| My mate and her partner have taken off for a few days to see some of the South Island. Steve has taken the girls to the Santa Parade in town, its a hot one today, so it all seems very strange to be thinking about Christmas. I've opted to enjoy the peace of the empty house - my little mate Egg is here of course. I just took some hilarious pictures of her face while I was singing to her! I can't get them on here for some reason, but suffice to say, she doesn't look very happy!! Big sad face, and then a scream! I guess my singing really is as bad as EVERYONE says it is! Its been great to catch up with my bessie mate. She loves NZ. My only annoyance is that she's started smoking again, chain smoking. After THREE years of quitting. So her and her partner are chuffing away, and as its been hot, the patio doors are open so the smoke comes in and there is a light smell of smoke on the furniture. Moons has been asking me what they're doing. Steve has completed our paperwork for Canada, all we need now is Egg's passport. I can't believe how busy we've been over the last few weeks. As soon as I had Egg, there has been so much to do, but its been good not to be sitting around waiting to leave NZ! Going to the South Island to bring up the car was awesome. The weather was beautiful. I would have loved to have spent more time there, but unfortunately, the weather was so bad when we circled Christchurch, we had to fly back to Welly and get a later flight, so it was a race to make the ferry back. The car is great, wish I'd gotten one ages ago like that. Really economical, easy to drive, comfy. Good old German engineering! I'm really enjoying this refugee thing as well. I've learnt so much already. A muslim woman also came to talk to us and I had some preconceived ideas about how that would go. She turned out to awesome. Extremely intelligent and did the best presentation I have ever heard/seen. I'm so anrgy at myself for previously making such ignorant comments about asylum seekers and muslims. Its difficult being from the UK because the media portrays such an awful picture, that like the rest of the sheep, I follow it. Doing this degree and now this training has really affected me. Just the other night, a debate started out in the garden and my english friends made comments that not so long ago I would have made about the asylum seekers. I felt so angry and upset that people can mouth off about something they really know nothing about. I have wondered a few times if I'm cut out for this work. The only reason being is that these people need so much, I wonder if I might be too selfish. The sort of people on this course are either full on bible bashers with bleeding hearts, ex refugees who understand only too well, and some oddballs that I can't quite make out. I wonder if I'll do any good for these people at all. I think my reasons for doing it are selfish, I want to learn from them and force myself to face some of the harsh realities that people have to face. I think I want to learn more about myself. Selfish reasons really. Anyway, Steve just called to say he's on his way back. I've been feeling so lucky to have him recently. My best mate has had so many issues, she's a bit of a train wreck really. She's getting back to normality, but only with the help of medication which is keeping her on a plateau, but it also means she doesn't experience the highs and lows of life. This is some strong stuff. My relationship with Steve isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we're so close and he has supported me so much with this degree and my growing interests. I couldn't have done it without his support. I am really lucky to have met my soul mate. Anyway, enough of this Sunday afternoon drivel! I've got laundry to get through! |