Sunday Afternoon

Good afternoon,

Well, it is a typical Sunday afternoon here in Hastings. It looked sunny and gorgeous this morning, and we are already covered in clouds by the afternoon. I am hoping it will clear up more later. 

This weekend has been quite crazy, and exciting. It has been a holiday weekend, so we all have had Friday and Monday off. Therefore, everyone in the hostel has been here together in the same place at the same time. Also, because the weather has not been great we have kind of been stuck inside. So there has been a lot of talking, cooking, game playing, competitions of who can build the tallest towers, movies, and overall hanging out together. 

Agustin, who is from Argentina, has already been in NZ about 5 months, and plans to be here another 8 months or so. He is really good at speaking English, but wants to improve more. So, we have made a deal that he learns 5 new English words a day, and I learn 5 new Spanish words a day. It is easier for me to learn 5 new Spanish words, and then answer 5 questions about English for him because he already knows a lot of words. 

Anyway, yesterday we began our list. Somehow this began attracting people to watch, and by the end we had a crowd. 

I APOLOGIZE FOR THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION!!! (but it’s part of the story......

This Spanish-English list began with words like “pot,” “pan,” “peanut butter,” “actually,” and some others...and a few hours later we had a list of how to say “Shit” and “F*** You” in

English

German

Chinese 

Mandarin

Portuguese 

Spanish    (Spain & Argentina) 

French      and

Korean

I am the youngest person here at the hostel. So, I guess it shows even amongst adults there still lies many levels of immaturity. However, I have to admit, by the end it was pretty hilarious. We learned bad words in every language, along with the words, “Don’t go.” So if someone was about to leave the room, you could yell, “Don’t Go! Son of a bitch!! in whatever language that person spoke. And considering there are so many languages, people were cursing in Chinese to people who speak Spanish, or cursing in French to people speak German. It was pretty ridiculous. However, after a few days of rainy weather I guess it gave us some entertainment. 

I apologize for taking this even further, but the all time favorite of the evening was the “F*** You” translation from Spanish. It was the longest one, which literally translated to something like, “I am going to put my finger in the ass.” I don’t know why it was so funny. That was one of the winners I believe. 

Well, now that that is over I can end this blog post with something a little less extreme. The other day on the orchard I told Jacob I loved to try new drinks (not meaning alcohol), and that I could “drink till the cows come home.” Apparently they do not use that expression in Hong Kong, and after I explained it, he thought it was the most hilarious thing ever. Now he uses it ALL the time, and it cracks me up. However, the best part is that he’ll say something like, “I can eat kiwi till the cows come home.” Then after he has finished his kiwi, he looks at me and says, “The cows are home.” He also LOVES the show “Friends.” He once told me he could talk about “Friends” till the cows come home, and that there are A LOT of cows. We talked about the TV show and the characters for a while, and when the conversation started to wind down, he says, “Rala, the cows are coming home.” It is just so hilarious I can’t even describe it.

On a separate note, Jacob asked me once on the orchard if my parents or friends had nicknames for me. I explained the story of how I used to call myself “Giga Rala” and how Mom still calls me “Rala.” Jacob has now decided my name is RALA full time. Imagine him saying it in his Chinese accent too. It is pretty great! 

Jacob also went through with it, and got his tattoo. I will post pictures later. I will also post pictures from last night. We went out to a pub to play pool. It was so funny because the drinking age here is 18, and we all had to show ID before entering. We had a line of 10 people or so who’s ID’s were passports from all over the world. It was pretty cool. 

That’s all for now....

Oh, All Blacks v France final tonight. YIKES!