Travelin' Twenties

Journal from August 16th

2009-09-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

(Happy Birthday Bear-Man)

I fly out of Bangkok tomorrow morning to go to Europe!! I am both very excited about Europe but also highly disappointed about leaving Asia. I've had a remarkable time here, even with all the hospital visits!! I think its been so fantastic for two reasons - one being that I came with no expectations. Literally, none. I had no idea at all what to expect so I couldn't visualize things going one way or anything. The second would be the people I've met along the way. I hope that some of them will be friends for life. Traveling is such a unique experience - the whole process matters, not just the 'tourist-y' things to do. Its the train delays or the boat rides that last two days, the person you had one conversation with, then see them passing by in a new town and act as if you're long lost friends! It's honestly another culture and world while traveling, which is ionic since we've all come to see these 'other' cultures, yet in the process we've formed our own.

I think that's why travelers form such great bonds with one another, because we're all kind of similar - us long term travelers. You have to be a little crazy (leaving the routine and comforts of home), a little free spirited, a little daring and very laid back to do this. We all share that in common. You can easily spot the two week vacationer from the five-month traveler.

Getting back to Asia though...

Southeast Asia has this amazing balance of absolute craziness to being extremely care free. My mind immediately goes to how they drive -- it's nuts, to say the least! I'm talking about no obeying red lights, barely and rarely staying within their respected lane, no speed limit (at least that I'm aware of), and with how absurd they ALL are at driving, they somehow make it work. It's like this beautiful little intricate dance they do silently, and only the locals that have grown up watching it know how to truly make it work. (I shouldn't say silently there because they really use their horns, all. the. time. And I think the 'dance' works by whoevers' horn is the loudest gets the right of way - but I'm not a local so I don't know how this work of art is performed). So, they weave in between each other, through a very crowded intersection, on their mopeds while carrying various items on the bike. I've seen families of 5 on a moped, a 50 inch plasma screen with either edge dangling off the sides, a cage full of at least 15 chickens and so much more! The best part is that this happens in every country I visited!! I'd say, hands down, Vietnam was the most scary, followed by Thailand then Cambodia and Laos. (Laos gets last place because 1) I was on a boat for half of it and 2) I was never in super populated areas.)

**I have a video of myself and a couple of friends crossing the road in Hanoi, Vietnam. I haven't been able to figure out how to upload it to this website, so if any bloggers out there know how to - please leave me a note! Its a perfect shot of how crazy it is over there so I can't wait to upload it for all to see and actually grasp what I'm trying to explain! **

After spending two and a half months in S.E. Asia, I'm lucky enough to say I was only in ONE car accident, as seen below. I was in the white van, in the back left seat, and we got re-ended by that semi pictured on the right. It was quite a shock, but luckily no one was hurt!

I think Asia is out to get me...

2009-08-17T01:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the slow blogs... I see that my last blog is about hospitals... well I got to visit a few more after the Vietnam incident.

I headed out to Cambodia which was absolutely incredible!! Possibly my favorite country. Such a unique place, but the people, culture and surroundings are all beautiful! I read a book while there called 'First they killed my father', one a great read and two it was eye opening to hear a first hand account of someone that went through the Pol Pot era (for those non-history buffs, which I fully admit to being one, go google it). Pretty remarkable what these people went through and how fresh it still is amongst them. I've never seen so many blind/deaf/amputee people in my life. And to know that it isn't their fault (not that those things normally are...) but that this happened to them because of some evil government in the late 70s and the current government does absolutely nothing for them. They are reduced to being beggars or selling random goods (photo copied books, sunglasses, postcards, etc.). Its really a shame... the country has come so far from where it was but it still has tons more to do to help the people. I hope to return someday and see a major difference but from the locals I spoke to, it sounds like their president will be around for a while (he doesn't get a 4 year term - thank you America for establishing that!), so they have very little hope for how or when things will be different.

My tuk-tuk driver for when I visited Angkor Wat was something else. 18 year old kid, has taught himself English in the past 6 months - and was really good at it! His father is blind from a landmine, his mother is too old to work, so he drives tourists out to Angkor Wat, reads the English dictionary while we wonder around, works on his conversational skills with us and gets paid around $10/day to help care for his family (4 siblings and parents) and then it starts all over again. Incredible.

Well, I wasn't planning on saying much about Cambodia... but I think I'll just need to do an individual blog on it. (I wish I could put the world on pause every few days to just write all this stuff down that I get to see and hear about... but its sooooo tough!! While I'm sitting here writing, I want to be outside exploring!! But its raining in Bangkok right now and I've been here enough I don't need to see to much...)

But anyway! Here's actually what I wanted to say:
left Vietnam, to go to Cambodia, still on some antibiotics for my fake swine flu encounter. I went to a fantastic beach town called Sihanoukville and swam the days away in the ocean and in the pool at my hotel (for $5/night!). And what do you know, I get two gnarly ear infections... ugh... so then I go on a search for a good doctor in Cambodia to help with my ears. Tough to come by, considering what I just explained about the government.

I got to Siem Reap, saw 3 different doctors and finally got a good one to help with my ears! Got set up with more antibiotics and headed off to Thailand for the islands! (Although I was super bummed because I knew I wouldn't be able to swim due to the ears... and I was hoping to get a first time scuba dive in... guess I'll just have to come back here soon enough!)

Four days in Thailand and what do ya know!? Back in the hospital! Broken wrist this time so a bit more extreme than the other ones, but not the worst thing to have happen. Although the worst part was the first doctor I saw... he spoke no English, his x-ray machine was probably from the mid-80s and when he came over to 'explain' to me that my wrist was indeed broken, he took out his ball point pen and drew a picture of a wrist with a squiggly line at the end, then another squiggly line at the start of the hand. I laughed hysterically and now wish I had kept that piece of paper.

So I've been in Thailand for 10 days with a broken wrist and it hasn't been too bad. I met a Canadian girl that broke hers and she goes 'Yeah, I booked my flight for tomorrow, when are you heading home?' And I said, 'oh, i'm going to Bangkok and then up to Europe so I won't be heading home for another 6 weeks or so' And she looked shocked!! Utterly shocked. 'What?! You're not going home now??' (At that point I started to question myself.) "Uh... no, I mean its just a broken wrist.' Her response, in a very snooty voice, 'Well, six weeks is a really long time to be miserable.' Ouch. But I did a slow gaze out from behind her head and looked at how beautiful the surroundings were (I was on a Thai Island at the time) and I thought to myself about how dumb she was for going home! I know I'd be kicking myself in the butt if I got home and sat around thinking about all the stuff I had missed out on!! Dumb Canadian.

That was about a week ago, and I still feel great about my decision. I haven't been miserable at all! Off to Europe now and hopefully all these hospital visits will stop!!! Wish me luck!

Hospital Stay? Sure!

2009-07-31T01:58:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I had a little health scare... here are the dates and my thoughts on the issue....

July 17, 2009
I believe most of you know I'm sick in Hoi An, Vietnam... in a hospital with a fever, sore throat, achy muscles. Came in this morning around 7am because I couldn't sleep and figured I should get checked by a doc, get some antibiotics and be on my way. But oh no. They thought that I could have swine flu and didn't want me lurking around their country without staying a night in their hospital. So, here I am. It's now 11pm, the doctor left me his laptop, which connects to wireless Internet, I have a big flat screen TV, Air Con, private bathroom, and room service!! Compared to some of the places I've stayed, this is essentially a really nice hotel!! Plus, and more importantly, I'm feeling a ton better than when I was this morning so that's a good thing! I'm hoping to get checked by the doctor again tomorrow morning and get cleared to move out.

Check out those sweet hospital pants... I took them as a souvenir

July 18, 2009
It's Friday night here in Nam and I'm still stuck in the hospital. The attached photos are from my adventures today. The small vial next to the teapot is what I needed to 'urine water' in. This was a very entertaining conversation between the male nurse and myself. He handed me the bottle and said something in Vietnamese. I looked at him very confused and he mumbled something (with his swine flu mask on so I couldn't read lips), and then his little eyes widen and he cocked his head to the side when he was done like 'You understand?' And I shook my head. He then went on to make somewhat of a peeing sound and said urine water a few times until understood him. As soon as I did, I started laughing extremely hard and said 'You want me to pee in THIS tiny thing!?' He laughed back, probably not understanding anything and said 'yes, yes'. I couldn't believe it but did my best. Pretty sure that bottle used to be filled with some drug beforehand and now they are reusing it for my tinkle... but, I guess they're being eco-friendly??? Or just cheap.

The evidence of what happened... that teapot is only for one serving of tea... so its small.

Afterward, the doctor that speaks the best English, which isn't saying much, came in to tell me that people were being flown in from the government to take information from me... sweet. In come these people in the full body blue suits to take my blood, a throat swab and a nose swab. None of them spoke English, and all of their goggles were getting fogged up by their breath. I couldn't help but laugh at them... and then the leader of the pack, a Nazi woman came at me with her Q-tip to take a nose swab, which I assume is just a nice little graze in my nostril... but oh no, again I am tricked and she friggin' dug that thing so far up my nose I thought she was poking my brain!!! Stupid lady. I flailed my legs around, said a few curse words, which the man in the blue suit started laughing at. (Sorry Mom, I thought I could get away with it since they didn’t speak English.) I then grabbed the woman’s arm and pulled her stupid Q-tip out of my skull!

But now all those have been flown to the medical center in another town that has the capabilities to test it for Swine, and the results should be in within 24 hours. Which means, I'm here til tomorrow evening. If they come up clear of swine (which I think they will), then I'll get outta here right then, and if not, I could be in here for a whole week!! AH! let's hope not...

No comment needed.

July 19, 2009
The results have yet to come back…. I’m staying another night here and the doctor said he would call my room directly at 9am when the results are in. For some odd reason, I feel like they have my results but enjoy getting another couple hundred bucks for me to stay overnight again. Ugh….

July 20, 2009
Results are in and I’m FREE!!! No swine flu. They actually didn’t tell me what I had… I assume it was strep throat or something along those lines. Nothing like staying three nights in a hospital in Vietnam. I actually lucked out though; in my opinion… it was almost like a few days in a hotel – room service, movie channels, wi-fi internet. Best part: my insurance pays for it!!! Glad that little bill will get some use to it. The only real downfall was not being able to leave, but I’m back to being healthy now and off to do more traveling!

If anyone ever gets sick in Hoi An, Vietnam, go to the Pacific Hospital in town!

Monkey Mountain

2009-07-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

I've heard of a place in Vietnam called 'Monkey Mountain' for most of my life. My dad would tell all of us kids his stories about being in 'Nam and going through Monkey Mountain. He said that when they'd go through, he's whole company would pick up rocks and get into these full blown rock fights with all the monkeys in the trees. It was quite the story to hear as little kids and we were always entertained.

Since I came to Vietnam, I knew one of my 'must-do's' was to try and find Monkey Mountain. I figured it'd be a long shot because it was probably just nicknamed this during the war and no one would actually know what the mountain was that I'd be asking for. But, to my surprise, I really lucked out. Here is an email I sent home to my family, as I'm too lazy to re-type the story out:

I did find Monkey Mountain! Dad told me that he was stationed in Danang, about 20 minutes north of the city. Danang isn't a common tourist stop, so I figured I'd do that part on my own and catch up with my friends down the coast, but two of them decided to come with me...which was a great decision. We get to Danang and had heard of a guesthouse called Hoa's Place (pronounced Whaa), that he was a Marine in the war, ran a great business and was located 300 meters off a beautiful beach. We thought this sounded pretty fantastic, but knew that when things sound great in SE Asia, they usually tend to be far worse than the beautiful picture you had in your mind. Luckily when we got to Hoa's Place is was BETTER than we imagined!! As soon as we arrived, all 5 foot 3 of him jumped up, came out to greet us, thanked us for coming to see him and offered us drinks. He sat down with us and we started to chat away. (The main part of the guesthouse is an open air restaurant, which everyone goes there throughout the day, so its easy to meet people, share traveling stories, etc. Plus, Hoa has an honesty policy, so the fridge is open for guests at all times, you just write down what you take, which I love because then you just feel more welcome.) Anyway, we had a nice first day. Hung by the beach, swam in the bath water temperature ocean, played catch in the water with some Vietnamese boys, and then had a 'family style' dinner that Hoa puts on every night.

Photo of Hoa, myself and his wife. Sitting in their kitchen.

The next morning, I got up to have breakfast and started talking to Hoa again. At this point, I knew I had to say Dad was a Vet and stationed in this area. I hadn't done it the day before because I wasn't sure on the response I'd get. But as soon as I said 'My dad was here in 1966', Hoa jumped out of his chair, came around the table and gave me a hug, then said 'Now Molly, you no make me cry, ok?'. I laughed and said OK. I told him all I knew about Dad's time here and he said he wanted to call his friend Bill and get him down here. Thirty minutes later, a bald man on a motorbike heads in. Bill is from Colorado, was also a Marine but stationed in Vietnam in 1969. In 1994, Bill decided it was time to come back to Vietnam to see what the country that had scarred him so many years before looked like now. He's a photography and with the pictures he took throughout the country, he published a booked called "Vietnam: A Second Look". I had a quick glance at the book and it is very good!! Think I may order one for Dad when I get back to the States.

I asked the two Vets about 'Monkey Mountain', 'Red Beach' and 'Dog Patch', and they knew exactly where they all were! Much to my surprise. I thought all of these names were just made up within Dad's company because he said they called it Monkey Mountain because of all the monkeys, red beach because the sand was red, and dog patch because the villagers cooked so many dogs. I honestly thought it would be a long shot to have anyone know where these places were, but luckily I was chatting with two Vets. Bill then asked me if I'd want to go for a cruise up to Monkey Mountain. About 30 minutes away from where we were. Obviously I said yes, and off we went for our adventure!

Bill and I after our adventure to Monkey Mountain, having lunch at China Beach.

Strangely enough, the mountain that was in the midst of a war 40 years ago, now is home to a Buddhist temple and monastery. In the photos, you can see the Female Buddha that is the protector of the harbor.

The enterance to the Buddhist Monastary.

Side view of the Buddha, and she is still under construction.

When I got back to Hoa's place, he kept going on and on about 'your dad is my brother, he see things that only we know, he my brother, and that mean, you my kid, you queen of this house while you here. i take care of you'. (He probably said that to me a good 15 times, which then made me question his mental stability, but overall, one of the sweetest men I've met while here, even if he's a little crazy.)

The old Marine Base

This is the view from Hoa's Place, on the beach. The entire first day I had no idea I was looking over to Monkey Mountain the entire time. (You can see the Buddha in the middle, the large white dot.)

More Updates

2009-07-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

I'm in Vietnam now, but I'll update from the past couple of weeks. I traveled through Laos for about 10 days and it was VERY nice, though I didn't do as much as I would have liked.... I traveled through Laos with the 5 Irish guys that I met in Chaing Mai while with Kel and J. To get into Laos you travel by a slow boat that takes two days to get to the city of Luang Prabang. It was actually a really nice journey, with tons of beautiful scenery along the way! Once in LP I was shocked to find that the Lao people being so aggressive when it came to offering us things (rides, hotels, food, etc) because in the guide books it says that the people are VERY laid back and you'd have to approach them... well, not the case for me. But little did I know what lay ahead in my travels....

While in Luang Prabang we went to an gorgeous waterfall!! Definitely the highlight of my trip in that country! I did my very first cliff jump!! It was a huge feat for me because I am so scared of heights. Luckily, some of the Irish guys talked me into doing it and I went for it! It was pretty fun but I was more grateful for the sense of accomplishment I left the waterfall with!

Here are a few photos of the waterfall:

This is from the bottom looking up to the top of the fall, where you can do the cliff jumping and swim.

This part was fantastic - its the swimming area and the edge to the right is where the waterfall goes, so you can literally swim up to it and look over the crashing fall!!!

Next, we headed to Vang Veing, which is known for the party scene that the town offers. I had heard of 'tubing' in V.V. and that it was a must-do while there. I didn't ask too many more questions of it, just figured it was a casual float down the river with a few beers trailing behind us in a cooler, just as we do at home. Well, little did I know that this was not the case!

I head out for the day of tubing with my Irish friends, we get dropped off at the 'start' of the tubing portion, with no tubes in hand. And, oddly enough we're dropped at a bar that has a deck overlooking the river... as well as the 40 foot swing/zip line platform looming over everyone. All the boys were SO excited about doing the swing, so I became their mom, holding all their belongings while they scurried off to the ladder.

I ordered drinks and wondered out to the deck to watch the guys plunge to their deaths (not really). I watched them all go through and to describe the scene a bit better so you can visualize it .....

You walk onto the deck, which is about 5 feet back from the river (which is a murky, muddy, rushing river), you look to the left to see a bar on the side of the river every 100 yards or so. You see half naked people (read: swimsuits) jumping into the quickly moving waters with no tube and half floating/swimming to the next bar. You look above you to see the forty foot platform poking out from the tree that its built up against. You watch these people jump off the platform while holding onto a bar connected to a rope that hangs above them. They leap off the platform, holding onto the bar, and when the rope catches, all of the persons weight is dropped into their arms. The swing out about 50 feet, straight in front if the crowd watching on the deck. After the person swings back and forth a few times they let go and drop into the river. (The extreme people try to do flips or dives off the highest point of the swing.) A few of the audience members have cards to hold up and rate the jumped. After watching this, if you turn to look upstream you will see a beautiful limestone mountain, more of the river, and a rice paddy off in the distance. Its a crazy mix of things to take in all at once, but I completely know why it is so talked about and a 'must do' while in Laos!

So... it's my first day of tubing (I went 3 days) and oddly enough I find myself being talking into doing the swing... ugh... I hear 'remember how easy the cliff jump was? And how great you felt after it?" Yeah, yeah, yeah.... as I slowly walk to the ladder. Step by step I'm thinking 'Don't look down. You can do this. You'll be fine.' Once I get to the top though, I look down. Crap. This is a lot more extreme then the cliff jump! Forty feet up, over a raging river, on some crappy make shift platform! Oh hell no.... I turn around to walk back down. "Molly, no. You can do this. You'll be fine", says my oh so nice friend Peter. I counter with, I believe, a solid flow of curse words and yet again am convinced I can do this.... I step to the edge, grab onto the bar and close my eyes. I jump off to immediately open my eyes and realize what I've just done and instantly let go of the bar! Oops... big mistake. I hadn't even fully swing out yet so my jump essentially turned into a free fall from 40 feet with a slight angle to it. I hit the water somewhat awkwardly but not a full belly flop, luckily!! I popped up out of the water to see all the looks of pity coming toward me, and slowly swim over to the edge of the water and slump my shoulders while walking out... I then go through the crowd, get some encouraging comments to go give it another shot, but at that point I was adamant about never do that again!!

Here is a picture of the group of us at an Irish bar in Vang Vieng. The boys I was with know the owner because he was traveling a year ago, met and fell in love with the daughter of the owner and now he lives here and owns it himself!

Another shot of something you don't see too often -- novice monks walking to get on a boat and a group of kids bathing in the river.

If you want to see more waterfall pictures you can go to my album online:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2179627&id=25909423&l=df8777097b

And more random Laos photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2178499&id=25909423&l=7600fadd2d

Updates updates updates

2009-07-02T01:28:00.000-07:00

First off, I apologize for the lack of posting since I've been in Asia. It's a bit more difficult to find a good internet cafe and I still haven't found a good enough one to upload photos!!!

I'm currently in Laos and going to make my way to Vietnam soon, but updates from the past couple of weeks.

Kel, J and I had to say our goodbyes in Chiang Mai, Thailand two weekends ago. We had a great time together and Chaing Mai is a very cute town. Lots of good restaurants, plenty of temples to look at and a few different activities to get into.

While the girls were still teaching their classes, I headed up to the city first and went for a day long trek, which involved hiking through the rain forest, riding an elephant and going bamboo rafting down a river!!! It was a fun day and I think the highlight was when the guide on my elephant jumped off, told me to scoot closer and sit ON the elephants head, and then my guide just wandered off to the back of the pack. So there I was sitting on an elephant that weighed nearly 10,000 pounds (!!!) leading a group of 5 more elephants with 2 people sitting on each of them!!! Absolutely crazy, and surreal!! From there we crossed through a river (while I was still leading the pack) and made it to our send off on the bamboo rafts. That wasn't quite as exciting as I thought it'd be, but still a fun adventure to be had!

The next day I signed up for a cooking class which I absolutely loved!!! I learned 10 different Thai dishes - pad thai, curry, spring rolls, mixed veggies - but the BEST dish was the sweet sticky rice with mango. It's a dessert they have and is SO delicious!! I can't wait to try to make it when I get home!! (That's actually one downfall of traveling in Asia, there isn't any chance to cook your own meals which is something I love to do...)

Kel and J came in the next day and we all had a good time together for the weekend. I'm hoping to meet back up with them in Bangkok at the end of my trip here, around mid-August. Hopefully they can sneak away from school for a day or two to meet me!!

Over the weekend in Chiang Mai we made friends with a group of guys from Ireland. They were heading out for the same route as me, so I've been hanging with them for the passed two weeks now!! It's been very, very fun... though the stereotype is true about the Irish and drinking....

Long enough post for now... I'll try to update again soon and get some pictures up for everyone to see.

Hope home is treating you all well!!!

THAILAND!!!!

2009-06-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

I've made it to Thailand!!!

I spent one night in Bangkok and then hit the road to get to Lampang where Kel and J are teaching. Bangkok was NUTS from as much as I saw. My plane landed at 1am, I headed out of the airport a bit concerned about how to get to my hostel with it so late at night. But, being the naive person that I am, I didn't realize that Bangkok never sleeps... honestly. On the 30 minute drive from the airport to Kho San Road (famous travelers destination), there was traffic, there were people all over the streets, I saw a full fledged farmers market going on -- it put Pike Place to shame (not really, but kind of)-- I got to Kho San to find the street packed with travelers and street vendors selling tons of food... And this continues all night and all the next day!!! I got up the next morning, strolled around town, got a Thai Massage....very interesting... ate some bomb food for like 2 bucks and then decided I'd catch the overnight train up north to Lampang that evening so I could meet up with Kel and J!! (The photo above is on the train, and my friend Karina, the other girl in the Kayak story, met up with me in Bangkok and then took the train with me up north).

I got to go to the girls school where they are teaching English. Here are some photos of them in action:

Kel says 'Yes, you Joe'

Jbo played Hangman with the kids and wrote my name in as the word... so obviously I made the kids start chanting Molly, Molly, Molly....which sounded more like Morry, Morry, Morry.

It was very entertaining to go to the school for the day, though extremely exhausting and I didn't even have to teach!! The classes usually have 50 students in them, and very, very few speak any English. It's actually really funny too because the kids will come up to you and chat away in Thai and tell you some random story and you just have to stare at them blankly, shrug your shoulders and then...they keep going!!! (I had an old Thai woman do this to me too in a taxi and when I said I didn't speak Thai, she just kept chatting away. She was pointing at my knees and then hers and making an 'ouch' face, so I think she was saying that her knees hurt and my knees were young and strong... maybe?? Only so much you can pick up on from gestures!)

AND THEN......

I got to go to an Elephant Conservatory!!!

Here I am riding an Elephant through some water.... trying to take a candid photo of myself....

The elephants have learned how to paint.

His final product, which went for 500 baht. (Less than $15... I thought about buying it, but didn't want to lug it around for the next three months.)

It seemed that the Elephants were treated pretty well here and I was OK about visiting. I've heard horror stories of how they train these elephants to do certain things, and since I'm an animal lover, I try not to encourage those situations. Part of this conservatory was an Elephant Hospital that I went down to see. They bring in any Elephant that is injuried and do their best to help it recover. It was pretty legit overall, so that made me feel good about visiting!

I left Lampang today and just got up to Chiang Mai. The girls will meet me in a couple of days for the weekend. In the mean time, I've signed up for a trek to the highest mountain in Thailand, Doi Inthanon. Sounds like we'll hike for the morning, get toward the top, stop at a waterfall for lunch and a swim, hang out a bit, then take a bamboo raft back down to the bottom!! Should be cool and I'll update as soon as possible!!

Hope everyone is doing well at home!!

Byron Bay

2009-06-09T19:07:00.000-07:00

I left the Gold Coast (where I learned to surf) and headed south for Byron Bay. It's a small 'hippie' town and I was told that people are constantly walking around in a stoned state. Figured I would be used to it since I lived in Bellingham for a few years....

When my bus pulled in through the city, I knew right away that I would love it!! No building was over 3 stories high. It's filled with shops and cafes and overall very cute!! I spent a few lazy days there, just cruising through stores and stopping for a coffee and snack. I've had a very difficult time with ordering my coffees while here though. I normally get an Iced Americano, but here if you ask for an iced coffee it comes with milk, ice cream and whipped cream on top... sounds great, but not the best for a lactose intolerant person!!

The most exciting thing I did while in Byron was go on a sea kayaking trip. My hostel roommate, Karina from Norway, and I decided to sign up for an afternoon out on the ocean! Off we went into the Pacific with our guide in the next boat partnered with an Irish guy. Karina and I shared the other boat, with me in the back because I've had a big more kayaking experience than she had. It was a beautiful sight to see -- large cliffs were to our right with a lighthouse perched at the top. We came to a rest in a small cove, when our instructor said this is where the dolphins like to hang. We waited for about 5 minutes to no dolphin sightings and just as we went to paddle again, we spotted one sole fin riding a wave in toward us about 50 feet away. It was a bit eerie for me at first, considering a shark fin looks awfully similar to a dolphins, and I was in a plastic boat about 6 inches above the water! Once I saw two, then three and four fins pop up close to each other my nerves settled and I was able to enjoy these beautiful animals!! I think in total there were 8 dolphins at one time, they didn't come too closeto us but within 15 feet. We could easily see them and hear the little 'pfffts' of breath from their blow holes.

BUT, that wasn't even the most exciting part of the trip!! Adter we decided to call it a day, we turned our boats around and headed back toward the beach. Our guide gave us some pointers for how to 'ride' the waves in and not tumble of out the kayak. Hoenstly, I was pretty excited about this part of the trip. After my stellar performance at surfing, I thought this would be amazing! Since I was in the back of the boat, I got to make the call on which wave we would catch. I let a few go through and then saw my chance. I told Karina to start paddling and we started to pick up some speed at the perfect time to get the wave. I felt it pick us up, and I started to notice that karina wasn't staying in front of me but rather started to go below me! The front of the kayak stayed with the wave while the back had hung off and was beginning to go airborne! I was literally 16 feet in the air (the legnth of the kayak) before I "decided" to bail and was catapulted off and into the sea!! *Picture having jello on a spoon and using the spoon to fling the it somewhere...well, I was the jello being flung*

As I was comiung down toward the water there was a split second when I thought 'Man, I could probably get hurt from this...." I hit the water, held my breath, got pummeled by the next wave, popped up and felt no injury and could breath. Success! I immedately turned to find the boat and Karina, and as I did I caught our guide 20 feet away with his fists thrown in the air and cheering for us! (Picture stereotypical surfer dude - way tan, bleach blonde long curly hair going "That was gnarly dude!")

Karina was 10 feet from me and looking around with her eyes wide open double in size... I sensed then that she didn't enjoy this as much as me...when I got over to her she said she was done and headed for the shore. I followed along and pulled in the boat. Our guide met us there and luckily the guide could tell how much fun I had and asked if I wanted to go back out there. Obviously I said yes!! We caught a few more waves but none of them compared to me being turned into a human food fight!

This is a picture of Bryon Bay (on the right). We left from the right side, saw the dolphins right before reaching the tip of the point- though we did go around it. You can kind of make out the lighthouse at the top of the green area.

Computer sucks...

2009-06-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

Computer won't let me add as many photos as I'd like so they'll just be spaced out.

The Blue Mountains most recognizable feature is the 'Three Sister's'.... here I am standing within them.

Here is a view from afar of the Three Sisters.

If you can see on the left side, in the middle of the photo there is a white dot? That's where I was standing for those previous photos.

Blue Mountains pt. 1

2009-06-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

I went up to the 'Blue Mountains' with my friend Kathy that I met on my flight down here. The Blue Mountains are supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in Australia, so we decided to go check it out for ourselves!! And I must say that it was amazing!! I've uploaded some photos below, but they do not give it justice for how magnificent these surroundings were!!

A little history of the mountains: They are located about 50km outside of Sydney (it took about 2 hours by train), it consists of 7 national parks (its HUGE), its filled with gorges and waterfalls and tons of eucalyptus trees. The reason this area is called the Blue Mountains is because of the eucalyptus trees giving off a 'blue' mist that lingers in the air.

One of the MANY waterfalls we saw.

That is hanging way too high in the air, by a very small rope.... definitely did not sign up to do that!

A Sydney Morning

2009-06-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share a few photos from a recent ferry ride I took from Balmain (surburb I'm staying in) to Sydney.

Mom! Look what I can do!

2009-05-29T21:17:00.000-07:00

I got to learn how to surf!!! I arrived to the Gold Coast on Thursday, checked into the first Hostel I found, and asked about activities I could do here. The receptionist was very helpful and said that I could jump into a surf lesson in about an hour. I was a little reluctant at first because I wasn't mentally prepared to learn how to surf that day, but I figured since the weather was nice and there was an open spot I could fill, I ought to do it.

My instructor picked me up and a few other people and off we went to a The Spit (a quiet beach with small waves- perfect to learn in).

Here is the gang:

I had SO MUCH FUN surfing!!! I was by no means good at it, but I did stand up and catch a few waves!! Here are some candid shots. I think if I hadn't been laughing the ENTIRE time, I may have been a little better... oh well, I had a great time!

Heading out - looking like a pro:

How to Surf:

Bring right knee up to center of board:

Bring left leg up to center, in front of right foot:

Push yourself up to standing position:

And stand up to ride the wave!! (With a big goofy grin on your face):

A few wipe outs for your enjoyment:

"Times Are A Changing"

2009-05-23T11:51:00.001-07:00

My friends Sarah and Britt helped me out and put music on my iPod (since my computer crashed and I have no more tunes). It has been fun listening because I have no idea what songs are on there (I have a ghetto iPod that doesn't show song titles). When I first sat down on my flight and pressed play, a familiar voice came through - Bob Dylan singing 'The times they are a-changing'. Thought that was extremely fitting for my current situation...

Before I actually start 'bloggin' about my adventures, I must say a few things. I look at this whole experience not as scary or intimidating, but as the best opportunity I have had so far in life. Who really gets to take a five month long vacation?? I mean, seriously!? And just travel around the world, meet people, learn about new cultures and about themselves! It's kind of a joke that I am able to do this! I shouldn't say that because I am so grateful that I am here. I plan on taking it all in and making the most of this situation. (I'll give a shout out to my parents here -- I AM able to do this trip because they have taught me how to be open minded, carefree and strong. Plus, Nanners let me stay in the basement so I could save all of my money!! Thanks Mom!)

Now on to real bloggin....

It's currently 4am Sunday morning in Sydney Australia... My body seems to think it is 10am on Saturday morning in Seattle. I was lucky enough to stay in a hotel my first night on my travels so I'm using the FREE internet to update everyone.

I've made it safely, obviously. The plane ride wasn't too terrible. I was the first one to my row and unfortunately got the window seat... As each person walked slowly toward me, I was crossing my fingers and hoping that no one would sit next to me. Right at the end of everyone herding in like cattle, a nice lady sat down in the aisle seat, made a joke about how we should both pray that no one will follow her and sit in the center seat between us. I knew right then that I liked her! And to our benefit no one did come sit next to us!! My new friend Kathy and I chatted away for a couple hours until my 2 Tylenol PM's kicked in and I crashed for about 8 of the 14 hour flight! Kathy was on her way to visit her daughter (get this), Molly, in Sydney! Could it be foreshadowing to what my Mom will be doing down the road????

After the flight, I successfully made my way into Sydney without any issues at all! I got off the train and started to search for my hotel. I was trying my best to not look like a completely idiotic tourist, but I think the look gave me away:

22 lbs in the big bag on my back!!

I didn't want to pull the map out, stand on a street corner looking like a lost puppy, so I kept walking and around the corner I go, when my saviour appears!! No, Susie not a tall dark Italian man, but STARBUCKS! Ah, a little taste of home and a delicious coffee waiting for me. I saunter in, chat with the Barista's and make my way to a corner table to pull out all the brochures, maps, coupons, etc that I have collected since the airport.

As I'm reading through all my material, I hear a man behind me order his coffee and say 'It's in my blood, I'm from Seattle'. *Head turns to face him* And even more to my surprise, he's wearing a Seahawks jacket!!! Love this guy. He and his wife walk toward me so I start chatting with them and they give me a few pointers about the city... overall though, I'm really happy to see that us Seattle-ites are branching out of our comfort zones while we are out around the world....

I figure out where my hotel is, finish my iced Americano and walk the 3 blocks to get there. I'm feeling doubtful that I'll get my room, considering it is 9am, so I'm a bit early for check in. To my surprise, they have a room and it's fine that I go check in to it!! I organize a bit and then head out to wonder around the town for the day.

Later in the afternoon, I was sitting at a bench looking at this view:

When a 70 year old man from Greece approached me. (Envision a man that is 5'5'', white haired, tanned skin, big round glasses that make his eyes slightly larger, wearing khakis and a blue blazer.) He said "Why you beautiful woman all alone?" I looked up toward him, smiled, shrugged and said 'Just traveling'. He looked at me curiously stepped a bit closer and said "You have heart of steel, very brave woman." As he made a fist and touched it to his chest. I scooted over on my bench and patted the seat next to me. He obliged and sat down. We chatted here for a few minutes, right before it started to pour down rain!!! He looked over at me and said "Would you like to continue talking? We can go to Art Museum." I thought to myself, I've got nothing else going on... plus, talking to a guy like this is pretty entertaining anyway! We walked around the Museum of Contemporary Art, and shared life stories more than compared our thoughts on the artwork. Well, he did most of the talking and gave me LOTS of advice on how to live -- such as, marry as late in life as you can, around 50 or 60. And I said George, but what about having kids? And he said 'Oh yes, well if you want children then you must marry younger'. He also told me that experience is the best way to gain knowledge and you can never know enough and you never will know it all. After our afternoon, I asked to take a picture with my new friend George, and really wish I had so you could see how cute this guy was... but I think it was lost in translation and he thought I was making fun of him. The day was dying down, he said he needed to get back to his wife and I figured I could go back to my room to plan some more adventures. Overall, it was an amazing day and precisely the reason I love to travel!!

Will see what other new friends I will make....

Solo Traveling

2008-07-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

This past week I went on a trip all by myself, which was great!! I loved having the freedom to do exactly what I wanted to do. There was no checking in with anyone, no making sure someone else wanted to do this or that... complete independence for 6 whole days!

I left last Monday to fly into Christchurch, a town on the South Island that Kelly and I had previously been to. I boarded the plane and got a window seat, which I had requested because the scenery flying over New Zealand is beautiful!!! The ocean color can't be explained properly in words, its a mix of a tropical beach blue but in the depths of the ocean and then there are these huge cliffs that are covered in a bright green moss that shoot up out of no where and go for hundreds of feet. It's really amazing to fly over and get to see all of this.

Here is a map of the South Island. Christchurch is on the East Coast and Queenstown is lower and central.

So I take my window seat and have a guy about my age in the middle seat and then a young boy in the aisle seat. The guy next to me quickly starts to snooze as soon as we take off and is doing the bobble head thing and nearly bonking into my shoulder every few minutes. And then the young boy, maybe 8 years old starts throwing up about mid way through the flight. Luckily, I had the window and could stare out over the ocean with my iPod in to drown out the surrounding noises....

But I landed safely in Christchurch and LOVED the feeling of arriving on my own and getting to make my way into town. I really chose to come back to Christchurch because Kelly and I didn't get to go to a cafe we read about because it was closed the day we were in town. It's called Globe Cafe and I went on a hunt trying to find it. I eventually did and had a latte and lunch there and read a really good book -- Greg Iles is the author and I've read three of his books while being down here, so if you need a good book I suggest looking into one of his.

After lunch, I wondered around the city which has great artwork throughout the town. The main center is called Cathedral Square because of this:

It's a gorgeous Cathedral and obviously looks beautiful while lit up at night.

I got back to my room and met 3 girls traveling together. They offered for me to go to dinner with them later that night so I tagged along. There was a Canadian, a Brit and a Kiwi. It was nice to chat with them and we went out for a few drinks after dinner too.

The next morning I had to get up early to catch a bus to Queenstown, which is further south on the South Island, thus a lot more cold! I think that's a big misconception of New Zealand - People assume that because its in the 'south pacific' that it's really warm and tropical... but that's not the case at all!! It's pretty comparable to Seattle winter right now, pretty cold and rainy. I think it is a bit more cold than Seattle though because they get storms that come up from Antarctica, so its a more harsh chill than what we get in Seattle.

While on the bus, I met two nice people from Wisconsin. We got to chat a lot and it was great to finally meet some AMERICANS down here!! It's ALL English people that I meet. The bus ride took 10 hours to get to Queenstown so I got into the city around 6pm. I had a bit of a scare because I hadn't booked my accommodations prior to getting into town, I figured there were enough Hostels that I'd be able to get a room since I was traveling on my own. I walked to the first hostel, and they were fully booked, so I moved onto the next and they were booked as well. This made me nervous. I headed to a nicer one in the center of town that I was sure they'd be booked if the other two were... but luckily someone had just cancelled their reservation so I got a room!! I headed up to my dorm room to meet 6 English people that were traveling New Zealand together. They were all very nice and friendly so we got along well. But, I was craving the whole bus ride to go to --for dinner. Everyone in the room couldn't afford it so I took off to have dinner solo. I think I may have blogged about Fergburger before, but it doesn't hurt to tell again how amazing these burgers are!! Even the Vegetarian ones!! If anyone comes to New Zealand and goes to Queenstown, they MUST go to Fergburger. I want to relate it to Dick's, but its more exclusive than that and the burgers are massive and, well, better. Sorry to the Dick's fans but they don't give me a vegetarian option while Ferg gives me TWO!

I met up with my new Wisconsin friends for a few drinks after dinner but had an early night. Little background on Queenstown -- its known as the adventure capital in New Zealand. It has the first bungee jumping site in the world, and three other jumps you can do as well. There is white water rafting, sky diving, luging (kind of go-car racing) and skiing/snowboard, paragliding plus a bunch of other things! And, I had no inclination to do any of these things....

My first full day in Queenstown consisted of a bit of a sleep in, then a walk around town to find a grocery store then I came back to the Hostel to make myself breakfast. After that I headed to the information center to ask about the Spas in Queenstown because I wanted a pedicure and massage. I booked this up for the next day then took the Gondola up to the top of the mountain overlooking the city. It had great views of the surrounding areas with the lake below and snow capped mountains all around us. Queenstown really reminds me of a smaller Whistler. There are two mountains to go skiing on and the town is quaint and relaxing, yet upscale enough if that is what you are looking for. Here is a picture from the top of the gondola.

After the Gondola I did a bit of shopping and wondering around the town. Bought some food for dinner and heading back to the Hostel to cook some stir fry! After dinner, I went out with the English people in my room and later the Wisconsin people met up as well. We ditched the English people and went to a new bar which has a live band. It was a ton of fun!! We got some dancing in and met a few other people there and just had a really great night! I got home late and knew I needed to wake up early enough in time for my day at the spa.

I got to the spa with a little hangover but figured it would be cleared up after the massage. Which, it was, and a cup of tea. The massage was really good but the best part was they let you take a shower there afterward and they have all these special products from Fiji. Now after staying in Hostels and having to take showers in them, this was remarkable to get a big, clean shower that produced hot water!! Man I thought I was in heaven. After that I headed off to my pedicure and got a hot pink color to wear with my flips back in Seattle summertime!

It was lunch time by the time I was out of the spa so I asked for a suggestion of a good cafe to go to. The lady that helped me suggested 'VuDu Cafe' which was just down the road a bit. I walked over there and it looked really cute and was pretty crowded so I decided to stay. I hung there for a few hours and read my book, while eavesdropping on the conversations around me... didn't pick up anything too good though. It's been fun to try and guess where people are from while being out an about. There was one couple that was definitely from America... The woman had platinum blond hair, and, a some 'enhanced' features, while the husband was probably 20 years her senior and balding. The were dressed in matching ski attire and Ugg boots. It was pretty funny to watch and I wish I could have snuck a picture in without them noticing.

My last night in Queenstown was pretty lazy, I didn't want to spend any money so I stayed in for dinner and didn't go out for drinks. Plus, I was engrossed in my book and laid in bed for a few hours to finish it.

The next morning I got up early to take the dreaded bus ride back up to Christchurch. Two good things happened while on the bus; one - this picture below:

and two, I met two Irish lads. I love how conversations have to start in situations like riding a bus for 10 hours and having the same people sit by you the whole time. Most likely everyone would want to talk to someone, but its just an awkward thing to start up the conversation. The Irish one was good though. I was sitting behind them and sneezed and one lend over the chair and said 'Bless you' and I replied Thank you then he just said 'OK now talk to me, I need some entertainment.' So that was that and we enjoyed the rest of the bus ride together. Luckily he did talk to me when he did though because I had just remembered that I had a whiteboard pen in my purse and I was thinking how fun it would be to use this on the big window for some Tic-Tac-Toe or hangman. I proposed the idea to both of them and they thought it would be fun. So this whiteboard pen gave us hours of entertainment!!

When we got into Christchurch I asked where they were staying the night and they said they had a flight out at 7am so they were going to stay in the airport and, I since I was flying out at 8am I thought it would be fun to join them!! We stayed in Christchurch as long as we could then took the bus out to the airport and got there around midnight. Once again, on the bus we met two more people that had the same idea as the Irish boys and we stayed with them at the airport as well. It was a good adventure, staying up all night playing cards and chatting away. I don't think I would choose to do it again, unless I was really broke, but it was fun to do for the time being!!

Traveling solo is very interesting. I think 6 days was good for me, it is a challenge and tests your confidence in terms of trying to meet people and, if you don't just needing to do things on your own. It was fun for the week but some people do this for a year and I can see that becoming exhausting!

Now I'm back in Wellington and have 3 days until I go back to the airport and fly home. I am really looking forward to getting back and seeing everyone, and enjoying the summertime. I was really bummed out about leaving these past two weeks but now that I've done my trip and its all winding down, I'm looking forward to getting home.

See you all in Seattle!

PE Staff Out and About

2008-07-05T21:11:00.001-07:00

The studenst at Upper Hutt have to wear uniforms to school and some days they get what's called a 'muffti' day, which is that they don't have to wear uniforms. There was a muffti day during the last week of school but it had a theme of uniforms from other places (McDonalds, nurse, or sports uniforms). Kathryn, who is pictured below with me, thought the girls of the PE department should wear Netball uniforms and then throughout the day whenever we walked past each other we had to play defense. Here are a few shots of us out on the courts after school:

(The headband says 'G Unit' on it- goes well with the specs)
Michelle, Kathryn and I passing the ball around.

Our department went out that night to celebrate the end of the term, and give myself and Kathryn (she's decided to take some time off from teaching) a proper farewell from Upper Hutt College. It was a good night with bowling, dinner at an Ale House and then bars and what have you in the big city.

We started out at a very nice bowling alley. It wasn't in the 1960s condition that average bowling alleys are in. It had high class TVs, great lighting to distract the uncoordinated bowlers, and what I was most impressed with were the shoes! They were in new condition and didn't have the heinous neon colors that we normally get.

As you would probably guess, I did win the bowling game with a stellar score of 136. It wasn't the best game ever played but it was good enough to beat my coworkers! :)

Kathryn upset about how poorly she bowls.

And me trying to teach her some skill.

After the game we went to Speights Ale House, which was really nice but had very few vegeterian options amongst the array of steak variations! The department presented me with a little gift - they got me a bottle of wine and a perfect T-shirt. It says 'I [heart] NZ'. I've been looking around for a shirt like this, but they were all too cheesey, but this one is great!! I'm so happy about it.

Here are the boys at dinner - Willie's side face, Brad, Jono and Adam down at the end.

And the girls - Fiona, another student teacher, Sue, a veteran teacher and Michelle.

Adam and I striking an intellectual pose.

During dinner a few people confessed their enjoyment for Karaoke, so we decided on going into Wellington to a good karaoke bar. Unfortunately, my karaoke skills are not as good as my bowling ones so I wasn't looking forward to any peer pressure I was about to get to have me on the stage and sing a number.

We headed into town and took over a completely empty bar. I got to introduce the Kiwi's to a drink called a Touchdown (for those of you that don't know what is either, it has a pint glass half full with Red Bull and then you drop a shot of Absolut Mandrine in it and chug it down). Everyone seemed to enjoy it so I was happy!!

I believe everyone sang at least one song while we were there. Fiona made a bad decision by picking 'November Rain' by Guns N Roses and not knowing the words.... unfortunately I was near the stage and she dragged me up there to help her out. Everyone else did quite well though! I think the winner was Adam with a very good job of Lionel Richie's 'All Night Long' song.

We all had a great night! It was a really good way to go out and celebrate with everyone!!

Why I'm Actually Here....

2008-07-04T15:03:00.000-07:00

I realize, after being here for three months now, that I haven't 'blogged' about WHY I'm actually here... to teach.

Yesterday was the Fourth of July here and the last day of Term at Upper Hutt College (the school I work for, and its a high school they just call it a College down here). Overall, it was a great experience for me. I'm extremely bummed out that it is over though. I met some remarkable young students and made friends with some very fun people on the staff!!

Student teaching is an interesting thing coming from the States. We sit in a classroom and learn how to teach for three years, then at the end we actually get to go in a classroom and teach. The teachers in New Zealand go through 1 quarter of school work then get into a classroom and teach for 3 weeks, then go through another quarter of coursework then teach in a classroom for 4 weeks and finally one more quarter then in the classroom teaching for 5 weeks. It makes such a huge difference! I know a ton of people that I went to Western with that thought they wanted to teach but got into the classroom at the end of all the course work and realized they hated it!! How nice would it have been for them to figure that out after 1 quarter of coursework!?

That realization was a real eye opener for me and I can understand why there is such a big drop out rate for beginning teachers in the States! It'd be nice if we could change our schooling a bit, though I'm sure there are schools that work that way and are mainly specialized in teaching.

My students.... I had some great kids at this school. UHC is ranked as a 6 out of 10 on the 'decile' system. It mainly is used for government funding. A 10 out of 10 means that the school is very well off in terms of finances and types of students that go there. While a lower number means there isn't much money in the school and the government will fund them with more. So Upper Hutt was sitting right in the middle pretty much. There were definitely some 'troubled' students. It was funny being down here because all of my teaching associates would ask what the difference is between American teenagers and the ones down here.... and honestly, there isn't much. They are teenagers. They will have good days and bad ones.

The biggest difference that I did find was the variations of our cultures. America is extremely competitive and always trying to reach the next step - get the promotion, make the best sports team, buy the bigger diamond etc. etc. - while here it isn't like that at all. At least for the kids. I figured this out through my help with the Junior Girls Basketball team. I was super pumped about being asked to help coach the team and really looking forward to teaching these Kiwi's how to play bball.... but I was highly disappointed when I realized the kids weren't out to win or even improve for that matter. The Junior team is equivalent to a Freshman team back home. I had 9 girls on the roster and at best we would have 6 girls at practice. Which, shockingly, were ONE DAY a week! We would practice one day a week and have one game a week.

The sport for girls in New Zealand is to play Netball, which if you read a previous post slightly describes it. With my girls growing up playing Netball their whole lives it was a big adjustment to get 13-14 year olds that didn't know what deny defense looked like or how to use a screen. I had to change my mindset on how to coach them and turned it more into a fun situation rather than a learning/improvement opportunity because most of them weren't looking for that.

I really am still shocked at the one day a week practice. It was nearly uncomprehendable to me when I first heard it. There are pros and cons to it though. Instead of having the competition of try outs for people to make the only 3 teams of that particular sport (Varsity, JV and Frosh/Soph), everyone gets to make a team down here and they have the open venues because not every team plays each night. At UHC, a school of 1200 students, there are 16 netball teams and 12 rugby teams. So there are a lot more kids that get to be a part of a team and don't have to worry about getting cut or not making the squad after try outs. That aspect is nice. But from my American point of view, there isn't the level of competition for the kids to try harder or practice more so that they do make that team since there are limited spots. This, I believe, adds to a teenagers personality and lets them grow more. And I think it shows up in the classroom because the students (this is a generalization) wouldn't try harder on their work, they would just turn in what is acceptable and leave it at that. There was no competitive nature of who got the best grade in the class. I definitely remember students chatting after getting a test back and seeing where they ranked amongst the class, who they beat in that particular score. That really doesn't happen down here.

Again, pros and cons to both sides though. I'll let you sort out your own opinion of which one is better or worse.

Transported to San Fran?

2008-06-17T00:59:00.000-07:00

I went on a bike ride with Sam over the weekend. We headed out to Eastbourne, which is on the other side of the harbour from Wellington. It reminded me SO MUCH of San Fran, well, more specifically Sausalito/Tiburon looking over toward San Fran. (See Map below, if its too small you can click on it to enlarge it).

The ride was great though... the beginning was nice and relaxing (the wind was behind us) and we headed out from Burdan's Gate toward Pencarrow. We had great views of the South Island and its snow capped mountains and over to our right was the other side of the harbour. It was a great day to go out for a bike ride!! Here is an action shot courtesy of Sam:

We got out past Pencarrow and toward Fitzroy Bay, where the name is on the map and on the way we found a shipwreck. Sam knew it was out there, but it was all new to me. So we took the photo op and here is a shot of me:

I learned a lesson about wading near water about 5 minutes past when it could have been useful for me! Sam told me to 'never stand on a wet rock' and in the photo below I'm doing exactly the opposite of the advice and getting a shoe full of Cook Straight water!

The ride back in toward the car was a bit more difficult since we were going in TOWARD the wind this time. And the wind can get pretty strong down here. I was in my lowest gear, on virtually flat ground and BARELY moving! If you've been on a bike machine and have tried going on the highest level, yeah, thats how it felt. Oh it was so rude, after having come out there on the easy, peaceful ride then turn around and Bam! Hit by a wall of wind. It was tough, but we did make it eventually. Needless to say, I was sore afterward!! (Right Fi and Sam???)

Unfortunately for some reason we didn't get any great photos of the view over to Welly. But we did get this picture of some of the houses in the area... definitely remind me of the cute beach town atmosphere of Sausalito.

But fortunately, Sam and I stopped at a Cafe for lunch afterward. I believe it was called "Chocolate Days Cafe"... We had a nice time and I enjoyed my Chai Latte and then we headed back home to call it a day and for me to write lesson plans.... so enjoyable!

A weekend without Kelly...

2008-06-07T18:46:00.000-07:00

Kelly left on Tuesday so I spent my first weekend in New Zealand without her. It is a bummer having her gone, but school is picking up to full load so I can use the down time to plan lessons and get ready for the week. Which, I pretty much did all weekend. I did have some fun though. Friday night Fi Sam and I went into Wellington to go to a going away party. Surprisingly, it was someone I am connected to. The woman I worked for in Bellingham, Sue, has a sister that lives in Wellington, so we were FINALLY able to meet each other... a week before she moves back to the States!! It was a good party though and her sister was very nice to chat with.

After that we headed up to the top of Mt. Victoria. This is the 'mountain' I posted about that holds my favorite view in Wellington - looking toward it and seeing the church. But, from the photo below this is the view you get from the top of it (and the church is just below on the hillside). It was a crystal clear night so we were able to see the whole city lit up which was pretty nice!! As well as all the stars in the sky. It was beautiful.

After the viewpoint, Fi and Sam wanted to induct me into the 'darn good bread' club. Which... well, if bread is in the clubs name, I'm usually game for! So we drove about 5 minutes away and came to a bakery that stays open 24 hours on the weekends. Its apparently famous for late night (post bar) bakery good binges. The club started when Sam and a few of his buddies wanted to change scenery from being at a party, the wondered down the street to find that this bakery was open and went to get some grub. As I picture it, I assume these gentlemen drunkingly stumbled into the bakery and got their loaves and all repeated that it was 'darn good bread'. Thus, the club was born. And now, I am a proud member!

Saturday I tried to sleep in for my day off but woke up WIDE AWAKE at 7:15... I guess it is a bit of a sleep in compared to the normal 7am wake up call. Fiona had a netball game in the morning so we went to watch that. It's quiet a different sport, and this league plays outside so they had to deal with wind and rain!! After that Sam had to swing by his parents place... and since we had been talking about it for a few weeks, he offered for me to drive home!! Yikes!! Wrong side of the road, AND the car is a stick shift... which is also on the wrong side!!

Luckily, I made it all the way home with no harm to the car or any people. I did have a close call with a parked car because I wasn't paying attention to the left side of my car and how close it was getting to the parked ones. And, I didn't stall the whole way! I hadn't driven a stick in a few years so I was worried about that, but managed!!

Saturday night the All-Blacks (New Zealand's national rugby team) played the rugby team from Ireland here in Wellington. We didn't get tickets but we did go downtown to The Loaded Hog to watch the game. Sam drove me in, with his friend John and Fi had a netball party to go to so she missed out.

I'm really enjoying the sport of Rugby. It's very cool how into it everyone gets down here. There really isn't the same attitude toward sports that we have at home - Friday night high school football games, March Madness, etc - but for Rugby they definitely get passionate!! But I think the best part of watching the game was at the beginning, the team does a 'Haka'. It's pretty much a traditional war dance from the Maori but the All-Blacks, plus various other teams have taken it on. The team groups up and stands at about mid-field, while facing their opposing team and do this dance... which, dance isn't the best word for it. I'll attach a link to a couple of the video's I found on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zvs4T4RU30 This is just of the All-Blacks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eGCsEQ15L4 All Blacks vs. Tonga which is a team that also has a Haka and does theirs at the same time which looks very cool!!

Most of the opposing teams just stand about 10 meters away and watch, showing their respect. But a few teams have kept warming up, or just ignoring the All Blacks. But a few years ago ballsy England decided to walk arm in arm straight up to NZ and stand about 10 inches away from the first guy.... I'm trying to find it on You Tube but haven't been successful yet!!

If you have the time, I suggest watching the videos and trying to imagine Matt Hasselbeck doing this!

Last weekend with Kelly....

2008-06-01T23:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Kelly's last in New Zealand. It's a sad sad day down here...

Luckily though, it was the Queens Birthday Weekend, which means Monday is a holiday so Kel and I got to spend another fun weekend in Wellington and have it be a 3 day!!

On Saturday, we had the ambitious plans of taking the train up north to 'a couple small towns' all day to go to cafe's and tour around... we left our house in the morning and hopped on the train. We got ready to buy our tickets and told the lady where we would like to go and she told us that we missed that train. Oops! From our lack of research, we didn't realize that the weekends only had one train leaving to go north in the early morning and one train coming back in the evening. While sitting on the train heading as far as it would go, the whole 15 minute ride to Upper Hutt where I teach everyday, Kel and I were figuring out what to do now. Luckily, I got a coworkers cell phone number and texted him to say we'd be stuck near his place for a little bit. This new friend of mine is Paul Higham... I like to call him Sir Higham, because, it just fits his character (he is an English and Drama teacher at Upper Hutt). He was right near the train station and decided to come greet us and show us around this particular small town... not exactly what Kel and I had envisioned for our Saturday adventure, but it worked out!! Sir Higham took us to a cute cafe that used to be a movie theater, we got some coffees and chatted away for an hour until the next train came through.

Since we couldn't continue our northernly route, we heading back down south toward Wellington. We thought, we could go to some small cafe's in Welly and do tourist-y things there... which we did! We got down to the waterfront and, Sir Higham gave us the idea to rent Rollerblades. I'm not much for this kind of activity, but I said if we can rent them for under $10 I'm in. Kel and I strolled into the little rental shop on the waterfront and saw that it was only $7 to rent the skates! We figured we should do it, no matter how lame we looked - which, we did - and again, the evidence is on Kels camera so I'll have to upload the pictures at a later date.

We headed out...very slowly, and not so gracefully (well I should say I did all this, Kel seemed to be a pro). There were two highlights from this - one was when Kel and I got to a small bridge to cross over... there were wooden slates that made up this bridge and for some reason kelly and I couldn't exactly push off to get the blades moving, so we held on to the side of it and just walked across... in the blades still. Yes, this would have probably been pretty funny just to watch, and we were laughing at ourselves while slowing stumbling over the bridge, but the best part was when an older women came whizzing by us and said 'Alright, now I don't feel so bad!'. How rude!! She was rubbing it in that she was such a better skater than us... not cool, but very true.

The second highlight was when we had just started out. The waterfront is a flat area and well paved so it was a good way to head out on skates that I hadn't been on for about 10 years. Kel skated ahead of me and I was trying to keep pace, but doing so unsuccessfully thus, she was about 15 feet ahead of me. I started to hear a rumbling noise behind me, and it was coming up quick! I slowed down and turned my head to see 7 little kids on their skateboard and one by one they were whizzing by me!! Apparently I let out some kind of whimper because Kel turned around to check on me and find I'm frozen in place amidst skater boys flying past!

Unfortunately, this may not be quite as entertaining to you as it was for Kel and I...

After skating, we treated ourselves to a drink at a bar nearby, hung out in the city for a while longer then went back to Lower Hutt to meet up with Fi and Sam for a family function.

Sunday Kel and I went to see the musical Cats in Wellington and we went all out by getting a hotel near by. The show was really good and one of the teachers at Upper Hutt was in it! We went to a veggie place for dinner then just relaxed at the hotel to celebrate the fun trip we've had so far!!

Unfortunately though, Kelly's time in New Zealand has come to an end and she is heading back to Seattle tomorrow (Well, we think she is heading back... we'll see if she gets on the flight!)

That's all for now. I'm preparing for my last month and a half down here and doing so without my side kick Kel by my side! Should be a good experience for me though and I'm looking forward to branching out a bit more!

Half Way Point...

2008-06-01T21:30:00.001-07:00

Last week sometime marked the half way point of my adventure Down Under. I roughly have about 45 days left and thought I would help myself out by compiling some of my favorite things about being in New Zealand. For the readers out there... well, you probably won't really get most of these things and its mainly for Kelly and I to re-read when we are home and remember the little quirks that this country has to offer! : )

I'll just write the list out as I wrote it in my notebook while cruising around town the past few days... so, in no particular order, here we are:

Going to cafes and spending hours chatting away with Kel while contemplating what the difference of an 'Americano' is to a 'long black'

staring at the ever changing sky (it seems more blue and that the clouds are more interesting since being down here... may be true, may not be.)

experiencing it all for the first time

being on 'vacation' for the weekend

touristy activities (rollerblading on the waterfront)

appreciating home so much more from being away

the no tipping policy! (this will be tough to go back to once I'm home)

tax is already included in all the prices, so $9.99 really means $9.99

Cuba Street and Courtney Place in Wellington

The nightlife! You can go down Courtney place on a Friday or Saturday and there will be HUNDREDS of people on the street walking from bar to bar

Asking a Kiwi what they do does not mean what their job is -- this is an amazing concept that everyone should try to take with them -- in America we ask what you do, in reference to your job/career, here it is what a person does with the money they earn from that job i.e. surfing, cooking, traveling, etc.

Maggie's Mix - a trail mix at our favorite Grocery store:

New World (the grocery store)

Walking down to the Dairy, either in Kelson or from Zach's on Mt. Victoria

having to turn the heater on before going to bed

Cooking at home

The lounge in the house

Living with Fi and Sam

Pam's Brand at New World -- Pam has been very good to us, her Peanut Butter, Soy Milk, Hummus and granola bars have been some of our favorites!

Morning swims with Fi and the pool before school

My office at school

Being a teacher in New Zealand and having this unique experience

Wednesday night dinners at Fi's Mom's house

Coaching the girls Basketball team at school

The strange 'beep' when crossing a cross walk

the absolutely insane bus drivers we have come across!

'Slices' - essentially a cookie or treat and its in a rectangle shape

"the Flyer" - our bus to get home

Very good looking Kiwi Dads

When a rugby match is on, the world seems to stop

Base Bar! our favorite bar with the best playlist for us (Whitney with I just wanna dance with Somebody, La Bamba, and Jump for my love!)

The view across the bay to the Church on Mt. Victoria -- if there is anyone reading this blog and knows what this church is called, or how to get a picture of it, please let me know!!

Here is the best picture I could find when I googled it... but it is not nearly close to the whole view you get from looking across the bay and seeing the Church just pop out amongst the green trees and small houses that surround it. (The picture below does not do it justice, but will give you an idea.)

And here it a picture that I found in our archieves of photos. Doesn't totally do it justice but it works...

A Sunday of Adventures....

2008-05-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

We headed into Wellington two Sundays ago and went to the Zoo with Fiona and Sam. It was, well, a zoo. Nothing special really, aside from the Kiwi we saw. Couldn't take a picture of it though because of the lighting, they like to stay in dark places and thus we couldn't disturb them! We did meet a very friendly Giraffe as you can see below. It's coming up to sniff Kel.

Here are a few cute otters. I just like the picture of them together, there isn't really anything special about them!

Now this guy.... what a wierd looking bear!! It's a Malayan Sun Bear

And just a monkey for show!

After the zoo, Kel and I stayed in Welly while Fi and Sam headed to a Netball game. We hung around the city for a while until this 'dinner' we heard about -- I posted about it a couple weekends ago, before we had actually gone. It caught our attention on a flyer because it said it was an all-you-can-eat vegeterian dinner for FOUR DOLLARS! Definitely sold us on that and we didn't pay much attention to the Yoga session that was also written on the sheet.

So we arrive at the place around 5:00pm and get lead into a room to sit on the floor and watch singers perform. Keep in mind here when we got the flyer, we received it from people like this:

So we're sitting in a big room with dim lights and 5 people on a stage singing a song. And the song has 3 words and repeats the entire time. They did this for the first 15 minutes straight.

Ok, Kel and I thought. We're open minded. This is fine. Then... the song continued. Another 15 minutes went by and the finally stopped the song!

Oh good! We can eat that delicious, vegetarian meal now, we thought. But no, we were wrong. A performance started and gave us the history of 'Hare Krishna'. I had no idea what this was... nor that I was getting an education on it this evening, but kel and I sat through it and learned a bit. This theatrical performance lasted around 45 minutes, and was somewhat enjoyable.

Yes. We will eat now!

Wrong. Again. The 'leader' of Hare Krishna was here to talk to us. And talked, and talked, and talked. We learned about the history, the start of this following, who was doing it, where this guy had traveled to tell people about it and much much more. Then, it was done.

And then, they started the song again. 3 words, repeated, for 30 minutes. NOOOOOO!

It was almost 3 hours after we got there that we finally got to eat. And oh, was it worth it!! We sat down to a nicely dressed table with a cold drink waiting for us, and this wasn't just any drink, it was a lemonade with infused tea and lavendar in it!! Delicous!! Then the meal came and was amazing. There were a variety of veggie items- lasagna, salad, pasta, sauteed veggies and other things I can't even remember!! We stuffed our faces. When, just as the performance kept going, so did the meal. Out came dessert! It was homemade ice cream. And, they had a vegan option for Kelly!! Perfect. This capped off our experience with Hare Krishna's, and we headed home.

Kel on the other hand may, or may not have returned.... that's for her to disclose.

*Side note, nothing at all against Hare Krishna's from me. I think they were lovely, friendly, open people. Just the whole singing for 30 minutes straight and having it be the same words repeated took me out of it! But to each their own.

Hawkes Bay

2008-05-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend Kel and I ventured up to Hawkes Bay again. We got a brief visit of the area during our first road trip. It's a beautiful little area made up of Napier and Hastings (two towns). Napier is the more elegant of the two while Hastings is the hard working industrial side. Napier is known for its Art Deco buildings because of a huge earthquake in the 1930s that demolished the city, and then was rebuilt in that time era. We stayed the weekend in Napier and had planned to get into town, rent some bikes and go tour the vineyards again... but the weather held us back.

We made it into town at 8:30am on Saturday morning and headed over to Starbucks to start our day out in Seattle style, considering the pouring rain that would keep us inside all day. We spent about two hours there just drinking our coffee and talking.... Kel and I have been together nearly none stop for the past month and a half, yet we still can sit in a cafe and talk for hours!! It's amazing really. After Starbucks we walked around the town and tried to do some shopping, though neither of us actually bought anything! (I'm trying to figure out souveniors to take home but can't really come up with anything... if anyone wants something from New Zealand, please don't hesistate to ask!)

Luckily, I had recieved the email address of a girl, Hillary, down here from Seattle also doing her Student Teaching in Hastings. I emailed her earlier in the week to let her know that we were heading up for the weekend. She would be in town and actually spending the weekend in Napier with her direct supervisor, Leigh, who is also my indirect supervisor. In the afternoon on Saturday we met both of them for more coffee at another cafe. We chatted for a while and it was nice to get to hear someone elses opinion on the benefits and disadvantages of student teaching abroad. Also, it was nice to have three Americans and one Kiwi in the situation so we all had a few good laughs about the differences! We departed ways after our coffee and decided to meet up later that night for dinner and drinks.

Leigh came down to our hostel in the city center and picked up Kel and I. We went out and got a take away noodle dish and headed back up to Leigh's house.... which was beautiful!!! The house is gorgeous and sits on a bluff overlooking the Bay and the two cities below it. It was really nice! She has two children and a great husband that we got to meet as well. After dinner at her place, Leigh took us down to a few of the bars nearby. We got a couple of drinks and there was a big Rugby match on (Wellington versus Christchurch) so the atmosphere at the bars was very serious and into the game since those are two big rival cities. The best example of the rivalary would be UW vs. WSU or something along those lines.

We called it a night pretty early and headed back to our hostel, then got up in the morning to meet up with Leigh and Hillary again and go to The Filter Room, which is a brewery/cider house a bit outside of the town. We headed that way and tasted a few different beers and ciders, then met up with our ride to take us back to Wellington.

It was a fun, yet relaxing weekend which was a nice change of pace. Now its back to the school week for me and Kel has one more week in New Zealand!! Oh, which I don't think I posted about.... She was supposed to leave on May 5th, but decided to cancel her flight and stay for another month. So she's here until June 3rd now.

This week, school picks up for me and I'm pretty much taking on the classes full time now. Then this weekend is the 'Queens Birthday' so we have no school on Monday. This worked out well, and Kelly and I have decided to stay in Wellington for her last weekend. On Sunday we are going to see the musical CATS that is in town, and stay in the city in a posh hotel instead of a hostel!! How nice! I'm very much looking forward to that!

Hope all is well back home and the weather is turning into a lovely summer. It's winter down here and seems to be a lot like Seattle with the cold and rain, so it is bearable.... though it isn't the dead of winter which I hear gets extremely cold!! I'll keep you posted.....

Another weekend in Welly....

2008-05-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Kel and I took the 'cable car' up to this botanical garden that overlooked Wellington. It was a perfect day to go out and do this. Not a cloud in the sky and just the right rempature. We wandered around the gardens for a few hours and Kel took some pretty pictures of things : )

The city is behind us, and that is Wellington Harbour

Two great pictures of the botanical gardens we walked through.

And on Friday night we went out to a restaurant called 'Flying Burrito Brothers'. We've been missing our Mexican meals, so this was exactly what we needed!! We got there and had about a 45 minute wait, but had heard good things and had a 50% off coupon, so decided to wait it out. We saddled up to the bar and got a pitcher of margaritas to help the time pass! Here is a picture from the bartendar, who gave us some amazing hats to wear for the photo:

Today is Sunday and we're back at Fi and Sam's place. We're planning to head back into the City tonight because on Friday night we met a group of singing/dancing Buddhist that gave us a flyer to a Yoga/Vegeterian event so we'll be heading out soon to go check that out!! Should be a good time!

Rugby Match!

2008-05-11T15:34:00.000-07:00

Kel and I went to our first Rugby match this past weekend! It was the hometown team of the Hurricanes versus the Force. (Hurricanes won 21-10) Kel and I hadn't seen much rugby yet, so we didn't understand everything but we started to pick up bits and pieces. It was REALLY fun though! The stadium is about half the size of Qwest field, so its a bit more low key. It was a terrible stormy night, but luckily we were about three rows under the overhang to not get soaking wet. We went to the game with Zach, his roommate Francus (from France) and Sam, the guy we live with.

The game consists of two halves, forty minutes each and about a 10 minute half time. I can't tell you much more than that though!! It isn't straight foward offense and defense, like American Football so it was tough for the crowd to get as into it as us Hawks fans do when we're on defense! Kel and I were very happy to find that the beers at the stadium were only $4... but they were about half the size of a beer you'd get at a Seahawks game. We had a lot of fun though and didn't really think about the 20 minute walk to the bars after the match and getting rained on while we were in the stadium... so once we started to leave and the storm we were watching in front of us the whole night was now straight above us made for a quick paced walked into the nearest bar!!

We headed to a hostel where some of our friends were staying that we had met on the South Island the week before. We stayed there for a few hours, considering the hostel usually has the cheapest drinks in town. Then Zach took us to a bar called 'Good Luck' which was great!! It was an underground bar and they were having a DJ battle that night. It was a very fun, relaxed atmosphere, with some dancing involved which Kel and I have been into since we've been down here. It seems that here (and maybe it's just the bars we've been to so far) tend to play more fun dance music, then the bump and grind kind of music we get a lot at home. So kel and I hit the dance floor and jumped around singing along all night!! I think our favorite song from that night was "Jump for my love" -- it was in Love Actually -- which we knew all of the words to and one of the English guys we were with commented on that as he proceeded to leave the dance floor....

Overall, it was a great weekend!! Rugby, beers and dancing, can't get much better than that! Happy Mothers Day, even though its Monday for me... but I hope the kids are spoiling you!! Mom, I'll make you breakfast in bed when I get home : )

You can see a bit of the down pour.
Kel and I with our Tui Beers
Close up of some of the players.

Glacier Adventure

2008-05-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

Kel and I continued our trip down the West coast of the South Island and got to Franz Joseph Glacier. Little info about the Glacier: It sits about 240km above sea level, and is located within a rainforest. Yes, a rainforest!

The day before we got there we signed up for a full day hike up the Glacier, and the morning we woke up to go on it was POURING rain. Once we got to the hiking center, they gave us the option of cancelling the trip or downgrading to a half day since the conditions would be so bad. We decided to do the half day hike instead while a few of our friends opted out of it completely.

We left the center wearing their very nice gortext rain gear and headed out on what turned into a 2 hour hike up through the rainforest to the front of the glacier. This picture below, we hiked along the right side of it through the brush. And the center grey area has some streams and one large river running down the middle.

We crossed a few streams and went up into a brand new trail that had been cut out the day before for us. This trail made it a bit sketchy walking up since it was fresh dirt (mud really because of the rain). I felt a little uneasy about going up this route, considering the conditions were getting worse and we'd just have to hike back down through this area on our way back. Kel and I carried on and got through the muddy rainforest area. We stepped out of the bush to an open stone field with a huge river running down the middle from all of the glacier water. We were about 50m from the glacier and were told to put our "crampons" (Bear can correct me on that one) on. They are the spikes that go on the bottom of our shoes to help us walk on the ice.

As soon as we had completed this we gathered in toward our leader excited to move on and up the glacier! Then, our guide told us the bad news - we were unable to climb up the glacier because the stream we had crossed an hour ago had turned into a RIVER! We thought he was joking since we saw two other groups ahead of us and still on the glacier, but he said they hadn't received word yet and would be turning around shortly. Being the cheap traveller that I am, I asked him if we would get a refund (not realizing the intensity of the situation-- but he said we would!) Kel and I were bummed out about not getting on the glacier, so we wondered over to a 2x2 foot block of ice that had been chipped off and reached out for that so we could at least say we touched the Franz Joseph Glacier!

As we turned away from the glacier, the conditions were just as bad, if not worse. It started to thunder and lighting, which added to the intensity! We were nearing the trail from the river side, and noticed the 'stream' we needed to cross. It was well up to my knees and rushing extremely fast! A few guides had come up from the starting location to make sure everyone would get out safely. The staggered themselves across the river and we each had to cross one at a time while being pulled arm by arm through the guides. It was very intense and scary!!

We made it safely across the first river and started up through the trail again. The guides told us that our original path had been washed out so we needed to take the back up plan. This consisted of lots of ropes and ladders that had been in place to climb over large rocks and down sides of cliffs. The best part of it all, well, best and worst, was crossing under a few water falls! It was scary at the time but looking back at it was fantastic!! We were already soaking wet from the rain, so it almost felt like a ride at Universal Studios... just that it was real life and if we slipped at any time we fall off the side of a cliff.

After about another hour of hiking like this we finally made it back to the parking lot to get the bus!! I felt bad about the getting our refund question, but once everyone was safe, I didn't feel like too much of a jerk! And we did get 50% back! :)

The pictures are at the bottom… I can’t figure out how to upload these in the order I want, but you’ll get the idea from looking at them.

Hope everyone is doing well back at home! I miss you all!

This is the 'stream' we had to cross. The people in the red are the guides that staggered themselves through it to help us.
Here is a picture of Kel and I reenacting our feelings of the adventure!

This one is of us BEFORE things got bad

An example of the waterfalls we had to go under. This picture was actually taken when we were heading out, so these waterfalls got a lot bigger and when we had to head back we were up there - about 100m above from where this picture was taken and had to cross under the water.

We made it back safely!! And you can see we are soaking wet...

Just a picture of the whole glacier

Zorbing!

2008-05-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Kel and I went Zorbing while on our Road Trip of the North Island. It was all that people said it would be! The most fun I think I could have had in a 15 second time period while being in a huge bubble and water splashing around!!

We went with Zach's friend Stu, so the three of us were inside the ball. There is actually quite a bit of space in there, we all could stand up, though the water at the bottom made it slippery! The guy covers the little hole that we came through then tells us to start walking toward the crest of the hill, as soon as we got over the hump we all slipped and the ball started to roll down the hill pretty fast! I could not stop laughing, and the only way that i can try to describe what was going on is that we were inside a washing machine. If anyone every comes to New Zealand it is for sure a MUST DO! I'll put pictures up as soon as possible... the computers on this side of the world are a little slow...

Kayaking

2008-04-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

Hey!!

I've gotten a few requests to do some more blogging so I will try right now. Kelly and I have been on a bus tour of the south island for the last week. We've had a GREAT time so far!! We started out in Nelson, a town at the northern tip and took a kayaking trip to the Abel Tasman National Park. It started out well, we headed off into the ocean, with very choppy conditions and not too much sun, but no rain at that! After about 45 mins of paddling away, our guide took us into "Shag Harbour" (no joke), and it turned into a secluded, calm, quiet area with beautiful scenary. It was so peaceful!! We continued paddling around for a bit and came to a turn where we saw our guides' face light up! He yelled back to us 'They're here! I see about 20 or 30 baby fur seals!!" I was so excited! Kel and i hurried up and got around the corner to see these little guys. They were adorable! They have these BIG eyes that stare at you under the water, but then they also come up to your boat and sniff around because they are so curious! It was amazing!!

Two love birds....

One lone guy...

Kel and I paddling out of Shag Harbour...

The whole day was perfect! It was so much fun and the weather held for us and started to clear up on our way back into the beach. Actually, aside from seeing these amazing creatures up close and personal (I honestly still feel like it was fake and we were really at an aquarium and the people in NZ are really tricking us....) but anyway, on our way back into the beach our guide decided to start a water fight with everyone. Kel and I were about 20 meters behind him as he started this up, so Kel goes 'Lets sneak up and get him!!" Great idea kel. So in we went! We were close and since I was in the front I started to splash him with my paddle and around he turns to start to get us, and obviously, since there was water coming at me I lunged away from it and Kel did so too at the same time... thus, we capesized into the Tasman Sea!!! AH! It was very very funny and not very cold at all so we enjoyed ourselves for a bit! I unforunately lost my sunglasses, but I think it was worth it in the end : )

I'll try to update this more. There is a Glacier story to tell and lots of good times we've had along the way! We're in Queenstown right now and head out tomorrow on a boat ride to Milford Sounds. I'll be sure to update more as soon as I can!!

Take care everyone!

Road Trip!!!

2008-04-23T01:26:00.000-07:00

Kel and I woke up on Saturday morning to start our road trip of the North Island!

Zach, our friend from High school, and his friend Stu from down here came to pick us up in Wellington and off we went!

It was Zach's birthday and we headed North for Lake Taupo. Once we got into town we checked in at the Visitors Center and Kel had been thinking of skydiving, which this was the place to do so. The info center guy had the best place in town as soon as her and Zach mentioned this, and hooked them up with a reservation!! About an hour later Kelly was JUMPING OUT OF A PLANE!!!! She's nuts. She jumped from 12,000 feet that consisted of a 45 second freefall... Yikes!! Zach went along as well and they both said it was amazing and they would definitely do it again!

We headed back into the City and got our set up for the evening... a classy little Motel/Camping set up... turned out to be around $12 a night for each of us. And came the very great inside joke of "We don't need that much space". It's one of those ya had to be there moments, but I'm writing it on here so Kel and I don't forget about it down the road.

We got ready for the night and walked down into the City center. We got quite a few coupons for dinner and drinks from the Sky Diving place and used them all up that evening! As we were getting into town though I noticed that my wallet wasn't in my pocket anymore.... damnit!! Very typical for myself though. We wondered back and couldn't find it in the pitch black, so decided to carry on with our evening and look again in the morning.

The night was VERY fun. We got to celebrate Zach's birthday and had a few other interesting things happen from the walk home (or just Kelly and Zach getting lost along the way and Stu and I beating them home in a cab but then being locked out of the room... thats another story though).

Everything went smoothly for that first leg of the trip... aside from the whole losing the wallet debacle....

A gorgeous sunset view over Lake Taupo - courtesy of Kelly Stovin

Kel being OH so excited for landing safely on the ground.

Zach and Kel acting scared prior to the jump

End of Term

2008-04-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Again...

So last Friday was our final day of Term One, and the end of my first week with student teaching!! Apparently every Friday is 'Sports Friday' so the PE crew and any other teachers get together to play some sports. This Friday we played "Tchuckit" or something like that... very odd game. Then we moved on to Cricket. Kel came to school with me, so she was there for the games! Both of us had never played or really even heard of cricket before but I suppose we caught on pretty quickly.... Kel did quite well though because she is a baseball girl and that is a big part of the game... kind of.

After about an hour of playing though it was moved on the After School Drinks -- obviously our favorite part, and mainly why Kel came to school that day! But the last day of a term the teachers stay after school and have drinks in the staffroom. It was lots of fun!! Its so different from America because that would be so NOT allowed. It was laid back and a good way for me to meet some new teachers and get more acquanted with everyone!

From there, we came back to Fi and Sam's to pack for our adventure the next day, as well as get ready for dinner out on the town that night!! One of the teachers decided to rent out part of a restaurant, Cafe Istanbal (Turkish food) so Fi, Sam, Kel and I went down there to meet up. It was DELICIOUS food. And a new teacher friend, Michelle, invited Kel and I to stay the night at her house, she lives in Wellington and we were meeting Zach early the next morning in Wellington for our road trip...

Going to try to upload some photos....

Out after dinner dancing with some coworkers:

Belly Dancer from Cafe Istanbal:

Fiona and Sam:

First Day of School

2008-04-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day of school. I had SUCH A GREAT TIME!!! My coworkers are all very fun and friendly and helpful! I toured around all day with one particular class, and they have a reputation for being the 'bad students'. It was interesting to see how they acted with particular teachers versus other ones. I don't want to bore you with my critics of the situation, but if you are a teacher reading this and want to know more then just ask!
Most of the students didn't know where Seattle was... when I first announced it in 1st period I heard a girl ask her friend if that was in Australia. Then later in the day a different girl asked me where it was exactly and I replied with 'the west coast of America'. She looked at me blankly so I said the same side as california. And that got her all jazzed up with questions about Hollywood, Laguana Beach and where The Hills are filmed! HA. How funny! That's why people have such awful impressions of Americans!!
After school we had a PE Meeting. This week our PE Head, Adam, wanted us to practice some sports we didn't really know... which for me were all of them!! We played a mixed game of NetBall and Soccer (Football down here). Then moved on to Field Hockey. I have never even picked up a field hockey stick before so it was a bit troublesome in the beginning, but I caught on eventually and after a lot of pointers from my coworkers.

I'm really excited about teaching now!! Obviously its just the first day, so lets hope I still have this attitude at the end of next term!!

This evening, Kelly and I are going with Fi to her NetBall game. It will be our first experience with that, and she said we can play if a few of her teammates don't show up. NetBall is essentially Basketball played with a Volleyball and you aren't allowed to dribble/run with the ball. Should be interesting!!

Kelly did a ton of research while I was at school today and is planning our next 2 weeks for the Holiday. Can't wait for that!! Sounds like we'll spend a few days on the North Island going wine tasting, zorbing (http://youtube.com/watch?v=-ljbOmNX7x0) and possibly Rver Rafting through caves with glow worms!! Then we'll head down to the South Island for about 10 days to ride on a big bus with a bunch of other travelers just like us!!! Can't wait for that!!!

First Weekend!!

2008-04-12T23:27:00.000-07:00

April 12-14th

Friday during the day Kel and I took the bus and walked around Wellington all day. We met up with our friend Zach from high school who has been living down here for two years. He played tour guide and showed us all the good spots!! Kel took some pictures and we'll be uploading those soon. After a long day of walking around and playing tourist, we took the bus back up the hill to Lower Hutt and met up with Fiona and Sam. It was one of their friends birthdays that evening, so we got ready to go hit the town up. We drove back into Wellington (about 20 mins -- comparable of Bellevue to Seattle or a bit further) and went to a restaurant like Benni Hannas where they cook the food right in front of you. It was fun! And the average price per meal was $30... but since Kel and I are on a budget we ordered the two least expensive appetizers and came to $20 total for both of us!! We were quite proud. From there we went to an Irish Pub called Molly Malone's.... good name.... A friend bought the first round for us and we stayed for a beer until I began to yawn uncontrollably and Kel pointed out that my eyelids were half open! Guess the jet lag is worse than I thought! The pub was fun though, and I can see us going back there. They had a live cover band, which shockingly, played the majority of American music. Oh, and Kel was getting chatted up by a local who apparently thought we were 'dumb Americans' and kept trying to say the songs they were singing were all New Zealand songs... Kel kept leaning over to me saying "This is the White Stripes, right?" or "I'm pretty sure this is Pearl Jam... and they're from Seattle, which is in America" What an idiot. Couldn't slip one past us!!

Saturday - Kel and I rose at 7:30am.... while Fi and Sam slept in past 10 (lucky)! They have a great room here at the house which looks out to beautiful rolling hills and sheep dotted across the green grass, and its our favorite room to be in!! So early in the morning we sit out there with our cup of tea and read the books we brought down with us. Once Fi and Sam woke up, it turned out Sam had food posioning and would end up sleeping the rest of the day. We had planned to take a hike over to the sheep on the opposing hill, but since Sam was ill we had to cancel. Kel and I continued to read and eventually went out to the front lawn since it was a glorious day (as they all have been so far). I'd say mid-60s or so. Afternoon rolled around and Fi invited us to go to the neighborhood pool to swim. Since we are rather stuck at the house, we decided to go on this adventure! We got down to the pool and it was HUGE and packed with children. We realized we were the only adults there with no kids to care for. This pool had a giant slide to go down into the pool, as well as a rope that kids could swing out from. Kel, Fi and I played around for a few hours then decided to go home. Sam was feeling a bit better and it was his nephews birthday, so they went out to dinner to celebrate while Kel and I stayed back to cook veggie burgers. Then we got ready to go to a house warming party of a couple that work at the school I will be working for!! We went to the house in Upper Hutt - about 20 minutes north of Lower Hutt, which again is 20 mins north of Welly. At the party we got to meet 10 or 15 teachers from the school which was really nice because i start there tomorrow so I'll have a head start on the names!! Kel and I really enjoyed ourselves there. The people are very laid back and fun!! Once again around midnight my eyelids started dragging so Fi initiated the move home.

Sunday - Kel and I slept in until 8:30 this morning!!! Then did our usual routine of reading in the lounge area. Around 11 we decided to walk down to the Dairy - which is the neighborhood convienent store. We headed down and took our time - maybe a 10 min walk down the hill - then browsed around the store looking for unusual things to get! Today we settled on Balsamic Vinegar and Onion chips! They are really good! Then I wanted a taste of home so I got a 12oz can of Diet Coke - which was $1.50... that will be a rare treat for me! : ) Then Kel and I made the hike back up to the house - they live on a very large hill! Once we arrived back home, we wanted to make home made hummus so we started that up in the food processor and it turned out really well!! Fiona was getting home from Church as we were starting on my homemade Minestrone Soup for dinner tonight. She did some errands and my Sous Chef Kelly and I finished the soup. Once we were all set to go we headed up to do the hike we planned on doing yesterday. We took off around one and didn't finish the hike until a bit after four!!! It was a lot longer than we all had been planning on!
I can't wait until we get the pictures off of kellys camera to show you how amazing this hike was!!! We started up on what i would consider a normal hike, a little trail with forest/bush surrounding you. And as we went higher the bush cleared out and we started walking along a pasture. It was the same area that we stare at every morning!! Although, as we were walking and passing cows and sheep every few feet, I kept waiting to see a Cowboy ride up on his horse and start yelling at us to get off his land! Apparently though, that doesn't happen down here.
As soon as the photos are up, it'll give you a better idea of what it looked like. But it was hard work, and amazing journey to see. At one point on the hike we were able to see both the bay in wellington and the other side of the island where the Tasmania Sea is! It was beautiful!!! We could also see far enough to see the south island.
We got home and started up the soup to reheat and Fi made homemade rolls for us. It was delicious!! We put on Dave Matthews in the background as we ate and chilled out from such a glorious day!

Tomorrow I get to start at my new school!!! SO excited to meet more coworkers, my students and see the school! I'll be sure to update more as I can and hopefully will have many fun stories to share!!
Love and miss you all.

NZ vs America

2008-04-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

I'm going to make a list of differences between New Zealand and America. This way I can remember all the strange things when I get back home and my memory fails me : )

Cold water is on the left side and hot is on the right
There are two BUTTONS to press on the toilet - one is a half flush while the other is a full flush (saving water)
"Tea time" is dinner time
They drive on the other side of the road
The drivers seat is on the other side
They eat 'whetbix' for breakfast... which Kelly likes and I don't
Vegemite is a big thing down here which is a yeast extract-peanut butter consistencey and smells rancide so we haven't tried it yet.
The mail men down here drive on the sidewalk on motorcycles
There is no 'taking a shower' its having a shower
Ice Box is the freezer
Lemonade = sprite
Trolley is a shopping cart

Arrived Safely

2008-04-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

Kel and I got into NZ last night and met our host family - Fiona and Sam. They are very sweet and fun people so we're looking forward to living with them! The one trouble we are having is that they speak so quickly and have very thick accents so it takes Kel and I a little while to catch on to what they are saying!

A few things I was asked about before I left:
So far the toilet doesn't flush in the opposite direction... it actually flushes straight down. Not sure if it is just the toilet at this house, so I'll update as I travel through the country and experience more toilets.

My dad asked what the country smells like.... Kel said she got a 'baking smell' not quite like pancakes but flour and water smell. And I think it smells fresh and like the ocean water. So there ya go dad, thats what we came up with!!

Today kel and I are going to take the bus into Wellington and explore a little -- its currently 7:30am and we're a little warped from the time change but it should work in my favor since I'll need to be at school around 8am next week!!

Thats all for now. I'll let you know how our first weekend in Wellington goes!!
Molly

Leaving America

2008-04-07T11:44:00.001-07:00

I'll be leaving America on Tuesday April 8th and arriving in Wellington on Thursday April 10th.

This is also just a test post to make sure it works! : )