Time in Aucks and off again

I don't know when I started calling Auckland Aucks. I think it is from text messaging, where its just so much easier to abbreviate everything. Although now that Jane showed me how to use predictive texting, I've decided that predictive is the way to go. For those of you guys who don't know what that is, its when you type messages into your phone to send to someone else using the letters assigned to each key. Normally, you have to hit each key multiple times to arrive at the letter you need. With predictive, however, you only have to hit the key with the letter you want once and the phone has some program that it uses to guess which combination of letters you're going for. Its so much easier, although kind of scary to see how predictable it is what words I'm going to use.

But I am guessing that you guys'd rather hear about New Zealand than my new text messaging discovery. Oh. Just a quick vent before I move on though. Its ridiculously expensive to use mobile phones here. I think I've mentioned that before. It costs 49 cents a minute to make phone calls (although it is free to receive them). It costs 20 cents for each text, although vodafone (my mobile provider) has now started free texting on weekends, thank goodness! The reason I'm telling you this is that basically, I've been using my phone to send texts and receive calls. Well, apparently while I was gone, Telecom introduced a new surcharge on payphone calls. Not just a one-time fee, mind you. No, they have increased their rates by 40 cents a minute!! Can you believe that? It used to cost 15 cents a minute to call within New Zealand from a payphone with a phonecard. Now it costs 55 cents. How ridiculous is that?? Guess it looks like I'll be using my mobile a lot more often now. At least its handy. Lets just hope I get service!!

So... what have I been up to in Auckland for the last week and a half... well, lots. I've been living at Savage's flat again with him, Jane, Jude, Glenn and Mr. Fluffy, aka Mila, Glenn's cat (Alan moved out with his girlfriend and lives in a flat nearby). I've been having fun hanging out and exploring Auckland some more. I think I told you guys about my soccer playing experience last week where I got kicked in the stomach twice with the ball and promptly developed a soccer ball-shaped bruise on my tummy. I of course thought that was hilarious and was showing it off to everyone I could think of.

I had a fantastic day on Sunday. I went to the Unitarian church here in the morning, where they had a thought-provoking service about definitions of prayer and how we pray. Afterwards, I went for a walk in the nearby park and then went to the Auckland Domain (a big park in central Auckland) to play soccer with Jane, Glenn and Jo (Glenn's girlfriend) and a bunch of their friends. It was fun to get outside and run around and play. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming, too, which I appreciated very much. I went over to Jo's flat for beers afterward with a crew of the soccer players. I had a great time hanging out with them and ends up that I'm going to head off on a camping trip around the east coast with a crew of them tomorrow. So y'all won't hear from me for a couple days, but I'm sure I'll have some stories for you when I get back! We're bringing fishing poles and planning to go collecting seafood and scrounging as much food off the land as we can find. Plus, these guys are just gales of fun and the East Coast is supposed to be gloriously beautiful, so I'm super excited to take off on the trip.

What else?... Oh. When I got back for dinner on Sunday, we had girls night with Jane and Jude and I since Savage and Glenn were gone. That was great! Girl talk is always fun... :)

I also bought a pair of trekking poles for 50% off at Kathmandu's spring sale. I always thought they were super dorky, but when I borrowed the pair that Karin had hired on the Tongariro Northern Circuit, I was totally converted. Plus, I am hoping that they will help to take some of the strain off my foot when I go on longer hikes. My foot is healing fairly well. It keeps getting better, although not as quickly as I'd like. But at least I can walk long distances on it and I am starting to be able to walk around flatfooted in my bare feet without horrible pains, a big improvement over this summer!

I also got to visit the set where they were filming Savage's newest project, 'The Speaker'. It was really neat to see what goes into shooting a movie, since that's definitely something that I hadn't a clue about.

Ummm. I think that's all for now. I am going to head down to a gallery in Parnell (a part of Auckland) to see an exhibit of Dr. Seuss illustrations. It sounds cool, and plus, after reading about "Fifi la Belle, the cat from Parnell" all summer, I want to go check out Parnell for myself! I never made it there the last time I was here.

Sorry this is so fragmented. I guess thats why I didn't write earlier. I am having lots of fun, but I'm not doing anything that is terribly interesting to tell about. Sorry!! I promise some more interesting stories soon.