a (surprisingly) very merry christmas

A few days of sleeping in my car (parked in downtown Wellington) was all I needed to expedite  finding a more permanent situation.

So I found a room… for 6 weeks. It’s not an impressive place, it’s not even a clean place. It’s a flat that two early 20something boys live in -- use your imagination. But what is impressive is what I’m paying. And of course, the view.

I LOVE THIS CITY! I’ve been here less than 2 weeks (and it has rained nearly the whole time) but still. I feel like it encompasses  the best things from every city: the art culture of New York (with only 3% of the people), the café scene of summertime Seattle,  the music venues and bars of Austin, the landscape of Malibu (only green),  the beaches of the Caribbean,  and the walk/ride-ability of no place I’ve ever been. EVERYTHING is less than 15 minutes away by car, but most people would rather walk, even in the rain.

I started volunteering at the SPCA last week (only a 5 minute walk from my house) to keep myself occupied during the holidays and until work really starts. Plus, it gives me that unconditional animal love I need without the rest of my family here. It’s mostly cleaning cat boxes, feeding rabbits, doing laundry, and answering phones but occasionally I get to help syringe feed some newborn kittens or comfort a scared puppy. I love it.

And Christmas has been surprisingly non-depressing. Maybe because it’s warm and the sun’s out. Maybe because it doesn’t really feel like Christmas (I don’t even have a tree). Or maybe it’s because I have met some amazingly awesome people who have allowed me to so freely come into their lives. I just had Christmas brunch with a whale scientist/magician… seriously. It feels kinda like I’m dating – I don’t want to seem desperate but I honestly just want to get down on one knee and propose to these people to be best friends for life. But I won’t… yet.