Unpredictable Gas

Thursday 2-4-10

Alison had work today, so I refused to get up until our roommate left. He left around 9:00, so then I had apple\orange juice. So their apple juice is a little different than ours. It is not clear but cloudy. It kind of tastes like you are drinking applesauce. I also had a piece of toast. Then I walked to the library and used the free 15 minutes on their own computers for the Internet. That way I didn’t have to drag my laptop around. I heard back from the science museum asking if I was interested in helping on Saturdays (like showing kids around and stuff. So I wrote back and said yes I was interested and could they send more information.

Also, yesterday, we actually emailed the pastor from the Presbyterian Church to see if he had any suggestions about housing or flats. We are desperate to get out of the hotel. We are tired of moving from place to place and would like to have somewhere to put all our stuff and make it feel more like a home. He did email us back and asked us questions.

Then I walked to my interview. I was 15 minutes early and they were kind of in a tizzy about that. I guess proper first impression is different here? I feel like everything I know about being proper or just being normal should just be thrown out the window. The site director was really friendly and told me the owner was REALLY impressed with my CV and that I took the time and effort to be registered in New Zealand (that process really was a lot of time and effort).

We talked for a long time as the owner was out on an errand. When the owner came in, we sat and talked a lot. I got asked a lot of questions about different things. I really liked them, but it was kind of hard to get a feel of the preschool itself. It was toward the end of the day, and it just seemed chaotic. Kids were everywhere and there didn’t seem to be any order, but then again, parents were coming in…They apologized at the time of day it was and everything. I really don’t know how I feel about it yet. I almost feel like, “Hey it’s a job. Who are you to turn anything that might come your way right now?”

They said they wanted to talk to each other first and they would get back to me later that today. So I left and went back to the hotel. Alison was in the front room wondering if she should call or text me as she just got off work. So it worked out perfectly.

So we discussed our days. She said today went a lot better, but it was still chaotic. Maybe that is just the New Zealand way and we will have to get used to it. Then we did laundry and ate avocados and just talked about everything. When I switched the clothes to the drier, I got a call from the preschool. The owner wanted to meet with me tonight, but we had actually just made plans to visit another flat, so I couldn’t do it. She asked if tomorrow would be okay. I agreed. She would call and pick me up.

As soon as the drier finished, we went to the flat. We almost passed the place. We met the landlady right in front of the house. We looked through all the vacant rooms and loved all of them. The landlady really seems to care about her tenants. There are 5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room. Every room is furnished with everything we would need. She actually had another house on a different street we looked at, but we decided this house suited us best. Wireless is included, an electric stove (hurray!). It just seemed perfect for us. So, we got it, signed a 6 month lease and told her we would like to move in as soon as possible, but we needed to talk to the hotel to make sure exactly when we could move in.

So…we decided to try to make spaghetti again. Alison got matches, so she lit a match and tried to light the burner. Nothing happened, so I turned up the gas. Still nothing. Then she moved to another burner and it lit up fast and scared the daylights out of both of us. The knob does not match the burner so I don’t know how Alison even decided to use that burner. We were amazed there were no injuries. So we waited for the water to boil. It took a long time. We kept debating how many noodles to put in. We compromised and I put them in. A guy in the kitchen was watching us…amused. Alison wanted to put more and more noodles in. I kept thinking she was putting too much and wanted her to put in less and less. I was wrong. We needed to have more noodles. It did satisfy us enough though.

Alison gets tomorrow and Saturday off. She has to work on Sunday, so I am going to church by myself. I am thinking of trying that Nazarene Church in the area.