Looking forward in anticipation

So my last year in Dunedin is about to start. And you know what? This past week I have practically been jumping around the house counting down the days. I can't help it. I just have a feeling that this year is going to top all my years at university, that's 4 amazing years. And although there's definitely been ups and downs, there is just no way to describe how much I have changed and grown individually.

One of the biggest lessons I have learnt is how to love my friends unconditionally without the fear of being hurt again. When I say 'again' I am referring to a friendship at school with a girl who used to be a very close friend. But her discouraging comments and hurtful behaviour led me to distance myself from her by putting up a brick wall. I would not act myself when i was around her because I was so scared that she would use what I said to criticise me or hurt me even more. It was the worst feeling in the world to feel this way! Moving to Dunedin, I thought I could just ignore her and start over and make new friends. but when our paths crossed I knew I was still being defensive all the time. I asked God what I needed to do to resolve all the hurts, the bitterness and deep wounds that had caused a chasm between us. I mustered up all the courage in my bones to call her and eventually confront her directly. God totally pulled me to my feet in my weakness. He taught me to forgive and forget. And I haven't looked back once.

Throughout my uni years, I have had the support of the most special group of friends. I am truely blessed. To have friends, who accept you for who you are, who look beyond your faults, who can laugh and cry with you, is a gift from God. And this has allowed me to discover the real (wacky) 'Jacqui' on a whole new level. And more importantly, love others unconditionally and freely or should I say fearlessly.

Here's to 2007. Step up in faith to your calling, Give it all you've got! I know I won't be disappointed.

Greetings from Kaitaia

Firstly, a belated merry christmas to all! Mine was great - massive lunch, double layer pavlova and my mum's specialty cheesecake, family, presents, and fun times.


On the 27th I flew up to new plymouth and hung out with Joe. We played tennis and went swimming at the beach. Although for Joe it was more like a quick 10 second dip and he was outta there!! After dinner, we went to the festival of lights at the park where we listened to a band and even took a canoe out on the lake. Very fun. But don't ask me to row, I was most confused even how to hold the oar!

On the 28th Joe and I met Dan and Jared Lyn in Cambridge. From there it was a good couple hrs drive to Whangarei, our overnight stop, mainly cos we were all starving! And on our final leg up, we stopped at Taupo Bay for a swim. Refreshing but so difficult to get warm again. Our fish n chips 'snack' did the trick though. And of course another trip to the beach. Played touch rugby which was awesome since I missed it so much in wellie. There was a game of poker which lasted till 3am.......for Dan and Joe battling it out.

The 29th was beautiful and sunny. So off to the beach yet again. This time I tried out some surfing for the first time ever. I think I've found a new interest! New Years was excellent. Full credit to Mike's parents.

Our day trip to Cape Reinga was the highlight of the trip. After taking some photos and mulling around the lighthouse, we headed to the massive sand dunes and rode down on body boards. We even got some tandem races going. Brooke and Joe, Dave and Jess. The girls looked like they were riding horses down the hill, as they only held on to a tshirt! Next was a stop at the beach. And another chance to test my surfing skills!! Well this time I actually had a mini lesson. And although the waves were terrible, I was very close to standing up on my first attempt! Finally, we all rushed to the bach in Taipa and were stunned to find tables laden with salads, meat (including the crayfish the boys caught) and drink. Lest I forget dessert.

I left Kaitaia on the 3rd, we stayed at Dan's house. Played a lengthly game of 6handed 500. My team won. Joe and I managed to fit in a quick swim at the mount in Tauranga (absolutely stunning beach aaaaah) before I caught my flight home. How tempted was I to miss my plane home! I mean who would want to go back to work after a week with awesome people, food and beaches??

Catch yous up with my life!

Some photos from our Roadie after end of exams. We stormed through the South Island over a week. Basically it was flippin' awesome: hurtling down the winding track on the luge with the boys in hot pursuit and taking the opportunity to ram us whenever possible to bungeejumping and dining like the rich in Queenstown, exploring the sluicings in bannockburn, rockclimbing in christchurch with Mike and Rach, countless games of 500, nightly bedtime readings (not only to Esther and Debbie in greymouth!), touch rugby, stopping the car on the side of the road to eat chip sandwiches for dinner in the pouring rain(now THAT was a first, and yeah not bad!), and spending hours at Hanmer Springs with the boys suffering with sunburn and moisturising practically 3 times a day.....and so many laughs. And some sleeptalking competitions. Too bad, we didn't get to see Joe break out in a single-star musical!! Thank you so much Chris (aka 'poser'), Joe and Brooke for a great week!!




Hi guys. Okay okay it's been a while. To be honest, I have kinda been avoiding blogging since I got home, pretty much cos after the road trip, after shopping with Brooke, playing tennis, and being on an adrenalin rush all week, I kinda just hit rockbottom. What is annoying is that it probably could have been prevented had I studied conscientiously when I got back from Germany. I sometimes wonder, what happened to the fastidious student who cared so much about getting good grades. It was like I couldn't even THINK about study cos I had too much catching up to do, touch rugby to play, photos to show, emailing my friends overseas and anything else besides study to fit into my days, okay whoops pranks is probably up there too. Haha. And after all that, I will have to repeat Econ 302, my most dreaded subject in the world.

And then I had to cope with my failure. Failure to pass my exam, failure to myself, to my parents and to my brother and sister, and to God. And all my plans of graduating in August just got trampled on. To triple my feelings of hopelessness and regret was the 2-week-struggle and the pressure I placed on myself to find a job. At least if I was working, I would not have had to think about how I had become entangled in some sort of unescapable net.

Fortunately, I have escaped. Through prayer and encouragement from friends (thank you!), more fellowship, heart to hearts with my sister and brother, supportive parents, and God speaking to me and teaching me through so many different outlets. And thoughout this bitter dark period I leaned on my God more than ever, and searched for some kind of resolution.

I realised that even though I stuffed up, God will give me second chances and third and fourth chances. As long as I put Him first in my life, His plan will NEVER fail. There is always a lesson to be learned, and the difficult times we go through will build us up in character, faith, strength and hope. That's why I love Psalm 18:35 You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

God has been there the whole time. I have spent two days at my new summer job at Bluebridge, the cook strait ferry at the wellington terminal. And it is fantastic. On top of spending a whole morning on walkie talkies and directing cars, I have been learning new skills in a fun environment. Today I took my first call for a bluebridge ferry booking. The girl couldn't speak very good english so I had to repeat everything about 3 times but at least it was successful. I also accompanied my friend (the boss's daughter) as she drove the luggage truck off the ferry for the first time....................and crashed in front of horrified passengers!! Ripped off the green protector on the side of the truck and produced a pretty sizeable dent! But WE were okay!

Chinese food brings people together

More accurately said would be simply 'food brings people together' especially in Cutting Edge. Especially boys. Anyway, twelve of us went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant called um well the one on Moray Place, the Asian one. We were squished in elbow to elbow like sardines round a table probably designed for 8. Which made eating twice as tricky. My first challenge was actually holding the chopsticks correctly, but no matter how many times I rearranged my fingers following Chris's patient instructions, I had absolutely no control and switched back to my usual chopstick-holding position (which usually works except when I have to pick up rice) The second challenge was sitting next to a leftie (chris)....Again!! So the whole 2hr meal was really a battle of the chopsticks to see who could knock the other person's food off their chopstick first before it reached their mouth!

And although I look more Chinese than my fellow friends, I still have to ask where Canton is in China and me and Dan receive a disgusted look from Jian when we pronounce Guangzhou (the name of the village where our ancestors are from) terribly wrong. It's pronounced Guang-jao NOT Guang-zao!! No excuses Dan, even if I did say if wrong first.

And beware where you position your feet, some people decided to stretch their legs from almost one end of the table to the other. So when others tried to fight for space, they ended up playing footsies with one another, don't think people in China have that problem, being short and that.

Sigh. I really have to learn how to be just a tad more Chinese or at least put on a better front! I am just too Kiwi. Oh well. I love it. Even if it means getting teased when I ask 'Ni hao ma?' in my New Zealand accent.

Dedicated to my flatmates: Mike Reeves, Tom Clendon and Tim Wilson

Finally, I can grant the request of my flatmate Tom by writing a post about my flatmates. And I think that they couldn't agree more, they never knew what they were getting themselves into when they invited me to flat with them. I distinctly remember Mike emailing me 'We are looking forward to having someone new in the flat'. Someone new, perhaps a little quiet at first as I settled in, missing the presence of 5 girls (from last year's flat), and actually realising that if I left the flat at 9.50am I would NOT make my Economics lecture on time.

But then something inside me changed. Maybe it was gaining a nickname of 'Wacky Jong'. Maybe it was the love for craziness and spontanuity that I picked up in Germany. Or maybe it was just the fact that I refuse to believe that boys are better than girls (which I hear more than once a week!).

I decided to take action so after Mike had had his nightly half-an-hour shower, they were all sleeping soundly, I snuck into the bathroom, with the bottle of Wattis tomato sauce, my hands tingling with excitement . As I stood at the foot of the shower and looked up at the row of shampoos and conditioners neatly lined up, I desperately jogged my brain, trying to figure out which one was Mike's. I finally chose the bluey grey bottle of VO5 shampoo that was screaming out to me. Out with the shampoo, in with the tomato sauce.

Three days later, no reaction so I returned to the scene of the crime, careful not to leave any evidence of foul play, and squeezed a tablespoon of tomato sauce into the boys' toothpaste.

Finally! Got 'em! Turns out, it was Tom's shampoo. He had mindlessly squeezed shampoo onto his hand and instead found himself staring at this thick red glob. While Mike squirted the tomato sauce onto his toothbrush. Success!

My third flatmate, Tim, claims to be neutral Switzerland despite our attempts to sway him either way. It was suggested we call a truce and gang up on tim but neither of us had the heart to prank or shoot Tim with BB guns.

Speaking of BB guns, since the pranking begun I decided to ensure I was always one step ahead of the boys. I 'borrowed and hid' (aka stole but I'm a Christian so you do the math) one BB gun and the bullets. Though remaining true to the pact, I have not shot mike....yet. The train of pranks following include...tom shooting me with BB gun many a times, mike waking me up numerous times with a glass of cold water, mike luring me into my room when I thought they were reclaiming the BB gun, and then throwing a pot of water on me...IN the flat, me turning mike's shirts inside out, me pairing up tom's socks oddly and hiding the matching pairs in mike's closet...and now, well I am still ahead by one fab prank so I will end this blog here.

Let me just say, it has been great flatting with you boys despite our neverending battle, which admittedly, I did start and will finish. To all my fellow pranksters, if ever you need a helping hand, flick me a txt. I will be there!!

I'm not soft!

Well maybe a little. I pulled my adactor muscle in my thigh playing touch rugby. It wasn't even dramatic, like I was tackling a guy, but I must have twisted it dodging. So now I am getting physio and so far have had two sessions of ultrasound. And I have 3 bruises which are kinda purple now. The physio's advice was no running and no touch rugby. So I just went to laser force against Joe and Justin's life group today. There was no way I was going to miss it!

It's been a pretty cool week including including good times several 'study dates' which have actually been quite productive. I realise that all I needed was someone to hold me accountable and vice versa. It's really encouraging cos I feel like I am getting back on track with the final goal of carving exams, yes Chris even Econ 302. But in saying that, I had an oral last monday which I spent an hour only preparing for...on the day. And it wasn't even on an easy topic. I chose to do a presentation on the brain development in young children. Somehow, my German got me through, a skill I definitely wouldn't have if not for the exchange! And I wrote my 1500 word essay on friday (the day it was due). Oops!

On another note, I am excited for my grandma. I never really knew whether she believed in God because she grew up in Guangzhou, China and she has this small buddha on her cabinet in her house. But since my aunty and uncle have been following Jehovah's Witness, a chinese lady comes to see her a couple of times a month to share the good news. And it's cool cos it's just stuff about Jesus and how he loves her and has a place for her in heaven. My grandma had a really tough life, and for that I have always admired her courage for leaving China without saying goodbye to her family, her hope despite never knowing what happened to her younger brother who disappeared, and just this inner strength and determination and sometimes stubborness (which could be a family trait haha). And what is awesome is that God has really been with her the whole way and provided her with an amazing chance to escape to a better life in New Zealand. Reminds me of this psalm:
Psalm 18:34-35
He trains my hands for battle
my arms can bend a bow of bronze
You give me your shield of victory
and your right hand sustains me.
You stoop down to make me great.

Anyway, this lady from JW told her that when the world ends, she will be young again and will be able to run. She will see her family. My grandma told my mum that she can't wait for that day. And it makes me so happy that she has been given this peace and something to look forward to.

Well, I am off to bed. Hope everyone remembers to put their clock forward an hour.

For those of you who haven't seen my photos...

...here's a preview
These are some of the exchange students studying in Cologne. In the last week of February there was a MASSIVE carvival, where every person young and old, german and non-german, dresses up in wacky clothes and lines up at beer gardens at 10am in the morning. It was pretty much party hard day and night!!