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

VANCOUVER!
It's so good to be back!
I only have about 5 minutes before I have to gun it out of here and get back for the start of de-brief time, but just thought i'd drop a couple more pics on here before I get to all the story sharing and reminiscing. i'm going to save that for when all my lovelies here are home and i am in vancouver all on my lonesome.



Finally arrived in Marrakech! Too much travelling, too much stuff!


First group lunch solo without leaders in Casablanca


Houla, Mirijam and Soufien and I at the orphanage in Morocco


The girls at the Grand Mosque in Casa


Last dinner in Marrakech before going on to the orphanage

So I think it's almost been 6 weeks since my last post.
I figure nw is as good a time as any to give you a general update on how things are going, and also slot in a few pictures for your viewing pleasure :)
Things here are good, we are spending our last 2 weeks in Scotland in Arbroath/Dundee doing ministry stuff around different schools, churches, a prison, a skate park, and a few open air/prayer station type things.
The two weeks we had in Glasgow/Paisley went really well, the highglight for me being working with some of the youthworkers in the area and connecting with a group called Firestarters. Basically one weekend a month is spent living in churches and working in different outreach teams developing different ministry skills and reaching out to the east end of Glasgow. The age range is 10-20ish, so it was great being able to join up with different teams and get stuck in being involved, getting to know the kids, and being an encouragement and help to the leaders. I was solo in the 'Prayer team' and it was great having such a cool group all to myself! :)
Their website is http://www.firestartersuk.org/ for anyone interested in seeing more about them.We are here in Arbroath until next friday and then leave for a 2 day roadtrip around the scottish highlands while we debrief the trip. We are then back in glasgow for the night of sunday 27th and then back to vancouver 6am on monday 28th. Would really appreciate your prayers for continued energy and protection for this last BUSY two weeks, and then the journey home. Will keep you posted.
I haven't got much more time to write, but there are so many stories and pictures and everything that I will do my best to blog a bit more regularly if i think of any concise and interesting ways to say things :)
In the meantime, here are some pictures, with captions of course that will hopefully give you a bit more of an idea. My pictures won't work here because the computer in this library doesn't like my camea, so once i have burnt them to a disk there will be a whole bunch more. these are a few that i borrowed from Jen, one of the other girls in our team.



This is the view from our rooftop in Essaouira


DongWoo and Jen posing outside one of the street stalls Essaouira. DongWoo in full Jelaba of course!


The girls fueling our Moroccan coffee addiction in Marrakech. For 35c a shot, why not!


mmmmm, Coke is the same all around the world.
Though.. 'life is good, with or without cocacola' (according to santos!)


Mike and Jessi, two of our wise leaders

Lecture phase is all over, here are some of the highlights and good times we've had.
Merry Christmas and Happy new year, I'll post again in February
Love you all
Hillary

Jess, Will, Andrew, Lori and a head playing Headbanz


First day of class song singing. Yikes!


Adam, Dave, Jana and me


Timon, Matt and DongWoo in the hollow tree in Stanley park


Me, Adam, Jana and SooJin at Kelowna again

Matt, Jenn, Josh, Eunie, Layne and Timon


Timon, Lizzy, Adam, Susan, Soo Jin, Jana, Dong Woo, and Me


The whole school plus Las Vegas buddies


The boys on Canada night



Soo Jin, Mark SChool leader and Stefan awesome DTS staff

Me, Soo Jin, Adam and Jana at Kelowna


Mack, Will, Samuel, Jess and Jessa


Group pic from the hockey


Tessa and Rebecca, two of the kids I look after for work duty

Jana, Susan, Lizzy, Adam, Matt, Jenn, Nancy, Samuel


Samuel, Jessa, Matt, Mack, Andrew, Jess, Krista, Jill
And Mr Coachman Glenn


The early morning balloon fest when we snuck into Krista's room at Go Conference and threw balloons at her to wake her up for her birthday.


The hockey team again


Jana, Hill, Jill and Jess on the way to Kelowna

End of Lecture phase is here
*tear*
here is a little photo tribute, some best of pics



Thanksgiving again: Layne, Hill, Jessa, Jill, Susan and Andrew in my hat


Jana, Hill, Susan, Lizzy all on the dock at Kelowna during Go Conference

Jill and I, not sure where!



More group pics from Kelowna