Going, Going, Gone...

One problem with being on a two-year secondment and having a lot of friends who are also on secondments is that we all started at different times which means, of course, that we will end at different times. This past weekend marked a farewell weekend to my friends Jeremy and Erin who are also from the U.S. Jeremy came over here to NZ about two years ago from the Boston office with his wife, Erin (who is a fellow Yinzer by the way even if she has since become a traitor). I talked to Jeremy before I came over, and he was very helpful in my decision to come here (even though he forgot to tell me to bring the good deodorant from the U.S. and to ship over Doritos). It seems like somebody leaves here just about every month and it's kind of sad, but it's been great getting to know them and there will be more new people coming in soon to attempt to fill their shoes (won't be easy).

Their official leaving drinks and party will be this Thursday and Friday, but since I will be in Samoa for work, I was happy that they also had a get-together at their apartment this past Saturday. There was a USA theme and everyone wore some elements of red, white, and blue. We helped them finish off all their drinks so as not to go to waste when they move. I also took part in the Wheatbix challenge which is when you have to try to eat a Wheatbix (a dry, crusty, flaky, cereal bar that is meant to go in milk) in under 60 seconds. Nobody succeeded, but I had a respectable time of 80 seconds. We all had a good time hanging out until late then went out to a local bar for a drink before calling it a night. Jeremy and Erin leave next weekend to do a few months of traveling around Asia and Europe before heading back to work. It seems to be a pretty common theme here as my other friends who have left are still on their travels. I will have to try to save up some money to do a few months of travels myself (so send me US dollars!). Well, I'm off to Samoa tomorrow so there should be some good updates next week when I return.

Note: Jeremy and Erin have kept a great Blog of their two years here if anyone wants to check out what an exciting and busy time that two years in Kiwiland can really be.

Jeremy partaking in the Wheatbix Challenge

Erin made these fancy drink recipes in frames to help us finish off their liquor

We also helped them finish off some delicious (although stale) salt & vinegar flavored rice cakes. These things were covered in salt & vinegar powder.

Beer Festival and Irish BBQ

This weekend kicked off the right way with an Irish Barbecue over at James & Paula's. I guess it was more of a Kiwi barbecue since we had pretty much lamb everything - I really like the lamb sausages here. We all had to wear green in celebration of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day. It was a nice evening and we even got to play some P-I-G on the mini basketball hoop. Although I did not win any games, luckily my fellow Americans there did not lose the title to any other nationalities which would have been a slap in the face.
Playing P-I-G at the BBQ


James tending to the BBQ

Saturday was the Auckland Beer Festival. Here at PwC we have coaching managers who we meet with regularly to discuss how things are going and make sure that we are not having any problems, etc. I've been lucky with my assigned coaching manager, John, who is a British guy who came over on secondment here when he was about my level and has decided to stay for the past 5 years. He decided that it was about time for a coaching session for me and Paul (who is also his coachee) so we got tickets for the Auckland Beer festival. John, me, Paul, Jacco, Jeremy, and Phil all met up on Saturday afternoon for a mens' day out at the festival. It was a bit of a rainy day, but fortunately a lot of the festival was indoors. We had to buy tokens for each beer so we all chipped in and bought a big bag. Jeremy kept all of our tokens and allocated them to us for each round. I felt like we were at Chuck E Cheese's getting tokens for the various games.

We had a great day. After a bit of wondering around, taking in the sights and music, and sampling some beers, we found a table and parked it for the rest of the afternoon taking turns getting up to get the rounds. We sampled a bunch and one of my favorites was the Wheat beer from the Waiheke Island Brewery.

After some good fun at the beer festival we caught a cab back in to town and went to where else but a bar. We got some food and played a bit of pool. John brags about how he beat me so badly last time we played so I challenged him again. We put $20 on the game and I beat him! Unfortunately, I gave him a double or nothing chance and he won it right back.

After the bars, we headed up to the casino. Everyone else called it a night, but Jeremy and I played until late. I ended up winning some decent money at blackjack and had a great time as our table had a lot of energy and some big betters. We capped the night off with a late night/early morning burger and kebab before heading back home.

Phil, Paul, Jacco, Jeremy, and John waiting to get in the festival

John and his hopeless coachees

Posing with some of the beer girls - I don't think they were hired for their knowledge of barley and hops...

Since I didn't get to be in the previous photo, I think I deserved one of my own - I already enjoyed Speights Summit beer but I think I like it better now.

Jacco found a fellow Dutch girl

Me, John, and our Miller girl (I guess they were too cheap to hire real girls)

Cheers!

A bit later in the evening - I think I still look OK, but it appears that John is getting a bit cross-eyed.

Birthday Weekend

March 6 was my 27th birthday - I can't believe how fast time seems to be flying by these days. I've now been out of college longer than I was actually in college - seems crazy to me. Anyway, I guess I never thought I'd be spending my 27th birthday in New Zealand (although I did spend my 21st birthday in Australia and a few of my birthdays in Guinea when I was going there for work). Actually, now that I think about it, of my 21st - 27th birthdays, I think 5 of these have been in other countries. Well, this was another nice one to add to the list.

Friday was my actual birthday here, although it was technically still not my b-day if you go by the date I was actually born in the U.S. - nevertheless, this made it nice as I got to celebrate my b-day for two days. Friday evening, we had a Quiz night at one of the local pubs for a fundraising event for a couple of my friends from work, Phil and Lyndsay, who are raising money to run a 100K race. Well, good for them, but I will never do such a thing. Considering how dead I was at the end of my half marathon, I can't imagine knowing that I still had 79 more Kms to go.

The quiz was a good time and we had a good turnout of about 16 people from work for our two tables. Afterwards, I went out for a drink with my friends Mike and Tara from Canada who, due to a number of reasons but mainly Tara's inability to find a job over here which she needs in order to finish her degree, will be returning home shortly. Mike works with me at PwC and just arrived here a month before Christmas. They are great people and it will be a shame to see them go.

On Saturday, I relaxed and went for a walk around the city as it was a beautiful day. That evening, I went over to Chi and Michelle's new apartment for a little get-together and another extended b-day celebration before heading to the IMAX theater to see Watchmen. The movie wasn't that great but it was nice hanging out with the group before-hand.

Sunday was a day of relaxation in the sun down at Mission Bay. I read a bit of my book that James and Paula got me for my b-day called A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. So far it's pretty interesting. I also got some really good ice cream from a place called Movenpick which is a Swiss ice cream place here. Overall, it was a great weekend.

Us at the Pub Quiz

The girls posing with me at the pub quiz

At Chi and Michelle's Flat with my Birthday Brownie they made me


Blowing out my 21 candles (since I told everyone it was my 21st b-day. nobody believed me)

Relaxing at Mission Bay

My Apartment

I just realized that I never really put up any pictures of my apartment. Well, I live in a one-bedroom apartment on Mahuhu Crescent which is the street right next to Vector Arena near downtown. It's a great location because it's only about 10-15 minute walk to my office. I am technically still in Auckland City, although some of my mail has the address of Parnell on it which is a suburb just outside the city so I must be right on the dividing line. What I like best about the location is that I'm still pretty much downtown but far enough away that it's quiet and feels more secluded. The apartments here are generally pretty small. Mine is a decent size compared to some of the shoe boxes that I saw when I was looking for apartments. It feels a bit larger also because there are two big picture windows and the ceilings are quite high (I'd say probably 10 feet). It came unfurnished so everything you see in the pictures below is mine (except the stove, refrigerator,washer). The only thing I really wish that it had is a balcony. There are a few here that do have balconies so I'll keep my eyes open for one of them to open up and potentially switch apartments. Anyway, check out some pictures below.

My living room

The view out of my windows

Living room again

The Kitchen

My Bedroom

The bathroom comes right off of the bedroom which is convenient but kind of strange that when people come visit as they have to go through the bedroom to get there.

The outside of my building

View of the little park and Vector arena from outside my building

View from Vector Arena towards the city - this gives you some idea of the proximity of my apartment to downtown (see the SkyTower on the right - that is central downtown)

Virtual Tour

To give some perspective, I'm right where point A/B are. My office is located where the two orange roads form a right angle to the left of A/B.

And here is where I am in NZ on the map zoomed out a ways. So I'm right on the east coast.

The New Zealand $Downer

When I started work on 1 September, 1 New Zealand Dollar was worth 70 cents US. Just this week, the exchange rate actually dropped to below 50 cents US. That means the currency has devalued nearly 30% since I arrived. This is not good for me. If I continue to think of my salary in terms of US Dollars, I make less and less every day. Basically, there is no incentive for me to save any money here as it will not be worth much at all back in the U.S. Depressingly, I converted my salary the other day to US Dollars and realized that I'm making a good bit less than I did when I first started my job in 2005. Oh well, I can't think of it like that. I'm still enjoying my time here and the local prices have not changed (actually, if anything they've dropped due to the problems in the economy - I'm thinking about looking for a new apartment as I can probably get a much better deal now than when I moved here 6 months ago). Have a look at the doclinked GRAPH to see why I'm so poor (Change the dates on the bottom right of the graph to 9/1/08 - 3/5/09). Feel free to send US dollars to your poor friend/brother/son/grandchild/nephew to help me out in this third-world environment. Alternatively, it would be a great time for anyone to come visit as your dollar will go much further at the moment.