Christmas Trip to Wanganui

As expected, we had a beautiful and enjoyable trip to Wanganui for Christmas. It was a great mixture of exciting and relaxing, with lots of quality time with people we love. Who could ask for more?

We spent Christmas with this awesome group: Jonny's dad Ernie, his mum Marie, his sister Kirsty, and Jonny, of course. We ate lots of amazing food, did some beautiful colouring (courtesy of our Christmas gift from Mom) and played some games. Lovely.

We spent Christmas evening and night with Jan and Brian. I forgot to take a picture of the four of us, but did not forget to take a picture of the amazing trifle Jan made. Odd choice, but it happened. That evening, we played word games and Texas Hold 'Em, and then had a lovely breakfast in the sun the next morning.

J spent Boxing Day with his friend Gary in town, while Kirsten and I headed to Kai Iwi beach for a beautiful walk. We all had dinner together that night, which was nice.

Since last time I'd been there, huge chunks of clay had fallen off the cliff wall. They are now very slowly dissolving into the ocean, creating cool colours in the water and giving the sand a lovely, slippery consistency.

We had a lovely evening at the mansion with Kirsten playing Sing Star (kind of like karaoke), a glorious night's sleep in our beautiful mansion bedroom and then a relaxing morning.

That afternoon, before heading back to Wellington, we got to go waterskiing with Kirsten's friend Simon again! It was my third time, but I realize that I didn't actually share the videos from my second time, so I thought I'd do that before I tell you about this time.

Simon decided that I had enough control to try the half course, where you go back and forth and try to go around buouys. I thought it would be too hard, but I gave it a try, and I did it! Yay! Click here for the video.

Also, I did have one rather nice crash, which you can see here.

Okay, that was from last time, just a couple weeks ago. Now, onto the videos from this time.

This is J's very first time ever waterskiing, and you'll notice that he's very talented! At one point (near the end) you'll notice that he has to go over the huge bumps created by a crazy speed boat that was on the lake. He manages to get across them, which is very impressive. Then he falls, and so Simon stops the boat. I was so focused on recording, I did not think about this, and you'll see the video go crazy at the end - that's because I fell over backwards. Oops. Anyway, watch J's impressive first attempt here.

This time, Simon said I needed to transition to one ski. I thought that this sounded much harder, and then was shocked to find that you actually start on two skis and then drop one while you're skiing! What? I fell the first time or two, but then I got it, and it was so exciting! You can see the video here. 

After that, I actually got my balance under control, and was able to zig-zag through the waves on one ski like I had been on two, but I didn't get a video of that. Simon says that next time I can try the buouys course on one ski, which will be fun!

A Job for Christmas

Awesome news: I have a job! Best Christmas present ever!

I have been hired for the next six months at Victoria University's child care. I will be teaching 2 1/2- to 4-year-olds (my favourite age group), as well as collaborating with university professors on research projects and supporting students studying ECE at the university. Those of you who remember my years working at Stone House at K-State will notice that this is a similar set-up. And you will quickly realize why I am so excited about this position! The combination of hands-on teaching children and participating in the more academic side of child development is perfect for me!

The position only lasts six months as it is filling in for a teacher who is taking some time off. I would, of course, love for it to be longer-term, but six months is a long time. I know that I will learn a great deal and feel good about my contributions to the centre during that time. You also never know what will happen in six months, so I will keep my options open. No matter what happens after six months, I know it will be a great experience and I will be a better teacher for it.

I start on the 18th of January, so I still have some time to relax and explore Wellington. I am consistently amazed at the difference between unemployment and being on holiday. I have been handling unemployment well, but have had some stress hanging over my head and have been extremely motivated to get this unoccupied period over with. However, now that I know that it will end on January 18th, I am excited to think of all the fun things I can do in the next three weeks! I am also eager to start my wonderful new job, but the time is suddenly a peaceful vacation, rather than a stressful problem to be solved. Magic, isn't it?

In other news, J and I will be going to Wanganui again this year for Christmas. We'll be spending it with Jonny and his family, as has become our wonderful tradition. We are then going to stay with Jan and then Kirsten and catch up with them and our other friends. We're going to go waterskiing on the 27th (J's first time, my third time) and then head home. We're going to relax just the two of us between Christmas and New Year's, which will be great.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas with people you love! Here are some beautiful Pohutukawa Trees (New Zealand Christmas trees), along with J's and my summery Christmas greetings!

Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park

Drum roll, please.... We have Internet! Yay for technology going back to making our lives easier!

We have actually had it for a couple days now, but I have been focused on preparing for a rather intense and involved interview, which I had this morning. I don't want to go into any details about it, as I am firmly trying not to get my hopes up too high, but please cross your fingers that I get the job!

I have been coping with unemployment pretty well lately, after a rather hard few days after I didn't get the first job I applied for in Wellington. As you may well remember, I detest being unemployed, because I miss teaching so much and can't stand not contributing. But I am keeping busy with lots of productive things and maintaining tight control over my thoughts, so as not to let them spiral into unhelpful themes.

One thing I have enjoyed doing over the past couple weeks is walking and biking in Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park. You can see it in the beautiful views from our house, and one entryway into it is about 15 steps from our door. Pretty lucky, we think!

The park was created for the dual purposes of providing mountain bike trails to Wellingtonians and of supporting native animals and plants. There are many kinds of native birds, trees, and insects in the park, and they are thriving under the continued support of the City Government and many volunteers. They have to work hard to keep pests such as rats, stoats, goats, and destructive plants out of the area, but they are obviously succeeding, because it is pristine and beautiful in there.

Some parts of the trails are out in the open...

... and some are through these beautiful wooded areas.

There are some paths that are big enough for 4-wheelers, but I have yet to see one out there.

This is part of the "Skills Area" where people with much more skill on a bike and disregard for the sanctity of their bones than I will ever have practice all kinds of amazing tricks.

I love these wooded paths, but if you get up any speed, it's easy to not be able to see what's coming quickly enough to avoid it, so I'm being very careful. As I get to know the trails better, I'll go faster, but I'm not interested in crashing!

Even on the "easy" trails, which are all I've done on my bike, there are hairpin turns where you are expected to ride up on the slanted side in order to maintain your speed while turning 180 degrees. I don't think of myself as a hesitant person, but I do these turns at a crawl compared to other people on these trails! I'm sure I'll build up some speed, but I don't think I'll ever lean over nearly as far as they do!

J and I are planning to hike to the summit of Makara Peak sometime, but haven't gotten there yet. We've been told that the views are absolutely stunning, and that you can see Wellington Harbour, which seems like a long way to me. We want to wait for an crystal clear day so that we can take full advantage of the view.

First Wellington Events

Not to sound too much like a broken record, but we still do not have Internet at our new flat. One would think, in our overwhelmingly technological world, that it would not take a month for us to have Internet, but in this case, one would be wrong. Oh well.

In the few weeks that we've lived in Wellington (which still does not feel real, by the way), we have mostly been focused on settling in, on J learning the ropes of his job, and on accomplishing all the little tasks that always accompany moving. However, we have taken time to do some fun things as well, and I thought I would share two of them with you.

We went to this adorable tea shop in Kilbirnie called The Little Teapot, which was running a special on GrabOne for "High Tea for Two" for $25. It was picture perfect and charming.

They even had this quaint playroom where they have birthday parties for children. I would love to have my birthday party there!

I was thrilled to note that they'd set out a pink cup and saucer for J, and a green set for me. It's like they knew us already.

Everything was adorable, from the fancy hats on the walls to the knitted, flowered tea cozies. (J was not pleased that they were knitted instead of crocheted, but I didn't mind).

As we were enjoying our tea, they brought us this beautiful bouquet of tiny treats, all of which were utterly delicious. J particularly liked the apple cinnamon mini-muffins, and I was delighted with the cucumber and mint sandwiches, which I'd only ever heard of in Oscar Wilde plays. I felt very classy to be eating them myself!

On the weekend, we went to the Go Green Expo at the TSB Arena on the waterfront. It was all about learning about products available to help you live in a more environmentally friendly way, as well as companies with environmentally friendly policies who you can choose to support.

I didn't bring my camera, and so took pictures on my phone. I never do this, and am not good at it, and only realized when I got home that one almost every single picture I did not wait until the picture had actually been taken to move on. This resulted in several extremely blurry pictures, and several pictures of a non-important object that just happened to be somewhat near what I was actually trying to take a picture of. Not my best moment. Just for fun, I have included the only two pictures that kind of give an idea of the event.

The guy on the left was teaching people about more efficient ways to set up compost bins and worm farms. J and I were actually tempted to buy a super-efficient worm farm, but it was out of our price range.

We tried some organic Lothlorien feijoa and apple wine, which was fantastic! We also tried some awesome (and healthy) smoothies!

The expo was quite fun, and we came away with some small but helpful items to support our continued efforts to make our environmental impact a more positive one. I also found it encouraging to see that there were many hundreds of people cycling through the expo while we were there, which was only a small percentage of the time it was open. The fact that thousands of people would come and participate in this event seems like a positive indication that people are learning and trying to make changes, which makes me happy. I think we're going to fit in quite well here.

Our Wellington Flat (with a View)

We still have no Internet at home, nor do we have much hope for getting it before mid-December. It is deeply inconvenient, but we'll cope. I found a cafe/bar where I can use wifi, so I thought I would (finally) post some pictures of our new flat.

Our flat is nice, reasonably priced (for NZ), tidy, and in a good location. The absolute best part of it, however, is the view. I cannot get enough of the view, and every time I look out, I am so impressed and so excited that we live here! I don't think I realized that a view would be such an amazing addition to a living space, but now I don't know how I ever dealt with not having one!

This is a panorama of the view (click on it to make it bigger). That's our balcony and part of our flat that you can see on the right, and the balcony of the other half of the duplex (they don't use that word in NZ) on the left.

Isn't that amazing? It is such a stunning view, with multiple hills and many trees with houses nestled in between. 

The big green hill on the left with no houses is a reserve and mountain biking park. I've gone biking and walking (with Kirsten) in it, and the whole thing is beautiful.

You can see more hills in the distance (and you can see them better in person).

The sun rises behind these hills, but since it's summer, it does so very early in the morning, and I haven't gotten up to see it yet, but I will sometime.

Way up in the hills as we are, sometime we are in the clouds, which I thought would be annoying, because it would ruin the view. In fact, it is quite exciting being "fogged in," especially as the high winds whip the clouds/fog around, and I've been enjoying it!

When the sun sets, it often lights up different sections of the hills opposite us, and it is stunning!

I love watching the lights come on as it gets darker and darker.

It's too bad a picture can't capture the wonderful twinkling effect we get once it is all the way dark, but I'm sure you can imagine it.

Now that we've established that the view is amazing, which is really the important thing, I will show you pictures of the actual flat.

Our flat has the balcony on the left, and the other half of the house belongs to a family who we haven't met yet, but the landlord says they're nice. The yard behind our part of the house is ours as well. We have a downstairs as well, but it is unfinished and still partly full of the rock side of the hill it's built on, so it's just a storage space, but it's very cool, and storage is always good.

We are not sure whether this is the back or the front of the house, actually. You can't get in and out this way, as it is the edge of the hill, but the yard is on this side, and the other side is quite low compared to the hill. I think that this is the back, because the "front" (only) door to the house is on the other side, but others have disagreed. I just realized that I don't have a picture of the other side of the flat, so I'll have to take one and post it later.

This is my beautiful balcony for sitting, reading, and enjoying the view.

Looking down from the balcony, this is the back yard. It is a bit wild, which I love. I'm interested in growing something in the little garden spaces, but I don't have much gardening skill, so we'll see. It is a very nice place to sit and read, though. You don't get the view, but you get to feel like you're almost in the woods, which is awesome.

This is the lounge. Notice the amazing sun! I love sunny rooms, and this flat gets lots of sun in all the rooms.

Other view of the lounge, on a cloudy day. Still lots of natural light.

This is our bedroom. You can't tell, because I took the picture on a foggy day, but we get the amazing views out of the bedroom window as well.

We have a little (but perfectly functional) dining room between the kitchen and the lounge.

Small but lovely kitchen, with plenty of cupboards.

This is the spare bedroom, which Kirsten has already stayed in and declared quite lovely.
J's desk is in this room, which is not completely ideal, but there is not room for it in the lounge. We'll just do a little reorganizing if we have long-term guests, but that will be fine.
This room is on the opposite side of the house from the lounge, so it gets the afternoon sun.

Tiny laundry room. No room for the dryer in here, but it works out perfectly to put it in the unfinished basement, because then we don't have to worry about pouring humidity into the flat. Humidity (and the resulting mould) is always a huge concern in NZ houses, and this one is no exception, so we're being careful about it.

The bathroom is pretty small, but nicely put together.

Well, that's our flat. We're very happy with it, and I never, ever want to move away from the view, so we'll probably have to stay forever.

Status Update: No Internet

Kia ora everyone. Sorry for the long delay in posts. As those of you on Facebook will have seen, the update is that we still have no Internet in our new flat (which is otherwise wonderful). There have been major issues and delays, and we're not sure when actual Internet will happen. Which is a pity, because I'd like to show you some pictures. But it will happen eventually, and then the pictures will abound.

In the meantime, I have figured out this short stint of Internet that will allow me access to my blog (unlike the library Internet) in order to tell you that J and I are happy and healthy (mostly) and enjoying Wellington.

J's job is going well so far. He is taking on responsibility and feels good about his contributions, although it is a lot to learn at first. He has his commute all figured out. We have efficient, frequent buses to ride, and his drops him off right at the door of his building. The only tricky bit is that we live at the very top of a big hill, and the last bus stop is at the bottom of it. Not a big issue in the mornings, but hiking up that hill at the end of the day is a workout. But exercise is a good thing, so we're both taking it as an opportunity. I have only successfully biked all the way to the top once so far, but I'll just keep building up those muscles!

I'm not sure when I'll be posting again, but I assure you that it will be almost immediately after the Internet starts working at our flat. Hopefully, that will be soon.

Ka Kite Ano (See You Again) New Plymouth

Our move to Wellington yesterday went well, considering the number of difficulties we faced as it approached. I'll elaborate on that later, but I want to dedicate this post to our wonderful home in New Plymouth, Taranaki, which I believe is the most naturally beautiful place we've ever lived.

You'll notice that almost all of these pictures are from my bike ride to and from work. While this is a fairly narrow slide of the abounding beauty in Taranaki, it is the part that is closest to my heart, and the part that I am already missing, so it is appropriate for it to be massively overrepresented. Mount Taranaki is also prominently featured, but I'm not sure that it could ever be "overrepresented," because it is the pride and joy of Taranaki. I will miss my repeated feelings of surprise and awe whenever I looked up and saw it. 

Note: I have posted more detailed accounts (and different pictures) of everything in this post, so if you want to see more, look back over past posts.

Mount Taranaki, with the Te Rewarewa Bridge in front of it. I don't think I'd ever photographed it from this far back, but I actually love the effect.

A fellow biker saw me taking pictures one morning and offered to take one of me in the amazing surroundings. I took some of her as well, and we had a lovely little conversation about how stunning Taranaki is.

Mount Taranaki over Lake Rotomanu.

This is on my way down to East End Beach, where I went walking with Rachel almost every weekend. I will so miss our walks and talks!

This is when I'm almost to work. It's this little swampy area that seems incongruous with the flax, beaches, rolling grassland, and ocean all around it. But it is beautiful, and I love it.

These two horses have been my good friends for over a year and a half. I said good morning and good afternoon to them each day. Also, they taught me the interesting lesson that horses can actually lay down to rest, if they want. (J says that American horses don't do that). I wish I could have captured the best part of this in the picture - the horse that is laying down is reaching out with her long lips and munching on grass. Lazy, but wonderful!

Another view of the Te Rewarewa Bridge over the verdant green grass.

Coming up to the bridge, there are beautiful rows of huge harakeke (flax) plants, and I love the view of the bridge peaking over them (on the right).

Looking down from the peak of Paritutu Rock, we discovered the Mermaid Lagoon from Peter Pan! Isn't it magical? And if you look closely, you can see that there is a waterfall on the far side, which is perfect.

Mount Taranaki from the peak of Paritutu Rock.

A fitting finale: From Paritutu Rock, you can take a picture of the snowcapped Mount Taranaki and the ocean. We are privileged to have lived in such a uniquely situated and beautiful place.

I know that this move to Wellington is a positive one for us, but I have learned to love New Plymouth, and am sad to leave. As always, when we move away from a place, it is very difficult to leave the people to whom we have become attached, and that is true now as well. But I think that this is the first time that I feel so sorrowful to leave the actual, physical place. Looking at these pictures, and those that I've posted in the last year and a half, I think you can understand why.

Fortunately, I have great things to look forward to in Wellington, which is also a beautiful place. And with that positivity in my future, I am able to be thankful for the time I did get to live in New Plymouth, rather than sad that I have now left it. And that's a good place to be.

Weaving Harakeke

We are moving in less than six days, and there is a lot to do before then, but we are feeling much more on top of the situation now that we have a lovely little flat in Wellington. It is going to be a very busy week, but we'll be just fine.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share some pictures from a wonderful experience I had at kindergarten a few weeks ago. We had an Enviroschools Day, during which we had visitors come to learn about our Enviroschools practices at kindergarten.

One of the moms at kindergarten is very connected with the local iwi (tribe/extended family), and does lots of things at the local marae (sacred meeting place). One of her skills is weaving harakeke (flax), and she offered to teach the visitors (and teachers) how to make something out of harakeke. We were all very excited for this, and it was just as awesome as we anticipated.

This is an illustration of a harakeke plant. Our weaving teacher taught us that you never cut the Rito (child) part of the plant, because all the rest is there to protect the child, and so must you. You also leave the Awhi rito (parents - direct translation "care for child"), only cutting the Tūpuna (grandparents). You are also careful to cut them at a downward angle that discourages water from being able to flow into the base of the plant, which would make it rot. All of these things are to show respect for the harakeke, and to keep it growing healthily.

Our weaving teacher had cut harakeke for us, and died some bits blue so that we could have some pattern in the kono (eating bowls) that we made. 

You can also see some flowers that she made from harakeke. She has given me some of these flowers in the past, and they are stunning.

The whāriki (mat) we are all sitting on is also made out of harakeke.

This is the beginning of my kono. We used clothespins to hold the weaving at various stages, because your hands quickly get tired from holding it.

Our teacher was so patient and helpful, as all of us got stuck or confused at one stage or another.

Here is a later stage, as I made the second corner.

As my kono started taking shape, I got the hang of it a little bit better.

Here is a finished kono (eating vessel). Pretty cool, eh?

This experience was so much fun, and gave me such respect for the knowledge and ability involved in traditional tikanga Māori (culture)! I would love to spend more time learning to weave harakeke. That will have to be something I look into when we are settled in Wellington.