NZ Nostalgia Month

A month has flown by, and we now have a blog-post to show for it! Life back in NZ has been a whirlwind of work, and catching up with family and friends. We're missing broadband internet so no photos here, just look under our Web Photos link on the right hand side. Here's the low-down (and hopefully we haven't missed anyone important!):

We flew into Auckland and spent the weekend with our friend Natasha. She kindly drove us to Long Beach, where we spotted more native birds than seagulls. It was great having a "debrief" with another theological student! Thanks Tasha.

We then caught the bus down to Feilding, staying with Bron's parents for the night. A huge lamb roast and lots of smooches from our cat, Smudge, were added bonuses to spending time with family. Then we visited Nath's parents (for bacon & egg pie, and copious cups of tea) before heading down to Wellington to start work. We're staying with Alastair (Nath's brother) and his partner, Kim, in Tawa while we're working.

It has been easy to step back into work. One of Nath's colleagues said he felt like he'd never left! After a slow two weeks, Bron has been relief teaching every day, at her old school (Holy Family) and at a couple other local schools. It has been nice to be back in a classroom (not as a student!)

Our weekends have been pretty full so far. Most are spent back in Palmerston North between our parents but one has been in Tawa. Some highlights have been: Mother's Day with mums and grandmothers, Feilding garden show, a visual literacy course for Bronwyn, meeting up with some future Regent students, seeing our friends from church, having lunch or dinner with friends from our respective workplaces, visiting the Wellington Food Show, chin-wagging with our home-group friends, watching the All Blacks beat France at the Stadium, watching a "Maori version" of Othello at Downstage theatre, and delivering various parcels for our Vancouver-Kiwi friends.

Beyond our friends and family, some things we've been appreciating since we've been back are: time to quilt, tasty honey, NZ music month (Opshop and Hollie Smith are our latest favourites), home cooking (!!!), cheese, NZ accents, Vogel's bread, familiar landmarks, new ads on TV, clothes dried on clotheslines, and lots of native birds, like the tui in our photos. (For the non-NZers I've put a somewhat grainy video so you can hear its song that we wake to each morning here!)

We have also just heard from our Vancouver landlord that a huge tree fell on the property from the street, missing all the important parts of the house and leaving only minor damage. All three houses affected had people at home and no-one was hurt. "God is good!" The photos are also in the web album.