Well its been ages since I've blogged and I wanted to post what I've been up to, so here goes:
August / September
I was still trying to make the adjustment to being home. It wasn't as easy as I thought. I missed my friends, teaching, Provo, gym with Ande and Kjell, shopping at Ross, Costco and Old Navy and having a routine that I love. The food is so rich and wonderful here that I found comfort in it and put on about 7-10 lbs. I still haven't lost any of that weight but its all good. I was staying in Hamilton and then travelling to Auckland for a change and sorting out school. This was a really hard month but learned none the less.
I got a part-time job teaching at Worldwide School of English in Auckland city in New Zealand. The job was great and I was loving being back in the classroom. It was driving my crazy not doing anything so the work was just what I needed. The teachers there were so great to work with. It was so different from teaching in an LDS environment e.g., they had pub night, teachers and students would go have drinks, and students hung out for breaks to have a cigarette and coffee. Not only was the job good but the hours and money were great too.
October / November
Got accepted into the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in the Applied Linguistics PhD program. I have a great supervisor who is so flexible, simplistic and just awesome to work with. I love the school and the application process was so much more simplistic than applying for a PhD program in the states. Some things I like about the application process was: the application is a 2 page application form, you are notified of the outcome within a month, you are notified by email, mail and text and my supervisor looked over my application before submission to ensure the best possible outcome. My program is solely research with no class requirements. I study from home, school, down country and even overseas. Another great thing is that I have access to some great financial assistance. The downside is that I have to be totally self motivated and organized which is not always easy to do. However I'm excited to be here getting my PhD.
I also took a quick trip to re-energize myself and it was great.
December
December 5th I performed with the CCNZ alumni maori culture group for the Church College Closing celebration. It was such a great evening and just full of nostalgia. I cried through 50% of the performance just thinking of all the great memories that Church College provided me. I grew up in the dorms, went to school there and have such great life time friends from it all. It was great to see so many people at the concert and it was awesome to do maori culture again. I absolutely loved it.
On the 18th I flew to Gold Coast Australia to spend Christmas with my brother Sinclair and his family and mum and dad. I arrived to hot sweltering weather which was awesome and we went straight to the water park and swam most of the day. My trip consisted mostly of beach, pool and eating. I still have that 10 lbs I found and I can truly say I'm officially a pumpleduff!!!! This food is killing me (literally) so I need to make a change there. My body misses Kjell to push me and Ande to support me!!!
