Tengo un ombligo!

28 March 2011

A week into work, and I’m ready for my vacation to begin!  Twelve hour days, everyday gets on you a bit…especially when you try to maintain a little social life.

Cellar work has been pretty rad, when we have plenty of jobs and we’re kept busy.  As a cellar hand, our jobs include juice transfers between tanks, racking juice, pumping lees to the RDV, doing additions (sulfur, bentonite, enzyme)…

View of the Indevin White cellar from door of Smoko

Does anyone remember that game where you put together pipes?  I do that every day!  We have a lot of fixed pipes that head around different parts of the cellar, plus use 2 or 3 inch hoses.  Today, Constanza and I transferred 80,000 liters juice that was still fermenting (yuck), across the outside cellar, then back halfway…But earlier in the day, we filled a couple barrels and three 50 L kegs with 2009 Semillion; added sulfur, bentonite, and enzyme to a ferment, and transferred just under 2,000 L from one tank to another to reach a certain volume for some reason or another…later one of the local guys who runs a forklift gave me a tip on fermenting barrels…leave the bung stop up, or it will spray wine in your face!  Oops, sorry….but the work order said ‘finished wine’ so….

I’m stoked I’m getting this big cellar experience, working with large pipe systems, different pumps, techniques…but I am disappointed that we don’t get all the aspects of the project like I did at Gallo.  There, we had the whole project specs at our fingertips, and took the wine through the entire process.  At Indevin, we get a clipboard with instructions to do only one small step in the process.  Different…good…but I like knowing the big picture!

Gianni out on the receiving pit

The food that Indevin serves us is ridiculously delicious.  Crossing my fingers that I don’t gain 10 lbs….yummy cakes and meat pies at morning smoko, huge lunch with meat, veggies, salad, bread, and a bit of fruit at afternoon smoko….then three or more days a week, we get two glasses of beer after work.  How can a girl stay skinny with those opportunities?  Today I told the cook to put me on the vegetarian list, so maybe that’ll help.

View at Sunrise to the 240K tanks

Indevin is at a great location, even though it’s a pretty big tank farm, it backs up to some rolling hills (picture Paso Robles hills) and a vineyard.  When you’re at the top of the 240,000 L tank (the largest), you can see the North Island (on a clear day).  Taking dips on the top of the tanks is great exercise plus has a great view!

Since we work 7 days a week, ‘Friday’ and ‘Weekend’ have no meaning.  However, TGBD, is all we have
“Thank God it’s Beer Day!”

29 March 2011

Wow.  Day 7 in a row, and really feeling it.  Don’t get me wrong, I like to work hard, but when it’s 12 hours a day, with no day off in sight?  You get a mild ‘hopeless’ feeling.  But really, that’s only when you’re slow…when you have jobs and you’re busy, time goes by fast, and before you know it, it’s afternoon smoko!

Kez, Sam, Lacey and Sean on BEER DAY

I ended my day on top of a tanker truck, after finishing 80,000 liters of sauvignon blanc dispatch.  That’s pretty cool….plus it was beer day!  But, we had some bubbly open so I had a couple glasses of that :)

My friend Mille, from Denmark leaves tomorrow for Fuji before heading back home, so I’m glad I got to hang out with her a bit tonight…Hope she’ll come visit California soon, or I’ll get to Denmark one day.

All day today, I was working with Chileans (then a Spaniard and an Argentinian) so I got to practice my Spanish.  “Tengo mucho tatuajes!”  Guess what that means?  Also, “Manana, tendre pantalones quartos”.  It should be sunny, so pantalones quartos should be appropriate.  Also, it looks like Amanda will be in South America this time next year.  My friend Constanza is getting married in Chile in February, and I was thinking about working vintage there next year….so I should probably be there.  Woot! Oh, and now instead of ‘Thank God it’s Beer Day’, it’s ‘Dia de Cervesa es me favorita!’ haha.

Lacey from LaConner, WA (where I as born..small world!)

I really feel like I’m an underclassman in high school these days.  I am living in a room with three (now only two, as of today) other people…Gianni and Cortney (Californians).  I work 12 hours a day (kinda like being stuck at school+sports)…and get to hang out with ‘my guy’ on smokos (breaks) and briefly after work (not too late, because it’s a work night).  Plus, I don’t have a car, nor can I drive…so I feel fifteen.  Not that there is anything wrong with that!  This old lady doesn’t feel bente quarto!

Cheers!

Another day, now starting to make dollars!

Hello again!

Still having a good time here in Blenheim. I feel like my jet lag is spreading itself out, because I’m a bit more tired than usual.  Also not sleeping particularly well, but I’m sure it’ll get better! Popping Ginseng pills as my 'uppers'.

Mouth of the bay at Picton

Saturday, after writing my last blog, friends Sean, Kez & Marie picked me up and we headed to Picton for a bit of beaching and sight-seeing.  As we headed out of town, it was grey but ended up being sunny out in Picton!  Kez and Marie have been living out of there van and had been parked outside of The Station backpackers so had a big bed in the back.  Mom called while we were driving “What are you doing?”  Me: “Lying in a bed, in the back of a van, drinking a beer, heading to the beach”. 

Picton is where the ferry to the north island departs, and it was in when we got there.  It’s a massive ferry, probably the length of the Alaskan Ferry Taku, but much higher.  Such a beautiful city, at the end of an inlet with quite a few islands (“Millions!” said Kez; “Twenty, tops” said Marie) in front so very protected. 

Sean on the beach

We made our way down to the small pebbly beach and Sean went for a swim. It’s pretty rad being able to drink beers anywhere (except in downtowns) without much problem.  Picton is very touristy city, with lots of restaurants, kayak tours, whale watching boats, a maritime museum, and small harbor.  I picked out a house on the bluff overlooking the inlet and whole town “I want that one!”  We went to one of the cafes for some fish and chips, and a cocktail. 1. New Zealanders don’t know how to make bloody marys, one bartender didn’t even know what it was!  Very sad…the fish, however, was delicious.  No heavy batter, just pan fried white fish of some sort.

  Saturday evening was very chill, for me, hung out at The Station...a bit of music and wine…some kiwi-flavored vodka (only in kiwi-land).  I went to bed around midnight, but most people in Copper Beech went out til 3 am...then there were a bunch of Rugby games on though, so many of the folks were up late watching them.  My roomie Courtney was up til 5 am, and my Irish friends Rory and Niall stayed up until 7 am, watching Ireland claim victory over the competing team.   

Beautiful Marlborough wine country

Roomie Courtney (from CA) and I at Withering Hil

Sunday, my backpacker’s offered a winetasting tour, free ride and most of the wineries don’t charge for tasting.  We made it to four wineries and a chocolate factory: Withering Hills (good Pinot Gris), Villa Maria (good Late Harvest Riesling), High Field (yum Chardonnay and single vineyard Sauv Blanc), Cloudy Bay (nice Gewürztraminer). Makana had delicious yummy treats we got to sample, but a bit spendy!  Perhaps I’ll splurge before I leave on some chocolates for friends (and those friends will be required to share with me) I bought ONE Champagne Truffle for $2, and saving it for a special day or chocolate emergency (in case of emergency, eat truffle).

Fellow Indevin-ers at High Field

Gianni and I shared a glass of Sauvie at High Field. Yum!

Monday was my ‘last day of freedom’, I slept in until ten; did a bit of yoga; went on a run; did laundry; and mended my bag.  It was relaxing…hanging up clothes to dry outside, and sitting on the porch for three hours, drinking tea and sewing!  It’s so cool living in a backpackers, whoever doesn’t have work for the day comes and sits for a bit, or is just running around.  You’re never lonely!  Danish and German girls giggling, Italian guys singing opera in the shower, bread being baked, Led Zeppelin blasting from the radio in the kitchen :)

Today was the first day of work and was filled with bureaucracy…paperwork, rules, a short tour, waiting for the next training lecture.  They serve awesome food though, we got little meat pies and quiches for breakfast tea break, had a great spread for lunch, then fruit with afternoon tea break.  We had to fill out self-evals to help them place us in certain jobs around the winery.  I’ll be day shift (7am-7pm) in the white cellar with a few friends, I’m not sure how many total people.  I think we’ll be doing basic pump-overs, transfers, cleaning tanks…etc.  Other assignments are presses, filters of different sorts, cleaning crew...

 Since we’re already getting a lot of grapes (700 tonnes tomorrow) they decided to push back training tomorrow so that we can just get started on work!  So head in tomorrow at 630 am, ‘til about 630 pm.  We got issued sweet orange reflector vests, safety goggles and pretty white gum boots.  Fashion!  

Visited ‘the warehouse’ after work.  Wal-Mart…woot! 

This evening, sat around trading curse words and phrases with my friends at Copper Beech after dinner.  I can now insult you in German, French, and Danish!  I taught them the little known ‘a**-hat’, thought that was a funny one they wouldn’t know.  Hee hee!

Cheers!

p.s. for those who don't know, you can click on the photos to make them bigger in and in a new window.

Loving New Zealand life

So much has gone on the last few days!  I am really loving it, running around Blenheim, meeting so many new people every day.

Where to start?  I guess Wednesday...did some errands then went over to Tony's...we had dinner at Michelle's place, she's a Canadian woman in her late 30's or early 40's I think, and from Whistler.  So much lamb here!  And so cheeeeap, I'm in heaven.  Delicious.  Then Calvin (also Canadian) and Emily (from Idaho, but when to UBC in Van) came over, we poured our selves some very expensive and very shitty Gin and tonics and walked down to a bar.  Pretty cool you can run around with an open container, just not downtown.  Makes pre-partying so easy!

Thursday I went with a bunch of other people from the backpackers around here to pick a small vineyard, no pay but the owner threw us a bbq and had lots of beer!  The picking was supposed to be only 1.5 hours, but we ended up picking for about 4 hours, and didn't quite finish even!  Some people were pretty upset, but I had a good time getting to be in the vineyard and made some new friends.

I was the only American doing the free picking, I hung out with a couple nice German girls, and the Irish guys, a Frenchman and a Bavarian.  Europeans come here to travel, and then get contract work usually in the vineyard.  I explained to them that the Americans (all from Wash, OR, and Cali) come to work at the wineries and travel secondary (a very big plus).  After being outside picking we were quite tired, so rested a bit then went to the BBQ.  Again, some people were pretty upset, it wasn't quite the spread we were promised, but again, I was just glad to get free dinner and beer!

Afterwards went out to Paddy Barry's to celebrate St. Patty's!  It was a rad party, with a cool coverband.  No green beer here, and their shots are tiny!  But of course drank loads of beer and some shots of Jamo!  Stuck with the Irish guys I had worked with that day (and who were staying at Copper Beech), so it was very authentic, haha.  Lots of yelling, singing and doing jigs!

I said before that I was looking for different housing situation, but I'm actually loving Copper Beech backpackers so definitely plan to stay. It's so close to downtown, a super short walk to the grocery and the library (and everything else downtown).  One of my roommates has a car, so there is transportation to work (he also works at Indevin).  The bathrooms are cleaned everyday, and the kitchen has strict rules on cleaning you dishes so I don't have to worry about a messy kitchen!!  Big backyard, free laundry, game and tv room...and wonderful people coming and going.  Quite a lot of Germans. Everywhere.

Yesterday, I went out to White's Bay with Rory and Nile (Irishmen), and it was breathtakingly beautiful.  Rory was trying to catch some fish off the rocks, Nile and I just laid on the beach and took it in.  Waded around the water a bit, not too cold.  Got my toe pinched a bit by a little sandcrab, that scared the sh** outta me!  Then I went looking for the crab, of course, and stepped on the little bugger...That freaked HIM out, so I guess we're even.








Had a pre-harvest party last night thrown by Indevin.  Quite a bit of Marlborough Cuvee sparking wine, and not enough appetizers.  Was great meeting other people I'll be working with, and found TWO MORE Cal Poly kids, haha and a Washingtonian or two.  We're everywhere.  Met a few of the managers/winemakers and they were all very nice so that is good.

After the party we headed back to the Grovetown pub and put back some more wine!  Not enough food, and too much wine last night....had a good time but quite tired today. 



Cheers!

Arrival!

After a stimulating sermon about orignial sin, the pastor-man at Palm Desert Episcopal Church prayed for me to "have a good time in New Zealand".  Though the irony did not pass me, I appreciated the prayers  :)

Then, a nice going away party with meatloaf and Jaeger-bombs at Aunt Cynthia's!  I took off from LAX at 11 pm, on a virtually empty plane so sleep was not a problem.  A nice dinner and a couple glasses of Pinot put me to sleep and I woke up in Auckland.  NICE WEATHER.

I've ridden in small planes, from Bellingham, WA...Petersburg, AK....Meridian, MISS.  But the plane to Blenheim beats them all.  Sixteen people, I think?  And I had hearing problems for a few minutes after we de-planed :)

Met a rad guy who picked me up from the airport and delivered me to my backpackers, I think I'll be harvesting a small vineyard Thursday, and getting paid in freshly butchered sheep and BEER. Yesssss..
Got a room with two other Californians and a Kiwi at Copper Beech, all of us are at Indevin.  Nice place, but I am looking for a different housing situation.  Be here for a week though!

Was wandering around downtown, and ran into my friend Tony Merz! Totally forgot he was going to be here, so I hung out with him and his three Canadian friends (Vancouverites).  THEN I ran into Bonzai and a girl I know from the Vines to Wines club at Cal Poly! (Kristen) plus another guy from Poly!  I swear....we are taking over the world. Tony, Michelle, Emily and Calvin and I at the Mudhouse tasting room in downtown Blenheim.

NZ has the nicest people, I am very very stoked.  Who knows if I'll ever come back ;)

Pre-Trip Post

Alright kids, I'm getting ready to ship out of the U.S.!  Want to check in and get y'all situated to my new 'blog'.  I'm new at this, so bear with me :)

I've packed my most necessary possessions in my 65 liter backpack (barely) and hope I've gotten all my survival items, plus fashion accessories I'll need in New Zealand...hee hee.  I bought a new bathing suit today...definitely a survival item.

Thank St. Patrick for Caity McDonald, I sifted through her Goodwill pile last week and snatched up a Celtics t-shirt, so I'll have the correct attire for March 17th.

Many of your have asked about how the earthquake may effect my situation in New Zealand.  No worries, too much.  Christchurch, the devastated area, is approximately 4 hours south of Blenheim, so while no damage occurred, there are many refugees taking shelter in the backpacker's lodging (hostels) in Blenheim. 
I've emailed my contact in Blenheim and he said that I definitely will have a place to stay Tuesday night with other Indevin workers, but it'll be multiple people per room.  I'll have the opportunity for a more private lodging hopefully towards the end of the week.

My cell phone will be shut off, shortly after my plane takes off from LAX Sunday night, so don't try to call or text me.  I will be able to use my iphone on wireless for facebooking and email.  Also, thanks to Alice Wong I've found Google Voice.  If you'd like to text me, or leave a voice mail, my number is (805) 253 3432.  I'll be able to retrieve off my computer.

Unfortunately, as of an hour ago, my computer battery is deciding not to charge...so that's awesome.

Thank you to everyone who put me up the last two months.  Though I was 'living out of my car' I never once had to sleep in it!  Having friends and family from Long Beach to the border of Canada (Blaine) has been such a blessing.  Through my travels of the west coast, I realized that, while I miss everyone in Oregon and Washington...I sure am a Californian now ;)  Sorry guys!

Oh, oh, and thanks to my good friend Lou at Traditional Tattoo in San Luis Obispo for the rad new tattoo I got yesterday.  And seriously people...the foot freakin' hurts.  My tattoo got set nicely though, so I'm expecting a nice healing. (yarr.) 

My grandparents are being so generous and letting me park my car here at their place in La Quinta (near Palm Springs) and keep all my crap I just HAD to have with me, in their spare bedroom.  Tomorrow they'll be taking me to church, then to Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Patrick's in Bellflower for a little send off party before my flight at 11 pm Sunday evening from LAX.

The plan?  Work in Blenheim, until May 6th...then travel south...then north...then farther north to the tropics...?  Who knows?  I'll definitely be back in California by September for Dan Ernst and Kathy Ray's wedding October 1st :)

Kiss kiss!