"Kia Ora" - Maori greeting

A day into this experience, and I’m loving it so much already.

It’s been raining here pretty much constantly since we got here, but I don’t mind that much. It’s more the cold that’s getting to me right now. Since we’re at an old convent build in the early 1900’s, it has no heating system (aside from the fireplaces that we can’t use), so we each have a little space heater in out rooms and that’s it. Feels like camp kind of with all of us bundled in our sweaters, hats, gloves, and blankets around the house. Wish I had brought my wool slippers down now. My feet are always cold – definitely need to go buy wool socks. Even with limited heat, I love how we’re living in a house. There are several rooms on the first and second floor, a classroom on the second floor, and a kitchen, dining room, and lounge area on the first floor. We also have a building off to the side that has another classroom in it and the guys’ rooms. So all-in-all, it’s “quaint” as the kiwi would say it :) I love eating in a regular dining room instead of a cafeteria. Makes everything seem more homey.

We solved the space problem in our room – they’re giving us 2 more armoires as long as we build them. So I don’t have to live out of a suitcase after all! Yay! :) Still working on the whole unpacking part. Not in too much of a hurry. I figure we have almost 4 months for that.

We went on a scavenger hunt around town today, to get the lay of the land and to meet some of the locals there. That was really fun. The town is actually pretty small. There aren’t as many name brand shops as there are locally run tourist stores. Everyone seems so nice, and unlike America, not in a rush. If you ask them a question it’s like they want to start a conversation with you instead of just answering and getting on with their day. I like that. It makes the town seem more personable. Apparently Kaikoura is a big tourist town, so come spring/summer there will be lots of tourists. Oh, and Father’s Day down here is Sept. 7, and the first day of spring was Sept. 1. Dates are a little off, but I can deal. ;) Jaywalking’s common here – no crosswalks. And I was surprised when I found the drinking age is 18 down here. Oh, and they drive on the wrong side of the road!!! Did NOT know that. I am still thrown off by it. It all seems so…backwards. Another thing that’s backwards: the faucets! The cold is on the left, hot is on the right. Weird, huh? Not to mention the water goes down the drain in the opposite direction! That’s cool. These little differences all seem so novel right now, but I’m sure I’ll get used to them here soon.

Still stressing about my wallet. I haven’t been able to contact the airlines yet, but I was able to call home on my cell phone to start getting things resolved – costs for that are astronomical though! *sigh* Hopefully I’ll get everything fixed soon, but I hate having to depend on other people for money and stuff.

Internet should be up at the Old Convent by Monday, so hopefully I’ll be able to communicate with you all a little better soon!

Leah