In Search of Us

First let us apologize for the delay of our 2^nd blog posting.  We have spent the better half of the past 2 day’s frantically in search of ourselves.  Coming to terms that not only is wireless internet not free, as is back home, but cost and is limited to 1 hr. of access or a certain # of MB’s.  We have laughed at the things that are so expensive here; products that back home would be considered low end or cheap, seem to be luxuries here. Lindsey’s $7.00 Shampoo is a whopping $25-$30.00 here.  These things are more difficult to wrap our heads around than anything else.

               

We have made our first friend in Auckland, her name is Hang.  She is a Vietnamese girl that has lived here for four years.  We met her yesterday at a restaurant called Neptune’s; she was our waitress. We began to talk and she filled us in on all the cheapest places to get phones, calling cards, and phone plans. She also gave us the names of several websites to find jobs and apartments.  Lindsey just had to ask her about cheaper shopping places and stores that compared to our Wall Mart and Target.  Lindsey used the example of buying clothes hangers and asked where we would get things like that. Hang replied, “I have plenty. I bring them to you tomorrow.” We told her no need but she insisted. Then next thing we know she shows up at our table with her bag, coat and hat and says, “Let’s go, I show you everything.” That’s right; she took off work to show us the ropes.  We walked and walked for the rest of the afternoon. She showed us all the cheapest ways to do things. We now both have cell phones, and since we were already out with her, Hang insisted we just come to her apartment and get the clothes hangers.

               

So there we were at the end of the day walking from Hang’s apartment all the way back across the city with all our bags of stuff and now an extra large bag of clothes hangers.  She also introduced us to the public Library; were guess what, the internet is free.  All in all our first 2 days have been an eye opening experience.

It just goes to show that no matter where you live or what culture you may come from, sometimes everyone needs help searching for themselves.