Someone, please explain...

...why do so many people here wear shorts when it's maybe 38* degrees out? (Or 2* for my friends who use the metric system.)

What kills a little bit of me - not an important bit, but still a bit - is that these same people will have on three layers above the belt. But no hat, because if they were at least wearing a hat, it would somehow be okay. But no, they'll have on shorts - quite frequently short shorts - a long-sleeved tee, a jumper/sweater and a jacket.

This isn't something I've seen once or twice, and it's not just crazy backpacker types, either. These are people who live and work in this area and should know better.

I want to fit in with those who live in my temporarily adopted home, but there are some things I'm simply not willing to do. Or if I do start to do them, it's time for me to get back on the big metal bird and head back home, where the locals do sensible things like tip cows over.

Okay, I don't get that either. But I'm happy with that.

*All temperature estimates are approximate. All conversions are even more so.

No longer a drain on society

That's right, I'm back in the workforce, at least until early July. I start my first temp job in New Zealand first thing tomorrow morning.

I'm glad, but it's weird, too. Now this isn't travel anymore, it's regular life. Even though that was the plan all along, it still feels odd. But even if I'm not sure how I feel about it, I know how my bank balance feels...

ETA: It's actually mostly what I do at home - communications/writing - but of a governmental sort, rather than marketing or technical. It's also a much more junior position that what I would have at home, but it's for about two months, which is what I really wanted for any one place, so I'm not going to worry about it. And I get to say I've had international experience in my writing now, which makes me a happy camper.

A boy post

No, the post isn't male, at least as far as I know (and I'm not checking - my poor Xanga site deserves some dignity). Someone said a little while back that she wanted to know about the fellas. Never let it be said that I didn't give the audience what it wants. May not do it quickly, but I do try to oblige.

I have actually had some encounters with the male of the species. Nothing all that interesting in the romantic sense, but as someone who tends to spend a lot of her time in her own head, me noticing any sort of anything from a guy is, sadly, a huge step. So, allow me to share...

Guy #1 I met at the Auckland Food and Wine festival. I'd gone by myself, natch, and was watching the band that was playing, tapping my foot and doing a bit of chair dancing and watching the folks who were out dancing in front of the stage. A guy sat down a couple of chairs away, we nodded to each other, and I continued watching. After a little while, he asks me to mind one of his glasses of wine while I found his friends. I said sure, and he went into the folks dancing. Another man comes over to retrieve the wine glass, Guy 1 catches my eye and nods, and I pass over the glass. As his buddy goes back to dance, Guy 1 beacons me to go join in the dancing. I laugh and shake my head (I know, I know, I'm working on it), he waves me over again, I shake my head again, he comes over to haul me out of my chair, and I finally get it through my thick skull that I really need to just get up and dance like I really wanted to anyway, especially since it's not like I know any of these people. So I danced and had a really good time, had sort of disjointed conversation with Guy 1 - who's Scottish, by the way - and get introduced to his friends. (By the way, Guy 1 is quite drunk, but for once in my life, I don't end up being uptight about it.) Guy 1 invites me to join them for dinner, and for once in my life I decide "what the hell" and agree to join them. But his friend had a bit of an issue with it, since I was going to be an extra person to pay for dinner for, and he didn't want to risk his wife getting upset. Not wanting to cause a problem (since even though I said I'd pay for my own dinner, they weren't having any of it), I regretfully make an excuse and depart the scene. Which sucked, because I really wanted to join in for dinner, but I've got this thing about not being where I'm not wanted. (By the way, Guy 1 did ask for my cell number in case I wanted to hang out in Auckland, "and I'm not on the pull because I already have a girlfriend," but I didn't have a cell phone yet. Besides, I left two days later for Paihia. And I didn't want to be a problem for the girlfriend, even if I wasn't positive he was being honest about being attached. I got the vibe that he was just saying that to try and put me at ease, but I could easily be wrong on that one.)

Guy #2 was on my backpacker bus, from South Africa. It took me a bit to really talk to him, because I'm me, and it took me a while to actually talk to anyone. But I'd had a bit of conversation with him by the end of the first night. Sadly, he hopped off the tour the second night. But he's one of the people I ended up running into again later in the trip, here in Wellington. Too bad he was leaving for Auckland the next day, but we did manage to have dinner together in the hostel, and a good chat was had.

Guy #3 was also on my backpacker bus, also from Scotland. It took me a while to say much to him, since a couple of the other girls were quite chummy with him. Not in an interested way that I could tell, but more that they enjoyed giving him a hard time. Once again, I didn't end up really having a conversation until the last night we were in the same city, but I even flirted a bit. Now, this is me flirting, so I'm not sure if he realized I was interested or not. But alas, my timing as usual was poor.

Now, I will say I have noticed (even I have noticed) that men seem to be more interested in my here than at home. It may be because I can't be in my own head quite so much, since I have to pay attention to what I'm doing so I don't end up wandering the streets perpetually lost. Or it may be a cultural thing. Or it may be me realizing that people may be interested in my, rather than simply assuming they're being polite. Which is kind of funny, since I'm not wearing any makeup, my hair is usually pulled back in a ponytail since the wind's been strong and I don't want to eat my hair, and my clothes are decidedly utilitarian rather than flattering. But it was kind of heartwarming to watch the three guys working the hostel desk yesterday kind of jockey for position to help me when I went to ask questions... a few times.

I think I can even safely count my tour guide today as Guy #4. We ended up chatting quite a bit during our tea break. He even asked if I was in New Zealand looking for a husband. Of course, I think I got a deer-in-the-headlights look on my face at that question, since I really wouldn't have expected it. I got the idea that he would have asked me for a drink or something if I wasn't on my way out of town Monday morning. Too bad, since I would have said yes. I know I could have asked, but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. Besides, I wasn't positive he was single; fairly sure, but not positive.

I even met a guy this evening when I went to the theater. I was trying to get in to see a sold out play; I was on the standby list and waiting in the box office line to see if a ticket was available when a guy came down the line trying to sell an extra ticket; his girlfriend was sick, but his sister was in the play and it was the last night, so he couldn't not go. So I was able to get my ticket, we did a bit of chatting while waiting to get into the theater, and once we got inside and I tried to go off on my own, he asked if I wanted to go ahead and sit together. Guess he didn't relish sitting alone, either, so we talked before the show started. Poor guy, I think he felt a bit weird once we left the theater; it's almost like he wanted to walk me back, but I wasn't his date, so he didn't want to step outside of bounds. We walked across the street together, then I wished him a good evening and I hoped his g/f felt better soon. He was a nice guy, though I don't even know his name. We never did introduce ourselves.

So there you go, far more than you probably wanted to know about far too little of interest. But you know what, I'm actually kind of proud of myself. That's far more than talking to guys that aren't "safe" than I may have ever done in even thrice the time.

I am heading out of Wellington, as I said, on Monday morning. There's a job opening in Christchurch that's actually practically perfect for me, so I'm taking a chance and heading over there. It's through an agency; I contacted them Thursday, talked to them on Friday, they sent my CV and writing samples to the client, and the client wants to meet me. Since that's a whole lot more of a lead than I've gotten so far, and I was planning to go to Christchurch at some point anyway, I figured I might as well go now. Besides, I think if I don't get this position, the recruiter will feel badly enough that I went to the effort and didn't get the job that she'll work a bit harder to find me something else. Oh, but the point of all that was that it may be a bit before I can post again - just a couple of days, between travel, getting settled and going to my interviews. (And not that I haven't gone longer without posting, but I do like people to know when I'm on the move, just in case.)

Have a great weekend, all!

Practically heaven

To say I'm much happier with my new hostel digs is an understatement. I'm in a four bed dorm with its own en-suite bathroom. No tub (and Tom, I know I won't get one in a hostel, but I do hope to get a serviced apartment while I'm working, though even those may be out of my price range), but it's light years better that what I was in before - and cheaper, too. I even got a decent weekly rate on Wi-Fi access, so I don't have to freak out about the time I spend online. Not from a price standpoint, anyway.

So, as I mentioned earlier, I signed up for facebook the other day. I can see why it's so addictive; I'm currently working on my puppy's dogbook profile. In even brighter news, I found one of my best friend's from high school on there! We've been merrily catching up as best we can, especially with me only just having gotten decent online access. I'm really stoked about it, but also a little freaked out, too. She's got photos posted, of course.

She looks so different. And it reminds me just how long it's been since high school. I wonder if I look as different to her as she does to me? I may ask her at some point, but not just yet.

To sum up, I'm in a happy accommodation place, I'm still looking for a job, and I have too many online sites to reasonably keep up with. If you want photos, you'll have to check my footstepjourneys.com site or *sigh* check out my facebook profile.

It's got to be a small country...

... since I keep running into people I've met before. And I haven't really met that many people. You can tell us backpackers pretty much travel in the same basic circuit - our timing is just a bit different. People I met back in Auckland are making their way into Wellington. If I stay here long enough, the people that I came to Wellington with and who went on to the South Island will be back here again on their way back to Auckland. Though honestly, I'm hoping to be out of the hostels and into something a bit more private before they'd pass through here again.

I really don't care for the hostel I'm in at the moment (it's the Base Wellington, if anyone wants to know), so I'm super excited to move tomorrow. It's into another hostel, but it's supposed to be a nice one (the Wellington YHA, again if anyone cares). If nothing else, it'll be a four bed room, instead of the six bed room I'm in now.

I so want to be in a room by myself again. With it's own bathroom. Oh, and an actual tub. Or heck, just a bathroom I don't feel like I have to wear my flip-flops while showering in. I know it could be worse, but man, I miss my privacy.

On a completely unrelated note, I saw "Run, Fatboy, Run" last night. It was funny enough that I won't bitch too much about the ridiculous amount the ticket price ($14.80 -- and I thought San Francisco prices were bad...). Utterly implausible, but funny all the same. I think I just might have to consider myself a fan of Dylan Moran now.

Bowing to peer pressure

I've joined Facebook, since it seems like everyone has a presence there nowadays. I hate joining the crowd. But I think it may be the only way for me to keep up with some of the folks I've traveled with and keep up with some of the Travel Channel Academy crowd. (Not that I've done anything with that, but I still like to think I will at some point.) Though I'm having trouble updating amongst my various homes on the internet as it is without adding to the mix. But it had to be done. *sigh*

In other, much more interesting news, I got to Wellington earlier today. I intend to visit the Kelly office tomorrow and get registered with them and hopefully find some form of gainful employment. But I'm also dog-tired and hurting from my hike around Mount Doom (really!) yesterday, so I may not get any farther than the kitchen one floor down tomorrow. I'll have to see how my legs are doing; they weren't big fans of sitting on the bus earlier today. And they really, really don't like stairs, not one bit...

So, I'm looking for temp jobs in Wellington, and I come a listing for a "Contract boner / butcher"

"Contract boner" is funny to me. But when you add that "/ butcher", it just becomes kinda creepy.

Note to self: Next time I want my hair super-curly, I just need to get sprayed with a bunch of sea water. It curls right up and holds it until I wash the salt out.

Still in Paihia, but I think I'm going to get the hell out of Dodge real quick-like. Cheesy as it sounds, it just doesn't feel right for me to be here. Odd, since I liked it so much last time, but I think maybe my expectations were too much. Which is weird, since I would have said I had no expectations, but I guess I did.

There is one WWOOF host that I really like the looks of, so I need to give them a quick call today and see if they have room for me. If so, I'll stick around for a bit. If not, I'm going back to Auckland in the next day or two. I was in a much better mood there.

Finally made my onward plans from Auckland. I've got today (Thursday) here, then I leave Friday morning for the Bay of Islands. I'll be visiting an outfit that does overnight boat tours of the bay to see about signing on with them for a bit; they're moving out of high season now, so they may not need me, but I'll at least get a free tour out of it, which I'm excited about. If they don't need a hand, I'll find something else in the area; I really want to stay in Paihia for a few weeks.

I also booked a backpaker hop-on, hop-off bus trip for the rest of the North Island, so I've got a way to get around. I don't know that I want to spend a lot of time anywhere else on the North Island other than Wellington, but we'll see how it goes.

I'm surprised by how much I'm liking Auckland. I've always kind of poo-poo'ed it as a big city, but now that I've been here for a while, I'm enjoying the place. They have a lot of parkland, plus it's right on the water. I've been heading out to a couple of the islands in the harbor, and they've been fab. (Punky, I think I found Auckland's answer to Walnut Creek - it's called Devonport, and I caught the ferry over there yesterday for a ramble. If I remembered your phone number off the top of my head, you would have gotten a quick phone call.)

Oh, and as a quick girlie-note, there are a lot of really cute guys here. Tall, too.

After today, it may be a few days before I can hop online again. So take care, everyone!

I'm in Auckland now, and I'll actually be here for the next few days now. I managed to get a quickie temp job stuffing envelopes at the office that co-ordinates the program I'm in for my visa. It's just a couple of days work, but it's something, and it gives me a little cash and a little time to get myself better situated. So, cool. Now I just have to figure out what I want to do in the Auckland area for the weekend, but I may have that covered. We'll see.

I've done a bit of bonding with one of my roommates at the hostel. She's from Belgium, and she got in yesterday as well. We're both kinda happy to find someone else about the same age doing the same thing; there are a couple of girls in the room who just always seem to be there; I'm not sure why they're even in New Zealand, since it seems like they're spending all their time in the hostel. But whatever; to each their own.

I may have a tentative plan for at least the next couple of weeks. I'll do the work here the early part of next week, then probably head north to Paihia. I may end up picking fruit, but I'd like to spend some time up there. Then bop through the North Island with one of the hop-on, hop-off backpacker buses down to Wellington. And I'll figure out the rest after.