An Audience With the Mayor

How long have we been in New Zealand now? A little more than a month? Well, in that short time I've already found myself in an audience with the Mayor of Auckland, Len Brown and been on the local broadcast news channel.  What an up and coming star right? Pretty soon I'll be bigger than Justin Bieber!  Ok, so maybe this isn't all I'm making it out to be.  Last Friday, Len Brown came to the office of the Unitary Plan for a brief photo op, and the news cameras followed close behind.  I didn't get to shake his hand or anything, and I may or may not have been in the background of one of the news reels (Honestly I didn't watch the news that night, so I really don't know).  It was kind of cool nonetheless.  

There he is! The one on the left.

Other than that there isn't too much excitement in the office from day to day.  I'm basically doing the same thing I was doing back home, but with a different data set.  That being said, there are a number of things that make it a million times more enjoyable.  The office atmosphere is so much more laid back than back home and that goes a really long way.  The work culture here is more egalitarian and flat i.e., less authority driven.  Coming from my last job, I feel similarly to how I felt moving from high school to college.  Also, almost all the current team of data entry staff is college age temps from the same recruitment company, so we're all generally in the same state of mind.  It feels great to be working with my peer group again (no offense to anybody back at Webster).  I've already been able to make a few friends there. 

Well, I think that's enough talk about work eh? The next blog will be about fun stuff i.e., our amazing weekend at Hobbiton and Waitomo.  One more thing, I am just starting to break into the New Zealand music scene, so for all my music loving friends out there I do plan on doing a full post about it when I get more information.  As for now, I'll just say you should check Fat Freddie's Drop for some reggae/dub goodness, and The Dirty Sweets if you're in the mood for some Motorhead esq straight up rock and roll.  

Kiwisms for today:

-The slang word for crystal meth here in NZ is "P"

-University is just called uni

-A turd is called a nugget.  LMAO