Visa!

I have been sick with the cold from Hades for the last week. It meant I missed my choir concerts last week, much to my chagrin, but you can't sing if you can't talk. I did manage to support (and photograph) from the bench - I got loaded with cameras once I'd rasped my apologies to everyone.

I also managed to do a really excellent afternoon of guiding at the wildlife sanctuary. I couldn't talk but they were really short on peoplepower so they told me to just point to stuff. I saw a saddleback, a really cool little black bird with an orange back and waddles, and pointed it out to a couple who'd never seen one before. I ran into them a couple hours later and they showed me the video they'd taken of it. I have never even managed to get a picture of one - they are really cagey. It was phenomenol to see people get as excited as I was about these nifty endangered birds.

The other upshot to the week has been that I finally got my student visa fixed and now I'm allowed to work... which means I'll finally get paid for the grading and teaching I've done. A word of warning - check that your visa says explicitly that you can work! Mine didn't (thanks Los Angeles NZ consulate!) so $120 later I have a new visa that does. It also goes through March 2011... it's a little scary to think that I could be here that long or longer. And with no Nyquil or Nyquil equivalent. Geez.