Flashback

I am having flashbacks this week! This week feels so similar to the final week we had in our house in Rochester back in May of 07. Though we don't leave for another month, Joe and I have set an early deadline for ourselves to have a lot of our belongings packed and stored, our schedule and presentations ready for furlough (starting in January), and all of those details that need to be in line to move, finished.  

The reason? Next week the first of the Huette family arrives!!! We are so excited for my parents to arrive next week and my brothers and sister-in- law the next! We will all be together for the week around and including Christmas. In hopes to maximize our time with them, we are preparing for furlough before they get here. 

In preparation to leave, this week has felt so very similar to the last few weeks we spent at our own house in Rochester. 

This week has been filled with packing and sorting, "lasts", and meeting up with friends for farewells as we may not see them again as the holidays near, the family visits and us leaving for the States approach.  We will be coming back to Christchurch, not Auckland. Today was the last day that I will be teaching as school is letting out for the summer. This Friday is the last day of youth. We were invited away for the weekend with some friends in order to spend time together before my family gets here and we leave. We have had farewell dinners with youth and their families and a farewell lunch with the staff of Shore.    

Our to-do lists are getting checked (or ticked as Kiwis would say), our closets are getting packed, goodbyes are beginning, plans for the US are made, and our house is ready for visitors! 

Youth Leaders

In working with the youth this year at Shore Community Christian Church, we have gotten to know not only the youth, but the awesome youth leaders. We have been so blessed this year in learning form and getting to know the other leaders each Friday night at the youth events. This past Saturday Belinda, the youth minister (to the right of me in the picture) had a brunch for us to say 'thanks' for the past year. 

Even though we don't look forward to saying goodbye in the new year, we know that these friendships will always mean so much to us. We are thankful to know that we have a team of people whom we can call on whenever we need ideas for youth events, if we need help in understanding the culture/youth culture more, and when we just need a friend to chat with. We met these friends through leading at Friday night youth events but our relationships were quickly more than just Friday nights! We are thankful for all that we have learned, we only have ONE youth event left until summer break! 

Thanksgiving

Even with so much to be thankful for, we don't get Thursday off as a holiday or Friday off as a shopping day. Though Thanksgiving is not a holiday in New Zealand, we will be taking some time on Thursday to feast with our team and reflect on the many ways that God has blessed us. 

It is strange to think of the buzz of excitement that most of our friends and family in America have right now. Thinking of family get-togethers, days off work and school, traveling in the winter weather with hopes of snow flurries to help get that holiday feel, decorating for Christmas, and standing in line for those early-morning bargains seem so foreign to us right now. 

Instead of having thoughts of turkey this time of year, Kiwi's have much else going on. November in New Zealand reminds me a lot of May in the States. The end of November means exams at school, award ceremonies for end of the year accomplishments, excitement about summer plans, getting ready for summer break (starts in three weeks!) and gearing up for a wonderful and relaxing Christmas, which many Kiwis will spend on the beach. 

This thanksgiving we will feast on chicken or ham, as enough turkey to feed six people costs well over $100. We will eat kumra with raspberry and vanilla flavored marshmallows, as that is the closest we can find to sweet potatoes and white marshmallows. And if we eat pumpkin, it will most likely be as a vegetable, as the idea of sweet pumpkin (or canned pumpkin pie filling) isn't common in New Zealand.  Though our feast will look different than yours in many ways, and though we may be worlds apart, we all still have so much to be thankful for. Enjoy your turkey-day, your families, and this upcoming holiday season! 

Congrats, CHAMPS!

CHAMPS is after school program that I help with on Tuesdays. This has been a very unique experience for me as it has given me opportunity to see how after school programming is run in New Zealand and in a Pacific Island culture as well as given me a chance to interact with many different people in the community. 

CHAMPS began about two years ago when the Housing Corporation of New Zealand saw a need in the community. The community that CHAMPS is in is a government housing area that was falling apart. Students as young as seven and eight years old were getting involved with gangs and causing trouble in the community. Students began dressing in colors and 'pretending' to be in gangs. 

In an effort to change this mentality and to offer the students a positive activity alternative, one of the Housing New Zealand staff members decided to try her hand at giving the students a place to hang out after school. This program started in a neighborhood garage with a handful of students who wanted somewhere safe to go after school. 

Now, over two years later, the CHAMPS program has changed it's community! Parents, teens, and students alike have come together for the common cause of giving young students in the neighborhood a positive place to hang out. This program went from a handful of students to over sixty kids who meet at a school hall. We have games, food, and encourage good morals through teaching a word of the day such as "courage" or "honesty". 

The attitude of these students who were once "playing gangs" has changed to an attitude that cares about their community and wants to see positive change. The students and volunteers refer to this program as one big whanau or family. 

The CHAMPS program was recently nominated for a community excellence award for the work that is taking place. On Friday evening I joined the other volunteers who help with CHAMPS at an awards evening. The CHAMPS program won! We were all very excited and proud of the program. For winning we received an amazing prize of different sports equipment and games for the program--we had none before!

We are excited to share the good news with the students on Tuesday. Congrats, CHAMPS, you are doing great things for the youth in the community! 

Year One

(November 3rd 2007, St. Louis Airport) 

This week marked an entire year that we have been in New Zealand! Looking back over the past year, we are amazed at all of our experiences. At times we can't believe that we have been away from friends, family and familiar USA for one year. More often we are amazed at how we feel at home, have made wonderful friends, find that most things in NZ are now familiar, and have accomplished so much in just one year.

This week  with our team we had a time of reflecting on how God has carried us through every bit of our journey. We are confident that as we begin the next leg of our journey, he will do the same. 

Thank you for all of your thoughts, prayers, support, and encouragement! This has been, without a doubt, one of the hardest and most exciting years of our lives, we couldn't have kept on without knowing that you were right behind us, encouraging us along the way. 

We Did It!

On Sunday we completed our first half-marathon (21 kilometers/13miles). We had been training for months for this race with a group of our friends. 

Sunday was a beautiful day and the race was so much fun as we ran across the Harbour Bridge and into the city center. We started the day at 4:00 am with a good breakfast and then met our running pals at 5:00 to catch a bus to the starting line for a 6:30 start.  After the race we had a BBQ with our running mates to celebrate. 

Both Joe and I are pleased with our times, Joe at 1:54:15 and me at 1:57:15. 

Many people said that we would never want to run again after the race but we both feel great. It was a great experience for us and such a great way to grow closer with some friends through running together every weekend. Thanks to Nate for doing such a great job organizing and coaching all of us in the last couple of months. 

The official pictures will be posted soon. 

Cultural Cue #4 - The "OE"

The "OE" is something that many Kiwis between the ages of 17-30 do for at least a few months. An "OE" can be done alone, with friends, or in multiple places, but is almost always exciting. An "OE" is encouraged and even expected among many people ages 17-30. 

So what is an "OE"? 

An "OE" is an Overseas Experience. Most of our friends (in NZ) have had an OE for at least a year. This is a very different concept for us, being from a culture where you finish high school, go to college, get a job, without much of a break in between. There are people that have done their OE's as soon as they leave high school and others have waited until they got married. 

Recently a student from the youth group was asking my advice about what she should do with her life. She is in her last year of high school and was thinking about leaving early. (It is acceptable to leave high school after you turn 16 and receive your leavers certificate as a form of a diploma. In fact only about 25% of students complete every year of high school.) She wanted to leave early to go travel in Europe, maybe America, and then end back in London where she could work for a while. It was either this or finish school and go to university.

The first thought that popped into my head was "I think you should finish school, go to university, get your degree, and then travel." That idea and life schedule is very out of the norm for most teenagers and young adults in New Zealand- I was struck at that point with another way that the New Zealand and American cultures are different. 

Many of the students in the youth group are looking forward to leaving high school and traveling around the world. It's not that they don't want to go to university or get a job or settle someday, but they want to get other life experience through traveling. Many students will leave high school and work for one or two years and use that money to fund their OE.

Part of the idea of the OE might also be from living in such a small country. New Zealand, being roughly the same size and population of the state of Colorado, is located quite far from any major travel destinations. Kiwis are interested in seeing the rest of the world, but it often takes a couple days of travel to get anywhere other than Australia. Many Kiwis we know have only seen the part of the country that they live in as they use vacation time to explore the rest of the world. 

The people of New Zealand and very global people. We have learned so much about other cultures and countries since living here. We really enjoy how our minds have been opened to the world in such a unique way.