Two Years in KiwiLand: 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.