Gardening

ok...da dieser post hauptsächlich für mama ist, werd ich in deutsch schreiben :) hab ja momentan ferien und von daher einige zeit im garten verbracht. mein gepflanztes gemüse is am wuchern wie sonstwas und ich bin ein wenig von dem sonstigen gestrüpp losgeworden. :)
hab gestern unsern teich freigelegt und mit erstaunen festgestellt dass in einer kleinen matschpfütze, ohne filter, futter oder jegliche aufmerksamkeit recht viele goldfische leben können. ham einige

orangene, einen großen orange-beige gemusterten und ein paar schwarze...ausserdem is auch eine art mini-wasserfall mit dem teich verknüpft...müsste man nur die pumpe wieder anschliessen...
hier ein paar bilder:

   

luge rides

we have a new toy :D
One of our friends got a luge, for everyone who doesn't know what that is, it's llike a bob with wheels....http://www.skylineskyrides.co.nz/rotorua/ssr_luge/....pretty cool.
we went down napier hill on different roads yesterday...so much fun. I took the baby-route...but I had jake (a lil 5 year old boy on the luge with me...so no chance of goin fast or doin anythin risky...)
The best was jake and his parents coming over for a few drinks and stuff in the evening. They just put him to sleep in another room....and almost forgot him in the end :D They already left the house, went to their car...knock at the door 30seconds later..."can I just get my son...I forgot him" lol....couldn't stop laughin...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgvLpZLnVH0 here's a luge video...so much fun :D

Te Kuiti

Holidays....well, almost. I took this weekend off work and Chalky and me went to TeKuiti to visit his dad. Unfortunately I have quite a bit of study to do.(to be honest, I read Harry Potter instead ;) ) Today we went to Hamilton and visited the Zoo. Pretty cool, they had the "normal" zoo animals as well as an enclosure with typical kiwi landscape and birds.

The whole Zoo was absolutely amazing...the enclosoures were spacy and all the animals seemed to be well taken care off. We were even allowed to feed the giraffes :)




on our way back we stopped in taupo at the huka falls and I spend half an hour sitting in a natural hotpool at the river...had a waterfall giving me a backmassage and the water was sooooooooo nice and warm...It was a rivermouth, so I could feel how freezing the main river was, but that hot waterfall kept me nice and warm...absolutely amazing!

International Dinner

Hier der versprochene bericht vom international dinner donnerstag abend. Zunächst mal muss ich zugeben, ja wir waren unhöfflich, ja wir sind eig wirklich nur zum essen hingegangen (und das war durchaus lecker :) ) es gab einig typische chinesische/indische gerichte die man in jedem take-away shop findet wie buttered chicken, aber auch einige interessante, völlig unbekannte gerichte. aber das beste vom ganzen abend waren die zwei typen die uns gegenüber saßen. der eine war englisch lehrer von EIT und der andere sein kumpel aus wellington. die beiden sind auf dem dinner als band aufgetreten. aber am besten waren ihre fragen an chalky "are you an international student?" and even better "so r u a teacher here at EIT" und nachdem er dann erklärt hat dass er schreiner is und türen baut kam "oh yeah, doors are important, often underestimate. I have one at home myself, well, a few to be honest..." Ich musste mich richtig zusammenreissen nich laut loszulachen. der typ sah auch noch richtig lustig aus, lockenkopf, riesen streber brille...:D

ansonsten war das dinner recht interessant. Eigentlich nur Asiaten und Inder da und teilweise in kimonos und ähnlichen traditionellen gewändern. Für die scheint das ein echtes highlight des semester zu sein...wir sind nachdem buffet rausgeschlichen....als die ukulelen band angefangen hat (ziemlich schief) zu spielen...hatten keine lust ne weitere dreiviertelstunde aufs dessert buffet zu warten. warn eh ziemlich voll :D

Ich hatte sushi, dann ein bisschen was an chinesischen nudeln mit gemüse und shrimps, ein sehr interessant koreanisches Kohl/tomaten gericht und weitere verschiedene snacks.

leider ham wir die kamera vergessen, von daher leider keine fotos.

Springtime

Finally, Spring is starting. The weather is changing and trees are in blossom everywhere now. I even saw the first lambs the other day.
Today I spent a fewer hours in the garden, tryin to make it less jungle- and more garden- like ;)
At Uni I had my first test on monday, law for business, it went quite well...I'm basically just happy to have that behind me now. Coming up this month is another test, and we have to hand in our first assignement. Next thursday we are invited to go to an international dinner at EIT...I had a look at the list of students that are coming...all asians or indians...there is one french and one spanish person coming...and that's it...no other europeans....well, we only go to get some nice food for free ;)
Unfortunately Chalky got another 6weeks off, because of his collarbone...that's a total of almost 3months! he just hopes he can start work earlier than what the doctor expects. And I found a dvd with a movie about the bombing of the moehne damm in his war-dvd collection...a british production...I haven't watched it yet, but I want to...maybe tomorrow...have a function at work tonight....

well, after i promised everyone that I would blog a bit more often i'll try to do it.
Today is saturday morning and the rains just pissing down. I'm supposed to go to work in a cpl of hours but right now I'm not too sure about that, the weather is just too bad, I don't think that anyone actually wants to come out to our restaurant. It's that kind of stay at home, watch TV, read and cuddle up on the couch weather :)
Yesterday was jayde's farewell party. She's a good friend of Chalky and just finished her bachelor of business studies at EIT and is now moving over to Australia to live with her boyfriend and finish of her studys with a master degree. It was a good party, just a bit too long :D
One more reason that I'm not really keen on going to work today. And I just realised that they spilled half a bottle of port in my car, lovely smell...lol
Well, I probably should have a shower now and a coffee and try to wake up :)
I might take my camera to EIT nxt week and take some pictures of the campus.

University

Here I am halfway through my first week of university, so far i quite like it...well, i'm not that sure about "law for business", but nevermind, that's only one of my four courses. My other ones are economic principles, information system principles and quantative analyses. All three of them seem to be quite good and interesting. It's still hard to really judge them after only one lesson, but so far they seem to be allright.
University itself started full on. All my lectures started their courses straight away after only a few minutes of introduction. Furthermore there is a lot of onine work and interaction with students going on. I could enrol all my classes online and the tutors always load up information and notes for us as well as links to find some more information. As well as being able to contact staff through emails or phonecas my classes are quite small. between 20 and 60 students and the tutors made quite clear that we can aways come to see them to get some extra hep or advise. The whole system seems to be way less anonymous as what I know about german universitys. I mean, come on, honestly, whose tutor in germany woud even try to learn your name?
My classmates seem to be alright so far. Some idiots are there but most of them seem to be alright...even though i have to admit that i didn't put that much effort in trying to get to know most them. My timetable's pretty sweet, weekend from thursday 12am till monday 1pm and I only have one day where I have a few hours of spare time between classes. All the other time I either have courses in the morning or the afternoon only.
Well, i gotta go now, getting ready for uni. I mean others turn up in trackpants and hoodies but i think i do prefer to at least wear some jeans and not to have that kind of I just came out of bed look :)