Speights! Why you do me wrong?!

We made it to Wellington today.  Nation's capitol!  Windy city of down under and a beautiful view from our hostel.  After a bus ride from hell I was really looking forward to heading across the street to the huge New World grocery store and getting a Speights Summit Lager.  The only beer from down under I like.  I was so disappointed...you can only buy it in 12 pks here.  No way on earth I can drink that many!!!

Driving through Wellington really gave me a sense of deja vu.  When I arrived in Auckland I was still in such a post-travel stupor and high on adrenaline that I hardly realized I was in another place.  It was just so surreal.  Rotorua didn't quite feel the same because we were in a groups building instead of the main building so I didn't have the same sights of the hostel and Napier was just flat out new for me.  Wellington was the first place where I really felt like I had come back to New Zealand.  There have been a few days where I catch myself just going through the motions and getting to the next group meal or excursion that I have realized I haven't been in the moment.

The only times I can say I was fully in the moment were these: 1) walking through the Auckland museum discussing Maori history and culture with some of the students  2) the performance at Mitai  3) swimming with sharks (I'm still in total disbelief I did this!!!)  4) right now.  My realization that I have been floating through and MISSING things.  In Rotorua I slept in (mostly because I was kept up exceptionally late by our rowdy group!!) one day and essentially missed out on some cool opportunities.  Well, in Napier I definitely didn't do that and I won't be doing that anymore.

I'm grabbing the Kiwi by the beak and I'm going to live every moment of this trip as if I will never again set foot in these countries.  Tomorrow I'm going to hit to botanical gardens in Wellington and then in the afternoon a few of the students talked me into going to Hot Yoga.  Apparently it's just plain old yoga but in a 95 degree room.  I mean, I HATE to sweat. Like really really don't like to sweat.  But for some reason I'm voluntarily going to sweat and then contort my body in ways most likely to get me to have to "breathe deep" and whiff my sweaty body.

Hooray.

What have I agreed to?  Whatever....I swam with sharks dammit!!

I'm also looking forward to tomorrow night's dinner.  There are some green mussels in a tank at the grocery that will be finding a comfy home in my stomach along with linguine in a white wine sauce.  Get ready seafood.....I'M GONNA EAT YA!  Thankfully the other two faculty on this trip love to cook and eat and we're all really good at cooking at eating.  So far we have had some pretty good group meals so on our first "on your own" dinner night we're going to get some great seafood and jazz it up with some tasty NZ wine in a sauce and then just freaking make out with it.  MMMMMMMM.  And of course drink NZ wine while we eat, because WHY NOT.

Only downside to this town, my room totally smells like someone went to hot yoga and forgot to shower for a week after and rolled all around on the bed and carpet.  OMG so stinky.  It may be 50 outside but I'll be damned if I am closing my windows.  I almost bought an air freshener at the store.

Almost.

I've got some office hours to attend to now and we're hammering out details of all the students' research work while in country.  Making sure they're clear what they are studying and that we are all on the same page.  Tomorrow is Te Papa, national museum of New Zealand.  There is a replica of (as I remember) a blue whale's heart.  It's the size of a Chevy Aveo (Olivia loves that analogy so I keep using it).  Sarah and I climbed inside it last time and some toddler bitch slapped her like 8 times.  I look forward to the new adventures that giant plaster heart has to offer tomorrow.  I'll keep you posted.  I might wear a helmet in case I encounter angry toddlers though.  That'll never fit in my carry on :(  Oh well.

GOOD NIGHT NEVERLAND!!!!!!