The Lovely Things About Today…

…are manifold.

 I had a rather teary talk with my mum this morning. Being sick far from home is a little depressing. BUT, in the pattern of my sister and brother-in-law I shall tell you all the lovely things about this day. In list form.

1. Sleeping all morning. Felt well-rested when I woke up. 

2. Getting my Tauranga city library card.

3. Getting a cart-load of books from aforementioned library. Including: Three biographies- Einstien, Teresa of Avila, C.S. Lewis; a bunch of fiction, some mystery, some sci-fi/fantasy, etc.

4. Going to the pharmacy in Tauranga for throat lozenges. They must have had about 5 women running around the pharmacy just helping people find stuff. Mine showed me three different lozenges and two kinds of cough syrup in two sizes. (Syrup is super expensive. I went with the lozenges.)

5. Veggie shopping. “NO KATE. Eggplant is gross!”

6. Visiting the girl’s house, chatting with Becca and watching her clean dishes.

7. Showering and blow-drying my hair. It’s the first time I’ve taken the time to do my hair since I’ve been here. It feels really nice for some reason.

8. Chapel. Got prophesied over for about 10 minutes. It was intensely wonderful. The kind of stuff that you just have to weep because there’s nothing else to do.

9. Falling over in the hallway while brushing my teeth. Kate and I have this thing where we flatten against the wall model-style when we pass in the hallway. This works much better when we aren’t brushing our teeth. The end result was that I sat on the floor and laughed for three minutes while trying not to cough up toothpaste.

10. Nikki coming out of her room and just hugging me. She goes “I know your mum is far away and you don’t feel good, but I wanted you to know that you have family here”.

11. Graham asking me why I’d “fuzzed” my hair. Apparently I was the only one who appreciated the effort put into my ”do”.

12. Praying with Becca at chapel.

13. Did I mention that I took Kate’s sleeping bag to chapel and sat curled up in it for most of the night?! I do a lot better when I’m warm!

14. My mum bought me hiking socks before I left and I wore them to the prayer room tonight. They are the best thing since sliced bread. Warm and with padding at the toe and heel. Lovely!

15. Standing out on the dock at the end of our street wrapped up in Kate’s sleeping bag watching the stars. I can find the southern cross, now. Plus, nothing says Meghan-Moment like singing “Somewhere Out There” while gazing over the water to the stars.

16. It was daffodil day today in New Zealand. It’s a cancer-support thing (we’re assuming they aren’t supporting cancer but rather the fight against it). Men, women and children were out in full force, yellow daffodils in every buttonhole. 

17. The people I live with. I just love ‘em. Even when there are seven people in our small kitchen all trying to cook something at the same time.

18. Steak. Kristy gave me some of their steak and it was heavenly. We eat a lot of different kinds of meat down here. Tonight Kristy had steak and Jo had lamb. Kate and I opted out of meat this evening. We’re going to the Mad Butcher tomorrow, hopefully.

Yeah, it’s been a good day.

How I’ve Changed

So, I’ve been in New Zealand for ten or so days now and already I’ve begun to see changes in myself. (One of which is that I am now aware of how incredibly self-focused I am.)

For those of you who don’t get regular correspondence from me, or are extremely bored at work and so are reading this, here is a list of the ways in which I have changed.

Ginger Tea and Wellington!

Today I was saved from a horrid coughing fit by Prekosh, the one Indian here at THOP. He had me boil tea then add a heap of ginger. It took the roof off of my mouth and I’m still burping up ginger but boy howdy did it work.

I’m so sick of having this cough. Even my back muscles hurt. Every time I cough I can feel the muscles between my shoulder blades. By the end of this I am going to have the nicest back ever.

But on to Wellington…

The girls are going to drive up north of Auckland and hang out at the beach. This idea is only very slightly appealing.

Instead, I am going to hop on a bus (it’s called the naked bus and you can get a fare for a dollar if you’re lucky) and go see Wellington.   That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. It’s going to be an adventure within an adventure. I’ve found a hostel (voted best hostel in Oceania) that’s right near everything I want to see. You can even go for a short drive and visit the LOTR horses. Let’s see, LOTR tours or sitting on a beach. Gee, what do YOU think I’m going to do?!

For now, I need a shower and some sleep. Too bad everyone is so darned entertaining down here in the living room.

If you feel the need to bless me, please send “holiday” money to my folks for me! All this adventuring costs dough, you know.

It’s a Total Eclipse of the…MOON

Did any of you see it?

There was a total lunar eclipse last night and it was wicked sweet. I actually watched it for 20 minutes, then gave up and went to bed. However, my lovely roomates woke me up in time to see the final result. It was WAY cool.

If any of you saw it I’d love to hear your thoughts/impressions/stories.

The Nature of Beauty

One thing I have desired of the Lord,That will I seek:That I may dwell in the house of the LordAll the days of my life,To behold the beauty of the LordAnd to inquire in His temple.Psalm 27.4

I am, perhaps, not the best person to deal with the subject of Beauty. But then, neither am I the worst. Ever since I had a prophecy spoken over me that I would live a life of beauty, I have been enthralled by the subject. To say that one is going to live a life of beauty is akin to saying that one is going to ‘be succesful’. That’s great but what does it mean? What is true of beauty?

the twelve-hour sleep

My alarm went off at 7:15 this morning. I promptly rolled over, wrote a note to David and Karina, wandered down the hall, handed the note to Kate and went back to bed. (How’s that for the world’s longest sentence?) I then returned to bed and slept until 11 o’clock.

Feeling mostly better now and am looking forward to soup.

There’s not a whole lot to tell, I’ll write another update tonight. I hung out in the living room last night while Dennis and Badger jammed. Wrote some poetry (the creative flow was amazing) and had a lovely talk with Jo about tattoos and tiger parks. Really.

So no more for now. More to come later!

The No-Update Day

Hey everyone. I’m not going to write about my day today. I’m tired and feeling pretty un-good. Prayers for renewed health and strength would be much appreciated. Symptoms: slight dizzyness, cough, junk-in-the-throat, exhaustion.

 I’ll write more when looking at a computer screen doesn’t hurt my eyes.

No worries, though, my heart and soul are happy. It’s just my body that’s rebelling.

The First Saturday

Well, I’ve just had my first Saturday in the lovely city of Tauranga. We started out the day (as we do six days a week) in the prayer room. I kept having to mentally apologize for being so distracted and scatter-brained. Maybe it was actually a good thing: I spent the time praying for everyone I could think of for everything I could think of. If any of you miraculously recieve ponies dyed green to match your eyes let me know… I might have accidentally prayed for that.

 After the prayer room we all came back to the apartment and had lunch. (Hooray PB&J!) Then Kate and I ventured to the Strand to see if we could get library cards. Unfortunetly neither of us had proof of address so THAT didn’t happen. We’ll work on it for next week.

There was then some wandering around the Strand. We visited a book shop where I found about four things I really wanted. Sadly, someone told NZ that they can charge an arm and a leg for books. No, really. A paperback smallish book of poetry was $30. Even taking the exchange rate into account that is crazy. The fabric shop wasn’t a whole lot better. Fun to browse, though.

Home for naps and a phone call home. Spent a good twenty minutes sobbing at mom, which is always fun. I really do like it here, I promise! Sounds like she may be able to come out here for my break, which would be beyond amazing!

Decided soon after that, instead of sitting down and writing a long apology letter to everyone I’ve ever know, I would take myself for a walk. Wandered around the bay thingie and sang songs to myself. It made me think of Greenlake. There were even a few dogs running out of their yards to say hello. The walk ended with the most amazing sunset I’ve ever seen. The colours were beyond description.

Tonight Kate and I went over to the house where the other interns live and ate muffins and watched The Count of Monte Cristo. We have now planned a Pride and Prejudice movie weekend. We’re going to watch both versions and then go see the Jane Austen movie. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt really at home here. It’s like college, but without the soul-rotting atmosphere and homework.

Plus, we interns have A Plan. And that’s bound to make anyone feel at home.

Sleepy now and my body is not doing fantastically. Not badly, but not wonderfully either. I’d kiss a frog for a box of chocolates from home.

Much love from Down Under

August 24th

I’m sitting in my living room at Mayfair with a good chunk of the interns and staff. We’re waiting to head out to chapel, I think. Discussion topics have ranged from the vitamin C content of the Kiwi fruit, (I ate two in the hopes of staving off an encroaching cold) to the Dr. Suess/abortion parallels drawn during The Call ’07. YouTube Lue Engle and look for the Horton Hears a Who video. It’s intense.

 

Right now Badger, Kari and other intern who’s name I don’t know yet are listening to Mike Bickle. Nikki and girl who I’ve yet to talk to are chatting at the kitchen table and Jo (wonderful Jo) is cooking something. 

 

 Speaking of the wonder that is Jo… when we got home from the prayer room today there were scones, shortbread and pecan cookies waiting for us. She’s also made a Pavlova which has yet to be consumed (miracle of miracles). A Pavlova (named after the ballerina Anna Pavlova) is four eggs, beaten for an hour and then baked overnight in a warm oven. This girl is a wonder.

 

 Oh, I don’t want to make it seem like I take people lightly when I don’t know their names. It’s hard for me to learn about the other girls because they live in another house and we only see them in the prayer room and at class. Neither area is conducive to conversation.

 

   My heart is mostly good today. I don’t like having this much down time. I’ve not become accustomed to being here yet so quietness is uncomfortable. I spent a lot of time on my e-mail and on YouTube, actually. Weeping a little bit while listening to “Somewhere” from West Side Story and reading Sarah Teasdale poetry was good for me. Incidentally, if anyone comes across a compilation of her stuff grab it for me and I’ll pay you back when I get home to the States.

 

  I’m looking forward to getting to know these people better. In fact, we’re getting Badger’s life story so I’ll stop for now. More later I’m sure.

 

Later

Well… that was fun.

 

Suffice it to say that God spent the first half of chapel messing me up. Don’t get me wrong, I needed it, but it was pretty rough going for a while. Long story short- I have very little idea who I am anymore. I’ve spent so long conforming to what that person needed me to be on that day that I’ve forgotten how to be me.

 

We’ll work on that.

 

I will write more later but for now, dry hair, a tylenol PM and my bed are calling my name.

 

Much love from Tauranga.

Football, How I Shall Miss Thee

I got on King 5 today and almost wept. I haven’t missed not having a TV until just this moment, and I am shocked that watching football is what’s getting me down.

I’m going to miss football season!

AHH!

I’ll have to try and keep up with it whenever I can. I’m sure I’ll survive the loss of one football season. If not, it’s been nice knowing you all.