News?

Hello! I am alive. I am well. I am working full time and spending my weekends gallivanting around the North Island! I apologize for my slowness in updates and still existing delays in posting pictures.

There was a Chinese New Year Celebration here in Wellington, which absolutely made my week! It wasn't extremely huge or anything, but it was definitely different. Lots of Chinese food and goods for sale. Funny though as many of the vendors (or a larger ratio than I was expecting) were Caucasian, not even asian at all. Strange. They were selling everything from calendars to postcards, to chinese ricefield hats, to calligraphy. I got my year (the dog) and my chinese name on a mini canvas. I love it. I wish I could have gotten one for my sisters too, but I didn't have enough money.





Two weekends ago I climbed Mt.Ruapehu. If you were to google that name you'd come up with a whole shwack of news about the Lahar (breach in the side of the lake on top of the mountain that causes massive mudslide) that happen on sunday. Yup. I was standing on top of that mountain just 8 days before the lake spilled 1.3 million square metres of sulphurous water down its slope. So cool. It could have been dangerous and scary, but there were no injuries and no major structural damage. Something about how the lahar originated that made it less violent than it could have been.

The mountain climb was invigorating, terrifying and satisfying. The views from the top were fantastic and we got to slide half way back down the mountain on a snow slide. I sat on a gortex jacket and just flew down the face of the mountain it was brilliant!! It took us four hours to climb up, and only one hour to get back down! haha! So much fun. Not to mention we made it back in time to catch the ski lifts back down to the parking lot :D











This past weekend I went up to Napier to say goodbye to my friend Miriam, who I have posted about before. She has finished her tour of the South Island and is currently making her way up the East Cape, around the bay of plenty towards Auckland and her flight back home to Germany. Ryan and I drove up on saturday and returned on Sunday. It was 5 hours up and the same back. What a whirlwind trip, but we are both really glad we went :D

I'm still trying to find a new place to live. I was turned down for another place on sunday. I guess I'll just have to keep my search going.

Work has been getting pretty interesting. We are temps and we are only trained to do and help with certain things. Thus, we are forced to ask for a lot of support from our surrounding reps and supervisors. It's a might bit ridiculous, but we accept our situation and the people around us are still being gracious with helpful answers. I was yelled at yesterday by a lady in her 60s. She was trying to get information on her mother's account and I couldn't do that because I couldn't bring up the right information to validate her as an authority on the count (aka, couldn't give her security clearance). It was a really scary experience and I had to take a break afterwards. It's not nice to feel like you've been told off by a grandmother. You just feel more guilty or something than you should.

Despite the fact that I have completed four weeks of work and will be receiving my third pay cheque tomorrow, I am still barely making any money. All of my weekend trips keep sucking me dry. I have decided to lie low this weekend and try to scrimp a bit. Mr. Visa is hungry and soon.... very soon I will need to feed him.

Cheers to my friends and my family near and far. Without your support I would not be here, doing these things, seeing these sights and experiencing this adventure.

Time Flies...

WOW. It is already March and I was just starting to get used to the fact that it was february.

I spent the week of the 20th to the 27th in Queenstown with Tia. What a brilliant week! It was so quick though I can hardly believe it happened. We were extremely happy to see each other though. There is something to be said about what family can bring to your life that nobody else can. I have been truly blessed with wonderful family. We kayaked in dodgy kayaks in high winds. We hiked up a hill and snuck a free ride back down on the gondola. We sunbathed, and ate out. We bussed to Wanaka and Mountain biked around the town and surrounding area. We went to Puzzling world and to Rippon Winery. The day was so good that we stayed past the last bus. We decided to hitch back and after an hour of no luck we fortuatously caught a ride with a middle aged mother of four on a business trip to Queenstown. Perfect. Beautiful day to be out. We also went to Milford Sound. Toured in a bus on the way down, and boated out into the fiord. It was really quite beautiful out there. Felt a lot like BC but a little more dramatic with it's glacier carved mountain side. I miss Tia quite a bit now. Tis the season to be missing family harshly. But I feel very blessed to have had that time with her. Her friends that put us up were brilliant as well. Putting us up in their newly renovated house with a view of the lake and mountains. They bought us food and drinks and drove us to really cool places around town.

Since I've been back I have started working for Kiwibank. A relatively young NZ bank that operates out of the postshops (post offices, really). I have only three more days of training then I am off like a lamb to slaughter. Not really. My trainers and phone coaches are extremely knowledgable helpful and friendly. I'll be just fine.

Now it's movie and dessert time again. Ryan and I seem to be doing that quite often these days. Perfect way to round off a summer day I think.

LOVE AND HUGS! Cheers