So my Momma can sleep at night

Hello Friends! I arrived in Queenstown, New Zealand 4 days ago after three plane rides and much confusion as to the actual date. Crossing the Pacific is tricky like that. I've never really been interested in doing an active blog, but right now I am very far away from all of my loved ones (i.e. YOU) and this seems easier than writing piles of emails. So blogging it shall be.

Here's a recap of the past few days. I got here Tuesday, hung out in the airport for a few hours until my bag came in on another plane, and then went into town. Right away I was blown away by the scenery; the city sits right on the shores of a wide, clear lake, and there are all these spiky rock mountains towering behind it. I was supposed to stay with a Brazilian dude that I contacted through couchsurfing.com, but he bailed on me last minute, so I ended up at a backpackers hostel. Not ideal, but my bags were way too heavy for random wandering. I stayed there for two nights, bought a cell phone, sent text messages to about 30 people with room listings in the paper, and looked at a bunch of apartments. Also, I met another guy on the couchsurfing website that offered to take me in, so we met up last night and I temporarily moved into his place. Vonkish is super cool and laid-back, and coincidentally has lived in both Aspen and Pittsburgh. Lots to talk about. He and all 5 of his roommates hail from the Czech Republic, so their house has been dubbed the "Czech Embassy". I am crashing here for one or two more nights, and then hopefully moving into my own place. I've got some good prospects but still need to look at a few more apartments before I plunk down a security deposit.

New Zealand is weird / beautiful / expensive / quirky. So far I really like it here. Everyone is nice to you, and their accents are ADORABLE!

Here is a picture taken from the balcony of the Czech Embassy: