happy christmas

christmas in queenstown is kind of a joke, or maybe americans are just a little too merry. either way, it didn't really feel like christmas. there were very few lights, very few decorations, almost no carols, no stores smelling like cinnamon and cloves. i guess this is just the wrong hemisphere for that kind of stuff.

i worked at fergburger on christmas eve. no one told me merry christmas and a lot of people seemed bitchier than usual. or maybe that was just me because i had to work on christmas eve. i finished work at ten that evening and headed around the corner to pog mahone's irish pub where i found all of my friends. then it felt like christmas. lots of drunk irish and english people, pints in hand, arms around eachother's shoulders, singing the one verse of "don't they know it's christmas-time" that they knew.

i took a cab home to wash the smell of fergburger off me. my flatmates were asleep and my "ho! ho! ho!" fell on deaf ears. i drank some cider by the light of the tree and then we all headed out to a party in arthur's point. it wasn't the most traditional way to celebrate christmas, but it was fun. there wasn't really any point in trying to make it feel like christmas at home. we all danced well into the next morning and watched the sun rise over the mountains and river.

christmas day i slept late and made tacos for the irish. i'm slowly learning that tacos are something you have to grow up with to be obsessed with. the irish were polite and said they enjoyed them, but it wasn't like tasting home for them. they can taste home anytime they want, there's potatoes and beer all around here.

christmas is about family and home, two things i don't currently have with me, so all us wanderers in queenstown did the best we could with what we had, but it wasn't really christmas for any of us. new years, though, i think we can handle that holiday.

over the edge

there's quite a few things i have to report. i quit my horrible, soul-crushing job at the hotel. life is too short to work for ungrateful meanies. i was surprised at how easy it was to find a new job. "trials" are really big in queenstown. if you apply to work in a bar or restaurant, they'll take your resume and then bring you in for a trail, which is basically sink or swim. my trial at winnie's bar was on a friday night. winnie's is one of the four bars that everyone who comes to queenstown ends up in. it was my first time to tend bar and i did a damn good job, if i do say so myself. but i realized that i really like being on the other side of the bar. also, drunk people are really annoying if you're not drunk as well.

my next trial was at fergburger. fergburger is one of the best hamburgers you'll have in your life. they're massive and made with really fresh ingredients. i trialed for the role of "the fluffer". if you're familiar with the term, i promise, it's not what it sounds like. the fluffer at fergburger does a little bit of everything (no, not that), but mostly i get paid to talk to tourists and make sure they're happy. i just finished my first week there, and i really enjoyed it. it's not an uptight five-star environment like my last job was. my co-workers aren't afraid to have fun and joke around. i feel like i'm appreciated, even though it's not the most important job in the world.

also, i'm exercising my social skills, something i wasn't so great at before i came away. five months ago i would've had a very hard time just walking up to strangers and striking up a conversation with them. now i am well-versed in the art of small-talk. it's amazing how many interesting stories you can hear if you just smile and ask questions. the other day i walked past a table of men and heard some very familiar accents. so on my way back to the kitchen i stopped by and said, "so where are ya'll from?" you guessed it, fort worth, texas. turns out they know my dad. the world just keeps getting smaller and smaller. after that i met some girls that travelled from morocco, all over africa, southeast asia and now new zealand. this isn't uncommon. tons of kids my age do this. i never knew that so many other people had a wanderer's spirit like me.

yesterday i dragged my ass out of bed and went in to work, only to find out that i wasn't on the roster for that day. (thanks for letting me know where the roster is, guys!) since i was already in town i decided to go with my friends up the mountain to go luging. while we were waiting to luge, we watched some people bungying off the ledge there. the views are amazing and it looked like a lot of fun. so i thought, 'what the hell...i didn't get out of bed today for nothing...' and i went and bought my ticket. i made sure not to look over the edge before i jumped even though the yahoo guys harnessing me in tried to make me. i did a running start, but when i got to the edge, my brain told me, 'oh no, this is not a good idea!' i thought i stopped running, but as the video shows, i was still running on my way down. i screamed my head off and thought my stomach was going to come out of my ears. it was so much fun. i could see all of queenstown and the lake and mountains. when i got back up i didn't think i was going to be able to stand because i was shaking so much. but i did. and then we all went luging, which was also hella fun. so i guess i'm glad that i didn't know i wasn't supposed to go to work, because otherwise i would've done something lame like go grocery shopping.