Up early, out late, too much to do, not enough to do! -- A week in Review

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Prologue:
I’ve neglected my writing for the last week and hope that this catches me up. I have no good excuse other then the fact that I’ve spent the last week cooking and debating/discussing (with my flat mates): food/drink, sports, politics, relationships, music, countries, and all the other topics people from different cultures like to discuss. Tonight I had to sneak out to the internet café just to complete these blogs (I’m sending the first blog at 11:30pm my time Wednesday evening).

9.4.06 Thru 9.8.06 Week in Review, Up early, out late, too much to do, not enough to do.

Do you ever have weeks that just seem to go on forever? That is what my week felt like. While not necessarily bad I did feel that I could and should be doing more. The following is a week in review that on further examination I realize was filled with quite a lot.

Monday:

Today I picked up my final contract from SKM. Among other things in the agreement were four weeks vacation. What am I supposed to do with all this time? One twelfth of the year I can be on vacation. How does any work get done here? How do employers, especially small employers afford such a generous holiday scheme? Only a fraction of the vacation days may be transferred to the following year so I will have plenty of time to travel with anyone that comes over.

I took the contract to my awesome recruiter, Nick Gillingham, with Beresford Blake Thomas, for his review. He was very surprised how quickly this came together for me! Other than the formalities of paperwork this was a done deal a week and a half ago. I also believe that I am the first American he’s placed so that’s pretty cool. I signed the contract that afternoon and returned the agreement the following afternoon (Tuesday). The company is an international firm with offices from Australia, Chile, Asia, and the UK (London here I come?).

Tuesday:
Realized that I would need to build up my wardrobe now that I knew what job I would be doing so I started the daunting process of checking out NZ business fashion and getting a feel for prices. Was in and out of a dozen shops along Queen Street and in the CBD.

I returned the signed paperwork to SKM in the afternoon and met some new faces that I not encountered during the interview process. Start Monday the 11th.

Helped Stephanie with dinner tonight as well as last nights dinner. Works much better cooking for two or more people.

No quiz night at the pub, Adina, the IEP staff member that heads this up was out of town for the week so we didn’t put together a team. By all indications the pub meet will be back on next week.


Wednesday
Today was the big spending spree. Most of my purchases from Munn’s Men’s Shop on Queen Street. I started out the morning by catching a free shuttle bus to Auckland’s outlet mall in the suburbs. The mall was like any other outlet mall you might find in the states. Last years fashion, imperfect garments, limited size selection, and prices similar to regular department store prices.

I had no idea what size dress shirt, trousers (slacks), and suit I was, so I had to ask for help at the Men’s Shop. A friendly and very helpful, large Maori woman (who could pass herself off as Aunt Jemima) assisted me while I shopped for three hours. It was like back to school shopping with mom in the 5th grade. How does that fit? Are the sleeves to short? Is that too baggy or too loose? On and on and on, but I couldn’t have done as well finding clothes in new sizes and by unfamiliar manufacturers without her help. I went away happy and I’m sure she was very happy with the sale. Made a few other purchases of accessories and essentials at other Queen street shops.

Alison came over for dinner and heard the story of naked Stephanie (thanks Stephanie for the stories).


Thursday

More puttering about town. Little direction and no real aim. Did check out some of the local gyms. No 24 Hour Fitness Centers, however there is a nice gym in Newmarket (Olympic Swim and Fitness Center) that has a great circuit and Olympic sized pool!

Invite from Marcos to a going away party for Adina’s boyfriend tonight. The party was in Ponsonby (a swanky neighborhood often referred to as Pon Snobby). It was a byob event. I took along some NZ micro brewed beer and a bottle of Merlot. Arrived at the address given around 8pm and discovered to my dismay that the address was for a group of town homes and I didn’t have the unit number. Fortunately, the party had begun and after listening for a few minutes I could pick out the only unit with a lot of noise coming from inside. Was there at the party until 11:30 then moved on to a stylish pub, The Living Room, on Ponsonby Rd. Finally it was on to Marcos and his girlfriend place to see their new puppy. Finally got home at 3:30am, the latest I’ve been out in a couple of years.

Friday
Fire, Fire, Fire in Parnell! Most exciting part of the day was just after 5pm. Flashing lights and the sirens of the Auckland fire department trucks came screaming up the road. From the patio I could see fire and smoke about two blocks up the road. I grabbed my camera and shot out the door with Stephanie in tow. Turned out the dry cleaners that I had planned to take my dress clothing for cleaning was going up in flames. Later I learned that an upset woman had driven up to the front of the shop jumped out of her car and dashed into the shop. She poured a large container of gasoline over the counter and then lit a match and torched the place. She was back out of the shop in a flash and took off in her car. Fortunately in this day and age of camera phones the event was captured in pictures and aided in the woman’s capture. A lesson to all you dry cleaners that get caught wearing your clients cloths in public, or perhaps it was for the stain they couldn’t remove. I’m sure the fumes from the chemicals took 10 years off my life.

Later in the evening I went to the Parnell community center with George, Hamish, and Robert to set up for the charity clothing sale, which I spent a good part of the weekend working at. More about this in Saturday and Sunday’s blog.

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Photos

Team Lift
View of Construction from my patio.

Time to Party
People left the pubs and cafes along Parnell road to watch the fire.

Burnt Out Dry Cleaners
One of my flat mates had a jacket at the cleaners. I was planning on bring my cloths here for cleaning on saturday.

In the action.
As men went into the building this guy would record their movements on the board.

Check out the guy in the window to the right.
"It's not 5:30 yet I can't leave my job. I've got to much work to do to be troubled by a fire."

Comments

[Mom]

So our shopping days made a permanent imprint...
Clothes shopping; those were the days! And to think I would take the 4 of you at the same time when there was a really good day. I look back and wonder how you survived. Curious; how do the sizes compare to American? What fabrics and styles are common for men's wear? Is polyester in style? Hopefully not. Glad you are set for work. Have you begun? If so what is it like and what are you working on presently.

[Uncle Cliff]

3:30 AM?
PARTY ANIMAL 4 weeks heh, time to break out the trout rods and head to the South Island and Fiordland Park