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!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
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.
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.
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| Piha |
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| Auckland from the bus on the bridge |
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| Takapuna Beach |
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| Rangitoto from Takapuna |
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| Kali and Milo |
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| On the way down to Piha |
Sunday, May 27, 2012
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.
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.
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| Orange Sky Tower |
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| Bridge on the way to Whangarei |
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| $5 Dress! :) |
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| crazy NZ sale... |
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| Lunch time :) |
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| Just another little Kauri tree |
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| Pukenui Falls |
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| Ruakaka Beach |
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
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!
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!
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| Excited for a sleep on the new bed! |
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| Add caption |
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| View from Mt. Wellington |
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| Beach where my sand came from |
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| Onesie/PJ party |
Monday, May 14, 2012
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!
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!
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