Oh Haii! Fancy meeting you here.......I have been meaning to blog for a few weeks now but have been so caught up hating my life that I haven't gotten around to it. Well, that's not entirely true, I haven been 'hating' my life but it has been a smidgen rocky since alighting from the Magic Bus magical adventure. I really have been meaning to blog but have been completely unmotivated to write anything witty. I also have been having a tough time coming up with a picture of something awesome everyday. I understand that was the whole point of the exercise was to slow myself down and take notice of the awesome things no matter how big or small everyday, I get it. I do think I have been doing a reasonably good job at it, but have missed a few days here and there. I also think that currently I am not excited about my situation so I have been stuck in a bit of a negative Nancy kind of cloud. However! That shizznat is about to change! For I have given my notice with the family I am currently working for and will be striking off in search of greener pastures (or a greener wallet) and adventure. This Au pair gig is just not doing it for me. Over the past month I have felt more bogged down everyday and I have decided that it is not worth it to stick it out any longer when my time in New Zealand is so finite. So that's that! For this adventure I need a job that is around people, meeting strangers, something adventurous, something that gets me excited. So stay tuned because this Kiwi adventure has just moved into phase two!I have been feeling slightly homesick as of late too. I read the constant reem of facebook status about how awesome the weather is, "It's a beach day!", how much fun you all are having and mean while here it is cold, it rains everyday, I have barely any friends here wah wah wah, somebody call the wahhbulance. It kind of does suck when you have such great friends back at home because when you do stuff here you think, " Geeze (insert awesome friends name) would love to do/see this." Or, "Oh man, if (insert awesome friend name) was here, the time we would have!" Like Canada Day for example. I don't know how many of you readers have been away from Canada on our national day but if you haven't let me tell you that it stinks. Canadians are proud people and we love our country. It is awesome that the whole country (well besides Quebekistan) rallies and celebrates how utterly awesome our country is. It is the kick off to summer, it is a country wide festival of happy. We are all happy because we live in the true north strong and free. For the one day we forget about our shitty beady eyed prime minister, our cold harsh winters, our pot holey roads or whatever else we bitch about the rest of the year, and drink united in celebration of our great land. Think of all the things you love about Canada day, everyone has them, special memories, traditions etc that bring us to a happy place with friends and family. For me, when I was a kid every Canada day weekend we would pack up the fam jam in our little ford tempo (with pimp lights), drive down off the mountain to my Aunt and Uncles motorcycle rally. Excitement was always in the air, flashy bikes rolling in after a summers ride to the look off, the band warming up, my parents talking to and introducing me to old friends of theirs, seeing my Grandmother and Grandfather, hanging out with my 'cool' older cousins, my Aunt and Uncle giving us cans of pop from the canteen and staying up way past our bed time dancing to the Good Feeling Band and tearing around the campground on a sugar high. When I got older I didn't make it to every rally, but still went to many because it was always a deep seeded family tradition. But even as an adult and celebrating away from home Canada day has always had that sort of magical feeling about it. That overall happy vibe. Everyone is in a good mood, when you go out in the street people are smiling and happy and it is all about the same thing, Canada. There are parades, events in the park, BBQ's and washer toss, fireworks and parties. It is one of my top 3 holidays. So this year while away I was bummed that I was not in the company of my fun and awesome friends, but also Kiwis have no idea what the hell I am talking about. They have no national day. They can not relate to the jubilation that is July 1st. They have Waitangi day which is supposed to commemorate the signing of the Waitangi treaty (NZ's founding document), but from what I hear it is a pretty controversial day and everyone just gets angry and protests. There is some controversy between the white people and the Maori about the treaty so both sides get shitty with each other and everyone ends up in a huff. Whooo! I can picture the blogs of Kiwis about what Waitangi day means to them, "I remember when I was a kids and every Waitangi day we would make sandwich boards with racial slurs on them and carry torches......" So for me to celebrate my national day here the concept was lost. Plus, why don't you people stop being so damn great and then maybe I wouldn't miss sharing fun times with you!
The other tough thing I have encountered here in NZ, which I did not expect in the slightest is being cold all the time. Yea, I know right. I am down here south of the equator so it should be all good, and what do those crazy Kiwi's know about 'cold' etc etc. The first problem is that we are south of the equator, but very very south of the equator. The southern most end of NZ is Stewart Island, after that, next stop Antartica..... So it does get coldish here, and especially in the South Island. When I was coming here I thought that I would find it warm in the winter compared to home because the average temp is between 10-15 in the winter. Piece of cake! I come from a nation and Can-a-da is it's name, we are a hearty bunch and have suffered through many long dark cold winters with plenty of snow. Well although that is true it brings me to our second problem. That is that yes in Canada it gets much colder then here, but our houses are built to withstand it. We have insulated houses, double glazed windows central heating, wood stoves etc. Even poorly built homes in Canada have some amount of insulation and things. That is NOT the case here. I am so effing tired of being cold in the house. That is what is getting to me and I find it difficult to deal with. Albeit the house here in Auckland is a 'good' house in NZ standards and it is mostly insulated. But the quality of the housing here is crazy. And even if you wanted to fork out all the extra money for heating, well there is no such thing as central heating systems or anything of the like. Each room has their own space heater which offers mediocre heat at best. It is almost like the cold gets into the house and then you just can't get rid of it. Some days it has been warmer outside then in! It is slowly wearing me down, being in this constant state of uncomfortableness is wearing. I didn't bring proper winter gear with me because I didn't anticipate having to wear it at breakfast, and I am working on an au pair salary and spending all my money on getting back and forth to Taupo to see my friends so I haven't any money to buy new winter clothes. Even if I did want to everything is so bloody expensive I would have to buy a pair of wool socks in installments.
So I have been a bit of a sad panda these days, but that is coming to an end. I have given myself the proper kick in the ass I needed and it will soon be back to regularly scheduled hilarity. I mean after all, I am in New Zealand ;) I am feeling very relieved and positive about the rest of my time here in New Zealand and I have my sights set on adventure! As always good to see you, I will be talking at you again soon!
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