4 weeks in!

I've officially been here a month!

Well on Sunday I came into town early and fed the birds down by the water and walked around a bit. The computer shop was closed, so I didn't get to drop it off until Wednesday (still dont have it back yet).

This week has been great. Work has been the usual with registers and researching how and where to market. Tuesday night I watched House with Janelle and had popcorn. Wednesday was Lost and that was exciting as it always is :-)

Thursday night I went to Aleisha's house and had Bolognaise Pizza and watched Alice in Wonderland (she was a little appalled to the fact that I had never seen it). Bolognaise Pizza has bolognaise sauce, ground hamburger meat, cheese and parsley. On the way home we stopped by her aunt and uncles house who were entertaining Americans for the evening - they were from Arizona and Iowa. Very exciting to be with my people :-P

I have spent today with Janelle. I met her at the hotel and we sat in the hot tub and sauna for the morning, had lunch then came into town on the 2 o'clock shuttle. We then went to the Kiwi and Birdlife Park (for free) and got to see more kiwi - no pictures this time because they weren't allowed - and other indigenous birds to New Zealand. Tonight we are bowling at the hotel, eating some junk food and watch a movie on TV.

The rest of the weekend will be low key - hopefully beautiful weather so I can lay by the lake and sketch a bit.

**Crossing my fingers to have my computer back soon**

Weatherman Lied

My computer is still on the fritz. No good.

But for good news the weather report I read on Thrusday was COMPLETELY wrong for this weekend. We have seen nothing but blue sky and sun all weekend.

Spent Friday around the apartment during the day. Caught some sun on my balcony and outside the hotel when I called home. Friday night was a movie night with Aleisha and Janelle. Ate tons of junk food and watched Willy Wonka (with J. Depp) and Mulan. Aleisha has 27 Disney movies - I have met my New Zealand soul mate!

Saturday was beautiful. Hung around the apartment getting sun on my balcony again in the morning then went into town and played mini golf. I came in 4th out of 6. Not my best but it wasnt the worst I've ever played. Had a bbq at Aleisha's last night, lamb burgers (not my favorite), sausages, potato salad and cake.

Today is unplanned so far. Hoping to get my computer fixed. *fingers crossed*

Computer Issues

Having issues with my personal computer. Just my luck for it to break down while I'm in a foreign country. So I appologize for lack of posts until I can figure out what is wrong.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

End of Week 3

TIME IS FLYING!!!!

This week I have been doing research on events coming to Queenstown that the hotel can aim to market towards. I've compiled all the events and made a mini marketing plan/strategy for one of them. David is going to review them over the weekend and we are having a meeting on Monday about what to pursue, change, and all around do. Also on Monday I am going to go into town with Janelle to help market the bowling alley to all the hostels and public areas in down town.

This weekends forecast: rain, rain and more rain. This morning the rain created such a fog that you couldn't even see the mountain. So it will be a weekend indoors. Tomorrow night is going to be a movie night with Aleisha and Janelle and Saturday is putt-putting (theres an indoor course). Aleisha and I also discussed going to puzzle world, but I'm not sure if the weather will change those plans.

Not much else to report from the southern hemisphere.

Sketch Request

Beginnings of a sketch from the Wilderness Safari.

Thank you Nanny, Papa and Nana for the Valentines Day mail!
Lost is on tonight =)

Safari Pictures

Valentines Weekend

Happy Valentines Day!

Friday, I went into town with Janelle and Aleisha and saw the movie Valentines Day, which was good and the previews for new movies look really intriguing!

Woke up Saturday morning to catch the 8am shuttle and it was raining. I made an executive decision to sleep a bit longer and see what the weather proved to do. Woke up again at 9:30 and the sun was out so I walked into town. Went to the arts and crafts fair/thing and picked up a souvenir clock made out of a beer bottle. Spent early afternoon wandering around down town and found a small art gallery (with free admission - score!) that really made me miss my acrylics and paintbrushes. So in a wave of emotion wishing I had art supplies with me I bought a sketch book and colored pencils - much cheaper than acrylics and canvas I must say. So Saturday afternoon I drew for a bit and did my laundry - exciting no?

Today was an adventure! Aleisha picked me up at 7:30am to go on the Wilderness Safari (http://www.dartriver.co.nz/dartriver/WildernessSafari/). The weather was not great today, mid sixties, cloudy and windy. The safari is a 45 minute bus ride out to Glenorchy - a town of roughly 250 people, an hour jet boat ride, 20 minute nature walk, and another hour or so in a bus that takes you down a dirt road through some scenery (and LOTR filming sites!). The jet boats were heaps of fun. They went really fast and we saw some gorgeous scenery and the driver would stop so you had time to take some pictures. They also did some 360s that got your adrenaline pumping - and got you a bit wet, which made it pretty cold. The nature walk was short, but beautiful. It was through a rain forest that gets 7-8 meters of rain every year. On the backroad tour I got to see part of the ents - to me it looked like at the end of Helms Deep when the ents crush the remaining orks that fled, Isengard and a portion of the Hobbit will be filmed in May. On the drive up we also got to see where Frodo runs from Boromir in the first movie - when Boromir tries to take the ring. This trip made me want to do a Lord of the Rings trip now.

The rest of my Sunday is going to be a bit more low key. I'm chilly so I think I may make some coffee or tea and watch a movie.

When I get the pictures off my camera I'll put a few up from the Wilderness Safari.

Cool Front

Its been cooler the past couple days. Sun came out late this afternoon. . . I'm hoping it stays out. It is supposed to rain tomorrow :-(

At work I am still trying to straighten out the registers. Today I took stock of all the beverage items in the bowling alley and entered the numbers into the registers so we can have the stock automatically adjusted when things are sold. I will repeat all this tomorrow in the bar. Then its the weekend!

Went to town last night with Rachel. I was craving chocolate so we went to a restaurant, Brazz, and had a massive chocolate brownie with ice cream. It was delicious and was the perfect thing to calm my craving. After dessert we went to a goodbye party for Avril, who is friends with most of the girls in the hotel. Didnt make it a late night since I had work this morning, but it was a good time.

Tonight's big plans: Final season premier for Lost. I'm going to pop some popcorn and just relax in the common room. I'm excited!

Back to Work

Yesterday morning I spent watching a documentary of Marlon Brando in the common room while eating some bruchetta bites. Nothing terribly exciting but it was nice not having to be any where at a particular time.

I went into town at 4. Walked around for a while then had dinner at The Cow and gelato (I tried after dinner mint - yummy!) from The Lick. Picked up a few groceries (including popcorn - FINNALY!) and got back home around 8. By the end of yesterday the sun was behind the clouds and the wind was blowing so it was a little chilly.

Today looked to be chilly this morning, but turned out to be beautiful. I was able to wear one of my dresses to work :-). Speaking of work I had a change of scenery today and was working in the bar at the register (re-programming and organizing the functions). So instead of a view of the mountain I could see the back patio and the pool. At the end of the day I was in the bowling alley working on their register which was fun because I was working around people at that point.

Haven't decided what I am doing yet tonight.

Waitangi Day Weekend

Friday night was a birthday celebration for a girl at the hotel, Camilla. A couple people arranged a bbq and a night out on the town and I went with. Camilla is from Brazil, so the bbq was Brazilian flavored, which was just a lot rock salt on the meat that we cooked. We also had some sausages too to go along with it.

Rachel (a Kiwi and daughter of the hotel manager) LOVES onion dip. Over here though it is not pre-made, so they make it themselves with condensed cream, onion soup powder mix and vinegar. I told her once I get home I'll have to ship her a jar of french onion dip, American style. The homemade stuff tasted pretty yummy.

HAPPY WAITANGI DAY!
Saturday (Feb 6) was Waitangi Day (similar to our 4th of July - no fireworks though). Waitangi Day celebrates the treaty that was signed between the Maori and the European settlers in 1840. This treaty made New Zealand a part of the British Empire and helped cease the fighting between the Maori tribes.

Saturday, I slept in (Friday turned out to be a late night). I caught the 2 pm shuttle into town and walked around for a few hours. I had lunch on the harbour at a deli called "The Good Food Company". In the picture above it is the green building (you can click on the picture to enlarge it).

I then walked through the arts and crafts fair that goes on every Saturday. Lots of neat stuff there. I am planning to go back next Saturday and maybe pick up a few souvenirs. Afterwards I had some caramel gelato and walked by the water for a bit. I put my toes in the water and it was FREEZING cold. It is going to have to be excruciatingly hot to get me to go swimming in the lake.

Saturday night was just relaxing at home. Made dinner in the common room and watched Indiana Jones.

Toes in the. . . rocks?

Caught the shuttle to Queenstown at 8am this morning and spent all morning walking around and seeing the city. Had an amazing strawberry tart at a cafe with sparkling cranberry lime juice (tasted a lot like a limeade from sonic, but more expensive).

I then sat on the beach by the lake for a while soaking up the sun rays (with sunscreen on) and watching the seagulls, ducks and boats. The beach is really more just rocks that are small but there was plenty of space to lay out a towell and not feel like you were on top of other sun bathers like some beaches in Florida. The sun is more dangerous here since New Zealand has far less polution to suck up the UV rays as well as there being a thinner ozone layer. Sunscreen is REALLY expensive though. Got a bottle of Hawaiian Tropic for $26. It better last me the whole time I'm here.

All the interns in the program have been trying to get weekends put together for traveling. The only thing that has been set so far is that I am going to Dunedin in March, by bus. It is about a 3 1/2 hour bus ride, and the bus tickets were super cheap. Other cities I am trying to get to are Christchurch, Wellington and Nadi (Fiji). We'll see how far the budget gets me :-)

Summer Lovin!

The weather here has been so great! It has been warm with few clouds and looonnng days. The picture above was taken at 9:30 last night. About half an hour later it was completely dark. I'm not sure when the sun rises (because its up by the time I get up for work) but I love seeing it all day and getting my vitamin d!

With the summer comes great fruit and lots of it! The kiwis over here (as you would guess) are delicious and one of the cheaper fruits. I am hoping to make it to the farmers market this weekend to see what other kind of fruits I can get my hands on.

Hope you are all staying warm!

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

WORKING HARD!

The first couple days have been great. Everyone at the hotel is extremely friendly and willing to help me learn everything. I have already been offered rides to other cities on the south island when other people are headed there. I'm not sure if I will take these offers up yet but its nice to know I have a cheap, cheap, cheap option.

The people working in the hotel are half and half. Half temporary and half permanent. There are a bunch of nations being represented as well: New Zealand (of course), United States (again obvious), Ireland, Brazil and France are the nations of people I have met so far. Queenstown is full of people stopping through and finding a job for a while before moving on to the next city they want to see, so there is a lot of diversity and short term jobs.

So far all of my work has been excel spreadsheets and a little redundant but I understand it so that's great news :-). Hopefully soon I will be helping with events and marketing.

I haven't gone back into Queenstown yet, but am planning to go sometime this week to scout out a post office and some souvenirs.

Sending love back to the U.S.!