Living with the Kiwis: 2011-03-20

This morning, while getting Reuben and Libby ready for school, making sure their bags were packed and shoes were on, and as Julia was getting ready to head out the door for work, Tessa went all the way up to my room by herself and came back with the keys to the Merc and handed them to me in the kitchen! She knows her days and routine quite well! In spite of that, she was so well mannered adjusting to a slightly different routine today. We went to watch a couple of duckling swim classes, so I could see how they do them and learn the songs for the ones I'll be doing on Thursdays for the next 4 weeks.

I also forgot to mention that George, John and Julia's friend from Greece (from before Reuben was born) is visiting and now currently living in the boat shed for awhile, so it is definitely a full household! He goes to a lot of sailing races (that's how they met him) but he's also an architect and Libby has put him to work to complete the tree house which now has a roof and everything!

Crazy! I have been here 6 months today! It doesn't quite seem possible that time has gone so quickly, but on the other hand, I feel like I have been here for longer as well...

Tonight, we're going to dinner for Astrid's "temporary" goodbye, because she's going back to Belgium for 6 weeks while she waits for the wine bar she'll be working at here to get going. And tomorrow we'll be checking out some of the many St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the Viaduct Harbour. After a couple of cooler days last week that started to feel like fall, the weather has turned right back to summer again this week with nice hot sunny days.

Hmmm, I started this post and then got distracted and and now returning to it about 5 days later. I also realized I don't think I ever managed to say that I am far far away from earthquake damage, but tons of people have come up to Auckland from Christchurch to stay for awhile until things are rebuilt or safe from aftershocks down there.

Astrid's dinner was good, although we had to wait ages for the food. We told the waiters (who were all Italian guys) that it was her birthday, because we had seen the other birthday display earlier that night. They all came out of the kitchen together with their shirts off singing happy birthday in Italian and brought her a dish of ice cream.

Thursday, we went out for St. Patrick's Day and they do it HUGE here! Lots of green everywhere and mini parties going on everywhere. Bars had green beer and lines out the door, much worse than a normal night out and it was in the middle of a Thursday afternoon.

Friday night, Reuben had 4 friends sleepover, well they came home from school with him, for his 8th Birthday Saturday. I supplied Julia with a list of various camp games to help tired them out so that they'd sleep well. Saturday, was the family party/lunch and Reuben enjoyed playing against everyone on the Wii.

I taught swim lessons Saturday morning and one Sunday as well, then played some tennis because it was a nice warm sunny day. The weather feels more like fall today, cooler and rainy, so making sure to take advantage of the last days of summer while we have them.

Today, I taught a portion of the Monday morning yoga class as usual, adding a new posture or two each week. Next week, I am beginning class as well, opening with the positive vow and Ujjayi pranayama. I took Libby and Reuben swimming after school today, and then after feeding them dinner, went back to Takapuna to fill in coaching the super squad, of about 15 kids at Steve Lindsay Swim School. This will be my biggest week for swim lessons yet! Just over 10 hours of swim teaching. Reanna's Bday celebration Wednesday night and yoga Thursday and Friday. I need to do my own practice, as well and stay and observe the classes. It will be a pretty busy week for sure!