Last night we did end up going to the fundraiser in town. It was to benefit a campaign against mining for gold in Coromandel Harbor. They are not scheduled to start mining anytime soon, it is actually illegal to mine in Coromandel Harbor, but they are going to be prospecting for gold, taking core samples from the sea floor. After that, they will dredge the sea floor vs. doing actual mining. The concern with this is that it will dredge up sediments where toxic chemicals are currently locked, such as mercury and lead, and release them into the water. This will poison the mussels - a huge industry here - and make them not fit for human consumption. Here's some more info it you're interested:
www.claim.org.nz
www.watchdog.org.nz
Anyways.... at the event they were selling raffle tickets. If you won, you get a 24-hour cruise on a 52 foot boat for you and 7 of your friends. Pretty sick, right? Well me and the other girls from the Driving Creek Cafe were standing by the table were they were selling tickets, t-shirts, and having people sign the petitions. The woman who was working jokingly said to us "You your female charm to sell some tickets" to which I responded that I would be happy to sell tickets if I can earn my own free raffle ticket in return. She said sure. I asked how many I'd lave to sell and she said 7. I thought "7? Piece of cake!". So I spent the next hour selling raffle tickets at the event and in the end sold 13 tickets at $10/piece, 1 t-shirt at $20, and 1 bumper sticker for $2. I raised $152 in just a few hours without knowing anything about the cause before showing up. It was really fun and a great way to meet people. I ended up meeting one guy, Luke from England, who lived in Vietnam for 4 months and is going to help me plan my time there. I was totally in my element all night, I had a great time, and Phoebe and I ended up making a full night of it - staying out until almost 1:00am. Super fun!
Here's a photo of me - I would've made a video but I didn't bring my camera:
Oh, and I also met a really nice guy Evan, from Seattle, who came to the Coromandel 8 years ago on vacation and never went home. It's crazy to meet people like this! He said I'm never going home either but I doubt that. I like the USA, but I can't promise I'll ever be moving back to MN permanantly - this warm weather is just too nice!
That's all for now. I'll post again later today if anything exciting happens.
Best!
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