Life as Jason's step sister

I have only been here 4 days now but I’m learning that by being Jason Otter’s step sister can get you quite a way – at least to locating family members if/when lost. Example – I went to meet Jason at his local after work which is in Auckland city centre, first sign it’s his local, he has a car park pass for the place. I got to the pub and bravely walked in by myself – after all it was full of NZ men and very much a man’s pub, me being 5’2” and a girl doesn’t help me fit in. So I walked to the bar, bought myself a drink and asked if Jason was around. The guy replied ‘yeah he’s outside’. I’ve been told I could end up working here so I asked about a job and was told to bring in my CV, which I would definitely do the next day. I was then asked who I was, to which I replied ‘Jason’s step sister’ (strange feeling that takes some getting used to describing myself as a step sister to a guy in a pub in NZ who knows Jason), I then ventured outside to find Jason.

I met his friends and had my first drink of my stay, which I’ve been told by Jason will go up daily. I have a feeling he’s on a mission to increase my alcohol tolerance as Rianne was in first year, although I hope it doesn’t have the same disastrous consequences. I can’t see Jason being the type to hold my hair back over the toilet while I’m that drunk my eyes are rolling round in the back of my head.

Everyone I've met so far has asked me how long I'm planning on staying, I dutifully reply ''6 months'' and have been laughed at several times - 99% of people I've talked to are placing bets on how long it will be before I decide to push my flights back and stay til my visa expires!!

It is commonly known that I dislike seafood - Jason however intends to ''educate my pallette'' while I'm here, for me this resembles more like torture by food stuffs!! In true Otter style, he threw me in at the deep end and we went to a Japanese sushi bar. I had no idea what to order so he ordered for me. We had seaweed soup to start with, followed by a seafood platter which included:
raw tuna,
raw beef,
raw salmon,
beef terakyi,
prawns,
raw snapper,
sushi,
and the killer for me...oyster

I said I'd try everything but the oyster, so naturally I was made to try that first. Can't say I'll be going too near it again! I did well and tried everything, although I couldn't quite stomach all the raw beef or salmon but managed pretty much everything else which is damn good for me!

Jason intends to educate me in several things while I'm a resident here, which include but aren't limited to:

- catch a fish and eat it raw
- learn about NZ wine and become a refined wine drinker
- learn to cook a meal as I will be taking charge of cooking for the family when the rents come over
- learn to brave the seabiscuit
- jump off sky tower

So all in all I think my time here is going to be highly rewarding if a little out of the ordinary for me, but that is what I'm here for, so am embracing everything (apart from maybe the sushi and oysters) with open arms!