I ZORBED, HAVE YOU?

ZORBING! it's a new concept to me, but first introduced to me on the Amazing Race. they actually came to this exact town, Rotorua, in NZ to film that segment. Rotorua is the home of the original zorb. i know some of you are asking what is it? hey it starts with the letter "z" and i like it, so i of course had to buy a t-shirt saying i did it. basically you get inside a huge plastic ball and roll down a huge green NZ hill here in Rotorua. there are three different kinds. you can be strapped in, so you spin. that means crazy motion sickness for me, so i opted not to do that one. another option is you can hydroplane down the hill inside the ball filled partially with water. you can do these either down a straight steep path, or a zig-zagged path down the hill. well, my adventure started this afternoon in the rain! even though it was raining here in Rotorua, i decided i still needed some adventure like zorbing. i checked it out to see if they still did it in the rain, and they did! julie wanted to stay in the hostel to take a nap. so it was all me out on my own in Rotorua! they roll the "r" when they pronounce rrrotorrua. :) seriously.

i had to walk to a mall and catch a city bus which then took me to another stop where i transferred city buses. this is a small city, trust me. from there i asked to go to the agrodome where the zorbing was. on my two different buses, i got tapped on the shoulder by nice older ladies who politely asked me where i was from because they heard me talk to the bus driver and noticed the accent was different. one lady was so kind and she apologized profusely for their bad weather they were having and hoped that i was still enjoying NZ. of course, i was! she asked me all about my life and what i'm going to do with it. we had a lovely chat. she highly reccommended the zorbing too. when i got dropped off at the site, even the city busdriver blew me away with kindness when he said he'd make sure i got a ride back at a certain time and that he'd look after me. that would not happen in houston. how sweet. i was traveling solo for a short journey and experiencing that life. it was awesome talking to even more people around me. when i got to the place, it was just as i had seen it on the Amazing Race. yeah! i was there! i saw the giant human "gerbil balls" that i was going to get in. i met the nice staff in the office and told them to sign me up and get this thing rolling. they tried to guess what state i was from. one girl nailed it and said Texas! another guy said Florida. i had to go in a swim suit, yes it is still really cold here. it is winter! they gave me some wet gear to put on over that. one guy took my camera and had heaps of fun with it while i was in the back of a truck going up the steep hill. they guy made me dive like superwoman into a zippered hole in the ball and there i was inside the giant ball filled with some warm water for me to sit in. he made me stand up and told me to walk in the ball once he gave the signal of "tap tap tap" on the ball and after i started walkinig i would immediately start going down hill. at that point i was supposed to just plop down and sit in it and basically swish from side to side. he made me choose the zig-zag path for more thrill. it was opaque, so i couldn't see where i was going at all. it was a feeling of complete helplessness but fun. there was lots of laughter inside of that gerbil ball. just me, myself, and i laughing my way through my fear of the unknown. i literally was swishing side to side inside it and had no control of how i was positioned in it. it was so much fun. i kept having to tell myself, "EMBRACE IT, ZSILA, EMBRACE IT." i was embracing my fear. finally, i came to a hault at the bottom of the hill and thankfully, two members of the staff came to rescue me and unzip me and get me out. then the fun began. i became good friends with Alisa who is the supervisor there and she wanted me to take lots of pictures with them and email them so they can post them for advertising. then, she wanted me to come up with a slogan for a t-shirt or a design and if my design or slogan was chosen, they would send me the t-shirt for free. after all of that, Alisa offered to drive me back into town so i wouldn't have to take the bus back. how sweet? i love these people. she is australian. we had a great talk about cultures and she said more americans should ask questions about other cultures, since the rest of the world asks about our country and knows about it. they really do. for one thing, they see our tv shows and news programs and listen to our radio songs. they know our culture. do we know there's? not so much. i have gained wisdom from this trip. i enjoy asking about their lives and cultures. they see value in their homes too and would like for other's to respect it. okay, i'm off my soap box that she brought to my attention.

i changed clothes and went back to the hostel to find julie awake from her two hour nap while i was gone. everyone was hanging out together in the living area of our cozy backpacker's lodge. this was is truly great and feels like home. since it was raining and all the businesses were closed by then, i got julie to go with me to see a movie. we saw Sahara with Matthes Maconouhay and Penelope Cruz. it was action based and funny too. it was nice for us to relax. i told everyone at the hostel about my zorbing experience and how they should go. in fact, i invited everyone to go see the movie with us. everyone is going out tonight to see the premiere of Star Wars III at midnight. julie and i aren't b/c we have to get up so early tomorrow to go to the Waitomo Caves. we are going to go "BLACK WATER RAFTING IN CAVES AND SEE GLOW WORMS." how fun! i'll let you know! i heard eels are the water. ahh, please pray that they stay away from me. we will wear wet suits and sit in innertubes in the freezing cold water in the caves. i don't know exactly what to expect, but i know we will be doing it for three hours. hmm, interesting. it's something you are supposed to do here, though. so i'm doing it. tomorrow is our last night in rotorua then friday we go to the park to see the geothermal geisers before we head up to Auckland for the night. our flight on saturday is early early early. we have to be at the airport around 5am ish. then we have an 11 hour layover in LA, so my Tri-Delta lil sis, Sarah and her husband Todd are coming to pick us up and we are going to celebrate Sarah's birthday on the beach! it's supposed to be cold they say, which is what we are used to here. i cannot imagine what Texas weather is like. do you know what's funny, as i type this i hear my voice saying it in a New Zealand accent. scary! i better come home soon!

i'll update again before i leave. take care!