bought a car!
ok, so now i officially have a new zealand bank account, a cell phone (64) 027-354-6633, a 1985 red honda shuttle, and a job, which i start tuesday morning at 7:30. left on the list of things to do: find a place to live.
oh, and new zealanders drive on the wrong side of the road. and the cars are manual. and the steering wheel is on the wrong side of the car...thus the gear shift is on the wrong side of the car. and try as i might, i am not left handed. but to all those who would: don't worry about me. i am not driving above second gear.
so i finally made it.
well, almost...i will have finally made it when i get to wanaka, find an apartment, and start working. but i am ALMOST there.
after way too long on a plane, i got to christchurch. it looks like a mirror world of north van...everything looks familiar, but slightly off - the greens seem greener, people drive on the opposite side of the road, etc etc etc. it IS, however, raining. good proper westcoast rain too, none of this torrential downpour like what caught lex and i on the last night of bonnaroo. so i call up miriam, megan isaac-renton's little sister, and shuttle it over to her dorm room. she's been such a great help! not only is her place really nice for rez torms, but she's giving me her cell phone and helping me get settled, and i'm not even where i'm going to yet! crazy.
know what else is crazy? i'm staying with megan's younger sister, and next week, megan's ex-boyfriend is coming to join me in wanaka. oh, and there is a gorgeous rainbow out the window! ok, i'mma go get stuff done while i wait for miriam to finish writting her exam.
well, made it to nashville, where kev, dev, erik, carl, justin and ivette swung by and got me on the way to bonnaroo, where we met lex hitching in from NYC; steph and den and their friends kim and anna coming from toronto; and a second van with dani, stuart, jeff, anthony, robin, and kristen from montreal. the festival was awesome, cat empire rocked, and radiohead blew us away (dani and i got a chance to prove to everyone that the female sex really IS weaker).
note to people travelling: american airports do not have baggage storage. luckily, big huge gorgeous resort/convention centers do, and they will drive you out there, store your luggage, and are just generally really nice. really huge place, gaylord opryland, complete with white-skinned southern belles and everything. which reminds me...the americans down there were VERY NICE. i mean, apparently canadians get the rap for always been uber polite and saying sorry all the time and whatnot, but these southerners beat us hands tied behind their backs for politeness.
and now in denver, which has some really cool architecture and nice parks with people chillin' on the grass and is just a pretty nice, small, city. the people here are generally very very nice too, from the library security; to the guy sittin' in the park; to the peruvian man running the coffee shop who's been in the US for some 30-odd years and could double for justin's dad; to the dad and child at the movie theatre; to the info people at the airport...they're all just very nice. and i hear you can make pretty good money on a winter season on some of the ski hills in the area...and by the time i finish this winter in new zealand, it'll be winter here...hmmm....
