My mom was here last week and we had such a great time. The first day she got here we stayed in Auckland and go to tour the city, went to the top of the Sky Tower, saw a Warriors game, got the meet the players after. My favorite part though was right after we had picked my mom up from the airport and checked into a hotel nearby. We were all sweaty and gross (my poor Mom had just flown for like 20 hours and we were up at 4ish to pick her up) and were all really excited to shower. They got ready first and by the time I came out of the bathroom, they were playing a game of badminton in the living room laughing hysterically. If you know my mom, you know she travels with random games and things in her bag, it’s hysterical. That moment to me, having my mom and Sam in the same room, in the same country, smiles on everyone’s face, happy, made me happy. And I feel like I was never meant to end up in Hawaii after all. I guess I was just leaving New York searching for something. To be honest I guess it never really mattered where I went to school, i’d be glad to go anywhere and get my doctorate. School was a good excuse to venture off and try different places. But once I came here, I knew I had found what I was looking for.

When people ask me what New Zealand is like, it’s hard to put it into words. When comparing to the states, it’s SO different. For one, I never realized how much we waste. We overindulge and have so much at our disposal all the time. You don’t see a lot go to waste here. There aren’t tons of shops or the availability of clothing like we have (no Marshalls/TJMaxx’s or massive Wal-Marts) to go get new things as often as we need here. Which is a good thing I think. And it’s not that people care don’t care how they look in New Zealand. I quite like the style. It’s just not about name brands or status… And they don’t really use air conditioners or heating systems here. I know it’s a bit colder in NY and would be pretty uncomfortable without heat in December and January, but besides that I guess we don’t really need ac or anything else. We just open the windows here if it’s hot and close them if it starts to get cool. Fans are thrown in every now and then, but that’s the most i’ve seen used and it works. There are clothing lines at every house i’ve seen or stayed at too, so people don’t buy dryers. It’s nice to be able to do that. And they also are water conscious. There are half flushes and full flushes (i’ll spare you going into what each is for- I think you get the picture) which saves a bit of water each time the toilets used. Oh and the sayings! That’ll take up the whole next blog posting with the different words/sayings, like keen (which I catch myself using all the time now) and the word ay added to the end of every sentence. But I love it… I love that I get to have both and experience both. If you think about it too, I couldn’t have picked a farther place to live or anywhere more different than the hustle and bustle of NY. They are both such unique places. New York has well, almost everything- the best city in the world (um it’s true), beaches, mountains, I could go on and on. And New Zealand is the greenest/hilliest place i’ve ever seen, surrounded by the most beautiful beaches and has everything else you could ask for that the states doesn’t. When people ask me about New Zealand I tell them, you’d love it here. And you all would. One more month and i’ll be able to tell you all about it in person… when Sam and I get to fly to the states to see everyone… and get to start our next crazy adventure.