Settling in, in New Zealand

The “where the hell are you?” emails finally motivated me to catch up the ‘ol blog.

My one-nighter in Fiji turned into two when I missed a flight for the first time in my life. Two hours early for my flight at 7:15 when the ticketing agent kindly informed me that the 17:15 flight was taxing away from the gate.

All was cool though as my best good ‘ol Texas smile discounted my ticket change from $190 to $30. On the flight I was able to sit down next to none other than a GM from an Auckland ad agency. (Awfully handy as that is the industry I trying to get work in). A wonderfully nice guy that gave me invaluable info into who, what, & where of the Auckland creative scene – then he even gave me a ride home from the airport.

Checked into a filing cabinate for 20 year olds on their first trip from home. Was ecstatic to find fresh vegetables again after the tomatolessness of Tonga, as I spent a day walking the city to find a better place to stay.

I’ve checked into a beautiful hostel in the neighborhood of Parnell which is a 10 minute walk from downtown. The hostel is an old Victorian home, once belonged to the queen of Tonga, and the innkeeper brings in fresh European breads from the local bakery every morning and afternoon. In the ½ mile of the main strip there are 4 shops with umlauts in the title, over 20 art galleries, an Apple shop, and a disproportionate amount of Italian food restaurants. Parnell happens to also be the home to all the ad agencies, needless to say, I’m loving it. (Parnell is also rather high rent as I’ve seen a Ferrari or Lamborghini daily for nearly two weeks now)

I then jumped headlong into job acquisition mode. Cleaned up my resume and wrote cover letters and actually did cold calling straight into offices. I have a contract computer job on Monday along with two interviews, I’ve applied for jobs in Antartica, and tomorrow I’ll start my winter job options. I have to laugh at the prospect of molding my CV to make me look like a good candidate to be a “Ski Rental Assistant”. My cover letter probably shouldn’t say, “I’ve never been a skier, but come on – I’m not a freakin’ idiot.”

I was lucky enough in my job hunting to run into two local lasses in a coffee shop who have taken me under their wings to show me around. Dinner, drinks, trips to the museum, and introductions to their friends in the ad agencies. I attended the dawn parade on Anzac day (Australia and NZ’s memorial day). It was really a wonderful experience to be at such a patriotic event as a foreigner. I am also impressed that the Anzacs celebrate an historic loss, not a victory – they emphasis the futility of war instead of glorifying it. Definitely a lesson we could learn back home, as our patriotism makes frightening shifts towards nationalism.

And in true traveler style, a German girl (we’re going to a Hip Hop show tonight) invited me to join her in the Cook Islands next week… so I took her up on it. Twist my arm and drag back into the South Pacific.

Miss you guys at home and hope you all are doing great.

Happy Belated Birthday to Audrey! (Email me because I don’t have yours)

Happy Birthday to Whitney on the 8th, love ya and can’t wait to see you in Bangkok!