Its all fun and games!

Posted on Sunday 20 May 2007 at 01:44 - Post Comment

It's Sunday morning, and we are at work.  Quite literally, at my workplace where we have basically spent the whole weekend.  All in a good cause you understand.

So, after the considerable downs of last week, this week has all in all been rather positive.  It all started with a stroke of fortune, as I was chatting to my work colleague Shannon 2 weeks ago about how we had no vehicle insurance.  Well, I then got a long lecture about how stupid that was here, especially when it would be really cheap.  Also, did we have contents insurance as what if we got robbed?  So, I dutifully got on the phone and arranged vehicle insurance (3rd Party only - $46 for the year!!!  You can stuff your UK insurance rip-off prices up yer arse!) and contents insurance with the same firm.

Well, it only turns out that clever me (!?!) specifically covered the lap-top for accidental damage, and Toni dropped it into the repair folks on Friday.  Cross your fingers that they can repair or replace the damaged keyboard and that it will just cost us the $100 excess.  would make a change to have insurance work in our favour for once, I can tell you.

Also, I have just picked up the new rear wheel for my bike and plan on getting that sorted out later today - another thing that I cocked up last week now resolved.

But the big news is that Toni went to see the Ashburton school on Friday, and it well very well.  T said that the head was a very talkative chap, and gave her loads of pointers on how to 'sex up' her application and CV.  Apparently here in NZ a 2 page CV for a permanent job would be pretty much passed over!  He showed T a few old CV's from previous applicants, and they were 10 pages+, spiral bound, with colour pictures and all sorts, along with complete breakdowns of skills, achievements, training etc etc.  So, the reason we have spent the weekend at my work is to re-write her application in this vein.  I say 'we' when T has done pretty much all of it and all I have done is written a really 'sales' covering letter to get any potential interviewers to read past the perceived negatives of 'newly in the country' and 'no NZ experience'.  It's gone pretty well, and has been helpful for T as she has really had to look hard at her teaching ethos, and the way she goes about the teaching process - very helpful for any potential interview as it seems that the questions they ask are very much along these lines.

The school visit ended with the Head saying that he would probably get 15 decent applications and would shortlist 5 of those for interview.  So, we'll be one of the 15 (slightly better odds than the 150:1 we've been facing here in ChCh) and hopefully in 2 weeks time T will be on her way to Ashy B for an interview.  Fingers crossed folks!  Toni has also seen a few more jobs advertised locally and so will be using the newly revamped CV to apply for these too.  Even if the Ashburton job doesn't happen, it will have been worth it to get the insight into the application process.

In addition to all this, Toni had 2 and a half days teaching last week, with a call for a day on Friday which she had to pass up as it was Ashburton day - still this bodes well for the coming weeks so here's hoping she gets an average of 3 shifts a week as this will suit us just fine in the finance department.

Toni's diet is going great, with her reaching her 'half-way to goal' weight at the weigh in on Friday.  That's 8 kgs down and 8kgs to go!!!!  To celebrate she bought some new clothes to show off her sexy new figure, and all I have to say about that is: ‘Phwooooor’!

This is the one of the photos we took for the front of her CV!  No - don't laugh - they all do it here, and if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Apart from all that, we have been sorting out paperwork with our emigration agent to get everything ready to go for when T gets a job offer.  There's not too much to do, so we will aim to get it sorted this week.

It was payday on Friday, so we went out for a few drinks and I ended up getting sozzled and falling asleep by 8pm.  I am definitely out of practice of drinking on an empty stomach!  Toni was not over-impressed, but to make up last night we went to watch a film called 'The Zodiac'.  It was based on a true story regarding a murderer who was never caught, and overall was an OK film but it didn't half drag on!  It starts off well, but then 2hrs and 45mins later it just ends.  Olly - a friend who came along with us, fell asleep about 30 minutes in and I was tempted to do the same, but just about managed not too.

On a completely unrelated note: Considering the time of year (mid autumn), the weather here over the past week has been nothing short of fabulous.  I would possibly go so far as to say Absolutely Fabulous (daahling)!  Every day has started off cool and clear, and then warmed up to t-shirt and shorts temperatures, with mild winds and fantastic blue skies and sunshine.  Today it is 19 degrees C in the shade - can't be bad!  Apparently it will break next week, but we have loved having some sunshine around and it certainly keeps me happy. 

Well, there's so much more to write about but I’ve forgotten what it is.  Every day I see or think of stuff that people back in the UK would appreciate or like to know about, and try to remind myself that 'I must stick that on the blog' and then promptly forget again.  Hopefully the news tomorrow regarding the laptop will be good, and then we can update this from home in the evenings again. 

Laters 'taters!