"Did you know that men speak, on average, about 7000 words a day?" "Really? I'm scared to ask how many women speak..." "20,000! Almost 3 times as much!" "Wow! ...Wait, are you trying to tell me something???"

The post title conversation took place on Tuesday, at the university undergrad coffee shop, Milk and Honey. One of the baristas (I'm wondering if he should technically be called a 'baristo', to make the word masculine...) and I generally exchange friendly banter while I wait for my caffeine order- for those of you who may be concerned, I only get a caffeinated beverage about one to two times a week, so no fear of addiction... Anyways, so on Tuesday I mentioned that I had a 2,000 word paper due on Thursday before the two week Easter break. I think this must have sparked something in his memory about how that wouldn't be so difficult for me, given that I'm female, so he told me the above fact. He said he wasn't trying to hint that I talk too much, but to be honest, I'm kinda starting to wonder if he was trying to nicely tell me to stop talking.... more research is required, I'll report back with more data on the subject.


Last week= essay writing.


This Easter weekend= lots of fun not writing essays.


The next two weeks= Easter break, travelling up the west coast of the New Zealand north island, and even less time spent studying.


So, let's rewind back to Friday...


During the day Friday, was fairly typical- meaning dance practice and sleeping. Friday night, however, was mine and Tali's first night as hired 'dance floor starters'. It was so great! Getting paid to dance and encourage other people to do the same, was like getting paid to breathe. Now, because it was Good Friday, they didn't open until 12am (technically that would be Saturday morning), and we were there until 2am. At this point, I was pretty much out of steam, and went home. There are also a lot of international people who frequent that club (Rain), so that made for a pretty neat atmosphere as well. And from now until I leave, I will be a dance floor starter at Rain every Friday from 11pm-1am. Woot woot!!


Saturday I went to the movie theatre with Tali and Pique and we saw The Hunger Games. A veryyyy good movie! But this experience was made all the better by the fact that we got to be in the 'gold lounge'. Sounds quite exclusive, doesn't it? Well the gold lounge is where you pay $20 for your movie ticket, and you get to sit in the back of the theatre, in these amazingly comfortable lazy boy chairs, with table service. I had nachos (not those crappy, fake cheese kind, but the restaurant kind, cuz I'm pretty sure that was the only gluten free thing on the menu) and a super yummy chocolate ice cream sundae. Combine that with a great movie, and comfortable seating, and you have converted me to a 'gold lounge' fan. I wonder if we have those in Canada? I've never heard of them before now... 


Yesterday and today were pretty dance-y. Kris- the American film director I met my first day here- is having a fundraiser for his film next Friday and wanted a bunch of break dancers to come out and dance during it. Him and his crew were at the jam today, doing some filming for the show. That was pretty cool, and it also got more people interested in coming out next Friday.


And now- because some of you may be curious. I'll give you a little run down of the trip Sara and I are doing over the next ten days or so.


Leave tomorrow (Tuesday) at 7:45am (no, we did not pick that time, it was the only one offered...) to go to Ohakune. Paddle for several days on Whanganui River.


Take a bus to New Plymouth. Spend some time there hiking Mount Taranaki.


Take a bus to Torohanga. Shuttle it from here to Waitomo where there are glow worm caves and such.


Take a bus to Paihia (up north, past Auckland). Tour around Northland and hopefully go whale watching etc.


Take a bus back down to Auckland, tour around the city for a bit.


Take a bus from Auckland, back down to Wellington by Thursday (April 19th) night.


And, just for all of you, I made a little map in Paint to show our approximate travels. 


Purple= our trip out
Green= our trip back
Blue star= start point
Yellow star= end point

Well, wish me luck! I'll write a post when I can, either when I get back, or midway through the trip.

xoxo