Final Thoughts from Wellington

Two more days to go in Wellington...and boy, did the wind ever step it up for the occasion! It's been super windy for the past three days, complete with grit and my own hair being blown into my eyes, a multitude of knots being whipped into my hair, and a resulting much slower progression in getting anywhere. Two more days to go...
I hope it lets up a little bit - I'd really like to go for a final meander through the Mount Victoria trails. I enjoy walking up there.
I wonder how Blanket Man holds up to this crazy, windy weather. Or worse, when it's COLD, windy weather. Blanket Man, aka Ben Hana, is famous in Wellington for being homeless, usually seen sitting on his blanket on the corner of the busy Courtenay Place and Tory Street intersection. He even has an entry in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Hana.

As for me, far from being homeless although I no longer have a "home", I've been spending my remaining days getting myself sorted and visiting with people and favorite locations one more time. Places like Midnight Espresso, with its yummy juices, vegan nachos, ricebakes, and delicious caramel squares, where the music is loud and one is sometimes served and/or seated by alternative, pierced, carnie-like individuals. This is my favorite eatery in Wellington. I've also frequented the popular Deluxe more than once - a unique, little cafe located right next door to my favorite movie theatre, the Embassy, where savory balls are served with salsa (usually made with rice or lentils combined with other tasty goodies like mushrooms, capsicums, kumara and nuts) and the pretty little cupcakes are hard to resist. Sweet Mother's Kitchen is another hot spot, with a menu seemingly structured around Creole influences. I've eaten more than one Dan Boy (a Po Boy sandwich - and my first taste of tempeh, a soy bean product) and more than one slice of scrumptious key lime pie there. I also finally tried Parade Cafe with Rebecca, on Oriental Parade. We went for brunch Sunday morning in anticipation of her departure on Monday for Australia. The french toast with fresh fruit was divine!

On Friday, I joined her for a bike ride. Trish recently bought a bike and kindly offered it to me to use and, since Rebecca is an avid cyclist, it seemed like a great idea. The weather was perfect. We set out, cycling to areas outside the downtown core, along the harbour mostly, to areas I didn't regularly see: Evans Bay, Miramar, Massey, Lyall Bay...we never quite made it to Seatoun. Rebecca had faith in my fitness level, but I knew the extra 15 kms would have done me in. As it was, the 25kms we did left me tired, but pleasantly so. It was a good day.

I found a great place to get in a few yoga classes - a healthy meal, included in the price, is served following each class (complete with dessert, of course). It's run by Hare Krishnas, which may sound strange, but seems to work quite well. The classes are very popular. While waiting for one class to begin, I started chatting with the girl seated beside me, Jen. It turned out that she, a girl from Wellington, spent 9 months in Vancouver. We sat together following the class and she (the Kiwi) gave me (the Canadian) tips on Vancouver while we ate.

Kirsty, Susanna and I are having our final get together tonight. We're planning an easy, potluck dinner, after which we'll head out to Strawberry Fare for dessert. Hmmm...with all these references to food, specifically to sweets, I think I need to admit I have a problem. Does anyone want to be my sponsor for STA? (Sweet Tooths Anonymous)

Lastly, and completely unrelated, I want to mention accents. Before I came to New Zealand I really hadn't had the opportunity to hear many Kiwis speak. I wasn't all that familiar with the New Zealand accent. It's not really like Australian-speak at all, which is what I would have assumed it to be the most similar to, simply due to location. Traveling with Stray didn't put me into contact with as many locals as I would have initially thought, but my time spent at the farm gave me much more time to become familiar with Kiwi-speak. It didn't take long - I quickly reached the point where I simply heard words, not accents. I'm still like that generally. Being surrounded by accents as I am, the popular ones no longer stand out. However! What I find ironic is that, although I was relatively familiar with British accents before traveling here, I have no idea why suddenly I can no longer distinguish between Kiwi and British accents. I find that very strange...
Maybe I'll have to start asking them to say certain words and phrases to help me out, like "fish and chips" which Kiwis supposedly pronounce "fush and chups". Or I could ask them for a pen and see if they hand me a pen or a pin - Kiwis pronounce "e" like we would pronounce "i" and vice versa...talk about confusion when they invite you for a BBQ on their deck...

And on that note, I think that's it for now. I expect the upcoming blog entries will be more like the older ones, pre-Wellington, with excited details of new things I've tried. Anyway, I hope so!
I wonder what life has in store for me now...I relish the thought!