A Wasteful Time

Monday 1-25-10

Another day in Wellington…We got up at 9:00 and got ready. I finally went through my stuff and found floss and toothpaste (I had been using Alison’s, as mine was packed way deep in my stuff. We decided to go to a bagel place called Wholly Bagels (which becomes Wholly Pizzas at 4:00). We arrived 10 minutes before they opened. They allowed us to wait until they opened.

We ordered bagels and they told us there was a 15% surcharge, because it was a holiday. WHAT?!!! Why do we even try? So we just got them and our cream cheese. They put about ½ inch thick of cream cheese on the bagels. So this cream cheese was not like our cream cheese, but more like butter. It kind of made us sick, but we decided to eat it all, because we were really hungry. I even discovered sugar crystals in a jar and started pouring that on the plate to scoop up with my buttery bagel just to have more food. Of course, as soon as I poured the sugar out, the lady came by. I thought she was going to say there was some kind of payment we had to make, but she only wanted to know if we liked the bagels. We were kind of distracted by the spooky music playing in the background. When they turned it on, it made a LOUD buzzing sound that made us jump. We actually stayed there a while, just because we could.

Then we went to Te Papa National Museum. We started at the 6^th floor first, which was a very small art floor (they were really artifacts like jewelry). Then we went downstairs for another art floor. This floor had paintings, artifacts, and other things. It was much bigger and had more sections that you would twist and turn through.

Then we went to the next floor, which focused on people. There were several artifacts here, but they interviewed people and what they did. They focused on influences of other cultures such as the Scottish, Polish, English…This floor seemed to go on and on. Once we thought we were done, we found another section we missed.

The next floor focused on the science such as earthquakes and volcanoes, the earth, prehistoric New Zealand. They also had the Colossal Squid in a case. They said a squid’s throat goes through the brain or has the brain in it or something. So if the squid swallows a big bite, it can cause brain damage (I just thought that was interesting). Seamen fishing in Antarctica caught the squid. They froze it and gave it to scientists who slowly thawed it over the course of several days. They did tests, found out it was a girl. The squid had one good eye the size of a soccer ball. The skin is falling off of it now. I guess you can see what interested me the most about this museum.

Then we went down and walked by the water. We saw the Maritime Museum and decided to save that for tomorrow. So we went to the cable car, spent $3 and went up to the Cable Car Museum, which was a small museum showing the history of the cable cars and the gears involved in moving the cars. The scene was pretty while going up the steep hills in the cars. It beats walking, anyway.

Then we went to the Carter observatory, which is closed until March. Seems more and more typical all the time. So we went down to the Botanical Gardens and all the way to Bowton Street and the City. All the way along, we were looking for Subway. We couldn’t find it until around 4:00, so we ate and returned to the room so I could email my contact who is helping me get a job to see if she had advice for what we should do about going to Christchurch.

We then went back out for a little bit. We have noticed a couple people picking up a used cigarette from the ground, lighting it, and using it as their own. Apparently there is a desperate need for cigarettes. Well, I guess they aren’t being wasted. So, would that be considered going green?

There have been really strange and loud mating calls going on around here outside our window. There have also been people yelling to each other through their windows on separate floors. It seems that it would be easier to just go to the persons room and talk. I guess not.

AND THE BIRDS!!! They are crazy here! The seagulls make weird demanding noises and all the birds start pecking or attacking each other. Sparrows, seagulls, ducks…you name it. They are trying to kill each other. Maybe it’s a way to decrease the population, or maybe their colors are offensive, or maybe south of the equator their brains go wacko, or maybe the crazies come out at night for our kind and the crazies of their kind come out in daylight. Who knows?

Well, back to us…my “advisor” called and didn’t really help (in terms of telling us what would be best). She gave us options, but we didn’t want more options really. I guess at this point we had really decided to go to Christchurch, and we just wanted her to agree with us telling us it was the best option. Well, she just said I will never know where or when work will turn up. She mentioned that I could go to the beach for a week until I could go back to Wellington, but I just felt like that would be a waste. I know I could relax, but I really wanted to feel productive, or at least sight see while I was waiting.

So Alison and I talked for a while discussing the good and the bad. We just decided to go to Christchurch and if I get a call elsewhere, we would go there. We just really don’t want to go back to Wellington for a long long time at this point. So we looked online for ferries to Picton and trains to Christchurch. We found the cheapest one, but were a little nervous, so we decided to walk to the ferry terminal and ask a few questions. Alison heard there were free shuttle rides from the train station to the ferry terminal.

So we walked to the train station and asked someone where the shuttle was. He seemed confused so we walked and found it. It was $2, but we didn’t know the schedule. So we walked all the way to the ferry terminal. It took over an hour to go from the hostel to the ferry terminal (and we walked fast)…only to find out it closed early.

So we had to walk all the way back. It wasn’t a nice area either and it was starting to get dark. Well, we made it back, got yogurt and ate peanut butter sandwiches and yogurt for dinner and one piece of Whittiker’s chocolate. Mmmmmm.

We went downstairs to see if we could purchase the tickets, but got scared last minute and decided to walk to the ferry terminal tomorrow morning and get the tickets. So today has just felt like a very unproductive day. It just seems like everything we have done has been a waste of time. It is amazing how many things have just gone wrong. As you can see, I am a little cranky and worn out.

Well, tomorrow’s a new day…