The Party Bus and other Tales of the Gabriel Two

Wouldn't it be sweet if you were jobless for over a month AND got a electricity bill in the mail that says you owe $1000+ nzd in less than 14 days!! Meanwhile, phone and Internet bills are on the way!! And in two weeks, more rent!!! Exciting!!!

Oh wait. No....! That stinks! Gosh, who's life is this?

Oh yeah. It's MY life. And the life of my sis.

Hard times now, but growing times. The sis is taking it a bit harder than I am. I guess I did all my worrying before I got to New Zealand. And anyway, Satan loves to get under the skin of a worrier so, yeah. I should know. The way I figure it, God's brought us here, specifically for some purpose, to this exact location, at this exact time. He cares for the birds, the flowers, and all of creation. He's got us covered.

The good news is, we've found out that we can work pretty much anywhere again. We decided to clarify our visas with immigration and they said as long as we don't work anywhere past the expiry date of our visas, so that includes full time AND part time work. Great! No one has called us yet from all of the temp agencies we interviewed with and took tests for. We're going to call some of the other places where we put apps in too. And also, there seems to be a good amount of hotel staff and housekeeping needs.

I'm not sure why our electricity costs more than monthly rent, considering we don't have a t.v., don't turn on a ton of lights, don't really use the heaters, don't have a big flat etc. But we do have a washer machine, electric oven, hot water, and a laptop. I guess it adds up. Plus, this kinda stuff in NZ costs more than in the US.

We're broke, but we're gonna make it. Please pray for us. For encouragement and trust.

FYI#3 The Party Bus

Yes. I know. I already wrote about riding the bus. But this is necessary. This past week, Tiana and I took a bus to pay our rent, and got a BusIt! card that you load like a gift card. The benefit of it is that you don't have to search for the exact change when you're on the bus (unless your card is empty) and you pay about a dollar less for bus fare. Some parts of America have this, but Cleveland sure doesn't! At least, I've never seen it. I payed standard fare every time I took the bus to work, counting out the change that was at the bottom of my purse. Pre-paid fill-up cards are a must! Not a 10-ride card. Just a card that has $15.87 or whatever amount on it so that when you're in a jam and need to get home, you can pull out your handy dandy BusIt! card and get home. Or, If you have a $20 bill when approaching a bus, give it to the driver and they will add the extra onto your card, instead of you asking everyone if they have change. Of course, NZ buses have cash registered on the bus, so they would be able to give you change if you needed it, but anyway.

On our way home, we rode a Party Bus home. It was not called "party bus." That is a label that I gave it. But come on! I walked on the bus and there's music playing overhead. Not music from someone's headphones turned up too loud. No! Overhead speaker, music. And not just any music. Prince! Michael Jackson! Some other older stuff that I didn't know the name of, but was upbeat! The bus driver was happy, dancing in her seat. People on the bus were smiling, diggin the beats. What more can you ask for, after a hard day? My thought is, if they CAN play music, they should ALWAYS do it! A bus equipped with speakers means Fun Fun Fun! And even though I don't necessarily like (the artist formerly known as) Prince, or Michael Jackson, I had fun, and I enjoyed the ride.