...somewhere else. Other than South America. With the Rough Guide.
I didn't win, but that's okay.
Now I don't have to travel for 6 weeks as soon as I return from The Other Side of the World, I get to...
- do Fringe (wahey!) and witness Nicola be an awesome venue manager,
- help redecorate the lovely flat that Helen and Mr and Mrs Helen picked out,
- spend time in my favourite city in all the world, London, (I love you too Ediburgh)
- spend time with all my London chums who I haven't seen for a year,
- spend time with all my Edinburgh chums who I haven't seen for a year,
- spend time with Ma Brewer, Pa Brewer and G'Pa,
- go other places, like maybe Vietnam or Canada, to see all my international chums,
- other stuff - please feel free to add your own suggestions.
Anyway, the lady was really nice about it, it seemed like I didn't do badly, just other people did the same thing better. Clearly. But she was glad I'd come across and so was I, so maybe one day in the future I can wrangle some sort of work with them. I'd like that.
So, see you in July! (Or sooner, if, you know, you're in NZ...)
A x
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Rough Guide to a competition
So a while back, end of January, I entered a competition with the Rough Guide (guide books) to write for them. 500 words on a place you know well, in the Rough Guide style. Now, the prize entailed (roughly; they've been pretty vague) approx. 4-6 weeks in South or Central America this summer, updating (part of) the RG for a country in that area, with flights and 'an advance fee' paid for by the company. Sweet as! At last, I could finally silence all those people who assume that as someone who likes travel and can hold a pen I simply *must* be a travel writer. So I entered.
And a few weeks or a month ago, I got an email saying congrats, you're one of 10 people out of 580 through to the next round.
In London.
After much umm-ing and ahh-ing, I decided to go for it. I mean, there were a lot of pros, and a lot more cons, but ultimately, I could never win if I wasn't there.
Yesterday was the day of the competition, so here's an update for those of you who knew and an explanation for those of who might be wondering what my Facebook statuses were referring to, (Plus: apologies for not telling you I was in the UK. I only had five days and to say I've been jet lagged is an understatement. It's only three months til I'm back properly anyway and I promise we'll be friends then.)
Anyways, competiton day was spent in the RG HQ on the Strand with nine other finalists, 3 boys, 6 girls, all of whom were absolutely lovely and basically like me. We kept remarking on how similar we were (essentially predominantly white, middle class uni students from the south east of England, heh) and how nice it was that we got on so well. I would be totally fine with any one of them winning and think we all have an equal chance of doing so. One girl was also from Edinburgh and on exchange; there were three people from Bristol university and everyone did some sort of arts/languagues degree. The Edinburgh girl had come from Barcelona but obviously I had come the furthest. Yes, that's right, NZ. For a week. You heard me. Stop asking.
We were shown round the office - RG is owned by another company, along with DK and Penguin - which was occupied by people who seemed ostensibly to be just like us. I guess that was no big surprise. We all would have fitted in just fine - why couldn't they hire us all? Whatever the outcome of the competition, I could be totally happy working there, if they'd have me, whether or not as a writer, perhaps even preferably in some sort of editor/manager role at some point in the future. So an interesting insight anyway.
We got free coffee, pastries, pizza, beer, books, stationary and t-shirts as the day ticked on, discussing where'd we come from, why we'd entered the competition, chatting generally about uni and the like, as well as being interviewed in a rather rushed fashion (which was a bit of a shame - that's the only part I'm worried about; whether I chatted crap or answered the questions at all) and getting to meet everyone from the RG office in an informal way at the end of the day. They all seemed very nice.
The main exercise tho involved updating an older, inaccurate version of the RG to London. Between us we would each cover one of four nearby areas and spend three hours walking around checking the map, spellings, opening hours, prices, whether places still existed, if their descriptions were accurate and adding one eating and one drinking place of our choice. I was based in Covent Garden and after a slow start tried not to always be the next person in the museum saying, 'Hi, I'm from the RG, we're just updating...' as often that would be greeted with a bemused/annoyed, 'I just answered your questions!' I also kept getting paranoid that I was just being stupid, rather than accepting that some places simply weren't there any more. I also got a free pie out of the eating place I chose to add and chatted with a nice man in a specialist tea shop. Plus I got to go in to the Royal Opera House, which I haven't done for years, and it really is gorgeous. It was tiring pounding the streets of London like that, but quite satisfying to gather all the correct information. I guess it might be a bit harder in South America because of the language barrier, but one thing at a time.
After that the writing up process wasn't too bad, tho out of determination to have it perfect we still spent over two hours on it. Essentially just a bit of ammending of details and correcting of the map, plus a slight reworking of the introduction and the little blurbs (each of us only had a page's worth of info, so about 5 sights and 3 eating/drinking places). And that was it!
It was an exciting day and I had a great time and a lot of fun. Hurrah. At the drinks bit in the evening everyone kept saying, 'Oh! So *you're* the one from New Zealand!' which was quite nice - they were all impressed by my 'enthusiasm.' I shall keep you all posted on the final result - the woman said we might not know for another week or perhaps two. Bah. In the meantime, it's back to NZ, uni, Greenpeace, the pub quiz and a trip to Australia. I just have to pack my bag now and get in that metal box for another 30 hour trip. Can't wait.
A x
PS. the other thing about being in London - apart from it being wonderful to see my parents and Grandpa - was that it was a reminder, a confirmation, that I'm not going crazy in NZ without reason - it really is stupidly empty, and London really is where my heart belongs.
Crammed in to the tube carriage like the proverbial sardine on my way to the competition, I thought to myself that there were probably more people on the train and the others before and after it going in to London this morning than there are people in NZ.
And that crush, that crowd, the people, the lack of space, the busy-ness, the self-imposed sense of purpose, is just the way I like things to be.
And a few weeks or a month ago, I got an email saying congrats, you're one of 10 people out of 580 through to the next round.
In London.
After much umm-ing and ahh-ing, I decided to go for it. I mean, there were a lot of pros, and a lot more cons, but ultimately, I could never win if I wasn't there.
Yesterday was the day of the competition, so here's an update for those of you who knew and an explanation for those of who might be wondering what my Facebook statuses were referring to, (Plus: apologies for not telling you I was in the UK. I only had five days and to say I've been jet lagged is an understatement. It's only three months til I'm back properly anyway and I promise we'll be friends then.)
Anyways, competiton day was spent in the RG HQ on the Strand with nine other finalists, 3 boys, 6 girls, all of whom were absolutely lovely and basically like me. We kept remarking on how similar we were (essentially predominantly white, middle class uni students from the south east of England, heh) and how nice it was that we got on so well. I would be totally fine with any one of them winning and think we all have an equal chance of doing so. One girl was also from Edinburgh and on exchange; there were three people from Bristol university and everyone did some sort of arts/languagues degree. The Edinburgh girl had come from Barcelona but obviously I had come the furthest. Yes, that's right, NZ. For a week. You heard me. Stop asking.
We were shown round the office - RG is owned by another company, along with DK and Penguin - which was occupied by people who seemed ostensibly to be just like us. I guess that was no big surprise. We all would have fitted in just fine - why couldn't they hire us all? Whatever the outcome of the competition, I could be totally happy working there, if they'd have me, whether or not as a writer, perhaps even preferably in some sort of editor/manager role at some point in the future. So an interesting insight anyway.
We got free coffee, pastries, pizza, beer, books, stationary and t-shirts as the day ticked on, discussing where'd we come from, why we'd entered the competition, chatting generally about uni and the like, as well as being interviewed in a rather rushed fashion (which was a bit of a shame - that's the only part I'm worried about; whether I chatted crap or answered the questions at all) and getting to meet everyone from the RG office in an informal way at the end of the day. They all seemed very nice.
The main exercise tho involved updating an older, inaccurate version of the RG to London. Between us we would each cover one of four nearby areas and spend three hours walking around checking the map, spellings, opening hours, prices, whether places still existed, if their descriptions were accurate and adding one eating and one drinking place of our choice. I was based in Covent Garden and after a slow start tried not to always be the next person in the museum saying, 'Hi, I'm from the RG, we're just updating...' as often that would be greeted with a bemused/annoyed, 'I just answered your questions!' I also kept getting paranoid that I was just being stupid, rather than accepting that some places simply weren't there any more. I also got a free pie out of the eating place I chose to add and chatted with a nice man in a specialist tea shop. Plus I got to go in to the Royal Opera House, which I haven't done for years, and it really is gorgeous. It was tiring pounding the streets of London like that, but quite satisfying to gather all the correct information. I guess it might be a bit harder in South America because of the language barrier, but one thing at a time.
After that the writing up process wasn't too bad, tho out of determination to have it perfect we still spent over two hours on it. Essentially just a bit of ammending of details and correcting of the map, plus a slight reworking of the introduction and the little blurbs (each of us only had a page's worth of info, so about 5 sights and 3 eating/drinking places). And that was it!
It was an exciting day and I had a great time and a lot of fun. Hurrah. At the drinks bit in the evening everyone kept saying, 'Oh! So *you're* the one from New Zealand!' which was quite nice - they were all impressed by my 'enthusiasm.' I shall keep you all posted on the final result - the woman said we might not know for another week or perhaps two. Bah. In the meantime, it's back to NZ, uni, Greenpeace, the pub quiz and a trip to Australia. I just have to pack my bag now and get in that metal box for another 30 hour trip. Can't wait.
A x
PS. the other thing about being in London - apart from it being wonderful to see my parents and Grandpa - was that it was a reminder, a confirmation, that I'm not going crazy in NZ without reason - it really is stupidly empty, and London really is where my heart belongs.
Crammed in to the tube carriage like the proverbial sardine on my way to the competition, I thought to myself that there were probably more people on the train and the others before and after it going in to London this morning than there are people in NZ.
And that crush, that crowd, the people, the lack of space, the busy-ness, the self-imposed sense of purpose, is just the way I like things to be.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
'Auflauf' and other answers to the question 'what's the German for that?'
Hello friends.
So it's all busy busy in Auckers. Before uni started I was working at Greenpeace full time for two weeks, but now term has started again I'm just going in part time. The place has such a great vibe, everyone's so dedicated and passionate about the work they do, but they also have a lot of fun. I've been to quite a few drinks parties and BBQs which has been great to get to know people and I'm really in to the work I'm doing as well. The first week I had a lot of meetings and inductions with various key people which was interesting and I am finding it fascinating to see how the organisation is run. My job involves sifting through numbers of records about our members and looking at why people sign up to donate and then never do, or donate once, twice, three times and then cancel. At the end of it all I'll make suggestions on how to retain these people who cancel, where possible, and give a presentation on my findings. So interesting. And it's giving me an idea of the kind of work I'd like to do when I'm a Grown Up too.
Then I'm back to uni too, which it turns out is much harder than going to work - I have to listen and take notes, I can't access Facebook the whole time, I can't access free coffee the whole time, I have to go from one location to the next and worst of all I have to do homework! But my courses are interesting, I guess, a bit of Anthropology for variety, which is really cool, and then Applied English Grammar (boo), Advanced Phonology (seemingly no less advanced than anything I've previously done) and Conversational Analysis, taught by a woman who's been lecturing on it for twenty years. In he last two classes there's only about 15 of us, so you get to know people better, and in CA the second half of the lecture is a kind of practical analysis of conversations and I really like actually getting to use the knowledge we've just been given. Au contraire, in Anthro it's a first year course and the tutorials are like being back at school. Ugh.
I'm also still enjoying living in my new flat. I'm big in to cooking now and luckily the place has about twelve of everything so all resources are available for carrot cakes, samosas, falafel, banana bread, pizza etc. Newest recruit, German Marc, is also handy to have as a resource, as he likes to help and he's got a handy logical, efficient German mind. He's a student at AU like me (whereas the other flatmates are Real People) so we get the bus to school together and I probably would miss the first ten minutes of my classes if it wasn't for him. Everyone in the flat is still enjoying the summer too, with afternoons and evenings sitting on the balconies with the occasional beer, guitar or in my case, book. We can also see any fireworks at the harbour from the balcony and hear any concerts in a nearby park, Western Springs. Sweet as, bro.
A few weeks ago school friend Jess arrived in NZ on her gap year, which was great. She spent a few days staying at mine and it was great to hang out and see a familiar face. We also went off for a day trip to the Waitomo Glow worm Caves, where we went black water rafting. This involved floating through rocky caves on inner tubes, staring up at a ceiling peppered with glow worms, which looked like stars. It was a pretty neat adventure. Now Jess has gone off galavanting around NZ, but we'll meet up at the end of her trip in Christchurch and I'll join her in Melbourne, where she's headed next, to hang out more and catch up with Rachel, Nick and JJ, who have moved there now.
Right, there are a few other things to report, but it depends what happens in the next few days before I fill you in. I hope you're all well, A x
So it's all busy busy in Auckers. Before uni started I was working at Greenpeace full time for two weeks, but now term has started again I'm just going in part time. The place has such a great vibe, everyone's so dedicated and passionate about the work they do, but they also have a lot of fun. I've been to quite a few drinks parties and BBQs which has been great to get to know people and I'm really in to the work I'm doing as well. The first week I had a lot of meetings and inductions with various key people which was interesting and I am finding it fascinating to see how the organisation is run. My job involves sifting through numbers of records about our members and looking at why people sign up to donate and then never do, or donate once, twice, three times and then cancel. At the end of it all I'll make suggestions on how to retain these people who cancel, where possible, and give a presentation on my findings. So interesting. And it's giving me an idea of the kind of work I'd like to do when I'm a Grown Up too.
Then I'm back to uni too, which it turns out is much harder than going to work - I have to listen and take notes, I can't access Facebook the whole time, I can't access free coffee the whole time, I have to go from one location to the next and worst of all I have to do homework! But my courses are interesting, I guess, a bit of Anthropology for variety, which is really cool, and then Applied English Grammar (boo), Advanced Phonology (seemingly no less advanced than anything I've previously done) and Conversational Analysis, taught by a woman who's been lecturing on it for twenty years. In he last two classes there's only about 15 of us, so you get to know people better, and in CA the second half of the lecture is a kind of practical analysis of conversations and I really like actually getting to use the knowledge we've just been given. Au contraire, in Anthro it's a first year course and the tutorials are like being back at school. Ugh.
I'm also still enjoying living in my new flat. I'm big in to cooking now and luckily the place has about twelve of everything so all resources are available for carrot cakes, samosas, falafel, banana bread, pizza etc. Newest recruit, German Marc, is also handy to have as a resource, as he likes to help and he's got a handy logical, efficient German mind. He's a student at AU like me (whereas the other flatmates are Real People) so we get the bus to school together and I probably would miss the first ten minutes of my classes if it wasn't for him. Everyone in the flat is still enjoying the summer too, with afternoons and evenings sitting on the balconies with the occasional beer, guitar or in my case, book. We can also see any fireworks at the harbour from the balcony and hear any concerts in a nearby park, Western Springs. Sweet as, bro.
A few weeks ago school friend Jess arrived in NZ on her gap year, which was great. She spent a few days staying at mine and it was great to hang out and see a familiar face. We also went off for a day trip to the Waitomo Glow worm Caves, where we went black water rafting. This involved floating through rocky caves on inner tubes, staring up at a ceiling peppered with glow worms, which looked like stars. It was a pretty neat adventure. Now Jess has gone off galavanting around NZ, but we'll meet up at the end of her trip in Christchurch and I'll join her in Melbourne, where she's headed next, to hang out more and catch up with Rachel, Nick and JJ, who have moved there now.
Right, there are a few other things to report, but it depends what happens in the next few days before I fill you in. I hope you're all well, A x
Friday, 29 January 2010
"I couldn't help but wonder..."
Right. The last time I spoke to you I believe I was hitching around the South Island...
I then met up with and had a lovely time staying with Rachel, Nick and (still utterly gorgeous) JJ in a beautiful bach overlooking mountains, vineyards and a river. I had a lot of fun babysitting JJ (dream child) and exploring the delights of Cromwell (which extended to enormous corrugated iron fruit and wine tasting. Guess which one was better.) All too soon tho my time was up and I had to bus it on to Dunedin (Rachel forbid me to hitch hike again. Yes mum.) I hoped to cycle the Central Otago Rail Trail, but I guess I got distracted. Another time, I hope.
Dunedin was ugly, I felt, like a Kiwi version of Newcastle. I did however manage to see four films, go on two factory tours (Speight's beer and Cadbury's chocolate), take a scenic train ride, visit the world's steepest street (it was indeed very steep), an art gallery (good), a musuem (I learnt about early settlers and freemasons) and several second hand book stores. All of these things were interesting (tho not overwhelmingly), time consuming (not like I had anything else to do) and by no means inexpensive.
The highlight of Dunedin however was the day I decided I had to go to the peninsula and see Lanarch Castle, NZ's only castle. They have lots of National Parks, lakes, gimmicky towns, native wildlife etc, but only one castle. And it was a pretty awesome castle too, with a suitably dodgy history, some good cake, attractive gardens and eery, well-preserved rooms. However, getting there without my own transport was tricky, tho not impossible. I took a bus along the foggy coast and then embarked on a 5km climb, in the mist, to/from the castle. On my descent, a car stopped and asked if I'd like a lift. Now, I would like to say, hitch hiking aside, I would not normally accept lifts from random cars. But we were on the only road to the castle, so they had to be tourists, and the car was very shiny in a rental car way. So I asked the two gents inside if they were going to rape and/or kill me. No, they said, and we joked about it. I assumed that if you were a serial killer, it wouldn't have been funny. And that you'd've sweated more.
As it turned out, the two guys, John and Neil, were originally from Auckland and worked in television. They were visiting Dunedin to film some interviews and we got on like that proverbial flaming homestead, and so I joined them to see the rest of the peninsula (which I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise) and for dinner and drinks. Great! It was like having friends. Friends who paid. Ideal.
After Dunedin I went on to a tiny place called Oamaru, or something like that. It's on the coast and good for penguins. I stayed a house converted in to a hostel with a lovely but slightly crazy owner called Agra, who was in to reading energies and would say things like 'I could tell by his body language he wasn't right for the house. I didn't want him to stay' or 'if you wash more than your socks I'll kill you! I need those washing lines for my sheets!' Luckily, I was allowed to stay, sharing a room with a 61 year old woman from Anglesea. We bagsed a lift in the very small car of two others staying there to go and see penguins, me literally hanging out the window sitting on the lady's lap in the front. But the penguins were super cool, and came up on to the road from the shore just 3ft in front of us before waddling off again quite happily to their nests.
The last leg of my South Island adventure was spent hanging out with Christchurch chums Rosie, Maisy and Jonny. Rosie, Maisy and I essentially spent the weekend watching more Sex and the City than I care to remember whilst making an incredibly complex and well decorated gingerbread house for Jonny, complete with magic mushroom garden and an icing swimming pool. I'll try to get some photos up soon so you can appreciate how truly awesome it was. The three of us also checked out some of the acts on at the International Busking Festival, which was fun, although the contortionist made me feel a bit sick...
Back in Auckland, as I have been for the last week, I have alternated between the free internet at the University and trailing around the city looking for somewhere to live. A depressing experience, although the weather is glorious with scorching sun that's keeping my tan in check. And today everything seemed to come together. Having seen about ten flats, from the sublime to the ridiculous, I ventured a little further out of town this afternoon to an area called Grey Lynn where a nice older lady who teaches 'graphic textiles' (I think, or something like it) owns a house with a cat (woohoo!) which is shared by a South African, a Kiwi and a French guy. They were all in their 20s and did a range of things and she lived in a small apartment and studio attached to the main house. The house was on two levels with a large kitchen and dining area, it was tidy AND clean, the room was furnished and it got oodles of sunlight, which is my most important criteria. It turns out Grey Lynn is really lovely too, lots of pretty little houses and tree-lined streets. So a bit of a WIN. And I can move in tomorrow.
Meanwhile, earlier this morning I had a very promising meeting with the Supporter Relations Manager for Greenpeace New Zealand, after finding an interesting sounding internship online this week. He and I were both enthusiastic and he seemed to think I was the right person for the job. We discussed when I could work and he said he would put together a project proposal and call me up start of next week. The project would be to look in to why Greenpeace loses so many supporters following their initial sign up and then putting together a report on this and possible solutions to present to key managers. Personally, I think it sounds really interesting, and potentially the work would go on til I leave. The man I met was nice too, and the office was open, airy and laid back, filled with 30 mostly young people in shorts and Converse. Ideal.
So that kind of takes us up to the present moment. I'm not sure what happens next, I mean, I haven't made any new friends yet, but at least I have somewhere to live and quite likely something to do too. And hopefully friends will come out of that. Some money would be nice too, really nice actually, but one thing at a time, eh?
Anyway, I hope you're all well and survived the snow. I miss you all and look forward to seeing you in early July. Less than five months til I leave NZ now! Scary.
Take care, love, A xx
I then met up with and had a lovely time staying with Rachel, Nick and (still utterly gorgeous) JJ in a beautiful bach overlooking mountains, vineyards and a river. I had a lot of fun babysitting JJ (dream child) and exploring the delights of Cromwell (which extended to enormous corrugated iron fruit and wine tasting. Guess which one was better.) All too soon tho my time was up and I had to bus it on to Dunedin (Rachel forbid me to hitch hike again. Yes mum.) I hoped to cycle the Central Otago Rail Trail, but I guess I got distracted. Another time, I hope.
Dunedin was ugly, I felt, like a Kiwi version of Newcastle. I did however manage to see four films, go on two factory tours (Speight's beer and Cadbury's chocolate), take a scenic train ride, visit the world's steepest street (it was indeed very steep), an art gallery (good), a musuem (I learnt about early settlers and freemasons) and several second hand book stores. All of these things were interesting (tho not overwhelmingly), time consuming (not like I had anything else to do) and by no means inexpensive.
The highlight of Dunedin however was the day I decided I had to go to the peninsula and see Lanarch Castle, NZ's only castle. They have lots of National Parks, lakes, gimmicky towns, native wildlife etc, but only one castle. And it was a pretty awesome castle too, with a suitably dodgy history, some good cake, attractive gardens and eery, well-preserved rooms. However, getting there without my own transport was tricky, tho not impossible. I took a bus along the foggy coast and then embarked on a 5km climb, in the mist, to/from the castle. On my descent, a car stopped and asked if I'd like a lift. Now, I would like to say, hitch hiking aside, I would not normally accept lifts from random cars. But we were on the only road to the castle, so they had to be tourists, and the car was very shiny in a rental car way. So I asked the two gents inside if they were going to rape and/or kill me. No, they said, and we joked about it. I assumed that if you were a serial killer, it wouldn't have been funny. And that you'd've sweated more.
As it turned out, the two guys, John and Neil, were originally from Auckland and worked in television. They were visiting Dunedin to film some interviews and we got on like that proverbial flaming homestead, and so I joined them to see the rest of the peninsula (which I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise) and for dinner and drinks. Great! It was like having friends. Friends who paid. Ideal.
After Dunedin I went on to a tiny place called Oamaru, or something like that. It's on the coast and good for penguins. I stayed a house converted in to a hostel with a lovely but slightly crazy owner called Agra, who was in to reading energies and would say things like 'I could tell by his body language he wasn't right for the house. I didn't want him to stay' or 'if you wash more than your socks I'll kill you! I need those washing lines for my sheets!' Luckily, I was allowed to stay, sharing a room with a 61 year old woman from Anglesea. We bagsed a lift in the very small car of two others staying there to go and see penguins, me literally hanging out the window sitting on the lady's lap in the front. But the penguins were super cool, and came up on to the road from the shore just 3ft in front of us before waddling off again quite happily to their nests.
The last leg of my South Island adventure was spent hanging out with Christchurch chums Rosie, Maisy and Jonny. Rosie, Maisy and I essentially spent the weekend watching more Sex and the City than I care to remember whilst making an incredibly complex and well decorated gingerbread house for Jonny, complete with magic mushroom garden and an icing swimming pool. I'll try to get some photos up soon so you can appreciate how truly awesome it was. The three of us also checked out some of the acts on at the International Busking Festival, which was fun, although the contortionist made me feel a bit sick...
Back in Auckland, as I have been for the last week, I have alternated between the free internet at the University and trailing around the city looking for somewhere to live. A depressing experience, although the weather is glorious with scorching sun that's keeping my tan in check. And today everything seemed to come together. Having seen about ten flats, from the sublime to the ridiculous, I ventured a little further out of town this afternoon to an area called Grey Lynn where a nice older lady who teaches 'graphic textiles' (I think, or something like it) owns a house with a cat (woohoo!) which is shared by a South African, a Kiwi and a French guy. They were all in their 20s and did a range of things and she lived in a small apartment and studio attached to the main house. The house was on two levels with a large kitchen and dining area, it was tidy AND clean, the room was furnished and it got oodles of sunlight, which is my most important criteria. It turns out Grey Lynn is really lovely too, lots of pretty little houses and tree-lined streets. So a bit of a WIN. And I can move in tomorrow.
Meanwhile, earlier this morning I had a very promising meeting with the Supporter Relations Manager for Greenpeace New Zealand, after finding an interesting sounding internship online this week. He and I were both enthusiastic and he seemed to think I was the right person for the job. We discussed when I could work and he said he would put together a project proposal and call me up start of next week. The project would be to look in to why Greenpeace loses so many supporters following their initial sign up and then putting together a report on this and possible solutions to present to key managers. Personally, I think it sounds really interesting, and potentially the work would go on til I leave. The man I met was nice too, and the office was open, airy and laid back, filled with 30 mostly young people in shorts and Converse. Ideal.
So that kind of takes us up to the present moment. I'm not sure what happens next, I mean, I haven't made any new friends yet, but at least I have somewhere to live and quite likely something to do too. And hopefully friends will come out of that. Some money would be nice too, really nice actually, but one thing at a time, eh?
Anyway, I hope you're all well and survived the snow. I miss you all and look forward to seeing you in early July. Less than five months til I leave NZ now! Scary.
Take care, love, A xx
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Solitaire
So, I felt like my last post was a bit lame. I'm not saying this one will be any better, but I might try a bit harder. Kk, here goes.
Flew down to Queenstown on Saturday. I'm currently 100% homeless, 90% friendless and 50% penniless at the moment. As a result, I am a FREEBIRD, wooooo, who can do whatever the hell she likes. I can't tell you what a joy it's been these last few days to do what I want, when I want, how I want. Of course, I can tell you exactly how freaking tedious it is to have to tell everyone, all the time, what I do, where I've come from, what my plans are... Jeez. Maybe I'll make pamphlets. I like that word.
Any snooch, you've got to weigh these things off against each other. I had a pretty good run the first three or four nights, meeting people with exceptional ease, and cool people too, who were forthcoming and talkative and like, only 5% irritating. I also really liked Queenstown, getting a bit over excited and doing everything you can do - assuming jumping out of a plane/off a bridge/down a river/from tree to tree isn't your cup of tea (as far as I'm concerned, it's coffee all round please).
After that things slowed up a bit, but I've still had a good time. I have to say, world, Milford Sound is overrated, but that won't stop busloads of tourists bussing in every bussing day for like, forever. They've been coming for over a 100 years. Today I hitched back to Q'town from there, which was interesting, my first real hitching experience.
First man: 'are you not afraid to hitch hike?' (Should I be??? I kept my pen knife in my hoody pouch in case he returned from the farm he dropped me outside of with a shot gun and a shovel. Yup. Always be prepared. Failing that, I'd have to hope he had a nut allergy and hit him up with my trail mix.)
Second couple: 'you'll have to share the back with the dog.' Joy. Slobber.
Third couple: 'bonjour! nous sommes... erm, traveling, er... a Queenstown!'
Me: 'Great! Tres bien!'
Lady: 'D'accord. Allons y.'
They were pretty cool, actually, and we had a two hour conversation in Franglais. The husband n'est pas speaking the Englishes, but he did take his collection of short stories to libraries round NZ to leave them there, lest you rock up and realise you'd left Bertrand of Lyon's book at home (or at least, I presume that was why.)
And now I'm off to meet up with Rachel, Nick and JJ and enjoy not explaining myself and not having to stand in a cold, windy field with my thumb in the air, getting frost bite and keeping myself amused by trying to remember all 36 of my classmates from when I was four. I only ever got to 32.
Speak soon, People Who Know Me But Are Far Away. x
Flew down to Queenstown on Saturday. I'm currently 100% homeless, 90% friendless and 50% penniless at the moment. As a result, I am a FREEBIRD, wooooo, who can do whatever the hell she likes. I can't tell you what a joy it's been these last few days to do what I want, when I want, how I want. Of course, I can tell you exactly how freaking tedious it is to have to tell everyone, all the time, what I do, where I've come from, what my plans are... Jeez. Maybe I'll make pamphlets. I like that word.
Any snooch, you've got to weigh these things off against each other. I had a pretty good run the first three or four nights, meeting people with exceptional ease, and cool people too, who were forthcoming and talkative and like, only 5% irritating. I also really liked Queenstown, getting a bit over excited and doing everything you can do - assuming jumping out of a plane/off a bridge/down a river/from tree to tree isn't your cup of tea (as far as I'm concerned, it's coffee all round please).
After that things slowed up a bit, but I've still had a good time. I have to say, world, Milford Sound is overrated, but that won't stop busloads of tourists bussing in every bussing day for like, forever. They've been coming for over a 100 years. Today I hitched back to Q'town from there, which was interesting, my first real hitching experience.
First man: 'are you not afraid to hitch hike?' (Should I be??? I kept my pen knife in my hoody pouch in case he returned from the farm he dropped me outside of with a shot gun and a shovel. Yup. Always be prepared. Failing that, I'd have to hope he had a nut allergy and hit him up with my trail mix.)
Second couple: 'you'll have to share the back with the dog.' Joy. Slobber.
Third couple: 'bonjour! nous sommes... erm, traveling, er... a Queenstown!'
Me: 'Great! Tres bien!'
Lady: 'D'accord. Allons y.'
They were pretty cool, actually, and we had a two hour conversation in Franglais. The husband n'est pas speaking the Englishes, but he did take his collection of short stories to libraries round NZ to leave them there, lest you rock up and realise you'd left Bertrand of Lyon's book at home (or at least, I presume that was why.)
And now I'm off to meet up with Rachel, Nick and JJ and enjoy not explaining myself and not having to stand in a cold, windy field with my thumb in the air, getting frost bite and keeping myself amused by trying to remember all 36 of my classmates from when I was four. I only ever got to 32.
Speak soon, People Who Know Me But Are Far Away. x
Friday, 13 November 2009
The beginning of the end
Things I have done since November:
1. Got soaked at Mt Manganui, first climbing 'the Mount' then hanging out in its hot pools. It was a fun weekend away with Mark, Andrea, Jessica and Kelsey.
2. Spent three days in a van travelling through beautiful Northland with Colleen and Olga. We played a lot of cards and listened to the only two CDs we had over and over again. One day we went kayaking. It was more fun than I care to admit. Russell was really beautiful too, although the half hour I spent driving on a very windy gravel road in the dark was disorientating.
3. Classes ended, which was weird because it was Kiwi end-of-year. We had a fun last PCL class. Even lecturer Ross Clark was convinced to wear a party hat. Then I did some exams, yawn. They went fairly well.
4. I got some new glasses, had an eat-a-thon with friend Jessica in various nice Auckland eateries and hung out and laughed a lot with Colleen, before she left, which was sad.
5. All my other friends left. Well, almost all. The best ones did ;)
6. I went to Samoa with Stephan and Mark. We explored bush-covered mountains in search of ruined pyramids, sat in little-fronted open beach huts, swam in crystal-clear blue water, went to a Mormon church in local attire, made new friends on a bike ride, saw churches destroyed by lava, helped the Red Cross with their tsunami-relief efforts and drank more beer than you can imagine.
7. I lived in a van in the South Island with Jamie, Amanda, Mark, Stephan and a nice chap called David Graham who was good at packing. We carried with us a type-writer, a machete, 17 pairs of Amanda's shoes, all our sleeping and living gear and some rapidly-rotting food. We also slept in some cool places, like on beaches and in burnt forests, swam in freezing but incredible lakes, battled strong winds to admire mountains covered in mist, visited beer factories and ate a lot of food with grit in it. Crunch. I've never seen so many cool sunsets either.
8. My parents came over and we travelled in the North Island, as well as spending Christmas Day in the sun with Jamie, Amanda and Cat. Mum liked seeing geysers and multi-coloured geological oddities, and Dad liked the strange birds and plants. I liked the Tongariro Crossing, tho it made my legs hurt.
9. After the 'rents left I travelled more with J, A and C. We went to Amanda's farm where Jamie shot a turkey with a crossbow and Cat got thrown off Amanda's nutter of a horse, Gypsy. Blimey.
The future... Well, we'll see. Off down south to explore by myself. Make some new friends. I need to find somewhere to live for next semester and I might look at getting a job or work experience, to pass the time. You should also all know that I'm tanned. But I'm still kinda jealous of your snow.
Hugs xxx
1. Got soaked at Mt Manganui, first climbing 'the Mount' then hanging out in its hot pools. It was a fun weekend away with Mark, Andrea, Jessica and Kelsey.
2. Spent three days in a van travelling through beautiful Northland with Colleen and Olga. We played a lot of cards and listened to the only two CDs we had over and over again. One day we went kayaking. It was more fun than I care to admit. Russell was really beautiful too, although the half hour I spent driving on a very windy gravel road in the dark was disorientating.
3. Classes ended, which was weird because it was Kiwi end-of-year. We had a fun last PCL class. Even lecturer Ross Clark was convinced to wear a party hat. Then I did some exams, yawn. They went fairly well.
4. I got some new glasses, had an eat-a-thon with friend Jessica in various nice Auckland eateries and hung out and laughed a lot with Colleen, before she left, which was sad.
5. All my other friends left. Well, almost all. The best ones did ;)
6. I went to Samoa with Stephan and Mark. We explored bush-covered mountains in search of ruined pyramids, sat in little-fronted open beach huts, swam in crystal-clear blue water, went to a Mormon church in local attire, made new friends on a bike ride, saw churches destroyed by lava, helped the Red Cross with their tsunami-relief efforts and drank more beer than you can imagine.
7. I lived in a van in the South Island with Jamie, Amanda, Mark, Stephan and a nice chap called David Graham who was good at packing. We carried with us a type-writer, a machete, 17 pairs of Amanda's shoes, all our sleeping and living gear and some rapidly-rotting food. We also slept in some cool places, like on beaches and in burnt forests, swam in freezing but incredible lakes, battled strong winds to admire mountains covered in mist, visited beer factories and ate a lot of food with grit in it. Crunch. I've never seen so many cool sunsets either.
8. My parents came over and we travelled in the North Island, as well as spending Christmas Day in the sun with Jamie, Amanda and Cat. Mum liked seeing geysers and multi-coloured geological oddities, and Dad liked the strange birds and plants. I liked the Tongariro Crossing, tho it made my legs hurt.
9. After the 'rents left I travelled more with J, A and C. We went to Amanda's farm where Jamie shot a turkey with a crossbow and Cat got thrown off Amanda's nutter of a horse, Gypsy. Blimey.
The future... Well, we'll see. Off down south to explore by myself. Make some new friends. I need to find somewhere to live for next semester and I might look at getting a job or work experience, to pass the time. You should also all know that I'm tanned. But I'm still kinda jealous of your snow.
Hugs xxx
Monday, 2 November 2009
Uniquely Kiwi
Top 10 things that are peculiarly unique to this these twin isles:
1. Being so far away from literally everything, even the next town, let alone the majority of the world's population. As a result, you get things like Afghan biscuits, a sort of chocolate cookie that has a walnut on top, thus making it look like an Afghan (in one of those hats). The Kiwis get away with this because as far as I can see, there are no Afghan people here. It's too far to come.
2. Self-deprecating humour. 'Moro: probably about the 4th best chocolate bar in NZ.' L&P (fizzy drink): 'World famous in NZ since ages ago.'
3. L&P, Pineapple Lumps, kumara chips: food stuffs the rest of the world just don't give a shit about, because they already have something better (Coke, normal chocolate, potato chips).
4. EFTPOS. Stands for something like 'electronic f-something terminal point of sale'. Means a cash card, but that's what everyone uses instead of cash or a card. It's not like a debit card tho, cos you can't buy things online. The Kiwi banks have only just introduced those.
5. A strange array of place names. From Coromandel to Mangonui and Whenuakite ("fen-oo-ah-kee-tay").
6. A misplaced sense of irony: 'we're going tramping in the bush this weekend.'
7. False pride: 'NZ's premier theme park!' No, NZ's *only* theme park. 'The only ... in the southern hemisphere!' That's because there's fuck all in the bottom half of the globe.
8. A curious love of reggae, despite no Jamaican heritage and no easily discerned punk movement.
9. The worst TV and radio ads in the world, particularly the healhy eating, DIY and sheep dip info-mercials.
10. Single lane motorways. Want to get somewhere fast? Nope, sorry, State Highway 1 isn't even a dual carriageway most of the way.
Hmmm... A x
1. Being so far away from literally everything, even the next town, let alone the majority of the world's population. As a result, you get things like Afghan biscuits, a sort of chocolate cookie that has a walnut on top, thus making it look like an Afghan (in one of those hats). The Kiwis get away with this because as far as I can see, there are no Afghan people here. It's too far to come.
2. Self-deprecating humour. 'Moro: probably about the 4th best chocolate bar in NZ.' L&P (fizzy drink): 'World famous in NZ since ages ago.'
3. L&P, Pineapple Lumps, kumara chips: food stuffs the rest of the world just don't give a shit about, because they already have something better (Coke, normal chocolate, potato chips).
4. EFTPOS. Stands for something like 'electronic f-something terminal point of sale'. Means a cash card, but that's what everyone uses instead of cash or a card. It's not like a debit card tho, cos you can't buy things online. The Kiwi banks have only just introduced those.
5. A strange array of place names. From Coromandel to Mangonui and Whenuakite ("fen-oo-ah-kee-tay").
6. A misplaced sense of irony: 'we're going tramping in the bush this weekend.'
7. False pride: 'NZ's premier theme park!' No, NZ's *only* theme park. 'The only ... in the southern hemisphere!' That's because there's fuck all in the bottom half of the globe.
8. A curious love of reggae, despite no Jamaican heritage and no easily discerned punk movement.
9. The worst TV and radio ads in the world, particularly the healhy eating, DIY and sheep dip info-mercials.
10. Single lane motorways. Want to get somewhere fast? Nope, sorry, State Highway 1 isn't even a dual carriageway most of the way.
Hmmm... A x
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