Hi all,
Once
again we have been pretty much flat out; but we are having a good time.
Ana Silvia
is just a delight. She has been out to the land with us and learned how to
handle a chainsaw (yet another new experience to entertain her family and
friends with when she goes home!). She is heading off to do the Milford track
today for ten days with twenty other exchange students from around the South
Island.
With Ana
being with us, we have watched a few movies, and had a few of her friends
around. We have also been to lunch at Sandra Crone & Kevin Heasman's place.
We had a lovely brunch, which turned into lunch, which carried on to afternoon
teatime. Nothing like sitting in the sun & talking for hours.
Jan has
sold his wee motorbike - the GN250 - for the same price he bought it for in
2005. Not bad (of course we lose the time value of $, but hey). We have also
bought a big cupboard for the garage so all the motorcycle gear can go in it.
Jan kept dumping it on the bed in the spare room, and whenever Merrill came to
stay I would have to remember to take it all out (he couldn't leave the stuff
in the spare room wardrobe as Merrill goes to work at 9 & Jan leaves at
7.15 - before Merrill wakes up). When Ana came to stay I suggested for the
umpteenth time that a cupboard in the garage might be a good idea. So it is
finally sorted, after three years!
I am really
looking forward to our trip to Golden Bay. After we have done our review, we
are going to visit Fleur & Neil, Merrill & Colin, go to Rosy Glow, do
some lolling on the beach, visit the wonderful coffee barge past Pohara, do the
Farewell Spit Safari and maybe watch some Inspector Morse DVDs. That should
gobble up 5 days, just like that.
On our
way over we are also calling in to see Leigh, our plans man. He has take two of
our plans with a few options for us. It will be really interesting to see what
he has come up with - and it will certainly give us plenty to argue about while
we are in the Golden Bay. If you are interested in seeing concept #1, click
here.
As Vice
President for our Rotary Club, I was away on Sunday attending some Rotary
training. Unfortunately I had been too well prepared by our club directors and
had done far too much research before I went, because I didn't learn much while
I was there. When I went through my induction list, I have ticked off nearly
everything on the list already. Ah, well, at least I met some of the other
incoming presidents etc. Jan spent the day trying to get Ana and her friend
Jennifer (from France) organised for the Milford trip. He said it was like
trying to herd cats. He took them shopping for shorts, and the first thing they
headed for was tops! He was in despair by the time he got to the supermarket
:-)
My
marking is on the last leg for the semester, having finished the AUT exams
& now having only have one leadership assignment left which I am a third of
the way through. Jan & I will have some fun next year, as Jan is thinking
of doing the Applied Management paper (a teams-based research paper), which I
am teaching. However, there are precedents in the school, and good procedures
to ensure that there is no unfair advantage or penalty, so I think we will
manage to get around that well enough.
Brigitte
& John are coming to visit on the 29th of November, which will be great.
Hopefully the weather will stay settled so they can enjoy their time here. It
is certainly warm enough here now. The tomatoes are growing well!
Christmas
will be interesting for Ana - she has a Polish Christmas Eve with Lynne
Korcheski, a champagne breakfast with Anna & Phil Gully, an English
Christmas Dinner (lunch) with Hugh & Julie Briggs, and a Kiwi BBQ with us
in the afternoon. Not only is she going to roll home, but she will have another
package of experiences to take with her.
Then on
Boxing Day at 9am, Ana leaves to head back to Brazil, we quickly change the
bed, and at lunchtime we hop in the car to head over to Picton, to pick up
Otto, Jeremy & Tina! All change!
Right,
that's it for now. Take care & alles liebe!
Sam & Jan
