Travel Log ....

2009
Jun: USA - NZ
Jul: NZ - AUS - NZ
Nov: NZ - USA - NZ (Free one way)
Dec: NZ - AUS - NZ (Free trip)

2010
Mar: NZ - USA - NZ
Nov: NZ - USA - NZ (Upgraded)
Dec: NZ - AUS - NZ

2011
Apr: NZ - USA
Jun: USA - NZ
Aug: NZ - USA (scheduled)

I dislike US immigration, I love being upgraded, I dislike flight delays, I love Air NZ, I dislike TSA in the states, I love kiwi travellers, I dislike waiting in long lines, I love frequent flyers, I dislike rude travellers and I love being greeted by friends and family!!!

The Road to Success ....

I've been enrolled in my PhD program for over a year and half and it has been the single most hardest thing I've ever undertaken in my life. I've had a fair amount of trials and struggles in my life but this has surpassed them all by far. It has tested me beyond what I thought I was capable of and has at times put me into dark places. It has been emotionally draining and left me with thoughts of despair and hopelessness. It has been a lonely road and will continue to be, but its one that I am going to endure. Its taken me a while to figure out how to endure it in such a way that makes my life a little enjoyable but I'm slowly figuring it out. I'm slower than the average PhD student (actually I'm slower than the slowest PhD student) but I'm ok with that. It will happen all in good time for me and I just need to keep breathing, keep smiling, and keep being grateful. So watch this space as I share some of my research struggles and successes.



Soon to be Dr. Nancy Tarawhiti ...

Update

So here's what ya missed (stole this line from 'Glee')

March
I attended a conference for school in Boston. My presentation was awesome and I just loved Boston. That place had a lot of history and I met so many great people. I forgot how much my accent (Yeah apparently I have one) is such a crowd pleaser. Of course once they hear it, they ask where its from (they try to guess and are ALWAYS wrong) and then they say "I've always wanted to go to New Zealand" or "I love New Zealand" or "I loved Lord of the Rings" (thinking that we are all hobbits down here). Well Boston was no exception. I went to one place called Mike's Bakery and the lady there loved my accent so much she gave me the 'try before you buy' treatment, it was a good day to be a kiwi. I really loved visiting Harvard University. I just felt so smart walking around campus and the whole colonial feel was really what I think Academics is all about. I think if I had a choice of living in the USA I'd love to live in New York or Boston.


One of the many buildings part of Harvard University Campus.


This is the owner from the Pizza place around the corner from Harvard University. We were told it was one of the best pizza joints in Boston. Once he heard my accent he told me he dated a woman from NZ and then told me he loved NZ women. He said it was the best weekend of his life (translation he had a DW with a kiwi chick) ha ha... Consequently I ordered another pizza. :)


April
Well April was my birthday and it was extremely low key. I also got tested for Celiacs disease and was told I'm borderline and that's when I started to try and change my diet to accommodate being gluten free (GF). I HATE IT!!!! The one thing I like the most is bread and especially maori bread. I have never known a maori that doesn't eat bread or even a polynesian!!! So trying to eat bread and other carbs that are GF is hideous. I absolutely hate it. I know I'm only borderline but I've had to make some changes in my life and once again I hate it. All the GF food really lacks in taste. I went to a GF and allergies show (yes it sounds like a freak show) but I soon realized that I wasn't alone in this. GF food here in NZ is so expensive and takes a little getting use to. NZ is famous for its pies and I've had to cut that out heavily, and once again I hate it. So I'm taking a shine to salads and veges. My body has been yoyoing in weight and just being able to adapt to different varieties of food and some days I just won't eat cos there is nothing that quite satisfies the hunger. A very nice lady that I work with has a Celiac husband and daughter and she felt sorry for me and brought me in a whole bunch of groceries. I was very humbled, its like she jumped straight out of the visiting teaching manual. However, she is not LDS but just a nice caring person. She felt really sorry for me that I wouldn't be able to drink beer. I told her I think I would be ok.


May
My friends Beth, Kristi and Marisa came to visit me here in NZ. They came for a week and we fit in so much. We visited the Museum, Sky Tower, The Shire (Hobbiton), Waitomo Caves, Tamaki Village, Luge, Fat Dog Cafe, Mt Maunganui, Squid Row Pub, Otara Markets, Blues Vs Chiefs Rugby Game, church and then they flew home. It was a great week and we fit in so much and it was so great to have them come visit. I really missed them when they left. I then had to kick in my school work. I'm trying to write my Lit Review chapter of my dissertation and it is kicking my trash. School is my life now. No more playing, no more trips, no more anything cos school is where it is at.


This is a shot of us at the beach just as the sun was setting. This looks like a real family picture (ha ha) but it was put on the timer so we sat still until it went off.

This is us at the Michael Savage lookout point in Auckland. Apart from one day we had the best weather ever.

June
School is still kicking my trash and I'm a little bit behind but I know I can do it. I work 2 days a week (Tues/Thurs) from 9-5 and then I do school work for at least 3 hours in the evening. Mon / Wed / Fri read and write for school from 9am - 9pm, Sat I try to put in at least 8 hours 9am - 5pm, sunday I rest and I'm in bed most nights by 10:30 at the latest cos I'm up at 4:30am preparing as I teach early morning seminary Mon-Fri. My life is full on with school but man I feel the hand of the lord in my life. I've had some amazing doors opened for me with wonderful opportunities I just now need to work hard to deserve them. It's been crazy and continues to be but no one said life would be easy.

PS. DW - dirty weekend

All things rugby ...

So I went to the first Super 14 rugby game for the 2010 season. It was at the North Harbour Stadium in Auckland and the Blues were playing the Hurricances. I was so excited cos it has been YEARS since I've been to a rugby game at home. Traffic was crazy getting there cos it was Friday night and getting over that Harbour bridge (which is the one I bungeed, off see previous post) can be a nightmare especially in peak hour traffic. Everyone was getting anxious with the traffic but I on the other hand was just loving the idea of going to the rugby. I was feeling all nostalgic thinking about growing up in NZ and how rugby is definitely part of who I am. We got our tickets for free through some promo and we were in the 6th row from the field. I loved seeing kiwis getting all excited going to the game, the boys outside the park drinking out of there van, kids waving flags, face painting, the ladies wanting to get into the stadium to check out the players and a mince pie with a bottle of L&P. It was a beautiful summers evening with no breeze yet it was in the evening enough so that it wasn't too hot.

Before the game started they had a helicopter land on the field it was kinda exciting. It was the army and they dropped off "Michael Jones". He has and always will be my favourite rugby player so I was extremely excited for that moment. That in itself was worth going to the game. They introduced him and of course I got up with a hiss and roar. People around me were like "Who is that". All I can say is "rookies".

Here are the Blues warming up ready to get going and they had a cracker first 20 mins. They broke the Hurricanes back line a couple of times, one leading to a try and it was pretty exciting.

I managed to snap a pic of Joe Rockococko hanging out on the wing. He had a quiet game but made one impressive run that nearly led to a try but the Blues stuffed it up right before their try line. Unfortunately the Blues had a decent lead at one point and then got complacent and they made several basic handling errors. It was really frustrating at times to watch.

There was a lineout right in front of us so I managed to snap another pic and this is where the blues were on attack and they never capitalised on it so they lost all that field advantage and came up empty handed.

Blues scrum right by their try line thanks to a great breakthrough however once again they messed up and no try. The Hurricanes ended up winning the game 34-20. They deserved to win and they made less mistakes. They clawed back into the game and then showed some real hunger for the win. Go the Canes!!! They had some solid tackles and Piri had a great kicking game in the second half.

The game was awesome and I'm just looking forward to the rest of the season and getting excited for the NRL to start. I forgot how awesome footy season is in NZ. In a roundup of the weekend Crusaders won, Chiefs squeaked through with a 1 pt win (still not a Donald fan) and we are in full swing. Eden Park is still under rennovation for the world cup and over budget (surprise surprise). Some businessmen can't budget a decent cup of coffee. Last rugby news is that they are changing the school terms next year to coincide with the Rugby World Cup. Gotta love our priorities!!!

Today's gonna be a good day ...

I've decided that today's gonna be a good day, and every other day for that matter.

What the hell have I been up to - 2009 / 2010 Update

Well its been ages since I've blogged and I wanted to post what I've been up to, so here goes:

August / September
I was still trying to make the adjustment to being home. It wasn't as easy as I thought. I missed my friends, teaching, Provo, gym with Ande and Kjell, shopping at Ross, Costco and Old Navy and having a routine that I love. The food is so rich and wonderful here that I found comfort in it and put on about 7-10 lbs. I still haven't lost any of that weight but its all good. I was staying in Hamilton and then travelling to Auckland for a change and sorting out school. This was a really hard month but learned none the less.
I got a part-time job teaching at Worldwide School of English in Auckland city in New Zealand. The job was great and I was loving being back in the classroom. It was driving my crazy not doing anything so the work was just what I needed. The teachers there were so great to work with. It was so different from teaching in an LDS environment e.g., they had pub night, teachers and students would go have drinks, and students hung out for breaks to have a cigarette and coffee. Not only was the job good but the hours and money were great too.

October / November
Got accepted into the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in the Applied Linguistics PhD program. I have a great supervisor who is so flexible, simplistic and just awesome to work with. I love the school and the application process was so much more simplistic than applying for a PhD program in the states. Some things I like about the application process was: the application is a 2 page application form, you are notified of the outcome within a month, you are notified by email, mail and text and my supervisor looked over my application before submission to ensure the best possible outcome. My program is solely research with no class requirements. I study from home, school, down country and even overseas. Another great thing is that I have access to some great financial assistance. The downside is that I have to be totally self motivated and organized which is not always easy to do. However I'm excited to be here getting my PhD.
I also took a quick trip to re-energize myself and it was great.

December
December 5th I performed with the CCNZ alumni maori culture group for the Church College Closing celebration. It was such a great evening and just full of nostalgia. I cried through 50% of the performance just thinking of all the great memories that Church College provided me. I grew up in the dorms, went to school there and have such great life time friends from it all. It was great to see so many people at the concert and it was awesome to do maori culture again. I absolutely loved it.
On the 18th I flew to Gold Coast Australia to spend Christmas with my brother Sinclair and his family and mum and dad. I arrived to hot sweltering weather which was awesome and we went straight to the water park and swam most of the day. My trip consisted mostly of beach, pool and eating. I still have that 10 lbs I found and I can truly say I'm officially a pumpleduff!!!! This food is killing me (literally) so I need to make a change there. My body misses Kjell to push me and Ande to support me!!!

Surfing 101

My brother is an avid surfer and he said he wanted to give Paul and I a surf lesson before we left. So here we are at the beach (can't remember the name, I know ...) getting our surf on. Remember its Winter here but NOTHING compared to the Utah winter. The water was cold to begin with but it was fine once we got going.



Here we are at the beach unloading the boards. My brother designed the stickers on the boards.



This is just before we started paddling out. As you can see I hardly have a surfing physique but I figured what the hell, lets give it a go. This was not as harrowing as my bungee jump (refer previous post) that apparently provided of you with hours of entertainment.



Right here I'm feeling the cold water and asking my brother if he could just push me out rather than me having to paddle. Me paddling out is kinda like Shamu doing the dance move "The Worm" yeah not pretty.




Here we are beginning the paddle (or in my case my brother pushing/pulling me) kinda like a tug boat being towed.




Here I am starting the great stand up stance, slowly pushing the board down while trying to keep my balance (I bet you are on the edge of your seat) watching my form, steady on there now ....



.... and then I crash and burn. Here I am just falling off and not quite making it up. Aren't you sad you didn't get to see that in slow motion in HD!



Here is Paul up and standing like he has been surfing for years on like his second go. Yeah I don't feel inadequate at all but I do want to scratch his eyes out :)



Here is my sister in law Tina who was freezing and didn't even want it get it. But she thought she better so she slowly walked in the water with a wet suit on, got on the board, stood up and then got out. She didn't even get her hair wet, so yeah I wanted to scratch her eyes out too :)



Here is my baby bro. He's awesome and Paul and I had a great day. He was such a patient and fun teacher even though he did say later that he wanted me to paddle cos he was getting sick of pushing me. He would line us up and push us into the wave it was fun. If we were out there on our own who knows how long it would have taken us.

Everybody bounce bounce ...

One afternoon with nothing to do the kids and Paul decided to play on the trampoline and have bouncy competitions. It was so fun to see who had the funnest jumps and it was quite hilarious to watch, so here are the best shots from the bunch.



Everyone jumping with Cyprus taking the best jump in this shot.



Paul definitely taking the best jump award in this shot. He even has added facial expressions for full effect and use of most of his limbs :)



Celsius wins here with great height (so much that you don't even see his face).



This is my favorite! Seeney boy wins this with his "hey watsup" or "just hangin out" pose. His cheesy grin just cracks me up.

Gold Coast IROAM tour

My brother took us on a tour right up the gold coast. Most of it consisted of lookouts, beaches, rocks, more beaches, surf comp and more beaches. It was really beautiful. On our tour route we saw baby clubs where mothers and their babies gather together and the mothers workout. This ranged from exercises, walking and running with baby strollers, and more exercises, kinda like a mother baby bootcamp. At the end of the tour we had a quiz to see if we could remember the names and places and we did really well.



Here is a map of our tour that we took and names of the beaches. Gotta love those Aussie names with aboriginal background e.g., Tallebudgera!!!. You really have to get your tongue around those ones.



This is Paul and I at the beginning of the tour. Our first stop ...um I can't remember the name but fun still the same. We were in Australia in the Winter Season. We had a few really cold days but most of the time it was really nice. Gotta love warm winters as opposed to 4 inches of snow!!!!



Here are the 3 amigos (me mum and Paul) at ...ummm I can't remember the name of this place either. It really was a great tour and I'm pretty sure I paid special attention to each beach, the description and associated facts that went with it



There was a surf competition at this beach. It was the Mark Occulupo long board classic. This beach was called ... um yeah still can't remember (I know useless huh).



And after a long day and great tour here again we are still enjoying the tour and I still have no idea where we are. Some of the things I enjoyed the most this day was seeing some of Sinclair's graphic work in different places around the coast, seeing the odd beach here and there and remembering all the names of the beaches.

Whanau (Family) and mini me ...

My brother and his family in Australia were so much fun to be with. Not only did they love Paul (the kids called him Uncle Paul) but they showed us a good time and we loved spending time with them. We did a bunch of things plus it was great for me to see how much my nephews and niece have grown up. My brother (Sinclair) does graphic design from home and we were able to see him at work up close and personal. It was very impressive.



This is my brothers car with his graphics on it. His company is called IROAM.



This is on Sunday before going to church with my niece (Cyprus) and nephews (Celsius, Seen, Cave and Reef). They are so much fun to hang with and they absolutely loved Uncle Paul.



My youngest nephew Reef hung onto Paul the whole time he was there. When he was getting ready for church he asked Paul to do his hair and then he wanted to look just like Paul so he went and got his vest on to. He was so a mini me version of Paul. We just had to capture the moment with this pic!

PS Missy (the dog) wanted to be part of the moment too.

Australia - Gold Coast

After 2 fun weeks in NZ we flew to the Gold Coast in Queensland Australia. My brother lives there and we were excited to spend 2 weeks there and get a taste of Aussie.



Here is Paul and Mum at the Gold Coast airport getting ready to go through immigration. Australia is really meticulous about what you can take into the country so their immigration is strict as. Paul got pulled over randomly (I think its because he had a US passport) and he had a few goods that he forgot to declare. The immigration officer was really nice though and let him off without a fine. Ahh ya gotta love the aussies .... actually not really.

Hanging out at Raglan ...

A favorite beach for me growing up and still to this very day is Raglan. Many times I would drive out there with friends have a great time and just hang out. We drove out to where they surf and walked around on the rocks and enjoyed the great view.



I love the beach. It just makes me forget about everything and the sea has such a calming influence on me.



I love this picture of my niece and I walking down to the beach. I have been so close to my niece ever since she was a baby and every time I see this picture it just reminds me of how much I'm close to her and how much I love her.



The following pictures show how we each contemplate at the beach. My niece is a dancer and this is how she best thinks ....



.... Paul's thinking is so influential and radiant it shines abundantly through him. I've never seen anything more wonderful and ....



.... me well nothing special just contemplating my life the simple way.



I love the beach, but I love it more when I'm there with people who mean something to me in my life.



When life sucks and your life is nothing but hell, pack a lunch, good book, ipod and escape to the beach :)

NZ Bilingual Elementary School

Because Paul teaches elementary school we wanted to visit a school while in NZ. A very nice lady (Mona) who worked with my brother set up a visit to go to bilingual (English / Maori) elementary classes. It was so cool cos when I left NZ schooling was all in English. So I was just as excited as Paul was and it was great.



The Bilingual kids practice maori cultural traditions in the classroom. We got a maori welcome by the kids first thing in the morning and then we got to visit their classrooms. I loved all the work on the wall ....



... and the bright colours used for posters and pictures. It really brought the classroom alive.



Here is one class that we visited and the kids were so smart for their age.



Here is the other class that we visited (younger kids) and they were a similar age to the kids that Paul teaches. They had really good handwriting, very motivated, fun to chat with and the class was so much fewer in numbers than what Paul has to teach. Some of the biggest differences Paul noticed was that the recess and lunch breaks were longer, school started later, classes were smaller, teachers really get a break time where they can eat, break and be ready for the next block of instruction. This was a great visit!

Some more fun in Auckland: Museum, Sky Tower, and yes more jumping

A must in Auckland is to go to the Sky Tower. It is attached to a casino, restaurants and bars. Going up the Sky Tower is a highlight and you get a great panoramic view of the city. There are glass panels on the floor that you can walk over and get a view of just how high up you are.



Here we have a view from down on the waterfront in Auckland. In the background you can see the Sky Tower (tall skinny thing) and that is where we headed to.



Not only can you see the great views you can also jump off the tower (I know). It;s kinda like a bungy but it is guided because it is right in the middle of downtown with buildings and the business district. So while you are up in the lookout portion of the tower there is a screen that says "Jumper in 2 mins" (I know sounds like a suicide viewing). So everyone gets ready to see the jumper and they actually stop the jumper right outside the viewing deck so all the tourists can gasp, take a picture, nearly faint, laugh etc... So the poor guy is just hanging there and then in no time he just drops. You can apparently jump almost anyway in NZ.



We managed to get into the Auckland Museum for an hour before it closed and it has been years since I have been there. Its huge and on a hill located at the Auckland Domain. Its quite a sight to see. This is us out the front and ....



... this is a better view of the front where you can see just how huge it is. We managed to see most of the NZ section which consisted of culture, traditions, early schooling, famous kiwi people etc ....

Rotorua - Mean Maori Mean

New Zealand has some beautiful scenery. I forgot just how green this country really is. While driving to Rotorua there is a stretch of road that is just covered with punga trees, rich green foliage and its just a beauty to drive through.



While in Rotorua we drove around and did a bit of sight seeing. Rotorua is famous for its sulphur geysers and the lake. So we drove around and got a few snaps.



That night we went to "The Mitai Village". This is where you get to experience some maori cultural traditions. We got picked up from our motel on a shuttle. it was a cold night with a little bit of drizzle but it stopped once we got there.



The whole cultural experience consisted of hangi (maori dinner cooked under the ground), watching maori warriors canoe down the river, maori show including explaining of maori tatoos, dances, traditions and then a bush walk to see glow worms at night. In maori tradition you have a chief that talks on behalf of all visitors so they asked for a volunteer to be our chief. Of course I volunteered Paul (much to his unliking) but he did such a great job. Here are some pics of the night.



Paul being told what his chiefly duties consist of. He had to lead us all in, accept the warrior challenge and pick up the token saying we came in peace, give a short speech thanking them for inviting us and then the traditional hongi (pressing noses).



This is when the maori warriors came down the river on a canoe. This was quite stunning to see as they werr chanting and so we couldn't see them initially but could hear them. They had fire torches and we were all watching on the side of the bank.



Paul and I next to the long canoe (waka) which is at the entrance of the Mitai village.



This is art of the show where we saw cultural dancing. These are the women swinging the poi balls.



This is after Paul had accepted the token on behalf of all of us visitors. He was an awesome chief and did such a great job.



Haka more cultural dancing with the men doing the haka. This place was awesome and we met some cool tourists people from Aussie,USA, Spain, Canada etc. We had a great time.