Stewart Island - Day 2

After having set our alarms for 9:15 in the morning, all three of us ended up waking around 8:00. The rain was smashing on the roof and it's always difficult to sleep in on strange beds.

I laid in bed until the rain stopped, but the wind kept blowing hard. And then the wind stopped...but seemed to come in short, evenly spaced bursts. Gentle but strong. I didn't know how to explain it. Then it hit me - it was the tide. I was laying in my bed with my windows closed and just below me was the Tasman Sea rolling into the beach. I got up and went outside to take some pictures from the balcony (you can find them in the Rakiura (Stewart Island) photo album there on the right hand side.

We got up, had breakfast and did a massive clean up. The boys did the dishes, I did the stove...the boys vacuumed and set up the living room the way we found it and I did the bathrooms. It was probably more spotless than before we got there. Very cool.

We went down to the wharf to check in our luggage and then to the Visitors Centre because we were booked in for a "Villages and Bays" tour. This was a tour where we all piled onto a bus and drove around the town of Oban, being told lots of fun facts about the island and stuff (which is how I found out about the telephones and electricity and population...and even the prohibition story). It lasted over an hour but it was quite interesting.

Then we rented a car (Donald was keen to do it since he now has his full license and CAN do it) and drove around the island a bit, then went for lunch up at the Wharfside Cafe or whatever it's called. We even went to the mouth of a trail that was going to lead to the REAL LIFE FERN GULLY! I really wanted to go to it but we didn't have time. So I took a picture of the sign and the start of the track. We took lots of pictures and then when we got bored of the car, we were able to take three scooters again (this time for free) and we all went our separate ways.

I went for a trip along the other side of the island, taking a road that led directly along the water. It was windy and would seem slightly dangerous if the speed limit wasn't only 30 k's for cars (and I was going MUCH slower on the scooter). I took a bunch of pictures and started back towards the centre to return the scooter when I felt it start to rain a little bit. I thought "yay! I love rain!" and then...all of a sudden...it started to sting. And bounce. And really hurt. It was hailing! And I was trying to ride a motorized vehicle without any shelter from the pelting ice! It was NOT pretty. I couldn't see - my face was stinging, my legs...numb. I decided I HAD to pull over because I could barely open my eyes to see where I was going.

Finally it cut down to only about half the amount of hail, so I decided to hack it out the rest of the way (I only had two blocks to go!) so I rode down the street quietly saying "Ow! Ow! Ow!" over and over again. One of the locals laughed at me and asked how the face was feeling. It was fun.

We got back to the centre with sore faces and cold hands, returned the scooters and went back to the wharf to catch the ferry back to Bluff.

On the way back, I decided I was going to stand at the back of the boat with all the other crazies (obviously it was safe enough otherwise the staff wouldn't let us out there). I stood with my back to the cargo, holding tightly onto the cargo strap just in case of any sudden movements, and got absolutely SOAKED. about 50 minutes of cold salt water splashing on my face and clothes (I wasn't wearing anything waterproof except the plastic bag in my hoodie pocket holding my camera and cellphone). Most people thought I was mad (the crazy kind). Others thought I was stupid to let my cellphone and camera stay where they were (for the record, they're still perfectly functional). Others thought I was brave.

In any case, it was a fun ride. I know that my family would kill me to find out that we were going sideways over at least 2 metre swells and I was out at the back of the boat with nothing between me and the Tasman Sea but a chest-high railing and 10 feet of air (or 5 depending on which way the boat was rocking). It was intense but I had the sturdiest sea legs out there. I had it all sussed out while the drunks were stumbling around with a beer in one hand and a smoke in the other...it was better than some of the rides at Wonderland. I loved it.

We got back, I got CHANGED (there wasn't an inch of dry clothing on me) and we went to pick up my friend Ray in Invercargill before going home.

All in all, it was a good weekend. I had fun and didn't feel like all I was doing was touristy stuff that was going to keep me too busy to just relax.

Check out some pictures! The End!

Stewart Island - Day 1

Okay so I'm finally getting around to post about my actual time in Stewart Island. We left early Saturday morning (the 19th) and drove out to Bluff - which is where we were to catch the Ferry over the strait to Stewart Island.

I slept most of the way (thankfully) even though Donald and Daniel had their road trip music faded to the back speakers and so it was quite loud. However, if I'm tired no amount of music can stop me from sleeping!

We got to Bluff and checked in quite early and then killed some time before getting onto the Ferry. After having stood in line for a looong time waiting for them to load the luggage onto the boat, we finally got on and chose the three middle seats at the very front of the ferry, where the skipper proceeded to announce that "it'll be quite a smooth ride with only metre and a half rolls or so". I was assuming this meant that the waves were "only" a metre and a half high. Yeah - wow. The ride was magnificent - I stood at the front of the boat (it's my place) holding on tightly from behind the glass, watching what I thought to be quite massive swells coming up on us - then we'd tip our nose up nice and high while we went up...and then after a slight pause, fell nose-down into the water. It was thrilling - I hardly left that spot at the boat even though I'm sure many other passengers would've wanted a piece of my view.

We got to the wharf at Stewart Island and got picked up by a guy who works for "Stewart Island Experience", which is owned by Real Journeys (the company that Rae works for; which is how we managed to get on this whole trip in the first place). He picked us up and took us on a bit of a tour around town before taking us back to his holiday home that he hires out to backpackers and tourists. We got to stay there for remarkably cheap!

Then he took us back down to the wharf because we were scheduled in for a "Semi Sub" trip...where we sit about 1 or 2 metres below the waterline in a boat with windows all over the place to check out the local marine life. It was interesting, though blurry. I got a few pictures but none really good enough to put up on the website - they'd be best shown in person so I can point out the smudge in the background which is supposed to be a fish. hehe

But you know what really grinds my gears (hehe)? When an old lady sits down beside you and anytime that there is something to see out YOUR side of the window, she stands up, puts both hands on your shoulders or one on your leg and throws all her weight on you just so she can stay balanced. Meanwhile, your neck is twisted and pressed up against the glass so hard that you seem to have lost your hips, as you can no longer feel them.

Anyways, after the little tour through the water, we got out and headed straight for the Stewart Island Experience Visitors Centre, where we were certain to get a couple of scooters for a really cheap price! So we each paid our share of money (I got stuck with the little moped that is part of last generation's scooters because they were all out of the new fandangled ones) and took off. Well, Daniel and Donald took off much faster than I did - partly from apprehension and "I'm getting too old for this" and partly from the fact that it was far more gutless than their crazy scooters.

So I ended up going shopping for stuff for tea (dinner) and then going on a little trek around to the beaches by the place we were staying at. I got sand in my eyes and mouth from the blowing wind on the long stretch of beach, but it was so thrilling to open it WIDE up to a MEAN 35 km's per hour! hehe yeah so like I said it wasn't as good as the others.

Donald and Daniel would, from time to time, zoom past me going at least 55-60 k's and they actually thought I was so slow just because I was a chicken. Then Daniel (being the gentleman he is) traded me scooters - even after I had fallen over on mine and took his crashing to the ground with me. He saw how crappy it was but still put up with it.

So mostly we just scooted around the whole place til about 3:00, then started heading back up to the house (a deadly trek up two long and steep hills). They decided to go for a walk looking for Paua on the rocks. It started REALLY raining on their way back and they got soaked to the bone. I decided that after that painful trek up the hills (my ankle wasn't agreeing with me), there was no way I was leaving that house until it was my last time ever leaving it. So we had tea and played Monopoly for 3 and a half hours - each of us getting extremely tense with eachother each time we started going broke.

Then I went to bed in my "Captains Quarters" (the master bedroom) and the boys slept on the lazyboy chairs so not to mess up beds that they would have to make in the morning.

Oh yeah and I forgot to mention...back when we were going nuts on our scooters and finally decided to stick together while we wandered, we ran into some drunken fratboys walking along the side of the beach road. The first time we passed them, they tried to convince each of us that something was wrong with our scooters (we passed them at about 3 second intervals each). The second time, Daniel wanted to annoy them so he decided to speed ahead and blare his little honker horn while coming straight for them (not close enough to be dangerous of course). Well the boys decided it would be fun after Daniel passed, to pretend to push one of their buddies in front of the next person to come - which was Donald on the little crappy scooter. Well since he and I were going relatively the same speed I was only about 10 feet behind him...and when one of the boys pushed his friend in front of Donald, he had to slam on the breaks and swerve...

Well he ended up swerving directly in front of me and I had VERY little time and room to react. I ended up half on the beach and almost up Donald's butt. We were so close to crashing and it would NOT have been pretty with me going (at full tilt) about 50 k's per hour with nothing between us and the road but a few layers of material.

I'll admit, I had to FORCE myself to keep riding giving them nothing but a verbal hiding because I knew that if I got off that scooter, someone was ending up with a blood nose (and they wouldn't even expect it was coming from a 5'2" chubby kid who can kick over 6 feet in the air). I was absolutely fuming and Donald felt so bad about it that he apologized as if it were his fault. Poor kid. Man I wanted to get those guys sooooo bad.

The end.

Stewart Island - Prologue

Last Saturday morning I had the awesome opportunity to go to Stewart Island overnight. I went with Donald (my "brother" in the Wilson home) and his friend Daniel.

So first let me explain that Stewart Island is the little island just below the "main body" of New Zealand. It is part of New Zealand, so you don't need ID to travel there or anything.

85% of it is National Park and only 4% of the island is humanly populated. The permanent population is 380 and there is only 27 kilometres of public road. All of the permanent human population lives in Oban, which you will see on the upper right hand side of the island above the water inlet. They have only had electricity since 1988 and private phone lines since a year later (they were using "party phones" before then, where a whole bunch of people would use one phone line but had different rings for each house hold). Power is about 4 times more expensive to pay for. The lady who told us this said that if she were to use the same amount of power as someone on the mainland whose bill is $150 for a month, her bill would be $600 for the exact same. So they learn to conserve power and water (as the only drinkable water supply is rainwater - since they are only surrounded by salt water).

It is a quaint little place where everyone knows everyone else. The local police officer (yes, that is singular) is not really meant to be giving out traffic tickets (parking, speeding, etc) because he has to live amongst the people there and would not have a very good time having 380 people against him. So instead he's more involved in search and rescue, environmental conservation and keeping the community notice board up to date. In order to keep the peace, an officer from the mainland (South Island - where I live) comes over once in a while to put out traffic violations but somehow the date and time ends up on the notice board so people know when to obey the law.

A fun story about Stewart Island and alcohol - back in the days of prohibition:
I forget the exact years but alcohol was illegal. However even though it was illegal, it was still available. There was a small operation in the back of the local barber shop where they say "You'd go in to get a hair cut and come out half-cut". Of course like most illegal operations, it was discovered by the mainland police, and a Justice of the Peace came over to Stewart Island to try the perpetrators. The reason for having brought someone over from the mainland is not because there wasn't a Justice of the Peace on the island, but because it WAS the Justice of the Peace AND the local police officer who were running the illegal distillery!

It turns out that in order to survive in such a small community, you learn to become multi-talented!!!

One of the major benefits of living in Stewart Island is the quality of life that the kids have. Electricity is too expensive to have them turn into internet junkies or TV-watching couch potatoes. There are no fast food restaurants. The streets and bush are crime free (aside from your usual petty crime), and so the kids have free-reign to do what they like. Build forts. Go whitebaiting (catching little fish) in the creek. Explore. Get exercise. It's a great place to raise a family, as long as you have the funds and the will to live a more simple life.

The scenery is spectacular. The wildlife is rare and protected (kiwis, etc). It almost makes ME want to move there. However, like I half-mentioned, it is quite expensive. One piece of land that was appraised at about 130,000 a few years ago is now worth 750,000 without having made any changes to it. Crazy hey?!

The main economy is tourism. The water is home to many amazing species (I will tell you about my under-water journey in the next entry). Petrol is $2.20 per LITRE (but I guess when you only have 27 km of public road, you don't go through it that quickly).

Anyways...that's about all I know of Stewart Island to give you an idea. My next entries will be divided into two; my first day and then my second day. I will do this hopefully before the end of the evening. If not, then by Monday at the latest.

Enjoy!

An Update to Come Shortly

Hey there I know it's been almost a week since I've last updated. There have been lots of exciting things to tell about and I am really stoked to be able to share the journey I had to Stewart Island with you (and the pictures of course), but alas I am having a bit of a busy week with my friend Ray visiting from Brisbane (though he's actually from Canada).

I will be sure to update thoroughly though you might get sick of reading by the time I tell you all the fun and zany and half-dangerous things that happened while at Stewart Island. And maybe I'll actually tell you what Stewart Island is, as I don't know if I actually have yet.

Stay tuned in the next couple of days!

Stewart Island!

Okay change of plans again. We're going to Stewart Island! w00t!

Fun fun - I will try to get a picture of a kiwi! A real live one!

3 Weeks

I leave New Zealand in 21 days, 5 hours and 6 minutes, according to my clock right now. It's an odd feeling, still not having felt the weight of the upcoming event.

I was supposed to be going to Stewart Island tomorrow with Donald and Daniel but since it's super busy this weekend there are no hotel rooms left that are any cheaper than $160 a night. Donald and Daniel aren't going and so I'm not either. I may go during the week after Ray leaves.

Oh yeah I don't know if I said this already; Ray Love who I know from young adults group back home in Ontario, is coming to New Zealand from Brisbane. He is coming here just before going back to Ontario, which I think is a great opportunity for him. So he needs a place to stay and someone to be a tour guide for him on a few days so I offered to help him out. It'll be a good time, although I still have some work to do and won't be able to walk him through everything.

So he gets here on Sunday and now that we're not going to Stewart Island, I have to drive out to pick him up rather than just get him on our way back from the island. It's okay though coz I'm always up for getting out of Te Anau and into a bit more (but not much) hustle and bustle. It also means fast food treats (haha - I know, I'm suffering it out for God's work).

And not going to Stewart Island also means saving money - which is another one of those things that I need to do. I mean I know I wouldn't be spending probably more than $150 or $200 while there (since everything else is for free) but every penny counts and if I'm paying that much for a hotel room for one night then stuff that I idea. I know I'll be back here someday for a visit and I'll make sure I get down to the island. Besides, I might be able to make it out sometime during the week and hopefully will be able to get my hands on some cheap or free accommodation.

Tonight is the 2nd last week of QUEST at the Edge. The kids are really enjoying it so far and we're getting anywhere from 12-17 kids per night, which is pretty good! We also got our vending machien delivered today so soon we'll be able to offer the kids some drinks as well - but not until we get the pop to go in it. Ha.

Well now it's taken me forever to update this because i got distracted.

I have shipped some stuff home but am not looking forward to having to try to get the rest of it home now that I don't know if I'll be able to bring anything on the plane with me. Ack. Shipping is sooooo expensive!

So that's the update for now, I guess.

20 days, 23 hours, 36 minutes. (!!!!)

Home for Snoopy

Well I am pleased to announce (and my cousin Jen would be happy to know) that Snoopy the Siamese cat found a home! I guess there were a lot of people raising awareness about his coming euthanasia and someone finally came forward saying they wanted to adopt him. How great is that?

But on the more "Jacquie's in New Zealand" side of things - I am starting to wind down and get busy on packing. I've sent home a box of my books already (very expensive) and today was my first official goodbye to a few girls that I probably won't see before I leave. My friends Madeleine and Abby, who I met shortly before coming home for the wedding, were in town to visit Madeleine's parents and so I went to have lunch at their place.

They said I'm welcome to come visit them before I leave, if I get the time (which I'm sure I want to, but am not so sure about whether or not I can), and they also promised me to send me care packages with Tim Tams. How fun is that?

I told the kids at youth group the other night that these are my last 4 weeks. Most of them were comfortable with the news at first because they immediately assumed I was coming back. They all sort of piped up and said "Aww for how long? You're coming back right?". It was a difficult thing to choke out "Well, no. Not in the too-near future. I still have school to finish." They were really quiet after that (a first-time occurance in a LONG time! hehe), but weren't too gutted about it, it seems. So that's good - I don't want it to be difficult for them (yet I don't really want it to be too easy for them either...that would be sad).

So it's official - most people are aware of my coming departure date. They are asking what I plan to do and what I'm doing before I leave. I have a feeling I'll be getting a lot of lunch and/or tea invites. Then again maybe I shouldn't say that because I'll be expecting something that might not happen...

I also have a feeling that with the year-end sleepover coming up, I will end up working more hours than I have left to work - which would be good cause I could use a little overtime to help with the financial situation.

It'll be weird to go home and work and live with my brother and be able to see my friends. I'm sure that it'll take me a little time to get out of Kiwi mode. I'll have to remember what things I used to cook myself for meals when I was living on my own - as I'm so used to the food Rae cooks that I forget what else is out there that I used to eat when I was cooknig for myself! I'll of course have a bit of an adjustment period with driving on the proper side of the road and car - especially when coming in and out of driveways. That tends to be my weakness; not knowing what side of the drive way to be on or which way to look first to turn out (ask my cousin Libby about that - she'll tell you a fun story about me almost getting us sideswiped when I was home for the wedding). And of course, it'll take me some time to finally adjust to not getting to watch McLeod's Daughters every Thursday night. I know that sounds lame coz it's a stupid TV show but now it holds sentimental value to me. *sniff sniff*

Well those are my mushy thoughts for the day. I have plenty of packing and cleaning to do so I might as well get started on it. For, as they say, three and a half weeks will be up before I know it. Crazy.

I'm coming home. :) (!!!!!!!)

2:00 am Ramblings

We hates it when we can't sleep, we does. Yesss, preciousss.

So it's after 2 am and this is the latest I've stayed up in quite a while. I have been trying, while unable to sleep, to contact the shelter about adopting the adorable "Hobo" - the cat I want to adopt who has a neurological problem that makes her wobbly on her feet. How cute that would be. A drunk cat. hehe...

But it's not the reason I'm staying up. In fact I told myself that tonight I should just try to go to sleep so I can wake up early enough to ring them perhaps in the afternoon hours for them - which means waking up before 8 am (which is, for some reason, a near impossibility these days). But alas, I am stuck absolutely wide awake, which is not something that has happened to me in quite a while. Normally I can at least be half asleep tossing and turning in bed - but that is often more aggravating than not being tired at all, I suppose. At least I'm still coherent enough to do stuff like...make phone calls to people who aren't answering and...looking up pictures and information on cool people.

And...wishing I could sleep, to be honest.

But I guess there is always time for sleep. I think I heard once that if we live to be 70 or something, we will have slept for 30 of those years. Weird hey?

Tomorrow is the night I break it to the youth that I'm going home sooner than expected. I don't know exactly how they'll react...but hopefully the pizza and DVD will distract them enough that they don't notice the sadness in my voice.

The new structure that Bethany and I developed has been an absolute flop. It's quite apparent that kids in this town just don't care about a whole lot. It's difficult to run a youth program when the kids don't show up. And then when I ask THEM to tell what sorts of things they would be interested in, they don't even care enough to fill me in...so it seems like a hopeless cause here but instead of calling it that, I will refer to it as something that requires an experience community youth worker with a long term vision and dedication to this project, as I am having a hard time figuring out what to do.

It's just another way that God is showing me to come home - a lot of brick walls are shooting up in front of the plans and hopes and it's apparent that my time has come, and someone else needs to come in and start carrying on from the foundation we've set up.

Having finally officially submitted my letter of resignation, I have heard back from only one trust member who has made sure to encourage me and let me know that I should not underestimate what I have achieved here. It was nice of him to say - as it is often difficult to not feel like a failure when nothing you try seems to work out.

So I have 3 more weeks of the Edge to run and then we'll be having a year end sleep over bash, as the kids tend to keep asking to do that again. I'm sure we'll bring back all the favourite games for them to play and I might even try to plan a community dance for the evening before we get the youth group sleepover kicked off. Go out with one big bang, that's what I say.

With that said, I will give the shelter one final phone call - though I don't understand how they can actually successfully find homes for these animals (especially the one with the deadline on his life) if they never answer their phones or emails. It's kind of frustrating, especially knowing that they HAVE been updating their website the past week or so...so I know someone's there, I just don't know why they haven't answered my calls or gotten back to me by email when I've clearly stated that I'm trying to work with a time zone difference here and they don't have clearly stated office hours.

If they don't answer this time, I'm going to bed. As I've probably said before, this may be a lesson in patience for me. I need to believe, I guess, that if they will not get a hold of me, Hobo will still be available for me to adopt when I get home if that's how it's meant to be.

I hope I can sleep though. I don't know why I'm not tired. Harumph.

Pas de Skydiving

So I've decided that if God is going to bless me and my finances (which I will be in dire need of when I get home), I need to be responsible with the ones I've got now. I can't afford to go at this moment and so I'm not going to. I'll have to do it when I get back to Canada and am a little more financially independent.

But things have been working out as far as finances go to ship my stuff home. It's going to be mucho expensive to send just one box home - and then after that I have to somehow bring 40 packages of Tim Tams and Butternut Snaps so that I don't run out in the coming years. Those will likely go in my luggage so I can entertain the customs people again.

But I'm hoping that I can still save up enough money to make first month's rent at the apartment in Hamilton that Mike, Rachel and I are looking at. It's a student housing situation and I'd be living with Ashley and Mandy Schaeffer and their room mate - well they'll be living in the upstairs apartment, at least. It'll be fun, I think. We won't have much furniture to start off with but I'm excited for it! hehe

Anyways - God has been really good lately. Though some of my friends are having tough times, God is showing me ways that I can help them out without having to stress about their situations. All in all, I'm a much happier girl right now. Perhaps I am starting to realize that a month isn't a very long time (4 weeks tomorrow) and that I need to enjoy myself while I still can. :)

Time for a shower and to get the day started. w00t!

Randomness. And a plea for help.

So I just got back from Queenstown today, after having gone there with Jocelyn. I decided prior to going that Skydiving was not a financial option at this point, so I opted to ski this morning and quite possibly make a fool of myself and put myself off of skiing forever.

But the weather was crap and so skiing AND skydiving were both not an option. We spent the day roaming around Queenstown, going on the Gondola and lunch and a cruise on the lake.

I will return to Qtown to skydive when it suits better - and hopefully that will be before I go. If not, I can always do it in Canada I suppose.

So I'm looking at this animal shelter website in Hamilton because there is the most adorable cat in the world that I want to adopt when I get back. Her name is Hobo and she's a special needs black and white shorthair. I have been trying to get a hold of the shelter for a week now and have not heard back from them so I will be staying up for about another hour to ring them to ask about her availability and if they would be willing to hold her for me until I get back.

But there is another problem that I have come across, and that is that I wanted to get two cats. And that's fine because Hobo needs a friend. But there is one on the site that is absolutely beautiful - he's a purebred Siamese who, if not adopted by August 11th, will be euthanized. How terrible is that? Not only is it an absolute shame to put down ANY animal, but I feel an extra sense of loss for having such a beautiful species as a Siamese taken out of the world. I would so adopt him but I won't be home on time...if only I could find a friend who would take him for a couple of weeks until I get back...I would beg my parents but this one can't be around dogs and well, Stella's a REAL grump as it is and so I know she and this Siamese boy (whose name happens to be Snoopy) would NOT get along. Plus, Fern (mom's cat) can be a total growly face.

I really hope someone adopts him. It's not fair for an animal to be put down just because the family he once belonged to got divorced and neither of them wanted him anymore. How so terribly wrong...

That's my rant for the day. If you're interested in adopting an animal, visit http://thepriderescue.petfinger.org and you can see almost 100 cats that need loving homes. If you're interested in saving Snoopy, his profile is on the third page at the bottom, if I'm not mistaken. I hope somehow my asking on this blog will help to save his life...so sad.

Ok well that's all for the night I guess. I'm not feeling so hot so I'm gunna get a breath of fresh air and wait until I have to ring the shelter about Hobo (who, if I get her, will probably not keep that name...haha).

The end for now. Ciao!

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign!

Okay so I don't even know if those are the exact lyrics in the title but I have WONDERFUL NEWS!!!

So I've been asking God to give me some more confirmation lately because some people seem to be at some form of unrest about when I should be going. There have been questions regarding my commitment to this position and whether or not I'm "actually" certain that this is the right thing to do...I keep being told by the doubters to pray more and "actually" seek God's input for this, as though I haven't been already.

But in LESS than 24 hours, my friends, I have inquired about two jobs that I would be really very keen to do...let me tell you the story.

Yesterday morning (for me) mom mentioned that someone she knows has a daughter who works at Ruffins Pet Center on Upper Ottawa in Hamilton. She said that someone is leaving and they need a person starting in September to take her place. Dude, this seemed perfect to me so I made a plan to ring the manager and ask how I can apply for the position. I would have to wait until about 1:30 am my time last night in order to get a hold of her.

In the meantime, I went into work and doddled around most of the day, doing little random tasks and trying to get my life sorted out before leaving, and I decided to check the CIBC job website because mom said it would be best for me to do that just in case I didn't get another job - at least I could work at the bank and at least it's good money.

So I went to the website and searched for any possible listed jobs in Hamilton, Ontario for the CIBC Company. There were two (whoopdeedoo)...one was some sort of Brokerage job and the other caught my eye immediately.

"Customer Service Representative, Contract - Part Time (Approximately 1 Year)
Location: Mt. Albion & Greenhill"

That is when my heart started racing and my eyes went blurry and I got so much adrenaline pumped through me and I panicked because I HAD to apply for it RIGHT then and there. If I did not apply for it in that moment, I was certain that it would no longer be posted within 5 minutes and someone else would take the job.

Why did I think it would go so quickly? Because Mt. Albion is the BEST branch in the WORLD to work at! You know how I know this? Yeah some of you do - because that's where I got most of my work experience at CIBC. I was a Saturday girl and casual teller when I had school holidays there. I went to all the work do's and made wonderful friends with most of the girls there.

Only three days ago, I had given up on the thought that perhaps Mt. Albion would need me, because I know that they're such a tight-knit set of girls who have been there for years and years and years, and so no one would be quitting any time soon. And even if someone was, it would be sad if I were taking their position. BUT anyways, they only need someone two days a week (Friday and Saturday) and that leaves room for me to find another job as well, and I won't be working there enough for me to go absolutely crazy (CIBC can do that to you).

Soooo I applied for the job. I rang the manager of the branch to tell her I was applying for it and that I would be home soon for a while. I knew I would have to wait til I woke up this morning to hear back from the bank because when I rang Susan, it was in the middle of the night for them and I figured they are really busy on Saturdays so it was best to just have patience. In the meantime, I rang the pet store.

After I told her I would be taking a part time Animal Care program and that I heard she was hiring soon, she said "Yes we're hiring VERY soon. We're losing one of our best girls to vet tech school and we might be losing another to school as well." She told me the hours they're looking for and it seemed to be absolutely perfect to suit my schedule with school. She talked to me as though I were already hired, though it's not official or confirmed yet, and said to fax her my resume as soon as I can and we'll be in touch.

I mean all I had to do was call her and even though she was busy cleaning up puppy poo, she was thrilled that I rang to ask about a job! So hopefully that works out nicely! I went to bed excited and praying for a solid bit of confirmation again. I hardly slept last night.

I woke up to an email inbox of 9 messages. Only about 4 were worth reading but I saw a title that said it was from some girl named Lora Rallis and the subject was "Job posting for CSR". I was like "whaaat how is CIBC getting back to me this early, and the manager of the branch hasn't yet?!"

Turns out the manager forwarded the message on to another girl in the branch, who emailed me back and said "Susan sent me your message. You're hired! Send a resume to ______. Are you coming home for good now or what?" It was one of my favourite girls all along, just going by her new married name that I apparently missed and forgot about!

Oh these Italian girls...hehe.

So yeah - I'm emailing my resume to one more person in the bank and apparently I'm guaranteed to be working Fridays and Saturdays at my home sweet home. The BRAT of Mt Albion is back, yo! w00t w00t!

So I mean, you can see why I'm totally excited. I have been looking for confirmation and some how a sign that I can also put in my pocket that God is really wanting me to go home at this time. He has opened so many windows that the draft is knocking me over! I have a job for sure - and although it's not much, it's still enough to say that I can pay my share of the rent - and the other job will make up for the rest of the money that should be getting paid back to school debt (if I get the pet store one).

Yay for exciting news! I'm employed and I'm not even in the country I'm employed in. hehe...

That's my story. The End.

Thrill Seeker Jacquie

So I got a phonecall this morning from Jocelyn - a lady who is from the Prezzy church. She super nice and has been extremely generous with her time and resources to make the Youth Center a reality. Anyways, she rang me up asking if I want to go to Queenstown with her this coming weekend after church. She would be going to visit with some family and friends and then is going skiing on Monday morning. She said that I was welcome to come along with her, and that she would pay for me to go skiing or snowboarding if I wanted to come.

Now I'm just a little hesitant when it comes to this. I am, by no means, a skiier. I've gone three times in my life - the first time, I was with my aunt and uncle. The second time, I went with school. I got my "dot" to get off the "bunny hill" and did okay. The third time was also with school, but for some reason I wasn't good enough, anymore, to get off the little hill. How sad.

I got a snowboard for Christmas one year and it wasn't a "real" snowboard. It had loops to stick my feet in and it was pointy at the front and flat at the back. My dad drilled a little hole in the nose of it to put a rope in, both for dragging it back up the hill and for "steering". I rarely got to the bottom of a tiny hill on it before chickening out and falling over. I don't know what it is that I'm not cool with. But I'm just really insecure when it comes to standing and controlling something with my feet and nothing more. I'm a bike person - I need handle bars and brakes! Perhaps that's why I was so keen on getting a SnowScoot last year - a hardcore snowboard with a bmx-type frame attached to it. Handle bars.

Anyways, last week, I was also talking to Rae about the things I want to do while in New Zealand before I leave. I mentioned sky diving (mom this is where you'll want to stop reading, probably, and check back on Monday). Well apparently Queenstown is *the* place to be for skydiving and since I'm not really a snowboarder or anything, I was thinking of taking the opportunity to skydive so I don't have to drive back out to Queenstown myself for a jump later on. Now this means I have to fork out some dough (which I've been saving - but saving for something BIG like this) instead of skiing for free but now I'm sort of stuck.

Do I want to say that I had a chance to ski or snowboard in New Zealand, and since I was too lazy to try, I went skydiving instead? Or would it be possible for me to do both? I'm not certain at this point, really.

I'm not too keen, mostly, on the fact that when I'm skiing, my legs are strapped firmly in place to something that could twist the complete opposite way of my body. I don't know how many of you are familiar with my past, but I had a bad break a couple of years ago and I'm not quite sure the psychological side of it has healed as well as the physical side. So I'm a little torn right now between what I should do.

I'll likely end up skydiving, and fitting in skiing if it's still possible. Let's just be honest here. haha!

So - probably the next time I submit a significant entry, I will likely have thrown myself out of a plane at somewhere between 12 and 15000 feet. With someone strapped to my back of course!

Wish me luck, yo!

P.S.

I had mentioned in my last posting about my mother's "uncontrollable hormones" and I now realize that by saying that, I could be referring to her in a negative way. Which isn't the case at all because though not many of you may know her, you would understand if you ever came to the airport everytime she's had to watch her daughter fly away. Again.

I think probably the only people reading it who would take it as I meant it are family members; Lynne, Aunt Marg, maybe Jen and of course, Mommy dearest herself! Oh, and how can I forget Nicki (who has been practically family for a decade, this coming September)?

*yikes! a decade! that's like...two whole hands! man we're getting old, huh nic?*

Big Shout-Out to Nicki McKay; newlywed and proud mother of a beautiful baby boy Jayden (so I often refer to "my nephew", but I guess I should clarify that my brother doesn't have a baby...since Nicki and I have been practically attached at the hip for 10 years now, I'm "Aunt Jacquie" so he isn't my real nephew, per se...but too bad coz I'm totally a proud aunt)!

*yikes...McKay...still ain't getting used to it*

So back on track; don't think that my reference to mom's emotions are a negative thing - coz you can never blame a mother for turning into a blubbering mess everytime she has to say goodbye to her oldest, only, and (not to mention) cutest daughter.

Big Shout-Out to my Mom! w00t w00t!

The Countdown Begins...

Today I went into Invercargill - which is roughly an hour and forty-five minute drive each way - to show up in person to set a date to fly home. I have had an open ended ticket up until now and I found out that I may have to pay a bigtime fee to actually set a date for the flight itself - $200 CAD plus $50 NZD. Not good when I'm trying to save money AND pay for a ministry gift.

Anyways, the lady said that the booking of the open ended ticket was quite strange, as it is a very rare thing for anyone to book actual open ended tickets. What they normally do, apparently, is set a date anyways and then you have to pay money to switch the date. But this one was ACTUALLY open ended so the lady asked the supervisor and he said not to charge me the $200 CAD to change the date, since there was no date to change.

Let me tell you that this made me VERY happy. God has really been providing and showing me in little ways that He hasn't left me all along, even when sometimes it feels like I've been all alone here.

So it's official. My flight is leaving Queenstown, New Zealand at 3:15 pm on Friday 8 September. It will be getting into Toronto, Canada at 10:40 pm also on the 8 September. This leaves 39 sleeps until my departure. It feels very far away, but I'm sure it will go by far too quickly by the time I get to it.

I won't be able to tell the kids until next Friday, leaving probably only about 4 weeks for them to know before I actually go. The kids are gone all this week and the only youth to really know about this so far has been Donald. I'll miss him.

The other day in church, I was sitting there thinking about my decision to leave and I finally started to notice all the things and people that I *will* miss. I never want to say that I'll be leaving here with only negative feelings because I have met friends here that I will have a hard time saying goodbye to. My first wee tearful moment was on Sunday morning when Hannah (my friend Bethany and Richard's 1 & 1/2 year old daughter) saw me from across the church, insisted that mum let her off the chair in a way only babies can, and ran over to me with arms stretched out for me to sit her on my lap. It was a precious moment and that's when I got pretty teary. I am looking forward to watching my nephew Jayden grow up (he's the same age as Hannah), but I'm going to miss that with Hannah and her little best friend Scarlett (friend Iain and Sheree's baby).

I make it sound like I have reason to think that this has been nothing but a negative experience. I guess I could just say that I now understand why my high school music teacher, Sue Smith, decided to retire from teaching while she still enjoyed it. I have had a lot of good times here and I need to remember those before I can say goodbye to this country.

When I drove home from Invercargill today, I took a different route than usual, called the "Southern Scenic Route". It takes you all along the southern coast of the country, and I quite enjoyed pulling over to see waves of the Tasman Sea crashing against the beach and rocks and hills. I know I've been to different oceans before on a cruise ship and in Newfoundland, but I never really noticed the sheer power of the waters. It was breath taking!

To follow a bit of a tradition that my friend Kate and I have (that I learned from her cousin, Ruth), I will start working on a list of things that I will miss when I leave here. It will help me to remember to appreciate everything I've experienced here, both delightful and difficult. I will post it not necessarily for everyone to enjoy, but so that I can look back on it in the future and remember the things I love about this country. Because even though this blog has been a good way for you all to keep updated on my life, I mostly am glad that I'll be able to look back at this hundred-and-something posts to remind myself of what God did for me and for the youth of Te Anau in these past 7 months.

While reading up on the information about the Parker-Hulme murder case, I saw a quote from Pauline Parker's sister, Wendy, that went something like this:

"I don't think they understood the finality of death."

I think that one of the reasons I am so keen to get home and see what God has in store for me is perhaps because I don't quite realize the potential finality of this decision. It hasn't quite sunk in that I could very well never end up back here again, though I would hate for it to turn out that way. But I don't think it has actually processed in my mind that I certainly won't be able to afford to come back here for quite some time. The thought is perhaps a little too daunting for me to handle so my mind is subconsciously pushing it back to keep emotions from running too high. I need to focus on what is here, now, as well as what is ahead for me.

I may be rambling a lot lately, but I think that it's not only important for you to know what is happening in my physical life, but what sort of thought processes a person goes through while abroad for a learning experience. It wouldn't be a truthful blog if I only included the happy stuff and reports of fun times and successful programs, because it *is* very hard to be so far away from anything familiar on your own, getting used to a whole different culture and learning how to adjust.

I seem to remember part of my onSite interview, when I was being assessed for my eligibility for this overseas program. I was asked "how would you cope with being away from your friends and family, so far and for so long?"...and I specifically remember answering something along the lines of "I will have absolutely no problem. I've been away from family for 3 years already and I can't say it's been overly traumatic so far."

Most people, after coming back from their onSite experience, seem to have grown so much more mature and wise and have developed a real passion for the location they were placed in. Many of them want to return or at least make sure they are involved in missions for the rest of their lives. It's surprising that I had my heart set on living in Australia or New Zealand for the rest of my life BEFORE coming here...and I'm one of the few who will come back and say "Yup, okay. Good experience but I'll stick with Canada, thanks."

As I've said before, one of the things I have learned about myself is that I *do* need to be with my family and friends, and that I really am a homebody. More than I ever could have pictured or imagined. I used to wonder how my best friend Nicki could say that she just can't see herself living too far away from her mom or sister, and she couldn't understand how I would want to move so far away (that was when Regina or Calgary was considered far). Now I understand where she is coming from.

I have learned some serious lessons being here, and a lot of them are not necessarily related to a future in youth ministry. I will have to learn that elsewhere I guess, but I have learned a lot about myself and I'm proud of myself for having stuck it out this long because my normal reaction IS to run away at the first sign of difficulty or frustration. That would have been within the first two months of my time here and I think I've come a long way, even though it might look like I'm *still* running away.

I know in my heart that God did want me here for a reason. And now that purpose has been fulfilled and it's time to move on and find what He has next for me. I feel completely happy and confident in my decision to go home, and God has been opening doors and confirming it all over the place (even in the financial aspect, with me not having to actually pay the giant fees that I probably normally would have, and I think that the lady I spoke to and the timing was perfect because it took someone with patience and understanding to sit there and listen to me ramble and give a lot of "i don't know"s about how the ticket ended being booked the way it was...she was in a good mood and was being extremely accommodating and understanding and I didn't even have to ask her about the fees, she just said that she would not charge me).

Some people may not believe me when I say it, but God has confirmed my return date. In more ways than one and I know that can be a manipulative card to play (the "God told me to" card), but it really is the truth.

Wow so this is an EXTREMELY long entry. I apologize to those of you who have actually gotten through all of this and wondered "so what exactly has she been saying this whole time?". I think that often I don't speak my heart enough to people because it takes me while to get comfortable enough with them to open up coz I often end up crying in the end. What can I say;I inherited my mother's uncontrollable hormones. So when I finally start to type out the things I've been feeling lately, I just keep on rambling. So perhaps I don't apologize for having taken up so much space, because it's theraputic for me and something I probably need to do if I'm doing it. :)

So with all that being said, I am now going to take part in another theraputic activity; making a cup of Milo (it's kinda like Ovaltine. I'll bring some back for y'all to try coz it's way better) and putting on an episode or two of McLeod's Daughters (again, for those of you who care enough, you will get your fair amount of exposure to this show, as I am now the proud owner of 2 of the 5 seasons on DVD). Tomorrow is a long and empty day, since all the kids are gone on their ski trips.

These are Jacquie's feelings lately. Hope you enjoyed!

39 Sleeps!