Okay more

So it's been a pretty long day--I'm still considering it that since there was no formal sleep time, although it's spanned three calendar days. Flight from IAH to LAX was pretty boring; the movie was "The Family that Preys," needless to say, I didn't watch. Watched "The Sting" on my computer (it was awesome), didn't eat the meal (it wasn't).
Had to switch to the international terminal at LAX, which I've never been to before. It's so much swankier than the usual Continental one I'm at. Had some fancy restaurants and lots of neon and giant Kobes. Still had to wait about an hour to get through security (versus no time at all in Houston). Eventually made it onto the plane, which ended up being delayed for two and a half hours while they closed a loose valve. Right. They showed us an episode of Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty while we waited. Quite the consolation. Mostly I passed the time talking to the cool Texan couple in my row. This was an 11 hour flight, but since they were leasing these crummy planes from United, we didn't get individual TVs. Instead, they chose the movies for us, which were "City of Ember" (watched from LAX to Houston in December), "The Longshots" (chose not to watch from SFO to Houston), and "The Family that Preys" (...again?). I sort of drifted in and out of consciousness for most of the fight.
Finally got to Fiji, which was the most podunk airport I've been to. The terrain was beautiful, but it was basically a runway and a terminal in the middle of a tropical village. I had to get off the plane, wait in security, and then walk right back onto the same plane. That math didn't really add up. We were running so late from the LAX delay that I didn't get time to look at all the interesting things in the Fiji tourist shops, but luckily I'll be back in June.
Eventually made it to Auckland, where I had to navigate the bus system to get to my hostel. There was a really helpful Kiwi woman at the airport who got me onto the right bus for the first leg, which took me downtown to this gigantic bus depot. From there, I finally found a map and able to get on the second bus, where another really nice man (the busdriver) helped me get to my next stop. At this point, I was within the radius of my hostel, but still didn't know where it was. I wandered around for a while, until I asked a guy for directions. He just happened to have formerly lived next door to the hostel, so he told me to throw all my stuff in his car, and drove me right there! Another friendly Kiwi.
I settled in, showered, and set out to explore the best I could. Which of course means going to a grocery store. Produce looked good, there was a huge Cadbury selection, and lots of interesting meats and sausages. I bought a sandwich called "Brunch Benedict," which was a cold poached egg, ham, lettuce, and hollandaise on wheat. A good idea, but the sandwich itself was gross. I roamed downtown Auckland for a while, going into a mall and checking out a movie theater (8 American movies and two Chinese). For the most part, the city seems pretty standard, at least the downtown touristy parts. I went to Sky Tower, which is the tallest structure in NZ (and some girls I talked to seem to think in the whole Southern Hemisphere), but is mostly a hotel and casino. I lost two dollers in a slot machine, which I think was well spent. They carded me going in, but the gambling age here is 20, so I was off the hook. Also bought a beer at dinner, so that was exhilirating.
Ok looks like my Canadian roommate Roger wants to sleep, so time to stop making noise.