The wheels on the bus

Some of you might laugh at me for writing this post. But I just thought I would provide you with a little bit of humor at my own expense. And I'm okay with that. You see, my only previous experience with buses was the shuttle bus. So the prospect of finding my way around a completely foreign city using only the public transportation system all by myself was an incredibly daunting task. But don't worry, I figured it out. Now I'm practically a pro. So I thought I would share my wisdom with you just incase you ever found yourself in a similar situation. I know, I'm so kind. So I give you... the do's and dont's of the bus system!

Do remember what bus you got on first. Memorize that number, that is how you are gonna get home. My bus? 26. Leaves Temple View every half hour. Incase you were wondering.

Don't just jump on any random bus, and hope it will take you where you want to go. More than likely it won't.  Then you have to figure out how to get back. Should be common sense right? Apparently not.

Don't sit at the back. Not unless you want kids crawling on your lap and screaming in your ear. And it is a really rough ride back there.

Do sit in the handicap spot. There's more space for your feet. But of course move when someone that is actually handicap gets on. And if it looks like it's going to be crowded, sit in the front. It's a single seat. Then you won't have to share.

Do remember what time the last bus leaves! Cause if you miss it, you're stuck. You can't just go home and ask Mum to drive you.

Don't be intimidated by the bus driver. Even though they are really grumpy or scary looking (and I mean really scary looking). That bus driver is the only person stopping you from becoming totally lost. So go ahead, ask for directions. They are actually sorta really helpful. Especially when you squeeze out a couple tears and tell them that you are new to town and *sniff* are a little lost and *sniff* just want to go home. Then they might even radio to the bus that you are supposed to transfer onto and tell them to wait for you. How nice!

Don't try and pull that trick too often. After about the 2nd or 3rd time they might start to get a little suspicious.


Do pay attention! Look around outside, take note of landmarks, statues, supermarkets and signs. Soon it will all start to look familiar. Maybe. Eventually. Hopefully?

Don't panic if the bus is late. And don't jump on the next bus that shows up cause you think yours isn't coming, it will. Just breathe. It's coming.

Do bring an ipod or a book or something to do.

Don't fall asleep. Duh. Not unless you want to wake up with a wet cheek and everyone staring at you.
Awkward.

And the Novelty? Yeah, it's wearing off real quick. And forking over $3.10 every time I need to get into town is already getting old. I should get one of those cool card thingies that they just swipe and then their ticket comes out. Then I could be a legit bus rider!

Much better. Thank you.

Well when I wrote that last post, about 10 minutes ago, I was feeling pretty lousy. But now? I'm better, much better. What changed? I read this, Richard G. Scott's talk from the last general conference on The Transforming Power of Faith and Character. It literally brought tears to my eyes as I was reminded of several truths. I had to restrain myself from copy and pasting the entire talk. Here's just a few quotes, but please, please go and read it for your self. You won't regret it.

This mortal life is a proving ground. How well you meet its challenges determines how strong your character will be 

...

Be thankful that sometimes God lets you struggle for a long time before that answer comes. That causes your faith to increase and your character to grow.

...

Trust in God and in His willingness to provide help when needed, no matter how challenging the circumstance. 

...

As you walk to the boundary of your understanding into the twilight of uncertainty, exercising faith, you will be led to find solutions you would not obtain otherwise.

...

 A strong testimony gives peace, comfort, and assurance. It generates the conviction that as the teachings of the Savior are consistently obeyed, life will be beautiful, the future will be secure, and there will be capacity to overcome the challenges that cross our path. 

...

We become what we want to be by CONSISTENTLY being what we want to become each day.

...

Don't become discouraged... You are making better progress than you realize.

One of those days..

I have a theory that I try to live by. That is the power of your attitude. A good attitude = a good day, and vise versa. I have the power to say if my day is going to be bad or good, and only me. Most days this works. but not today. Today was a bad day. Plain and simple. It was just one of those days. One of those days that are destined to be terrible from the very beginning. One of those days that are impervious to whatever cheery spin you try and put on it. One of those days where you can't even laugh about it and chalk it up to experience. One of those days where everything that could possibly go wrong, does. One of those days where you don't do anything that you are supposed to but did do everything that you are not supposed to. I am ashamed to admit it, but eventually I just gave up. I was tired of trying to turn my frown upside down. My bad day won, I lost, and now I am going to crawl into bed. Please. Wake me up when it's tomorrow. 'Cause sometimes, thats all you can do, just wait for tomorrow.

It was SUNNY today!! Hip Hip Hooray for the sun!!

I discovered that, contrary to previous belief, I CAN get service in Temple View! (In certain locations only. Like when I walk very slowly down that one street. and if I hold my phone in the air while standing next to the mail box. and sometimes on top of the fridge.)

And because of said cell phone coverage I got a call from someone. And guess what? I have an interview for a JOB tomorrow!! I will let you know how that goes tomorrow.

AND because of said job interview I get to ride the bus into Hamilton again tomorrow. Is it a little sad that I am excited by this? I wonder how long it will be until the novelty wears off..

I woke up at 8:30 today. Weird huh? Then I saw there were 3 bananas that were a little over ripe so I made chocolate chip banana muffins!

Here's a small amount of the pictures that I should have posted ages ago...

No, not the ocean. Lake Taupo. I know, It's huge huh?

Looking forward..

.. and looking the other way..

.. and just looking good!

Huka falls

pretty colors

Kaitaia

This is Kaitaia.

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The most northern city in NZ. Isolated, rugged, humid, wet, hot, sunny, rainy, LOTS of beaches, sandy, beautiful, breathtaking. I just spent a week up there at a friends place, the Beatsons. The Nins were there too. All together that was 14 people. It was great. I slept outside in the tent with Anehera, Jaquan and Devyn. It was awesome cause we got to spend lots of quality time together. Telling scary stories, watching movies (yes, we put the TV in the tent. Ya, we were really roughing it!) and cuddling when it got cold. It was all good except for when it rained for two days straight. Everything was really wet!
Uncle Erin and Uncle Trev went fishing the first day. They came home with 23 fish! The first one there is a travaly and the other 22 are snapper. Not that it makes any difference to me, they all taste the same! Thank you Aunty Rose for the pics!

Lining up their catch on the tramp

yeah, it's a pretty big fish

Needless to say we ate fish for the rest of the week. Pan fried, deep fried, battered and fried, baked, boiled, smoked, and raw. Yes. Raw. I also tried oysters for the first (and last) time. 

I decided I love the ocean. I love the waves crashing against me. I love diving underneath the waves and feeling them crash above me. I love swimming in it and going up and down with the waves. I also love that I beat both my uncles in a body surfing competition. But if you ask them I'm sure they would tell you differently!

On a side note, remember how my uncle Nat took me surfing in Auckland? Well the beach we went to was Piha. What he didn't tell me is that Piha is the most dangerous beach in NZ! People die there! It has it's own life guard team, rescue boats, even a helicopter is always near by. It even has it's own TV show! Thanks uncle Nat. Oh well. I survived. and I figure I could handle anything now! This is Piha, there are more photos coming, even one of me on the board! (and several of me off it!)

Anyways, back to Kaitaia. we went to the beach, swimming, snorkeling, cliff jumping, suntanning (I'm getting really dark) and had a sausage sizzle on the beach. For all you canadians who don't know what a sausage sizzle is, your missing out. All in all, it was a great week. Here's some more pictures...

That's Devyn

and who is that wonderful person? oh yeah, that's me!

Anehera and Jaquan. You beautiful girls!

Me again

Well thats all for now. But there should be more coming soon, I just realized how much I haven't blogged about when I was looking through my pictures last night.

happy

Things that make me happy...


... it's raining. Usually this doesn't result in a happy feeling, but today is the exception.
... I didn't get lost today.
... cuddling this baby.

... I handed in 25 resumes today. If I don't get a job from that then there is something wrong with this place.

... I can see the temple.

... The gospel is wonderful. I especially love how it brings people together.

... Yesterday Emere said I looked darker.

... I have officially decided makeup is overrated.

... I didn't sleep in a tent last night.

... This place definitely makes me happy.

... This song has been stuck in my head for the past two weeks. And believe it or not, that makes me happy.

... I'm going to peru april 22. Yes Peru. I know huh?

... Sarah will be in Peru.

... Then I'm going home(Canada) May 3. And yes, this makes me happy. And I'm happy that this makes me happy and not well, unhappy. If you know what I mean.

in the past week

I have...
been swimming. Lots.
surfed. Many times.
beat my uncles at a body surfing competition.
laughed recklessly.
made more friends.
strengthened other friendships.
killed a lot of mosquitoes.
cuddled a baby.
made french toast.
tried a new food.
eaten a lot of fish. Raw, smoked, fried, battered, baked.
decided that I might actually like fish
danced in the rain.
yelled at the sky and wished it would stop raining.
pulled an all nighter. kinda.
watched the sun set.

Vie est Belle

I sit there, in the ocean, watching the sun set. Ahead of me I see my uncle also sitting on his surfboard, silhouetted by the setting sun. The sun draws closer and closer to the ocean. The closer it gets, the redder the sky and surrounding ocean get. On either side of me, towering cliffs rise directly out of the sea. They rise into steep, green hills. Behind me, a beautiful beach stretches between the two cliffs. I look around me, stunned into silence by the beautiful scenery. And I think, as I have many times, how blessed I am to be here. How grateful I am for this beautiful, wonderful life. And I echo the words that many have spoken before me, vie est belle.

Thank you Mark, you said it better than I could

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

-Mark Twain

Goodbye. Hello.

Dear 2010, 
You were a great year. The year I grew up, graduated, and left home. You taught me much. You increased my patience. You taught me to love and to forgive. You taught me to pray and receive answers. You taught me to be scared and to overcome those fears. You taught me to work hard and enjoy the blessings I am given. You taught me to dream, you taught me how to accomplish those dreams. You taught me to learn from something other than books. You taught me that nothing is impossible. You taught me to be strong. You taught me how to be an example by giving me some incredible examples to learn from. You were tough, but you were wonderful. You were incredible. Thank you. Do you remember at the very beginning of our friendship I asked where you were going to take me? You didn't answer, I wasn't really expecting you too. But if you had told me, if I could know that somehow at the end of that year I would end up here, would I have believed you? Perhaps. Maybe not. It still seems incredible to me that I am here. Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for being incredible. I am sad to see you go. But I look forward to taking the things you have taught me into the next year.




Dear 2011, 
I don't know you yet, but I have a feeling we will be great friends. 2010 was great, and you have big shoes to fill. But I think you will do just fine. You will be fantastic. I have a feeling that you just might be one of the hardest years yet, but with the hard times I will also have lots of fabulous times. I look forward to getting to know you . To learn every thing I can from you. To conquer ever trial that you throw at me. To look back in another years time and know that I made the best of everything you gave me. I wish I could know what is coming, what you have in store for me. But I suppose that would ruin the surprise, wouldn't it? Thick or thin, it will be great. that I do know.

Yesterday...

Yesterday I slept in, ate breakfast, looked at some schools and other boring stuff, finished off Harry Potter #4 and then around midday went for a run. Then I remembered why I don't like running during the day. Way to hot and way to many people around. When I got back I took my shoes of and went got in the pool. With my clothes on. It was epic.
Later on that day Aunty Tracey announced that their family was going to Tauranga for shopping and fishing. so we spent a little time at the mall and then about 7pm we finally arrived at the beach. I love the beach. So wave jumping and beach walking and water splashing and sand sculpture building ensued until it was too dark. Then it was star gazing, milo drinking, cake eating and keep away playing. And during the entire time was hook baiting and rod casting. We (I use that term liberally, I didn't actually do much fishing) caught one decent sized fish (I assume it was decent, I don't actually know. And please don't ask me what kind of fish it was, cause I have no idea) and one very unfortunate stingray. The fish was put into a bucket and the stingray, after a very tense hook removing surgery (which was preformed in the dark by the way) was set free. Poor stingray. I named him Steve.
So what it a successful fishing trip? Well I'm not very educated on these things but I would say not really. I've seen more fish pulled out of echo lake. I mean this was the ocean! I thought it was supposed to be big and full of fish? Oh well, perhaps they weren't hungry, maybe they were still recovering from christmas dinner? Well one fish or 100 fish, I don't think it really matters. It was a fun day anyways.
We got home around 1am and I find a note on my door. 'please skype mum in morning'.
I started worrying a bit, maybe somethings happened? Is it an emergency? Am I in trouble?
So first thing this morning, which may or may not have been before noon, I skyped home. Have I mentioned lately how much I love skype? Cause I do. I love that I can see my family's faces and hear their voices and have long wonderful conversations with them. It warms my heart. Quite literally, my heart is warm.
Well that was today. Well, actually, now it is tomorrow, which is to say today it is a new day and that day is Jan 1!! HEY!! Your not going to believe it, but 3 seconds ago it was 1:11! That means that it was the 11th minute of the 1st hour of the 1st day of the 1st month of the 2011th year!! YAY!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!! And Yay for repeating 1's.
So today is the beginning of a wonderful year. hmmmm perhaps there will be a post about that tomorrow. That is to say, later on today.

ps: for those on the american continent, I am not confusing the days here. Remember how there is a massive time difference from here to there. 19 hours I believe, if you are in Cardston or Utah or a similar longitude. No biggie. I just get all the exciting stuff one day before you do, like christmas, new years, birthdays, hanukkah, ect. It's pretty great. ;)