Chillaxin' Saturday

Photo: Sky Tower from the Motorway

Hey everyone, this week has been a week of no excitement. I last wrote to you about the Easter Weekend. Tuesday was my first day without Leo and I told you all about that. On wednesday I was looking for jobs. I applied for another Post Office job. this one is located in Albany, which is real close to where i am staying. about an hour after I applied online, i got a phone call from the Auckland Region headquaters. they wanted a phone interview. I did that, then they asked me if i could go down on thursday to headquarters for a two hour assessment. Well i figured that was a good sign that they were calling so quickly.

Thursday i went to the assessment. What an experience, we first had to take a four minute adress test. They gave you two address and you had to tell them wether they were the same or different. In four minutes i got 30 done and all 30 were right. the next assessment was speed sorting. they gave you 2 minutes to put as many letters in order. the letter were labled a,b,c,d,e,f, in the two minutes i got 77 letters out of hundred sorted. they were pleased with that mark, but i need to get up to 85. and then the Bike test. the mailmen (aka Posties) deliver mail via a bicycle. so i had to have a bicycle test. which include turns, stoping, delivering, and a few other skills. i scored a 25 out of 25 on that portion. after all that they told us that they would contact us on monday or tuesday if we get a face to face interview with a supervisor.

On Friday I received a call seeing if i want to come in for a face to face interview on wednesday with the Supervisor at the branch in Albany. I take this as another good sign. Also on friday i did some work around the house with Mr. Joy. we were leveling off a piece of land to put a firewood shed on. I was incharge of working the heavy machinery. I was using a motorized digger that ate away at the dirt. Which was like clay and extremely hard. Mr. Joy worked the rake leveling off the ground. this project took us a good chunk of the day. but we got it done(Now today I am sore all over and have sunburn on my shoulders.)

Today is Saturday, i dont have to fight for myself today, Leo is around give ideas on what to do. We are going to the shops for a few things, then we are going to watch a field hockey game at 3. Sunday is a big day, Leo has National Champs. which will be fun. That is all i have for you today nothing too exciting i am sorry, but maybe in the next few days something will happen that i will write all about.

Hope all is well- Mike

Easter Weekend Over

Hey Everyone, it is Tuesday here in New Zealand and the Easter holiday is now over. It has been a fun filled holiday. I mentioned alot of what i have done to you already, but now i have the photos to go along with it. We made chocolate Easter Eggs on Friday. so here is my step by step photo illustration on how that is done. In case you guys were starting to doubt that Leo still actually existed I included a photo of her above. Saturday I told you all about already.

Easter Sunday started with the Easter Bunny leaving Leo and I a treat outside the bedroom door. Marshmellow filled Chocolate Easter Eggs. Leo and I went down to Gulf Harbour which is a little town that is set on the waterfront. It is real nice and real expensive, it is a posh place to live. I have a photo of Leo and I at the end of the harbour where the town contre is.
After Gulf Harbour, we went off to Shakespeare Regional Park. It is a large park that has everything you need. It has beaches, camping, hiking, fields for sports, and animals. The park has terrific views of the waters and the coast. They even have life size photo frames set up with scenery in the background. Dont worry i will attach a photo of that as well. went to the park and walked a little bit on the trails, and took some photos. after the park we headed home for easter dinner.

For dinner we had ham, with pineapple and a rice salad. the salad was deliciouse, it was rice mixed with all different veggies and had a lemon dressing. after dinner we chilled in the backyard and that was it. easter was pretty basic, nothing too exciting. it was different experience as i am used to 25 people at every holiday. it almost seemed like there was no holiday. but i know there was.

That brings me to easter monday. a national holiday here, where everyone gets off of work and the mall has huge sales. all weekend there has been this Easter Show going on. Leo wants to take me, so i am up for it. it is great, we there and it is all different things, its like a carnival with rides and food, and then it has stages and tents for shows, it has a market place for people to shop the crafts and they have a huge petting farm for the kids. they also have art on display as there is a big contest for drawing, painting, photography and many other competitions. then there is also animal contests, best in show for example. We wonder the park heaps, we watched three shows. two of which were danger shows and another was lumberjack competition. The danger shows were cool there was juggling fire, balancing on chairs stakced ontop of one another, balancing a kayak on a chin and even swallowing a sword. it was crazy. i took tons of photos and video. I have video of eating the sword and photos of everything else. I will attach the kayak photos that i took as that was really impressive. we spent a total of 5 hours at the show it was great fun. the show was generally geared for kids but there was plenty of adult like things that made it fun.

Like i stated earlier it is tuesday, i am stranded alone as leo had to go back to work. so i am stuck to make my own fun. typing this blog takes heaps of time so that will cut a hunk out, i also have things to do. i need to apply for jobs and get an IRD number(it is like a SSN). once i have those things set i will be able to work and earn money. Well other than that i think i have rambled enough and given you plenty to look at. enjoy everything and i hope all is safe and well. -Mike