News from Nelson, Christmas Day 2012

Hi all,
Sorry not to update you recently: we have been very busy. Our Christmas greetings card link is in the links box on the top right of our landing page - the map stolen shamelessly from AirNZ's Kia Ora magazine cover for December this year :-)

Justine came for four days, which was great. Amongst many other things we did, she took some photos from the top of Christian's hill, which I stitched into this panorama:

Andreas, Katrin & Christian are here from Eppingen, and we have had a lovely time together with Justine and Camila as well.

Camila's friend Karin came to stay a few times, and the girls managed to entertain themselves well in the country :-)

Will post some more news later on, but we hope you all have a fabulous family Christmas and a prosperous New Year, and hope to catch up with as many of you as we can in 2013!

Jan & Sam

News from Nelson - December 2012

Hi everyone,

Here we are, hitting the last month of the year – where did it go?

Firstly, we have had a MAGNIFICENT parcel from Germany! Jan’s Aunt Uta from Neu-Ulm has sent us a huge box of lebkuchen, chocolate and all sorts of special things. She also sent some Hawthorn capsules for my Father’s heart condition, which was incredibly kind of her. We are so lucky – and will have a very German Christmas with all of our wonderful bounty (mmm – lebkuchen chocolate hearts filled with apricot!)…

Camila is back from her South Island Tour and the Milford. She had a great time, and is now planning her next shindig: to get all the Rotary Exchange students from the deep south to Nelson before she leaves to return to Brazil. The process of her getting a load of students from Cromwell, Dunedin and Invercargill all to Nelson on a shoe-string will be interesting!

Bonnie has had an eye ulcer, which has meant a few trips to the vet. We were worried as she had quite a bad one a couple of years ago. However, this one has healed well. I will take her in tomorrow for her final check up, but when I went last Friday, it was almost completely gone, so I would expect the all-clear tomorrow.

This weekend we are in Wellington for my last CDANZ Exec meetings of the year. Jan is coming up as well, and we are going to see Doug & Morv, then head around to catch up with everyone else (we hope) at Guy & Sonia’s. Will be great, and I am really looking forward to it.

Last weekend we had Frits here, who did loads of brush-cutting. I attacked the grass and weeds around the house and Jan got all enthusiastic about planting veges. Hopefully we will get a bit more rain in the near future, as it is getting pretty dry already. However, we caught the tail end of something on the radio about NZ being in the middle of a La Niña / El Niño pattern this summer, where we would have fine weather, but it would be cooler with southerly winds. I think that was the pattern when we built the house. It was certainly windy that year, and largely from the south.

Tessa, her girlfriend Sandra, my folks, Hui-Ping and her brother Burt and his wife Rita, Hui-Ping’s mum, Mae, and Burt & Rita’s son all visited on Saturday as well. We had a great lunch together, and the afternoon melted. There is nothing like good company.

I made my first prezi (http://prezi.com/nz4vil20umpa/lara/?kw=view-nz4vil20umpa&rc=ref-18076696) for Lara's birthday. She seemed to enjoy it.

I also found a photo of frost on the ground here during winter:

Also I have taken some photos of the office:

And we finally have blinds in the lounge. It is useful to be able to shut out the sun sometimes (I never thought I would say that!) - especially when we want to watch a film before 9pm :-). They sit very discreetly above the aluminium rail over the windows, and don't really intrude into the room.

All my NMIT stuff for this semester is done. Now I have only to review and update this year’s contetn for next year, prep some new topic materials for next year (writing a new section on Social Media for Sports Comms), record some AUT lectures and post them online, and do some study. Piece of cake!

Had a ruling: can’t go straight to PhD, as they gave me 60 credits off the Masters. However, they did say that if the depth and quality of my work continues to  exceed masters’ standards, it will shorten the PhD path if I chose to continue. However, I am not being entirely let off the hook. There is an International Leadership Association conference here in Auckland next April, and Brad has asked me to present at that. I asked him “You mean, 2014, once I am nearly finished?”. No. Next year, so I can get feedback before I do the research. Nice. Only presenting a draft research project in front of the really big guns in the field. No pressure.

The NSO concert went well, as did the Greenhill Concert on Sunday just gone. So that is our music scene completed for the year (though I am still working on Nelson Symphony PR materials for next year). I scratched my eye just before we left for the concert, which wasn’t flash. I got Jan to drop me off at the emergency doctor's, then sat in the concert audience with a big white patch on my eye. All good though now: patch off, antibiotic ointment is doing its job, and it feels fine.

We have a few BBQs coming up. Firstly, we have a lunchtime one for Camila’s birthday (her birthday is actually on December 6^th, and we go to Welly on Dec 7. Bad timing) which we will celebrate when we are back in Nelson, the next weekend on December 15^th. Then we have an evening BBQ for Justine on December 22^nd (Justine is back in Kiwiland for Christmas next week). Then a Roses Road lunchtime BBQ for New Year (New Year’s Day). Then a farewell lunchtime BBQ for Camila with all the Rotary people on January 6^th.

We also have the Chamber of Commerce Christmas Party tomorrow night, the AUT Graduation Party on the 13^th, Kevin’s graduation party at Masu (Japanese restaurant) on the 14^th, Mud Castle’s Xmas party in te 23^rd, and no doubt a few others that haven’t yet made it into my calendar.

Speaking of calendars, Jan finally has a blackberry. He was swearing at the keyboard last night, attempting to send a text. I had forgotten that transition, from phone pad to keyboard. The keyboard makes life so much easier.

When I am up in Tauranga for an AUT leadership training session on 7-8 February, I will catch up with DJ & Dilani. They have been kind enough to put myself & my AUT colleague, Lynn Kidson, up for the night. Bless!

Magda sounds like she is settling in in Christchurch. I do miss her, but it sounds like she is having a good time.

Happy birthdays over the coming month to Christina, Camila, Jamal, Tina, Murray, Karl, Cherry, Christél, Gareth & Wayne! 

Right – back to the salt mines.

Jan Kuwilsky & Sam Young

News from Nelson - November 2012

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all well and prosperous! We seem to have avoided the spring colds that are doing the rounds, though Jan has a bit of a sore throat still.

Camila has been with us for a month already; it has gone so fast! We can’t believe that she is away this weekend to do the South Island Tour and tramp the Milford Track. She will be away for nearly two weeks, and will see a lot of the South Island, in the company of the other South Island Rotary exchange students. She will have a ball.

Jan has helped her pack, so she is thoroughly well organised too!

Camila’s pool playing has improved by leaps and bounds since coming to stay here: she has beaten us both at times, and will be able to earn a living in bars in no time (:-D).

We have been so busy lately, I can’t think where to really start; so perhaps I will go backwards. Last weekend Jan & I helped out at his work on the annual “Big Beach Clean-up”, where volunteers clean up the coastline. We cleaned up the perimeter of Nelson Pine and the Waimea Estuary for a couple of hours. It was reasonably clean, but we managed to get a Ute-load of junk and rubbish from a couple of kilometres of shoreline and estuary (some stuff been there for a long time). We also had Michelle and Tony here for a BBQ, had dinner with Kathleen & Frits, and went to a Thai Food night fundraiser (I am now totally in love with Thai Green Curry from a little food-cart in Nelson!) with Ellie & Greg, Mark & Nicky and Camila and her friend Lydia (who turns out to be the daughter of some master cider-makers who live down the road from us). We tidied up our garden beds, put an extra layer of timber on them to make them higher, and filled them with fresh soil ready for planting this summer’s crop of vegetables.

The week before we went to the Upper Moutere Fair, went to Dawn’s Guy Fawkes party (where Jan & I saw Shelley & Kevin and spent a lot of time talking to Ross L & his wife... and came up with a novel way of cooking sausages), and went to the Chamber of Commerce Business Awards with the Nelson Pine team. Camila's friend Flora has been to stay (and played pool). While at the business awards, Jan got roped in to playing for the Greenhill Orchestra again for an upcoming concert (2 December) which is conveniently on the same day as the Nelson Symphony Orchestra’s Friends Thank You bash; so I have to choose which one I go to. We also had the sliders in the lounge measured up for blinds, so we can watch movies before 9pm in the evening (it is so light here in summer). The blinds will be ready and installed before Christmas.

 

 

 
The week before that we installed some shelves… doesn’t sound like much, does it. Well, it was a four day mission. The story goes: NMIT, as part of the government building earthquake safety audit, had to close their nursing school building. It is being demolished now, but just pre-demolition, all NMIT staff were emailed on the Wednesday asking if they wanted to buy any of the building fittings (at very reasonable rates, I might add). I emailed the list to Jan, and he suggested that find out if we could go and have a look at what was there. So bright and early on Thursday morning, I emailed Mira at NMIT to see when we could come and have a look. She got back to me at 10, and said there were only two more supervised, guided tours of the building, with the next one happening at 11 (and we should be quick, because things were going fast). Jan had already put the trailer on the car and gone to work, just in case we were able to pick anything up on the day. So I raced in to his work, picked him up, and got into NMIT on the dot of 11, with Jan still driving around and around the campus looking for a carpark that would fit a car and a trailer. Well, for the grand sum of $220, we got a two benches, one with timber drawers and cupboards, one set of wall-mounted cupboards and shelves, and two big sets of shelves, all in solid rimu. Staggering. And staggeringly heavy.

We had a deadline to get our purchases out of the building: 5pm the next day. Luckily there were a few other staff whom I knew, and they pooled their muscles and tools to get all their materials out. The most exciting part I missed: Jan and the team getting our big sets of shelves down the stairwell, as I had to go and deliver my last Leadership lecture of the semester. Camila arrived on Friday after school, helped us get everything loaded and then helped with unloading at home.

We then spent the weekend putting everything in place and completely reorganising the cellar (and very fine it looks too). And no, I didn’t get any Masters work done!

Speaking of my masters, it is continuing well – so well that my supervisor is suggesting I consider skipping the masters and going straight to PhD as the depth and quality of my work is exceeding masters’ standards. He is going to investigate the process and whether this might be possible; and has already warned me that this will mean a lot more work (I will really have to come to grips with ontology and epistemology <sigh>). Regardless of whether I am able to do that or not, I am VERY pleased to have my work considered so highly. Jan will prevent me getting an inflated ego though. When I told him, he said “Oh, lots of people at Uni did that”. <pop>

We have had fish and chips with Camila down at Mapua, and have done plenty of trips in and out of town for various events. We have also got some great shots of the neighbour having their top dressing done, which was pretty cool with the plane flying right over us!

 

The next NSO concert is on 24 November, ‘Dusk’. Jan is not playing in it, as he decided with being away in October in Australia, and all the other things he had to do at work, he would have some time out. A good move, I think (and of course, now he has volunteered for the Greenhill concert anyway).

On Wednesday nights the NSO Secretary, Becks, has been coming around for a pot luck dinner and we have all been working on getting NSO systems and PR sorted. It has been very productive.

My CDANZ stuff has been a bit neglected – I will have to get back into that, but I have been marking final semester projects flat out. I have one more left to do – a late submission which will come in tomorrow – then some preparation for Leadership being moderated. I have already moderated AUT’s Leadership paper, so that is one more thing off my list. I am going to get three of my courses overhauled over the summer break, as well as work on my masters, but I am not teaching again until February, which will hopefully mean I am fresh and ready to start teaching with lots of zing.

Jan & I are both in Welly from 7-9 December (next CDANZ Exec meeting). I will be free on Saturday evening, so catch ups Sat night with the Hutt crowd would be great. 

I will also be up in Tauranga for an AUT leadership training session on 7-8 February. I hope to catch up with DJ & Dilani while there, but haven’t heard from them yet.

Congrats to Magda who has a wonderful new job. But sad faces to Sam & Jan who lose her as her new position is in Christchurch :-( She is coming around tonight for a farewell dinner as she leaves next Wednesday.

Tessa is coming to Nelson at the end of this month for Donna’s birthday. She got knocked off her bike a couple of days ago, but seems – luckily – to have escaped serious injury. Just at home, getting better.

Happy birthdays over the coming month to Dawnie, Lara, Justine, Jeremy, Donna & Neil! 

Right – better start peeling potatoes for dinner tonight.

Jan Kuwilsky & Sam Young

News from Nelson - October 2012

Hi everyone,

I just did a drive-by on www.xmasclock.com to find there are only 68 shopping days until Christmas. Where did the year go?

Camila comes to us this weekend; we are going to pick her up on Saturday morning. That will be very entertaining, I am sure! She postponed her change of address for a week as she had lots of things to do in town last week, and thought it would be easier to stay where she was. No problem!

Speaking of entertainment, our pool table is continuing to keep us occupied. My skills appear to have plateaued, but Jan is continuing to improve.

I think this weekend we will be continuing with gorse control, a bit more tree planting, and protecting some of the trees we have already planted with drums. Last weekend I went up to Wellington on Sunday, but on Saturday we went into Jan’s work and recycled some old oil drums. Jan cut the tops and bottoms out, so we can put them over our trees and foil the very, very hungry bunnies who are currently our only lawn mowers.

My masters work is continuing well – my reading list is now 460 items long though! However, I am chopping through them. I am holding to an A overall (my methodology needs work though) so all is looking good. Just got to keep chipping away at getting the work done, and not lose focus.

Jan’s Les Mis production went very well, with lots of audience and orchestra people saying they would like to do it again, despite it having been such a huge commitment. So all good. Brigitte and John came down to Nelson while the production was on, so we got them tickets to go and see it. They said that for an amateur production it was surprisingly good. I know exactly what they mean by that, as the same comment was repeated again and again by the audiences. All in all, a great success for Richard Carruthers, the show’s director, driver and creative influence.

Jan was also in Oz last week to visit a Nelson Pine plant, with his mechanical engineer, to look at how a project has gone over there. He has come back with some good ideas, despite being very tired. It was go-go-go for them both for the four days that they were away.

I managed to get my marking sorted during the study break, and have been tackling lots of Career Development things. I had meetings, training and the AGM in Wellington on Sunday & Monday for CDANZ, and came away with my head so full that I felt like I was concussed. I think I have managed to process now! However, we had a stand-out presenter at one of the training sessions, Amanda Fleming of Presenter At Large from Auckland. This woman is a great speaker, with some very interesting stories to tell and insights on personal development. If you get the chance, to go to one of her sessions, go.

Bonnie will be staying with us for a bit longer, I think: John is going to the US for a few months while he gets some business systems sorted out. No problem for Coco to retain her friend, especially as Fliss is growing increasingly frail.

Jan & I are both in Welly from 7-9 December (next CDANZ Exec meeting). I will be free on Saturday evening, so catch ups Sat night with the Hutt crowd would be great. 

Congrats to Christél & Ray for being able to share cute little Lizzie with Christél’s folks! Hard to tell the puppy from the slipper :-)

Congrats to Magda who has a wonderful new job. But sad faces to Sam & Jan who lose her as her new position is in Christchurch :-( 

Happy birthdays over the coming month to Hartmut, Morv, Margie, Uncle Norman, Dawnie, Lara, Justine & Jeremy! 

Right – better feed the dogs  :-D

Jan Kuwilsky & Sam Young

Entertainment with Moa in Kiwiland

Hi all,

A bit of a laugh for you all today, courtesy of a friend in Chch.

Now I like Geoff Ross. I think what he did with 42 Below was cheeky and had just the right amount of irreverance and panache. However, the Ecoya thing for me had the marketing oomph of a 'pfft'. 

Now Mr Ross has become CEO of Moa, the Marlborough craft beer set up by Josh Scott (of Allan Scott family fame). Moa has decided to raise a chunk of change with an NZX float, and they have done a bit of a marketing make-over of what was a pretty good craft beer, drunk by craft beer drinkers. You know, the kind of people who are happy to shell out for Founders Tall Blonde or a Mussel Inn Captain Cooker. People who like beer, not to look good, but because they LOVE it.

So, there has been a bit of a burst of venom generated by Moa's IPO, where their brand-spanking (!) brand image may not quite have entered popular culture in a good way:

• http://philcook.net/beerdiary/2012/10/13/the-moa-ipo/#comments
• http://publicaddress.net/8230
• http://publicaddress.net/up-front/moa-sub-standard/
• http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10840093
• http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/7808884/Moa-Beer-ruffles-feathers-with-prospectus
• https://twitter.com/search?q=%23momentsofmanhood (love the Don Brash ones)
• http://atheistpinkosluts.tumblr.com/post/33396770885/moa-made-by-decent-brewers-marketed-by-wankers
• http://atheistpinkosluts.tumblr.com/page/2
• Download the prospectus here: http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/document/pdf/201241/investment.pdf (and seriously, check out the tone of the 'ads'!)

Love some of the comments, take the Herald: "Ross told BusinessDesk the document targeted the 30 to 50 year-old, high income men that Moa seeks as both customers and investors as it pushes to create an identifiably New Zealand brand in the fast-growing boutique beer market, especially the US. 'It is somewhat Mad Men,' he said, appealing to 'men who want moments of manhood.[...] If you go to (Wellington waterfront restaurant) Shed 5 on a Friday, there a whole lot of guys in suits having a drink. It's their vernacular, their mentality.'" Hmm. Aren't those guys in Shed 5 drinking 85% mainstream draughts anyway? And why was it Moa needed to look like 1960s misogynists again...? Oops - and how is this New Zealand's beer if we are focused on selling it to Americans...?

Moa's strapline "New Zealand's beer, globally". Hmm. Maybe a new strapline... perhaps "New Zealand's beer, w*nky-wannabe"?

It has a ring to it :-D
 

News from Nelson - September 2012 #2

Hi everyone,

Wow, nearly another month has passed, and here I am talking to you all again.

Our sympathies go out to Janet, Robert and the boys as Janet’s mum died recently, after a relatively short illness. Janet had just been down in Nelson & we had all had a catch up, so it was rather shocking – though somewhat expected – to get the message about her Mum so soon.

The pool table is still proving great entertainment: largely because Jan is rehearsing so much at present for Les Mis, there is not much time for anything longer. 

We seem to have had weekends based around the weather of late: we have had lots of fine weeks and wet weekends. However, last Sunday we managed to have a session sorting out the gorse as the rain stopped for a couple of days. Got some good weather-oriented photos though!

I got my Masters research proposal in, and was told that it was one of the best my supervisor had ever received (which was very kind of him). I had a very productive day at Auckland Uni, meeting all sorts of people and asking millions of questions. I even had time to get a book out of the library for Jan. I caught up with Tessa and we had Japanese at Kabuki Teppanyaki restaurant at the Stamford; I met her friend Lisa who seems really nice.

On Thursday I delivered a Leadership diversity lecture at the AUT Manukau campus. Wow, that is the most fantastic campus! It is like being in a park!

This weekend Jan is playing in a Les Mis performance both days, so I will get on with some housework and study. I also have a good chunk of marking to do, with the study break coming up, there will be a bit more time for doing all those ‘nice to do’ things like cleaning :-(

Life is pretty full of Les Mis at the moment.

I will be up in Welly briefly in a couple of weeks (Oct 13-14) for Sunday - Monday meetings, which is the weekend that Camila comes to stay. Jan will get her safely installed, though I don’t know how he is going to find time to do some required furniture repairs. I might need to get Michael Bender onto the job and take the pressure off him.

Dogs are well, though both Coco and Fliss took themselves off for an unsupervised walk today. I caught up with Fliss down past the winery, heading determinedly along the road to our bottom gate. She is so deaf she couldn’t even hear the car, but got in the car sheepishly enough when I tooted RIGHT behind her.

Barb has been the US having a tiki-tour, and hopefully she will catch us up on how she enjoyed that now she is back.

Jan & I are both in Welly from 7-9 December (next Exec meeting) so any ideas for catch-ups would be great. 

Andreas, Katrin & Christian will be with us for Christmas and maybe New Year in Nelson. Flights are booked, should be loads of fun, and we are really looking forward to it!

Happy birthdays to Andrew R, Ana Silvia WHO IS TWENTY ONE, KT, Aunt Uta, Robert dB, Jenny L, Bertie, Guy, Barb, Kelly A, Erica, Julie T & Tracey M! 

Right – better start my marking  :-D

Jan Kuwilsky & Sam Young

News from Nelson – September 2012

Hi all,

We hope you are all fit & well, whether it is autumn or spring where you are.

Our pool is improving: Jan & I played three games on Saturday night before we went to bed, and the games are going much faster now. Jan won two and I won one; though I was only one ball off the pace on both the games Jan won. 

We had Robbie, Janet, Fergus & Mac here last weekend. We stayed up far too late, watched lots of films, played lots of pool and ate too much! In other words, we had lots of fun, and hope to do it again soon.

I have nearly got my research proposal for my Masters knocked into shape, being currently lost in the world of ontology and epistemology. I am up in Auckland on the 19^th of this month to meet with a load of people at Auckland Uni, and will catch up with Tessa for Japanese at the Stamford. I am doing a lecture on Leadership diversity at AUT in Manukau on the 20^th, on my way back to the airport, which will be interesting.

Jan & I had a lovely dinner out at Hopgoods for his birthday. I bought him a new viola case (when I was in Welly a couple of weeks ago for an Exec meeting) and got Camila’s folks to send some guava paste from Brazil (Beto & Célia also sent Jan some lovely peanut lollies that he likes - paçoquitas). Tina & Jeremy got shoes & socks for a child in poverty (what a great idea!) and we got a handmade card from Otto & Lara. My folks bought him a Mitre 10 voucher, Midori & handmade hazelnut chocolates, Kathleen & Frits got him Monopoly: the chocolate version :-)

Jan had a family & friends birthday lunch at Lambretta's – it was great to catch up with everyone, and the sun was kinda-sorta out too. Then he went off to rehearse with the NSO and I went to Kathleen & Frits’ place to mark.

We went to Lake Rotoiti a few weeks ago and presented “what happened on the North Island Tour” to the next intake of exchange students. They are a great crew and we should have a really good time next year on the tour as well.

We also caught up with Hui Ping & Mae at Bill & Cornishes’ place a few weeks ago, along with Murray & Julie. It was a lovely night with LOT of lovely pizza, which Hui Ping made for us all. Wonderful. Hui Ping went skiing, so had her dream stop in Nelson. 

Speaking of skiing, Camila has been, and probably now has the show bug as badly as Ana Silvia had it. Unfortunate that the snow has almost gone now; but I think overnight there has been a bit (it is chilly enough this morning to light the fire again).

Tina & Jeremy hosted me brilliantly in Welly a couple of weeks ago, and not only did we have a birthday party for Uta with Hartmut on Friday night, but I spent time with Otto & Lara watching Mr Bean on Saturday night. A great weekend.

Interesting sunrise recently with a halo around the sun... very thin cloud about.

 

Jan & I are both in Welly from 7-9 December (next Exec meeting) so we will be in touch to try & catch up with as many Welly people as we can then. 

Andreas, Katrin & Christian will be with us for Christmas and maybe New Year in Nelson. Flights are booked, should be loads of fun, and we are really looking forward to it!

Happy birthdays to Otto, Bob, Warren, Doug , Helen, Andreas, Leigh, Max & Karen, DJ, Tony G, Andrew and Ana Silvia! 

Right – better finish my marking. All the best :-D

Jan Kuwilsky & Sam Young

Do Be Do Be Do

Hi guys,
I am reading Richard Precht's first philosophy book, "Who Am I? And if so, How Many?" which Jan's Aunt Uta recommended to me. It is proving a very entertaining read. I particularly like Precht's quote from a plaque on a Greek Taverna wall, which said

"To be is to do - Socrates

"To do is to be - Sartre

"Do Be Do Be Do - Sinatra" (Precht, 2011, p. 247).

Precht takes this to mean that life is not so simple as Socrates' view that being is the same as doing, nor Satre's that doing means we are; but that our lives are a constant iterative creation of doing and becoming, doing and becoming; that we can invent who we become.

I like that :-)

News from Nelson – August 2012

Hi all,
Latest news – we have a new addition in the family: a pool table. I have had a search on TradeMe for a couple of years, looking for an old pub pool table, and we hit pay-dirt last weekend. We went to Blenheim to pick it up, avoiding the rain, and installed it in our lounge on Sunday.

We played about thirty games and we were both RUBBISH, but I was by far the MOST rubbish. No down-trous (Kiwi rule: if you don’t sink any of your balls, you have to take your trousers down), but close at times. It was fun. I see budgie-smuggler free pool parties at our house coming up (translation: budgie-smugglers are Ozzie for tight fitting swimming trunks that look like shiny undies). 

“Deutschlandreise 2012” has arrived from the printers, so I am now waiting for Jan to write a couple of letters before the copies will wing their way to Jan’s grandmothers. 

NMIT & AUT teaching is going well; I have sorted out all my courses and my semester's teaching is going smoothly. My study is going slowly, and I am constantly getting lost down side-alleys in UA’s LOVELY library where I have access to journals for Africa! Ooo Grommet!

My brother’s 40^th birthday was last weekend. My family came together for a party, which was great. My sister is off to the US in a couple of weeks for a holiday, and to meet some friends whom she has met online (in Washington DC and Pennsylvania).

Dogs are all well, if put out by the rain. They keep going to doors and expecting me to open them onto sunshine, I think. However, they certainly don’t mind splashing through puddles, if it is a walk. It is only toilet stops that are infra dig in the rain. Photo of a weird sunrise attached, and a night shot from Princes Drive.

Only a couple of months until Camila comes to us for the last three months of her Rotary exchange year. I suspect that we won’t see too much of her during the weekends though as she has lots of places to stay in town. However, she does enjoy pool, so perhaps the pool table will provide a key attraction!

We are going to Lake Rotoiti this weekend to present “what happened on the North Island Tour” to the next intake of exchange students. That should be fun.

Andreas, Katrin & Christian will be in New Zealand this coming Christmas and New Year, and it looks like either Christmas in Nelson, or Christmas in Wellington at this stage – but we haven’t heard back on a final decision from Eppingen yet. Hopefully this will spur a response!

The weekend after next I am in Wellington for a CDANZ meeting. I am up in Auckland on 19^th Sept for some Masters stuff, to joint-present a lecture at AUT’s Manukau Campus and to have dinner with Tessa. 

Happy birthdays to Neil L, Gary B, Uta S-K, Oma Lieselotte, Hui-Ping, Raeywn TeH, Otto, Bob, Warren, Doug, Helen, Andreas, Leigh, Max, Karen and DJ! 

Right – I am sure that I have forgotten lots, but this will do for now. All the best to everyone :-)

Jan Kuwilsky & Sam Young

Bridge Street Collective

Hi all,
Check out the Bridge Street Collective which has redefined the old Brough's Building in Bridge Street Nelson - this is a great meeting spot and creative place. Their blog is at http://www.bridgestreet.org.nz/
 

They have good, locally roasted fair-trade coffee :-)

News from Nelson – July 2 2012

Hi all,
Here we are on the downhill run to August already; and Christmas is frighteningly close.

I have sent our “Deutschlandreise 2012” for printing, so two copies will be winging their way to Jan’s grandmothers within the next month. I am about to start putting together another book: one for the Martins (Ana Silvia & Camila’s family) as they leave today to return to Brazil.

We had a lovely time meeting Berto and Celia, hosting them at our place for a night. They travelled the North and South Islands, but spent a good chunk of their time in Nelson, being hosted by all the host families of the girls. Tina and Jeremy also had the whole family around for Raclette at the tail-end of their North Island tour. Celia says she feels like she has had a taste of the Rotary experience!

We all have lots of photos of them all, and they are a delightful family. Ana looks almost the same as she did when she left four years ago – and spent a lot of time at our place with the dogs.  

Anna & Phil G hosted a get-together at their place, as did Hugh & Julie B, and we had a couple of meals out with a big group at restaurants, including a farewell dinner at Café Affair last night. Murray & Yvonne B took them over to the Golden Bay, we took them to Kaiteriteri, Anna & Phil took them to Lake Rotoiti. They have seen a good chunk of Nelson. 

They fly out today at 10.30, and I think they have had a great time, and now will know all the things that the girls speak of, as they too have a personal connection. We plan on going to Brazil on our way either to or from Germany for the 100^th celebrations in 2015. 

It was great to hear from Hartmut that Karin & Ernst have been to Ulm to visit Oma Lieselotte and Uta. It sounds as though everything in Ulm is stable at the moment, but I will find out when I write shortly to Uta, to accompany the photobook and tell her how we all are.

Simone has written a lovely email, Achim has sent a quick email and Karin has emailed photos. Technology is a wonderful thing!

Last Saturday night we had dinner at Kathleen & Frits’ place but didn’t get to look at their trip photos, although we showed them ours!! I think that was a bit one-sided; we will have to put that right soon :-)

NMIT & AUT teaching is going well; I have sorted out all my courses and my semester's teaching is planned out. I have handed over Applied Management (L) to a new lecturer, and have set aside one full weekday for my Masters study (Mondays – NOTHING else is done on Mondays but Masters research).

It is my brother’s 40^th in a couple of weeks, so my family will be coming together for a party. That will be all good.

John appears settled in the UK for now, and has been posting regularly on Facebook; but he does miss Bonnie the Boxer. She is heartless and doesn’t seem to be pining in the slightest (by the way, John: she is registered & tagged in TDC to our address now. It was painless). But October will come soon, and John’s return with it, and then I am sure she will collapse in wiggles and smiles.

Speaking of October, Camila comes to us in October for the last three months of her Rotary exchange year. It will be wonderful to have her. We think we have sorted out the logistics of getting her in to Nelson College for Girls every weekday (car with Jan to Richmond & bus to Nelson on the days I don’t go in), and there are many offers of accommodation for her to overnight in Nelson if she needs to stay late, has soccer practice or wants to socialise.  

We have heard from Sandra & Gary, who are having a great time in WA; as usual, Sandra wrote a hilarious summary of all the happenings in their household. It sounds as though they are having a good time, and have managed to collect another dog. Number 3 canine and no children. Sounds like people we know…!

Andreas, Katrin & Christian are planning on being in New Zealand this coming Christmas and New Year, and we were thinking of finding out where they were going to be, and spending Christmas with them. We hope that Jan’s Welly family can join us, but can’t do any planning until Jan finds out what Andreas’ family plans are. It would be great to spend a Kiwi Xmas in the Bay of Islands!

Happy birthdays to Fleur, my brother, Kelly M, Moose, Merrill C, Julie C, Tracey P, Paul T, Tessa W, Erik dB, Neil L, Gary B, Uta S-K, and Coco! 

Right – I am sure that I have forgotten lots, but this will do for now. All the best to everyone :-)

Jan Kuwilsky & Sam Young