I got up super early on Sunday morning to take the train down to Wellington at 7.25am. It was one of these TransScenic trains they have here, so it had big windows and an outdoor area to take pictures of the beautiful landscapes we passed by. And I didn't know this before hand, but they also tell you about the places you pass by, which I think is really good. So it's just not that you get to watch out the window, but you hear about what you see as well. I was a bit scared at first as it is as 12hour ride on the train, but it really didn't feel that long. I was reading my book and taking pictures, so the time went by faster for me :) We got to go out on some of the stations to stretch our legs and we also got 30min lunch brake around 1pm. The only bad part about the train ride was that it really, REALLY wasn't a pleasant drive. The train was shaking from side to side like all the time and not just a bit, a LOT. Everytime I got up to go to the toilet or restaurant car, I was bouncing from side to side hitting my legs and arms on the seats on each side. I even got neuseas which I normally don't in a train, so I had to take travel sickness pill... I would rather not go through that experience again. I was lucky to get the ticket cheap, I think it's normally around 130dollars, but I got it for 49 (sorry I've lost my dollar sign on the keyboard), so it wasn't that bad at least. I hope that I got at least few decent pictures from along the way, which I'll be posting to facebook asap.
Today, Monday 30th May, I went first thing in the morning to the i-Site centre (tourist information point) to book my self that LOTR-tour that I didn't get to take when I was in Wellington the last time. That was in the afternoon, so in the morning I went to the Weta Cave on my own. Got a free ride there from a tourguide that happened to be at the i-Site at the same time and over heard me saying I wanted to go there. So thanks Nathan for the ride :)) Weta Cave was nice, but it's a really small place, so there isn't that much to see. Good thing is that it's for free :) And they show you this 'behind the scenes' video and tell you a bit on how they make the special effects and masks and all that stuff.
After that, I got to the cable car (another thing I missed the last time as it was broken then) up to the mountain where you can get a view from the whole city and there's also Botanic Garden there. It was nice as it was a sunny day, so I think I got some cool shots from up there :) After that, it was time for lunch and then off to the tour. There was only me and one other person taking the tour :D So it was pretty private tour :D Our guide was cool, he knew all sorts of things from the movie and the actors I had no idea about. But boy, did he like to talk :D But then again, you have to, being in a profession like that :) But he was really nice, we talked a LOT about all kinds of movies, he seemed to be a bit of a movie freak him self too (again, quess you'd have to being in a profession like that :)) I liked getting all the new information behind the movies that I didn't know before. Some of the locations we got to see were actually looking familiar too, like that one scene where the Hobbits are on the road (from the first movie, only starting the journey when Merry and Pippin are joining with Frodo and Sam) and the black rider comes and they have to hide. That I actually did recognized. But then again for example Isengard is just a field with some trees and fresbee golf course on it :D So I'm afraid as there was nothing left to show that the movie was actually made in some places, it didn't really impress me that much. Only the parts I did recognize. And yeah, it is fun to know that you've been to some of the places where Legolas, Frodo, Arwen, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli and all the others have walked on :))
But hey, it's been a pleasure to write to you guys again, but I just noticed it's getting really late so I need to go to sleep, and soon. I have another super early wake up call tomorrow as the bus to the ferry leaves at 7am... Going to take the Interislander ferry down to the South Island :) I'll try to get back to updating my blog more again, as I'm gonna be travelling from a place to another pretty much every day for the next week or so :) So I'll let you know what I've been up to! :) C U <3
Monday, 30 May 2011
My very first Ta Moko
So as you probably know by now (if you're my friend in Facebook and check it pretty much every day as I do :)), I got my very first Ta Moko done last Saturday, 28th May!! It was my 6th tattoo, but my first Ta Moko, so it's a Maori design tattoo and one of a kind. The guy who did it (thanks Scotty from Otautahi Tattoo) freehanded it on my leg, which I thought was pretty awesome. And I absolutely LOVE it!!!! It's gorgeous, turned out better than I expected!! Still looking forward for it to heal properly, so you can see the shadings he did on it. Oh and it has a lot of meaning to it too, that's the cool part of it. It has my whole family on it, my sisters, my brother and my mom and dad <3 Now I can say they'll be with me where ever I go from now on :))) It's also got water element that represents my travelling, it has a symbol that represents like a new start in life (which this kind of is again, I'm in a country I don't know so I'm starting all over again) and it has this guardian on top, that protects my family. It's just awesome. Because all the symbols it has, it makes my other tattoos look... well, not that cool, as they're all just pictures, made with stensils, not freehanded. But I still do love all my tat's, they all mean a lot to me. This is just most meaningful of them all and no one else has it, it's unique. Can't wait to show it to my family and friends back home :)))
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Another year older... blaah... :D
Hello there my dear reader(s?) :D So as you probably know (unless you're some stranger reading my blog as you have nothing better to do) it was my birthday yesterday. I turned 25 again ;) so I wanted to tell you about my day.
Morning started off good, bumped in to my Canadian friend in the hallway on my and she sang happy birthday to me and gave me a hug :))) It was really nice of her :)) Then after my breakfast I head out to the town, just wondered around for a while and went to get coffee at Starbucks. I had piece of really really good maple, caramel & walnut cheesecake, but that combined with soy hazelnut latte made me feel really sick. They were just soooo sweet I really wanted to puke afterwards :D (yes I can lough about it now, but yesterday it wasn't funny). Then I went to have some lunch and wondered around the town for some more, trying to come up with something special to do and decided to get a massage. And this was interesting... (I'll write hole other chapter about this massage...)->
So there's a massage place right accross the street from my hostel and I've been there before, so I went in again. Now the last time I was there, I got a massage from this Chinese lady and it was really good one. Well, I wasn't that lucky this time... I got this Chinese guy who was apparently trying to get some information out of me and if I knew what it was, I was more than willing to share that secret with him. It was pure torture. I swear to you he was trying to see if my head comes off at some point if he pulls it hard enough. He also found some very sensitive spots in my neck he wanted to push them as hard as he could. And yes, they are still hurting me. Then I got to the table (was sitting in a chair first) and he pushed my back so far I think my boobs sinked in to me an inch or two. Maybe he was trying to see if they come out on my back if we pushes hard enough, who knows. Oh and yes, this was a good one; it was suppose to be a neck, shoulder and back massage, but he rubbed my bum too. I so wanted to say 'Hey that's not my back, that would be my ass!!' But I didn't. I thought well what the hell, it wasn't like he was doing it in a harrasing kind of way, but still I found it a bit weird. Then you know when you're getting a back massage and they usually press the spots right next to your spine or like in between the vertebrae? Well this dude pressed right on my spine, like on the vartebrae and that hurts like hell!!! I was seriously sweating my ass off I was in so much pain. But I didn't scream, was really close to it, but held it back. You should have seen my face though, would have been hilarious if someone was taking pictures under the table :D And he was really pushing as hard as he could and sometimes lying on top of me putting his own bodyweight on it too. I just thought that maybe it will be worth it, that it must work if it hurts that much, but I don't know now... today I've been just hurting, it's even hard to sit as the sore spots are on my lower back. So that was just a bad massage... I'm so not going to him anymore!
The rest of the evening was nice. I went to dinner on this Italian restaurant with one of my friends here as she wanted to take me out on my special day. And I appriciated it of course (she paid for my dinner too!) :) The waiter made us site on a table number 30 which I think was a really funny coincidence :)
After dinner we head down to the bar, it was pretty full as they were showing a rugby match there. I had few drinks there and it was pretty nice :) Even got one guy to buy be few siders which was nice :))) No no, I didn't ask him, but he wanted after one of the girls told him it was my birthday. About quarter to twelve I decided that as my birthday was almost over, I can call it a night and go to bed. I was getting a bit sick of drinking that side anyways, so I didn't want to stay longer. The sider they have down at the bar is ok for one pint, but then it gets a bit too... I don't know how to say it in english, but you just get tired of it and can't get it down anymore, if you know what I mean.
So that was my B-day, not that special, but very nice anyways :)) Best parts were when Aimee sang to me in the morning and when I read all the wonderful posts I got to my wall in Facebook :)) Those were the things that made me happy :)) So thanks to all of you who made my birthday a good one :))) Love ya!! <3
ps. I'd love to know if you're reading my blog, so can you please post something (anything) as a comment to this one so I know who's with me here (and if my sisters are not reading this, I know to give some feedback on it to them...) :D Cheers!
Morning started off good, bumped in to my Canadian friend in the hallway on my and she sang happy birthday to me and gave me a hug :))) It was really nice of her :)) Then after my breakfast I head out to the town, just wondered around for a while and went to get coffee at Starbucks. I had piece of really really good maple, caramel & walnut cheesecake, but that combined with soy hazelnut latte made me feel really sick. They were just soooo sweet I really wanted to puke afterwards :D (yes I can lough about it now, but yesterday it wasn't funny). Then I went to have some lunch and wondered around the town for some more, trying to come up with something special to do and decided to get a massage. And this was interesting... (I'll write hole other chapter about this massage...)->
So there's a massage place right accross the street from my hostel and I've been there before, so I went in again. Now the last time I was there, I got a massage from this Chinese lady and it was really good one. Well, I wasn't that lucky this time... I got this Chinese guy who was apparently trying to get some information out of me and if I knew what it was, I was more than willing to share that secret with him. It was pure torture. I swear to you he was trying to see if my head comes off at some point if he pulls it hard enough. He also found some very sensitive spots in my neck he wanted to push them as hard as he could. And yes, they are still hurting me. Then I got to the table (was sitting in a chair first) and he pushed my back so far I think my boobs sinked in to me an inch or two. Maybe he was trying to see if they come out on my back if we pushes hard enough, who knows. Oh and yes, this was a good one; it was suppose to be a neck, shoulder and back massage, but he rubbed my bum too. I so wanted to say 'Hey that's not my back, that would be my ass!!' But I didn't. I thought well what the hell, it wasn't like he was doing it in a harrasing kind of way, but still I found it a bit weird. Then you know when you're getting a back massage and they usually press the spots right next to your spine or like in between the vertebrae? Well this dude pressed right on my spine, like on the vartebrae and that hurts like hell!!! I was seriously sweating my ass off I was in so much pain. But I didn't scream, was really close to it, but held it back. You should have seen my face though, would have been hilarious if someone was taking pictures under the table :D And he was really pushing as hard as he could and sometimes lying on top of me putting his own bodyweight on it too. I just thought that maybe it will be worth it, that it must work if it hurts that much, but I don't know now... today I've been just hurting, it's even hard to sit as the sore spots are on my lower back. So that was just a bad massage... I'm so not going to him anymore!
The rest of the evening was nice. I went to dinner on this Italian restaurant with one of my friends here as she wanted to take me out on my special day. And I appriciated it of course (she paid for my dinner too!) :) The waiter made us site on a table number 30 which I think was a really funny coincidence :)
So that was my B-day, not that special, but very nice anyways :)) Best parts were when Aimee sang to me in the morning and when I read all the wonderful posts I got to my wall in Facebook :)) Those were the things that made me happy :)) So thanks to all of you who made my birthday a good one :))) Love ya!! <3
ps. I'd love to know if you're reading my blog, so can you please post something (anything) as a comment to this one so I know who's with me here (and if my sisters are not reading this, I know to give some feedback on it to them...) :D Cheers!
Monday, 23 May 2011
Starting up a plan B
Hello again :) Few days have passed again after my previous post and the celebrations for Finland winning the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP in icehockey are done. I mean, you can't party forever right? :) But we are still going to be world champions for the rest of the year, so maybe a little party time here and there will still be allowed :)
I wanted to tell you about the job interview I had today. I went in to the part 1 for the interview yesterday for this marketing and sales company. The job sounded pretty good, as it was a sales job, but the product was something that is easy to sell and probably their target market was like bigger companies so not just a regular consumer. They told me they were not looking for a sales person, as they can be a bit too much sales-driven and will even lie to sell their product, so they were looking for just an ordinary people. There was a basic salary to start with as well, so not just a commission based. I had a really good feeling about the company and the job as well so I was excited to get a second interview for the next day (which was today). This second interview was also a sales training day and they asked us to be there from 10am to 4pm. There was 12 of us there. So we got in there at 10am, the trainer came in to the room and our first task was to sell a pen. Yes that's right, we all got a regular ballpoint pen and they told us to go out to the street and try to sell it to someone. I was like, oh no, this is not someting I want to do... But I went out anyway and tried to sell it to 3 people. Surprise, surprise, no one wanted to buy that pen. So we all got back in to the office, the trainer called out everyone of us who couldn't sell the pen and we were told 'thank you for coming, but you can leave now, we're not going to continue with you guys for the rest of the day'. You should have seen the look on everyone's face (I think there was like half of the room kicked out) as we went like 'so this is it then?' We felt like we didn't even get a real opportunity in trying to get that job. But I guess if you can't sell a pen on the street, then you can't sell anything. Well I don't think so, but apparently the company does... I'm not a sales person anyways, I know that, but I thought they weren't really looking for that sort of person anyway. So I think I'll stop applying for sales jobs now... hope something else comes along. There has to be some other jobs out there, right??
At the moment, I got the hostel booked until this Sunday and then I think I'll go down to the South Island. I might as well go out and see some new places, as I don't have anything to do in Auckland at the moment and I'm getting sick of trying to get a job as it hasn't been working out so far. The timing sucks as it's getting colder now down at the south and I wanted to go there later on, like in August or September, but then again, as I said, I got nothing to do in here either... I'm thinking of looking for a job down at the South Island as the winter season is about to start and there might be some job opportunities in that field. Like in some of the ski centres down there. So I'll pack my bags again, leave something at the luggage storage here at the hostel as I can't carry everything with me and try to find some inspiration in life again :D Seeing new places might just be the thing I need right now.
I'll let you know as soon as I figure out for my self, what exactly I decide to do. There are still few days left for this week to try to land a job somewhere in Auckland, so wish me luck!!
-S-
I wanted to tell you about the job interview I had today. I went in to the part 1 for the interview yesterday for this marketing and sales company. The job sounded pretty good, as it was a sales job, but the product was something that is easy to sell and probably their target market was like bigger companies so not just a regular consumer. They told me they were not looking for a sales person, as they can be a bit too much sales-driven and will even lie to sell their product, so they were looking for just an ordinary people. There was a basic salary to start with as well, so not just a commission based. I had a really good feeling about the company and the job as well so I was excited to get a second interview for the next day (which was today). This second interview was also a sales training day and they asked us to be there from 10am to 4pm. There was 12 of us there. So we got in there at 10am, the trainer came in to the room and our first task was to sell a pen. Yes that's right, we all got a regular ballpoint pen and they told us to go out to the street and try to sell it to someone. I was like, oh no, this is not someting I want to do... But I went out anyway and tried to sell it to 3 people. Surprise, surprise, no one wanted to buy that pen. So we all got back in to the office, the trainer called out everyone of us who couldn't sell the pen and we were told 'thank you for coming, but you can leave now, we're not going to continue with you guys for the rest of the day'. You should have seen the look on everyone's face (I think there was like half of the room kicked out) as we went like 'so this is it then?' We felt like we didn't even get a real opportunity in trying to get that job. But I guess if you can't sell a pen on the street, then you can't sell anything. Well I don't think so, but apparently the company does... I'm not a sales person anyways, I know that, but I thought they weren't really looking for that sort of person anyway. So I think I'll stop applying for sales jobs now... hope something else comes along. There has to be some other jobs out there, right??
At the moment, I got the hostel booked until this Sunday and then I think I'll go down to the South Island. I might as well go out and see some new places, as I don't have anything to do in Auckland at the moment and I'm getting sick of trying to get a job as it hasn't been working out so far. The timing sucks as it's getting colder now down at the south and I wanted to go there later on, like in August or September, but then again, as I said, I got nothing to do in here either... I'm thinking of looking for a job down at the South Island as the winter season is about to start and there might be some job opportunities in that field. Like in some of the ski centres down there. So I'll pack my bags again, leave something at the luggage storage here at the hostel as I can't carry everything with me and try to find some inspiration in life again :D Seeing new places might just be the thing I need right now.
I'll let you know as soon as I figure out for my self, what exactly I decide to do. There are still few days left for this week to try to land a job somewhere in Auckland, so wish me luck!!
-S-
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Can someone please give me a job already?
Hello there :)
So apparently I have at least one reader on my blog, so I better write something on it sometimes :) I thought no one was reading it, so I've been lazy lately in keeping it up to date. The other reason I haven't been writing is the fact that I haven't got anything to write about :D Time is going past so fast even though I have nothing to do.
So I still don't have a job, but you can't blame me for not trying. I'm trying so hard to get something, but it seems to be really difficult getting any job... There are so many people here at the moment looking for jobs that it's just unbelievable. I heard that even the locals have to go to Australia to look for a job as they can't get one here! I've got few interviews so far, but they were for sales jobs, where you had to go from door to door trying to sell something or asking people to donate money for charity. I can't do that. Especially the collecting money for charity where you had to keep a smile on your face for 8 hours a day and give this ready made speech on every door... no way hose. As I told my roommate, us Finns are not capable to smile 8 hours a day, it's in our nature to be depressed and complain about staff most parts of the day. At least I am, there's no way you can make me smile whole day through, it's physically impossible. I'd get a headache sooner or later from it :D I can't sell stuff either. If someone tells me; no, I don't want to buy anything from you!' I'd go; thats ok, sorry to bother you. So I don't think I'd be a good salesperson as I can't persuade someone to change their minds. No sales jobs for me please... I need something else.
The other thing that's really frustrating is that you can see the advertisement for 'temps wanted for office jobs' like all the time, but why don't they just hire me? That's exactly what I'm looking for, a temporary job in an office. I've got calls from agency that I've sent my CV to that they will let me know as soon as they have a job for me and that there's lots of temporary office roles available, but then I don't hear from them again. So I don't know if there's just so many people applying for jobs right now that I don't have a change to get even to the interviews or what. But it's not like I don't have experience in that field. Oh well, I guess all I can do is wait and see what happens. And keep on looking of course. I really really hope I can get a job here, so I don't have to come home earlier than I planned. It's not that I don't miss home, I do, but I have the rest of my life to be at home, so I wanna stay here for now and I want to see the rest of the country too before I leave.
Ok so enough for the complaining. So the summary of this all was basically that I haven't really done much to report about, just been looking for a job and spending my time around Auckland city centre and the hostel. There's not that much to do if you don't want to spend money around here, so my favourite past time during sunny days is going to the park to read a book :) I usually get a coffee from Starbucks before going up there and one morning, when I got to the shop the girl behind the counter greeted me by saying: Hi Suvi! And then I knew I've been going there way too often :D :D Well she said the first time she heard my name (they write it on the coffee cups to know who ordered and what) that she thinks it's pretty name, so it wasn't so big deal that she remembered me, I guess.. :)
I think I better go now, I plan to go see movie today so I better check my e-mails and send some job applications before that. I'm so looking forward for the icehockey match tomorrow morning!!! Finland vs. Sweden... that's gonna be LEGEN-----wait for it------DARY!!!
It should be starting at 6.30am so I got to get up early so I can cheer up our boys to, what will hopefully be, a victory!! YEEEEJEEEEEEEEEE!!!! :D Come on boys, you can do this, I know you can!!!
Lots of love to Finnish icehockey team and to my reader(s?) as well :) :) :) <3
-Suvi-
So apparently I have at least one reader on my blog, so I better write something on it sometimes :) I thought no one was reading it, so I've been lazy lately in keeping it up to date. The other reason I haven't been writing is the fact that I haven't got anything to write about :D Time is going past so fast even though I have nothing to do.
So I still don't have a job, but you can't blame me for not trying. I'm trying so hard to get something, but it seems to be really difficult getting any job... There are so many people here at the moment looking for jobs that it's just unbelievable. I heard that even the locals have to go to Australia to look for a job as they can't get one here! I've got few interviews so far, but they were for sales jobs, where you had to go from door to door trying to sell something or asking people to donate money for charity. I can't do that. Especially the collecting money for charity where you had to keep a smile on your face for 8 hours a day and give this ready made speech on every door... no way hose. As I told my roommate, us Finns are not capable to smile 8 hours a day, it's in our nature to be depressed and complain about staff most parts of the day. At least I am, there's no way you can make me smile whole day through, it's physically impossible. I'd get a headache sooner or later from it :D I can't sell stuff either. If someone tells me; no, I don't want to buy anything from you!' I'd go; thats ok, sorry to bother you. So I don't think I'd be a good salesperson as I can't persuade someone to change their minds. No sales jobs for me please... I need something else.
The other thing that's really frustrating is that you can see the advertisement for 'temps wanted for office jobs' like all the time, but why don't they just hire me? That's exactly what I'm looking for, a temporary job in an office. I've got calls from agency that I've sent my CV to that they will let me know as soon as they have a job for me and that there's lots of temporary office roles available, but then I don't hear from them again. So I don't know if there's just so many people applying for jobs right now that I don't have a change to get even to the interviews or what. But it's not like I don't have experience in that field. Oh well, I guess all I can do is wait and see what happens. And keep on looking of course. I really really hope I can get a job here, so I don't have to come home earlier than I planned. It's not that I don't miss home, I do, but I have the rest of my life to be at home, so I wanna stay here for now and I want to see the rest of the country too before I leave.
Ok so enough for the complaining. So the summary of this all was basically that I haven't really done much to report about, just been looking for a job and spending my time around Auckland city centre and the hostel. There's not that much to do if you don't want to spend money around here, so my favourite past time during sunny days is going to the park to read a book :) I usually get a coffee from Starbucks before going up there and one morning, when I got to the shop the girl behind the counter greeted me by saying: Hi Suvi! And then I knew I've been going there way too often :D :D Well she said the first time she heard my name (they write it on the coffee cups to know who ordered and what) that she thinks it's pretty name, so it wasn't so big deal that she remembered me, I guess.. :)
I think I better go now, I plan to go see movie today so I better check my e-mails and send some job applications before that. I'm so looking forward for the icehockey match tomorrow morning!!! Finland vs. Sweden... that's gonna be LEGEN-----wait for it------DARY!!!
It should be starting at 6.30am so I got to get up early so I can cheer up our boys to, what will hopefully be, a victory!! YEEEEJEEEEEEEEEE!!!! :D Come on boys, you can do this, I know you can!!!
Lots of love to Finnish icehockey team and to my reader(s?) as well :) :) :) <3
-Suvi-
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Waiheke Island
I had nothing to do today in Auckland, so I decided to go to Waiheke Island which is only 35min ferry ride away from the city. I have been told it's a nice place to visit so that's why I wanted to go there, too bad that I picked a day that wasn't so good when it comes to weather. You should definately go there on a warm sunny day in order to enjoy the beaches they have there. There wasn't that much to do today... I was looking forward just to chillax at the beach and read my book, but it was just way too grey and windy for that. I did the island tour that was commentated, took about an hour and 20min or so, but it wasn't the best. The driver just told us a little bit about the island and the people living there and the fact that most of the island is just vineyards and farm land. There's about 8000 people living there through out the year and in the summer a lot more as there are a lot of summer houses in that island.
So I did the guided bus tour, had some lunch and a cup of bad coffee, was enjoying my book and then head back out to the ferry and here I am again, in Auckland. Well the good thing was that it took most of my day, I left at 10am and was back at the hostel at 4pm, so now I don't have to wonder what to do today, I'll be ready for bed in few hours :D
That was about it on the subject of Waiheke Island. I'd recommend the place, it really seems like a nice little relaxed island. I'm already looking forward to going there again, maybe for the whole weekend when it's warm and sunny :) Just to relax on the beach and do nothing... sounds good to me :) And the sceneries are beautiful there too, I'll add some pictures of it to FB later on, just try to imagine what it would look like if the sun was out :D
As far as the job searching goes, I've sent my CV to 4-5 agencies now, so I really hope something will come up soon. I can't wait to find my own place to live, even though I'm getting a bit used to this hostel, I still don't want to use the common kitchen for cooking... I find that a bit odd and uncomfortable with loads of people around you. And I wouldn't mind having my own room either, having a place to put my stuff in other than my rucksack or the locker under the bed... Plus at the moment, I have a very annoying roommate who wants to chat like all the time, even when I'm trying to read my book!! Oh well, I'll survive :D
Got to go now, I'll get back to you when I have something to write about again :) *mwah* kisses and hugs <3
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