Brilliant!

September 1st marked the first day of spring. I'm moving into my second season here in New Zealand. I have now been here for 3 months! Some times it seems like I've been here longer, but most of the time I have to ask myself, "Am I really living in New Zealand?" Life here is now starting to settle into a routine. I find myself using words such as, "Lovely," "Brilliant!" "Cheers," "Biscuit," and "Bugger," which were never part of my vocabulary before. I'm now used to seeing sheep everywhere, and also enjoy them as a meal! (Although, since the lambs have started appearing in the fields I've decreased my lambchop intake.) I've learned never to say anything bad about the sacred All Blacks rugby team or I will have committed treason against the whole of New Zealand. People appreviate as many words as they can here-"sunnies," "drinkies," "lippies" even to the point of appreviating the word itself, "apprev!"

Spring is turning out to be a beautiful season and I can't wait to see what the rest of the seasons have in store for me. I hope that no matter how long I live here, I never lose the sense of wonder at all the beauty surrounding me.