my journey

I woke up suddenly in fright.  As my eyes adjusted to the darkness with a small shadow of light filtering in from the window's curtains, I felt uncomfortable and displaced.  Where was I?  Everything seemed foreign to me; nothing felt like the comforts of home.  I could not shake the nervous dreams that attacked my brain.  I breathed shallowly, sitting up, gazing upon the blank walls of my new home.  I longed for the simple comforts of my old bed, its cozy blankets, and calming whir of the ceiling fan.  The new flat took on a completely sterile feel as I thought back to my old apartment, filled with memories in the photographs, books, stuffed animals, and collectibles that had previously surrounded me.  Here, I could find hardly anything to match this comfort.  I struggled to breathe deeply, working to re-focus my thoughts on trying to be comfortable and feeling safe, while attempting to fall back asleep...

I am working hard to make this new flat feel like home.  It wasn't until the middle of the night, that something reminded me intensely of home.  I miss it.  I miss all of the little things that I took for granted, that surrounded me daily, making me feel comfortable in the home I spent four years to establish.  I thought it would be easy, packing up all of my belongings, going on hiatus from all of my stuff.  And now, I long for nothing more than a photograph of reassuring smiles, my comfy blanket, and my DVR remote.  I am a creature of habit, and taking a step back to examine my last month and a half is shocking.  Completely out of character, I have challenged everything I've ever known in taking this adventure.  I work to rely on faith, and trusting in the comforts that I am able to find here.  Whether it be through Bret, Skype conversations and video chats with my family and friends, and the randomly supportive e-mails of students and children past, I strengthen my will, and congratulate myself on my hugely successful accomplishment as often as I can, as I journey on in peace.  

Barbecuein'

Yesterday we headed to the coast to attend a barbecue at our first NZ get-together.  I had met our host, Jessie, at my first interview at the gym and we hit it off right away.  She's from Oregon, and she's lived in New Zealand with her kiwi husband for the past four years.  Their home was located a short walk away from the beach, so we boarded the bus in the early afternoon and made our way out!

     

The weather here is so up and down.  The sunshine and warmth of Friday had disappeared by yesterday and it was windy, cloudy, and spitting rain sporadically.  Although discouraging, we weren't about to let the weather get us down.  We arrived at Jessie's and the festivities began.  We spent a majority of the day meeting new friends, hanging out outside and playing ping pong in the garage, and getting the barbecue ready.  I think I ate way too many chips...my tummy was not happy the rest of the night.  I actually dabbled a bit at the barbecue with Jessie's husband Jonny, helping him make patties and sausages.  We rolled the sausages in thinly sliced sandwich bread and slathered them with tomato sauce (ketchup).  They tasted like cinnamon and the the tomato sauce complimented them nicely!  After a long afternoon in the wind, we ducked out after dark for the long bus ride home.

   

Me and Jonny at the BBQ

Their dog Indy (short for Indiana Jones)

  

Even though I had a great time at the barbecue, it was exhausting meeting new people...it is something I haven't done in a long time.  It can be a sad reminder that I am far from home and the friends that truly know me.  Therefore, I have been spending most of today relaxing, watching movies, and napping.  And making pumpkin chili to celebrate the season (that we're missing back home)!

el día de los muertos

Besides Halloween, on November 1st, my Spanish class usually celebrated the Day of the Dead, a traditional religious holiday in Mexico.  We would decorate accordion-like paper skulls and do culture activities about the holiday's significance in Mexico.  For at least the entire month of November, the skulls would adorn my back wall, decorated in costumes and sparkles, and we would vote on the best ones.

I even went so far as purchasing Day of the Dead shoes.  Over zealous Spanish teacher, I know.  I came across a really cute pair of Skechers flats, little Mary Janes, that were black canvas with the white calaveras (skulls) decorated traditionally across the shoe.  I picked up a pair for myself and a fellow teacher, and I wore mine frequently with my dress clothes to celebrate.  Unfortunately, they didn't make it into the suitcase to NZ; they would have gone nicely with my Halloween outfit yesterday!

Today we are attending our first barbecue down-down under!  I will post more about that tomorrow!

Happy Halloween!

I really miss Halloween; it isn't celebrated here in NZ.  Sure, you can find the random costume, or 'Halloween' store special, but there's no trick-or-treating, dressing up, or pumpkin patches.  It doesn't really feel like the time of year for Halloween either.  It's warm, the sun stays out until nearly 8 pm, and instead of the leaves changing and falling, the flowers are blooming and the trees turning green.
   

So there will be no celebrating today...I made pancakes this morning while listening to Monster Mash, and I plan on making pumpkin chili to cheer me up.  The few television shows that we get are running Halloween episodes of the sitcoms and talk shows, and it's making me miss fall and home.  Since we won't be doing anything major to celebrate Halloween this year, I thought I would post a few pictures of Halloweens past to remind me of good friends and memories.

 

Me and my sister---a long time ago

 

Me and Jody---black cats!

 Andrew and me---gothic punk and school girl

 

KT, Jess, and me---flapper, devil in a blue dress, and cowgirl

 

Jess, Brig, KT, and me---devil in a blue dress, schoolgirl, cleopatra, and teacher barbie

 

Bellevue Berry Farm

 

Taraline at Pooley's Pumpkin Patch for annual bonfire 

   

And if I had it, I would totally post it, the infamous Halloween commercial of 1989.  Andrew (see second pic) and I were in a Halloween commercial for trick-or-treat safety for Channel 6 News that they played all throughout the Halloween season...for a good six years!  We were dressed as Batman and a clown (respectively) and my mom was the mother clown.  Basically it was footage of us trick-or-treating in daylight, and then our mom checking our candy to make sure it was safe.  At the very end of the commercial, a doctor from Children's Hospital is talking to the camera as the kids knock on his door for candy.  Of course, I am turning around, giving a longing (but adorable) look at the camera.  It was quite cute, and if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about!  

    

I feel a little bit better reminiscing about my memories of Halloweens past.  I hope that yours is filled with little tricks and lots of treats!

What I'm reading...

We've visited many bookstores here in New Zealand, in both Wellington and Christchurch.  One of the first books that caught our attention was The Six Pack, a series of books comprised of short stories and poetry written by kiwis.  Bret was really wanting to buy the book, but we made a pact to wait until we found work.

After Bret found his job, I surprised him with the first book in the series.  In an attempt to surround ourselves in the kiwi culture, we have splayed our New Zealand tour books and The Six Pack across the coffee table, and taken to reading the local newspapers.  The books serve as a gentle reminder to get out as often as we can, and until we plaster scenic posters on our new flat walls, they are doing a wonderful job of encouraging us to work especially hard during the weeks so we can enjoy our weekends travelling the scenic south island.

I've just started reading The Six Pack in my free time.  It's bearable, which is nice, because I haven't read in a while and I was initially worried if my attention span would sustain.  However, the stories are brief, draw you right in, and are great reflections of a kiwi.  I'm enjoying reading the book, as I am finding that living here for a month helps me understand the references to various stores and certain jargon that they're using (see previous post).  If nothing else, it will be a wonderful souvenir to bring back to the states and lend to friends and family for a little sample of NZ!

New Zealand Dictionary

A few New Zealand words I have come across and their American translations:

nappies  =  diapers
tomato sauce  =  ketchup
fillets (pronounced fill-its)  =  fillets (as in filet mignon)
jandals  = flip-flops
biscuits/bickies  =  cookies
lolly  =  candy
car park  =  parking lot
trolleys  =  shopping carts
prams  =  strollers
capsicum  =  green bell pepper
dodgy  =  not good/bad (as in dodgy part of town)
entree  =  appetizer
mains  =  main dish (American entree)
gumboots  =  wellies (rubber boots/galoshes)
petrol  =  gasoline
wardrobe  =  closet for clothes

Just a few...more to follow!

The Cabbage Tree

In July, my family and I took a trip to San Diego, California, our regular vacation hot spot.  I have been there too many times to count since I was born, and it is a definite favorite.  We always go to our favorite restaurants, shopping areas, and beaches, and this time was no different.  One of our favorite stores to browse through is actually an art gallery called Sally Huss.  She paints whimsical animals, mermaids, and people with inspirational quotes; I have several of her prints and notepads with dolphins and teaching quotes.  I was on a mission to get a gift for my friend Elizabeth, who's baby was born the day before we left.  The gallery used to be in a popular tourist shopping spot, Seaport Village. My sister and I arrived to San Diego on a separate flight before our parents, so we decided to shop and relax in Seaport until they arrived.  We knew that the Sally Huss shop had relocated to our most favorite shopping location, La Jolla, but we were intrigued and inspired to find what had taken its place in the Village.

We walked around, perusing all of the shops, each devoted to different things: cats, beer, hot sauce, kites, coffee mugs, magic, t-shirts, etc. We never actually buy anything from Seaport (except at Sally Huss), but it is always entertaining to check out the shops.  For whatever reason, we couldn't find the old Sally Huss store, and resided to chilling out on the grass next to the harbor until our parents came to pick us up.

A while later, they called to inform us they were on their way.  As we left for the parking lot to meet up, we finally found what used to be Sally Huss.  I could not believe my eyes; my previous favorite store was now called The Cabbage Tree, and was a store specializing in gifts from New Zealand!  No way! It couldn't be!  There were no other stores in Seaport specializing in gifts from a specific country, and then here's one with gifts from NZ?!  I was dumbfounded.  The store housed warm sheepskin and merino wool, intricate jewelry, and more tourist books, photos, and posters than you could imagine! I was shocked, and was convinced this finding was a 'sign', an affirmation that I was meant to go to New Zealand.  In fact, since arriving here, I have seen other stores called The Cabbage Tree, and I find it incredibly amazing that I stumbled across one of their stores in San Diego, California, of all places...with pictures to prove it!