A Busy Day Indeed and FYI #1

Today...ah...was very eventful--in a good way.

First, Tiana and I got up early and bummed around for an hour or so, then we headed down the street to Frankton Market. This is an outdoor market where everything from clothing and fruits & veggies, to artwork and trinkets that no one really needs are sold. It was fun.There were a lot of Maori shops where they were carving special symbols out of cow bone, and musicians walking around with guitars and singing. We were able to talk to one of the guys carving and shaping the bone. He knew we were from America and was explaining about the carving and trying to convince us to buy a "prosperity" symbol as a souvenir for family and friends back home. There were plants that we could buy for a lot cheaper than anywhere. There were fruits and veggies displayed everywhere at very good prices. And they looked very good and fresh. We're going to get our veggies from the market for as long as they sell them. As it is, we picked up a couple of fijoa fruits that were juicy and plump. I've had them before and I wanted Tiana to try them. There were also handmade jewelry spots and rugs and fabrics. The street it was on was near another train station and had a "quaint" feel to it with lots of people from different cultures passing through. It was very nice. We also met a South African Man who said he saw us as was debating whether we were from his country or not, and then said he knew that we "must be American". I guess it's the mixture of cultures we have in our blood. People from other countries just cannot figure it out. It's not like they're going to say, "aren't you African/Irish/Portuguese/Native American?" Haha.


We were also able to catch an early lunch of lamb kabobs, corn dogs, egg foo yung (which was more like an omelet than what we know from America), and sweet and sour pork. Don't worry. It wasn't as much as it sounds. We split our food with each other and portions here are at healthier portions than America's "supersized menu."


Next, we decided to walk to Lake Rotarua which wasn't too far away. We saw mountains in the distance and so we wanted to see if we could get a better view of them from the lake. It was beautiful!!!! People were out walking around, renting lake bikes & canoes, and there was even a guy playing a guitar. Classic! We stayed there for awhile and then thought we were out for a long time, so we checked our watch and it was only 12:30pm!!! We decided to catch a bus to the city center instead of walking and we were able to for $2.30 a piece. Then we checked out some overpriced department stores and finally ended up at the Warehouse (like a wal-mart). At that point we were very tired so we had to sit down at on of their resting spots.


After the Warehouse we stopped off at a grocery store and bought some sarsaparilla because we heard it was like rootbeer and they don't have rootbeer in New Zealand from what I've seen. It didn't have as strong a flavor as Rootbeer, but it still worked out nice for a rootbeer float.


Yes, we're tired. Tomorrow's church and we're going back to the same church from last week for an info lunch with people from the church. We're still looking for a church home and yes, we can be bribed with food to at least visit a second time :) Sad, but true. We took lots of pictures, but we still can't hook our camera to the comp yet. i hope mom get that instillation disk to us soon.


FYI

I decided to write a random thought for (almost) each day so here we go:



A trip to the Post

So the other day we went looking for a post office and found one that was empty and said they had moved. So we walked over to where they had moved and found out that particular type of post office didn't have envelopes. Actually, I'm not sure if they actually mailed things either. So we were directed to go all the way down to the city center to another place that did have envelopes, but you had to mail letters outside in the post box. Now it doesn't sound as confusing as it really was at the time, but all we wanted was to mail a simple letter and ended up walking all around the city to find a place that did mailings. On our way back home, we stopped at the place where the Frankton Market is usually held, and found a post office that is much closer. This is good, except, we don't actually know if they mail out letters yet. Hmm. It's probably more of our incompetence than it is of New Zealand's quirkiness. Like I've said before, everyday things are such an ordeal!