...it's been a while

Hello All!

So I understand it's been a while and I know how much you guys have missed me...but ALOT has happened since my last post (clearly cause its been well over a year!!!). Obviously I'm not gonna go over the entire list but here's a summary: I was supposed to go to Australia, but my fellow Indian peeps were being attacked so I cancelled. I quit my job at the lawfirm after 3 years...because I'M HERE IN NEW ZEALAND!!!. And the most recent news...I'm an uncle!!!. Yes, my cousin Bina gave birth to a girl just yesterday...probably the most exciting thing since New Years (no details given...only in person) However, I am extremely pissed off I'm here in Auckland, and not there to see the munchkin. Before I left in mid-February, My Boston Family gave me the best gift ever, along with a couple gifts from my mom...something I keep posted right in front of me, pinned to the board on my desk:

So obviously the religious things have to do with my mom, it's what mom's do you know...sneak in some paintings and some statues of Ganesha while your packing your other bags. Gotta love 'em!

So..I'll start on day one of leaving Boston, and quickly work my way up to right now, hopefully it won't take too long. So February 12th, a major snow storm hit Boston (NOT!!!) and my flight was cancelled from Boston to LA on the 13th, which in turn would make me miss my flight from LA to Auckland, which in turn would make me miss the bus to my 4 day Culture and Adventure program in Rotorua (New Zealand's Vegas...without the casinos and other perks :-) So after many calls to the organization that I used to get here and calls to STA...I was only given the option to head to the airport and beg to get on a plane, or else I miss my flight to Auckland, and well STA can't do shit about that. Some help! I was furious about that and I intend to give them hell...but in time. So my parents rushed to Boston...helped me finish packing quickly and rushed to the airport to basically go around every terminal, every airline, and every stand, and ask for any flight out of Boston. After a few hours of running around with my two huge bags and my carry-on, and constantly on the phone with my brother who was at work looking for tickets, I finally get a flight out. My uncle and aunt who live really close to the airport came by to say goodbye. My brother joined right after work as well. When it was boarding time I bid my familia farewell, and off I went into the security check....only to be searched about 4 times before I could put my shoes back on (damn racist security guards). My flight was from Boston to San Francisco, and SF to LA, the next day. After staying at a hotel in SF, I make it to LAX and meet up with another cousin in LA and have lunch with him and he drops me back off at the airport, where I meet up with an entire bunch of other students who are also in the same program as I am. I finally make it through security, and head over to the gates and talk to a few peeps, make some friends, and then I'm on the plane. It still hasn't hit me yet that I'm basically on my own, leaving my entire Boston family and my related family behind to live across the globe for almost half a year.

We land in Auckland after a LONG freakin flight, and we take the bus to Auckland city, to stay at some Hostel for one night, to get a feel of the city (yea right!). Hostel sucked, because 8 guys were crammed into one small room with 4 bunk beds, along with ALL of our belongings. Next day we head to Rotorua-Vegas for our culture program...I am pretty excited at this point because I don't exactly know what to expect. We make it there, and to summarize the entire 4 days, I learned the Haka, I volunteered at the Rotorua Boy's High School to help some kids read, I went cave zip lining, and I came back to Auckland, only to finally get settled in.

I spend some time unpacking and give a call to Nash. Now prior to leaving, a relative of mine from Auckland had come to Boston to do her Masters degree. She became part of our Boston Family for a little while, before she got a job in New York and moved there. She introduced me to a couple of her friends, one of them being Nash (or Naresh). We talked online for a few weeks and exchanged number once I got one here. He picked me up the day I got back to Auckland and took me to a field-hockey game. It was a friendly match between other people, but his group of friends were a team and he wanted to introduce me to them. I met some really nice people, Dips (Dipak), Rashmi and Darsun (engaged), Age (Ajay), Joyti (Dips' 1 out of 4 sisters), Sacks (Sachin), Aneela, Nila, Suresh (Nila's bro) Raj, Mamta (Doctor), Dhilu (Dhiru), Anila, Anal (Aneil), and Manny (Manish). All of them are fun, each with a different personality, and a great sense of humor. That's the thing about people around here...people can take a joke and can have a great time just laughing about it, even if it is about them. "Takin the piss"...is what they call it. OH!...dinner was at Nando's that night...effin great!!!

Classes didn't start until beginning of March, but orientation was the week before (international orientation). So I just went to the first day, nothing special just an introduction saying thanks for coming, thanks for the money, go to the information center for help, PEACE!

During that week Nash called me up a couple times and just hung out..driving around town seeing the sights. He introduced me to L&P and Butter Chicken pies...both which I will miss dearly once I leave, but let's not talk about leaving, I just got here. Thursday after another hockey match...same people, still a great time. Saturday was Darsun's 25th surprise party, a D or N party, where you had to dress up as something that begins with D or N. I went as Dracula, Anal went as Dracula too, and we had a bunch of Doctors, dorks, nurses, ninjas, and a deck of cards lol. I met a few new people there...Darsun was genuinely surprised, so thats a success and the party went until 4:30 in the morning. Next day, we head to New Zealand's most famous Winery for lunch...classy!

I still did not have internet even though I paid for it and was informed by the company that I had connection last thursday. So I called them up and demanded they turn my connection on or come by and fix it or just give me the money back. Finally got connected after two weeks of waiting, and skyped as many people as I could. Prior to internet I had the data plan on my phone so facebook on there was a pain as well as uploading some pics here and there. I called my parents for only $2.00 NZ for up to an hour, which is a preatty damn good deal. But better than that is free calls...which Skype has offered so I stick with Skype naturally.

Classes started monday...I had no idea where my classes were so I woke up early and figured out where everything was and went to my first classes for the week. It was that bad...just never seen so many kids in one lecture hall. Overall...the first week of classes were good, but i have to admit it was a crap load of work for doing my electives. Papers, tutorials, workshops, lecturs, etc. For the first time in my college life, I have classes literally every day of the week. The way I look at it...the tutorials are meant to questions which anyone has during lecture. But all the lecture slides and notes are placed on CECIL (which is basically the BlackBoard for University of Auckland). So I read the textbooks, read the slides, and go to the tutorials, I should be OK if I miss a couple lectures here and there. Besides, these are all freshman courses, how hard can it be?

Well you're basically caught up in my adventures, I will update sooner or later...there's always something new going on here. Bed time for me know...early morning gym session for me.