Visions from Waitati

Ok. So after a SERIOUS reprimanding from quite a few people about how lax we've been in posting lately, here's one for the masses (but typed with the caring detail of a message to each and every one of you, I promise). I write this in the very exciting company of Diane and Scott Martin, Megan's wonderful parents, who flew in this morning after a delightful ride on Air New Zealand. We're big fans of ANZ, any airline that refills your wine glass during dinner is alright in my book. They also earned bonus points by, true to the Kiwi humor, filming the safety video played at the beginning of the flight using real employees with ANZ uniforms BODY PAINTED onto them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Mq9HAE62Y
Certainly makes you pay more attention to how to properly exit the aircraft. Diane and Scott came bearing gifts of food and love. I am sitting next to a huge pile of treasures from Trader Joe's. Periodically I look over and smile at it. A smile that I think is roughly comparable to when parents bring their newborn babies home for the first time and every once in a while glance over to make sure that this new miracle is, in fact, theirs. Theirs to love and keep. That's how much we miss Trader Joe's.

My sister, Miss Roxy-Ann herself, is flying in tomorrow and I'm THRILLED. Fair to say that she is too. As I type this, she's in route to the San Francisco airport. Everyone wish her luck. It's always fun to see how our group dynamics change as different people come. I think with the addition of our family members we can look forward to extra games of cribbage (Scott is an absolute SHARK), driving around in the soon-to-be-named Rav4 rental car, and their oohs and aahs as a reminder of just how cool it is to be in a country where breathtaking views are a dime a dozen. I'm pretty excited to have my second half here to add to the dynamics. I should also mention that Diane is currently utilizing three of the four homemade stockings to pseudo-wrap Megan's Christmas present. This is all so charming. I think if she had known how excited we would be about the chocolate covered peppermint Jo-Jos cookies (picture monkeys howling over ripe bananas after a strict diet of rice and oatmeal) she would have felt pretty comfortabe skipping Christmas presents alltogether this year in lieu of more chocolate.

We're in our eigth day here at Simon and Tace's house, and loving every minute. Our friends Sarah Brooke and Keith are housesitting two doors down and we have dinner plans to feast on Keith's pad thai tonight. Here is a run-down of highlights from our stay here:

Climbing at Long Beach overlooking a beautiful blue ocean and long stretches of white sand

Seeing our little chickens every morning, those ladies are absolute dolls. I've just heard important news that our five chickens laid six eggs today. You tell me how that happens. I think San Dieggo is working overtime. When Megan told me that, Mel yelled from the other room "That's my GIRL!" Being first time chicken owners (albeit temporary) we have a lot of pride for our chickadees.

Eating fried egg sandwiches- our poultry pride doesn't stop us from eating their potential children. No guilt.

Baking delicious desserts in our oven, which is a real novelty when you're used to cooking all meals on a camp stove.

Megan learning different songs on the guitar so we can all sing along (The Box by Johnny Flynn and Yankee Bayonet by The Decemberists/Laura Veirs. Fast Car by Tracy Chapman coming soon)

Our fabulous acapella Christmas caroling that we recorded for everyone's listening pleasure (soon to be posted, I hope)

The Christmas tree (some might call it a branch) that Mel brought home for us to enjoy the holidays with. It sits in the living room decorated with headlamps, flower garlands, popcorn strings, and a few Christmas ornaments that I bought here to send home to my mom (shhhh...)

Reading like banshees. We are FLYING through books.

Mel's homemade salad dressing every night- that girl is a culinary goddess

The quality time we've spent with Sarah Brooke and Keith including climbing, cooking, eating, learning, singing, and mainly giggling

The visit of the Hartleys, two English brothers who we have managed to sync travel itineraries with as much as possible

A great night with George and Jack playing Cranium, telephone pictionary, and our never ending games of "Ooh how do you say this? What do you call these?" and our favorite "Ok try to say this with an American/English accent," peppered with the occasional meaningful political conversation or discussion of current events, and lots and lots of laughing.

Megan dropping her phone in the ocean and breaking it just enough so that the only thing it does when turned on is repeatedly call "Jeremy DJ Boy," a hottie radio DJ who gave Megan his number in Auckland. I'm sure he's been loving the attention of getting 14 missed calls in a row every few days when we check to see if her phone has healed itself. Of course it would pick him.

Inventing our new favorite beach game of turning random squiggles drawn in the sand into pictures. We played that for probably an hour with Jack, while George played dad and patiently waiting for us to have our fill.

Last but not least, Mel, Megan, and Lauren, and me all sleeping in one queen sized bed last night for no good reason (as there were two other perfectly good beds going unused in the house) other than that we didn't want to separate at the end of the night. For those of you looking for logistical details, Lauren and I were facing one way with Megan and Mel alternating between us facing the other way.

I should probably note that we have been dearly missing Danielle, who is on the North Island traveling with her parents, during all of this. Who knows, maybe it would have been five in the little bed if she were with us.

A very common question we get is whether the five of us are getting sick of each other yet. I think the example of us all willingly sleeping like sardines because we prefer it to separating should give a pretty good answer to that. I'm not sure how we do it, but we do, and it definitely seems pretty effortless. I've noticed that the group of us act similar to the litter of puppies at the Brough's house. We seem to do a pretty good job of sleeping, eating, living in unison, usually preferring to do all of those things while in physical contact with as many other group members as possible. I think we also probably do a good job of understanding when each other need alone time and do our best to make it possible.

The five of us are also incessantly bragging about each other. It's probably annoying. "You would not believe how good Lauren is at soccer. Come to think of it, Mel too! Those two are gifted, I tell you. Fine oiled machines." Just an example.

But seriously, while we're on the topic, they ARE good at soccer. It's really impressive.

So that's how we live our lives. A lot of people have been asking how life is different here compared to at home. Things are pretty similar to home. Kiwis are a pretty darn nice bunch of people, it definitely stands out in day to day interactions with strangers. I'm so used to driving on the other side of the road that I have a hard time imagining the steering wheel on the left side of a car anymore. I'm slowly getting used to the really intense roadside signs urging you to drive safely: "Drink, drive, DIE IN A DITCH!", "Fate doesn't decide your speed, you do! (accompanied by a picture of the upside remains of a charred car surrounded by ambulances), "Feeling tired? Take a break" followed by another sign, 600 meters later, "GOT THE MESSAGE? TAKE A BREAK!" or "DRINK DrIvE." They even have some aiming at the younger, hipper population: "Hand the keys to a sober bro." 

Pretty creative. You have to admit. I would love to see what's going on the board room where they decide these slogans.

Duly noted. We will continue drive our little selves safely around while in this country. Posting all the while, I promise.