Moving WEEK! Oh happy joy joy!

                                                                Sunset view from our casa
It all began Friday morning at our lovely YMCA hostel... JC and I headed over to our new apartment by bus to get the keys to begin our moving adventure! JC had made the deposit the night before to ensure we would be able to move... but the deposit was made after 10:00pm which meant that the money would not show until the afternoon. After arriving we found that the keys wouldn't be given unless we could go to the bank to handle the situation! A bit stressed we made it to the bank and was able to get everything figured out! Friday morning JC and I spent cleaning cleaning cleaning. To our surprise along with the realtor, the owners had purchased everything we needed to feel at home! I had bought pots, pans, towels, blankets, and such... but was so happy to return them finding we had everything and more than we needed! In the afternoon we returned back to the Y where JC's friend, Lan, brought her car to move us in! We fit everything into her Rav 4 with only one trip! Saturday and Sunday we rented a car to pick up everything that was needed to complete our new "casa." What an exhausting two days to have everything go go go and buy buy buy before you have to return "the wheels" back to the rental place. We both worked super hard to get everything we needed which was mostly storage shelves  that JC spent hours building and placing! Groceries were also a big part of the list! Saturday evening was spent setting up the storage closets and organizing the cooking supplies! Sunday I returned out on the streets to get the last minute things while JC stayed home to do work! I am proud to say that we BOTH made it just fine driving in Auckland city on the left hand side! I feel that by walking and riding buses, we both felt it natural to be on the left side of the road! Sunday night was spent setting up JC's desk and putting things in there place. What a job it was to get our apartment to be our home! Monday and Tuesday I didn't get any work done on the house because I was working at a great school as a teaching assistant! I spent Thursday on the North Shore visiting an amazing primary school for the entire day! I loved the school, staff, and students! Today is Good Friday and the entire city is closed!!! We were supposed to have been on a road trip today but had problems with our rental car reservation. All in all we are both happy to rest and begin our road trip on Sunday to the Coromandel Bay! Tomorrow I am hitting the streets by renting a bike! I have been dying to ride around but haven't found the time! I can't wait to travel the day tomorrow touring the bays around the city! JC and I both agreed today that our apartment is finally feeling like home! With pictures of our friends and family, internet installed, and everything in it's place we are LOVING our casa!

Not having the luck of the Irish Weekend

What a week which led into a rainy but much needed weekend. JC was extra busy this week with special lectures from, Ron Holland, who is the famous NZ boat designer. Since it is the Auckland Arts Festival I had purchased tickets to a Colombian circus show for Thursday night! JC wasn't able to make it due to a night presentation from Ron. Instead of going by myself I rang Bryan (NZ Dad) to see if he would like to come! So Bryan and I went and loved every minute of the show. I recently went to Las Vegas to see a Circus de Solei Show and this show was BETTER. The young group is from the roughest neighborhoods of Cali, Colombia. With the help from a circus organization, the actors were able to go through a 4 year circus training to help better their lives. The story told through their circus art is their lives growing up in the streets. The acts are "raw" circus de solie but very talented with much more heart into each piece. The entire performance was in Spanish which helped me to remember my Spanish once again. After the show, Bryan and I met JC for a coffee to brag about the performance JC missed. When we were leaving the festival there was a sign saying that students received discounts to shows. Since JC really missed out and wanted to go we went on Friday night! I didn't mind seeing the show a second time and really noticed a lot more! We weren't able to sit together but JC really enjoyed the show and was happy to see it! After the show we went down to our FAVORITE restaurant, Mexico, for a few gourmet tacos and my all time favorite, Sauvignon Blanc Sangria. YUMMY! This restaurant is addicting! Back tracking to Friday afternoon... JC's graduate class was invite by Ron Holland to tour 2 of his sailboat yachts that are docked in the Viaduct Wharf. I was also lucky to be invited to go along to see these yachts up close and personable. Words can't describe the luxury level of these yachts. To put in some words... the boats are around 60 million USD and are 120 ft. plus in length. The first "sailboat" was called Ethereal which is owned by an American internet genius. This boat is only 4 years old and has amazing state of the art technology due to the owner's profession. We were able to tour the cabins but couldn't take photos of the inside space. There are 10 full time crew on boat at all times! We were greeted by the "hospitality" staff worker who took us through the boat showing us the music room, huge TV room, office, kitchen, laundry room, crew housing, and guest accommodations! I believe we all are still in a state of shock to see something of this level. The average cost to keep this boat operating per year is 5 million USD. Unbelievable! The owners are very into protecting the environment and have many different techniques to show their "green" side for the planet. Next, we toured a 20 year old boat called, Thalia which is currently owned by a Russian. This boat in our opinions was much more classic design and feel. The captain took us around but we didn't get to go inside the boat due to maintenance. They run an 8 person crew. We noticed that each boat had all crew members busy busy busy maintaining the boat! It is a full time job and as my Dad likes to say about boats, "cash flow" or throwing money into the water! Thalia was a great boat and the captain was super nice. He said JC and Icould come get the hands on working experience! We might take him up on the offer and try to "hitch sailboat" to Costa Rica when they pass through. Each boat stays busy with sailing around the world. Some with just the crew which is in route to picking up the owners and weeks with owners and guests. 

Overall, this was a once in a lifetime experience that was mind blowing! Saturday was a day for JC to do his homework while I stayed busy exercising and such... JC met me for live music in the park! The music was a great young group who sang jazz and blues. It was nice to sit outside and enjoy the music but the weather was looking as if it was going to rain. JC and I left back to the room to change and go to Silo Park for the arts festival white night party. When we were ready to go... the rain was coming down so we decided to call it a night and hang out in the room. Sunday we woke up to heavier windy rains! Since it was St. Patrick's Day there was a parade near our house. JC and I kept going back and forth about going or not going. We ended up not going and I went to the gym. Well.. once I was at the gym the rain had stopped! Guess we learned our lesson about near counting on the weather in a city which is known for having ALL four seasons in one DAY! JC and I put on our head to toe rain gear and headed down to the wharf to check out the Patty's Day festivities. There were Irish Pubs with lots of people,beer, and more beer. Each pub was charging a $10 cover so we decided to go have fish in chips at a tiki car on the wharf. We had planned to go to the Polynesian Festival which was inside a conference center on Sunday... but I had looked at the webpage in the week and thought it was through Sunday. "thought" being the key word... it ended on Saturday. We were bummed to not have been able to go! In other words, our weekend was all about a hit or miss!

                                                                                            


















                                 









                                                 T

Weekend full of FUN

Auckland Arts Festival

This weekend was a fun filled weekend from Friday evening through Sunday evening. Since we had not celebrated JC's birthday I wanted to do something different on Friday night to celebrate his special day. The Auckland Arts Festival is now on for 20 DAYS! Since we are staying at the Y all the activities are near by! I decided to purchase tickets to an outdoor event in Domain Park called the Breath of the Volcano. JC rushed to get home as I rushed to get everything ready for our picnic and night firework show! We made it to the park in time to have our picnic and a glass of wine before the park got extremely packed with people and dark! It was so neat to see everyone bring their elaborate picnics with bean bags and blankets! The show was done by a group from France. The show itself was a bit strange and we couldn't follow the story line. It lasted for an hour and was filled with different firework performances. By far this was a neat experience and something really different! Saturday morning JC's classmate, Lan, wanted to take us to West Auckland to visit the wine vineyards! She is from China and has lived here for 4 years! She was super nice to pick us up and drive us for a complete day tour. We stopped at the store to get tons of food for a BBQ she had planned at one of the vineyards! We stopped along the way tasting at different places. We then realized that Lan knew a lot about wine and she just completed a degree in Wine Science from University of Auckland! We had lunch at the West Brook Vineyard which was perfect. The have set up the vineyard to be a beautiful picnic/day trip! They had a lake with many tables along with 2 gas grills! We had a great time grilling and the food was so yummy! After resting from all the food and wine we hit the road again to another vineyard. We traveled in total to 4 vineyards. To end the trip, Lan took us to the famous Muriwai Beach! We walked around and saw tons of gannet birds hanging out on the high rock peaks. The views were amazing and the beach went on and on and on. This is the beach where the man was attacked by the great white shark, but... has been reopened now for surfing! After the beach we were are tired and headed back to Auckland Central. We arrived home around 7 and were pooped! After going 30 minutes outside of the city, JC and I realized we need to do that way more often! Sunday morning we woke up early to get ready for the Round the Bays fun run. JC's back was hurting a bit so he decided to stay at school to do work while Bryan and I went to walk the 8.5 KM path along the waterfront. I had no idea how big this fun run could be with over 80,000 people! It was crazy! Bryan and I arrived early and got to start pretty much near the starting line. Some people took 30 minutes to cross the starting line! We walked by our new apartment and then around the bays. It was beautiful and so nice to see so many people getting out to walk/run the race. Bryan and I had a race to the finish line where someone scans your number. Bryan barely beat me so I gave a slight push and got scanned before he did! So I WON! We then walked for 15 minutes to a huge area to have the "after walk" party. It reminded me so much of Southern football days. Each company had huge tents set up with music, BBQ's, and tons of food. We went to the University of Auckland's tent which was super nice and even had a white picket fence around the tent. They even had tons of veggie burgers and sausages! I have found New Zealand caters more to my diet! We ate lunch while sipping on wine which was kinda cool and weird after a "race." People stayed the entire day with their companies and friends enjoying the Sunday afternoon. Bryan and I left and walked to meet Marianne who had come to meet us in her car. Since we walked only one way you had to get a ride or take a bus back to the city. Marianne picked us up and then dropped me off at the house. I loved the walk but being the competitor I am it was hard to walk! JC came home from school and we decided to go down to the Aotea Center near our house to listen to live music in the park. We spent the afternoon there enjoying the great weather and music. The park was filled with over 4,000 peace flags that the local children had made to place over the park. It was so beautiful to see the colors and flags flying in the wind. Everyday there will be live music during the Arts Festival and we look forward to hanging out there a lot during the upcoming weeks. 

                                                                      Muriwai Beach

                                                              West Brook Vineyard
                             

                                                             Breath of the Volcano

                                        B

JC's birthday

JC's First Day of SCHOOL

What a birthday it was for JC! In New Zealand his birthday was on Tuesday but... in Costa Rica and the USA it was on Wednesday. Needless to say we are still in the process of celebrating his bday. On Monday night JC received an email from his professor saying that Tuesday was a conference that he had to attend. Tuesday seems to be JC's biggest school day and to top it off he was going to be away for his evening birthday celebrations! Between classes and going to the conference, I was able to bring lunch for the birthday boy along with a small red cake! If you don't know... it is a family tradition to give red velvet cake on your birthday. I couldn't bake one for him since we are still at the hostel so I searched high and low for the best little red cake! JC's Mom was with perfect timing and called while I was lighting the candles to surprise JC with his bday cake! We still haven't been out and about for JC's birthday and hope to get to have a little fun tonight out in the BIG little city of Auckland. Our weekend seems to be filled with personal tours and a fun walk around Auckland with tons of others on Sunday. Stay tuned in for more details!

It's a beautiful Sunday

Scenery,markets, and dragon boat racing...Oh My!
A friend from Yoga Training introduced me to her family who lives in Auckland. We have really enjoyed our visits with Bryan and Marianne. On Sunday Bryan called us up to see what were our plans. JC and I had nothing planned and the weather was raining and dreary. Saturday we had gone for the entire day to our favorite park to spend the day relaxing, practicing yoga, and walking.So... back to Sunday, Bryan came to pick us up to head outside of the city to see Marianne dragon boat race. The weather soon changed (being Auckland) and we had a gorgeous day by the wharf. Marianne's team raced the 200 meter dash in the super cool dragon style kayak made for 18-20 people. There was a great Sunday market at the wharf with great food, wine, and music. We met some friends of Bryan and Marianne who also came out to see the race. Towards the end of the race there was a shortage of people. JC and I were asked to grab an oar and head out on the boat. We had a great time but man that was a work out. This weekend Marianne will race the 2km race! I enjoyed the team effort and exercise... JC enjoyed it but not into trying it out more. I might look into joining a team to meet a variety of people! We left the wharf to then take a side trip to a nice park near by. There was a nice beach and many walking trails. The views were incredible of Auckland city. Bryan continued our tour through the area where we are moving. It was great to see the park near our house with it's own beach and swimming pools! Next, we headed to Bryan's house where we went down to the sailboat club to have a few drinks! Somehow JC and I are supposed to be going out sailing on Thursday afternoon! After drinks we cooked out on the grill and enjoyed the company and food! Before we knew it, the time had slipped away and it was almost 10:00! Tomorrow (Monday) was JC's first day of school. I took pictures of my hubby heading off to school. I was able to meet him in the university park for a nice lunch in between classes. Overall, JC had a good first day and is trying to figure out his class schedules!

Oh where Oh where should we live?

Unless you have experienced the housing search in Auckland it is hard to fully describe.To summarize let's say it is worse than shopping on Black Friday in the USA! You will call about a house and either hear two options...1.RENTED
2.available at this time only (but when you go it is rented)
Auckland might be the only place in the world with a shortage of housing whether you are buying or renting. On Saturday when we arrived and settled into our room we went out on a search for city apartments. With seeing only 2 JC and I agreed that shoe box housing style isn't for us! After hours and days of looking on the internet for housing we were able to set up a few for Tuesday to go see. Our first appointment was at 9:30am in a beautiful "resort" style apartment. We loved the bigger style apartment (which is still quite tiny) and the facilties. The realtor had no time (which is like most here) and within a quick walk around the apartment and complex it was either a YES or NO! I couldn't believe in 15-20 minutes we were ready to sign a contract! Feeling nervous and sick from the rush I didn't know what to think. I left JC in the apartment to handle the contract while I went on a search to find an owner in the apartment to ask questions. I found a nice lady who I began to speak to about the monthly bills. She was very helpful and made me feel better about the quickness of signing a contract! When speaking to others in the city this is how the process is... When you see it you sign! The realtor was short, sweet, and mad that I had taken up more time by speaking to the lady because she had another appointment! Needless to say JC and I left feeling a bit nervous, confused, and happy. I wanted to take the bus to go see the next house which was a bit further away but it was a house! On the way to the house I texted the realtor to ask if we could see it earlier. She wrote back that the house was RENTED! So JC and I didn't look anymore and felt like we made a great quick decesion. The next day we went to the realtor's office to sign the agreements. So strange you pay the realtor a comission(which is a lot) and they don't pick you up to sign the contract nor show you a place more than 20 minutes! I was very turned off and still am about that craziness! Needless to say, we have the apartment which is fully furnished (which is rare) and can't move in until the end of March! Until then we shall enjoy our cheap rent at the hostel and keep exploring the city! We rented a fabulous place in high hopes of having many visitors! :)