copy of first general email - News from New Zealand

To all my family and friends: kia ora!I’ve begun an online journal to keep you all up-to-date (for the most part) about my time in New Zealand. I already posted some pics and I’ll get more up later. At this point I’m not sure if I’m going to send out a mass email or just notes when I update my journal. But for now, I’ll inform you of some of the details :o)I’m living in Dunedin (pronounced: doo-NEE-din), NZ on the southeast coast of the south island. It’s a lovely, happenin’ city of smallish proportions – nearly everything is within walking distance (5-20min walk). The city is mostly ‘uni’ students, but there is an elementary school just down the road from me so I know there are families…somewhere. My flat (apartment) is about a 10min walk / 2min bike from campus. I live on the ground floor of a 3-story, 2 bath, 5 bedroom flat. My flatmates are: Courtney, Alaska; Emily, New York; Angela and Claire, friends from Toronto, Canada. It’s been tough for me, learning how to live with roommates. I’ve already discovered quite a lot about myself. Dad, I do like a clean kitchen, and Mom, I love vacuumed floors. You just don’t always realize you like those kinds of things until you don't have them :o) But we’ve been doing well. We use all our dishes daily and tend to wake up to a (very small) counter full of dirty cookery, dishes and utensils. This, of course, is evidence to the fact that we eat very well…for now. But as school starts on Monday, we’re all assuming the quality of our meals will decrease dramatically.
The weather here is unpredictable. Whether you believe it or not (I’m still struggling with it and I live here), the weather actually changes faster and more often than it does in Idaho! Wed. we had fantastic weather; lots of sun (burn time here is approx. 8 min) and some breezes. But yesterday was overcast, though warm, and it absolutely POURED last night for a few hours. On the walk home from school last night, my neighbor and I decided to keep a few hours dry and stuffed them away in a backpack. We arrived at the flats completely drenched, but laughing. It wasn’t even cold. Ok, I just can’t keep it secret anymore. I cut my hair! I love it! There’s pics of the new do on my bebo site. My flatmates suggested that I cut it, but I didn’t think I would. Anyway, I was just walking downtown with a friend and as we passed a hair salon I randomly decided to check out the hairstyle books. The girl thought I wanted a cut, so she took my name and got me in a chair. It’s a good thing it happened so quickly though because I might’ve, no wait, I would’ve made it a huge deal. So, sorry Dadda, but the long hair is gone. I hope you like it anyway :o) Now that my attention is gone, I shall bid you farewell. I miss you all.