The Richards

Life is Good

2009-10-26T14:38:00.003+13:00

Today is Sunday. We awoke this morning to two happy kids barreling down the stairs and coming into our room and then going downstairs to watch cartoons together. Dano and I laid in bed and talked for a bit and listened to the kids giggle and talk about the shows. We got up and when I was making breakfast I looked down stairs to see the kids sitting on the same couch snuggling under a blanket. They are good kids. They get along, they talk to each other, they enjoy being together. Dano and I sat at the dining room table and had breakfast together and my parents drove in the driveway. Mom and Dad dropped by to deliver an apple pie that Mom had made before they went and met friends. We have begun our Church Search. We went to Sprucedale United this morning and were pleasantly greeted by my Grade 8 teacher! Also my principal and his wife (Abby's teacher) and their daughter go there. It was so nice to feel welcomed into a church. Our search will continue here in Chatham. After church we got a few groceries and then went and picked up cousin Emma who was staying in Chatham last night. The kids played outside all afternoon while Dano and I put together a wonderful roast beef dinner. Dan's brother and wife and cousin came over for dinner and it felt like we were home. Today I feel like we are home. It feels right.

My last post I was missing NZ and everything about it but life is good here. The feel of today and last few days feels good. There is a commercial on TV right now, 100% New Zealand...advertising NZ. It does tug at our hearts. It shows Milford Sound, penguins, oceans, mountains...all the things that we absolutely love about NZ. I cannot say that when I see that commercial I don't feel somewhat sad that our time there, for now, is over. I do feel more settled and am content here now. I truly feel blessed to have lived in such a beautiful, peaceful place. Our family, our marriage, our lives are better because we made this adventure happen.

The end,
Samantha

The End

2009-10-05T14:45:00.004+13:00

I have been dreading this last post. I have been putting if off. It is very hard for me to write this as I do not want our NZ adventure to end. I have an empty feeling inside of me. The feeling reminds me of how I feel after closing night of a musical or the day after a wedding. Of the four of us I have been the one that has had the hardest time settling in. I am very glad to be home, to see family and friends, to see our kids hang out with my parents and their cousins. Sam and Abby are loving school, Dano is loving his job. Life is good. But I have this longing feeling in my gut. I am not a crier....I am not. Since we have been back there have been two nights that my eyes have leaked while falling asleep. Even while writing this blog I am getting a little weepy.

NZ has changed our lives. Dan and I were in ruts in our jobs, our life balance was out of whack, too much energy went into worrying about work. Sammer was struggling socially at school feeling like a target each day. As a family we were busy busy busy, just getting by emotionally. NZ has changed all of that. Our 20 months in the south has taught us so much. We found a simple life. A life I want to live forever. The people we were blessed to meet are less stressed, less frazzled people. They put family first, have modest homes and enjoy the beauty of their country. They generously share their holiday homes and are warm hosts. Our Kiwi friends are special people.

I absolutely love NZ and will always hold our time there dearly. The mountains, waterfalls, ocean beaches, penguins are breathtaking and I miss them. We were blessed to meet so many friends in Pukerau and Gore. For now, it is time for us to reconnect with our family and friends here in Canada. Chatham is home again. It does feel good to start planting our permanent roots here. Spending time with the special people here, sharing our new outlook on life with them, continuing to live the simple life, having less and keep doing more is how we will live our lives.

My Kiwi Adventure....by Sammer

2009-09-01T08:56:00.002+12:00

This was one of the best things that have ever happened to me. In NZ I have grown in size and as a person. I have gone out of my comfort zone by doing things like bungy swinging, rock climbing and flying on an airplane for 13 hours! I also petted a seal (don;t ask) and I got up on stage and performed a Canadian Comedy act for Eistedfod at St. Peter's College. These are all things that I never would have done before coming to NZ.

The scenery was breath taking and beautiful. Milford Sound was awe inspiring. Te Anau was such a cute little town and Porpoise Bay was the best beach to be at! I learned how to boogie board on waves and swim with dolphins! The Penguin Place in Portabello was so cool, we were a foot away from a penguin. My favourite penguin was Sam.

One thing I love about the South Island of New Zealand is how laid back everyone is and everyone say HI or waves to you. I feel like I fit in really well in NZ, everyone likes everyone for who they are.

Our schooling wasw great! At Pukerau School there is so few kids that the teachers had time to talk and get to know each kid. Everyone knows each other too. Gore was the closest town to us and it had a beautiful Main Street. There are so many little shops too. We felt safe and happy walking around Gore.

Our time in NZ has helped me understand the guy I want to grow up to be. It has changed me I know that.

Thanks NZ,

Sammer

Flights back to our home country... by Abby

2009-08-26T12:53:00.003+12:00

Right now we are on our first airplane back to Canada from Dunedin. We got free cookies, free Kiwi lolliymix and Air New Zealand hard candies. When we get to Auckland we have 8 hours in Auckland. We are going to rent a car and go around Auckland. I am looking forward to going am home! I felt scared at first but now I am excited. I really want to see my cousins and Aunts and Uncles. I am also looking forward to seeing my own room. And there will be lots of kids around our neighbourhood for me to play with.

Right in front of me is a baby and it's mother with an older brother. The baby will not stop yelling at his mom thai it is not fair you take of the baby and not me.

Mom just met a friend in teh Auckland Airport, Tara. She is going to Las Angeles and back to BC. Tara was a Gap Student at the high school mom worked at. Gap mean swhen you get a year off school so you go to a different country and work anywhere you want.

There is only 2 more flights counting this one to get to Toronto. After that Grandpa Horton is going to pick us up and drive us back to our new home. There is 20 minutes until we board our plane to Vancouver. We are going to Gate 5. We have gone through security and Dad had to get a double check for anything bad in his two bags. It is 7:04 and we get on the plane at 7:30 so we have 26 minutes left.

We are in Vancouver airport!! We have switched airlines to Air Canada from Air New Zealand. We have just got back from our 13 hour flight. It was tiring but we made it...I watched Miley Cyrus, The Best Of Both Worlds concert, Hannah Montana The Movie and High School Musical 3. For tea I had Moraccan Lamb, kumara and peas and for pudding we got chocolate chunk ice cream.

We are now on the plane that goes from Vancouver to Toronto. We have TVs but Dads will not work and we have to buy earphones. Luckily we have our own. I am watching Monsters VS Aliens. We have an hour until we get to Toronto. I can not wait to see Grandpa Horton. Flying over Toronto I can see all the city lights. There is a big orangish redish ball. From the airplane you can see every light on the road. Here is our timetable that we flew to get home:

August 12, 2009
Dunedin - Auckland 1 hour and 30 minutes
Auckland - Vancouver 13 hours
Vancouver - Toronto 4 hours 30 minutes
Toronto - Chatham 3 hours (driver, Grandpa!)

We are home now and we are all safe. We lost a hockey bag somewhere along the way but I am sure we will sort that out. I am happy to be home, but I think I will miss NZ a lot.

By Abby

Dan doesn't feel like blogging tonight

2009-07-30T21:15:00.005+12:00

So I will......again. The kids are tucked in bed and we are sitting at the dining room table with two laptops on the go. Dano is enjoying searching up Cogeco services for when we go back. He has thoroughly gone through a list of channels we will get, the speed at which our internet will flow from our finger tips and that I can make long distant calls to all of North America at no extra charge. He loves that crap.

Two weeks ago we created a list of items we had to sell before we leave NZ. Happily we were able to list our stuff on one page. Within two weeks of our list being posted at my high school, Abby's school and here at the camp we have sold most of our things. Our lounge set it gone, we are using the ones that were here when we arrived. Our receiver for our Freeview is gone, so our TV gets no channels. The TV, stand a DVD player will be delivered to it's new owner very soon. Besides Sam's bike and a few small items we have rid ourselves of things that will not be making the trip home. It feels good once again to be down to having very, very little.

Our Kiwi friends have been calling and setting up dinners with them before we leave. Jude and Peter George are friends of ours that we met through our kids at Pukerau School. They had us up to their house for tea. They have 3 kids, Katelyn, Rueben and Olivia. Our kids get on very well with them and our meal and visit was easy, delicious, full of conversation, noisy at parts and felt like we were saying "see you later" rather than "good bye". Our church held a farewell service for us and another family going to Sudan. It was lovely, a light finger tea followed. Stacey and Robert Young had us and the George family up for tea as well, the Georges were leaving for a vacation to California the next day. I am sure we will see Robert and Stacey at our doorstep in Canada one day, we hope! It would be wonderful for Sam and Abs to see their friends James, Libby and Sam Y again. In fact, I am betting that they will be our first kiwi friends to make the journey!

This has been a particularly trying week at school for me. Most of the Senior Management Team and all of the Deans were away Monday - Wednesday at training, which I did not go on as I am leaving. Myself and two SMT were busily hopping around the school. It has been interesting but exhausting at the same time. You would think that the moon had been full for 4 days in a row!

There have been two young families and an older couple staying here at the camp. They are part of a MMM New Zealand, a Christian organization the does property work at churches, camps and schools. The husbands have been lining the dining hall. The families live in giant trailer buses. I will try to get photos of these, they are like nothing we would see in North America. The bonus is that our kids have had the pleasure of having 7 kids living almost right beside us. Ernie and Michelle Pene have 4 kids, Daniel 13, Alix 10, Grace 4 and Mouse or Michael 2. Sammer and Daniel have become good mates. The kids are home schooled by their mom and for the past week Daniel has met Sammer when he gets off the bus at the end of the day. Alix and Abby get along great. Alix came to Alexandra with us last Saturday for Dano's last hockey tournament. She even got to witness Abby puking 2 times on the way, car sickness is bad in NZ with the twisting winding roads( and Dano's driving.) Alan and Rosina Mitchell have 3 daughters, Virginia 14, Erin 12, and Josie 10. For the last 3 weeks Abby, Alix and Josie have been like three peas in a pod. They bought rings together and had a little ceremony where they all put them on, signifying their friendship where ever they are in the world. It was cute! Grace 4 and Mouse 2 are so cute. At any given moment their adorable little faces might appear in our glass door. Many days I come home to them sitting on the couch beside Sammer and Daniel who are playing Mario Kart on the Wii. Both Grace and Mouse have little salad plates in their hands driving the Mario kart. And Sammer and big brother, Daniel encouraging them on as they drive with a plate. Very cute.

Tomorrow is Friday and I am thankful for that. Sam is planning to have a friend, Andrew come over after school. Abby will need an early bed, she has had a busy week. Her class does water safety and swimming lessons three times a week, she is still dancing and getting ready for an exam that she will not be here for. She practices hockey with Sammy and Dano too. She is usually zonked by the time Friday rolls around.

We have less than 2 weeks left of our Kiwi Adventure, it feels a little surreal. We plan on getting our blog made into book form. We hope that this will make a meaningful Christmas gift for the kids and we will get one for us to have. The deal is that every blog I have written Dano will read aloud to me as we snuggle into our bed, and likewise for me. He will doing most of the reading!

Until next time,
Samantha

EARTHQUAKE!

2009-07-15T21:30:00.006+12:00

We had an earthquake tonight! At about 9:30pm Thursday July 15th the earth shook. Dano was sitting at the dining room table, the kids and I in the living room watching Karate Kid III with our new friend Daniel Pene. Both Dano and I thought we were having dizzy spells at first. It was amazing! The feeling of the whole house gently swaying was unreal! The hanging lights were swinging. Our friend Daniel has lived in New Zealand his whole life of 13 years and this was his first quake too!

The quake had a Richter magnitude of 6.6. To give an idea of where we are in relation to the quake, Gore is 60km north-east of Lumsden.

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/5729011/geologists-to-keep-watch-after-big-quake/

Buying Tickets Home

2009-07-15T07:50:00.007+12:00

It is almost 8am Wednesday July 15. Dano and I are sitting at the dining room table, eating breakfast with laptops at our finger tips. We are purchasing our tickets home online. The kids are asleep as it is winter holidays and there is a feeling of peace and relief that our decision to return home is but clicks away. We will be flying from Dunedin August 12 at 9:45am and fly to Auckland. We will have an eight and a half hour lay over in Auckland, which is good with us since we did not get to Auckland we plan on check our baggage and then getting a cab to see the sights. Then we board in Auckland for the big flight to Vancouver. It is the red eye flight and Air New Zealand does it beautifully. They have excellent food, excellent staff and we look forward to all flights but especially the long one. Once in Vancouver we only have and hour and a half to clear customs and get to our next flight taking us back to Toronto. We will end up flying into Toronto at 11:28pm August 12, after 30 hours of travel. We will stay in a hotel once we land in TO then my Dad and Dan's brother Mark will come to pick us up the next morning and bring us home.

We had dinner down at the dining hall last night. There are 3 families living at Camp Columba in buses and trailers. They work for MMM, Mobile Mission and Maintenance. The husbands are builders and they are lining the inside of the dining hall. The board of the camp was here too for a meeting and to discuss Dano's replacement. While sitting at the table the Chair of the Board leaned over to Dano and I said, "what would it take to make you stay?" We joked about him twisting my arm and that would be all it takes. This is such a weird feeling. I know that we want and need to come home. We need/want our kids to know Canada, their grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. We want to be close to our fantastic friends. BUT, we will miss New Zealand. I have said before that our move back will be bittersweet and that emotion is becoming very real. There are so many things that NZ has given us. We have met many wonderful people here and will always have friends from across the world! NZ has given Dan and I the change we needed in our jobs and brought us closer in our relationship. It has provided Sammer with the much needed freedom and sense of belonging to grow into a happy, easier going boy. And Abby has continued on her path of strong personality and leadership. But the biggest thing that NZ has done for us, is made us a tight family unit again. We have not had the demands of all of the things that pulled and tugged at us back home. We have consciously chosen our life here. It has just been us and we have seen things and done things with just us. I feel closer to my children and to Dano than I ever have. People ask us what we will miss about NZ, my answer is always "the scenery", because that is the easy obvious answer. It is stunningly beautiful here. The real answer is that I will miss the pace of life here, less demands, less running around, simple, non materialistic way of life where the four of us enjoy being together. We talk more here, we rely on each other, we look forward to coming back together after being away at school/work, we enjoy each other's personalities...so that is what I will truly miss! It is hard for people to understand this and I hope and pray that this sense of family closeness will stay with us even when we return. So, yes it is tempting when the Camp Columba chair of the board, and my principal at school asks what they can do to make us stay...very tempting!

Now for the SWEET! We are looking forward to so many things back home. The kids are ready, Sam would have come home with my parents had we let him. Abby needed the rest of our time here to digest this whole move. This sounds strange but we have become closer to many people back home since we have been here, some people that I never thought. Through facebook, our blog and emails it has been special to "refriend" some people. I feel very good about coming to Chatham to be near friends and family that have kept in touch with over our adventure. I am also sooo looking forward to teaching Kindergarten, working for Ken Gregory and with Cheryl. I am not sure I would have got a move out of Grand Bend if we did not take this detour in our life. Dano, too is looking forward to what lies ahead. And the kids...although they have a wonderful time with the NZ school system we are all excited for them to become part of McNaughton school. They are already making sleep overs with their cousins, and talking about kids that might live in our neighbourhood (which they have never had before). Since I left for university twenty years ago (HOLY CRAP) I have not lived in Chatham, it feels right now. Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Until next time,
Samantha

Mom and Dad leave NZ, 33 days left for us

2009-07-11T20:20:00.002+12:00

Mom and Dad left this week after a wonderful 3 week visit. It was cold while they were here but we had a great time anyway. A few of the highlights for me were Dad and Sammy skating together at the Gore Arena while Dano and I did our concession booth volunteer time. It was so nice to see the Sams skating around, playing together on the ice. Another favourite thing was realizing that every time Mom or Dad was sitting still on a couch or chair one or both kids were directly beside them, leaning on them or sitting on them. I guess they were making up for lost time. Also Mom and Dad played Pepper with Dano and I most nights. At first the men would beat Mom and I every time. Mom would get frustrated and call Dad and Dan names. Dad would find places to hang the score sheets around the house which ticked Mom off. It was funny. By the end of the trip Mom and I won two nights in a row. A beautiful way to end the trip.

Unfortunately at the end of their first week here Abby came home with the flu and was in bed with fever, coughing, vomit and all the delightful ailments that come with the flu. I then came down with it too. Mom and Dad tried not to get it, Dad spent most of the time that week with his sweat shirt pulled up over his face so he had a filter to breath through. We joked about getting surgical masks which maybe we should have done as both Mom and Dad had a day of chills, aches. Mom is a walking pharmacy so she immediately started popping her pills while Dad stuck to his Fisherman's Friends. Being sick did not stop us from seeing places and walking around New Zealand.

We rented a 12 seater van from our church and took Mom and Dad to the airport in Dunedin. We needed the space so that they could take back 3 extra pieces of luggage for us. Now that they are gone it feels like the end for us. The day after they left the kids brought out our luggage and began sorting through their clothes. Sambo and Reena joked that they were taking the kids home with them and that Dano and I would follow in 35 days. Sammy was ready to go with them. He is ready. His room is packed up, his toys sorted and everything of his fits into two pieces of luggage. Abby is a different story, she needs to say official goodbyes to her friends and teachers. Her room is completely pulled apart and she is having a harder time sorting through her stuff. She takes her time with these things. We have not even talked about her stuffed animals yet, but I fear that she would rather part with clothes instead of her animals. As for me, I am very happy to return home with two suitcases of my stuff. I have clothes that made the trip that will not return with me. Things like bedding and shoes and bags are my things that take top priority. I cannot live without my brown micro fleece blanket that keeps me warm each night.

This afternoon I talked to our new land lady. She is an English lady that came to Canada with 9 suitcases and 3 kids. She has been so kind to us and keeps saying that she knows what it is like to start over with nothing. She has arranged for there to be 2 single beds for our kids, there are plates, glasses, cutlery, couches, a sectional in the basement and a pullout couch. We have been so fortunate that people have been offering to give us things that they do not need anymore. It is so wonderful to know that we are coming home to a house that will have the necessities. Thanks to everyone that has helped us out!

A weekend in Te Anau with Mom and Dad

2009-06-28T20:48:00.005+12:00

Mom and Dad left Friday afternoon to go ahead of us to Te Anau. They went to warm up the holiday home. We followed them up after work. Friday night we got there and had a wonderful time. The holiday home belongs to a family that plays hockey with Dan. Te Anau is beautiful even on a weekend that the clouds hang low in the sky and there is a damp chill in the air. The adults played a lot of Pepper while the kids lego-ed and played together. We ate well, of course and we walked a lot too. Mom and Dad stayed at the holiday home while Dano, the kids and I came back Sunday night. Mom and Dad are going to Milford Sound Monday then to Riverton, Monkey Island and Gem Stone Beach on Tuesday. They will be back with us Tuesday evening.

I spoke to the lady that is renting us our house on Grand Ave back home. It is nice to have housing sorted and organized. There will be a few peices of furniture left in the house, and seeing that we sold everything to come to NZ we are glad! Mom and Dad have been telling us about friends that have offered stuff to furnish our home...we are so appreciative! Mom and Dad will get the keys to the house August 1st but things can be put in the garage in July.

I have also spoken to the Principal of McNaughton school. Abby will be going into Grade 4 and Sammer Grade 7. Mrs. Ellacott was telling me about all of the things that goes on at McNaughton school. I think it will be a good fit for the kids.

Until next time,
Samantha

Sam's Comedy Act

2009-06-25T19:47:00.005+12:00

Sam signed up for Eistedfod....that does not even sound like a real word to me. We had no idea what it was. Sam come home a few weeks ago and told us he was going to do a comedy act on stage about Canada. Eistedfod is a cultural celebration that his school puts on each year. Kids choose to do skits, sing, dance and entertain. Our Sam thought he could create a funny few minutes about Canada. Dan and I had a moment when he shared his plans because this is not the boy that we left Canada with 18 months ago. The whole idea of standing up in front of an auditorium full of people is not something that Sam would have done. He wrote a script about how Canadian kids have different pets that Kiwi kids. The story was about how he and his dad were out in the Canadian bush and they came across a moose and a beaver. Watch and see for yourself...

We are so proud of him...he was fantastic. Mom and Dad got to be there to see him, it was truly a special thing!

Mom and Dad arrive!

2009-06-21T21:24:00.003+12:00

Mom and Dad flew into Dunedin today. They arrived at 9:10am this morning and we then we took them to Kaka Point and Nugget Point. The day was overcast and somewhat dreary but that did not matter. We had a fabulous time showing them a few of our favourite places here in NZ. The kids were so excited to see them, it has been almost a year and a half since we have seen them. We came home and celebrated Father's Day.
I have missed them and I am glad they are here.

Until next time,
Samantha

All Blacks

2009-06-14T20:49:00.003+12:00

This weekend was a good one. Friday night began with us going over to Martin and Sarah Murrell's house for dinner. I work with Martin at Gore High, he is the Wood Tech teacher and Sarah works with some of our special kids at the school part time. They moved to NZ from Wales last year and they are here for good. They just bought a house in Gore, a beautiful home on a hill with a glass room over looking the Mataura River. Stunning! Martin and Sarah have two gorgeous girls that our kids connect really well with. Tegan and Meri are great girls. From the moment we walk in their door the kids play, giggle, run around, imagine, squeal and have a great time together. We will miss them! After a wonderful meal of homemade pizza and chocolate cake we shared what our lives were like before NZ. They talked about coming to Canada to stay with us. I really hope they do. We will miss the Murrells.
Saturday began with a much needed sleep in. However, my friend Katie lent us PlayStation Singstar and I was awoken by Chad Kruger belting out "ARE WE HAVING FUN YET, YET, YET.... (It was Dano singing and I was not impressed). We had a fantastic time with Katie's Singstar! The Red Wings game took precedence from noon until 3pm. We listened to the game on the computer through speakers. I de-moulded windows while we listened, Dano and the kids laid around the living room and listened to every moment. Too bad the Penguins beat the Wings.
We left for Dunedin at 4pm to get to Carisbrook Stadium to see the All Blacks(New Zealand's national rugby team) play France. Shelly and Phil Taylor bought tickets for us and we met outside the stadium. The crowd was interesting and the game was too. There are many things I do not understand about rugby, but I do know that I would watch those men do almost anything as long as they wore their shorty shorts and tight t-shirts! The All Blacks lost 27 - 22, but it was exciting!

Reena and Sambo arrive next weekend and our preparation begins! It is getting hard to remained focused on school and work lately. Even Sammer has started saying things like, I wish I could not got to school today and do something else. I know how he feels because I have made a mental list of things we have not done yet, the Rail Trail, Stewart Island, Doubtful Sound... I would much rather be out biking over viaducts or tramping through the most southern island instead of going to school each day. We do have a few things planned when Mom and Dad are here. We will have lots to post about when they get here! Stay tuned!

Until next time,
Samantha

June already...

2009-06-08T20:11:00.002+12:00

Man, our time here is flying by! We spent last weekend at a holiday home near Dunedin in a place called Taieri Mouth. It is along the Southern Scenic Route and right on the ocean. Dan spoke at a church a while back and a couple in the congregation approached him and offered their holiday home. We took them up on their offer and spent a winter weekend at the ocean. It was spectacular! We taught the kids to play Bonanza and they picked it up really quickly. We had a fantastic weekend!

This past weekend we went to a party for a girl that works at Camp Columba. The kids brought our Wii and the kids played games while the adults chatted. We left the party to drive to Queenstown because the kids had two hockey games Saturday. The weather was supposed to wintery so we thought we would head up the night before. The drive to Queenstown is breathtaking during the day, but at night with the moon light kissing the snow capped mountains...amazing! We stayed at Lakeland Holiday park in a bunkhouse. In the morning we opened the drapes to see a giant snow covered mountain out the sliding glass door. I will certainly miss the New Zealand scenery! The kids lost both games but they played well. Abby even had a shot on net. The drive home was just as beautiful with clouds and snow against the mountains. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Until next time,
Samantha

80 days and counting

2009-05-24T21:57:00.003+12:00

I have to say that the fact we are only 80 days from departing New Zealand is a little bit unsettling(80 days is based on an August 12th departure - not confirmed but very likely). 80 days is not a very long time and we are all starting to realize that this great adventure is soon to be over. There are still a few things that we hope to experience before we leave so we will have a busy last few weeks.

We have some good news about Samantha's teaching position. Until this past Friday, Samantha was still slated to teach at Grand Bend Public School. The first round of transfers had not resulted in her being moved. Friday afternoon, Saturday morning for us, Samantha received an email that informed her she would be teaching Junior Kindergarten and Kindergarten at Tilbury Area Public School. This was her first choice from the postings this round. She gets to work for her favourite principal, Ken Gregory and gets to work with an old friend, Cheryl Chinnick who is the other Kindergarten teacher in the school. Samantha is very excited about working with the JK/K kids. She has enjoyed dipping her toe in the secondary school environment but has decided that elementary school is where she wants to be. She will now have taught every grade in elementary school.

It is the thick of the hockey season here. Last weekend I played in the Senior Non-checking round in Gore. The kids were away with friends and Samantha dutifully sat in the stands and cheered on her groom. Then this weekend the kids had two games on Sunday in Dunedin. We departed home at 7:15 a.m. for a 9:15 game and then a 2:30 p.m. game. The team won their first game but played really poorly, very sloppy and no jump. Thankfully after a couple of hours off, they played much better but lost. The Open Grade(full contact) team had two games immediately following the kids' second game. I don't normally play Open Grade because Samantha is afraid that I may break some ribs or get a concussion or get in a fight but she graciously agreed to stick around and I would play the first one. Then she agreed after the first one, with numb toes and a cold nose, that I may as well the second on since we were there. Samantha has froze through 12 hockey games over the last three weekends, which included 3 games on Mother's Day, and for that she gets my vote for wife of the year.

Below are some pictures from this weekend's hockey and from a wedding that we attended last weekend. Hope you enjoy them.

Mother's Day weekend

2009-05-10T22:15:00.002+12:00

We left Friday afternoon for Dunedin. Dano had a hockey tournament to play so we arranged to stay at a holiday home in Purakanui which is near Dunedin. The holiday home was amazing with a gorgeous view. We hope to book this home and take Mom and Dad there when they are here.

Dano played 6 games of hockey in two days. That is a lot of time spent in a cold arena. The kids were so good, they hung in there with me. During one of Dan's games the kids skated on the rink beside the ice Dan was playing on. During the 5th game the kids and I went to Moana Pool and played in the wave pool and went on the water slides. We had a good weekend, even with hours spent in a arena.

We are in the midst of making plans for our return to Canada. I have been applying for jobs and should find out soon about where I will be placed. Housing is something that we are trying to sort out. If there is anyone that knows of a rental home with 3 bedrooms in the Chatham Kent area, Aug 1st, we would really appreciate your help.

Did I mention it was a lot of hockey this weekend?
Until next time,

Samantha

15 1/2 weeks!

2009-04-26T22:55:00.002+12:00

We were sitting at the kitchen table tonight enjoying a lovely steak dinner and conversation when the reality struck us that in less than 16 weeks we would be back in Ontario. As I think about this reality and look back at the week that was, I am really pleased that we are still exploring, seeing new places and having new experiences.

Sam went to camp this week and loved it. He had some mates from youth group in his cabin and he had some neat experiences during God Time. Abby and Samantha had a relaxing week that included lots of Little House on the Prairie. Tuesday morning we woke to a basement full of water. A hose popped off the pressure pump in the basement sometime in the night. It's too bad we are both deep sleepers, it would have been nice to hear the pump running and put a stop to it before there was 2 inches of water in the basement bedrooms and a river running out the garage door. The best part was that it wasn't all that stressful and we were able to get it mostly dry. We did call in the professionals to get the carpet and underlay completely dry.

The flood and Sam at Camp

A while back Samantha was told of a place called Gemstone Beach. She heard tales of gems and semi-precious stones scattered around the beach. Abby has been very keen to visit this spot. This weekend we did. We left with a bag full of stones, some wonderful pictures and many nasty sand fly bites. The sand flies look like harmless little gnats but bite and leave nasty red welts. At first they itch like mosquito bites but then the marks and the itchiness persist for days and are incredibly irritating.

From there we stopped by a spot called Monkey Island. According to our friend Treana it is called Monkey Island "because they used to unload ships there and the thing they used to get from the ship to the land is called a monkey." It was a lovely little island and a beautiful sandy beach. We saw some guys with a surf board paddling themselves around while standing up. Not sure what they were doing but it looked cool. One thing we will definitely miss when we leave is the scenery. It will be tough to get used to the flat land of Chatham-Kent after seeing the rolling hills and distant mountains all of this time.

Gemstone Beach and Monkey Island

Camp, Triathlon and Hockey

2009-04-19T22:50:00.002+12:00

It's been a good week here. A certain weight has been lifted off of our shoulders now that our departure is public knowledge. We are delighted by the generous offers of help from friends and family in preparation for our return. The one big piece that is left for us to figure out is housing. We have some leads that we are following up and are certain that we will have it figured out before we touch down in Ontario.

This past week was the first week of this school holiday. Abby went to camp and had a great time. Samantha and Sam spent some quality Mom & son time together but both were glad for Abby's return Friday afternoon. I took part in my second triathlon. The swim and bike parts seemed to go better but the run was still very tough. I am now planning to enter the Bulldog Triathlon at Rondeau the week after our return. I am undecided about what length I will try. It will depend on my training between now and then and how well my body adjusts to the new time zone. Our week finished with a Sunday evening hockey game. Sam and Abby are on the same team this year and it was a real gift to watch them play together. Sam had a fairly productive game with 6 goals and Abby was thrilled to touch the puck. It should be a fun season of hockey.

Enjoy the pics.

Bittersweet decision...

2009-04-15T20:31:00.004+12:00

Four months today we will be saying good bye to our New Zealand friends, colleagues, teachers, employers and students. We are coming home.

I have been on a Leave of Absence from my teaching assignment in Canada. I got an email over the Christmas holidays saying that my leave would not be extended and I needed to be back teaching or resign. After the initial shock and anger Dano and I started talking about the future and what was important to us. We did not decide immediately to return home as our life here is wonderful. NZ has given us so much. The scenery and landscape alone makes me want to stay. But the friends and people we have come to know, the wonderful way of life - simple and relaxed, are the things we will always hold dear. Teaching here has given me the perspective I needed to refresh me enough to still want to teach. I will be applying for a transfer to teaching jobs in the Chatham-Kent area in May and June. Dano has come to the realization that a career change is necessary. He has a lead on a position in the Chatham area.

Last Thursday on our way home from school Sam had been quiet, deep in thought and as we rounded Dead Man's Curve (I just call it that because Dan does not slow down when he takes it) Sam pipes up and says "Mom, coming to New Zealand has been the best thing that has happened to me in my life." We shared a few silent knowing glances and finally he followed that up with "But I am ready to go home." I think that is how we are all feeling. Abby was the one that had the hardest time settling in here, calling this home and feeling like she was part of her school. She will be the one that has the hardest time leaving too. Already she has had weepy moments at school as she had been chosen for a Computer Leader for next year and she is the Head Librarian and "who will take over that job?" There is certainly something to be said about the kids and how school lets them grow. They are more confident, more relaxed and have time in the day to have conversations with their teachers. Kiwis "get it" when it comes to educating their children.

Once again we find ourselves planning to pack up 9 suitcases, travel across the globe and make a home with almost nothing. It is exciting. Having less and doing more has proven to be a good thing for us. The possibilities seem endless. This time though we are blessed with friends and family who will be there to lend a helping hand.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in August.

Until next time,
Samantha

Easter Weekend

2009-04-12T22:54:00.008+12:00

Friday and Saturday were lazy days in our house. We all laid around, played a little and watched more Little House On The Prairie episodes than I can count. The kids are loving LHOTP and so are Dan and I. Mary is blind and she has married Adam, they are running the blind school in Winoka. Albert has joined the Ingalls in Walnut Grove, baby Grace is starting to walk....okay enough about that.

Sunday morning we got up and decided to go to Kaka Point. Sam made tuna sandwiches, we packed up the car and drove to the ocean. It was a glorious day. There is something about the sound of waves that just makes me feel right inside.

At Camp Columba there was a group in all weekend and they were celebrating dinner tonight with a traditional Maori Hangi. Maori are the native New Zealand people. They have a rich history which the Hangi is a part of. The dig a hole in the ground and build a fire in the hole. They lay rocks or metal pieces on the fire, get them really hot. Then they remove the burnt wood and ashes, put the rocks and metal bits back in the hole and place the veggie and meat on the heat. They use flax as a layer on top of the food them wet paper or rags. Then the hot rocks heat the food. Tonight's Hangi was very interesting, not my favourite flavouring for food but a very interesting nonetheless.

We are on a two week school holiday and we will have a special edition mid week blog so stay tuned.

Until mid week,
Samantha

A long week...

2009-04-05T19:56:00.002+12:00

I am not sure if the Year 9 Dean job that I am doing along with 5 classes of year 9 students puts me officially on Year 9 overload, but man, did they try my patience this week. Adolescents are a funny breed. I jokingly (not really) speak of Me-itis with them in class. Me-itis is an ailment that most adolescents suffer from. It involves thinking about and talking about only yourself. I challenged my classes this week to take a count of how many times they used the word "ME" and "I" while having a conversation. By Thursday I thought we were making progress, many of my students were shocked at how many times they speak of only themselves. But my dreaded Friday came. And in the afternoon I had organized all 88 students to come to the hall to watch a movie, The Mighty. Our previous progress with Me-itis came to a screeching halt! I am so used to putting in extra effort to fun and special activities and my Grand Bend kids responding with natural and genuine gratitude...that was not the case. It is a darn good thing that we are four days away from a two week holiday.

All the surrounding country schools, including Pukerau Primary had their Swimming Sports Day last Friday. I was not able to go, you know what I was doing, but Dano went to cheer on Abby. She raced three races. The breast stroke, front crawl and flutterboard back kick. Abby is a strong swimmer and she did very well at the day. She got two firsts and a third. Here are some pics of her swimming day.

This weekend there was a group of ladies at Camp Columba and Dano and I catered for them. Altohough it is autumn here in NZ, Saturday was more like a late August summer day...sunny, hot not a cloud in the sky. Sunday was supposed to be rainy, gale winds and cold. It was not, another sunny warm day and I am not complaining. 11 weeks until Mom and Dad are here!

Until next time,
Samantha

An uneventful week...

2009-03-29T19:03:00.002+13:00

From Collages

Dano and I are sitting at the table, he is filling in hockey travel weekends. Both Sammer and Abs are playing on the Pee Wee team, Dano is their coach. The Senior Men's team that Dan plays on travels as well. We are a little gobsmacked at the looks of our calendar for May and June. It looks like we will see places such as Alexandra, Dunedin, Queenstown, Naseby and Tekapo. Although it does seem like a lot of traveling we are pleased becuase we get to see places we would never had gone in the winter in NZ. Ironically, when Mom and Dad are here the kids do not have any games. Dan has a game and there is a tournament at our Gore Arena so we will be involved. I cannot wait until they get here!

The weather is definitely autumn now in New Zealand. The days have been sunny and warm and the nights cool and clear. Yesterday we did many jobs around the house, cutting grass, weeding gardens, adding oil to the cars...stuff like that. It was a dry windy day and the laundry was dry in no time! This whole idea of not having a dryer is like second nature to us now. This morning we got up and Dano was speaking at a church on Lumsden about camp. The drive to Lumsden is amazing, hills and mountains all the way. The scenery is something that we will never grow tired of here. We came home to gale winds...and when I say gale winds...I mean really, really extremely strong winds. Like doors slamming, windows being sucked open and shut, whistling, roof creaking, random items whizzing by the windows....like Southern Ontarians have never seen!!!!! While the kids and Dano were public skating I went for a half hour power walk in this crazy wind. It was not pretty. My hair was such an issue I am sitting here typing with a doo rag tightly wrapped in an attempt to tame the mane.

Oh yeah, Dano and I watched Weekend At Bernie's Saturday night and laughed our tails off. Brian Cofell will always be Bernie Lomax to me. Flopping around like a standing corpse, Brian is hilarous!!!! (miss you Cofe)

Until next time,

Samantha

Triathlon

2009-03-22T21:42:00.003+13:00

A few weeks back the kids entered a try-athlon. After they successfully completed it, I vowed that I would tackle one. I'm trying to develop an action habit so I picked a triathlon with a really easy short distance option that was just four weeks later and decided I would enter it if I felt I could complete it. It consisted of a 400 metre swim, 12km bike ride and a 4km run. Three weeks ago I started training by swimming laps for the first time in 17 years. It was as hard as I thought it might be and I really struggled the first week in the water, trying to do front-crawl for 20-30 minutes straight. I kept having to do a few lengths of breast stroke to rest my arms. Thankfully after 3 weeks I was able to swim 1.2km in 30 minutes. At the same time I started jogging, very slowly. I worked up to almost 4km but was concerned about how I would be able to run that far after swimming and biking. My other concern was that I would be using my mountain bike with big knobby tires through the city streets. I tried to find a road bike to use but was unsuccessful.

This triathlon also had a kids event(100m swim, 4km bike, 2km run) and Abby was keen to give it another go. Sam was nursing some sore ribs from a game at school so he sat this one out. Samantha is getting ready for a duathlon in a couple of weeks so played the role of photographer at this one. Abby had a great go and was finished before I had completed my bike leg. I did alright too. I can claim a first place finish in the short distance open division for men - I was the only one in that division! In the end the time didn't matter for me, it was about whether I could finish or not. I was pleased that I was able to jog the entire 4km and still stand up after I crossed the finish line. I am targeting a triathlon in 4 weeks time. I'll have to see how the training goes for this one. We are all doing the Wai Tri duathlon option in two weeks time. It should be fun.

Abby turns 9 and the Highlanders lose.

2009-03-16T19:16:00.003+13:00

This Friday the 13th our babygirl turned 9 years old. She invited 5 friends over for a party and 2 stayed the night. It was a success. Sam got invited over to James' while his sister Libby was here at Abby's party. Mom and Dad arrived at Holly's in Texas and Abby opened their gifts while on webcam. Thank goodness for webcam! Although I really missed them after we hung up. Dano and I gave Abs tickets to the NZ Ballet troupe coming through Gore this Thursday. Abby is still totally crazy about Little House on the Prairie and Reena, Bovins and Nik and Ger gave her the set of books for her birthday. She is already half done the first book!

Saturday night we went to the Highlanders rugby game. A new canadian friend, Chris Howey came with us to the game. He is teaching at Gore High with me and he grew up in Aylmer. He is a funny dude. We met at Hell for some excellent pizza then on to the game. The Highlanders tried to defeat the Chiefs but were unsuccessful. We were amazed by a few things at Rugby Park. Firstly, they sold 6 packs of beer that people can purchase and take to their seats. A few people had 3 six packs in hand! Secondly, the hotdogs they sold were those giant floppy corndog looking things dunked in tomato sauce. (Giant bloody...well, you get the picture) Thirdly Chris and I were "thunderstruck" (also a favourite song down here) by the clothing Kiwis are wearing! It is like they are living in the 80's. Skinny jeans, leather high top Nikes, leggings and short dresses, the mullets were out of this world!! Some kids are even dying the long hair down their necks blonde. Chris was noticing the "steps" in the sides above their ears too. The fashion is definitely a step back twenty years. Teenage boys even wear skinny jeans. So bizarre!

Until next time,
Samantha

Mountain Bike Race

2009-03-08T16:03:00.002+13:00

I've always wanted to try mountain bike racing. Just after we arrived in New Zealand I bought a mountain bike, planning to do some training and enter a few races. Thirteen months later I finally entered my first race. The Meridian Energy White Hill Wind Farm Classic was Saturday afternoon in Mossburn about 90km from Pukerau. There were three options for the mountain bike race: a 22km full race, an 11km recreational ride and a 6km Kiddies Canter. There was also a 13km cross country run. There were over 500 participants. I entered the 11km recreational ride thinking it wise to ease into this new venture. Sam and Abby decided to give the Kiddies Canter a go. Samantha was our number one fan and our official race photographer.

It was hard. The 11km course started on a reasonable uphill grade which I was hoping would level off after the first bend. It didn't. The grade doubled and before long the mountain bike ride, became a mountain bike push. The majority of the riders proceeded to push their bikes for the next 4km. I guess they define recreational a little differently than I. It is especially discouraging to get passed by runners while pushing your bike. The only consolation was that I knew the second half of the race was going to be easier on the bike. 1 hour and 16 minutes after starting I crossed the finish line. I finished 20th in my category, 30th overall in the 11km race. I also finished behind at least one runner and two riders from the 22km race. I have a long way to go but was pleased with how things went.

Sam and Abby finshed their ride. They found some of their hills a little challenging but continued pushing away. Neither of them would say that they particularly enjoyed it but were pleased at the end. Sam finished 17th in his race and Abby placed fifth last. The great thing is that when we arrived in New Zealand, Abby refused to even ride her bike. She was still have traumatic memories of her mother running over her after a wipeout at Rondeau. To go from that to riding a 6km race is fantastic.

The kids and I are looking at entering a triathlon in two weeks and then the whole family may enter a duathlon in 4 weeks. We'll keep you posted.

Abby's School Camp

2009-03-08T14:27:00.003+13:00

New Zealand education includes outdoor education and out of classroom experiences in their curriculum. Each class goes on school camp that usually consists of 3 nights and 4 days away. I love the fact that NZ values outdoor ed and out of the classroom experiences, they really "get it" when it comes to educating children. This year Abby's class went to Dunedin and the focus was The Extremes. I was granted 2.5 days off to go along with her. This is something I find so wonderful here, that my administrators see the importance of working mothers balancing their lives. My Rector said these words to me..."Sam, how would we do it if we did not let our working mothers go on camp with their kids?" Anyway, Abby's teacher/principal Mrs. Watt planned this school camp to Dunedin around the theme of The Extremes. So the kids got to go to The Albatross Colony, The Aquarium and St. Kilda's beach while staying two nights at a boy Scout Camp. They did work at tables in the dining hall around their experiences. I arrived the second day and they kids had settled into cabins, had done a stream study at the camp and ocean safety at St. Kilda's beach. While following directions to get to the camp I was to look for the ford, then turn right into the camp. I was looking for a ford....like an old Ford truck. Instead I found what Kiwis know quite well, a ford that is two bits of concrete thrown onto treacherous fast moving water where a driver can take a high road and avoid water, or take the low road and splash through white water rapids. Feeling like a pansy, I wimpered , gripped the wheel, accelerated and opted for the dry ride! The concrete did not look safe, solid or sound. However the next morning another parent, in a 4X4 truck zoomed beside me and showed me how a ford is done Kiwi-style.
We toured around Dunedin, 5 vehicles, 16 kids, 6 parents and Mrs. Watt. The Cadbury Factory, the Botanical Gardens, a shopping mall where the kids were given $5 to go on their own, in pairs to by a souvy. The Otago Museum was were we slept the final night. After hours of playing in the Discovery Zone, the Museum provided pizza and drinks. Then we were off to see the Butterflies. The kids got right up close and butterflies even landed on them. The best part of the whole trip for Abby was that night. Jamie, the dude who was our guide told the kids to get their PJs on and ready for bed. They set up their sleeping bags in the Discovery Zone and then we went on a pitch black museum CREEP! The kids were hilarious! Some were crying out of fear, other thought it to be great! Jamie made up this story about a mix up with the alarm systems being turned on and we had to be silent, and we had to go in the complete dark. So, linked in a line we ventured out through the museum in the dark, up stairs, around corners...it was so much fun! He took us up to the Animal Attic where he told a story about the animals coming alive in the night. HILARIOUS! After a look around the animal attic and another dark creep back down to our beds the kids went to sleep. Abby and Sophie slept beside a giant floor piano, you will see in the pics. There was lots of time for the parents and Mrs. Watt to chat and partake in some refreshments.
The last day we got up and went to Moana Pool where the kids got cleaned off. There is a wave pool that we spent most of our time in as well as a lazy river. Then back to the school where parents were waiting to pick up their kiddies. I was so happy to be able to go on camp with Abby. It will be something that we both remember forever. Sammer and Dano had a great time with us away too. As an exhausted Abby snuggled into her own bed she told me that she had the best time this year at camp because I was there. She also said that she was glad to back in her own bed and all of us together again. She slept 12.5 hours that night.

Here are some pics of Abby's school camp.

Until next time,
Samantha

Sam and Abby do a "Try"athlon

2009-03-01T19:12:00.005+13:00

Invercargill is the next large town to the south of us. It is the size of Sarnia and we go there when we need to go to the "big city"! Invercargill hosted a Tryathlon for kids and Sam and Abby showed an interest. We were a little surprised , but thrilled when the kids said they wanted to do it so we signed them up. The whole idea behind this event was to TRY and give it a go.

Abby's Race

Abby's age group began first. There were four girls that are all daughters of teachers that work at Gore High. They know each other and they raced in the same start. Abby was nervous and having Sian, Hariet and Meri in the same group was good for her. All of the kids started in the pool. Sam was down from her and he kept looking over at us waving and trying to get us to tell him when Abby was in the water. When Abs took to her lap he was standing and yelling and cheering for her. It was emotional for me as a Mother. Abby does not always enjoy biking or hiking and her mood can sometimes become...well, foul. Today was brilliant for her. She worked hard with a smile the whole way! We are so proud of her.

Sam's Race

Sam started after Abs. Dan stayed and got pics of him. Our one camera does not like the lighting in the pool...you will notice some fuzzy pics. Sam had to do 2 laps of the pool and Dano reported that he swam hard...we joke that he looks like a jellyfish in swimming lessons, but not today! We bought Sam a bike last Easter and he has grown so much this year that bike is too small. He has been using my bike and he is loving that. Sammer had a spill during the bike while trying pass a little girl. He wiped out and got right back on. Sammer put in a great effort and is keen to do another! We are so proud of him!

There were 600+ kids doing the race today. It was amazing.

Until next time,

Samantha

The Schlegel's Visit

2009-02-22T13:09:00.003+13:00

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.

A weekend with Cathy & Jeff

2009-02-15T21:40:00.003+13:00

We have had a fantastic weekend. On Friday night we welcomed my sister Cathy and her boyfriend Jeff. They arrived in New Zealand February 5th and are leaving on March 3rd. We were thrilled to have family with us for the weekend. After two very full-on weeks of holidaying, Cathy and Jeff were ready for a slightly slower pace. We willingly obliged. They didn't arrive until after ten on Friday night and before we knew it it was one in the morning. We were all looking forward to a nice sleepin on Saturday, but Doreen, my dear, sweet mother-in-law had other plans. She woke us with a phone call well before our waking hour. It was a good phone call though. Doreen and Sam are about to book their flights to visit in June. Samantha can't wait to see them!

After a lazy Saturday morning with a big breakfast of bacon, fruit-filled pancakes and eggs we loaded up and headed to Porpoise Bay. Porpoise Bay is our favourite spot in New Zealand. It is a great place to spend the day at the beach. The kids love playing in the waves on their boogie boards. Jeff and Cathy had a great time in the waves too. The dophins were out and swimming nearby but no one touched one. Afterwards we headed over to see if there were any penguins at Curio Bay and sure enough there were. We ended up having a very close encounter with one that was coming in from sea. Cathy loved it as you will see from the pictures. We finished the day with some fish and chips and seafood chowder at a roadside stand before heading for home.
Gore and Porpoise Bay

Penguins

Sunday started with church for some of us and then we planned to head to Dolamore Park in the Hokonui Hills for a hike and to look for a geo-cache. Samantha has been fighting a cold for the last week and didn't feel up to a hike so she stayed home and slept. It was a really nice afternoon for a hike and the kids were excited to search for a cache. The hike wasn't as leisurely as we had thought it might be, it was a very steady uphill climb and after we found the cache the kids, especially Abby, were ready to head back down to the car. But there was a sign that pointed us towards a lookout, only 15 minutes further up the trail, so off we went. The steady uphill climb became steeper and Abby just about didn't make it. With some encouragement, lots of tough love and several short rests, Abby managed to get to the lookout. She wasn't sure that the view was worth the effort but since the return trip was all downhill, her mood improved significantly. We returned home to find Samantha rested and feeling better, enjoyed a final dinner with our guests and then headed to the flying fox and the concrete slide here at camp for a little adventure to finish Jeff and Cathy's stay with us.
Hokonui Hike

We will be sad to see our guests leave in the morning. I think that Abby will be especially sad to see her Aunt Cathy leaving. Abby and her Aunt seem to share many similar characteristics. It has been interesting to watch them together this weekend. We are looking forward to more guests again next weekend. Susie and Gord Schlegel, former colleagues of Samantha's, are in Rotorua on the North Island right now and are planning to be here in Gore by Friday in time for the Hokonui Moonshine Festival. You will have to check back next week to hear all about that.

First week of school and Waitangi Weekend

2009-02-08T22:37:00.008+13:00

We all made it through our first week back at school. Sam started at St. Peter's College in year 7. Abby is at Pukerau again in year 5. I am at Gore High teaching year 9 English and Forward Thinking and I am a Year 9 Dean. Sam has to wear a uniform at his school which he likes and he looks so smart. Abby is very happy to be in Mrs Watt's class again. The week went well. The kids started swimming lessons, Dano and Sam started guitar. This coming week Abby will start piano again as well as ballet.

Today the forecast called for 29 degree weather, hot gale winds....where better to be than the beach? So we called our friends, the Murrells and drove down to Porpoise Bay. Martin and I teach at the high school together. He and his family moved from England 6 months ago. Sarah, his wife and Tegan and Meri, his daughters are fun gals to hang with. Sam and Tegan go to school together and Meri and Abs get along beautifully. We met at the beach and it was incredibly windy...excellent for boogie boarding.

Saturday I was in a miserable place, homesick and ready to fly home! It has been over a year since I have seen my Mom and Dad, Holly, Gerred, Lillie, Hunter, Owen, Wyatt, Jane, Wayne, Lisa, Brian and Robyn, Sally...and so many more people. Luckily my sweet groom used his spidey senses and saw that I was in that place and encouraged phone calls and a nice long walk. I am glad to say that I am feeling better. I still really miss all those people, especially Mom and Dad, and I cannot wait for them to get here in June!

Until next time,
Samantha

Summer Holidays are coming to an end...

2009-01-24T10:54:00.006+13:00

It seems weird to have summer holidays from January to March, but I can say that I have not had that dull dreary feeling that I usually feel each year back in Ontario. Dan's parents flew home this week after a month long stay with us. I feel for them as they have to readjust their bodies to the dark and cold of Dresden! It is Saturday here and we can expect clear skies "a fine day" with a temperature of 25 degrees. It is only 11am and I am already sweating! The nice thing about NZ is that there is usually a breeze. Today we are going into Gore to get groceries, get Sam's uniform shoes for school, then we are off to our favourite Porpoise Bay.

Here are some pics of our trips to Te Anau and Queenstown. We spent last weekend in a holiday home in Te Anau. It was beautiful. The weather in Te Anau changes very quickly and you will see the skies behind the mountains that are sunny and bright then cloudy and rainy. The kids did get into the lake and played a bit.

Dan's folks flew out of Queenstown so we rented a flat there and spend the last couple of days with them in Queenstown.

Next week I am back in the school, preparing for the Year 9s. The kids will come with me for a few of the days, we have hair appointments booked and school supplies to get. Next week the boys start guitar again and Abby will begin Ballet. I have decided to NOT teach tap this year. I will be busy enough with my new responsibilities at school and my left knee is becoming bothersome. Not sure if I will need to have it done at this point or not.

Now that the summer holidays are over our routine in life will get back to normal. As well, our blog will get back to a weekly post. Thanks to everyone who follows our blog, your comments are greatly appreciated.

Summer Holidays

2009-01-14T20:06:00.002+13:00

Our summer holidays have been very nice. We have seen and done many things. Abby got the Little House on the Prairie DVDs for Christmas so we have been watching episodes of that. Holly and I used to set the table each night and watch LHOTP. I do remember many of the shows and the stories. However, Pa/Charles Inglalls is a yummy man, I do not remember thinking that when I was a kid. Abby and Sam love Carrie, the youngest of the girls. And they are bugging for a dog which they will call Jack. I am so glad that Abby is into LHOTP as I was not enjoying the Hannah Montanna shows she was watching.

Janet and Phil, Dan's parents drove to the North Island for about 10 days. Dan went back to work and the kids and I enjoyed some time at home. I borrowed a sewing machine from the high school and Abby has made herself a skirt and a sundress. She patiently awaited Grandma's return as they are working on a pioneer dress, just like on Little House. Sam is avidly reading the Harry Potter Series. He had now finished the second book. Tomorrow we will go to the Library and he will get the third out. Abby has gotten into the Little House in the Big Woods. Again, this is doing wonders for our "anti -sass" campaign!

Last weekend we headed out with our picnic basket to Roxburgh. We went to pick our own cherries and apricots. Roxburgh is an orchard area north of us. We found Pinders Pond. It is a beautiful place where we had lunch and swam after we ate our lunch. The pictures that are below are of that day.

Jo and John Gardyne live about 20 minutes north of us and they are sheep farmers. Jo is on the board for Camp Columba. They had us over last night to see some of their sheep sheared. Jo and John 7000 sheep. They hire a "gang" to come in and shear their sheep. 4 guys were on the stage, sheep were waiting in stalls behind them. These guys were amazing! One of the men sheared 350 sheep that day!!! Sammy and Dan tried their hand at shearing as well. Sam had John at his side coaching and instructing. Sam tipped the sheep and dragged her onto the stage. He did a great job. Dano got his sheep set up and away he went. The poor sheep, she got cut several times. Their skin cuts very easily...and we were sure that Dano's sheep was made fun of by her friends after her bad hair cut!!!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

2009-01-01T23:16:00.002+13:00

On Christmas Eve we attended an evening service at Calvin Church in Gore. It was a retelling of the Christmas story aimed at young families. The kids really enjoyed it. We allowed Sam and Abby to exchange presents on Christmas Eve, a Horton family tradition. Sam gave Abby a Hannah Montana gift set that included a journal, pen and CD as well as a Kooky Pen. Abby gave Sammy the game Sketchy. Christmas morning was full of excitement and fun. Grandma and Grandpa Horton gave the kids a Nintendo Wii - they were thrilled. Grandma and Grandpa Richards gave the kids Mario Kart for the Wii, their new favourite game. Lots of gifts from all the aunts and uncles. The kids were thrilled to be remembered even though they are on the other side of the world. It was a little strange to have Christmas in the summer but we managed.

Christmas Eve and Morning

Christmas Day

Mom and Dad/Janet and Phil's First Two Days

2009-01-01T23:07:00.002+13:00

I have a confession to make, we were late to meet my mom and dad on their arrival at the Dunedin Airport. We had a really smooth morning, everyone was ready to go in lots of time but somehow I had miscalculated the time we needed to leave our house by and we ended up at the airport 15 minutes after their flight had landed. This worked out great because it gave them time to use the rest rooms, find their luggage and head out to the pick up area - this is what I tell myself to ease my guilt. They arrived at 10:45 a.m. on Sunday, December 21st. We had lots of day left so we headed out to the coast for a bit before returning home. The next day we headed to Dunedin to take care of some immigration issues and then to go to Penguin Place in the evening. A full first two days in NZ for Mom and Dad. On their third day we rested.

Arrival Day

Dunedin and Penguin Place

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T22:50:00.002+13:00

There has been a lot that has happened since our last blog post. Abby had her dance recital, the kids had their end of year school production, school ended for the summer, we went and cut down a Christmas tree at a gold mine, my parents arrived-they are here for a month and we celebrated our first Christmas and New Years in New Zealand. There are slide shows for most of these occasions and then some of other things that we have done since my parent's arrival. I will post two slide shows here and then there will be some other new posts with more slide shows in each. Enjoy and have a happy new year.

Dance Recital and School Production

Christmas Tree Hunt

Christmas Concert, Old NZ Cars and a Summer Walk.

2008-12-07T20:25:00.003+13:00

This weekend was beautiful. The kids were in a concert at church and they got awards as well. On Saturday a bunch of old cars came to the camp and Sam went down to take pics. They were neat. Also, Sunday afternoon it was almost hot outside and we decided to walk down to the kids school. They wanted to check on their garden plots. Their teacher/principal, Mrs. Watt decided that there should be huts for the kids to play in at playtime. Two weekends ago, at the work bee, Mrs. Watt had the volunteers put pallets together into huts. Then she gave the kids hammers, nails and the freedom to do what they wanted to the huts to make them their own. They did this during unsupervised playtime outside. They are cool!

It does not feel like Christmas time. The weather is hot and sunny, the grass is green and my gardens are full of strawberries, roses and weeds! We have yet to decorate too. Abby is adamant that we get a real Christmas tree, but they do not sell real trees here. Everyone either has fake ones or they walk in to a bush and hack down branches and stick them in a pail with rocks. We will soon get something together. Mom sent the kids advent calendars and a set of 4 snowman place mats. That is the extent of our decorating so far.

We have week of school left. Sam will go to school on the next Monday morning because Mrs. Watt wants a special morning with her kids that are leaving next year. He will miss her, she has been wonderful for Sam. Mrs. Watt is one of those teachers that every parent wants for her children. She is caring yet firm, and takes the time to really "get" the children. Right from the beginning she has been great for Sam and Abby.

Until next time,
Samantha

Photo Scavenger Hunt

2008-12-06T21:04:00.003+13:00

Libby and James Young live around the corner up on Mountain Road. They stayed the night this Saturday night. Abby and Libby are good friends and Sammer and James are best buds. After tea the kids went out and did a photo scavenger hunt. The criteria was that they worked in partners, one partner had to be in the photos and they could not use our yard to take the pics. They had a list of 10 Pictures to take, here they are...
- 20 toes on a cattle stop
-a partner on a top bunk
- a partner in front of a cross
-a partner in a tree
- a partner in a box full of wood
-a partner at the halfway point on the slide
-a partner laying on a steep hill, upside-down
-a partner peeking around the climbing wall
-a partner in a pig pen
- a partner in mid air on the trampoline

Enjoy the pics! We did, they had fun...if you know Brian Cofell and Dan Richards, take note of Sam and James.. they are hilariously similar!

Until next time,
Samantha

December 1st

2008-12-01T18:16:00.004+13:00

Today is December 1st and that means it is summer here in New Zealand. The weather man was not alerted to this information as the day was more like spring. I am not complaining! I have been hearing about the snow that fell last week in the Grand Bend area and am very glad to be here.

My dear friend Sharon Soldan taught me to count down the school days by how many Mondays were left. I have carried on with her tradition and am very happy to announce that I have 1 Monday left of school this year! I do not feel like I did back in Canada though, the end has crept up and it is nice that we are almost done. There has been a lot of things going on as things come to an end. They say "break up" here which means that things will end. So for instance, Dan and Sam had their hockey break up last week. I had my pottery break up last Thursday. Abby will have her ballet break up show next Thursday. Break up means that you bring a plate (filled with food) to share with everyone and you talk and some awards may be given. In the photos that follow you will see that Dano got a couple of awards this year for his hockey. He did really well.

The kids are preparing for their end of year musical, Snow Bright and the Seven Dorks. Abby is Snow Bright's dead mother in Angel form and Sammer is a narrator. We will try to video the production and burn it to DVD for the Grandparents. Sam got into St. Peter's College for next year. Orginially he did not get in but a space became available and we were happy to get the call. He has an orientation day this Friday afternoon. I will include pics below of him in the school uniform. A lady I work with gave us a bag of hand me down uniforms for Sam. He looks so spiffy in the uniform!

I have been offered a permanent contract with Gore High School. So next year I will be teaching four Year 9 classes and a Forward Thinking class. Forward Thinking is a new programme that Gore High has decided to let me pilot this year. I will not be teaching Foods next year which I will really miss. Foods would not fit into my timetable so Mr. Crosbie could not give it to me. I applied to be a Dean. Deans work in pairs, male and female, and they oversee a year group. I got the position of Dean for the Year 9's. I will work alongside a seasoned Mr. Hannah (who reminds me a lot of Uncle Ted). The Dean's job is to carry through each year until the year 9's leave school in 5 years time. I am excited about this job as I was wanting something a little different from classroom teaching. Before I came to Gore High I was never interested in the Managment side of things but here they allow for middle management positons such as Dean which I think I will like. This week I am out of the classroom preparing for next year's year 9's. I certainly feel valued at Gore High. The principal and my Head's of Departments are generous with their kind words, it is truly refreshing.

Dan's parents arrive Decemeber 21. We are so glad, and a little ovewhemled that family and friends come all this way to see us. Christmas will be different this year and having family will make it more familiar. The plan is to spend Christmas Day at the beach. If the weather cooperates, that is. Dano is working on an itinerary for Phil and Janet which includes a trip to the North Island, a train trip up the east coast, a few farm stays, a waterfall day, and all of our favourites in between. Camp Columba shuts down for 2 weeks over Christmas so it will be very relaxing. The four of us plan to do The Rail Trail while Phil and Janet are here so that they can be our support vehicle. Central Otago is beautiful during the summer, bursting with cherries and apricots. Every little village and crossroad has shops and cafes that P & J will love (maybe J will love them more than P).

Jo and John Gardyne gave us a trampoline yesterday. Our children have spent the last 2 days bouncing, squealing and playing in our backyard.

Until next time,
Samantha

Riverton for Dano's Birthday

2008-11-16T22:28:00.003+13:00

We left Pukerau Friday afternoon to go to a "crib" in Riverton. A friend of mine at school has an Auntie Marylyn and Uncle Errol that rented us their crib. It was beautiful. The idea of doing more and having less is now second nature to us. Our efforts to celebrate Dan's birthday were spent organizing the crib, packing, then enjoying the weekend. He did get himself a Stunt Kite which was great fun for 20 minutes then plunged to its death. He also got a pair of jandals (flip flops) that have therapeutic massage bumps where the sole of your foot go. After an hour of wearing them the therapeutic massage bumps are equivalent to Chinese tourture.

The crib was right on the water, we slept to the sound of waves, woke to beautiful beach and played amongst the waves, the crabs and the flounders. We biked out to the end of Riverton's beach and Abby made it, although many Riverton-ites were probably wondering what her problem was. On Sunday Caroline and Richard (Uncle Errol's sister) arrived at the door in search of the flounder net. They invited us down to the spot where they were going floundering. It was wonderful, we learned so much. The two men suited up in wet suits and dragged the net along the bottom of the river. They walked slowly and then got back to shore with flounder in the net. On the last time they were dragging the net the tide began coming in and Richard got into some trouble. We could hear him making a grunting sound, one of exhaustion. The men had let go of the net and began swimming back to shore. Caroline was out in the water knee deep trying to talk to Richard. By his sounds we knew he was in trouble. He went under twice then cried out a weak "help". Dano ran in, swam to Richard and began pulling him out of the river. Abby was clung to me, Sammer had gone out into the water as far as he could...we all held our breaths. The men got to their feet and Richard thanked Dan as he would have gone under, he thought he was going to drown. What a good lesson for the kids. We are so proud of our hero, and Sammy promises never to bellyache again about having to take swimming lessons. They came back to the crib and taught us how to clean and fillet the flounder. Dano says this was one of his best birthdays.

Until next time,
Samantha

The ocean, Halloween and a bike ride.

2008-11-02T21:51:00.002+13:00

It was pointed out to me tonight by my beautiful wife that she has written the last 8 posts for our blog. She suggested that maybe I should write this one in case anyone was wondering if she had finally gotten rid of me ... she hasn't.

Last weekend was Labour Day Weekend in New Zealand making it a long weekend. We had the Monday off. We spent Saturday in Invercargill doing some shopping. We found lots of treasures at Savemart - the Kiwi version of Value Village. The best find of the day was a brand new pair of Saucony running shoes for Samantha for $8.99. We also finally bought a bed. We've been sleeping on a double bed that was graciously supplied to us on arrival. It's been alright but not great. We expect our new queen size to arrive next week - I'm looking forward to a little extra space. Sunday was all about gardening. We planted a cucumber patch, some sweet corn and a strip of tomato plants. Samantha is planning to make salsa, relish and dill pickles from these. There are no dill pickles in the stores here and the relish is gerken - not sweet. If all goes well we may have some fresh veggies to share with my folks in January. Monday we headed to the ocean, Porpoise Bay to be exact. The kids packed their wet suits and we packed the cameras - still and video. We got to the beach, set up our chairs and Samantha got the camera out. It was at this point that she discovered that I had forgot to get the battery out of the charger. Oops! I did have our Flip video camera though so we got lots of video footage only to later discover that it is broken and we can't transfer footage to the computer right now. Luckily we ran into a guy that I play hockey with, Zee. He was at the beach with his wife and son and they let us use their camera to snap a few pics. You'll see them below. It was a great day at the ocean and on the way home we stopped at McLean Falls, a really spectacular waterfall about 1 hour from our house. I'd love to show pictures of that but you know the story.

So this weekend was Halloween. We knew well beforehand that it is not a big deal here. Some Kiwi's actually resent the fact that it happens at all because they feel like New Zealand is being Americanized with such a consumeristic "holiday". This being the case we didn't go trick or treating. Our church hosted an Angels and Heroes party as an alternative to trick or treating on Friday night. Abby dressed as an angel and Sam created a costume for a character he called Super Aqua Man. It was an enjoyable evening but not what we are used to. Samantha and Abby were surprised to feel homesick during this time. Sometimes the feeling creeps up on us when we least expect it.

You'll see from the next set of pictures that we went biking this weekend as well. We found some really nice mountain bike trails at the Sandy Point Recreation Reserve near Invercargill. It is a big area, over 2000 hectares, that was set aside for recreational pursuits. It has many walking tracks, a mountain bike area and everything from rowing clubs to stock car racing to horse riding tracks. One of the pictures below is of the sign that lists everything that is there, what a wonderful idea and great use of land. One of our reasons for heading there today is that we are planning to ride the Central Otago Rail Trail in January, a 3 or 4 day bike ride, and we need to build up our saddle time before then. We also wanted to test how Samantha' s knee would hold up and to see if Abby could get her head around the idea. The good news is that Samantha's knee did okay - starting and stopping wasn't great but once she was rolling it was pain free. The bad news is that Abby had difficulty wrapping her head around the biking, as you will see from the pictures. We still have some work to do with her before we head out for 4 days. It's not that she can't bike, she just doesn't like to. She hasn't every since she once wiped out in front of Samantha and got run over. We may need to get her some kind of therapy. We'll keep you posted on her progress.

Good weekend

2008-10-19T21:23:00.003+13:00

We had a good weekend. The kids are in such a wonderful place these days. They enjoy hanging around each other lately, exploring, playing and talking. This weekend the weather was beautiful the kids spent a lot of time at the trampolines, walking around the camp, playing with new Hot Wheels and building a fort. It is truly a pleasure to watch them grow and daily we think about how this move to NZ has been positive for them.

After church Sunday Dano and I put together a few cots and bunkbeds for a large group coming to the camp. Then we puttered around, weeding a rose flowerbed beside the house. It was nice. I included pics of the long flowerbed in front of the house.

PowerBall is a lotto here in NZ. We never play the lottery but this Powerball was 30 million. We did not win the 30 mil, but we did come home with $103, that is better than a kick in the pants.

The kids spent Sunday evening playing and building a fort in the forest behind the house. Abby took us on a tour, acting like a tour guide. She is so Type A! In role, she bossed us around, told us how to get to the fort, ordered Sam around...it was hilarious.

Back to school tomorrow, the kids have a short week. They get a Teacher Only day on Friday and then Monday is Labour Weekend which is a holiday for all Kiwis. As I sit here, Dan and I are chuckling, there are dairy cows the live across the field and past the pond. They have been barking/moaning/yelling all day. The sound is so bizarre. I should try to record some footage of these strange sounding cows.

Until next time,
Samantha

Friday Nights

2008-10-17T20:40:00.003+13:00

Friday nights are glorious. The kids get off the bus at 3:45pm, I get home from school a few minutes after that. The kids and I make supper together, tonight we made burritos. Sam and Abby play with and feed the bunnies and practice music. When Dan gets home we sit down for chow. It stays light until 8:30ish so the evening seems to last forever. After supper we went for a walk around the camp, the kids trampolined, Dan and I strolled. Here are some photos of our night.

The kids started taking swimming lessons this week. Abby's instructor is a Teacher Aide at my school, her name is Sally. She is a beautiful lady. Sam had a "fill in" instructor his first night so we have yet to meet Fiona. Here are some photos of the kids at swimming lessons.

Until next time,
Samantha

Spring Holidays 2008

2008-10-12T22:21:00.004+13:00

This past week we have been on school holidays. It has been quiet and relaxing. The kids have spent a lot of time outside. The weather is getting warmer and the sun is out from 6am - 9pm. Our family celebrated Thanksgiving with a chicken, the biggest we could find. It seems that turkeys do not come out until Christmas time, even at a butcher shop! We went to church, swam at the pool and then Dano and I had to do our two hour time slot at the ice rink, so the kids skated too. When we came home we got our Thanksgiving supper ready. It was a gorgeous day.
We are back to school tomorrow. There are 9 weeks until we are finished this school year to enjoy summer/Christmas holidays. We will be off from Dec 12 - Feb 7. Dan's parents are coming to stay with us over the Christmas holidays. We are so fortunate to have family visit us.
Until next time,
Samantha

Mark, Kris and Emma's Visit

2008-10-03T22:27:00.003+13:00

We were lucky to have Dan's brother, sister in law and niece come to New Zealand for a visit. We showed them a few of our favourite spots, although Milford Sound did not work out for them due to a mud slide blocking the road, then gale winds on the west coast prevented the tours from running. Ah well, they will have to come back!!! The house seems very quiet tonight. Here are some photos of things we did while they were here. Enjoy
Until next time,
Samantha

Whanau

2008-09-26T19:28:00.006+12:00

Mark, Kris and Emma have arrived to New Zealand. They brought with them a bag with stuff from home. Reena and Kris put together many special things that we do not have here. Sherrif Lemon pie filling, Victoria Secrets Underwear, Maple Syrup, Kraft Dinner, Nike Running shoes, Betty Crocker cake mixes, clothes for the kids and so much more. Thanks ladies!
The "other" Richards family have been seeing some of our favourite sights while we finished up working before our holdiays. The Youngs, Stacey and Robert are friends or ours here that are sheep farmers. Mark, Kris and Emma spent a morning lambing with Robert. They have also been to other friends, the Gardyne's who have a farm not too far from us as well. They made it to the ocean seeing part of the Catlins, which was one of our favourite sights.
I have booked the Gore High Mini Bus to transport all seven of us around this weekend. We are heading out early tomorrow morning to see Alexandra and Queenstown. Pictures will follow. It is really nice having guests again.

The knee surgery went well, I guess. I had a spinal and was awake for the procedure and watched the whole thing on the TV beside me. Dr. Leuker is an American working in Invercargill. He filled my knee with water and many bits of cartilage came out. He knew that there was damage in there. Originally he thought the meniscus was torn and was prepared to trim and remove, however the meniscus was not too bad. He was surprised to find a long line gauged out of the cartilage directly in the top bone of the knee where all the weight gets put. He had no explanation of how this could happen. Also the backside of my knee cap looks like a cheese grater has been scraping it. These unexplainable injuries are irreparable and "I will have to live with years of swelling, arthritis..then eventually a knee replacement." To that I say... DAMN IT! Aging is shitty!

Until next time,
Samantha

Abby's Ballet Assessment

2008-09-21T10:06:00.003+12:00

This past Saturday Abby and two of her classmates took their Primary Ballet Assessment. When we left Canada Abby was working in her Primary Ballet. When we got to New Zealand she started learning the Primary work here, it was a little different but she got it. Her teacher, Mrs. Ainge felt that she was ready for the exam but it was too late to enter her in for the RAD exams. Mrs. Ainge arranged to have assessments for the girls with a local examiner. It went very well. It brought back memories of Holly and I at Florence's, nervous and giddy.

September 18, 2008

2008-09-18T09:21:00.004+12:00

Dan's brother Mark, his wife Kris and daughter Emma left Dresden today to travel to Australia then to New Zealand. We are very glad to have visitors again. Tonight we will be organizing beds, washing sheets, creating a menu and planning a combined belated birthday for all three cousins. M,E,K will fly into NZ this coming Tuesday. Abby and I will go to pick them up at the airport. We have a few things planned while they are here, Mark will be flying back to Canada 5 days after he arrives and the girls will stay on into our school holidays. They are bringing "stuff" with them...Cheez Whiz, Maple Syrup, Sherrif Lemon Pie mix, Dove Soap, Degree Deodorant and the list goes on. These are all items that New Zealand does not have. I can't wait!

At Pukerau Primary the classes only go up to Year 6. Sam is in Year 6 now and his group of mates will move on. The options are St. Peter's College, a Catholic school that goes from Year 7 - Year 13; Longford, a public intermediate school of Year 7 and Year 8 classes and that is really it. Blue Mountain College, a public school the has Year 7 - Year 13 would be a hour bus ride both ways. Sam's was keen on going to St. Peter's College as his friends are going there and it is a small school. As we are not Catholic we had to interview for a few Non-Preferential spaces. Sam did not get a spot. So we are keeping our minds open, looking into Longford and what is meant to be will, will be. Sammer comes home everyday dirt ground into his pants, bruises in strange spots, bottoms of his feet black...he and his friends play Bullrush. As I can understand it...they kick off their shoes (thus the black feet) and then they pummel each other (bruises and dirty clothes). He loves it.

Abby has become a different girl in the mornings. She used to wake up with a snarl, and continue to snarl, growl and yell before she left for school. It was most unpleasant. The last three weeks have been the opposite. I am so glad these phases kids go through come to an end. Thank God!!!! Something has changed and she is happy, pleasant and lovely now. She is getting ready to do her Ballet assessment this Saturday. She keeps telling me that she loves dance but she is nervous about the assessment. I am sure she will do well.

Things are going really well, the weather is starting to turn warm. New Zealand has the most amazing fresh breezes. I love the wind. Their trees, plants and vegetation are beautiful. We are in contact with many people from home and I love hearing updates.

Until next time,
Samantha

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Kim and Cathy .....and Karen is 40!

September is Spring!

2008-09-07T19:54:00.008+12:00

That is right, the seasons change at the first of the month and September first marks the beginning of SPRING. Magically the weather knew to change on that day. The nights remain cool, we burn coal some nights depending on how cold we feel. The days have been sunny and warm, about 60 - 70 degrees. Father's Day in NZ is September 7th and they kids and I came up with a few things that Dan needs that will be part of doing more. Firstly, we made him breakfast and then spent the day in an arena. Dano needed socks and hair jel so he got those items. What the kids really wanted to get their dad was lawn chairs and a fire pit. They have been dying to have campfires here. We have this part of our yard that we call The Space Between, which is a Dave Matthews tune, true...but we refer to the interesting little part of yard out the side of our house, you will see pics of this space where the kids are sitting around the fire. Since I am a dreamer, I have imagined what this space will look like in a two week time period and it includes wood chips, picnic table, raspberry bushes, plants and a small waterfall pond. A girl can dream, right?

Abby is taking ballet, tap (with me as her teacher) and she will begin jazz this week. I am loving the fact that she shuffle ball changes all over the house and down the grocery store aisles, it reminds me of Holly and I when we were kids. She is loving school, doing extremely well with maths. Abby got an award at an assembly for outstanding work in Maths. Mrs. Watt has been away this term on what they call, OE (Overseas Experience). Abby is really looking forward to her returning.

Sam too is looking forward to Mrs Watt returning to Pukerau Primary. Their school only goes up to Year 6 so Sam will have to go to another school next year. We had an interview at St Peter's College that goes from Year 7 to Year 13. We should hear this week if he got in or not. Sam played in his last hockey tournament of the year. As he began playing hockey in Forest last Sept. and he has been playing the entire year we are ready for a break from the arenas!! Well, maybe me more that the rest of the family.

Staffing is happening at my school. Mr Crosbie, my principal has been organizing who teaches what next year. Everyday last week he spoke of me doing a different mixture of classes. I am still not sure what will get set in stone but I do know that every time he talks to me I feel valuable, wanted in many areas and appreciated. It is refreshing and makes me glad to have made this move. Tap dancing is going well. I thank Mom and Dad for putting Holly and I into dance because this skill and knowledge is coming in real handy. Florence was an excellent teacher as I can remember every single dance from so many years ago. I am glad she accepted nothing but perfection because now I hear myself sounding like her.

The last couple of weeks have been good. Dano and I talk about coming home but not in a crazy homesick kind of way. The simple things like having no dryer, driving older cars, having second hand everything, having less and doing more will be part of our return for sure. Homesickness has not be an issue lately, we have been enjoying the weather, the routines and the simple things in life. As well, we have talked to, emailed, MSNed and Facebook chatted with many of our friends and family so we feel connected. Mark, Kris and Emma will be arriving Sept 23 and we are looking forward to visitors again. Things like Victoria's Secrets underwear, Cheese Whiz, Kraft Dinner, Kernels Dill Pickle Seasoning, Pepto Bismol, Zantac and Men's Degree Deodorant are all coveted items which will be making the trip across the world! We have much of our favourite NZ scenery to show MEK when they get here. It will be nice to have family here.
Until next time,
Samantha

Samantha was featured in the paper

2008-09-03T22:15:00.006+12:00

Each week Gore High School has a page in the local paper. A part of the page is dedicated to an interview with a new teacher. This week was Samantha's turn. Click here to see the full article.

A little catch up

2008-08-31T21:46:00.002+12:00

So it's been a couple of weeks since our last post. I think that's my fault. I was supposed to put something up last weekend after our return from Christchurch. My apologies for taking so long.

Last week we spent 5 days in Christchurch. I was playing in the National Senior No Checking Hockey tournament and Samantha was observing the Inquiry Learning Skills Program at two schools there. Christchurch was probably the most "North American" like city we've been in since we arrived. We went to our first mall in New Zealand - it even had a K-MArt.

Samantha was very impressed with one of the schools that she visited - it was unlike any school she had ever seen. It reminded her of Fame. I wasn't so impressed with the way the hockey tournament went. The Southern Team was older, slower and hadn't ever played together before this tournament. The other two teams had been training for months. The refereeing at the tournament was also horrific. Three of our four games had refs that didn't have a clue what to call or when to call it. They also dispensed 10 minute misconducts at will. When the ref blows his whistle and you have no clue what the call is going to be, it is very tough to enjoy the game. We didn't win a game but the game that we got beat the worst was the most enjoyable because we had a decent ref.

You'll see from the pictures that we also went to a Build-a-Bear store while there. Sammy has been wanting to make a bear for years. We made this part of his birthday present and suggested that this may be his last stuffed animal.

This past weekend we had a quiet weekend at home. It has been beautiful spring weather and we enjoyed most of the day working around the house.

We are counting down the days until our next visitors arrive - Mark, Kris and Emma are here in 3 weeks. We can't wait.

Enjoy the pics.

A birthday, some hockey and a bungy swing!

2008-08-17T20:32:00.005+12:00

Friday night we celebrated Sam's 11th birthday. After school I picked up Da Vinci's pizza, meatlovers, Sam's favourite. We had a nice dinner and Sam opened presents from Abby, Holly, Scott, Hunter and Lillie and Grandma and Grandpa Horton. Aunt Ida, Uncle Lloyd and Brian and Robyn Cofell had sent cards to Sam as well. Thanks to everyone for sending wishes from home.
The weather forecast was calling for snow so we decided to drive up to QueenstownFriday night for Dano's hockey games and Sammer's birthday bungy jump. We finished our birthday "tea", packed, delivered Abby to Libby's house in exchange for James, Sam's friend. The drive to Q-town was smooth sailing and we arrived at the cabin in time for the boys to play with Sam's new birthday gift, Bakugan and Lego. Snow blanketed Queenstown while we slept and the morning was beautiful. Dan thought we ought to go early to the arena where he was scheduled to play two games of hockey. We got to the arena at 8:20am to find that no one else from Gore could get through, except the Smith family who came up the night before as well. Luckily the women's team needed players so Dano strapped on his bra and played for the women's team for the first game. With 3 games in total played and 7 hours later, we finally left the damn cold arena to head up the Gondola for Sam's birthday bungy jump.
The whole day Sam was in high spirits, ready for his jump. He and James had a wonderful day in the snow, playing outside the arena while I froze in the arena. We headed up the Gondola, Sam smiling the whole way, Dan and I kept waiting for him to change his mind. Sam is not much of a thrill seeker. Sam and James played with snow, drove video game race cars and hung out while we waited for his 6:30pm jump time. The Ledge offers two forms of thrill falling, bungy jumping and bungy swinging. Sam chose bungy jumping, we paid and filled out the paper work. Out at the ledge there is a waiting area where James and I looked on. Dan took Sam out to the jumping pod. Sam walked out looking calm as if the idea of launching himself off a mountain did not phase him. We were stunned at his calmness, this child was afraid to sleep on the top bunk at camp last year. Anyway, Sam got harnessed up, waited his turn. Dan returned to the viewing area so we could get pics and video proof of this milestone. A nice bungy worker named Ren, got Sammer ready to jump, all clicked in and bungied up. We had our cameras ready, waited holding our breaths. Previous jumpers waited to cheer on the Crazy Canadian kid. Then the tears came.
We watched as Sam wiped his face, shook his head and retreated away from the edge. Ren kept his arm around him and tried to coax him into doing the deed. Dan couldn"t take it anymore and ran back to offer some support. By the time Dano got to him he was in full cry, very adamant that he was not jumping. As both Sam and Dan made their way back to the viewing deck James was not sure what to think. At that point I took over. Perhaps my approach was not gentle and comforting, but it worked. Phrases like, "I know you are afraid, but get your head around this because you ARE doing this"....and "courage is when you are afraid of something and you fight through the fear and do what scares you"...and perhaps, "stop crying and suck it up!!!" (not proud of that one) After a few minutes Sam announces, "FINE, let's do this!" And with the force of the world behind him, he and I trudge our way out to Ren who is waiting for us. Sam maturely and clearly asked him if he can bungy swing instead of bungy jump. Ren says, "Of course, mate." Sam gets harnessed up, asks 150 questions, gets lowered into position, pleads with Ren to bring him back up to the platform, yells at Ren some more, offers Ren his allowance to bring him back up... and after 4 minutes of failed negotiations Ren tricks Sam into pulling the red cord (to bring yourself back up to the platform...) and Sam launches into full plummet. Everyone, viewers, workers, Ren, Me, Dan and Sam was silent for the first few seconds...the snow was so thick that Sam swung into darkness and blizzard conditions. When he was completely out of view we heard a "Whoo Hoo" and then everyone cheered. HE DID IT!!!!! I felt like crying for the little man, he was enjoying that what scared him. For the next few minutes strangers cheered for him, workers called to him, Dano and I hollered to him, James stood looking with wide eyes. Ren made his peace with Sammer for tricking him into pulling the pin, Sam was cold but glad he did it. He thanked Ren in the end. Dano and I are so proud of our boy! Enjoy the video, it is 7 minutes long but let it load, it is worth it. The audio is from a microphone in the bungy pod so it doesn't catch the negotiating between Ren and Sammer.
Until next time,
Samantha

Having less and doing more....

2008-08-10T09:08:00.004+12:00

When we were in the deciding stages of leaving our Canadian life (for a while) the idea of having less and doing more rolled off our tongues daily. We really felt like we needed to rid ourselves of the "stuff" as it seemed to bog us down. Now that we are here and living the Kiwi life we deliberately make choices not to accumulate stuff. It has been going well. There are a few things that we have bought, things we have needed. The days of wandering through WalMart and loading the cart with things that we liked, not needed, are long gone. It feels good.
Last week Dan came home with a 5 litre slow cooker, new, because a used slow cooker made me gag. We had been watching the sale prices and my sweet groom thought that $60 was the right price, so along with his weekly grocery shopping trip he returned with an appreciated surprise. The slow cooker makes our Tuesday and Thursday nights simpler with dance/hockey/rubgy/pottery. It is really nice that it is only two nights a week that we are busy.
Back home I was all about the way my house looked. I thought about matching plates, cutlery, sheets and bedding, a set of towels that matched the bathroom, sofas that looked good together, and the list goes on. I can say that that part of me has shut itself off here in NZ. Our house is tidy, uncluttered and very cottagy, which I am okay with. I do not feel the need to redecorate, paint or buy furniture that all matches. Our second hand furniture is functional, not hideous, but not pretty either.
Living with less is freeing. People ask mostly about living with no clothes dryer. It is good. When it is wet and cold, we use two drying racks that we have set up in front of large windows, one in Abby's room, one in our room. On beautiful days like today, we carry them to the porch and use our clothes line. Laundry rarely becomes an overwhelming mountain in the laundry room as we do a load each day so that we can hang it out in the morning. It feels kinda good not to be using all the energy as well.
The "doing more" part of our experience is not extreme, but certainly satisfying. During our week we play cards as a family (Phase 10 is our fav.), we build rabbit cages, weed gardens, bike, walk, hike and do the mundane jobs as a family. On weekends we tend to travel and explore new things together. Dan and I have been out together once while the kids were at school camp when we first got here. Back home, we felt like we needed "date night"...time away from the kids. It is different here, maybe because we do not feel rushed, tired and stressed here. Rather, we go and see new things and do new things together. Next weekend is Sammer's 11th birthday. Sam has asked a friend to go with us, he plans to bungy jump for his birthday. I hope he does, this is the kid that is afraid to swallow a pill and sleep on the top bunk....we'll see. If this new life has affected anyone of us in a positive way, it has been Sam. He has grown physically and emotionally here. I hope he does do the jump as it represent his new found self here.
My school is sending me to Christchurch to observe a new program that is being implemented in schools in NZ. Inquiry learning is the latest thing in education here, the Head of English and the Senior Management Team asked me to go and observe, learn and start the program at Gore High. So we get to go and see Christchurch where Dan will be playing for the Southern Men's Ice Hockey team at the national tournament that same weekend. (The Kiwi NHL..hee hee) We leave Tuesday Aug. 19 and return Sunday Aug. 24. While we are there we plan to do and see a lot. I am particularly looking forward to Hamner Springs, north of CC...soaking in the hot mineral springs for most of the day. The kids really want to go to a Build a Bear store, and we are needing to stock up on Body Shop and LUSH products. Going to a big city will be nice for those 5 days to see some familiar stores and restaurants. There is even three malls in Christchruch! We have not been in anything but small shops in 7 months.
Surgery for my right knee has been booked for September 26th. My knees have been sore and crunchy, making daily pain relief necessary. I am glad to get them done, however Mark, Kris and Emma arrive Sept 23, which might me a less then spectacular hostess. We are looking forward to them coming, counting down the days.
Today, the boys are 3 hours away in Naseby and Abby and I decided to stay home. We have a list of things to accomplish. We have two vegetable gardens that we are getting ready to plant. A bunny run to finish and, of course, laundry to hang out. The slow cooker is a roasting, the sun is a shining, a bike ride is on the list...life is good.

Until next time, Samantha.

Bungy Jumping

2008-08-03T16:19:00.006+12:00

In the summer of 1991 I had two goals. One was to go parachuting the other to go bungy jumping. The last weekend in June of '91 I went parachuting and loved it. Two weeks later I was planning to go bungy jumping but there were a number of accidents and some deaths in the next couple of weeks at bungy jump sites across North America so I decided to wait. I didn't think I would wait 17 years but I did. When we ended up in NZ, the birthplace of bungy jumping, I decided that it was time to finally take the plunge.

On Saturday morning after Sam's rugby match we picked up the Canadian "gap year" student, Amanda - who has been working at Samantha's school for the past six months, and headed off to Queenstown. Amanda received a bungy jump as a parting gift from the school staff, she heads home to B.C. on Wednesday. Sam decided that he wanted to jump and we agreed that we would give that to him for his birthday. I would jump later when we were in Queenstown another time. As you'll notice from the pictures, Sam decided to wait to jump from another spot on his birthday and I jumped instead.

It was an incredible experience. The free fall seemed longer than I had imagined it would. It was definitely worth the wait. Enjoy the pictures and the video.

Pottery

2008-08-02T20:58:00.000+12:00

I have always wanted to learn how to use a pottery wheel. When we arrived in NZ I learned of Adult Education classes offered at Gore High School. I signed up. Every Thursday night I go back to the school and spin the wheel. I love it and now I even have my own wheel at home. Here are some of my creations.

Night at the Disco

2008-07-27T22:17:00.002+12:00

One really neat thing about parenting is getting to watch your children experience things for the first time. I know that there will be lots of firsts yet to come in Sam & Abby's lives but they don't come nearly as often these days as they did when they were younger, so when they happen now it's a real treat. On Friday night Samantha & I got the chance to witness our children at their first school "disco", that's what they call a school dance here. Every child in the school and their families were invited to the Pukerau Community Hall from 6-8 p.m. for the disco. There was a lot of talk at school in the weeks leading up to the disco. Some boys asked a girl to go with them, others didn't. Sammy didn't ask anyone and Abby didn't get asked.

Sam was excited about going. When he got home from school on Friday, which had been a pajama day, he dressed as his principal using Samantha's nightgown, his first worry was deciding which outfit to wear. He got that laid out and then waited to change until after dinner. A pretty good idea considering he still eats half of his meal with his hands and uses his pants as a napkin! After dinner he changed, put gel in his hair and perfumed himself with some of my Hugo Boss. He was ready for the ladies.

Abby was not so excited about going, in fact she was threatening to run away if we made her go. She had a change of heart at some point on Friday though and although not as excited as Sammy, she eagerly got herself ready. Shortly after 6 we loaded up and headed down. 3 minutes later we were there.

The kids rushed off inside to find their friends, Samantha went into the kitchen with the moms and I stayed outside with the dads who were cooking the chips. One thing that is a little weird for us is that the parents bring beer to school functions like this. There was a BBQ earlier in the year at the school and they had it there too. The night went really well. The kids had a lot of fun - Abby did a lot of dancing, Sam did a lot of moving, not sure it's really called dancing. It would seem that yet another of my shortcomings has been passed onto my son. I think maybe Sam and I can blame Grandpa Richards for our lack of rhythm. Samantha and I didn't do any dancing, just lots of watching and visiting with some of the other parents. It was a great way to start our weekend.

Note: The lighting wasn't great in the hall so the pics are not the best.

Winter Holidays, Lake Hawea, Wanaka

2008-07-17T20:41:00.006+12:00

I must say, Kiwis really know how to split up their school terms. I love having 2 weeks off after 10 weeks of school. So this holiday was in the coldest time of the the NZ year. The weather has been cooler, but not like those Canadian winters. Most days the temperature gets to about 8-9 degrees and the nights flirt with freezing. The fog greets us most mornings, but usually burns off by 10am. When the sun is out it is quite nice and we spend time outside most days. The kids ride their bikes down to Pukerau, we hang laundry and do some gardening. Mr.& Mrs. Kelly used to live at Camp Columba and they built the house we are living in 30 years ago. She was kind enough to come out today and help me prune the rose bushes that line our front flower bed, as they have been neglected since they have left the camp 10 years ago. It was a delightful visit. She is a vivacious lady who knows her gardening! I have a lot to learn about gardening here.

Last night we went to Robert and Stacey Young's house for "tea". Our kids and their kids go to school together. They have a Sam, who is 12 years, James 10 and Libby who is 8. Sam and James are friends. Abby and Libby are friends and weirdly have very similar nicknames. Abby= Gooby Libby= Goober. We had a great time, ate well and enjoyed a game of Bonanza.

We took a 3 night trip to Lake Hawea this holiday. The cottage we stayed in smelled just like the upstairs at Grandpas house. I experienced many moments that stopped me in my tracks and whisked me back to being a little girl watching Grandpa putting on shave cream with a wooden handled bristly brush, in his white undershirt and green farmer pants. The cottage was charming and wonderful. It was very relaxing and we spent a lot of time reading, hiking and soaking up the scenery. Wanaka is a neighbouring town and it was very nice to spend part of a day wandering it's streets. Just outside of Wanaka there is a business called Puzzling World where we spent an afternoon. They have a giant maze, a tilted room (which messed me up), a room of many faces and all sorts of strange things.

Dano leaves early tomorrow morning for a Christian Camping Training weekend. He flies to Hamilton (NZ) and will be staying at a camp called Totara Springs. It will be good for him to be amongst the camping community in NZ and get a feel for "their way". Me being selfish, I am having a hard time getting my head around single parenting for those days and keeping the homesickness "ache in your throat" feeling at bay. I will be fine.

The kids and I have been painting a large room in town that I will teach tap in on Thursdays after school. I have 3 classes already, ranging in age from adults to 7 year olds. I have a few of my high school students helping with the painting tomorrow, pictures to come.

I love the updates from everyone back home. It feels so good to get an email or pictures or snail mail cards/packages. Thank you to everyone that takes the time to do things like that. It really helps. Until next time, Samantha.

Winter in New Zealand

2008-07-05T20:22:00.003+12:00

I have recovered (somewhat) from my previous post. I am still missing my family and all the things they are doing but I am okay. We have completed another term at school and we are off for a two week holiday. School is going well for me and for the kids. Abby is back taking ballet and playing the piano. Sammer is doing well at hockey, rugby and he is playing the guitar. For the next two weeks we will take a break from the routines we are establishing. I start teaching Tap after our two week break, I am especially looking forward to the ladies class that consists of about 10 teachers from school. I say that it is a ladies class but I think there may be a gentleman teacher as well.

Our holiday began with a trip to Queenstown today. We left the house at 6am to drive, what should have been a 2 hours trip, to head north. The weather was calling for heavy snow and gale winds, but heck, we are Canadians, we know how to handle winter driving right? The tyres (NZ spelling) here are not like Canadian tires and the Mazda had trouble and spun out leaving us stuck on the side of the road. 6 cars came along as we sat in our predicament and 6 cars stopped to offer help. Kiwis are good that way. A farmer pulled us out and we kept motoring along. Queenstown is beautiful and is very touristy. We took a Gondola ride up to a restaurant and lookout, it was amazing.

It is a little weird knowing that summer is happening at home. This weekend the Horton's are at Our Ponderosa and we had such a wonderful time last year, I can't help but wish I were there. I know that Mom and Dad, Ger, Nik and the boys, Hol, Scott, Hunter and Lil will be having a blast with Uncle Ted, Aunt Janet, Sharon, Doug, and boys, Cathy, Scott and kids. Abby will miss hanging with Sophie, they were so cute last year! Enjoy Ipperwash, I absolutely love it there.

I wanna go home....

2008-06-29T15:26:00.002+12:00

Holly, Scott, Lillie and Hunter flew in to Detroit Friday night. Mom and Dad were waiting for them and brought them home. While talking with Holly last night she told me of plans to camp with the Hortons, sleep overs for Hunter and Owen, Wild Zone play days. I want to be there.

Holy Fog!

2008-06-16T20:41:00.002+12:00

This morning we awoke the thickest fog we have ever seen. The buses would have been canceled, for sure, back home. The buses ran here in New Zealand. The drive to work was interesting, curvy roads and about 50 metre visibility. As the day went on the fog just sat there, not moving at all. By 4 o'clock the fog was thicker than in the morning. I actually felt a little claustrophobic like the fog was closing in around me on my drive home. I will take photos if the fog is still with us tomorrow.

We got an email telling us the Sammy had been chosen to try out for the Southland Pee Wee Hockey team. This team is a selected group of kids from a large area including Dunedin, Queenstown, Alexandrea, Gore and the Otago area. He is pretty excited to be chosen to try out. This Sunday is the try outs and we should know soon after whether he has made it or not. We'll keep you posted.

I met with a local dance teacher in Gore this week. She is wanting me to teach an intermediate Jazz class on Monday night. I will also be starting to teach Tap as well. My dance shoes are here with me, but I just have to get in touch with Florence for tap music. I am looking forward getting back into dancing. I am also loving that Abby is now wanting to take Ballet and Tap again! When we first got to NZ she wanted to take time off from dancing ( which made me cry) but things have changed and the dance bag has been dragged out, the shoes tried on, the leaps around the house are happening again....and I am happy!

I have included pics of Sammy sporting his new Red Wings shirt that Grandma Horton gave him. He may have missed rubbing the Stanley Cup win in Uncle Gerred's and Grandpa's face, but he was ecstatic to get a t-shirt in the mail.

There are also pics of the kids at Dolamore Park in the Hokonui Hills. We went to the park after church this weekend for a picnic lunch and some play. It is winter here, daffodils, pansies and primrose are blooming, the grass is green, the weather is usually around 60 - 65 degrees...I can handle this kind of winter (except the crazy fog).

Dad turns 60 tomorrow and it is really weird not being there to hang out with him in the backyard and celebrate our birthdays.

Moereki and Naseby for Hockey

2008-06-08T22:35:00.004+12:00

This weekend started with gale winds Friday night. They began to whip around 4pm and continued right through the night until Saturday morning. Sam's rugby game was canceled as a result. I did not sleep much Friday as the sound of the wind was unbelievable (and I may have thought the roof was going to fly off). Melissa arrived back from Australia so we left earlier to go to Dunedin to pick her up. We traveled to Moereki just north of Dunedin to see the boulders. I have included pictures.
After we played in the ocean we headed inland to Naseby where Sam was playing in a hockey tournament on Sunday. Naseby is a little village snuggled at the base of Mt. Ida. Mt. Ida is amazing. We took many photos. Saturday night we had supper (tea, as NZers call it) at a Pub in Naseby then we hit the hay in our cabins. It was snowing as we went to bed. Naseby sits at 2000ft above sea level. Sam played two games of hockey Sunday and his team won both games. He got two penalties and a total of 4 goals between the games. The boys are really starting to pass well. The rink at which he played was an outdoor rink. It was really interesting, we had never been to an outdoor rink before.

Bluff

2008-06-01T23:16:00.002+12:00

This weekend is when New Zealand celebrates the Queen's Birthday. They call it Queen's Birthday weekend, no fancy names here. What it means is that Monday is a holiday, making this a long weekend. It's nice that the school term is halved by a long weekend.

Our weekend started with two rugby matches on Saturday morning. Sam had a game in Edendale, about 25 minutes south of us and Abby had a game in Gore. Both of the kids teams won. Sam's team played their best match of the year. Sam loves it and is right in there pushing the pile and getting after it. He comes home covered in mud needing a shower. After Abby's games, you wouldn't even know if she played or not. She's out there on the field but so far does a lot of trotting after the play. It is strange to us that our more aggressive child is very meek during rugby. Saturday was a wet and drizzly day so we did some housework(and by we I mean Samantha), and hung around the house.

Sunday morning we headed to church in more drizzle but things had cleared up by the time we got home so we headed to Bluff. Bluff is the southern most town in New Zealand. It is a quaint little village with an incredible walking trail along the coast line. It feels like you are tip-toeing along the edge of the world. We headed out for Lookout Point, a 50 minute hike one-way. We thought that this would be a good test for Samantha's knee. She found it not too bad except for the downhill sections which caused some discomfort. Abby seemed to find the walk much more difficult than the rest of us. You would have thought she hadn't eaten or had anything to drink for days the way she carried on at one point. We were pretty sure that her legs were going to fall off as well. They didn't and Abby survived quite nicely. We made it to Lookout Point just as the sun was starting to set. It made for a spectacular view. On a clear day you would be able to see Stewart Island off the coast. We were able to see parts of it but most of it was clouded in. At some point we plan to spend some time on Stewart Island. It is accessible by ferry or helicopter. We headed back towards the car at a much quicker pace fearing that we would run out of daylight. We made it just in time. On the way back to the car we experienced thunder for the first time since our arrival. There was a storm coming across the Foveaux Strait and thunder rumbled out of the storm for a good 10 seconds. Samantha loved it. Enjoy the pictures.

Samantha's Favourite NZ Commercial

2008-05-31T22:21:00.002+12:00

Samantha wanted to share this commercial with everyone. She has had a few students over the years that she has wanted to try this with. Her favourite part is the baby's reaction at the 19 second mark. Enjoy.

Reena turned 60 and I missed it!

2008-05-25T22:07:00.004+12:00

My Mom turned 60 this past week, May 22nd. It feels a little weird not being home to make fun of her for being old! Hee hee Thank goodness for the internet and cheap phone cards because I got to talk to her 3 times that day. Happy birthday Reena! (Thanks Donna)

Dan and Sammy spent some of this weekend at the Father/Son camp here at Camp Columba. The highlight for Sam was shooting the paintball gun at his father and shooting the slug gun at targets. This was the first time Sam had ever seen real guns and thought it was cool. Should I be worried?

Both kids played rugby this weekend and both won their games. It was a rainy morning and the mud that covered the kids was astonishing.

The COAL learning continues. We had burned through the lignite coal quite quickly. So we began asking around to solve this mystery. There are 3 different kinds of coal in this area. Lignite, being the cheapest, that burn quickly and not vey hot. Kai, which is the next up in price and burns hotter than Lignite. Ohai (pronounced like Ohio with no O at the end) is the most expensive and burns the hottest. We bought two feed bags of Ohai at The Warehouse, it was on sale and we wanted to see the difference. It really burns hotter! The radiators and the pipes were creaking with heat, and the floors were warm where the pipes ran beneath the floor boards. After this discovery we are now mixing our coal. We went to the mine and got both lignite and ohai and we burn it together. This will make it so we will use less and it should last a longer time.

I am hoping to go back to work this Wednesday. I am walking without any pain, stairs and forward bent knee steps, like lunging motion are still a problem. My knee feels unstable and does give out now too. I see an ortho surgeon in June and will make plans to fix this ligament tear. the school has been wonderful, they are working on giving me a classroom so that the students will travel to me and there will be minimal stairs and less pounding on the knee hiking from one end of the building to the other between classes.

I picked the kids up from school this past Monday and drove to Invercargill. I had arranged as a surprise to pick bunnies for the kids. They were very surprised. I love their reactions, it is so indicative of their personalities. Abby sqeals and jumps and claps and is outwordly happy. Sam gets a little weepy when he feels ovewhelmed and filled with joy. He puts his hand to his face, snuggles close to me eyes filled with tears and tells me he has always wanted a bunny. I love both of their reactions. Abby named her Sneezel and Sam's is Jeffy!

Cross Country was this week and both kids participated. The race was held in a sheep paddock laced with sheep dung. It was a rainy day, which did not bother the Kiwis at all. Some kids ran the race in bare feet, which we are still not used to. Imagine wet rainy weather in a field with sheep manure. Not pretty. Abby got 8th in her race and Sam did not finish last in his race, a personal victory. We are proud of both kids.

Te Anau & Milford Sound

2008-05-18T23:12:00.007+12:00

We had a fantastic weekend. Early Saturday morning we piled into the car and headed for Te Anau. We had tickets booked for a bus and boat tour of Milford Sound. It's tough to describe with words the beauty and majesty of what we saw. Granite mountains rising straight up out of the water, 700 metres in the air. Dolphins, maybe 20 of them, escorting our cruiser out into the Tasman Sea; playing, leaping, and racing us. Waterfalls cascading down the sheer rock-face from invisible lakes, 200 metres above that are remnants of the glaciers that gouged these fiords from the granite. It was an exhilarating and breath-taking day. Enjoy the pictures.

You may notice that we have changed the layout of the blog. We wanted to set it up so we could increase the size of the slide show without blocking anything. We think this will do the trick. As always, if you want to view the photos in full size just click on the slide show.

Samantha's ramblings

2008-05-16T07:58:00.007+12:00

The kids got their progress reports this week. I have been quite impressed with their school and the education system here in New Zealand. There seems to be a good balance between academics and child development. Their reports came in the form of a binder split into sections for the different subjects. As there are 3 grades in one classroom each child is essentially working in their own program at the appropriate level. The kids are tested in reading, spelling, maths and thinking skills and accordingly put into programs at their levels. We are extremely pleased with their reports, both Abby and Sam are reading well above their age group, and exceeding expectations in all subjects. More importantly, we are thrilled with the "out of the classroom" opportunities the kids are getting. Pukerau Primary is an Enviro School, meaning that each Monday afternoon, with gumboots on, the students head outside and work on projects that help their school keep their Enviro School status. Sam's group has been building a composter out of tractor tyres (NZ spelling). Abby 's group is draining the worm farm and spreading the juice into their vegetable gardens. Many other activities are on the go too, building Nature Huts, Bird Houses, Vegetable Gardens, Plantation and the list goes on. The kids are building a composter in our backyard as well (our pigs are gone). Sam has taken to leaving the house earlier in the morning and he walks down to the bus hut. This allows him to get to school a half hour before school so he can play with his buddies. He is loving his group of friends. Abby prefers to be chauffeured to school in the morning by her Dad, but that is coming to an end. Starting next week she will be either taking the bus or riding her bike to school. Music lessons in school are going well too. Sam is loving the guitar still and has expressed an interest in drums too, Abby is enjoying the piano. Mrs. Watt, their teacher really knows the children, her comments in their reports show that she has spent time talking to them, knows their strengths and weaknesses and shows a caring but firm approach. This change has been very good for the kids.

Kids Growing Up

Every so often I notice something that the kids have done or are doing that makes me think that they are one stage closer to adulthood. Tuesday morning while getting ready for school, Dan was making lunches I was unloading the dishwasher when the smell of cologne wafted out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. I asked Dan if he spilled his cologne as he rarely wears it. It turns out that Sam has been applying Dan's cologne and Tuesday he got a little carried away - 4 squirts! One under each armpit, in addition to deodorant, one on his chest and one squirt on his head...like the top of his head. With stifled smiles we began investigating. He was wanting to smell nice and would like us to buy some AX spray ( which could be used as tear gas). We taught him the spray into the air and walk through the mist technique and now we can all breathe easy at breakfast. Also, the other day Sam had his homework in his backpack and he did not take it out to hand it in. Once he got home he realized that is was still in his backpack, he happily said, "I am going to bike down to the school to see if Mrs Watt is still at the school and hand in my homework". And off he went. Sam is happier here, he has less stress with school, he is accepted by his friends, appreciated by his teacher/principal and he is becoming a responsible young man. Now we work in his table manners!
The other day Gerred phoned and Abby answered the phone. If you know Gerred and Abby you know that they love to tease each other. Gerred began with "Abb EE Gale"....and it went on from there. I would say that I listened to her sass and wit for a couple of minutes before the phone got handed over. The first thing that Gerred said was "Abby is getting the accent". I have noticed this as well. She has gone from calling me Mommy to just MUM. Every time she calls me now it is MUM, I feel it in my chest, slightly to the left...a tightening. I wish and long for her to call me Mommy, but as the age of eight plays out before us the word Mommy is left with the memories of seven and younger. Okay, I know I sound like a senti"mental" fool. She is, however, picking up the accent. When she says YES, it is more like YEES. And she needed a pen this morning to write her order for the Snak N Tack, she said "I need a PEEN". She was the first one in the family to use the lingo freely like, I need to use the toilet (instead of bathroom) and pass me the tomAHto sauce (for ketchup), tomato with a short a sound. She is embracing the language differences and is loving hearing the way they talk here. We are enjoying watching the kids grow up in a less stressful, kid friendly, less TV, no video game, more outside, imaginative, easier atmosphere.

I went to the doctor yesterday morning to be told that I will have to be off for another two weeks with surgery booked the end of June. The ACL tear has made me knee very unstable, it feels wobbly like it will give out. I am walking better, with little pain but stairs are not possible yet. I am hoping to get a new knee brace from Physio soon which will give me support and will let me return to work.

I know that this weekend in Canada is the long weekend. We would be going to the KOA in Port Huron with family and friends if we were back home. This weekend has been in my mind since we moved here as I LOVE going to the KOA. Last Thanksgiving we stayed in a cabin at the KOA, Shawn and Tanya, Olivia and Cate were there, Kris and Emma came for the day, Mom and Dad, Ger and Nikki and the boys were there, Auntie Ida, Toydie and Courtney, Ron and MaryAnne, Deb and Jay, Dana, Jeff and the boys (Abby will miss riding bikes with Jaykob this year) we will miss all of you this year. I hope the weather is good, although some of my fondest memories include rain, cold, heaters, washing vomity bedding and clothes, puddles, sweatshirts and snuggling. The KOA is a MUST DO upon our arrival back home. Have a great weekend everyone!

This weekend for us consists of a Te Anau trip. We are driving to a cafe in Te Anau to catch a guided bus tour. We get off and hike ( a bit) and visit bird sanctuaries, and a wildlife park. Then we board a cruise and travel out to the Tasman Sea and we will finally get to see Milford Sound. Then we will return to go through the Glowworm Caves. We will take lots of photos and post them for you to see.

Samantha's right knee

2008-05-09T14:49:00.003+12:00

So, I have been nursing a sore right knee. The weekend that Abby and I went to the Mother-Daughter camp I was tackled during a friendly game of Flags. Both of my knees crunched to the left but the right knee immediately swelled up and has been sore. After 3 weeks of icing it and feeling no relief I decided to seek some help. Physiotherapy here in New Zealand is quite good and I was recommended a lady. She took me in and tried 4 weeks of strapping and ultra sounding the knee. She felt that she was not really making any difference and sent me for xrays. This past Wednesday I went for my x-rays with an appointment the Thursday at 4pm to see my doctor to read the x-rays. That went fine. Thursday at school my knee was swelling a fair bit and felt quite sore. At 1:30pm, just before my Foods class I went to go to the bathroom, turned sharply into the bathroom and my knee exploded. The pain was sickening and I couldn't put any weight on it. So I stood there, in the main corridor not knowing what to do. Luckily two staff members happened to hear my gasp from the next room and came to see what had happened. They dragged me out to her car and drove me to the hospital.
It turns out I have torn my right ACL and have torn cartilage in the right knee. I am off work for two weeks with an appointment to see an orthopedic surgeon (an American). The idea of having to sit on my behind for two weeks makes me a little angry, but the pain that shoots into my leg when I do hobble around lets me know that this serious.
With Melissa here we have things planned like a Cadbury Factory tour tomorrow, followed by a Highlanders Rugby game in the evening. Then next weekend we have a full day booked starting in Te Anau by bus and Milford Sound by boat, then we are booked to explore the Glowworm caves in the evening. I don't know.
New Zealand has a wonderful accident claim agency called ACC which covers all and every accident. I have not paid for anything thus far. I am told that orthopedics and surgery is paid for, as well as my wages when I am not working. It just doesn't feel right starting a new job, loving the new job and then I have to be off work.
Until next time,
Samantha

Another week in our life

2008-05-04T22:05:00.001+12:00

It has been a quiet week here in New Zealand. Samantha and the kids enjoyed their second week of school holidays and are ready to go back to school on Monday. Abby went to camp this week and had a great time. Abby ended up in a cabin with Anna Maree, a friend that she made at the Mother & Daughter camp. Abby said that camp was different here but she enjoyed herself. We were invited down for a medieval festival on Wednesday night and enjoyed a great meal. There were 4 or 5 different meats served. On a slight tangent - they hunt wild pigs here. The chair of the camp board is going to bring us some to cook. We'll have to report back on how it tastes.

The weather has turned much more fall like. Lots of cold and damp days. Rain comes and goes many times on any given day. The dampness sometimes makes it feel colder than it is. As a result we are keeping our coal boiler going most of the time. It keeps the house fairly warm but takes a while to warm it up if we let it go out. It seems like the one load of coal a month might have been an optimistic projection. Two loads a month will probably be what we actually use. This morning produced the first really hard frost. There was snow again on the hills but none here yet. It is supposed to drop down to -2 C tonight. That means concern about water pipes at camp. There are a number of buildings that are unheated and uninsulated. Water pipes sometimes run exposed up the outside of building walls and are then run above the ceilings. The maintenance man came out today and drained the water to some of the buildings so he wouldn't have to worry about fixing pipes tomorrow.

Today was the second weekend of games for Sammy's hockey team. It was here in Gore and they played twice. Their first opponent was Alexandra. Sammy's team played really well and came out with a nice win. Sammy scored 3 goals. He was thrilled to get his first career hat trick. The second game was against Dunedin, a really strong team. Sammy's team lost 12-3 but played a better game than the score suggested. Sammy scored one goal in this game. After four games they are 2-2. More importantly all of the boys played much better this weekend than they did in last month's games.

You should check out the pictures of the kids at the pool. (Clicking on the slideshow will take you to the web album where you can look at full-size pictures.) They have giant inflatable slides and a cool kids pool. On Friday Samantha took the kids for a fun afternoon. It is a really great facility for a small town to have. The pool and the ice rink are in the same building. The pool is heated by the heat created from making the ice. A gymnasium is currently being built adjacent to the arena to complete the multi-sports complex. I'm looking forward to that being completed because it means that there will be change rooms for hockey.

Samantha had a throat infection this week so she visited a doctor. There was a $31 charge to see the doctor. Samantha was prescribed antibiotics and painkillers. She was pleasantly surprised that each prescription was only $3.50 to have filled for a full course of antibiotics and 360 Panadol pills.

One of the highlights of our week was today's arrival of Melissa Weir, our first Canadian visitor. Melissa has been the lifeguard at Lambton Centre for the past few summers and was also a favourite babysitter. Abby and Samantha went and picked Melissa up at Dunedin airport this morning. She is staying with us for the next 5 weeks. We have some trips planned and will be taking in our first Super14 Rugby match next Saturday. Melissa is taking a 10 day tour to Australia during her stay as well. Melissa was kind enough to bring an extra bag for use. It was full of toothpaste, deodorant, my hockey skates and helmet, some bedding, a couple of quilts, candy, yugi-oh cards, and much more. We all enjoyed emptying out the treasures from home. It's nice to have pieces of home here with us.

Check back next week for pictures from the rugby match. It just might be that some of us will have face paint and funny wigs on.

Weekend Photos...

2008-04-27T21:30:00.001+12:00

Sammy made the paper!

2008-04-26T19:19:00.003+12:00

We were just looking at one of the local papers and discovered that Sammy ended up being in the middle of one of the pictures that accompanied a story about the beginning of rugby season. You can read the article and see the rest of the pictures here.

Horses, rugby, coal & camp

2008-04-24T22:41:00.006+12:00

It has been a while since we last posted, maybe it is because we are feeling more used to things, like less is "new". There are a few things that have been happening in our lives. The kids are riding horses Wednesday after school. A set of twin students of mine have horses and ride English. Dan and I both rode Western as kids so this is new to watch the kids. They love it nonetheless. The kids are also into the swing of things with rugby. They are on different teams but play at the same time on different fields at the same park. It is handy to go to one place and have both kids playing. There are photos included of a practice, where we had beautiful weather and then games, where the weather was cold. It is definitely Autumn here in Southland. The Hokonui Hills are the closest hills to us and I get to see them each morning on my way to school. This past Thursday I was delighted to see snow on the hills. It was beautiful. It is amazing how the hills look different each day.

We have also included pics of us getting coal. Dano and I went to the mine and got some coal today, you will see the different stages of the process. Sam was at camp this week and the theme was Medieval Times. He had a blast and came home smelly and tired. Abby found a friend too, her name is Belle. Belle's mother cooked for the camp so Abby got to see Belle a lot this week.
We are on a two week holiday right now. It is really nice... this two week idea. I always felt that March break was too short and felt too rushed. Two weeks is just about right. Melissa, our babysitter, life guard from LUCC and friend arrives May 4th and are we looking forward to seeing her! Partly because she is bringing us a hockey bag filled with things from home that did come with us in January. Also Sambo and Reena included things like Cheez Whiz, maple syrup, Kraft Mac n Cheese and other treats that they do not have here. The kids have spent some time getting Melissa's room ready for her. They cannot wait to see her. We have a few trips planned with her, like the Cadbury Factory in Dunedin, Doubtful Sound and Stewart Island.

This weekend we are off to do part of the Rail Trail. In Central Otago it is supposed to beautiful this time of year. We all have bikes now so we are ready to get out there. Dan has two hockey games in Dunedin this Sunday so we plan to end up there. Abby and I want to go to The Bead Shop and make some necklaces for Lillie, Kayla and Emma. I have made some beads in pottery and they turned out nicely. There are also water slides at the Moana Pool in Dunedin that we have heard is cool, so we may check it out too.

We have no dryer...like a clothes dryer. We hang everything outside on the line. It turns out that if you leave your laundry on the line for say....a weekend, fungus spores get into the clothing. My underarms did not like these spores that were living in my shirts. So, after a couple of days of itch-o-rama, I went to a Chemist (Pharmacist) who sold me some anti - fungal cream and relief is mine! Lesson learned!
Until next time,
Samantha

Routines and Porpoise Bay

2008-04-12T23:10:00.004+12:00

Our weeks are becoming familiar and more like a routine. The kids continue to enjoy school, as well, Dan and I are enjoying our jobs. I found out this week that we do not do reports this term. I hugged that information bearer and squealed! This past Friday the kids competed in a school swim meet in Gore. Never having done anything like this before the kids were a little nervous. Abby ended up getting 1st place in Front crawl and Sammer a 2nd and a 3rd. I was able to get coverage for a class and attend this event. It was wonderful.
The kids started rugby this week. They practice Thursdays after school. They are learning the game which is new to them. They are tackling and being taught how to tackle. At first both Sam and Abby felt weird tackling. From the beginning of their lives they have been told "hands off", so actually being expected to go and tackle someone to the ground was a little foreign to them.
The kids are taking English riding lessons after school at a stable just outside of town. A set of twin girls that I teach live at the stable and offered to have the kids spend an hour every Wednesday learning how to care for horses and riding them.
This Saturday was wonderful. We woke up to thick fog, but the temperature was warm. I made some phone calls to Canada. It was so nice to talk to Pam at Grand Bend School. I was thrilled to have made Derek blush and leave the room as a result of my teasing. You know I love those button fly jeans! Mom phoned, which is always nice. Brian C. made me smile with his "Sammy" when he heard my "Hello". I miss him. Great Grandma Burgess too sounded great and was delighted to hear us on the other end of the phone.
Our plan for the day was to get some wet suits and swim with the dolphins at Porpoise Bay. We drove to Invercargill to Rebel Sports and got s few wet suits (not pretty). While in Invercargill we met a man standing on the street with a contraption strapped to his back. He had invented a cooler and spout that was refrigerated and was selling raspberry cola. Also, Dan and I bought ourselves bikes at a bike shop. The bikes will be delivered to our house this week! That never happened to us back home. April 18th marks the beginning of a two week break and we plan to do part of the Rail Trail.
Our drive to Porpoise bay was twisty and windy. Car sickness seems to find its way into our vehicles. Abby starts with...."I'm hot" in a shrill sharp whine. Then soon after she follows with gagging. There is no gravol here, but we have found something similar called Sea Legs which is only in pill form. Our kids have never really taken pills before so convincing them that they will not die by having the pill stuck in their throats is almost more trouble than a side of the road regurgitation. Once at Porpoise Bay we had a wonderful time. No dolphins but certainly lots of fun in the waves. The wet suits were necessary as the water was cold. We love being near water and waves. The place that we went to has a camp ground beside the ocean and the sites are separated by large Tussock bushes. There is very little on the sites, it is very rustic. As the sun set we drove home, showered the kids and tucked them into bed. It was a good day.

Penguins, Hockey & Butterflies

2008-04-06T22:24:00.002+12:00

It's Sunday night here. We are resting after a weekend full of discovery in Dunedin. We set out Saturday just before lunch for the two hour trek. Dunedin is only 138km from home and the speed limit for the most part is 100 km/hr but it takes almost two hours to get there. There are a number of small towns that you must slow down to go through and then there are the curves in the road that require a lower speed. The rest of the family doesn't always seem to like the speed that I take the turns at, and this time was no exception. Sammy was feeling like puking by the time we hit Balclutha, which is about half-way. We took a break there and found a pharmacy to get some motion sickness pills. Sammy has the Horton gag-reflex and doesn't like to swallow any kind of pills so until Saturday had only ever taken liquid or chewable medicine. They don't have chewable anti-nauseous meds here so he had to learn how to swallow pills. After one false start he did it. Abby on the other hand wasn't so successful and ended up with half dissolved pills in her mouth which was enough to make her vomit. She did this on the sidewalk on a side street and then chewed more pills. We figured that made it a real trip for us.

We arrived in Dunedin and checked in at the Dunedin Holiday Park where we had booked a lodge room. It wasn't anything fancy but suited us just fine. From there we did a little shopping, we are trying to find wet suits for all of us at a reasonable price. We didn't have any luck finding any. After shopping it was off to Penguin Place to see some more penguins. We didn't do the penguin tour the last time we were in Dunedin because the cost, $85 for the family, seemed a little steep. We decided to give it a go this time though. It was well worth the expense. It was a guided tour. We hopped on a bus and after about a 10 minute ride through a sheep farm we arrived at the penguin reserve. Our tour guide then led us through a maze of trails and paths to different areas to see some penguins. We saw at least twenty penguins and we were really close to a bunch of them. There was one, Anj, that we were only 1 metre from. Part of the tour was through a series of covered trenches that have been constructed to get the visitors closer to the penguins. It was really neat. Another neat thing was the only other person our tour turned out to be from Toronto. Her name is Sarah Covshoff and she is on a globe trotting travel experience after receiving her Ph.D. from Cornell. The whole penguin reserve operation is a private enterprise started 20 years ago by a farmer. It is self-sufficient with no funding beyond the revenue it generates from giving tours, quite a feat. It was an awesome experience. We left filled with a renewed appreciation for the natural world.

The tour lasted a lot longer than we had anticipated so we decided that supper would be pizza in our room. We ended up getting Dominoes but it doesn't taste the same. All pizza here has some kind of barbecue sauce on it. Sometimes it's swirled on top and other times it takes the place of pizza sauce. Nonetheless, it was good pizza. Contrary to how Samantha has captioned the one picture, I was not drinking the giant bottle of Coke. I had three swigs and no more. In fact the bottle made the trip home and is still over half full. Before we went to bed we had to adjust our watches since daylight savings time ended in NZ this weekend. (For those of you keeping track that means we are now only 16 hours ahead.) We made the adjustment right and were at the arena, the Dunedin Ice Stadium, for an 8 a.m. game on Sunday morning. I am the coach of Sammy's team, they didn't have one before the asked me on Tuesday. I didn't share with them that I have only ever won one game as a coach! Things didn't start so well. The first game of the day we played Dunedin and got rolled. I'm not sure what the final score was because they stopped putting the other team's goals up once they were ahead 7-0. Gore ended up scoring 3 goals and Sammy got one of them. The boys weren't discouraged though and after a break were ready to go in our second game of the day. This one went a little better and they won it. I was pleased for them. There are only 5 centres on the South Island that have hockey, and only 4 of them have Peewee teams - kids 12 & under. The games are scheduled one weekend a month and they are all held at one rink. Each month the games are in a different town and each team plays two games. Next month they are here in Gore.

We were out of the arena by 12:30 p.m. and headed over to the Otago Museum. It is at the Otago University and we had heard lots of good things about it, especially the rain forest room. It was fantastic. The kids loved it, Samantha & I really enjoyed it and the rain forest room was great. It's full of butterflies, has a three storey waterfall and is kept at a balmy 28 degrees Celsius. There was also a really interesting exhibit in another part of the museum called the Da Vinci Machines. I couldn't help but leave wanting to learn more about Da Vinci.

It feels like we planned a hockey weekend in Dunedin but ended up squeezing a couple of hockey games in while we had an weekend of discovery and learning.

We love Friday nights

2008-04-04T16:44:00.003+13:00

So it is Friday night again. I love leaving early enough to drive in the driveway and meet the kids getting off the bus. This week has been a good one, quiet, but good. Our week is starting to feel more like a routine now that we have been here over two months. Monday nights are quiet, nothing happens. Tuesday, Sam had hockey practice from 5 - 6pm, Dan's is the same night from 7 - 9pm. Abby and I enjoy a girl's night. Wednesday afternoon my school is done at 2:20pm so I leave to get the kids and take them to McKay Stables where they are learning to care for and ride horses. Then the night is free. Thursday night I go to pottery, which is awesome! Then we go to the weekend again.
This weekend we are leaving Saturday to go to Dunedin. Mid afternoon we will leave Pukerau, drive along the coast and picnic on the beach. Sam has a wet suit if the opportunity arises. We plan to see the blue penguins come in Saturday evening out at the peninsula. 8am Sunday morning we will go cheer on Sam's hockey team as they are in their first tournament. Dan is coaching the team.
For tonight we will hang out, watch TV (we just bought one), do laundry, vacuum and just enjoy the night. We have noticed that life here is more relaxed. Perhaps it has been a deliberate choice on our part, but we have really noticed that family time is important here. The "extras" are not important here. We continue to live intentionally, doing more and having less.
Just a quick update, until next time,
Samantha

Mother Daughter Weekend

2008-03-30T20:34:00.003+13:00

This weekend Abby and I went to camp for a Mother Daughter bonding weekend. Friday after school we packed up bags and walked down the hill to Camp Columba's Mother Daughter weekend. We settled in cabin #2 and began the activities designed just for girls. The weekend consisted of yummy food, journaling, singing, dancing, make up, crafts and lots of time with just Abby and I. It was really nice.

We have three more weeks until our first two week holiday. Plans are in the works for the kids to go to camp here, as well as a 4 day biking trip from Clyde to Middlemarch. Once the holidays are complete we are excited to have our friend, babysitter and lifeguard from Lambton Centre come to stay with us. We are also buying wet suits as we plan to go to Porpoise Bay to swim with the Dolphins. A lady that I met at the camp this weekend had been to Porpoise Bay last weekend and they swam for hours with baby dolphins. That sounds cool to us, so we are going to spend this coming Saturday jammed in wet suits frolicking with baby marine mammals. We are hoping the weather continues to be warm and sunny.

Till next time.

Samantha

Easter Weekend

2008-03-24T21:04:00.004+13:00

Samantha was kind enough to point out that she has written the last three posts so I will share with you how we spent our Easter weekend. The first thing to note is that Easter is a five day long weekend for both of us. Everyone in New Zealand gets a four day weekend but in Southland, our province, the Tuesday after Easter Monday is also when the provincial anniversary is celebrated by some. It is a floating statutory holiday that many people combine with the Easter weekend to take a mini-vacation before the weather turns cold.

Our weekend started with Sammy & Abby having some friends from school overnight. Sammy has a group of about 6 boys in his year that hang out and have fun together. He seems to have made a really good friend with a boy named Harry. They both share a love of Yu-gi-oh and a slightly quirky sense of humour. Abby invited Sophie & Libby the other 2 girls in her year. It seems that the more time the 3 of them spend together, the more at ease Abby feels. They had some good fun.

The next morning we headed out to Dunedin for a hockey tournament. I am on the men's team in Gore. We have ice time every Tuesday night for practice. That's taken some getting used to, I haven't taken part in a hockey practice in almost 20 years. I was ready for some game action. I wasn't ready for 4 games of hockey in 2 days. It didn't start off well for my team, we got creamed 15-0 by Dunedin's best. They were younger, faster and just plain better. We were stronger in our second game on Friday but still lost. The pictures in the slide show are from that game. As you'll see I didn't make out so well on one play. Samantha and the kids came along on Friday. The kids went skating on the curling rink and Samantha froze. Sammy & Abby loved being on the ice. Samantha was fighting off a cold and couldn't stay warm. They didn't come back for day two of the tournament so they didn't witness my team winning both games on Saturday. While in Dunedin I picked up a couple of bicycles for the kids. We had hoped to surprise them on Easter morning. That didn't work, they saw them in the back of the car and started riding them right away. They were thrilled. They have been patiently waiting to get bikes.

We woke up on Easter morning to find that the Easter Bunny did find us after all. In Canada, Easter is one of the big attendance days at churches. That's not the case here because so many people go away at Easter. Our church combined their service with 2 or 3 other churches. We were about to head in when we realized the start time was 1/2 hour earlier than normal. So we missed church and instead did a test run of the kids biking to school. It is literally a 6 minute bike ride. The kids rode and Samantha & I walked behind. It was a beautiful way to start the day. We enjoyed a video call with the Richards family after that. It was full of technical difficulties but it sure was comforting to see familiar faces. It was a pleasant surprise to see Grandma Burgess and Aunt Donna & Uncle Dave for the first time since we left.

Sunday afternoon we were invited to Robert & Stacey Young's house, who live 8 minutes up the road, for an Easter egg hunt and BBQ with some people from the area. You'll see from the pictures what a lovely place they have and the spectacular scenery that surrounds their farm. There were about 12 families there for the afternoon, around 20 kids and enough chocolate that they all took 30 eggs home. Just what we needed. When you go to a BBQ in NZ you take meat and salad or dessert, just like at home. But the amount of meat that is brought to a BBQ here is stunning. There must have been 10 different kinds of meat - hamburgers, sausages, venison, wieners, lamb, beef, chicken, bacon, fish, shrimp, pork and I am certain to be missing some. There were platters of meat everywhere. Before Samantha ate each piece of meat on her plate, she would hold it up and ask what it was. No one likes to eat mystery meat. It's a meat lover's paradise, these NZ BBQ's. Sammy & I were in heaven. Samantha made a 4-layered jello, which they call jelly, with whipped cream mixed in. This was a concoction that the people in attendance had never before witnessed. It was the subject of much discussion which somehow led to Samantha explaining the concept of jello shooters to them. They seemed to think she should bring those next time. We were there from 2:30 until 10:00 p.m. It was a great way to meet more neighbours and feel part of the community. Sammy ended up staying the night with James, another boy in his year.

We all got a good sleep-in Monday and spent the day just relaxing around the house. The day started off a little grey but I'll take cloudy and 70 any day. Tomorrow we have a lunch date with another neighbour family and then it's back to work on Wednesday for a grueling three-day work week. I'm sure we'll manage. We are in the process of planning a trip to Queenstown in the middle of April that should include a family jet-boat ride and a bungee jump for me. Stay tuned for updates.

March 12 - 16, 2008

2008-03-16T21:54:00.003+13:00

This week was an unusual one with the kids being away at Camp Bannockburn. They left Tuesday morning and did not return until Friday afternoon. As it was Abby's 8th birthday we thought it would be nice to drive up and surprise her mid way through the week. My Deputy Principal told me to take Wed. afternoon off and to go and see the kids at camp. Kiwis are different that way, they really encourage things like that. I would not have even asked to go and see the kids during work hours back home. The drive from Pukerau to Cromwell was amazing, however we took the 19 year old Honda, who did not appreciate having to climb the hills. She now has a rumble that she did not have before we left on our 2 hour journey. This week we will take her in to make sure she gets the attention she needs to run another few years for us.
Once we got to the camp we snuck into the kitchen to put Abby's cake in the fridge. Mrs. Watt was doing a lesson with the class in the adjoining room on irrigation. Once she let the kids out for free time Abby ran right passed us. She quickly came back to us and told us to meet her in the girls cabin she needed to tell us something in private. After sitting us down and showing us her bunk, she told us that being at camp has made it so she has friends now. She was elated and so were we. We stayed until they went to bed that night and it was wonderful. The parents that were chaperoning the trip were all Dads of students and they were fun and good to the kids. Sam has come home a fan of Guns and Roses...if I hear "Take me down to paradise city where the grass is green and the girls are pretty, oh won't you please take me home, yeeahuh yeeahuh" I will scream! They had a great time and we feel that the learning over 4 days and 3 days was indescribable. The information they have about irrigation and sluicing machines and gold extraction and how they feel about their friend situation is a learning experience they will never forget.

Abby had a nice birthday, we gave her a digital camera and card making things. She is in the process of making thank you cards for people who sent her birthday presents. It is really cute. We are on Hannah Montana overload! Mom and Dad, Holly and Scott and Gerred and Nikki all gave her HM things and she LOVES them!
Pottery this week was good. I made a platter and pottery beads. They will need two weeks to dry properly. My pinch pots looked great and this week I get to glaze them. I had a go at the wheel and it was going really well. I had what looked like a pot. With one wrong move it no longer looked like a pot. My friend, Lisa got to work on the other wheel and she had Diane our teacher work with her. Lisa left the evening with a lovely gravy boat drying on the shelf. Perhaps the best part of the night came after pottery when Lisa and I stood on the corner of Coutts Rd and Robertson St. and chatted for another hour. I have picked up my own pottery wheel today as well as clay, so I will be able to practice at home now.
You will notice in the pictures below that we bought some second hand furniture for the living room. They are comfy, not beautiful and they clash horribly with our drapes. And I don't even care.

The weather continues to be nice. It was about 75 - 80 most of the weekend. Here in Southland, out of blue "southerlies" whip in bring high wind, rain and cool air with them. Then an a matter of minutes it is calm, warm and fresh outside again.
Till next time,
Samantha

A Beautiful Saturday...

2008-03-08T22:05:00.003+13:00

We had a beautiful Saturday today. The weather was so nice...about 23, sunny and a light breeze with random gusts that would send your hat flying. Laundry was out, groceries were bought, beds were stripped and remade..life happened.
New Zealand is feeling less like a vacation now, rather a nicely paced, simpler life. Thank goodness for technology. We got to talk/type to Mark, Kris and Emma, Shawn and Tanya, Emily, Moe, Kristen, Erinn, Mrs. McLeish and Mom, Dad, Holly, Hunter, Lillie and Scott. As it is Abby's birthday this coming week, we did a video call to Holly's when Mom and Dad got there. They had sent her birthday presents early and then she opened them today...it was like we were all in the same room having her party. Again, thank goodness for technology.
Here are some pics from today and other days that we had on our camera.

2008-03-07T20:44:00.002+13:00

I began a Pottery class this week. Gore High school runs Community Education classes in the evenings and Thursday evenings from 7-9pm I will go and become "one" with clay. Our first lesson was nice. I made 2 pinch pots by hand. They are not too shabby. Both Abby and Sam would like a cactus in their rooms and I figure these pinch pots will serve as cactus homes. The teacher demonstrated how to use the pottery wheel and she made 2 beautiful pots in a matter of minutes. I hope to learn to do the same. They say that working with clay is a stress reliever. I am not sure which was the best medicine, throwing clay or laughing with Lisa, a new friend.

There was a tea welcoming new families to Pukerau Primary School this week. With Reena's coleslaw in hand we arrived at the school to watch Sam run off with a group of boys who look and act like him. The boys played cricket and chummed around the school yard most of the time while Abby stayed a little closer. It seems the situations that the kids are experiencing are in reverse from home. It was Sam that struggled to be accepted, felt on the outside of the group and felt as if no one liked him in Forest. This is not the case with Sam now. Abby, unfortunately is experiencing a bit of difficulty with the girls at her school. She came from grade 2 back home to Year 4 here in NZ. So her peers were 6 and 7 year olds, Abby being the oldest with an early birthday. Now she is the youngest in the class, with peers 8 years to 11 years old. She has had to do some quick adjusting. As well, there are only 3 girls in year four and 3 girls at any age can be difficult. The tea was nice and it was good to meet other new people.

We have no heat. Autumn has arrived to New Zealand and the common method of heating homes is with coal burning boilers. We have a coal burning boiler in the basement but no coal, nor the know how. We have people offering to help us and we will need to take them up on their offers as the nights are getting a tad nippy. Dan is planning to get coal this week...then the fun begins. Dan has always been a fan of lighting things on fire, so this is right up his alley.

A quiet week...

2008-03-02T13:25:00.005+13:00

This week has been a quiet one. The kids had Athletics Day (track ad field day) at a neighbouring school. As you may have guessed I Sam's strengths lay in throwing things like shot put and discus. He is built like his father and would rather throw things rather than run or jump. Abby, on the other hand did really well in the running races. Down here they run races in bare feet. She loved that. Dan got to spend the day with them, meeting new parents and the kids' friends.

Sam and Abby are getting ready to go to camp with their class for the week of March 11th- 14th. This is the first time that Abby will celebrate her birthday with classmates. Normally her birthday falls on March Break. They are looking forward to camp. I am not sure what I will do each night without them home.

Starting this week I will be taking a Pottery class. The High School offers community education classes and I am looking forward to this new hobby. They have a pottery wheel, which is what I wanted to learn. I will include pics of my school as some of the students wanted to see what I see each day. My office is not much to speak of. It is a small, dusty little room that I dump my stuff. It is located at the farthest corner of the D Block...they sometimes refer to the D Block as No Man's Land. Thank goodness for my friend, Greg. He comes to visit me from time to time. Greg's wife, Lisa is taking pottery classes with me. They are are young couple with 3 children. Greg has just started his teaching career and I am glad he is at school. He was also in the Cheese Rolling race with Dan. (ahead of Dan)

There was a Teacher Only day this passed Friday. The education system is really into Bloom`s taxonomy. The day was spent at The Lodge, a nice Golf and Country Club. We were able to work with our departments, I got to work with the English Department, specifically with the Head of the Department, Lianne. She and I worked on a unit for The Raven, a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. It was wonderful. I cannot remember the last time I enjoyed writing lesson plans. I left feeling inspired and like I can be creative in my lessons. A PA day that I left feeling creative and inspired...that has been a long time coming!

We have enjoyed a rainy, warm weekend. Autumn has arrived to New Zealand, our favourite season. We have done laundry, groceries, vacuuming, many emails and phone calls home. We have had a taste of what laundry in wet weather, without a dryer will be like. -two drying racks in front of windows loaded up with our skivvies- nothing fancy.

We are enjoying the comments and emails from everyone. There have only been a few moments of homesickness this week. Camping at the KOA this year with family, and the Ponderosa with The Hortons are two things that have been on my mind.

Nugget Point to Curio Bay

2008-02-24T23:11:00.004+13:00

We had a wonderful Saturday this weekend. After a bit of a lazy morning we headed out to drive part of the Southern Scenic Route along the East Coast of the South Island. (There is a slide show at the bottom - to see full size pics, just click on the slide show.)

We headed for Kaka Point to start our trip. We stopped at a dairy and bought some chicken & fries and headed to the beach for lunch. We had some birds joing us for lunch, they enjoyed a few french fries. We walked on the beach and Sam went in. Abby started a new shell collection here too.

From there we headed down to Nugget Point. Nugget Point is on a nature reserve. We walked to a place called Roaring Bay, named after the winds that whip into the bay off of the ocean. Roaring Bay is home to yellow-eyed penguins, sea lions and seals. We didn't see any, we where there the wrong time of the day. We did stand in a blind that they have built for people to see the penguins in the dusk as they are coming in from the ocean and climbing the cliffs to their nesting grounds. From here we went further into the reserve, as far as we could drive and then walked out to Nugget Point's light house. It was quite a walk along the edge of the ocean. Abby was not very comfortable with the steepness of the cliffs along the path. It was quite windy when we made it to the light house. Windy enough that Sam & I could lean into the wind and be supported. The bay and point were named after the rock "nuggets" that are in the ocean along the shoreline.

From here we headed back on the road and drove along the coast. We stopped and walked through some a beautiful forest to see the Parakanui Waterfalls. Just an amazing forest, smelled like nothing we smelled before. Giant ferns were scattered along the walkway and the creek meandered back and forth through the rock. The falls were spectacular, not sure our pictures do it justice.

Some more driving and then we stopped at the beach again. This time it was at Te Tuku Beach. Lots of sand, waves and more shells. By this time it was getting later and we needed to head straight for Curio Bay - we heard that there were penguins there.

Just about 6pm we arrived at Curio Bay and found out that there were penguins there. One was hanging out on a rock which the penguin protection guy, he reminded us of Dwight from The Office, said was unusual. We found out that there were 10 adult penguins that nested there and they would be coming in around 7:30. We headed into a public campground nearby to use the toilets and look for some food. There was a small snack shop but the most particular of our family gave it a thumbs down. We bought a couple of bags of chips and went back to wait for the little tuxedo wearing birds. It was a long wait but in the end we saw six of the ten penguins. The pictures of the penguins are not great, we hope to have a camera with a larger zoom in the next week or so. It won't be the last time that we go see the lovely little birds.

After we left Curio Bay we realized that we had not very much gas and quite a distance to go. Samantha was fairly sure that we would be spending the night in the car but before long we stumbled upon some gas pumps open late. We got filled up and on the way again. We had a late bite to eat in Invercargill before we headed home.

The things we are seeing are truly amazing. They are awe-inspiring and breath-taking. We are all loving this adventure.

A night with some Canadian Girls

2008-02-22T21:24:00.002+13:00

Tonight we had the good fortune of having two fine young Canadians from Kamloops, BC over for dinner. They are both here in Gore through the YouLead program doing a "gap year". They have finished high school and taking a year off before higher education. They are here on the Working Holiday scheme. Amanda Aldrich lives in the hostel at Gore High School and works in the school as a teacher's assistant. Samantha was very pleased to find out that there was another Canadian in the school with her! Amanda's friend is Darcy Stanley who is living and working in the hostel at St. Peter's Catholic School. Because of the very rural and spread out nature of the region we are living in, some students live up to an hour away from the closest high school and board in the hostel during the week.

We had a great time tonight. We enjoyed a some wonderful barbecued hamburgers, some potato wedges(Sammy's specialty) and some pasta salad. It was delicious. One of the things that we miss is the taste of Canadian meat. The hamburgers are the closest to home that meat has tasted. Then Samantha put some baked apples in the oven and we went over to the Flying Fox for some fun and adventure. Check out the pictures.

It was great fun. Watch for a video in the next day or two of me on the Flying Fox. I held the video camera on the way down. The ending is not so pretty.There is something nice about spending an evening with fellow Canadians. We are definitely going to have them out a few more times before they head home in August.

We are off in search of yellow-eyed penguins this weekend. More pictures should be up by Sunday.

Dunedin Day Trip

2008-02-19T20:20:00.003+13:00

We went to Dunedin this past Saturday. It was a nice day trip and we got to see and do a few interesting things. We left Pukerau (where we live) and drove towards the ocean along the west coast. There is a Scenic Southern Route that we ended up taking. The skies were full of dark clouds and the winds were high. It was a drizzly rainy day, but the pictures will show that from time to time the sun did come out. Once in Dunedin we found the Octagon that is the centre of the city. There was a bagpiper thing going on so the streets around the Ocagon were closed. We parked and walked. We found a Beading store and Abby made a necklace. The boys went exploring while Abby was busy beading and they found an information booth that told us how to get to the Albatross Colony. It was out a long penninsula that twisted and turned and was not nearly wide enough for 2 vehicles. On one side of the road there was a hill/bluff and on the other side there was water!!!! I had a cold sweat going by the time we got out to our destination.
We got to see sea lions sunning themselves, they are not attractive animals and we saw albatross. The scenery was beautiful.

On the way home we found a little Pub outside of Dunedin and had a tasty fish and chip meal. Driving on the wrong side of the car, on the wrong side of the road on unfamiliar roads is one thing...but add complete darkness to the drive.....YIKES! That was our first night time drive.
I am trying to make the posts shorter as SOMEONE has sweetly mentioned that I they are too wordy!
Till next time...

Schneiders hotdogs and bedding...

2008-02-13T21:34:00.005+13:00

Valentine's Day
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and New Zealanders do not celebrate this holiday. We have seen a few cards and paraphernalia but there is not the hype and no one does anything special on February 14th. We too have decided that it will not be a celebrated day in our lives this year. Instead I will think about my Grandma Grace who passed away on Valentine's Day. The picture of her holding me as a toddler made the trip and sits in the window ledge in our living room. Tomorrow I will think of her and wish that I had more time with her.

Me emotional??? No way!
I had an emotional last weekend. I was a little homesick, missing certain things. I was missing Schnieders hotdogs, Doritos, my parents, my seester, my Jane, Wayne, some staff friends at GBPS, my angelic students from GBPS, my bedding that are in a closet in Chatham, Mom and Dad's hot tub and bacon. (not in any particular order) I think that I was just anxious about a couple of classes at school here. Now that I have persevered, I feel better. Sam and Abby have had a few nights of sadness. They are so cute when they come out of their rooms and tell us that they feel funny. Mostly they miss their soft blankets and comforters that they used to have. It will be a real treat if we can get our bedding here. They have adjusted very well into their school, they get to pack their "togs" each day as when it gets hot outside they can play water games. That is pretty cool! Also when they go out for recess there are no teachers outside with them. The teachers open their doors and the kids just play and hangout. That is very different from Ontario.

Television in NZ
We got to see the season premier of LOST tonight. We did not have a TV until just the other day. A guy that Dan works with gave us a 14 inch TV and it sits on a box in the corner of the living room. It is nice because the kids watch a show then they go outside or to their rooms. Just this afternoon, Abby watched Hannah Montana then shut the tube off and was reading in her room. That is very different from Ontario.

This weekend
We plan to venture to Dunedin this weekend. Maybe catch a rugby game, go to the ocean, see some dolphins, penguins, seals and try some more NZ food. We have bought a second car, a Honda Accord, 1988 that has only 180000 kms. It will be good on gas which has gone down to $1.66/litre. I will drive it to work and back.

Thank you to everyone who comments on the blog and emails us. I check my email daily, several times, hoping to see new emails and comments. It helps us not to feel homesick and like we are still in the loop.

Till next time, Samantha

Waitangi Day and Cheese Rolling

2008-02-06T23:51:00.000+13:00

It was Waitangi Day today, our first public holiday. We had a nice relaxing morning, a bit of a sleep in and then we got prepared to go to the Whitestone Cheese Rolling event. It's a local event that raises money for autism. They charge an admission, $10 for everyone 16 & up, have some booths set up selling food, cheese and souvenirs and then they run some races. You pay $5, go to the top of a very steep hill, a local celebrity rolls a round cheese block down the hill and about 10 seconds later the starter yells go. The first one to get the cheese wins, the first two to touch the winner get prizes as well. The top 3 from each heat go on to try for the title of NZ Champion. I thought I might as well give it a go. This was decided before we left the house. Had I seen the course before hand, I'm not so sure I would have agreed. The slide show below tells the story pretty well. If you click on the slide show, it'll take you to a web album of my race. The pictures will be bigger and I'll be easier to pick out. It was a fun day and I came home in one piece with no injuries. A pretty good way to spend out first public holiday.

Some pictures from our second weekend

2008-02-03T22:34:00.000+13:00

We had an excellent second weekend. We went to the Gore A&P Show, a country fair, bought a car and made some new friends. Here are some pictures to enjoy.

Two Weeks in New Zealand

2008-02-03T21:47:00.000+13:00

Sam and Abby going to school...
Well it has been two weeks since we arrived in Pukerau. Things are going well and life is about to pick up speed. Until now the kids and I have been home, enjoying the summer here in NZ but tomorrow we will begin school. Sam and Abby are very excited to meet new Kiwi kids and make friends. They have met their teacher Mrs. Watt and they like her. She is also the principal of their small school. Dan will walk them to school in the morning and then they will take the bus home in the afternoon. They will probably walk to and from school until we get them bikes. Bikes are very pricey here so they will have to wait until we can find a "boot sale" (yard sale) with bikes. The walk to their school is beautiful. Dan will take pictures and we will post them tomorrow.

Samantha going to school...
I begin school tomorrow too. It is only year 9s tomorrow. The day begins with a Powhiri (pronounced po-free), that is a Maori welcome ceremony. The staff are singing this Maori song that begins with the translation "speak to me with the language of love". It is a very gentle song that sounds Hawaiian to me. The staff sing the song loudly and very beautifully. I have met with all the departments in which I will be teaching. I am spread over 4 departments now. Just this morning my principal approached me at church, and told me that I am now full time. He gave me another class. That is nice for us as now I will get a full time salary. More to come on the school days here in NZ.

We bought a car yesterday...
It was one of those moments that happen and you just feel good about it. While I was grocery shopping Dan and the kids were playing at a playground in Gore. Along the side of the playground there is street parking and people leave their cars parked with a sign in the window For Sale. Earlier that day we saw this Mazda sitting in a spot and drove right past it as it was obviously not in the "jalopy price range". Dan strolls over to the car to see how much they owner was asking for the car and he was surprised to see it was in our range. We called the number right away and the man and his family came right over. After we were invited in to his house and met his family, chatted it up, now we are owners of a 1993 Mazda 626 (for a great price!).

We are really enjoying the comments and emails, keep them coming! It does not feel like we are on the other side of the world.

Back online

2008-02-03T14:15:00.000+13:00

We've been without internet here for the last 2 days. A power outage on Friday erased some important information on a wireless router and I needed to get some technical support from our ISP to get it up and running again. We are working on some posts from the weekend and will have them up in the next few hours. Keep the emails and comments coming, it helps us feel connected to home.

Things that are different...

2008-01-30T20:49:00.002+13:00

People keep asking us about things that are different in New Zealand than they are in Canada. Dan and I decided to make up a list. Here they are:

-light switch down is on, switch up for off
-plugs, different voltage..but there is a switch to turn the plug to "on"
-eggs are not refrigerated (however we do)
-no BBQ chips
-no laundry dryers in homes, everything gets hung
-cars drive on the other side of the road
-cars are made with driver on right hand side of the car
-lots of "trucars" on the roads (El Caminos, the truck/car thingy)
-no stop lights in our town, only round abouts
-stop lights in cities are like signs to the side on a pole
- Wal-Mart = The Warehouse
-toilets, different shape and flusher is a button
-a flushing toilet shoots water from all directions, no swirlies
-single paned windows
-no screens in windows
-meat tastes different
-quantity of food items comes smaller (ie. largest spaghetti sauce jar 550grams)
-all metric measurements
-NZ dairy products taste better
-yoghurt is spelled with an "h" and it tastes soooo good!
-debit card is called EFTPOS, electric funds transfer, point of sale
-plastic things are very expensive, like little garbage pails are $30
-shops close at noon on Saturday, nothing is open Friday nights...no Sunday shopping
-palm trees and tropical plants all around
-scented toilet paper is common
-houses heated with a coal stove and rad system
-sun comes up 5am and sets 10pm
-so many different shades of green in NZ
-sheep EVERYWHERE!

We are finding differences daily, this is what we have discovered so far.

Dan's first day of work

2008-01-28T22:11:00.000+13:00

I finally started work today at Camp Columba. I started the day with an impromptu meeting with the grounds keeper. He's a really decent fellow who spends two days a week working on the lawns, forests and trails at camp. He has been here for 4 years and understands what the mission of the place is. He was also really handy helping Samantha understand the sprinkler system that is in our gardens. It is really rather neat.

I spent most of the rest of my day being introduced to the systems in place to deal with bookings and camper registration. The last of our summer holiday camps, Pampering Princesses started today. The current office administrator is a wonderful lady who spent the better part of her day introducing me to how things work at camp. I refer to her as the current office administrator because she recently gave notice to the Board of Directors. Her last day will be February 29th. I have a lot to learn from her in the next 5 weeks.

The most interesting thing that I took away from today was that many of the issues that Camp Columba faces here are the same issues that church camps in Ontario are facing. Declining church numbers, fewer children in the church, harder time getting volunteers, balancing the price of camps against the economic climate of the area, finding the dollars to put towards capital maintenance and improvements, trying to pay camp leaders enough so that they can justify working at camp to their parents - just to name a few. I would have liked to discover that these challenges were not present in New Zealand but there is something comforting in finding out that it is not so different down here.

2008-01-27T15:02:00.000+13:00

Here is the downtown of Gore. It is a beautiful little town, I wish I could send smell through this post because the fragrance in the air is sweet like honeysuckle and lilac. You will just have to imagine...

Samantha's first post

2008-01-23T23:33:00.000+13:00

We have arrived safely and things are going well. We feel very welcomed to the area. Gore is a charming little town and we are taken with the colour and the vibrant downtown. We have been to some of the stores in Gore thus far. New World is a new grocery store but we have also been to Woolworths too. Things do taste different here, the meats especially. I ( Samantha) was never a dairy fan but have fallen in love with the yogurt and cheeses down here. The juice is also wonderful. We are living at a camp, Camp Columba (you can see the website if you wish) and the chair of the board is a farmer as well. We found that our deep freeze was filled with beef and pork and veal! Our cupboards were stocked as well. Now we go to second hand stores to get the items that we still need.
We are in the market for a "runner" car. I call it a julopy, but the salesmen call it a runner. A board member has given us his car until we buy one of our own. We have been driving for 3 days now and it is not bad at all. I love the turn-abouts in town. The speed is quite fast but the opposite side thing has not proven to be a problem.....yet, anyway.
I have visited Gore High School and met with the Head of my Department, things seem to be okay there. I was surprised to hear that I would be teaching a grade 12 English class, however it is an alternative class for kids who are not really into school. So, much of the content will be junior material anyway. I will also be teaching year 9 English, year 9 computing and year 10 Food Tech.
The kids school is Pukerau Primary and we have been for a tour and met the Principal/teacher. Both kids will be in the same class, Abby Year 4 and Sam Year 6. We'll see how this goes???? Their school is an enviro-school and this is interesting as they have a worm farm, and many cool things that they do besides sitting in desks and working. It seems really hands on. Each student has a laptop at their desk too.
The weather is nice, but unpredictable. We arrived Sunday to hot, sunny weather. Monday was also beautiful, the kids swam in the pond on site. Tuesday we awoke to misty rain and cold temperature. It down poured many times that day. Today we woke to sunny skies with giant dark heavy clouds. When the sun was out it was warm and when the monstrous cloud came overhead it rained and became cold, then the sun returned and it was nice again. They say that this weekend will be warm, sunny and beautiful. We may go to the ocean and explore. Sam has yet to see a hedgehog but we have been told that they live in the hedges around the camp.
Our house is very cottagey. It is spacious and has the things we need. Nothing fancy and fits in really well with our new philosophy to DO MORE AND HAVE LESS. We have been to a party already and we are fascinated by the classless attitudes. The clothing and decorating in homes is not as superficial as `home`. It is refreshing to see people not care about what they look like, the couple that hosted that party were sincere and not consumed by what their house looked like. It certainly is a different feel down here. A few things that I have noticed and like are: scented toilet paper, the constant sweet smell in the air, the wonderful smell of laundry soap and fabric softener, no dryers so everything hangs out, the breath-taking mountains, hills and the laid back attitudes, and the shorty shorts worn by the Kiwi men! I seem to be only struggling with the letters a and e. When they speak here I often cannot understand a word and have to ask them to spell it. A bank card, like and ATM card is called a EFT POS card here. That took me a while to get it. Finally I had to ask the sweet bank employee to write it down for me.

Enjoying the sweet smell of New Zealand,
Samantha

Pictures!

2008-01-23T13:27:00.000+13:00

Here are some pictures from our first two days. They are some snapshots to show you what we've been seeing. We are still in the process of getting settled. After a little nap time, we are going to a large second-hand store in Gore. Samantha had her first view of the high school this morning, she met with the English Dept. head. Her foods room is like a television set! I have my first meeting with the Board of Camp Columba tonight. Last night, Shelley & Philip Taylor organized a barbecue for us with members of their church. More meat than anyone could eat.

The pictures will play as a slide show. If you want to view larger versions of them, just click and you should be taken to the web album that holds them.

The Rest of the arrival story

2008-01-22T22:50:00.000+13:00

On the way home from the airport, we did a quick tour of Gore, the closest town to Camp Columba. We stopped at the grocery store, drove by the Warehouse(NZ version of Walmart), saw the Gore High School where Samantha will be teaching and got acquainted with round-a-bouts and the give-way rule of driving. More about that in another post. Camp Columba is about 10 minutes from Gore, just outside of the village of Pukerau. On our way to camp we stopped by the Pukerau School where Sam & Abby will be attending school. It's a small 2 classroom school. It was very nice looking from the outside. After looking that over we headed to camp. Camp is a 2 minute drive from the school.

We pulled into camp and were met by another board member and his wife who were preparing tea(that's what they call the supper meal) for us all. Shelly and Phil, two of the camp staff came over and helped us move in as well. It didn't take long to get the bags into the house. We did a wander through and the kids picked their bedrooms without much difficulty. We put our bags in our room and shared a meal with the Gardyne's and the Kennedy's. We then took a quick walking tour of the sight with Dave Kennedy, a board member. It was nice to get a chance to be outside and in the fresh air. The air is so fresh and wonderfully fragrant - it smells great. The kids enjoyed a bounce on the camp trampolines and then we headed home.

We followed a tip from Samantha's seat mate on the overnight flight and we stayed up until our normal bedtime and then went to bed. Exhausted and ready to sleep in beds, it didn't take us long to drift off.

I really want to type more but am exhausted. I shall fill in the rest of it so far at some point tomorrow.

New Zealand

2008-01-21T18:13:00.000+13:00

First a quick apology for not getting a post up yesterday. They will be more regular now that we are starting to get settled in.

Vancouver to Auckland - It was not nearly as tough a flight as we thought it might be. We flew on a 777(fully booked), 3 sets of 3 seats across the cabin. We were split into 2 & 2, one behind the other, at the window. So that meant that Samantha & I had middle seats. We were fortunate that each of us were beside very nice people, neither of whom were very big. The guy beside me was very little, meaning that I didn't have to worry about space. The kids both enjoyed the flight, watched movies and slept. The food, supper & breakfast, was very good. It seems that they timed the serving of breakfast so that our bodies were already starting to adjust to our new time zone. As a side note, I'm pretty sure that our Saturday was only 3 hours long. Our pilot was also very helpful in making the flight easier, he shaved 1.5 hours off of the schedule, meaning that it was a 13 hour flight instead of 14.5. We landed at 5 a.m. NZ time - it was 16 degrees Celsius. We had no trouble clearing immigration and enjoyed a nice leisurely walk to the domestic terminal for our next flight.

Auckland to Christchurch - We realized that we were going to have some luggage trouble as we waited for our Auckland to Christchurch flight. The domestic carry-on policies were more restrictive. To that point, we each had a carry-on & a personal bag. New Zealand Air would classify our personal bags as carry-ons, meaning that we had 4 bags too many. Thankfully we were taken care of by a very helpful Air NZ employee, Cindy, who checked our extra bags as "late baggage" at the gate and didn't charge us any excess baggage. She simply wished us well on our Kiwi Adventure. The flight was very quick, just 1:20. Arrived in Christchurch on schedule.

Christchurch to Invercargill - We enjoyed some lunch at the airport. Nothing exotic, just some pizza. At Christchurch they have an outdoor observation deck on the roof of the terminal, so we enjoyed some sunshine and warmth watching planes arrive and depart. It was nice to get outside but also to get out of a very crowded terminal. There were a lot of travelers and Girl Guides. Sunday morning was the end of their annual jamboree and there were a whole bunch of them flying out on Sunday afternoon. We encountered our only delay of the trip here as well. The plane we were to fly in arrived 30 minutes late so we departed 30 minutes late. No complaints though. To have 4 flights on only 30 minutes total of delay, something we could definitely live with. This flight was also on 1:20 in duration so it was quick as well. We flew down the coast of the south island for the most part. Saw many mountains out Sam's window. When we arrived at Invercargill we were greeted by Jo & John Gardyne. Jo is the treasurer of the camp board and was my main contact prior to arrival. We retrieved our bags, all 13 arrived with us, loaded them onto the Gardyne's trailer and into their SUV and then headed to our new home.

I'll continue the story in the morning.

The slideshow to the right is now some pictures of the journey. To view them at full size, just click on the picture.

Vancouver

2008-01-19T14:31:00.000+13:00

We made it to Vancouver. The flight was rather pleasant. Had some extra leg room as we had the first row behind business class. We are waiting at our gate for the Air New Zealand flight, 14 1/2 hours. Just a short post this time because on a pay for internet thing. Only bought 10 minutes. I'm thinking that my wi-fi on the laptop is acting up. Might try to work that out now. If I can there might be some pictures up before we leave Vancouver. We'll update next from NZ!

Twas the night before departure...

2008-01-18T16:50:00.000+13:00

We've just finished packing our bags. It was a real challenge trying to fit everything that we need and want into 8 suitcases and 4 carry-ons, a challenge we did not overcome. We are taking one extra piece of luggage. I'm a little bit concerned about our carry-ons and personal bags. Hopefully we have some understanding flight attendants.

The kids are tucked into bed - Sammy feeling a bit emotional about leaving and Abby really excited about the whole adventure. It's kind of a flip-flop of how they've been feeling up until now, but not an unexpected one. Samantha is just ready to get on the plane and experience the journey. I'm feeling more convinced than ever that New Zealand is where we are supposed to be right now. Both Samantha and I have a real sense of peace and calm about our journey. Exciting stuff.

We have both enjoyed all of the short visits, phone calls, wall posts and emails over the last couple of days. Thank you.

We plan to add some posts along the trip, maybe a short video or two tomorrow. Lots of pics once we get there.

It's finally happening

2008-01-12T17:42:00.000+13:00

I'm thrilled to share that our journey to New Zealand begins on Friday, January 18th at 2:00 p.m. We will arrive at the airport in Invercargill, NZ on Sunday, January 20th at 3:05 p.m. local time, which is 9:05 p.m. on January 19th in Ontario. New Zealand is 18 hours ahead of home.

Here are our travel details. We fly from Toronto to Vancouver - 5 hour flight & 3 hour layover, Vancouver to Auckland, NZ - 14 1/2 hour flight & 3 1/2 hour layover, Auckland to Christchurch - 1 hour & 20 minute flight & 2 hour & 25 minute layover, Christchurch to Invercargill - 1 hour & 20 minute flight. Board members from Camp Columba will meet us at the Invercargill airport and it will be just under a 1 hour drive to camp from their. If everything goes right we could be at camp 32 hours after we fly out of Toronto.

I've been waiting for two weeks to get excited about our departure but wouldn't let myself until everything was finalized. Well things are finalized and it's pretty darn exciting. This whole idea becomes completely real to me now. We are really doing this and it feels great. This whole process has been incredibly liberating for both Samantha & I. Who knows how this adventure will end? I'm pretty sure that the ending isn't the important part, it's the time between now and the end that matter most.

Good News!

2008-01-08T17:32:00.000+13:00

It looks like things are moving forward. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority has informed Samantha that they have completed assessing her qualifications and have sent the required information onto the New Zealand Teacher's Council(NZTC). Samantha has had a conversation with the NZTC and they are willing to do whatever they need to to get Samantha's registration information to the New Zealand High Commission in Ottawa. The High Commission issues the visas. We are still a little uncertain about the exact time line but it would appear that January 16th is very likely our departure date.

New information should be coming in fairly quickly now so I'll be certain to keep posting new details as they become known.

New Zealand, here we come!

Last big snow?

2008-01-04T18:28:00.001+13:00

One of the common questions/comments we've received during our farewell get-togethers has been about the weather in New Zealand. We are heading to the bottom of the South Island and are the same distance from the equator as North Bay is. That means that we do get some winter - but nothing like the winters here. I've been told that where we are, just outside of Gore, there will probably only be two snowfalls each winter that have any accumulation and that they will melt away in a couple of days. So it gets cold, just not as cold as here. I thought I would post a couple of pictures of the kids playing in the snow. Sammy is pretty sure that he is going to miss the snow. He loves the snow.

Not there yet!

2008-01-04T18:17:00.000+13:00

Our original travel plans were that I, Dan, would be leaving on January 1 and that Samantha and the kids would follow two weeks later, leaving January 16. That didn't happen. There was a delay in our paperwork and we still are not sure about our departure dates. There was some encouraging news today and we are hoping to receive word from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority by Monday, Jan. 7 that things are moving forward. It would seem that January 16 is still a realistic departure date. It is very likely that the whole family will travel together - not a bad thing. It will be neat to experience the relocation as a family instead of going ahead and the rest of the family following. It will also make the traveling a lot easier on Samantha. I'll be sure to post when our travel plans are firmed up.