So... why are we doing this?

Good afternoon, everyone.
Ok.  So first of all, I just want to say that we are not writers.  If you're looking for a travel blog filled with eloquent and lengthy tales of people we meet, destinations only we have discovered, and the emotional and personal revelations we have on our travels, you may want to visit Lonely Planet or other such internet websites.  This one's gonna be a lot of photos.  And some words. Sorry for my writing style.  Sarcasm comes of super well when written down.  

However.  If you're here as family or friends (which you probably are, who else would read this!) and want to keep up with where we currently are living, working (or not working), and what we are eating, then Welcome!  Here we go.

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January 29

Weslie

Time left until departure: 9 weeks

So a bit of back-story for our journey here.  We are currently living in Albuquerque, under the old cliche of "20-something college graduates living in my parents basement."  Almost literally- no basements in Abq but we are in a room on the lower level by the garage.  I've got my business degree and am currently using that to its full potential by working at Starbucks; six years now, not including brief stints trying to be an adult as both a real estate agent (in 2008. I picked a great time to do that. Thanks a lot, economy) and call center insurance claims rep.  Riveting.   Chris is halfway through with a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering.  Sounds fancy, yet has been stuck in this loop for years:

That, plus the lack of other grown-up things like having kids and owning a house, we realized that this is a good opportunity to do something stupid and adventurous.Shout out to Jo, currently kicking butt as a Captain in the Air Force, for planting the seed for this idea.  She came to town to visit, and we were chatting about how someday we'll run a hostel in Colorado together when we're old.  Later that afternoon, I thought about it and realized its an awesome idea.  Seriously, Jo- we are realizing this dream someday.  So the idea started that I need to get to know all about this backpacker hostel-running thing.  Of course, I have exactly no hotel experience.  To nobody's surprise, I picked New Zealand as our destination since I lived there for a year already and we went there for three weeks after we were married.  In my classic style, the time it took for me to hatch a seed of "Hey, we should go overseas for no reason" to finding a host family program and a visa that could take us there for a whole year, took about 30 minutes.  This was in October.  Unfortunately, Chris let me know that being irresponsibly spontaneous takes months of planning and saving.  He's good that way.  I'm more of this:

So I guess we even each other out.  

We decided that Chris should probably get a job to help contribute to this. Anyone that knows us does not need any explanation to this situation.  I also decided to find a second job.  Serving jobs would probably be the best for my schedule, and a good way to make some money quickly.  We took the alcohol licensing class  and 48 hours later, I was hired as a server at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen.  I have no serving experience and the menu there is huge so training was pretty intense, but I didn't have to repeat any sections and was on the floor in about two weeks makin' that cash.  We decided that in addition to my steady Sbux check, I would need to pull in about $200/week in tips.  So far its working out well, I got lucky with a restaurant where the average per person bill is around $35.  Most nights I bring in at least $75 and I work four nights.  

Until yesterday, Chris still couldn't find a part time job to help out.  Even tried to get him a job at other Starbucks stores but no dice.  Finally, he put on his applications that he has three years of college experience.  Which I suppose he does, technically.  He got three interviews the next week.  He ended up taking a job yesterday at a call center in Rio Rancho.  Good pay, and a training program of six weeks which leaves him three weeks of actual work before we leave.  

9 weeks to save all the money we can to fund our travels.  Plane tickets are currently $1300 each, return, which we have managed to save up already, plus enough to maybe buy a small car when we get there.
Once we realized that we could actually make this happen, its getting exciting.  Sorry to all of you that I see on a regular basis, I'm sure its all I talk about. 
And in typical Rouse fashion, Chris just says, "It'll be interesting."
Yes, babe. It will be interesting.