Karen moving day = New House!

Although I hardly slept a wink the night before, moving house day went really well. I got help from people at church moving things, the shipment came on time with only 2 breakages – though I was annoyed to find out that the bike had no pedals and there were no screws to hold the table together. The pedals they eventually found in the rubbish the next day! Getting all our things was like Christmas and made our new place really feel like home, especially now we have the matching his n hers knitted water bottles, lots of nice art and pots and plates. About lunch time I was happily unpacking in the sunshine when a rainbow appeared on the wall next to me which made me feel very blessed to have such a nice place to live – so I took a photo of it:






Been in the new job a week or so now and am really enjoying it. Been on six sigma training (which is kind of a wow wee technique to making businesses efficient. Im also swotting up big time on NZ electricity where my first job will be. I thought it was interesting that 60% of NZ power is from hydro dams (which is great so long as it rains), there is no nuclear power and the whole thing works on a giant cable which runs from the south island (where all the hydro dams are) to the north island (where all the people live).
And despite my first impressions – its not a late hours place. I guess you’ve got to give everything a 2nd and 3rd chance.

Got the bike pieced together and its was looking brilliant so I took it out for a spin on Sunday which turned out to be the windiest day for ages (Ian was working in the office and wondered if the office was going to collapse when a mug fell of someones desk!) So needless to say I whizzed at super speed out past the lovely rugged scenery, not that different to the west coast of Scotland or Ireland but by the time I turned to come back I felt like a flea flying into a gale force 10 – I even had to push a bit of it. Even so this was in contrast to the blue skies and sun of the rest of the week so cant complain!


Wellington has been buzzing lately with the annual comedy festival. We went to the San Francisco Bathhouse to see Brendon Lovegrove who had funny insights such as NZ having a camped up Hakka to really scare off the opposition. At the other end of the intellectual scale we went to see Uncle Vanya a play by Checkov – very stimulating oh yah darling!



K

Ian off to Oz

I looked forward to my first proper trip to Australia ever! Till now the most Id seen was the inside of an airport hotel in Melbourne. But I felt terrible about leaving Karen behind to move house, but the modern woman has to feel able to take on traditionally male tasks like moving house and lifting beds and tables! (Karen: Ian did actually have the choice to edit this out or take the punch in the arm). Arrived in Melbourne at 8am, couldn’t wait to see Mark and Stephan as its been 6yrs since I saw him last.

The two Aussies that I had hung out with London all those years ago hadn’t changed a bit – still Bogans with dodgy mullet hair dos. They call everyone ‘mongrels’ and randomly break into philosophical rantings, before returning to their normal Bogan selves. We downed a few VBs and went to the Aussie rules football game to see the biggest live rumble I’ve ever seen (apparently this happens in most games!). We had a great weekend, Melbourne is a lovely city (nice and warm) with a mixture of old and bold new architecture – and a great night life. I hope to post a video of Mark and Stefan doing their ‘full on treat’ moves soon.

Click here to see the video of Stefan and Mark introducing Ian to Australian culture:

Home sweet home (and stuff)!

Dear blog,

I write to you sitting outside the “Satay Kingdom” – a cheap asian eatery in the Cuba St (West endy) side of town. Im off to photography club tonight and Ian is working on a presentation for tomorrow.

Im trying to psyche myself up for the mad end of the week when Ian will be visiting friends in Melbourne (4hrs away) and I will be starting a new job on Thursday and moving house/ receiving shipment on Saturday. All of which have felt a long time coming and although Saturday will probably be slightly traumatic with so much to do (hopefully I will have some helpers with a car to move our stuff) it will be fabulous fun to open all the boxes we packed mid-Dec. Ians most missed item is the ipod and for me Im really looking forward to the big comfy purple sofa, and the nice plates (gone will be the day i.e. Sunday when I did a dinner party with two tinny pots), oh and the games, nice bed linen and the blue pictures….

We are moving to an area called Northland which has a little row of shops including a bike shop and 3 Pizzerias – so it’s a good job we can still walk to the city centre.
As for the job – not sure about it especially as I was at the monthly team meeting on Friday where the guy who during the interview said he always leaves at 5.30pm each day was working to 2am the night before mmmm….

Ian has been playing for the Karori Swifts football team – scored the only goal on his first game too! However, the average age of the team is 40yrs and the team they were playing against consisted of University professors.

Voluntary work reviewing the YWCA charity shop is going well – have developed surveys and a work plan for the next month and are trying to get marketing students from the uni to do the leg work. I am also helping set up for a funeral tomorrow – its for an older man that a lot of people knew in the church so as a newbie its good I can help out.

Cultural whinge of the week:
You pay for EVERYTHING here! – they charge for taking new released books out of the library, for credit cards (if you can find a bank that will give a non-resident one), to get internet banking, for basic health checks…..on the other hand the Seafood Laksa dinner was less than ₤3 and yummy!


PS Ian says he has nothing else to add as hes being boring these days (but he will be living it up at the weekend!)