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World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo.

10 Weeks In

My updates have tailed off a bit since the beginning of October. Completely, actually! Not because life has stopped or because I have sat in a darkened room or because I've been out of web-contact. 

I think it's because I have had to focus on living, and haven't had the parallel energy to comment on it all. Once again I realise, as I look back into the blur of the last few weeks, that the process of assimilating new information...meeting new people...figuring out new roads and navigating new areas...applying for new jobs and imagining myself in new places...is pretty much all-consuming.

If I was a computer, I reckon all my RAM and the capacity of my processor have been taken up with all of this general 'newness'. Functioning well...but with very little spare along the way.

And now I'm 10 weeks here. 10 weeks. Two and a half months. 70 days.

10 weeks here and now with a job. 

It all happened really fast and came out of nowhere, catching me by surprise, triggering a few days of intense thought and prayer as I faced an application deadline in decision making. 

Having fallen in love with the school as I walked through the gates for the first time, somewhat bemused by the deep sense of home-coming that stirred in my soul, I applied for the job in Te Puru School, was called for interview, invited to join the team and, the following day, worked my first days here in NZ doing some relief teaching for them. 'Rabbit in headlights' pretty much sums up my first day. Realising my eyes were opening wider and wider as the day progressed and my mind saturated with a whole new plethora of newnesses!

Now, a couple of weeks in and with some more teaching days under my belt, I love this school more and more! Sounds gushy and all...but tis true. The kids are great, the staff are so friendly and welcoming and the team feeling within the school is tangible and inviting. I can't quite believe that this is now my school too.

I start at the end of January 2012 - in the meantime am popping in to help out a bit.

I grabbed some photos last week. Gorgeous, huh? 

Right on the beach on the shores of the Coromandel...overlooking the sea...where an occasional pod of orcas swims by...

Te Puru School Office and Staff Room

My new classroom! That's the beach just over the low fence...

The fab pirate's ship - popular with the kids

So, job - check!

Accommodation looking hopeful too. Will keep you posted. In the meantime, I'll continue here with my parents - good to reconnect after 11 years of living on opposite sides of the world.

Looking back and looking forward...10 weeks behind me and the next 10 weeks in front of me.

The journey continues...

Pancakes....or pikelets??

I'm in the kitchen in Napier, helping to create scotch pancakes....except here, they're called pikelets! Aaron, my second cuzzie, is hard at work with the frying pan. He seems to have made a huge amount of mixture...and is making the pikelets HUGE, just to use it all up! Hmmmmm....engineer's logic, I think!

Here he is...

Even in NZ!!

Flags are everywhere! On the road down to Napier, I passed some signs..."Go Ireland"..."Scotland the Brave"...all alongside All Black flags, of course!
I love the way this country has absolutely and wholeheartedly got behind so many of the Rugby World Cup teams and are delighting in the whole buzz. It's infectious!
Here I am on the roadside down to Napier...

Those are tyres in the middle of a big field....that's serious commitment to supporting!

Scots v English tonight.

South to Napier

I jumped into my car on Thursday morning, picked up a coffee on my way through Thames and then headed south, driving down long straight roads under big skies, following the weaving curves over the Kaweka Ranges (stunning!) before descending down into Hawkes Bay and Napier.

My car and I have fully bonded and I knew the joy of the open road, having time to meander, think, pray and enjoy the blue skies and beautiful scenery. Being in some space has been good for my soul...

Napier has been a time of rich conversations, quiet processing (lots of this happening in my soul and mind as I assimilate and adjust and think forwards) and pitching in with life here. 

My thoughts are increasingly turning towards jobs and possibilities re places to settle. With my application for registration finally in the post and away, I am getting my cv up to date and doing some research regarding different cities...particularly Tauranga, Auckland, Cambridge and Napier. I'm asking questions, listening to people and paying attention...

Thinking...

Sunshine!

After 2 weeks of much rain and general chilliness, the sun made an appearance today! Dad, Mum and I went for a wee walk this afternoon and I took a few shots.
Beautiful, isn't it?

Heading towards the sea...

...I turned around and took a piccie of Dad and Mum's house. I know...it's THAT close!!

The view along the coast towards Thames...just stunning!

Haircut

I know it shouldn't really be a 'thing'...but it definitely felt a significant step of courage, or something close to it, to walk into a hair salon and sit in the chair today! My first cut in NZ...it made me feel a bit vulnerable...would she cut it in the way I like...do the ways in which I describe what I want translate...?Different country, different culture...eeek!

The result..?