Sep 2009

Good evening good evening fine people!

And so my adventure has ended, and I'm back in London town.. Slowly falling back to ground, slowly realising the new reality I'm part of, and slowly letting my other reality to become a memory rather than a life.
I'm quite sad to be back because I really really enjoyed my time in Auckland. I enjoyed my work and I loved the people and relationships that I built up over the past 3 months. In saying that, I am glad to be back in London because I'm excited and determined to get back into my studies - I've never been so determined actually!

My last week was spent mostly with Cameron in Pukekohe - meeting the last few folk of his family that I hadn't met previously - that was really lovely. I had my first farewell dinner on Wednesday with the friends I met through Cam. We went for Italian and had a really great night. Thursday I had my last day at St Dom's school with the girls, Thursday evening I went out for Thai as my farewell with Hannah and Leon, the lovely couple I was lucky enough to live with for the duration of my trip. On Friday I spent part of the day having staff training on Mary, then ran some errands and had lunch with my good friend Jo. Friday night was my Logos farewell and about 17 people came out. We had a massive Chinese meal, and then went for drinks at a pub across the street. We had the room upstairs for a time, and we all gathered in a circle, and everyone took the time to give a little speech about me. It was very very sad and emotional, with so many beautiful and surprising things said to me. A couple of friends even played guitar and sang me a song.. Then they gave me my gifts - one being a new hoody with the brand new Logos logo embroidered on it - I couldn't believe it, I was the very first person to have anything with the new Logo on it! Then there was the proper goodbyes, and that too was very emotional. Cam and I drove back to Pukekohe all packed up, and Saturday was his mum's bday, so we took her out for lunch and just had a lovely day together. Cam and I drove up to Auckland for 5pm Vigil Mass, and then drove to say one last goodbye to his nana. Then we drove to the airport early enough for some dinner and have a proper goodbye without being rushed.....

All very emotional, but here's some photos from the last few days:

Me and Jo with the Logos sign (that will soon be the old Logos sign)

Maps, me, Cam and Tom at my Chinese farewell

Cam went to the toilet in the airport, and came back in a kilt!

Our last wee photo together

My last day with most of the Logos crew

And so, this marks the end of my New Zealand 2009 Travel Blog. No doubt there will be another opportunity to use this blog in the future, but in the mean time, I want to thank you all for taking the time to read my posts and leave comments. I'm glad I got to share a small part of my life with you

God Bless,
Cheryl

Wow I haven't updated this thing in ages - sorry everyone! The last fortnight I've just been extremely busy helping run retreats in schools, more meetings, more visits to schools and generally not being anywhere near a computer to be honest.

So I leave in 11 days, something I'm very sad about and for several different reasons. I've loved every bit of my time spent out here; working in the schools, getting to know the kids, building up relationships, learning about the cultures, having a routine of doing particular things that it becomes the norm to me, meeting new people, hanging out with folk, seeing different parts of the country, and so on and so forth....

At the moment I'm planning the Spring Festival which is this Saturday. I'm in charge of the thing so I've got loads to do with the organising, delegation of tasks, rental of equipment, etc etc. Weather permitting we'll have a BBQ so hopefully the nice spring sun will stay a bit longer.

At the weekend I headed to Hamilton with Cam and his family to go to two weddings at the Cathedral. It was a great day and night - you know me - up dancing and having a rare time. Even decided to dress up for the occasion :P

Then on Sunday Bishop Pat was doing a talk for our youth group, so headed along to that, then went to a particular Catholic Mass to film it for my dissertation (and had to introduce myself to the congregation at the beginning), and then after that, Cam and I headed to my last Theology on Tap night who had a dutch priest talking about podcasting and all sorts - he was very entertaining, and it was nice to see a priest in his clericals for a change (NZ priests tend to wear their normal clothes out and about). So a very good weekend was had by all.

I'm beginning to mentally prepare myself for my departure, and have decided that I'll have my farewell with Cam's mates next Wed, and my Logos farewell next Friday, and have also requested that no one comes to the airport on the Saturday cause I'm terrible at goodbyes. I'll stay with Cam on the Friday night, spend some time with his family, and then head to the airport as my flight isn't until midnight.

I'm also really happy that Dan will be coming to get me at Heathrow airport when I arrive back (thanks again Dan!). It's going to be good seeing a friendly face, and will be great having a big catch up. I'm actually really enthusiastic about getting back and starting back at uni, now that I have an idea what my dissertation will be on. Life is good, I'm a very lucky and blessed girl!

Not sure when my next update will be, but I'll probably get one in before I leave the country.

Lots of love, God Bless xx

It's been a wee while since I last updated, sorry family! I've been kept busy and having loads of fun so it's all good.
I had a great time in Queenstown hanging with Alex and all the Cameron Clan (I was living at Cameron Place). I got a couple of days boarding in at Coronet Peak and The Remarkables, spent alot of time just hanging out in QT, sitting on the beach, reflecting and thinking, and drinking beer. Last Sunday to Tuesday we went on a mini road trip to Wanaka (pic included of the beach). I used the time just to chill out on the beach on the day all my mates went boarding (the ski pass was real expensive so I didn't bother going), but it was a great time nonetheless.
As soon as I got back I was straight into helping lead a retreat at work, and the next day I went on a weekend camp retreat which was all about Leadership and Confidence building. I had a great time, and yesterday involved abseiling and a confidence course/obstacle course of climbing and running and rolling through massive puddles of thick mud puddles that stank of pig crap! But it was so much fun! Afterwords our team had a swim/rinse in the river - soooooo colddddd but so good!
Today I was back in school with a really nice group of students. I'm having a meeting today about our Spring Fest which Im in charge of, and then back to school this evening to hang with the kids and help them prepare for chapel.
I leave 3 weeks on Saturday-very sad, but I'm just making the most of each day and loving every bit of it.
Lots of love, God bless xx
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