Rain, rain, go away, come again... in 15 minutes.

Oh wow. I'm in a tropical version of Canada. Weird...

Franz Josef.

I arrived here yesterday evening after two bus rides, an overnight stop in Christchurch and a plane ride (in reverse order). Anyone who has the opportunity to fly with Air New Zealand should take it. They are great, and their safety video was hilarious. If you though the people at Westjet had a good sense of humour you'll love these guys. Anyone with the opportunity to stay at the Base hostel in Christchurch should avoid it, and any other Base hostel for that matter - they're awful (unless you're into that). The whole trip to the south island was nice though. Lovely scenery. I took Atomic Shuttle east from Christchurch at 7:30am and it rained all the way to Greymouth on the west coast. It stopped raining long enough for me to drop off my bag for a couple hours, go to the nearest outdoor sports store and spend way too much money on a beautiful pink rain jacket before it started raining again. And rain it did. I switched shuttles in Greymouth (hense the shopping/waiting in the rain) then headed south along the west coast to Franz Josef. The whole time I was looking out the window expecting to see deer or elk or moose, but NZ doesn't have those animals. In fact, the only animals in the wild other than birds are rats, stouts, and possums (but they call them squash'ems) plus the sea creatures like whales and seals and more birds. Lots of sheep (obviously) and cows though. I got here at 4:30pm-ish, met my employers, saw the motel I'm working at, got a very quick tour of the town, and was taken to my new "home".

I'm sharing a 3 bedroom house with 5 other girls. My room roomate is from France. The rest are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, England, New Zealand, and Canada (oh that's me). I also work with all of these ladies. They're nice enough. I haven't really gotten to know them much so it's not like I can really say more than that. Is it weird that I immediately assumed that I'd have problems with the french girl? Does that make me racist? She's fine actually (and I'm fine too). 3 of them leave in a month, then we'll get two more - another english girl and an american girl. :D

The town is small. Quite small. "Town" may actually be an exagerration. But what it lacks in size it makes up for in SPECTACULAR scenery! O.M.G! Seriously. I'm stunned every time I walk out my door or look out my window. Oh, and there are parrots here! I saw a dead one so I know there has to be more (yes I almost cried and could be heard wispering "wake up, don't be dead").
Anyways, I had my first day of work this morning and it was ok. I'm just cleaning motel rooms so really what can I say? It's actually a really nice place though. When I hear the word motel I instantly imagine stained things, broken things, and garbage (and prostitutes); but these units are very clean (thanks to me and my team) and very modern looking. This is a high end motel! I like it as far as cleaning jobs go because I have to walk outside to get to the next room - and you know how I feel about walking outside. Did I mention the scenery? It's SPECTACULAR. Yeah. It's hard work though. I'm going to have a strong back (or a broken one, eek) and a strong core (or a hernia, aaaaaahg). But I only do that for 4 hours, 6 days a week. Saturdays are my set day off.

Hey, I've been in NZ for two weeks now! It feels like a year and two weeks. Interpret that how you like.

Here is the very exciting part though: I'm getting a second job in the evenings so that I'll actually have money. Plus, I wouldn't be me if I wasn't juggling too many obligations. Why is that exciting, you may ask. Well, I went to an interview for a job I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about and mentioned that I'm a massage therapist. Everyone here knows everyone else; and her friend is the assistant manager at the Hot Pools Spa and they just happen to be hiring massage therapists. So I went there to meet this person. I think she is wonderful. I think the Spa is spectacular (there I go with that word again...) and sometime tomorrow I will have a proper interview including a trial massage. She seemed quite pleased with my credntials, experience, and attitude so I think I have a very good chance of getting this. I really hope that I do. If I don't I won't sweat it, I'll just go back to the gift shop (which despite being retail would still be fun). Or I'd do something else. I'm ridiculously employable thanks to all my strange jobs and adaptability (somebody had to say it).

So I guess that's it for now. I'm feeling better. I'm glad I'm here. I'm proud to see that I'm willing to make the most of it, whatever it turns out to be (I had my doubts about me)...

One last thing, that pink raincoat I mentioned has come in use many times already. Franz Josef gets approximately 178 days of rain per annum. But it's more like they get 365 days of rain, but each rain is short in duration, starts and stops like a switch, and is relatively mild. I kinda like it actually. Plus, I smile everytime I put that jacket on so I can't wait until it rains again!