Back from Tahiti + big news!!

Hi all,
Gay and I just returned from 10 days in Tahiti. It was one of those once in a lifetime tropical vacations where everything just about perfect. For me, the highlight of this idyllic holiday had to be, that I got to scuba dive with sharks! Coming in a close second is that Gay and I got engaged!


Yes, we’re engaged!
Ok, here’s how it went down. Picture a warm night walking on a pier under a Tahitian sunset. We’re looking up at the sky, talking about this and that, killing time before the resort restaurant opens for dinner. All of a sudden I realized this was the perfect time to pop the question and we had a romantic moment that went something like;

“…will you marry me?”
“What? No.”
“oh”
“What? Are you serious?”
“Yes. I’m serious!”
“...Noooooooooooooooo. What? Are you serious?”

Eventually Gay either got over the shock or changed her mind and eventually she did say yes. We spent the rest of the vacation in a post engagement bliss smiling at each other for no reason and finally being able to talk about marriage and future plans without that awkward “is he/she comfortable talking about this yet?” feeling.

Now, some of you may be thinking about the ring and whether I did the right thing and picked out that one special ring she can wear for eternity. We’ll you’re half right; I did the right thing by not picking out that one special ring. I made the decision to let her pick out her own ring which ended up being the right thing to do because: one, I clearly have no sense for these things; two, Gay is very particular about jewelry; and three, Gay ended up buying a great ring in Tahiti which turned out to be a fun thing for us to do together. You can see the pictures of the random jeweler Gay found.


Tahiti breakdown
Tahiti is in French Polynesia which means the official language is not English, it’s French. You do get some English from the natives but sometimes it’s very broken and ends up being frustrating for both parties. Fortunately for us, Gay knows French fluently and she was dead keen to do the talking in any situation. My job in these circumstances, being the big dumb unilingual American that I am, was not to blow our cover as non-French travelers. So as Gay was yapping away in the language of love, I would look on with stars in my eyes and nod my head when appropriate. If the situation called for me to talk, like ordering a meal, I just had to point and grunt, which takes some skill let me tell you.
You would think a holiday in the tropics would mean laying out on the beach and relaxing. Especially in light of the fact that we had our own beach bungalow with our own semi-private beach. Not so for this newly engaged duo, we were out an about doing activities most of the time. We went snorkeling almost everyday, did an island tour with ray and shark feeding, we rented a scooter one day and a little dune buggy the next day and just toured around the island.

I got the chance to do 3 separate scuba diving trips and saw some really cool wildlife. My first dive ended up being just the guide and myself. As we got out to the dive spot, I got all geared up and was just about to do the quintessential divers back flip into the water, when the guide pointed out 2 sharks right next to the boat. I proceeded to shit my pants but then quickly got over it and dove right in.

Birthday…
So, I’m 30 now.
Tomorrow is Gay’s surprise party! And I still don’t know what we’re doing. Strangely, since we’ve been back, on more than one occasion my friends have hinted to something involving drag and nakedness. I know someone must be lying because you can’t have both.

Trip update
We finally bought our tickets, official ship off date is Friday May 4th. I know I gave Gay a bit of a ribbing on my last post because of her overly comprehensive travel notes. But I was reviewing my notes on Bali and I had these 2 consecutive entries:
*Surfing lessons at Kuta Beach!!!
*Avoid Kuta Beach.

Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes, cards and packages and big thanks to everyone who has been sending their congratulations on our engagement. With everything going on, it’s an amazing time for Gay and me and this blog is a great way to share. So please keep up with us!

Pictures
I need to spend a little more time with the Tahiti pictures so they’ll be coming up shortly.

it's finally over

i made it through the week somehow. i will spare you all the details, but today i was pulling fishcicles down a metal shute. (is that spelled right?) i'm sure somewhere in the world is a machine that does exactly what i did today. it was the most useless thing ever. anyhow, i made it.
and tomorrow, we leave, sans parental units. as the story goes, phil stepped in a pothole in baltimore, which made his patella go wonky and he had to crawl to the side of the road (would have loved to see that one phillsy). after the ambulance ride and the mri, he is having surgery to repair the torn ligament on monday, thus not coming to tahiti. great timing! and jon and i not having travel insurance, we have no choice but to go ourselves. not that i'm complaining, but i'm not so sure i can handle 10 straight days of jon 24/7! people will probably think we are on our honeymoon. the forecast is rain until at least next wednesday, but that wont stop me from going in the water. as long as i don't have to wear a hairnet and gumboots for a few days i'm a happy camper. we will report back soon!

new day, new song

day #2, not as bad as day #1. i moved around the line a bit and did some different jobs, but still incredibly monotonous.
instead of the dixie chicks, today was regina specktor singing "fidelity" in my head. it's a great song, you can find it on rhapsody, for those of you in the know. there is this yahoo xtra commercial playing on tv all the time and they use that song and i finally found out who sang it. now it haunts me for 8 hours. here's the video on youtube (i couldn't find the actual commercial though). catchy little number

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SGTDRztaCCw

if i were cool like jon, i would know how to automatically insert the image onto the page so you could just push the play button, but alas. many of you know the story of me almost failing intro to computer science in college, thus almost not graduating. which would be a perfect explanation for my current line of work.

i will keep all of you updated on tomorrow's song, for those who really care.

by the way, shout out to jeff rinkov esq., happy belated birthday!

1st day at sealord.....

sucked. it wasn't so much like laverne and shirley as it was that episode of i love lucy where she is in the chocolate factory and the conveyor belt is moving too fast for her.
it's only 4 days as of right now and i'm sure i can get through it, but it's noisy and unfriendly and, surprisingly, not smelly. it's green-lipped mussel season and it's utterly astounding how many of those things exist. they are farmed in the marlborough sounds, just around the bend. today we were grading and bagging them...for 8 hours. watching a conveyor belt for that long makes you feel like you are moving and i might have vertigo now. if only we could plug headphones into the earmuffs they make us wear. it's too loud to talk to anyone so you are alone with your thoughts. i had the same verse of a dixie chicks song running through my head for 8 hours, interspersed with me saying to myself: "aaaaaah! stop singing that song!" that scenario continued for 8 hours. did i mention i stared at mussels on a conveyor belt for 8 hours?
in the cafeteria, during lunch time, it's like high school. i find my bag with my pb&j sandwich, muesli bar and nashi pear, and look all around for a familiar face. not seeing one, i sit by myself at the end of a table, like a complete loser. i half expect someone to come and dump their lunch tray on my lap. ok, it's not that bad, but people aren't exactly the welcoming type there. the other temps are nice enough though and we have had a few conversations. the good thing about not knowing anyone is that i'm not involved in any work-place politics and i can go home at the end of the day and not worry about things and people not getting along.
only 3 more days then...

March: Big Month

Hi All,

It’s been an incredible time for Gay and me here. There’s so much going on and so much to look forward to, sometimes it’s hard to step back from it all. Planning our trip has taken up a lot of our time and we’re both spending a lot of time with our noses in borrowed lonely planets and travel books and watching as many travel shows as are available on the 3 channels we get. Gay has been taking copious and detailed notes on all the places we’ve decided not to buy books for. Sometimes a little too detailed in my opinion; I was reviewing her Japan notes and she copied the Japanese translation for sensible things like chopsticks and how to say “I’m a vegetarian” and other not so sensible translations like “No thanks, I don’t need a bag”. No will ever say she’s not thorough.

Gay and I just finished a 10 day stint house sitting for a friend of mine. It was nice to get out of a shared space and into our own even if for a little while. I managed to completely fry a lawn mower motor in the process (sorry Mike). But anyway…

Gay’s new career…moving up in the world
Last week Gay officially had her last day at the café. Tomorrow she starts her brand new career as a fish processor at Sealords, the local fish processing plant. She’ll utilize her vast knowledge of all things culinary to expertly handle such things as crumbed fish, green-lipped mussels, filleted taraki and other New Zealand aquatic delights. Neither of us know what she’ll actually be doing to the fish but I’m sure it’ll be fun. I’m picturing something a long the lines of Laverne and Shirley except that instead of beer passing through the line, its fish parts. Personally, I’m glad she finished at the café because she’s been a lot happier ever since..plus I’m sure Sealords will pay decent money.

Hellllooo Tahiti + Diving adventures
We leave for Tahiti on the 17th of March!! In preparation for the trip to the islands I was able to quickly (about 4 weeks) get through a PADI open water diver course. So as of yesterday I’m officially certified to go scuba diving. Last weekend I got in a total of 4 open water dives in beautiful Okiwi bay about 1.5 hours from Nelson. Not the easiest thing I’ve ever done and I had some moments of panic, even got a little bloody, but all in all I got through it and had some fun in the process. I got to see a beautiful sting-ray, some crayfish (small lobsters) and some interesting terrains. I’m excited to see some proper tropical wildlife in Tahiti. My instructor kept telling me I’m going to be spoiled having my first dives in the islands. We’ll see.

Birthday
After Tahiti is my 30th birthday. Gay has got something planned and amazingly it has been kept a secret all this time. Whatever it is I’m sure it’ll be cool. Gay somehow managed to convince a total of 14 people to come along. It surprises the hell out of me that I actually know that many people here.
Interestingly enough we’re flying back from Tahiti on the 27th (my birthday) and it just so happens that we’re crossing a date line on the way back so technically it’s only going to be my birthday for about 8 hours out of the whole day. Guess I’ll just be 29 and ½ for awhile.

More trip planning
Our big trip plans are pretty much set and we’re nearly ready to buy our tickets this week. Much to the relief of poor Robyn our travel agent I’m sure. We’ve had a lot of revisions to the itinerary since we started on this process. Next step after buying the tickets is sorting out all the visa information.
May 4th is our current official date of departure.

I’ll be sure to get some good pictures in Tahiti and post them.