First Update from New Zealand!!!

The plane trip:

So here I am just a quick snapshot of where I am and how the first week went. First things first. Got in the car to go to Boston for my 6 am flight. Had to be at the airport 3 hrs early. So I left my house at about 10 and planned on sleeping in the car for the entire time buuuut my phone was in my bag way behind me and I couldn’t reach it so it kept buzzing every 5 minutes keeping me awake. It was a voicemail from my messiah people Andrew and Christian… thanks for that. Then my flight was 5 hours long to LA and I sat by a woman who was wicked nice but she took up a lot of space so I got real close with the window. Real close. But she was nice and talked talked talked a lot a lot. Then me and Rob a kid who was going to NZ with me, went to the beach at santa montica. We tried to get a cab but the dude didn’t speak English and kindly asked us to get out. But really he was just yelling in Spanish and I was like English please im still in America. Then we chilled on the beach before getting on our 13 hour flight to NZ. Well I sat by two elderly people who were cool but loved to talk so I didn’t sleep much. And the man was a rugby manager and they spent 2 months in America traveling and doing everything even sky diving they said. They were in there 70s so gram If you want to go you might as well. Then for our flight meal I was fed somekind of mystery “chicken” I didn’t really eat much. Then we got to

At the airport we met the rest of our group.(4 more girls) And had to declare everything in our bags. Me not thinking forgot to mention a ton of things so I got through security with a cinnomonbun from mom an apple a fishing pole medication all things that were not supposed to be brought through but they didn’t even stop me. In the airport I made my first judgments of everyone. There are some characters but I won’t right that here.  Then we were picked up in a 15 passenger van that smelled real bad. Mildew bad. And taken to kiakoura NZ to the convent.

Now New Zealand:

It was wicked pretty ride with huge hills with so many sheep. Only 1 story houses that were very simple and real close together. Then we got out a ways and were going up winding roads like you see cars driving on in car commercials. Each farm has hedges that are trimmed perfectly and are about 18 feet high. No idea how they trim them. I know I wouldn’t do it by hand..

 

The convent is nice its in the “country” its all fields and house everywhere in the middle of fields with sheep and cows. So way more neighbors than I have in real life. It on the coast with huge mountains 4 kilometers from the ocean. The convent is NOT heated at all. So its always the same temp as it is outside which is about 50 or 55. It’s cold. Food is great and I havnt had a bad meal we have a great cook named Emma and she rocks. (well she made sushi and that was disgusting but that is it)  But I must say its pretty creepy at times like when you want to go down stairs at night to eat cake and there are no lights.  My room with with the two other dudes rob and steve and we have a porch on our room which is on the second floor and outside our window we have a greart view of the fyffe mountains and over the gardens but the best part is that we have a fire escape! (yeah Dottie roof access). Also outside is a fiberglass nun. She is life size and made of fiberglass and her eyes look right up to our window. Her name is Agatha and she is the most demonized nun I have ever seen. She is creepy.

There are 7 girls here and only 2 other boys that are students. Pretty good ratio I suppose. There are some characters here ill give you that. Im sure some of them have been composting and not flushing toilets for some time now.

So we went to a sheep “farm” at mr and mrs tops farm. It’s a place where cows and sheep roam free and there is a house and he shears them once a year and pretty much hunts wild pigs and deer everyday to keep the flock safe. So he doesn’t really feed or shelter the sheep at all. It was great. You don’t need a hunting license or permit to hunt and there are no seasons for different animals. All the girls said it looked like they should have their own tv show. As Emma (student friend who laughs like she is having an asthma attack) stated “it was lovely and they were the most charming people I have had the pleasure of meeting”

We went to some “natural” hot springs. It was a waterpark I don’t know what anyone was talking about. There were a lot of naked old men. A lot more than I was expecting.

And today had a bbq with some locals. Thought I was talking to a guy named victor, but then realized about an hour later his name was jim. So its pretty hard to understand the accent I spose. And I didn’t think I would hear the word “what” half as many times as I do at home but people here don’t know how to use the word wicked or the word hurt. So people cant really understand me.

My roommate is lactose intolerant and smells real bad when he farts. Which is all the time.

 

New Zealand fun facts:

There are no native mammals but now they have introduced wild goats, elk, possum, weasels, and they even tried to introduce moose. Yes people they brought 5 moose accrcossed the ocean and expected them to live in new Zealand. Obviously the moose died in like 4 months. Shocker.

There are seals, killer whales, many penguins, dolphins, and crayfish. Everywhere and I want to volunteer at the local aquarium because they have penguins there soo that’s cool

 

Character development:

 My favorite person here is a sarcastic kiwe (person native to NZ) named Lisa she is the best. She works as a marketer for the local whale watch. I want to go to work with her sometime before I leave but I havnt asked yet. she says she hates me but I know she loves me. She loves little house on the prairie and nacho libre the movie with jack black.

Our cook named emma is wicked funny! She is teeny tiny and cooks good food and has a great accent buuuut she isn’t single at the moment.