Interesting Weather...

It's already Sunday at 4pm! Wow, this weekend has actually gone pretty fast! What I mean by "Interesting Weather" is that yesterday it probably reach mid to high 70s in Auckland! Then last night it was "misting" at about 10pm and this morning I woke up to rain. Today it has rained really hard and then completely stopped for hours and then started again. I've changed clothes several times and have been too hot in jeans, sandals and a tank top; but freezing again in jeans, a sweater, a jacket and shoes! I've just been used to dressing for warm/really hot weather every day for the last 4 years I guess...

Anyway! Since it was so beautiful yesterday I ended up having a fabulous breakfast out (Spanish omelette and hashbrowns) and then wandering around the big park by the museum. I got a call when I was wandering from the family that I know here in Auckland! Some of you know them: Robert Speer, who is Uncle Sterling's (my grandfather's best friend) son. He's lived here for about 25 years and has a family and everything here. I met him the one time I came here about 7 or 8 years ago. This has been a super busy time for them but we finally were able to meet up yesterday afternoon. Him and one of his youngest daughters (they're twins), Lauren, met me for some lunch and conversation. This is an extremely active family by the way. Lauren is a competitive swimmer (just like her older sister Jordan used to be) and is going in a couple of weeks to Samoa for about 10 days to train. Her twin sister (I totally can't remember her name) is a cyclist and is going to race in the National Championships which are at the end of this week. The oldest, Richard, has competitively race bicycles for a long time and just finished racing in the U.S. circuit/is recovering from an injury. He's roughly my age, maybe a year older. The twins are about 9th grade age so maybe 15 and Lauren must be about 19 or 20--she's in university. Whew, so you probably didn't need to or want to know all of that but I hardly got a word in all afternoon since Robert was talking almost the whole time. When Lauren was able to talk I could barely understand her because of the strong accent combined with braces! I just smiled and nodded...

Robert drove me around a bit basically showing me everything I've already seen (but that's okay) and then told me that if I would like to, I could catch a ride with him and the other twin down to the Southern part of the North Island on Thursday morning because that's where the National Bike Championships are. He said it's about an 7 hour drive and I would get to see a lot of NZ and it's also very close to Wellington. I told him I'd think about it.

Last night I decided to go see another movie since I was desperate for something to distract my mind. I ended up at the Independent film movie theater again and saw "Romulus, My Father" which is an Australian movie with Eric Bana, the gal from the Bourne trilogy (Damon's girlfriend), and another guy that I've seen in a couple movies before. It was pretty slow, but definitely good. You had to make a lot of conclusions on your own and I guess it's based on a true story. It was set back in 1950s in Australia and it was from the point of view of the kid who was maybe 11 or 12. Tough stuff.

I got back to find one roommate asleep. I ended up with 3 guys last night, and surprisingly none of them snored! But...one was super loud. He kept coming in and out, talking maybe on his phone or something, coughing, etc. Needless to say I'm exhausted today and definitely woke up in a foul mood especially with rain coming down. I'm not even going to go over my pissed-off morning, but it's turning around this afternoon! I came to Starbucks and found that they have the iced green teas! I haven't been to one cafe in the entire city that has iced tea yet, so this was very pleasing to me. The rain has also stopped and tonight is my last at City Garden Lodge. I've booked a few nights at a place called "Verandahs Backpackers Lodge" which is right off Ponsonby Road and it looks fabulous! I'm ready for a change and have decided to make some decisions this week about where I'll be living and working. One winery has offered me a part time job...so I'm looking into that, otherwise I'm definitely just going to get something going for sure this week. I've decided that it doesn't have to be the ideal job yet, I just need something until that comes along. Basically my brain seriously needs some kind of stimulation because there's only so much English these bloody Germans can speak! Haha, just kidding...

I hope everyone's weekends are going great! Go Devils and Cougs!!!

-Lisa