On friday night, I met patrick and his work cronies at some pub (I've really
missed smoking indoors while having a drink!) and they all went on about how
much patrick kept saying 'wait until april gets here, we'll do things when
april gets here, I can't wait until april gets here' it was very sweet. He
works with some pretty interesting people. there's this guy from scotland
and his wife is japanese and they have a tot who's two and a half so they
are looking at kindergartens ( he's saying that kindergarten is from three
to five and is mandatory) when I looked up Early Childhood online, ece's
will soon be equivalent to primary (elementary) school teachers. you
(meaning me) go to school and eventually get your BACHELORS in ECE unless
you sort something out where you can have your ECE equivalent while working
in certain centers. jesus eh, after I get my stuff back from NZQA I imagine
I'll have to go to school for some classes. . . which is alright by me, I
won't mind to go back to school since that was a part of my plan anyway. AUT
is really close to where we live now. one of the part time tutors he works
with is Indian, raised in Malaysia, and is married to an Indian Kiwi who
isn't very indian. They've got lots of interesting stories, they're pretty
cool and very talkative. I'm trying to remember where we went for dinner on
friday night . . . and I can't. sorry. we watched the wedding planner
though. that was a dumb movie, and jlo didn't even look that great in it.

Saturday morning patrick woke me up, chit chatting the beep away at seven
freaking thirty in the god damned morning. I managed to not get out of bed
till eight thirty. it sucked. We finished up my paperwork and left to go car
shopping. it took us about a half hour at least to walk to the car
dealerships. then we walked back home before we caught a bus to go to
newmarket. We needed to pick up a vcr to tape the amazing race,

a coffee
pot for me (which we picked up for only twenty bucks at the walmart
equivalent called the warehouse),

and a glass from freedom (the pier one
equivalent) which we found furnished our entire apartment (very expensive)
and we had to replace a glass from there that patrick broke on the marble
kitchen counter.

we took some pictures we also got off blocks and blocks
away from where we were supposed to go, so we did a heck of a lot of
walking. we got home around two thirty, set up the vcr and left again to go
get some groceries

getting a cab after shopping took some doing and I got id'd for the wine I'd
picked up ahahahahahaha YES YES YES!@!
legal drinking age here is E I G H T E E N ! ! ! ! ! AND I GOT ID'D AND I'M
THIRTY AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
life is so good :D :D :D

we got home a little late, threw the groceries in their respective spots of
belonging, changed into dark clothes and headed out to play some laser tag.
I did pretty well! the first time I placed eighth out of fifteen, and the
second time I placed fourth out of fifteen. I'm definitely going to have to
play with the boys sometime because I actually enjoyed myself. patrick did
really well too, and ended up all sweaty after. I screamed a lot, and people
were making fun of my screaming. there were only three little boys playing,
the rest of the people were from patrick's work. after about an hours worth
of laser tag, we went for a drink and then off to dinner at eight
thirty/nine ish. it was some thai place. very spicy. they only do one bill
per table, so we tried to order our drinks from the bar and pay separately
and I guess they had some issues with that. they'd keep asking, 'so we'll
just add this to your tab?" um, no.

patrick was supposed to go watch soccer with the scot, but we went home
instead, catching a ride with the malaysian indian girl and her kiwi
husband. we watched another bad dvd called hope springs. it was awful.
patrick went to bed early and I watched it to it's awful cheesy end. it was
terrible.

on sunday, we were supposed to go to a car auction in ellerslie between nine
and twelve. We didn't make it, but found their web site and got all excited
about a little two door hatchback (sound familiar??). it's up to patrick to
make all that happen. After all the freaking walking we did on saturday, I
WANT A CAR especially after the grocery shopping trip. when patrick phoned
the cab company back to say where the hell is our cab, they said the driver
came and left not seeing us. patrick was like, I don't know what to tell
you, we were right here the entire time. the company told him to go hail a
cab. some people suck don't they.

we left about eleven to walk down to the ferry to weiheke island (why hee
kee) for a winery tour. the ferry ride was about a half hour. weiheke is
beautiful. the tour bus guy was super sweet, delightful, chatty, witty,
funny, and totally made the tour worthwhile. We had paninis for lunch. we
visited three winerys. The first one had a breathtaking view. That's where I
got the throwaway camera. their chardonnay was spicy. weiheke is best known
for their red wines, their whites don't do so well. We walked down to a
gorgeous white fine sandy beach, it was stunning. it's super hilly all over
here. there are no flat stretches that I've seen yet. walking is a lot of
hard work and effort. I don't think I'll mind gaining some weight while
driving around. I want to drive around. I want a car. anyway, the second
winery was all snotty and high end and the owner himself gave us the tour. I
wasn't overly impressed. it was pretty, and warm (being sheltered in a
valley) and it had dogs. very cute dogs, but they wandered in and out of the
kitchen and everywhere else, and I don't know how many times patrick said,
"ooh, watch out for the poo! watch your step! be careful of that!" so . . .
ew.
The third estate was small, wonderful, right on the beach (salt water kills
grape vines and they know this but it rains a lot here) and the syrah (not
shee raaaz like the Aussies) was wonderful. the view was amazing, I have to
go back to weiheke in the spring because I bet it'll take my breath away. it's
beautiful now in the winter, I can't imagine how beautiful it will be in
full bloom. we bought a forty dollar bottle of wine at the last place. it
was all really great. we saw a rabbit on the property. we took the bus back
to the ferry, the ferry was packed and we weren't even sure if we could get
on, but we did. it only runs every hour on sundays, I think it's every half
hour on weekdays. We had to stop in devonport on the way back to auckland
city. We went to a food fair for dinner and had chinese food. it was
alright. we came back, exhausted, but it was still early. we watched payback
and it was ok I guess. better than the other movies we'd seen.

Up till now, two forty five in the afternoon, I've been in my pajamas. I've
mass emailed my resume and cover letter and have already received two
replies. I have also been reading the official N.Z. road code for car drivers
book. it's a pretty big book. I looked up places to take lessons from. I'd
like to at least have one one hour lesson before I drive a car here since
everything's on the other side. left handed shifting might take some
learning. patrick was hoping to buy an automatic, but the little two door
hatchback is standard.
I'm supposed to meet him at three thirty, so I guess I better get ready to
go. not sure what I'm up to tomorrow, but I guess that's what happens on
vacation right?
love you all
miss you millions
hugz and kisses
April

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