Country gal in the big city

 June...July... a week at Columbia College in NYC.  I attended the Reading and Writing Project at Columbia's teacher college.  Had a blast staying at the Eden House  hostel, walking a few blocks to the subway every morning and became a regular New Yorker, riding the subway everyday, that people even would stop and ask ME for directions! HA! Definitely started to miss my little cottage in the valley ;) the big city was fun for a week, but not permanent living for me! David (my new friend I met through Z in Figi) picked me up from the airport and showed me around until I was able to navigate on my own.  We even went over to Jersey to Carlo's Bakery (on Cake Boss) where I was in heaven.... with the frosting since I still really don't like cake ;) but I did try an awesome canole. (yum?) I don't get it, but it was a fun time. 

 Other than attending  class everyday from 8-4, I made sure to get out and see the sights in NYC. The tourist just flourished. :)  Went through Little Italy and China Town.  Saw Wall Street, Canal Street, and the Empire State Building.  Paid my respects at ground zero and to see the new Freedom Tower being built. Took the Staten Island Ferry, where I made another new friend to see a small glimpse of Ellis island and the Statue of Liberty! :) Wish I had more time to explore in greater depths, but Coney Island was also calling, where I rode the Cyclone ate a (disgusting) Coney Dog, and had a nice walk along the board walk. I ended my trip with a long run through Central Park, which is way bigger than I had ever imagined.  The one thing that I can now understand why people may want to live in NYC.... huge fun park... although it was crowded with people everywhere you turned.

Meeting a new friend and co-worker, Laura, in class as well was a huge highlight of my NYC trip, as we will be working together in Dubai! Staying at the hostel also allowed me to meet many wonderful new people from all over the world, Brazil, Spain, Japan, China, and the Netherlands. David picked me up on my last day in NYC and we spent the evening with his wife, and kids watching some early fire works and went out on the boat.  It was a great trip to New York, although next time, I might have to stay more upstate.... Lake Placid, with Bauschie :)

LA Climbin

June... July.... a few days with the cousin, before heading to New York.  Mike, his roommate Justin, the pup-Kendall, and I went to Taketes climbing.  It was a great morning and afternoon, hikin up to the base of the mountain and climbin along the face in a nice crack.  We only had one rope so Justin lead with me following to clean equipment and Mike ten feet below me :) Took about 6 or 7 pitches to stop and re set everything up until we reached the top, about 800 ft later.  It was a blast. We hung out at the top for a while, before a nice long hike down the other side of the mountain, followed by the drive back into LA.

Where The New Day Begins

June 16-23, 2011.  We arrived in Auckland after our nice stay in Figi, only to be welcomed by the cool winter months in New Zealand.  This is when Jen and I split from our wonderful traveling SCUBA group, rented a car, and took off on a short adventure of the North Island. We drove across and through the big gorge to Gisbone, the first city in the world to see the new day. After a nice dinner at the Wisconsin Burger, we found a place to crash... sleeping once again in the back seat of our car. We woke up early to watch the sunrise on the beach, as if we were the only ones up to start the new day...everyone else either fast asleep or still living in "yesterday."  After the cloudy sunrise we headed south towards Napier, tasting all the fine wines at various Hawk's Bay vineyards.  Finding some delicious Semillion and Muscat, while Jen bought a wonderful Huchet. :)  After our vineyard crawl, we continued our drive inland towards Taupo.  Spent the night and got up early to head back towards Rotarua, as we had to finish out fun adventures there.  Earlier we had done the Zorb... a very fun activity of rolling down a big hill in a giant plastic ball, similar to that of a hamster ball, a very fun ride.  Then we continued to try out the SCWEEB: a elongated bike put in a plastic horizontal tube and strapped to a race track.  The world record was 56 seconds.... so naturally I had to try for it.  Sadly, I finished in 64 seconds....winning the world record for Japan, Great Britain, Italy, and Australia... to bad I wasn't from any of those countries, as it really didn't count.  That morning, we had a HAKA lesson (the Maori war dance) and had a GREAT time learning that from the man who coached the Maori Rugby team in New Zealand.  After all the fun we drove back to  Hamilton.  There we had a nice visit with Katie and Paul, friends from my last visit to NZ.  It was soo nice seeing them once again. We went out to dinner and had the finest Mexican cuisine New Zealand has to offer.  We crashed at their place for the evening, and then headed out bright and early the next morning to get back to the airport and meet up with Mr.Z. :)

Shark Bait- oo ha ha.

June 9-16, 2011.  My week in Figi (Benqa Island) quickly came to an end, after a nice long week of SCUBA diving, snorkeling, and just relaxing in my hammock. Took some walks along the beach, only to find massive amounts of sea life lingering at low tide. Dove at Friggets, an amazing surf spot, swam through under water tunnels of rock and coral, then ended the week with a shark dive- minus the cage. Crazy having a gentle nurse shark rub against my arm and seeing many other breeds of shark lurking around and grazin in the chum filled water of tuna heads. We took a secret trip into the Lalati Village, took part in a Kava Ceremony, and spent many nights at the bar, but not better than the days spent laying atop the hot silver roof of the boat... baking in the Figian sun and doing flippies off the top.