I WILL BE ON A PLANE HOME THIS TIME 12 WEEKS FROM NOW!!!

Day 44, Sunday: Today was a good day. I woke up and went to church with Joe and Amy, and then was able to hang out with them after for lunch as well. They had friends from Auckland down who have a 5 month old baby girl named Emily. I got to hold her and all I could think about was that Elly will be as big as that baby when I get home =(. But Emily didn't cry at all when I held her, so hopefully Elly won't hate me either! Anyways, we had burgers on the grill, which was soooo good because I've been craving a good burger since I got here! Then the boys played some games on the Wii before Amy and Joe dropped me off at the library to meet my flatmate, Sara. We wanted to grab a library card and some books to read over the break, and I was supposed to grab some books I needed for school. However, turns out I couldn't check the books I needed out, but it worked out because I've decided to write about a different topic anyways =). Probably NOT smart to change my essay topic when it's due in 3 days, but oh well. Then we went to Kathmandu, this awesome store here in New Zealand that is having huge sales right now...but it was closed. So it was pretty much a pointless trip into the city. When we got back, I changed and started reading and that's when I decided to change my essay topic. Also, I found out that I read about 4 chapters of the wrong book. Awesome. UGH haha! At around 8, heaps of people came over because my flatmate Hannah's friend brought over a chocolate fountain. All the friends that Sara and I invited didn't show, which just proves how lame they are because it was definitely a great night! We had strawberries, kiwi, New Zealand marshmallows (which are different than US), and other lollies and things, cantelope, and bananas to dip into the chocolate. It was delicious! And Sara and I made chicken marinated in Sweet Chili Sauce with Mango flavouring, and some pumpkin soup. It was delicious. However, if anyone reading this (I'm pretty sure no one does anymore) knows how to NOT burn/blacken the bottom of chicken when frying it, I'd really like to know. Because we burn/blacken the outside EVERY time we make chicken, which is kind of a lot. So if you could leave a comment under this post telling me how not to, that'd be great. Thanks! Anwyays, after that I went back to my room to do some more work, but as you can see I'm now updating this and therefore not doing work. I really have to go write my essay! UGH! So I'm off to bed now. I have an essay to write for Wednesday, a test Tuesday, and another essay due Thursday that I haven't even looked at. Although that one doesn't have to be turned in until after break, so I probably won't turn it in ;). New Zealand unis are awesome. I better get straight A's =). OH AND THE MOST FUN THING ABOUT TODAY!!!! MY FRIENDS ARE EMAILING ME AGAIN!!!!!! The FORCE have had an email going around for awhile now on facebook. I got tired of being the only one to ever really write in it so I stopped last week because I was bitter that none of them care. But, they're all going back to school now = no work = procrastination = more time to skype and email me!!! AND Jana is able to get on facebook again, and I'm sooo happy! I haven't heard from her since I got here! So, all in all, I'm glad my friends actually love me again and are soon going to be as bored as I am trying to procrastinate from work haha!!! Anwyays, I'm really off to bed now. Cheers!


Saturday: I studied today. I was going to go work out but woke up with a headache that started the night before, so I read books instead ;). I didn't write any of my essay because it's a history essay and I have to do LOADS more research than anyone else because I know nothing about New Zealand history at all! Not fun =(! Oh well though. After doing some work off and on and e-mailing Joshua, I headed over to the Palms to meet Amy and Joe. Joe went to a movie so Amy and I took Laine, one of the other couples' 1 yr old daughter. She's soooo cute and it was a lot of fun to get to play with her!!! Amy and I struggled to get the door unlocked at the house too, which was fun, and Amy ended up crawling through one of her windows to get in hahhahaa! It's a good thing she's so stinkin tiny cuz I would definitely NOT have fit through it haha! Anyways, Joe came home and then ran to get a couple of movies while Amy and I lounged on the couch and watched Friends episodes!!!!!!!! I always love hanging out with them because they make me forget about missing home! Plus, they're tons of fun of course! They've been sooo busy with church stuff though and having guests that we haven't really gotten to see a lot of each other, and so tonight was good to hang out and catch up. They think they have a place now, which is really exciting! I'm so happy for them! It's going to be awesome for sure, and it's a small place that they may have to expand on but it will work for the first couple of church sessions, which are only going to be once a month until February. Anyways, we had a good time and then I ended up going to bed super late, but it was still fun.


Friday: I TALKED TO MARQUI!!!!!!!! I LOVE HER!!!! It was really, really good to talk to her on Skype, and we got to see each other too! It definitely made my day and I didn't do any work because I ran out of time ;). Oh well. I also went to this cute little exercise class, and my instructor was Spanish and just adorable. I liked her a lot haha! She was just more informative than the other people have been and walked you through the steps. She also went around to make sure everyone was using the right technique, which would have been nice the first time I was there. AND she told you how much weight to use if it was your first time, which would have also been helpful for me since I'm awesome and did about 40 lbs. my first time and killed myself. Anyways, I booked plane tickets to Sydney...I'M GOING TO AUSTRALIA!!! I have a 2-week break after next week!!! Then I come back and only have 6 weeks left of classes! We get another week-long break before finals start after that too! So awesome eh?! Anyways, I think I'm going to go on a Great Walk over the first week of break and not spend money. It'll just be a lot of hiking for days on end, and some traveling on a bus! Then, I leave for Sydney on Friday, August 28th at 3 p.m. I'm soooo excited!!!!!! I'll be there until September 4th. I want to spend most of my time in Sydney, but I am going to try to take a train up to the Cairns on the Gold Coast and do a day of snorkeling and introductory scuba diving! I found a day-long trip that includes breakkie, lunch, and wine and cheese on the way home, all snorkel and diving gear, and an introductory snorkeling class so I don't have to have a license! I'm very excited and will probably spend 2-3 days up there, chilling on the beach and snorkeling whenever I want! It'll be awesome and I'll take HEAPS of pictures, I promise! Anyways, after talking to Marqui and planning my trip, I went to the Canterbury Rugby game with all the boys. It was a lot of fun! The guys are always fun to hang out with and I enjoy watching rugby. There's so much that I don't understand, so it's nice to try to figure things out. Plus, Canterbury completely smoked Waikoto, the other team haha! The final score was 39-14 or something I think. It was great. After that I came back and studied, and then went to bed early.


Thursday: I didn't do anything constructive today either. I picked up some books at the library to do my paper and Peter came over to do laundry. He almost broke the washer by putting too many clothes in it! But it's ok =). I went to class and then went to the gym to workout I think. I can't remember. I need to update this daily again so I stay on top of things!!! OH I WENT TO SPAGS!!! That's what I did today! I went to Spag's with the crew from Tuesday and we spent our $50 on pizza! It was really good and very fun. After, we played a game of Dutch Blitz at our place (and I almost won for the first time ever), and then we went to bed. I started some good reading for my paper and that's about it.


Wednesday: I did nothing too special today. I went into town and bought Canterbury Rugby tickets for Friday because Jane is in South Africa and still thinks I'm more responsible since I'm the only girl going. It's quite funny. Sara and I had dinner together I think, and I was supposed to talk to Joshua but it got too late for him, so our chat lasted very briefly. Definitely a bummer. Then I did some more of nothing; watched Friends because I've become addicted, and facebook stalked people of course, and finally made myself get off the computer and go to bed after spending some time in the Word. I've decided to read through Acts...I just felt like it would be good to have a more "mission-oriented" perspective on things here. That's about all.