Markets and Magnolias

There are a lot of great things about winter in New Zealand, but I have to say, flowers blooming in the "dead of winter" has got to be one of the best! I would like to share one of my favourites with you - the magnolia trees. They are so absolutely amazing! There are quite a few around. They come in pink and white.

One of the features that makes the magnolia trees so interesting is that they lose all their leaves. So you have a brown, dead looking tree and then all of a sudden - wham! The large buds that have been camouflaged for weeks burst open. I'm not sure yet how long the blooms last. I have seen a lot of petals on the ground under the trees, so I have a feeling they are a short lived beauty.

After tracking down magnolia trees this morning, I attended another market. It was a bit of a bust. I was surrounded by "pensioners" (a.k.a. seniors). Or as Mark's friend Julia would call them "fuddies" (as in, fuddy duddy. Isn't that hilarious?). So, needless to say, there was a lot of brightly coloured knitted cardigans and needlepoint. There were a few good finds - cute baby cardigans in decent colours for $10. But overall, not my greatest market visit.

This afternoon we are going to a rugby game in town and then maybe out with some of our new friends, Jamie and Laura. We are so thankful to have found some good people to spend time with while here. So, that's my Saturday across the world!

Smell Ya Later, Rotorua.

Today was my first trip to Rotorua, an exciting geo-thermal city not too far from where we live. Brenno and Mel came down for the weekend and so we decided to do a day trip to see what we could see.

It.Was.Awesome.

Rotorua, as perviously mentioned, is a major geo-thermal activity area in New Zealand. Therefore, it smells. Like rotten eggs (sulphur). There are times when the smell is quite overwhelming. However, even though Rotorua stinks, it has redeeming qualities.

The Redwood Grove.This was our first stop. The redwoods are not native to NZ, but were introduced from California. There is a great forest area with some neat treks. We walked for about an hour through the giant trees. It felt very "Lord of the Rings". Mark sang some Elvin songs (a.k.a. Enya).

Then we found the information site where I informed the employee that we would like to see some "bubbling mud" - preferably for free. Because while bubbling mud is very cool, it seems like a ridiculous thing to pay to see. He directed us towards a park in town where we were indeed able to find some free bubbling mud. It was awesome and smelly.

Last, but by no means least, we took in the famous Rotorua Luge. To help you visualize, picture that big slide/sled type thing that the kids went down at the end of Sesame Street back in the day. Some genius came with up the idea to build that kind of a track down the hillside and charge people to ride. It is so fun and I highly recommend forking over the $35 for three rides. Mark bravely captured some photos and video and has a scraped knee to show for it as it's quite tricky to steer with one hand (to view a video, go to my facebook page).

All in all, a great first visit to the adventurous town of Rotorua. We plan to go back with the family at Christmas time. And yes, Mom, you are going down the luge!

Off to Market we go!

I seriously love a good farmer's market. Truth be told, I even love a bad farmer's market.

There happen to be a lot of markets in this country, so that is good news for me. Most of the ones I have visited up to this point have been pretty good. I just love all the home made, home grown products. It's also important to me to support local businesses. Fortunately, living on an island means that a lot of what you buy is produced locally, but if you want to make sure you are not getting any imported goods, the farmer's market is the way to go.

This morning I took in the Tauranga Farmer's Market. There was a nice selection of goods and it was not raining, so all in all a good visit. The market is held at the Tauranga Primary School, which happens to be one of the schools that I pick up students at for my after school care program. Many of the schools here are set up very differently than at home. It's not just one big square building with limited windows, but rather a collection of buildings around a central courtyard/playground area (which is where the farmer's market sets up on Saturdays).

This morning's purchases - free range pork spare ribs, lettuce, mandarins and a Starbucks (the Starbucks did not come from the market and was likely not locally sourced, but sometimes I just like to hold the familiar cup, ok?)

I found a monthly newsletter in the area that lists all the markets close by, so next week I will be off to research another. I still have many to see! But I have to say, I haven't found a market yet to rival either the Strathcona or St. Albert Farmer's Markets. Edmonton and St. Albert, you should be proud of those markets! And if you've never been, go this weekend.

Oh, one other thing about markets - the samples. Any place that has free samples is worth the visit in my books!

A hitch hikers guide to New Zealand.

I never pick up hitch hikers when I'm driving by myself. I'm too afraid. I've seen the movies.

But last weekend on our way up to Auckland, Mark and I came upon a hitch hiker just out of Tauranga. Mark said, "Should we pick this guy up?" And I said, "Up to you!" I feel much safer with Mark in the car. Plus, that way I can have my hand on my mobile phone ready to dial 111 (the NZ version of 911).

Neil De Jong had unfortunately just had his car blow up on him. He was also on his way to Auckland, so lucky for him, we could take him all the way. I'm not sure how old Neil is - he told us he was "much more experienced" than us! Regardless, he is one interesting guy. Originally from South Africa, he has been in New Zealand for about 10 years. He is studying in the field of Environmental Management and knows a lot about the country. Along the way we learned many things.

Just before we picked Neil up, Mark and I had been talking about sailing and how badly we (particularly Mark) wants to get out there. Then the first thing Neil said to us was something along the lines of, "Guys, I really owe you big. Any time you want to go sailing, just give me a call. I know a guy with a boat." Sweet!

He also was able to give Mark lots of good info about scuba diving, since he's been on over 100 dives himself. So, now maybe Mark will have a diving buddy, too.

We made it to Auckland all safe and sound and dropped Neil off with his family. All the great conversation made for one of the quickest trips so far!

So, the moral of the story is, consider picking up hitch hikers if you are with another person and in a country with mostly nice people and maybe you will learn something and be able to go sailing.

Sir, I think you are in my seat.

This past weekend, we attended our first All Blacks rugby game. This is a must do when living in New Zealand. Rugby is a big part of life here and fortunately for me, I really enjoy watching the games! No offence to my heritage, but it's a nice change from hockey.

If you don't know anything about rugby, join the club. It's a very confusing game with a ton of little rules that I do not understand. But here is my very average explanation of the game - it's like football in the sense that you are basically trying to run the ball across the goal line at the end of the field and there is some kicking through goal posts, but the play doesn't always stop when the ball and/or player hits the ground. Also, no forward passes allowed. And no equipment either, but even more intense tackling. You should probably just google it.

The game was in Auckland at Eden Park. We attended with Brandon, Kristen, Mel and Brenno. Upon arriving, there was a fellow sitting in our assigned row of seats. I approached him, showed him my ticket and nicely mentioned that I thought he was in our seats. He was busy looking in all his pockets for his ticket, but he couldn't find it and he refused to move until he did. To make matters worse, he was quite intoxicated. After a few more words with Mark (not as polite as mine) he eventually moved. Turns out he was in the wrong section entirely. Anyways, he wanted to fight but we just wanted to watch the game.

The game begins with the haka, which is amazing. It's a cultural war ritual which you should also just google because I'll probably explain it as well as I did rugby.

The All Blacks scored the first try right in front of us and went on to defeat the South Africa Spingboks by 32-12.

Oh, I forgot to mention. The other funny thing that happened was when the guy who was in the seat next to me went to sit down, his seat broke. And he was not a heavy fellow! This is particularly funny/humorous because the seats were brand new and they just finished installing them in half the stadium. I felt bad for the guy but he assured me he was fine to sit on the step. About 3/4 way through the game, security came and told him he couldn't sit there anymore, so we all squished over and shared our seats with him.

It was a great, exciting, interesting, awesome experience! But let me tell you this, I myself will never play rugby. Just watching for me, thanks.

What's dinner?

Bill Cosby was right. Kids do say the darndest things. My job as an afterschool care supervisor for the YMCA has put me back on the front line with kids every day. It's a nice change from the supervisory positions I have been in for quite a few years, but it also comes with its challenges. My name is unfortunately quite easily "whined". If you don't get what I mean, just try it. Say Laurel in a really whiny voice. Draw out the first syllable in particular and kind of give a bit of a whimper on the second syllable. Easy. And very annoying.

Anyways, back to the funny things the kids say. Here are a few highlights:

"When I sit on the monkey bars like this it kind of hurts my nuts."

"I'm pretty sure I just ate some plastic. Am I going to die?"

Child: "What has uh, eight legs, uh, um, is blue, uh, uh, has wings, and um, uh, a body?"

Me: "I don't know. A caterpillar?"

Child: "Um, no. A uh, fellapillar!"

Me: "Did you just make that up?"

Child: "Yeah."

Me: "You can be very nice and polite when you want to be. And very sweet and well behaved when you want to be."

Child: "And I can be very naughty when I want to be."

There is always some excitement every day and it's been pretty good so far. We are a multicultural centre - I'm Canadian, my assistant supervisor is from the UK and our other program leader is from Jamaica. Combined with all the Kiwi kids, we have a pretty fun time figuring out the different accents and slang. The other day I was telling the kids not to each too much snack or they wouldn't eat their dinner when they got home. Finally, one kid piped up and said, "We have no idea what your talking about. What's dinner?" Apparently here it is either supper or tea.

Mark's job is going well too. We bought him a plant for his office, so now he is set.

Even though I just started work, I now have two weeks off due to a school holidays break. I might get called in to help out with some of the holiday programs, which would be good. In any case, I'm sure the kids will have funny things to say after the break!

5 minutes if you run...

Sorry, it has been a while since my last post due to the sporadic internet access we have had lately. I would like to think of myself as not being "addicted" to the internet, but not having access at home has made me realize how much I really miss having information at the tip of my fingers! The other day I even had to use a phone book! Can you believe it?

Anyways, much has happened and I will try to update you over a few posts in the near future. We are now happily settled in our own place in beautiful Mount Maunganui. That's pronounced "mung-a-nui" for those who are wondering. It's a small city that is basically connected by a bridge to the larger city of Tauranga (I won't phonetically spell that one out for you because I can't quite figure out how). It's a really nice area on the East coast of the North Island. Oh, and in case you were wondering, yes, there is actually a Mount. I climbed it for the first time this past weekend.

We live in a great furnished apartment just 7 minutes walk from the beach. Conveniently located right next door is a brand spankin' new McDonalds. It opens July 20, so we have about three weeks before we start hearing the drive through in the middle of the night. Mark is hoping he can start a tab and have delivery done directly over the fence into the hot tub. There is also a gym which I have used a total of two times and Mark has used 5 times. All part of our get fit plan!

My other favourite part about our apartment is probably the heated mattress pad. I may not love the electricity bill when it comes, but at least I am warm in my bed! We are about half way through our first New Zealand winter. Now, I don't want to rub it in too much, but it's pretty great. Today was +15 in the sun. But if it makes you feel any better, the lack of indoor heating is a bit rough. Hence why I love my heated mattress pad so very much.

So, feel free to come visit! We also have a backpacker's right next door so if you get sick of us or we get sick of you, you can always move next door and we'll meet you at the beach.