More birthday outings

Monday was pretty much a routine day. Everyone’s tired from the weekend activities and class is boring as usual. ‘Bout the only thing I got done was make a huge batch upload of my pics at the local internet café. I pretend to study for my econ test, but as usual get distracted.

Tuesday, however, turned out to be more interesting. The econ test came and went—I’m really starting to dislike the class. I probably did just as well as most of the people who studied, according to my informal exit polls after the test.

Tonight was Saira’s birthday. We’re getting better at celebrating birthdays. Erik and I stroll downtown looking for restaurants to have dinner—sushi preferred. We finally settle on a place that is tucked away in a small shopping center but looks like it can handle our group of 10-15 people that will be going out later.

BYO: One common theme of NZ restaurants is many will allow you to bring your own wine for a small corking fee. Being the budget-savvy students that we were, we grabbed a few bottles of stuff that cost half of what they charged at the restaurant and probably tasted just as good.

The sushi itself was excellent and not too pricey. Many of us are used to the $1 menu at Rusan’s, but we survive. The selection is rather insignificant to Rusan’s menu, but what we order tastes very good and has great presentation. Elisha, despite my warnings, asks the waiter if he knows what Sake-bombs are, and of course get s a confused look in return.

For post-dinner celebrations, we work our way around a few bars, and eventually end up at one place that’s having a “Beats and Bubbles” night. They have a DJ playing some more obscure music (thank goodness), and serve champagne for real cheap until midnight. We’re all entertained. I snap off a few pictures for posterity’s sake, and we all have a great time.

WALKING HOME: As we are leaving, I end up in the last group trying to get a cab. There were five of us – me and four other girls. The cabbie informs us that he can only hold four, so being the gentleman I am I let the girls grab the cab and I fend for myself. I thought for a few minutes, decided I didn’t want to fork out for a cab by myself, so I hit up the walk back to Weir House. Problem is, Weir House is locate on a hill, and one thing I learned that night is you have to climb 186 steps to get to it. But, once you commit to the walk home, you gotta stick with it, and that I did.

--P