The last time I actually wrote in my blog was way before Thanksgiving so I'll just start at Thanksgiving dinner. We agreed to have an "American Thanksgiving" in exchange for a "Kiwi Christmas". So I emailed my mom and got as many of her famous Thanksgiving recipes that I could think of. Unfortunately the supermarket here didn't carry some key ingredients so I only got to make a few dishes and had to put a kiwi spin on the others, but it turned out to be spectacular! All the flatmates raved about my kumara version of sweet potato casserole... it was a little different, but not disappointing at all. Thanksgiving was followed by a game of pictionary that didn't last too long because my team got BEAT BAD. Fun night nonetheless.
Andrew's birthday was on the 2nd so we went out that night and celebrated by watching our friends Shay and Pearly play at a bar in town called Pub on the Wharf. Logan took his pipes in and got to play along with them on a few songs. I have some videos that I will have to post on youtube for all to enjoy.
Monday after work, it was sunny, hot, and I had my swim suit on laying out on the beach catching some afternoon rays. Mairi, Anna, and Henry came over to enjoy with me for a while then we headed to the dock. I really wanted to try new jumps and flips off the dock into the freezing lake... like really literally the water is SOO cold! You wouldn't be able to survive more than 10 minutes in the water without suffering from hypothermia. Anyway, I convinced Henry to a backflip first and then I started with a back dive first and eventually worked my way up to doing a couple of back flips. The water was so cold... as soon as I hit the water I swam as fast as I could to get out! There were a bunch of tourists around who were all bundled up in their coats and scarfs- not used to the cold air but warm sunshine- that were taking pictures of us jumping in... thinking we were crazy of course. One girl from Taiwan took some photos of me and was SO excited to show them to me... pretty entertaining.
On Tuesday I had a day off from work and just when I turned on the TV thinking I had nothing to do and wishing I was doing something, Logan called and asked if I wanted to go canyoning with them. I didn't even hesitate to say YES! I jumped up, got my swim suit, and cycled into town as fast as I could. I got there with just enough time to grab a veggie wrap from Subway and jump in the van to go. It was AWESOME! I had so much fun in the canyon... I can't wait to do it again! I will post pictures below.
So work is going well. I got a job doing retail sales at Billabong in town. One of our girls just quit to move back to Australia, so yesterday I got "promoted" to visual merchandiser. Just means that I am responsible for all the displays in the store and making things look pretty. I'm not sure how I got voted for that job, but oh well. I referenced earlier how I cycled into town.... I bought a bike that I ride everyday into town since Logan uses the van to drive to work. It's about a 20 minute ride... 15 on a good day. I'm sure I look really ridiculous riding into work everyday- but I figure if I have to work inside everyday being NOT active, then I can at least get a quick workout in on the way. :)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!
