New Zealand...a.k.a the land of many cool sayings! (Choice bro, No drama, You aright, F.....unnnnnnreal!, I reckon we sell the car?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!)

After much consideration and so many mind changes I decided to join up with two of my bestest friends Courtney and Mahal in New Zealand. I can tell you that I've made an excellent choice!!! It was so great to see Court and Mahalia waiting for me on the other side of those airport doors. I don't think that small airport in Christchurch had ever heard such loud screams before. It was pretty surreal to be standing there and realizing that the three of us were together in New Zealand...sweet!
They picked me up in our very own 1998 Mitsubishi and we headed straight to a music festival. The festival was near a small town called Twizel and it was all New Zealand bands. SOOOO FANTASTIC! There was tonnes of music but for the most part was reggae, dub and hip hop. One of the big things I missed when I was in Korea was live music, so this was an excellent way to start off my first week out of SoKo.

We volunteered at the festival and all we had to do was take tickets and hand out sun screen. It was such a sweet deal! I got a chance to meet all Court and Mahal friends that they had made the month before picking cherries. I had no idea that their were so many people from around the world travelling and working in NZ. Leave it to Court and Mahal to find some sweet people to hang around with! I love them!!!

After the festival a bunch of us headed to a small little lake to chill out and relax for a few days. Week two of my NZ adventures brought me to the adventure capital of the world, Queenstown. This is where they have all the bungy jumping, para-sailing, kite surfing, base jumping, white water rafting and many many more adrenaline seeking sports. We stayed with one of Mahal's friends from Whistler. It was so great we had a hot tub and a pool along with a bunch of super cool peops. We watched a sweet bike jam with tonnes of boys doing some crazy ass flips and stunts on their bikes.

Day three of Queenstown was the day that I dared to go over the edge!!! Yup, I jumped off a cliff!!!! I did what they call a canyon swing and let me tell you it was absolutely mind blowing. You basically go to the edge of a canyon (on a platform ) and then get harnessed in and then jump any way you want down into a canyon. (http://www.canyonswing.co.nz/index.php) Court went first and did what they call a pin drop which means she stepped off sideways. After Court I took the plunge. I chose sitting in a plastic patio chair as my way off plummeting into the great unknown. So, there I was sitting in a chair as one of the guys working there harnessed me and started to tip me over the edge. At first they were just toying with me and pretending to drop me and then bringing me back up. It was so freaking scary!!! Once they were done toying with my emotions they told me that I had to push myself off the edge. Picture this- me, sitting in a chair with my back to the canyon having to push the chair and me over the edge. It took me awhile of hemming and humming and then I counted to three in my head and push!!!!! Over the edge I went and I dropped like a freaking brick!!! I did two backwards flip before just dropping straight and then swinging way over the canyon! It was absolutely mind blowing! Then they pull you back up and you get to sit tight and enjoy the view. It's similar to bungy jumping except the harness is around waist instead of your feet.Mahalia went next and she decided she wanted to jump straight off the edge. It took her some time and then she did it! So great to watch! Court and I decided that because it was cheap to do a second jump we should just go for it. So, this time we did what they call the 'Bin Laden'. What that means is you go head first with your feet over your head. Yup, they harness you in, hang you over the edge and tell you to put your legs up around the rope and then to swing your arms back into the super man position!!! There I was staring straight down at the canyon!!! Let's just say it was exhilarating and I suggest it to anyone who likes a thrill!!

After Queenstown we did a tour up across the south island and then up the west coast. It was absolutely beautiful and then I knew why they film so many spectacular movies in this country. The mountains looked like fern gully and the forests like The Lord of the Rings. No joke, it was absolutely stunning!!! We didn't stick around the west coast to much as there were tonnes of sand flies and it was raining. We booked it to a small town called Motoueka to find some apple picking jobs. That is where I am now.

We couldn't find jobs at the beginning so we went and did some WOOFING. That means to work on an organic farm. It was a great experience. The farm we went to was called 'Go Lightly' and it an older couples organic farm. It was full of cows, chucks (chickens), sheep, walnuts and tonnes of other fruits and veggies. We got to pick mushrooms, plants trees, pickle mushrooms, make sherbet and we ate A LOT! They milked their own cow and had eggs from the chucks so we had some yummy eats!We are outside of Motueka in Tasman at the moment. When we were at the farm we decided we need to go to the North island because we couldn't find jobs on the south island. So, we had a few things to do in Motoueka before heading out of town to the ferry. We took a Scottish guy (Martin, who is one of the funniest people I've ever met) he was also helping out at the farm to town with us. On the way everything changed...we were joking around that we were going to sell the car because we couldn't afford the gas for it and all the joys that come with having a car. To which Martin replied 'I'll buy your car, how much???'. So, last minute decision we sold the car. Now you see we had already booked our ferry tickets and we're scheduled to leave the island that night. Instead, we were going to get Martin to drive us to Nelson and then we would get to the ferry from there. BUT, on the way to the ferry we saw a sign that said 'Apple Pickers Needed'.....ahhhh, there is a money god!

I've just finished day three of apple picking and am slowly getting good at it...but woweee!!! It's not an easy buck to make, I can tell you that much!!!! We are all working very hard to get to the next destination. WOMAD!!!! Which is a festival of music and art.

I hope that everyone is doing fantastic. I'm not near a computer EVER these days so I'm sorry if I haven't written. I hope that you know that I'm thinking of you and that I send all my love to everyone. A special note to my sisters and their new beautiful babies. Love you guys sooo much and look forward to being in the same country again :) :) :)

Peace, love, smiles from the southern hemisphere :) :) :)


P.S. If you want to call me that would be great it's 001-64-21-113-7757 (i hope that works!!!)

Back to SoKo for a one month stint!

I'm so pleased I did a one month winter camp teaching position in Daigu. It rejuvenated my faith in teaching. The camp was fairly well organized and I actually felt like I was teaching!!! I mean I did at some points feel like I was teaching at my last job, but this time I felt like it all the time. I had a big TV in my classroom with access to the Internet which was absolutely fabulous! If I couldn't explain a word in English I could just look it up..sooo great!

Home IS Where the Heart truly is!!!!

Hey Hey Hay Hey Hey Hey Hay,

Well, well, well, it's been a really long time since I've checked in here and so I've got lots of stuff to update on...but no worries it won't be as long as that Japan post I did back in the summer. December was a month of lots of visiting and catching up with all my loved ones in Ontario. I was somewhat worried that I wouldn't have enough time to see everyone and spend good quality time with my friends and family at home...however, as proved to me once again as long as I set my mind to something it will work out. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before in another blog, but within the first few weeks that I was in Korea I had these day dreams about how it would feel to fly home and get to the Ottawa airport and see all my family and friends on the other side of the sliding airport doors. The feelings were not at all what I was expecting. I was expecting to start crying and be completely overwhelmed by seeing everyone...however, it felt very 'normal'. I came down the escalators and after some well overdue hugs I couldn't help but feel completely at ease normal around everyone. In saying that though I was semi-culture shocked at the western world for awhile. It took me a couple weeks to get use to understanding everything. One of the best parts was the ability to order something on a menu and know exactly what I was getting (what a concept eh!!! hahaha)

Home was filled with lots of good stuff. My first weekend back we had a welcome home party both for myself and for my new (now 4 months old) niece, Molly. Meeting her was so great! She is so sweet and I'm so happy to be Auntie Ang :) . I was lucky to see most of my family at that party right away. Lisa Haddow graced me with her presence at the end of the party and we decided it was a great idea to drink our faces off (Glenfedeck! YUCK!!!) and meet up with the third of our group Kristen at the good ole billy town pub! It's funny and so clichéd but some things just NEVER change. I walked into that pub and I swear the same exact people were sitting there that used to be there over the passed at least 10 years! We managed to keep our reputation alive by drinking the bar out of a few types of liquors before retiring to Kristen's gorgeous new home!

I headed up to Ottawa that week to deal with my Visa and all that other real fun stuff!!! That week I got to see my Ottawa friends and spend a few nights with my sisters and the baby. The other cool thing was that I got to hang with my sister Kim who was at the time nine months pregnant. Since that time she's had her beautiful little boy named Gabriel. I'm so happy to be yet again an aunt and this time it's a boy!!!! WOOHOO!

I covered a lot of ground in one month and a bit of that was in the Toronto area. That's where I got to reunite with a bunch of Uni friends. Not to mention the road trip with my friend Jaime. Now the thing with Jaime and I is that when we get together is that something completely random and sometimes unfortunate happens. But, no matter what we always have a great time and laugh our heads off! So, in T. we had a great time partying it up with my friends Gen, Brooke, Cobb, Pj, Kristin and some of their significant others. It was so great!!!!! It was such a tease though to see them and then have to leave them...but it was good to see them and know that our friendships are still so strong...I'm so lucky to have such great friends!

My Ottawa Tribe decided that we should have a cottage party so that we could spend two nights in the middle of nowwhere with no interruptions to catch up...it was great we had a meeting for the small festival we put on every year, we danced, we played and we just enjoyed being around each other. Not to mention the few that when snow swimming!!!

Montreal was the next target on my hit list. My beautiful and dear friend Meaghan drove us back from the cottage party. Montreal is definitely somewhere that holds a special part of my heart. It's just so full of great energy and cool people! Rhea, Wil and I went to a party in the complete dark! Yup, we had a pot luck at this girls house and for most of the night it was in the dark. Sounds pretty weird eh?!?! It was so fun! They put an emphasis on music and singing. So, they turned the lights off and played instruments, sang, recited poetry and told stories.
Being that the lights were off people were not shy to sing or participate. This allowed for such amazing creativity and so much participation!!! Genius!

Christmas with my family was nice as we all got out a few times for some nice walks in the bush behind my house. It was definitely a full house at my Mom and Dad's with the new baby. It was so great though we got to bath the baby, hold the baby, play with the baby and hold the baby some more ;). Molly loves to be held and she also loves reggae music!! YEAH! If you listen to reggae and dance with her she stops crying...yeah!!!! Next step is dreads for that baby ;) ;) ;) heheh!!! Seeing my sister Kim pregnant was also such a treat! She was such a cute prego lady!


It was good timing for me to be home not only for Christmas but also for my friends Gregg and Allison's wedding. Gregg is a friend from high school while Allison is one of my sister's good friend and so now one of my friends. The wedding was great! One big party! It was almost like a high school reunion as people kept coming out of the wood works...every time I turned around BOOM there was someone I haven't seen in a real long time! It made for such a great night and lots of good reminiscing stories were told.

New Years of 2009 was spent with a crew of peops from Ottawa. A bunch of the boys had a party at their house and I rocked out it with some friends as Choopie played some wicked acoustic stuff and then Adam layed it down with a bunch of great tracks.

I flew out on the 2nd of January feeling really torn about leaving again. I had a tough time saying goodbye to my family. With the new baby and Kim pregnant it was really hard. However, I knew that I would be back withing at least 5 months so it was all good!!!

On to the next advntures!