Alyse

Alyse is an 21 year old student from America (Hawaii) who will be staying with us for a week, while she is in Wellington. She has been travelling all over the place since September, and reckons she has slept in over 50 different beds during that time! god, I don't envy her, eh! I miss my own bed even when I'm away for a week! (although I don't miss Tim's snoring..... kidding!). Anyway, apart from having Alyse to stay, not much is happening around these parts. I'm just preparing for the year ahead with school, trying to get all my planning done for term 1 while there is still time (having slacked off majorly for the past 5 weeks!!). Today I'm meeting our ex-flatmate, Anne, for lunch in Newtown, we're going to check out a cafe called 'Planah' which has recently re-opened after being closed for over a month. Check it out if you're ever in the area. Its on Ridderford street and does amazing vegetarian food, great coffee, and to top it all off.... loose leaf tea from T-leaf!!! what more could you want? :D

I found out yesterday that this year I'll once again have 7 kids in my class - two girls, and five boys! all teenagers! and hopefully have the same teacher aides as last year - Raewyn, and Tracy. This year will be interesting, as the kids in my class are all working at different levels of the curriculum, some pre level one, some up to level three, so I'll have to pretty much create separate programmes for each of them, while at the same time having a programme which the whole class....... so it'll be a more challenging year than last year, but I'm looking forward to it.

Oh my god! the wind really is crazy here!

I was walking out of the video shop today, standing by the side of the road, when a big gust of wind blew up out of nowhere, and blew my glasses off my face! to my utter despair, they landed on the road, and proceeded to be blown further onto the street, where they were promptly run over by a car! unfortunately, they're a bit had it now, but no doubt it'll be a funny story to tell in the future, and I can keep them as a conversation piece for parties! haha!

Christchurch whanau

Grandad digs in to his tucker.... we're doing alright in this country!
I think Lizzie might be slightly hungover in this picture, ah! the follies of youth!
Me with my Mum and Dad, taken in their lovely garden in Christchurch.

My last night in Christchurch, and what does Mum cook for dinner but my favourite- smoked Salmon! I think she might be trying to convince me to stay down there.....

My plants

Check out the plants that I've been growing:

Tomatoes: Supertom and Cherry tomatoes:

Strawberries..... mmmmmmm!

Tim has been so good to me - watering the plants for me while I've been away! he's earned some serious kudos! breakfast in bed every day for another year (oh wait, I do that anyway!)

The last couple of days

I've had fun times over the last couple of days. On Friday night I caught up with Dad in a bar on the strip, called 'The Boulevard' where he proceeded to get me drunk with his 2 for 1 drinks card! after that followed a hilarious dinner at Ann's Thai Resturant, where we practised our Thai, and ordered more wine, and watched Mum and Lizzie roll their eyes at us. Talked to my brother on the phone during dinner, and god knows what I said to him, I was so drunk! I remember hassling him about how he still hasn't sent me and Tim our Christmas present, but he assured me that it was on his way. Then I blurted out that I knew what it was anyway, as Lizzie had told me ('where's Osama bin Laden?') and he laughed and said that he was sending something different up, and that I'd just have to wait to find out what it is. You see, like most of my immediate family (including my husband), they know how curious I get, and how much I can't stand not knowing!

Yesterday (Saturday) was spent catching up with Clare for lunch. She took me to this fantastic resturant/mediterranian food warehouse, which specialised in wafer thin pizzas - made the traditional Italian style. Well, I ordered a pizza, thinking that it was going to be tiny when it came out, but lo and behold it was huge! and I was able to finish the whole thing (it was delicious, a four seasons pizza topped with Artichoke hearts, Salami, Olives, Mushrooms and Mozerrella Cheese! yum!).

After Lunch with Clare I met up with Tracy at the Coffee House to find out how things were going with her man. We walked through the gardens and talked, admiring the scenery as we went. We even got to have a look inside the spaceship house that they've placed in the gardens! It looks just like a UFO from the outside! and finally, the sun came out, which lifted my spirits a bit! I spent the rest of the afternoon planning to go out that night but didn't end up doing anything, as I was so bone tired. So instead, I helped Mum sort through piles of photos that we're going to get scanned so we can make blurb books with them in the future.

Christchurch Buskers

Strange looking buskers in Cathedral square.














The Blackstreet boys entertain the crowds.