how did u get a site meter thing for your blog? or does it just start to appear when lots of peeps see ur site cos as u can tell by our message boards u may have about a ton more visitors than me (altho in my defense lots of people look at mine and dont write messages...) but i want one! xx

John, thanks for that detailed update! Just a quick reply from me as I should go study for my midterm which is later today. In brief: courses = fascinating, but some are tough. Flatmates = the coolest I could ever have asked for (excluding MH3 2005)! Rock on. :)

Mummy, you have a great memory!! I emailed you, but forgot to say: Revolution in World Missions? That the book you're reading? I thought he had some good points, really got me thinking, but didn't agree with everything he said. What do you think?

Hey Alice - r u following the homeless book dream at last? :) u go girl! John: yes I'd love to come visit BJ again; I met some of your first years already at uni from doing surveys and i'm sure you'll have a good bunch this year. I might drop by friday avo but will give u a txt first.

Heh, that was a quick reply... you must be online almost as much as I am. ;) Yep, back to MH - and it's great, the room I'm in (203) gets a tonne of sun, not to mention all the space. I think I was originally going to be on the ground floor, but I mentioned that I preferred the sun and such, so I got MH2. And yeah, the absence of the big wall, and the sunny afternoon balcony is sweet too. (They didn't knock the wall out this year by the way, but it's not really a big secret anymore.) A bit nervous about having the $30,000 keys to look after 24/7! I think that you know most of the other RA's this year from last year... the others on MH are Phillip (new guy, nice and into his sports) and Charlotte (you know); NS has Aaron (who's fine by the way), Ahmed (same room as always), Sriram (quite a funny guy when you know him) and Michael (up the top floor); and CR has Agnetha (you know) and Anish (new guy from Kenya, who has a surprising amount of things in common with me, including having the same birthday [one year older]!). Everyone else is doing fine, I think... I had a long chat with Margaret the other day when she was cleaning my room, her kids are doing well. Rev, Grace and Andrea are all good, as with the kitchen staff. Being Head Tutor is fine, the Rev talked me through things and it's not actually a huge deal of work, just a matter of being organised. I'm just now starting to get in contact with all the potential tutors for the year, and the Rev and I will be sorting the rest of that stuff out soon. I probably shouldn't mention specific names, but there's a generally good mix of different types of people here on the various floors. A few more outgoing and a few shyer types, quite a few bright sparks, some right into their sports, those who enjoy having a drink (or quite a few drinks), and even one or two who remind me of our Jess (MH3 2005). They all seem to be mixing together pretty well. We've got a somewhat skewered sex ratio this year (something like 40 females to 60 males), but other that that it's a pretty well balanced group on all accounts. A little bit tired today, since I stayed up until about 5am just chatting with people after playing Mafia for most of the evening (good game, did you ever play that game last year?). But it was all great fun, so that's no problem. Anyway, that's probably enough from me for now. How are you doing yourself? Are you in term time now or holidays? What are your courses like, and which ones are you doing? Are they trickier/harder/about the same as the ones here? Who are you staying with, and what are they like? Met anyone else of interest? Are you getting a bit of an American edge to your Kiwi accent? (I guess we'll test that one when you get back.) ;) See you! - John.

Wow!! A comment from Sponge John!! How uber exciting is that!! Yes, back to MH... Knew you'd come round to your senses someday soon... Hehe, kidding, but are you so glad to be there? You get a BALCONY and NO WALLS in the middle of the floor! (Have they bust the CR ones out yet? If not, sssh, I think that was meant to be a secret plan...) Dude, you may be envious of me travelling but I must admit I'm a teensy bit envious of you and your awesome crew! You guys are gonna have a rockin time this year, I know it. Such a primo bunch of people. S-week is full-on huh! I can imagine. How's life as head tutor going? And how is everyone else? Aaron? Rev? Grace and Andrea? MARGARET? Please give her a hug from me!! (Are you stoked you get her as your cleaner again? The most super cool friendly cleaner in the world.) Tell all!! I wanna hear what it's like. Tell me about the craziest/extrovertedest/quietest/most-Bob-like-ish/brainiest peeps! (That was meant to be several different people, not one really geeky, loud, story-telling, nutty person in case you wondered...)

Sounds like you're having an awesome time in your travels, Alice. I must admit that I'm a little envious... looking forward to in a couple of years' time when I'll have my degree and will hopefully be able to travel around a bit, and maybe even work overseas. :) Life is awesome over here though - been back at Bish for almost two weeks now, first for the RA training week and now in the S-Week. It's proving to be an awesome experience... really great for building confidence (in myself, as well as other people!). I never suspected it'd be such a busy and yet rewarding job. All of the other RA's are great people to work with, and the first years seem to be a really nice bunch - I've already made a heap of new friends amongst them. Surprisingly, I'm even managing not to forget too many names in all the craziness of this first week of a full hall! Lots more to tell, but it's dinner time and I've got other things to organise after then, so maybe later. (I guess some of the stuff would be better said via email anyway.) :) Oh, and Mummy Sarah - we should absolutely catch up some time! Get in touch or feel free to randomly come over to the hall one day (I'm on MH2). :)

Allow me to add to what your Personal Adviser has said; Go only to worthy places. Deal only with worthy people. Matthew 10;11-14. Love u xx

Me again. Emailed you some advice, but it's up to you to take it or leave it. :) I guess top two priorities: - go where you can hang out with mum - go where you feel safe - go where you're gonna be a benefit to that place, and not a burden (not saying you would be, except if it's super poor or war-forsaken and can't handle tourists yet) Ok that's three. Who says I can count!

decided to write it by email cos turned out to be quite a novel! look forward to hearing reply/ luv u xx rach

Rachy, I am a little confuzzled. When you say overland do you mean overland, e.g. by land transport (bus/jeep/truck/train), or do you mean over land (flying)? Cos overland to South Africa would be HUUUUGE! At the moment is your ticket from Ghana to Kenya? And you are thinking of changing it so you fly from Ghana to Morocco? Or from Ghana to South Africa? And then flying from Sth Africa or Kenya to the Seychelles to see mum? I would go with whatever way you get to hang out with mum, if you ask me. Cos it'd be awesome to meet up with her in some random tropical place (e.g. the Seychelles) and I know she would LOVE to see her favourite 18-Y-O daughter! Please explain the situation to me more so I can advise, though I don't know how good my advice will be! PS: Have been telling my friends and flatmates here your hilarious stories, about how you're married with 2 kids, and the situation with the border official. :)

very impressed with painting, its awesome!! although being made redundant as the painter of the family is a bit hard. Maybe ill attempt some kind of mud painting to beat u... xx