dr. blog, i presume? oh, hello. it's been a while, yes. two months, even. let's hope this isn't awkward.

INTERJECTION - the one, the only katie (for you, dad: scarlett o'hara) johnson just called me while at work (i've got the internet now at marocka. having the internet is like magic, father time has no control over my day anymore! ha! eight hours fly!)! i've got to get to australia ASAP. good lord, that girl makes me laugh.

it's seems like there is so much of life's little nothings with which to fill this blog entry. life in wellington is still great and the winter is quickly moving out. hallelujah, here comes the sun! with all the rain the winter poured onto us - and now with the springtime sun - wellington has turned green. all over! even these stone retainer walls that i walk by on my way to work are giant canvases of sweet green moss! it certainly gives a new meaning to living in a "concrete jungle!" lush, lively new zealand!

i can't believe that it's almost been a whole year since i left for new zealand. i think right around this time in 2009, i was at andrew and josh's new york apartment realizing more and more that it was the right decision for me to not be in new york this year. the moment i stepped foot into gilly and greg's welcoming home, though, i knew new zealand was right. thank surprising Life that things keep seeming "right."

there have been almost too many good lessons this year on how i want to be living and what kind of person i want to grow into. one of them that i keep going back to is the issue of politeness. i am incredibly lucky that i was born to parents who value being polite, so much so that i spent enough time at cotillion that i'm sure i could fold a napkin swan if a gun was held to my head. but i have learned about a new kind of politeness this year, one that i think is more lasting and one that has no boundaries.

it's a politeness that i suppose is what kept me so very happy in the less-than-ideal living circumstances of both china and ghana. that is to have absolutely no "manners." what i have learned to be polite, what i have learned from my most gracious hosts, is that the easiest way to make someone feel like they are at home is to actually act like you are, indeed, at home. i loved the first night at gilly and greg's how robin and i walked into their very lived-in home and we were warmly shown towels and coffee, but from then on, it was like being at home. since gilly and greg don't very often use napkins, neither did i, and it made everyone comfortable. they were living in their own home the way they like to, and so was i.

in ghana it would have been more improper to eat my meal with a fork in my left hand than to eat with my fingers on my right. in china choosing to use a "sit down" toilet was met with looks of disapproval and questions of one's cleanliness - you want to actually sit on that thing? being polite is entirely relative, and i hope a lesson that i can continue to learn wherever i am. having been graced with now a year's worth of what i believe to be the most incredible hosts in new zealand, i know that part of being polite is being a good guest and making your host feel like you are at home.

as always, homes seem to appear in whichever direction i walk, and for this, i am always, always grateful. this past week i was hosting a german 16 year old in wellington who is a family friend of carolyn's. during much of this week, i - for the first time in, uhh, a year?! - was feeling a bit stressed out, and i very much wanted to throw my hosting abilities under a rug. let the kid figure out where the grocery store is on his own, you know? i mean, he's a child and doesn't speak english in a city he's never been to. he'll be fine. but once i pulled my head out of my butt and repeated the mantra i have decided to live by (WWGoCD? What Would Gilly or Carolyn Do?), i tried to channel all the people who have welcomed me. and i tell ya, the mantra works.

tomorrow morning i wake up and head to a new (albeit very temporary) home - the cook islands! finally, after six months of dreaming about it, caroline, eva, robin and i will reunite tomorrow in our own beach house on rarotonga (google image search. please. just do it.) for a glorious ten day vacation (from what - i'm not sure). it's way past time for my skin to rekindle its relationship with melanin.

love,

maggie