Changes in Latitudes

Have a day off from work today and it's raining. Yesterday I worked from 8AM til 6:30PM and of course it was a beautiful day that I missed out on. The forecast today shows rain with a high of 20 degrees C. It's fairly humid as well. So I guess today is a good day to clean up the apartment. Christmas was definitely not what I was used to and it made me a little bit homesick. I worked Christmas Eve for 11 hours and when I got home I finished baking sugar cookies and made some oyster stew while I had "It's a Wonderful Life" playing on my laptop. My flatmates had disappeared for the night, so I went up to St.Paul's Anglican church on Symonds Street for mass at 11. I was there alone, but I managed to sit next to a nice lady who was also there alone. The service had the same carols as the service that we have at the cathedral in Detroit; however, the lyrics to "Angels We Have Heard On High" were different. Instead of singing "Gloria" they sing ...

Photo 1: The flowers in Albert Park. Photo 2: The Christmastime landmark in Auckland, the Whitcoull's Santa and Reindeer. Luckily this year he doesn't wink and his finger doesn't move.

People just don't celebrate Christmas as much as we do in the northern hemisphere. The typical Kiwi Christmas is a BBQ at the beach. I have tried my best to maintain the Christmas spirit like that which is expressed back home. I have made gingerbread cookies, turn on the Christmas tree every evening, watch the classic Christmas movies, and five hours worth of Christmas music on my iPod. My flatmates think it is so weird that I'm doing all of this. Really different for them I guess.

Had some days off from work at Kathmandu so I'm enjoying the nice weather while I have the time off. Wednesday I went to Mission Bay with Scylla (Brazilian) to visit Eike (German) at his work. He let us go out on the paddle boat for free and we got to get tan. That night I got an email from a local whale watching company that they are hiring. So I gave them my resume and I hope to hear back from them soon. Getting a job for that company would not only be fun, but look good for a start on my resume. Today I walked along the harbor to the different marinas to price out scuba certification. I saw a penguin swimming alongside where I was walking. It was really cool. I almost always see some sort of marine animal when I walk along the harbor; usually jellyfish and now penguin. Later, I went to Muriwai with Eike and Frank. The waves weren't too huge, but enough for me to body surf and have fun on the boogie board. It's now 9:35PM and I'm cooking some corned beef that should l...

It is 22.5 degrees C, so 72 degrees F here and yet it's December 3rd. On Queen Street there is a huge Santa and reindeer on the side of a building. It is creepy even though last year it winked and the finger moved. It doesn't feel like Christmas. I'm trying to get more in the holiday spirit, but it's hard with the summer weather. I play some Christmas music and my flatmates yell at me that it's still too early and last night I watched "Christmas Vacation." The other night my flatmates and I went to Danny Doolan's, a bar that has live music. The next morning I found out that about a half hour after I went back home Green Day grabbed a guitar and played. I'm not sure if I believe it or not, but if it's really true then I was probably inches away from them and didn't even realize it.