Put the Courgette, Capsaicin and Aubergine In the Trundler!

Terra returning the trundler

Sarah:
Gidday Mate! So far life in New Zealand has been going really well for Terra and I. We have been in the hostel for just over a week and are starting to adjust to life here. Even though there are many similarities between here and the states there are some things including language that are very different.

I have to say being at the front desk gives me a chance to learn multiple new words a day. So far some of my favorites include-

Rubbish- Trash. "Do you have a rubbish bin?"
Strumpet- Referring to a loose women/girl
Courgette- Zucchini
Aubergine- Eggplant
Capsaicin- Bell Peppers
#- Hash sign not pound.  That one was interesting for me since I answer phones.  You know the pound sign on the phone? The number key. Silly Americans.
Flat White- Latte without foam
Long Black- Americano



Loads of rubbish



Dinner and a movie with Liz and Ginnie

Liz is one of our friends from England and her favorite word is WANKER, referring to a total jerk. I guess even the Brits have old habits that die hard.
Liz also informs me that crossing guards are referred to as LOLLY POP MEN. She tells me this is because they hold the poles and are mostly in schools.

My favorite one so far though is what they call the shopping carts. TRUNDLERS. I can't truly express the hilarity when Terra and I saw this. Needless to say we took a picture or two and laughed like crazy. I know on the south they use the term "buggies", but this was a whole new level. The trundlers move like a dream, all nice and smooth. Better then anything I ever pushed in the states with their wobbly, half fallen off wheels and the tendency to force you in one direction.



Terra's sister Ginnie

Terra Hope:
Liz and I were making beds and as she tucked in the bed sheet opposite of me I heard her exclaim she smelled weed in a room one time and it was horrible. I replied, "oh really? I like the smell of weed." She looked at me like I was insane and said, "WEE!? You like the smell of wee??" We both started laughing hysterically when we both realized our misunderstanding. Yes Liz, I love the smell of a good wee in the bedroom. :-)

Both Sarah and I have had difficulty with other accents as well. Kristof from Germany told me he was interested in sports but for the life of me I didn't have a clue what he was trying to say. He repeated the word over and over again looking at me like I should know the word until it finally clicked somewhere in my brain. Sarah had a similar incident with folks from Ireland. She says the Irish have the thickets accents.
Where are you from?
rrlllnnd
Whaaat?
rrllndd
Where? Huh?
RRLLLNDD!!!!
OOOOOOOHH..... Ireland! Haha

Sarah: A few days ago we celebrated Terra's 29th birthday with a big American Thanksgiving dinner. Even though I am partial to my own moms cooking (she knows what I like). This was a great treat and a great day thanks to Terra's family.

Happy Birthday Terra!!! And as the locals say "cheers mate"!



Terra's cute little pumpkin pie



Terra with sister Ginnie and step-mum Ichu



Sisters in jail

Life In a New Zealand Jail

Terra Hope

We flew 7,437 miles to live and work in a jail, in Christchurch, New Zealand. The name of the facility is Jailhouse Accommodation. Completely jet lagged and exhausted from our travels, on arrival day we were informed our duties began the next day. Hurray!

After our interrogation the wardens decided that with Sarah's reception experience she would check in the inmates while I was left to the dirty work, cleaning beds. Luckily, we only work three to four hours daily in exchange for accommodations. Currently I reside in the workers quarters which consist of four two-person bunk beds and a non-working fireplace. Others we work alongside with are, three from England, one from Taiwan and a New Yorker. Sarah unfortunately has had to sleep in a bunk bed amongst nine other inmates that constantly escape from jail.

Sarah hard at work

Today while working she exclaimed, "we are completely booked!."  Everyone wants to be an inmate here. The historical building constructed out of 60 cm thick concrete was built in 1874 and survived every earthquake. The rooms are the original jail cells, the bed covers are striped as are many other decorations. The rooms are sound proof but an occasional sneeze in the main room can be heard at the other end. There are two movie lounges, a pool table and darts room, and a wonderfully well organized and supplied kitchen. For inmates that get out of hand, be warned, the wardens can lock them away in the insane asylum room.

 

 



We committed a month to staying here and so we plan to complete this by December. We will escape jail and explore the south island. Currently we are looking for a small car to purchase. Just today Papa, Ginnie and I looked at a tiny green Nissan, I think a 1990 and a manual. A MANUAL ON THE LEFT HAND DRIVER'S SIDE. Papa said the engine looks good and the registry is up to date and so now Sarah and I have to consider the manual aspect of it. We both can drive a stick no problem but we are both right handed. It's interesting enough driving on the LEFT side of the road! I think we should go for it, it's a great brain work out too. We will let you know what happens.

Flying to NZ

Are we there yet!?!? Tired and in need of a shower....

Sarah Alexander

We made it!!! Even after being here a few days Terra and I are truly taken with New Zealand. Sometimes when I lay in bed at night I just can't believe it.  I mean really who does this? Who decides one day to just take a huge leap in your life and say " I think I'd like to live a foreign  country and explore for a whole year? I guess the answer to that is we do.

Needless to say the day of the flight and the flight it self was forever long. We woke up early to check out of the hostel at 10am. We spend the last day in Hawaii getting last minute things take care of.

Once we dropped off the car and went to check in we had a few surprises. Turns out Air New Zealand has a weight limit on your carry on items. Terra being a smart and light packer was able to move some things around. I on the other hand started to loose it a little and ended up having to toss some things away. Oh well first world problems they say. Luckily the lady checking me in was really nice and let me slide a little.

Once we finally got onto the plan we were greeted with some of the friendliest flight attendants we have ever met. We even had nice thick blankets with headphones for the flight. Plus the seats went back farther then most airlines I have been on in the stares. One of the real perks though was the food. Terra was able to get an amazing vegetarian meal while I had some chicken pasta. Plus they gave each of us free wine with our dinners.

After dinner we were able to relax in our seats watch the free movies and even sleep a little. We woke up in tome for breakfast and a successful landing on Auckland. Once arrived on Auckland I Skype'd with mom to let her know we made it and were alive. From there it was a short hop to Christchurch to meet Terra's family before going to the hostel. Roughly twelve hours later we are now a day ahead than the USA.

I have to say though the best part about the flight was the in flight safety video with Betty White. I mean come on who doesn't love Betty White? Air New Zealand and Betty White.

So be sure to click on the link above. Much love from NZ!

The amazing view flying into Christchurch

Swimming with Sea Turtles

 

Terra Hope

 



YES, FINALLY! The long awaited blog is here. Thanks Sarah for the lovely name.

 

We must start from the beginning, but no worries, not the VERY beginning when we popped out of our moms. Just from when we landed in Honolulu, Hawaii. We wanted to add a slide show of all the photos but haven't quite figured out how to do this.

 

For four days we had the luxury to cruise the island of Oahu in our Toyota Corolla rental. We did plenty of touristy gigs such as ride the Pineapple Express Train in the Dole Plantation and ate Pineapple ice cream. Another day we went to the Polynesian Culture Center and had unforgettable experience on first arrival. A heavy rain pounded on our newly purchased red ponchos as we contemplated what to do, where to go in the center. A welcoming, but most importantly dry bus with two smiling girls inside beckoned us onto the bus. Hesitatingly we went aboard and sat down, as we got going Sarah exclaimed out loud, "OH WAIT, where are we going!?" Everyone on the bus turned around to stare at us as the guide said, "to the temple, the temple of Jesus Christ of Latter Day-Saints (can we just stick with simply, Mormon? The other is way to long in my opinion, I had to look it up just to make sure I got it all right. Also, have you noticed how if you take the middle M out of Mormon you get....HAHAHA. I'm really not a mean person but you have to admit that's pretty funny). Sarah looked at me inquisitively and being the "go with the flow" kind of person I am, I shrugged and said why not? The pristine white temple was beautiful but all I could think over and over again was, cult, cult...it's a cult! No sense of humor either, as they herded us into a small room with a small window to look out at the temple (the closest we could get) one of the guides asked us what anyone noticed of a photo. I looked at it, some chairs in an empty immaculate room. I blurted out, "no germs." Once again, every stared..."yeah...I mean it looks so clean!" They promptly ignored this stupid remark and kept talking. Long story short, we eventually made it out of there with an appetite.  We had a disappointing "luau" buffet amongst a hundred other, mainly Asian tourists. In the end, the evening show made it all worth while, Ha: The Breathe of Life was spectacular and action packed for two hours.

 

Granted we visited the island during the rainy season, we did spend some time at the beach.

 

 

 The title of this post is "Swimming with Sea Turtles" because we really did. I don't have photos to prove it but...I swear we did. See the last photo above? It was in a calm, beautiful cove across from this palm tree paradise. Most of the photos I could post of Hawaii are on my windows phone and now that I am in New Zealand I can't use it. Not that I would have used that underwater to capture sea turtles. We are getting there. David, if you are reading this, do you remember the "waterproof" camera you got me as a gift years ago? It isn't waterproof anymore. I think it leaked and started having a seizure and so we weren't able to capture many photos with it. Talk about first world problems, right? Sarah and I keep mentioning this as we both miss our phones and all the cool things we could do with them at home. Not anymore!