All Work and No Play. . .

So, it's been a while since my last update--mostly because there hasn't been much to update. I started work two weeks ago and since then it's been work, work, work! Well, I did get my haircut also. I found a fantastic discount coupon on GrabOne for a color, cut, and blow dry at a legit salon on Havelock North--all for $69! ($52 U.S.) Can't beat that! The color is a bit different as they didn't have my brand of color so we had to go with the most compatible thing, and it's a bit shorter than what I usually get--but I like it! It's a nice change, easy, manageable, and much cooler for the summer. Pictures!

The color in these is a bit off--as it's more a dark copper color--a bit darker and more auburn-ish then my usual color--but it's still nice!


Anywho, my nice new haircut went well with my nice, new job! I feel like a real person now--waking up at 6:00 a.m. working from 7:30 to 4:30 and coming home exhausted--then doing it all again the next day! I used to do things like grocery shopping, cooking, reading, and laundry to occupy my day. Now all those things I feel like I barely have time for by the time I get home! Including writing this blog. I literally wake up at the crack of dawn:

Though usually it's actually still dark when my alarm goes off--I'm not greeted by the sun until around 6:30 when I'm eating my breakfast. Poor John has to wake up too in order to drive me to work--though on days off I just take the car myself and he sleeps in. On other days, I make the 35 min bike ride home!


But yeah--my job as a QC at ENZA Pak is going really well. They really like me because I can pick up on things quickly and then do them perfectly without supervision. Also, the people I work with are really nice--I mostly socialize with the other QC's as many of the other workers are migrant workers from Samoa and only one out of the group speaks English. I get to wear these cool lab coats every day with a green baseball cap with the ENZA logo on it. Just to give you a mental picture:

Styling and profiling! My job is in two parts. One, every grower who submits a big batch of apples has to have them tested for maturity to make sure they will store and ship well--arriving overseas in good, eating condition. I use a device called a penetrometer--pulling down on a lever that penetrates the surface of the apple and the needle stops at the amount of Kgs of force required. I record that number for two sides of every apple I test in a batch-- a sample of 20. Then I use my calculator to get the total average pressure and record that. Then I take the juices that have been emitted and pour a small sample onto an electronic refractometer that reads the sugar content (called % brix) and record that as well. I feel like a little science geek in the corner and I love it! Well--we will see how much I love it after a month--may get old. 


Once I'm done with that I go help do what we call "in-line inspections" in which we pull a random sample of apple boxes off the production line and check them to make sure there aren't too many defects on them. If there are, there is lots of paper work and stuff involved. It's kinda fun, very clinical, so that's why it's much more my thing and I do well at it. 


Apples, apples, apples--every day!


Now, for the moment after all those hours Monday to Friday (and sometimes, like today, on Saturday--NOT fun) I also am helping out with the Census. I get just a basic stipend amount ($2,000) for my whole assignment--which is like 300 homes. I have 4 weeks to do the whole thing--John and I had about 1,000 a piece for the U.S. Census so this should be a piece of cake in comparison--plus with a smaller population it's much less of a production. But, it's extra easy money that will help in the long run.


After all this work one would wonder if we have any free time!? Well, for the moment John and I barely see each other--which is the downfall. Three of the waitresses at his work have gone back to school, which means John is working a lot more hours, but it also means we don't get to spend much time together. The big boss man (i.e. third richest German in the world) is in town--we saw the Rolls Royce go to the airport to pick him up last week. He has a lodge on the property that he stays at during his visits. During the rest of the year you can rent the lodge, plus have unlimited access to the Rolls Royce, plus a free dinner and wine at the restaurant--all for $10,000 per day! What a steal. Oh, how the other half lives. If only I could have enough money to operate a winery for fun. 


However, for Valentine's Day John did cook me a delicious dinner and made me (via hack saw, file, and needle) a necklae out of a special shell (called paua) he found on the beach here:

Such a romantic!

In other news, our roommate Lui flew back to the states today. He was a really nice kid and we really enjoyed having him around and befriending him. Earlier this week we took him to a local bar in town called Roosters, where they brew their own beer, with our two other Indian roommates. It was a good time. We also went to Art Deco Weekend in Napier last night for his last hurrah (well me, Lui, and our roommate Gopal did--John was at work). It's this big weekend festival where they celebrate the deco history of the town and the 1930's earthquake that flattened it. It's quite a site to see. Flapper dresses, fedoras, feather headbands. Pin stripes, top hats, golf gaps, and suspenders. Everyone (well, whoever wants to) dresses up like it's the 1930s. There was jazz music, old 1930s cars all over the place, people having dinner parties a la The Great Gatsby on the side of the streets. It was fun just to walk through. Here's a little video to show the ambiance:

So--that's what we have been up to as of late. All work and very little play. We are also both very tired hence the brevity of this post in summing up the last two weeks. More soon (after more sleep!)