A week ago was pretty uneventful, I had an annoying cold and spent lots of time at home waiting to hear back from places and getting rid of the cold.
This week got a bit busier. I did shower training for the health trust on Wednesday morning with 2 older women. One was very friendly and happy to help me with training, not complaining her regular shower help wasn't there. The second, it was also her first experience having someone help her which she also found a bit awkward. Afterward, once she realized she didn't have to strip her own made and make the new one or fix her towels after she decided it was definitely worth having help washing, drying and dressing.
That afternoon I was on my own, sent to sit with a man while his wife went out for 4 hours. I wasn't quite filled in as to what I would be doing or why he needed someone to sit with him. It wasn't until I was having a conversation with him, or trying to, and he couldn't remember where he'd lived before where they were currently living. I figured he had Alzheimer's and it only became clearer as the afternoon went on. He really enjoys his country and gospel music so is very happy to watch dvds of the performances. We watched a Dixie Chicks show and then some other gospel performance dvd. At 3pm, I gave him his afternoon tea of a magnum ice cream bar.
From there, I went to make dinner for another woman who lives alone in a small apartment in a sort of nursing home community. She was very nice and friendly as well, only pretty blind and hard of hearing.
Thursday, I had a pretty full day as well, showering 2 men in the morning, then vacuumed for 3 different people and mopped for 2 of them as well. This was all before 12pm. I ate my lunch I'd brought with me on Takapuna beach in the nice sunshine and then was off to my interview at 1pm. I heard back from my 2 interviews I had before, and they changed the qualifications a bit, one in particular decided to go with people with teacher experience in schools, so actual teaching qualifications. That same day though, I got a call that I was wanted for an interview at Swim T3. They called me the same day at 4pm saying they'd love to have me back Monday for a second interview, so tomorrow at 1pm I'll be back. At least I heard quickly, sounds promising! In the mean time, I have a busy week ahead of me this week with more work for the North Harbour Health Trust. Thursday afternoon I went for a run when I got home and Jacques called right when I got back, asking me to meet him at work. He had been down in Hamilton, for field days Wed and Thur for work, driving the boss's car, showing the new French intern around. He had to drop off the car and had too much stuff to catch the bus.
Friday, I had another full day of work for the health trust and then had dinner and a night out with the girls. I caught the bus home from town at 2am and a chilly 1.5k walk back to the house, only arriving at about 3am! Jacques had his 3rd PAS workshop this weekend, so was exhausted and in bed by about 9pm Friday night so he could wake up Saturday morning, study some more and head to his workshop 8:30am-2:30pm. I picked him up and we went to CrossFit NZ to watch the final of the competition they were having there, since there were lots of members of CF Auckland participating. Got me a more inspired to start my CrossFit induction bright and early tomorrow morning.
This morning, we went to Long Bay Beach to participate in a random winter swim that some crazy people do for no apparent reason every year. Even thought it was 32 degrees before the sun came up this morning, it got close to 50 and the water was 61 at 10:30 when we all ran into the water. Wasn't actually as bad as I expected. We all went for coffee to warm up afterwards.
Since kale is EXTREMELY hard to come by in this country, I ordered some seeds and today we got the supplies and I've planted them, so hopefully they'll spout and be edible in the next couple months!
We are continuing to find foods both Jacques and I can eat as well. A favorite has become homemade Indian dishes, make the sauce with veggies, then split it and I add some chickpeas or lentils and he adds meat. At the Gluten-Free food show we attended last weekend, we picked up some noodles made with veggies instead of cereal grains so Jacques can eat them as well. Today, Jacques made his own homemade paleo granola bars (granola-free of course). Instead it's mixed nuts and sunflower seeds in the food processor, some raisins, cinnamon, honey and coconut oil. They are certainly yummy and vegan as well!
