friday, 23 september

first to respond to a couple questions...

after 8 tries (and half the pack of wool), i got my lace pattern going on the scarf...i cannot keep up the concentration for the entire scarf, so 4 rows of a lovely border...then knit. the should be interesting.

about sammy, i love him, i miss him, and hiro too always wished he could become a real boy...i should've named him pinocchio...trying to become human!!! i sense over our telepathic wave...he's going for a young john travolta thing.

as to pizza, i think i actually saw a dominios thingy on top of a delivery car, but certainly not like the states, more crepes places here than pizza.

patesserie (sp) is like a bakery/confectionary/coffee shop....and mmmmm mmmm good!

the scooter...definitely a slegggggghammer!
oh, i saw a ND-yessssssss tee shirt. and some cute (well, bratty)school girls in their uniforms rattling off ND one-liners!

now,
okay, after a busy week...i am at ye olde internet cafe, adn forgot my dang flash stick!
with the pictures, etc...but i promise this weekend. hoping to go to the coast if the weather holds on sunday...so, will catch up then.

this week, went to a fancy gym with sim's 'concession'...was interesting, in many ways NZ really seems a utopia, and this gym experience supported this theory. (however, i was really sore the next day after 'body ballance' a combo of tai chi, yoga, and pilates)

then, i have met some peeps! yay, i'm meeting for coffee! in two hours!...at least it's someone to talk to.
these people i've met...are like me...here wondering the streets having followed their 'partners' here. and we will get together and chat on all the same things....it was the perfect comic relief talking to the american...who has been here 4 weeks....how much reading, yoga, shopping can you do before you lose it...yeah, so yesterday, i roamed the streets again, visited the mac counter (34 bucks for eye shadow here) and arrived at home pretty as a peacock! and can tell you EVERYTHING about the new fall line.......(thank goodness i am meeting for coffee today)

this morning, i got a firmed up offer to work...it's tough, i'm going to be working with engineers, and the job requires some travel to that's cool, and i am possibly going to do some post occupancy work at the american embassy building..cool. (oh yeah, i am supposed to register there....so little time)

and finally, swing lessons were really fun, glad we are doing it. we are going to watch the pros this evening (unless the rain comes and i wimp out) and tonight, i will try to prepare prawns...the herculinian shrimps!

take care!
later,
m

Thursday 15 of September

Feeling a bit out of place at the moment...
the weather turned...cloudy and damp.

I miss the independence of having my own social set, and I miss you all and the dogs!!!
I keep thinking I need to take them out...

about the fabulous mohair...i suck at knitting anything other than the straight knit and purl, but I continue the scarf, well, the fancy pattern became embellishment just on the ends. and back to knit and purl...it's mindless.

a few new zealand-isms:

"....and bob's your uncle!"- meaning and there you have it.

the accent is odd and i'm warming up to it.

one doesn't have a boyfriend or girlfriend here...you have a 'partner'...very PC and efficient for all lifestyles I suppose.

architecture firms here ROCK!

the basil is not good to me...it seems to taste more like cilantro.

LindyHop Swing lessons were fun...hopefully we will continue...but they have it all wrong when they think they are familiar with the southern Shag...(...carolina girls....best in the world....)

everything is 'for sure'....

it's very stylish and trendy here, seems a VERY young city, food is good, really good.

oh, and i guess maybe we are a little prudish in the south...some things shock me as they are referred to so openly...such as...i popped into a patesserie yesterday for a cookie....and right next to the gingerbread men, they had, well, i cannot say.

alright, enough for now...
oh, yeah, um...here we go again...
seymore is making a documentary....so imagine this:
our weekend plan is for me, yes me, to pilot the scooter while seymore videographs Wellington's architecture....

...and Bob's your uncle!
m

K-New Zealand

It's day three, and all is well,

I cannot really check email daily, and have to go at this point to 'internet cafes', so Conceptual Oyster seems the best plan to date. Thanks everyone for actually looking at it and replying...

not sure yet how to best post pictures...well, haven't taken any anyhow...but seen lots of things to take them of...such as the local Bed, Bath and Beyond, the orange juice with the same label as minute maid...but called Kerr, and the hi-tec KFC, etc...

Here are the highlights...well, this isn't exactly a third world country...and i'm glad to have teh comforts of home...but next time, i'll just buy lotion here...it's heavy to travel with and spilled on my coat!
the apartment is much 'homier' now that i switched somethings about...it's very tiney though, also very sunny, which is good. can't wait to post a picture of it...it's f-ugly form the outside.

oh, eureeka, the mayonaise!
well, there is a brand in the same packaging as Dukes...but again, of another name. But none of this matters anymore because:
I doscovered oilio....different varietes! Yessssssss! It's mayo with a kick...great on everything, last night i dressed a salad of green beans and tomato with it! yum yum....and also had fresh grouper...you can't believe teh exotic items in the grocery....that we only read about in Martha Stewart Living! Actuallly fun to go grocery shopping, then of course, you have to lug it up 'Mt. Everest', I don't want to spend money on a taxi, and i need the exercise!

Next, I found the equivilant to the Dollar Tree...The Two Dollar Store...very handy...

Now, many of you will be jealous here:
I found the mother load...of yarn that is...I went there again today, and started a new scarf...with beautiful mohair...that was only the equiv. of about three bucks a skein USD. and the needles they have...oh boy.
and, i am actually trying a new pattern on this on...of course, it took all three employees of Knit World to get me through six rows...and then sugested i pay, take it home and see what I could do overnight.

Now I am making the job contacts, keep your fingers crossed.

Last night I really started to miss Sam and Maya, so thanks for the updates...and thanks for loving them!!
Seriously, Thanks!

I need to go eat now, and rest...
hopefully going to a dance lesson tonight!

p.s.
the weather is beginning to wain...good thing for the sweaters!

love to you all.
m

Dateline S-Wellington

estimated time in Wellington to date:
approx. 47 minutes

long haul flight:
a very long 12 hours since the nasty british woman beside me spilled an entire bottle on water on my seat (thus a moist flight), kept taking my arm rest controls and my pillow

euro-trash spottings:
2

weather in Wellington:
agreeably sunny and cool in the shade

residence:
much potential, but as of the moment, messy and obviously a bachelor's pad

hair:
oily

new luggage:
heavy, one puncture, one missing handle, and a laseration

general outlook:
sunny, Wellington is much better the second time around and with the sun shining. A few fleeting thoughts of: okay, i'm here, why the heck am I here, and what do I do now? But should be a good experience.

Here I Go...

okay,
i'm off...next stop Swellington!

Passenger Liability

one more day until departure...

packing has taken a turn for the better,
I finally have the suitcase closed and latched.

i've stock piled toiletries and reading material...
i've devoured much of the reading already.

can i justify a trip to barnes and noble for another fix?

Bachelor Gourmet: Weiners and Rice

ingredients:

white rice
1 package hotdog weiners
ketchup
brown sugar

method:

cook rice as instructed

cut weiners in bite sized pieces and sautee in pan,
add ketchup,
a bit of brown sugar
and cook until thick sweet sauce is formed.

serve over rice

Procrastination

Three days and counting...
so much to be done, som many people to see...but mostly, i just wnat to snuggle the pups...and they are so snuggly.
i'm trying to organize my packing efforts...but so far, i've just created a mess of my mother's home. she hasn't said anything yet...but i wonder how many times she has rolled her eyes when she cannot park in her garage and, well, i'll try to post a picture of 'my room'. maybe i will get her licquered up and i will prepare dinner tonight...risotto stuffed tomatoes i think and some fruit compote. good to be cooking again.

i wrote a poem once about oysters, i loved it, everyone thought it was about sex, it was simply about an oyster in the ocean....i wish i could remember it.

the weather is fantastic here! i love september and october most of all.

i really am excited to leave now...a little nervous my luggage is too heavy and that seymour and i will just observe one another like an aquarium situation...but i'm motivated, anxious, and becoming bored.

i'm really irritated that my former institute of learning, SCAD...purchases smart boards on a daily basis....but cannot manage to actually bind our thesis books...so i am to present to the family and friends who supported me a stack of paper bound with a dollar store bull clip...so official.

so i bought a set of meauring cups so i could follow my 'american' recipes, but somehow, i'm to cheap to fork over the one dollar for measuring spoons...

A.I.B.

The Adventures of Allied International Babes:

*names may have been changed to protect the innocent
*facts may have been changed because it makes the story less boring

Part I: I'll keep it brief

Much like the Power Puff Girls, Charlie's Angels, and the girls from 'The Facts of Life'...there is a society of young, intelligent, and irresistible women in the world. Roswell has the UFOs, Salt Lake City has the polygamists, and believe it or not...Savannah has the elite group of Allied International Babes.

One does not aspire, study, or plan to become an A.I.B...the State Department of Motor Vehicles handles this matter. You will know you've been appointed to membership of this group upon registering your personal vehicle and receiving the appropriate plates. At this point, you may still not be aware of your new societal status.

A seemingly innocent friend, we will call E, declared one day, after tailing my vehicle, that I too was an A.I.B....explaining the rest would follow.

As a group, we blend inconspicuously to your world. We knit with you, we are in your pilates class, we even work and study with you. We take out role very seriously and must have a plane ticket, passport, and affidavits ready at all times for any situation that may arise.

Part II: even more brief...

This is what they do...they began by socializing you with other A.I.B.s, friends of friends of friends. Then you realize your social circle are merely clones of one another representing the world...you know who you are out there.

Next you are having two hour long conversations at coffee shops that you used to order "to go please..." Next, you are preparing the lasagna you have been promised all this time...then the trans continental flights, the language lessons...Finally, you too are putting your furniture, plates, the basics into storage and reducing our entire daily routine and shoe collection to two checked bags and a carry-on. You are officially a full-fledged A.I.B. and you have been called to duty. This is your job and you perform proudly it gladly with enthusiasm. You are the few, the irresistible...the Allied International Babes.

P.O.D.S.

Hey, all of you out there.....
Why didn't you tell me about PODS before the UHaul and storage fiasco...

For those of you who may be moving soon, check this out :

http://www.pods.com/