Kia Ora! So we've been warned about the service here at restaurants. There is no tipping here because the employees make a pretty good wage, but because there is no tipping, they don't really feel the need to give you fantastic service. Not really my style. For some reason this also means they take longer to do everything. Anyways, six of us ventured out last night to find some food. It took us a while to decide on somewhere because everything is so expensive, and we're all so cheap. We finally decided on Coyote's, which offered a range of food options. So initially they bring you a bottle of water and some menus.Then they decide to give you a good half an hour to decide what you want. Well probably not half an hour but it sure seems that way when you're already starving. When they finally do come get your order its definitely a half an hour if not longer to get your food. We've all decided we need to go out before we're hungry. So the food finally comes and we're all chowin down like there's no tomorrow, and they never come back to ask how your food is or if you need anything else. They may stop by once. So we all finished our dinner and are waiting for our plates to be cleared and to get the check. And we're waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more. Our waiter finally comes back to get our plates and asks if we want dessert or if there's anything else we want. We say no and hope that means the check is coming. We watch him walk away and go do something else. Stupid us, we still keep waiting for the check. After a good ten minutes we finally walk up to the bar to pay, which is exactly what we were supposed to do. We're all pretty sure that they knew we were Americans and wanted to see how stupid we could be. It worked. We then walked up the gigantic hill and worked off all our food. We then went to hang out at one of our friend's houses, where we learned from his Kiwi Mate all about the service issues and how to pay for your bill.
Today was a fantastic day of orientation. So exhilarating. Not really. Boring, boring, boring. They throw so much information at you that you'll never ever need to know. But I got to take a campus tour of the campus that I won't really be on. How exciting, but we got free lunch. However, I'm super annoyed. Over Christmas break I had to enroll online for classes, but it was more of a pre-enrollment because I don't actually enroll until tomorrow. Well today I went to pick up all my information, and they have no record of my online enrollment. Super annoying. So of course I had to fill out the exact same thing all over again. After all the excitement, I went back home and hung out with some of my flatmates on our back porch. Then I ventured over to Mary's flat, which is on the other side of the hill. Poor Mary has an awful awful room. She paid for single, but has to walk through another girl's room to get to hers. Her room is basically the size of a walk-in closet. There is room for a desk, her bed, and a bookshelf. That is literally it. Anyways, Nicole, Mary, and I headed downtown to do some grocery shopping because Mary still didn't have any groceries. So we stopped to get some Thai food, which was delicious, but again it took forever to get our food, but we knew enough to go get our own check.We then ran to the grocery store where we unexpectedly met up Emmi, Devon, and Aaron, some of our AustraLearn friends.
After exploring the grocery store, we headed home hoping to find a way around the steep hill. we found one that was a little less steep, but a little longer and added a lot more excitement. As we're walking a few people in the group heard a loud thud, and then we all heard screaming and crying. Somebody got hit by a car, or at least that's what we think it was. We wanted to go help, but it was a bit ways up another hill, and we could see a small group of people in the road, and then cars stopped, and we heard the ambulances coming. Even though we weren't doing anything to help, we all felt the need to stay until the ambulance got there. I sure hope they're okay. The drivers here are kind of crazy, and pedestrians do not have the right of way, especially if there is no traffic light. It also reminds us all to look right and then left because they drive on the other side of the road. Anyways, then we all headed home, and Mary, Nicole, and I decided to research some trips for next week before school starts.We looked at Fiji, some island off of New Zealand somewhere, or Milford Sound. We're still deciding. After that I hung out with my roommates. Helen and I were being nerds and discussing architecture, while she looked through my portfolio. She's only a second year, so she's super excited about all the things I know and can teach her.
Side note: You can see Orion's belt from the southern hemisphere, but it is upside down. We all have been so confused on why we could see it because we knew the stars were different, but I just looked it up and it is visible here until late summer. So it should be disappearing here pretty soon. Until next time...
Kia Ora,
~Laura
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