Left: The King, who graces the living room at our hostel, likes Borders Beyond, too!
Today is Tuesday, September 22nd. Over the past few days, we’ve been adjusting to hostel life in leaps and bounds. For starters, at Borders Beyond fifty cents buys you six minutes of hot water in the shower. You can’t put in more than fifty cents at once, so showering necessitates strategy. The drill is as follows: drop coins in dispenser (located outside shower room), dash inside, disrobe with haste, hurl yourself into the shower, shampoo, condition, and soap with the speed of light.
As everyone in the hostel is living on a tight budget, cooking our own meals is a must. Six o’clock brings whiffs of garlic, curry spices, and other mysterious and delicious home-cooked delights. Six o’clock also brings tussles for coveted clean cooking utensils, pots, and pans. Unknowledgeable newcomers, we were left with the most rickety pans and crusty spatulas. Despite this obstacle, we managed to salvage a four-egg cheddar and tomato omelet, sloppily spooned onto two plastic plates. (see footnote 1)
Dinner is full of international flavor. So far, conversations at meals have involved a Frenchman, a music producer from Fiji (check out www.myspace.com/steviejheatley) a Latvian, a Brazilian, a German, a pair of Swedish brothers (footnote 2), and two Americans (3.) Always open to new ideas, we have seized these meals as opportunities to collect recipes from our newfound friends. Look out for upcoming blog feature, “Cooking Beyond Borders.”
Having thoroughly discussed recipes, talk turns to New Zealand. There’s nothing like hearing someone rave about his or her love of a place to get you psyched about going there. Just a few days into our stay in Auckland, we’ve joined that merry band of people enamored by Kiwis and their country.
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1 Forgive us this obnoxious description; we just really like alliteration.
2 Whom we had previously labeled Germans. Not all leggy blondes are German.
3 As fate would have it, two friends who are WWOOFing for seven months in New Zealand. Sound familiar?
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