i need a holiday, a very long holiday...

and i dont expect i shall return: in fact, i mean not to.

quoted from which movie?


well, this is me saying good bye for perhaps a week. today has been spent with a handful of americans and kiwis preparing for the 4th of July party that's tonight at 6. tonight i'll go to the party, and then likely attend a girls night at the american homestead. should be fun :) either that or i'll come back and make the last minute preparations for my trip. then tomorrow morning, bright and early, i am off!! i'll be heading to thames and will stop for the night in Coromandel Town, then make my way to Whitianga for a second night, then to thames for the third night (this is a big loop), and on wednesday i will pick up my kiwi friend Ally and we will shoot down south to stay the night at her aunt's in Tauranga. thursday will find us exploring geothermal areas around Rotorua and also visiting Taupo (the adventure region- unfortunately, i dont have the funds with which to do sweet things like skydiving or outdoor sports).... and i'll be able to see Mt Doom from places in Taupo, i believe! that'll be cool. we'll stay the night in a pretty nice hotel/hostel in Taupo, then finally, on friday we'll head back up the west coast and hopefully catch a sunset over the ocean!! how does that sound?

well, i know that each hostel has internet access but i dont know if they have computers available, and i'm not bringing mine. so, perhaps we shall talk in a week's time or so...

today marks the middle of my stay.

it's all downhill from here!

ouch

i have decided that God meant for all eyebrow hair to STAY WHERE IT IS- on people's faces.

the sea is silver here, at least half the time. whenever the sun is partially behind the clouds, the water turns to silver, rolling glass. and until yesterday, i hadnt seen a SINGLE cloud since three days prior. the rest of the week is supposed to continue on in a similar fashion.

the week has come and gone. i have done SO many stupid things since i've been in this country, and most of them i have not bothered to jot down here because they will be all the more entertaining in person- plus they're too elaborate to write out in a reasonably amount of time. but this one's simple enough:
for the past month, i've had trouble hearing from my right ear. there are reasons for this, but i couldnt fix the problem in the way i am usually able to, and it took about a month to finally get in to see a doctor. so yesterday i found myself in a humbly-sized waiting room, watching a toddler try to pile four teddy bears into an ingeniously made play-cart made for three teddies. finally, a doctor entered the room and called out what i thought to be my name, though of course my right ear was facing him so nothing was a guarantee (by the way, as someone who DOES sound, not being able to hear completely has totally freaked me out) but i got up and followed him to the room. 45 minutes later, i emerged with my problem almost entirely solved and went to the desk to make a followup appointment. another doctor was waiting there talking to the receptionist. i told the receptionist that i was Margaret McClellan and that i just needed to schedule a follow-up on friday. both she and the doctor looked at me, and soon they were joined by the doctor who had dealt with me. turns out, the dr who had called "my name" 45 minutes ago had actually called "Bailey"! shooooooooot. i was so embarrassed, and not for the first time. conversation ensued but noone was angry, or no one showed it! they were really humorous and kind about it actually. whenever i do something stupid here, i feel like it gives people a reason to utter "stupid americans" under their breath. i have this paranoia that most people worldround think we're idiots in general.. and let me just say that i havent proved that wrong during my time here!

thanks for continuing to keep up with me. saturday marks my mid-way point, and after the kids' school holiday is done i will have just a month left! i have already been planning my 4 days of summer, and hopefully i'll get to see you before orientation and school start up! after those few cold days we had last week, it's really warmed up, for which i'm thankful because life without central heating is cold.

take care of yourselves, be blessed!

growing

two thoughts stemming from two worship songs i've learned here:

"this is how we overcome"
i sang a song with this line repeated as a bridge during the first worship service i attended in New Zealand. keeping this phrase in mind has given me near immunity to homesickness and especially loneliness, relative to the weakness/breakdown i know i'm capable of. i dont remember much of the rest of the song, but it's all about hope and finding strength in God and really, that leads me to the next brief thought:

"You're all i have"
Seriously. i dont have much to elaborate on this- who else do i have here? no deep relationships, no clubs, no activities aside from my times of communal worship. without God's constant presence, i'd be alone indeed. being here has reminded me more than several times that we cannot afford to lean wholly on the people around us because no matter how well-meant their intentions are, they will fail us (and we them).

crumpets

i want to dedicate a post to the spongey lightness that is a crumpet. crumpets are the honeycomb of bread (in conceptual shape/form, and perhaps divinity), the treasure of the back corner of Foodworld. please, if you go to Shaws or Hannaford and think to look, check to see if there are crumpets sold. i dont know if i could ever come back to the US if they're not available, and that would be a problem because i cant wait for a taste of summer and home....

and CRUMPETS!!!!

hot DAWG

ooh boy. it's chilly in here. maybe this'll be quick (then again...)


last week I had heard that some americans were floating around Whangaparaoa. they're missionaries- 11 of them. all college-aged, from incoming frosh to junior, plus an older adult named margaret who's running the operation. i met a few of said americans during the evening service this past sunday, and was informed through the grapevine that they keep a pretty open house (they've rented a house and host people at all hours of the day and night to my knowledge and experience!)... so i hopped in my car after i did my church thang and drove down the road feeling hopeful. i knocked on their door and was welcomed in. seems they were just as delighted to find me as i was to find them, though in different ways. still, a taste of home. they're from a church in Atlanta, and Margaret has lived on and off on Whangaparaoa and so since they had housing hookups and such, they came here to minister to the churches and youth in the area, as well as to do some general community outreaching. they are super!! the majority of them dont even have a southern accent.
there's Erin, who i met at church at first and who is extremely welcoming and friendly; Carl, who reminds me of a guy at gordon who's name i dont know, but in any case Carl is completely cool, easy going, and a little toned down from some of the more excitable ones in the group; Morgan, who is the closest girl to my age and who i have little trouble conversing with; David, who has striking eyes and bears a very strong resemblance to someone i cant quite put my finger on; Van, who's face looks just like Jon Misarski (and i told him so, as well); Austin, who is the closest guy to my age along with David, and who seems to be very keen on getting a try at driving my or any car he can- he hasnt driven here yet at all; and my fingers are about to snap off. there are more- Anders, Lauren, Jordan Lee, John, and then Margaret. they're holding a 4th of July party this saturday, on the 1st of July (haha...???) which is just spectacular because otherwise, who would care? but i'm excited. initially i was going to head to coromandel on saturday but i think i'll push my trip back because a woman from church wants to take me to a local rugby game and then i have to celebrate my country's independence (early)!

i visited them again tonight, and more wonderful times were had. they held a Bible study as well, and we talked about life in Christ. the idea that hit me today was that we can tell what or who we worship by where we put our time. erin voiced that concept and of course, it resonated because it's something i've been thinking about. i have come a long way since i've been here, but as always i have a long way to go. this is not discouraging to me, but rather heartening, because i know that every step of the journey will be with God, and if i stray, He'll find me and set me right. priorities. where are my priorities? where are yours? and how can we tell? actions speak louder than words, both written and spoken. but thankfully God sees past our contradictory actions into our hearts. we do the things we dont want to do

i talked to my family today. and that gladdened my heart.
i also received a letter from stacey. i read it on a walk around Gulf Harbour (well, it didnt take THAT long, hahaha).
i'm running out of steam here... but know that if you read this i am thinking about you. for sure. i miss life per usual but God once again has proven that His timing is perfect and His plan unmatched in the arrival of these new friends. within minutes of entering that house i had more connection with the people within than i had been able to gather up since i've been here with the kiwis. God knows what we need, and He'll provide it.

i'll post some pictures soon. the only reason that the flow of pictures has dried up is because they take time to edit down to size (they are gigantic when they come straight off my camera).

lots of love, heaps of blessings on you.

big 1-9

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER!! you're honestly the best.



this is my desktop right now. why? my heather is so serenely resting her head on my arm. i miss the metaphoric resting we were able to do with each other. karen is looking quite lovely, too :oP
i love the pictures we took that evening. girls are beautiful.



ben wu called yesterday! and i talked to him and to mike smith! it was so nice to realize that i dont have to feel like i'm far away.
it's freezing here today. ay yi yi. the coldest day yet. really violently windy out. mandy even called this morning to let me know that if i wanted i could keep the kids out of school, because she was worried about the cold. mind you, it's not below freezing. i sent them off to school, a bit late so they could catch up on their rest (it was a late night last night). but still, there's no escape from the cold, because the heater here is pretty weak. we havent hooked the gas heater up yet, which is supposed to be so much more powerful.

last night Caleb's second and last night of his production took place. "A Forest Tale". i dont know that i've ever been to a bonified elementary school play before Caleb's, so last night was an experience. all i need say is that it's just like in the movies. it was almost too cute, you know? meticulously designed costumes, big choruses of young kids singing and doing arm motions, themed around environmental preservation...... and if you order now, we'll throw in new zealand accents, free of charge! which, by the way, makes the whole deal all the more adorable. incredible.

my previously mentioned trip has changed in most every way possible. it is going to be longer than 2 days, because next weekend starts the kids' two-week holiday, and during the first week they'll be with their father up north. instead of going to Napier i have decided that i'm going to scope out the Coromandel, which is roughly across Harukai Bay from where i am
(http://www.backpack-newzealand.com/mapofnewzealand.html is the best way to quickly look up places in NZ, i use it daily) and around 4 hours driving distance, or a bit more. there's plenty to see and do, and initially i had wanted to skip down to Hobbiton and then up to Weathertop (Matamata and Port Waikato, respectively) but i dont know if i can reasonably do that :( we'll see though. i still have a week to figure things out.

i was thinking of my childhood yesterday and i came to the conclusion that i had a pretty stinkin great one. when i was little i would spend all day outside playing until it got dark, and sometimes even after it got dark. we'd play by the porch light, barely able to see the soccer ball or wiffleball but unwilling to quit for the night just yet. and after dinner, sometimes we'd rollerskate in my friend's unfinished garage, where a foundation of concrete made for smoothe gliding to the Backstreet Boys (for the record, i was generally the only girl in this group of friends- the Backstreet Boys were a band of choice for me back then, they were also the band of choice for some of the guys i hung out with.) otherwise, we'd run through the woods or play capture the flag in my backyard. during the summer we'd ride bikes to the "center of town" and buy pints of ice cream and share them.
and even in high school, life was sweet. i used to live for Inside Out Soul Festival. Kearah and i would count the days from the start of school in September! i'm not kidding. i'd spend my study hall periods making Relient K collages, and kearah and i would draw pictures of our Inside Out escapades during classes we shared (they usually included mountains, gondolas, bees, suns, teaspoons, a stage or two, wildflowers, a river, etc). i'd travel anywhere i possibly could to see Relient K, because they were more a part of me than any band i've ever known or heard to date. even now i dont deny that or dismiss it as teenage obsession. Inside Out was so meaningful, entirely sentimental. For those four days i didnt slow down for anyone or anything (good thing, bad thing, you decide). Loon Mountain... and now it'll never be the same, and i'm missing the fest, but on the other hand i'm not really missing it- because the event i cared so much about doesnt really exist any longer. It's cool that God lets us have memories, you know? I'm sure He could have made it different for us. But we CAN remember, we can remember the things that dont exist anymore, the way things were, the people we are far away from or who we might never see again. We recall that things were good then, and we see that things are good now or will be good in the future, and we know that God does and creates amazing things and is not silent in our world today.

i have been text messaging WAY too much.
and i received a noteably superb email from Josh Sturgeon last night.

buy his cd. i did all the guitar parts on it.

just kidding, ahhhhahahahha. yeah right!

hum

my dad and Copeland are in atlanta.

so just a quick word or two. the evening service on sunday was incredible, i felt the Holy Spirit in a really powerful way.our singing and our praying and our dancing went for so long that there was no sermon. just two hours of praise, repentance, communing with God.

yesterday i met up with Julia (trust me, it was a lot more complicated than just that) and we went out to lunch for my birthday, as she's leaving tomorrow and wont be here for it :( we went to this great place called The Wine Box and had lunch in style. She also got me a jade drop necklace as seen in the top right hand corner of the pic below:

that's perfect because it's a pretty new zealandy thing, and something that i have seen everywhere and fancied buying for myself, but i wouldnt have ended up purchasing it because.... i want to save as much as i can? something like that. anyhow, thanks J, it has already been a 21st birthday to remember! :)

i am starting research today on a trip i'm going to take in two weekends. i plan roughly to do my large travel trip then, so i can feel like i've done something exciting, and then i can continue to save for the rest of my time here. i plan to spend under $100 NZD if i can swing it that way ($20/night in a hostel is a good price, and if i stay two nights.....) and therefore take off on friday morning and head south. there are three places i mean to hit- and i cant remember the name of one of them. but I will make my first stop in Matamata, better known as Hobbiton, about 4 hours south of here. i will carry on further south to some nice, free hot springs, and eventually make my way to Napier/Hawks Bay for some wine tasting. now i just have to fill my itinerary in a bit, so that it's nice and full and i can experience as much as possible!

well despite the wind, it is a beautiful day out. i'm going to go to a beach and walk, or maybe shakespear.... i'm not resolved one way or another yet. i miss you guys more than ever!

nope

as far as i know, sheep still dont speak english.

this is the one thing that i know..

these are from midmorning, yesterday (thursday).
i see rainbows here daily. many times each day, usually. i'd say that this week i've seen AT LEAST 30 quality rainbows. yeah. so beautiful all the time...












and these are from today!

distant shores and the islands will see Your light as it rises on us

sorry for the blurriness of the sunrise pics. my batteries were crucially low so i was hasty; plus i wanted to try a new setting, which i never quite got the hang of in my few moments left of battery power. oh well! they're from saturday morning, when i got up just after 6am and hiked up into Shakespear Park to catch the sunrise. I ended up seeing the sun set over the mountains later that day as well :)