I'll have some chocolate cake with my yoga, please.

Since arriving here in New Zealand, Mark and I have made some goals to be more fit. I use the word "goals" quite lightly. Basically, we ought to exercise more.

I think that from this point forward I will just omit Mark from this blog post and speak only for myself. Not that he hasn't been more active - one day, he went for a 10km run. Good work, Mark.

But I'll just say this one other thing: here in New Zealand, McDonald's has what they call the "Family Meal" that comes in a huge box and is meant to feed four people. You can decide whether or not Mark and Brandon ate the whole thing themselves the other night.

Anyways, back to the goals at hand. Kristen and I have been good exercise partners so far. We have been trying out various yoga studios and we recently took up Zumba classes.

For those of you who don't know, Zumba is this new craze in exercise classes. It's basically Latin dance inspired aerobics. Now, I have managed to pick up the slightest bit of rhythm from having a Latino lady as one of my best friends for the past 8 years, but only a bit. And Kristen is pretty much in the same boat as me. The "unable to hip swivel, chest pump, and booty shake" boat, that is. Therefore, Zumba is quite funny for us because we are so very bad at it. But we still have tons of fun! Because at Zumba, the only rule is "FEEL THE MUSIC!"

Currently, I am recovering from our latest endeavor. Bikram Yoga (or hot yoga). I am hot just thinking about it - it was 40 degrees celcius with a humidity level of 40%. The instructor started by saying that for the beginners, our only goal was to stay in the room for the whole 90 minutes. So, I'm thinking to myself, "That doesn't sound so bad. Sure, it's hot in here, but I'll be fine. I'll just take breaks if I need to."

I probably sat on my mat for at least a third of the class.

And yet, we are going back next week. Mostly because our second class is free and we are apparently suckers for torture.

Anyways, we continue to go to various classes and the beauty of New Zealand is that you can walk to a dairy (convenience store), bakery, or fruit and veg stand from almost anywhere. So, we walk and we enjoy life.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to finish my chocolate cake from Tui at the bakery.

It was good while it lasted...

Our Mazda has moved on to a better place. Yep, the engine blew up and it was rendered useless. I shed a tear thinking about the shock to our bank account and all the fond memories of riding around in the boot (trunk). It was really quite fun - felt like being on a roller coaster. It was especially funny when the police officer drove up behind us and took a double take. Don't worry, I showed him my seatbelt so he knew it was all legit. The story of its demise is really quite good, but it is Mark's to tell as he was the one who experienced it. Basically, that car broke down in the worst spot of all New Zealand (the Harbour Bridge) during rush hour and he had to be pushed off by a police lady. Anyways, we have moved on to a Subaru Legacy from some sketchy car dealers down by the harbour. Cars straight from Japan. At least this one comes with a warranty!

In other, more happy news, we attended the National Barista Championships last weekend. Never did I think watching someone make espresso could be so intense. Each competitor had 15 minutes to make espresso, cappuccino, and a signature drink for the judges. The winner, Luciano, moves on the the World Championships in London in June. He wore white gloves while setting up. He was a bit of a diva. (Photo courtesy of Mel Neilson).

We drove up to a high point in Auckland (I think it was Victoria Hill?) to look over the city view at night. It's quite beautiful. The sky tower is lit up a lovely shade of blue at the moment. It changes colors - I'm not too sure how often because I haven't been there yet, but I'll find out. Anyways, it was lovely.

After convincing everyone that they would indeed have a good time, we headed out to the Clevedon Farmer's Market. I love farmer's markets. Mark and I enjoyed a "Hungarian Twister" which was basically sweet dough wrapped around a piece of wood, fired in an oven and then rolled in a topping of your choice. I had cinnamon. Mark had hundreds and thousands (aka sprinkles). Him and all the other seven year olds in the line. Typical.

This week, we saw the world's largest sailboat down in the harbour. It lives up to it's name. Huge!

Another highlight of my week was getting an Auckland City library membership. Yes, I realize I am lame. And now I will have to relinquish my membership when we move in two months, but you can bet I will read a lot of books before then.

And the more life changing news is that Mark got a job! We will be living in Auckland for another two months while he does training and then we are moving down to Tauranga. I'm pretty excited. It's a smaller city on the coast. And anyone who knows me knows I'm more

partial to smaller cities, so this will be good. So, as for Auckland and the Mazda, well, refer to the title of this post.

WANTED: Some Kiwi friends

We have four new friends so far - I think I can call them friends. Maybe I should double check with them first....

Anyways, if you add Brandon and Kristen that makes six people that we know in New Zealand. Not bad, I'd say. However, they are all Canadian!

I guess "birds of a feather really do stick together". We have had dinner parties, gone to the beach, picnicked by a old volcano crater, had authentic Chinese tea and this weekend we are thinking of going to a National Barista Competition! Stay tuned for an update on that one.

We just find it funny that we are all Canadian! But it is nice to have people who understand you and know where you come from.

I'm sure we will find some Kiwi friends eventually. We might just have to branch out a bit. We do know the local bakery owner, Tui, who we quite regularly visit to buy morning croissants and late night mud cake! Delicious. Tui is actually Vietnamese, but I think she's lived here long enough to be our closest thing to a Kiwi friend!

On another note, we purchased a car! It's a 1996 Mazda Cappella, diesel, station wagon, with two little funny seats in the trunk that technically make it a 7 seater. We like it. And I have now driven on the left side of the road multiple times and not crashed into anything. Let's hope my record stays clear!

We find out about a potential job for Mark tomorrow and then we will hopefully know where we are going to settle. Until then, it's another sunny day with no responsibilities!

Look both ways...

Many things about New Zealand are nice and familiar with home in Canada. But some things are different - let me tell you about a few that I find particularly interesting, amusing, or even in some cases, annoying.

Driving on the left side of the road. I have yet to attempt this. Mark is pretty comfortable with it, but he has also done it before. However, driving is not even the least of my worries with the whole "wrong" side of the road thing. Being a pedestrian, is in fact much more dangerous. I constantly look the wrong way before stepping off the curb. Also, here in New Zealand pedestrians are not held in very high regard. There are few marked crosswalks where cars have to actually stop for pedestrians. The rest of the time, you run when it's clear. Stop lights also tend to take an abnormally long amount of time before the RED man (yes, that's right. A man, not a hand) turns into a GREEN man.

Buying a cell phone. This is apparently a big deal here. When we purchased our cell phones (or should I say MOBILES) we had to provide passports, visa documentation, previous addresses, etc. before being run through a credit check and then being granted our phones. I guess not just any old person can get a mobile. You might do some dangerous calling.

Wattie's Tomato sauce. This is a poor excuse for ketchup. Enough said.

Milk labels. Milk here is not sorted by Skim, 1%, 2% and so on. Instead, I have noticed the following so far: Trim, Lite, and Standard - I think different brands come up with their own names. The confusing part is you might think that Lite would mean it was Skim or at least 1%. But it was actually 1.5%. Not that Lite. And yes, Lite is spelled the way I'm spelling it.

But despite all these and many more funny things, we are still loving it here. The weather is great, the landscape is breathtaking and we are making new friends. Still no jobs or a house yet, but hopefully soon!