Weekend

I am not keeping up with this blog as much as I thought I would.

This past weekend, I wanted to do something involving traveling and seeing something of New Zealand. The truth is, I haven't really explored all of Dunedin. Despite this, I'd rather go climbing at least see some countryside. Plans were made to go climbing at Long Beach just 20 minutes north of Dunedin. The weather was great all week, ensuring good conditions for climbing. Apparently, though I think it sounds more like an excuse not to go climbing in the cold weather, once it rains, the rock is wet for a long time. Well, of course, it was misting on saturday morning. So the people I was going with and I decided to swing by the farmers market. Again, I think I spent too much money on food: three loaves of really yummy bread, some cheese to go along, chicken, pears, apples, humus, and some chocolate fudge. We decided to wait for a bit to see if the weather would clear.... but it didn't. I sat around in the cold flat doing some reading and much needed skyping. I think we probably could have gone and I was keen to do so even for the opportunity to see some seals, but James had some work that needed to do. Fortunately, we went indoors to the small bouldering gym, which we had to ourselves. I actually was climbing pretty well, considering I had half a kilo of ice cream (for only 2 bucks!!!). The rest of the evening was pretty chill, consisting of me overcooking cous cous with tuna, vegies, and cheese.

Having to cook for myself sucks. Real life, eh? Having to plan meals and actually cooking them is difficult, especially when I am worried about a budget for food. I will need to go to the grocery tonight. BUT my strategy is to cook a large meal that will last me at least two days so that I will not need to cook enough and save electricity. Electricity. I will appreciate you so much more when I return to the the motherland. Every light switch or outlet here as a switch on it. You MUST turn it off in order to save energy, which is really expensive here. That is one reason for the cold flat: not enough money to keep the place warm all the time. I am constantly walking in and out of rooms turning off lights and thinking in terms of how many units of electricity I have. If nothing else, this will make me a more energy efficient person.

Anyway, on Sunday, I was able to go to the Reform Church of Dunedin -- about the size of my flat. It is a really quaint church on the southside of the city in a really peaceful part of town (mind you, I live right next to party central: couch burnings, random street parties, people pissing and drinking all over the street, etc.). The service was really nice. We sang hymns, many of which reminded me of "the meeting days", which I was not really a part of. Singing with other people was really refreshing. The sermon was quite applicable, speaking about being in the moment of suffering because we are called as Christians to experience suffering: "We should not be surprised at our sufferings". Afterwards, I chatted with a few people. Most of the church consists of elderly people (most of whom are dutch). I met some younger people as well; familiar faces from bible study. I was then invited over for lunch by the stand-in pastor and the guy who picked me up from my flat. It was really nice to be around other Christians and I spent a good four hours there talking about basically everything. From the "closed brethren" to dating long distance to climbing. The have friends who have a winter home near mount cook and the Mrs. Van Dyk invited me to bring back Lindsay and stay there. All in All, they are very humble, Jesus seeking people. The mother offered an open home whenever I needed it.

I promised to slackline with James, the person I have been climbing with, that afternoon, so I finally left their nice home overlooking the ocean. The slack line was across the Leith the runs through town (modeled after a Scottish town). I have never done such a high line before. We had a safety line but it was still intimidating. I think I got three steps into and then, forcing myself to fall forward, try to grab the line with hands... otherwise go for a swing. I will have to come back now that I trust the system a bit more.

Since I had eaten a lot on Sunday: the too many nutella/ honey pancakes for breakfast and the lunch out. I didn't want to waste food, so I just had some bread and cheese. I also was in a bit of hurry to go to another church at 7:30 pm that is, apparently, near where I lived. The internet was down, so I had to channel the Spirit (I joke). I did find the church called Cornerstone Bible Chapel, which I found similar to Littleton Bible Chapel (though smaller). I met some more people there -- more younger people, who invited me to their bible study thursday nights (and band practice). After the service, I was invited to go up to the youth leader's straw bale house that was recently built (land is cheap here...). We watched a movie about gnosticism in Hollywood, interesting but a little bit cliche. And that was my weekend. God has been good in providing good sermons and fellowship. Still, I am mostly by myself throughout the day but I do try and talk with the randomest of people. I look forward for the rest of this week and next weekend because I will be in Queenstown (maybe do some ice climbing...).

Kia Ora

ps. sorry for bad grammar you are no doubt going to find. I have not read over this and am sure, as Lindsay likes to point out often, that I have abused some homonyms. :)

Musing

We are called to be in the present; to enjoy what we have now, not looking back on what we have. One way I have heard it put is that we should not be sad about things that happened in the past or wish that we were back there but be glad that they happened. A thought I woke up to this morning is how much patience this experience is going to require. I would like to be seeing friends and family or be around people that I love and trust. Yet, I am called to be here in the moment and no amount of wishing is going to change the situation. Sounds like something that will help my climbing too!

Reading in Philippians it says somewhere that we must be what we desire from other people for other people. In less confusing grammar, I want to be hugged, to be loved, to have a community, to laugh with people, and to climb. Therefore, I must hug, love, invite community, cause laughter, and organize climbing trips. Of course, being a lazy and selfish being, I would much rather someone else do all of this for me. I would like to know that someone wants to hang out with me without me initiating it.

Also, I know that there is some sort of Christian group here on campus called Student Life. And I think there might be others. I met some people again today and asked them, hoping they would get the hint, where they hang out and they were not very informative. It made me realize perhaps they way I have acted at Davidson being apart of RUF. I know now what if feels like to be wanting to be in a community and that community not being really welcoming. Cool things at work and changes to make.

I finally have the class schedule smoothed out. Right now I have no classes on thursday and only one on friday morning.... so if the opportunity presented itself and I needed a four day weekend... hehe. Thank you all for your prayers!

Wanaka

So I just got back from climbing in wanaka -- my first climbing experience in new zealand. I went with three kiwis I met: a guy named James and his girlfriend and another guy named Anthony. The company was colorful to say the least. We climbed both days, though it seemed that the people here are much more laid back and can accept spending half a day on a 12 m route.

It is interesting to see how climbing ethics are different from place to place as well. There are soooo many bolts at wanaka. Cracks are bolted. 20 foot routes have 4 or more bolts. I found myself skipping 3 bolts on one route! But the climbing was really good. The rock is a schist and mostly loose unless well traveled. We did much more climbing on the second day and we had excellent weather the whole weekend.

I have felt lonely since I have been here and not meeting people who I can relate with. I found, though it is not the best option, sometimes distraction is the best thing. Climbing seems to distract nicely... and the day goes by quickly. More positively, even though I feel isolated even among people, seeing the beauty around me brings peace and reminder of God's love. Anyway, pictures should be up soon.

Today I am going to classes and trying to figure out schedules, which is quite stressful.