Our Job

I titled this post "Our Job" because the following is what I decided was an effective use of my time today.

This is a picture of a cow (are you sure?). We happened upon her as we made our way back to the trail after a wrong turn through a field. Apparently I'm inexperienced at reading hand-drawn-and-over-copied maps effectively. At first glance, Emily thought she was standing up, because of the hill hiding her legs and ur angle walking up toward her, which made her ominous and massive in Em's eyes.

Turns out that Emily is rather afraid of cows. Maybe it's the udders, or the dumbfoundedly blank stares. It's probably the udders. All pink and fleshy with milk inside. The key to a great bowl of fruit loops, right there in that rubber-glove-looking sack. Ever milked one of those? I did at the North Carolina State Fair when I was about 10. It was gross, but I did get a t-shirt so all my classmates could know that "I milked a cow at the NC State Fair." It was white with those black cow spots.

I finally convinced her that is was safe to walk by and we managed to pass by without incident. She wasn't sure that all would turn out well, "What if it charges us?" I had to stand between her and the savage beast until we got out of earshot, which is good because she then started to comment on the size of the animal. "Look how fat it is!" Ridiculing that poor cow. Not nice.

Josh

Long Time No Blog

Sorry for the delay since our last post. We have been busy, with the kids and all....there just is no time. I digress. Much has happened in the past week. As you know, we found jobs, customer service for a day planner company. The excitement is so hard to contain. Basically, we just sit around all day in between orders that need to be put into the computer. "Things will get extremely busy," they say, "Sorry there isnt anything for you to do right now." At first we were frustrated and bored, but then we realized that we were getting paid to check our email and monitor fantasy football teams for 8 consecutive hours. It's a give and take kind of thing. However, since yesterday was friday, and we work until 7:00 every night, the coworkers decided it would be a great idea to crack open a few cold ones before the shift "officially" ended. Greatest tasting beer I've ever had. Didn't get those kind of perks working at the church...

Since summer is just beginning, Labour day was this past monday, (That's 1 labor day and 1 labour day for the year, but who's counting?) We decided to use our extra day off to go to this little place called Akaroa. Originally settled by the English and French, almost silumtaneously, it airs of both cultures. (You should really read up on it when you have a few minutes to kill and there really is NOTHING else to do. Think about it.) Anyway, we had the chance to stay in this little hostel owned by an American couple, went on a cruise of the harbor in a huge, very un-romantic boat (we did see some dolphins and seals though), and took a hike through sheep pastures to a peak that overlooked the harbor and city. All in all, it was quite beautiful and we really enjoyed the little vacay.

We also moved into our new place. Genevieve is our landlord and she lives across the hall. She is super fun and has a picture of her hugging Bono on the wall. Seriously, he's is hugging her back too and no photoshop was involved as far as I can tell. Awesome. She hates George Bush, so her and Emily are pals. I just try to avoid the conversation, because I dont hate anyone, just disagree peacefully, I love peace. We walk to work everyday and usually take our lunch. We went out on friday to the bowling alley to grab a bite. High class neighborhood.

We have uploaded all of our pictures the our flickr site (linked on the side bar). Everything we have taken so far is there, so go have a look and see how beautiful it all really is. -- Josh

Happy day for Jobs!

YAY! We got jobs . . . happy day for us! After realizing that no one in the city of Christchurch would hire us, we went to a Recruitment agency where we met Jane, the friendliest Kiwi on the planet. She immediately interviewed us, tested our computer skills, and placed us at a job. We will be taking orders at calendar company---mindless work, but we're not picky. Also, we only have to work til January, so then we can take off and enjoy the summer months here.

After getting the job, we wandered around the city and discovered more of the beautiful gardens this city is famous for. It's truly amazing because in the midst of this bustling, loud city, there are peaceful havens where you can feel like you're in the middle of a national forest. The gardens are exquisite, with enormous trees, sunny patches of grass and a variety of intricate flowers---lovely!

While we were walking through the gardens, we got a call from Gen to take a look at her "funky" cottage. We walked for what seemed like forever, but was surprisingly close, and finally came upon her quaint cottage, covered in vines and flowers . . . so pretty. She was playing John Mayer's Continuum when we walked in the door, so we knew she was cool. Almost immediately, she invited us to go camping over Christmas with her which was so cute---I think we're gonna like it here.

We have stumbled upon what might be the best Thai food this side of Thailand (although, since the world is round, we are technically on both sides of Thailand...hmmmm). We've had it twice in the past 2 days, and still no diahrrea, which is a A+ in my book.

We also found a local liquor store that give 15% off to locals, and since we are locals, we will be making visits rather often. Dont worry, we just go there to buy lottery tickets ;)

That's all for now. We're going to enjoy the 18 degree weather!

Christchurchians, we now call ourselves

We landed in Christchurch not an hour ago, after a mishap at the Auckland airport. (By mishap, I don't mean that we were accosted by a band of rogue Hare Krishnas, I mean that we came to the airport on the wrong day. It happens to everyone....Once. Quit laughing)

Anyway, a visit to the ticket counter and $200nz later, we got on the plane and got out of Auckland and loved doing it. Auckland is nice, for a day or so. It seems that everything is uphill.

Since we weren't so enamored with Auckland, we went to Waiheke Island, about a 30 minute ferry ride from the city. The views were just horrendous (note sarcasm):

We walked aimlessly (uphill the whole way somehow. not really, but that's how I remember it) for about an hour until we were really good and sweaty, then backtracked to a little b and b. We met the nicest lady in all of the earth who promptly offered us a seat and fresh-from-the-oven lemon muffins. I think Jesus told her we were coming. It worked out superbly since it was our one month anniversary. (And the best part is that it is going to be our one month anniversary in America very soon. Go ahead and get the bubbly chilled and feel free to celebrate on our behalf.)
So back to the point of this update. Christchurch rocks our faces off. It is absolutely beautiful and this is in the middle of the city:

We are very excited to be here finally. It really seems like forever since we got to NZ. We start the job hunt tomorrow bright and early, cause we still seem to wake up around 6:00 every day, which is midnight yesterday where you are. Think about that one sometime if you ever need a headache.

Pray we find jobs quickly. We will also be on the hunt for a place to live, a church, a bank etc. Until next time....

WE ARE HERE!

At approximately 7:30 AM, we touched down on New Zealand soil. I'm not sure what time, or day it was when we landed, but I know we landed and didn't crash with Jack, Kate and Sawyer on some magnetic island with a pirate ship in the the jungle. Praise the Lord...

We had a little layover in LA and ran into this crazy character:

She was of course extremely excited (like there is a lower gear), and she gave us a present and everything. Sadly, because of the new regulations on liquids in your carry-ons, I had to chug 2 gatorades and a mini bottle of chardonnay before going through the security check-point. We didnt want to hurt Shannon's feelings.
We finally finished up our 20 hours of flying and made our way into Auckland. It's ok, just a general big city, however there is not very much litter.
We attended our orientation, bought a phone which we will probably never make a call from, unless we win the lottery, and walked all over God's green earth.

All in all it has been a fantastic first day, and we have been fighting sleep since about 5:00 this afternoon.

Here are a couple more pictures for your visual stimulation--

--Josh and Emily

Goodbyes in Boone

We took our last trip to Boone for a while this weekend. It was a blast for sure. Spending time with the new fam was so much fun. I also learned a new card game and beat Emily many times. Connie cooked spectacularly and there was no more room in my belly after the weekend. No complaints there. There were lots of new things to remember.

We also had the opportunity to take a drive on the parkway and enjoy the fall colors. They were certainly in full swing and were absolutely beautiful. There would be a picture of my beautiful bride here with amazing fall colors behind, but we forgot our camera. It was probably Emily's fault, but we aren't keeping score...(Josh 1, Emily 0).

There are merely hours until we board the airplane for the NZ. We have started packing some, but haven't really gotten anywhere just yet. Somehow we have to get our bags to weigh less than 50 lbs.

Keep us in your prayers as we say a few last goodbyes and try to pull all of the loose ends together before Wednesday.