It's my Pizza and I'll Cry if I Want to

So last Friday I had my first real, good cry. Surprisingly, (or maybe not) it was over pizza. I thought coming over that food here wouldn't be too hard to adjust to. I've learned that New Zealand cuisine is 90% Asian Seafood and 10% British. This is not ideal for me, the picky eater...

Will had come home around 7:30 from a work happy hour. I was really hoping he would text me while there and say some people were going to go out afterwards (as coworkers said they had done in the past) so I could go and meet new friends and get out of the house. That didn't happen (disappointment #1).

So we decided to just have a casual night and get frozen pizza and just hang out at home...just the two of us. I wanted to get a movie as well, but out DVD player doesn't work (disappointment #2).

All day I was craving white queso dip. Any brand, any style. They have a "Mexican" section of our grocery store so I was banking on them having it. Nope. (Disappointment #3)

I knew they wouldn't have the vast selection of frozen pizza we have in the US, but I expected something. The options were: meatlovers, supreme, ham and pineapple and cheese and bacon. I kid you not. Not cheese. No sausage. No pepperoni. (Disappointment #4). So we got cheese and bacon and tried it out. Bacon here is not crunchy salty pan fried that I am used to. Here bacon essentially just means ham. So the pizza was saturated in shreds of ham with a little cheese. Those of you who know me, know that I would not like that. I broke down sobbing that I just wanted to be home and eat normal pizza and have queso dip and then I threw in that I wanted some chocolate chip cookies too :). Silly, I know, but it was a lot of little things I missed about home adding up until the queso that broke the camel's back. Will was sweet and didn't tell me I was being stupid.

The next day Will said he wanted to take me on a date-- I agreed! To my wonderful surprise it was an American themed date. He took me to Sal's Authentic New York Pizza which served (obviously) New York style pizza. They even had baseball on the TV (which Will loved!) It was absolutely amazing (excitement #1). Almost better than any pizza I've had before in the US (Ray's and Giordano's are still right up there). The website explained that they import all the ingredients from the US so that is why it tastes like New York Pizza and not New Zealand New York Pizza! I wanted to inhale the whole pizza!! After that he took me for some fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies from Mrs. Higgins (like Mrs. Fields). They were SOO good. (excitement #2) It was so nice to have some of the comforts at home in a foreign land.

So I learned that when I need some comfort food, Sal and Mrs. Higgins will be there for me :)

Crafty Little Housewife

I'm so excited to show you all that I have finally finished my first set of owl dish towels. This is what I have been working on while Will is at work! I was averaging one per day here in Auckland until my needle bent, grrr. So I had to take a 2 week hiatus until I finally found a shop that sold needles. I was back to work this week and I finally have them done. I just don't know what to do with them yet!

This was such a fun project for me. My grandma has made these dish towels for all the grandkids for years, and when I was out to see them this Spring she taught me how to hand embroider so I could start making them too. I think it is fun and important to learn skills like this from your parents/grandparents to pass down, or else they'll become extinct!

I challenge you to ask your grandparents to teach you how to do something that is becoming rare for a young person to do (sewing, embroidery, pie crust making, carpentry...) and enjoy the time spent! Post on the blog if you will take up the challenge or have already done so!

Just Another Weekend in Aotearoa

Friday night we went to an Italian restaurant on the harbor to celebrate my birthday. We had an ok meal, but the view and ambiance made up for it! It is still hard for me to be ok with not tipping. I guess I just need to tell myself that they get paid a fair wage and don't rely on tips as part of their income like waiters do in the US. Oh well... We then stopped to get some delicious NZ ice cream on the way home. We then settled in for American Idol Friday night. Cozy.

Saturday Will's coworkers again invited us along on a beautiful day trip. We started off my going to a market in Matakana.

Just like a lot of farmers markets in the US, it is 30% farmers with fruits and veggies and 70% food products like homemade chocolates, waffles, sausage on a stick and buffalo burgers--->

As many of you know, Will has the gift of engaging strangers in conversation (which he gets from his dad). So while we were sitting at this picnic table, we started talking with two couples from south of Auckland. If you are in the country on the weekend from Auckland, you are called a JAFA (just another f***ing Aucklander). I would assume the influx of Aucklanders on the weekend is maybe similar to New Yorkers going to the Hamptons? Anyway, they were very friendly and one even gave us his card and said to call him if we are ever in his area. They took a picture of our group, and we realized we should have gotten a picture with them as well. Here we are....

After the market we took a long, winding drive to another beach. It was typical Auckland with sunshine and rain burst so we got to see lots of rainbows. 

Once we got to the beach we walked quite a way along the shore. I took my shoes off and walked in the water, Will kept to dry land. Even though it is "winter" the water felt quite nice. I really wanted to go swimming!! 

This picture feels like it needs to be in a music video for some boy band :) 

Once we got to the end at low tide there were tons of rocks to climb around on. I left my shoes way back at the beginning so I stayed on the soft sand. Will had a good time climbing on the rocks and hunting for interesting finds (we didn't find anything...)

We had beautiful views everywhere. As I said, it would rain for 5 min, then sunshine for 10, rain for 10.... We had to hide out in a cave for a little while when it came down particularly hard. I wasn't afraid to be in a cave like I would in the US since they don't have many scary animals here. The picture is of Will and May (his coworker)

After a good walk along the shore, we took another long, winding road to a winery. This one was not as fun. They had a few more "rules", including no BYO food, so we just had one glass of wine, then left. Plus, it was again raining. 

Sunday Will and I took a walk to Auckland Domain, which I would describe as the central park of Auckland. Obviously much smaller :) It took us a while to find it. We knew the general direction, but there was a major road in our path so we weren't sure how to get around it. After climbing up and steep hill, then back down the other side, we found that there was a crosswalk across the major road right before we climbed the giant hill. We tried to sit outside and read/ do work, but we learned why New Zealand's Maori name is Aotearoa, which means "land of the long white cloud". There was blue sky all around us, except a long slender cloud that blocked the sun for 30 minutes straight. With no sun, it was a bit too cold to sit outside, so we took the walk back home and Will worked the rest of the day, while I cleaned, cooked and did laundry! 

I'll leave you with a few more breathtaking pictures of the beach.

Don't You Know It's My Birthday?

Happy Birthday to me! Today I turn 27 and mark the general beginning of a new adventure. We have been in Auckland for 2 weeks now and have already experienced the excitement and frustration of moving to new a city, especially overseas. This morning has unfortunately been one of the amusingly frustrating ones. This blog is a bit wingy, so I apologize in advance!

When we moved into our apartment on Tuesday I was disappointed to see that it had not been properly cleaned between tenants. Here it seems people move more frequently and thus one apartment could be turned over 4 times in a year. So I understand that there is a little more wear and tear. But they don’t do all the things that we are used to in the big US of A. For example, they don’t do a white wash of paint between tenants. There were several gashes in the wall, which were filled in with yellow putty, but not painted over. Carpets are simply vacuumed, not shampooed.

So being the nasty, whiny, Americans that we are, Will and I wrote a very stern letter to the property managers (with pictures) stating our complaints. The manager called, very apologetic and stated that they would have the cleaners come back and clean again. This was set up for 7:30 this morning (my birthday). I was bummed to have to get up early on my birthday, but thought I would go to a coffee shop, have some birthday breakfast and play on the Internet for an hour or so while it was happening. 8:30 came around with no word. I called the manager, explained that it was birthday and I was sitting on the couch waiting and she said she would track them down. At 8:50 she called me back saying that he is at the building and should be here any minute.

In the mean time, the contractor who was supposed to fix some broken furniture came right on time at 9:00 sharp. He was very nice and professional. Unfortunately the tracks for the door on the wardrobe were completely cracked down to the wood, so it couldn't be fixed. We ended up losing the door to the dumpster...

At 9:10 the cleaner finally came.  He said he was sorry because the manager told him I had somewhere to be. I said, "we'll I don't have anywhere to be, but it's my birthday and I wanted to have a nice breakfast somewhere". He said happy birthday, then stepped out on the balcony to "call his boss" and was on the phone for 10 minutes…hmmm….It’s my birthday so I don’t want to get mean, so I just say “it’s ok” and start pointing out the things we wanted cleaned. I got this response a lot: “oh, that’s not my area”. So he couldn’t clean the windows, the walls or the ceiling. He seemed hesitant to scrub the bathroom floor, but with some convincing said he would try.

I now appreciate the crazy standards that apartments in the US have for cleaning upon check out. It really does make a difference to the next person coming in!

So I left, trusting that he would do a good job, and now am at the coffee shop, having birthday tea and a muffin at 9:45.  What a morning! Deep breathing and some chamomile will help me calm and start fresh. That's what you get for moving to a new apartment/country so close to your birthday! I guess I still have another whole birthday in the US tomorrow J

I will be telling everyone else today that it is my birthday, because the world should know...

A Kiwi Weekend

This weekend was a quintessential Kiwi weekend. I am still having trouble believing that we live in such a beautiful country.

Saturday Will’s co-workers (husband and wife) offered to “show us around a bit”. We had no idea what they had in store for us. I was imagining taking us to a couple of sites around the city and maybe some lunch. We were pleasantly surprised with what they had in store. We drove out through the Waitakere Mountains, which were covered in native bush similar to a rainforest/jungle. I got a little woozy with all the hairpin turns, but it was worth it because 40 minutes later we saw this:

It was so breathtaking. The beach had black sand and felt so good walking around barefoot. They said in the summer the sand gets so hot, you hear expletives everywhere from people walking from the water to their blankets (black sand would do that…) It was low tide, so we were able to walk through some neat areas that are usually inaccessible. We saw mussels, starfish, anemones, and surfers J.

After that we drove to a winery for some tasting, then ended up getting a bottle to share with some fancy cheese and crackers. It was such a beautiful day. It was 55 degrees, but the sun was so hot I was in a tank top for much of it. We sipped wine, enjoyed the view, and watched some pukekos in the field. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Next stop was Mt. Eden, one of many old volcanoes that surround Auckland. We could see everywhere from up there. We walked around the top, took some pictures and “ahhhed” at the views.

We ended the night at Prego, an Italian restaurant that I’d say rivaled the best food we had in Italy.  This brings me to a point about New Zealand dining. #1) You don’t tip waiters/waitresses. They see it as part of their job to give excellent customer service so they are just nice because it’s the job, not to squeeze an extra couple of dollars out of you. #2) You pay at the register, not with the waiter. Even at fancy restaurants, you have to go up and wait in line to get your check and pay. There are some places where you do that in the US, but mostly it’s the seedy Mexican restaurants J

Sunday we had planned to take a ferry over the Waiheke Island to meet a former PwC partner who owns and operates his own winery. Will found him from another PwC employee who he happened to meet just before we left (coincident? I think not) The winery is not open to the public, but he will give tours/tastings for special people like us J. He picked us up at the ferry terminal, took us out for a fantastic brunch (Will had crab omelet, I had lemon pancakes), and then gave us a quick tour around the island on the way to their winery, Destiny Bay. 

Their winery had fantastic views of the water, land and sky. The website is destinybaywine.com. I highly recommend checking it out. They make VERY upscale wine that we could never afford, but it was so neat to see the whole process of wine making. We got to taste “raw wine” as well as the wine once it was processed and aged. They even gave us a bottle of what we tasted to take home. Did I mention they sell this wine for about $500 a bottle! They were so generous with their time and their wine. We will be enjoying every last drop!

They also told us how Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones were shooting a movie “The Emperor” in New Zealand in March and after tasting it at a restaurant, had to come by to meet them and see where the wine was grown. So we are among Matthew Fox, Tommy Lee Jones and a select other few to tour this winery. Cool, huh?

After the tasting Mike took us on a drive around the island. We got to see some pretty fantastic views from the Island. There are cattle and sheep next to wineries and beaches.  The best of both worlds. Will is considering becoming independently wealthy and moving to the island where he can farm and I can drink wine at the beach every day. We’re currently taking donations…

 

Until next time,

Cheers

Week 1

Kia Ora! That means hello in the Maori language, which is the native language here in New Zealand.

We arrived early (just before 6) Wednesday morning in Auckland after 25 straight hours of travel (17 hours of which were in the air). Customs was actually quite easy. I was worried about our M&Ms and Vanilla Wafers being taken away, but we got to keep them all! We were very tired, but did not want jet lag to get the better of us, so we took a nap from 7am to 9am then we woke up, got cleaned up, and set out for the day. Out first mission was to find internet to let everyone know that we made it ok. That was quite the feat. Internet here is a lot like in Europe where you either have to pay or buy something to use it. Also it is limited by data used so some places have a limit on how much you can use once you buy a coffee. Wednesday we walked around downtown Auckland, tried to get our bearings, opened a bank account, went grocery shopping and tried very hard to stay away. We made it to 8:30 then we had to crash.

Thursday morning Will woke up about 6, Tally around 7:30 and we were keen to get started on our day. We first went to McDonalds for some internet, then had a whirlwind of apartment shopping. We looked at 10 or so apartments in 5 hours. We ended up choosing one right downtown and signed a 6 month lease for the rent of a year-long lease (with a little finessing of the landlord). We figured that way if we hate living in the city center, we can vacate to the burbs in 6 short months. That night Will's new co-worker and her husband took us out for dinner and drinks. We learned a couple of inside tips about living in NZ. Also, her husband is a dead ringer for Jason Segel (Marshal from How I Met Your Mother). It was the elephant in the room until he said something about it. He has has numerous people (giddy girls) buy his meals, send him drinks and notes. I'll add a picture later if I can :)

Friday we had lots of errands to run. We went phone shopping, signed the lease and paid our upfront costs in cash money. We did a lot of uphill walking. Auckland is laid out a lot like San Francisco with lots of small winding streets up and down very steep hills. I should have killer legs when I come home :). Friday night we decided to stay in and recuperate. We have made the local Gloria Jean's coffee shop our new home. We go every day, buy a coffee or pastry and sit for an hour or so doing things we need to on the internet. We have made friends with the barista, Robin!

I guess I better stop now, or this blog will be 20 pages! I'll post a separate blog about our weekend adventures.