The Secret Life of a Trailblazer

A new website

2010-01-20T21:57:00.000-08:00

Josh and I have created a wedding website. It's not super exciting, but it does have some info about us, our wedding, and our gift registries. Check it out.

Updates

2010-01-18T22:31:00.001-08:00

Hello Internet,

Just wanted to let you know that I am engaged to be married this summer. On July 4, 2010, I will marry Joshua Harris. And no, we will not be having a star-spangled wedding. I could probably write about how we met and fell in love and all that, but I won't. At least not now. Also I moved back to Texas.

Until next time,
Jaci

Nope, nothing.

2009-06-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

Here's the problem: I wish I would blog more often. I have half a dozen drafts started, but after a few sentences I realize that I am not funny, my life is not very entertaining, and I am a terrible speller, especially considering I edit for a living.

Anyway, my roommate Denise is funny. And she somehow makes life seem pretty amusing. Read her blog and just pretend that it's me writing. Problem solved.

DeniseMorris.wordpress.com

Henry and Anthony and cupcakes

2009-03-13T09:37:00.000-07:00

My roommates and I used to be pretty good about remembering to set out the trash on Thursday nights. Occasionally we would forget and have to set it out Friday morning before rushing off to work, but we usually remembered. But then my roommate Denise got laid off (she has a new job now) and was home on Friday mornings. And she discovered that if we forgot to set out the trash, the “sanitation engineers” would ring the doorbell and wait for Denise to get out of bed, open the garage door, and bring out the trash. This became an (almost) weekly ritual, and Denise even got to know them. Their names are Henry and Anthony, and they said she looks like Michelle Obama, which is kind of true.

We really appreciate the fact that these men take time out of their morning to ring the doorbell and wait for Denise, so this week we decided to do something to thank them. We made some cupcakes, sealed them up in Tupperware, put a note on top, and left them outside for Henry and Anthony to pick up.

Denise woke up in time to watch Henry and Anthony from her window this morning. She said before they even noticed the cupcakes, Anthony saw that our trash was actually out on the curb and gave a big two thumbs up.

It’s nice to know that they’re cheering for us, don’t you think? I really hope they like their cupcakes.

Moab

2009-01-15T22:27:00.000-08:00

Do you ever feel restless? I do. I just couldn't sit still this week. I wanted to do something.

Luckily my restlessness coincided with a couple of my friends' adventurousness, so tonight we played "Pin the donkey on the map." (If you don't know the rules, you can ask Micah.) The winning donkey landed in Moab, so at 5 pm tomorrow, off we go!

Don't know much about Moab? Here's a picture:

It's supposed to be kinda cold. Highs near 40ish, lows near 20ish. And we're bringing a tent. So I've packed my wool socks, all the long-sleeved shirts I own, and at least three jackets.

I love adventures …

Pretty (or things I like part 3)

2009-01-06T21:14:00.001-08:00

I took this picture from the driveway of my office while leaving work today. Isn't the view gorgeous?

home for the holidays

2008-12-24T11:10:00.000-08:00

So I'm home in Oregon for Christmas. The house is all decked out for the holidays and my mom has made all kinds of goodies, with more to come today.

My mom decorated before I got home, and when she finished, she asked my dad to put the leftover ornaments and decorations out in the garage. But, of course, he didn't. Instead, he did his own decorating.

Merry Christmas!

One week until Christmas

2008-12-18T16:12:00.000-08:00

I bought my last Christmas present yesterday. Aren't you proud? Now I'm slowly wrapping them. I can only do one or two before I get really frustrated and give up. I am not a good gift-wrapper.

Also I made this scarf for a friend (I won't say which friend in the tiny chance she reads this). Isn't is cool? I'm fairly impressed that I was able to crochet it. It uses a double-triple stitch, which I think sounds pretty professional. But as impressed as I am with my crocheting skills, I'm even more impressed with people who can come up with patterns. I have no concept of how they can even imagine how to turn yarn into a scarf.

At work we're moving cubicles. We moved at Christmas last year, so I'm guessing it's some sort of Cook tradition that HR forgot to tell me about. Everyone around me has already moved, but my new cube hasn't even been built yet. It's a little lonely by myself, so I hope they move me before Christmas. If not, I'm afraid I'll start talking to myself and going a little crazy. Doesn't it seem like moving desks should be the subject of an episode of The Office? I mean, seriously, can't you just imagine Dwight trying to direct movers and Jim coming up with an awesome prank to play on him? I think the writers of The Office should probably hire me.

0

2008-12-15T15:51:00.001-08:00

It is cold. 0 degrees in fact, and that's in Fahrenheit. In Celsius it's even colder. My roommate Denise says I'm a wuss for complaining about the cold. But if you can't complain about 0 degrees, what can you complain about?

I think someone forgot to turn on the heat in my office today. My coworker has a temperature gauge, and it was 54 degrees this morning. People were sitting at their desks in their winter coats and scarves. One guy even had ear muffs on.

And technically, it's not even winter yet. Yikes!

Dec. 10

2008-12-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

I am terrible at Christmas shopping. I spent almost two hours shopping tonight and bought one thing for someone besides myself. One. And I'd already bought her something.

But I did buy myself some new mascara and eye liner. I love buying new makeup, even when it's nothing particularly exciting and nothing I need—like black mascara and eye liner (which I only wear about once every three weeks anyway.) But still, I love getting home and opening it up and using it for the first time. I can hardly wait until I get ready for work tomorrow morning to try it out.

I also bought a new hair dryer. Mine broke yesterday. This is now the third hair dryer I've bought in my year-and-a-half of living here. This time I bought one that came with warranty. Smart, right?

Well, that was my enthralling update on the past three months of my life. Now I'm going to go find someone to do my Christmas shopping for me.

what I've been up to lately (you should buy one)

2008-10-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

Blue Hole Back Home
Half Life / Die Already
I heart bloomberg
The Soul of Prince Caspian
Safe at Home
Saving a Life
Zora and Nicky
Act Two
Deliver Us from Me-Ville
The Lazarus Life
Experiencing LeaderShift
Leave It to Chance
Letters from a Skeptic
Live Fearlessly
Live Intimately
Reimagining Church
When I Do Becomes I Don’t
And the Lamb Wins
He Is My All
He Is My Freedom
He Is My Life
In the Shadow of Lions
Experiencing LeaderShift Application Guide
Experiencing LeaderShift Together Leader’s Guide
Experiencing LeaderShift Together Participant’s Guide
Let them eat fruitcake
O Little Town
When God Breaks Your Heart
Wounded

places

2008-09-17T20:46:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Ashley and I rode our bikes up the Santa Fe trail. We've done this several times throughout the summer but we've always gone south, not really knowing what the terrain was like going north or where we would end up. Taking the trail south isn't particularly exciting (especially after you've done it once), but the scenery is pleasant enough and the paved path has mile markers, which were helpful when we were training for the triathlon.
But Saturday, we decided to head out for the unknown. We parked in the usual lot, but instead of turning south, we went north. The day was perfect—sunny and warm (but not hot), and the first dusting of snow had just appeared on Pikes Peak. We followed a creek through meadows and along rock formations, seeing wildflowers, grasshoppers, and even snakes (which are much less scary when you're on a bike than when on foot).
Eventually the path entered Air Force Academy land, and the scenery became even more picturesque, with trains chugging over green hills in the distance and cadets practicing their piloting skills in gliders silently soaring in the blue sky.
We couldn't believe we were even still in Colorado Springs, which is a bit of a desert, with few trees and green spaces and lots of traffic.
I love finding beautiful places when you least expect to. It's one of the things that makes a "town you live in" start to feel like it could someday maybe be considered "home."
It's taken me awhile to find those places here in Colorado. Probably because I haven't made a huge effort. In a foreign city it's easy to become a tourist every weekend and find places to love because you know you won't be there forever, and claiming those special places is what makes your time in that city feel real. But it's harder when you're living in a normal, everyday city that you could end up living in for years. You justify that you'll have plenty of time to explore—right now you need to run errands and rest up for a busy week and just relax.
But I'm glad I'm finding places in Colorado Springs to love. Because no matter how long I'm here, it'll be nice to remind myself someday of a gorgeous fall day when I rode my bike through meadows and hills and discovered that even normal, everyday cities have plenty of beautiful places to call my own.

the time we missed the start of the race

2008-06-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

I completed my second triathlon yesterday. I know, I think I might be a bit crazy too, but it was actually really fun.

I don't know my official time, but I know I completed it faster than my first one—I think by about 15 minutes or so.

I did this race with my roommate Denise and my friend Ashley. We've been training together for the past couple of months, which was great. We had fun complaining together, enjoying treats together, and slacking off together. And, of course, this weekend we had fun racing together.

The weekend didn't exactly go smoothly, but in the end it all turned out all right. It started out on Friday afternoon with a bike rack that really didn't seem up to the job of holding three bikes. It took until we pulled out of our driveway to realize that we could not drive an hour with three bikes swinging behind Ashley's car. We ended up taking apart two of the bikes and putting them in the back of the SUV and leaving one on the rack. The backseat was a little crowded, but at least we didn't have to worry about watching our bikes bounce down the freeway.

Putting the bikes back together on Saturday morning was a little tricky, but we had to wait in a long "body marking" line, and a nice man helped us with the mechanics. Triathletes are really nice people.

Our next misadventure (other than getting lost a few time in Highlands Ranch) was one that Ashley and I had both dreamed about happening: We missed the start of the race. All three of us were in heat H, which was supposed to start at 7:20 (yes, a.m.—way too early). After setting up all our gear in the transition area and making sure we knew what was going on, we wandered down to the pool at about 7:05. Heat G was just getting in the water, so we decided to make a trip to the bathrooms. When we got back to the pool, there were eight people in each lane (not four like we had been told). As soon as they all started swimming, we got really nervous. I leaned over the edge and looked at one of the swimmer's hands and I saw an H.

Needless to say we were a little stressed by this. But after a quick chat with a grumpy race coordinator, we learned that they had combined the G and H heats. Luckily the coordinator let us jump into a lane and said he would manually fix our times later (dont' know if that will actually happen). I think it ended up being a good thing since we didn't have time to get super nervous before starting. And we pretty much had the whole pool to ourselves about halfway through our swim. Of course, being one of the last people out of the pool, you get all kinds of pity cheers. I really wanted to stop and explain to all those people that I wasn't really five minutes slower than everyone else, but I figured that probably wouldn't be the best use of my time.

The race went along fine from there. The bike loop seemed to be about 75 percent uphill, but none of us got a flat, so that was good. During the run we weren't allowed to listed to iPods, which seemed unfair. But since the course was a there-and-back trail it was nice to hear encouragement from everyone passing. At the very end of the run a nice man ran along side me me and made a comment about the last quarter of a mile being uphill, and then he suddenly stopped in front of me and pointed to the ground. A HUGE yellow snake was slithering across the path two feet in front of us. "Oh, it's just a bull snake," the nice man said before continuing his run. Just a bull snake! I made a very large circle around the snake and continued on and forgot, for a few moments at least, about how exhausted I was.

After that I crossed the finish line and was amazed at how energetic and happy I felt. Endorphins and adrenaline are amazing things. We made a quick stop on the way home for some good recovery food and are now talking about possibly doing another triathlon later in the summer—but that could easily have been the endorphins talking.

anniversary

2008-05-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile since I posted. A lot has happened in the past two weeks—well, not really, but a few things have happened.

My one-year anniversary of being back in the US took place. It's strange to think that my overseas experience ended more than a year ago. In some ways it seems like forever ago that I was living out a of a backpack, eating dinner at night markets, and sleeping in a different place every few nights. But at the same time, it's hard for me to believe that that part of my life is over. I spent months planning my move and wondering how it would all turn out. And I spent so many years hoping I could one day live abroad and visit different countries. In several of my college classes I had to write out a life mission statement or life goals of some sort. In all of those assignments I wrote that I wanted to live overseas. And it's weird that I now have. I think if I was given one of those assignments today, I would still include that goal.

I guess some goals are never really "reached." They become a part of you, something you're always striving for, another aspect of your personality. At least I hope so. I hope that my love of travel and new cultures isn't just some phase I'm going through because I'm young. I hope that living in New Zealand and backpacking in Asia isn't the pinnacle of my travel adventure. I suppose if that is the case, I shouldn't be ashamed—I did reach my goal. But I don't want it to be over. At least not yet.

Never mind

2008-04-29T17:06:00.001-07:00

I am definitely not a Runner.

born to fly (except not really)

2008-04-27T12:44:00.001-07:00

I think I might be becoming a Runner. I've been running for about eight months now, but until recently, I know I haven't been a Runner. Lately though, I've found myself enjoying my runs, which is a little frightening. I make running playlists and download new songs and get excited about listening to them. As I drive through my neighborhood I plan out new routes in my head. And when it's sunny out, I actually look forward to getting home from work and changing into my running clothes.

I don't know if this will last long, or if I want it to. Usually Runners kind of annoy me. They talk about how they only ran six miles yesterday instead of eight, and I want to slap them (don't worry, I usually don't). I know I won't get to that point any time soon, which is a nice reassurance, But since my next triathlon is in five weeks, I guess it's okay to be a sorta-Runner for now.

Also, if you happen to be a guy, please know they when my friends and I are out running, we do notice when you slow down and turn your head to stare at us. And we don't appreciate it. Really, we don't. We pretty much think you're a creep.

What I like about living at high altitude

2008-04-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

1. The sun is very strong, so you feel warm (even hot!) if the sun is shining and it's only 55 degrees out. And then it snows.

2. I assume that since I can run three miles at 6,000 feet, I can run a marathon at sea level. (I'm not quite clear on how the math works, but I'm guessing that's a pretty close estimate.)

Siberia Hut

2008-04-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

"Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup. You have made my lot secure" Psalm 16: 5.

It was a long, hard day. The night before we had all slept on a few mattresses pushed together on a cabin floor, so that morning, knowing the second hut had even fewer bunks, we hurried, hoping we would make it in time to snag a bed.

We got lost in the valley. Only finding our way when someone's good eyesight would spot an orange pole sticking out of the brush. We filled up our water bottles for the last time on the valley floor and looked to the mountain above us, knowing the next few hours would not be fun.

They were not. We zigzagged back and forth for what seemed like hours. More fit hikers passing us every now and then, prodding us along with kind words and smiles. We were thirsty, hungry, hot in the direct sun, and tired. So tired.

At the top, we relaxed, relieved to have survived the worst of the day. We ate a lunch of crackers and peanut butter and built snowmen and laughed at each other, thinking the day was almost done. We told Mor we would save him a bunk if we arrived before him, and he returned the promise with a laugh. We knew we had to hurry.

The way down was steep. My knees hurt, and my ankles, and my bottom when I fell down the rocky path. We got grumpy.

We reached a stream and watched the boys splash and play. We waited in the grass, wanting to move along, but wanting to rest our legs and our shoulders, tired from carrying our packs. Finally we continued through the grassy flats, unable to see where our path ended. The sandflys came out, adding to our weariness. The farther we plodded along, the more certain we became that we would be sleeping on the ground that night.

Finally, after a couple of river crossings, we arrived at the hut with wet feet and sore limbs. The hut was so small and simple, but it looked so welcoming. We hurried inside, eager to escape the sandflys, but soon our joy disappeared. All the beds had been claimed—a pillow here, a jacket there. We set our packs on the porch and searched them for fresh clothes and soap, then slowly peeled off our boots and socks.

After a dip in the frigid river we headed back to the hut, determined to at least secure a sheltered spot on the floor. Mor greeted us as we pulled out our sleeping bags. "Why are you outside?" he asked in his broken English. We explained that all the beds were taken, and he broke into a huge smile. "But they're yours. I saved them for you like I said."

Things I like—part 2

2008-03-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

One night I couldn't sleep, and at about midnight I heard a truck rumble slowly down the empty street and stop in front of our house. Since I wasn't anywhere near falling asleep, I got up and peeked out my blinds. What I saw made my pulse beat a little faster and made me wish my room was in the back of the house. A big black delivery-type truck was idling in the middle of the street. I squinted to see if I could read any letters on the truck or see any people, but the night was too dark and my vision isn't that great. But then—movement on the front porch of our neighbor's house! A man dressed in black and wearing a headlamp was walking toward the front door!

Do I call the police? Do I wake up my roommates? Do I go back to bed and pretend I didn't see anything?

As I debated what to do, the man bent over and left something on the porch.

Oh my gosh! It's a bomb!

I was definitely freaked out by now. The man picked something up, turned and jogged back to his truck. Just as I was about to run and wake someone up, his headlamp illuminated the side of the truck, and I could make out an image.

It was splash of milk. He wasn't a burglar or a terrorist, he was delivering the morning's milk and putting it in a cooler on the front porch.

Now, whenever I'm still awake at midnight and I hear the truck, I get up and watch the milkman. He'll be out there in the quiet night, even in the snow and wind, and he's always so quick. I wonder if it's a lonely job; he doesn't seem to have a partner. I wonder how many other people watch him, and how many times he's had to deal with paranoid neighbors.

Anyway, the milkman is something I like about Colorado Springs, I like knowing that if I'm still awake late at night, I can peek through my blinds and see someone who is as wide awake as I am.

Te Anau

2008-03-08T21:31:00.000-08:00

As you can see, I discovered how to change my template. The picture at the top of the page was taken from outside our room in Te Anua, New Zealand. Te Anau is where we started the three-day hike on the Kepler track.

The evening before starting the hike we drove into town from the hostel to rent some gear. The rain was pouring down in sheets, pounding on the roof of our little car, making it nearly impossible to hear the music from the car stereo—U2's song "Stuck in a Moment" was playing. I remember a sick feeling of dread in my stomach as we splashed past the turnoff sign for the head of the trail; we didn't have proper rain gear or boots or warm sleeping bags, and we weren't exactly in prime hiking shape. I was pretty sure we were going to be wet and miserable for the next three days.

That night I lay awake in my bed, listening to the sounds of the rain and of five other people sleeping, wondering what on earth I'd gotten myself into. I finally fell asleep praying for sunshine.

We woke up early the next morning to a damp, but sunny day, and didn't feel a drop rain again until after we left the trail. The hike was amazing; not only was the scenery unlike anything we'd seen before, but our tennis shoes held up fine, our sleeping bags kept us warm, and we didn't need rain gear after all. I think days like the ones we spent on the ridges of the Kepler mountains make it a little easier to believe in miracles, even if they are small ones.

June 7

2008-03-04T21:18:00.000-08:00

Don't know what you'll be doing, but if you don't have any plans yet, you can join me here.

2008-03-02T12:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday it was sunny and 72 degrees. I sat in our backyard and read a book.

Today it is 30 degrees and snowy.

How is that possible?

I like—part 1

2008-02-28T21:06:00.000-08:00

I seem to have this personality quirk (just a quirk, mind you, not a flaw) that makes it very difficult for me to be excited about anything that everyone around me thinks is great, especially places. I never even thought to like Oregon until I moved to Texas. And it took me four years of living in Texas to admit that I might possibly like "the state that could be its own country." But by the time I figured that out, I moved to New Zealand, where I didn't know anyone so my personality quirk wasn't an issue.

So now I live in Colorado, and everyone here loves it, especially the mountains. And I don't blame them. The mountains are gorgeous, and it's sunny all the time. I really should love it here too. But I have trouble admitting that. So my new project is to keep track of the things I like about living here now rather than after I move away.

I like (in no particular order and to be continued at random):

Waking up and looking out my window to see a blue sky and Pikes Peak

Snow on a fairly regular basis, even if the roads are icy

My own warm, cozy bed

My roommates

Living near a brand-new Super Target

Thunder storms every night in the summer

jan. 26

2008-01-26T11:36:00.000-08:00

I miss New Zealand today.
I miss glow worms and phosphorescent water. I miss giant palms trees and silver ferns. Glaciers on the side of the highway and deserted beaches that go on for miles. I miss sheep in the road and friends from far-off places.

Two good things

2008-01-17T21:42:00.000-08:00

I went to the dentist today and I have no cavities. That's right—0

I got a free T-shirt at the YMCA, just because I'm a member. Sure, the logo was a little off-center, but who cares; It was free and I didn't have to run a race or join a club to get it. One more reason I think the Y is an awesome place.

another new year

2008-01-02T18:38:00.000-08:00

Last year on New Year's Eve, Amy and I sat in the lounge of a hostel in Kaikoura watching a Lord of the Rings marathon. Close to midnight we made friends with some Australians, but all-in-all, the night wasn't too exciting, and the drunker everyone around us became, the more we wished we had agreed to start cleaning the hostel on the second of January—not the first.

However, the next afternoon I started talking with a girl named Maya, and by the day's end, Amy and I had a whole group of friends to hang out with and plan our travels with. We spent the next two months with Maya and picked up a lot more friends on the way. We climbed mountains, hiked on glaciers, swam out to icebergs, and lived each day without knowing what adventure the next would bring. Basically we had a blast.

So even with its ominous beginning, 2007 was a pretty good year, which brings me hope for 2008.

This year on New Year's Eve, I was at a place called the Grizzly Rose with three of my girlfriends. Supposedly lots of people our age came to this place, and we would have a lot of fun line dancing and two-stepping. (I know, what was I thinking?) Anyway, we ended up leaving seconds after midnight, with a mad dash to the door. Turns out Grizzly Rose isn't the greatest place to hang out if you're 24. I had the privilege of dancing with several men, most likely all over the age 40.

So I bring with me into 2008 improved two-stepping skills and hope that 2008 will turn out even better than 2007.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-22T10:07:00.000-08:00

Teri surprised my parents by coming home from Christmas. After I picked her up from the airport, we went to the furniture store to get a box. My mom laughed and cried, but we didn't get her reaction on tape. Teri just about gave my dad a heart attack, which you can kinda see in this video.

turkey

2007-11-25T15:29:00.000-08:00

So apparently you are supposed to remove two bags of "stuff" from inside the turkey before you cook it, not just one.

Who knew?

Oh well. The turkey tasted good anyway.

happy thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T11:35:00.000-08:00

Well the turkey is in the oven. We had an interesting time putting butter and spices on it and filling it with stuffing. The process was pretty gross, but it's cooking now. I sure hope it turns out, especially since 12 people are counting on it eating it in a few hours.

ice

2007-11-21T07:27:00.000-08:00

It snowed again last night. All last night on the new, the weatherman were telling us that snow was coming.
And still, this morning as I drove to work, people seemed shocked to be driving in ice and snow. During my usually-five-minute drive to work, which lasted about 15 minutes, all I heard on the radio were traffic reports of wrecks and road closures.
I was a little surprised at how icy it was, but I'm from Oregon—I can drive in fog and rain just fine, but ice is a little tricky. I figured these Coloradans would have it down by now. Makes me a little nervous for big storms.

I realize I post a lot about the weather on here. But I love the weather. Especially extreme weather. I get so bored when it's sunny and 60 for weeks on end (like it has been here). Although I now know that I don't enjoy driving on icy roads, I am still looking forward to a winter full of exciting weather.

craziness

2007-11-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

My roommate Denise (Kelly in the Halloween pictures below) is trying to convince me to do a ten-mile run with her in January. I think I may have agreed, which could be a problem for a few reasons.

First off, I can barely run three miles, and that was a month ago. I'm betting that I'm already back down to my pre-race quarter-mile endurance level.

Second, the race is in January. In Colorado. In the morning. Brrrrrr.

Third of all, I do not like running. At all.

Fourth of all, if I do manage to somehow run ten miles, that will just show that I can run, and Denise is already talking about half marathons in the spring.

We may have to talk about this race thing a little bit more. Maybe there's a nice 5k coming up soon we could compromise on.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I dressed up for Halloween. As a small child I remember longing to be a pretty fairy princess and ending up in a sack-type dress that had been dyed pink. An elastic band secured a pointy hat with puff-paint stars on it to my head. Another year I remember being too sick to wear my pretty butterfly costume around the neighborhood to collect candy, instead I lay on the couch and heard the rest of the neighborhood kids come to our door.

So Halloween has never been my favorite holiday. The anticipation never seems to live up to the actual event.

This year, though, I decided to get into the spirit (or rather, was persuaded to get into the spirit by my roommates) and I went to a costume party, in a costume and everything.

However, in less you are familiar with the TV show The Office, you wouldn't really know that I was dressed up at all. That's the best kind of costume, really—one that is readily available in the closet. My biggest difficulty in becoming Pam was trying to make my hair curl. I seem to remember that being a problem when I dressed up as a fairy princess as well.

Pam, Ryan, Kelli, and Angela

I was a beginning-of-third-season Pam. Jim was nowhere to be found.

24

2007-10-23T07:33:00.001-07:00

23 has been a pretty good year. I wasn't sure a year ago if it could live up to 22, but it just might have. I'll have to think about that one a bit more.

I got birthday wishes from Facebook. That's kinda cool.

And I got birthday cinnamon rolls - yum!

It's not even 9 a.m., and so far, it's a good birthday.

It's Snowing!

2007-10-21T11:01:00.000-07:00

Happy October 21st!

More fall goodness

2007-10-15T07:36:00.000-07:00

Snow fell on the mountains yesterday. I woke up this morning (with a text from someone who knew how excited I would be about the snow) and saw the mountains through my window, covered in a substantial layer of white happiness.
No more dusty brown mountains in the distance. Now they are white and majestic looking and provide a great backdrop for the orange, yellow, and red trees in town.

pretty colors

2007-10-13T20:01:00.000-07:00

I love the fall.
The trees are all yellow or orange.
There's a red tree in my new front yard. It matches the trim of the house.

finished

2007-10-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I am now a triathlete. I didn't fall off my bike, and I didn't drown. And as you can see from the picture above (taken by my awesome friend Sarah), the weather allowed me to wear a wonderfully colorful ensemble of clothing—much to the jealousy of all the hard-core athletes with their matching black rain gear, bikes, and helmets.

Overall we had a fun weekend, saw some gorgeous fall colors, and Colorado scenery, and we even got to sleep in a teepee, so I think it was a success.

6 days to go

2007-09-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

My triathlon is Saturday. I'm fairly terrified.

Although I now know how to ride my bike, I still haven't ridden 15 miles on it. And 15 miles is a long ways.

What if I start out on the swim too fast and wear myself out in the first two minutes?

I'm not very good at running on hills, and the course is described as "hilly."

Will people make fun of me if I walk?

Can I walk my bike up the steep hills?

I'm a little worried that I'll fall off my bike while taking a drink of water.

What if I finish last?

OK, now my worries are out there. I'm sure I'll be fine. No doubt the race will be incredibly difficult. But as Sarah reminded me, this time next week, I'll be a triathlete. That's pretty cool.

a story about new zealand.

2007-09-27T18:33:00.000-07:00

Please read this. It's a perfect example of the New Zealand attitude to life.

stuck in second gear

2007-09-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

Since I'm training for a triathlon I took my bike out to Garden of the Gods the other day for a ride. The road there has a nice wide bike lane, and it's pretty hilly. Good practice, I figured.

My friend who's also doing the triathlon met me there and we started on the loop. It started out uphill right away, not fun. As I struggled to make it to the top without stopping, Brett pedaled comfortably up and waited for me at the top, where I stopped to catch my breath. I wanted to take a nice long break, so I asked for an explanation of the gears, even though I'm sure I pretended to listen to my dad talk about bike gears every time we ever went on a bike ride growing up.

Well the conversation was a bit complicated. Turns out "hard," "easy," "fast," and "slow" are pretty subjective words. After a five-minute conversation, Brett finally told me to use my right thumb going uphill and my right finger to go down. Opposite with my left hand.

As we started up the next hill a few minutes later, I realized that I have been changing my gears in the exact opposite way your supposed to for as long as I can remember. And man, it sure is easier to pedal going uphill when you've got your bike in the right gear.

I'm sure I could turn this into some great lesson on how you should listen to your parents or I could use the bike gears as a metaphor about making life a lot harder than it needs to be. But I don't really feel like it. I'm just glad I know how to ride my bike.

missing things

2007-09-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

When I was in New Zealand I missed several American things: Dr Pepper, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Gilmore Girls, cheap shampoo, Target, Gap jeans, Girl Scout cookies, and drinks from Starbucks that weren't prohibitively expensive. However, now that I'm back US, I find myself missing the things I used to replace the things I missed back then.

I wrote more than a year ago about the coffee shops in Wellington, and how I was getting used to drinking plain mochas rather than fancy sugary things from Starbucks (not that mochas aren't sugary, just slightly less so).

Well, at work the other day we took a break and drove down to the nearby Starbucks and came back with some wonderfully sugary drinks. But as I stood in line at Starbucks, waiting to order, I found myself thinking wistfully of the days when I would take the elevator down ten stories, brave the Wellington wind and hurry twenty feet up the street to the trendy and modern MoJo Cafe, where one person would stay at the counter and order all our drinks while the rest of us would gather around a square table and look around the small dark cafe to see who else from the Ministry of Health was taking a coffee break. One of the guys would generally order some ridiculously strong coffee in a tiny green cup and we would marvel at the size of the thing and chat about work and traveling and life, and I would enjoy my mocha in the glass tumbler, playing with the two slowly melting marshmallows—one pink, one white.

Now that I'm back, I wonder why I ever missed Starbucks.

my poetic zenith

2007-09-12T14:18:00.000-07:00

I wrote this poem in 5th grade and somehow I still remember all the words:

It tastes so good on a warm summer day
it slowly melts from the sun's bright rays
So cold it gives me a chill
More? I don't think I will
for one scoop of ice cream is enough for today.

Obviously I was a big believer in poetic license because really, what 11 year old would turn down a second scoop of ice cream?

oct. 6

2007-09-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official. I am going to compete in a triathlon. Although I don't know that "compete" is the right word. I think "complete" is more what I'm aiming for.

Today Brett and I filled out our forms and mailed them off. And in less than a month we will swim, bike and run. Why are we going to do this, you may ask?

I don't really know.

2007-09-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

I just noticed that my profile says I'm 250 years old.

I am getting older (reluctantly of course) but man, that is old.

growing up

2007-09-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

My parents recently decided they didn't want to pay my car insurance any more. Apparently paying for your own insurance is a "grown-up" thing, and I shouldn't complain because I'm a grown up now.

But I am going to complain anyways.

But not about paying my own insurance—I suppose that's fair enough. I want to complain about the fact that I am now supposed to be a grown up.

If I was a boy, I wouldn't be expected to be so grown up. One thing I discovered while researching car insurance is that it cost a lot more to be insured if you're a boy under the age of 25. That's because no one expects boys to be responsible and safety conscious before they turn 25. They're still allowed to occasionally act immature and childish and speed through town and not be able to make decisions, and no one thinks twice. Sure, girls complain about these immature boys to no end, but it's not like we don't expect it. That's just the way boys are, and we've all been told that boys never really grow up, or if they do, it's not until they turn at least 25.

Now, girls on the other hand, we have to have it together as soon as we graduate college. We are supposed to own the safe cars and have our oil changed every three months and drive at safe speeds and pay our bills on time and have good jobs and decorate our apartments and eat healthy food and dress nice and do everything right. If we don't, well then, we're just too flaky and obviously can't handle the real world.

Sure, this girl=maturity thing may lower our car insurance premiums a tad, but really, some days I would rather pay a bit more and be a little less grown up.

*If you are a boy and happen to be reading this and don't feel you fit my description, sorry. You may be the exception—who knows?

** I'm not bitter about anything in particular, this whole car insurance thing just enlightened me a bit :)

a list

2007-09-04T14:34:00.001-07:00

Most of my friends seem to be posting lists like this lately, and since I haven't been able to think of much else to write recently, I decided to follow the crowd.

1. I really wish I was mysterious. The fact that I’m writing this list shows how bad I am at actually being mysterious.
2. I have lived in three countries—US, UK, and NZ.
3. I have traveled in 19 countries.
4. I did ballet for nine years and danced a dozen different parts in the Nutcracker—including the part of the Rat King.
5. I don’t like imitation banana flavoring, except in banana crème pie.
6. The one time I was grounded as a child was for reading. For a month I had to ask permission before I could read a book.
7. I played piano off and on throughout my childhood. In my elementary and middle school days I would spend my 25 minutes of practice time playing scales with one hand and reading a book with the other. I don’t think my teacher ever caught on.
8. I got detention in 5th grade for reading. It’s a long story, and it totally wasn’t fair.
9. I am training for a triathlon.
10. I love “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin.
11. In fourth grade I lost the school geography bee because I didn’t know the Statue of Liberty was on Ellis Island. I’m still upset about that.
12. I did long jump, high jump and triple jump for my high school track and field team. I was terrible, but loved it.
13. I am a copy editor but don’t like using proper grammar and spelling in my emails.
14. I like raisin bread and bologna sandwiches, and I blame my mom for that.
15. I can’t spell raisin without spell check.
16. I love rooftops.
17. I cry when I get into arguments.
18. I have been asked to be a bridesmaid 5 times.
19. I hate driving and all things connected with driving, unless I am on a roadtrip and guaranteed that my car will not break down.
20. My sister lives in Taiwan.
21. Taiwan is a surprisingly nice place to visit.
22. The three most beautiful places in the world are Southern Oregon, the South Island of New Zealand and my grandparents’ backyard in Wisconsin.
23. Texas is nice, but it is not as great as some Texans believe. I miss it anyways.
24. I like going to major league baseball games.
25. I don’t really like talking on the phone.
26. I am terrified of spiders, like really terrified; I also blame my mom for this.
27. I am very sad that this post will probably knock the last of my New Zealand posts off the page.
28. I am not a morning person.
29. I lived with my best friends for three years in college.
30. I really enjoy public transportation.
31. I am very susceptible to suggestion.
32. Right now I’m going to buy a Coke because characters in the book I’m editing keep drinking Coke.
33. I like stars.
34. Finding a church is the best way to feel at home in a new place.
35. I have six piercings—five in my ears, one in my nose.
36. It really annoys me that most of the things on this list start with “I.”
37. I don’t like the way capital Js look, so I only write lowercased ones.
38. My first boyfriend’s name was Leo. We “went out” in seventh grade and he was probably the nicest guy I’ve ever dated.
39. I broke up with Leo on the 4th of July after seventh grade.
40. I like to cook and bake.
41. My roommates and I used to scream into an empty field when one of us had a bad week. It was a good ritual.
42. My first grown-up job was working for the New Zealand government.
43. I tend to have crushes on guys I don’t know.
44. My roommates enjoy encouraging this.
45. David Letterman is funnier than Jay Leno.
46. I am a member of the YMCA, and I love it there.
47. It’s hard for me to stay dry when I’m near any body of water.
48. I have trouble sitting still.
49. My middle name was my great-grandmother’s name.
50. I really like Christmas Eve

on a dark and stormy night ...

2007-08-06T00:28:00.000-07:00

Colorado Springs has a lot of storms. According to Wikipedia (the source of all knowledge) Colorado Springs has one of the highest occurrences of lightening strikes in the United States. I think that's pretty cool.

Most afternoons the clouds roll in between three and four and hang around for a few hours, sometimes producing storms and always producing fun cloud formations that I love to watch mix and mingle as they drift through the hills and then billow out across the plains.

I'm having trouble sleeping tonight. Apparently so is the sky. One storm keeps drifting in after another, with rain pounding down and thunder crashing each time I begin to doze off. About half an hour ago, the third big storm of the night crashed open above our townhouse, letting lose droves of rain that created pools on the window sills. I sat up in bed to watch the lightening when the sky flashed neon white, thunder crashed, a car alarm exploded into shrieks and a picture jumped off my wall onto the fan I had moved off my window sill onto the floor next to my bed.

I didn't feel at all sleepy after that.

After my heart rate slowed, I noticed a firetruck turn quietly into our drive and disappear behind the rows of houses. It just left, just as silently as it came. The storm seems to be over. Maybe I'll be able to fall asleep now—before another storm comes along.

the anniversary of the day that didn't exist.

2007-07-18T21:43:00.001-07:00

One year ago yesterday I left for New Zealand.

One year ago tomorrow I arrived in New Zealand.

I'm not quite sure what happened to July 18, 2006.

So here's to July 18, 2007.

one reason skiing is not high among my choices of winter sports

2007-07-17T21:35:00.001-07:00

A small commercial complex near my home boasts the following types of businesses:

Medical center
Chiropractic and rehabilitation care
Ski holidays
Life insurance
Foot and ankle specialists

Do you think all the owners have some kind of deal with each other? One sells the holiday, one prepares for all the possibilities, while the other three deal with the aftereffects....

two.5 months later

2007-07-11T11:35:00.001-07:00

I live in Colorado now. In a two-bedroom townhouse with a girl named Sarah (the second Sarah I have lived with). I am a copy editor at a book publishing company, and I wake up at 6:50 every weekday morning.

I walk to work most mornings because I live very close by. However, the walk isn't as fun as my walk to work in New Zealand. Here, people at the intersection look at me quizzically as I wait for the man to turn white in the crosswalk sign (and it's a very long light, so they glance at me quizzically, then look away, then they glance again, then away again, and on for several minutes). To get to the entrance of my office building I cut from the sidewalk to the parking lot by following a barely discernible path through tall grass and weeds. People also look at me quizzically as I do this. Maybe in a few weeks the path will be more discernible. Or I'll start driving to work.

I still get email updates from friends still traveling, and I hear about people I know just beginning adventures, and I get a little jealous and wish I was still out exploring. But then I realize that they probably had to carry their shampoo to the shower with them this morning and wear flip flops, and I start to feel better.

last day

2007-04-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

Well in about half an hour I will clean a hostel for the last time and then Amy and I will get on a bus back to Auckland. We have about 24 hours in the city - just enough time to rearrange our luggage and see how much space is left for souvenirs.

Leaving New Zealand will be very strange. After being here for so long it's hard to imagine not ever coming back, but it's such a remote country that I also can't imagine spending the time or money to come back to a place I've already been when there are so many places in the world I haven't seen yet.

I hope I do come back some day though. I have only been on four of the nine Great Walks; I haven't been to Stewart Island, and there are parts of the North Island I never made it to. I could definitely fill at least one summer (probably a lot more) visiting the sights we missed this time around.

This year (well 10 months, but that's pretty close) has been a great experience, and I'm sure that as I get home and unpack and arrange my pictures I'll really begin to realize just how great it was. But for now, I must say to anyone reading (even though I'm not really sure if anyone other than my mom and grandma read this) come visit New Zealand. It's gorgeous and an easy place to travel in. You'll love it.

I don't know if I'll post again from Auckland, but if not, thanks for reading about my adventures.

Cheers,
Jaci

sailing

2007-04-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

Paihia is gorgeous and the weather has been absolutely perfect. So perfect that I don't even mind scrubbing the carpet on the stairs because I get to enjoy the sunshine and light breeze coming in through the open windows of our hostel as I scrub.

Yesterday, Amy and I were outside enjoying the sunshine when a man came over to us and asked if we wanted to go sailing with him. He said the weather was perfect for sailing and he wanted more company than just himself. If we were in any place except New Zealand, we probably would have said no, but here, people really are that nice and friendly, so we went.

So Amy and I and three other backpackers went sailing in the Bay of Islands on the second oldest sailboat in New Zealand. It was built in 1887 and has faded red sails and a lot of ropes and pulleys. I was in charge of the jib line (the jib is the sail at the very front of the boat). I also steered for awhile, but I didn't like having that much responsibility.

I don't know if it's because I've just returned from Asia, where the landscape was very dusty and drab, but the colors up here seem so perfect. The water is a deep, vibrant blue; the sky is pure baby blue and the surrounding hills are greener than a golf course. When we weren't pulling on ropes on the boat yesterday, we just laid on the deck soaking up the Autumn sun and colors of the bay. We floated back into the harbour next to another boat, its red-orange sails serving as a filter for the setting sun, and I don't think I could imagine a more perfect end to the day.

I'm so excited to go home, but it sure is going to be hard to leave such a pretty, pure place.

paihia

2007-04-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

Amy and I survived Thai New Year, barely. After one day of joining in the fun, we got a bit tired of being wet and covered in paste, so we spent our last day in Bangkok in our hotel room. Even getting to the restaurant next store was an excursion that usually resulted in us getting soaked, no matter how fast we ran.

We made it back to New Zealand and only had to spend an hour in customs being questioned about our travel habits and friend-making techniques. Fun times.

We're now in Paihia, which is a small town in the Bay of Islands, a few hours north of Auckland. I spent the morning mopping the walls and ceiling of the showers in our hostel in exchange for free accommodation (and free Internet!). We'll stay here for the week, and then head back to Auckland and then home!

Happy Thai New Year!

2007-04-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

I am sitting inside an Internet cafe enjoying a brief respite from the insanity occurring on the street outside. I am soaking wet and covered in talcum powder, a sweet-smelling pasty combination that is starting to dry and harden onto my skin.
It's Thai New Year, which means it's time for Thais to congregate in the streets and pour water and talcum powder on each other. I'm not quite clear on the reasons why; it has something to do with sprinkling water on Buddha, which somehow that turned into a spreading talcum paste on the faces of people walking by and dancing in the street. But I mean, who's to judge, in the West, we turned Easter, the celebration of Christ's resurrection, into an egg hunt.
Amy and I arrived just a couple of hours ago. Our bus didn't even attempt to get near Khao San Road, and so we were left to navigate the wet, throbbing streets on our own. The further we walked, the slower our pace became. Hands reached out of nowhere, spreading paste on our faces and water sprayed on every direction. It was all I could do to shield my purse from the main onslaughts of water. At one point a strap on my backpack hooked onto a passing motorscooter, but luckily traffic was moving so slowly that I had plenty of time to untangle myself.
Amy and I went into the first guesthouse we could reach and much to our delight, it had one room available. We aren't going to get much sleep tonight with all the commotion below our window, but at least we have a shower and a bed.
Next time I travel overseas, I think I'll research holidays a bit more.

phnom penh

2007-04-08T05:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter from Phonm Penh!
Amy and I will move on to Siem Reap tomorrow after spending more time than planned in Cambodia's capital. Phonm Penh is a fun and slightly crazy place. The traffic itself would be enough to drive those on the edge completely over it, but luckily Amy and I only observe the traffic from the safety of a tuk-tuk, rides on which are a source of entertainment in themselves.
We've had fun here seeing the sights, the bright and shiny and the historical and not so shiny. We also ran into some old friends from the slow boat, which was a lot of fun, and we spent some time playing with Cambodian kids living in the neighborhood.
With the end of our trip in sight, Amy and I are having a little bit of trouble not longing for the comfort of air conditioning and soft beds, but we saved the best for last and are definitely looking forward to the temples of Angkor Wat.

vang vieng

2007-03-31T05:07:00.000-07:00

In an earlier post I wrote about how Koh Phan Ngan is a bit of a backpacker's paradise. Well, Amy and I have spent the last few days in the soon-to-be backpacker's mecca of Laos.

Vang Vieng is a small down in the middle of the northern section of Laos. Limestone cliffs overlook the dusty streets, and a river runs by the side of town, providing backpackers with a great source of fun.

The thing to do here is to go tubing. For 40,000 kip ($4 USD), you get a big tractor tube and a ride a few kilometers upstream from town. The water flows pretty slow for most of the way, but even so, it should only take about 3 hours at the most to get back to town. However, it takes most people 5-6 hours because giant rope swings and bars constructed of bamboo line the river, luring the young people out of their tubes and onto the sandy banks.

As you float along, Laos children swim out to you and drag your tube toward their parents' bar and their mother's call out "Beer Lao, Beer Lao." The bar owners that don't use the swimming talents of their children use long bamboo sticks to fish the tubers out of the river.

Amy and I have been tubing twice; once with a bunch of friends from our slow boat, and once more just because it was so hot outside and we couldn't be bothered to do anything else. I really wonder why the pastime isn't a huge moneymaker back home; maybe I should start a tubing business when I get back to the States....

luang prabang

2007-03-28T04:13:00.000-07:00

Considering I hadn't heard of Luang Prabang before I started reading my "Lonely Planet," I didn't really know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is a lovely little town with a lot of character, a great night market, and a lot of great bakeries.

Since Laos was colonized by the French back when colonizing was the thing to do, a lot of the architecture in Luang Prabang is French, and it provides a great contrast to the Buddhist temples spread throughout town and monks dressed in tangerine-colored robes wandering the streets. It's the kind of town where you can sit and drink a cold soda at a street-front cafe and watch tourists and locals walk or ride by on bikes and motor scooters for hours. Coincidentally, this is something Amy and I are quite good at.

I woke up Monday morning with a high fever and the chills, not a pleasant way to start your adventures in a new country, especially one without decent medical facilities. On top of that, all the power in the town had been shut off for the day (apparently not a rare occurrence here). So Amy and I did what we could to stay cool and rest, and pretty much our only option was ordering iced drinks at cafes on the main street in between naps. Although the day was almost unbearably hot, we survived and managed to enjoy parts of the day.

Luckily I woke up the next morning feeling fine, so we headed up to some waterfalls outside of town with some Swedish girls we met on our boat. The falls were gorgeous, and the water was a great shade of blue-green.

I really liked Luang Prabang, but this morning we headed off again down south and are now in Vang Vienne. The bus ride was a bit of an adventure, but that's a whole new story.

the mighty mekong

2007-03-25T05:14:00.000-07:00

So sitting on a boat on a tiny wooden bench for two days is not the most comfortable way to spend your time, just in case you were wondering.

I am now in Luang Prabang, Laos, after three long days of traveling.

We left Chiang Mai on Friday and rode to the Laos border in a minibus, where we applied for and received our Laos visas while enjoying a bottle of Coca Cola and listening to Jack Johnson. It was definitely the most relaxed immigration office I've ever been to, especially considering we were entering a Communist country. We crossed the Mekong river into Laos, where we stayed for the night before setting off the next day. Although the first day was long, it was a treat compared to the next two.

Being slightly cheap, Amy and I chose the slow boat to Luang Prabang, and when they say slow, we learned, they really aren't joking. After being told our boat would leave at 9:30 am, we finally left at 11:30, with passengers sitting in the aisles and crammed in the back behind the engine. Luckily, since we had arrived at 9:30, Amy and I had a narrow wooden bench to ourselves for the eight-hour trip downstream. Along the way we chatted with our fellow passengers, some Canadians, Brits and Scots, all of whom had been traveling for at least a year. Even though the day was long, we enjoyed the company and conversation.

As the boat floated slowly along, we passed villages perched above the sandy beaches, half hidden in the greenery. Laos children ran down the hillsides to wave at the boat while men pulled in fishing lines and women did the washing in the sheltered water near the rocks. They were the kind of scenes you see in old movies, a nice change from the hectic, tourist-filled cities of Thailand.

We spend the night in a village half way to our destination, where the power turned off at 10 p.m. and everyone slept under mosquito nets. Our beds were certainly not luxurious, but they felt heavenly after the benches on the boat.

So this morning we departed on the boat once again, this time ready for the crammed conditions and armed with lunch and extra water. After another very long day of sandy scenery we arrived here in Luang Prabang, which we really haven't seen much of yet. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site, so I'm sure it's lovely; we'll just wait until tomorrow to find out.

chiang mai

2007-03-19T01:26:00.000-07:00

Amy and I are now in Chiang Mai, a very nice city in northern Thailand that has been in the national news recently because of the stubborn haze hanging over it that refuses to dissipate and give relief to its residents and tourists.
We did our time in the southern part of the country and definitely enjoyed the gorgeous beaches and clear water, but we soon became ready to escape the rampant tourism that dominates everything down there.
It's slightly less touristy up here and we've enjoyed exploring the temples and shopping at the night markets. Tomorrow we're heading out on a jungle trek, complete with elephant riding and river rafting on a bamboo boat.
After our return, we'll probably chill out here for another day or two before starting the three-day excursion to Laos. That should be interesting.

Koh Pha Ngan

2007-03-08T20:43:00.000-08:00

Koh Pha Ngan is an interesting place, or at least this little part of it is.

Haadrin, the town we're in, is pretty much a backpacker's paradise. Every restaurant shows episodes of "Friends," "The Simpsons," "Family Guy" and the latest hit movies throughout the night; the shops stay open selling flip flops, jewelry and liquor until at least midnight; and every other store is an Internet/travel cafe. This town was built for people between the ages of 18 and 30.

The peninsula of Haadrin has a sunset side and a sunrise side, and the sunrise side is where the world-famous Full Moon party take place once a month. People from all over the world come to this little island for an all-night rave on the beach. Although a bit tempted to see the spectacle, Amy and I aren't huge rave people and just didn't have the energy to rush down in time for the party, so we arrived a couple of days later, just in time to witness the town's recovery.

We arrived at about noon, and the streets were just beginning to wake up and fill with tan young people. In the space of about an hour we saw at least half a dozen people limping along with bandages on their feet from stepping on glass or getting burned on a motor scooter. Everyone we saw was groggily ordering banana pancakes or a mango shake, and we soon joined the trend.

By early afternoon the picture-perfect tropical beach becomes crowded with girls in bikinis and guys playing frisbee, all trying to avoid their feet becoming a casualty to the parties the night before. About every half an hour, the heat becomes unbearable and it's necessary to jump into the warm salty water and and float around for awhile, washing off the sweat and sand that's accumulated before settling back down on a beach towel.

After a couple of hours watching their skin darken, the sun begins to sink behind the bars lining the beach and most people migrate to a restaurant showing the movie of their choice and all types of food - Thai, Israeli, Italian, Chinese, American. Eventually it's late enough to head back to the beach where the bars have cranked up the music, turned on the twinkle lights and set out the beach mats and reclining chairs. After another night of watching fire dancers throw flames in front of the crashing waves and dancing into the early hours of the morning in front of the neon Kph Pha Ngan sign on the hillside, everyone eventually makes it back to their fan-cooled bungalows to sleep a few hours before starting all over again. Except tomorrow they might be able to fit in a massage or a quick snorkeling trip before the party starts.

While this is a beautiful place filled with people our own age, Amy and I have had enough of the "party island" and are ready to see a little bit more of Thailand. So tomorrow we'll probably head over to Koh Phi Phi to see the Indian Ocean and the island that is, according to the Lonely Planet, "so beautiful it will make you cry," (or something to that affect.)

Koh Samui

2007-03-04T01:17:00.000-08:00

Amy and I are now on the beautiful island of Koh Samui after a very long bus ride last night.
We spent a couple of days in Bangkok enjoying the hectic pace, temples and 24-hour shopping, but decided we were ready for somewhere slightly more chilled out. So last night we got on a bus to Southwestern Thailand.
The bus ride was an adventure in itself. After 12 hours we arrived at a rest stop/restaurant at 4:30 a.m. where we had to wait until 7 a.m. to catch the next bus to take us to our ferry. Seeing the sun rise was nice I suppose, but I think I would have appreciated it more if I hadn't been kept awake on the bus by the movie "American Pie."
After a ferry ride spent in a semi-conscious state, we arrived on the island by 10 a.m. and were whisked off by a tuk tuk to begin the search for a place to stay. Luckily the search didn't take too long, and we were on the beach eating pancakes by 11 a.m.
The beach is beautiful by the way, and the water is warm, a nice contrast to the lovely but chilly beaches of New Zealand.
We'll probably spend a couple of days here before heading off to another island. We still don't really have a plan for the next six weeks, but so far things going well, so I guess I won't worry too much.

sydney and bangkok

2007-03-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

After a very long day of traveling, Amy and I made it to Bangkok last night.
We left our house in Wellington at 4 a.m., and about 24 hours later found a place to sleep in Bangkok, and we sure were glad to have a place to lay our heads.
We spent about six hours in Sydney, which was great, but very hot and humid. We spent the day wandering around the city; we crossed the Harbour Bridge, walked around the Opera House and relaxed in the Botanical Gardens. We actually ended up going back to the airport early because it was so hot.
At the airport we ran into a guy we'd met on the South Island in New Zealand, and he was on our flight, which was such a blessing. Amy and I were both able to relax a little knowing that we wouldn't be all alone once we arrived.
After a nine-hour flight, we landed in Bangkok and set out to find a place to sleep. Even at midnight it was hot, humid, and the streets were full of people. It took us about an hour, but we eventually found a guest house with an open room - one with an air conditioner! It was a bit more expensive than what we plan to spend every night ($8 USD), so we're meeting our friend in a bit to find a new place. Hopefully we have better luck in the daytime.
We haven't seen much of the city yet, other than a small stretch of Khao San Road and our guesthouse, but the place is filled with travellers and is very lively, so I'm sure we'll have a great time, especially once the jet lag wears off.

going to asia

2007-02-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

I've spent the past few days enjoying being in a house again, hanging out with friends, running errands and deciding what to pack. It's definitely been a nice break from living out of a backpack. However, at 6 a.m. tomorrow, Amy and I will fly out of Wellington and after a day-long stop in Sydney, Australia, we will arrive in Bangkok, Thailand, at 10:30 p.m. We do not yet know where we will be staying, and I must admit, I'm a little scared.

To make the situation even better, Amy had a bit of trouble with her international money transfer the other day and all her money is floating around in cyberspace until at least next week.

Today while sitting at a cafe with some friends, a radio DJ approached us and asked us what stressful things we're dealing with in life right now. I think he was expecting us to list things like term papers and fights with flatmates. Amy and I listed our sorrows, and our friend explained that her neighbor has been missing for a month and she had a detective come knocking on her door. I don't think the DJ believed us at all.

Still, I suppose it's better to be stressed about where to sleep in Thailand tomorrow night than many other things. Like a job. So I'll be grateful that I don't have more to worry about. After all, in a few days I'll be sitting on a beach eating banana pancakes.

A few things I'll miss about the South Island

2007-02-23T14:02:00.000-08:00

1. One-lane bridges and windy roads that suddenly turn one-lane as they get ever windier, although you didn't think it was possible.

2. Drinking straight from rivers and streams while hiking and not having to worry about any sort of disease.

3. Penguins

4. Lazy days reading at hostels surrounded by amazing scenery and getting to the point where you just stop noticing how gorgeous everything is.

5. Running into the same travellers every few days in a new town.

6. Eating dark chocolate after dinner because milk chocolate isn't kosher.

7. Learning Hebrew

8. Arriving at a simple hut in the middle of nowhere after hiking for eight hours and thinking it looks like the nicest building you've ever seen.

9. Addresses without numbers, for example: "Next to the Mobile Petrol Station, Main Road, Franz Josef"

10. Absence of traffic lights

11. Nights that don't really get dark until well after 10 pm

12. Lakes and rivers the color of blue Kool-Aid.

13. Tip Top ice cream shops in every town - even ones without an ATM.

parting ways

2007-02-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

So after two months on the South Island, Amy and I are flying back to Wellington tomorrow afternoon. It's amazing how quickly the time has passed. When we first got down here we decided to divide up our time in week-long "units" thinking it would make the amount of time seem less daunting. We were barely one "unit" into our trip before we realized that eight "units" would barely be enough time to fit everything in.

So now we're back in Christchurch and we've done and seen pretty much everything we hoped to. The past couple of months have definitely been great.

Unfortunately, the trip is ending on a disappointing note. Last night in Murchison my camera was stolen from our hostel. I made a CD of the pictures a couple of weeks ago, so all wasn't lost, but my pictures from the past two weeks, Mt. Cook, Wanaka, Rob Roy, Arthur's Pass, the Gillespie Pass and Franz Josef Glacier, are nowhere to be found.

I have traveler's insurance, so I should be able to replace my camera, and Amy has been with me the whole time, so she has most of the same pictures, but it's not quite the same. I was pretty upset this morning, and on top of that we had to say goodbye to our four friends we'd been traveling with for the past month.

However, the morning was not without its amusing moments. When I walked to the police station with the hostel owner to file a report we got to the office just as the town's one officer was emerging from his house in his shorts and t-shirt. He met us in the "office" and took down my details and was as business-like as any other police officer, but I wondered if he conducted all his police business in his boxers.

I have a week in Wellington to find a new camera before we head to Asia, so if anyone has any tips of what kind I should buy, let me know.

gillespie pass

2007-02-13T16:13:00.000-08:00

I'm now in Franz Josef, one day removed from the Gillespie Pass, and man, that is a great place to be.

The past few days were amazing and filled with some great stories (far too many to recount here), but they were also some of my most physically difficult days ever.

We began Saturday morning rather than Friday as planned because we woke up to a downpour on Friday and decided to delay our start by a day. So on Saturday rather than risk a river crossing after heavy rain and start a four-day trek with wet shoes, we took a jet boat to the start of the track. The first few hours were easy enough, but as we got further in the track kept getting steeper. After about seven hours and 20 kilometers, we finally reached Young Hut and discovered that there weren't enough beds left for us. So we spent the night on the "kitchen" floor; there were about 12 of us total strewn all over the place, and one guy even slept under the sink.

The next day was only 12 kilometers, but they were an incredibly difficult 12 kilometers. After reaching the bushline, we had to find our way across the flats to the base of the mountain we were supposed to cross. After a few wrong turns we stopped at the river to fill our water bottles for the last time and headed straight up the mountain. There was no gradual incline, no warm-up. We just went straight up, in the hot sun, for three hours.

When we finally reached the top, hot, grumpy, sore and exhausted, we stopped for lunch and enjoyed the view of Mt. Alba, then turned the other direction to head back down the other way (not before the boys had a snowball fight though). I still can't decide which is worse, going up or coming back down. After another three hours heading down and only falling a couple of times, we made it to a stream and another nice long break before the final two hours to Siberia Hut.

That night we all had bunks and slept amazingly well, which is good because the next day was another difficult one.

After waiting for the clouds to clear we headed back through the flats and crossed about three rivers to reach another mountain. This one was just as steep as the one we'd gone up the day before, but it at least was in the bush so we had some shade. After another long four hours we finally reached our destination: Lake Crucible. When I finally reached the rim of the lake, which is nestled about halfway up Mt. Alba, I looked down and caught my breath. The water was a clear pale blue and filled with hundreds of icebergs.

Amy and I immediately went down to the water's edge to join the others who had arrived before us and decided that we wanted a picture on top of an iceberg. So we jumped into the water (1.7 degrees Celsius) and swam out to the nearest piece of floating ice. The water was so cold that it burned, and as I scrambled onto the iceberg I began dreading the jump back into the water. As Amy and I screamed and shivered , our photographers took several pictures and we dove back in to return to shore.

After drying off in the sun and eating our lunch we headed back to the hut for our last night. The next morning we crossed our final river and walked to the "runway" in the grass and waited for the four-seater plane to come pick us up. The flight out was gorgeous, but the best part was flying over the track that we didn't have to walk out on.

Now that I've put my shoes outside to dry, eaten a good meal, had a nice long shower and done a load of laundry, I can say I'm glad I did the Gillespie Pass. But I don't think I'll be climbing anymore mountains any time soon - just Franz Josef Glacier tomorrow.

tramping

2007-02-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Amy and I seem to have caught the tramping bug. Now when we look in the Lonely Planet to research the next town we're approaching, the first thing we look for are the hikes. We're as surprised about that as most people.

Two days ago we drove to Mt. Cook (the tallest mountain in Australasia), and while we weren't quite up for climbing that one, we did do a three-hour tramp through a valley to get a good view and another one-hour tramp to get a good view of the Tasman Glacier (pretty disappointing actually). Mt. Cook, however, was gorgeous and the scenery was quite different from what we've been seeing lately. Rather than green hills, we drove several hours through a desert-type landscape. Eventually we reached a lake of a abnormal shade of blue, cyan maybe, which was gorgeous, especially with Mt. Cook rises majestically out of the brown landscape in the distance. That night we stayed at a farmhouse hostel, which was very nice - we had actual boxsprings with our beds.

We're back in Wanaka now, and today we did the Rob Roy, which is a four-hour tramp up a valley that ends underneath Mt. Aspiring. The view was gorgeous and the water in the river was ice cold and tasted just like the snow that we could see melting into waterfalls cascading off the mountain.

After a resting day tomorrow we plan to attempt the Gillespie Pass. It's supposed to be a bit harder than the tramps we've done, and four days, which is a long time to go without showering. Luckily though we're going with boys, so we can make them carry the gas and pots and pans and all that heavy stuff. And if we're really lucky, we can take a flight out in one of those crazy tiny planes and save a few hours of walking. I'm pretty excited about that.

We only have two more weeks now until we have to return our car to Christchurch, and the days are just flying by. I'll be in Asia before I know it!

pictures!

2007-02-02T21:15:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the past week or so. Sorry there's not more, but this is better than nothing. And they're not really in order either....

View from Deerpark Heights in Queenstown

Waterfall in the Milford Sounds

Kepler Track (the picture doesn't even begin to capture the awesomeness)

The Remarkables ... (the mountains, not the awesome girl in front).

Travel buddies - Me, Amy, and Maya

queenstown

2007-01-31T15:24:00.000-08:00

Well after several days in Queenstown, I'm feeling very ready to head back into the wilderness of the Routeburn Track tomorrow.

Queenstown is a great place, but it's also slightly exhausting and hard on the budget. Of all the places I've visited so far in New Zealand, this town is by far the most touristy. Even most of the people who work in the shops are long-term tourists. Queenstown is also the adventure capital of the world, and although I couldn't quite bring myself to break my budget on bungee jumping or skydiving (it's cheaper up north anyway) I did take a luge ride down a mountain, which was a lot of fun and gave me views of some great scenery.

Just outside of town is a place called Deerpark Heights, which is a basically a deer farm on top of a hill in the center of the valley. We drove out there the other day and saw some amazing views. And for those who are interested, it was also the site of several Lord of the Rings filming locations (mostly the second movie), which is always a little fun and exciting. Five of us went together and we stopped on the side of a hill for a tea break, and as we were sitting there enjoying our hot beverages, a deer just ambled on up to us and starting sniffing at our shoes! Even the deer here are used to tourists.

I had wanted to post some pictures since I finally broke down and burned some to a CD, but this internet cafe doesn't let you use CDs, so I guess it'll have to wait a few more days at least.

After the Routeburn we'll stop in Wanaka for a few days and then up the West Coast. Only three more weeks until we have to return our car! Time really does fly when you're enjoying life.

kepler track

2007-01-24T20:35:00.000-08:00

New Zealand is very well known for its amazing scenery, but when planning to come here, I tried not to get my hopes up to high about seeing some of the spectacular landscapes shown in all the travel books and brochures, figuring that the prettiest places were probably the most remote and expensive to get to. It's true that some of the amazing sights are quite remote, but luckily, I am still getting the opportunity to enjoy them.
Amy, Maya and I just returned from hiking the Kepler Track - a three-day tramp covering 60 kilometers and scaling several mountains. It was not easy, but it was so worth the steep climbs, blisters, sandfly bites, sore muscles and anxiety about the weather.
We left the morning of the 23rd, a beautiful sunny day, from Lake Te Anau and climbed up toward Mt. Luxmore. It was about six hours of uphill switchbacks through the bush - not the most pleasant experience. But just when we thought we were about to die, we arrived at the treeline and walked along mountain ridges with spectacular views of snow-capped mountains and green valleys on either side. We arrived at Luxmore Hut with a surprising amount of energy left, and since the weather was nice, we decided to hike to the summit rather than take our chances the next morning, knowing how quickly mountain weather can change. The view from the summit of Mt. Luxmore (1400m) was awe inspiring. We had a 360 degree view of the Fiordlands, with Lake Te Anau spread out below us. The final 400 meters were a bit scary; we were basically crawling up rocks, but the feeling once we got on top and could see how far we'd come was exhilarating.
We spent the night at the hut with about 50 other hikers and woke up the next morning to a clear blue sky above us and billowy clouds blanketing the valleys below. It was a great scene to enjoy with our muesli and powdered milk.
The morning of the second day we had to re climb the summit, but were glad we had gone up the day before without our packs, since the wind seemed bent on blowing us off the ridges. It was a bit scary, and a couple of times I was glad my pack was so heavy so it anchored me down a bit. The second day was simply amazing. All day we walked along the ridges and crossed saddles and took breaks in emergency huts with other hikers while taking our wind gear off and on. The views were just so gorgeous and we were right there in the middle of it without a hint of civilization anywhere close. Clear blue lakes filled the valleys below us, and with each turn of the trail we were greeted with another mountain range. At the end of the day we descended quickly into a valley filled with beautiful meadows and unfortunately, sandflys - the most awful creatures in the world. I'm still cursing them.
By the second night we were all pretty good friends with the other hikers and we spent the evening playing cards and chatting late into the night - well at least until it finally got dark enough to sleep at 10:30.
The final day was long, especially with our sore muscles and itchy bites, but we made it the final 26 kilometers through a river valley and more bush until we arrived back near Te Anau and rushed into town for showers and cheeseburgers.
After a good night's sleep on real beds we all firmly decided we would hike the Routburn next - no matter how sore and tired we were. We're going to go book beds in the huts later today.

middle of nowhere

2007-01-18T16:33:00.000-08:00

For the past few days we have been exploring the Catlins, a region on the southern tip of the South Island. The Catlins consists of miles of rolling green hills, some covered with sheep and some looking slightly more rugged, and valleys of jungles running into beautiful sand beaches and towering cliffs over the ocean. We hiked up to the tops of waterfalls, explored tidal caves, tramped through sheep pastures and investigated a petrified forest on the beach.
Although the Catlins are beautiful, they're very remote, something we didn't fully realize until our car nearly ran out of gas as we searched for a town with a gas station (Luckily we did find one in time, but we had to wait half an hour for the owner to come back from lunch to fill up our tank.) In this part of New Zealand, most of the roads are still gravel, bridges are all one-lane, and any farmhouse can become a hostel - with the bathrooms out in the barn next store.
At one point on the main highway the following conversation occurred in our car just before a ten-minute "traffic jam".
Me: Sheep.
Amy: Hmmm...
Me: Amy, slow down, I think there's some sheep up there.
Amy: Whoa! Sheep! They're in the road!
Maya: There's so many of them!
Amy: Why are they on the road? Where are we?
Me: New Zealand.
Amy: Right. Will you hand me my camera?

Hopefully I'll get a chance to post a few pictures from our latest adventures soon. Next week we'll be doing the Kepler Track, a three-day tramp through some mountains in the Fjordlands - should be interesting.

Dunedin

2007-01-13T18:57:00.001-08:00

We're in Dunedin now. It's a medium-sized city pretty far south on the east coast. It's a very Scottish city, and the recent weather has made it seem even more so. When we drove in a couple of days ago we descended into the city from a cloud of fog and haven't really been able to escape the fog since. Yesterday it cleared up for a bit, but when we drove out to the peninsula to go hiking, the clouds had settled in, making for a wet time.
We keep hearing that the weather is bound to clear up soon, and that this time of year is usually very nice. But that's not very comforting when you're here for one year and it happens to be the wettest and coldest summer in recorded history.
But I suppose I shouldn't complain. We have had some very nice days, and I've gotten my share of sunburn so far this summer. When the sun comes out, it's gorgeous and heats up instantly. Since New Zealand lacks a complete ozone layer, the sun is fierce, and we can go from wearing long-sleeves and jackets to tank tops in seconds. I just hope the weather clears up and the sun decides to come out and stay awhile by the time we start backpacking and camping in the mountains.

so pretty

2007-01-10T14:55:00.000-08:00

Amy, Maya and I left Christchurch yesterday and drove down to Oamaru in our new rental car. It's so great to have a car, and it's really fun to drive on the left-hand side of the road.
Tonight we've got plans to see a couple hundred penguins, and next we'll head further south to Dunedin.
Here are a few pictures that Amy has taken (it's easier for her to download pics than me). As you can see, the scenery is gorgeous, and supposedly we haven't even gotten to the pretty part of the island yet!

On the way to Akoroa

Outside of Kaikoura

From the lookout in Kaikoura

Christchurch

2007-01-06T15:50:00.000-08:00

Amy and I had arrived in Christchurch yesterday afternoon and stood on the sidewalk looking at the map to our hostel, when the bus driver asked us where we were staying. We told him, and he offered to drop us off. So we got back into the empty bus and got a free ride across town. It's very true that people on the South Island are super friendly.
When we got to our hostel, we were greeted with shouts and waves from four Israelis, a Peruvian and a Brit. Partially on purpose and partially by coincidence, the eight of us ended up at the same hostel again after meeting in Kaikoura. So last night we had a huge barbecue and played cards and games until late into the night.
It's strange how quickly and easily it was for the eight of us to become friends. But that's kind of the way it is with travellers. We all have so much in common - traveling, reading, budgeting, etc, that everyone usually has a lot to talk about. We also all become accustomed to meeting people and within a few minutes deciding to go see a few sights together or to spend the next six weeks in a car together. So I'm sure the next few days will be a blast, until we all head different directions again and find new travelers to barbecue with ... unless of course we all decide to head the same direction again.

kaikoura

2007-01-01T16:38:00.000-08:00

Amy and I are now in Kaikoura - a small touristy town on the South Island. We're staying here for about a week and earning a free place to stay by cleaning for a few hours every morning at our hostel. I'm sure all my college professors would be glad to know I'm putting my degree to good use :)
It is gorgeous here - with soaring snow-capped mountains overlooking the ocean, but the weather has been pretty bad since we arrived, so we've pretty much been hanging out at the hostel, reading and playing games with other bored travelers.
The hostel was fully booked for New Years, and there were a few rowdy parties. However, Amy and I managed to have a fairly quiet night and ended up going out at midnight for a drink with one of our new Australian friends.
One of the funny things about staying in hostels is the variety of people you meet. We haven't met any other Americans since we arrived on the South Island. This morning I cleaned with a guy from Uruguay, and we are staying in a room with several Germans, a girl from Taiwan, a Brazilian, and a girl from Ireland. We've also made friends with a group of Israelis and plan to play an exciting game of Monopoly with them tonight. It's amazing how few Americans travel down here; Amy and I are novelties, which is a little strange.
Rather than have a set itinerary, Amy and I have decided to plan ahead by the week. Next week we'll probably head to Christchurch, meet up with our Israeli friends and then maybe head inland for a bit. Eventually we'll do some long treks and see some glaciers and probably pick fruit for a bit, but we have several weeks to fit all that in. It's pretty nice to just pick a place you want to see and go there without having to plan too much. We're enjoying this mode of travel a lot ... who knows where I'll be or what I'll be doing when I post next.

Christmas etc.

2006-12-27T23:40:00.000-08:00

So I had this awesome post typed up about my Christmas in the Marlborough Sounds, but I was using prepaid internet, and the time ran out right as the entry was posting - not having internet access sure is annoying.

Anyway, here is a quick Christmas summary:
Me, Teri, Amy, + two friends in the Marlborough Sounds
Cheeseburgers for Christmas Eve dinner
Glow worms in place of Christmas lights
'Twas the Night Before Christmas' recited by Amy in the hot tub
The Christmas Story from Luke read aloud from our bunk beds in our dorm room
Snorkelling on Christmas morning
Tanning and reading throughout the day
Roast, grilled veggies, and strawberry shortcake for Christmas dinner
A visit from Santa on a pontoon boat.

So it was a very fun Christmas, although a bit untraditional. It was probably about as good as it could be without being at home.

I am now in Marahau in Abel Tasman Park, and right now this computer seems to be swaying because I've been in a kayak for the past two days - but that could be several more posts.

Since my job ended I left Wellington, things been amazing, and I am definitely loving living like a gypsy.

office christmas party

2006-12-06T22:19:00.000-08:00

Tonight I went to my first grown-up office Christmas party, and it was another fun and slightly bizarre experience, and not nearly as "grown-up" as I thought it would be.
The party took place in the basement carpark of our main office building. I arrived with a few girls I work with, and we were immediately transported back to your early teenage years. The basement was decorated with twinkle lights, disco balls and butcher paper Christmas trees, with a DJ in the corner playing very loud 90s dance music. All the drinks were in one corner and several tables were scattered on the other side, already filled with groups of people, chatting with each other, just daring anyone else to try and join their clique.
The four of us stood in a cluster with our drinks, trying to avoid eye contact with the IT guys we talk to on the phone every day when we have computer problems, and trying to make eye contact with the caterers carrying huge platters of finger foods.
At one point a man the age of my parents came up to me and started chatting, saying he was glad to see someone he knew. When he asked me where my team was, I answered that they were all up in the office still, finishing a business case due tomorrow. I didn't think I'd ever hear myself saying phrases like that.
After about 45 minutes, some older women began dancing in the center of the carpark. Some were wearing reindeer headbands, and some were wearing cowgirl outfits - Kiwis seem to have an interesting idea of what "festive dress" means.
Finally, the director-general made an "Merry Christmas" announcement and opened the buffet for dinner. We all clamored to be at the front of the queue for chicken curry and potatoes. After making awkward small talk with the adults at our table, my friends and I quickly made an exit, and just in time - more women in cowgirl outfits were headed to the dance floor to try out their line dancing skills.

caroling

2006-12-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

Christmas carols by candlelight. Sounds very traditional and serene doesn’t it?
That’s the kind of night Amy and I thought we were in for as we walked to WestPac Stadium with some friends for the Christmas Carols Saturday night. We knew it would be a little different from what we were used to just because of the weather, but we were definitely in for a surprise.
We arrived at the stadium with streams of other people, including many small children sporting Santa hats. As we wandered in, the smell of French fries and donuts greeted us. The sun was still warming half the stadium, so we chose a spot in the grass where the sun still reached after paid a dollar each for “candles” - green glowsticks.
The evening began serenely enough, with kids from primary schools in the Wellington area singing carols for us. Things started to get a little different with the appearance of Santa Claus flying above, but not in a sleigh; he instead peered down at us and waved from a red helicopter that circled the stadium several times.
When the kids finally settled down, the evening got off to a proper start with the first special guest of the evening – Matt from NZ Idol, who began by singing “Amazed” by Lonestar.
And it only gets better.
When Matt’s numbers ended, the Christmas banded appeared, with the whole brass section decked out in superhero outfits. Throughout the evening we had a favorite superhero competition with Batman barely edging out Superman.
And what’s better to accompany superheros than men dressed up as fairies with pink and purple wigs? I can’t say I could come up with anything more interesting.
The show really got going when if began getting dark with a rousing rendition of “YMCA,” which got everyone up and moving and made for a nice transition to rock version of “Joy to the World.”
I have to say this was the first time in my life I’ve danced to Christmas carols.
By the time “O Holy Night” came around, we were ready for a break and calmly swayed to the carol and waved our glowsticks in the air. The stadium was filled with thousands of people singing and waving their green glowsticks - not quite the same effect as candlelight, but still nice.
My favorite part of the evening was “All I want for Christmas,” perfectly accentuated with a fireworks show, which was beautiful in the clear night.
The evening ended with a latin version of “Feliz Navidad,” and then we danced all our energy away to “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” and we left the stadium with thousands of other people, exhausted, but definitely in the Christmas spirit.

thanksgiving

2006-11-26T01:08:00.000-08:00

I seem to have become a terrible blogger. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid it will probably only get worse after the holidays.
I spend Thanksgiving in the Marlborough Sounds, and for the first time in my life, I did not overeat for an entire weekend, in fact it was quite the opposite.
Amy and I stayed at a lodge only accessible by boat (or a really really long hike), and while we were aware of the fact that this meant there would be no grocery store nearby, we didn't exactly plan well.
For our two-and-a-half days at the lodge, we brought: a package of risotto with a carrot and a stalk of broccoli, six rolls, four bananas, four museli bars, two servings of Cup-a-Soup and half a package of raisins. Luckily for us, the office at the lodge sold cookies for outrageous amounts of money, and we were able to add some much-needed chocolate to our holiday diet.
So, unlike every other American, Amy and I managed to lose weight this weekend rather than gain it. And although it was the result of poor planning and not some kind of grand dieting scheme, I think we deserve a reward.
Here's a photo from this weekend. Yeah, it was great.

friends

2006-11-17T21:53:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about long-term traveling is the people. You meet all kinds of people with different backgrounds, life experiences, attitudes, etc.
But for the most part, the people you meet can be split into two categories based on their reaction when you tell them you're staying in town for four months.
Type 1: Really, wow; that's a long time.
Type 2: Oh, just a little while then!

I've found it's much easier to get to know the Type 1 people, for the basic reasons that they're experiences are similar to yours and therefore conversation flows pretty easily, and, like you, they're eager to make friends. And while Type 2 people are generally very nice and eager to talk, they already have their own lives, making it a little difficult for them to fit you in.
Type 1 people love to share travel stories; typical topics include the different flavors of peanut butter throughout the world, the cost of alcohol in different cities, where the best hostels can be found and any type of travel adventure story. Eventually the conversations begin to have more normalcy and everydayness, and you start to feel like you might actually have roots in this city you're only living in for four months.

But unfortunately, as soon as that feeling comes along, it's bound to be the time for you or your new friends to move on to the next city or the next adventure. So you say goodbye, maybe have a farewell party, promise to stay in touch and catch up with each other when you're in the same part of the world again, and move on.
It's a bit sad really, but it's a part of life for travelers. One of the great things though, is that some day when I feel the urge to visit a random country in Europe, an island in the South Pacific or a different state, I can email one of my traveling friends, and say "Hey, remember me. We were friends in New Zealand for a while."

small city

2006-11-14T20:51:00.000-08:00

Me: You know, for a city, Wellington feels really small

Kim: I know, you can't go anywhere without running into someone

Me: I can see why they say that in Wellington everybody knows somebody who was in the "Lord of the Rings" movies

Kim: I was in "Lord of the Rings"

Me: What? How have I known you for three months and not known that! What were you?

Kim: I was an orc

Me: Really?

Kim: Yeah, I was in the first and third ones

Me: Wow.

Giselle and ice cream

2006-11-13T20:50:00.000-08:00

I went and saw the ballet Giselle last week. The ballet was beautiful, and as happens every time I go to a show, I really wanted to dance all the way home.
However, there were two things about the ballet besides the dancing that made the evening memorable:
I don't know a whole lot of people in Wellington, but I saw four girls I knew at the ballet. I thought that was pretty cool.
At intermission, they sold ice cream bars to the audience. It was just like a baseball game. The ushers stood by the doors to the theatre and sold the ice cream out of coolers. It was overpriced, as would be expected, but I had to buy it. I thought that was also pretty cool.

remember remember

2006-11-04T14:33:00.000-08:00

Remember Remember the 5th of November
Gunpowder treason and plot
We see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Wellington celebrated Guy Fawkes Day a night early this year with fireworks over the harbour. Guy Fawkes Day is a holiday celebrating the foiled plan of Guy Fawkes to blow up Parliament in London. It's celebrated with bonfires, fireworks and everything that goes along, and why they celebrate it in New Zealand, I don't really know.

But Amy and I were eager to join in on the festivities, so after a small dinner party last night, we walked down to the waterfront with a group of friends. It seemed as if all of Wellington had the same plan as us; all the benches, walls, rocks, and anything else that could be sat on, were crammed with people. Teenagers seemed to be everywhere, setting of Roman Candles and chasing each other with sparklers; parents bought their kids ice cream and french fries at vendor booths; and those lucky enough to own a boat or kayak were sailing out to the middle of the harbour to watch the show from directly underneath.

We decided to head over to Oriental Beach, which was full of teenagers setting off fireworks, but as soon as the main show began at 9 when it was finally dark, they calmed down a bit. The fireworks were huge, with red, purple, white, green and orange sparks falling in an array of shapes - the standard firework shape, hearts, waterfalls, firefly like things and so much more. After sufficiently "ooohhing and awwwing" for about half an hour, and the fireworks ended, the masses of people left their seaside perches and headed into town, while the teenagers resumed their own haphazard fireworks shows from the beaches, rooftops and hillsides.

All the cafes, restuarants, bars and foodcourts in town were packed. Even the grocery store was swarming with people buying beer. But eventually we found a cafe on Cuba that had almost enough outside seating available and we sat down to enjoy late night coffee and dessert, only occasionaly interupted by waves of smoke drifing down the street from the ongoing festivities, which of course wouldn't be complete without Roman Candles, smoke bombs and a full drum corps.

Milo

2006-11-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

As a kid, I remember scanning the shelves at Blockbuster looking for the perfect movie. The cheery colors and cute scene of a cat and dog on the front of "Milo and Otis" would always grab my attention, and I would carry the case around with me throughout the store, before placing it back on its shelf after finding an even more perfect selection.
Although I never actually watched the movie, I've always remembered the name and the picture that went with it. Until now.
In New Zealand, people don't drink hot chocolate - they drink Milo. Supposedly Milo contains all the nutrients and vitamins needed to be healthy and provide energy, but I'm a bit skeptical about that.
Every morning at work, after making myself wait until at least 9:30, I stroll down to the kitchen for a hot drink. I have my choice of instant coffee, pump coffee, tea and Milo. I like tea, and I like coffee, with milk and sugar of course, but it's very hard to pass up the big green canister of Milo.
Two scoops of light brown powder, a bit of sugar, boiling water (which comes quite conveniently from a tank on the wall) and milk to top it off, and I've got a warm, energizing hot drink to help me make it to lunchtime.
The word "Milo" will now always conjure up the sensation of hot, chocolatey sweetness for me, not an orange cat, no matter how cute.

where I live

2006-10-30T22:58:00.000-08:00

It takes about five minutes for me to walk to this viewpoint from my flat. I like it here.

Some phrases I like as well:
"ta" for 'thank you"
"how're you going?" for "how are you?"
"gutted" for "very disappointed"
"can't be bothered" for "I didn't want to" or "too lazy to"

Cheers!

rain rain go away

2006-10-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

It's raining out again, and I am very wet. But it's supposed to be sunny for the next three days, yay!
The internet at our house is being difficult. So I might not be posting for awhile.
Apparently it's almost Halloween, something I would not have even known except for the people back home asking me about it. In the grocery stores there are no pumpkins piled outside, no gianormous bags of candy stacked at the front of the aisles and no special costume sections.
Here, kids dress in costumes every weekend, people eat pumpkin year round and candy is always plentiful. You get the fun parts of Halloween throughout the year without all the black and orange decorations. I think I like it that way.

my birthday

2006-10-24T01:53:00.000-07:00

The celebration of the anniversary of my birth began at work Friday. Since New Zealand had a national holiday Monday, my coworkers decided to celebrate my birthday early with a surprise birthday tea (here, tea basically mean any meal or snack, not literally drinking tea). As my boss had me update and print out the team’s action log, everyone was setting up the meeting room for my surprise. They all brought different kinds of New Zealand candy and food – like sausage rolls, party pies, L&P soft drink, Cadbury chocolates, chocolate pineapple bits, jaffas and much more. My boss even baked a Pavlova (basically meringue and cream) cake with kiwi fruit on top. It was pretty difficult to concentrate the rest of the day after all that sugar. Luckily, Amy and I had asked to get off early, and we spent the afternoon and evening at Island Bay, which was gorgeous.

Amy and I managed to have a nice weekend despite the constant rain and on Monday, we had a great day of birthday fun, which began with Amy’s gift to me of a cute and trendy summer dress and ended with a dinner party at our flat with some of our new friends. I made fajitas and Amy made a chocolate cake. After dinner we went to Life Group, and Greer and Sophie had also made me a chocolate cake, which was just as delicious as the first one.

All in all it was a pretty good day, especially since I had the day off work and I got to hang out with my new friends.

22

2006-10-20T23:43:00.000-07:00

One of my friends asked me recently if I was going to do anything crazy before I turned 23. I thought about it for awhile, considered some of my options and then worried that there was nothing really crazy, like bungee jumping or getting a tattoo, that I really wanted to do.
But after a bit of thought, I realized, I'm done some pretty fun and exciting things during my 22nd year. I spent a few weeks in Taiwan, I graduated from college, I drove across the country - twice, and moved to New Zealand. And those are just the big things. I had so much fun being 22; it just might be my favorite year so far. Every year after this is going to have to be pretty awesome to live up to it.
But I think rather than be all sad and nostalgic about 22 being over, I decided to make year 23 even better. So if you have any ideas of how to make this year great, let me know. Because in two days, I get to start all over again.

birthday weekend

2006-10-19T01:25:00.000-07:00

New Zealand's labour day is Monday, which also happens to be my birthday. I've been excited since last November (which is when I decided to move here) about having my birthday in the spring, especially since it's a holiday.
Amy and I had a big weekend planned. We were going to hike the Tongariro Crossing, which is supposedly the best one-day hike in the country. It's a 8ish-hour trek through an active volcanic field that goes up mountain and next to gorgeous lakes. It's in the mountains, so you can't hike it if the weather is bad.
So today, I checked the weather.
All of New Zealand has little gray rainclouds on it, except one little bitty town on the North Island far from Wellington.
So, apparently having your birthday in the middle is spring isn't so great after all.

gilmore girls

2006-10-17T23:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I arrived home from work to be greeted by a very giddy Amy. She had received the first two episodes of the new season (which doesn't start until January here) of Gilmore Girls in the mail, and she was ready to watch them.
So after dinner, we settled down in front of my computer, which was perched on our trash can in our bedroom, and got ready to be transported to Stars Hollow.
Unfortunately my computer would not cooperate.
So I walked down to the common room (where the internet connection works) and tried to download the latest version of my software. But that didn't work. Neither did several other things I tried.
Eventually, a few of the guys in the room noticed we were having some problems, and being typical guys, they decided they would fix it.
But they couldn't.
Instead, one guy got the CDs to play on his computer, and another one brought a monitor down to the common room, and we all watched the episodes together with the group of people who had been in the room.
Although I'm quite annoyed that my computer was being difficult, it was really nice to watch the episodes with so many people, which the way Amy and I always watched them back home. It really made this bizarre house feel more like home, especially as we shared our candy, explained some plot background and gasped at new developments with those around us.
Even with all its downfalls, TV really has a way of bringing people together.

friday nights

2006-10-13T23:40:00.000-07:00

Now, I’ve never lived in a city before, so this could be a city thing rather than a Wellington thing, - I don’t know. But every Friday night here, getting drunk is the thing to do.
People start drinking in the afternoon. They leave their offices for the pub at about 3; it’s not an occasional thing – it’s expected of them.
From there they’ll drink into the wee hours of the morning. Staggering home at 3 or 4 a.m., with a day of recovering from a killer hangover to look forward to.
As Amy and I walked home from a movie last night at about 11:30, I think we might have been the only sober people out except for the police officers. Boys were kicking cardboard boxes down the sidewalk, laughing and singing; girls were walking around in tank-tops in the cold wind without seeming to notice; and couples were falling over each other laughing.
When we decline an invitation to go out, people look at us like we’re crazy and demand an explanation. It’s a hard argument to get across, and we usually make up an excuse rather than explain that while we enjoy drinking on occasion, we really don’t relish the idea of spending all our money getting drunk. And anytime we’re in the house on a Friday or Saturday night, we get asked why we’re staying in, as if we must be seriously ill or something.
When people chose to go out and drink all night, we don’t make them feel bad or try to cajole them into staying in with us, so why do they feel the need to make us feel antisocial for staying in?

weather

2006-10-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

When I walked to work this morning, the sun was shining and I was perfectly warm in my skirt and sweater.
At about 10 a.m., I walked across the street to run an errand, and I had to pull my jacket tight to stay warm and put my hair in a ponytail to keep the rain from messing it up.
At lunch time, I gazed out the window wistfully, wishing I had time to eat my lunch outside in the sunshine and admire the rainbow that had appeared over the hills.
By the time 5 o'clock rolled around, I was gathered at the window with my coworkers, trying to decide if it was sleeting or snowing, when my boss came in and informed us it was in fact hailing.
After finishing all my tasks half an hour later, I walked home under a blue sky, having to look at the ground as I walked to keep the sun's bright glare from hurting my eyes.
Wellington weather is weird.

2006-10-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about living in a city rather than traveling through, is that you start to find favorites. In Wellington I have a favorite satay restaurant, a favorite cafe for dessert, a favorite cafe for coffee, etc.
Satay Kingdom is my favorite restaurant. I usually get the No. 4; Amy gets the No.16. Neither of us can really pronounce what our food actually is, but that's not a problem as long as we don't switch restaurants. All I know is that the No.4 is some kind of slightly sweet but spicy orange-colored soup, maybe sauce, with chicken and kumara in it, and a stack of warm, thick roti bread on the side.
Satay Kingdom is small and always crowded. It's down a nice alley off Cuba Street, and it has a gazebo in the middle of the alley for extra seating. The woman who takes our order is small and rushed and switches from one language to another with surprising ease, hearing "No.4" and scribbling little symbols down on her notepad that I don't understand.
They bring your food out to you as is it ready, so if you worry too much about being polite, your food gets cold as you wait for your friends to get theirs. The waiters weave in and out through the people waiting in line to order, not pausing as they step outside into the freezing cold wind to go out to the gazebo, and they bring you spoons to eat with - no matter what you ordered. The second you've finished eating, a waiter appears, asking in a thick accent if you've finished with your plate, and you barely have time to nod yes or no before your dishes disappear from under your spoon. My friend discovered this the hard way yesterday not to hesitate when asked, as his half-finished bowl of soup was back in the kitchen before the question even registered with him,
The atmosphere at Satay Kingdom is a little quirky, but the food is great - always fresh and hot, the service is fast, and it costs less than McDonalds.

time lost forever

2006-10-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

We had Daylight Savings time on Sunday. I wasn't exactly ready, but luckily I didn't show up late for anything. But I was thinking about it, and by the time I get back to the States, I'll have lost three hours of my live, in addition to the 24 hours I lost on my flight over here. However, unlike the hours I lost on my flight, I will never see these other three hours returned to me.

Last spring, I set my clock forward for Daylight Savings in Texas. On Sunday I set my clock forward in Wellington. And in March, when I am back in the Northern Hemisphere somewhere in Asia, I will again be forced to set my clock forward.

In three hours I can watch a good movie and talk about it with a friend, I can read a good book, fly from Texas to Oregon, drive from Abilene to Dallas, play a few games of volleyball, have several great phone conversations, cook a real meal and take time to enjoy eating it, catch up on my emails, earn money at work, or take a long nap.

But apparently, thanks to whoever invented Daylight Savings, I will miss out on one of these things this year.

world events

2006-09-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

So as most people have probably heard, there was a coup in Thailand last week. So Amy and I decided to take advantage of the situation with its resulting drop in plane fares, and this morning we bought tickets to Bangkok.
So we'll be spending about six weeks in Asia in March and April.
I'm excited.

the embassy

2006-09-25T23:12:00.001-07:00

Today my American friend Emily and I went to the American Embassy during our lunch break. It's surrounded by a gray fence and has a big gatehouse in front with metal detectors. We went in to the gatehouse and the security guard asked if he could help up.
"We want to go in the embassy because we're Americans," I say.
"Sorry, no one can go in," the Kiwi guard replies.
"Not even Americans?" Emily asks.
"Nope just people who work there."
"Oh. OK. Well, aren't we supposed to register that we live here or something?" I ask.
"I don't know - but it would have to be in Auckland."
"OK, so can people go in that one?"
"I don't know, but I can give you a paper with the website and the address up there," the guard says, trying to be helpful.
"Sure. Thanks." we say, accepting a slip of paper before walking through the gate and back to work.

I have to say I was pretty disappointed.

Things that make me happy

2006-09-21T00:38:00.000-07:00

Seeing grown men drink chocolate milk out of a carton

Eating a home-prepared meal after eating out for a week

Hearing the lively response to "Where's a good place to get my hair cut" from a group of previously quiet girls

Watching children dressed in various costumes (Spiderman, bride, princess, etc.) walking along the harbour with their parents on a sunny weekend day

Leaving work early on a Friday afternoon

Getting to chose cookies for a work meeting and not having to buy the cheap ones by default

Waking up before my alarm clock and not feeling tired (doesn't happen very often though)

Feeling sore the day after working out

Seeing the window displays in clothing stores on Lambton Quay change as the weather starts to get warmer

The Wellington Library and its unlimited checkout policy

Cheers mate!

geothermal activity

2006-09-18T02:23:00.000-07:00

I got home late last night smelling of sulfur.
Rotorua is a really cool place, but it sure does smell bad, and after soaking in natural hot springs, Amy and I did, too. I should be able to post a picture or two sometime soon I hope. The steamy and boiling environment of Rotorua provided for some interesting shots.
I'll write more when I post the pictures. But I'm tired now. I spent two hours doing Brazilian martial arts tonight.

Rotorua

2006-09-14T03:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend Amy and I are going to Rotorua, one of the more touristy places on the North Island. It's like the Yellowstone Park of Oceanasia. We'll spend the weekend watching geysers blow, hiking around boiling mud holes and soaking in natural springs.
I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

Food

2006-09-12T22:54:00.000-07:00

As Amy and I walked through town to return a DVD to the movie store yesterday, we discovered something: Our lives now seem to revolve around food.
On the weekend, we plan our schedule around when we can go grocery shopping and when the market is open. When we come home from work, the first thing we do is decide what we're having for dinner. We spend time at the bookstore reading books with easy recipes in them. We plan our budget around how much we spend on lunches and dinner. When we walk into town, it's a serious struggle not to stop and buy a chocolate bar or a dessert at a cafe (we usually lose the struggle). Our conversations seem to always circle back to food. And we've realized one of the best things about traveling is discovering the new foods in the places you go.
I guess it's a good thing I live in town and walk everywhere I go.