it's 8pm...

and feels like 2am. The last two nights I fell asleep at 5pm... and slept until 6am. Guess I needed some extra sleep. The most amazing part about this journey to the other side of the world is that we totally skipped May 6, 2007. It never existed. We left Chicago on May 5 and arrived in NZ (24 hours later) on May 7. So for all of you back in the states, I am living in the future and if you ever need to know any future stuff (more next day type questions rather than 10 years from now inquiries), just let me know.

There are lots of cute things going on here in NZ, like instead of expiration date, people and forms say expiry date (I have heard that they are keen on shortening words and adding a y to the end...). Also there are a few new (to me) coffee drinks available, long black and flat white. The long black is pretty good and just a larger, slightly weaker espresso drink (although if you are in a hurry, the short black is better suited). The flat white... I have no idea sounds to me like some sort of cafe au lait though. Also you pretty much have to pay for absolutely everything, especially in the hotel we are staying in. Oh, except for the shuttle, a bus that runs a strip in the downtown area and is free, hurray!

Driving (or for me - riding) on the opposite side of the road is also an adventure. The hardest part to grasp is when you are turning left (which would be like turning right in the US) you have to yield to oncoming traffic turning right (that is the opposite of what the rule is in the US). Also crossing streets while walking has proven a little more difficult (or maybe stressful is a better term), I haven't figured out what part of the street to look for traffic heading my way, I just look a lot on in both directions to make sure nobody is going to hit me.

Yeah, things are a little backwards down here near middle earth, but with a little more time and a little more sleep, I think we will be just fine.