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

acmnp

Stumbled upon the website for A Christian Ministry in the National Parks (the name's a bit of a clunker) today and found myself applying for a staff position for this summer/fall. ACMNP is an organization that sends people to U.S. national parks to serve as ministers for park employees, organizing church services and community events. What's cool about it is that though it's a volunteer position, the organization connects you with paid jobs in the park so that you can support yourself and get connected with other park staff. I spent my evening at church making lists of the places we'd most like to work - Bryce Canyon (Utah), Zion (Utah), and Acadia (Maine) are currently at the top. Cool, huh?

-Rachel

picture: bryce canyon

proof that being cheap isn't always cheaper.

disclaimer: those of you who value oral hygiene may wish to skip this one.

i'll be honest - i've never been very keen on flossing, so dental floss was one item that didn't make it into our packs when we left for new zealand. much too cumbersome. but a week or two ago i decided to make good on some new year's resolutions and, being too cheap to spend $6 on dental floss, chose instead to use the thread that was stored in our repair kit. it was a bit dusty from our months in the wilderness, so i gave it a good rinse and used it anyway. bad idea.

earlier this week i began experiencing a pain on the left side of my mouth which escalated until i could no longer sleep through the night. though i'm usually the last person to voluntarily visit the dentist, i scheduled an appointment for the first slot available as we were running out of the ice and pain reliever that i had been relying on. at 4 am as i lay awake with a lukewarm icepack on my face i realized that i was actually looking forward to my visit to the clinic as it potentially meant some relief and the ability to chew my food instead of slurping it through the small opening that my jaw now permitted.

it took the dentist no more than 5 minutes to evaluate my condition, write me a prescription, and usher me towards the credit card machine. i have, as suspected, an infected wisdom tooth that will eventually need removing. fantastic.

saved:
$6 dental floss

spent:
$40 dental evaluation
$29 antibiotics and painkillers
$70 x-rays
$? extraction of tooth
$6 dental floss

proof that being cheap isn't always cheaper.

-rachel

movies. and typing tests.

it should come as no surprise for most of you that bryan and i are actively engaging in oscar season, even from afar. as usual, we eagerly scanned the internet on nomination day to see how our best picture guesses compared to the actual list and have been dutifully (oh, what a chore!) keeping up our tuesday movie date, trying to see as many highly-nominated movies as possible before the event. we do, of course, have a color-coded listing of all the nominees, ranked by number and quality of nominations and containing detailed notes on the theatrical and DVD release dates for new zealand wherever possible. we've been waiting for some recent releases to become available on fatso (a netflix equivalent), but when bryan excitedly threw open the bedroom door this morning to tell me that we'd soon be getting "up" and "inglourious basterds", i just heard him yelling the titles and thought he was telling me to get out of bed already with the unexpected use of a rather rude expletive.

this year we've been pleased to find most of the animated shorts available on youtube, and recommend both french roast and the lady and the reaper for your viewing pleasure. among the feature-length films there are a couple of movies that seem to appeal especially strongly to an american audience and so aren't available here, notably "the hurt locker" (tied with avatar for most nominations), "the blind side" (surprise best picture nominee), and "a serious man" (another coen effort with a minnesota connection); i suppose this just gives us more to look forward to on our return. saw "precious" this week, which we both enjoyed despite a number of scenes that are physically uncomfortable to watch.

in other news, i've discovered that i have a typing speed of around 105 wpm, as measured by typingtest.com for my application with a temp agency. i tested myself on two different websites, five times each, so i think i can be fairly confident with the results, which allow me to check the highest box in the "typing speed" category on my application - and we know i can use all the help i can get. from the "no, thanks" emails littering my inbox, it looks like i won't be a salad maker or a fish shop assistant or a receptionist for an autoglass company. i'm starting to appreciate the way that these rejection emails are worded...my favorite so far is the one from apex car rentals, which regrets to advise me that my application was not successful, as "a large number of applications were received and the overall standard was very high". what i appreciate is the subtle insinuation that my low quality might get me a job at some other time, but my wily trickery won't work now that the company is hearing from so many other applicants. i also like the one that informs me that they have shortlisted others with "more appropriate experience than yourself", as if i got caught trying to sneak in my inappropriate experience. thanks for that.

-rachel