s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

I’ve been sent to Auckland for training this week. Here’s what I’ve been up to so far:

Monday

Got up early to catch plane. Class is good. BONUS: The class PCs have internet connections, so I can check email on the breaks. Rowena and Sala from my former workplace are here, so I can catch up on the gossip. Browsed my way up Queen Street (the Russian shop had this adorable little ceramic ermine, with an egg in its mouth — egg-sucking vermin!!) and had dinner at the Mexican place across from the Sky Tower — pretty good. Went to check out the city library (Conveniently around the corner from my hotel) after dinner — I’m looking for pictures of medieval rolls of arms, so I can check out period art styles. BUT ! All their heraldry books are either in the basement, and you have to ask someone to go and get them for you, or they’re in the special geneological research section, which unless you have a library card, you have to pay to get into. YOu have to pay to look at their books ! BOO!!

Tuesday

The hotel restaurant does a good waffle. Yum. Learning heaps in class. Scooted up to K’Road afterwards, because that’s where a lot of the funky shops are, but they mostly all close at 5:30 or 6, so only got into a couple. Then dinner with Emily and her brother, who managed to squeeze me into the midst of their whirlwind tour (they’d just gotten back from the Rotorua-Taupo loop, and Em was off to Christchurch the next morning). We went to the place all the US ex-pats apparently refer to as “that new Cali-Mex place in the Viaduct”. It was good — you pick what you want and they build it for you, and their salsas and stuff taste right. Oh, and I had my first iced tea in a dog’s age; it was just Lipton, but since we’re in NZ it’s made with honest sugar water instead of corn syrup. We talked about politics, and about how surreal it is to be in another country when something like Katrina happens (Em was here for 9/11 as well). Discovered on the walk back that half the Asian-run tourist shops here sell imported alpaca rugs (under a Made in NZ label), most of them made out of cria skins ! That’s a LOT of cria. One of the shops had a life-sized stuffed llama in the window (I’m pretty sure it was made from alpaca, though). Pretty wacky. BONUS: Emily’s loaned me her library card ! YAY!! DOUBLE BONUS: Emily is offically job-hunting in Wellington — she’s had phone interviews and everything.

Wednesday

Waffles at a different restaurant this morning (a Belgian pub in Vulcan Lane), and I picked up some Dunkin’ Donuts to have with tea later (okay, I’m weak). Rowena and I grabbed some quick sushi for lunch (just as the fire alarm was going off in the Food Court) and scarfed it on the way to the Victoria Park Market. We took the wrong way back, though, and were late getting back to class. Oops. Frankie (from AKL University) showed me how to grab a bus to the top of Queen Street so I could try and hit a couple more shops in K’Road before everything closed. SCORE: I nabbed a $400 silk sari for $75. Love those clearance tables. Emily’s card got me into the geneology section. Didn’t find any good art, but did find a couple wacky devices and a little pamphlet on heraldic beasties with a good bibliography. Might head back today and try some of the basement books. Dinner (left the library a half hour before it closed, on account of I was so hungry) was at the Tanuki Sake-and-Sushi Bar across the street from my hotel. Very cool ! Tanuki figurines everywhere and I got to sit at the bar & watch the grand frantic ballet of all the food being prepared. Way fun.