Merry Christmas!

It has been nearly a month and a half since I arrived in this beautiful place that I am fortunate enough to call home. I am currently leading the most normal life that I have (maybe) ever had.

Every morning I awake at 7:00, I put on my pencil skirt, pressed blouse, and walking shoes and exit my hillside home. I walk down the winding roads and long stone staircases past oceanside views, and old colorful homes tucked inside their verdant caves. Through flower gardens and old Jewish cemeteries and eventually skirting in and out of businessmen and women in the city, I arrive at my work. My office is filled with cheerful faces and though my actual work can sometimes get monotonous and rather tedious, the more than occasional joke and pleasantries passed between my coworkers make it worthwhile. At lunch I pull out my little lunchbox filled with either a banana and nutella sandwich, or an avocado and tomato sandwich, and walk to the little grassy patch in front of the Parliament nearby. At 4:30 I pack up and make the ascension towards home. Once home, usually out of breath but feeling accomplished and happy, I sit outside in our great backyard and read. Rachael and Chris and sometimes Elliot and Caitlin join me and we wait out the rest of the sunlight together (this is on a good day, of course, it has been quite rainy and windy as of late). Then it is time to eat dinner (which I make in a real kitchen!) and then comes my retreat to bed where I read until I cannot keep my eyes open any longer. I fall asleep in my tiny single bed and wake up hours later to birdsounds and do the whole thing over again. It must sound terribly boring, but the repetition and schedule is new to me, and therefore still very exciting. The weekends are far better of course- barbecues and lots of wine and laughing and stumbling around town with my new wonderful friends.

I already feel like I belong here. I no longer notice the difference in accents, the food and the culture feel familiar, and I know my way around pretty damn well.

It is almost Christmas, and I must admit that despite being quite happy for the most part, I also am feeling a little bit lonely to be so far away and in an atmosphere so unlike what I have grown accustomed to for the holidays. I miss my family and friends dearly, especially those who I have unfortunately lost touch with due to busy schedules and distance.

On Monday I leave for the Coromandel beaches where I will stay for a few days on my own until I meet up with the others for new years on a nearby coast. I can't wait to see it all, but I also wish I had someone to share the Coromandel with. Alas, I will enjoy it on my own, just as I have all of the other magical places I have singularly experienced.

I am still unsure about my future plans, but content with not knowing for the moment.

Today is my first day of holiday and I will be spending all day in the sun listening to my new favorite musical discovery: Agnus and Julia Stone.

I will really try and post more often, there are so many funny stories and beautiful things that need to be told.

Merry Christmas!

I still haven't seen any sheep, but I have seen this...

We went on  'bush walk' through the local forests

Frieda and Sam brought their cat (yes this is as strange in New Zealand as it would be in the States)

and here we are in France! Not really, but it was a French cafe and a French man with a moustache, wearing a beret served us

Things continue to be quite wonderful. I know I need to write a more thorough update, but I haven't the time at the moment. Soon more words will come, hopefully before I embark on my first Kiwi trip!

Lucky Me!

Hello from New Zealand! I guess that by now you all have assumed that I arrived safely, and you are probably wondering what I think of it. Well, its okay, I guess...

 JUST KIDDING! THIS PLACE IS INCREDIBLE!!! I knew after a half hour of being here that I made the right move. None of the other places I have ever been have incited immediate feelings of comfort, contentment and confidence in my trajectory. I could sit here and describe to you how beautiful it is, but I will just show you instead.

This is my view as I walk to work (more on the job later!)

and this is the view from my room (more on the house later, too!!)

Elliott and Caitlin sharing fish and chips from the lookout up the street

Caitlin's birthday dinner (we are not as awkward as we seem)

Wellington Farmer's Market

View from my dining room window

plants that look like animals!!!

My walkway

Preparation for our Thanksgiving feast

I made those delicious mashed potatoes (not from a box!)

Caitlin's apple pie (P.S Caitlin is the best!)

The cemetery I walk through on my way to work

SO, I live with two lovely friends of Caitlin's, Chris and Rachael. Its just great, everything about it- I have absolutely no complaints. I can watch the sunset over the mountains and ocean from my window, and as soon as it grows dark I can see all the lights of the city. My room is cozy and private with a built in desk and  a big oak door. The yard is full of beautiful plants and I don't live too far from my new work.

 Speaking of new work: I am temp-ing downtown in a high rise building for the New Zealand government Department of Labour (HA!) I interpret collective agreements between private employers and unions. Though it is far from my dream job, the work is actually very interesting. Also, I get to pick my own hours, and it pays well. My new coworkers are all very friendly and welcoming. Everyday at 3pm we gather in a little circle to do the day's quiz in the newspaper together. On Fridays at 4pm, bottles of wine are opened in our office and we gather around again to drink together before parting for the weekend. 

I feel so lucky to have had all of these wonderful things happen already, and so lucky to have Caitlin and her friends. Frieda, Sam, Krystina, Lee, and Caitlin's boyfriend Elliott have made things so easy for me, and I am incredibly thankful! Things aren't perfect with the aspects of my life that lie outside of this small island that I have thrown myself on, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that good things will continue to happen, and that all the bad stuff will cease. 

I'm here!!! (But we are going to pretend for the sake of this last Virginia post that I am there still)

((This post is also titled "Best friends and Dinosaurs.")) Katherine surprised me and came down on a magical bus from the Big City! We spent one glorious day together in Winchester where we visited the infamous Dinosaur Land (ok, so it isn't exactly infamous, but its a pretty awesome place with an undeserved lack of notoriety). Dinosaur land has pretty huge models of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals (and lots of other things that are neither dinosaurs, nor prehistoric- see tree with face and King Kong). These models come complete with cool fake blood and 1970's fur. 

After Dino Land, we shopped (like we do) and had drinks in the happenin' downtown Winchester (the "happenin' " is sarcasm, and why do I like parentheses so much today?!) It was the best Tuesday I have had in a very long time (not sarcasm).

Less than a week!

Right now I should be packing. I should be weeding through my enormous piles of clothes and shoes. My arms should be busy lifting boxes and rearranging my stuff in our already overcrowded garage. None of these things are happening though. Instead I am sitting on my bed, surrounded by it all, trying yet another avoidance tactic.

Welp, I will skip over most of the boring GRE stuff. To surmise- in the end, I studied pretty hard, but still didn't do as well as I would have liked. I am retaking the test in 60 days from New Zealand. After I finished taking the GRE and left the testing site where the most rude women I have ever met were employed, Maria, Sarah, and I spent the day together. It was fun and funny to be with them, until about 10:00 pm. At 10:00 pm, Maria and Sarah forced me into a theatre where I "watched" Paranormal Activity 3. Now, I placed quotes around "watched," because the majority of the movie I spent hiding behind my sweatshirt and watching it's blue stitching instead of the pointlessly terrifying movie on the screen in front of me.

The next day I left for West Virginia. I made a little stop in Winchester and had a goodbye dinner with the wonderful Lori, whom I will sorely miss, and then headed to Lars' and Liesel's. This visit was a little different. Liesel was at work all day Wednesday and Thursday, so I got to spend some quality time with Lars. I now know at least 100 more facts about the Civil War (this will impress you: I can now tell the difference between the three types of Confederate Jackets, ha!), and was thoroughly charmed and endeared by him.

I shot my first gun on Friday. I have always been pretty petrified of guns; the mere sight of them used to make my stomach curl. I don't like being afraid of things, so that day, I not only looked at one bravely, but I held multiple guns, and even shot one! Liesel documented the big moment for me. I can pretty safely say that I will never own a gun; I can definitely say that I will never shoot an animal, but I have to admit that it was pretty fun.

That week I went to a few really excellent shows, stood on the roof of an opera house, smelled and watched others consume Ramp Wine, scraped paint off a 100 year old barn, looked at real estate far too expensive for my currently humble means (most remarkably a house on the river built in 1780, that I would love to live in), admired the changing leaves on the tallest of trees, read, and wrote. I love that farm, almost as much as I love Lars and Liesel.

On Saturday, I met up with Carolyn, and we hiked the C&O canal trail. The scenery was just beautiful, and the company was just perfect. That night I drove my little van back to Hampton Roads and went to celebrate Sarah's birthday at a local club. I ended up having a really great night and I even managed to avoid talking about anything intellectual with uninterested strangers.

Lars' Confederate Jackets hanging from trees so that they would weather more naturally

"I could stand here all day contemplating the hell out of these jackets!"

(or something like that)

Lars and Liesel!

a still from the little video of me shootin' gunz!

Lars' band 'The Fox Hunt' in Winchester

The fall in Virginia (or West Virginia) is better than fall anywhere else

The C&O canal trail

Simone was home!

all grown up.

I leave for New Zealand in less than a week from now. I am growing a little more anxious as each day passes, but I am mostly just tremendously excited for my new life to begin.