Home Sweet Home

Today is my 51st day in New Zealand and my 14th in Wanaka. And, as much as I've enjoyed my time, until today, I still felt like I was just visiting this place--and not really living here. Today was different.

Yesterday I answered an ad for a room to rent, took a look at the place, liked it, and paid my first two weeks rent in advance. I'm renting a good sized room, with a queen size bed (the first non twin I've slept on in NZ), in the home of a very nice lady named Paula. Also in the house is Paula's eleven year old daughter, Jahda, and two of the most lovable little kittens you've ever seen: Bubbles and Squeak. And come Wednesday, when Paula's 23 year old son, Jethro, moves to Wellington, his room will be filled by another lodger: Antonia, a young woman from Auckland who just moved to Wanaka for the upcoming ski season.

Paula has lived in Wanaka for almost eight years now and she tells me the longest she's gone in that time without at least one lodger is two weeks. As a result, she's got the 'make you feel at home' thing down pat. Last night she invited me to sit down with the family for a chicken dinner. It was SO much better than the tuna fish sandwiches or canned ravioli that have been my standard dinner fare for the last couple weeks. Tonight it's home-made pizza!

Today, for the first time in NZ, I woke up in a big bed. Today, for the first time in NZ, my clothes were folded and put away in a dresser or hanging in a closet rather than rolled up in a backpack. Today, for the first time in NZ, said backpack was nowhere in sight, having been stowed away in said closet the night before. Today, for the first time in NZ, I ran into to someone I knew at the grocery store. Today, for the first time in NZ, I bought toilet paper. Today, for the first time in NZ, I felt like I was home.

Cheers!