Tomorrow morning I’m going to get into G Funk’s car, which, although it doesn’t have much in the way of steering alignment, does have a tape player, which means I can play the iPod, which means no one, probably, will be dying a grisly and uncalled for no-music-on-the-road-trip-related death on our seventeen-hour journey to Kerikeri this weekend. Well, I don’t know. I’ll be taking the opportunity to learn to drive on both the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of the car this weekend, so probably we will die. At least we’ll die listening to groovy music, though, which is really all I want out of life.

It’s the end of the first chapter of My Year In New Zealand. It’s been a pretty exciting one, I think, with pretty good plot: our heroine goes to Fiji! And goes to Rotorua! And moves into the crazy Maple Lodge! And talks herself into a job! And meets a nice boy! And puts a blanket over his head! And moves in with him! And then sees him off at the airport three weeks later! And doesn’t know if she will ever see him again! And then moves into a lovely flat with a lovely outdoor patio and nice suede couches! TUNE IN FOR OUR NEXT THRILLING INSTALLMENT!

I mean, it’s no wonder I’m exhausted, y’all. Turns out it’s pretty tiring living in the real world and not in one’s head as much. I am still the same over-analytic solipcist you know me to be but I have to say that the frenetic pace at which so much has happened over the last six weeks has forced me to be a little bit more here, a little bit more now. I’ve had to make a lot of decisions very intuitively, very much by the seat of my pants because there just hasn’t been time to fret and worry and freak out. Just: Go. Now. Do it. Now. Go!

So I’ve gone, and I’ve done it, and do you mind if I tell you I’m a little bit proud of myself? Even though I am super tired and though I know that as soon as I see my, like, boyfriend of three weeks (whom I met five weeks ago) off at the airport on his trip of four months (four times the amount we’ve known each other) I’m going to lose my mind. (I can only hope that I will a) not be in public when it hits me and b) have found a good place to get my hair cut in Auckland because the real reason I haven’t posted any pictures has nothing to do with the fact that I can’t download anything onto this computer and everything to do with the dark brown curly puffball currently sprouting from my noggin.) I still think I’ve done a pretty good job so far, since I’ve arrived which is incredibly…vindicating, somehow, of my decision to come here. It’s not often I get such clear signals from the world that I’m doing the right thing. I am prepared for some sad and difficult times ahead, because those find you no matter what hemisphere you’re in, don’t they, but I’m not too scared. I think somehow New Zealand likes me as much as I like it, and I know we’re going to take care of each other.

Posted on September 21st, 2006 by Chiara
Filed under: Everything, New Zealand