Kia Oru...or something like that.

I feel, even before I start writing this entry, that it is going to be really scattered and fragmented. So, if you thought you'd be getting a one-track blog with a completely coherent pattern...stop reading now.

Today I went on a walk with Nony. Correction, today I carried him down the hill we live on to the park. At said park we went on every piece of equipment, regardless of age appropriateness. He loved it. Then, when I was beyond tired and just wished I had thought to grab the pram out of the car this morning, we had to walk back home. Elijah was/is totally exhausted and what should normally be a 10 minute walk, turned into a 45 minute walk. He would get to a point where he didn't want to walk, so he'd just sit down and play with the dirt on the sidewalk. Then I would carry him for awhile, but he's really just getting too big for that. So then we'd stop again because I'd be tired. So now he's napping and I'm seriously contemplating it myself.

Flash mobbing- I think it's probably one of the coolest things I've seen on youtube and I would LOVE to be part of a flash mob event...seriously. It'd be awesome! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k This is the address to a flashmob video I just saw. It's awesome! So if anyone in Nelson wants to help out...I think a flashmob event would be freaking amazing, and I would definitely get involved. Will do research on this topic later today. Very interesting.

Korean food....mmmm. I miss it a lot these days. With Carolyn back in SK now, I feel a bit homesick for Ilsan and the good times there. I know it was time for me to move on and get out of SK, but there are still many things about Korea that I miss. But, in order to appease that, we are having korean food on Monday. So I should go to the grocery store later today to pick up the korean food items I need. Mmm...korean food.

I love the fact that I only spent about 5 dollars on fuel every two weeks. How very economical of me. Though, with the weather getting chillier every evening...I find that I put on more layers than I ever thought I would in order to go out for my dance class. Small price to pay I suppose.

I suppose that's all I've got for now. I'm quite busy with work at the Independent Theatre and work at home as well. I've also started getting involved in a second theatre company in town, so next weekend I'm ASM for a show (assistant stage manager) and just trying to get myself out there, theatre-wise. It's been good so far and I look forward to more work opportunities as they arise.

the stranger

I feel like you are not the same anymore
you have become a stranger
it seems so strange to hear of your life
when it is so different from the one i knew.
What happened to your convictions,
were they so fickle?
what happened to the person i once knew?
who knew me better than most
but who now is a stranger to me...

he is gone.

downer debbie is in today...

I try not to be this way, but today I am. I am downer debbie today. It may have something to do with the fact that no one bought anything I had to sell over the weekend at the market. It may be due, in part, to the dwindling numbers in my bank account and the slow process of building a business from the ground up that seems to have no end of things to do. It's ridiculous really. I never knew how hard it was to build a business, and now that I'm trying to do it with no collateral to start it up (not really), no business experience, and working an unpaid internship at a theatre (which I am actually enjoying a lot, despite the no-paycheck deal), I find it harder and harder to stay cheerful. Then again, it did rain this morning when I got up and so it was already a pretty crappy day. I don't regret the move to New Zealand, I just wish things were going my way a little more than they are. I've got to run now though, and finish up my CV and write a cover letter to turn in to Spotlight (a craft/fabric store) which is currently hiring temps for inventory-taking. I need some money! UGH! Downer Debbie will be gone soon....I have yoga tonight and for one hour I will be able to put aside all the stress I have and just focus on breathing weirdly through my nose. That and stretching myself to impossible lengths to make my chin touch my thigh- not going to happen, but I'll try anyway! I spent this morning taking pictures of all my jewelry in order to start listing them on etsy.com. I'll post my online store address when I get that up and running, hopefully this week! Love you all, bye.

settling in and getting ideas

I'm settling in nicely here in Nelson. It's quite a lovely country and at least once a day, I look around me and think, wow. Have I mentioned that before? Yes, I think I have.
I love the fact that there are three, count 'em, three fabric stores within 10 minutes of the house. I love it! I've been working on projects and Laura has been quite helpful with design ideas (although, I feel that we're going to struggle when it comes to not buying our own creations!). We've been busy, busy bees and have been making plans for our little business venture. We are going to be attempting to sell our stuff this weekend at the local market. Getting a stall there isn't expensive and since it's going into winter, the competition isn't high. Hopefully we can make some money this weekend and start working on a following of our line of clothing. So here are a few pictures of what I've been working on and I have four other projects waiting to be sewn and a pile of projects to be cut and pieced together. I'll be busy for awhile!

This last Friday we decided to take the evening to drive to Christchurch to drop off Jesse Dart. He had been visiting for the week and as we had nothing else to do, we packed up and left after Luke finished work. Fortunately, Elijah slept most of the way there, but unfortunately, I get car sick in the back seat on the New Zealand roads. Ugh. If I have to sit in the back seat of a car when in NZ, I'm not going to see much of this country! So we got to Christchurch late Friday evening and managed to meet up with an old friend of mine. When I first got to Korea, I was a teacher by myself for a couple months, but in December 2006 I got a co-teacher. A korean gal who I got along with splendidly came to work with me for a short while over the holidays. Kowoon only stayed for a few weeks before moving out of the country, but we kept in touch sporadically since then. Once I got to Nelson, I emailed her and found out she lives in NZ as well! She met us and took us to a great korean restaurant! It was delicious and well worth the 5 hour drive. haha. I'd like to go back to Christchurch sometime and see more of the city and spend more than one night there, so at least I'll have someone I know there! Well then, I better be off now to find some dinner and make sure the fire is going well in the fireplace, because this house is COLD!

and no, the toilets do not flush counter-clockwise...

So I made it in one piece, hale and whole. I've been in New Zealand four days now and I have to say everyday day I think to myself, and often out loud, "I live HERE? Wow..." Seriously. It is an amazing thought that goes through my mind when I see a beautiful vista here that says, "hey you, you live here now." I really like New Zealand alot. The people are so very friendly and laid-back. The taxi drivers are kind and extremely helpful. A cab driver in Wellington ran out of my cab to get a baggage cart for me and help me load it at the ferry station there...so very unlike the Chicago cabbie who dropped me and my luggage off in the street at Union Station. LOL. The weather is spectacular, rainy the first couple of days and dreary, but yesterday cleared up and I was able to see the amazing views of Nelson without the obstruction of low-lying clouds.

This is the view from the living room at Laura and Luke's house. yep.

I went to the theatre on Friday to help out with their children's holiday program (it's Easter hols here- two weeks off of school) and met people there who I'll be working with (in theory!) and I also decided I really like the small space the theatre has. It's a small black box theatre with about the smallest stage area I've ever seen...but it'll be a good challenge to be able to work in that space.

Change is good for me and I think this move to NZ was a good choice so far. I'm happy with it and look forward to the challenges life brings me. Yesterday we went to Cable Bay, which is only about 15 minutes away from town. It was lovely there and again, I can't believe I live here.

two days...

It's Monday evening now and I'm drawing closer to the time that I leave my parent's house. I've been through a few ups and downs over the last few months living here. More downs than I'd like to have had, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm excited to be departing central IL for what is hopefully the last time. I've been working towards this departure for what seems like ages and while the final destination may have changed, I'm not sad about it at all. Moving to New Zealand is going to be an awesome adventure. I've been caught up with all the little things that are involved with a move like this and have sort of lost sight of the fun part of moving-getting to a new place! But today I spent a good hour and a half contacting my credit card companies to let them know I was leaving the country and you know what? The people I talked to were really excited for me and my move abroad. I found it interesting since these are random people that I just happened to get when I got through to customer service. People I've never talked to before and probably never will again. It was nice.So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I took my brother's senior pictures last week and wanted to post a couple for your perusal. I'm still trying to get the plugin working for Picasa for Aperture so I don't have to do the slow method, so until then, it's going to be slow going on this. Here are a couple good ones I took.

The other pictures obviously aren't senior pictures...they're from my trip to San Antonio, TX last week to see my brother graduate from Basic Training.

11 Days...

It's all coming to a head now. I'm departing LAX in 11 days to move to NZ. Craziness! My room at my parent's house is a war zone. Really bad. I went through my belongings and did manage to get all my clothes into one suitcase (I have less clothing than I thought) and had three boxes of stuff packed to ship to NZ. Yeah, more on that. I thought I was doing well with the whole packing thing and so the last day and a half I've been doing menial tasks like my taxes, organizing pictures into photo albums, sewing nonsense projects and basically piddling around. Well, I should have been using that time better because today I went to check on shipping costs to send my boxes to NZ. HAHAHAHAHA. Unless I have about 500 dollars to blow on this, I would need to rework my stuff I'm shipping. I really don't have that kind of money to blow at the moment, so I spent time researching the best method for my buck. I got 3 quotes, one was for shipping 110 lbs. for 443 dollars. One was for 80 lbs for 345 dollars and then last (and best) was for 100 lbs. at 305. I have to sort through all my boxes again and then figure out how to get the most important stuff in. Ridiculous. Guess what I'm working on tonight while I watch LOST? Yep.

I went out today to take my brother Matt's senior pictures. I'm not a fan of portrait photography, but I thought it would be a nice challenge for myself as a photographer. It was interesting since the sun wasn't cooperating with us. It was too bright and I'm fairly certain most of my pictures have to be deleted because he was squinty or had his eyes closed. haha. I'm going to edit those and hopefully get some good ones out of it tomorrow.

Mina would be proud of me. I haven't had a proper haircut in six months. I really haven't. I got bangs cut around Christmas, but I'm letting those grow out again. You can see by this picture that, as annoying as it is, I am really growing out my hair. It is basically every single day that I consider chopping it all off. Instead, I colored it recently. When I dyed it, it was more of a purple color and was shocking but it has settled into a nice red color now.

So I've got a lot to get done, but I will get it done and I will be on my way to start travels in one week. I'll be in Chicago and then in LA and then finally I'll be in NZ! How freaking awesome is that?