Balclutha for the Weekend, Dinner Parties, Work Times, and People You Meet

a pun: http://www.ketzle.com/frost/

The first frost I've seen in Dunedin today. White is covering the entire front lawn and the roofs of cars and houses. It's a deceptively clear day- meaning that it's frigid outside, but it looks friendly. Dunedin is going to get colder before it gets warmer, but hopefully not too much colder.

This weekend Simon and I visited his parents and his little brother. This is a picture taken by Simon's dad of Simon, Simon's "Mum" Joanna, Simon's older brother Piet, and his little brother Roy when Mum graduated from school for her Vet Tech degree a few months ago (notice that Simon is beardless... scary): 

Most of the time we hung out in front of the fire in their living room watching movies, playing Risk (which Piet refused to play after awhile, convinced that Simon and I had a conspiracy against him), and eating Dutch Donuts (oley-bollen (unsure of the spelling on that one)). Simon's parents are originally from Holland, and Simon moved to New Zealand when he was 8 years old.  They moved to New Zealand to get into dairy farming on the North Island, but now Simon's Mum is a vet tech, and his dad is a truck driver.

I went shopping around Balclutha with Simon's Mum (Joanna), and she bought me some pajamas which I will definitely post on here when I can (they say "I love you" in huge font). Simon and I took a walk on Sunday across the Clutha River. We found some sheep in a paddock, jumped in, and herded them to one side of the river, then the other. We jumped out of the paddock before the farmer got there, but it was fun to be close to New Zealand's populace (Simon calls them "dumb animals"). 

Piet drove us home on Sunday night, and I fell asleep in the car. Yesterday I found out my hours for work (I go in tomorrow to get trained): Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. Yes, my hours are basically right in the middle of the weekend. They're about as convenient as construction on a one-way bridge, but I'm excited for work. I'm going to be volunteering at the Botanic Gardens on Mondays at 10-1. So my days off are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Strange schedule, but I'm sure I'll adapt, and do day tramping around the area. 

After I found out all this, I went grocery shopping. This seems pretty mundane, but there's a feeling I get every so often when I'm doing these daily things, a feeling of "I'm actually doing this!" that puts a big smile on my face. I'm actually in New Zealand, being responsible, buying kidney beans! How awesome! 

I told Mike at the used book store that I got a job, which he was excited about ("Good on ya! Good on ya!"). I met a woman from Zambia named Linn when I was coming back from getting groceries, and we had a talk about Otago, and her two sisters living with her, and her job at the local hospital. She lives on Allen Street, I hope I see her again. I also met June (she lives across the street), she is an older lady that identifies herself as the "cat lady". Vets send older ladies to her with their cats, so she can take out stitches for free. She predicted the frost this morning with one of the neighborhood cats, Russo, purring around her. I told her I'd have to visit her like Russo does, I think I'm going to make her cookies (what's that recipe, Em? anyone have any good baked good recipes?). 

Last night Alex (one of my flatmates, I'll have a post on them soon, they're both great) had a dinner party. She invited over two people she met at the vege shop where she works: Colleen and Brandon. Colleen is originally from the East Coast, moved to Hong Kong when she was 8, and has been living in New Zealand for a year and a half. Brandon is completely Kiwi, asking me to fake an Australian accent, and then a Kiwi one, and then laughing. We had tacos with diced potatoes, I made Sam's famous guacamole. Alex made carrot cake for dessert, and we all drank Fijian wine. It ended up being an amazing night. In our cramped 8x7 kitchen we fit in six people and there were a ton of laughs. We're going to do it again soon.

I've got to run to my host mom's (Kat) house for the day. I'll post again soon.

Hope all is well with all of you. 

Cheers,

Abi