BIG BLOG POST

Whoa, it's been way too long since I've last posted and I need to catch you all up on what has happened over the last two weeks. There is a couple of reasons why it has taken so long to get back to the blog. I've been incredibly busy. I can honestly say that I have not consistently worked this much for my entire college career. Teaching on the reg means planning out hour long classes which I spend about 2 hours planning for every class I teach. Also, I've been doing a ton of activities for the last two weeks and been so busy that I haven't had the time to catch everyone up on what's been going on (you'll see with this post all the things I've been up to). Lastly, there is a cap on bandwidth for internet in NZ and I used up way to much and only had dial-up speeds for a week or so... without further delay, here ya go

After school the PPC (Party Planning Committee) organized a fishing trip for staff members to go out and test their luck on the open waters off the coast of NZ. A little over 20 staff members came on the trip and luckily our captain wasn't named Ahab. It was an absolutely beatiful evening and we couldn't have asked for better weather because our first try at going out got postponed for rough seas.

We were able to fish from about 4:30 and stayed out until about 10PM that night trying our luck. All I could think about for the entire day building up was not forgetting my camera so I could get a picture of me and a giant fish and then blog about it later.... with that mindset you can imagine how many I caught... not a single keeper. Not one. I just kept on plucking out baby fish and I'm pretty sure I caught the same fish at least 4 times. I should have known better because I didn't bring any beer out and as any fisherman can tell you that is the best bait you can have. So disappointed.

I was one of three people who didn't catch any keepers. Everyone else caught fish and one guy had to have reeled in about 8 or 9 fish. I made a move to the hot side of the boat that was catching a majority of the fish and as soon as I did the other side of the boat went off and were catching fish left and right. No bueno. Thankfully most people caught a couple fish so I was able to go home with about 2 fish that night so I had something to show for the evening

Moving on from the fishing trip which is still upsetting me as I type this all out, later that week I was able to see a familiar band perform. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE was performing for the local arts festival so as soon as I saw they had a show I snatched up a ticket. It was the first time they ever performed in NZ and I was there to witness the show. I had seen Death Cab perform at WWU once before and it was great. So I threw on my DISIDUAL Bellingham Sweatshirt to see if I could get them to notice me... no luck. But it was a great show nevertheless...

I got really close to the front but couldn't sqeek by a super chubby hipster girl... but hey such is life. They put on a great show and I took about a zillion pictures with most of them being blurry. And you know I was trying to talk to girls and talk to them about how I went to the same university as the band. And you know it sorta worked haha... Classic Erik

Then later that week I went to a professional soccer game. The Wellington Phoenix are a pro-team in the Australian A-League which is pretty comparable to the MLS back home. Wellington is known for their home crowd and I sat in the heart of the stadium with the 'Yellow Fever' or the local soccer hooligans. There was singing and chanting the entire game and it really reminded me of Sounders games. The stadium holds about 35,000 and the normally average around 15k for attendance but since the weather was so crummy only about 8k made it to the game that day. Nevertheless, when you are buzzed and sitting with a bunch of rowdy fans that are hilarious I hardly noticed the empty half of the stadium. One of my students even said that he saw me on TV! American good-looks stand out!

Someone was sitting in my seat so I just sat on the last seat on the row I was supposed to be sitting in anyways. I started talking to the guys sitting next to me and they warned me that I was in the rowdy section and I really thought nothing of it... but then they came. A group of about 10 came and filled in the empty spaces with no seats next to and behind me. Most of them were from the UK and spoke with very thick accents and dropped the C-bomb over a dozen times throughout the game. I had so much fun. They were handing me drinks and singing all the songs and making up some of their own. It was a blast. But the craziest part of the whole experience came in the 80th minute...

With ten minutes left in regulation the 'Yellow Fever' take off their shirts and start waving them above their heads. And they swear by it. They have never lost a game when taking off their shirts... so you know I had to... I just wanted to be accepted

Sure enough within the 10 minutes before the final whistle the Phoenix scored to go up 2-0 and the place went absolutely bonkers! I'm a believer. They guys I was sitting with were giving me crap for my tattoo and started signing "I think I'm turning Japanese." There was nothing I could do so I just smiled and shook it off. They ended up inviting me to the pub they go to before and after the game so I tagged along and they just kept buying pitcher after pitcher. Needless to say I will be going back to a Phoenix game and sitting with those guys again. So Awesome

So lets recap the week thus far:

Monday-Fishing Trip

Wednesday-Death Cab for Cutie Concert

Sunday-Pheonix Game

This is all on top of teaching regularly. I was pretty spent and slept like a baby on Sunday night. The next week I was recruited to go on a Biology Field Trip. They needed an male staff member and I wanted to get out of the Wellington area because I hadn't had the chance yet so I jumped on board. It was a field trip to an old school house in the middle-of-no-where New Zealand, where the Sheep out number the people by at least 100 to 1.

It was 3 staff members and 30 students on the field trip and on our way out to our destination we stopped at a wildlife refuge. Where they rehabilitate endangered animals and have exhibits to look at natural species. I saw some animals I have never seen before:

A baby Kiwi!!! <3

Gross as EELS... I have another pic with like 20 of them

It was a great little stop off but then our journey continued to Putara. It was an old farming school house that my school bought about 20 years ago. It was to be at least a 80 year old building but it located in an amazingly beautiful valley.

We hiked up the huge hill of the valley while the biology students performed their research for an upcoming test and I spent most of the time reading the 5th Game of Thrones book, "A Dance With Dragons." So excited for the second season... anyways I digress

We hiked up to a pond that had this dead baby sheep in it rotting away and the students had to take water quality samples haha

On the final day I wanted to get around and hike a little on my own. So I woke up before sunrise and hiked up a big ole hill to catch my first NZ sunrise. I took tons of pictures and got some really sweet ones. From here I hiked down the valley and followed a stream as far as I could before I had to turn around and meet the rest of the group from breakfast. Totally worth it.

It's hard to believe the my NZ experience is already halfway over ;( but I'm making the most out of my final weeks here. Just found out my boy Jonny is going to come down and visit me my last two weeks in NZ and were going to travel all around the North and South Island. "Can't Wait!" -Bart Scott

Next weekend I am going caving or spelunking and I have a couple more posts in mind. I'm going to get better about posting on the reg and probably going to have another post before the weeks over. Take care and love you all. Skype me if you ever get bored: erikbschmidt

Peace

Uhhhh WHAT!??

For as much as I have loved and truly enjoyed my time in New Zealand thus far I sometimes have a hard time with comprehending what these Kiwis are saying... I mean we're both speaking English but we aren't speaking the same language. So this blog post is dedicated to all the quarky things these Kiwis say and do and my reactions to them. I have a feeling this is an on-going list so here it goes...

1) As soon as I get off the plane I am greeted by my boss down here. She picks me up from the airport after my hour in Immigration and that whole ordeal (first post from NZ). I throw my things in the trunk of the car then walk over to what I assume to be the passenger door... culture shock #1 goes to the fact that not only do Kiwis drive on the wrong side of the car but they also drive on the wrong side of the road.

2) Ok I've barely finished my first item of culture shock and I arrive at my host family's house. I get the tour and all I can think about is my grumbling tummy because I'm starving after my 30 hour travels. Judy and Allan are wonderful the ask me,

Judy: "Well mate, would you like some tea?"

Me: (Thinking teas alright but I could really go for some dinner) "Uhhh, sure. Tea sounds lovely."

Little do I know that tea is actually dinner... and it's breakfast... and it's lunch! And it is also a beverage that is consumed on the reg. So tea time means meal time.

3) "Mate" and "Goodday" are regular greetings. And you can even be asked, "How ya going?" Which still throws me off after a month.

4) You know the saying, "you say tomatoes, I say tomatoes." Yeah they actually say it the way that sounds funny

5) Cookies are Biscuits

6) TV shows are Programmes (and yes that is how you spell it)

7) Athletic cleats are called "Boots" and a trunk of the car is called the "Boot." Haven't had an instance where the trunk and cleats are used in the same sentence.... but I'll keep you posted.

8) Fail is spelt "phail" also realized is "realise" color is "colour"

9) You know thong sandals? They are called jandals... no idea why but when I asked my student he said it was short for "japanese sandals"... I didn't question

10) Alright true story: I am in class and just walking around watching my eigth-graders or they call them year nines (Kindergarten is year one)... but I'm watching my eighth-graders fill out their notebooks and right in front of me a kid asks his mate (see I'm getting the terms now)

Student: "Oye, can you pass me a rubber?"

Now I'm frozen. I have no idea what to do. This is literally my first day teaching and this dude just asked his mate for a condom. I don't even try and interject. I can only watch as this kid hands his neighbor a BIG....FAT....PINK....RUBBERY....eraser

Turns out a rubber is an eraser hahahaha

I'm sure there will be more to come. Stay posted. I've now been here a month. Wow how the time has flown by. It's hard to believe 1/3 of my time is already gone here in New Zealand. Headed back home in April and currently applying for jobs in Seattle, Bellingham, WA DC, all over the East Coast, California and one in the ATL... but I kinda hope I don't get that one... anyways if you know of any jobs that a young, hilarious, talented and good-looking guy might be a perfect fit for I am willing to listen.

Adios Amigos!!

Se7en

The first week of teaching was a smashing success. I got to meet some of the awesome staff I'm going to be working with for the next couple months and some kiwi students... and yes they have accents... and yes it is pretty charming. But all week all my co-workers were telling me that I needed to go to Wellington this upcoming weekend for a rugby tournament. Sure that sounds great, but then I hear more and more. Tickets are around $200... well ok, maybe not...

Turns out this is a giant tournament/festival every year in Wellington. The 7's Tournament... but it's really more of a drinking tournament than anything else. There are 16 national teams that play a 7 on 7 match. Games are really quick, 7 minutes per half with only a 1 minute halftime. So games go on all day and the action never stops... only it's not the action that is happening on the field that everyone is watching. In actuality it's really Halloween-esk party in the stands.

New Zealanders don't celebrate Halloween so this is their excuse for girls to dress dirty and pretend their not and for guys to continue to do what they normally do, only on another level with more ridiculous clothing. Literally everyone in the stands is tanked, dressed up and could care less about rugby. Until New Zealand is on the pitch then all eyes are focused.

What I see as I get off the Train!! Not even to the stadium or where it is legal to drink yet. I went to the bathroom and Larry Bird handed me a beer haha

Yes. They are Sea-men

I took the train into town to meet up with some buddies and partake in the crazy tournament... or at least the party afterwards. The U.S.A did horrible in the tournament and it was a little pathetic because they didn't even score a point until their third match haha. So we were rooting for New Zealand because that would mean an even bigger party downtown after the rugby final. We watched the games from a pub on Courtenay Place where the big after-game festivities were to happen.

I attempted dressing up for the celebration but it was a little tough finding out about the match just a few days before. But I rock my Brandon Roy Trailblazer jersey and it was a hit. I had a couple dudes from Portland come up and talk to me and we chatted about the good ole NW. Also, the NBA is by far the most popular American Sport in NZ and I had Kiwi bros coming up to me all night wanting to talk about the NBA and B-Roy. It was awesome... except for the fact that I have never seen so many Heat and Laker jerseys in my life. Such a joke.

Very early in the night haha

To my surprise, not an actual police officer

Pictures of the party outside in the rain

A dance circle outside and no, I didn't teach them how to Dougie... NZ isn't ready

It was horrible weather. It was pissing rain all day and throughout the night. But that didn't stop or slow down anyone. I've never been apart of anything this nuts and I've partied with the best of them... Celebs and all. They shut down multiple blocks of streets to contain all the wasted people. I met people from England, South Africa, Samoa, Figi, Australia and the list goes on. I even approached a group of guys that were wearing American flag track suits but turns out they were just Kiwis in costume.

I ended up staying out til 5AM when the bars stopped serving. Ate some street meat (that's what NZ calls hotdogs... not what you're thinking) and made it back to the train station in time for the first ticket out of the city back to my place. Made it back safe as the sun came up, slept in til well past 2PM and was hung over for about 2 days... well worth it. Such a blast and worth every second of it. Stories for a lifetime...

What Up Wellington!!

Sorry for the delay of posting. I know you have been sitting on the edge of your seat just waiting for my next blog post. Well relax toots here it is:

Adjusting to the Kiwi lifestyle was a breeze. I showed up at my host families house and they offered me a beer and BBQ steak straight away. It was ridiculously nice weather when I arrived, about 75 to 80 and sunny, and I proceeded to get sunburned all over my face. Apparently there is like no Ozone layer over New Zealand so UV rays are killer... Thanks a lot America.

The family I am staying with is wonderful. The husband works security for Parlament and Prime Minister (Wellington is the capital of New Zealand) and the wife is a math (they pluralize math to maths...so weird) teacher at Tawa College where I am teaching as well. I'll do an 'MTV Cribs' post later because the house I am staying in as A-Mazing.

I live about a ten to fifteen train ride away from the actual city of Wellington and it's only a few bucks to ride the train into town and I could travel all the way to Auckland (largest city in NZ) only a few hours away. I went to the city for a few hours my first weekend here and was able to snap a couple of picture around the city.

Wellington Harbour

He Must Work Out

The city reminds me a lot of Seattle. The trees flow right down to the city, a city surrounded by the bay, and of course a zillion hills. It's also a fairly young town with tons of bars and a university.

My host family took me up to Mt. Victoria, which is really more like a giant hill right in the city and I was able to take some sweet shots with my camera from on top of the city.

WELLINGTON!!

Hey! Who's that good-looking guy!?

Sweet panoramic shot... I didn't even know I had this ability on my camera

New Zealand is proving to be everything and more that I wanted it to be. Its fun, exciting and I am learning tons. It is quite humbling going from having a ton of contacts in your phone, friends you could see at a moments notice and family around to see. Moving to a new city where you know no one is a new experience and really has made me appreciate those around me. Good thing New Zealand is an awesome place to live and meet people. Excited for the months to come.

More posts to come. A huge Rugby/Halloween party, a Cribs edition, and of course an ongoing list of things that are different and new to me.

Erik

32 Hours- James Franco Ain't Got Nothin On Me

WORST. FLIGHT. EVER.

No homo. Literally the worst travel experience of my life.

It all started innocently enough at Sea-Tac airport. I brought mini-shots for my flight and had 2 hours to kill at the bar before I left. I tossed a couple beers back, blogged and hopped on my plane at the last minute. I reserved an aisle seat and was sitting next to an attractive young asian girl. Yes! This is going to be a great start to the trip. I tried sparking up a conversation...

Me: "Hey, do you know if the plane has internet?"

Her: "No Engrish"

Just my luck. So my dreams of becoming heir to an Asian throne is crushed.

Once we are on the runway I pop on the Dre Beats (best investment of the trip thus far) put on my world famous sleep mix playlist and passed out. I didn't wake up until the end of the flight. I slept for a solid hour and a half on the way down to LAX. Not too bad of a start...

I had a 3 hour lay-over at LAX because my plane arrived over a half-hour early. I hit the bar once again for a couple drinks. We board the flight and I am sitting next to a couple that is heading down to New Zealand for a Dragon Boat Race. My curiosity gets to me and I ask what a Dragon Boat is... turns out it is a boat that is shaped like a Dragon haha

The plane is huge and they serve us dinner a couple hours in with one free alcoholic drink. As I drink my Whiskey Seven and eat my vegitarian ravioli I am read to fall asleep. I down two more shots and then pop a melatonin (over the counter sleep pill) and sleep the plane ride away. Melatonin is NOT Ambien!! I fell asleep for an hour and then woke up feeling like crap and couldn't fall back asleep. I am 3 hours into a 14 hour flight... awesome. I would tell you what happened the next 11 hours but it was a combination of trips to the bathroom, drinking water, and watching a couple movies.

We finally land in Australia at 5:30 AM and my flight doesn't leave until 9 and I cannot leave the terminal. Then we it's finally time to board we are told it's going to be late 15 minutes but didn't actually get on the plane until 2 hours later. Once we finally leave I am sitting on a window seat and actually had no one sitting in the middle seat. The lady sitting in the aisle didn't speak English because she was French which was coo because I didn't want to talk to her anyways. The flight is about 3 hours and then we arrive in NZ. I'm finally here! Just got to clear customs and then meet my host that is waiting for me.

Some sweet photos I took from the plane as we were coming in for landing

I'm making my way through customs and finally arrive at the agent. They ask what I'm doing in NZ and I explain that I am teaching at a school. Then it's a whole process of trying to figure out what type of visa I need. I try and explain that I don't need a visa (because I've researched the crap out of that I don't actually need one). After 20 minutes of explaining to the customs agent that I don't need a visa she asks for my return ticket.... I don't have it on me.

I get pulled off to the side by an immigration officer, taken into a back room and questioned again about my stay in NZ. Explain again that I don't need a visa. Then he tells me that I need a return ticket. I don't have the information on me but I can pull up my email and show him but of course I cannot access the internet while being investigated. Awesome. I have to call the airline and ask for my return flight number, while I'm on the phone Virgin Australia figuring out my predicament the V Australia is trying to sell me a credit card for frequent fliers... WTF!?

I finally clear immigration and luckily my host is still waiting for me even though I'm over 3 hours late. She is so sweet and takes me to her car to drop me off at my host families place. All said and done it was over 32 hours of travel with no more than 4 hours of sleep during the whole flight. UGH!! Thank god I don't have to do that flight again for another 3 months.

...And So It Begins

Well the time is finally here. After a year of planning, countless hours of paperwork, 3 quarters of graduate classes and saying too many goodbyes I'm finally going to New Zealand. Even as I sit here in Sea-Tac it's hard to believe that in 27 hours I will be in NZ. Looking forward to 70 degree weather and spending time with some of the friendliest people in the world.

The whole trip is 3 months or 89 days. Anything past 90 days requires a visa so I stretched this trip out as long as a could. So far I don't know much about what exactly I will be doing in NZ. I know I'm in a suburb of Wellington (the kiwi capital) and I will be teaching high-school level students. I don't know what subject as of yet... my guess is History or Geography or what specific age. I'm living with a family in which the wife is a Math teacher at the school I'll be teaching at.

This is going to be the furthest and the most time I've spent from the great state of Washington. Gonna miss family and friends dearly. I was able to spend quality time with family during the Snow-Pocalypse of 2012 as I was snowed at my parents for 4 days. And was also able to make it up to Bellingham one last night to hang out with my best friends and meet some new ones. Thanks to the girls of 1121 for the hospitality!

Now that I'm sitting in the airport bar drinking my favorite Pyramid Hef beer and thinking about this trip I just want to make sure that I will take advantage of the 89 days I have in New Zealand. I am so fortunate to have this opportunity and such great support from family and friends. Thanks ya'll!!

Keep checking back in with this blog to keep up with all the latest Schmidt gossip! Experiences and photos will be provided and hopefully some great stories which I'm always good for. I'll post my address once I learn it later and hit me up on Skype!! erikbschmidt

Endings and Beginnings

"Is this real life?" -David at the Dentist

To say that this was just a normal weekend wouldn't be doing it justice. It meant something. Some big thangs went down:

First of all it was my birthday. Nobody likes you when you're 23. The big 2-3, tres-dos, three-and-twenty... whatever. I'm getting up there I realize this, probably should have that 401k started like 6 years ago yeah, yeah, yeah. But thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday. I had an awesome time with all my friends, and even had some come up from Seattle. Thanks Derek, Kyle and Sam had so much fun.

Second of all it was Graduation Weekend at WWU. So epic. Big shout outs to my Euro-trip friends who finished up: Alan, Brenna and Katie!! Way to go kids and keep the focus on school after a summer in Europe, not easy to do.

Third of all it was an end to my time in Bellingham. I'm all finished up with classes. The rest of my degree completion is going to be student teaching in New Zealand. Many of the friends I saw this weekend aren't gonna be in my life for the next couple months. So I really wanted to take the combo of my bday/grad weekend and spend it with the gals and guys i appreciate so much. Thanks ya'll!

As far as travel news to New Zealand I just booked my ticket a couple of weeks ago and were all good to good. I have a 90 day student visa to NZ and my plane ticket is for exactly 90 days. 1/23/12 to 4/23/12 haha. I can't wait to get the most out of this experience. I want to say the same thing when I was asked if I was happy I came to Western... Wouldn't have done it any other way.

Peace,

Erik