Even in a country such as NZ where pretty much nothing of any signifigance happens, time still seems to pass so quickly. As of yesterday I have been in NZ for 3 complete months now. That means that I have been here for a fourth of my total time here. Man that went by quickly.
Well the weather here is getting warmer and lovelier, although it is still just as erratic. I am currently sitting here in the sun in about 70 degree weather on our back porch (which is soon to be a construction site and then quickly followed by the location of a lovely refreshing swimming pool). Well on Sunday last I mentioned how on Monday I was hoping of going windsurfing. Unfortunately the company was all booked up so we had to take a rain check on that. No worries though I hae a whole 9 more months. So monday was instead spent going on two walks with Yannik around Mt. Mangere and the local resevior. After that it began to downpour rather violently so I stayed inside and read A Portrait of Dorian Grey. Its quite a good book by Oscar Wilde. An author who I find interesting and amusing both as a writer and as a person. Regardless there are some pretty great egotistical and pretentious quotes in the book for anyone interested. I should mention in case I haven't already that Monday was NZ Labour Day so evethything was closed and it was a public holiday. I even didn't have improv that night. This is probably due to the large quantities of labor involved in such things as improv, and more importatntly making an ass of one's self. At any rate, that night after Yannik went to bed, we stayed up and watched W. (the movie about George W.'s life) it made me a little homesick and made me feel sorry for the man the ran our nation into the ground. (Sorry for my political plug). I always find myself filling in both Leigh and Christoph at the ends of movies because they always fall asleep halfway through them. Fortunately this time it meant that they did not see the embaressing parts of America that are presented in that movie. (You know back in the States, we all joke about how the world views us. However its rather humbling to go to another country and realize that really is how we are percieved. Humbling and rather embarressing) Well Tuesday was a pretty typical day. I woke up and took care of Yanik. After he left I excercised and then read and worked on German. Yannik returned that afternoon swollen again from allegies. I worked with him on swallowing pills for work time. I suppose it has been a while since I have really talked about Yannik and I's relationship. So...
Well Yannik and I get along well. Its a hard relationship to describe I suppose. I mean it exists really. He knows that I care for him, and that I am someone he can trust and feel comfortable around which is really good. At the same time though its not like we have a huge social connection and enjoy each other's jokes and stuff. I now feel more comfortable at times to have a chuckle with Yannik. When he comes out of his room with his pants around his nipples and his shirt tucked in he rimends me too much of Steve Erkle not to laugh. Laughter is something I have had to becomce comfortable with here. In our culture laughter towards the mentally handicap is viewed as severelly taboo. However, on the contrary, I now believe it is crucial to find the laughter in situations such as this. I love this job, and its a great one. I have excellent hours and only one child. However it definitely is a more difficult job at times and without a doubt takes a person with the right type of mentality. I don't say this to toot my own horn, it really is just true. It is easy with somelike Yannik to feel like things are so pointless or why bother with some things. It at times seems so ridiculous to offer Yannik a choice between toast or cereal in the morning, when he will eat either one you give him. Or not be bothered by the fact that sometimes when you do give him a choice he still refuses it after you make it for him. Or why work with Yannik on things like learning the alphabet. There is very little chance that he will ever read in his life. Its easy to feel like some of the things you do with/for him are futile. And thus it definitely takes the right mentality to do it day in and day out. Thus finding the laughter in all the silly and ridiculous things that Yannik does enables us to keep going every day to see what else he will do. More than laughter of course though, are those times when you do do make a breakthrough. And that is trully neat to watch, especially with a special needs child like Yannik. When I first arrived Yannik was biting his hand alot. It was one of his self inflicted injuries that he did alot. I made it my goal to work with him on this, and be strict with him where I thought his parents were not. Leigh, Christoph and I talked about it and made a plan for what was to be done. Whenever he bit at someone I would send him to his room. In public or when we were out of the house and he bit I would make him stand where he was, while I pretended to be on my phone until he started to say "no biting". After putting him in his room, I would ask "What do we not do?" to this he always responded "No biting" So then I started to ask him this question before I asked him things I thought might make him bite. So I'd d get him essentially to say "no biting" before I then asked him to brush his teeth or something like that. I can now say that after a lifetime of biting and his parents trying hundreds of methods and years of work on it, after the three month I have been here, Yannik rarely bites anymore. He is now down to maybe 5-10 bites a week which is mind blowing considering every morning when I first arrived after greeting him with a good morning his response was a bite in my direction. Same thing for his father. So that to me was definitely an awesome reward and really cool process to both watch and be a part of. Now that I feel I have finished that task my goal is either to get him to chew with his mouth closed or to swallow a pill. However I should say it is easier to teach someone what not to do, then to teach them what to do.
Well, onwards and upwards. What happened on Wednesday. On Wednesday I went to Leigh's sister's house (they are moving homes due to their neighbors (not a good situation)). and I did manual labour for them all day; digging holes, leveling parts of the yard, and painting. Just getting the house ready for them to show. I did have the biggest compliment of my life while I was there. I showed up and right after I started working the sun came out so I changed into shorts and a wifebeater. She came outside to describe my next job and she was like "Oh and your muscular. Good." I simply timidly shrugged and asked what was next, but in my head was "YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! Well, I had a lovely day working in the yard, and was able to make some money which was nice. That night I went out to Couchsurfing, and had a great night. My success of the evening was securing the number of the casting director for "Shortland Street" which is the big NZ Soap Opera. So I am going to give "Andrea" a call and see if I can be an extra on the show. I think that would be Extraordinary! On Thursday I slept in after Yannik left for school. Then took Leigh in to work and went to the library. I downloaded an episode of "Rome" which is a series I have started to watch. I also returned the Oscar Wilde and checked out Another Roadside Attraction by Tom Robbins. Which is like the DiVinci Code on LSD. The book is bizzarre, and the author was definitely on mushrooms or something when he wrote it. Talk about an extreme version of Alice in Wonderland. Anyways that afternoon Yannik and I played catch. (I had to teach him how, but it was pretty cool cause I don't think they have ever really been able to play catch with him) I am hoping I can play with him again today to solidify it in his mind. We also worked on "closing his mouth" which will eventually become eating with his mouth closed. Oh ya, and I took him for a haircut. The razor scared the Bejezus out of him, but he was pretty good for 15 minutes, and then he decided we were officially done.
And that pretty much catches us up with today. I took Yannik to the doctor again today, because yesterday he was pretty swollen, and now as I am writing this I am waiting for a batch of dough to rise with which I will make my first thing of German soft Pretzels ever. I will tell you all how it goes. Enjoy everyone.
Love,
Wes
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
2 Weeks Running
Well I guess I we everyone a large update considering it has been two weeks since my last one. As I mentioned before I left, I went down to Mt. Ruepahu to snowboard on in Mordor for a week and a half. I will try to be somewhat brief so I don't write a 30 page post.
Leigh, Yannik and I left on thursday morning for the mountain. We drove down without incident and arrived at a comfortable time at the house down there. Leigh and I decided we had a goal for Friday. That would be to get Yannik riding the Palma by himself. As he was, we were putting him on the Palma and then someone would hold on to him and be dragged up directly behind him. So on Friday Leigh and I tackled the mountain with ambition, and low and behold after several hours of running up and down the mountain alongside a Palma, we got Yannik riding it without anyone around him. It was pretty cool to think he got to like "the next level" with my help. On Saturday the Mountain was closed due to strong winds and snow, so we went to a set of hot springs. I should say that there are hot springs everywhere in this country. We decided to get a private pool for ourselves, which meant we got a pool that was 40 degrees Celsius which is something like 104 F. Unfortunately we could not convince Yannik to get into the water. After much pushing and prodding we decided it would just be best to take him to the public hot pool which was slightly cooler but still probably high 90's so its hard to complain. That evening Christoph joined us. However the next day on Sunday, again the mountain was closed due to high winds and snow. On Monday and Tuesday however, the mountain was practically empty since everyone returned to school on that same Monday, and we had two days of fresh snow. So I went out early and was first in line for the lifts when they opened both mornings which meant I was laying fresh tracks on the glacier which is this huge beautiful bowl which you only have to hike about 5 minutes to get to. If you want a sweet video of the bowl I was snowboarding in getting dominated by a sweet avalanche check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdfRAqPzMQk&feature=fvw The guy in the helicopter is the mountain guide that is friends with my family from a previous post. I think I mentioned him. (I think he was let go as an avalanche tester after he set this one off) (Oops). At any rate, I boarded in the mornings till about 12:30 and then I would take Yannik in the afternoons. I should mention one story that happened the first day I went riding on Monday. Leigh and Christoph were going to meet me at the car at 12:30 do swap Yannik off and so they could ski. Well I had had a lovely day with fresh snow and great runs. Well when 12 came around I thought I would take a nice long little ride all the way down to the base. I figured I would do a quick hike out towards the Organ Pipes, (which is the opposite hike as the Glacier). Well I had done this hike once before with Leigh and Christoph and their mountain guide friend. I figured this is nice, and few people will have been out this way. So I pass the out of bounds sign and keep going passing 1 or 2 people. Finally I get to the drop in point and turn in to find a nice crusty top layer that is quite wavy greeting me. Not an ideal run. But I thought so be it, and I went a little farther out to get some nicer snow. I make my way down the mountain. Now I distinctly remember when I did this the first time that we went down and then popped over a valley or two (I had to keep my speed up and walk maybe like once), and then we were pretty much at the parking lot. This time I found that I was going down and the terrain just wasn't looking very familiar. I realized that with a whole month having passed a lot of the snow that had been there previously was no longer there. I suddenly found myself in a deadend valley with no more snow to travel on and cliffs in all directions around me. Not only that but I realized that I was pretty much riding on top of what was water running beneath me (more commonly called a stream). So it was now 12:20 and I decide I would have to take off my board and hike it. Now I should try to describe the type of terrain I'm dealing with here. Must I again remind you that this is where they filmed Mordor, and that really wasn't much CG. This is a desolate volcano boulders, rocks, and cliffs strewn everywhere. Not only this but it is built with deep valley's and then high ridges. So in order to hike out I have to climb up a steep rock face with a snowboard. Then upon arriving at the top I must descend down to a valley again and then climb up the other side. Repeat. Added to this is fresh snow that while not in some places, the places it is in is because the wind blew it there so it is piled up to like 4 feet depth. You know I hadn't thought much about it till then, and you hear of deaths happening at Mt. Raupehu every year (Sorry mom you might not want to read this), and you don't really see how it happens every single year. You would think people would learn. But had I broken my leg, and not been able to walk, I would have been in serious trouble. At any rate, never fear, I didn't do that. I did however have to hike roughly 6 to 7 of these ravines. Until what I pictured looking like a scene from the movies as a man stumbles out of the desert to a place of sanctuary, I stumbled over a rock hill, and with the sun blazing down on me and my board slung on my back, my jacket hanging from my waist, my gloves sticking awkwardly from my pockets, and my helmet dangling from my board I stumbled to my sanctuary of a parking lot nearly collapsing. I felt like people must have seen this figure emerging, the shape shimmering in the heat being reflected from the black stones and snow. With a look of what one can only describe as beyond exhaustion that is matched by a stumbling walk and the silent movement of lips as if he is talking to himself.
You know it was something like that.
Anyways, I returned and was too tired to say what had happened (Leigh and Christoph had now been waiting an hour and a half) So I took Yannik and that night told them what had happened. So that was my big adventure for the week. On Wednesday the upper mountain was closed, so I met Leigh and Christoph and we skied with Yannik in the beginners area. Leigh put my board on and I gave her a snowboard lesson which I always find fun to do. (Except I had to wear her ski boots which were a touch small for me) Thursday the mountain was completely closed due to 60k and up winds (described as strong to gale-like winds). So the Yannik and his folks went to Napier to check out a facility there that Leigh and Christoph have considered for Yannik when he gets older. (Its wierd to think they certainly cant care for him forever, but at the same time he will never really be able to care for himself so every family has to figure out what that means for them.) I however stayed in Ohakune and explored the town and such. On Friday I left in the evening to drive about a half hour north of Lake Taupo (which is the largest lake in NZ)
In Taupo I was meeting up with 11 other people. It was a similar crowd to the ones that went to Whananaki with me. Here we had a Bach (also known as a beach house) right on a massive lake or really a river I guess (but may as well have been a lake for its size). The bach could only really sleep 6 but we squeezed in 12. It was cozy to say the least. On Saturday a group went into Taupo and went Skydiving and Jetboating along with hitting hot pools. .... I was not in this group. .... The rest of us stayed at the bach and relaxed. The four guys went down to the water and went for a quick dip. By quick I mean we jumped in and then immediately removed out bodies from the water as quick as humanly possible. (The water was a tad chilly). We hung out and in general just enjoyed our day and the scenery around us. That evening was quite a time that started early and then continued late once a cord hooking up my laptop to the stereo was discovered (causing an instant dance party of course).
On Sunday we woke up and cleaned. Then Bird (one of the other guys) and I made a massive breakfast. I mean like 30 eggs 40 pieces of bacon and 25 pieces of toast. It was pretty awesome. After breakfast one car left early as they were doing Rotorua, and another (mine) stayed behind till the laundry was done. We then went into Taupo and hit up the hot springs. Again a different set then the other 3 I have been to so far in this country. These were really cool because they were much more like what I expected. They were located in City of Taupo Park essentially. Really just picture your average town park, only there was a major river that ran through it on its way to Lake Taupo. Along the river was just little springs the bubbled up and fed into the river. However these pools springs contained people and about 105 degree water. It was really awesome. Because there were waterfalls of this water that was a beautiful hot shower temperature. We wasted a lot of time there. Afterwards we headed home.
I had a lovely vacation, but I must admit it was really nice to be back in the city and on a normal schedule again. That night however that "normalcy" was thrown out the window, as I suppose should be expected with Yannik. On Sunday night we discovered Yannik was allergic to something in his room and his face kept swelling up like a watermelon. So he slept on the couch that night. For the following week his room was on quarantine, and 4 out of 5 nights we were up at 4 in the morning because he was as well. But so be it. Outside of that its been a lovely week. On Monday I had improv. I was a little off that night, but you know when it comes to improv sometimes you are just off. Its something you have to learn to accept. So be it. On tuesday Yannik pulled on the oven when walking by and there was a quick burst of flame and the oven no longer works. So that is having to get replaced. Oh and we had to buy a new bed for Yannik because we thought that might be what was causing the allergy. On Wed. Chris's family left for Fiji giving him a week off before he leaves for a week to join them in Fiji. So I went over there for the afternoon before we hit up Couchsurfers. On Friday, Chris, Bird, and I all went out KareKare for the day which was Mindbogglingly fun. Karekare is one of the beaches on the West Side about 45 minutes away. Its black sand and no one is ever there. It is also absolutely beautiful with crazy surf. The waves were probably 8 feet on the main side of the beach and have about 20 break points on the other side of a point though that we climbed out on and got completely drenched. (I mean drenched because the spray from waves was more impressive than a busch gardens water ride, and so drenched there was a camera casualty (not mine luckily)) We climbe out to this point and then got a little higher so we weren't getting soaked and suddenly Chris yelled "Holy crap, that's a seal!" Low and Behold, just around a rock was a huge seal sunbathing itself. When it saw us though it dove off the rock. Something I had trouble believing after running to the edge and seeing that it was a 20 drop that ended not in water, but in more rocks. However the Seal seemed to be fine and continued to scoot into the water. Needless to say I have never seen a seal in the wild and it was a major highlight for me. All in all it was a spectacular day at the beach.
On Saturday I spent the day with Leigh's family celebrating her sister's her mother's and her combined birthday's bbq. It was a lovely day with the whole family. And while there I got invited to go windsurfing on Monday. So I am definitely doing that tomorrow. SWEET!!! Anyways the prawns and salmon were delicious. Following the bbq I met up with Chris, Bird, and some other couchsurfers for a hippy drum circle at Mt. Eden. ONLY IT WAS SICK!! It was a 350 event which is a global environmental organization and they had 4500 events in over 178 countries around the world. For the one I was at though, they brought in about 400 (literally 400) African drums and we all grabbed one and had a massive drum session. It was guided by Rythm Interactive and really sweet. I unfortunately had to leave early though so I could go into town and go on a date with the 36 year old I had mentioned previously. The scottish woman and some of her friends were going to the Classic Comedy Club to see 10 Comedians for 10 bucks. So I joined them and had a lovely evening. Some standups were way better than others, but thats always the case. Afterwards though I had to immediately take off since its like I have a curfew considering the last bus to Onehunga from downtown leaves at 11:15
Well, now I have filled you in on 2 and a half weeks. Sorry it took so long. And sorry its such a long post that I am not even going to proofread it before posting it. Hope you can deal. There are a bunch of new photos of me on facebook, but I will post some more on this blog as soon as I get them off the internet. Love you all, thank you all for reading and I hope your having a great day.
Wes.
Leigh, Yannik and I left on thursday morning for the mountain. We drove down without incident and arrived at a comfortable time at the house down there. Leigh and I decided we had a goal for Friday. That would be to get Yannik riding the Palma by himself. As he was, we were putting him on the Palma and then someone would hold on to him and be dragged up directly behind him. So on Friday Leigh and I tackled the mountain with ambition, and low and behold after several hours of running up and down the mountain alongside a Palma, we got Yannik riding it without anyone around him. It was pretty cool to think he got to like "the next level" with my help. On Saturday the Mountain was closed due to strong winds and snow, so we went to a set of hot springs. I should say that there are hot springs everywhere in this country. We decided to get a private pool for ourselves, which meant we got a pool that was 40 degrees Celsius which is something like 104 F. Unfortunately we could not convince Yannik to get into the water. After much pushing and prodding we decided it would just be best to take him to the public hot pool which was slightly cooler but still probably high 90's so its hard to complain. That evening Christoph joined us. However the next day on Sunday, again the mountain was closed due to high winds and snow. On Monday and Tuesday however, the mountain was practically empty since everyone returned to school on that same Monday, and we had two days of fresh snow. So I went out early and was first in line for the lifts when they opened both mornings which meant I was laying fresh tracks on the glacier which is this huge beautiful bowl which you only have to hike about 5 minutes to get to. If you want a sweet video of the bowl I was snowboarding in getting dominated by a sweet avalanche check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdfRAqPzMQk&feature=fvw The guy in the helicopter is the mountain guide that is friends with my family from a previous post. I think I mentioned him. (I think he was let go as an avalanche tester after he set this one off) (Oops). At any rate, I boarded in the mornings till about 12:30 and then I would take Yannik in the afternoons. I should mention one story that happened the first day I went riding on Monday. Leigh and Christoph were going to meet me at the car at 12:30 do swap Yannik off and so they could ski. Well I had had a lovely day with fresh snow and great runs. Well when 12 came around I thought I would take a nice long little ride all the way down to the base. I figured I would do a quick hike out towards the Organ Pipes, (which is the opposite hike as the Glacier). Well I had done this hike once before with Leigh and Christoph and their mountain guide friend. I figured this is nice, and few people will have been out this way. So I pass the out of bounds sign and keep going passing 1 or 2 people. Finally I get to the drop in point and turn in to find a nice crusty top layer that is quite wavy greeting me. Not an ideal run. But I thought so be it, and I went a little farther out to get some nicer snow. I make my way down the mountain. Now I distinctly remember when I did this the first time that we went down and then popped over a valley or two (I had to keep my speed up and walk maybe like once), and then we were pretty much at the parking lot. This time I found that I was going down and the terrain just wasn't looking very familiar. I realized that with a whole month having passed a lot of the snow that had been there previously was no longer there. I suddenly found myself in a deadend valley with no more snow to travel on and cliffs in all directions around me. Not only that but I realized that I was pretty much riding on top of what was water running beneath me (more commonly called a stream). So it was now 12:20 and I decide I would have to take off my board and hike it. Now I should try to describe the type of terrain I'm dealing with here. Must I again remind you that this is where they filmed Mordor, and that really wasn't much CG. This is a desolate volcano boulders, rocks, and cliffs strewn everywhere. Not only this but it is built with deep valley's and then high ridges. So in order to hike out I have to climb up a steep rock face with a snowboard. Then upon arriving at the top I must descend down to a valley again and then climb up the other side. Repeat. Added to this is fresh snow that while not in some places, the places it is in is because the wind blew it there so it is piled up to like 4 feet depth. You know I hadn't thought much about it till then, and you hear of deaths happening at Mt. Raupehu every year (Sorry mom you might not want to read this), and you don't really see how it happens every single year. You would think people would learn. But had I broken my leg, and not been able to walk, I would have been in serious trouble. At any rate, never fear, I didn't do that. I did however have to hike roughly 6 to 7 of these ravines. Until what I pictured looking like a scene from the movies as a man stumbles out of the desert to a place of sanctuary, I stumbled over a rock hill, and with the sun blazing down on me and my board slung on my back, my jacket hanging from my waist, my gloves sticking awkwardly from my pockets, and my helmet dangling from my board I stumbled to my sanctuary of a parking lot nearly collapsing. I felt like people must have seen this figure emerging, the shape shimmering in the heat being reflected from the black stones and snow. With a look of what one can only describe as beyond exhaustion that is matched by a stumbling walk and the silent movement of lips as if he is talking to himself.
You know it was something like that.
Anyways, I returned and was too tired to say what had happened (Leigh and Christoph had now been waiting an hour and a half) So I took Yannik and that night told them what had happened. So that was my big adventure for the week. On Wednesday the upper mountain was closed, so I met Leigh and Christoph and we skied with Yannik in the beginners area. Leigh put my board on and I gave her a snowboard lesson which I always find fun to do. (Except I had to wear her ski boots which were a touch small for me) Thursday the mountain was completely closed due to 60k and up winds (described as strong to gale-like winds). So the Yannik and his folks went to Napier to check out a facility there that Leigh and Christoph have considered for Yannik when he gets older. (Its wierd to think they certainly cant care for him forever, but at the same time he will never really be able to care for himself so every family has to figure out what that means for them.) I however stayed in Ohakune and explored the town and such. On Friday I left in the evening to drive about a half hour north of Lake Taupo (which is the largest lake in NZ)
In Taupo I was meeting up with 11 other people. It was a similar crowd to the ones that went to Whananaki with me. Here we had a Bach (also known as a beach house) right on a massive lake or really a river I guess (but may as well have been a lake for its size). The bach could only really sleep 6 but we squeezed in 12. It was cozy to say the least. On Saturday a group went into Taupo and went Skydiving and Jetboating along with hitting hot pools. .... I was not in this group. .... The rest of us stayed at the bach and relaxed. The four guys went down to the water and went for a quick dip. By quick I mean we jumped in and then immediately removed out bodies from the water as quick as humanly possible. (The water was a tad chilly). We hung out and in general just enjoyed our day and the scenery around us. That evening was quite a time that started early and then continued late once a cord hooking up my laptop to the stereo was discovered (causing an instant dance party of course).
On Sunday we woke up and cleaned. Then Bird (one of the other guys) and I made a massive breakfast. I mean like 30 eggs 40 pieces of bacon and 25 pieces of toast. It was pretty awesome. After breakfast one car left early as they were doing Rotorua, and another (mine) stayed behind till the laundry was done. We then went into Taupo and hit up the hot springs. Again a different set then the other 3 I have been to so far in this country. These were really cool because they were much more like what I expected. They were located in City of Taupo Park essentially. Really just picture your average town park, only there was a major river that ran through it on its way to Lake Taupo. Along the river was just little springs the bubbled up and fed into the river. However these pools springs contained people and about 105 degree water. It was really awesome. Because there were waterfalls of this water that was a beautiful hot shower temperature. We wasted a lot of time there. Afterwards we headed home.
I had a lovely vacation, but I must admit it was really nice to be back in the city and on a normal schedule again. That night however that "normalcy" was thrown out the window, as I suppose should be expected with Yannik. On Sunday night we discovered Yannik was allergic to something in his room and his face kept swelling up like a watermelon. So he slept on the couch that night. For the following week his room was on quarantine, and 4 out of 5 nights we were up at 4 in the morning because he was as well. But so be it. Outside of that its been a lovely week. On Monday I had improv. I was a little off that night, but you know when it comes to improv sometimes you are just off. Its something you have to learn to accept. So be it. On tuesday Yannik pulled on the oven when walking by and there was a quick burst of flame and the oven no longer works. So that is having to get replaced. Oh and we had to buy a new bed for Yannik because we thought that might be what was causing the allergy. On Wed. Chris's family left for Fiji giving him a week off before he leaves for a week to join them in Fiji. So I went over there for the afternoon before we hit up Couchsurfers. On Friday, Chris, Bird, and I all went out KareKare for the day which was Mindbogglingly fun. Karekare is one of the beaches on the West Side about 45 minutes away. Its black sand and no one is ever there. It is also absolutely beautiful with crazy surf. The waves were probably 8 feet on the main side of the beach and have about 20 break points on the other side of a point though that we climbed out on and got completely drenched. (I mean drenched because the spray from waves was more impressive than a busch gardens water ride, and so drenched there was a camera casualty (not mine luckily)) We climbe out to this point and then got a little higher so we weren't getting soaked and suddenly Chris yelled "Holy crap, that's a seal!" Low and Behold, just around a rock was a huge seal sunbathing itself. When it saw us though it dove off the rock. Something I had trouble believing after running to the edge and seeing that it was a 20 drop that ended not in water, but in more rocks. However the Seal seemed to be fine and continued to scoot into the water. Needless to say I have never seen a seal in the wild and it was a major highlight for me. All in all it was a spectacular day at the beach.
On Saturday I spent the day with Leigh's family celebrating her sister's her mother's and her combined birthday's bbq. It was a lovely day with the whole family. And while there I got invited to go windsurfing on Monday. So I am definitely doing that tomorrow. SWEET!!! Anyways the prawns and salmon were delicious. Following the bbq I met up with Chris, Bird, and some other couchsurfers for a hippy drum circle at Mt. Eden. ONLY IT WAS SICK!! It was a 350 event which is a global environmental organization and they had 4500 events in over 178 countries around the world. For the one I was at though, they brought in about 400 (literally 400) African drums and we all grabbed one and had a massive drum session. It was guided by Rythm Interactive and really sweet. I unfortunately had to leave early though so I could go into town and go on a date with the 36 year old I had mentioned previously. The scottish woman and some of her friends were going to the Classic Comedy Club to see 10 Comedians for 10 bucks. So I joined them and had a lovely evening. Some standups were way better than others, but thats always the case. Afterwards though I had to immediately take off since its like I have a curfew considering the last bus to Onehunga from downtown leaves at 11:15
Well, now I have filled you in on 2 and a half weeks. Sorry it took so long. And sorry its such a long post that I am not even going to proofread it before posting it. Hope you can deal. There are a bunch of new photos of me on facebook, but I will post some more on this blog as soon as I get them off the internet. Love you all, thank you all for reading and I hope your having a great day.
Wes.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
An Invitation
So I thought that I should write this story down becuase it has tickled me (thats right "tickled me") for the past two weeks now. As many of you know every Monday night I have been taking a two hour long improv class. This is too keep up with the improv I did in college, and hopefully will continue to do once I return to the states. This class is just a level 1 improv class, and mostly full of business people and the such who have never performed before. They are taking it as a way to learn how to be more spontaneous or to think outside the box and such things which I think are all great reasons for learing improv. However it means very few of us know what we are doing. (the other thing that means is that those of us who have done improv before really stick out) (but that sounds arrogant so just ignore it)
At any rate, another woman there, a Scottish actress of about 30 I'd say who is really cool and I enjoy, came up to me last Monday after class. She asked how old I was with a hopeful look. I told her that I was 22 at which point she replied with an "Ah shoot". She said that she "had a friend that was 'really cool and funny just like you' and I think you two would get along great, and I wanted to hook you guys up with each other. But she is 36 so I think you're a little young". I played it off rather jokingly and everything, but inside I was rather speechless. For the first time in my life someone had tried to set me up on a blind date. And not like a blind date as in college date function where you go with a friend's friend for the evening. But like a "she is 36 and single, you are single, lets get you two together for a dinner and see if magic happens". I'm sure it wasn't quite meant like that. But I mean I had just had an actual adult, try and hook me up with one of her friends. I thought "Wow, thats a new level for me" Anyways, it made me chuckle all night, but it was also probably the largest comment I had recieved since I've gotten here. Actually it probably comes in second, right behind another woman (a Scottish woman again actually) saying, "America's best export, in my opinion, are their men." She was a very aristocratic Scottish woman that said that at dinner with Leigh, Christoph, and I. She was an old family friend apparently.
However I digress. I was greatly complimented and happy all week that someone had tried to set me up on blind date. Well a week went by, and last night I returned to improv class. It is nice, because we are finally getting into scene work which means I actually have a chance to really do stuff rather than constant warm up games and such. Well, after the workshop, Claire (the Scottish actress) came up to me and said "hey, I was thinking about it, and I think you and my friend would get along excellently and I'd really like you to meet her. Not like that of course, cause i don't think she's a cougar, but I just think you would hit it off." I told her that I'd love to meet her and that it would be my pleasure. At which point she said "Great! Well, we are going to this party on Saturday night, you should join us" Holy Crap Again!! Now I wasn't being set up for a blind date, but I had just been invited to party in order to meet her friend. Maybe that isn't anything to special, but it just seemed straight out of the movies. Some rather attractive woman was like 'I have a friend you should meet', 'oh ya sure i'd love too', (quick little smile) 'well we are going to a party saturday night you should come with'. Maybe I am just enjoying myself for no reason, but I felt pretty cool. Unfortunately I then felt uncool after I had to say no because I would be up at the mountain snowboarding. However we swapped numbers, and hopefully I will meet this friend, that apperantly I will definitely like, soon.
So that was my quick little anecdote I wanted to share. Its rainy again, but there sure are some of the most beautiful rainbows in the world here. Enjoy
PS here are some of the pictures from the past 3 weeks, sorry its taken so long.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Rainy Days
So I am trying to do better with my blog, I figure 4 days or so isn't to bad. Well, a cold spell has hit NZ, which means it has been cold and rainy in Auckland for the past couple of days. This is okay, because it means that the rain here is in fact snow up on the volcano, WHICH I just found out, the mountain I have been boarding on for the past 2 and a half months is also known to some of you maybe as Mordor from Lord of the Rings. Ya Awesome. Speaking of Mordor, I am going down there this thursday for a week and a half so I will be a little quite for a while if anyone is trying to reach me. I will be avoiding the great eye of Sauron while I cross the volcanic plains of Mordor. It is pretty funny though because I watched a clip or two of Mordor again once I learned that, and I was like I know that exact location. So this weekend I am going to go and re-enact the Lord of the Rings as a one man show only taking place in Mordor. It should amusing. Well now I suppose I should catch you up on what I've been doing.
I left on Thursday. A night where not muched happened. I cooked stir fry for dinner, and that was about it. Friday was also a pretty average day. Yannik and I went for a walk around Mt. Mangere, and I was able to get him to go all the way to the top with me this time. I did this by always staying 20 feet in front of him so he couldn't really turn around and leave. (maybe not ideal, but it worked) We had a delicious stuffed squid dinner, and afterwards the family and I all went down to Mission Bay for ice cream. I think I have decided that Mission Bay is definitely one of my favorite places in town. Its pretty both at day and night. Anyways, Saturday I took a trip downtown trying to find a barber. I am determined to find a barber that does face shaves with a cutthroat razor (although I am a little more hesitant now that I learned they are called "cutthroats") However the ones I have found are about $40 for a shave and then 15 for a hair cut. Also known that were downtown were open unfortunately. Yet I did swing by the book store, and it was there I discovered that Ohakune and Mt. Reuhapu was Mordor, so definitely not all a waste. During the afternoon, I have started to watch Entourage which is a HBO series. So I tucked myself under the covers and watched some of that. Roughly around 7 I headed over to a friends house for a BBQ and some drinks. You see on Saturday here in NZ there was "the Fight of the Century" apparently. Two heavyweight fighters, David Tua (Somoan, and 37 who used to be a major player internationally) and Shane Cameron (Kiwi, and 32 who was a young and upcoming fighter) had a fight. Here it was a huge deal. So I went to this get together and then we were all going to go to the local sportsbar to watch the fight. However when we arrived the line was around the block and they came out and announced they were at capacity. So we went to the other bar in town, but they too were packed. We had to drive into city central to be able to watch it. We had a great time, there were two fights before the main event. The main event however only lasted 6 seconds into the second round. Tua laid into this guy. It was pretty awesome to watch. The dude was over the hill people were saying, but he had lost like 50 kg to do the fight and just a day or two before the fight he had lost his Aunt back in the Earthquakes in Samoa. So they did the Samoa national anthem and things before the fight which was cool, and then he just destroyed Cameron. It quick, but great to watch. So that was my Saturday evening. On sunday I laid around and read a bunch of "A brief history of time" by Steven Hawkings, which is an awesome read. Although I don't know if everyone would say that, but it appeals to the mathematician in me. So anyways I really enjoyed it and read a third of it yesterday. That evening all of Leighs nephews and neices came over and we had a big dinner. And today, I have simply had to clean up from the aftershock of that dinner. Well back to cleaning. Talk to you guys soon.
Wes
I left on Thursday. A night where not muched happened. I cooked stir fry for dinner, and that was about it. Friday was also a pretty average day. Yannik and I went for a walk around Mt. Mangere, and I was able to get him to go all the way to the top with me this time. I did this by always staying 20 feet in front of him so he couldn't really turn around and leave. (maybe not ideal, but it worked) We had a delicious stuffed squid dinner, and afterwards the family and I all went down to Mission Bay for ice cream. I think I have decided that Mission Bay is definitely one of my favorite places in town. Its pretty both at day and night. Anyways, Saturday I took a trip downtown trying to find a barber. I am determined to find a barber that does face shaves with a cutthroat razor (although I am a little more hesitant now that I learned they are called "cutthroats") However the ones I have found are about $40 for a shave and then 15 for a hair cut. Also known that were downtown were open unfortunately. Yet I did swing by the book store, and it was there I discovered that Ohakune and Mt. Reuhapu was Mordor, so definitely not all a waste. During the afternoon, I have started to watch Entourage which is a HBO series. So I tucked myself under the covers and watched some of that. Roughly around 7 I headed over to a friends house for a BBQ and some drinks. You see on Saturday here in NZ there was "the Fight of the Century" apparently. Two heavyweight fighters, David Tua (Somoan, and 37 who used to be a major player internationally) and Shane Cameron (Kiwi, and 32 who was a young and upcoming fighter) had a fight. Here it was a huge deal. So I went to this get together and then we were all going to go to the local sportsbar to watch the fight. However when we arrived the line was around the block and they came out and announced they were at capacity. So we went to the other bar in town, but they too were packed. We had to drive into city central to be able to watch it. We had a great time, there were two fights before the main event. The main event however only lasted 6 seconds into the second round. Tua laid into this guy. It was pretty awesome to watch. The dude was over the hill people were saying, but he had lost like 50 kg to do the fight and just a day or two before the fight he had lost his Aunt back in the Earthquakes in Samoa. So they did the Samoa national anthem and things before the fight which was cool, and then he just destroyed Cameron. It quick, but great to watch. So that was my Saturday evening. On sunday I laid around and read a bunch of "A brief history of time" by Steven Hawkings, which is an awesome read. Although I don't know if everyone would say that, but it appeals to the mathematician in me. So anyways I really enjoyed it and read a third of it yesterday. That evening all of Leighs nephews and neices came over and we had a big dinner. And today, I have simply had to clean up from the aftershock of that dinner. Well back to cleaning. Talk to you guys soon.
Wes
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Whananaki Fun
Hey guys, so this time I really have let to much time go by between posts. I really need to pick up the pace here. Its nice to know someone reads it though, I got an email from someone telling me to update my blog. Thats when you know its been to long. Well, without further ado, I suppose I have a lot to tell you guys because I had a sweet as weekend.
I last posted on Tuesday morning of last week. That day I pretty much spent the whole day baking, ending with a dinner of Cheese Rolls and Coconut Curry Shrimp. It was pretty tasty and a success I think. On Wed. I went out to Couchsurfer's as usual, but I left early because Chris offered me a ride home. However he parked at the grocery store in town, so we had to leave before it closed. Which was a good thing though because it means I saved money for the weekend. Thursday, I can't really remember anything special happening. (see this is why I aught to write more often, because I forget what happens during the day) But lets just pretend nothing of grave importance happened on thursday or friday morning.
But at about 6:00 on Friday afternoon I got picked up by Chris, we had the car packed and were ready to go by 6:30. You see, (I don't think I've told you) we had planned a trip with essentially Nanny's, Manny's, and Mark's. There is a guy named Mark from Couchsurfing who is a native Kiwi, and he and Chris planned a trip to Whananaki (pronounced "fun-a-naki) for the weekend. We had 8 people going in total: Chris and I (the Manny's), four Nanny's including two of the german au pairs I mentioned (the Nanny's), and Mark Russell and Mark Cruz both kiwi's (the Mark's). So Chris and I then picked up Lauren and Nikki (two nanny's and both American actually) and then met up with Mark who had the rest of the people. And hit the road around 8:30. Whananaki is in the Northland (sorta) and about 2 hours north of Auckland just above Whangerei. Road trips in NZ are so nice because you just sit back, relax, and crack a brew and wait till you get there. People here look at me weird and don't understand when I tell them you can't do that in the states that not even empty open containers are technically allowed in a car. At any rate, this trip wasn't necessarily stress free. About half way through we pulled over and realized we had a flat tire. We quickly changed it in the dark (I'm glad I had brought a torch as they are called here aka flashlight). However without anymore incidents we arrived at the house or "batch" it was pitch black outside except for the stars, but you could still hear the ocean fairly close to you. That night we had a good time, and threw it down. The next morning though we woke up to find exactly what kind of place we were in. We were surrounded by just 2 other houses on a massive gorgeous beach. The ocean was about 20 feet from our door, with an island out in the bay a little ways. It was magnificent, or since someone was getting tired of my usual word of amazing this time I will go with "stupefying pretty". That day the girls and I took the rowboat out to this big island. We landed and decided to hike to the top. However it was pretty steep pitch, and with fresh rain it was a giant mudslide. So in order to climb it you had to grab a tree and pull yourself up the mud. However every once in a while the tree would break or pull out, at which point you would slide about 20 down again until someone grabbed you as you slid past. Needless to say it was pretty funny to do in sandals. But we made it to top, and then immediately returned again because of an incoming storm. As soon as we pushed off and were in the boat again, the clouds parted and the sun came out of course. Halfway back in the boat I decided I would swim the rest of the way in. I obviously was not having a very intelligent moment, which i realized as soon as I dove in. At that point I realized the water was about 50-60 degrees. I had a mental flash of my dad saying to me once in Maine when we were in a boat surrounded by about 40 degree water, "Wes if the boat flips right now swim straight for the shore, you have about 5 minutes before hypothermia sets in and your body shuts down". With that in mind I quickly made my way to land. Once the girls made it in we had lunch, and then headed into "town". I say "town" but really it couldn't even be called that. And this is coming from a kid that grew up in Staunton for crying out loud. The town was tiny enough that the general store there was just called "the store" as its name. We bought some Ice cream and played with some cows, and took some pictures of an awesome rainbow. Then we headed for the beach where some kids had built a flying fox aka a zip line. We rode on that which was sweet as, and then we headed back home. Back home we played some Pictionary and some Scattagories both of which were hilarious. We had a awesome dinner of chicken breasts and delicious things fresh from the grill. The next morning we woke up and packed we left by about noon although we all were very confused because it seemed that while we slept everyone had changed the time on our clocks but no one elses. Then we realized that actually daylights savings time had happened over the weekend. At any rate, on the way home we swung through Whanagerei and saw a awesome waterfall. It was "grand". It was about 25-30 metres so like 75-90 feet. And just there right off the road. It was gorgeous, and I was tempted to jump off of it. After we finished at the waterfall we took another little detour and pulled off the road again, at which point we hiked back a kilometre or two to a series of caves. There was just a little sign reading caves as the only information given, but you go down in the caves. And its pretty sweet spelunking with knee deep cave water, (two of us stepped on eels while we were down there). We had two torches, and went as far as we could into these "wondrous" caves. And then we turned all the torches out, and the ceiling of the caves are covered in glowworms, so it looks like the night sky. And with the water running past you it is like your outside by a stream looking up at the stars. It was sweet as. I wish I could put it in words, or describe it better so you got the full effect of just how "legendary" it was. Needless to say I had one of the coolest weekends ever. And then an hour and a half later, I was in downtown Auckland again. This is a great country.
Monday started school holiday's so Yannik is fortunately enrolled in a holiday program, but it still means my schedule is pretty different then normal. I took him to his program and then returned and had a fairly normal day until about 1 when I went to grab some ham for lunch. However, I then discovered that I had left the lights on that morning and the battery was dead (neither their truck nor their car makes any noise if you leave the lights on . Its really annoying) Anyways, so I looked around for some jumper cables and found them and finally worked the nerve up to knock on random doors since neither of their neighbors that I have met where home. So I found a woman with a 1 and 3 year old in her house and so she ran out started her car and ran in again. Unfortunately for me, the truck refused to start. It just made a clicking sound. I thought that wasn't good, so I let the woman return to her children, and called Christoph. I thought maybe there is something I don't know about diesel engines that would cause this. He suggested I try a rolling start down the hill. This also failed. Luckily another neighbor had returned who I knew. So I asked her to try a jump again. It again did not work. By this time it was 2:30, I hadn't eaten that Ham that I still wanted so badly, and Yannik had to be picked up at 3. I mentioned I was going to have to hire a cab for Yannik, and the kind neighbor offered to drive me. Which was really nice of her. Christoph called a friend who suggested heavier jumper cables for the diesel engine. (The advantage of being a craftsman is that you are friends with a bunch of other craftsman like mechanics and plumbers and electrians and the such) So we bought bigger cables and when Leigh returned we jumped the car again and it started no problem. (Thank Goodness!) I went to improv a little late that night.
Tuesday was a pretty simple day, with not much happening. I made vege burrito's with my first ever homeade salsa. It was decent, but next time I know what I will change.
Wed. I had to watch Yannik all day long because it was his day off from holiday program. So I decided to take him to the Miranda Hot Springs. They are about an hour southeast of Auckland, and they are the largest geothermal pools in the southern hemisphere (or so they brag). So I drove down the East Coast Highway all the while listening on the radio of a Tsunami warning from the earthquake in Samoa. I kept thinking if the water level recedes quickly I need to drive to higher ground FAST!!! Luckily a Tsunami never hit us. We arrived at the hot pools and only 3 people were there. It was "bang-up" fun. The pools are between 36-38 degrees Celsius which is like 95-100 for us. And it is a massive swimming pool essentially. I expected it to be like rocks and stuff but no its a large concrete swimming pool with vents in the ground where super hot water comes out. The trip pretty much ate up the whole day cause it was 2 when we returned. That night I went out as per usual. I had a good time. More people are starting to come now that its warming up which is nice.
Well, this is a wicked long post, so I will leave it at that. I am going to start posting more often hopefully, which hopefully encourages people to read it more often. Its hard to tell sometimes whether just my parents read this or not, but hopefully others are enjoying it. I hope everyone is doing well. We are now 17 hours apart. Much love.
Wes
I last posted on Tuesday morning of last week. That day I pretty much spent the whole day baking, ending with a dinner of Cheese Rolls and Coconut Curry Shrimp. It was pretty tasty and a success I think. On Wed. I went out to Couchsurfer's as usual, but I left early because Chris offered me a ride home. However he parked at the grocery store in town, so we had to leave before it closed. Which was a good thing though because it means I saved money for the weekend. Thursday, I can't really remember anything special happening. (see this is why I aught to write more often, because I forget what happens during the day) But lets just pretend nothing of grave importance happened on thursday or friday morning.
But at about 6:00 on Friday afternoon I got picked up by Chris, we had the car packed and were ready to go by 6:30. You see, (I don't think I've told you) we had planned a trip with essentially Nanny's, Manny's, and Mark's. There is a guy named Mark from Couchsurfing who is a native Kiwi, and he and Chris planned a trip to Whananaki (pronounced "fun-a-naki) for the weekend. We had 8 people going in total: Chris and I (the Manny's), four Nanny's including two of the german au pairs I mentioned (the Nanny's), and Mark Russell and Mark Cruz both kiwi's (the Mark's). So Chris and I then picked up Lauren and Nikki (two nanny's and both American actually) and then met up with Mark who had the rest of the people. And hit the road around 8:30. Whananaki is in the Northland (sorta) and about 2 hours north of Auckland just above Whangerei. Road trips in NZ are so nice because you just sit back, relax, and crack a brew and wait till you get there. People here look at me weird and don't understand when I tell them you can't do that in the states that not even empty open containers are technically allowed in a car. At any rate, this trip wasn't necessarily stress free. About half way through we pulled over and realized we had a flat tire. We quickly changed it in the dark (I'm glad I had brought a torch as they are called here aka flashlight). However without anymore incidents we arrived at the house or "batch" it was pitch black outside except for the stars, but you could still hear the ocean fairly close to you. That night we had a good time, and threw it down. The next morning though we woke up to find exactly what kind of place we were in. We were surrounded by just 2 other houses on a massive gorgeous beach. The ocean was about 20 feet from our door, with an island out in the bay a little ways. It was magnificent, or since someone was getting tired of my usual word of amazing this time I will go with "stupefying pretty". That day the girls and I took the rowboat out to this big island. We landed and decided to hike to the top. However it was pretty steep pitch, and with fresh rain it was a giant mudslide. So in order to climb it you had to grab a tree and pull yourself up the mud. However every once in a while the tree would break or pull out, at which point you would slide about 20 down again until someone grabbed you as you slid past. Needless to say it was pretty funny to do in sandals. But we made it to top, and then immediately returned again because of an incoming storm. As soon as we pushed off and were in the boat again, the clouds parted and the sun came out of course. Halfway back in the boat I decided I would swim the rest of the way in. I obviously was not having a very intelligent moment, which i realized as soon as I dove in. At that point I realized the water was about 50-60 degrees. I had a mental flash of my dad saying to me once in Maine when we were in a boat surrounded by about 40 degree water, "Wes if the boat flips right now swim straight for the shore, you have about 5 minutes before hypothermia sets in and your body shuts down". With that in mind I quickly made my way to land. Once the girls made it in we had lunch, and then headed into "town". I say "town" but really it couldn't even be called that. And this is coming from a kid that grew up in Staunton for crying out loud. The town was tiny enough that the general store there was just called "the store" as its name. We bought some Ice cream and played with some cows, and took some pictures of an awesome rainbow. Then we headed for the beach where some kids had built a flying fox aka a zip line. We rode on that which was sweet as, and then we headed back home. Back home we played some Pictionary and some Scattagories both of which were hilarious. We had a awesome dinner of chicken breasts and delicious things fresh from the grill. The next morning we woke up and packed we left by about noon although we all were very confused because it seemed that while we slept everyone had changed the time on our clocks but no one elses. Then we realized that actually daylights savings time had happened over the weekend. At any rate, on the way home we swung through Whanagerei and saw a awesome waterfall. It was "grand". It was about 25-30 metres so like 75-90 feet. And just there right off the road. It was gorgeous, and I was tempted to jump off of it. After we finished at the waterfall we took another little detour and pulled off the road again, at which point we hiked back a kilometre or two to a series of caves. There was just a little sign reading caves as the only information given, but you go down in the caves. And its pretty sweet spelunking with knee deep cave water, (two of us stepped on eels while we were down there). We had two torches, and went as far as we could into these "wondrous" caves. And then we turned all the torches out, and the ceiling of the caves are covered in glowworms, so it looks like the night sky. And with the water running past you it is like your outside by a stream looking up at the stars. It was sweet as. I wish I could put it in words, or describe it better so you got the full effect of just how "legendary" it was. Needless to say I had one of the coolest weekends ever. And then an hour and a half later, I was in downtown Auckland again. This is a great country.
Monday started school holiday's so Yannik is fortunately enrolled in a holiday program, but it still means my schedule is pretty different then normal. I took him to his program and then returned and had a fairly normal day until about 1 when I went to grab some ham for lunch. However, I then discovered that I had left the lights on that morning and the battery was dead (neither their truck nor their car makes any noise if you leave the lights on . Its really annoying) Anyways, so I looked around for some jumper cables and found them and finally worked the nerve up to knock on random doors since neither of their neighbors that I have met where home. So I found a woman with a 1 and 3 year old in her house and so she ran out started her car and ran in again. Unfortunately for me, the truck refused to start. It just made a clicking sound. I thought that wasn't good, so I let the woman return to her children, and called Christoph. I thought maybe there is something I don't know about diesel engines that would cause this. He suggested I try a rolling start down the hill. This also failed. Luckily another neighbor had returned who I knew. So I asked her to try a jump again. It again did not work. By this time it was 2:30, I hadn't eaten that Ham that I still wanted so badly, and Yannik had to be picked up at 3. I mentioned I was going to have to hire a cab for Yannik, and the kind neighbor offered to drive me. Which was really nice of her. Christoph called a friend who suggested heavier jumper cables for the diesel engine. (The advantage of being a craftsman is that you are friends with a bunch of other craftsman like mechanics and plumbers and electrians and the such) So we bought bigger cables and when Leigh returned we jumped the car again and it started no problem. (Thank Goodness!) I went to improv a little late that night.
Tuesday was a pretty simple day, with not much happening. I made vege burrito's with my first ever homeade salsa. It was decent, but next time I know what I will change.
Wed. I had to watch Yannik all day long because it was his day off from holiday program. So I decided to take him to the Miranda Hot Springs. They are about an hour southeast of Auckland, and they are the largest geothermal pools in the southern hemisphere (or so they brag). So I drove down the East Coast Highway all the while listening on the radio of a Tsunami warning from the earthquake in Samoa. I kept thinking if the water level recedes quickly I need to drive to higher ground FAST!!! Luckily a Tsunami never hit us. We arrived at the hot pools and only 3 people were there. It was "bang-up" fun. The pools are between 36-38 degrees Celsius which is like 95-100 for us. And it is a massive swimming pool essentially. I expected it to be like rocks and stuff but no its a large concrete swimming pool with vents in the ground where super hot water comes out. The trip pretty much ate up the whole day cause it was 2 when we returned. That night I went out as per usual. I had a good time. More people are starting to come now that its warming up which is nice.
Well, this is a wicked long post, so I will leave it at that. I am going to start posting more often hopefully, which hopefully encourages people to read it more often. Its hard to tell sometimes whether just my parents read this or not, but hopefully others are enjoying it. I hope everyone is doing well. We are now 17 hours apart. Much love.
Wes
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