February 13, 2010
Well I am still without internet access so writing in Word will have to do for now. The absence from facebook is somewhat of a bittersweet blessing. It’s nice so that people can’t stalk you, but there are a select few I am dying to be in touch with. New Zealand really is an incredible country. Everything is so neat and clean and yesterday, in Auckland, the air smelt like fresh flowers. It was beautiful
The plane ride was quite an adventure in itself. I was in the exit row but in the middle seat and the seats were not made for someone with a booty such as mine. It was incredibly difficult to sleep but I think I managed at least dozing in an out because there were 6 hours unaccounted for in my memory. Once we landed, customs was extremely easy but we landed at 5:10 AM so we had a full day of riding a bus and many other fun activities I wasn’t aware of when I signed up for this trip.
First, we were given a $10 calling card which turns out works better for internet so when you place calls it is like $3/minute and you can only talk for approximately 3 seconds to each person, that is if you can figure out how to work the damn thing. After I made my three phone calls, more like, left three messages, we got on a big coach bus with our group and headed off. They drive on the opposite side of the road here so it is a scary feeling making wide right turns. Our first stop was this giant Volcano crater that looks out over the city of Auckland. The view was incredible and it was much cooler outside than it was on our bus. I don’t think New Zealand believes in air conditioning. After the volcano we got back on the bus and headed down to the pier. Turns out our driver was just killing time until we were supposed to be at ACB, our home for the evening. Once we got to ACB we had to shove all our bags, from probably 70-80 people in 2 rooms until we were able to check in. In that time, we had a 2 hour orientation talking about safety and blah blah blah. The usual. After orientation, we were FINALLY able to check into our rooms, take a shower and relax a little. The shower felt amazing but I was dead tired and my feet were already killing me. Oh, I forgot to mention, for lunch they had a weenie roast. The sausages weren’t that good and their ketchup is quite interesting. I don’t think they believe in mustard either. For dinner we went to a restaurant in Auckland called the Waterfront where we ate a meal as a group and then went on our separate ways. Me and a few other girls just headed back to our rooms to crash. I fell asleep at 9:00 and had the most glorious sleep I’ve ever had in my life.
The next morning I woke up at probably 6:45 or so. It’s really hard to judge time here. There aren’t many clocks and the clock on my cheap little cell phone is army time so something I’m not willing to do the conversion. Everything here is also very expensive. I have already spent over $100 NZD and had to take out $200 more today. I’m not sure how the ATM is charging me so hopefully it isn’t insane amounts of money. I hope to get online sometime this week but I can’t guarantee that. Anyways, after I woke up, I took another shower, went and had a “continental” breakfast which consisted of either toast or cereal, and then hopped on the bus again to head down to Rotorua, where I am now. Today was much more productive and less pessimistic because I had a shower and a place to sleep the night before. We got to Rotorua around noon where we ate lunch, a sandwich with a piece of fruit and then had a second orientation dealing with schooling. After that, we broke up into 2 groups, one went to learn Rugby, which was my group, and the other went to learn the “Haka”, a traditional dance of the Maori people, the natives. It is a very angry dance that involves a lot of yelling and slapping of the legs. I have it recorded on my flip cam so no worries, you will see it soon enough. After each group had their time we switched so everyone got to learn. After the Haka, we ate fish and chips at the bar here in KiwiPaka, the backpackers sight we are staying at for the next four days. Then a few of us ran to town to get some money out of the ATM and then came back, sat in the sketchy hottub and now here I am in my room.
I will write more when I have more time but for now… Kia Ora.
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