Eruptions Of All Kinds!

Well, what an eventful half week this has been. The weekend was dull as, but it is only Wednesday and already I have some material for an interesting read.

I don't know if any of you have been following the news or read the link I posted yesterday about the Tongariro volcano, but I will fill you in. Late Monday night a history making, ground shaking event occured here in the North Island. You see, New Zealand on a whole, and especially the North Island has ridiculous amounts of geothermal activity. Here in Auckland there is a whole circuit of dormant volcanoes and it is also home to the countries youngest volcanoe called Rangitoto Island. Some of you may recall that I hiked to the top when I first got here. Just a mere 600 years ago Rangitoto didn't exist at all until one day the ground started moving and out of the water with a violent bang sprung the flows of lava that would later become the island that the tourists like to hike on. We all have heard of devestating earthquakes happening down here, and the most recent one being in Christchurch. New Zealand is a hub of mother natures bitchy set backs. I gotta say, you don't really notice much though for the most part. I mean there are lots of times in certain areas where there is steam coming from a hole in the ground, or the number of geothermal parks in the hot spots but you never remember that that shit can be dangerous. Well my first reality check has occured.

I am sure that all of you have seen the pictures I post regularly of the mountains on the other side of Lake Taupo with the snow on the top? The are huge majestic looking mountains and being from Canada we have some of the best mountains around. However the key difference is our mountains were formed when to plates rammed into each other causing crazy amounts of up lift forming the beautiful and breath taking rocky mountains. These mountains were formed because they are volcanoes. Real deal, crater havin, rocky volcanoes. Late Monday night one of those beautiful mountains I always take pictures of erupted! It hasn't had any signs of erupting for 100+ years and scientists say the last time it erupted was 1867. There is also a very very popular 1 day hike called the Tongariro Crossing that many many people do, and I have planned on doing myself when the weather gets warmer. Wellllll it was the Tongariro that blew up! Eye witnesses said that there was bright flashes and what looked like lightning coming from the crater of the volcano. It threw hot rocks and a massive ash cloud a kilometre up into the air, and the ash cloud blanketed several surrounding communities. Shit. Just. Got. Real!! It is crazy to think that stuff actually happens in peoples backyards and not just in the movies. I was no where near the eruption, but I know lots of folks in Taupo and they were just a lake away from it. They were actually pretty lucky that they wind was blowing the right way because they would have gotten ashed otherwise. There was no lava flows, but they are wondering if this is just the beginning of a period of activeness from this volcano. I am glad though, that I was here when it happened there is a neat side to being privy to history like that.

The second eruption I am writing about is not of the geothermal type it is of the drunken fucktard type. I don't know how or why on this fair planet we live on but if there is a crazy person within a 10k radius of me it's like they can smell the Moreeeny on me and are attracted to it like flies to stink. I, for whatever reason, seem to have this inner magnet that attracts all of the insane asylum candidates right to me. It is either that or it is the Great Spirt's way of making sure you all have a good read every once in a while! I would like it to be noted, before I start, that I have been told by several people to stay the hell away from South Auckland because of how dangerous it is. I have been given warnings of where to avoid when the sun goes down etc etc. Well this story takes place in the quite little streets of Mt. Eden village, which is chalk-a-block full of rich white folk. The streets are lined with boutiques and fancy little cafes for the nice white housewives to meet with their girl friends for lunches and brunches, and for the men to stop for a frappachino on their way home from there CEO jobs. They charge twice as much for everything and even their sally-ann is designer. I would also like it to be noted, that I have heard a lot of prejudice comments and accusations made by Kiwi's while being here, and this incident was with a white male in his late fifties. So take that stereotypes, crazy knows no colour or socioeconomic lines in the sand!

I was on my way to go see Magic Mike with a friend last night. Which side note to the producer, no one came to see the story. I don't know what all the talky bits at the end were for, shut up and take yer clothes off! I walked up to the Mt. Eden village to catch the bus to the theatre and our movie started at 6:40pm. It was around 6:00pm on a rainy Tuesday evening and the bus sign said 10 minutes until my bus was there. I took a seat on the bench to wait and took out my phone to send a quick e-mail. It was a dreary night and there was hardly any people around. Normally the streets of Mt. Eden are bustling with soccer moms and closet gays but tonight, no one was around. There was a very very drunk guy walking from the crosswalk up the sidewalk towards me, and there was a young career type fella walking down the sidewalk towards the crosswalk. The drunk fellow, although drunk on a Tuesday early afternoon, didn't appear to be homeless at all. He had obviously had a shower in the past few days, had clean clothes on, a small over the shoulder bag with an umbrella sticking out and a can of beer in his hand. He did look a little scruffy, but obviously he had some sort of something going on, he was drunk at 6:00 on a Tuesday night! As the drunk guy passed the other guy he reached out and shoved him by the should closest to him. The sober fellow looked rather bewildered, turn around to see the drunkard pass him but kept walking to the intersection to cross the street.

The drunk guy was obviously giving him the stink eye, even though I couldn't see his eyes through his sunglasses he was wearing over his regular glasses even though it was dark already.......and raining. I could tell because he stayed half turned looking at that guy as he stumbled up the sidewalk. He stumbled up the sidewalk until his homing device obviously synced up with my magnet and stopped right in front of me sitting on the bench waiting for the bus. Now, I have had my fair share of run ins with the bat crap crazy and I have picked up a few tips along the way. The first is, be wary of the drunk ones because they are unpredictable. They have conversations in their head and whoever is talking to them on a cerebral level could convince them that you stole something from them, lied to them, etc. Or it could convince them that you are new buds, 'you totally get them' etc. This can depend greatly on how you react to them. If they are already drunk and agitated (as our friend in this story was) your goal is to not engage them, but don't do anything that is going to agitate them more. Key things that would have agitated this guy would have been walking away from him or ignoring him. So, he turns to me and says, “You know, I love that man. (said in 'cursive' speech and referring to the fellow he just shoved in passing that is now long gone.)” I, not wanting to offend or piss off this obviously angry fellow just said, “Yep” The majority of my answers over the course of our conversation were “Yea” or some variation of. Be agreeable, don't piss them off, don't engage and hopefully they go away. He said a few times that he was in love with that man and some unrecognizable drunken gibberish. Then he said, “Yep, but I gotta kill him!” As he said this he was reaching for his umbrella with his hand that wasn't holding his beer. There was a store behind me that was open and it was now when I decided I should probably try to make my way in there and get them to call the police. However, I can tell by the way this guy is acting he thinks we are having a fine conversation and if I turn and walk away right now he is going to get pissed because his agitation level is still a 8 on a scale of 1-5. So, I stay, but keep a mindful eye on where the door is and estimate how many steps it would take to get inside.

He is wrestling with his umbrella, trying to get it out of his bag with one hand and I see his angry level rising as he continues talking about how he is going to kill that guy. Then he gets it free and it is about 2 feet long with a 3 inch metal tip on it. He takes it and says, “I would just go like this!” And stabs the air towards me, but not at me. “These fuckin punks they think they can take me on, but I am the toughest guy in this town. I don't need no fuckin weapons (at this the threw the umbrella, metal end first, down behind the bench that I was sitting on) I'll take them on with my fists.” Then he sat down next to me on the bench. And asked me for a smoke and kept talking about taking on the punks with his fists. I told him I was sorry but I didn't smoke and he said, “No smokers hey. Where the hell am I anyways no mans land!” Then he passed me his full beer and said, “Here, hold my beer a minute would you.” I told him I would set it on the bench beside me. “No, hold it!!” I told him I couldn't hold it right now but I would set it on the bench and keep an eye on it for him. To which he replied, “I am serious, hold my fuckin beer!” And his agitation level went from an 8 on a scale of 1-5 to about an 11 and he had his crazy sights set right on me. I knew then I had to make a move either run for the shop or, at that very moment a huge orange metro angel showed up with open doors. So I hopped on the bus and hoped he didn't hop on after me! Thank jeebus he didn't, and the bus drove off leaving him on the sidewalk.

So after hearing that story I want to know, how many of you picked up on the fact that the sign said 10 mins till the bus? All of this crazy parade happened in a span of about 10mins! I can't make this shit up folks but thank goodness the Moreeeny luck had enough sense to let me keep safe so I could tell all of you about this crazy adventure. Hahaha!

A Vacation From My Vacation

Today was back to the grind after a week long vacation. It is weird to say that I was on vacation because isn't this whole trip a vacation? So the family I work for went away for a week, which means I was able to go away for a week. If you had any doubt where I went you obviously have not been reading anything I write about. I went to Taupo of course! The little gem of the North Island. I also know more people in Taupo then I do in Auckland so it makes my time a bit more enjoyable. So after the amazing kite day festival I packed up my stuff and hit the road to Hamilton first and then Taupo.

My only reason for going to Hamilton was to visit the United Sweets outlet store, or as I like to call it, the mecca. I stumbled upon this store online while searching for places to get Reeses in New Zealand. This store, United Sweets, is a family run online store with an outlet store located in Hamilton. Lucky for me Hamilton is both, on the way to Taupo and only 2 hours away from Auckland. They also have a HUGE online store and shipping that is cheap as. They carry a ton of the good ol sweets that they ship over from America. Whilst I am a proud Canadian, all of us Canucks know that most of our products are either from America or the company name started there. So they have so many delicious sweets in stock that you just can't get anywhere else here in New Zealand, including a wide range of Reeses products. The best part of the United Sweets is that they are very reasonably priced in New Zealand standards. The first Reeses I bought here was a gouging $5.50 for one pack of 4 cups. After digging around a bit I have since learned that that store is stupidly over priced. The United Sweets store sells things for more then we would pay for it in North America but still reasonable for getting yourself a little treat. I have browsed their online store in great detail and had a wish list a mile long, but the reality was that I could only afford a certain amount.  The item I was most after was their 'Smores pack.' I know that some of you have heard me drone on about how they don't even have graham crackers here, their marshmallows are crap so the poor kiwi children are deprived of the joy of smores. So in the smores pack, which is priced at $26.60NZD, you get an entire box of Honey Maid graham crackers, a whole bag of jet puffed marshmallows and 4 regular sized Hershey chocolate bars. I know you are all thinking that is outrageous, but it really is a good deal for the money down here. I also had my eye on some cans of Root Beer and some Reeses.  I wasn't greedy and shared my loot with the peeps in Taupo. I think I have forever changed the lives of some people with the introduction of smores. The Root Beer wasn't actually a huge hit, but oh well! I was lovin the smores, and so did everyone else!

From Hamilton, which I keep wanting to call it the Hammer, I headed down to Taupo to settle in for the week. The week previous we had great weather so of course I was planning all these day trips from Taupo. Turns out the ol Moreeeny law just shat all over my parade. It started raining on our way from Hamilton to Taupo and didn't stop until Thursday of that week. Yep! So all the bush walks, day at the races, etc were all down the toilet. Instead though, for the first part of the week, I did a whole lot of nothing and drank a lot so I guess it was still a good vacation. I did make it out to the Opepe reserve to do a short little bush walk in the dreary weather and owned Thursday, Friday and Saturday with some sweet vacation activities. Thursday my friend Dave and I went for a sunshine cruise down to the other side of the lake and back stopping in at all the little beaches and inlets. It was nice to get a different perspective of the lake from different vantage points. Friday was a sweet day of mountain biking and Saturday I spent gliding along the the great lake on a catamaran before heading back to the big smoke.

Friday mountain biking was great! Big thanks to Ross at Rainbow Lodge for hooking me up with a bike and helmet. There is a pretty good bike trail from town up to Huka Falls and back and taking our time we were out for about 3 hours or so bumping around the trails. After the ride I thought it would be a good idea to reward myself with a glass or two of wine and maybe head to the pub to catch up with Tintin and have a few beers. It was a good idea, don't get me wrong, but when I woke up the next morning and my body was stiff as a corpse that is when I thought that maybe I wrong about that. Luckily it didn't take much for me to get going again, and even managed to bang out a short run. I met up with PK at the pub and he offered for me to go out on his boat with him and some other peeps the next day. What a great day we had for it! It was so nice to sit back and relax on the boat on the water and have a few beers. It made me want summer time that much more because instead of a sweater and pants I would be doing the same thing with a bikini on!

After the boat it was back on the ol coach bus for a sweet 4 hour ride back to Auckland. It actually isn't that bad of a ride, but around 2.5 hours into it I am pretty much ready to get off. Pulled into Auckland just in time to run home, throw my things in the door, change my clothes and head back out for a drink. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but it was fine and I was glad to have Sunday to myself to hang out and do whatever.

Before I go I will tell you a little story about how there are still good people left in this world and as a matter of fact I am one of them. Of course you all knew this already, but Imma go ahead and tell you this story anyway. The Friday before the kite day I found a black camera case with a little pullout slot for memory cards. There was no camera in the case, but there was two 2GB SD cards full of pictures. I popped them into my camera and had a quick flick through the pictures. It was evident that I was now holding a couple hundred of this couples New Zealand vacation pictures. I would like to take a side bar here and share with you a tip I picked up in L.A. That is to take a picture of your e-mail address and leave that picture on your memory card. Take a couple, one at the very beginning, one in the middle etc. That way if you ever loose your camera or memory card someone (if they are honest) can contact you to return it. This couple did not do that. I thought about how gutted I would be if I lost my couple hundred photos I have taken down here, and how I would be praying to the sweet baby cheeses that who ever found it would do the right thing. So I contacted ifoundyourcamera.net and sent them some photos from the camera and the deets of where I found it and stuff, but would they look on there, who knows. So I used my detective work to look through the photos and see if there was any identifying pictures that would help me track down these peeps. I was flicking through them and then I found one! There was multiple pictures of staff of a restaurant on one of the cards as well as a picture of 'the girl' from the couple holding a specials sign for a restaurant. So good ol Google helped me out and let me know that there was a location of that restaurant here in Auckland, on the North Shore. I got their contact info from the website and e-mail them with that picture asking if anyone knew how to get a hold of the girl from the photo. Low and behold, today I received an e-mail back from someone that worked with her at the restaurant and would be more then happy to help me get the SD cards back to the rightful owner. The girl from the photo has actually returned to Scotland but we will work something out. So I can imagine the girl will be pretty stoked to get her pictures back, I did a good deed for the day and all is well with the world. I also told her that there is no camera, I don't know if they lost one too, but when I found it it was just the case with the cards, so hopefully they don't think I jacked their camera!

So there after a week of vacation I am back at er for the next 3-4 weeks and then movin on. I have a funny feeling that some exciting things will be happening in the next 3-4 weeks so there will be stuff to blog about I am sure. Thanks to all that read along today!

Maori Kite Day

Ahhhh! Vacation! I am currently sitting with my feet up in front of the lake enjoying the start of my week off. Some of my friends are feeling a little worse for wear this morning after our vacation kick off last night, but I surprisingly fared quite well. I am looking forward to having the week off, taking some day trips around and having time off to relax. I will keep you updated on any interesting things that I do this week. For now I will tell you about my super great experience at the Maori kite festival.

Yesterday was one of the coolest experiences I have had since coming to New Zealand. Since coming to NZ I have been interested in the Maori culture. It is a prominent culture in the North Island and from what I noticed the Maori people are still very traditional and unlike other indigenous people have maintained many aspects of their culture. I am quite eager to learn more about the culture and traditions but I have been wanting to learn from the people themselves, hear of the customs from the people that practice them. The city of Auckland does a pretty good job of marketing the culture and turning it into a novelty so the nice white people can feel cultured. That isn't what I wanted, I want to learn first hand. So I have been going to some of the events around the city for the month long Matariki festival despite that they are put on my the city. It was the best way for me to learn more seeing as I didn't know any Maori people. Well not anymore!

Some of you may recall a photo that I posted on facebook of a fella doing a traditional moko tattoo at the Kapa Haka Super 12 last weekend. That fella's name is Graham and he is now my Maori connection. I had chit chatted with him at the cloud and took his business card because I am wanting a moko too. Later in the week he invited me to go to the kite festival on the Saturday being held at a Marae. A marae is is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes. I was planning on attending the kite festival anyway but Graham invited me to the official opening before the public festival kicked off. I am so grateful to him because it really was an amazing experience to be able to attend that. We arrived at the marae and I was introduced to many many people, to many to remember all their names. Family is a very big part of the culture and they have very close and large families. I had told Graham about my list and how I have to hug 10 Kiwis, he just laughed and said that I would fill that there at the kite festival. It is a traditional greeting to hug and kiss on one cheek. So I was a little uncomfortable at first but got over it pretty soon actually. So Graham was performing in the Kapa Haka group and couldn't join me for the welcoming ceremony. He asked his friend to look after me, because there are certain areas of the marae that I wouldn't be allowed on and a specific order of the ceremony. She gladly said I could stick close to her until he was done and could show me around. I don't know how to express the way it felt to be there with Grahams family. It was amazing the way that each of them gladly welcomed me with open arms, hearts and minds and they were all so lovely and nice and that in itself was an experience.

So we were assembled at the entry to the meeting house and given instructions as to how to position ourselves and what the steps would be upon entering the meeting house. We assembled in a group, the women were at the front, the children in the middle and the men in the back. A woman started singing to signal the start of it and the Kapa Haka group started their singing as well. We walked as a group to the doorway of the meeting house, removed our shoes and entered to an area with some seats. I would try to describe what the inside of the meeting house looked like but there is no way with words you could understand. I have posted pictures before of some of the carvings and artwork in there but it really is beautiful. We all sat and several people did some speaking. The kapa haka group and several important members sat in one area and the rest of us in another. Of course I hadn't the foggiest clue what they were saying because the whole ceremony was done in Maori. Although I couldn't understand what they were saying it was great because it was exactly what I wanted. An authentic Maori experience, not just a show for the people. This was the real deal so I just sat in awe of the whole thing while the speeches were done in Maori. I did understand one thing though, when Graham was speaking he said, "maori maori maori, Canada." And pointed at me. I assume he was telling them all that I was visiting from Canada. The speaking was about 20-25 minutes and then we all got up and they formed kind of like a receiving line. The people that were chosen to speak, the kapa haka group and several other of the more important people stood in a line and all of us spectators were to travel down the line and greet each of them before exiting the meeting house. The greeting we did with each of them is called  hongi. Hongi is not for people with personal space issues, that is for sure. The hongi is when you shake hands and press your nose and forehead together with the other person at the same time. It symbolizes the breath of life. So when you and the other person press your forehead and nose together you are breathing the same breath. This isn't just used in a ceremony or formal setting. Maori men often use this as a greeting in everyday life. So in order to fully experience this I set aside my personal space issues and did this with each and every of the about 20 people in the line.

After everything was said and done the public event kicked off and all of the people I just met split up and went to their designated areas and were busy doing jobs and things. Graham showed me around the meeting house and pictures of his ancestors and family. I was so pleased that I was able to come and learn and experience the culture. Outside there were huge kites flying in the air on the hill overlooking the harbour. It was a spectacular site to be seen! The kites were huge and colorful and there was a lot of wind so they were sailing high. There was music in the air, food stalls, and hand made goods. Graham took me around and showed me the marae and was so good to me. Then I got to sit and watch their kapa haka group perform and it was so good. I will post pictures and videos of their performance.

I couldn't thank him enough for letting me experience that and thank his family for being so open and welcoming. He also is teaching all the good Maori slang ;) Also he is teaching me how to properly say things. Like you actually pronounce Maori like moldy, without emphasis on the 'd'. So, that was my first real authentic Maori interaction and although I have written about the things I did it could never describe what that meant to me and what it was like.

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.

Just Chit Chat and a Little Rant

So, now that I am back in the blogging mind frame you people will have the joy of listening to me droll on about just about anything now. When I get into the mid set I really do enjoy writing, and that is probably why my blog has been so successful to date. Today I thought I would share a little story about how I think the Auckland transport drivers have been in cahoots with with the highly over paid self righteous Halifax transit drivers, and a little about my adjustment to living as a vegan for the past little while. If it sounds like those topics would bore you, you might want to change the station now.

So, yesterday I took Tia to the library as we do pretty much every Thursday for their wriggle and rhyme time. Most days we walk there and back, but most recently we have taken the train a few times. Tia, like any other 2 1/2 year old loves all things transportation. So it is exciting to take the bus, she loves watching the trains come and go, airplanes, diggers etc have a certain je ne sais quoi about them that draws the inquisitive little eyes to them. So last week we took our first train trip and she was over the moon excited! We live so close to downtown that we only take it two stops and then get off but she loved it all the same. So because the train actually takes us a bit past the library we get off at the main transport hub and catch a free bus up to the library and it makes it all the more exciting that she got to take a bus and a train, whoo! So yesterday she was feeling a bit cold and fluish but still wanted to go to the library so I offered up another train trip so that we didn't have to walk. We got our stuff together and walked the very short distance to the train station by our house ( I mean really short, even with 2 year old legs it took about a minute and a half to get there). The train ride was everything she remembered from last week and just as exciting, and this time she got to carry her own snack and water in her purse she got for her birthday. We came up the 'moving stairs' to the ground level and headed to the bus stop to grab the free bus that runs every 10 mins around the city centre. Upon reaching the bus stop a woman asked if we were waiting for the city link, when I said yes she informed me that it was not running until 2:30pm and inquired as to where I was going. I mean it would be a mild inconvenience for this bus not to be running, it is a city of 4 million people there are other buses that run past the library but it would mean having to pay a small fare. So I told the, seemingly helpful, woman that we wished to go to the Auckland central library and asked which bus I could take. Then she said, " Oh yea......you're going to have to walk. No buses are running until 2:30pm because of the union meeting." And pointed at a sign posted on the bus shelter.  I'm sorry what did you just say to me!? You mean to tell me that these fools thought that between the hours of 9am-2:30pm on a weekday was a prime time to have a union meeting so in turn they are going to inconvenience thousands of people? God forbid you have a effing meeting AFTER work, I am sure the union would shutter at the thought. It makes me wonder if perhaps the tales of the demanding, self serving, arse holes of bus drivers in little old Halifax haven't spread among the land and now uneducated unionized chimps everywhere are demanding a life of luxury as well. Stuff like that just really grinds my gears. Why on this earth do cities value the 'skill' of bus driving over so many other needed professions!? Unions! That is the answer, because every group of drivers has a snot nosed little union leader that has some sort of little man complex and feels the need to flex their muscles if given the chance. So thank jeeba that the trains were still running because I would have had to walk home with a sickish 2 1/2 year old and no stroller :(.

We made it to and from the library with only a medium amount of hassle which was pretty decent, I am just stoked we live so close to both town and the train station. The library story time is like so many other around the world. There is either some mousy woman who "just loves kids" singing some songs and books about whatever, or it is the girl that drew the short straw in the back and can't wait for it to be over. I would love to go once a week and do a story time at a library. Stories would spread like the herp about the amazing girl who does the best story times. I can see it now. Maybe when I am old and retired and need something to chase away the crazy. The other thing that drives me absolutely nuts is the large number of mothers that bring their children to things like this and let them act like little animals. Seriously people! It is important to teach your children how to behave in a public place, and just how to behave in general. (Oooo I just had a thought as I typed that, I could start a super nanny blog and blog about how to teach your children not to act like idiots. I will have to think about that.) Letting them clear the shelves of books in a library is not an appropriate way to act, and if you can't control your child perhaps you should be working on that before bringing them to things like this. Also, if your kid is wandering around like a feral little rat bag then it is most likely that they are not interested in whatever the mousy woman with the pop-up book is saying so take them the hell out of there! It really really irks me to no end, so much so that I nearly came to fisticuffs with a woman last week because her feral little rat bag kept taking Tia's cup out of her hand. Meanwhile the woman was over chit chatting with her friends and had no idea where her child was or what she was doing. I tried to politely move the child away from Tia and encouraged Tia to use her words with her and tell her no. Then after about the 5th time moving the child away from Tia I just picked her up trotted her over to her mother and said, "Yer kid keeps taking the snack out of my child's hand. Here!" And walked away. Five minutes later the child was on the other side of the library ripping books off of shelves while the mother was yet again no paying attention. I fear for my safety as a senior citizen because these are the children that will be looking after me. Why is no one parenting their children anymore!!!!?? Argh! But seriously a Nanny Hard Ass blog, what do you think?

The sugar free, gluten free, vegan cookies I made fresh from
the oven. A little treat for Tia, or and Julian said,"It
doesn't sound like a treat, it sounds like a sentence." They
Were not bad though!

So now that I have given my notice and am jumping ship some of you might be thinking that one part I am growing weary of is the vegan diet. I am not vegan, and have never had any desire to be vegan. I love several meat products as well as cheese, eggs and yogurt. I pass no judgement on the vegans, to each their own, it is just nothing I aspired to do. These guys made the choice to go vegan about a week or two before my arrival (a little welcome present I guess) and we have been living vegan ever since. Well, living vegan while I am in the house, I occasionally slip up to the dairy for some chocolate or stop by a burger place on the weekends. We are not only vegan but no sugar and mostly gluten free. At first it was a lot to get used to, and since they aren't long time vegans there seemed to be a bunch of trial and error dishes being served up. I didn't mind the trial ones so much, it was the error ones that had my taste buds running from my mouth. Now a days I don't mind the vegan so much. I still eat cheese every chance I get but have learned to love many things about what we do here. I find that vegan cooking is very creative and interesting. Often with very different and delicious flavours. I have tried my hand at a few things and am interested to see how things turn out. Just today I made some sugar free, gluten free vegan cookies that actually weren't half bad. There are lots of things that we do here that I will probably continue to do once I move out in August. Things like, sprouting your own sprouts, using lentils a lot more then I once did, chocomole (delicious!), and a few recipes from the vegan bible. So no, I won't continue the vegan life once I move out of here but I am glad I got to experience it a bit and will certainly take some things away with me.

Homesick and Hateful......Oh and True Patriot Love

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!

Welcome Back Nanny Hard Ass

So there we have it, the first full on week of work is over. How was it you ask, well let me tell you. As many of you know my views and practices on raising children and caring for them are pretty strong. My practices are always child centred and I always have the best interest of the child in mind. I am certainly not the type of care giver that won't do something because of mess or getting dirty. I believe that children should experience the world around them full on, and my personal mantra is go big or go home. This obviously carries through into my work. For those of you reading this that had children in my care you know what I am talking about. How many times did your children come home with a bag of dirty clothes or and apology for the paint in their ears or some other thing? I am passionate about my work with children and I think that is what makes me so good at what I do. Up until recently I had been pretty modest about my programming and overall work with children. But I am good. I know my shit and I am very good at what I do. Those of you who had children in my care before also know this. I know and believe that it is childrens first time in the world and what we teach them is what they know. That is why it is crucial to teach young children to be adventurous, creative, free thinking, independent, polite, respectful well behaved little people.

This weeks first lesson was learned pretty early on and that was, nanny Jessica does not fuck around. Second lesson, despite how much you cry or scream at me this cold black heart doesn't even flinch. Lastly lesson three is, you think you're stubborn......Let me introduce myself, my name is Jessica 'Stubborn' Morine and I will outlast you every time. As all children do when someone new is caring for them there was a fair amount of testing happening, but by the end of the week we had a minor break through at the playground and you could see she was getting it. It certainly doesn't take children long to figure people out and as I did with the other family I Au Paired for I have to spend the first few weeks being Nanny Hard Ass until the boundaries and expectations are set then I will be able to ease up and bend some of the rules. I think she will respond very well and has already found out where she stands with me. The testing hasn't been so much that it is an uncomfortable situation, but it these weeks that all the work goes into. I would say over all that things are going great and I am looking forward to the weeks to come as we build rapport. Also the parents are totally okay with my antics and are glad I am able to let her experience the world at a hundred and ten. So when I took her puddle jumping and got her soaked to her belly button with muddy water and had to dump out her boots several times they were fine with it. And when I let her paint a giant box on the back deck with nothing but her hands they were cool with that too. So I will keep you updated on my progress there.

Before I go I thought I would tell you about some cons to living in New Zealand. I know, I was as surprised as you are when I discovered them. I figured since I spend the majority of my time blabbing about how freakin great it is here I should let you know some of the areas that the land of the long white cloud falls short. Well to start the price of everything is double compared to home, and unlike Oz the wage is actually not that higher then Canada. I guess you don't need money or things when you live in such a beautiful place, but it makes it a bitch for people like me. Their internet is just ridiculous. Consumers pay a monthly plan based on data usage instead of a flat rate for unlimited usage like we do. So in Canada we pay say 30 bucks a month for internet service and we can download, upload, view and surf until our heart's content. Well absolutely not the case here in en-zed. You pay a fee for say 30GB of data use, so you have to be careful how much you watch on Youtube, or upload photos or download a movie or whatever else we westerners do on the net. This leads me to believe that only the rich can have addictions to porn down here. The other cons I have found are food related, things that you just can't get here. There is no Root Beer and no one has ever heard of a Reeses PB cup, no one has ever had a smore because Graham crackers don't exist, and because of the lack of root beer no one has ever thought of putting ice cream in their pop (you wait till I whip that one out they will think I am genius!). I am sure that there are more things you can't get here but those are a few that I have come across so far. I know it is beautiful and awesome here but, really, without Reeses why would they even get up in the morning? I asked someone that and they said that they get up because they live in heaven. To which I responded, “In my heaven the streets are paved with Reeses and there are root beer float waterfalls all around.” Mom if you are reading this, I will be asking for Reeses and Root Beer in my Christmas package :).

So there you have it folks an update after my first full on week. This weekend is a long weekend because it is the Queens birthday on Monday, which is funny because in Canada you just celebrated her birthday on the May long. Hmmm something tells me ol Queenie might be swindling us for the gifts. BTW my birthday is now also on November 21^st............ so you should probably send me some reeses!