Skirting round the edges of the ideal demographic

I actually love my job. So I showed up on Wednesday at 830 as planned and the only person there was Callum, a punk rock kid with red hair and a lebret piercing. He told me to make myself a coffee and chill out until the manager got there. So far, so good! When the manager got there I was introduced to everyone as Hannah who might be replacing Amanda. I had been told by the temp agency that i was just working 3 days for them, so i was so excited to hear it might be permanent. I got on really well with the boys in the warehouse. its a lot like landscaping in that sometimes its hard work with lifting heavy boxes and preparing for shipping and receiving but for the mist part its pretty chilled out. and i can wear my lulus so its pretty much my ideal job. I mostly program the software and keyload EFTPOS (electronic funds transfer point of sales) machines and test them out. We work 830-5 with a half hr unpaid lunch break. but this week one guy baked cupcakes and brought them in, he also made us nachos and ANZ bank brought us in bakery treats for morning tea on friday. its awesome! also, we can play whatever music we want so i'm being introduced to so many awesome bands. Our team is pretty multicultural with pohms, a philippino, an argentinian, and kiwis of course. Monday mornings we get to order whatever drinks we want and a girl goes to the grocery store and buys it for us! Its actually the best work environment ever. its in lower hutt so it takes me about 15-20 mins to drive there, but there is free street parking (you can park as long as you want!) so its working out quite well.
I saw iron man 2 last night, it was so good. i was supposed to go to an island dance thing at church but i was not feeling it at all. Tonight is the youth planning meeting and im going to eastbourne for the afternoon. should be good!
Oh also Rocko came for a visit thursday night as she was passing through welly on her campervan trip with her sister. they parked outside our house and Rowena made some awesome soup and we did tim tam slams for dessert. so good!
Love

Take me on, take on me

I have been in New Zealand for exactly a month today! Time has gone by so fast I can't even believe it. This weekend was pretty cruisy I just watched the Time Traveler's Wife Saturday night with Josh and Katie and Sunday was Anzac day so we went to these old war tunnels which were really quite cool. They only open like 5 days a year and Anzac day is one of them. The poppies here are so ghetto, our Canadian ones are way cooler. I went to evening church and watched Rush Hour 3 with a bunch of the ppl from young adults. they introduced me to their Kiwi chocolate, Whittaker's. Its so good! And we had fijoa's, they were amazing this time. The last one I had was really rank, but these ones where fresh off a tree. Amazing.
Monday and Tuesday I worked for a couple of hours at a preschool. The teachers actually have degrees and diplomas. They are the same as teachers for primary, but the kids are 0-5, so crazy. But I had fun. Some of the kids were really wild and today they were singing a Justin Beiber some (3 yr olds!!) and I was like how do you know this song! And they deduced that I was obviously Justin Beiber's girlfriend. I tried to explain that he was a lot younger than me but they were having none of it. Kids crack me up.
Tonight I went to pick up my new bike from town and luckily didn't get lost. Well I missed a turn or two and had to do a few u-turns but I did pretty well considering it was pouring insanely hard and I couldn't see a thing. Also wasn't wearing my glasses... anyway so I made it to the guy's house to pick up the bike and it was up on a hill with a ridiculously steep driveway. I had a really hard time getting the bike into my car as the bike is from the 60s and they apparently didnt have quick release tires. I somehow managed to get the front tire off and got the bike into the car. As I was pulling out of the drive way I had to do some serious manoeuvrings and somehow as I got onto the road the power steering quit on me as did the brakes and all the check engine, check oil, check battery lights came on. I freaked out and pulled the e-brake. amazingly enough no one was behind me so I just turned the car off and then back on it everything was back to normal. I drove home in the pouring rain thanking God I didn't get smashed into and promising myself that I would buy insurance ASAP. Its not mandatory to have insurance but I've almost died numerous times on the roads so I think its necessary now.
Last week when I drove to Porirua I got a bit lost when I turned left instead of right (I hate google maps it doesn't say which exit to take off the motorway just says towards a road which is not ever the name of the exit!!), and so I went to ask a cyclist how to get back and he was like 'first of all you are driving on the wrong side of the road...' Ooops! I've only done it once the whole time though!
I just won a bidding war for a sweet as snowboard complete with bindings and boots (all really old school) for 103.50$. Bargain.
Tomorrow I'm working for a company that repairs EFTPOS (essentially debit card) machines. Should be interesting, and I'm just happy to get some hours since last week I worked a total of 11 hours...
Love!

I'm going deaf from the sound of the deejay

This weekend I had an interview with a telesales company, but I decided I didn't want to be a telemarketer selling life insurance to older people. Also, it was evening and weekends which is when I want to be having fun and not working.
Saturday I when garage sale-ing with Kate. We got up at 730 and went to all the garage sales listed in the Upper Hutt paper. There were 5 or 6 and I mapped out the best order to see them in. I got so much awesome stuff. I even got a coat to sell on Trademe.
In the afternoon I met up with Tracey, Jade and Kristen for coffee. They all go to the Hutt City Church that I saw on the train ride into the City. They were all really nice and picked me up Sunday morning for church the next morning. I didn't realize it was a pentecostal church, so it was a lot different from what I'm used to but it was good. Saturday night I went for dinner at Josh and Jess's with Josh and Katie and we had Gumbo, it was so good. We played Manila after dinner, it is such a funny game.
Sunday I went to church and met so many people and I pretty much forget everyone's name already. I found out its actually they church that Brian Houston's dad pastored at (he's the guy who started Hillsong church in Aussie). It was a lot smaller than I thought and the Young Adults group is only about 15 people and was just started but its kind of better that way I think.
Sunday afternoon I went for a walk because it was so nice outside, really hot and sunny. Sunday night I went to evening church and afterwards to Jade's house for ice cream and DVDs but we never actually got to the DVDs because they were filming a video for their friend Kylie who actually is in Kingston for school! Isn't that wild?
Yesterday I worked at the dirtiest apartment ever. 8 solid hours of cleaning. And it was still rank. The fridge and freezer had dried up old veggies left in them and smelled awful. Under the kitchen sink was slime and as I was cleaning it maggots started pouring out of the pipes. It was sick. It took 2 hours just to clean the oven. I was afraid of being poisoned by the super poisonous chemicals and so I wore my sunglasses and put my shirt over my face. I also was singing and dancing along to my iPod so if anyone was watching I probably looked like a crazy person!
Today I climbed Mt Climie and it was such a good hike, took about 2 and a half hours. Now I'm off to meet with a fitness consultant so I can get back into shape!

Can you help me find a way to carry on again?

I think its been a few days since I have posted anything. Mostly because I don't have much to post about! I've been going for heaps of interviews. I do have the casual job as a childcare educator's assistant but one of my references is away they weren't able to give me work. Until today, where I was called at 930 this morning to work until 6pm. I worked with the 3-5 yr olds for a bit and then switched over to hang out with the babies. It was pretty fun but I git sent home at 115 so i really only worked 3 hrs. Better than nothing though!
Yesterday I had an interview with another temp agency. I had to do a bunch of tests and it turns out I am a crap typist but I finish tasks more quickly than most. Fair play. I have an interview to be a telemarketer tomorrow afternoon. I already don't really want to do it. But I have a shift as a cleaner on Monday. Basically just cleaning apartments that are between tenants. And its 16$ an hour so I couldn't say no to that!
My most memorable interview so far has been at a cafe. So I went for the interview and it was going really well and at the end the owner asked me to make a flat white. I went to make the coffee and the espresso basket wasn't on properly and the pressure built up until it blew up and burned my face and neck. Also covered me in coffee. Literally my feet had espresso on them. And the guy waiting to be interviewed was watching, as were customers. I was so flustered by the espresso blowing up that i forgot to turn the milk frother off and it too exploded all over me. Needless to say I don't think I got the job!!
I played soccer last night for the first time since grade school. I was absolute crap but it was such a good workout I was sweating like crazy from running so much. My shins are also killing me though.
Now I am off to join the YMCA, finally. I've been doing a workout Katie made for me but since I can't run anymore I would like to get some time on the cardio machines.
I also have bought a car, a beautiful 1989 Mitsubishi Eterna Sava!
Love!
ps Happy Belated Birthday to Grandma Magwood!

Twice as much isn't twice as good and can't sustain like one half could, its wanting more is going to send me to my knees

This weekend I went camping in Hastings with Josh, Kate, Jess and Jason. We packed ourselves into one car. It was intense, we had stuff on our laps, and the hatchback was stuffed so full you couldn't see out the back window! We hit the road around 5pm on Friday and took to the steep, windy roads. The drive took about 5 hours, and we stopped for dinner at Subway and at New World for groceries along the way. We arrived in Hastings at the campsite at 10pm. We were exhausted and still had to set up the 2 tents and fill up the air beds. The girl's tent was massive, complete with a balcony and a ceiling high enough even for me to stand up in! We had two airbeds, one double and one single. After setting up the tents we realized we had no mugs for breakfast so the boys went into town to get some. When we heard the car pull up we all hoped that they had brought us some treats. And they did! We had delish Makker's sundaes and hot chips for a midnight feast!
We went to sleep after our feast and it was already pretty chilly. I wore sweatpants, woolen knee socks, 3 shirts, a hoodie, a tuque and I still woke up every few hours because I was so cold. Needless to say I didn't get a very good sleep.
We had lattes with our muesli and yogurt, because Kate was clever enough to bring the milk frother and espresso maker. Such a treat!
We did a stellar workout in a field involving dealing cards to figure out how many sets to do of each exercise. It was such a hard workout! Definitely worth it.
After our workout we headed into Napier to see the sights. The beach was made up of black rocks rather than sand! So strange. Also there were pumice stones everywhere. Was pretty cool. Apparently pumice is basically lava rock. Interesting. We went to Countdown, there were 2 across from each other! So strange, 2 massive grocery stores owned by the same people too. Apparently they both make enough money. How to decide which to go to? Anyway, we picked one and got sandwich fixings, and treats of course. We ate them in one of the beautiful parks that Napier is full of. Then the girls went shopping and the boys went mini-golfing. I bought boots, a playsuit and a cardigan dress. I did well!
We met back up at the beach and went for coffees at starbucks. I ordered a short, skinny, half-sweet chai tea latte. The girl actually asked me what half sweet meant. So I asked her "what do you think it means?" and she said "half the syrup?". She was clearly a genius.
Whilst driving there was a car ahead of us that had a for sale sign and a number, so Josh texted to see how much they were asking and the driver texted back. Turned out the Toyota Corona could go for 1300$ and a full tank of gas, but it had 240,000kms which worried me and I wouldn't be able to get it AA tested since we were to leave the next day. I called my Dad to see what he thought and he said no. So I didn't get it. I actually listened for once, wow!
We went back to the campsite to get ready for the Abba themed birthday party for Jason's Aunt's 40th birthday. We didn't have any Abba gear, but still tried to look decent. Which is actually quite difficult when your packing budget involved mostly warm clothes and you are camping. But, we made it work and went to the party in Hastings around 6pm. A lot of the guests actually dressed up pretty hard out. Hilarious because I think most of them actually owned the clothes rather than went out to op shops to buy them. The starters were amazing guac, cheese and pineapple skewers (classic NZ apparently), twisties (cheesies), smoked trout dip and much more! I filled up on those so I couldn't eat and of the main course, which was mostly meat anyway.
Then dessert was brought out. It was insane. There were meringues, mini pies of all kinds (including lemon meringue!!), an Abba cake, marshmallows, marshmallow eggs, gorgeous coconut cupcakes and double chocolate cupcakes and so much more! All prepared by one lady! What a hero. I was in heaven. I ate so much it was glorious.
This morning I woke up still tired because again I hardly slept since it was freezing. Had coffees again and went up to Te Mata peak (which I had thought was called Tomato peak until i saw the sign...). It was a great view, you could even see Mt Ruapehu where I applied to work and Mt Tongariro (or Mt Doom in Lord of the Rings).
The drive back went pretty quick and now I'm back home and ready for a decent night's sleep before my interview tomorrow. Should be good. Its to work with an 18 yr old boy with special needs. Essentially just to play sports with him and feed him healthy meals. I can do that!
Love!

I know what I did wasn't clever

chickens
Farm view
watch yourself
Massive slide
Shoot, I always forget what I last posted as soon as I start a new blog post, and I really cannot be bothered to check...
Sunday was good, went to church for the first time since Canberra... It was good, met some more of Katie and Josh's friends. This one little boy couldn't understand my accent when I said 'skulls' which was hilarious, he asked me where I was from and I said Canada and he just burst out laughing and said I was too silly. Right then, whats so funny about being from Canada? haha. We had hot cross buns after church (big Easter thing here apparently). Then in the afternoon we went for a tramp (hike, not prostitute) up to Canon Point. Really nice little walk up a hill. Amazing views. Then I went into town to play on play structures (wildly high slides, weird skateboard-type thing and a climbing wall) and Easter dinner consisted of noodles. Watched Be Kind Rewind. Possibly the funniest movie I saw that day.
Yesterday was awesome. I went to Josh's Dad's hobby farm yesterday for brunch. We had delish french toast before Mr. Chapman broke out his guns. Literally. He had about one thousand guns. We used the shotguns on some targets and one litre bottles filled with water. One of the guns was so old school you loaded it with gunpowder. It was so cool! And heaps of smoke came out when you shot it. Well fun. I shot the side straight off one if the bottles and hit some of the little targets too. We rode around on the 4 wheeler for a bit and then I met some of the animals. They had 2 cows, a bunch of lambs and sheep, chickens (farm fresh eggs, anyone?) and quite a bit of land. We climbed to the top of one of the paddocks and the view was unreal. So gorgeous here! In the afternoon we went for afternoon tea at katie's cousin's place. Met Katie's sister Hannah and her husband as well. Busy day!
I made cookies last night, peanut butter and jam sandwich cookies. Not too bad, but as per usual I cut down the fat and sugar so they could have tasted better. Haha, standard! Katie made an awesome chicken pie and jam turnovers, so good!
I've applied for heaps of jobs over the past few days, and today I heard back from Randstadt Education, where I would work as a casual all over the city with kiddies ages 0-5. Could be fun I think. But I still don't have a bank account or IRD number, or references...eeek! And the interview is tomorrow. I really have to get on that today after Pilates.
I also applied to be a barista at the ski hill about 3 1/2 hrs from here. That would be awesome, especially since apparently there are no jobs in Queenstown, supposedly.
LOVE!

When I dream, I'm right here

Here I am in Welly! Actually its Upper Hutt which is where I now live! Very exciting. Rocked up to the Welly airport On March 31st around 230pm and Josh was able to come and pick me up, which was awesome. Straight away he took me to a lookout of the entire city and then we went to meet up with his sister, Michelle, who is my age, I'm just a few days older. We went to a cafe called Gotham and I got my classic drink of Flat White.
Then we took a quick tour of the city so I could see their parliament which is lovingly referred to as the Beehive, due to its beehively shape. Then we went back to the house so I could drop off my stuff. The house is awesome, its a little one bedroom behind their friend's mum's house. Wireless internet, washing machine, clothesline and I have my own little bedroom. Its well cute. They made dividers for me so I have a little bedroom in the living room. They also have dividers in their room since the only bathroom is an ensuite.
Then we headed to the post office for me to apply for my IRD number so I can work! I also figured out that it might be a bit of a challenge for me to get a bank account since I have no paperwork or ID with a valid NZ address. Shoot. We'll see what I can do. Because jobs only pay via direct deposit, no cheques here. I've already applied for 2 jobs online, one as a receptionist in a nutritional counseling clinic and one as a barista. Unfortunately the pay is absolute crap, 12$/hr NZ. Really bad, but I'm not really here to make money, just to get by!
We then visited Josh's mum who is really lovely, and we went to the house Josh is building at the moment with his friend Bevin. So My first day I met heaps of people! Picked up Katie from her work at 9pm, and it was so good to see her! We had a nice dinner of nachos and mince and we watched Top Dollar after renting Funny people and shutting it off after 10mins, its such a filthy movie!
The next day I woke up early and went to a Pilates class with Katie at her gym, my triceps are still sore, 2 days later... We went for a run/walk later on in the day so I got my exercise for the week. haha. On top of that Katie also went to the gym for a workout, she makes me look so lazy! And you think I have exercise dependence!!
Yesterday was Good Friday and we went for Brunch to Josh's mum's house with his 2 sisters and their boyfriends. I even got chocolates from Rosie and Michelle! They are so sweet to think of me. The lunch was fab and it was nice to be included in a family dinner on a holiday weekend. Michelle and her boyfriend Ash drove me to Welly to visit Sebastian who was one of my first friends in Cairns when I first started me trip, flipping 3 months ago! Crazy. Met up at Base in the aft and didn't do much other then go to their new hostel and watch the boys straighten their hair... and then straighten mine because apparently it looked crap. haha. Went for coffees at Spiro, I got a flat white just for something different. The bar was charging an extra 15% for being open on Good Friday. Wild. Went out to 5 bars last night, I couldn't really drink I still have massive taste aversion to booze from my bad experience in St Kilda. The bars weren't allowed to open until midnight so that's when we went out. Fun times. Haven't done anything today except get a flat white at Espressoholic and take the train/bus back to Upper Hutt. Now on to a run/walk with Kate and then out for dinner and to a movie. Should be good.
Love!