Sights Last a Second, but FRIENDS Last a Lifetime :) (excuse my cheesiness)

chicken wrap! Mmmm

This weekend was another great one!  On Saturday I my sweet friend Shannon and I had made plans to grab lunch in town, so she picked me up from Uni and we headed down there.  There are a few restaurants downtown that have lunch specials aka $10 or $12 lunch, which is about as good as it gets here price-wise unless you want some takeaway fish and chips or something real casual like that.  We settled for a place called Furnace, chose some outside seating next to the sidewalk, and ate delicious chicken wraps.  After lunch we walked around and found an ice cream/sorbet/froyo place. YUM!  Passing that up was not an option.  Just for the record, I’m totally okay with the lack of self-control that I have when it comes to ice cream or froyo.  They had this machine that mixes the froyo with the fruit and squirts it out into a cone, which just seems like a lot of work compared to Yogurt Mountain/Menchie’s/Sweet CeCe’s style of self-serve with toppings.  Good thing it took me 3 months to find this place.  If anyone is looking to start a business in NZ, a self-serve froyo place would make a FORTUNE over here and you’d be the first!  Anyways, Shannon eventually dropped me back off at Uni with plans to hang out again that night to watch the All Blacks vs France game downtown. Yes please!

YUM!

So that night, I ended up watching the game in the most exciting rugby atmosphere I’ve experienced yet.  They closed off one of the main streets downtown and set up a big-screen in the middle of the road.  It ended up being me, Shannon, her boyfriend Alex, Alex’s sister and her boyfriend, and a few of their friends from church.  We had a prime table outside of one of the bars... the early bird gets the worm once again.  We hung out, chatted, soaked in the atmosphere, and cheered the NZ All Blacks to victory over France. Wooo!  My favorite part is still when they do the Haka before kickoff.  You should watch it on YouTube... just type in some combination of NZ, All Blacks, Haka, rugby, etc and I’m sure you’ll find it.  It’s SO intense and they get so into it! 

The RWC set-up in downtown Hamilton

The “she-must-not-be-from-here” moment of the night (besides me taking pictures of the set-up in the middle of the game): The crowdedness of the area unfortunately did not take away any of the coldness in the air, so I decided to get a cup of tea to help keep me warm.  I walked up to the bar, ordered a Green Tea, the bartender questioned me and then repeated my order once again in the form of a question, and gave me a number to put on my table.  A few minutes later, my tea was delivered... in a teapot with an empty mug by its side.  Wait, I’m sorry, WHAT?!  A teapot at a rugby game is like climbing a mountain in heels (I hope that analogy made sense). You know when you can just feel people staring at you? Yep that’s the feeling I got.  I then realized that I should have asked for takeaway tea so it would’ve come in a little red cup instead of an actual TEAPOT.  I’m sure everyone around me holding beer bottles did a double take and pondered my dainty teapot/rugby watching combination.  Eventually I went and got a to-go cup and poured my yummy, warm, tea in it :)  Nevertheless, it was a great game and a great night.  There’s never a dull moment with Shannon and I always feel like I just laugh the whole time, which isn’t that out of character for me I guess, but she’s just so hilarious… and her and Alex together are such an entertaining duo.  Shannon and I tried to switch accents for some of the night, but she would’ve passed as American, or at least a ditzy valley girl, WAY before I could have been mistaken for a kiwi.  The hilarious part was when she would, in an American accent, say a word wrong and then I would say it right and then she would repeat me and then I would say it again and then she would repeat me again, and we would repeat this process until she got it down. We also coined some American abbreviations/kiwi lingo mixtures... for example, totes as, perf as, probs as.  SO funny.

Shannon, me, and Alex before the game started

On a more serious note, I have really been missing my friends from home lately.  I think it’s kind of hit me that not many people here, maybe like 2 actually, know me on a deeper than surface level.  I am so thankful that I have Shannon as one of these deeper than surface friends here.  She is so genuine, has such a caring and sweet heart, and is just REAL.  This weekend I had a last minute chance to travel to Coromandel, which is a beachy area in the north island not too far away, but I decided that I would rather hang out with Shannon and get the chance to develop a friendship further than spend the weekend with Americans (no offense Americans) and see more sights.  Also, I have to take advantage of my Shanon hangouts when I can since she doesn’t go to my Uni and it’s not everyday that I see her!  This past week I got kind of down when I thought about how I’m not seeing all of New Zealand and got scared that I would get home and realize that I actually barely saw any of it.  Then I found my brain and memory laying on the ground and screwed them back into my head and reminded myself that I have done SO much here already and seen SO much more of NZ than even most kiwis have ever seen.  I came to the realization that it would be impossible to do ALL that I want to do and see ALL that I want to see of this amazing country even in 4+ months; all the more reason to have to come back someday, right? RIGHT!  The weekends are getting slimmer and slimmer, which not only means that I’ll be going home soon (I’ll save the elaboration on that for another post, too many emotions here gosh!), but also that I have to make decisions about what to do with the time that I have left.  Of course the tourist in me (which is actually probs only like 10% of me) wants to travel all around and see all the places that are in all the little booklets, but I really just want to soak up the fact that I am in NZ for another 6 weeks.  To me, that means traveling, yes of course, but it also means devoting time to and soaking up the friendships that I’ve made, the real ones at least.  While it would’ve been ideal to combine traveling to Coromandel and hanging out with Shannon, my motto for this weekend was cheesy but so true: you can see a sight once, but friends can last a lifetime.  SO cheesy and cliché I know I know, but that’s exactly how I felt about it!  No way would I give up time with a real friend (and an amazing family, read on) in a foreign country for some beach (just kidding, I bet it’s super gorgeous out there and not just some ol’ beach).  Don't get me wrong, the sight-seeing is a MUST here, but you know what I mean.

I’m also SO glad that I didn’t go away this weekend because the sermon at church this morning was so great and relatable.  Gosh doe God know what He’s doing or what!  It was on Psalm 13 which reads:

How long, O Lord?  Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts

and every day have sorrow in my heart?

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;

My enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”

And my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I must trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord,

For he has been good to me.

I don’t think I realized it until this morning, but this basically sums up how I felt last week and the week before.  Even though I know that God is in control, I kind of felt like He had forgotten about me over here and I just wanted to go home so badly. But like always, the Lord gave light to my eyes, just like the psalmist prays for, and He heard my prayers, which were sometimes in the form of tears.  Although I struggle to think more about God and less about my daily problems and stresses, He still answers prayers by renewing my trust in Him, just like this Psalm says.  It was so comforting to sit there in church this morning and be reminded that not only is Jesus my salvation (and yours!), but since He has already dealt with and conquered sin, the biggest problem of all, then you betcha he’ll deal with all the petty things like homesickness, familysickness, niecesickness, cousinsickness, friendsickness, and furmansickness, among other things… PS how awesome and cool and spectacular and amazing is it that I’m on the other side of the world and yet God still never fails to reach me through the people and the church over here!  It’s so humbling and amazing that He is at work literally everywhere!

Ok this is getting WAY TOO long and I keep getting carried away, but I can’t end this post without my when-I’m-in-town weekly Sunday lunch at the Hemmes’!!! This might be my favorite part of the week.  After church, the first thing Jackie said to me was, “Allison, someone has already invited you over for lunch right?!”  And yep, they had!  I hopped in and went home with them again.  I walked in to a kitchen full of the smell of homemade bread... Mmmmm.  Two of their five kids who are out of the house and on their own (who I had never met) came over for lunch after church as well, so it was a full house!  It was neat to see their whole family interact and be together.  We had savories (aka mini meat pies), bread (I may have eaten half the loaf on my own), and delicious desserts that Lisa had made (I’d say her baking level is professional).  I am SOOO beyond blessed to be included in their fellowship and Sunday lunches after church.  All in all, I am SO glad that the plan was for me to stay in Hamilton this weekend and hang out with Shannon and the Hemmes family!!!

The Hemmes girls--Jackie, Lisa, Carla, Jessica and Me (excuse my awkward squatting)

Shannon and I with our froyo/sorbet :)

As if this post wasn’t long enough already…

Interesting Observations:

-pajamas is spelled with a Y… pyjamas.

-kumara=sweet potato

-They say tomato the opposite way that I (and can I generalize that to all Americans?) say tomato.  That is my best explanation that I can come up with for this observation seeing that I can’t exactly say it in writing... but you know what I mean.

-Daylight savings time was last night.  I lost an hour over here, but the US didn’t…?  I’m really confused as to how there are still 24 hours in the day right now. How does that even work? What?!

-Uni is a ghost town on the weekends.  EVERYONE goes home! What the heck!

-They pronounce garage like gare-edge with the emphasis on gare.  Just sound it out.  I feel like these observations are getting complicated so I’m going to stop now.

Spring is coming!...in September?!

Do I really only have THREE weeks of lectures left?!  Maybe it feels so weird because at this point in the semester it’s usually December… but it’s September.  Or maybe because it’s usually winter weather… but it’s turning into spring. 

This week has been pretty normal as far I know… assignments, accents, random rain showers, a beautiful sky (I am still not convinced America has the same sky) even when there’s bad weather, letters from Diane (and Anna!), loving emails from friends and family, and everything else that has made life what it has been for the past 3 months!

On Wednesday, I went out to $5 pizza downtown with my friend Kelsi.  Kelsi is in my Health & PE curriculum class and we have worked on some group assignments together.  She is so sweet and was so nice to invite me to go with her and her flatmate!  Hopefully I’ll be going home with her one weekend in October (ps it’s almost October?! What?!).  You can’t beat $5 pizza and it was definitely nice to have a cheap break from the dining hall.

Kelsi and Me

This afternoon it was so beautiful outside that I ate lunch on the patio of the dining hall for about an hour and a half and spent the afternoon in my hammock between some trees :) Tonight I went to an international cultural show at Uni that students participated in.  There were acts from all over the Pacific Islands (Hawaii, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tahiti, Nuie, Papua New Guinea, etc...) and it made me think that I should’ve been representing America!  Actually, I wouldn’t enter something like that even if you paid me in Dr. Peppers or Kenny Chesney meet & greets (well, maybe).  However, it did get me thinking about what I would’ve actually done to represent America.  Sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game? Do the Hokey Pokey? Line dance? Swing dance (which would actually involve flying over a southern boy because there aren’t any here)? Do the Wop? Anyways, it was really cool to see all the different cultures represented, some of which I didn’t even know existed, and the dancing and such that came along with it all!

Also, USA played Australia in a Rugby World Cup match tonight.  Australia lost to Ireland last weekend, so they came out ready to whip up on good ol’ America, and unfortunately that is exactly what they did. Poor guys.  I’m still trying my best to keep up with the rugby over here!

A view of the beautiful sky from my window

Interesting Observations:

-swimsuit=togs

-“choice, eh bro?”=”good thinking/choice, huh.” Example: “Spaghetti on the pizza was choice, eh bro?”

-With their accents here, they put R sounds on the end of words that end in A.  Example: idear, Americurr, Canadurr etc

-The bakeries here continue to amaze me.  I love going in and getting “yesterday’s bread” from the bargain rack.  This week I got log bread (aka a huge croissant shaped like a log) for ONE DOLLAR.  Last week I got wheat walnut bread for only TWO DOLLARS.  Mmmm.  Yep, I just eat it plain, one pinch at a time and it tastes SO good.

-I have come to the conclusion that there are TONS of smokers in Hamilton.  I am specifying this to Hamilton because I would hate to think that all of NZ is like this.  Normally I try to hold my breath when I pass by a smoker, but its so hard here because there are just SO many.  I seriously think that if I held my breath every time I passed one I would die by the end of the day.  I would be holding my breath more often than I would be actually breathing.  I guess I’d rather come home with a little bit of black in my lungs from the second hand smoke than not come home at all due to overactive breath-holding.

A Weekend in a HOUSE.

Me, Barbara and Garth outside their house

This weekend was exactly what I needed.  I spent the weekend in grandparent style with my aunt’s aunt and uncle, Barbara and Garth, who live about an hour or so north of Hamilton.  Here’s how it went…

the view from "my room"

They picked me up at the bus stop and took me to downtown Auckland where we walk around the waterfront and then caught the ferry over to a little town called Devonport.  After some lunch at a café and walking around a bit, we headed back to their house in Clark’s Beach.  I think they thought they should show me some sights and all that jazz, but I was totally more than fine with just laying low for the weekend and being in a HOUSE.  I was relieved when we finally got to their house, which Barbara had described as... “We don’t really have any neighbors”.  Indeed their house was out in the country among pastures.  Barbara showed me to “my room” (!) and we ate dinner with one of their sons and 2 of their grandchildren, Josh and Holly, who live next door.  And when I say dinner, I mean HOME-COOKED MEAL.  Roast, veggies, gravy, rice, and lemon-meringue pie.  It was delicious!  We cheered the All Blacks on to rugby victory over the Japanese “Blossoms” 82-7.  Ouch.  Japan, maybe you should get a more intimidating name.

a storm coming in over Auckland

Saturday, after I woke up to cows moo-ing, Josh and Holly took me to the Auckland Zoo!  I was totally fine doing whatever they wanted to do, so that’s what we settled for.  We ate “haystacks” aka nachos for dinner and watched Ireland beat Australia that night! 

It was SO refreshing to be at their house for the weekend, especially because Barbara reminded me SO much of my Grandma aka Mamaw, which probably explains why I would’ve been totally okay with just hanging out and talking with her for the WHOLE weekend.  This morning, she got out a cookbook that Mamaw had given her when she and my Grandpa stayed with Barbara and Garth here in NZ once.  I almost cried when I saw Mamaw’s handwriting on the inside cover.  This probably sounds stupid, but amidst the mild homesickness that I had felt last week, it was comforting to see something so familiar... HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD.

Mamaw's beautiful writing!

I was so blessed to get to spend the weekend in a house, a real HOUSE, with a family, and home-cooked meals.  It was so nice of Barbara and Garth to open up their home to me, practically a complete stranger.  This weekend was such a testament to God’s all-knowingness (yes, that is a word).  He knew exactly what I needed and fulfilled my desires by giving me a loving and genuine family to be around and some adopted grandparents for the weekend.  It is SO cool how God continues to reveal His unfailing faithfulness, which I don’t deserve at all, through everything that He continues to provide for me over here and at just the right times!

And to make it even better... I came back to a letter in my mail slot that my WHOLE family- cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles, everyone-  had joined in on and written at our 30^th annual reunion at Montreat a few weeks ago!  Yall ROCK!  That seriously put a smile on my face for the next 48 days (especially your drawing on the back, Uncle Wayne!). 

Gotta go conquer some papers now! But before that…

Interesting Observations:

-“prize winning” = “banquet”

-The NakedBus that I rode had over 500,000 miles on it. 

-Some NZ people call dinner time “tea time”

-The size of this “small” coffee I got at the McDonalds near the bus stop.  I seriously felt like I was at a 3 rd old’s tea party:

that quiche is NOT big, that cup is MINIATURE

"And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus"

Phil. 4:19

Starting back with a bang...

My second week back from the South Island trip has begun and it’s done so with a bang.  And by ‘bang’ I mean assignment overload.  I have 7 assignments due in the next 4 weeks, so the stress level has been pretty high lately.  Earlier this week I experienced the ultimate duo: stress mixed with homesickness… or maybe the stress caused the homesickness..?  Anyway, after some tears, conversations with my mom, and plan of action, I’m back at it.  On the bright side, for one of the essays that I have to write for my geography class, we have to choose between the topics of food, music, or sport.  I’m sure you could guess which one I chose.  So from that, we have to narrow it down further, so I am writing my 2000 words on baseball and the stadium atmosphere!  I was overwhelmed by the 2000 words at first, but then I found myself having NO problem reaching it, the problem will be cutting it down!  This is the most fun essay I’ve ever written, that’s for sure!

Speaking of sports, the Rugby World Cup, which NZ is hosting this year, has begun!  I sat in the commons of my dorm with some other Uni kids to watch the opening ceremonies and cheered on the All Blacks as they beat Tonga on Friday.  Then on Sunday I watched the USA lose to Ireland, ouch.  The best part of that game was definitely singing along with the national anthem :)  I’m still actively working on learning the rules to rugby, but I always find myself intertwining football rules with rugby rules.  This usually results in me almost saying out loud something like, ‘Wait, he was already down! Why are they still going?’  I have learned a lot already though and hopefully by the time the world cup is over I will have a good grasp on it all!  Since the rugby games are on so frequently (and everyone here is all about rugby), they’ve put a TV in the dining hall to show the games.  However, tonight I walked in and ESPN Sportcenter was on.  WHAT?! I guess I just assumed that because I hadn’t seen it on TV, that NZ didn’t get ESPN.  That was probably a really ignorant thought, but that’s what happens when I don’t have easy access to a TV over here!  I did a double take when I saw NFL highlights being shown.  Yes please! Naturally, I got my food and sat right smack in front of the TV for about 50 minutes (sidenote: it usually only takes me about 20 minutes max in the dining hall for dinner).  On one of the highlights, they showed a guy that ran 99.5 yards for a touchdown and when the girl next to me heard the distance “99.5 yards” she turned to me and said, “wow, that’s like over half the field isn’t it?!”  Yes, actually it’s the whole field.  Why can’t the whole world just use the same measurements?

Also, I finally got my first WWOOFing experience set up!  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, click HERE for more info.  I will be visiting a family with 2 kids, an organic vegetable garden, and a baby lamb that is fed from a bottle for a week in mid October after my classes end and before my exams start.  I am excited to spend 24/7 with a kiwi family on a farm.  Oh and it’s on the coast right outside of Auckland, so that means the beaches are only a short walk from the house!  It is SO crazy to me that after this week, I only have 4, FOUR, weeks of actual class left.  After that, only 2 exams and then more free time!  Time sure is flying!

This weekend I am headed to Pukekohe to visit some more lost long relatives that I’m not actually related to, so I’m sure I’ll have some fun info to report back!

Interesting Observations:

-“far out” = “dang” Example: “Far out! That car is mean as!” or sometimes it’s dragged out… “Faaaaar out, there are heeeaps of sheep here!”

-There were little yellow signs with a name on it at every creek or river that we passed over in the south island.

-They don’t have dasani or aquafina water here, instead, the main bottled water brand is PUMP.

-The 2 girls on my trip had never heard of a woman’s maiden name being kept as her middle name when she gets married.  I had to explain this about 3 times because they didn’t understand.  Who knew that wasn’t common in all parts of the country? Is that a southern thing?

-The cokes in the vending machines are cheaper than the ones sold in actual stores.  Since when does that ever happen?!

-Saying ma’am and sir over here is seen as kind of demeaning and not appropriate.  I have been having a very hard time with this one.  I get weird looks when it slips out, which is often, but I guess my accent helps some. (Mom and Dad you taught me well!)

-New Zealand’s Labor Day is October 24^th

Days 12-16 of Mid-Semester Break!

WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD.

KAIKOURA

Day 12 (Nelson):

After eating breakfast on a picnic next to the trampoline in the motor home park, we headed out to spend the day roaming around the city of Nelson for the day.  I walked around the city, stopping in every shop that I found interesting.  There were tons of jewelry shops so I definitely stopped in all of those.  I headed over to the Wednesday farmer’s market and met the group there.  Best purchase in Nelson: 4 apples for ONE DOLLAR at the farmer’s market.  Yes please!  And then I met the 2^nd mean person in NZ.  We went into a little shop to get gelato and naturally I sampled a few flavors before deciding.  After seeing how small the portions were that he was giving to other customers, I decided that it wasn’t really worth the money and I could just get some ice cream at another shop down the street than I had seen.  I guess I must’ve given off an expression that made him think I had changed my mind because he glared at me and said in a mean tone, “So are you really not going to get any??”  Um actually, sir, NO I’m not because you are mean and grumpy and I don’t want to give you $4 for a tablespoon of ice cream.  No, I didn’t actually say that; instead, I turned around and walked right out of the store and into the NICE café down the street to get my ice cream.  Sheesh!

That night, after showering and doing laundry, we started cooking the meal that we had planned for our last camping supper :(  Our plan was to have eggs, sausage, tomatoes and bread.  Kelsey and I were the cookers, but we didn’t exactly know how to cook the sausage, which were literally all linked together and frozen.  We ended up just ripping each one apart and it wound up looking kind of like ground beef.  Oh well!  I scrambled the eggs and we put the two together, added tomatoes, cheese, and bread and ate up!  We had also gotten a tub of ice cream to share, but luckily we didn’t eat it all that night…

the finished product! yum! 

Day 13 (Nelson-->Kaikoura-->Christchurch):

We left Nelson around 7am and ate breakfast in the van on the way to Kaikoura.  We drove right up next to the east coast and saw a seal colony that lasted for at least 3km or so.  It’s SO weird to me that in the US I would have to go to a zoo or an aquarium to see these kinds of things, but in NZ they’re just on the side of the road (but I guess that’s because the road is next to the ocean)!  Anyway, everything was going great until about 10am.  We were just riding along in good ol’ Jezze when all of a sudden there was a huge kerplunk.  In shock, but still driving, the van started to sound like a motorcycle revving up.  Megan pulled over, turned it off, and started it up again.  The noise continued and we had NO idea what was going on, but we were scared to drive any more.  I called Jucy and AA, which is basically the equivalent to AAA in the US, and about an hour later an old man (with Velcro sneakers) showed up, checked a few things out, and told us to follow him into town to the AA shop.  Let me just say… if we were to breakdown anywhere and anytime on this trip, this was absolutely ideal timing.  THANK YOU GOD.  First of all, we were pulled over on the side of the road next to horses and pastures with the mountains in the distance ahead and the ocean in the distance behind.  Also, I am SO thankful that we had cell phone service, were near a town, and this was the last day of our trip.  I LOVE the way the Lord plans things out!  Oh AND we had leftover ice cream, so you better believe that we ate that up on the side of the road while we were waiting for the AA guy to show up!  YUM!

the Jucy breakdown

After about an hour of working on Jezze while we checked out Kaikoura, we found out that we wouldn’t be able to get the van back until the next morning.  Ahhhh!  Thankfully, Jucy came through and paid for bus tickets for us to get to Christchurch that evening (and we didn’t have to worry about turning the van in or anything).  After we got all of our stuff out of the van and repacked our bags in the mechanic garage, we walked about 15 minutes into town to the bus stop.  We got some interesting looks as we were walking with ALL of our luggage.  We waited at a bus stop that was RIGHT next to the ocean with a rock shore.  I was SO tired by this point, but NO WAY was I going to sleep on the bus ride.  I practically got a crick in my next from looking out the window at the scenery the whole time! 

I had been in touch with my long lost cousin, Dani, who we were staying with for our 2 days in Christchurch and she was waiting for us at where the bus let us off.  It was about 6:30pm, dark, and rainy when we got off the bus.  I had no idea what Dani looked like, and I admit that I looked at this girl who got out of a car parked behind the bus and gave her a hopeful hey-are-you-the-person-I’m-meeting-here look.  Unfortunately she went to hug a girl behind me. Shucks.  Eventually I found Dani, we piled our things in her car, and she took us to her house!  We met Dani’s 5 roommates, who were hilarious and VERY entertaining, set up some mattresses in the “lounge”, hung out for a bit, then crashed!

the view during the drive to Kaikoura!

Day 14 (Christchurch):

Our plan for today was to go to a little town on the bay outside of ChCh called Akaroa.  Dani generously let us borrow her car (the bus tickets were $50! Dang!).  She warned us that the transmission wasn’t in the best condition (whatever that means…), but we put some gas in it and were on our way!  Sidenote: this was the smallest, oldest (1985), and squeakiest car I have ever driven.  Luckily we got to Akaroa without any problems!  We spent the day walking around the bay area, taking in all the beautifulness, checking out the cute little shops and art galleries, and getting a CHEAP double scoop ice cream (from a NICE guy).  We decided to head back to ChCh around 3ish and we were golden until about 5 minutes in when the accelerator gave out on me.  I pulled over and when I came to a stop, the car shut off.  In my experience with breaking down cars, I’ve never been the driver, always the passenger, so this was a new and WEIRD feeling.  Ahhhh!  I called Dani and told her what was going on to see if there were any tricks or anything that she ever used, but she didn’t really have much advice.  All I could picture was us piling into a tow truck.  After a few minutes, I started it again.  Nothing.  Again.  Nothing. The third time I started it and immediately put it in drive and hit the accelerator.  YES!  Off we went, slooooowly. I didn’t push it to go fast, but it was going!  Luckily, we made it over the winding roads of the mountain (I should’ve counted how many cars passed us ha!) and on our way back into the city.  As son as we hit the first red light, I stopped and the car turned off.  Ahhhh!  I waited until it turned green, turned the key, put it in drive, and accelerated FAST.  This got REALLY stressful REALLY fast, so I called Dani.  Her and her mom came to pick us up from a parking lot I had drifted into.  Basically, it was just a matter of time until this happened.  PHEW!!! 2 breakdowns in 24 hours, dang!

AKAROA

waiting for Dani and her mom in the broken down car :(

Later that afternoon, Dani showed us around the University of Canterbury campus, which was actually really weird for me.  I don’t think I have explained this on here yet, but up until about a week before my departure date, I was all set up to go to the University of Canterbury in Christchurch.  There was an earthquake (smaller than the Sept 2011 and the Feb 2 ones) in June and that’s when my parents pulled the plug and insisted that I switch.  I didn’t resist, but worked with a high school teacher of mine that conveniently now works for Australearn to switch EVERYTHING.  I definitely did NOT understand the affect that the Feb 22^nd earthquake had on the city of ChCh.  I’ll expand a little more in the next day’s slot, but just being in that city made me appreciate SO much God’s plan for me not going to Univ. of Canterbury in Christchurch and His plan of putting the fear of me being in that city in my Mom and Dad’s heads to initiate the switch. 

Anyways, we went up to a SUPER GOOD and CHEAP fish’n’chips shop near Dani’s house for dinner.  Then we went back for a “chocolate explosion jam donut”… translation = a cinnamon sugar donut filled with jam with a chocolate bar melted in te middle. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Day 15 (Christchurch-->Auckland):

In the morning, Louise, one of Dani’s roommates, dropped us off at Hagley Park and the botanical gardens and we walked through them to the city.  It was SO sad to see the city of Christchurch.  There were fences up around most all of the building and you couldn’t even get into the city center.  We walked past some strips where shops and businesses were and it literally looked like the scene of a movie.  Most of the business owners have not been able to get back into their shops because it’s still not safe, so NOTHING had been touched since the Feb 22^nd earthquake.  We passed a coffee shop where all the chairs had fallen over on the ground, mugs and plates were broken on the ground, the dishwasher was full and open, silverware and napkins were scattered throughout the whole place, and a Feb 22^nd newspaper was on the ground.  Next to that coffee shop was an insurance company where the computer screens were sideways on the desks, papers were on the floor, and phones were off the hook.  It was so unreal to see.  There were HUGE cracks and crevices in the sidewalks and on the buildings and bumps everywhere in the roads.  It seemed that nothing in the city center was open.  I was SO naïve to think that this city would be totally back to normal and up and running.  Although Christchurch is probably an amazing city and would have given me a great experience in New Zealand, I am, again, SO thankful that I am not living there.  Sidenote: apparently there was an earthquake the night before.  The others felt it, but said that I sat up in my sleeping bag, looked around, and then laid back down.  I don’t remember one single second of that. I learned that there have been at least 1000 aftershocks since Feb.  It would be SO scary to live with the fear that another earthquake could happen any moment of any day.  THANK YOU MOM AND DAD FOR MAKING ME SWITCH CITIES!!!!

a coffee shop 

Anyways, Dani and her brother picked us up and took us to two cities, Lyttelton and Sumner (a cute little beach town), right outside of ChCh.  Dani was SO sweet to spend her day driving and showing us around and I am so glad that I was provided this semi-cousin connection!! 

Dani and I

We ended up missing the bus to the airport, but Louise just happen to drive by and see us waiting, so she took us to the airport (where I found soft serve ice cream for 60 CENTS! CENTS. Naturally, I got two). We boarded our plane and were back in Auckland around 8:30!  Paul, one the Australearn leaders, picked us up at the airport and tok us back to his house for the night.  His sweet wife made the most delicious dessert for us, we chatted for a bit, and then headed to bed!  After 2 weeks away, it sure felt good to be back in the North Island!

outside the airport in ChCh

Day 16 (Auckland-->Hamilton):

New Zealand’s Father’s Day was today (which at first put a lump in my throat because I thought it was the US’s too), so we celebrated Paul being a Dad to his adorable 15 month old daughter!  His wife prepared a delicious homemade breakfast: English muffins, poached eggs, and bacon (ham). Y-U-M!  Paul took us into town and drove us around a bit and then dropped us off at the bus stop where we caught the NakedBus back to Hamilton.  This trip was absolutely incredible and definitely the best trip (within the best experience) of my life so far, but I don’t think I have ever been so excited to see my little, cozy, single room in Hamilton!  I immediately showered, put laundry in, ate CHICKEN for dinner in the dining hall and drank hot chocolate!!!

DONE!

Days 9, 10 & 11 of Mid-Semester Break!

Tasman Sea

Day 9 (Franz Josef-->Murchison-->Totaranui):

Our glacier hike was scheduled for 8:45, so I woke up at 6:45.  I walked out to the shore of the TASMAN SEA and just stood in awe.  The TASMAN SEA.  Ask me a year ago if I thought I would ever get to see the Tasman Sea in my lifetime and I would’ve told you no.  So cool!  After I ate breakfast on a picnic table watching the sun rise over the ocean, we headed back into FJ for the glacier hike.  We signed in and went through the maze around the building to get our gear for the day.  First stop was the boots.  Cue freak out.  Their directions: tell us your country and your size, grab some of our wooly socks, take your socks off, put on the wooly socks, and put the boots on.  What I did: told them USA, size 7.5, picked up the wooly socks successfully touching as little of them as I had to, kept my own socks on (duh!), put the used wooly socks on over mine, put the chunky boots on.  No way was I about to take my own socks off and wear those gross germy wooly socks against my bare feet!  This probably explains why I had two blisters by the end of the day, but I’d much rather have blisters than germs—anything for peace of mind.  The boots they gave us were so hardcore… you know the old neighbor guy in Home Alone who shovels snow and sits with Kevin in the church?  Remember hit huge boots? That’s who I felt like.  They must’ve weighed 10 lbs each.  Ok enough about the boots… rain pants, jackets, fanny pack, and we’re off!

The glacier hike was one of most incredible things I’ve ever done!  We bussed out to the national park area, walked on the rocky terrain for about 45 mins, and then started hiking up the rocky/gravel-y hills.  We stopped to put our crampons on, which are spikey things that attach to the bottom of the boots to help you walk on the ice.  They divided us into groups and we headed out onto the actual glacier!  We followed a path that the guides have to carve out with pick axes every single morning.  We made our way through crevices and up and down carved-out stairs, ate lunch on the glacier, drank glacier water from a glacier waterfall, and loved every last second of it!  I wish I could put into words how awesome this hike was, but I just can’t!

drinking glacier water from a glacier waterfall! 

Then the loooong night began, and it wasn’t even night yet.  Our plan was to get halfway up to Abel Tasman, spending the night in Murchison (about 4 hours away), but after a stop at the pancake rocks (so cool!) in Punakaiki, I suggested that we just drive all the way tonight… why not, right?! ROADTRIP! Well, we got to Abel Tasman around 9, but we needed to get to the DOC site, which was we thought was about 2 more hours.  After we got to where we thought was about halfway there, we stopped at the i-site, which was obviously closed because everything in this country closes at like 3pm, and luckily there were maps outside the door with phone numbers and everything!  We got scared that we would get out to the middle of no where and no be able to find the DOC site (sidenote: the fine for free-camping in NZ is $2,600).  By this time, it was 11:30pm, so we called one of the holiday parks.  I seemed to always be the one nominated to talk to people, so made the call.  Unfortunately, this guy was the very first mean person I exchanged words with in NZ.   His greeting was, “Do you even know what time it is?!”  Eventually he told us to park in the back.  I made the mistake of asking him how much it was per person and he replied with, “Oh if you’re calling at this hour to discuss prices, don’t even bother coming.  You disgust me!”  I hung up.  Sheesh!  Long story longer, Kelsey was a persistent driver and we ended up reaching the DOC site in Totaranui, via super winding roads, around 1:00am.  Phew!

Day 10 (Totaranui):

We slid the van door open and immediately heard the sound of the ocean!  The bright side to reaching campsites in the dark is that the morning is such an awesome surprise!  I jumped out of the van, followed the noise of the crashing waves, and walked on the golden sand of the beach for about an hour (in my pajamas).  Could life get any better?!  I topped the morning off by eating granola and yogurt while reading some psalms at a picnic table overlooking the sea. 

We headed out for a 4 hour return hike to Mutten Cove through bush and jungle-type terrain, along the perimeter of the ocean.  We could see the ocean through the trees and the track even came out onto 2 shorelines on the way.  We explored some at these shores, finding seals and even 2 PENGUINS!!  I climbed up on a huge boulder that the waves were crashing against and ate lunch.  Yesterday lunch on a glacier, today on a beach!

I ended the day sitting on a log on the shore at the campsite reading, journaling, and drinking some tea (thanks Milford Sound cruise!).  It started to rain, so we all piled back into the van, stuffed our stuff in, and just hung out.  We got to talking about home and Christmas and our families (cue tears).  We played some Christmas music and thought about how close Christmas seems, I guess since it’s not long at all after I get home from NZ!  I ate some chicken soup, which was the first meat I’d had in 10 days, and then headed off to bed!

penguins!

me and a bird on the beach 

Day 11 (Totaranui-->Nelson):

After walking on the beach a bit in the morning, we left for Nelson around 9am.  We had planned to stop and do some hikes in Abel Tasman on our way out, so we stopped at Lookout Summit, which was a 1 hour return.  This track was SUPER STEEP.  We realized that we had been going at a pretty strong pace for about 35 minutes, so we should have probably reached the summit at least 5 minutes ago.  After another 5 minutes and still searching for the turn around point, we decided to head back.  After we got down and back to the van, we realized that the Lookout Summit track actually started on the other side of the road and we had been going on the 5 hr return.  Great job team!  We laughed it off and kept chuggin’ along in good ol’ Jezze. 

After passing 2 hitchhikers on our way out of Totarauni, Kelsey and I demanded that Nate turn the van around so we could give them a ride! Who am I over here, seriously?!  Picking up hitchhikers?! Anyways, they were backpacking and just on their way to another city up the coast.  They were from Germany and their names were Lydia and I actually have NO earthly idea what the guy said his name was but I just nodded my head and said ok when he said it.  They smelled pretty bad, but it was too hilarious to even matter. After I asked them a billion questions, we dropped them off and made our way to Nelson!  Oh wait, after we waited about 2 minutes down the road for cows to be herded across the street.  So cool!

me and the hitchhikers!

We arrived in Nelson, which I’d have to say was my favorite city, not place in general, but city.  We spent all afternoon exploring the city and found some cute little bead/jewelry shops.  Then it happened.  We found the most exciting/best campsite yet!  Matai Valley Motor Camp.  It was only $6 per person (!) and had showers, laundry, a kitchen, AND A TRAMPOLINE!!!!!  Any doubts that the first thing we did was jump on the trampoline? Yep, we did.  The showers cost $2 for 8 minutes.  I timed it perfectly and savored every single second of the 480 that it gave me :)

That night I ate chicken and vegetable soup along with literally half a loaf of bread, just straight bread.  Obviously the bakery bread here is delicious.  Delicious enough to eat half a loaf in one night? Yes.

More to come!

PS: The Rugby World Cup, which is being hosted by New Zealand kicks off tomorrow!!!!!

Days 7 & 8 of Mid-Semester Break!

Wanaka

Day 7 (Queenstown-->Wanaka):

I woke up to the snorer snoring once again, but I decided that I’d yelled enough at him/her so I just took one for the team and got up.  In order for my recently washed hair to last for the next 4 days without getting unbearably greasy and gross, I decided to put my feather boa on and be a diva camper.  I straightened it and that did the trick; I was good to go for the next 4 days.  Who knew straightened hair lasted longer?

We took the windy roads up over the mountains to Wanaka, got there before 10am, and headed out on a track around the lake!  Wanaka seemed to be a cute little town full of “holiday houses” and this lake was absolutely picture perfect with the hills and snow-capped mountains surrounding it.  We had gotten some advice to do the Millenium Track, so that’s where we headed!  This track took us up and down hills right along the edge of the lake.  A few hours later we found a hidden shore with rocks, big and little, all around.  After eating lunch and exploring a little bit, we headed back and checked out town centre.  I had a bee in my bonnet for some earplugs, so 2 days too late, I finally got some. FINALLY.

Wanaka

We drove about 5 minutes out of town to Mt. Iron where we hiked up the super steep 1.5 hour return, which had a BEAUTIFUL view of pretty much ALL of Wanaka from the top! Ahhh it was incredible!  Houses, town, mountains, snow, lake, hills, farmland, everything!  We found a DOC site about an hour out of Wanaka on our way to our next stop, so we took advantage and settled there for the night.  It had started to rain when we got there so after a long day of walking, we all just sat there contently, journaled, named all the states and capitals (except for Nebraska, which it took us about 4 days to think of!), talked about southern stereotypes (SO interesting to hear from non-southerners’ perspective, don’t worry I’ll elaborate later), and listened to country music (aka my ipod).  We were the only ones in this campsite, but it still felt totally safe.  Sidenote: we never locked the doors when we went to bed.  That was probably pretty stupid, but it worked out fine!  I finally faced the drizzley rain, babywiped, got ready for bed, put my earplugs in, and happily dozed off, not to be woken by anything but the New Zealand sun in the morning :)

The campsite

Day 8 (Wanaka-->Franz Josef):

The only thing on today’s agenda was driving, so we stopped and explored whatever we found along the way to Franz Josef.  Also, I would just like to add that this morning, I ate breakfast (a broken up granola bar mixed in my tub of yogurt) at a picnic table overlooking the land of no where, NZ.  Literally, it was miles and miles of mountains, creeks/river, land, and ONE road running through it all.  What an amazing way to start another great day!  We made our way to Franz Josef and hit up 5 hikes on the way, 3 that ended at waterfalls.  One of them was called Roaring Billy (interesting name right?) and it was a 25 minute return, however we ended up staying at the end for forever.  It landed us at a winding river with acres of rocky shore and a waterfall coming down from a mountain.  I think I just sat on one of the boulders and looked around for at least 20 minutes just thinking about what an amazing creator we have!  It was humbling to be in such a huge landscape and feel so small.  We ended up driving right along to west coast, super high up above sea level.  The horizon line was the farthest away that I’d ever seen it and it looked as if the sky was dropping, about to touch the ocean.  I’m trying my best to explain these views, but I just can’t!  This is pretty funny though:  we stopped to take some pictures along the way and I guess I was just so in awe of how much ocean there was and how beautiful it all looked that Megan, in all seriousness, asked, “So is this the first time you’ve ever seen the ocean?” I must’ve seemed really excited about it or something haha!

Roaring Billy

We invested in some sandfly repellent when we got to Franz Josef and booked our glacier hike for the next day.  Our glacier hike came with tickets to the hot pools in FJ, but we weren’t too excited about going to them since we hadn’t brought bathing suits and it was getting dark pretty soon.  I tried to talk my way out of having it included in the cost, but failed.  Since we already paid for it, we figured we’d go and check it out.  Best decision of the day.  There were showers in the changing rooms!  I walked in with ALL of my shower stuff, including flip flops, towel, and pajamas to put on after.  These showers were definitely not meant for full showers... I only know that because I had to press the button about 25 times because the water timed out every 30 seconds or so.  I definitely got some funny looks when I walked by the reception desk of the high class hot pools in my bright red long johns.  Oh well, congrats to us for beating the system.  Gotta get those showers when you can!

We had to find our campgroud in the dark, which we had already learned is not really ever a good idea.  Long story short, we never found it, but did find one on the SHORELINE OF THE TASMAN SEA. Yes please!  It was a little farther out of FJ, but SO worth it!  This is the point where I think I realized that I was getting used to camp food: I ate a pack of instant noodles (aka ramen) raw.  Uncooked.  They’re actually really good like that!  I topped it off with some pb&j camping style, pictured below.

pb&j camping style

I would start Day 9, but its pretty filled and I’ve got an essay to write (on American baseball!!), so I’ll have to save it for the next post!  Sheesh this is going to take a month to write about!