i looked at a lot of my pictures from ghana today and missed it SO MUCH! it's probably the frosty bite of the wellington winter that is making me crave the equatorial heat of west africa. i mean, forgive this for being uncouth, but it's so cold in my house that my pee steams in the toilet! where is all this global warming? thank you not very much, new zealand clean energy scheme. come on now, do your part in obliterating winters.

so the black stars lost which only makes me pine even more for ghana. if there is one thing ghanaians know how to do joyfully - it's everything. win or lose in the soccer world cup, i am sure there was dancing and singing. and warmth! and constant sunshine! and black people! i miss all of those things.

job is still going well, and it's funny how clearly un-adult i am at doing this. for example, last week i bought a whole chicken, thinking it was the more economical way to get protein into my diet, only to have to call my dad about it and google the method to carving a raw chicken. i also had to wikipedia search what an "invoice" is after getting an email from a manufacturer using that term. it was one of those situations where i would have never thought i didn't know what "invoice" means, but when doing business, it seemed better to be safe than sorry. i kind of take one step forward and then two steps back on this road to being self-sufficient.

one of the more unusual aspects of wellington culture is how many transexuals live here. i suppose with the political atmosphere of a liberal country's capital, it makes sense that many would congregate here, but the percentage is almost alarming. a few weeks ago i saw two obvious men half-heartedly dressed in woman's earrings and make-up. not stellar efforts on their parts, but still. who knew trany could be trendy? bob dylan is probably loving how much the times are a-changin'.

this past week a man who was wearing a carolina tshirt came in. i was hesitant to strike up a conversation with someone who was maybe only sporting a 2nd hand thrift shop find, but turns out he went to undergrad and law school at UNC. i had missed southern accents! home always is everywhere!

love,

maggie