Arrival!!!!!

I arrived in New Zealand on January 2nd after taking off the 31st of December (whoa!). As I got off the plane, the Auckland airport was blasting Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ song “New York.” I guess I felt right at home. I am now in Wanganui where my aunt lives, a town of about 43,000 on the Southwest corner of the North Island. I’ve spent the last few days acclimating myself to the time zone change (17 hours ahead), as well as the climate change. What gets me the most about this whole ordeal is the fact that I’m now living in summer as my friends and family brave freezing temperatures and snow. I sweat profusely the day of arrival but now have settled into kiwi summertime at a comfortable 70 degrees. Life is hard. Though summer here is not like our summer. Being surrounded by water, it is not uncommon for a lot of wind and temperatures to drop periodically throughout the week. Yesterday it was so windy that you could not walk outside for more than a few minutes. I tried, using my whole “I’m in NZ and will not be kept inside” mentality, but was disappointed when I could barely walk and returned home with a runny nose chilled to the bone. Despite the windy day, my face, arms, and legs are significantly tanned after a few days worth of walks around the neighborhood (that’s with sunscreen). This is AWESOME from a cosmetic standpoint, but SCARY from a cosmetic standpoint in 10 years. My tan is a reminder that I can’t take this sun too lightly.
My Aunt has kept me busy with lunch dates, afternoon teas, and dinner parties with local families and friends of hers. I think the predominant amount of Americans in NZ are tourists or young backpackers who very rarely make it to a somewhat normal kiwi town like Wanganui. That being said I am treated like a local celebrity. My first full day we had lunch with a family in their home with the predominant 3hours of conversation directed around me. I was greeted with “OH Phoebe, like from Friends,” (which was normal) and was told I had a really beautiful accent (which was weird). The grandma and grandpa of the family were the only ones who had been to America. They visited California and Florida. Why? Disney Land and Disney World, duh! Their major observations of America were how “clean” Disney World was and how fat people in America are. We compared pronunciations of different words and laughed at each other. They quizzed me on Fahrenheit- Celsius conversion over our food, nearly triggering panic attacks as I am slow at and hate mental math. All of them volunteered in one organization or another, and asked if volunteerism was big for Americans back home. We talked about climate change, and they said anyone not believing in global warming were idiots. On a lighter note, we talked about how we all love dogs, and also how much they’d love to visit New York and the neighborhoods like Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. Much like the rest of the world, I am immediately assumed to be from the city. That night when I was in bed there was a small 3.5 earthquake in Wanganui-which I guess are common for NZ. To my dismay, I did not feel the quiet rumbling-not even an earthquake could disrupt my jet-lagged slumber.
I have yet to do much real New Zealand sight-seeing, but am already blown away by the fairy-tale beauty even a small city like Wanganui has to offer. I truly feel like I have landed on another planet, as there are so many trees, birds, and flowers I’ve never seen before.

a "Pukeko" bird
The ideal climate and location makes biodiversity so diverse, I can pick out something like 20 different species of trees just walking around the block. Absolutely EVERYTHING grows beautifully here. The nasturtium flower we plant in America is a weed in NZ that pops up between the cracks in cities. There are trees straight out of Alice and Wonderland and birds with names like whio,hoiho, takapu, and weka. It truly is a wonderland, and I have to pinch myself to be reminded of the reality of how lucky I am to be here. Anyways, that’s all for now but check back soon for more updates to come!

a "Pohutakawa" tree, also nicknamed as NZ's Christmas tree because it blooms in December


Kai Iwi Beach, a ten minute drive from my Aunt's house

My favorite rock!







Half the world and an ocean away, but kitties in this world are all the same