It has been quite a long time since my last post. I don't even know where to begin. Thank you for those of you who wrote me a note of concern for not writing more blogs. I am fine, just really really busy. So now let me see where I left off.
7 May, it was my mom's birthday and I got to talk to her. It was really nice to talk for a while. She told me when her flight to New Zealand was. That is when this busyness started happening. I have been planning for a trip of New Zealand with my mom. It has been consuming my life, and I have not been out of doors as much, because I have been online so much. It doesn't help that our Internet has been getting slower and slower. I have, as of now, completely planned and organized 1/2 of our trip. I know exactly what I want for the other half, but it all depends on if I get the two days I work off that week. I have been trying to work it out with my boss, but it has been tricky. As soon as she gives me word, I will be able to finish the rest of the trip.
All this planning has been really interesting, because I have been planning for three people. I am planning for my mom and I, trying to make sure she gets to see everything she wants to see, and that I get to see most of what I want to see. Also, Alison will join us on some of the trip, so I am trying to fit everything in and find tours that will satisfy everyone. Plus I am trying to find the cheapest stuff, emailing places, having credit card issues and trying to work THAT out, asking questions like crazy...It has been hard. I have to admit it though, I love it. I love this organizing. The problem is, my head starts spinning at night. At one point, I stayed up until 4:00am. Lately, I have been sleeping around 2:00am, if not later, and getting up at 6:00am. It is starting to catch up with me though.
Mother's Day was really special. We were invited to the Captain's house for lunch. We bought them some flowers (especially for the Captain's wife as she is a mother). At first, we talked about things that were different with the cultures. They talked (and later showed) us hot water bottles and something that I can't remember the name of, but it was a barley bag. They found it fascinating that we eat pumpkin as a dessert. They can only see it as a vegetable. They thought it was the funniest thing.
For lunch, we had meat. They actually didn't know what the meat was, because the Captain's sister brought them meat. They cooked it, but didn't know what it was. They knew it was either lamb or beef. We all decided it was lamb. We ate it with a almost sweet type of gravy. We also had peas, carrots, potatoes, and parsnips. It was good. For dessert, we had mixed fruit, Hokey Pokey ice cream (our favorite!), and mini pavs (pavlova) with whipped cream. Our first pavlovas, finally. It was INCREDIBLE!!!! Then we sat and had tea and talked. They asked us a lot of questions, and we asked them questions. They are actually going on a trip to Greece and Turkey (other places too). Anyway, at one point, we asked if they knew anyone who would be willing to let us stay at their house. They volunteered. The Captain's wife actually got really excited and started talking about it. They showed us their house and it seems like it would be amazing! We might have to take the bus more, but honestly, it would be way cheaper and WAY nicer to stay at their house. So we left the house feeling lighter than air. We talked to our landlady and she said that she would advertise our room. We are hopeful, but we really want someone to take our room! Although, we can't leave until the Captain and his wife return from their trip.
As for work, I am back down to two days a week. The fortunate thing is, I have actually worked three days a week for two weeks. So that is nice. Not as good as full time, but I will take what I can get. I have been doing quite well dealing with screaming and crying children, becoming a handy tissue for the children, changing nappies, cleaning wees, cleaning soiled nappies...One day, it was raining, and I actually had two offers to take me home. I thought that was really sweet.
Something else that has been sweet is the children themselves. I think I mentioned before that when children turn five, they go to the New Entrant class in Primary School. Well, there is a primary school that is attached to the preschool, but they are separated by a gate. So when the Primary kids have recess, some of them with younger brothers or sisters come to the gate. Well, one girl who just recently turned five is now at that school and was asking for me to come to the gate. She even asked how old I was. I told her and she said I was really old, but her grandpa was the oldest in her family. "He is like 28 or 29." I thought that was pretty funny. Also, today I was leaving and a girl said, "I want to give you a cuddle." So she gave me a cuddle and she said, "I will miss you." Several people heard that and said, "Awwww." I will not be back until Monday, so I thought that was pretty special.
So now on to the interesting stories. One time, when I took the shuttle back home, a man who smelled horribly like smoke sat right next to me...and it wasn't like there was "absolutely no available seats". When the shuttle even slightly moved, he would practically fall over me. I had to lean and look out the window and put my hand up to my face to dampen the smell. Another time in the shuttle, the driver was not used to the brakes. He would slam on the breaks and it would jerk abruptly. I pushed the button for the shuttle to stop, and then I stood up. I have learned to stand up before the bus stops, because some drivers forget the button was pushed and skip the stop. Well, as soon as I let go of the pole to transfer to another pole, he slammed on the breaks, and I went flying toward the windshield. I frantically grabbed onto something to keep from going through the windshield or knocking myself out. Fortunately, I got a pole and quickly left the bus.
So after some pretty strenuous days, Alison and I decided to venture out and make caramel corn. Now, we did not have all the ingredients to the recipe, so we substituted. We used honey instead of Karo syrup (as New Zealand does not seem to carry corn syrup at all). We only had one bag of popcorn, so we popped it and started making the caramel. Well, I read the recipe wrong. I saw the 1/2 stick of butter, and ended up putting 1/2 Cup of butter. Well, this doubled the recipe, but we didn't double the rest of the ingredients. We finished and poured it over the popcorn. At first we thought it was good. Then the sweetness of the honey got to be WAY too much. We couldn't take it anymore and had to stop. Then, we started laughing hysterically realising we each ate 1/2 stick of butter in the caramel. It started to make us feel sick, but we couldn't stop laughing. We laid on the bed moaning and groaning and attempted to brush our teeth. Alison tried to drink water and almost choked to death. We actually did pretty well brushing our teeth until I wondered about detox for sugar, and we started laughing all over again. We finished brushing our teeth and hobbled back to bed to continue our moaning and groaning. It was an interesting night.
Well, that is a summary of what has been happening in my life. I am finally all caught up with everything. I am feeling so much better now. I have had a lot of things I have not done, so it is nice to be up to date with everything. Well, until next time...
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