Green Jello Hotdish

Virginia Republican Rep. Virgil Goode believes that immigration laws must be strengthened to prevent individuals like newly-elected Minnesota Democrat Rep. Keith Ellison from joining the Congress. Why? Because Ellison, a Muslim, has decided to swear his oath of office on the Qu’ran.

The comments to this post by Julia Neuberger, a rabbi and Baroness in the British House of Lords who writes for On Faith, were so ripe with antisemitic hatred, my blood curdled as I read them. Simply because, as she explained, as a Jewish woman, she does not believe Jesus to be the divine Son of God.

I took a quiz yesterday that found me to socially be in step with only 38% of Americans. But if believing in what these reports publish — and the responses to them — is what I have to do to be American, then I’ll start packing my bags for New Zealand. The downfall of our culture, our government, and our society is not going to be an external attack. We’re doing it to ourselves.

Following a vote by Wisconsinites encouraging the return of the death penalty in this state, Florida Governor Jeb Bush (yes, that other Bush) has stepped away from family tradition and ordered a moratorium on implementations of the death penalty in that state — and a study into them — after a botched state-sponsored murder of an inmate earlier this month.

A California judge ruled the use of lethal injection a violation of cruel and unusual punishment — yet the death penalty “could be fixed.”

I could be disgusted — well, more disgusted — at this turn of events. But rather than fight this broken, psychotic system here, I think I just want to move to Auckland, New Zealand. Who’s with me?

I’m home. Have been for… well, under 24 hours now. The jet lag hasn’t hit me yet, and last night was surprisingly sleepful. Maybe I’ve unlocked some well-kept secret of travel, because I’ve been awake all day, and I’m not getting tired yet.

But in any event, don’t expect a lot of activity from me for the next couple of days while I readjust. I’ve got work piled up, will be going home to the northland for family holidays, and then a couple of small trips here and there.

And tomorrow is my birthday. I realized that after 21, there’s nothing to really look forward to. So turning 22 is going to be boring. I’m going to Chipotle with a couple of friends. It won’t even be like my birthday last year where I ordered a beer. Just regular Chipotle.

(Alright, maybe I’ll order a margarita…)

We’re in Auckland, the last leg of our trip. (I’m writing this in real-time from an Internet cafe across the street from our hotel. Well, actually it’s really a restaurant. They have a row of computers to make it Internet-ized. Whatever.) After spending three days together in a car, neither of us have killed each other. Although the next 48 hours may change things… tee hee…

The drive up through the north island was interesting. The scenery was absolutely beautiful, with the clouds hugging the mountains and we found a lookout last night to see a bay of the ocean between the island and… well… another island. It probably has a name, but I’m not quite sure what it is. Anyway. It was pretty — moral of the story.

(Bryan informs me that it wasn’t another island. But that doesn’t change the moral of the story. And he should stop reading over my shoulder. Because I don’t do that to him.)

Also yesterday as we were driving, I pulled a stupid and completely misplaced the better part of an hour as we drove up the shore to points unknown and I decided to turn around because Bryan was complaining that we were going to run out of gas and should just find a place to stay. I remember that part. I remember driving. What I don’t remember is driving to some small town, turning around there, and driving halfway back when all was said and done to stay in a picnic area on the side of the road. If you want the full story, ask Bryan, but it’s not as dramatic as he makes it sound.

(And Bryan smells.)

The next two days are spent in Auckland, which let me tell you I could get used to this city. Even driving in it is fun. (Well, sorta. The hills and a stick shift car are not agreeable.) Although when I came back to the hotel this morning after dropping off the rental car, I did get assaulted by a homeless bum who wanted change. He pushed me. I told him to not touch me and then glared at him. It was really more weird than anything else. Other than that, though, I love this city.

We went to an art gallery today, but are really starting to get worn out. (We also went to a Wendy’s. Yah. That’s right. I flew halfway around the world to go to Wendy’s. And they didn’t even have the new vanilla Frosty. Not cool.) So the rest of the trip will be a little more leisurely, and a welcome change from the all-out push to cram as much as humanly possible in to a twelve day trip.

I’m not sure if I’m going to update this again before I leave, so if not… see people in a few days!

(12:25 p.m. Taupo, New Zealand, Sunday, Dec. 10)

Driving on the left-hand side of the road is more fun than one might think. We’ve gone through Wellington and about one half of the north island of New Zealand since our arrival. Now, we’re in Taupo, a good-sized town in the center of the thermoactive region of the island. We stopped at a McDonald’s in hopes of finding wi-fi access so I could update you all through this blog, we could check our financial statuses, and keep in touch with the “outside world,” but they haven’t rolled out that service to this part of the world yet, apparently.

(Secretly, it’s OK, though, because I also was excited to eat a cheeseburger.)

Last night we spent night one of three in the rental car – which, for those paying attention, is a brand-new Toyota Yaris hatchback. Great for driving around, and great for hauling our luggage – not so great if you want to haul luggage AND recline your seat to sleep. It was probably in the single digits below zero Celsius last night, so we had to turn on the car a couple of times to heat it up in the middle of the night. We also realized that since we were staying in the mid-level altitude regions – not by requirement, but because “the view was pretty,” we probably caused ourselves more undue stress than was actually necessary. Oh well.

Today we’re taking a leisurely drive up to our next destination, stopping along the way for random photo breaks. The car is loaded with food – mostly peanut butter and bread – to satisfy our travel urges. New Zealand, however, is considerably cheaper than Australia, so I haven’t spent even a fraction of what I spent in Australia.

Gas is like $1.30 a liter, and to fill up the Yaris is about NZD $50. For a Yaris. Yup. The first time I filled up my Aveo, down in Chicago when gas prices were high, cost USD $30. Ever since, it’s only in the $23-$25 range. In American money, NZD $50 is only about $35-$38, but it’s still a bit of sticker shock.

Overall, I think I like New Zealand more than Australia. There’s a certain mystical nature about it, similar to the Celtic heritage of the British Islands. Everything is so green, and the country is a bit cleaner. (The air quality, for example, is amazingly crisp, clean, and refreshing.) The people are just as friendly as in Australia (and they don’t automatically hate us for being American!) and the addition of Maori cultural activities is a crowning touch.

Bryan’s going to kill me if we keep sitting at the McDonald’s much longer, since there is no Internet here, so we better be off in search of a connection.

(12:03 p.m. Wellington, Dec. 8, 2006)

Well we didn’t find any cheap wi-fi in Sydney, so I apologize for the lack of updates. (We did find a few Internet cafes with broadband and kiosks, so the e-mails I sent from there will suffice as the blog entries.) I’m sitting on the bed at the hotel in Wellington, New Zealand, where I am just itching to get outside and exploring.

(Bryan’s in the shower, so I’m updating you all as I wait for him.)

Let’s backtrack a little bit. Sydney was amazing. I really felt like the city was a sort of hybrid between Southern California and New York, with the cultural scene, the beaches, the laid back atmosphere, but yet the determination and will power was also noticeable. However, for future reference, know that SYDNEY IS FREAKING EXPENSIVE. I thought I had reached the peak of expense when I went to London earlier this year, but apparently I was wrong. It’s next to impossible to find food under $5 a portion, and if you’re expecting meal deals to include drink and side, you’re wrong, too. A few places have good deals (of the approx. $5 variety), but for the most part either the portion is extremely small or the food isn’t something appetizing.

We went and played with the animals at the Taronga Zoo, where I now have been able to see the Australian animal life up close and personal. (Including things like snakes, bats, and rats – which I could have just as soon lived my life without seeing.) We also visited places like the Sydney Opera House (and got to watch a rehearsal of the Australia Orchestra – amazing!) and the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Of course, we had to make a stop at Bondi Beach, where we both proceeded to get redder than tomatoes, and now are in a miserable state of skin health. Like always, my skin can’t decide what it wants to do, so the left side of my face is peeling, my upper arms are tight and painful, and my feet developed burn blisters on top, along with the walking blisters on bottom, so I’m the token child for good health in Australasia.

I met up with a friend of mine, Ryanne, who I hadn’t seen in years. The last night, we also met up with some friends of Bryan’s that he had been studying with for the past semester. That’s where things got interesting.

Before finding them, we were responsible and checked the train schedule to find out when the last train left for our hotel. (We were staying in a remote suburb about 45 minutes south of the city center, so train travel was essential.) We looked at the grid, saw “12:59” and operated under the assumption that we just needed to be at the train station about ten to one in the morning.

Once we got to the station at Circular Quay (a little earlier, because we had been looking at the grid for the St. James station, which is the stop after the Quay), there was only one more train departing for the evening – ending halfway to our hotel station at Leumeah. So we double-checked the grid again and discovered our grievous mistake: the times we were looking at were followed by an F notation. The F means Friday-only service. In actuality, the last train to leave Circular Quay had been about an hour earlier.

Bryan went and asked a cabbie about how much it would cost to get to Campbelltown (the suburb we were staying in) and it was going to be over $100 cab fare. Uh, no, thank you. It turned out fine, since all of his friends were relatively close and we ended up sleeping on the floor in a hotel room, but it completely ruined what was supposed to have been our sleep in day before getting on airplanes and coming here.

That’s the most eventful occurrence so far. Which is good. No missed flights or anything like that.

Now we’re in Wellington, staying at the Downtown Backpackers, a hotel converted from the Victorian era that once housed such dignitaries as the Queen and her entourage. It’s nice and quaint, and very European. We have a mountainside view, and are right in the center of the Wellington CBD. Today we’re just planning on some exploring, some online time, and possibly finding a cheaper car rental place than Hertz. (They exist in the airport literature we found.) Let’s just hope that Wellington isn’t as expensive as Sydney, and we’ll be golden.

On deck this week are two days here in Wellington, then driving up the North Island to Auckland and flying out a week from yesterday. Thanks to assistance from Bryan’s family, we’ll be staying at a hotel in Auckland (originally it was slotted for car sleeping and then showering at the airport), which greatly helps both our sanity and our finances, as we can now cut down the car rental period by a couple of days and save a little cash.

We’re off to see Wellington! Chat with you all again in some time.

(7:38 a.m. Auckland, Dec. 2, 2006)

I’m at the Auckland airport now, waiting for my next flight. (It begins boarding in 80 minutes, according to the fancy little screens they have going on.) I love international gates at airports. There’s just so much culture to see, and it’s a great place to people watch and interact.

The architecture of the airport, while pretty utilitarian, is quite impressive. There is so much natural light, and it has an open and airy feeling – a far cry from LAX, Midway and O’Hare! But I’m having a hard time looking at Christmas trees decorated next to the natural flora. Sort of a convergence of ideas or something.

(A parade of Air New Zealand flight crew just walked through. It was really funny. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the jet lag already setting in, but I chuckled and masked it with a cough – know how that goes? – and I’m not thinking I was very successful, because the last row of them looked right at me with a puzzled look.)

I sat next to some people from Denver on my flight here. When I told them I started out the morning in Milwaukee, the people behind me informed me that they, too, were from Milwaukee. (One of the suburbs, specifically.) They flew from Mitchell to LAX, and ran into the same turbulence I did. As I predicted, I slept most of the flight. Thank goodness, because otherwise I would probably be a lot crankier right now.

So far, I love New Zealand. At what other airport do I get to look out of huge windows, and see a forest outside, pushed up right next to the runway? The American assumption in development that, in order to be successful, one must clear-cut and pave over the entire area (or seed some trite, pathetic form of grass) is disgusting. And it’s always nice to get away – anywhere – and not be bound to the pressures of time and rush.

Talk to you again in Sydney!