Kia what?
Kia Ora! Welcome to my blog. You may be wondering what sort of jibberish I’ve selected as the name of my blog so let me confuse you further by saying that it isn’t jibberish but rather a New Zealand Maori greeting. “What’s Maori and where’s New Zealand…isn’t that the same as Australia?” (yes, people do make that comment…and quite often in fact) I’ve chosen to begin my story here, with a Maori greeting, because if life is merely a culmination of those experiences that shape you, challenge you, and spit you back out different, then my semester abroad in New Zealand (Spring 2007) is a good place to begin.
In order for you to understand the relationships, hobbies, and commitments that I’m involved in on a day-to-day basis, this is necessary. In one word: passion. In one sentence, passion for environmental ethics, social justice, community, and God.
Now time has passed and work, class, busyness, just life in general, has happened in the year and a half since then. Yet passion doesn’t just disappear and I hope you’ll see it on my blog. This year, you can join me-in my smiles and my stress…this is senior year!