We had a surprising Sunday all in all. We visited a mosque in Onehunga on Sunday (which used to be a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall) and spoke with a scholar and the trustees and a couple of members.
They were extremely hospitable and very generous with their time (and Just Juice and Choc Chip cookies) - they even made special dispensation for the women on the team to come into the Men's prayer room to ask the questions (but they wouldn't let me film)
I was reminded of Einstein's theories on the speed of light. As something approaches the speed of light it's mass tends towards infinity... so it felt with our different belief systems - so very very close together and yet such a massive chasm of difference in between.
We then went to the Buddhist temple out at Botany Downs and to their cafe for an excellent debrief and discussion before talks turned to "what should we pack?"
Long pants is the order for the men while women need to wear robes and headscarves. So our first port of call in Bangladesh will be the markets to kit ourselves out... should be very interesting. I've lost about 4kg in preparation for the heat - but I'll have to lose more (Go Exercycle!!) - I am so going to feel the heat!
We gained a new team member too - someone well known to the Graceway folks. T.R. joins us on a Scholarship from Carey - but sadly at the expense of M.W. who has been diagnosed with Glandular Fever and advised against travelling for quite some time.
I'll post some more from our mosque trip findings over the next day or two
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Ow
So today I had my immunisations done. Fortunately I have Hep B antibodies from some years ago so I just had to get Typhoid and Hep A shots. Hep A was fine but my left arm where they did the Typhoid is totally dead! Like in the school days when your mates used to punch you in the shoulder and give you a dead arm.... OK, maybe that was just my mates...
I have a wee health concern. For the last 6 months or so I have been getting abnormal liver test results. Nothing serious, just slightly elevated enzyme levels and a couple of digestion related ailments. I'm having an ultrasound scan done to check for signs of inflammation. Hopefully it will just be a case of "fatty liver" which means I need to adjust my diet a little and stick to my exercise regime and it will come right. I'll go in over the next couple of days for the scan and let you know what comes of it...
We're trying to sell our Mazda at the moment. Had a couple of nibbles but nothing firm yet. 3's a crowd in a two seater convertible... We're hoping the timing will work out that it will sell right before I go cos that would give us plenty of money in the bank while I'm away and we could save on the expenses of two vehicles for a month or longer - since K finishes work the day I get back
The trip is feeling very real and very close now. Thoughts and prayers for any and all of the above much appreciated...
I have a wee health concern. For the last 6 months or so I have been getting abnormal liver test results. Nothing serious, just slightly elevated enzyme levels and a couple of digestion related ailments. I'm having an ultrasound scan done to check for signs of inflammation. Hopefully it will just be a case of "fatty liver" which means I need to adjust my diet a little and stick to my exercise regime and it will come right. I'll go in over the next couple of days for the scan and let you know what comes of it...
We're trying to sell our Mazda at the moment. Had a couple of nibbles but nothing firm yet. 3's a crowd in a two seater convertible... We're hoping the timing will work out that it will sell right before I go cos that would give us plenty of money in the bank while I'm away and we could save on the expenses of two vehicles for a month or longer - since K finishes work the day I get back
The trip is feeling very real and very close now. Thoughts and prayers for any and all of the above much appreciated...
Thursday, October 18, 2007
More Good News
More good news coming our way. K. has completed her Beginning Teacher requirement (2 years of post grad teaching) and duly sent off her registration fee and requested to be registered while we sought divine assistance?
Why? 1 in 10 who apply are auditted which involves an incredible amount of paperwork (on the part of the BT applying) at the most stressful time of the year when you're 7 months pregnant (in our case). This would have been made worse by the fact that I wouldn't have been around to help out with encouraging words and all that good husbandy stuff you have to do in these situations
I say "would have been" because we got the reply from the powers that be yesterday and K is not one of the 1 in 10! So she's now a fully recognised teacher and can carry on to years end with only the usual ridiculous amount of paperwork she has to do.
I always feel a little guilty with blessings like this. We were saved from the nightmare but that means someone else has to go thru it. Whoever you are who got our "lucky" number we hope and pray you find the strength and support to do this.
Why? 1 in 10 who apply are auditted which involves an incredible amount of paperwork (on the part of the BT applying) at the most stressful time of the year when you're 7 months pregnant (in our case). This would have been made worse by the fact that I wouldn't have been around to help out with encouraging words and all that good husbandy stuff you have to do in these situations
I say "would have been" because we got the reply from the powers that be yesterday and K is not one of the 1 in 10! So she's now a fully recognised teacher and can carry on to years end with only the usual ridiculous amount of paperwork she has to do.
I always feel a little guilty with blessings like this. We were saved from the nightmare but that means someone else has to go thru it. Whoever you are who got our "lucky" number we hope and pray you find the strength and support to do this.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Latest Meeting
So we met last week on the 2nd at 7pm. There were 7 of us present with our leader away in Fiji and a couple of others unable to attend.
The format of these prep meetings is that we work thru a cross-cultural book that challenges some of our preconceptions and requires us to share and interact with each other. Ice-breaking and growth all rolled into one.
We also chatted with one of the team (who lives in Queenstown) for the first time via phone which was great.
We really have a good bunch of people on this trip and the more we meet the more comfortable we are becoming with each other. Most of the team is in their 30s or older which means no cliques which you can sometimes get with a young team - so that's great.
But even the younger members have a great deal of maturity and have plenty of great stuff to contribute. As I've been interviewing people for the doco everyone has commented how much they enjoy the team and their high expectations for our trip.
The next big item on the agenda is a visit to a mosque on the 28th of this month and visas for Bangladesh which we'll apply for as soon as I send my passport to J.
The format of these prep meetings is that we work thru a cross-cultural book that challenges some of our preconceptions and requires us to share and interact with each other. Ice-breaking and growth all rolled into one.
We also chatted with one of the team (who lives in Queenstown) for the first time via phone which was great.
We really have a good bunch of people on this trip and the more we meet the more comfortable we are becoming with each other. Most of the team is in their 30s or older which means no cliques which you can sometimes get with a young team - so that's great.
But even the younger members have a great deal of maturity and have plenty of great stuff to contribute. As I've been interviewing people for the doco everyone has commented how much they enjoy the team and their high expectations for our trip.
The next big item on the agenda is a visit to a mosque on the 28th of this month and visas for Bangladesh which we'll apply for as soon as I send my passport to J.
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