An Unexpcted Party

Though I knew that the Kiwis must be friendly as a whole country, I find myself amazed at how true it is!  Not to bash too hard on my fellow Americans, but back home, most could try to look up more often and offer at least a smile in passing.  That's what I'm finding here!  Perfect strangers make eye contact with you and smile, as you're walking down the street, sometimes even just to say hello.  A woman at the gym, NOT a personal trainer, dropped her spot in the class to show me how to set up for class.  Young people are not glued to their 3-inch wide mobile screens as they nearly run into you on the sidewalk.  It's just so different and refreshing, one of the many reasons why I decided to come here.

Even at work, my new coworkers are so warm and welcoming.  Sure, at the last firm that I worked at, everyone there was lovely.  But it's different now, and some of it has to do with company culture.  There are HEAPS more engineers my age, and with a Kiwi-like culture that's fond of getting together frequently, I've gone out more with my coworkers already here than I did back home.  Each week, at least once, there's an occasion to have a drink or perhaps dinner.  A group of coworkers even invited me to a weekend camping trip, that I, disappointedly, couldn't join.  Instead, I went on a Sunday evening hike alone up Mt. Victoria Summit, only to find out, come Monday morning, that there was another coworker who would've been absolutely willing to join me!

I couldn't join in on the camping fun because I was busy moving into my new flat.  I'm sleeping on an air mattress on the floor for now with very little furniture, but in a month's time, my shipment of items will arrive from California with my bedroom-full of furniture and stuff.  It will certainly feel more like home once they arrive, but already I'm finding that my flatmates are pushing that feeling forward.  Independent and social, my new flatmates have manage to make me feel as if I'm an old friend.  Within just the first couple of days, we've already all sat together on a Sunday evening, just to have a chat and even gossip.  Hopefully it sticks, but man, was I not expecting this in deciding to move in with strangers.

So though I was certainly expecting to meet some friendly people, I wasn't so much expecting such an unexpected party!  This feeling is beneficial, however, as homesickness starts to settle in.  But that shouldn't be so unexpected.  After all, this is new territory, albeit a very friendly one.