kakite aotearoa!

bye new zealand!
see you next year!

leaving in half an hour to get my bag vacuumpacked and then i'm going to africa baby!
yeah, baby yeah. good missionary speak eh?

hehe, can't believe it. i'm going to zambia today! yay.

better let hannah study.
am off (not past used by date but leaving... teehee, everythings funny at the mo!)

bye!

1 week to go!!!

Okay, i have to calm down. But i go in one week tomorrow! So effectively one week! Eeek!

Breathe Amy

I'm going to auckland tomorrow - for the day - which i thought was only something business people did and even then only cause their business was paying for it (isn't business a funny word - busi - ness: like busyness, or buzzyness, like buzy little bees in business class flying to auckland for the day!)

anyway, to auckland for the day to get my student visa - that's what i meant to say. very expensive visa but as long as i get it then it's not a total waste cuz i also get to see my grandparents and a few friends. my lovely friend cam is picking me up from the airport AND taking me to the meeting (even in auckland mid-morning traffic) so yay! for cam. then back to grandma and grandpa's as they're taking us to lunch. yay! for grandma and grandpa. then i'll spend the afternoon at my grandparents probably watching the antiques roadshow on sky or something - or doing those magic squares in the newspaper! fun. i have an illness, i know. but I think they're fun. Anyway, Jo Osbourne is taking me out to din dins somewhere or other and Joe (another person entirely - silly name i think) reckons we're catching up after his soccer practise before my flight leaves at 9:20pm. It'd be nice, but we'll see. He has a book that i leant him, that he read, but i don't think he liked it. It's a christian book called "The Sacred Romance" that i'd reccommend to anyone. Talks about lots of things but mainly how God loves our hearts and wants to win them to love him but he won't force us - how he doesn't want us to role play and play a 'religious part' in front of him, but rather to be real and honest because God is not going to get offended or anything.

Joe didn't say much about it - which could be good or bad - it's hard to tell with guys. Or some guys anyway. Cam's a little less cryptic. Thank you cam!

So that's my day trip to auckland-plan of attack. Oh, have to print of rates for work - as you can tell, i'm working hard.

Tata

mixed drinks

okay, so 2 glasses of wine should not make me dizzy. either i'm really quite intolerant or else white and red (not at the same time, but one after the other) is a bad idea.

anyhoo - just finished my degree!
printed my final assignment while this page was opening. it hasn't hit me yet. but i will have no assessment whatsoever for the next 3 months. wait for it.


no. still hasn't hit me. maybe when these final pages slip through that little hole in the wall on the third floor of the english building tomorrow. sigh.

did my celebration shopping today tho. and without breaking the bank. 2 singlets and a shirt later (oh, crap, forgot the coffee and slice... yep that's all). so pathetic excuse for a shopping spree but appropriate considering saving for africa.

i should be celebrating. but as soon as the room stops spinning (concerning wine - but yay for gifts from work... it was a hard price i paid for it... you know, $16 bucks an hour to write my essays and answer the phone for the past 3 months. it's a hard life) i will staple this assignment together and get myself a yoghurt for desert - and that fruit i took to work for lunch that i didnt' eat - there was a very appealing hot dog sitting in the warmer, despite the fact that it was in the warmer. when i feel ready to try the stairs i'll consider doing some painting. should probably check my diary and make sure i'm not meant to be anywhere.

ooh, stapler is on this desk. yay don't have to get up!

too bad, yoghurt will be nice. will get up after all.

sneazles and weazles

almost lost my sniffle. it's three weeks old but less lovable and probably less annoying than a three week old baby. in fact i've been sleeping much better than most 3-week-old parents. keep having really vivid dreams. which is weird for me. i never dream. but i do now! and i luf it. it's like watching an art film without being disappointed at the really odd ending

anyway, nice useful day. i did lots of essay without being a hermit like i have for the last 2 weeks. had coffee with Janine and made little slips of paper with my contact details during my travels to give to ppl who want them (and probably bestow on several poor souls who don't need any more paper to recycle). got paid all afternoon and did essay at the same time. considered joining aclu. but am not american and it may be an issue. but yay for civil liberties!

yay going to mr and mrs smith tonight! is it odd that civil liberties and a film get the same yay! if it helps i meant it with much more passion the first time. doesn't help? oh well.

ooh, i love this ep of friends. rachel and joey are great. grr ross. ah, talking about tv characters as if they're your in your aquaintance. and i do it more than i'd like to admit. but i think i just did.

doop de do. should go and let ian use the computer. i have been at one all day after all. yay for half price movie night tonight. yay for rugby players names that start with "lom". hehe. i picked the allblacks team for an air new zealand competition. it'd be riotous if i won considering my process of elimination:

if i've heard of you i read about you. if you sound good i put you in. if i have gaps i go back and fina a [enter empty position here] that looks good and has good bio.

i'm a disappointment to nz rugby fans. but i'm over it
i was going wasn't i?
bye

slack blogger is leaving you

In 3 weeks and 3 days I will be heading off to Zambia with Bright Hope International (www.brighthope.org). I will be travelling with a team for the first few weeks and then probably returning to one or two of the ministries we visited for a slightly longer stay. Possilby Isubilo Community Centre (http://www.isubilo.org/). Isubilo means Hope in the local Bemba language - how cool is that!

My reason for going is to get a better idea what it would be like if I were to be involved there for a longer period - like, in a few years. Working with children orphaned by aids has been something that has stirred me up for years and this trip will hopefully give me a more specific idea about how I’d like to be involved in the future. Cause i really have no idea what it would be like.

I will be leaving Zambia in late August and making my way to the university of Wyoming (http://www.uwyo.edu/) where I hope to be completing the first semester of my honours year in an exchange through the university of Canterbury. I complete my BA in English and American studies in a couple of weeks and will hopefully finish honours June 2006. (I then intend to do a teaching diploma and teach for a couple of years. If I decide to return to Zambia for a longer term then this is most likely when I look to go. At this point it's all speculation though - a little too far away to know.)

It's all exciting and terrifying but I've been busy with assessments and hardly get a chance to let it sink in. Last time i went overseas was a family holiday to oz and before that was when we moved to Hong Kong when i was 12. This is a whole nother kettle of fish. and that is a very weird saying.

I should go get on with my study now that i've made my vain attempt at keeping this up to date.

Brr, cold day. Hot drink. then study.
Adios