So here I go again. After plenty of requests and encouragement from friends and family who desire to keep up with my happenings and whereabouts I have succumbed and decided to keep another blog for my New Zealand adventure. Although not as exciting and diverse as the Semester at Sea experience this New Zealand trip has a different purpose. Many people have asked why I have decided to do this, what I plan on doing, and the main motivating factor behind this decision to move, and it was quite simply because I couldn't answer the question, why not? I realized that there may be truly few times in my life where the feasibility of making such a change would be realistically possible and it happens that one of these times is now. It was simply the idea of living life to the fullest and knowing deep inside that if I didn't take this opportunity I would regret it for the rest of my life. Not to mention this country is beautiful.
So now that you know why I am here I suppose I can give an update on the past months events. I arrived July 24 2008 and finally a month later have a place to live in Wellington with phone, internet, furniture, my own room, and all the other necessities for a comfortable existence. Before arriving here in Wellington I was in a basement for a few nights at one place, on a couch for two nights in another, at hostels, and finally on the floor for 10 days at Ashleys cousins house while we looked for a place to live. I also arrived just in time for the worst storm systems to cross the country in 10 years where it rained for four days straight with high winds then continued to rain every day for the next three weeks. Actually since I have arrived there have probably only been about seven days where it did not rain at all. Granted a large part of that is due to the climate for this time of year since it is in the middle of winter. The weather has been less than ideal and somewhat depressing especially during the housing search but things are finally coming together.
We have managed however to squeeze in a few activities along the way including a sail on an old Americas Cup yacht in Auckland harbor, a Maori cultural performance, a ballet (hmm), a wildlife sanctuary, an asian cultural festival sponsored by ASEAN, and a comedy show in town. Other than that things have been rather uneventful and revolve mainly around getting settled in with setting up utilities and buying extra necessities like a space heater. Since electricity is expensive people often keep it cold indoors so I have tried to recreate the natural North Carolina environment in my room by keeping it nice and warm. My room is probably one of the warmest places in Wellington and I love that way.
Other than that I am finally starting to make progress on the job front. I finished my CV and have begun contacting temping agencies and listings online to find something appropriate and flexible. Thats about it for now and I will try to start updating the blog once or twice a month to keep things up to date. I have posted a few pictures below and please feel free to call me on my skype number at 919-809-6949 if you need to reach me or just send me a message. Cheers.
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