Enjoying the Time I Have Left

Well my time in NZ is really starting to come to an end. I have less than 5 weeks left at my job, after which my parents are coming for 4 weeks to travel around NZ. After that it's off to Samoa for a week, back to NZ for 5 days, and then gone to Asia. That said, I'm living the YOLO (you only live once) life right now and today Elizabeth (Australia), Disney Ben (NZ), and I did a great job of this and had an amazing day.

My day started off okay, but I was quite stressed out  - not sure about what - and ended up being a bit late to my day plans because I was skyping with my parents. Always nice to talk to them - news from home usually makes me feel better, plus it gives me something else to think about/worry about than whatever is worrying me. After getting off Skype with my father at 11:35 (5 minutes after I was supposed to have picked up Ben who lives 10 minutes away) I rushed over to pick up Ben and the boogie boards - we were headed to the sand dunes. After collecting Ben, we picked-up Elizabeth, went to Countdown (the grocery store) to buy enough food to feed a medium sized family and then headed west to Bethels Beach to boogie board the sand dunes. We got there after maybe a 45 minutes drive, and then had to walk up and over these dunes which was quite a workout. I'm sure my legs will be soar tomorrow. When we got to the part we were supposed to boogie board - forget it, it was so steep! After a few test runs by Ben and some coaxing from Elizabeth I did it - once - and it was mega fun. But then you have to hike back up these dunes, that I'm sure are a 50* angle or steeper and doing that once was enough for me. I got to the top, was completely out of breath, and said that's good. We then sat on the boogie boards in the dunes and had a fantastic picnic lunch of pita and hummus, vegetables, and brie and chocolate sandwiches. Such a wonderful afternoon!

Around 3pm we decided to head back because I had a doctor's appointment to go to 4:20 to get my eyes checked for my MN drivers license. Before going back to the city, however, we headed over to the actual beach to walk out into the Tasman sea. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the Tasman Sea/Western Beaches of Auckland, the sea is very rough. If people drown swimming around here, it's almost always on the Western Beaches. When you are standing on the beach, the surf is so rough and the waves so high that you cannot see the horizon over the waves. It amazingly beautiful however. Ben took a lot of photos on his phone so hopefully I will be able to get some up on my blog in the next few days to share with you guys.

After the beach we got in the car to head back to Auckland but by this time I was never going to make my eye appointment - YOLO - so Ben called to cancel (driving and cell use is illegal here so I couldn't call myself). As we were just about to get on the motorway back to the city we decided - YOLO, lets go beer tasting at a local brewery since we now have no reason to be back in the city. We headed back out west - but more northwest than we were previously - to Kumeu to the Hallertau Brewery and spent the next 2-3 hours drinking beer, chatting to our servers, and talking about life. We tried lots of their beers - I think 8 - and had a roaring good time. I also met a cute west Aucklander who I will likely be going on a date with next week. His name is Ash, he drives a proper American sized pick-up. I just can't get past all the things I love about America.

By the time we left the Brewery it was quite late and we were hungry again. We came back into the city, went to our favorite Jordanian restaurant - Petra Shawarma - picked up come takeaways and went back to Elizabeth's to watch The Summit, a movie about mountaineers on K2. They watched the movie, I napped, and then after we did some more chatting. We've decided that we may try to meet in Cambodia in 6 months or so, live in a small town, spend lots of time working/drinking at the local bar, and chatting to all the tourists who come in, learning all about their stories. We did this with the servers tonight and had so much fun, why not do this for a good chunk of time.

Anyways, all in all it was a fabulous day. Full of YOLO experiences, we just let it unfold and had so much freaking fun! I'm loving this lifestyle - no real responsibilities outside of having as much fun as possible. Amazing day, amazing friends, I'm really going to miss Auckland!

Singapore Baby!

So this afternoon I decided to look at flight prices to Vietnam again to just see how they were going. When I searched for flights they were coming in way cheaper than they were before. I'm not sure if it is because this time I was seeing them in USD vs. NZD or because they actually were way cheaper but I started thinking maybe I should buy my ticket. The prices I was seeing today were around $890 (not sure if this is NZD or USD). Last time I search a few weeks ago they were $1200 (likely NZD but possibly USD).  Even if the tickets are now $890 USD vs. $1200 NZD (which aren't much different), spending $890 USD just feels much cheaper than $1200 NZD so I starting thinking maybe I should commit. I was doing all of this searching shortly before going out for dinner, however, and didn't have time to do anything about it.

(Oh, by the way this all came after realizing that there are no flights from Samoa to Asia so there is no way I will stay on in Samoa and catch another flight to Asia - they don't exist. All flights from Samoa go through Auckland, Honolulu, Nadi (Fiji), or Australia. With this I know I will be coming back to Auckland on December 5th.)

After dinner, however, I decided to see if I could get a significantly cheaper flight to another part of Asia and voila, I found a ticket to Singapore for less than $400 USD. So I bought it. I am now going to Singapore on December 11. The flight plus a checked bag is costing me just under $400 USD and flights from Singapore to Vietnam can be purchased for under $100 USD. I found my cheapest path to Vietnam - and I get to visit Singapore along the way! YAY! I can't believe I just bought my ticket only about 15 minutes after seeing the ticket prices. What a way to live - totally free like that. I looked at the visa requirements (none for US Citizens) and what flight prices were to Vietnam - cheap as - and that was that, I bought the ticket. Amazing! Plus, yesterday at lunch I found out a lot of my co-workers have lived in Singapore so I will chat to them, see how long I should stay there for, what to do, where to say, etc... and I will plan my trip. Plus, ironically, I have met a lot of customers recently who live in Singapore, many of whom have given me their contact info in the event I go there and they will help me with what to do. This is amazing! How crazy is the world - things just work out! Asia, here I come! Second continent down on this trip now. Nice! Only 3 more to go before returning to America!

Okay, that's enough excitement for one night. Off to bed so I can get to work tomorrow.

Night!

What I've been up to, my future plans, my life

So I would first like to start out by addressing all of the wonderful and inquisitive e-mails/texts/blog comments/etc. that I have received recently from everyone. I appreciate your interest, it’s great to know that you all care. In response, I would like to say I have not posted on my blog in quite a while for 2 reasons. 1) I am out of the habit. 2) Now that I have been living and working in Auckland for 7 months, nothing interesting is happening to me right now. I go to work 5 days/week, I pay bills, I see the same friends when I’m not at work and we do rather “boring” city things. They aren’t that boring to me, as they are my friends and my life, but it wouldn’t be all the interesting to you as we are simply doing things like exploring Auckland, going to our same favorite breakfast joint over and over again, going on walks around our favorite neighborhoods, just normal life things. With that said, I will now do a high level recap of what my life looks like on a regular basis so you can know what I’ve been up to recently and then I’ll tell you about what’s coming up.

My life over the last 2 months or so has turned into a very normal life. I am working somewhere between 40 and 60 hours/week and in my days off I usual spend time going out to eat with friends at “Cheap Eats” restaurants around Auckland. Before work 2-4 days/week Elizabeth and I go to our favorite café, Cereal Killa, on Dominion Road where we have the same coconut porridge time and again. We are obsessed and we’re okay with that. We spend about $60/week on porridge but we enjoy the food and we have a good time together. On this, I at time think that spending all this money on coconut porridge is quite ridiculous, especially considering this is something that I could quite easily make at home for probably like $3/day but I can see that I am not only paying for the food but paying for the experience. It is so nice that only 10 months after leaving America I am now a regular at a café on the other side of the world. They know when I walk in what I want to eat, they remember me, and I have this great routine with a great friend. It’s so nice to see that I was able to establish a sense of normalcy so quickly.

This now brings me to an interesting topic – I’m really starting to get sad thinking about leaving Auckland. Elizabeth (Australia) , Helene (Belgium), and I were talking about this just yesterday. I am quite sad to leave Auckland and all the amazing friends I have made here for 2 reasons: 1) I truly enjoy the company of all of my friends here. They are amazing and I am very sad to think I may never again see many of them. 2) Even if I were to return to Auckland most of them wouldn’t be here in the future. They are all here semi-permanently but even if I came back in 1 year, at least of few of the friends I have here that I love so much will be gone. I am trying to really appreciate having them all here in one place now because this won’t last for long. I’ll be leaving soon and slowly they will all leave as well. After that, this great little thing I have going here in Auckland will be over. I guess I should be happy to think that I’m the 1^st of my good friends to leave – much better than being the last – and I just have to remember to savor these last few weeks I have in this great, but temporary, life that I have right now here in Auckland. The people that I enjoy spending my time with more than anyone (Elizabeth, Ana, Julie) are all on their way to bigger and better places, just like me. It’s great for everyone but sad at the same time.

Back to what else I’ve been up to…. Coconut porridge at Cereal Killa, going to the top 100 Cheap Eats places in Auckland, going to work. Really that’s it. So on the Cheap Eats… Metro Magazine here in Auckland compiles a list of the top 100 Cheap Eats every year here in Auckland. (For those on you in MPLS, Metro Magazine is just like the Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine. They also do the restaurant awards for the top restaurants in the city.) When I first came to Auckland I would find interesting sounding restaurants on this list and then drive to them – no matter where they were in the city – and this is how I learned how to get around Auckland so well. A few weeks back they released the new list for this year and we are now trying to get to as many as we can before I leave Auckland. We have a top 36 list. I don’t think we’re going to get to all of them but we’re having fun doing it. The “we” I keep referring to is Elizabeth and I. We both have Wednesday and Thursday off each week so we have recently been organizing with everyone else who is off these days as well so there is now a big group of us going for lunch about 2 times/week. It’s fun. Although the goal seems stupid to most people I talk to, I have now found that having a goal is really all that’s important, no matter what it is. It gives me something to worry about, something to focus on, something to achieve. I spend almost all of my disposable income on eating out but to me this is better than buying clothes, or getting my hair done, or whatever. I am making memories with my friends that I will have forever. I have really learned Auckland city and I can now say that I have eaten all sorts of different cuisines that I ever had before. And, I spend so much of my time away from work with my friends do something I enjoy – eating! It makes me happy and that’s really all that matters.

Plans for the future – so my parents are coming in just over 6 weeks and I can’t believe it’s now upon us. For so long it has felt like it would never come and now they will be here before I know it! Between working and eating out my weeks now fly by and pretty soon they will be here, my time in Auckland will be over, and then as soon as they leave my time in NZ will be over.

Plans for my trip with my parents:

Because there are so many beautiful places to see in NZ, we will be spending almost no time in Auckland – 1 night on their way into the country and one probably just one night on their way out. The night they arrive, November 1, is the night of Lorde’s first big concert in Auckland and the last concert of her world tour. I bought tickets, we are going, and it’s going to be an amazing (and very “NZ”) start to their trip. During the month they are here we will drive from the very top to the very bottom of NZ. We are going to do an overnight on Doubtful Sound on the bottom west coast of the South Island. We are going to take a helicopter tour of the mountians, we are going to hike on the glaciers, probably take a biking tour of some amazing vineyards, hopefully go skydiving for my father’s 60^th birthday, go on a mussle barge, visit lots of my customers and friends around NZ. It’s gonna be a great 4 weeks! Relaxing at time, full of adventure at others, FULL of outdoor activities! It’s gonna be just amazing! CANNOT WAIT!

So they are here from November 1 – November 26. Three days after they leave I am going to Samoa for 1 week with Ana (Peru). We got together the other night and made a list of all the tings we want to do while we are there. I don’t have the list with me but I’m going to try to remember as many of them as I can, here goes:

-swim with the turtles

-swim in a lagoon (I’m not sure that is actually what it’s called but that’s what I’m going with. What I mean is on of those little pools you find in the middle of the forest in tropical places when you can jump from the cliffs down into these pools of beautiful clear water)

-get really drunk

-drink the local alcohol

-eat a local tropical fruit

-get a tattoo (on our ankles)

-spend a night at a local person’s house

-spend a night in a fale (traditional huts on the beach)

-visit the Annabelle Inn

-go to the local market

-learn a local craft

-go on a boat ride

-go to another island (Samoa is made up of many islands – 2 main islands and other smaller islands)

-hitchhike somewhere

-rent bikes and go on a bike trip

-get a tan

That’s all I can remember right now but we’re both super excited. Some of these are obviously very easy, other more difficult, but at least having this list will encourage us to be busy every day and take every opportunity that comes our way. We are going to pre-book accommodation for the first night but them just wing it after that. We are both so excited; it’s going to be great! We are going to be in Samos November 29^th – December 5^th. (It’s Ana’s birthday on November 30^th so we’ll be there for that – awesome!). When I first told my father I was going to Samoa he thought I meant I was going there to stay (or at least not for holiday) and now I’m thinking I might not come back. My visa in New Zealand ends on December 12^th so I’ll only be coming back for 7 days. Hopefully I can sell my car before I go to Samoa and then I’m just going to leave all my stuff packed up with a friend and $100. If I decide not to come back from Samoa they can just ship it to me. The ticket only cost about $400 return so if I don’t come back I’ll only be out about $200. I can stay there longer if I want, or just catch a flight out of Samoa to Asia and then just keep going form there. We’ll see.

It’s so weird not having any plan for my future. I literally have nothing planned! It’s so crazy! I can only stay in NZ until December 12^th and I have no idea where I’m going to go after that. I haven’t been able to purchase a ticket – I just haven’t been motivated enough – and I haven’t really been bothered by that at all. I’m really just enjoying not having anything I need to do or anywhere I need to be. It’s so awesome just being free to do whatever comes up, whatever I want, whenever I want. If I do come back to NZ after Samoa I may just go to the airport on December 12^th and buy a ticket to anywhere and just go with it. Who knows! I also think I’m a bit hesitant to buy a ticket to somewhere because of really like my friends here, I don’t really want to leave them. I’m not in love with NZ, or with my job, but as I learned in Coromandel and as I’m learning again here in Auckland, it’s all about having great friends. If I have friends I love somewhere, I can really live anywhere and be happy there.

Okay, I think that’s enough for this blog post – I hope that satisfies you all. I’ll try to start writing again a bit more regularity but I just can’t promise anything right now as I’m living a rather normal and “boring” life.

Samoa Here I Come!

I'm going to Samoa!!! On vacation, but still! Just bought my ticket for November 29 - December 5th. I'm going with Ana, a friend from Peru. We spent about 30 minutes looking at tickets to various Pacific Island nations and decided on this one because it had the cheapest flights, at the best times, and because the island is rather undeveloped, it will be quite cheap for us once we are there! I'm so excited! Another country, another stamp in the passport, and lots of amazing experiences to come!

YAY, YAY, YAY, YAY, YAY!

Ana and I are going out for dinner tomorrow and we'll make more plans that I'll let you in on. Crazy! Can't wait!