What a Day!!!

Let's play a game friends...who had the most random day? Ready, I'll go first.

It all started yesterday when I took the Naked Bus (yes, that's seriously the name of it) from Auckland to Turangi. Those of you who know me know that I now prefer couchsurfing and therefore ended up staying at a fellow couchsurfers place here in Turangi. So, we're sitting there talking and I'm reminded of my grandparents' house...these people are in their 70's after all. (yes, people even in their 70's participate in couchsurfing) So last night, we're having a wonderful dinner and then we start talking and all of a sudden out of left field this old guy tells me he's done astro-travel, which is basically an out-of-body experience where his mind travels to somewhere else but his body stays in the same location. And I'm sitting there nodding my head thinking to myself, "This is the most whacked out stuff I think I've ever heard in my life!" They're still wonderful hosts but that part was weird I must admit.

Then today, I decide to hitch to a mountain called Whakapapa (which is pronounced the f-bomb, followed by 'apapa', not even lying here.) Because really, how many people can say they've been snowboarding in July? So I walk for about an hour until I get a hitch and have a lovely conversation with the people and a free ride to my destination, sweet! I've never hitched before, so I was a little nervous I must admit but it turned out to be awesome! Then I arrive at Whakapapa (this would probably be funnier if you knew how to pronounce it, look back up and say it correctly...do it) only to find that the upper half of the mountain is closed due to weather conditions but the bottom half is open (apparently the weather didn't travel all the way down the mountain?) Had a blast snowboarding, except the fact that I couldn't see more than 2 feet in front of me and was never really sure if I was going over a cliff or not (quite the adrenaline rush in one sense) Then, it starts raining, which doesn't exactly help you while snowboarding. And then, somehow, it starts raining in my goggles (I'm guessing this is due to the fact that I requested the cheapest pair :) So I decide to call it a day for snowboarding and hitch my way back to the couchsurfer who I'm staying with. Have another fabulous hitch with an Irish couple and get back home.

Then, I put my pants in the dryer while walking around in my long underwear! Not only that, but I'm used to dryer's that dry...but apparently this one doesn't really, because I seriously had only my pants (and not jeans but more dress pants mind you) in there for an hour and it hadn't hardly done anything! So, I get the brilliant idea to just put them on (commando, by the way, this will make sense in a minute) and sit in front of a fire to help dry them out. All is well, first dried my backside and then try and dry my frontside. Well, I hardly wear these dress pants and had forgotten that they have buttons on the front pocket on the inside. (remember here that I'm commando) After quickly realizing that something is burning in my pants on my thigh and wanting to scream my head off but just biting my tongue so I don't draw attention to myself, I shift my pants so it's no longer burning. And of course, the buttons then proceed to burn me in another area which probably isn't appropriate to write on a blog such as this one. Let's just say that I never even thought of someone getting burned there but was quick to realize that it is a most unfortunate area to get burned on, if you catch my drift.

At this point, my pants are finally dried (and I can breathe again) so I decide to finally take a shower since I had dry pants to change into. Still had a little burning sensation, mind you, on my thigh as well as the other area but didn't think too much about it. Until the hot water hit the burn spots. Holy cow...OWWWWW!!! I don't know if I've ever taken a shower with my back to the showerhead but I certainly did tonight. And I quickly think about how I should go about asking for ointment for a small burn from my couchsurfing hosts who I really don't know that well. Well, I still haven't figured that out but I think desperation is going to lead me to ask for that pretty soon.

Hope you have enjoyed this adventurous story as much as I enjoyed living it today. And to think, in a few short weeks I'll be in front of a class of 10 and 11 year-olds teaching them about math as well as responsibility and making 'smart' decisions...brilliant, isn't it?!