upcoming date night

I just wanted to share my excitement about seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in a couple of weeks. I bought tickets to the show on a whim, categorizing the splurge as a belated birthday present for Bryan (7 months later), as at the time of the actual event we were wandering around exhaustedly north of Auckland and I kind of forgot that it was his birthday. Oops. I'm a great wife, really.

My attempts to keep the show a secret until the day of the event failed miserably, as I expected them to, since I kept giving away little clues and eventually told him "I'll tell you if you guess it correctly." He didn't guess, but I told him anyway :) We're doing the standard dinner date beforehand and have plenty of interesting restaurants to choose from, most notably a variety of Asian cuisines resulting from New Zealand's relative proximity to Southeast Asia. I'm especially intrigued by The Bodhi Tree, a Burmese restaurant that gets great reviews and always seems to be full when we pass by. It's on the same block as The Caledonian (Scottish) Society, where the bagpipers practice in the parking lot on weekday evenings, so there's always a bit of a strange cultural mix in the air. I love New Zealand!

-rachel

my (very) part-time job. oh, and how i almost became a hooker.

so i got a job/volunteer opportunity in an administrative role that will consume a whopping 2.5 to 5 hours of my week. i would never have taken it in any other situation, but it's my landlord's business...actually, maybe that's a reason why i shouldn't have taken it. my rate of pay is according to a commission-based structure, which is fairly silly for my role because the work that i'll be doing doesn't have a very direct impact on our ability to make the sale. the company, comteq, offers a range of tech-based products but i'll be working with the part of the business devoted to phone services for business clients. essentially i'll come in the day before a client meeting to analyze their current phone bill and determine how much money comteq could save them. it's at least moderately interesting and hopefully pretty quick work once i get used to finding the information i need among the bill's 45 pages.

my landlord is a bit of an interesting character, though, so we'll see how things go with him. at least 45 minutes of my "training" today involved an explanation of his relationship woes, which was actually pretty informative as we'd noticed that he had a sleepover last night with a woman who is definitely not his girlfriend mesi, who just moved back to australia. though he is being fairly shady in many ways, my opinion of him shifted slightly once i heard his whole story.

speaking of jobs and shady dealings, as i was standing on the corner outside of subway waiting for bryan to get off of work tonight, a guy in his late 20s wandered over and asked, "so...are you working tonight?". so this is how you pick up a prostitute! i've always wondered about that opening line. he must have been fairly desperate, as i was wearing paint-stained jeans, flip-flops, and an ill-fitting fleece jacket and carrying a shopping bag over my shoulder. i suppose the profession doesn't tend to attract (and maintain) a high standard of physical attractiveness, so maybe i was the best of the pickings tonight. i think my "no, i'm just waiting for someone" embarrassed him, because he felt the need to follow up his question with the equally intelligent "oh...you're just waiting on the corner?". yes, i am. can't a woman wait alone on a saturday night on the corner of a street with a reputation for prostitution without being a hooker? maybe i should have seen it coming, but i really thought that the less-than-seductive fleece pullover would have dissuaded the hopefuls.

-rachel

two great discoveries

pairing an abundance of free evenings (we're not yet close enough to anyone here to garner evening invites) and relatively cheap internet, bryan and i have made two magnificent discoveries that we wanted to share with you.

1. stuff you should know podcast from howstuffworks.com. i've gotten into the habit of listening to one or more podcasts each night before falling asleep. not only does it feed my brain and help me relax, but it provides fantastic fodder for my dreams - how could it not, when i'm listening to "how lobotomies work" and "how the hell's angels work"? this week i've started tuning into their sister broadcast, stuff you missed in history class, where i learned more about the journalistic stunts of nellie bly in the 1880s and about the prussian amber rooom, a treasure on a grand scale that was somehow lost in the chaos of world war II.

2. the unending supply of quiz games on every imaginable topic at sporcle.com. because of the addicting nature of this website, i can now name all 195 countries, all of the counties/states of england and germany, the major bones in the human body, and all of the u.s. presidents. brilliant! on tuesday night we played some quizzes that involved identifying a movie from a clip from its soundtrack, resulting in a trip to the movie store for some disney classics (no beauty and the beast, so we settled for the sword in the stone).

hope you can benefit from our new faves!

-rachel

10 magnificent minutes and a family double feature

So I popped in at the church for a couple of hours this morning to wrap up some loose ends and start working on our next event for Family Ministries. I put together this image for "10 Magnificent Moments", the part of each Sunday service when a member of the congregation is invited to briefly share their story or speak on a topic that's relevant to the community. Bryan and I will both be doing this next week (Bryan in the morning, me in the evening - I told him not to use up all of our good stories!), and were discussing yesterday that we don't think that everyone in the church knows that this is something that we do on a regular basis, let alone why we do it. Though I'm definitely not skilled in the realm of graphic design, I'm a big proponent of branding, so maybe the regular use of this image will help explain to the audience why the nervous person is up on stage trying to keep their thoughts from floating away.

We're both pretty stoked (I know that word died in the '90s; I'm bringing it back) about our next Family Ministries event, a double feature, fish-and-chips-included movie night at the church in April. We were hoping to show Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 3-D, which comes out on video here in early April, but a call to the distribution company nipped that idea in the bud. Apparently they don't allow public screenings until the movie's been out on DVD for a few months in order to keep DVD sales up. That's understandable, even expected. I seriously doubt that Sony Pictures is intentionally thwarting the work of the Lord by denying our request for screening rights; if anything, they're giving us a chance to practice this good advice from 1 Peter 2:

"Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority—whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right."

So we'll find something else to show. Any suggestions? Ice Age 3-D?

-Rachel

how china ruined dessert

tomorrow is our roommate dave's birthday, so he very generously offered us a slice of his birthday cake from a local chinese bakery. he mentioned beforehand that it was a green tea cake (as was already evident from its untraditional hue), but what he failed to specify until after we greedily plunged in our forks and hurled large chunks into our unsuspecting mouths was that the brown layer disguising itself as chocolate filling is actually red beans. red beans? birthday cake? china is not doing itself any favors with this one.

-rachel

beach trip...in march

i finally downloaded the pictures from our outing to the beach earlier this month and thought i'd share a few so that you all can yearn even more desperately for summer. we took a city bus out to new brighton, just five miles east of our home in the city but a longer distance than we've cared to walk since ending our time on the trail. this little day trip was our response to a few long weeks of church projects, a sunday afternoon set aside for holding hands barefoot in the sand and remembering that we're still on vacation.

our first stop was the new brighton mall, an outdoor shopping area that was apparently the place to be on a saturday in the 70s and 80s, where we picked up some fish and chips to go. actually, i suppose i should say "for takeaway", as that's the way we've learned to word it here. "have here or for takeaway?" it's funny how so many of these fish and chips shops also specialize in another cuisine; i'm not sure how much i trust the grubby places advertising fish and chips and indian or fish and chips and mexican. not that there's much of a special technique associated with battered and fried food...

we then popped in at the beautiful new library that overlooks the beach and serves as a focal point for the mall. i flipped through the oxford project for the second time while relaxing in an armchair facing a window of glass. beautiful. jutting out into the ocean from behind the library is the new brighton pier, which at one point in time housed the kinds of carnival attractions that tend to spring up in seaside towns, but has since been torn down and rebuilt as a straightforward walking pier.

the original idea behind this beach trip was to walk the 6 or so kilometers up the coast to a pretty forested area, but the combination of warm sunlight and full bellies led us to nap on a sand dune just a mile from the pier instead. we laid there for the better part of an hour, watching the land windsurfers roll by on their skateboard/sailboat contraptions and scrutinizing the curious movement of sand on a sloped surface.

it was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, and we wanted to share it with you all, so we scrawled you a message in the sand. in case you didn't happen to spot it before the tide washed it back into the sea, we took a picture:

-rachel

our new zealand soundtrack

just thought i'd throw out some samples of the music that's gradually forming a soundtrack for our time in new zealand. the first two are by awesome kiwi artists, the third one is actually a guy from minnesota but the song is wildly popular here, and the last one is one that our church loves - it's guaranteed that you'll hear it at least once on a sunday, usually twice :)

gin wigmore (also check out her song "oh my")


midnight youth


owl city

planetshakers


we no longer have any idea what's cool in the states.

-rachel

worst hotel room ever

While searching for lodging in Melbourne, we came across this actual photo from the Pensione Hotel. Judging from this photo, their target audience consists of those accustomed to life in hospitals and jails. We did not book a room with them.



-Rachel

plane tickets!

many of you have been asking when we're returning home to the states, a question which has often been on our minds as well. and since we just purchased tickets for our next flight, we're pleased to announce...that we're no closer to determining a return date, because our tickets are for a week in australia :) it just seemed a crime to return home without the short (and, in comparison, incredibly cheap) hop across the ditch.

here's the plan:
-april 29-may 3: fly directly to melbourne, wander around town, catch up with mesi and dawit, visit planetshakers church, avoid vegemite
-may 3-6: fly from melbourne to sydney, visit bridges/beaches/harbours/opera houses/museums, take plenty of pictures, fly back to christchurch

a short trip in comparison to this long one, but still plenty exciting. while purchasing the tickets, we developed an everlasting hatred for jetstar, which tacks on a multitude of surprise charges to every ticket, in some cases doubling the original price. paying by credit card? that'll be $10. like to select a window or aisle seat? $2 each. the $54 departure tax i can understand, but i'd prefer it not to be a surprise.

if you've been to melbourne or sydney, we'd love to hear from you - help us decide how to spend our few days in australia!

-rachel

unlimited conference

this weekend i unexpectedly found myself at a children's ministry conference where the keynote speaker is the family and children's ministry pastor at planetshakers church in melbourne. i'd seen the posters and expressed to bryan a desire to attend, but postponed the making of the decision until a half hour before the first session was scheduled to start. our small group from city church consisted of roana and paul, the volunteer children's pastors with five redheaded kids who had us over for dinner last week, kandaice, an expat from iowa and mom of two, and rebecca, a 19-year-old just completing her year of study at travel and hospitality school. unfortunately i had to attend without bryan, who had to work. poor guy.

the unlimited conference was fantastic, largely due to rob bradbury, the speaker. usually i'd consider 5 keynote sessions for a friday night and saturday to be too many, but he clearly had enough material to make the time worthwhile. what i appreciate about conferences is their potential for inspiration - hearing from someone doing something amazing and beginning to believe that, with the right tools, you could do it too. for that reason i was glad that instead of receiving very structured, principle-oriented messages from rob, we were given a picture of what his ministry looks like and through that were able to easily pick up on his underlying philosophy. i didn't think i'd say this, at least not for a long time, but i could see myself working at a church, alongside the kind of people who think on a massive scale in their approach to ministry.

we'll see what comes of this...

-rachel

confession: i ate at dennys...and kind of liked it.

so here's something you should know about me: i hate dennys, shoneys, baker's square, perkins, and all other restaurants which offer quantity to compensate for a lack of quality. generally i would turn down an invitation to any of these places, but this week, being just a bit homesick and facing the alternative of a lunchless thursday, i hopped in the church van with the rest of the staff to see what wonders a new zealand dennys might hold.

as much as i wish it to be true, an international dennys is no different from a dennys in, say, alabama, save for the mysterious prawn twisters (see picture) on the appetizers menu and the indian(ish) mi goreng snuggled in between the cajun chicken and the chicken fajitas. and yet i loved it, not for the watery seafood "chowder" or the thick hot chocolate that was too sweet even for me, but for the christmas-colored vinyl booths and $2.99 breakfast menus that make a truck stop restaurant in kansas city seem a magical thing.

to continue our american day, in the evening we went bowling with jules and mesi (landlord and his gf, who's ethiopian but has lived in australia for 15 years) as a last hurrah before mesi moves back to melbourne. her brother dawit, her sister woiny, woiny's husband ross and their two-month old son jacob joined us as well. rarely has the word "bowling" conveyed an indoor activity in new zealand, so we took the opportunity to exert our physical and cultural dominance by winning a game apiece while casually sipping on our vanilla cokes. our burgers would have completed the picture had they not included beet slices where there ought to have been pickles.

still having a wonderful time in new zealand, but unemployment without adventure is making me long for the familiarity of an american food court...

-rachel

neuroticism...and how it keeps us in shape

exercise has always been a sporadic ordeal for me; i'll admit that i succumb to fads with enough eagerness to convince myself each time that i have finally found the solution to my physical slothfulness. in 2003 i spent a summer at the gym with a rotating cardio/weights routine; in 2004 my friend amy and i succumbed to tae bo long enough to start an exercise group at our church; in 2005 i wasted a fortune on the "dance dance revolution" game and dance pads; in 2006 sarah and i wore out our rollerblades on the minneapolis greenway; in 2007 i discovered the elliptical machine; in 2008 we bought ice skates and for a few short months practiced our hockey stops on the flooded local park; and in 2009 i reinvented myself as a backpacker. my emerging philosophy is that exercise fads can be acceptable as long as a new one begins as soon as the old one fades out. and as long as zumba is never on the list.



this year, being too cheap to invest in new equipment, we're back to the basics - jogging - and are, as usual, finding it difficult to remain consistent. the one thing that keeps my running shoes in semi-regular use is this city map and my compulsion to have explored every street, avenue, lane and terrace on it by the time we return to the states. before we go running i plan a route that will allow us to gain at least one new block and greedily mark new gains in black pen upon our return. i've even drawn a little house (top right) to mark our home and a little house with a steeple (top center) to mark our church. on the left of the map is hagley park, a massive section of green space that's as large as the entire city center. at the moment my longest runs will only take me to hagley park and back, but i'm sure it would be a lovely exercise spot for those with the appropriate endurance.



-rachel



personal updates: no job yet but still looking, big youth leadership conference at church this weekend that bryan and i are nervous about (everyone's way behind on the prep but no one else seems to notice!), both of us are speaking in church this month (10 min each), bryan's doing a fantastic job planning a family BBQ event for his internship, and i'm growing restless for another good hike