31 to 27

The All Blacks WON!!! Just returned from the game...it was fantastic! Justin, Brenden, Becks and I went. Despite the positively frigid aspect of the weather, hearts and faces were ablaze with excitement.

For those who may not know, the All Blacks are the national rugby team. And they are somewhat likened unto gods.

The test was close at the end, but a bonus point granted on top of a try sealed the victory. I especially enjoyed the triple rotation of "the wave" around Carisbrook stadium, the two uni guys that had painted themselves black and were running around (freezing) in loincloths, and the 9 year old boy sitting behind me who obviously had memorised his father's entire rugby vocabulary. Pretty hilarious.

Before and after the game I got to jump a fence (the shortest distance between two points truly is a straight line). Afterward, to thaw ourselves, we had hot chocolate and discussed:

• top 3 favorite sunrise/sunset memories
• songs to play at wedding/funeral/while dishwashing/driving
• top 3 breakup stories

Couldn't contribute to all of them, but fun nonetheless! And learned some more about my friends :o)

Typical NZ morning in the life of me

Typical NZ morning in the life of me (24 August 05 - wed)
13 days ago

~7am: roused from sleep by scratchy talk radio. Call-in question de jour: "A woman gives birth to two babies born two minutes apart on the same day, same month, same year. They are not twins. How can this be?" Second caller guesses correctly: "They're triplets."

Turning off the radio, I grab my Bible. It's this thing I'm learning constantly; even though I might not feel like reading, might not feel like it "does" anything...it does. "

Sidetracked in the Wilderness," by Michael Wells, puts it this way, "we don't come to the Word to gain knowledge. We come to the Word for LIFE" (emphasis mine).

Thankfully, God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything (1 john 3:20) and that was something I needed to hear and remember.

After reading, I may journal, check my email (we've got broadband!), do some homework.

Some mornings Denise and I swim. On these morns I roll off the mattress and into my shoes. Grabbing my bag, I brush my teeth and fall down to the ground floor before jogging the block (past all the factory guys waiting for their work to open) to Denise's. Most mornings I eat my daily oatmeal, make my lunch, and head out the door for the 15 min walk to uni.

My Mummy's Birthday

My Mum's 32nd birthday is coming up.
This saturday, 27 August, she will acquire precisely 22 and 10 years (give or take some months) of life experiences. It was a miracle I survived, really. Look her up in the Guinness Book.

But beyond that, for those of you who are feeling particularly generous, she loves:

• Hershey's dark chocolate
• pretty dangly earrings
• any antique jewellery
• books on the topic of Adoption
• long walks
• bike rides
• help pulling weeds and white-top

Don't get your hopes up gentlemen, because she’s taken. A Bearded Dashing Knight captured Mum’s heart ages ago.
What is my gift, you ask? Well! After a gruelling 4 hour rehearsal I am sacrificing my restful saturday evening to attend the rugby.
All Blacks vs. South Africa. Tough job, but somebody has to do it.
Happy Birthday Mom! I love you :o)

Adventures and Nicole

Looking over my pictures, I realise my adventures have become more of the domestic sort. Which is entirely to be expected seeing as how I have been in Dunners for nearly 7 mos and have made some incredible friends. I'd rather spend time with someone than traverse the mountainside alone. But to do it together is perfect!
I just thought I'd share what my flatmate Nicole is doing over break. She's braving the ever-popular Railtrail of Central Otago. A 150 km path that can be walked or cycled, it runs from Middlemarch to Clyde. I am planning on doing it after the play is finished end of Sept. It can be ridden in 3 days or walked in 5, I think. Interested?

Nicole is one of my two new flatmates. She's a Tourism major from Memphis, Tennessee. Our current interactions include borrowing dvds from each other, her introducing me to heaps of new music, and attempts on her part to murder me via gym and weight room activities. She's a camp counselor/horse trainer/former coxswain/aerobics instructor/sister. We get along famously! Pictures to follow soon...*hopefully*...

Prayer

In 'The Saving Life of Christ,' by Maj. W. Ian Thomas, there's a concept of prayer that I love.

I had a neat experience with some of the cast of TMJ and pur director, Erina. Before rehearsal we usually have a pray and yesterday we shared some prayer requests. That practice was probably the best yet.

"...'Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17), and here the word to pray does
not mean to beg or to plead as if God were unwilling to give - but simply to
expose by faith every situation as it arises, to the all-sufficiency of the One
who indwells you by His life. Can any situation possibly arise, in any
circumstances, for which He is not adequate? Any pressure, promise, problem,
responsibility or temptation for which the Lord Jesus Himself is not adequate?
If He be truly God, there cannot be a single one! "And (He is) declared to be
the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:4) - and of this, His resurrection life, we
are made partakers! This being so, applying His adequacy by faith to every
situation as it arises, will leave you with no alternative but to obey the
injunction of 1 Thess. 5:18 - "In everything give thanks!""

I am still sick

Yes, I am still sick.
And I am not engaged to be married (I know Sarah would die if I were).
After much urging of friends I went to the student health services yesterday. I paid them $6.50 for a nurse to tell me exactly what I knew.
That's why I hate to go to the doctor.
It's just a cold and I'm run down. I was actually considering putting myself on pain killer/fever reducer when I met my friend, Liz, on the way back to the library. She reminded me of one of God's amazing creations: raw garlic.
I stink. I'm also feeling a little better.
And I'm not letting myself do anything this weekend. I've got BIG plans for mid-semester break, starting the 28th - one week, and I've got to be rested!!! I'll write about my plans either after break or sometime during :o)
It's big. No...it's jaw-dropping massive.
But I'll tell you about it later, because it's a surprise :o)

Wee questionaire

I'm curious; upon reading the subject of my "I'm engaged!" posting, which was your response?

a) yelp, "What?!"

b) happily/smugly say, "I knew it was only a matter of time."

c) terrible disappointment

d) flared nostrils and half-lowered eyelids in disbelief and knowledge of my very tweaked sense of humor.

e) other: __________________

Bone Carving

For the past three weeks, monday evenings have been busy with a bone carving class. The first night we were handed beef leg bone portions (straight from the butcher) and cleaned them. Chris, the instructor, wanted us to learn from the beginning, how to create a carving. Tonight was the 4th session (5 total, 2.5hrs apiece, except for the last which endures for an extra hour) and my carving is nearly finished. I was at the sanding stage when the clock hit 7:30pm. I'd love to teach people when I get home - it's a Maori tradition and I think there would be a lot of interest. Especially among those homeschoolers...

Dad, Chris reminds me of you! He loves the ocean (teaches the surfing courses), loves his kids (he was making a carving for his daughter, River) and loves to make things. I recognised his watch as dive-capable and, upon questioning, he said he had done a lot of diving when he lived on the north island, but hadn't done any down here. I told him he reminded me of you. He even has blue eyes.

I'm engaged!

It's official.
I miss home. I miss everything about it.
Actually, not quite everything; I definitely don't miss the mosquitoes. They don't seem to exist here in NZ. Praise the Lord! That's reason enough for anyone living near Lake Lowell or Happy Valley Road to come visit. :o)
The countdown has begun for the performance of The Magician's Nephew. 16 - 24 Sept. It's going to be so busy with uni work, I'm actually going to miss classes because we've got school performances some mornings. I'm still playing Aunt Letty, "an old maid who lives in London...Lewis [C.S.] calls her "touchy," but her character is really quite embracing..."
My director figures Letty is in her 40s, so I just act like you, Mom! I'm getting to know a lot of people, it's especially refreshing to be around people of all ages. The lead actors are both 13 yrs old and the three of us are constantly goofing off together between scenes.

as to my subject: I am engaged in heaps of stuff lately, this is just an update of some of those things.

It's sunday and I'm sick.

An update :o)
Life's been busy with school and thoughts of home.
Where is it?
Is it even on this earth?
Can I be content with my global positioning, wherever it may be?

I had two assignments due friday, another due tomorrow. Had a slumber party friday night with Denise. We did face masks, watched movies, and had fruit smoothies the next day. We swim together some mornings. Plan is to go 2 - 3 times a week. Denise flats a block away.
Farmer's Market and grocery store los sabados. It's been a fantastic schedule for me. No unnecessary trips to the store = less $$ spent!
Yesterday Claire, Hotstuff (Meade Danielle) and I baked. Inspired by an expired pottle of sour cream, we made brownies, soda bread and Cinnamon Sour Cream Biscuits. Yum.
Then a surprise visit from friends, Michael and Justin, who ate baking and invited me to a Chopin concerto. Michael and I went, it was awesome, but we were both nodding off. The evening was made all-the-more-fun by his pretending to be Irish and my attempted Kiwi-ness. Today, however, my lymph nodes are working over-time to recover from the marathon weekend.

Finally! A Review of Oz

Melbourne was fun. Cold, but fun. And adventures a-plenty were a-had. Nikki, Isabel and I saw the city, mostly, and a suburb: St. Kilda. I liked visiting city centre, but realised I'm just not a big-city girl like my flatmates are. We stayed two nights at a backpacker in St. Kilda, taking advantage of their free BBQ the second night, and then moved on to a backpacker in the city centre. Unfortunately, I didn't get much sleep there...trams, traffic, subway...but here's a run-down of what we did:

-HEAPS of shopping: mostly window or try-on, but found some great deals and I tried roasted chestnuts for the first time! Eating in cute little diners was a plus.

-Visited the Immigration Museum: a fascinating collection of immigration stories, historical artefacts and a portion of a walk-through model ship with the 1st, 2nd, 3rd class living quarters. The ship had a superb sound system that played ship noises and actually made you feel like the entire thing was moving. I wasn't sure if it was actually on hydraulics or something because I was nauseated.

-Federation Square: the arts' centre of the city with buildings and footpaths of amazing architecture, diners and shops and all sorts of art galleries. I believe the square has the largest collection of art in Oz.

-Queen Victoria Market: the largest weekend-ly outdoor market in Queensland. It reminded me of the market in Hawaii that we went to with Uncle Tim and Aunt Helena. There was just about everything there!

-Crown Casino: 10 blocks of casino, restaurants...even a movie theatre. We went in the last night before I left to eat a nice dinner and check things out. The building was incomprehensibly enormous.

-Hair Dye: Isabel and I both dyed our hair. Izzy went with the professional option while I opted for the reduced-price, expired aluminium packet of reddish "wash-out-in-7-washes" hair dye-job in the bathroom of the backpacker. It was my first time dyeing my hair. The bravery of it all came from my sis and bro, whose hair we've dyed too many times :o) For the two weeks following, there was dye on my towel after showering. And I think I saw remnants of red in my hair yesterday.

Moving onto Brisbane was an adventure in itself. I missed my monday night flight by going to the wrong airport (melbourne has two - one on either end of the city, a 45 min drive between), went back to the backpacker (a 25min bus ride), up the next morning to make it to the correct airport for my 9am flight where I waited in a miniscule airport with multitudes of people for 6 hours while the sun broke through the dense fog.

Finally, I arrived in Brissie and checked into "Somewhere to Stay" backpacker. While cooking dinner that night I met Gavin, Dion, Adrien (Wales), Christine, Yvonne, Geraldine (Scotland), Minna (Finland), Matt (Oz), Duane (NZ) and Lee (UK). After dinner I introduced a bunch of them to SET, the greatest card game on the planet.

Grocery shopping wednesday with a general attitude of "taking-it-easy" after my travel fiasco. Went downtown with Duane and saw the US Navy band perform! The lead vocalist easily switched between Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra. I was VERY impressed and told them so afterward. That night we stayed up way too late - to bed at 3am. Thursday I went to the botanical gardens (BrisVegas was nice and warm!) with Yvonne and a German girl named Linda. I felt funny that day, as though I couldn't cope with the heat. Got a little chilled on the walk home after sweating in the sun. It's really no surprise that I was ploughed over by some flu-ish train that evening, just about the time that Nikki and Isabel arrived from Melbourne. The rest of my week was spent recovering. Whether during a BBQ at Southbank (manmade beach in the middle of town) or going out to a movie, I took it easy. I actually spent an entire day on the couch in the backpacker lounge. They hire 20 movies a week for their residents so I watched heaps of them, including Amelie.

The Brisbane portion of my trip could be seen as a disaster, but really, the people made it awesome. The backpacker was incredible; the staff were incredibly friendly, playing SET with us and even making an effort to learn everyone's names. The Welsh Boys (...on Tour, as they proclaimed themselves), the Scottish girls, Lee and I spent so much time together that I was actually hard to leave. The girls are coming to NZ sometime before I leave and might visit! As a side note: most of these travellers were in Oz on working visas. They lived at the backpacker, worked days and partied nights.The night before I left, we went out in honour of my going-away. It was funny though because I was still sick so I left my own party at about 11pm. Isabel, Nikki and I were catching the shuttle to the airport at 5:45am. We had a 9:10am flight and sat around the airport for a few hours. In our exhaustion we were the loudest passengers on the flight, laughing hysterically about nothing and everything. It was a fantastic adventure.

The end.

ps - Lee has a travel website up...he's been to Boise and has a few pics up from his trip!