New acquaintances

The last four weeks have made me cry multiple times, ruined and then made New Zealand beautiful again. But let's start from the beginning.

One day after I wrote the last blog post, I couldn't use my credit card anymore. I only received an email informing me that the card was blocked, abuse had been detected, but no further information could be provided. That scared me. Although I mainly need the credit card for the countries on the way home, I can overdraw my credit card by up to 100€ - this safetynet was gone. But DKB immediately sent me a new card - to my home address. That doesn't help me much. The drama with the card went on for weeks. I asked if the card could be unblocked under my responsibility (it couldn't), Mom asked the post office if she could send the card to New Zealand (she couldn't), and I asked if the card could be sent to the German embassy in Auckland (it couldn't). The final solution was for Jacky to visit a friend in Auckland in September and bring me the card now.

While the drama was going on, I was still looking for a job. 1st Call contacted me on Sunday and said I could start working on Monday. I was happy and thought it would be like in Christchurch and I could stay there for a few weeks. Spoiler: I couldn't.

I worked at Huhtamaki, a packaging factory. Among other things, they produce cups for McDonald's. Before we could even start working, we had to listen to a 1-hour induction session. We were repeatedly told that we had to pay attention to our hygiene and that no bacteria, dirt, etc. should come into contact with the packaging. I had nail polish on my nails. If there's one thing I learned during my training, it's that nail polish and hygiene don't really go well together. So I asked if I should remove it - after all, I had everything in the car. But no, I was told to take out my earrings, but nail polish wasn't that bad. Also, nobody wears gloves there and you can enter with street shoes, but the important thing is to create panic.

What they did pay attention to was that every employee wears a hair net, beard net (if necessary), and dustcoat. In addition, hands had to be washed and disinfected, and then we had to stand in a tube for 8 seconds where we were blown off. I still don't believe that everything is so hygienic there. I spent the eight hours packaging soap boxes. 1825 per carton. If anyone in New Zealand now finds black nail polish in their soap, I'm sorry - I was told it was okay.

In the factory, it's so loud that everyone has to wear ear protection, so you can't have a conversation and everything is communicated more or less through sign language. Quite funny but also very boring. But since they take breaks every two hours, the day went by quickly. I didn't receive any more messages that I should work the next day. It was only in the evening of the next day that I received a message saying that no shift was available the following day. So I could have worked that day, but nobody told me. For weeks, my inner 'New Zealand is annoying' barrel has been filling up, and with this SMS, it finally overflowed, and I explained to everyone who was interested (or not) how incompetent the job agency is here, how crappy New Zealand is, and that I'm fed up. It got to the point where I was asked if I wanted to fly home earlier.

But I didn't.

The next morning, I didn't see it all as bad anymore and approached everything pragmatically. I transferred 100€ to get by and went to the cinema to watch Mamma Mia 2. Going to the cinema may not be the best idea when your account is already crying, but I was in such a bad mood and constantly wanted to cry, so I thought a feel-good movie would help. And it did. I also applied for woofing positions to save money and continued to be bored. Knowing when I will land in Germany also brought back my good mood.

A few days later, the crying spells started again. The smallest things turned my frustration into tears, and I often sat in the dark in the car and cried because nothing was going as I wanted. I also 'escaped' from Auckland because I couldn't get a job anyway and drove to Paihia. I stayed there until the end of July and really enjoyed the time. The woofing positions I contacted either didn't respond or were already full, but I enjoyed New Zealand again. Back in Auckland (or Orewa), my period of mourning was finally over.

In the morning, I was scrolling through Facebook and saw that Vanessa had been in Auckland for a few days, will be there until the end of October, and is looking for company. So I wrote to her spontaneously and we met in the city on the same day and got to know each other. She is doing an internship for her training and therefore only has weekends off, but having a contact in Auckland with whom I can do things gave me the push to do everything necessary to enjoy the remaining time here (which is not much). After weeks, I finally gave up my project of 'I can do this alone', overcame my pride, and asked for money. And it took me a long time to talk to myself about it until I was ready.

Since then, the time here has become really beautiful again. With enough money in my account, I no longer have the financial worries I had before, and I can apply for jobs and woofing positions more calmly. The first weekend after Vanessa and I met, we met in Devenport and then drove to Takapuna, Orewa, and Albany. Vanessa wants to see as much as possible during her time here, and every place is more beautiful than Auckland. In Takapuna, we also witnessed an accident. Some van crashed into a pretty new looking Audi (really, he wasn't driving properly) and immediately fled without checking the damage. The side of the Audi was already pretty destroyed. Oh, on that day I also had a one-day eye disease. I don't know what was going on, but I woke up with a watery eye and it was red and the pupil was much smaller than the other one. However, I could see normally, I just noticed that one eye focused on things longer, and the next day it was gone again.

The following week, I was supposed to start a woofing position with an old lady. She had quite good reviews and wanted help with some children who would stay with her for a week. So I wrote to her, and the first response before I even got a hello was that I should send her pictures of myself to her email. I didn't do it because I found it strange, but instead asked how long she actually needed help. The response was much nicer and more personal, and I felt better about sending her pictures. Important: I only sent photos and typed in her email address. I didn't copy anything and never copied the Helpx page. But then she replied that she couldn't open the pictures, every time she clicked on them, she would land on the Helpx page - which wasn't possible. She told me to send her the pictures to her WhatsApp number. That didn't work. My phone tried to send the message for hours. It all seemed weird to me, so I canceled. In the end, she wasn't even an old lady.

Last Friday, I went to the botanical garden with Vanessa. We thought it was a good idea. But it's winter. Nothing is growing. So we just took a walk there.

On Saturday, we went to Waiheke in the best weather. We actually wanted to go there the weekend before, but it was raining. When I was on the island in December, I just took a short walk and then didn't feel like it anymore. The island doesn't have much to offer except for lots of green, which is a very nice change if you only know the built-up Auckland. Especially that we could walk around in t-shirts after all the winter months was extremely nice. Sunday was almost like a real summer day, and I spent it at the beach with nice unhealthy food and reading.

Oh, and on Friday, I also got into a drug check. The police here are really bored, they check you so often. I was just glad that my eyes looked normal again ...

And now the week is almost over again, on Saturday we're going to a rugby game (just to have seen it too) and from Sunday onwards, I finally found a woofing position. And after that week there, I only have 7 and a half weeks left in New Zealand ...