Well as some of you know, I bought some flat boots last week in readiness for snow. While searching for these boots I kept saying to the OH (Other Half) "they don't do size 4 anywhere! Everyone must have big feet here." It turns out that NZ shoe sizes are all 2 sizes bigger than those in the UK. Therefore a size 6 is actually a UK size 4. D'oh! All these things you don't think about. So if you have size 2 feet then you'd be pretty much buggered over here cos I couldn't find ANY size 4's when I was looking.
It's the Winter festival up in Queenstown starting this weekend and will run for about 10 days. We're thinking of going up next weekend. So in readiness for this we found ourselves watching the snow boarding championships on the TV. Well well well the 'moves' they have in that sport have the most rubbish names. Seriously my youngest brother could come up with some seriously cool names for them if they needed them. Moves are currently called things such as nose bonk; pretzel (quite cool actually); backside; switch double backflip; melon grab (honestly!) and bag lady. See?! How ludicrous are these names? I know the majority of competitive snow boarders are about 12 years old (ok, 18) but these are seriously rubbish names for some really cool moves. On top of that the commentator (who sounds like the guy who says things like 'do you wanna go faster?! at the funfair) says things like "he's a goofy footed rider" like it's some sort of technical term...in fact I think it is! I'm watching it slating all of the silly names (but oohing and aahing at the actual tricks) and the OH's sat next to me wishing them all to fall. The other day it was quite eerie - his powers from behind the TV set were uncanny as all the riders kept falling. "This guy is ranked 4th in the world" hmmm.... not with the OH wishing the 'fally downy' trick on him.
Anyway, last week we were told that our application for the house with the big spa bath in the garden was approved - yey! Then the next day they rang us to say the house had sold - boo! We knew it was going to happen but did actually think we may make it into the spa before it did. Oh well, saves us moving again with all our stuff. So as of next Thursday we're actually homeless as we haven't found anything. Don't panic mum and dad - we have actually be asked to rent someone's house for a whole month as the owners are going on holiday to Europe! How amazing?! It's our coach (from the velodrome) and his wife's house and they've said they'd like us to stay there for a month. Then after that his daughter is away for 3 weeks so we're looking after her cats and house. Amazing! The kindness of strangers here is really overwhelming. We went to both houses this week and they're both just lovely. It means we get an extra 2 months to find a place we'd like to rent in Invercargill without just settling for something because we have to.
Another exciting thing that happened this week was that I was offered another job! It was for an organisation I applied for but it wasn't THE job I applied for. Although it was slightly more money than I'm earning at the cafe, it's only for 4-6 weeks so I turned it down. The owners of the cafe have been so kind to me and I don't want to let them down just for a temporary position so I will stay at the cafe until I find something longer term / permanent / my dream job! Unless of course they find someone full time, in which case they'll be letting me go. Oh well, everything happens for a reason.
One of the girls I work with often jokes that they will slander my name across town so that I can never leave, and she has said that she's going to make a voodoo doll of me to stop me getting a job elsewhere...I have had a very bad back recently...
More excitement this week came in the form of VEGETARIAN SAUSAGES!! I found them in Countdown and they are soooooooooo much nicer than Quorn! They're fresh and very natural (apparently) and they are just scrum-diddly-umptious. Yummy.
It's still buzzing in the cafe all day long. Every single day is heaving with customers and the day absolutely flies by, this week has disappeared before my eyes! I've worked 43 hours at the cafe this week (Mon-Fri) and every single minute has absolutely flown by. The people I work with are fabulous and I get along really well with them. Although there was a minor case of lost in translation this week. It went like this:
Me: "Do you know where the kitchen roll is?"
Stacey: (Looking at me like I've just dropped down from Mars) "Kitchen roll? What's that?"
Me: "You know, it's a roll of stuff you use to wipe down the kitchen surface"
Stacey: (picking up a rag) "This?"
Me: "No"
Stacey (Picking up a blue & white wipe) "This?"
Me: "No"
Scott: "What are you looking for?"
Me: "Kitchen roll....kitchen towel...you know it's like toilet tissue but for the kitchen"
Stacey & Scott: *Puzzled*
....Thirty seconds or so goes by with us all looking around, me knowing what I'm looking for, the others not sure what they're looking for...
Stacey: (recognition spreading across her face) "Oh! You mean paper towel?? It's by there"
Me: "yes that's the stuff I'm looking for but these (pointing to the paper towels by the hand washing sink) are paper towels"
Stacey & Scott: "No, they're hand towels"
Another thing they all say here is "how are ya'?" when they come in the shop / pass each other in the street...it's a bit like us saying "alright?" in the UK. So I have to say this to customers when they come in...now when New Zealander's say "how are ya'?" it rolls off the tongue quickly and the emphasis is on the 'are' bit of the sentence (try saying it in a NZ accent and you'll know what I mean). When we Welshies say it the emphasis tends to be on the 'you' bit as we don't say 'ya'. So when I say "how are you?" I feel a bit like a counsellor or something but no-one has spilled their woes to me as yet. It's all good and apparently it's very much a Southland thing as opposed to the whole of NZ.
Well it's Saturday afternoon for me and I'm just about to get ready as we're going into Invercargill this evening with the OH's work and their partners for a night at a seafood restaurant. I'm very much looking forward to it, it will be nice to meet some of the other girlfriends.
This post's title has come from my pride in being Welsh yet again. You made the news over here this week....for your skills in creating the largest ever skinny dip. Be proud!
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