Back to work. Nothing exciting except at home I've been in touch with Jessica, the other Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar from Missouri, regarding the upcoming District Conference in Upper Hutt on March 31. Apparently, there's a Broadway theme so I wanted to check what her plans were.
The four of us: Josh, me, Jessica and her husband Ike decided to go as couples from the Broadway show Chicago. Dressing up for Chicago would be easier and more affordable than other shows.
Tuesday, March 20
More work. This morning I said I wish I could help Josh go make chili with the Takaro kids. Really, I know I could though. I am choosing to work here and honor the commitments I made as far as working goes. I'll have to help out with other things when I'm done with work.
Josh said the chili making went well and that the kids ate the chili. Josh also said he had so many students volunteer to help make the chili. They even volunteered to cut the onions! Josh must have done a good job because the teacher invited him back so that the kids could make him a traditional New Zealand lunch. Then, Josh is going to go back again to make Italian food with the kids (manacotti).
Since Josh was making lunch with the Takaro kids today, I had lunch on my own and did a lot of walking around the downtown shops near my office. There are a couple of thrift stores down here. I found a shop with toy machine guns for $2.99-thought those would be great for the Chicago costumes. I went into the department store named "Farmers" and saw that el cheapo mascara I buy in the United States cost $18 here!!!A guy at work, Kevin, said that a play called "The Tutor" was showing for donations tonight. Josh and I decided to check it out. Tickets are normally $35 but we paid $10 total. It was such a great show! There were only 3 actors who did a fantastic job. The show was really a social commentary on the educational system of New Zealand...it was a really neat insight into things although we didn't get all the jokes. Josh and I agreed it was just nice to get out and take advantage of things going on in the community too.
Later that night, Josh sent an email request to David, Bernice, Lindsay and Jill about things we'd like to borrow for the year: vacuum, tent, bikes, sleeping bags, electric blanket, air mattress, "chillie bin" which is a cooler, electric jug. We figured we should ask the Takaro Rotary club if they have any of these items before buying them.
Wednesday, March 21
This was my first morning to have to park in the parking deck downtown as the other two days this week Josh drove me to work in the morning. The system worked easy enough: swipe the parking card, gate goes up, find a place to park. Do that in reverse when you want to leave.
Only thing is, it's about 3 blocks or a 7 minute walk. Not too bad, I just need to budget time in the morning when I have to drive myself.
Working. I spent my lunch break going to the thrift shop to try on the white dress with fringe that I thought looked like what Roxy and Velma wore at the end of the Chicago movie. That dress wasn't very flattering so I tried on a short babydoll style black dress that has sequins on the bust and straps...it was perfectly Chicago.
I bought the dress and hurried home for a 10 minute lunch with Josh. Josh was super nice and drove me back to work so I didn't have to walk from the parking deck to the office.
Later that night, Josh sent an email request to David, Bernice, Lindsay and Jill about things we'd like to borrow for the year: vacuum, tent, bikes, sleeping bags, electric blanket, air mattress, "chillie bin" which is a cooler, electric jug. We figured we should ask the Takaro Rotary club if they have any of these items before buying them.
Wednesday, March 21
This was my first morning to have to park in the parking deck downtown as the other two days this week Josh drove me to work in the morning. The system worked easy enough: swipe the parking card, gate goes up, find a place to park. Do that in reverse when you want to leave.
Only thing is, it's about 3 blocks or a 7 minute walk. Not too bad, I just need to budget time in the morning when I have to drive myself.
Working. I spent my lunch break going to the thrift shop to try on the white dress with fringe that I thought looked like what Roxy and Velma wore at the end of the Chicago movie. That dress wasn't very flattering so I tried on a short babydoll style black dress that has sequins on the bust and straps...it was perfectly Chicago.
I bought the dress and hurried home for a 10 minute lunch with Josh. Josh was super nice and drove me back to work so I didn't have to walk from the parking deck to the office.
After work (Wednesday's are my late nights ending at 5:30) Josh and I went to the Warehouse to see if they had black thigh high stockings for my Chicago outfit. They didn't. They didn't have a Chicago style hat for Josh either. We went to the Plaza but should have realized that they closed at 6:00. It is ridiculous to me that the "mall" closes at 5:30-6:00 on a weekday!
Well, Josh and I went to get some KFC take away after the shopping let down. This time when I was eating the mash potatoes, they didn't taste so different...I must be getting used to the New Zealand taste of things!
Thursday, March 22
Working. After work, Josh and I were getting picked up by David and Bernice to go to the Rotary dinner tonight at the RSA (Returning Servicemen's Association). The Group Study Exchange (GSE) team from New York state spoke about the Hudson River Valley where they're from. The team was led by a retired guy named George and the rest of the group consisted of 4 women.
The presentation was ok, however, it lacked energy. This is understandable though because when you go on a GSE tour with Rotary your days are very full and then you have to give presentations. It's not like being an Ambassadorial Scholar where you're in one place for a year and you arrange speaking engagements as it is convenient for you. So, we tried to be understanding.
On a high note, we met some visiting Rotarians who live in Ashburton (south of Christchurch on the South Island). We are going to try to present to their club during our South Island trip and they invited us to stay at their house while we're in town. AWESOME!
Around 10:00 that night, I checked the voice messages on the cell phone to hear that one of the people from UCOL had called around 8 that night. She said she had left me a message last week and to give her a call back in the morning. I thought this was interesting because I literally received 3 emails about how I had been rejected for the International Student Co-ordinator position at UCOL.
Friday, March 23
This morning, I called the lady at UCOL before going into work. I left her a message. Then, she left me a message saying she would be out of the office from 11-2 (so I could not call her over lunch). She said I could call her at home over the weekend though (which I wouldn't really want to do).
More work. I got to take the long tea break after the morning meeting today since the other secretary who doesn't take tea was in the office. It was such a nice sunny day. Most of the staff went to have a tea, coffee and muffin. We sat outside under an umbrella at a cafe across the street from one of UCOL's main buildings. Since UCOL is an urban campus, their buildings are scattered all around this part of downtown.
On my way to the parking deck at lunch, I stopped in to buy the machine guns I'd seen earlier in the week. I also bought a long black wig that I thought I could cut to look like Velma Kelly's hair in Chicago. After I bought the stuff and was walking to the parking deck, I ran into Angela from Palmerston North Personnel. I told her everything was going well with the job.
On my afternoon tea break, I called the UCOL lady back and she offered me some part time work helping college students with their assignments (probably with the English aspect of it?) it wasn't really clear...but at $21/hour and setting my own part time hours I told her to go ahead and send the contract. I won't have to start until we return from the South Island at the beginning of June. And she said if I found something else or wasn't interested when I got back, no big deal. AWESOME!
Thursday, March 22
Working. After work, Josh and I were getting picked up by David and Bernice to go to the Rotary dinner tonight at the RSA (Returning Servicemen's Association). The Group Study Exchange (GSE) team from New York state spoke about the Hudson River Valley where they're from. The team was led by a retired guy named George and the rest of the group consisted of 4 women.
The presentation was ok, however, it lacked energy. This is understandable though because when you go on a GSE tour with Rotary your days are very full and then you have to give presentations. It's not like being an Ambassadorial Scholar where you're in one place for a year and you arrange speaking engagements as it is convenient for you. So, we tried to be understanding.
On a high note, we met some visiting Rotarians who live in Ashburton (south of Christchurch on the South Island). We are going to try to present to their club during our South Island trip and they invited us to stay at their house while we're in town. AWESOME!
Around 10:00 that night, I checked the voice messages on the cell phone to hear that one of the people from UCOL had called around 8 that night. She said she had left me a message last week and to give her a call back in the morning. I thought this was interesting because I literally received 3 emails about how I had been rejected for the International Student Co-ordinator position at UCOL.
Friday, March 23
This morning, I called the lady at UCOL before going into work. I left her a message. Then, she left me a message saying she would be out of the office from 11-2 (so I could not call her over lunch). She said I could call her at home over the weekend though (which I wouldn't really want to do).
More work. I got to take the long tea break after the morning meeting today since the other secretary who doesn't take tea was in the office. It was such a nice sunny day. Most of the staff went to have a tea, coffee and muffin. We sat outside under an umbrella at a cafe across the street from one of UCOL's main buildings. Since UCOL is an urban campus, their buildings are scattered all around this part of downtown.
On my way to the parking deck at lunch, I stopped in to buy the machine guns I'd seen earlier in the week. I also bought a long black wig that I thought I could cut to look like Velma Kelly's hair in Chicago. After I bought the stuff and was walking to the parking deck, I ran into Angela from Palmerston North Personnel. I told her everything was going well with the job.
On my afternoon tea break, I called the UCOL lady back and she offered me some part time work helping college students with their assignments (probably with the English aspect of it?) it wasn't really clear...but at $21/hour and setting my own part time hours I told her to go ahead and send the contract. I won't have to start until we return from the South Island at the beginning of June. And she said if I found something else or wasn't interested when I got back, no big deal. AWESOME!
This afternoon at work, Christine (one of my co-workers) told me that I've received a lot of compliments on being friendly. Even Andrew, the CEO, had commented on how I seemed happy and that it was no problem to get him and his visitors water the other day (when doing so made me feel ill). I thought that was so funny because it just goes to show that you never can tell what someone's true perception of an event is.
After work, Josh and I went to Kmart for black thigh highs for my Chicago outfit and the Countdown grocery store. Amazingly, Diet Coke was on sale again for $1.69 NZD rather than the usual $2. We bought 8 bottles of the 2.25 litre drinks. We hung out and watched American Idol.
Saturday, March 24
I spent this morning on the hunt for Josh's Chicago style hat and a briefcase. I parked the car at the Plaza parking lot and first went to Toy World to see if they had any costume-y hats. Well, they did (one even said Al Capon on a ribbon around the hat) but the cost was too high at $19.00.
Next, I walked several blocks over to the thrift shops on King Street (the one's right near to where I work). Along the way, I saw a banner hanging across Broadway Street that there was a vintage sale going on at one of the Methodist churches down the road. I made a mental note then kept going to the thrift stores.
They didn't have any suitable hats or briefcases though. I walked past a bridal/tux shop and asked how much it would cost to rent (they say "hire") a hat. It cost $30!!! No way. I started making my way towards the Methodist church. I figured I could walk there just as fast as having to go back to the Plaza to get the car and drive back.
Well, it was a long walk but I made it. Oh my gosh, the whole of Palmerston North had to be in that church though shopping around. The first two rooms were old linens and things, then I hit the jackpot. I could see in the distance a mannequin decked out in the ultimate flapper wear. She even had a feather headband thing on. I asked if any of the clothes on the mannequin were for sale but they weren't.
I could have bought some gloves, a hat, a purse as something extra to go along with my costume but I think I'm pretty set. A couple of times, I headed to the door to leave the church because there were so many people inside but I just couldn't leave for some reason.
Good thing too. Because I found Josh's hat sitting in a trunk full of other hats that hadn't been there earlier and also I found him a briefcase stashed underneath one of the tables. The hat was $8 and the briefcase was $3. Even better, the hat and briefcase matched each other.
Onto standing in line where they had an odd system of adding up your items and then placing them in a bag before you went to another table to pay. Well, I didn't need someone to add up my two items and I didn't need a bag, so I went straight to the EFTPOS table to pay (EFTPOS is the debit card system here). It was so good that they had EFTPOS because I'd left my cash in the car.
Well, my taking a risk of not following the rules of getting my items added up and bagged worked out so I managed to save some time in that regard. I walked back into town stopping along the way at some $2 stores to see how much eye make up cost (uh it was $2).
I stopped into the Pak N Save for a few groceries including 8 more bottles of Diet Coke on sale. No joke: in New Zealand you've got to stock up on an item if it goes on sale because the prices here fluctuate so much!
After work, Josh and I went to Kmart for black thigh highs for my Chicago outfit and the Countdown grocery store. Amazingly, Diet Coke was on sale again for $1.69 NZD rather than the usual $2. We bought 8 bottles of the 2.25 litre drinks. We hung out and watched American Idol.
Saturday, March 24
I spent this morning on the hunt for Josh's Chicago style hat and a briefcase. I parked the car at the Plaza parking lot and first went to Toy World to see if they had any costume-y hats. Well, they did (one even said Al Capon on a ribbon around the hat) but the cost was too high at $19.00.
Next, I walked several blocks over to the thrift shops on King Street (the one's right near to where I work). Along the way, I saw a banner hanging across Broadway Street that there was a vintage sale going on at one of the Methodist churches down the road. I made a mental note then kept going to the thrift stores.
They didn't have any suitable hats or briefcases though. I walked past a bridal/tux shop and asked how much it would cost to rent (they say "hire") a hat. It cost $30!!! No way. I started making my way towards the Methodist church. I figured I could walk there just as fast as having to go back to the Plaza to get the car and drive back.
Well, it was a long walk but I made it. Oh my gosh, the whole of Palmerston North had to be in that church though shopping around. The first two rooms were old linens and things, then I hit the jackpot. I could see in the distance a mannequin decked out in the ultimate flapper wear. She even had a feather headband thing on. I asked if any of the clothes on the mannequin were for sale but they weren't.
I could have bought some gloves, a hat, a purse as something extra to go along with my costume but I think I'm pretty set. A couple of times, I headed to the door to leave the church because there were so many people inside but I just couldn't leave for some reason.
Good thing too. Because I found Josh's hat sitting in a trunk full of other hats that hadn't been there earlier and also I found him a briefcase stashed underneath one of the tables. The hat was $8 and the briefcase was $3. Even better, the hat and briefcase matched each other.
Onto standing in line where they had an odd system of adding up your items and then placing them in a bag before you went to another table to pay. Well, I didn't need someone to add up my two items and I didn't need a bag, so I went straight to the EFTPOS table to pay (EFTPOS is the debit card system here). It was so good that they had EFTPOS because I'd left my cash in the car.
Well, my taking a risk of not following the rules of getting my items added up and bagged worked out so I managed to save some time in that regard. I walked back into town stopping along the way at some $2 stores to see how much eye make up cost (uh it was $2).
I stopped into the Pak N Save for a few groceries including 8 more bottles of Diet Coke on sale. No joke: in New Zealand you've got to stock up on an item if it goes on sale because the prices here fluctuate so much!
Next, I went home to have a quick lunch with Josh before we left home a little after 1 pm to make the 2 pm Tui Brewery tour. Josh was afraid we weren't going to make it in time and I had to remind him it was no big deal if we didn't make it.
As it turned out, we did make it with about 10 minutes to spare before the tour started. We talked to the GSE team members who were taking the tour and Kim and Fleetwood. Kim and Fleetwood's host Rotary club of Pahiatua had arranged this segment of the GSE teams experience in New Zealand.
The brewery tour was pretty standard...Josh and I have now been on several. The machine's weren't in operation, however, the tour guide said to stop by on Fridays if we wanted to see packaging take place. The tour cost $12.50 and included the tour, 3 samples of beer at the end of the tour and a beer glass.They didn't skimp on the beer here! Sample sized in the US means just that. These were New Zealand size "samples"...full on pints! So, Josh and I had 3 of those...but we also had a voucher for 3 additional free samples. The GSE team and Kim and Fleetwood were scheduled to take a walking tour of the Manawatu Gorge so they left and Josh and I stayed to hang out in the "beer garden" which was really just a small grassy area with a few picnic tables...still, it was really nice and peaceful and the weather was so great and sunny. We took our shoes off and hung out.
Well, Josh and I shut down the Tui Brewery...but in fairness it did close at 5:00 pm! (See, everything closes early in New Zealand)! Josh used his other voucher for 10% of merchandise to buy a Tui Brewery t-shirt as we left.
We headed home after sitting outside the brewery for awhile. Sitting out there kind of reminded me of the time we lived in Arkadelphia and we got pizza to go and ate it sitting on the hood of the car at a dead end road in the middle of nowhere. 
The drive home was so nice with the sunny skies and the sky roof open...we'd never intentionally buy a car with a sunroof, however, I'm starting to be converted to the idea. We're going to have to buy a car when we get back to the states....Sunday, March 25
Himitangi today. After Josh and I woke up around 11, we went to Himatangi Beach from 12:30-2:45. We're taking advantage of the good weather before it's gone for good. We're supposed to have sunny weather all this week so that's good.
Himitangi today. After Josh and I woke up around 11, we went to Himatangi Beach from 12:30-2:45. We're taking advantage of the good weather before it's gone for good. We're supposed to have sunny weather all this week so that's good.
Otherwise, we spent today going back to the Pak N Save for more groceries (I didn't buy a lot yesterday) and catching up on the blog. More work tomorrow...but I'm down to 21 days! I totally need to get the South Island trip planned too!
Oh yeah, we got an email tonight saying that a Rotarian is going to let us borrow their daughter's vacuum cleaner while she's away in England.
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