The story about the American, Scott, German, and Pro Castro Cuban in a Bar

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August 24th

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting…… just need to pass the time before my second interview Scheduled for Friday at 10am. Nick Gillingham my recruiter at BBT sounds very positive and feels that congratulations are in order.

Started searching for a long term accommodation. I had to move from my nice dorm room to a 5 person room that smells like hangover vomit. Opened the windows and let the place air out over night. When I moved into the room the party remains from the last group were still present. Two full garbage cans of beer and wine bottles. The refuse was generated all in one night according to a German sharing the room with me. My cloths are beginning to acquire a musty odor from the unheated and humid rooms. All my dress clothes will need dry cleaning once I move.

I think that I forgot to give you all an update on our pub quiz night results. This time there were enough from our sponsor organization to form three teams, odds were in our favor to win at least one prize. It turned out to not be our night, every time we thought that our group would pull ahead add take the lead we would invariably slip back in the standings. By the end of the 8th and final round we were just happy to tie for last place. Finishing dead last would have been a blow to our pride. I felt good to know some geography questions about Europe and the UK that visitors from those countries didn’t know. For example, largest lake in England…….A) Lake Windermere, in the lakes district.

I had the advantage that I had traveled there and had done a lot of reading about the region while there. Anyone taking a trip to the UK should strive to make it to the Lakes District, it’s a trip well worth the effort.

On one of my earlier trips up to Auckland University I had seen a flyer advertising a special guest lecture for tonight. A Professor Harris from a university in Christchurch was in Auckland to lecture on Negative advertising in New Zealand Political Campaigns. The lecture began at 7:30pm.

Myself and a fellow IEP member (who has a degree in political science) whom I had invited attended the lecture. Sitting there in the classroom with the PowerPoint title page filling the projection screen I all of a sudden felt very nostalgic, how I would like to go back to University, we reminisced about our college days.

Professor Harris ended up being a political power from the UK and EU. His CV listed him as a member of parliament at one time and member of the British EU body. Here I was sitting in a room with a person that has had great power in the past, yet he was very personable and I would have to say one of the best PowerPoint presenters that I’ve ever listened to. It was a small audience in attendance, perhaps 30 or 40 people.

While Professor Harris commented about some American political ad campaigns (especially Bush v. Kerry) he was not a basher of the American system, however it was apparent from his comments that he slanted more towards an democratic/labour party position.

A synopses of the lecture here would not be appropriate but I will make the following comments from the lecture

1. New Zealand so called negative campaign adds are very cutesy and simplistic when compared to American adds (my own observation not his).
2. While American and British strategist swap ideas and occasionally Australia too, New Zealand has not been much influenced by these strategies, for now anyway, however he’s worried in the next few years NZ will have campaign adds similar to the states.
3. The use and success of television ads is taking a bit of hit due to a number of factors including: the ever increasing number of television/cable channels is diluting the viewing market, people in NZ are actually more influence by ads in papers, the internet and blogs are more frequently shaping people’s views.
4. John Kerry’s hair and physical transformation over the duration of the last presidential campaign was a big hit (laughs) during the lecture.
5. He felt that the big topic in the next five years will be NZ infrastructure needs. We’ll just have to see…..

After the lecture wrapped up at 8:50pm we walked 5 minutes back to the hostel to meet a larger group that I’d organized for an authentic Italian pizza experience. Group included 2 guys (German and a Scott) 3 girls (Detroit, Utah?, St. Paul MN region). We got to the restaurant in time for the 9pm reservation. Name of the restaurant is Gina’s (very authentic Italian joint I heard most of the staff speaking Italian while working, and debating soccer rather than NZ rugby). We ordered two pizzas - Diavolo and a vegetarian pizza for the girl from Utah, along with our drinks of choice. It was warm enough to eat at the sidewalk tables. After dinner we walked the girls back to the hostel and then headed back out for drinks.

We’ve found that Auckland, despite being a large population center closes down early and has limited late night pub/dinners open. We ended up finding ourselves in a Cuban bar, run by a pro Castro supporter, who for reasons undisclosed it sounds as if he has been excommunicated to New Zealand for crimes committed in Cuba. He told us that there are only 15 pure blooded Cubans in New Zealand, and he knows them all, no way of disproving this.

What a sight we must have been last night. An American, a Scottsman (with a very heavy accent that only got harder to understand the more he drank), and a German sitting in a Cuban bar ran by a Castro supporter, and all of this on an Island many thousands of miles away from our home countries. The range of topics debated was only limited by our imaginations.

The German told us about the last three months he’s spent on a farm in NZ. He’d never handled a gun before arriving in NZ but now fires one on a regular basis killing the cute furry possums found in NZ. The Scott seemed very conservative and seemed to be a Bush supporter, and at the very least an American sympathizer in world events. The Cuban sarcastically (?) said that American’s are his enemy but that he would serve me alcohol because his very best customer is American. Had the Pope been there we could have made a “Have you heard the story about the Pope, German, Scott…..” joke.

We headed home at about 11:40pm I have to be up for my 10am interview in the morning……

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Photos

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[Uncle Cliff]

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Bars don't cut it and lead to SIN Women tend to be more expensive though Uncle Cliff