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The Big Move to Quake City, Roommate Auditions And Safe Sex (Six)
So I'm on the bus to Christchurch - woohoo. I am so happy to be on the bus out of that fake fake town, I can't deal with Hollywood anymore so I'm moving back to the real world where the streets are not made of gold and where people are genuinely nice and amazingly real life kiwi's live. welcome to the real New Zealand! It actually gives me the same feeling I used to get going on holiday when I lived in England - when the plane takes off and you know you're leaving all that s*** work behind for a few weeks. So it was a happy time for me that day being a bus w***er. Obviously beautiful scenery the whole way, and we got to do the stop at Lake Tekapo which really excited me as it is my favourite part of Kiwi Land so I had my little picnic of bacon sarnies already prepared so I just sat on the lake for lunch chilling in the sunshine and took some scenic snaps as it is so pretty there. Photos do not do it justice though that's for sure. But yeah it was a fun bus ride I napped, I ate it was awesome. The nearer to Chch I got it seemed to getting cold looking and cloudy. I was not happy I love blue skies and sunshine at all times remember.
I arrived anyways, J9 came and picked me up like a love she is. I had so much crap, I have my backpacker backpack, my pink backpack that has my essentials in (food, phone charger, laptop, pink headband and travel wallet) basically everything I actually need. And also Emma left me a green suitcase and tons of clothes so this is full of this crap… I have so much s*** now I'm living somewhere cold haha oops! But it will all be getting dumped to charity or backpackers when I leave the country in March. So anyway me and J9 go straight for dinner with Laurie who she worked with in Oz who I also know as I was always in Ludlow's drinking wine. And Laurie's best friend Ryan we go for a few drinks in a bar Chinwags maybe? And then head to Mexicano's where J9 is manager. Mexi's is lush I went last time I was here so we order tons of food as Laurie and Ryan haven't been so we get far too much and I end up taking most of it home with me wahey!! I also have a margarita there - first one for a long time and to be honest its s***!! Oh dear!! Sarah McBeavis would not have been impressed!!
So me and J9 go and get wine and chocolate on our way home and chill out in front of the tv before we head to bed shattered. I have my own room here for the first time in such a long time!! It's so weird being in a room without someone coming through it all the time, it feels quiet!! It's also bloody freezing which is horrendous! The one good thing about living in QT was where we lived in Sherwood with free unlimited heating and electric blankets. So I go to bed in my onsie and I am still freezing. Oh well.
The next day I am up bright and early getting prepared for an interview I have with a job agency. J9 kindly takes me as I have no clue where I am in the world. Chch seems huge compared to QT. So I go in thinking I'll be in there 30 minutes max I end up being in there over 90 minutes, I am interviewed, tested in word, excel and typing proficiency. So my word and typing is cool but I am an absolute excel special head I cannot do a spreadsheet for anything I can't do the formulas or understand it haha. But anyway after like 1 hour of testing they say they will speak to the guys at Earthquake recovery as they have a lot of admin roles going so hopefully could get me a contract until I leave the country when my visa is up. So I leave feeling pretty positive they will get me some work, the lady who did the whole thing was absolutely lovely so I'm feeling pretty good. J9 bless her is still waiting for me outside having watched neighbours and did some work emails with no distractions! What a good egg. We then head for chips from a chippy. We want a chip buttie but the lady says no, even though they sell burgers so clearly they have buns… kiwi logic!!
So J9 heads to work and I head out investigating the local area checking out the shops and things out. They have countdown here its f***ing brilliant after being in the most expensive part of the world ever for the past few months everything seems so cheap. Bottles of wine are from $7 and not just the s*** ones which is what happened in QT. And bars of Cadbury are way cheaper too. I bloody love this place. I then get a phonecall from my agency offering me work for Earthquake recovery I'm buzzing as I actually wanted to work for them before I even got here I feel if you're going to live somewhere that was so massively affected by 2 big earthquakes and they still have a loooong way to go in getting the place back to 'normal' again then you should do the best you can to get involved in that.
Lots of people still aren't in their houses and are waiting repairs and it all takes such a long time. The whole city was destroyed pretty much so it's full of building work and empty spaces and just tradies everywhere. So many cranes and trucks full of building materials everywhere. It's such an amazing time to be living here I think as it's the middle of the repairs, there is so amazing things popped up everywhere. Obviously there is the container mall Re:Start which is shops all inside the shipping containers, which are actually the safest things in earthquakes as they hold their weight and aren't likely to split in half as they're metal. It looks weird, very funky and cool. It's a genius idea and good on the people of Christchurch for making the best out of a bad situation. There is bars in containers, food joints and even dairy's (a dairy is a corner shop here in case you're confused) popped up. All through the city just random containers popped up selling something. It's really cool. There is even a golf course popped up in the city randomly. You will be walking round through basically nothing and you will come across an amazing Thai food takeaway/café container just there.
There is such a good buzz about the whole place. When I first came to Christchurch, if you read my earlier blogs I did not like the place at all; it seemed to empty and scary for me to live here on an earthquake fault line. But I'm so glad I changed my mind and came to give it ago. I love this place so much already, the whole time I had previously spent in NZ I never considered the idea of living here ever permanently and now I could totally see myself living here having a nice live. The people of Chch are extremely friendly. It's one of the first things I noticed when I got here. Everyone smiles at each other and says hello when you're in a neighbourhood. After getting the bus for less than a week I knew the bus drivers. They all say good morning and goodbye when you get off the bus. It's such a different experience to buses at home where infact I just read a story about a man taking a s*** on a bus in Newcastle the other day? Seriously! What is wrong with the UK? So yeah I am very happy here so far. Just wandering round the city gives me such a good feeling, it has such a good vibe. It sounds strange, and a lot of people couldn't understand why I was coming here and neither could I to some extent but I knew I needed to save and could get a well paid job here. But it's actually such a cool place. The New York Times voted it number 2 of places to visit in 2014 and I think that is such good advice as not many places in the world are where Chch is right now. They're getting the chance to do what they want with the city, apparently they're trying to make it Melbourne like which I think is wicked and the best city ever so good luck to them it's certainly going in the right direction.
So yeah, I went off on one there... oops. So I got a job offer wahey!! Paying me way more than those disgusting wages I was expected to be happy about being on in QT. Finally a proper job!! So they say I can start the day after tomorrow as I will need a day to figure out how to get there. Sweet so i'm starting on Thursday - Buzzing. I need smart office attire. oh great. I have all the clothes in the world with me including a sparkly white dress that is hugely inappropriate for a backpacker to carry round the world... of course I have no office gear having not worked in a proper office since the UK and even then to be fair i didnt need to wear smart gear. So I plan my next day - shopping and figuring out where I work. Plan!
The next day I go to Riccarton Mall which has a cotton on and a Kmart. I told you i loved this place. So happy I get tons of stuff from Kmart and the cotton on turns out to be s*** - dammit. I head to work on the bus and figure out where I do actually work and its easy peasy to get to from my house so I am happy and sorted.
So I start work the next day, its cool everyone seems lovely. Its all a bit manic as they are having an office movearound. Sounds familiar to me, we used to move every 2 weeks back at home at work haha. I am introduced to about a million people its insane, but it's cool I'm enjoying the atmosphere its cool to be back in work in a proper place again it has been a loooong time. The exciting news in the office is that on friday we're getting a sausage sizzle and drinks not sure why but wahey! i love this place already. And it appears next friday we're getting a hog roast and drinks. What a winner of a job. Imagine free wine at work on a friday back at home haha yeah right! Over the course of my first weeks here I have had these friday drinking occasions with food, also been taken out for morning tea to a lovely cafe where I had an amazing date scone and a mocha and we have also been out for a team bonding lunch to a lovely restaurant. They're all about the bonding which is cool.
So one of the funny things that has happened since I moved to Chch is that I went on a date one night, it was very funny (awkward) and reminded me I am not really the dating type haha. It was nothing like mine and ginger Rob's ice bar date as that was fun. This guy was called Jared which already really should have put me off, he was a proper grown up kinda guy. He was a kiwi who had never really left NZ apart from to 'travel' Fiji, but by travelling he meant staying in a fancy resort and keeping away from the poor people... oh dear. What a winner. Not. He had his own business and kept going on about it, and I wasn't arsed in hearing about it to be honest. He was a little too proud of himself. He kept asking what I liked to do in my spare time, so I said drinking tea, eating out, writing my blog, going to the pub with my mates. and that apparently wasnt enough, he wanted sports and all sorts. So I said I liked going for a hike every now and again. He though I meant on like weekends away just pure walking and camping in the mountains... erm na like. After 5 minutes of talking to him I realised I had made a mistake in agreeing to this so I spent the night drinking as much wine as I could manage as he told me he had a tab and I decided I probably wasnt gonna offer to pay for any of the drinks at the end haha nice girl. But he was a p****and did spend a lot of time telling me how rich he was and I am the opposite of rich. So after 3 wines and a rum and diet I made my excuses about needing an early night for my early start and did a runner to the taxi rank. Funny now but at the time I was traumatised haha.
So since moving here I also had really good WIFI for the first time since I got to NZ pretty much so I skyped/facetimed everyone I could - my parents, my sis, Minto, McBeavis, Alannah and our Claire. So that was cool catching up with everyone!! I also called James and had a lovely catch up with him and he is getting his permanent residency which is awesome I'm so happy for him! living in Margs for the rest of his life!! So lucky! I am definitely going to head back there when I move back to Australia I miss that place so much. Literally my favourite place in the world!!
So It was time for operation House Hunt. J9 and her housemates are getting booted out soon as their lease is up and whatnot so I knew I needed to find a room asap as they're moving to miles away from town. So I got on the look out.I viewed so many places and met so many people. I met two of them in the pub one night as they had found a place to rent but couldnt move in yet so I had to meet them and check out photos...? random! She was irish and he was a southerner. So I instantly asked if he was a southern fairy. Of course he was massively offended by this so he clearly was/is. They both came accross like absolute conceited little dickheads. I couldnt deal with them. They were going on like it was a job interview for bloody Miss World. They were just plain weird. I didnt like them at all, I dont think they liked how common I was either haha. I told them I wasnt interested in living with them when I left. Another one of the places I viewed was with 4 girls in this lovely big house and they all seemed really nice, they asked me to come back for a second viewing to meet the other housenates who werent there the first night so I went over again at 8pm like I have nothing better to do with my nights than trapse round bloody Chch. So I was back being auditioned again, its like bloody xfactor man it gets ridiculous when you're looking for somewhere to live. Clearly I dont wanna live with a nun but dont want to live in a party house either, just want nice housemates I can have a beer with and nice chat on a night when i'm having my tea. They were all those things seemed like cool girls until they text me saying sorry but infact their friend was gonna move in instead. Thanks girls for wasting my time! seriously annoyed about that. However everything happens for a reason. Another house was lovely 3 bedrooms 2 girls showed me round one was a bit of a geek the other seemed super cool and then the cool girl tells me she's moving out and the other housemate is a lad who never leaves his room. Great. I then view a house that had 6 bedrooms i meet two of the lads who live there, they tell me there is an irishman, an english man and a scotsman (not really but sort of) and they tell me about all these other cool housemnates but then one says but they're all moving out. I actually cant tell if these people ever existed I was so confused. It felt a bit like I was going to move in to be murdered or kidnapped or something. Really weird people. So obviously it wasnt going well looking for somewhere.
I then saw an ad online a room in a house full of 6 boys mainly English. Just north of the city, next to Hagley Park. It sounds perfect to me so I arrange to view that so I go over on the night I've just met the weird irish girl and southern fairy. I head to the house when I get inside a huge dog jumps on me and I almost fall over. They show me the room its f***ing massive. I am buzzing its all wooden floors and original wooden fitted wardrobes. Vintage as fook man. So its so cool for me. And its cheap, I meet a few of the lads then I tell them I want the room for sure and they're happy to have me. I end up going round the next night for a few beers with them to meet the others and its awesome. they are just normal!! Nice lads, who are super funny. So there is another girl too a french girl called Sophie, and the other none english person is a Peruvian called Joel. Then there's Chris, Skel, Jordan and Andy. So we are a lovely little house. Chris came and picked me and all my crap up when I moved in bless him! what a good lad. They all work monday to friday so weekends are when it all goes off for them which suits me perfectly! The dog is called Frank, he's a cross between a staffy, boxer, a pitbull maybe and something else really random. But he is a lovely softie. He's a good dog and he knows he isn't allowed in the kitchen and he knows he cant have his bones in the house. He has the most gorgeous puppy dog eyes on him too! He can well make you feel guilty with his sad little eyes! Its nice being in a house with a dog though I must admit. Although he is going off to live back in australia soon with Chris's ex girlfriend as apparently she has won custody of the dog? Such a shame!
So yesterday was Saturday I ended up going to the Mall with Jordan and Andy, they went to the Library for some stuff they wanted printing off, they we got back and had a BBQ which was so nice! Andy is BBQ master so we all sat and watched him cook everything perfectly drinking a few beers it was lush. It wasnt hot yesterday either we just decided to chill with some food as some of the lads were going to a rave on the night. Random. After the BBQ and beer I was well tired so I had a little nap which was nice! Then later on me and Andy watched Captain America and then some documentary about John Bishop cycling Oz and we reminisced about Oz as we both love it over there!!
So since I've moved out it has pretty much cut my commute time in half which is nice, and I live near so much cool stuff!! And TJ who I met in QT came over for a cuppa the other day as he was in Chch that night as he was flying of there the next day and then the next day I met Stefan who I worked with in QT as he had just drove to Chch as he too was leaving the next day for Wellington, we hung out in the botanical gardens after I finished work then we went for food in Orleans in Stranges Lane which is a very cool place all tapas style food we were advised it was the best fried chicken ever there by one of the guys who works at Stanges Lane so we had some of that and it was amazing. It was nice to see Stefan he told me he got a free Odyssey T Shirt and got taken out for a nice meal to Flame for leaving. They obviously forgot about my free stuff when I left! I did think it was funny as he was clearly being rewarded for never speaking his mind, defending his fellow collegues and generally being a pushover at work. I'm glad I am none of those and will always defend my colleagues when I need to and I will always question things that dont make sense to me. It turns out Sophie has also handed her notice in there too now. How funny that since they opened 2 people have quit, 2 have been sacked and 1 just worked his contract depsite the fact he is in NZ until after Christmas. I wonder how the new staff are appreciating the work environment there. And I wonder how many staff they will need to go through before they realise the true issue there. Nevermind though onwards and upwards. So glad I am out of that crap now.
In a few weeks some of the girls from QT are moving to Wellington so they will be going through here on the way so I will be able to see them which will nice to have a catch up with them. Its cool where I'm working now as there is a good few girls working there around my age, one of the girls is a kiwi and she's going to Asia in March by herself too, then she's planning on heading to the UK which is cool. Its funny when you meet Kiwi's and Aussies going to the UK as it just seems way more likely for brits to come here but I suppose most of them wont be going to Newcastle to be fair - although they do love Geordie Shore over here so maybe they will now. I just never met any in my whole time of living there I dont think.
Also one of the most funny things in NZ is how they pronounce their words. When they say six they say sex and when they say deck they say dick. So in my new job there is a goverment safety thing called Safe Six for all the tradies, its all heights and abestos stuff pretty much but we have meetings at work and they're like 'Tracy can you tell us a precaution of safe sex?' and I just want to cry inside I think its so funny. And they repeat it alot. It is sooo funny. I just avoid eye contact with any of the brits there as we are all wanting to laugh so loud and we cant haha. Bloody kiwi comedy gold for sure.
So yeah this is my new life all explained I think, although I have been getting chatted up on my new bus route to work since I moved by a lovely irish lad although I'm sure that is a story for next time. Big love to you all!! love and miss you all xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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