Spring Cleaning

It's starting to feel like spring here--cherry blossoms are popping on trees throughout Dunedin, we went to the beach yesterday and splashed through warm(ish) water, Whiskey plunged in over her head on a drop off. Jon, Cody, and I are gearing up for the next moves.

I'm finishing up a job at the School of Physiotherapy here in Dunedin for the next two weeks, then Jon, Cody, and I will drive north. Jon will fly to Wellington for his last residential (all wilderness medicine scenarios on a mountainside---SO JEALOUS!). Cody and I will camp and climb for a few days then Cody will drop me off in Christchurch.

I'll pick up our free rental car (SCORE!) then drive north again. I'll take the ferry from Picton to Wellington and pick Jon up. The next day, we're hiking the Tongariro Crossing and hopefully summitting Mt. Ngauruhoe (also known as the top of Mt. Doom in the Lord of the Rings trilogy).

From the Tongariro Crossing, we'll continue North until we drop the car off in Auckland. After that, we'll hopefully backpack around, visiting some old friends of mine in the North Island for a few days. On November 5, Jon and I will fly to Brisbane for about 33 hours of climbing and roaming, then we fly to Singapore at 2am on November 7. We'll be in Singapore for a month and a half, living in a SWEET hostel while I get trained to teach yoga and pilates and Jon does carpentry work at the hostel.

On December 14, we fly to England for Christmas with my crazy family and then fly back to the states on January 6. We will drive from Boston to Michigan to pick up Bettie and Isaac and my car, then drive home to Fayetteville! We're hoping to get back to Fayetteville around the 14 or 15 of January.

It's been a crazy year, fantastic and difficult, but I'd do it all again in a heartbeat given the chance. I sure am excited to get back to Arkansas though...

Big love from New Zealand (for a little while more)!

How do they do it?

I don't know how real life bloggers keep up with this... Although to be fair, I've never been any good at keeping a diary or even keeping in steady contact with people.

Jon and I have two more months in New Zealand... I am working as a receptionist at the Physiotherapy Clinic at the University of Otago and Jon has been carpentering and selling his body to science. I prefer the carpentering.

In October, we're going to pack up all our things, load them into our car (aka the Red Fox--thanks Uncle Willie!!!), and start our way North. We have to be in Auckland by November 5, as we fly to Brisbane for 2 days, then to Singapore. We'll be in Singapore for a month and a bit, while I get certified to teach yoga and pilates, then we head to England for the holidays with my family! My uncle will have a brand new baby, so we're SUPER excited about the whole holiday extravaganza... and I think Jon just really likes Christmas.

After that, we fly to Boston, where we'll rent a car, driving through Canada to Michigan--Niagara Falls, anyone?!--then we'll pack up our dogs and our stuff and head home!

It's crazy how quickly it's all gone. I feel like I was substitute teaching in Michigan a few weeks ago, but nope, it's been much longer. I'm super excited and will hopefully be far more disciplined about this with regards to yoga/pilates training.

Big love from New Zealand--I'm off to watch Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief because Jon isn't home and I can finally watch it without him complaining!

Alone in the house

I have the house to myself for the first time since we got here... Well, not entirely to myself, as Whiskey River keeps reminding me, but no other humans.

This time in New Zealand has been interesting, not at all what I expected or imagined. While it is beautiful and the people are friendly and the great outdoors are great, it's not thrilling and its not home. I feel like I'm torn between wanting to have the seminal, coming of age Overseas Experience in which I live with no worries for a year and the reality of living overseas. I think part of this all is that I'm no longer on my gap year, no longer willing to be totally financially ass-up. I keep finding myself thinking that I'm too old for this shit, and then I'm shocked to hear those words in my own head. Jon thinks that a lot of our frustration is the fact that we have no money, so we're as broke as we were in Fayetteville, but without the people.

And I don't say this to imply that this has been anything but incredible. Given the change, I'd do it all again. It has been fascinating and has allowed me to look at pieces of myself that I didn't realize were there. What more can anyone ask, right?

I've gotten to know some amazing men and women, learned to drive on the left side of the road, lived somewhere it's both legal and encouraged to pull u-turns in the middle of the street, worked in a prison (marginally), lived in a house that grows mold at a spectacular rate, learned what chilblains are (note: climbing shoes + bone deep damp chill * hours = not a good idea). I've gotten (?) to live with my sister and my man simultaneously, gotten to watch them figure each other out (how many people get to do that?!). I've learned what a swede is (rutabaga), what mutton bird Maori-style is (a neck-wrung seagull rubbed down in salt and stuck in a bucket for a year), how to make really good seafood chowder (just wait til we make you some!).

Most importantly, I've realized what it is to be homesick, to miss a place and the people there for more than a brief twinge. I'm excited to move back to the US, excited to struggle in Fayetteville for just long enough to stop struggling as much. I'm excited to become a slum lord (life goal), to hopefully start a climbing wall, to build an incredible house with Daniel's help (and others, but Daniel has already committed).

So life in New Zealand is good. It's cold and damp and full of all the trials and tribulations that accompany life anywhere, but it's an adventure that I am fortunate enough to share with people I love. At the end of the day, really what more can you ask...

Homesickness

I miss Fayetteville. And I'm not talking about kind of missing the climbing there or kind of missing the people or kind of missing Little Bread or any of that. I miss Fayetteville. I miss the climbing and the people and Little Bread and all the things that make Fayetteville such a wonderful place to live. I also miss the not so wonderful parts. I miss driving in Jon's beat up truck while he rants about "fucking tweakers!" I miss crazy bible belt conservatism (in a surreal, nostalgic sort of way). I miss southern accents (sort of) and people I've never met calling me honey or miss. I miss JRs and Smoke and Barrel and Loren Bates's uncontactable self.

Jon and I went on our first date ever last night and it was wonderful. In typical us style, we spent most of it talking about opening a climbing wall in Fayetteville. I'm really excited about it. We're hoping to hit the ground running when we get back. I can't wait.

Anyway, everyone in the house is up and moving around now, so focusing on writing is mighty difficult.

Love love.

I've been a bit slack about updating. In the two weeks since Wanaka, I interviewed for and was hired for a position as Executive Assistant to the regional manager of the prison system here. I work about 40 minutes outside of Dunedin, at a prison that was built about 3 years ago, and I work right "outside the wire." It's quite interesting, as I get a glimpse of another world of bureaucracy. It is in some ways quite heartening, as it makes America look functional, at least. Because of confidentiality issues, I can't say much about my job, but it's full time for the next three months, which means that Jon and I should be able to sock some money away to use for travel later on.....

We have been talking a lot about what we are going to do when we move back to Fayetteville. It feels like we have started that funky transition from flying by the seat of our pants to wanting to have (at least a few) things sorted out. We are hoping to open an indoor climbing wall in Fayetteville, as Northwest Arkansas has AWESOME outdoor climbing, but very limited indoor facilities. At the same time, we hope to create a nonprofit that works to create and maintain outdoor climbing facilities in the area. It's pretty exciting, and I think doable, if we go about it correctly!!!

We went for a great hike today, to the top of Mt. Cargill. On a side note, if anyone can explain to me why Mt. Cargill is in Dunedin and Invercargill is 3 hours south, I'd be much obliged. As far as I can figure, Scots have a very loose sense of distance, and "inver" implies "somewhere roughly near." By that logic, Inverness should be within 3-4 hours of Loch Ness... Anyone? Anyone? After that, we dropped Jon and Sam off at Ultimate, and Cody and I hit the bouldering gym for a few hours.

There is nothing like that totally sated feeling at the end of a day of being physical and outside... it really is one of the more satisfying feelings in the world. Anyway, I'm drinking a bloody mary, sitting on our burlap-covered couch, feeling like I had a very productive Anzac Day.

Much love to all...

Heh Heh Heh

Just found this in my email... We wrote this and got it notarized in order to get me a visa. The things Jon and I will do to get into New Zealand!

To Whom it May Concern,
Jon M. Champagne and I, Ramsey P. Sprattmoran, have agreed that we are not interested in getting married, as neither of us personally feel that marriage is important. Instead, we have actively, intentionally, and consciously made a contract with one another to share our lives, both in good times and in difficult times. We intend to build a house together, raise children together, start a business together, and grow old together.
All our friends know us as a couple and share the understanding that Jon and I have committed to sharing our lives. Both of our families know of, appreciate, and support our relationship. I believe that our love and respect for one another is visible to everyone who witnesses our relationship, and because of that, our family and friends have no hesitation in supporting our union.
At this point, we have lived together for one year, (after being in an exclusive relationship for the previous year). I originally moved in with Jon at 345 Prospect Ave, Fayetteville, AR 72701. We subsequently moved to 24 S. Duncan Ave, Apt A, Fayetteville, AR 72701 together. After deciding to pursue moving to New Zealand for his Post-Graduate studies, we moved to my mother’s house in Lake Leelanau, MI, in order to get our dogs settled with her.
Although we have separate bank accounts and bills, Jon and I pool our resources and share responsibilities. We believe that we share responsibility for the physical, mental, emotional, and financial health of the other. During the short period that Jon was in between jobs, I supported him and during the short period while I was in between jobs, he supported me. We have pooled our finances in order to pay for our plane tickets to New Zealand, and I have every intention of supporting him as he works on his Post-Graduate studies while we are in New Zealand. In exchange, he has expressed a desire to support me in my work toward a Masters Degree when we move back to the US.
I was originally also going to be studying in New Zealand, but after a conversation about finances and goals, we decided that it would be best for our family to have at least one steady source of income until we have both finished our schooling. Because Jon’s program is a lot more difficult to find, we decided that he should take advantage of the opportunity that he has been presented.
We are taking this letter to be notarized, as a legal, intentional declaration of our love, respect, and commitment to one another. Hopefully this helps to ease any concerns about the nature of our relationship as it is written entirely in good faith and sincerity. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
Thank you very much,

Off to the woods...

Just a quick post...
Cody, Sam, Jon, Whiskey, and I are heading off to Wanaka for a few days of camping beside a river, climbing some awesome rocks, and mountain biking some gnarly (as Jon would say) trails.
We'll do our best to take heaps of photos to post to Picasa upon our return to civilization.
Big love!