Living Life like a Video

And so Stephanie would soon find out.....
"You ready B?" "Let's go get em. Let's lock this down like its

supposed to be, the '10 Bonnie and Clyde(y), Phannie and Bee"

Enjoying the O-Wow views of Fiordland

The magic of Milford Sound
Just one third of the wildlife trifecta of Milford Sound
Oh NZed, you continue to slay me
Ski school in session at the Remarks

Dancing and singing - check and check. Doing it well - check

Just one of the many awesome meals we enjoyed

Wine tasting in Hawke's Bay

Sheep staring while we frolic around them
Just another waterfall on Milford Sound

Lake Tekapo and quickie tramping

Our favorite fireplace at Barmuda in Queenstown

So many vines

That about sums up our two weeks

Editorial note: Sorry for the delay in posting, but Stephanie kept hogging my computer to write her own blog about our travels. (And doing an awesome job at it) I will not try to summarize our trip, but rather focus on what Stephanie added to my New Zealand experience, because after all this is my blog.

You avid readers may remember awhile back when I traveled for two weeks up in Northland that Stephanie promised that on her visit that I could be the Jay-Z to her Beyonce, or that she would be the Beyonce to my Jay- Z. Well she delivered, and in more ways than I could have imagined.

To start off, I have frequently discussed starting an import business and with visitors am sort of running a mini-one of my own (business idea! begun, more on this later). My most recent import through mule Stephanie included - more Schultz (I wonder if they even know they've gone international), Emergen-C (keeping NZed healthy), running shoes (Zappos, if you could offer free shipping internationally you would be hands down the best company out there), a few Food Network magazines (although this is somewhat of a tease since I can't get all the ingredients here and the recipes are for summertime), and most importantly her sense of humor and a bit of patience for the fact that its winter.

Here's a bit of what Stephanie delivered that was more than I could have ever asked for and a few themes of our travels:

-Someone to talk to (and talk to and talk to): Spending most of my time alone in NZed, I tend to get caught up in my head on a lot of things, or think that I'm more funny than I am, or have anxiety about things that are no big deal. Having company for two straight weeks, may sound like a lot of talking, but I relished it and made sure to air all my caught up ponderings - WARNING, when (if) you come to NZed be prepared to discuss commodity trading and all your favorite things in the same trip, even if you bring 10 cds of music with you to drown me out.

-MUSIC!, Stephanie should not get all the credit for this, since it was the love of many of our mutual and some of her friends that generously made cds to accompany us along our journeys. I'm now the proud owner of all this FREE music, and it reminds me not only of our fun travels, but of all of you (even creepily those of you who are Stephanie's friends/coworkers that I've never met).

-Wine tasting - I had done a few wineries with Bob when he visited, and had been to an NZ wine tasting in DC before I left, so I knew there was much more of NZ wine country to be visited. Thankfully Stephanie provided a willing partner and kept me from having to drink alone, especially since we hit an impressive 21 wineries in 12 days and tasted over 100 wines. I've never known a lot about wine, except that I like it. Now we can both tell you where the only Gamay is produced, the difference between shiraz and syrah, that Rose is really underappreciated, and how Cab Franc is great outside of Northern Virginia. We also mutually agreed that there's something thats just so luxurious about wine tasting. I think there are about 170 wineries in total in NZed, so I'll need some more visitors to take them all down. I think Stephanie could be convinced to come back for this perhaps??

-The lean back - Has officially been broughten to New Zealand, and I will tell you that NZeders (and I) are much better for it. Going out and dancing alone hasn't really been my style, so having my co-dance conspirator (I mean we did meet in a hip hop dance class afterall) over here really opened up this opportunity for me. Stephanie also packed the Singles Ladies dance in her bag, and we unpacked them both on the dance floor to unending applause (even if it was our own). Coupled with the lean back, Stephanie also brought her fervor for dance parties and I realized how much of a void there has been without them. At the end of one superb evening, where we relaxed by an open fire in Queenstown and discussed our futures, we got up to head home and on the way out we asked someone, "Do you know a good place to have a mini-dance party on the way home?" They looked at us in somewhat confusion. You know just a quick wiggle to really seal the end on the evening, nothing too intense. Well no worries, we could find one on our own

-Skiing in the Southern Hemisphere - Hadn't done it ever, and hadn't skiied in NZed yet and winter is waning. Luckily, Stephanie packed her Fear Factoring in her bag and decided she would undertake skiing for the first time and put herself in my hands for teaching. I should mention I've also never taught anyone to ski and of my family I am probably the worst, but you know I love being bossy so I felt I could step up to the task. Stephanie was an excellent student bringing some obvious natural ability, and got bonus points for saying I was "so patient". Patience was a New Years resolution of mine, so thanks for bringing that over as well, Steez.

-Milford Sound - its claimed to be the 8th wonder of the world, or at least superlative loving NZed claims that it is, and I hadn't been yet and was starting to get antsy. One of the things thats touted as so great about Milford, is the chance of seeing wild marine mammals, but its rare. Luckily, Stephanie's Mom is a Minister and she packed her heaven points, and we got the wildlife trifecta - seals, dolphins, and penguins. Throw in a few waterfalls, beautiful sheer cliffs into a fiord, and I might agree that it is the 8th wonder of the world - after I see the other 7. The one downfall was I wanted to stand on the front of the boat a la Titantic, and preacher Stephanie wouldn't let me cause she was scared I'd go over. I will be redoing that next time I go back.

-Sheep frolicking - seriously I've lived here 7 months now and had not had a good sheep frolic yet. Sheep frolicking alone could get weird, and that would take some self-photography that I haven't quite managed yet. There are reportedly over 40 million sheep in New Zealand, but the problem is they keep them penned up, so its hard to get a good frolic in without risking being shot or cutting yourself on barbed wire. While we still did not find any free roaming sheep, we did get a few good frolics in while 1000 sheep just stared us down. Apparently they need more introducing to the frolic. Maybe this is another business idea - like kobe beef are fed sake and given hugs, I bet sheep who are frolic with would taste better.

-Good food - it should be said that I have been less than impressed with New Zealand's restaurants prior to Stephanie's visit. It should also be said that I gave up my vegetarianism when I moved to New Zealand, in the name of cultural exchange. So if you're mad at me, the State Department made me do it, take it up with them. Given our trip to Italy last year of degustation delights, I forewarned Stephanie that you don't come to NZed to eat (you come to frolic, see rainbows, waterfalls, hobbits, and the like). When we were planning this trip (yes with spreadsheets), Stephanie put herself in charge of finding us restaurants that I could still afford on my student budget. And while I won't give her all the credit for finding them (or recommending some that were a no-go like Lonestar), since many of them we somewhat happened upon. I will give Stephanie full credit for bringing the knowledge that you can eat well and affordably at restaurants in NZed to me. What I brought to her - teaching her to share. Some of the things we shared over the two weeks - gnocchi, lamb shanks, oxtail, salmon, sushi, scallops, foie gras, warm cabbage slaw, and the list goes on......this gift of knowledge will have to be tucked away for the next visitor since I don't think its sustainable for my thighs.

You may remember with Bob's visit that there were a few things that I thought I might need to improve on in hosting visitors; so here's a few things I failed on delivering even after Stephanie brought so much:

-Curling - we'd researched it and had prepared our strategies for undertaking curling for the first time at Lake Tekapo, only to be thwarted since it is only a Thursday night activity.

-Teaching/getting someone interested in Maori culture and Maori tourism options. This may have serious implications for my research if I'm not even able to sell a hangi

-Bike rides, although we kind of tried, the places we were wine tasting were a bit hilly/strenuous to combine it with a bike ride. And did you see how many wine tastings we went to? That could never have been done on bikes

-An icing - Stephanie got me twice and I failed at getting her back

-The nightlife of Wellington - by the time we got to my actual home city we were too tired to even venture out. Some tour guide I am.

So as you can see Stephanie brought a lot to NZed and I am forever grateful. As much as I love New Zealand, it makes me love and appreciate it so much more when enjoying it with a good friend. It has also made me realize how much I miss all of you back home. Thanks again Stephanie, it was seriously an awesome two weeks.

Next visitor - Miss Alli Beall herself.