Rules to cruise by…

As I’m sure you can tell, we’ve had a great time on our cruise; the people have been great and New Zealand is beautiful. Instead of telling more about the people and country, I’m going to talk about something else we’ve experienced- major weight gain.

Our first night at dinner our table mates (and experienced cruisers), Stephanie and Michael, shared some rules to follow to not gain weight on a cruise.

Rule 1: Don’t eat the bread at dinner

Rule 2: Don’t skip a course (not sure how this helps us not gain weight, but we liked the rule anyway)

Rule 3: Always take the stairs

Although we followed the rules (except the first one), we both managed to gain 5-10 lbs in 9 nights! As it turns out, they forgot one of the rules.

Rule 4: Don’t order drinks

Not that I think the drinks caused all of our weight gain, but the daiquiris, margaritas, martinis, and other drinks that we may have enjoyed were probably pretty high in calories. Still, I think that more than 4 rules are necessary to avoid gaining weight. Here are my additions. Hopefully they work better for me next time.

Rule 5: Weigh yourself everyday (so you’re not surprised at the end of the cruise that you’ve gained a pound a day)

Rule 6: Go to the gym at least once each day at sea

Rule 7: Avoid the buffet as much as possible

Rule 8: Eat only 3 meals a day and limit snacks to 1-2 small items

Rule 9 (this is Stephanie and Michael’s new rule): Have sex everyday

Rule 10: Bring Advil, allergy medicine, cold sore medicine, and Advil Cold and Sinus on board (this has nothing to do with weight gain, but it’s another rule to cruise by if you’re sickly like me)

What a day!

We’re just now cruising away from a great day in Wellington. The city was fantastic. The highlight by far was a church that was built in the mid 19th century entirely out of wood. As if the church wasn’t cool enough, they had an excellent display about American soldiers that defended the country in World War II. In the current state of affairs, when the USA in not the most popular country in the world, it was really great to hear of a time when we were the good guys. The man that guided us through was alive at the time and he told us great stories about the soldiers and what life was like in those days. That was probably the coolest thing we’ve done in New Zealand.
After we got back to the boat and did a little swimming and eating. I enjoyed a very nice Romeo and Juliet and watched the sun go down over the pacific, with the sun on my skin, and a cool air coming in, and the water crashing below me. The view was spectacular with huge mountains and waves crashing in. I thought to myself, life couldn’t get much better. Maybe in a few weeks it’ll be building stuff with my Dad in his shop. Maybe in a month or two it will be playing poker with buddies in the man room. Maybe in a few years it will be teaching a son how to play football… but just now it really couldn’t get any better.

It's like a cute quaint town...

...only better because it's a whole country! We arrived in New Zealand Monday and have seen Fiordland, Dunedin, Christchurch, and are currently in Wellington. So far the country is absolutely beautiful; it feels more like what I would expect Norway to feel like (the European influence is much stronger than the Australian influence). We are surrounded by lush green hillsides and water. The cities have been small, well laid out, and filled with friendly people. Although we only get a day in each city, it seems sufficient. We have lots of pictures and more stories to post, but that will have to wait until later, so check back soon!

Cruising

I want to rock and roll all day.. and Nikki wants to throw up (if it wasn't for the motion sickness pills). I love the waves. The ship has really been rocking as we roll through Fjordland, New Zealand (turns out the New Zealander’s have about the same creativity naming things as the Aussies(i.e. tasty cheese)). People told us that that you can't even feel the cruise ship but this one is a bit different. The swells were sometimes 15 feet high. The people we eat dinner with say it is the roughest they've ever experienced and they've been on 13 cruises.


The sights are like nothing I could have even imagined. Imagine the tallest mountain peaks you’ve ever seen and erase the hills, valleys, and everything else in between until you get to the ocean. It just goes from these huge snowcapped mountain peaks straight down into water. Then the water is 1000 feet deep. So back to the rocking, as we roll out of the fjords, the waves are huge and the ship is really rocking back and forth. The pools are splashing ten foot waves! It was a bit chilly so I was the only one in the pool, and I must be in 30-40 family vacation pictures. Amazing stuff!

Another Addiction

When I first went overseas to France, I became addicted to traveling. When I moved to Australia it became a whole other beast. Then, after 15 minutes aboard the Millennium, I am addicted to cruising! How cool. Yeah, we are the scum bags of the ship, but we are scum bags in a whole lot fancier class than Nikki and me are used to. Our lowest end cabin would rank as one of the nicest hotels we have ever stayed in. Our every need is catered to before you can even think of it. And talk about “sport eating”… we have done nothing but eat for two days straight. We go to the fancy pants restaurant for our meals and hit the buffet for all our “in between meal” meals. As if the 20 pounds I’ve gained in Melbourne wasn’t enough. I’m hoping I’ll only gain 10 on this trip.

We are now on our second day at sea. We are out in the middle of nowhere between Australia and New Zealand. There is absolutely no land in sight, but it feels like you should just be able to walk across the boat and see the land. There is plenty to do aboard though. At night they put the next day’s schedule on your pillow and we go through and underline everything we want to do. Yesterday the only thing we did was eat and walk around the ship. Today, so far, we are eating and hitting the pool and working out. The pool is amazing. The boat rocks, so the pool has waves in it. And it is salt water in the pools so you float. We just floated around “starfish” style and rocked with the waves.

Probably the only downer on the cruise is American dollars. The Aussie dollar has dropped from about $.97 to around $.65 so we really don’t have much spending power. Good thing the only expense is booze, and we had $200 onboard credit from Travelocity. We’ll be alright.

Christmas in July...

That's what it feels like anyway. It's starting to warm up around here, today was about 31-32 C (not sure of the conversion- but it's hot), which is why it's so weird to see Christmas decorations and displays at the stores and to walk into work to hear White Christmas playing. Usually by this time of the year I'm stressing out about what to get everybody, but here, I'm finding it difficult to even think about buying Christmas presents. This whole opposite season thing is much more of an adjustment than I expected it to be and I'm sure my body is going to go into shock next month when we leave summer for the cold Montana winter :)

PS- In case anybody's interested, I received a high distinction on my first take home exam!

City Livin'

Alright, so the other half of this trip that I never really talk about is that I am living in the middle of a city of 4 million. The downside being that there are no Kangaroos and Koalas in the city and that as soon as I buy a new tire for my bike because it was stolen... the friggin' bike gets stolen. the upside is the kind of things that are accessible.

Last weekend we went to dinner at a place that required reservations 6 weeks in advance. Back home a 20 minute wait pisses me off. I tell you what though, the food was definitely worth the wait. It was banquet style Lebanese food. You didn't even get a choice of what to eat they just bring you food... and more food... and more food. Two things worried me about this evening. #1 was I going to get enough to eat? (yes I did) and #2 would I like the food (silly me... I love most food). The best part was the company. We went with Tim and Carrol the couple that we went to the beach house with a few weekends ago and they brought a friend that was Iranian. Just moved 2 years ago.

What an interesting perspective. It may have turned into a bit of a man crush as I discussed life in Iran with this guy. what a different world we live in. It really makes you appreciate the freedoms we have. We went to the local Hooka bar. How cool is that? And I smoked the "Sheesha" (that's what they call it in Iran)and drank Arak (traditional Iranian drink) with an actual Persian. Enlightening.

Well, probably the last post before our excursion to New Zealand. Cruise is for 10 days and we are really excited. Oh and sorry about the political discussion in the last post. I just found it interesting to see the US election from another country. And how could I not point out the fact that the leader of the free world is a Bears fan? Love ya' Dad!

The President is a BEARS FAN!

I love the USA and I could never leave it for good. I think it is the greatest place on Earth. But living here I really have seen America from a different perspective. So much of what we (the USA) does effects the rest of the world on a day-to-day basis. And they seem so much more interested in American politics than we are. Every student I talk to wants to talk about the American election. And every single student I come across is a huge supporter of Barack Obama. I think we have an obligation to consider the image of our nation. If the entire free world in favor of Barack Obama then that must be a good thing he is president. My Mom and Dad are most likely crying as they read this, but I guess Dad always call me a damn liberal school teacher. I actually view myself right in the middle. As most of my friends in Tacoma would consider me conservative. Above all else, I was excited in this election.

I was 13 and just getting interested in politics when Clinton won the first time. He was a guy that could pee on your leg and convince you it was raining. I couldn't vote but I would've voted for him if I could have. I would have voted for him again but I didn't think he was a good guy... just a good president. When G-Dub came on the scene everything in the country was peachy-keen. He was a simple guy that I thought would just cruise through a term or two and not screw up too much. In case I didn't learn my lesson the first time, I went ahead in voted for him again (oops). Come on though, Kerry? Really???

In this election, I think for the first time in a long time we were in a win-win situation. John McCain is a great man. If I teach any of these Aussie students anything about American politics it is that John McCain is NOT George Bush. He is a great man that has spent his life in service of the American country... He just wasn't the right party for this election. I wish he would have won 8 years ago.

Being in a foreign country during the election is exactly the reason why I love this trip. Visiting places like Rome, Paris, and London I've always gotten the tourist perspective. You don't really get an idea of how the average person truly lives their daily life. I spend most days as a sub just asking kids questions about the subtle things. Like what their perspective of America is. Most of them think: Celebrities, McDonalds, and Guns. But dig a little deeper and you find they think of Americans as kind of dumb. When I hear an Aussie accent I think Crocodile Dundee. I can't help it,that is just my first thought. Now the adults are different. It seems the older the person the more positive attitude they have about the US. I think this is very indicative of the state of affairs. And even if Obama sucks as a president, our image took a huge upturn yesterday. And I'm a little more proud to be American in this country than I was last week.

I found a great site about international perspective... check it out:

http://www.rd.com/your-america-inspiring-people-and-stories/presidential-election-08-global-poll/article102098.html

God Bless America...

The outcome of the election is restoring faith in the Americans (I was really worried what would happen if McCain/Palin won). Whether or not Obama will be good for the country, he will definitely be good for the country's image!

Since I haven't posted for awhile, I figured I'd also give a little unpolitical update. As Mark mentioned, October was a difficult month for us, with the death of Bailey being the worst of it. She was so full of character and personality, definitely a one of a kind. It's going to be hard going back and not having her shower with me every morning or in my face when I'm trying to talk on the phone or read the paper. I try not to think about it too much now because I want to enjoy my experience here in Australia, but I know I won't be able to avoid it when I go home.

Fortunately, things have started looking up. I had the day off yesterday for Melbourne Cup Day (it's a national holiday to celebrate horse racing), so I went to a barbeque with my friend from school, Carol, and her partner, Tim. Since people get really dressed up to go to the races, Carol and I decided to dress up a little for the barbeque. I'll try to post some pictures later because it really is something. Anyway, we placed bets on the big race (we drew horses at random) and my horse came in last place so I won my money back :) That was the only race we actually watched and, I must say, I can't imagine getting into it enough to spend the entire day watching all of the races.

Next Friday we leave for Sydney, but we're only there for a few hours before boarding a cruise ship and heading off to New Zealand! We spend 9 nights cruising from the south island to the north island. I think it's going to be similar to an Alaskan cruise, so we should have lots of beautiful pictures to post when we return.

Then on the Sunday that we get back from our cruise, I leave to help out with a bioethics workshop put on by Monash University. They asked me if I'd be interested in volunteering during the first part of the week, which I thought was an honor so of course I accepted. The workshop is about an hour and a half outside of the city and they'll provide my transport, accommodation, food, etc. After that, it's back to Melbourne for a week and then we leave for Christmas vacation. We fly out on the 4th of December, spend a week with family and friends in Los Angeles, and then get into Billings on the 11th. At this point, we aren't sure when we'll be in Seattle, but we're definitely coming and we'll let people know when we get it figured out.