Buglary!!!

Hey guys. Just thought I'd keep you posted. Not a huge amount has happened since my last massive post. I've been doing a lot of work on the pool we are building. Last weekend I did little. I didn't go out at night, and during the day I really just laboured in the yard. I am however, learning a huge amount about retaining walls, re-enforcing, mixing and pouring concrete, and the metric system. Plus I am getting paid extra, so its pretty good work. Unfortunately all week it has been ridiculously hot out. I'd say 80+ everyday. On Friday, Chris (the other Manny) shot me a text saying he was on tv. Well I turned the tube on to see that the "Manny" is the newest in homecare support. It was a big 7 minute piece on "the Manny" and they focused on Chris. It was pretty funny to watch and be like "I know him, I've been to that house". It was nice to gain a little "legitmacy" from the report.

Anyways on monday i continued my work in the yard, and that night Chris and I went out to an Irish bar that was supposedly doing live Celtic music. Apperantly though we were way off on the day so there was no music. But we stayed and hung out for a while. Met a extremely attractive young Irish woman, and then was introduced to the incredibly massive, man sitting directly next to her frowning at me. I ended the conversation shortly after that.

Tuesday Oma A (leigh's mother) came over and brought the niece and nephew for a bbq. We just got a BBQ from the neighbor's. I'm STOKED! So we had some delicious Trivally (a NZ fish) and I grilled up some marinated chicken and sausages for me and the kids. MmmmMMm MEAT!

Yesterday I watched Yannik all day. It was rather annoying to be honest. We went to the beach, and he was all excited and then we got there and he immediately wanted to go home. So we went for a walk and then hopped in the car and came home. Anyways, after watching Yannik I went into town as I do every Wednesday night for my night out. This particular Wed., before going to the bar, I was meeting a friend to help him with a project. So I met him down in the Viaduct (which is like a very beautiful harbor in downtown Auckland with all these very fancy restaraunts and such outside it (for the beautiful people of course)) Anyways, it turned out that his project was the filming of a Barbershop Quartet for something. So we proceded to get dressed up in white button downs with red clip on bowties and then large fake mustaches. We then marched to the center of the Viaduct, surrounded by the beautiful people, and sang a song as only a horribly organized Barbershop Quartet can sing a song. With PaZaZ! We actually managed to do it with such pazaz that in the end we got a applause from those staring akwardly at us.

After that we headed to the bar, and I had a lovely evening. Caught up with some friends and made new ones. The interesting part of the evening was when I returned home though. So I got off the bus and arrived home at around 11:55 or so. Only then did I realize my keys were not in my pocket. This was a rather serious problem as all the doors were locked. Now my host family knows that I go out for a couple of drinks every Wed. and they don't mind. In fact, I think they rather encourage it for me to go out and hang out with friends and people my age. Given that I didn't want to look like an idiot who got drunk at a bar, lost his keys, and woke the whole household up upon his return ringing the doorbell. Especially considering I didn't think my keys were lost at the bar and that instead I had left them in Leigh's car when I had picked her up earlier that day. So I was determined not to ring the door bell and wake them up. So I decided I'll just have to try and break my way in (without... breaking anything of course). They usually leave the bathroom window open so I thought I'd try that first (houses in NZ don't have screens in their windows. Its just an open or closed sheet of glass). Unfortunately for me, on this night that window was securily locked shut. So was the back door, as well as the windows in my room. It was than that I realizethis might be slightly more challenging than anticipated. My next thought was to go for Yannik's windows. They were on the second floor, but if I could climb up the side of the house, I could grab the windowsill, and hold myself there. Well thats exactly what I did. His right hand window was open, but was locked at about 3 inches from the frame. So there was no way I could squeeze through there. The other one though I had more luck. So I opened it, and then heaved myself up. When I was about halfway through the window, with my head inside, but my feet dangling outside I encountered a problem. The Treadmill. Now I should say I was fortunate in the fact that Yannik was spending the night with his therapist that night so he wasn't in his room to wake up, however Leigh and Christoph's room is directly next to Yannik's room. So I have to try and find a way to move the treadmill out of my way without waking Leigh and Christoph up. This of course is really from a place with no strength since my stomach is on the windowsill, with my feet in the air, and my hands groping in the dark in front of me (not exactly a place of leverage). Well suddenly, while i'm fumbling around I hear "Shhhhh". I can tell its Leigh and immediately I think, "CRAP!". I now assume that they have heard strange noises coming from Yannik's room and think someone is breaking in (essentially exactly what is happening). But I'm not sure this is the case and I am still determined not to wake them because its my own fault for not having my keys. So I stop moving and go really still waiting for them to go back to sleep so I can continue to crawl in. Then about 5 minutes later I hear, "Shhhhh" again. I thought, "man she has good hearing" and again I go very still. Then suddenly I hear, "Shhhh! Christoph stop SNORING!" Ha. It wasn't me at all. She has been talking to Christoph. So I start to wiggle my way in again. But Leigh's comment apparently has made Christoph decide to go sleep on the couch. So he leaves the room, at which point Leigh apologizes an tells him to come back. He turns around to go back to the bedroom, but directly infront of him is a darkened shape crawling in through the window. HEY HEY! he screamed coming at me. "Its Wes. ITS WES!" I quickly yelled. There were then several seconds of confusion as I make my way inside, and Christoph realizes he isn't being robbed. I quickly explain to a household that is now fully awake how I had lost my keys and didn't want to wake anyone. And then shuffle off to my room for bed. So much not ringing the door bell. An exciting night I will say.

Well thats me. Its Thursday afternoon now. I took a nap this morning after taking Yannik in to school. That was until Leigh called and said she might need me to translate at her work to a Columbian. I tried to explain as much as I could that my spanish was pretty pathetic and I was not the person she wanted, but apparently I was the only one anybody knew that could speak even the tiniest spanish. So I quickly crammed in all the spanish I could while I waited for her to call me back. Fortunately, she called and said the patient probably wasn't coming and thus I needn't come in. THANK GOODNESS. Well now that catches you up till now.

I am going to go clean the kitchen. This weekend I am doing the Tongoriro Crossing. Ranked one of the top 5 best 1 day hikes in the world. Then on Sunday I think I will be going sky diving. We shall see though I suppose.

Miss you all.

Wes