Late-Breaking News

This just in...

...Cara gets a job.

:)

On to the next prayer request:

To have a car, or not to have a car. That is the question.

What can I say?

SO...

How do I follow a post like that?

I obviously was upset. I still am, I suppose. But I keep having my many intense conversations with God and letting Him give me peace.

Okay, so I'm broke, in debt, and unsure about my future? So what?

It's not the end of the world.

Meanwhile, I'm turning out some sweet-as art...

Y'know, sweet-as-sugar. Good-as-gold. I'm gonna get into trouble using Kiwi slang when I go back home.

A Vent to beat all Vents

New Zealand temp agencies are the most unprofessional and unreliable wastes of time in the history of my experience! I have never seen such lack of care or responsibility in all of my cognitive life.

A word to the masses...

If you plan to do a working holiday in New Zealand, save up all the money you will need for the whole time you're here. That way you don't have to be bothered in dealing with any sort of job here. It'd be a real stress-saver.

Meanwhile, Tiana's lovely job that she's been working for over a week, and her temp agency, so kindly told her that they can't pay her this week because they didn't collect her bank details in time (an no one asked her for them in all this time), and she finally inquired about it before this Thursdays pay date, only to find that it's too late. Now we can't pay rent or buy groceries this week. And there's no credit card to the rescue because we're both almost on $0 and can't even pay our bills.


There comes a breaking point when enough is enough.

And I've just reached it.






I can't wait to go home.

Title: I can't think of one. Ha!

Since the last entry was rather morose, I decided I'd begin this blog with three random
things I enjoy.

1) Eating Dal (exotically flavored lentils) and Indian curry rice is one of my favorite things
ever. Today.

2) Cheese and crackers is very important in my life. Camembert, Brie, Edam, etc. All good. All yum.

3) Eating a salad with leaf lettuce, capsicum (green or red bell pepper), ripe, sliced avocado, onion, and cubed feta cheese all topped with a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar is absolutely lovely. Sometimes if I used marinated feta cheese, I don't need any dressing. My, how my tastes have changed. Three months ago I hated most salads (except for those at Aladdin's Eatery). Thanks to a Canadian, an American, and a Kiwi (all living in New Zealand), I now love salads with these toppings together, and even some others. I eat a salad regularly now. Like, a few times a week. Ha! Crazy World!

Being constantly broke has meant that I eat healthier. In New Zealand, fresh fruits and
fresh veggies are a lot cheaper than America. Go figure.


Parachute Music Festival was AMAZING! We got to see some great NZ bands (Lieutenant Funk, Radiator, Spacifix, Calling Elijah) and American bands (Switchfoot, Jonezetta, Red). Fun times! We even walked through a WorldVision tent that documented the true stories of three young children living in Africa in poverty and the threat of A.I.D.S. Each person going through the tent gets a mp3 audio story of one of the kids and follows their lives and whether or not they get A.I.D.S. and how they were helped. Very powerful and very eye opening.

Lieutenant Funk

Radiator

Red

Jonezetta

Calling Elijah

Our pastor took us with his family on a Saturday Evening. The festival was four days long. We couldn't afford to go even though we had been looking forward to it for months, and then out of the blue, Campbell said he was taking us with his family. There was massive amounts of excitement going on in our flat! We had already circled the bands we wanted to see on Saturday, way back in November, so we were already set. We couldn't see Rapture Ruckus (I'm sad), or our friends in the Holy Rollers, but we've seen them a lot so we're good. Maybe we can catch Rapture Ruckus before we leave. Who knows.

Tiana and Campbell's family looking down at Parachute

Life FM - Live from Parachute. I think Jase was in there.

They said no crowd surfing, but they instituted this little contest...

In other news...

We had a close call last week. A serious decision. We almost had to make the decision to leave Hamilton cause we're running low on cash, and we weren't hearing from temp agencies, We had no clear direction from God about if we should move to the South Island and work on a fruit farm to save up money to go home or try to wait it out in Hamilton, hoping for a temp agency to call. Either way, God is good.
And he apparently wants us to stay in Hamilton.
Tiana got a job. At a call center through a temp agency that should last the rest of our time here.
Amazing.

Prayer and more prayer.

I suppose I'm growing.

Hmm...
I still need a job.

I called one of the agencies, today, just to check up on things and I was sternly and promptly brushed off. I was told by...um... let's call her 'Natalie', that, yes, she had received my CV (I didn't ask) and it was on file blah blah blah, but that there are just other people that are way more important to deal with and take priority over anyone new blah blah blah, and that she's busy blah blah blah so basically, stop calling and asking for an interview and maybe she'll get back to me if she has the time or care. The ol' "don't call us, we'll call you" speech in a rather rude and unprofessional delivery.

Typical.

I could have easily lost it on the phone. My temper is a struggle everyday, but I remained professional and calm. And wondered why they advertise that they have tons of temp jobs available and need new people everyday, and yet it took me 4 weeks to actually get a hold of 'Natalie" who deals with the temp work and realized that she was well aware of who I was and just really could care less about me.

I sent 3 separate emails with my CV (Resume) because I didn't hear back from 'Natalie' after the first and was told from my sister who got a prompt interview with her, that she didn't receive it, so I tried again. Still no word, so I tried from another email address and gave specific instructions to be emailed back when the email was received. I got a prompt answer back and was told I would get a phone call in a couple of days. One week later I call, and leave a message with a secretary for 'Natalie' to call me back. That was about 5 days ago. I call again today and am finally put through, only to be mildly insulted.

Ha. Well. Humans are humans all over the world. What can I do?


Temp agencies in New Zealand. I highly recommend. Really. If you have all the time in the world, perhaps they'll get back to you...
...in a few months
....or years.
And if you're an artist...well...
Don't hold your breath.