Thursday and Friday

We will have been in NZ for one week tomorrow, so it really hasn't been that long, but it feels longer. So many changes! Almost everything has changed for us: our geographical location, culture, socio-economic status, and social circle.

We touched down in Wellington Thursday afternoon and were driven to our hotel by a young employee from WETA named Matty. Too keyed-up to go to sleep right away, we walked around downtown Wellington and discovered Cuba Street, snapped some photos, posted them on Facebook, and then crashed. Kevin crashed at like 3:30 in the afternoon! I think I went to bed at 7:00.

[I haven't had any jet-lag. Hooray for me! Kevin is a different story.]

On Friday Matty picked-us up in our rental car, along with another WETA newbie from Australia named Michael who is also staying at this hotel. Matty drove us all to a bank to get our bank accounts set-up. Then we were taken to WETA to meet with Alicia, who was our first contact with WETA's HR department even before we arrived. She told Kevin how to invoice for his hours so he could get paid, laid out our options for obtaining a car, explained things to do with taxation and medical coverage in case of an injury and a few other important things.

After Alicia was done with us, Matty led us out to the parking lot and basically put Kevin in front of the wheel of our rental car with no preamble and told him to drive the three of us back to our hotel! Keep in mind that cars drive on the left here, traffic flows quickly, and round-abouts are typically used instead of intersections! Imagine it. Kevin had to drive us back to our hotel, along a very twisty coastal route, during peak traffic, with Matty giving him directions and saying things like "keep left," "look right," "watch your speed," "watch out for cars backing out."

I was sitting in the back seat on the left side, behind Matty, and I was holding my breath and clutching the arm rest the entire time, overwhelmed and fearful as a completely unfamiliar landscape whizzed before and all around us. Kevin deserves all the credit in the world for not crashing us, and not freaking out! When we arrived back at the hotel, Matty told Kevin to drive right back to WETA, so that he would know how to drive there himself on Monday. That car ride was just as scary! But nothing can compare to the sheer terror of what came next: Kevin driving me back to the hotel without Matty in the car to help give him directions! Our lives were literally in Kevin's hands, and we both knew it. Oh my god, I have never experienced that much terror from an actual ("real") danger in my life! But Kevin managed to get us back to the hotel in one piece. To say that he was my hero that day is no exxaggeration; that's certainly how I felt when we pulled into the hotel parking garage undamaged. I practically cried with relief from the tension. We were both overwhelmed with relief, and wrung-out, and exhilerated all at the same time! It was a complete head trip, as well as being an actual ride. Even just recalling it raises my blood pressure!

I'll stop here for now. There's plenty more where that came from, but Kevin should be home soon, so I'll pick this up later!