Apologies for the lack of updates

Have to apologise for the lack of updates.  Have been trying to sort out internet, but when the internet provider came last Saturday they realised that whoever was supposed to make sure the cables were done didn't actually do it. Sigh! 

But it is not so bad.  Spent the evenings last week watching some cool movies.  There is a deal where it is $5 for 5 movies that you can keep for a week and so we watched movies like Rain Man, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy and I can't remember the other 2. 

Last week I started my new job and we spent last week and this week learning the systems and processes and next week we'll go live.  It is a great company I'm working for with extremely supportive people.  We are 3 new people in my team and we instantly got along really well.  I think we are going to be a really strong team. The start times have been fairly relaxed, but next week I'll have early starts so will need to get used to the earlier wake-ups. 

On Saturday afternoon we took Bianca and Caitlyn for a walk and as always they loved it.  They especially love the bridges that you find all along the walking course pretending there are ugly trolls hiding somewhere around and they both enjoy taking the lead. 

Hopefully soon we'll have internet sorted and then we'll be able to update more often again.  So what have we missed?

Busy day today

Next week I'm starting a brand new job.  It seems unreal at the moment that I will actually be in a paid position from next week.  It has been a little while and I'm excited to have the opportunity to be part of a team again and hopefully have some great contributions to offer. 

I got a call from my new boss and they have given me Monday off, so I'm only starting on Tuesday.  That's such a cool way to start a new job I think :-).  It will be a bit of a shock to the system too as I'll need to wake up pretty early each morning to catch my train and then head off to the city (I just really hope I don't run late, that would not be a good look).  My plan is to cycle from home to the station where I will park my bike and then take the train to the city.  At least this way I'll still have the chance to do cycling despite having less free time available.  Paul says I have potential and I just need to put more effort into it, go out more often and do longer distances - that sort of thing (effectively he told me in a very nice way to stop being lazy I think...).

So with this happening next week, it means that tomorrow I will be finishing off the South African project for Paul's class.  That was the project where each class chose a country to learn more about in celebration of the Olympics.  So tomorrow I'll show the kids how to make Lion masks (or at least I hope to as I haven't made these before, but saw a pretty cool website the other day with a neat idea that I'm hoping to share with the kids).  I'll also try and take a few samples of South African food / treats for them to try.  That's the plan anyway :-).

Well I better get to it then... 

Cycling Days

With the weather improving and days getting longer I am becoming more enthused to get out on the bike.

The last month has been quite stressful but each day is becoming better for me. Sadly cycling has taken a back seat lately but I am starting to get out more regularly and build up the miles.

In the interim with no recent bike reports to give I'm rehashing some former glories of recent unreleased footage. Due to popular demand here are some photos of last summer's glories.

A relaxing weekend and an achievement (updated with photos)

Haven't had much access to internet so we are a bit behind in our blogging.

The past weekend was a relaxing and quiet weekend.  We didn't get up to too much.  On Saturday morning we set off for the city where we first went for a quick visit to Te Papa.  It is one of my favourite places to go to in the city and best of all it is a free activity.  As always my girls loved it and ran from one exhibit to another.  We couldn't stay too long because we had to get Paul to his road relay.

Paul was the last leg of the relay and the 5th runner.  Paul would usually be one of the first legs (or so I understand), but he has been struggling with a niggly calf.  We followed some of his team mates and at first Paul thought that the gap might be a bit too big for their team.

Dropped Paul off and then we set off for the finish line.  We were stuck in traffic a bit and I worried that we might arrive after his finish.  Got to the finish line, quickly found a park and thankfully just made it as I could see Paul running towards the finish line.  Now I knew Paul ran fast and probably at least twice my speed (which he is able to maintain significantly longer than I could ever dream to maintain), but to actually see him in action as he came thundering past me really put it into perspective.  Don't think I will be challenging him to a running race any time soon...

Paul racing towards the finish line

Discussing how the race had unfolded

Much to Paul's surprise he learnt that his team came first in their age group and he was pleased with the little medals his team received. (Click here for the results).

Members of the winning team (left to right): Liam, Paul, Peter.  Dave and Chris absent

It was neat to see Paul's running group in action and to witness Paul's determination and competitiveness was pretty cool!

The rest of the weekend was just fairly quiet.  What did you get up to?

Bright Future

Haven't had access recently to the internet so have been unable to update you with latest happenings.  As reported earlier there have been changes in my life which are reflected in a song that Lea recorded for me.  This song was written a few years back.

Have moved into a new house and looking forward to a bright future.  Please have a listen to my song by that name.

Hope all my blogging buddies are well and will contact soon.

Dining Out

I don't eat out that regularly but have been twice in the last 2 weeks!

Alice and I last week ate Mediterranean Pizza which was really yummy. I don't believe I'm tight with money but I do like to take advantage of deals when they are going. Why not choose a night where you can dine for two for the price of one?

A similar deal was going at Amigos last night that Alice and I frequented. As the name suggests Amigos is a Mexican Restaurant.

We had a traditional meal of beans, mince and nachos.

We both really enjoyed our meals!

All about South Africa

Now with the Olympics, each class at Bianca and Caitlyn's school was given a country that they will be learning about.  Paul chose South Africa for his class, Bianca's class will learn about Germany and Caitlyn's class will be looking at Brazil. 

Because of my South African heritage, Paul asked if I would be able to come to his class every so often to share some information with the kids and so the other day I did a bit of an Afrikaans lesson. 

The Afrikaans language is actually quite hard if you are not familiar with it.  It has the same letters as in English, but some of the sounds are very different.  For instance we pronounce 'g' and 'r' quite different to how you would say it in English.

So on this day I mostly taught them a few phrases like "good morning", "thank you very much", "I like reading", "good bye" and so on.  The kids did so well repeating what I said and they were all keen to have a go on their own.

This afternoon I did another session.  After the last session, the kids had so many questions.  They wanted to know where I was born, which school I went to, about food and animals and clothing.  So today I put together a presentation with photos to share with them.  They were all so interested and it was a lot of fun sharing this with them.

Here are some of the photos I shared with them:

My very first day of school

The local swimming pool

The town where I grew up in had a lot of trees lining the streets

Afterwards Paul and the kids sang some songs as a thank you.  They did a great job!