Wandering around Windy Wellington….that's basically what I've been doing the last two weeks. Relaxing city when it's sunny...everybody is out on the streets and walking along the waterside, music everywhere and loads of nice places to get a coffee or a drink. I wish I had my skateboard and my mountainbike...but have been running a couple of times instead. Nice to get back in shape, makes me feel way more relaxed and easy bout myself...yay to endorphines and natural highs !!!! (Coz nothing to get high with otherwise, haha).But when it's windy (and raining) it's really windy, and not that nice anymore. Sometimes we were actually in doubt if we were experiencing an earthquake or if it was just the wind shaking the walls of our hostelroom on the 4th floor. The first week I spent with Noortje, Iben and Chaienne, and Tina joined us a bit later. It was her birthday on Friday last week, and she thought that Lotte was going to arrive to join us on Saturday. But we knew that's she actually was arriving on Thursday, as a surprise. So it was the whole Auckland group together on one room....good that our only male roommate left the day before Lotte arrived...voluntarily that is...really ! Iben and Chaienne left to go fruitpicking in Hastings, so it was 4 people left. The weather was quite bad for a week, and I spent most time on my laptop applying for jobs. Bought a full week of internet access for 50 bucks..and that get's you addicted to the Internet haha. But cool to be able to Skype and call home, and use MSN. Usually went out for a coffee and some fresh air, visited Te Papa, the national museum, which takes days to see it all. And we rented heaps of DVD's to watch at night. After a group meal, one person cooking for the rest, saves all a lot of money and a social event as well. This week we even got invited for a "make your own sushi"meal by a Japanese girl...mjummy.Last week the weather improved (it feels like spring right now, really nice and sunny, so just have been out all day, coz....it's going to rain again tomorrow), and we have been laying down in the grass at the botanical gardens two days ago, after taking the cablecar to get there. Tina bought herself a guitar for her birthday, and she earned 13 dollars playing in Cuba street yesterday. I offered to sing along, but then she probably wouldn't have earned any money.... She practises in our room, so we're all going crazy...all having the same songs in our head.Well, although Welly is not too bad, I'm definitely not a big city person....and I'm actually getting pretty bored. Guess I'm the most active person on the room, most of the time everybody is still in bed when I come back from my early morning runs. So I was in doubt what to do next. I was still waiting to hear back about the job in Christchurch.Well, after waiting for over a month (mmm, that's the NZ mentality....relaxed...so if you will hear back in a fortnight it may be a month...) and an email from my side I finally got the answer today. NO ! I had a good interview, but they chose somebody else. I could work on a casual basis...(invalwerk)..but...I can't get a workpermit for that. I was bit disappointed, mainly because I had to wait so long to hear a no, but now I'm ready to make new plans. Determination is my middle name, so I won't give up.I've applied for heaps of jobs.....social work jobs, youth work jobs, community support jobs...and even as glacier guide, receptionist at hostels, working at a camping, sales support worker for Stray/Spaceships and even as a Stray driver (well, that;s actually the coolest job I've applied for). And got heaps of "NO" as well. And yeah, you reach the point of enough NO's.... at least for a while.

I've decided to get in touch with the NZ YMCA to ask if I can do some volunteering for them, and maybe even at a summer camp or outdoor centre. I'm willing to pay for my own expenses, but I just want to do something. And it's something I would love to do, might get me in touch wiht the right people to find a job eventually. And I want to spent my time in New Zealand doing things I like to do. And getting bored in a big city hostel is not what I like at the moment.So, I'm going to stay one more week in Welly, and probably head towards Auckland afterwards, to get my backpack, and then hop on a Stray bus to Raglan to work on my surfing skills. And really want to do some of the multiday tramps on the South island: the Queen Charlotte track, the Heaphy track and a lot more. Bought myself the "Tramping in New Zealand"guide, and really looking forward to spend some time in the bush. Got another phonecall about a job today, they wanted to know my visa status. They really liked my CV, and the person I spoke to will discuss me with the manager.She knew about the whole äpply for residence"process. The thing is, apparently a lot of employers won't consider peolpe like me who have to apply for residence to be able to work. And I can;t get a work permit that easy because even if I get a job as Social Worker I don't have a Social Work degree...because I studied Psychology. Zucht.....All these rules.... Eeven with driver licenses: you can't get a job if you don't have your busdrivers license and your Passenger endorsement yet. But you can't apply for those if you can't prove you're allowed to work in New Zealand. Hellooooooo ??????Tomorrow we're gonna move to the hostel next door. The discount we're on right now (every fourth night for free) ends, so we go to a cheaper place ;-). Ow, and saw my favourite Kiwi drive by in his orange bus twice yesterday. He wasn't able to get out for a drink, so didn't actually speak to him. Maar kreeg wel een smsje dat ik hem moet bellen als ik in de s*** zit. En dat ik niet moet opgeven met zoeken wat ik wil. En dat het alleen maar beter voelt als je dan uiteindelijk slaagt in je missie. Nice to have a friend around !Enne, ik mis jullie allemaal. Echt super alle mailtjes, skypen en reacties op mijn blog. En nachtelijke MSN sessies ;-))))))) (noem geen namen, haha, maarre…een extra knuffel voor de nachtbraker van de week !!!!) Mm, ik heb wel wat achter gelaten…maar voelt ook goed dat er zoveel mensen achter me staan. Ik ga er voor hier, en als het niet lukt dan heb ik er in ieder geval alles uit gehaald. En vanavond gaan we dronken worden !!!!

N.B: The next day now, the weather is horrible, really windy, and everything is flying through the air. And yup, got pretty drunk, finished my bottle of JD. Found out that drinking when you don't feel that great doesn't make you feel any better...just worse. Drank heaps of water before going to sleep because I felt quite sick.... Mmmm, I'm really ready for some activity time, will sort out some stuff and take off next weekend.

Liefs, Marlikiwi