Settling in

Settling in. Settling is a funny word. Getting my attitude right has been difficult. Maybe made more so by all the studying I've been doing about personal growth, laws of attraction, consciousness, and alignment. Making having a positive outlook imperative. But it's not always possible. I keep feeling like it's my freshman year of college and it's pretty shitty because everything is new and just not falling into place (yet) and that can be okay but also because it has to be until It improves. I've started to feel better remembering that I'm just traveling, I'm just here exploring and trying something new. Takes so much pressure off of it. So I can just bugger off whenever I feel like it maybe sooner maybe later except for that one small thing of funding my travels. Everything worked out perfectly in that I got my first paycheck right as I was pretty much at the bottom of the tank. Now that I know what I'm bringing in I can do a budget of my bills and what I spend every month annndddddd look at that they're exactly equal. So I won't be saving I just also won't be hemorrhaging money anymore. Hemorrhaging? How can that be the way that word is spelled? Who was responsible for that? But on the bright side I just got a car! A pretty little red Audi A4 and it was cheap as! My sweet friend Adam helped me find it and buy it and he drove it up here for me. Thank heavens for him. Really so good to be able to get around besides walking. And I worked a night at this cool event center in town and hopefully I'll be able to continue doing that. Until then gotta start bringing sandwiches to work instead of spending $13 on quiche and salad everyday. Can't be living like one of those fancy New Yorkers who buys lunch all the time.

Yoohoo

No one is reading this anymore and I'm trying to figure out if I care. I think I like keeping the blog. It's nice to have a more succinct summary of what I was thinking about when I was traveling before. And traveling I am still. It's just now with the instagrams and the whatsapps, people probably don't miss me as much as they used to. So things are happening now, which is why I feel qualified to report about my life again. Waiting and hoping and thinking was interesting too but I couldn't publish anything about it cause it felt like it could jinx it. It's also just not very impressive. Today was my 2nd official day at the small architecture firm I am working at here. It's pretty exciting that that worked out considering how hard it feels to find work in architecture. It's sort of fun work and the people in my office are really nice and silly. New Zealanders are silly in general, I really like that. But I'm starting a new job in a new country, learning a new drafting program with new units of measurements, it's a bit of a strain on my brain. Today for the first time ever I left the house with my mouthguard in. 10 years of wearing it %97 percent of the time and I've never accidentally left the house with it in. Today I made it all the way to work and said good morning to my boss before realizing what I had done. My poor poor confused brain. Maybe it's the capitalist in me that thinks I'm not "doing things" unless I'm having an income…but it's very good that I have an income now because honestly next month would've been the end of the road, finance wise.

Still having a lot of free time

I want to write more because it gives me something productive to do but as of yet I don't have much to report. After floating my way down the country I arrived in Christchurch, my aim destination, and have since been trying to figure out how to set up my life. I found a room in a really cute house with 3 roommates, two from the Czech Republic and one English architect, which is pretty ideal. There isn't a television but there is a piano so that's exciting. Now to find an illustrious job. I'm actually procrastinating updating my website now by doing this. Ok i'm off!

New Year, New You, New Zealand

Apologies for the trite title but it's fitting and because it's an inside joke between me and Kima that makes it cool. First blog post in 2 years! Here we go! I can't figure out/ am not going to spend the time figuring out how to organize previous blog posts by location so just know that any posts prior to this date were from New York or Prague, respectively. On New Years Day I "moved" to New Zealand. Quotations because I haven't settled anywhere yet but I also don't technically live anywhere else. Which is interesting. Feeling a bit Carry Bradshaw meets Eat Pray Love typing this on my laptop on the deck of my friend's apartment in Auckland. I can't really explain why I did this except for maybe because I read the Power of Now and a few other self-actualization books on my 4 month trip to Asia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Northwest last summer. Today I'm feeling well rested with lots of free time, which is why I'm writing this. I'm taking the day to do mostly nothing because I have been running rampant since deciding to move here like a month or so ago. I moved out of my apartment in Brooklyn while working full time, flew with my belongings back to Portland and spent the holidays with my family and friends for a short week before getting back on the plane for New Zealand. I've been complaining about the 14 hour flight it took to get here from Vancouver but am realizing now that anyone who comes here or leaves from here has a similar journey so I'll just shut up about that now. Since arriving here last Tuesday I've been incredibly lucky and well cared for. Jason, of Bridget and Jason, picked me up from the airport and let me stay at their cute little house in Ellerslie. I met Bridget and Jason at this awesome bar in Hanoi, Vietnam while Kesslie and I were traveling there last July. Once I got to their place I passed out for a while then played mini-golf with Jason and his friend Phil, ate Indian food and then Jason and I watched Mean Girls before bed. The next day I took an Uber to Dani and Eddie's apartment in Grey Lynn. I met Dani at a hostel in Venice 6 years ago and we reconnected when I was here last summer and then again when they visited New York City last November. They live in a sweet, old, rustic house, in a great location with a deck and a backyard. It's my heaven basically. Since most people in the city are out for the holidays I was lucky to be able to stay in their roommate's room for a few days while he's away. I've had a blast hanging out with them and yesterday we drove to Bethells Beach where there was a group of young hippie families listening to live music and eating pizza from the food truck cafe. Tomorrow I'm hitching a ride down to Wellington with Eddie's friend Tim. That's pretty much the extent of my plan. I should probably figure out where I'm going to stay now. Here's some photos! There's the healthy groceries Dani and I bought (this one if for you mom), and the beautiful salad Dani made last night. Bethells Beach and quicksand, that's a thing here? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯