i loaded the pictures from the lord of the rings tour on photobucket now so check em out.
Also, tomorrow lara and i leave to go on our travels for the rest of the time were here. i'm not going to get to update this much at all while i'm gone. maybe once or twice actually in the next month. i will load pictures and write about what i did when i get home so check that out if you can but i just wanted to let everyone know, i'm not dead and i didn't forget but now we're off. we are going to Taranaki for a week with laras flatmates then down to Queenstown on the south island, up through some glacers up to Graymouth, over to Christchurch, up to Picton to visit some of my flatmates, back through wellington and saying goodbye to some other flatmates and up to Auckland to meet the parents. then up to bay of islands for a few days with them and after that.. we're off back home to the states. i'll be home Dec 8th. in Bellingham for a few days then down to Elmira. i may have said that before but there it is again.
thanks to anyone whos read this. and like i said, i'll eventually be adding the rest of my journy.
ciao!
love adria
http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/ady-potaty/?sc=1&addtype=local

Today was a day of emotions.
First we took a lord of the rings tour which I shall go into much more detail about later and will post comparative pictures and the works. I will say tho we saw, to name a few locations of Gates of Moria, Dead Marshes, Osgiliath, Flooded Isengard (all the locations just named were filmed in the same place, what is an old parking lot) the gardens outside Isengard Saruman and Gandalf walk through, the shore Aragon is washed ashore on, the departure of Boromir, Rivendell, Helms Deep and Minas Tirith (those 2 = same place) and a bunch of the stuff at the beginning of the fellowship. Like when the hobbits roll down the hill in front of the poo, when they jump off the road to hide from the nazgul and the tree Frodo sits in smoking and Sam’s beneath cooking. So we got some wicked pictures and some that weren't so wicked. But I’ll put up later. Quick fun fact. The parts where there’s a bunch of orcs chanting like in battle and stuff was made by Peter Jackson coming into Westpac stadium, where the all blacks play, during half time at a cricket game, and telling the crowd to shout these words in unison. And they had to stomp around and stuff too. Sweet eh?
Also today was our good friend Julie's last day in Wellington :( we met her through Australearn so she’s one of the first people we met here. She leaves tomorrow to go to Aussie for a few days and then she’s back home to the states. I can't believe its time for goodbyes already! I’m gonna miss her so much. We had quite the evening. We went back to the delicious Strawberry Fare for dessert and then went and got Kebabs for a few hours. Dessert first is the way to go when its time for goodbyes. It was quite the night of laughing and tho inside jokes won't be funny to others probably, I’m going to explain a few anyway if not just so I’ll remember later. At one point we came up with the idea of how funny would it be to always refer to yourself as "this guy I know..." so if you were going to say "I like you" it'd be "this guy I know likes you" and from then on we only referred to ourselves as "this guy I know." there were some pretty hilarious ones. Then I told Amanda’s boyfriend while he ordered the chocolate madness (a HUGE chocolate platter pretty much not made to be finished by a human being) good on him for ordering that and he didn't even have a womb. It’s totally not what I meant. It was supposed to be a lighthearted comment about girls liking chocolate when they're having PMS or something but it came out much more unflattering and we all began laughing awkward/hysterically as I was blind to the fact the poor waiter was waiting for me to order. Anywho, it as super sad to see her go and I don’t want to have to begin this goodbye process but alas, it all good things come to an end.
Well stay tuned for some mindboggling LotR pictures soon to come! I’m working on them. Ciao!

SO I am Finished with exams which is thrilling! Yes!! And they weren't that bad even tho I skipped my study group. It was an evening well worth the deviance.
Another thrilling fact: Julia, who works at a specialty Tea shop, informed us that they cleaned out their drawers at work and she brought home massive amounts of tea!! All kinds from Red Vanilla Raspberry to Monks Blend (I'd assume it doesn't taste like a Monk but that ones delish!). Its so exciting. Me and George had 6 cups of tea this morning so we can attempt to try them all before we have to leave.
And leave we do soon. On the 10th here, we got to Taranaki with Lara's flatmates for a while, then we're off to explore the south island then some of the north and then home! So pretty soon here this journal won't be updated very often at all. For like the next month. :( Just so everyone knows. Cause I know everyones so hooked to reading it.
But tomorrow is Guy Fawkes day- ie their day for fireworks. I think tho there is actually going to be a big fireworks display at the harbor tonight which we'll have a great view of from Julia's balcony. That should be nice. Oh yes.
thats it for now

Recently a slight problem arose. I'd been sitting around studying or trying to study for days staying pretty much immobile. Yesterday I was overcome. I couldn't stand.. or sit any longer. This may have also been due to the massive amounts of candy corn I'd consumed earlier in the day as I introduced it to my flatmates saying it wasn't even the best... but then ate half of it anyway. Either way the point was by about 5 last night I was bouncing off the walls. It was also the first nice day in quite a while and as its light later now and it was sunny I couldn't contain myself. Vic and I were jumping rope in the living room while Julia was trying to cook dinner, then we had a clothes line pin war with Lara through her window and then we climbed onto the flat part of our roof and tossed a head of lettuce up and down... which later became part of dinner. ... It wasn't that gross I promise.
Well as we were eating I was still super antsy and Vic suggested going to the playground in the Botanical Gardens. The problem however was I was supposed to have a study group my professor was putting on at 730 and I had a final the next day. Not for that class.. but still. I was rather torn. I'd gone to one the night before but there was still more of the old test we were gonna go over and yadda yadda but it was So nice and a break sounded so good and I desperately just needed to run around. Finally I said, "That’s it we're going to the park." When we finished dinner we didn't even pick up our dishes but immediately dashed out the door (except we waited for Julia to make a cup of tea which she took with us). Soon Vic, Julia, Rachel and I (George on a run and Anna at the library) trudged on through the Botans to find the park. Eventually we found it in a very round about way but we were so excited. It was quite large and there was only one mom with a little girl who were on their way out. We had it to ourselves. Presently we began playing Tag Can't Touch the Ground, where you had to stay on the play structure or the wood trim around it, for a good 45 min. We were exhausted after that. I don't know how little kids do it? Why are they not all ripped and toned? If I worked out like that everyday I'd be so in shape! Then there was the swings and teeter totter but best of all.. the Roctapus. This thing was rad. It.. spun and rocked back and forth and I'll post pictures cause I just can't describe its amazingness. Then Julia pushed me in the little kids swing that has the chain across it so you don't fall out, and then almost 2 hours later we trudged home in the dark. It was a good and mucho tiring night. I didn't go to my study group but I actually think had I not gotten that energy out of me I could not have studied. Therefore it was helpful.
Anyway I had my first final today and it was quite easy. It only took me an hour and a half of the 3 hour time allotment and you couldn't leave before that anyway. But still one exam left. The one I didn't go to the study group for (what a rebel. I went to every class when the attendance for some days was literally 5 including me and now I’m skipping one of my 2 review sessions) So now I must hunker down and study again. But I've got some rather amusing pictures of last night that I shall post for your entertainment. http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/ady-potaty/

Alright everyone, put on your reading glasses cause this could be a long one again. Yesterday Lara and I got back from our 10 day trip up north and so heres a rundown of the happenings.

Day 1: the first place we were headed to was Whitianga which is way up north. It took 2 buses to get there. The first was a heafty 11hours over night. It was the kind of sleep that makes you more tired then if you’d stayed awake. We had cool seats tho. The bus was a double decker and we were on the top in the front. That high up made every lamp post and highway sign look like it was coming right for your face. On the bus were some interesting characters. Behind us at one point we heard a man ask the guy sitting next to him “is there a prison in this town?” other guy replied “uh I think coming up here pretty soon yeah,” and first guy said “yea my brothers in that jail for killing a man. He got in his way, ya know.” Lara and I didn’t talk for a while after that. At another point in the trip I decided to make a trek downstairs to the loo. I had a bad cold at the time and was in desperate need of some tissues. I crept down the stairs, thru the sleeping people and after struggling to quietly get the door to open as to not disturb the ppl around me, I got in. At this point I realized I couldn’t find the light. In my fumbling to find the button, holding the door slightly ajar so I could have Some light, I flushed the toilet by accident. Embarrassed by this I just slammed the door hoping maybe the light would turn on with the shutting of the door as it sometimes does. Instead it just turned pitch black. I then absolutely couldn’t see at all. I figured “oh who cares I just have to blow my nose.” But then as I was reaching down for the toilet paper the bus suddenly slammed full force on its breaks and I flew forward bracing myself against the wall, the toilet slamming shut. I had no idea of what was going on now and just wanted to leave so I looked for a place to throw my tissue but seeing as how there was no light and I couldn’t find a trash I frustratedly just shoved it in the corner of the tiny room. Gross I know but I was flustered. I grabbed some more tissues to take with me and stepped out to hear the driver arguing with a passenger. The driver was saying “no its not your problem” and the girl was saying “no I know him and it is my problem. I wish you wouldn’t do that!” the mystery of what that all meant has never been solved.

Finally we got to Auckland to wait in the station for 6 hours for our next bus. We were starving and luckly there was a Denny’s across the street. Who knew? Auckland is obviously a party town because we went in there at 6 am and there were people eating in there who’d been up at the clubs since the night before. Anywho we stayed in there for 3 hours with one piece of toast left on our plates so it looked like we were still eating, trying not to fall asleep, then spent the rest in the tiny bus terminal. Another fiasco began when I noticed, about half an hour before the next shuttle was supposed to pick us up that I had a phone message. I tried to listen to it but it said I didn’t have enough money on my phone to make the call to my voice mail. Worried it might be the bus (cause they had my number and no one ever calls here they only text) I decided I had to put money on. But my phone also at that moment, died. We searched for an outlet to plug it in. the only one we found was high above some storage lockers, so Lara skillfully climbed up on them and plugged it in. My cord was barely long enough so I had to stand on tiptoe with my face up against the lockers to call the phone co to add money to my account. This meant regrettably giving out my credit card # in public. I did so as fast as I could, looking around to make sure no shifty characters were listening. Once that was done I finally called my voicemail. Turns out I’d never called it before and as it was a very inopportune moment, it made me go through like 9 steps to set up my voice mailbox including making me create a greeting for when people call, in the middle of the terminal. I did so quickly signaling that everything was alright to Lara who was looking at me quizzically. After about 8 years I could finally check my message. It was in fact the shuttle driver saying he was gonna be about half an hour early. I ripped my phone out of the wall and told Lara we needed to go out to meet it. She ran to the bathroom real quick and in that amount of absence the guy from the shuttle walked into the terminal and announced “anyone for Go Kiwi?” “Oh! Ah! Me!” I shouted and shouted for Lara and soon/ finally… we were on our way. After 2 hours of a nice old man giving us the entire history of the area (with palm trees, volcanoes and beaches and all that cool stuff) we, arrived at beautiful Whitianga where the sun was shining and we were greeted by a nice lady who owned the hostel and a cute black kitty.

So our hostel in Whitianga. We lucked out here. We were supposed to be in a bunk room with like 6 other people but right before we came, a huge group came in and they needed the room so they changed our room and upgraded us for the same price. Now we had our own 2 bed room and we were in an apartment with a tv/ living room area with a kitchen and a bathroom that we shared with just one other couple. We didn’t see them the first night because we were so exhausted from our over night and all the next day trip. In fact we were both asleep by 7:50 and didn’t wake up until 9:30 the next morning.

But the next morning we met our new apartment mates and fount them very agreeable. They were a very cute Dutch couple who talked to us happily and pulled up chairs to the breakfast table for us. They were probably in their late 20s or so and were very nice. They were only there for 2 of our 4 nights and actually we were pretty sad to see them go but that meant we had the whole place to ourselves for the rest of our time. Nice.

The next day was not as sunny but still pretty good. We walked along the beach that had more shells then I’d ever seen in my life. You couldn’t escape them. There was like more shells than sand. We wanted to walk over to this other part of the peninsula but to get there you either had to walk around a really long harbor or take a ferry. The hostel said the ferry was only like $1.50 so we were like … sounds good so we went to it. This was the absolute smallest ferry in existence. It was actually a tiny tugboat. We got on and timed it. It took 2 minutes to reach the other side. Ha. Ferry. On the other side we walked around up to a place called Shakespeare’s Cliff. It was a really pretty hike an at the top it had rolling hills with big trees and a great view and there we ate lunch. That day we mostly just wandered around the area. At one point tho we found a rope swing that hung over the ocean which we got quite attached to. But that was just a day for exploring.

The next day sadly it poured. All our plans were foiled. We didn’t know what to do if it was raining. Everywhere we wanted to visit was to far to walk in the rain. It was too small a town to have public transport so after talking it over with the hostel people again we decided to rent a car. It was only $40 NZ which is like $25 American for a day. It was all country roads and stuff so we figured we could do it. Lara drove mostly but I did too just for a bit just to try. We had to audibly say “Wide Rights” when turning out of driveways and even just going from Park to Drive in an automatic was weird with the left hand. But not too bad. We managed just fine. This day we drove to Cathedral Cove. It’s a gorgeous beach but it was misty and hard to see. We also visited a quaint little winery and were the only people there. They gave us tastes of all these crazy homemade wines, Kiwi and Manuka Honey flavored. This turned out to be another day of exploring but by car.

Up early the next day we were thrilled to see that it was sunny! This time we were off to do fun stuff. We actually rented a car again and drove to the Hot Water Beaches. This was awesome. You have to go between an hour before and an hour after high tide. You dig a pit close to the water, and warm water rises up in it that you can sit it. We got there pretty early but some people were already there. We dug ourselves a pit not knowing what to expect and found it quite cold. But those people were laying out so we figured we were in the wrong spot. We got closer to them. The water got warmer but still not good enough to lay in. we decided to try the other side of the people. As we were walking through the water to the other side, we realized the ocean water right in front of them was really warm. If not hot! The other side was pretty cold too. We discovered it was a pretty specific area and we had to just snuggle right in with them. But the area they’d dug was actually so warm it was too hot to sit in in some places. It was actually boiling up from the ground in sections due to geothermal activity. Crazy! But we got right in and it was great. Super warm and relaxing.

After that we got up and drove to another beach where we’d booked a Sea Kayaking tour. There we kayaked around again to Cathedral Cove and in the nice weather it was a different place. It was Gorgeous. We got off at the beach where our guide somehow whipped out all this gear and made us fancy on the beach cappuccinos which were delish. He was quite entertaining and kept calling our kayak Team America. It was really beautiful, the water was the brightest blue imaginable and even tho we were on the sea it was calm and steady and fun. We were sure at the beginning we’d somehow manage to flip ourselves but no such thing happened. Before we left our guide insisted he give us “cuddles” and gave us both big hugs and smooches on the cheeks. Oh those kiwis.

Now it was off to Lake Taupo the adventure town. The first day was all driving and changing buses and all that boringness. When we first got in, this time we were in a 7 bunk room but it was a very nice room and only had 2 other very nice people in it at the time. It was late afternoon by the time we arrived and Lara decided that since she really wanted to go skydiving when we were there (I did not) that she should probably book it now. It was a nice day when we got in but we didn’t know what the weather would be like and it was approaching NZ’s Labor Day weekend so the town was sure to fill up. So she asked at the front desk if she could book a dive tomorrow. They called the place and said regrettably the weather was supposed to be poor tomorrow. They asked her.. how about today? This caught us off guard as we’d arrived about 20 min before. They said “they can pick you up in 5 min. you in?” After some stuttering she said yes and we ran up stairs to get our stuff and wait by the door. When they picked us up I was even nervous and I wasn’t even going. We got there and it was pretty much one big room where they rolled up the parachutes, suited everyone up and showed an instructional video so I felt like I was getting ready to go too. But I wasn’t. I just took pictures and played with the kitty that lived there. I can’t say exactly what it was like because I didn’t go but Lara I’m sure would love to elaborate. But from the ground it looked like.. people parachuting and I took pictures. And found a pair of goggles on the ground. Which was neat. Anyway she had lots of fun and go that out of her system.

Next day we went horseback riding along the lake and through pretty rolling pastures (that looked like England) of cows and Tons and Tons of baby sheep which Baa louder and more than you’d believe. It was a good time. I hadn’t ridden since I was about 13 but I got my bearings back it was good fun tho we had some Sore bums for a good 4 days afterward. That night we also discovered our hostel had a hot tub and took advantage of that.

Also in Taupo we went on a jet boat Up rapids. It was called : Rapidsjet and it was Super fun. It was a jet boat that went up and down a river that had normal rapids you’d whitewater raft on but it just went back and forth on them super fast and would actually fly up in the air and land down hard, then look like it was going to hit a bank and spin really hard and get me all wet. Tho we were all wearing floor length raincoats (we all looked like singin in the rain meets the matrix) with lifejakets somehow when everyone took off their coats they were all dry but it looked like I’d peed my pants and soaked my shirt ..in water or something. But it was super fun. We also lucked out with this place. It was out in the middle of nowhere which we didn’t know. They said they wouldn’t pick us up when we booked so we decided to take a taxi. Well it was far and it cost us a painful $40 to get out there. That was ridiculous. When we walked in the girl working there asked “man how much did it cost to get out here?” we told her and she said there was this thing called the HotBus that came out and was way cheaper and asked if we’d like her to call it to give us a ride back later. We said yes and then she said “well actually, this is the last ride for the day. I can just take you home” that was even better! So afterward she loaded up the boat and just drove us back. On the way she said “have you guys seen Huka Falls?” this big waterfall that we were planning on seeing later. We said not yet and she asked if we’d like to. We said… sure and she just took us out there. She was probably the same age as us and was super sweet. She just volunteered to take us to this waterfall and told us about it and then drove us home afterward and that was that! How very friendly! We owe her.

Also in Taupo we visited a place called Craters of the Moon which was a walkway around this area that also had geothermal activity in it making steam shoot up out of the ground all around. After that we went to the Taupo hot springs/ spa which was rad. They had individual thermally heated private pools that were all different temps from about 36-43 degrees C. That’s hot. 43s about 110F. We got in a 37 which was perfect. But it was this rad little room with steps down into a square pool with water fountaining from the wall. As I mentioned it was naturally heated hot water and it was mineral water so it was green. They said not to put your head in. We obliged. But it was super relaxing and we were there for quite some time and went home very mellow.

And that was mostly what we did in Taupo. After that was just another long bus ride home but one more surprising thing happened. We had been on the bus for several hours and it stopped at a little restaurant for a lunch break. We’d been sitting in the back and were some of the last to get back on and as we were walking down the isle back to our seats we saw 2 very familiar faces. It was our lovely Dutch couple from Whitianga! They said Hi excitedly and asked how we’d been and how our trip was going. It was nice to see them again. When they got off they waved at us and smiled as they left. How nice.

SO that’s that! That was our trip and now its actually time to “study” for my looming exams. Good on you for making it through my saga. Hope all is well! And here are pictures that go along with the above tale. Have at thee http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/ady-potaty/?sc=1&addtype=local

SCHOOLS OUT! except... we still have to take finals. in 3 weeks. but otherwise, fantastic eh?? Just a note, Lara and I are leaving tonight to go up to Corramandal for a few days, then down to Lake Taupo for another few days... so we'll be gone for about 9 days. I'll update again when I come back with the whole story. Don't lose interest yet! It will become enthralling once again I promise. Ciao for now!

they may not celebrate Halloween much here but apperently they do celebrate Friday the 13th! This friday everyone is supposed to meet in this park and wander around the streets like zombies. ...http://www.myspace.com/wellingtonzombiewalk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanket_man

this guy here, is blanket man. he lives on the streets of wellington. don't feel sorry for him, hes not as bad off as he seems. he just wanders around wearing his flowered blanket. i find it hilarious that hes on wikipedia. the other day he got pulled over for drunk driving and apparently he told them he couldn't get pulled over because he wasn't in a car, it was his waka (ie canoe).

Today was the day we introduced our Kiwi friends to an American Thanksgiving. At first the idea was excitement all around. Then it was revealed that my flat was actually scared of Lara’s flat because they were the popular blond girls. I told them not to worry so they said Ok. Then everyone was freaked out by the food we were making. As we know from previous entries, pumpkin pie just wierded them out, Lara had this Jello dish that had sour cream in that no one could wrap their minds around and the green bean casserole for some reason posed some problems as well. We were also asked about 30 times what Thanksgiving actually celebrates. We tried to explain and told them over and over that yes the pilgrims did slaughter the native Americans and no it didn’t really make sense but it was an excuse to eat lots of glorious food.

So today was a day of cooking mania. There was- all together- a turkey (small) a chicken, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes and pumpkin, this kumara and banana salad (George made it, it was really good) a green salad, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce (from a jar… as good as we could do) and Lara’s Jello with banana, pineapple and sour cream thing. Yummy. And then also 4 pumpkin pies (… the only pie tins we could find were really shallow so we had to just spread it out amongst 4… but they worked this time!!) an apple/ peach pie, macaroon cake and chocolate custard éclairs that George made. Lots o Food and Lots o Leftovers. But we’re not there yet.

The celebration was held at Lara’s flat as they have a long living room area that we cleared out. Our flat had to bring over our kitchen table as well and set it up long ways to fit. We also had to bring over 6 more chairs, all our cutlery and our massive numbers of pies and other sorts of food. We set it all up – main courses in one are and deserts in another and got a good 10 minutes from each flatmate questioning why the pumpkin pies were with the deserts and the jello with the main courses. Finally we told them they could eat in whatever order they so chose but if they were gonna do Thanksgiving the right way they’d have to listen to us. So eventually they did.

Everyone dutifully tried everything. Lara’s Jello was a hit and most people liked the pumpkin pie. After one round of full plates and sitting back and relaxing, came the defining difference between my flat and Lara’s. If it had been only my flat people would have gone back until the food was gone. I could see by the look on every girl in my flat’s face that they were considering it though they wouldn’t unless someone else would. Finally one of Lara’s flatmates said “oh can I take your plates?” and so my flat politely said yes please and were comforted by the fact that they had massive amounts of dessert to eat. Then the dessert came out and everyone loaded up on that. This time my flat delved in and finished what was left of the cake and the pie with ease. Lara’s sat back announcing they were stuffed.

When it was all over we all came back into the kitchen to get to get what was left of everyone’s concoctions sorted out. At this point I noticed that every girl in my flat was crowded around the food table just picking and eating more. Now don’t worry about them/ us… it wasn’t like anyone was left hungry. But my flat actually just never has leftovers. We always just sit around the table eating until everything is gone. What’s amazing is that I live in a flat of very small girls. I don’t know how it happens but they’ve all got huge appetites. Even once we got everything home everyone ended up in the kitchen still picking at everything. Again, it didn’t really have anything to do with hunger, just large large appetites. Oh and as soon as we walked in the door came the next fundamental difference between our 2 flats. The moment the door was open George farted so loud and announced she’d been holding it in the entire night. At this point almost everyone agreed that they all had and in a matter of minutes our house was filled with quite the distinctly unpleasant aroma. If it was just dinner with us no one would ever hold back. Good old Manor.

It really was a fun night. Though my flat was scared they seemed to make a good impression on Lara’s. Everyone had fun, there was tons of laughter and chatter. They lived in the same dorm last year so they knew the same people they just didn’t hang out together so there was no shortage of conversation. Vic had everyone in stitches and crying of laughter as always. And me and Lara got double the “word game” we usually get. All ten of them ganged up on us at one point for our pronunciation of something and we just smiled and nodded.

So that was fun, they’re all relieved its over I think, and we’re all gassy now. Oh and then Vic and I had to do a rubbish run and as always it was a slight adventure. We walked down and I was saying how it always made me slightly nervous. She said “awe really? Nah I just can’t be bothered to do it.” It was dark and no one was around so it seemed quite safe. I was gonna just chuck mine over the side to do it quick but she calmly walked around and did it proper. So I followed did too. Just as we rounded the corner 2 people walked out of the dorm whose cans we use. “Um.. people.” I said. “Ah its ok they’re our friends.” Said Vic. So I slowly dumped the stuff with the people quietly watching. Vic was kind of eyeing them the whole time tho and finally they started laughing and so did she. Finally she said “that’s an RA, run!” and so then we took off up the street laughing. Not that they’d actually do anything to us.. but they could if they really wanted.

But we’re home safe, our flats have met each other, we found out we can actually cook decently, our house is smelly, our garbage has been taken out, we’ve got tons of leftovers, we’re happy and full and me and Lara got our thanksgiving we were going to miss. So its been a pretty good day after all. Happy Early Thanksgiving

Here are some more pictures ranging from our exploring wellington day to Blend and the day when Julia Anna and I put underwear on our heads and took pictures in Vics room. Enjoy


http://s78.photobucket.com/albums/j94/ady-potaty/?sc=1&addtype=local

Windy Wellington lives up to its name once again. Its to the point where the windows and doors in this creeky old house are just constantly rattling and no one really wants to stand by the windows because A they're drafty and B who knows, large debris could probably break them. Cool thing number two, I have to walk to class in it in one hour. My only class of the day. Oh the modivation to do so is so utterly small. But I only have 6 days of class left. I shoudn't wiener out now.

This last weekend Lara and I actually got the chance to make money. And legally mind you. One of her flatmates was like the student coordinator or something for the Wellington Home and Garden Show. They needed a bunch of students to work selling/taking tickets, working in the information booth, handing out raffle things etc. Well Lara and I aren’t allowed to work, but we Are allowed to sub. And there was at least one person everyday who couldn’t be there so Lara and I filled in. Lara, getting preference since its her flatmates, worked all 3 days the show was on and made over $200. I worked one short day and made $40. But uh, hey. $40 more than I had.
Oh boy tho, did I have the most exhilarating job. I got to stand by the door asking if people wanted to take a survey about the show. Hamish (who I was working with) and I each had to get through a stack of 50. I was always surprised actually when people would say they would. I wouldn’t if someone asked me. Anyway, we got some interesting responses. I got an American family who started talking to me for a long time. They asked me what I missed about home and I said the pickles and the dad said, “I know! Me too! You know what I do…” and he gave me a description of how he makes his own. They were cool. Then one guy asked me if I was a security guard, (because they gave a nametag that said “security.” Hamish got one that said “Hamish.”) and I said no and he just started laughing real hard. I don’t know what that was all about. My all time favorite response though was when Hamish asked a lady if she wanted to take a survey and she said “no I just had a stroke so I’m gonna go.” We just kinda froze and said nothing when that happened.
So I stood around for 5 hours and made a few dollars and that’s the most exciting thing that’s happened. But we’ve only got 2 more weeks of school! So in 2 weeks me and Lara leave to explore the north island some more, then we have to come back for another 2 weeks and then take our exams! (Stupid huh??) But then we’re off to travel around the south island. So soon the stories will be interesting once again.

in this house we've had a rat, Many infestations of Ants, and a real bad infestation of Huge Flies a while ago. The flies seemed to come around in warm weather but we haven't seen them recently we think because of the cold. Yesterday our RA Eli came by to collect our payment and he asked if there was any maintinence problems. We mentioned that we'd had a problem with flies but it hadn't been recently. He said he'd have someone come round. This morning, as it always is, I was home alone when the exterminator came. I answered the door and Eli was with him. I showed them to the closet where we'd noticed the most flies. I pointed out "they were all over this broom etc but its weird they're not here any more." The exterminator shifted the broom and said "Theres your problem" I looked down to see a massive pile of dead flies.. still not seeing the obvious though he said "dead rat." I looked again to notice that the massive pile of flies was on top of a HUGE DEAD RAT!!!! probably poor old Templeton. SICK THOUGH HOLY CRAP! I squeeled a little and me and Eli backed out of the room. He kinda laughed and said "wellp, I'm off to do the rest of my rounds and I'll leave you to it." I looked over and saw the exterminator putting on a gas mask and he said "this might smell a little." And I said "I see." and ran upstairs and shut my door. Now i'm sitting here shuddering at the disgustingness of it all but at least we're getting rid of it. But oh my god. thats disgusting.

Today as I was sitting by myself waiting for Lara to come out of class and pretending to be texting someone so I looked like I was doing something I was approached by 2 guys, one holding a clip board. He asked if I'd like to be featured in a music video. My first thought was "yes. yes I would." Instead I said "um... I... what?" He replied "Its being filmed on Oct 14th blah blah" Well that happens to be the day after the last day of actual classes before exams and is the day Lara and I are leaving to go travel the north island. A little crestfallen I told him I wouldn't be here. He said "Ok, well thanks anyway" and left. Damn it all! I didn't even ask who the band was and now I'm itching to know. I probably wouldn't have known who they were but from now on I could say "I could have been in one of their videos" Shoot dang.

I am the only one in my flat to have a birthday during this part of the term so all my other flatmates came up with days to have “unbirthdays.” Today was Vic’s. Her theme was a little kid’s birthday party and the unbirthday party from Alice In Wonderland. Firstly we all had to dress up, like ya do. Side ponytails were a requirement (pig tails for me since my hair's not long enough for a side pony) and little kid atire. Vic made mini pizza doughs and we got to decorate our own. While they were cooking we played rad games. The first game is one I’m undoubtedly bringing back to the states and if I go to any little kid birthdays… or have some myself, this will be there. Its called the Chocolate Game. What happens is there s a big chocolate bar in the middle of the table with a fork and knife and everyone sits around the table with a dice. The dice is rolled and whoever gets a 6 has to put on all these articles of clothing (ours included a coat, hat, scarf and mittens) once you got them on you had to use the fork and knife to cut of little squares of chocolate and eat as much as you could until someone else rolled a 6. Then you had to throw them the clothes and they had to try to put it all on.. etc. By the end all the clothes were abandonded but the scarf and the hat. It gets pretty intense let me tell you and it was awesome. And really goood chocolate.

Game 2 was Pass the Parcel. If have we at home that one I’ve never played it. There was something that was wrapped with like a million layers of paper and in between each layer was a little present. It could be a piece of candy or it could be like an onion or a leaf as was the case. The parcel is passed around as music is playing and then whoever’s holding it when it stops gets to open a layer and may get a good present or a lame one.

Game 3 was musical cushions. Just like musical chairs with one obvious difference. I was first out on that one. Not a surprise.

The last game was that one where you tie a balloon around your ankle and try to stomp on everyone else’s and keep yours alive. I knew I’d be the worst at this one but surprisingly I won. Woo hoo! Because I rock and just kept on hiding. I hardly ever got anyone elses but no one could get mine cause I was scared of everyone. All the games had prizes and we got tons of lollies. (I Just called them Lollies!! I’m leaving that. Lollies = NZ word for candy.)

So once we’d all eaten tons of chocolate from the Chocolate Game and a bunch of won candy, we had our amazing pizzas as well as caramel corn George made and Fairy Bread (actually amazingly delicious. Bread with butter and sprinkles with out a crust and cut into “soldiers” or little squares). AND after that was carrot cake with sprinkles and candy dinosaurs on top. There were also Tim Tams for Tim Tam Slams but everyone was about to throw up by that time so they’ve been saved for another day. Oh and this whole time Alice in Wonderland was playing in the background. Much fun was had by all. Everyone got totally into all the games and it was so like being a little kid. We just were just missing a piñata. And a slip and slide. My flat rocks.

Tonite =ed lots of movie fun. Well, it started off frustrating but got fun. The first part of this story , if you read my blogs on Myspace, is the same as my most recent one so if you've read that for some reason, skip the first part of this, but the rest is new.

Earlier today I called Reading Cinemas to book movie tickets for these special "Cinelounge seats" they have here. We'd heard they were really cool and they're like big lazy boy recliners and you get unlimited popcorn and you can buy sundaes and stuff and its rad. Anywho, so I was on the phone the fellow that worked there makin some reservations and as he was typing stuff in, in the background I could clearly hear Jurassic Park music. I mentioned this to Lara. On the other end he said "that music? No thats Superman." Ok... there was NO WAY it was superman! For the love of god i've seen Jurassic Park aprox 76 times. (number made up but probably correct) So I was like "wait what? No its so Jurassic Park" "Nope" he replied, "Jurassic Park is on this CD but this is Superman" I was getting in a huff now "Its SO Jurassic Park its not even funny!! If its Superman then they have very similar music, so similar that they're.. Identical!! I haven't seen Superman, how could I be singing along with it if I haven't seen it?" and he said "haha no its Superman you'll hear when you come in" and I said "Yes I will!... Doug!" because that was his name and I decided if he was still working when we come in and that the music is still playing I would give him a piece of my mind. I wanted to whip out my facts of knowing Joe Mazzello but like he would have cared or like knowing someone in a movie means that you know all the music.After the call I explained the conversation to Lara and Do Do Doed the song that I heard. She confirmed the Jurassic Parkness. I even know what part it was. I have it on my computer!! Frickin hell. Movie theater people should know their movie tunes, am I right Shan? Back me up here. You'd know if frickn Jurassic Park music was playing. Its like a crime not to. And of all movies.

So that was before hand. When we got there I kept my eyes peeled for a Doug but alas found none. But as I mentioned earlier we had these special tickets and we didn't really know what to do so we went to the regular counter and they pointed us in the right direction. We walked on through, up an escalator to the regular concessions area but then turned to the right to go up some more stairs to the “Gold Lounge.” How classy. And actually it was. Up stairs was a flash lounge with a bar, big fluffy chairs and fancy… everything. There was a serve your own popcorn and sodas area which we helped our selves to. Then we saw at the bar there were menus. You could order stuff and they’d bring it to you during the movie whenever you wanted. We all ordered sundaes which gave us the choice of 3 out of lots of really yummy ice creams and then asked to be brought them at 7:42. Then we went in with our free drinks and popcorn to find our seats. The seats were the three rows at the back of the theatre, raised up above the other ones. They were Awesome. The chairs were Huge, fluffy, soft and reclineable. They had little table things in between them that were quite large as well. There were three of us, Morgan, Lara and I and talking to Morgan who was on the other side of Lara was actually quite the feat. Then about half an hour into the movie (which by the way was Talladega Nights, the new Will Ferrell movie and was hiLarioius) a girl came out with a tray and our Amazing sundaes on them. Man we felt cool reclining in our plush chairs eating sundaes, drinking our free sodas and actually getting the jokes that were slams on America that none of the Kiwis understood.

When it was over we felt quite good about the whole experience but were reluctant to leave our cozy environment so we sat through all the credits. Finally it was time to start leaving but I, in my brilliance, was having quite the time of getting my leg rest back down. In fact I couldn’t with my legs so I proceeded to kneel on the chair and push on the rest with my hands. The obvious stupidity of that played out and I went toppling onto the floor with my knees still on the chair and my hands and face firmly pressed against the floor and little retaining wall in front of me. At this point I was having trouble getting out of the position since it was, first of all, quite the tight spot and also because I was laughing so hard I’d lost all strength in my limbs. Lara wasn’t helping by sitting back and laughing at me as well and Morgan who’d just announced she had to use the bathroom, started laughing as well and had to run out quite quickly to go do so. I was actually laughing so hard that it kind of hurt and I was crying much more than one should from laughing. I just laid there for a bit. This floor, mind you, was much nicer than usual in-between-movie-seat-rows are. It was wideish and clean and carpeted so it wasn’t quite as disgusting that I was just laying on it. Eventually we willed ourselves to leave. But that is an experience I’d happily pay for again. If any of you get the chance to go to a Cinelounge, I say do it.

Yesterday Lara and I went to Glassons, a very Wellington clothing store. It's cheap and trendy and everyone in Wellington has clothes from there. But its OK for me and Lara to shop there because we won't be here that much longer. We tried on some clothes not intending to really buy anything but that wasn't the way things went. Lara got a t shirt and I got some capris and a short slieved hoodie. The hoodies were on sale 2 for $45 (NZ so.. thats only like 30 American). She tried one on but didn't want it so I got mine anyway even tho there was no sale. It was $30 without the sale price. As I was checking out the lady asked "are you sure you don't want one more for only $15?" When they say it like that it always makes it seem like "well of course I want another one! how silly of me!" but I held myself back and didn't get it. Later we were getting on the cable car and Lara asked me how much I ended up spending all together since I didn't get the sale price. I looked at my recepit and said "Oh only $35. .... WHAT?" Turns out she never charged me for the hoodie at all!! I got it for Free! Thats the kind of sale I like.

Recently our toaster has changed its outlook on life. It no longer likes to toast things into their delicious crispy state. What it does now when you drop in a slice of bread, is begins to smoke after not too long at all. A type of smoke that doesn't really smell like it should be coming from food. When one then hastily pops their bread out of the stupid machine it is not toasted at all but still quite soft and smoking. In fact, the amount of smoke that comes off the bread when it comes out of our.. bread smoker, is kind of unbelievable. Then if you dare to eat it, it doesn't taste like toast but has a vauge taste of smoked salmon.. or something else smoked. Like smoked bread perhaps. While smoked salmon may be delicious in its own right, it is not good with lime marmalade or honey.
Why have we not done anything about this you may ask? Because it doesn't do it every single time, only if you're the lucky winner that day and I suppose its a fun game to play... "whose gonna get the salmon toast today?"

We were given Uni email accounts through Victoria just like any school email address upon our arrival here. They're just like our Western account ones except for one feature. To delete email you have two optons. There are 2 buttons betneath the list of the inbox. One that says "Delete message" and one that says "Destroy message." The first time I felt the need to get rid of a message, I suppose I wasn't feeling entirly brutal so I just chose Delete message. Instantly several red lines of words popped up telling me of errors and malfunctions and all sorts of undesirable stuff. So I went back and, not knowing what would happen, I clicked Destroy. The screen froze for a second and for a moment I thought I had probably deleted my hardrive, broken down the entire school website and just broken my computer. I knew it was a bad idea to Destroy my inbox. But then it said, "confirm destroy" I did so after thinking for a minute i did... and all was well. It was gone. I tried deleting another one, with the good ol delete button. Again I caused errors galor. Now, I don't know why destroying works and deleting doesn't, or what the difference is besides that fact just previously stated, Or why they even give you the option in the first place if only one works. But perhaps they have their reasons. Perhaps one is to confuse American exchange students (I've had this same flabergasted conversation with no less than 3 other Americans). There pretty much aren't any other concievable reasons.

It was Anna’s night to cook dinner yesterday and in honor of the lovely day she wanted to have a picnic on the lawn. Problem: by dinner time it was cold and cloudy and not suitable for dinner. Alternative: a themed dinner. She announced to us that after 5 o clock the kitchen would be off limits until further notice. She then came in to our rooms and very seriously stated, “Tonight’s theme will be…. Color. Do with it what you will.” And left.

I was very intrigued by this. We’ve never had a themed dinner before. At about 6:30 Anna yelled up the stairs “If you haven’t started yet, Get Dressed!” I was wondering how far my other flatties would go with their costumes but I was cold so I just put on a bright green fleece and a rainbow scarf. 15 min later she yelled that dinner was ready and so well all emerged from our rooms. I saw Julia first who had a bright blue and green summer dress on over thermals and a pink and red scarf wrapped around her head. “Oh going for the turban look eh?” I asked. And as soon as I did Vic stepped out of her room clad in a bright pink robe and Also a rainbow colored headdress. Hers was actually a poncho but it was the same idea. They laughed at their similar thoughts and we went downstairs. There we were met by George who was dressed entirely in red and Rachel who had on all sorts of different colors and some polka dotted underwear over her pants. But here’s the clincher… Both of them were wearing scarves as head wraps as well! I was the only one who hadn’t! Apparently they hadn’t all planned it in advance to keep me as the odd one out.. but it certainly looked that way. So I had to follow the crowd and I wrapped my scarf around my head as well.

At that time Anna opened the door to let us enter and got a good giggle out of the sight of all 5 of us standing around with rainbow head scarves. But Anna’s costume was probably the winner. She had on a green short tennis dress with a blue striped long sleeved shirt underneath and rainbow toe socks and all sorts of other accessories. And then we saw our food. She’d laid a really bright butterfly print duvet cover over the table as our cloth and all of our bowls were set out. She’d made pasta that’d she’d dyed green with food coloring, and it actually took the color quite well. It had a white sauce with chunks of carrots and broccoli and other colorful things in it. She’d also dyed our water either green or red (those are the only colors of food coloring we have). It was real unnerving to drink the water because it looked like Gatorade but had no taste. Then she made pink and green piklets for desert (like a cross between mini pancakes and cookies) and then a big caramel pudding (not like our pudding. Their pudding is like a cake in a dish with sauce on it) which was… well caramel colored. Once we’d finished our dinner and desert was about to be served Anna saw Lara through the kitchen window in her room and invited her over for desert. She yelled to her to dress up as well and we all stood up and waved. Well we hadn’t told Lara about the theme but she came over looking very fitting. She’d wrapped her orange and pink scarf around her head and fit right in.

So that was color themed night. In about a week Vic wants to have a little kid’s birthday themed dinner for her unbirthday and then wants to have a party later where everyone has to come dressed as one of the Village People. It’s pretty silly over here at The Manor, but its pretty damn fun as well.