Feb 13-18

A day-by-day account of the last week is not really necessary. Things were fairly slow around here, minus Valentine's Day and Josh's birthday. Besides watching a lot of Angel DVDs, hitting up the job search pretty hard (and already getting 3 rejection emails...I'm not qualified to be a part-time library assistant?!?...give me a break), and taking a couple of trips to the Victoria Esplanade, it was pretty slow around here.

Tuesday, February 13

This day's big event was going out to the Manawatu Gorge. Now, keep in my mind, I thought this gorge was going to be like the gorge just outside of Taos, New Mexico: a big, deep gap (like a mini Grand Canyon) between flat land spanned by a long bridge. I was wrong.

The Manawatu Gorge is a gorge that runs between two tall green mountains in the Tararua Mountain Range about 25 kms-roughly 15 miles-north of Palmerston North (there are windmills on top of these mountains). The gorge is deep and long and you can see the Manawatu River at the bottom...that is, if you stop to get out of your car on one of the pull-offs because there is no bridge here...just one long and windy, make-you-sick road.

Basically, the road through the gorge is a death trap reminiscent of the road from Palmy to Lake Taupo. Not so much up and down winding like going to Taupo but sheer cliff, impending doom, "why isn't there a guardrail?" winding nonetheless. We made it through...only to get ourselves into trouble by a combination of bravado and stupidity.

So, having survived the gorge, there was this turn off the main road that crosses a wooden, one car only, bridge. Nerve wracking, but cool, and we made it across no problem. About half a mile down the road on the right was another turnoff. Well, the bright orange sign post said that they'll be doing construction on this road until May 2007 but the brown sign said this was the way to the wind farm, so we decided to go up and check out the windmills.

The asphalt road turned to gravel after 50 yards...and it was gravel all the way up the hill on what, for the most part, was a one car only road. And, if the gorge road had seemed dangerous, this "road" was certain death. HELLO!~loose gravel, no guardrail, going up higher and higher on a mountain, 17 year old Japanese import car! Well, we made it most of the way to the top, but no kidding, we reached this one part of the road where it started to go downhill before snaking it's way back up and Josh and I were both like, "Agh, agh...ain't goin' happen."

This was actually one of the only places on the whole way up that there was enough room to turn the car around at, so it made sense to do so. I was terrified but Josh got out to take a gander at the landscape. Get me down off of this mountain! We made it down, thankfully, almost getting into a head on with another car that was going up the mountain.

At the bottom of the mountain, we saw a sign for Manawatu Gorge walking trails. One of the trails was 4 hours ONE WAY and the other was a ten minute loop walk. No brainer...seeing as we were in flip flops and oh yeah, I don't think I'll ever do an 8 hour nature walk! It was a really nice walk and there were sign posts along the way describing some of the trees and brush.
We got to see the silver fern which is one of New Zealand's symbols. It's leaves really do have a silver tint to them. Taking this walk, I told Josh that we need to keep two pairs of shoes in the trunk of the car. One pair of sneakers for walks in the woods and one pair of flip flops for the beach...especially because everything is so close to each other that you want to be prepared.
We made it back to the car and she started right up...always a good sign when you're in the middle of nowheresville.

Wednesday, February 14 (Valentine's Day)

I was scheduled to meet with Dr. Elizabeth Hiser, one of the Assistant Deans at International Pacific College, for coffee at 9:30 am (since Josh wasn't going to come with, I practiced driving the car into town the night before...Feb 13...we tried to get the car washed at the BP gas station but the car wash was broken...more about car washes later). As soon as I got out of the shower around 8:30 am, the phone rang and it was Elizabeth calling to rearrange our meeting for the following day because she realized she had another appointment this morning. Okay, so I was the least important of those two meetings...understandable and rearranged. I told Josh that it seems pretty common for people to cancel meetings on the day of the scheduled meeting (Josh's meeting with Wayne and Roger about Massey, for example).

Josh and I didn't have big plans to go out for dinner (seeing as the one time we tried to go out for a nice meal at the Shed in Lake Taupo we got burned). We did, however, decide to go for a walk in the afternoon and feed the ducks in the Esplanade. It was SO FUNNY to see how many couples were picnicing in the rose garden...it was a great, sunny evening when we took our walk and the rose garden is a romantic setting, HOWEVER, there were so many couples it wasn't really private. Hint: come on the 13th or 15th for a picnic!

The ducks appreciated our bread...although, truth be told, it was a bit moldy. And not the green mold you think of back home, a white fuzzy mold...and the bread was kinda wet. This leads to a side bar about bread in New Zealand...

Although we had bought the loaf of bread on the Thursday before we went to Lake Taupo (Feb. 9) the bread was covered in the white fuzz by Feb. 11 when we returned from the lake. What the heck?!? This wasn't the first loaf of NZ bread to go moldy on us so quickly.
Well, Josh had heard on the news that apparently they don't use a certain preservative in New Zealand that keeps bread from molding. I did an online search and the story gets more interesting (considering the source)....

from http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/Fact282.htm
The use of calcium propionate (282) as a preservative in bread became widespread in Australia in the early 1990s. This preservative is rarely used in Europe or New Zealand, used increasingly in the UK, and is common in Australia and the US. Consumers are often confused by a label claiming "now with extra calcium". Calcium propionate is used for the propionate, not the calcium. Calcium is added to bread in other forms...

Contrary to what the food industry would like you to believe, this additive is not to keep your bread fresh. Calcium propionate (282) is added to inhibit the growth of mould. There is no mould on a freshly baked loaf of bread, so why use a mould inhibitor? Bakers who keep their work benches and slicer blades clean and mould-free, by wiping with vinegar every day, do not need this additive. However, bakers in large factories prefer the less time-consuming method of "fogging" their equipment with a chemical spray. Putting hot loaves in plastic bags makes the problem worse. Preservative 282 allows for sloppy hygiene. It is for the convenience of the manufacturer not the consumer.

At least that explains why the bread has been getting so moldy, so quickly. We started buying sliced bread directly from the grocery store bakery to hopefully give us a few extra days of mold-free bread. The first loaf we ate from the bakery turned out well and the second one is looking promising for us!

So, back to feeding the ducks. The Esplanade ducks are really friendly and most are your garden variety brown speckled duck. Most are grown adults, however, you can make out by size and feathers the teenage ducks and the babies. I love the baby "duckels" (as I refer to all the ducks). There are two black ducks. One of the black ducks is of normal intelligence. However, the other black duck is so SLOW (mentally)!
This slow black duck cracks us up. Everytime we go to feed the ducks we will actively seek out the slow black duck and he always provides a laugh. When you try to feed this duck directly, more than just throwing some bread crumbs on the ground...because the black duck certainly won't go for those, he just stands there or physically moves so slowly that the other ducks get the bread first.
Josh and I have thrown bread specifically at this duck's bill and he just stands there (maybe opening his bill a little). In all the times we've tried to feed him (and we've targeted him a lot because we feel like he deserves some food) he's maybe got some bread like 5 times. And the times he does get a nibble, the other ducks will bite his back feathers. He's just so slow!

Thursday, February 15

Part two of getting ready to meet Elizabeth for coffee. Well, I made it out of the shower and got dressed and no phone call...so, I guess that meant we would be meeting today. I wore dress pants and a button down shirt because although this wasn't technically an interview, Elizabeth may have IPC contacts and I wanted to make a good impression.

Before I left the house, I asked Josh if he wanted to help me back out of the driveway (a feat of great accomplishment even for the best drivers) and he said he thought I could make it on my own (basically, he didn't want to get out of bed). Well, I did make it...but I got a little close to the landlord's house backing out.
I made it to the Plaza without a problem, parked the car, then walked through the mall to reach Robert Harris, the coffee shop we were meeting at. The day before, when Elizabeth had called to rearrange the date, she asked how we would know each other so I sent her a picture of myself. When I arrived at the coffeeshop, the place was virtually empty, so I ordered a Flat White which is a New Zealand type of coffee that is the middle ground between a cappucino and a latte...I wasn't that impressed.

When Elizabeth showed up, about 3 minutes after I had ordered, we shook hands, she ordered, and we grabbed a seat next to the open window and door at the front of the building. After brief introductions (she left the US during the anti-Vietnam era to join the peace corp being placed in Iran, traveling onward to Korea and Japan, before moving to NZ with her husband and becoming a NZ resident about 3 years ago) she asked why I wanted to meet with her. I told her that she was recommended to me to contact by Lyndsey Chadwick, the woman, who with her husband Jon, had given Josh and I a ride home from New Plymouth two weeks ago.
I told Elizabeth that I wanted to learn more about IPC (because Lyndsey had made it seem like Elizabeth thought it was a bad place to work). Well, E. made it sound like it was a fine place to work. Although, it soon became clear that the ESOL job for which I applied really wouldn't work for me as I wasn't qualified for that. However, E. did mention that there may be openings in something called English Outside the Classroom (taking students on trips to cultural activities and events in town to improve their social skills and English in social settings). Right before we parted ways 45 minutes later, E. gave me the name of her boss who would have more info. regarding openings in the Student Development area at IPC.

Walking back through the Plaza, it was time to shop for Josh's birthday presents. I knew he needed cologne since he'd left his in Arkansas. For fun, I stopped into the $2 store (interestingly, they don't have $1 stores here like in the states...they're $2 stores). I found streamers and birthday party hats so I got those. Then, I found what I thought was a globe...but it also was a pencil sharpener...even cooler. Especially since the other day Josh asked how he could sharpen a pencil for a Sudoku puzzle and I said use a knife! I bought those three items and went back on a search for cologne.

Well, Kiwi men must just like the smell of soap because they don't sell men's cologne anywhere in this mall. The closest thing is Axe deoderant stuff you can get at home...no thanks. I checked out the DVDs for sale in Kmart. They seemed a bit pricy so I thought I'd head over to the Warehouse to comparison shop.

My philosophy when driving in New Zealand has been to follow the guy driving ahead of me. Well, that took me the scenic route to the Warehouse (all the way around the Square, then back down Fitzherbert to Ferguson to Cook to Church rather than just going straight on Church street...check out a map of Palmy sometime at: http://www.manawatunz.co.nz/Pages/AboutManawatu/PalmerstonNorthMap.php
You can actually see our street at the bottom of the map-Savage Crescent.

The Warehouse had DVDs for about .50 cents less. A better deal nonetheless. I bought V for Vendetta and the first three Harry Potter movies for Josh. The fourth Harry Potter wasn't available. I also bought a gift bag and birthday card. The birthday card was of a local series called "Eliot." Eliot is an elephant and he has a mouse friend.

I bought Josh a birthday card with Eliot and the mouse writing Happy Birthday in the sand on the front of the card. When I wrote inside Josh's birthday card, I told Josh the two characters on the front of the card represented Josh and I at Himitangi Beach...little did I know that Josh and I would actually go to the beach on Josh's birthday (talk about fate)!

I also bought Josh the closest stand-in for cologne I could find in Palmerston North, a knock-off of CK One called Gender One. I also bought a pack of 30 batteries at the Warehouse to use in the digital camera. I returned home and I don't think Josh was any the wiser although his birthday was quickly approaching. I put all his presents in my purse before going into the house...then inside the house, I put his presents in my dresser drawer.

Note when moving abroad: If someones birthday is coming up in close proximity to the time when you are moving abroad, please buy their gift at home and find room in your suitcase to bring it with you. It will save you a lot of grief later on when you are in a foreign country that doesn't carry the item you are looking for.

This afternoon, we returned to the Victoria Esplanade to give the ducks the second loaf of bread that had molded over.

Friday, February 16

Josh went to Massey today saying he was sad about leaving me alone...he doesn't want me to be the highly qualified international wife who stays at home all alone and becomes depressed with her life...i.e. a story I read from the book Maybe Baby before we left home about an Indian woman in a similar situation in the states.

Josh got his Massey library card which was a laminated piece of yellow cardstock with a bar code on it. It reminded me of my 7th grade library card in Alaska...they must not be up on the technology here yet. While Josh was at the university, I played domestic (albeit, I am getting better at it what with the unemployment and all). Note: I figured out why I like washing dishes better here than I did in the states. Here I don't fill up the sink with water and soap and load all the dishes into the sink at once. Rather, I wash each dish individually with soap and a sponge. No sticking my hand into greasy, manky water to fish out the dishes to wash. Besides, the sink here is too small to hold more than a few dishes at once anyway. Also, we've only taken two plates, two bowls, and four glasses out. Basically, everytime we eat, we immediately wash dishes because we don't want to have too many dishes out as that equals more dishes to wash.
I also wrote out Josh's birthday card and put his gift bag together.

While he was out, I applied for a two day, temporary position taking inventory. I submitted my application online and the recruitment agent called me back with several questions, the most important of which was "Do you have an IRD number." Well, no, I've never even heard of that.

A quick Google search later (thank goodness for the internet) I found out that after applying for and receiving my working holiday visa, I should have applied for an IRD number. Basically, this number is used for taxation purposes and you have to have one to get paid in New Zealand. Well, I want to work, so I had to apply for one of these things and you can't just submit your info online, you have to print off a form and mail it in.

Which would be fine, except we don't have a printer here. Nevermind the fact we had THREE computer printers at HOME in the states (two came with the laptops and were still in their boxes when we moved) AND the printers at work. So, this meant I had to go uptown to the library to print off the needed IRD number form.

It was quite surprising how easily it all worked out though. I brought my passport, copies of my passport and working holiday visa, copy of our electricity account being opened, two $1 coins, and cell phone with me. I had to drive uptown by myself again...no worries. I parked at the Plaza, since it's free for 2 hours, rather than paying to park on the Square directly in front of the library. I went into Kmart to buy envelopes to mail the form in.

Envelopes purchased, I made my way across the Square on foot to the library. At the library, I had to obtain membership before being able to use the computers. Electric bill information and cell phone (with my phone number that I haven't yet memorized programed inside) came in handy in opening the account. Easy enough...now about using the computer.

The public library charges .50 cents per 15 minutes of internet usage and .10 cents per page to print off material. Well, I need the internet to print off my pages, so I used one of my $1 coins to buy a vending card. The computer system was easy enough to use (although both the printer and copy machine were out of paper...tsk, tsk). I was able to print off the IRD form in my 15 minute session.

Since I still had moolah on my vending card, I photocopied my passport and working holiday visa to have an extra copy of each. I walked back across the Square to one branch of the post office. Because it was almost 5 pm I didn't know if they'd still be open. Let me tell you about Kiwi post offices-they rule!

Not only can you mail letters and take care of your banking and get car ownership papers, the branch on the Square also has a Lotto booth in it...crazy! So, I was able to address an envelope I had just purchased at Kmart with the IRD location, inserted the form and a photocopy of my passport, bought a stamp, and mailed the letter which wasn't due to be picked up until 6 pm. Weird how somethings work out, huh?

Apparently, it takes 8-10 days to get an IRD number so we'll see if that comes in time to work the inventory job which runs from Feb. 26-27. The job pays just over $10/hour for 9 hours of work...but something is better than nothing. Either way, at least I'll have an IRD number for other potential jobs.

On the way home, I grabbed Josh an early birthday present of Canadian whiskey. It was the only Canadian whiskey at the Liquor King store and it really blew my mind that Johnnie Walker Red Label (Scotch whiskey that is expensive back home) costs the same as the Canadian whiskey here. Checking out, I could not for the life of me understand what the clerk was saying in his HEAVY Kiwi accent! Note about alcohol in New Zealand: Kiwi grocery stores sell both wine and beer, however, to purchase liquor, you must go to a liquor store where they not only sell liquor but also beer and wine...but it costs more....Note: liquor stores ARE open on Sundays in NZ.

Saturday, February 17

Mostly a do-nothing day. We went to the Pak N Save to pick up birthday eats for Josh's birthday. A note on grocery stores and food in New Zealand: They don't sell any healthy food here and it's driving me up the wall! Sure, I could eat the healthy fruits and veggies...but I want junk food that has been manipulated to be good for me i.e. Baked Cheetos and Lays, Right Doritos, Fat Free Cottage Cheese, Turkey Bacon, Reduced Fat insert name of cookies or ice cream here. It's enough to make a girl go crazy and/or vegetarian in order to maintain her weight (minus all the trips to McDonald's). The closest I've come to some light foods here are what we'd call 2% milk, cottage cheese, and cheddar cheese (their version of 2% is called lite...I can't even get fat free for crying out loud). And trust me, whenever I do find something that's lite, I do my happy dance in the middle of the grocery store because it's so amazing. Okay, rant over.

This night, we had early birthday cake and ice cream to celebrate Josh's birthday weekend. Top Deck ice cream (a chocolate and vanilla mix) by Cadbury is THE BEST ice cream I've ever had. Almost like gelato in the sense that it is so creamy, light, and soft. So good (because it's full of fat-see above).

Sunday, February 18 (Josh's 28th birthday)

Josh and I stayed up until 1:17 am or so...the time he was born in Arkansas (although technically it wasn't that time in Arkansas while we were celebrating). We went to sleep and I had two nightmares of not waking up in time to put up Josh's birthday streamers. So, my internal alarm clock was like, "Get Up!" around 7 am. I put up all of the streamers and went back to sleep.

Josh and I woke up, put on our birthday hats (we wore them all day except at the beach), had some breakfast, and then headed out to Himitangi (putting sunscreen on in the car) for some birthday on the beach. Well, everyone and his brother had the same idea on this gorgeous summer Sunday and cars were lined up and down the beach when we arrived. No worries. We found a spot, parked the car, and I literally ran into the surf. Cold! Josh and I played in the waves until hypothermia started setting in on me and I headed to shore. Josh stayed in the water another hour or so.

I milled around the beach, trying to find a comfortable place to lay down on my towel. But, remember, the beach is a road and I found myself laying down in between two lanes of coming and going traffic. The smell of exhust and the fear for my life got to be a bit much so I tried moving locations. Not long after getting re-situated, a group of 20-somethings guys started up a cricket game. This couldn't end well for me (picture junior high embarassment as the sports ball hits me or even comes close enough for me to throw back to the guys with all the finesse of....well, myself). Third time to move's gotta be the charm, right?

I saw further down the beach, an isolated area near the shore where I could actually see Josh better while he swam. I walked over, laid my towel down, sat down and realized why this spot was void of other sunbathers. Wet Sand. You couldn't tell by loooking at it because the water was just below the surface, until you place your body weight on it...completely soaked towel later...Josh was out of the water and ready to take a walk on the beach.

Okay, so remember how I don't like dogs swimming in the water with humans. Well, that was everywhere at Himitangi this day...but even worse than that were the miniature horses in the ocean! Ugh! After our walk, we returned to the car and drove back home so Josh could be there to get a phone call from his family at 4 pm our time.

We went to a different BP car wash since the one by our house was broken. There was someone ahead of us so we took the time to read the 12 step instruction board. Whoever heard of turning your side mirrors inward? Putting the antenne down would be a good idea...if possible in our car...seeing as it's mostly broken. By this time, there were two cars behind us and a grate that was up in the car wash that wouldn't permit us to drive forward. Car in reverse (the car makes an irritating ding, ding, ding sound in reverse) we left the car wash. The car is now dirtier than ever.

We stopped into McDonald's for birthday lunch, Josh opened his cologne (which pictures of him opening attest to the fact he didn't like it very much), Josh talked to his family on the phone, and then Josh opened more presents. The last of his presents were the DVDs I'd bought him.
Excitement! Josh liked his DVD presents and was ready to watch the first Harry Potter. Into the laptop....and....it won't read it!

Oh yeah, I seem to recall something about DVDs and different geographical zones. And the receipt says that the Warehouse won't accept DVD returns unless they're dysfunctional...does having the wrong laptop count as dysfunctional?

So, as quick as he had opened his DVDs, Josh and I were off to the Warehouse to see if we could return them. Not, however, before calling Pizza Hut for two large pizzas (Beef Italiano and BBQ both stuffed crust) to pick up. The Warehouse did allow us to get a refund and we learned that we need DVDs for Zone 2...NZ is in Zone 4. Josh has more birthday money to spend now.

We left the Warehouse to pick up our pizzas. We paid for them first (a good deal at $15 NZD), however, a check in the box when we reached the car reveiled they weren't stuffed crust. Back inside, the guy tells us it'll be 8 minutes to make the right pizzas, but they'll give us the two wrong orders for free and throw in two orders of garlic bread on the side. Now that's what I call customer service.

Josh and I hit up the Woolworth grocery store across the parking lot while we wait. $1.67 for 2.25 liters of Diet Coke is the second best deal in town for the stuff but the Pak N Save ran out of their Diet Cokes for $1.64. Back to the Pizza Hut, we leave with 4 large pizzas and 2 breads for $15! Ridiculous!

Birthday dinner at home followed by the real birthday cake with candles. Josh had a good birthday all in all.