Italian day!

Today was pretty incredible! Our friend Giulia invited us to go with her to an Italian festival. We got a long walk in on the way there, and the festival itself was pretty neat too. tons of vendors and delicious Italian food and music. I even met some people from the couchsurfing Spanish exchange i went to the first week were here.

Giulia & I with fancy Italian sports cars

It was especially nice to get out because last week i guess i got a spider bite but whatever it was it got really angry and i had to go to the doctor. so I've spent the last week or so on the couch and not getting out much. so today was an incredible relief!

Giulia's fabulous glassses!

Fresh Pasta!

Later in the day to complete our day of Italy, Dar cooked me tortellini from scratch. Smoked salmon, spinach, and parmesan. YUMM.

Some pictures of our new home!

We live in Auckland!

Found ourselves an apartment today! Its on the top floor.... The 15th!!!!!

Our door is purple and the font for everything looks like alien writing. The door is purple and in case you cant read this it says 15a
. This is the view from our balcony! You can see all the way to the bay and the docs!





Took the bus down to a couchsurfing meetup tonight and met a few fun people. One guy was super nice, also rides motorcycles and offered to help us if we have any questions when buying ours. He even offered to go riding with us! XD

First days in Auckland

<p>The first days here have been full of new and exciting experiences.</p>
<p>Yesterday we went to the ministry of transport to 'enquire' about motorcycle licenses. Finding ourselves on the 13th floor of a fancy office building with executives and cubicles, we learned that the ministry of transport is the policy makers like the DOT in the US... So it wasn't as exciting as I'd thought. But we were sent next to another office building who sent us finally to the AA, which is the automobile Association, not alcoholics anonymous. The awesome thing was all these things were in 10 minute walking distance of one another. Yay city living! Anyway turns out Dar and my Oregon motorcycle endorsements are good enough for the NZ government and all we have to do is go buy a motorcycle!
Besides our trip to AA, (snark snark) we've been spending all day every day looking for an apartment. Saying its been hard is an understatement. There are very few people willing to consider a couple as a roommate and of those who do many want us to pay double the rent. Obviously im biased in this but while i absolutely agree with splitting utilities equally between all the individuals in the flat and even could see a little more in base rent because 2 take more of communal space, double is ridiculous in my opinion.
And then of course there's finding places and people we like. We went to one place that's just barely out of the city, but at 4.50 per way on the bus, its $90NZ or $75USD per work week just to commute! We found a place in a soul-less highrise which had beautiful views but that seriously felt like living in an airplane. That along with roommates that were super dodgy, some that didn't even come out of their room to talk to us, and ridiculously messy ones.
So, while id really love to hold out for the perfect roommate and apartment combo, with the GRE approaching fast, we've raised our budget significantly and resolved to find a cute studio or 1 bedroom through a property rental company. Im really optimistic that we'll find something soon.
About the only other things we've been doing besides house hunting is walking from place to place and finding food. Here are some pictures...
We went to this cute little French crepery for breakfast the other day. The lady was confused when i asked for whipped cream on my h but it turned out amazing. Hands down best hot chocolate of my life. That includes poohs picnics from Allan Bros.

A shame there's not something in the frame for reference but that burger is on a full large size dinner plate. That was lunch. Yumm. A serious food coma after that and i didn't even finish it!



And also this. Teehhee.

Fiji Adventures & our destination!

Long story short:  We made it to Auckland! And had tons of fun along the way!

So when I left you, we were about to head to Visesei to go stay with Fi, the lady we'd planned to be couch surfing with. The whole thing had been a little crazy in the first place, we'd confirmed to stay with one lady, who then emailed us three days before we left LA telling us she'd just unexpectedly given birth?!?!?! So she referred us to her friend Fi, then I got sick and we cancelled with Fi, but she didn't get our message so we're at the airport and she's sent her taxi driver friend to collect us, so the taxi driver calls her and takes us to our hotel. right. anyway, it was already nuts, but we finally made it to Fi's house, stayed the night with her, played with her little daughter Ka, who was having her 4th birthday party that night. A bunch of the kids from the village came around and shared her Dora the Explorer cake.

Ka with her Dora The Explorer Cake!

So Cute!

Fi booked us a really fun trip to two of the islands west of Nadi. And for incredibly cheap. 2 nights on each of the two islands with 3 meals a day included, along with 3 boat rides to get from island to island, for BOTH of us ended up being ~$600 USD. I would recommend anyone going to Fiji to make sure they get off the main island, and go to backpacker places or resorts on the islands as early as possible. We enjoyed the islands we stayed on, Bounty and Mana, and I've heard up north in the Yasawas is also great if you can afford the boat trip. But the islands saved the trip for us. It was like night and day, the experiences we had on the mainland and on the islands. The other tourists, the locals, the scenery, everything.

Nadi Rugby Team training on the mainland as we waited for our boat

The first 2 nights we stayed on Bounty Island, an island with just the one resort on it, so small you can easily walk around the entire thing in 20-30 minutes. So so so incredibly beautiful there. And I got to snorkel for the first time. It's especially neat too after having a salt water fish tank, seeing all this life in it's natural habitat, larger and more healthy than you could ever find in a fish store.

OMG Snorkel time!

<3

Underwater camera!

We got incredibly sunburned the first day out snorkeling for 4 hours. And sitting in rope hammocks didn't help. The beautiful sea life we saw made it 100% worth it though.

Ouch!

Double Ouch!

Also the boat to the second island was a little late so I got to hold a sea turtle! They keep them and brush them twice daily to get the algae off. This little guy will grow to be 1 meter across! And probably weigh a lot more than me!



They sang us a goodbye song as we left Bounty.

The other island we stated at was Mana Island. The backpacker hostel we ended up at there was SO incredible. The island is a little bigger and has some nicer resorts, but the one we stayed at is the one with soul. The first night they had traditional dancing, as well as fire dancing, and they taught us the 'Bula' dance. Every night the locals came down to our hostel and just hung out. It was awesome. There were so many people we met with really awesome stories, advice on traveling, and good discussions about politics, religion, and the gambit. It was a good experience for me learning what kind of place I'd rather be at, cuz while Bounty was fun and I was waited on hand and foot, I got bored for sure.

Mana Island

The first day we got there we found a guy we'd met on the boat going to Mana, as well as a British couple that had been staying at the hostel for a month. Staying there for a month had made them pretty creative with their time, so they were making Christmas cards for their friends in creative ways, so the day's card was climbing up a mountain and putting water cans in the shape of their friends names. Mad is short for Maddy, one of the guy's girlfriends, if you look really close you can see it at the top.

The second day on Mana was Fiji Day, Fiji's independance day, so we went to the village school, watched the kids sing and perform a flag ceremony with midi polka music playing in the background. Seriously it was like the music they play at the Scandinavian Festival. Plus yay for child militarism! See the video.

There are lots of wild dogs running around almost everywhere we were. This guy hung out with Dar under the hammock all day long.

Dar relaxing in the hammock all day after getting sunburnt

Dar's feral dog friend

That night we had a kava ceremony. Kava is like coffee but opposite, it makes you relaxed and tired. Its the root of the kava plant, and they dry it and then pound it until it looks like ground up cardboard. Its then strained like tea into water in a large bowl until it looks like muddy water, then everyone sits in a circle and takes turns drinking mini bowls of it. And it's not sipping it, you just have to drink the whole thing at once, then everyone claps and says 'Bula!' The best part was having Backstreet Boys, NSync, Jingle Bells, and 'Rum and Redbull' as the background music as we performed this age-old traditional Fijian ceremony.

The last day on Mana was super relaxing. The workers sang us 'Visalay', a farewell song in Fijian. We took the boat back with some friends we'd met, went to Sitar (the Indian restaurant we're obsessed with) for the 3rd time, went downtown, and drank some beers together in the park. After they left for their plane, Dar and I slept in the Nadi airport.

So after a 4 hour flight, 2 hours in customs, and for reasons we cannot put our heads around, the New Zealand department of Foreign Affairs has deemed us crazy Americans fit to walk the streets of their country. All in all getting through customs was much easier than we'd expected. The guy took barely a glance at our visas, there was no check of the money requirement, the only hiccup was my boots had some sand on them, so the customs guy had to take my boots in the back and clean them off before I was allowed to come in with them. 

And this sign was a nice intro for me. I never knew they could be called anything other than 'moving sidewalks'

One thing that's been really crazy during my first few hours here is just how crazy clean things are here. The busses are way nicer than in the US, and the first bathroom I walk into in the NZ airport has a TV screen informing me to 'take extra care' as there was someone cleaning it.

So basically I get to NZ, and the first things that happen to me is I'm handed free candy, I use a bathroom with a TV in it, and they wash my shoes for me. Nice.

Off to the village...

Just checked out of our hotel.. Had a bit of a breakdown last night because I'd been cleaning my feet with sweet pumpkin scented hand sanitizer and it made bugspray ineffective. Both of my feet are covered in bug bites which are OHHHH so itchy. And we haven't really met anyone yet, so I'm a little lacking in social interaction. We tried to move our flight to Auckland up a couple days, but it turned out that would cost $1300+ for both of us, so we're sticking it out.

We're off to grab lunch at that amazing Indian place, and then to a traditional Fijian village tonight to stay with Fi, the couchsurfer we'd originally intended to stay with when we first got here. Apparently they do a Kava ceremony, so should be fun! Fi is a travel agent so she'll help organize some trips to other islands for us in our next 6 days here :)

A Day in Nadi Town!

Every day is an incredible new experience.

Today Dar and I took the bus into 'Nadi Town'. It's basically the downtown. And it was an experience for sure.

The day started out with our free hotel breakfast (which was incredithe best croissant of my life. It was super dense, nothing like any I've ever had here. Dar says it probably made from lard. Well I guess I like lard then!

Best Croissant of my life!

And after breakfast and a long Skype with Ryan... we headed out to the road to wait for the bus to downtown.

SO EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT THE BUS!!!!

The busses here run on 'Fiji time' so we were told the bus would be there sometime between 11:30 and 12, so we were pleasantly surprised when the bus showed up at 11:35. $1.50FD (~$.75USD) to ride into Nadi Town, and the bus itself can best be described as a jallopy. And it was the full developing country bus experience. Peeling paint, no door, no windows, and a big tarp on each side to cover the window-hole in case of rain. The pull string for requesting a  stop was a string attached to a bike bell so the bike bell rang when you pulled it. People jumped on and off this bus while it was still moving. And the best part, not only did this bus drive on dirt roads ...

Bus on the BEACH!

I am not exaggerating when I say that on the way back from town, the bus drove ON PURPOSE OFF OF THE ROAD AND ONTO THE BEACH. The bus drove down the beach to reach the next road. And no locals seemed to be bothered at all by this, so I guess it must be part of the regular route. so incredibly awesome.

OK so in the town. There were tons of little shops so we walked around a bit to check them out. There was this incredible piece of clothing I couldn't say no to. I don't think they even fit me but I had to get them anyway:

Yat me the you tan!

"Sweet Love"<- Got that one right.
"Romance... a kiss is slill a kiss" <-Shakespeare or something?
"Yat me the you tan" <- Is this "Catch me if you can"?
"ialine a the Wiante" <- Anyone? Is this English?

One thing here we've both been struggling with is how to tell when someone is being genuinely friendly, and when someone is just trying to get you to buy something from them. Perhaps it just comes with more experience, like knowing in the US not to talk to the people at the kiosks at the mall, but right now it's really hard, because you always have to have your guard up For example in the city there are 'street boys' who stand on the street, say "Bula" to you, and try to get you to talk to them, then try to get you into their store to buy stuff. It wouldn't be such a big deal if there weren't 10 of them on every block, and if your white skin didn't give you away so obviously as a tourist. So you end up just ignoring everyone who even tries to talk to you. But then at the bus stop you see this old lady who says "Bula", asks you where you are going, and you're short with her because you don't trust her, and it turns out she's just trying to help you and be friendly.

View from the bus station

Then again while we were probably approached by no less than 30 'street boys' and 30 taxi drivers asking if we needed a ride, we didn't see one single person begging for money all day.

In addition I'm extremely excited about the fact that 2 people assumed we were from Australia. I'm hoping it's because we looked like we were and not just because most white people are.

Also there are frogs that hop around at night. I finally snapped a picture of one last night.

Frogs!

Oh yeah, and we make our own water here. That is we purify the tap water. So here's a picture of Dar making water, just cuz it's different than what we did not here, and therefore cool to me.

Bula! It's how to say 'Hello'

So here I am, after finally spending a whole day resting, relaxing, and recovering, at Wailoaloa Beach Resort in Nadi, Fiji. It's not really what you would think of when you think of a resort, and it's a good 30 minute walk to the beach, but it's perfect.

Before now it's been too crazy to be blogging, here is the last week or so in review:

We had a crazy few days moving out of our apartment early, but our amazing friend Carly let us stay at her house for almost 2 weeks. We had a blast, and she even threw us a surprise going away party, complete with 4 amazing homemade cheesecakes, and a giant sheet cake with Dar and my faces on it which Emily brought. All my clothes were tight by the time we left Eugene due to the amazing way Carly fed us.

The last few days in Eugene was a mad dash finishing all the little things, and saying goodbye. Saying goodbye to family and friends in Eugene was so so hard. Not only is this move the furthest I've ever been away, I've also never left home for more than 10 weeks at a time before. This trip is really cutting the cord from home, since I never did it going to college. And I think the hardest part was facing the fact that in all likelihood, Eugene will never again be 'home' to me.... (and even though that's sad and hard, it's probably a good thing)

Last Goodbyes - Dar & I with Emily & my sister Alee

The last goodbyes to Emily, Alee, & Dar's mom at the airport were tearful, and I lost it a little as the plane took off, but when I started looking forward to adventure time, excitement took over quickly :)




Our 5 days in LA with my aunt Cindi & her husband Todd was incredible!

Todd is working for ABC/Disney at the moment on an upcoming show called 'Mistresses' so he took us on a tour of Disney Studios!

Official visitors badges!

Later in the week...

...Dar got some AMAZING Doc Brown sunglasses...

...and I FINALLY got to try on the Lady Gaga no-heel shoes. Surprisingly comfortable and easy to walk in too! Wonder if they would have let me on the plane with these...

P-P-P-Poker Face!

While we were in LA we met up with our friend Lars, went to the famous soda pop shop, visited Griffith Observatory, played with his 3D pinter, and he gave us a tour of Honeybee Robotics, where he's interning. (They make robotic components for spacecraft)

The MakerBot

Lars and I with our prized sodapop shop goods

Below is a model of Proxima Centauri (the closest star to us besides the sun) at the Griffith Observatry. It's part of a scale-size solar system, the rest of which is in Oxford, England. So stay tuned in a year when we go see the rest of it in person :)

Proof for when we get to Oxford

Yeah Science!

The Griffith Observatory is a must when in LA.

A Classic.

Oh! And was it ever hot outside! When Dar read the weather forecast earlier in the week we thought it was an error.... but I have proof! 125 F! I kind of feel like a bit of a badass for being outside in it and not dying.

I don't know how many times the travel clinic people said "Be careful of street food in foreign countries, you can end up sick pretty quickly" I even ate shrimp from a food cart earlier in the week and was fine, but somehow I managed to wake up the day we were leaving LA with food poisoning. Dar was so amazing though that day and took care of me, packed everything himself, drove around doing all the last-minute errands, cancelled with a couch-surfing host, and booked us a hotel last minute so I could take a few days to recover. Sorry no pictures from this, haha.

And after a 10.5 hour plane ride, and some help from a pack of ginger gum, we were plopped down on this little island WAY in the middle of nowhere, and WAY outside of both our comfort zones.

Fiji is a developing country. I wanted to see what it's like to live outside of a first world country, and that's what I got. It's different, and it's incredible.

The flowers here are INCREDIBLE.

I'll be honest after we got into our room we talked about how much it would cost to move our ticket to NZ forward because we didn't know if we could handle 10 days here. But after a few good walks into town (Everyone on the street greets you with 'Bula'), seeing the beautiful flowers, hearing the wacky-sounding birds, and tasting the best Indian food of my life, this place is starting to grow on me....

Rocks are even different here :)

We spent our last few hours of daylight on a walk and collected some cool shells at the beach - it was definitely NOT what I thought a tropical beach would be... tons of garbage all over, oil and pieces of plastic in the water, and cars randomly parked around on the sand, etc. I got a little edgy when cars would drive by a little too closely and slowly, and then when a feral dog followed us around for awhile. But it was definitely the local experience... that or we were in the wrong spot. Either way, the evening ended nicely, and we'll get our chance to see beautiful white sandy beaches before we leave I'm sure.