I guess I am surprised how fast time has gone by here. I sometimes am concerned that I will not have enough time here to do and see all the things I want!! Other times three and half more months seems like a lot of time.
I think I am finally settling in here. I am becoming ever more savvy with grocery shopping -- slowly reducing the money flowing out of my pocket. I definitely am not eating as much here as I do back home, but it is interesting to think that even though most of the time I am a little bit hungry, I am eating more that the average person does daily around the world. I am even planning on going hunting with a guy I know who is in the military here. He wants to go "stick a pig", which means hunting wild boar with just a knife. It is pretty popular here... mostly due to the natives (Maori people). But we will probably either go surf-fishing or hunt for deer, rabbit, and goat. I
I went climbing with this guy, whose name is Sam. I met him through a church I have been going to and he was graciously been driving me when I am in town, including thursday night bible study (fortnightly). I really like him mainly because he is really into getting outside and doing things, likes guns, enjoys climbing, and is an awesome Christian. We really didn't climb that much last night but I really had a good time with him. We were climbing at a spot called "Long Beach", which is literally right on the beach. Well, it is not that nice in the winter... quite cold actually. The climbing was surprisingly good even though it looked quite desperate. It is really similar to the climbing back home in NC. That means it is adventurous, which means slightly more heady -- and that means slightly more dangerous. I realized this on the last route in the dark, with no headlamp, and wet loose rock.
I am really thankful for climbing in my life. It is such a nice release and humbling. Having such a nice spot just 30 mins away from the Uni is quite nice as well. Whenever I am stressed out or worried and then go climbing, I am reminded of how awesome it is to be alive and important to stay alive to climb another day. I am also humbled because the climbing is in some of the most isolated spots of the country, surrounded by either a huge ocean or mountains. Climbing last night in the dark with just the booming sound of the ocean in my ears was frightening but cool. I am just a small little being.
I have a micro terms test on monday. I have not really studied for it but I am devoting the rest of the day for that purpose. It will be interesting to see if the schooling here is easier than Davidson, which everyone says is way harder than any other school they have been to. It is grow colder here again: snow is in the forecast for Dunedin. I am hoping to go ice climbing this weekend. I have a semester break coming up as well on the 28th - Sept. 5. I am making plans to expand my travels by perhaps going to Mount Cook (the tallest mountain in NZ) and of course climbing it, or go to Mount Aspiring. That all depends on weather really and avalanche conditions. But I do not want to spend too much time there so I will most likely bus over and stay with Alex and Kathryn in Castle Hill, which boast some of the best climbing in the world. There are sooooo many boulders (the huge fighting scene in the Chronicles of Narnia was filmed there)! That is far off though. Tomorrow I plan on going with this other guy named Ben to Long Beach for some Jesus time (i.e. sitting on the beach and meditating -- though i might do a little bit of bouldering as well :) )
I am very blessed to be here. It is hard to be away from family and those that I love but God as been good with giving me people to hang out with.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Crushing it in Wanaka!!
So my plans for this past weekend were to go to Wanaka for some climbing with the english couple, Alex and Kathryn, who I met last time I was up there. Then miss a few classes for ice climbing at Wye Creek in Queenstown with a guy named James, who I happened to meet in Queenstown (and who has climbed with my brother). The weather seemed to have a different plna. It warmed up quite a bit here enough to encourage shorts! It rained most of saturday and sunday, so ice was out. I decided to stay in wanaka for Monday and Tuesday anyway. The weather improved for rock climbing, and I ended up having a great time hanging out with Alex and Kathryn! It seems winter here is coming to a close and I am hoping to get on some ice before it is all gone! I ran into another guy in Wanaka from Tasmania who said that the west coast seems promising (perhaps I'll head there).
I suppose something I have been really impressed with is the kindness of the people I have met. I was sitting on the street waiting for Alex and Kathryn to pick me up and this women came up to me and started chatting with me. Everyone is very hospitable and not expecting anything in return.
I must return to the studies! Here are some pictures from this weekened.
Monday, July 26, 2010
The videos I promised.
Here are the two links to the videos watch them in this order. There are also some videos from my trip this weekend.
http://www.crazylovebook.com/videos_awe.html
http://www.crazylovebook.com/videos_stop.html
http://www.crazylovebook.com/videos_awe.html
http://www.crazylovebook.com/videos_stop.html
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Queenstown
I had the most amazing weekend in some of the most beautiful country that I have ever seen. I could not believe my eyes. At moments I thought that I was looking at a poster or something. This beauty is unbelievable.
The school group that I came to New Zealand with went to Queenstown for the weekend. Arriving friday, we went on a shotover jetboat ride on a river (look it up on the internet) . We then had the rest of the evening to ourselves. The next day we awoke to more glory with the sunrise on the Remarkables (the misty mountains in LOTR). We took a hour coach ride to the Routeburn Track, which was absolutely unbelievable. I honesty think I could hike that everyday and never grow tired of the sites. We hiked to the first hut and then a little further to the saddle before the snow was too high to pass. The pictures will not do the 25 km hike justice. I was also able, for the first time ever in my life, to drink with my hands from a spring. No filtering required. Amazing!
On sunday, some people bungy jumped. I decided to save my money for other adventures a little more lasting. I was able to have some time on the town, which was actually very encouraging. I ate lunch at this world class burger place called the "Ferg Burger". IT WAS THE BEST BURGER EVER. Massive, juicy, and with brie cheese. I then wanted to talk to some locals about ice climbing, which is popular in Queenstown. I do a fair bit back in the states and have not met anyone here who is keen to do some ice, mixed, or alpine climbing. It is hard to get into the climbing community here. Anyway, I went into the first outdoor store I saw and talked to the first person I saw. We chatted for a bit about ice climbing and he offered to go out with me. He has not been here very long, just moved from the UK in march. I thought that was pretty neat that the first person I talked to was keen to do lots of climbing. We exchanged numbers on the store business cards and shook hands. As I am about to leave he reads the my name and says, "Councell? Are you related to Andrew Councell?" I was absolutely shocked! He apparently had climbed with my brother (who is a climbing guide) in colorado. I could not believe my ears. There is not such thing as a coincidence. So, we are planning on climbing whenever we the weather permits... I just have to find how to get to Queenstown from Dunedin (a 3.5 hr drive).
I experienced such peace and rest this weekend. I was able to catch a glimpse of God's glory, as the song goes, "I see your face in every sunrise..." Then, to add to the already amazing weekend, I meet this guy who has climbed with my brother who lives in UK and happened to be the store that I chose to go into. Unbelievable. I am going to post some pictures, though there are more on my facebook. Also, I am going to post two links to videos that express in better words some of the feelings I had while being in the wilderness this weekend.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Classes
It is the second week of classes and things seem to be going well. They have a somewhat different style of... well ... everything here. Lectures are broken up between multiple professors. Classes are massive -- some 300 +. Then there are tutorials which are smaller classes where you can discuss some of the things you are learning. I am in a 200 level (which would be a 300 level at Davidson) microbiology class called, "Microbes in action". Today we talked about the oil spill in the gulf and the use of bacteria for the cleanup. Classes also do not always meet in the same room or even the same building. My biostatistics class meets 8:00 am in one building everyday of the week except on tuesdays when it meets at 5:00 pm in a completely different building. Then I am in a english class on crime fiction. There is a lot of reading but fortunately most of it is actually crime fiction, which is easy to read quickly. I am taking a lighter load so that I will be able to travel around and explore the island. I am learning a lot... in more ways than I expected.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
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. :)
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. :)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)