Unfortunately its the former. Before I even got the chance to start my future career as secret shopper extraordinare, I got loaded down with work. First I got a couple days laboring work from my temp agency, then Steph's hotel called and needed help with a conference. Before I knew it, I had 6 straight days of work. I haven't played frisbee golf in over a week. It's horrible. Actually the work wasn't so bad. I had three days at Steph's hotel - two helping remove dirty dishes and other misc work during conferences, and another doing the same during breakfast. I'm not actually taking any orders or anything, which is a relief. Everyone there is pretty nice, and there are people from all over - Scotland, England, Israel, India, and even a couple Kiwis. I also had a half day helping a guy deliver furniture, and two days setting up this huge tent for a cherry blossom festival in nearby Alexandra. All pretty easy. I was actually kind of looking forward to taking Steph to the festival, since the cherry blossoms around here are blooming and really pretty, but I didn't see a single one in Alexandra. Not sure what's going on there. Anyways, Steph also had a busy week, working 5 days at the hotel. We got to work together during one of the conferences, which was a bit strange but altogether pretty good. I got to keep an eye on her when any guys started flirting with her. I swear I heard guys say "so where ya from?" to her at least 4 or 5 times. Nobody asked me once. Maybe it's the southern accent, but I have a feeling there was another reason...
Speaking of jobs, I think I've found my real gig for this summer: riverboarding guide. Riverboarding (aka sledging or river surfing) is where people willing pay money to jump in a raging river (freezing cold, I might add) with only a wetsuit and a boogey-board. It's quite strange but I've heard it was a lot of fun, so when I saw an add in the local paper looking for guides, I jumped on it. Today I started a 4 day course, which will be followed by many more trips on my own (tagging along with the guests), a safety rescue course in mid-November, after which I will be an official NZ riverboarding guide. I'm a bit nervous about people trusting me with their lives, but hopefully the courses will take care of that. We did a total of 5 runs today, and I have to be honest here, it wasn't that great. Did I mention the water is freezing? They said it was about 46 F. We had wetsuits of course, but still. This played a big part in it being not-so-fun, but also its pretty tough (and I am out of shape). The river is quite strong and you have to do a lot of kicking. Cramps and tired legs followed. I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. Regardless, I'm going to have to tough it out because it should be a great job come summer. Here is a link to a clip of what I'll be doing: (FYI the rapid in the clip is called "man-eater".)
Work has kept us pretty busy since our last post, so we haven't really done anything else of note. Everybody should be happy to hear that the recent flooding in Georgia has even made our news here in NZ! We saw a story about all the flooding, then another about the sinkhole that swallowed the car in Gwinnett county (they didn't mention Gwinnett by name though). Too bad they missed the part about how the car was broken into and its stereo stolen while in a sinkhole. Come on, that is funny. Steph also wants me to mention a hot news story around here - apparently some Auckland police entered a house with a search warrant. Since nobody was home, so they decided to take advantage and play the owner's Wii - for EIGHT hours. The owner had a hidden camera and it was all caught on tape. The video of a guy jumping up and down when he bowled a strike on Wii Sports was classic.
Hope everything is good in the states. Stay dry. Wish I could do the same...
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