News from Nelson - September 2016

Hello all,
We have had yet another busy month. Jan has been studying flat out, and I have been trying to find time to get my PhD application prepared and into Griffith University. It is now submitted, and I only need to wait to hear whether I will be accepted, or what changes need to be made.

Jan and I went to the Gecko Theatre for a movie a few weeks ago, and watched "A Month of Sundays", which was a really nice movie. OK, it was largely focused on death, but it had dignity and gentle humour. I liked it. And we had a nice view of the moon, Mars and - I think - Jupiter on the way:

 
We went to Jellyfish at Mapua for lunch on Jan's birthday, which was really nice. Max and Karen, Erica and Tracey, Mike and Donna, my folks, Dawn, Kathleen, Frits and Amy all came. We had a very good time.

One Friday night we caught up with the Cools's for dinner - easy-care fish and chips from the Upper Moutere Takeaway straight over the road. Fabulous. But Renate still made a fantastically delicious birthday cake for Jan that we all ate far too much of.

Getting some nice sunrises now:

The Subaru has been in and out of the garage with a steering pump issue... which turned out to be a blocked hose, in the end. That was after a reconditioned pump had been fitted. Ouch.

Jan has been down to Christchurch for the first half of a health and safety certification course, and has caught up with quite a few of the Cantabrians. He has been staying with Jenny, and goes back down in a couple of weeks for the next half, followed by an exam the day after Labour Day. 

I go down to Christchurch next week for a conference (I am presenting on some research that myself and a colleague have been doing on employer use of cybervetting), and I too am staying at 'Hotel Ladley' :-)

Speaking of Jenny, she, Tracey & Erica have done the Abel Tasman track. Jan & I picked them up at Marahau, after they had walked down from Wainui Inlet. They had had a great - and, despite the rain over Nelson-way this week, a dry - time. Well: maybe from Jen's point of view, an "OK" time!

Luckily, in the last week of the month, I had study break, which has enabled me to do some of that research for the CDANZ conference (to be delivered next week), and get on top of the administration tasks. Both my research and Sports PR students are now mostly well on the way with their projects, and I have finished with lectures on those papers, so now only student mentoring and marking remains. While lectures still continue for my Leadership paper, the load-lightening on the other papers helps to gain a bit of free (well... free-er!) time.

Our road has been graded, and, although the weather has not been that dry, our driveway is now looking pretty good.
  

Jan, my Mum and I went to the Nelson Symphony Orchestra's "Solo Spotlight" concert, where eight very talented young performers entertained us. It reinforces that here are some very committed young musicians and singers out there, and it was a privilege to be able to listen.

Happy birthday to Bertie, Robert, Becks, Jenny, Uta, KT, Ana Silvia, Guy, Barb, Kelly, Erica, Julie, Tracey, and Hartmut. 

We are really looking forward in November to seeing Holger, Dieter and Gudrun: can't wait!

More next month :-)


Sam (& Jan)

News from Nelson - July 2016

Hi everyone,
At the beginning of July, Jan and I went up to Wellington to attend a leadership lecture at  Victoria Uni from a set of Fullbright scholars and Sir Peter Blake Leadership trust award recipients. It was very interesting, and hosted by my old Master's supervisor, Brad Jackson.

Jan had to come with me to be my left-hand man, as I would have been unable to have gone without his assistance :-)

We got picked up by Brigitte & John, with Otto, and had a cup of coffee and a chat at the Ibis. We walked from there down to Vic law school for the lecture (and they gave us lots of canapes). 

After the lecture we got picked up by Jeremy, and taken to see his new place. We met DeAnne, and got a chance to catch up with Lara. All in all we had a very tight schedule, but we managed to fit in lots of visits.

It was great to go to the lecture, but my arm was jangling fit to bust by the time I got back to the hotel, and by the time I got home again after the trip.

A pity we couldn't see Tina, Hartmut and Uta as well, but there was such a short time. We could perhaps have caught up with Tina for breakfast, except I had already arranged to meet Brad at Astoria for breakfast, to talk about  PhD options.

Brad thought that I should try Griffith University in Brisbane, and that I should continue to pursue the idea that I worked up for AUT, rather than undertaking my original career leadership idea. Griffith apparently has a good - and growing - global reputation. As I had not considered Griffith before, this will take some investigation. 

Brad was quite dismissive of my original career focused PhD: and I think he has a point. This is a "safe" idea that won't rattle any cages, nor will provide the amount of challenge that my sports governance one will. 

After breakfast, Jan went to meet one of the HR people at WorkSafe (New Zealand's health and safety government watchdog). He wanted to find out more about the organisation, and DeAnne had put him in touch with someone to talk to.

Despite the Wellington trip away, I have been taking things very quietly. I have read a book a day since my surgery, which has been really wonderful. 

Jan has decided to take the opportunity to become a certified electrician, and is starting his coursework this month, with his final exam being in November, and a practicum in the first week of December. He is also hopeful of getting into a health and safety certification course, NEBOSH (and I've no idea what it stands for), which will be held in September and October. He is currently on the waiting list for that.

The Nelson Symphony Orchestra had their mid-year concert: America, held in the Nelson Cathedral. This was a very interesting programme, with music that was quite expansive and sweeping. Jan has also volunteered to play in the Nelson Choir's production of Stabat Mater, and in Nayland College's school production of Annie get your Gun (with performances in the first week of August).

We caught up with Glenys & Kevin for an afternoon of eating, drinking and talking (surprise, surprise) which was very entertaining. We also had dinner with Jenny, Tracey and Erica. 

We also had a mid-winter Christmas at the Hofman's which was great: we had "three lights"; three light courses - nibbles, soup, and cake for dessert. I had made a Nigella Lawson Christmas cake last year, but the recipe makes two, so I had put one in the freezer. I pulled that out and defrosted it. We took a sugar cone, and brandy, and turned the 'bladder' of Peckhams mulled cider into a burnt caramel, clove and cinnamon heaven. The nibbles were just fantastic: all the things we don't usually eat.

And no-one was too full. It was a really good night, with lots of laughs.

I drove for the first time three weeks after my surgery. to see the hand physiotherapist, for exercises and wrist support. my surgeon had said that I was OK to drive, and despite my reservations, I drove the automatic. The hand physiotherapist told me off quite thoroughly, saying that I should not be driving until the surgeon had signed the bone off as being healed. 

However, despite the driving, I got a good report from the physiotherapist. I have good mobility and had no pain at all from the session - she was very conservative, and focused on only what I could do until I started feeling a small amount of resistance. She was very happy with my mobility and movement, and gave me three small exercises to do five times a day each. My challenge was that they all needed to be done v-e-r-y slowly! She only wants to see me once my surgeon has signed me off, which will be next month. 

After I saw the hand physiotherapist, I went to catch up with an old friend, Di, who was able to drive us around that day, while we had a good gossip, drink coffee, and acted like we were ladies of leisure. 

So once more, Jan had to drive me into work, as I started teaching on the 18th. At least in the first week, I only had two lectures, as one of my other classes didn't start until week six, and the other was online.

By the last week of the month it was six weeks after surgery, and although I hadn't seen the specialist (because he was too busy off skiing and swanning around the world to conferences), I started driving again. Much easier.

We went to Alex and Caroline's Wassail celebrations this month, pulling in all manner of English traditions including the Black Morris to bring on the fruit for the coming year. Kev the Farmer sang a couple of songs again (he has such a good voice). Glenys and Kevin came along too, and we had a good chat about our planned weekend at McLaren's Bay next month.

We caught a movie at the Gecko Theatre in Motueka - Our Kind of Traitor - which was quite good. No major twists, but a good movie. We realised that we don't go to the pictures often enough, so have made a resolution to try to get there at least once a month.

I did a bit of digging and found that Griffiths was 39th in the world for sports management, so figured they could be really worth a look. I also realised that Graham Cuskelly was a professor in the business school at Griffith, and so I emailed him, and, despite being overseas, he replied straight away. So it appears that I may have my supervisor. 

Just like that. A new home across the Tassie for my project too.

Sam (and Jan)

News from Nelson - February 2016

Hi everyone!
This month we went with Tracey and Erica to Westport to spectate at the Buller half marathon, because Gary, Karen, Karin and Ian all came up from Christchurch to compete (or, in the case of Karin and Ian, back from Austria). Jan and I rendezvoused with everyone else at Berlin's for dinner on the way down. We hadn't been to Westport quite a while, and it was a great trip. 

Erica at Berlin's

'Our team' completing the half marathon

While Gary, Karen, Karin and Ian all worked hard, Tracy, Erica, Jan and I did a bit of sightseeing, had some great cafe meals, and stayed overnight at the University of Canterbury field-station (thank you Jenny).

We also celebrated Frits's birthday at a new Italian restaurant in Nelson. Note the scintillating converstationalists at work below...

Frits, Neil, Amy & Kathleen

Jan & Frits making conversation on their smart phones

We caught up with Tracey and Erica at the Sarau Fair for some local beverages, produce, food, music and conversation, to celebrate the end of the blackberry harvest. It is always a fun afternoon and evening, kicking off at 4pm and going until 9-ish. Mellow.

Tracey at the Sarau Fair

Also this month, my PhD supervisor pulled out on my PhD project, for reasons of work overload on the very day I was about to upload the last piece of documentation to become a pre-candidate - my pre-proposal. Gulp. I asked if we could push my project back a year, but she said that this would not change the situation. Worse, as my secondary supervisor was now living in Australia and supervising remotely, and Uni statute said that a lead supervisor had to be on campus, my secondary supervisor could not become my lead supervisor. Even worse, my third 'advisor' who was at the Uni in NZ hadn't finished her PhD yet, so was unable to fill the role of lead supervisor. Combined, this essentially stopped my project dead in the water :-( 

I stewed on this for a couple of weeks, and tried to digest this news, having invested six months in working up my idea (August to February). Planning was done. The pre-proposal was done. I was ready to start. The University was going to fund my research (the deal has always been that I could do my PhD when our mortgage was gone - and we still have NZD$100k to go... so if I could get a "PhD for free" I could start early. AUT had been going to give me a "PhD for free" plus $1500 in expenses each year).

Then I spoke to a friend who had done her PhD at no cost through an Australian University... and thought about that idea for a while. After a while I decided to revert to my original idea of looking at emergent career leadership in New Zealand, and to work that embryonic project up into a pre-proposal, and apply to somewhere like the University of Queensland (we are there are a couple of prestigious career field professors) once my idea was reasonably well-formed.

I would imagine this will take quite a while to work up due to - once more - a very heavy workload this coming semester.


Sam (& Jan)

News from Nelson - August 2 2013

Hi all,
We are both well - the temperatures are warming up, and we have had a good dollop of rain.

We have been busy transplanting more of our trees over the past couple of weeks - as I mentioned previously, we have loads of macrocarpa and eucalypt seedlings coming up where the sawmillers pulled our mature trees out five or more years ago, so we are moving them to places where will have room to grow - mainly around the hairpin bend on our driveway. Eucalypts on the inside of the bend, macrocarpas on the outside.

Jan has been having a great time using the hired digger to dig the holes for the trees!

Bonnie & Coco are both well, though Coco is still missing Fliss. She is quite tentative and very clingy with Jan.

Jan & I had dinner with Jax, last week, which was great, and Richard from NPIL. We went to a local Thai place in Richmond that proved very good. We also managed to have lunch with Jen the next day, as she was up seeing her folks, prior to starting her new job at UC. She has just had her first two days, which hopefully went well.

At the beginning of August we had a mid-winter Christmas with Kathleen, Frits and Amy. We had a lovely, relaxing weekend, and were amazed to find it 4pm on Sunday suddenly, with everyone needing to head home. I have no idea where the time went to.

Amy was - unexpectedly - our Father Christmas, and a damned fine one she was too! The dogs found it all rather scary to start of with but soon realised that there were doggy treats and became quite commercial about the whole costume thing.

The weekend after that we had the Children's Concert, which went well. Jan was in the paper in the lead-up to the event (an earlier post http://klinkehoffen.blogspot.co.nz/2013/08/news-from-nelson-august-2013.html and http://klinkehoffen.blogspot.co.nz/2013/08/beauty-and-bugs-real-treat-nelson-mail.html). 

Jen was up this last week again, and we managed to catch up for lunch in Richmond, which was great.

I have set up a new blog for my musings on leadership - and anything else that takes my fancy - at http://actsofleadership.blogspot.co.nz/.The Masters study is going well - my experiments on my students start next week. I can't believe how fast it has come around.

Next month Jan is off to Rotovegas to give his presentation at the WoodExpo. He has it all prepared already so he only now need practice it.

Also as previously mentioned, I will be in Christchurch four days in the middle of October - 17-20 - for a Careers Symposium and CDANZ AGM. Would be good if we could perhaps catch up with a pile of the Cantab people on the Saturday night? Let us know if you will be in town, because it would be great to see you all.

The weekend after Jan is in Welly for the Naenae Reunion. I am not going, but will stay home with the dogs.

Jan is off to the US in November, leaving on the 5th of November for the US, then taking a side trip to Germany on his way home. He will be in touch with the German family to tee up catching up with as many of you as he can on his train trip from Frankfurt to Ottobeuren (where the next piece of NPIL machinery is being made). He will only have a couple of days, but wants to see as many of you as can perhaps get to one place to say "Hi". He is aiming for a weekend arrival - he will get in to Frankfurt on Friday 16th of November but has to be Ottobeuren on the morning of Monday the 19th. I think he will go up to Oma Friedel's on the Friday, then take the train straight to Ulm on the Saturday. But, as I said, he will be in touch. Unfortunately he won't get back to NZ by our wedding anniversary, and he will also miss the next NSO concert. I am sure he probably won't miss either!

Right - there is nothing else that I can think of at the mo. More news later :-D

Jan & Sam

News from Nelson - June 2013

Hi Everyone,
I can't believe another month has ticked by. I have no idea where the time has melted away to!

Jan & I have both been flat out - Nelson Symphony Orchestra, dogs, study and work. Bonnie has been to the vet several times with a few fairly minor ailments. Fliss is getting so wobbly now she is tripping over her own feet. We have got little boots for her now so she gets good purchase on the floor - and I wouldn't have persisted had she still not been so bright, so keen for her dinner and a cuddle. But we know it won't be long. As soon as she stops enjoying telling us off because we haven't lit the fire quickly enough, or she goes off her food...

The cycle of all things, eh. And I wouldn't miss a minute of it. At least our families are currently fairly well, though I know Tanja is having trouble with her knee following surgery.

Temperatures are dropping, and we have had quite a bit of rain lately. No problems with having enough water. There is a shed full of wood to stoke the fire, and it is very cosy here - sometimes too cosy! I constantly find myself throwing the covers in the night because I have got too hot (and no, it's not the menopause!).

My father had a birthday BBQ at our place on May 26th. Uncle Norman, Mike & Donna came out too, as did lots of my folks' friends - Ralph is an RSA member (Vietnam) and borrowed the RSA van to bring a swag of them out, which was great. We had Ana from Brazil staying that weekend as well. Twenty for lunch worked out just fine. I made black forest gateaux - though only one got eaten. In fact, there was so much food that we made doggie bags up for everyone to take some bits home, because we would never have fitted it all the leftovers in the fridge!

We went to a Chamber of Commerce function at the Suter Art Gallery, about the new development project there. 

Last weekend we went to the basketball (Nelson Giants vs the Bay Hawks) with Sharon & Ian, which was great, preceeded by dinner at Krauts. Herman and Agnes Seifried were there as well, and Jan said to me, "That guy looks familiar - who is he?"!

We caught up with Frits, Kathleen & Amy on Saturday night, which was great. Amy did the dinner (mushroom risotto), Kathleen did the dessert (a light chocolate mousse), and it was just lovely. 

Yesterday I finished my assignment marking, to have a colleague contact me in a bit of a state. Lots of things have gone really badly pear-shaped in their lives, so I am now marking their assignment work this week. What can you do? As I explained to Jan, if I was at the end of my string so much that I asked someone for help, the last thing I would want them to do is say "sorry, mate; I have just finished and don't fancy doing any more"! Nothing wrong with a bit of 'cast your bread upon the waters', I reckon.

I have been to dinner with the Sport & Rec team at NMIT: Jan has caught up with work colleagues. He is also going to the US in November for a week-long industry tour and conference, and to Rotovegas in September to present at a conference.

Jan has been practicing for the next NSO concert (29 June), which should be really fun. It's programme you can really imagine being performed at a grand event, with a little light entertainment - Tea for Two - thrown in:

On the Sunday of that weekend, I am off to Wellington for another CDANZ meeting - the Sunday and Monday, then back home. I hope to catch up with Tina & Jeremy then too. Tina is so busy at work I don't know how she does it, and Jeremy's clown doctoring is going well (see the story below this one for the latest thing in the paper). My next CDANZ meeting will be October for the Career Symposium & AGM in Chch, I think. Then I think I have a conference in Queenstown to go to in November - but I am reconsidering whether I should attend that one as Jan will be in the US then. Julie from CNZ was down in Nelson last week for a meeting, and we caught up for coffee. It is great how you start to roll your contacts out around the country with involvements like this.

We are off to a quiz night this coming Friday night with Robbie & Janet, which should also be fun. We have also been trying to catch up with Glenys & Kevin, but just have not got there yet!

And some other sad news - while we were in the North Island, our neighbour, Kath, died. As many of you know, she had a brain tumour diagnosed when she was pregnant with Harrison. "They" said she would have three to five years after the treatment - she had three before it came back, and then the end came quite quickly. It is very sad, though Ian seems pretty stoic about it. Hopefully Harrison will remember his mum.

Sunrise from Roses Road last week:

Hoepfully we will all stay healthy, eh. And be kind to each other, and remember that we are a long time gone, so make the most of it while we are here. And remember we don't get points for it.

Right - that's all I have time for. Just a quick update :-)

Jan & Sam

News from Nelson - April 2013

Hi all,

So, that was Easter, disappearing in the rearview mirror of life!

We are still having lovely weather, and the Easter break was pretty good. We had a nice time doing lots of relaxing, socialising and even prepping our accounts ready for the tax man (hey, I wonder why tax collection is still a gender-oriented profession?!).

On Saturday night, Jan & I went to Krauts German restaurant for my birthday, ably assisted in celebration by my folks, Uncle Norman, Kathleen, Frits, Amy, Dawn, Janet (who had come down from Auckland for Easter) and Julie & Murray. Several foolish souls ordered schweinshax’n (pork shanks) and took home doggie bags for the next day :-O

 

Jeanette & Jake vdB were at Krauts while we were there too, and say hello to Magda, Gea & Tjibbe. All is going well with them.

Murray, Julie & Janet came out for a BBQ on Sunday, with Murray’s very grown up daughter Amy & her boyfriend. After lunch, Janet, Julie & I tackled Christian’s hill with Coco & Bonnie in some very light mist (only day without lots of sunshine all Easter), leaving Flissy behind dozing on the couch with Murray & Jan! 

 

With regard to our next trip away - the Rotary exchange student NI Tour - Jan hopes to catch up with Beth D on the 23rd of April when he is in Waitomo in sole-charge of 11 teenagers (as I will be in Auckland presenting at the International Leadership Conference). I catch up with Jan again in Rotovegas on the night of the 24th. Then we hope to see DJ & Dilani on our way through Tauranga on our way around the Coromandel. If anyone else is around and would like to catch up, please get in touch!

I will be in Auckland on Monday 22 to the afternoon of Weds 24, staying at the Stamford. Days I will be at Auckland Uni’s business school (http://nzli.co.nz/64/conference).

On the 16th we had the first concert of the NSO 2013 Concert season, with a tribute to the Steinway. It was a very professionally delivered concert, and the audience seemed to really enjoy it. I loved Rhapsody in Blue – that is such a lovely piece. The applause went on for some time. The NSO had its AGM last week, and Jan found – somewhat to his surprise – that he is now Chair of the NSO committee. He will do a fine job. I guess that also means that I will carry on doing the PR for the orchestra as well :-)

The weekend before Easter we went out to a friend’s orchard & traded some ‘grape juice’ for fifty plus kilos of royal gala apples. We juiced the apples, loaded the juice into jars, sealed and ran them through the Agee preserver, and now have 40 lovely litres of apple juice in the cellar alongside with our tomatoes, apple purée, pear halves, rhubarb and plums. It is a lovely feeling, making and storing food. Mark C from NMIT came out & he & Jan chainsawed wood. We still have a trailer full in the shed that we don’t know where to store it! Kathleen, Frits & Amy have been out to visit too – and we have given Amy the guided tour so she knows where everything is for when she is here and we are away.

Tonight Jan is going to permanently wire in our pump, so we can push a button in the laundry to fill the tank up the hill. All these little jobs are slowly getting done. It takes time, but we get there in the end. It will also make Amy’s life easier!

 

Since Janet left, Jan has been practicing pool diligently, as Janet nearly beat him twice and he is feeling his manhood has been challenged ;-)

Thanks for all the kind birthday wishes via email, Skype, text, phone and Facebook. We had a great chat to the Martins in Brazil and John in the UK. Very kind of everyone! On Monday we went in to see Murray B about the North Island tour. We are now pretty much all sorted for the trip, and leave on the 20th of April. Amy H is going to house & dog sit for us.

We leave Nelson for Welly on Saturday 20th, Auckland on Monday 22; Waitomo on 23, Rotovegas on 24-25; Tauranga Coromandel on the 26th; Whangarei on the 27th; Paihia on the 29th; Kauri coast on the 1st; Orewa on the 2nd; home on the 3rd. 

This Weds nite we are going for dinner at NMIT’s Rata Room (the chef training school) with Sandra & Kevin which will be fun. This coming weekend we have nothing booked at all, which will be just lovely.

I have my next CDANZ meeting in Welly on May 12-13; then June 30-July 1; Sept 9-10. Jan is in Auckland on Sept 10-12.

We will both be in Chch in October – myself for a CDANZ Career Symposium and AGM, and Jan on an NZIM residential course. We were both going to stay the weekend afterwards to hopefully catch up with everyone (Oct 19 & 20). Will confirm dates etc later. Then the last trip away for this year should be November to Queenstown.

Jan’s Oma Lieselotte is not expected to last much longer. Over Easter she has become bed-bound. She is now not eating, and is unable to drink without choking. Aunt Uta is looking after her, with Thomas, Bettina and Simone there to help and Uta’s home physio/nurse friend. Hopefully Omi will have a peaceful end to what has been a full and busy life. It is a rare privilege these days to be able to die quietly - with dignity - at home, amongst people who care for you. Our thoughts are with you all in Neu-Ulm and please tell Omi we love her.

Tanja – I hope your knee comes right. Take lots of sunshine, rest, good company and recreation to help it along :-)

I am sure that I have forgotten heaps, but that will do for now.


Jan & Sam

News from Nelson - February 2 2013

Hi all,
Just a quick update again as we are both pretty busy! Surprise, surprise!

Happy birthday to Jan's Oma Friedel who has just turned 99, here with Katrin & Monika: 

I went up to Tauranga for a couple of AUT training days, and caught up with DJ & Dilani, who are both in great form. Hopefully we will catch up with them both again when we take the Rotary exchange students around the far north this April too.

Kathleen & Frits came to stay for a weekend and we shamelessly put them to work. First we cleared some of the rubbish piles from when we had our trees felled about six years ago:

Then, where Jimmy had felled some trees which were threatening our powerlines, Jan & Frits cut them up.

And Coco and Bonnie helped.

And, what a delight for the eyes. Bonnie, sound asleep with eyes slightly open, dreaming and snoring with her tongue out. Bless.

Flissy is getting pretty frail: her back end is getting pretty wobbly due to the Ankylosing Spondylitis. We had them all at the vet the other day for check ups, and basically there is nothing else we can do for her now except control her pain (and she seems relatively pain-free, so that's good). Old dogs :-(

This week Jan has been in Auckland at a work conference/seminar and I have been in Welly for another CDANZ meeting. My next 'meeting' will be via video link from the BNZ Centres all around the country. It will be interesting to see how that works! But if it does work well, it will mean that we can save some $ for our members and have some 'minor' meetings during the year. I don't think the technology is good enough to replace collegiality yet, but it may come.

I teach students in Marlborough via video link, so does work OK: but it is not a replacement for being there.

We have rented our house again, as aside from one offer which fell through, there was nothing happening on the sales front.

Jan is playing in the next NSO concert - a salute to the Steinway - and I am trying to get my NMIT courses sorted so I can get back to my own study. I have some interesting students in my classes though. All those good things that make it enjoyable!

Our neighbour, Kath, is not good again, which is a real shame. But at least Harrison is three now, so will have memories of his Mum.

Our next trip will be the Rotary Youth Exchange one in April/May.  Hope to see some of you then.

Jan & Sam

News from Nelson - January 2013

Hi all,
Again, things are a bit busy, so will mostly post images :-)

Camila has sadly left us, but has received a great welcome at home.

She also took a lovely photo of her journey home across the Pacific:

And had a good send-off at the airport with other exchange students

 And her host parents

And her friend Lydia

And the dogs

We hosted three other exchange students for the week before Camila left (they played pool and watched rather a lot of movies!). Kazu made us sushi, which was great, with able apprentices Camila and Timo:

We had a great New Year's eve celebration, with about 30 people here at various times. We saw the New Year in, had our chat with Andreas, Katrin & Christian and went to bed for a lovely long sleep :-)

On Christmas Day we had 13 people here for lunch and dinner. It was a very relaxed affair, with Frits' sister and her husband here from Holland, Kathleen, Amy, Camila, Andreas, Katrin & Christian and my folks. We had a very laid back and relaxed day having cooked a barbecue covering two meals, with a walk up our neighbour Christian's hill in between time. Camila and her friend Karin dressed the Christmas tree. We had a bit of a house-full with Camila, Andreas, Katrin & Christian all tucked up in bed for the night (those two small fold-out couches I bought from Nood did great duty as single beds!).
 
Magda came up for Christmas, so we were able to catch up for lunch during the break. We have also caught up with the Hofmans, and had a lovely lunch at Ellie & Greg's place along with Duncan & Kel.

Hartmut has had an accident with his wood-lathe but is OK. A piece of wood broke, but as he wears safety goggles, he was saved serious injury. A good reminder that safety equipment is worth it! 

Bonnie had an eye ulcer, but it has healed well, now; after a trip every three days to the vet, for three weeks. Phew. Fliss is getting very frail.

We hope all of you are having a good 2013 thus far, and we will catch up with you more fully as the year unfolds

All the best

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