it's such a lovely day

i'm back! summer!

it is so warm and humid here on cape cod. quite the shock coming from four degree celcius dunedin. i lay out on our porch today and soaked in the sunlight. i understand why people worship the sun.

my travels back were ... interesting. the overnight bus from dunedin to christchurch was a bizarre experience. i slept about an hour total - the "bus" (more like an over-sized van, really) stopped every hour and made sleep impossible. upon arrival, at about 3:30 am, i discovered that nothing was open, except for pubs, so my plan to sleep in the bus station was thrown out. my friend evan had warned me about this possibility, and told me to call him if it turned out to be true, but then no payphones would accept coins, or my credit card, or debit card, or phone card. (this was the only time since coming to new zealand that i have missed having a mobile.) and so, there i was, at 3:30 am, wandering around downtown christchurch, in the pouring rain, with my pack, backpack, and suitcase.

so i went to a pub.

and showed up dragging all my bags, asked the bouncer what time they closed, "9 am love, after the soccer game," went inside, dumped all my stuff at a table, got an irish coffee, and talked to an australian and somalian guy until i met evan and laura at 8 am. oh but wait, we'd said to meet at the bus terminal, and there were two and we went to different ones. so i didn't actually meet them until 9. but, shopping and museum visits accomplished, and i made it to the airport in time.

for some unknown reason, i didn't really sleep on any of my flights. i can usually sleep anywhere, no matter the conditions, but not this time. by the time i made it to boston, i think i'd had five or seven hours of sleep in almost four days.

los angeles airport is quite the introduction back to the states. new zealand and america are quite similar, there is no denying that. yet, i found (still find) myself overwhelmed. it is so noisy and everything is so big. flying in, you can't even see the city because the smog is so thick. but then again, iit is nice to see the diversity of this country - new zealand lacks that.

and cape cod doesn't change. it rained all weekend (sad), but it is so familiar and our apartment looks so good and home-y and brad and i went to the strawberry festival and grocery shopping. [man, trader joe's is a fabulous place. i was getting so excited over all my old favorites: mango sauce, frosted shredded bite size whites, real tortilla chips and real, hot salsa.]

i didn't sleep well (still) saturday night and then at 8 am sunday morning, i crashed. (8 am here is midnight in new zealand) i think it's really funny, and strange, how my body was still clinging to new zealand time, despite days without sleep.

and so, the job search and thesis work begins.