January 5, 2011

I arrived in New Zealand today after two long plane rides. The plane from ATL to LA was five hours and I spent a good bit of it talking to a guy who went to BYU and had been to New Zealand years ago, writing missionary latters, and sleeping. Once I got to the LA airport I had to take a train to Air New Zealand check-in and wait two hours to check in. I met up with the 15 other girls in the group in the LA airport and we were all so excited to see each other and go to New Zealand. The plane ride to New Zealand was 14 hours long and even though we got free movies, most of us slept the most of the way.

We were fed dinner and breakfast on the plane that was really good and the fruit was some of the freshest I have ever tasted. I was so excited when we landed in New Zealand, but it was a weird feeling at the same time. Going through customs was easier than I expected. My host family met Nancy and I at the airport to take us home. Nancy and I are staying with Paea and her son Cooper in Waitakere just west of Auckland.

 

Once Nancy and I arrived at the house, we unpacked and then Paea dropped us at the mall gave us directions and told us to find our way home. It caught both Nancy and I by surprise. We do not know our way New Zealand. We just got here, crazy . We didn’t even have a way to contact someone if we got lost, so Nancy and I were pretty nervous to say the least. We walked around the mall some and then went looking for the library. We found the library without too much trouble and emailed our families since our host home did not have internet yet. After that Nancy and I tried to find our way home. It took us about an hour to walk home and we never went off the beaten path to get back to the house, so that was good. Once Nancy and I got home, we went outside to read our scriptures and journal since it was such a gorgeous day. The weather is so gorgeous here, it is like nowhere else in the world, but all the green trees and landscapes remind me of Savannah, GA but with some mountains too. It is absolutely breathtaking.  I loved going to the park near our house and walking around too. The park is huge and gorgeous with lots of soccer fields, volleyball nets, a stream, walking paths, the bush ( a temperate rainforest), etc. It can get us just about everywhere and has several shortcuts.  Paea showed us some of the shortcuts and places around where we live. We live in such a gorgeous area and I love having a huge park right by the house.