New Zealand's Next Top Chef

After four nights of either unsuccessful or microwavable dinners, I finally made a fantastic HOMEMADE meal! I had tofu parmesan (but I didn't make the tofu for obvious reasons) with pasta! It was excellent, especially because it was topped off with hot sauce! This dinner was exactly what I needed after a long day at the Sanctuary cleaning benches. While that wasn't all that exciting, I was lucky enough to have a great partner. Jane was an older woman, but I could tell that she was enjoying the company of a young person! We had great conversations throughout the 8-4 work day.

Yesterday was another tough day in the office, but was well worth the sweat and back pains. I was working with a group of about seven people, four women and three young guys (they were still in high school...so don't get too excited). Two of the women and myself got along really well! One of them, Erin, has just started volunteering at the Sanctuary like myself, and we get along really well! I am looking forward to working with her again. So back to my job...we were planting! We walked all along the main path of Zealandia to plant the variety of tall grasses waiting to be submerged into the earth. We also got to plant in the Wetlands, which is a beautiful grassy area surrounded by water. How could I forget the best part of my first day taking the bus to work...I took the wrong bus and managed to be 15 minutes late! But hey, you live and learn! My city skills came into good use though because I was wise enough to think to walk down the street to find the correct bus stop to get me to Karori (where the Sanctuary is)!

I wonder what type of work I will be doing tomorrow, hopefully I will be working with the birds! Tomorrow is also when people will start to move into the apartment! One guy comes tomorrow, and another on Friday. The last guy comes next week! I am very excited because they are other gap year students like myself so we will have something to relate to!

More hardworking adventures to come!