weekend adventures

This Saturday we had our first weekend outing… they set up optional weekend day trips for us, and since we don’t have much else to do during the weekend, most of us went today...and probably will most Saturdays I’m guessing! We visited Mission Bay and Devonport, two little seaside towns right outside of Auckland, only about a 20 minute drive from the city.

It was a lot of fun, lots of pretty scenery – it was great to get out of the city. Living in the city is good because it’s “real” – we see poverty, homelessness, prostitution, real life… but after a week chock-full of that, yesterday was a much needed breath of fresh air. Not to mention it’s pretty nice to just take the time to realize and remember that we are in NEW ZEALAND! Walking through the city all week feels more like NYC or Chicago, but seeing the mountains and the beach was refreshing. Erin, Lauren and I ate lunch at a cute little café, grabbed coffee, walked around the little shops, and even walked a bit up a big mountain to get a great view of the bay and the city. Some great photo ops J

The highlight of the day was probably that Stephanie (see previous pictures), while attempting to slide down the mountain on a cardboard box, ripped the box and rolled/fell/tumbled down the mountain for a good 10 seconds. She was fine, no injuries, so it was ABSOLUTELY hilarious. Actually.... have a look for yourself.

While we were in Devonport, we got to go to a supermarket – that sounds totally boring and normal, but you have to realize that in Auckland city, there are no supermarkets. That sounds crazy but it’s true. So, walking inside, we felt like we had walked back into the United States for a brief moment in time. I don’t think we realized that we really missed home until then! I just kind of wandered around aimlessly, up and down the aisles, I must admit I have a soft spot for wandering grocery stores (James & I did this the first time we hung out alone... and have done so MANY times since then), so it was just great. More to come. Love.