I'm Starting to Really Like Auckland

So this last week I’ve started to really like Auckland. My social life has been getting much better – more friends, more activities, more fun! Yesterday I had the day off and spent almost 12 hours with the girls from work. I started my day by having breakfast and coffee with Tom at 10am. Then I skyped my parents quick to chat about their trip over here to NZ. At 2:20 Elizabth picked me and up and she didn’t drop me off again until after 2:00 am. I have talked with people before about how a friend relationship changes as you get older – it’s not the same as it is when you’re a kid or in high school and just spend countless hours with your friends – but yesterday, I felt like I was in high school again. Elizabeth and I, along with a few other girls from work – Ana (Peru), Sarah Mac (NZ),  and Evie (UK) – spent the entire day together, with one activity just flowing into another, people coming and going all day. It was such a fun experience and I tried really hard to enjoy it as it was happening. So here’s how it went:

2:20 Elizabeth picked me up at my place

2:30 We went and collected Ana at her apartment and headed into Ponsonby

3:00 Had lunch at Burger Burger in Ponsonby Central.

3:30 Walked down to visit Evie who’s been home from work sick for the last few days with a gastro bug

4:15 Ana left to go sign here contract at her new job (we were supposed to only visit Evie for a few minutes and then walk back with Ana and then drop her off at work but we were having too much fun at Evie’s and decided to stay)

4:45 Sarah Mac came over and joined Elizabeth, Evie, and I for a cup of Red Bush Tea and a chat

5:15 Ana came back for a minutes before heading off to work. Elizabeth, Evie, Sarah and I stayed at Evie’s drinking more tea and laughing and chatting

7:30ish Walked up to Ponsonby road to have a snack. Ended up eating at an Itlaian restaurant where we had a very interesting conversation about veganism, religion, homosexuality, and I’m sure a few other serious topics.

9:00ish Went and bought chocolate at the store. Evie and Sarah went back to Evie’s, Elizabeth and I went to get the car back near Ponsonby Central

9:30 Elizabeth and I get back with the car, we spend the next 1.5 hours eating chocolate and drinking tea on Evie’s bed.

11:00 Elizabeth Sarah and I head into town to meet Ana and the rest of the crew after work before heading for dumplings again on Dominion Road.

11:30 Elizabeth, Sarah, Mark and I walk over to Racket to meet Jonathan for drinks before he leaves for a month in France today. The crew that was working wasn’t done yet.

12:45 we head to New Flavour for dumplings with the addition. In attendance – Ana (Peru), Jan (Malaysia), Elizabeth (Australia), Me (America), Andrew (America), Tom (NZ), Sarah Mac (NZ), Nicole (NZ), Mark (UK). We stay for about 1.5 hours before all heading home.

The whole day felt like about a week long and it was so much fun. Felt like being in high school again. So wonderful how it just developed as the day went on, people coming and going, things happening so spontaneously, having such a fun day with all the girls – we plan to repeat it again next Wednesday, the day before Evie leaves to go back to the UK.

It’s sad the everyone is leaving soon as we are all starting to get close – Evie is going home, Mark is going to Beijing, Ana is going to a new job (but at least staying here in Aucklang). It is sad, but it really is just so cool. I love being friends with people who are always moving and traveling and being adventurous. It is so cool that by the time I come back to America (in 5 years or more?) I will have friends literally all over the world, friends that are living and traveling and adventuring on every continent. I just really like being around people like this, people that challenge me to do something exciting, people that themselves are not afraid to change their plans at a moment’s notice and jet off to another side of globe, people who decide only weeks in advance that they are moving their entire life to another country and then do it! Awesome! These are the people that I want to be around at this point in my life.

Anyways, in other news – nothing really. I haven’t bought my ticket to Vietnam as they are all so expensive. I haven’t brought my passport to the US Consulate to get extra pages put in because I don’t have the cash to pay for it right now, and don’t want to use my savings. I haven’t made any WWOOFing commitments because I am now thinking that staying in Auckland and working until my parents get here may be the better decision – as I’ll be able to save about $200 extra dollars for each extra week I stay in the city. Anyways, I just realized I am parked in a tow away zone so I must now end this post. Later!

Motorbiking Vietnam

I've decided, as of today, that I'm going to buy a motorbike in Vietnam. I've been doing some research and it looks like it's only going to cost about USD $400 for the motorbike - not too much. I don't know how to drive a motorbike, I've only been on one once, but I guess I'll just worry about that later, after I get my helmet and my leathers and my bike. I have also spent the day researching visas and it is quite complicated for Vietnam. The longest tourist visa you can get is 3 months but sounds like you can get extensions once in the country - but not always, and there aren't any real rules about how many extensions you can get. Either way, this is my new plan. Let's see how long this plan lasts!

It also looks like I'm going to be staying in Auckland until probably September 15th and then spend 6 weeks WWOOFing around the North Island. Now that I have these plans for Vietnam I really want to just save as much money as possible - since I want as much money as possible for Vietnam - but I think the experience of leaving Auckland for some WWOOFing will beat out the money of staying in Auckland in the long run. But either way, I have a few weeks to keep considering.

That's all for tonight. I had the day off today which I spent listening to This American Life and planning for Vietnam. I had a chat to my mother as well who is out in New Hampshire visiting her family. They're having a big party this weekend to celebrate my Grandmother's 90th birthday, my cousin Tim's recent marriage, and my cousin Matt's recent adoption of 4 children. And I just found out today that Tim and his new wife Ashley are expecting a baby in November. Lots of excitement for that crew!

Oh, and I'm back on Tinder.

Okay, that's all for tonight. Chat later!

Best!

P.S. It's my half birthday today. I'm not 24.5 years old and getting older. This bring to mind an interesting comment from a customer yesterday at the restaurant that I have to share.

So I regularly get customers asking me how my parents feel about me being over here or traveling or what not to which I always respond that they are very supportive and how lucky I am to have such a supportive family. Yesterday, however, I had a woman say "Aren't your parents like 'When are you going to come home and get a real job?'" I have never had anyone on this trip yet imply that what I am doing is not a "real job" - except myself - and that there is some reason my parents would/should not be happy with me not having a "real job." I was quite taken aback by the comment but quickly responded that I had a "real job" before I left that states but I felt too young to go down that path and anted to see the world instead. I wish I could have responded with "Well if I had a 'real job' right now you'd be getting terribly service from someone else." Of course I can't say that to a customer but it would've been nice. I have told a few people today about this comment and they've had a mix of feedback. My mother told me that herself and my father definitely don't think this, that they are happy for me. My friend Tom, who works as a server full time as his "real job," said he gets the same from people a lot and does not appreciate it. My flatmates said that maybe the women who made the comment was implying that I seem so intelligent/well spoken etc.. that I seem like I could handle a much more intellectually demanding job (this isn't exactly what they said but you get what I'm saying...). Anyway, as I thought about this today it would have also been to nice to reply with something along the lines of - "You know I had a 'real job' but this job I have now as a waitress makes me much happier than that 'real job' did." And I really think that's true. Not to say I didn't almost quit on Monday because I was working at the dessert restaurant and had so many rude customers I almost couldn't stand it a moment longer. And not to say that standing on your feet all day isn't physically exhausting. But I work with really nice and competent co-workers who work very well together as a team, something I am very grateful to have, and being with them 40+ hours a week is always fun. Even when there isn't anything to do work-wise, we always have great chats and good laughs and I enjoy being there.

Okay, now that's really all for tonight.

Best!

Oh, and Stephanie, right now I'm reading a book called Once Were Warriors. It's a classic NZ novel about a Maori woman's struggle to provide for her family while dealing with poverty and an abusive husband. It's not an uplifting book but a classic NZ one I feel I should read while I'm here. Other than that I haven't been doing much reading lately. I will be picking up my most recent book club book tomorrow at the library - My Sister's Keeper. I can't speak to how good the book is but I'm sure it'll be a fine read, as the vast majority of the book club books have been.

Okay, now I'm really going to bed as it's now 12:10 am and no longer my half birthday.

Damn it - one more thing! (This is the second time now I've come back to edit this post after publishing it) I may be having a radiator problem again. Tonight I went to pick up dinner and on the way home I noticed that my car was starting to overheat. I remember Ross, the car guy, telling me a few weeks back that if that happens you can always turn on your heat and that system has a small radiator in it that can help cool the car down if the other radiator isn't working. I turned the heat on - which should've been on anyways as it's freezing here but up until that point had only been blowing cold air so I'd turned it off - and my car heat indicator thing went down within 10 second to a below normal temp, so stopped overheating. I think I'm going to swing by and see Ross again tomorrow and see what he says. Plus I'm going to try and add water again in the morning - haven't actually done this since I did it was Ross a couple of weeks back. Maybe this is just something I'm going to have do on a regular basis now. Who knows! I'll let you know how that all plays out.

Change of Plans

After having such a wonderful time in Morrinsville staying with Nigel, Vicki, Jordan, and Ashton, I have decided that I am going to leave Auckland earlier than planned and do some traveling and WWOOFing here in NZ before my parents arrive. I have e-mailed about 10 farms, heard back from a few, and hopefully over the next week or so I can get a good list of farms lined up and start setting dates. I will likely leave Auckland beginning to middle of September and travel for about 6 to 7 weeks after which I will meet my parents back here in Auckland before heading out on our great tour of NZ! I will keep you updated as my plans start to gel. In other news, nothing. Just been working since I got back from the farm - nothing exciting to speak of at all.

Oh wait, was listening to This American Life the other day and heard a story that made me laugh really hard. It was in an episode called "I Was So High" which talks about all the people who are high all the time. One of the stories is by a guy who describes the first time he used marijuana. Here's a link to the podcast: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/524/i-was-so-high  The really funny story is in Act 3. Happy listening!

Best!

Leaving the Dairy Farm

So today is my last day at the dairy farm - I'm leaving in just a few hours - and I'm really quite sad to leave. I've only been here 3 days but I've had such a wonderful time. I have really enjoyed being out of the city, spending my time outside, working with the cows, and staying with such a wonderful family. This whole experience here has reminded me how much I enjoyed WWOOFing in the states and making me want to get back to it.

Mainly, I am really happy to be out of the hustle and bustle of the city. Although I do enjoy that, life out here is so much more relaxed. The kids in this family (Jordan & Ashton) are involved in lots of activities and it's not that their never rushing here and there, but overall life just seems so much more relaxed, so much less complicated.

Maybe I enjoy WWOOFing so much as well because I have mainly landed myself with extremely caring and welcoming families. It is so nice to be somewhere where you feel so at home and where  everyone makes a solid effort to spend time together. It's not like this doesn't happen in the city, but here family time seems so much more real. There are fewer distractions both inside and outside the home. Meals are eaten together, and everyone seems to enjoy being together. This seems true for most of the families I've stayed with so far in my WWOOFing experiences. The boys aren't running off to play their gameboy or Wii, the girls aren't all obsessed with brand names clothes and makeup. It's just so nice to be somewhere away from all of those trivial distractions.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that so far I've been very lucky to end up in all the WWOOFing places I have, all the families are great, and maybe I should really start to reconsider my previous aversion to living in the country. Not that I wouldn't still want to live near a big city or decent sized town, but out here where you can see for miles and miles and life is more simple and relaxed I find that I am just much happier. I am more confident being me, I am more relaxed about what the future holds, I am not so worried about everything. I have just really enjoyed my time here with Nigel and Vicki and Jordan and Ashton and I need to start doing more of this in my life and less of that big city stuff.

Now, onto some more about the happenings at the farm these last few days and what I've learned about cows. This information may come out a bit discomboulated but I just want to get it down as best I can.

Yesterday we had 8 more calves, bringing the farm up to around 40 so far for this year. The calf that I saw being born the other day, 19, is doing great. She is feeding very well and seems quite healthy and happy and alert. I have told them they need to make sure and keep her alive as I will be coming back to visit again and I would like her to still be here.

As for the other calves, 2 of them were sold off today. So how it works is they will get about 240 calves this year. A handful maybe will die - they've had 3 so far, one was as still born, one was premature calf that didn't make it, and one drowned in the drain - and the majority of the remaining calves will be sold off, either to other farms or to the meat packing plant for veal that will be exported to the States. They will keep about 40 female calves on the farm, as replacements for the ones that will be lost from the herd this year for various reasons. The two that left today were both females. They will go to another farm here in New Zealand to grow a bit and then be shipped to China where they will be used on a dairy farm there. That is what happens to most of the female calves that are sold. The males calves tend to have one of three fates, either grow up to be a bull used to breed, grow up to be a bull used for meat (hamburger meat since they are dairy cows by genetics and will not have meat good enough for a steak), or don't grow up and be a nice veal steak and calf skin wallet.

As I said before, or I'm assuming I said, they have 240 female dairy cows on the farm. They do not have any males here. They will rent them from time to time during breeding season if needed. They breed their cows using artificial insemination but not all become pregnant this way so they will bring in a bull or two each year to impregnate the rest. The bulls are able to tell which cows are not pregnant much better than a human ever could. With the 240 cows, they will get about 240 calves as all the cows are breed every year. They don't start breeding them, however, until they are 1 year old so they won't give birth to their first calf until they are 2, as their gestations period is 9 months, same as a human.

The milk from the cows on this farm is sent to a processing plant where it is turned in to milk powder. Vicki, the wife, has never tried milk from her own farm. She prefers pasteurized, store bought milk, however she has tried fresh milk from a different farm.

During a cow's first pregnancy, the udders can become quite tights and to prevent infection their teats are filled with an artificial plug, looks something like caulk. Cows will produce a natural keratin plug that helps prevent infection but the young ones need assistance with this. When they go to be milked for the first time this plug needs to be cleared out before the cow can be milked. It is really gross and almost looks like a pimple being popped or something. It's white and a bit chunky. I would recommend not every seeing this process happen - it's just too disgusting. I was watching once and almost started gagging.

Because cows are herd animals, they cannot be left alone for too long. The other night we had to move a cow who was being kept separately with her calf in with some other cows because being kept alone even for just one night can make a cow crazy.

The cows are sold off the farm as adults for many reasons  including failure to get pregnant and bad temperament. They are either sold to other farms who want to see if they can get the cow pregnant or are turned into hamburger. The going price for a cow at the meat packing plant can range anywhere from NZD$300 to NZD$700 depending on supply. This time of year, since most adult females are calving, the price is quite high because supply is very low.

If cows are let onto a frosty pasture and start grazing, they will get a cold stomach (the equivalent of a cold headache) and the grass they eat will die. This was a problem this morning because when we woke up today there was a proper frost on the ground. It was like a real winter morning. By this time, however, around lunch, it is very nice out - maybe high 50s.

Cow mothers are much like human mothers - some are very attached to their children, others are not. Some have great mothering instincts, others do not. When we separate the calves from their mothers, some of the mothers get very distressed and others do not seem to mind. Some cows who either have given birth and have already been separated from their calf or those who haven't yet given birth will try to mother other calves, some will feel very threatened by other calves and be quite mean to them.

Okay, that's all I have for now. I'm sure over the next few days I will have lots more facts to share with you as I have time to write and as I remember all that I've learned.

Best!

Cow, Calves, and Drinking from the Teat

Today was a long day, full of new farm experiences!

I started the day with Nigel about 7:30am - earlier than I've likely woken up in ages! We left the house on the 4 wheeler and headed down to check on the one year old ladies. These cows are just turning one now and were not used for breeding this year. They will be used next year. Moved them from one paddock to the next. The entire process was rather uneventful.

After than, we went over to the "earlies" paddock to see how many calves were in there and to tag them. We found 6 calves, 5 of which we easy to identify and tag, the last of which was not. When tagging the calves, it's important to know who the mother is, and this isn't always easy to tell. This is why we ended up leaving one of the calves untagged for the morning as we couldn't identify who the mother was.

After tagging the calves, we went over to check on the "lates," where we found one cow that had already given birth. Because she was standing with her calf quite far away from the others, it was very easy to tag the calf. After finding all the calves, we went to move the "earlies" from one paddock to another. Before moving them, however, we spread magnesium over the new grass. During their calving time, their bodies are not as good at producing and absorbing calcium and magnesium. If they do not get enough of these vitamins/minerals, their muscles will not work properly and they will become a "down cow." Once they are down (meaning they physically cannot stand up after sitting down), things aren't good. If they are down for more than a day, it means it's over for them. Thus, we spread magnesium to help prevent all of this. After doing that, we moved the "earlies" to their new paddock.

At this point, Nigel and Vicki started sorting out the calves and collecting them, I however, stayed back with the earlies to watch one of the cows as she was very close to giving birth. I sat there maybe 30-45 minutes but I was finally able to see the miracle of birth. Here's a video of the whole thing - fyi, it's about 10 minutes long. And about 8 minutes after being born the calf took it's first steps. Here's a video of that - this video is about 6 minutes long. After seeing all of this I can now skip the Miracle of Birth Center at the MN State Fair from now on.

After all this excitement we decided to take a break and have a morning tea. This was followed by lounging around the house, a trip into town, lunch, and a bit more relaxing.

In the afternoon, however, came more excitement. I went with Nigel to do the milking of the 30 or so milkers they currently have. Here's a video of me attaching the cups to one of the cow's udders. And here's a video of me drinking milk from a cow's teat.

At some point today I also helped one of the babies feed for the first time, number 12. Here's a video of that. Although you can't see too well in the video, every time I put my fingers near it's mouth/nose my finger is acting as a fake teat. You get the calf to suck on your finger like it would on a teat and then you guide it toward the teat with milk in it. It's quite precious, the whole process. Here's a video of that.

Okay, now I have spent a lot of time this evening organizing and working on my videos and I'm out of energy to write anything else of take any more time on this blog. More of the same tomorrow, likely won't be too many more videos while I'm here - as I did so much today - but maybe some pictures.

Best!

Just You Wait!

Some AMAZING videos to come this evening, just letting them upload now. One is of a cow giving birth and the other is of that calf taking it's first steps. Lots of other amazing things as well. Couldn't be happier to be here at the farm, out of the city, and getting some great novel experiences back into my daily life. Awesome!

Best!

Day 1 at the Dairy Cow Farm

I'm going to start with something totally unrelated, my trip to the doctor this morning. I finally went to see a doctor about my possible sinus infection this morning and it a very quick, painless, and relatively inexpensive process. I went to the accident & medical (equivalent of an urgent care) and for a visit with the doctor and 4 prescriptions it was less than NZD$130, that's about USD$115. That's amazing, at least compared with the US health care system! Nice! And he gave me prescriptions to clear up the infection, a medication to help with the congestion, and eye drops for my red and itchy eyes (may be an unrelated allergy). Now that that's all settled I'm feeling much better.

Now, onto the dairy farm. I drove down here to Morrinsville today over the lunch hour. It took me about 2.5 hours to get here as I took the scenic route and didn't bring directions with me and I arrived about 3 pm today. Vicki, the wife, came out to greet me and I spent my first hour here chatting with her and the kids, Ashton (10) and Jordan (11). After Nigel, the husband, finished up a few tasks on the farm he came back up to the house and we soon after went down to start on the tasks of feeding the calves and milking the cows. There were 2 sets of calves, the ones they are keeping and the ones they are selling. We fed each calf 2 liters of milk (they are fed 2 liters twice a day, so about a gallon of milk per day). Anyways, we first went to feed the calves they are selling (they keep these calves separate from the calves they are keeping). Here's a few photos of these calves:

After Vicki, Ashton, Jordan, and I feed those calves. we went and met Nigel who was milking the cows. So for a few facts now, they own 240 dairy cows (which apparently is not that many). Because most of them are pregnant right now, they are only milking about 25. As the rest of the 240 give birth they will go back to milking. Here's the ones he was milking today:

Nigel, trimming their tails.

What a view, ins't it?

After the milking was over, which didn't take long since there were only a few cows, we went down to feed the calves that they are keeping. Here's a few photos:

These two were only born today.

And a close up.

Here's a video from feeding those calves, staring Vicki. 

Next we went down to see the "early" cows - the adult cows that will be giving birth first, meaning in the next 2 weeks. There were two calves down there, born sometime during the day today. Here's a photo of one of them:

A view of the "earlies." There's a lot of them, aren't there. We are expect anywhere from 2 - 10 calves when we get there tomorrow. Beautiful clouds, aren't they?

And just a nice view. That's Vicki in the photo.

That's about all farm related for today. I have some more videos but don't have time to upload them all tonight. Will get to that later. Lots on the docket for tomorrow. We will be going to collect all the new calves in the morning, then feed the calves, do other things I don't remember. I'm so happy to be back out of the city again. It's just so nice here. And with such a wonderful family.

On that note, if you are wondering how I ended up here with this family, Nigel, the father/husband, was an exchange student at Stillwater High School in 1991. He stayed with a family that is friends with my uncle who connected us when he knew I was in NZ.

Okay, that's all for right now. I have so many more cow related facts to share but I'll save some for tomorrow.

Best!

House Tour

Here's a link to a video tour of my current flat in Auckland.

Update: video will be uploaded later, sorry. Not a priority now. Cows are a priority now!

Sinus Infection

I have not posted in the last few days because I have been in bed, sick, I think with a sinus infection. I have nothing more to say on the topic now, as I'm not feeling well, but I will post soon hopefully and let you know about my adventure to Waiheke island.

Best!

Oh but in case any of you are wondering, I haven't had any problems with my radiator in the last few days, which is good since I have a long car ride ahead of my tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed!

My Car, My Car, My Car

I'm not sure the drama with my car will ever end!

Yesterday I went for coffee with a girl from work and on the way home I noticed my car was overheating - actual it was on "H". I had only driven a few K's, it was cold outside and rainy so I knew this wasn't good. I went immediately home where I then proceeded to call multiple mechanics in my area to ask about having them look at the car. They all mentioned the same thing - if I'd added water to my car recently. I was like "What? Added water to my car? What does that even mean?!" I can tell you that in the 7.5 years I drove in MN I never once remember anyone asking me/telling me about adding water to a car. One of the mechanics I spoke with, Ross, told me to bring my car in the morning and he'd be happy to look at it. Since I didn't know much about how to add water, however, and didn't want my car overheating on the 2 KM trip to the mechanics this morning, I talked with a few of the guys at work last night about how to add water to my car. Ben (UK), the chef I thought was so cute, walked me through where the radiator was and how to add water. After we had this brief chat I felt a small bit more confident about my ability to do this on my own.

This morning when I woke up I went out to my car with a Red Solo Cup worth of water, found my radiator, and added it. I then added another cup after talking with my father and being reassured I could not add too much water to my radiator. I then drove down to see Ross. He helped me immediately when I arrived at his shop, very nice, and talked to me a bit about the radiator, adding water, etc. When he first saw my radiator he made a comment about how it wasn't a standard radiator - so looks like someone may have installed a heavy duty radiator in my car at some point. Anyways, after added lots and lots of water he told me to drive it for a bit and monitor it and see how it goes. He did ask me if I had ever seen smoke come out of the car when I've started it. I actually have seen this happen once but didn't tell him because I'm too scared to know what that means (I did however look it up online after and it means either a head gasket or a cracked head - neither of which I understand, but I know a head gasket can be fixed but a cracked head would mean my car would have to be retired for good). Anyways, Ross did not see anything obviously wrong with the vehicle but did mention the possibility of a crack head, again telling me that it would mean my whole car would be a write-off. So I left the mechanic, somewhat hopefully but still terribly nervous. Today I drove around the city a bit, picking up friends, going for coffee, dropping them off, and it never got hot. I also monitored my car after I parked it and never saw water under my car after it had been parked somewhere for a bit so it doesn't appear, at least not at first glance, that there's a leak.

Fast forward to work this evening where I was able to speak with Eddy, one of my co-workers and the only one who I believe knows a bit about cars. I told him about the whole situation and he said it's probably fine. I mentioned to him that I had gotten my car serviced just a month and a half ago and that this was a bit concerning to my but he said it's very possible they didn't top up the radiator when it was serviced so I shouldn't put too much weight on that.

All in all, today I've learned a bit more about cars. I now know how to add water to my radiator, I know where my radiator is, I know not to add water when it's hot. This car is adding so much stress to my life, but by the time I leave NZ I will probably know all about how a vehicle works. Anyways, if I can get through this week without another problem I'll be pretty happy. I'm just going to need to remember to top up the water from time to time. I'm going to start carrying a few liters of water with me in my car at all times so I can top up before a big trip.

Okay, onto another car related mater that happened today - I got my first speeding ticket in NZ! I was pulled over for going 63 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. The police office was very nice, however, and gave me the smallest ticket possible. It will cost me $30 NZD (super cheap!) and get me 10 demerit points - if you get 200 points in 2 years you lose your license for 3 months. Good things I won't be here long enough for that to matter. Anyways, more car related excitement/drama.

Lastly, about the car, it has been storming quite heavily in Auckland tonight and I am somewhat worried about at tree or something falling on my car and me not having full coverage insurance. I currently have 3rd party, fire, and theft which means I am covered if I hit someone else's vehicle, if my car starts on fire or if it's stolen, but I am not covered for my car if it gets damaged. If I wake up tomorrow and my car is fine, I am going to get full coverage insurance, mostly because I really want the money for my car when I leave NZ and this way I know I'll get it, either by selling my car or if it gets damaged/destroyed from my insurance company.

Onto other news.... Tomorrow I am going to Waiheke island to spend the day with a customer at his vineyard. Waiheke Island is a big beautiful island in the Hauraki Gulf, a 30 minute ferry ride from Auckland. I have not been there yet and this seems like the perfect opportunity. He wants me to work at his vineyard, which I haven't committed to since I am likely leaving NZ in December, but my life is very flexible right now, I don't want to say a for sure "no" to anything before I suss it out. So that's my plan for tomorrow. I'll take photos and videos to share with you all.

Then, Friday I am going to The Rugby. Yay! More photos and videos then.

And then, Sunday-Wednesday I am going to a dairy farm about 2 hours from Auckland where the cows will be calving and I can learn to milk a cow. Back to farming, back to learning new skills, back to exciting videos!

Okay, it's just after midnight now here. I have to hang up my laundry and see if Elizabeth (Australia) is coming to pick me up for more dumplings.

We went out on Sunday night - Elizabeth (Australia), Adredna (Singapore), Sarah Mac (NZ), Me (America), Jan (?), Sunny (Korea), Elaine (?), Kyle (China) - and had the best experience yet at New Flavour. The food was the best we've ever had there, by far! And the company was amazing. We were celebrating Adrenda's last night in Auckland - and thus the last time many of us will see here - and had a total ball. We were laughing and tell stories for 2 hours and just had a great time! Plus it was like a mini UN having 8 people there from 8 different countries (I can't remember which countries Jan and Elaine are from but we are all from different places). What a change from MN where I'm lucky to hang out with people who didn't grow up in the Twin Cities. It's just so different here than it is in the Midwest.

Okay, these is so much more I could say but I'm just done writing for tonight.

Hope y'all are well and enjoying the summer weather back home. I am definitely jealous of how nice it is there right now since it's cold and rainy here now just about every day.

Best!

Happy 4th of July!!!

I can't believe it's my favorite holiday and I'm not home to celebrate it! It's probably beautiful weather back in MN, I'm sure you are all enjoying a wonderful 4 day weekend at the cabin, and I'm here in the middle of a rainy and cold NZ winter, working, living a boring and normal life, and sick. Yuck! Anyways, enough about that. I hope you all enjoy a wonderful fireworks show - send me a video if you can, I'd love to see it! - for those of you attending the Edina Parade enjoy it for me, and eat an extra hot dog for me as well. All my favorite things about America and I'm missing them all. I guess there's always 2018.

In other news, I am sick. No fun! I can't believe how many times I've been sick since I left America - like 4 or 5 already and I've only been gone 7 months. I rarely get sick at home but here, it's like every other month. Every at work is sick, however, so it must be going around. Julie (France) was out sick yesterday, Marijke (Holland) was sent home from work today because she was sick. Others are the same. I've drank 4 liters of orange juice in the last two days to try and help the situation - that's roughly a gallon - and I feel like I'm on the tail end of the cold. I had a sore throat the first two days but that's gone. Now I'm congested and have a runny nose but I think that's a good sign, my body is trying to rid me of the germs. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel even better.

On to tomorrow, I have my third (yes, third) date with Ross, the South African. I'm very excited. Last night we went for a wonderful dinner a place called Banque Oyster Bar in Remuera (kind of near where I used to live). The atmosphere was awesome, the food was stellar, the only down side was the waiter. He was very nice, but a little too on the ball with trying to get us to order. He wasn't reading that we were there to chat and get to know each other and not trying to rush through dinner. The restaurant wasn't ever full either so it's not like they needed our table. We did have the best one in the restaurant, however, right in front of the fireplace. So nice! Anyways, we had a tasty dinner, good company, it was really nice. He's just so normal and good looking. How nice! I think he's gonna pick me up tomorrow night for another date but I'm working and not sure how early I'll be getting off. Hopefully before 11, as I'd hate for him to have to wait around his entire Friday night for me. Then, we have a date planned for next Friday night. We're going to watch the rugby. (Yes, it's "the rugby" not "rugby." It sounds very weird to me. It would be like saying "We're going to watch the football this weekend." Just want to remember that they do this with "the rugby" and "the cricket".) Anyways, there's a game at Eden Park, The Blues are playing, so we're going to go see that. After the schedule if finalized tomorrow we'll buy tickets.

Okay, that's all for now. I need to get some sleep so I can try to continue recovering from this cold, plus I want to be well rested for my date tomorrow night!! AHHHH!!!

Best!