Packing and Cleaning are boring.... blogging is less so.

Things I will Miss in Wellington:

• The Curry2Go shop. Oh, temptation.
• The Petone Artisan Spring
• Korokoro Walking Tracks
• Pak N Save bread--cheap as.
• The Riverside Market
• The kids: Bhaavia (Beady), Yasheka, Fionn, Jamie, Mikayla, Summer, Toby, Joey, Kiera, Emma, Annaliese tickling me all the time (from the Holiday program), Ribena, Kate, Peter, Dylan never eating his sandwich, Luka Bazooka, Kezia and I always beeing cold, Katie and how she is growing up too fast, JC and his teddy bear, Nadia, Jackie, Callahan sitting in the window and getting really excited when Jasmine gave him Nerds, and all the other kids of course.
• My co-workers: Jasmine, Terri, Adam, Jordyn, Carol, Sheila
• Jordyn laughing whenever I swore because he thought is was funny
• Carol and her hands full of rings and her obsession with pink
• Finding out on my last day that over half of the people employed at my work were Mormon and being flabbergasted
• Helpings the kids with their spelling
• Playing Freeze with the kids
• Playing Frankenstein with the kids
• The Foosball tournament: Melissa winning, Toby losing and crying, Summer comforting her brother and making me miss mine.
• Singing happy birthday to a kid with the other kids even though it was never together or in tune
• How well my job payed (just being honest)
• Going to see the Wellington Improv Troupe (WIT) perform at The Fringe Bar
• Cuba Street
• Norma Blue cafe and their chai latte's.
• During the Holiday program how the kids could NEVER figure out any of the pre-planned art projects so we just did something else.
• My space heater
• Jackson Street
• Flax Cafe's juices
• Running by the ocean and the smell of fish and sand
• The dock
• Seeing the moon in the day time. It looked like a round cloud.
• Jasmine saying "that's not normal," "f**king fruitcake" or that she's "unsure!"
• Our day at Paraparaumu and the CRAZY Perfumery lady
• Afternoon tea, and eating the left over food
• Bats Theatre
• Courtenay Place
• Wasabi Sushi on Cuba Street
• Walking around Wellington late at night searching for a bus stop, full of fear that I'd get mugged
• Kids holding my hand
• Fionn taking me Alien Hunting, pointing out imaginary AlienNeutrons and New Zealand Snakes
• Playing Superheroes with the kids and always being Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Joey always wanting to be 'Goop' (whomever that is) and counteracting EVERYTHING with "Well, I have all the powers possible, so you can't do anything to me/that." Me trying to explain that if he had no weakness, there was ZERO point in playing the game.
• My efforts being wasted on the above explanation.
• Doing art with the kids. The kids telling me I was a good artist.
• Jasmine saying, "F**k you, you are a good artist."
• Imali drawing a picture of a girl alien and drawing a speech bubble that read, "I kissed a girl and I liked it." Jasmine telling her to give it to me. Me cracking up.
• Mikayla thinking I was rich because I was an actor.
• Bhaavia thinking that me only having 200 dollars to my name made me "rich."
• Eran driving me NUTS with his talk of body functions and talking toilets.
• Playing "singing in the rain" with the kids
• My bed even though it was crappy on my back
• Yoga in Wellington, even if I only went once
• Kids telling me they have my same water bottle almost everyday, as if they forgot they had already told me this three times that week.
• Bhaavia telling me that Barack Obama was the King of America, and when I corrected her and said we had no Kings or Queens, her telling me that Michael Jackson had been our King.
• That guy who sold me coffee in the NZ Unique shop who was really friendly and who told me about the hidden grocery store (Middle Eastern and South African goods I think) and who told me about the Riverside Market
• Running through the train station with 30 kids to make a train and falling to my knees while running and skidding across the floor. Owwwwwww.
• The 'buskers'--street musicians--at the market.
• Steve coming to visit me in Wellington.
• Steve and I singing to the Bonnie Tyler 'Literal Version' youtube video at about 3 in the morning even when my flatmates were asleep.
• Rude bus drivers
• Nice bus drivers
• Bus drivers who drove like MANIACS and made me want to vomit
• Trying to keep the kids from playing in the bushes
• Giving up on keeping the kids from playing in the bushes
• Playing with the kids in the bushes
• The actual school banning playing in the bushes and having an assembly about it
• Finding this out
• Having to put kids in time out for playing in the bushes
• The kids playing "Vampires" but they shot each other instead of 'sucking blood.' Me trying to explain that vampires don't use guns, because they have fangs. Dur.
• Eran trying to eat me because he was a Zombie, and me telling him, "Nope, I'm Zombie-immune," just to be difficult.
• Cheering up Peter when really mean kids had picked on him at school.
• Bhaavia always noticing my tiny ounce of patronization/sarcasm when I was trying to keep my temper with Michelle and giggling quietly.
• Bhaavia telling me I was her favorite teacher.
• Seeing 500 Days of Summer with Jo. Telling everyone after that how much I loved that movie.
• Accidentally dropping my tray of food on a really rude French couple at the food court. The man demanding I clean off his bag with a napkin because he couldn't do it himself. Me wishing I knew how to say "bite me" in French. And also thinking, "Wow, way to fulfill your stereotype, douchebag. It was an accident. Do accidents not happen in France?"
• Not being able to walk past Sushi of Japan in the mall without buying at least a seaweed salad
• Summer and Mikayla being 'too cool' to play the games I played with the kids (Singing in the Rain, Frankenstein, Peel Banana, Boom Chicka Boom, etc.) Me telling Mikayla that if she wanted to be a director of films (she does) she should get used to games like these because they're all theatre games. Her looking stunned and thoroughly corrected. Ha!
• Summer being a tiny adult. Seriously, she's so grown up. And sassy.
• 5 year old adorable Emma always being too afraid and too tiny to play ANY games and always having the following exchange with her:
  Emma (looking like she's about to cry): "Sawah... Sawah... I, I, I, Sawah... I don't--"
  Me: "It's okay, Emma, you don't have to play."
  Emma: "Sawah...tell Jasmine that I don't..."
  Me: You don't need to tell Jasmine, Emma, because you told me, and I promise it's fine." Emma: "...Jasmine!"
• Terri giving me rides to work
• The awesome psychiatrist who ended up being gay himself and talking to me about the culture, feeding my need for community, and how it seems I came here looking for something more than just an overseas experience. He told me he hoped my year turns out to be everything I don't expect.
• Refusing to play tag no matter how many times the kids tagged me. "Sorry, Sarah doesn't run."
• That time Jordyn slammed his hand in the door and him practically passing out on the floor from pain and having to call the ambulance (which is free here, get with the program America) and Jasmine and I being like, "Great, Jordyn's dying." Trying to keep it from the kids. Jordyn was fine. Making fun of him after that.
• Rehearsing with WIT
• Walking through the Pak N Save parking lot and listening to We Beseech Thee from Godspell and feeling really blessed suddenly--bringing me almost to tears.
• Going swimming with the kids and always being cold. Doing the "flying fox."
• Fionn singing at the pool while he was floating and making his mouth like an 'o' pretending to be an (I have no idea what this is) earth tribal head or something?
• Jack being really good at freeze.

Farewell, Windy Welly.

Oi. It's been a while, eh?

I can't believe it's been almost exactly a month since I've updated this bloggy blog. Here's the deal though--I need to go make myself some bean and rice burritos for dinner, and then I have a skype date with Steve, and then I need to send in some poetry to an online journal, and then I have to sleep early to get up on time for a doctor's appointment. SO. I will update this for real later--but here's my most recent email update that covers the main points of what I've been up to. Peace!

*
Let's skip the small talk, eh?

New Zealand slang is pretty hilarious. I have no doubt that American slang is also a hoot (case in point, 'hoot'), but I would like to share with you some of the quirky slang I have heard while on this island. First of all, 'eh' after every sentence is very common. It's almost annoying, eh? Turns out, it's not just a Canadian thing, eh? See, I told you. Kind of annoying, eh? But charming. Eh.

Munted: destroyed, or for those of us who swear, 'fracked'.
Wop-wops: The middle of nowhere. As in "out in the wop-wops." I've heard it.
Tiki-tour: Driving around for no reason, exploring, taking the long way, killing time by wandering.
Hundies: Hundreds
Shrapnel: Coin change (well, I've only heard one person say it, but she's pure new zealand.)Plaster: band-aid
Sweet as bro: Cool, kickin', right on. It's said more than you can possibly imagine.
_____ as: You can put anything in front of 'as' and it just means, quite _____. Examples: Easy as, cheap as, awesome as, cold as, etc. VERY common. It's even on billboards and signs and the like.
Knackered: Tired
Gap it: Gotta run. As in, I gotta gap it.
Throw a wobbly: throw a tantrum
Hundreds and Thousands: Sprinkles
Pokies: slots (gambling)

That's all for now... but there's more. This is just what I can remember.

Anyway, I've been working at the After School Fun Club for about a month now. The Holiday Program--where the kids were on break and went to the program for 2 weeks from 8 to 6--was pretty exhausting. I made a lot of money, but still, I was knackered as. My patience that works so well working with one or two kids didn't quite hold up with 50. The last weekend of the Holiday Program, my friend Steve came down to visit from Auckland, and we had a sweet as time. The weather was completely miserable, so we ended up going to see two films at a film festival--Moon (not that interesting, quite weird) and Sunshine Cleaning (which was billed as a comedy and was really rather serious. Also, not as good as I'd hoped.) And just chilling inside. We also watched Donnie Darko--first time I'd seen it--and I actually really liked it. Trippy though.

After Steve left though, I was pretty sad. I realized that I just wasn't happy in Wellington. I was working a steady job and living in a flat--aka apartment--which was all well and good, but I didn't move across the globe to do something I could do in the States. Plus, I want to be nomadic--I don't want to settle. This is an adventure, after all, not retirement. I also could feel it in my gut that what I need right now is to be in nature--big time. Nature seemed to be all around me (the mountains all over Wellington) but it also seemed inaccessible somehow. How could I get out into the beautiful countryside of New Zealand? Well, I knew a few things. I knew that Wellington was windy and cold, which I hated because I am very affected emotionally by weather. I concluded that I would need to move up north, where it was warmer, but I didn't want to move back to Auckland, because although I used to think of myself as a city girl, I'm tired of cities at the moment. What good are buildings when the sun is out?

So I thought. And I remembered hearing about communes--where people live together and live off the land and probably sing like the seven dwarfs. (Okay, maybe not the last part.) I gave it a google.

Lo and behold! What treasures did I find? Well, I found that the official term for a commune is "intentional community" for one. And that there were a good amount of them in New Zealand, but a lot of them were groups of only four people, or they were really selective and/or religious. I'm not looking to join any cults at the moment, so I passed on those. Some of them had joining fees, or visiting fees, and some of them were urban--none of those struck my fancy. But I did find two that looked really interesting. One was called Anahata, and one was called Wilderland. Try as I may, I couldn't contact Anahata. Emails wouldn't go through, phone calls reached nothing.

So I moved on to Wilderland. Wilderland is a group of about 15 people who work together and eat 50% of the food they harvest. Sweet as, right? They also bottle honey and sell it. They work on the farm from 8:30 to 1pm everyday. There aren't any fees, and the housing is rough and rustic, or as Russel (the guy I talked to) said, "Everything here is beautiful and quirky." I was thrilled--I gravitate towards the beautiful and quirky! I emailed them and called, and got a wonderful surprise. It turns out they have been getting 5 calls per day, and have been turning everyone down. But, because my email was so earnest and passionate, he talked it over with the group, and they said a vibrant, "Sure!" I was beside myself! I get to live in an organic commune that makes half of their own food! And it's primarily vegetarian! And it's super far north, so it'll be really really warm, and beautiful! And I won't have to pay for much of anything for the length of the visit! I'll be there for three weeks trial, and then if they like me and I'm happy there, I can stay for up to three months. I imagine I'll stay through Christmas, and then I'll want to move on. After all, I'm nomadic these days. I'm very excited :) I was able to both email and phone them, so I surmise that they have internet access (if not wifi) and phone service of some kind; I will find a way to be in touch! Anyway. I informed both my present employer and my roommates, and they're pretty cool about it. Much cooler about it than I expected, actually, so that's a plus! I'll miss Wellington (especially since the weather's been nicer,) but it's time to move on.

So let's see, what else is new? The New Zealand Improv Festival was... well, I imagine it was wonderful, but I never got to go. Tickets were rather hard to come by, and I wasn't able to get any. I was bummed, but not terribly. There were other things to do, of course. I did go to two rehearsals with them, and that was fun. But ultimately, knowing I was leaving oh so very soon sort of cancelled any chance of performing with them. This is probably my only quote unquote 'regret'. They are a really talented bunch, and I think there was a lot of friend potential there.

I've been doing a bit more exploring in the Wellington area--I went to see Te Papa, their museum (well, really THE most famous museum in New Zealand) and it was pretty cool. I liked looking at the Maori exhibits. There are loads of pictures up on facebook. I'll see if I can get them up on a website like photo bucket or something--there are too many to email, unless I can find a way to email whole albums. I also have been climbing a couple of the 'walking tracks' in the hills/mountains (I can't decided which they are) of Korokoro. It's been wonderful. Yesterday I walked up to Centenay Lookout and sat and wrote. Let the divinity of nature speak, eh?

Also, my friend Jasmine (whom I work with) took me up to the Paraparaumu beach, which was really fun and really beautiful. Plus, we met a completely crazy lady who worked at a Perfumery. You know those people you meet and you can't believe they're real and not a cartoon, they're so ridiculous? Yep. She was one of those. She slurred her words l like she was the lady who said, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Demille" except worse. Her voice was dripping with faux wealth and snobbery. She said things like, "Oohhhh, DARlings." And when we came in, she was on the phone, and she said to the other person on the line, "I have to gooo. There are ladieeees here who migiiht buy MEGa MILlions." She also pretended to be a psychic and told me I was Swedish (when I told her I wasn't, she turned to Jasmine and said, "She doesn't even know!" ... but Stephen told me I'm a bit Swedish. Is that true?!) and that Jasmine's cousin was trying to protect her. Jasmine hasn't talked to her cousin in years, and they're definitely not friends. We left surpressing what we might all know by the phrase "church giggles."

I've been reading and writing, too--poetry, a play, a screenplay. Reading wise, I read The Other Boleyn Girl--very very good, you were right Asha!--and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas--excellent. I'll be reading Snow Falling on Cedars next. I also go running by the ocean, wander around, or watch tv on my computer sometimes. I keep entertained :) I still go to the Riverside market--last Saturday there were a group of kids playing recorders, Dad! I took a picture of them just for you, I'll have to send it.

This is my last week here. I've got some cleaning and packing to do--and some throwing away and donating of goods to engage in as well. Even with litte, I still have too much. This weekend should be fun before I leave--it's my flatmate Justine's birthday, and it's on Halloween. We're invited to dress up--I was thinking of going as a traveling American. Think I can pull it off?

I leave Sunday early early morning, and I'll be on a bus for 12 hours and will arrive in Tauranga, where Karly and her two other American friends (Katy and Mark) are settled in. We haven't seen each other yet, and we figured we should do that! I'll spend a few days there, and then I'll head to Auckland to see Steve, Tara, Toni, and my awesome new friend, Dori. No, not the fish. ;) And then from there, I'll head up to the Coromandel! I may even have to walk to the actual farm, which will be about an hour! With my heavy backpacker backpack--phew! I better start training now, eh?

Well, that's that for now. I'm currently trying to find a way to get my prescription meds over here, and it looks like it's going to cost an ugly, ugly penny. For my concerta (for my ADHD) I need to get a NZ psychiatrist to okay my need for it, so I am seeing the doc tomorrow morning--which is super lucky. He is only going to charge me 150 dollars for 45 min, the other doc was going to charge me 300. Unfortunately, no matter what anyone does, because I'm not a resident of NZ, the concerta will cost 130 dollars per month. The folks have said they'll help, but it's pretty steep. See, I can't wean off of it because they work together to keep both my ADHD and OCD in check. I'm not against weaning off them eventually, but I'm not sure New Zealand surrounded by mostly strangers and no real health insurance or psychologist here who knows me is a great plan, you know? But I've considered it. If need be, I can always take the concerta every other day. It's such a low dosage anyway... anyway. That's the current pickle. I have a prescription for zoloft, but who knows how expensive it'll be. One doctor says it should be more than 40 bucks, another said it'll be about as expensive as the concerta. Wince.

Other than that--I FINALLY submitted some of my poetry for publishing to a poetry journal. I'm going to do more of that, or at least that's the goal.

ALSO yesterday's dinner was interesting. I bought some jalapenos at the market because I thought they were green beans (I know, I know, I know) and when I discovered my error, I decided to try and use them anyway--didn't want to waste them, right? I chopped some up and put them in my burrito.

Worst. Decision. Ever.

(picture compliments of Ty Zavitz)

That's all for now ;)