Workworkwork

Just a quick update as I spent far too much of my internet time on facebook, 

I'm working 70 hours a week now. Making 650 bucks a week. This is my 1st day off in 15 days. Oh how the time flies.

Packing kiwifruit is not altogether miserable, but it isn't that delightful of a job either. The people I work with are quite nice and it's becoming more and more like a family team rather than a bunch of strangers working together. Boring as the job may be, I still often think to myself, wow... my life is still pretty interesting, ya know, cuz how many people can say they worked in a kiwi factory in New Zealand? yeah, yeah? Not many Americans. 

I've had lot's of good things interspersed within the work of course. Even though right now I'm not having a GRAND time, in just another month I should be off in the South Island having the adventure everyone imagines I'm currently having. :p But I need to wait until then, when I've got 2000 dollars in the bank and can actually afford to travel. I'm broke as! 

But that's all I have time for... sorry for the lame post, I just can't be bothered to have a big huge update and be on the computer for much longer. I've found that I can no longer spend the whole day on the comp. It makes me really really antsy. 

Oreos are so much better in America.

And tea time is dinner time. I'm living with far too many English!

Much love!

Time Continues

I have to be very conservative with my internet, so this can't be too long, though I often think of interesting things to write about, I don't acttually have the time or energy to write them down, so you guys just get this little note.

Let's see... last week the guy I'm kinda sorta seeing sliced his hand with a woodcutter and had to go to the hospital. That was a pretty terrible day. I'm not talking a knick, I mean a full on, he's bloody lucky he still has his hand. It was scary as... and of course the rumors of what happened were much worse than the truth, throughout the day I had been told that it was a cut with a chainsaw and that he'd be flown in a helicopter to Auckland and stay in the hospital for 4 days, wouldn't ever get control of that hand again (BAD, it was his fret hand and he is a musician), and finally that because it was a cash in hand job, he'd have to pay full price for all of the medical stuff.


Turns out it was a clean cut with a woodcutter, he came back that night from the hospital an hour away in whangeri, he'll get full use of his hand, and he doesn't have to pay a cent. In fact he now even has free accomodation in the flat at our hostel, which is pretty fuckiun sweet, bro! But still, it means he can't work and he just had surgery this week and it'll take 6 weeks to heal, i.e. 6 weeks of being 1 handed. Oh well, at least it's only 6 weeks and not the rest of his life like it easily could've been. :p

So that was a pretty shit day. And unfortunetly I have nothing else to really report. I've spent all my time working pretty much. I've worked everyday since last Tues. and won't have a day off until probably next Sun. 12 days of work without a break... it sucks. But my next paycheck will be about 540 ish dollars. So far I've made 365 bucks about. So, hey... I'll actually be able to travel NZ at SOME point. I'm eager to get out and see things, but it'll still be awhile. For now it's the 6 am wake up calls to go and do shit work for 9 hours.

I'm sorry, that sounds really negativee, as though I'm really disliking being here now, but I'm not. I still enjoy it a lot, and there was one morning of work when I felt like absolute shit and was wondering why the hell I was where I was in my life, but a quick "get it together, Kelly" pep talk and getting myself to see the good things as well as the bad (see? not blindly optimistic) put me right again. And everyday I make about 100 dollars, and everyday I get a little closer to the south island. Life'ss good, it's just a little boring.

Though with these people, life can never really be TOO boring. :p

Anyway, that's all I have time for. But, I'm alive, and I won't have a day off for awhile so don't start thinking otherwise just because I don't update.

My live is sent.

Ciao!

Untitled

I walked 10 minutes through an open field in the pouring rain to write this post that I've been avoiding for some time now. Damn you reality, why must you haunt me?

After 7 years, the cancer came back. My mom starts chemo today and the fight begins again.

I've been told I do not need to come home, and that is really the best news I can be given at this time... it means its manageable.

So it's out on the table now. I'd rather now go into continuing my travel blog...

The day I found out this news my friends forced me to go with them to Charlie's Rock, which is a place with a waterfall and a bucnh of rocks you can jump from. I didn't have to energy to swim, but I did sit atop the waterfall and stick my feet in the rushing water. It was something I'd never imagined I'd get to do.

The whole thing was surreal, though. I had that nagging anxious feeling banging away at me as I hiked the New Zealand countryside. It's weird being so far away from home with something like this. Not necessarily bad, since there's nothing I could really be doing to help if I were home, but just strange.

Last Monday all the girls went to a Scottish country dancing class. It was heaps of fun, and I feel as though I got to know the girls better.

And finally, I accepted Hendrix today. With everything, being 14 hours away seems a little too far, and they will be able to better provide for me since they are a richer school, to put it bluntly.

I'm still doing quite well even with everything. The last thing I need is people worrying about me. I'm fine. I'm still in Majestic New Zealand and I've got a lot of good people around me.

I'll be working tomorrow and most days after that so it'll be harder to get ahold of me, I think. I'll still try to respond to emails and such.

Much love.

A Glamourous Life

So glamourous, I get to wear a plastic apron and a hair net for 9 hours a day.

I work in a factory. I've had 1 and a half days of work and I'm already sick of it, but hey, I didn't expect anything different.

I had the opportunity to choose between working in the fields or working in the packhouse and although it did pain me a bit, I chose the factory work. Simply because it means that I'll be working more, ergo, earning more money, and that's my whole reason for being in Kerikeri anyway. Both jobs would've sucked, but this one is much more stable.

And honestly, it's a very interesting experience, I mean... I never would have imagined that my first job would be working in a factory! I keep thinking about all the horrible stories of people working in sweatshops and I feel a strange connection to them. Though, of course, not any justified connection as I am treated well. There's even free tea, coffee, hot cocoa, and cookies! When you're a backpacker that's a big deal!

Yesterday was my first full day of work and I ended up doing an hour of overtime, so my day was: wake up at 6, start work at 7, and get off work at 5:30. It was a long laborous day, but I earned about 100 dollars that day, which almost pays for my weeks rent.

I guess I'm pretty settled now. I've got my home, my family/friends, my job. Life is pretty steady and I often still have to remind myself that I'm in New Zealand. I'd much rather be out and about exploring the country, but I'll feel much better actually starting my travels with a legit budget.

I did get really overwhelmed by constantly being around people for 2 weeks and decided to head out on my own to explore the surrounding areas of Kerikeri. I left around 2 and went to the library until 4:30 and was walking around various forresty areas until about 7:30. When I arrived home everyone flipped out. Apparantly they didn't know where I had gone and were worried sick about me. They tried calling me but I wasn't answering and they told me that they were going to wait another 1/2 hour and if I didn't turn up they were sending out a search party to find me.

heh heh... I guess I can't escape that kind of thing anywhere I go. ;) Even if I'm in NZ.

Reminds me of the buffalo wild wings incident.

Anyways, there isn't all that much to report. Just day to day things. Packing kiwis, making dinner, everyone openly wondering how the hell I eat as much as I do and stay as small as I am.

I'm honestly too tired to write much more. I apologize for the less than enthusiastic post, I've just not gotten decent sleep recently what with Doug's b-day party and a 6am wake up call the next morning.

But my love is sent. I'm quite well and I am enjoying my time.

Ciao!

Best Comments

A couple nights ago we all went to a pickers and packers party at a bar in Kerikeri, and most of us just went for the free food, but there was a DJ and a dance floor. Much to even my disbelief I went out and just started dancing! Similarly to how I did back at home with all my friends in my living room. It was heaps of fun. I even taught Tyron, a kiwi with a 'fro, some of our American gangsta dance moves. I had everyone doin' em!

Anyways, that night there was a lot of talk revolving around me (the girls stole me and dressed me up and put makeup all over my face) and everyone was oohing and ahhing over how if I was a bit taller I could easily be a model.

That was nice and all, but my two favorite comments of the night were from Rob:

"No matter what anybody tell you, you are fucking cool! You are so fucking cool!"

(Mind you, Rob has tattoos all up his arms and spent 12 years in the British army)

Rob to Joey:

"This girl, she's got balls that are THIS BIG!" (holds hands far apart)


So, I guess they've figured me out. I'm a petite feisty gorgeous hard-ass.

hahaha. It felt good.

:)

Alive and Well

Sorry I haven't been able to update recentlI've been too busy livin!

At this point I can no longer update you on all of my adventures, for there are far too many. I can say that I've seen two oceans collide, made lots of friends, and seen a dead cow rolling down the river.

No time. CIAo

Fate, St. Patty's Day, & The Wise Old Man

Remember how in my last post I was complaining about having a bad day because of my room switch? Well, I entered my room thinking "ok, this is really not that bad of a situation, I'm going to welcome it with open arms."
And guess what? Fate took care of the rest. Turns out they overbooked the room, so I ended up being switched again to room 206 which was basically empty except for this very talkative 76 year old man from Australia. We introduced ourselves and shortly realized they we were going to be on the same bus the next day, so we decided to make a day of it. I got up at 6 am and went down to the kitchen and he made me a bowl of porridge (oatmeal) and tea and chatted a lot about farms he'd worked on and how much he liked milk..
It was a four and a half our ride with him, since he got off at Paihia and my stop, Kerikeri, was 25 minutes north of there. It was quite pleasant, he did a lot more chatting, going on about Australia and the NZ landscape. I learned a lot from him. And all the while I stared out the window at some of them most incredible landscape I've ever seen. I really didn't know that these types of places existed outside of jurrassic park movies. TONS and TONS of rolling hills, some filled with jungle landscape, others totally rural, for the sheep to graze.

At our parting he told me that I was an amazing girl, very nice and that traveling at 18 was such a brave thing to do but I'd be fine, he could tell that I'd do well.

I made it to the hostel and met my new family! A bunch of folks all between the ages of 20-33 (as usual, I'm the baby). We all put in some money for a BBQ that night and during the day the girls painted their nails (me included) green, except for the thumb, which we each put our flag. Everyone was quite impressed with my flag, though it doesn't quite have 50 stars...

Once dinner was ready, the beer was already flowing quite heavily, the music was bumpin, and the people were socializin! It was heaps of fun!! All in our nice little Hone Heke Hostel Lodge, which has a nice covered outdoor pavillion with big long tables, a pool table, a ping pong table, x-mas lights hung up on the ceiling, and a pretty nifty sound system.

It's been a lot of fun getting to know everyone, and even though it's just been pouring rain for 3 days straight, it has been nice to just sit around the tables playing cards, inserting myself into these peoples' lives. :p We really are like a big funky family. Oh and I'm getting much better at pool and table tennis!

I'm enjoying my time in Kerikeri so far. They even have a nice lil farmers market on Sundays that i can go to and get the best hotcakes ever. Still just waiting for work... but I've applied and should be hearing back in about a week or so.I hope you all know that it is not glamourous work by any means, most likely working in a packhouse doing really shitty work for really shitty pay. But hey, it's a lot of money really quickly. The sooner I rack up 2000 bucks, the sooner I can head out to more adventures to Hamilton, Blenhiem, Franz Joseph Glacier, Dunedin, Milford Sound... it's such a big world. Taking 4 years out of my time to explore hurts me, but I know university will be a good investment. I just have to grit my teeth and get through it so that I can get back out on the road.

New Zealand, you lovely place, you've shown me how strong I can be. And I no longer fear the unknown, nor do I fear being alone.

P.S. My last day in Auckland I was feeing lonely and went to the park and just laid down, hoping maybe someone would come talk to me, but knowing that even if no one did (most probably), life was still good. Optimism, open to the fates and all that. And what happened? A guy came up and started chatting with me! He's from India and could tell I wasn't from around here and wanted to learn about my country. Very cool.

Ok, times running out.

My love is sent!