Hiking, Traveling and Sheep!

I have done a very bad job of maintaining my blog, and I'm sorry! There has just been so much going on, and my laptop died and i felt so behind to update, but i will give it a shot to semi update you.
First week was orientation, i kind of talked about that, we were shown around the city, biked a lot, hiked up a small part of Mount Fyffe then hiked a bigger trail up Sawcut Gorge, it was very pretty, we did a lot of stream crossings and there were a lot of mini waterfalls and boulders to climb up. It was beautiful! I liked that hike better than the other hike, we learned a lot about the trees but there wasn't much to look at. We also visisted the Topps sheep farm, which i will get more into later. We were out and about most days in the first week or were busy doing orientation, shopping for forgotten items, learning the ropes around the convent.
Our second weekend here we had our "pre semester break" lol. People at Messiah already had a couple weeks of school and we had a 'break" lol. It was really just a long weekend and they kick us out of the convent from thursday til sunday afternoon. The girls went to Christchurch and the boys hiked up Mt.Tappy (its like Tapunoku but my spelling is way off) Well and Jody went with her family that weekend. So it was Sarah, Morgan, Kelsey, Angelica, Alyssa and I. Scott, Lance, Alex and Caleb went campin and trampin (tramping is what they call hiking). We took a bus into Christchurch, it was like a 3 hour bus ride and our bus driver got pulled over for speeding lol. We found our hostel, which is like well...a hostel, a 1 star hotel lol. It's for backpackers and travelers. We stayed at "Charlie B's", in one room with three bunks, and co-ed bathrooms...it was kinda um, yea i ignored the circumstances lol. It was really loud at night and we were right above the main entrance on the second floor so the door slammed a lot. We didn't really sleep the first night. Every morning we would make pb&j for our lunches, and walk somewhere to get breakfast and sit in a park or cafe. We went to the Botannical Gardens and it was beautiful of course! TONS of flowers, every color rose you can imagine, and tons of crazy trees and scenic spots. I got stuck in a tree at one point lol. We ate at Dux de Lux the first night and i had a Salmon Salad it was great! and the fries were super good!. Salad was oober good too! On Sunday we went to a Catholic Church and i loved it actually. I asked God that morning to open my heart to whatever he wanted to say to me, and i was skeptical of it i thouht it'd be boring and all that. But God definitly showed up, it was really powerful. It showed me that no matter what kind of worship setting are in God's presence can be with you and you can be fed and hear from him and enjoy it. It was pretty sweet, the choir was heavenly of course, they had an all male choir ages ranging from probably 8-50, and the boys voices were so high!!! After church we shopped around and headed back home to Kaikoura. I could not wait to get back to the convent, being in the city for 4 days with 6 people with their own ideas about what to do got a bit tiring. but we did bond and it was fun.
Our technical second week we had our first class. I loved the teacher and the class, everyone agreed and it went by so fast! We had Mick Duncan, aka Michael Duncan, aka just Mick. Mick is a sarcastic Kiwi (Kiwi's are the New Zealand natives) who tells great stories and really dives into tough issues. It was great, the class is called Sustainable Development and we started off with the big picture ideas of statistics, why people are in poverty, what creates poverty, how can people build communities...etc etc, and actually a lot of spiritual application and life principle kinda stuff that was simple, real and profound that didn't necessarily apply to class but it was good. I also had a good one on one chat with Mick. We had to read 4 articles and write four papers on the summary, application to class and personal application. We all agreed as a community of students on a Friday internet fast, so we can have hang out time after class is over so we wanted to finish before thursday, and friday night we were going on our homestays. Our schedule for class was 9-12 with breaks, and 7:15-9 or later Mon-Fri. It wasn't that bad cuz Mick was good, at night we watched a movie, had a debate, did skits, and talked about deep stuff lol.
This weekend!! We had our homestays. it was GREAT. Some students went by themselves and some were assigned together. Lance and I went to the Sandy and Kevin Topps sheep farm :) We visited the first week and i was semi skeptical about staying there for a weekend but it was awesome:) I had a lot of fun. The first night we had a huge dinner of all these different meats and yummy grilled stuff. We played tennis and Sandy is a hardcore tennis player who is known for making fun of people but she just made fun of Abe's last visit and when i messed up i laughed at myself lol. We didn't really keep score, but I'd say if we did the Sandy's won ;) lol. That was quite confusing, having two Sandy's in the house but i loved them. They are really silly in their own way and sarcasm just makes things fun :) I got the chore of taking care of the chickens, aka chooks. I would change their water, feed them and collect the eggs. Lance took care of the dogs, they have multiple work dogs and three pet dogs. Two cats and two wild pigs. Oh and of course A TON of sheep, and cows that live way off. They have about 3,000 acres and are leasing more than that. The first night we also drove with Kevin to herd the baby sheep to a certain spot, they were so cute :) Oh and we had dessert, a Kiwi special, its this really really sweet almost marshmallow dessert with kiwis on top. Going to bed was an adventure actually. I didn't realized my window was left open and i had all these bugs so i turned off the light and turned on a little lamp and tonsss were in there, i ignored them and wrote in my journal and then this HHUGEE bug dive bombed me! It was huge, literally TTTTTTHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSS BIG!!!!!! Ugh lol, i almost woke up Lance to get it, but he was sleeping and so was Sandy and Kevin...soo it landed on this huge Bible and i put it out in the living room and rushed back in my room...but then decided to take a picture lol. I was up til 1 killing bugs and it took me a while to get to sleep lol.
Saturday we did a lot :) it was quite an adventure. They said I could sleep in but i woke up at 8:30 and ate breakfast and had nice chats with Sandy :) and did my chores and then spent most of the morning in the sheep shed with Kevin helping out :) He sheared the sheep and he had this huge table he puts the wool on and Lance and I helped go through the wool, you would have to pick out the pieces with dags (poop), dirt, thorns and the short pieces that didn't match the rest. The wool was kinda oily and would make your hands soft and stuff. It was really cool actually. We all just chatted a lot. OOOHH and I got to sheer a sheep! :) :) :) it was very cool, not a whole sheep, he did all the hard parts, but it was so cool :) i got pictures :) So fun ;) Then later we helped him rangle up the sheep because he had to sell 20 of the lambs. It was cool, watching the dog rangle them and stuff. Oh i gotta go i'll update the rest in a couple minutes!
Ok back! (Sunday night is community night so i had to go)
So where was i...ehem...um...so it was really cool so see the interworkings of what Kevin does on a daily and weekly basis, it's a lot of work. But it was a lot of fun and i was more comfortable being dirty then i thought i would be. I definitly have been way out of my comfort zone for this trip and I'm loving it :) When I was talking to God the other day he was loving when i am just messy cuz i'm carefree, it was cool :) Anyways
For lunch we had home made pizzas, one was just like spaghetti on top, sauce and noodles. and the other was fish, red peppers, some leafy stuff..it was good :)
OH but Jess (the cook) made these AMMMAAAZZIIINNNGG pizzas on Friday at lunch. Abe was ranting and raving about them (Abe is one of the leaders/staff members/RA type lol) The one pizza was bbq chicken but it had like mushrooms, chicken and this like ridiculously amazing bbq sauce that was way sweet totally not bbq sauce but man...man it was good lol. So no worries about me eating over here, I am being well fed and i feel like I'm constantly eating even just fruit and toast and tea and coffee. it's great...but....bad lol. At least we are active :P
In the afternoon was actually when we helped herd all the sheep and stuff and the man came to pick them up. But yea :)
Oh and it was an absolutely brilliant day, as they would say here, it was BEAUTIFUL! perfect weather, blue skies with scattered clouds and a dry wind...man it was perfect :) Oh and when we got all the sheep together we got to ride the 4 wheeler :) it was sweet as (another Kiwi phrase)
We all took a water break and Kevin and Sandy said we could do whatever but both Lance and I decided to go back to the shed with Kevin and we actually finished the entire pile of wool, we filled up two huge bins of wool, it was very fulfilling :) Then after all of the exciting sheep business i got a shower and it was wonderful :) i thought i put that bit in. And then played with the puppy :) Oh yea they have a chocolate lab puppy, when we visisted the first time they had two chocolate, one white and one black. They kept the chocolate girl for themselves, her name is Patience and she is ADORABle and i want one now...maybe not now...but maybe later on after college, maybe i'll get a puppy and a bunny :) together, to be friends :P lol. don't make fun. but i might. a Chocolate Lab puppy and a big gray loppy eared rabbit. :) yup. So Adam you can visit me with me and my dog when Mom still refuses to get you one ;P
Dinner was great of course, and Sandy always offers like 2nds and 3rds and is like oh here just finish it don't leave two! man i was so full, and then we had this yummy pudding type dessert...then later she offered coffee and cake! i proly gained 5 or so lbs this weekend! no lie. lol. After dinner it started raining and we took a walk around the garden, pond and property, and the dogs followed us, they have a jack russel, and three labs, one papa lab named TJ (who tried to help herd sheep but he just gets in the way lol and he tries to feel important when we were sheering sheep but he just sits there lol) and the mama is named Chrissy and the baby is Patience :) And crossing the pond the puppy fell in and at first she was excited but when she realized she was cold she wasn't too happy and we spoiled her and brought her inside and dried her off and held her :) and then my clothes were wet lol. All of us watched rugby afterward, we watched the Crusaders and the Highlanders. I personally likedt he color of the highlanders jerseys they are blue and yellow, but the Crusaders are from our area of Kaikoura and the Topps area of PuhiPuhi valley so we had to cheer for them lol, they have red and black. The best players from the small area rugby teams make up the All Blacks, which is one of the best teams in the world for Rugby. I like rugby actually, i think more than football maybe lol. Well i dunno maybe just cuz it's new but don't get mad at me :P i want to try to get an All Blacks jersey, they are kinda expensive but i want one or at least a tshirt.
Then I showed pictures to Sandy and Kevin and they said it was nice cuz they were able to put faces to the people I kept talking about.
SUNDAY we got up and rushed around to get chores done and get ready to go to church. kevin and sandy go to the Angelican Church in Kaikoura. It was cool they mixed in some more contemporary songs with older ones i didn't know, and they did a lot of the call and answer or whatever that is called...something and respond lol. i forget. they also do that at Messiah, and at the Catholic church from last Sunday. In the past three weeks I've been to an Angelican, Catholic, New Life and my church, all different and some very similar...i dunno its pretty cool :) Haha we did communion and i was denied juice! i was so confused. It was a confusing process, we had to grab these red dots and kneel at the altar and then they'd say something and hand us a little wafer..thinger like we have at my home church and i wasn't sure what to do, then she came around saw my little red dot that looked like a bingo piece and denied me drink and they ran out of juice...sooo denied juice :P lol. no blood. just bread.
After church we went to the penninsula by the ocean at low tide on a picnic bench and had lunch. oh before we got hot chips (here french fries are chips, you don't call them fries, and potato chips would be what we call chips) They also don't have 'ketchup' they have tomato sauce, and they say it like Toe maw toe lol. They make fun of our acceps by saying Tome A toe lol.
Then we walked up the trial of the penninsula and i was actually reallllyyy tired lol, my legs were like pulsating at the top lol. THEN! we saw seals and i was about a foot away from it taking pictures :) Then we went to the this Fyffe Whale House, which was like one of the original whaling stations or houses or whatever in Kaikoura. Then Sandy dropped us off and she was quite excited to be toured around and see my room. She was like well if you ever need anything please feel free to call, i can be a mother to many, and i'll see you soon! I can't wait to go back actually :) I'm hoping for some free weekends.
Courtnay our program director, said that as a result of the feedback from last semester they decided to go homestays early on so we could build relationships with them while we were here. so i'll be looking forward to seeing them and helping out :)
Back at the Convent it was pretty quiet for a while and i sat in the kitchen and journaled with some music on, for some reason i really like sitting at that high counter with a stool, its quiet and unless Jess is making something there isn't a lot of traffic in there. Then Abe and Lisa (our local Kiwi on campus) came and chatted and we all ranted and raved about this song that came on, one of my recent favorites actually, How He Loves, but David Crowder doesn't sing this one, but it was good. Anyway sorry I"m getting a big detailed.
Then we had community night, which is announcements for the week, and since every week its a new class the schedule could be very different. This week we have Marine Ecology and we will be having a lot of field trips and snorkeling trips :) so excited for that! :) This week is supposed to be pretty intense tho, last week was awesome, but this week we won't have a lot of free time so i gotta jump on the ball early so i don't fall behind. We don't get catch up time, we only have a week :P lol
We watched a video about the Pacific Ocean but i was actually super good, it was like somethng more intense and detailed and beautiful that you would see on Discovery Channel, not somethng boring, but it was sooo cool :) It was about the incredibly dolphins and whales here that i can't wait to see (we will see them later on in the semester not this week) Lisa, our local kiwi and one of my fav. ppl in Kaikoura, she works on a whale siting boat for tourists and she drove the boat that these men worked on to film the documentary, Deep Blue, i think that's what it was called.
So I had a pretty awesome week and weekend. Well....I had my highs and lows...In our town hall which is part of community night every Sunday, everyone goes around the room and says waht their high and low was, or highs plural and stuff. I had a pretty bad low but God blessed me with many highs and i was thankful. Talking to Mick and learning from him and talking to God was amazing, the farm was actually pretty relaxing even though we did a lot and community night just reminded me how comfortable i am at the convent and how i'm excited to get to know everyone better, i think we've all just touched on the surface. I do get home sick at times, don't get my wrong, i do miss my family and i do miss my amigos. I had had my moments especially before i got to talk to everyone on the phone the other night.
Oh and i have been hearing about ALLLL THIS SNOW!! How exciting :) i guess when I prayed for snow for my birthdya I forgot to tell God he could stop after i left ;) lol jk. But when everyone talks about oh yea remember that snow! I'll be like...oh yea! i was in New Zealand ;) :) Have fun playing in it! Think of me and make a snow angel and maybe a small snowman:) Oh and someone please please go snowboarding for me! :)
As you know my laptop died, so it's harder for me to get on to get on my blog but i can get on the student computer, and i'll try to be better about getting online, but i have to warn you it might be on the weekends because Fridays we have internet fast but during the week it'll be pretty crazy and devotions, journaling and homework should probably come first before blog, but I'll check the blog and my email a lot more often, now that we are in the Convent for classes we aren't as busy...however this week will do a lot of field trips and then in two weeks we are going to Samoa but i'll be good! If anyone wants to email me please feel free! you can email me on my fairlyoddchild04@comcast.net, i proly won't check my Messiah one a lot. And facebook not so much cuz it doesn't work on this computer. And i have a phone card that is super cheap to fill up so if anyone wants me to give them a buzz i can! proly around dinner time for you, US time, my time it'll be a day ahead at lunch and for you a day behind me at 6 or 7 lol. :) but let me know and during free time I'd love to chat!
Comments and emails are welcome! Emails preferably :)
I love you all and I'm praying for you all, valentines is almost over in NZ, it's 11:41 but by the time most of you will read this it'll be just starting or half way done sooo Happy Valentines day! It's not too exciting for me this year but hey i do have a lot of people I love :) and it's a good reminder to tell those you love you love them..and it's also a good way for singles to feel lonely and stinky :P lol But I actually barely heard anything about it over here so i guess it's not too popular, i saw one commercial when we watched frisbee and when we went to Christchurch i saw a couple posters, but in Kaikoura there wasn't much. ANYWAY. Happy Valentines guys, I hope this makes your day cuz i actually updated, and next time i go into town i'll try to upload pictures! :) Other people on facebook have but i'll try to do my own sometime!