Best New Bee

Tonight we had a staff party and I won the award for "Best New Bee". Hiw awesome. I literally had no idea I was going to win an award. It was so nice to know they think I'm doing such a great job! 

Onto more important things, I had a tinder date tomorrow morning, well a double tinder date actually. I met a guy on tinder who's friend encourages him to join. My coworker, Evie, and I have been trying for a few weeks to go on a tinder date. The guy on tinder, Dan, asked if I had a friend who'd like to double date with me and yum and his friend I was like "Yes!". So tomorrow morning at 10 it is! Since it's nearly almost 2 am it's off to bed for me. 

Wish me luck tomorrow!

Best!

1st Tinder Date Down, Many More to Go

I just got back from my first Tinder date. AHHHHH!!! I was so nervous. I mean I wasn't nervous all day, up until I was walking from my car to the coffee shop and then I got so nervous. I was like "What if I don't recognize him?!" and then I was like "I likely won't recognize him, since I've never met him before!" AHHHHH!!! On and on... Anyways, I got there a bit early, and he sent me a text telling me he was going to be running late. Gave me time to sit down with my coffee and the paper and chill out. I was also able to then send him a text and tell him where I was sitting and then he had to find me - which was really my plan all along. And I had a wonderful time! He's a really nice guy. Here's a bit about him:

Name: Ross
Age: 29
Home Country: South Africa
Been in NZ: 4 years
Siblings: 2 older brothers. One lives here, the other is in San Francisco.
Job: Something adult like but kind of boring and I don't exactly understand it.
Sports: Plays soccer in a league and likes that. He loves to watch soccer, rugby, and cricket. Totally uninterested in American Football - the only sport I find even remotely interesting.
Residence: Ellerslie, Auckland (pretty close to where I used to live)

Okay, that's about it. Anyways, I had a great time. Ross seems totally normal, he's cute, nice, funny. I'm really happy for two reasons, (1) I'm happy my first tinder date was normal so now I feel much better about tinder, and (2) Ross was really nice and I'd like to see him again.

Okay, that's all for now. I'm going to relax for a few moments and then off to work for a short shift at Milse and then to our staff Karaoke party tonight.

Best!

Oh, and in other news, my parents bought their tickets to come visit! YAY YAY YAY! They're coming down October 30th and leaving November 27th. 4 weeks in NZ! Crazy!!! Yay!

Tinder

I got Tinder!

I'm not sure if people are using it back in the States much but they do here and I have it! If you don't know what tinder is it's an app where you get to see pictures of people near you and decide if you like them or not. If you like them, swipe right. If you don't, swipe left.  If you like them and they like you you're matched and can start chatting. If either one of you does not like the other you won't get matched. It's pretty much like match.com but on a very limited scale - a few photos, maybe a bit of information, mostly just photos, names, and ages. I think about half the people use it just for sex but not everyone does. And good thing many of them are open about that, I can just swipe left for all of them. There are normal people on it though. Case in point: One of the girls I work with met her boyfriend on tinder. And I'm normal, or at least relatively normal, and I'm on it so that means other normal people are too.

Anyways, I'm on it, I love it, and I'm going to try to start going on as many tinder dates as I can each week. So far I'm up to like 65 matches - I can't possibly go on that many dates, and some of them have turned out to be duds, but I can probably get 3-5 dates a week from this! Bring it on! I'll keep you all posted on how it goes! Wish me luck!

Best!

Dumplings at New Flavor

Here's the photo from Dumplings at New Flavor on Monday night:

Front Row L to R: Sarah (NZ), Ana (Peru), Me (America), Adrenda (Singapore), Elizabeth (NZ), Elaine (?)
Back Ro L to R: Mr. T (?), Jan (?), ?, Kyle (?). ?

I'll fill in the question marks later.

Future Plans Putting Me at Ease

I realize I have not posted in a while. I actually just received a text from a friend telling me it has been a week since I've updated and so here goes - even though it's 1am and I'm exhausted. I will update now so I won't need to tomorrow.

I have been working a lot, as usual. Over the weekend I worked 24 hours, between Friday and Saturday. Long days, I know, but I needed the hours since last week I have a number of short shifts. I have been working then every day since and the exhausting has been holding over, meaning I haven't done much outside of work.

I have recently been feeling rather lonely and unhappy here in Auckland. I have been getting really bored with my life - it has become too routine, too normal, too much like a life I could be leading back home. At first, when I arrived in Auckland, the normalcy was a wonderful relief from the constant change and uncertainty of a traveling lifestyle. I have now, however, gone too far in the other direction. My life consists of working and sleeping and doing nothing exciting on my days off. I decided last week that that needs to change and I have to start drinking less (as I would rather spend money on activities than alcohol), getting back out of the city more, and planning for my next stage of my world tour. I also spoke with my parents last week and they decided they will be coming in November instead of January - meaning I can now leave New Zealand in December instead of having to wait until February. The weather won't be quite as warm in November, and it may be a bit rainier, but they aren't all that interested in spending their days on the beach so it doesn't really matter. Looks like they'll be flying into Auckland int he first few day so November, we'll spend 4 weeks traveling NZ, they'll fly home back out of Auckland, I'll stay another week or two in order to finalize things here and sell my car and such, and then - off to ASIA!!!!! I really, just, can't, wait! I need to get back to my original goal of traveling through places very different from my home - not living in a place really similar to where I'm from.

Now having this plan has made me much happier. I know feel like the end is in sight, and I now have something to look forward to, a goal to work on, and it's making me quite happy.

Plus, in the last week I've started hanging out with different people from work as well and that's been fun. Saturday night I went out with Elizabeth (NZ) and Adrenda (Singapore) after work. Instead of hitting up the bars, we hit up the late night Chinese in Balmoral. We were there until about 3:30 eating dumpling and talking and laughing. It was such a nice change of pace - much more my real style - and I really enjoyed it. Last night, Monday night, we repeated this same thing but with many more people. (Photo coming soon.) It was so much fun - we were laughing and talking and eating. And although I was quite tired today, I was not hungover, and how nice is that! I really just need to remember that I'm not a big drinker - and that there are other people out there that are down to hang out late at night and not drink. Nice!

So now that my future is looking up I'm starting to briefly plan my net moves, and here's what it's looking like as of this very moment:

December 12th - NZ Visa expires, fly to Bangkok.
Week of December 12th - Spend in Bangkok, figuring out visas for all of SE Asia.
End of December - Head to Chang Mai spend some time there.
Beginning of January - head toward/into Laos.
Timeline now fuzzy but travel Laos and Cambodia at a somewhat relaxed pace, taking maybe 2-3 months at the most. After that, head to Vietman and spend months lying on the beach, getting a tan, riding a moped around, meeting people, reading books, and spending all the money I've earned! (Side note - my goal is to save $4000 NZD by the time my parents arrive. I can then hopefully get $3000 for my car and by the time I leave NZ will have $7000 NZD to add to my bank account back home. Wouldn't that be sweet!)

I'm sure this plan won't work out as stated above - as I now see how poorly I stuck to the last big plan - but I'm happy to have one again. It's nice to have a rough timeline, have new countries to look forward to visiting. I'm just feeling so much more relaxed, so much more, happy, so much more free - which is exactly how I want to feel on this trip.

And I'm sure now that I'm planning on leave so soon I'm going to start really making friends with people here in NZ. Up until now more of the people I know here have felt much more like acquiantences than friends. I don't have anyone I can really call if I'm having a bad day and need to chat. I don't have a go to friend I can my boring time off with. (I'm not throwing a pity party for myself here - just saying that I'm kind of alone here). But I'm sure now that I'm on my way out, I'm going to start really getting close with people, and I'll probably be crying when I leave.

Anyways, that's really all I've got. Here's a photo of Marijke (Holland) and me from last week's Monday night at BCC - when I got a bit too drunk. I wasn't too drunk in this photo, I just ended up too drunk by the end of the night. Photo quality isn't fantastic - dark place with a cell phone - but there we are.

Okay, I'm off to bed now. I have an action packed day tomorrow.

Oh one last thing, I went out for coffee and food with Ana (Peru) today before work. We were chatting and I just started thinking about how weird it is that I was sitting in Auckland having pizza with a girl from Peru. Have many decisions have both of us had to make along the way to bring us together in that pizza shop in Auckland. How amazing life is, isn't it?!

All Moved In :)

I'm all moved in to my new place! Yay! I've started to figure out the buses - I think relearning the buses is the most stressful part about moving - and  feel comfortable with that. The ladies I'm living with - Marissa (Washington State), Plaxi (UK), Mandy (NZ) - are all really nice. We had an afternoon wine on Sunday right after I got my stuff put away. I don't think I'll be seeing much of them, however, since we are on opposite schedules. I have been spending a bit of time with Marissa these last few days, however, as she's home from work following a knee surgery. Besides the move, nothing too exciting going on here. Sunday and Monday night I worked. Monday night (last night) we did our usual Monday night routine, Hospo night at BCC followed by dancing and drinking at Danny Doolans. It's really funny, the last two times we've gone to Danny Doolans my favorite song (Summer of '69) has come on almost immediately after I've arrived. It's so American, I just love it!

Last night I met a guy from Crystal, MN. How funny is that?! My aunt and uncle live in Crystal - what a coincidence. I also had a bit too much to drink last night and spent my entire day recovering. I really don't like to think of myself as a big drinking but Auckland has started turning me into one. There really isn't much else to do here so now I find myself going out maybe 3-4 nights a week. I usually only have a beer or two but Monday night's my big night and last night I went all out. Had a blast though!

Trying to think of something else.... I went out to dinner with Marijke (Holland) this evening at a great Malaysian place in Newmarket called Selera. Had a nice relaxing evening after our big night out last night.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Ana (Peru) for lunch at BCC. They just opened a new burger joint there so we're going to try it out. Following that we're doing a wine tasting at work. I'm not so excited about that, not after all the drinks I had last night. I can't really even think about alcohol right now. I'm sure by tomorrow, however, I'll be feeling just fine. The plan is then to go out for a big dinner on the North Shore but I'm just not in the mood to spend a bunch of money on dinner. Marijke agrees with me so we're going to try and convince Jonathan to go somewhere else instead. Tonight we had a great chat over a cheap meal, no reason we can't all do that together tomorrow as well.

Anyways, I'm off now - time to watch some more House and solve maybe my 9th medical mystery of the day, work a bit on the scarf I'm knitting, and then bed.

Oh, I got to Skype today with Alanna (Canada). Looks like we're on for Asia next year! Yay! Meet in Bangkok in February, get visas sorted for all of SE Asia, spend a bit of time in Thailand, and then rent/buy motorcycles and tour the region! How much fun would that be?!

Okay, that's all for tonight folks.

Best!

Moving Tomorrow

Tomorrow I will be moving into my new place - closer to work, with girls my age, cheaper rent, cheaper busing. All around, a better place I think. Although it's all going to be better in the end, I'm dreading it now because (a) I have to move everything which isn't that fun - thank god I don't have much stuff - and (b) because I have to re-learn the buses now. I'm very tired after a long day at work today so I'm not going to do any packing tonight - just take care of everything tomorrow. Good think I don't have to do a good job packing, just need to get it into my car here and then out of my car there.

In which case, I still haven't heard from the people whose car I hit. I'm really hoping they never call. I mean I would hate to think they're driving around with a big scratch on their car but I also don't have the money to get it fixed so I wouldn't really mind. Plus, since I left a note with my phone number at least my conscience is clear about the whole thing.

This past week I got some great hours at work, nice. I got almost 51 hours, which is great money. And great because our hours aren't supposed to be that great in winter. Granted, I did pick up an extra shift on my day off but still, the hours are good. I am looking forward to having two days off this week though. I am starting to get quite tired and could really use the extra rest! It is nice, however, with this extra money to get my car finally payed off and start saving some more.

Okay, that's all for now. Time for sleep.

Best!

Going Out, Going Out, and Going Out Again!

Now I’m writing this blog post on Microsoft Word because I currently don’t have access to the internet and I’m not sure how long it has been exactly since my last post so I’m just going to go through Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and hope that’s back far enough.

So Monday I worked, as usual, and then after work we went out for Hospo Night at BCC. Monday nights are usually quite funny at work because we all want to get to Hospo night as early as possible so we work extra hard to close early – closing faster than we do probably any other night. Most of us went out – Jonathan (France), Marijke (Holland), Ben (UK), Tolston (Germany), and then we saw some of our friends from Rosie, another Hipgroup restaurant. We had a couple drinks at BCC and then went over to Danny Doolans, one of my favorite bars here in Auckland because of all the classic American music they play. Ben – the chef I had a crush on – came with us but then invited his new “project” Luna, a Korean girl who learned English from a bunch of Irish people and thus speaks with an Irish accent that he finds very sexy. It’s clear to me that my chances of ever going on a date with Ben are now zero as he’s seeing her and I can’t compete with being Korean or talking with an Irish accent. Darn! Anyways, we stayed out until about 3am dancing and having a great time. It was so nice to get back to Danny Doolans after not being there for a month or more.

Because I was out so late I didn’t really do anything on Tuesday. I didn’t have to be at work until 4:30 but I probably didn’t get out of bed until close to 1 pm so it was pretty much a waste of a day. Oh well. At 4:30 I had coffee training at work so I got to learn how to make espresso shots, steam milk, and make coffee in the very particular way NZ people insist their coffee is made. I received a “perfect” from the instructor, which made me quite happy J! After coffee training it was my weekly shift at Milse. It wasn’t that bad except that it was SUPER slow. It was raining all day on Tuesday and when it rains here no one leaves their house so we had almost no customers all night. The rain/storm we had on Tuesday apparently ended up being one the worst they’ve ever had in NZ but compared with the storms we get in America it wasn’t all that bad. Nothing like that storm that came through Minneapolis last year wiping out power to most of the city  - when lots of Uptown lost power and all those trees came down. Anyways, we got off work early – about 10:30 – but I wasn’t all that tired and didn’t want to go home so I decided, after much deliberation, that I was going to go out by myself again. I drove around the city looking for a good bar I could go to by myself and finally settled on a place in Ponsonby called Grand Central. I’d never been there before but it looked like that only place around that (a) had an actual bar I could sit at and (b) had people at it. I went in there around 11:30pm and had a great time. Nice people, good atmosphere, good music. I made a few new friends – Taylor, a bartender from another bar in Ponsonby, Neil, the bartender at Grand Central, and Nora, whose name I thought was Laura for quite a while. I stayed out for a few hours since I didn’t work on Wednesday I didn’t have to be home. All in all, it was a good night. I’d definitely go back to Grand Central again.

So that brings us to yesterday, or Wednesday. I got to start off my morning yesterday by talking with a friend back home, Sonja. It’s always nice to start my day with chats with people back home.  After that I decided it was time to get out of the house so I went for a drive all over Auckland. There are so many cute neighborhoods around Auckland and sometimes I just like to drive through them. I drove around from probably an hour or more and then decided to stop in Ponsonby and get some lunch. As I was parking my big truck on the street I hit someone’s car. (I swear to god this truck I have here is going to be the death of me!) To be honest I was tempted to not leave a note because I really don’t have money to pay for the repairs but I decided I just can’t do that – (a) because I would feel guilty and (b) because I always judge people who do that and I don’t want to be hypocritical. After inspecting their car (and mine) the damage wasn’t that bad. I hit their car with my tire so although it looked quite bad, most the “damage” was just rubber from my tire that rubbed off on their bumper. It doesn’t appear that I dented their car at all and I only took off paint in an area about the size of a quarter. Their car, however, looked quite new – and white – so I figure they’d want to get it fixed. I left a note with my phone number but haven’t heard from them yet – it’s been about 24 hours by now. I’m hoping they never call me but if they do I think it’s going to cost me about $300 to get it fixed. Not terrible but what a stupid accident! Dumb!

Anyways, after that I decided not to stay in Ponsonby and went somewhere else for a lunch that wasn’t any good and a glass of Pinot Grigio that was quite delicious. Following lunch I went home and had a nap before going for dinner with some people from work that night – Elizabeth (NZ) and Adrendna (Singapore). We went to a place on K’Road called Coco’s Cantina. The place was cute. I wasn’t feeling amazing but I still found the food quite good. I had a chicken liver pate. After dinner with them I met up with Jonathan (France) and Felicity (NZ?) in Ponsonby where they were eating and then we all went out to Golden Dawn. After a short while they decided to leave but I stayed on by myself. I ran into Neil, the bartender from Grand Central that I’d met the night before, and had a nice chat with him. He then left and I met a nice couple, Rob and Lucy, who work together and were one their first kind-of date. It was more an impromptu night out that turned into a bit of a date. After feeling sufficiently awkward being the third wheel on their “date” I moved onto a couple of guys that we sitting down the bar from me – Adrienne and someone else who’s name I can’t remember. Adrienne offered me a job at a restaurant downtown and told me he’s give me more hours, better hours, and more pay than my current job. I might go in talk with them about it but I likely won’t take the job. I like the people I work with, I like my current job, and I like working at a really good restaurant, it will help me get more jobs as I travel with experience like that on my CV. Anyways, I went home last night about midnight maybe. Went to bed and that was that.

Today I’m “off” again but was called in for a shift this evening 6 to close. Because of these extra hours I decided it was finally time to get sole protectors put on my new cowboy boots and get them into the rotation of shoes I’m wearing. Although I’ve had them here in NZ for a few months now I haven’t worn them yet because I wanted to get them all nice and protected first so they don’t fall into disrepair like my current pair. I dropped them at the shoe repair just now and will pick them up next week. It’ll be so nice to have a good new pair to wear! I’ll probably still use the old pair when I’m going somewhere dirty or wet or whatnot but then I’ll also have a pretty and clean pair for going out or to nicer places. Yay!

That’s all for now. I have some errands to run today, maybe go for a drive around Auckland again, and then to work this evening.

Best!

Sick

I am home sick from work right now. I have a self-diagnosed (with the help of WebMD) minor case of food poisoning. I put in my symptoms - upper abdominal pain, nausea, and the scoots (if you don't know what this is, ask one of your goat farming friends, they can tell you) - and out came that diagnosis. I'm actually quite happy with it because WebMD usually only gives a few options that tend to be on the extreme ends of the spectrum such as upset stomach or inoperable cancerous stomach tumor. I'm okay with food poisoning. I'm not okay with the fact that the last thing I ate used to be my favorite thing on the menu at work. Of course this may not be the thing that caused my food poisoning but I'll bet I won't be eating that again. And how unfortunate that this is the second time I've gotten sick from food in like 7 months (since I left America), the other time being off those mussels in Coromandel. Yuck! At least this time I'm not throwing up tiny mussel organs everywhere. But if I did throw up I might feel better, although at this point there'd be nothing to throw up since I haven't eat in like 18 hours and have little to drink, although I am trying to take sips of water now and then to keep myself hydrated. It's times like these when I'd really just like to be at home in MN, with my mother taking care of me. It's no fun being sick and alone!

So, now onto more important things.....

In the last few weeks I've been getting rather lonely out here, traveling by myself. Although I make friends wherever I go, it's hard to keep investing in friendships to know they will only end a few months later, with each of us going off on our own different paths. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to find someone to travel with after I leave NZ, or even before that. Alanna, are we still on for Asia/maybe some of NZ? My parents have decided to come for the month of January but you can always come down before, we can do some traveling and WWOOFing together, and then you can tag along with the family vaca before we head to Asia. Let me know :)

Okay, now onto a totally new topic - being an adult. I was just texting with a friend from home, Ally, a few minutes ago who is getting married shortly and has just bought a house with herI  soon to be husband. I told here she was going to be a totally different person when I got back, with a totally different life and she said "Not, I will be exactly the same! Haha yes with a new house and husband" after which we both agreed that her having a "husband" makes her seem much older than we both feel. This brings me to a memory from when I was younger - probably in high school - and my mother had her investment group over. I remember them telling me that they still feel like they're 16, which at the time I couldn't believe! Being somewhat older now, in my mid-20s, I don't agree completely with their statement but I am starting to see where they're coming from. I don't feel like I'm 16 anymore, I feel older, more mature, smarter, but I don't feel like I thought I would feel at 24. I don't feel like what I though people would like at this age, and I'm sure the feeling will just continue forever. I have more responsibility, I have more experiences, I've lived more than 16 years, but I don't feel like an adult, or at least what I imagined adults would feel like when I was a kid. And I see myself still doing this to other people today. Sometimes I see parents out with their children, the dad's wearing some old sweatpants and a ratty ball cap, the mom's in some cute little sun dress and I think, "Hey, that's not how parents are 'supposed' to dress." It's so weird the ideas you create as a child about how life is like as an "adult" - and how when you are an "adult" it isn't what you thought it would be. I enjoy it the way it is though, still feeling young, not feeling ready for a husband and a house and a career. I'm okay still feeling young, it's nice. And I can imagine it would feel quite nice to feel young forever - even though I will get old, and wrinkly, and buy a house, and have a husband, and a kid(s). Oh, the responsibility!

Anyways, I must get back to my resting, rehydrating, trying not to think about food that will only make me nauseous.

Best!

Oh and Happy Doughnut Day! I just got an e-mail from an old MoneyGram coworker who reminded me of the holiday. We (Tammy, Kristine, Stephanie, and myself) used to go over the Rainbow on occasion and get doughnut and we sure no to miss out on National Doughnut Day. MoneyGram ladies - hope you're all well, and Kristine, thanks for the reminder!

I did it!

I gave the chef my number and he seemed quite receptive!

So here's the story - last night (Thursday night) I went into town to meet up with some of my coworkers once they got off. Ben (the cute one) was working when I got there and I invited him along - along with the other chefs. He came and while we were sitting around talking we got on the subject of how long everyone had been with their current girlfriend - great conversation for me since I would for sure get the details now! He said he had broken up with his gf (the girl from The Store) 2 days before. Perfect news for me! He also said he's going back to the UK in like 6 weeks so I just knew I had to make my move. Later that night when we were at the club I went to the bar to buy a drink at the same time as him and just gave him my number, told him to call me if he likes. I'm thinking I might just hear from him sometime - or maybe grab a drink with him one night after work again.... Either way, I'm very happy that I went for it. And if nothing comes of it and it somehow becomes awkward at work, we will only both be there for maybe 6 more weeks so no real harm done!

Anyways, yesterday was a very eventful day for me. Here's how it unfolded:

I got up and spent some time lounging around the house and getting ready for my big lunch out with Jonathan (France) and Marijke (Holland). We were meeting at Baduzzi for a nice lunch on our collective day off together. It was once again a great winter day, we were able to sit in the sun and enjoy a long lunch, like we are so used to watching other people do. After that we went into the city for a bit to go to the surprise baby shower of Natasha (the GM of all the Hipgroup Britomart sites). I stayed for maybe 45 minutes but after our big lunch was not in the mood to eat anything else and also needed to get home to get ready for my movie and dinner plans with Tom. So I met Tom at the dumpling place a bit after 7 where we shared some laughs and some dumplings. We then rushed to the theater to see the new X-Men movie. Tom really wanted to see it, I didn't but figured I should just go. Tom didn't realize I hadn't seen any of the other X-Men movies before but I still go the gist. And it actually turned out to be quite a nice film. On my way home I got a text from a coworker saying they were all at BCC so I decided to go into town to meet them. This is where I ran into Ben, invited him along. We went to BCC for a couple of drinks, then to Racket, and then to Flight Lounge. Since I was driving I didn't have much to drink. I ended up leaving a bit after 3 and gave Ben (and his bike a ride home). I then spent the night at a co-workers house and didn't get much quality sleep. VERY tired today - as were most of the people working since we were all out together last night. Work wasn't all the fun today, but it was worth it since we had so much fun last night.

Anyways, I really need to get some sleep now.

Chat later!

Best!

Great Winter Day

Today we had really nice weather here in Auckland - high of 17*C so about 65*F. We are at the equivalent of December 3rd and it's still this warm. Granted I think this may be a nice winter day, but man, if this is winter, bring it on! I just can't believe we're in "winter" and the weather can be this nice. I'm sure this is a fluke, and it definitely won't be this nice every day, but I could really see myself living some place where winter days can be this warm. I'm not planning to stay here in Auckland - don't worry! - but this is much nicer than a MN winter, that's forsure! Anyways, that's all for right now. Just thought I'd comment on the nice weather. Hope everyone is doing good back home.

Best!

My Life Is Over

The chef at work that I am really crushing on right now may or may not have a girlfriend. I was going to give him my number tonight but then someone told me (totally unsolicited) that he had a girlfriend. After that I spoke with multiple other people about it and there hasn't been any final conclusion on the situation but I feel like my life is over. He may be in a relationship with a girl from The Store (another Hipgroup location) and I am totally heart broken. I'm in love with him (well not really in love, but I think he's totally amazing) and I'd be absolutely devastated if he really does have a girlfriend. AHHHHHH!!!! Anyways, I'll see him again Wednesday. I'm going to give him my number then - gf or not - and then it's over. Either he will get in contact with me or he won't. I'm off Thursday so I can get over myself then and move on. (Sounds like I'm really in love doesn't it? One day to get over him!).

Anyways, that's all I have right now.

Chat later.

Best!

Working and Going Out

Sorry I haven't written in a few days. I've been quite busy working and going out, both of which have made me quite tired and without time to write on my blog. Let me try and look back over the last few days....

Thursday I worked and then maybe went out for a drink with my friends? I really can't remember. It was quite a long time ago.

Friday I worked again and then went out with people from work for a drink after. We went to Racket, a bar near out work. There were lots of people there from Ortolana and a few from Rosie another restaurant owned by Hipgroup near out restaurant. Hung there for a bit and then a bunch of them went to the club. Because I had to get up early on Saturday to get coffee with Tom I didn't tag along on that. Instead, Julie and I and her roommates went to 1885 (a club/bar) for a drink before my next night bus which I ended up missing because I got the time wrong. I ended up having to wait 30 minutes at the bus stop for the 2am bus. Let just say I didn't get much sleep on Friday night and was thus quite tired on Saturday.

Saturday I met Tom and his 2 year old daughter Maggie for coffee at 9 am. It was very nice to see them and catch up. After coffee I had to rush home to get ready for work to get there by 12. I worked 10 hours on Saturday and I was exhausted when I got off. I went right home, went right to bed, and ended up sleeping about 11 hours. I sure needed that! I felt much better after that sleep.

Yesterday - Sunday - I had a shift in Milse, the dessert restaurant next to Ortolana also owned by the HIpgroup. For the first 3 hours I was on the cabinets boxing up food for the people and it was terrible. I'm never doing that again. At 5, however, I moved to tables and it was fun! Starting at 6 pm they do specialty desserts that are made to order by the chefs. We are supposed to focus on selling these and I did - and I did a great job. I sold 60 which is a record for Sunday night. I pretty much just didn't allow people to order cabinet food (with a few exceptions). But my plan worked great!! After work I was going to go out with my co-workers for a quick drink which turned into 4 hours out at the club! Out boss, Jonathan, was nominated for an award and the ceremony was last night. Marijke (Holland), Chantal (NZ), and I did not go tot he show since we were working but met up with them after at the after party and stayed out all night. I was quite proud of myself because I was able to make it the entire night without paying for a drink. This is very hard to do in NZ but I managed last night. This was also helpful since I have almost no money now from my car and have to take a taxi home since I can't walk to where I live. Soon, however, I'll be closer to the city and cabs will be cheaper and I won't have to worry so much about this expense.

I do alright with Taxis here though. In NZ you can bargain with the Taxi driver for a better fare off the meter, something we don't do in Mpls. I can usually find a taxi driver to take $15 cash for a ride home which is quite good to where I live since I think it runs about $21-22 on the meter. Did that last night, got home about 4 am, went to bed. I didn't sleep all that well but that's life I guess. Probably a 7 or 8 hour shift today. It's the Queen Birthday holiday here in NZ so time and a half today - nice! Maybe a drink or two after work again and then it's my day off tomorrow! Nice!!

Okay, that's all. I have to get up now, take a shower, rake the garden, and then get to work.

Best!