Top 10 things I miss about my time in the Southern Hemisphere

So I’m back in the States and have been for the last 6 weeks (back at my mom’s for a month now; it was a surprise for her birthday hence no post here about it when I last posted about my future plans), but I’m finding there are things that I miss terribly about my time overseas and there are just some Kiwisms that I cannot shake, so I thought I’d make a list a la David Letterman’s Top Ten Lists.

Edit: Looking in my Drafts, I was working on a post when I was in Australia about my first few days in Melbourne, but obviously I never posted it since my last post is from late April. I’ll see if I can drum up some memories to continue that post soon.

10. Kumara fries with aioli dipping sauce from Burger Fuel. Hell, Burger Fuel altogether. While I have found sweet potato fries on the menu more frequently since being back, I miss calling them kumara fries (kumara is Maori for “sweet potato”) and aioli doesn’t seem to be too common here. The texture of the sweet potato fries in the States seems different here as well though the order I had last night was pretty similar to the ones overseas. Anyway, I miss Burger Fuel altogether because no other restaurant chain has quite so many different options for the veggie burger. Burger Fuel had multiple kinds of the actual veggie patty. I miss that option.

9. Maori culture, specifically in Rotorua. While I certainly don’t miss the sulfur smell of Rotorua, I miss being immersed in the Maori culture there, particularly at Te Puia. I also really enjoyed the movie Boy, which was about a young Maori boy named Boy and his coming-of-age in the ’80s. I saw this in the theatre when I was living in Wellington and it didn’t take place in Rotorua, but I’ll still list here. Learning about the indigenous people of New Zealand is definitely something that I won’t forget. It also makes me think about the Native Americans living in the US today.

8. Huka Falls in Taupo. Incredible views from this vantage point. I just loved it.

7. Capsicum So I ate at Subway a lot when I was in New Zealand, especially at the beginning when I was staying at hostels. Mostly because it was a chain I knew from the States, but also because their food is healthy. I would get a foot long (yes, in New Zealand where they largely go by the metric system, Subway subs still were 6 inch or foot longs) Veggie Delite or sometimes Veggie Patty (oh how I loved how mainstream Veggie Patty subs were in NZ Subway shops since the only place I’ve seen Veggie Patty subs in US Subway shops is New York City) with lettuce, tomato, capsicum, onions, and carrots. Now Americans reading this might be wondering “What’s capsicum?” Well, that’s what Kiwis (and Australians) call “green peppers.” So since I ate at Subway a lot in NZ, when I got back to the States and started going to Subway shops here, I actually asked for a Veggie Delite with lettuce, tomato, capsicum, and onions once! I couldn’t believe it. I kept on saying to myself “Now, remember, call them peppers” but I actually blurted out “capsicum.” I wonder how long it’ll take before I get used to saying “peppers” since I’m not having Subway here with the frequency I did overseas.

And related to this, I could mention the Hong Kong style of vegetable medley I got to make my oh-so-good stir fry. Wok Creations. I’m mentioning it here because one of the vegetables in the medley was red capsicum.

6. ACMI (Australian Centre of the Moving Image in Melbourne, Australia). By far, my favourite tourist-y thing in Australia was visiting ACMI. Even though they totally annoyed me with having wrong subtitles for the end of Breathless (the whole point of the end is that the cop mistranslates something for the American tourist/girlfriend of the guy that gets shot; having the wrong subtitles — meaning the guy that gets shot says “You’re a bitch” according to the subtitles when he means “Life’s a bitch” and the cop says he said “You’re a bitch” — pisses me off), they had a lot of interesting stuff like a short film that Legally Blonde director Robert Luketic produced in school. You could definitely see how it influenced his more popular works. The best part about it was that it was free and I randomly found it by being in the area, not particularly seeking it out in any way. Don’t you just love it when that happens?

5. My summer Christmas. Well, I already blogged about it extensively (one of the few things I actually had time to do during my time — I guess I was too busy living the dream otherwise), but I want to reiterate it here. Experiencing Christmas during the summer was a completely new experience for me, the New Yorker where it is usually white because of the snow. We actually got to spend part of Christmas outside and we didn’t need to bundle on the layers and that is very cool. My manager, her partner, and their families made me feel very welcome, which was very awesome given I had only known my manager for a few weeks by the time she invited me along.

4. Dad’s visit. Another thing that I miss about the Southern Hemisphere is all the things I got to do when Dad visited in late January/early February. Even though Dad was sick for most of the visit, it was still awesome because holy cow, until he came, I didn’t realise quite how much I was missing my family. And all the sights we saw in Napier and the South Island were awesome. Art Deco is full on double rainbow. Very inspired. And Milford Sound, wow what a gorgeous sight. I also loved our visit to Te Papa, which I had been to before (since hello, I was living in Wellington), but we got to see so much more this time. Just aces.

3. Colleagues. While I was unsuccessful at finding paid work while I was overseas, I did do substantial amounts of volunteering, most notably at the National Office of Save the Children New Zealand. Since my time is done over there, I’m comfortable with saying where I worked. Anyway, my colleagues there were awesome. My manager Jo is great. Very nurturing, but at the same time, gave me a lot of space to do things on my own and my duties expanded enormously over the 7 months I worked there. I loved collaborating with Kendall on the Staff Intranet and website. Working with him made me realise that I just might want to follow down a career path in marketing (entertainment, preferably, but only because I’ve loved television since I was a little girl, I’m a TVphile if you will). I knew I had an interest in web design and social media, but it really flourished here even if it was a somewhat small portion of what I got to do during my tenure at Save. (Let me close with: Hi Gina, Barbara, Angela, Mercy, Irena, Rosario, Sophi, Carolyn, Liz, and Kusal if any of you are reading this! Of course I also say hi to Kendall and Jo )

2. My online Kiwi and Aussie friends. Before this trip, I had a lot of online friends from New Zealand and Australia. Now thanks to this trip, I’ve met the majority of them in real life and I can call them just friends. No need for the qualifier. And through them, I’ve met more people. So I really truly thank each and every one of (you if you’re one of them or if you are not, them) for letting me meet you (them) no longer through a computer screen. This made my experience all the more richer and allowed me to delve further into Kiwi and Aussie culture. Thank you again!

AND FINALLY:

1. Independence. I know one day I’ll be living out on my own again and I will recapture most of this feeling again soon, but this is truly the thing I miss the most. Living on campus during college has a different feel than when you are living in a flat (I will keep calling apartments flats, yes) in “the real world.” You have to do everything for yourself, basically. Finding food and a place to live are the most important. There is nothing like your first time and this is why I will be able to capture most, but not all, of the feeling I had when I leave the nest once more.

So there you have it. The top 10 things I miss about being overseas. But here’s a bonus,

Yep, I did it again.

Failed to post for a few months. Sorry about that. Soon after Dad left to go back to the States, I made the decision to move to another part of Wellington as things weren’t working out with my (now ex-)flatmates.

And since it was February, that meant heaps of students were coming into town for the new year of uni and competition for finding a flat was tougher than it was in October, so I frequently had at least 2-3 in the evenings and on the weekends, it got up to more than 5 a day.

But eventually, I found a new place. It’s actually closer to town as I’m now about a 10 minute walk from the railway station and about half an hour walk for Courtenay Place now whereas my old flat was really close to the Pak N Save in Kilbirnie, which meant I was on the bus for at least 20 minutes to get to the centre of town. And amazingly enough, the rent is cheaper, too by $30, so I’m saving about $50 a week between not having to use the bus as frequently and the rent. Of course some other expenses (like renting a fridge and washing machine) are a little higher, but overall, I’m definitely saving money at the new place and the Internet cap is soooo much higher, so I like it.

And I’m lucky I got this place, too, since I’m here relatively short term. Despite resuming my job search after Dad left, I haven’t been able to find paid work, even part time retail work, which is probably because I don’t have any experience with that at all. All of my (limited) work experience has been in the office setting. So I’m continuing my volunteer work, which is also in an office setting, until I leave.

And speaking of leaving, I’ve purchased my flight out of New Zealand. I’m actually going to spend a couple weeks in Australia before coming back to the US of A.

Milford Sound brief initial impressions

So Dad and I have been on the South Island since Monday and it’s been wonderful. A little different than expected as no unifying person other than ourselves, but amazing nonetheless. Today was Milford Sound and wow. What a gorgeous sight. We got to see a bunch of seals on some rocks and beautiful waterfalls. Some of the stops along the way were awesome as well such as the Chasm and seeing a couple keas. Well, I’m approaching my character limit from my phone, so pics and video to come when I’m back in Welly.

I’m finally getting to go Napier!

Well, Dad is visiting later this month and this means I’m finally getting to go to Napier! I’m quite excited, I hear it’s very lovely and gorgeous. And since it’s summer, yay nice weather.

So the plan is

My Summer Christmas

Last week, I had the opportunity to leave Wellington for a few days over the Christmas weekend with all expenses taken care of and it was lovely. For once, in my life, I got to experience a Christmas that wasn’t a white Christmas and it was interesting to see how the other half lived.

Yes, famous people DO come to New Zealand.

So Monday night was the New Zealand premiere for the upcoming film The Lovely Bones and I went to check out the red carpet event. Given that my previous two attempts for red carpets had been somewhat unsuccessful (Year One on account of rain and Harry Potter was just sheer madness in New York), I thought this might be more likely.

And it was! For lo and behold, I got Peter Jackson’s autograph! I’m not really big on Lord of the Rings, but still Peter Jackson is awesome. And I got his autograph! So stoked. Susan Saradon is one of the stars in the film, but alas, I didn’t realise it was her until she was further down the line from where I was. I got a few other autographs from the event as well including

So I’ve been failing to update this again.

But basically there’s this:

1. I didn’t go to Napier, I went to Palmerston North.

2. I had a lovely time with Zoe and her cousins (in Palmy). Caught up on some TV (and introduced them to Psych), had good Indian food, went to the movies (Veronica Mars and Michael Bluth as a married couple is still weird to me), and that was pretty much it.

And for Wellington stuff, wow, there’s a lot. Too much to mention here in great detail, but I can’t believe I’ve been here for nearly five weeks now. I’ve been looking for jobs nonstop and haven’t found any paid work yet. Luckily now, there’s some volunteer stuff I’m working on for a few organisations here and I’m learning about After Effects to do some CGI work, so I’m not refreshing SEEK and the other job search sites constantly.

Also luckily, I found a flat that people were willing to let me live in even without a job. It’s super close to a supermarket, which is handy, and there are heaps of buses down the road at the shops. Though the supermarket that is super close to me is not the best for vegetarians (vegetarian burgers and tofu are more at the other supermarket, which is still not too far).

Oh, and I’ve been meeting some of my Wellington friends and hanging out with them for various periods of time. Still haven’t gotten around to meeting all of them, but I’m meeting a couple more over the weekend, so that’s cool. And I’ve made some friends through those friends and through other means.

And I think that’s pretty much it for now. Hopefully pictures will come sooner rather than later! And damn it, I missed out on 12 of 12 again. Oh well, it’s not like I did anything terribly exciting today unlike what I did yesterday and what I have planned for tomorrow.

What’s a girl to do?

So I was supposed to go onto Napier tonight, but I’m stuck in Taupo as the highway between the two cities is closed today (over a meter of snow and 20cm expected today). So do I go to Napier tomorrow evening free and head to Palmy as planned on Thursday (so 1 day, 2 nights) or go to Palmy tomorrow w/ a $1 refund plus costs of getting there ($28 no refund or $41-43 w/ 2hr refund window) and hope Zoe can take me in early or stay in a Palmy hostel? Napier hostel 19 pn. Palmy 20 pn. Decision in less than 3hrs.

What’s a girl to do?

So I was supposed to go onto Napier tonight, but I’m stuck in Taupo as the highway between the two cities is closed today (over a meter of snow and 20cm expected today). So do I go to Napier tomorrow evening free and head to Palmy as planned on Thursday (so 1 day, 2 nights) or go to Palmy tomorrow w/ a $1 refund plus costs of getting there ($28 no refund or $41-43 w/ 2hr refund window) and hope Zoe can take me in early or stay in a Palmy hostel? Napier hostel 19 pn. Palmy 20 pn. Decision in less than 3hrs.

Rotorua (with a Waitomo day trip) Round-up

So it seems like when I leave a city and enter a new one, that’s when I have time to make a post. Anyway, this post mostly deals with Tuesday and Friday morning.

Wednesday was in Waitomo, but I neglected to bring my camera. Probably because I unconsciously remembered that you couldn’t take pictures of the glowworms (which aren’t really worms, but advertising fluorescent larvae didn’t go over so well marketing-wise ). But apparently you can take pictures of other things in the other caves. Oh well. I did get some other people on the tours of the other two caves to take my pic once or twice and we’ll see if they send them to me. The caves were pretty awesome though.

Thursday, I didn’t really do anything, but spend the day in the library on the Internet. I probably would have posted then had I been able to upload the images, but I couldn’t, so there you go.