Family 101

One of the things I really love about being here in New Zealand are the classes I get to take. I’m not just talking about all of my outdoor classes. I really love the two lecture classes I take; family life and family recreation. These are classes that I never would have taken in Provo. They don’t relate to my major but have everything to do with life. It’s sadly ironic to all of us that here we are, thousands of miles away from our families, and we are forced to reflect and talk about them every day in class. We all have stories about the great things our families do, and often it seems to form into a type of competition; who can share the story that proves they have the best family? I am always tempted to join in this fight but after awhile, I force myself to sit back and realize that for me, there is no competition. I know all of the stories, the trips and the traditions. Every time, my vote is unanimous. I have the greatest family ever. I wish there were words to describe how I feel about them. I know that I have always loved them but it would be a lie if I didn’t say that the distance between us has really made me realize just how much I love and rely on them. What would I be without each of them and the influence they have on me? I guess this is just a shout out to my family in an attempt to make up for all of the times I have forgotten and most likely will forget that. If you guys don’t already, this will teach you to keep tabs on my blog!! :)

Mom and Dad--You always have what’s best for me in mind. I know that behind all the decisions you make and questions you ask, your love for me is paramount. Thank you for raising us to know the gospel and love the Lord. Thank you for showing us how to truly love and appreciate your spouse. Thanks to Dad especially for always staying true to not yelling at his wife unless the house is on fire! Mom, it will never be possible for me to repay you for all you do for me. Thank you for making the sacrifice to stay home with us kids growing up. I believe it made all the difference.

Sara--You probably caught on to this but I always wanted to be like you, especially when you were in high school. Everything you had; every pair of shoes, every article of clothing, every CD, I wanted just because you had it. Thank you for always being such an outstanding example of a great way to live life. I will never forget your kindness for your often annoying little sister.
Jen--Soulmate! I truly feel that we have some kind of a special connection. It seems we are able to understand each other in our miseries, whether it be boys or headaches. J You are always the first person to offer me help and support, and always there at my door to pay me a surprise visit or bring a surprise gift. Those small gestures do not go unnoticed. Thank you for all you do!

Brian--Living so close to you last semester was a blast! I know I’ve always kind of tagged along with you and your friends, ever since high school, but it has meant the world to me. Growing up with your influence and companionship has taught me so much. I should learn a little bit more from your study habits… :) Thanks for being the best big brother a girl could ask for.
Hopefully I didn’t make everybody too jealous by writing about how fantastic my family is, but I just couldn’t hold it in! You guys mean the world to me and I just haven’t been able to get any of you off of my mind as of late. Thanks again and keep reading my blog! :)

Run! The American Girls Are Coming to Attack Us!

Last weekend, I had the opportunity of participating in New Zealand’s version of Relay For Life. Mags spent all day walking and by the time she dropped home for tea, Stefanie and I were convinced that we wanted to go back with her and Carol that evening. So we did! From about 9 to midnight, we walked around Rugby Park. That’s right, midnight. We had to drag those ladies home too! I was exhausted after a day of cleaning cemeteries and the walking in circles really put me over the edge somehow. I was glad to be able to go though. I still don’t really understand how the whole thing works. Like, I get that the whole point is to raise money for cancer but how walking around in circles correlates to the amount of money raised I haven’t quite mastered yet. However, I have decided that I want to get involved. It’s something I’m going to try and do when I’m back in Provo. I remember I did it in high school once and loved it. Time to Relay For Life again!

Walking around a track at that hour of night, one is bound to see many humorous things but the best one by far that we caught was this man. Nothing comes between a kiwi and his rugby--not even cancer. We followed this devoted fan around the stadium for a couple of laps attempting to nonchalantly capture the best picture of his commitment. At one point, the live band started playing “American Pie”. Stefanie and I, being American, got excited and ran over to the stage. Upon arriving, we noticed a group of about 12-year old girls who seemed to share our enthusiasm for the song as they were dancing wildly. We decided to go over and dance with them. No sooner had we arrived that one of the girls yelled, “Go Americans!” Suddenly excited that we were being thus praised, Stefanie and I both starting yelling, “We’re American!” The girls got pretty excited about that and we danced together for a few minutes.

Being American in a foreign country definitely has its pros and cons. The title of this post comes from one of Mags’ grandsons. We went outside to play with the kids and one of them yelled to his brother as Stefanie and I followed them out of the house, “Run! The American girls are coming to attack us!” That was a new game to me, but evidently one that kiwi children enjoy quite a bit. Unfortunately, when you get past the little girls screaming for you and little boys wanting to play games with you, there’s also some downsides to being American in a place where Americans have quite the reputation. Mostly it just involves people making fun of our accent, looking you over with that knowing “you are an American” look. Nothing we Americans can’t handle. :)

Trust In the Hand of God

I am a bad kayaker. Well, maybe not. But I don’t like it. I guess I can’t like everything we do here though. I like water. I like paddling fast through the currents, feeling the water splash my face and slosh over my kayak. My fear for one factor of the experience overpowers any and all of these joys, however. When (that’s right, when--not if) we flip over in our kayaks, we are simply to calmly tap on the bottom of our boat three times and wait for the nearest kayaker to come rescue us. From there, usually the person will reach over and perform what is known as a “hand of god” by reaching over and flipping me upright. On occasion, we also use t-rescues where I am responsible for pulling myself upright, using my rescuer as a lever. What they fail to take into account, is that during this time when I am supposed to be “calm” I am upside down, strapped in a kayak--underwater!! On our last day of kayaking, we actually experienced real rapids and eddies. Before each rapid, I would tell myself that if, or maybe when, I flipped, I would not panic, but tap and wait for the rescue. Well, I flipped three times, and bailed three times. I never even took the time to wait, I just got out of that dang kayak as fast as I could. Oh well. On this one thing, I am very satisfied with being forever labeled as a pansy. Or maybe just someone with complete lack of trust in the hand of god.

School goes on however. Our newest endeavor, surfing, suits me just fine. It is right up my alley as far as watersports go and hopefully I will be able to improve the more we go. We also get to start rock climbing this week which is sure to be a good time. For my more academic classes, I continue to be kept busy with lots of readings about families and how to someday have my own successful one. So really, can life get any better than this? I spend half of my week outdoors, learning skills I’ve always wanted to learn. I spend the other half of my week learning eternal truths that will help me have a loving and successful family of my own someday. Every day of the week, I am in the same beautiful, yet mostly undiscovered country. And, when I’m done here, I get to go home and back to regular life while always holding onto and remembering the great things I’ve done here. Can life get any better? I submit that it can not!

To Queenstown and Beyond!

Queenstown, NZ, the Adventure Capitol of the World. It definitely lived up to its reputation. I partook of the adventure and I am still alive to tell about it! What great news! We embarked on the two hour drive up to Queenstown early last Friday morning. We started the trip off with a bang by driving out to Kawarau Bridge, the site of the first bungee jump ever in 1988 (a good year, I must say). Bungee jumping was awesome. I wasn’t really nervous at all until I stood up, with my feet tied securely together and they made me hop out and hang my toes over a ledge that was about 120 feet from the ground. That was a little scary. But oh man, I would do it again in a heartbeat! I screamed louder than I think I ever have but, I still wasn’t the loudest screamer… The most awkward part of the whole thing was walking around with my weight scrawled in bright red marker on my hand. That’s always a great thing to broadcast to the world.

We spent the rest of Friday exploring the wonderfulness that is Queenstown. I loved that place. Yes, it has tourist town written all over it. But who really cares when you are a tourist? We went in about a million souvenir shops, found some good food and just had some fun out on the town. We stayed in a nice hotel. This may not seem like that big of a deal, but when we are talking about a group of 40 college kids traveling together, anything nicer than a tent is a miracle.
After one long night of screaming girls in my bathtub and birthday parties in the middle of the night, we spent the morning getting breakfast at a bakery in town and yet again, shopping. In the afternoon we went river boarding. For a better idea of what exactly this is, just picture boogie boarding down class 3 rapids. That is what I did. It was fun and challenging. Turns out, I am really awkward once flippers are put on my feet. The guides kept asking me why I was running into the rocks on the side of the river as they pulled me back into the center flow. I thought this was a question I should be asking them. It’s not like I was purposely trying to ram myself into rocks.

By the time we made it out of the river alive, we had enough time to grab a very large, delicious burger before heading back home and collapsing in bed. What a weekend!

This picture basically describes what I do everyday. New Zealand is an island. This means that the weather is very unpredictable and can change hour to hour. For this reason, if we are going to be gone for the day, kayaking for example, we have to bring sunscreen, thermals, sweatshirts, shorts, pants, sandals, shoes, socks, a towel, food, water... Bringing all of this stuff along in a vehicle wouldn't be too bad but you must remember--my only means of transportation is a bicycle. I usually end up wearing layers even if I don't want to just so I don't have to carry them in my backpack.

I'm being exposed here to a lot of new things here. Most of them are cultural differences like eating a New Zealand shell fish called Paua (pronounced powa). As you can hopefully tell, it looks a little green and I was very uneasy about eating it; mostly because it was green but also because I'm just not the biggest seafood person. Anyway, I tried it and it wasn't so bad. I didn't love it or eat the whole bowl or anything but it was...decent.

Some new things I have tried are things that could have happened at home but just never did. For example, eating mussels. This is another seafood that just by looks and smell alone turns me off. At the same barbecue I tried paua, I was pressured into trying a marinated mussel. It's hard to turn down a group of 15 people that all love what they are trying to make you eat. So, I tried one. It was...ok. Again, not something I'd be in a hurry to do again but, bearable.

That's the update on my recent cross-cultural experiences.

Livin' Life

Ok. I know I've already written a little bit about how school is going, but I've actually got some experience and some pictures under my belt now so I figured I'd update you all. First off, we started with kayaking. The first day, we just went to some really calm, practically unmoving water and just learned strokes and got comfortable on the water. Today, we went to a river that actually had a little bit of current and learned how to rail, or turn ourselves in the water using our bodies, how to get in and out of eddies, and of course, practiced more rescues. I have to say that I think I've found my biggest fear in life--being upside down in water, stuck in a kayak. Man, I hate it. The fact that someone will save me, and if they don't I can simply pull myself out doesn't seem to quell my fear. Hopefully I will get more used to it soon though.

We also went to a ropes course yesterday. That was fun although not really as much of a rush as kayaking. After a full day of being unstable 40 ft off the ground, I was ready to be done with heights! Mostly, it was just balay prepping and practice for when we actually go rock climbing.

I am pretty much pumped because on Monday, we are going surfing!!! That is going to be a great time. Hard, but fun. This Friday, we are going to Queenstown for the weekend. I can't wait! There's so much to do there.

Kiwi Ingenuity

Meet the jumping pillow! If you've been reading my blog, you will know that this is the wonderfully kiwi invention that we ran into in Christchurch. I thought it was an absolute blast. Some people, however, had less than optimal encounters with the jumping pillow. You see, on a dry, sunny day, the jumping is just pure clean fun. Add in some rain and wet sand--and the jumping pillow turns deadly. This is an example of the one of things that is so wonderful about New Zealand. I don't quite understand but it's something like they have no liability laws here. Thus, allowing them to be the adventure capital of the world, and put things like the jumping pillow in playgrounds designed for small children.

See what I mean--FUN.

Notice the very small child to the far right of this picture. If college-aged people can't keep from hurting themselves, I don't think the three year-olds should be allowed on this thing.

Afternoon Tea To Go

Mags and her friend Carol. The best two old ladies around!

A nice perk of going to new countries is the random national holidays we get to enjoy! My first experience with these was Wednesday, or Waitangi Day! We got the day off of school to celebrate the signing of the treaty between the Maoris and the English in 1840. Mags took Stefanie and I to a little town called Riverton. It was a great coastal town with beaches everywhere. We basically spent the day walking around on beaches and picking up beautiful paua shells. It was fun. Mags' good friend Carol came with us too. Stefanie and I had a good laugh about how we spent our day off of school hanging out with two old ladies. :) They are just the best though--and always good for a laugh.

This is Stef and I showing off our big "mussels". Pretty clever, eh? Yeah, it was Stef's idea...

Around 3, we were still out on the road in Riverton and Mags' mentioned that it must be high time for afternoon tea. We watched amazed, as she and Carol pulled tea, coffee, drinks, muffins and assorted fruit out of the back of the car. Good news--even when you are away from home, you can enjoy the benefits of afternoon tea. Oh man. It was funny.

School

This morning, I went to school. We all met at "Splash Palace", the local indoor swimming pool and park. Then, for 2 hours, we played in the water with kayaks. Can life get any better? So, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, we have our "Adventure New Zealand" classes which consist of a mixture of kayaking, surfing, tramping, and ropes courses. Then on Thursdays and Fridays we sit in class all day with Mark. Even those aren't bad, so far anyway...I find them pretty interesting. So that's life as I know it right now. Tomorrow is Waitangi Day! Hence, a day off of school. Woot. Pictures to follow...I'm using a school computer and don't have any pictures on my flash drive. I've got some new ones to post here eventually. Until then, take luck!