March 26, 2010
So I realized that it has been over a month since I updated this. I stayed in Abel Tasman for about a week doing not much of anything. They moved me to a tent which was much cheaper than the dorm beds but also further away from the Stray camp. I would head over there at night to see who came in on the bus and catch up with people that I had met earlier. I had the opportunity to play some volleyball in town. The guy that owns the sailing company and his friends play every week and invited me to join them. It was great to play again although some of the competition wasn't very good. We played a group of high school girls and as the first serve came hurdling at them, a few of them let out a scream and ducked out of the way.
Toward the end of the week I was no closer to having a job and no closer to figuring what I wanted to do with my last month in New Zealand. I had already seen most of the two islands. So I decided that it was time to head home again. I hopped on a bus and spent a night in Nelson at one of the best hostels I've ever stayed at called Golden Lodge. The next morning I was back on the bus and found my way back to Amberley where I went to stay with Jon for a few days before my flight home. We went into Christchurch one day to watch a cricket match, which, now that I understand the game, was quite exciting. I also had a chance to visit Tara again. She was getting ready to head to Australia for a bone scan that would determine when and if she could have surgery.
The latest Tara news is that she did end up having the surgery and it was very successful. She had a full knee replacement to get rid of the tumor and is currently undergoing one last round of chemotherapy to get rid of the remaining cancer. She really is a special girl and I can't wait to go visit her again.
Anyway, I flew home on March 2nd. I spent a week in San Diego visiting Warren and his family. We went out to eat a lot and I started my half-marathon training. Monday night Warren, Rashad and I went and played volleyball and Tuesday night I went bowling with Warren and some of his friends.
After San Diego I flew to Colorado Springs to visit my twin sister Briana. After a bunch of training she is now stationed at Fort Carson. We went out to eat a few times and worked out on post. We went to the Army Air Force hockey game on Friday night and on Saturday we went out to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with her friends and tried to get everyone to stay out until midnight to celebrate pi day (our birthday 3.14). On Sunday we slept in, went to see The Princess and the Frog at the movie theater and went out to eat at Red Robin.
From Colorado Springs I flew to Fargo and stayed with my brother Matt for a few nights. My mom then picked me up and we headed over to Minneapolis to visit Tiffany. We did some shopping and helped Tiff decorate her new house. Mom and Autumn also got their hair done by Tiffany at the salon she is now the assistant manager of.
We drove back to Langdon on March 21st and I spent a few days getting my stuff together. I went in to speak to the kindergarten class about my travels and told them about how I got the scar on my forehead and showed them pictures of me bungy jumping. I also went out to lunch with Nathan and caught up with some of the staff at both the elementary and high school.
And now I am in Bismarck at my dad's house. I will be staying here for at least two months and possibly more. I am looking for a job right now or at least something to keep me busy. I am running the Fargo half-marathon at the end of May with my sisters Tahnee and Briana and am still hoping to go to Peru in June. We'll see what happens. In July I will be working some volleyball camps and in August Medical School starts down in New Orleans. I'll try to update this every so often and let you know what I'm up to. Hopefully this job search goes better than the last...
