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Steve WyngaertSteve Wyngaert
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Joined Jan 8, 2016 Read more
  • Steve WyngaertNew Zealand
    Day 175

    Oh happy day!

    October 13, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    I have been back in Wellington for about two weeks now and things are moving forward. I am pretty sure I have found a job working at the hostel again. It will be paid starting in a couple of weeks which is nice. I feel like despite the fact that they are starting me off slow with few shifts I am catching on quite fast. The only issue with the job is that it will be part time for a bit while they get things together.... Oh well, it's better than nothing. Ill try to stick it out until they figure out how awesome I am and decide to make me full time. 😉

    Since I am starting to work and get paid I think it is about time for me to find my own place to live. It isn't too bad because it will be for more or less the next three to four months and there are so many places open right now with students moving back home for the summer. I've already seen two flats which I fell in love with but each have their advantages and disadvantages. I am viewing four more today so we will see what happens. Ill hopefully have somewhere signed by this weekend.

    I also finally got my package from my friends back home. They are awesome, thank you so much. I will try to call home soon but lately things have been crazy. Other than that I went out for karaoke this week. I don't know if I got better as the night went on because of the alcohol or practice. Ill go with practice and better song choices. Starting off with Celine Dion's my heart will go on is never a smart move. A group of 7 guys singing that song quite terribly was magnificent though.

    I am starting to miss my friends from home, my g family and I know I'll miss my tekapo friends soon enough too.    Read more

  • Steve WyngaertNew Zealand
    Day 150

    Need to focus

    September 18, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    So these past few days have been interesting and quite a bit has happened. After talking on the phone with a few companies who wanted to have interviews with me on friday I seriously considered flying to Wellington to try a get one of the jobs. After much debate, I decided to stay here in the South Island to save some money and enjoy the sights that I will be missing out of in about two weeks. So on Thursday I decided to drive down to Wanaka with one of my awesome coworkers. On my way there I started to feel something funky with the car so I pull over and realise that my tire blew. Luckily we had left quite early in the morning and between the two of us we got back on the road and got a new tired withing an hour before continuing our road trip. We really lucked out that the closest town was two minute drive away and they had a garage that was able to help us right away. In Wanaka we took some amazing pictures, enjoyed seeing people and SIDEWALKS! Basically things that we don't have here in Tekapo. We did some Kayaking and also some rock climbing.

    Friday, I wanted to stay in and get my stuff together but I got a call from my old roommate Jesse and he wanted to do a little road trip out of Tekapo so I decided to go back to Wanaka yet again! On our way over we noticed a hitchhiker so we did what anyone would do and picked them up. They were heading to Queenstown (which is about an hour from Wanaka) so we told them that we would drop them off in Wanaka. By the time we got there, they decided to stay in Wanaka for a couple nights instead of going to Queenstown because it is so beautiful there. With Jesse we had a couple drinks then enjoyed the beach and went rock climbing. I am absolutely shit at it but it is something new that I would never try at home because of the whole terrified of heights thing. I'm slowly learning to face that fear and I think I may have gained a new hobby, I just need to learn how to trust my buddy which has been the hardest part so far.

    Yesterday morning I finally a lot of the things that I wanted to do done. I booked my flight out of this town, tried to push my car onto some of my coworkers who had told me they were interested, attempted to convince a few people to drive me to the airport on my flight date and booked a room in the hostel for the weekend that I arrive from Tekapo. Unfortunately I didn't quite have the will power to get to applying to jobs or cooking my meals for the week so that will have to wait until today after work.

    Quick side note, its now been three straight days that I have slept less than three hours and other than climbing and throwing people off the tube park that I haven't worked out. I am not sure if it has anything to do with it but I will see how it goes. Last day of the ice rink today, I am off to open it for the last time this season. I'll try to get some pictures of me on the rink before it closes down.    Read more

  • Steve WyngaertNew Zealand
    Day 144

    So little time

    September 12, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    75 days. It's been 75 days since I stated my contract here in Tekapo. It took me over two months doors learning that I have 20% off nearly any tourist attraction in the area, it could be anything from a helicopter tour, the earth and sky tour or even sky diving. I will try to do some of these things on my days off but that won't be easy. I spent 75 days mostly enjoying the nearby area and only went skiing once. That leaves me with only 18 days until my contract expires and between now and then I have to sell the car that I have here (i have been working on selling it to some coworkers but I don't know how that will go), trying to renew the registration of said car to make the sale go easier, find out a way out of this town, deciding whether or not I need to go to the dentist,and trying to find a job in Wellington as well as a place to live while I am there. All this in just over two weeks while trying to take advantage of this newly found discount. Busy schedule that will keep me busy when I am not working but doable.

    Side note, I still have yet to receive the package that my amazing friends from home sent me but I talked to the marketing person (which is when I learned about the discount...) and she told me that she would forward it to me in Wellington if they receive it after I leave. Whoo thank god that is one less thing to worry about.

    .....

    Late edit. I am hoping for some advice. Today I got two more calls for interviews both seem really promising but they were not willing to interview me through Skype. After a week and a half I have had 6 calls for interviews while my entire month in Wellington last time I had a grand total of 0. I am starting to wonder if I should just cut my loses here and head up to Wellington early. I spoke to my manager and she told me that she would be fine with it (but I would lose my bonus) and she is willing to give me a good reference. What do you guys (the three of you that actually read this) think? I keep flip flopping on what to do. I need to make a decision by tomorrow night.    Read more

  • Steve WyngaertNew Zealand
    Day 142

    Days off! FUN DAYS!

    September 10, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Well I have had a busy past few days trying to make the most of my last few weeks here in Tekapo (while enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather.... well mostly) while trying to not drive myself crazy at the same time.

    Thursday, I was lucky and got a lift to Mount Cook (which is the tallest mountain in New Zealand) by my boss. She is also the lady that owns the house that I live in. She is an amazing person and is one of the reasons why I have been able to last this long in the job. I was having problems coping with a lot of things which I will wait until the contract is completely over to say exactly. Anyways she picked me up along with a couple of my other coworkers before doing the hour long drive to the tracks. Of course the day that we decided to go was the coldest day we have had in the past week and it was actually snowing/hailing most of the time we were there. On top of it the mountain was mostly hidden behind a very thick layer of clouds. Oh well, we still made the most of it. I finally decided to take my GoPro back out and try to use it as best I can so most of my pictures were me kind of testing out several different settings to see what looked best and what I could use later on in my trip. I actually found a time lapse setting and had that on most of the hike with it attached to my bag. It caught some pretty amazing scenery and a few funny moments. I think I will start to use that setting a little bit more often.

    The next day, it was another "active" day. I cooked most of the day, did my laundry, applied to a shit-ton of jobs and obviously went to the Springs to take advantage of the ice (which is closing in a week!), and the tube park. In the end I didn't even bother going to the rink, deciding to go to the pools and sauna instead of the rink. I got a few more pictures and a video from my GoPro by using the clip I bought on my foot instead of on my bag. It worked... Well kind of, I kept dropping it and forgetting to hit the start button. Oh well.... I then went to a coworkers house to have a drink and a bite of the best restaurant in town.... Hmmmm kohans..... I need to go there a little more often since I have only been there twice so far.

    Oh well, today I am off to work before going out with coworkers to celebrate the end of winter and wish all the best to the people who are leaving next week (pretty much nearly half of the staff....). Anyways enough for now, I need to get off.    Read more

  • Steve WyngaertNew Zealand
    Day 137

    Just keeping up what I'm doing

    September 5, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Well it has been about a week since my friend left, and that I have been sending my cv to every opening I am remotely qualified for in Wellington. Unfortunately they rarely post real entry level positions online so i know it will be challenging to find something from tekapo but I am keeping my hopes up.

    With only two weeks left of the rink I decided to go to every hockey game that I can while I am here. I played hockey all three days last week even though I had to skip out of work early twice in order to make it. I also decided to make the most of the opportunity while I am here and went to climb mount John before my one late shift a few days ago. It led to some pretty amazing pictures as always. I just wish I had some people to share these amazing sights with. I am starting to realize how much of a people person I really am which goes against what I always used to think about myself. It is incredible how much people can change in a few years. With that being said, there are some things that never change. My terrible knees being one. All this constant activities and hikes are really doing a number on them.

    Today was an interesting day which is partly why I decided to make a post today. First off, after well over two months at my job we finally got name tags! I know it sounds stupid but I find it quite amusing how they bothered to give us some when a few people only have a week left before the end of their contract. Secondly, after having a little too much to drink last weekend I decided to get a little trim (from my flat mate). I woke up the next morning freezing and full of regret. Oh well it will grow back... Today however I had a few comment on how nice it looked. Guess that shows even more how useless my opinion is. And lastly, I got a call back from a job in Wellington but since they wanted me to show up to an in person interview tomorrow, I had to forget about it. I tried to convince them to give me a Skype interview but no luck. I guess I will have to just continue doing what I am doing.... I was going to include a little cheesy quote to end it but decided that it's too much work and I just don't care enough. So yeah, insert your own interesting motivational quote here...

    To next time.    Read more

  • Steve WyngaertNew Zealand
    Day 134

    Missing society

    September 2, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Well I am in the last month of my contract. The rink will close in two short weeks and the tube park will close shortly after (basically when the snow melts, in this weather it seems like it will be sooner rather than later). This means it's time to start looking ahead to what I will do next.

    This past weekend I took advantage of having a friend down from Wellington so I went a nice little road trip to mount Cook which was outstanding and finally went into the hot pools at my work. It is better late than never.

    I spent the past two days being really proactive. I put my car here for sale, updated my cv, started to run once again and sent a few dozen applications to various positions inside Wellington. I don't know what it is with that city but I am really keen to return. Not sure if it is because of the people I met over there or if it is just that there are people there. I have been finding myself going to work on my days off because I need to see and talk to people. I guess that makes me more of an extrovert than I ever thought I was.

    Anyways, I will try to post semi more regularly for a bit at least to show that I am still alive.

    I miss you guys.    Read more

  • Steve WyngaertNew Zealand
    Day 103

    Very small and quick update

    August 2, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Well it's been a real long time since I have written anything so I decided to out a little note to show that I am still alive and well.

    I have been here in tekapo for well over a month, it will actually be two months in a week, which means one more month before I can go back to Wellington. Here are a few short points of things that have been going on.

    So for the first month that I was here I got a little lazy and decided to not shave. I got a nice little beard going for a while but decided it didn't look super clean so I shaved it off last week. Yay. I took a couple of pictures right before and after I shaved it.

    I went skiing for the first time and didn't die. The owner of the place that I worked paid for lessons and i took beginner lessons which I instantly regretted after he spent abiut 15 minutes explaining how to put on the skis. Oh well, I have a strong base to work from right now.

    When I came to new zealand I expected to lose out on a lot of hockey but for the past two weeks I have been playing hockey three times a week in full equipment. I may not be learning too much or improving but every time I get out there I feel my confidence building. Maybe it's because most of the time I am knocking over 14 year olds but they kind of asked for it when they asked me to join them.

    Other than that the job itself and lessons are fun on most days. The days that you are given more freedom to talk to people are a lot of fun. Last week I was teaching four little boys how to skate and they wanted to see how fast I could skate. I wanted to get away from them for a bit so I decided why not and skated in a circle and when I stopped I gave them a snow shower right in front of their parents. I instantly realized how bad of an idea that was but the kids seems to love it as they wiped the snow off their jackets (a snow shower is when you stop abruptly in front of someone and snow flies in their face....).

    Anyways, I'll just leave this for now.    Read more

  • Steve WyngaertNew Zealand
    2
    Day 63

    See you later Wellington

    June 23, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    This past week has been a pretty huge range of emotions.

    On Saturday, after a little chat with an amazing kiwi that I have met I decided to give my notice at the hostel that I have been working at for the past 4 amazing weeks. I was planning on heading up North a bit before coming back down to Wellington for my birthday. It was meant to re-energize myself before getting back into the job hunt mindset and really push my CV hard to recruitment agencies and every building in the area with jobs.

    Then my computer broke on Sunday, which was mildly frustrating. After bringing it to a repair shop and then being told it was trash I considered for a while not getting a new one. But in the end after looking at the prices of computers here I decided to put a little money into a new computer. Nothing special, just one that will run internet and will be able to let me send my resume to various places on the go.

    With my new computer in hand I found a job that I am actually qualified for, an ice rink attendant and ice skate tutor. I was so excited and sent them a pretty long email of why they should consider me which worked because about an hour later I got an email back asking which time would work best for an interview! YES!!!!! After the interview, they asked for references and about 24 hours later they offered me the job. Only issue is that I already had a ticket to leave Wellington in the opposite direction on Sunday so I asked if I could start late next week rather than early in order to get my things settled which worked for both sides because they said it might take a little bit for them to find me accommodation.

    The day that I sent out my signed contract, I received a call from a different job that were really interested in me and wanted me to work for six months in Wellington. It would have been an accounting job and I would have been able to stay in Wellington but I feel like it would be similar to something that I would do back home and I wanted to really try something different while I am here.

    The issue is that it is going to be a challenge for a bit leaving my friends that I have spent the better part of one month with. This also means that I won't be in Wellington for my birthday which I was starting to really get excited for. That is until someone mentioned that I could always come back if I can get two days off in a row because it really isn't too far to do a little weekend trip. But if I don't get the chance, I will be back in three short months anyways with a bucket full of new stories and experiences.

    If all goes as planned I am supposed to head out to a rink today to make sure that I didn't forget how to skate in the past couple of months and also try and teach one of the guys here to skate backwards. Hopefully it all goes well!

    I have included a couple of pictures of where I will be heading for those who are curious.    Read more

  • Steve WyngaertNew Zealand
    Day 51

    Need to make a change

    June 11, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Yesterday was my day off so I didn't do much other than drink and hop around various bars. I started early to go and watch game 5 of the NHL playoffs. It was nice and it felt like I was back home for a bit. Then I went out for late lunch with my boss at a little Irish pub which was really nice. I got to know a lot about him. Then that night we did something different, we went to a jazz show. It was different but and interesting because the age demographic was significantly older than us (most of them had white hair) but man could they dance to that jazz!

    With that in mind, I'll say that I am loving it here. The people are great and I am having an amazing time but I feel like shit. Too much unhealthy eating (and drinking) and not enough exercise is making me feel like absolute shit. I spend most of my days on my computer and applying to many jobs, working in the hostel then into the bar next door. The nights are starting to add up and it is about time I start to cut back a bit. I keep seeing hiring signs on doors then ignore them as I go back to my computer to apply to other jobs. I know that I will be able to find a job when I finally decide to go out there and hand out my cv door to door. It will be a little bit of leg work but will be nice to get some more sun and some exercise. I am going to try to go to bed earlier and run in the mornings.

    I heard that Gordie Howe died yesterday and the worse part is that I keep mentioning it to people and how sad it is and they keep asking who he is. It is a clear difference of cultures that I am still trying to wrap my head around.

    By the way the pictures are from the botanical gardens here. Also is included is a picture of our room door, not sure why we have so many shoes on it.

    I'll end with that it was nice talking to my brother recently even if it wasn't for much other than let me know of some bad news back home, which is kind of sad that no one else wanted to mention anything to me. I may be across the world but I would like to know what is going on back home. Hope you guys stay safe, i am thinking of you back home.    Read more

  • Steve WyngaertNew Zealand
    Day 43

    Ird number

    June 3, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    So today is my day off so I can do anything. Well instead I decided to sleep in and catch up on game of thrones. All in all I think that I made the right choice. After that I called the government of new zealand to know about my tax number which was approved and they gave it to me so now I can legally find a paying job for the next 10 months or so while I am in here. On top of that my new roommates seem really nice and we get along super well so far. We will see how that continues as we start to smell each others farts and hear each others snores every night. With that in mind someone clogged the toilet yesterday and they wanted to call a plummer to fix it because they didn't want to deal with it. I called them wimps and unclogged it.

    Every night I seem to meet new people and it can be anywhere from just sitting and talking to strangers in a coffee shop to laughing at random peoples jokes as they walk on the street then introduce myself. I have a theory of why I can do this here while back home I can't communicate with people and I feel like that is the fact that I never have a clue of what language to talk to them in. French or English... Maybe things will change when I get back home but for now I am enjoying myself.    Read more

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