Leaving the Country...For a While

Monday 11 October 2010

Well, this is the last time I will write for a while. I am leaving for Australia for a month, so it will be at least that long before writing again. Probably longer. It has been a lovely weekend, but too short. It was hard to say goodbye to people. We have really grown attached, so being gone for a month feels like forever. It is especially hard to say goodbye to Anne and Alister. They have been such wonderful people to us. They are our family, and we love them so much. Just thinking about leaving hurts. Just imagine how we will be when we really leave.

I still haven't packed. I have a couple things thrown on my bed. Today, I still worked. It was actually a really hard day for me. I also had a meeting, so I stayed later than normal. Then I ran home to spend the last few hours with Anne and Alister. I don't know exactly what is in store for tomorrow, but we will be leaving right after lunch.

Well, here goes!
This is Anne and Alister on Sunday while we were playing Skip-Bo. What lovely people!

More Pics

Here are a couple more pictures for you.

This is a bridge that they may not fix. They may leave it here to show what this earthquake did. I guess it is like a symbol. It is over the Fecal River or the Poopons in Anne's view. It is the Avon River that has raw sewage running down it.

There are still many of these in front of people's houses. People still have to use them as they don't have sewage. There is no knowing how long it is going to take.

One Friday morning in the City Centre, all of Christchurch was invited to a breakfast.

A news reporter. We probably saw someone famous!

It was quite early in the morning. The mayor was even there! Alison gets to see him every once in a while in her restaurant.

Long Overdue Earthuake Pictures

Well, I finally have some photos of earthquake damage. These are actually Alison's pictures of the quake. I was not here when the earthquake happened and really didn't get the chance to look around until later. There may be a couple photos posted later. This will give you an idea of some of the damage that happened in our area, not the city centre.
The earthquake burst water pipes, so there were a lot of floods.

It was weird to see the cracks even in the dirt.

Some holes were really really deep. Children were actually playing in it!

This bridge connects us to everything. It is the bridge that takes us to Church, to work, to the city...We could not cross it for a long time. It makes getting places take a long time.

This silt or liquifaction was everywhere. I don't have any pictures of it, but it came from the ground and actually formed miniature volcanoes. They were everywhere. Now, the mud like stuff is gone, because it isn't wet. The problem is, it is a very fine powder like substance. This means that if there is a wind or a car passes by, you basically have to brace yourself for impact and close your eyes until it passes.

More damage. All of these pictures are in our area. We felt bad taking pictures other places, because we don't want to be rubber necking.

Many signs fell over.

Alison's work got hit. Several bricks fell off and there is a sign that said "Danger". She was off of work for a week. They were doing construction on the sight when we came by. She is working now, but there is a lot of damage still.

Anne and Alister's phones were ringing nonstop. When they were on their phones, even the home phone would ring. They were constantly on the phone. One time, Alister was talking to someone on his phone and the home phone rang. The person who called the home phone wanted to talk to Alister and the person on the other line. So Alister put them on speaker phone and had to hold both phones to talk to them. It was quite humorous.

Alister was posing for this photo as he started to sense the ridiculousness of how he looked. Anne is sitting on the chair. They are such wonderful people!

A Nothing to Report on Entry, but Yet, There Is...

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Well, it is counting down time now. It is exactly one week before we go to Australia. We have finally gotten all of our tours and papers together. I just got my foreign money, and Alison gets her tomorrow. It's so crazy!

Well, not much to report on in the past couple of days. Work is going fine. It is the school holidays, so we have been having themes. It was difficult to find things for the theme. For example, I don't have anything for Bible Character day, so I printed off animals and became the "stable". I had pyjamas, but changed so that I wouldn't be wearing my pyjamas all over town (which I have done before). Today was Wacky Wednesday, so I had all my clothes inside out, miss matched socks (which I have to admit, really bothered me) and different shoes.

So, I have been walking most of the time, but I decided to get the bus today to get to work a little earlier. Well, there apparently was road construction going on, so the buses never came. I had to walk almost an hour to get to a bus stop to catch a bus. By this time, I was already late for work. No more trusting buses!

One thing happened that was exciting. A really sweet couple from Church took Alison and I out to eat. We talked and walked around the area. It was such a pretty day, but it had a chilly breeze. They also sent us a going away card that we just received today. We really like them. They are just really thoughtful!

Actually, another really wonderful thing happened on Tuesday. Anne and Alister came home from the conference. It was a good reunion. We have really missed them! We swapped stories and had a good time, like always.

So there it is...

Birthday, Work, and Police

Sunday 26 September 2010

We went to Church and returned home. It was quite a nice day. It was very sunny and pleasant. Alison and I went to the mall to finish getting what we needed for Alister's birthday. Yesterday, we bought his present, but we realised, we didn't have all the ingredients to a cake we wanted to bake. So we bought the ingredients and returned home. The problem was, there were eight other people in the house and all the curtains were open. They are staying over for the night and flying to Australia in the morning. The sliding glass door was open and we could see right in and they could see out. We needed to find a way to get the stuff into the house without their noticing it. Our window into our room was open and on the way inside. So I had Alison walk in front of me as I discreetly threw in the stuff in the window and nonchalantly walk through the door as if nothing happened. Amazingly enough, they didn't notice.

We had a lovely time with everyone. There was four kids total. The two girls wanted me to help them build a fairy house. So I worked with them. It was not easy satisfying them, but we got some interesting creation that seemed to be okay with them. Then, we all watched Wipe-Out and the girls snuggled with Alison and I on the couch. It was not exactly roomy, but it was cute.

Monday 27 September 2010

Today is Alister's birthday. Happy Birthday Alister! I had a meeting after work, so it took me a while to get home. I read a story from one of my profile children during the meeting. The teachers seemed impressed since I only got "about 10 minutes of training" in that area. Anyway, I got a ride home from my boss. I walked through the doors and Alister said he made an executive decision that I would help him fill the bean bag, since Alison helped with the first one. Anne gave him a bean bag for his birthday, but you have to put the beans in yourself. There are two bags of beans and he put in the first one. Alison watched him put in the first one, so I don't see how that constitutes as helping, but whatever.

Anyway, Alison had made the cake and we had a card and the gift. Before dinner, we wanted to find candles. Anne told us where to look. Alison and I were on chairs looking on tops of things to find candles and couldn't find anything. Alister walks in, very suspicious, and asks what we are doing. Anne said, "They are looking for something for me. Stop being so nosy." He was there for a while being very nosy, but finally left. We had our dinner and then Alison and I left to write in the card we got. It took us a while, and then we heard a knock on the door. We panicked thinking it was Alister, but it was Anne giving us a light up candle. We then went out and put the "candle" on the cake and sang to Alister. Then he opened our present. Anne actually took a video of this, but I don't know if I could get it. It was quite humorous. He loved it and laughed quite hard. He had the exact reaction we wanted, so we were quite pleased.

Then...came the bean bag. I did indeed help. Anne was able to record part of it. I was holding the bag while Alister poured. Then he paused to adjust the beans. Alister told Anne to turn the camera off, but proceeded to lift the bag of beans to pour into the bean bag. I noticed he lifted the bag quickly and recklessly, so I put my hand up to block any potential on coming beans my way. A second later, an avalanche of beans poured my way missing the inside of he bag completely. He realised he was making a mess and lifted the bag. I tried to lift the bean bag with Alister, but more beans fell out that were on or even inside the bag. The floor was covered, so we just left it and attempted to get the remaining beans in the clear bag into the bean bag. We managed, but then had the fun duty of cleaning the heap of beans. The smell was horrible and the beans kept sticking to our hands. Alister, Alison and I were all on our hands and knees trying to clear the area. It took quite some time.

Tuesday 28 September 2010

Today seemed really long at work. I just really wanted to get home. I had a kid try to beat me up today. It was interesting. I came home and got ready for dinner. We were going to a couple's house. I thought it was just going to be the six of us, but found out later it was going to be the six of us, plus a couple others. Well, it ended up being around 17 people at one point. It was fun. We had a BBQ. We talked with each other and played a game similar to Monopoly. Actually, it is exactly like Monopoly, but someone altered it to Sallyopoly (Salvation Army Monopoly). It just has different names that refer to New Zealand cities and adjustments like that. I am actually not crazy about monopoly, but it was fun playing with them. In the beginning, I was losing miserably. All I could do was pay others for landing on their property. It was disgusting. Anne and Alister had to leave early, because they are going to Auckland tomorrow for a Salvation Army conference. Just when it was my last turn, I rolled onto Free Parking. It was sad to leave just at that point, but someone was able to pick up where I left off. I will have to find out later how I did. Then we returned home and talked for a bit before saying goodbye and turn in.

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Today was "Favourite Story Character" at work. I wore all brown and put my hair up in two buns on the side of my head and decided to be Curious George. It was a last minute decision. I took a tale from work. At home, Alison and I were able to find the only tortilla chips in New Zealand and we got salsa and an avocado. It was not the same, but it was the best we could do, so it was amazing. The tortilla chips were different, but it was good. The guacamole was different, but still wonderful. It has been a long time! I miss it!

Thursday 30 September 2010

Today, I got to do the sleepers. It would have been fine, but I had 5 children, one after another, have soiled nappies that I had to change. It was incredible and disgusting. Oh the wonderful duties of a preschool teacher! They all seem to plan soiling their nappies and do it all at once. Anyway, today was sports day at school. It was fun as they played 80's music. I heard Ghostbusters and I Just Want to Say I Love You! It was great. I had a lot of energy for some reason, which was good, because I had to teach some relays to kids. Plus, we were in the primary school with open spaces, and some children decided to break free. So they ran, and I chased them down. It was interesting. When I got home, I actually went for a run. This is something I haven't done since I was in the States. It has been a long time!

Friday 1 October 2010

Happy October! Work was fine, but the real story is after work. I was walking home. I was a little more than halfway when I see this little boy crying like crazy for his mum. I asked him if he lived in this one house. He said no. I tried to talk to him, but he was not make much sense. So I went to the house and knocked on the door. No answer. So I knocked again. Still no answer.

Then a huge dog (more like a horse in size and build) came toward me. Now, I am really not a dog person, so I did not feel comfortable sticking around. I really wasn't sure what to do. I didn't just want to leave the kid there, but I wasn't sure what to do. I could call the police, but I felt that for my own protection, I should be around people and have them call the police. The problem was, if the kid did live close by, I did not want to remove him. I asked where he lived and he pointed in a direction. So I walked close to him and followed him.

He them seemed a lot happier and took my hand. I watched my surroundings in hopes to see people. I followed his lead for quite a ways until we got to a major street. I knew there was no way he could cross without help, so I turned around and walked back. I saw a Salvation Army Church and tried to go to the reception. There was no one there, but some people working for the Church were around, so I went up to them and told them the story. They called the police, but the phone kept disconnecting. So they kept calling over and over. I kept trying to talk to the child, but he was really hard to understand. He was quite content, though.

When the police finally came, I told them everything that I knew and gave them all my information. The boy was quite shy of them and hid behind me. The police told me to come with the with the child, since he wouldn't be comfortable without me. We went to a dairy close by to see if they recognised the child. They didn't, so I showed them where I found the boy. As we were headed that way, a man came over and told us where the boy lived. We went to the house and a man was there. He said the boy's mom was probably looking for him. She thought the child was with him and he thought the boy was with her. The house was the actual house I knocked on, but I don't know why no one answered or why the boy said it wasn't his house.

I felt bad, but I did the only thing I could think of. I think I did the right thing, and fortunately, everything worked out okay. The police warned the family of how dangerous it could have been and if "this nice lady hadn't been there...". Anyway, we left and the police gave me a ride home. So I rode in a New Zealand police car...in the back seat. Now how many people can say that? When we got to the house, I couldn't get out of the car. The locks obviously had a safety, so I had to wait for them to open it for me. I don't think they realised that at first since they were so slow to get me out. It has been quite an experience for me. I hope I never have to deal with something like this again.