Hey guys-

Just wanted to drop everyone a line since it feels like it’s been a while since I’ve communicated with anyone back home and I’m realizing it’s a bit much to expect people to read every entry in the blog. It’s been an incredible week and amazing month. Things are going really well for me here to the point where I honestly can’t believe how much good luck I’ve had. A few weeks ago I got a job at the Remarkables ski mountains working in Food & Bev at the cafe. Yup, I am that girl sitting at the till (cashier) with the nametag that says “Gloria” from “San Francisco” ringing you up for your burger and asking you where you’re from haha. I was working 6 days a week out of the house 12 hrs a day and was supposed to end my contract this Sunday… but a couple days ago a full-time liftee position opened up! I interviewed along with the 4 other temps for the job and got the position!! Freaking sweet!! So far I’ve done one day of training and had yesterday and today off. There’s actually surprisingly quite a lot to the job, I have to learn how to run the lifts and do all the mechanical checks. Also the liftees seem to be the manual labor on the mountain, they dig out all the features when they get sketchy and shovel all of the snow and crap. So I’m gonna get yoked :) It can get pretty crazy living here and sometimes I’m sort of overwhelmed at how busy it is but I can’t complain because it’s a lot of fun. I don’t think I’ve ever been this busy or tired though so lately I’ve been trying to make the effort to get sleep in. Everyone works 5-6 days a week and there’s always something going on at night. We’ve been going night riding a lot because we all work during the day so I’ve still gotten a good deal of snowboarding in despite the work hours, and we ride on all our days off and during ride breaks. The snow isn’t as good as it is in Tahoe so everyone rides park. I’ve been learning to do boxes and have my jumps down pretty solid but I’ve been getting pretty banged up. On my birthday I went riding and fell on my face off a rail in the park. :) Speaking of which, I had an awesome birthday - thank you all for the bday wishes! I spent the day riding and the kids at work sang me a song and had little presents for me when I came in to the cafe and we had a big night out in town. It was really cute. I can’t believe I’ve only known these people for a few weeks, they feel like family already. My close friends here are a couple of American dudes and this chick from Walnut Creek, a few Kiwi guys, a couple of Aussies, these Irish girls, a girl from Argentina, and an English dude. QT is a destination town - we always joke that we never meet any actual Kiwis, just Aussies and people from the UK. I am pretty much fully settled in here and sometimes it feels like I’ve been here forever. I’m driving on the other side of the road, not fucking up the roundabouts (they have roundabouts instead of stoplights), reading my odometer in km/hr, calling ketchup “tomato sauce”, saying “cheers”, picking up every hitchhiker i have room for, line drying my clothes, and knowing what meat is on special today at Fresh Choice or New World (it’s weird, shit is either SUPER expensive here or super cheap when it’s on special so you never buy anything that’s not on sale). As I mentioned before it’s quite a small town, you don’t even get people’s phone numbers the first several times you meet them because you can count on seeing them around again soon, and I’ve stopped being surprised at the many connections that exist between mutual friends that seem unrelated. I’ve been too busy to post pictures but should have some time tonight so look for those on FB :) In the meantime let me know what’s been going on with you guys. Since I’ll be working all season I’ll be able to live off my income so at this point I’m pretty sure I’m extending my trip to at least next June or July, potentially longer. Some friends and I are talking about maybe doing winter in Japan or Europe (Budapest supposedly has some decent skiing??). Miss everyone a lot, I think about you guys more than you know and at those times always just wish I could get on the phone with you. Let’s make some Skype dates. My days off are Tuesdays and Weds so the evening of Mondays and Tuesdays for you guys.

Love, Glo

I haven’t had the chance to update for a couple of weeks because I’ve been so busy, but really wanted to since so much has been happening.  I got a job at the Remarkables!  Finding a job in QT was insane.  Incredibly competitive.  I’ve never seen anything like this before.  Thousands of qualified people looking for a handful of jobs and a lot of people shit out of luck as a result.  To illustrate the point, I went to a recruiting event for a company that owns a group of bars in town.  Literally 500 people showed up for 20-30 positions. 

I was super lucky to get the job.  NZSki, the company that owns three of the major mountains in NZ (Coronet, Remarkables, and Mt Hutt) had officially finished hiring in April so it was pretty much out of the question if you asked anyone.  I had met this Brazilian guy at the gas station one day who was telling me he was going snowboarding for the first time the next day by himself.  I was like, “shit, I’m unemployed, I don’t have anything to do, I’ll teach you”.  While we were up at the mountain I told him I had wanted to work for NZSki and he did some asking around and heard through the grapevine that they were hiring for just a few positions on the D/L, not publicized.  Still I was like eh, it’s a long shot and just a rumor.  I struck up conversation with the girl at guest services while buying my season pass and she tipped me off to check with Food & Bev. On a whim after an awesome day of riding I decided to walk into the cafe and ask for the manager.  The guy interviewed me on the spot.  Turned out my timing was perfect - they had just finished interviews and were about to make a decision that night to make 5 hires out of 100 applicants (and that’s without ever posting a single ad for the position - just word of mouth!).  The next day I got a call to start the following morning! 

So, I work at the cafe at the resort.  I’m that girl at the till (cash register) with a little name tag that says “Gloria” from San Francisco ringing you up for your burger and asking you how your day is going.  We pretty much do everything though, from stocking to helping in the kitchen to bussing tables to making food. 

People here work really hard.  I’ve been working 6 days a week for the last couple of weeks which is why I’ve been MIA on the computer.  It takes me about 2 hours round trip to get up and down from the mountain so I’m out of the house from 7/8am to 6/7 pm every day, and then there is literally something going on every single night.  All the locals are in the same boat though, it’s Australian and Kiwi holidays for these few weeks so everyone I know is working 5/6 days a week and still going out most nights.  Basically no one in QT ever really gets a full night’s sleep.

But, we are happy.  If there’s anything everyone agrees on it’s that it’s all worth it to be here.  The view from my living room window and our front patio, and the routine drive to work or to the grocery store, offer breathtaking scenery of the mountains, the lake, the endless sky and at night countless stars.  So, so beautiful.  And you can’t complain about a job that allows you to walk out of your work, strap on your board and be on a lift within a minute.  On the 4th of July my boss let me and the other American guy off early and we went riding.  We were like, “Holy crap, we’re snowboarding on the 4th of July!!”  We called it our 4th of July miracle.  That night my flatmates and I hosted a little BBQ at our place with sausages and steaks to celebrate America’s birthday.

I love that people here are so passionate about riding and skiing.  It’s what you do on your day off and any chance you get.  Last night my coworkers and I went night riding at Coronet Peak.  It was so much fun.  They’re all crazy about boarding - they’ll go for weeks at a time without missing a single riding day.  It’s good because I feel challenged riding with them and I’m being forced to learn to ride park and do tricks because that’s what’s big here.

So much to write and say but getting tired and have to wake up at 6:30 for work tomorrow.  More to come later…!

“Look at this view, guys.  Look at where we live.”

“Do you think we will ever be truly happy living anywhere else ever again?”

“Nope, I think we’re fucked.”

Wow.  The last couple days on the mountain have been seriously epic.  Powder days but clear, sunny skies.  I take back everything I said about the mountains in NZ.  I love this mountain.  I get it now.  Yes there are only three lifts, but the mountains are freaking HUGE and you can hike all over them to literally get first tracks in knee-deep powder all day long rather than having lifts go all over the mountain so that it’s all tracked out by 10 am.  And the views from the peak are unbelievable.  There aren’t very many people on the mountain so you can look around and see tiny figures hiking up a mammoth, perfectly white ridge against the blue sky, with nobody else around at all.  We’re above the tree line so it’s even more dramatic, the lone hikers with their boards under their arms are the only contrast against the clean smooth snow.  It really looks like a snowboarding video where they get dropped in by helicopter onto virgin mountaintop.  I kept thinking of the riding scenes in this video (which is filmed in part in NZ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PCUzzMFTrE

At one point yesterday I hiked up to the top of one peak and just stood there for 15-20 minutes totally mesmerized by the scenery.  No one else even close by, all the other skiers and boarders were just tiny little figures on the other mountaintops.  And the Remarkables were just so gigantic and I could see all the way down to Queenstown 30 minutes away.  I know it sounds cheesy but it was so beautiful I literally almost cried.  I remember thinking, I wish the people back home could see this too.  God I should have brought a camera.  I tried to take pictures of the lonely single line I left coming down the endless expanse of powder on my phone but it just didn’t do it justice.

Today we did some more hiking, one hike was about 30 minutes long, but so worth it, spits you out onto the back side and we were the only people there.  I actually kind of like that you have to work for your runs at the Remarkables, just makes the run down more special.  And there is something satisfying about carrying your board under your arm, following in the deep footsteps of the people who came before you, with nothing but the sound of crunching snow and your own heavy breathing in the background.  By the end of the day I was totally worn out but in the best way possible.

Other milestones: hitchhiked for the first time yesterday, learned how to do a 180 today, and got my first job interview.  It’s been a good couple of days :)

My roommates wake me up this morning at 8 AM and tell me to look out my window - it’s snowing in town!  (A rarity - Queenstown gets rain, you drive a half hour up the mountains for the snow).  I look out our living room window to this scene:

We were like little kids, super excited.  I see dudes snowboarding down Fernhill Rd into town.  Fuck. Yea.

It’s been a week since my mom left.  In a way I feel like it’s only been a week since I got to Queenstown.  I was kind of in vacation mode while she was here, and I wanted to make sure she had a good time too, so I really didn’t get down to the business of getting settled into Queenstown or meeting people until she went home.  It’s been a roller coaster ride over the last seven days, but today I feel myself beginning to exhale at last.

From my last update email:

I’ve moved into a house with this Aussie guy and a guy from Colorado who’s spent the last few years chasing winter between Queenstown and Snowmass and Aspen.  They’re hilarious and are (and I quote) “gentleman womanizers”. My first night in the house, my roommate burst into my room at 5 am butt naked after taking home 2 girls from the bar….

I’m having a good time with these guys.  We spent the last couple nights just doing “family nights” in.  It reminds me of roommate dinner nights at 1644 with Jeremy.  We live in a big three bedroom house with an amazing view of the huge, snow-capped mountains and since the sun doesn’t rise until 8 am you can catch the sun rising over the Remarkables while you have your morning coffee.  SO pretty.  Our neighborhood is called Fernhill and it’s up a huge hill, as you drive down into town you have a great view of Lake Wakatipu and the mountains.  (Though really, it seems that every place in Queenstown has a gorgeous view).  And we have a fireplace and tomorrow we are going to get wood and start burning wood in the fireplace!

Today I went riding for my first time at the Remarkables.  The resorts work differently here.  The ski areas are just lifts and mountains, not whole villages like in Tahoe or Colorado.  Rather than having a resort village, Queenstown acts as home base, it’s where you rent your gear, stay in the hotel, and where everyone gets drinks and hangs out after.  You either just bus or drive up to the ski fields from town.  It was “locals day” so free afternoon lift ticket and bus transport to and from town for anyone with proof of residence.  I went by myself but met people just taking the bus and the lifts and had someone to ride with all day.  My flatmates told me here the riding is a lot about riding park and hiking. The hiking is definitely big here, people were telling me they’ll hike for like an hour to get to some terrain.

Changing tracks.  One thing I really like about this town is how people genuinely do want to help other people out when they first come here.   My Aussie flatmate is letting this random girl he met a week ago crash on our couch for a week while she tries to find a job, similar to how Josh and Alex wanted to let me crash at their place while I got my bearings too. A lot of people remember how hard it was for them when they first moved to New Zealand or Queenstown and have a genuine interest in helping out people who are new in town.  The fact that the majority of people who live here are from somewhere else means that almost everyone here knows what it’s like to have to move somewhere brand new, many of them in a foreign country, and not know a soul. So there are a lot of people who know what a lifeline it is to have someone who’s networked in decide to take you under their wing when you’re new.  I like that.

It’s so good when you hear other people who seem so integrated admit that they were lonely and freaked out at first too.  As one person said to me “When I first came to New Zealand I was by myself and it was the first time I’d ever left the country.  I landed in Christchurch and just about shit myself.”  That really hit home because to be honest I’ve just about shat myself a few times in the last several days.  My lowest point was Thursday afternoon.  I didn’t have a job and I knew two people in this town.  I had sat in that godawful room in the empty house of the Indian couple for hours.  I didn’t know what to do with myself or where to go.  So I just got in my car and I drove.  I drove out of town and seriously contemplated just continuing to drive.  I didn’t even want to get my bond (deposit) back from my landlord, or even go back for my bags.  That’s how scared I felt and how much I wanted to just get out of town and be on the road moving again, because that seemed so much easier than staying.  That was a bad day. 

But it’s past now.  As I drove further from town my head cleared and I collected myself a little.  I had already told that guy I’d teach him to snowboard on Friday.  So I told myself to at least give it til tomorrow at least…but to get out of that house that was driving me nuts.  I came back and packed all my shit up and that night I moved out of that house and into my current place.  Literally the lady walked in the house and I was standing there waiting for her with my bags in the car and my jacket on.  I was out of there within 15 minutes after we talked and within the hour was moving my baggage up the stairs into my new home  By the next morning I felt like a new person.  And it’s been all uphill from there :)

I feel good, and excited for the next few months.  It’s amazing: every day, I literally feel like anything could happen.  So many things do happen every day.  Tomorrow it will be have been one week since my mom left and already more has changed for me in this week than changed for me in the past year of my life.  I’ve lived in three different apartments already.  I’ve been up and down the streets of Queenstown asking bars and restaurants if they’re hiring and getting tons and tons of “no’s” and “come back in a couple weeks”.  I’ve met some random dude at a gas station and then taught him how to snowboard.  I’ve been out til 5 am every other night.  I’ve met so many people from so many different places all over the world and who have done so many interesting things.  I’ve had my naked roommate barge into my room at 5 in the morning on my first night in the house.  I seriously never have any idea what’s about to happen in the next few hours, and I am learning SO much.  And that’s a really, really cool feeling. 

Really and truly, I am glad to be here.

So one of the top 5 questions people would ask me before I left was, “have you found a place to live yet?”  Welp, I’ve already found and kind of lived in three places actually…it’s been a bit of a fiasco. 

So the first offer for a room came from the 2 aforementioned Kiwi dudes in my previous entry.  Right off the bat the guy asks me “Are you a big partier?  Because that’s kind of a requirement”.  Apparently they work “hospo hours”, get off work at 2 or 3 am, and can typically be expected to be getting super high and drunk and having jam sessions in the living room until 7 am.  But the guys are really nice and seem to have a genuine interest in helping me get settled into Qtown.  I show up the next day and as I’m moving my stuff in they’re like “oh…by the way… our girlfriends are moving in in a couple of weeks.”  So the roommate count goes from 3 to 5 and yes, there is only one bathroom.  So I move my stuff back out a few hours later.  No hard feelings from them though, they still had me over for dinner and drinks later that day.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), I get hooked up almost immediately with another place.  Right in town, on top of a hill, nice views, decent apt.  Here’s the catch: it’s with this old Indian couple.  I’m thinking, I can do this, I’ll just have to try that much harder to meet people but maybe it’s better than sharing a bathroom with 5? 

A couple days go by…shit, I made a mistake. I fucking hate this.  The Indian couple is nice but there’s no one my age to talk to at home and they keep the house freezing ass cold.  It’s so cold I don’t even want to brush my teeth or take a shower or cook dinner (I’ve virtually stopped eating if you can believe it). My room is like a tiny prison cell (albeit a warm, toasty tiny prison cell).  So I’m like, I gotta get out of here!!

Fast forward to present day (24 hrs later).  The boys from the first apt have been sweet enough to let me know that I am always welcome to go and live with them, but they’re pretty far out of town and there’s still the “over max capacity” problem there.  Fortunately I’ve found another place!  Also 2 guys, one is from Colorado and one is an Aussie. 

Heading over there now.  May this be the end of my housing headaches!

First public entry.  Recap of the last couple weeks!

I liked Christchurch.  It’s a pretty, downplayed city with a lot of hidden treasures, hip little cafes and bars and restaurants, once you dig a little deeper.  There really just weren’t that many people around though. Considering that the population of the whole country is 4.25 millionand 1/3 of them live in Auckland on the north island, it wasn’t a surprise.  After a few days I got used to it and actually kind of liked it.  It added to the whole chill, laid back feeling about the town and the country in general.

I met up with Joat aka Adam while in Christchurch for an afternoon.  I have to credit him for helping me to see a lot of the cool sights in town.  We took a walk through the city, checked out the Botanic Gardens, went to Dux de Lux (awesome bar that looks like an old classic fraternity house with a different bar in each room) for a really good seafood BBQ pizza, had beers at a Belgian pub on the Avon River (great patio seating there as well), and walked through the city’s art gallery.

I bought a car in Christchurch at a backpacker’s car market.  They were only asking $1500 NZD (about $1100-1200 USD!) at first but there were some repairs that needed to be made.  Still, all in all the car itself cost me $2300 NZD only. It’s an old beat up Subaru Legacy 4WD.  The car’s definitely a piece of shit but for some reason I’m already oddly attached to it. :)

Learning to drive on the other side of the road really was a challenge though.  As I described it to Jeremy,

Learning to drive on the other side of the road has been the most bewildering endeavor I’ve undertaken within at least the last 4.5 years.  You wouldn’t think it’d be that hard but you are literally overriding 10+ years of conditioning.  It takes a lot of thinking to do the most normal things.  Reversing is the worst.  Not only are you in reverse but then everything is backwards.  It literally took me like 30 seconds to strategize on how I was going to back out of this parking spot at the Pak n’ Save the other day and then which direction I was supposed to drive and which side of the road I am supposed to be on.  It’s almost more than my brain can handle.   

Good thing I figured it out in time for the six-hour drive to Queenstown, which was very pretty.  The scenery reminded me a lot of the wilderness in North America.  I kept thinking Alaska must look like this, or maybe some areas of Canada.  The trees were still all different colors.  The part that was very distinctive were the giant mountains and also endless flat plains just covered in smooth, unmarred snow, like powdered sugar. I’d never seen anything like that before, just total uninterrupted snowy expanse.  It was pretty amazing.  We drove past wineries as well and one of the more stunning scenes I saw was a vineyard planted along the edge of a really deep canyon cut by the Kawarau River.  Really incredible.  I kept thinking, I wish I could capture this somehow and share it with people at home.

The World Cup started while I was in Queenstown.  I went to a sports bar to catch the England v USA game at 6 AM.  It was crazy - I thought I would be one among a handful of people there, but the bar was totally packed.  And everyone was facing the screen watching the game with total focus.  In an American sports bar people are like eating, drinking, talking and watching the game.  Not here.  I saw the same type of total focus when rugby was on too.  Speaking of rugby, I watched my first All Blacks game the other night, and I think I could get into this. It’s like football but with non-stop action.  Really fun to watch.  And I saw the All Blacks actually start a game off with the haka challenge, like in Invictus :)

I made friends with a couple of Kiwi guys who have sort of “taken me under their wing”.  They work at one of the local bars that plays live music and their favorite thing to do is drink a shit-ton of “piss” (beer) and smoke a shit-ton of weed and jam out on the guitar until the sun rises.  Which I saw for myself on Monday night.  One of them is half Maori, which is the indigenous people here, and my conversations with them about New Zealand and American culture and race relations in the two countries have been really interesting…more on that later though.

That’s it for now, I’m tired of typing :) 

Some photos:

From the Savoy Brown cafe in Christchurch:

C1 Espresso in Christchurch:

Driving to Queenstown:

Queenstown: