i landed on the 22nd of may, 2010. all of 34 long drive (minus big red, plus the grandmother next door), came to the airport to welcome me to new zealand. they saw me first. someone called out my name, i think it was steven. they were holding up a huge american flag. i laughed.
william was first to hold my hand, on the way to the car. he wanted theo, so henry got alvin. charlotte got a pink one named brittany. i bought them at lax. i probably should have gotten something for the adults as well, but ah.
the drive home was stunning. tamaki drive in may is mint. tamaki drive on any sunny day, i think, is mint.
mary-anne, natalie's mom, gave me a key to the spare room in her flat. she told me that that room was mine to do with whatever i pleased; anytime. she said that i shouldn't feel like i have to tell her when i'm going to be there, what i'm going to be doing, or who i'm going to be doing it with. she said that that room was mine if i needed some peace and quiet or alone time or "if i met someone, and didn't want to spend any money." i giggled politely at that, because what else can you do when a 70-something year old woman insinuates those sorts of things...
i went to my room after a cup of coffee and only planned on taking a short nap before dinner. but i ended up sleeping all the way through to the next day.
they took me to a birthday party almost as soon as i woke up and introduced me to their friends.
oh, have you met our angela? she's our new au pair. angela here is american.
that's basically how it went. every time.
the day after that was my first day on the job. i cried halfway through it. homesickness, probably. and some other sick feeling of "shit, i'm wasting my life cleaning up after these complete strangers." the homesickness went away eventually, but the second sick never did.
a week after that, the boys had their birthday party. natalie had me go around taking pictures of everything and everyone. after that, she dropped me off at britomart with her vest and mary anne's jumper and told me to walk around and get to know the city.
um.
okay, lady.
so i walked. and i walked and i walked and i walked. and i got lost fairly quickly. (except for now i know i wasn't lost at all; i walked along customs, then up queen, then around vulcan lane, down high, back up queen...)
i met my first kiwi galpals that day: bex from the french jewelry shop, and grace from the cd shop. i wandered into their shops and asked what fun thing they could recommend for me to do, and they both ended up giving me lists of cool cities to visit, kiwi bands to listen to, good bars, not so good bars...
helpful. so helpful. they gave me their phone numbers and i gave them mine. they promised they would let me know about, and bring me along to, whatever social event came up so that i could make some more kiwi friends. and they did. and they still do sometimes. :)
i was also offered weed that day, i think. i don't know. i must have said the right tourist phrase or something. i rocked up to the pipe shop to ask them the same questions i asked bex and grace, and they responded with something like, yeah well what are you after, are you looking to get so (sewww) high or just feel good?
neither. not today. but thanks for that, i'll keep you guys in mind.
natalie picked me up at the ferry building. she was so surprised that i had made friends.
um.
okay, lady.
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