Old Photos

Here are some older photos we have been meaning to share...

1) Cool Tatoos, Perin's Soccer and a Random Rainbow:

Well the title says it all. Paul drew a very cool tatoo on my foot, worthy of a photo. We took some pics during my outdoor soccer league. The most interesting shots show my teammates and coach smoking cigarettes during the game (definitely a new experience for me). And as we have been saying all along, NZ is the pot of goldat the end of the rainbow or so it seemed from our window one Saturday morning.

Cool Tatoos, Perin's Soccer and a Random Rainbow

2)Taupo with Nicole

In early October, I participated in the inter-Deloitte soccer tournament. Though the tournament was just ok, the weekend was fabulous. My friend Nicole joined me for a weekend of fun. The pictures say it all...

Taupo with Nicole

3) Mt Ruapehu

In October Paul and I ventured north for some slushy spring skiing. Lucky for us the weather was fantastic and the mountain had some nice spring snow. Though we learned quickly to stay on the top of the mountain as the bottom only had one run open and mostly filled with dirt, slush and beginners which made it more like a death trap than skiing (hehe).

Mt Ruapehu

Hawaiian photos

Here are our photographs from Hawaii. Enjoy!

Hawaii

January update

We're still backlogged on pictures we need to share. They're coming soon. In the meantime, we had a great holiday with the family in Hawaii and another mini vacation with our friends Nick and Jen on the south island.

We came back on a Sunday night and were back at work on Monday. Perin and I both decided that holiday is more fun than working. I injured my knee playing indoor soccer right before we left, but I was still able to move around pretty well. My ACL is fine, my MCL is strained but will heal, but a small piece of my median meniscus (cartilage) was torn. I have pretty much full range of motion, but it hurts to straighten my leg completely. I have a "real doctor" appointment (as opposed to just the physiotherapist) on Tuesday, so I'll probably get scheduled for an MRI then. No soccer means I have to return to the gym. Boooo!

An interesting development in our understanding of Kiwi culture is the tallest poppy syndrome. We hadn't heard of this until December, when it was mentioned to us about six times. One way it was explained to us is that immigrants from England wanted to form a society without class consciousness and frowned upon individuals who drew attention to themselves as better than anyone else. However, the wikipedia link above states this term is not unique to NZ.

But it does relate to an earlier post about doing business here in NZ and now that we've heard of the syndrome, we can see examples of it more readily.

Alpha Males

The goalkeeper on one of my soccer teams is about to have a child so another player arranged a Lads Day Out for all of us to celebrate. Now that the weather is slightly better, the plan was to gather in a local park to play some cricket.

I had Perin drop me off and we ended up playing soccer with a group of older Asian guys for a while as the rest of the lads arrived. We beat the other team (although they'd been playing for hours and we just showed up) and they left when all our players arrived.

We set up the wickets to get the cricket started and formed teams. I thought I'd be the worst but as an American, at least I have some theory of baseball and an idea of how to hit a moving ball with a bat. I was better than both of the Germans who played. While I was a satisfactory batter, my bowling (pitching) was atrocious. While attempting to bowl a spin-ball at a high velocity, I misjudged the release time and threw the ball straight down by my feet. Twice. Even the Germans laughed at me.

We had all kinds of rules to speed up the game and increase scoring, so it wasn't as boring as normal. But even with all the "action" when I played outfield I couldn't believe how much concentration it took to always be ready. I gained a whole new appreciation for those cricketers (I think that's what they're called) that stand around in the hot sun for days-on-end concentrating on everyone standing around. Cricket would be a terribly difficult sport for anyone with ADD.

Our match ended a little after 90 minutes and my team won (I think). We might have played some more overs (kind of like innings) but a bunch of teenagers showed up and started playing soccer nearby. With a few beers in all of us, we had to leave the cricket behind and assert our alpha-maleness over those punks.

The teenagers were sober, fitter, quicker, and had spikes (cleats) on. We were all wearing running shoes. And so the game was in the teenagers' favor to start with. Fortunately, the goalkeeper having the baby is my height and has about 15 pounds on me (and is quite skilled on the field). We ended up taking control of the middle of the field. If one of those punks tried to dribble around either of us, they got a heavy shoulder or a punishing elbow to slow them down and we could steal the ball. They could be gentlemen and pass the ball around us, but we weren't about to be dribbled around.

I kicked the legs out from under one of the kids (mostly because he was too quick and by the time my foot got there, the ball was gone) and he yelled, "Foul! Foul!" I said, yes, he was correct and stopped playing to allow him a free kick. But then he was sprinting down the sideline looking over his shoulder at me laughing and saying "game on!" Paul started talking about himself in the third-person and he wasn't about to let the punk get away with that! So I chased him down the field and viciously shouldered him to the ground. I let him know that he "should've taken the free kick."

While the teenagers were probably better players individually, they didn't play well as a team and we beat them 5-4. Alpha male dominance was asserted. Beers followed. Great Lads Day Out.

Summer weather!

It's heading into summer here, so we get sunny days more frequently. Last week, we had two! As you can see on the forecast here, we are preparing for the bright sunniness that will be partially covered by clouds when it shows up on Sunday. I'm going to wear sun glasses.

When it rains now, it is much warmer than the winter rains. Our winter had pouring rain and airport-closing wind, but no snow. I'm becoming rather obsessed with the weather and will probably post more updates about the rain if it keeps up. I'm ready for the sun!

Soccer is going well. My all-men's indoor team had a particularly rough game last night. After 5 flagrant fouls, the other team is awarded a penalty kick. We scored two goals off penalty kicks before the first half was over. The game heated up from there and both teams got numerous penalty shots. Regardless, my team won. Playing seven to ten games a week has improved my fitness dramatically. I don't really go to the gym anymore which isn't a bad thing.

Our classes are ending next week. I have my big improv performance on Saturday night and Perin will get some pictures and maybe some video to share. Hopefully it's entertaining. Perin's sewing class finishes and she's almost finished her sun dress she plans to wear in Hawaii. We've both signed up for classes in the new year - I've got Mandarin lessons and Perin's taking another sewing class.

Adult-education classes have historically be subsidized by the government, but the National (conservative) party is in power and it cutting funding for next year. So many of the smaller schools will not be offering classes next term and fees have gone up for everyone. Our school wasn't closed and it's still a pretty good deal, so I'm sure we'll take heaps of classes over the next year.

Work is slowing down a bit as we head in the summer/holiday break. Because I don't have too much to do, I procrastinate and then don't get anything done. And then I stress out a bit at having not done enough at the end of the day. At least I'm getting my exercise!

I heard on the radio about Christmas lights competitions, but I don't think I've seen a single house that has them up here. I think part of the reason is that we're heading into summer and the sun doesn't set until 8:30pm. Christmas ads have Santa wearing shorts and jandals, but it was explained to us that all the "white Christmas" stories are accepted by children here because they understand that he lives in the northern hemisphere and know that it's cold there.

With no Thanksgiving here, it's okay for holiday parties to start much earlier in the year. I think our first party was over two weeks ago. It makes more sense than cramming them all in together at the end of the year. And you can attend them all with less stress. My first work party was at the Staglands Wildlife Preserve and we saw all kinds of cute baby animals and walked around. Check out some of the animals we saw here.

Pictures, pictures and more pictures

We are months behind on uploading our pictures. Here is the first of about 6 albums we need to post. But its amazing what procrastination can help you get done. While avoiding work, I found I was incredibly keen to sort through photos.

In July 2009 we took a whirlwind tour of the US starting off in Hotlanta, then going to NYC, Philly, NJ and Colorado. It was so great to see everyone, especially all the little babies.

Enjoy our photos!

US Visit - July 2009

A cold wind bloweth

I've regaled you in the past with epic tales of the television opulence we wallow in here. But there is a new development: Digital video recorders have been introduced! For $100 plus another $20/mo. we can utilize this spectacular technology. That's for the cable company version. TiVo costs more. And they did just become available last week. You can read about a criminal getting caught trying to steal one from an early adopter here.

There isn't really anything I would record, but

I suppose I could have saved the Broncos game to

watch at a more convenient time. Because the Broncos played MNF yesterday, I got to see the game here (we only get the SNF and MNF games). It comes on live at noon, but they show a replay that starts at 10pm. So last night, I stayed up to watch. I didn't talk to anyone about the game, didn't read about it on the Internet, didn't look at any Facebook or Twitter updates. I was going to get to watch a real Broncos game! And what crushing disappointment for me. Good first half, but I could barely keep my eyes open when the fourth quarter rolled around at 1am. With the loss, no sleep, and freezing winds blowing up off Antarctica causing vicious cold and rain/sleet today, I am not pleased.

There isn't too much Christmas stuff in the stores here yet. Because the holiday falls in the middle of summer here, and everyone takes time off work to go away, I just don't think the decorations are quite as big of a deal. Many Kiwis get the whole family together, hire some caravans (rent campers) and park them on the beach for three weeks. Most caravans don't have room for many decorations.

Perin and I are heading to Sydney this weekend to meet my friend Greg. He's giving a seminar at some university in Canberra and then meeting us in Sydney.

I've never been to Canberra, but allow me to talk some smack about it. Melbourne and Sydney were fighting over which city should be the capital when they decided to found a new city halfway and make that the capital. It's in the middle of nowhere and there's nothing to do there. Or so I've been informed by numerous Kiwis and Aussies.

When we moved to NZ, we looked at the map and thought about how close Australia and New Zealand are, and pictured ourselves flying over for long weekends all the time. However, it's a 3.5 hour flight and good deals start around $500 per person. So we require motivation to make plans to go. Greg coming through means we're going to see Sydney. We're both pretty excited to check it out. Perin is also very excited about shopping opportunities that may present themselves.