Just got home from another yoga sesh, and a little sad that my 30 days for $30 is over this week. Now I have to pay proper money for classes... boo! But its definitely worth it. I love the teacher, the classmates, and the environment.
So Jeff and I both had off work Saturday and Sunday, and both put in about 30 hours this week. (I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but it's a lot to us because we are so used to being on holiday). Friday night we were beat and just lounged around.
Saturday we spent the morning browsing the Saturday market in town. We picked up some fresh veggies, some boysenberry jam, and some lavender infused honey (so delicious!). We spent most of the day reading because it was much too windy to be on the beach, and then decided to take a motorcycle ride to Rabbit Island. Rabbit Island is about 25 minutes from our house, and is barely an island, but is a big, long, beautiful beach. We just took an early evening walk down the beach and headed home to try our hands at making shrimp scampi! Shrimp is cheap here, so we've been trying to find as many ways as possible to cook it up. The scampi was a success despite the face that we could not find red pepper flakes to save our lives, so we did without. Later that night we literally ran through the Countdown (the grocer) for a last minute, late-night Cornetto (sort of like a drumstick). They were totally worth the rush, as all ice cream in New Zealand is.
Sunday we had received a few texts about ultimate frisbee in the park. It was looking like it would shape up to be a decent game, and we ended up getting 7 others to play! It was a great turnout. There was 1 Kiwi, 4 Germans, and 2 people from California. The game was good, and the competition was pretty fair, but the wind started to pick up, so we sat and talked for a while in the field. I can't get enough of other people's travel experiences and perspectives. We left the park in time to make it to the library to grab a Sunday night movie and some good reads. We decided on Forrest Gump because I have never seen it, and everyone else on Earth has. I really enjoyed it. It was quite funny and more feel-good than depressing, which i didn't expect, and I am glad I waited so long because I don't like the idea of not having any classics to turn to on a chilly Sunday afternoon.
My birthday is coming up, and my co-workers claim that it is New Zealand custom to bake a cake for your birthday to share... I think they just want cake. Either way I am trying out a flourless chocolate cake recipe from SCRATCH. I will let ya know how it goes (if it goes well).
Jeff's brother posed some interesting questions about New Zealand on a previous post's comment. My next blog post will answer those questions (and i'm going to try to make Jeff answer them too).
For now, cheers!
Showing posts with label Frisbee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frisbee. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
12 Birds Down!
So the ever exciting employment update: I kind of have a job!! I went to an interview this morning at a vineyard about 30 minutes from my house, and came back semi-employed! I will be a "food & beverage consultant", so basically I am doing catering for events (mostly weekends) at this beautiful vineyard, on a casual basis. I am happy with this, and they will pay me $15 an hour, but I am still hoping for another, more consistent, position. The only problem is now I need to purchase my own car. Beth, Nick, and Adam are buying Jeff and I out of the Rhino so that they can use it to their total discretion, and Jeff and I can purchase something of our own. I like this idea, I just really do not want to go through the car buying process again. oh well, it's not like I have anything else to do.
I have very few bullet points on my "things that make me feel like a bad ass" list, but today I was able to add one, and probably the biggest of them all. Today I drove a motorcycle! Yes I sat on it, turned it on, put it into 1st gear, and rode it in straight lines until my legs were sore from turning the bike around. It is amazing how cool/scary/badass it feels to drive a motorcylce, and i really didn't drive very far. After seeing that it was much less complicated that I previously thought, I am considering getting my junior licence in NZ and learning here.
There have been commercials recently advertising for a movie called "The Inbetweeners", and it looked hilarious. Dan, the British roomie, explained that it is a movie that stemmed from a British comedy series of the same name. He wanted to see it, and despite not seeing the series, we wanted to see it too. It was the funniest movie I have seen in a while. Yeah it was post-high school, pre-college humor, but in a quirky and unpredictable way, in some way different than in the states. The reason I put this in here is because if anyone ever comes across it in the States I would definitely say give it a go. The series is supposed to be even funnier as well.
Now for the birds. As very few of you may know I was a member of the University of Pittsburgh Birding & Ornithology Club. I didn't attend too many trips (as they were very very early in the cold morning), and I attended most of the trips for the fast food we'd be consuming on the road and the remote location away from Oakland, but I did see that birds did deeply interest others, and that made me think that if I was actually going to make my dues worth it I was going to do it in New Zealand... so, after weeks of weak attempts at photographing birds ::drumroll:: I was able to photograph (some very poorly) and identify 12 different birds! Now I realize this is nowhere near my goal, but for me it is an encouraging start to a long list of birds I will one day see. Up until today my watching has been passive, and I have been taking the "let the birds come to me" approach, but I have started to step it up a bit. For example, today I sat in my yard on a log for 10 minutes in boredom (aka silence), and all of the sudden i heard a series of clicks, whistles, and screeches, and sure enough it was the bird I've been chasing around with a camera at every national park, and now he was in the tree right next to me!! It was the Tui!
Now I definitely expected to see a Tui in my yard, but not exactly in the spot I was sitting. I expected to see the Tui in my other spot in the yard near the Tui feeder I made a few days earlier. Despite the overly sweet water I filled the feeder (aka poorly cut milk jug) with, and the welcoming text, no birds have visited it to my knowledge.
The Tui is one of the more obvious native New Zealand birds, but for all of the other birds I used "The Hand Guide to the Birds of New Zealand" book I borrowed from the library. The following birds are identified to the best of ability, but I would like to be corrected if i'm wrong please!! The book was able to identify the other bird I saw on my sit today as the Black Bird; A bird brought from Europe, and also seen in America.
You may have trouble spotting the bird, or seeing much detail, but after zooming in I was able to see enough detail to confidently choose a correlating title for all of the birds. Although it would be nice to have beautiful pictures of every birds, my main goal is just the photograph the bird well enough to identify it. I have to admit it is fun to go on a hunt to match a bird with it's name. It was the beak color that allowed me to distinguish the Feral (rock) Pidgeon from the New Zealand Pidgeon, who is only found in New Zealand.
hmmm so i think there may be a limit on how many pictures I can upload in one blog entry, so the rest of the birds will have to wait! I'll put them up asap though.
Right now it's ultimate frisbee time... we'll see if anyone shows up, other than our friends! Cheers!
I have very few bullet points on my "things that make me feel like a bad ass" list, but today I was able to add one, and probably the biggest of them all. Today I drove a motorcycle! Yes I sat on it, turned it on, put it into 1st gear, and rode it in straight lines until my legs were sore from turning the bike around. It is amazing how cool/scary/badass it feels to drive a motorcylce, and i really didn't drive very far. After seeing that it was much less complicated that I previously thought, I am considering getting my junior licence in NZ and learning here.
There have been commercials recently advertising for a movie called "The Inbetweeners", and it looked hilarious. Dan, the British roomie, explained that it is a movie that stemmed from a British comedy series of the same name. He wanted to see it, and despite not seeing the series, we wanted to see it too. It was the funniest movie I have seen in a while. Yeah it was post-high school, pre-college humor, but in a quirky and unpredictable way, in some way different than in the states. The reason I put this in here is because if anyone ever comes across it in the States I would definitely say give it a go. The series is supposed to be even funnier as well.
Now for the birds. As very few of you may know I was a member of the University of Pittsburgh Birding & Ornithology Club. I didn't attend too many trips (as they were very very early in the cold morning), and I attended most of the trips for the fast food we'd be consuming on the road and the remote location away from Oakland, but I did see that birds did deeply interest others, and that made me think that if I was actually going to make my dues worth it I was going to do it in New Zealand... so, after weeks of weak attempts at photographing birds ::drumroll:: I was able to photograph (some very poorly) and identify 12 different birds! Now I realize this is nowhere near my goal, but for me it is an encouraging start to a long list of birds I will one day see. Up until today my watching has been passive, and I have been taking the "let the birds come to me" approach, but I have started to step it up a bit. For example, today I sat in my yard on a log for 10 minutes in boredom (aka silence), and all of the sudden i heard a series of clicks, whistles, and screeches, and sure enough it was the bird I've been chasing around with a camera at every national park, and now he was in the tree right next to me!! It was the Tui!
Now I definitely expected to see a Tui in my yard, but not exactly in the spot I was sitting. I expected to see the Tui in my other spot in the yard near the Tui feeder I made a few days earlier. Despite the overly sweet water I filled the feeder (aka poorly cut milk jug) with, and the welcoming text, no birds have visited it to my knowledge.
The Tui is one of the more obvious native New Zealand birds, but for all of the other birds I used "The Hand Guide to the Birds of New Zealand" book I borrowed from the library. The following birds are identified to the best of ability, but I would like to be corrected if i'm wrong please!! The book was able to identify the other bird I saw on my sit today as the Black Bird; A bird brought from Europe, and also seen in America.
You may have trouble spotting the bird, or seeing much detail, but after zooming in I was able to see enough detail to confidently choose a correlating title for all of the birds. Although it would be nice to have beautiful pictures of every birds, my main goal is just the photograph the bird well enough to identify it. I have to admit it is fun to go on a hunt to match a bird with it's name. It was the beak color that allowed me to distinguish the Feral (rock) Pidgeon from the New Zealand Pidgeon, who is only found in New Zealand.
Right now it's ultimate frisbee time... we'll see if anyone shows up, other than our friends! Cheers!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Can Frisbees Make Friends?
So it's really hard to put into words what the culture is like here. Kiwi's definitely have a great sense of humor, but sometimes its very subtle that you don't even catch it. I've found a youtube video that gives a small glimpse of what kiwi advertising and people are sort of like. It is a video of an anti-drunk driving campaign commercial they air currently. Because we only have about 6 legitimate channels, we see this commercial often and all are sick of it, but it is quite hilarious and a great example of New Zealand humor. (It also has a great message!)
Employment update: Shortly after posting my blog entry last night i received an e-mail from a cafe that has recently been bought out by an american guy (i hope this give me an advantage) saying that I should know if I will have an interview by Friday. It isn't good news, but it isn't bad either, so i am hopeful. I also decided to start selling Avon after talking to a representative on Saturday. It is free to sell and I figure the best time to start is before Christmas. We'll see how it goes, but like Bethy said "I have nothing else to do". Hey, maybe i'll meet some new people.
Speaking of meeting new people, Jeff and I are eager to integrate sports and companionship, and have been making flyers advertising Ultimate Frisbee pickup games at the local park on Sunday afternoons. We have put up quite a few around the city, and hope that we have at least a few people show up for a proper game. With this too, I am hopeful!
Yesterday our British roommate (His name is Dan) showed Bethy and I a vide, and we have become big fans. Apparently Jenna Marbles videos went viral about a year ago, but despite my fair amount youtube media knowledge I had never heard of her prior to yesterday. I suggest watching "How to trick people into thinking you're good looking" to see if it is your kind of humor, but I will warn it is NOT for younger kids, NOT for people with a narrow sense of humor, and DEFINITELY for Nicki Minaj fans (if you can find that video)!
Finally, I received a response regarding kiwis not refrigerating their eggs from my friend Conor. He is a bird buff and he offered some insight into the egg situation, but I am still awaiting a complete explanation. "apparently if you don't refrigerate them you never have to refrigerate them. I dont know why we do here (the states), because then if you stop they go bad." This is definitely good to know because sometimes by habit the eggs end up in the fridge, but I'm will get to the bottom of this kiwi mystery.
It was rainy all day again (The kiwis claim this is unusual pshhh) but I do hope to get some great Nelson pictures up ASAP! Cheers!!
Employment update: Shortly after posting my blog entry last night i received an e-mail from a cafe that has recently been bought out by an american guy (i hope this give me an advantage) saying that I should know if I will have an interview by Friday. It isn't good news, but it isn't bad either, so i am hopeful. I also decided to start selling Avon after talking to a representative on Saturday. It is free to sell and I figure the best time to start is before Christmas. We'll see how it goes, but like Bethy said "I have nothing else to do". Hey, maybe i'll meet some new people.
Speaking of meeting new people, Jeff and I are eager to integrate sports and companionship, and have been making flyers advertising Ultimate Frisbee pickup games at the local park on Sunday afternoons. We have put up quite a few around the city, and hope that we have at least a few people show up for a proper game. With this too, I am hopeful!
Yesterday our British roommate (His name is Dan) showed Bethy and I a vide, and we have become big fans. Apparently Jenna Marbles videos went viral about a year ago, but despite my fair amount youtube media knowledge I had never heard of her prior to yesterday. I suggest watching "How to trick people into thinking you're good looking" to see if it is your kind of humor, but I will warn it is NOT for younger kids, NOT for people with a narrow sense of humor, and DEFINITELY for Nicki Minaj fans (if you can find that video)!
Finally, I received a response regarding kiwis not refrigerating their eggs from my friend Conor. He is a bird buff and he offered some insight into the egg situation, but I am still awaiting a complete explanation. "apparently if you don't refrigerate them you never have to refrigerate them. I dont know why we do here (the states), because then if you stop they go bad." This is definitely good to know because sometimes by habit the eggs end up in the fridge, but I'm will get to the bottom of this kiwi mystery.
It was rainy all day again (The kiwis claim this is unusual pshhh) but I do hope to get some great Nelson pictures up ASAP! Cheers!!
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