Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jog

My mom used to always say "Home again, home again, jiggity jog" whenever we arrived home after a trip. Is that even a saying? I don't think I have ever heard anyone else say that, and whenever it slips out of my mouth when I am with friends, they look at me really strange...

On Thursday, my team drove back to Matamata from Kaitaia. We left at 8:30 AM and got to the base at about 4:00 PM, I think. It was a long drive, but it went surprisingly fast. When we got here, we were reunited with Fiji 2, who had arrived just before us. Then India came and China came last. It was like we had never left, and like the past two months were just a dream. We spent the evening catching up and telling stories.

Yesterday (Friday) was pretty uneventful. I actually can't even remember what we did. I am pretty sure we did nothing all day, except hang out and enjoy each other's company, of course. I especially missed my cottage 5 girls! It is so awesome to be reunited! It feels like I am home. In the morning, Hannah D asked me if it was weird to wake up and not hear her yelling/being loud. It really wasn't weird at all. It just felt like things had gone back to normal. I woke up in my room with Kat in the bunk above me and Anne in her bed across the room. Normal.

It is so awesome to be back. I was getting really home-sick in Kaitaia. I think in Fiji it was easy to not be homesick because we were living in a house with a family that we were basically a part of, with a mommy and a daddy. But in Kaitaia we were staying in a hall, all sleeping on foamies on the floor. It was just so much less homey for whatever reason. Even though we had grandma Sarah and daddy Dave (and auntie Leish). I just really missed my family a lot. But now that I'm back in Matamata I don't miss them so much. It's good. This week I will get my mind back together and will be all ready for traveling New Zealand for the next month. I'm so excited!

Schnegg, Elisa, Marit and I booked a bus to take us from Aukland to Wellington on Saturday, where we plan to take the ferry to the South Island and rent a car. I think we are planning for 3 weeks on the south island and one on the north, since we have already seen so much of the north island.

Today (Saturday) was really nice. We had a lazy morning and then left for Mount Maunganui at about 11. During the drive to the beach, we came up beside this other big white 10 passenger van. It was filled with 30ish year old men. They were just packed in there like sardines. They were looking at us and kind of giving us funny looks. They they sped by us, and one of the guys was hanging his bum out of the window. But this was not a normal moon. He was wearing women's lingerie. We almost died. Hilarious. There may or may not have been more moons during the drive, but that was the most surprising one, I must say.

We just hung out on the beach for the day. It was awesome. We haven't been to the Mount during summer yet. It is like a completely different place. There were people everywhere. The surf was really big. There were surfers and beach volley ballers and farmers markets. So much stuff happening. And so much SKIN! I am still in outreach mode and am not quite used to seeing so many bikini's and shirtless men. It was shocking. And we all looked like such prudes swimming in our tank tops and shorts.

The water was AMAZING. It was not too cold, and the sun was nice and HOT, with a nice breeze. Marit, Schnegg, Brent and I swam out into the waves. Brent and I left Schnegg and Marit in the dust. I think they couldn't get past the place where the waves were breaking, but since Brent and I are basically off of Bay Watch (we both look and swim like them) we made it out to the surfers. But then we realized that we were probably going to get run over so we went back in. It was a really rigorous swim. I was exhausted after. I am such a fatty after 2 months of outreach.

Then Jacob and I got coffee. Surprise, surprise. And then I sat on the beach and read for the entire afternoon. It was so nice. And now all of the girls have really attractive tans. I am really dark on my arms, chest and upper back, and on my legs. The rest of me is SO WHITE. Awkward. It's gonna be really funny when Marit and I bring out our bikinis while we are traveling!