The Story of Becks

This is the account of the general thoughts and feelings that I have about New Zealand. First off, ‘Becks.’ As you all know my real name is Rebecca, but I go by Becky. Apparently Becky is a very uncommon name here. When people say my name, Becky, it comes out sounding like biky or something like that. So when I started telling people my name, they tried Becky a few times, but as they got to know me they started calling me Becks. Not Becky, not Beck, but Becks! This may seem inconsequential, but the funny thing is that EVERYONE does it! Almost every single New Zealander that I have met while living here now calls me Becks! Personally I think it is a wonderful new nick-name and it makes me laugh every time I hear it. I even got a few thank you cards from the kids that I have worked with here and they always start the card “Dear Becks,” what a great life I have!
So the next story I have has to do with my new name. I coach a softball team here, which my little sister Sophie plays on. They don’t have baseball at all in this country and softball is still relatively unpopular. However, because they don’t have baseball, softball is a coed sport here. So I coach about eleven kids, nine boys and two girls! My softball team name is the leopards, and to say the least, the struggle a little bit! Unfortunately the coaches of the other teams are really serious, whereas we just like to play for fun. The first game I went to I was putting up my chair to watch Sophie play when Sharon, the head coach, says you’re Becks right? Uhhh…yeah that’s me. Well get up here and run these kids through warm-ups! I looked over at my Kiwi-mum Vicki accusingly (that tattle-tale had told the coach I was a softball player!) and hopped up. I have been coach ever since! When I first started to coach I could tell that there were a few who really did want to learn the sport and get better. One of these kids was Jake, with his very supportive mum Andrea. Andrea and Jake started coming by the house every week for private lessons outside of practice and games. I finally convinced Jake that he was a natural catcher and away he went! It was so fun to see him implementing the skills and drills that I had been coaching him through. I really think that I might have found my calling! At the end of the season, which was about two weeks ago, I came home from my rock-climbing trip to find an oddly-shaped card with ‘Becks’ written on the outside waiting for me. Inside it said, “To Becks, Thank you for coaching me at softball. I have enjoyed our lessons and I have learn’t a lot about being a catcher. From Jake.” The card was enough to have me grinning from ear to ear, but inside the card was a little black velvet bag. Inside the bag was a beautiful jade fish-hook necklace. Now New Zealand is famous for Jade, it is the only place in the world that you can find this particular type of greenstone. Consequentially, being a tourist and all, I also happen to know how much jade costs, especially a large pendant like the one they gave me. I was absolutely floored. I seriously think I sat there with my mouth hanging open for a good ten minutes! The Maori have a superstition about jade, that it is very unlucky to buy jade for yourself. Of course, all of us BYU kids didn’t really have a choice, we had to buy it for ourselves. I had actually decided not to buy myself any jade, mostly because of the cost. So not only was I actually given my very first piece of jade, but it was also given to me by a real Kiwi. I have truly met some of the most amazing people here. They are all so generous and accepting. I have truly been so blessed to come here and have the experiences that I have. It is humbling to be here and see the simple way that people live. It is also inspiring to see how quickly a stranger will give you the shirt off his back if it meant that it would make your life a little easier, even if that were the only shirt he had. I think we could all learn a lot about the Kiwi way of life.