Right. Enough about cleaning - let's talk about New Zealand.

One of my favorite things about being here is listening to the different kind of English that is spoken. I talk most with Andrew and Kathryn, my housemates, and it seems that every day I have to ask them what a word or phase means. For the most part, communicating here is easy; after all, English is English. But there are subtle (and not so subtle) differences scattered all over everyday speech and it's fun to pick them out.

I would say that in an average conversation with a Kiwi I understand about 85% of what they are saying. It's been a little tricky getting used to the slang, speed, accent, vocabulary differences, and flow of the language. I feel like I am always saying, "What?", "Huh?" or "I have no idea what you just said." When a whole crowd of Kiwis are jabbering on about something I feel completely lost. And don't even get me started on Maori English - that's a post for another day.

Here's some pictures of some random vocabulary differences:


Peppers are called 'capsicums,' flip flops are called 'jandals' (thongs in Australia), zucchini are called 'courgettes' and sweet potatoes are called 'kumara.' I don't have a picture of this one, but rubber boots are called "gumboots" and the headline of the local paper read "From Jandals to Gumboots" the other day to talk about the upcoming rain and drop in temperature. I thought it was interesting as it was universally and clearly understood here but would be slightly unintelligible in the States. English is awesome.

Top 10 most annoying/disgusting/frustrating things to clean for a housekeeper (according to my expert opinion from cleaning for the last two weeks . . . I shudder to think of what's still to come)

1. Syrup or honey- What do people do with the stuff? Do they throw their breakfast-in-bed-pancakes around the room whilst they're slathered in the sugary goo? Syrup is really really hard and annoying to get out of anything.

2. Puke - Try and do it in the toilet, people, not in the sink, the shower or the trash can (Hilton doesn't use bag liners in the bins as they consider it "cheap" and "trashy." Whoever made that call obviously never cleaned anything out of a trash can without a liner.

3. Cigarette ash/butts in wine glasses (that I have to wash). - Wake up, it's 2012 and not cool to smoke anymore even if you are rich and have a balcony suite and it's a non-smoking hotel.

4. Cobwebs - Queenstown has a spider problem and webs pop up overnight. They mostly occur on the balcony ledges and on the balcony chairs and tables. The sticky webs and spiders get all over you when you clean them. Fortunately, since this is not Australia, the spiders are not lethal.

5. Confetti or glitter - It's popular to have all sorts of shindigs at the hotel like bachelorette parties, weddings and honeymoons. It's all fun and games until somebody has to vacuum up every single piece of confetti.

6. Poo storms - I don't really think I have to go into detail on this one but wow - some people's bowel systems are definitely out of whack, apparently.

7. Mini-fridge explosions - Some guests like to turn the temperature in the mini-fridge up to the maximum which causes all the glass bottles inside to explode after a few hours. It's a lovely, sticky, glass shard-y mess to clean up.

8. Hair - Cleaning up hair sucks and it's EVERYWHERE. Seems like all my guests to is eat things with syrup and shed their hair all over the place.

9. Toothpaste - Somehow it gets everywhere - on the sink, on the mirror, on the floor. It's a miracle that any actually makes it to the teeth. After an hour or so it becomes like concrete and takes super human strength to get off.

10. Use your imagination for anything which is not appropriate content for this blog and I have probably had to a) clean it b) throw it away c) move it d) see it


Housekeeping: It's not for the squeamish or faint of heart

If I could choose any job in Queenstown I would be a horseback guide and work at Dart Stables or the Ben Lomond Horse Trekking Co. Working as a wrangler in Colorado was one of the funnest summers of my life and I've always wanted to repeat it.


Horseback riding is pretty popular here because they have the rights to tour through many famous Lord of the Rings spots including Isengard, Amon Hen and "The Death of Boromir" scene from The Fellowship of The Ring film. The trails also pass by locations for "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" and the new Hugh Jackman film "X-Men Origins: Wolverine".


Since the busy summer tourist season is winding down, stables aren't really hiring guides right now and most of them don't operate in winter. Maybe I could offer to do some cleaning in exchange for a free ride?

Sean and I have decided that he gets to keep his tips for fun spending money and I get to keep the money I earn from private Spanish and English lessons (I'm up to three classes a week!). The first thing I'm going to spend it on is a full-day horseback ride. How much does that cost? Oh about $250 USD. Better start saving my pennies!

I wish I could jump into a vat of Icy Hot right now. Instead I'm going to slather on some of Sean's "Working Hands" salve - it's very manly. I helped Santa put it in his stocking this Christmas thinking that he might be doing some manual labor in NZ. But surprise, surprise, the joke's on me and it's rapidly becoming a permanent fixture on my nightstand (directions say to apply after showering and right before bed for maximum effect).


It was my first day back and on my own with 10 rooms to clean from top to bottom and my muscles are SORE. Specifically my back from making beds, hauling laundry and vacuuming, my arms from cleaning showers and tubs, my hands from scrubbing, and my calves from bike riding/walking my bike up hills on the way home. I'm hobbling around crouched over like I'm 90 and I can't wait to go to bed. Next week we all have to go through "Manual Handling Training" where we get to learn how to manually handle things correctly, I guess. Here's hoping I'll be less sore after that.

But I'm not the only one feeling this way - today was a rough one for all of the housekeepers. This is because last night there was a flight cancellation and since the Hilton works with the airport that means we were sold out completely last night. Incidentally, since today is Saturday, we were also sold out for tonight (for a different group of people). You can see where I am going with this. . . In the span of a day, we had to clean all the rooms of both hotels with staff numbers for an average day of work (since the cancellation was unplanned, obviously). Not fun and slightly stressful. Even the supervisors were running around sweaty and red-faced.

After finishing my rooms (I still only get a small amount since I'm new), I was assigned to help a very witty Brit named Martin. It's a lot of fun working in pairs and Martin and I blew through rooms in a blur while he kept saying things like, "Bollocks" and "This is bloody hard work." Martin is new also, by the way. He started in the same orientation group as Sean.


But on a more positive note I don't have to go in until 9am tomorrow since it's Sunday (most guests sleep in on Sunday so there's nothing to do until they wake up and check out), Sean and I have two days off together this week, and my flatmate just showed up with a glass of NZ-made hard cranberry cider for me as a present. She's cool like that - thanks Kathryn!

What does Sean do? Room service at the Hilton, that's what. Except that at the Hilton you can't call it Room Service but rather "In-room Dining," of course.

Sean's job is markedly better than mine in many ways (the main one being that he doesn't have to scrub toilets). He works with a cook to deliver meals and "amenities" to guests in their rooms. His uniform is dapper and classy (maroon button-up shirt - think bellhop style - with black pants and dress shoes), he wheels around white tableclothed carts with silver trays, he schmoozes and chats up the guests, he pours wine and he gets to keep his tips (which, in a non-tipping country there aren't many of). Oh, and he makes more money than I do.


Sean can have one of two shifts: 6am to 3pm or 3pm to midnight. When he's not bringing up meals or drinks he has to run lame errands for needy guests like bringing up fresh milk, buckets of ice or urgently needed seltzer and tonic water. He also has to give the VIPs extra-special treatment.

There are levels of VIPs at the Hilton which can be broadly separated into two categories: famous people and Hilton's loyalty club members called Hilton Honors. Within the honors program there are Blue members (anyone can be on this level), Silver, Gold and Diamond. There aren't many Diamond members and when some stay in our hotel everyone is on red alert and, in the words of our HR manager, "It's like God himself has entered the building." You get the idea.

Being a Silver, Gold or Diamond member gets you certain additional perks that add a lot of menial and trivial tasks to Sean's day. Before these guests arrive he has to deliver one or all of the following to their room: homemade macaroons, boxes of truffles, wine, bottled water, handwritten welcome notes from the general manager and coupons/discounts to the various dining options at the resort. All of these things are what the hotel labels as "amenities."


Sean likes his job because it's fairly low-stress, contains barely responsibility at all, he gets to talk with a lot of guests and employees since he's always walking around and he likes to always be moving. The things he doesn't like are when guests are overly picky, impatient, rude, demanding and stingy. He also doesn't like it when it rains since it means in-room dining will be slammed or when guests order "hot brownies with ice cream" since it's next to impossible to deliver it without everything melting (the resort is huge, people). I don't have a lot of sympathy for these complaints because guess who gets to clean up, collect and transport all of the dirty "in-room dining" dishes later that afternoon or the next morning?

You got it . . . the housekeepers. It's a glamorous job, but somebody's got to do it.

One of my most favorite things about starting a new job or a new school is orientation. I don't mean that I like starting the actual job - that's usually tiring, frustrating, embarrassing and discouraging. I'm talking about the days beforehand where you sit in a room with the other newbies and fill out a lot of forms, watch some inspirational videos and learn about the company policies and rules. I love the fact that everyone is new, all that you are expected to do is listen and learn, and there's usually free food. The inevitably perky and overly-enthused HR girls, the widespread awkwardness and the stupid get-to-know-you icebreaker games are pretty fun too.


Since I have had plenty of low-level/low-paying jobs in my life so far, I have been exposed to many a company orientation. I have seen the famous (and cheesy) motivational Seattle Pike Place market video "Fish!" several times where they show you how throwing bloody Mackerels around makes you a better team player. I have done the game where you put stickers on your forehead representing different races/disabilities/religions/ages and then you have to guess who you are more times than I can count. And every company makes you do something unique with your name to introduce yourself. After the Hilton introduction (H-ospitality, I-ntegrity, L-eadership, T-eamwork, O-wnership, N-ow) we had to do our own names (not surprising - we could all see that coming a mile away): S-miling, A-daptable, R-eal, A-dventurous, H-onest. I've had to do that about a hundred times before too.

But so far, the Hilton orientation takes the cake for thoroughness, cheesiness factor, stacks of paper received, prizes and overall length. Rivaled only by OSU's two-week excruciating orientation program, this hotel has got it down to a patented science. We started off with a full day on Monday of paperwork and powerpoints related specifically to the hotel in Queenstown. We took tours, met the higher-ups, got our badges, keys, lockers and key cards, got fitted for uniforms and played a lot of get-to-know-you games. Everyone got a sugar high off the chocolate rewards for participation tossed out randomly.


The next day was spent entirely online completing the required e-learning courses on computers. Hilton has its own online university which puts you through hours of interactive classes related to your new job. There's also loads of tricky quizzes you have to pass in order to print off the certificates to show you completed the course. My online courses totaled about 6 hours (6 hours just for housekeeping! - the new front office staff had to do a week of the stuff). After I handed in my certificates I could, in theory, greet a guest correctly in the hallway, enter their room properly, clean every item in said room, make a bed, fold things, make the right moral decisions regarding privacy and personal property and be proactive about problem situations. Gosh, I hope I can remember it all.

Wednesday was another full day of training but this time it was all about the Hilton company in general. We learned about the founder, Conrad Hilton's legacy and vision ("In order to achieve big things you have to dream big dreams.") We listened to hours of history, the pillars of the company, and the unique spirit and energy that empowers each employee which Hilton has coined "Blue Energy" (throughout that powerpoint, all I could think about was Ben Stiller in Zoolander and his look, Blue Steel). During the training day we did partner work, group games and competitions and little activities - I was pretty impressed with how it was all run (considering they do a full new-hire orientation every single week here I guess it should be!)


Here's some definitions that we had to memorize (seriously):

Blue energy: Our passion to live our values, deliver our Promise and celebrate our stories. It’s an expression of the unique spirit we show to our Guests, our communities, and each other as Hilton Team Members.

Hilton Promise: To ensure that every guest feels cared for, valued and respected.

Hilton Pillars: A clean smart room for me, Nourish me in new and exciting ways, Meet my needs especially if I have a problem, Respect and value me and my loyalty, Show me you care.

Hilton Vision: Our vision is to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality, by being the first choice of hotel guests, team members, and owners alike.


As you can imagine, it was a pretty interesting three days. Now that I have been properly brainwashed with heaps of hospitality mumbo jumbo, I am considered fully trained and ready to serve. Whew - I had no idea it would take this much preparation to be a housekeeper. I start on my own without the aid of any trainer on Saturday. And I'll be sure to bring lots of Blue Energy with me.





"Imagine a workplace where everyone chooses to bring energy, passion, and a positive attitude with them every day. Seattle's Pike Place Fish Market does just that. This video reveals how that is accomplished and how any organization can do the same."

Somewhere along the orientation process I missed the fact that for one day a week I have to work a double shift. This is because this hotel offers "Turndown Service" every night. To tell you the truth I had never heard of this before and had no idea what it was until I was trained in it last night.

Turndown service is when you go into a guest's room in the evening, close the heavy curtains, pull back their covers, put a chocolate (along with the breakfast in bed menu) on their pillow, turn on their bed lights and "tidy up" anything else that needs to be cleaned.



All the VIPs get nightly turndown service automatically but the other guests can request it as well. The annoying/embarrasing thing about turndown service is that not only does it seem a little unnecessary but also that many of the guests don't know what it is either. Last night during my turndown service training, we knocked on doors and said "Good evening, turndown service." People would answer and say, "What's that?" or "What do you need to do?" And we would offer to close their curtains and pull back their bed for them and they would look at us like we were crazy. Then we would give them Artesenal water and posh chocolates and then at least it would feel that the visit wasn't entirely useless and they would close the door moderately happy if not confused.

Last night Juliana and I did 61 turndowns. How long does it take to personally visit 61 rooms on varying floors in a huge hotel you ask? A loooong time. I was afraid that by the end of our shift we would be waking them up, getting them out of bed and then offering to turn their bed down for them. That would be awkward.

One last fun fact about working in New Zealand: there is no overtime pay. And when you are making $13.50/hr (about $11/hr USD) that is not a very fun fact at all.

Oh, how the tables have turned. When Sean and I went to China to teach English, I was especially excited since I had taught before and knew that I liked it. I was interested in seeing how teaching in China would be different than teaching the U.S. Sean, on the other hand, didn't really care one way or another about teaching - it just happened to be the easiest job for an American to get in China.

For me, teaching in China was a lot of fun. While it was challenging, I still felt confident and excited because of the small amount of experience that I had previously. For Sean, being in the classroom for two years made him realize that teaching wasn't really his thing. He stuck with it though and we worked together on games, activities and lesson plans.

Now it's my turn to be out of my comfort zone. I had hoped to possibly teach in Queenstown, but after interviewing at the two language schools here I was told I couldn't be hired since I don't have the required CELTA (certificate in English language teaching for adults). After applying for about 20 other random jobs from receptionist to cashier and waitress, the only job that offered me the position was in hospitality - being a housekeeper.

I had never thought that I would work in hospitality - that had always been Sean's expertise. With over 10 years experience working in hotels, he feels quite at home at his current job. I, on the other hand, feel a little out of place and overwhelmed. There's a lot to get used to including: the type of people who work in hospitality, the certain attitude, the hours, the system, the guests, the management etc. So far, it's not my favorite career path that I've ever chose, but it is interesting to work in an environment that is comfortable to Sean. If he can learn something new and be uncomfortable doing it, I think I can too.

Today I worked with Juliana, the Brazilian gym teacher, again for my second day of training. So far all I am allowed to do is make beds, fold things, dust and vacuum. Because Sean and I are looking at joining a gym, I asked Juliana if she was a member of one. Her response? When you work at this job you don't need to join a gym. I am quickly beginning to realize that she is right. I will be collapsing into bed somewhere around 9:30 tonight and I haven't even worked on my own or cleaned a bathroom yet.


They take housekeeping REALLY seriously at this hotel. For one thing, it's brand new and only opened a few months ago and since this is a resort city, they have some stiff compeititon from several other luxury hotels in the area. But so far they are doing well here and hope to get really busy as ski season approaches.


Every morning we have a briefing with the executive housekeeper. We all stand around in our little gray uniforms and listen to our supervisor talk about things like polishing ice buckets, replacing the proper number of ammentities and new protocol for robe placement in the wardrobe. It's as if I have entered into another world entirely. But since this brand has a reputation to uphold, everybody works really hard and each person has two rooms randomally inspected each day. Aparently it's paid off. As of now, this hotel is in the top ten cleanest Hiltons (rated by guests) in the world.


All this cleanliness comes at a price though. For me that means spending the required 45 min. (45 min!) in each room that is being cleaned for the next person. For the guest, that means nightly rates of over $300, minimum. All the rooms include views of the lake, fireplaces, showers with full bathtubs (some have outdoor hot tubs), king beds, and two flat screen TVs. The hotel complex includes 7 different restaurnts and bars, a pool, a spa, and a movie theater. You can take a water taxi from the Hilton right to the pier at downtown Queenstown. It's all pretty snazzy - come and visit!

A few things I learned today:

Being a housekeeper is harder than it looks and there's an overwhelming amount of things to remember

This job is ridiculously physically demanding (the girl who trained me today was a Brazilian gym teacher here to travel and learn English and she DOMINATED those rooms while I dripped sweat and tried to keep up)

It's all about the details (i.e. the 60+ ways to fold toilet paper and kleenex tips, bed sheets, washcloths, towels etc. etc.)

You can tell a lot about a 'guest' from being in their hotel room for 30 minutes

Nobody leaves a tip

The more you "personalize" your room, the higher point score you get from your supervisor/inspector (seriously, how am I going to compete with the girl who makes the Kiwi birds out of towels??)

The other housekeeping 'team members' are from all over the world. Today I worked with a Maori Kiwi, Chilean, Argentinian, Brazilian, Japanese, Swede, Chinese, Korean, Brit and Vietnamese. They are all here to: travel, learn English, party, hike, ski and gain residence.

Everybody who works at this particular hotel is extremely good-looking. Even Sean commented on the fact that they must hire based on looks because it's like working amongst a bunch of runway models (guys included). Note to self - attempt some make-up tomorrow.

Sean and I have today and tomorrow off together which means we get to celebrate Valentine's Day. Our plans include: a cheap bottle of wine, a can of olives, chocolate cupcakes from a box and a free documentary from the library (Shackleton's voyage to Antarctica). It's going to be a big night, obviously.


Since it rained all day, we spent time running errands and hung out in a coffee shop for awhile. At the coffee shop we got our highlighters out like big nerds and went through the Lakes Weekly Bulletin. The LWB is THE source for what's going on in Queenstown. It's full of classifieds, job ads, free stuff, promotions/coupons at local bars and restaurants and lots of pictures of random people around town. It comes out every week on Tuesday and people are so quick to get it that a lot of the good stuff is gone by the time we read it. This week we found interesting ads for: a bike for me, an electric blanket, a DVD player, half-used gym memberships and people who want to learn Spanish and English. We'll see if anything comes of any of it.


I also took some pictures of our room and bathroom - very exciting stuff. Notice the clothes rack in the bathroom - nobody uses a dryer here. All the stuff in the room we either got from the LWB, garage sales, from the previous tenant or from this big cheap warehouse store named appropriately, The Warehouse. Home sweet home.

Since housing in Queenstown is so expensive everybody shares apartments and houses with each other. For this reason, all the local papers and magazines have large sections of "Flatmates Wanted." Because finding a suitable place can be pretty time-consuming, we started looking right away. Most nights during our second week here we had 5-6 different appointments to meet various occupants and their rooms to rent. The whole experience was tiring but also very entertaining. We met creepy old Canadian and Brazilian men who specifically requested 'females' in their ads, masses of hippies sharing old houses, recent college grads looking for more people to party with, retired couples looking for 'quiet professionals' to rent their room and full-on Kiwi families with kids just looking to liven things up a bit and make some extra cash.



Along with meeting heaps of new people, room-hunting also taught us a lot about the area and how to get around. We saw places in Queenstown, Fernhill, Goldfield Heights, Kelvin Heights, Arrowtown, Arthur's Point and Franktown (all small neighborhoods outside of Queenstown). The price to rent a room varied according to location, amount of sunlight in winter, proximity to bus stops and supermarkets, number of bathrooms and other flatmates and what bills were included. For a single, one could expect to pay around $140 USD/week and for two people we are paying about $170/week which doesn't include monthly expenses like electricity and internet. (Everything happens by the week here - everybody gets paid weekly and pays rent weekly)



Luckily, after not too much searching, we met Andrew (33) and Katherine (27), a Kiwi brother and sister who had moved to Queenstown to escape Christchurch (where they grew up) and the earthquakes. They were renting a house with three bedrooms each with their own bathroom and had one room to fill. Although they both seemed really nice, it was the view from our room that clinched it. We both left feeling like that's the place we wanted to live, but had to wait for their agreement as they wanted to show it to some other people too. Fortunately, they chose us and we moved in to 10 Goldleaf Hill a few days ago.


Last night Andrew and Katherine took us out to celebrate being "new flatties". We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then had drinks at an American Texas-style bar called "Cowboys". The Kiwis thought this bar was hilarious and were particularly fond of the mechanical bull, the bartenders in cowboy hats and the saddles as seats everywhere. I swear, there's some kind of fascination and mystique that every American and non-American alike hold for the Wild West cowboy image. Regardless, it was a fun night. And in other news, I got a job as a housekeeper at the Hilton where Sean also works. I start tomorrow - wish me luck!

During our stay in Christchurch, many other travelers told us that we had to eat at "Fergburger" when we got to Queenstown. Fergburger is a local burger joint that is a legend here and has become sort of a rite of passage for all those that pass through Queenstown. Sean and I decided that we would eat there once one of us got a job and since Sean started work yesterday we ate there for dinner.


The only thing you can get at Fergburger is burgers - and they are huge! What makes them different from any other burger? Namely their size, interesting tangy sauces and the fact that they are made fresh, right in front of you. Fergberger is so popular here that there is always a line - even at 10 in the morning or 10 at night - it's crazy!


Since the burgers are a little pricey and because they are so big, Sean and I decided to split one. We ordered the "Double Ferg with cheese" and after about a 20 min. wait we got our burger to go and ate it in a park. Although it was very messy, it was really good!

Februrary 6 is a annual holiday in New Zealand called Waitangi Day (pronounced why-tang-eee). Waitangi Day is a celebration of the signing of the "Treaty of Waitangi" which is New Zealand's founding document originally signed in 1840.

The treaty not only made New Zealand part of the British Empire but it also gave the indigenous Maori rights to their land and the same rights as British citizens. For this reason, Waitangi Day is used to celebrate Maori heritage and traditions. It is also used by the Maori as a day to protest. This year many Maori gathered together to protest injustices regarding water pollution and shared fresh water allowances.


In Queenstown, Waitangi Day was celebrated with a festival and concert. Since it's the last long weekend before school starts up again after the summer holiday, many people use it to get in one last vacation. Sean and I went to the Queenstown Gardens where all the festivities were and hung out on the lawn listening to music. We heard a lot of reggae music and this is because (as I found out later) February 6 is also the birthday of Bob Marley.

When I first found out that Monday was a holiday, I started asking whatever local I could find what the reason/meaning of the holiday was. Interestingly, nobody could really explain it to me or seemed to care about the history behind it. I was told to "look it up." I got the feeling that locals appreciated the day off but weren't necessarily focusing on it as a way to celebrate Maori culture.

It’s Superbowl Sunday Monday over here and Sean and I watched the game which started at noon at the one bar where it was playing in town. Our new “flattie” or flatmate to be, Andrew, joined us along with some of his Kiwi friends. Two Americans that we had met a few nights before also showed up late because of some morning skydiving and had to leave early as they had plans to go “river surfing.” After they left, two older American gentlemen on a tour group showed up to take their place while their wives were out shopping.

Sadly, the famous Superbowl commercials did not air abroad and I was a little disappointed about that. The commercials that ESPN showed during the Superbowl in New Zealand were only ads for upcoming rugby, cricket and soccer matches. We spent most of the game chatting with the Americans about their NZ travels thus far and answering Andrew and his friends’ questions about the rules and strategy of American football. After the game they explained how the rules of rugby and cricket work. They even asked Sean to come out and give cricket a try this week Thursday after work. We’ll see how that goes; the rules seem very complicated and the game appears to continue for ages.

Here’s some of the things that I picked up during the conversation (according to Andrew and his “mates”):

Not many Kiwis care much about American sports

Though they don’t care about American sports, most know the basic rules of sports like football and baseball and think it’s lame that most Americans have no idea how rugby and cricket work.

They think it’s ridiculous that in baseball we have a “World Series” when, in fact, only American teams play (I can’t emphasize enough how much this topic riled everyone up)

Kiwis can put down a LOT of alcohol and the more they drink the more unintelligible their accent becomes

The guys seemed genuinely concerned about the possibility of the U.S. ever taking an interest in rugby or forming a team because they think the money and talent that the U.S. could invest would surely overpower them in their national sport

Kiwis are enormously proud of their rugby team and the fact that they won the rugby world cup this year

A couple of nights ago I went with Sean to play ultimate frisbee and we met quite a few people. One of the players, Fiona from England, promptly invited us over for dinner after the game. Fiona has been here for five years and has absorbed the famous Kiwi hospitality that New Zealanders are known for. She said that when she first got here, a Kiwi couple invited her over for dinner so ever since she has tried to pass along the favor to newcomers as well.


It felt really good to be in a house eating a home-cooked dinner and we enjoyed a great conversation with Fiona and her roommate. They gave us advice on anything from where to eat, local churches, which "Sally Army" (Salvation Army) and "opportunity shops" to visit, what trails are the best to hike on to how to hitchhike around (it's very common and safe here, apparently).

Last night we met up with a high school acquaintance who I hadn't seen since graduation. She was traveling through NZ with a friend for a couple of weeks and our paths happened to cross. We met up for dinner and drinks and had a good time talking and sharing travel stories. The highlight of the night included a giant tower of beer, of course.


In other news, Sean got a full-time job at the Hilton today. He gets to be the room-service guy! Considering there were over 100 applicants and six people who interviewed just for this low-paying and low-ranking position, he feels pretty lucky and we are excited for one of us to be employed long-term. We also found a great room to rent with a Kiwi brother and sister who are close in age to us. They rent a house on the top of the mountain with a great view and we are especially excited that the room comes with its own bathroom. We move in on Wednesday - only 3 more days in the tent!

Queenstown is basically a small resort town with amazing views and plenty of trendy bars, yuppie cafes and pricey boutiques. There are tourists from all over the world and they are everywhere you turn. I have been especially surprised by the number of Chinese here as well as the huge amount of Brazilians. The hostel itself is a mini international hub and on any given day you could have breakfast with a Dutch, lunch with a Chinese family, "tea" with some Brits and finish up with dinner alongside some Swedes and Canadians. Some are just passing through, others are staying for a few days and many are looking for work and rooms to rent just like us.


When Sean and I aren't looking for jobs or rooms to rent we get out and walk around. There are lots of trails (or "tracks" as they call them here) in and around Queenstown that we have explored. Another place we have enjoyed walking is the Queenstown Gardens. In this city it seems very popular to just hang out in a park or on the beach in the sunshine. I hope we can find some sort of employment here so that we can actually stay longer than just a week or two.