The Birthday

Wow, what a day! I am going to have to begin by saying that I definitely had a fabulous birthday yesterday! It all started on Tuesday night when I got done with work an hour and a half early, at 8:30. Wiki (my manager and friend), bought me a birthday drink--a glass of champagne--to have after work. I had also served a couple of older ladies earlier that day, one of which was celebrating her 80th birthday! They left me the last of their bottle of wine which ended up being about one drink. Then Wiki bought me one more "for the road." I got home and made some dinner. It was Rob's (English guy that's been here longer than anyone, about 9 months) birthday so I gave him some food to sober him up a bit! Beate asked if I wanted to stay up until midnight and I was like, I don't care. We don't have to. But she said yes, I have plans! So at midnight she made me go to the kitchen where she had a couple of brownies with candles lit and glasses of champagne poured! Woohoo! Dennis (my other roommate) presented me with a bag of 4 different kinds of TimTams!!! I can't believe I haven't brought these up yet, but these are the most fabulous chocolate cookies "biscuits" (the NZ term) that I've ever had!

It was the first night in our new room, aka. the first night I got to spend in the big bed! It's a double and it's also a dream compared with the twin I've been sleeping on for the last 3 months. I was supposed to meet up with Wiki in the morning and we were going to see "Atonement" and then have lunch. Well, she called to say that she read the listing wrong and the movie was showing a couple of towns away, so we decided to meet later just for lunch and whatever else. I got to open my cards and the present from my parents and then I was able to take my time getting ready and hang out and listen to my newly stocked up iPod! I have missed my music sooooooo much...

So I finally met up with Wiki at about 12:30 and by the time we got into the city, it was after 1. She bought me a fabulous gold and green beaded necklace that I just can't wait to wear! We had lunch in this posh area of town called "The Chancery." The restaurant we went to was "Mecca." It was a combination of Turkish, Indian and Mediterranean food and so we shared some Hapuka (a white fish) skewers and a plate of dips and antipasto type stuff. We each had a fabulous glass of wine as well. The service totally sucked so we decided to try a different place for dessert. I think the place is called "Vivace" or something like that, and it's totally cute! They have tons of wine to taste and we knew the waitress because she comes up to our restaurant all the time! I had ice cream and sorbet and she brought it out with a candle!

We finally headed back to Ponsonby and I got to talk on Skype for awhile to my parents. Then I went back to the hostel and hung out until Beate finished work at 7. We went and grabbed a quick dinner down the street and I had some fabulous fried rice. We came back and I dropped me stuff off in the room and went to the kitchen to find everyone ready to toast with champagne! We all hung out and some fabulous champagne, some of the best Pinot Noir I've ever had (Vince left it), and then a bottle of wine Mom and Dad sent me. Taka made me a dessert pizza and a regular pizza too!

We (Beate, Me, Daniella and Dennis) decided that we would go check out K' Road for something different. Well, there was hardly anyone out and we finally ended up at a Japanese restaurant/bar. We each had a drink and I ordered us some edamame! None of them had ever had it, and the people that were sitting next to us hadn't either! For those of you that don't know, edamame is steamed soybeans that are absolutely wonderful. We didn't stay to long because the sake got to us and we were all tired, so we headed back. Daniella heated up some food and Amy (Rob's girlfriend who's also English) brought me a piece of chocolate cake since it was my birthday! Wow! I definitely didn't go hungry yesterday...

All in all I had a wonderful time and didn't even wake up with a headache today! I'm sooo thankful for all the wonderful people I've met here in NZ too, because without them it would have just been another day.

-Lisa

Crazy/Busy Weekend

Alright so I'll start with Thursday: Thanksgiving. I made the pie, peeled potatoes (with the help of Ed, the Irish guy), and made the stuffing the day before. So on Thursday the plan was to have everyone there and ready to eat at about 7pm (there was supposed to be 12 people attending). So I started cooking the Turkey at 2pm because we figured it would take about 4 hours since it was 5kg (which is about 11 pounds). Anyways, I'll just tell you that I cooked the Turkey, stuffing, rolls, salad, green bean casserole, gravy, and mashed potatoes (with help from Vince) all in time for the 7pm deadline! I honestly had no idea if it would be enough or if the turkey would be overcooked (since I took it out 1 and 1/2 hours early). Everything turned out perfectly! Two guys didn't end up making it to the dinner because some things came up, but there was plenty enough food for all of us to be stuffed full and then have one small piece of pumpkin pie. The stuffing (as I predicted) totally kicked ass too, as it was everyone's favorite dish. We went through several bottles of wine too and had a fantastic night. I put my camera out so among all of us, we took a bunch of pictures that I'll try and post in a couple of days.

Then on Friday I worked until 10, and came home quickly for the farewell party for Vince (He left early on Sunday morning). Wow...that was definitely a crazy night. We all had a bunch of wine before going out around town. Vince got completely wasted (as he wanted) and Beate and I half carried him home some time after 4am. Needless to say, he had a terrible hangover the next day, but the important thing is he had a great last night out in Auckland.

So Saturday night was tame and yesterday morning at about 10 to 7, Vince left. Then I got up early and went and met Robert Speer and his twin daughters for breakfast before work. We had a nice talk about all the places I should go on the South Island. Oh! I knew something else happened Saturday. I let a couple of the customers I was serving (two guys that were drinking a ton of the beers we have), buy me a drink. They were having a fabulous time and I couldn't say no, so I grabbed a vodka tonic and they asked about moose because they liked the way I said it in my American accent...whatever. So at work yesterday I guess I served one of the guys that plays on the NZ soap opera "Shortland Street". Wiki was like, "You go deal with that guy, he's a wanker." Ha.

Last night was definitely awesome though! I got back from work at about 8:30 and Beate andI got ready and headed down to Britomart (which is right next to the wharf downtown, where all the buses and trains depart) to find the 42Below party. Like it said on the ticket, we couldn't have missed it since it was Sunday night and a ton of people were outside and music was blasting. I took a few pictures that I'll have to post, but it was awesome! We went up to the bar every time we wanted a drink and they had a bunch of bartenders that were just making up a bunch of the same drinks at a time and then setting them on the counter for everyone to take. I was going to try and remember all the drink names: Manuka Berry Sung, Kiwi Lemonade, Duchess, Summer Breeze, and we definitely got a Gin and Tonic too! Of course none of them were very strong, but I can't believe how much money they must have put into that party! There were a ton of people, live bands, 42Below vodkas, South gin, free designer waters and the best part was when we walked outside to check on getting a snack at the food stand, there was a 42Below tab where we could get burgers, hotdogs and fries for free!!! HELL YES!!! This party definitely made my job seem a little bit better.

Whew well, that's it for now since I have to head off to work. I can't believe Christmas is only 1 month away; It's getting warm here! I hope you're all doing well!

-Lisa

Happy Thanksgiving!

Alright so yesterday I spent a couple of hours at the supermarket trying to find everything for the Thanksgiving meal. I'm making Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, roles, salad, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. I peeled the potatoes (with help from Ed), made the pumpkin pie and the stuffing yesterday! I honestly have to say that I totally kicked ass on the stuffing and just made a ton of it! I think the finaly count is about 11 or 12 people...yikes! I told everyone to bring a bottle of wine so if the food sucks, we'll just get "pissed"! (Ha, we'll probably get pissed anyway.) None of them have ever had a Thanksgiving before! We have Taka (Japanese), Bernie (Kiwi), Melissa (German), Beate (German), Vince (French), Dennis (German), Gill (English), Mark (English), Daniella (Chilean/Kiwi), Gary (Scottish), Ed (Irish) and then I'm the only American!

The other exciting news is that on Monday, at work, a girl that worked for 42 Below vodka came in to ask how it was selling. Then she started telling us about a party that the company is hosting on Sunday. She gave us 2 tickets and the GM let me have one!!! Free 42 Below vodka!!! Woohoo! The GM even told me he'd let me go early on Sunday so I could go to the party (which is underground somewhere down by the harbour)! Hell yes!

Other than that, the rest of this week will continue to be crazy because Vince (French roomate) is leaving on Sunday, which means a lot of partying! I'll let you know how it goes. Meanwhile, have a great Thanksgiving and make sure to cheer on the Devils for a much needed win over the filthy Trojans!!!!!

Got Off Early

Alright so on Friday I was supposed to work until 10, but we had 7 people working at 6pm and there were only a few tables. Very slow! I could hardly tell it was a Friday. So I sat 2 guys and gave them some menus at about 6:30 and went back to tell Roshan that I put them in his section when the rest of the staff all at the same time said, "Lisa do you know who those guys were?" Um no idea. The All Blacks captains! Ha, I told them that I don't know anything about rugby except that the guys are big, they where short shorts and the All Blacks are supposed to be the best in the world. Anyway, they said that girls would pay thousands of dollars to go out with those guys! Haha. Then Dave sent me home early since there wasn't anyone there! I was definitely not going to complain about that.

I came home and it was Ed's (the newest member of the long-term stayers who's from Ireland and is a know-it-all) Birthday so everyone was getting started drinking and Taka made some pizzas since he remembered the recipe from his Pizza chef job. We all went out and had a great time, as always! Then on Saturday I didn't have to work until 4, so Beate and I went out for breakfast and then sat out in the warm sun while I did some laundry. We had heard about the Grey Lynn festival which wasn't far and we went to check it out for an hour before I had to go to work. I was expecting some small deal with some market booths and a little stage. Well, it ended up being huge! There were tons of people there and rows of booths with clothes, jewelry and crafts set up! The stage was big and tons of people were sitting on the grass listening to the bands and kicking back some beer. I wanted to stay sooooooooo bad! I should have called in sick (because the night was pretty slow at work), but I did the responsible thing and bought a $12 swimsuit and headed back. It was so cool though!

Yesterday I woke up with a nice sunburn from getting a bit too much sun the day before and spent a busy morning and long evening at work. The weather is definitely getting warmer so that's good, but I don't know why it was so dead yesterday. I went home at 8:30 instead of 10, so I didn't complain. I work today and tomorrow and then have Wednesday and Thursday off to prepare the Thanksgiving meal I'm cooking for everyone.

Oh the Time Flies

Well, I have just been working a lot over the last few days and the good news is I won't have to work 7 days in a row as I thought I would! I get Wednesday and Thursday off next week, so I'll have plenty of time to get the Thanksgiving dinner ready.

The weather has totally sucked the last few days, but you wouldn't know it at the restaurant. We ended up with quite a few people in last night and Wednesday night was very busy! The excitement last night came when I slipped and almost fell and dumped 2 large Stellas and a coke all over me and the floor. Luckily, I only broke one glass and everything happened right in the middle of the restaurant--so nobody was splashed.

Yesterday afternoon we also had a couple of Korean people dressed in what looked like a Karate uniform, come in and ask if we wanted a Jungshim energy demonstration. Wiki volunteered me and so I sat down the guy gave me a massage and made some weird noises in order to relax me and then give me good energy. I wish I could have laid down and let him do the full body massage!

Well time for another long day at work...

A Fun Day Out!

Well, what has happened since Saturday? Um, Saturday night we had another function at work. It was an engagement party and a big group of 50-70 tall, skinny and rich 30 somethings attended. I think these people were some of the elite of Auckland. They went through 26 bottles of Champagne! Then they went to the bar for more drinks. The girls were all dressed to perfection in some fabulous heels and sporting Prada and Dior handbags. Needless to say, all of them were extremely condescending as I was "only" the waitress. Ugh. It was a looooooong night.

Sunday was another boring day and I was super excited to have 2 days off. Yesterday it was realitvely nice out so I put on my skirt and Beate and I walked around K' Road and Ponsonby. We didn't do anything too exciting and I still had to go into work for a 1 hour training thing. Why are those always on days I don't have to work?

Today I got up early and met Wiki after 9am in order to catch the bus and get into town to go see a movie. We ended up not going to see the Jesse James movie because her sister (who owns a TV rental store) told her that other than Brad's acting, the movie was super long and boring. So we went and saw "Evening." Not impressed. I think it could have been good, but they edited out the wrong parts. Then we went and had a long lunch at a sushi restaurant at the Viaduct! We ate quite a bit and had a few drinks and then decided to go shopping for the Clinique lipstick that Wiki had lost the day before. Well, a bus ride to New Market and a couple hours later we finally had a substitute lipstick for her (since everyone was out of her shade) and were on our way to catch the bus back. Instead of immediately catching the bus back, we decided to stop at a pub and have another drink. It definitely looked like some dive out of AZ with saddles for seats and U.S. license plates on the walls. Too fun! Finally I got back to the hostel where I'm unwinding with some wine and chocolate dipped strawberries that Beate is making!

Taka's Birthday

What a night! First, before I go into that I have to tell you how crazy work was yesterday. The head chef made me one of the specials (Chicken Supreme stuffed with apricots and cranberries and topped with a cumberland sauce and served with potato dauphinois) since I've been selling so much of them. The day was nice so we were kind of busy outside and I took my food break just before the place got packed! We only had David (manager), Rashan and me working. Luckily Paul (who's still waiting for his visa) came and helped out in the bar. We also had Emily (the other American girl), but it was her last day and she is completely worthless as a waitress. Every table inside and out was filled and people just wouldn't leave and they kept coming in all up until 10! It was insane how busy it was and how short-staffed we were. I honestly can't believe we made it. I spilled an entire glass of Pinot Gris all over me so I smelled like wine the rest of the night. Dave bought me a beer before I left after 10 so that was good.

I rushed back to the hostel because they were waiting for me to light the candles and bring out the cake for Taka. He was totally "pissed" (drunk in Kiwi and English terms) by the time I got back, and was drinking sake out of a mug. There was a big group of us and someone took pictures so hopefully I'll be able to get them up on this. We all hung around for awhile and made Taka give a speech and then we made him get ready because we were all going out. Ha, it was a hilarious night and I have no idea how he made it so late! He went home probably around 3 after lots of dancing and bar hopping. Most went home a little after 1, and the group of 5 or 6 of us left kept going until 4. We had a great time!

So today I work at 4 and then a split shift tomorrow. I'm definitely going to be ready for a couple days off after this week of so much work and one long night out. I hope everyone's doing well!

-Lisa

Miso Soup

Today I'm working from 12 to 12:30 so I'm going to make this a short one so I can get some coffee in me before the long shift.

Yesterday I got to work at Wiki (my favorite manager) told me to hang on because she had to go the bank. She always asks if I want a sweet or savory (which means a not sweet treat in Kiwi language) treat from the bakery and I said savory this time. She came back about 5 or 10 minutes later with treats and cups of miso soup! The Japanese restaurant down the street sells cups of miso soup for a $1, she said! It was super good too. So later, once the guys in the kitchen heard about it, they wanted some too. Chang took the money to get us all some more miso soup, but he only returned with a couple because the lady told him that it was only $1 when you bought it with sushi, otherwise it's $2. Ha, so he had to go back again with more money to get 2 more and then he came back with 3 because he spoke to them in Korean and they're from Korea too! Ha, anyway I hope that made sense...the soup was great though!

Next Tuesday Wiki and I are going to a movie and then going to get sushi. She says that she always has to go to movies by herself since her fiance is always working (I feel like she is always working). Anyway, so we're going to see "Jesse James", the movie with Brad Pitt! Woohoo!

Also, I've come up with a plan for traveling. I'm staying here in Auckland until after New Year's and then Beate and I will travel down to the South Island for awhile and we'll probably end up stopping in Queenstown or Christchurch to work some more. Then I'll come back up to the North Island and travel around up here. So this is exciting because now I have something to look forward to and to many of you this may not seem like a plan at all since I don't have any details yet, but to me this is great. I think we're going to take the train down to Wellington and then the ferry to Picton and then travel the South Island by bus.

Okay, I've got to get going. Tomorrow's Talka's birthday so I have to buy him a cheap bottle of wine (that's all he drinks).

-Lisa

Guy Fawke's Day

Yesterday, was Guy Fawke's Day and so everyone celebrated with fireworks. It's a British Holiday and I have no clue why it's celebrated here other than the Kiwi's will take any excuse for a holiday. For those of you that don't know, Guy Fawke's was the guy that tried to blow up the Parliament in Britain and ended up killing himself in the explosion...or something like that. Everyone told me a different story yesterday so that's kind of what I got out of it. It's like the movie "V for Vendetta." So last night Daniella, Vince, Greg (French guy that works with Vince), Ed (new Irish guy that annoys me) and I went to watch the fireworks from under the bridge, where we could look at all of Auckland. It was fun as we took a bottle of wine and just hung out for an hour or so. Fireworks are generally illegal here in NZ, except for a few days before Guy Fawke's day (kind of like the U.S. and the 4th of July).

The only other excitement is that Talka was supposed to leave yesterday but after making a ton of noise packing in the morning, he finally looked outside to find it raining so he stayed and planned on leaving today. He has a motorcycle so you would think that the first thing he should do is look at the weather in the morning but no. He did the same thing this morning just to find it raining again! AAaaaaah! I wanted to strangle him so I could finally get some sleep!

So now I'm headed to the supermarket to do a little shopping and a lot of research on Thanksgiving type food since I'm making the Thanksgiving dinner for everyone. I hope all is well!

-Lisa

No Time for Small Talk

I think the reason I haven't updated the blog since Thursday is that the job just zaps me of any desire to make conversation with others. By the end of the day I'm like shut up, I don't want to tell you where I'm from and why I'm here. I mean on Friday night Beate and I went out for a drink (which ended up being 4 drinks and a shot, but who's counting?) and instead of talking to cute guys and having a wild time, I just got more and more tired. I've been working a lot of long shifts though and that means good money! We had 3 people quit last week! One girl is going on a long holiday since she's at University, one called and said she was in an accident and can't work any of her shifts and the other one just started and she's already quitting! I guess this just means job security for me...

What else is new? I'm totally drawing a blank...I think I'll add more later when I'm rested.

It was Halloween?

Wow, that was by far the lamest Halloween I have ever had. I didn't even see anybody (other than a little girl dressed as a fairy) that looked out of the ordinary, let alone dressed up! I had to explain to all my co-workers about how fun it is in the U.S. and how we used to party for like 3 to 5 nights just in the excuse to dress up! All the excitement happened the night before though.

Tuesday night I was sitting on the couch reading my book, waiting for 9:30 when the craziest Kiwi show you've ever seen comes on--it's called Outrageous Fortune--when the fire alarm went off! It was so loud all of us jumped! We slowly filed out of the hostel and I was expecting to hear that someone was smoking in their room. Diana (the manager/owner) came over and the whole thing was over within a couple of minutes. As we walked in the door, in the first room on our right we could hear running water. So we told Diana and she opened the room up just to find it like a shower in one corner of the room! There was steam along the ceiling and everything. She said that there had been steam in one of the bathrooms upstairs which set off the alarm. Bernie and Mark (a new English guy that's staying here for awhile with his girlfriend Gill) went upstairs to see what they could do to fix it. Apparently one of the hot water pipes broke and the water went spilling down into room one and then at the entrance of Federico's room 2A (He wasn't here, but luckily none of his stuff got wet). Craziness! So they shut off the water upstairs and since they're remodeling one of the bathrooms outside, we only had one shower and two toilets for the entire hostel for that night and the early part of Wednesday. Luckily by the time I got up, everything was fixed (except for the damage in room 1) and I could take a shower in the bathroom upstairs.

Whew, so yesterday I worked from 12 to 10 with one 5 minute break. It was a little busy and I was training one girl, the manager was there, Anton (who's a bit slow) was there, and Emily the other American girl who just started and totally sucks, was there. I made the most tips as of yet...$43. And, I bought a hamburger on the way home that saved me from starvation.

One more thing I have to tell you all about New Zealand. I don't know if it's just in Auckland, or if it's in all of New Zealand but the month of November is called "Movember" because all of the guys grow mustaches and keep them for the entire month. Ha! I have no idea why either. I've tried to ask, but nobody knows. I'm not exactly looking forward to it. I tried to tell them, "Girls don't usually like Mustaches" but they don't care. Anyway, this should be a very interesting month.

Also, Talka is leaving in 2 weeks because he doesn't want to be a chef anymore. Vince is leaving in 4 weeks to travel and then got back to France and then to Australia. And Daniella is leaving in about four weeks too, to go up North. Wow!

I've got to get to work, so I hope everyone's having a fabulous Halloween!

-Lisa