March 2-12

Friday, March 2

Today's main event for me was going into Palmerston North Personnel (PNP) at 10:30 to watch a workplace safety video and take a test over its contents. Boring. I made like 93% on the test, however, the test didn't go over the question(s) that you missed so what's the point in trying to learn this material? Anyway, you only had to make a 70% to pass, so I was "good as gold" as they frequently say in New Zealand.

Saturday, March 3

Josh and I went to the Golden Shears competition in Masterton-this is THE sheep shearing competition in the WORLD. I'd read about this competition in our New Zealand book. Just like the Kapa Haka Festival, we were up to check out a quintessential New Zealand event. We weren't up and ready until 11:30 and when we called to check on ticket availability, the man on the phone told Josh he'd better hurry if he wanted to get tickets for the afternoon show that began at 12:50. On our way to Masterton, we passed by the Tui Brewery in the town of Mangatainoka. We plan to take a tour sometime.

Well, we didn't arrive in Masterton until about 1:10 or so (but we did make it into town faster than the predicted 1.5 hour trip). We drove through the Manawatu Gorge again i.e. terrifying experience. We took this route because we could not figure out the other way out of Palmerston North to get to Masterton.

Once in Masterton, we stopped to buy gas and ask directions to the event. As it turned out, we were only about a block away from the arena where the competition was being held. We found a spot to park at then walked to the arena to buy tickets. It was about $15NZD/person for a three hour session. We could have purchased additional tickets for the finals, however, we didn't know if we were going to like the event so we didn't want to commit ourselves to watching the finals too.

Well, the event was different than I thought it was going to be in the sense that it was a lot cleaner. Every event took place on a stage and Josh and I were able to grab seats up close to the show. We watched several different competitions: some were junior sheep shearing, some were senior (not actually senior citizens) sheep shearing, another was a Pakeha (white) and Maori team sheep shearing competition, and a wool pressing competition. The sheep were bigger than anything I've ever seen on the side of the road...Josh said he'd heard they were bred for the competition. It was a great cultural experience.

Something Josh and I have experienced in the two events we've attended in New Zealand is that there is not a rule (at least at the places we've been to) banning you from bringing in your own food and drink into an event. As an example, we were able to bring our own snacks into the Kapa Haka Festival and at the Golden Shears (which was located right next to the New World grocery store) people were bringing in snacks that they had just purchased...like Popsicles! It's not that they don't have a snack bar at these events either, it's just that they're more open to the idea of people bringing in their own food. This is a plus in our book!

That said, however, Josh and I did purchase a corn dog, "chips" (fries) and a diet coke from the snack bar. The chips were good but the corn dog was nasty...I'm afraid it might have been sheep! It was really gross.

Josh and I were able to watch history in the making at this Golden Shears event. During one of the finals, it was 5 males against 1 female. We were actually seated behind the guy "Angus" who came in first place so it was neat to watch his family/friends get all excited. However, the girl finished fifth overall for speed.

But it's not all about speed when shearing the sheep. It's mostly about the QUALITY of shearing that you do. So, when the awards were handed out, Angus took first place with $1200 NZD...but the girl got 2nd overall...which I guess had never been done before. Pretty cool.

Josh and I decided not to stay for the finals...there's only so much sheep shearing you can take when your not in that business...so we headed home determined to take the other way back to Palmerston North...the one that doesn't go through the Manawatu Gorge. We stopped in the town of Eketahuna to take Josh's picture with the giant kiwi bird.

When it came time to exit the main road so as to avoid going through the gorge area, we thought we'd made the right decision. It wasn't insanely curvy like the gorge....AT FIRST! Then, out of nowhere come up and down tight turns as you make your way up and over the mountains. We had thought this road was going to be faster than the gorge road, however, it definitely wasn't. Both roads are curvy but the gorge road is flat through the mountain not up and down over the mountain.

Sunday, March 4

Nothing of note except that I went to the Warehouse Stationary store to buy a printer. Amazingly, I got a scanner/photocopier/printer 3-in-1 for $59 NZD. Poor customer service in the store until I paid and the check out guy carried the printer to the car for me. That was nice. Well, you get what you pay for and while the printer prints (more than we had before) it is pretty low quality. Oh well, it will serve its purpose. I made some copies of my resume in case I needed them the following day for my UCOL interview.

Monday, March 5

I interviewed with UCOL today about the International Student Support Co-Ordinator part-time position. I interviewed while sitting at a round table...uh oh I thought...round table interviews have never boded well for me (this refers to a time I interviewed for a job at the Rogers Sophomore Campus when I was trying to leave Admissions...I will never forget those 3 women and me sitting around a round table-them not smiling once-and one of the ladies having her leg propped up on another chair because it was in a cast)!

I had arrived to the campus early and once I had answered all their questions they were like, "That was fast." In defence on my part, I don't "uh" or "um" to waste time and I was able to answer the questions without taking time to think for an answer-which is either a good thing and/or shows that I can think fast on my feet from working in Admissions.

Called Angela at Palmerston North Personnel about taking the Massey 2 month temp job...great, she'd forward my CV...1 hour later while walking around the Countdown grocery store, I got a call back from Angela saying that the Massey people said I wasn't qualified. People! Give me a break...I CAN CUT AND PASTE and TYPE!

Later that night, Josh and I had a picnic dinner in the Esplanade rose garden. We had garlic bread, olives, chocolate and Tui beer. There were people setting up to make a movie or something in the garden and they were wearing really crazy aluminum foil like costumes.

Tuesday, March 6

Josh went to Takaro Readers...I woke up late. When Josh came home, he told me that one of the Takaro teachers asked him to come speak to her class that morning. Josh said he taught the kids the Hog Call. The teacher has invited him back to make "Texas-size" hamburgers. She was really enthusiastic and told Josh to provide her with a list of ingredients and she'd work it all out.
I worked on journaling, mailed a thank you card to UCOL, and went to Pak N Save for diet coke. While we were out in town, I got a phone call from Palmerston North Personnel (PNP)about a temp job as a school secretary at a "busy" school coming up this Thursday and Friday. First, I was like, yeah, they're just going to reject my CV when they see it, but I told Angela to give it a shot. She said she'd call me around 9 am the next morning.

Wednesday, March 7

Angela called around 10 am and said that the school had accepted me (ok, I'm in). I made an appointment to meet with Angela at 3:30 to discuss the details of the job. I've been up to PNP so many times I could drive there with my eyes closed...well almost.

So, I go and have a sit down with Angela who says almost straight away, "I know you'll be on your bestest behavior." Uh, yeah...I'm a professional. Should I feel insulted by this patronizing attitude?

So, I get the scoop on the place I'm going to be working, Awatapu College. This is the school that Pauline, the French Rotary Youth student, attends. Pauline's on holiday with her family now though. Info. in hand, I'm out the door to enjoy one last night as unemployed...until Monday anyway because this is just a two day gig. The pay is 13.50 NZD/hour. A big improvement over the $10.38 NZD/hour I got for working the inventory job.

Josh and I took a walk around Savage Crescent before sitting down to watch "Bert's Family Feud" and having some dinner. I got my outfit ready for the next day. Then later that night, EARTHQUAKE!!!

About 8:05 pm, I was sitting in the guest bedroom at the computer and Josh was at the dining room table at the computer. I heard this rumbling sound (like Josh's mom's washing machine as it finishes the wash, which is ironic because that always reminded me on an earthquake before) just as I asked, "What is that noise?" we felt a jolt ....AN EARTHQUAKE! While it didn't last more than 5-7 seconds...and was over by the time Josh and I got into the bedroom doorways...I was shaken up (pun intended). Physically shaking and crying...I don't live in an earthquake region back home for a reason!! Josh took it all in stride, however, and hoped that the next one would be "cooler." It was small, however, so we wonder if it really was a quake! Confirmed: http://www.geonet.org.nz/latest.html (click Recent Quakes link) we had a 4.6 magnitude earthquake!!!

I had a hard time going to sleep that night because I was afraid there was going to be another earthquake. Too, my sleep schedule for an 8-5 job was off as well.

Thursday, March 8

I was up and ready to go by 7 minutes till 8 am or so. Remember, it was a 2 minute drive down to Awatapu College. I came in to the school office and was immediately put to work filing in a little cubby hole-in-the-wall. Okay, I can handle this. Had morning tea around 10:30 or so. I love the concept of complimentary tea or coffee and cookies. This is a great tradition!

Angela called after morning tea to see how I was getting on in the position. No problems. I'd answer the phones when needed then go back to filing. Lunch from 12:30 to 1:30...I went home and found a package waiting on the doorstep. It was the package that Aimee and Elizabeth had given me at Hog Haus filled with goodies that they were going to mail to me once I was in New Zealand. It took about 2 weeks to get here~and I was totally excited. My first package and filled with travel themed books! Back to filing...afternoon tea around 3 and at 4, Deborah, my immediate supervisor, upgraded me to working on the computer-SCORE! Data entry until work ended at 5.


As work ended, Elizabeth, the head boss, came in to say that Angela at PNP had sent her my CV in regards to a teaching assistant position available at Awatapu College. Elizabeth had then forwarded my CV to the appropriate teacher. Great! I'm in!
Okay, I just have to get through the secretary gig one more day. My feet/legs hurt really bad at the end of the day because I'd been standing up for 6+ hours. Can my body handle this?

Josh and I took some of the personality tests that were in one of the books that Aimee and Elizabeth sent. One quiz illuminated that I am very competitive and ambitious while Josh was more laid back (no news flash there)!
Friday, March 9

8:00 and back to the filing. At least for an hour until Deborah put me on the computer to do more data entry. Well, at least my feet wouldn't hurt, however, my arms and wrists were killing me (complainer much...but it did hurt)!

Angela called to offer me a temp position with a company called Vision Manawatu. She billed it as a tourism company but after looking it up they are really more a economic development organization for the Manawatu. Anyway, good learning experience and the job is for a minimum of one month at $14-$15 NZD. Only thing is I have to pass up on the Massey interview Tuesday because I'm told the position starts on Monday. I take the offer and tell Angela to forward my CV (I won't cancel the Massey interview until something is solid on this Vision Manawatu gig as I've been burned before).

I went home for lunch and I said good bye to Josh since he would be leaving for Wellington before I made it home in the evening. Josh was going to the Inbound RAS Orientation and he was going down there with David, Bernice, and Anand.

Made it through the end of the work day and noted to self that it is hard to be a temp because you don't belong to the team. You're just there to do a job. I don't like that feeling. When I came back to the empty house, I noticed that there were two more dining room chairs at the table. David and Bernice had brought them over when they picked up Josh.

Saturday, March 10

I spent the majority of the day reading my Paris book, "Paris in Mind," sent to me courtesy of Aimee and Elizabeth. Even if you don't buy/read the entire book, you should still check out page 11, the last two paragraphs (maybe at Barnes and Noble) where Edith Wharton describes how she found out about the end of WWI. I dare you not to cry it is so good!

It was a hot and sunny day so I spent some time on the back porch reading until I felt like my uncovered feet were getting sunburned. For whatever reason, the interior of the house always stays cool (cool enough to wear jeans and an Old Navy fleece jacket in summer without AC).

That night, I watched a DVD my dad and Yadi had given me at Red Lobster before we moved (Love Comes Softly). The writing left something to be desired, however, as it is a Hallmark movie, I cried, as Yadi had warned me I would. I made microwave popcorn to watch with my movie. Popcorn in New Zealand is obscenely expensive at $4.30 NZD for 3 packs! But, it tasted like a little bit of home.

Sunday, March 11

Still home alone, I read more of my Paris book, went into town to scope out the local of Vision Manawatu (will I have to pay for parking?), and went to the Woolworth and Pak N Save. I'm about to give up on the Woolworth though. Twice now, I've gone there expecting lower prices on a certain item as advertised in a flier, only to get to the store and it's more expensive. WASTE OF TIME!

Josh came home from Wellington around 7:30. He is sick with a cold. Don't give me the germs! He had an okay time but said the Kansas City outbound orientation was better in his opinion. In two weeks time, Josh and I will spend the weekend at the District Conference in Upper Hutt (just north of Wellington). I'll get to meet some of the scholars that Josh spent time with this weekend. I'm excited to finally meet Jessica and Ike who we've emailed for almost a year now. Josh met them over the weekend and said they are fun people.

Monday, March 12

I thought I was going to be working today at Vision Manawatu. As it turned out, when I called Angela around 8:10 this morning, I found out today was just going to be a "mini interview" to check out that I was okay for the receptionist position. Actually, I was very happy with how that turned out because I like having an extra day off. When I told her I'd gone by the Vision Manawatu site the day before to make sure I knew where it was located she said, "Good Girl!" These comments make me feel like a child.

Before heading to my 9:00 appointment with Vision Manawatu, I dropped off my timesheet for working at Awatapu College at PNP. Then, I went to VM. The two people I met with were really friendly and they talked about how they're a team and once a week everyone goes out together for morning tea/coffee. It all sounded great (especially since I missed that feeling in the last job). I just hope I am considered part of the team and not as an outsider!

I got the gig and sent an email to decline the interview with Massey tomorrow. The job is mainly as a receptionist type person with a minimum contract of 1 month. However, it could go longer and I'm like, can someone give me something more definite because I want to book a three week trip to the South Island starting at the end of April. I'll be making $14 NZD/hour and working 7.5 hours a day, 8:30-5. I get a spot in the "car park" (parking lot) rather than having to shell out cash for the meter spots. Fingers crossed and positive thoughts about this job.

When I came home, Josh and I went to the Pak N Save to buy more hamburger meat because the practice burgers he had made at home before making them with the Takaro kids were not Texas size but rather petit gourmet burgers in a garlic and onion sauce. After Josh made his practice burgers I asked him why he didn't make them Texas size but he didn't know. So, now he has to try again!