meeting up with Kelley

So I've checked out of the Langham and re-joined the real world. I must admit the last few days have been quite the posh experience and I’m feeling thoroughly spoiled. I’m glad I got to share it with Kelley last night. She had just flown in from LA yesterday morning and after a little unpacking at her place and dinner in Ponsonby we came back to the Langham and took advantage of the hot tub/pool/sauna. It was fabulous, to say the least.

And this morning Kelley’s housemate Bianca came by to hit up the facilities before I checked out and she was sweet enough to take my luggage back to her place, so I don’t have to take a cab or drag it over there on the bus.
Kelley said she’s sorry I have to leave the Langham to come stay at her place, but that’s just plain crazy! Kelley lives in a super cute little house in Ponsonby with 2 German housemates and she just moved into a new room that is really big and beautiful.

I’m not in the least bit worried about staying with her, except for the fact that there is also a dog and a cat in the house and I’m allergic. But whatever, I’ve got plenty of pills for that. On this trip, I’ve got a little pill for everything, in fact. teehee. I am a firm believer in self medicating. “I got it from my mama.”
And besides staying with Kel for a couple days will be a very good transition from the Langham into hostel life, which will be my reality once I leave Auckland. Well, until I meet up with Brandon in Wellington, that is. Yay! Excited for that. Love my friends!
Kelley said that starting today I will get to experience “real life” in New Zealand. She said the Langham isn’t it. Fair enough. I’m ready.


All it really means to me so far is no central heat, which seems to be the case with most houses in New Zealand. I think that sometimes it feels colder inside the house than it does outside, which is just crazy to me. Someone told me, Brandon probably, that they didn’t start putting centralized heating in homes in New Zealand until 1992. Not only is there no heat, but there is zero insulation. None. How insane is that?!
The weather here has been pretty nice so far. It kind of reminds me of San Francisco, a little rainy a little sunny and not too cold.



Auckland seems like a really clean city and you can understand how New Zealand got it’s reputation for being such a green/pristine place. And yet, when I asked someone where I should throw my plastic water bottle so that it could be recycled, they looked at me like I was nuts and told me that they don’t recycle. It was my turn to look at them like they were nuts. How can they NOT recycle?!
Bianca explained to me that they do recycle here, just not in public places, which seems strange. But I guess that’s the way it is in parts of California too, like in the Central Valley, which also just so happens to be one of the most polluted places in the US.
It blows my freaking mind that in the year 2009, when we are perfectly aware that we are destroying our environment, people still don’t really give a shit. If it costs money or takes extra effort, people can’t be bothered to do the right thing. Bianca was also telling me that here in NZ there has been a recent shift in government, and apparently one of their first official acts was to cut funding for educations programs in schools that taught about recycling and saving the environment. To me that is just like saying, “fuck the future, it’s not worth the current investment.”
Really?! Well, good luck with that.
Hope they don’t go the way of the Central Valley.