fun on the farm:
pictures include Dreamer the goat, who frequently gets his head stuck in places
Scooby the dog, who has "big dog syndrome" and likes to bark and run after large mongrels, note that Scooby has his own chair by the computer and also by the fire and often smells like poo.
my host, Irene, feeding Bessie the lamb, who has a brother named Boo. Bonnie is their mom...
Ramses Junior the Second- a pest ram who is the biggest pain... literally. he likes to butt.
me and the lambs. Margaret the sheep had two cute little lambs yesterday-aww! they don't have names yet, but something tells me they'll start with "M"

just a taste of what life on the farm is like... these animals do not include the countless other sheep, ducks, chooks, and of course, scary cats that we may ordinarily encounter here. oops, i just realized i put a picture of a hill in instead of scooby. oh well. hope you enjoyed the tour, love to everyone!
becki

hello out there!
i haven't posted for like 2 whole days now and so i didn't want anyone to be worried.... just kidding. i am in pain right now becuase yesterday i thought it would be very neat to demonstrate "the worm" for the people i live with. apparently muscles have to be conditioned before that sort of exertion. in addition to that, we ran up a hill today and the gluteous is in significant pain. i don't know why i thought everyone should know that. anyway, life in new zealand is still lovely, i'd love to hear from all of you, and hope you have a splendid day
peace,
becki

aah! the steakeater is rubbing against my legs right now! i think she might eat me next!!!! any cat that needs a door big enough to let a hen and a dog in the house is scary. she's sharpening her claws on my chair!! ....phew, gone. for now.
so today as a put up baseboards i discovered i have an unusual talent. i can hit each one of my fingers in turn without ever actually hammering the nail. my fingers are tender even as i write this. not to mention the saw's effect on my thumbnail (don't worry mom, it wasn't the electric one)....
went on a walk today up winding roads. that's the only kind here actually. as we walked, the girls pointed to the top of a tall hill and said "we're walking there". okay, i will die, i thought. when we reached the top though (still alive), all i could see were rich green, craggy hills all around. dotted among them were sheep and their lambs. it reminded me of scotland, where i've never been. anyway, it was beautiful. the trees here are huge, and streams and marshes fill the low places. it rains a lot, but chances are if you wait about 20 minutes it will be sunny again. it is alternately warm and cool. my feet are cold right now because i need to do laundry and have no socks.
tonight my host was telling me about what they used to do for fun in her day. she was into meditiation (although she was a "sunday meditator", the other days her and her friend just went to spy on the hot monk doing his yoga ;) she told me about protesting in the 60's, how they went and got in fights with the police and got beat up and such. what made these stories even more entertaining was that she told them all with a huge meat cleaver in her hand (she was making dinner). so when she demonstrated the police going poke- jab with their sticks, it was actually a bit frightening. we had a nice chat though. very eccentric lady, but wonderfully nice. as i sit here there is a huge papier-mache pregnant belly hanging over my head. not your average wall decoration. my host is a midwife if that helps. still not your average wall decoration.
so things are never dull around here and i am having a great time living the life in new zealand. prayers are always welcome and i would love to pray for you too!
till next time, peace
becki

well hello again!

so i am all settling into life in helensville. haven't stepped in any poop again lately... i just plunged my hand in some by accident.... why does this seem to be a theme here?
i live with a bunch of random people, but one lady has 2 daughters who are so fun!! elisha (17) took me to my first nz 21st b-day party, which is apparently a big deal here. pretty flash, i'd say. in a twist of irony, i was the only one wearing jeans at this party (dress clothes didn't take priority in backpack space). didn't stop me from busting out my manitoba moves though, that's for sure. juanita (21) and i went on a nice walk up the hill today. by nice i mean it was 5 km, all uphill (or so it seemed) and i couldn't really speak between gasps of air. good times. anyways, everyone here is super nice and trying to get me all nz-ified. yes, today i ate vegemite with my toast and egg. and has anyone ever heard of pineapple lumps? quite strange but yummy.
jordan, kara, and "dear ol pops", welcome to the blog party! thanks for comments and such. kar, the book you bought me is really good. jordan, i will say hi to nz next time i step outside, believe it.
till next time, big love to everyone!
cheers,
becki

hello! more pics for ya..
rundown:
auckland harbour (remember:city of sails)
the farm (sheep in the yard- only the goat is in a fence, the ducks, chickens, lambs, ram, dog, cat, etc. are all free, the chook (hen) gets in the house all the time, through the cat door. funny!)
janosch and i in our work gear
ben jumping from sky tower

here is a collection of random nz pics. random, because i never labelled them so i just clicked on a few and hoped they were interesting. found the usb port, yes it was directly in the front of the computer... obese steak- eating cat is meowing hungrily close by. i am afraid...

so, these really are random, apparently they changed order when they loaded. more to come...

day 2 in helensville...
so basically yesterday i was taken aback, and so i just laughed the whole evening. at anything. mostly because i have an absurd sense of humour, and this was all definitely absurd. by this morning, i was feeling more at home. i went out to feed the ducks with irene, then janosche (another wwoofer from germany) and i went to work putting up ceiling baseboards. they were the roundish kind which was difficult because of all the angles you must make. i knew we might be in trouble when i was measuring and asked janosche " what's 7+4 again? 13?"
"yes" he answered without hesitating.
janosche is pretty much the funniest guy ever, although i'm quite sure he doesn't mean to be. the first time i met him he picked up a peice of hot pizza and yelled "HEISS!". he's still working on his english and that can be quite entertaining at times. good on him though, he's doing well. yesterday he felt that he needed to drive to town to pick up beer for himself, but i'm not sure he's used to driving on the left side. we stalled a few times and almost hit a parked car. each time he would mutter "sheise, sheise". lol.
so now we've finished and i have the rest of the day off. i think i might go explore the beautiful hills around our place. i took some pics to post, but i can't find the usb connector on the computer. i was exuberantly taking pictures after we finished work and happily frolicked into a large mound of mushy poo. couldn't even tell you what animal it's from. brutal. so i washed my boots and rolled up my jeans. i think i might do laundry soon.
on that note, hope you all are having a wonderful day in your respective places
big love on you all
becki

helensville...

hello! so yesterday i arrived at my first farm. the arriving part was not as easy as it sounds, since i took a bus and missed my stop (i rock). so i ended up on the bottom of a large hill. i needed to be at the bottom of the large hill... on the other side. imagine me, with all my worldly posessions on my back, hiking up main st. helensville. two girls were like, "you're not from around here, are you?" i said "how can you tell?" thinking maybe it was the mountainous bag on my back with a large canadian flag that may have given it away. " you look too flash to be from here", they answered. flash? what is that exactly? this is only the beginning...
as a clambered down the road, crying that GOd would spare me from a broken back, one of my host ladies, lorraine, drove up. she offered to take my pack, well all the while a middle aged man beside her yelled "helloo! hello!" about every 5 seconds. interesting. so i finished the walk ( lorraine went to town first) and met up with a long haired man with no teeth to speak of named antonio. we went to the house and met yet another guy who seemed a bit like a jumpy kiwi wangsta. i later found out that lorraine works with intellectually handicapped people, and this seemed to be a connection. irene, a pleasant lady with wildly curly grey hair, finally arrived home and showed me the farm. we saw the sheep (which, by the way, really do stink and are dumb as hammers), they were cute though. we said hello to the goat and ducks, and went to feed the cat....steak. sketchy, because we people had canned tuna for dinner. lol. after this we proceeded to feed the lambs and run away from the crazy ram! did i mention that every single animal there (there's a few) has a name? needless to say, i was a little taken aback by the whole thing, but everyone was friendly and we finished the evening with coffee and pool. so my time in helensville has begun, it should be interesting if nothing else...!

hello!
quick update: today, after a hard night of sleeping with an intense snorer and a bit of remaining jet lag, i went on a tour of auckland (free!- woot woot). i also booked a bus pass to take me with a bunch of people around nz. sweet! and we see all sort of sights, they're very nature and adventure based. i can also hop on and off as i please. sweet as... this is a term i heard like 400 times today so i thought i'd pass it. so i met really cool people, watched some of them jump off really high things, then went for thai food for dinner with a girl i met. good food.... spicy. might be bad afterthoughts... anyway, you guys rock! thanks for commenting, it makes me feel special.
big love all, becki
ps: i feel like a huge hack here. everyone has nice proper accents and i sound like ... hacklike

hello from auckland, city of sails! ( i read that on a sign by the harbour)
so i survived the flight here, it was very nice really. long, but nice. it would have helped matters if i had not eaten burger king "let's pretend it's chicken" cardboard fingers before i boarded. things not to do before a 12 hour flight. the lady i sat beside actually ended up being super wonderful and gave me a ride into the city after i had coffee with her and her folks.
some highlights so far : -seeing instances of true human caring and beauty in the midst of busy L.A. airport.
-being chased by evil-looking seagulls that strutted like gangstas
-putting my backpack in a locker because it may have weighed more than me and i thought my spine would snap
- chatting with people, any people--- everyone here is super nice
in conclusion, i love auckland, i love Jesus, and i can't wait to go to my first farm. yippeedoodle!
have a good one
Big Love, becki

I LEARNED HOW TO POST PICTURES!!!!

the road.... how metaphorical and significant...

actually it's my driveway

aloha!
so this here is a blog about my trip, which is ironic because i write this from the comfort of dear old mom and dad's computer. but alas, it will come. don't give up, check back about the end of next week and perhaps i will have a story or two for you. until then, you can just pray for me and new zealand and our upcoming meeting ( the meeting of new zealand and myself, that is). big love to all.
till next time...