rambles

We went took a trip up north to the hot springs on saturday..cept when we got to the "hot springs" we discovered it was really just a heated swimming pool with slides and screaming children. pay $15 to hang out with screaming children in a heated pee pool? no tank coo. so we walked to the end of the street and said HELLO GLORIOUS OCEAN!





There were pretty green shells and jessica and i each found a couple sand dollars...that ended up stinking up the entire car on the ride home. well actually. back up a second. the smell was from a "mr. stinky" which joe gave jessica knowing it was still alive. heh. jessica had know idea it was alive till we got in the car and i was like "jessica it smells like shit in here!" and shes all like "sam shut up it does not!" then she picks up the shell and smells it..OH and sure enough I WAS RIGHT. that shell stunk like baaaaaad..! it was quite funny.
We ended the day with a drive to Devonport for yummy fish and chips.

I went and saw the simpsons last night.. SO AMAZING I WANT TO SEE IT EVERY DAY..spider pig spider pig..seriously go see it!...

rambles...
Everytime one of us gets an idea to go do something here. Everyone (all the abroad students at the village) somehow hears about it and is like oh that sounds fun, I think we'll go too. So a couple people are like ya i'm going to the movies tonight, then next thing you know 20 people are going. Its getting annoying. Like to point where i'm just not going to tell people what our plans are. We don't all have to do EVERYTHING together.

I woke up a few mornings ago and was limping in pain when I walked to the shower. I blamed the shoes I wore the night before and figured it would go away. But seriously it’s getting to the point where the only shoes I can wear are my running shoes and I have to walk on my tiptoe. I’m really considering finding a foot doctor or something. But all the doctor will say is, “ice, take a Tylenol, and stay off it..” I guess I’ll just keep whining to Jessica and pray it stops hurting.. However I’ve got a pretty sweet gangster walk going on..so I can’t complain to much. heh.

I think its funny the only thing we have in the fridge and pantry is beer and pasta. Talk about carb overload. I think its time we checked ourselves into the gym..and get a ride to the grocery. Because this is seriously getting ridiculous. Its past the point of starving children in Africa and moved to the bum outside that tries to bum a cigarette..cept in our case we’re just trying to bum a ride to get food cause were too lazy to walk.

I wanna give a shout to The Away Team and all the good news. I’m guessing the next step is a gold plated tour bus? ;)

like..lets go to the mall

so you have to say the title in a valley girl voice. haha only kidding. but seriously DO IT.

Went to the mall again today..story of my life. None of us had class today so gives us something to do.
Our new German friends Lena and Julianne just bought a car the other day so we got our first car ride. I thought that in Germany and Europe they drove like they do here (everything left side), but they actually drive like us Americans (everything right side). Soooo watching her driving is soo scary. Every car ride is an adventure..a very hilarious and scary adventure mostly. I still want to try it though, ya know just say I tried to drive here.
Lena and I got a mani and pedi today. This place we went was horrible. And you could tell the two girls doing our nails where talking bad about us. I wish I could speak every language. Like you flip a switch and I can speak French, flip another and speak German. Well anyway today we wished we could speak Vietnamese so that when we left the nail place we could just say something to them in their language and they’d be like oh crap they understood what we were saying. Just annoying and totally rude!

I’m such a sucker for a nice pair of sunglasses and a good sales person. So when I started trying some on the lady was all like “oooooooh those look good,” I’d try another pair and she’d say “oooooooooh those are better,” then another pair and she’s say “no no I like the last ones best.” So thus I bought a pair of pricey shades. Exciting huh?
Then I picked up some new shadow at MAC and decided to cut myself off after that. I did however finally find a snowboard coat I want. But I’m waiting till I leave to buy it (mom) just cause it will be on sale and cheaper than if I were to get it back in the states at the same time because of there season difference. Ya know. Works out perfectly..mwhaha..

We’re going to a concert tonight at Carrington’s. Some band called Concord Dawn and Nick D. We shall see. Something to do.

Carrie, Bob, Josie, Teddy - I’m sooo sooo excited to hear you guys might be moving to Homburg, Germany. I asked Lena (my new german friend) and she said, “Oh that place is so great. It’s where I want to move when I’m older. It is right by the ocean and there is a lake in the middle of town. But it’s defiantly the best place to live in Germany because it’s so beautiful. The only thing is it’s a little colder since it’s next to the ocean.” So I just wanted to tell you guys what it was like from a German’s point of view. Hope that gives a little relief to the big change.

no cardboard boxes here

just so everyone knows..i'll post a little of our new home..to prove jessica and i aren't living in some cardboard box together. heh.

this is the building our flat is in:


this is the living area and kitchen:




here is my lovely room:




and i was fortunate enough to get a view of trees rather then another building:


its funny. the only thing i brought from home was pictures of friends and family..
[which i need to print more here cause i only could find a few before i left. hint hint. maybe you readers out there can send me photos. my walls are lonely.]
what i'm getting at is the other american from our school, Jeremiah, brought a rope light (not even kidding), a tie-dye peace wall hanging, a tie-dye joes crab shack hanging, and some beer posters. jessica and i were like are you friggen kidding me?!! but whatever makes you feel at home man..i was just like dang maybe i should of brought a kansas flag or something. haha.

ATTN:

everyone needs to download skype. so we can all talk for free. but i'm gonna add money to my account so i can actually call out and call everyones actual phones. exciting yes i know.
www.skype.com
my user name is samanthalevi400 and jessicas is jesika5586
SO ADD US!!

jessica started a blog too.
www.jessicamoler.blogspot.com

and i'm putting up photos on my flickr as i speak so...
www.flickr.com/photos/blueeyedfawn/

i made an album of the pictures in order of happenings for easy viewing.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueeyedfawn/sets/72157601009144902/

and if you must..a party pics album too ;)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueeyedfawn/sets/72157601009191730/

tour bus

We ended up having an unexpected party at our flat the other night. Jessica and I were in bed and Jeremiah (one of the guys from UCM) came over and was like GET UP we got people coming over. Its sweet throwing a party and not having to do anything like invite people.
Took an Auckland bus tour Friday through Unitec. The bus was black and purple and called purple rain. It was total Prince but no one got the joke when Jessica and I started singing. Heh. It took us to the sky city and over the Harbour bridge (which is an amazing view and they do bungee jumping off of it J!). We ended up at Devonport port/Devonport bay and got to walk up to the top of the mountain to experience the most amazingest view ever. It was truly breath taking and you’ll be able to tell from the photos. There were old little lookout stations too (mom you would have died. Total piratey.) We drove down along the waterfront and into Devonport where we got REAL fish and chips for lunch and ate along the beachfront. I got a bunch of purrty shells and got to walk along the shore. The water was cold (like as cold as that family trip to Long Island, New Jersey) but nice on the feet. After lunch we headed back over the Harbour bridge where we went to Mission bay. We only got ten minutes worth but it was perfect and I even found you some sea glass mom!
I thought coming here I would just be surrounded by kiwis, but because of the exchange program I’m meeting people from all over the world. It amazing and totally gives me a taste of every country without having to travel there.
The people here are wonderful too. Everyone is so so nice..even the taxi drivers. It’s just nice to be surrounded by people from Germany, Japan, Netherlands, México, Argentina, Finland, Sweden, Samoa, South Africa, and Fiji. Way better than being surrounded by Americans for 6 months. Haha. You would think because of all the accents it would get confusing but we’re all developing a knack for figuring out what everyone is trying to say.
I think the Swedes have the best English compared to us and it’s easy to relate to the Mexicans culture wise. I’ve discovered Finnish is the most bizarre language and so hard to even fathom understanding it.
It’s so funny to me to see every ones views on America and Americans in general. I never would have thought people from other countries really think we’re so shut in our ways and that we never travel outside the US. I’m glad the four of us are here to just prove not all Americans are typical. I should be getting paid for this. Isn’t this Bush’s job?..haha oh wait.

lovely days

yesterday july18:
i had orientation yesterday. we were greeted with maori woman on a stage dancing and singing. it was really beautiful. other than that it was boring like orientations are. cept they had a break for morning tea and these little amazing nibbleys.

we finally got a cell phone yesterday! we bought a sim card to use in jessica's phone but it said wrong sim so whatEVER. we ended up just buying the cheapest phone they had which was $90. the next one up was $150 and thats just the basic. you don't even wanna know how much they were charging for the chocolate..
haha our dandy little nokia makes the iphone look like the pope.

satoko cooked us dinner. a yummy curry dish with brown rice, potatoes, and sausage.

jessica and i went down to the sky city to a bar called Suite last night. met up with this american from chicago we had met at the sydney airport. he was over here promoting a liquor (just our luck the guy that sits next to us sells liquor) called ecstasy (drinkecstasy.com) which is a pomegranate liquor. the funny part is no one here in NZ knows what a pomegranate is.
the night started with our uber nice south african taxi driver who got out of the taxi and pretty much walked us up to the door. once we got in we ordered a couple and found out anything with skyy vodka was FREE! jessica was like "what! why!" and the bartender said "cause its a party. why not." it was like literally Skyy vodka waterfalls and accented men all around us. pretty much dream land except all the men turned out to be super creeps. jessica can tell you all about it! the night ended at a hamburger street vendor (where i got this AMAZING pineapple burger) and an overpriced taxi back to our flat.

today july19:
the weather today was once again glorious. i have yet to expect any less though.
i went up to my design building today and met for their orientation. the building is really cool with these great old wood floors and yellow brick exterior. its one of the oldest buildings in Auckland and used to be the sane asylum. (mom you would love it). the only thing is its kind of hard to navigate around cause the point of the sane asylums was to keep certain people away from others. so there are so many doors and hallways everywhere. almost like a rat maze.

the studio photography class i'm taking is going to everything i've always wanted and more probably. its a double credit class so instead of the typical 3 hours a week its 9 hours. also it has projects and critiques and i get my own studio space and ya. UCM is looking pretty drab and uncool..we shall see though.

Everything here is backwards from back home. It totally messes with my head, especially when you see a little kid in the seat where the driver is suppose to be. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. However it is quite the ideal world for the left handed person like myself..hehe.

10 years behind

for me to do a load of laundry here, wash and dry, will cost NZ$6 which is about US$4.
guess i'm going to be the smelly kid at school..just kidding..but seriously.
i have yet to find LIQUID laundry soap. its all powderpoo.
if anyone wants to mail me a 5 month supply of dryer sheets. that would be lovely too because those don't exist here either. they have liquid fabric softener but thats the closest i've found to either..
when i asked Peter (a kiwi from 2 hours south of here) if they even sold the stuff here he had no idea what i was talking about.
hello 1800's.
i'm still baffling myself how they get rid of static cling.

in other news we finally went to the grocery today. so our five day fast can end.
our new friend Peter in the flat over has a car and offered to take us. a good 30 min walk otherwise.
i bought some yummy juice thats exactly like Naked but it comes in a 1/2 gallon and is the same price as the little bottles back home. excitement.
i should also tell you they don't refrigerate their eggs here. which totally freaked jessica out first time she saw this.
its nice to see NZ doesn't put fake orange dye into there chedder...i mean are there really cows out there that produce orange milk? in less its the cows that make those yummy orange dream sickles..tehehe.

went to the st. lukes mall again today. all the kids were out of school for the day. i felt like i was in a bloody hairy potter movie because i swear the uniforms they were wearing looked the same.
lost jessica for a bit and thought i'd have to take the bus home alone. found her in this fancy pants french cosmetic store getting suckered into buying apple vinegar mumbo jumbo face stuff. i told her to go buy a bottle of apple cider vinegar because it would be cheaper but she never listens.
i unfortunately left behind the perfect pair of levis. tear.

jessica and i cooked dinner for satoko tonight. meatballs, potatoes with gravy, and my fave BROCCOLI!

castaway and rainy days

i feel like jessica and i are some old married couple..i told jessica this and she replied with "at least they have tv."

the feeling is almost like the movie Castaway...being dumped on an island. no tv, no cell phone. no car. and your only friend being a volleyball (jessica being the volleyball..no offense jessica). i hate even saying it but i seriously feel helpless with out my cellphone. i think its the knowing, i can't just pick up the phone and talk to my family or any of my friends; turn on the tv and watch daily catch; and no car too. i don't mind not having a car. its just the fact that public transportation here pretty much blows. its one of those cities like kc that everyone and their infant has a car. god. being in a society like america really ruins a person.

it rained today. that was the excitement.
oh and making fun of how many bed sore i think jessica will get from sleeping so much.

cafe

so the excitement of having apparent "high speed" wireless here has come to a crashing hault this morning...more like since i've been here.
first being its as slow as dial up, i think a snail could transport pictures to the states faster.
the second being the conspiracy of how jessicas computer gets four bars of signal and mine only gets one. which could be the reason of why its takes 9 hours to upload one dinky picture..which i have yet to accomplish. this annoyance has got to be solved because this type of crap annoys the shit out of me. once i figure this sherlock mystery i'll put the link up for your viewing pleasure.

in other news. jessica woke me up at 6 am due to her starvation. then i of course couldn't go back to bed so we layed around till 8 and finally got going. we took a nice 5 min. walk up to this cafe on the corner. it was very quaint and we were greeted by an older man with sweet flowing locks of white hair. everything there was organic free range, which was cool cause the menu said that 92% of eggs in new zealand come from chickens who our kept in cages their whole life with just enough room to turn around. same for pigs as well, who never even get to see sunlight or a blade of grass there whole life. tear. sounds familiar. hrm.

now heres where my fat kid side comes out. we both ordered coffees. and you should know that they don't brew coffee in new zealand. so there's no house brew like the states. its all espresso (which the white haired man told us, "we bought this $10,000 espresso machine so were damn well going to use it as much as we can"). i ordered this moccalatte. which is double espresso with chocolate milk and foam, oh and these amazing homemade marshmallows came with it. mmm. jessica ordered eggs Benedict with ham and i ampted for the french toast with bananas and berries with creme fresh. everything came out looking like bon appetite magazine. i usually can never eat all of my french toast order but i sure did this time. we prolly looked like starving children as we devoured the decadence.






....so of course after i leave my computer and go to jessicas i'm able to upload no problem. figures. what a bugger.

kiwi time

WE’RE HERE!!! I don’t even know where to begin.
Everything in my life up to now has paved the way for this experience. This is absolutely the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I hate being that typical tourist where you take pictures of everything like ten times. But flying in. OMG I was just click click clicking away It still feels like I’m in a dream and I’ll wake up any second.
You wouldn’t think air had a smell. But even the air here is amazing. The only way I can describe it is mountain air but more crisper and hints of sweet pine and deliciousness. The weather feels like fall but with everything looking like fresh spring. Green green grass and pretty exotic flowers everywhere. Its fairy tale-esk. Even the tap water tastes bottled. It friggen unreal.
Maybe I'm just still jet lagged..but i seriously am in awe of everything I see.

Our flat is very cute. We have two flat mates. One girl, Satoko, is from Japan and has actually been going to school here since January. She's studying english and surprisingly is easier to understand than most of the kiwi's i've met. The other girl, Josephine, is native kiwi and is still on holiday. So we won't get to meet her for another week or so.

Jessica and I walked to St. Lukes mall today (about 30 min. from our flat/campus) then took the bus back with our over-priced bedding and basics.

zombie travel

after our across america tour we ended in sydney after a 14 hour plane ride. lovely.
we have cankles. jessica mostly. heh.
Flew into Sydney in time to see the sunrise. but unfortunatly no window seat so no pictures.
jessica got hit on and molested at customs while i waited outside the room laughing.
and we're still in search for our gate number, which doesn't seem to exist.
but at least they have free internet.
more later.
g'day mates.

air time

My mom says the best time to talk to god is in the air. So I had a little talk while I was up there. Mostly about how I hope I’ll come back with an accent or maybe a nice kiwi…

The flight to LA was better than expected. I love flying with clear blue skies and big fluffy clouds. The best part is flying at 35,000 ft and being able to see the ground. Got a bite to eat at Chilis, then made our selves comfy at the gate. Watched empire records and I overheard this girl on the phone talking about how she just saw Paris Hilton at Chili’s (mind you we had just eaten there) where she was wearing a white tank and blah blah blak! Saying at the end of her sentence she should have been tanner. Can I also add she talked in one of those I’m twelve and a girl and I have a high pitched voice who just met Justin Timberlake kind of thing going on. Sadly I’d say she was prolly around my age and I had to remind myself that I’m in LA, where everyone seems to have been in the sun too long.

The flight to Sydney was loooooooooooooooooong. Like crying baby long. It was almost as comparable to that 15 hour car ride eight of us took to crested butte this last winter in the suburban. But I'm gonna have to admit i'd rather be stuck in the car for 15 hours than a plane. It must be the air, the lack of exercise, maybe the hospital like food. But I've def. had better fun.

bon voyage

i promised to do this for all the adoring fans..har-har. mostly i promised myself. you know documentation for the adventures im about to embark upon.
we take off the 11th. (jessica and i).. a bit of a nail-biter at the moment.
i pray for our luggage not getting lost and for lots of airplane peanuts. mmm.