I have a confession to make - I almost said "y'all" yesterday. A consequence of hanging out with mainly Americans for two days. I'm thinking of increasing the englishness so that I don't lose my accent but aside from drinking more tea and trying the old skool banter I can't think what to do (this is serious, I just thought the last few words in a southern American accent). Any suggestions?
Its been great so far. The school starts on Sunday (so excited) so we've been exploring the city and using free Internet in coffee shops for the last couple of days.
We're staying in a hostel in central Auckland, which is cool cause we're in the centre but not so cool that we have two female toilets and one shower on our floor. I'm sharing a room with four other girls (three American and one Swiss). As we're in a hostel we have practically no storage space. I know what y'all (see, there it goes again) thinking: but Rach where you gonna put all the presents you're gonna buy me? Simple solution- if you give me £5 then I'll post it to you, if not, well what can I say? - you snooze you bro, that's how it works on street countdown. Get to know.
I love the city but it's really hilly and after two days I can say that it ties with New York for third greatest city in the world (1. Croy to-the den, 2. Lon to-the don).
I'm not sure what you wanna know, so either pass it on to family, email or comment.
I'm off to church now so I'll talk to y'all later (see what I mean?!)
Saturday 25 September 2010
Thursday 23 September 2010
Early Morning
so it's about six Friday morning over here (7 pm thursday at home) and having been struggling for over 2 hours to get back to sleep (the birds singing happily outside my window are lucky I didn't bring a gun) I've decided to give up and write this instead .
So I made it here no problems. I didn't end up stranded in a terminal in Dubai or Melbourne forced to learn different languages from a guide book, living at one of the gates or building a fountain. I was picked up at the airport by a couple of the YWAM staff members which confirmed my belief that my fear of it all being an elaborate but well executed internet scam was irrational the journey itself was the longest day of my life. I had no idea that New Zealand was so far away (curse you world maps that make everything look so close!!)
The birds have gone now so gonna try and get some more sleep
they have strange Internet here so I'm sending this from my iPod in a coffee shop with free wifi.
So I made it here no problems. I didn't end up stranded in a terminal in Dubai or Melbourne forced to learn different languages from a guide book, living at one of the gates or building a fountain. I was picked up at the airport by a couple of the YWAM staff members which confirmed my belief that my fear of it all being an elaborate but well executed internet scam was irrational the journey itself was the longest day of my life. I had no idea that New Zealand was so far away (curse you world maps that make everything look so close!!)
The birds have gone now so gonna try and get some more sleep
they have strange Internet here so I'm sending this from my iPod in a coffee shop with free wifi.
Monday 20 September 2010
Yoda vs The Princess Bride
So. This is it. This time tomorrow I should be on my way to NZ.
Excited? You bet.
Nervous? Without a doubt.
Have I packed yet? Almost. I magically have a bit of extra space in my bag (it’s very high-tech, got one of those magic Mary Poppins compartments that JML sell) and I’m trying to decide whether to pack more books or more clothes. I’ve narrowed it down to my purple Yoda jumper or The Princess Bride by William Goldman.
I have excellent arguments for both:
Yoda jumper – has a glow in the dark Lightsabre on it, which will be extremely useful when trying to see in the dark.
The Princess Bride – it’s a ‘classic account of True Love and High Adventure.’ Need I say more?
Answers on a postcard please.
Monday 13 September 2010
Dad said six months isn't long enough
So, I’m off to New Zealand in a week and have decided to write a blog so that anyone who’s interested can see what I’m up to. I’m hoping it won’t end up in one of those fake-half-brother-trying-to-kill-me-when-I’m-on-my-way-to-the-prom-scenarios. You may laugh but it does happen (respekt* to the One Tree Hill fans).
Why am I abandoning my hair straighteners and departing the ever-so-sunny shores of England for a country on the other side of the world with millions more sheep than people? (...if the sheep were organised...)
Well, I’m doing a discipleship course with an organisation called Youth With A Mission (YWAM).
“What’s that?” you ask (don’t worry, I’m not psychic, they just taught us how to read minds in our first psychology lecture). Well, it’s a course designed to ‘train Christians to be, and make disciples of Jesus.’ The course is split into two parts, a lecture phase and an outreach phase. The lecture phase has lectures (no kidding) on a range of different topics (e.g. nature and character of God, identity in Christ). The outreach phase involves, get this, outreach. I’ll be part of a team that travels outside of New Zealand to work with a ministry that tackles an issue of injustice. Location to be decided later, but possibly Cambodia, India, Israel, Jordan, Thailand or Uganda.
Let me guess, your next question is: “don’t they have any in England? “
Yep, YWAM has bases running courses all over the world, including locations a lot closer to home. Some courses have a particular focus, e.g. music, surfing, art. The course I’m doing has a focus on justice. As part of the lecture phase I’ll be spending time looking at justice related topics (e.g., economic exploitation, the sex trade) and where God fits in those (e.g. a biblical understanding of justice and mercy).
“Why justice?” I hear you ask (Didn’t those mind-reading lectures payoff? Next thing you know I’ll be Patrick Jane’s replacement, California here I come). Justice is important. Simple as. It’s important to God and it’s important to me. Many people are trapped by unjust situations which is something I don’t think should be ignored. **steps down from soap box**
The course lasts six months, so if I don’t see you in the next week or so then I won’t see you till April (you may see that as a good thing - especially if you're Benjamin Holmes). The course finishes in March but I’ll probably hang about in New Zealand for a bit before coming home.
That’s all for now, I'm hoping to update every week. Feel free to email/comment any questions or whatever.
If you want more info/are a student with nothing better to do/bored check out www.ywam.org for general YWAM info and http://www.ywamauckland.org.nz/Justice%20DTS.html for info on the course I’m doing.
* this is how we spell on the streets bruv. Get to know.
Why am I abandoning my hair straighteners and departing the ever-so-sunny shores of England for a country on the other side of the world with millions more sheep than people? (...if the sheep were organised...)
Well, I’m doing a discipleship course with an organisation called Youth With A Mission (YWAM).
“What’s that?” you ask (don’t worry, I’m not psychic, they just taught us how to read minds in our first psychology lecture). Well, it’s a course designed to ‘train Christians to be, and make disciples of Jesus.’ The course is split into two parts, a lecture phase and an outreach phase. The lecture phase has lectures (no kidding) on a range of different topics (e.g. nature and character of God, identity in Christ). The outreach phase involves, get this, outreach. I’ll be part of a team that travels outside of New Zealand to work with a ministry that tackles an issue of injustice. Location to be decided later, but possibly Cambodia, India, Israel, Jordan, Thailand or Uganda.
Let me guess, your next question is: “don’t they have any in England? “
Yep, YWAM has bases running courses all over the world, including locations a lot closer to home. Some courses have a particular focus, e.g. music, surfing, art. The course I’m doing has a focus on justice. As part of the lecture phase I’ll be spending time looking at justice related topics (e.g., economic exploitation, the sex trade) and where God fits in those (e.g. a biblical understanding of justice and mercy).
“Why justice?” I hear you ask (Didn’t those mind-reading lectures payoff? Next thing you know I’ll be Patrick Jane’s replacement, California here I come). Justice is important. Simple as. It’s important to God and it’s important to me. Many people are trapped by unjust situations which is something I don’t think should be ignored. **steps down from soap box**
The course lasts six months, so if I don’t see you in the next week or so then I won’t see you till April (you may see that as a good thing - especially if you're Benjamin Holmes). The course finishes in March but I’ll probably hang about in New Zealand for a bit before coming home.
That’s all for now, I'm hoping to update every week. Feel free to email/comment any questions or whatever.
If you want more info/are a student with nothing better to do/bored check out www.ywam.org for general YWAM info and http://www.ywamauckland.org.nz/Justice%20DTS.html for info on the course I’m doing.
* this is how we spell on the streets bruv. Get to know.
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