upsidedown charlotte

update one: turning upside-down...

some news from my first week overseas!

singapore

My 3-day Singapore stopover was great, I really liked the city, unbelievably clean and efficient but still friendly and interesting - London could learn a lot!

Made the most of my time there and did the tourist trail: open top bus rides, early evening lantern-lit harbour boat trips -very romantic if it hadnt been for the fact I was on my own so they squashed me in with 20 jabbering Chinese tourists! :( why me!!!???) and a night safari in the
steaming hot rainforest. Bizarrely the guides all seemed totally obsessed with the new 24-hour delivery service that McDonalds had just launched on the island- even to the point of giving out the phone number repeatedly! Suspicion grew that it was all part of a crafty sponsorship deal. I was vaguely amused that they would be raving on about this as we made our stately way past some wonderful and obviously significant buildings... alas I never did find out what half of them were but if I ever want to order a 2am Big Mac with fries next time Im in the area- Im sorted!


i Spent a lot of my time wandering round the chinatown markets, sampling the foods and chatting to the sellers but naturally found time for a drink at Raffles Hotel. I spent a great afternoon there in the Long bar sipping on my free water (way too hot to sample the Singapore Sling!) and throwing peanut shells around the room (its policy there!!) I was sitting there in colonial splendour rather fancying myself as the "Mysteriously Exotic Western Woman" a la Agatha Christie, this was obviously paying off as I got approached by a couple of slick american businessmen who seemed to think I was from the continent and were keen to try out their dubious language skills on me,

"Bonjour Mademoiselle.... Francais?....." (silence)

"Italiano? Ciao?" (silence)

then, feeling rather bored, I thought I would have some fun ......

"Naaahh, Im from Lahndan innit!"


new zealand

Not much to report as yet as really just been settling in, recovering from the dreaded jetlag and finding my way about town. Rangiora is a market town with a very 'country' flavour. The High Street is hilarious as it looks to me like the set of a western movie, I half expect the pub doors to crash open as Im passing and 2 cowboys to fall out mid-brawl, and the buildings look like if you walked round the back of them you would just come across some wooden buttresses holding the fake plywood facades up! Must confess to wondering what In earth Ive done coming to this place sometimes!

Its tricky adapting to the slower paces of life, couldnt believe it when I found out the town virtually closes at 2pm on a sat afternoon and when I went to the cafe (not a starbucks in sight!) to get a takeaway coffee I stood waiting for 20 minutes whilst it was made! Thats not a complaint at all, more that I realised with a jolt how in London (generally speaking) neither of these things would have been acceptable, as everything is expected to be on hand whenever we want it and RIGHT NOW! when in actually fact we often dont need it so urgently at all, its all a mindset and one Im going to have to work on changing whilst Im here!
St John's Church - the 'main' church of the 5 churches that make up the parish of Rangiora. The building has two claim to fame.... 1) it's one of the oldest buildings in the area ('old' meaning 1850's!) and b) it is one of the largest of the many wooden churches of Canterbury.... it features in numerous websites and guidebooks of the area .. something I reckon we should build on!




My workload is yet to be set as Andrew (vicar) has been away in Nepal, Christine his wife hads been looking after me magnificantly and Ive been taken on a "tickki tour" (no idea what that means!) of the area and also a tour of all the 5 churches they run here. There is lots to be done, not least the launch of a magazine that will help with the disjointed communication and sense of community that exists at the mo between the 5 churches. Christine has also enlisted my help in the Great Christmas Pageant which is big news here in Rangiora(!) It made the front pages of the local rag last year so thats a great event to get stuck into! I will also find a part time job somewhere to finance my travels and to provide another dimension to life than the church/vicarage!

I got rather rudely jolted from my jetlagged state on thursday afternoon by the little girl's who go along to the childrens singing group held in the church each week - they wanted to meet the new arrival from England! I befriended a little called Jessica for whom I would love to enlist your prayers. Something about her struck me, she seemed to have difficulty fitting in a bit (something I can relate to!) I also noticed her shoes were really broken. I later found out from Christine that her mum was killed in a car crash a couple of years ago and her dad and stepmum are really really poor. She has spoken of taking her life several times (shes only about 8 years old). I would love to come alongside her in some way- she needs to know shes a princess! I think shes very special, please pray!

Church this morning was good, Christine led and spoke on the giants (Caleb etc) all very relevant as sometimes the giants loom large when I think about how far away I am from everyone and everything I know!

However, I am being well integrated into NZ culture by Christine and Josh (14), Josh has kindly and earnestly taken on the role of my 'Personal NZ TV Guide' (which as far as I can make out, is mainly made up of US and UK imports!) Im obviously more keen to get out & about though so have been checking out the local options...... hmmmmm a toss up between Rifle Club, Scottish Dancing and Gardening classes amongst others- wild times lie ahead.....
oooh have written loads and these are supposed to be brief updates - sorry!

thanks for your emails, I really appreciate them at the moment, whilst Im keen to get stuck in here its always great to hear from people back home!