Reverse culture shock

So I'm back in the States safe and sound and I have to be honest, it's a little bit weird! It seems like I spent way longer than 7 months away. Here is a list of a few things that are strange to me:

-American money. I've realized through traveling that money in pretty much every country than America is a lot easier to figure out. Different values are different colors and sizes, instead of everything looking exactly the same except for the number, like US bills. For example, NZ$20 is larger in size than NZ$5. Makes sense, right??

-Driving on the right-side of the road. There have been a couple times I've been in Abby's car and momentarily freaked out because I thought we were turning into the wrong lane. Ha.

-American accents. I got pretty adept while in NZ at picking out a North American accent from a mile away, because they're so rare. Now I'm surrounded by them! And people are making fun of me because they think now I sound British or something. British?!

-Chain stores. I took the BART from the SFO airport to my friend's house in Oakland, and when we came out from underground, I saw a McDonald's, Taco Bell, Starbucks, Round Table Pizza, Fuddrucker's, TGI Fridays, all in succession. There are a few local NZ and Australian chains, and they have McDonalds and maybe KFC, but that's about it, so it's weird to be so surrounded by fast food chains.

welcome to america!

Australia!

So far since I've been here I have:

-gotten sunburnt by laying on the beach for like 10 minutes (i'm such an Alaskan!)
-wandered around Sydney and sat by the harbour and the opera house
-eaten a lot of peanut butter and jam!
-got a free surfing lesson! and managed to stand up on the board twice in an hour! I'm going for another one tomorrow, I love it.
-Went snorkeling and saw lots of crazy looking fish
-Saw humpback whales
-done lots more laying on the beach
-visited a koala hospital where they take care of koalas that have been burned in forest fires, hit by cars, or attacked by dogs
-went to a wildlife park and got to pet a koala and feed a kangaroo (or maybe a wallaby, I'm not positive)
-drank lots of iced coffee and people watched

I am LOVING it here! I'm sad I only have a couple weeks but it just means that I have to come back someday. Can't believe I leave on Thursday, it's sort of blowing my mind really. I'll be getting back to Seattle exactly 8 months after I left. I can't wait to see anyone but I am so sad to be in the cold again....! :(

More beach time tomorrow!

Reason #451 that I love Australia and New Zealand:

They call all-you-can-eat buffets "smorgasboards". So you see the word smorgasboard on every sign for a Chinese restaurant, which is awesome. That word should be used more often in the States!

austRAIIYYLiyuh

I left New Zealand yesterday and made it to Australia safe and sound. It's not nearly as warm as I would like it to be, but the sun is out and that's nice. My last few days in NZ were lovely, I stayed with very nice people, ate well, played with dogs and goats, and sight-saw. I'm going to be in Syndey for about a week visiting a friend and then will make my way further up the coast in search of sunshine! October 22nd I fly back to the US, crazy! By that time it will have been 7 months since I left the states.

If someone asked me....

how to sum up traveling in New Zealand, I would tell them this story:

Shortly after finishing my last blog post, I went through a wander through gorgeous Kaikoura. I met a woman from Alabama at an art gallery, got coffee, and enjoyed the sunshine. While heading back to my hostel, I heard someone yell out my name. It turned out to be a guy named Marc who I had ridden the bus with through Milford Sound and Stewart Island. We had a chat for a while and since neither of us had anything to do that evening, he asked if I wanted to meet up for pool later. So we went out to the bar, had a few pints, I lost horribly at pool (no surprise there!), and some Aussie guy asked us if he could challenge us, but since he was on his own, he grabbed some random dude from the bar who was watching tv. I got to chatting with this guy, whose name was Cristian, from Chile, and it turned out that he was from Picton, which is where I was headed the next day. He works as a fish engineer, at a salmon "farm" (basically like DIPAC, not an evil salmon farm). He was a really interesting guy, had a degree in marine biology, had just learned how to surf, was buying land in Chile to start a hostel, etc. I mentioned I was going to Picton the next day and he said, "why don't you come over for dinner, I don't know many people in Picton and I have a huge fresh salmon I need to cook". I then convinced Marc to postpone his travel plans (he was going to head to Christchurch the next day), get on the bus with me, hang out with Cristian in Picton, and then I'd drive him to ChCh the next day. He agreed because hey, who doesn't like a salmon dinner and free ride to Christchurch!

So the next day we got on the bus, hung out in Picton, I got my car from where it had been stored, and we went over to Cristian's lovely house by the beach where he proceeded to cook us the most amazing dinner I have had in ages. Salmon seviche with garlic, onion, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice (he got the lemons from his boss' lemon tree and I squeezed them myself!), veggies, salad, and I hate to say it, but the best barbecued salmon I've ever eaten (sorry dad!). Plus lots of wine and beer. He then offered to let Marc and I stay there for the night, he had plenty of couch space and an air mattress, so of course we did.

The next day we had a lovely breakfast, hung out with Cristian a bit more, and eventually hit the road to ChCh. At the half way point in Kaikoura, we decided to stop for coffee. We were sitting in the cafe when all of a sudden, my friend Owen that I had traveled with about a month ago and who I thought was in Australia, walks in! Apparently he had gotten a job in Kaikoura and decided to come back from Oz. Such a weird string of coincidences!

If I hadn't run into Marc, I wouldn't have gone to play pool that night. If I hadn't gone to play pool, I wouldn't have met Cristian. If I hadn't met Cristian, I would have missed out on an awesome night of free food and accomodation and lovely conversation. If I hadn't stayed the night at his house, I wouldn't have gone to Kaikoura that day. If I hadn't gone to Kaikoura that day, I wouldn't have run into Owen.

And that is pretty much traveling in NZ in a nutshell. Just when you're feeling down, a whole bunch of weird shit coincides to make life good again.

Off the island, back to the real world

I left Stewart Island a few days ago, which was nice. I had fun at first but at the end of a couple weeks I was ready to leave. I ended up working more like 6-12 hours a day, instead of 3-5, and I just got really exhausted by the end. I was bummed I didn't have more spare time to hang around the island, but I still enjoyed myself, met some cool people, and made quite a bit of money.

After Stewart Island, I caught a bus back to Queenstown for a couple days, and then yesterday headed to Christchurch for one night, and now I'm in Kaikoura, which is gorgeous. It's pretty much the best place in NZ for marine life; there's whale watching, dolphin watching and swimming, and seal swimming. We visited a seal colony earlier this morning, which was cool. But I've seen tons of seals since I've been in this country, so not as exciting as it used to be I suppose. :) I would LOVE to go swimming with them but I don't have an extra $130 to spend on that at the moment (I don't get paid from my job until Thursday). Tomorrow I head back up to Picton, which is where I left my car, and then drive BACK down to Christchurch and couch surf on a farm outside of the city. I'm going to sell my car in ChCh, as they call it, hopefully quickly. Then headed to Oz! For a few weeks of laying on the beach, thank god. I need sun, very badly.

I'm starting to feel quite anxious and antsy and ready to get back to the states. The last few days haven't been much fun, most of the cool friends I met aren't around any more, and the new people I've been traveling with are really lame. It's weird though, because I know as soon as I leave I'll want to come back. I just need a break, I suppose. I'll be home before I know it!

whoo!

Yay, I got the job! I'm working 3-5 hours per day washing dishes, waitressing, house cleaning, etc. It's not super fun but it's manageable. I get paid $13 an hour, get free soup, coffee, and soda, and a $4 staff meal every time I work. Plus free accomodation in the hotel! It's pretty perfect, really. Sad I can only stay for a couple weeks!