Gidday maties from wet Auckland.  I am home!  I got back on Friday night, after driving in the dark through those cool NZ roads... lol. 

 

Well lots has happened in the last little while.  I got offered a job in Taupo which I'm still thinking (and praying) about, and right now I'm working reception for my Dad at his work!  So far it sounds like I'll be here for three weeks, and after getting some training yesterday, today I'm flying SOLO.  Yes.  Its a little freaky, but most of the main stuff I did when I worked for my mum, so I should be ok!  Hopefully.

 

How about the rest of life you might ask... well its been a tough few days, just feeling a bit of self inflicted pressure to make decisions about my future, attend all required church activities and interact socially (sometimes I forget how to do that - strange really) with my friends.  Its safe to say that the re-entry culture shock has hit.  Life in China just seemed so much simpler sometimes.  But I know I'm where I'm meant to be, and in time I'm sure I'll start coping a little better.

 

The thought of moving to Taupo excites and scares me.  The job they have offered me is great - working at the camp and also doing some youth mentoring, working with a church down there and going into the two local high schools.  At the same time I feel like it might not be the best time to move away yet again, and even though the trip is only 3 1/2 hrs, its still kinda far away.  Its also hard because its a bit of a scary thing to pack up and move so soon - I'd known I was going to China for about 7 years, so when the day came to leave it wasn't such a big deal.

 

Ahhh, life is so complicated.  Well thats all folks!

Well I made it to Tauranga on Saturday safely.  It rained all the way, sometimes quite hard, but someone was watching out for me so I was safe.  I actually experienced a bit of road rage... well not me but this crazy man behind me.  I'm driving on this nice wide straight road and he wanted to pass me, but expected me to pull over into the side of the road?!!  I didnt quite understand this and after him tailing me for a about 10mins I got annoyed and flashed my break lights...dude just go around me>! (I was going the speed limit!)

 

Anyways, I hung out at Katie's flat on Saturday night, some people came around and we spent some time talking to the Big Guy and reading his word.  It was really refreshing just to sit and listen to him, and worship him.  He's an amazing Father!

 

Sunday we went to fellowship in the morning, came home, ate a late breakfast and then drove down to Taupo.  As we came over the first big hill into Taupo...the sight was SO beautiful.  The rain had stopped, the lake was very big and blue and the sky of bright blue with clouds dotted over it.  Check out the photos in the Taupo album to the right of these words.  I will try and take some more of things around the camp today!

 

I'm excited about this week, am really looking forward to a time of spiritual renewal and some rest! 

 

Yay, home!  Again.  Nice to be back.  Guess what... I'm going away for a week to Taupo (which is in the middle of the north island) to sing on a worship team with my friend Katie!  Her parents own a Christian Camp...one where people can come and stay and there are fun activities, hang out together, have a bit of a holiday and learn about the Bible, pray and sing.  (Thats for my students and friends in China who have probably never heard of a 'camp' before).

 

But Australia!  It was so much fun.  We went to FOUR theme parks (Movie World, Wet'n'Wild, Seaworld and Dreamworld).  We also went to two massive malls, several markets and the beach front was BEAUTIFUL.  It was a very busy holiday, but a lot of fun and I still managed to finish my book!  Aren't I good!?

 

It was awesome to hang out with just my family for 8 days, we had some great times together.  I'm guessing that will be our last big holiday together with 5 people.  Of course there will be more holidays, they just wont be 'Mum and Dad funded' holidays!

 

I've been thinking about this a lot:  I live such a priviledged life.  And exciting!  In the last year I've been to 6 countries other than my home in NZ.  I've visited 14 different cities and met SO many amazing people.  God has certainly blessed me at this point in my life.  I feel so priviledged to live this life for him. 

 

I still dont know what is next, I've applied for a few jobs but nothing has come up yet.  My heart is still open for working in Asia, although being home in NZ makes that feel like such a big sacrifice.  But my life is not my own.  I dedicated it to God a long time ago and look where he has taken me.  I am trusting that whatever he has next is good and I have no need to worry.

 

 

Once again I am on the verge of leaving New Zealand.  Yes I am insane.  I love this country but I keep on leaving!!

 

Actually this decision is quite sane.  Brisbane, and more specifically, the Gold Coast has warmer weather right now.  So basically I am going from one insanely beautiful place to another.  (Its all about beautifulness you see).  The fact that this holiday is FREE is also a big bonus.  Airponts are the BEST invention ever.  Well other than things like airplanes - which had to come before the airpoints...  I digress.

 

So thats my news.  I will be away till the 17th of July - soak'n in that Aussie sun, going to theme parks, the beach and what-not.  Just enjoying some quality time with my family.  I promise I'll share photos when I get home!!  (Really it'll just be to make you jealous!)

 

Leesh out :P

Today Lynd and I took a walk to the beach.  I told Lynd it would only take about 1/2hr, but I'm pretty sure its more like 45mins.  Anyways, we walked to the reserve - then walked through the muddy bush track, only to end up at the top of the hill, facing more muddy bush track.  Finally we made it to the beach!  It was not the clearest of days, the sky was pretty cloudy, but it was still fun to get a bit dirty. 

 

I have come to the conclusion that even mud is clean in NZ.  Compared to some of the mud I saw this last year away, we certainly have the cleanest stuff in NZ!  Its been raining quite a bit at the moment, with a few small tornadoes hitting the three small islands that make up this country.  But even in this season of the 'worst weather' I think there are plenty of moments where even if its raining or about to rain, or wet everwhere, its still beautiful.  And not even that cold if you're in Auckland!

 

Well that's all my rantings about how much I love New Zealand.  Makes me wonder why I want to live in Asia - but we'll leave that decision to God!  Enjoy the pics...

 

PS - I know I put all the pics down below, but the album they appear in is the one directly to the right of these words.  Click on the picture and it will open a new page with a larger window and you can scroll through the photos instead of clicking on the little pictures below all the time and having to open a new window.  Most people know this, but I felt obliged to inform others who maybe dont :)

Dear students of OCC:

 

Well here I am, after midnight, sitting at my desk and finally ready to write my first post from New Zealand.  I dont have jet lag, I've just been procrastinating because I wasn't sure what to write.  I know I need to put some photos up to accompany this post, but I figure that can happen tomorrow.  While I'm in the mood I better write!

 

Its SO bizarre to be back.  Part of me feels like I have sighed in relief, the other part of me is having trouble breathing at all.  I enjoy being around familiar faces again, catching up with people and all the sweet sweet rain.  But I must admit I've been a little homesick for China.  For the peoples I've left behind.  (If your reading - I miss you all!  Oh and EPT is NOT a good measure of your Oral English ability - so if you did bad I would seriously consider sitting an IELTS or TOFEL exam to get a real idea about your level.  I just wanted to say that.)

 

Tonight I showed some photos of and you (my students and friends in China), where I lived, and random Chinese people to a meeting of people who share the same belief that I do.  They are really interested in China and I told them a lot of stuff.  I'm always a little cautious though, because I'm not a native Chinese person, and of course I see everything through foreigners eyes.  But despite that, its good to have also have a bit of a personal reflection time about the things I learnt while I was in China.

 

(Something else that is interesting is that I am listening to SHE right now.  Yes, Chinese music!  Its excellent!)

 

Now for some ordinary news.  I have unpacked (that didnt take long) and have set up my room.  It looks quite cute.  (OK thats boring news).  But I have a nice car that my dad painted a really cool blue for me.  This week I'm aiming to catch up with more friends, clean up a lot of old stuff I have in cupboards downstairs in my old room and read some good books.  ENGLISH BOOKS :)  Ones I couldnt bring to China because they would have weighed too much.

 

Thats all for now.  I love you all and miss you.  Keep working hard, I know you have your exams soon.  Dont stress to hard - but do study!  (I'll always be your teachers so I have to say things like that!)

 

Love Alicia

 

PS - Email me, you know my email!

So on Friday we said all our final goodbyes.

 

Its hard to reflect on my whole time here, so many things have happened.  This morning we are packing some final things (last minute washing).  I will write a better post when I'm in the right mind space.

 

Here are some pics!

It all started last Thursday.  Some of my students students had organised to visit an elderly community to teach them some English for the Olympics.  They had asked me to come with them, and after some shuffling of things, I told them I would be able to come.

The students were really excited about me coming and they told the people who they were organising it with that I was coming.  When we got there, there were tv cameras.  Yes, TV cameras. 

I guess foreigners are still a bit of a novelty in little Fengtai…so it looks like I’m gonna be on BCTV…Beijing CTV.  I don’t know when yet, but I'm hoping to get a copy of it. 

We left school at 12.30pm - on a public bus and then for a jay walk accross a highway.  We arrived and after waiting for about an hour and having a whole lot of photos taken, which of course all have me in them, we sat down in a room (I’m in the front row) and first a choir of the elderly people sung two songs in unison.  My students said that singing in union has something to do with the strong spirit of the community.  Then ladies in costume did a version of Chinese rap.  It was totally cool!  After that the class monitor got up and said something, then I got up and said about how happy I was to be there and what a privilege it was to meet them all – with my student translating.  The students took turns teaching different English phrases and asking the people to repeat them and practice them on me.  Of course almost the whole time the camera was on me…oh man.  I may be ok on the stage when I am all prepared to sing or talk…but being filmed and taken photos of constantly is a different story.   

Next we went and visited a couples home, and they told us (I’m still being translated to) stories about their youth, about some of the hard stuff they went through, drought, war and other things.  They were all really kind to me, exited that I was there and wanted to talk to me.  My students did an amazing job of translating, teaching and of course asking me if I was ok every few minutes.  Soon it was all over, we were taking the last group pictures and then we walked back to the bus. 

All in all it was a pretty cool experience!  And as my students kept asking, 'Its something that will be my last impacting moment in China'.  Thank you class 1!  Thank you for the impacting moments of Friday, they'll stick with me for life.

Imagine this...never ever having eaten mexican food before.  In a country of a billion, this is definatly a possiblity. Now imagine the scene where you are trying mexican food for the first time.

 

If you can't imagine, I will imgaine for you...

 

We are sitting in Pete's Tex Mex, my absolute favourite restaurant in Beijing, and the waitress who speaks amazing English (basically because she's worked here for ages and has learnt from foreigners) comes to take our orders.  But no one knows what to order, and the Chinese on the menu doesnt make any sense (according to my students!).  Joell gives a little tutorial on the differences between nachos, tacos, burritos and chimmichunga's.  Finally after about 20minutes we place some sort of order.  When the food arrives we hear: "Its so messy!", "Do we share food or um what do we do?", "I pick this up with my hands?".  It was so fun seeing them completely out of the their comfort zone, but trying something new.  I guess in the West we eat so many different foods from different countries.  At my house we have mexican, dutch, italian, chinese, english, and kiwi (whatever that is) variations of food all in one week.  So new flavours dont come a long often.

 

It was a great night though, everyone ended up enjoying their food and went home with warm hearts and full tummies.  Precious times like these make it so hard to leave all my friends and make the journey back to NZ and the unknown.  But its ok.  All we have sometimes are a few days, and they are ordered by someone above...so I trust he has a purpose for all of them.

 

Enjoy the pics:

Last night I went to the Darlene/ Hillsong Concert in Beijing.  It was SO awesome!  I've had the priviledge of attending an international fellowship this year, and while the worship is good, I guess I still prefer the NZ/Aussie worship style over the American one.  (Regardless of style they both lift up Dad, so when it comes down to it, it really doesnt matter what style you use.) 

 

Anyway, it just reminded me of how much I love worship.  And being in a position to lead worship and worshippers.  It is such an amazing priviledge and I find it so incredible that for so many years in NZ Dad held the door wide open for me in this area.  Although I haven't lead worship or even sung on a worship team this year, I've come to realise that this hasn't really changed things between me and the big guy.  Infact it has cemented more in my heart how much my singing is firstly a song just to Him. 

 

Something else that has been a cool revelation of late is also about my life calling.  Its always been a struggle for me, measuring myself against people who seem to know exactly what they want to do, which career or life calling they have...while I kinda stand by and feel a little lost.  My heart has so many passions, so many things that I love to do, desire to do and feel called to.  Music, global service, youth discipleship, speaking and teaching the word, and one day being a mum and a wife really are just the tip of the iceberg.  I also realised afresh that everything has its time and season.  It takes courage to pursue these things; maturity to know when its the right time for each; and humility to know when its time to move on.  I will certainly spend a life time learning these lessons, and I'm sure I will learn many of them the hard way...through trial and failure! 

 

No matter what, as long as somehow (through His strength) I can continue to put my heavenly Father at the forefront, I know that my life will continue to have a purpose, that my life will count for somethin bigger than me.  In the end, loving Him is all really I want to do.

So I did spell Bei Hai Park wrong yesterday.  But I wasnt wrong about all my excitement.  We had a fantastic day!  And my girl were incredibly sweet.  On Saturday they went to the park to scope it out.  And one of them did research on the different things there and had cool stuff to say about the different places.

 

Enjoy the pics!

Hey hey hey.   Its been another week...and my calander is telling me that I have only 1 month left here in China.  EEEEK.  Thats scary.

 

Now for some intelligent writing.  Um...

 

Sitting here its actually hard to remember what I exactly did this week.  Last weekend I went and saw Spiderman 3.  One of Joell's students came and we had a bit of fun with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cutouts.  There are even photos of the fun.  I may even add them on this post.  Hehe.

 

The rest of the days seem pretty normal to me, but I'm not the best judge of normal, since I live in China and all.  We went out on Tuesday night for Ama's birthday...it was FUN!  Some of my teammates found this little pizza place that actually makes western style pizza, and even though it had rained all day and for the first time in China my hair went curly from the humidity, we had an awesome evening.

 

This week I gave my student a differnt kind of assignment.  They have to come up with a kids radio program.  And instead of teaching them in the classroom every day, they have to come to my office on scheduled days and we kinda do a sort of a tutorial kind of thing.  I told them that they are not kids, and honestly I've taught them a lot this year, and its time they had a chance to put it all to practise.  Radio is not easy.  People can't see your face, they can only hear your voice.  So you've got to pronunciate and you a lot of expression!  I wont hear the final product till next Friday, but the feedback has been very positive.  Now I just need to follow up this week with something better...!

 

Tomorrow I am getting up far to early for a Sunday morning(like 6am) and meeting some students at 9am in Wangfujing.  We are gonna go to a place called Bai Hi Park.  I dont think thats spelt right.  But I'm really excited to be hanging out with them!

 

Well thats all folks!

If Ugly Betty has taught me one thing this week, its honesty.  And honestly, I've had trouble being honest this year.

 

It all started with the warning...'don't be too negative in what you blog about or tell people at home'.  Unfortunatly I may have taken this a little to far.  Most of the time I have meant that to mean, 'don't let on that your not doing fine and that things are less than a field of flowers'.

 

Life rarely is a field of flowers.  Most of the time its more like roses.  Roses that only bloom in season, roses that have thorns.  And even when roses are blooming they need to be trimmed quite viciously if you ever want them to truely look good.

 

I have felt a lot like that this year.  Most of the time, I feel like a bit of a failure.  I honestly didnt come to China thinking I could change the world, but you do hope for change to happen in even just a small corner of it.  And as much as I'm sure things may have changed, I struggle with the fact that because I dont nessecarily see change the way I want it, nothing has truely changed.

 

Not coming back also makes me feel a bit like a failure.  Like I couldn't hack it in China and now I need to come crawling back home.  Home where things aren't quite as familiar as they once were, home where there are no hairdressers on the streets, not enough minature dogs, and very few babies with spilt pants.  Home where I dont know the person who sells me carrots and onions, home where there is no dumpling guy who still talks to me in Chinese even when I have no idea what I'm saying, and home without my gypse taxi driver still refuses to take my money (saying: "ni shi pung you.  Your my friend!" over and over pushing the money back at me).

 

Its funny, as much as I maybe know the truth about how Dad has used me this year, SO often I end up accepting the lie rather than embracing the truth.  I guess also its hard admitting that I have fallen short.  There may have been many opportunities I have missed this year.  Many students who would have liked to spend more time with me, but I was too tired or too busy dealing with my own issues to reach out.  And its true, in life we will always fall short.  Its what we are good at, its what the 'humanness' in me tends to do.

 

So thats my honest post for today.  I guess all this from above has been one of the reasons why I've found it so hard to regularly post about life.  I have wrongly assumed that people simply cant understand this life I'm living, forgetting that if I dont tell anyone, how on earth are they meant to find out?!

 

Ahhh, LIFE.  Praises upwards for the days and the hours.  Without you, my lover, my friend, I dont know how I would have got this far...

...but my mum commented that I haven't updated my blog recently.  So I really should update it.

 

Lalalala LIFE is good.

 

Lots of things on my mind these days:

We're back from travelling - and lots of pics to prove it!  We left from here on the 2nd at 4am - yawn - and arrived in Guilin around midday.  Guilin was pretty hot, but not as bad as Cambodia.  We spent a lot on tours but it was worth it.  We had a private guide for the first afternoon and then went on a boat along the Li River the next day.  It was loads of fun, just hanging with Mum and Age.

 

One thing that was funny for me was that I really felt like Beijingren - being in Guilin.  Maybe the best way to explain it would be that I'm an Auckland girl - and when I visit Hamilton, I feel a little different from the Hamiltonians.  Thats how I felt in Guilin.  Wierd huh.  Whenever I think of leaving China - my heart is pretty sad - this place, these people are grown on me.  I've even noticed how much I accept all the things I thought were so different from NZ.  Many of the things Mum and Age ask about or spend time looking at, I walk past because its nothing different for me. 

 

Shanghai was cool!!  Check out all the new albums - especially the China signs one - it should give you a bit of a laugh!

Mum and Age are here!  They arrived on Friday, while I was stuck in traffic in a taxi.  But the driver was very nice and he parked and helped me find them and carried the bags, so that was nice!  I've been keeping them busy, Saturday they came to school to meet my students, and I had them come to my classes and let the students ask questions for the whole time.  Yesterday was fellowship and we had Italian for lunch (at another branch of Annies) and then went to Yashow clothing market while Alex got fitted for a suit.  Age and I bargained for some fans and I was surprised at how much more Chinese I have learnt since I went shopping last.  That was really tested out again today because we went to the Silk Market and Mum and Age got gifts for everyone at home.  First stop was Stephanie's pearls - and luckily we are friends of friends so no real bargaining need be done there - good prices all round.

 

Here are the photo's.

Saturday was Alex's birthday!  Ama organised a surprised birthday party - by getting some students to take Alex on a wild goose chase - while we met all the other students and took them to the World Park.

 

It was a beautiful day - and we got to visit a lot of places all over the world.  I even made it back to NZ for a few minutes, and educated a few students about some Maori words...the very very few I know.

 

Enjoy the photos!

Kinda random story to start with.  But let me warn you there really is no point to the story, I'm just gonna tell ya what I ate for lunch.

Gong Bao Ji Ding.  If thats spelt right.  But the cool part was we at this little place that has recently been erected outside the school back gate.  The ceiling is just high enough for you to stand, and seriously the whole place is a bit of a lead-to.  You walk in and the menu is on the wall (this is pretty common at little eateries - if they bring you a menu the place is a little classier, but the foods not necessarily much better), there are low tables and three legged stools.  Students are scattered around, some are watching a basketball game on the box in the corner, and the cute little waitress comes to take your order.  And as has become the biggest cliche for our students, we order the most common dish that foreigners order.  Gong Bao Ji Ding.  Chicken, cucumber, chillies, carrots and peanuts.  Stir fried the royal style.  Thats what the Chinese characters mean - royal in some way.  Whether its really royal or not I'm not sure, but it does taste good.  And it has vegies - so I'm all for it.

That was lunch.

Now for the cultural discussion.  One of my students did his speech on the difference between how Chinese and Westerners deal with their elderly.  His opening sentence which almost made me stand up and correct him was, 'Westerners put their parents in nursing homes when they get old'.  It is possible that our parents are a lot more independent than perhaps their parents are when they get old.  Our parents hope that we will have kids and will visit them and love on them - and they look forward to seeing us grow up and have our own lives separate from them.  But most parents I know (in NZ I'm meaning) are not relying on their children to provide for them when they get old.  If they haven’t had some saving scheme of their own they will probably live off the miniscule pension they get from the government.

To my student this idea seemed almost disgusting.  That our parents who gave birth to us and raised us and spent a lot of time and money on us would not be 'paid back' in old age.  The Chinese way (as I am aware) is that as your parents get older and retire, you become financially responsible for them, and often they will come to live under your roof, and perhaps take care of your child.

So my student asked me…don’t you see this as being selfish?  And I had to be honest…no I don’t.  But I do feel a little selfish saying that I don’t feel selfish!  Believe me, I love my parents and will look after them in their old age.  But they have planned for this time, and are looking forward to retirement (I think J).

I guess this is just one of some very big gaping cultural differences.

I have come this fine day to share with you some craziness from the foreigners who already stick out A LOT in China.

 

Apart from all the other work I obviously do...(cough cough)...I have taken time out of my day several times to break from the ordinary and have a little fun. 

 

These are my attempts...