So a new province altogether, Alberta has been pretty trippy
I've been loving it, though right now am fairly exhausted.
It's been a bit of a whirlwind, arriving in calgary to meet up with Krista and her sister in law as we got off the plane and it was pretty awesome to drive around and get a good view of the place. We went to a kind of Calgary legend, a drive in burger place called "Peter's drivein" it's pretty much a long standing calgary institution that could freeze the arteries of something whose arteries could not be frozen. Ok so that didnt' make much sense but what i guess i mean is that although the burger was not bad, I was already feeling queezy from the horrendously bumpy landing, and now felt worse. lol
on that note though, bumpy landing aside, 10 points to westjet for being a super cool and pretty awesome airline.
so anyways
Yeah, so Alberta is pretty awesome. And pretty flat. And also pretty, well for lack of a better word, pretty. Krasta and I mostly chilled out and soon realiesd that we were ER twins sepertaed cruely and harshly from birth. In the short 4 days that i was there we managed to catch up on half a season of ER while milking cows and moving stock and even watching a calf being born (though 'pulled' apparently is the term of choice. eeeeeew)
it was pretty cool being able to do a bunch of farm stuff and hang out with Krista and her family so yeah, thanks Prins family that was cool.
Also, my favourite cow - Laura this is for you - is cow 89. And my favourite calf is 'Stubby face' Calf number 29something. :)
so now i am at jill's house whihc is near edmonton/le duc/witaskiwin/and camrose. which is albertan speak for we are about half an hour from anywhere :) my whole perspective of distance and driving has changed now


ok so i wrote most of that ummm, about 5 days ago.
things are really great, Jill's family are all amazing and awesome and I've had such a good time here just hanging out and relaxing and learning about homeschooling and planting gardens and playing a lot of tictactoe and speed and slaps with her little sisters as well as some serious olympic worthy trampolining with the aid of the sprinkler :) weather here has been cool and crazy with snow and 21 degree sunny days all in the same week. and they call auckland changeable!
so yeah, it's been awesome and i will post again soon when i can think of other things to add.

oh and my book plug for today (well for htis year it's so good)
Philip Yancey's book "Soul Survivor" I finially finished this book and it really is super awesome, highlight chapters for me were about Henri Nouwen and Frederick Buechner

Love you lots like Jelly Tots
Hillary

So i've realised that basically all my posts start with the word "so...."
thigns are gonig well here, though things really have reached the crazy crazy point.
i have finally packed up all my stuff ans shipped it off to jacqui and nancy's place to store whil ei am away travelling around canada
i am soooooo excited i can't even really believe it.
every other day i think i kind of wake up and think "hang on where am i again? is this relaly real?"
i know that sounds silly but it is kinda freaky packing up again after so long to really be really truly packing up to go back to the otehr side of the world, even if only for a super short time.
but even that is crazy strange.
sigh
well anyways
this has to kind of be a short post as i am out of minutes in the net cafe, but yeah, things are keeping on keeping on and the next post will undoubtably be from ALBERTA somewher! YEAH BABY YEAH!!! (ok that was for all you old school balmoralites)
love you lots
hill

So I brought a plate of lamingtons to work today and everyone was pretty stoked about that.
It’s hard to believe this I really my last day of work in Vancouver.
It’s going well so far and everyone is happy because we started out the day with a plate of Lamingtons that I brought after last night’s baking frenzy.
Made a whole lot of lamingtons
A whole lot.

-Tape is rewinding-

It’s strange to think that it’s all going to be done soon. But at the same time, the countdown is as follows:
-5 days to Alberta and Krista
-8 days to Jill
-20 days to my birthday!!!!!!!!
-21 days to Winnipeg!!!!!!!!!!!
-45 days to AUCKLAND

Ok tape is done rewinding

-Next tape is rewinding-

Ok so got distracted in that break talking.

-Next tape is again rewinding-
Lunch is in 15 minutes. The ladies I work with are taking me out to Chinese food. Mmmmmmmm
Tonight am hanging out with Jacqui and Ryan and not sure what we are doing yet, just general hanging out I figure.
Had a really good laugh today at the “Numa numa dance” (thanks Jason!) and also a couple of the non-crude, hilarious pranks on ebaumsworld. Will post the links another time I guess. Sooooo funny.

Tape is ready
Two words
Lunch break
Two more words
Baskin Robbins…………

Back to work!

-tape rewinding-
Feeling pretty full. Chinese food and Baskin Robbins. But only once is alright, right?
Put it this way though, am walking the LONG way home.

Falling asleep actually
Yawn
Ok, so this is funny:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5349997277616358646 yeah baby. Napoleon.
www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/206373 numa numa man, the legend himself.
www.flashplayer.com/music/napoleonnumadance.html Napoleon meets Numa numa, baby yeah!

-ok this is serious now-
this is my last hour of work in Canada
woah

And now it’s done.
Post again soon, probably from an net café or Alberta.
Lots of love
hill

So it’s morning
On my second to last day of work
I am going to blog as I go I think, typing between typing while I rewind tapes and such
Tape is rewinding
ok, so I am leaving Vancouver really really soon
I can’t quite process that right now
It’s been a super crazy go nuts last few weeks and I have been loving it, but at the same time a little part of me is waiting for the dust to settle.
I spent Easter weekend on Vancouver Island staying with Layne and her family. That was pretty awesome. The island is beautiful, and her family were super welcoming and cool. Will post a pick of me with them at some point. Also, her dad took us 4x4ing in their Jeep up whatever mountain it is that is near their house in Qualicum and even though I thought we were going to wipe out a couple of times it was really good. It was pretty bad weather with lots of snow and cloud, but it was gorgeous, like driving in Narnia, and I (finally!) got to do a decent snow angel in Canada! Very cool, we even took a video of the momentous event, before having numerous snowball fights and building a snowman. We called him George.
This last week of work has been cool too, everyone being super nice and hopefully will be able to keep in contact with a couple of them. They have been shouting me Starbucks on a regular basis too, so this week I have already (after only 2 ½ days of work) consumed two Grande triple shot non-fat caramel macchiatos. So much for letting go of my caffeine dependency.
Am looking at buying a laptop for when I move back to Van. Any suggestions? Or anyone looking at getting rid of their good laptop? Have been browsing the Dick Smith website, but not really sure yet.
Ok, next tape is ready to go.
-later-
Ok. Had laksa ayam for lunch. That was an excellent idea. And tomorrow am being bought lunch by the other people in my department as a thankyou/going away pressie after my six weeks or so here. Very nice of them indeed. Chinese food I think
-later-
Have found this excellent yoghurt. Whipped key lime flavour yoghurt. Just like eating mousse. Good.
-later still-
Wow that’s a whole lot of food talk there.

Actually, a bit more on food. Am making lamingtons and Anzac biscuits this week. A salute to kiwis and aussies everywhere. I don’t even like lamingtons really. But I figured they would be fun to make. Will take pictures….

Am also making dumplings tonight. Not wontons, they don’t’ have any good wonton skins on sale here. So dumplings it is. Mmmmmmmmmmmm

Ok next tape is ready.
Ok tape is not actually ready, I hit fast forward instead of rewind. Doh.

BTW! Does anyone have any good and yummy recipes that do not include ANY of the following:
-Dairy products
-Eggs
-Nuts
-Soy

Email me them alright?
Or put them in the comment thing
Or something

Ok (finally) it is home time.

love you all muchly and long time
hill

So yeah
Life can be complex
Life is complex
Oh well
At work so can't post in any detail, just thought I'd post these, cuz they made me smile.
I know I thought(think?) about this stuff
Will try and post again in my afternoon tea break
love you lots
hill

Countdown:
6 days til Alberta
21 days til Winnipeg
39 days til AUCKLAND!

So the days are ticking slowly down until I leave Vancouver. I feel like I'm starting to get serpeartion anxiety, scared to leave, scared of when I will come back, and then at the samet ime my other personality is happy that I am going home and soooooo excited. Lots to think about as life seems to be progressing and the "one step at a time" obedience feels like the steps are getting bigger or maybe they jsut seem like that cuz I feel so little.
Picked up my ticket home yesterday and that made it all very real, flying from Vancouve r at 5am to go to LA for the day (yeah baby a whole tourist day!) and then arriving in auckland 5am on the 28th.
weirdness of weird crazy nuts.
Speaking of nuts, have been snacking (healthily) on soynuts and sunflower seeds. Feel a bit like a bird or a squirrel, but it's all good.
Ok typing calls, at least I have James Blunt, Dave Dobbyn, OMC and Crowded house to give me a good soundtrack in the background.
Love and cous cous
Hillary



Santos and I in Essaouira


Us playing music and singing worship on the beach


Couscous night in Essaouira with Kadijah, who taught me to make it


Lori, Adam and I in our Jelabas in our living room in Essaouira


The icecream shop workers that we made friends with. The girl in the middle and I laughed for about 20 minutes, eneither able to udnerstand the othe and all totally confused and then laughing all the more because of it :)

so this week we are having couscous night.
While we were in Morocco, I learned from Kadijah, the maid where we wre staying, how to make genuine Moroccan couscous. So much fun.
So tomorrow night we are havnig a couscous night were we will all hang out, sit on the floor and eat couscous out of a big communal plate. hmmm
so anyways
the hockey yesterday was so fun, i was grinning like an idiot for most of it and so excited (Frank took me to the Canucks vs. Mighty Ducks for my birthday)
Sadly we lost 4-2 but it was still fun being inthe loud crazy beer drenched hockey atmosphere.
Am starting to clean up my stuff and sort out what is coming home with me, what is staying ehre in storage and what is getting given away as I leave vancouver in just under three weeks!?!?!? crazy go nuts
and, most exciting of all, my birthday is in one month today!!!! wooo hoooo, winnipeg mass birthday party here I come!!!!

here's 5 more pics for y'all, morocco ones this time
love you lots
hill


Laura, Dong Woo and I trying on our jelabas and Berber headgear for life in the Moroccan dessert (ok ok a shop in Marrakech)

Laura and I having lunch (carefully so as not to ruin our henna) in Marrakech. Tagine and couscous.....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


Hannan and I at the orphange, she really liked my toque/beanie :)



Dong Woo drinking Mint Tea, in style


Laura and I getting our henna done. I'm smiling, but IT BURNS!

So I am still working typing for 7 hours a day, which is a little on the dull side, but good work with good hours and $$ so no complaints from me.
I am on my lunch break so I am going to make this quick, but will be posting some pictures now that I finally have got the disks of Morocco and Scotland pictures sorted out!. Today we'll start with Arbroath.

Also, for those of you intersted, my travel itinerary is starting to look a little more concrete, with me leaving Vancouver on Friday 28th April to Edmonton and beyond around Canada and to Chicago and Minnesota and then will arrive back in Auckland NZ on Sunday 28th May around 7 in the morning! :P

I am also going to my first NHL hockey game today!!!!! so excited. Big huge massive thank yous to my mate Frank who is shouting me to go, Vancouver Canucks vs. Anaheim Mighty Ducks (yes Disney owns their team and yes they're named for the movie!!!)
So that is goign to be awesome and lots and lots of pics will be taken.

Ok, am getting seriously hungry, so here goes for some pics
Love you lots like jelly tots (aye Gavin!)
hill


Laura, Gavin and I when he came to visit in Arbroath


Gavin and I in Arbroath


Jenny and I in St. Andrews (we didnt' see Prince WIlliam!)


Gavin and I again


James, Laura and I in Glasgow (didn't know how to make it NOT upside down :P)

Will post more in afternoon tea break

wow, how long has it been since i posted?
well according to the little inof thing here about a month. ok, yeah, a whole month
how time flies huh
it's strange to think that 3 days ago marked my 10 monthiversary away from NZ, and started to official countdown to when I will be returning to NZ's balmy shores. It's been so amazing, and I feel like now, on this side of the maze/tunnel/roller coaster, I'm not even sure what to write any more without producing a novel.
It certainly is strange being back in "normal" (what is normal?) life, but at the same time, so good to be in a quiet house with a quiet housemate (the best flatmate ever in the whole world actually, my new adopted big brother) and a steady job (albeit a boring one)
see that is one of my excuses for not blogging on here for so long. I type for 7 hours a day at a psychiatric office and the thought of typing after hours makes my fingers tingle (but not in a good way :S)
but anywasy enough excuses
here is the sum up
spent january in morocco
spent february in scotland
spent march:
-working as a dictatypist
-getting used to life in Vancouver again
-preparing to come back to NZ again
-praying about the next few years in particular the who/what and where questions (how and why are pretty much well covered, particularly after the last 6 months!)
-living in a cool house with Stefan, one of the other Vancouver staff members, who is an Italian, German, Swiss guy. (i have a new phone number, will group email that one!!!)
-HAnging out with all the other staffers and friends in Van
-Planning my travels to see my buds from the DTS in different parts of North America.

So yeah.
Posts for the next month will be getting slightly more regular and sligtly more pensive I'm sure. Will also keep up the pics, cuz I know they are probably more intersting.

And how about some of you actually write some comments aye? Make me feel like someone reads my ramblings.......

much love
hill