Arriving in New Zealand

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I’m sorry it’s taken me two weeks to write my first blog. I’ve been busy since the moment I arrived (which I wasn’t expecting), so I’ve been trying to get adjusted as fast as I can, not to mention get over my jet lag (again, which I wasn’t expecting to be so bad). I don’t have the internet where I’m staying so I only get to check my email and get online a few times a week (either at the church or at a friend’s house). But I’ve kept journals of what’s been going on so you’ll get a few blogs sent all at once, then you can expect to get one about every week after that.

I left New York on March 6th and pretty much skipped right through a day, arriving in New Zealand on March 8th. The longest flight, from San Francisco to Auckland wasn’t bad at all. Actually that was the best one in my opinion. They served dinner and breakfast, tea and coffee after each meal, and I watched three good movies. Not to mention that because it was night time I slept a lot as well. The worst flight was from Philadelphia to San Francisco. It was over 6 hours long and I had a kid behind me who just didn’t stop making noise and kicking the seats. Plus it was a day trip so I didn’t sleep much through it.

When I arrived Kate was at the gate waiting for me (she’s the girl I had been speaking to about this trip for about 6 months before I left). But to my surprise she also had 5 other people with her. I wasn’t thrilled, to say the least. I looked awful and I wasn’t in the mood to mingle with people I didn’t know after flying for 27 hours. But I sucked it up and was very nice. They were all amazed on how much luggage I brought (they tell me I broke the record for people coming from overseas for this program-5 suitcases, hahaha). But after looking around at the stores, I don’t regret bringing all my stuff.....everything here is so expensive!

Directly from the airport I was brought to the house I’m staying at. I’m living with a single woman named Fiona, she’s a very nice lady. Unfortunately she lives up on a huge hill, so it’s about a ten minute drive into town. The good part about being up on the hill is that when you look out, the scenery is gorgeous! You can see a huge part of the island. (I’ll take pictures soon I promise. I left my camera adapter and charger at home, so my mom is sending it to me).

I forced myself to stay awake all day when I got here. I wanted to be able to sleep through the night, so I had to be over-tired and somewhat on NZ time. Sunday morning I had to get up for church, and then Monday was the beginning of my weekly routine. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t write my blogs for the first week or so, they wouldn’t have been very positive. Let’s just say I wanted to come home before I even arrived, and I was so homesick I almost changed my ticket to come home on the third day here. But my mom told me I had to stick it out.....so of course I did and it’s not so bad now.

Well that’s all for now. I miss you all at home. Thanks for all your love, support and encouraging words, I need them more that you know. My next few blogs will be a little bit more interesting.

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