Home Again, Home Again

Christchurch has decided to send me off with their second (and largest) snowfall of the year. It is absolutely beautiful. With a mix of winter wonderland mornings and sunny, warm days, I couldn't have asked for a better Winter to spend my Summer in.

Of course, the snow has created a bit of drama as well... The airport has been canceling a lot of flights, and delaying most of the others, which makes my chances of getting to my connection in Auckland on time a bit dodgy. If we make it to the airport at all, that is. At this point, 3 hours before my flight departs from Christchurch, it is still scheduled to leave on time... so we'll see what happens!

My time here in New Zealand has been absolutely incredible. I have met some of the most amazing people and have been so blessed to spend time with them. Eric and Robyn, thank you for making me so welcome in your home, and for sharing your life with me for a little while! I can't wait to see you in America soon! Rob and Monica, thank you for making this internship happen!

All In A Day's Milk ... I Mean, Work.

New Zealanders have the right idea about marketing. %96.5 fat free milk sounds a whole lot healthier than %3.5 or "whole milk" like we say in America. Either way, I'm addicted, and I don't care what Napoleon Dynamite thinks.

Since I have nothing else insightful to say at the moment, I thought I would give you a picture of a normal day for me here in the land of the Kiwi birds.

What's first? Oh yeah.

I wake up somewhere around and between 6 and 7:30, because although I do have an alarm clock, it is extremely loud and obnoxious and scares me whenever it goes off. This encourages me to opt for a more natural alternative, such as waking up whenever I feel like it. The next order of business is to have a cup of tea - white, with one sugar please - while I read my bible and journal a bit (this is the best part of the day). Breakfast usually consists of a bowl of cereal and a banana (don't you love all of these useless details? No complaining, it's my blog.) and at 8:25 it's off to work with Robyn, where we unlock all the doors and turn on all the heaters. This is a very important job, because when we get there it's almost as cold inside as it is outside. 10:30 is morning tea, which means we take a break and have a hot cup-of-something together (second best part of the day), and then get back to work. Most of my jobs revolve around organizing Planning Center, compiling resources for the worship ministry, and leading worship, but I'm also just available to help out with whatever. Our goal is to leave at 12:30, but it usually ends up being closer to 2, and the rest of the afternoon is spent at home. This is when I do most of my reading of controversial books and writing e-mails and playing guitar and reading. And sometimes I read. We have tea around 6, and then watch the news, and if I'm lucky, an episode or two of Dr. Who. So good. Then bedtime rolls around somewhere between 9 and 10 and I get to start all over again!

It's been hard to get used to completely depending on other people for things like transportation and communication, and now that I'm finally getting into a rhythm of doing life here, I have to start thinking about leaving. Yuck. I really do miss my family and am looking forward to seeing them again, but this summer (slash winter) has gone way too fast. What am I saying? I still have two weeks.

That's a ton of time.

Right?