Weekly Highlights

Just some updates of my ongoings so in the past week or so...

The rep from Arena came into the store to show the boss the new product.  He wanted to see how to fit it and how the material was different and how to fit people into it properly, so I got to be the try-on girl.  I got (literally) put into a pair of acid green Arena Carbon-Pro Powerskins (just like many of the olympians are wearing).  In NZ, this suit will retail at over $700!  I felt like I could be pretty speedy just from the suit!

Two weekends ago, we had planned on going to the New Zealand Fitness expo to support a couple of the members of CrossFit Auckland who were competing in the CrossFit demonstration at the expo. They had collected a bunch of the top CrossFit athletes from around the country to participate.  At about 7:45am, Jacques got a call from his coach asking if he also wanted to compete to fill a space that had opened up last minute.  He jumped at the opportunity and did really well given the last minute circumstances and high calibre of all the athletic performances.  Not to mention the pressure of performing in front of a huge audience.  It was pretty awesome day watching the 3 intense WODs they had to complete.  And the other 2 CrossFit Auckland athletes came 1st and 2nd (guys and girls respectively).  

We called our car Sumi after all.  She spoke to us in Japanese (the toll system thingy in Japan) but we actually had her voice disabled when we had a radio band expander put in this weekend.  Now we get lots more radio stations :)  She is super nice to cruise around in and will save us LOTS of money on gas!

My kale is still alive and flourishing, getting closer to being able to become dinner!  Hopefully it continues to survive so well.  

Tonight, my boss is taking Jacques and I out to dinner because one Saturday when I was alone in the store (on an insanely busy day) I had very high sales for the winter season and he was impressed I managed all by myself.  Looking forward to a nice Indian meal tonight :)

Arena Carbon-Pro...what the Olympians are wearing!

Jacques competing at the New Zealand fitness expo

Sumi, our Suzuki :)

My kale getting closer to being ready to eat!

Working Full Time

I started working full-time July 5, the day after we got back from Australia.  It was a bit of different first day at work, having to try on 2 ocean swimming wetsuits (entry level and high end) to get a sense of how to fit people in them and how to explain the differences.  If that wasn't enough to work up a sweat, next, two of my co-workers (who are competitive swimmers to begin with) got me into a racing suit...2 sizes too small as it should be.  It was definitely a quick way to get up close and personal with them shoving bits and pieces of me into the tiny kneeskin.  I have also needed to get used to calling swim suits of all kinds "togs" on a regular basis.  I might actually be used to it now, as strange as that seems.

Three weeks down and I get my first full weekend off this weekend :) though I haven't had to work a full one yet either...that will be 2 weekends from this one.  Working with all the swimming and triathlon gear and talking to all the people who come into the store may just inspire me to get back into some swimming for some of the open water competitions.  We'll see...

My QuickFit (crossfit) sessions have been going well, 3 times a week 7:30-8.  I'm enjoying it and I definitely like the QUICK factor about it.  The WODs may be nice short, but they are by no means easy.

We've been alternating pub quiz Wednesday nights at Slipp Inn (tends to be MANY more teams and more challenging) and Tuesday nights in Albany (which is growing a little but far less teams and slightly less challenging).  The first week we did the Albany one we came second and won $40 to spend on food and drinks the next time.  The second time, we came first and won $60.  The last time we came 3rd and won $20, so we have to keep going back!

Saturday, July 14, we went to soup night at Corelli's! A nice salad started, bowl of soup and dessert, all very delicious of course! And best of all, you got to keep your soup bowl, hand made by an artist who was roaming around and raffled off a large ceramic punch bowl as well!

Jacques and I went to Libby's 7th birthday party a couple Sundays ago.  It was a yucky rainy day, but fortunately the girls were happy bracelet-making and practicing their netball shots in the house.  It was so cute watching the group dance to a game on the Wii, they were all focusing so hard.  It was good to catch up with all the Clinton kids and spend some time with John and Julia as well.  Post-party, we headed to the Glenfield night markets for the first time for dinner.  Lots of varieties of food from lots of different cultures.  A nice way to eat dinner for relatively cheap and extremely delicious!  We went back last Sunday as well!

Last Saturday, I was on by myself at work for the first time on the weekend and I think we had about as many people come into the store that as had been collectively the whole weeks I'd been working!  It was soooo busy, I didn't have time to eat or anything during our opening hours 10-5.  I had LOTS of great sales thought, so it was all worth it.  Even though I was basically ready for bed when I got home, we went to go see The Dark Knight Rises at 9pm and of course didn't get home until after midnight because it's such a long movie!  Definitely worth it, though!

Sunday, we test drove a car and yesterday, purchased it! It's a 2007 Suzuki Swift, dark blue.  I'll post a photo when I can take one in the light.  It's manual, so I'll have to readjust to driving it, but it drives very smoothly and easily.  I am definitely a fan so far.  I am hoping to call it Ollie, just have to convince Jacques that's a good name! :) The purchase came JUST in time as well.  This morning, I picked up Astrid from the airport at 6am and returned her car we'd be able to use for the past 7 weeks!  Is good to have her back and she brought us some delicious Belgian chocolates too!

We are looking forward to watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics this weekend.  We'll have a breakfast/brunch along with the ceremonies Saturday morning 6:30-10:30am.  Later in the day we'll head to a CrossFit expo at the ASB show grounds where 2 members of CrossFit Auckland will be competing.  It will be good to go along and support them.

I think I am mostly up to date now...busy busy with work!  Nice to finally have a steady paycheck, though :)

Port Douglas

Just to preface the lateness of this blog entry...we had an overnight flight back from Australia so we didn't get too much sleep, I spent the first half of our first day back sleeping and the other half unpacking and getting everything organized, making sure I was well-rested for my first day of work Thursday July 5.  Then, I had this entire post written, just waiting to add photos, but it didn't autosave when Safari crashed...so I've had to find time in my now VERY busy schedule to re-write it and catch up.

Wednesday, June 27 I met Jacques in town had some lunch, then we caught the bus to the airport and boarded our plane to Cairns. The flight was close to 6 hours so we didn't arrive until after 10pm. We caught a taxi to our backpackers where Alex and Jane let us in. We went across the street the Gilligan's for a couple drinks and that was basically all of our time in Cairns. In the morning we had some breakfast and got the bus to Port Douglas. We checked in at our backpackers right on the main street and did a bit of exploring. It's definitely a holiday beach town, everyone there to relax and enjoy the reef and rainforest. We spent a couple of days on the beach and did 2 day tours.

Our first tour was to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation. We were picked up from our backpackers at 7:45am and not returned until about 5:30. Our tour only had 8 people on it (that was the maximum) so it was very personal and informative. The first stop was Mossaman Gorge and then a boat trip down the river for some croc-spotting, where we saw some males, females and some babies! We had morning tea and coffee and some muffins at a sort of hidden beach along the side of the rainforest. They even catered to my vegan eating. I got a nice fruit box for morning tea instead of cookies and muffins. We carried on to Cape Tribulation where we got about 30 min to explore the views an beach. We drove back into the rainforest for lunch and sat at a picnic table in the middle of the trees. Lunch was a feast of steak, fish, sausages and about 4 different salads and damper (Australian bread). I had 2 vegan patties consisting of some grains and veggies perhaps. They were tasty even though I'm not too sure what they were made of. After lunch we had the option to swim in a chilly mountain stream, which the 4 of us did. The water was about 64 degrees. Very refreshing but a nice little spot. Next we went for a guided walk though the forest.  We all piled back in the van and stopped off at a little ice cream place before heading back to Port Douglas.  They only served a sampler of the 6 flavors of the day which were all named after foreign Australian fruits and things.  I just sampled little bits of Jacques', but most were pretty tasty.  Instead, I had a dairy-free fudgesicle of my own.

We had some nice beach-weather days and did a bit of poking in the shops around Port Douglas, mostly relaxing days.  One day when Jacques and Alex went to do a workout in the evening, I decided to go for a run along the beach.  It was the perfect temperature and since the beach faced east, the sun wasn't beating down on me, but nicely hidden behind the trees, just a nice warm breeze to keep the climate comfortable.  There were so many others out running and walking along the beach as well, definitely a popular evening activity for vacationers and locals alike.

Our other big day trip was a snorkel tour out to the Agincourt Reefs in the Great Barrier Reef.  All three spots were beautiful and we saw some amazing colors and sea life (including 6 white-tipped reef sharks!).  Although a couple of the sharks were decent sized, the guides telling us they were harmless was enough convincing to swim up close to get some photos.  They were pretty hard to keep up to though!  Once again, we were fed very well throughout the day and my vegan needs were catered to.

All in all, we had a fabulous trip and lovely weather!  It was nice to have a week of summertime after going from one winter into the next.

White-tipped reef shark

I Got a Job!

This past week was definitely an eventful one!

I began by starting my crossfit induction training Monday morning at 7am.  So far I've learned lots of new things this week, how to do double-unders with a jump rope and many different kinds of lifts with a barbell.  I had sessions 2 and 3 Wednesday and Friday morning and 4 this morning (Monday June 25).  We also went to the Mega WOD on Saturday morning in honor of moving to a new location, Saturday was fun day at CFAK.  Seeing as that was my first real crossfit workout, I was very tired afterward and sore the next day.  Definitely have some conditioning to do.

Monday, I had my second interview at Swim T3 and it went very well! :)  Thursday around 1pm they called and offered me the job! I start July 5th (even get one day to recover after our trip to Cairns, Australia which we are getting very excited for!).  So I will be working 5 days a week 9-5:30 or 6 on the weekdays and when I have to work Saturdays 10-5 and Sundays 10-4 (I think).  Jacques and I will become bus buddies in the morning to town, and then I'll have to catch the train from there to Mt. Eden.   I am looking forward to having a full-time work schedule and getting paid a salary! I also had another interview Thursday morning at a place in Newmarket, wanted me to come back today for an on the job test day, but I was happy with the job I was offered, so did not go.  I also canceled an interview I was supposed to have Thursday afternoon way out in Penrose.  I did however have a pretty full week of work for the health trust last week, more showers and cleaning and cooking.  I even had to help an old woman change the bandaging on her freshly amputated toe...eww....today I helped wash a woman who will be 100 in October.

Friday night, Jacques and I both got haircuts.  I went to his hairdresser he's been seeing the last 4 years or so and we are very pleased with her work!  Then we had a late delicious Indian takeaway, made more vegan-paleo bars (recipe recommended by Amy!) they were sooo delicious! And also made pulled-pork which I somehow managed not to eat.  It was however devoured by everyone on Saturday night!

I am not quite sure what made me decide to go to crossfit Saturday morning on my birthday...not only did I have to do 25 birthday burpees but many more during their Mega WOD...I was ready for a nap by 5pm before the party started in the evening.  All the rest of the day was busy busy as well.  We had some mimosas and breakfast after crossfit then straight to town for Ice Skating in Aotea square.  90 min of ice-skating is also quite a workout! We then went to Elliot Stables for lunch, but my vegan place Basilicum didn't open until 5:30 so I had to settle for vegetarian eating and had some delicious pumpkin and spinach cannelloni from an Italian place.  We followed lunch with peppermint mochas from Starbucks and then came home for a quick break before the evening birthday olympics began.  It was certainly a fun-filled day and night.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes that came in many different shapes and forms.

One and a half more days of work for the health trust and we are off to Australia to some warm summery weather, hopefully, on Wednesday evening!  Very excited!

haircuts

a few of the skating crew

homemade 80s USA shirt

Starting To Get Busy

A week ago was pretty uneventful, I had an annoying cold and spent lots of time at home waiting to hear back from places and getting rid of the cold.

This week got a bit busier.  I did shower training for the health trust on Wednesday morning with 2 older women.  One was very friendly and happy to help me with training, not complaining her regular shower help wasn't there.  The second, it was also her first experience having someone help her which she also found a bit awkward.  Afterward, once she realized she didn't have to strip her own made and make the new one or fix her towels after she decided it was definitely worth having help washing, drying and dressing.

That afternoon I was on my own, sent to sit with a man while his wife went out for 4 hours.  I wasn't quite filled in as to what I would be doing or why he needed someone to sit with him.  It wasn't until I was having a conversation with him, or trying to, and he couldn't remember where he'd lived before where they were currently living.  I figured he had Alzheimer's and it only became clearer as the afternoon went on.  He really enjoys his country and gospel music so is very happy to watch dvds of the performances.  We watched a Dixie Chicks show and then some other gospel performance dvd.  At 3pm, I gave him his afternoon tea of a magnum ice cream bar.

From there, I went to make dinner for another woman who lives alone in a small apartment in a sort of nursing home community.  She was very nice and friendly as well, only pretty blind and hard of hearing.

Thursday, I had a pretty full day as well, showering 2 men in the morning, then vacuumed for 3 different people and mopped for 2 of them as well.  This was all before 12pm.  I ate my lunch I'd brought with me on Takapuna beach in the nice sunshine and then was off to my interview at 1pm.  I heard back from my 2 interviews I had before, and they changed the qualifications a bit, one in particular decided to go with people with teacher experience in schools, so actual teaching qualifications.  That same day though, I got a call that I was wanted for an interview at Swim T3.  They called me the same day at 4pm saying they'd love to have me back Monday for a second interview, so tomorrow at 1pm I'll be back.  At least I heard quickly, sounds promising! In the mean time, I have a busy week ahead of me this week with more work for the North Harbour Health Trust.  Thursday afternoon I went for a run when I got home and Jacques called right when I got back, asking me to meet him at work.  He had been down in Hamilton, for field days Wed and Thur for work, driving the boss's car, showing the new French intern around.  He had to drop off the car and had too much stuff to catch the bus.

Friday, I had another full day of work for the health trust and then had dinner and a night out with the girls.  I caught the bus home from town at 2am and a chilly 1.5k walk back to the house, only arriving at about 3am!  Jacques had his 3rd PAS workshop this weekend, so was exhausted and in bed by about 9pm Friday night so he could wake up Saturday morning, study some more and head to his workshop 8:30am-2:30pm.  I picked him up and we went to CrossFit NZ to watch the final of the competition they were having there, since there were lots of members of CF Auckland participating.  Got me a more inspired to start my CrossFit induction bright and early tomorrow morning.

This morning, we went to Long Bay Beach to participate in a random winter swim that some crazy people do for no apparent reason every year.  Even thought it was 32 degrees before the sun came up this morning, it got close to 50 and the water was 61 at 10:30 when we all ran into the water.  Wasn't actually as bad as I expected.  We all went for coffee to warm up afterwards.

Since kale is EXTREMELY hard to come by in this country, I ordered some seeds and today we got the supplies and I've planted them, so hopefully they'll spout and be edible in the next couple months!

We are continuing to find foods both Jacques and I can eat as well.  A favorite has become homemade Indian dishes, make the sauce with veggies, then split it and I add some chickpeas or lentils and he adds meat.  At the Gluten-Free food show we attended last weekend, we picked up some noodles made with veggies instead of cereal grains so Jacques can eat them as well.  Today, Jacques made his own homemade paleo granola bars (granola-free of course).  Instead it's mixed nuts and sunflower seeds in the food processor, some raisins, cinnamon, honey and coconut oil.  They are certainly yummy and vegan as well!

Comforts of Home

Just a couple of highlights of the week...found the most amazing Mexican restaurant about 2 seconds walk from the building where Jacques works :)  It's called Jalapenos and it's the best by far I've had in New Zealand! Yum Yum!

Also, have been able to watch all 4 Celtics v. Heat playoff games so far live on ESPN! Now just have to hope they keep winning...

My interviews last week went well (I also had one on Friday about working at a cafe to open soon in Takapuna, seems like it would be a fun atmosphere).  I haven't heard anything back yet, but It's been a long weekend for the Queen's Birthday so hopefully I will get some news early this week.

Friday, I went to visit with Astrid and participate in her busy afternoon.  Watching a bit of Kali's ballet, making sure her car passed it WOF and meeting Milo, the family's new puppy.  At the end of the day, I drove her car back to Albany where I will look after it/drive it around until she returns from Belgium in the middle of July.  fortunately, this fixes the car situation temporarily until we get a replacement for the honda.

Friday night we played some pool...skills that need practice, though happened to have some pretty incredible lucky shots!  Saturday, hung out on Brown's Bay beach for a bit in the evening because the weather was nice and then went to see Men in Black 3.  Sunday we went to a couple of sales (every shop seems to have them this weekend every year).  We each got a new outfit discounted :)  Then, it was time to prepare food for the evening.  Felecia had about 16 people over to celebrate her birthday Sunday night. I made some delicious herbal appetizers learned at the master gardeners lecture day with mom.  Glad I signed up for both cooking sessions.  The spinach cakes were a huge hit.  I also made brie bites, bruschetta and pasta carbonara.  All very yummy!  For dessert I made everyone a mini chocolate chip pancake which we served with ice cream or nutella or both.  A novelty for most, they too were very popular.  There were also chicken wings and meatballs, a nice big green salad, garlic bread, a fancy cheese platter, a beef dish, vegan/paleo chocolate cupcakes with homemade chocolate frosting, and rice pudding.  It was definitely a night of cheating on food rituals for both Jacques and I, delicious and worth it though!

Today we went out west to Piha, another beach I hadn't seen yet (there are just so many to see in this country, each differently beautiful!).  It was such a nice sunny winter day again! Lot of surfers in the water as well!  I had my feet in the water and at one point felt like if I'd had my suit, would have actually gone for a dip.  The water felt like early summer on Cape Cod, chilly but bearable for a few minutes.

Piha

Auckland from the bus on the bridge

Takapuna Beach

Rangitoto from Takapuna

Kali and Milo

On the way down to Piha

Job Interviews and Busy Weekend

On Wednesday, I went into town to meet Jacques for lunch.  I was excited because earlier that morning I had heard back from the job at World Challenge that I'd applied for an I will be having an interview this coming Wednesday. If successful, I will move on to round 2 of interviews with their top 3 candidates via Skype with headquarters in Australia (don't worry, the job is based in Auckland).  After lunch, when I was wandering through town, I received an email from a job I had only applied to the day before, asking if I could come in for an interview.  This one was for Education First (EF) High School Year Overseas.  It's a Swedish company, only still developing in NZ.  They teach people English in many countries across the world and send students away on an exchange year.  I had my interview Thursday but they are still not sure if it will be a part of full-time position.  I am still waiting to hear back about that one.

Wednesday night, we went to a pub quiz.  Our team of 8 needed my America expertise on 3 questions in particular.  I told them the baseball team that Moneyball was about, that Kentucky was the highlighted state on the map of the USA and that the city situated on Mount Royal was Montreal.  We had a pretty good team in general and ended up coming 5th out of 16...not bad...

Friday, I went to meet with the Rodney North Harbour Health Trust (who the recruiting company, AER, passed on my details to about personal care work).  I wasn't too sure if I was going in for another interview or just to discuss the job in more detail and find out my availability or what....turns out they had my name badge all made-up already with my employee number on the back and a back with manuals and time sheets in it.  Today (Monday), I am going to meet with a mother and her 20-yr-old son with seizure disorder.  So this will similar work to what I was doing at home, plus potentially a bit of elderly care as well.  Depending on the outcomes of my other job interviews, I can fill up my schedule with Personal Care work if necessary, or leave it to a couple hours a day or week, filling in around another part or full-time job.

Friday night, I picked Jacques up from the bus from work and we went to check out NZ Sale's warehouse sale on the North Shore.  It's a website offering supposedly super discounted clothing with new offers each day.  We got there and there were millions of cars and people and we were there less than a hour after it had started.  It was only on for 3 hours Friday night and supposed to be all day Saturday and Sunday (but I'm not sure they would have had anything left to sell!)  It was impossible to move inside the place with all the racks of clothes so tightly packed and the amount of people pushing you around.  Not to mention the amount of clothes that had already ended up on the floor.  Shoes were scattered around the shelves...if you found one that you liked, good luck finding the match.  Jacques was not too impressed because there was not a whole lot of guys clothing to begin with, plus he couldn't find anything in the right size either.  Plus, although you were probably getting a really good deal on some items, others were probably not too discounted.  ALL shoes were $30, dresses were $30 or 2 for $50 or 3 for $60.  Men's dress shirts were $20 and 2 for $30...just shows you how overpriced most clothing is in this country.  I think the whole of Albany was at this sale waiting for the doors to open.  It was more of an experience and I decided taking pictures was more fun than trying to search for clothes.  I don't think we stayed in there more than 5 minutes! Instead we went out of Indian for dinner :)  One meal we can eat out together at the same place pretty easily.  With Jacques' strict paleo diet and my vegan, he can just get a meat dish and not eat rice or naan and I get a veggie dish and we're both happy! It was delicious.  Then of course I had to watch the American Idol finale!  Because it's normally shown Fri and Sat nights here, they just combined the performances into a one hour show, then had a 1.5 hour break, then the 2 hr results show.  I was happy with the outcome!

Saturday, we went to a different clothing sale (supposedly designer clothes mostly).  But they cut or rip the labels out of things so you can't tell where it's from.  Sometimes extra things are left on that say the brand.  For example, I found a little summer shirt/dress with the first part of the label cut out but xxi was left behind and then the rubber straps were left in to hang it from which said forever 21 on them.  Most people here wouldn't know what Forever 21 is, and not know that it's a pretty cheap store to begin with.  Fortunately this one was only $5 so it was still a good deal.  I saw another shirt from Express and a dress that was xhilertation brand...from Target, 2 others stores people here would not recognize.  If you pick through very carefully, you can find some nicer things but there were lots of clothes and that's a lot of work!  I did find one BeBe dress that fit me perfectly for $5, but the problem with lots of items is someone's gone and cut a chunk of material right out of the bottom near the seam (if you're lucky) or just made a slit somewhere else random.  I thought I'd examined this one thoroughly enough, and only found a slit right on the seam, easily fixable, but when I had a closer look there was a curved cut right through the middle of the back of the dress...not so fixable, so that one had to stay.  I did find another nice blue dress for $5 and another more casual dress for $15.  Not too bad, 3 dresses for $25.

In the afternoon, we went to watch some of a NZ Olympic Weightlifting competition.  Jacques is now signed up so he can compete in the future monthly events with some of his other CF buddies.  Just more experience to improve what they are already doing in CrossFit.  There were a couple of young kids (one lighter than me) who were the strongest and held NZ records.  Pretty impressive to watch!

Saturday night, we met up with some friends at Deep Creek Brewing company (visiting with one especially who was over from Australia).  We spent a few ours there sitting outside with just a light jacket on.  Although it's winter, I can survive with that temperature, after dark and still able to sit around and visit outside without having to be completely bundled up!  From there we went into town and went to SkyCity.  Laura and I watched the boys play some Roulette for awhile, trying to help predict the winning numbers.  It was a fun night.

Sunday, Jacques and I left for Whangarei by 9:30 to go and pick up some rubber matting won on TradeMe.  He is going to use it to protect the garage floor when lifting weights, but we were collecting it from a horse farm.  I warned him that anything that has been around horses is going to smell like one. He was skeptical at first, but after not even 5 minutes of having the stuff in the car you could smell it just standing OUTSIDE the car!  Needless to say we drove with the windows down the rest of the day!  We got some picnic foods at the grocery store and went to Whangarei falls for lunch.  Nice picturesque place to eat.  From there, we went to a Kauri park with boardwalks up in the trees and walked to see another waterfall along the trail.  Once we began driving again to head south, the gas light in the car came on and then all of a sudden it cut off completely.  Fortunately we hadn't been too far and there was a little pull off right where we needed it to be.  We pulled in there and it was immediately stinking of gas.  Jacques checked under the hood and the fuel line had come right off so the gas was just leaking onto the ground.  Somehow the clip had come undone for it to come loose.  Again, fortunately, there was also a man in this pull-in place getting ready for a run in the park with his son and dog.  He offered to take Jacques quickly to the gas station before he left for his jog.  Jacques reconnected the fuel line (and put the clip back on) and then we went to return the jug and fill up at the gas station.  Everything went smoothly after that and fortunately it could not have been more than a 20-30 min delay to our day.  Just a strange occurrence which we hope does not happen again.  Perhaps the last time the car was serviced, someone did not reattach the clip properly or knocked it slightly out of place...who knows.  Oh and we were in his dad's car, because we needed the space in the back with all the seats down for this rubber matting.  While away, we found out his dad sold the honda and it was gone when we got home.  Now we'll search for a car with a smaller engine (not 2.2 litre) so we don't pay a fortune for gas every week!  One more stop on our way home, we checked out Ruakaka beach, huge and amazing, beautiful even on a gloomy-ish day so I'd love to see what it's like in the summer!

So this week, or at least until we get a cheaper replacement for the car, we will play musical cars with the 2 between the 4 of us!  Fortunately, I can take the bus to my interview on Wed.

Orange Sky Tower

Bridge on the way to Whangarei

$5 Dress! :)

crazy NZ sale...

Lunch time :)

Just another little Kauri tree

Pukenui Falls

Ruakaka Beach

Found a DELICIOUS Vegan Restaurant

Well, my visa came back in my passport last Tuesday, before noon, the day after it was approved online.  The speediest service anyone has heard of!  I have been applying to many jobs since then, but in the mean time, I responded to a recruiting company's ad about needing personal carers.  I met with the woman at the recruiting company Wednesday, who then passed on my CV (newly created in NZ format) to the North Harbour Health Trust, who called me today to schedule an interview with them directly and find out my availability.  The trust does in-home elder care as well as special needs care for children in the area.  So depending on what jobs are available, I could be doing a bit of both.   Most of the full-time jobs I have applied for only start in July, leaving June for all the hiring process.  This is more of an ideal start-date anyway, so I won't have to ask for time off for our trip to Cairns, Australia June 27-July 4.

Tuesday morning, I went down to Devonport to see Tessa dance at toddler toes and then we went to the cafe for a catch up (with Jess and Ariel) but Tessa has become so chatty she wanted all of my attention for conversation.  Apparently, she needs frequent encouragement to play with her little friend that is there as well.

Wednesday I had another Hilltop reunion!  I caught up with Anna, one of my counselors my very first year camp.  The last year I saw her was my CIT year, 2003.  She is from CO but married one of the Kiwi counselors and moved to NZ shortly after.  She was up staying in Albany for work so I brought her to Corelli's with the gang for dinner.  Now, I have to make a trip down to Palmerston North to see Craig and their 1-yr-old baby, Jessica.

Friday, Nikita, Courtney and I had a girls night catch up and dinner (which will turn into a monthly tradition).  Courtney's boyfriend, Jamie, is also doing PAS (professional accounting school) right now (what Jacques is doing) so he also has workshops one Friday night and Saturday every 4 weeks.  We ate at Elliot Stables, a sort of upscale food court, where you can order a meal from any of the restaurants but all sit together at the same table no matter when you've ordered from.  Courtney tried to eat mainly vegetarian, so we were both very excited to discover Basilicum!  It was fabulous! I had purple tofu (bbq style) and eggplant the same way.  Both the flavor and texture were really nice.  They even had vegan desserts, which I was very excited about!  I wanted to try the vegan chocolate cake, but it still had about 20 min of preparation to go, so instead I went for the vegan carrot cake.  It was also very delicious!  Now, I can't wait to go back and try the chocolate cake and more items off the strictly vegan/vegetarian menu!

Saturday we went to a "onesie" party, where many were wearing adult sized footed pjs.  Nice and cozy! I didn't have any, so I took that opportunity to wear my random one-piece fitted suit I purchased at the unclaimed baggage center.  I knew I'd get the chance to wear it someday!  Was nice to meet Nick's girlfriend Laura and some of her friends.

Sunday, we went out to Martha's Backyard (the American Store) full of overpriced items imported from the USA that you can't find here.  I was in search of Cream of Wheat, since nothing similar exists here, but didn't have any luck.  Instead, Jacques found 2 new pair of shoes from the shop next door, not only super discounted but buy 1, get 1 50% as well.  So it wasn't a wasted trip.  Because it was a nice sunny day, we decided to take a ride up Mt. Wellington, another one of Auckland's volcanos, and walk around the perimeter of the crater. It offered some very nice views from a different perspective in Auckland.  We also stopped at a beach near home to collect some sand for my yoga sandbags.  Mitre 10 would have made my buy 25 liters of sand.  When I asked the guy if I could just purchase the amount that I needed and said that it was for sandbags, he suggested my best bet would be to just go to the beach.  Yesterday, I bleached the sand and immediately upon pouring in the bleach many bugs surfaced and escaped.  Today was nice and sunny and in the 60s so I set the sand out to dry.  Hopefully soon I'll be able to load it into my sandbags.

I also went for my first run today, taking advantage of the nice weather and braving the hilly terrain.  It went surprisingly well and although I went at a slow pace, it felt pretty easy.

Our new mattress was collected and set up last week Wednesday night.  The story of how Eugene (Jacques' dad) and I retrieved it is a story for a separate blog post!  Quite an hour and a half of adventure.  It is amazing and soooo comfy! Great nights sleeps since then!  Also, after a suggestion from Dad on how to fix squeaky slats (felt between the frame and slats), and my handy work the next day, it is now a silent slat bed!

Excited for a sleep on the new bed!

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View from Mt. Wellington

Beach where my sand came from

Onesie/PJ party

Making Progress

Accomplishments so far:

1) Visa granted! :) From the average 25 day wait period, somehow I submitted it May 10, then needed to make the payment May 11 because somehow they couldn't get it off the credit card details section I filled out on the actual application, now Monday, May 14 I checked the status online and it had been approved through May 14, 2014!  I can work full-time for any employer in any occupation.  Strangely enough, I applied for my working holiday visa on May 10, 2010 and it was granted on May 14, 2010! I didn't even realize this until I saw it posted on my immigration status history.

2) Bed frame won on TradeMe (New Zealand version of ebay)! Now need to figure out how we will get it home...possibly part of tomorrow's adventures

3) New comfy "Black Diamond" mattress purchased! Also will be interesting getting it home!

4) Made our own almond milk using almonds soaked overnight, a blender (but from now on we'll be able to use the fancy new food processor that Felecia got for Mother's Day) a cheesecloth, a coffee filter and some water.  We also got a decent amount of leftover almond flour!  So 2 liters of almond milk (that actually tastes pretty good) and enough almond flour for baking with only cost us $4.50.  Buying one liter in the store is about $7 and it's loaded with sugar.

5) Caught up with friends and ate at Corelli's! They are willing to accommodate my vegan needs :)

Next step: Get a job!  I've been sending in some applications this week and now I will be able to tick the box that I have a work visa, so hopefully things will go a bit more smoothly!

It turned out last week, Jacques only had to be away Mon-Wed and they changed their flights and he surprised me when he walked in the door on Wednesday night! I had no idea and thought I was going to have to wait another 24 hours.  So that was a nice change of plans!

Saturday, we drove out west to look at some natural bed/futon places.  I felt like we had come across a bed farm...they place looked like a run down barn and we couldn't quite tell where people were living or working or what.  The woman coming to open the display room was about 10 minutes late and she just pulled out the key from underneath the porch to open the door.  Fortunately, we decided to consider other options besides futons and went looking at furniture stores right around the corner on Sunday afternoon after Mother's Day lunch.  That's where we found our Black Diamond and it was basically all decided right then and there.  Hopefully we'll be sleeping on it in the next couple of nights! Very excited!