Pieter’s Rap

It is almost 8 months since I left SA to live in a country build around small green farms. If you like that, you would love this place. You have not even left the city then you see a variety of farming activities. New Zealand after all is one big dairy farm.

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After a week on the South Island for work, I am back home. After 8 months there is still a lot that makes my heart pulse quicker. From new people that I met to the surprise of nature. NZ is a stunning country to work and live in.

I had a great road trip from Invercargill tot Christchurch. A journey that took me almost 700km up the east coast of the South Island. I experienced some good weather, since the south is renowned for icy roads during winter. It was a great adventure. My mode of transportation was a 2liter Toyota Camry that provided a real comfortable journey. The thing that I still getting use to is to travel 3 hours for a 215km drive. The 100km/h speed limit does not improve it either. Furthermore, on your journey there is quite a lot of small towns, each having their own sort of character and feel.

This week I missed the people back home, the warm sunshine and a braai (BBQ) with real “boerewors” en tjops. Then there is my mother’s sweet pumpkin and the rest of the tasty food. Must say the Kiwi diet is very similar to back home. Lots of different types of meat, vegetables and fruit. Their dairy spread is surprisingly huge. Cheese is quite inexpensive, but milk has started to rise due to international shortage. It is only things like biltong, droewors en malva poeding that is different. In SA you shop at Pick&Pay, Woolworth’s and Spar. Here we shop at Pack&Save, New World and Woolworth’s. Our Woolworth’s is not the same as back home. Here you pack your own groceries, as well through in your own petrol. Some groceries stores provide discount vouchers for petrol. Some even have their own petrol stations.

To ensure road worthiness every vehicle has to go through a WOF (warrant of fitness) every year. One of the first things that struck me in New Zealand is the amount of old vehicles on the road. A car is not as much a status symbol here as in SA. Second hand vehicles is quite cheap and you can get a good deal on Trade Me the whole time. The best bargain shopping to do here is at The Warehouse. Almost like Game, but not as upmarket. Not Russel Hobbs quality goods, but good enough to last awhile. Especially if you have to exchange Rands for Dollars initially. The Kiwis like specials and there is forever specials on at various shops. Don’t fret if you have missed one. Wait a month or so and there will be another one.

This weekend weather is not good. Saturday is already a wet day, with Sunday’s forecast not looking good. No fishing or skiing this weekend. Will catch up on reading and the house chores.

My work as a product specialist for a medical device company often allows me the privilege of visiting theaters around NZ. Depending on how you view it, whether you are interested in seeing people who is unconscience being cut open or not. I see it as a privilege to experience what is actually happening behind the closed theater doors. One of the product ranges I am responsible for covers ENT surgery, bit more particularly products for Myringotomies. Without being to technical. Myringtomoty is a simple procedure where a small incision is made in the eardrum and a tube, called a grommet, is inserted to ventilate the ear. Pretty much to get rid some sticky fluid that builds up due to inflammation. Anyway, this is not a medical paper. Part of my sales function at Intermed is to call on ENT surgeons. Part of this is to visit them in theater. Well, not in the operating rooms itself, but to wait in the doctors tearoom. Let me explain how it feels when you are trying to build relationships with surgeons and theater nurses for that matter.

To what can I liken it?

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Mainly Afrikaans!!!

MOST OF ALL

I remember cold wind blowin’ all across my face
A trace of frost would linger on my hair
As I wandered aimlessly from town to lonely town
Tryin’ to shake my sadness and despair
And then I heard Him callin’ me
Then I felt His tender love for me
And then finally I could see
That the sun had been shinin’ all along

Oh, and I remember darkened streets
November’s autumn leaves
They withered up and died every fall
But yet somehow I always hoped I’d live to see the spring
Your love was what I needed most of all

And if I didn’t understand the searchin’ in your hearts
I really couldn’t sing this song at all
But Jesus knows just where you’re at
And though you might gain the world
If you lose your soul then you have lost it all
If you lose your soul then you have lost it all

And then they nailed Him to a tree
And then He died, He died for you and me
But He is alive, and He wants to set you free
And all you’ve got to do is believe
Yes, all you’ve got to do is receive
Lord, Your love was what I needed most of all

The past week I have been studying the letter of Jesus to the Church in Smyrna, which is found in Revelation. Part of the challenge the disciples had in Smyrna was what their attitude should be in relation to the external world. During my research I came across a moving letter of an anonymous disciple to Diognetus. This is an excellent letter of someone defending Christianity against the civil authority. Here is an exert from it.

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I’ve been quiet when it came to writing. It is a combination of not too much happening, as well as a hefty traveling schedule. Here is some detail about my travel.

The territory that I cover for my job covers half of the population of 4 mil, but geographical is more like 70%. My area covers the whole of the South Island, which I divided into 3 Zones. Then I do what we call the lower North Island as well. That I have split into 4 zones. These 7 zones I have then put into in a route plan so that I could service my customers every 4 weeks or so. That has not materialized as planned. My idea also includes to be away for a week and then back in Wellington for a couple of days. That will give the opportunity to spent some time at the office to do my follow-ups etc.

Work wise things are going well. I have received some good feedback from my company on my performance and have even received a 2.5% increase after 3 months. One thing I have to say is that working in New Zealand is not to going to make you rich. You get paid enough to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, but don’t think that you are going to become Bill Gates here. I have also received some good feedback from my customers. Directly, as well as through the company. My biggest challenge as this point is my time management. Not being able to cold call on customers have made it even more tricky. Using a plane as taxi is another factor I am not use to. I put more mileage on a plane than on my vehicle.

On the social scene I have met 4 new South Africans. They all arrived 3-4 months ago and is staying in Auckland. It seems like the South Africans are taking NZ over one suburb at a time. They all have families with wives and children. I do feel it is quite a shame that the children will grew up in a foreign nation not experiencing the real South Africa. At least they will be more safe here without the worry of being hijacked or raped. Furthermore schools are free in NZ. So your tax does work for you here.

I have also started learning how to snowboard. My first experience was at Mt Ruapehu, which is a 4 hour journey north of Wellington. The only mountain on the North Island where one can ski etc. It is quite a learning curve initially, especially to stay on the board and getting up. Then you have to learn how to control your speed, direction and how to stop, which is the most important. The first time you do it you just have to get used to the idea that you are going to be more on your butt on the snow than what you are going to be on the board. It is exhausting exercise after a short time with all the falling down and standing up so your whole body takes a real nice pounding.

Our Sunday night fellowship is going from strength to strength and the people are really committed. We have completed the DVD series of the Normal Christian Birth and we are currently busy discussing the 7 letters of Jesus to the churches in Asia, which is found in Revelation. These letters are really important since it addresses issues that is applicable in any situation for a believer. It portrays Jesus walking in the midst of His people being acutely aware of every aspect of their lives. This can be both comforting and scary, since He is portrayed as a judge in the first chapter walking among the churches. The message to the Ephesians and Loadicea is very relevant for us today in the first world. Smyrna is a message that the believers in the third world could relate to. But Jesus does provide a relevant message to us in each letter warning us on the dangers of immorality and false teaching. The real promise is not for the believers, but for the believers that overcome. We have to overcome and conquer our own pleasures, to share His glory. What a promise we have in Him.

If someone would have asked me this time last year whether I would like to do snowboarding, my response would have been something like this, “mate, I like the idea and the adventure very much, but where in Africa are we going to that”. Well I am not in Africa anymore. Problem solved. As part of integrating into the Kiwi lifestyle and embracing the spirit of adventure, I had to try this foreign sport. Not foreign in the sense that the sport is unknown, but that snow and Africa is not synonymous with each other.

Well, the past week I was in Auckland and this provided me with an opportunity to visit the local indoor ski park, called Snowplanet. The entrance fee is $44 dollars and my gear to rent was another$20. So for $64 dollars I could play for 4 hours or so. Needless to say. this is like going to the gym the first time. Every part of the your body knows and feels it was put through it paces. A week later I still can feel some areas of soreness, but is not as acute.

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