Return To Wisconsin

After somewhere between 10 and 11 of the hardest months of my life, I decided that my best option was to return to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin to visit all of the people and things I've missed so much since last June. As a result of this decision, I scheduled an appointment with the US consulate in order to obtain a 6 month visitor visa, booked flights from Auckland through to Chicago via San Francisco and skipped the country I've come to loathe.

I've been back in Fort for a little over a month now and the experience so far has been a mixed bag. It's fantastic seeing everyone again and being able to hang out with the friends I'd been missing so much but I've been horrendously busy virtually since I touched down. I've barely had time to touch base with New Zealand, as far as I can gather they're not falling apart without me.

I've been roped into playing guitar for the showchoir band for the end of year jazz di pasta show that they perform in which involves me being at the high school every day and before that I was singing with the chamber choir because they're low on men this year. I also helped out behind the scenes as a crew member for this years spring play which was "Noises Off." My ex-girlfriend was one of the stage managers and things between us have been pretty volatile since I've been back so that was an interesting one.

Right now I'm helping Kathy Ihde (who was my AFS liasion person) move into her home for the next 6 months in Copper Harbor, Michigan. We came up earlier this week (7 and a half hour drive) with a packed car and trailer full of things to make her new house more accomodating. It's awesome being right by a different part of Lake Superior and seeing the UP (Upper Peninsula) for the first time ever. I'll be staying with her husband Jeff for the remainder of my time here while she lives and works up in Copper Harbor.

I've been doing a little bit of creative writing recently but not as much as I'd like to be so I'm hoping to make time for that in coming weeks. I'm also hoping to keep my youtube channel going with fresh videos on a regular (hoping for weekly) basis, I just went up to 50 subscribers this week so I'm pretty excited about that venture. I've got a trip to DC planned in a couple of weeks with my best friend Beckett to see the US play Germany in a soccer match which I'm looking forward to.

I definitely made the right call with coming back to Wisconsin when I did. Things in New Zealand were going nowhere for me and I was getting more and more frustrated with my situation. This trip has restored a lot of my ambition and life goals that I was ready to give up on and I'm excited to see what happens in the next few months.