Arrival in Aoteora

Finally arrived in New Zealand after a 28 hour flight. Having lost a day in the process of crossing the date line makes the experience even more surreal. Where did Thursday go?

The flight was quite amazing though, I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to have a window seat. It was clear enough to see the rarely seen views over Greenland as well as various views of North America, including the Grand Canyon and Hollywood. The only problem was the socially awkward situation of having to ask people to get up out of their seats just so that I could use the facilities.

Landed in Wellington at 8am local time on a clear, mild day. I was so surprised to see so many houses near the airport, many were nestled in the green hills, almost looking like they were a natural part of it.

The GVN house adviser, Lauren, a lively Australian, was a little late to meet me. This was easily forgiven though as she was so accomodating and did manage to round up both myself and Jay, a volunteer from Michagan, quite sharpish and drive us to Kowhai house in Lower Hutt. She filled us in on some local information on the way, including the fact that the road we were driving along, went right along a fault line.

After we'd got back to the house, and I'd had a most needed shower, I had one of those conversations that always occur between people from different lands. Just blatant comparisons of either side of the Atlantic.

I managed to not feel out of my depth at all yet, to be honest, since this was my first overseas experience and first solo adventure I expected that I would freak out at this point. I think though, as I was meeting people in the same situation and because I hadn't slept in a few days it didn't hit home how alone I was. It got even easier when Jaime arrived, a 28 year old from Bolton. We'd shared a few emails previously and already pledged allegance.

It was such a nice atmosphere in the house. Everyone seemed to get on well instantly, even when Adam, also from Michigan arrived the next day. It was so unusual, according to Lauren, and Toby, the program leader, for people to arrive at the same time. As I saw later, usually there is a lot of comings and goings on a program like this.