One Week

Well in exactly one week I will be waiting at the Queenstown airport for my flight to board. I will likely be using my laptop on a credit card-charged wireless internet terminal of sorts updating my blog talking about how I'm feeling.

I just finished house sitting on the farm again. I remember liking it a whole lot more there than I did this time. There was nothing I needed to do for the Bed and Breakfast except explain a few things to the guests (and other than that they were self sufficient). The chickens were well behaved. There were 3 ponies and a horse this time, in a closer paddock. I fed them long handfuls of grass, as they had worn out much of the long juicy pieces in their paddock. One was a little demanding but I made sure they all got a share.

But this time around, it was the cats and dogs that drove me nuts. This isn't a normal thing for me, as I'm often quite patient with house animals (especially cute cuddly attention seeking ones). However, even though those 3 cats are adorable and snuggly with super soft fur, they are little devils when they get bored. I woke up one morning to the bathroom towels having become makeshift litter boxes. They killed a rabbit while I was out for no longer than an hour and a half...dragged it in the house and left the "best bits" (stomach, bowels and rear end - complete with back legs still attached) as an offering to me in my bedroom doorway.

The dogs cut up my face and arms - when you don't pet them for half a second they jump up on you and when one of the dogs is taller than ME, it means that his paws go above my head when he jumps, but they come down on my face. The other is so hyper when you take her off her chain that she jumped up and her skull cracked me in the bridge of the nose. Not a pretty sight. Or a pretty feeling. But I couldn't just let them off the leash to burn off the energy coz they have a tendency to run away. So I had to keep close eye on them.

And of course, with just my luck, the internet kept cutting out. Now I know that most people are fine with that and think I shouldn't be so upset about that...but what do most people do when they're bored? Watch tv? Read? Well I like to browse the internet for fun and interesting things. It keeps my brain active and is perfect for someone like me who very likely has ADD (lots of things to do at once). It was a bit of a pain.

So I didn't relax as much as I wanted to...even though I had considerably less to do this time around. Maybe it's because I'm so wrapped up in finishing off my job here that I haven't given myself much down time to just chill out. I'm pretty high strung these days.

But now I'm done there and tonight is the All-Nighter at the youth center. It looks like it'll be a good night because Dale, the new youth worker, might come in to get introduced to the kids so they can get an idea of who he is. I'm just glad that they have someone to step in right away to carry on and bring this youth program to its full potential.

I have been half-packed for a month or so. And I want to pack some more but I've got a really busy couple of days coming up. Since it's my last week, I have a lot of "last things" to do...lunch with the church, clean up the center, wrap up my job stuff and get it organized for Dale, last fish n chip night, last time at church, last home group meeting, last mcleod's daughters viewing...it's a busy week and the next 3 days are completely full-on. Tonight is the all nighter. It ends at 9 am tomorrow. Then I get to come back at 3 for the last day that I'll be opening the centre - it's open from 3-11 tomorrow night. Then church Sunday morning followed by my "farewell lunch" at Karl's place with everyone from the churches coming. Then that night is my last night at TCC (the evening church). Monday is supposed to be my "day off" and I'm taking it for sure. I look forward to watching Animal Precinct at 11:30 am, getting a few movies and making popcorn in the early afternoon and just chilling out. Because the next few days after THAT are going to be nuts again as well.

I had a girls night last night with some of the youth. We jumped on the trampoline, played SingStar and ate fish and chips before going in the spa for an hour and a half. It was a really great night and I'm glad we got a chance to hang out a bit. But it also means that just this week I will have spent 4 nights with those girls. It's a good thing of course but it's also draining. I'm just glad they want to hang out.

Please pray for me as I emotionally prepare to leave. Lately it has been difficult because I feel more connected to the kids now than I ever have and I know it will make it WAY harder to leave here because of that. Pray also for the financial situation, as well as my time management for when I come home. I start school and work almost immediately with little time to recover from leaving behind such a big part of my life.

I really will miss it here.