News from Nelson – January 2 2009

Hi all,

We are very lucky - we have had wonderful weather and have been taking the dogs out for a huge run every night; in fact, we haven't been home that much!

Last night we went for a run at Tahunanui beach with a friend of Ana Silvia's, Alex, and her dog Chester. Coco and Chester played flat out for over an hour. It was exhausting watching them!

We had a great Christmas - we caught up with so many people; Sam & Moose, Mike & Birthe, Jeremy & Tina, Hui-Ping, Jenny L, Bertie, KT and - briefly - Max & Karen. Doug & Morv are coming down in a few days to stay (it will be great to see them) and we will catch up with Warren & Tracy when they are up our way too.

Last weekend we went over to the land and did some spraying, and grubbing. The gorse is growing flat out at the moment. We are currently waiting to hear from the builder (to close in the end bay of the shed so we can move over there this December during the building process - we will rent out Montrose Dr) and the digger man (to start excavating for the garage). Working drawings are currently underway. We are waiting to hear back from the solar panel man & awaiting a quote for plumbing. We have a job to do this weekend in sorting out some more info on the fireplace for the draughtsman (details about the hearth etc).

Jan has been back at work now for three weeks, and the installation of the new "c" saw is currently keeping him late at work. That's all the machinery that he went to Germany to organise last year. There are currently a few commissioning engineers here, getting it all up and running.

I have nearly finished marking the last assessment for this online course. I didn't enjoy the online facilitation at all; I like talking to flesh & blood people, so I won't do another one of those. For my semester one courses, I have one lecture to finish writing for Applied Management, and then that paper is all ready to go; and I am waiting for some materials from AUT to finalise the Sports Leadership paper. I am also thinking of doing a Diploma in Career Practice to formalise that aspect of my work... will think about it for a bit (it doesn't kick off until May, so there is time yet & is a very reasonable cost through NMIT staff rates).

My other work is ticking on as well; and I am stepping down from two of the boards I am on this March, which is quite exciting. I also have some other work lined up with two other consultants, which is also exciting, but on the QT for now!

This weekend marks the beginning of the Adam Chamber Music Festival; we have tickets for the Gala Opening on Friday night, so that should be good fun, and on Saturday night is the Sealord Opera in the Park which will be fabulous. Fingers Xed that the weather continues as wonderfully as it has been!

Jan has been considering going to Europe for Oma Friedel's 95th birthday in February. However, I can't go as it is my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary on February 13th and I am organising the party at the Boathouse (!). Also, we will be part way through the build - almost at lock-up stage - in February, and that is not a time to be away from a build. That is when all sorts of things get done incorrectly that either cost you a fortune to put right, or cannot be put right! We talked about going for Oma Lieselotte's 95th birthday this coming September, but that is when we are due to start the foundations (another awful time to be away). Also teaching holidays aren't until 25th Sept through to Oct 12th. If Jan doesn't go to Oma Friedel's birthday on his own in February, I suspect that we will do a trip to Germany later in 2010, after we have finished building. The rest of the family will represent us :-)

We are also on a bit of an economy drive at present, being faced with build costs. So we will be cutting down on unnecessary expenditure for the next 18 months or so - fewer trips away etc. And we've stopped the cleaners coming :-(

There is currently talk of get-togethers for the 20 year anniversary of Uni & a flock of 40th birthdays; again - keep us in the loop about plans, and try to aim for the school holidays if that is at all possible! Oh, and low cost if that is a factor for any of you Hutties who are in the build process too?!

Right, that's it for now. Take care & alles liebe!

Sam & Jan

News from Nelson – January 2009

Hi all,

For those of you who know Julie Crosswell, her husband Sterl died on December 19th. Jan & I went to the funeral the Tuesday before Christmas. With so many of the fire service people there, it was a huge funeral. Sterl's brother gave a beautiful eulogy. Very sad. Julie seems to be coping with her pregnancy (twins), which is a relief.

And on another sad note, Ana Silvia left on Boxing Day Friday. She had a big send off at Nelson Airport - there must have been thirty people there to farewell her. A group of us went back to Phil & Anna Gully's afterwards to talk about our experience in having her here & what we had gained from it, which was really nice. Jan & I still have a huge pile of her stuff on the spare bed, which we need to ship to Brazil. We are waiting for her school documents to be processed and returned by the Brazilian embassy so we can include those in the shipment. Hopefully that won't take long (though it will be quite costly - about $300 we think).

We have had Jeremy, Tina & Otto here since Boxing Day - and we have had a lovely time, bbq-ing, walking, relaxing, and watching films. Otto has been very well behaved, despite being without his big sister, and has made a firm friend in Coco. We had Otto here for a night while Jeremy & Tina had a night of luxury away. Jan even managed to read Otto his bedtime story :-)

Hui-Ping has been in Nelson since Christmas Eve & we have caught up a number of times, which has been great. She has been very busy, getting out & about, visiting people and places. Bertie & Megs were up at Megs' folk's place for Christmas, so we caught up with both of them, then Bertie went to stay at Karen & Max's while Megs headed home. We hope to catch up with Bertie, Karen, Max & KT (who is also in town) today or tomorrow. Magda has just moved back from Blenheim & we have arranged our first tennis game for Monday - yay!

I have been facilitating an on-line course for NMIT called "Positive Workplace Relationships" on the Front Line Management Certificate over December & January, which has three weeks left to run. I have just completed marking the first assessment, so feel quite virtuous. I have pretty much managed a break over the past two weeks, despite intending to work through. Very fortunate! I have also been prepping some materials for my first semester courses next year, while things are quiet, which has been quite nice. No pressure, and time to be able to do things properly.

Jan goes back to work on Monday, but he tells me that he feels like he hasn't had a holiday. I have not yet managed to get to the bottom of why he feels like that - I feel very rested!

Jan drove Jeremy, Tina & Otto to Picton today to drop them back at the ferry. Having been full of life for two months, now the house is very quiet. It will be interesting to see how the dogs react to the resumption of "normal service".

Right, that's it for now. Take care & alles liebe!

Sam & Jan