CULTURE SHOCK NOT EXPECTED, BUT HAD

Hi Everyone,

Me and Melissa are at an internet cafe in downtown Auckland, which we are not fond of. I'll start with the beginning. Our flights here were incredible, hardly seemed like 2 days in the air at all, and the last flight from Los Angeles to NZ, we were very pampered, well, I was...Melissa slept through the whole thing. LA was incredible (well we were only at the airport, but even that was so cool! Stretch limos all around, could feel the presence of 'les famous'. So, since there is a countdown clock on the screen telling me my time is ticking, I will only write a short bit for now and more next week when hopefully I have free internet at work. So...we flew down over NZ, and oh boy what a sight, just like the travel guides show it, it was surreal, from the AIR, New Zealand is breathtaking, and on the ground New Zealand is breathtaking, as we saw from the ride from the airport to the city...and well downtown Auckland is certainly not. We took a shuttle to our apartments and thats when it all went downhill. We show up at 8:00 am (when the office is supposed to be open, and besides they knew that we were coming) and no one shows up at the office until almost 10. We were gievn the key to our apartment and went to it. We opened the door...only to realize that other people lived inside, we walked in on them...good thing, because that place was DIRTY! So we go down to the office and get another apartment, and go to it, lets just say that there was what appeared to be a blood stain (a big one) in the middle of my carpet in my bedroom and well, we moved again. This time they said they would move us to the other building which was nicer. Hmmm...why didnt they give us that first. Hmmm, so they did and we walked into our new apartment, and well, there was only one bed in the 2-bedroom apartment. We went downstairs and I was ready to come home. Needed to cry, but held off. Finally we got another room (the owners room) which is also awful, but livable until we can figure out what to do. They seemed to have no idea which keys are for which apartments and so I asked how secure this was b/c I felt that anyone else could ahev our keys. He assured me this is not true, but really he didnt even understand what I was asking. I tried calling all the contacts that we have for the University for help, but they are all away until next week. Now I cried. We really have no one and the people that work here don't understand or seem to care to want to help us). It's in a really good spot, but boy, we just dont feel safe at all. So we left our stuff there and headed out to the downtown waterfront. It is true what they say about Auckland being a majority of asian. That was the major culture shock. We went to a nice market this morning but I kid you not when I say that Melissa and I walked around the ENTIRE city of Auckland ALL afternoon trying to find anything that looked edible. I exaggerate none when I say that there is 99.9% asian food and the other is all McD's and Burger King. NO PUBS AT ALL! We could not succeed on this day. We settled for lasagna and pizza that we both could only take 1 bite out of b/c it was so awful. I cried, right there in the food market. Melissa just looked at me, and said nothing-We are both thinking the same thing. This is awful. We maybe saw 2 places that seemed okay to eat, but even appetizers are at least 20 dollars! We read so many menus and turned around with our heads hanging low more times than I care to mention. So now we are all sad we are writing all the people who think won't mind hearing all this because we certainly do not have any support here (until next week), as is so hard to communicate with most of the people here. Anyways, we our aching, throbbing feet are killing us, but we are off to find a grocery store that we are told is on the other side of town. Even then, it's gonna be tough to buy stuff b/c our kitchen unit at the apartment I would say is not clean enough to use. I am crying again now. I am sure this will get better as long as we can stay out of the city as much as is possible and as soon as we get working. We have planned a day at the North Island Zoo tomorrow and will be taking a nice country bus ride and dining in the countryside. As far as we are concerned, the more we can stay away from this city the better. Don't worry about us though, I am just pretty upset right now and am probably complaining more than I should, but I just a little worried. But mom, don't you be worried. In a few days hopefully we will be moved somwhere else when we can get some help. I love you all, and most of all Eddie, I wish you were here. This place does have so much potential. There are so many beautiful things in the city that could be enjoyed! Crying again, good thing I am sitting in a corner booth. Love Jo xooxoxoxoxoox