Untitled Document

I GOT MY VERY FIRST CAR EVER! ! ! ! !

We looked at a couple of cars. One was an old 83 two door hatchback honda
accord. It's kind of grey. the other was a 94 four door air conditioning
power windows/locks, cd player, tape player etc, it was a pretty snazzy car,
but very very loud engine belonging to a snotty couple (they're english
teachers they said). they answered questions in round about non direct not
straightforward way. they didn't smile much either. I didn't like them, so I
didn't like their stupid car, so I got the old 83 honda, which has some cv
joint noise issues. It's a manual. Shifting takes some getting used to since
the driver sits on the right hand side of the car. the turn signal is where
the windshield wipers ought to be and vice versa. I did a practice run to
work and back on thursday night so I'd have the confidence to drive it to
work on friday, which I did! I tried to come home for lunch on friday to try
and webcam with the boys (there is no internet at work and NINE teachers
SHARE ONE COMPUTER AND ONE PRINTER!!!!!) and I couldn't find parking, then
when I did, they wanted FOUR DOLLARS FOR ONE HALF HOURS WORTH OF PARKING!
how outrageous is that? anyway, the couple who owned the car, young french
students, were very sweet, answered everything honestly and directly in
their musical gentle sweet way, and said they are going to miss the car very
much and gave us advice on where we should go now that we're mobile. the car
had only one owner before them and it only has 90 thousand kms on it.

I have found my groove at work. I know the routine, and even though I was
completely pooped right out at the end of those first two days, I am now
into the swing of things. we eat a lot. There's morning tea, lunch,
afternoon tea, then we have afternoon tea with another group.I sort of know
what's expected of me ( I think ece's have a hard time telling their peers
what to do or how to do it) I know where everything is, and I'm having a
good time. The children have experienced a massive change over, and there
are more to come. Children transfer when they are of age. So as soon as a
birthday pops up, boom, they are changed to the next place. Birthdays, then,
are a mark of leaving. anyway, on friday, a number of teachers said, "Well
done on your first week April!" YAY! I'm feeling the love. I'm already in
their write ups too, and they'll be putting my picture and write up on the
parent board. I guess they really want me to stay. Probation is only eight
weeks long here, not three months like at home. I found out that my head
teacher has only been there a week longer than me. the superviser (ally) is
a doll. She's very short and has very sparkly blue eyes. She went over my
induction on friday and will be doing that every friday for the next eight
weeks. They all have asked me how I'm doing and how I am finding things so
far. the kids, even though they're not very polite, are gorgeous! they have
neat names too, like 'honor', 'dhir' (dear, but the teachers call him dee ah
and so that's what I've been saying, but now that I've seen what his name
looks like, I'll be changing how I call him), tattalaya, etc There are also
four Jack's so . . . go figure.

so, those are the firetruck shots, I figure the kids will love them. The
firetrucks here aren't really red, they're more orange. That was from last
weekend w hen the damned alarms were going off.

I put this re smoking in NZ picture in because I'm not hated anymore here.
No one rolls their eyes at me in disgust when I light up. No one sighs in
frustration. No one shakes their head at me. No one gives me dirty looks for
pulling out a cigarette. No one fakes a cough around me when I spark up.
There is none of that bullshit hate. There's no venom. There's no anger.
It's just acceptable here. No one has asked me for spare change or a spare
cigarette either. There's no bullshit 'headaches' around me while I'm having
a smoke. all the anti smoking 'could you please move so I don't have to
smell that?' media enduced baloney. There's none of it. I totally believe
that the media encourages hate. it's awful. it'll start here soon enough.
The no smoking in work places will take effect in january. There's ashtrays
on top of every single public garbage can out there. it makes me sad and a
little scared that people are so quick to judge and hate because of what the
media tells them. all you non smokers I"m sure will want to email me back
about how I'm killing myself and la la la and that I should quit and
whatever. You'll all email me back to argue your anti smoking case. I'm not
saying go on and light one up, I'm saying stop the bitterness. There's no
need for it. hating something doesn't make it go away. being angry about
something doesn't make it go away. it's like old school old days
prohibition. People are still going to do it, it's probably never going to
be completely abolished. what really pisses me off is a lot of non smokers I
know will toke up AND go on about how smoking kills. alright, enough. all I
wanted to say is that I enjoy being able to smoke a cigarette without
fearing that I'll get jumped by some anti smokers.

I got my car, I got my job, I got my mobile phone! This weekend I wanted to
go to a spa for some pool time and a back rub. For two people it's only a
hundred fifty dollars, I phoned on friday to ask if that was per person and
it's not, but you have to book it within a week in advance. So we went to
Coromandel which is a penninsula about a two/three hour drive from here
(downtown auckland). It was beautiful. Finally some natural things to look
at. There seem to me to be about as many cows as sheep. I yelled out in the
car 'LOOK ! SHEEP ! FINALLY MY FIRST NZ SHEEP! HELLO SHEEP!' the new little
car can really zip along! it was a lot of fun on the motorway (which is
highway here). When we got to the penninsula, we drove along the beach, and
it was gorgeous. we stopped for something to eat and I gathered up some
seashells (of course!). it's not white sand along that coast, it's kind of
terra cotta ry brown ish. still, it was beautiful, but kind of scary to
drive. There's no shoulders on the side of the road, just drop down to the
beach / rocks / water, wherever you happen to be when you're alongside it.
it's so windy / twisty / turny. I never want to see a windy road ever again
in my entire life. I think that's why it took so long. it's more windy than
going to squamish. (windy as in whine dee). We did a little train ride tour
at a pottery shop and it was gorgeous! we've got pictures of it, but I
haven't uploaded them yet. During the trainride which is on a mountainside
where they are trying to replant a forest (about ninety percent of forests
were burned down by farmers way back when) that will be given to the public
when the owner passes away (it's all very romantic), we saw sapling kauri
trees (I guess all the english chopped most of them down for their masts way
back when). The conductor of the train said there is a kauri grove of giant
ones not too far away. We drove off to find them. it was a very windy dirt
road to get there. We stopped off at a waterfall and had a quick peeky see
at that (very lovely) and then we went to the grove. They are pretty big.
patrick says that the giant redwoods are bigger, but i've never seen those,
so I wouldn't know. We'd left at eight am and got home shortly before nine
pm. it was a very long day, but gorgeous! to finally see some mountains, see
some farms, see some forests! While we were 'tramping' (which is hiking), I
said, 'although this is kind of like home, you never see these things in our
forests!' so we took some pictures. I got all excited about kiwis, but
they're nocturnal, so - we're not going to be tramping at night now are we?

Today, I'm not sure what we're going to be doing, but I know patrick will be
off to try to play ultimate today.

I miss my skechers. My white ones with pink stripes. I tossed them cuz they
got scuffed up. I really regret doing that, they were so comfy. it's so
hilly and windy here. Patrick needs to mark his assignments, so I'll sign
off now.

All my love, missing you millions!!!

april (mom)

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