All Blacks

Rugby in New Zealand is like hockey in Canada. The All Blacks are a national icon.

Since we now have Kiwi friends (did I mention that? It's super!), we were invited to join some of them as they cheered on their national team playing against the ultimate rugby enemy: Australia. Lance summarized for us why witnessing such a game is vital to our NZ experience.

BLEDISLOE CUP:

1. Kiwis and Ozzies are friends, but in sports they are bitter enemies.
2. Rugby is NZ's biggest religion.
3. This cup is only ever competed for by NZ and Australia.
4. Australia started as England's largest prison island and they are all the sons of criminals.
5. This blood makes them hard rugby players.
6. There is nothing sweeter than beating the Ozzies in rugby.
7. Having witnessed the Bledisloe, you will have participated in the pinnacle of Kiwi culture and you will never be the same.
8. The 'throat slitting haka' is banned because it is too threatening.
9. When playing Australia, they usually do it anyway.

Well, an experience it was! Emotions were running high as the All Blacks led, then fell behind, then took it back again, then almost slipped....then WON.

"We're Lance and Natalie and we're very content that the All Black's took the lead right off the bat."

Shoot. The Ozzies are now ahead.

It's all good. We got it back.

Uh oh, the Ozzies are coming so close to taking it again. Noooooo!

And it's a VICTORY FOR THE ALL BLACKS (28-24)!!

Showing off our new Kiwi/All Blacks pride with Lance and Natalie:

Lance was right. We will never be the same!

He did it. He's the new Canadian Idol.

Remember Theo Tams? The Canadian Idol contestant from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada? MY HOME?! He won. HE WON!!! (Not that I ever doubted that he would...)

And that’s all I know. I have no clue what else happened on the show as it wasn’t broadcasted here. Apparently Kiwis aren’t avid Canadian Idol watchers…for shame!

So, google him and find out everything you can. Look at pictures, and watch the videos. You won’t be sorry.


CONGRATULATIONS THEO!! You make Southern Albertans proud.

PS- Theo, I'm going to need a picture with you as well as your autograph to add to my slowly expanding celebrity connection file.

Scattered

We finally have some more NZ exploration under our belts. On Saturday, we drove about 30 minutes to North Head and Devonport. We took in the sights, and SURPRISE SURPRISE took pictures.

This is Lowell strutting his stuff Canadian style. He's really not shy about flaunting his Canadianism around here!


We then continued on to North Head which was a defense fort that was set up in the late 1800s to defend Auckland from a feared Russian attack. The fort was later expanded as part of Auckland's coastal defense system during World Wars I and II.

I'm no history buff, but it was fascinating nonetheless.

The view from the top (oh, and me doing kung fu on a stick) :

The defense system included a big 'Disappearing Gun':

Man, that's a big gun (well, a big replica of a big gun).

I would explain more about it, but if you're interested... you can read it for yourselves!

Here's a closer view for those of you whose eyes have suffered the effects of aging (Mom) :

There were creepy looking underground tunnel areas that we toured as well. They were dark, confined concrete halls with little cubbies. It did not look inviting but Lowell forced me to go in anyway.


And there was NO colour. Except... is that blood splattered against the wall?


Gross.

The view from the other side of North Head was also spectacular. And somewhere in there is one of the hospitals that I work out of (Lowell fed me that information. I have no idea where in there it is) :

As we were heading back into Devonport, I spotted a road sign, slammed on the brakes, and exclaimed, "Lowell, we MUST get a picture of you with that sign!"

He looked back, and agreeably inquired, "You mean with the 'NO EXIT' sign?"

Me (a little confused that he would be excited about getting his picture taken with a 'no exit' sign) : "Uh...no."

There was a sign for 'Duders Ave', and Lowell used the term 'duder' incessantly during his undergraduate University days. So here is Lowell on Duders Ave being a cool dude(r)!

After that invigorating little adventure, we thought we'd complete our Saturday outing with some fish 'n chips. We received our meal sans ketchup (which is a crime in my books), so we returned to the counter and requested some. We were met with a blank stare, then the kind gentleman pointed to a bowl of tiny little packets of (fake) ketchup that were 50 cents EACH. I'm talking like those weeny little jam packets. That wouldn't even cover one of my fries. Soooo...we decided to wrap up our meal in Lowell's jacket, and drive home where we had unlimited access to an entire bottle filled with the heavenly red stuff. And then we watched PS I Love You while chowing down.

Oh, and for the record...I don't think it's part of NZ culture to withold ketchup, it was probably just that shop. I sure do need to be careful about the generalizations I make because often when I see something new/quirky, I tend to automatically apply it to the entire culture. Let's hope that people here aren't generalizing everything Lowell and I do/say/think to all Canadians... ha!

And now fast forward to Sunday afternoon. Have I mentioned that we live down the road from like 6 produce stands and 5 Strawberry farms? Yep, one of the farms is our next next door neighbour. We can hardly wait 'till summer when the strawberry fields will be busting with big juicy strawberries.

Today we took a walk to our nearest produce stand. It was a brisk 10-minute walk. Fun hey?

It's okay to not change your pants in NZ... isn't it?

I also did laundry today. Not generally an exciting affair because I usually force Lowell to accompany me to the big, dark, empty lodge where the washing machine is. It scares me half to death to even think about entering alone, but I decided to be a big girl today.

And of course, the first time I go there by myself, THE ALARM GOES OFF! I don't know who set it or WHEN, but it scared the daylights out of me. Not good for my Jumping Frenchmen of Maine Syndrome. (Carlynne diagnosed me this summer. It's a real thing. It means I'm jumpy... look it up.)

While we're on the topic of our abode, I think I should update you on the bed situation. We brought over another single bed (from the lodge), so we are now upgraded to a KING sized bed. Thank you to those who offered to hook us up with a bigger bed though!


Oh, and we also have a groundskeeper. Well, I use the term 'we' loosely here. He's not OUR groundskeeper per se, but he keeps the grounds that we are living on. So, we'll just continue to refer to him as our groundskeeper!


We'll see where the wind blows us tomorrow!

Pictureless Post

We don’t have oodles and kadoodles of exciting pictures and adventurous tales right now (as you may or may not be anticipating) because REAL LIFE HAS BEGUN! Tuesday was my first day of work, and Lowell’s first day back at his (distance) studies.

If I were to sum up this first week of work in one word, that word would be OVERWHELMING. I know that most jobs are overwhelming at first, but I shall provide you with a list of the factors that contribute to the overwhelmingness:

1. I’m in a brand new country.

2. I’m working with a whole different population (age 65 plus as opposed to my preschool experience last year) doing both communication and dysphagia (swallowing).

3. I’m working out of TWO hospitals, so that doubles the amount of names to learn and hospital-y things to become familiar with.

4. My job is 100% community service (i.e., home visits) all around Auckland. Auckland is a giant city, and I am a geographically challenged individual with no prior experience driving on the left side of the road.

5. The hospital cars that I am expected to drive are STANDARDS (or ‘manuals’ as they refer to them as here). I’m familiar with driving a standard at home (and actually prefer it), but this could get pretty interesting pretty quickly with my (less than competent) left hand controlling the stick.

6. NZ lingo is different, and it’s tricky deciphering the accent at times- especially when it’s an elderly person with speech and language difficulties.

7. One of my mentor/supervisors is only a few years older than me but is SO SMART and SO COMPETENT which gives me a slightly panicky feeling in the pit of my stomach because I want to be that smart and competent…NOW.

But, it’s not all gloom and doom, no siree. There are also positives:

1. My colleagues are super nice (and have wicked awesome accents to boot).

2. Orientation is THOROUGH. Like, 3 full weeks of shadowing each discipline involved with community care (social work, OT, PT, nursing, dietician…)

3. I have every Monday off.

4. I love old people.

5. WE HAVE A GPS. I don’t know what I’d do without Jill (the GPS). With her traveling with me, I can focus on all the lefty loosey goosey craziness.

6. I have an extremely amazing husband to come home to.

7. I haven’t made a complete idiot of myself yet, but there was one close call:

Me: Oh, are those pictures of your kids?

Colleague: Sure are!

Me: So you have 2 sons then?

Colleague: No. That one’s a girl.

Me: Oh… .... ... she’s cute!

What the heck. Who says that? It’s really tricky to recover from those awkward types of comments, but it was a good thing that Rachael is so super cool and fun and it didn't seem to faze her. (Whew!)

Hopefully next post will include an abundance of pictures and exciting adventures (or at least one of each). Until then...cheers!