Days 32 - 39: First week back in NZ

** Editor's note: I have skipped a few of my last days in Australia to bring you this breaking news update.  Hopefully I can go back and fill in the missing days eventually, so check for new links that will be dated earlier than this one.  Thanks for reading!**

I flew back to Auckland on Friday, Feb 19.  Eve took me to the airport after we had breakfast with Pete, Barb, Joel and Becky (Joel's girlfriend.)  We ate at an organic food place called Doof Doof.  Their motto is: we know food backwards!  Eve and her mum gave me an awesome SA t-shirt.  It shows the outline of the state of South Australia and says "Heaps Good" across the top.  I wore it onto the plane.  Leaving SA was so sad.  It didn't help that I was pretty tired from all our events of the last two days, but even so, I cried a lot saying goodbye to Eve.  We had such a good time together and it felt like I was being flung out into the cold, cruel world all by myself.  But eventually, the plane did take off and so I waved out the window to Glen Elg, the beach where we'd been swimming the night before, the netball court, Eve's house, Micah and the puss, and everything else. 

I landed in Auckland at about 6 pm and caught the bus back to the BASE hostel where I'd stayed earlier.  Once again I landed a windowless room, but my roommates were really nice, Stephan from Germany and Amanda from Canada.  Since I was prepared for no windows it was better than before, but almost as soon as I'd arrived I was itching to get out of there.  I walked to the grocery store and picked up a few things that I could eat over the next few days.  After making some pasta for supper, I headed to bed.

On Saturday I roamed about the city, visiting the public library to use their internet for free, and phoning people about cars they had for sale.  I set up meetings with a couple of people and also figured out where to go to church tomorrow.  The church I chose is kind of far away from the city, but I had a good feeling about it.  I went to the park down the street in the afternoon on Saturday.  I sat in the sun there and did a bit of Bible study and watched some guys playing cricket.  I tried really hard to get to bed early since I need to be up early to get to church in the morning.  I also phoned Jenna, who I know from camp, and who lives in Christchurch.  She told me that her friend Alex had extra space in her flat and that maybe I could stay with her.  She promised to get in touch with Alex and give her my phone number.

Sunday morning I went to church at Howick Baptist. It took me 40 minute to get there on the bus. I met these two older people, Barrie and Phyl, who were really kind to me. They answered questions for me and found me someone to sit with.  After church they came into the same cafe I was at, and I ended up having lunch with them.  I sent a text message to a guy I had talked to the day before, who is selling a cute little Nissan March.  He brought the car to me so I could test drive it and Barrie and his friend Terry were around and checked out the car when the guy brought it over.  I liked it, and I liked the seller (he is a Christian Iraqi and didn't seem like a dishonest person) so I put a deposit on the car.

Once I got back to the city I was feeling pretty excited about how things were going, so I decided to take myself out to eat at Burgerfuel.  It is a burger chain that everyone says is really great.  I had what's called a Ring Burger - it's got onions and jalapenos on it.  Also, it's about the size of my head!  With that I also got some kumara (sweet potato) fries and aioli dipping sauce.  Kiwis are big into aioli.  I'm not sure what it is, maybe mayonnaise with garlic? but it tastes mighty good.  And the burger was amazing!  I finished everything but only because I was super hungry, and afterwards rolled myself back to my hostel.

There is a book trade shelf at the hostel - leave a book/take a book kind of thing.  I don't have any books to leave but I have taken two off the shelf: The Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien and The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque by Jeffrey Ford.  They both seem pretty good.  It's great to have reading material again.


On Sunday night I got a msg. from Alex, my friend Jenna's friend, saying I was welcome to come and stay with her at her flat and that she had tons of space. She suggested that we meet up on Monday. I had already booked an extra night in my hostel for Monday night, so I knew I wouldn't be able to move in until Tuesday. So Alex and I planned to meet for coffee/other drinks Monday afternoon.

On Monday I headed up to the AA office (automobile assoc.) which is right behind my hostel. They opened at 8:30 so I was there at 8:32. I inquired there about insurance and membership, where you get 6 free road service calls/year. It's $89. I haven't decided if I will get that yet. Insurance is about $500 for 1 year, and that's only third party insurance, which covers repairs to another car if you crash into them.  Then I headed to the IEP office. They open at 9, so I was there at 9:02. They are convieniently located right across the street from my hostel. There I used the computer to fill out an application for Treble Cone, a ski field in the south island. I want to apply to at least one other ski field as well. I also called Steven Parker from Adventure Specialties Trust and set up a meeting with him for Thursday morning to talk about working for him. And I picked up my mail - I had about 5 letters from various people. That was awesome to recieve.

Next I went to the post office to mail some things, and bought some little stationary cards that I could use to write back to all my admirers. I went to this really cute stationary story that Eve really likes. It's called Kikki.K. They have cute stuff.

Once I was done with those errands, it was time to meet Alex. I found her in my hostel's reception area. She had messaged me and said, "I'll be the one who doesn't look like a backpacker!" So I found her easily. We had some lemonade at Starbucks across the street, and were joined by Ans, another flatmate, partway through. He works in the city for TV-NZ. It was a good meeting; Alex is really lovely. She told me that rent at her place was $80/week and food $30/week. Which isn't bad. I was pretty excited about it. Apparently Alex's sister and brother in law and their two kids are in the states right now for a pretty serious operation for Alex's neice.  So the house we're staying in actually belongs to them, but they need people to pay the mortgage and Alex and her friends moved in.  Alex said that the Americans her family has met have been so kind and helpful to them, that she wanted the chance to do the same thing here.  Currently there are four people in the flat: Alex, Ans, and a married couple who have a little mini-apartment over the garage, Matt and Kat.  They are all Christians and active in their churches.  I arranged with Alex to meet her tomorrow afternoon to move in.

The next day I signed up for a free city tour, which left at 10. They took us out to the harbour bridge and we watched someone bungee jump off - so scary! The guy was only about 5 feet from us! My stomach felt like I was the one jumping! Miniwati has now decided that she wants to bungee jump while we are here, but not me.  We also went to Devonport, which is a cute coastal suburb just outside of Auckland city centre, and we drove up Mt. Victoria, one of the many volcanoes that suround Auckland, to look at the view and the silly outdated gun that the British installed there in case the Russians decided to attack. It was a good tour, and the guide was pretty funny. I also met this kid, Matt, from Ontario. It was nice to have someone to hang out with and talk to.

By the time I got back to Auckland, it was almost time for me to meet Alex, so I headed back to my hostel and grabbed my stuff out of storage, and off we went out of the city. My new place is really nice, and it's great that I can share other people's stuff like TV and ironing boards.  I have my own room with a great big double bed in it.  I am now living in the southern part of the city, which I guess some people say is a rough neighborhood, and maybe it is, but I don't think it's any worse than Harrisburg was, and I think it's experiencing the same kind of neighborhood trends that my old Harrisburg neighborhood was, too. They have just had a brand new mall built and the city is really expanding. So my new location is a suburb of Harrisburg called Manukau City, and a suburb of that called Manurewa. We had dinner at Alex's flat and then me, Alex, Alex's mom (who is visiting from Australia) and her boyfriend John, went for a walk. We stalked my car (it lives right around the corner, which is wonderful!) And everyone said it looked very clean (which it does) and although they didn't say it I'm sure they were all thinking how cute it is.  Because it is.

The next day, I used the internet all day and watched Olympics on TV. That night I went with Alex and John to a music rehearsal for the church camp that they are helping to organize this weekend. I am going to go to it, which should be fun. I really don't know what to expect, though.

On Thursday I caught a ride with another flatmate, Kat, to my Steven Parker meeting. The Adventure Specialties Trust office is right on her way to school. My meeting went well, and we arranged 8 days of work in the next 2 months. It's not a ton, but it's a start. I will be working with school groups, doing games, or rock climbing or something along those lines.  Then I went into town and set up car insurance for my car. I also bought a souvenir NZ rugby ball key chain, to hold my new keys! And I purchased a fuel canister and some stove fuel for my camping stove.

Back out at the ranch, I texted my car's owner to see if he was home, and called around to his house to get my car. He lives so nearby that I walked to his house in about five minutes.  We sat on his back porch and drank tea and met his family and he invited me to go to church with him. I told him I would, even though it's an Assemblies of God church and I don't agree with them on everything. But I do plan to go at some point. After we signed a few papers and such, the car was mine! He even gave me $25 back since it is very low on petrol.  Hooray! I drove him to the gas station and put some petrol in the car, and then we went home. It feels great to have transportation!  Now I just need to learn my way around.

That night I had dinner with Kat & Ans, and then we went out to the local shopping mall because Ans wanted to get a present for his brother in law's birthday. I just window shopped, but it was great to have people to be there with. We went to a pub and had a drink afterwards, too. It was nice.

Which brings us to today! Kat and I went a dropped off an application at the kiwifruit packing place. I may be able to get some work there in April for a few months.  In fact, they have just called me and I have an interview next Thursday.

My plans for the day include a trip to the PO to register change of ownership for my car and then to purchase some jelly (jello) crystals at the supermarket for Alex to use for a game at camp where the kids race to suck jelly through a straw.

So the last few days have been really eventful.  I was not feeling very optimistic when I arrived back in NZ but so much has happened and it has all been good that it seems things are looking up.  God has been really good to me and the Kiwis I've met have been a real blessing.  I am really thankful for that.