I write this as vegetables roast in the oven, Charlie Brown Christmas music plays, and rain drops outside. What a dream.

— 1 day later —

It’s now December 26th in New Zealand, which means it’s Christmas Day in the States. Since most of my readers reside there, merry Christmas! And, since the Christmas spirit should overflow for at least a few days, merry Christmas to everyone else, too!

After a warm day of walking outside and an even warmer nap, I feel as if I’m a slug. So, please excuse my tone if I sound tired! I just threw an olive oil? raspberry? vanilla? cake in the oven that is actually just composed of a cupcake mix from the convenience store with some extra surprises thrown in there… so I’ll let you know how that turns out.

Since my last piece of writing to you all, the components of my life have honestly totally changed. I now live in a lovely yellow house (the color of which is not particularly important but I like yellow houses). (Un)fortunately, the homeowners removed all of the numerous maritime-themed decorations that donned the walls of my room before we moved in, so it’s now relatively normal in appearance. Is it really meant to be a study instead of a bedroom? Definitely. Am I thankful for my own space and the (very small) bed regardless? Oh yeah.

Things at my job have also changed drastically. I (somewhat) have a handle on the chaos and although the lack of organizational systems still bewilders me, I’ve accepted my place low down on the corporate ladder. My manager jokingly called me a superstar last week and I glowed with the external positive feedback that I haven’t received since college. Most importantly, I finally cracked the social code with my wonderful middle-aged female coworkers. The evening shift at this corner store/cafe/restaurant/post office/takeaway place is filled with teenagers, which really made me question some choices when I was working with exclusively highschoolers during a shift last week. But, the day shift is filled with the real homies: Rebecca, Teresa W (not Teresa R), Skye, and Ranjeet. This week, I let my sassy side flow and joined in on the banter. It made my day.

After moving from temporary home to temporary home since May really, it feels quite nice to be sedentary for a bit. Of course, I’m already antsy to get out on more adventures. Can’t let (semi) adult life cramp my style!

Besides home and work, I rotate between a variety of outdoor activities to squeeze into the day: running, climbing, biking, swimming in the lake… the opportunities are endless! The rhythm of wake up, somehow survive an absurd day at work, then go play outside is really a nice one to settle into. I feel very grateful! Since I last wrote, I also made friends with a variety of people with fabulous accents I constantly chuckle at. I really need to stop doing that. Despite everyone speaking English here, I truly struggle to hear/understand people. A man at the cafe the other day told me I need to get my hearing checked, and I just smile and nod when one of my housemates (a kiwi) talks because I simply do not know what he says (sorry Matt).

During this holiday season, I’m lucky enough to have my mother out visiting me! She currently sits on a chair next to me on the porch at our airbnb while I lay on the ground. In addition to her wonderful and caring friendship, her presence also brings a significant upgrade in food quality. Vegetables and eating out and some legitimately yummy baked goods. This rocks! My newest pastry discovery is a friand. It’s like a small pound cake of sorts with berries in it that is typically gluten-friendly because it’s made with almond flour (or something like that?). This gives it a nice grainy texture while still being sweet like a typical cake. I would really recommend you give it a try.

As a note to end this post on, I’d like to say a little something about gratitude (even though I’m about a month late to the Thanksgiving train). During my time here and especially during my solo travels, I often spoke aloud gratitude for the Earth. As cheesy as it sounds, it mostly began as a way to reframe my own frustrations with less than ideal conditions. While backpacking along the Copland track in the absolutely pouring rain, rather than get angry at how soaked I was, I literally gave my thanks each time moments of sun came. While biking, this gratitude took the form of humility. Even though the wind made me so angry, I recognized that I was the silly human traveling the wrong direction against the much much larger movement of air — so that’s really on me. As a huge rock, glacier, and mountain nerd, I often recognize how powerful the Earth is to have created these massive natural features. I mean, to think that tectonic plates collided to form those mountains and/or that river consistently put in the work to carve out that canyon?? That’s crazy.

Anyways, this is all to say that since spending less time outside (aka living in a home and working in a sturdy building) I also find myself expressing that gratitude far less. In the next few weeks, I’d like to re-install that practice in my life. I think it gives me both a valuable perspective on my own size and a way to engender genuine optimism. After all, we are so small!

Til next week (or weeks),

J-quelin

update: the cake looked promising but unfortunately had a horrid after taste. Can’t win em all