Monday, November 19, 2012

Baba´s Kiwi Newsletter - 6 (english)


Baba´s Kiwi Newsletter – 6

Halftime... WOW! Half a year past by so fast. But if I look at all my pictures and think about what I´ve done, whom I met and how many awesome places I´ve seen – yes, then I have experienced a lot ;)

I settled in very well in Brooklyn and it feels like home already. At the moment I just don´t want to leave and try to live every single moment as intensive as possible.

As there hasn´t happened a lot within the last 4 weeks I thought I´ll introduce you to my favourite places in Wellington and what I do there. Beside that I finalized a few of my Projects and can show you the results :) But here in proper german order hehe ;)

Day 163 – 188 / WELLINGTON UPDATES – AND WHY I LOVE IT :)

Day 162 – 164 / BLENHEIM
The last Newsletter I wrote on board of the ferry... on the way to Blenheim to visit Ian and Jenny because of Jenny´s 73rd birthday. And what was Baba doing? Baked a cake and marked it with a „74“ on top! If you are not sure about the age of a woman you should defenitely go for younger – lucky me that Jenny is such and easy going person :)
Blenheim was great! Fantastic weather (as always) – I even sat outside in Shorts and T-Shirt. Jenny spoiled me with amazing dishes and we went to the cinema again. On a Saturday afternoon she took me to the museum for a Tea tasting session which was fun. Unfortunately the weekend passed by to quick and Sunday afternoon I was back on my way home again.

KAPITI COAST
On a Thursday the weather was just wonderful and we decided to drive to the Kapiti Coast. The Coast is named after Kapiti Island (the shape of the island you can find on icecream package). This area is known for New Zealands most famous milk icecream. Of course we stopped on our way and enjoyed a scoop as well – YUMMI!!!
I even took my togs – because I´ve been in 13°C cold water in our pool in Wiggensbach, I thought it can´t be that bad – but the ocean was just tooooooo cold! At least I made it in hip high :)
After playing soccer and rugby we just chilled on the beach and I became a witness of another breathtaking sunset in New Zealand! The greatest thing is – NO one else is on the beach... you are all alone. It was an amazing day and a great attunement for spring, coming up soon :)

MF BOAT PARTY
On the occasion of Jessicas 27th birthday she run a huge Party – in the bottom of a boat! 2 bands and a DJ, bar and as well the possibility to eat was given. Was a great experience to party on a boat! Only sad that it was ALREADY over at 2am ;) Luckily they had an „After Show party“ on the beach and up in Brooklyn till early in the morning... :) NICE.

ALL BLACKS
Last Saturday it was finally the time: ALL BLACKS LIVE!!! After 1 hour prep (Socks, Scarf, T-Shirt, Fleece, ferns in my face etc.) I had to realize already at the entrance that I was the only one in all black (ok, red beanie but it was cold!). Maren and Keri even wore BLUE jackets and got their first comments just after we entered the stadium anyway :)
It was amazing!!! Not the game itself I have to say but to see a rugby game live, the atmosphere and all the people. Argentina had just one block/section but as we know from soccer they can be really loud. If you are familiar with the rules it is such a great game to watch and feel with and because the players are HUGE you can see everything :)
The game itself was quite unspectacular in the beginning. No try´s and only 3 kicks from the All Blacks in the first half. But in the second we got to see some wonderful try´s even if Argentina did great work with defending. Check out the pics :)

JOB
Unfortunately I still didn´t hear anything back from my applications. There are always jobs via the temp center but I have to admit that I was „lazy“ for the last 2 weeks – at least with payed work. Sometimes it´s as well just to short on notice... they call you in the morning and you should actually be there already. As we had some really nice days I always had plans... I´m not sitting around at home the whole day, waiting for a call – HA!

2 evenings I worked at MARTIN BOSLEY´S RESTAURANT down at the harbour. Wow... that was posh! There were cameras and all this important political people. After I „slighly“ pushed 2 customers with huge, heavy squared plates (in my defence: I told them that I do not have 3-plate-experience!!! :)) I was told to walk around with red and white wine to top up the drinks – which is anyway more made form e how you can surely imagine :D

Beside that I´ve worked another 2 days at the RESERVE BANK again – yep, they can´t get rid of me :) But as everyone needs holidays and as Kylie and Ian are visiting courses sometimes it´s the easiest thing to just call me as I´m trained already. And I´m happy about that, too!

CAR
I drove quite a few times now in Wellington... even allone :) I´m hardly nervous anymore!
Baba Black Sheep  is running great and hopefully goes on like that... ok, I need to check on one wheel  - makes strange noises on the motorway. And I defo have to make an insurance for it even if that´s by choice here. But I thought before I replace a BMW´s bumper I rather prefer to travel a bit longer ;)
Jessica got a car now as well (an old company car) but I´m pretty sure I find heaps of people who want to buy my car when summer comes ;)

FOOD
At this point a big THANK YOU to all your roast recepies... :) Gerda, I did yours last sunday but had to tweak it a bit as we haven´t had everything in house and some things are just too expensive at the moment. Was yummi anyway :)

WEATHER
As I mentioned we had a few nice days and then it is as well really warm... but the WIND!!! We are planning on tramping with picknick for 2 weeks already and everytime we wanna go it´s raining cats and dogs. Last weekend we had up to 130km/h wind speed – and walking and cycling gets a whole new meaning...

AND WHY I LOVE IT :)

FLIGHT CAFÉ
That´s my new favourite Café. Even if the Flat White costs a bit more – the coffee is fantastic! It is as well a good location to watch people :)

WATERFRONT
That´s where I used to sit to draw as it is covered from the wind. That was actually before I moved to Brooklyn but I still like the spot. Great to hang out :)

SUSHI
My favourite Sushi place. It´s only „to-go“ but really good and they have a lot of options. After 4pm everything is half price and even cheaper... YUM!

ORIENTAL BAY
That´s where they made up this „fake“ beach with sand from the south island – still beatiful. Here is as well the boat we celebrated on and a lot of café´s and restaurants are around. I like to sit on the stones and watch the ferry on the way to the south island... or to sit there on the weekends when the fountain in the water is on ;)

MCDONALDS
Yeeeeeees, I know. But pls give me the chance to explain it: The Mc opposite the Railway Station is exactly where the wind is blowing extremely strong (I attached a pic in one of the earlier Newsletter before – it´s kind of a wind channel) and it is just FUN to watch the people trying to walk at 130km/h... best giggles!!! I´m aware that I have to go out there sooner or later but it´s just worth it! One of my favourite things to do ;)

PROJECTS

WORKSHOP
On one of the days when it wasn´t that nice Adam asked me to come to the workshop with him to start working on my wooden Kiwi (one of my MANY projects :)). While he was working on his car I saw my prototype out of thin wood plates, sanded the edges and painted them. I hope I can get it done before I leave and show you a pic of the ready made Kiwi. It was defo great fun to work with wood!

JEFFERSONS WALL
My current home is one of my favourite places and a project in one. Our backyard is just AWESOME! I usually have my breakfast here in the sun and if the weather is nice I draw here as well. Beside that I left my signature on our wall... as everyone who lived here has to leave something behind :)

COMMISSION
Tawanda already asked/commissioned me in my 2nd week in Brooklyn to draw his brother and him from a picture. His brother is about 6 and he´s the baby. So I sat down for 3,5 hours during my unemployed days and did it. After price negotiations I´m really proud to announce that I sold my first drawing :) sooooo great! I´m really happy, especially he offered me more than I expected. We found a place in the middle and so I earned 115 NZ$ with my hobby :) The picture itself will be a present for his brother.

Well, that´s it fort his time. Conclusion after six moth New Zealand:
I´m still overwhelmed how friendly and relaxed the people are!
The nature and the diversity of species still knock me off my feet!
I´ve never played less tennis but so much ping pong in my life :)
I get so many unforgetable impressions that I do not know what to do first ;)
I MISS YOU!!!
But if I only imagine that I would have to go back to Germany now it gives me the creeps...

In this spirit – keep your chin´s up and more next time :)

Kia ora – Barbara

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