Getting to New Zealand

I started my new job this week, and things are going great! I only work with one Kiwi, oddly enough. There are 17 people in my group, representing 16 different countries! We have a break for morning tea from 10:00 to 10:15, which I think is pretty cool (especially since the company provides breakfast food for morning tea on Fridays). The laid-back attitude here is much different from what I'm used to. All week long I was the first person in the office (at 8:00) and the last to leave (at 4:30). They don't even open the building before 8:00; you have to use a special card to get in before then! (Hello, Mr. 40-hour Work Week. I believe we met briefly several years ago, and it's nice to make your acquaintance once again. I hope this will be a long and satisfying relationship.)

I'm learning to pronounce words the Kiwi way: "zed" instead of "z," "to-mah-to," "or-e-GAH-no," etc. My favorite is al-you-MIN-ee-um for aluminum. The Maori location names have a pronunciation all their own, and while I haven't figured them all out yet, I've figured out that "Wh" is pronounced with an "f" or a "v" sound (depending on the accent of the person pronouncing it). So Whangheri is "Fangheri." I left a few messages for people about flats (apartments) they had advertised on TradeMe (the NZ version of eBay), and I gave my work number since I didn't have a cell phone (I mean mobile--"MO-bye-uhl") yet. A lady called me the next day, wanting to talk to me about a flight I wanted to buy. I was confused and kept telling her that I was new and that they had probably given me someone else's phone number--I hadn't called anyone about flights. She kept insisting: "You're Heidi, and you called yesterday about a flight. A flight in Northland." Finally I figured out that she was talking about a flat!

And speaking of flats, I believe I've found one. I was originally planning to live with a woman from church, but that didn't really work out. The timing was off (she needed someone before I moved here), plus she has a cat (I lived with Wendy's cats for several weeks when I was staying at her house and decided I don't like them--no offense, Wendy). I checked out a couple of places I found on TradeMe, and I found one right here in the city, about a 15-minute walk from work. I'll only have one flatmate, which is unusual here, and she and I hit it off right away. The flat is small compared to what I'm used to (the kitchen is basically a hallway with appliances in it--two people couldn't be in there at once) but most places here are small compared to what I'm used to. On the plus side, the place didn't smell like mold (also unusual here), it gets good sunlight (important since there's no central heating), and the bedroom is a good size. I'm hoping things work out well. The current flatmate isn't going to move out until August 16, so I have a few more weeks in the hotel. Since my bed and other belongings won't arrive until the end of August, that works out perfectly!

Church last Sunday was great! I arrived just as the ward choir was running through the piece they were going to sing in Sacrament Meeting, so I got recruited to join the choir right away. Normally I would volunteer to be a Primary sub immediately, but I'm having trouble understanding the kids right now--the combination of the New Zealand accent and kids' normal speech impediments. It will get easier, I'm sure. There was a Relief Society activity (whatever we're supposed to call those now) on Thursday night, and I was debating whether or not to go. I really wanted to go and meet people and start making friends, but I've been fighting a cold and knew I should probably stay in and get some rest. (Back in the days when they had activities--Enrichment or Homemaking or whatever--once a month, missing one wasn't such a big deal. But now that they're only held once every three months, missing one is hard, especially if you're new in the country and trying to meet people!) In the end I decided to go, and I'm glad--it was fun. I hope I didn't make anyone sick.

I took a walk around the bay today. It was gorgeous! I keep thinking that I can't believe I actually live here. This isn't just a vacation--I live in this city! It's amazing. There are a ton of things to do right here in the city, and I'm going to take more advantage of them once it warms up a little. It's not really that cold, especially for the dead of winter. Temperatures are in the 50s every day. But it's the kind of wet cold that sinks into your bones, plus it's windy and it rains a lot. And there's no central heating in the buildings, so it's almost as cold inside as it is outside! Church, for example, had a few of those little heaters (the kind we call bathroom heaters back in the States) on the walls of every room, and they did the best they could, but it was still pretty chilly. Since I could only bring one suitcase on the plane and had to ship the rest of my stuff, I only brought one sweatshirt and a bunch of short-sleeved shirts so I could have a week's worth of outfits to wear to work. Short sleeves aren't really appropriate here this time of year, but since I'm cheap, I refuse to buy more clothes (especially since everything is super expensive here!) when the rest of my wardrobe will be arriving in a month.