four weeks in ...

four weeks tonight since I returned home, and it's taken some adjustments.

Aotearoa definitely isn't Asia, if you disregard the geography.

in many ways, it feels like relearning a language, and constantly making mistakes in the processs.

I seem to have become impatient while overseas, imbibing more of Korea's "pali pali" pulse than I realised..I've also learned some brash overconfidence from my years in China, and that only works at home when you're bragging about sports. Getting a job here by saying you can do anything needed hasn't been the best plan.

So I'm starting from scratch, taking a job in a government call center on a temp basis while I seek something that suits better. Because there is only so much tv watching and crocheting I can take before I go mad, and I actually like to work. Plus I'm strewing crochet projects around my friend's home, some of which I'm already displeased with and know I will unpick.

It has been interesting, and I possibly scare the other users of the nearby riverside walk by being overly effusive - "good morning", "have a great day", "is it ok to pet your dog?". I feel I might need to explain that I haven't had a lot of conversations in English for almost two decades, and I'm relearning how it works here.

Sometimes it doesn't, I've seen the ugly side of my country in one episode in the supermarket car park where a young male was screaming from a car offering to pay bottom dollar for sexual services. I've also read about the P (methamphetamine) problem we have, and the other issues that stem from it.

I've been reading too much - not working has made me more of a media junkie than previously, while less of a fan. That's an issue also, the cost of Internet access is ridiculous here.

but, it's home, and if there are things I don't like, then I need to analyse why and, if it's a valid complaint, do what I can to change them for the better

that wasn't really an option in other people's countries