Elvis has left the building!

The past week and a half has been very uneventful, especially in light of my first week here and the Northland trip. I have really just been looking for a job. My goal was to find a job in the renewable energy sector. There are actually lots of places here that sell and install solar panels, solar hot water systems, and small wind generators. Despite my best efforts at securing gainful employment at said businesses, none of them are hiring. I actually thought one guy was going to hire me, but he changed his mind. So I have applied at Hill and Stewart, and Noell Leaming; these are similar to Best Buy or Circuit City in the US. The Hill and Stewart guy told me that he would call Monday to set up an interview. That would be swell for sure.

The last little while has not been entirely devoid of enjoyable extracurricular fun. I went one day last week with the Elys to "Operation Christmas Child." This is an organization that collects shoe boxes from across New Zealand that have been stuffed with Christmas presents and sends them to kids in Fiji. Our job was going through boxes people had sent in to make sure that the gifts were appropriate, and that all the items in the boxes would make it through customs. That was really a lot of fun. It was interesting to see some of the things that people put into their boxes. As we went through the boxes, if there were certain items missing we would find things in the warehouse to put in the boxes; or you could combine boxes. One box I got had, no joke, a package of 5,000 stickers in it. Being the astute box sorter that I was, after a short deliberation I made the judgment that this was way too many stickers for any one child to possess (and I'm sure that particular child's parents would thank me for that decision). I really had a lot of fun doing that.

I also went to the FIFA Under 17 woman's Soccer world championship game, which just happened to be in Auckland this year, and the USA woman's team just happened to be one of the teams. It was USA vs. Peoples republic of Korea (that's North Korea). I know what you are wondering, and no Kim Jong-il was not in attendance. My guess is he was probably at an Asian Elvis impersonator contest (seriously, you cannot tell me that you haven't thought that that guy doesn't look like an Asian Elvis). It was a really good game. The North Korean Team won, but it was still a good game.

HUGH'S TIP OF THE DAY: If you are going to go to a soccer game where the US is in contest with North Korea, and your team is the one wearing red, white, and blue; try not to sit in the middle of the Korean cheering section (learned that one from experience). We learned in that game that it is possible to be excited and cheer for your team, "on the inside".

Today we went to an all organic farmers market, it was great. Organic food is a pretty big deal here. Even "regular" Grocery store food spoils much quicker here, simply because it doesn't have nearly as many preservatives as food in the states. Food here, however, is much more expensive.

I hope you are all enjoying winter! I am going to the beach, I will think of you all whilst there. ;)