Normal life

Well, it's been ages since I wrote a thing here. Mostly I guess because over here now is just real, normal life and so there's not much that's 'excting' enough to write about! I was horribly homesick for a while, until I went home to see everyone in February this year and since then, I haven't been homesick at all, which has felt amazing.

I started a new role in Inland Revenue at the beginning of December last year. I'm a 'Project Advisor' which is a fancy way of saying 'project admin' but it is at least a step up from actual admin and I get to write business cases and stuff, which I like. It was initially until 30th June but looks like it;ll be extended to 31st Dec - fingers crossed.

In the meantime I am teaching myself Statistics with a great book from a range called 'Head First'. It's challenging but fun. I'm currently about half way through and have maybe 3 more weeks to go... then it's a book on data anaylisis,then another book on sql... then I shall buy the self study book for Microsoft certification called 'Business Intelligence: SQL 2008', something like that. And once I'm certified I can get a job as a business intelligence analyst. That's by plan for the next 12 months anyway!

And speaking of plans... the time has come to do the next visa step. This is a partnership visa which is like a stepping stone to residence. It's for 12 months and lets you do permanent work, so Adam and I are going about that now. There's loads to do for it.

Adam is good, we're happy and still being very nice to each other!

x

Windy Wellington!!!

Today my story is about the wind.

The average wind speed in London is between 9 and 10 knots. 

Today in Wellington the minimum is 29 knots and it reached 35 knots at it's windiest.

I have to put up with this day after day after day. Sometimes, and I'm not even exagerating here, you nearly get blown over in the street and you have to stop walking for a minute or hang onto any nearby lamp-posts.

Today is a day like that. Even inside you can hear the wind roaring and howling around the city..

Here is a video off youtube illustrating my point :o)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4pelNzylZ4&feature=related

Epic Rugby and babies :o)

Hello!!! It's me again :o)

Um... right. Have to think about what I've been up to. Hmm.....

Well, perhaps the most important thing to say is that I'm all moved into Adam's lovely flat and that's definitely it now. His flatmate moves out in 2 days and then it'll be just us! Or just me actually at the moment, Adam is in the States for 12 days and left on Saturday. I only cried a tiny bit at the airport, and after he'd gone :o) It's been feeling rather strange to be honest.... kind of like I've forgetten how to entertain myself!! But actually it's sort of nice just being on my own and being able to do whatever I want. I had that for so long and Adam and I are together absolutely all the time, so it's kind of been a surprise to realise just how much I've missed it and how nice it is to have my own space again. Apart from my little freak out about what happens if I'm in an accident or the house burns down or something - and I have no family or friends really to turn to. But still, mustn't focus on the unlikely catastrophes!

I'll miss him soon enough though! Everything with us is very, very good indeed, we're still quite shockingly happy together, we still never fight and are nice to each other all the time :o) Feeling queasy yet?! Yes? Oh well, indulge me a little longer... as he really isn't reading this, I can write this with no fear of discovery or resprisals - I keep dreaming about having a baby!!!!! I think finally my body clock is kicking in, perhaps it just does at the right time when you're happy and secure. We're not there yet and haven't really discussed it much at all, but I creatinly hope we get married and have babies soon. I think we would be very good at it :o)

Enough yuckiness.

The rugby was amazing!! I'm so happy NZ won, it really was a once in a lifetime experience to be in the middle of it, we all felt so connected to each other. Even though I'm not a Kiwi! We were watching big screens in the street with half the rest of the town (we'd gone to Nelson for the weekend). The roar and rush of relief  when the final whistle went was surpassed only by the nail biting suspense (or open terror for many!) in the preceding ten minutes. It was Epic.

Work is going well, still pretty busy, still liking the people and the office. Get to do some interesting things every so often with fairly complex excel stuff or innovative presentations. Can't complain really :o)

Also, I went to see Eddie Izzard last week with Adam and loved it! He's very funny. And English you know, one of mine :o)

Er... I have made a nice friend at work, a Scottish lady called Helen. She's my best friend so far. I still have about 4. Need to work on it a bit....

Apart from that there just boring stuff you know, normal life - got to buy a sofa. Trying to stop smoking. That kind of thing. Settling in, settling down stuff. Good I guess. Better than permanent home sickness. Adam and I are having a quiet Christmas, just the two of us, as he'll be working over some of it. That will be very strange. Christmas cards welcome!!!

Apt 24

35 Jessie Street

Wellington  6011

NZ

I miss you guys though.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Oriental Bay and back again...

Well, it has been an eventful few weeks!


I moved into my new place and realised it was rather horrible! I only spent 5 ins looking and just grabbed it when it was offered as I really felt I needed to move out of Adam's - he has a flatmate who has been very good about having me stay for so long but it was never meant to be that long. Anyway, I realised when I moved in that they had no internet, it was freezing cold and damp and mouldy and the toilet smells really bad! And the stove doesn't work. So I only stayed there 2 nights and yesterday I moved out, or at least let them know I'm moving out. The boys there are going too, so no big deal. I am moving into Adam's in preparation of us moving in together! His flatmate moves out early December and then the two of us will take over the lease. It's a really lovely flat and I am very happy about it.


Work is good, busy but am getting the hang of it. Very nice people. And also I have made a couple of friends which is lovely and such a relief. I have been out every night this week so far, which has never happened before and has made me very happy!


So, it's all about the rugby over here. The big final is this Sunday...


... and Adam and I are going away this weekend! It's a long weekend, Monday is labour day here and we are taking his scooter over to the south island on the ferry and we'll then go as far as we want! We are going to Picton for sure (the other terminal) and from there maybe Nelson and maybe Golden Bay. Which will mean only slightly less to you than it does to me! But apparently Golden Bay is beautiful and will mean 4 hours on the back of a scooter... hmm.... But anyway, will be lovely to get away.


I'm feeling much better now though. I had such a bad week a couple of days ago, was terribly homesick. But got better after 4 days after a chat with a couple of friends from home on facebook, which helped immensely.


So... that's me! More news to come, will try to be more regular :o)


xxx

England v. Scotland (I want them both to win!)

The first thing I need to do is tell you how great my boyfriend is! :o)

On Thursday he got tickets though work for the musical 42nd Street, which I took my new friend to (she's called Chelsea, and quite young, maybe 23, but very nice!) Then on Friday he bought me my favourite magazine from the UK, which he found a new addition of in a shop, plus he took me for dinner, plus he bought us tickets to see the Red Hot Chilli Pipers. Yes, you did read that right, they're a scottish piper band we found out about in Scotland and they're awesome :o)

Secondly, we've just been out to watch the Rugby, England vs. Scotland. I've never got that excited about sports games, but I've quite got into the Rugby here, it's actually more interesting then football as more happens. I was very conflicted with this game - I couldn't decide who to support - I was all like "well, I am English.... but I'm a MacDonald of Clan Ranald. But I've always lived in England. But always watched sport with my dad and so supported Scotland..." It was very confusing! So I supported England for the first 20 mins, then decided I was for Scotland, and bellowed for them for the rest of the match; until England won then I switched again :o)

Other news is that I found somewhere to live and I move tomorrow. It's a place called Oriental Bay and it's gorgeous, up a very steep hill but with such a pretty view out of the window. I'll post up a pic once I'm there. I'll be living with 2 boys who seem very nice. But I feel a bit sad and apprehensive to be moving out of Adam's place to be honest.... which is silly, I did it before.... but it feels different this time, not a short term fun thing, but something I really need to make work, to make a life for myself.

It's a bit difficult,, I'm struggling to make friends still, but at least Adam is nearly always around, and we hang out together all the time, so that makes it OK. I'm dreading a bit if he goes away anywhere though, I'll feel rather lost. I just need to make some more friends I think, but it's hard.

So that's me. Work is going OK. I'm at the Inland Revenue for 3 months, forget if I told you. It's OK... not ideal, only as it's a PA job and I hate being a PA, but I'm giving it a good go, and the poeple are nice as is the office, so it's not all bad. Here are some pics of the view from my desk though - that's a good thing about it!

xxx

Back in the (rugby) game

Hi everyone!

Well, that's a bit optimistic. Hi to the couple of people who might read this at some point :o)

I had a request to restart this for people apart from immediate family who I'm now skyping with regularly anyway.

I can't remember when my last blog was and can't be bothered to check it right now, but I know it was a while ago. So here's a catch up, some of which you will know:

I went travelling to South America in April and had an amazing time seeing Santiago, the Amazon and Macchu Piccu (which might not be spelled right). Then back to the UK to see family and friends and to meet the gorgeous India Ropse Phillips, born 2nd June this year, my gorgeous niece.

Then Adam arrived 7th July and we saw London and Kent, met my friends and family and then got a car and drove over 9 days through Oxford, up to Mallaig in the highlands, then right up to the very North of Scotland (Tongue) and then down to Edinburgh. We had a great time, although the weather was as expected :o)

We followed that by 3 days in Barcelona. The rain followed us, but we still had a wonderful time taking in the sights, practising my Spanish, eating Spanish food and generally realxing. Then 3 days in Copenhagen staying with some wonderful friends of Adam's, wonderful people who showed us the best bits of the City. We ate pork and sugar coated potatoes! and went to a slum type thing filled with drugs - not as bad as it sounds, it's in the middle of the city!! Then back to London for a farewell to the family and then off to Vegas for 4 days. Adam (who is amazing, if you hadn't gathered that already!) upgraded us on that flight and we flew out business class which was a first for us both and bloody amazing. Vegas... well, as you might guess, we had a great time, stayed up all night, slept all day, ate, drank and gambled, saw the hotels and a show too (Penn and Teller).

Been back in NZ since 4th August and been staying with Adam and his lovely flatmate Amy, who has now been kind enough to put up with me for 6 weeks. I've been job and flat hunting at the same time and it has been harder than first thought. The central cheap flats are mostly filled with children (students) who don't want an old lady like me living with them.

I had a 3 week temp job on a construction site, working on the site office onsite at a University where they're building a new building. I had to wear a hard hat and high vis jacket whenever walking outside! That was actually a really nice job, very busy but nice people and fun.

This Wednesday (21st Sept) I started at the Inland Revenue on a 3 month contract. I am a team administrator/PA to 7 managers. It is a very PA type role and I hate those. But I like.need to earn again, so shall not complain.

The only other interesting thing was a trip to Sydeny the other weekend with Adam for a long weekend as one of his short films got into a film festival and we got free passes for it. It was very exciting.

Apart from that, it is the Rugby world cup over here and all the Kiwis are going mad about it!

So that is a quick catch up and I will endeavour to write more and more interesting stuff soon :o)

xxx

Home again, home again, jiggity jog

I am home!!!!


I know that was a bit sudden, but although I have been planning a 14th May arrival date for some time, I was keeping that a surprise from Fleur who thought I wouldn't be home in time for her baby to be born.


So I landed very early on Saturday and was met at the airport by my lovely brother. I slept at his place for 4 hours, had a bite to eat and then went over to Fleur's. She got such a surprise with me at the door!!!


I was there for a night and then with Holly and Peter for a night and now am back with mum and dad for a couple of days. I'll be back in London for Friday which is my birthday!!!


So, this is the end of my saga :o)


I shall not be typing anymore as this is the end of the journey. Even though, of course, it's not. The future holds exciting things for me, including of course imminently becoming an auntie; a holiday with Adam in July (seeing England, Scotland, Copenhagen, Barcelona and Las Vegas!) and setting up a jewellery business once I get back to Wellington in August (I'm applying for another 12 month visa for New Zealand).


Thank you all so much for reading my blog and following me on my journey! It's been wonderful to share it with you all.


Bye!! :o)


xxxxx