Rugby World Cup Fever

The second week in September revolved around gearing up for the Rugby World Cup ceremony scheduled for Friday, September 9th! The excitement in the air was enthralling. It didn’t matter if you had any interest in rugby to begin with or not; by the time September 9th rolled around, every person’s rugby interest was practically guaranteed to be at an all-time high (including my own). A few days before the opening ceremony, Daiana and I walked around town one evening to take pictures of all the RWC preparations around central Auckland. Our first object of interest was the Sky Tower. For twenty days leading up to the opening ceremony, the tower was lit up in different colors every night to represent each of the participating countries' national colors.

On the evening that Dai and I walked around, it was lit up a beautiful green, red, and blue for South Africa. I tried to take a picture of the different colors each night though =). Dai and I had so much fun walking around and taking in the sights, consisting of numerous advertisements that read, “The World’s Here to Play,” a giant rugby ball with “100% Pure New Zealand” sprawled across it, and the official RWC countdown that had been sitting in front of the Westfield Mall (right across from my work) for a full year leading up to the RWC. It was a strange feeling to think that when I first saw the countdown it read “217” days, and that night with Daiana it was down to “2.” Where did those 31 weeks go???

Dai and I walked along the harbour and across a new pedestrian bridge that had been built. On the other side was a newly re-vamped section of the waterfront that, among other things, had these incredibly massive wooden chairs that were great for photo ops . The view of the skyline from that side of the harbour was really beautiful too. Fun night =). The next couple of days in Auckland consisted of going to work, exercising at the gym, and Skyping until the wee hours of the morning with Ricky. Then, FINALLY, it was the big day!!! RUGBY WORLD CUP OPENING CEREMONY DAY, YAY!!! Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about missing out on any RWC shenanigans until I got off work that day, for AMP was RWC-crazy.

Each team at work had previously been assigned a rugby team to represent; my section was assigned Wales. The Welsh colors are red, green, and white. So, we all had to wear red shirts to work and were also nicely asked to buy green wigs. Well, instead of spending money on a wig that I’d only wear once and then throw away, I opted to purchase a green scarf (to use as a head wrap) that would at least serve an alternate purpose after RWC. To add “a little extra” to our physical appearances, Kezia also came around and painted all of our faces. Phil was the only one who stood out from the crowd, as he was appointed to be our “Tom Jones,” of the group (Tom Jones is Welsh). Decked out in a silky black button-up shirt, tight black jeans, shiny black shoes, a massive belt, AND a pair of lacy woman’s undies hanging out of his front pocket, Phil pulled off the Tom Jones look quite well haha.

Besides decorating ourselves, we also had to decorate our ‘pods’ at work. When all was said and done, our entire section from one end to the other was adorned with leeks hanging from the ceiling tiles, along with tons of Welsh flags, and a wall dedicated to pictures of Welsh celebrities and cute little Welsh Corgis. It was a job well done. The pod next to ours, however, had a huge remote-controlled shark that was roaming around their area throughout the day! It was pretty freaking awesome, although I have no idea what it was actually doing there haha. The whole day was centered around different fun-filled activities, including team photos, trivia challenges, physical contests, and a competition to see whose team made the best food dish representing their appointed country.

Our team won best photo and best-decorated pod, plus we gained a lot of points for the trivia challenges. Then, after all the points were added up, it turned out we won best team overall!!! Woot woot! After the announcement of our triumph, we proceeded to do a victory lap around our entire floor whilst proudly waving our miniature Welsh flags =). We enjoyed it, but I got the feeling the other teams did not appreciate our victory lap as much as we did haha. The workday as a whole was heaps of fun, but it was just the beginning. The REAL World Cup festivities began as soon as we left AMP to join the thousands of people that had already begun crowding the streets below; it was no doubt one of the most memorable days of my life. For that reason alone, it deserves its own blog entry =).

Cheers,
Ash

Tattoo Thoughts & A Day at One Tree Hill

It was soon the first weekend in September, and Emma and I started it out by almost getting tattoos. I’ve been planning on getting a second tattoo to commemorate my time in New Zealand, and Emma and I got stoked when we saw that one of Auckland’s discount websites was offering a really good deal on tattoo work. Well, we found out why once we walked to the tattoo parlor and saw that the place was basically a small dump ran by two scummy minions. Needless to say, we decided against getting any permanent body alterations done there. For now, the tattoo work will just have to wait until I’m back in The States and have the money to spare.

Still, I did find an awesome design! It consists of the celebrated Maori New Zealand symbols the Koru (spiral) and the Hei Matau (fish hook), drawn together to create the outline of a bird. So, overall, the design as a whole represents: new beginnings, change, transformation (spiral); strength, determination, peace, prosperity, abundance, good luck, safe journey over water (fish hook); freedom and voyage (bird). I think it perfectly captures what this past year has meant for me. =) Anyway, when permanently altering our bodies didn’t work out that afternoon, we opted for a more casual day and rented movies instead. I Love You Phil Morris and Lincoln Lawyer both proved to be entertaining enough.

Emma and I spent some time at the French Market on Sunday morning until she needed to pick up some family from the airport. I chose to walk home from the market, a little bit of a trek since the market is held in the suburb of Parnell. It was actually really nice though. I went through a couple of parks on the way home, made friends with a random cat that wanted some attention, and took photos of places that I don’t often see on my usual routes around Auckland. The photos attached were taken at Albert Park, my favorite park in central Auckland. Later that morning, Emma had a few people come by to look at our flat since Daiana had previously mentioned to us she was planning on moving out.

Daiana and I played a few games of checkers (in which I got my butt whooped). Then, I had a group Skype date with my mom, my brother, and my sister-in-law’s mother Laura, which was nice. In the afternoon, Jess came by and picked me up from the flat and took me to one of her favorite spots called One Tree Hill. Within minutes, it was easily one of my favorite spots as well! The park consisted of beautiful rolling green hills, walking paths lined with bright yellow daffodils, a monument, a breathtaking viewpoint, an ice cream shop, AND sheep!

Now, yes I have seen tons and tons of sheep while traveling around New Zealand (not a surprise when the country has 16 x more sheep than it does people) but I have never been somewhere in which the sheep are just wandering around freely without fences or gates. I must admit I got embarrassingly excited hehe. =) I mean…it’s not every day you get to hang out with adorable little sheep! I kept trying to sneak up beside them to get pictures, but they obviously knew what I was up to because every time I sneakily moved forward, they casually crept backward. Cute little buggers! Besides harassing the sheep, Jess and I got an ice cream and then walked all around the park. It was just so gorgeous!

We walked all the way up the center hill to where the monument and the viewpoint were located (a very large tree apparently used to sit on top of the hill, hence the name ”One Tree Hill” ). The view from the top was really stunning, properly capturing Auckland in all of its glory. We stayed there for a while, taking in the sights and admiring the view. Straight below the monument, you could even see where people had arranged some very large stones to spell out messages regarding the Rugby World Cup games. Loved it. After leaving One Tree Hill, we stopped off at Jess’s house for a bit, said a quick hello to her dad, then met Emma and Kat at Ponsonby Food Court for dinner. Once again, it was a really great weekend in New Zealand & the next weekend was even better, as it was the opening of the RUGBY WORLD CUP!!! =)

Cheers,
Ash

Future tattoo

Albert Park

One Tree Hill

Long Bay, Office Prankster & Buffet Blunder

On the last weekend before September struck, Auckland was fortunate enough to receive a random heat wave in the middle of Spring. Emma and I took full advantage and drove out to one of the nearby beaches called Long Bay. To my surprise, it was absolutely beautiful! I had no idea that such a stunning beach was so close to Auckland city! I went for a long stroll along the shoreline, wrote in the sand, climbed over some rocks jutting out into the water from the rugged cliffs, took plenty of pictures, then sunbathed for about an hour. After the beach, Emma and I drove back to town, went to a restaurant on the harbour called Snap Dragon, and spent the afternoon sitting in the sun, drinking cider and watching the passersby below. We ended the day with dinner at Fatimas in Ponsonby and watching a movie at the flat. It was pretty much a perfect Saturday in Auckland =).

The next week was also quite good for the most part. One of Emma’s friends Ren stayed at our flat for a couple of days. I hadn’t met her prior to then, but she and I got on as though we’d already known each other for years. Such a sweetheart—I absolutely love her. I also met up with my British friend Sandra one night. After getting Indian takeaway from the food court near her place, we chilled at her flat with her flatmate Victoria, Vic’s boyfriend Sam, and their other flatmate and his girlfriend. Vic and Sam had walked in with a HUGE bucket of movie theatre popcorn. When I asked what movie they had gone to see, Vic responded, “Oh, we didn’t see a movie. We just got popcorn.” Haha…love it. I honestly don’t know why I never thought of doing that before! Brilliant.

At work one day, we had the opportunity to sign up for free “Wellness Assessments.” So, besides low blood pressure (now I know why I get dizzy every time I stand up quickly after sitting) and apparently needing to gain a little bit of weight, I was happy to find out that I’m quite healthy. On my way walking to work another morning, I found a random $5.00 bill on the ground. Score! I thought it was going to be a good sign for the day to come, but I was wrong. As it turned out, seven people were missing from work once I got there, leaving a team of 2 of us as opposed to our normal team of 9..eek! After a crazy day at work, I bought some chocolate caramel ice cream from the Asian mart next to my flat and treated myself to a delicious concoction of ice cream topped with sprinkles, marshmallow-filled cookies, and Hershey’s syrup. Yummm. The next day at work was eventful in a different way.

Brent, one of the guys I work with, is known for being the office prankster. Well, I made the mistake of leaving my computer logged in and walking away for a few minutes. I came back to find that Brent had sent a couple inter-office instant messages from ‘me’—a mild one to Jess that read “hey you smell” and a far worse one to my friend Hamish that read “HEY HOTTIE!!! ARE YOU HUNGRY??” Haha. Oh Brent. That same day, a group of us ventured out for an unexpectedly entertaining lunch at this sketchy Korean Barbeque Buffet down the road from work. When I say ‘entertaining,’ it is not meant in a good way. We were all excited for a cheap, all-you-can-eat buffet, but soon realized that we should have just paid more and gone somewhere else.

We were fairly unsure about what we were eating the entire time, and at one point I literally started gagging on a piece of mystery meat purely because of its sheer length going down the back of my throat while still trying to chew the rest of it in my mouth. Hamish jolted from the booth thinking I was going to spew and Simon just looked at me from across the table and calmly asked in his strong Kiwi accent, “Not enjoying that, eh?” Ahh man…quite disgusting, but it made for a good laugh when all was said and done.

Oh, and to add to our already wonderful buffet experience, an extra $2.00 “leftover food” charge was in place if you didn’t clear your plate. Regardless of the leftover food policy, Simon couldn’t bring himself to consume any more of the incredibly unappetizing food on his plate. So, with the statement, “I’m kinda over it, eh,” he used his napkin to cover up an entire plate full of food. Phil stepped in by using his debonair charm to sweet-talk the Korean hostess and, as a result, she didn’t end up charging us for the unfinished food. I guess having a tall rugby player that ladies go gaga over can be quite helpful sometimes haha.

Cheers,
Ash

Movies, Mr. Vintage, Surprise Package & Confession

The following week marked the last week of August. Besides my usual day-to-day activities at work, I also trained with Chhaya since I was to take over some of her responsibilities while she was in India for the next 6 weeks. A few highlights of the workweek included celebrating Karlene’s birthday with brownies and cream cheese balls, having lunch with Jess, Kezia giving me one of her AMP shirts to take back to The States with me (what a sweetie), and Ervin bringing in a terabyte of memory for me to get as many movies off of it as I wanted (awesome). The only downfall of the week was having to say goodbye to Chhaya before she left for India. I just love her =).

My evenings after work were fairly low-key—cleaned around the flat, went to the gym a few times, watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with Daiana one night, Juno with Emma another night, then Bad Teacher on my laptop the next. I quite enjoy movie nights; I kind of started to miss them since most of my nights in Napier were movie nights with Sonja and the Frenchies. One evening at the flat, I felt the inexplicable urge to cook and consequently whipped up a meal for Emma and me. It turned out to be the best alfredo pasta I’ve probably ever made. Yummmm. That same night, the Sky Tower was a brilliant beaming red; naturally, I had to get a photo. Daiana strolled down the street with me so I could get a picture, and we stopped off at Starbucks and chatted for a bit before she headed to meet a friend.

That weekend was really nice and laid back too. Sontsa had sent me a package that I needed to go collect from the Ponsonby post office. After somehow standing at the wrong bus stop for almost 30 minutes, Emma came to my rescue and drove me there instead. The package Sontsa had sent me turned out to be the perfect little scrapbook filled with photos, quotes, and inside jokes that flawlessly captured our most memorable moments together in New Zealand. I was beyond excited—SUCH an awesome gift!!! I will cherish it forever =). After the post office, Emma and I read the newspaper over morning brunch at a café in Ponsonby, then went to a well-known New Zealand t-shirt store called Mr. Vintage.

Mr. Vintage is just a small store, but the shirts are awesome and the place itself is full of humor, having comical writings strategically placed all over the shop. They even have a thing called “Lucky Dip” where you can grab any random sealed t-shirt bag out of this bin, pay half price for it, and see which one you end up with. I definitely plan on getting a few Mr. Vintage t-shirts before going back to The States. The rest of the day was spent working out at the gym, blogging, Skyping with my dear friend Kate back home, and THEN randomly deciding to divulge a dirty little secret that I’d been keeping from my mum (and many others back home).

You see, one particular photo of me that Sontsa included in her scrapbook was of me standing by the side of the road, holding a cardboard sign that read “Dunedin.” Next to the picture is the perfectly-chosen quote: “Friends don’t let friends do stupid things…alone.” Haha. Yes, that’s right, I finally disclosed to my mum that Sontsa and I had basically hitchhiked our entire way through New Zealand’s south island =D. I know, I know…hitchhiking is dangerous, rah rah. However, unless you have actually lived in New Zealand for any length of time, I honestly don’t think you can truly appreciate the fact that hitchhiking in New Zealand is completely different from hitchhiking elsewhere.

Don’t get me wrong, it took some serious convincing to get me to do it in the first place. However, after our first hitchhiking experience of getting picked up by two awesome American girls from Oregon, I was hooked. From there, we met a few other fellow travelers that were really nice and helpful, as well as lots of really cool local Kiwis. The ages of people who picked us up ranged from mid-twenties to mid-seventies. We never had a bad experience, always met great people, and saved tons of money. Hitchhiking is so common in New Zealand.

For instance, our first couchsurfing host in Queenstown lived in an area called Fern hill, which was about a 30-minute walk uphill from the town center. An Aussie girl who lived at the house told us we should just hitch rides up the hill instead of walking; she apparently hitched her way up the hill every day, sometimes even multiple times a day. So, Sontsa and I took her advice, easily hitched rides, and never had to walk up to Fern Hill again while we were in Queenstown. =) Anyway, not to worry; I won’t be hitchhiking anymore. It was a really fun, new experience at the time though =).

Dancing, Dinners, Roller Derby & Driving

The same weekend as the mid-August Bollywood Event, the fun just continued. Emma and I met up with Bryce and Brian at Brian’s mom Debbie’s house, chilled there for a bit, played with the new family puppy, and chatted with a few friends that Debbie had over for a dinner party. Then, the four of us went to Africa Bar to hang out with Brian’s brother Craig, as it was Craig’s birthday celebration. After staying there for a bit, we bar-hopped our way around to Family on K Road, then a couple of bars I hadn’t been to before called Ink and Coherent. After a lot of dancing and a great night out, we unfortunately had to end the evening by saying goodbye to Bryce and Brian, as their official move to Wellington was the next day. =(

Luckily, I knew I would be going to Wellington to visit. The next evening, Emma and I went to Neighborhood Brewbar in Ponsonby to meet Hemi and his friends for Hemi’s birthday. During the course of the evening, I met Anna, Alsbyth, Adrian, Adrian’s girlfriend, and James. Plus, a couple familiar faces (Lawrence and Nathan) were there as well who I had already met previously through Hemi. It was a good group =). We all stayed at the Brewbar for a couple of hours before walking down the road to have dinner at Cantons. Our Asian waitress had a cheeky sense of humor, which Lawrence, Nathan, and Hemi all played into—good times. It was a really nice dinner with laughs all around.

The next week was pretty chilled out—work was good (including receiving a surprise morning tea one day with lots of yummy snacks), had lunch with Jess another day, fed my newfound love for sushi once or twice, and had a much-adored Pizza Hut & Vanilla Coke night with Emma. A few of us from work went out for a Ponsonby Food Court dinner on Friday, which turned out to be a perfect way to start the weekend. Jess, Hamish, Hajra, Sian, Jen, her fiance Robin are a hilarious group to go out with, especially when it comes to food. Both Hamish and Hajra are Muslim and were therefore practicing Ramadan at this time. Since they hadn’t eaten all day (or weren’t supposed to have eaten all day), they were STARVING.

This resulted in both of them getting something like two entrees and one main each throughout the evening!! Jen’s fiance Robin got in on the “how much food can you eat” action too since he’s practically solid muscle (rugby player type) and can also eat a ridiculous amount of food. Robin thought he had ‘won’ the said competition until Hajra gladly pointed to her order number for the huge vegetarian pizza she just ordered haha. The best part of the night was when Hajra’s pizza finally came and she took a big bite, only to realize it had ANCHOVIES on it. Yes, anchovies. In other words, something that belongs nowhere near a pizza. Bleh!

Sian, who looks quite intimidating if you don’t know her, successfully took on the mission of getting a new non-anchovy vegetarian pizza for free. After a ridiculous amount of food court food, either Hamish or Hajra further suggested also going for gelato. Why not? =) So, we all drove down to a gelato place on Ponsonby Road and enjoyed some dessert. This also marked the first time Jess experienced one of my notorious memory loss moments. The entire week, she and I had excitedly been discussing going to a Roller Derby match that Saturday (which was the next day by this point). When she mentioned needing to do some homework “before tomorrow night,” I interestedly asked, “What are you doing tomorrow night?” We had even talked about it earlier that same day.

Jess just looked at me with a very confused, blank face, to which I responded, “I take it I should know the answer to that question.” Much laughter ensued once I realized my blunder but yeahhh…I seriously need to invest in some ginko! After Jess dropped me back off at the flat, I was supposed to go to a Rocky Horror Picture Show event that I had previously bought cheap tickets for. Unfortunately, I didn’t end up going because I couldn’t find anyone to go with me. Bummer. Instead, I chatted a bit with Daiana and her friends Luciana and Rina at the flat, then went to bed early. On Saturday (August 20th by this point), I did some blogging, Skyped with my Dad, and then it was time for ROLLER DERBY!

Jess, Emma, Mary and I all went to the game, which was Jess and Mary’s first Roller Derby experience. Such a blast! The players were extra aggressive during this match too. I seriously love watching that sport. Before we left the venue, Emma introduced us to one of her friends Kat who was really nice. Then, Mary, Jess, Emma and I went to Verona bar on K Road to get a couple of drinks and chill out. On Sunday, Emma surprised me by asking if I could drive in New Zealand. I told her I could, but that I hadn’t tried yet. Nonetheless, Emma trusted me, handed me the keys to her car, and let me drive to the grocery store. I was sooo excited! Seriously guys, I have missed driving so much. It felt really strange to drive on the left side of the road and be seated on the right side of the car, but I got the hang of it straight away =).

The rest of our Sunday morning was spent sunbathing on our balcony while reading the paper. During the afternoon, we met a couple of Emma’s friends Alex and Alicia at a shopping mall in Onehunga called Dress Smart so the girls could find outfits for their school’s upcoming ball (Emma and Alicia are both teachers). The weekend ended the same way it started—another dinner at Ponsonby Food Court =). This time, it was with Jess, Emma, Kat, Hemi and Lawrence. Jess and I got into a rather in-depth conversation about what made me come to New Zealand, life, traveling, etc. It made me realize even more how much more of a connection I have with the Kiwi lifestyle of ‘working to live’ as opposed to the American lifestyle of ‘living to work.’ To say the very least, I’m interested to see where life takes me after my New Zealand experience.

Cheers,
Ash