THE FIRST BLOG ENTRY

Wow ok, well I've never actually had a proper blog before so this should be interesting...
I'm still residing in Kaitaia, I've been here for over six weeks. It is actually crazy to think I've been here for so long.
At first it was total culture shock coming back here after living in Dunedin for nine months. My goodness. The most significant thing I noticed from the get-go was the intense temperature difference (Kaitaia is absolutely SCORCHING!) and also the cleanliness of my parents' house. I had just left a disgusting Scarfie flat so being in a place that wasn't covered in mould and dirt was a nice change.
Six weeks later I am still here. I have been into Kaitaia's economically stagnant town centre only a handful of times. When I first got back it was to find a job, and since then I have accompanied my mother on various errands, and met up with a small number of friends, but that is basically it.
I try to stay out of Kaitaia, because for whatever reason the people of this town appear really intimidating to me and not as friendly as my fellow Dunedinites. I don't know what it is. I feel like I'm the minority here. In Dunedin I'm just another student, but here, people know you when you don't know them. This is a small town after all, about 5,000 people live in the town, and more live in the surrounding countryside so pretty much everybody knows everybody.
In my very minimal visits to town, I have seen a lot of people that I know from when I used to live here.
It just goes to show that this town never changes, and even if you're only here 3 months out of the year, people that you used to know will still be here when you get back.
Take that as a positive or a negative, I just take it as a fact.