Secret presents...

Merry Christmas!!!

I spent Christmas in Hastings and had an amazing time :D
I stayed with the Mcrory family who moved out here from Pitlochry around 18 months ago.
It was so much fun and I felt right at home...

In the lead up to Chritsmas there was many secret presents hiding around the house.
From Tuesday till Christmas day we kept 6 chickens hidden in the vegetable patch and Graham didnt notice at all! All week we kept collecting the eggs so we had to eat eggs all the timein order to hide the fact that more kept appearing even though we wernt going shopping....
There was many an occasionn where we almost let it slip or he was walking towards them and we had to put him in the other direction :P

Like in the case of the pigs...
For the grandparents, Christine and Fergus the family had decided to get them piglets. So on Christmas eve Karys, Lisbeth and I drove for an hour to collect these pigs. On the way there it was great bacuse it was sunny I was got to drive in automatic (YAY go me)
But the minute these four piglets got in the car everything changed... I have never smelt anything as bad as these pigs, it was worse than the worst smell you have ever smelt.
We hid the pigs in a little makeshift pen in the barn down the garden and then went out in the afternoon...
Later on on our way home from Napier we got a slightly worried phonecall...
Christine had been sitting in her living room and had looked up and seen four pigs run past :P
So the rest of the afternoon was spent searching for these pigs...
One was chased all the way across the road and through a few vineyards and gardens untill we caught it, that was the wee red one that we called Katie Morag- cute, small and red head, likes to travel... :P
After that polava Graham took Karys, Duncan and I to the warehouse to buy secret santa presents only to get a call on the way home to say the pigs had escaped again.......
So we spent another half an hour chasing the pigs around the garden but we couldnt find one so after another ages of looking we went back to the house.

We started making dinner and hanging out and then forty-five minutes later the wee pig comes trotting back to the garden and over to pen. :] we named that pig Homer because it came home.

The chickens stayed hidden untill after midnight on Christmas eve when we put Nigel into a box and gave it to him, he was so surprised :]

Quadbikes...

This week I'm staying in Hastings for Christmas with a family from Scotland who moved out here eighteen months ago...
They are lovely and they have this amazing garden with an apricot orchard, they have have orange trees, lemon trees and two horses.

Its amazing :]

Spent ages quad biking around the gardens, met the animals, played harry potter games, played other games, hung out with dogs, got a Chinese...

Such a fun day :]

So far loving Hastings...

Things...

Some of the things I have learnt in New Zealand:

You cannot call jandels flipflop, they are jandels

The weather is just like Inverness

I can navigate myself around a new city without getting too lost

Its easy to make friends when you have a Scottish accent

All New Zealands love the Scottish

Sport is very important and is better organised than in the UK

It snowed in July and everyone was very excited

Most public secondary schools are single sex

The rats tail hairstyle and the mullet is very much in with boys here

Everyone has a Scottish relation

I have made lots of friends that I know I will keep even when I leave NZ

New Zealand like Scotland is a very Patriotic country

I love New Zealand

x

All change...

Right, The last time I posted was a couple of weeks ago...
Sorry, once again things have been pretty crazy...

Staying at the Pollocks was just a temporary thing untill I found my feet so Ive now moved house. Im staying on the flat and its a minute walk to the bus stop and a 5 minute walk to the train so Im good for transport.
The family Im now with have young children so its lovely to be living with kids and be the big sister person again. Theyre a great family and Im really enjoying living with them.

Ive joined a homegroup from church with other people my age, mainly uni students and its really cool. awesome people, great chats and ledgend of a leader.

I go to youth group, tonight we played soccer and then did a yankee swap american style secret santa so it was brilliant :]

Im also now a part of the Vic Uni CU group so right now its the summer holidays so were doing cool things each week like photo scavenger hunts and games. Its awesome fun.

Thats some of the cool things Im doing plus loads more.

Oh and today at the supermarket I found Irn Bru, made my day :]
drinking irn bru and eating a dairy milk, taste of home...

quakes in the earth..

In the last week there have been two earthquakes.

The first being Saturday, I believe I was at the beach on the Kapiti coast so was too far out of town to feel it.
The second being Thursday and it was around ten am and me being me I had decided to have a lie in, so slept through it...

Gutted.

They were both under 5 on the rictar scale so not big but still to sleep through it, what an idiot I am :P

Music

If you know me youll know I love music and if you don't you've learnt something new about me :)
This made me smile...


"The Script taught me how to move on
Green Day taught me that government's gonna fail someday
Bruno Mars taught me to do anything for that one person I love
Eminem taught me that life is hard but you can make it through.
Taylor Swift taught me not every guy is going to treat me right
Rebecca Black taught me that Saturday is after Friday
Michael Jackson taught me to always love the people around me
Music teaches you stuff"

illness...

In the last post I had mentioned being ill.

In a combination of late nights, shouting and singing (as you do at camp) I came down with a bug thing, sore throat, headache, cough etc tonislitus style thing.

So i spent Sunday sleeping....

Its Wednesday now and its getting better and all i have is a cough and cold so its all good.

I'm thankful for those whose prayed for me and to God. Because it woulda been a bit rubbish if I'd landed in hospital within the first month...

Now i keep sneezing but that might just be cause its sunny here :P

Long time no speak...

Hey guys,

I'm really sorry that I havnt posted in a couple of weeks everythings been really crazy. When I say crazy I mean awesome crazy like Elisha and the bear....

Since last posting I have been away to SLC, been ill and made a whole load of friends :)

SLC= Student Leadership Conference

It is a week long camp for students that are part of TSCF groups in universitys across NZ and the world. The best way to describe is like an SU camp for students; so much fun. Made friends from acros the whole of Nz, from Dunedan right up to Auckland.

In my group the lectures we had were entitled "Bible overview" and we made our way through from Genesis to Revelation. In many ways it was similar to what Jonny did with us at Nytlyf last year (the 22 chapters of the bible) except we did all of it in 4 days!!

The food was great, the banter was great, spent loads of time worshipping God, learning about Him. In the evenings after the events a whole load of us would crowd into one room which wasnt much bigger than the small hall with the particians up and Play werewolves!

NYTLYF!!!!! you will love werewolves, its like a slightly more complicated version of mafia but its great because it means so many more people get to join in apart from just the doctor, detective and mafia! it is AWESOME :)

The week really challenged me in terms of my life and my faith and was an experience i look forward to repeating at the midyear conference a week before i leave in July...

Bonfire Night...

Now the plan was to walk the hill to watch the firworks down at the harbour :)

So Luke, Jamie and I walked up and stood on the hill and watch them...

Then behind us a group of people started letting of fireworks so we watched that...

After that a man from the house next to where we wearing standing walked across the road and started letting off fireworks for his kids so we could a personal display right infront of us for about 40 minutes :)

The three of us sat on that hill for over an hour watching three displays of fireworks in concession... Best bonfire night yet...

x

Grammatical errors...

I was recently informed that as a person who achieved an A at higher English my grammar and spelling in my last blog was awful so I'm sorry and now that I'm more awake and fully functioning again i will try harder :P

So since the last time I wrote a lot has happened.

I slept for approx. 16 hours after arriving which meant that Friday was more enjoyable.

On Friday I went shopping with Ailsa and bought all the random things one needs to live, such as a mobile phone sim card, new shoes etc...

The shopping centre in Lower Hutt is amazing, it's like the St James centre in Edinburgh + the Eastgate in Inveness. Execpt there is no shops that i recognise except MacDonalds and burger king hehe.

On Saturday being more fully awake I once again went shopping this time on my own and just wandered the centre, taking in all the wonderful shops... I hope over my time here I will get to spend a lot of time there as I have already picked out all my friends and family's Christmas presents. I also bought myself a beautiful watch because it was rather awkward not having one and trying to adjust to a new time.

Sunday was the most busy day but the most enjoyable. I went to all three services that the church had so that I could get a sense of what the church was like and I loved all three.

This is the best annalysis I can give of them is:

Service one- Mainly for the older generation with hymns and Psalms. The preaching was fantastic. There was a random gospel choir that sang like Sister Act, the minister commented also that this was what they reminded him of.

Service two- There is an adults service but the kids church runs alongside it. This is the one that I attended as I believe I will be spending the most time here. It was amazing, the best way I can describe it is that it is exactly like Holiday Club just with a little more personalisation such a birthday box and service prizes as people attend more often. I spent the morning observing, wandering around the groups, meeting leaders, chatting to the kids, trying to learn the dance moves to the kids songs. It was just lovely to be a part of and I cant wait to be a part of it.

Service three- Was similar to Impact cafe, it was held in the church cafe and had acoustic music and there was discussion instead of a sermon. This was a really nice service and felt the most normal and homely to me.

In amongst this we had a bbq for lunch at the house where the hockey team that Nigel coaches and their families came for lunch. This was soo mcuh fun as it was my first BBQ in NZ. Was really nice to meet more people and to spend time getting to know the Pollocks :)

So today is Monday morning and I'm not sure exactly what the day holds but i will let you all know soon...

x

Finally i'm here!

Inverness to Edinburgh to London to Singapore to Sydney to Wellington

3 continents

3 days (Although I missed out on Wednesday somehow)

And here I am at the Pollucks house in new Zealand. right on the other side of the world, as far away as you can possibly get from Inverness. The reaction I got from People on flights was that of either bravery or stupidity when they found I was travelling for a year on my own, but then if you think about it; I probably wouldnt get the same opportunity to meet people if you go with someone because you spend your time talking to them instead.

Anyway met some really lovely people, met a rather lovely australian, watched many films, had a couple of embarresing moments, shared a flight with an Australian football team (or soccer as they call it here which is weird btw cause that's really american.)

Lost a boarding pass, got a new one, chatting to a nice couple from england, ate minging plane food, slept a little bit, got very confused when time changed and then met a very nice austrlian lady who also went travelling as an 18 year old.

AANNNNNND aaw a guy with a bald head apart from the new zealand islands in tuffs of hair! picture that in your mind!

Anyway Ive been awake for about 30 hours or something so im going to go socialise, night or morning wherever you are in the world...

x

Todays been quite over whelming, i really do hate saying goodbye to people.
Today Ive said goodbye to close friends and family.
Tomorrow I say goodbye to the parents and brothers.
Not looking forward to that.
x

My last Sunday...

Today was bittersweet...

It was really really great to see everyone at church but it was horrible having to say goodbye to everyone close to me.

My youth worker asked all my friends in the youth group to come and pray for me so of course I started to cry when they all mentioned the friendships we had and the what I meant to them. I'm going to miss everyone so much.

Hilton has always felt like to home to me and everyone in it like family.

So I'm really sad to leave. Its people getting emotional that gets to me.

I keep telling myself its only 9 months but in my head it seems like forever.

So all those from church thanks for this morning, it meant alot and I'm gonna miss you loads

x

x

A week of stress, sorting and goodbyes...

That's it. It's official. I'm going to New Zealand a week today.

AHHHHHHHHHHH

On Friday my visa came through so I can work in New Zealand while I'm there.

On Monday we booked my flights.

On Tuesday my insurance was sorted.

So this week is the week of stressing, sorting everything out and saying goodbye.

I've bought lots already and I've still got a lot to get...

Camera, phone, socks, bikini, earphones?

So much to sort out:

Make sure that all my uni stuff is in order for when I get back

Get references sorted

Send away SU stuff

write cards for some occasions

Get gifts for host family

So many people to see and say bye to and not enough time :(

Hopefully i'll see all my church friends on Sunday, Lighthouse crew on Friday.

At my Birthday party I said bye to the closest people but its harder when your actually leaving.

Ah well, wish me luck x

Big girl in a Little town

I have always lived in a little town but it's always felt big to me...

Loch Ness 10 minutes drive, work 5 minutes drive, town 10 minutes drive, cinema 10 minutes drive, chippy 5 minutes drive, School 5 minutes walk, church 10 minutes drive, you would bump into someone everywhere you went?

Inverness is so familiar but just the right size!

This week I'm staying in Edinburgh and it seems so big. You have to travel to get anywhere, commuting? That's a word you never hear back home.

In approximately a fortnight I will be moving to New Zealand! NEW ZEALAND!!! Right on the other side of the World, don't think I could get any further away from Inverness.

Home is gonna be so far away... If I find Edinburgh a big city how on earth will I cope with the capital of New Zealand!