So we have reached the end of week seven. I know right, how crazy is it that I’ve been here for almost two months? D’you miss me yet? (Benjamin I was not asking you)
A few things that happened this week:
· I changed the language on my iPod to French. I thought it would be fun. What I didn’t realize was that every app would now be in French. I might try German next week, providing I can figure out how to change it again. Je ne parle le francais so je ne sais
· I saw the biggest world map in New Zealand England
· I went to an outdoor art exhibition called ‘Earth from Above’. It’s a collection of photos all taken from a hot air balloon by this guy called Yann Arthus Bertrand. There’s a film version of it. Check the trailer on Youtube. As one of the crew put it: it was “Freaking Rad” (just FYI – ‘rad’ is short for radical on the mean streets (shores?) of Lake Tahoe . Took me a while to figure this out). I’ve decided that once I’m a proper grown up with a coffee table (I don’t like coffee so I’m only gonna get it because it’s socially expected. I figure having a coffee table is enough for social conventions so don’t expect me to offer you coffee) I’m gonna get the book version. For real. The photos were freaking rad. If you’re lucky I’ll even invite you over to see it.
· I realized why hippos are one of the most dangerous animals. I went to Auckland Zoo yesterday. It was great despite the whole wild-animals-in-cages-thing. Have you even seen a sad elephant? It’ll give you nightmares. Now for a bit of introspection – I was really struck by how different all the animals were. A bit obvious I know but it’s what I thought. As if I didn’t already know – God sure can create. Create to the max. Anyways, back to hippos – I don’t think I’d ever seen one before. I was terrified. I almost cried. They were huge. And I didn’t even see all of them. They were mainly submerged in water. You see this break down of sentence structure? Just thinking about them makes me went to hide in a cupboard. I totally have new appreciation for the bit in Job when God talks about the might of hippos (well, ‘behemoth’ but some translations say hippo):
Take a look at the mighty hippopotamus. I made it just as I made you. It eats grass like an ox. See its powerful loins and the muscles of its belly. Its tail is as straight as a cedar. The sinews in its thighs are tightly knit together. Its bones are tubes of bronze. Its limbs are bars of iron. It is a prime example of God’s amazing handiwork. Only its creator can threaten it. The mountains offer it their best food, where the wild animals play. It lies down under the lotus plants, hidden by the weeds. The lotus plants give it shade among the willows beside the stream. It is not disturbed by raging rivers, not even when the swelling Jordan
I usually have this crazy irrational fear that crazy axe men are waiting behind bushes for the opportune moment to jump out and kill me but now I have this crazy irrational fear that hippos are waiting to be unleashed (a bit like the tiger in the Monty Python self-defense class). I’m guessing that Ninja mode won’t really work on hippos so I’m working on a new strategy, maybe Safari Guide mode. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
So what else have I been up to? This week our topic was the Father Heart of God. I can’t really sum it up. God loves you. More than you could possibly understand. Face it. You can’t escape the love.
Last weekend we went to Piha beach. It was the first time I’d been to a beach with black sand. It was a great day – blue skies, sunshine and surfers having to be rescued by the lifeguards. It was also really windy so there was quite a lot of sunburn (just realised that I started the last three sentences with ‘it’. Sorry). Fortunately the advantages of being ‘mixed White British and Black Caribbean’ meant that I worked on my tan instead.
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