Playgrounds and Pals

This picture is from when we went luging in Rotorua on my birthday.

Friday, February 8
Today we met early for service project signing up. I signed up for Habitat for Humanity and helping at elementary schools. We had class and I participated a lot. We played psychiatrist and the thing was words for the Star Spangled Banner. It was pretty witty. I looked like a gypsy today with my earrings.

I had a quick meeting about the post NZ stuff. Then I came home, ate some, talked with Pauline and Joyce, then went to the park to help paint. I did a lot of the weeding and got to know Janelle better. She's majoring in food science and this past summer she worked at McCormick and she and another scientist created a new salad dressing: honey mustard vinaigrette. It should be coming out in March.

Then Janelle and I had some curry roll. The lady in the shop asked us if we were with the group at SIT. She saw our bikes in the paper the other day. (Wahoo!) Then we went to the church and played volleyball. The sisters and elders were there. It's kind of weird to see missionaries playing volleyball.

Saturday, February 9
Joyce is really good about helping us find ways to get our service hours done. We went with her friend out to the Marae. It's a Maori meeting house out in Riverton. If you've seen the movie Lilo and Stitch and you remember the scene at the beginning when Lilo is at hula lessons rambling about Pudge the fish, then you have a pretty good picture in your head of what this place looks like.

We helped prepare food and then we got to eat it. It wasn't really different stuff: lunch cuts, some noodles with sauce, scalloped potatoes, and some buttered bread. The coolest part is when they decided to clear out the flax and show us how they use it for weaving. One lady with a crazy name that would have made me flunk first grade if I had to write it on my paper every day made me a bracelet out of flax. It's a bit big but it's awesome!

We got to greet the Maori's by doing the classic cheek-to-cheek not-really-a-kiss thing and then also the nose-to-nose greeting.

I'm so awesome.

While I was there helping I met Andrea from Singapore. Long story short I invited her to watch Transformers with us at the park.

Right now it's summer time here. Duh. But the kids are in school and there are summer festivals going on. So we met at the park to listen to the free live music.

I love live music.
I love free live music with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.

I assume it has been slightly evident throughout my writing-perhaps not so much on this blog but definitely on others-that I have plenty of friends but none to hang out with. I've just always been the friendly person without any friends. It's quite lonely, actually. I've since learned to accept that I'm probably going to be like that for the rest of my life.

It's not like that here. I went to the park yesterday and danced and sang and sat on blankets in the drizzling rain listening to free live music and watching a free movie. And I did it with a group of people. (Andrea came as well and ended up getting quite the missionary discussion!) It's like after a tediously long day at work when you come home and all you want to do is take off your shoes and sit. That moment of sheer bliss when a smile creeps across your face and your feet-oh your feet!-they feel so liberated and free and at peace just to be feet that are appreciated but not used, welcomed but not obligated.

That's how it feels.

Tyler had to use a port-a-loo without a light, Haeree and I rode home and some drunk guy tried to scare us off our bikes, and I went to bed counting 34 people as blessings.