Some photos from my happenings the last few weeks

Too lazy to write heaps about what I’ve been up to so here are some pics with brief explanations. If you would like to know anything in more detail feel free to reach out 🙃 

Aunty Susan’s bear was a perfect hot water bottle looker-afterer during the day

It’s not every day your friends name is on a gallery sign 💜 such gorgeous work on display, very lovingly made

At my friend Betty’s wedding with Tiare 

Some new friends I made when Jo showed me around Hohepa in Clive

Beach fun with Elyse who visited from the States for a week. I went and read under a tree shortly after this while she paddled some more

Up Te Mata Peak, trying not to be blown away

Fred enjoying the view from up Te Mata Peak, she was not worried about being blown away lol

Off on an adventure, aka exploring Hobbiton after paying a fortune for the pleasure to do so… lol

Helping out by doing some washing in a hobbits home

Doing some desk work, still in the hobbits home

Helping knit some of the hobbits scarf, possibly the most fun part of the tour hehe

Picking up Elyse for the adventure, got our walking sticks ready so must mean we are prepared 😂 

Elyse giving driving on the left hand side a go

Lake Taupo

Going for a wander round Lake Rotorua with bro this morning(ish)

Last week....

As many of you are aware last week was a bit surreal over here in Hawke's Bay.  We had a cyclone come through (Cyclone Gabrielle if you are keeping track) and it definitely left its mark.  While I was one of the lucky ones who still has a place to call home with nothing in it water damaged there are many out there who are not so lucky.  I also lucked out with the power situation and only lost mine for 6 hours or so.  We did ponder if this was cos I live so close to the hospital but turns out I am not quite that close as I know some people who only lost theirs for 1.5 hours, which is how long the hospital lost theirs for.

Now even though I am lucky, and I might have been playing it cool when people asked how I was, I just thought I would let you all know a few things (don't worry I am still all good).  For starters, Monday night was no fun, AT ALL!!  That wind and rain, just wow!!  I never want to experience anything like that again.  Each time I got up to check stuff I was honestly expecting that my feet were going to touch down on wet carpet.  And the experience of having your concrete house shaking and rattling is not a fun one.  Concrete is meant to be sturdy and not shaky.  Am very surprised the tiles on my roof are still all there (technically actually haven't checked cos not sure I wanna know if they aren't, but there were none on the ground and there are no leaks so I'm assuming they all there still lol).  There was a moment when I thought it couldn't get any worse, then the next gust of wind made me think it was giving up moving just my place and wanted to take the two units somewhere new.  Even if I had been allowed to work Tuesday I'm not sure I would have been any good as was shattered from the lack of sleep.  

I know I am lucky cos I could (and did) go to work from Wednesday.  But there were still the mental side of things to deal with, such as how your friends are.  I knew most my friends were ok, but there were some I weren't sure about as I hadn't heard from them. And I knew it was probably cos they had no reception but it still stresses you out a bit, the not knowing, esp as each day passes.  Finally heard from the last one I was waiting to hear from on Friday evening and it lifted a weight I hadn't realised had been there.  It is also rather surreal and weird going to work like everything is fine when you know that just over there its not, and that quite a few of your friends don't have power, and then work is a bit of a ghost town and there are people on your floor sleeping at work as they can't get home and are pulling crazy shifts to help out cos doctors can't get over, and you know, just stuff like that.

Now for those of you wondering, my lemon tree is fine.  That sucker will survive anything I have decided.  It lost two lemons, that's it.  No branches down, no leaves missing, just two lemons on the ground, and they were two older lemons that were probably just ready to go anyhow.  Typical.

The only item of mine I know of that got damaged is a book I had loaned to David.  It was on his nightstand right underneath the hole in his ceiling that formed when a tree branch fell through his roof/ceiling bringing loads of water and tree debris with it.  So the book is now a bit waterlogged but I figure that just means it has a story to tell hehe.  And no it is not in my place which is why the statement up the top about nothing in my house being water damaged is true :)

But just to reiterate I am fine, I am annoyed mum and dad are temporarily (it better be temporarily) further away now than when they lived in Inglewood but thats a very minor problem.  
Glenny would like me to add that he is fine as well, and that he wasn't scared Monday night, he was just clingy to me cos he was worried I was scared.... (believe him if you like, but I know the truth hehe).

A gluten free update you didn't know you needed

Late last year I went to see a celiac specialist, figured why not since no one else seems to have any idea why things are so wonky with me health wise, what's one more persons lack of ideas to add to the list, or wishful thinking maybe someone does have an idea, and how awesome would that be if that happened. 

Well she had an idea yet it was one I didn't really like the sound of... and that was to go back onto a strict gluten free diet.  Now I am sure some of you are sitting there thinking but you are good at being gluten free.  Haha yeah not so much sadly.  I am good at it for someone who is intolerant but not for someone with celiacs, as I learnt from Ana (the specialist).  Zero cross contamination is allowed so that means no eating out anywhere that doesn't have a seperate prep area and seperate cooking implements (pots, pans, bowls, stirring stuff, chopping boards etc) for my stuff.  And that includes friends and families places.  So big thanks to those family and friends that I told about this and went and got me my own set of stuff so they can cook for me, and bro who cooks for me at mine sometimes cos its just easier.  Gotta say it is weird basically saying to friends that they can't cook for you unless they buy this extra stuff and then don't use it for anything else but cooking for you.  Does make one feel loved when they don't even blink and just go of course and no you don't have to pay me back.

I didn't start this strict gluten free thing till this year, but I did start doing it a bit last year, kinda lol.  Now though I am about 3 weeks into the strict thing and just gotta say that I miss Jarks, and am over cooking so much.  It is hard work cooking most nights, and the hardest part is the what shall I have part I think.  So don't care what I eat most nights but still have to figure something out to cook.  

It will take about 3 months for any changes to really take effect (that's how long even trace amounts of gluten stay in your system), so still have a ways to go before I know if its working but my fingers are crossed.  Ana is pretty positive it will fix the energy issues and thinks it might even fix the hands issue (I did not know this till she sent me the info to read but constantly having small/trace amounts of gluten over a long period of time for a celiac can lead to arthritis like symptoms which when tested for that the tests come back negative, cos its not arthritis).  So fingers are def crossed for something to happen in the positive.

While I would love this to fix everything I am going to be a tad pissed if it does, but mostly cos in the last 5 odd years that I have been having these issues not one single doctor has asked how my gluten free diet is going and how strict it is.  In fact in the last decade of me being gluten free no one has asked me that in a medical sense.  If this could have been stopped sooner and with less stress on my part (waiting to see specialists with all the what-ifs going round your mind is not fun in my experience) that will be a bit annoying.  It will also be annoying to find out that I have been the one causing myself to not be able to do things I love... that will just be sucky as.

So yeah, the HB Gluten Free Fish & Chip Adventure has been called to a premature halt.  But on the bright note there are a couple places I can eat out so it's not a total end of the world.  And I've discovered that I can actually make a pretty good steak, and my wedges are pretty amazing (and will be even more so when I am patient enough to let the potatoes cook properly lol).  I can even make pretty good mashed potato these days (stop laughing ppl who have known me for ages and ages), so I guess its not all that bad... lol

Fun in the wknd

This past wknd started with some decent culturing by me and Mel.  We went to a art expo opening at the Womens Centre, it was featuring artwork from a variety of female HB artists, from the well known to the first timers.  There were some very cool pieces on display and Mel and I learnt that I have expensive tastes, the more I liked something the higher its price lol.  We then stumbled onto a ceramics art opening so we popped in, would have been rude not too really lol.  Again, the more I liked something the more it cost, typical aye.  Did see some super cool teapots though, almost tempted to buy one but there is only so much one can justify spending on a teapot and they were well over that amount.  After that we went to the theatre where the social event was a wine tasting, yum yum.  We may have turned up a tad late (someone, yes me, misread the event time lol) but that was ok cos we only missed the white wine which neither of us are super huge fans of, and the only table with free seats was with Brian and Adele which was cool as.  Brian is in Lions with me (and also is a life member of the theatre) so it was fun hanging with them in another setting.

Saturday was a theatre orientated day for me.  Started with being part of the Blossom Parade.  I know, I know, I also thought when I left Guiding that that was my parade days done and dusted, turns out I was wrong.  But luckily I wasn't in it as such, I was just walking along side the float making sure no one got run over.  We needed a marshall on either side of the float and me and Kelly ended up being it, mostly through being the only ones available lol.  It was actually quite a lot of fun, we had a Brazilian drum band in front of us so great tunes the whole way.  Was hard to not be smiling and laughing the whole way, Kelly and I even got our dance on in the paused bits (and occasionally the walking bits too).  

Saturday afternoon was set building at the theatre.  I have been adopted by the set building team cos Nigel and Ian thought I looked a tad un-utilised and I apparently showed interest in what they do and in learning stuff as well.  I do not mind at all, they are a cool as team, and instead of just telling me to do something they show me if I am not sure, and teach me why if I don't get why we are doing it that way.  I think I may end up learning a lot with them which should be fun.  There are four of us on the team now, Nigel, Ian, Gary and me.  The three dudes are prob late 50s-60s, which is a good age for the taking someone new under their wing I think.  I have been let loose with a drill, tin snips and even a saw :) its very cool.  I have helped build the front of a house including door, and weatherboard wall and iron roof.  If I may say so it looks pretty darn cool hehe.  No photos of that yet though, I keep forgetting to take some.  Time does seem to go quite fast when I am there though, its cool.

Sunday was a chill day, nothing much in the morning and in the afternoon had bookclub at a local bar, cos we are smart and know that drinking and eating while discussing books is the best way to do it hehe.  Wandered down as it was just at Bareknuckle BBQ, one of the reasons Rob and I voted for that one, so that we could both walk hehe.  Anyhow, that was my wknd, it was a rather good one :) hope you also had a good one.

Local sheep decorated for the Blossom Parade :)

Random art thing Mel and I found in town, they are mini windwands with changing lights but not called windwards, turns out they are fun to wiggle lol

At wine tasting :)

Our Blossom Parade float... the poor sheep got rather hot but was rather cute

I found it very cool that the reaction from people when Mickey and Minnie were holding hands was 'awww cute, they're holding hands', and that was universal from young and old.  My own reaction was 'awww cute' lol

Snow, snow, glorious snow

So in the weekend we (Bridie and I) went up to Mt Ruapehu to get us some snowboarding time.  The weather didnt really play ball so we were stuck at Whakapapa for a day and a bit and got no Turoa time (for those of you that are non-snow people Turoa is better for boarding and Whakapapa is better for skiing).  We did get some good runs in and some cool photos taken :)

I survived, and had so much fun :)

Up, up and away

So am going skydiving on Saturday, should be fun :) and if you don't hear from me after Saturday guess it means died having fun hehe :)

Seems I'm still alive...

I know, who woulda guessed haha :)

Things have been good, got me a new car - Spartacus (Sparty for short) and he is pretty awesome.  He is getting on very well with Bobblehead Darth Vadar which is most important, obviously :)

Still loving living in NP with Bridie, and she aint kicked me out yet which is great, think its cos she likes my parents so much and that might complicate things haha :) will take what I can get hehe.

Not much else has been happening, work is work.  Guided Walks are going well, almost over and none have had to be cancelled which is good.  Also means getting good turn out which makes me happy :)

Went to the Urenui Rodeo yesterday, loved it :) still want me a cowboy, obviously lol.  Maybe not a kiwi one but still a cowboy or atlst someone who suits the cowboy look so I can pretend.  Yup I'm still living in my dream world, not reality and theres nothing you can do about it :p

Sometimes mistakes are good

For some reason they changed the draw for our indoor soccer league and they didn't tell us so we turned up at 8.30 and our game was at 7.30 :( not cool cos we didn't get to play and we had new uniforms and everything.

But on the plus side the game that was on at 8.30 was the top two teams in our league (social) which we wanted to watch as they are both very good teams.  Was an amazing game, so glad stayed to watch.  There was everything a good soccer game has, good passing, amazing shots, a yellow card, and a last minute equaliser goal.

Definitely a good night :)

And some people think the Panthers suck!!!

I have total proof that they do not!

Got a Panthers Hoodie from their online store and it is seriously awesome. Only an awesome team could ever make a hoodie that awesome so therefore they must be an awesome team :)
Good logic aye :)

Am currently in Melbourne staying with Jennifer and Kev (Carolyn's sister and Husband). Carolyn and I are over here on a shopping/have fun holiday. We went shopping yesterday and today. Good shops but some are just like home and others are way expensive. Got a nice new coat, a cool dress (coat not black and dress not just black). Also have a cool new handbag and some Yoshi stuff. Love the Yoshi stuff, he super cute, and not black either - if you play N64 you know this that last comment was more for mum :)
Going to the MCG tomorrow. Sadly there will be no Mitchell Johnson, but I will cope.

Me again

Hey things are quiet here at the moment as we have a few days off and there is still not a lot of places open, rumor has it that they will be reopening on the 23rd, was the 20th but there have been more swine flu people so has been postponed. We have just finished our biggest event participant-wise (65, Sangam is meant to only book up to 55 so we was rather full and very busy), and the next event is not much smaller (62).

We have some new faces here as the CVPs are arriving. CVPs are part of the Community Volunteer Programme. They live here but work with a Community Partner instead of like me helping with the events and participants.

Yesterday Priyanka taught us (Gwen, Manisha and I) how to ride her scooter (it is a auto so not that hard at all), which was very fun and good to do something new for a change. We drove up and down the driveway, so there is no need to worry about me getting hit by any cars :)

Tomorrow I have no idea what we are going to do but we may go out for a coffee, coffee shops and bars are still open ~ strange enough.

I want...

A Hot Shower. I know that I should just be happy that we have water again and that we can have showers but still I want a Hot shower. Would even settle for a warm shower, just not the freezing cold that have been having.

We have had about 2 days of rain which is very good but for Pune to not be having a water shortage we need atleast a month of rain, probably more.

So lets keep hoping...

Sari and me

Tied my first sari on myself today. Didn't do a to bad a job either, even Aruna (who was showing us how to do it proper and who will make us re-do it if it is not up to her high standard) said that it was a good job esp as I did not need help from anyone. Yay me :)

---- If you are wondering why I am wearing a dark blue-ish sari it is because it is a WAGGGS sari and they are the sari's that we have to were for all important occasions and ceremonies here. They have little trefiols all over them. Not the best design but they may be getting changed to Sangam sari's sometime this season, and they will be purple. Also I am wearing the wrong blouse (shirt thing) underneath. They are meant to be the blue of the sari but there were none small enough for me so am getting one tailored.

Dont mess with pyshco animals!

Best advice you may ever get from India :)
There was a seriously pissed off crow here this morning. Anyone who went outside in the courtyard got attacked, and I do mean attacked. The crow dive bombed them. Was kinda funny when Aruna reminded us not to go out and then she did to talk on her cell and she got attacked. Then the crow tried to dive bomb Mandesh, so not wise of it. The two dogs were trotting beside him and they are very protective of him, he is the one person that I think both dogs love the most. They follow him everywhere, run after him and also chase down crows when they threaten him. Was rather funny to watch Lucky try catch the crow and then when he missed it (turns out a crow can fly out of the way of a dog. Who would have guessed...) Bubli decided that she may have better luck. Not really, she almost got dive bombed too. To not get attacked we went shopping. Still not used to it being so busy on a Sunday, busiest day of week over here it seems.

After the placid snake that just showed off its twirling and slizzering skills on Wednesday (turns out all those people that said there are snakes in India were not lying), we have had a fun week. Also saw first cockroach this morning. Only kinda big. Didnt fly, but then monsoon hasnt started yet so those ones might still be coming.

Finally some pics :)

Our Swimming pool at Sangam
Mendhi that was done on me for the Maha Dinner
Gwen, Me, Manisha and Zan (the Volunteers)
Elephant statue at Empress Gardens
Aga Khan Palace

Weekly update number one

The first rain of Monsoon season arrived this afternoon. Didn’t realize how much I missed rain and the cold until the moment that it started. First it was just a few drops then it got heavier and heavier until it was a proper storm with thunder and lightning and wind and proper rain. Eszter, Katey and I all went out and danced in the rain, that is how excited we were. All thought that maybe the rain was a myth told to get us foreigners through each week.

Before the rain this week has been hot but good. I have been kept busy learning the ropes for the up coming events that are being run in Sangam. There are four of us Programme Volunteers, Manisha (Canada), Zainab (England), Gwen (Malaysia) and me. We are currently staying in a dorm room because our rooms are being painted. In a week we will be moving to our rooms, which are two per room so we have to decide who’s gonna share with whom. That is also one reason we are in the dorm, to give us time to get to know each other a bit. We are all getting along well, which is a good sign as we are going to be working together a lot in the coming months.

Yesterday we had our solo challenge around Pune, which was fun. No where near as scary as I expected it to be. We each were given a pack and in it was some money for the rickshaws (three wheeled taxi bike things. Very fun to ride in and hard to get to go where you want sometimes) and entry fees for places. There were also four envelops and in each was a question sheet we had to answer for that stop, the destination for the next stop and a cheat card for that stop (these were incase we couldn’t find anyone who could read English as they had the place we were looking for in Marathi.

My first stop was a temple. Lord Shiva’s temple although that is not the real name. The proper name is some huge long thing that I cannot pronounce let alone spell, it does begin with O though if that helps J Found some nice people who could answer my questions for me, some who answered in Marathi, even though I couldn’t understand I did notice that they were very happy that they were able to help me, so I smiled and thanked them. They did try after all.

My second stop was a copper workshop. This was the only time I needed to use my cheat card as no-one seemed to know what the English translation was, but instead of just saying so they would point me in a direction so I was walking round in circles for ages. When I used the cheat card this did not help all that much as still got pointed in a vague direction but at least all pointed the same vague way. Eventually found a sop keeper that knew where the place was. Once there I found a very nice guy who could read English to answer my questions. He had tidy handwriting to.

The third stop was the Osho International Meditation Centre. Very quiet and serene. And bizarre, having a big flash place just for meditating. It was in the rich part of Pune which was a interesting sight, especially as we live next to a slum here at Sangam. In the slum next to us there are 10,000 people, and the slum is the same size as Sangam (around 7 acres). Hard to comprehend, even though I have seen it.

Fourth stop was the Empress Gardens, there was no task at this stop as it was our picnic lunch stop. There the rest of the staff came and joined us.

Katey (Ireland) is the Assistant Programme Manager, and Eszter (Hungary) is the Programme Manager, these are the two that we will be working with the most. Eventually you may get to hear about the rest of the staff here. Sara (Wales) is also here but only for another week as she is just here to train us (she is a volunteer from the winter season last year).

We have a very nice swimming pool here, and I have already been for many swims. Yes I am finally using my togs. There are lights in it so we are able to swim after dark which is very good as it tends to be too sunny during the day and after tea we are very full. All of you who said that I would lose weight living in India have obviously never stayed at Sangam. The food is so good that it is hard to stop eating. I am already putting weight on and some of the tight fitting clothing that I brought is no longer comfy to wear at all.

It has been discovered that we do not speak ‘english’ in NZ. It turns out that we speak some other language all together. The amount of words that the other people here do not know is amazing, as is the amount that make them laugh. Top of the list at the moment would be jandels, togs and mufti. Also my supposed accent is apparently rather funny. they seem to not realize that it is them with the accent not me J

They let me out :)

Yes they let me and, and even better I was then let in. So am now in India, Pune to be exacter. Sangam is very nice and I am tired so yeah.

Just thought you might like to know that I am still alive and happy.

Take care

It's amazing what you learn...

Did you know if you have enough whiskey packing aint actually to bad. The only problem is that to get to that stage you are a little tipsy so packing takes a bit longer, but being more fun it does not matter.

Also when a carpet cleaner tells you to ventilate the room well before using there may be a reason for this, but being late a night I decided not to worry. And then to mix that smell with Raid is not wise - this is all a cockroaches fault. If it weren't for him I wouldn't have had to use the Raid so not really my fault.

Have finally found perhaps the best cd combination for stereo.
Trapt - Someone in Control
Godsmack - Faceless
Fuel - Angels and Devils

Pity am going overseas and loaning cds and stereo to brudda while gone as these cds aint the same on a laptop :(

Can you learn to like something you hate???

Since I have been living in Tga I have had more colds, more stomach bugs and just generally been sicker than any other period of my life. And I think that I have figured out the cause.

Your mother takes better care of you than you realise. When I lived at home she would feed me all sorts of gross stuff but because it was served up on my plate, I had to eat it, that was the rule (still is when I am at home, and it's a good rule). She would also serve up yum stuff that was also good for me, that stuff was the best.

At uni I was pretty good healthwise (well other than real low iron) and that is probab;y thanks to my temporary mum Janine and Peter (1st year chef) who took good care of me.

Auckland has me a bit fuzzy as did not cook when lived there, but then didn't do any grocery shopping much either so had no bad food and the closest takeout was healthy (roast dinners, malaysian or indian food). Also Grandma feed me very well and looked after me great when I went and spent the weekend with her.

But here is Tga I don't cook, and cos the nearest takeout is ndot very good fish and chips I go grocery shopping so buy junk and eat that instead. Figure that when I get back I should start cooking proper dinners etc. The problem with this is not that I am bad at cooking, am actually a decent cook, its that I hate cooking. Its a stupid waste of time and I jsut hate it.

So do you think I can learn to like it???
Lets hope so

It appears we are fighting

Me and Phoenix that is. And if we weren't before we sure are now. And just so you know, He started it, I didn't. Well don't think I did.

The reason that I know we are fighting is cos his radio blew. Well technically it sparked and then just ceased to go, no sound, no lights, no nothing. Very rude I must say. What am I meant to do with no music, cant even hear the stupid ads that the radio plays with songs in between. Cant listen to anything :(

So we are fighting!