7-4-09
I have been in New Zealand now for about 4 or 5 days... I am really not sure how long to tell you the truth. The semester begins next week at the University of Otago and so we have one week to get adjusted to your new time zone (which is 17 hours ahead) and learn a little about Kiwi culture. The first two nights we stayed with a host family in the city of Christ Church before driving down to Dunedin. The weather here is cold... maybe not that much colder than an alabama winter, but there is usually not much heating in the houses... this is what makes it seem so cold. Usually I can see my breath inside the house. This makes for a chilly night and a very chilly shower experience. I was so thankful for the electric blanket in my bed at the host families house.
Two days ago we left for the city of Wellington (the home of the first ever bungi jump in world). The drive should have taken about 8 hours... its not that long of a distance, but we had to drive through the Southern Alps. We drove about 4 hours and then it started snowing... 5 hours and it was a winter wonderland... 5 and a half hours, it was a blizzard. The next thing we knew there was a sign saying road closed... we had to find a new route. If we went ahead to Wellington we might have gotten stuck in the snow and even if had made it, the forecast said that we would have been snowed in Wellington for almost four days. So our guide (a kiwi university student named Amy) brought us to stay at her families house south of Dunedin. It just so happened that her family owns a christian youth summer camp that was vacant so we have had a place to stay these last few days while the snow storm subsides in Wellington.
Today I slept while everyone was taking their showers... It was a bad move... its about 35 degrees outside... I would guess its about 50 inside... and the hot water ran out. I therefor took the coldest shower of my life. It was COLD! I cant even describe to you how it felt. My whole body was numb.
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