The End of My Girl's Trip--New Zealand and Australia

I promised I'd be back with the rest of my oldest daughter's semester abroad, and though it's taken me a while, here it is! January must be the most difficult month of the year to keep up a blog--I notice many of my blogging friends taking breaks also. I'd rather cozy up to the fire with a book, fold laundry (really?), just about anything else than sit down with my computer and write! But I want to wind up telling you all about her trip to the Pacific Rim, so here goes:

After her wonderful time in Japan, the group moved on to New Zealand. She says now that though Japan was one of her favorite parts because of the home stay, she really loved New Zealand and Australia.  She was surrounded by so much beauty there, and it was so good to hear English spoken again.

In NZ they began their time with a few days in a Marae, sleeping on the floor and experiencing life as the original peoples of New Zealand would have.

From there, they moved on to a family's home on Waiheke Island, New Zealand.  Eating gluten- and dairy free in NZ was relatively easy. The mom where they stayed first kept her spoiled with gluten-free pancakes each morning--

And she had no problem finding cafes and restaurants with gf offerings!

GF Pasta on Waiheke Island

GF Cappacino Muffin

But she was most excited about the pizza! A few years ago we read that Dominoes had gluten-free pizza in New Zealand and Australia, and she couldn't wait to try it. Sure enough, as soon as she could, she ordered a Dominoes gf, cheese-free pizza. And ate the whole thing. Not just once, but over and over again. Here's the first one: (And I know, only someone who is pizza-deprived would really understand how excited she was at this point in the trip!)

Her first pizza in months!

Notice the Gluten-Free sticker on the mid-right of the box

In Australia, it rained much of the time she was there, which delayed and changed many of the group's plans. But they continued on in spite of the rain.

In the harbor near the Sydney Opera House

On the beach, but not swimming because of the rain!

Seeing a kangaroo at the zoo!

And eating a kangaroo burger for Thanksgiving Dinner.

She easily found gluten-free/dairy free food,

A cafe near her youth hostel in Sydney.

while she explored the beautiful countryside.

Blue Mountains

I think it may have been easier for her there than it is here at home. My sweet girl has always been a teensy thing, and in the earlier posts I told you how she lost weight in China but began to gain in Japan. By the time she came home, she had gained over 20 (needed) pounds! Never in my wildest dreams did I hope that she would gain weight on this trip, but she did--thanks to the great care of the wonderful people in other countries. And, I think, because it is, in fact, probably easier to eat gluten free in New Zealand and Australia where people are more health conscious, and there are more options.

She finished up her trip with a couple of days in Hawaii before coming home just in time to help get ready for Christmas. Finally she got some time on the beach in the sun!

On the beach on Hawaii

I'll end, again, with my girl's own words from her statement of learning about the semester. I am so proud of her! She is so glad she went. She felt really well the whole time she was gone. Can travel to difficult places be done on a restricted diet? It sure can! She learned a lot and so did we. And she's already talking about going back.

 Looking back over the semester, I do not even begin to know where to start. Do I start in Beijing, the logical place, where it all began? In Japan, where I fell in love with the people? In New Zealand, where I was surrounded by some of God’s most glorious creation? Or in Australia, where I was surrounded by the familiar and unfamiliar simultaneously?

In each place, I struggled to find God there, and in each place, there He was, right there with me.

Also in this series China, At Last!  My Traveler. . .An Update  More from Travelin' Girl! Japan 

More from Travelin' Girl! Japan

Less than a week until she's home, today I'll start catching up on what she's done since China. It will take a couple of posts.
Japan
Her group traveled for about a week then settled into a month-long home stay and took classes at Ibaraki Christian University. (Japanese, Japanese Lit, Intercultural Communication, and Bible). Her Okaasan and Otoosan (Japanese Mama and Papa) were absolutely wonderful, and she had two Vietnamese "sisters" as well. She knew several students at the university from their stay in Oklahoma last year (we had even had some to dinner at our house.) She loved Japan, the people, the countryside--and there were only minor earthquakes while she was there. She took thousands of photos, some of them even while she was shopping--one of her favorites in any country! No post of mine will do her time there justice, but  I'll let these few pictures tell some of her stories.

Okaasan and Otoosan with another of their foreign students.
I can not thank them enough for their sweet care of my daughter.
They were wonderful!

Worship at the Omika church.
She worshiped with people from so many different countries.
What amazing experiences!

Ikebana--Japanese flower arranging class. 

Fukishema Aquarium on an outing with Ayaka and Misato,
friends from OC last year.

The group visited Tokyo Disney

On a beach in Japan--the sand is black

Corn soup in a bottle--she bought this on a train.
GF, of course. She gained weight in Japan--a good thing
since she'd lost nearly 10 pounds in China!

Fresh shrimp, right from the sea near the
home where she was staying.

Octopus, fresh and uncooked. Also from the sea
nearby. Okasaan served it for dinner one evening.
She said the little suction cups still sucked a bit :)

Sweet potatoes made the "American way"
for her family. One evening each student made a dish
from home and this was Hannah's contribution.

The students participated in an arts festival on the University campus.
They came up with a show with singing and dancing--looks pretty good, huh?

Okasaan and Otoosan gave her a kimono as a
going away present.  

And now a few words from my girl herself:

The gift-givingness of the Japanese people is overwhelming to me. I have received more gifts since coming here to Ibaraki than I could have ever expected! And actually, I am meaning literal gifts, as well as intangible ones. Friendship, love and care abound, and the gift of time. But also warmer clothes for the impending autumn, cute accessories to wear, delicious meals, even money! I have received again and again. Today my host mom mentioned (at least I think- the language barrier sometimes does me wrong and I misunderstand) that they will be giving me a yakata, a kimono. That is a very nice and often expensive gift. I don't deserve these things!
The Japanese habit of gift giving reminds me of my duty to share God's gifts, the best gifts of all. Service, friendship, love, and most of all the message of His son. If the Japanese are called by Buddha to give, how much more am I called to give by the living God?!

More posts in this series: China, at Last!   My Traveler. . .an Update   The End of My Girl's Trip--New Zealand and Austrailia 

My Traveler. . .an Update

Today's post is for those of you wondering about my traveling girl!

Goodbye America!

She is a college sophomore and her adventures began in Beijing, China just over a month ago. I don't have many pics--just a few from her iPhone or those someone has posted on facebook occasionally. China has pretty tough restrictions on the internet, so the group was limited to scattered internet cafes.

But from what I've heard so far, she had a wonderful time there--two weeks at Capital Normal University and then two more weeks of travel in the country, and now she is in Japan.

The group at Capital Normal University

At the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum in Xi'an Province

And how did she eat, since she can't eat gluten or dairy, and she's allergic to a few other things as well (strawberries, apples, peanuts, and shrimp)? I know she'll have tons of stories to tell when she gets back, but it sounds like in China she ate a lot of. . .rice. There were places where her dining cards worked well, and places where they didn't. She took packets of tuna and lots of gf snack bars with her, so I know she supplemented with those. She told me her group has been so kind to find places where she can eat, too-- they feel like family.

Hot Pot lunch--She said this was one of her favorites!

I'm so proud of her for going on this adventure, even knowing eating and getting gf food would be hard. I'm glad she didn't let the difficulty of eating in China stop her--that she just took it in stride. I'm proud of her for having a good attitude about it--and for being brave! She fell down some stairs at a farmer's house in Xi'an and sprained her ankle--but as far as I know, she didn't get sick from anything she ate.

She's in Japan now and says eating is much easier. They traveled for a week and now she's settled in with a family where she'll be for a month. More about that in another post.

Thanks again to Jen at Gluten Free Kids Travel for some of the best advice we found about gluten free eating in China. Thanks to her we knew Hannah COULD drink the Coke, should look for sushi for something safe to eat, needed to be careful about the salt shakers (they add msg there, which usually contains gluten in China), and in general should be aware of everything else! Keep blogging, Jen!

And tomorrow--look for my post about World Arthritis Day!

More posts in this series: China, at Last!   More from Travelin' Girl! Japan  The End of My Girl's Trip! New Zealand and Australia