wellington to singapore...

arriving home was a surreal experience
this feeling of 'wow nothing has changed' and 'oh my god i feel so out of place'
seeing people on the street 'oh my god chantelle where have you been?'
israel
'oh my god, israel, that must have been intense'
well yes, but not in the way your probably thinking....
wanting to put my roots down, really upack my bag and settle in to life back home, but knew, in less than three weeks im off again, onto the big unknown....China.....shanghai....
i had moments of just wanting to cling, any job any oppurtunity that would keep me in wellington....but i made that choice and i have to stick to it...its exciting and nerve wracking, starting up life again in a new place...finding friends, apartments, those areas you feel you belong in....
that whole idea of belonging somewhere is becoming more and more foreign after being away for so long (not that long....18months but still..)...even at home i felt i didnt belong in the way i felt there before, its sorta like your identity as you knew it acts like putty, and adapts and moulds to where you put it, and when your in this transition phase, which i am currently sitting in, between worlds, between places, between lives....you start to feel kinda....how do i put it....identity-less....

had an incredible experience back home, we had a musical fireside the second saturday i was back at my house, and dad whose not a baha'i brought along his new tenant who had shown an interest in the faith when she saw the newspaper article in his office with my massive face on it
saying 'baha'i baby
'are you a bahai?'
'no my daughter is, she just got back from israel, she can tell you all about it'
so we organised this event, with her in mind, going through ana's presentation with songs dispersed throughout and two video's, and slide show with quotes on....
it was AMAZING, we had three interested people come, and my dad sat through it (was falling asleep towards the end...haha) and then we all naturally paired off afterwards and went through in more detail what we had covered using the flipcharts....for a bout 45mintues we did that one on one type deepening and the room was alive ...mum handed out dessert and we continued, then the lady dad brought came to me and said 'I just told chelsea and I would like to tell you that I would like to formally become a Baha'i'
stunned look on chantelle's face....
'wow...yes oh my gosh...thats great'
of course we have no declaration cards....haha not as prepared as we thought we were!'
but yeah...she just instantly recognised Baha'u'llah in those 2 hours...
She is from India, had been living in nz for two years, and told me a great story, at the age of 13 she gave all her week's worth of pocket money to a man standing on the corner in new dehli trying to raise money for the building of the 'new baha'i temple'. from that moment on she was intrigued by this faith...and then as a 32 year old living in nz....she finally finds out more deeply about it and declares...
what a gift
i sat and talked with her at her place quite a few times during my three weeks at home, it was like meeting my sister in a way...we just got each other!! very exciting stuff...and hopefully a taste of whats to come in China....heheeeeee
ok very hot right now
i am in sweaty singapore now visitng my brother danny, his wife anna and their beautiful beautiful son harley just one year old...
ohh the bliss of babies...