On my way to Samoa...with a giant gash in my leg

Sooooo it might come to a surprise to you that i'm accident-prone. Ha. Or I guess you might just say that stuff like that happens to me quite often. I chose to play the role of the victim. Anyways,  tonight we were supposed to have our bags packed and out in the trailer by 11 pm. We are leaving at 4:15 in the morning to go on a 2.5  hour drive to Christchurch, then flight to Auckland, 5-7 hour layover, then like 5 hours to Samoa. Fun!! So I just had to pack my shampoo, conditioner and soap and then bring out my backpack. It was 10:45 pm and I wanted to take a shower tonight so I needed my toiletries, so I decided to take a shower in the remaining time, pack it, double check everything, and make it out by 11. Obviously, I had to rush. So I was in the shower and decided to shave my legs, but I was in a hurry so I was doing it SUPER fast with a new razor. Well, I accidentally cut myself. It wasn't just a usual razor nick, though. I was going vertically and I guess applied too much pressure, scraped about two and a half inches of skin off my bottom leg, as if peeling a carrot. It made a scratching sound, which immediately caught my attention, and sent me screaming once the water hit it. Blood started filling the bottom of the shower but I continued to shower on. When I felt a strange feeling from my razor I looked and found the lengthy piece of fresh skin, which was about as thick as a slice of ginger you'd get at a sushi restaurant. I saved the skin. Still, the shower filled with blood and I got a little concerned because this didn't look like any kind of cut I've gotten from shaving before. I realized I had to do something about it, so I started yelling my roommates' names but they were out of the room. The girl next door, Juliette, was in bed, and said for me to go in there and show her. But I was stuck in the shower because of the blood. Finally one of my roomies Sarah walked by and I yelled for help. When she saw my ankle she started screaming [a lot of the blood in the shower had gone down the drain by this time]. All the girls from around the house ran in and then went and got their cameras and started taking pics. I posed for the pics with my piece of skin hahaha. Unfortunately it wasn't as gnarly looking when the cameras got there as it was previously. Anyways, we couldn't figure out what to do with the blood, my friend Kat tried rinsing it off with the shower head but I started screaming on the top of my lungs...it hurt SO bad! My friends had to help dress me, apply pressure to it, and then one of the leaders came with gauze since no bandaid was big enough. We applied pressure for several minutes then cleaned it and wiped away the blood, which was difficult because it kept coming. She had me apply white antibiotic ointment, but immediately upon doing that the blood started flowing and just made a mess of a thick paint-like pinkish substance that was uncontrollable, so we just wiped it off, applied gauze and taped it off. Sucks this happened right before Samoa cuz now I have to watch it really closely while I'm there. Whatever, i've had worse in Cambodia. But now my whole left foot has like numbing pain hahahah. Annoying. IT HURTS! There will SO be pictures up once I get them from my friends. 

Anyways, today was my last day of the first segment of Sustainable Community Development. The class was incredibly interesting and challenging, and our professor Mick Duncan was so fascinating. His teaching style is less structurally academic, but instead is more tangible, with lots of stories and discussion. I got a lot more out of this class because of this way of learning, and because I was challenged to think critically and out of the box on many issues that most people sweep under the rug. I can't wait for the second week of it in November. Very interesting, edifying, challenging, and intriguing. GREAT class. Amazing. 

Well, I 'wake up' for samoa in less than 3 hours, so I better get to bed so I can atleast have some sleep before I go. It will be a long time of travel, considering how close it is to here. We leave at 4:15 am and get there at 9:45 pm. Yay. It's going to be an AMAZING time of living in a traditional setting. I am more excited than I can express. I don't think I'll have internet there so I prob won't be able to post anything till like October 4th ish. Soooooooooo catch you then!!! Cheers.

Pictures of the good life :)

So here are some pictures from Christchurch.....It was way fun and so beautiful, as you will find out. 

Ok so this one wasn't my idea, but I didn't hate it. I just thought I'd throw this one up for kicks.

Botanic Gardens smiling flower :)

Richie McCaw, #7 on the All Blacks. One reason why the rugby game was amazing. He is incredibly dreamy. Thank you New Zealand.

Art on the walls. NZ is very edgy. 

I love the night
The Cathedral is absolutely stunning at night

Chillin with Heidi, Sarah and Kathryn

The Botanic Gardens were breathtaking!!

River through the botanic gardens, and the duck that looks like an eagle. They are quite popular here.

Botanic gardens as the evening was ending....

Inside the cathedral

I found koala bear treats, you know the one with the chocolate on the inside. SO LOVE THOSE!

The river going through Christchurch!

Beautiful artwork on the walls throughout the city

The Westmont ladies on our way out on Friday in Christchurch!!

Pony Pony does his little dance. LOVE IT!!! So cute.

My new fav thing: the mochaccino. I like taking pics of the different kinds at each place cuz they each have their own little artsy look. 

I like this. It's funny. Though I don't entirely agree. But I like it.

Mom, this is for you, to eradicate one of the reasons on your list, you know what I mean. Here you go, there IS a Starbucks here. Ha!

In the center of the city they have a giant chess board!!! How exciting!

CHRISTCHURCH, BABY!!

So class starts in a wee bit, like in 45 min, but we had the most FUN weekend ever on our student trips. Originally people were going their own ways, whether it be backpacking, hotsprings, whatever. Three girls and I were gonna go to Christchurch because we really wanted to be in a city and look cute at night and go out. Well, in the end the entire group ended up coming to Christchurch as well and it was SOOO much fun. We went shopping, wandered around the city looking for rugby games, went dancing, went to the botanic gardens [BEAUTIFUL] and much much more. Saturday night was a HUGE highlight. We went to the Holy Grail, an amazing sports bar in downtown Christchurch, and watched the Australia/NZ rugby game. It was an amazing game, super close, and in the end the All Blacks defeated the Wallabies. It made for a very exciting night because everyone was screaming through the streets because of the awesome win. We went dancing and then I got a Kebab at 2 am [ssooooo delicious] in honor of the Most Beautiful Girl song from Flight of the Conchords. Lamb kebab. So delish. I loved it. The botanical gardens were absolutely breathtaking- I can see why they received a national award. We also went to the art museum, which you know I totally love art, so I thoroughly enjoyed it. The last day there was absolutely beautiful- really sunny and warm. I so can't wait to put up pics [we can't upload at the convent]. The pictures say way more than I can tell you. It was a spectacular weekend. Sun. Rugby. City. Beautiful.

Rainy Day

So it is quite a rainy day today, but it seems that no matter how the weather is, Kaikoura remains beautiful. The frost on the windows makes me want to drink a cup of tea, snuggle up on a couch and just draw a picture. I would totally do that but I can't determine what kind of picture I would draw. We'll see what happens in time. Last night we had a "Community Wreath" activity, which was an arts and crafts time that allowed us to learn a little more about ourselves and each other. We searched through magazines and cut out colorful pieces of paper to construct an ornament that represents us. It was very interesting seeing and hearing the creation which each person made. I really love this group. Each person has something different to give to the group; it's beautiful just to hear each person speak of things they've learned in life and to in turn learn from them. The walk into town is quite long in comparison to anywhere I've walked in Huntington, minus the time I decided to backpack through Orange County, but the walk has been such a blessing. It is always filled with great conversation and laughter. I know God is going to use that time to really bless me and teach me a lot. Plus, we get to look at and pet the cute farm animals along the way :) 

Tomorrow I get to go on our student trip adventure for 3 days. I think all of us are going to Christchurch for a little city time. I can't wait to take a day to look cute. We've all been slummin it lately. It will be fun. Gardens. City. Adventure. Well anyways, I must go to Marcel's birthday party now! Cheers!

I got attacked by a sheep

So basically I wrote an entry earlier and then went to post it, and usually I save it before but for some reason this ONE time i didn't, and the internet went out. Great. So earlier I definitely got charged by the sheep in the back yard. I went to go visit Kokopai and he came over to me and was really sweet and let me pet him for like 5 min then all of a sudden he backed up and charged me. I FREAKED OUT. But I was too scared to run so I just walked away slowly and then he charged me again and then I kept walking and it just kept charging me- SUPER SCARY and reallly hard to stand up cuz this sheep is huge. When I got like 5 feet away from the fence I just booked it as fast as I could cuz i was scared. Never playing with that sheep again. HA! Oh, a day in the life of a New Zealander... 

New Zealand comes to life

So here are some pics of my life so far....they're sort of out of order, sorry this internet here is wacky. But i hope you enjoy them!

This is a lamb that is a day old. So fuzzy!!

Harry, the week old lamb
The really cool cars in our front yard! I so love them! And that's our house in the background
The house [convent] gets really creepy when it rains, or in the dark, all 20 of us girls get scared, with only 4 guys to make us not scared hahahaha good times. 

This is the mini pony down the street. His name is Pony Pony...I LOVEEEE him! You will def see other pics of him cuz i took like 70 of him the other day!

These are my friends, Juliette and Laura. We're the champion team cuz we always are late to things together cuz we stay it town for too long hahaha. OH, and yes, i got that scarf from the dump :) love that place. We're a little dressed up here for the open house when the neighbors came over.
Watching Sister Act 2!
I got to feed the 1 week old lamb, Harry. So cute
Gretchen and I sporting our 80's dump clothes. Love it!

They have fuzzy cows here

Kaikoura weather changes like literally on the hour

Our house, the old convent
The placenta of a lamb we saw while we were walking down the street right after it was born. Super bubbly and gooey

The bus I fell in love with! Turns out the worship leader at church owns it :)

It makes me feel at home.
We like to teeter totter....

This is my window where I look out, you can usually see the Alps but it's raining so clouds are covering them, but I thought it was pretty with the rain dripping down the windows

The peninsula...

Here's the plane we took off on to go to the south island...this is morning, like 5 am, in Auckland.

This is our lovely town...the southern alps in the background! If you look closely there's a little orange old bug in the right corner too ;)

The Kaikoura peninsula

they recycle EVERYTHING here.
Kokopai, our pet sheep :) he lives in our backyard

HOPE YOU LIKED THE PICS! until next time.....

You eat the peel of a kiwi

Sooooo life in NZ is amazing. There are so many beautiful cultural things all over. Upon arriving in the airport, our leaders gave us fruit. I took a kiwi but just stared at it for a while because I didn't know how to open it- they didn't give me a knife. I asked how i was supposed to eat it and they responded, "Oh you just eat it like an apple, peel and all." I can't believe I've never done that. I have been deprived. It is so good. There are gold kiwis and green kiwis. I love eating them every single meal. Yesterday I was late coming home and I accidentally missed lunch so I grabbed a couple kiwis on my way out to the peninsula [which they call PeninCHula] and ate them for lunch. 

Something else I totally love about the Kiwis [people, that is] is their terminology. They say 'yeah' alot, like how we say umm or just any type of interjections. I try to imitate them but I always sound just really ghetto, cuz it's kinda a yeuhh and it sounds ghetto coming out of my mouth. I'll get it eventually. We had an open house last night and alllll the neighbors came over and I was hangin out with these 12 year olds and they were teaching me their lingo: "Never say garbage, it's rubbish. Dinner is called tea or kai. Bathroom is toilet or nunpoo [or something like that that really threw me off]." They are hilarious. Oh and saying 'what' is super rude here. We have to say 'pardon'. It's really hard to do that. The kids stared at my teeth for a really long time hahahaha and wondered why they were so white. I told them I don't know. I don't know what they'd think about Crest White Strips. ;) 

Something really exciting, i'm listening to Salmonella Dub right now, a local NZ band:     http://www.myspace.com/officialsalmonelladub

I have their music on my comp now. They're coming to Kaikoura in the near future and we're hoping to dress up and go to their concert. Town is not too far away but it takes about an hour to walk there, then an hour back. It's lovely though [lovely is a HUGE word here in NZ]. There are lambs being born along the road, the gorgeous alps to look at and then my fav, a mini horse at the end of the road. I call him Pony Pony and he always runs toward me. He is very privileged to have that name since EVERY single other animal here is called Ricky Tito in honor of my puppy at home. I miss him!!!

I wore makeup last night for the first time in a very long time for the open house. I felt civilized and it was nice. Today I'm back to slummin it. I am wearing clothes from the dump, which are amazing by the way. I love the dump. I has such good finds. OH MY GOSH. And ok, so remember the bus I talked about in the last blog? So I found out who the owner was- the worship leader at church. He and his wife have the double cab along with another bug the same pretty blue color. I haven't exactly met them yet but I for sure will when I get back from Samoa. I leave on an adventure for 3 days next weekend and then immediately after go to Samoa for a couple weeks. 

Since we live in a convent we watched Sister Act 2 last night. Very appropriate. We went exploring the peninsula yesterday, watched the seals, and hung out with Ranger Paul, who happens to be extremely good looking for his age. ALL of us girls became incredibly excited when we found out that he has a son our age. We really hope to meet him real soon. There was an 80's party at the bar nearby up the road the other night and we were gonna go since the locals said it would be a good occasion to meet the people our age who live here. All of us girls were so excited to go but then dinner took 3 hours since it was the night we were having a traditional 5 course Kiwi dinner. We missed the 80's party. Very sad. We hope another one will come along soon. 

I got socks made out of opossum fur and I'm now incredibly warm all the time. I didn't even know that you could make stuff out of that, but apparently you can. It is so cold here, it's necessary. I am thinking of drawing a picture real soon since it's gorgeous. I'll just sit in my giant backyard and look at the Alps and draw. Lovely. I think by the end of this trip I'm gonna start talking like a Kiwi since it's already happening hahaha. This rest of the week is orientation still, lots of meetings, and then next week school officially starts, which is funny because school is just ending here since summer is approaching. We are going to go shear sheep in a wee bit. [oh they say 'wee' for a little and 'heaps' for a lot]. Yesterday instead of going to church we participated in 'Beautify NZ Day' and we cleaned up any trash along the beach. There isn't much compared to at home. Well anyways, I must go shear some sheep! I love you all!!!!