The Fullers Sweet As cruise on Monday night was a little bit different than I'd expected. The cruise was from 18.00 - 20.00 hours, so I thought I'd be dancing on a boat for nearly 2 hours. I'd booked my ticket by phone and the lady on the phone had told me to pick up my ticket at the ticket desk 15 minutes prior to boarding time at the latest. When I arrived at the Fullers ticket desk at 17.40, the guy behind the window told me that my ticket had already been collected. What?!? He started phoning Fullers, the cruise company, but he couldn't get through, so I'd to wait quite a while and I knew the boat would leave at 6 pm sharp. I wanted to be on board! It turned out that one of the crew members had collected my ticket and was waiting for me at the boat. Right. Thank you very much. By the time the guy at the ticket desk had figured that out, it was nearly 6 o'clock, so I had to run to the boat, snatch my ticket and jump on board - but I'd made it.

As soon as I stepped on board, I noticed that there were a lot of Asian people on the ship. I heard Chinese and Japanese, but I didn't see any good-looking guys! A blond girl came up to me and asked me:'Are you a Geos student?' Am I what? 'A student, are you a student at Geos?' 'Er...no. Are you?' She turned out to be a teacher at Geos, teaching English to Asian people in Auckland. We introduced ourselves - her name was Sacha - and of course, I couldn't help but ask:'Do you know if Geos is looking for teachers?' According to Sacha, Geos is always looking for new teachers, so I went there last Wednesday to drop off my CV. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a positive response!

Since the cruise boat was full of Asian people, nobody danced. They just don't like to dance. I was a little bit disappointed, but I found a nice seat on the deck and just enjoyed the boat ride. Auckland looked fantastic from the water. When it was time to go back, the captain ordered everyone to go to the front deck. He turned on some music and told us to dance, because there was a prize to be won for the best dancer. I didn't care about the prize ( a 3-day trip to the Bay of Islands), I was happy I could finally dance! Dancing alone just isn't so much fun (unless it's in my own kitchen, then I don't care). I didn't win, but like I said, I didn't care. At least I had danced! Back in the harbour of Auckland, we were told that our cruise ticket entitled as to 2-for-1 drinks at a certain pub. Jess, an American guy I'd briefly spoken with when we were on the boat, asked if I wanted to go for a drink. Sure, why not? The pub wasn't very nice, so we went to a Japanese restaurant and ordered some sushi and miso soup. When our food was served, we were joined by Kyle, a guy from Seattle, and a friend of Jess. Kyle asked us if we wanted to hang out at his place, so Jess and I finished our food and followed Kyle. Kyle's place turned out to be a huge apartment on the waterfront, overlooking the harbour - and he was staying there for free! Kyle had invited some other people that he'd met in Auckland as well, so I spent the night talking to Americans I'd never seen before in an apartment that was worth 850.000 New Zealand dollars. The apartment was empty, but it was amazing and Kyle's friends had some interesting stories to tell about their teaching experiences at Samoa. I had a really good night that night and I hope to visit Kyle in Seatlle when I go to the U.S. in (probably) July.

I didn't do much on Tuesday during the day, but on Tuesday night, I had dinner at Jess & Graham's place. I know it's confusing, but this Jess is female, kiwi and a friend of Jaime, Ben's sister. Graham, her fiancé, is from England. Jess and Graham live in an apartment in a building that used to be a castle. Really cool. Jess had cooked us rice, chicken and vegetables. Yum! After dinner, Jaime (Ben's sister) arrived and together we went to Franklin Road, to have a look at all the decorated houses. Some of the houses looked really tacky, but others were quite nice. It was really crowded on Franklin Road. Apparently, it's something special, because whole families were there and tour buses were driving by as well!

On Wednesday, I had a Chinese massage. When I can't get up in the morning and I can't sleep at night, when my fingers die while it isn't even freezing and I have the feeling I'm dragging my body from A to B, I know it's time for something: a massage. It was really painful and the Chinese guy who was massaging me, couldn't get over the fact of how tense my body was. 'Are you here on holiday?' Er... sort of. He gave me a foot massage for free, a discount (without having to bargain for it!) and discount vouchers. Woops! Perhaps I should've done this earlier? I felt a bit dizzy afterwards, but after a warm drink and some food, I felt a whole lot better. I went back to the B&B, where I was greeted by Jason, a 42-year old New Zealander who spent 20 years overseas (mainly in Japan and Australia). We started talking and we didn't stop until it was almost midnight. Very interesting guy. He checked out today, but I'll probably see him again next year.

Today, I've been running up and down Queen Street, trying to get some last-minute shopping done before my trip on Saturday. The shops closed early today and they won't open until Saturday (some of them won't open until January), so I had to hurry. I said goodbye to Jason at the B&B, had a drink with American Jess (male) and now I'm sitting in front of a computer at an internet cafe. Jess will join me on my bus tour for the first 3 days, so that'll be fun. I may go to the casino with Jess, Kyle and some other American people tonight and I think I'm also invited to their Orphan Christmas Party which will be held tomorrow. I don't need to worry about getting bored here!

Have a great Christmas everyone!