Taradale

My car Tina is still doing well, especially after having 3 tires replaced.  This was necessary after one dark, raining night while I was driving home and I got lost, because as I was turning around to go back to where I somewhat knew where I was, I got a flat.  Foreign country; dark; raining; lost; flat tire - what else could go wrong?  Well I’ll tell you – my cell phone ran out of batteries.  So I ventured across the street where I had seen a car pull in to a driveway a minute or so after I pulled my car off the road, and explained my situation to the lovely old couple, who let me borrow their phone.  Luckily I sprang for the roadside service with AA (affiliate of AAA in the states, not Alcoholics Anonymous), so I could just call and have someone come out to where I was and fix my flat.  On the phone with them I explained that I had a flat, the lady asked if I had a spare and I said yes, asked if I had tools and I said no.  She said someone would be there within the hour so I was invited inside the old people’s house while I waited.  I asked them if they knew the best way to get back to Maraekakaho since I was lost, and they contemplated this for a while, eventually pulled out a huge map, and we figured out a good route (guess I was more lost than I thought).  They also let me keep the map, which was very handy and which I have used many times since.  People are so friendly here.  So anyway, finally the AA guy comes in his huge tow truck, and I explain the flat and show him my spare tire he says, “ok so do you have a tire iron and a jack?” and starts rummaging around in the back of my car where the spare tire was.  I said no, that’s why I called you, they asked me that on the phone too so I already told you I don’t have tools.  …Don’t you have that kind of thing?  He started to get defensive, said he didn’t have any tools, and proceeded to criticize me for purchasing a car that didn’t come with a jack!  I told him again that the lady on the phone specifically asked me if I had tools and I had clearly told her that I don’t, all the while trying to figure out how and why a roadside assistance service person would not have any of the basic tools necessary for roadside assistance (I started thinking maybe he was from the other AA?)!

So back to the old people to see if they had a car jack, which luckily they did.  Then just one more thing, my wheels had a special plate on them that required an allen tool (which of course the roadside assistance dude did not have) which the old people also luckily had in their garage.  So after the ordeal my tire was finally replaced and I made it home.  And luckily my amazing parents were still in town visiting and since it was raining had no plans for the next morning so they replaced my tire (and two others which were apparently the wrong size) while I was at work J

Corner 50

Three months to the day after my last day at PwC I started working at Corner 50 winery.  Due to the uncharacteristically cold and wet summer, I started 2 weeks later than originally contracted, and even then there wasn’t much to do.  It was pouring rain on my first day, and so I was issued a giant, heavy, yellow rain coat, giant, heavy, yellow rain pants, and gum boots to wear.  The work as a cellar hand involves giant wrenches and huge hoses being hooked up to 25-, 30-, 50-, 100-, and even 200-thousand liter tanks (they are enormous!), and my Spanish roommate Marta likened us to Mario Bros with our silly-looking yellow rain suits and giant wrenches, which made me laugh.  It wasn’t long until we were working weekends and got slotted into shifts, some working 7am to 7pm and the rest working 7pm to 7am.  The work is very physically demanding, but it is sorta fun and learning more about the winemaking process is definitely interesting.  Long days at the winery make me tired in a very different way than long days staring at a computer screen…

After unsuccessfully searching for affordable housing in town, I am living out in the country with some friends of the lab worker’s, which is great.  It is so gorgeous out here (partly because it has rained all summer so everything is still green), and still so uninhabited – I pass mayyyyybe one car on my 15 minute drive to work each day, and about 10 houses, 7 of which are in the center of the little town of Maraekakaho, which has a school and a bar and nothing else.  Literally there is no grocery store, no gas station, no restaurants, nothing.  I have to drive 40 minutes to get to the nearest town.  The winery is in between here and town, but slightly closer to home.  This is great because it forces me to plan my eating well, as every meal is from home and grocery store trips are infrequent at best.  They are not always home-cooked, because a lot of the time it is just a sandwich or cereal or something, but I do not eat out except on the rare occasions of a day off and co-workers hanging out in town.  Very different from working in downtown SF, where most people just go outside, walk 10 feet, and buy a sandwich, or walk a little further to be in range of Italian, Mexican, Thai, Chinese, Burgers, Salads, etc for sale.  A few pictures from and of the house:

I like inoculating wine because the yeast smell reminds me of mom's home cooked pizza crust.

I will try to take some pictures from the winery soon because there are great views from the catwalks on top of the huge tanks.  Check this post again for that later!