Where in the world is Sarah? That’s right, in New Zealand! It’s early summer right now, and it’s warm and sunny. I flew into Aukland early yesterday morning, after a 12:30-hour flight spent attempting to sleep. My parents were slightly delayed (apparently Aukland has poor signage), so it was a few minutes before they showed up. They didn’t see me right away, so I snuck around behind them. BOO! Max never saw the hug coming. :)

Aukland seems at first glance to be a wonderful combination of India, Japan, Costa Rica, and Key West. The houses are small and cute, the people seem really friendly, and there are trees everywhere. We watched the sunrise (and some cows) at the top of an old volcano, from where we could see the harbor and all the little islands and volcanoes around. Max had his sailing class later in the morning, so my parents and I walked to Takapuna’s Sunday Market along the beach. Well, perhaps not so much on a beach as on the rocks, because the tide was coming in at the time. In the rush to cross one particular bit, I actually lost my sandal to the crashing waves! Papa went in after it, and we enjoyed the rest of the walk in wetness.

It also rained a couple times, but a different kind of rain the constant drizzle of the Northwest. It would just pound down for a couple minutes as we huddled under a tree, and then it would let up again.

Last night we ate homemade pizza and I introduced everyone to Firefly. My brother and my dad went to bed early, and had taken naps earlier in the day. Perhaps ironically, I was the last one to fall asleep! We have borrowed air mattresses from the neighbors because our shipment is delayed until January or February. Even without most of our stuff, my mom has done a wonderful job furnishing the house and making it feel like home! Our little tree has a nice stockpile of “pressies” under it, and I have a few more goodies hidden in my bag.

The first semester of college is over, and here I am in New Zealand with my family. They’re still coming to terms with living in a foreign country, and I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. But we’re together, and right now, that’s all that really matters.

Classes are over, finals are coming. It took me most of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to finish my Linguistics take-home final, and tomorrow I have a grueling four-hour Humanities final followed by the Russian exam. Fortunately, since classes got out last Wednesday, I’ve had plenty of time to study. And study some more. And some more.

I also need to move my blog to over to Typo (which I was introduced to at Seattle Mind Camp) as soon as I figure out how to get the conversion script to work. Speaking of Typo, I didn’t win the Typo Theme Contest; nor, surprisingly, did any of the highly original themes I was sure would beat me! The winning themes seem rather generic and commercial to me… At any rate, finding myself without an iPod for entertainment on my 15-hour flight to New Zealand (or my morning runs), I headed off the to Reed Apple Store bright and early this morning to buy one. Yes, I am finally the proud owner of an iPod: a sexy little black Nano, protectively wrapped in a white silicon case (which makes it look vaguely like a sheep), and filled with delicious music. Its name is Jayne (”the ‘pod they call… Jayne!”).

In addition to Firefly, I was recently introduced to another wonderful television series: Band of Brothers. Although I’m not a fan of war movies, when my dormies put this on, I couldn’t stop watching. The characters just pulled me into their world. And man, when they discover the camp… well, the whole series is emotionally intense. Hearing the stories of the actual WWII veterans on which the characters are based makes it so very real. My high school’s American Studies class could definitely have benefited by showing an episode or two of Band of Brothers.

On a lighter note, I have a new project for after-finals celebrations: customized My Little Ponies. Some people actually buy these things, re-paint and re-hair them, and create something completely new. They sell for a bit of cash, too. My concept? An Achilleus pony, of course! See, I knew I could tie this back to class somehow. :)

After all the flurry of excitement over the possibly Portland snowstorm, there was not even a little flurry of real snow. Lots of rain, though. I barely convinced myself to get out bed and go running in it… and yet I did. Ah, insanity!

So welcome to December, everyone! I hope it’s whiter or warmer where you are. Right now I’m bogged down in schoolwork, getting ready for finals and such. Only enough time to enter a couple themes in the Typo Theme Contest (but not enough time to actually move my blog over) and to dream about sunny New Zealand.