Pre-Christmas update

It’s just me and Nina in the flat right now.  Meredith has left for her cruise around New Zealand with her parents, and Claudia has left for her month-long trip around the south island with one of her friends from back home.  With only me and Nina, the flat is a lot quieter than with everyone else here.  This is also because Nina has had class every morning from about 9-1, so I have the flat to myself a lot.

We have spent the week somewhat bumming around the flat and just getting ready for Christmas.  We saw King Kong yesterday at the Embassy as a celebration of her class being over until early January.  The weather has been absolutely fantastic, so we have been out enjoying the sunshine and low winds.  Well, until today, that is.  It was bright and sunny when I walked into the grocery store, and by the time I walked out, the winds had shifted, and it started to rain just as I reached our front door.  After being home for about 10 minutes, the rain shower turned into a full-fledged thunderstorm with rain coming down sideways.  It was raining so hard we couldn’t see into town.  It’s cleared up significantly, but we are still wary of what might happen tonight (we have a 21st birthday party to go to and don’t want to be caught in the rain).  Oh, the joys of Wellington weather!  It’s actually kind of exciting, never knowing what’s coming next.

I have been trying to do some work on my paper this week, but I discovered today that the library is closed until January 4th, which means that at most I can just do some research online.  I won’t have access to the theses that I need to complete my research, so I have to wait until the new year to write my paper.  This was more disappointing than it should have been given that I am living in the coolest city ever.

Mainly, I am just adjusting to having a summertime Christmas.  It is a lot more different than I thought.  I didn’t think about the fact that we are in the middle of summer, so the days are long.  Therefore, it doesn’t get dark until about 9PM, which means no one really decorates their houses with Christmas lights because there is only about an hour or two to turn them on.  There are no decorations in town, very few Christmas trees, etc.  Not much spirit anywhere that I can see, except of course for the plastic tree in the main room at Les Mills and other various places of business.  The one exception would have to be Kirkauldie & Stain’s, New Zealand’s version of Macy’s or Bloomingdale’s.  They have an excellent Christmas décor, and I find myself wanting to hang out there simply enjoying the decorations.  Also, this holiday season isn’t just about Christmas.  It’s summer vacation, which means family trips to the beach and barbeques and summer jobs.  Back home, the only reason we have vacation right now is for Christmas holidays, so I feel like there is more of an emphasis.

All of this doesn’t matter because I now officially have presents under the Christmas tree thanks to my friends back home.  I would have had more, but I am like a 5-year-old child in that I have to open things I get in the mail immediately.  I was specifically instructed not to open these presents until Christmas, though, so I will honour that promise.

That’s about everything going on here.  It’s been a slow, relaxing week.  Nina and I are going out for a nice Christmas Eve dinner before I head to church, and then I am spending Christmas Day at Kay Phillip’s home.  I will also be travelling with Mark and Anna from the 26th-31st, so I will be sure to post about all my adventures when I return home!