And we're back!

So it has been a long while since our last post. So much has been going on it has been hard to get the time to sit down to write an update - and the unfortunate thing is, the more days that go past the more there is to update you all on! 

It has already been just over a month since we returned from our wonderful summer in Canada. It was very hard to leave that wonderful church - the people were just an amazing encouragement to us in the short time we were blessed to spend with them. It's a big deal for people to welcome strangers into their lives and homes, but they did! And it was an amazing example to us and we only hope that we can repay the favour in the future! We told lots of people to come visit us in NZ - so are anticipating there being an influx of Canadians flying into NZ in the coming years! ;)

Josh was able to preach every week, and found it to be a really valuable experience. Both in gaining some confidence, and also in learning more about what he needs to learn more about! It was also a valuable experience for me to be a part of another new congregation, built new relationships and learn from others (there was a lot to be learnt and plenty of people to learn from in Abbotsford who were excellent examples) so that was a massive blessing. 

Another blessing from our trip to BC was the opportunity we had to catch up with 4 friends from New Zealand!!!! It was just amazing. I spent time with my friend Charlotte, we caught up for the weekend with our buddy Hugo, and I also was very blessed to have a coffee and lovely afternoon with two (or technically at the time 3 ;)) lovely ladies - Sharon, Nicola & technically, gorgeous wee Caitlin - I just didn't get to meet her face to face. ;) It was very very special to see friends from home. :)

Our trip back was busy but very enjoyable. Each day we drove on average 8 hours, and it took us 5 days to get back to Chicago. Just an incredible trip - something that we never imagined that we would get to do, and something that even a lot of Americans don't get to do. This country is HUGE! We came down from Canada into Washington state, popped in for the day in Seattle, then drove across the top of Idaho, into Montana, then down into Wyoming and through Yellowstone National Park. Again, this park is massive, and to really appreciate it I could see that you would need to spend at least 3 days traveling around it - however we didn't have that luxury, so did the best we could with one day, which was still amazing. We got to see wild bison, and even a grizzly bear! 

After our trip through Wyoming we were on the home stretch, heading through Nebraska, Iowa and then finally back in Illinois. 

Wyoming

Providentially the trip was incredibly smooth, and we enjoyed each other's company to boot. ;) 

Once home it was a great blessing for Josh to have two weeks off before school started up again, his first proper 'holiday' since January. So it was a great time to catch up with some local friends and get prepped for the new school year. 

We had the seminary retreat day where we were able to meet a lot of the new students which was really nice. Josh has now been back at his studies for the past two weeks, and it's full steam ahead. 

We are also facing winter again now. Just this past week, on Wednesday 10th, I was out in the evening wearing shorts and a singlet - the temperature being about 27 degrees. The very next morning we woke up, and it had dropped to 12 degrees, warming up to about 16 during the day! Talk about extremes! So since then, we have been in sweaters, jeans and pulling out the jackets. Autumn is definitely here. There is also talk of another very cold winter like we experienced last year - the words 'polar vortex' are being thrown around again - so we shall see. At least we know what to expect a little bit now! 

I have been able to spend some lovely time with some of the other seminary families, and get to know some of the new ones which has been great. All the other activities are starting up again - with the Bible study, Sem-Wives meetings and I have been starting nannying again. 

The other week I got to go and watch a softball game where two of the girls who I taught art to last year were playing in opposing teams! It was very fun to be able to watch them play and support them. 

Leah batting & Emma as catcher!

We also were blessed to be taken out for the day to the Chicago Air Show by some generous friends from church. It was a very fun day spent lakeside, with beautiful weather and some pretty amazing stunts performed by the pilots. 

The beach before it got even busier, and Chicago city in the distance.

Parachuters (I guess that's what you call them in plural...)

They also took us into the city and we visited Bloomingdales

Trying to blend in with the wall art

Josh has a new job for the seminary this year (last year he opened up each day), this time managing the book store three afternoons a week, so we are very thankful for this opportunity that the school provides to earn some extra money. This year Josh also will have opportunity to preach at various churches around the area (and potentially further afield) and is booked in two weeks time to preach in Iowa where we will be for the weekend. 

We have both learnt so much over the past year. It has been amazing to see how much Josh is loving his studies, and just soaking in every opportunity to learn from very gifted professors and fellow students. It is very intensive study, and yet knowing the depth of meaning that the study of God's Word brings with it makes the opportunity a very real privilege, and not a burden. Josh works really hard, but also has set aside Friday afternoons where we can go for a walk and spend some quality time together, and we have also kept up going to the gym together as well. This has really helped his energy levels, and coming in to the winter will be even more valuable. 

I have been keeping up my quilting - with lots of my friends having babies at the moment I have a lovely excuse to keep sewing! Also will be involved in the Bible study this year and have continued on as a Crossroad Bible Institute Instructor (a very good prison ministry). I've also been trying to read more and build up a better reference library (although I won't be able to compete with Josh!) so if anyone has any book recommendations let me know! I was able to read a very good one over the summer called 'Partners in Ministry' by Christine Hoover. Found it to be very encouraging even if you aren't a ministry wife!

Well that is where we are at for now - we really very much appreciate all your prayers and support. Without the support of you God's people we wouldn't be here. It's an immense blessing and very humbling. 

They do have beautiful sunsets in Autumn in Illinois

If you are praying for us, we would very much appreciate your prayers specifically in regards to the following:

• That the Lord will continue to equip us for (in His providence) a future in ministry - in Josh's ability to preach God's Word faithfully and truthfully, and for my willingness to support him in doing so. 
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• Tying in to the above request - that we will remember Who we are doing this for, and why - for God's glory. That we will never lose sight of that. 
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• Thanksgiving for all God's provision for us - that God has moved so many people to be so willingly generous of their time, money, wisdom and all the support we receive. And this from many people, from many parts of the world. Some who have known us our whole lives, and others who have only known us for a short time! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
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• That the Lord will also give us contentment (for all the seminary families) - it is no small sacrifice to leave all our families, friends and the comfort of home - and travel a long distance to seek to follow God's call for our lives. There are students at the seminary from Egypt, South Korea, the Netherlands, England, Canada, the other side of the United States - and of course we Kiwis - and it is hard not to feel home-sick at times. Please pray that we will be content. Especially for the wives who may struggle with loneliness and with the fact that they may not see their husbands so much during term time. That God will provide us all with peace. And that we will be able to be a support and 'family' to each other while we are here. 

Thank you so much again for all your prayers and support!

Much love,

Josh & Hannah

Shenanigans

Hi everyone!

As per the title of this post, you would be pleased to know that we have been getting up to a few shenanigans - pretty much expressly so that we have some fun things to update you all on. :)

Things have been going well - we are so blessed! And very thankful for everything that God has provided us with over here. Especially at the moment, we are very thankful for a toasty warm home - the temperatures have plummeted over here, so it is now boot, scarf, hat and glove weather already. There was even a bit of snow the other day - however it was a little more sleety, didn't settle on the ground at all. All the trees have been changing gorgeous colours, so last week Josh and I went for a walk and took a couple of pictures. 

This is just down the road from our apartment.

We also went with some friends last Saturday on a fall outing to a farm kinda place where they had a bunch of interesting animals, a pumpkin field and a corn maze. : )  

Yes, there was a camel in the middle of the Illinois countryside, random but true.
And he really liked Josh. I think he liked having someone who he could look in the eye. 

Oh yeah, and a tortoise. 

So that's an update on some of our shenanigans! Josh has finished his exams for the time being - and received one of his grades back yesterday - which he passed with flying colours! We are very thankful!

Bike Trails & Pie

Thought I would share with you all an outing that we had the other night. A (very cool) group of people from our church go biking every Wednesday evening during the summer, and they invited us along.  

There are quite a few bike trails through the towns here in northern Indiana - and they have been converted from abandoned train track routes. They run through some really pretty countryside, and it was a gorgeous evening, so I got a couple of pictures just to give you an idea. 

I even took a little (albeit wobbly & low quality) video for your viewing pleasure. :) All up I think we cycled about 15 miles (24 kilometers) - so not bad! 

Afterwards, we experienced a real treat of visiting a restaurant called 'Baker's Square' where we enjoyed dinner and pie! It was 'free pie Wednesday' so you received a free piece of pie with a main purchase. I wanted to go really good and American as part of this experience so I had the Peanut Butter Cup pie (N.B. this pic is courtesy of the Baker's Square website, because I didn't get a picture of mine - but it looked just like this)...

I couldn't fit it in at the restaurant - I was too full from dinner (which was a lovely chicken breast with roast veggies and greens, so pretty healthy I might add! I I know, I'm just trying to justify the pie now), so I took it home to enjoy the next day. 

Needless to say, it took me 3 (yes three) goes to finish this piece of pie. It was A-mazing - but soooo rich. Hahaha so I paced myself and had a little bit after lunch, then at afternoon tea, and then after dinner! Josh had the Three Berry Pie, which looks a little healthier than my Peanut Butter one - but let's be honest, if you worried about health, then you shouldn't be eating pie in the first place. 'Healthy Pie' is an oxymoron. :)

All up it was a really fun night, and great to spend some more time getting to know the others! We have been so blest with good friends and opportunities over here already!

What is a sandy colour, about 1.5 inches long, and scuttles along the ground?

That isn't a riddle, I really want to know. Last night I went downstairs to the laundry which is in the basement of the house we are currently house-sitting for the Couperus's, and there was something with the above description that scuttled under the dryer. I haven't seen it since - and it weirded me out a bit. Haha

Life in Lansing, Illinois

Well, this is just a mini-update, because there isn't too much to report from our end. Josh has his 'end of semester' exam on Tuesday, so he is currently studying hard for that. It means that he will get the day off on Wednesday, so I am looking forward to that. :D

He is doing really well at the moment - sitting on an A- which is  about 93%. As long as he manages to get around that amount on his exam he will keep that grade. So that is really good going, especially for someone who hasn't done a language in a long time! 

Last week we were very kindly invited to have a swim in the pool of a family from church with a group of other people. That was a lot of fun. I was looking forward to it all week because it has been so hot here - but as it turned out the pool was hotter than the air outside it! It was a crazy kind of experience getting into hot water in an outside pool. However, it was still really nice to have a swim, and lots of fun spending the evening with everyone. 

I also got to go out on Thursday with a lovely Kiwi lady from church and she treated me to a Culver's 'concrete mixer'. (N.B. Culver's is a fast food chain over here, but it has better food than other places like MacDonalds) I was excited to give one a go. I tell you what, it was A-mazing! For a girl who does like her ice-cream, the USA certainly has a lot to offer. Haha.

Hmmmm - treats of deliciousness.

On Friday night we went along to another free concert that was in a local park. It was a really nice evening, although warm - and it was quite cool hearing some more live music. This one was a tribute band for John 'Cougar' Mellencamp - who was relatively well known in the 60's-70's and was from Indiana. So although we didn't know most of the music, it was still a fun way to spend the evening. 

It was quite amazing because pretty much the whole time we were there, it was balmy, calm weather - but over to the right of the photo you can see some dark clouds. Well they developed into another lightening storm that was in the next town over. For the whole of the concert there was some epic lightening that we could see across the sky, but it didn't hit the area we were in until well after the concert was over. 

I have been trying to keep up with the cleaning of the Couperus's house so that it isn't a mess for when they get back :) and also it's a good habit to get into right! So I pulled out the Jif to do some epic scrubbing with the other morning. 

JIF! Peanut butter that is...

Yup, so over here Jif is peanut butter. Took some getting used to the idea of using something that is a house-cleaning product back home on our toast, but we are getting used to it (especially because it is delicious). Don't worry, I stopped myself from using it to clean with just in time. 

We are still being amazingly blest and well taken care of over here - like you wouldn't believe! We are very thankful because clearance came back from the apartment that we applied for - so we are set to move in on the 1st August. We are so thankful! Plus we (well, I - as in Hannah), have been writing up a list of all the things that we will need for the apartment - kitchen utensils and the like. I visited a couple of the thrift stores over here, to see what I could find which has been a help. However, because of the immense generosity of the people from the Seminary and our church, it looks like there will be very little that we will need to purchase. Again, it has been very humbling experiencing this generosity - and all I can see is how amazingly good our God is, in that He has been providing our every need, even when we are so undeserving. I found this verse the other day:

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
~ Philippians 4:19 ~

Ain't that the truth!! And we are experiencing it first hand. Not only through the practical and physical blessings that we are experiencing, but also in Josh's studies, and in the blessing it is to be a part of such an amazing church community over here. We have a lot to be thankful for. So with that I will bid you all adieu for now, and hopefully will have some more to update you on in a week or so! 

P.S. And if anyone can answer the question in the title... I'll leave it up to you to judge whether or not I actually need to know what it is. Maybe I don't really want to know!  :)

The Windy City

That's how they refer to Chicago, although we haven't experienced that side of it yet. The weather has yet again been amazing over the past week - and was actually quite pleasant last week because it was a little bit cooler, with a nice breeze and not as humid. This week however is set to get up into the 90's (possibly as hot as 35+ degrees celsius for us metric people).

Last week was pretty fun! Literally, come to think of it. We travelled in by train to downtown Chicago to visit the 'Taste of Chicago' festival. This is a festival held in Grant Park where a bunch of local restaurants have booths where they can sell samples of their food. There was also a concert incorporated into the festival of a well known current band called 'Fun' - which was a free concert. This is pretty unheard of for us - to hear about quite a high profile band having a free concert. So we thought we would go seeing as it was free, and we like a few of their songs. :)

So here are some touristy pics that we took on our travels...

Waiting to catch the train at Homewood Station

The 'Bean'

Happy Hannah because she has a Churro :D (it was the first place I wanted to go) 

The Buckingham Fountain 

Josh playing around with his fancy panoramic camera

Panorama by the Buckingham Fountain

Genuine deep-dish Chicago pizza - really yum.

It was a good day trying out some local food and getting into the spirit of the festival. It was also a super hot day. We ended up sitting for a good number of hours in a spot that we picked for the concert (in anticipation of the fact that it was going to get super busy - and it sure did). However unfortunately the spot we picked ended up bordering on being a swamp. Well - it was pretty damp on the grass, and although we had bought a big thick beach towel to sit on (not anticipating dampness considering it was so hot), it soaked up the damp pretty quickly, and consequently soaked our butts too.

Not having many other options in so far as good spots to sit though, we stalwartly held our place - thinking well, we are Kiwi's after all. And therefore are pretty used to living in swamps. :) We also got quite sunburnt, so after coming from NZ winter with our glowy white skin, we have now started to fit in a bit more with the locals and are a bit more bronzed (once the red died down).

It's pretty amazing - for the number of hours that we spent in the sun, we were only just burnt. Compared to back home, if we had spent that much time in the sun with no sunscreen we would probably be in hospital being treated for burns. 

This was our delightful swampy spot for the concert.

By the time the concert started there were looooooooots of people.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the whole thing was people watching. The people are so diverse (which I guess you would expect to find in a massive city), but they are diverse in different ways to back home. So it was really interesting watching everyone.

The past weeks have been busy, but enjoyably so. We have been shown masses of hospitality from the people at church. They are SUCH a blessing to us! 

We have also enjoyed a couple of opportunities to hang out with some of the other Greek students and their families, thanks to their hospitality too. It's great to meet some of the others who are in a similar situation to us - and they are all really lovely! 

Interestingly, in Josh's Greek class at the moment the majority of students (as in about 90% of the class) have relocated to be there. And most of them are 'internationals' - harking from NZ (of course), Canada, South America, the Netherlands etc. It makes for a really interesting group and class discussion. 

I have been out and about cycling around again, just getting to know the area and enjoying the breeze! It is VERY hot here. You know it's hot when you are inside, lying down in bed, not moving - but you are still sweating (sorry if that's a bit TMI for you all, but it illustrates the point). :)

And apparently it's only going to get hotter. We have adjusted to the temperatures mostly, but it still takes some getting used to. It really impresses me that the people in this area are so used to these crazy hot humid temperatures in the summer, and then freezing cold and snow in the winter. It would mean that you could travel anywhere and not really be phased by the weather. 

We have a huge amount to be thankful for - and in particular we hope that we may have found a place to live! We only got to go and visit it yesterday, but it seems to be just the right size for us, and within our means. So we haven't yet confirmed it, but Lord willing, we will have a place to move into soon. We will keep you posted!

Otherwise we are so massively thankful for the kindness and generosity of the people at our church and at the seminary. We know what it is like to move to a new country where you don't know anyone, and having people to help makes such a huge difference! 

Soli Deo Gloria! 

The Land of the Brave

Wow my first blog entry (as Josh)!

Good evening to all our readers! We value your readership and hope you enjoy our experiences vicariously. 

So, to the update!

First up: 
A massive thank-you again to everyone who has generously donated so Hannah and I can come over here to study in America. This wouldn't have been possible without your help and support. Also a special thanks to our deacons back in Auckland who have done a great job with everything. We are so thankful to God that he has provided us with such a great massively extended international family through Christ. 

Secondly: 
You guys (specifically) have got to get over here!

I know that not everyone is called into the ministry and I also know that not everyone gets excited about standing up in front of people but WOW! This has already been an incredible experience. 

If y'all don't mind, I'm going to operate on the basis that y'all (apparently you can y'all multiple times in the same sentence) read Hannah's blog entries and I'll just mainly talk about what she hasn't. 

People weren't kidding when they said that intensive Greek was intensive. My normal week will generally be Mon and Tues with class from 8am-11:20am and then Wed with no class followed by Thur and Fri with the same hours. Thus far you're probably thinking that I was making a joke about the intensive thingy. Well, I don't know about the other guys but the homework which accompanies each class takes me about 8-9 hours per day. That means that outside of travel time and lunch and dinner I'm working pretty solidly till 10 or 11pm every day. The Wednesday and Saturday (our non-class days) are generally spent in revision and reviewing old vocabulary while also reading ahead so that you can try to hit the ground the following day with your feet instead of your head. 

To add to that we are having our mid-semester examination on Tuesday!!!!! That practically means that we have done one term's worth of University Greek in 5 days! 

Now you guys might think that's a little crazy. I have to say though that I find it hard to believe what I know now about Greek (I'm actually reading sentences) compared to what I knew a week ago. But there is so much more to this than learning some weird squiggles on a page. 

(Btw: If you only use the Greek alphabet to pronounce letter sounds then 'ειω βρω, υοτ-δω εια νω' sounds like 'yo bro, whaddu ya know?' in Greek (phonetically). Pretty sweet huh! It's Sunday night so I'm off the books! Don't worry Mr. Rogers: I hadn't even thought of wasting time doing that before I started writing this blog post!)

Our lecturer is really excellent and we begin each lesson by exegeting a Greek passage of scripture which relates to our work ethic in some way and then pray. I'm not sure whether anyone outside of New Zealand realises this but for Kiwis that is quite a novel experience. To go to a tertiary institution to study for a degree and to have your lecturer begin a class in prayer and talk to you about how amazing the complexities of your language study are because God was working through it in all these ways is just phenomenal. We have also sometimes finished class by singing a hymn.

Just some of my vocabulary homework for Wednesday.

Anyway, our class is made up of 9 guys from very different backgrounds. Each of them is from a different part of the world (Canada and USA are represented in different candidates) but Chile, Holland and New Zealand are just a few of the options. It has been really encouraging to hear some of their testimonies about how God has chosen very different men from very different backgrounds with very different experiences all to be members of His family! I really look forward to learning alongside them as the degree progresses.

People have been really generous and friendly here. We have been well taken care of. I'd like to give a special shout out to Grant Dykstra who is the man. He has been a great support. (There are heaps of people with recognisable Dutch names over here but I don't know how related they all are)

Well I must away ere the break of day. I intended to write a longer blog but I'm afraid I have to cut it short because it is late for me here (I spent too long coming up with that Greek NZ slang and we ended up being invited to one couple's place for lunch and then another for dinner!)

If you don't mind: we crave your prayers! If you could copy the following and nail it to your 'prayer post' we would really appreciate it :)

Prayer Post:
Thank God that 
a. We have found a new church family here at Redeemer Church
b. We have mobility (got a car)!
c. Our funds have been internationally transferred (banking woes NOT our deacons btw!!!)
d. Greek is going smoothly so far
e. His providence and care is just so much more than we need!

Ask God for
a. Another place to live before Albert and Hanneke get back (about 5 weeks)
b. Wisdom (in general)
c. Clarity of thought and memory when I sit my exam on Tuesday morning. 

τιλλ νεξτ τιμε,
Josh

Celebrating Guy Fawkes...

... whoops, I mean Independence Day (sorry, couldn't help myself).

So last night was pretty fun because we got to celebrate our first Independence Day in the US. We took a walk around the neighbourhood in the afternoon and were met with delightful sights of families throwing baseballs around the yard, and the delightful smell of BBQ wafting off the grill. We don't have a BBQ unfortunately - so Josh had to make do with pizza. Otherwise it was a pretty normal day for us - until it got to 9pm when we wandered down to the local park for the community fireworks display.

This was quite an epic fireworks display. It went on for 1/2 an hour, and was pretty impressive. There were heaps of people down at the park, and it was nice just to sit out on a balmy evening and watch the display. Josh took some pretty cool pictures and a short video that shows a bit of it. It was great to get out and do something a bit different. 

 

Today was business as usual for Josh with Greek class in the morning, but then we had an errand to run around lunch time, so afterwards decided to treat ourselves to our first 'eat out' lunch - at Subway. Hahaha - yup we are still playing it safe. It was cheap (for both of us together it cost less than one foot-long costs in NZ) and relatively familiar. I noticed that the two girls who were serving us were giving us some funny looks when we were first ordering, but then they finally asked where we were from and seemed very impressed that we were from New Zealand. Said that they liked our accents and that we needed to go back again so that they can hear us talk some more. Haha it's the first time that we have had anyone exclaim over our accents since we have been here - everyone else just seems to take it in their stride. So that was kind of cool.

Then we decided to go to a local park to eat our lunch and enjoy the sunny weather. And even had a go on the swings in the playground after we had eaten. It was nice. :D Here's a panorama that Josh took, our car is parked down the street on the right. It's a really pretty area with lots of big trees and that luscious grass again. :)

Hopefully Josh will get the chance to write an update for you on how he has been finding Summer Greek so far. He has definitely been working very hard. Otherwise we are very thankful again for everything that we have been blest with so far, and the next big thing is just finding a place to live - but the Seminary are being amazingly helpful in regards to that, and are searching for somewhere for us at the moment. 

I have been doing a bit more baking, and made some butter and buttermilk this morning which came out pretty well! So made a loaf of bread with the buttermilk which is quite tasty. A lot of food here seems to have quite a bit of sugar in it - so the bread that we have been buying from the store is quite sweet tasting (to us anyway), so it has been nice to be able to make some of our own bread. It's been really nice to make the most of summer fruit that is cheap here at the moment too - so we got some strawberries today which is exciting (it's not even Christmas and you can get strawberries! Heheheheh) So I have to decide whether to make them into sorbet, soft-serve ice-cream, or just have them fresh, all of the above are tempting!

A new week...

...and more blessings!

Saturday was an exciting day because we got a car! God has been so good to us, and particularly in this regard. The car is very nice, and we have been told that the particular type of car holds it's value really well, so hopefully taking care of it over the next three years means that we will be able to resell it at a minimal loss. So now we are just praying that the Lord will take care of us as we drive it!

And we both have been doing a good amount of driving - so far so good. We have both found that we have managed to adjust to driving on the other side of the road pretty quickly. I still find that I get a little nervous before getting out on the road, but once I'm driving things fall into place, and it helps to just follow everyone else!

The next thing that was important was to get a GPS, which I think will become our best friend in our time over here. 

Well we had another really great Sunday at Redeemer church. If anyone is interested in where we are attending church over here, you can check out the Redeemer website here. We heard two excellent sermons, and got to meet some more members of the congregation. A bonus was also that after the evening service we got to see the Holtslags from Dovedale church in Christchurch. :D It was nice to see another couple of Kiwis. 

On our way home from church on Sunday night the sunset was A-mazing. We attempted to take a picture of it, which gives a bit of an idea how cool it was (but doesn't quite do it justice).

Amazing sunset Sunday night

You can even see our good friend the GPS in the pic. Josh has set the little icon representing us as a monster truck - which is getting into the American spirit. :)

On Monday Josh started Intensive Greek! He was pretty excited about this - he has been waiting to start studying for a looooong time now, and he is loving sinking his teeth into it. He is going to write an update on how he is finding the class later this week, so stay tuned. :)

Over the past couple of days I have been working on menu plans for dinners/lunches so that I could put together a grocery list and go shopping. Finally I got it done today and worked up the courage to go on my own. It sounds silly, but I was nervous about using our new bank card - you know, there is nothing much worse than getting to the supermarket checkout, go to pay and your card doesn't work, or you haven't got your wallet or something like that. :P So I was praying like crazy as I walked around the aisles that the card would work ok. As a backup I had a check that I had brought along - which is really weird to me, we've never used checks before (it's what our parents did back in the day) but here they are still really prevalent. 

Grocery shopping is quite an experience here. In many respects it's very much the same as home; standard aisles, trolleys, etc. But there are subtle differences - for one thing there is quite a bit of range. Say you want some mustard - great! But good luck choosing which mustard you want. There is a whole shelf, floor to ceiling a good meter wide full of about 40 different mustards. Thankfully my job is made easy because we go pretty much by what is the cheapest (with most things anyway). 

There are also people who pack your grocery bags for you (and often double or triple pack them), and then they wheel them out to your car for you on these little special trolly things. It was nice, but I had to kind of get used to it, considering I felt quite capable of taking my own groceries to the car. Haha. :)

Some of the food is super big too. You should see the tubs of ice-cream. 8-O And I got some veggies today too that were impressive. Such as the capsicum...

...and the zucchinis...

...and I didn't get a picture of them, but you should see the onions! They are humungous! Seriously, one is about the size of a baby's head! (Sorry, I couldn't think of another size comparison :p)

Prices vary compared to back home. Some things are really cheap - like 18 eggs for $2.40 (cheap right!), and a gallon of milk for $2 (in all seriousness). And I got a pretty good deal today, at least I'm pretty sure it was a good deal (compared to home anyway) - three massive chicken breasts for $3.45! That will go towards 3 meals, so at only just over a $1 for meat per meal - I'm thinking that's a good deal. 

With huge vegetables and my thumb placed next to it for scale. 

There are other things that seem to be a lot more expensive though - like herbs and spices can be up to $4 each (although I haven't managed to shop around a lot, and I also scored some for 89c), and yoghurt is kinda pricey. 

Apologies to anyone reading this who really is not very interested in the ins and outs of grocery shopping over here - I realise that it is kind of a menial subject - but it has just been so interesting learning what little things are different about here vs. NZ. Plus hey, at least you got some silly pictures. 

We are coming up to the 4th of July (obviously) but that is kind of a big deal over here in the States which is fun. So there have already been some fireworks going off, and we are looking forward to walking down to a local park on Thursday to check out the festivities. Fireworks are banned from public purchase in Illinois, but what is funny is that they are legal in Indiana, the border of which is just about a 5-10 minute drive away from us here in Lansing. So all the residents of Illinois drive over the border to purchase fireworks. But apparently in the past cops will wait just over the border and stop cars to search them for fireworks and confiscate any that they find. I wonder what they do with all the fireworks that they confiscate? Burn them? *snigger* Maybe they have a big party of their own (with the Indiana police of course, because it's legal over there). Anyway, that is going to be fun to experience the celebrations.  

Oh and I mentioned the other day that I had been baking some chocolate chip cookies that were a bit of a fail because it was so hot that the choc chips melted into the batter. Well I baked them, and they came out delicious! Even though they were more like "Chocolate with a little bit of Chips Cookies", I was still very happy with them. 

So if you are interested in trying some yummy cookies check out the recipe at the Sally's Baking Addiction website. Apparently the trick is in refrigerating the dough for at least a couple of hours before baking. That's all from me for now - over and out. :)