it's the end of my second day in new zealand!  yesterday was pretty much just travelling so I am not going to cover it... I didn't get to hastings until 8 pm even though i arrived in NZ at 7 in the morning.  today i got up at elevenish and tracey (my host sister) showed me around the yard and neighborhood.  they have a lemon tree so i cut up some lemon and we put it in our tea.  there are tons of ripe oranges and lemons everywhere so i've been eating fruit all day (lots of fruit is ripening now all over the north island and it's very cheap).  tracey's mom lives nearby so we went over there and I got to meet her mom and little sister Jody who is 6 and will be in the class I am student teaching in next week.
then we all went hiking and to a honey factory place.  tasting all the different honeys gave me a taste for it so i've been eating spoonfuls of honey all day plus honey with bread and butter (i just finished a piece before writing this).  i tried to get a phone card but the one i got wasn't compatible with my phone so i have to figure that out... right now i'm content to just have internet and will be trying to videochat over facebook tomorrow.  tracey and colin have darts, ping pong, and foosball and they love playing cards so we played some games after dinner.
okay well that's enough for now.  i am still pretty jet-lagged today so i'm going to go to bed soon.  it's something like 4 in the morning in iowa city but only 8:30 pm here... i will finish reading the hobbit and watch the daily show then bed.  yes.  also old crow is $45 here.  seriously.  it's insane.  old crow!??