The Last Supper, Time Warps and Life in Limbo

Well, it has been a while since I have written! I have been unsure of my state of everything since I have arrived home, and I have not been sure what to write. But, like every unfortunate assignment, eventually you have to put something on the paper. I still have so much processing to do. I thought that I would be able to summarize my experience when I got home, but I don't think I will be able to summarize anything for quite some time. But I can still write about the trip home!

Let's see what my memory has stored...

My last day in New Zealand made me not want to leave. Rich took us for fish and chips on the beach. It was beautiful and delicious. I truly miss the chips in NZ. Canada just can't quite figure out how to make fries. Which seems weird because all you have to do is throw them in a deep frier, but what do I know? Oh well, one more reason to return to NZ in the future.

Rich actually had a whole date night planned for us. First was 'tea' on the beach (tea is supper in NZ speak), then was cliff climbing on the beach. It was so beautiful. I am a bit scared of heights but it was still awesome. And I didn't feel so bad because I found out that Schnegg is possibly more scared of heights than me! Mwahahaaa. So we watched the sun set from atop the cliffs and had a last dip in the ocean. It was the perfect way for Rich to make us feel really bad about leaving!

And then on Thursday March 7 (the longest day in the history of my life), the taxi man came and got us and dropped us at the airport with our mountains of luggage. And Schnegg, Marit and Elisa caught their plane around lunch time. I caught mine at 11 PM. So I had a very eventful day at the airport.

First I worked on getting my bags checked. I was flying with Air New Zealand. They are sticklers for baggage weights. So good thing I was there 12 hours early. The girl made me move stuff around from bag to bag in order to make sure that they weighed 23 kgs. I had two bags to check, plus a guitar and a carry on suit case and purse. The carry on could only weigh 7 kgs. That was hard considering the suit case itself weight 5 kgs. So I essentially took everything out of it and put the stuff into my purse. I don't understand why they make people do that, but whatever. So I had an empty suit case and a purse filled with everything, including a ukulele. Fun times. But eventually it was all good and I got to go sit in the food court for about 9 hours before my plane left. Good times.

Eventually I got on the plane and I watched the Life of Pi, then I decided that it would be fun to watch all of the Lord of the Rings. I think I got 15 minutes into the first one and then I fell asleep. I got a window seat, which was awesome, and the plane was kind of fancy, and you could put up a foot rest thing, so I just curled up with that and it actually wasn't too uncomfortable. And I had my awesome eye mask so that I could sleep in darkness.

I mostly slept good, except there was a lot of turbulence, so every now and then I woke up and prayed that the plane wouldn't crash and that I wouldn't die. And I it didn't and I didn't, so that's good.

After an 11 or 12 hour flight, I made it to LAX, where I got to hang out for 5 or so more hours before the plane to Calgary left. I don't remember what I did. I think I went to the bathroom and got a Starbucks. So much fun.

The flight to Calgary was about 3 hours, and I got a whole row of seats to myself, so I curled up and slept most of the way to Calgary. And finally I got home at about 11 PM on March 7. I think that all together March 7 lasted 44 hours. It was a LONG day. But it ended well with Mom, Vicki and Gord greeting me with a welcome home sign and some Tim Hortons. Ahhhhh the taste of home.

Since I have been home I have felt really weird. I feel like everything is the same but I'm not really the same. I don't really know how to put the way I feel into words. Everyone asks "How does it feel to be home?" And I really don't know how to answer that question... Good? I guess... It is kind of like when you wake up from a dream and you find yourself in your bed and you are kind of relieved, but at the same time you wish you were still dreaming...

But I have been feeling better and better about being home as time goes on. I have been meeting up with a lot of friends which is nice, so I don't feel so alone after 6 months of constantly being surrounded by friends. And finally this past weekend I was reunited with my Jeep, Clyde.

Clyde spent the winter in my Uncle's shop up North. He was probably pretty lonely. But at least he got to be parked inside and not out on the street in the snow, which is where he would have been if he had stayed home. But, I was actually disappointed in the snow here in Calgary. There was a bit of snow when I arrived, but it was the kind of snow that is hard and sucky. The kind that has been there a while and half melted, then froze, etc. And there was a lot of grass visible. So I asked myself "where is all the snow?!?!" Well, I found it this weekend.

When I went to retrieve Clyde I found that the country up around my Grandma's house and my uncles houses has SO MUCH snow. Some of the snow drifts are as tall as me! And it is COLD up there, like -15. In Calgary it has been mostly above zero. I was glad to feel the cold on my nose and in my lungs. My favorite smell is the smell of the morning in winter. When you step outside and it is still dark out and you can see your breath and the air smells crisp and fresh. Mmmmmm. Love it. So I finally got to smell that smell and now I actually feel like I am home.

Overnight Logging Routes, Fancy Cars and A Room Full of Luggage

Time is going so FAST! It is already Wednesday, and I leave NZ on Thursday... TOMORROW! I am so excited! So excited that I actually am having fun packing. You know that you have been away from home for too long when...

On Monday we celebrated Hannah's 19th birthday! We had a lovely brunch of pancakes and such things, which I did not partake in, unfortunately. And we went on an adventure to see the Orca pod that was supposedly in the harbour, but alas, we were too late to see them. Dangalang.

In the afternoon, Hannah's amazing mother drove Marit and I to the Wellington Airport to pick up our free relocation car that she hooked us up with. It was a big, white, fancy Ford sedan of some sort with a huge hatchback to fit all of our stuff. It was beautiful. And unlike our crapmobile, Sunny, which we had on the south island, this new car could make it up hills without slowing down to 5 km per hour and we were able to go faster than the big trucks. Woah. Livin the life.

So we took off and drove about 6 hours to Taupo area, and searched for somewhere to camp near Mount Doom. We eventually found a cosy spot just off of a gravel road that appeared to be an obscure and rarely used gravel road. Kat had been wanting to freedom camp the whole trip but hadn't got the chance, so we went for it. We pulled over off of the road a few feet and pitched a tent. The ground was just perfect for tenting and sleeping on the ground. It was lumpy, with lots of random sticks and branches jabbing out and lots of random holes in the ground.

In the night, we were woken up probably ever 30 minutes by big semi trucks driving by hauling logs. We would see bright lights approaching, and the ground would shake as though there was an earthquake, and it always seemed like the truck was gonna come and run us over. Let's just say that none of us really slept. But we did learn a valuable lesson - don't tent on logging routes.

In the morning we drove by mount doom to get some photos. It was really cool. And so fitting that Mount Doom was the last site to see on our journey. I felt like Frodo at the end of his epic quest, finally seeing the end of his journey in the distance and knowing that he was almost finished. And that is the same for me. My long journey in search of God and other things has finally come to the end, of this chapter at least, and I can go home really soon. It is bitter sweet. But I think the sweet is overpowering the bitter at this moment in time.

After another many hours driving, we made it to Matamata to drop our borrowed tents off at the base and pick up the luggage that Kat was storing there. We went first to town and visited the ATM and I went to say farewell to my buddy Dublin Del and got my last delicious latte from him. We arrived at the base just in time for lunch. And we got to meet some of the new students.

It was pretty weird to be honest. But I was pretty excited because two of the youth that I worked with over outreach were supposed to be doing their DTS now. So I was so jacked. The first guy to come out and say hi was Rayner. Yay! He was one of the youth from up north that my outreach team conned into doing a DTS. And I was expecting Jackie from Fiji and I was so excited to see her, but instead another youth from the north came outside and shocked the pants off of me! Patty. He was supposed to be off somewhere else in the world doing work for God, but he ended up at Matamata. Pretty exciting!

We got to say hello and goodbye to the staff and Marit got her camera back. And then we took off to get our car to Auckland airport in time! We got the car there about 1.5 hours late, but no one seemed to notice. Praise Jesus. And then we hung out at the airport trying to decide what our next move would be. We could either stay at Kings Kids in Auckland for 2 nights, or get a ride for about an hour out to Rich's house and stay for 2 nights. We finally decided to take a taxi by Kings Kids to pick up our stored luggage and then get dropped out at Rich's house.

We got to Rich's at probably around 7:45 pm. We had assumed that although he has a job, that he would be home by 5ish. But there was no one home. So we loaded all of our luggage out onto the lawn and had a worship session on his front lawn. We worshipped for a long time. Eventually it got dark out. We got out our sleeping bags to keep us warm, and waited. Every car that approached got us all excited, and then it would drive by. We were almost ready to move all of our stuff into the back yard and sleep under the stars when a car approached, and didn't drive by...

Rich and his mom pulled up. All they saw was a pile of stuff in their yard and five bodies laying around. I think they just about had a heart attack. They thought someone robbed them and trashed their house. Nope. It was just 5 YWAMers creepily waiting around and inviting themselves to stay over for a couple of nights. Bahaha. They were relieved though, and brought us inside. All of our luggage literally took up the entire spare room. Haha.

But the highlight for sure was sleeping on the couch. I have slept on the ground every night for the past month, and that couch made my life so much better! I slept like a rock. It was beautiful. I can't even describe the amazingness that was sleeping on Rich's couch. Glorious. Praise Jesus.

And now we hang out until tomorrow when we return to the airport, for real this time. I'm so excited to get home and see my family and friends!!! My sister has been posting on my wall every now and then saying that she misses me. Now, if you knew my sister and I you would be shocked by this occurrence because mostly we fight and often I wonder if she even likes me. But she does because she misses me! Mwahahahaha. Mission complete. I miss her too and I can't wait to see her!!!! And to show her how much more tanned I am than her! :P

Trailer Park Men with Good Memories, Meat Pies and Cuba Street Performers

Time is flying here in New Zealand. Somehow we have made it from Oxford to Wellington. It all seems a blur in these last few days. All that seems to have remained in my memory is a long drive from Oxford to Picton, tenting at our campsite in Picton, a Ferry ride to Wellington and a relaxing time with the Robinsons.

In Picton we visited our old haunts. We had supper at Subway - the same subway where I had my first bite of chicken in many years. Then we went to the old ship for a beer - a ginger beer to be precise. I think that I am wishing to be a child again so that I wouldn't have to decide what to do with myself. Maybe if I continue to have ginger beer when I could have real beer I will revert back to a 10 year old. I think it could work. Then all I would have to worry about is remembering all of my beanie babies names and who to invite to my birthday party. I wouldn't have to decide what to do with my life.

We camped at the same campsite as we did a few weeks ago when we first got to the South island. There were some old hippie guys that live there and they recognized us. Hmmm. Creepy? Maybe. Good thing Schnegg sleeps outside of our tent doors like a guard dog.

On Friday we dropped off good Ol' Sunny the Nissan and took the Ferry across to Wellington. It was pretty uneventful. There were some dolphins playing around in the water by the Ferry. So I guess that was exciting. They had gluten free pies, so I decided to have my first ground beef since 2008. It wasn't all it is cracked up to be. I still don't like meat. Fancy that.

Hannah's sweetheart mom picked us up at the Ferry terminal and brought us home! We got to see Henk and Noemi and Kat! And Hannah's poor family took us all in - all 8 of us crazy YWAMers. We cooked the family some dinner that evening. It was lovely and the next day we explored Wellington. Hannah took us to her favorite street - Cuba street. It is a trendy little street with amazing coffee and good Opshops. I was amazed at the prices in the Opshops. Thrifting in Calgary is so popular/trendy that it is actually expensive to by second hand stuff at the trendy little thrift shops, but in Wellington the expensiveness has not caught on quite yet. I bought a few things that I am quite excited about. I hope they will fit in my luggage...

There were lots of random buskers out and about on Cuba street. There was this one guy who could beatbox like dubstep. It was so cool. He was so good that I gave him a dollar. Lucky guy. We also sat down for a bit to watch a performance. There were two girls performing in the street. They were like those circus performers that twirl around while hanging on ropes. We thought it would be sweet. And the beginning was, they just did some acrobatics and such, but then it got weird. One of the girls started to strip down. And there were children watching. It was so strange. She was already only wearing a skin tight body suit, then she took it off and was only wearing a bra and panties. And the other girl stripped down to a nude suit and stuffed the crotch to make it look like she was a man. It was so weird. We left. So I don't know how the performance ended. I am glad that I don't know.

Then we said our farewells to Noemi, Henk and Rebekah who caught the bus up to Aukland, and they are leaving today - the 4th. Schnegg, Marit, Elisa, Kat and I are still at Hannah's. Yesterday we went to church and then had lunch with her family. It was really fun. Then we ordered pizza and watched a movie.

Today is Hannah's birthday! She is 19 today. I actually can't believe that she is only 19. We are going to have some breakfast together soon - pancakes and scrambled eggs for everyone except for me! Haha, I get the usual oat meal. Mmmmmmm. And then this afternoon we are getting a FREE rental car to transport us up to Aukland. Sweet As, Bro. Hannah's family knows a guy who works at a car rental place and he hooked us up with a free relocation car to take from Wellington to Aukland! And it is BIG! So we can fit all our stuff. Sweet deal. So tonight we are gonna head to Taupo, stay overnight and hopefully catch a glimps of Mount doom before departing to Matamata and then to Aukland for our last days in New Zealand.

I can't help but be SUPER excited to go home. I just really really want to go home. But I think it is mostly just because I know that I am going home soon. It is like when you have to go to the bathroom. When you are not near a toilet you don't have to go AS bad, but when you get closer and closer to a toilet, you have to go worse and worse because you know that you can. It is like that for me and going home.

But the thought of going home is bringing up thoughts of the future. What will I do? Who knows really. I know that I need a job, but where? And I could take my MCAT so that I could apply for Medical school at some point in the near future... I don't know. I wish that God would tell me. But I think it is one of those things where he would be happy no matter what I do, so I should do what I want. Ughh. I guess I will be able to figure it out though...

The Steepest Road in the World, Awkward Church Barbecues, Sun Burns and a Welcome in Oxford

Steph's adventures on the South Island have almost come to a close. I have two more nights before I catch the ferry to Wellington. It is bitter/sweet I suppose. I love it here, but I am so ready to go home. But, I will be home in 8 days and I know that as soon as I arrive I will be sad to have left New Zealand. However, there are SO MANY things that I am excited for at home: SNOW, Parents, Meine Schwester, Mes Amis, My BIG BED with MEMORY FOAM (no more thermarest on the ground in a tent, which I roll off of every night and wake up with something hard jabbing into my back), REAL FOOD, Clyde, My Clothes, Snowturd, TV, UNLIMITED WiFi, So many other things mostly related to normalcy...

A few days ago (who really knows how many???) the little crap-mobile Nissan Sunny barely made it up the steepest street in the world. But he did it. And we didn't die, and the car remained relatively scratch free - however, the roller-coaster-ride spent 1/8 of a tank of gas. I guess it was worth it though.

On Sunday, we went to Church! Surprise! We went to C3 Church in Dunedin. It was such a cute little church in an old brick building, and most of the people in the church were students. I guess that Dunedin is mainly a University town. And it is so super awesome, filled with old buildings and lots of hills and lots of students! Some of the church people were having a barbecue at their house to kick off the new school year and invited us over. It was mostly awkward, but also awesome. I ate a sausage, my first sausage in many years. It was not good. Yuck. I don't like Kiwi sausages, no offense.

After quite some time sitting in a driveway eating sausage sizzles, we embarked on another long leg of our journey. All the way to Lake Tekapo. It was about a 4 hour drive. But on the way we stopped at Moeraki to see the round rocks. It's pretty weird. Just a collection of perfectly circular boulders on a beach. They are almost as tall as me, and perfectly spherical. It really looks like they were put there by extraterrestrial activity, but scientists claim that they are just rock bubbles. I'm not really sure how they made it out onto the beach, but I picture it like this: Back in the day when the volcanoes were still active (maybe they still are? I don't know), the volcano erupted and shot these massive boulders of molten lava up into the sky, and then they rolled down the hill, and hardened and landed on the beach.

And we camped at Lake Tekapo for 2 nights. It was the first time that we have been somewhere warm enough to wear shorts and a tank top since we were in Queenstown. I have come to the conclusion that if a place is far enough south for penguins to be wandering around, it is too cold for me. Lake Tekapo was lovely. We tanned all day one day. Lovely. It made up for the fact that all I had eaten in ages was gluten free pasta with tomato sause, or rice. Plain rice. Mmmmmm. And that's all that I ate in Tekapo too, but it's ok because I got to tan.

I tanned so much that I now have a very distinct line on the side of my face from my sunglasses. Sweet As, Bro.

And now we are staying at the YWAM Oxford base outside of Christchurch. It's really nice here. Way more homey than the Matamata base. And we get free WiFi and free laundry. BONUS! And the food is amazing! Last night we had chicken and potatoes. And for lunch today there was hummus and veggies (and pitas for those of us who can eat gluten). And then we went out for din din in Christchurch in a restaurant on the beach. It was good. I had steak. Weird. I haven't had steak in years. It tasted like steak.

We also went to this sweet mall in Christchurch that is made out of containers - like those train container box things. It's pretty neat. They put it up after the earthquakes. Way to go Kiwi's - making a tourist attraction out of a natural disaster. I was surprised though, there is still a lot of mess left over from the earthquakes. A LOT of the roads downtown were closed off, and there was a lot of collapsed buildings. It made it a little difficult to navigate!

Yesterday, I had an embarrassing moment. I really hope that no one noticed... When we arrived at the Oxford YWAM base, I changed out of my shorts into some India pants, just incase the shorts were not YWAM appropriate. I put on a pair of India pants that were not freshly clean. I proceeded to wear them all day, and then before bed I noticed that a pair of underwear was peaking out through the leg hole, and it had been for the WHOLE TIME. Oh man.

And tomorrow morning we drive to Kaikoura to see some whales and then on to Picton where we will spend the night before we drop our car off in the morning and catch the ferry! Woohooo!