Catch Up

Looking from the slopes down. It literally is a snow-capped Volcano in the middle of fields

Sunset on the way over

25 foot tall sheep shearing statue in Te Kiwiti (the sheep shearing capital of the world)

Leigh, Christoph, and I skiing out of bounds

The Volcano we were skiing on

So I suppose I owe everyone a recap since I'm about a week late. Last I commented on it was Wed. morning, and I was about to go hang out with a friend. Well to fill you in, I had a fabulous time on Wed. Chris, myself, a three and a four year old all hung out for the day. We went to MOTAT which is the Museum of Transportation and Technology, which in the month of August to Auckland residents is free (no clue why but sweet) The Museum was nice, and very large; however there is only so much you can look at when a 3 and 4 year old are dragging you around. We then picked the older kids up (Chris watches after 4 little ones (I don't envy him in the least)), from where we went to one of theirs Rugby practices. We then went home and waited till the mother got home, and then Chris and I left to go to the pier for our weekly couchsurfers drinks. We had a lovely evening there. It was nice to know I'm actually starting to meet like a group of people. When I returned home, Leigh was on the couch like she was the week before. So again she and I had a late night conversation, while watching probably the best movie ever made. It was a Japanese film that had been dubbed from probably the early 80s or 70s. Whenever Leigh and I looked up, there was either a ninja fight going on, a sex scene on the beach, or a corporate office scene going on (however it was mostly just the first two). It was brilliant needless to say.

Then on Friday, Leigh, Christoph, and myself all took a trip to Mt. Ruapehu to go snowboarding for the weekend again. This time Yannik was at respite care (where he is every other weekend) so it was just us (and Leigh's brother joined us as well). This time we went to Turoa rather than Whakapapa. I had an awesome weekend to be honest. Saturday it was a little cloudy, and visibility wasn't the best, but the whole mountain was open, and it was pretty good snow so I couldn't complain. That night we went over to some family friends of theirs who also happen to be mountain guides. That was cool (I got a crash course in avalanche survival from the man. I didn't know avalanche survival could be someone's passion in life, but it definitely is this man's). Then next day everything was open again, and it was extremely windy in the morning. Like a biting wind (it was cool though because from the chairlift you could look at the mountain and all the snow being blown just looked like waves in the ocean which was neat). After an hour or two fortunately the wind died down. So Sunday was absolutely exquisite. We had great weather and visibility. The snow that had been blown had just piled up in the ravines, so it was fresh powder essentially in the right parts of the mountain. I got to sneak on to a boardercross course they had run the day before (which was a sweet and super intense course). In the afternoon Leigh's girlfriend who we had had dinner with the night previous met up with us and she took us out of bounds which was awesome. We did this little traverse, and suddenly we were just in the open gully with no one around and just a snow covered mountain before us. It was spectacular. I couldn't have asked for better boarding (except maybe 2 feet of fresh pow, but lets not be picky). I also this weekend discovered the Monteith's Black which is a dark beer which tastes just like liquid chocolate. Its a NZ beer, and delicious.

So overall it was an excellent weekend. It was such a good weekend and got me thinking so much that I remembered that Blair Bowen, a female snowboarder from ASU that I used to race against was living in NZ on the south island. So I sent her a message, and we started talking. She mentioned how she had been hanging out with the local college ski team where she was. So I thought what a good idea. So I started to look up clubs at Auckland Uni (where anyone student or not can join) and I sent an email to the president of the ski club, and one thing led to another, and I think I am going to be able to race for them on Sept. 5th. I think it would be so cool to say I raced for Auckland Uni while I was here. So I think that is actually happening which is awesome, and I also emailed the improv club to see if I could get involved with them. And also, I found that there was a "The Drinking Club" and a "Meat Club" both started by the same man. That amused me enough that I sent him and email to congratulate him for being awesome.

So I believe that catches everybody up to today. I am making vegetarian burrito's for dinner tonight. However before I let your eyes return to whatever (probably far more interesting) other thing you are looking at on the web, I wanted to thank all you guys that have been reading the blog. I hope that you have been enjoying it, and I certainly have enjoyed writing and reading all of your comments. They are encouraging and wonderful. Thank you very much. I miss you all.

Wes

Eye Opener

So I realized as soon as I posted on Monday that I forgot to mention probably one of the ore humorous things that happened to me in a while. On Monday afternoon, I had to go sign a contract with Spectrum Care, (which is the company that actually will be paying me this year). So I got to sit in a small room and talk to a HR guy for an hour, and then I got to watch about an hour and fifteen minutes worth of video's on how to wash my hands properly and that sort of thing. It was pretty painstaking to say the least. At any rate, their business is rather far away, so I rode Leigh's bike there. Now just recently Leigh Christoph and I had been discussing how dangerous it was to ride a bike in Auckland. The drivers just aren't aware or used to cyclists so they don't pay attention. However I noticed many mailman (who get around on bikes here) rode on the sidewalk commonly. So I was returning from Spectrum on Monday, and decided to be safe and ride on the sidewalk rather than the road. (Besides roundabouts on a bike are terrifying and confusing.) So I was riding home and going moderately fast when suddenly out of nowhere a car pulls out of its driveway! I am about 3-4 feet from the car, and far from being able to stop in time, however I slam on the brakes. However my bike lock is resting on my right handlebar, so my rear brake is engaged far less then my front. The result? I pop a huge wheelie on my front wheel, go flying over the handlebars, and splatter all over the hood of this car. It was rather comedic and seemed straight out of the films, as my face was smeared up against the windshield and everything. I immediately got up, and the driver got out. We both apologized profusely and said it was our own faults (which was far better than her being angry with me). I think I must have dented the hood of her car, but she pretended not to notice I think. There was however a large black streak across the hood from my leather jacket rubbing rather forcefully against it. That however would wash off we both agreed. So we said our goodbyes, and went on our marry way. However, it was pretty funny. I was uninjured luckily except for a bit of bruising to my leg, and more importantly Leigh's bike was perfectly fine which was good.

Now on to a slightly more serious note. Last night I had a bit of a scary realization of what caring for an Autistic child really entails, and means. Also a better idea of what his parents must have gone through their whole life. I should say first that after this experience, I also watched the movie the Black Balloon, which is an excellent movie, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in seeing how Autism effects a household. Its nice because it doesn't glorify, or put a silver lining on Autism like many movies which are based around high functioning Autists or Savants like Rainman. This movie gives an excellent portrayal of your run of the mill low functioning Autism. At any rate, yesterday morning I woke up, and took a shower as I normally do. I cleaned the house, and in the afternoon I watched Yannik. At 5 I took him to a swimming lesson which he enjoyed. Then we came back and had a delicious dinner of squid, with a carrot salad (which sound nasty, but it was awesome actually). After dinner Christoph gave Yannik a shower as he normally does. I was in the kitchen doing the dishes when suddenly I heard Christoph yell "no" an running over to Yannik. It wasn't to unusual except for the sound of his voice, so I came over to see what the matter was. Yannik had found a disposable razor, broke the handle off, and was chewing on razorblade in the head of the razor. Somehow, by a prayer, he had not shredded the inside of his mouth yet. Christoph was confused as how it had happened. The answer? I had forgotten to take my razor out of the shower after shaving that morning. I should say, that Yannik doesn't really feel pain in the same way as you or I do. He feels some things quite acutely, but others he hardly feels (for example biting his hand till it bleeds). He would have chewed that razor to peices and shredded the inside of this mouth and tongue maybe without ever having ever even felt it. I took the razor from Christoph and through it away, as it sunk in on me that what could have happened by me simply forgetting to move my razor in the morning.
So needless to say, yesterday was a bit of an eye opener for me. That experience, mixed with watching The Black Balloon afterwards, and then talking to Leigh about Yannik as a child was very powerful lesson for me to swallow. Don't get me wrong, I'm not beating my head against the wall, and petrified by my mistake. I know everyone makes a mistake on occasion, but it was a realization, that a tiny mistake in this household, can lead to a major crisis.

Well, enough of that sort of talk. Its Wed. morning here. I am going to go clean up and such, because at 11:30 I have a playdate with my fellow Manny. His kids, himself, and I are all going to go to the zoo, and then Chris (that would be his name) and I are going to hang out for a bit. Then when he gets off we are going to go to a couple micro breweries, grab dinner, and then head off for downtown to the pier for drinks with the other couchsurfers. It Weekly Wednesday's.

The Weekend

So I want to apologize for not writing for a little while. I have been away for the weekend. (I'll tell you about that soon enough though.) There isn't much to say however about the rest of last week. Wednesday was a lot of fun. I met up with my fellow Manny (thats a male nanny by the way, in case someone hasn't realized that yet), and we made plans to hang out earlier in the day this Wednesday. Its almost like I've made a new friend. which is actually pretty cool, because he is thinking of moving to Chicago as well after this. (It seems thats the cool thing to do now-a-days) Outside of that not much happened except, that I definitely found out when the last bus ran on Wed. nights, along with the amount a person can haggle a cab driver down to in order to get from downtown to Onehunga. (the answer is $25 instead of $40) Also when I returned home for the night I found Leigh sleeping on the couch (I think Christoph's snoring was getting to much for her) However she was still reading, and so I decided three weeks in would be a good time to make some Japagetti, and have some nice evening chat. (It was a pretty funny night after a full night at the bar for me) I think she enjoyed, I hope atleast.

At any rate, on Friday, Christoph returned home early from work, he and I packed the car, got Yannik in there, and away we went. TO SNOWBOARD. We picked Leigh up from work, and to Mt. Ruapehu, a large active volcano found in the middle of NZ north island. It is surrounded by flat land, and then in the middle of nowhere, this massive volcano emerges. Leigh's family has a house close by the base of the mountain. So on Saturday and Sunday I went boarding at a place where you could board down the mountain, but if you walked to the top, you would find a huge lake that was to hot for a person to swim in (heated by the earth's core). There are to resorts on the volcano, Turoa and Whakapapa (which excuse my french, but in Maori the "WH" sounds like our "F" so it is actually pronounced "fuck-a-pawpaw, which always makes me chuckle). I should say the riding on a volcano is unlike anything I had ever ridden before. There are no trees or anything really except for rocks. So you basically just go up to the top, and then... find your way down. There are no courses or trails, you simply ride where you can. However this being said rocks and cliffs, aren't really marked. For example you can come over a ridge, and suddenly realize its not a mountain face in front of you, but instead a rock cliff. Needless to say it was interesting and different. I wasn't able to ride for to long since Yannik is only willing ot ski for about 2 hours before he is done. The top of the mountain was also covered in fog so you were unable to see anything. However Leigh Christoph and I are going up there again this weekend when Yannik is in respite care. So that should be great hopefully. More on that later.

Tonight I bibimbap for dinner. I had to make it vegetarian, but regardless, it was still pretty scruptious if I do say so myself. It was fun, and I think went over pretty well. And now, I am fat and happy.

And off. Have a great day guys. (I'll post some pictures soon from this weekend)

Amusments

The Sunrise from my house Yesterday.

The Sunrise from my house Yesterday.

A couple things have happened in the past day that I have found amusing enough to write about. The first just happened, so I will relate that.

It should be said that on Wednesday afternoons, (of which it currently is one) Yannik's grandmother watches him. This essentially gives me Wednesday's off except for the hour in the morning when I get him ready for school. So Wed. have become somewhat of a personal work day for myself. Trying to send emails and skype with people so I can stay in touch, followed by either reading, or working on learning german (a feat I am attempting since I live with two fluent German speakers). Then I normally exercise and clean the house up. Well today, I had just finished exercising, after which I was going to take a shower, and then clean the house. So since the house is mine, and I exercise in my room anyways, it seems silly to me to get pants or a shirt all sweaty when no one sees me anyways, especially when I'm going to take a shower afterwards. Well today, I finished exercising, and realized it was getting rather on in the afternoon and the house wasn't picked up yet. So I decided to really quickly do some tidying up. I did this and got the house nice and spick and span, and was in the process of vacuuming when I suddenly hear the door open and someone come in. I quickly thought to myself well this is probably a funny picture, but nothing they haven't seen when I walk from my room to the shower every morning. So I continue to vacuum, and then suddenly, a little head pops around to corner. There is Yannik's grandmother coming to grab his meds for her house, and on the other side of the room is me, dressed in somewhat less clothing than what someone normally vacuums in. I did not at all expect it to be her that had come in. At any rate, she didn't even say anything and just walked in and grab the meds. I tried not to move or speak figuring that if I could stay really still she might think I was a new statue they bought for their living room.

So that just happened.


Now the other amusing thing I did recently was that Leigh and I shared a bonding experience last night as we watched a terrific British educational program called "The Great Sperm Race". I was quite a long program saying ultimately very little. However despite this it was probably the most entertaining thing I had watched on TV in a very long time, as it attempted to discuss the journey to the egg in terms of human perportions. Describing the vagina as a valley 2 miles wide, and 5 miles long. This was of course complete with a about 9000 extras all dressed in pure white running through a large valley. Then in the discussion of the female immune system fighting the sperm, it showed clips of what seemed to me reminiscent of scenes from the end of the Lord of the Rings the Two Towers, and the Black Orcs chasing and slaughtering everything in sight. It was also complimented by such fabulous quotes as, "Landing deep in enemy Vagina territory", and, "They now enter the Cervix, which is essentially Sperm Hell!", along with making the newscaster for the New Zealand National news say, "All that and more, after the Great Sperm Journey" which I'm sure is a line he never thought he would say. I should also say this was all done as well with British accents which ultimately makes anything a little more funny. Overall it was a fabulous night however I unfortunately fell asleep on the couch shortly after the sperm reached sperm heaven, which is apparently the Fallopian tubes according to this program.

At any rate, those were the two major events of my past 24 hours. I am going back out into town tonights for drinks with the CouchSurfers, and probably a nice Korean meal before hand. Hopefully its as fun as last week. Talk to you all soon.

My Weekend

I last talked to you from a cafe in downtown Auckland on Saturday. I thought I would tell you how the rest of my day went. After leading the cafe, I headed towards Upper Queen street to find a nice little Korean restaurant. Well, not only did I find one, I found atleast upwards of ten, along with plenty of Japanese restaurants, and Asian markets, and Korean grocery stores to go along with them! I was tempted to ask a stranger to pinch to make sure I wasn't having a korean food induced delusion, but I thought better of it. I had found the Korean town of Auckland, located on Upper Queen street. Every dairy store (convenience store), and grocery store had a plethora of ingredients and products that I had searched in vain for, for 4 years in Charlottesville. Not only did they have Chapagetti at every corner store, it was easy to find red pepper paste, premade bulgogi, and fresh kimchi. Needless to say I was ecstatic. I thought of buying everything I could get my hands on, however after realizing that I only had my laptop bag with me, and considering the somewhat shall we say, "potent" smell that kimchi can have I decided not to. Instead I settled for just a package of Chapagetti hoping I could have Leigh and Christoph try it, and if the liked it, see if they would start buying it in bulk. Regardless, if they don't I will. So after a delicious korean meal, and my first lonesome experience of eating out... alone, (something I swore I'd never do (that was before I realized I had no friends when I travel)) I continued to walk around. I had previously saw a "Shakespeare brewery" on my walk, and decided to try to find it again. However upon arriving and realizing it was roughly 3:30 I decided maybe it was to early to have a beer. So I decided to do the much more responsible thing and go to the Casino in the SkyTower, and blow some money. (Its never to early for that) So I found my way to the skytower, and realized that it is also a huge mall with a large casino in it. Now I have never really been to a casino when I was above the age of 8 and could walk off the big red carpet that made its way straight to the elevator (my experience at the age of 8 in Las Vegas). I especially have never been to a casino where half the games in it I have never understood. This casino had your regular slot machines and such, along with roulette and blackjack. However along with this they had a several tables for Tai Sai which is a dice game, and a several tables devoted for Pai Gow which was a domino game. I got pretty excited at this, because my parents will attest that I've played some pretty mean domino's in my time. Yet, I thought for my first gambling experience I should take on the "7 DRAGONS" slot machine. I figured by the title, it was the most fierce game I could play. So I dropped my one dollar in the machine. (I should specify that in New Zealand, both 1 and 2 dollar bills are actually coins. So the lowest bill they have is a 5 dollar bill, and then there is a 2 and a 1 dollar coin, and then 50, 20, 10, and I assume a 5 and 1 cent coin however the latter two I have yet to see.) At any rate, a one dollar coin was the most money I had on me except for a 20 that I didn't really want to break. But to my unfortunate dismay, my coin fell right through. Apparently my pathetic, 1 dollar offering wasn't even large enough for the 7 dragons to begin to acknowledge me. All the slot machines I soon found out had a 2 dollar minimum, regardless of how many credits a pull was. So I stared long and hard at the slot machines seeing if the intensity of my gaze would scare one of them to accept my one dollar. However upon failing that, I yelled to the heavens, and swore I would return with a vengeance. Then I calmly walked out, nodding politely to the security guards posted all around the rather large casino. I then headed to the Imax cinema thinking it might be neat to see a film, however all films had either started an hour before, or would start 2 hours later, so in defeat I roamed several business nearby, till I found another cafe and read for an hour or two. Then I finally, decided it was late enough to have a mug of mead at the Shakespeare brewery, but when I arrived there, I actually decided to e lame and go home instead. It was to be saved for another day. After that I caught the bus, and returned home. The next day, I pretty much spent the entire day finishing the "Bourne Ultimatum". Which is a great book and series. I would recommend it to anyone. Well, till next time. Sorry these posts are so long. I will hopefully one day learn to write less.

I'M NOT ALONE

So, I know it has been a couple of days since my last post. Last you heard I was headed into town for a couple of drinks that night. I thought I'd relate some of my experiences there.



I am a member of a online organization called couchsurfers.org. This website is a social networking site that helps people that are travelling and such to meet people that are willing to host travellers at their house for the night. So rather than pay for a hostel or hotel room every night members can crash on a local's couch. Upon the recommendation of a lovely lady, I decided to join this website, and I'm so glad I did. It turns out there are a fair number of said "couchsurfers" residing in Auckland, and every wednesday a group of them go out for drinks at a local bar. Almost a foreign Weekly Wednesday's if you will. At any rate, I decided to go last wednesday, and I had a blast. The second person I met when I arrived was a man by the name of Chris, and ...



HE"S A MANNY TOOOOOO!!!!!



I'm not alone anymore, and seeing how we were both the only other manny the other had met, we instantly hit it off. Chris then proceeded to seal the deal with me by calling me over and saying beer pong time. At which point I followed him outside, we pulled some tables together, and he removed several ping pong balls from his backpack. I instantly had a man crush. Outside of this though the night was really sweet. Everybody, including the bartender, was a couchsurfer, and no one else was at the bar. So we had cheap drinks, and could do as we wish. It was a lot of fun and I met some really cool people. And the nice thing is, they will all be around again next Wed. I should also mention that the bar is out on the Prince's Wharf which is a pier into the harbor, so at night you can see all of the north shore and the harbor bridge lit up, and behind you the Sky tower sticking up over you. It was really cool. So I will tell you more of my new weeklies, coming up this wed.



As for thursday and friday, they were somewhat easy going days. I was in Yannik's room at one point when Christoph yelled that I had my first piece of mail. I got really excited not knowing who would have sent me mail. So when I got to the kitchen to see it I was extremely joyful to see... junk mail from the bank I had gotten an account with here in NZ.



Oh the other big news is that, I recently located a store in Auckland that sells Chapagetti, which is my absolute favorite Korean noodle dish. Anyone that has lived with me knows the power of its deliciousness. I suppose its not to suprising that I found it here. Auckland is full of Asians, as a matter of a fact for the first time in my life, I think that I am in a minority group here. Anyways, I found Chapagetti. THIS IS A GREAT LAND!



Well, I"m off now. I'm spending the day downtown (I"m writing this from a cafe, I feel so swave (although less so now because I'm pretty sure I spelt that incorrectly)). At any rate, I must go find a nice korean restaurant to have lunch at. Till next time.

Well, Its been a couple of days, and I suppose I should catch you guys up on whats been happening. Monday was the first day that I watched Yannik alone. In the morning I got him ready for school, fortunately Leigh was there in the morning so any speed bumps I had I could call in the calvary for. Well I suppose before I go into details I should roughly give my run down of Yannik and I's relationship thus far.

It is hard to describe Yannik in words. Autism is such a spectrum disorder, that it is hard to know what you are dealing with until you meet a person. Yannik is a sweet kid, and a good person to start with (as far as special needs children go). Yannik is severly autistic, and things that we take for granted everyday, I"m slowly realizing is far from his reach and probably always will be. Yannik has minimal verbal skills, and by that I mean he can't put two words together, but occasionally he will say something (always a single word) and repeat it multiple times. So he can say things like yes, or no, or go away, or toast. However this sort of thing is about the limit (at the moment) of his ability. Autism is however very visually oriented, so he has learned (i guess adaptive is a good word for it) adaptive sign language. Basically a simplified form of signing, and he knows basic commands in sign such as again yes, no, beach, swim, toilet, etc. As such that means I also must know these signs and also be able to recognize his (which are always slightly different forms of the original sign). While Yannik is a very low functioning individual, it has been my joy over the past week to see some of the things he can do. It always takes me by suprise when all of a sudden I realize he knows how to put his own shoes on, or he knows how to chop vegetables. A good example of it is the fact that Yannik as soon as he was put on a bike, could ride it. He has great balance, and nows how to control the bike. That being said, it took him years to understand the brakes. He used to just jump off the bike when he started going to fast. And the gears he doesn't understand. We have to say, "Use your thumb", or "Use your finger".

So, upon my arrival, Yannik refused to make eye contact with me. I would catch him staring at me through his periphals, but when I looked at him he would turn away. He know something was different, and that I wasn't just a guest. But he didn't know what it was. Over the next couple of days he slowly started to acknowledge my presence. At one point he walked over and looked right at me, and met my gaze (which was major progress). On friday I believe it was Leigh asked him, "Where Wes was?" and he offhandly pointed in my direction. This was the first time he had truly acknowledged my presence. It should be said that Yannik has two stereotypic behavior's they are called. He will look down at his chest and beat it like a drum quite commonly, and the other one is that he bites his hand. When he is upset or uncomfortable, or maybe he just wants attention (who really knows) Yannik will bite his hand. You can see on his hand how just beneath his thumb is covered in scaring from where he has bitten till bleeding. So as a newcomer to the household, and me at time getting in his space, (for example trying to put a belt on him for school) I have become the reciever of many a hand bitting. Leigh and Christoph say not to take it personally, and I don't, but is rather hard to see it repeated a lot. I am fortunate, in that he seems to be extremely more accepting of me than he has been of other Manny's (as James would say). Or so I am told. Its also nice, that I am able to see him do it to his parents and others so that I know its not just me he does it towards. So all in all, this action hasn't been bad, and we can tell him to stop or bite in his room, and he commonly listens.

But I digress. So Monday, I got him ready for school, and got a couple of bites from him, but in general it was not to bad. That afternoon I was alone with him for about an hour and a half. Since it was my first day, we kept it simple and he watched DVD's and played on his computer, and I made him some toast. It was fairly simple. That night Leigh returned from a seminar on caring for low functioning teens, and said it was extremely relevent to us, especially with me just beginning. We decided should be there in the morning to help him get ready so at first he only associates me with fun activities. So Tuesday she got him ready for school, and I watched him when he returned. That afternoon we listened to music, (which he loves to blast at full volume, like any normal teenager) and we did some "dancing" if you will together. He looked at his books, and played some computer as well. At one point however he did take me by the hand and pull me to his room which was really neat. It was the first physical interaction we had had. That afternoon Sharon his behavioral physcologist came over and she went over some things.

I seem to be rambling on and on. All in all, the past couple of days have been rather normal. Not to much excitement at the moment. I went into downtown at night for the first time last night. I went to a sushi bar, and it was all on a little conveyor belt, which was NARLY. Also New Zealand's dont believe in tipping, except in extremely good service, so that makes meals cheaper.

Tonight I will be going back into town to meet some people at a bar for drinks. Should be interesting. Wish me luck!

Sunday

Looking to my left on the beach.

Looking to my right on the beach

Christoph, Yannik, and Leigh

Me on my first ever black sand beach

On the path going to Karekare

So yesterday was a pretty awesome day as well. Leigh, Christoph, Yannik and I went on a trip to Karekare beach. This beach (which is covered in black sand) was unbelievable. The drive there was along a mountain range that gave you beautiful glimpses at the ocean and the flora around you. Upon arriving you walk maybe 100 yards along a path to get to the beach. The path is lined with extradorinary plants, and of course the ever present Pohutukawa tree. This tree is really neat with narled branches that grow in all different directions. It is somewhat of a national treasure to NZ. At any rate, all the exotic flora made you feel as if it was a different planet. Suddently the path gives way to large black sand dunes made of this mysterious black sand. (Anyone knows what makes sand black? Maybe Iron.) Anyways, the beach was expansive with large clifs looking over it. The waves were massive and you could practically see the hundreds of different rips that awaited any swimmer that entered. The Tasman Sea is known for its incredible power and strong rips. I can't wait to endanger myself in them when it warms up. After a nice long walk, we headed back to the car and returned home.

Later in the day, Christoph took me for my first driving lesson. I felt as though I did a pretty decent job considering he only had to tell me to get on the other side of the road once. After that the cars coming straight at me, was a pretty good reminder not to drive on the right. One of the major differences in driving (outside of the obvious left side of the road, which includes might I add: the road side, the drivers side, the blinker hand, and the blinker directions (as in up for right and down for left) all being completely oppisite.) The blinker is probably the hardest thing to get used to. However as I was saying the major law difference is that if to vehicles are turning onto the same road, the car on the outside has the right of way. So for example in America it would be like if I was turning, and a car facing me wanted to turn left (on to the same road I was turning onto) then the car turning left would have the right of way. I find that odd, but its how it happens here. Oh also they use roundabouts everywhere which are absolutely terrifying. If I stop writing in my blog, the most likely occurance was that my body was disected by an oncoming car in a roundabout.

Regardless, the driving lesson was nice and its nice to have it over with. Mondat will be my first day alone with Yannik. Wish me luck. It should be interesting.

Day 3 and 4

The view from our bay window this morning.

Well let me start this post with a couple of observations I have made about NZ thus far.

1. Their 2 litre bottles are shaped just like their 20oz bottles only larger (compared to our shapeless, and without contour 2 litre bottles)
2. Turkey does not exist as a meat, and is instead all forms of Kiwi Ham is used as a replacement. (It makes me wonder what they eat for Thanksgiving Day Dinner?)
3. The letter Z is pronounced zed, which is funny when you hear someone say everything from A to Zed.

Lastly, as far as my comments towards NZ are concerned, I should state that I am currently in a state of Terror. For no where in the grocery store as of yesterday have I been able to locate Mayo. This may result in me declaring a breach in contract and immediately catching a lift to the nearest country that is openingly mayonnaise friendly. Regardless of whether mayo is soon located or not also fails to solve the problem since it will ultimately not be Hellmann's, which where I'm from is the only kind of mayo there is. I mean how am I expected to make a BLT without mayo, or a turkey sandwich for that matter, or tartar sauce, or ... Oh My Gosh, I have to stop before my head explodes thinking of the lack of possibilities.

At any rate, I suppose I should catch you up on yesterday and today (however it will make a large group of you jealous). Yesterday I did what probably seems obvious, and went to the grocery store. This was an interesting experience. Oh also, instead of box wine, here they have cask wine (which is such a cooler name for bad, cheap wine). Also observations outside of turkey and 2 litres and mayo, NZ bread and cheese suck. Which is unfortunate. Atleast at the grocery store level. There are awesome bakery's all around, but at the store the bread and cheese suck. As a matter of fact the bread is bad enough that my family keeps their bread in the refrigerator or it goes bad too quickly.

After the grocery store, I went to the bank (which was done in the wrong order, because I was standing around the bank awkwardly with a bag of mustard powder and Kiwi Ham in my hand. I should have thought that one through a little more) However, I am now the proud owner of a NZ National Bank bank account. It has a balance of 10 dollars (the amount on me at the time). After the bank I returned home and Christoph Yannik and I rode our bikes to the fish market and picked out fresh smoked salmon which we then turned into Salmon Lasagna. (It wasn't as good as I was hoping. The smoked salmon by itself was exquisite though.)

The rest of the evening was quite and I went to bed at around 9:30 because I still get really tired really early. This morning though... I went...

...

SNOWBOARDING.... INSIDE!!!!!!

Ya, I know. It was pretty awesome for me too.

Christoph took Yannik and I to SnowPlanet. which is a dinky little indoor snow mountain. It was very tiny and took me about 20 seconds to go down, but still I was boarding. Also they had a nice selection of rails and jumps that wear small, but great to help me get back into the swing of things. They had a Palma lift that you used to pull you to the top. I was able to ride for free because on Saturday's they do a Special Olympics program there. That is why we of course took Yannik. But I was able to help out, so I free rode for about 45 minutes, and then helped by giving a private lesson to a kid that I am going to assume was Autistic due to some of the social interaction I had with him. However he was a great guy, and I was able to take him to the top of the Palma lift and help him ride all the way down. It was neat.

So I returned from skiing and had a lunch of a ham and cheese sandwich (The first meat I've eaten in day. It was so delicious I could almost envision the meat juices dripping from my mouth as I bit into the so delicious and long awaited Kiwi Ham.) However I digress. Those are my past two days. Till next time.

Addendum A: I would like to thank you all who looked at the blog, and I hope you enjoy it and keep reading.
Addendum B: After yesterday's post a bright young fella emailed me back and corrected me on an issue he thought as quite important clarification. I am not an Au Pair at the moment. I believe my formal title is that of a Manny.

Thus Manny Wes signing off.