My niece Abby and nephew Asher

Bryce the photographer

So here is our house, on a night with a full moon, and Bryce using some of his fancy techniques to write on the picture. But he didn't do any of this on a computer. I think it was just a slow shutter speed and then he stood in front of the camera with a little LED light and wrote HOME (like you would with a sparkler). I like it.

Easter tramping

We had a fantastic time over Easter going hiking/tramping with Mark and Rachel. Two nights, three days, in 2 different back country huts, 17 hours walking. Mark and Rachel surprised us by being the serious gourmets and preparing a cheesecake (from scratch) to serve us "in the bush". What a treat! Along with wine and everything. The wine was great, but not something I would have wanted to carry in my pack for 7 hours!

gross

Check out this massive spider that was hanging on the wall just beside the bed. I freaked out and jumped on the bed and did a little yelp. Bryce called out and said, "is it a big one?" I said, "uh huh."
As Bryce walked casually into the room, carrying Eddie (the cat) he saw the thing and freaked out equally. Both of us were packing for our tramp/hike the next day, but couldn't deal with this thing being in our house, having been in the room!!
It was dealt to.

Blogg webcam attempt

Movie Night

This is our own outdoor movie set-up. I borrowed the screen and projector from work and Bryce hooked up the surround sound, and we had some friends over to eat yummy homemade popcorn and watch Tom Cruise under the stars. It was great!
The last month has been a whirlwind, with school dean-ing, assistant HOD PE stuff, and of course volleyball. We travelled 8 hours to Tauranga with 20 students and 4 adults, for a week of volleyball. It was fun but tiring!
Off tramping/hiking for the next few days and then 2 weeks off for school holidays. Doesn't feel like too long ago I was in Japan for the last holiday break!!

More Japan pics

Here's a start to the pics from Japan that I have been waiting to put on this site. The first one is of a temple we went to with a massive Buddha in it. This was in Nara, where they had deer roaming wild in the streets who harassed you and bit a few of us in the bum.

This is a picture of Harajuku, where lots of people have their own style (much like the girls in the Gwen Stefani videos). Note the name of the street: TAKEASHITA STREET

Here is a picture from a town outside of Tokyo where we rented some tobogans and hooned down the ski hill. Reckless westerners......

This is from the awesome sumo tournament we went to. Huge men, intimidating each other several times before the actual "wrestle" begins....

Here is Sayaka and me in front of the Kinkakuji temple. Covered in gold. Just stunning to see.

All the students in kimonos....

On the island of Miyajima, looking at a pagoda, while being reckless westerners on our bikes. Had a yummy japanese pizza pancake that day called OKONOMIYAKI.

Geishas and weddings, and duathlons

Hey guys, here are the latest pics from the past two weekends. Karapoti MTB race one weekend with an attempt for best costume, a duathlon the next day and Mark and Rachel's wedding the weekend before, where a dapper Bryce was best man. Good fun, but looking forward to a casual one this weekend. Bryce is off on another MTB weekend with some of the guys down in the south island. Denise is coming over for a girls weekend.

PS. I came 3rd in my age group in the duathlon! Whohoo!

Why can't I post pictures?

The blog has changed and somehow they have removed the option of attaching photos....not sure why. Will write more when I have time to fiddle...Have some great Japan pics I want you to see.

some pics

We are having troubles getting the camera to transfer pics to the computer so I swiped these two pictures from someone else. The one on the left is Mount Fuji, which I did not get to see this clearly but did get to see one sunny day from Tokyo. The other picture is voted one of the best 3 spots to see in Japan, the giant torii on Miyajima Island. We took a ferry to the island and rented bikes to scoot around on for the day. It was an awesome day.
more to come hopefully....
Its great being home, although school work is tough. Trying to get back into it fully is difficult, and tiring. Students come back to school next week though and if I don't work hard this week, they won't have timetables!!

I had a claw in my soup.....

Hello everyone, I am now officially on holiday in Japan for two days until we fly back home. I went to sea world with the students today and watched killer whales and dolphins and sea lions and walrus` and all that stuff. I enjoyed watching the sea otters. They are so cute. The best part about it was seeing the japanese spider crabs though. Wow. They were huge, like almost the height of me (with their leg span). Embarassingly, I couldn:t help but think how yummy they would taste. I never look at animals and think how I would like to eat them.....but crab is yummy. (sorry Donal).
So I am now back at the hostel and wondering what to do with my freedom and have already been invited out for dinner with some people from the hostel. I went out with a few people last night. What an international group: a girl from Canada/NZ, a girl from Wales, a guy from Portugal and a guy from Sydney. We went to this recommended place in a very non-touristy place, and had a REAL japanese restaurant experience. These japanese business men who wanted to work on their english bought us heaps of Sake and showed us how to cook our meal. It was a big wok, in the middle of our table with raw fish and tofu and cabbage in it that we cooked while we ate squid and other things we ordered. It was yummy until I was served this thing that looked like a foot/claw of some animal. One of the guys said it was a fin, but it had nails, I swear. I thought I was game for most things, but I can:t eat something that might actually tickle my throat with its claws on the way down the old esophagus. Just like I don:t want to try tongue. I don:t want to taste something that used to taste other things. I politely offered it to someone else and they gladly accepted my gift of "claw".
So who knows what adventures await me tonight. Should be fun. Lena (the girl from Wales) is really sweet and reminds me very much of Jane Moore (for those from Pram College who know her). But Jane:s not welsh, is she?
I must brag though: my grandmother is Welsh and she and I argued about whether Wales has the longest place name in the world or NZ. So last night Lina and I showed off to each other and said the names to each other. I knew that trick would come in handy one day!!
(Taumatawhakatangihangakoauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanitahu......or something like that....)
Oh, and I have decided to single handedly "smile-ify" this country. In Canada and New Zealand, strangers smile at each other when walking down the street. Its contagious and polite. Here they just stare at me or look away when I smile at them. (this is of course, when I am not trying to buy something from them. When I try to buy something , there is no lack of smiling...but thats just cause they want my Yen!!) So I am on a mission to see how many "smile-backs" I can get from these Asians. I am at 2 so far (and one of them was about 3 years old and it took me 5 minutes to get that one!)

I like volleyball...

Hi. I am free. Free of students, at least for the night time now. I will see them again tomorrow, but not till the afternoon. After being with 9 16-17 yearolds non stop for 11 days, any sane person needs a break. I caught some of the boys with b-b guns that they bought, and had been shooting in the hostel. I had seen the bullets in one of their beds and it looked like rabbit poos. It just proves how immature some of them still are. So I took the selfish approach and ranted on at them about how stressed out I would have been had one of them gotten shot and hurt and I would have had to find some japanese hospital and not had the health insurance papers to pay for anything and how it would not have been a pretty sight. I think they got the message. Either way, now it is their new host families problem!

So having properly vented to you all, the day today was pretty basic. We commuted to Chiba (more specifically Kimitsu) to deliver the students to their new families. We took a bus through the Tokyo Aqua Line (or something by a similar name) which is a tunnel (one of the longest underwater highways in the world) which spans the Tokyo Harbour. It was cool, especially because we stopped for lunch about halfway at this man made island full of restaurants and shops (like a fancy truck stop). I caught a glimpse of Mt Fuji (which really does over look the city) but not truly enough to say that I have seen it.

Tonight Tomi and I went shopping and both bought an Ipod and then he took me to the sports store district. Note: almost every different subway stop here has its own specialty (like electronics stuff, food markets, sporting good, funky clothing, etc etc). So I found a shop that sold volleyball stuff and shooed Tomi off to his night time plans so I wasn:t rushed. It was bliss. I am hoping I will get reimbursed for some of the stuff I bought by the Sports Coordinator at school, but we;ll see. It was fun, nevertheless!!

Tomorrow I get to sleep in and then we go back to the school (which is a 1 1/2 hr journey) for the welcome party where I get to reuse my speech from the other school. The day after is Sea World and then I have 2 free days before we fly back on Sunday.

I did want to mention some things I have noticed about Japan. Like the toilets. I have yet to be in a bathroom that has the same toilet that I have seen in the one before. There are so many things to notice and do in the stall, it takes so long becuase you want to see it all. Like the panel of buttons along the side of the toilet (in one I saw) that had 4 buttons. One was a bidet, one was a bottom wash, one was a flushing sound button (like in case you didn:t want anyone to hear what you were getting up to- in the real fancy restaurants this just happens automatically), and one was a stop button (to stop the bidet,etc). Then you have the standard NZ option of whether you should do a flush for a #1 or a flush for a #2, although its written in Japanese and its not normally the situation where you can show someone else and point to the button and ask which is which. THEN there is the flushing sensors which are individual in each stall as well. Plus most seats are heated. Again, another weird sensation, even if you have covered the seat in paper, you feel a bit grody, like some big woman has pre-warmed it for you. Anyway, I will conclude by saying that toilets in Japan are an experience.

Last note, the traffic lights are red, yellow and turquoise. So instead of "go on green" they say "go on blue".

So, we have had two days since I last wrote but they have not been as super-eventful as the last two weeks, but still busy.

We had a free day on Sunday so after much discussion amongst all the students and many plans being made then cancelled we agreed to go ice skating together and then split up. ice skating was fun and since most of them had never tried it, it was a good laugh. There was this 6 year old who kicked butt and made most of us feel super crap but she was so cute we let here away with it.

after that some of the students went to an amusement park and then back to the electronics mecca we went to before.

Myself and Jessi and Tom went to Harajuku and Takeashita street. Yes. Its true. That IS the name of the street. I know its immature to laugh at, but it was fun to discuss plans with that name in the conversation. anyway, Harajuku is a crazy young suburb where lots of teenaged girls dress up in "cos-play" and look like little dolls. It was pretty crazy but fun. Jessi is very into gothic-"visual kei" clothing and bought some crazy dress that looks like a french maid dress and these massive black leather shoe-boots with big silver studs on them. They didn:t have them in my size though so I passed......... : )

So it was funny to meet up with everyone back at the hostel at 6 and hear their stories of navigating their own way through the subway systems and getting lost and all that stuff.

Today we met up with a blind date that Tomi:s mom had set up for him (Kirarra) and went to a TV station. It was neat but I was most excited to get a glimpse of the New EnglandPatriots/Indy Colts football game with 10 minutes left. I was not able to keep the students watching it with me though so I missed out. Poo. At least I should be home for the superbowl!!

Duncan and I bought a plate of Fugu today and tried it. Not too bad, but we all got weirded out that something was going on in our stomachs after. I think it was just imagination though. If you an unsure what I am talking about Fugu is another name for Pufferfish, the fish that has poison in it and you can die if you eat improperly prepared Fugu. It just tasted like squid with a hint of cucumber. Not too deadly. Supposedly if you eat the liver, you can get paralysis in your limbs for up to three days! I heard that it is outlawed to do that now though. Hmmmm......Poor Duncan. He and I were shopping around Shibuya (major busy shopping area) and I said, "that street looks exciting" cause there were lots of lights and Japanese signs (go figure!). Anyway, I noticed a few "red-light" shops and thought, Hmmm, and then noticed a lot of hotels, Hmmm, And then remembered reading about LOVE HOTEL HILL in Shibuya which has a red-light district and there are several love hotels (where rooms are rented for the hour....) on a bit of a hill. I escorted Duncan away before he quite understood what we were amidst. I just fed him some more Fugu and it was all good.....

After all the shopping and TV we went up a really tall building (Tokyo Govt Offices) and on the 45th floor you can get a panoramic view of the whole city. On clear days you can even see Mt Fuji. That is before Tokyo had pollution however. I am destined not to see this mountain, but it looks real nice on postcards. Poo.

For dinner we went out, since it was our last meal together until we leave for home (because they will be at homestays tomorrow). So we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. They found it fun. Too much America for me though. including a 10% service charge added for any bill aftr 4 pm. Almost like the Hard Rock owners couldn:t handle that they don:t tip in Japan so they have to gut the consumer somehow!!

The students are all packing now and getting excited to join a new japanese family tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes.

Snow and Soba...

i always feel like we should be having a normal day but it never seems to work out that way. Today we travelled again by shinkansen (bullet train) to a place about 1 1/2 hrs north(?) out of Tokyo to see some snow. There are ski resorts and stuff at this place and some of the students have never touched snow (most had seen it) before so we headed up to the bottom of a ski hill and rented some plastic toboggans. You know the real budget but perfect sleds? We had a great time and almost collided with every other skiier on the hill. It was perfect! One of the runs down the hill resulted in my whole face being covered by snow, sunglasses and all. Then Tomi and I went to a Soba restaurant (while the students continued playing in the snow and making snowmen). The only problem of this whole little escapade was the first time I went down the hill I held my hand out to slow down. My thumb unfortunately went in a hole while the rest of my body continued its forward progression. Not fun. I don:t think it is broken but definitely sprained. Annoying as you use your thumb for almost everything, worst of all chopsticks!!! Which brings me back to the Soba restaurant. We had a feast!
His mothers best friend owns the restaurant so we got more royal treatment and had cold Soba (buckwheat) noodles which are served cold and then dipped in this saucy juice which you concoct yourself with Wasabi and spring onions. So yummy. and that was only one part of the meal. We also had tempura (like deep fried but a little lighter taste) pumpkin, eggplant and shrimp. AND deep fried mochi (rice cake) and some kind of fish AND more japanese pickles and cabbage and stufffff. It was so yummy! Then when you are done the noodles you take hot water and pour it into your soba saucy juice (no other way to describe it!) and make your own kind of soup. I loved it. Then I had some slices of apple. The japanese apples are seriously huge, like half the size of my head. Not kidding!!

Then we headed back to Tokyo and went to the electronics market called Akihabara. A bit crazy and fun for techno heads I;m sure. Not my cup of tea. But some of the students bought ipods and PSP`s and other trinkets so it was worth the trip.

they have a free day tomorrow so they are all desperately making plans and then changing them to try and see all they want to see. They only have tomorrow and Monday left in Tokyo and then they stay in a homestay and go to school. I will not join them every day because....I don:t really want to sit in the back of a japanese classroom. Done it, got the postcard. I would rather see more of Tokyo so I get to have a few more free days ahead of me.
The plans so far tomorrow seem to revolve around ice skating (i keep bragging to the students about how great my mom is at ice skating....which she is, but its a bit foreign to them to try it so theyre really excited). The subway system is pretty complex here and one girl went back this morning to grab something in the hostel she left behind, and got confused and lost and ended up sitting on the side of the road and crying. Anyway, she made her way back to us, but it has reminded me that they are all still really young kids. And not to expect TOO much from them.
We:ll see how many tears are created tomorrow. Oh well, they have to grow up sometime, right?

Great to get some of the extra emails from you guys. I am feeling more in touch now!
Miss you, one more week to go and then SUMMER AGAIN!!

Big fat sweaty men

So as you can tell we had a day to watch sumo wrestling but not after fitting in tons before that.
We saw the Imperial Palace (where the Emperor of Japan lives) and we kept going up to random old men and asking them if they were the emperor and if we could get their picture and making a huge big deal so that they couldn:t refuse. It was pretty hilarious. Caught it all on video too.

We went shopping and had lunch in a cute little restaurant where you sit around small tables but can actually fit your legs into a hole underneath the table. I am getting used to the weird looks I get when I ask for meesz to drink (water) although I am really becoming a fan of Jasmine tea too.

In the shopping market I found a whole store devoted to Mon-chi-chi:s!! Do you remember those funny little monkey looking things? I have to get one. I used to have a puzzle when I was younger that I adored!

So we took a ferry around a river that led us through Tokyo and we saw heaps of fancy bridges and it was very cool sitting on top of the boat.

We then headed out to the Sumo tournament and watched 20 matches. Each match begins with a bit of　an intimidation act as well as a spiritual act to remove the evil spirits from the ring by clapping their hands loudly and stomping one foot and then the other foot. Then they go and glare at each other and then do the corner stomp thing again. This happens for a bit until they decide the intimidation has been enough and then they advance at each other. It is truly awesome even though it lasts only a few seconds for each fight. However the build up for each fight as well as for the last match is great. The best competitors are placed at the end of the night and some of the matches have sponsors flags posted at the beginning of the match (like women in bikinis walking around the ring before each round of a boxing match) to show how much money will be awarded to the winner of this match. So a lot of excitement goes into each fight. Best part was when some old man sitting in the crowd got flattened by one of the sumo:s who got flung off the ring. It was great! I even called 4 of the last 5 matches correct, based on some reading I have been doing from a book called Freakonomics (given to me for my birthday from the lovely D for Donal!) which discusses (amongst many other things) how sumo wrestlers cheat just like teachers. Obviously an intriguing subject for me to want to read about!!

After a big night at the sumo tournament and then finding out own way home (as tomi left us at the stadium) we had some quick dinner and then were all sitting in the lounge at the hostel, so I prompted some good old Health games (being a Health teacher...) and we had some good fun. One of the games involves wacking other people with a cushion to allieve yourself of being "IT", so we were having so many laughs even some of the other backpackers joined in. Problem was that I didn:t call the game quits until 10:00 and then expected them to go staright to bed. Yeah right. I went to bed but found out this morning that some of them were so wired they were hanging out in each others room and didn:t go to bed till midnight (and some even later). I think I should think twice about timing next time!!

Kekkon shi ma senga?

Picture this...a 17 yearold New Zealand boy sitting on the train, in Kyoto, with an old man-looking hat (that he bought at some tourist joint for $30 yesterday). He is sitting beside a Japanese 70-ish looking woman who is chatting and laughing with her friend. She smiles at the boy, and then the boy looks at her and says in Japanese " will you marry me?" (kekkon shi ma senga?). She looks at him weird so he continues....in japanese "I think we would be good together". She laughs at then the train stops, and as both of them are getting off, he says to her..in japanese..."i`ll call you". Wow. good laughs. I probably shouldn:t encourage it, but i did. The phrasebook the boy bought has some very inappropriate things for teenagers to say.....but its good fun.

So today we did some sightseeing in Kyoto and then had a 4 hour farewell party where we were clapped at when we walked in, then taken ontto the stage, then we had to speak into a microphone and do an impromptu speech, then they served us buffet type food, we pounded rice cake mush with a massive mallet as people chanted something, then the students played taiko drums on stage, then had to do another speech they had written, then we were clapped at like royalty as we left. In between all of that the students were celebrities....everybody wanted pictures with them. Girls were swooning over the boys....it was insane.

Funniest part of today, besides the teenager proposing to a grandmother:
We were on one of eleven escalators in Kyoto station ( a place that has a department store with 11 floors of stuff). So Kathryn and Hogan are discussing filth and debating whether they would rather lick a toilet seat or a handrail on an escalator. Kathryn insisted that she would rather lick a toilet seat because they get cleaned more often, and escalators have so many people touch them and just keep circulating again and again. She insisted that escalators NEVER get cleaned. Just as she finishes her speech on hygiene, a man in a uniform goes past her the other way on the escalator who is cleaning the escalator. Seriously, he (and his 3 other co-workers) were actually escalator cleaners. It was perfect timing, she almost peed her pants she was laughing so hard. It was great. Only in japan will they clean an escalator, and develop the Kyoto protocol to make the planet cleaner, but where they demand that you sweat in other peoples volleyball shoes.....

deer like bums

So, I found out that the confusion on the volleyball court was actually a bit different than I had told you. I said "tabbimasen" which actually means "I DONT eat!", so here I was telling her I dont eat, in a way that she must have thought "I don:t eat volleyballs". Even weirder.
I have been playing TONS of volleyball though. Every day the students play their one sport that they choose and play all year, 5 days a week (so they get pretty good at it). So i have been joining in every practise and it has been like joining an in-depth japanese volleyball seminar all week. I have learned awesome drills and even words in japanese like "sabu" for serve, although I thought they were just saying serve in their own japanese english. funny how it kind of sounds the same. One of the girls lent me her shoes to wear for the practice which I tried to refuse and just wear barefeet, but that seemed to not go over well, so I wore the shoes but got embarrassed because i had to give them back to her all hot afterwards (atsui=hot), so the next day I was prepared to say i didn:t want to wear them again, and she insisted again and started showing me the grip on the bottom and I tried to say I am embarrassed to give them to her atsui and it just was not communicated. Fine, give me the damn shoes. Anyway, the girl then plays for 1/2 the practice and then slips over and sprains her ankle....in my mind, because she has crap shoes on because the foreigner has taken HER shoes!!! And i thought i wouldn:t have any stress on this trip.

Yesterday we went to a town by train with our students called Nara, which has lots of buddhist temples and we went to one that had a 16mhigh buddha. It was big..... and there were lots of deer roaming the streets, looking for people to feed them deer crackers which are sold everywhere. my better judgement told me to just let the students feed them and i am glad i did. the deer went crazy if you had the food. some butting heads against each other if a cracker fell on the ground. Others bit at students bums and backpacks. Little did i know i had lots of them following me because hogan (the japanese kids call him HORGAN) had put a cracker in the mesh pocket of my backpack.
I did get the nerve to put a cracker in my mouth and hold it out so a deer came and ate it from me. stinky breath though....

Went out for japanese at a real authentic restaurant (treated again by tomi:s uncle)...its kind of the equivalent to going to the Hilton hotel for dinner. Really neat food, lots of sashimi (raw fish), and a little sake (which was much nicer than i have tried in NZ before).

I could write for ages, and tell you lots more, but I have ramen to get too (udon noodle breakfast with tofu that Tomi has just made). I am having a really fun time and learning tons!

Very ka kooi! (cool)

jellyfish is not oeshi

some notes from today....
just got home from authentic chinese restaurant at flash hotel where tomi`s uncle is head chef. he cooked us a 5 course meal, and we ate for 1 1/2 hours. insane! I had jelly fish, fish eggs and shark fin soup (although i didn:t know that was what i was eating at the time). it didnt look like soup, more like thick noodle stew. It was all very oeshi (yummy?), except the jellyfish....tasted exactly like i would expect it to taste....
Tomis uncle has asked us to go out with him for yakitori (japanese bbq meat skewers) dinner on saturday and he is setting up tomi on a bit of a blind date, but less intrusive because he and i will be there too. tomi is pretty nervous, its really funny. he keeps saying "bloody my uncle, bloody my uncle" instead of "arggh, my bloody uncle". Today he translated during japanese tea ceremony and said "we have just scratched the face of japanese culture" but meant to say scratched the surface....ha ha.
Also, played more volleyball and recruited some more drills for my team, and got dibs on good deals on some vballs so may bring some back with me from tokyo. met a boy in a pe class named "Daik" pronounced Dyke. Yes, i had to get him to repeat it.....
have yet to try the hole in the ground toilet....but will get brave tomorrow....maybe.....a little bit too much fecal matter still in the stall for me to jump at the opportunity to try it out.

I'm turning Japanese....i really think so

SO, here in Kyoto, and having good fun. Its a crazy place. Like seriously crazy....

Time is about to run out again, and i still want to write more and tel you all about everythng here. first off, the keyboard is nuts and has 4 characters on each key, so typing is challenging. hence the lack of capital letters. too tough to do fast.
did my speech today, went well. getting better at being confident about saying hello and thankyou. ohiyo gozaimas is good morning. did that well too. but did have some problems....
Truly, the people are really lovely and very cute. been practising alot of words with them, but still making aot of mistakes. FOR EXAMPLE: on volleyball court playing with some junior high students and giving high fives after good plays and just having good fun. next play, i mess up and take the ball from one of the students and lose the point, so I want to say sorry and try to be smart and say it in japanese. So I say " tami masen". she looks at me with blank look and very confused, so I say it again, figuring i said it too fast ( i was pretty confident that what i was saying was right). nope. more blank looks. so i gave up and next time i made a mistake i said "sorry". communication was spot on. she knew what i meant. Found out later that what i HAD said was " i eat". And then said again, "I EAT!" No wonder she was confused.....Hope you are well and communicating fine with the people around you. make sure you don:t take communication for granted.....EVER! Blank looks and body language can only get you so far....
more to follow,
CK

B's Birthday

So the big fella had another birthday this week and so we rented out a little home theatre that a man here runs as a charitable facility, and invited some friends to come and enjoy Bryce's love of The Italian Job movie (the old version, of course). Everybody received goody bags and a little car to use and make noises with during the car scenes. Great fun!!
Also, I have finished marking! I am thrilled! It was pretty full-on for the last few days, even doing 180 papers on Wednesday night just to keep up with quota. Yikes. I am happy not to be reading any more about genetics and microorganisms!!
Bryce and I are going away for Christmas to the farm (his cousins) to help shear sheep, race down a river on rafts and experience another NZ Christmas. After that, we are heading up to Rotorua for 4 days to play in the MTB park. We go to Rotovegas occasionally but it is never to just ride, always for some other reason and we try to fit a ride in. Well, not this time. We are going to explore the park and enjoy it! Then my cousin Jen arrives, we head across to Kapiti Island bird sanctuary on the 4th, my birthday on the 5th and then I leave for Japan on the 7th. I am going to try to and write a bit more on here during my trip. I am sure I will have some stories. I heard Japan is a BIT different to Canada and New Zealand; Yeah, right.

The estate

Most recent pic of the house. Our neighbours have chopped down these beautifully old trees to give their house some more light (to be fair, they really had a very dark backyard) but it has exposed some of our private little homestead. So we took some pics before the chop occurred. You couldn't tell from this pic though.

Rod and Sonia's wedding

We went to Rod and Sonia's wedding a few weeks ago and it was great fun. They got married in a little church out in the country and then the reception was in a marquee in their backyard, which is also out on a bit of land. Great day, pretty good weather (considering what we have been having lately), great dancing and good friends. Fun was had by all, including the dog Tui, who was the ring bearer!
Congratulations guys!

too long

been too long since I've posted anything. Been super busy, as it always is at the end of the school year. At least the weather is beginning to look like summer. I had my last night off last night until Christmas (because I start marking today) and so Bryce and I had a couple of Coronas out on the back deck, with sunset, and a BBQ, and some Toffee Pops to finish it off. Lovely night!

So we have just over one week of school left, and the kids are getting prety hairy already. It'll be good to see this year finish as being a Dean has been a rewarding but very difficult year as well. I have accepted the job again for next year, and get to continue working alongside my partner Fiona who is a fantastic worker, so I'm thrilled.

I am heavily reading at night my Lonely PLanet book about Japan, trying to get prepared for the trip in January. Bit nervous as it turns out I will have a bit of free time most days and nights when the students are with their homestays. I have learned Watashi wai Candace des (which I think means my name is Candace). Who knows? I think I will just find some women in the park and learn how to play mah-jong.

Off to the first of several meetings today (one even goes from 1:30 -9:30)!

Max is the man....with legwarmers?

Here is Max, my nephew. Love the legwarmers!

Hawaii.......awesome

So here are some pics from the trip. My bigger email I sent out had all of these attached to it but the file was too big to keep these connected to it. Anyway, you'll see the Queen's bath up above with me in the middle. It was a bit chilly in there as it was freshwater, but it was so hot in the day it didn't matter. 2 pics of the lava fields; one with Bryce crouching beside a NO PARKING sign which did not get fully covered by the lava. A nice woman gave Bryce a lei to give to me, so I am sporting that on the beach by the rocks and trees. One pic is of the Kona airport; all outdoor gates! And of course, a sunset picture from Hapuna Beach (rated one of the best in the world). I personally like less populated beaches myself. Great trip; great memories!

Cute pic from World MTB Champs

I am sitting in my office, sick. Waiting for Friday to come and whisk me away on a jet to Hawaii. I am marking exams, typing up all the incidents that occurred in the last week of term (there were 48), and trying to successfully use every last tissue in the box. Bryce has left to Vegas already and the lucky dog got first class service on the long haul to San Fran.
Funny story happened to me as I have been planning our trip to the Hawaiian Tropics. I did not know what hedonism meant (not the "real term" anyway) and had almost booked Bryce and I into this funky, eco-friendly tenty plantation B & B called Hedonisia Hotel or something like that. I thought it looked cool and definitely fit into our budget. Little did my naive self know that there were probably more "extra activities" involved in the B& B than I was aware of. Needless to say, once I explained the place to Robyn (my wise friend) who informed me of my lack of dictionary skills, and we will be staying elsewhere that night. He he

Riding this past weekend on Whirinaki Forest

Went for a ride we had read about in the Whirinaki forest, 3 hour drive from Napier, 45 minutes from Rotorua. Beautiful scenery, great track, lots of climbs, but fun downhill too.
Enjoy!

Two amazing ladies...

First off, Amy! Amy is amazing because her birthday is Friday Sept. 1st and she will be a big bad 29! So much older than me......







Second, Robyn! Robyn has just completed her first (but will it be her last?) IRONMAN!! Amazing! 15 hours and 24 minutes of physical endurance and craziness has helped Robyn move up even higher in my admiration! Well done chick!! So proud of you.

Cute niece

Hey! Check out Abby with a shirt on that Tim and Kristie gave her.....too cool

I am doing well. Have a huge bruise on my knee from bailing over the handlebars on a MTBike mission on Sunday in Rotorua. I will try to get a picture of it when I can.....you people that know me well and have been treated to pictures of my bruises before would be well impressed!

I'm tired...

Too many students, too much work, too many reports to fill out and incidents to write up.....Can't wait till my next holiday!
Here's the family, minus Tim, Kristie and Kathy, Bryce ....and now Baby Max too!

Back in NZ

Its cold here. Not Canada cold, but cold, like "slippers-wearing, jacket and scarf, tiles in the shower are painful" cold. Ah well, at least my shoulders are tanned enough to remind me of summer. I am definitely a summer chick.
Check out the lovely ladies from our girls night last week.
I think it looks like a picture from Canada's next top model, with all the black tops. Not sure why it looks like I am 8 months pregnant. I assure you, my top was just "flooshy" and I am not giving birth next month!

Its so hot....

No pictures yet to add on from this great trip home, but will get them on soon after I get back to NZ. The weather here is amazing though. I had forgotten how humid it can be in a Canadian summer. Amy, Jill, Laura, Mel and I sat around on Amy's patio and had a BBQ the other night and it was so nice. Light out still until about 10ish. We were just chatting and then all of a sudden the smell of "skunk" arrived and then got stronger very quickly. As it was all dark around us, we coudn't tell exactly where the little guy was so we all ran inside for fear of getting sprayed. Mel told us that her sister once got sprayed by a skunk and she stunk for a long time (a month, was it?). She had to have baths in tomato juice and throw out the clothes she was wearing that night. So glad that didn't happen the other night. Imagine me sitting on the plane beside some poor soul for 12 hours, stinking like skunk!!

The Girls back home

I am in Canmore hanging out with Robyn and Lo-lo and having a great time. Gorgeous scenery. I will have to connect my photos on here when I get back. I can't get over how close we are to these mammoth hills. Just awe-inspiring every day. Imagine living here!!
So tomorrow I fly out and off to Toronto to spend over a week at home. REally looking forward to being there. Here is a picture Robyn had from the girls annual Christmas party this past year. I was not there but always attend in spirit. We have so many of these stair pictures now...very cool. See some of you guys soon!!

My niece Abby

Here she is!!

Abigail Joanne Knight

I don't have a picture of her yet (I have taken lots, just no way to connect to the computer), but my niece has finally decided to come out and play!! She was overdue only about 4 days, but she was worth the wait!
So cute, so small, except for long long toes. She has tons of dark hair too, which is so soft it feels like a kittens hair. Kathy (my sister-in-law) was a trooper, considering the anaesthetist did not turn up. Still can't imagine the pain it must be...... yikes.
I have had the enjoyment of babysitting Asher (my almost 2 yr-old nephew) while everyone was at the hospital and Im still learning to speak HIS language. His words do cross over to English the odd time. A few "wow's" and the usual "mommy and daddy". He has yet to learn the difference between "car"s and anything else that moves in the road, but hey, it took me years to discover there was a difference between those car things (except the colour, of course!!)
Will get a picture up here soon.
The "being in Canada" portion of this trip has been great so far. Already caught up with so much family (two 20+ "family people" parties in two nights)! Great to spend time with Mom and Dad too.

Mom and Dad

Here is a picture Bryce took yesterday at my parents house. Very weird for him to be there and not me, but at least I get to be there in a few weeks!!
Looking forward to it so much!!

Duathlon

Raced in a duathlon on the weekend. 2 km run, 10 km cycle and then another 2 km run. 47:59 it took me, which I think is faster than I have done before, but not quite as fast as I know I could go. Its part of a series over the winter, so I will try my luck again at another race in a few weeks.
Why is it that whenever someone takes a picture of you running, it never looks as hard out as you feel you are going at the time?

24 Hour MTB Race

Bryce and 4 others rode in a 24 hour MTB race last weekend. Lots of fun, VERY cold, for New Zealand anyway, and long hours staying awake. I had a moment of passing out/sleeping when waiting for the next rider to get back.
Funny picture of Bryce having a "shower" out of a pail, after one of his laps.

B and I

Thought I would add in a pic we got taken of us at a friends wedding a few weekends ago.

As you can see, we had a great day and both of us (B a little more than me) got some extra sun on our faces. Haven't seen a day like that since. Must be the winter we are about to head into. Booked my ticket to Canada for July today! Will be seeing everyone very soon!

Lovely Weta

Bryce found a weta (big bug, like a cricket, but with longer legs, and oh....so gross!) in his bike glove the other day. Had to take a picture. Bryce freaked out: Imagine reaching into your glove and feeling this...

Eddie the cat, was eyeing it up. Nice feast for her, I suppose.

The girls...

Here's a pretty shot of my team. This is a picture of them at the Regionals. They came 2nd. May be why they're smiling so much!

No Mans Land

One of my friends took this picture somewhere over in Europe.

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Been hassled by everyone to update this so here goes. Had a great Frisbee golf game yesterday and actually pulled off 2 birdies, and got a par overall for the second 9 holes!! Whoo hoo!
I've been away with 20 students down in Christchurch at the Volleyball Nationals and had a bad case of vomiting and diarrhea rip through alot of the team. I, luckily, kept clear of it, but it was bad to a point that I had a hard time getting enough girls to fill the court! Crazy week!

oops...

Hey guys, Had a great weekend at a Beach Volleyball Tournament with some students. The day was fabulous and although I covered myself in sunscreen.....I missed some spots. Check out the mistake.....