For those that don't yet know, we are in Des Moines, Iowa for a few days (right this minute!). We kept the trip pretty quite as we planned a surprise for our bike group in Clear Lake. And what a surprise it was! We had a lot of shocked people when they saw us- and we got to do the surprise about a dozen times.
John and I arrived in DSM Thursday night. We met up with the O'B's Friday at lunch for a bit. Saturday was spent doing a bike ride/bar ride around Clear Lake. We have spent today with John's family.
Tomorrow morning John is flying to Las Vegas for a work conference (the work conference provided the opportunity for the trip). I will be going to Cedar Rapids on Tue and Wed to see my family. I am then flying out to Las Vegas to met up with John for a night. We leave Las Vegas to fly back to Auckland Friday evening.
A couple quick things on being back in Iowa. There is a lot of corn and beans and really straight roads!!!! And how I have missed Super Target (The Warehouse doesn't even begin to cut it). It also seems like we haven't been gone for the last 10 months. We are just picking up right were we left off.
As you can see this is a whirlwind trip and we are packing in as much as possible. I appologize now for not getting a chance to see everyone.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
After living in New Zealand for 10 months….
1- Driving on the other side of the road becomes natural and you wonder if you will be able to drive properly on the ‘right’ side. You also get really good a flying through the roundabouts.
2- You don’t hit the windshield wipers every time you want to use the turn signal…. and wonder what will happen in a car with the switches on the ‘right’ side
3- All your US credit cards, bank cards and even drivers licenses start to expire ….. and you don’t notice until to late
4- You get slimed in the face from a snail in the mail box when you squish it by accident
5- You get used to composting food and splitting up the paper and recyclables and wonder how you ever produced so much garbage before
6- You look forward to nice weekends when you can hang laundry on the line instead of using the electricity hog dryer
7- It starts to seem natural that it is cold in August
8- You start doing stuff in the rain instead of sitting inside waiting for it to clear off…. you may be waiting awhile
9- You start to wonder if going back to the US will be a culture shock and what it will be like
10- You really miss having a country radio station to listen to
2- You don’t hit the windshield wipers every time you want to use the turn signal…. and wonder what will happen in a car with the switches on the ‘right’ side
3- All your US credit cards, bank cards and even drivers licenses start to expire ….. and you don’t notice until to late
4- You get slimed in the face from a snail in the mail box when you squish it by accident
5- You get used to composting food and splitting up the paper and recyclables and wonder how you ever produced so much garbage before
6- You look forward to nice weekends when you can hang laundry on the line instead of using the electricity hog dryer
7- It starts to seem natural that it is cold in August
8- You start doing stuff in the rain instead of sitting inside waiting for it to clear off…. you may be waiting awhile
9- You start to wonder if going back to the US will be a culture shock and what it will be like
10- You really miss having a country radio station to listen to
Monday, August 10, 2009
Back on the grid
We have been living off the grid for the last few weeks and slaving away on renovations. We have put flooring down in 3 bedrooms, the dining room and the living room. Only the hallway and some closets left to do! Our goal is to get all the flooring done by this coming weekend so we can go back to having some fun.
We have been sneaking out a little. Last weekend I attended the Auckland Food Show while John went out sailing. And what a food show it was! It is a gourmet foody heaven---- the DSM wine club group would have LOVED it. The show was held in a convention center. Each stand had free samples (beer, wine, hard alcohol, cheese, ethnic foods, oils, chocolate, etc). I came home with a big bag of goodies. The show is held every year if anyone wants to plan for the next one.....
On Saturday we ventured out to one of the very few Mexican restaurants in town. This is a family owned shop that is only open for lunch a couple days a week and serves authentic Mexican foods (not Carlos O'Kelly's type Mexican, but the real stuff). Apparently we weren't the only ones that thought it was great as they had a constant line to order. A girl that John works with raves about the food so we thought we butter check it out.
This coming weekend we are going to Rangitoto Island for the day. This is a volcanic island (non active) that sits right in the Auckland Harbour. It is not inhabited and is run by the DOC. There was a cheap ticket ferry special this coming weekend so we are going to hike up to the top of the volcano and look down into the crater. Rangitoto Island is a major focal point of the Auckland landscape so it will be neat to get on the island. During the winter months the sun was rising up behind Rangitoto on the way to work so I would see a volcanic mountain with a big halo over it. That made the drive to work a little better.
The weather is definitely turning spring like- think April /May in Iowa. All the trees and flowers are starting to bloom in Auckland and it is not getting so cold at night. We are also going a few days between rains. Last night was really windy --- I kept getting woken up with the wind blowing so hard against the bedroom windows. The weather service is predicting an exciting spring with thunder storms (which are rare here) and tornado's. I never would have guessed that NZ would get tornado's before moving down here. Interesting thing though is that there are not any tornado sirens in the towns. The tornado's I have heard about tend to be very brief- not the creating a mile wide path of destruction type like you get in the Midwest.
The summer outdoor concerts are starting to be announced as well. The B-52's are coming in Dec (which we got tickets to!), there is a Mo Town revival concert in Feb, a number of winery estate concerts being lined up and AC/DC is coming as well. Now is the time to start lining up your NZ summer travel plans.............
We have been sneaking out a little. Last weekend I attended the Auckland Food Show while John went out sailing. And what a food show it was! It is a gourmet foody heaven---- the DSM wine club group would have LOVED it. The show was held in a convention center. Each stand had free samples (beer, wine, hard alcohol, cheese, ethnic foods, oils, chocolate, etc). I came home with a big bag of goodies. The show is held every year if anyone wants to plan for the next one.....
On Saturday we ventured out to one of the very few Mexican restaurants in town. This is a family owned shop that is only open for lunch a couple days a week and serves authentic Mexican foods (not Carlos O'Kelly's type Mexican, but the real stuff). Apparently we weren't the only ones that thought it was great as they had a constant line to order. A girl that John works with raves about the food so we thought we butter check it out.
This coming weekend we are going to Rangitoto Island for the day. This is a volcanic island (non active) that sits right in the Auckland Harbour. It is not inhabited and is run by the DOC. There was a cheap ticket ferry special this coming weekend so we are going to hike up to the top of the volcano and look down into the crater. Rangitoto Island is a major focal point of the Auckland landscape so it will be neat to get on the island. During the winter months the sun was rising up behind Rangitoto on the way to work so I would see a volcanic mountain with a big halo over it. That made the drive to work a little better.
The weather is definitely turning spring like- think April /May in Iowa. All the trees and flowers are starting to bloom in Auckland and it is not getting so cold at night. We are also going a few days between rains. Last night was really windy --- I kept getting woken up with the wind blowing so hard against the bedroom windows. The weather service is predicting an exciting spring with thunder storms (which are rare here) and tornado's. I never would have guessed that NZ would get tornado's before moving down here. Interesting thing though is that there are not any tornado sirens in the towns. The tornado's I have heard about tend to be very brief- not the creating a mile wide path of destruction type like you get in the Midwest.
The summer outdoor concerts are starting to be announced as well. The B-52's are coming in Dec (which we got tickets to!), there is a Mo Town revival concert in Feb, a number of winery estate concerts being lined up and AC/DC is coming as well. Now is the time to start lining up your NZ summer travel plans.............
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
NZ Tip #207
Don't leave your mail in the mailbox for to long........ the snails love envelopes (particularly the white ones). You will have holey mail by the next morning. For some reason snails don't like the glossy advertisements though.....
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