My New Home!!!
Trip Start
Jan 12, 2008
1
4
15
Trip End
May 10, 2008
Christchurch,
New Zealand
Friday, January 25, 2008
Walking out on the platform was like no thrill I had ever had in my life...and I wouldn't say it was an "exciting" thrill at that, more like, terrifying! It didn't help that it was raining and the wind was so powerful that it made you lose your balance. After about halfway around I got more comfortable. The most uneasy thing was taking pictures. Our guide had us lean off the edge and let go of our harness that we had been holding so tightly to
Alive after 192m drop!!!
. I have never felt so uncomfortable in my life! I just had to talk myself into it, close my eyes and do it. The whole experience was great, the weather ended up clearing up after 5 minutes so the rest of the way gave us an amazing view of Auckland and the ocean. Okay, so I conquered the skywalk--now--the sky jump! heck, if I can walk around that high, I can jump off, right? Piece of cake. That was easier than hanging off the edge, this time I just did it and didn't give myself a chance to think about it. It's not a bungee jump, rather, they measure your weight and a cable is adjusted to slow you down at the very end. Before that, it's pure freefall. It was so fun I wanted to do it again! Glad I had the experience, without our connection it would've ran me about $350.
That NIght: sad farewell to Craig and Liz, our lovely hosts. Flew out of Auckland at 9:30 pm and arrived in Christchurch at 11.
JAN 23: House-hunting today! The first place I checked out was a dump. Second place sold me as soon as I walked in. It's a multi-level New York City-Style apt. with two levels and a TON of space, high ceilings, and floor-to-ceiling windows. It is downtown in the heart of the city where it sits atop funky shops and is surrounded by heaps of restaurants, pubs, and gardens. The apt. is actually a photography studio as well. Kurt Langer, my new roomate and internationally known photographer does photo shoots and has his office set up here. The walls are covered with his work and various paintings he's collected over the years. (check out his website at www.kurtlanger.com) It is such a creative/inspirational place, it's way more than I ever expected to live in
Art Center
! My room is huge and fully furnished with a queen bed, furniture and TV. It's 3 of us living here, the other roomie is Anka, she's quite possibly the most bubbly sweetest person I've met. She's 24, from Romania and has lived here for awhile working as a computer programmer. Kurt's assistant Sarah, (nice name) is 24 and such a sweetheart as well. She's here during the days answering the phone and touching up photos. JAN 25: Took a job with Evolution Marketing. They interviewed quite a few people and evidently I was the only one they asked back for a second interview and orientation of the business so that was very encouraging. They are the largest face to face marketing business in the world and have offices set up all over. They take on many different clientel and after getting a feel for my personality, decided to put me working for the charity part. I was a bit skeptical at first when I went for on site training this morning seeing that we basically work at a stand in a busy mall all day trying to get people to sign up for pledging a dollar a day for a child abuse org. After hearing more about the job, however, I was sold. Normally I hate things like this but I ended up seeing it in a different perspective. On average, you'll get 3 people a day to sign up. Those people on average stay on for 3 years and in that time raises $3,000. So, essentially, I can go home at night feeling like I've raised that much money for a great cause
Aukland City Harbour
. Other incentives included the fact that they move you around often and sometimes send you to other cities in NZ for a couple days at a time. This would give me the opportunity to see the country and really be immersed and interactive with the people. I'll be working on commission, which, that too has never appealed to me, except they pay $70 for each person you get to sign up. So if I can get 3 people a day to sign up, I'm sitting pretty good. The girl selling with us today has only been doing it for a week and in 3 days has made $600. It's long hours (8:30-6 when the mall opens and closes) but I think will be a good experience overall. The company also does everything internal and has a set system of easily moving upwards so eventually, even in the span of a year, I may be able to take on my own business area and train others. And being that there are offices located all around the world, I can move to different sites or start a new one. Saturday: I have the whole day to myself. For two weeks Christchurch has had a "Buskers Festival" going on here in City Center where I live. "Buskers" are performers of any kind from tap dancing to comedians to acrobats. So all day long there are performances all over in the area, one gathering place is actually right outside my apt. A couple of blocks from here are the botanical gardens and art center. Every weekend a art/craft market takes place here
Backside of the apt.
. I visited with many people, people love striking up conversation here. A lady selling skin cream talked with me for quite awhile and before I went on my way said I could come to her anytime if I needed anything! We hugged and it felt so good to know that there are people here I can trust. People gather in huge crowds to watch the buskers. One lady had everyone laughing so hard over her crazy hula/acrobat act. They come from all over the world and make money from donations at the end of their acts.
The botanical garden is huge, I walked for approx. 1/2 hour and I think I barely skimmed it. Anka told me she easily gets lost when she goes running. Everything is so lush, the river runs right through it--occupied by ducks and riverboats. Kids play in the fountains and massive trees tower above the ground.
