The latest from Christchurch!

Before I forget, here is the land line number that goes with our new flat: 3(city code) 376 4610

We've only been in the new place for a few days but it's been great so far. Our flattie, Aaron, is great-- as is our (his) kitty, Cleo! Molly started her job last week and my job as an accounts assistant starts thursday! It's about time for a little income! Our first NZ job has held us through almost 4 months! I've also joined a few soccer teams which I'm super excited about! The team is Burnside and I'm playing for both the division 1 team and the premeir team! Don't let the names throw you off--the teams are nothing flash. But it's great to be back in it and the girls have been really accepting so it's all good. I also have an indoor team I can jump in with if practices are ever canceled. Last week, I played 2 back-to-back indoor games and had practice the next day. Then, I had 2 games this weekend. I feel like a train ran me over---a few times. It's almost sad how much I let myself get out of shape. Though it really puts in perspective just how fit I used to be!! The games slowly but surly coming back and hopefully I'll have my legs back soon. But regardless, it's nice to re-join the world of smelly shinguards and random bruises.

Next weekend is the Queen's B-day and the Phil will be gracing christchurch with his fast-running-ass. He'll be kicking some booty in the marathon and we're super excited that we finally get to see him doing it! Then we'll hopefully make it back to Welly for a fun weekend with the crew before he head's back home (*tear*). There will be plenty of World Cup action to keep us awake and no matter what C.P says, he will be watching with us!

Me and Mol also met a great group of girls at the hostel we were staying at. We all went out to watch the Super 14 Rugby Final on Saturday and had a blast and are planning an international dinner night this week (we got me and mol, 2 irish girls, a german, and a finish).

That's about all I have to report for now! Hope all is well with everyone!

Christchurch it is!

Okay, we have yet another address!! But this one should be for at least the next 2 months!!

64 Scruttons Rd.
Heathcote Valley, Christchurch

We'll be moving into the flat this weekend---it's a really nice, fully furnished place! Complete with great views, our own section of the house (our own bathroom), and an ADORABLE kitty!!!! We're just a LITTLE excited that we won't have to steal a cat from the neighbors to fill that animal void of ours!! The jobs are coming---hopefully sooner then later! More later. Hope all is well with everone!

Congrats to all the graduates in my life! Jessica, Stevie---I can't believe it! I'm so proud of you guys!! Amanda and all you Rice peeps---I can't believe how fast this year flew by!! CONGRATS! ;) (oh, and ash, congrats on your 1 year in the real world!)

STAND BY...

It's possible that we'll need to say goodbye to this beautiful little place we found here in Wanaka so if you were planning on sending anything to our new address, hold off for a bit! Things pretty much shut down for the next month until the winter crowd comes through and we're not sure we can wait that long to start a job. So, we may need to pack our stuff up and head to a bigger city where we know we can land jobs. Everything is up in the air right now so I'll let you know what the plan is as soon as we know.

hope all is well!

Okay, so the decision to move to Christchurch is just about final and if all goes according to this (new) plan, we'll be there in the next 2 weeks or so. Now for those of you that are bummed (on our behalf) about this little side-step, don't be!!! Yes, we are a little saddened to leave this beautiful town and cute little apartment (which had a view of SNOW PEAKED mountains this morning) behind, we've weighed everything and feel like a move to chch is a good one! Although I'm sure we could get jobs here eventually, we'd have to wait it out for at least a month and a half and while we aren't completely pressed for money yet, we can't really afford to be out traveling around either. So we'd basically be waiting, doing nothing, until a job comes up. So, we are going to go to chch, get a job and make some money, find a flat (although we love our place here, it'll be good to have flatmates again not to mention internet and a landline), and get into the culture of a new city. Then, when molly comes back from the wedding (she'll be gone for july) we can hit up some ski mountains and see the south covered in snow. So, we're excited about this little hiccup and love the fact that we have the flexibilty to do this. So, DON'T be bummed for us b/c we aren't bummed at all!!!!

We may be heading to queenstowns this weekend so we can throw ourselves off a bridge for Molly's b-day! Happy's Mother's day to all the mother's (and especially mine! :)).

Wanaka, New Zealand

Greetings from the little ski town of Wanaka in the south island! The mother and big bro have successfully made it back to the US of A after a great 10 day visit to me and molly (which happened to fall on my birthday! What a great gift! :)). Despite a few days of mucky weather, the trip was great and the weather seemed to clear up at the perfect times. We loaded up everyone into mills and gave ry and mom a little taste of the traveler's life! It didn't take long for them to completely lose track of the day and time---that's the way we like it round here! Once again I can't possibly write about it all but our first time visit to franz joseph and fox glaciers was a definite highlight, as was our walk around Matheson lake in which we could see a beautiful reflection of Mount Cook in the water. The weather held out just long enough for us to see the snow-covered peaks of the mountains and then poured down on us for our walk to the terminal face of fox glacier. But there was no stopping us! Not even the rapid streams (which would probably be all but nonexistent in fine weather) could stop this crowd---, and the rain made the rainforest-like surroundings of the glacier breathtaking (waterfalls everywhere!). We had 2 days of rainfall when we stayed in Wanaka but the beautiful cottage we had (what-up Roge!) made up for it! Then I ALMOST convinced ry that jumping off a bridge was a fabulous idea but time was just not on my side! I nearly had him convinced and the lady came out announcing "last jumps" and I just couldn't get it down it time! I'm sure he regrets it already :) There will be other times. After our brief visit to Queenstown, we took off to Manapori where we loaded onto an overnight cruise through Doubtful sound. Somehow, as soon as we got out to the sounds, the weather turned brilliant (it must have been the beachy music and sunnies in the car ride) and stayed that way the entire trip. Nearly as soon as we starting sailing away, a big pod of dolphins started running with the boat and only attracted more!! We were entertained by dolphins jumping LIKE CRAZY for a good 30 mintues!! Dolphins make me happy!! And these guys were out to play for REAL!! We had an amazing sunset that night (and have a ridiculous amount of pics to prove it!), a beautiful star-filled night sky, and then a great sunrise the next morning. Everything on the boat was great! After the crusie, we made our way back to CHCH stopping at Dunedin for 2 nights (where my poor bro FINALLY got to go out for a little bit!) and then at a little town where we saw 2 ADORABLE little yellow-eyed penguins! I could watch them waddle and hop around for hours! It was great having you guys here!!! Miss you already! :)

It is now back to me, mol and mills and we have made our way back to Wanaka--where we now live!! Despite the competiveness of this place in the winter, we managed to score a great little flat. Well, it's more of a unit then a flat. It's just me and molly living there but we have 4 people our age living right above us. It has everything we need (aka, a self-contained unit), though there has been talk of building our own shelves and table! It's small but really modern and has ridiculously awesome views of the mountains. We can only imagine what it will look like when the mountains are covered in snow. So, our new address:

77 Matai Road (downstairs)
Wanaka 9192 NZ

We are still waiting to hear about jobs but have made ourselves known to the ski places and are prepared to be a thorn in their sides until they hire us! :)

also, there are new pictures up under janelle's family visit
http://photos.yahoo.com/mollyfoos