Click, click, click, smile!

New Zealand is so beautiful! I took over 200 pictures in twenty-four hours on a mini-journey with Caitlin this weekend! By then end of the time, Caitlin called me "click happy"-- I suppose I am but I can not help it! On Saturday, she picked me up from a birthday party in Auckland at a climbing gym and we went up Mt. Eden. Mt. Eden is the tallest natural point in all of Auckland city and you can see the whole city from up there! It's a volcano and it's beautiful--there and the views. Auckland has many volcanoes around it. As Tim put it, "One day they will erupt and we will all die, but it's nothing to worry about." I laughed because really San Luis Obispo, the very town I have lived in for the past five years, is on the San Andres Fault that is bound to move one of these days--ok well in the next fifty years, as my professor once predicted.

Me on Mt. Eden, see the Auckland skyline behind me!

The crater! 

After Mt. Eden, we got lost driving around Auckland but I didn't mind because I got to see it better. Then found some place to eat dinner, near the water. We decided it would be cool to stay in the city for the night instead of driving back to Waimauku, so we booked a room at a hostel. Neither us of had ever stayed in a hostel and were quite excited about the new experience, only to find our roommates were slobs and decided to smoke at 5:00 in the morning--in the room! Yuck! Still, the price was good and it wasn't so horrible. I'm not completely turned off by hostels.

Nomad Hostel, I love the name!

The next day, we explored Muriwai beach, the beach right by our families' homes. By the way Caitlin lives right up the road. Our families are friends and the boys are really good friends. Actually as I type this post one of the boys she watches, Jack, is sleeping in the other room. The beach was so pretty! I could not get enough of the views so I took many, many pictures. We were really impressed, among other things, with the soft, black, sparkly sand!

Cool black rock makes cool black sand. I couldn't resist climbing up the rock!

Crazy big cliff side, really cool looking!

Same cliffside, from afar!

It's spring holiday for all the school children here.  Oli has the next two weeks school free, we plan to go fun places! We went to the nearby beach today with their dog Coco. She's a sweet dog but still a puppy and needs some more training. Tomorrow is some sort of adventure and Friday we are going to see a play--Badjelly the Witch! Apparently it's a popular children's story but I have never heard of it.

It was just daylight savings here. Now instead of being nineteen hours ahead of California, we are twenty hours ahead. I am excited for when California has daylight savings and they "fall back" to make New Zealand twenty-one hours ahead. That's almost a whole day, which makes scheduling Skype dates much easier! At first, the whole daylight savings thing confused me. I forgot it was spring here. The cold weather was quite fooling me. Plus, it's September and that's always been fall. So I said it was "fall back". But a nice Scottish couple, that we met when out in Auckland, kindly corrected me to realize it's "spring forward".

I am so glad I decided to come to an English speaking country! I was thinking of Italy or Spain before I found this wonderful family and place! At times I have a very hard time understanding accents and lingo. The Scottish couple were especially hard to understand and Gendie can be as well. New Zealanders say my accent is easy to understand because it's what they hear on the "telly". Caitlin and I were often asked the question, "Where in America are you from?" For some reason they believed she was from California easier than they believed I am from there. Not really sure why, I've lived there my whole life, up until now at least!

Well time to end my blog, although I'm sure I could ramble on for many more paragraphs! Keep in touch America! It's been great having Skype and Facebook to keep in touch. What in the world did people do without all this technology!?

"Jenny I got your number"

Oh man where to start, so much has happened so far! I suppose I'll go chronologically.

At the airport I did not allow myself to sit down until I got on the plane. The idea of fourteen hours in one seat scared me into making laps around LAX. Once on the plane, I sat in my aisle seat, that was part of a three seat row- in the middle of the plane. Soon after I sat down, an older man sat on the other aisle seat. We kept waiting for someone to sit in the middle of us. When the plane began to taxi we were delighted that no one sat next to us! I would not have been able to sleep as well with someone in that seat! I got to curl up and sleep as well as one can in a slightly seated position in two seats, instead of one!

On the plane, I started to write in a journal and had a hard time dating it. I went over so many different time zones. I decided to call it Time Lala Land.  With all the time changes, I settled on saying that I completely skipped over Monday. What a day to skip, right? I'm a lucky girl!  It wasn't just a random skipping mind you. I left late Sunday night in California and got to Auckland, NZ on Tuesday afternoon!

I had a quick layover in Sydney, Australia. As it was time to board the plane, I heard a very muffled, accented voice telling me we are boarding about twenty-five minutes late. I was actually happy to hear it! I wanted time to walk around the airport stores. It doesn't quite count as visiting Australia, but I hope to get back there. I had a window seat on the flight from Sydney to Auckland. The view from the plane was beautiful. 

In Auckland, New Zealand, I waited in many lines going through customs. Finally, I walked out and saw Gendie and Sam waiting for me. Sam was so sweet. He gave me a huge hug and a kiss right away. Then, within a minute of knowing me, he told me he loved me.  In the car, he kept saying my name in his cute accent. He was also full of questions and stories for me. He is very sweet. I didn’t get to meet Oli until later because he was at school. I'll get to him in a minute--remember my plan to go chronologically?

We stopped by a grocery store on the way home. I was relieved to see it looks quite like a grocery store you would see in The States.

This is my first time somewhere where they drive on the other side of the road. Even as a passenger, I was quite confused. I was sitting in the front left seat where one would usually drive. Oh, it’s completely flipped around! I’m glad they do not live in the city because I can get accustom to driving on the country roads first. As we drove, Gendie pointed out landmarks, road names and cool stores. I only half-way understood everything she was saying due to my tiredness, Sam talking in backseat, her accent and unfamiliar words.

The other side of the road perspective

Once we got into Waimauku, we drove to their neighbor's place to pick up Oli. He was picked up from school by their neighbor’s nanny, Caitlin, who happens to be from California as well, Chico to be exact!  I finally got to meet her, the kids she watches, and more importantly Oli. He was shy at first but then he and Sam broke into song--a song they learned about me. Can you guess? They learned “Jenny, I got your number” it was adorable to hear. They still sing it every once in a while after saying my name. But only Oli remembers my "phone number".

Then, we drove back to their house, my new house. It very conveniently decided to pour down rain as we were carrying in my things and groceries. Sam gave me the tour, which was a quick run through of the house followed by a long detour in his room to play puzzles! Then, Gendie came to get us to walk around the property. We put on our gummies (rainboots) and tromped around in the mud. I met their goats, Scrampy and Spooky and their chickens. Saw all the plants they planted in their garden, as well as the natural fauna. It's so beautiful and green!

The house, from where the goats live.

Next, we had dinner. Tim made sure I had wine to drink during dinner. I gave them a bottle of Wild Horse Chardonnay from Paso. I said I had trouble picking the type of wine so I chose chardonnay since that's what I like. Tim said that I will soon be cured of my chardonnay liking. I guess chardonnay wasn't the best choice after all. 

After dinner, the boys headed to bed and so did I! I had a great first day, well half day, meeting and getting to know the family. I was surprised I was able to stay awake so late. It was around 2:00 am California time when I finally got into bed after over twenty-four hours of traveling.

My bed!

The boy's beds

I would have liked to post all this before going to bed on my first night but I was too sleepy! Since I didn't, I am going to continue my story because so many more interesting things have happened.

I went with Gendie to drop the boys off at school. I was very interested to see the boy’s schools. I looked around at Oli’s Year One classroom. There were lots of cool projects hanging around. All things a future teacher very much enjoyed looking at.

Sam’s school or daycare was very cool. The first thing I saw when I walked in was a dog inside the daycare center. Oscar was a sweet doggie. In a short time, Sam took me outside to the play structure. Wow, this playground, I should get a picture of it. It would NEVER fly in The States. Everywhere you look was a lawsuit waiting to happen--ropes, wiggly walking boards, you name it.  No lawsuits here in NZ or at least less. Maybe their wild and slightly dangerous play structures are what led their country to be known as the adventure capital of the world. Humm, that's a discussion for another time, but something to think about. 

Then Gendie took me on a driving tour. We saw the beautiful beach and many walking trails I would love to go on asap. I asked her when I will start driving, she suggested in a few days so I get used to the perspective. But later they unexpectedly had to run into Auckland city. So I went to pick up Sam from school. I just jumped in the car and drove on the other side of the road.

Muriwai Beach, it's the Tasman Sea

Beautiful right? Very stormy though.

Driving on the other side of the road was an adventure in itself--hence the grand title of my blog. Everything is all turned around. I kept turning on the windshield wipers when I wanted to turn on a blinker. When it started to rain I turned on the blinker instead of the wipers! Oh man, a mess! And I had to REALLY focus about which the side of the street I should be on.  I kept asking myself, "Are you on the right side of the road? No, not the right side, the correct side, the left side. Yeah. Alright good." Repeat that internal Jenny dialogue for the whole twenty minute drive and you are in my head, welcome!

The weather is not the best right now, to put it lightly! I am FREEZING! It’s very stormy.  It hailed today and the power was out for a while.  Apparently, the winter is dragging on into spring. Is it summer yet???? This storm is as bad as the worst you would see once a year in California. I had to steal a pair of Tim's wool socks to warm me up because my tiny ankle socks are not cutting it here in freezing-cold-land. I'll ask again--is it summer yet? 

The weather complaint being said, I did suck it up and put on a coat to play outside with Sam today. We had a blast. We walked around the property, jumped on the trampoline and played with bikes and their dog, Coco. When Oli got home the boys played in the mud. No, not just stepping in it. Picking it up and making balls out of it and throwing it into the bushes. Very boy like --they had a blast!

I've been so busy thus far. I have to keep coming back to finish my blog then needing to add more! Don't expect so much detail next time! 

Catch ya later America! I'm trying not to miss you! Skype soon!

Goodwill Loves Me

Everything I own fits into my small two-door Civic, a large suitcase and two smaller ones.  Ask my brother Kevin how he fit everything that I am storing at my parent’s house into my tiny car- it’s beyond me. As for the suitcases, I worked with the airline baggage requirements and suitcases I had available.  I had to use the “roll-clothes/stuff-socks-into-shoes” technique to fit everything I think I will need for the next seven months into the suitcases.

Let me pause on this story to look out the train windows. Wow this view is so picturesque! I’m not sure whether I should look out at the ocean or the mountains. I keep turning my head to the left, then the right, then back to my computer. I might look odd to anyone who may be watching me.  No wait, everyone else is doing it too.  I should ride the train south more often just for the views.  Actually, how about I’ll just ride between SLO and Ventura. I’m willing to bet once we hit the oh so wonderful Los Angeles the view will not quite be as picturesque, unless you enjoy looking through the smog at a land of buildings and traffic.

Ok, back to the story about my stuff. I’m pretty sure Goodwill wants to marry me. I gave them so much stuff over the years and especially this week. I feel I have made my contribution to charity for a while by donating so much stuff because stuff equals money and the needy need that. I tried to sell most of it because I’m also needy, a needy traveler, and I did sell some to happy, young Cal Polyians.

It’s very liberating to know that all I own fits into a tiny car and some suitcases. In reality, I probably don’t need everything I have now but I tried my best- small steps baby. “I am living in a material world and I’m trying not to be a material girl, so I can travel!” (I am so good at making up song lyrics; I should sing those in my pretty voice.)

The pause in my story tells you I am on a train. Meaning I left my home of five years, San Luis Obispo. Goodbyes can be hard but I will be back! I have been in need of an adventure for a long time. Putting yourself through college is tough work! I am excited to see other places and learn about other cultures! I have read some articles on the benefits of long-term travel and talked to older, wiser people about it. So much learning and personal growth can happen while I’m living there. It will be so cool!

This is an experience of a lifetime!  I have not once called it a vacation although it may feel, at times, like one. I usually really enjoy watching kids and New Zealand sounds awesome, so actually I may be able to call it a vacation! I’m stoked about New Zealand, my job, where I’m living, and where I’m traveling! See you so soon New Zealand! Adios San Luis Obispo and soon to be U.S.A. I will miss you and everyone in it!

Well back to the train ride. I think my next item of entertainment will be a princess coloring book, courtesy of the Horzen girls.  So far so good on the travel entertainment, I’m treating this train ride as practice for my twenty-hour flight!

Who, what, when, where, why

In a weeks time I will be headed to the airport on my way to New Zealand! Why New Zealand you ask? I will tell you!

In New Zealand I will be living with a family in a small town outside of Auckland called Waimauku. There, I will help out with the kids and the household Monday through Friday in exchange for room and board plus some spending money. On weekends I am free to and encouraged to use the car that's available to me and drive off to explore the beautiful country. 

How did I come across this opportunity? I was thinking and thinking about what to do with my life after college. I knew I wanted to travel.  But I didn't want to wait and wait until I saved up enough money to travel for an extended period of time because I knew I would probably never go! It was then that I decided to find a job in another country! A job as a nanny (au pair if you want to use the fancy word) is perfect for me!  I have been a nanny for a great family for the past three years in SLO and I know I love it! I figured it be an easy transition and I'm overly qualified. The only differences are, I live with the new family and I'm in a completely different country! The completely different country part brings plenty of other differences I am sure, but I'm in for an adventure and learning about other cultures!

After I decided what to do I began my search for the perfect family. I used greataupair.com and talked to many families, mostly in Europe. They all sounded good but not awesome. Then Gendie contacted me; I read her family's profile, googled New Zealand, read a previous nanny's blog and fell in love! New Zealand sounds perfect for me! The landscape of the entire country is gorgeous, at least it appears to look that way in all the pictures and everyone tells me so. There are many exciting things to explore and do, mainly outdoors which is awesome! The country is way more environmental than the U.S. and I could use to learn a few things to bring back to teach us here! The family sounds great, they have two adorable little boys,  Oli 5.5 and Sam 3.5. They seem very easy to get along with. They live in a beautiful home on five acres. I hear they eat lots of vegetables, yes! I can learn more recipes! They have a dog plus many other animals. They live near the beach. I can't wait to meet them in person, not just over Skype and get to know them all! Oh, I almost forgot, it's going to be spring and summer again while I am there! I get three of the two best seasons of the year in a year and a half (Did you get that? Think about it.)

As the one who will notice a cool tree in a parking lot, I can't wait to explore the beautiful nature of New Zealand!