Rodeo! (day 4)

Morning ya'll,

Firstly.
I have come to realise something about the way I approach things.

Now, a lot of things here are amazing and new to me and I love to revel in the differences around me. It appears however that in comparing like "oh, in NZ we do it like this.." can sound as if I think we do it better in NZ(regardless of if that is true).
That's not what I'm meaning at all, I just love to compare things.
I think I have to figure out how to compare in a better way. I mean although I was highly amused by how the waiter said "yes ma'am" to everything, even when it didn't makes sense (eg. "yes ma'am no we don't"), mentioning the difference aloud probably wasn't the best way to do it.

I know in NZ everything's pretty open and not PC in casual situations (ie. when you aren't a politican hehe), and we joke around a lot. I think here though you just have to be a lot more careful of what you say and how you say it.
So if I were to re-run that situation, I would either take note of the difference in my head and not say it aloud, or I'd say it through a compliment. eg. "I love the way he's so polite and says "yes ma'am", as I'm not used to it"

Anyway, so now that I've found the error of my ways, onto yesterday!

Yesterday started with a parade at 9am.
I put the pieces together to figure out that: the parade was today becuase tomorrow is sunday, therefore people go to church instead, so that's why the parade was the day before. The world makes sense onc again! haha

The parade was like a small town gathering. The kids were funny. People even dress up their dogs. I have put pics up. :) [from
image 181 page 8] You guys know you can make the pic larger by cliking on "
Get Original Uploaded Photo", right? (once you've clicked on a pic you get more options, it's slightly confusing but once you've figured it out it's easy)

Then we relaxed here for a while, had a yummy home-made lunch (Linda, you're an awesome cook :) ). Around 3 we drove the 1hour 40ish mins to Bolton where the rodeo was. When we got there we found out the festivals had been moved and the rodeo didn't start till 7. So we drove to this carnival thing.

Then we went to this BBQ place(the ultimate manly caveman place, pretty much). I was like...ok well I guess I'll try ribs. My brother seems to think they're pretty awesome so maybe I'll like them too.
You then got to choose your sides. I got 'wheat' bread (which I hoped was brown bread, you had to make such fast decisions and I didn't really know what anything was so it was kind of like, uh.. "that"), pinto beans, cheesy potatoes and my ribs.
I'd have to say they were impressive ribs!!! They had lots of meat and the seasoning was super yummy!
The decorations, I might add, were also awesome. I ran out of time to take pics though sorry.


THE rodeo.
It was amazing!

There was a show at the beginning. It spoke about the cowboys and native americans. It was July 4 themed and then their national anthem (star spangled banner) was sung and there was fire and colour and light... It was very well done.

The rodeo itself was intriguing. I found it quite eye opening.
Only one person got hurt, which I thought was pretty impressive.
I didn't know everythig was so gender separated though. Like the girls did the more show-y things and the guys tried to stay on the scary animals. Prolly something to do with morals and values, but I thought you could possibly analyze that? Uni paper, anyone? hehe

Anyway..
I never knew there was such a thing as a 'rodeo clown'. They are like circus clowns dress wise, but pretty much the guy acted as a co-commentator to the main announcer. He tried to make jokes and such.

I have put pics up and little explainations attached so you can see the sorts of events that occured and I don't have to repeat myself. haha.


I fit right in my my cowgirl stuff, that's for sure. So I was happy. ;)

After, there was a big backlog with the cars, so we got home at around midnight.

Other random observations:

I find a lot of people don't understand me. I have to learn to speak SLOW and CLEAR. It's hard because, like my fast walking, it's a habit!!!


I'm in love with Texas soul, vibe and country music! Woo!

Talk to ya'll later
xx

Day 2, 3 and some of 4

Ok so here's the update for the last few days. :)

So we drove to San Antonio in Texas to see The Alamo mainly.

It wasn't what I was expecting, really. Basically it was this fortress and you could go inside this building. It had a lot of history, and they'd added a ceiling to it (yay because it was raining due to hurricane Alex). This one guy told the story of the place to us. He was emotive and pretty interesting.

The town was really cute. I wish we had had more time to shop because I enjoyed looking at the tiny portion I did. (that's where the pics of my trying on the hair pieces came from).

Later we went to the River Walk. The place was nice, but would have been nicer if the weather had been more co-operative. Luckily however we did manage to get a boat ride because it was closed off from the rain a lot of the day!

For dinner we met up with Robert's brother and his wife. It was at a seafood restaurant that was Louisina style.
I tried Gumbo! Actually, I wasn't goign to but Robert said I should. It was...different. Not terrible like I was expecting though. I didn't know it had rice on the bottom which was intriguing.
I had a nice salad (see, healthy.) and salmon for my main. Everything was eepretty nice!

After that we checked into our hotel (The Marriott - full service one <-- there are different types which I didn't know...). It was a nice place! We rushed so we could get free food at the concierge lounge. :P Luckily we made it.
Then I had a room to myself. It was awesome. I relaxed and played country music on their radio (which had picture buttons that I played with).

The next morning we had a long drive. The plan was to leave at 9, and I was going to put my alarm on, but I forgot. Eek. Not the best start since I woke up at 8.33am only because Linda rang the room.... :/ Then I was all frazzled and locked myself out of my room (joy). However I went down the 10 levels and getting a replacement key was suprisingly easy.
Then I went to the conciege lounge for free brekkie. :P

The view out of my window was nice, but the air con in the room kept me up most of the night. It kept turning on and off which drive me nuts!

We drove for ages before arriving at an Outlet Mall. This place was massive. All these individual shops attached to each other, pretty much.
It was the funniest shopping I've ever done though because the place where we stopped to look around had shops similar to Millers and K-Mart and Farmers. ...which needless to say aren't my style.
Linda was tryingt o figure out what I liked. ...oddly enough (and slightly sad) the types of shops I like we only found at the -end- when we were going to leave! I found this awesome place called Vanity Fair. I had a fun time in there and got a top and a dress.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Chick-fil-a. It's sort of like a healthy version of KFC. They have sandwiches etc. I tried the weirdest flavour smoothie - blueberry and pineapple. It wasn't too bad but still a little odd!
Personally, and wendy you'll like this bit, I liked all the freebies! Mints, hand sanitisers, free peach smoothie samples...
Then I was very impressed by some of the employees there. They had guys with umbrellas who walked you to your car! Isn't that nice??

It was Robert and Linda's 1st anniversary yesterday, so -we- went to dinner. I thought they'd want to be by themselves, but I was invited to tag along!
The food at the place La Riveriera was yummy! They did the yummiest molten chocolate cake. Chocolate ooooozed out of the middle. Needless to say it was amazing.
(eg. like this )

I slept the best I have so far last night. I had a strange dream about wanting to become a cheerleader though...

This morning we had a parade thing to go to at 9am. It was a small celebration since it was just for the local townspeople. Everyone was dressed up red white and lue. Very cool. People threw out lollies and drove golf carts (strange..?). Lots of little kiddies, pregnant mommas and families out. Also a few dogs.
They had a few activities for the kiddies and it was a nice atmosphere...

Right now its just nice to relax though. :)


Rodeo tonight! So excited for that! I'm gonna dress up cowgirl styles to blend in. (well, until the moment I open my mouth, anyway)


Please NOTE:
I have changed the site my photos are on. The other was wanting me to pay when I reached 200. :P

This is the direct link
HERE ), but I'll put it on the sidebar too so they can be easily accessed like they were before. Also I've kept the function that shows the most recently added photos, above. :)

Anyway I'm gonna go relax and hang out with BB.

Catch ya'll later.
I'll update when I can with Rodeo pics and pics from the parade this morning (pre-July 4th parade).

San Antonio....

Hey guys,

The days have been full on so I can't write a huge blog right now about what's been happening. However, it has been an awesome adventure so far, and I've uploaded the pics. Hopefully they'll speak a little, but I will add desciptions to them when I have time.

We stayed in a Marriott hotel in San Antonio which was nice. Had a bit of a bad start to the mornign though since I forgot to put my alarm on (oops)..and then of course I was stressed so I locked myself out of the room, and had to walf down brekkie since the concierge lounge closed around 9 (free brekkie). Oh well, the rest of the day was nice. :)

Pics of the day(s):



See ya'll later
xx


p.s
Flicker is great, but they start charging once you hit 200 photos - anyone know a better site to use so I don't have to pay every year?

Texas Day 1 (pics to come later)

Firstly, I have to say, this house is amazing! It has super fluffy carpet and my living space is massive!! I even have access to my own (carpeted) bathroom and walk in wardrobe! The bed is also massive and I love it!

Today is my first official day in Texas!

After breakfast this morning of fresh fruit (yum!) and cereal we went out to go cowgirl shopping. This place was sooooo fascinating! There was everything you'd ever want to dress like a cowboy/girl! I was excited by everrrrything!

I'd have to say the sparkly belts were heaven on earth for me though. SO gorgeous!

It took ages for me to choose my boots. There was a huge selection. The ones I chose I loved right away except I was afraid they wouldn't go with everything. However, inthe end I just had this attachment to them, they were calling my name, so yeah, I ended up with them.

Taking the boots off was a mission. They have these boot wedges to help you take them off. Robert showed me how you take them off without a boot wedge, and uh, not a fan!!!

Hats were more of a challenge, but I found one I liked. :)

My belt goes with my shoes (both have wings), and my hat goes with my belt! (both have horse shoes!). Isn't it awesome!?

Then Robert went to get his truck. It's huge! You have to step up on a rail thing to get into it! Not to mention the giant wing mirrors! (abotu 3x the size of a normal one!)

We went to have lunch at this place called Southern Flier eatery. It was 50's themed and the girls were all dressed up.

I tried a malt shake and a burger. They were good. Filling. But good.

Then we went to this ice-cream factory famous in Texas and number 3 in the USA. It's called Blue Bell. They even seal it in those ice-cream tubs you see on tv! We went on a tour of the place and then got free ice-cream after. :)

After that we went to the bank (everythign is so far away and you have to drive for ages!). Unfortunately they couldn't really help me though. :(

Ok now I'm off to go shopping (fun! Can't wait to see what's there). Also we'll take BB for a walk. BB is adorable! I definately made a new friend.

Lastly, everyone says ya'll! It cracks me up. I love it. :)
Oh and the boys here, their southern accent is just like the movies and soooooo adorable!!! I just want to wrap one up and take 'em with me haha

I'll edit this post later and put pics on it.

It's warm outside! :D
xx

My cowgirl boots!

Let the journey begin!

So finally it was the 29th. How long had I waited for this day? Quite some time. …and yet I didn’t manage to drive grandma totally crazy from excitement. In fact, I find myself really mellow about the whole thing. You’d think since finally the adventure was upon me that I’d hardly be able to contain my excitement. Maybe I’m so ‘normal’ because there’s so many things to try and remember. Even then I managed to forget to take something out of my bag at security! In any case, I’m sure the excitement will hit more fully when I’m in Texas.
The day began when we were driving to the airport. The fog was scarily low and I was freaking out that my adventure would be shortened and interrupted! However, luckily the Wellington mist wasn’t bad enough that we couldn’t fly!

Richard, Chris and Bri met me at the airport (and yay to Hannah, Jasmine, Zerlina and Liz) for coming the night before – so much for 20mins haha).  It was nice to say goodbye to you all, I’ll miss you. Xx

Eventually it was time for me to go past security onto my plane. Except when I did and went to my gate it said Christchurch. Christchurch? This, was not a good start! However, I asked the man there and he let me know that there had been a gate change, to gate 11.

The Air NZ flight was pretty good. Once above the clouds it was beauuuutiful! The sun was shining and the windows were even warm. It was amazing. The soft pillowy clouds below looked magnificent.

I had a really interesting neighbour. She was up for her son’s newborn. She looked like she was good at puzzles. I actually tried the one she had completed on the plane to Tahiti – and I honestly was stumped by the first word. :/ Something tells me I need practice!

I met 2 Aunties in Auckland and that was nice to catch up with them. It was brief, but I appreciated it.  Then I got my bags and they drove me to the international terminal.

When I went to get my boarding pass they seemed confused. I then realised they didn’t know I had a visa and were expecting me to have a return ticket! Phew. Good thing that was not a drama. Then, we went and had a sit down for a while before I had to go.

Once I went through the overseas area gate I had to fill in these orange forms. Except I didn’t know how to fill in the last part – “overseas port where you will leave this aircraft”, was it Tahiti or Los Angeles (turns out it was Tahiti)? I wasn’t able to convince myself of the right answer so I just filled in 2 forms. That was fine, and then I lined up for security. I managed to get all things out that they required except for the liquids I had in a small clear bag in my backpack. So then they had to take them out and re put my bag through again. It turned out ok, but the security guard growled a little. So –sorry- that I forgot that – but at least it was in a clear plastic bag, nothing was over 100mls and I had done everything else – like taken my laptop out and from its bag. I guess I won’t forget next time though.

Once through and into the waiting area it was almost like a maze! I was freaking that I’d get lost or something! Good thing I had about 45mins to kill since my plane was late. So I window shopped and bought some nibbles and a drink since I felt headachy and craved chocolate. When it was almost time for boarding I went down to the lounge. …only to find out there was a further 30min delay. Joyous…

Observing the people whilst waiting was quite interesting though. I found myself surrounded by French. It sort of freaked me out! In NZ you hear the odd language being spoken, but not much. I felt quite out of place, even though not everyone spoke French!

There was this funny kid who got great enjoyment from his plane toy. I took a pic so you could see what I mean.

Once I was on the plane I was amused by how everything announced was done so in both French and English. I was thinking – you know, if there was an emergency that’d be awfully inefficient! How do you tell people what to do effectively when you have to relay it twice? Anyway, it was kind of neat. Not that I could totally understand when they spoke English either, obviously it wasn’t his first language!

I thought that I had chosen my seat on the plane, but it turned out that actually it was random.  So I was in the middle set of chairs. However, I had 2 seats between myself and this other girl, so there was lots of space.

I played with the controller once I was able to, to find that the sound on my was corrupted. So I used the seat next to me for sound. Must have looked weird but oh well.

I thought it was a really nice touch when they came around with little bags of things for us – earplugs, hand wipes (which smelt amazing), eye mask, headphones (oh my goodness they were confusing – a mission to figure out how to put on. You would have all laughed if I was filmed trying to figure it out)… Then they came around and gave us all a really nice smelling flower! A really sweet touch in my opinion!

The food on board was interesting. I actually ate the pavlova despite the fact I hate pavlova! It was put with this really nice syrup and yummy thick cream stuff so it wasn’t bad at all! They were forever asking to fill up our glasses too. I was impressed by the service.

One strange thing I noticed though was that the flight attendants changed clothes 3 times! THREE times! Why, and where do they keep all their spare clothes?!The dresses were neat.

When I stepped off in Tahiti (on the ground, quite exciting!) it was warm!! I looked at the neat shops where everything was in Tahitian Francs (which made everything look really expensive!) and wandered around the outside area they had. I quite enjoyed it. I felt…independent. Alone, but free. The Tahitians were lovely and even helped guide us to the toilets!
My phone switched onto F-NUI which I thought was strangely humorous.

Then the 2nd part of the journey. The 2 meals I was pretty impressed with. They were fancy and I could barely understand what the menu was telling me, but I enjoyed it. This part was long and I tried so hard to sleep. I had 2 seats to utilise but no matter how I tried I was both uncomfortable, and unable to sleep. Usually I’d get close to going to sleep but then there’d be turbulence. I feel uneasy trying to sleep with it because I think, if it gets bad and I’m asleep that could be dangerous….

Anyway so I eventually got to LAX. Woo! I tried to get off as fast as I could because the flight was pretty much packed and I knew if I wasn’t quick I’d be in a line for ages!

Even though I’ve been to the USA several times, I forgot how much of an alien you feel like. People everywhere on their cell phones, people talking loudly, strange accents everywhere, fast food, chewing gum, caps, big logos. Then of course there’s the super grumpy LA airport people. It was as if they despised their job and the people around them. I was lost on occasion and wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing, and they always reply as f you’re stupid. Uh, can’t you tell by my accent I’m not from here? The –only- nice person I encountered (and I had to talk to about 10 security/airport people) was the person who stamped off my visa. Except can you really count him since he was German? It was funny, he asked where in Australia I was from (darn that passport), and of course I said actually I was from NZ. …then he had a big conversation with me about how I thought NZ was and what the situation was like with immigrants. Then he went on to tell me about his friend who went to Disney World in summer, saying it was hot. So yay for him. After he’d finished I told him he was way nicer than the previous guy who had been like:
“where’s your blue and white form?”
Huh? What blue and white form? I was not told of this?
“it’s over there. Go get it and then line up again”
All the while acting like I was some kind of retard. It wasn’t just me though, the girl who I was sitting in the same row as had the same problem.

I told the German guy about that and he was like “yeah, they can’t ever do the smart thing and communicate to people.” So true…

Then I had to pick up my bags. Oh my goodness that took forever. All I can say is that I’m glad I had a flight to Texas with lots of time to spare. When I was waiting for my bags the loudspeaker said “urgent page for Kimberley regarding baggage”
Oh, great. Now what? I thought.
I found the security person who then referred me to another security person. He started asking me all these questions that I didn’t understand! I was thinking, uh, how come I speak English and yet I can’t understand this other person speaking it too? Turned out they were looking for someone with the LAST name Kimberley. How weird is that? I never would have thought of it as a last name…

Then I had to line up again for this person to ask if I had food etc. After that, which was surprisingly quick, they didn’t even seem to check. It was bizarre. Anyway so then I had to follow the signs saying flight connection. I entered this area with a carousel and was thinking, this does not feel right at all! Not really sure what they were doing there but the sign at the end said “no re-entry once past this point”. Uhm, here’s to hoping I’m going the right way then, yeah? :S

I was told of how I was supposed to then walk to terminal 1. Well that seemed simple enough, I managed to ignore all annoying people trying to get my attention and walk that way. Except it was a LOT further than I was expecting! Too bad if you were in a rush, far out!

I finally found Southwest. Only to not see any check in area. What the heck? This is the most confusing thing ever (you need big signs people. BIG.). I went to a help desk and waited patiently whilst this lady was helping this other guy. She had one of those typical Cali accents which is fine when you are being helped, but generally they have a tendency to talk forever, which of course she did. When I finally managed to get her attention she was like “take the elevator to level T”
Ok, a.) who calls a level “T” ? and b.) an elevator? No one told me about this, and it’s not obvious at all!

So I went up the elevator to enter this place with people EVERYWHERE. I tried to figure out what was happening, but I didn’t want to guess wrong. Turns out I was right though, and the line going OUT THE DOOR was where I had to be. Are you –serious-. I could see so many people freaking out who had to get flights about an hour away. Fair enough too!
Man the security lady was super grumpy. These Asian people came up to her wanting help and she was so rude to them! I was like, wow, you would never get treated like that even at McDonalds!

Finally I got to the counter and they were telling me to use this machine thing. I was like, argh. Why can’t a check in person do it? I feel so out of place and clueless!!! However, turned out it wasn’t too hard to work. Labels got put on my bag, then I took them to the TSA area.

..and theeeen I had to go to security. Again. Lol. It’s a SUPER long process.

However. I made it. I survived. Man I should get a t-shirt for my awesome effort. “I survived LAX by myself” ;)

Right now I’m waiting for my connection to Texas. It’ll be good to actually try and sleep on a –bed-. I can’t wait to meet my hosts and BB. Should be awesome!

Wow this was a long day. …and a long post.
Congrats, gold star to you if you read it all.


EDIT:
I am in Texas! It's hue, and much greener than I imagined! It's lovely here and WARM outside. Crazy. Anyway, off to day one of the adventure!
See ya’ll later

xx

Byyyyyye!!!

Ok so in a few hours I'll be boarding my flight to Auckland which is the first step in the big adventure!!

I don't even know what to think (it's real?!), but I have to go - so catch ya'll later!!

Take care and send me some NZ cheese, will ya? haha.
xx

Tomorrow, tomorrow - I love ya, tomorrow...

...you're only a day awaaaaaaay!

Today I have to change my NZ phone to a prepaid plan - so please try not to txt me now so that I can keep the txts for emergencies when I'm away? I will PM you back or something.

If you are coming to the airport I'll meet you at the check-in area. Txt me if you are lost and I'll try find you... :)

Ok so now that I actually am about to leave the coutry, I want to wish everyone else well with their studies etc! I hope you have a good rest of 2010 and 2011! Please keep in touch. ...and my blog likes comments? :P

If you don't have one of the accounts required to comment - it's easy to set up. I walked mum thorugh it last night.

You just go to the google homepage here and try to sign in:



then, since you don't have an account you just make one:



After that its pretty straightforward, you just fill in the details. Then when you try comment here you just choose the Google account option in the drop down box!




So after all that awesome effort and tutorial right there, do you feel guilty enough to make comments now? :P hehe


Right I'm off to do some last minute things!
Wide Open Spaces (Dixie Chicks), I can relate to at this point of my life!!

Here's my schedule for quick ref:


EDIT:
Thanks for the farewell pressies everyone!




Catch ya'll in Texas!
xx