Gord and Susie Schlegel are from Grand Bend. I taught with Susie for all the years I was at Grand Bend School and her husband, Gord was the principal at the neighbouring school. They are both retired and on a vacation to New Zealand. I am so glad they are here, they are fun and they are so much like my Mom and Dad. Their personalities are very similar and it is the next best thing to having Sambo and Reena here with us. Susie taught Sammy when we was in Grade 1 and she is one of his favourite teachers. Both Abby and Sam has enjoyed having them here too. Mr. and Mrs. Schlegel are fierce Wii oponents!
Gord and Susie arrived in NZ and began their travels on the North Island. They called and left a message that they were in the South and would arrive at our home this past Friday. On Thursday afternoon they drove up and after a strange conversation they realized that they had been a day off as they were using a 2010 calendar! It worked out for us as they got to stay an extra day. So as we went to work and school Friday morning, Gord and Susie came along to see the kids' schools and they came to see Gore High with me. Then they spent their Friday exploring The Catlins. One of the reasons I love knowing the Schlegels is that they love life, everything they do they embrace and see the positive. They came home Friday evening having loved their day. The Catlins is one of our favourite places in NZ too.
Saturday we planned to do The Moonshine Festival and The Southern Shears. The kids went to a friend's house and Dan and I and the Schlegels went to the Moonshine Festival in the cold, drizzle of a day. We layered up and tried some moonshine, listened to fabulous bands, ate southern food. We enjoyed haggis, bubbles and squeak, wild boar wraps, lamb sweetbreads, pistachio cheesecake and southern ale. The weather put a bit of a damper on the day but we had fun anyway! (Does anyone know what sweetbreads are???)
Next we went to the Southern Shears and it was fascinating!!! The shearers were awesome! They sheared a ewe in less than a minute. We were so fortunate to be there as one of the competitions was special. Last year's champion of a certain grade was killed in a car accident and his family had made a special Maori Trophy. There were a bunch of Maori kids there, some of my students too...and they did a Haka for this year's winner. It was extremely emotional. I will try to video the students practicing the Haka at school. They do it on Wednesday and I always go and watch. It is beautiful. It moves me, I love watching it. Anyway, after the shearing we came home, warmed up with pizza and played Wii until the wee hours of the morning.
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