Hey everybody,

Sooo...I know we haven't updated in a while...so I just thought i'd say a few things...

We haven't been up to too much lately...mainly working. So there's nothing too exciting to tell. We did go to an All Blacks game a few weeks ago though...wow, that may have been 3 weeks ago. Time flies...Anyways, the game was against Ireland and the All Blacks won. The game was alot of fun. It was pouring the whole time, so we got pretty soaked, but a few beers helped us keep warm. I don't know how much of the game we actually understood...since there wasn't an announcer or anything...but we at least got the gist of things and had a great time. I'm really impressed with rugby players, they're quite intense. They don't wear any pads at all when they're playing...not even shin pads. I expected at least that much...

So that was the most recent exciting thing that happened...And I was going to put pictures up today but I forgot the cable to connect my camera to the computer, so the pictures will have to wait a few days.

Oh, we've also been reading alot. We got library cards and the library here is huge, so that helps keep us occupied...especially since we can't really watch tv. There's only 4 channels here...and one is in maori so we don't understand it anyway... so, needless to say, I miss all of my tv shows...

And we've made some friends through work, so we've been going out a bit at nights. Thats keeping things more interesting...especially with the people we work with. They're a huge mix of crazy people. Fun though...well, except the chefs...but thats another story alltogether, and I don't have time to get into that...

I'm off to job number 2 of the day...and looking forward to our day off tomorrow!

Hopefully we'll have some other really exciting stories to tell soon!

-Lauren

pictures!

Hey everybody,

Sooo, dan just wrote a long post...but I just thought that i'd add a little bit, and finally post some pictures... I hope I don't cut off his post with them...If I did, make sure to read on until the next page...

PS...feel free to send us mail...mail is exciting...and comments are good too!

I miss you all!!!

-Lauren

Soo, this is dan and I in a park we discovered on our first day in auckland...before we could actually check into our room...
A gorgeous church...
Part of the university I believe...
The church again...
Some obviously very clever grafitti artists...but we found it amusing... Dan as a Unicorn as we were wandering around a market...
Me with Jenna and Allison, the two american girls we made friends with...

Dan and I at the train station before we took our day long train ride to Wellington...it was very early in the morning... the next bunch of pictures are from the train....

Ont of these next two mountains is Mount Doom!!!...too bad it was so cloudy...An old steam engine pulled our train for part of the way...Dan was sad that the conductor never said "All Abord"Going over viaducts...

These next pictures are in Wellington...the one undernieth is Civic square...although its a circle...The harbour...We're hoping to go to this brewery at some point...the beer is pretty good

These are made of wire..and are outside Te Papa, the national museumOur house...well...the building we live in...Thats our bedroom window on the ground floor...next to the door (on the photo below)
Our room...its small, but the big windows are nice...and we wouldnt have any more things to fill it with anyway...And thats our view from the end of the driveway...we live next to the business district...

Life's starting to settle down in Wellington

Hello Everyone!

Well it's been a little while since we last had a chance to update everyone with whats been going on. To begin with, we found a place to stay called Aurora Estates. It began as a convent but has been changed over to an almost dorm-like house. We have our own room but the bathrooms, kitchen, and living room are shared with the other people on our floor. It's filled with university students mostly but the girls across the hall from us are Canadians who are down here to play Rugby. The only problem we've had so far is that its cold! New Zealand does not believe in central heating apparently so we bought a little heater for our room but any excursion to the other areas of the house require some warm clothes. It's often colder in the house then it is outside. But all in all it suits our needs very well.
The job hunting has met with sucess. Last week we started working as street fundraisers for the Red Cross. Yes, Lauren and I were on the street asking people for money. Our boss, Vajra, is the most energetic and positive person I have ever met. For example on last Thrusday he appeared before a judge in a dispute with his landlord which he lost, was ordered to pay 2 months in unpaid rent and was to be evicted by Sunday and he was still bouncing off the walls with positive energy. Unfortunatley, as the week wore on, Lauren and I discover that this almost insane positivity is needed when trying to fundraise for charities as people treat you like lepers. While wearing the Red Cross jacket people would strive to avoid eye contact, walk as far away from you as the side walk would allow, or straight up cross the street rather then pass you by. It did provide some entertainment though, my personal favourite beging the people who decided the safest bet was to run past us. I often observed people walking along until they noticed us and then break into a run until they felt they were far enough past us to continue walking. To make a long story short, we quit. But during the week we did work, between Lauren and I we were able to raise over $3000 for the Red Cross so at least we did some good. We have since taken jobs at restaurants, Lauren at a Turkish place and myself at Russian place with a massive sclupture of Lenin's head at the end of the bar.
This Sat. we have tickets to the All Blacks game versus Ireland (the All Blacks being New Zealands national Rugby team). We've been trying to get someone to explain the rules of rugby to us but it seems that they are very complex. I think i'm just going to cheer whenever a guy in Black touches the ball. I've also discovered a place only 2 hours outside of Wellington where we can bungy jump. The next step is to convince Lauren to do it.
I'm sure i've left out lots of stuff but thats all for now.
Daniel