See you later

Just popping in to inform you that I'm going to take a shortish/longish (that means I don't know how long it's going to be) blogging break starting... today.

The next two weeks are slightly crazy for me, with packing up my stuff to head back home and spending time with my friends here for the last time for a good while. So don't expect any posts from me until I get home (30th January).

And even after that, though, probably won't post for a while... my family is whisking me off for a family holiday two days after I get back (Can you believe it? Two days after....um no comment on the timing of this holiday, lovely family) so I'm not back in Christchurch for a decent length of time until like the 10th of February or something.

So. All that to say BYEEEEEE! Love you guys, and will look forward to catching up with you all in the near future. :)

Hugs,

A + A // Snow Day

Awkward:
- Being told "Hi!" by someone and "Hi!"ing back only to be told that they had actually tried to greet you earlier but you had totally ignored them.... so sorry please accept my deepest apologies it was a crowded room and I didn't hear you.......

- Running down the stairs and opening the door at the bottom only to find that your lovely friend had hidden behind the door to jump out at you and does jump out at you with a ferocious scream (that was loud enough to wake up a gigantic T-Rex dinosaur which was sleeping with its hands over its ears half a mile away, I'm sure). It gave me a terrible fright anyway.

Music I've Been Loving

Well today I'm here with another installment of Music I've Been Loving. I've been introduced to some amazing new music here with the Campbells and I just know you guys are going to be so blessed! :)

Hanukkah

Hanukkah is awesome, guys. Really awesome.

So I didn't know much about Hanukkah until I came over here to live with Mr and Mrs Campbell and help at Above Rubies. They are Christians, not Jewish at all, but that doesn't stop them from celebrating some of the Jewish celebrations out of a love for God, a love for Israel and a love for excuses to celebrate!

Anyway today (January 1st) is the last day of Hanukkah. Now I don't know if you know much about Hanukkah or if (and how) you celebrate it. I'll quickly talk about what we did and then get into the story behind it which is in my opinion the interesting bit.

2017 Word of the Year - Firgun

This year 2017 has really crept up on me. I can't believe it's come so fast. Seriously it's ridiculous!

Be Born in Me - Merry Christmas 2016!

 O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.

American Adventures // the most wonderful time of the year

Ok first of all I'd like to heartily apologise that the bulk of these photos featuring me are selfies... I'm sure you can forgive me, ok? :) You'll have to, haha.

These are just photos of the last wee while. Enjoy!

Bonnie's Opinion // Homosexuality..... and me

(sunset from the Hokitika beach)

New Zealand vs. United States: Differences

Wow, there really are lots of differences between New Zealand the United States. (I'm talking about things that are less obvious than population or geographical size.) I knew about a lot of them because of American movies, American books and American acquaintances, but I was still surprised by some!

Here is my non-comprehensive guide to some of the many differences I have so far discovered between our two cultures. I enlisted the help of a friend (Thanks Laura!) in writing this... because two minds are better than one :P.

Firstly, in things they say. Here is a list of differences in words they say. 

Kiwis				Americans
Kiwis				New Zealanders
Shop				Store
Lollies				Candy
Petrol				Gas (the fuel you put in your car)
Jandals				Flip flops
Footpath				Sidewalk
Surname				Last name
Toilet/ bathroom/ loo				Restroom
Lift				Elevator
Flat				Apartment
Nappy				Diaper
Dummy				Pacifier
University/ uni				College/ University/ School
Holiday				Vacation
Tramps				Hikes
Tomato sauce				Ketchup
Smoko				Morning tea/ coffee break
Postman				Mailman
Rubbish				Trash/ garbage
Biscuit / bikkie				Cookie
Soft drink				Soda pop/ soda/ pop
Capsicum				Bell pepper
Candy floss				Cotton Candy
Togs				Swimsuit/ bathing suit

Clothes
In NZ, gumboot and jandal wearing is massive. A lot of people survive their entire existences in jandals (these are often students at uni, funny that). Gumboots are also quite widely worn. In rural towns especially.
American women wear lots of makeup. Kiwi women are more relaxed about that.

The classic Kiwi gumboot

Speech
Kiwis can talk quite fast. Americans talk in a more laid back way and often can't understand us. :P Also Americans don't understand the difference between New Zealand and Australian accents. Aussies say 'i' as 'ee'. There you go. Example: "ship" I would say "sh-i-p". They say "sh-ee-p".

Kiwis call each other friendly words of endearment such as "homie", "gee", "mate" and "bro".

Kiwis make a big deal of kiwi birds when they really aren't hugely exciting. (Seriously though they are nocturnal - they don't even come out during the day and they are ridiculously hard to find in the wild anyway).

"Bro" "Homie" "Mate" - we really set the standard when it comes to terms of endearment

Food
Kiwis eat staples such as pavlova and pineapple lumps. We LOVE sausage rolls, fish and chips, meat pies and chocolate fish.

Americans eat staples like Reese's peanut butter cups (which I can now officially tell you are actually amazing), pumpkin pie and cinnamon spice EVERYTHING. I suppose I did come over here on Thanksgiving time so what should I have expected? :P

Americans don't eat yams (we'll pray for them!). They only use pumpkins for carving and sweet foods (cookies, pumpkin spice everything, pies) and don't really use it as a vegetable. Most Americans don't roast pumpkin or make soup out of it!! They really are missing out.

Also of course Americans eat lots of takeaways such as burgers and pizza. New Zealanders survive on fish and chips. :P Well some of them do anyway.

Also, kumara and sweet potato are actually slightly different things. I know, surprising right?

The pavlova- basically a giant meringue cake covered with whipped cream and fruit.

Interested in any other info about New Zealand or how it differs from America (or the rest of the world)? I did another post on it a while back you can find here.

What differences between New Zealand and your country have you noticed?

American Adventures // HAPPY FALL, Y'ALL!

I told you I'd try and post some photos, didn't I? :) Here we go.

The sun was really cool coming in to Nashville airport.

This is the house we are staying in. We are staying upstairs and the office we work in is downstairs.

Our bedroom.. it's so pretty! I was on the top left bunk. Now that New York Hannah has gone home though, I'm on the bottom bunk. (*cries that Hannah isn't with us anymore*)

Our first weekend Hannah (other AR helper from New Zealand -not to be confused with another AR helper, Hannah from New York) and I went exploring. Franklin is a really cute town about 45 mins from where we are with some cool Thanksgiving decorations and some super cute shops. 

Quote on the mug: "Behind every successful woman is a substantial amount of chocolate"

GUYS CAN I GET AN AMEN HERE PLEASE THANKS

Did I mention Franklin has cute shops? This is one selling Christmassy stuff. 

Here's a photo from the basketball game I mentioned here. The other gal with me is Hannah from NZ Everyone say hi to Hannah (*blocks ears from chorus of HI HANNAH*) - you will probably get to see a decent amount of the two of us! :)

The woods around here are SO PRETTY!

Let me introduce you to little Canaan, Mercy's baby. He is seven weeks old and so ridiculously cute! 

I miss little Michael at home... but having Canaan to cuddle helps make up for a bit.

I know it's pretty much winter over here now, but happy fall y'all anyway. :)

Before I go, I want to chat real briefly about American Thanksgiving. Last weekend was my first Thanksgiving (I'm not counting the Thanksgiving we celebrated in China last year) and it was awesome! 

We had around 87 people celebrating the Lord's faithfulness with us! We had a massive midday meal featuring turkey, lamb, roasted veggies, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce and all kinds of yumminess. Then people made speeches and toasts giving thanks to the Lord and each other for all kinds of things. It was a fun thing to be part of! We then went outside for the family's tradition of competitions. We had an egg throwing competition (which I managed to stay in for four rounds but then lost) and a tug of war tournament and finally running races. Everyone participated, from the oldest to the youngest! (Well not the youngest because he is only seven weeks old :P). Then we trooped inside for arm wrestling competitions and dessert, which consisted of pie. Lots of pie. And biscuits ('cookies') and cream and icecream and cheesecake. The final item on the agenda was a concert which involved people singing, sharing, acting and making music. I officially love American thanksgiving.

How was your Thanksgiving? What have you been up to?