A New Year

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December 30th

It most definitely did not feel like Christmas here in Wellington. All of my life I have been used to the small town, snowy, cold Christmas. Here, it was almost the opposite. Aside from the small Christmas tree in the downstairs foyer, there were no decorations, no Christmas carols, and no presence of family and friends. Well, maybe there were friends, but not the familiar faces that I would normally see at the Christmas party back in Maine. Walking through a busy city on a warm and sunny Christmas day is not a typical Christmas for me. However, no day here is really "that" bad. Of course, I had to work the bar on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but it wasn't too bad. We just sat back and drank a little and had a nice cruisy day.

I got Richard a job here as the other Bar Manager. It's really funny actually, because I have done a good job so I was able to set everything up the way I wanted it. I got my boss to hire one of my best mates Harley as the weekend chef. The old Bar Manager made some mistakes and he got fired, so I brought Richard into my bosses office and my boss said "Richard, how are you, I have a bar manager position would you like it?" Richard says yes....."Alright, you got it, start tonight" boom done. It was literally that quick. Richard and I leave his office and Richard says "dude I’ve never worked in a bar before" and I said "I know me either" ha-ha and we laugh about it all the time. It's hilarious; we both went from knowing nothing to being a freaking super team. Now he and I are the boys. We do everything and do it right and the owners and managers are very pleased. Great stuff. I'm really getting a hang of this whole business thing. Running a business isn't hard when you use common sense. Anyway, what else is knew......

The only thing about my life that has drastically changed is that I have a girlfriend now. Her name is Sandra and she's from Germany. Love the accent. It's kind of weird because it was very unexpected, but we really enjoy each other and we're really happy together. I'm hoping that soon I will be able to go on Holiday so her and I can get away from Wellington for a few days. Wouldn't mind going back down to the South Island.

As far as when I'm coming home is concerned, I'm not really sure what's going to happen yet. Once we get a few weeks into January, the bosses are going to go over my performance as the Manager, and if they are still happy with my work, I'm hoping that they will help me to extend my visa. If the visa extension doesn't happen the way that I want it to, I might use my good job to save up some money, and go to South America before I go home.

Things are still up in the air but I'm sure I will write when something is decided.

January 14th

In about 4 hours Sandra and I will be leaving Wellington to go on a little miniature vacation. I have been working very hard in the hostel for some time now, and a break is definitely something that I need. We plan to head up the west coast to the small town of Raglan. It is said to be one of the best surfing spots on this side of the world. Not that I surf, but for some reason I have been anxious to visit this town for some time now. I have spoken with a few people, and it's supposed to be a "nice little town".

I arranged for the appropriate accommodations. We plan to spend two nights. Hopefully we will find time to do some activities. Kayaking, Shopping, Dine in a nice restaurant etc. It should be just the break that I have been looking forward to.

On Wednesday when we leave, we plan to head South-East toward Lake Taupo. I have made a sky-diving appointment for the two of us. It is a bit expensive, but we both really want to do it. Honestly, I'm a bit freaked out about it. But if Sandra does it, then I'm going to have to do it. I know that if she did it and I wussed out, the boys at the hostel would tease me forever. Apparently, if we do the 15,000 foot jump, you can see the South Island of New Zealand from the sky, which is impressing but crazy. That's really far away, so it will be quite the sight if I actually do it.

Maybe when I get up to Raglan I will write about what it's like....

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Photos

Me
With Andy Donna n Tom

Cleaners
With Donna

Daniel n Richard
With the Aviators

Dennis
Chuggin Away

Dennis
With Hamish Behind

Dennis
Always Chuggin

Comments

[Matt Reny]

Hey Mike, Just checking your journals out. I didn't realize how much you use the internet I guess, I'll have to add comments more often. So thats cool that you have a girlfriend and it sounds like the job is going well too. I can totally understand how you would want to extend your visa if things keep going well. For me, the clock is ticking down to my inevitable departure from Maine , when my lease is up of course. So keep in touch and let me know what you're doing. Peace Bro

[Josh]

YO
The journal entries are great. Need to add some more pics. That's great you're having such a good time over there. Hope all is well and talk to you soon. Keep up with the good updates. Later