Hello everyone,

It’s been quite a while since I have written about what has been going on here in NZ, but things have been getting pretty busy. Sorry for my neglect. On Wednesday November 20^th I met up with my friend Elina from Sweden and she showed me around New Market, a suburb of Auckland. It is a great shopping area and when we were walking through the neighborhoods and the city center it seemed to be a very busy, well-off area. After we grabbed some lunch at Pita Pit we went back to her host home and she shared some Swedish cake with me. We talked and caught up for a while before I had to catch the bus down to Onehunga to meet Sina at the beach. Sina and I had a great time taking pictures and talking there at the little inlet beach about 30 minutes from our homes. After a couple hours of beach time I hoped on a bus into the city to meet Abdule, an Egyptian boy, for our first official date. He took me to Mission Bay, a lovely beach area where we ate at a delicious Italian restaurant and then walked along the beach for a while. It was quite windy so we left the waterfront and went over to a garden memorial 10 minutes away. The gardens were beautiful and we were able to watch a gorgeous sunset over the city from the garden hill.

 

The tree in the background with the red flowers is the NZ Christmas tree! 

 

 

Saturday was super fun! I went to Mt. Albert Park in the city in the morning, where I spent my time sightseeing and reading my book up in a tree. There is nothing that brings you back to your childhood like climbing a tree so I decided to give it a go since the trees are so huge and majestic here. I was amazed to see the number of people that tan in public parks however. I mean it is right next to the college campus here in Auckland but there were quite a number of scantily clad women and men tanning just out in the open there on the grass. Later that day, Sina invited me to come along with her to the boy she looks after’s birthday party and we went rock climbing while we waited for the party to finish. Even though the adventure left us exhausted and hungry we had a blast climbing the walls, taking photos, and learning to belay/lead correctly with the climbing equipment.

Sunday I took the boys out to Sylvia Park for the premiere showing of the new Disney movie “Frozen”. In the end we were unable to watch Frozen due to some technical difficulties however; we were able to see the movie “Turbo”! Since it was a premiere they gave us free ice-cream cone, package of popcorn, an activity book, and stickers for each guest. The boys and I had a great time even though we did not get to watch the movie originally planned. While we waited for the bus back to Onehunga Train Station we played tag and games in a nearby park. All three of us made it home in one piece and mostly happy. We spent the rest of the afternoon mucking around at the house.

Monday Brooklyn and I went to playgroup in after dropping Bailey off at school then we went over to a nearby pet shop and had lunch in the park. It’s so fascinating how excited Brooklyn gets around animals! He just loves fish and all sea animals especially. There was a great park next to the pet shop where we had a picnic lunch, played hide-n-seek, had a grueling stick sword fight, and worked on our climbing skills at the playground. We only had one casualty during our adventure; my finger got a gash in it while we were sword fighting so when we got home we had to play doctor for a minute and bandage up my finger. No worries it was not too serious but it did take a week or so to heal!

Tuesday after school the boys and I made handprint paper Turkey’s and I showed them a video about thanksgiving. We each wrote things that we were thankful for on the back of our turkey’s and I had a great time telling them what thanksgiving was about. My mom had perfect timing because the package she sent me arrived just in time for thanksgiving! I’m so thankful for the treats my daddy sent me and all of the other goodies they were able to send. Thanks so much Mum and Dad! Love you guys so much! On Thursday I slaved away in the kitchen all day making a delicious spread of corn, green beans, Kumara (sweet potato), Pumpkin (slices, because they do not have pumpkin in a can), carrots, roasted rosemary potatoes, rolls, chicken, and mini fruit pies for dessert. I was pretty proud of myself and although it was not exactly like a traditional thanksgiving it was still a great meal and made me feel really happy to be able to share this holiday with my host family here in New Zealand. At dinner we each said things we were thankful for and presented our turkeys. Some of the highlights were: Bailey- I’m thankful for food, Lego, mum & dad, school and a roof over my head; Brooklyn- I’m thankful for Rabboo to sleep with (it’s his cuddly that he can’t go to sleep without), my cars, for strawberries, the trampoline, family and for my pink water bottle; me- I’m thankful that I could make a thanksgiving dinner and that I could be here in New Zealand; Kent- I’m thankful for my children and wife and this lovely meal. I love thanksgiving because it just makes me so happy to remember all the things that I am so fortunate to have and experience. I am so lucky to be here and be having a wonderful time! Friday the Thanksgiving festivities continued at 5am my time when I was able to Skype with my mom’s side of the family at their thanksgiving breakfast at my grandparents’ house. It was so wonderful to be able to see and talk to my cousins, aunts, uncles, and other family members especially being so far away on such a big holiday in the states. After chatting for a while we parted ways and I got a few hours of shut eye before I was back on Skype talking to my dad’s side of the family at their thanksgiving dinner celebration. I’m so thankful for Skype and for my family taking the time to talk with me and make me part of their festivities. Thank goodness for technology! 

I officially became part of the kiwi community because while I was down in Onehunga I stopping in an got myself a library card to put right next to my museum card! I love all the shops in the Onehunga mall. it is a street full of shops with the weirdest trinkets and items you can think of but it’s awesome and you can find things for a decent price. Speaking of which I found a wet suit that normally goes for $130 dollars on sale for only $10 at a little second hand shop with the tags still on it! I couldn’t help but decide to buy it! Who knows maybe it will inspire me to learn to surf or something. Later on Friday night I met a girl who lives near me named Theresa from Germany and while we were walking through the city we happened to see two French au pairs that I am friends with, Zoe and Lucie. All four of us had a great time catching up and chatting for a while then we called it a night and took our various buses home. I met a great guy named Liam on the bus ride home and we were able to discuss differences between kiwi and American culture.

On Saturday November 30^th the business continued. I met up with my kiwi neighbor Annabel and we went out for breakfast at a cute little local café called Eiffel. She is so fun and nice. It was great to catch up with her and we made a pact that we are definitely going to go bungee-jumping/skydiving before I leave! After breakfast Annabel was nice enough drop me off in Onehunga where I met up with Abdule and we watched the Santa Parade! It’s so cool here I swear they have parades every weekend so I am getting into the Christmas season kicking off with my first parade!  Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Although it is summery warm weather here it still feels like Christmas to me. Everyone is full of excitement and all the festivities add to the jolliness of this time of year. They have these lovely trees here called Pohutukawa trees which are considered the “New Zealand Christmas tree” because they bloom with wonderful red flowers all over the tree. I love them and they make it feel so christmasy. Honestly, I think I could get used to this Christmas at the beach southern hemisphere thing! I love it! That night I went out to the Benevere “Go Red” Benefit because Ginny Blackmore a Kiwi singer/songwriter was performing. It was a cool event and I am totally a fan of Ginny now. Check her out on YouTube. She has a little bit of an alternative element but I still think she is great!

Sunday I went out to Remuera to meet Valeska a friend from Germany to give her a haircut. Remuera is one of the more posh suburbs of Auckland and they say its where homes that go for 1 million dollars are the cheap one. Needless to say it was interesting to see all the houses and the differences between neighborhoods in that area versus others in and around Auckland City. December 1^st is a very special day for us here in my host family because it is Brooklyn’s birthday. Nana (Nicole’s mum) came in Saturday night for the event. In the afternoon some family friends came over and we had cake, opened presents and celebrated his birthday in true kiwi style with red sausages and cake! (According to Brooklyn it’s not a birthday without these elements). Later we went over the family fun day at Bailey’s school which is like a mini fair with bouncy toys, water hamster balls, go carts, food, etc. The kids had a blast and were all worn out by the time we made it over to Nando’s for some Brazilian style chicken dinners. Overall I think Brooklyn had a wonderful birthday and I love being part of those days because you can just see the pure joy in children and I love being part of that.

Monday I got up early in the morning and hopped on the ferry to Devonport to meet Ronja, a German au pair. We had a lovely breakfast at this little café near the beach then we spent the rest of our morning hiking up Mt. Victoria and North Head. These are both military memorials/monuments and we had a great time adventuring all over in and around it. We actually were a little bit delinquent because we decided to climb under this half-closed gate into an unknown set of dark stairs. It was a hall that led to some empty rooms and tunnels that I believe were previously ammunition shelters and a gun store. We had fun even though we were a bit naughty. No one caught us so no worries! Later at North Head we found these awesome natural caves and an absolutely majestic beach view. The weather was so amazing I was so thankful for the sun; it couldn’t have been a more perfect day. Around 1:30 we headed back into town and got some frozen yogurt before she headed home to work and I stayed at the park and read my book. In the afternoon I took the Ferry back to Auckland city to go home and do some house cleaning and ironing. The rest of the week has been fairly relaxing I was able to finish my book in between looking after the boys and now I’ve started on the next one, “The Girl who kicked the Hornet’s nest”. These books are dark and they take an in depth look into the underbelly of our society which honestly is part of the reason it is so thrilling I think. Although some parts of the book are terribly horrifying, gruesome, and even painful to read it is so interesting to be able to feel what the characters are feeling and get a small understanding of some of these psychopath murderers that we have running around the world. I enjoyed the book very much but I would not suggest it to anyone unless they prepare themselves for some of the very detailed descriptions of a life that most people would rather not hear about.

I’ve had a wonderful last two weeks and as we head into the Christmas season it is just going to get busier. I’m making plans and booking events and fun things for my vacation down to the south island at the end of December. I can’t wait for all the fun adventures to come! Once again thank you to all those who read. I hope you enjoy some of the things I am experiencing!