Valentine's and Good Eats

Last weekend was Valentine's and Clinton and I decided to have dinner on Saturday night (13th) instead of Valentine's Day. We spent the morning and early afternoon shopping in Newmarket, where there are LOTZ of stores to dip in and out of. Clinton and I bought our first "for the rest of our life" piece of furniture there. It is a beautiful rectangular, 2-level mahogany TV stand.

After a full day of shopping, where Clinton and I trooped it home on the BUS with 4 bags, stereo, 2 outdoor beach-type chairs and a glass coffee table, we got dressed up and went out for my surprise v-day dinner. We arrived at Le DeBrett Hotel in CBD (City Business District). We walked up to the 2nd floor where there was a beautiful atrium and a private party happening. To the left was the cute restaurant called The Kitchen. Clinton ordered a nice bottle of SOHO wine and about 35 to 40 minutes later we were served savory plates of steak and lamb. The food was delicious and definitely worth the wait. What's cool is that you can see the chefs cooking your meal from where you sit because the kitchen is open-air and situated on the right hand corner of the restaurant. Clinton claims that this is one of the best places he has found to eat in Auckland because they actually season the food.

After dinner, we went to a small dessert place on Vulcan Lane off of Queen street (picture above) and then to Atrium where we met up with Linda (Bronx friend) and her husband and friends. After a few glasses of wine and champagne we danced into Valentine's day.

Wishing all of you love, peace and inspiration! Hugs, Yadi

Out in Auckland with Collegues and Friends

So in the last 2 weeks, We have been up to a few things...

Volleyball @ Mission Bay with IBM Co-workers
Clinton's team decided to do a little team-building exercise two Fridays ago at Mission Bay and generously invited me. I was at home most the morning applying for jobs (this is before I got the Waikato job) and bidding on beds on www.trademe.com (NZ version of craigslist where you can do everything from finding a job or date to buying a car). Clinton and I haven't been camping yet in NZ but we sure was roughing it the first two weeks I got here. We were sleeping on a sturdy camping double air mattress :-). Anyway, I lost track of time and ran to meet Clinton at IBM. We live about 12 minutes away but the sun is unforgiving at 3pm, so by the time I got there I was a sweaty mess...thank god I wasn't going to a formal event.

We got to Mission Bay (about 10 minute drive west from the city center) and played a few matches of volleyball. Sure wish I wasn't wearing jeans but I sucked it up and had a ball! After the match, Clinton attempted to play Rugby but after about 15 minutes he and the team stopped and joined us for beer. I still can't figure out Rugby, but with the NZ team "All Blacks" being one of the best teams in the world...I figure I better learn soon. I read somewhere that the reason why the NZ Rugby team choice "black" as their team color is because there are in mourning for all the teams they've beat. LOL!

After an early afternoon of volley, we got home changed and met our friends Nessa and Rana at Westin Hotel for some champagne and crab-cakes. The Westin here is gorgeous and has incredible views of the viaduct. Its a great place for first dates, romantic dates or a nice afterwork drink. It really has one of the most beautiful lobbies I have seen. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/westin/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3015

After the Westin, we went to another wine bar and then to Pasha for hookah and more champagne. It was a long but fun night :-)

Clinton's Cameo: "Tell Dem Why Ya Mad, Son!" Crossing the Street

Look right when you step off the curb!

I don’t know if it’s a national law but pedestrians do not have the right of way in New Zealand. If you step off the curb and you don’t have the light, you are putting your owe life at risk. It’s true! New Zealand drivers will not slow down; they will not stop at a stop sign and they will gun it once the light changes green, even when they see you in the street.

I grew up in NYC and walking in New York is no picnic. But a New Yorker walks off the sidewalk with a kind of arrogance. If I may quote the famous Cedric the Entertainer, we have a, “I wish a muthafucka would” attitude. But here in Auckland you have to replace that with a “Run for your muthafuckin life” aptitude.

So always remember when you step off the curb in New Zealand look right and run for you muthafuckin life.

Yadi’s 2 cents: Clinton advice to RUN is especially real talk since one can’t sue the driver for hitting you! There is “no fault compensation” which means that injured patients receive government-funded compensation, in turn relinquishing the right to sue for damages arising from personal injury. So you can’t get rich of a car hitting you but you will receive medical services. I have heard that an NZ driver after hitting you will get out the car and say “you alright mate” and then drive away.

Clinton's Cameo: "Tell Dem Why Ya Mad, Son! Price of Chicken

DAMN $15 for a Small Pack Chicken!?!?!

One thing that everyone needs to know about New Zealand is that everything is fresh.. They do not use preservatives, growth hormones and there are no factory farms. Everything here is free ranged or grass fed. Which is great... but the problem is that the prices are through the roof. I’ve paid $15 NZD for a pack of chicken breast and that was the cheapest pack. Most packs were around the $17-$20 range. I can get cheaper breast at Sue’s. In the states I would have spent about $7-$10 USD for a pack of chicken.

Now granted, the chickens in the states are produced through what are called factory farms, meaning they are locked in cages and pumped with growth hormones. They also have their beaks cut off, so that when they go crazy from being confined to a small space they don’t pluck the other chickens in the cage. This factory treatment allows for better control and more output. So, when you increase supply you push down prices... if I remember correctly from my High School AP Economics class.

Apparently, New Zealand farms don’t do that which gives them the right to call their farms organic and charge $15 NZD for a pack of chicken. I’m not trying to enter the discussion of what’s right and humane that’s up to the people that read this blog. I’m just mad that I had to pay $15 NZD for a pack of Chicken.

I’m a black man and I love my chicken.

Disclaimer: These blog entries are used as a release to some of the small annoying things that I’ve experiences when moving to another country. This does not express my overall feeling about New Zealand. I love my new home and I’m having a great time and meeting wonderful people. But damn $15 for a pack of chicken, come-on son, you wild’n.

Power of Introductions and Networking

It has been two weeks since I've arrived in NZ (local pronunciation nz-ed) and I just landed my first job at Waikato University!!! To be completely fair, I've been applying for jobs (non-academic and academic) online for over two months and nothing. Many of the positions asked for NZ experience and/or knowledge of Maori (which I don't quite have but I thought I would volunteer and read up on till I landed something).

In October of 2009, I reached out to a professor at Auckland University who directs the Latin American Major (who knew :-) over email and she was quite excited to hear from me and thought I would be a great addition to the staff. She was on holiday (vacation) and asked me to contact her once I arrived. So excitedly, I did! However, she got back to me stating that she would be on sabbatical in Chile this semester and that I should contact her colleagues or other universities in the meantime. With classes starting on March 1st, I figured it would be to late for an academic position but decided I would email a few scholars of interest and introduce myself...just letting them know that I am around and would be interested in meeting them.

To my surprise, I received a reply from a professor at Auckland University telling me of a position at Waikato. She stated that she had forwarded my CV on to the Chair there and that I should contact her if I was interested. By the time I closed the email, I had an email from the Chair at Waikato describing the position.

The position is a 10 month Teaching Fellowship within the anthropology department. I'll teach a course on Polynesia and another on Religion (challenging but quite exciting). The interview went quite well and I was quite excited to see that they were as excited about me as I was about the job. I was also told that a full-time position was opening up in July and they encouraged me to consider it.

Waikato University is located in Hamilton, New Zealand about an hour and half from Auckland. Sooo since we don't have a car yet, I did some investigative work and found the Inner-city bus service that has buses coming and going from Auckland to Hamilton from 7am to 10pm :-) I heard there is a train as well but I haven't figured that out yet.

Waikato is the third largest city in NZ but it feels much smaller than Auckland. A lot of NZ's dairy comes from Waikato so there are LOTS of cows there. The university is one of the oldest of the "newest" universities and has a sizable Maori population. I enjoyed walking around the campus and seeing the students trickling in and out of the registration buildings. After my interview, I had "tea" which is actually coffee with two of the four anthropologist in the department (it's small). They were quite fun to talk to and shared a few warnings/advice:

#1 I was warned that the students aren't as "outspoken" and "articulate" as US students (LOL) and that I shouldn't take the lack of discussion personal.

#2 I was told that Rastafarian-ism is pretty popular among the east Coast students (which I quickly thought, "there's students from NY and NJ here"...but then learned that the East Coast refers to the areas where many of the Maori live).

#3 Because of all this television and technology (Facebook and the like), students have a short attention span and thus expect commercial breaks after 10 minutes, so thats when you through in a joke or two.

I had a really great experience and I am quite excited to get the offer. I officially start this Thursday (which is tomorrow for me) but classes ( they call the "papers" here) don't start till the first week of March. I'm on a mission to get these two syllabi together by next week...I'll take recommendations!

Cheers, Yadi

Clinton's Cameo: "Tell dem Why ya Mad, Son!"

I thought it would be great to get Clinton's views of NZ...so here's the first of Clinton's Cameo Blogs!

Internet Access

How the hell am I suppose to know how much internet I use. For those in the states and other developed parts of the world, in New Zealand you are charged for internet based on the amount of gigabytes that you use. For example Vodafone (one of the two) telecom monopolies in New Zealand) offer packages of 1GB for $50 NZD or 5GB for $80 NZD or $20 GB for 100 NZD. If you find that you chosen a plan that doesn’t fit your usage you have the option of doubling the GB for $5, $10, $20 respectively depending on the plan that you choose. Additionally this is not I repeat "High Speed" internet service. It is DSL. For those that don’t know or are to young to know DSL is just a faster dial-up. I wish I could offer more of a techie response but I can’t. So my days of downloading 20 songs at once with each song taking about 10 seconds to download is OVER.

PS. I won’t even get into the process of actually getting the service. Stone Age

PSS. But to give one to New Zealand, this country is so beautiful you shouldn’t be in the house watching TV or playing on the internet. You should be out enjoying life!

First week in Auckland

It has been a week and half since I first arrived to Auckland, NZ from New York City and I wanted to make sure that I recorded/shared my initial experiences and thoughts so I started this blog. It's my first blog so I hope to get better at blogging as time passes. So here are some initial experiences/ thoughts that I want to share (I'll try to keep it chronological order but can't promise) I arrived to Auckland airport at 5am on February 3rd, 2010 after a 12-hour direct flight from San Francisco. I flew Air New Zealand and it was a very pleasant experience--courteous flight attendants, lots of things to watch on my personal tv, yummy food and a great selection of New Zealand wines and champagnes (even for breakfast). I am sure that the two glasses of NZ Sauvignon Blanc helped knock me out for about 7 hours. It was exceptionally easy to navigate the airport and get through customs. I exited the terminal and was pleasantly surprised to feel the warmth in the air, even before sunrise. I jumped in a cab with a friendly South East Indian driver who had moved from Delhi about 7 years ago to work and raise a family. I climbed into the back seat and he jumped into the front-right side of the car..."the driver seat." This driving on the other side of the road still confuses me, even though I lived in Japan where they also drive on the right-side. I will definitely have to get over it since it seems like I will need to get behind a wheel pretty soon--I plan to go slow and steady...I am sure that my driving experience will be another blog topic soon. Our Apartment: Clinton did all the leg work finding our great two bedroom apartment. It is located in St. Mary's Bay, across the street from Victoria Park, the Harbor and Ponsonby ( a chic strip of restaurants, boutiques and bars). The apartment is a pretty typical higher end modern apartment with clean lines and lots of sun light. We have a front and back patio which I hope to put to use. The apartment is unfurnished so Clinton and I have been doing a lot of shopping around and finally bought a few essentials--Bed (coming soon...till then a very romantic double air mattress), Flat screen 32' TV (which Clinton strong-armed and carried from the store to the house about a mile away), stereo ( I am currently listening to FM 96.10 which is playing P Diddy's Mo Money, Mo Problems...lol) and some kitchen stuff. We have couches and stuff coming by freight in about 8 to 10 weeks, hopefully. The apartment is in a cute complex, most of our neighbors are pretty quiet and stick to themselves. There is a gym (think... 2 treadmills, 2 bikes and weights) with a lap pool, hot tub and sauna...I've put them to use already. New Zealanders work out quite a lot, mostly doing outside stuff, but I needed to hit the gym first before I can be a contender for the outdoor events. Overall, I really like my place. I can't wait to get it all situated. Social Events: I have been pleasantly surprised with all there is to do here in Auckland. There are lots of great restaurants and bars and lots of events going on daily (especially weekends). Afterwork lots of folk head to the Viaduct for beers, wine and breathtaking views of the sailboats. Clinton and I have met friends there for lunch and for drinks at night...a popular spot we go to already is Pasha for champagne and Hookah. Hard liquor drinks are pretty weak here so I have turned to wine and beer...at least for now :0) Another spot that's pretty cool is Ponsonby Road. The 2nd day I arrived, I went for a walk along Ponsonby and happened to walk into this cute boutique called "Apartment 86." I saw this tall pretty black women behind the desk and decided to check out the clothes. Well, to my absolute surprise, the women is Black American and was born and raised in the Bronx!!!! She moved to Auckland about 4 and half years ago with her now-husband. She met her Kiwi-husband in NYC on 86th street hence the name of her boutique. They moved over here and then got married and she plans to become a resident of NZ. We were both so pleasantly surprised to find each other. Clinton and I have already had drinks with her and then went dancing with her and her husband this past weekend. I love events like this. Since its summertime here, there are lots of free summer festivals. The first weekend I arrived, Clinton and I went to Waitangi Festival at Okahu Bay which commemorates the Treaty that made New Zealand a part of the British Empire and it was "suppose to" guaranteed Maori rights to their land and gave Māori the rights of British subjects. However, the treaty is debated and is still a point of contention. The festival was quite interesting, there were lots of people, especially Maori flying the Maori Independence Flag and or wearing Bob Marley Para (I think it was Marley's Bday, too). There was several bands playing and food stand selling everything from traditional Maori foods (Hangi) to watermelon ice-cream sundays. It was a great day and we took the opportunity to walk to Mission Bay, the closest beach to Auckland City. The beach reminded me of South Beach with its clean white beaches lined with restaurants and bars. We happened to return to Mission Bay this past Friday with Clinton's IBM Colleagues and played Beach Volley Ball. So overall, NZ has been really easy to settle into. I look forward to making this home for a while.