Tuesday, February 26, 2008

such is life

well, i'm into the routine, or shall i say "ritual" of life now. nz is great and i love invercargill. nothing too special has really happened.
basically this is my life.
i naturally wake up between 630 and 7 and i go on a run for 30-60ish minutes
then i read
then i get ready for school (which = put on swimsuit/stinky clothes), i make lunch and eat breakfast
then i ride my bike 15 min to school
then i either go kayaking or surfing. i just had my kayaking test, so we're done kayaking now. i can go through grade 1 rapids. go me. i LOVE surfing! it is my new passion in life! for real. i've now been 3 times. the biggest wave i've hit is probably 5-7 ft. the first time i dropped down a face i wrecked, but not hard. it was really windy and rainy, and my board smacked me in the face when i was carrying it to shore. i couldn't hear out of my right ear for about 15 minutes. oh well. it was so fun! haeree (my friend) and i dropped down 2 or 3 good faces. but mostly we were getting MASACRED by the giant powerful waves. i took my first wipeout. it wasn't hard to fine the surface cuz it was pretty shallow and there were no rocks or reef so no ouchies, but i was discombobulated when i got up. i was like whoa, where are the waves. oh there they are and i paddled right back out and kept going. oh and one time i rode all the way to shore so i jumped off and went to jump on my board and all the sudden CLUNK! the wind had picked it up and smacked my noggin w it in the 2 seconds i was off it. goose egg. hehe.....
isn't my schooling ruff???
we started our rockclmibing unit yesterday. we were just at a ropes course. i did a nice overhang climb. (lisa you would have been proud) it was prolly a 5.10 i think. they have a diff rating system here they said it was like a 14 or 15 and they said that's like a 5.10 i dunno. but i did it! yay! it was fun! i can't wait to get back into climbing again.
anyway. that is school monday-wednesday. on thursdays my morning routine is the same but i have family recreation for 3 hours. i have to sit in a classroom for 3 hours! life is ruff! oh adn on tuesdays i have the history of the church in nz. it is so good! evening class. my sunday school teacher/branch pres' wife, jenni ngahooroo, teaches it. and we learn a lot of maori culture and how that all sets into our church coming and being successful here. (my branch pres is maori so we learn WAY cool stuff! jenni is pakeha (not maori).)
on top of all that i have to get 70 hrs of service for my internship. i have 32.5 hrs. we've been chopping wood to sell for orpahn's aid, a great organization, if you want info on how to contribute to orphan's aid let me know. i'm in charge of all the projects we do with them. and we put together a party for the branch. that was REALLY fun! there are some pics of that on facebook under pics of me (i didn't take em. haeree did) and we're painting that playground, cleaning up a cemetary, working w the ymca, just lots of stuff. it is really fun.
then of course i have church, going out of town and playing!
speaking of going out of town, i'm going on the routeburn track tomorrow. 3 day backpacking trip. it's kinda posh. they have toilets and huts and water. i'm stoked cuz i don't have to pack a waterfilter or pack out my toilet paper. so that will be loverly.
but yeah, all is well. i love nz. if i think of any other funny stories.....well, perhaps i'll just let you read my journal when i get back. i'm much better at writing in that than on this.

1 comment:

Marcindra LaPriel said...

*weird hand/hip thing*

LOVE YOU!