I'm living in the 60's

A few things about life here are a bit dated, I could say convience is not their middle name. We line dry our clothes, hand wash all the dishes, bake our own bread (but that's just for fun), we don't have cable television (4 clear channels) and when we bought wood at the hardware store, a guy hand sawed our measurements for us. What year am I living in? But life is slower here, so I don't mind the extra effort. I don't have class assignments or tests to be concerned with in the evenings, I haven't worked more than 24 hours in one week, I know less than a dozen people, and only three people know my phone number. All I can say is I'm adjusting. I miss having things to do, and people to see. We have had a bunch of people over for tea (dinner) in the last few weeks, but they're all couples (consequence of living with newly weds, they rarely know single people.) I joined a bible study and they got started this week, I'm looking forward to it. Let's see, a few people wanted to know what I did for the holidays and what my immediate future plans are. My birthday is on a national holiday here, Waitangi Day, so most of the city had the day off, aka the city closed down. I baked my favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (LNK's mom's recipe) in the kitchen of the hostel Laura George works in. I went to an office picnic celebration with Tim and Christine for the George, and then Laura treated me to dessert that evening (Ultimate Chocolate). Very casual birthday. For Valentine's Day, not a national holiday, I should have worked to keep my mind off Singles Awareness Day, but I wasn't assigned anything, so I watched Christine embark on a very thoughtful and romantic day for Tim. (Hand painted notes to be opened ever half hour while he was working, and a packed picnic in a wicker box for when he got off of work.) I baked heart shaped sugar cookies. When loneliness began to creep up on me, I just went to Laura's hostel to watch television with stangers. Laura and I went out for dinner and found Mexican food and margaritas, what a glorious night. Just being in that second floor restaurant loaded with mexican paraphernalia and photos on the walls, tequila bottles behind the bar, and boxes of mexican beer everywhere made it feel like home. Loneliness subsided. For the next two weeks I will continue working for Select Education, a relief agency for preschools. And in March I'm off to Wellington. Christine's parents are coming from Colorado, so my bedroom is going to be occupied, giving me the opportunity to see the southern tip of the north island. I'm visiting with John Sackett's friend, John Parker for a few days, and then I found an orchard in the same small town as the Parkers and I'm trying to get job their for a couple weeks. I haven't given you my thoughts about working with four year olds, that will be next time. I've also been thinking about other social observations I can give you from New Zealand. All of this next time. Thanks for reading. I love and miss you.