Like the eagle perched atop the globe

I Am America (And So Can You!): Stories from a Day at Work

The phone rings! Despite that I avoid answering it, I can't really ignore the thing ringing right next to my hand for longer than 4 rings. So I answer and it's a woman calling about the kitchenhand job. I go over to my (South African) boss, but he's making Hollandaise sauce, and so just answers through me. After I hang up:
Boss: You Americans, you're so polite.
Me: Well, we do try.
Boss: When you're not bombing the shit out of other countries
Me: You know, when politeness doesn't work.

Later, I am cleaning some coffee cups (I really, really didn't want to close, but at the same time knew that if I WERE to close, it'd be damn easier if I'd gotten a ton of stuff done before the rest of the waiters left) and my boss is speaking to my (Canadian) coworker about something. Anyway, I overhear the end of the conversation:
Boss: The Americans spent millions of dollars and two years developing a pen that could write in space. You know what the Russians did? They used a pencil.
Coworker laughs
Me: Hey. That pen also writes underwater.

ALSO TODAY!
I passed this guy sitting at a table outside that is really far from the door, and I offered him an ash tray because I saw he had a pack of cigarettes. And he accepted and was very nice, and our exchange was brief, but for some reason I felt like I knew his accent. But it certainly wasn't mine. So I decide I am crazy. Later, I bring out his bill and he's like, "Here, I'll give you this" and pulls out a credit card from inside his US passport. So I'm like, "Hey, where are you from?" and he's like, "Tennessee" which explains the familiar/unfamiliar accent. And I say I'm from Upstate New York and he's like, "Where?" so I say, "Albany" and he's all, "My Dad is from Schenectady." Small world, right? I bring back the bill, and he's like, "So have you been to SPAC?" and I don't even process that familiarity, because I'm so out of place and I think it's some Kiwi thing and say no, and then it clicks and I'm like, "Wait. Yes. Saratoga Performing Arts Center?" and he's all, "Yeah, I saw the Allman Brothers there. Great venue" and then we talked about SPAC. I talked about SPAC with a boy from Tennessee in the middle of the North Island of New Zealand. What the hell!!

Later on that night, I went to table 22 to deliver drinks, and it was not my table but if you take drinks and they seem ready to order, you might as well take their order. And the lady definitely sounded American, but the gentleman decidedly did not, so I ignored it, but then she was like, "Where are you from?" and I Upstate-New-York-ed and she was like, "California!" (also funny because the people who'd been sitting at 23 where just telling me they met Californians all the time) and then we got into the "How long have you been here?"s and when I said end of October, she was like, "Did you vote." and I said yes, absentee, and then she gave me a high-five and it was awesome. Then we talked about the election for a while, and brainstormed on how to watch the inauguration (her: "How will you see it?" me: "I'm assuming it'll be covered, I just have to get up at 6am." We decided it must be on CNN). Then I had to extract myself because I feel bad chatting when it's busy, but then my boss's wife left later, and they were paying, and I was like, "It was great to meet you!" and then we talked for like 10 minutes about how awesome Barack Obama is and how psyched we are about this whole thing and how miserable the last 8 years have been, and how tough the Clinton/Obama choice was initially, but then how it became clear that the Clinton campaign was a bit of a mess and we didn't want any part of it, and I just generally had a really terrific conversation with her. It rocked!! Also, at one point she was like, "I just can't believe how he's already taken over so much! It's never been like this before!" and I said, "Well, he's pretty much been President since Hillary Clinton conceded," which she found funny.

Also, a table full of British girls tried to tip me about $25 which might not sound like much to you, but tipping is not a thing in New Zealand, so that's kind of awesome. We couldn't add it onto the card, so I wound up only getting around $14, but that's still damn good and since we split tips anyway, it's kind of the thought that counts.
And then my boss asked me if I wanted to leave at 9:30 or close, and I was like, "Um. Leave." and I got to. So, you know. Ace.

There's friendly people in cities, too

Has it been over a week? No way! Oh, it hasn't, blogger just updates with your date instead of mine. Which, I guess, is cool. Or whatever. Anyway, I had Monday and Tuesday off this week, too! Yay consistency! I've been less eventful, though. Last night I rented more movies and we watched The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Which were fun. And today I went for a swim in the lake after I bought ground coffee because I invested in a French Press! It's a teensy thing and it's entirely stainless steal (rather than stainless steal and glass), so in theory it is portable for when I'm on the move again. And it was on sale for $20. But I no longer need to make Instant Coffee! Unfortunately, this means I'll need to leave myself more time in the mornings to make coffee, but here's hoping it will work out. I should also have purchased an alarm clock because my phone alarm is getting easier to sleep through. Well, here's hoping I don't get fired. Anyway. I bought postcards to send people, but then I forgot my pen when I went to write them, so I haven't written them yet. Oh, and I got a Twitter account! So let me know if you want access to that. You should join! I'm about 10 years behind everyone on the Twitter bandwagon, but that's life. I'm following Stephen Fry's Twitter, and Stephen Fry is ALSO in New Zealand right now, which I found out not from Twitter (although he talks about it) but from my friend in Wellington, who met Stephen Fry in Queenstown. How jealous are you right now? I know I am. I also heard a rumor (read: saw a tiny line on a newspaper) that Brad Pitt was secretly vacationing in New Zealand recently. So what I'm saying is, New Zealand is the latest hotspot and you should get thee to a travel agent post haste.

I borrowed a book from my flatmate, a Terry Pratchett novel that I'm enjoying, but I'm still in the market for book recommendations. Anyone got any? Mother, have you released your year-end best books list? Care to send it New Zealand-way? Gracias!

A few nights ago at 10ish, one of my flatmates and I went down to the lake to swim. It was pretty awesome, I'm not going to lie. This lake is so cool. It's warm, actually (see what I did there?), and totally clear. So Jackie could swim in it! Because she hates swimming somewhere where she can't see her feet! Today was a great day for it, it was clear, but there was still some wave-action going on. Although by the time I left, it was getting a little chilly. So perhaps I should have not stayed in bed until noon and gone earlier. Ah, well, live and learn.

The weather changes not halfway between your house and mine

Hello! This update is for all of you, but mostly Grace. I've been worrying her, you see, she thinks I'm either dead or unhappy. So I must correct her. I picked up a little New Zealand datebook here that I've been trying to keep track of my days in. Just little notes before I go to bed to recap what I've done.
But I haven't said much here recently, and for good reason: I don't have a hell of a lot to say. I've been working pretty consistently. I had today and yesterday off, yay! So Sunday night I rented a few movies so that we could watch Anchorman (which: they hadn't seen it, so I ran out and rented it, and then everyone but me and one other girl went to bed! However, since then I've heard Anchorman playing downstairs at least 3 times now, and I heard plans to watch it later, so they're all coming around), and yesterday I went to the beach with one of my flatmates, came back, and watched Madagascar and The Bourne Identity (I rented Bourne, someone else rented Madagascar. Bourne was superior. I was the only one watching by the end, but I was the one who hadn't seen it, so). And today I bummed around, mostly, and went shopping at one point, but didn't buy anything. Boring, I know, but there HAD been plans to beach it or shop it, but everyone else disappeared/got called into work, so I just did my own thing. Finally mailed out a package to Ben! So, hey, BVS, you'll be receiving something soon. Hooray! And just now I got to talk to Allie, which was cool. And a little earlier I hung out while people made themselves dinner and stole some of their food. Not bad.
Whoa! I am lying on my bed, and I just looked over and it looks like the sky is on fire. When did that happen? Hang on, I need to take pictures from my balcony. Oh no!! My camera battery is dead! What is this!!!
Anyway. I went out to watch the sunset and then someone informed me they were watching House downstairs, so it's 2 hours later now. What can I say, I'm a sucker for Hugh Laurie and medical dramas. Anyway, I really wish I could think of more interesting things to talk about, but I'm pretty well drawing a blank. Oh! I guess I could tell you about holidays in the summer.
Weird. As in, the first day it really felt like summer to me was when I was walking to work on New Year's Eve. Something about the air and the flowers felt especially summery. But it was New Year's Eve. And I worked. I also worked on Christmas Eve, and then came home to find that my flatmates'd bought stuff to make pizza with. So after a trip to the liquor store, we had a little Christmas Eve party. It was fun times! There were Christmas Crackers and bad jokes and boxed wine. All in all, a solid win for the away team. Then on Christmas Day, post-present-opening, post-breakfast, post-bumming around, a few of us headed on down to the beach. Where we found many other people engaging in a little holiday swim. We discussed the weirdness of swimming on Christmas, then we went home and watched DVDs all night. Boxing Day was another working day, although they gave me free food at the end of it, so I can't complain. My birthday I took off because I don't work on my birthday. I can't really remember what I did. I went shopping. Stopped by a friend's workplace to say hi and scored a free coffee. My flatmates baked me an apple cake which was tasty, so they popped some candles on that and I blew them out and then we feasted. Watched some more TV, then went to the natural hot pools by the river at night. It was damn cool, being there with all the stars out. And the water is superhot, and the river is supercold, so you can adjust your temperature by where you choose to sit/stand/swim. And there were stars. And then we went home, had more cake, met up with a bunch of visitors, and watched Sweeney Todd. The next day my boss asked me if Christmas and my birthday away from home made me very homesick, but there is a general consensus among us Northern Hemispherers that Christmas in summer is decidedly unChristmassy. So not so much. Same for New Year's! I checked out the fireworks, but other then that had to face the facts of working in the morning and didn't really do much. 2008 was good to me, 2009's been pretty fun so far, too. I've only been in Taupo for a month, but already we're getting close to when I'm leaving and I'm starting to get psyched up for seeing the South Island and meeting up with a certain Alaskan.

I see you at the foot of some mountains. And we're taking some pictures or something.

Hello!

So the night I first got into Taupo, I sat in my room and typed up a photo post. And then never ever posted it. That was a little over a week ago, and I've finally brought it to you! Hooray! So now you can check out some new photos over here!

This has now been edited to add some Tongariro Crossing pictures (the subject line has been adjusted for that, too). I can't believe it took me something like a month to get these up ("And we'd better hurry up," indeed). Worth the wait?

Some days, they last longer than others

Hi from Taupo! I don't have much to say because I don't really have the time (that's not true, I just don't have the money for the wireless time), but I understand that people have started receiving postcards! Hooray! For many of you, the date at the top means nothing, as I then waited weeks to send it. But, hey, it's something. So hopefully you'll all be getting something soon, although I can't seem to find an International Mailbox (different from other mailboxes) in Taupo, so I have many a postcard in my backpack waiting to go out (so if you haven't received one, do not fret. It'll happen in time. Now, if you haven't received one and you haven't given me your address, e-mail me your address. Or comment here, if you're so inclined. This doesn't count for those of you who live at, say, the fencerhaus, as I know that one. And anyone still on campus can simply post their CPU box number). Give it time. Also, you should let me know if international texting costs you a bundle (it clocks in at NZ$.30 for me, which is not much, I think), and if so I shall stop texting you. I won't take offense, unless you want me to.

Two nights ago, I wound up rooming with a bunch of American students doing a New Zealand trip after their semester in Australia, so that was fun. Really, really fun. Like, the conversation was going really well even BEFORE one girl went, "Oh, I wasn't there that night, that was when we stayed in to watch Serenity." And it all went up from there. I've had, on the whole, generally positive roommate experiences. Last night I went out with some British girls, and the night before the Americans, there was a group from Zimbabwe by way of Aussie, and we chatted for a while. But then we all went to bed at the same time, and THAT never happens (unless, like last night, you were all out together). It was pleasant in a simple way to just say "goodnight" and go to bed. I mean, these can't beat the BEST going-t0-bed experience (which was that one time in Auckland when a discussion of mobile phone flashlights came up and led to an impromptu puppet show on the wall of the dorm. Sometimes I stop and recall Pete shouting, 'Oh my god, there's a dinosaur in the room!!' and have to suppress giggles in public. It's like that one time I punched Jim. The memory always brings laughter), but they were fun nonetheless.

As you can see, I've not much interesting to say. I have a photo post written up, but I need to upload photos for that and that takes time and I kind of don't feel like it right now. Mostly because it's $4 an hour for the internet.

I'm trying to think of things to tell you about that I've done in my week in Taupo (oh, yeah, I've been here a week, there's that). I've...hiked up to Huka Falls, sunbathed on the Lake, watched a bit of the "Cycle Challenge" which is the biggest biking race in the Southern Hemisphere. Which: I hope the Northern Hemisphere has a bit more, because this was not much. Watched people bungy at Taupo Bungy. Walked along the Waikato River. Walked around Lake Taupo yesterday (not all the way around - it's very large - but I went pretty far). Went up to "Craters of the Moon" which is another geothermal hotspot. So that was cool. I've done so little, clearly. It's a nice place to walk around. Tiny, tiny town, but not like a small town in the US. It seems like a resort town, I feel (and I've had people back me up on this). It's totally quiet, like, all the time.

I bought Me Talk Pretty One Day and proceeded to devour it in less than a day (I've actually read it before, but it's good enough to spend NZ$4 to re-read it, I think. Oh! I found a cheap used bookstore, so that's a plus! In Wellington, the cheapest ones you could find were still NZ$10. New books run you about NZ$25-30 for paperbacks. It's insane). I don't have much more to say than that David Sedaris is a comedy genius. As is his sister.

OK, well, I just tried to please you all by uploading 5 pictures, and after waiting 10 minutes to do it, Flickr informed me that none of them made it. Fine, Flickr, thanks for that. I'm trying to get one up here for you guys, but who knows? I've already spent much too much time on the internet, probably. Yeah, this one didn't upload, either. What? I don't know.

Anyway, I miss you very, very, very much. I've heard some rumblings about people visiting me, and would like you all to cement your damn plans so that I can see you. Because I miss you.

This entry is the most pointless one ever, but I was asked for an update, so here you are.

Just being around you offers me another form of relief

Hi! I'm sorry I haven't been updating much. Occasionally some of you get updates in an e-mail or IM (or letter. So basically in a few weeks you'll all be caught up with what I did last week. Well, some of you), but I should probably keep this up a little better.

So! I've been in New Zealand for over a month! Crazy! Very bizarre. For one thing, if someone said to me, “Actually, you've only been here two weeks,” I could believe it (time flies, is what I'm saying), but at the same time, I've definitely had discussions with people where I feel like I've known them for years, but we have to stop and go, “Hey, I've known you for a week.” So simultaneously, time is moving super-fast and super-slow. It's weird.

When I stop and think that it's been over a month since I last saw most of you, it stops me cold because that's unbelievable right there. When do you intend to visit me?

Anyway, let's move beyond the sappy friend stuff. Bleh! OK! Wellington!

So I've been here for a few days. I think I went over a little bit in one of my last entries. I moved hostels, because it turns out that you can only stay in the YHA for a week. Last Sunday, I wound up chatting to this other girl from my original Stray bus who I'd run into in Wellington. We'd never actually talked before, and I think we had more conversations in Wellington than we ever did on the actual bus – probably because when you run into someone you met earlier in the trip, in another place, there's an instinct to catch up, even when you weren't close to begin with. It's actually happened a few times recently. Anyway, so Sarah and I hadn't talked before, but we were both still in Wellington and everyone else'd left (she was stuck here for one reason, I'm here looking for work). And it came out that we were both kind of fighting this pseudo-depression about it. It was kind of great to connect to someone in a very, very similar situation. Both of us were very, “I should be enjoying this, but I'm kind of not.” So after that bonding session, she told me that you can't stay in the YHA for over a week. I would've found out that night anyway, as it was my last night. So we sort of brainstormed other hostels (she was leaning Base, since it's like a block from the YHA. But I wasn't such a fan of the Base I was at in Auckland, so I was leaning Nomads – these are all hostel chains with outposts in Wellington) and decided on Nomads (because it's cheaper). She asked if I wanted to go check it out, and I didn't have Sunday plans anyway, so I agreed. The next morning (during actually the worst weather I've seen here – some rain and some strong Wellington winds) we grabbed all of our stuff and hauled it over to Nomads. Then (since we had to wait until 2pm to check in and it was just after 10am) we wandered around and hung out for a while. Came back, checked in, and did basically nothing for the rest of the day (even though it became a gorgeous day, because that's how New Zealand is. I've decided not to pay any mind to what the weather is like before noon, as it will always change). Although a friend of hers was in town, so we met up with a bunch of people and went to a bar for a while. And Sarah and I, being such awesome partyers, came back at like 10:30pm. We stopped for kebabs on the way. We stayed out late on Tuesday night, though, so it's all good. It was her friend's birthday, so a bunch of people went out. During the DAY on Tuesday, though, we grabbed some picnic supplies, and went up to the Botanic Gardens. I'd actually been there on Sunday afternoon, but Tuesday was a much nicer day. Also, on Sunday I actually explored the gardens, whereas on Tuesday we discovered the playground area and spent most of the day on the zipline, swings, and slides. We're adults! We were swinging around on the swings and they were like, “Oh my god, it's been like 10 years since I've played on a playground! This is so fun!” and then I was like, “It's been....yeah, about a month.” So there's that. Speaking of which, there was one of those poles you can slide down in this park, and it had the little spiral around it and I thought of Jackie because when we were at the playground in GVP (that'd be the month ago), she told me about how she loved those as a kid and explained to me how they worked. Anyway, we did eventually get around to seeing the gardens. Of course, we got down to the rose garden and promptly got caught in a rainstorm. So we made our way back to our hostels and chilled out before a little birthday-partying that night.

Wednesday I did laundry and a bit more job-hunting, then came back and sat around with Sarah talking about how lame we were for not doing anything, but not doing anything about it. I made dinner because she made dinner on Tuesday. Thursday was....once more I can't remember. I could say “I went down to Oriental Beach and read” because it's probably accurate. Hung out with Sarah because she was leaving Friday. I think I mailed stuff on Friday. Friday I talked to Carrie and Allie online for a while, and applied to some jobs. Then I dropped off an application and then...I can't remember. I do know that it ended with me watching Casino Royale in the hostel lounge and I've told a few people about this part so it's probably boring. But I've never actually seen a James Bond film before. So we watched Casino Royale and at some point, I snapped from my super-serious demeanor of the last few days and since then, I've not been able to stop giggling. Something in Casino Royale broke me. Saturday (my memory is so bad. This is the most boring entry ever!) I decided to Do Something. So I took the train to Porirua because I'd heard it was nice. But it seems that the nicest thing there is the mall (Admittedly, I couldn't find the bus to the Bay, which is maybe also very nice). But I did a small bit of shopping and wandered around for a while. Came back, made dinner, and found The Simpsons on. And as I said, I've been giggling over nothing, so you can imagine what something that's ACTUALLY FUNNY did to me. Then I met a bunch of Americans and chatted with them. We wound up watching Walk the Line on TV and just generally getting on really well, so that was really fun. Later that night when I came back down, one of the guys was still there and he's from Alaska. So he told me all about Alaska and we did some Palin-bashing. Which consists of me going, “No, I feel really bad for her, though. But she's really dumb” a lot. So I went to bed at like 4:30am and tested my theory that no matter when I go to bed, I wake up at 10:30am. And then I woke up Sunday morning at 10:30am (EVERY MORNING), bought a new book to read (Zadie Smith's White Teeth), and went out for some breakfast. Found that there's a farmers' market in the parking lot of Te Papa, so that's something to know for the future. I got myself a gingerbread man (I keep forgetting it's Christmastime, even though I saw the Santa Parade last week, because it's summer here). And I went over to Oriental Beach to read and people-watch. There are so many young families in this town. And then I popped on some Dixie Chicks and decided to walk the length of Oriental Parade (which is very long, but I've done this a few times now). Then, on the way back, I cheerfully admired the scenery while listening to my music and was all-in-all very content. And then FOR SOME REASON I can't resist something that looks like it might be something, so I wound up on the Southern Walkway into the city, which takes you to the summit of Mt Victoria. Which is LOVELY, but quite the hike. But I did it anyway. I have some pictures from that, because it was DAMN impressive. You get so high up! And the city is so pretty! And the sun was shining on the harbor! You can't beat it. So that took up some time, but mostly I wished I'd brought water. Finally came back down, got some water and a snack, and (wait for it!) sat on Oriental Beach reading. Dipped my feet in the water a bit. Generally enjoyed myself.

And that's pretty much your update on Wellington! I've done some more wandering since then, but there's nothing too interesting. I discovered that the Wellington Library is gorgeous and I love to spend time there. They also have American magazines! Yay! So since Monday was all about the rain and wind, I've spent a significant amount of time there. Today I was walking through Civic Square thinking about how much I love Civic Square when I thought to myself, “I should pop into the Library!” This was naturally about 15 minutes before closing. So I went in, looked around for a while, and went up to the magazine section (I have been to other sections, I swear) to see if today they had the August edition of SFX because the July edition said that August had an interview with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. Found that, discovered that it's actually an interview with David Duchovny and an interview with Gillian Anderson. So with 7 minutes to closing, I had to make a decision! And since you've met me, you know that it kind of wasn't a contest. To give a fair share, I think I glanced at the Duchovny picture. But, anyway, the interviewer said that Gillian Anderson was really nice and fun, and at one point she talked about how she loves Scully because of how strong and awesome she is (possibly not in such blatant Katespeak). And she said that one time she was rehearsing a scene with a gun and she started crying and Chris Carter yelled, “Scully wouldn't cry!” And that kind of makes up for some of the hell that Chris Carter has put me through in my life. Not all of it, but some. Seriously, you guys. “Scully wouldn't cry!” It's awesome.

Anyway, that's all for me. I swear, there will be pictures to follow at some point.

On a Clear Day I Can Read Your Mind

Some pictures from the first leg of my bus tour (Auckland to Waitomo, although I didn't take any pictures in Raglan, so it's really just one shot from Auckland, a few shots from the Coromandel, a couple from Waitomo, and one giant kiwifruit) are up now in this Flickr photostream. Flickr takes a long, long time to upload things, so there are only 10 now. But, hey, that's something. One even features me! Hot damn!

Anyway, I decided that walking all over Wellington would be a fun way to spend today, so I'm going to bed. Enjoy the pictures!

**ETA: More pictures added to the photostream, 14 November**