Christmas in Kiwiland

This year I had several firsts for Christmas:

1. My first Christmas away from family and friends back in Michigan
2. My first Christmas away from Jen (since we have been together, obviously), also in Michigan
3. My first Christmas in the summer
4. My first Christmas BBQ

One and two are pretty boring, really, so I won't dwell on them too much. Three and four, however, are a little bit interesting.

Firstly, I found it very hard to get into the whole "Christmas Spirit" while wearing shorts and lamenting the fact that I can't open more windows, lest the cat escape. They have the same Christmas music playing in stores and all of the decorations are the same, but it is warm and sunny. Maybe it'll be better next year after another 12 months of cultural acclimatization, we shall have to wait and see.

The Christmas BBQ, however makes perfect sense to me and I fully support it wherever the weather permits. I was invited out to the home of some friends of mine for their family BBQ. We got there about 11 am and were greeted with smiles and a champagne flute. Ahh, that kind of BBQ. Excellent. The menu was fairly uniquely New Zealand: we had grilled breakfast sausages, bacon, tomatoes and potatoes. Yes, they had bacon on the grill. Note, that this is kiwi style bacon which more closely resembles Canadian bacon than American bacon. Still bacon, though, and quite delicious. There were also poached eggs to put on top of the grilled food (the eggs were not done on the grill), which was an interesting addition.

Perhaps an hour after we finished with brunch (possibly elevensies), they fired up the grill for lunch. Since I was still stuffed to the gills, I passed on this round, but it consisted of a more typical kiwi BBQ: larger sausages (not quite bratwurst size) grilled, then eaten wrapped in a buttered piece of white bread. I will leave contemplation of that culinary disaster as an exercise for the reader, without further comment.

During the course of the day, the topic of differences between American and New Zealand cultures came up, as it usually does in these situations. Specifically, with regard to the BBQ. It looks like we'll be having some people over in late January or early February and that I will be giving the family BBQ recipe another go.

So, to sum up:

• Christmas in summer: kinda weird, but I think I could get used to it
• Christmas BBQ: fantastic, especially if it is followed by a late afternoon Christmas Nap and board games in the evening.

I hope you all have enjoyed your winter holiday celebrations, whatever holiday you are celebrating.

A Trip to Cornwall Park

So about a mile or so away from our house is a large park called Cornwall Park that is my usual place to go running. In this park they have a variety of animals roaming around including cattle, sheep, and roosters. The park has a very nice visitor's center and museum, maybe two restaurants, and an observatory. In roughly the center of the park is "One Tree Hill" which oddly is not a hill with a tree on top of it, but rather a hill with an obelisk monument to the Maori people on it. On Sunday, Scott and I walked to the park and had a picnic lunch. The weather was fantastic! It was a wonderful day!

Scott and cattle.

Me and "One Tree Hill".

It is quite a steep trek to the summit.

The base of the monument.

The monument.

One of the spectacular views from "One Tree Hill". The Auckland Sky Tower is in the distance.

Another awesome view with the volcanic island of Rangitoto in the distance.

We are talking 360 degrees of view!

This is the view from the grassy terrace where we ate lunch. We had to find a good spot because there was a LOT of sheep poop!

After lunch I asked Scott to run across to the other side of the valley so that I could take his picture. [Note: Tiny figures in middle of slope are not Scott but some inconsiderate people ruining our picture.]

And he did!

Me and a sheep.

More cattle on our way out of the park.

P.S. This is a Pohutukawa tree known as a kiwi "Christmas Tree" because it blooms bright red in December. They still decorate evergreen trees here though.

:) Jen (and Scott)

Thanksgiving in Auckland

From top left to middle right (top to bottom): Stuffing (made by Jen), Pumpkin Pie (Jen), Mashed Potatoes (made by Scott), Sauteed Garlic Spinach (Scott), Candied Golden Kumera (Scott), Cranberry Sauce (Store-bought), and "Turkey" Roast (Store-bought...yech!). Next year we will have to invite over many friends to justify a whole turkey.

We also had a olive and Scott's homemade pickles tray (left).

They have no canned pumpkin in NZ, so the pumpkin pie came from a real pumpkin...er, well, half a pumpkin anyway...

Homemade pumpkin pie filling made with cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, eggs, sugar, cream, mashed cooked pumpkin...and love...

(I don't know why this picture is sideways...sorry about that.)

Just prior to baking!

My precious!!!...

Close up on the stuffing.

Store-bought "turkey" roast...so sad! :(

Happy Thanksgiving!
Jen (& Scott)

Creepy Christmas in Auckland

Things I Would Have Never Thought I'd Miss: Part 3

Porcelain Toilets:

This again may seem strange, but the truth of the matter is that most toilets in New Zealand are made of plastic. This causes several problems: 1) You cannot sit on them when the lid is closed, 2) You cannot stand on them (to clean the window behind them for instance), and 3) They are extremely susceptible to mold which is then impossible to completely wash off. Ewwwwww! So thank you American Standard and your porcelain bowls. Who knew I'd miss you so?

Things I Would Have Never Thought I'd Miss: Parts 1 & 2

Part 1: The United States Postal Service

Yes, it is quite hard to believe, but I miss the US Postal Service. It isn't just that I've seen the bicycle-riding NZ Post workers go over a curb and drop mail out of their saddlebags, or that we had to pay $20 to forward our mail to our new address for 2 months! And it isn't the fact that we get a continuous stream of our neighbors mail. No, it is mainly the general lack of caring with regards to if we get our mail, if the mail we send gets where it is going, and...OK I LIED, it is the $20 for forwarding our mail!!! So USPS, I, Jennifer Haeger, salute you for being kind, courteous, reliable, un-price-gouging, and amazingly responsible...comparatively. ;)

Part 2: Windows that Close

I know that this seems a strange thing to be missing, but here's the deal. We have an ant problem. This ant problem is mainly due to the fact that almost every window in the house has a gap in it when it is "closed" that the ants can easily get through. This also makes it even chillier it the winter as well, when the wind just whistles through these little gaps in the window sill. Again, something that I would never dream that I would miss about good the ole' USA. And no, they don't have Borax here either! So just everyone take a moment to appreciate your properly closed and sealed American windows.

:) Jen

The New House - Interior

OK, so I promised to post some pictures of the inside of the house. These are a bit messy, but this is a better representation of how it looks most of the time. ;) This is the living room. It is still decorated for our Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. party, so you may notice some odd decorations. See if you can pick out the one Thanksgiving decoration. We also had candy canes, but we found them covered with ants the other day...
It has a lovely big window wall.

This is the hallway facing away from the front door.
This is the master bedroom. It is right across from the living room and also has lots of windows.
Much brighter than the bedroom at the old place.

This is the second bedroom/Scott's office, but since he doesn't work from home anymore, it doesn't get much use.

This is the hallway perpendicular to the entrance hallway with the second bedroom at the end and the bathroom to the left.Coat hooks are very handy.
Here is the bathroom, complete with toilet!
This is our second shower curtain which we had to hang up with some rope over the bathroom window in the shower.
This is why we needed a second shower curtain. The window looks right at the doorway of our neighbor's house (which is also a beauty salon!) and it really isn't patterned enough...
This is the other end of the hallway leading into the breakfast nook and kitchen area.
Kitchen.
More kitchen. Oven works, yay! Microwave...still afraid to use it...
This is the third bedroom, also known as the cat containment area and storage closet.
Pantry next to the third bedroom.
Laundry hallway next to the pantry.
And finally, the other toilet and back door.

I hope that you have enjoyed your virtual tour of 58 Greenpark Road.

Cheers!
Jen

Jen's First Quarter Marathon (10k)

I look a bit deranged in this picture, but to be fair I didn't get much sleep the night before (due to us having to spend the night in town and Halloween being apparently one of the largest party nights of the year) and only had a king-sized Twix bar for breakfast (due to the fact that I'm a dummy and didn't realize NOTHING would be open in Auckland at 6:00am to sell me food).
There were so many people that it took me a full 2 minutes after the official start of the race to get to the actual starting line.
We ran directly into the rising sun. Half the time I couldn't see where I was going.
I started my sprint a little late owing to the fact that I couldn't actually see where the finish line was, but I think that I caught the pack in front of me at the last second. Scott was actually lucky to get this shot as I had told him to look for me a bit before 1 hour 30 minutes and this is at 1 hour 12 minutes. He didn't even see me coming but heard them announce my name. If you are terribly keen, you can view my official results, but let's just say that I am a very average runner! ;)

After the race.
I don't know how the half-marathon and marathoners do it. I'm still exhausted and sore!

Cheers!
Jen

P.S. World Run Day is November 8th, so all you closet runners should get registered and get your shoes out! It is for charity. :)