to just let him know and he'll get it for me. This was extremely nice since town was an hours walk for me. I had heard taht we were going to be getting some wind storms and decided that I needed to better secure my tent so it didn't collapse on my. I knew I needed more tent pegs so I asked Mike if he could get them for me when he went into town. He gave me a weird look and said that I could get them across the street at the gas station. I went to the station and asked for tent pegs. They pointed me to a shelf but I couldn't find them. Finally the guy asked me again what I was looking for and I said tent pegs. He said that they didn't carry them. So being really confused I decided to just walk into town myself and get the pegs. After awhile I remembered what was on the shelf that the gas guy had pointed too...tampax tampons!! Poor Mike thought I had asked him in my American accent to by me tampons!! Neither of us mentioned the fiasco again and Mike still talked to me so he didn't take too much offense.

New Year's Eve was def one of my more memorable nights in NZ. Pete and his wife Meryl live permenantly in the holiday park. Pete invited me over for a bbq. After the pb&j sandwiches I was eating, this bbq was a feast. I had shrimp, but it was a whole shrimp eyes and all and I hat to take it apart myself. I also had steamed mussels which were really good. And then (cue heavenly music) Meryl gave me a cup of coffee. This was the first caffeinated drink I had in over a week. So I rang in the new year sitting around a table talking to Kiwis. Pete broke out some moonshine rum and I sat there and listened to some great stories. One of the men there, John, is from Wales and comes to NZ every six months. At one point him and I started talking politics and it wound up with me chanting no taxation without representation. It was pretty funny. At midnight there were fireworks and sometime after that John gave me some good advice. He said I will get the most out of this or any other experience by just sitting around a table and talking to people. It's not about the activities (although they are fun) it's about listening to other peoples stories.

Right after new years I decided that I would only camp for two weeks instead of three. The wind storms and sleeping on the ground were wearing me out. So after a few more nights of talking to John and listening to his war stories, he was in the royal marines in the 60s, Mike drove me into town. For the last week I have been hanging out in town and staying at a hostel. It's smaller than any of the others that I have been in and it's very relaxing. I was right down the street from the aquarium so every night I could hear the seals making those seal noises as I fell asleep.

Now I am in Auckland for the Big Day Out tomorrow!! I will finally see the Living End which I am psyched about. I am also psyched that I got a free ride to Auckland from Napier. I just called up a freight company and asked if they had a truck going to Auckland. They said yeah so I hopped on and rode overnight to Auckland. I haven't slept in 24 hours but it was well worth the experience. Someone in Napier heard I was going to Auckland and called up one of his friends who lives here. So as soon as I am done with this blog I am going to this girls apartment to crash for the time taht I am in Auckland. I will leave here in a couple of days and catch a ride with two Scottish girls that I met in Napier down to Wellington. After that I was going to buy a bus ticket to travel around the south island but instead I talked to this girl Victoria that I met when I first got to NZ and we are going to travel around together in her car. It will probably be more expensive but it's a new experience and my instinct tells me its the right thing to do.

When I get back to Wellly I will post the pics and update everyone on Big Day Out. Until then I expect many comments!!

christmas

2005-12-18T21:43:00.000-08:00

It turns out I will be having a Kiwi Christmas after all. Ed's girlfriend, Kirstee, invited me to her parents house for a christmas bbq. I am excited to enjoy a christmas outside in shorts. It should be interesting. It works out well since me, Ed, and Kirstee are all driving to Napier together the next day.

That's right...I am leaving Wellington. It has been fun while I was here and I enjoyed being settled for a bit but now it's time to move on. So right after Christmas I am heading back up north to the east coast of NZ to a town called Napier. There I will camp, yes tent and sleeping bag camp, for 3 weeks. I am really excited about it. I am looking foward to having nothing to do, not even anything touristy. And the camp site I am going to isn't geared towards backpackers, it's more for the locals so I will be meeting more Kiwis which is always a plus. The cool thing is that there is a hostel attached so I still have access to toilets and a kitchen. So its roughing it but not really roughing it. The best part is that I will be out of the hostels for a bit. No window wars for me for awhile.

Speaking of the window wars. ..the other night I was sleeping and John, my window war enemy, came in and walked to the window to close it. I popped out of bed and asked if he wouldn't mind keeping the window open since it gets really hot in the room overnight with eight people sleeping in it with no window open. He said he guesses so but that he likes it shut since it's so loud outside. He had a valid point. The backpackers is right in downtown Wellington where all the bars are so you can hear the music all the time. It doesn't matter if he had a point though. I said back to him that there were at least two people in the room who snored (him included) so the chances of it ever being quiet in the room were impossible so we might as well have some fresh air. Obviously he couldn't argue with my flawless logic and since then he has left the window open. The kicker to the story is the very next night a new person stayed in the room and as he went to bed he closed the window. Same war just a different enemy.

The King Kong premiere was good. There wasn't that many people but it was still nice to see everything done up. They had the red carpet and they did up the embassy theater to look like a 1930s theater. Besides having the stars walk down the red carpet they also had extras dressed in 30s garb walking down to go to the movie it was nice. Here is the only pic I got though.

Ok so before I leave Wellington there some more

pics to show. This one is NZs parliament building known as the Beehive. I didn't go inside...it felt a little too educational.

Below is a pic of one of the trees that I wrote about before. This is the NZ Christmas tree in full bloom.

So that's it from me for awhile. The plan while in Napier is to try and stay as far away from computers as possible. I think I am a little too connected and although I love sharing my experiences with everyone I think it'll be better if the blogs are longer instead of me blogging so much.

I hope everyone has a good holiday season and enjoys the cold weather for me. Happy New Year!

Peace out.

Eat Christmas Outing

2005-12-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago my boss, Nic, handed me an invitation to the eat Xmas outing. She did't tell me or Ed what we were going to do. It was a surprise. The plan was that we were going to meet at the shop at 12:30 and do the outing and then open the shop at 5:30. So yesterday I didn't work for accomodation (which was fine with me since they keep on putting me on bathrooms) and instead I went to the outing. It turns out the outing was going sailing and it was awesome. We get on the boat and the pass out some beers and we just relax and sail on the Tasman Sea. We sailed out to the middle of harbor and out to an island. Apparently this is the island where all animals entering NZ used to be quarantined for 3 months.
We sailed around the island and then attached the boat to a buoy so we could enjoy lunch. The lunch consisted of more beer and cheese and crackers and strawberries and chocolate. Yummmy. We hung out on the boat for about an hour and a half just talking. It was really the first time that we were all just hanging out outside of work and it was fun. There's a part of Wellington called the Hutt and we were comparing it to NJ. The Hutt takes a lot of flak from Wellington kind of like how NJ takes a lot of flak from the rest of the states. It was pretty funny to talk about. Unfortunately my sunglasses were a casuality of the outing since they fell off of my head and into the water. We started sailing back around the island and heading toward the harbor again when I turned to Ed and said how I really didn't want to go to work after this. Not even ten minutes later Nic told us that we were going to keep the shop closed and go out for more drinks and dinner instead. Woo hoo!!

But before we could go out we had to get back. The ride back was interesting. It started to rain a little and the wind really picked up. It turns out that to catch the wind one side of the boat needs to be in the air. For the whole way back we were all riding on a tilt. So essentially one side of the

boat was always leaning into the water. If you tilt your head a little and look at the picture you'll see what I mean. For the pic on the right, the woman on my left is Nic my boss and Ed is the guy. The shirt I am wearing is free because it was left in a room and was brand new. It had a tag attached that explained that it wouldn't fit into their bag so they hoped that someone would take it. I always have followed directions well. No comments about the picture, I know it's a bad one of me.

The guy with the pink crown on is Norm. He is my other boss and Nic's partner. In NZ they have these things called Christmas crackers. Two people hold an end of this long tube and pull. Once they pull a the tube cracks and out comes presents. Everyone got a different colored crown and then some plastic toy. I got a thimble. Norm got crabs. The woman in the grey sunglasses is JoJo. She is from the Hutt and Norm kept on making comments about the amount of peroxide in her hair. His jokes definetly reminded me of the Jersey girl stereotypes back at home. The guy in the yellow crown who is steering is Barty. He helps out at the store when it's busy. Basically what he does is try to have all the customers buy mushroom burgers since they are the most expensive. Normally we sell five mushroom burgers in a day. When Barty worked once they sold 30. The other guy in the picture is Mark. Despite the fact that Norm was calling himself El Capitain, Mark was the only one who actually knew what to do with boat.

Once we safely docked we all met up at the pool hall and drank some more and played some pool. It was fun except for the fact that I am terrible at non-American pool. The balls are smaller and the table is bigger. It's wicked hard. After some pool we went out to eat at this place that would be considered a pizza and pasta back home. Norm and I started talking about pizza and the differences. Here they only have gourmet pizza. It is impossible to just buy a slice and it's unheard to just get a plain pizza (you will also get weird looks if you call it a pie but that happens in some parts of the US too). Norm was explaining to everyone how he was in the US once and got a slice of pizza. He said how he was amazed at how big it was and he had no idea how to eat it. I explained that what he should have done was use the paper plate,fold the pizza in half and eat it. They were all flabbergasted by this idea. Eating gourmet pizza involves knifes and forks since there are lots of toppings and since there basically is no crust. Well halfway through dinner I showed them how I would normally eat the pizza. The were amazed as to how I folded the pizza. Norm equated it to watching Asians using chop sticks, "It's an art form."

It was a pretty funny night. I got made fun of a lot for my accent but it was all in good fun. The best part of the night was the fact that Nic and Norm footed the bill. It was a totally relaxing day and it was good to just hang out with some more Kiwis.

Wednesday is the King Kong premiere. The red carpet is going right down the main street where I work and the movie is premiering across the street from my hostel. I have to work the whole day which I was kind of bummed about until I heard that Jack Black won't be at the premiere since he is doing SNL. Since he won't be here it means that he won't come into eat and fall madly in love with me at first sight and wisk me away to the premiere and after party and a quicky marriage at the library (where the justice of the peace is always in). I'll take a break from work and take some pictures of all of the other people that are going to walk the red carpet though.

I am not a morning person

2005-12-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

The only person who might actually think I am a morning person is my mom and she thinks that because she has found the key to making me talk in the morning...coffee. When I wake up and come downstairs there is always a coffee there waiting for me. As long as I have coffee I can hold a conversation with ease. Anyone who has had to deal with me in a work capacity knows that I do not function very well without at least one cup of coffee. So I guess I should say I am not a pre cup of coffee morning person.

Anyway there is no way for me to get a cup of coffee before starting work at the hostel so I am always a little grumpy. What adds to the challenge is that I am sleeping in the same room as the other workers. One of them, Gareth, is an extremely nice Welshman. Unfortunately Gareth hasn't figured out that I am unable to form sentences let alone smile within the first few hours of getting up. Every morning when I wake up Gareth rolls over and starts talking to me. Inevitably he tells me I am not my cheery self this morning and I try with all of my will not to tell him to just shut up and leave me alone until I wake up a little more. Usually I just grunt. Poor Gareth then usually runs into me after my cup of coffee and then I am all smiles and I am able to hold a conversation with him. It must be really confusing for him. Maybe I should put a disclaimer on my bed. "Warning: Dangerous to talk to before 1pm."

Another guy in the room, John from Macedonia didn't heed this warning and we got into a fight this morning. I woke up and went to the tv room to watch the news and eat my cereal. The headline was about that person being killed at the Miami International Airport. The only info I knew at this point was that a person was killed and that he had a bag that was suspected of having a bomb in it. There was a guy on tv saying how the us marshals are instructed to shoot to kill in situations like this. Well John comes in and turns to me and asks me how it is possible that us marshals that are so expertly trained would have to kill someone. He wanted to know why they didn't just shoot him in the leg so he couldn't run away. Keep in mind this is only about fifteen minutes after I have woken up so the normally level headed me that loves having debates is not in existence yet. I turn to him and with a lot of attitude in my voice explain that the guy was suspected of having a bomb. The marshals don't care if he can't run away they care if he can't set the bomb off. John didn't like this answer and said that it doesn't make sense why such trained gunners would miss and kill someone. That's when I exploded and said that they did exactly what they needed to do, that they were instructed to shoot to kill. He said oh and that he still didn't think it was right. I felt like saying maybe you should see if you thought it would be right if that person were in Macedonia and was shouting that they had a bomb. But I didn't. Instead I just turned around and ignored him. He's allowed to have his opinions and I think I should be allowed to not have to talk about political things before my first cup of coffee.

We had a full room last night. That means that eight people were sleeping in this room. One of these people started snoring in the middle of the night. I don't mean lightly snoring either. It sounded like Gollum for Lord of the Rings was trying to escape from this guy's body with every breath. I had to actually leave the room and walk around for five minutes because if I didn't I was going to hurt the snorer. I guess you can say my patience is wearing a little thin with this whole hostel thing. It's just people seem to oblivious to the fact that seven other people are sleeping in the same room, less than five feet from each other. I know snoring is something that can't be helped but then this snorer woke up at 7am and started packing to leave. He had lots of plastic bags. So not only did he keep me awake through snoring, he then kept me awake with excessive plastic bag packing.

There's a window war going on in my room as well. With eight people in one room the room is going to smell if you don't let some air in. There is one window in the whole room. Everytime I walk into the room I open it. It's summer here but it still gets kind of cold at night. Each bed at the hostel comes with a top sheet and a comforter so it's not like with the window open you will be freezing. Well John from Macedonia apparently gets cold in the middle of the night. He closes the window every night. And every night I wake up in the middle of the night in stifling heat. So now the window wars have started. Instead of being adult-like and talking to him about it I will instead just wake up in the middle of the night and reopen the window. Gareth agrees with me. We even went so far as to try and barricade the window after we opened it with Gareth's bike. It didn't work last night, John still managed to close it. But tonight, oh oh tonight I will be ready to spring out of my bed and re open it. Ha!

I know all of this is a little childish but whatever. If I wanted to be a responsible adult I would have stayed in the US and got a job.

I definetly think that my next trip in NZ will be up North. I am going to buy a tent and a sleeping bag and go work on a farm for a bit. It will be hard work but it will be worth the experience and I will have an entire tent to myself so I won't be bothered with window wars or snorers. Since I have now had two mocachinos it is time for me to go be my post coffee social butterfly self and find people to talk to who will be utterly confused tomorrow morning when I yet again can't form sentences.

High School

2005-12-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

So I know that I graduated high school awhile ago but through talking to some Kiwis I realize that high school at home and high school here are entirely different. A question that I have been asked more than once by traveller's from all over the world is if high school and college are really like the movies they see. I thought about it for awhile and I have decided that for me they were like the movies. Albeit the movies glorified and made a happy ending to all of the experiences, ie everyone realizes cliques are stupid and new found friendships and peace resound throughout the high school by the time the credits roll up, but all in all there were cliques and stupid fights and crying and dreaded gym class and that terrible teacher who told us we all had head up butt syndrome and by the time I got to college there were keg parties and frat parties and nights I would rather forget and other nights that I would love to live over and over again. There were all nighters and lots of coffee and all of us thinking we were extraordinarily deep people with these amazing ideas about changing the world. And all of these experiences can be seen in dozens of very popular movies. Just look at John Hughes and the Brat Pack and I think most of my experiences are covered.

Here high school is called college. It seems that college is about as far as most people go. A lot don't attend University, there are only a handful of them around New Zealand. Since the drinking age here is 18 they go out to bars instead of throwing house parties. Also there are no open container laws here so there is really no need for the sort of sneaking around that happens in the US. It's weird though talking to travellers from around the world and that they can relate to my past experiences because they have seen the movies. I, on the other hand, have no idea what their high school or college experience is like because movies aren't made about it. There is no media coverage about a Kiwi college. The more time I spend away from the US the more I realize how ego centric our country is. I have never really taken the time to look into other countries' cultures or media output. Other countries, however, are constantly bombarded with US culture. Hollywood is worldwide.

Ed, my co-worker, asked me a very surprising question. He said, "I'm not racist or anything but what is it like living with black people?" I then realized that since I have been in New Zealand the number of people that I have seen that don't have the same skin tone as me and that aren't Maori is close to zero. I hadn't really thought about (if this were an intellectual paper I would start talking about white privelege but luckily American Diversity class is over and done with). The problem with Ed's question is he wants to know what the entire US thinks about desegregation. I find it daunting to think that the answers I give are going to be taken as the answers that any American would give.

A little deep compared to my last blog but this is what this experience is about. Having some fun and learning some more about myself.

Just another drinking blog

2005-12-03T23:40:00.000-08:00

Last night Ed and I had to close the shop. It was really slow and boring so Ed decided to open up a bottle of wine. He was having a house party that night so it was kind of like pre gaming. I know I know it is kind of bad ethics to drink while at work but I am on vacation in a different country and the lack of responsibility is nice. What are they gonna do, fire me? Anyway so I get back to the hostel after work and I run into a new guy that is cleaning for accomodation. I tell him about the house party and he tells me that the bar in the hostel is doing three dollar jose cuervo for the whole night. So me, Mark and his roommate go down and do some shots and then head to house party. I forgot that we could have gotten alcohol in the supermarket so we wander around Wellington for a bit finding a place buy some.

The house party was really fun. I was happy to just be hanging out with a bunch of Kiwis. Everyone was really friendly. It was nice to just be at a house instead of out at a bar. This guy Carmen was making a sangria-like drink that was incredible. As I was walking home at four am, without getting lost, I decided that I wasn't going to work for accomodation this morning. Instead I took the morning off and slept until I went to work at 1pm. I was hung over but not a bad hang over...just a headache and some of you know that that isn't bad for me.

I really do like working at Eat. It's definitely a job I never would have done at home and I like that it adds to the uniqueness of my experience. I will be glad though when the job is over. It's a little too much regularity sometimes. I am getting restless almost. I want to start travelling around again. It will happen soon enough though.

I don't really have any plans yet for Christmas. One of the guys who is working for accomodation, Mark, is planning on heading back up North to Whitianga, which was one of the first stops that I did on the Kiwi bus. He invited me along. He plans on staying there for a bit and then being in Wellington for New Year's. It's a possibility. I don't think I am going to make a decision on what I am going to do until the week before.

Speaking of planning, I have been superproductive and have already booked my accomodation for Fiji. I was able to book a private double bed room with ensuite for a week in a hostel on the beach for less than 200 US dollars. They also do free airport transportation. So that part of the trip is figured out. Whoo hoo.

Sadly I received news from Adena that my fish, Obtuse, has died. He was 11 months old and a very good beta fish. He now joins his brother, Acute, in the beta fish netherworld. Unlike Acute, Obtuse did not get stuck underneath a castle and suffocate. Apparently he died peacefully.

People

2005-11-30T19:38:00.000-08:00

Since the hostel is getting busier they decided to put all of the people working for accomodation into one room. So now I share my 8 bed dorm room with 4 guys. It's not too bad yet, but I am a little anxious about it. Mainly...boys smell. And I am even neater than them. Check it out. Everything I own fits into my drawer underneath my bed. And it still is that neat. You should all be impressed.But I am keeping an open mind about. All of them seem really nice and laid back, except for this one guy who I find annoying. But this is only for a month and it's not like I spend that much time in my room anyway so it shouldn't be too bad. If anything it should lead to more stories for the blog.

Walking around Wellington I get to meet a lot of random people that make this a city. For example there is Blanket Man. For serious that is what everyone calls him. He is a thin guy who has a blanket wrapped around him at all times and grey dreads. He walks around barefoot listening to his mp3 player. He just rocks and dances to the music or he just chills on the sidewalk and watches everyone go by. He's wicked nice too. He doesn't ask for money or anything he just asks how your day is going and continues to rock out to his music.

Blanket Man used to be my favorite person in the city. My new favorite is yet to be named. This guy sets up a microphone, a speaker, and two bowls to collect change. Then he hums. That's it. He just stands there staying out into space never making eye contact and just hums into the microphone. He doesn't even hum a tune or anything. He legitamately just hums. He's my new favorite because he moves all of this stuff around on a bicycle and is humming day and night. Maybe I will call him Humming Man.

Burger work is good. Hostel work is bad. I had to clean out the refrigerators today. It's days like this where it doesn't seem worth it to work for accomodation but I just keep telling myself that it is only for one more month and that I am saving loads of money. Also after I get out of work I go to the beach so it all doesn't seem so bad then. That is the view that I have while I am laying on the beach. Not too shabby. It's just while I am scrubbing things that I am thinking of how sucky cleaning is. I have never cleaned so much in my entire life. And I hope I never clean as much again.

I might go to a rock club tonight. I haven't been out much since I started working and it should be a good show tonight. Also since I don't have my ipod anymore I am craving some music. Yep, tonight I think I will rock out like Blanket Man.

Nightmares

2005-11-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

This is the busy season for the hostel right now. In fact it is completely booked so I now have seven people in my room. I didn't really get a chance to talk to them last night. I vacuumed in the morning until 1 and then went straight to the burger place until 10:30pm. I fell asleep before anyone else got into the room. Around 3 am I hear one of the girls say "What the f? Get the f off of me!" We all wake up and the girl says how her nose is bleeding. We turn on the lights and she is standing in the middle of the room looking really scared. Apparently while she was sleeping she felt this weight on her face. She said it felt like someone was holding her down.
She thought the bunk above her fell on her. But nothing hit her face, which made it even weirder that her nose was bleeding. It was pretty weird. I also just finished reading a book The Lovely Bones. I highly recommend it. It's really good. It's about a girl who dies and how her spirit world interacts with earthly world as her family grieves. Having read that book and then have this random girl in my room say that she felt like someone was holding her down when on one was their really freaked me out. I don't know. Maybe my room is haunted by a disgruntled backpacker who just wanted a good night sleep.

Nothing else new. Today and tomorrow are my days off from the burger place. I spent today in a coffee place drinking some flat whites and reading which was great. I have no set plans for tomorrow and I like it that way. Hope Thanksgiving was fun...now back to work all of you!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2005-11-24T01:53:00.000-08:00

I just want to wish everyone at home a very happy thanksgiving! Have no fear I am not missing the turkey at all, but of course I miss being home with the fam. It's always a fun relaxing time watching the parade and eating dad's peporoni and provolone turkey. I'll eat some cranberries today in honor of thanksgiving. Being away for this thanksgiving is just gonna make me enjoy next year's even more.

It's the usual around here. I've been working and hanging. I am getting excited thinking about all of the things I want to do in the South Island. I have heard from other traveler's that the South Island is even more beautiful than the North! I really can't wait to get down there. I do think I am going to hold off on going down until after January. The concert I bought tickets to is on the North Island so I think I am going to stay North until after the concert.

I hope all my friends had fun last night on Thanksgiving eve. I am sure there are some stories to be told. Love Peace and Turkey Grease!!

Quiz Night

2005-11-21T19:08:00.000-08:00

My English boys, Nate and Alan, were back in Wellington for one night last night. Last night was also the quiz night at the basement bar at the hostel. The prize was a fifty dollar bar tab. We created a team and got two other people, Ed and Jacky from their Kiwi bus to join. Alan and I had done the quiz the last time he was here and we remembered that on top of the questions there was also bonus rounds. The bonus rounds were like treasure hunts. The dj would say he wanted a bra and guys underwear and the first team to run up with both things in their hands would win the bonus rounds. The bonus rounds were worth 1000 points so essentially if you won them you won the quiz (yes we won a bonus round last time and yes it was my bra that was taken off so speedily, but nothing was seen). Our team this time decided to be a little dorky and think ahead...Alan put a pair of boxers in his pocket and I had a bra in mine.

After the first round of the quiz the dj does a bonus round. It turns out to be scooter race around the pool table. The next bonus round was that a teammate had to spin with his head down on a broom five times and then race around the pool table. Ed did this one for our team. He spun and then started to run but he ran the wrong way and ran straight into the dj booth. When he finally sorted himself out and started running the right way he got to the pool table and instead of running around it managed to put his hands on the table and jump over it, without messing up the pool game that was being played. We lost that round but it was a good effort on Ed's part and he got a free drink at the bar for the pool gymnastics.

The last bonus round Nate did. He had to race around the pool table on a bouncy ball. We lost.

We were getting a decent amount of the questions right. They were mostly name the song and the artist which we were really good at. So it comes down to the last bonus round. It's worth something ridiculous like 10000 points so basically whoever wins this one will win the bar tab. The dj says that he wants a bra, a pair of boxers, two t-shirts and a pair of jeans. Alan and I rip out our boxers and bra, Nate drops his jeans AND his shirt (so he is now standing in the middle of the bar in his underwear...like a bad nightmare), and Ed takes off his shirt. I run it all up to the dj and we win. Hahah we got the 50 dollar bar tab. We also got a pair of sandals each and a condom sponsored by some vodka.

Well we had each drank a pitcher of beer during the quiz and now we were given five more pitchers of beer to enjoy. The bar closed with Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York" and we were all dancing around doing the rockettes kicks and singing along. Needless to say it was an enjoyable night but this morning was a little rough. I had to bathrooms again at work...booo. So Nate and Alan are gone from NZ but we all exchanged emails so I have no doubt that they will be coming to the states when I am back. Ed will be back in Wellington in a couple weeks and I think we will try to win that bar tab again.

It was a random and good night.

Can't think of anything to put here

2005-11-20T19:43:00.000-08:00

I just finished my first week at eat. It was really good. The place is usually busy so the time goes by fast. The two owners, Nic and Norm are really laid back and chill. They are in their thirties. The only other person who works there right now is Ed and he's my age. It's a pretty neat little place. It's only been open for a couple of months but the business is steady.

Basically all I do right now is vacuum in the morning, bake burgers at night, and in the afternoon wander around and soak up the sun. It's not a bad life I must say. I am really relaxed and just enjoying having no responsibilities.

I did a typical Elyse thing. The first day that I was in NZ I set up a bank account here so when I got a job the money could be directly deposited. Well when I set up the account I also chose a pin number. I was jet lagged though and for the life of me I can't remember what the pin number is. So I have to get a replacement bank card...even though I have never used the original one! Go me. It's not soo bad since there's little money in that account anyway I just think its funny that I probably came up with a pin that I thought there was no way I would forget. And I did forget it. I am a genius.

So random question. I just finished reading a biography of the Dalah Lama's mother (yes Steph the person) and I was thinking about the whole idea of reincarnation. If reincarnation is true, then how can a population growth be explained? To me reincarnation means that there is a finite number of souls that are rebirthed after death. But what happens if the finite number of souls is less than the finite number of bodies? Do the souls split in half? I know it's random but I figure that someone out there that I know might have a good answer.

llama llama llama llama llama

Eat gourmet burgers and then some

2005-11-17T02:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I started my new job at "Eat, Gourmet Burgers." The people are really nice and by the end of the shift I had been bumped up from ten hours a week to 20. Today I came in and was bumped up to 30 hours a week. I am psyched. The more money I save now means the more adventures I can go on when I head to the South Island and to Fiji. It works out that I clean in the hostel from 10-1 and then I go into work at 5. So I still have the afternoon to hang out around Wellington and just hang at the beach. Whoo hoo. I couldn't have planned this to work out soo well. The job is until Christmas eve so my new idea is that I will stay in Wellington until the New Years and the look for a job on a farm for a month or so. When am I ever going to get the chance to work on a farm again? I have to try it out.

Ohh and it turns out that I don't flip the burgers. They are baked.

I have actually been in Wellington long enough that people that I traveled on buses with to Wellington are already back here after going to the South Island. It's really funny. A couple of them saw me and their eyes went wide and they said "You're still here" in this surprised tone. I laughed to myself and then I explained to them what I was doing. I think next time it happens I will make up a story like I am working in a brothel or something.

Speaking of brothels...apparently there is one right around the corner. Today my cleaning supervisor Ian asked if I was still looking for a job. I said yes and he told me about a job that would be in the mornings before I start cleaning in the hostel and it would pay 12.50 an hour. I was intrigued until he told me I would be cleaning for the brothel! Ewwwwwww. And he said how the women who usually clean the brothel also worked in the hostel but both have disappeared. In a split second I weighed the pros and cons of the job. (Pro: 12.50 an hour, Brothel cleaner on my resume; Con: cleaners tend to disappear and who knows what I would find in there). I kindly turned down the job offer and explained to Ian how I found the burger job and so I wouldn't need his help in directing me towards further employment opportunities.

I got a Wellington library card so now I can hang on the beach with all of the good books that I want to read. Dorky yet exciting. And no there won't be any math books (well at least not ones that contain problems to do).

The Christmas trees that bloom red flowers are starting to bloom. I will take some pictures of them once they are in full effect.

There is this horrible duo of guitarists singing in the bar right below me. Even I can tell that they aren't in key. They sure aren't the guitar dudes. I def miss wednesdays back at umass. sigh. I have to end this blog I can't stand to hear them sing U2 With or Without You. They are at the point where Bono is ooohhhohohohing and it is t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e.

The cleaning team

2005-11-13T20:36:00.000-08:00

It looks like for the duration of my stay in Wellington I will be working for accomodation every morning. It's just too good of a deal to pass up. Besides me there are four other women on the cleaning team. They are all Maori and all of them are very interesting characters.

Fiona is my supervisor. She talks fast, works fast and calls all of us girl when she is speaking. I have trouble with her accent sometimes. When she says 410 I hear 14. She thinks it's because she doesn't speak proper english which isn't true its just with a vacuum running I can't really hear. It's interesting, when she is around the girls she is loud and running around but when a boss comes in she gets real quiet. I don't mean that she doesn't talk I mean that her decibel level decreases.

It seems that all of the other girls live around each other just outside of the city. They all have kids and I don't think any of them are older than 35. Most of them work other jobs on top of this one. It's interesting to see the class difference between all of us. I am here in New Zealand on vacation and decided to work for accomodation to save money so that when I go to the south island and to fiji I will have more to spend. They are working at the same job to support families and to make a living. I think Fiona is the only one out of the girls that has a car, the rest take the bus into work. Another thing about the cleaning team that is interesting is that they really don't like the reception workers. They feel like the reception workers think that the cleaners are below them. One of the other cleaning workers, Ian, who is probably late thirties actually told me that he was hurt because the reception people were going out drinking but none of them thought to invite the cleaners. From my interaction with the reception people I don't feel that they think that I am below them, but then again they know I am a backpacker and doing this for a relatively short amount of time to save money. Interesting stuff.

Anyway, even though they don't have thanksgiving Wellington still has a thanksgiving day parade. They just call it the Santa parade. I am pretty sure it's this weekend and I am definetly going to check it out. Of course nothing will ever compare to Macy's parade but it'll be an ok subsitute for this year. The stores already have christmas stuff up. Even though it will be summer in December the decorations are basically the same. Snowmen, tinsel, lights, light up Santa's sitting on a sled atop some snow. A lot of signs say "I am dreaming of a green christmas."
I am excited to see how the christmas season is going to be around here.

I start flipping burgers on wednesday but other than that my only goal for the week is to try and get a library card so that I can get books to read on the beach. It's a tough life I lead.

Big day out

2005-11-10T21:02:00.000-08:00

To celebrate my new job I bought my ticket for the Big Day Out, the concert in January that is going to have The Living End. The concert is in Auckland, which is about ten hours north of where I am right now but I'll figure out how I am getting there later. Whoo hoo for concerts!!

Jobness

2005-11-09T22:43:00.000-08:00

Mischief night was last weekend. It was weird. Basically everyone just chilled by the beach and the city had a fireworks display shoot off from a barge in the middle of the sea. But before and after the city's display, everyone else got to shoot of the fireworks that they bought at the supermarket. Ha it kind of reminded of the fourth of July in Brooklyn how when we were little we went inside and we just kept on hearing the loud booms of M-80s and stuff like that. Instead of blowing up the telephone booth like they did in Brooklyn, the Welly's threw the loud stuff into the street as cars drove by. I stayed out for a little bit but since I had nothing that I felt like lighting on fire I went back to the hostel.

I was supposed to go to my try out for the zoo tomorrow but the girl who said she was leaving the zoo isn't anymore so there is no room at the zoo for me. Which works out since I got a call today from a food place around the corner from my hostel. I went in for a try out at 6 and it looks like I got the job. The boss, Nic is going to let me know for sure tomorrow. So what kind of food is it? Well none other than gourmet hamburgers! That's right no waitressing for me. Instead I will be in the kitchen taking orders and making burgers. The gourmet part is that they are baked and stuff like mushrooms or blue cheese is put on them. It's take out only. I think of it like an upscale McDonald's. Everyone there seems really nice and laid back which is good. The pay isn't great, only slightly above minimum wage and for right now I am only working ten hours a week. Also they only want me until Christmas Eve (or was it New Year's eve?) I don't remember. But despite all of the downsides I figure its money in my pocket and they will fall in love with me (as all of my past employers have) and then I will get more hours which will lead to more money. Also I am not finished looking for a job. I put my cv into a job agency here so if they come up with something better I will take it. So for now I am flipping burgers every wednesday and thursday from 5-10pm (no I don't have to wear a hair net) and vacuuming the hostel everyday from 10-1. Apparently my showers weren't streak free enough so I got moved back to vacuuming and making beds. I am incredibly relieved. Not too shabby.

For right now I think this is as settled as I am going to get. I do really want to get a flat but I don't think it's going to be possible. The whole point of the job is to save up more money so that when I hit the south island sometime in February and then go to Fiji I will be able to do all of the activities that I want to do, like go whale watching or go find me some yellow eyed penguins. The flat would just take money away from that since right now I can get my accomodation for free. It's not the perfect of circumstances but it's not worst either.

I'm a couple days ahead but just in case I don't blog before it, Happy Anniversary Meryl and Harold (aka Mom and Dad)!

The freckles are out

2005-11-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

Instead of vacuuming for accomodation today I had to do something much worse....bathrooms! I had to scrub the showers. It was not fun. The only good thing that came out of it is that it motivated me to job hunt some more. Ughh I still can't believe I scrubbed showers. Backpackers are dirty dirty people who apparently do shower and leave all of their dirt there. What's worse I will probably be doing the same tomorrow. Some big honcho is coming to check up on the hostel so everything has to be clean. I have to give the shower doors streak free shines! I am not too good at it which is weird since we all know my mom can do streak free in her sleep. I guess cleaning is not embedded in DNA.

After the whole shower cleaning terribleness I handed in some more job applications and then went to the beach. I just hung out and soaked up the sun. The freckles are out! It was good and relaxing. I read a lot and just people watched.

As for the job I still haven't really heard back from anyone. The places that I have stopped into to check up on have said that they aren't making any decisions yet. But we'll see. I still have the zoo try out on Friday so hopefully something will come of that. And now that I am on shower duty I am seriously thinking about getting a flat once I get a job. Forget saving money. Not scrubbing showers is worth way more to me than a bed at the hostel. Hopefully the day will never come where they expect me to, uggh, do the toilets. Let's not forget I am here for a vacation!

Picalicious

2005-11-04T18:51:00.000-08:00

A waterfall that we walked to before leaving Tangariro National Park. This is the park that has Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings.

Waterfall

These were the beds we had to sleep in. Four on top. Four on bottom. There were four bunks all together. It was an interesting night.

Just playing cards and drinking (actually drinking lots since we all have to sleep in giant beds together tonight)

The Englishmen!! I have no idea what Alan is doing to Nathan

Some people from the Kiwi bus just chillin at River Valley where I went rafting

An English man named Alan and my favorite Kiwi beer, Tui

One of my Kiwi bus drivers, Dallas

This is the pic he told me to send home to mom.

A giant shell that was found in NZ. It dates back millions of years and is said to be unique to NZ alone. PS there term for Pangea which was what we call the connected continents is Gwondalaland

A bull made of cans on display at Te Papa museum

Never far

Duckies

Doesn't it look fake? I still think it does

Still haven't figure out how to rotate pics

OK so now it doesn't look so fake

Zebra!

A bear

An Emu(or maybe it's an ostrich, I don't remember)

Kangaroos from Alan's point of view

Kangaroos from my point of view

A view of Wellington from the zoo

An English man named Nathan with a giant fake Kiwi bird at the zoo

Nathan thought he looked scary so...

he tried to look cool

Flo, my German roomie from Auckland who I met up with again in Wellington

Alan and me in the hostel kitchen

An English man named Ben

Wellington from the top of Mount Victoria...

...when I look straight ahead...

...when I look to the right...

...when I look to the left

Peace out!

Boo on the Zoo

2005-11-03T21:57:00.000-08:00

An hour before I was supposed to go to my try out at the zoo(that sounds weird) I got a phone call from the manager. He had to post pone until next Friday. Booo. It's frustrating. So now it's back to submitting applications until next Friday. The weird thing is is that I am not even guaranteed the job. So it makes no sense to depend on the zoo job. I contacted bunac (the company that hooked me up with my work visa) because they have a job search company set up here. Hopefully they can help with my job search. Essentially if I don't find anything promising by next weekend I think I might have to leave Wellington. I don't really want to leave. It seems like a cool place to hang around in for awhile. Since I have absolutely nothing to do I spend my days just wandering around the city. It's really eclectic. I like it.

So for the next week it's vacuuming and wandering. At least I found some nice beaches so I can work on my tan.

One good thing that came out of all of this free time is that my grad applications are completely done. Nothing else is needed from me. Well nothing besides me nagging my recommenders and worrying about rejections. I won't find out anything until I get home so there really is no use worrying about it. I am still going to worry even though it is futile. I wouldn't be me if I didn't.

Tomorrow is Guy Fawkes day. That means fireworks. And they aren't illegal here. I can buy them at the supermarket. Don't worry. I may jump out of planes but I know me and fires and I am sticking to sparklers. I figure tomorrow I will go and hang out down by the beach and watch the fireworks that the city puts on. It should be good.

I am going to try to put up the rest of pictures tomorrow so look out for them.

So yes I am fustrated about not having a job. This budgeting and cooking thing is for the birds. But as I get fustrated and yes maybe even a little homesick I just look at my pictures and I can't help but smile. I am enjoying what I am doing and I can't believe half of the stuff I have already done. I guess working on my tan for a bit isn't a bad deal. I just need to find a good cheap book.

News

2005-10-31T23:35:00.000-08:00

First off, I finally found a replacement for my US Weekly obsession. There is a magazine here called NW Weekly. It's perfect. The cover this week was celebrities without their makeup. It doesn't have the quotes from the celebs like US Weekly, but instead it has sarcastic captions to pictures. It's pretty funny. It's trashier than US Weekly but it'll do. I know most of you don't care about my mag obsession but there are a few out there who will enjoy this knowledge.

Halloween is not a big deal in NZ at all. I saw not one kid dressed up and trick or treating. I think part of the reason is because they don't have a Thanksgiving so it's basically Halloween and then they wait two months for Christmas. So it's not like the start of a holiday season or anything.

I might actually have gotten a job. It's not for sure yet. The zoo cafe called back and I went in for an interview today. The manager, Chris, was wicked chill but when he found out that I didn't have any waitressing experience he was kind of disappointed. So I am now going in on Friday for 2 hours as a trial run. He said he will make a decision after it. I am not too worried about it but any suggestions will be appreciated.

Short and quick. I want to know how Halloween was on the Jersey end of things. I am sure some of you have plenty of stories. Peace out.

Budgeting my money and wasting my time

2005-10-29T23:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a rainy Sunday in Wellington which means I have done pretty much nothing besides my vacuuming. I filled out a bunch of job applications yesterday and went back to the places that had my old number so hopefully something will turn up by the end of the week. I am not strapped for cash I just want to get out of the hostels and get some regularity into my schedule.

My English boys have left to travel the south island so basically when I am done with my vacuuming instead of playing cards I kind of twiddle my thumbs. I think the boredom that eventually will set in will motivate me to look for jobs a little bit more. It's weird travelling on your own. It's not very consistent. At home or in school I always had a schedule, a very busy schedule at times. Now I really don't have much to do. It's a good thing and it is very relaxing, it's just taking some getting used to.

Thanks for all the support about the stolen stuff. I hope everyone is going to have a great Halloween. I still don't think I am going to be anything. I can't think of anything good. The job hunt continues!!

I am a stupid stupid girl

2005-10-27T21:06:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning, put my cell phone on my bed and then went to clean rooms. When I came back three hours later, my phone and my ipod, which was in my backpack next to my bed were gone. The guy whose name I don't know that had been sleeping in my room was also gone. I was soo stupid and didn't lock my stuff up and now it's stolen. I had to go to the police station to fill out a report so that I can start my insurance claim. Baahhh.

What sucks is that my cell phone number is the only way for employers to contact me. Now they have the wrong number. After I left the police station I went and bought another phone, so tomorrow I am going to retrace my job hunt steps and update the information.

In perspective, things could have been worse. My credit cards and passport were on me and my digital camera wasn't in it's case, it was in a shoe (dis-organisation helped me there). I think the worst thing about this was that there was this guy Ben who was around when I realized that my stuff was stolen and all he could do was tell me how it should have been expected since my stuff was just lying about. I know he's right and all but I didn't want to hear it. If I wasn't so stunned I think I would have told him to shut up. Fortunately my english boys were there and one them told him to shut up about it. I feel like a wuss since I was near tears over a stolen phone and ipod. I think what got me is just that my stuff was stolen, not the actual material property of it, but my ownership. I have no idea if that makes sense.

Anyway, besides that debacle things are good. Alan and I went to a punk show last night. It was good to go somewhere else besides the hostel bar. The bands were good too. There's another concert in a couple of months called Big Day Out. It's in Auckland and is a lot of money but...The Living End is playing!! I am definetly considering buying the ticket and just finding a way there when it happens. For those who don't know, The Living End is an Australian band who I have loved since high school. I have never seen them in concert and one of my goals while I was here was to see them. The White Stripes and Franz Ferdinand will be playing too plus a bunch of NZ bands. I think it will def be worth the money. It's just hard to commit to something that is two months away (the concert is Jan 20). But I think the commitment needs to be made. If worse comes to worse I can always sell my ticket when it gets closer.

At the hostel bar there are always drink specials for girls, like dollar refills. Well the boys were upset over the sexism so they conquered it by dressing in drag to take advantage of the specials. It was really funny. They were all trying to play pool in mini skirts. Hilarious.

Basically when I am hanging in the hostel all I really do is play cards and pool. Pool is a little hard here though. Their balls are smaller and the pockets are smaller also. It makes a huge difference. Since the cue ball is smaller, it's center of mass is smaller. That means that if you don't hit right in the center it won't go straight whereas in the states if you don't hit the cue right in the center, it still will go straight. They also play different rules. Say you are solids and you hit a striped ball first, then the next player gets two shots since you fouled. They don't call their shots at all either. It's pretty interesting. Everynight there is a pool competition and the winner gets a 50 dollar bar tab. My friend Nate has won two nights which was great because he is a sharer.

I don't have any plans for Halloween. It does look to be kind of big out here, but they also just started selling fireworks, which apparently are legal so who knows how they celebrate it here. I don't know what I will be doing tonight. I ran into the girl from the coffee shop who told me about some jobs and she said she's having a bbq tonight. I want to go, but tonight is also the last night that the English boys will be here. We'll see.

I am kind of bummed about getting my stuff stolen but in the same respect, it was just materialistic stuff. I didn't need the ipod to survive in NZ and cell phones are replaceable. It sucks that it happened but I learned my lesson and everything is going to be locked up constantly. Hopefully the insurance claim will go through easily. And in the end I am still in a beautiful country having fun and having amazing experiences. No worries.

Chillin in Wellington

2005-10-25T23:13:00.000-07:00

The job hunt is on!! Luckily, there looks to be lots of jobs out here. Basically I have just been walking around Wellington and when I see a help wanted sign I walk in and fill out an application and give them my resume. I have feeling that by the end of next week I will have found something. That will be great because I really want to find a flat and get out of the hostels. They aren't bad it's just tedious to always have new people sleeping around you and being around your stuff.

Today me and the English boys went to the zoo. It was really fun and I got some good pictures. The zoo is hiring for their cafe so I filled out an application there too. I think it would be cool to serve coffee and then on breaks walk around and see the animals. The chimpanzees were my favorite, as they always are at any zoo that I go to. We saw this Australian pelican that looked fake. It was floating in the water I was saying how weird it was that they had a fake pelican when the pelican moved to land and started flapping its wings and walking towards us. I freaked out and ran away. I thought for some reason that I had offended the pelican. It was pretty funny.

Nothing crazy on the agenda for the near future. There are some walks I want to do but that's about it. When I hit the South Island in a couple of months I think I will start with the adrenaline rushes again. Although I do get an adrenaline rush everytime I cross the street. That's because in NZ they drive on the otherside of the road and I still habitually look the wrong way. It's to the point that I just look both ways constantly and I even wait for the crosswalk signal. My jaywalking habit has become too dangerous. Sad.

Randomness

2005-10-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

I've been in Wellington for only two days, but it's been a random two days. I spent the better part of yesterday walking around the Te Papa museum. It was free and really interesting. They had a whole section on families who migrated to New Zealand. There were family portraits and background stories on the families. Anyway, when I left the museum I got a text message from this guy that was on the plane with me over here. We had both hung out in Auckland and apparently he was in Wellington. We went to this coffee shop and caught up on what we both were doing. As we were talking one of the waitresses picked up on our accents and asked where we were from. We started talking to her and I told her how I was staying in Wellington to look for a job. She told me that I should come back on Tuesday because she knows a lot of places that are looking for employees and she will give me there contact info on Tuesday. Random.

I got back to the hostel and just decided to ask if I could work for my accomodation. They said yes. So in exchange for staying in a room that will normally cost 26 NZ$, I will vacuum for three hours in the morning and get the room for free. Sweet. That's gonna save me some moolah while I look for jobs. The cleaning people are really nice too so it's a pretty relaxed thing. Don't get any ideas, mom. I will not be vacuuming when I am home.

Today I heard about a punk festival and thought it would be cool to check out. One of the other people on the bus, Allan and I went to the festival. It was five dollars and really fun. The festival was held in this small one room building on top of a hill that had great view and a soccer field next to it. Everyone went inside for the bands and then just chilled on the field while the next band set up. This one band was made up of a girl on the drums and a guy on guitar. At one point the girl stopped singing and playing and turned to the guitarist and said that she couldn't hear him playing over her playing. So he turned the speakers toward her. She got made and said don't turn the speakers toward me, turn the volume up. He turned the volume up and then she said it was too loud. He said he thought everything was fine and then just started to play. I just think it's funny how they stopped their sight to have a squabble for no reason. Everyone was laughing. It was a fun time.

Tomorrow is laundry day yet again and then Tuesday it is hunt for a job day. I'm not too worried though. It looks like Wellington will be a cool place to live for awhile so the job will just follow after I work at it. Peace out.

In Wellington

2005-10-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Today is Saturday and I got to Wellington yesterday. Before I got to Wellington, I white water rafted! I hopped on the Kiwi bus and we were driven to River Valley. It is a small hostel whose sole purpose for existence is to house people who are going white water rafting. The hostel is in the middle of nowhere and the bed situation was very interesting. About thirty of us who were on the bus walked into this giant room that contained eight enormous bunk beds. Each bed fit four people. We all just started laughing and decided if this was gonna work, we were all gonna need to drink a little. So we spent the night just hanging out drinking and playing cards. It was really fun. The sleeping wasn't too bad except that some people thought that that night would be a good time to hook up. Needless to say they were pretty embarassed the next morning. We woke up around 8:00 but since it had been raining all night we didn't know if we would be able to raft. The guide came by a half an hour later and said it was a go, so I squeezed myself into a wetsuit (no pics of that ever!) and we were ready to go. We hopped onto a small bus to take us up the river. I was really nervous. The rapids were grade 4 and 5, which is the highest grade before it's classified as waterfall. And to add more adrenalin we found out that someone drowned last week. By the time I was getting into the raft I was seriously considering not doing it. But I got in...in the front.

Our guide took us through some smaller rapids so we could get the feel of it...then he flipped the raft over so that we could get a feel for falling out. The water was cold and your first instinct was to breathe in, which is bad because then you inhale water. We body surfed down the small rapid and then the guide showed us how to help each other into the raft if we actually did flip. We then started doing the rapids and it was so much fun. We kept paddling and then the guide would scream hold on and then we would put death grips on the ropes attached to the raft. We went down a four meter drop which was awesome. It was weird being in the front because I say the dips and everything and I got most of the water in my face. We almost flipped over once. We went down this one rapid and my side went up in the air. I lost the rope in my left hand, but held on for life with my right. Everyone else on my side held on also then the raft leveled itself out without any of us falling in. It was a rush.

At one point we had to get out and carry the rafts because the river was to rough due to the rain. We carried the raft over rocks, which were falling. It was insane! When we got back into the raft we went down another rapid and then the raft pulled to shore. Our guide pointed up to a ledge about 30ft up and said "You don't have to jump off of it, but it's obligatory." We climbed up the ledge and started jumping. I, as usual, did a death scream while I was falling but it was fun. White water rafting is definitely something I want to do again in the states. It's a rush.

It's labor day weekend in NZ so I'm gonnna just chill out and start looking for a job on Tuesday. Wellington is a cool city, but it is really windy. I feel like I'm back in Southwest at UMass. It looks like there are a lot of jobs here so I'm pretty confident that if I really get out there I will find something. And yes Mr A I am looking for stages to sweep, although the theater doesn't look to be that popular here, but we'll see.

Skydiving Pics

2005-10-18T15:35:00.000-07:00

No glowing maggot poo pics

2005-10-18T15:21:00.000-07:00

I couldn't take my camera in the cave with us since there was water all around and we all know I would have dropped it into the water. I will try to find a good postcard of it to send home.

I don't remember if I mentioned this but on Saturday and Sunday there was no one in my room at the hostel besides me. It was glorious. On Monday I got four Englishmen. They're friendly and are on the Kiwi bus I am getting on tomorrow so it's good. Apparently yesterday two of them met these two German girls who were following the bus around (a Kiwi groupie?) and offered the girls a place to stay in our room for free. I didn't think much of it until we were out at the bar and one of the Englishmen, Allan, told me that he just walked the girls back to the hostel so they can sleep. I turned to him and said that he better hope that all of our stuff is still there when we get back. Apparently Allan had never thought this might have been a scam, it's a pretty good one too, they had a getaway car and everything. Fortunately, my skepticism proved wrong and everything was still in the room when we got back.

Apparently Tuesday night is universal trivia night. It was fun and a good way to talk to a lot of the people that I will be getting on the bus with.

Ok so below are the sky diving pics. I'm not going to caption them because they are pretty self explanatory. Just remember my face looks weirder than usual because I was screaming the whole time.

Leaving Taupo

2005-10-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

The package I have been waiting for should be getting here either today or tomorrow so I will be leaving Taupo today or tomorrow. It's not a bad place to hang when it's not raining.

The post before this is all of the pictures I took so far. Start from the bottom and work you way up, that's the chronological order. I'll put up the skydiving pics once I am in Wellington.

Not much to say right now, I have just been walking around enjoying the good weather.

How's the bathroom going Dad?

2005-10-17T14:43:00.000-07:00

That's it for now!!

Craters of the Moon, another thermal park.

Horses! NO fence separating me and them!

Contemplating life.

Cows!

I love clouds.

The extinct volcanoe that overlooks Taupo

So pretty

I need to figure out how to rotate these.

Stretch your neck and enjoy the view.

foamalicious

More of the huka.

Huka Falls. Huka is Maori for foaming.

More of the waterfall that I don't know the name of.

The first waterfall I ever saw in person

The geiser erupted for 45 minutes.

Steamy

More geiser action.

Me and the geiser.

Park of Thermal

Th Th Th Thermal Park

More Thermal Park

Thermal Park

Mud pools at the thermal park.

Thermal park with geisers!

A Maori carpenter carving something that will eventually look like the other carvings.

More carvings.

Maori carvings from a cultural center that the bus stopped at.

Laurie and I before we luged.

Self explanatory

The view in Rotorua before street luging.

Rooster!

The view from the bridge.

The bridge after the windowless caves. It was not the sturdiest of things.

The bus crew after we got throught the windowless part

Again, no windows

We were at the caves that created their own windows, except we were at a windowless part so we had to use our cameras to give us light. None of us thought to bring a flashlight.

This is Whitianga and this beach was two minutes away from my hostel. Whitianga is where the first Polynesian explorer landed.

Stretch that neck

More of the Cove

This is just sticking out of the water at Cathedral Cove.

The land masses sticking out of the water are tops of eroded volcanoes.

Cathedral Cove

At Cathedral Cove

Taking a break from walking.

Walking

First stop on the bus is a 45 minute walk to Cathedral Cove. This is the start of the walk.

Done with Rangitoto, now it's time to go out and celebrate.

Very excited that I walked up the summit ( It took an hour and a half).

Guess where I am?

Still there

Top

Still at the top

For my BFF...still at the top.

I was really excited to get to the top

More pics from the top

I like how on one side of the picture the clouds are white and puffy and how on the other side the clouds are dark. Still at the top of Rangitoto

The view from the top

At the top of Rangitoto!

The picture doesn't do it justice but halfway up Rangitoto there is this bowl of dense trees.

Walking to up Rangitoto.

The pathway up to the summit of Rangitoto. It is all just broken up, cooled down lava.

These trees ( I forget the name of them, maybe Coromandel?) are New Zealand's christmas tree. In December, which is summer, they bloom red flowers all over.

Rangitoto Island. This is the view from the ferry before I walked up to the summit.

Our failed attempt at a funny self timed picture.

My Nova Scotian friend Vicotria in our posh six person hostel room in Auckland.

More Maori carvings from the museum. I can't figure out how to rotate pictures. Just consider it my way of helpling you stretch your neck while at work

I went to the Auckland museum one day. This is a traditional Maori boat with hand carved designs.

Look at him go!

My Kiwi bus driver, Andy, skiing at One Tree Hill. It had just rained so he went pretty fast.

Me on top of One Tree Hill. Auckland is in the background. I do love the clouds in this country.

This is One Tree Hill. In the background is Auckland and those dots one the green are Sheep!! For real!! No fences or anything! They just wander around like the people.

This is the free Auckland bus trip I took. The city behind us is Auckland. The bus I am on from Kiwi Experience is like coach bus but it is just as green as this one.

Bored in Taupo

2005-10-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

Being bored is a good thing. At least I am being bored in New Zealand right? There are no jobs in Taupo until a month from now but I don't want to wait that long and it looks like it will be hard to find a flat around here. So it looks like I am heading to Wellington. I can't leave yet though because a package is being sent here that I have to wait for. Of course I left stuff at home, including my contacts, so that package is on its way. Hopefully it will get here by Wednesday so that I can be in Wellington on Friday. Wellington is the capital of NZ and looks like there are lots of jobs there so that's encouraging. And it looks like there are a lot of flats around which is good too. It's not that I am strapped for cash or anything yet but I do want to create some sort of home base for myself. Travelling around is fun but when you are sharing a room with five strangers it does get tedious sometimes.

So for the time being while I am in Taupo I am going on walks, when it isn't raining, and working on my grad school applications. Those should be done on Wednesday so at least that's something accomplished while I am bored.

Meeting people in the hostel is a little hard since everyone is coming in as groups from buses. People are nice but they all leave within two days so it's not like we all get to hang out. It's all good though, I am catching up on my reading.

Today I am going to these mudpools that look craters from the moon so that should be cool (as long as I don't get lost). I should be able to put pictures up within the next two weeks. I just need to figure out how to do it. Happy Weekend!

Sorry Mandy but...

2005-10-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

I jumped out of a plane today! It was one of the best experiences I have ever had. A large group of us from the bus wanted to go yesterday. We were actually at the airport and some of us were suited up but then it started raining so we re booked for today at 10. Well at 10 it was still raining so we re booked again for 2. It looked a little cloudy at 2 but the skydive bus picked us up and within five minutes I was suited up! I had to get into this red jump suit and then they started putting all of these harnesses on me, that's when I started getting nervous, but I was just laughing and kind of giddy after awhile. Within ten minutes we were on the plane, there were six of us plus the real skydivers attached to us. It took about 15 minutes to get to 12,ooo ft. The view going up was great. Once it hit 12,000 ft they opened up the doors and everyone started going. That's when I started to get scared. It was my turn and all i could see were clouds right in front of me but before I knew we had jumped out. Of course I screamed but it wasn't because I was scared it was because I was having fun. We spun around a little bit and then after 45 seconds the chute opened. The difference between free falling and parachuting was very big. During the free fall everything was really loud but after the parachute was opened it was really quiet and calming. I got to look around and see the entire Taupo area. Once we landed I looked a little green and of course my motion sickness kicked in and I had to leave to go to the bathroom. But the motion sickness was well worth it. And no worries, I have the whole thing on a dvd plus pictures of me during the freefall!! I won't be able to put the pics on a website since its a roll of film and not digital. I'm telling you though if you have ever thought of skydiving do it! It is completely worth it.

That's the extent of my excitement for awhile. I hopped off the Kiwi bus and am staying in Taupo for at least two weeks. The goal is to find a job. This place is a resorty area for NZers so with any luck I should be able to find a job. I figure I can work and then take advantage of all the hikes and walks around here when I am not working. I've done a lot within a week and I think it's just time to slow down and enjoy one place instead of hopping from one place to another within a week.

I am also excited to start meeting more locals instead of just other travellers. It's good to meet travellers but I want to get a better feel of the NZ culture. So no more jumping out of planes for awhile and bungy jumping is on hold also(possibly indefinetly). My feet will stay on the ground for at least a month. As they say in NZ "Sweet as bro."

Caving

2005-10-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

First off, I will post pictures up as soon as I finish my memory card. Then I have to burn it onto a cd and then figure out how to post it to a website. Pictures with explainations will be up soon.

Two nights ago I was in Rotorua which is called the cultural capital of NZ. I went to a traditional Maori dinner which was awesome. The Maoris are the indigenous people to the island. No one really knows where they came from but their culture is very rich and full of tales. The best part is the culture is very inviting. We got onto the bus to take us to the dinner and the driver was teaching us some Maori words. The dinner was set up as if we were entering Maori tribal grounds so first off our "chief" had to wait while the Maori chief did an intimidating dance around him. The dance included him acting like a wild animal and sticking his tongue out and bulging his eyes. His face was entirely tatooed and behind him the women were singing in Maori. It was really fun to see. After our presence was accepted by the tribe we got to walk around a traditional Maori village. Unfortunately none of my pictures came out. After the village we went into the tribal meetinghouse where the Maoris performed some songs for us and explained some more about their history. Apparently there are Maori meeting houses all over NZ that are still used today to keep the culture alive so I will keep my eye out for one. The food was great and was cooked in the ground which was the traditional way for Maoris to cook food for large groups of people. It was a very fun night.

The next day was just spent on the bus going to Wiatomo. We got off at one point and walked to a waterfall which was cool since it was my first waterfall that I ever saw in person. After that we headed straight for Wiatomo which is possible the smallest town I have ever seen. The whole reason for being there was to go tubing underground the next day into the caves and look at the glow worms. It was raining the whole day so I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it since the water level in the caves was getting to high. I signed up for the 5 hour tubing adventure called the Abyss. I figured, go big or go home right? So I woke up at 7:45 and got to the caves around 8. It was me and two other people from the bus plus two tour guides. The guides said the water was pretty high but that we could still go in if we wanted to. We were all for it so we went.

Before tubing in the caves I had to get into the caves. The whole time they were saying how were going to abseil. I had no idea what abseil was. I thought it was a way to walk down. But no, abseil is the Kiwi way of saying that we were going to repel into the cave. So I was given a helmet and I five minute instructional course and then I was on a rope lowering myself down into the cave. It was awesome. Once we were in the cave we walked a little bit and then one of the guides hooked me up to another rope. I thought it was just a safety precaution until she turned off all of our headlamps and asked me how well I could scream. It turns out I was hooked up to a zip line that went down in complete darkness. Needless to say I screamed like I usually do if I was on a roller coaster and I was complimented on my screaming abilities. When I got down to the bottom of the zip line I looked up and say all of the glow worms hanging overhead. It looked like a really starry night.

Glow worms are actually maggots and what glows is there poo. But just looking at them they are pretty. We took a break after the zip line and had some hot chocolate before we jumped in the water. Once in the water we grabbed hold of a rope and pulled ourselves up stream so that we could float downstream and look at the glow worms on the ceiling. It was really relaxing. Once we got back to where we started downstream we through up the tubes. Then the guide told us that normally we would walk the rest of the way but since the water was so high we could actually body surf through the cave. That was fun. I just floated along and let the current take me. We then got to another point where the guides grabbed us one by one and pushed us down a sligh drop. It was like a really tiny waterfall. So much fun. After that we took another break and drank some hot tea. We had to keep on drinking hot liquids because the water is really cold in the cave. With a wet suit and constant moving I barely felt the cold.

After the break we started walking up stream. This was the hardest part because as we were walking we had to watch out for stalagtites sticking out. The normal path that the path usually takes was blocked off by water so the guides had to take us a different way. It turns out that by this time the cave had been closed to all tours. We were the only people in the cave which I think is really cool. The guides found a different way and we all climbed out of the cave safe and sound. This was by far the best thing I have done so far. It was great.

Now I am in Taupo and I have hopped off the Kiwi bus for awhile. I am planning on staying here for a bit and looking for a job. I want the job not so much for the money but for the regularity. The bus trip is good but it's a lot of stuff getting done in short amounts of time. I have the time to slow down a bit and just chill out. Taupo has a lake, the Taupo lake which is the largest lake in the southern hemisphere. I figure that's not a bad place to spend a month or so. If I don't find a job I can always just hop on the bus again and go to Wellington which is on the southern tip of the Northern Island. I haven't made any plans yet, I'll see how the job hunting goes.

The Bus

2005-10-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

The night before I was getting on the Kiwi bus at 8:30am I thought it would be a bright idea and get "proper" drunk. My friend Victoria from Nova Scotia got a job so me and her went to the packey and found pre-mixed Captain and Cokes for 10 NZ$ (7.00 US$). So her and I and her other Nova Scotian friends drank ourselves silly then went to the bars which are conveniently located right below our hostel and around the corner from our hostel. It was fun. We ran into this Swiss guy named Flavio, which is a very fun name to say after you have been drinking some. Flavio is learning English and looks like an Elvis impersonator (young Elvis). The night was very fun and by the end of it me and the Nova Scotians made a pact to spend Christmas together bbq ing somewhere. It's nice to have plans, even if they do fall through.

I managed to say good bye to my German roommate Flo and get on the bus. Our first stop wasn't for a couple of hours so I was able to get some more sleep. On the bus were some people that I had been talking to at the hostel so it was nice to see some familiar faces. It seems like everyone on the bus is traveling alone so we are all pretty friendly.

The first place we stopped off at was Cathedral Cove. I have no idea why it is called Cathedral Cove but it was a fun walk. It took about 45 minutes to walk down to the Cove. Once there, it I looked out into the sea and saw these really small islands everywhere ( they were all smaller than one nyc block). It turns out that the islands were the tops of volcanoes. The rest of the volcanoe had eroded but the tops are more resilient since they are made up of the most recent lava. After Cathedral Cove we were going to go sea kayaking but the weather was too windy so we just went to where we were staying for the night, Whitianga.

Apparently Whitianga is where the first Polynesian landed on NZ. It is a really small town that is surrounded by mountains. Our hostel was a two minute walk to the beach. Unfortunately it was raining and freezing so I didn't stay on the beach very long. A bunch of us went out and had dinner and a few drinks and just hung out. Our driver hung out too. Also another person I met at the hostel who is doing Bunac met up with us. It was good to see him and just hang out with everyone.

We were back on the bus today at 7:30am. The weather was terrible again. I was really cranky at the beginning of today...I really just wanted to sleep. The first place we stopped were caves that had formed windows. We were all walking through the caves and then all of a sudden the windows stopped. It was pitch black. We all whipped out our cellphones and our cameras to see if that would help but it didn't. We decided to go on anyway since a bunch of little kids and there families were doing it. This one woman on the bus is deaf so she was a little worried about not being able to see and hear but we formed a chain for her, She was holding my hand is I walked in front of her and someone else had her hand behind her. We made it through fine and you could tell she was excited that she got to do it.

After lunch we had the option of Zorbing, which is when you are thrown in this giant inflatable ball with water and rolled down a river, or street luging. I chose street luging because it was cheaper and it was too cold to get wet. The street luge looks like a sled on wheels. It has handle bars that stick at the front. If you pull the bars towards you, the luge brakes. I put on my helmet and went down. It was a five minute downhill ride that was really fun. I took a turn too sharp though and jammed my foot into the side of the track but other than that it was harmless.

Tonight I am going to a traditional Maori dinner called a hangi. It should be fun. Tomorrow we leave Rotorua, which is where I am now, and go to Whitiamo. After Whitiamo is Taupo. Taupo is where I am going to hop off the bus and try to find a job. Taupo is also where I am going to sky dive!! I am getting really excited about it, and it's not just because I get a free t-shirt.

The blogging might get a little more infrequent until I get to Taupo. Some places are charging 9 $NZ/hour and I just refuse to pay that much. Keep the comments coming. I love reading them!

Whoo hoo Volcanoes

2005-10-04T23:41:00.000-07:00

Today I took a ferry to Rotiringo Island. It's the youngest volcanoe in the region. I got to walk all the way up to the top of it. The path was made out of lava and as I walked up I was surrounded by chunks of lava and huge trees. It was exciting to walk higher and higher and see that I was catching up to the height of the trees. It took about an hour and a half to walk up it but the view was definitely worth it. I could see Auckland and a bunch of other islands. I could also see the clouds changing. One part was light and sunny and when I turned my head the other way, the sky was full of dark clouds. It was awesome to see. On the walk down I started talking to some of the other people who were at the top when I got there. They gave me some good ideas on how to get cheap hostels. It turns out that most of the hostels here will let you work for your bed. You can work for 3 hours a day in exchange for a room that night. It's not a bad idea.

I have one more day in Auckland until I hop on the Kiwi Experience bus. I am excited to go and see more of the country side and meet more people. I met some cool people at this hostel and we are all exchanging email addresses so if we wind up in the same region at the same time we can hang out (and crash at each others apartments). I have to say that I am really tired right now. I feel the way I did after a soccer game when I was younger. The volcanoe definetly wore me out. It was an awesome feeling though to just keep pushing myself to walk more since I knew the view would be great. I haven't really done anything that active oriented since before college. It was good to remember that these boots were made for walking.

Tomorrow is laundry day(yes I am doing laundry instead of buying more underwear) but tonight is but one get one beers. The beers here are good. There is a light one called export gold(that's the one that is bogo). This other beer, Tui, is my favorite. Its a little dark but soo smooth. I enjoyed myself when it was dollar Tui night.

Yeah so I thought I would be cool and buy that new moisturizer that tints your skin so that it looks tan. I figured it would help with my blindingly white legs. Well turns out I'm allergic to it but I didn't realize it so I put it all over my body for the past couple of days. Boo on allergies. I should just learn that I have to stick to the boring vaseline intensive care stuff. Who knew I was such a delicate flower?