And here we have it...a tale of two jobs. (Three, I guess, if you want to get technical.) The past four days have been eventful, stressful, exciting, disappointing, and hectic, all rolled into one big blur and a lot of driving. So here we go! I believe we left off in the last blog with Jeremy's job prospect here in Balclutha at the human resources department. Monday afternoon he went for his interview. And he nailed it! They loved him, loved his attitude, loved his prior work history. All looked to be going in his favor until it came to the actual job description. Being in human resources means being familiar with work laws, worker's comp, holiday periods, benefits, etc, etc. Being in human resources in New Zealand involves knowing all of these things ABOUT New ... read more

Well, if someone had told us a while back that we would be spending our two-year wedding anniversary in a tiny apartment in Balclutha, New Zealand, hunting for jobs and eating alarming amounts of Cadbury chocolate, we probably never would've believed it. Yet, here we are, exhausted from our one-day job yesterday involving planting flax plants on 800 acres of farmland. But I'm getting ahead of myself. It's been a long and, frankly, quite dreary two weeks. Summer is giving New Zealand a miss this year, apparently (something to do with El Nino?), so we've been buried under gray overcast, blustery winds, and almost daily hailstorms (or freezing rain, at the least). Needless to say, it's been very difficult to get motivated to go out and look for work under those circumstances. But we've been plugging ... read more

Well, after ten months of basically being "homeless"...going from Jeremy's parents' home to backpacking Asia to staying with Kate and Steve...I am proud to announce that we once again have our very own place to call home. It ain't much. In fact, it's literally one room with a tiny kitchen and bathroom attached...but man, the price is right! It's cozy. It's comfy. And it's ours, for as long as we stay in the Balclutha area. Between gifts from our new friends here in the form of furniture, groceries, winter gear, and appliances, we're all set for a while, and it feels terrific. Now if we could just find jobs, we'd be good to go... But why dwell on the negative? Today was a rare totally sunny and "warm" day (I use that term loosely, as NOTHING ... read more

Greetings! We just sent our long update out yesterday, but we had such a great day today, we wanted to briefly share it with all of you. My day began with a cup of tea in the kitchen and Kate suddenly bursting into the house shouting, "Baby turkeys! Baby turkeys just hatched!" I ran outside to help them gather the tiniest, fuzziest, cutest little birds I've ever seen (will get photos for you next time) and move them into the safety of the hen house. Then we were informed that they'd just picked up half a tonne (1,100 POUNDS) of potatoes, which were sitting in the bed of their truck, waiting to be sorted. So our morning was spent sifting the potatoes into large bags and disposing of the few rotten ones. We set the largest ... read more

I have discovered the most wonderful invention ever. Cars and phones and penicillin...yeah yeah yeah...they're okay and all, but they got nothin' on electric blankets! Oh the warmth...the snuggly factor...the delightful sensation of easing under the covers and feeling like you're sinking into a hot tub...why oh why don't we have these in Florida? Oh yes. I remember now. Because Florida isn't a mere 2,000 miles from Antarctica, that's why! We have no need for lovely, plush, deliciously warm electric blankets. As I sit typing to you, I have the sensation of being like melting butter in a toaster oven...even though our un-heated room is quite frigid. It's fabulous. And all you northerners can go right on laughing at my naivete...I won't be offended... So this is the part of the trip where the blogs will ... read more