Road and home

An eventful, busy and exciting week.

Two nights ago we had our welcome BBQ organized by our opposite neighbor and her family.

They had invited some family members they hadn't seen for a good while and we all had a great evening. We're the only pakeha family on the street and we talked a lot about our reasons for coming to Te Kuiti.

Winston had fun with the family's three-week-old puppies and their proud mum, although we think he had a bit of an allergic reaction to them so Matt took him home early to wash him and give him a tablet.

A terrific evening and a lovely welcome.

Next morning -- yesterday -- we were up at 6am to drive up to Auckland (we had already spent three nights there a few days ago for work reasons). Vera watched Royal NZ Ballet class as they were using university studio space. Winston, who had a bit of a cold this week, had developed a cough overnight so Matt parked and walked him through Albert Park and down Queen Street to the doctor. Matt walked in unannounced but the clinic kindly agreed to see Winston straight away. They gave him antibiotics and an asthma inhaler system because they detected a little wheeze in his chest. He remains in excellent spirits, tearing round the Te Kuiti playpark today... five minutes after he visited our local clinic for his meningococcal-B-vaccine starter! Brave boy!

Vera has been invited by the local Rotary Club to talk about her role and training as a dance educator. She speaks at their weekly dinner next Wednesday. Next week is also her first week 'proper' teaching at the university in Auckland.

The rest of the day -- and most of the rest of the week -- have been taken up with meetings and discussions about something else that has taken our attention and energy since last Friday. We'll post about that in the next day or two. We're excited but it could lead to one or two changes for us here.

Here is a picture of Winston with Dad and one of the puppies (and their proud mummy!) at the welcome BBQ!