Showering in the Elevators

So today at around 10:10am here on 50 Manners Street (Check Location), the fire alarm went off. My first thought, learning from last time when we had a fire drill, was to grap my gadgets and then get out. So I did.

10 minutes earlier, I could swear someone was showering on the other side of the wall, I set next to the service shaft and it really sounded like there was water in there.

I wasn't wrong. I walked down the fire exit and on my way out, I saw the elevators getting full of water... Once I got outside I talked to Gilles, who told me that he had been downstairs to grap a coffee, and when he was, he saw everyone from the 11th floor coming down soaking wet, reason: A water pipe had burst. Note: You can easily recognize people from the 11th floor because that's where the Spanish Embassy is.

And then came the fire brigade, 4 trucks loaded with firefighters, ironic, when all we needed was a plumber. Anyways, some pictures:

Those little amazing things... A tribute to Metlink!

On the buses, everyone says "Good day" (or morning or evening) when they get on the bus, and "Thanks driver!" when they get off.

You always know when the police or fire brigade is coming before you can even hear them: The buses stop, blovk the road for cars and makes space for them.

When your card isn't working you get to ride for free! (Happened to me once and the busdriver sees me every morning).

The busdrivers are always friendly and very talkative! I get off at the second last stop on my route so it's very handy for me.

They're not on time, but got precise GPS estimates of arrival so you don't have to worry how long it will take.

Update:
So I've been told that a friend of mine passed this on to Metlink, you're welcome to contact me guys!

On second thought, maybe the ones I should thank is GoWellington? I don't know which is the parent company or if they are related at all, both deal with transport in Wellington and I'm just a tourist.

Warm Welcome Wellington - What?!

So Gigi and I got out of bed, rushed to the bus station, and got aboard (considering I was dragging along a female I consider 45 minutes from wake-up to bus station fast).
Auckland to Wellington went smooth, Jetstar hasn't been as terrible as expected. We got to sit on row 2 for some reason so we're pretty good, getting off first and everything. My only problem was the amount of legspace (about 5 cm less than 'normal' airlines), and this weird buzzing sound that the airplane made once the engines turned on. Thanks again to China Southern Airlines for providing me with an airplane survival kit, the earplugs came in handy once again!

In Wellington Gigi and I took a shuttle (cheapest) to the train station. It was pouring rain even before we landed and it is still raining outside (it's 10 in the evening at the time of writing). After I ran across a big street for 2 cheeseburgers for her, we said goodbye to eachother. I then proceeded to Creative HQ where I'll be working for 3 months, to meet up with Nathan and get introduced.

I'll talk more about my job, the things that I'm allowed to say, in case any competitors snaps up my blog, in a later post. It's really exciting and I'm looking forward to get my hands dirty (not like in the picture below though!).
If you want to know more about the company and what they do, check out the website: www.educa.co.nz
Apparently that kinda thing is big down here ('apparently' because I never heard of anything like it existing in Europe or US, maybe because I don't have kids yet.

For now I'll just leave you with this children's book cover I stumbled upon in a magazine, seemingly teaching kids about the great terror that puberty can be for some.

When the weather clears up I'll make sure to take some pictures from the balcony where I live, Robyn's house is amazing.