Smiles

Experiences that make me smile happen so often but here are a couple of my favorites from the last month.

Brunch:

A group of us had decided to meet up for a $5 english breakfast so after rounding the troups (except JJ cause I forgot I had his number) we went down to the pub. Arriving at 11:00 on a saturday we were asked for id, to eat breakfast. As we all had been out the night before this was quite confusing and because I only had my Minnesota license (which is really thin and looks kinda fake) I almost didn't get breakfast. The best part of this is that I have never had a problem with my id while actually drinking.

Mikenna had been holding the table so she went to get water...and was also id'd. To continue with the amazingness the menu had stated scrambled eggs and they came out sunnyside up. Than Sebastian did not receive his breakfast. With the grand finale of the amazing breakfast to have a dove fly out of Mikenna's hair...we didn't know that she was a magician! Okay so it just flew right by her head but overall the brunch was great since it was so interesting.

Golf:

During week 8 post arm break, which is when I should have been able to ride my bike the weather was incredibly windy and/or raining. As such I could not try to ride again. This made me unhappy and I started to get in quite a funk.

So when Friday came around and it was raining and JJ suggested the driving range I was super excited. Everyone had to wait until after my physio appointment...where I asked if golfing was okay. She said that if I hit the ground it would be really painful but take it easy and stop when it starts getting tired.

JJ, Jorge, Max, Ester and I all got into the car and were getting a little concerned as lightening and than hail came down. I can only imagine what our motley crew looked like as we dashed from the car through the rain into the range. Jorge and I are both lefthanded golfers so we fought for clubs (okay so we didn't).

I got through about a half bucket of balls before I couldn't hold my club anymore. It felt great to be able to get out aggression through the balls and my 6 iron skills were actually better than normal. The only thing was I couldn't use my woods because the vibrations came back into my arm, which is my favorite part of the game.

Watching JJ, Ester and Max's form

I then watched the others. Everyone has their own style and it's great to watch people. Jorge's is a really fast swing. Max has a short aggressive swing. Ester has a tense/relaxed swing. JJ has a relaxed natural swing. I suppose if I was my normal self I wouldn't have seen any of this but it's interesting to see how people move when doing activities.

We than continued on and drove around the bays...the route I had taken on my bike a couple of months earlier. Luckily the wind was so fierce that there was no way I would've been out on my bike that day. We stopped at the Chocolate Fish cafe and continued to the Bach Cafe. Where Ester had the most amazing Iced Chocolate...it had marshmellow, ice cream, chocolate flakes, chocolate sauce and chocolate milk....in other words it was amazing.

We got back in time to have downtime prior to starting Sarah and Michelle's going away party.

Pirates vs. Gypsies:

I realized that I had been to only one concert since I got to New Zealand and that I needed to dance to a live band. Mikenna in need of a show so we made it our goal to find some on Saturday night. We also convinced a group that they wanted to go.

We were going to wander to a couple of bars hoping for good music but Jack came back talking of Pirates vs. Gypsies. This was all the information that was given to us but did we need more? No, because it was Pirates vs. Gypsies. Going up the stairs to the Mighty Mighty I had no idea what to expect but once getting into the venue I knew this was going to be an amazing night.

The venue was cozy but decent sized with couches and chairs in case you didn't want to dance. Entering the band had eye patches and a washboard player...punkish stylings. It was lively and fun to dance to and even Max got on the floor.

The second band, the gypsies, came out through the crowd with a sax, trumpet, accordian, trombone, and tuba. Generally the evening was exactly what I needed and so much dancing happened. It's crazy how much more fun dancing is when it's to a band and not a DJ. The best $5 I've spent in a long time.

Clean up:

It was National Clean Up week so the hostel adopted the street outside to clean up. Well there is a walking path up to the hostel that is a perfect spot to sit at night and drink....which is evident if you have to clean it up. We had 20 bags full of trash and barely dented the garbage.

After the clean up we decided to go for fish and chips and than a walk. We had a massive amount of fish and chips and continued to the beach. We started up a creek bed and saw a little dam. Continuing on we crossed the creek a couple of times. Since my new hiking boots are waterproof I decided to take my own route across...which ended up with me falling in the creek...yes I am that good at life. My pride has officially died and I buried at sea.