Hotel Isolation, Day 5, 6 & 7

Days 5, 6 and 7 (Wednesday-Friday) have been for the most part filled with Zoom dance classes and calling friends. Live ballet classes via Zoom are often the highlight of my day, it helps to remind me why I am here in this hotel room for two weeks and what I am working towards. We are so lucky: for our ballet classes one of our pianists also joins the Zoom call and plays for us - it is such a privilege to have live music for class, especially online. I also feel more connected to my peers and my teachers in these classes, I miss them all so much but I am so grateful that we are able to do class together throughout this time.

As I mentioned before, calling my friends (as well as my family), has been another highlight for me. Finding ways to stay connected with others has been a pretty big part of my life for the past few years since moving overseas, but it is even more important for me now as my contact with others is more limited than usual. I feel super lucky to have people who are always willing to video call or message when I'm feeling a bit disconnected or don't have much to do. It's the best feeling when you find a friend who you can chat to for hours without feeling like you've been talking to them for very long at all. I'm also really pleased with the lovely messages I've been receiving from people about this blog! I find it especially fun when people send their thoughts using the box at the bottom of my website, I get an email saying someone has left their thoughts and I get excited every time! So, I guess what I am saying here is that if you have the time, send me a message using the box below because it really makes my day :-)

I've had people ask me to do reviews of the food here at the hotel, but if I am honest, I'm not quite sure that I'd be very good at that sort of thing! However I will say that they have been so great here dealing with my nut allergy, always giving me alternatives when a meal was meant to include something that has nuts in it. It has been quite amusing though on some occasions to see what they give me as an alternative, sometimes the nut free options are quite interesting... hahaha! It's also interesting trying to fit meals in around zoom classes, my lunch normally arrives about half an hour or less before my ballet class so I just have to let it sit there until I find a time to have it after as I really can't do ballet class that soon after eating. That's another thing I'm looking forward to - having ballet class in the mornings again! At the moment our classes are later in the day in terms of NZ time, to allow students in Australia, Japan, Singapore, etc to be able to join too. It'll definitely be nice to do class earlier in the day and then be able to do those other things that I normally do in the mornings now in the afternoon like I used to.

I booked my flight to Wellington from Auckland the other night, and it feels so amazing to have it be official: I will be back there before May ends! I wasn't able to book it any earlier as I wasn't sure as to when they would let me leave, but someone called me from the hotel and confirmed that I will be allowed to leave the hotel exactly two weeks from when my flight landed. My plane got in on Saturday at 5:30pm, and unfortunately there aren't any flights to Wellington after that time on the Saturday I can leave, so I'm booked in to fly out at 7:30am the next day. The government are happy to cover the cost of the additional night here, which is great. What's one extra night in the big scheme of things anyway I say!

I thought this would be a good time to also reflect on how much it actually means for me to be here at this hotel. Most would consider it a nuisance, something that they couldn't get out of. However for me, I am grateful to be here because for a while I thought I wouldn't be able to get back into New Zealand at all. I am so glad I was able to get the visa that allowed me to get here, because as much as I loved being home, the idea of not being able to get back to New Zealand in time to be able to continue my third year and graduate broke my heart. It really shows how quickly things can change - I was definitely in a not so great place mentally the first couple of weeks after I came back to Australia, especially given how quickly everything changed. If I am honest, for a while I felt as though it had been my premature goodbye to NZSD, that my time at the school had come to an end. Of course that wouldn't have been the case anyway, as I would have done everything I could to return to repeat my third year if I hadn't been able to get back in time this year (we have a cut off date that we need to be back by in order to complete the requirements for our course). So, to be here in this hotel room for two weeks, whilst it may not be ideal, is a prayer answered. Wellington is the light at the end of the tunnel, and I'm just enjoying being along for the ride.

St Andrew's - near where we go for our walks!