I'm off on an adventure!: Quieter Adventures

I am somewhat in a holding pattern. I had an interview on Friday and am waiting for the results from that. I'm signed on with two temp agencies and have expressions of interest from two more, but I have been warned that, this being a government town, Wellington essentially shuts down over Christmas, and if the job I interviewed for on Friday does not work out there may not be anything until mid-January. We shall see. Something will eventually work out, though, and I remain in the extremely fortunate position of not having to, at present, worry about a roof over my head or where my next meal is coming from, so I really can't complain. Well, I suppose I can, but I do endeavor to not be a terrible person. My lovely Airbnb host suggested me to a friend of hers, and now I have a place to stay for the next three weeks in a gorgeous repurposed church. I've temporarily put the more permanent housing solution search on hold until I have a job. But it's nice to be here for a little while. Moving wasn't too terribly bad as the new place is just a few blocks from the old, but I was once again left wishing that I taken the half as many clothes, twice as much money approach rather than the attempt to pack all of the things approach. Flip side, though, clothes are expensive and I am very tall, so I suppose lugging suitcases around isn't altogether terrible.

In the meantime, I am still running around and enjoying the city in between bouts of finding myself, pondering my purpose, and other bits of intellectual wankery. On the suggestion of one of the recruiters I interviewed with, I took the bus over to Lyall Bay and had brunch at Maranui Cafe. It was a bit of a cloudy day, but still beautiful.

This Austin was parked outside the cafe.

I've been to a fair bit of theatre so far, in addition to seeing Isaac's Eye the first weekend I was here, I caught a very good production of the Tempest with a steampunk theme, which is how I found out about Aethercon; then the next night I went to a pantomime version of Little Red Riding Hood, which was a great deal of fun. I'd never been to a proper British-style panto before, and it reminded me of doing summer melodrama in Gunnison - complete with boo hissing the villain. This week I caught Dead Tragic, which is a musical revue with comic interpretations of tragic songs of 40s, 50s, and 60s. Last night I caught a stunning original work called Watch at the newly renovated BATS Theatre. It was a solid script with probably the best integration of video and live theatre that I've ever seen.

I met a friend of a friend for drinks on Thursday night, a fellow American who's been here for six years. I hadn't actually planned anything for Thanksgiving, as it isn't really a favorite holiday of mine, so it was really lovely to have someone to bar hop with. I did find a place that made a fairly decent pumpkin pie, which was nice. I also discovered that whipped cream over here is unsweetened, which was less nice.

Today was sunny and windy (at this point, assume that it is windy unless otherwise stated, or I'll start to become a broken record), and I wandered down by the waterfront on my way to the library to print out sides for next weekend's audition.

This band, the Wellington Batucada, was out playing today, and they were quite good. http://batucada.org.nz

That's the Sea Shepherd behind them, an anti-poaching vessel. They're in town for a few weekends for a fundraiser.

One of the amazing things is how clean the water is. Most of the cities I've been to, any large body of water is rather frightening and not at all healthy looking. Here, however, there are all sorts of places where you can dive in, dip your toes in, and just go out and play. Someday, I'd love to take a long walk off this short plank.

Back along the wharf to Te Papa, the national museum.

Looking north toward the Hutt Valley. The sword fighting school is in Lower Hutt, about a twenty minute train ride away from the city (and just to the left of center in this picture).

It's my understanding that the waterfront has been revitalized over the last few years. It's a very welcoming place now, full of places to sit, with lots of art installations, and the occasional interesting quote in the concrete. I love this bridge - there are locks with lovers' initials on them all along the bayward side.

I was a bit late for this today, but I will definitely have to go back next weekend for this underground artisan's market, which is held every Saturday.

There were kayakers and paddle boaters in this sheltered area.

And this raft - I believe the swans were made of paper.

There are quotes all around the waterfront, I especially liked this one, today.

This was taken from the steps of the library, that's the City Art Gallery on the left and governmental buildings on the right. I love the suspended ball of silver ferns. And the bridge back to the water front (over the highway) doubles as another open space with benches and reading nooks, I just didn't get a great picture of it today.