Everyone here talks funny

Well, almost everyone. I have met a few Americans and obviously we speak normally. But as I stated in my previous post, I love accents. And there are plenty of different accents here. I've roomed with Scottish, Danish, Dutch, and 3 different kinds of British people. It seems like the only people I haven't really met are Kiwis. There's the Maori guy who works for the hostel and coordinates the speedpool tournament in the bar next to the hostel every night and who knows my name. And any shop I go into will almost certainly have a sometimes difficult to understand Kiwi accented individual behind the counter. But I haven't really met any Kiwis. But that's to be expected. At my orientation last Friday we were told that roughly 2000 people are landing in Auckland every day. Most of them are probably tourists, and most of them probably won't get far beyond Auckland.

However I expect that to change tomorrow. Tomorrow morning cloudy and early I leave on my Stray bus tour. It will wind its way around both islands before finishing in Christchurch, where I will most likely stop to work for awhile. That is unless I fall in love with Wellington and just never get back on the bus, which is not only possible but expected given the nature of this "hop-on, hop-off" bus tour. But before that, we tour the North Island. Some of the expected highlights include being the first in the world to see the sun rise on the East Cape, spending the night in a national park, probably some cave-exploring and sand sliding. Listen to me. I'm getting all giddy.

The past few days have been nothing really to speak of. A lot of walking and strolling through a few beautiful parks, but mostly planning, organizing, pretending to fit in while trying to cook in the kitchen. I can't wait to travel and see some scenery. I also can't wait to meet more people. I probably can wait to get up at 7:30 am tomorrow.

Some of my favorite words when said by foreigners (primarily British):

• shite
• brilliant
• bollocks
• bloody hell
• sweet as

In New Zealand 'sweet as' is a common phrase basically meaning 'sounds good' or 'cool' or just plain 'sweet'. The word 'as' is added to a lot of things basically like an adverb. For example, an hour after I eat I may be hungry, but 10 hours after I eat I'll probably be hungry as. It also contributed nicely to this very Kiwi conversation I had in a store:

Clerk: How ya goin', mate?

Me: I'm just browsing.

Clerk: Just browsin'? Sweet as, bro.

For more on New Zealand-speak, consult this video which I'm told Kiwis find humorous, and quite frankly I do too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVHZwI8pcA

Auckland

Well the first day was a little rough. After the 14 hour flight and 9 hour layover in LA, it was hard to tell where one day had ended and another began. I spent about 6 hours laying around the hostel lounge waiting to checkin and struggling to stay awake. The rooms are decent enough: 6 bunk beds (some have more or less), a mini-fridge and a chair with storage lockers. After checking in I just hung out in my room reading/napping/hoping my bag still existed. That's when I met my first roomate: Phil from Newcastle, England. He's a cool guy who is taking a year to see the world. He began backpacking in SE Asia, then Australia, then NZ, and just last night he flew off to Chile to backpack around South America. To summarize, Phil is my hero. Since it was still midday and I had nothing to do I decided to take a stroll around Auckland, or rather Queen St, which is the main tourist and center of hubbub, akin to Delmar near WashU, State St in Madison, or Michigan Ave in Chicago. There's been extensive Southeast Asian immigration here over the past umpteen decades, and the influence of those asian contingents is massive, with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai restaurants everywhere. Most stores have things written in one or another Asian language, and at least half the people around are clearly Asian. Anyway Auckland is nice enough, but it's a big city (the largest in NZ), and people generally don't visit NZ to see big cities, so it really isn't that appealing, and virtually every other traveler I've spoken to feels the same way. So I can't wait to get out of here.

We had an intense NZ orientation the next day which covered just about everything you could possible want to know about traveling here. So I need to take the next few days to just regroup and get a hold on all of this information to plan my trip. Right now I'm strongly considering settling down for awhile in either Wellington (the capital) or Christchurch, the 2nd largest city in NZ and largest on the South Island, which is known to be more beautiful than the North Island. But on the way I'm considering taking a 'hop-on hop-off' adventure bus. It's designed to take travelers off the beaten path, showing things that aren't necessarily advertised in all the guidebooks and which aren't major tourist stops. Some places are only accessible via these buses, and you can get off the bus in any city you want and stay as long as you want, hopping back on another bus whenever you want to leave (within a year). Expensive but I have no doubt that it will be worth it.

Beneath the hostel is the Globe Bar, which offers some sort of free or discounted attraction to travelers every single night, though usually at 8pm, meaning you sit around for 4 hours drinking waiting for the party to show up, but it's a nice place to unwind.

I've mostly been spending time with my roomates. Besides Phil, there is Kenny from Glasgow Scotland and Christi from Minneapolis (the dorms are co-ed) on the first night. Then Ian from England moved in for the second night. After that came Hiro from Japan, Basil from Switzerland, and Anastasia from Essex England (apparently known for having slutty girls, just saying). They're all great, and it's a huge luxury that everyone speaks English, kinda makes me feel guilty that I speak nothing else. Even Hiro communicates pretty well with broken English.

Aside from my roomates, I've met a variety of people. Apparently a group of 15 students from Germany all came here together, unfortunately they haven't really split apart from each other yet so it's hard to get to know any of them. During a speedpool tourney at the Globe Bar I got to meet folks from Denmark, another from Japan, England, Germany, Canada, and a couple girls from the US.

Some things I've noticed:

• virtually all the music I've heard is American, or dance remixes of American music.
• NZlanders don't just drive on the left, they customarily walk on the left side of escalators and stairs. I learned this through the experience of near collisions on a couple staircases.
• showering is not necessarily expected of any of the backpackers, nor is changing clothes from day-to-day.
• I love accents.
• If you don't make your own food in the kitchen, you'll lose money pretty quickly.

Until next time blogfans, cheers mate!

Operation Kiwi Begins

I'm sitting in the Auckland Central Backpackers hostel, recently arrived in the hilly and rainy Auckland. It seems like a lot has happened since I left, but really it's been pretty boring (not NZ, everything else).

The flight from Chicago to LA was nicely uneventful. Naturally the plane arrived early, extending my 8.5 hour layover to an even 9. I read several Runner's Worlds to pass the time, went on a 3 hour walk outside the airport and the nearby area, and ate Burger King twice, and it was gross. I only lost my boarding pass once, but the folks at security (where I left it) were quick to act and 5 minutes later I had it back in my hands, nervous sweat on my brow. The 13 or so hour flight from LA to Auckland was also pretty tame. I hit up a few more Runner's Worlds, watched Get Smart (pretty terrible movie) and got a surprisingly good amount of sleep. Also, though I couldn't get up the nerve to ask him, I'm about 95% sure that Ernie Hudson was on my flight. For those of you who are lame, Ernie Hudson is an actor who made unforgettable roles in Congo, Miss Congeniality, and most famously as the black Ghostbuster. Part of the reason I didn't confirm his identity is because I couldn't remember his last name (I'm pretty sure it's Hudson) and I figured just asking him if his name is Ernie was too awkward, even for me.

Oh also the airport lost my bag.
Or at least they sent it to Melbourne for some reason. First I was told it would arrive tomorrow, then Saturday, and finally assured it would be in by tonight. That means that for most of today I have to continue wearing the same clothes I've been wearing for the past over 24 hours (with the time changes I don't feel like figuring out the actual time). Plus I was kinda hoping to go for a run once I got to the hostel so I could kill time until check-in and explore the area for awhile, but my only running attire is in my "lost" bag, naturally.

The hostel is pretty sweet. An internet cafe, TVs, massage chairs ($2 to use), kitchen, laundry room, lounge chairs, and plenty of people just hanging out. Hopefully they're not all as hard to understand as the guy and girl who work here.

On the bus ride here, I started asking myself all sorts of questions. What the hell am I doing here? Why did I think this was a good idea? etc. But I knew all along what the answer was. I'm here for a life experience. And something like that doesn't come without challenge. If I may take a note from the WashU XC team, I'm ready to rub my life experience in adversity's face. BRING IT NEW ZEALAND!

First New Zealand Purchase: an internet card ($5 NZ)

60 Hours to Go

I leave in just under 60 hours. Here's what I still have to do:

• pack everything
  
• decide where I want to go first
• find a job

This list is almost exactly the same as it was when I first was accepted into the program to go to New Zealand. All I've done is get my visa, though that's the most important part, so I get a pat on the back for that.

I have all day Sunday and all day Monday to get everything together. However the Bears game is on at noon tomorrow (Sunday) which effectively wipes out a time block from noon to 3. Yesterday I discovered that TNT is showing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles trilogy tomorrow, naturally beginning at 3. As a sentient being who is (probably) capable of rational thought, obviously I must watch this trilogy.

Monday is going to be a busy day........

Planning the Tour: Part Get It Over With

Ok so this is getting too long and nobody cares about this part anyway, so I'll try to wrap it up in this post and keep it brief.

The issue with China always revolved around when I would finish it. If I went to any school except Madison, WI for grad school, which begins early June, then I would have no problem staying in China for its full semester which ends in June. However seeing as how my number one grad school choice is currently Madison, I decided to bank on the chance that I'll be accepted. The extremely accomodating and courteous representative from International Teaching Advantage (the China program) finally called me and told me what he had said in email several weeks earlier, that he had found a potential spot for me at the University of Nanjing, that their semester ends in late June, and that he had a few favors stored away that he'd be willing to use on my behalf as long as I was completely committed to doing the program (at this point there had been no money deposit or anything except guilt prohibiting me from backing out). So after a final day of deliberation I told him to keep those favors intact and withdraw my application. I sincerely hope that I can do the program sometime after grad school is over, provided my interests have not changed, plus since China was more incidental rather than intentional I'll probably do more searching for TEFL programs in other countries too, though admittedly the idea of living in China for awhile sounds pretty sweet and I had myself pretty psyched up about it.

So: this coming Tuesday I depart for New Zealand. My return ticket is dated about 3.5 months from now. However as I have absolutely no followup plans it's entirely possible that I'll extend my stay for several more months. This depends on several factors: how much I love New Zealand; how much I miss home; whether or not I can comfortably do/visit all the activities/places I want in 3.5 months; whether or not I secure any other post-NZ travel plans; and whether or not I want to stay and work for awhile to regain some of the money I'll surely lose when I'm gone (if I simply came home in February I'd probably just try to get a job, but why work here when I can work there, right?) So this trip will largely be a lesson in improvisation, as far as what I do when I'm there as well as what I do when I leave.

That's enough "planning" talk for now. I'm sure I could go on much longer about the various ideas I've had for other travel plans I really want to do (working on a cruise ship is my latest flavor of the week idea), but I'm assuming anybody who bother to reads this doesn't do so to hear about what I wish I could do. My readers want DIRT. I'll give you dirt. Starting in roughly 84 hours when my flight leaves Chicago.

Planning the Tour: Part II

Continuing from the previous post, I was forced to dismiss the idea of a holy trinity tour, incorporating all 3 exciting travel ideas. It was about this time (end of August) that I received an email from an organization called International Teaching Advantage. They had found my resume/profile on erecruiting.com. Finally something good from the WashU Career Center! This organization sponsors a program to bring in native English speakers to teach English in China. The idea of teaching English abroad had been suggested to me before, but I never seriously considered it, mostly because I don't comfortably speak any other languages. Also past experience has strongly indicated that I am a terrible teacher. Yet for some reason the idea really intrigued me and I looked into it further. Like most TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) programs, the classes are only conversational English, which I had failed to realize in the past. The website for this organization explicitly stated that they prefer you actually don't speak Chinese in the classroom, as it will be a distraction for the students who will almost certainly laugh at your horrendous accent and pronunciation.

So this program, which had a sparse website and returned nothing else in a Google search, actually seemed very promising. They pay for an apartment with plenty of furnishings including cable TV, internet, and furniture. Plus they emphasize that living in China is extremely cheap. So by using this program, I would be able to make money while spending very little. Plus I would only be teaching about 16 hours/week! I would have the opportunity to travel and live abroad and return home with more money! I sent in an application and exchanged several emails with a friendly, always quick to respond, English-speaking representative.

The China program offers full year or one semester stints. I would realistically only be able to do the second semester, which begins in mid-February and typically ends in mid to late June. Problem. The foremost physical therapy school I applied to, UW-Madison, begins June 8. I decided that before giving up like I usually do, I should do some negotiating. I explained my situation to the China rep, who promised to look into it further. In mid-September he sent a response, stating he had found a position at the University of Nanjing, and he was in the process of requesting a favor from a friend there to allow me to leave at the end of May.

So now I have the following options on my list: Work New Zealand, Work Britain, Noah's Ark Namibia, and Teach in China.

All along people had been recommending New Zealand. It's a beautiful location, plus it would be summer there during winter here, so going during our fall/winter would be perfect. Having glanced around the BUNAC Britain brochure, I had read that it only takes about 3 weeks to process an application and visa. Perfect, I'll get to New Zealand by mid to late September! Wrong. After rechecking my steps, I discovered a NZ app and visa take 6-8 weeks. Ugh. Not sure if I mentioned it yet but I had the same problem earlier with the Namibia program, which required a 2-3 month wait between application and departure. If I had been more careful about reading, I could have been outta here by September. Instead I skimmed and procrastinated and won't leave until late October. But hey at least I'll get to go, so all I can do is learn from my mistakes and look forward to an exciting year.

So now I had decided that New Zealand was definitely my first step. I did the application and visa request form (which BUNAC basically did for me which helped a lot).

But what was next? I could do Britain, China, Namibia, or a host of other programs I had discovered online.

The next big issue came with BUNAC Work Britain. Apparently the Blue Card Visa that has been used for foreigners working in Britain for some time is now being replaced, yet for some reason the last day to apply for one is September 30, while the last day to enter Britain with such a visa was December 31, 2008. Ok, so instead of staying in NZ for 3 months, I'll do 2, return home for a few days to a week in late December, and head to Britain just in time. No such luck. I didn't conceive of this plan until mid September, but that didn't leave enough time to process all the necessary documents by September 30. And for some reason, the United States has not yet subscribed to the new work visa, Tier 5, that is replacing the Blue Card. I looked around briefly to make sure this wasn't just BUNAC being fickle, but it seems universal. There is no way currently for U.S. citizens to get a temporary work visa in Britain. Bizarre. Surely that will change soon, but I can't sit and wait and let other opportunities pass me by. I returned to BUNAC's website to investigate similar opportunities in Europe, but the only other European programs are in France, where a participant must be able to communicate effectively in French, which I can't, and in Ireland. Now, this program is geared towards students. The only way post-grads can participate is if they begin within a semester of their graduation, meaning I would be required to start by December 31, 2008. But apparently December and January are the worst possible times to find work in Ireland. So it looks like my chances to earn some money in Europe before traveling around are swept out the window.

These first two posts bring me up to where I was about a week ago.

To be continued in a third post...........