Last weekend was a fairly routine weekend. I went out on the town Friday night with a new friend named Sarah. She is from Australia, but has been living in Blenheim for a few years and had asked Tony and I to meet up for a drink. Tony was dead tired by 8pm since he actually had worked that week unlike myself and I took her up on the offer. Blenheim is a pretty small town of about 26,000 people, so it is certainly not known for it’s nightlife. However they do have a few places in town where other people are seeking entertainment and reasons to get out of the house. We started at a pub called Fairweather’s and carried on to a little Irish bar for our second round. There we found a trio band playing some mellow kiwi music and of course playing some all time American hits like “Sweet Home Alabama.” I couldn’t help but laugh, because most people here have no idea where Alabama is, but all recite the lyrics just as well as any red blooded American could. Saturday Tony and I finally cleaned out our storage unit in Nelson, which is about 1 ½ hours away and $80 worth of fuel. The only thing that really remained in the unit was a few pieces of luggage and the back seats to the van we had been sleeping in. We hauled our possessions back to our cozy spot in Blenheim and have become overwhelmed with suitcases. I unpacked some clothes that have been sealed in a space bag in storage for the entire trip and found myself with my nose dug into the shirt exclaiming to Tony that it smelled like home. Sunday we went fishing and I did not have any luck, but Tony walked away with a few small fish, but with no evidence. His camera has been broken for a few weeks now, so he decided to take my iPhone 5 to use instead. What was discovered that day is that the “otter box” case may be water resistant, but certainly is not waterproof. Instead of Tony putting the phone into the waterproof pockets in his waders, he thought it would be safer in the hidden pocket inside of his waders, which probably would have been true if he had not slipped in the river and taken a quick trip down the river getting water inside of his waders and on my phone. I couldn’t control myself and had to test the phone. The speakers did not work and you could not hear anyone on the other line, which would defeat the purpose of it being a phone. Tony reluctantly stopped fishing so that I could attempt to fix it. After a day in a bag of rice with a silica packet, the phone was just fine. There will be no more phone fishing for Tony until there is a waterproof case.
This week marked my second week of no work. Another week has been filled with some exercising, web surfing, walks to the grocery store, pinterest recipes, laundry, and cooking. I have been able to catch up on several recipes that I have been wanting to try and they have not turned out half bad. Chicken with cinnamon apples, quinoa stuffed squash, and a new favorite- sweet potato burritos with avocado sauce and feijoa salsa. Tony is now bringing home random fruit he is finding and feijoa’s is a kiwi favorite. There is also an apple tree in our landlord’s yard and Tony takes more than even he could possibly eat. The apples at the top of the tree are of course the biggest and best, but with no ladder this presented a small problem. Tony’s solution was quite a sight, as he grabbed a rake and preceded to tug the top ones off, only to have me attempting to catch these in a fishing net. We ended up with so many apples there was no choice but for me to bake. There was a loaf of bread we were not eating fast enough, so I decided to make a crock pot apple bread pudding from a fitness magazine recipe. During my gap between jobs we are on a budget, but at least eating healthy. Another fine food specimen that Tony carried home one day included a giant soccer ball since mushroom. Tony and I are not in the habit of gathering wild mushrooms and chancing our lives on them, but I have actually met several normal people who eat wild mushrooms in New Zealand. This “puffball” mushroom was given to him by his boss Martin who has been picking mushrooms since he was 12 and it actually kind of crazy about it. We followed his advice on slicing them into steaks, battering, and frying them. I have to admit they were delicious and we are still alive to tell about eating them.
So far living in the flat is going well, but things might be getting exciting very soon. One Irish guy has moved on, and is being replaced with a family member to the landlords. The other Irish guy and Scottish guy are leaving next week and being replaced by three girls from Chili. That means I will now be sharing 1 single bathroom with 4 girls and 3 guys. Out of all the experiences I was wanting to have in NZ, sharing a shower with that many people was not something I anticipated or am necessarily looking forward to, but at least our landlady does a great job keeping everything clean and tidy.
