It's Friday afternoon and to celebrate the end of another week, kiwi's have a drink of beer or wine together before heading out. It is customary and the liquor is supplied by the employer. Most people continue at their desk, wrapping things up before they leave, but the atmosphere gets decidedly more social.

This is a custom we could all afford to adapt!

Ever hear of McCafe? This a McDonalds version of an upscale coffee house. They started these a year or 2 ago and I believe are putting them in city central locations. There's one on Queen St. That I walk by all the time, so today, in no mood to mess around in food courts, I decided I'd give it a shot. It's at the front of a nice McD's (or Mackers as it's called here) in an older restored building. The McCafe counter is at the front and offers specialty coffees, nice sandwiches and wraps, cakes and pastries. (Not hot apple pie in a box either). The McD counter is at the back. To separate the 2 there are tables at the front with big open windows that are geared for the Cafe customers. There are only 3 tables however, so I grabbed my lunch and headed upstairs where I could inconspicuously people watch. The building had a beautifully ornate ceiling and some other features common in Victorian style that, suprisingly, McD's hadn't covered with a PlayPalace or something else hideous.

Got a little surprise when I sat down though. Birds. Yep, little sparrows or something (I know seagulls and pigeons and it wasn't either of those) were flying around and stopping for lunch at the empty tables. Some of you may have heard my story from long ago about a bird in the sink in Ireland.... it was a traumatizing event to wake up and find a bird stuck in my kitchen sink and, well I just can't retell the whole story without getting worked up, so we'll leave it. The jury's still out on whether he was kamikaze or it was foul play. Anyway, since then, I haven't so much liked birds so to have these little buggers flying around and within a tables length of me really didn't help my lunch go down. They were tiny little vultures circling until I finished and they could attack.

That being said, McCafe failed to impress me. Shocking, really.... The food was fair, the atmosphere was horrible and the prices were no better then Starbucks or any other place. But it was an experience. I'm glad I gave it a go at least to see what it was all about. The one thing it did have going for it was that it didn't name everything McExpresso or McCarrot Cake. Their restraint impressed me.

I'm going to cheat today. I just read the Lonely Planet info for NZ (Lonely PLanet being a superior guide for budget travellers) and realized what a great, brief overview it gives of the history of the country. I've added the link to the left for those who like to look further.

Enjoy!

"The Polynesian navigator Kupe has been credited with the discovery of New Zealand around 800 AD. Legend has it his wife, Hine-te-aparangi, named it Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud. The legend continues that centuries later, around 1350 AD, a great migration of people from Kupe's homeland of Hawaiki followed his navigational instructions and sailed to New Zealand, eventually supplanting or mixing with previous residents. Their culture, developed over centuries without any discernible outside influence, was hierarchical and often sanguinary.

In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman briefly sailed along the west coast of New Zealand; any thoughts of a longer stay were thwarted when his attempt to land resulted in several of his crew being killed and eaten. In 1769, Captain James Cook circumnavigated the two main islands aboard the Endeavour. Initial contact with the Maoris also proved violent but Cook, impressed with the Maoris' bravery and spirit and recognising the potential of this newfound land, grabbed it for the British crown before setting sail for Australia.

When the British began their antipodean colonising, New Zealand was originally seen as an offshoot of Australian enterprise in whaling and sealing: in fact, from 1839 to 1841 the country was under the jurisdiction of New South Wales. However, increased European settlement soon proved problematic: a policy was urgently required regarding land deals between the settlers (Pakeha) and the Maori. In 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, with the Maori ceding sovereignty of their country to Britain in exchange for protection and guaranteed possession of their lands. But relations between the Maori and Pakeha soon soured (the Maoris became increasingly alarmed at the effect the Pakeha had on their society while the Pakeha rode roughshod over Maori rights outlined in the treaty). In 1860, war broke out between them, continuing for much of the decade. The fighting eventually died down, and though there was no formal resolution, the Pakehas claimed victory.

By the late 19th century, things had temporarily calmed down. The discovery of gold had engendered much prosperity, and wide-scale sheep farming meant New Zealand became an efficient and mostly self-reliant country. Sweeping social changes - women's suffrage, social security, the encouragement of trade unions and the introduction of child care services - cemented New Zealand's reputation as a country committed to egalitarian reform.

New Zealand was given dominion status in the British Empire in 1907 and granted autonomy by Britain in 1931; independence, however, was not formally proclaimed until 1947. The economy continued to prosper until the worldwide recession in the 1980s, when unemployment rose dramatically. Today the economy has stabilised, thanks largely to an export-driven recovery. Internationally, New Zealand was hailed during the mid-1980s for its anti-nuclear stance - even though it meant a falling-out with the USA - and its opposition to French nuclear testing in the Pacific (which France countered, to much opprobrium but little penalty, by blowing up the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior as it sat in Auckland Harbour).

The Maori population is now increasing faster than the Pakeha and a resurgence in Maoritanga (Maori culture) has had a major and lasting impact on New Zealand society. One of the most heartening aspects of this has been the concerted efforts towards cultural integration between the Maori and Pakeha. However, a clumsy take-it-or-leave-it attempt by the New Zealand government to offer financial reparations has resulted in an upsurge of militant Maori protests over land rights. The issue of reconciliation remains at the top of the political agenda."

Now re-read as there may be a test on this!

Lunch is becoming an issue. The office I work in is a completely open concept (sans flying erasers) with a kitchen unit to one side. There is no lunch room as workaholicism is promoted within the department (with the exception of Canadian temps who use hotmail all day). There is a fridge and a microwave, but to eat my lunch I would then have to return to my desk where I already spend 6.5 of my 7.5 hours twiddling my thumbs (in the morning I get to sort and deliver the mail). Not intending to extend this. My other option would be to heat the food, then take it down in the elevator for 13 floors and eat outside. Can't see this as being popular. Option 3 is to take sandwiches (which I ruled out due to my current gag-at-the thought phase) or salads, which require another trip to the grocery store (my spinach froze in the fridge, again). It's a predicament.

So each day I wander Queen Street looking for lunch. Love would be nice too, but lunch is my first priority. There are a good many shops and food courts along the way but I have a problem. I can't handle the pressure. As many of you have experienced, as soon as I look at a menu I lose all decision making power (unless it's 3am and we're at the China Garden). This passiveness haunts me here. You walk into these food courts and first of all I have to choose from about 10 different restaurants, then from the menu for the chosen restaurant, most of which I have never heard of and the ingredients of which make me mildly suspicious. But through all of this, the people behind the counter (particularly in the Asian places) are overly eager to serve. I think as soon as you walk within a 5 foot radius of the counter they have a buzzer that goes off. "Can I help you?" umm, one minute, smile nod. And it starts. The staring. They stare at you which in an unnerving way. "yes over here" they say after giving you another 5 seconds of decision time. Smile, nod, look back at menu, be obvious in my indecision. Still Staring. Another 3 seconds pass. "Yes, you want lunch?" I can't take it. I walk away, but only to have the same thing happen at the next place and the next. So typically, I spend 15 minutes trying to find a place to eat, then another 5-10 in the line as I have chosen the busiest place. Busy equals no pressure from servers. I get stressed. Lucky I get to come back to work to relax.

But today... today was even scarier. I ordered something (an unfamiliar choice but a pretty good one) and had to sit down and wait for the girl to bring it over. (I liked her. She didn't stare. She looked away and gave me my space. I actually didn't really want to eat there, but appreciated her understanding and used the time to make a decision I felt good about). And when she did bring it (rice with veggies in a sauce) ... there was no fork. Only 2 wooden sticks. Chopsticks. So we meet again. I couldn't get up to get a fork as the overzealous table cleaner would have dumped my lunch. I had to do it. I remembered previous lessons I had been given, tried to survey those around me to see how they were holding them... keep bottom one stable... I started to get the hang of it but then I felt the pressure.. I looked up and realized I was probably the only inexperienced person in the room and that everyone was watching and laughing and saying look at her. Well they weren't really, but they had every right too. I think some rice hit the table beside me. And I might have dropped a carrot along the way. But I ate most of it. Eventually. There was a bowl on the tray too. At first I thought it was a finger bowl and the nice server girl recognized that I would be in ruins by the end of my meal. Then I noticed it was steaming and she had given me a spoon. It was boiling water with green onions in it. Hmmm... feeling the pressure now as I was sure I was entertaining someone at a nearby table, I tried it. Along with the green onion and water, there was apparently an entire box of salt in the soup. I left it at that, with the spoon in it.

As I left the table two thoughts ran through my mind: did I make that much mess? and of Dad's favorite trick of putting a spoon in the finger bowl and telling the waitress the soup was bland.

I used to torture my roommates by forcing them to tell me one thing they had learned that day, just to make us all to find something. Lately, this blog has been doing the same for me (although that wisdom is frequently hidden under layers of sarcasm). Today, I'm drawing blanks. This is directly related to the large quantities of data entry I just completed. hmmmm... wheels turning... smoke coming out ears...

There are at least 5 Starbucks along Queen Street (the main drag in the city centre). Some are quite small, but there's 5 minimum. About 1 every block and a half. And there's more on the surrounding streets. And in the suburbs. The only NZ equivalent I can find is Muffin Break but they specialize more in muffins (surprisingly) and quiches and frittatas (egg based pastries are popular with these people, preferably if they've been sitting under a heat lamp for an hour or more)and are only open from early morning until mid-afternoon. And don't have comfy chairs.

I am lucky enough at work to sit facing the harbour and have a really nice view of city centre and the water. I've learned a relaxation technique - visualize throwing office equipment out the window into the water and then watching the bubbles as the junk sinks. That's right - I just had to use the binding machine again.

Mobile phones (= cell phones) are more common here than home as there is a "pay as you go" system which most people use and txt msg (= text messaging) which is common worldwide, excluding PEI and, I'm assuming, Armenia. I will get one before I depart the city (as the numbers are the same for all over the country - mobiles have separate area codes and there are just basic costs for calling them from a landline, regardless of their physical location).

Overall I haven't found people to have obnoxious ringtones, although there is one woman in the office who has "shave & a haircut, 2 bits" playing full tilt whenever she gets a call. Her phone is another thing that I see having a final resting place at the bottom of the harbour. It's a jumper, I can tell.

Happy Monday! A day of sunshine here in the fair city, fetching a mere 23 degrees today. Yesterday was even a nicer one, although the evenings are starting to cool off. I'm actually wearing pants for the first time (excluding work clothes) since I arrived. It's rough, but I'll deal. How bout you guys up there in the North Pole?

I really never intended to be a gloater, it's just that it gives me such immense pleasure I can't seem to control it.

I'm back at the BNZ this week, going full steam ahead with the data entry and telephone answering... I've realized that I'm the perfect candidate for assembly line work. When I have a pile of things to do, I have to do all step 1, then all step 2, etc so that I finish everything at once, rather than segments. I'm not sure if there's a car manufacturer down here, but I think I'll check into it. Maybe I could spend mornings on the line (as the insiders call it) then file in the afternoons.

Never thought I could discover so much about my career aspirations in such a short time.

So other than mind-numbing tasks, I have been having fun. This weekend was the Devonport Wine Festival. Devonport is just on the other side of the harbour, facing the city centre and only takes a 10 min ferry ride to reach. It's a really pretty town with much Victorian-style architecture. It's based around Mt Victoria, another one of those inactive volcanoes all the kids are talking about. Whoopdy ding, been there, done that. Our plan was to head to Devonport late afternoon, wander around a bit, then to the Wine Festival for the early evening. This plan was cut short when we wandered into the tourist information office at 4:15 and learned the festival ended at 5. Taking a moment to consider our options (pay $20 for 45 mins to drink cheap wine or go for a nice stroll on a beautiful day in a scenic town), we bolted across to the admissions gate. Luckily the entry was half price at that point, plus you get a free wine glass, confirming the right decision had been made.

I, quite naively, thought that at a wine festival you would learn about wine. You would leave having only sipped a few different sorts but having an in-depth understanding of wine. Possibly even taking a wine personality test, learning which wine best suits you? A reading of your taste buds to discover which you will get the greatest pleasure from? Yeah no. A wine festival is a time to go in and get glasses of good wine cheap. Having to see the highlights in a 45 minute period, we did this well. We had red, white, rose, reislings and chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet... I can say that I have now tried a wide selection of New Zealand wines. Unfortunately, in efforts to maximize the time, these glasses came perhaps a little too close together, leaving a rather confused pallet. Although all vendors were to close at 5, for the better part of the next hour we were able to find vendors desperate for someone help them finish the bottle. We did it for the wine - it was my glass or the ground, and I just couldn't let such a thing happen. I'm a giver.

On the way into the festival you could pay another $2 for a glass holder - a plastic cone that goes around the stem of the glass and has a string on it so that you can - you guessed it - wear the glass around your neck. I saw this as a way to rob me of the money destined for these destitute vineyards, and chose not to purchase one. Sherilyn was smarter, and upon seeing hers, I grew jealous as I thought of the souvenir value of such an item. I now had a mission. Well 2: 1. keep glass full and 2. get a neck/glass holder thing. Victorious! In the process of scoping abandoned tables, we realized it would be nice to also get another glass each so we had a set. Did we accomplish this? Being the determined girls we are, we exceeded our own goals and claimed not 1 but 2 more neck things (a black and a white one) and ... thankfully Sherilyn had a backpack... a final tally of 10 wine glasses, all with Devonport Wine Festival marked on them. These glasses had been thrown away, cast aside by the people who had relied on them all day. We couldn't bear the inhumanity of it all and chose to give them a proper home. All 10.

So, after consuming our share of the festival, literally, we set out on a brief tour of Devonport. It's a town. On the waterfront. With old houses. And a volcano. But really what town doesn't have a volcano these days? It's becoming so passe. So we took the ferry back and started the hunt for supper - kebabs. mmmmmmmmmmmm, kebabs. One the way we passes the Asian food court and ended up buying socks. Needless to say, when we arrived home at 7:30 (in time for NZ idol) with kebabs, socks, glasses and well, we had been inspired to pick up another bottle of wine to show our support for those destitute vineyards, we were less than well received....

There's a few more pictures up but it's proving to be a very tedious task. Anyways the link is on the right anytime you wish to view what I've been up to...

Been one of the more low key weekends - another Friday night acquainting ourselves with the local establishments then a relaxing Saturday puttering around town & home. We are all at that point where we're starting to need haircuts and waxing and new make up and haircare. This is the real challenge, with no familiar brands or people, it takes awhile to find the best (relative to the price range) available. $50 is the going rate for a haircut. Just a cut and style - no colour or drastic changes. And I can't find hair glue anywhere.......

Spent a large part of this morning reading the paper as I frequently try to do. Maori rights are becoming a huge issue as the leader of the opposition National Party (Don Brash) has an equality for all not based on race platform. Maori's have similar special rights as Cdn aboriginals in social programs, health, education and land claims all negotiated under the Treaty of Waitangi. Many of the policies have a good and fair purpose in theory but are being exploited by others who are not in need and who can claim any sort of Maori blood. When Brash made the platform, Pakeha (European New Zealanders - Caucasian kiwis of European descent) reacted strongly as there are many discontents that have been just under the surface. Very similar arguments as we hear, equality for all, why do we pay for our ancestors mistakes, etc.

Just got tickets to Mamma Mia for the preview shows in 2 weeks time.... highly exciting!