The 4 Stages of Being Abroad

And just like that, classes were over. For good. One whole semester. Done.

Yesterday we had a barbeque and a huge water fight in celebration of the last day of class. I saved my camera from death by water, so unfortunately I don’t have any pictures, but I (and everyone) was absolutely soaked from head to toe.  It started out with innocent little water balloons and turned into buckets full of water getting thrown and dumped on people.  F-U-N.  That night I ended up hanging out with the other kids in my hall on “the hill” and then got persuaded to go out with them, but escaped back to Uni before I got dragged into town (success).  A movie sounded like a muchhh better idea.

This morning I’m headed to Auckland via the trusty NakedBus.  From Auckland I will attempt to find a bus that will get me to Red Beach.  Assuming that I make it that far, I will then be picked up by my WWOOFer host!  All I know is her name is Leonie.  We’ll see how this whole things works out, but hopefully I will actually physically make it there.  I will be staying with Leonie and her 2 kids, working around their house and in their organic veggie garden and just being a part of their family for the week!  I guess I'm just trusting that this family is sane and not crazy... I guess we shall see.

Pip and me

Piggy back from Pep

Last semester, when I first knew that I was officially going to be spending the fall semester in New Zealand, one of my Furman friends, Whitney, gave me a little tutorial.  So here I give to you…

The Four Stages of Studying Abroad

Stage 1: “Dang! This is AWESOME!” 

When I first got here, that was exactly what I said and thought.  Of course, there were LOTS of adjustments to be made, but overall, I was so taken aback by the rolling hills, beautiful sky, surplus of rural-ness, sheep, and everything else.  I’d say this stage lasted about 2.5-3 weeks.

Stage 2: “Ok, so I’m actually going to be living here for a while. I better start figuring things out.” 

I think stage 2 officially began when my computer took the dive off the deep end.  For the first time here, I had to figure out streets, phones, buses, etc.  Besides that, this stage consisted of getting acquainted with the city, transportation, hostels, inter-city buses, and locations of cities around Hamilton.  I think the fact that I was going to be here for so long really hit me when I started to get into a school/everyday routine.  It started to feel more like life and less like a vacation when the assignments piled up.  The thing that really helped me during this stage (and stage 3) was finding the church that I have been going to for the past few months.  It was such a blessing to be able to add that (and Sunday lunch at the Hemmes’) to the weekly routine.  As a rough estimate, I was in stage 2 for about 6 weeks.

Stage 3: “AM I EVER GOING HOME?!”

Oh gosh. This one was HARD and I am beyond glad that it’s OVER! Hallelujah! You know that feeling when something just seems SO far away that it will actually never ever get here?  Like New Years or the Super Bowl or Anna starting kindergarten or that huge exam or the dreaded dentist appointment or just the weekend… Most days, and still, it felt like November 5^th was an eternity away (I’m making it sound like I came over here just wanting to go back home, but that’s not how it is/was at ALL!).  My stage 3 was probably lengthier than most people’s and it was definitely happening in conjunction with stage 1 and stage 2.  It seems like the thought of home and how much I have missed it came especially during downtime.  I tried to keep busy on the weekends and during the day, but there’s always going to be downtime, and I actually love downtime, but I don’t love being homesick—so unfortunately this was a hard balance and maybe actually impossible.  Anyways, during stage 3 I longed for home to the MAX.  Knowing myself, I KNEW I was going to get homesick over here long before I even left… I mean, after all, I was that girl who always had to have my mom chaperone school field trips and didn’t stay the night at friends’ houses until about 10^th grade. Let’s be real here, it was expected.  I was prepared to just get over it over here though I guess.  It’s not like I could just hop on a plane real quick and go home or anything. It was definitely a blessing that I wasn’t able to be home in an instant though because after watching that Braves game a few weeks ago, I would’ve done that in a heartbeat. Stage 3 may have lasted the whole time, but especially the month of September.  Oh home…

Stage 4: “But wait, I’m not so sure I want to leave yet!”

And now stage 4 is in full swing.  Now that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I’m not so sure I want it to be coming at me so fast.  It’s an even mix between wanting to be home and not wanting to leave at the same time.  It’s starting to hit me that the friends I’ve made over here are going to be staying here and not coming back with me.  I’ve also started to realize that I’m still getting to know people and it’s so hard (and rude) to just up and leave in the middle of that whole process.  It’s sad to think that I would have to fly all the way back here (and empty my bank account) just to hang out with the people I’ve met.  Thank goodness for technology!  I don’t think I could stand to be away from my family for any longer than I have already, so I will indeed be going home, but I just wish I could bring NZ with me.  I guess I’ll just have to come back :)

Interesting Observations:

-wardrobe=closet

-“neckminit”=”and then the next minute” Example: “The last thing I knew I was standing up, and neckminit…” or sometimes the word is just blurted out randomly.  I like this one, but I'm not quite sure I fully understand how to use it.

-“hard out”=”really intensely” or “INTENSE!” Example: “She was biking hard out yesterday” or it can be used just as a response to something intense someone says.

 study time in town the other day

Weekend at Kelsi's!

the pacific ocean on the coast of NZ

I started out the weekend with a beautiful drive up over the kaimais between Hamilton and Tauranga, heading home with my friend Kelsi for the weekend!  The town that Kelsi lives in is called Papamoa, which is right on the coast in the Bay of Plenty region of NZ.  She has lived in the same house, which is about 3 mins from the ocean, all her life and she’s a real big surfer.  As soon as we got to her house, she checked the “surf cam” online, saw that there were some waves, and asked me if I wanted to go out surfing.  Um, YES!  Good thing she told me to bring my togs (aka swim suit)!  We changed real quick, grabbed some wet suits, loaded the surf boards (2 of the million that her family owns) in the car, and we were off.  When we got there, I made my first mistake... putting the wet suit on backwards. Cut the landlocked American girl a break.  The only time I’ve worn a wetsuit was at water ski camp when I was 10 (yes, I went to water ski camp) and that was a long time ago.  Who knew the zipper goes in the back?  After a quick in-water lesson, Kelsi launched me onto my first wave... but I only got up onto my knees.  It was SO hard!  Eventually a few other surfers came out and I got really intimidated, so I ended up just kind of laying on the board out in the middle of the ocean (because I was scared to get in their way) and watching Kelsi surf for most of the time, which was TOTALLY fine by me.  It was SO relaxing to just lay there as the sun was going down over the dunes.  I felt like I was in the movie Blue Crush! Even though I didn’t stand up on the board, I’d say it was a success.  I may never try surfing again in my life, so now I can say that I’ve done it… and in the southern hemisphere! Check!  It took me longer to take off the wet suit than it did to take a shower, but after all that, we ate some delicious burgers that her mom had made for “tea”! Yum!

Kelsi and Me

soooooo close...

Kelsi had to work all day Saturday just as she does every weekend, so I spent most of the day hanging out with her mom!  I went for a walk on the beach that morning, passing kids playing cricket on the way out there.  I guess that’s equivalent to Saturday morning youth soccer in America? Weird.  It was so beautiful on the beach and I found so many non-broken conch shells!  Kelsi’s mom then took me to “The Mount” aka Mount Manganui, which is a little beach city about 10 mins away from their house.  We went for a walk out onto this little island thing that wasn’t actually an island because it was connected to the shore, but jutted out into the ocean (that made no sense, but I don’t know how else to describe it) and checked out some shops in the town.  Then we went to the grocery (which was in the mall? What?) and got ice cream on the way (yes!).  Before going back to their house, we gave Kelsi a surprise visit at the gym where she works.  We had delicious chicken with pasta for dinner and Kelsi made some “chocolate pudding” for dessert (don’t worry, I took a pic of the recipe), which we ate later while watching some movies.  It was fun to spend the day with Kelsi’s mom and so cool that she has lived in that city her whole life.  WHOLE LIFE.  I feel like that never happens in America!

On Sunday, Kelsi and I headed back to the Mount and climbed up it!  There are 200 sheep that live on the bottom, grassy area of the Mount and we passed lots (and their poop on the track, ew) on the way up.  There was one that had just been born the night before and was SO small.  And then we passed a sheep placenta on the way as well, TMI sorry, yes it was gross and all dried up, yuck.  Anyways, the views on the way up and at the top were absolutely stunning.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much ocean in my life.  It was cool to see where the town divides the ocean and the harbor and all the islands that surround this area, so close, and some way out.  Kelsi has lived here all her life, so she knew lots of details about everything that I asked about!  It was like having a personal tour guide.

Kelsi and me on top of The Mount 

We came back down and – surprise surprise – got ICE CREAM!  We sat by the harbor and ate it then headed back to her house to hang out for the afternoon.  Later on, Kelsi’s dad took us out on to river in their boat.  It was so fun and relaxing to go for a boat ride and it sure made me miss the lack of boat rides and lake time I had this summer at home.  I guess I had places to go and people to meet... really.  Anyway, he drove us up the river, passing little shack docks, cows, and hills, to where it connects with the ocean!  So fun!

We spent the evening watching rugby and eating fish and chips. <-- That sentence is SO New Zealand.

where the river meets the ocean

This weekend was another great one and I’m SO thankful for Kelsi and her family’s generosity!  I did so many things that I may never get to do again in my life… SURF, see where a river meets the ocean, see a sheep placenta, etc.  I’m so glad that I’ve gotten to know Kelsi through our group projects and in class and such.  She is definitely someone that I’m going to miss, but keep in touch with, when I get back home!

A view of the Mount from Papamoa
 

Interesting Observations:

-Pasta is pronounced “paste-a”

-“bloke”=general ‘ol kiwi guy. Example: “Is that bloke of yours coming for dinner tonight?” or “I’ve seen you around heaps with that bloke”

-All the world maps here have NZ in the middle, which puts America on the right side.  I know what you’re thinking—What?! America isn’t really in the center of the world?!—no, it’s not.  

Things are winding down, but still exciting!

It’s pretty unbelievable that I only have 3, THREE, days of class left for the semester! WHAT?!  Things here at Uni have definitely started to wind down.  I turned in a NZ History paper and a strategic plan for a case study in Health & PE on Monday, and then gave a presentation on my strategic plan on Tuesday (and presented 18^th out of 18. Dead last.).  Now only 1 education paper, and 2 final exams sit between me and America.  But until then, I’m a busy bee during the weekends and week-long study break. 

Some highlights from this week:

-In my presentation on Tuesday, which focused on Northview aka a pretty typical American high school, I included some info on pep rallies, letter jackets, championship rings, tailgates, etc.  This caused some confusion to the kiwis and after I was done, one person suggested that we have a pep rally next week to celebrate our last day of class. Haha! Maybe I should’ve explained all that stuff a little better…

-On Wednesday, I joined Lisa (from church) at her youth group, which gets together at different church (kind of like a sister church across town I guess).  I looked up the address and decided I could just take the bus so I wouldn’t have to bother anyone for a ride.  After some confusion between maps and real life roads, I finally made it!  It was cool meet more of the youth and see how they do youth group and the differences between it and the youth group that I went to at home.  They are having a “ball” this weekend, so after the bible study/discussion, we did some decorating for that, then Lisa brought me back to Uni! Success!

-Remember Dani, my cousins’ second cousin that I stayed with in Christchurch during the 2 week break?  Well she has a cousin (who is another one of my cousins’ second cousins) named Tarryn who lives in Hamilton!  Dani had given me Tarryn’s number, so I randomly texted her and thankfully she didn’t think I was some crazy long lost relative.  I met up with her in town for coffee yesterday and it was so cool to meet yet another random family member over here!  Tarryn recently graduated from Uni and is a lawyer in Hamilton.  She was so so sweet and fun to talk with, so hopefully I’ll have a chance to hang out with and get to know her more before I go back home.  I have been so blessed to have these very distant family members over here! Thanks Aunt Rozanne!

-I had my last NZ history tutorial (aka designated discussion time) yesterday!  My tut group has about 12 or so people in it, so it’s been a small enough number to get to know some of them better over the course of the semester, which has been really fun.  Anyways, yesterday the windows of this 4^th story room were cracked open just for some fresh air, and A HUGE PIGEON FLEW IN!  This room is only about 10ft by 15ft aka TINY.  I was sitting right by the window and it was so scary, but hilarious at the same time.  Finally after flying into the glass on the window about 10 times, this giant pigeon made it out.  Ha!  We decided maybe it smelled our “lollies and biscuits” that people had brought in celebration of our last tutorial. (sidenote: lollies and biscuits=candy and cookies)

-Last night, Kelsey and I took an adventure to a nearby dairy for some ice cream.  Double scoop for $2... Yes, please! Good thing we just now figured out that there’s such an amazing deal so close to Uni… I also just figured out that the video store about 2 mins from my dorm sells DR. PEPPER. Why has Hamilton felt the need to keep such secrets from me?!  As we were walking back to Uni, we passed some of the crazy yet hilarious boys from my hall hanging out on one of the fields near the dorm. They had started their Thursday night partying a little early.  Kelsey and I decided that it was pretty entertaining so we climbed up a tree and spent about an hour talking, observing, laughing, and watching the sun set behind the mountains!

If only I had a dollar for every ice cream picture :)

check out this double scoop cone! hilarious!

a few kiwi boys 

This afternoon, Kelsi (different Kelsi, the one from my HPE class) is taking me home to Tauranga with her!  I’m really excited and it should be a super fun weekend.  I’ll be sure to report back with all the deets!

Interesting Observations:

-Kiwis have never heard of snickerdoodles.

-Instead of saying “knock on wood”, they say “touch wood” and actually just touch it instead of knocking.

-Tax is already included in all the prices in NZ.

-You know you’ve been somewhere new for a significant amount of time when you realize that you’ve found the type of granola bar you like and have stuck to it for over a month.

-When kiwis pronounce years like 1999, they say ninety like “nauny”.  So 1999 would be “nauny-nauny-naun”.  Also, 13 or 14 is pronounced like “thur-deen” and “fau-deen”.  Sound it out and hopefully that makes sense.

-The porridge and baked beans at BREAKFAST:

You know you love the Braves when...

This past week has been full of ups and downs, or maybe just one ‘down’.  As I have 5 weeks left in New Zealand I’ve found myself caught between wanting SO badly to be home, but also wanting to pack SO much in at the same time.  So many emotions at once sure can take a toll on a girl!

There were lots of warm, sunny afternoons this week and 2 of my 2 hour lectures were cancelled, so I ended up spending a few afternoons just soaking up the beginning of spring! There’s a patio and grassy lawn area outside the dining hall, so I tried to eat outside as often as I could this week, which also caused me to get to watch the boys playing “touch”. Touch=touch rugby.  However, on Wednesday, this was NOT the case.  You know that TV that they put in the dining hall for us to watch the rugby world cup games on?  Well, on Wednesday, the TV was flipped to ESPN and THE BRAVES WERE ON. BRAVES, AS IN THE ATLANTA BRAVES, BASEBALL, BRIAN MCCANN, TOMAHAWK CHOP, ETC.  I had pretty much given up on trying to watch them and have just been relying on updates from my family, so this viewing was not planned at all.  The moment I saw Turner Field, I turned to the girl next to me, pointed to the TV, and said “THAT’S MY HOME!!!” Then when they showed the Braves taking the field, I said “THOSE ARE MY BOYS!!!”  This lunch turned into an anti-social one very quickly as I just sat in front of the TV and took it all in.  After about and hour (…of the Braves losing, but that’s beside the point here), I started to just dwell on the fact that the scene on the TV was so familiar and comforting and just… home. I felt the tears welling up in my eyes and decided I better leave and go back to my room before it got any worse.  I ended up balling my eyes out for a good 45 minutes and longing for home more than I have before.  After an impromptu call to my mom and more than a few tissues, the afternoon started to brighten up.  Long story short, I’ve started to realize that, yes of course I miss home, but I also just miss familiar things… like Turner Field, Monday Night Football, TJ Maxx, a refrigerator, my car, etc.  Wednesday was definitely my lowest homesickness point, and I hope/think that it’ll stay that way.  I’m just glad that I love home so much that I miss it to the point of crying so hard.  That sounds sad, but I’m viewing it as a positive thing!

Onto the weekend…

Friday (aka Free-day): I went to $10 lunch at a place called The Bank with Shannon and Kelsey (on of the Americans that came on the 2 week trip).  I got a delicious grilled chicken sandwich on the best bun I’ve ever tasted in my life.  Shannon and Kelsey are definitely 2 of my favorite people that I’ve met here and it was fun to get to hang out with them at the same time!  As always, I spent the majority of the time laughing at Shannon’s hilariousness.  After lunch, we walked around a little and FOUND DR. PEPPER, or Dr. Peps as Shannon says.  What a great start to the weekend!

Shannon and me with our Dr. Peps

Saturday:  Earlier in the week, Kelsey and I had planned to go hiking with Loren (remember that sweet NZ girl that gave me a ride into town that very first week when my computer took the tumble, that was Loren) at a Pirongia National Park track that wasn’t too far from Hamilton.  We headed out on Saturday morning only to find that I had done a worse than horrible job with the directions that I had written down.  We didn’t even make it out of the city before we resorted to the typical gas station stop for directions.  Great job, Al.  With high hopes, we finally made it!  The ~4 hour return went from horizontal bush walk to minor incline to minor+ incline to minor/major incline to major incline to vertical rock climbing.  The track was full of lots of tree roots, so just picture this: at first you’re stepping over the roots, trying not to trip over them…then you’re using the roots as natural stairs (nature is SO cool)… then you’re grabbing the roots, as if they’re handles, to pull yourself up the mountain.  Eventually we made it to the top, ate some snack lunch, hung out, took pictures, and soaked in the view, which consisted of SO MUCH GREEN.  Mountains covered in trees, farmland/pastures that looked like a big green quilt, hills, and even OCEAN in the far distance!  You’d think I’d be used to this by now, but every new view just continues to amaze me.  We headed back down (which might lead to knee problems in 20 years) and back to Uni, and may or may not have gotten lost again on the way back… but we made it!  Usually the NZ people at Uni aren’t to keen (yep, I just said keen) to go on adventures and explorations with the international students, so I was SO glad that Loren came!  It was super fun to get to hang out with her outside of Uni and refreshing to do some hiking with a non-American (don’t worry, I really do love Americans)! 

The part where the roots turned into handles

Me and Kelsey 

Loren and me at the top!

That night, the 3 of us cleaned up and went over to a restaurant across town where Paul, one of the orientation leaders (the one that we stayed with in Auckland on the last night of our 2 week trip), was playing a gig.  One of the other leaders came along too, so it was fun to see them, catch up, and hear Paul play!

Sunday: I love Sundays in general, but I’m pretty sure Sunday has become my favorite day here :)  I texted Lynda and John this morning for a ride, as I usually do, and they picked me up on their way to church across town.  This church, Reformed Church of Hamilton, has become one of my favorite places here.  Favorite day + favorite place = wonderfulness!  The sermon was on Isaiah 12 and it was so comforting to be reminded that the Lord is our salvation, strength, and song.  After my crying-so-hard-to-the-point-of-almost-choking episode on Wednesday, I was encouraged and reassured today just hearing and knowing that even though I think that I can be my own strength, especially when homesickness kicks in, I can’t.  My strength is found in Jesus, not myself.  How awesome is it that the Lord uses our weaknesses, whether they are as obvious as breakdowns that stem from Turner Field or not, to draw us closer to Him?!  Apart from being willing to give us everything we need, He gives us so many experiences that lead to so much joy (story of my life for the past 3 months!), but best of all He gives us HIMSELF, grace, and His death in the place of ours.  I am so thankful for the chance to get to learn more about Christ through this church while I am here and also so thankful for all of the people that I have been surrounded by!  Everyone is SO inviting and friendly, and the pastor even knew my name today!  One grandpa-ish guy came up to me afterwards and said, “I’ve seen you here before, but I don’t know you.  Who are you??” Haha!  It is so awesome that literally every Sunday that I’ve been to this church someone different has noticed that I’m new and introduced themselves!  There was a “shared lunch” after the service, so that took the place of Sunday lunch at the Hemmes’.  I know what you’re thinking… ‘Oh that stinks that she didn’t get to go hang out with them this Sunday, what a bummer’.  Think again. Despite the fact that they wouldn’t be eating lunch, Jackie and Lisa both invited me over to hang out at their house!  I went home with them and finally learned how to throw a rugby ball!! Maybe now I can do something sporty that my brothers can’t do.. Yes!!  4 of their kids and I tossed around the rugby ball in their backyard for a little while and then came in to have some juice and cookies/brownies that Lisa had made. YUM.  We all chatted for a little bit and then Jackie took me back to Uni just in time for me to watch the All Blacks stomp all over Canada.  I know I say this every time I write about the Hemmes family, but I can’t even express how grateful I am for them.  I have learned so much about selflessness in the form of opening up your day, time, and house to others through them.  It is so awesome that God has provided me whole families of believers to retreat to and get to know while also learning more about Jesus’ love through the way others show love to me! 

Interesting Observations:

-Ketchup=tomato sauce

-They use the word “reckon” a LOT.  This is probably one of my top 3 favorite words now.  Example: “Do you reckon I could use your book?” or “I reckon I’m really gonna miss this place” or “What do you reckon?” or “Yeah, I reckon!”  Sometimes I find this really funny because I feel like in the US reckon is kind of a hillbilly word. Sorry if I just offended anyone.

-America, take note: They don’t tip at restaurants. None. No tipping in the whole country.

-Jello (gelatin)=jelly.  This can get really confusing.

-“flash”=snazzy, gaudy, showy, extravagant. Example: “That’s a flash new car” or “Her sparkly dress is way too flash” or “That million dollar house is super flash”

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