Paris and THE ALL BLACKS!!!

its monday afternoon here 5pm and already dark outside, oh how i wish i could still see the sun! i got back at 3am this morning from Paris after a tricky journey home from Paris. 24 of us went on a coach tour leaving on Sat morning at 6am, they like early starts around here! its a 2 hour drive to Dover where we take the ferry to Calais in France and altho it seemed wrong, we started our first drinks about 9am. the coach trip went quite fast and we were glad to arrive at our hotel about 5pm in the afternoon in time for a quick nap before the 9pm game. was very awesome being in a European city surrounded by very proud Kiwi's. I think I've mentioned before how I love telling people where I'm from and educating them about our country. we got to the game at Stade de France with over an hour to spare to made the most of it by having a few beers. eventually found block L where we were sitting (yes the stadium has blocks of A thru to Z, its massive!) and joined the other 80,000 fans - WHAT A SCENE!! loved walking into this massive stadium where the supporters were easily half Kiwi's, my new flatmate even happened to be sitting about 8 rows in front of me! great game, not as a convincing win as last weekends game, but still a win, looking great for the world cup next year! our hotel was quite a way our from the city so we were quite happy for an earlyish nite after the game.

next day we had breakfast at the hotel before driving to the Eiffel Tower and walking around for an hour and a half. we walked up to some big old building (then again, thats like every building I've seen over here!) and to the Arc d'Triomphe, that famous massive roundabout where they finish the Tour de France. we had to be back at the bus at 12.30 to leave so hurried back........
only to find the bus had broken down! the engine wasnt turning over at all, 3.5 hours later, we were finally on the road again! it did mean we had time to walk around more and see more of Paris which was brilliant. been there twice now and can quite easily go back! finally got on the road and made it back to the ferry. before we left the docks, the captain said the seas were quite rough so it would be a rocky trip, but we were busy playing games so didnt notice too much. and just when we thought we'd be nearly on land again, the captain told us another ship needed tugboat assistance and we'd be out on the water for at least another hour - it was about midnite by this time. not much you can really do so we just kept entertaining ourselves.

finally left the boat, changed to a new coach which was waiting for us and got back to London at 3am, up at 7.45 for work! not sure how I'm still awake but I made it through work.

even though I'm loving the travelling, I'm really looking forward to this weekend at home in London for a change.... and a sleep in!

the weekend after that I'm off to the British WRC rally with Josh, Craig, Katie, Michelle and Lawrence - bring it on!! and I thought I'd have a quiet life over here, hehe.

Moving flats and going to BERLIN!!

our 6 month lease was up on our flat so Helen, Brad and I decided we'd move out. Brad already had a room sorted but Helen and I took a few weeks to find out rooms and all 3 of us now live apart, its very strange not living with them anymore! I found flat in a suburb called Swiss Cottage and have moved in with 3 kiwi boys from the Kapiti Coast. I havent spent much time at home yet but they seem alrite so far! turns out they know my friend Nick over here as well, typical small world!! my friend Leigh has a car and was generous enough to help Helen and I move all our gear (she is now in Fulham for those of you that know London, living with 3 aussie girls) to our 2 new places. was much easier that trying to take buses and the underground tube! as well as packing our rooms, we had to clean the flat as well, in order to get our bond back (6 weeks rent) so we spent a lot of time cleaning! we finally moved out on a thursday nite before going to Berlin at 6.20am on the friday morning.

Berlin in Germany is a great city to visit, highly recommend it! we were there until Sunday morning and I'm very keen to go back for at least another 3 days. one thing tho, it was extremely cold! gloves, woollen hats, scarfs and lots of jumpers and jackets were much appreciated! we did a bus tour around the city one day and the next day, made our own way around visiting the sights we wanted to have a closer look at. we visited part of the Berlin wall (the rest of course, has been knocked down), a museum called Charlie's checkpoint, a massive tour which we climbed up the stairwell of, visited a church which was half ruined by bombing in World War II, and found a cocktail bar that nite selling cocktails for 4 euro each (very cheap compared to London prices!!). Helen enjoyed the nite the most I think, it seemed like she was 2 drinks ahead of us!

Another new job!

in between finding a flat and moving out of my old one (which I really miss!) i also started a new job. its with the same company as I was at before (Trafigura) as a finance assistant but I'm now working in the Swaps team, a 'proper' finance role at last! I work with 6 others checking documentation for the sale of oil, which of course is a massive industry. I'm not entirely sure how I got the job but I've obviously talked to the right people. I was at work one Thursday and asked if I would consider the role by my boss, spoke to my would-be manager not long after that and by the end of the day, I had the job and started the next day, woah!! Barely had time to blink! I was working in the Credit team, I was sitting with the Treasury team and now working in the Swaps team, so already know quite a few people! The other great thing about the job is they say they're going to sponsor me when my work visa runs out next May. I havent had much time to let that sink in but that mean I'll be over here for longer than I thought I would be, altho who knows what's around the corner.

it also means that for those of you thinking you 'might' come visit, you might wana make it a definate thing! the rugby world cup is on in France next year, and the America's Cup is in Spain, great reasons to be a Kiwi travelling over her then, and it will be summer time!! :)