New Zealand Slide Show 2!

Day Twenty-Three February 3, 2008 Sunday

Erin and I woke up to another beautiful day this morning. We each quickly took showers and I started my morning with a very focused fast, which was nice, as I haven’t done that in a while. Church was really nice. Despite the short sleep I got last night, I didn’t get sleepy in church at all, which was doubly amazing as it was fast Sunday! I considered bearing my testimony, but I think what I have to say needs to stew for a while longer, next month or the next should be good. In Sunday school sister Jenny (her last name is impossible to pronounce but it is something like Naewhooroo) told the most hilarious story about how she and her husband, the branch president, got together. Basically they went on one date and he proposed, and she didn’t even like him! Despite the fact that I would really like to marry for love, I think I would be all for an arranged marriage, I HATE DATING!!!!! Anyway, when church was over the Duncans picked us up and we changed clothes. Erin decided to take a nap, but I went with everyone else to Vicki’s nephew’s boarding school initiation. This was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever seen. I sat in a room full of eleven year-old boys who were scared to death and their families who were about to say goodbye to each other for the school semester. I cannot imagine going away to school at eleven! It was hard enough at 18! The whole experience was really neat, school is so different here that I just want to immerse myself in it. As pretty much everyone knows, school is just about my favorite thing in the world, and being here makes me kind of want to start all over again and experience it the Kiwi way! When we said goodbye to Ben after the light tea they served we came home and started fixing our own tea. The Duncans had to move the cows, so Vicki put me to work peeling, cutting, and seasoning the potatoes. I must say they make amazing potatoes down here, and I am going to come home with some rocking recipes! After tea we watched a bit of tv as a family and I colored in Erin’s coloring book. I know it doesn’t seem like I did much today, but I felt like I learned a lot. Now I am exhausted and am ready for my first day of school tomorrow (my first official day with an SIT instructor). The good new is, it is supposed to be beautiful weather through Friday, knock on wood!

Day Twenty-Two February 2, 2008 Saturday

Today Erin and I didn’t set our alarm because we didn’t need to go anywhere except the ward barbeque at noon. We assumed that we would have a nice lie-in but still have plenty of time to do everything else and get there on time. Yeah, that didn’t happen. Vicki had to come wake us up at 11:15! I guess this last week has really exhausted us because we always wake up early! We quickly got ready and hopped on our bikes to go to Donovan Park, which believe it or not, is actually farther than the church! We got to the bbq around 1:30 and had some delicious food. However, I think the combination of the food and biking made me a little sick. I decided to watch the sack races and egg toss because I was feeling a bit off and knew I had to bike home. I ended up sleeping a little in the grass, but not much. We have a really nice ward down here and it was fun to see all of us interact with everyone. After the bbq we rode our bikes back to the school to get on the internet. Unfortunately the school doors were locked, so Erin and I biked back over to the Warehouse to look for some church skirts because we are both completely sick of the ones we brought. After shopping a while we biked home. I asked Vicki about how far we biked today and she said it had to be at least 40 Ks, meaning a little over 24 miles! My thighs and bum are definitely feeling it, especially since it was the second day in a row of going that far. When we came home we helped out with dinner a bit and had another bbq with Mark’s friend Roger and his kids Kyle and Kimberley. I tried some Paua and blue cod, but mostly stuck with the venison, which was absolutely divine. The kids wanted to watch Eragon, so I watched it while I worked on my pictures for my slide show. I’m going to have to do another slide show because it only holds fifty, but I think it was a pretty good start. It was an absolutely beautiful day today, and the stars were incredible. I am beyond wiped and have to wake up early for church. So this is the conclusion of another day in the most amazing place on earth.

Day Twenty-One February 1, 2008 Friday

It rained. Hard. We biked. Today I woke up at about 7 in order to get to town by 9. I had some toast with peanut butter, since I now have that luxury! As I was eating breakfast I watched the rain coming down outside, it was coming down in just about every direction you could imagine! The only thing that was going through my head is: I have to bike through that! Despite my trepidations I donned all of the expensive rain gear that I bought back in the states and headed to my bike in the garage. I looked pretty funny with big black rain pants and jacket with my hood up, a bright yellow reflective safety vest, and a helmet and backpack! I wrapped the contents of my backpack in a garbage bag so that it wouldn’t get soaked, but the bag itself was on its own! When we were all decked out we hopped on the bikes and set off. We got to school pretty quickly and dragged ourselves sopping and dripping into our classroom at SIT. Everyone was laughing at everyone else, because we all looked like wet puppy dogs! We sat in our classroom and listened to Mark go through each of the different classes, I am taking two of the three classes, Family Life and the Religion class that goes through the history of the church in New Zealand. At about eleven we broke up for the day, however those who had family life had to return at one for our first class. I decided to get ahead a little on my reading for the class, eat my pack lunch, and check my e-mail a bit. Class was really good, I think I am going to enjoy it a lot. It is an in-depth look at the proclamation to the family. I think that I will be able to add quite a bit as a philosophy student and by having a divorced family. We went through and were talking about how in New Zealand families so seldomly stay together or even get married at all. I find it hilarious that I came to New Zealand to have a whole family and everyone else is experience the other way for the first time! When it all comes down to it though, I love my family here in New Zealand, but I wouldn’t trade my family back home for anything. After class it was about three and we had to be at the church at seven. I asked Erin if she would rather jus stay in town and hang out until volleyball. We actually decided to go to a movie, because both of us wanted to see Juno and it was playing at four. We got some sandwiches at the grocery store and snuck them into the theater. The movie was really good, I liked it a lot. Afterwards we went to the two dollar store and Erin got some coloring books and a watch. Then we biked to the church, which is again, another million miles away in the opposite direction from home. Volleyball was cool, but a lot of people in a very small gym (Smelly!). Erin and I ended up riding home at around 8:30. We got home at about 9:20 and watched a little tv. I checked my e-mail again and now I am finally going to bed at 11:30, I am seriously so exhausted!

Day Twenty January 31, 2008 Thursday

Today I woke up at about nine. I had some toast for breakfast and got my swimming suit on. Erin wants to teach me how to do pilates, so we spent about twenty minutes ‘doing’ pilates, but most of the time I was in hysterics, well I guess I still got an ab workout anyway. After our pilates exercises we hopped on our bikes and road out to the main road to meet everyone else on their way to the beach. We met up with them at about ten minutes to eleven and continued on down to Oreti beach. The water was full of seaweed due to the tide, so we got a game of Ultimate Frisbee going. That was a lot of fun, but we only played one game because it was getting too hot. After the Frisbee game I decided to just deal with the seaweed and jumped in the water. I brought the boogy board with me on my backpack, but the waves weren’t very strong. I went in after a few minutes and layed out on the beach for a while. It was getting close to one, so I decided to head back home so I could talk to my Mom. I finally got to talk to her and I loved hearing the news from Kentucky and telling her all about what I have been doing here. When I hung up with my mom I decided to give my grandma a call. It was really nice to talk to my grandma, and I am glad she is starting to feel better. She said she will do everything she can to make it to my graduation in April, and that is all I care about! After talking to my family I read my book for a while to kill some time. We had tea early because we wanted to go into town at six to watch our friends play in a rugby game. We got to the game, but it was touch rugby, and only 30 minutes long. It was really fun to watch our friends play, but a little more boring than I thought it would be. After the game Erin and I decided to walk around town a little. We ended up finding a dollar on the street so we decided to buy some ice cream cones. After the ice cream cones we went to the Countdown supermarket and Erin and I each got some peanut butter, because the Duncan’s don’t have any. I also got some yogurt because basically yogurt here is amazing! After Vicki picked us up we came home and watched a little tv. Now I am totally exhausted and school starts tomorrow.

Day Nineteen January 30, 2008 Wednesday

Today I had a bit of a lie-in. I guess that day at the beach really took it out of me! I woke up at about nine and got ready for a day in town. Erin had a meeting in Queens Park at eleven, so we headed out at about five after ten. The bike ride really is a very nice little ride. It is indeed quite a distance, but very doable. I’m really excited about it actually because my thighs are going to be amazing when I go home. We got to Queens Park with about ten minutes to spare so we sat by the big water fountain and waited for the rest of Erin’s group. Eventually they all got there and a couple of the other girls who had just come with their roommates decided to go to the school to get on the internet. I decided to tag along and see if I could get the wireless to work. I ended up loading pictures and talking most of the hour because I couldn’t figure out the wireless. At about ten minutes to 12 we rode our bikes across town to Pizza Hut for Tyler’s birthday. It was nice, but I didn’t want to eat there so I ended up leaving with two other girls on a hunt for wireless internet. I thought for sure that Starbucks would have it, since it is free in the states. However, after I got all situated inside I tried to log on and found that you had to pay to be able to use it! I was very discouraged to say the least. I decided to head back to the school by myself and at the very least e-mail the people that had written to me so that they got some type of update. Luckily after I was there for a while one of my friends came into the lab with her external flash drive (I had forgotten mine) and I was able to finally update my blog! I am amazingly behind in putting pictures up, but at least now everyone can know what has been happening to me. While I was in the computer lab my roommate told me that she talked to our director about switching houses because she is allergic to the cat. I started to panic a little because I love my house and family and I didn’t want to have to leave. I decided that I would go talk to the director myself. Luckily Ken assured me that even if they had to move Erin out that they would do everything they could to keep me here. Feeling better I hopped on my bike to meet Erin by the bridge at five to make it home in time for tea. The bike rides were both very pleasant today, although I know that my muscles will be protesting for the next few days. We came back home to a wonderful supper of curry and cooked cabbage which was absolutely divine! After dinner Erin wasn’t feeling too well so I went with Vicki and the girls to her friend Sandra’s house to do a little socializing. They actually asked me a couple questions about the church, none relating to doctrine of course, and I was amazed at how little they knew. BYU students have been coming down here for a few years now, don’t they ever open their mouths? I guess that I have earned my right as the ‘loud one’ as Vicki likes to call me! The funny thing about that is that Erin is louder than me when we are with our group and I have been the quite one for the last two years with Tanya, so being dubbed as the loud one is actually quite hysterical for me! I am totally spent, so I am going to hit the sack so I have plenty of energy for the beach tomorrow.

New Zealand Slide Show