And on the Seventh Day, He Rested.

Or something like that. Today I didn’t do much resting. I didn’t do much resting last night either, thanks to Mr Canada, our new roomie. Oh. My. Dear. Goodness. Last night was probably one of the few times I have seriously contemplated murder. Let me explain...

After my strenuous day of sunbathing and swimming I was fairly tired, so I put my ear plugs in and went to sleep. Great. Not really. I woke up in the middle of the night, which wouldn’t have been too bad, normally I just go back to sleep. But last night this just wasn’t possible. Our new roomie, Mr Canada (who I thought was from America, he was very offended by this. Cry me a river.) has a SERIOUS snoring problem. And I don’t mean regular snoring. I mean wall shaking, earth shattering snoring. Personally I have always found snoring to be quite therapeutic. Normally it helps me go to sleep, which is weird, but it really does work. When I was sixteen I went camping in America and there was this MASSIVE Fijian guy in the next tent and he snored, so much so that his wife had trouble sleeping in the same room as him. He sent me right to sleep. But Mr Canada is obviously some sort of mutant freak. I have never heard anything like it before. He literally woke everyone in the room up. I had ear plugs in and he still woke me up and then once I was up he prevented me from going to sleep again. You might think I’m just a light sleeper. So not the case. I can sleep anywhere, really. When I was quite young I went into someone’s house (someone who I had never met before) and fell asleep behind their sofa. I only woke up when I heard a baby crying and someone walking down the stairs. Luckily the lady recognised me as a little girl that lived in the next street and she was able to bring me home. But really, I can sleep in most places. So this chap keeping me up is a big deal. If you still can’t grasp just how loud this was, turn your iPod right up (full blast literally), that’s what I did and I could still hear him. I seriously felt like kicking him, I could even reach his bed if I scootched down, but I didn’t want to wake up the girl in the bunk below. So that was a fun start to my day.

After getting ready and getting all my stuff out of the room I checked out and then went to church. Yes. That’s right. I went to church. No typo, I actually went to church. And I was early. Early. I will repeat that. I was early. Are you with me? I went to church and I was early. Miracles do happen, or so it would seem. (I feel that achievement deserves its own paragraph.)

Now, being serious, this was the first time, in a long time, that I actually enjoyed church. I sat with a family I had met earlier in the week (being the genius I am I walked into a marriage class on Wednesday night, that was interesting, but that’s how I met this family). Two missionaries talked and then a man gave the shortest talk ever. Which is the way church should be I think, short, sweet, straight to the point. We sang 4 hymns, I had only heard of one of them, which I think is quite interesting. It seems that every region and country has their own favourite hymns, in America it was the same, they sang a lot of the same songs, but they were songs that we don’t really sing at home. So yeah, the meeting was good, there was a really nice, chilled out atmosphere, everybody was really upbeat and friendly so that was good (and a bit of a change from church at home!). My personal favourite part of the meeting was... When I dropped the sacrament bread down my dress! Laugh all you want, the old lady sitting beside me certainly did! This has never happened to me, which is quite surprising because I am quite “special”, but I just thought it was funny that it happened, especially since it was in a ward where I was a visitor. I bet everyone thought that the poor Northern Irish girl doesn’t get out much. I did try to retrieve it, but that was not happening, so instead I sat through church with bread down my dress! I didn’t do too bad, if this had of happened in Bangor I would have been in fits of laughter, but I was on my best behaviour.

I then met a really nice guy from England - it was nice to just chat to someone from home (or near enough). Most of the people I have met haven’t really got my sense of humour (this guy probably didn’t get it either, but he was polite enough to laugh at/with me) and he was nice and normal and funny, which is always good! So yeah, it was nice to talk to someone nice and genuine! It was also cool that he was in church, because let’s face it, I’m not going to meet very many church members on the Kiwi (party bus) Experience. Which doesn’t bother me – some of the best people I know don’t go to any sort of church, but you know what I mean, it was nice to meet someone from my neck of the woods!

I left church early (actually going and being early is one thing, staying for the whole meeting is another thing entirely) but I only missed R.S so I didn’t do too badly! I then went for a wee walk, watched a bit of Superbad (which I need to see in its entirety because it was awesome boy humour, which is my favourite) and then I got on the bus – which is where I am right now. You know what, I think I hate buses. Not a good thing to realise when I’ve booked my entire trip with a bus company, but still, there not exactly a lot of fun – warm, cramped, noisy. Not fun. Were on our way back to Auckland where I will stay for a night before the next part of my journey, so I will probably write a bit more when I get there. But right now I’m going to go because I am feeling dangerously nauseous/nauseated. Whatever.

Update: I have now arrived in Auckland and I’m sitting in an Esquires Coffee House, which is actually pretty nice, they are playing awesome music and the internet is free with purchase! I wish I knew this earlier, but I guess I’ll just look out for Esquires for the next two months! Anyway, I’m drinking an awesome drink, at home we call them steamers, basically it’s caramel syrup with hot milk and a bit of foam on top. B-E-A-UTIFUL! I also had a muffin, so that will do for dinner :)

There is a couple at the table next to me and they are really quite annoying. I haven’t got a clue what language they are speaking, but it sure isn’t English – I’m going to go with Mandarin. Anyway, the girl keeps slapping the boy and it sounds really hard. Now I know it’s affectionate and that a boy should never hit a girl. But if it was me I would plant my elbow firmly in her face. That sounds mean. But really, when there not slapping each other they are kissing and feeding each other food. NoThankYou.Com. Also, another thing that I think is pretty cool – I’m in the same room in my Auckland Hostel as the last time I was here! Room 712 if anyone is near the Sanctuary section of the Base ACB Hostel.

Last thing, is it normal to get shooting pains in your ribs all day? If not, I’m thinking we might have a problem... I better get going! I have 3 minutes of free internet left and I need to post these Blogs!

xx