I think that's a lot.

Cast your mind back to opening night of the rugby world cup. That time I was babysitting and the kids (well, child) were misbehaving. Andrew had told each of the kids that if they didn't make any fuss that they would get a prize. Even with the bribe of dessert and the threat of not receiving a prize, Sienna refused to eat her dinner, stop shouting or quit with the Hollywood crying. Half way through dinner she went and ran herself a bath (at least she was being helpful) and then got ready for bed.

It sounds pretty straight forward but while all that drama was going on I actually thought "What am I even doing with my life?" I've only had this thought a couple of times, you know the one where you actually think there is no space in your life for kids ever, and well, she'd pushed me to think this again. Anyway, once she'd given herself a bath and got into bed she began to be quite co-operative so I read her a story and she went to sleep.

The next morning we watched the opening ceremony again while eating pancakes. Matthew and Phoebe had their prizes for being well behaved. Fortunate for them, in comparison to Sienna's tantrum, I had described M & P as 'angels' and they had been a 'dream'. Susan told me that the conversation between Andrew and Sienna had gone a little bit like this.

A: Did you make a fuss for Marianne?
S: Yup.
A: A little bit of fuss?
S: Nope. A big fuss.

Apparently she had a grin on her face the whole time. That girl was fully aware of what she was doing. Lucky for her, she's so cute and gives me so many cuddles that I forgive her.

When you wish upon a star

I feel that I should set the mood with a little music.

As some of you may be aware, at the moment I'm in the middle of making an important and difficult (at least to me) decision. It's basically about whether I come back to New Zealand again.

There are a million reason why I want to stay here and why I want to go back to England. And I'll be honest with you, right now New Zealand is winning. It's just unfortunate that the reasons for going with England carry a bit more weight.

Basically any time I have to myself to think is consumed with thoughts about whether I want to stay or not. Several nights over the past few weeks, well months, when I've been walking home I've looked up and seen the beautiful stars in the clear night sky. I've always been fascinated by stars and space (I think I get it from my mum) and a starry sky makes me feel all happy inside. It brings me comfort and gives me a sense of being while simultaneously making me feel like a tiny speck and making my mind hurt. Anyway, I digress.

I'm walking along and I'm in awe and all that jazz and think "I can't imagine not living in a city where I can see the stars like this". I see stars back home, but not like I do here. So that's one point to Auckland.

This is a long winded way of telling you that last night I saw a shooting star and it was beautiful. And shush you scientist types, I know it wasn't a star but rather dust or a meteor entering the atmosphere but it was still beautiful. Luckily, I've got my head screwed on so my reaction was "WOW! THAT IS SO COOL" and not "OH MY BLOG, IT'S A SIGN!!!!!"

When I finally got home and got into bed I remembered that you're meant to make a wish. I should have wished that I woke up on time the next day. But instead I didn't make any wish and I woke up 30 mins after I was meant to start work today. It's times like this where I'm grateful that my place of work is just outside my bedroom door.

Ou est la gare?

Comic by Gemma Correll. Check her out.

Today I finally realised what Madame Groarke was going on about when she was saying that learning French was one of the most important things about school. She told us that without a French GCSE we would never be able to get a job. She must be right because I do in fact have a GCSE in French and a job.

I'm on the bus on my way to town when a Frenchman gets on. He's probably in his 60s and quite possibly drunk. He pays the bus driver and takes his ticket which promptly flies out of his hand. He's saying something so I stop my music to hear whats going on (because I love listening to people on the bus under the deception of listening to music). When he finally catches up with his ticket he picks it up, turns to the bus and announces "LE TICKET IS ALL BLACK!" He then stuck the ticket to his eyebrow and took his seat.

He was trying to ask a question but no one quite knew what he was saying. He kept pointing where he was and saying 'Brito. Brito." Then made train noises. I figured he wanted to go to Britomart. So in my best french accent I said "ou est la gare?" (because it's the only way I can think to ask if he wants to know where the station is.) The guy gets excited "Oui! Oui! Oui!". Next I use an international language I honed while in Asia, I put up two fingers and say "Two stops". I don't know how to say that in french, soz. He then said something I did understand, "Je suis francais." Then he said a sentence I only understood two words of  "blah blah blah All Blacks blah blah." I smiled and nodded, hoping it wasn't a question.

It's nice to know that the 5 years spent learning French didn't go to waste. Thanks Madame Groarke!

I'm still trying to see the connection between his ticket and the All Blacks though. Suggestions welcome.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to be able to spell things correctly in French. I'm English, what did you expect?

This one's for you Becky Orndal.

So I'm browsing facebook when this picture of my sister turns up on my news feed.

My first thought isn't "Oh my goodness, my sister has green hair!"

Nope the first thought is. "HEY! THAT'S MY SCARF!!!". My next thought is "It's a bit christmassy with the green hair and red... wait a minute, THAT'S MY HAT!"

Sisters, hey? 

P.S. You're braver than me with the hair...

Springwatch

I know it's pretty straightforward but I still can't wrap my head round it - it's September and it's spring.

It's just confusing that the seasons are all the other way round. I was walking down the street in the wonderful sunshine and looked at the daisies and thought that it was lovely that spring was finally here.

Susan brought home some daffodils and tulips, some lovely spring flowers.

But, hold on. It's September. And it's spring? Mind. Blown.

This weekend I met up with Jordan for some lunch. She's also recently moved into the area so we went to check out some of the cute cafes near by. And to get frozen yoghurt of course. It was nice to see all the England flags out in preparation for the match. England played Argentina last night and I was babysitting across the road. So I watched the rugby and got paid for doing it. Nice one.

Told you I lived near the ocean. That is the harbour right there. This is about 10 minute walk from my house.

Look what's currently outside my bedroom door. The kids claim they built it, but I get the feeling their Dad might have had something to do with it. They're currently extending it as I write this.

Opening Ceremony.

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. The opening ceremony for the RWC was just WOW.

Seriously, I've never been happier to be in New Zealand. I am actually in love with this place in all it's beauty. [I discovered today there's a beach 20 minutes walk from my house. I'm gonna go check that bad boy out soon]

Unfortunately as I work as an au pair I've had the pleasure of watching all the celebrations from the couch. Another unfortunate thing is that the kids weren't that well behaved and it was chaos, with one child crying for 80% of the time from when her parents left to when she went to bed. I love these kids, but it's tough when they're crying for seemingly no reason.

Luckily though, the couch and TV offered the best view for encountering all the events. Part of the celebrations was a massive firework display down on the waterfront. I went out to watch it and there were some amazing fireworks coming off the sky tower. I could see the ones down on the waterfront but a tree was obscuring most of the view. The sky was just lit up for what felt like forever. It was amazing, just a shame I couldn't have had a better view (not including the TV).

Here are some terrible pictures that don't do the view justice. (I had my camera in the wrong setting. Sue me, I never claimed to be a photographer) The street lights on my street are pretty dim (as they seem to be in most of Auckland) so you can really see the stars at night. And it was a clear night. Stars + Fireworks = enchanting. 

I absolutely love being in New Zealand right now. The Kiwis should be proud.

Rugby Fever.

Rugby fever has officially arrived. The Rugby World Cup begins today, here in Auckland and everyone is totally hyped up.

The houses are decked out with flags and unlike England, it's a little bit more tasteful and pretty much every country is represented.

I've just spent the afternoon up on Ponsonby Road and the whole road is covered in English flags. England is Ponsonby's 'adopted' team so looks like I live in the right place.

This is what I woke up to today.

Yep. Rugby fever has definitely arrived at my abode.

One thing I'm looking forward to about the World Cup is the haka. I love it. Seriously, it gives you goosebumps watching people do it. Here's a video of a flash mob that took place this past week. This one took place at Sylvia Park which was my nearest shopping centre when I was living in Ellerslie! The second one is from downtown on Queen Street.

Story time!

I know, I know. I don't blog for ages and then post three essay entries in three day?! Sporadic blogger is my job title. Nah, jokes. I'm an au pair. That's french. That means it's fancy.

Truth is, today I began work at 8am. Finished at 9:30am. I don't start again until 4:30pm so that is a whole 7 hours to fill. The plan was initially to head into town and do a spot of shopping. As I was happily bopping along to Nicki Minaj while getting stuff together to go out, I heard the rain hitting the roof pretty heavily. I look out to see torrential downpour coupled with sunshine. I also realise it's kinda cold. So I put on the thermal socks and declared Friday 2nd September a duvet day (not including those 4 hours I have to work today).

New Zealand daytime telly is terrible. It's all infomercials. They have Jeremy Kyle but they save those relocation shows for prime time, you see. I don't particularly want to watch Jezza, there are some reasons I don't miss England. So my duvet day has been spent on the laptop and I decided to catch up a little bit with the blog. 

Remember all those posts from when I was in Asia? Well, the stuff I wrote about is only a fraction of the things that went down while there. And while I was updating the entries with pictures I kept remembering things that happened while I was there that I had failed to mention. So today is your lucky day, it's story time, my friend!

While in Asia we saw some a lot of animals wandering about. When we went to Big Buddha, we saw a random cow going about it's business. I don't know why it amused me so much, but it did. 

I told you about the park next to our hostel in Nanning, right? The one were the men play some board game and kids run around in onesies with holes in the back, their bare bottoms on show to the world so they can go potty whenever/wherever they please. I forgot to mention it's also the dentist office.

If I learnt anything from my International Marketing class, it's that you gotta be careful what you name your product. There will be some idiot who will find the name of your product funny. I mean, c'mon China, do you seriously think 'Classy Kiss' is a good name for your dairy product?

We all recognise Lays. It's like the foreign Walkers, only not as good. In China they have crazy flavours like Blueberry. Yeah, blueberry crisps. Kinda wish I had bought them.

Supermarket shopping China was good fun. It was total pot luck. Some items would have an English description but most of the time you had to just guess by the pictures, which was quite difficult when it came to buying vegetarian noodles. A conversation Sarah and I would often have is "Is that picture some kind of seafood or vegetable?". Poor Sarah had to stick to plain noodles. We did pretty well with the shopping in China. Nothing was too inedible, except the melon we bought. Or what we thought was melon. The fruit had already been cut up and the colour and texture looked like melon. When we came to eat it, it did not smell like melon and definitely did not taste like melon. It smelt/tasted like vomit. No word of a lie.

This is Anna and Eva with the Pineapple man. It was day one in Hanoi. The girls had managed to haggle Pineapple man down to 2,000 for a bag pineapple. It was all agreed and he prepared the pineapple for them. Eva gives the guy a 20,000 dong note. Pineapple man puts it in his shirt pocket and ignores us as we stand there waiting for change. Eva begins arguing with the guy and he refuses to give change no matter how many times she says "too much". The next bit happened pretty quick, but Eva puts down the pineapple, puts her hand into Pineapple man's pocket, takes out her 20,000 and runs. We follow swiftly behind hoping Pineapple man isn't going to hunt us down. And that is why Eva is my haggling hero.

As I was saying, in Asia we saw a lot of animals just wandering the streets. There were dogs everywhere in Vietnam. It was quite nice to see that mostly they looked well taken care of. I guess the ones they don't eat they treat well. Anyway, we meet this little guy in Hoi An. Introducing Fat Dog.

We couldn't stop laughing about the dog. It was cute and I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the dog as it couldn't really move.

When we were in Hoi An we stayed at a hotel a little bit out of town and would get the free shuttle from the hotel's shop. Every time we got there, the woman who sold me the jacket I had made was there and would love to talk to us. I think she was called Ti, but my memory is bad. She wanted to know everything about our lives. About boys. We asked questions about her life and the differences between us was shocking. Her dream was to travel to South Korea to see snow. And go to Thailand for the beaches.

At One Tree Hill in the jacket Ti's uncle made.

Ti worked all day, every day at the family's shop. She explained how she had to work in the shop because her sewing skills were not good enough to make the garments. She thought she would never leave the job, not unless she got married. But she didn't have much confidence in finding a husband, she said her family weren't rich enough. It was eye opening to hear about her ambitions and her way of life and how she felt about it. Made me grateful for the millions of options I have which mean I can do anything I want.


So, remember the post I wrote while in Hue where I promised to tell you about my sleepwalking? And then never did? Well this is how it went down. As far as I can remember. (It's really not that interesting).

Basically I wake up and it's pitch black. I must explain I was having a somewhat bad dream prior to this. And I don't know where I am. I jump straight out bed and start feeling around in the dark. Unfortunately in my sleep induced state I can't quite remember what I said, but it was something along the lines of "WHERE AM I? I DON'T KNOW WHERE I AM". i.e. I'm freaking out. Big style. I finally wake up/remember where I am to the giggling to the girls in my room. That's right I was staying in a dorm. I realise that I was sleep walking, tell the room so and just got back into bed. Luckily the girls that Sarah and I were sharing a room with were some of the loveliest girls we met on our travels! (Photo from Kerry-I like this picture because it looks like I have a tan!)

Rangitotototototototo

So remember yesterday when I said that I had zero plans for my birthday. Well I did something because I'm not that boring. And although the activities may not have been strictly to celebrate my birthay, I decided they were.

At institute I got talking to Amanda about doing something at the weekend and we decided that it'd be fun to hike up Rangitoto. You know, that island that's Auckland's biggest and youngest volcano? Yeah, well that's what we were going to do because we're hardcore. Weather permitting of course. I mentioned that it was my birthday that weekend and Amanda got all excited and I had to break it to her that I actually could not be bothered to organize anything.

This is the part where I tell you about my birthday weekend. Or should I say week? I mean, the whole week I was giving myself treats because it was almost my birthday. Frozen yoghurt you say? Why not, it's my birthday on Sunday. When I walked past the cake shop the next day, I decided I would treat myself again. Seriously the passionfruit one is to die for. Long story, short: After checking with Sarah that I wouldn't look like a heifer having frozen yoghurt two days in a row, I went on my merry way with some passionfruit goodness.

Saturday I arose bright and early in preparation for catching the 9:15 ferry to the island. I was in the kitchen making myself a packed lunch when Andrew came in, obviously shocked to see me up before 10 on a Saturday and said something along the lines of "You're up early. Making sandwiches. Are you off on a hike or something?". To which the answer was of course, yes I was. So we discussed the weather and whether (haha) it was still too cold for shorts. The consensus was that shorts were perfectly fine for a beautiful day like that Saturday.

All geared up, I set off to catch the bus to the ferry port. I tell you what, I looked like an idiot walking through Ponsonby in my shorts and hiking boots. I mean there's a load of hills around here, but come on. I had a little panic that I was going to miss the ferry but I made it in good time. The man at the ferry port made me brush my boots down as "They didn't want any infestation on the island". I would have taken offense, but I didn't actually care and he was asking everyone else to do it too. Amanda jumped on the ferry at Devonport and we  took the 20 minute journey over to Rangitoto on the crowded boat. We decided that we would aim to catch the 12:45 ferry back so we decided to take the direct track up and when we arrived at the island we set off on our merry little way towards the summit.

That day was quite hot and I could easily have changed my name to sweaty Betty and it would be accurate. But after almost an hour of walking, we made it to the top. The day was just beautiful and the surroundings and view were just picturesque. We enjoyed our packed lunches in the warm sunshine and then proceeded to take pictures of everything. Here are a selection of the view:

You know how it's a volcano? Well this was the crater. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't filled with lava, but I guess I wouldn't want to be there if it was...

When it got to 12, we decided we better begin the walk down. As we hadn't taken any photos on the way up, we were making plenty of stops on the way down.

LAVA ROCKS!

The summit.

As we were walking, everything kind of looked the same and we had no idea how far away we actually were. Then we got to a sign that said it was 40 minutes back to the wharf. We had 25 minutes before the ferry was due to leave. We decided that it couldn't be accurate and that if we picked up the pace we would be fine. Suddenly there's loads of people running past us. There are only three ferry departures from the island a day so if we missed the 12:45 one the next, and last, ferry was at 4. There are no shops or cafes on Rangitoto so we didn't fancy hanging around. Each time another person ran past us we discussed whether we too should begin running. We agreed that at 12:35 we'd start running. So at 12:35 we begin running.

Did I mention that the ground is made up of loose lava rocks and really uneven? No? Well it is and running on it is not fun. And probably not really safe. But I'm proud to say that Amanda and I were star athletes that day and made it to the wharf before the boat even showed up, giving us plenty of time to sit and relax. When the boat actually arrived it took forever for everyone to get off and on so we probably didn't have to run.

Back on the ferry, we both got off at Devonport and headed to Narrowneck Beach, which gave an excellent view over to Rangitoto Island. It was lovely and warm and after a morning in hiking boots it was nice to walk around bare feet in the sand. The water was quite cold though! We stopped off at the cafe there and I treated myself to some chips because, well it was my birthday and I was at the seaside. It was an awesome day and it was great to spend time with a fun girl having plenty of laughs.

I awake at 7am on Sunday morning and after getting over the initial shock that it was 7am already, I remembered that it was my birthday and that my mother had sent me a present. I jumped out of bed and grabbed my present and card that had been delivered that week and got right back into bed. First I opened the card which had been sent from Australia and couldn't help but laugh when I saw this beauty created by Alex (thanks bruv!).

Next I moved on the the shiny purple package. I opened it up, pulled out a t-shirt my mum had bought me (it looks good btw, mother). I struggled to get the next thing out. I pulled really hard and managed to get the present out but heart balloons and confetti went everywhere! And I mean everywhere. Between every sheet on my bed and under every piece of furniture. I'm still finding pieces of it now, almost two weeks on. This morning there was a heart confetti in my shower. My shower, Mother. A different room to where my bed is.  I got some lovely little present from my mother including the mascara I was craving and a cute little snow flake charm.

When I ventured out of my room for breakfast the family all sing 'Happy Birthday' to me and they had bought me lovely charm as well. Susan asked what I had planned for my birthday and said they wanted to take me out for dinner. I accepted of course. At the end of church the ysa were planning a rehearsal for that evening. I told Maureen I couldn't make it because the family were taking me out for a birthday meal. She got all excited and cancelled the rehearsal and instead put on a dessert night in my honor.

After consuming my favourite meal of pizza with the family I headed over to meet the ysa and ate delicious cake. I got to speak to my parents on Skype and also to my grandmother which was a pleasant surprise. All in all, my birthday which had no plans ended up being pretty good. And to top it off, Sarah took me out to see SOAP - the Show on Tuesday night, which was pretty good. It was at Auckland Civic Theatre which is just BEAUTIFUL. I've been trying to find a decent picture of the inside, but it ain't happening.

Thank you to all my birthday well wishers. It makes me happy that people take the time to say hello on the day of my birth. And maybe next year I'll get over my birthday issues and actually do something about it.

"nobody likes you when you're 23...."

Happy Birthday to me.

I officially turned 23 last Sunday and unlike the previous couple of years, I did not have a breakdown about my fleeting youth. I think they call this progress. Despite this, I still have some issues about my birthday, and this year was no exception.

Leading up to my birthday I was having a bit of a sad moment thinking things like "This is going to be my first birthday away from home" and what not. This thought stayed with me a couple of days until I remembered my eighteenth birthday spent at EFY.

And then there was my sixteenth birthday spent at youth camp. That was the camp where the phrases  'Aaaannnaaaa! What you do that for?' and 'Cale boca' were coined, the latter being most likely spelt incorrectly.

I can't remember how I've spent most of my birthdays due to my terrible memory. My birthday is in the middle of the summer holidays which means that I've probably been away on 21st August quite a few times over the years. Anyway, the point I'm failing to make is that this was not my first birthday away from home at all.

The second issue I faced was that I live  in a new place, well, new country,  um, continent ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD from most of my friends and family. Unlike my friends back home who are aware of my impending birthday, most of my friends over on this side of the planet are yet to learn this piece of information through years of celebrating my birth. (Or seeing it approaching on Facebook.) Let me tell you, it's mega awkward telling people "It's my birthday next week". In a world where I'm attempting to make friends through my explicit coolness, uttering that phrase made me feel like a 12 year old again. And that is not cool.

If there's one thing I hate, it's organizing get togethers. If there's one thing I hate more, it's organizing my birthday get together. Seriously, it's too much like hard work. The hardest thing is trying to come up with something that isn't too lame and isn't the same as you do every other weekend. This is the reason why the last couple of years my birthday get togethers have been at Nandos (except last year where we mixed it up and went for a curry). It's because I can't be bothered thinking of anything to do.

I think I sound pretty egotistical when organizing these things. "Come to MY birthday meal which will be all about ME, to celebrate ME on the day I was born". Let's not forget there was probably another 499,999 babies born the same day as me. Despite this, I still expect my family to treat me as a queen on my birthday. anything less is unacceptable.

It's just stressful finding a time when people can get together. Murphy's Law clearly states that the day of my birthday celebrations will be the one day of the year where all my nearest and dearest are simultaneously out of the country/out of town/at work/at a wedding/family do they just can't get out of. I remember my shock last year when David (my brother) came along to my birthday meal. Thank you Dav-ido, you made me feel special.

I also don't feel too comfortable forcing people into the present buying dilemma. You know the 'do I buy her a present?/If I show up without a present and everyone else has one I'll look like an idiot/Is our friendship more card or present or both?' kinda dilemma. Let it be known, a friendly 'Happy Birthday' and hug will suffice (birthdays are one day a year where it's ok to force hugs upon people). Despite this, I still expect my family to buy me awesome presents every year, anything less is unacceptable.

All of this just a mammoth introduction to my third issue, which is unique to 2011. Thirdly, I could not be bothered organizing something and reminding myself that my best friends are all back home (yes, homesickness sucks, I like to keep it at bay by avoiding these kind of thought processes). So when it came to the week leading up to my birthday my plans were this: nada.

But never fear, dear reader, I had an awesome birthday. In fact I'm going to write another post devoted to how I celebrated my birthday. And this is not an empty promise because I have already written the post (boom!) and is scheduled for tomorrow. Check me out being organised and all that jazz.