The Days Are Flying By!

So since I have given my notice the days are just flying by! I just realized that in a few short weeks I will be unemployed and homeless, I guess I should do something about that eh? Don't worry everything is sorted and all will be revealed soonish. Until then I am trying to make the most of my time here in Auckland.

I am not a big fan of Auckland on a whole, but you gotta figure that it is the countries biggest city, surely there is something to do on the weekends. I was going to write a blog last weekend about my day spent people watching but I figured some of you would think I was a bit touched after describing parts of it to you. So I have decided to include it all in one with this one.

Last weekend the weather was really nice and I was around Auckland and didn't know what to do to occupy my time but didn't want to be stuck in the house. I wanted to save the few pennies I had so I was looking to do some free or cheap activities. I suppose I could have found another volcano to visit in the Auckland area seeing as there are a bazillion of them but I really am getting with those like I did with Kangaroos in Oz. Seen one, ya seen em all. I mean, that is not entirely true of course but they are all very similar. Tall, big crater, the end. The only difference is the view from the top of each of them. But really I have been to Rangitoto, I have been to Mt. Eden and I have been to One Tree Hill those are the main ones really. Plus the top of Mt. Eden is the same height as the sky tower so it really doesn't get much better, and Rangitoto you can see for miles so I decided that this weekend I would let the sleeping volcanoes lie.

Auckland, much like any other city, has it's fair share of "interesting" people and I love people watching. When given any opportunity to sit by the window at a sidewalk restaurant or on the patio at a cafe I always take it because I find watching people to be one of the most entertaining activities you can do around the world. Humans beings are crazy at the best of days but put them in a cultural mixing pot of a large city and that is a recipe for a good show. Each day is a different show and if you take the time to sit in one spot long enough you can see some pretty hilarious things. Of course I also know what you snoot boots are thinking, "Well people watching is just her PC way of saying judging people. Gawd! What a thing to do, sit and judge people." You are exactly right. People watching is a PC way of saying judging people, and yes I do enjoy sitting in a park and judging the hell out of passerby. Anyway, I digress. On Saturday I headed into town to hit up some of the high pedestrian traffic areas, The Skytower and the Waterfront. Well upon reaching the skytower I discovered a little surprise that made the crowd watching hilarity sky rocket. There was a dead pigeon (who obviously hit one of the windows on the skytower) lying in the main pedestrian area outside the tower. You might think I am a bit twisted for commenting on this morbid find, but let me tell you, when you sit and watch peoples reactions to the dead bird it could keep you in stitches for days. Some people would come right up to it and look at it with disgusted looks on their faces, countless people looked at the bird and then looked up as if it had just fell at that moment. I don't know how many people were walking and txting and nearly stepped right on it and the flailing dance they each did to narrowly avoid it once they realized almost in the nick of too late got me giggling.

However I would like to take this time and hand out two special awards to people I saw with the dead pigeon. The first is the award for funniest reaction. I wish I could have captured this on video because I nearly died laughing. This poor innocent young middle eastern boy was walking with his parents and sister, and they were obviously on a family outing to the skytower. As they were walking a ways away from the bird towards the entry the boy spotted the pigeon out the corner of his eye. He decided that he would chase the pigeons at the skytower, as any young child would do, and went running at the lifeless bird arms spread like wings of his own. Then when he was right up on it and looked down and saw the limp bird with it's neck bent at 90 degrees, he screamed and turned on a dime. Gawd! The look on that poor kids face! Hahahahaha! The second award is for the strangest reaction I saw. This one goes out to the Asian lady with her two kids. This woman was sitting on the same concrete structure I was for a long time. She had a little boy with her and a little girl in a stroller, I assume they were both her kids. She sat there with them on the bench for a long time and then she got up and I thought she was leaving. But nope, she just wheeled her infant daughter right up to the dead pigeon and just sat her there. She kept her daughter in the stroller there with the broken necked pigeon for probably 5 full minutes before wheeling her back to the bench. Then after a while they just left. Strange.

The rest of my people watching was far less interesting then the skytower, but interesting all the same. It was good to get out, enjoy the sunshine and see the sights of downtown on a nice day.

This past weekend was a bit more exciting then people watching, although the environment was conducive to lots of interesting people. This weekend I went to the Kapa Haka Super 12 which was a Maori performance art competition along with a Maori market. I gotta say, I was slightly disappointed in the market aspect of it. Strictly for the fact that I thought there would be more vendors and the like, but there wasn't very many. I guess you soon learn that Halifax's seaport market is actually pretty bomb for a small city. The performances though, were very very good. I really enjoyed watching the different groups perform their pieces and took some videos. I find the Maori performances to be very engaging and I really do love watching them. There was also a stall set up where a guy was doing a Maori Moko (or tattoo) live for people to see. I really like the idea of a moko. The artist creates a design based on your story. To the naked eye a Maori tattoo may seem like a bunch of swirly loops and lines but it is much more then that. The artist sits down with you and talks with you about your life and things that are meaningful. Then after speaking with you and asking questions they create a design with intricate symbols that tells your story. I think they are facinating works of art, and I will be getting one myself. I may have found the guy to do it at the Super 12. I will have to keep you posted after I have a sit down with him and talk about designs.

This weekend coming up is going to be a gooder. I am headed first to another Maori event that wraps up the month long Matariki festival and then to Taupo for the week. Although when I am there I will be doing some day trips here and there so I am sure there will be lots to write about.