Work, Work, More Work, and Lighthouses

Sorry for the delay in posting - I've been working the past two nights and have been very tired upon my return home and thus have not had the energy to post. Let's look back now to Wednesday - nothing too exciting in the morning. I signed up for a gym near my new house so I've got that all sorted. Worked out at the gym as well so that took up a few hours in the morning. In the afternoon I drove to the Manukau Heads Lighthouse, a beautiful lighthouse on the West Coast of New Zealand overlooking the Tasman Sea on one side and the Manukau Harbour on the other with views of Auckland. It's an amazing little place - great for a picnic - and you can even go up inside the lighthouse. When I went there I was the only person there. I did see one dog but it completely ignored me. Anyway, here are a few of my photos from the top of the lighthouse:

Ok, I lied. This first photo is from the drive to lighthouse. Look at those colors!

The lighthouse.

The light part of the lighthouse.

Looking out over the Tasman Sea from the top of the lighthouse.

Now looking over towards Auckland and the Manukau Harbor.

Selfie.

I noticed this picture when I was leaving the lighthouse. Creepy, isn't it?!

On my way out to the lighthouse my boss texted to see if I could work at night because one of my coworkers was ill. I said I could since I can really use the money and thus I wasn't able to spend very much time at the lighthouse. Another day I'll likely so back with a picnic lunch and a full day off work. A very nice place and a nice drive there as well.

Work on Wednesday night was slow but I got 5 hours in so that was good. Money in the bank! Well, not really but money to pay my bills, just as exciting!

Thursday I went to the gym in the morning and then ran some errands in the early afternoon. Bought a hair dryer, nail polish, shampoo - really exciting life I'm leading now that I've got a job and need to pay rent, car insurance, gas, food, etc... After all this morning excitement I went to work in the evening. A bit busier and some nice table - a few Americans in the house which is always a nice treat.

Onto today. I worked from 10 - 5. Nice busy lunch hour and working a mid shift I got to hang out with some of my coworkers I don't see in the evening. I'm still learning how everything works at the bar, and the learning curve is quite steep, but it's going okay.

In more general reflections on my situation, I'm not sure yet if staying in Auckland was such a good idea. It's very hard to make friends in a big city and I'm not quite sure where to start. It's also a bit stressful being here with so many bills to pay but I'm going to stick it out for at least a bit longer. I haven't been getting full time hours and I really need the social benefits of being at work right now. Since I don't have any friends to hang out with it would be really great to be working more and do my socializing there. I'm either going to need more hours at work at a second job to make Auckland a happier place for me. Don't worry, no changes immediately, but something I desperately need to take care of ASAP.

Okay, I've got to get to bed now. It's 10:40pm here and I've got to be back at work at 8:30am. Time for some rest and then some work.

Best!