Big accomplishment of the week so far: finally finding a sushi place with a decipherable menu, good service, and excellent sushi. Life is tough, you guys.

Listing

This week I

1. went to a flatwarming party in the city

2. went to a housewarming party in a suburb

3. ate tim tams the "proper" way, which is to bite the ends off of the cookie and suck coffee through the cookie until the whole thing is saturated and then pop it in your mouth before it falls apart or melts

4. drank sambuca the Italian way with an Italian, which is to let a coffee bean soak in the shot for a few minutes and then have the shot and eat the coffee bean

5. played risk for the first time and conquered the whole damn world

6. started drinking G&Ts with lemon instead of lime because lemons are $3.99/kg and limes are $24.99/kg

7. went to some classes

8. skipped some classes

9. danced

10. met an American who was so excited to meet another American that it made me not want to spend any time talking to him

11. loudly declared that I don't like that Alicia Keys song about New York and I also don't like New York very much and was overheard by a couple of girls from New York who took offense and questioned me about where I’d been in New York

12. met a kiwi named Seagull

13. finally met people who have cats and got to satiate my kitty longing

14. rode on a scooter wearing a helmet with flames on it

15. got honked at for wearing the flames helmet, complete with a big thumbs up out the window

I always say that friendliness pays off

Nearly every day when Jess and I go on our walk, we come home with a good story. Some days we only walk to a nearby suburb, grab a coffee, and come home. But other days we set out with intentions to tackle some giant hills and trek far away. The other day was one of those days. We wandered about an hour away, winding through Ponsonby, St. Mary's Bay, and Herne Bay. As it rains nearly every day this time of year, finding a cafe usually serves multiple functions since we're usually wet and wind blown in addition to caffeine deprived by the time we get to our destination.

But yesterday was warm and sunny, so we ended up hiking a little farther than normal because it was just so nice outside. When we happened upon a cafe, we figured we'd better go ahead and have our coffee if we were going to make it home before dark. Jesse experiments with lattes, cappucinos, and flat whites, but I'm a flat white girl all the way. So delicious.

Obviously the people here are known for their friendliness, but that word just isn't adequate. The guy at the cafe who took our coffee order was just the happiest, most friendly person you can conjure up in your head. And then another guy brought me the most delicious flat white. We sat outside at a little table, and when the coffee guy came back out for something, I asked him if he was the one who had made the flat whites. When he replied that he was, I said, "This is just delicious. Best flat white I've ever had." He looked surprised and said, "Oh really? That might just get you another one for free!" Sure enough, when we'd finished our coffees, he offered us a second, and we happily accepted. The wind picked up and cloud cover moved in, so after the second coffee we packed up and headed home. We'd left home at about 2pm, and we finally got back home at about 5:30. Good trip. St. Mary's Bay is darling.

culture shock

Though the construction workers here tend to be standing around and smoking more than actually constructing, which seems just like home, they're actually fundamentally different here. You pass by a huddle of construction workers and not one of them hollers dirty names or offers his sexual services. They all hush and watch you walk by and frequently wish you a good morning. Life is funny.

no means no

The other night we had a girls night planned. Pizza and beer was the plan of action, of course. And girls night turned into meeting up with friends which turned into seeing a band which turned into meeting up with more friends. Anyhow, four changes of venue later, I was given a hilarious compliment/slam combo that I only just remembered today. A kiwi friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend told me that I was a photographer's dream because my face and eyes are so expressive. Naturally I blushed faster than you can snap your fingers, but he followed it up with this little gem: "Well not quite a photographer's dream because you're so stubborn." I'm apparently easy to size up, eh? I'm pretty sure that whatever I was refusing to do that made him think I was obstinate was probably something I was happy I didn't do the next day. I think I'll just hang on to the "photographer's dream" bit of that one. Here's a sweet one from that night.

moms are the best [alternate suggested title: motherlover]

A couple of weeks ago I came down with a cold that featured a fever and lots of snot. I complained about it to my mom, and she offered to mail me dayquil and nyquil. I took her up on the offer because even over-the-counter drugs like that are expensive here. And aleve is my pain killer of choice at home, but it’s something like ten dollars for 20 pills here. So if she was sending a package, I requested some aleve, too. We talked about how to mail it since I have a very small mailbox and my building has a keyed entry. I guessed fedex would have to ring my apartment, and if I wasn’t home I’d have to go pick it up. But I didn’t know what exactly would happen if she mailed a package USPS without requiring a signature. So we decided to test it out. The post office at home said it would take 5-7 days. Of course my cold would have eased up by the time a package arrived, but I’d be ready for the next cold.

After she mailed it, some kiwis told me that there was a good chance they’d open up a package to see what was inside of it, and that it was possible that if whatever she sent me was on a controlled-substance list, (and there are tons of things on the controlled-substance list) they might even confiscate items out of the package.

So right about seven days later, I got a card in my mailbox notifying me that my mailbox was too small for the package and I’d have to go pick it up. There are little post shops all over the city, but it’s a different type of post office that delivery people work from. So I googled the location of the post office where I’d have to go, and it was about 5k away in a nearby suburb called Ponsonby. Of course there are buses, but I take longs walks nearly every day, so I figured I’d just have an extra long walk this one day. Jesse came along for the exercise, and it took about 50 minutes of brisk walking for us to get to the post office this morning. Ponsonby is just darling and filled with colorful cottages, so it was a perfectly pleasant walk. It was cloudy and cool on the walk there, but luckily I’d brought along my umbrella since it rained steadily on the walk home.

Now I’m armed with dayquil, nyquil, aleve, chapstick, and cough drops for when the next cold comes. I’m 27 years old and not really homesick at all, but there’s still something childishly thrilling about getting a package from home with your mom’s handwriting on the front.

a lesson in flirting

The pubs all fill up for rugby matches. Though it is definitely the most popular sport here, not everyone loves rugby, and those people tend to be pretty vocal about the fact that they don't love it. Still, nearly every public place with a television turns on the rugby matches, and the pubs are all packed. On Saturday we were at a pub for the All Blacks v. Wallabies match, and amongst the crowd happened to be a couple of Norwegians right behind us. We’re talking blonde-coiffed skinny Norwegians with cartoonishly-stereotypical accents. Though I was doing my best to look like I wouldn’t be fun to talk to, they asked where I was from. Please imagine your best Norwegian accent. It went like this:

Blonde dude: So where are you from?

Me: Oh, the United States.

Blonde dude: Oh yeah? So you do not know the rugby?

Me: Actually, I really like rugby.

Blonde dude: So you know only the American football? Which is not football in other countries? You call it soccer. But it’s football.

Me: Yeah I know. I don’t really like American football much though. But I do like rugby.

Blonde dude: American football. Pussies.

Me: You really know how to talk to women.