Teri's NZ Adventures

August

Author: Teri

Hello everyone!

Well, it’s August already and I’m not sure how that happened.

I got a call this morning from my cousin on my Skype and it was really good to hear from him even for only 2 minutes. It made me realize that it’s been a while since I updated.

For the month of July, I’ve been working in a rock quarry. C works there and through helpful nepotism, got me employed back in April. I guess they liked me because they called me back for July through October. I love her a lot for finding me work.

The job consists of a lot of testing rock. In short, we have to make sure it is a certain size, shape and cleanness before it leaves the quarry in trucks bound for concrete and asphalt plants.

The other thing I’ve been doing is shopping. A friend of ours has a position with a company that does secret shopping. Companies hire her company to devise a survey and organize secret shoppers. They use the results to evaluate their sales teams. It’s a fun way to make a tidy side profit and get things like free coffee and ice cream. And it’s interesting to see what they’re looking for.

We are house sitting at a mansion with 4 cats, 2 ponds, a pool, a hot tub, a multitude of tropical fish, and ALL THE SPACE. C leaves me for Melbourne for 4 days next week and it’s going to be very big for just me.

Still not getting anywhere with Avis due to being busy and discouraged, but we’re still working on it. I’m also working on getting a new Tilley hat because they might provide it to me at half price and I’m going to complain to my insurance company for lying to me … as soon as I find contact information for them.

Other than that, I’ve been doing some Con-G work, hanging out with people in Auckland and pretending to look into work for when I get home.

Tonight we go to see a concert of one of C’s favourite bands.

G&G, don’t let Amy terrorize you too much.

Love!

August 7th, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  No Comments »

Pictures!

Author: Teri

Got around to putting up the pictures of Lori and my trip around the South Island. Go find them here:

http://picasaweb.google.ca/theresa.michanna/SouthIslandWLori#

July 9th, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  2 Comments »

Coming home

Author: Teri

Hey all,

Not much to report here. I have been catching up on sleep and working to sort out some things that I hadn’t had the chance to from Taiwan and the South Island.

For those who I haven’t informed yet, I will be working in Auckland from July 12 for 3 months. I have booked a plane ride home for October 19th. I will arrive in Calgary on the 20th of October.

July 8th, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  8 Comments »

Back in Auckland

Author: Teri

Hey all!

After spending 3 weeks travelling around the north island with Lori, I have returned safe and sound to Auckland.

We had an amazing time driving all over the island, doing amazing hikes through all varieties of south island scenery.

We saw mountains, glaciers, snow-dusted fern forests, spraying ocean, arcing rainbows, plunging waterfalls and all manner of wildlife. It was less wet and cold than we’d feared and there was hardly a soul around.

We rented a car and named it Henry. He valiantly transported us up mountains, down valleys and around the wild roads of New Zealand’s coasts. I already miss him and Lori; we survived and even enjoyed each other’s company

There will be pictures posted when I get around to it. I have other chores to attend to first.

Hope you’re all well.

June 30th, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  No Comments »

Taiwan pictures

Author: Teri

Enjoy.

http://picasaweb.google.com/theresa.michanna/Taiwan#

and

http://picasaweb.google.com/theresa.michanna/Kenting02#

June 7th, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  6 Comments »

Taiwan

Author: Teri

Hello everybody!

I hope this finds you well!

I’m procrastinating writing a post about Taiwan because three weeks of intense travelling is hard to summarize! I started a written diary since I didn’t have much chance to update on the internet and the trip is 40 pages of that journal!

So, I’ll just start with the highlights:
First of all, the food in Taiwan is amazing in its variety, tastiness and price. I am going to have such a hard time getting back to my NZ travel diet after the last 3 weeks there. In the first 2 days there, I ate more food than in 5 days in NZ.

As a result of spending a lot of time with my friend’s family, I ate a lot of home cooking as well, which exposed me to some food I never would have chosen to eat on my own. Goose intestine and heart meat is really quite good. I still hate those little dried fish and shrimp though.

The shopping is also amazing there. I tried really hard not to buy too much, but I failed. You can buy anything there and it’s usually cheaper. I’ll have to go back when I have more money and suitcase room! The whole culture there feels a little disposable, partly as a result of the consumer culture; when it’s cheap and easy to buy things, you can just throw out what you don’t want and it was easy to fall victim to that while there.

Taiwan is a lot like Singapore, but grungier. It made me understand why Singapore prides itself on cleanliness; I know now what it’s comparing itself to. That being said, Taipei didn’t really give off the feeling of being dirty, just overcrowded with underdevelopped pollution control measures.

The Taoist temples there are all amazing. They’re beautiful and elaborate. I’ll post pictures soon but trust me when I say they won’t do it justice.

Now, the highlights of the trip.
I spent a lot of time visiting my friend’s family because it’s been a while since they’ve seen him. Mostly that involved drinking good tea, eating good food and listening politely to a lot of Chinese.

However, we did get a couple of really good outings in. We went to the south part of Taiwan, called Kenting. It’s hot there. I learned to be afraid of riding motorbikes then got over it. We explored the coast, went to a cool native forest and did some snorkeling.

We went to a national park riht near Taipei and did some mountain climbing in a thermal vent region. It’s quite a bit different there than in Canada because the vegetation goes all the way up.

My friend’s dad took us to an Asian-style hot spring, which was really neat. He also set up a meeting for me with an environmental professional from the Taipei government. He even spoke English! It was really interesting how the issues in Taipei are more or less what you’d expect, but their priorities in which ones to deal with are all reversed compared to Canada. Also, their government is terrified of increasing environmental strictures on industry because they can’t afford to lose the business.

I also got to tour one of the Taipei waste incinerators. It was really cool and space-age-y.

That’s enough for now I think. I’ll respond to comments with more detail if desired or you can find me on skype. I should be available a lot this week as I plan for Lori’s arrival and try to get my things sorted out. I still have a lot of business to take care of with respect to my stolen stuff.

June 2nd, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  5 Comments »

Taiwan trip over

Author: Teri

Hey all, I’m writing to you from the Hong Kong airport again. This time I don’t have enough battery power for a solid post, but I’m drafting one to post when I get to Christchurch tomorrow.

I’m well, Taiwan is really neat, the Hong Kong airport is really big and I have 2 hours left to kill with no book and no computer ;_;

Lori joins me in New Zealand in just over a week!

I hope everyone’s well and I look forward to being back in touch this week.

May 31st, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  4 Comments »

Author: Teri

This time I’m in Hong Kong. Their highly civilized airport has free wi-fi. I won’t say I’m home free until I get through customs in Taipei, but I’ve safely made it this far.

The flight was long, Hong Kong doesn’t look anything like I expected from above, though the airport is everything I expected and more (read large and city-like).

The flight was flight-like and I’m exhausted. On the movie side of things, I thought Percy Jackson was actually quite good. The casting was hilarious. The only thing bothering me is how Medusa got her body back after the last demi-god incident.

May 11th, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  5 Comments »

Author: Teri

After slightly more annoyances involving ferry bookings, I have successfully made it to the Christchurch airport. Now to wait for my flights. I’ll try to get back to you from Taiwan if I get there.

May 9th, 2010  |  Posted in Uncategorized  |  1 Comment »