One step closer to the Middle Kingdom

I booked my airplane ticket to China last week...I depart Omaha on Sept. 2. Very exciting to have something new to look forward to. What's more, I've been studying Mandarin (via Rosetta Stone) as much as possible over the last few weeks. I can now say such important and enlightened things as: "Zhe ge mao chi fan" (The cat is eating food).

On another note, I now have less than two months remaining in New Zealand. I'm sure it will go very fast. Look out, Omaha; I'll be back before you know it.

Mission Mode, once again

In preparation for my departure from New Zealand, which is a mere 70 days from now, I'm going to try to revert to the mission mode I was in last year as I got ready to head here in the first place. While I still have plenty of money saved, it won't hurt to recoup some of the cash I've spent here so far--After all, nothing is guaranteed once I leave here.

So that means more sitting around the hostel, rather than going out. "But you're in New Zealand!" you protest. Indeed I am. And I have been for the last 214 days (can you believe that shit??). And in those seven months, I do not hesitate to say that I have gone out on the town and partied more than the four years following my 21st birthday, combined. So I think I owe both my body and my savings account a solid, by taking a break.

Sitting at home isn't all bad, by the way. I've been learning Mandarin online with Rosetta Stone, which is a great way to learn a language. Chinese had a nasty reputation for being quite difficult to learn; each word can be pronounced with four different tones. But I dare say I am making some pretty big strides and should be able to get around in China without totally relying on sign language and the occasional English speaker. (Mandarin isn't the only language spoken in China, but the majority speak it).

So, when I'm on the plane at the end of June, I hope to be a bit richer, a bit leaner (I run up and down a flight of stairs at work at least 25 to 30 times a night--take that beer gut!) and a bit more international. Not a bad combo.

Yes I am lazy

Sorry about that. Why don't you try to keep a blog on your daily life? Sure it's kind of fun at first, but then you repeat the same routine over and over again and it becomes boring.

Last week, however, the routine was interrupted with a visit from my brother Nick. He was on spring break from his senior year of high school and flew down for 12 days. I showed him some of the best New Zealand has to offer (the South Island), including Milford Sound, the Otago Penninsula and Fergburger.

I've begun researching China so that I can have some sort of loose plan for once I get there. I'm trying to learn some Mandarin, which will help me immensely, even though not everyone in China speaks it. I'm going to go send for a new passport today so that I can apply for a Chinese visa at the local embassy.

I'll try to do a better job of keeping you entertained. I promise.

Tentative plans...

Well, after much deliberation, I have a rough outline of what I'd like to do after my time in New Zealand. It will begin with a couple months working back in Omaha. This will serve two purposes: To save more money to extend my travels; and to wait for weather in Asia to become a bit more comfortable (less heat, less monsoon). Then, in September, I plan to head to China for a couple months, maybe more. After that, it's likely I'll visit Southeast Asia (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc). And I'm strongly considering a working holiday visa to Singapore for six months in 2009. Singapore is a very modern Asian island-state, located at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula. All this is subject to change--I haven't even purchased my plane ticket back to the US yet. (I will be stateside by 27th of June for Paul's San Diego wedding though...and back to Omaha shortly after that).

So that's me, in rough pencil form. I'll begin finalizing plans in the coming months. Rest assured, though, that I will not be returning to the office any time soon. I think restaurants are where I belong for the time being.

Valentine's Day sucks

I'm not saying V-Day sucks because I'm one of those jealous single people--My budget is limited, and does not include taking girls out to nice restaurants. But it's because people STILL DIDN'T TIP!

OK, so I had one couple who are old friends of the owners--they had a special menu, taken from the restaurant where they met ten years ago--who tipped me quite well. But get this: One gentleman decided that the cliched Valentines Day proposal in a nice restaurant would be a good idea. He had his table booked at least a month ago. I brought out champagne when they sat down. We played their song for them while he got on bended knee. He cried; she cried. It went perfectly, he told me. Not only did this guy not tip, but he also tried to use a discount card (which we weren't accepting on the 14th) on their meal! I mean, holy shit, what does it take to get a little bit of gratuity here?! You would think that not only that guy, but every paying man in that place last night would have been feeling nice and generous, since he knows he's going to get laid later on.

I love New Zealand, but boy can it be ass backward.

Restaurant Life

It occurred to me that I have been working at this restaurant for three months now and have written very little about the goings on of my work life. I want to change that, and will make an effort to tell you more about the entertaining bits of waiting tables in New Zealand.

First off, about my restaurant: It was opened in 2000 by a Michelin-rated chef and his wife. He is from England, and got his start, along with Hell's Kitchen star Gordon Ramsay at one of London's (and the world's) top restaurants. The restaurant is one of the top places to dine in Wellington (take, for example, that my boss received hundreds of calls looking for a Valentine's Day table yesterday).

The restaurant is in a former police station, and is on two floors, with the bar, lounge and private dining room on the bottom floor. It can get quite busy on the weekends (which includes Thursday)...serving more than 100 people in a relatively small restaurant. The waiters are forced to be pretty self-sufficient. There are no bussers or anything of that sort. It's hard work, but lots of fun.

Being "assistant manager" essentially means that I am the duty manager on Sundays and Mondays when the owners and manager take their days off. I work from open to close (on Monday that means a 12-hour, break-less shift...whew).


Some interesting facts/observations:

--In New Zealand, "entrees" are starters or appetizers. What Americans call Entrees are known simply as "mains."
--The majority of Kiwis do not tip. They are very cheap.
--Three-course dinners are quite common (starters, mains, desserts/coffees). Nearly all patrons have three courses. I can't remember the last time I had a three-course meal.
--Yes, head chefs do act like Gordon Ramsay (the fuck this, fuck that, throwing things attitude).


Despite some rough, thankless patches during the holidays, I'm quite happy that I ended up in Wellington and with this job. It's a great CV builder and huge learning experience.

And now for my next test...Valentine's Day. We have 100 booked, mostly tables of two. We have at least one engagement set to occur in the restaurant tonight. It's going to be total insanity. I'll give you the scoop tomorrow.

Five month recap

I've now been in New Zealand for five months. I thought I would post some photos that hadn't yet made an appearance here. Enjoy


Early morning, Sept. 11, 2007: Nearly there




A cloudy day in Auckland




Morning at the Bay of Islands






A hot pool in Rotorua




Fire on the beach in Wairoa




Cool rock formations




Park in Wellington, where Lord of the Rings scenes were filmed




Cows in Le Bons Bay




Cool path on Otago Penninsula




Lake Wakatipu




Near Milford Sound, Fiordland




Ice blue water




Taking the train




Pavlova--New Zealand's national dessert




From atop Kapiti Island




This sums up most of my Saturdays




Cool sign near Wellington's harbour

The Sevens

I spent the weekend with beauty queens, construction workers, flight attendants, police officers and countless others. If you Omaha folks thought baseball fans went nuts during the College World Series, you've seen nothing.

The International Rugby Sevens is a traveling tournament of rugby teams from all over the world. Gameplay is seven versus seven, rather than the usual 15, and games are 15 minutes each. So it's just a day loaded with quick rugby games. Folks from around the country have been in town and it's been just a huge party--each group picks a theme and gets costumed up. I've seen so many crazy getups marching through the streets. Check out these photos for some of what I saw.

Last night concluded with a street party on Courtenay Place, just down the block from where I live. Madness. It would be like closing down the Old Market.

So aside from nursing my mean hangover right now, things are good. I am trying to decide what I will do after my time in New Zealand. I think either I will go to China in July or I will get a job back in Omaha for a couple months and go to China in September, after the Olympics are over...all the new infrastructure will be in place, but none of the Games crowds. We'll see.

Work Christmas party!

Since the restaurant was closed Monday for Wellington's anniversary day, we had our work Christmas party...good times were had by all, and everyone was quite well behaved **cough**bullshit**cough**.

Not all photos are suitable for publication at this time.

We started the day with a dim sum lunch. Quite nice, though some dishes were a bit suspect (beef tripe...pig intestines...)




Lunch was followed by lawn bowling and many pitchers flowed. Lawn bowling is similar to curling--you are trying to get your balls closest to a small white one at the other end of the lawn. We had a round-robin tournament, in which myself and my teammate, Viviana, crashed and burned. But it was fun nonetheless.





We followed that up with a pool tournament at the pub down the street. Then we walked back into town. The night pretty much devolved from there...



In other news, New Zealand's Windy City is certainly living up to its name today...the wind is absolutely blasting through town. My pizza was nearly taken from my hands. Also, let it be known that New Zealand's ozone is pretty much crap, so it's quite easy to burn--just ask the patches on my legs that didn't get sunscreen at the beach the other day.

Vacation from my holiday

I'm now back from my little adventure up the coast. It was a nice couple days away.

The hostel where I stayed was on a cliff above the coast...great view.




On Wednesday, I went to Kapiti Island, a Department of Conservation wildlife preserve.




I hiked to the top of the 520-meter peak--a 100-minute hike through winding trails. The view was totally worth it. I could see both the north and south islands at once. The top of the south island can be seen below.



And the North behind me:



The island is coated in thick forest, including ferns, palms and other tropical trees.




There were lots of friendly birds on the island, including plenty of wekas, who were also top-notch pickpockets, digging through any pack left within their reach.




And the kakas were determined to get everyone's lunch.



It was a great trip.

Did I mention great views from the hostel?

Gettin' Out

Yes, I know my blog posts have been stagnant. I should have a very good one for you later this week, however. Since I've been in Wellington for two months now, I decided I ought to take advantage of three days off this week and get out of town a bit. I'm heading up the coast about 40 kms to Paikakariki, on the Kapiti coast. It's a small town with an apparently great beach. Just going to relax a bit, enjoy a few beers and enjoy the sunset over the Tasman Sea. Tomorrow, I am going to Kapiti Island, a Department of Conservation bird sanctuary. Only 50 people are allowed to visit every day--I snagged the last permit. In case you didn't know, NZ is home to a lot of birds not found anywhere else, including some real crazy looking ones. The most famous, of course, is the kiwi. I will have plenty of photos to share when I get back.

Gotta eat

Unfortunately, New Zealand does not have Jimmy John's, California Taco or La Casa, so I've had to find new favorite restaurant and take-away foods. Fortunately, doing so has been quite easy.

Fish and chips Or "fush and chups," as the vowel-mangling Kiwis often say. This is a cheap-as (not ass--it's kiwi slang) food option, with two pieces of fish and a load of fries costing usually less than seven bucks. My favorite fish so far would have to be gurnard--light and flaky with a nice taste.

Pies New Zealanders love their pies. Every corner bakery and grocery has a large range of fresh pies--mince, steak, kidney, steak and cheese, and too many more to name. You eat them with your hands, careful not to let the gravy inside leak onto your clothes. You can also get them from the grocery store and heat them up in the microwave. In short, pies are handfuls of flaky, gooey, meaty goodness.

Butter chicken I had never had Indian food before I came to New Zealand. Wellington has countless Indian restaurants. I've come to love butter chicken--I'd say it's one of my favorite foods. Nice rich butter and tomato curry loaded with chicken, on top of rice. Oh, and you have to have garlic naan bread. Every time I have this dish is like a religious experience. I think I just convinced myself to have some for lunch.

Christmas downunder

After several days of technical troubles, I'm finally able to bring you this post.

My first Christmas away from home was also my first Christmas in another country--and my first Christmas in the Summer. And while it didn't really feel like Christmas, celebrating the holidays in the Summer is fine with me. A couple of my coworkers had a big party at their house. Being Irish, they had a lot of other Irish friends there as well. If you've never partied with Irish, you are missing out.

One of our turkeys was cooked on the grill...delicious.




There was plenty of Diet Coke and lemonade for us to enjoy throughout the day.




Shorts on Christmas day? Better believe it. An impromptu cricket game even struck up.




And the night ended with a bonfire and drunken Irish songs. Happy Birthday, Santa!

Tis the season...?

Right now is the first time I've really felt like it was getting close to Christmas. I'm in a computer lab (hostel computers are not working) and there is Christmas music playing. Kiwis--at least those in Wellington--don't seem to get too festive. Christmas is celebrated here, for sure, but decorations and seasonal spirit is lacking. Not that I'm particularly festive this time of year--I don't care for Christmas music one bit. It's just that it's hard to believe the year is coming to and end without the constant reminders of the season--trees everywhere, garland, signs in shops wishing you a "Merry Christmas!" It's just not everywhere, in your face like it is back home. But nonetheless, it is almost here, and I will get two days off from work because of it--the 26th is a public holiday here too!

Still not a whore

Seriously guys, didn't I explain how I insisted on hourly pay so I didn't become a bitch? Also, the place is owned by a Michelin-rated chef, his wife, and another chef who has a small stake; not some giant, faceless conglomerate. But what's most important is that I really enjoy my job, which I couldn't really say six months ago.


I will give you some more interesting tidbits about my job and about dining in New Zealand later this week. Or it may be next week (I put in 60 hours last week, and this one may be the same). But I will get new stuff up here soon!

Promotion

Only one month into my job as a waiter, I've been promoted. I'm now an assistant manager in training. My boss offered me the position--quite unexpectedly--this week. Initially, she offered me a salary, but we all know that salary in a hospitality job means I would be their bitch. So I asked for hourly pay and to throw in a manager meal discount as well. I'll have to close the restaurant twice a week and either organize the orders or wait on a section other nights. Should be fun, and I'll be able to save even more money.

Thanks Bogard!

Because he's a top-notch kind of guy, my buddy Bogard has hooked me up with and official Corporate Whore No More bracelet to replace the Corporate Whore bracelet that I threw into the Auckland harbor. He gave me that one for my 24th birthday last year. The new custom-made bracelet finally arrived in Wellington last week, after being made in China, sent to the US (too late for my departure), mailed to Wellington and briefly lost in the NZ mail.

Thanks man

Sad news from home

Who knows why people do stupid things like what happened in Omaha today. People out doing their Christmas shopping end up dying at the hand of a suicidal gunman... Thankfully my family is OK. But since names of the victims have not been released yet, we have no idea if anyone we know was involved. The mall is only about five minutes away from my parents' house. I used to work at the Panera Bread next to the store. A lot of customers at the restaurant ask where I am from, and now this is a terrible thing for them to associate with my home; this incident is making news here. And it just fuels the stereotype that Americans are gun-toting crazies. Sad.

My thoughts are with you Omaha.

Bits and Pieces

Work Work is going pretty well. Starting to get lots of hours. Also have been given some more responsibilities. I'm just that cool. I think I might have to ask for a raise.

Sports I watched some more cricket yesterday. There's a stadium five minutes or so from the hostel where you can just go watch the games for free, sitting on the berm. Cricket is a really long, drawn-out game. There's no such thing as balls or strikes like baseball has, so the batsman can see as many balls as he wants before he hits one. Yesterday was day four of a four-day match.

In other Wellington sporting news, the city has been abuzz for the last week in anticipation of a visit from the LA Galaxy--David Beckham's new team. Becks and LA beat the Wellington Phoenix 4-1 last night. A private investor helped fund Galaxy's trip, which included a guarantee that Beckham would play at least 50 minutes of the match.

Celebrities Speaking of famous people, I had my first Wellywood star sighting last night (as I said in a previous post, Wellington is home to NZ's film industry). As we were enjoying a post-shift beer in front of the restaurant, Giovanni Ribisi (Phoebe's little brother on Friends) strolled down the street. He's in town, along with Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Rodriguez, to work on a big-budget James Cameron movie. One of my coworkers apparently bumped into Sigourney at the grocery store last week.

That's about all I have of any importance right now. My life consists of lots of work, sleeping until 10:30, staying out til 3:30 and trying my best to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having. I hope everyone is staying warm back in Omaha. I'm wearing shorts.

Life at Wellywood

Since I will be living at Wellywood Backpackers indefinitely, I thought I would give you a glimpse into my living situation. The name Wellywood comes from the fact that Wellington has become the center of NZ's blossoming film industry--It's also Peter Jackson's home town.

The outside of the hostel stands out quite a bit--it's painted like a zebra:




My room is small. Depressingly small. Two bunk beds in about 150 square feet.




But I don't spend much time there anyway. Most of my spare time at the hostel is spent in the upstairs lounge and kitchen. The kitchen is in the back, and it's quite big. There are two TV lounges and tons of sofas to lounge around on.



So that's my home for the next few months. Next week, I'll introduce you further to my neighborhood: where I work, where I play, where I drink. And it's all just a short walk away!