Where the heart is Part 3

Okay on with the Wellington Saga! At this point in our tale I have been living in Wellington for 2 months and some change. I changed my plane ticket home and decided to see where my relationships would take me! Well, lots happened! First and most importantly at the time, HA decided to move to the South Island! Yes, I am thinking I am in love and enjoying learning so many interesting things about his life in Argentina and his family when his roommate makes the decision for both of them (they have an online business together as well) that they have to leave Wellington for a place 10 hours away! Wow! However, I now am the crazy American girl in Wellington and have decided I am young, free and should be enjoying all the beauty around me (especially if they were tall, dark and Maori :).
I decided to go out every night and be a free spirit. It was AWESOME! Sadly this is when CC #1's time was also coming to an end. So Scottish and I gave her a big send off (so big she missed her bus the next day and had to leave a day later than planned) and consoled ourselves with more dancing! I felt like ME again. Fun, loud, and dancing so hard that my perfectly straight hair ended up drenched and curly by the end of the night! Scottish and I had some really INSANE nights that are in Legend books somewhere! One of these nights was a good bye party for our long time Brazilian friend who was heading home! He was a really important part of my Wellington experience and who helped me loads in understanding South American culture. The night of his going away party was purely the stuff of legends (and some was unfortunately caught on camera....) and ushered in the next part of my Wellington life.........

Where the Heart is Part 2

My first day in Wellington I am put to work in an 8 story hostel in housekeeping! Right away my manager decides I will be efficient and a fast learner. He puts me in the care of another Argentinean worker (his second in command) and thus without realizing it, changes forever my New Zealand adventure and my future plans!

This Argentinean (who I will refer to H.A. for 'hot argentinean") was really nice, a bit quiet but immediately worked at putting me at ease and making me feel like a part of the team. He apologized for his English, introduced every member of the team with a little funny side note about them and showed me how to make a proper bed. His Bambi lashes and quirky little smile tugged immediately at my heart strings. Oh no! He joked around with me and tried to teach me a few words in Spanish as we worked. On our break he again tried to make me feel at ease and asked about my life in the US. I discovered that most of the workers were from South America (Argentina and Brazil) and that I would be listening to many conversations in Spanish from now on!

HA continued to be nice to me and I learned to make friends with the people I was living and working with everyday. My first official friend was a crazy Dutch girl who was only 18 but so confident and hilarious I thought of her as my age! She introduced me to the Wellington night life and showed me where all the best hang out spots were! She left me after a week but with a healthy start. I eventually excepted an invitation over to HA's house for a party for a former worker and was thrown into even more friendships. That was the party that confirmed my attraction to HA and made me determined to pursue him. However, I managed to get the reputation as being very quiet and to myself and they all thought I abstained from alcohol!!! (I know this is odd but I was trying really hard to be a super good girl for some reason).

Over the next week I realized I was going to stay longer than 2 weeks and would most likely stay one or two months! I made so many friends! Then the next party happened! I not only showed I can be loud, vivacious and a consumer of alcohol but also a pretty big flirt! There are many pics of me laughing and hanging on HA that night! Turns out he had a crush on me from the beginning and was over joyed to find I felt the same! YEAH! Thus starts the first of my Wellington love stories!
For a glorious month and a half I had a great relationship with HA! I realized I was going to have to stay in Wellington because there was no way I could go back to the US now. Plus, I met some REALLY incredible women! Had a cool Englishgirl who saw me through the 1st phase of my HA obsession but left me soon after the start. However, she was replaced by crazy Canadian #1 and the love of my life Scottish!
CC #1 and Scottish are two of the best going out buddies a girl could ask for and party like no others! They are MANIACS on the dance floor and always good listeners! Even though I am sure I was boring talking about the same boy all the time! We had some insane nights out, dancing until dawn (I mean this literally) and earning a reputation quite different from my previous one in Wellington! Now we were the CRAZY girls that you never knew what they would do next.......

Wellington : Where the Heart Is!

After a longgggggggggg bus journey from the East Coast, I arrived tired and hungry to Wellington. It was night and the backpacker looked dodgy but I figured it was temporary and was too tired to care. After a very uneventful night of sleep, I decided to try another part of the city and backpacker. Surely I remembered there was a Base in Wellington (a sister hostel to the place I stayed in Auckland). Also I had heard about a colorful section of town called "Cuba Street." I packed up, slung it all on my back and trekked across town!
Not only do I find the Base hostel, but a whole city filled with eclectic people and crazy places to shop and go out! This was the character that Auckland was missing. People with mohawks and dyed hair! Pubs, clubs, and weird little resturants that served everything you could think of! YEAH! I was reminded of a smaller version of San Fran or the weird parts of Seattle! The Base immediately felt like home and even were offering a free place to stay in return for a few hours of work a day! I met the housekeeping manager, Hernan (my first encounter with the vast Argentenean and South American population in New Zealand) and told him I could work for two weeks before I headed to the South Island. He said, "Start right now and you have a free place to stay tonight!" Thus started my new phase! Housekeeping!!!!!!

Napier, the Art Deco City by the Sea

Okay, I wrote a weepingly beautiful opus to my days in Napier with Pulitzer potential all over it! Unfortunately, as I went to post it, the Internet went down! Aaaaah! So now you will all have to suffer through a not so eloquent version! Sorry, but that is life :(
I arrived in Napier ready for some culture and company after my seclusion on the farm. Napier is a quaint city, bustling with tourists and more cafes than you can shake a stick at (or at least more than you can sit and sip lattes at without having to go to the bathroom every 2 minutes). The Art Deco buildings give it a retro feel while the beach and sea make it seem very resorty. I pretended I was in England (like in Brighton or Bath) during the 20's and "taking the waters" for curative effects. Now I am sure I am way off on the real experience of Bath and Brighton but I am just going from what I see in BBC productions :)
My host in Napier was an incredible artist who so strongly reminded me of my mother that it was a little eery at times! She lived right on the beach and across from some really great New Zealand wineries! Everyday I took her dog Boo to the beach to walk, play and watch the surfers! Many afternoons I visited the wineries for free tastings and chilling out. Easter Sunday was spent at Kim Crawford sipping their viognier and listening to local dj's playing reggae. (Side note time! New Zealanders think they are Jamaician! They have dreds, listen to reggae, skateboard, have a real laid back approach to life and smoke LOTS of weed. Not kidding! They smoke more weed per capita than ANY other country in the WORLD!) It was a great "cruisey" afternoon (cruisey is a favorite New Zealand word that reflects their approach to everything. This can be so relaxing and nice until you need something done or just start reverting to your normal uptight, I-have-to get-this-done-pronto American self, then it is down right annoying!)
I had such a great relaxing and reflective time in Napier but had one AMAZING night! Get your mind out of the gutter! I am talking about a night filled with great wine, food and interesting people! My host is friends with an incredible, big hearted Italian chef trapped in the body of an Englishman! His parents were Italian immigrants and if you can get past his accent you see nothing but Italy in every aspect! We were greeted (on a Saturday night where he closed the restaurant except for us few) with glasses of Moet champagne that he had obtained in New York in the 80's and was paid for by a wasted Joan Collins! After nibbles we were treated to course after course of gorgeous and delicate Italian food with a really strongly made Sangria. Dinner ended with an oogle worthy chocolate dessert that I really wanted to make love to but there were just too many people about! During the whole dinner we had reggae music (this is New Zealand after all), great conversation, and interesting characters! A really wonderful night that left my belly very full, my heart incrediblely delighted and my head a little hung over!
After two relaxing and reflective weeks, I knew the South was beckoning to me and it was time to move on. I booked a long bus journey to Wellington (the nation's capitol) which is the Southern most city of the North Island and ferry terminal to take me South! My plan was to stay two weeks and then explore all the South Island before heading back to the US. Read the next several blogs to see how plans change and where I am now...........

Back in Blogging Action!

Okay, sorry for the BIIIIGGGG stretch in the blogs. I was far too merry and busy to be bothered! :) Now I am stuck in a restort town with a total of 3 bars to choose from and WAAAAYYY too many young people who think that because they are boarders and skiiers they are the height of coolness!
Last time I wrote I was leaving the horse farm and heading to the beach, wineries and Napier (a city that after a HUGE earthquke was rebuilt during the Art Deco era and has because quite the tourist destination!) So, I will start my next blog with a recap of Napier and then continue on with the recounting of tales from Wellington (where I was supposed to stop over for 2 weeks and ended up staying for 4 months and falling in love numerous times!). Ciao! xxxx

Lessons from the Farm

What I learned while living on a horse farm.......

1) Olive oil "costs the Earth and isn't good to cook with because it taints everything." (According to Maureen the "lady of the house" even though she had about 6 bottles of various kinds and I used it secretly and she praised my cooking every day :)

2) Table Salt is "no good and will make your food go off." (also according to Maureen who was quite a character)

3) Baby horses sometimes need help coming out and it is a wonderful but very messy experience.

4) Don't wear flip flops around horses because they step on your feet sometimes.

5) Chuckies are really chickens and a "chuckhouse" is the chicken coop (this caused a lot of confusion between us because she wanted me to prepare the chuck for dinner and I am seeing a chicken, mince and squid in the fridge and not knowing what the chuck is)

6) "Colonial Goose" has nothing to do with a goose or fowl in any form (it is lamb stuffed and rolled up like a roast and put on the grill and let me tell you they have found a zillion ways to do lamb here. I would sound like Bubba from Forest Gump if I said all the ways. Curried lamb, lamb sausages, lamb meatballs.......)

7) Don't ever turn your back on a feisty horse looking for attention because you might be bitten in the bum ( the horse I named Johnny because I thought he was the Johnny Depp of the male horses, femmy but really handsome, did this on a number of occasions!)

8) Farm life is great for a little while but eventually starts feeling a bit like a nunnery! Move on after two weeks!

The British Are Invading

Today started the International Boating Conference or something of that nature and the sun came out! Which means the downtown is completely transformed from the weekend rain and crazy partying. The city is teaming with boaters, business people and a freakin ton of British.
Apparently the British love the boating, which is understandable since they are a tiny Island who conquered a large part of the world on the strength of their navy. I am learning as much about their culture as I am about New Zealand's (which of course a large part of NZ culture is British).

1)the British say "feck" as much as the New Zealanders and Aussie's and is most likely the origin of that.

2) if it wasn't for the great accents I would find them just as loud and crude as Americans because well, they are

3)you can tell the British from the Aussies and Kiwis by the tan. Kiwis are golden, Aussies are golden with some definite burnt tones while the British are either burnt or paler than me!

4)the British can say some really funny things (and the bonus is I understand them) I was in Victoria park (because everything here has either a Maori name or one referencing Queen Victoria) sitting on a tree when I hear a very loud British accent behind me say,"Ear, that's Queen Victoria....I can tell it's Queen Victoria because look at that ASS." Now I would have been offended but I was sitting at that very moment on the tree facing the back of a statue of Queen Victoria. I was there drawing it for my sketch journal just so I could title it "Victoria's Behind."

5) They love the beer.....a lot! Now I already knew this but I have never seen so many packed pubs during the day as I have today! I was behind one guy when he turns to his companion, wipes the sweat off his brow and says, "We've been walking for bleating forever, how far away did they say the next pub was?" The friend replied "two blocks."