Finished off 2009 with the Green Day concert in Auckland Queen Charlotte Sound
After a windy ferry back (my first time to take the ferry since I moved to the North Island when I was four) we were back in Wellington. Summer in the capital means a few things to me - free concerts in the botanic gardens with a picnic and wine, the Sevens, lots of Phoenix games and of course a Thorndon Pool Party. This year Gow was back in town for it so brought a whole extra crowd and I think we had the most successfull pool party ever.
By this stage Stuart and I had been together 9 months and the lease was coming up on his place at the end of Jan so I suggested he move in to Webb Street with me which ended up working out perfectly. He fit into the flat well and we had some great times, getting all fancy with a cocktail party for my birthday and a breakfast at Tiffanys showing at the Embassy as well as lots of “random vegetable cookoffs”, cakes for pretty much any occasion, BYOs at Ban Mai Thai, house parties picnics on the front lawn and just all round good company – definitely miss this flat vibe a lot!
For Easter, Stuart and I borrowed his parents van, put up some makeshift curtains, battery operated fairy lights, set up the back so it could fold out into a bed or up into a dining table and hit the road for a week and a half. We travelled through Gisbourne and drove up around the
I had applied for this position – Coordinator of International Relations (CIR) on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme – way back in early December 2009 before Stuart and I were living together. I was promoted from an HR Coordinator to Advisor in June 2009 and the change wasn’t right for me so I was looking at other options and a chance to use my Japanese before I lost it completely. I had an interview in February but I didn’t really think my Japanese was up to scratch although they called while we were on our Easter Holiday and said they would like to offer me the position at Wellington Sister City Sakai
Our flatmate Anna got a posting for work at the World Expo in Shanghai Wellington Shanghai
Enjoyed the last couple of months in Wellington even though it was starting to get colder, picked up some work lifeguarding out at Tawa Pool to pass the time and made it to the Ceroc Viking Ball, Anzac Dawn Service and even got invited to my old works Mid-year Party. Most mornings I got up at the same time as Stuart and walked him to the station, then around to Freyberg Pool and swam 3kms. On a standard day I would potter around the house for a bit tidying things up/packing, study some Japanese, go to the gym and have dinner cooked by the time Stuart came home (what a good housewife). Stuarts friends slowly became my friends too (he already knew most of my friends from ski weeks) and I got to know a lot of really awesome people. I also made the most of of having an oven and lots of flatmates to eat whatever deliciousness I cooked and had a lot of fun attempting some difficult birthday cakes and organising a surprise dinner for Stuarts birthday.
So before I left, I figured I had better to find out what all this skiing fuss was about (Stuart has been skiing since he was little) so Stuart and I tagged along for a weekend with the ski trip that the Wellums had organised. I had a great time and found I picked it up much faster than I had snowboarding (when Id done a weekend in Japan last time I was here for uni in early 2005) and didnt spend nearly as much time sitting on the cold snow - Stuart even ventured down to Happy Valley for the first time ever to spend some time with me at the end of the day. Am planning to go again when Stuart comes over this winter.
In the name of research (I needed pictures of New Zealand to take overseas with me) I headed up to Auckland for a week to hang out with my brothers for a bit. Mark had recently come back from a stint overseas so both between jobs we took the opportunity to do a trip around Northland. Checked out my second lighthouse of the year (shame I didnt make it to Bluff too) and had some great time just hanging out and chatting with Mark - hes really easy to travel with! Northland itself was really was beautiful and I would recommend it to anyone - especially those who think theres nothing above Auckland!
The last couple of weeks before leaving all seemed to go really fast, there was a lot of "last" coffees and lunches with people culminating in a big "jya mata" party at Arashi. Finally got everything packed up and went out for a nice relaxing high tea on my last morning with Stuart at Marthas Pantry - had always wanted to do that, but had never really found the right occassion.
And that is where this blog starts. The last five months of 2010 in Japan were about as up-and-down as the first seven in New Zealand. I was very underprepared emotionally for the culture shock of moving back because I had lived here before and worked overseas before. But going from an awesome flat to living on my own, leaving a big part of my heart in NZ and and not really having an immediate awesome group of people (like when I was here for uni) was quite hard. It took me a little while, but I eventually furnished my little studio apartment and met a group of amazing people from all around the world that actually dont live all that far away from me at all so that by the time Stuart arrived in mid October I was feeling much better about being here but it was awesome to see him. And after he left I only had 6 weeks to chug through until my brothers arrived for Christmas and New Years. Stuart will be back to visit in 5 weeks time and even Mum is hoping to make it over in June - its great to be able to share this amazing country with the people I love. If you can make it here before I the end of July I would love to see you - I have plenty of futons and blankets ;)
My job here has been amazing, and I have had the opportunity to be involved in all kinds of events from really grass roots level (Sakai Incense Experience, Wellington Educational Exchange) to attending big fancy International Relations Events (including two business trips to Tokyo to present to diplomats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Ive been able to teach a Kiwi English class, a Kiwi Cooking class, translate heaps of interesting documents and learn about all kinds of things while improving my Japanese and working with a great team. They have offered to extend my contract but writing this has helped reinforce that going home at the end of my year here (in August 2011) is the best decision. There is a lot I really enjoy about living here, but there are a lot of things I miss about my life back in Wellington (handball, dancing, swimming, baking, gym etc) but more importantly there are a lot of amazing people back home that I miss very much too - I love you all, see you soon xx
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