So, it has been a few days since our last post. It has been another great week in New Zealand. We are finally finding our legs and making some really awesome friends.
My days are mostly filled with walking around and learning the city and drinking ALOT of tea at cafes that line the streets. I am hooked on Earl Gray which will hopefully make me fit in quite nicely here. I have also been looking at a lot of apartments in order to find us a suitable place for long term stay. We think we may have actually found a place in the building next door to where we are now. If we take that place we would once again be living on Peterborough Street!! How wacky? From Peterborough Street in Boston, USA to Peterborough Street, NZ. Ha! We will keep you posted on what happens next.
My 30th birthday was great! Trey woke me up with a card that turned into a crown and cupcakes with sugary/edible GLITTER on top!! YUM! Surprisingly the best cupcakes were their special passionfruit cupcakes. Passionfruit seems to be popular here. I also got a wake up call from new friend Babs who wanted to wish me a happy birthday and my parents skyped me and sand happy birthday as they do each year! Out of tune, but lovely ;-) LOL Love them. I also got cards and gifts from Mom and Dad Holzwarth, Grandma Shirley, Aunt Carol and Uncle Steve and the best of all from Heather, Ashley, TJ and Justin (sisters and brother in law) a Beef a Roo t shirt AND Beef a Roo salt!! I have already worn the shirt and used the salt on some mashed potatoes!!! Even my Asian nail guy gave me a gift....when I told him it was my 30th birthday he added some funky jewels to my nails and insisted that it was a gift for my birthday and free of charge. SWEET!
I had a nice relaxing day and later on Trey and I went out to dinner at a place called Hay's which is also a cooking school and winner of a wine spectator award for their wine list. They rely on local, fresh ingredients and it shows. Once again - no surprise - I had lamb!! Trey and I also split more of those yummy green mussels. They were steamed with coconut milk and chiles. So delicious. Trey had a delicious white fish that was unfamiliar to us but also very yummy. I am considering looking into cooking classes while we are here in NZ since I love cooking.
After dinner we met up with friends for Lily's birthday party (her b-day was a few days prior). Also there were Babs, Gordy and Mark. They had a private room at a Thai restaurant. Afterwards we all moved on to another bar that seemed upscale and there was an area outside that had heaters and a fire pit. Imagine standing outside at a bar in winter!!
Next week I already have plans to go shopping with Lily and we have been invited to Babs and Gordy's engagement party! We truly have a life here and it is really exciting.
Trey is making progress at work and obtaining all the parts he needs in order to set out on his project and enjoys all the people he is working with.
We are also looking in to trips that we want to go on. Soon we want to do a trip (before October) to Mt. Hutt to go skiing and we picked up some brochures on Fiji, Australia, Cook Islands and NZ day trips. We plan to do at least one swanky holiday and the rest we may try to go on budgetish trips. There are a few tiny islands in the South Pacific that we have never heard of that are of interest to us and a little less expensive and touristy as Fiji and Tahiti. We are hoping that for the next few years we can just set up a Jocelyn/Trey travel fund for birthdays and holidays :) Feel free to contribute! LOL Your American dollars go far here! Ha!
In other news, the temp agency is still looking out for me but in the meantime I have a job interview on Monday at the Millennium Hotel for a conference and event manager position. It is a 5 star hotel and the nicest one in Christchurch. I am excited especially since I got the interview on my own and not through the agency. Nice.
This weekend we are thinking about going ice skating in Cathedral Square and possibly checking out the beach which is only 10 minutes away!
More to come.......and many thanks to all my American and Kiwi friends who made both my birthday days so special.
