Another busy week and weekend! I did a lot of training, yoga, and swim teaching!
Wednesday I drove the kids to athletics and watched some races and events. They were learning to do relay-type things with the 5-year-olds, just with half of them on one side of a straight away and the other half on the other in 2 teams. Libby ran the whole length with her hand out ready to tag, slowing her down just a bit. At least she was helping the other person get going more quickly!! Thursday night I went to yoga, Friday morning I went to yoga, and then rushed back to get the 12:10 ferry to make sure I was at the outdoor pool at Takapuna primary school before 1pm. The Belmont Swim Academy started through Steve Lindsey Swim School. Basically, a group of 26 9-10-year-olds came for lessons as part of their school day. We somehow managed to get them oranized into three different levels so each of us had close to 10 kids! It was pretty much madness but fun and the kids seemed to get semi-organized by the end. This week, we'll be helping them practice with snorkel and fins and then the week after that we'll be swimming in the ocean at Narrow Neck beach.
Saturday morning I went back to the Takapuna primary school pool for lessons from 9-12, much more manageable with classes of no more than 5 kids for me to teach. I've come to the general conclusion that Kiwi kids just do not listen. They just sort of do what they please. They are more polite, but don't listen well, whereas American children listen better to instructions but are more rude as well. Strange comparison, but I guess they all have to find their own ways of being challenging! After the lessons I came home for some lunch and then headed down to Narrow Neck for some tri training. I met Jenny and we did a swim in the choppy seas out to a marker buoy and then back at an angle then did the run course and then I showed her the cycle route in her car since she didn't have her bike. I did the cycle route after and then cycled home, showered and went to Jacques' friend's leaving bbq. Later on I met Sophie, Astrid and Jenny in Takapuna, where not a lot was going on. There was a pretty cool party at Cafe Massimo with an outdoor dance floor, but other than that, the Takapuna nightlife was pretty dead as usual!
This morning, I taught Jake, Sharon the yoga teacher's son, a swim lesson at Takapuna, something we'll continue every week from now on! Then she brought me into the studio where we met some other people for a photo shoot. They want some new photos for their website, and they are also making a GrabOne voucher for beginner classes, so I may end up on the advertisement for that online! Watch HERE to see if it appears!
Tomorrow, I start my bar course in the evening, and doing some beginning yoga teaching in the morning after dropping the kids at school. I think I'll mostly be helping make adjustments to people who aren't in the correct positioning. Looks like another busy week ahead! Oh I'll have to start doing some early morning swimming as well, since I won't have time in the evenings! Yikes!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Mini Hilltop Reunion! (and Happy Birthday Daddy!)
Today, I was luckily enough to see Steve and Shanita on their last day in New Zealand before flying off to Argentina! They'd been in NZ (down in Wellington) just 1 month longer than I have, but I had yet to see them since I've been here! Luckily, I was able to catch them today for a couple of hours. They ferried over to Devonport and met Tessa and I in the park, then we came home, watched Tessa have trampoline sprinkler session and then had a chat down by the water while Tessa had her sleep. Then they ferried back to the city form Bayswater. It's actually kind of crazy to think that the last time I saw them was 5 years ago in Glasgow!! It definitely didn't seem like it had been that long at all!
Now we can rewind a little bit...Thursday night I had a major yoga session...stretched every possible muscle in my body and deeply. I stayed 2.5 hours in the studio and was the last one to leave. The door has a code entry lock thing so the instructor doesn't have to be the last one out, and people who go frequently can use the studio whenever they like, although I haven't learned the code yet...I was very sore Friday morning, but still went back for another session. I decided that I'd start taking the train instead of the bus because they run more frequently and each ride is 20 cents cheaper! Of course I had to get on the wrong train though...after getting the earlier ferry over so that I could take an earlier one back, I managed to get on the one of the two trains to Papakura that didn't go through Newmarket. There are 4 lines of trains running from Britomart and 3 go through Newmarket...so I really just had bad luck with that one. Instead I had to get off at the first stop in Orakei and wait for the train BACK to Britomart and then hop on the next one to Newmarket. At least the ticket people were understanding and didn't charge me for the two trains I didn't mean to take!
I also went for a swim that Friday and then out for after work drinks in town with Jacques and some of his friends that work in town, I didn't quite fit in with the "business" crew...and then we went to a flat-warming/birthday party for another friend and ate the absolute spiciest curry EVER!! Ordering hot was a huge mistake and even having just returned from India, Jacques said it was hotter than anything there...it was just not eatable at all! I used practically ALL the rice and had a sip of milk after most bites!
Saturday (oh and by the way all of these days have been seriously hot and humid!), I went on a run midday and felt like I was melting. I think I sweat out every drop of liquid in my body! Then Sophie and I cycled to Takapuna beach where we met some of the other girls into the late afternoon. Some stayed for a flat party/BBQ and then more time on the beach later that night. I went to one of Jacques' friends' leaving party at a Uni bar in Albany. I didn't have my passport, because we weren't going out in town and the bar was hired out for a the private function, still they almost wouldn't let me in with just my Massachusetts license. I showed them my temporary NZ one, with no photo on it and persuaded them that I was plenty old enough and it would be fine to let me in! Luckily, my NZ driver's license came in the mail yesterday so I will not have any more issues or have to worry about carrying my passport around! It almost feels like a fake ID, knowing I'm not from here but having a full NZ driver's license...strange!
Sunday, I went back to Muriwai for my 3rd surf lesson! It was amazing!! Really hot day and the water was really nice. I didn't actually need the instruction again, but this time the instructors were helping me progress to going faster and steering! I managed to stand up and ride in almost every wave that I caught! It was a lot of fun! Although we were just catching the already broken waves in the white water. Next time I want to learn how to successfully catch the bigger, unbroken ones. I did have a few attempts at that the last lesson I had, but you have to get to your feet a lot quicker or they throw you off the board much easier!
Yesterday, Monday, I had my MoleMap appointment. Basically, a dermatologist skin check, but the woman who does it, isn't the dermatologist, just a qualified mole spotter in a sense. She takes photos of your entire body and then close ups of a whole bunch of freckles and moles of concern and normal-looking ones just to have a baseline. They are then sent away to be analyzed so hopefully the results are all fine when I get them back! They even gave me a special mole-measuring ruler with different sized circles and other mm measurements down the side and even a color spectrum to keep track of spots myself! After school I took Libby and Reuben swimming at Takapuna pools and didn't get home until 5pm they were having so much fun in the pool! Libby even went in the big pool willingly which was a first for her! After dinner, I cycled back to the pool and did my swim training.
Today was just a regular morning until meeting Steve and Shanita, which was a nice treat to have a mini Hilltop reunion and catch up, and then it carried on to be a regular afternoon. I took Reuben to his first Karate lesson tonight and it was pretty amusing watching and listening to all the little boys learning the moves. Then I cycled down to Narrow Neck and cycled around the actual race course for the triathlon and then cycle the run course, ran 1 lap of the run course and then cycled home. So far training seems to be going pretty well. So I haven't been neglecting to post because of a lack of things going on, more because of a lack of time to do the summarizing! Soon that time will be even less when I start teaching swim lessons this Friday and then start my bar course Monday-Thur, 6-9pm for 2 weeks. Keeping busy, but also have to save for another adventure/sight-seeing trip sometime!
And Happy 60th Birthday Daddy!! I hope you continue to get excellent skiing conditions...but maybe not as much on the driveway to have to clean off.... :)
Now we can rewind a little bit...Thursday night I had a major yoga session...stretched every possible muscle in my body and deeply. I stayed 2.5 hours in the studio and was the last one to leave. The door has a code entry lock thing so the instructor doesn't have to be the last one out, and people who go frequently can use the studio whenever they like, although I haven't learned the code yet...I was very sore Friday morning, but still went back for another session. I decided that I'd start taking the train instead of the bus because they run more frequently and each ride is 20 cents cheaper! Of course I had to get on the wrong train though...after getting the earlier ferry over so that I could take an earlier one back, I managed to get on the one of the two trains to Papakura that didn't go through Newmarket. There are 4 lines of trains running from Britomart and 3 go through Newmarket...so I really just had bad luck with that one. Instead I had to get off at the first stop in Orakei and wait for the train BACK to Britomart and then hop on the next one to Newmarket. At least the ticket people were understanding and didn't charge me for the two trains I didn't mean to take!
I also went for a swim that Friday and then out for after work drinks in town with Jacques and some of his friends that work in town, I didn't quite fit in with the "business" crew...and then we went to a flat-warming/birthday party for another friend and ate the absolute spiciest curry EVER!! Ordering hot was a huge mistake and even having just returned from India, Jacques said it was hotter than anything there...it was just not eatable at all! I used practically ALL the rice and had a sip of milk after most bites!
Saturday (oh and by the way all of these days have been seriously hot and humid!), I went on a run midday and felt like I was melting. I think I sweat out every drop of liquid in my body! Then Sophie and I cycled to Takapuna beach where we met some of the other girls into the late afternoon. Some stayed for a flat party/BBQ and then more time on the beach later that night. I went to one of Jacques' friends' leaving party at a Uni bar in Albany. I didn't have my passport, because we weren't going out in town and the bar was hired out for a the private function, still they almost wouldn't let me in with just my Massachusetts license. I showed them my temporary NZ one, with no photo on it and persuaded them that I was plenty old enough and it would be fine to let me in! Luckily, my NZ driver's license came in the mail yesterday so I will not have any more issues or have to worry about carrying my passport around! It almost feels like a fake ID, knowing I'm not from here but having a full NZ driver's license...strange!
Sunday, I went back to Muriwai for my 3rd surf lesson! It was amazing!! Really hot day and the water was really nice. I didn't actually need the instruction again, but this time the instructors were helping me progress to going faster and steering! I managed to stand up and ride in almost every wave that I caught! It was a lot of fun! Although we were just catching the already broken waves in the white water. Next time I want to learn how to successfully catch the bigger, unbroken ones. I did have a few attempts at that the last lesson I had, but you have to get to your feet a lot quicker or they throw you off the board much easier!
Yesterday, Monday, I had my MoleMap appointment. Basically, a dermatologist skin check, but the woman who does it, isn't the dermatologist, just a qualified mole spotter in a sense. She takes photos of your entire body and then close ups of a whole bunch of freckles and moles of concern and normal-looking ones just to have a baseline. They are then sent away to be analyzed so hopefully the results are all fine when I get them back! They even gave me a special mole-measuring ruler with different sized circles and other mm measurements down the side and even a color spectrum to keep track of spots myself! After school I took Libby and Reuben swimming at Takapuna pools and didn't get home until 5pm they were having so much fun in the pool! Libby even went in the big pool willingly which was a first for her! After dinner, I cycled back to the pool and did my swim training.
Today was just a regular morning until meeting Steve and Shanita, which was a nice treat to have a mini Hilltop reunion and catch up, and then it carried on to be a regular afternoon. I took Reuben to his first Karate lesson tonight and it was pretty amusing watching and listening to all the little boys learning the moves. Then I cycled down to Narrow Neck and cycled around the actual race course for the triathlon and then cycle the run course, ran 1 lap of the run course and then cycled home. So far training seems to be going pretty well. So I haven't been neglecting to post because of a lack of things going on, more because of a lack of time to do the summarizing! Soon that time will be even less when I start teaching swim lessons this Friday and then start my bar course Monday-Thur, 6-9pm for 2 weeks. Keeping busy, but also have to save for another adventure/sight-seeing trip sometime!
And Happy 60th Birthday Daddy!! I hope you continue to get excellent skiing conditions...but maybe not as much on the driveway to have to clean off.... :)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Mall Haircut!
On Monday I decided it was time for a haircut, kind of randomly actually in the mall. I just sat down and the woman just said, "you want new style"? And I just sort of agreed and she went to work, basically attacked my hair with a razor, like she was speeding cutting or something. I was a little bit scared of the outcome, especially because she didn't dry it (she wanted to charge about $20 more just to dry it nicely!!) I did it nicely myself the day after and it actually looks alright, just very short again! Oh well, I guess it will be nice for the rest of summer!
So recap from the weekend...Friday, Jacques came home from 5 weeks traveling in India bearing gifts. Some Aladdin or Ali Baba silk pants, a scarf and beaded bracelet, all very nice! Saw quite a few photos from the trip as well. Saturday, we went to Fiesta Del Sol on Waiheke, and luckily the rain held off making it a much more pleasant experience, however, it wasn't my favorite kind of music event I've been to...the DJing just got a little repetitive and the area in front of the stage was far too small! We also wanted to leave around 9:15, but had to wait until the buses started at 10:15 to bring us to the 11pm ferry...so quite a long wait and it was starting to get cold and windy after dark! Sunday, we had a nice picnic at Narrow Neck beach for An's 25th bday! Monday was Auckland Anniversary, so a public holiday and they shot off some amazing fireworks Sunday night over the harbor (most of which I missed) but they were so huge and went for so long I did run down the street in time to see some of the finale! Monday was my haircut day....
Tuesday was the kids last day of school summer holidays! Reuben was at a birthday party most of the day so it was just the girls and I. Wednesday, first day of school, Tessa and I were back to our regular park schedule in the morning, quiet afternoon and then picking up the kids from school. Both Reuben and Libby were excited for Athletics in Takapuna that evening and Libby was excited to pin their new numbers onto their uniform shirts! John was home early working from home so he brought them to Athletics while I stayed home with Tessa, fed her dinner at her regular time and got her bathed and ready for bed.
Today, I'll be going back to yoga for the first time since mid December!! I'm sure I will be quite sore tomorrow, but it will be good to get back into it and I'm sure it will help stretch out my muscles I've been using for my Tri training. Just over 4 weeks to go until the race!
So recap from the weekend...Friday, Jacques came home from 5 weeks traveling in India bearing gifts. Some Aladdin or Ali Baba silk pants, a scarf and beaded bracelet, all very nice! Saw quite a few photos from the trip as well. Saturday, we went to Fiesta Del Sol on Waiheke, and luckily the rain held off making it a much more pleasant experience, however, it wasn't my favorite kind of music event I've been to...the DJing just got a little repetitive and the area in front of the stage was far too small! We also wanted to leave around 9:15, but had to wait until the buses started at 10:15 to bring us to the 11pm ferry...so quite a long wait and it was starting to get cold and windy after dark! Sunday, we had a nice picnic at Narrow Neck beach for An's 25th bday! Monday was Auckland Anniversary, so a public holiday and they shot off some amazing fireworks Sunday night over the harbor (most of which I missed) but they were so huge and went for so long I did run down the street in time to see some of the finale! Monday was my haircut day....
Tuesday was the kids last day of school summer holidays! Reuben was at a birthday party most of the day so it was just the girls and I. Wednesday, first day of school, Tessa and I were back to our regular park schedule in the morning, quiet afternoon and then picking up the kids from school. Both Reuben and Libby were excited for Athletics in Takapuna that evening and Libby was excited to pin their new numbers onto their uniform shirts! John was home early working from home so he brought them to Athletics while I stayed home with Tessa, fed her dinner at her regular time and got her bathed and ready for bed.
Today, I'll be going back to yoga for the first time since mid December!! I'm sure I will be quite sore tomorrow, but it will be good to get back into it and I'm sure it will help stretch out my muscles I've been using for my Tri training. Just over 4 weeks to go until the race!
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| Sunday at Narrow Neck, featured here are my pants and bracelet from India! |
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
NZ Driver's License
Today I applied for an overseas driver's license conversion and could not believe how easy it was! I walked away in under 30 min with my temporary full license in hand and it only cost $50! They did a quick eyesight test, took my photo and signature and said I should receive the card in 3 weeks, pretty simple! They just needed to see my Massachusetts license, my passport and a proof of address here. I mostly got it to have an accepted for of ID to carry with me, to get into bars for example, so that I don't have to carry around my passport everywhere with me!
It was also a nice, sunny hot day today and I went for a swim in the bay for my training because high tide was right at midday and the water was so warm! Julia and the girls did some kayaking in front of the house as well.
Tomorrow night I am doing an ocean swim (they take place every Thursday as part of a summer swim series). You can choose your distance, 500m, 1k, 1.5k, or 2k. I'm just doing the 1k to test out the swimming wetsuit, which I have tried out briefly in the bay, to make sure it's comfortable enough to make it over 4k if I decided to sign up to swim to Rangitoto in April! After that Sophie and I are off to Waiwera hot pools for the night to use up my GrabOne voucher before it expires! Then it's the long weekend and we're going to Fiesta Del Sol on a vineyard on Waiheke island all day Saturday for An's birthday so we're hoping the rain in the forecast holds off!
It was also a nice, sunny hot day today and I went for a swim in the bay for my training because high tide was right at midday and the water was so warm! Julia and the girls did some kayaking in front of the house as well.
Tomorrow night I am doing an ocean swim (they take place every Thursday as part of a summer swim series). You can choose your distance, 500m, 1k, 1.5k, or 2k. I'm just doing the 1k to test out the swimming wetsuit, which I have tried out briefly in the bay, to make sure it's comfortable enough to make it over 4k if I decided to sign up to swim to Rangitoto in April! After that Sophie and I are off to Waiwera hot pools for the night to use up my GrabOne voucher before it expires! Then it's the long weekend and we're going to Fiesta Del Sol on a vineyard on Waiheke island all day Saturday for An's birthday so we're hoping the rain in the forecast holds off!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Back in Full Swing!
So at least I got to have one last fun-filled weekend and some nice relaxing beach days with some of the girls I hadn't seen in weeks (this is the 14-16 Jan) before heading back to a FULL week of work with the kids! It's still school holidays, and they start back again on the 2nd of Feb. Last week was a bit of a crazy one! Well, for starters, Libby and Reuben had a week of intensive swim lessons, Libby at 9am and Reuben at 9:30, which meant poor Tessa had to sit through an hour, when all she wanted was to hop right in that pool! So mornings were hectic to say the least. Then without fail, every single day, mainly for Tessa, they did an hour of wet jumping (bouncing on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath it). Julia's birthday was Wednesday so we spent a lot of time on Monday and Tuesday wrapping presents and making cards. Then on Wednesday was baking day. Of course Libby and Reuben couldn't decide on a cake flavor, according to Reuben, Libby only wanted banana cake because it was her favorite and Libby said it couldn't be chocolate, what Reuben wanted, because she didn't like it. Reuben then decided it should have strawberry icing, which Libby liked the sound of. So we ended up with banana cake with strawberry icing made from fresh strawberries! It was actually pretty yummy and enjoyed by everyone! Then on Thursday, Julia was off up to Bay of Islands to help her Dad sail the boat home. We drove her to the airport, which ended with a lot of complaints of carsickness from Reuben and Libby who were riding facing the wrong way in the boot. I'm sure the heat didn't help too much either. On the way home one was in the front and one was in the back and I had them intrigued by the gps as well, so it was a lot smoother ride home! Then Reuben had a friend show up for a play date. After he was here for about an hour it was time to pick up Tessa from kindercare, so that made 4 kids for the rest of the afternoon, and she wasn't too happy that mom wasn't there to pick her up, and didn't quite understand that she would be coming home for a couple of days!
On Friday, after their last swim lessons of the week, both Reuben and Libby went to play dates, which allowed Tessa to have a nice afternoon sleep I'm sure she was very much in need of! The rest of the day went pretty smoothly after that. Although the rainy weather had come in to stay for the entire weekend! I still cycled to the pool in Takapuna, in the rain, and then swam and cycled home. I met Sophie and Rachel in Takapuna, but it cleared out SUPER early...so pretty uneventful that night. Saturday I did some more biking and running (following a little triathlon training schedule for the mini ContactTri Women's one Jenny and I signed up for March 5, currently 6 weeks away! That night we had a nice meal at Rachel's with lots of yummy food and then went out into town. However the mood was ruined a bit because of all the rain...and then Astrid's car battery died which turned out to be a bonus for Rachel, Sophie and I. Freidi drove us into town in Astrid's car and then they were headed home almost 2 hours before us, so we just decided we'd take a cab later...then we get a call from Astrid saying when they stopped for McDonald's the engine was shut off for all of a minute and the lights left on, but that was enough to make the battery go flat...so they had been trying to flag someone down at 3am to get it jumped...in the rain...apparently most cab drivers were really rude and the police even said they couldn't help, but eventually they got help from one cab driver and we found them just in time to hop in and get a ride home. So their night was a little bit longer than they'd planned!
Sunday morning the weather was even crazier!! Heavy heavy rain and super strong wind! There were all kinds of puddles all over the roads and the motorway was even closed across the bay heading into the city at high tide because the water had come up over the road! Julia came home yesterday with her mom, unable to sail anywhere because of the crazy weather, so her dad will wait and come back with one of his crew members. Yesterday, we made some bright yellow playdough (my fingernails still show evidence from the mixing process) and we made a bike trip to the park. Well Tessa got to ride in her pram. Then it was a race home because mom had arrived back with Nan after 5 days away! Libby went home with Nan to spend the night and tonight will be Reuben's turn so tomorrow I'll just have Libby and Tessa. Julia is still home from work today because she'd planned on still being on her way sailing home. So she and Reuben have just gone fishing and I'll be here to look after Tessa when she wakes from her nap.
On Friday, after their last swim lessons of the week, both Reuben and Libby went to play dates, which allowed Tessa to have a nice afternoon sleep I'm sure she was very much in need of! The rest of the day went pretty smoothly after that. Although the rainy weather had come in to stay for the entire weekend! I still cycled to the pool in Takapuna, in the rain, and then swam and cycled home. I met Sophie and Rachel in Takapuna, but it cleared out SUPER early...so pretty uneventful that night. Saturday I did some more biking and running (following a little triathlon training schedule for the mini ContactTri Women's one Jenny and I signed up for March 5, currently 6 weeks away! That night we had a nice meal at Rachel's with lots of yummy food and then went out into town. However the mood was ruined a bit because of all the rain...and then Astrid's car battery died which turned out to be a bonus for Rachel, Sophie and I. Freidi drove us into town in Astrid's car and then they were headed home almost 2 hours before us, so we just decided we'd take a cab later...then we get a call from Astrid saying when they stopped for McDonald's the engine was shut off for all of a minute and the lights left on, but that was enough to make the battery go flat...so they had been trying to flag someone down at 3am to get it jumped...in the rain...apparently most cab drivers were really rude and the police even said they couldn't help, but eventually they got help from one cab driver and we found them just in time to hop in and get a ride home. So their night was a little bit longer than they'd planned!
Sunday morning the weather was even crazier!! Heavy heavy rain and super strong wind! There were all kinds of puddles all over the roads and the motorway was even closed across the bay heading into the city at high tide because the water had come up over the road! Julia came home yesterday with her mom, unable to sail anywhere because of the crazy weather, so her dad will wait and come back with one of his crew members. Yesterday, we made some bright yellow playdough (my fingernails still show evidence from the mixing process) and we made a bike trip to the park. Well Tessa got to ride in her pram. Then it was a race home because mom had arrived back with Nan after 5 days away! Libby went home with Nan to spend the night and tonight will be Reuben's turn so tomorrow I'll just have Libby and Tessa. Julia is still home from work today because she'd planned on still being on her way sailing home. So she and Reuben have just gone fishing and I'll be here to look after Tessa when she wakes from her nap.
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