this golden dragon was snapped at a red lantern chinese festival I went along to in chch. 'good as gold' is an incredibly well-used kiwi term I've recently been hearing more and more of.... it means 'thats great'/'no worries'
Well its been AGES since I last sat down and wrote...... hope this posting finds you well and perhaps thawing out a little!?
Summer here is drawing to a close. It turned quite dramatically on March 1st, almost as if someone 'Up There' had simply checked the calendar and flicked a switch from 'Summer' to 'Autumn'... after a couple of days of battering wind and rain and sleet we are back to sunshine but colder mornings and evenings... winter is on its way!! (How weird!)
Anyway, enough about the weather (oh you can take the girl out of Britain but you cant take Britain out of the girl!)
Walking through ChCh city centre one afternoon I came across a japanese windmill installation... pictures dont do it justice, was very eyecatching and strangely enjoyable to walk around!!!
Life had kind of exploded in busyness the past few weeks, I got the part-time job I mentioned last time, hallelujah! it's in an electrical company, about 5 mins walk from the vicarage. All still quite a mystery to me exactly whats what, its pretty technical and everyone seems to be reading their lines from a star trek script...... "you need the SR, whats the IRS on that? Check. OK send me through the Reco and I'll enter it on Orb." (your guess is as good as mine.....) I feel a bit like Julia Roberts in that scene from Notting Hill where she is attempting to learn her lines for a futuristic movie. Anyway I get to wear a funky headset and so that's the important thing!
I'm working mainly with a girl called Shelley who is lovely and funny and married to a dairy farmer but massively allergic to milk which is perhaps rather unfortunate! (love conquers all I suppose- but Mills and Boon aside, it gets her out of the early morning milking round!)
Ive been struck by how much more 'worthy' I feel by having a paid job and a structured day. Its actually really challenged me and made me question where my sense of identity and worth comes from. I treated myself to a coffee the other day on my way to work (OK so I had to wait 10 minutes for it so it wasnt exactly like being back in London but it felt good that I was going somewhere with a coffee in hand looking businesslike! I was greatly enjoying all this until I heard a little voice of the Lord say... "so was waiting on me not enough for you then?!" That bought me down a peg or two anyway.... (but I still enjoyed my Grande Americano (or 'Long Black' as they are called over here!)
Im also in the middle of my census contract which has seen me pounding the streets every evening for the past two weeks. (census night itself was a couple of nights ago so I have finished delivery and started on the collection of forms last night!) I look like an overgrown paper girl on my bike with a big blue (standard issue) satchel.. did I think I would be doing this kind of job at my age?? NO! Is it a big career move?? NO! Am I enjoying it? Immensely!
The training sessions have been enormous fun with a fab team leader, Cliff who has a cracking sense of humour and all the other collectors are so friendly, we have had a lot of laughs! And what a fascinating insight into how Kiwi's live. (once Ive found their front doors which unlike UK doors are not obvious and are often to be found masquarading as a patio door or a laundry room back entrance etc!) Several times Ive found myself clambouring over vegetable patches and the like to get access to the house. most odd- but once Ive found it, Ive loved chatting with the people who are more often than not ready to engage you in a full on chat about england!
The 'Sinsiss' over here is viewed differently than in the UK. It seems to have quite a sense of occasion attached to it even though it is carried out every 5 years. More often than not I have had whole familes come to the door to find out what its all about and its been like something out of the Walton's as they've all stood on the doorstep and beamingly waved me on my way after Ive handed over the forms.
One lady called out after me, "ooh you've got a big job there delivering all those forms to everyone.." Something about the way she said it gave me the impression that she thought I was the only census deliverer for the whole of New Zealand and I was about to turn round and clarify that I wasnt but then thought I wouldnt bother.... after all with the population being as sparse as it is over here that wasnt such a batty idea.... I could probably set off in the morning after a hearty breakfast, do a quick scoot round both islands and still be home in time to catch the six o'clock news.....
There is a new option this year for people to fill out their forms online. I was telling one couple about it on their doorstep and they seemed particularly sure they would fill it in online. "Well you need the paper forms anyway incase you change your mind or it crashes or something".
"sure, but we will definitely do it online"
"well you never know, with 3 million people trying to get online at once, its bound to crash and (warming to my theme) in England things like this always go horribly wrong when they are piloted. blah blah blah"
"well I hope this one doesnt because Im the project manager for it"
"Right-i-o"
So its been off to the office each morning and 'census-ing' each evening and in between Ive been doing church bits and pieces... theres an Alpha Supper coming up and also the main parish 2006 fundraiser, which I'm on the team for. We are setting up as a cafe at the Annual Steam Traction Fair at that happenin' venue.... the Rangiora showgrounds in a couple of weeks. The advertising proudly boasts its the "biggest steam traction event in the southern hemisphere!!!" (dont think its fighting off much competition though....) and crowds of 10,000 people are expected each day. Whatever floats your boat I suppose.
Anyway the cafe idea is a great one as the ladies in charge are keen to make it all really good quality (fresh foods and coffees etc) and Im really pleased to be able to help out (designing the 'look and feel' of the venue and front-of-house managing during the event- will be hard work for everyone involved but Im really looking forward to it- working on these things as a team can be really fun!)
So what else have I been up to since I last wrote??? Well have had the opportunity to go along to a few summer events in and around the city. Photo is of an outdoor production of Cyranno de Bergerac.. I went along with Emma and Natalie and it was great, although we were slightly puzzled as to why the lead role (a handsome young man) kept referring to his awful appearance and of course his nose when he was clearly the best looking guy in the cast.... all was revealed at the end of the performance when as the applause died down the actor asked the audience if any one had seen his fake nose which was lost that morning!!! aha!! the lady in front of us turned and muttered something about spending the whole play thinking it was supposed to be a minimalist production where the audience had to use their imagination!
Ive also got along to a couple of sporting events and have been pleased to dicover that Canterbury is the 'Arsenal/Chelsea/Man U* (*delete as you see fit) of NZ in that they are the team to beat.
We witnessed Canterbury Crusaders win again Otago at the Jade Stadium.... I went with 'Din' and 'Imma', and Neil and Natalie from church and a few of 'Imma's' workmates, 
Before the players came out they had a load of crusading knights on horseback appear through a fake-fort entrance and do a few laps of the ground to some suitably stirring music, waving their toy swords around etc.... It was all complete hype of course and I dont usually fall for such nonsense but one couldnt help but get slightly caught up in it all...
We were especially taken with the promo the bar was running that night, a free hat when Tui Beer was purchased. They were ENORMOUS!!! (the hats not the beers) Big enough to pick up satellite signals from space if tilted in the right direction.... 
Emma in her Tui Hat.... she was successfully able to provide welcome shade from the evening sun for practically the whole of the west terrace...
Also Ive been keen to sample some kiwi cricket and Peter & Chris, a couple from church called to ask if I wanted to join them one sunday afternoon to watch the final of the state championships (Canterbury v the Central States). well this was such a fab day.. for $10 (approx 4 pounds sterling) we had an afternoon in the sunshine sitting on the grass mounds avec picnic watching Canterbury cruise home to yet another victory.. (ps cricket fans amongst you may be interested to note it was it was Chris Cairns' final domestic game!).
I was most amused though that the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for the interval when the MC announced Australia (playing Sri Lanka at home) were 0-2 and then a couple of minutes later the guy practically started choking with excitement as he gleefully announced Sri Lanka had just taken another wicket and so the Aussies were 10-3!! You'd have thought that New Zealand had just won the Rugby World Cup judging by the volume and passion of the cheer that went round!! (Oz came back and won but that hardly got a mention on the news later that night!!)
Other news.... caught up with Jarrod one sat in ChCh. was great to see him! Also very briefly saw Nerida (an ex-office mate from HTB) at a womens conference I popped into, didnt get much of a chance to chat as she was in the worship team but lovely to see her and she is looking blooming in the latter stages of pregnancy!
Thats all for now..... sorry a bit of a 'skimming the surface' type of update this time... lots more has been happening both good and not so! but my minds gone kind of blank.. think its tiredness! Anyway will write again soon with more piccies etc
cx
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