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.

Perpetuating Childhood

Saturday, February 2nd (Groundhog Day...but it means nothing in this country)
I'm convinced Yarrow is the best street in the world to live on. There are just enough shops around to cover the necessities in life: meat pies, ice cream, a bank, and the Bargain Barn. The Bargain Barn is by far the best secondhand store I have been to. I got a killer set of earings. And I mean killer. They could stun even Medusa.

But the highlight of Saturday was not the killer earrings. Actually, it was the meanest picnic Invercargill has ever seen. Joyce and Neville came as well as many of the grandkids. Sponsored by the LDS branch here we had hamburgers, ice cream, sac races, three-footed races, missionary tag, and an egg toss. I love playing childish games and chasing ducks. Life is good to me.


Little known secret: I'm a little obsessed with childhood. I believe childhood should continue throughout life. Certainly you must grow older but growing up will always be a mere option. I intend to wonder at the clouds and curiously explore life until the day I die. I won't go quietly. I'll gasp for air after playing games for second-graders and wildly wave my arms about when sliding down slick slides wettened by rain.I am a firm supporter of neighborhood picnics.

(Tyler, Chase, Jackapo, and Cameron grill up some grub)

(Kirsten, Ali, Stefanie Tanner, Stephanie Richards enjoy banana-jaffer icecream)
(Below Jessica and Taylor battle for the title)

Sunday, February 3rd

Twelve years ago I was baptised. Church was good. Sister Ngahooroo told us how she married a man in blind faith. She didn't like him, let alone love him. But she married him anyway. They've been married for 15 years. You-of course-just got the short version of the story but the point is God is a master planner.

Monday, February 4th

Haeree and I ran to Kracker Jacks and back. (Jordan, we can TOTALLY go running together when I get home.) It was the first day of SIT. There were other students on campus today and we met our instructor John Kapa today. He's pretty chill. Tomorrow we start learning kayak basics.I met Gail from Yaks and Yetis. If you're ever looking for a genie outfit to impress a date, this would be the shop. Gail is cool. She said I could busk in front of her store. Perhaps I will.

Chase had a birthday party. His mum, Naomi, had a bucket-load of meat left over from a work barbeque so she invited the lot of us to come to a barbeque and eat.I have yet to have a homemade hamburger on a bun or with anything other than meat. We eat our hamburgers with buttered bread (??? I will never understand why they put butter on every sandwich) and perhaps some tomato sauce. Never tomato and lettuce or pickles. Pretty simple. The meat tastes amazing so it's okay. It's just different.

I taught everyone Boogedy Boogedy Boo. It's always a crowd pleaser. I'd be understating if I said everyone loved it. Everyone was laughing long and hard. I'm basically sure Stephanie Richards is the funniest person in the world to watch. Cameron was busy taking pictures so I'm sure I'll get some at one point or another.

Exeloo and Escapees

Sunset and Sheep. That's New Zealand in a nutshell.

Friday, February 1, 2008 marks the first day of class. It was pouring rain this morning and I was very grateful for my rain pants and jacket. Haeree wore her jacket over her backpack. With her matching green pants and jacket and a big lump on her back she resembled a Ninja Turtle. Class today only lasted about an hour. We went over what our schedule is going to be and the syllabi. Joyce made me a pita sandwich with beets inside. Old people put weird things in sandwiches but they're still good. (Both the sandwiches and the old people, that is)

Megan Bird, Janell and I walked around town. I hit up a few stores and then I had to use the toilet. The Exeloo is a public toilet. It talks to you. You push a button and the door opens. Then the door closes and a man over the loud speaker says "You have ten minutes." And then the elevator music starts and you hurry and do your thing because you're not quite sure when the door will open. Every Exeloo is wired to play an instrumental rendition of "what the world needs now/is love, sweet love". You have to push a button to feed you toilet paper and then the toilet flushes when you wash your hands. It's the best toilet I've ever been in.


There are 33 of us with matching red bikes. We all bike everywhere because we really don't have a choice. Yesterday we biked to Oreti beach. It was really funny to see all 33 of us biking in a single line. We could take over round-abouts and possibly small villages. (That's Stefanie on her bike at the shop. She's good at taking lots of pictures)

I spent time hunting for perfect shells I have absolutely no use for. I am developing a nice tan and my hair is lightening. I'm basically going to be a babe when I get back to the states.

On our way home we stopped at Kracker Jacks and I made Katie Jo, Jessica, and Megan Bird all have a meat pie. Meat pies are good. And Kracker Jacks is awesome because they only cost a dollar there which is about 73 cents American. After tea time (money bags are amazing!) we went to support Janelle and Kathy in their rugby game. We cheered loud. We're proud of our loud heritage.

In case you didn't get why Kathy and Janelle are playing rugby: Ged is their homestay dad. The first thing he did when we met our families was take the girls to a rugby game at the stadium. Janelle is on the women's rugby team and Kathy took a rugby class when she went to BYU Hawaii. That's Part 1.

Part 2. Ged used to work in the prison and he coaches a city rugby league. Since it's coed, there always needs to be two girls on the field. So one day Ged comes home from the pub and says he was talking to some of his mates from the prison and they signed Janelle and Kathy up to play Thursday at 6. Welcome to the team!

The team name is SKPs. (Escapees...like escaping from prison) It was good to see how a rugby game is really played. Janelle tried to teach us Wednesday night when we were at the park. It's chaos when we play. Well, speaking of rugby, I gotta go. The World Seven Series is on and India is playing Australia.

Suspended on Clouds

Do you think you can walk yourself to death?

Probably.

I walked everywhere yesterday and my foot hurts. Not the kind of hurt from when you have just been walking for a while and your feet want to do nothing more than kick off those well-worn stepped-in-poop shoes and plop stockinged feet on the couch. No. I hurt my foot somehow and it sends a hate-message of pain every time my left foot feels the pressure from the ground. Ouch.

Anyhoo, Haeree and I ran to Kracker Jacks yesterday and went to the watertower and Queens Park and then back again. We went to the campus at 1PM to get our ID cards and then we went to a secondhand clothing store. We checked out some other stores around town and found a lolli shop with American foods like peanut butter M&Ms and A&W rootbeer. I got some rootbeer to give to Joyce and Neville's grandkids so they can know the beauty of the greatest fizz ever.

On the pilgrimage home we ran into one of the grandkids on the street. It's really cool to run into people on the street who aren't from BYU. It makes me feel like I belong here. I gave him the can of rootbeer and told him to share with his siblings when he gets home. I wish I could have seen his face when he tried it

I love the variety of beaches I've seen here: white sand, black sand, little pebbles, and big rocks. Today we went to a wood beach. A petrified forest. A disgusting amount of kelp had worked its way into a wee inlet and with every gush of every wave it looked like ginormous noodles about to overflow a rocky pot. Black birds with orange beaks and eerie red eyes scampered around. There were little pools of sea weed and I touched the beady, slimy things. Lisa found a dead crab in one of those pools and we decided to give it a proper sea burial. It was a beautiful service. (That's me and Lisa finding the crab)

I have been trying to take in life unfiltered. More frequently I find myself laying my sunglasses aside and looking at the green grass. It's a different shade in real life. The sky is much darker behind my purple lenses. I like it the way it truly is. And when the blue contrasts with the green I swear I can hear music in the meadows.

The clouds over the ocean try so hard to seamlessly blend into the sky. They don't make any shapes. It's like they're in a limbo between stratus and circulonimbus.

Enough of cloud talk.

Approximately 432 sheep later we found ourselves at the Curio Bay. I ate the delicious lunch Joyce packed for me. I feel like I'm in elementary school all over again with someone else packing my lunch for me.

I swam with wild dolphins.
Look closely in the wave. The dolphins are surfing in it.


I am jealous of myself. Ever since I was a girl I wanted to be a marine biologist and be swimming with dolphins. My own dreams are coming true right before my eyes. But my dreams come true while I'm awake.

Hard and Fast

Monday, January 21
We packed up camp in Picton and headed for Kaikoura. We hiked the Queen Charlotte Trail and went to the beach. I held a funny crab. On our way to Kaikoura we stopped at a black sand beach. I saved a rock. Then I broke my sandal. The waves were massive and crashed wildly on the dark rocks. I saw sea lions on the rocks. Wild sea lions.

In Kaikoura we stayed about a 5 minute walk from the beach. We met some locals. They don't have one-dollar bills here but rather $1 coins and $2 coins. They all think it's so weird we have $1 notes. I showed them my American money and one boy wanted my dollar notes and I told him I needed it. He offered to pay me $1.50 for it. Being as we get NZ dollar for ever eighty-three cents I figured it was slightly in my favor so I gave him a useless $1 and got a very valuable $1.50 back. Those coins will come in handy for laundry or a toilet fee.

Tuesday, January 22
We woke up and packed up the tent. (What else is new?) and had wheat bix (a cereal) for breakfast and left for Kaikoura and went to Christchurch. This place is kind of like Boston in the sense that it is a good-sized city and it has the settled-in-the 1800's feel to it. We saw the Botanical gardens. They don't have maple trees here but they have massive pine-ish trees with branches sprouting out just inches from the bottom.

We got to stay in a motel for the 2 nights we were in Christchurch. That's lucky for us because those two nights it rained. That's the first we've seen of rain in New Zealand. They're having a drought. We stayed in a motel (Holiday Park) and it rained a bit so we were grateful not to be tramping around. Christchurch is definitely a happening town. They have a big pillow bubble on the campground. A girl bounced off of that and onto the sand and got the wind knocked out of her. Another dislocated her thumb. One girl was on the slide, fell off and smacked her face on the ground. She chipped her tooth and she was going to get it filled but it cracked all the way up so they pulled it out instead. Poor lass is missing a front tooth.

One of the drivers parked in a bus only zone and he got towed. So he had to hitch-hike to the towing company to get the car back and he somehow managed to talk himself out of 50% of the fee. Another driver got pulled over by a cop standing in the street and fined for not having his seat belt on.

So much drama in so little time!

Wednesday, January 23
Christchurch is a bigger city and they were having the World Busker Festival while we were there so there were lots of street performers. We saw the juggler who plays songs on the piano with his balls and walked the town at night. It kind of has a NYC feel to it except most of the shops close at 5. Most of New Zealand closes at 5. Very few stores are open 24 hours.

We went up to the top of the cathedral. Everyone is talking about Sir Edmund Hillary's funeral (he climbed Mt Everest and was the first to do so). I had a meat pie. They are pretty tasty.

I got home and circled my bug bites. I have 49 of them. I hate sand flies. They're worse than mosquitoes because you don't feel mosquitoes when they suck your blood. Sand flies bite so you feel their dirty teeth cut your flesh and then it itches like mad.

Thursday, January 24
We left Christchurch and went to Greymouth. This means we went to the West coast of New Zealand. We drove down really steep curves with 16% grade. (The steepest I've seen in the states is 8%). We hiked Devil's Punchbowl and saw the waterfalls. There are lots of waterfalls in New Zealand. And moss.

Greymouth is one of my favorites (Waitomo, Rotorua, and Picton coming in close seconds) We stayed on the beach. Well, not really. We stayed at the Holiday Park and the only thing separating us from the ocean was a row of trees. We just took the path and 10 steps later I was on the rocky beach watching the sun set on the Tasmanian Sea. We all thought it was the perfect setting for those romantic pictures so we all borrowed Ben and tried to take romantic pictures. It was hysterical.

Sunsets in New Zealand are different. The sky is still light even though the sun is not in sight.
At home the east side of the sky is a few shades darker than the west where the sun is slowly hiding behind the mountains. Not here. The sky is the same sky-blue color until it all turns dark. This lattitude is very weird. It only takes 15 minutes in the sun to burn. Wear sunscreen!

Friday, January 25
Greymouth to Cromwell. It was a lovely 8 hour drive. My bum is sore and I had more junkfood in those 8 hours than I've had in a long time. Sensation cookies...I mean biscuits...are delightful. Clunkers are like Whoppers. Crunchies are amazing and I'm sure I'm bring heaps of them home. Don't waste your money on gummies. Chase rigged up his laptop to watch movies and we had the car adapter so the sound went to the entire van. We watched "Stranger than Fiction" and "The Guardian." We also made a couple stops at glaciers.

GLACIERS ARE HUGE! The glaciers are the color of blue cotton candy. They make you feel small as a human being. Just when you think you're on top of the world the world reminds you you're just a pipsqueak. I can say that I've drunken glacier water from a waterfall and been at the beach all within two days. Cromwell looks a lot like Utah.

Saturday, January 26
Cromwell to Invercargill. It's only a 3 hour drive but it seemed to drag on forever. We stopped at Katarua Bridge and for you bungee jumping enthusiasts who already know, this is the birthplace of the thrill sport. It doesn't look that bad. I stood on the bridge and looked down and 100 feet really doesn't seem all that scary anymore.

We picked up a German hitchhiker named Judith. She's country-hopping for 6 months. Saturday was a weird day because we were all meeting our families. Everyone was nervous. It felt like I was being adopted. Kind of because I was being adopted. We FINALLY got to Invercargill and got a brief orientation. The bottom of the South Island was founded by Irish and Scottish so the accent is very different than the other parts of NZ. They say things like "wee" a lot. The first man showed up wearing a shirt that said "Save water. Drink Beer". That is Janell's and Cathy's pop. They told us today at church that their pop (named Jed) went to the pub last night and he was talking with his mates and he signed up Cathy and Janell for some touch rugby. (He knew Janell was on the women's rugby team)

I met my family. I have Neville and Joyce. I definitely live with old people. I'm just really happy to have sturdy walls that don't collapse every morning, bed sheets, and real silverware. Simple convieniences that I've been without for two weeks.

My room is purple. Purple curtains with purple bedspread. There are nicknack's and creepy dolls everywhere. The toilet is in the laundry room and the bathroom has no toilet. Mirrors are in random places and never where you expect them to be. Haeree and I got here and Joyce gave us both late birthday presents. I got a ballerina bear trinket with a garnet. Cute, huh? We had quiche and homegrown tomatoes for dinner.

I got homesick for the first time last night. The first two weeks were just like I was on vacation in Florida because everything is so American here it's like I never left the states. Not until I got settled in and realized that I'm surrounded by people who talk fast and staying in a room that isn't mine did I realize that home is a LONG ways away.

Don't worry. I have my blanky.

Neville works fork lifting tires. Joyce works in the post office. We talked awhile about the different words we have for things.
Footpath=sidewalk
Have a lion=sleep in
Jandals=flip flops
Sausages=hotdogs
Hotdog=corndog
Chips=French fries
Crisps=chips
Candyfloss=cotton candy
Lollies=candy

Mostly they accent funny parts of words like a garage is a Gar-adge. They laugh at the way we say Addidas. They say toe-matto.

Their grandkids came for a bit. Georgina is 9, Harrison is 11, and Jonathan is 13. I wrote in my profile that I play the guitar so Joyce made sure to have Jonathan bring his. It's electric. And left handed. Everything is backwards. I had a handstand contest with Georgina and we played a little Crickett. Harrison tired to explain rugby to us.

THINGS I NEED TO SHOW THESE POOR DEPRIVED CHILDREN:
rootbeer floats
7 layer chip dip
fry sauce
funeral potatos
symphony bars
Sweedish fish (NO Sweedish fish??!!! What's wrong with the world?!)

Sunday, January 27
Today (Sunday) Haeree and I went to church with the other 34 of us. We easily doubled if not tripled the branch. The Relief Society sisters tried to teach us to read Maori. The e makes the sound like ay. Kind of like the first part of egg. We all told each other about our families. Stefanie said that her lady keeps asking every hour if they would like some hot Milo (like Ovaltine) or some hot tea (herbal because they all got the "What Mormons don't Eat" pep talk). She was in bed and the lady walks in, "Milo?". Jackie keeps saying yes when her family offers her something to drink and so she has to use the toilet all the time. Most of the home stays are older ladies. Some are older couples and seldom have children at home.

After church we went to the farm for Kylie's birthday. (She's a grand daughter of Neville and Joyce) I swam in the creek and did cannon balls off the side. Haeree and I had to change into our swim togs behind some trees. We fed moldy bread to the sheep and tried mighty hard to sit on one. I got my legs straddled on one for wee bit. (I'll already picking up the accent! But it's more Scottish than the soft New Zealand.) We played spring ball. It's like teatherball but with a spring instead of a straight pole and a tennis ball instead of a teatherball.

We had trifle and pudding and jelly (jello) and wonderful sausages (hotdogs) and hamburgers. I'm sure I had enough chocolate to last a long time, and showed everyone American money. They told us that they never sing the national anthem at rugby games or have bands or anything. Haeree and I sang our school fight songs for them and the Star Spangled Banner. They don't even take their hat off for the flag here. Gah! I really want to listen to a big brass band here. Because the weather is so warm it feels like it's summer. And summer means Independance Day and bands. It's really hard to realize that it's still January and we just finished Christmas. Groundhog day is in a week.

Summer for me is going to last a good 7 months. I'm already getting a better tan than what I had.

It's kind of weird to be settled. I have been living out of a suitcase for 2 weeks but it feels SO much longer than that. Days here just seem to stretch on forever. Despite driving on the right side of the road there are a few minor but drastic differences between here and the states. For starters there are almost always two faucets in sinks. One spits out hot water and the other cold. There is no option to turn both knobs and make warm water.

The toilet tank is set above the seat rather than right behind it. Light switches are more like the lock and unlock buttons in the car. The dial tone on the phone sounds weird so I never know if the phone is working or giving me the busy signal. Grocery stores are interesting. There is one entrance and it forces you to walk through the bakery and the fruit. Eggs are not refrigerated here. Avocados are pretty cheap. The cheddar cheese is INCREDIBLE because they don't color it orange. They keep it white.

Despite what Mark said, Mexican food is not that hard to find. We've had tortillas and chips every day. Simple American mustard is, however, a real find because everything here is honey mustard. I don't think New Zealanders know what a dill pickle is. Most roads are really curvy. There are more sheep here than people. Libraries are pathetically small. Drinking fountains do not exist. (I have found only 2 in the past 14 days).

As for not having a camera, Becky in our group is going to make us all DVDs with all the pictures and everyone has been downloading their pictures on her laptop so I get pictures with other people and it's not bad and I know I'm going to get the pictures later. Life without a camera, cell phone, or watch has been liberating. I actually rather like experiencing life hard and fast and without worrying about recording it. I like slurping up life like I devour orange juice through a straw; fighting for the last droplet.

One Week Down!

This has been an incredible week in New Zealand. Here's a short recap of my life:
Thursday, January 10
I took the longest plane ride of my life to Auckland, New Zealand. Air New Zealand is the only way to fly. They use REAL dishes instead of plastic stuff.

Friday, January 11
Never happened in my life

Saturday January 12
We landed in Auckland and drove to Whitianga (pronounced Fitianga) and played on the swingset at a park and I had fish and chips.

Sunday January 13
They have incredible cheese here and they don't color it orange so it's all yellow. I've spent a lot of time in the car road tripping across the country. We went to the temple in Hamilton and had a little guitar/singing fest with some natives we found. Then I broke my camera. It's been broken ever since but I had a great picture of the temple! We went to Waitomo (my favorite place so far)
Monday, January 14
I went Black water tubing and saw glow worms. I saw a rabbit get sheared. It's the fluffiest rabbit I've seen in my life! That's me and Stefanie after it lost it's fluffiness. Other people have taken on my habbit of picking up trash. I met a real mandolin player who took guitar lessons from Andy McGee. We went on a cool hike that was all jungly. I swung on a vine. I explored caves. It smelled like mint. We heard the calls of exotic birds like the ones you hear on cds of the Amazon. I saw a possum and at midnight we brought in my birthday.

Tuesday, January 15
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME in New Zealand. I found some cards my mom had packed away and they made me happy. We had french toast with fruit. Definitely the best breakfast yet. My tent mate gave me baloon animals. Everyone sang to me. I'm basically sure I've heard every version. We went luging in Rotorua and I swung into a creek from a tire swing and went kayaking and picked up trash. We also tried to make the perfect diving picture. Do you think we got it?

Wednesday, January 16
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME in the United States. I went to the Agrodome and went zorbing and it was basically worth every penny. They let us all get ran over by a zorb. I'm the one lying down closest to the ball. They would never let you do that in the states. I went to town and saw the library of Rotorua. It's a pretty snazzy town. I also saw the Maori dances and did the whole cultural experience thing.

Thursday, January 17
We left Rotorua and left for Taupo and went swimming in the clearest lake I've seen in my life. I swam to the buoy.

Friday, January 18
I hiked the paths of Mordor! And I did it with Legolas hair. That's me with a waterfall. I taught a lot of people guitar.

Saturday, January 19
We left for Wellington, the capitol. Then we hopped the ferry to go to the south island and I've got to tell you that is one incredible ride. The lushful green mountains just pop out of the blue ocean and it's about as gorgeous as you can get.

Sunday, January 20
We went to church and had sea urchin with the members after. I also touched an eel. It's SO pretty here and the weather is surprisingly warm for January.

Agnew Family

I got my rooming assignment for New Zealand. I'll be living with Haeree (pronounced like Eddie with an H in front). She's from Wyoming. We'll be living with the Agnew Family. They sent me a picture of them on a word document so I can't load it on. From the picture all I can tell you is that I'll be living with Neville and Joyce, two white grandparent-aged folks. It's not quite like living with the brown-skinned Kiwis I imagined but I'm praying that they'll have accents.