my new job

so blog fans (mom. aunt les. you know who you are...), i'm finally going to write about this awesome new job i've started over here in Kiwi land.

well the thing is, I can't say too much because of the secrecy clause in our contracts (this is the big-time guys)....but i am painting scenery for a the new hollywood-funded movie that they're filming here in the "Peter Jackson studios" out in Miramar (a suburb of Wellington). I'm basically bouncing off the walls. Not only am I doing EXACTLY what i came here to do (even working with the people I've been reading about for the last few years)...but I waltzed myself right into this film industry in just 2 months!! I had a lot great contacts along the way too. The film is called Kingdom Come and it the story of Christ's life from the beginning of time up to the crucifixion and resurrection. A lot of the big people working on this film designed and worked on the Narnia movies as well. I'm way excited.

So I have a one year contract and the filming will start sometime around february, and i'm thrilled to see that process of course!

Another "perk" of my cool new job: because of the distance to the studios, i've been taking the bus every morning and evening, which makes the journey even longer.......SO: I'm getting a scooter!!! manuel and i shopped around this past weekend and i found my dream scooter. it's got a classic body style like a vespa, but it's a german brand called Sachs. i've got to go to driving school to get my scooter license (and it wouldn't hurt for me to practice driving on the left side of the road either....). so hopefully i'll get that taken care of next weekend and i'll be posting pictures of my scooter (which i've decided to name sasha) very soon!!!

that's all the big news around here. but i'll keep everyone posted...

rain rain go away

well manuel is doing a much better job at updating his blog than i am...and i would just refer everyone over to it to read about the what's going on...but, well, it's in german.

Not a whole lot new going on. At the moment I am working on restoring a stock scenic unit for the Opera House here in wellington. It's not exactly a dream job, but at least i'm painting!! and i have a few other applications out there, so hopefully i'll hear something back soon.

It's unfortunately been rainy and cold here for ages...and i could not be more ready for spring and summer to get here! it's going to be really bizarre to have Christmas during the summer though...
due to the bad weather, the ship carrying all of our stuff from home was not able to come into port last week and had to skip new zealand and go on to australia! (with all my dishes!!)....so now we're looking at august 12 before we have anything. bummer.

here are a few pictures i've been meaning to upload..


This is the drop for the Iolanthe set for the Opera House that I am restoring...you can sort of see the cracking in the paint.
This is where Manuel works :) his office is on the second floor.
The one nice thing about all this rain all the time... this is a view from our balcony.

i should also mention...

so now i'm in "blog-update" mode.....

a few things have changed since i last posted: Manuel has a job! He's working as an "integration consultant" at a software firm here in the city. It's right at the harbour and only about a 10 minute walk from home (or 5 if he runs :) ).....It's a fairly small company and they are very new, but Manuel has already signed us both up to play on the company indoor soccer team...so I've had the opportunity to meet his boss and colleagues and they are very cool. and I get a team jersey! rock on! In honour of his new 'grown-up" job, we spent our saturday yesterday shopping for business attire. he sure cleans up nicely! (i'll try to get some pictures if he'll agree to a fashion show...)

and in news for me: I met with some guys at a design company out in Miramar (wellington suburb..home of Peter Jackson..) last week who are in the process of carving a giant styrofoam tree that will then be coated in fiberglass and installed as a children's interactive exhibit in a museum here....anyways, they've asked me to come and do the painting workup! so that will be a really cool project and hopefully a really great contact in the industry for me! and plus, unlike the theatre work that i paint and is destroyed as soon as the show closes, this will be around for years! cool!....so i'll update about this again later :)

Here is the view of our little love nest if you were sitting on top of our microwave :) and you can see a glimpse of the view of the city outside our door...
So here is a picture of our flat in wellington...with manuel pretending to cook! as you can see it's fairly cozy in size, but we do have a spare bedroom...so friends are welcome!!

our new digs...

clearly i am not very good at updating this blog.... well the truth is, we just finally got our internet hooked up, and manuel and i have to take turns using it, and i haven't had a long enough "turn" to update until now.

We've moved into our new flat, right in the city. looking out the windows in the living room you can see the Wellington harbour, which you just can't beat on a good day:) Yesterday manuel and i carried TWO sofas up our 300 stairs to the apartment, and today all of my muscles hurt! but at least we have a sofa in the living room:) we're slowly settling in, and still waiting for my shipment of boxes from home with all my house stuff....so at the moment we have exactly 2 plates, 2 bowls and 2 cups...so we can't very well invite someone over for dinner! But we managed to meet some really nice people here who have generously lent us some essentials to get by until our ship comes in. haha.

we haven't started working yet, (so pray we'll get jobs soon).....but i've just received a very encouraging email from my friend at Weta...so hopefully i'll have good news soon.

and as soon as i figure out how to post pictures, i'll get some up :)

that's it for now...my "turn" is up

almost on our way....

I cannot believe that we leave tomorrow! so my blog site is still really under construction... i'll try to get some pictures up from the German wedding for those interested... but i have REALLY good intentions of blogging our experience of journeying to new zealand and finding jobs and a place to live etc, etc....

stay tuned for way cooler posts and a better site layout.....