The journey here has been an interesting one, to say the
least. Throughout all my flight
transfers and security checks there wasn’t anything in particular that went
WRONG.... But I did somehow get “randomly selected” for EVERY SINGLE secondary
security check. Hmmmmm. Good thing I had lots of time between my flights! There
was also a bit of an issue when boarding the flight from San Francisco to
Auckland. The air conditioning on the aircraft wasn’t working, so before we
could take off (but aaaafter everyone had boarded) they decided it was a safety
issue.... So they got everyone off the plane and we sat in the lounge for an
hour. (Sidenote: It was a Boeing 747, with 370 passengers. Offloading and
reloading everyone took a while). Eventually we flew, I slept, we landed, I was
happy, and shazam, I’m in New Zealand. I was picked up at the airport by a
staff member and taken to a YWAM base in Auckland where everyone was meeting
before we all hopped in vans and headed north to our base. The base we’re on
used to be called YWAM Oakridge, but is now being used for our DTS, YWAM Zion.
Instead of explaining the base to you, I’ll just show you some pictures!! Not
right now though. I haven’t taken any yet....
We’ve already been exposed to the culture as a group and it
is SO cool. To welcome us onto the land, we were led onto the property by one
of the girls who lives here, and she sung a Maori welcome song as we walked.
Everyone else from the base was standing in a group, but with the men
separate.... And you might guess what happened next... HAKA!! Bahahahaha man..
so awesome. The staff men did a ‘welcoming’ haka for us, but it was pretty much
just as scary as all of the intimidation ones that are done before rugby games.
Afterwards, the staff women did a welcome song for us which we were supposed to
respond to with our own song, according to Maori tradition. We sang Happy
Birthday back...
Now for the PEOPLE!!! There are 26 students in YWAM Zion
2013. Most of those are Outdoor Pursuits students, including myself. There are
only 4 Surfing students, and about 7 Music & Worship students. And what a
GREAT GROUUUUUPPP!! There seem to be quite a few students here that are just
out of high school, and one newly married couple, and thennnnn the rest of us. Rooms
were assigned to us before we arrived, and I’m in a room with two other girls.
One is Mandy, who grew up in Hawaii and now lives in Tennessee and she’s 18.
The other is Maryam from southern Germany, who is also 18. Both are beautiful, sweet girls who I’m soooo
excited to be sharing a room with. Maryam even brought tea for Mandy and me
this morning while we were still in bed. Ohhhh yeeeaaahh. I have hit the roomie
jackpot yet again! (Shoutout to the Nanaimo roomies!!! Love you Oceana,
Elizabeth and Jordan!! xoxo).
ANYWAYS. That's all for now. Love you all, email me updates on your life at:
kirsten.afh@gmail.com
I will be checking my email much more regularly than my facebook, so that would be great! You can also send mail to me at:
Kirsten Hitchcock
YWAM ZION
504 Wairere Rd.
RD 1
Paparoa, Northland
New Zealand
0571
I would LOOOOOOVE to receive pictures to put up next to my bed!!! Send 'em soon so they get here soon!!
So much love, from Kirsten!!!
