Skydiving.... And the rest of my week

SATURDAY FEB 26

**Many of you may have already read this but it's still on the blog for you to read it again. If you did get this e-mailed to you...read it again cause now i corrected most of my spelling errors**

Well for those of you who don't know yet...i went skydiving today. Oh man i don't even know where to begin or how to explain it to you so that you understand what the experience feels like. But I will try my best. So me,Steph, Nick, Nikki, Stacey, Ronaele, Dan, Graham, and Jamie all woke up super early cause we had to leave @ 4:45 to get to Taupo by 6:40. We made it into the plane hanger at about 7:00 cause we had to fill out a whole bunch of forms and get everyone organized. I couldn't believe that we were actaully there getting ready to jump. I was SO pumped up for it. Yay!

We suited up and met our "instructors" because it was tandem skydiving, meaning you are strapped onto someone who actually knows what they are doing. So ya, my instructors name was Fred and he seemed to know what he was doing cause he said that he had done about 1100...or wait, was it 11000 sky jumps (he told me later that he's been in the Guiness Book of
World Records because of sky surfing). Anyway the point was was that he seemed to know what he was doing.

All of us that were diving from school decided to pitch in and buy the DVD of us getting ready to jump and of us landing (if we were to get the DVD of us actually in the air and jumping it would have been super expensive so we just went with this option). So eventually all of us will get a burnt copy of that CD, so I"ll be able to show you exactly what I"m talking about now ;)

Anyway we actually didn't get off the ground until an hour later because of the cloud cover. We did keep ourselves entertained by visiting and playing "No, Who?" (I'll teach you that game too ;))and by taking random pictures of each other. Then we heard a buzzer go and then we know this was it...we were going skydiving!

I was the last one to get on the plane with my instructor so that meant i was the first on to get off the plane because i was closest to the door. The whole way up Freddy was giving me instructions on what to do when i was in the air (as in where to put my legs, when to let my arms out, etc.). I wasn't really nervous or anything, i guess at that time i was just excited, plus the reality that i was in air didn't really hit me because in the hour or so that we waited i was getting tired and restless. Then Freddy opened the plane's door..oh by the way at this point we were 12000 ft in the air ;) so then i knew there was NO turning back and that i was jumping out of a plane!!

so the next thing i know, we're in the air (cause we jumped out of the plane), the plane was in sight for just a second, then all i could see was the earth. The ground didn't really seem as if i was coming towards it, it just felt like i was floating in the air, and Freddy told me to put my arms out and i could feel the air just rush past me. such an experience! He also told me to make waves with my arms and when i did i couldn't feel the air that i was pushing down with my body (does that make sense?) Basically it felt like there was a gap of air between my body and when i put my arms out...sorry i can't explain that any better :(

He deployed the parachute and so we weren't free falling anymore, we were just gliding through the air. He asked me if i knew whre the rainbow ended, (of course i said no) and showed me this awesome beyond awesome cloud formation that was forming behind us. So amazing!! He also said that he could show me a rainbow..so he turned us around so that the clouds and the sun were behind us and i could see our shadows within a circular rainbow. It was so cool. I even yelled out "God is SO awesome!!" in the air, so that was cool too. After that i dont' really remember much of the parachute ride down, no wait! Freddy showed me Mt. Ruapehu, basically a large mountain ( I hear that Mount Doom was filmed there). So it was cool to see the mountain from an above view.

Oh then he started turning the parachute back and forth because we were getting ready to land. Now remember I get motion sickness (plus i had a headache from something else too) so all the swerving back and forth so i was kinda getting dizzy and really wanted to just land so that my
head wouldn't feel as if it was spinning. He told me how to put my legs out so that i would land nicely. We landed nicely and i fell over onto the ground because i couldn't think of anything else to do. When the camera man came around he got a really good shot of me flopped on the ground. All i could think about at that moment was how dizzy I was. Then that was the end of skydiving!!

Looking back now I know it was an experience i would never forget (in a good way) and i would definately do it again as long as i didn't have a headache plus as long as i had the money for it cause it was $160 NZ dollars, but it was totally worth it!!!. But now my whole perception of clouds and the sky have totally changed because I was actually in them. It's such a sureal experience that i dont' think my mind has fully processed it. The rest of the day i kept saying out loud "Did we really go skydiving? Did we just fall out of the sky? Was that real?" It didn't hit me that it actually was real until we pulled into back into Capernwray. So amazing...i suggest if you get the chance to do it, DO IT! You will not regret it :)

Well the rest of the day wasn't as exciting but it was still cool. All of us had lunch in Taupo and didn't some quick shopping then headed off to Huka Falls. We were able to see the waterfall there, which is kinda small cause it looks just like a rushing rapid river, but it was still cool cause the water was SO blue. After we looked at the falls for a bit we walked about 45 minutes to the natural hot springs there. They were kinda under a bridge and once we got ourselves organized we hopped in. Now the thing that you have to understand is that there's 2 parts to the hot spring: hot water, which is heated from a valcano, runs into the Waikato river, while there's cold water there because of the river. Basically if you stand in the hot springs the top half of you will feel warm (because of the thermal heated water) and the bottom half of you will feel cold (because of the river). It's on of the weirdest but yet still wickedly awesome things you could ever experience in water. So cool.

But ya that's my day. We just watched the DVD of us jumping. Aw...i wanna do it again! Just for the sole purpose of being up in the clouds and seeing the earth from there. *Huge sigh*.........It's just that awesome! The DVD's pretty funny cause the camera guy gets us to do a little dance before we take off and you can actually see everyone landing and if you look really close you can see the look on my face. Even though i was having fun i was still dizzy. Then there's the shot of my just laying on the ground. LoL! But yes! That was my day so far :)

SUNDAY FEB 27

You know you have strange roommates when your sitting on the floor just listening to music when one of them comes back from town and says "Hellooooo my little paprika!" then walks away. Oh I love my Nikki!! Aw....

TUESDAY MAR 1

If your wondering if I've gotten a tan since I got to NZ...i did. Everyone else says that i don't have a tan because i"m already naturally dark, but i know the truth. I've gotten darker. How do i know that? cause I've got tan lines from my swim suit. And my shoulders at definately darker. I kinda wanna tan some more, as in had a "toasted almond" type color when i get home. Then i can tan some more, cause it'll be summer when i get back. Just kidding!! Can't get too too much sun, but you know what i mean. i'm always up for getting darker and mroe tan :)

Oh yesterday we had Quiet Day. Basically you just take the whole day to spend talking and listening to God. My Quiet Day was so good! Basically i was asking God about relationships and what i should do and who i should like and how i could focus on God when i still like someone and all these other things. Then I really felt God speaking to me because there was a voice in my head that was so gentle and calm. He told me "I can only give you the man you want, when you become the woman I want". It was exactly what i needed to hear from God to keep myself focussed on Him. Now some of you may think I'm crazy saying "there was a voice in my head" but if you have ever really felt God speaking to you then you know exactly what i mean.

WEDNESDAY MAR 2

Well today is Work day....again. I"m kinda bored right now cause none my friends from school have e-mailed me...wait! Jake just informed me that he e-mailed me...probably out of boredom too.

Aw a whole bunch of us watched David & Marsha's(the married students)ultrasound for their baby that's due in June sometime. I want a baby!! Well first i gotta get a man, then get married, then i can have a baby. But that's the hard part...finding the right guy. It's like everytime i think i like guy there's something he does that totally turns me off to him or the "liking" party just fades away. Well my first priority is that' he's a Christian, that's extremely important to me. Then there's the whole issue of finding a guy that can handle me in my entirity. Like I"m pretty crazy and emotional person (for those of you who didn't notice that) and a guy's gotta be able to handle all of that. So ya, i know it'll be hard to find the right guy, but that's what God's there for.
He knows exactly who's out there for me and who he will be. And that guy will be just for me. :) yay for God!

SATURDAY MAR 5

Man i haven't updated in a few days!! Such craziness! Alrighty so here's what I've been up to over the past week.

Wednesday was our work day and it was mine and Laura's turn to weed the garden by the pool. It was alright except there were two spiders that were crawling up my leg and i didn't appreciate it that much cause I"m kinda slightly arachiphobic. Ugh!

Oh a few people here have tatoos and when a bunch of us went swimming in the hot pools there were more people with tatoos. So I was thinking about getting one on my shoulder and my roomie Nikki was thinking about getting a tatoo too. I mentioned that i wanted one on my shoulders and Nikki said that she didn't want on her shoulders cause when/if she got married she didn't want it to look "trashy". Good point. So then i was thinking about what i could get on my ankle. However if i ever did one I'd probably get a cross or something meaningful in Greek or Hebrew. But i can't get tatoos during school cause those are just the rules. However then there's the fact that it would be on me forever so then it would have to be something that i really really liked. So I came to the conclusion that i might just get a henna tatoo in Fiji, cause then i can put it on my shoulder but it will eventually fade away. Cause then i can show it off when i get home but it won't be on be for the rest of my life. And plus that way my parents wouldn't freak out on me :)

Our assignment for this week (we have one per week) was to memorize Psalm 27. I thought i was good at memorizing so i didn't start looking at it until Wednesday night. Nikki even helped me out by doing some crazy action for "breathing out violence", I'll show you the video sometime. So ya Friday came and I did know the passage except i kept screwing it up and getting the words jumbled together when i was telling it to Steph so i got a C+. Not bad, but i could have done better if i would have put more effort into it. But i do know what the passage is basically saying. If you wanna know you should either read Psalm 27 yourself OR just ask!

Oh here's a cool story for you! Okay on Wendesday we had a presentation about leprosy in India and that totally remined me of my Jenny (who's on a missions trip down there) and how much i missed her cause i seriously haven't seen her since November. So ya i was telling Nikki that my
best friend is in India right now on a missions trip. Nikki said that her friend Melissa in on a missions trip too in India with Venture Teams and that's the same organization that Jen's in! so ya my friend and Nikki's friend are both on the same missions trip. Wow! Is it ever a small world!!

Um, what else have i been up too...not really a whole lot. Well my youth group "Extreme Team" came here the last night and we swam in the pool and then they played a version of hide and seek and when they left I was SO extremely exhausted cause of all the craziness. But then Mark and Graham were watching seom "Family Guy" so i had to get in on that.

Well most of my day been spent just being lazy. Since it's a Saturday most people either went to the beach or they went to Hamilton to do some shopping. I didn't feel compelled to do either so i just hang out here. Most of my day was just been e-mailing people and just putzing around. I kinda started a bit of my book review but then i got bored. Then i sat in the sun for a few minutes and attempted to tan. Then i typed up my Sunday School lesson for tomorrow....now i"m typing this now.

Apparently we're having Korean cuisine tonight for supper. Well what happens here on Sat. night is that the students cook for everyone to just give Dean (our cook) a bit of a break. This week Jung Soo is in charge of organizing it. I"m excited cause I've never had Korean food before
and there's sushi too even though I'm not a big fan of sushi since i had it in LA airport.

SUNDAY MAR. 6

Well I've come the conclusion that Korean food is kinda like Chinese food but it's still good!

Um, the rest of my weekend was more or less spent brushing up on my "Phantom of the Opera" piano playing. At first it took me SO long to re-learn the notes but once i figured out what i was
doing it was alot easier and now i have another urge to play again! Even though i just finished playing like 15 minutes ago. That's about it. Nothing else is really for today, kinda bored and it's only 45 minutes until curfew. Like, I"m tired, yet I don't wanna sleep, I should probably read my book review book, yet i don't want to. Argh! Such a conflict of interests.

Oh man! It's been a whole week since i went skydiving! It's just so sureal that i went skydiving! Some people have e-mailed me from home and they still can't believe i did that. Such craziness! wow, i didn't realize how much i wrote about skydiving. That's a honk load! But how else am i going to describe it to those who are either too afraid to do it OR can't afford it. LoL!