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)