Let the farewells begin....

The fact that I have only 2 days of internship left has finally started to sink in. Last night we had our Year 13 performance evening, which was very entertaining and a wee bit sentimental. Almost everyone in the class performed, including myself (singing jazz with Andrew on piano) and Stephen (who played a piano/clarinet duet with Hannah that he composed in his 7th form year, when he was the same age as our students are now). Then, for the grand finale, the whole class got together to sing one of Andrew's original compositions, aptly entitled "Leaving Song." Andrew sang a few verses solo, I wrote my own verse to sing solo, and then the whole class sang the chorus in harmony:

This year has been a journey across the ocean wide.
There was so much for me to learn but you stood there by my side.
And now that I am leaving too, it's time that we must part.
You've been an inspiration and you're always in my heart.

It's sad to see you're leaving as we see you on your way.
For the years you have been teaching, we wish that you could stay.
And for all we've learned together we thank you in every way.
As we move into the future, we hope you'll come back someday.

Then this morning at staff briefing, Steve Chapman (HVHS Principal) thanked me publicly for my contributions to the Music Dept., gave a nice speech about me and my time here, and wished me well for the future. The speech was met with applause from the entire staff - it was such a nice tribute.

In the middle of the day there was a knock on our office door. It was Helen, a student in Katriona's music class, with a card and a gift for me. The card said something like, "I heard that you are leaving this Friday. I want you to know that even though you didn't teach our music class, it was really good to have you help with the Barbershop Chorus. You have an amazing voice! It has been so great to get to know you. Now that you are leaving, we are all crying... like this!" (followed by an adorable anime sketch of somebody on their knees, wailing away, crying streaming fountains of tears). She gave me a silver hair barette speckled with lime green gemstones... my favourite colour! It was such a surprising and thoughtful gift... it really made my day.

Then in Spell 5 (last period of the day) Stephen and I were deliberately kept out of the classroom for the first couple minutes of our Year 11 class, and when we were called in we were met with all of our students cheering, and a room full of streamers, balloons, noise-makers, and 2 ridiculously giant gold party hats. The students gave us gifts, baked a cake, brought food and drinks, and scrawled out "Goodbye Mr. Lange and Miss Campbell!" across the whiteboard. We had tons of fun, ate lots of food, took some pictures, and then spent the last half of the spell composing and recording an original piece for balloons, party favours, Pringles cans, and a guitar and a Coke bottle (because we had to do something musically enriching with the lesson, right?). We notated our composition with a graphic score on the whiteboard, and then recorded it on Stephen's laptop using the program Audacity. I also recorded it on my video camera, so I'm sure you'll all be keen to listen to it when I get back to Canada, right? ;o)

After school I said farewell at Volante rehearsal. Leaving Roger was particularly difficult, as he has been so good to me during my time in NZ, both at HVHS with Volante and in Wellington Youth Choir. WYC has been such a huge part of my growth here in New Zealand, and that opportunity would not have been possible without Roger's thoughtful offer for me to sing with the choir for the remainder of the season. I got choked up as I hugged him, and the choir applauded as I left the room. What a great group of people.

Stephen, Gary, Katriona and I went for afternoon tea at the New Dowse, and I was presented with a gift on behalf of the 3 of them - a card with endearing personal messages from each of them, a set of beautiful NZ greeting cards and envelopes, and a blown glass koru necklace. We visited over tea, smoothies, hot chocolate, etc. and then disbanded for the evening.

So, my day was full of farewells, parties, gifts, feel-good moments, and a few tears mixed in there too. And don't forget those ridiculous gold party hats. Now I'm gearing up for my last 2 days at HVHS and a farewell party at our place on Saturday night before flying away from the Wellington airport on Monday. I will be crying my eyes out when I leave here.... but what a beautiful 4 months it has been.

I am the luckiest.

Bookworm

This comic (from nataliedee.com) serves no purpose other than it makes me giggle every time I see it. SO ridiculous. So here you go. Hope it tickles your fancy like it does mine.

*shakes head* I love stupid comics. Le sigh.

Four strong winds....

What a wonderful weekend. Tommy and I travelled to meet each other in the middle, and spent a day and a half hanging out in Palmerston North from Friday evening to early Sunday morning. We explored the market on Saturday and giggled at silly t-shirts ("Dyslexics untie!," "If you can read this, MAKE ME A SANDWICH!," etc.), ate fudge until our stomachs hurt, sang and played his guitar in the park, harmonized to every song we knew in common, took pictures, saw a movie, attempted to write a song together and only got through the first line... and then said farewell at 6am today. The goodbye was certainly bittersweet, as I knew it would be, but we crammed as much into the weekend as we possibly could, and it was worth every second. As I said before in "Growing Up," knowing Tommy has been such a privilege, and he has taught me more about myself in the past month than I could have imagined. Funny how that works.

Here are a couple photographic glimpses of the past 2 days, plus a bonus video clip of our singalong from last night. At about midnight we got his guitar out in the kitchen of our cabin (it ended up being too cold and windy to set up the tent) and sang "Four Strong Winds," one of the most quintessential Canadian folk songs. I taught him a geography lesson (i.e. "Do you know where Alberta is?") and we harmonized until we could barely keep our eyes open. It was musical and meaningful and just plain fun. What a guy.

He's already asked me to show him around Saskatoon when he comes for a visit - maybe we can find a gig somewhere and invite you all to the show. :o) Watch out - we'll be dynamite! Haha.

In front of the fountain in the Square - Palmerston North, NZ

We pulled out the guitar again at a park that was about a 2 minute walk from the theatre, played a few songs, then literally ran to catch our show... because making music is better than watching previews, right? :o)

And finally, our midnight rendition of "Four Strong Winds." It's perfect because it's imperfect. I love it. And I hope you do too.

Four strong winds that blow lonely,
Seven seas that run high,
All these things that don't change, come what may.
If the good times are all gone,
And I'm bound for moving on,
I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way.

Sending me a letter?

If so, please do it today! Including today, I have only 12.5 days left in New Zealand! To avoid causing Fiona and Sam to forward my mail back to Canada, please make sure you get to the post office asap. If you are not planning to send me a letter, then fine. Be that way. I will remember it, and hold a grudge against you for years to come.

Just kidding. Thanks to everyone who has sent letters and packages - it has been fun getting mail here over the past 3.5 months! I can't believe it's almost time to go home... as they say, time flies when you're having fun!

Speaking of having fun, this Labour Day long weekend was a good one, as we rounded up the group (Fi, Sam, Richard, Kirsten, and me) for 2 days in Wanganui and Waitomo. We saw the Waitomo glowworm caves, and Fish and I sang "Pie Jesu" in the cathedral room, which was pretty neat.... we also went jet boating on the Whanganui River, and visited the Bridge to Nowhere - see Fi's and Sam's blogs for pictures and other highlights of the trip. :o)

Now I'm at Upper Hutt College, where I will be observing music classes for the day (and in the music teacher's non-contact spell I will be sitting in on one of Fiona's maths classes!). I have only 6.5 days of teaching at HVHS left... CRAZY. We're having a few farewell-type things at the school over the next week or so. My Year 13s are having a performance night, and Andrew and I will be performing 2 jazz pieces (vocal/piano), which should be a blast, if we can ever figure out which tunes to do! :o) Then next Saturday (Nov. 3rd) we're having a farewell theme party at our house - you must come dressed as very obviously kiwi, Canadian, or some other nationality. I've got enough Canadian garb to outfit half of the Hutt Valley, so come one, come all!

Must run. Looking forward to camping with Tommy this weekend in Palmi, then enjoying my last week at HVHS before heading off to Brisbane to visit Emma! Yay!

Until next time, cheers!

Trust me

Trust me mama
The wolf in sheep’s clothing looks less fluffy with age
And I promise I’ll look both ways because you taught me to.
But birds can’t fly with tied wings, so
Trust me mama, trust me
Enough to let me go
It’s a great big world out there but you have prepared me for it well
So rest your mind and let me fly
Trust me mama

Trust me mama
Enough to let me get hurt and to learn
That loving with a whole heart that may be broken
Is better than never loving enough to feel pain
Trust that I will be ok
And that I will never be too far from you
Trust me mama

Trust me mama
Enough to let me fall and scrape my knees on the pavement
And please, have faith in my strength to rise again, stronger
Trust me to love and be loved
Because nobody ever learned from not trying

But birds can’t fly with tied wings, so
Trust me mama, trust me
Enough to let me go
It’s a great big world out there but you have prepared me for it well
So rest your mind and let me fly
Trust me mama

50 random things - #51-100

For a list of "random things #1-50," refer to the link on the right hand column of my blog (under "About the Author"). Here comes the list, #51-100! Somehow I can't figure out the numbering, so just add 50 to each number and it'll be all good. Again, in no particular order:

1. My favourite time signature is 6/8.
2. Fewer things freak me out more than walking down a stopped escalator. Walking up is ok, but walking down is just trippy.
3. I have an affinity for necklaces and sunglasses. You will very rarely see me without a necklace.
4. I have chubby baby hands with dimply knuckles. This may have been cute at age 2, but now that I’m 22 I feel as though this might be a little odd.
5. I cry at the end of the movie “Dead Poet’s Society” every time.
6. If I focus on the sound of a clock ticking, I inevitably start subdividing it in 8th notes, 16th notes, and various triplet patterns. It becomes very annoying, very quickly.
7. I am good at mini-golf, but can’t play regular golf because I always want to swing the club like a baseball bat.
8. All of my piercings and tattoos have memories of friends associated with them. I believe that body modification is a bonding experience, so I always bring friends along (belly button = David; helix = Allyson; conch = Kari; nose = D-Bo; 8th note tattoo = Misha; tragus = Nick; koru tattoo = Kirsten)
9. I have never experienced a pain more intense than getting a tattoo on my rib cage. I’m sure that even childbirth will pale in comparison.
10. Every year I try to make a note of announcing when the day, month, and year are the same (i.e. “It’s July 7th! 07/07/07!”). Next year I will do the same on August 8th.
11. A sunset on the beach takes my breath away.
12. I find the notion of musicians playing in time with their heartbeats prior to the invention of metronomes completely romantic and human. I should try it sometime, just to see what it’s like.
13. Don’t ask me if I’ve seen a certain movie, because I probably haven’t.
14. I have a horrible tendency to fall asleep during movies. Most of my friends have accepted this fact. My friend Dave somewhat jokingly insists that I find his company so boring that I could fall asleep while watching a movie at his house, even if I had just awoken from a 12-hour slumber. Sorry, Dave.
15. I far prefer driving standard/manual to automatic.
16. I have never bungy jumped, but I did the Shotover Canyon Swing in Queenstown, New Zealand, which is similar to bungy in that you jump (or do a backflip, or a handstand, etc.) off of a tall platform – 109m in this case – into a long free-fall. Doing a backflip off of a cliff was the scariest thing I have ever done in my life. I screamed all the way down, and then went back for more. I think doing the Canyon Swing proved to me that I’m braver than I give myself credit for, and as such I am now keen to do both the bungy jump and sky dive.
17. I love inspirational quotes.
18. I am convinced that Ella Fitzgerald and I are soul mates because we share the same middle name (albeit different spellings). I could listen to her singing for hours on end, and I have been known to do just that on long road trips.
19. I believe that you don’t fully appreciate the beauty of your own country until you leave it. Travel has an amazing way of opening your eyes to what has always been around you.
20. When I was in my teen years, I had a shelf that ran the length of 3 out of 4 of my bedroom walls at home. Amazingly, I was able to fill all three shelves full of picture frames. I had something like 56 picture frames in my bedroom at the time. Cleaning around them was a bugger, but at least I was constantly reminded of my rich life and my wonderful friends.
21. I love karaoke to a ridiculous extent. The guys at one of the karaoke bars in Saskatoon know my friends and me by name (and sometimes by song choice). It’s somewhat embarrassing, but more entertaining than anything.
22. I used to be a prolific letter-writer. I had pen pals from around Canada and the States, and the occasional overseas one. I don’t write as many letters by hand as I used to – I suppose technology has made it easier to keep in touch through the Internet. Still, somehow there is something so heart-warming about receiving real “snail mail” from somebody.
23. I am addicted to Facebook. Whoever created that website is a genius.
24. I keep journals in which I write anything and everything that comes to mind before I go to bed at night. Sometimes I think that I’d hate for other people to read them, and sometimes I think that it would be interesting for people to stumble across them after I’m long gone. I doubt that anything I write in there would be a surprise to anyone, as I am very open about my emotions.
25. I love having girls’ nights in with my friend (and now roommate) MacKenzie, in which we have “Sex and the City” marathons where we stay up for hours watching episode after episode, eating Crispers in our pyjamas, giggling, and engaging in plenty of girl talk.
26. The more I think about it, the more I believe that everything happens for a reason. This may or may not be true, but it sure makes those tough moments in life a lot easier to bear.
27. I am not religious, but I do consider myself to be spiritual. I used to feel like I needed to identify with an organized group, but the older I get the more I realize that I am perfectly comfortable believing what I believe and living my life the way in which I choose to live it. I believe that the higher power comes from all around and deep within (which I understand are contradictory statements); my “faith” is in myself, in the people that I love, and in the beauty of the small things in life.
28. I know almost nothing about politics. It’s sometimes embarrassing to admit how little I actually know. I cringe at the thought of political discussions around the dinner table. Can we talk about music or travel instead?
29. The smell of fuel is strangely comforting to me. I’m sure I associate it with good childhood memories of family road trips.
30. I can do this weird thing with my tongue where I can curl it into a clover formation. This is clearly one step ahead of the rest of you, who likely can only curl yours into a U shape. I’m actually not sure how I can do that, as neither of my parents or my sister can do it. I only discovered this “talent” when I was in my late teen years.
31. I am always in awe when I look out the window of an airplane to discover that I’m flying above the clouds, across mountain ranges, or across the patchwork quilt fields of the Canadian prairies. I love taking pictures out the window, especially if the wing of the plane is in the shot.
32. I have always decorated my lockers at school with colourful magnets and pictures of friends and family. Now that I am in my 5th year of university, I still decorate my locker. I’m not sure what I’ll do when I’m finished school – I guess I’ll just have to find a corner of my desk in my music office for a bulletin board collage or something.
33. I have magnetic poetry on my fridge, and I can sit there for hours coming up with different combinations of words. Sometimes I am actually quite pleased with my creations, and I have even been known to submit my magnetic poetry for writing assignments at university.
34. I can’t clean my room unless I’m listening to music with my windows (or at least my curtains) open.
35. I sometimes have a “tongue on the flagpole” mentality. When I visited the Waitomo glowworm and Aranui caves in Waitomo, NZ, we were clearly and strongly warned against touching any of the limestone formations because of their fragility. The entire time walking through the caves, I felt the urge to stick my hand out and poke a stalactite. I’m sure if the guide hadn’t warned us not to touch anything, I probably wouldn’t feel the need to do so. I guess I’m still a child in that sense.
36. I miss having my hair in braids. If I had enough money, I would have my hair braided every year, with a different funky colour each time. I’ve had these braids done three times; the first was brown with golden highlights, the second was black with burgundy, and most recently I had black with bright purple. I think I might opt for black or brown with deep blue and green next time, just to mix it up a little (and perhaps to match my tattoo – see #59).
37. I get overly excited when I’m saving up for something specific. When I was in Grade 11 I put away tip money from my waitressing job for a month so that I could buy my video camera (which, although outdated, I still use today). Before I went to Austria and Czech Republic, I again put away all of my tip money from my summer job to be put towards the cost of that choir tour. My next plan is to save up money to travel to Germany in 2010 with two of my best mates from New Zealand, and I’m already excited about it.
38. I am a list-maker. I don’t think I could be nearly as organized as I am without them. However, I don’t think I could ever top my Auntie Diane, who once made a list of lists that she had to make. Now that’s impressive.
39. Not a day goes by where I don’t think of how lucky I am to have such an amazing family and great friends. Sometimes I wonder if I tell them often enough, although in my heart I know I do.
40. Every once in a while I’m reminded of how much I miss the original old-school Nintendo. I was the master of “Adventure Island,” a game that I inherited from my cousins Brent, Sean, and Scott (and Auntie Donna and Uncle Jack) after their realization that I was so in love with this game that I would wake up at 6am on a Saturday (while on summer holidays!) to play it in their living room. I’m pretty sure Auntie Donna even has a picture of me in my nightgown playing this game, circa 1992.
41. I love doing little things for people when they’re least expecting it. It tickles me when people do the same for me.
42. I get a great deal of satisfaction out of stapling the cover page of an essay or an assignment and handing it in.
43. I got Sponge Bob Square Pants “sippy cups” in my Christmas stocking as a joke a couple years ago, and I actually use them. I think the packaging said something like “For ages 3+,” and my argument is that I am older than 3 and should therefore be able to drink my chocolate milk from my Sponge Bob sippy cup in peace, without the risk of being ridiculed by my friends (I do have an extra sippy cup though, if you’d like to join me for some chocolate milk).
44. If it were socially acceptable to wear pyjama pants in public, I would probably do it a lot more than I do. As it stands, I only wear pyjama pants to the grocery store late at night (probably to buy chocolate milk for my Sponge Bob sippy cup – see #93).
45. Living through a winter season in the southern hemisphere has made me realize how much I appreciate snow and the idea of a “white Christmas.” There is something so cozy about freezing your butt off in the car on the way to visit friends and family, and then warming yourself up by the fire in the company of good people, good food, and laughter. This Christmas will be especially meaningful to me for that reason.
46. I had my tonsils removed when I was 17, and I had just finished my run as “Gertie” in the musical “Oklahoma!” The surgeon and the anaesthetist had both seen the show, so before they put me under for surgery, they requested that I do the horribly irritating and piercingly loud laugh that defines the character one more time while I still could. I vaguely remember starting to do the scream-like laugh, then fading out as they put the mask over my face. I’m sure anyone within earshot would have been wondering what the hell had just happened.
47. When I was a young child my parents allowed me to be creative with the way that I dressed, only stopping me when my fashion decisions were potentially dangerous. I suppose I now understand that wearing slouch socks and a mini skirt in the middle of a Canadian winter is not the best idea. Thanks mom and dad.
48. I sometimes wonder what I will be like in 5 years, and where my life will have taken me. Then I think back to what I was like 5 years ago, and I try to imagine whether I am now who I thought I would be in 5 years time, 5 years ago (does that make sense?).
49. I used to fight my curly hair. Now I enjoy it, as it is a part of what makes me who I am.
50. I used to spend my summer days as a child setting up lemonade stands with the neighbourhood kids to make enough money to go to the waterslides at Kinsmen Park or to buy candy from the Mac’s store on 15th Avenue. In the summer after Grade 4, a few friends and I decided to make our own business called “Kal’s Café” (which stood for Kendra, Ashlee, Lauren; we were later joined by our friend Melissa, so we said that the S in “Kal’s” could stand for her last name, Sommerville). Ashlee’s dad built us a café out of a few 2x4s, some lattice board, and a bit of cardboard. Amazingly, that café weathered several storms and still managed to be open for business in my backyard for the entire summer. We sold 5-cent candies, lemonade, and tickets for fun activities like jumping on my mini-trampoline and walking on stilts. We made $30 profit that summer, and we spent it on a pizza party in a tent in my backyard in the fall. I still smile and laugh when I think about that summer, and how much fun we had riding our bikes around the neighbourhood shouting “Kal’s Café! Open today! At Lauren’s house!” It’s only now that I’m older that I realize how much my parents delighted in the small things as my sister and I grew up (like the time we made perfume out of flower petals and water), and I am so thankful that they allowed us to be creative and excited about our many little projects. (And while we’re at it, who could forget the time that I dressed up as a gypsy, complete with hoop earrings and a mini-basketball covered in tinfoil, and sat on the curb outside our house telling fortunes?).

Road trip time!

In about 15 minutes I will be hitting the road with Fish, Sam, Kirsten, and Richard - we're heading up to Wanganui and Waitomo this weekend to check out the glow worm caves and the "bridge to nowhere." It should be a lot of fun - good times with great people!

It's hard to believe that I only have a couple more weekend left in New Zealand. We're doing Wanganui and Waitomo this weekend, then next weekend I'm planning to go camping with Tommy near Palmerston North, and then after that I have my last weekend in the Hutt to pack my stuff up and say some good-byes! Amazing.

The tattoo is doing well. It's a bit tender at times, but that's to be expected while it's healing. It should be just fine in a couple weeks.

I went to Palmerston North today with Katriona and 2 other teachers, and 17 Year 12 and 13 Art History students to check out the Da Vinci Machines exhibition at Te Manawa. It was super interesting - I was amazed at some of the things Da Vinci invented (the parachute, the life buoy, the double-hulled boat, a spring-powered car, the jack, etc.).... it was a really neat exhibition, and mind-boggling to think how far ahead of his time Da Vinci really was.

Must run - time to start road trippin'!!!! Cheers everyone!

Tattoo picture post!

Time for a post of pain and artistry. Kirsten and I got our tattoos yesterday, and if I learned one thing from the experience, it's this: Getting a tattoo on your rib cage is about as pleasant as being dipped in tequila and vinegar after having your limbs sawed off with a rusty spoon. WOW. Hahaha. I managed to moan out through the tears and wincing, "My cousin Brent would be so proud of me right now!" Haha. I don't know how the man does it. Anyway, here are the pictures (if any of you have tattoos, you'll know that these are only the mildest photos of the experience. I figured I'd save you all the anguish of looking at the painful, swollen, bloody photos)!

Kirsten went first, because she figured she'd chicken out if she saw me in pain.

At one point she thought, "Oh, he must be nearly done the outline" (by far the most painful part of the tattoo). She glanced down and saw that he had only done the feet, and she was pretty much gutted. I took this picture after a bit more progress.

Kirsten's tattoo is done!.... now it's my turn!

Getting tattooed.

My koru tattoo in progress. It's a good thing I wasn't wearing an expensive bra. Chaz, while a great tattoo artist, isn't the tidiest with his ink. Haha.

We're making some progress now! I've had about 10 heart attacks by this point, and I've probably broken about 12 bones in Kirsten's hands.

But in the end, it was worth it! And here is el finished product.

All in all it was a painful, painful experience that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. It was far above any pain I have ever felt in my life, and I suppose I won't know until I decide to have children, but I don't see how childbirth could possibly be any worse than this. Truly. I cracked a couple jokes about that while being tattooed.... after a particularly painful line I shouted, "IT'S A BOY!" Then after the worst of the pain, I muttered through my tears, "For this pain, it had better be TWINS!" Haha. What an experience.

Kirsten was really glad that she went first. :op

Growing up

I am finding more and more these days that life is a constantly-evolving thing. We come across people in our lives that have a tremendous impact on us, whether they know it or not. There are the obvious people like my parents, my sister, my family and close friends, etc. whom we all know play a huge role in shaping who I am and how I see the world.... then there are some not-so-obvious people, like this beautiful soul who I have had the pleasure of getting to know here in New Zealand.

He has taught me more even in the last week than I could have possibly fathomed. His passion for music is nothing short of inspiring. Yesterday we took his guitar and plenty of warm clothes down to Oriental Bay in Wellington, where we sat on rocks by the harbour and played music together, harmonizing, laughing, taking pictures of each other, freezing our butts off, and just taking in the beauty of the situation. This has been a brief and bitter-sweet companionship for me, as the circumstances dictate that we must make the most of our time together here and now, as we live half a world apart and are at different places in our lives. I realize that for many of you back home, this is the first you may have heard of all of this; I didn't want to speak too soon about anything because there was never any guarantee that it would go anywhere. As it turns out, while we admire each other immensely on a variety of levels, we realize that logically we can't continue anything past November. Yet, I am choosing to take all of this for the blessing that it has been and continues to be in my life. It's amazing how much of an impact someone who has only known you a short time can have on how you view your world.

I guess this is all just part of growing up..... and for that, it is beautiful. Life never ceases to amaze me. Thank you Tommy.

Too many Twos (Tues?)!!!

This is a post dedicated to body art and the abundance of ways in which you can spell the word "two." Let me illustrate with an example:

I am going to get tattoo number 2 in only two days.... on Tuesday!

(Kirsten's coming too!)

Words of advice

If you have any important files on a USB flash drive, please go back them up on a hard drive somewhere now. Take it from the experience of someone who may have just lost 3 months worth of lesson plans, unit plans, reflections, and a bunch of photos because of a seemingly corrupted USB flash drive.

Crap.

Random photo post!

Things are insane at HVHS. It's awesome, but exhausting! Stephen and I had another silly moment after school today where we got the giggles whilst writing Year 9 reports (it's at this point that we start thinking that "Ummm... Todd? Todd Todd. Todd is... Todd" counts as a constructive report comment).... everyone's brain is in utter chaos, but we're sticking together and getting through the insane week little by little.

I thought I would take this opportunity to throw a random picture post your way. Some of these pics go back almost 2 months, while others are obviously more recent. These are just a few of the snaps I felt the need to post today, another rainy spring day in the Hutt Valley.

HVHS from across Woburn Road (August)

Katriona, Tessa, Stephen, and Gary practicing "I've Got Rhythm" for the HVHS Music Festival

Poppy likes to crawl up sleeves. This one caught me off-guard, as the sleeves in my Lululemon hoodie are quite fitted.... she really had to work her way up there!

This was the first real-life koru I saw in NZ (Rotorua).

Jude and Julia visiting just outside the hot pools in Taupo

Stephen's birthday celebration at the New Dowse cafe

Jude, Julia and I got dressed up and went out for a nice dinner before I took off on the south island trip.

Fish took a picture of the dolphins in Kaikoura - so cool!

A sign at the Irish pub in Picton

Tommy playing a gig on the ferry to Wellington

It was a bit windy on the ride home!

That's all for now... supper's ready!

Kaikoura photo

Just thought I'd take this opportunity to post a neat photo I took in Kaikoura. There's something appealing about this picture to me, either in the colours or the texture of the clouds or something.

I have been procrastinating WAY too much today though, so I need to go do some lesson planning. Back to the real world tomorrow! But, as dad said in his letter, I'm in the "final 4" (weeks) at HVHS. Amazing. Time flies, doesn't it?!

Home, sweet home!

Sorry for the lapse in blogging. Since my last update I saw Christchurch (although a very limited visit in terms of getting a feel for the city), and Kaikoura, a beautiful seaside town on the east coast. After Kaikoura we headed back up to Picton, where we stayed overnight with Trish and Kurt (Trish is Fiona's mom's sister). We went out to the Irish pub for a drink last night and saw a guy playing his guitar and singing, in a sort of a mellow folkish style.... definitely enjoyable. Then today as we were just getting settled into our seats on the ferry, I saw the same guy setting up for a performance in the Fo'c'sle Bar/Lounge! I was surprised, but went to round up Fish so we could get some good seats for performance #2. After the show he came to visit with us, and now he's going to text us tonight so that we can all go out in Wellington. Fun stuff!

What a great holiday this has been. It was also really nice to get home too, and into the open arms of Mr. Sam Hall, who has been without any female company in the house - except the rats, of course - for an incredible 2 weeks! While his time alone was quiet and probably quite enjoyable (leaving the toilet seat up, etc.), he was glad to see us again. Of course, the sentiment was reciprocated. We missed our Sammy! I also came home to a HUGE stack of mail, including a care package and postcards from mom and dad, a letter from Scott (including a bunch of pictures of his new band and choir rooms at his new job!), a letter from Andrew (one of my co-workers from IMC), 2 packages from the U of S Dept. of Music (3 CDs each of Wind Orchestra and Jazz Band), and my new airline tickets to Australia and Vancouver. YEEHAW!!! It was just like Christmas, opening so many packages!!!

Tomorrow morning we're going to head over to Richard and Kirsten's place at 8am for breakfast and rugby..... GO ALL BLACKS!!!!! It will be great to catch up with those 2 as well... it feels like we've been gone so long!

I took SO many amazing pictures this trip, and I will get around to posting a few of them soon enough (and yes, photo challenge pics too!).... but for now I'm exhausted, and I'm going to borrow Fi's car to go visit some friends that I haven't seen since I left. Jude, Julia, Aidyn, etc. are awaiting my presence!!!!!

Cheers, from a tired but content little kiwi traveler!!!

Have you ever wondered what the face of someone who has just done a backwards freefall into a canyon at 150km/hr looks like? This might give you a bit of an idea (somehow I remind myself of my cousin Brent in this photo.... although that doesn't really surprise me. Haha).

The day at Milford Sound was nice, but the weather was horrendous. Fish stayed back in bed at the hostel, recovering from the previous night's festivities, while a group of us forged on in the rain, wind, and snow. I stupidly wore jandals (flip flops) and goucho pants, and froze my feet and legs off for the entire journey through the fiord. But, despite the absolute crap weather, Tiffany and I had a very silly and entertaining photo shoot on the front of the ferry in which we counted up to 3 and then jumped, attempting to catch a frame in mid-air. The results were hilarious.... I even hit the deck twice, making myself even colder and wetter, and giving my abs a good workout from all the laughing in the meantime. Pics to come soon. Here's a sneak preview if you're curious. :o)

(I LOVE NZ!!!)

Canyon Swing video post!!!!! Rating: EXTREME!!!!!

I figured I'd make you wait for a day or 2 to post the videos, but you'll be pleased to know that I'm missing some of the party happening at the bar next door so that I can bring you this entertaining bit of media. I knew mom wouldn't sleep until she saw it! Hahaha. Hopefully the rest of you who voted on the Canyon Swing vs. Bungy Jump post can take a look at this to see what your votes helped convince me to do!

JUMP #1 = BACKWARDS (4:26pm)

I really wasn't kidding about the scream on the way down. Make sure your speakers are on and turned up (you can hear us talking about my music shoes and 8th note tattoo before the jump, and you can also hear me say "Am I actually supposed to go right now? Are you serious? Right now???.... K what do I do, just fall backwards and let go?!"). Haha. Brilliant.

JUMP #2 = HANDSTAND (5:25pm)

I have to explain part of this video before you see it. Right at the beginning of the video you see one of the guys behind me, giving the other guy a high-5. I will clarify that they did ask me in advance if they could take a "rude picture," and I thought it was rather funny so I agreed (maybe not classy, but funny). That's Fish in the background yelling "Hold that pose!" Sorry mom. Haha. At least Sarah was concerned that my mother would see that. Thanks Sarah!

So what's the verdict? Which one was more entertaining to watch? Which jump looked scarier? All thoughts, comments, etc. are welcome!!!! This has been a blast, and it has been SO fun to see all of the comments that you guys have left on my blog too! Cheers! Will update after the Milford Sound trip tomorrow. Speaking of which, I should get to bed! And you all back home should get ready for work... it's nearly 8am!

I'm ALIIIIIIVE!!!!

I am alive and well, and far more broke than I was at the beginning of the day! I spent $169 NZ on the Canyon Swing, then decided that I needed to do another swing, so I paid the extra $49 NZ to do just that. Then, what trip to the Shotover Canyon Swing would be complete without copies of both DVDs (one of each jump), 5 pictures, and a free t-shirt? OY VEY! It was a blast. So in the end I spent an extra $134 NZ on top of the original $169.... but it was totally worth it for the memories and the crazy DVDs that I will one day show my children and grandchildren.

So, now for the play-by-play update!

Jump #1 = back flip off the platform

So I pretty much freaked out on this one. The guys had me back up to the edge of the platform, then they messed with me by pretending to push me and then catching me again. Ridiculous. When the guy was like, "K now lean back and then flip when you feel yourself falling backwards," I just looked at him and blankly said, "Are you serious? You want me to jump right now?" I did, and I SCREAMED BLOODY MURDER ALL THE WAY DOWN. It was glorious!

Jump #2 = handstand off the platform

This one was less scary, and much better in terms of the view of the canyon (as I was spinning for the whole first jump). I started on my hands and knees for this one, with my hands partially hanging over the edge of the platform. The guys then picked up my legs and put me up into a handstand, then counted "1.... 2..... 3...." then pushed me over the ledge. I proceeded to scream all the way down (just like Jump #1!). It was brilliant!!!!

AND, the coolest bonus was that on the DVDs, they've given us instructions about how to retrieve our compressed videos, fit for posting on the Internet.... so, while I don't have time right at this moment, I will be posting the videos of each jump here on my blog. So, stay tuned! I'll be in Milford Sound all day tomorrow so there will more than likely be no blog post, but as soon as I can get the videos on here I will (likely in a couple days)!!!!

Cheers, and thanks for the input.... the Canyon Swing was a success!

Now I just need to find the time and money to bungy and sky dive..........