and she's off....

Today I am leaving the house I have lived in for the past 2 months. it's been real. and so fun. we stopped 12 hour shifts about 2 weeks ago and have had a much more normal life-style since then. 8 hour days, weekends off, games of soccer and squash (!! yes squash. and wow i forgot how FUN that game is!)after work, dinners with the family (my house that is.) we had a vintage party at the horse racing track in town, a bbq at my house with couches and chairs outside in the backyard and fires and stars, parties with locals and a jukebox, soccer matches, dancing and too much beer. (this country has a rather intense drinking problem i have to say.) i have loved working with the poeple i worked with, and living with the poeple i lived with. I have loved getting to know New Zealand, getting bored of Blenheim and the one live band that plays the same 90s covers every weekend, feeling comfortable in this country, on this side of the street, eating pies and making wine. I have loved being abroad, and exploring myself and the people who you stumble upon while abroad. I have loved being here.

and now, in about 30 minutes, i will saddle up again. lug my pack over my shoulders and suddenly i'm transmogrified back into a turtle with my house on my back. which i love.

it's may 16th. i fly from auckland on the 26th. that's 10 days to get into some serious trouble, find my way out of it again, and board that plane for the US. it's insane how quickly this time has flown for me. and of course, at the same time i feel like ive been living in NZ for ages and ages. I'm excited for these 10 days of traveling because it is relaxed, not rushed and jam-packed like our first month of traveling was. Today, I'm heading back to Welly to meet up with those friends from before, then out to Martinborough to get Gen, then we're back in a car and driving up to Auckland (with some wine tastings along the way), and then we have a few days to just wing it. I love not having a set plan for the last bit. it is nice to just know that whatever happens will be fine--I am comfortable with this country and know enough people here and there, to know that all will be good.

til I have internet again. or perhaps not.