Greasy Fingers

I used to come home at night with wet hair, dry skin and the stink of chlorine radiating from my body. I now come home with dirt under my nails and the leftovers of bike grease on my hands. And it's the best!

I've been working at the bike shop for a week now and I've already sold a pretty pricey road bike. I've also sold some kids bikes and some other random stuff. And I've learned HEAPS. Yes, Heaps. The kiwi version of "shitload". In other words, really really really a lot. And there continues to be more to learn. Frame sizes, wheel sizes, tire pressure, front derailleur, rear derailleur, Shimano vs SRAM, front suspension, full suspension, Hayes Sole, Hayes Nine, hydraulic vs cable, and that is just the beginning. It's like school all over again, except everything is so fricken cool!

But enough about the immense amount of knowledge I need to import into my, as of late, anything but studious brain. How about my co-workers. Yeah? So cool. It's like, hellooooo niche! Nine months in and I finally found you. Woohoo. It just fits. And yeah, I'm making shit money. And yeah I'm not entitled to full benefits yet (which is sooo not cool in the bike industry) but whoa I'm stoked to get up in the morning and bike to work (it takes a full nine minutes IF that). And hey, I'm cool to wander the city streets on my lunch hour, meet my man for a quick bite or get a movie for later from my fave vid store (which incidentally is just about next door to my shop). And I call it my shop, not because I own it (OBVIOUSLY) but because I feel like it's, well, just me. I've already begun perving at a sweet little piece of eye candy known as the KONA Caldera. Let's see if i can get the owner to budge on my employee discount just this once. I'll bat my eyelashes and be all sweet....the guy looks like he'd give into a daughter-type. Hell, he made the guys clean the bathroom bc there is now a "lady" working in the store. He clearly has me read allllll wrong. Ha.

Regardless, I'm happy. I haven't enjoyed work this much since...dare I say? The park. yeah. But now I don't even miss it. Not one bit. Not the drama, not the cold. Ok Ok, I do miss the sun. I'm pasty as a pastry right now. Although pastry aren't really pasty at all...just sounded good. but you get the point. I'm happy, I'm learning, I'm improving on the things I've wanted to improve on. Maybe that little shop in Colorado may be possible someday. Nic's Cycles. Has a nice ring to it. Ah well...first things first. Need to get those student loans paid off, earn about $200,000 and then we'll see.

-NMK

The Big 100!!!

You are all witnesses. This is the 100th post of my blog! A big moment, eh?

Yeah right.

But it is fitting that this milestone is accompanied by yet another big change in my life. I am officially done with my job as a swim teacher! Like I have said in the past, it was very rewarding, but DAMN i'm glad to be getting out of the water for a while. And I am proud to say that in two days I begin my job at Penny Sport Cycles. I have finally broken new ground and managed to tear myself away from the pool...maybe not forever, but for the time being. This should be quite an experience.

That being said I will miss the kids...so this is a tribute to them and all the fun times we shared:

Thomas, Francis, Callun, Isla and Joel

Nathan and Conor

Georgia, Nikki, Laura, Anna

Mya, Katie, Amber and Zoe

Chiara, Emily, Ethan and Jessica

Emily

Charlotte and Sophie

Chiara

Ryan, Tayla, Alex and Bradley

Joel making it an interesting last day...that's his sister headed into the pool on the left.

James, Douglas, Nicolas, Anastasia and Grace

My littlies playing around.

Awesome Olivia

One of my aquacize classes (they will kill me when they see this photo online).

Emily, Chiara, Ethan and Jess with their bros Thomas and Maxwell (what a thug).

Oh Ethan

Me: "Jessica let's get a picture!" Jessica: "Umm you're weird." hahaha.

Amber, shivering as usual

Caitlin and Ian

And now it's off to the bike shop (www.pennysportcycles.co.nz/)!!!

-NMK

SNOW!

As the past four days have been so summer-like it seems only natural that this morning I awoke to giant snowflakes drifting down into our backyard. Yes, just as nature intended.



But regardless it is snowing and I am pumped. I have not seen snow in...let's see....one year and about three months. And boy is this a big one. The alarm went off and I hear the DJ mention something about "it's just bucketing down out there". So i run to the window, like a little girl on Christmas. And then I run back into the bedroom and shake Craig awake. He of course thinks there is someone trying to rob our house or murder me, but once I assure him nothing is wrong and the reason for my frantic excitement is nothing more than the winter wonderland outside our door, he comes to join in the viewing. And according to him this is "one of the biggest snows that he has seen since living in Christchurch". And he has lived here 9 years.



It really feels like I should be at home...or last in a home with a fireplace. Sitting curled up on the couch with a big cup of hot cocoa, watching some Christmas movie rerun. It's weird to know that no holiday season is coming with the snow. But that's ok. It's better than nothing.



So, strange days are upon us when one can go hiking or biking in shorts and tank tops for four days straight and then wake to a snow storm. But these are the times in which we live...so we may as well enjoy the good bits, regardless of when they come.



-NMK

One Week And Counting...

Sun-blinded, Craig and I try and pose for a self-potrait. Look how PALE we are!



It has been an exceptionally beautiful past three days here in the city of Christchurch, but other than that, it seems as though things are uneventful. We went hiking in the hills two days ago and then out for a tasty bakery lunch. Yesterday was spent basking in the sun with our french doors open, playing chess (and pouting as it were) until I had to leave for work.





Today was another strangely sunny day which I took every advantage of to go for a little tramp, solo except for my ipod. For some reason it feels more like spring that winter right about now. There is water rushing everywhere, little streams all over the hills and MUD. Oh the mud that is out in full force right now made for an interesting hike up the bowenvale track today. My usually very grippy boots did not make many good connections with the earth, rather I ended up doing a dance that looked something like the uphill running man. Going out at 3:30 allowed for nothing but the most dazzling sun, setting behing the silouhetted southern alps. And I grew so warm on the climb up that I (as I had hoped) was able to strip down to my tank top and let my pale-as-a-dead-fish skin soak up some of the delicious (and sadly harmful) rays of the New Zealand sun.


View of Christchurch from the Hills...you can see the smog. Ugh.


Probably the best part about getting up into the hills is the breath of fresh air it affords me. Literally. The smog of this city is stifling. It burns your lungs and sears your nostrils. But the hills are like breathing the fresh air of Clinton New York or even Brotzman Road. Like cleaning out your entire respiratory system. The air is cool and damp and fresh and it floats through your nostrils like some sort of natural remedy; some nature-made baked good. In the hills I cease to feel like a smoker and begin to breathe like me again. So much for the movie biz---I could never live in LA.


SHEEP!!!


And all in all, if this is winter, I think I can handle it. But judging by the sight of our breath inside the house most nights, I think all this sun is a just a tease.

And speaking of handling things, next week is going to be my last week of teaching at the swim school. Which is great and sad at the same time. I'm sure I've gone over this before, but there always seems to be a mix of emotions when making almost any changes in life. I'm glad to be moving on to something new, closer to town, more "legit" I suppose you could say. But I'm sorry to be leaving the kids. The kids who have taken to calling me adorable versions of my name because they can't pronounce "Nicole" properly. Kids who push themselves to the very limit to achieve what are, to them, quite extraordinary feats. Why this week I had 9 different kids swim the entire pool length, something none of them had even thought possible. Times like that are very rewarding. But the headaches I come home with (both actual and metaphorical) have just become too much to handle.

But now it's the weekend. And hopefully the warm weather will continue on to allow for bike rides and walks and simply warmer bodies.

-NMK

Weight off my Shoulders

I'm glad to report that I officially have a job. Two weeks from now, when I finish working at my current swim school, I will begin working in a bike shop. Finally. Since I came here I have been hoping to find work in a bike shop. And interestingly enough when i initially arrived, no one wanted to hire me.

Story--->Well, this past weekend, despite having numerous applications out and waiting around town, Craig suggested I still get the weekend paper that contains all the job vaccancies. I reluctantly agreed wondering what on earth else I would be able to find other than a lot of frustration and disappointment. Strangely enough there was an ad for a salesperson in this bike shop. It was described as pretty much the exact job I've wanted and I couldn't believe my luck. I decided to get my resume and references together and instead of mailing in the my application I visited the shop the very next day. And maybe ten or fifteen minutes into talking with the manager, he hired me. The only problem was that Craig works in a shop literally a block down the road and the manager had to check with the owner to make sure there was no conflict of interest. And he called today to tell me there wasn't and that the job was still mine!!! Woohoo!!!!

So I'm rather excited about the future. I won't be making as much money as I do right now, and I'll be working much more, but I'm not going to be in the water. I'm going to be working with people. Oh people. How I've missed working with people. I'm going to be working with and learning about bikes, which was my original intent in coming here. And I'll be working in town, near everything. It's just going to be lovely.

In other news, my dear dear Sarah Mae is coming to visit sometime in the next few months. I think we're trying for October, November or December. Regardless I am so excited. I've not seen her in so long. It'll be a crazy time for the kiwis with the two of us together again. Look out.

Finally I've got some photos to put up now. I hope you enjoy. They are from Owen's visit, Victoria's b-day, Craig and I on a mini-picnic hike, and some other shots from our trip round the south island,

-NMK

Owen in the Port Hills

Craig and I at Halswell Rock Quarry Park

Victoria and I at her 21st

View from the Alex Knob trail in Franz Josef

Picnic tables we ate at from high above the quarry

Lake Tekapo (I think) and the Southern Alps

View from Lake Matheson (better than when my Dad came but still a bit cloudy)

More views of the Southern Lakes

Some of them are a sky blue like I've never seen before

The pictures just don't do them justice

Brighter Skies

I'm not talking about the weather. Certainly not. On the contrary, it is raining here. Again. Rather, I'm talking about my job prospects, which, if any of you have followed this, were not going so well about 24 hours ago. No, all of New Zealand's businesses have not realized their folly in denying me work and have begun beating down my door in attempts to bid for my services. But I have had some encounters with some amazingly inspiring people who have started to make this whole job search nonsense seem a bit less hopeless.

I first had an interview with Kathmandu...much like the EMS of upstate New York. They specialize in everything from climbing to camping to kayaking and their products are lovely. I hope to aquire some of these lovely goods at one point or another before I return back to the states (whenever that may be). This job however is only a fixed term position meant to increase staff for their winter sale. And I've been to their sales...which are huge. So they need it. The man who interviewed me also made it very clear that working the sale in no way meant that I would be hired full time when it was over. People clearly like working at Kathmandu. However, he was incredible impressed with my resume and quick to tell me how overqualified I was for the job. The interview really wasn't an interview at all. It lasted no more than probably ten minutes and within the first 3 minutes he pretty much offered me the job. But more than offering me the job, the fact that he recognized my qualifications and specifically stated how impressed he was that I had a cultural anthro degree made me glow inside. It is the first time that anyone has looked at my resume with respect for my education and intelligence. I'm beginning to wonder whether there are a lot of employers with minor degrees out there who feel threatened by someone with a college degree. Maybe not. Who knows. Anyway...the job with Kathmandu is only for 5 weeks so I'm still considering it because it is money for the next five weeks, right? I plan to call Steve (the interviewer) before I leave for work this afternoon.

Then there's another job. I mentioned a few posts ago two specific jobs that I was holding out for and this is one of them. The job is working as the advertising features writer for the local newspaper. I recently got a letter confirming that The Press had received my application and that I would be contacted. However, it had been a week and I felt it necessary to find out what was going on. No point in holding out for a job that you have no chance of getting right? So I phoned the newspaper and they (surprisingly) connected me directly to the man in charge of the secion I applied for. I expected him to take my number and then tell me he'd call me back...and then never hear from him again. But I was again surprised (forgetting for a moment that this is New Zealand). And we actually ended up having a really nice conversation/semi-interview over the phone. In the end he rememberd my resume and that he had actually put it in the "no" pile, but said that having called him, I had done myself a favor. And after speaking with me he asked me to send him some samples of my writing (so those papers from college are coming in handy finally!) and told me he'd be in touch. Even if I don't get work with them, it's very encouraging to know that while my qualifications may or may not be in tune with what people are looking for, my personality is somewhat interesting...or good...or something like that.

You see, I've received a number of responses from people at cafes and offices telling me that I'm not qualified for their jobs. And after one receives so many of these letters or phone calls telling one that he or she isn't qualified enough to pour a glass of wine or answer a phone...well, one begins to think they just aren't that good at anything. And we tend to forget that personality and drive matters. We begin to identify...define ourselves by our qualifications and lose our sense of self-worth. But today has helped in showing me that I am a worthy person. It's reminded me that I am intelligent, I've worked hard to get my degree, to get where I am, and that if people who can't see that based on a two page summary of my (very short) professional life aren't willing to talk to me to figure it out, well that's their loss and not mine. I am understanding though that employers can't talk to everyone, but it's just difficult at times to accept so much rejection.

I hope that any of you who are going through these difficult times in finding jobs or jobs you enjoy or even good friends or a nice relationship or anything else can take something away from this post. It's hard to remember the good in life, one's worth, and the idea of doing what makes you happy when everything is just rain clouds and the word "no". Bright skies will come along for you too. Let's face it...it can't rain forever. :-)

-NMK

For SMF and BSP

I am 9000 miles away from home right now.

Life is much more difficult in the real world when you are 9000 miles away from home.

I have the best friends in the entire world.

And I love them.

That is all.

-NMK