The life I am getting into...

This post is about what I am getting myself into...

As I wrote that previous sentence I am SURE almost all of you who read this are also thinking "What IS she getting herself into??" Well, only God knows right?! For a long time since I was little I was fascinated with Africa, but did not have any idea that it would be no embedded in my heart and now my history. I am marrying a Nigerian; a proud, stubborn, quirky, talented, loving, caring, passionate, compassionate (and yes...short,) man named Jude. It all seems but a dream on some days for how can you imagine your life and how it will be when you have NO idea yourself.

All I can say is...that I know myself in Western circumstances. I live in a house with running HOT water, electricity ALL the time, a fridge, oven, dishwasher, washer and dryer etc. I will be leaving some of these things behind and will have to learn a way of life that no one in my "western circle" may ever understand.

Do not get my wrong, I am so excited, overwhelmed actually with excitement about starting my life with Jude and moving to Nigeria. Yes...they have 419 scams...yes they have corruption..yes they are a third world country...yes some comforts of life cannot be found there...but really...Nigeria is a wonderful place filled with amazing people so willing to help out, feed you when they have no food themselves and are truly Optimistic and happy people. I am stretching myself to step outside of my western way of living and into a new phase in my life...marrying a Nigerian will forever change me and the way I live and view life....as dating one has already done so a fair bit!

I guess I write this blog because I want to come clean to you folks. I AM NERVOUS AND SCARED!!! NOW, after saying that I need to explain myself. I am NOT nervous or scared for my safety. I know many of you are, mainly because any news about Nigeria is usually bad news on our end of the world. But I trust God in all things and have no fear for my safety. Why am I nervous or scared then you ask? I am going to go through 3 major life changes in a small amount of time, and I am nervous as to how I will adjust and cope. There are so many uncertainties in my life right now....I only know a few things; that Jude and I love each other and will marry, and that I will move to Nigeria in a few months. Knowing me, adjusting will be a very emotional thing!

I hope that all of you would continue to pray for both Jude and me. We will finally be together soon, but our lifestyle too will contrast from many that we know. Jude is a musician and travels a lot and works crazy hours. He is growing into his stardom in Nigeria and I too have to deal with being his "Oiybo" wife (Oiybo=white). It is a busy life with hectic work schedules and being in the public eye under scrutiny can also be stressful...and that is also something that will be a part of my life.

I am excited but sad as well. It is always sad to leave friends and family. But Jude has family in Nigeria and they will become my family.

So there we have it...my life and what I am getting myself into. Only faith in God and following His Will...will give us strength...but I would have it NO OTHER WAY!!! And so...life will be an adventure!

My last "lost" trip on the Great Ocean Road

I wrote a blog a while back now about the difficult decision to spend money that I didn't really have traveling the Great Ocean Road, to finish up my Oz trip. I had many people e-mail or 'tell' me that I should forget about the cost and LIVE LIFE. After some careful planning and budgeting, I figured out a perfect trip that was both time and cost effective, all the while, seeing the Great Ocean Road.



My trip began when I left Adelaide and traveled to Melbourne. Instead of driving from Adelaide to Melbourne which would have taken over 12 hours, I found some cheap flights and flew instead from Adelaide to Melbourne. Once in Melbourne (rather Geelong..near Melbourne but closer to the Great Ocean Road), I rented a car and found my hostel for the night. It was quite an adventure to have my own car with my map sprawled out on the passenger seat (which is...in Canada...where the driver would sit). I went to bed early that night as to wake up REALLY early to begin my journey the next day.


I began my journey, dragging my large suitcase down 3 flights of stairs..feeling the strain on my arms and legs from when I had dragged it UP those 3 flights of stairs the night before. I jumped in the car and drove in the darkness for a while until the sun began to peek its head up.



I traveled along the curvy windy roads of the Great Ocean Road that continue to climb higher and higher up the cliffs. Traveling on these roads takes much concentration but it was a lot of fun. I was able to have many stops seeing magnificent cliffs in situated in the ocean, a large ways from the cliffs. I was able to see the Twelve Apostles, Loch Arch Gorge, the Arch, London Bridge and The Bay of Islands, Gibsons Steps...and so many other beautiful formations!



The day was a bit chilly, but it was a wonderful day. I ended in Lorne and stayed in a little hostel there. I was exhausted and crashed after finding a bite to eat. The next morning I was up again long before the sun and drove this time inland back to Geelong to catch my flight from there back to Sydney. By traveling inland, I was able to save close to 3 hours driving time. It also was a wonderful drive and again it was lovely to have time to meditate on the beauty of God's creation that I had just experienced.




So in the end...thank you to all those who convinced me to go on this trip...though I came back home in debt and broke, it was all well worth it!

Life as I know it...

Well it has been quite some time since I last wrote. I have returned home from my travels in OZ and began to work some random jobs to make ends meet. I have moved back home with Mama Jean and Papa Klaas as to save money and am renting my WHOLE house out, top and bottom separate. Living at home has been in itself an adventure for both myself and my parents. Soon I promise them official status of "empty Nester's" once again. For the most part it is well. I have worked as a nanny for both of my siblings with kids this year and have decided that I do for sure want to have children, but NOT for a little while yet! Some days I was just glad to be the "Auntie" instead of the parent and other days I was wishing I had kids. I have worked at the Calgary's Farmers Market for a time during the weekends waking up really early, complimented with long days...BUT a job that I absolutely love. My boss is truly amazing and fun to work with and spoils me with vegetables and Chai Tea Lattes. My math skills also improved some with this job as well as my vegetable intake. It is now the off season and I already miss the tomatoes!

Jude and I were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to meet up in London. Jude was chosen for a music thing to bring awareness about Africa to various parts of East/West Africa and the UK. There are members from countries such as Tanzania, Sudan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, UK...etc. Jude has already traveled to the UK, and Uganda and is currently in Ethiopia. Next month it looks like Tanzania or Cameroon or both! London was quite EXPENSIVE...but we had some great friends who took us in and took care of us! (thanks again Irene and Zainab!) Otherwise Jude and I would be in major debt. One meal out at Chili's cost us $60 (CND) for our main course of Fajitas (which we shared!) and some small dessert, a pop and bread sticks. UNREAL! Needless to say, everything is expensive; transportation, going out, food...all except for our favourite store PRIMARK! But alas, we had to part ways due to our responsibilities of real life.

Recently I just began substitute teaching for FFCA schools (Foundations for the Future Charter Academy) and still find myself getting nervous but thoroughly enjoy it. It is such a refreshing change from my last job at CCS and though I miss my friends at CCS...I DO NOT MISS CCS!! :-)Substitute Teaching leaves some things to be desired though. It is really unknown when I will work or not and some days I receive many requests and can only choose one, while other days nothing. So I never really know if I will work or not.

I have applied to work at a school in Lagos Nigeria located on Victoria Island. It is an American International School which consists of a diverse community of faculty as well as student body (but the majority seems to be made up of American students and faculty...as it is an American Associated School). I am flying to Minneapolis to meet the Superintendent at the end of January...I pray that all goes well!

I received my Nigerian visa (first time round...which was a major shock!) And I am still trying to figure out with Jude when I will take the long haul to Nigeria. I want to wait until Matt and Katie's baby is born (brother and sister in-law) in the beginning of March. So anytime after that. I am still figuring out how to go from being a "visitor" in Nigeria to getting a "working visa" while I am there. So many things to figure out!

There is NOT a set wedding date as of yet...and this is something that will be figured out when Jude and I are FINALLY together in the place we will live for a while. Adjusting to life in Nigeria and to each other again in daily life takes more of a precedence than an actual wedding date at this time for me (us) and I think that is very important. We want to grow together now and "get used" to each other being there in our daily life...where as now, the distance prevents us from those things.

My friend Heather said to me the other night "you will be going through 3 of the major life stresses in a short amount of time...moving, a new job (no matter what it is...teaching or not), and marriage" Yes...these are the things that keep me up at night. The most important thing for me is to take it easy in these things....so as to not become overwhelmed or too stressed out that I have a mental breakdown! (Knowing me...it could happen!) I already find myself tossing and turning at night thinking about all I have to get ready and how nervous and excited I am to move to Nigeria, start a new job and to finally be with Jude.

I plan to use this bog as a diary of my new adventures to come in this next year. I hope to keep up with my brother Matt's crazy blogging!

Adios!

The curse of money...

Money...there is never enough of it in my pocket, nor never NOT enough to live comfortably. Perhaps I am going about everything all wrong. Worrying won't help me...what can I do to obtain more money...and no...I am not trying to obtain money in the greedy sense...but in the sense for my future. Suddenly my future seems so expensive! So many things to think about, where to live, where to work...etc. And all I can think right now is..."oh crap..I am broke" I know many of you don't feel bad for me, and in actuality, I don't pity myself either...for I did choose to take time off from the "real word" to travel for about 5 months. But I am laying in bed at night, worrying about money...worrying about getting a job, worrying about being able to pay off my visa, or my other debts to my parents. Then it hits me..."PHEW" thank goodness I live in Calgary...b/c I can get a job easily...so that isn't a concern. But when bills are due and money is lacking at the moment, I get worried. I sit and write out goals, calculating how much money I will need by a certain time of the year to do what is planned, how I will get that, what my budget is etc. I considered forgoing a trip...the Great Ocean Road...but I am still being convinced (especially by my brother Matt and sister in law Katie) that despite my money problems...I should further myself in debt and go and see God's wonders...for this is the only chance I may get...and no one likes to live with regrets...SOO...perhaps I will do that. As for right now...all I can do is pray everything works out and that I find some job to give me some cash here in Aussie land...and to find something quickly when I return home. Money...Worry...what is it all good for...NOTHING! (well the money is always nice ;-) heheh..one has to live right?!)

What was here a month ago...is gone. :-(

Adelaide so far...

Well, here I am in Adelaide...and it has been just over 2 weeks that I have been here. We were able to get to Adelaide just in time for Easter. Uncle Pete and Auntie Anne had Auntie Anne's family over and we ate, told jokes and played an intense game of Cranium...WOW...true Wierenga's are sure competitive (ahem...Phil....Todd.)

We also went and had a picnic and a walk in a park which was really lovely. We went to Todd's for a BBQ and had one at Auntie Anne's and Uncle Pete's as well. A few days after, Lauren (my Aussie cousin) took me to Gorge's wildlife park. I have admittedly been here now 2 times and would still go back...just to hold a Koala once again. We walked around feeding the animals and I held a Koala. At the end we fed the Kangaroos and had many laughs as I was being swarmed as well as watching a huge Albino roo chance around a female with a joey...and trying to "put the moves on her" MEN...doesn't matter what species...they are all the same! :-)

Phil (my cousin) left on the 13th back to Canada and I was left here to hang out with the Australia Wierenga's. FUN! But before Phil left we went around to some wine country and did some wine tasting. YUM! The first day was a lot of fun. Phil was our driver b/c Todd (my Aussie cousin) and I were doing the wine tasting. We were in the Mclaren Valley. The drive up was through the hills and the drive had many curves...none of which my stomach didn't notice. We went around do different wine places and began tasting...and you can guess what happened after a few places...yep, Todd and I began to get tipsy. I just giggled and knew that I should stop...and did. At the end of the day we came back and were all exhausted. (must have been the wine and the sun).

The next day we went to Clare and little towns here and there. We stopped at the whispering wall which is a dam that is curved. One person goes and walks to one end and talks and the person at the other end can hear them as clear as day....it is quite a neat thing really! Since then I have been hanging out with Lauren and some days Todd and Uncle Pete and Auntie Anne.

I have been job searching...and it hasn't been fun. I was sick for a while and am still getting over it. I had to go to the dentist yesterday for the toothache that I was trying to deny and ignore was becoming too painful. Yep...I have a wisdom tooth coming in, but it is impacted, so instead it just caused an infection and inflammation of my gums and cheek area. Good thing I have travel insurance to cover that! I am currently on antibiotics and should be ok until I come home...but then out it goes! I finally have a job interview (well 2) one this Monday and one of Friday...so wish me luck! Until then...read my post about money! :-)

Cairns/The Great Barrier Reef/Tsunami Warning

We arrived in Cairns after a longer day and checked into our hostel. We met Ruvini and people from our bus at the Woolshed for dinner and some drinks. We didn't stay long because we were tired and bored. Cairns was very different from the last time I had been there, but I had to tell myself that that was about 15 years ago and so it must have changed a lot...plus I was little! :-)

After dinner, Phil and I made our way back to the hostel. I noticed that in a pub/bar that there was a soccer match on TV. So I decided to watch it since I am trying to learn more about one particular team, Arsenal. I was watching by myself and in front of me at another table were a group of guys. After a while they invited me over to watch the game with them. They were all cheering for the other team, Liverpool,...so it became a fun rivalry. They in fact were a soccer team and had just finished winning a game and were out celebrating. They were quite amusing and needless to say at the end of the night my team lost, but it was fun arguing with these guys about which team was still better.

The next day Phil was off to Cape Tribulation for a few nights. I went and met up with Ruvini and we wandered around and booked a tour together. Ruvini also booked an intro dive with me on Calypso so I was happy to have someone I knew and liked to come with me. The day flew by and before I knew it I was back in my hostel cooking dinner, showering and going to bed to get up early for my dive.

We were picked up by the bus and made our way to Port Douglas (about 45 min north of Cairns) where we would go out to the outer reef. The sky was cloudy, it was windy and it was raining off and on. As we waited on the boat Ruvini looked at me and stated that she could have sworn that she heard our captain say something about a Tsunami warning. I looked at her and said "NO..you are hearing things!" Less than five minutes later our captain turned to us and said "There is a Tsunami warning, there has been an earthquake in New Guinea and we probably have to cancel the dive. It is up to you what you want to do. We can give you a refund right now or you can wait to learn more and we can decide from there...it is suppose to hit at 9:30am" Nervously I giggled and joked my way through the situation and we made our way up to the phone to make some calls to tell people what was going on and that we loved them in case we were to die. We joked about it but didn't know what to think. We went back to the boat to listen to the update. It hadn't hit a place near us which it was suppose to and that was an hour ago. Our captain decided it was ok to go out so we made our way out. As we did, Ruvini began to really question whether we did the right thing or whether we should've gotten to high ground. Guess we did the right thing because nothing happened at all to Australia. THANK GOD!

As we made our way out it was really choppy and rainy. I went to the back of the boat to ease my queasy stomach. We were briefed on our dive and then we went out. At first I think I was a little nervous because I was concentrating on being out in the middle of the ocean, near animals, in choppy water. I had a little trouble maintaining neutral buoyancy but it was due to my weights. I also was concentrating on the camera and figuring that out underwater as well. I still was able to concentrate on what I was experiencing but each dive after was even more amazing. We saw a few reef sharks, some lion fish, an eel, some beautiful coral, huge sea cucumbers, fish galore, sea slugs...you name it. I was disappointed that I didn't see a turtle but I was loving every minute anyway. At one point I lost my buddy who was our instructor...but was able to find her and the group again. :-) Our second dive was great as well and then on our third I went with Ruvini and an instructor...just the 3 of us so me and Ru could dive together. It was a lot of fun and I lost them at one point due to again, getting lost in what I was seeing. The visibility was a little less clear than it would have been due to the weather and winds, but you could still see a long ways down! It was truly amazing and each dive felt as though it was 5 min long when in reality it was 45 min long. I didn't ever get tired of what I was experiencing!

We returned from our dive, me feeling sea sick and then car sick, and walked home in the rain. I showered, ate and did laundry and crashed.

The next day Ru and I went on a tour where we saw a large fig tree in the rain forests, an old volcanic crater that was now a lake due to rainwater, (a python as well near the lake) a bunch of waterfalls that were really lovely, and then went to Paronella Park to view this place a man built that was crazy but really cool. The day was fun but a little rushed and we were tired. Ru and I met up for dinner that night and then I went back and met Phil, heard about his time in Cape Tribulation and learned that he didn't get to dive and felt better that I had made different plans so I could dive. I crashed that night due to exhaustion!

The next day we checked out, met up with Ru for lunch, wandered around and left Ru in Cairns and came to Adelaide. On our way we had some difficulties before we left Brisbane. Our plane seemed to have something wrong with it so we switched plans quickly and tried to take off so that we could get into Adelaide before the fly-in curfew of 11pm. We just made it and after all the ordeal we had to wait for a lady to take almost 7 min to bring the walkway to the airplane door. We all watched her come close, thinking she had it, then reverse and come in again. It was painful to watch and as Phil put it...it was like watching someone parallel park for the first time."

So here we are in Adelaide...it is definitely cooler here...but so nice to be settling in for a bit and to spend time with family! Now to find a job! :-)

more photos of the reef when I get home

Magnetic Island

After leaving Airlie Beach we made our to Townsville to then jump on the Ferry to Magnetic Island. This is a small Island and doesn't host very much except for some hostels, a few supermarkets and little stores, and some nature walks. It is a nice place to just hang around. This so far has been the one place where we have stayed the longest. The reason for this was because we took a scuba diving course and became certified. I had already taken my PADI course but hadn't done my open water dives to become certified (which Katie and I had tried to do in the Dominican Republic). It turned out that it was cheaper for me to do the package deal 4 nights accommodation, the dive course, and two extra fun dives rather than just my open water dives and my accommodation. So being broke I went with the cheaper deal and am now certified with SSI instead of PADI, which is good enough for me.

We had to do a medical before we could take the course and this is due to Queensland being the strictest state in Australia in regards to diving. It was an easy task but for some reason I found it quite humourous. We did an eye test, hearing test, weight, lung test etc. Then at one point the doctor checked our reflexes and our stomach muscles. During this part I burst out laughing and said "hahah...that tickles!" The doctor was a little taken aback by my outburst and seemed to laugh at my reaction a little. Straight after this he made us stand heel to toe, cross our arms across our chest and close our eyes to check our balance. During this I was still thinking about how awkward it was that I had burst out in laughter and how always in those moments where you shouldn't laugh...it is hard to hold it in. I suddenly burst into the giggles as well and tried to control myself but couldn't. When I opened my eyes the doctor looked at me and asked "what is funny?" I just replied "I have never had a medical like this I guess." He just laughed...

After the medical we began our dive class and it went very smoothly and quickly. A lot faster than my PADI course but it was fine for me since this was like a refresher course anyway. When we finally went out to perform our skills, there wasn't much to see out there in Magnetic Island. This was due to a beach entry, so we were close to land, and that Magnetic Island has a lot of silt around it. The things that were cool to see though were the little blue dotted sting rays. At one point during our skills test while kneeling on the sea bed, i felt something graze my legs, I looked down and saw a sting ray swimming between them and freaked out a little, tapped Phil and made an "AHHH" sound through my regulator. My first thought was "Crikey...Steve Irwin" but then later my instructor assured me that if stung (rather stabbed) by these rays it will just hurt but they aren't deadly. PHEW!

I was fairly disappointed with what we were seeing and knew I had to see the Great Barrier Reef. I canceled my trip with Phil for Cape tribulation (near Cairns) and booked a full dive day with a company called Calyspso, the place that Matt and Katie recommended to me. Phil wasn't so keen on the idea of me switching but after a while we decided that we had different interests. I wanted to dive, dive, dive and Phil wanted to see the rain forest etc and dive. So we planned to do different thing when we arrived in Cairns.

We spent much of our time diving and when we didn't we hung out at the main bar at the hostel. This was a cool hostel right on the beach and there was most likely a party every night. I just hung out with Ruvini and chilled and refused to let the bartender coax me into drinking each night. A few times I caved because the drinks were free but I never wanted to drink, so I didn't. There have been too many people on this trip making fools of themselves...and I refuse to drink GOON...the cheap version of wine that comes in a silver bag and in a box that has fish oil as one of the ingredients. I prefer real wine thank you.

After six days we were headed off again to Cairns...