17 September 2005

My Eyes Are Green...

I'll admit right now - I've been an absolutely horrible fellow onSiter to Mr. Ryan Monson. Up until today, I hadn't even taken much of a glance at Ryan's blog more than enough to know that I wanted to set up my own onSite blog on this website.

So I just spent the last hour, or so, reading every entry he's written prior to and during his trip so far. Then I went and read Cindy's blog...

And I'm a little bummed: A) because they're already off on their journey and I still have to wait like 3 more months and B) I can't download that really cool Google Earth that Ryan used to "fly" to Egypt.

Stupid dial-"down" connection.

But I guess I'm just feeling kinda lonely all the way back here. I've been okay with staying here til January up until this point...

But the ball is rolling and I'm starting to prepare in ways that solidify in my mind that this is actually happening! By next week I will have packed up some boxes of books and things to send to my new place. It's hard only being able to take two pieces of luggage when one of them is most certainly going to be a guitar - I can't leave old Jennifer here without me for almost an entire year! So just to get prepared, I'm shipping down a few things that I won't need until I get there.

And "where are you sending them to?" you might ask. Well recently I've heard from one of the Pastors, John Steffens (we'll call him John, yes?) regarding my housing for the year. He and his family have donated a small detached unit on their property to me for the year. This is part of the job deal - the youth pastor has a place to live for free. It's a nice incentive for future hiring, that's for sure! It has a bathroom, bedroom and two offices (one is John's church office, and upstairs (beside my bedroom, I'm assuming) is going to be another office, which I believe is for me and his wife to both use. I'll still eat with the family and spend time in the house, but I'll also have my own space, which is quite good!

Jacquie's new home address (as of January 2006): 105 Matai St.

I might see if I can unofficially name "my" house 105⅓ Matai St...or even make up my own town on their property. Yikes, I'm SO Strongbad right now...haha

Anyways, I don't have any pictures yet, but I've heard that my new family consists of the following: John, Fiona, Vanessa (16), Mac (dog), Fegan (cat) and 15 goldfish. If the fish have names, he failed to mention them. If they don't have names - I'm sure I'll dedicate part of my life in Te Anau to making each little fishy feel special!

I haven't had a chance to ask if I'm allowed to have a pet of my own in this little place. If I can, I'm hoping to get a ferret! But now I'm just getting ahead of myself. haha...

My work visa is in process (rather, I'm in the process of receiving letters from both Karl and the school stating that this position is required for my program) and other than that, just little details need to be taken care of. Oh yeah, and the plane ticket.

Minor details...ha! At least it's feeling a little more real to me!