Life's Busy!

I feel so guilty. My blog counter reveals that many of you have visited our kiwi-green blog and been disappointed- maybe even more than once. It bothers me so much, that I have decided to right a short note, as well as bait you with the promise that soon there will be new pictures uploaded.

Until then, here are a few New Zealand tidbits:

Various teachers and students have been sick with the dreaded swine-flue (H1N1)... or "high-nigh" as one elderly man in Ontario called it, when he mistakenly confused the numbers with capital letters. In fact, at one stage, over 30% of our students were missing. Do the math for a school with a total of 70ish students! Those of us spared from this pervasive 'flu' have had to juggle classes and cover extra periods to deal with the lack of healthy teachers, which I am going to use as an excuse for my lack of posts :). Thankfully, most students have fully recovered and are noticeably back into the swing of things!

This week, Sam and I have been invited by three different families from our church for dinner. Talk about a hospitable church! These pleasant evenings consisting of delicious home-cooked meals and fellowship are such a treat- especially since I don't have to think about cooking or kick myself for forgetting to take meat out of our freezer.

One of my college students performed a moving speech at a competition for all the schools in our region. In front of a mainly secular audience, she spoke passionately about persecuted Christians around the world. I don't think there was one eye in the entire audience that wasn't sharply focused on her throughout her entire, eight-minute, memorized speech. I felt like a proud parent. I think she should have won first prize- and that is NOT due to bias. But it doesn't even really matter. It was enough to know that this ignored topic was frankly put in front of so many consciences and hearts.

Sam works with an innovative guy named Koos. He is one of those health nuts who grinds his own grain before making bread. I knew he was truly committed to a naturalistic lifestyle when he passed up one of my mom's famous cookies. Who does that?! On top of his healthy eating habits (which I really do admire), he also has many projects "on the go" or already very much in motion! For instance, he invented a "chicken plucker", which consists of an old washing machine that has rubber-glove fingertips secured along the inside wall. Throw a chicken in, turn to spin, and VOILA- a plucked bird! Then there is his attempt at creating home-made bio-gas. Unfortunately, the 2000 dead chickens in water-tanks beside his home were too potent, so the bio-gas recipe didn't work. They lay patiently waiting, smelling, as he thinks of a way to "water it down". This guy is legend. He's also made his own water ionizer and had his diesel truck running on hydrogen gas. Sam loves working with him and I love hearing the conspiracy theories every night. Koos is inspiring- to the point that Sam was up at 10p.m. last night whipping up some home-made mayonnaise; apparently, store-bought mayo contains "deadly chemicals" (Sam's exact words). Today, on their way home from work, Koos and Sam spotted a flock of turkeys. They stopped in the middle of a windy, dangerous, New Zealand road, and proceeded to run around chasing the fowl. They managed to corner four turkeys, but not before they were scratched viciously. The grand plan is to "beef?" them up and sell them just before Christmas.

We found a Dutch shop in a town approximately 40 minutes away. Last week, I went on a school trip to Wellington with the college students. It was a "Career Day Convention" and students were able to browse through information on universities, poly-tech schools, etc. (As an aside, they give so much free stuff out at those conventions, it's ridiculous! As if my students need twenty different pens, bags and lolly-pops!) On the way home from the class trip, I was able to convince the bus driver to make a quick stop at the Dutch shop, where I proceeded to stock up on dropjes, dropjes and dropjes. It felt like home!

It's getting late. There is lots more to share, but I will wait until next time. Cheerio!