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Blue Orange Green Pink Purple

The wanderings of a thirty-something mid-westerner

Not all those who wander are lost...

"One's destination is never a place but a new way of seeing things" - H. Miller

"We shall not cease from exploration, And the end of all our exploring, Will be to arrive where we started, And know the place for the first time." -T.S. Eliot

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living" - M. Beard

Off to New Zealand


Naturally, as soon as I posted about heading out West while waiting for Sean's work visa, it came the next day. We were already scurrying to make contact with ski lodges and parks to see about any available jobs after the holidays and I was starting to look forward to learning more about skiing. As soon as the visa came, however, we bought tickets for January 11 and are excited to head out to New Zealand after spending Christmas and New Years with family and friends.

I am unbelievably ready for this long-term substitute job to be over. In the span of a week there have been two school-wide lock-downs for reasons varying from a nearby shooting to theft. I've had a couple of close calls regarding girl fights and today after telling a student he could not use the restroom (as last time he never came back) he got up, walked out, told me to go to hell and slammed the door. These last three weeks have been . . . an experience. As soon as I walk into that building my blood pressure skyrockets. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be relatively painless as my nutrition students are going to watch "Food Inc." and my parenting students have a test.

Here are some of the questions I get around Holland when people find out we're going to New Zealand?

Why New Zealand? I've heard it's pretty, there's less people than in China and because we've never been before.

What will you do there? Any job we can find to eek out an existence.

Where will you live? Anywhere we can find that we can afford.

Where are you going? Christchurch (I know, I know, they just had an earthquake).

Isn't that part of Australia? Nope, but it's out in that general direction.

When are you coming back? Our visas last a year, but who knows. If we can't make it financially then it will probably be sooner rather than later.

I want to go here
Read More 3 comments | Posted by Sarah Sanderson edit post

3 comments

  1. Catherine on December 16, 2011 2:42 PM

    Awesome! I'm so excited for you guys!

     
  2. Kate on December 16, 2011 3:18 PM

    I envy your ability and willingness to get up and go wherever you want. As for the earthquake thing, well, since they just had one, chances are you won't have to worry about it ;)

     
  3. kimberly on December 16, 2011 3:58 PM

    Yay! SO exciting! Hope you guys have a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoy the entire experience. FYI, I enjoyed your post about subbing... It made me laugh!

     


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