had a lovely and interesting weekend with my sweetheart :)

on friday after sleeping off the migraine and spending the day plant shopping/gardening he came home with a surprise video and we had a surprise movie date at home (i love B.O.B.! anyone else love B.O.B.? he's hilarious!) and on Sat afternoon we went along to the aquarium on the peninsula which is run by the uni which i've always meant to visit. they were running a session on seaweed! there was an educational bit where we watched a doco and we were introduced to various species (apparently nz has 1000 species and there are many, many undiscovered/unnamed species in the world) including the famous nori (jap name)/karengo (maori name)/pophyra (scientific name) and the more common bladder kelp. and the "gorse of the sea" the wakame... i liked how they were categorised: the reds, the browns, and the greens. simple! and even better that other than being good for you, free for the picking, available year round etc etc, they are all (apparently) not poisonous so you don't even have to identify them to eat them. best!

we went to the touch pool to touch some species which had been collected for us and one of the staff showed us all the wonderful things that can be made with bull kelp and a knife - jandals, a bouncy rubber ball, a handbag etc

then we traipsed down to the shore (didn't bring my gum boots but neither did most people) to harvest some seaweed before heading back in to taste an amazing spread made with the tasty stuff. i was quite impressed with the variety of stuff you can make with this ingredient, i tasted oatmeal cookies, chocolate brownies, asian flavoured relish, cheese sticks, kelp scones, "shark teeth", fried kelp chips, it was also tasty served fresh on crackers with cream cheese (different sorts having their own taste and texture) and dried, it can be flaked as a condiment or ground as a flour substitute. fresh it is used as a vegetable substitute. it's incredible!

i can't wait for my next seaside trip after lik's exams with a big plastic bag or two! we came away with several sheets of recipes too :)

have made more progress in the garden and while nowhere as prolific as last year (well year two was famous for being full on) i think we're coming on nicely.

and as a last minute sponsored holiday we're heading back from 1-15 jan. it was %@&^$@#$ hard to book with tickets disappearing from right under our noses!!! but anyway we've got them so yay. it's time i reckon to meet up with some old friends!

We had a lovely long weekend in welly. Flew in on Thurs and enjoyed the warm weather for all but one day (sat). Did a bit of shopping (chalkydigits was having a sale and my sweet man bought my an organic cotton hoodie in "falafel" and i LOVE it! wearing it as i type now) but not too much. visited our by-now regular shao la joint and maxed out again. we're getting better at estimating our stomach capacities but when it comes to sio bak and roast duck, fat chance! it was yummy!

no pics sorry because we didn't bring the camera. we stayed in a nice studio apartment on the terrace which was a steal from wotif and great location although i think we have become soft. we found the city too noisy and well, city-ish! how! people from sg cannot handle welly? omg! too many sirens and things? luckily we were on the 13th floor but still. not exactly quiet. i found i really missed waking up to birdsong and peace and quiet.

the husband's exam went well too or better than he expected, he was so nervous before but all the prayer helped and God poured out lots of grace. as an aside my first result came back "provisionally", which apparently means pre-moderation. well, "provisionally" i got full marks for my exam! crazy! Glory to God, who doesn't do mediocrity. It wasn't me! You'd believe me if you saw my half-baked "study notes"... I am a grateful recipient of His grace!

No the garden didn't take over again while we were gone, ha! Mustn't let that happen again. Have also been recently been under the husband's influence quite engrossed in Battlestar galatica, despite my initial reservations and some very annoying blonds I find myself quite pulled into their lives.

We might go back to Singapore (yes, again, the old "maybe") so stay tuned.

We are enjoying being home very much. I honestly think our home is nicer than many hotels and holiday homes so if only we could bring it with us to new places that would be perfect. L is studying for another 2 weeks then he's done studying for the year. Yes only for the year. More next year! Will it ever stop yo I don't know.

That's the update for now! Back to my summer light reading. Tess of the D'Urbervilles anyone?

It's the first day of holidays and my exams and assignments already feel far, far away. Actually they already felt far, far away yesterday afternoon. Ha.

Thank you everyone who have prayed/been praying for me. The last thing, which was viva, went really well except one question. But otherwise it was great! Had a really nice chat with the examiner during and afterwards about CBT. I think CBT rocks and most people I know would benefit from some, including myself :)

Anyway today I got up leisurely, started making a to do list. Have about a week before we fly off to Welly for the man's exam and our getaway weekend! Whee! But before that I have quite a lot of maintenance jobs in the house I want to do. I like going away and coming back to a clean sparkling tidy house. It helps buffer the change from walking out of our home into a (usually) luxurious beautiful clean sparkling apartment or holiday home. So I like coming back to that so that it doesn't feel like "Oh. Holiday over." As the husband rightfully says, we live in paradise. It's just letting things slip which endanger that, like dirty kitchen/toilet/floors etc. Now that all the brain work is over I can do the manual labour, which I never thought I'd say but I think I'm looking forward to. It gives me such a sense of satisfaction and achievement to do the work and enjoy the fruits. I'm also going to spruce it up by putting new vases of fresh flowers from outside in various corners of the house. I do so enjoy them. They make the place pretty and smell lovely. We are truly blessed with a huge variety of gorgeous flowers to pick!

Was online chatting to old friend C and I wished we could go back to Singapore for a good period to catch up properly with people instead of getting old, second hand news. Not everyone is as good as C at making time to email and chat when we meet online on gmail. Some of my friends are SO busy it would be hard even to make a time to ring them.

So reinspired I went to look at tickets online, C suggested it might be cheaper taking a longer route via oz or somewhere else on some low cost airlines.

Nope! It still works out to be more than $2000 each and includes more expenses like staying overnight in places like Darwin because the "cheap" flights leave and arrive at weird hours of the night. Of course.

Does anyone in Singapore miss us enough to sponsor $2000 x2 for us to go back to Singapore this summer? *hopeful appeal* Or just struck Lotto or something and can't think of enough ways to spend the money? Or something? Not likely. Not that I doubt I am loved but oh well everyone has things to do with the money they earn. Like house renovations. I totally understand.

Anyway just thought I'd try. Who knows maybe someone with lots of money and no bills will want to fly us back just to entertain them, though I doubt it. Everyone in Singapore sounds SUPER SUPER busy.

Maybe I'll go do something that doesn't require money, like scrub the toilet.

After leaving the house renovations for a whole year we are starting up again. But it's going to cost, which is why we can't justify $4000-$5000 for us to fly back for a holiday. We'll just have to holiday in our house and wait for people to come visit us instead. *cry* Paradise is great, but it's far, far from everyone else.

 The countdown has begun!

This is the last week of class (last day Thurs). Then next week it's study and assessment week. Got 3 assignments and 1 exam next week.
Then the week after, viva and another exam and another assignment.

But thanks to God this semester I'm well, not plagued by headaches, not stressed, I'm happy, the house is relatively tidy, I'm exercising at the gym regularly (very regularly for me, and seeing my endurance improve noticeably!).

I got my first result back for this semester - my DFO exam part A which is 40% of the grade. 
God generously gave me 78.5/80!  Amazing! Well it was an open book exam. No credit to me all to Him!

I'm going to get round to taking a picture of my turtleneck and I've got my hands into my new super chunky yarn that arrived from America on Saturday. I got 2 colours, two different brands to make a cardigan and a vest. Whee! Got massive needles too 15mm! Only $4.99 from spotlight.

I'm SO looking forward to these two weeks finishing then it's summer holidays! Got to get stuck in the garden again, got the ball rolling on the new kitchen, so many improvements to be made to the house. And a weekend in welly late November together, and other exciting things. 

Life rocks at the moment despite a heap of assignments and 2 exams to go. Life with God rocks!

 We had a great time in Wellington just relaxing, eating, drinking, making merry etc. The apartment we stayed in was on the dock so that it was right smack in town and close to everything but minus the noise and traffic. It was a one bedroom, just the right size for us, with a lovely bathroom with underfloor heating. That, I will miss. Everything was so comfy it was impossible not to relax and be happy! We explored town well and truly, shopped a lot, ate amazing food and generally lived it up in the big city. Saw a play, a french film and a comedy improv at a bar. 

The day after we arrived home was our anniversary! After the week-long festivities, we decided to mark the day by going out for a nice dinner at a new flashy restaurant near our house. It didn't disappoint. We didn't take any pics of the food (we would look so unglam and everyone would stare!), or of ourselves (rain- and wind-swept and I remembered why Dunedin life is incompatible with dressing up and wearing makeup.) but we had a lovely time. And then we came home, sat in front of the fire with the rest of the bottle of wine we started at the restaurant and re-read our wedding vows to remind ourselves of what we committed to, and to try with renewed vigour to carry them out as best we can. I don't know what other people think of wedding vows, but they generally don't say "I promise to try and be a good spouse when I feel like it". Those would be easy to keep. But ours promise body and mind etc, very full on so I was glad we went over them. I think husbands and wives need to be reminded of what the promise was, in order to keep them. 

After the weekend L went back to work starting at a new clinic down the hill from us, and this chapter will see us save lots of petrol money cos he walks up and down the hill to/from work, and he also signed up at flashy Les Mills in town. I'll continue to patronise good ol' Unipol. I must say when we went with the free trial passes to Les Mills, I did miss Fitness First. This gym is probably the most flash but still a good long way from the flashy gyms in Singapore. Can't believe they used to even give out workout clothes and provide all kinds of toiletries! Are Singaporeans the most pampered or what! There's no reason why everyone who is a gym member in Singapore shouldn't be super fit! Well I found myself thinking if I didn't have to bring anything except my socks and shoes to the gym, which was the case in FF but no longer here, it would be so convenient to go all the time! Yeah right. I don't remember going that much, though who knows when I get used to this if I ever join a gym in Sg again I will be so awe struck by how convenient it is I'll go... all the time! 

This week I've been taking it easy and enjoying myself by doing whatever I feel like when it takes my fancy. No such luxury when term restarts! I've been making food, reading, doing chores around the house, lots of knitting (still working on that scarf but almost there!)...

Next week I should probably start shifting my body clock away from 10 or 11am getting up times and more towards 6 or 7am. Sigh. And maybe do some reading. The results are starting to come back to us and I hope that motivates me to work harder and prepare more for next sem, although I am fully aware none of this is of my own strength, but God's grace and blessings. When I am weak He is strong, hooray! There is hope for me yet.

Waiting for the firewood guy to deliver 5m3 of firewood but he hasn't rung. Didn't give me an ETA either so I've been pottering around the house within earshot of the phone. Later I'll make a shepherd's pie for dinner. :) This week is probably the most varied in terms of dinner menu cos I've got the time and energy (and equipment, I lately realised is very important) to make nice meals. We had pork-and-prawn dumplings with noodles in homemade chicken stock on Monday, then homemade pizza-from-scratch on Tuesday, then Coq au Vin last night with rice and roasted pumpkin last night, and shepherd's pie tonight. Tomorrow, possible a chicken pilaf or a Turkish lamb something-or-other with pita bread and yoghurt. Also did an Upside Down Apple Cake which tasted lovely but almost caused me a massive rage cos the cake refused to cook properly at first. And finally used up the last of the apples from our tree yesterday making dried apple rings for L to eat with cereal.

Productive and happy! :)

alors, c'est aujourd'hui. mon chéri rentre! il fallait me réveiller tôt ce matin pour bosser mais je ne l'ai pas fait. pas assez tôt en tout cas. c'est pas ma faute! notre lit est trop confortable, c'est toujours une lutte pour nous lever.

ça ne fait que 5 nuits mais il me sens très long. je le trouve un peu difficile à croire que nous allons nous réunir ce soir. on va chez Plato pour dîner. un rendez-vous! 

ce sont les derniers jours avant le fin du semestre et il me reste pas beaucoup de temps. je travaillais lentement mais au moins je fais du progrès. j'ai quatre devoirs et deux examens, et puis c'est fini, on part d'ici jusqu'à la capitale pendant une semaine. Yay!

mais pour le moment, je travaille, et j'attends. loo dee doo dee doo.
 

The weekend was rather sociable and I got out and about. On Sat I took the bus to Porirua, then train to Paraparaumu, then bus to B's sister's house. Met the brother in law and niece and nephew and contrary to what I was led to believe (that I was there for coffee), we hit the road immediately! It was a beautiful day (and weekend, the heat's back oh yeah baby!) and we walked along the Waikanae river. The men took bicycles while us girls walked along and chatted very sociably. Walked past a Christian campsite called El Rancho and walked all the way up to where G does vaulting. For other people like me who didn't know what vaulting was, it's gymnastics/acrobatics on a horse! Like a circus! I was so impressed with tiny skinny girl doing that kind of thing. No one was vaulting at the club so too bad for me, I was keen to see what it looked like.

After our huge walk we got back to the house and sat down for a snack, then soon B and I had to leave to catch the bus to the train. She was heading into town for a family do while I was going home. The train was almost an hour late, or else two trains didn't show up (they're meant to be every half hour) but luckily we were together so we chatted about everything. She said the trains weren't the most reliable cos they had to make way for other trains, like the two we *did* see - one was a tourist steam train and another was the overlander from Auckland. Cheh!

Public transport I must say is pretty expensive here. It cost me $11 each way to/from Paraparaumu for bus/train/bus each way. B's train ticket to Wellington cost $10 one way! Incredible. And there are people who commute to the city to work everyday. I wonder if driving can be much cheaper than that? Probably better not to think about it.

Sunday morning woke up feeling confused because my phone decided to daylight save unilaterally. It's really not til 5 April but for some reason it took the liberty of going back one hour while I was asleep so I woke up confused. Went upstairs, found other people and confused them too. But we all made it to church with no problem. Met a Malaysian couple with two young girls who've been here 5 years. The man was telling me all about how to get citizenship and all the tips and tricks. Reminded me a bit of my dad, the mover-shaker type of man. Turns out they go to the same home group as the couple I'm staying with. I feel rather at home in this church despite being there only for the second time. Could be because the group is small and people very friendly and service very interactive and participative. Could be because I found people to talk to and engage in interesting conversation both last and this week, instead of the usual how-are-you-then-walk-away type of interaction with new people. Everyone showed lots of interest in my course and what I'm doing here and I feel very welcome indeed. Maybe it's just Wellingtonians. A friendly and welcoming lot.

Then bussed into town (distinctly felt the "wah big city" feeling welling up in me as the bus entered the CBD) and met up with S and K for coffee in Cuba St. Lovely sunny day and was nice to be out in town. Missed the husband a lot though cos of all the interesting places we had been to together last time we were in Welly and all the interesting places we have yet to explore!

Came home mid afternoon and did quite a lot of work. Prepared for supervision which went well today. My main supervisor was sick and didn't come in so had a lot of time to read articles and things, in the afternoon had supervision and then went home early. Thought I'd do something different since I'd spent the whole morning working hard so went and sat in the library and flipped through two magazines. The gardening one inspired and entertained me somewhat, but the house one made me depressed that I wasn't home with my sweetie! So I left and came back here to relax and enjoy some peace without little kids running and screaming. Libraries here are not like when I was growing up that's for sure.

Bit tired today, cos of brain overload, hopefully tomorrow I'll be out and about with J and doing some fun stuff. Got a visit to the acute ward planned on Wed, will spend a day there, which is perfect cos I'm meeting some (more) Malaysians for dinner in town. Sociable!

Early start, same as school days. Picked up two friends and headed to airport. Sad to leave my sweetie of course! But I know it'll go fast. And I think this time will be more social, which is good.

Flight went well, weather was good, came in on time, met by a friend (also said hello to C's family and M) and whisked off by shuttle to the place I'm to call home for the next 5 weeks. Lovely family, very interesting travel/mission/volunteer history/stories so I've been chatting with them quite a bit already. I have a lovely room with a view and a toilet and bath pretty much to myself (they partitioned the house into a downstairs 1 br apartment and a 3br house upstairs to rent to different groups when they were away from NZ for periods at a time so I've got the downstairs room and quite a lot of privacy. Nowhere to hang anything but a great big chest of drawers into which I unpacked everything to feel quite "moved in".

Friend went off after a cuppa cos he'd just finished a week of nights, will meet up again for dinner or something.

L doesn't seem to be able to come up for a weekend and neither can I go down so this will be cold turkey for us. Our first time apart since getting married! But otherwise same old, we do this once in a while to keep us appreciating the other! Well not on purpose but it does happen that our relationship grows stronger when we are apart for a short while and we can come back together with new personal growth to share.

Got a ride out to the township and I managed to find my way back up the hill on foot, which took about 20 minutes but I'm sure my timing will improve. I know I won't have to worry about not getting enough exercise! Going for a haircut in a nice looking place (ie expensive) so hopefully I will be presentable and professional on Monday. I don't want to be glam, just not straggly. Going to church in the morning just down the hill so that will be convenient, and perhaps taking the bus to work to try out the route. Heard a few stories about how the buses aren't that reliable but oh well I can only do my best and pray and explain what happens to the supervisors right? I'm definitely less anxious and on slightly more equal footing this year than last. Quite a few of my friends are even negotiating quite unusual work schedules for frivolous reasons! I'm not though.

Lots of interesting books here in the house so maybe I won't have to visit the library and worry about getting a card after all. Spotted a few I have meant to read already which is good. Of course I will do some study and might even look into finding a yarn shop if I really run out of things to do. Walks are planned with B who's staying with her sis nearby. And there's always the dog to walk! (coincidentally it's a lab called Russ T! How uncanny is that, especially with Rustee sitting on my bed?) oh and telly. Spent the evening watching an english show about murders in a small town. Slow but surprisingly intriguing.

Had a nice bbq dinner with the couple and it was good. They had expected a 20 year old! Oh well hope they don't mind me.

This weekend is full enough I reckon, especially since I'm meant to rest up. Tonight bedtime is a bit late but I wanted to wait for the husband to get home from his boys night out but tomorrow will be an early night for sure.

hard to believe we have done only 4 weeks of term and harder to believe i'm starting placement on monday. i have been so busy i haven't even had time to process that yet. maybe that's good cos we just go and do it. given a week's holiday it would become a bigger deal and hence more unwarranted anxiety i'm sure.

but the past week in the library has certainly felt like end of term all over again and rushing assignments, except it's only week 4! tonnes of people are still in holiday mode but there is no rest for us year 2 OT ones. anyway it was good to finish everything and there was the shared lunch today with the year 1s. a fabulous spread to say the least thanks to the committee.. i hope the year 1s don't think this is going to be the usual standard, especially when the food is potluck they're gonna be disappointed!

only a few of us came for the last last class after lunch, for an hour. after which i went to the library (not a soul from my course there of course - some people already left as early as thurs!) to finish my prep work on mental health models so i could return the book and have one less thing to lug home. walked to town to get foot covers (i expect a lot of home visits) and caught the 330 bus home. got home and had a wee break by watering some plants and looking at the zucchini and tomato plants. now we definitely have more zucchinis growing (harvested our first 3 this week) and there are definitely tomatoes, green big ones! i sure hope the husband remembers to harvest them when ripe. i'm going away at the crucial time when the weather's warming up again and harvests are plentiful! sigh

got my packing list sorted but need the man to retrieve my backpack from storage. well not strictly, but i'm procrastinating. after my backpacker days my packing just gets less and less swift. why? i don't know. hope he'll be home earlier today. got some pre-departure bonding to do. heh.

been so busy it's nice to finally have nothing immediate to do. there is still work of course but nothing that can't wait til tomorrow. my flight is an early morning one and we're picking two other girls up. lots of OT students on the flight to welly tomorrow! gonna be fun...

made contact with the family i'm staying with and sounds good so far. not too sure about having dinner with them, i think i have become more like L and hence more xenophobic. i'm sure i'll get along wonderfully with them, but not sure how myself i can be.

tired. want to get to bed early tonight. i'm soooo gonna miss our bed! but at least i'll have my pillow and good old Rusty (the most well travelled stuffed dog EVER i'm sure)..

since the last post, i have not been idle.

we went for our Round-The-South-Island-In-Less-Than-A-Week road trip. more about that when I can be bothered to upload photos.

i started school. FULL ON! is the only way to describe it. I also received an award, which is given to the top first year student. Not having got any heads up (I doubt they had ever told us that such an award existed) I was more than surprised when my name was announced. We'd all been dozing through the early morning usual welcome "Welcome back... well done...this year... work hard... Stage 2 now... expectations... etc etc... and then with very little preamble the head of school said, "...given to the top student... goes to A------- L--!" and everyone clapped and the two girls between me and the aisle got up to let me through and I went *blink blink* and then went up confusedly to shake the hand of the head of school and receive a massive heavy glass-fronted case, in which was a large embossed plate made of silver. My name is engraved at the back with the year 2008 for posterity! After I got over the surprise I was very pleased. My first academic award since... primary school! Heh. Came with a card "well done etc" and a $50 book voucher which is the best part I'm gonna need it!

I had a weird dream last night too, must be the fatigue and stress of class and placement looming close.

I dreamt that MC was a prawn. (Visual image is cooked prawn, you know, curled up) She was pregnant and about to spawn. She was lying in my hand and suddenly lots of large eggs started pouring out (they resembled Israeli couscous or pearl barley but who knows what prawn roe looks like, not me) and I called to L to bring a bowl. I thought we should keep the eggs moist and warm so they would hatch. But while I was thinking this, it was a bad time to act because just then K and i were in a place that wasn't TA, but which had the choirmaster playing a piano. At least he "normally" (in the dream) played a piano. This time K and i were playing and I made many mistakes, all of which were loud and jarring. There was a spotlight on us, a lime follow spot, like a concert. When the lights went out the working lights were still on and I had an argument in the wings (while being at the piano) with the person (someone male, can't remember who but someone I know in real life) about why didn't he turn the working lights off and if he doesn't how can he expect them to *be* off? But then they faded out because someone else had turned them down, although in real life working lights are switch controlled not on the lighting board and therefore cannot fade and definitely not by the hand of the lighting op. Can't remember the rest...

Life group has resumed and so has Save The Humans. This is going to be a good year! We volunteered to babysit for a couple in life group who is expecting a second child in 2 months since this will be their last V day for awhile. Not sure what the plan for Sat is yet though. We are having a date on Fri instead to avoid the sea of couples on Sat!

Had class from 8-5 today and I'm knackered. Got some work to do and then hit the sack early. Hopefully this weekend there'll be time to upload some pics of the trip!

It's been a sociable and hot weekend and it's been great! Other than my migraine last night..

We were supposed to have two couples over for lunch yesterday but one of the guys was sick and so we abandoned the gourmet pies that L was in the middle of making and trooped over to their place with pizzas! The house was lovely and so was their view. Chatted about plans, being doctors (I'm used to this now heh), travelling, tramping, gardening etc. C was really surprised when he found out it was me who wanted to go fishing and not L! He looked surprised too. I really want to learn all the things I never got to learn from my fisherman uncle, who wasn't really that kind of fisherman. I imagine he fished with nets not lines from a little boat. I have this romantic picture of fishing in my mind, of bobbing along in a little rowboat with a picnic and a book on a warm lazy afternoon. I know the real experience is going to be quite different, for one thing, C has a kayak not a rowboat. I wonder if we are fishing from a kayak? Hmmm wait and see.

We came home and were picked up to assemble at B's and then 9 of us set off on our road trip to Oamaru in their Defender! I sat in the second row facing forwards and it was fun being on the road with the wind in our hair mitigating the heat of the day. I got very wind blown in fact and was rather sleepy from the anti motion sickness tablet i had taken. it was like being on a large family outing with the "parents" pointing out monuments and telling us where the best fish and chips was, the best ice cream was... of course we had to stop to have the "best, cheapest and largest ice cream cones" and they were ENORMOUS. I didn't finish mine. $2 for 2 large scoops! And that was the smallest.

Met N's friend when we got to Oamaru. The play was held in an old grain store in the historic precinct of Oamaru, which is off the state highway and therefore very much by-passed. None of us knew there was this slice of history so well preserved it almost felt like movie set. I enjoyed the ancient buildings and the general feel of the street, like being whisked back in time.

The play itself featured 3 performers taking on a variety of roles, using quick costume changes and only a few chests as props (and prop holders) bringing the story of the great storm of 1868 to life through the story of a young family, the Bakers, whose two little sons eventually died on a ship during the storm.

The two male performers were very energetic and tight in their performance while the girl, perhaps being the understudy (my opinion is that understudies never get enough rehearsal time) was less sure and lacked truth. still it was a full house and it was very innovative, with the audience in-the-round and action all around us. i was still sleepy from the tablet so perhaps wasn't that engage-able. enjoyable nonetheless.

then we proceed to dinner at the Last Post which used to be a post office. we had drinks on a lovely deck enjoying the setting sun before dinner. there was a nesting pair of penguins under the deck so from time to time we would catch a whiff of what people variously described as "blue cheese", "rotorua" and "something birdy". dinner itself was good too but by this time the heat, noise, smoke from someone smoking outside, dehydration and fatigue combined to give me a good pounding migraine. i couldn't really believe i was hours away from home. 1/3 into my meal i wanted to push the food away and go to bed, but i staunchly finished most of my meal and still participated in quite an interesting conversation about teachers and india.

i slept on L's shoulder most of the way home and we were dropped off home. i fell asleep very promptly.

today, still hot but a little more humid (this is welcome as it's really dry here!) and did some gardening and some watering which i should have done yesterday. the poor tomato and zucchini plants were so wilty! there's going to be a change to southerlies in the next few days so this heat is about to abate. i'm off to put the okra seedlings in the ground...

J came over to NZ and after working his way down the country met up with us last Saturday. On Monday the three of us embarked on our road trip to beautiful Fiordland. We stayed at a lovely place (Campbell Auto Lodge) in Te Anau right across from the lake. Spacious, cheap and comfy bed and pillows! Because I just got my full licence (hold the applause, it took 3 years) I drove the leg from Gore to Te Anau. Fiordland is really stunning. Unlike Wanaka which is pretty in a pleasant relaxed sort of way, the view of Lake Te Anau and the National Park beyond is quite awesome. Raw, unpredictable and breathtaking.

We did the requisite Milford cruise, my favourite part was when the boat came really close to a waterfall and I looked vertically upwards to see the water leaping over the edge. But I was somewhat sleepy due to anti-nausea medication. Sea-legs? Don't have any. Between pukey and sleepy I guess I did alright.

One of the highlights was doing a short day walk on the Kepler Track. My very first time on a Great Walk! And my first tramp of the season. :) Winter is rough in these parts so there were many fallen trees. 30 minutes into the walk we came across a massive tree fallen right across the path. Had to scramble/kinda clamber over it. Mini adventure :)
Looking forward to more tramps this summer, I'm slowly but surely collecting more and more correct gear for this country's seasons and unpredictable climate.

J left on Fri on a bus to Chch. Today, therefore, I spent getting ready to delve into work next week - cleared the house, put things in order, continued work on the garden taking advantage of the sunny weather. Winter came early and so did spring so perhaps this spate of hot weather is an early summer? I'm not complaining.

Today was really productive both inside the house and out. Relaxing fun day in domestic bliss - L was working at home but relatively relaxed so we entertained each other now and again, napped together a bit. Tomorrow I hope I'll have a chance to finish up the garden for now until the next round of work needs to be done. Got a headstart on that though this season, definitely more prepared.

In the veggie garden I have leeks, celery, cabbage, mesclun and swiss chard growing.
Still a few shallots and carrots from last season, also spinach (they didn't name it Perpetual Spinach for nothing!).
The rhubarb has come back this year, as have the chives. (And the comfrey yay!)
In the sunroom aka plant nursery chez An I have basil seedlings ready to be pricked/planted out, 9 NZ flax seedlings, a very tall dill plant, two pots of coriander, two punnets of rocket, some melon and tomato seedlings. Also one very skinny vulnerable looking stevia seedling. And a healthy looking apricot plant growing fast!
Outside I have several pear plants germinated over autumn and hardened over winter too. Though they're tiny, one put out wee flowers this spring. So cute! So precocious.
The herb/bulb garden is expanding, with various bulbs interspersed with rosemary, thyme of two sorts, two sage plants and mint currently. The oregano and two other rosemary plants are ready to go in and join the lot too.
As for the oldies, the bay tree put out flowers this year and the lemon tree is in utter confusion with baby lemons, buds and flowers all happening simultaneously! I think the move confused it very much.

There is more work to be done, more seeds to be sown, seedlings to be planted and general work such as mulching with compost, sweeping/gathering up fallen branches, leaves, wood chips etc. Not to mention lifting and separating old perennials and continuing to feed and weed!

J helped me dig out the biggest monster fennel plant and I worked on several smaller ones. Bronze fennel is unfortunately an introduced and now naturalised invasive weed! Spreads like crazy and doesn't die down in winter like it ought. Instead it produces masses of seed heads which of course is why it spreads like crazy. I'm planning to plant bulb fennel to replace bronze fennel cos we don't really use the leaves much, a pity. The roots smelled really lovely and fresh though, I haven't researched it but I'm sure it's edible. If you think dandelion roots are tenacious and fat, you ain't seen dock, but if you think dock is monstrous, you ain't seen bronze fennel! The roots were comparable in size to my forearm!

Baking a wholemeal honey cake at the man's request, better go check on it..

it really has.

last thursday and friday were spent at Hui on the marae. all that hype leading up to it and we made it through. the workshops were really interesting (treaty of waitangi and flax weaving) and the food was good. and incredibly i managed to sleep surrounded by 79 other students and staff.

the whole area was really beautiful and we got some sun day two, managed to fit in a walk and saw some horses and sheep and little lambs. i love little lambs and little calves! they are so cute. i can't wait to move somewhere classed "rural" so there aren't any animal restrictions.

today was relaxed and slow though i did practice a bit of driving for friday's test. quite amused when i was reversing against a slope and lik said i sounded like i was racing backwards. i think when i grow up i'll be a boy racer.

tomorrow early start for us. B's picking us up at 0820 and then we're off to the marathon! drinks stations number one, very important job! we also spent a good part of the night making a butter cake with chocolate icing for her family to thank them for having us over for lunch last week.

then it's back to school as usual, and assignments and then holidays end sept. YAY! can't wait to drive to Fjordland. never been before so it's going to be so exciting!

i've been reading other people's blogs regularly but haven't blogged in my own and today of all days finally thought better do it. think i was partly inspired by k's point form blog. i'll copy her and do point form too, hopefully in some kind of organisation.

(better try to do categories in chronological order)

1. placement in June.
week 1 was boring n slow. week 2 onwards picked up cos of proactively asking all the other staff to take me along if they had interesting patients/assessments. went well and final evaluation is glowing. flatting with a couple in a small version of our house was very nice too. my first flatting experience! went so well. we got along perfectly with common interests, could talk, same age group, similar experiences of travelling/studying. had our own space but interacted well and just enough. NO fights over tv remote or chores. i tried to leave as small a footprint as i could (which i do anyway) and they said i was their best tenant ever! we became friends and there're definitely plans for them to come stay with us next time round1

2. lik coming up to auckland.
went well, we stayed 2 nights in waitakere then moved to waterfront apartments on prince's wharf. luxury living for the week before our wedding. lots of shopping, meals at the hilton hotel, our neighbour, a big spa session before the wedding. very relaxing and weather was great, apartment was warm and very well done up

3. wedding
went beautifully. just us, two requisite witnesses, organist, priest and photographer. in a tiny chapel that couldn't have comfortably held many more people so it didn't seem so empty. a tiny historic chapel with dark wood inside. morning started with decadent long slow breakfast at hilton, then spa opposite us, then off to the church, then photo taking around town (was drizzly) then tapas and wine at a fantastic place in ponsonby. got a package from old friends in sg at the tapas bar and was so touched. they sent me tiffany pearl bracelet! felt so grown up heh. and so touched. and missed them so much! missed everyone who couldn't have been there but that upped my motivation to plan a party next year here.

4. road trip
left auckland the next morning, drove to taupo where we stayed across the lake (allegedly the area of sg) from the township in a lovely holiday village. then two nights later off to the middle of nowhere in martinborough perched on a hill overlooking vast expanses of land and a river and mountains in the distance in a designer bach. could see the entire night sky full of stars when we arrived late that night through the massive windows/glass walls. in the morning that same view transformed into landscape could be seen from bed/bathroom! almost like an open concept bath/shower i'd like one day. then wellington for a bit more big city life/culture then flew back here to dunedin.

5. school
started for a week. on thurs felt like 3-4 weeks already had passed. interesting subjects this sem especially social anthropology (taught by french butchy prof), inquiry (how to critique research), one module about design, as in product/environment design and how it enables/disables people, a longitudinal placement one afternoon a week, etc. will be fun! got more half days this sem too.

6. garden
teenage leeks outside doing well, i dug up my first organically grown carrot from seed! was very exciting indeed esp since it turned out better looking than i expected given the stony soil (they grow twisted and forked when they meet a stone in the ground, and we have many in that bit of the garden). my savoy cabbages also doing well though will take a while more to br big enough to eat. the apples weren't wasted cos though the tree was bare of leaves and the apples had all turned yellow (overripe) by time we got home from the trip the birds especially some blackbirds seem to like them and they come very tentatively when they can't see me (like, when i'm hiding behind the curtain watching from the lounge) and peck on the fallen apples. other birds (tui maybe?) are feeding on the nectar of the pink rhododendrons in the front which is really wang so everytime we come home there is a huge flurry and like maybe 5-6 tiny birds hastily fly away cos they aren't tame. i'm going to set up some food for them out back too with seeds to complement the nectar/fruit.

7. house
finally got the energy audit guy to come in, we'll have a better insulated house soon! and plans to do up the kitchen too, my first new kitchen, so exciting! never thought i'd get the chance to say what i want in my kitchen! (lately more inspired to start thinking again about efficient/eco design cos two of my lecturers (married) are building an energy efficient house from scratch including making 2000 mud bricks themselves! he brought one into class yesterday. incredible.) still, we have limitations cos of not changing the structure and too much of the layout. i enjoy living here and i love our park-like garden but i also look forward to a fully efficient well planned house that takes into account all aspects of the environment, orientation, sun direction, wind direction etc.

too long now gonna finish here. photos maybe later!

this two week break has felt a lot longer, which i suppose is a good sign. school starts again on monday, runs for two weeks, then two weeks of "study and assessment", which, since we don't have exams this sem, means go and do your assignments and hand in on time. nice.

i've got a headstart, for some reason been quite keen to get a real grip on one particular essay. not that it's hard, but that the word limit doesn't allow me to do justice to the topic, which is both contentious and complex. sigh.

i really love being able to locate and flip through super old classics that every other academic still alive refers to. it's like in academia, when you want to say X is because of Y, you can't just any ol' how say "I think X is because of Y". gotta say "X is because of Y, according to this or that old man" so very contemporary articles look really funny, as in, "X is because of Y, says A, quoted from B, quoted from C, and everyone quoted from old man famous professor theorist person". wonder what it would have been like for the original dude to sit down with quill in hand and go, hmmm, eureka! X is because of Y.

academic rigorousness (?sp) is what kills creative original thought. too suspicious is what i say.

anyway.

so making progress. this weekend is freezing, major hail today, all the plants are banging on the door protesting and demanding to be let in. poor things. i ran out in the hail to tie the olive tree and its stake more firmly, which were both flapping about dangerously. so who else wants to move to the mediterranean? i do! *hands up*

following the man to boring ol' T this weekend. he's going to earn money at hospital and i'm going to hole up in motel and WORK! bringing books and notes and everything. of course i predict there will be this one crucial book dating from 1962 or something languishing in a corner of the vast library that i have overlooked. whatever.

also in process of locating accommodation for a month in june in auckland where i have been posted for work placement. winter, fun! i love cold. yah right.

gotta go pack and assemble my study gear. must must work. back late sun straight to bed and then 8-4 lectures on monday. yippee.

that's what the man feels like, and i'm like the accompanying monkey with the accordion! ha well no, not really, cos i'm not part of the money making business part.

we've been on the road a lot for L's work. had a nice relaxing (relatively, if you ignore all the housework/renovating/errands bits) january, then it was back to work for the man. well, someone's gotta earn the money right? :p i'm the dutiful supportive woman behind the hardworking man.

we spent 3 long days (long for him cos of long shift; long for me cos of boring town!) in Timaru (no offense, Timaru-ites!) and drove back very late last Sunday home. Spent the Sunday cleaning cos this weekend we've a dear friend visiting from sg. Then Sunday night drove 2.5 hours south to Invercargill, which is a lot bigger looking and modern feeling than I'd expected. L really likes the hospital here and can imagine us working together here, it's huge and very new. Well I told him wait at least 3 years for that, I haven't even started yet! Start in 2 weeks' time.

We drove down to the southern most town in NZ, Bluff. Here the State Highway 1 starts (or ends, but I think starts, since it's the oldest settlement in NZ, I think) quite undramatically. We did a nice long walk along the cliffs on a track. Got really desolate near the end, and very spectacular. Reminded me of both Italy near Cinque Terre cos of the winding path along the cliff and Greece in its raw desolate emptiness.

Where the track started was a signpost, I guess a rather famous one in tourist books. It stated we were only 300km off being equidistant from the South Pole and the equator. Strange to imagine, cos heading south from here would only take one through lots and lots of ocean. Some islands and some small S Am settlements, but that's it. Northwards from the same latitude north, would be lots and lots more land, cities, people.

Was strange to think about it, seeing as it felt we were at land's end, which technically is true, but we weren't that far from the equator at all.

No we didn't take a picture of the signpost. Heaps of pictures of it on the net though.

Looking forward to C coming to visit, we've to head off right after work today, I've got to get everything together packed and ready to zip off. He'll be at the airport waiting for us and contrary to what one would think, I really doubt it takes any time at all to get off the plane (probably walk down a flight of steps to the tarmac) and pick up luggage (might or might not be a "belt", I'm thinking they probably heap the bags in a pile and you pick!) so I hope we'll be on schedule today!

Oh and Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!