Ah Tahiti... didn't really like it eh. I know I know, what the heck is wrong with me. Well for starters it's French Polynesia, so they speak french and are arrogant. I felt very looked down upon in the flash hotel. I didn't really have the appropriate clothing for the heat of Tahiti, especially since i left my summer shoes in Indiana. I was walking round in bare feet, as my footwear was ridiculously inappropriate... leopard skin creepers are not beach wear.






So I had a night and a morning layover in Papaeete. Fricken hot, especially after the cold midwest of America and the wetness of Vancouver.

I had a swim here at like 10am... beauties.

It was a relief to be on Air NZ flying back to Auckland. Yay English speaking, Kiwi accents, friendliness. Ahhhh.

Vancouver... it rained...a lot. Nice place though I'm told.


Did a lot of sightseeing from the car in the rain. It stopped raining on my last day. Kinda reminded me of Wellington but way huger.




The lovely Aaron and Amy. Was great to catch up with good old Aaron, and meet Amy for the first time. I approve. Great couple.




China town was pretty cool. It's the biggest lived in Chinatown in the world... outside of China of course.


>Interesting food for sale in Chinatown. I'm not sure what one does with the flattened lizards on a stick, but at $2.99 it's an absolute bargain!



Aaron hands over the games champion trophy after I whipped them at Pop Trivial Pursuits (Oh little did they know) Then beat Aaron at Scrabble... luckily Aaron has a healthy self esteem and the fact that he prides himself on his game did not effect his demeanor at all when I whooped him.

I went to Jacob's Well one day which is like Stillwaters... and had cups of tea with some of the local streeties. Great times. One of the guys asked me if I was related to Amy's husband (Aaron) I think it's cos my hair was kinda red.

South Bend

Here is a lovely pic of my lovely friends Mike and Ruth who I was visiting in South Bend Indiana.

South Bend has very special patriotic red white and blue fire hydrants.

Here Ruth models the giant American fridge, to fit all your giant food containers in.

The roads in the Midwest are pretty crappy... Apparently it's because of the snow and snow plows.

YUSS!

Americana

Deep fried cheese...
















The marching band...

The cheerleader...

The girls in skanky costumes...

Cool hair...




Election propaganda ...

Aisles of halloween candy...

God Bless America

These are children's books about McCain and Obama, and presidents in general.


This is a river boat I saw on the Mississippi, it had come up from New Orleans. How cool is that?



American flags are flippin everywhere... churches, buildings, houses, car sales yards... just everywhere

Everythings bigger in America

Well I had my stint as international guest speaker, for which I received the grand prize of a 2 pack of twinkies and a giant cup of coke. I spoke about community and I like to think that the students responded to my lecture style, which is part testimony, part stand up comedy with some borderline swearing thrown in. (Which ya gotta watch here, they have a much lower tolerance of swearing.) I didn't eat the twinkies, but I drank some of the coke.


Check out the size of this fricken sign!! After all it is delivering some very important information. Apparently the roast beef sandwiches are delicious.


Today I hopped on public transport and went to the Mall of America. Which is ginormous. Luckily I had left my guns at home... that was a close one.

The mall is so huge there is a theme park in the middle of it.
Meanwhile, the trees are looking flippin' great.