My Summer In Kaitaia

Yep it is over at last.
When I first left Dunedin I was really upset. I didn't tell many people but when I first got home my dad forgot me at the airport. The minute I touched down in Kaitaia I started crying and didn't stop for about twenty minutes.
As most people know, I am quite an emotional person and cry easily if I'm upset.
By the time my dad finally arrived at the airport I was still crying. Random people at the airport were trying to console me, offering me rides home while I just cried.
Cried and cried and cried.
My dad didn't understand why I was crying. He was only twenty minutes late, big deal! Whats the problem?
But it wasn't about him being late. I knew that being back in Kaitaia meant I was going to be alone most of the time, and it was going to be a struggle just to get by everyday with nothing to do but work on the farm and watch movies all day. It doesn't sound that bad, but I'm used to being in an environment with people around me all the time. I like being able to visit people, and have people want to visit me.
Kaitaia is the opposite.
I do have a small number of friends left in the town, but there are only so many conversations you can have with them. Once the standard: 'What have you been doing with your year?' is over, there isn't too much else.
So the first month of my stay in Kaitaia was really hard.
It helped that I started helping out my church's youth band every friday, it gave me something to do and people to talk to (13 and 14 year olds mainly, but I wasn't going to complain)
My birthday was pretty average. Much less depressing than the previous year, but I was still sad that the majority of my friends were not sharing the day with me. A few of them weren't even in the country and I had no way of talking to them.
A lot of my old friends didn't say a word to me on my birthday. Friends I used to have in Kaitaia. That sucked.
I haven't even seen a whole bunch of people I used to be friends with in Kaitaia the whole time I've been back.
Stuff like that really gets to me and upsets me, but I realise that its just a part of life and I have to stop being caught up on it. Its not my job to try and maintain every friendship I ever had when life takes us in complete different directions and they end up being strangers to me.
I have to learn to let it go.
It wasn't until I went on the Nelson Beach Project that I started to feel happy again. I was around some of my friends from Dunedin, and made heaps of new friends with people that seemed to understand me and enjoy my company. I started playing my music in front of large crowds which really helped to boost my confidence.
It seemed that my summer was starting to turn around.
The night I came home from Nelson, I met a group of young people from the YWAM school in Matamata who were running a Kid's programme at church, which I helped with. It was super fun, and once again gave me something to do with my time.
After the YWAMers left, I started to fall back into my apathetic mood that I had for my first month in Kaitaia, but thankfully I was able to keep myself busy with packing up my childhood room and working on the seven songs I managed to write over the past two months.
Today is my last day in Kaitaia.
It is fair to say that while it started out pretty rough, I have managed to have a great time, but I still miss Dunedin and everything it stands for and am very excited to return.
I am glad that I was able to form a connection with my local church here, and I am looking forward to coming back and visiting my friends in the Youth Band. I am leaving Kaitaia in a much better mood than last time, and this makes me happy.
I feel that God has really worked in my life this summer, and for that I am grateful.
Seeing Him heal my grandma was awesome, and also just seeing what an impact He has on other people's lives has been eye-opening and inspiring.
So God bless Kaitaia, you aren't as bad as I sometimes say you are.
And I will see you again soon.