A Visitor

Having actually gotten down to a small semblance of routine and just experiencing living and working and riding my bike down under, I haven't had a lot to post about that I thought would be of interest. I hope you all got a kick out of the video clips in the last post though!

This morning I'm off to pick up likely my one and only Canadian visitor, Andrew. He will be arriving in about an hour's time and I'm super psyched to have a visitor from home with whom I can share some of this experience, as well, we will be heading off for a trip to explore some more of this country! So I'm going on vacation again! Woo-hoo!

By way of a quick update though (for those of you who aren't connected with me through other means and would like to hear more): I have been settling in well here in Wello. I really like where I'm living - the location is very convenient, and I'm getting to know my flatmates. I got to go to my first kiwi BBQ last weekend with one of my flatmates and her friends. That was a lot of fun! The kiwi BBQ is a very important summer tradition. In fact, rather than turkey and stuffing (although many do partake), often the kiwis have a BBQ on Christmas. And lunch is usually the big meal of the day that day, not dinner per se. I've already been seeing Christmas trees up in people's houses (I spy through their windows as I ride my bike past - lol!) and the weirdest thing for me was when I was riding home last weekend I rode past the botanic gardens and they had an outdoor Christmas concert going on. It was really neat, but so surreal for me to be riding my bike in warm weather while passing "The First Noel" being sung. I've never been away from the snow and ice for Christmas before! Very weird feeling. I'm happy to have company from home for the holidays too. I know it will make me feel much less removed from it all.

So stay tuned, and while we're traveling in the coming weeks I will have to try to keep you updated on the new places I'll be visiting!