All good things must come to an end...

Almost a year ago I left on the scariest adventure of my life….with the most indecisive, naïve, and unorganized person I know….myself. The last things I remember before leaving the states was crying for hours in the LA airport because I really could not believe what I had signed myself up for. I left in hopes of learning about another country, another culture, my career choice, and most of all myself.


I have truly never been alone, I have never moved to a place I knew no one, and I felt that for once I had to know not only if I truly was a likeable person but if I could really be independent and take care of myself. Although it has not always been easy, all the amazing support from monthly cards from Grandma Marilyn to care packages from my mom and sister has definitely helped. I also got to look forward to the random obscure Idaho postcards from Ben.

I have met some truly amazing people here who have touched my life in such a way that they will never be forgotten. Although I have, on a daily basis endured a lot of abuse about the way I say my name and how I take patients from the waiting room to my office, I am sure I have been no picnic. I encountered some incredibly generous, thoughtful people who have truly made this year so much easier. I love the people that I work with and can honestly say that I enjoy coming to work every day and seeing each and every one of them. I always look forward to John’s weekly love advice or learning about the oddities that are Thailand. Brett has taught me so much about Audiology and has read every article I have suggested and endured an inquisitive conversation about each and every one. Everlyn and I started at the same time and it has been so great to get to learn together. She works so hard and I know that excellent work ethic will take her places (hopefully the states one day). Riëtte has always made me feel welcomed and included me in all her weekend plans. She has introduced me to great people and has allowed me so many great opportunities; Rugby games, Waihi beach for New Year, and next weekend, our girl’s weekend to Napier for wine and cheese.

Thank you to my grandparents, Dale and Marilyn because not only did they aid in raising this amazingly well mannered and tidy young lady but they have also been so supportive in every endeavor and made this whole experience so much smoother. I got cards for everything including but not limited to “baby’s first Thanksgiving, away from home”. They drove eight hours round trip just to see me walk across a stage and get hooded.

Thank you to my grandparents, Jack and Mitsu for not only attempting to scare me out of driving car but for making me think twice before I just jumped into car on the wrong side of the road and the wrong side of car. It was great to hear grandpa try to explain places I needed to go, “there is a beach with a funny name you have to visit”. But I am certain that he enjoyed the New Zealand chocolate!

Thank you to my sister who endured my marathon phone calls and talked me down from a lot of ledges, and reminded me what a great experience this was when I momentarily forgot. I also must thank her for the cream hoodie with the soft lining as I have been living in it this winter as well as the mukluks she got me ages ago. She also worked so hard to make my graduation celebration grand, and that did not go unnoticed. She really made this all possible because I never thought my mother would willingly let me leave the country without her. It only took my sister one conversation before my mother was practically pushing me out of the country.

Ben was not only standing in the kitchen behind me as I received the email that will forever change my life but he also willingly signed on to have a girlfriend that not only doesn’t live in the same town to him but doesn’t even live in the same country or hemisphere. Thank you also for all your support and patience and for allowing me to have a three week going away party for myself. I am so grateful that you put your life on hold to be with me for four glorious months. We had some incredible adventures and did more hiking then I will probably do the rest of my life! I felt like we had a four month honeymoon minus the wedding, although I am sure in real life you wouldn’t have the time for all the housework. It was great coming home to dinner, a clean house, and although I would still rather sleep in an unmade bed, I came home to a beautifully made bed every day.

Thank you Melody and Jack for the words of encouragement, they truly were inspirational and it was great to know that someone was empathetic to what I was going through. Thank you Roger and Shelly for following me on this as well as on face book, it really meant a lot to know that this blog was more then just a way for me to document all that I was doing but that there were people truly interested. Thank you also to Aunt Tammy, it was so great to be remembered at Christmas since it was so hard not being with family and in the middle of a blizzard. It really isn’t Christmas without those little peanut butter and chocolate soldiers, snowmen, and Christmas trees.

Thank you so much to my parents who not only allowed me to go, but made it so easy. The amazing support and thoughtfulness will never be forgotten and I could not have made the leap or sustained the challenge without you guys. Thank you for never telling me I was crazy when I jumped off a little platform or hung by a string into a cave (well you might have, but thank you for not having me committed). Thank you also for shipping three boxes of necessities here and bringing a spare suitcase to bring it all back home! I am still unsure as to whether I can survive without Oreos and ketchup but I don’t think anyone should have to, so thank you for not making me endure it. Thank you for all the obscure errands you run for me and the calls you make. I appreciate having a personal assistant in another country. I cannot wait to show you all that I have seen and I am so proud of my mother for attempting a twelve hour plane ride when she will not even take the two hour one to see my sister (I guess we finally know who your favorite is).

Although I would love Cameron Diaz or Julia Roberts to play me in the movie about my blog, it should probably be someone Asian like Lucy Lui or the Asian girl off Glee. But really if no movie deal comes my way I feel like this experience had made such a positive impact on my life and one that makes me much more credible as a 27 year old, and makes me a little more optimistic about attending my ten year class reunion next summer. I have learned so much about life, Audiology, and myself and in less then one year, which is probably more then I learned in all nine years of college!
Stay tuned for the last three posts from New Zealand!

Abseiling not to be confusing with sailing...

We went from talking through a hole in the fence when we were four to rappelling 328 ft into a cave in New Zealand. We have been friends since we were toddlers and now my friend Jennifer is a flight attendant, so it was only natural that she would hijack whatever plane she was on and point it in the direction of New Zealand (or she boarded, first class, a plane to Auckland). Of Jen’s five day visit we decided we had to do something that neither of us had done and abseiling in Waitomo was that thing. I knew my mother would not be pleased so I waited till afterwards to ask for forgiveness. I think she is quite used to my adventurous ways and this conversation did not head into the same “I am jumping on the next plane to New Zealand and dragging you home” conversation as the bungee one did. Although she was not impressed to say the least I could hear her eyes roll into her head at the mention of heights, caves, and ropes she is starting to come to terms with my rebel ways.

So with very little training we attached ourselves to a string (or rope) and began the slow journey to the bottom and into the cave. It was a whole other climate inside, no plants, just damp rocks, and the sound of rushing water. We began climbing over and under huge rocks until we reached the back of the cave. At this point, if you go on, you must hold your breath under water and swim into a tunnel that leads to the other side of cave. I am not one for getting my hair wet, holding my breath, or swimming so we opted for the short trip. At the back of the cave our guide beat us there and had juice and chocolate fish waiting. As we sat down he instructed us to turn off our headlamps, which I must admit I was not excited about, as the thought of him scurrying away leaving us stranded in this cave briefly crossed my mind. I did it anyone, hoping that Jen knew the way out, just in case. As my eyes adjusted to the dark, I looked up to see what looked like stars directly above us; they are in fact glow worms and one of my favorite things about New Zealand. They really look like bright stars up in the sky and it is pretty unbelievable that this little worm that turns into a mosquito (that can’t bite you) can be so illuminating. We sat there for some time staring at the ‘stars’ inside this cave as Eddie, our guide, explained to us how glowworms work.

After we left the glowworms Eddie took us to the most death defying part of the trip. I guess I never stopped to think ‘how are we going to get out of this cave?’ Well, if I had thought to ask the answer would have been ‘well you are just going to climb this little 100 ft ladder, in the dark, with cold hands.’ Eddie went up first so that he could help to pull us up, and then Jen went. Do you know what that means? That means that Dawn, was left by herself, in a cave, in the dark (well I had a headlamp, but still). That was easily the most terrifying part of the whole trip and maybe even New Zealand. I had terrible visions of Predator somersaulting out from behind some rocks, with all his teeth. Needless to say when it was my turn to come up the ladder, although my arms were burning, I climbed that ladder as if Predator was right behind me! When I reached the top Eddie said “WOW, you didn’t even take any breaks!”

It was amazingly fun, and I was so glad I did it, it is truly like nothing else I have ever seen, I would do it all again, only I wouldn’t be last up the ladder this time!

The frog that tried to attack me at the beginning of our trip...Jen and I beginning our decent

Yes, it was very high, and yes initially I was terrified!

We reached the bottom, with only calluses and sore right arms!

The ladder from Hell, and me, very dirty but loving every filthy second of it!

We made it out alive!

An Ominous Day of Hiking!

For my three day weekend (Queen’s Birthday) I noticed there was going to be one sunny day in the mix, so I decided to take advantage of it with some hard core, aggressive hiking. I found a few hikes nearby on the Department of Conservation website and thought; I better not pass up this rare opportunity to hike in the sunshine! Well when my workmates got word of my weekend plans, they were less than thrilled and I was reduced to be treated like a child not allowed to cross the street. To end the ridiculing, Alana stepped up and volunteered to be my babysitter for the day. I made sure to set her straight that there was going to be some full on hiking go on and we would need water, power bars, and sunglasses if we hoped to survive this trek. $86 in gas later (I drive a Camry) we were on our way to our treacherous adventure armed only with gumboots (just me), Doritos, Cookies, and candy. Two and a half hours later we arrived at our first big excursion and it was exhausting. Our first stop was Waitanguru Falls and it was lovely! After that we hydrated and in took calories for our next big climb. We were a little sketchy about the directions and about the point that Alana started getting worried that I was taking her to a remote location to leave her; we arrived at the Mangapohue Natural Bridge, at least the start of the trek. It is a 55 foot high limestone arch, which spans the Mangapohue stream, and it is all that remains of an ancient cave system. It was amazing, I had no idea that something like that even existed. More shocking, is the fact that Alana was born, raised, and living in a town 45 minutes away and she had never been there. I tried not to make a big deal about it, but I would be a little embarrassed! Another gorgeous trip and we will see if Alana is brave enough to handle another road trip. I should also point out that both hikes were actually quite short. The hike to the falls was .2 km and took us about 3 minutes; the hike to the natural bridge was maybe five minutes. Unfortunately the hiking was not as brutal as I expected but Alana was sure relieved!

The lolipops were to replenish the calories we lost!

Two rocks painted as dice, I was confused initially!

Oh, a little wildlife!

The underside of the bridge.

I really wanted to walk on top, Alana reassured me that it probably wasn't safe!

PiTy PaRtY

So I took my pity party to a picnic lunch at the Hamilton Gardens. It is about a 3 mile walk there so I picked up Subway (maybe you've heard of it, it's new) and headed down my riverside path to the Gardens. Lucky the city planners made it very easy because as long as you are heading in the correct direction it would be almost impossible to miss the Gardens. Since we hadn't had a nice sunny day in awhile I thought I better take advantage of the glorious sun, and I had a rockin new playlist on my ipod to listen to. Although I have been to the Gardens twice before it is neat to see it in the different seasons, the current one is Autumn, which keeps confusing me because it is a lot like Spring, so I keep expecting summer. When I got home I decided that I had earned a nana nap since I worked half of my Saturday and played hard Saturday night. Enjoy the photos!

An urban waterfall..

The Waikato River, I would love to say it's crystal clear but it's not!

Note to self....if you are homeless you can eat these...I think...

The path that lead the way!

This is me, in shades and plugged into my pod!

This is why it doesn't feel like Autumn, there shouldn't be flowers!

Entrance into the rose garden...the were mainly sticks in the ground though!

BuTTerFLY

I am gifted when it comes to working a timer...making sure I am in the photo I haven't quite perfected yet!

Japanese Garden...it's mine!

Chinese garden

Beautiful flowers!

Wairere Falls

For Ben's last weekend we decided to take, what I thought would be, a 20 minute hike. After 35 minutes I decided that I must have heard wrong, or we are slow hikers. An hour and fifteen minutes later we reached the half way point and what we then decided would be our destination. There were lots of stairs and uphill hiking, which is not my favorite! On our way back we were out hiked by a pair of deer hunters in camo shorts....

Grad-U-Asian

So the last 27 years of my life finally culminated into the 'happily ever after' at the end of a movie (it's really just a chapter for me though). On May 8th, 2010 I graduated for the last time (I think) and can finally make an investment in something other than ISU. Although after having spent nine years in school and already graduating once I still wanted my moment to walk across that stage in front of my peers, my family, and my friends and have an excuse to buy a new pair of shoes!

There sure are a lot of empty seats....

I thought 2010 would never come!

My fabulous outfit!

My class and our advisors

The boy that put up with the crazy student....not crazy anymo though!

My stylist for the day!

Grandparents....grandma actually missed me graduating!

Ready to graduate already!

Graduation dinner with the fam...love Chinese!

Ben got a new pick up!

He treated me to Mongrowian BBQ...and is looking like a pretty convincing Asian!