New Digs

Here's a few pics of my neighborhood. Actually all I have is the Farmer's Market across the street and the cathedral on the corner by my house- where they will be holding the services for Sir Edmund Hillary on Tuesday. I noticed as I was leaving today that my house is on the historic register list. If you'd like to read the history on my house, here it is: Takutai
I'll have to add pics later. Currently my room is in a state of disrepair! (MESS!)



I'm off to the ocean with Ursula and Nick in a few minutes (they are the couple from the UK- she's an optometrist with me.)

Yesterday (Saturday), I went to some live scandinavian folk music with my friend Dave at one of Auckland's historic houses. It was beautiful location, lovely house, and they had free chips. I talked to the guy, Randall, at the door and later when I got home and told Kate (my landlady) where we'd gone, she said, "Randall is our neighbor- we're on the historic committee together!" Strange small world. Here's a link to Alberton house if you'd like to see a pic:

Alberton

Last night after I got home, Kate and Tom invited me in for "chips and salad" since they were having sausages. It was the me and the whole crew almost- Mac (16), Hammish (13?), Rachael and Rebecca (5) and the dog, Scooter (always a child at heart). Only Katharine was missing. Afterward, we watched an English murder mystery (Midsomer Murders) midsomermurders - not quite like American TV. By the end, there's about 4-6 dead people.

Then I rolled into bed.

Friday night, I was over at Michelle's (the PhD student from Canada). She made dinner for friends. Every time I go out here, it's like the United Nations- there was someone from South Africa, Sacramento, Jamaica, Canada and me. Great conversation. The only negative was I took a cab home and the cabbie tried to pick me up. Luckily, I'd been smart enough to have him drop me off a block from my house. Yuck. Buses are better.

Photos... of my new commute to work.

Greetings,
I've added a few photos to a previous post- pics of Auckland and Devonport (the suburb with the ferry ride. On this post, I'll add the Auckland Domain, which I walk through to get to work every day. They also have free music on Sundays in the park- and one pic is of the Auckland folks sitting around. (This was mentioned in a previous post as well.)

Cons of "laid-back-ness" and paperwork

Ran into some difficulty getting the University to issue funds into my bank account. Everything here is done electronically (no paper checks). All must have all the appropriate forms, signatures and boxed ticked to be filed. Added to the bureaucracy red tape issue is that much of the staff is still on holiday.

Result= no pay for me. Yet.

Corollary= must pay rent in cash? I hope.

I'll let you know tomorrow if I've become a street person. HA.

Click here if you want some encouragement to slow down your life (this is a link)

National slow down week is Jan 13-19, 2008.
Good little cartoon on life in this link.

Working, sort of.

I've made it through a few days at the University. They are pretty laid back. It'll be interesting to see how it goes when the students start coming back in full force. (Not until Monday.) The University of Auckland has 37,000 students and 3 campuses in Auckland. The optometry program has only about 200 total students. They call it a "boutique program" for good reason.

Optometry has only gotten therapeutics here in the last 3 years, and ophthalmology was actually instrumental in this- they have been helping to forward the career. For you ODs, they use chloremphenical here for eye infections. The horrors!

I have one more night of living in the hotel, then to my little "granny flat" in Parnell. I'm looking forward to really unpacking and hopefully a firmer bed. Though I am pretty content just having a good newspaper to read every day. The New Zealand Herald covers everything- no worries about me forgetting the USA.

Good day to all!